HORROR AS EMERGENCY RULE SUFFERS SET BACK IN YOBE: Gunmen kill 29 students, teacher

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 3

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PUBLIC PRESENTATION OF YETUNDE FASHINA-AREBI’S BOOK The public presentation of Yetunde Fashina-Arebi’s book: Youth,Sex & Well-being, was held at Afe Babalola Auditorium,University of Lagos, Lagos yesterday. Photos by Biodun Ogunleye.

From left: Yetunde Fashina-Arebi, author, Mrs Biodun Yuguda,First Lady of Bauchi State, Hon Ayo Omidiran,Hon (Mrs ) Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire,Deputy Governor Lagos State and Justice George Oguntade at the event.

Mr Fariu Arebi and Yetunde Fashina-Arebi.

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Mrs Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, Deputy Governor, Lagos State (l) and Hon Justice George Oguntade.

From left: Mrs Biodun Yuguda,First Lady Bauchi State, Yetunde Fashina-Arebi and Hon Sani Batagarawa, representative of Katsina State governor.

From left: Hon Musiliu Obanikoro, Prof Ajike Osanyin, Book reviewer and Mr Gbenga Adefaye, GM/Editor-In-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 — PAGE 5

the town were kept awake all night.

According to him, some of the residents, who ran out of the town for their dear lives following the sporadic gunshots, were yet to return.

Taraba State Police Command confirmed the incident.

The command public relations officer, PPRO, Joseph Kwaji (ASP), said armed bandits were responsible for the attack adding that the police were on their trail.

He did not however confirm the casualty figure.

Continues from page 1 imposed a state of emergency on May 14 following the insurgency by the Boko Haram sect which claimed hundreds of lives. The two other states are Adamawa and Yobe.

The military, deployed in the wake of the emergency rule, has claimed success regarding control of the three states before yesterday’s assault.

The Joint Task Force (JTF) enforcing the emergency rule said it had killed and arrested hundreds of Boko Haram fighters.

Yesterday ’s attack on the Potiskum school came just as unidentified gunmen attacked the Divisional Police Station and a bank in Karim Lamido local government area of Taraba State, killing three policemen.

Students burned alive

Mallam Abdullahi, father of two of the victims of the Potiskum attack, a report said, found the bodies of two of his sons, a 10-year-old shot in the back as he apparently tried to run away, and a 12-year-old shot in the chest.

“That’s it, I’m taking my other boys out of school,” he said as he wept over the two corpses.

He said he had three younger children in a nearby school.

“It’s not safe,” he said. “The gunmen are attacking schools and there is no protection for students despite all the soldiers.”

Survivors at the Potiskum General Hospital and its mortuary said the gunmen attacked Government Secondary School in Mamudo village, five kilometres (3 miles) from Potiskum town at about 3 a.m.

They killed 29 students and an English teacher, Mohammed Musa, who was shot in the chest, according to another teacher, Ibrahim Abdu.

“We were sleeping when we heard gunshots. When I woke up, someone was pointing a gun at me,” said 15-year-old Musa Hassan. He put his arm up in defence, and suffered a

President Goodluck Jonathan taking salute at the 2013 Nigerian Army Day celebration (NADCEL) in Abuja yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO

HORROR AS EMERGENCY RULE SUFFERS SET BACK IN YOBE

Gunmen kill 29 students, teacher gunshot that blew off all four fingers on his right hand, the one he uses to write with.

He said the gunmen came armed with jerry cans of fuel that they used to torch the school’s administrative block and one of the hostels.

“They burned the children alive,” he said, the horror showing in his wide eyes.

Charred bodies

He and teachers at the morgue said dozens of children from the 1,200-student school escaped into the bush but have not been seen since. Some bodies were so charred they could not be identified; many parents did not know if their children survived or died.

Explosives “We received 42 dead bodies of students and other staff of Government Secondary School in Mamudo last night. Some of them had gunshot wounds while many of them had burns and ruptured tissues,” Haliru Aliyu of the Potiskum General Hospital was quoted as saying by another report.

“From accounts of teachers and other students who escaped the

SOLUTION

attack, the gunmen gathered their victims in a hostel and threw explosives and opened fire, leading to the death of 42,” Aliyu said. According to him, security personnel were combing the bushes around the school in search of students believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds.

“So far six students have been found and are now in the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds,” he added.

Reprisal

A local resident who did not want to be named confirmed the attack. “It was a gory sight.

People who went to the hospital and saw the bodies shed tears.

There were 42 bodies, most of them were students. Some of them had parts of their bodies blown off and badly burnt while others had gunshot wounds,” he said. The resident said the attack was believed to be a reprisal by the Boko Haram Islamists for the killing of 22 sect members during a military raid

in the town of Dogon Kuka on Thursday.

Meanwhile, unidentified gunmen, suspected to be bandits, in the early hours of yesterday, attacked the Divisional Police Station and an old generation bank in Karim Lamido Local Government Area of Taraba State.

3 killed in police station, bank raid

Three policemen on duty at the police station, which the assailants first attacked, were shot dead while their colleagues sustained various degrees of injuries and the station was destroyed.

The attackers then proceeded to raid the old generation bank in the town where an unspecified amount of money was carted away.

Eyewitnesses in Jalingo, the state capital, said the attackers came in a large number.

One of them described the gunshots as unprecedented even as most of the residents of

Tambuwal condemns massacre

In the meantime, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, has described the killing of the students as ignoble, wicked and horrendous.

According to him, no reason can be given to justify such dastardly act.

In a statement in Abuja, yesterday, by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Malam Imam Imam, Tambuwal tasked security agencies to fish out perpetrators of the attack and bring them justice. He said the gains recorded by security agencies in their battle against terror in the country in recent weeks should be built upon in order to protect the citizens at all times. While expressing sympathy with the families of the victims, the Speaker urged Nigerians to be more vigilant and to help security agencies with useful information to hep secure their areas.

Tambuwal called for information that will lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the assault.

He said the National Assembly will, at all times, give necessary support to ensure that peace and security is restored in all parts of the country.

Robbers attack Edebiri, ANPP leader’s residence in Edo, injure three

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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RMED bandits, yesterday, attacked the Benin-City residence of the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and governorship candidate of the party in the 2012 governorship election in Edo State, Mr Solomon Edebiri.

The bandits, numbering five, allegedly used machete to attack three persons, including the night guard, and left them in a pool of blood. It was learnt that the suspected armed robbers stormed the compound at about 2:15am during a downpour.

They came by scaling the fence and tied the night guard

to a tree inside the compound after the machate attack. Then they went straight to the uncompleted building inside the compound where staff and relations of the ANPP leader were sleeping.

While yelling and threatening their victims to bring out the money at home, they used machete and bottles to inflict serious injuries on two persons in the room and started ransacking the entire building until they took to their heels when a mobile police man within the premise shot at them.

There are indications that some of the robbers may have escaped with bullet wounds.

When Sunday Vanguard visited the compound, there

was a pool of blood in one of the rooms while the victims were rushed to a nearby hospital. The security guard and one of the staff were in critical condition.

Edebiri, who was not at home when the incident occurred, said, “I cannot place their reasons for coming because I don’t keep cash at home. The state of criminality has increased seriously in Benin and it is scary. I want to appeal to the police to do something seriously and urgently too. If we are not lucky those three people would have been killed. And we are still praying because they had deep cuts and are still critical in hospital.

I will allow the police to do their investigation so as to ascertain their true motive”.

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Shema preaches moral teaching, lauds Vanguard

BY ONOZURE DANIA

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Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State(left), reverently greeting the newly installed Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Prof Godfery Onah at St. Theresa’s Cathedral, Nsukka.

From left: Daughter of Ogun State Governor, Miss Anjolaoluwa Amosun, Bashorun of Owu Kingdom, Chief Doja Adewolu and Miss Damilola Animashaun during the commissioning of an ultra-modern hostel built by the Leave A Donation Charity organisation of three youngsters (Laolu Adeeyo, Anjola Amosun & Damilola Animashaun) at Stella Obasanjo Children's Home in Abeokuta.

EARTH of books, especially the ones that teach morality has been cited as reason for the poor reading culture particularly among the youth in the country.

Governor of Katsina State, Barrister Ibrahim Shehu Shema, made this remark, yesterday, in Lagos during a book launch. It was a day the governor proclaimed Vanguard as the best newspaper in the country, saying it circulates in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. The book, Youth, Sex and Well-Being, authored by Yetunde Fashina-Arebi, deputy woman editor of the Vanguard, was formally presented to the public.

The g o v e r nor, represented by his Commissioner for Information, Honorable Sani Batagarawa, commended the author for

Deliver Lagos-Ibadan expressway reconstruction on schedule, Mimiko pleads with Jonathan

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NDO State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has

Jonathan urges military to abide by rules of engagement in fighting terrorism

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RESIDENT G o o d l u c k J o n a t h a n , yesterday, in Abuja, urged the military to abide by the rules of engagement and have respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism.

Jonathan, who was the Reviewing Officer and the Special Guest of Honour, made the call at the parade to mark the grand finale of the 2013 Nigerian Army Day Celebration.

He said he was pleased that the initial assessment report of the conduct of military operations since the declaration of emergency rule in three North-east states revealed that the strategies had been well thought out and was progressing satisfactorily.

The president said government services and private businesses had resumed in areas previously occupied by insurgents, adding that the people in those areas were gradually regaining their lives in confidence.

“As we march forward, I urge you to continue to abide by the army hallowed practice and core character of service, “Jonathan charged.

“I also urge you to keep to the rules of engagement, especially respect for human rights in all your operational activities.

“In the current stabilising phase of your operations, the welfare and wellbeing of the people of the communities where you live and work must be your primary focus.”

The president urged the military to defend the

citizens and foreigners living in the country against terrorist elements.

He also advised the military to strengthen its collaboration and synergy with other security agencies and friendly partner nations to enhance their effectiveness.

“Terrorism is anti-people; it is anti-progress and we must stamp it out of our nation.

“This administration firm resolve is to do everything in our constitutional powers to ensure the security and safety of all law abiding citizens.

“It is a commitment that we have made and kept with great dedication, and we will continue to keep it.”

Jonathan assured the Nigerian Army and all the members of the armed forces of the commitment of his administration to their well-being.

He pledged that government would continue to support the armed forces and meet their needs.

“I want to specially congratulate you, your spouses and families on this important anniversary.

“I want to thank them for standing by you as you

serve our nation. Nigeria deeply appreciates your sacrifice,” the president said.

The Minister of State for Defence, Mrs Olusola Obada, said that the celebration came at a time when the country was contending with terrorism and other security challenges which were novel to its national history.

She said that the theme of the celebration, “Enhancing the Nigerian Army Capacity Building Effort towards Improved National Security” could not have come at a better time.

NAFDAC: Fake products everywhere in Nasarawa

BY ABEL DANIEL

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HE Nasarawa State new unit head of the National Agency for Food, Drug and Administration and Control(NAFDAC), Mr. Martins Iluyomade, while on their regular mopping, has revealed that most supermarket operators in the state, particularly in Lafia, sell either fake or expired regulated products.

Iluyomade, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard in Lafia, said the agency, since his assumption of office, had carried out massive mopping of fake

and expired NAFDAC regulated products in supermarkets as a result of reports by members of the public. “All the supermarkets we visited in Lafia are either selling fake or expired products which are dangerous for consumption”. he said.

According to Iluyomade, ”some of the owners of the supermarkets owned up and said they didn’t know the products were fake. They were even happy with us because the agency opened their eyes to the discovery. We are going to continue to embark on seizure of all the products that fail N A F D A C

making available a book that not only talks about the girl-child but also about sex. According to him, youths would find the book interesting and educative, “unlike the jargons they are exposed to on the internet”. Shema added, “The girl-child in the society, if exposed to books like this, won’t become victims of unnecessary pregnancy and such vices. This is why I think such books and the author should be encouraged”. He noted that while the author was doing the writing, the state government was doing the practical.

Speaking on his passion for youths and the girlchild, the governor said, “The attention that we have given to the emancipation of the youths and the girlchild in particular over the past six years derives from our firm belief that the youths are leaders of tomorrow. It, therefore,

standard. We are doing that in line with our mission to safeguard the health of Nigerians”.

He urged members of the public to follow strictly the agency ’s slogan which says “shine your eyes” when buying consumables like drugs, packaged food, sachet or table water, bread or cosmetics. The NAFDAC unit head encouraged members of the public to look out for NAFDAC registration number, date marking which indicates the manufacture and expiring dates, address of manufacturer, batch number.

described the flag- off of the reconstruction of the Lagos –Ibadan expressway by President Goodluck Jonathan as an evidence of the g o v e r n m e n t ’ s sensitivity and demonstration of its good and noble intentions.

Jonathan, on Friday, flagged-off the reconstruction project which will gulp N167 billion with the declaration that it will be delivered by 2017, though there are indications that it may be delivered in 30 months, ahead of the scheduled period.

Commending the Federal Government’s decision to reconstruct the road adjudged the busiest in Africa, Mimiko, in a statement by his Commissioner for Information, Mr Kayode Akinmade, issued in Akure, yesterday, said generations unborn will remain grateful to the Jonathan administration for the overhauling of the road which has become a dead trap.

“This step is indeed noble and the name of this administration has no doubt been written in gold for taking the bull by the horn and ensuring a lasting solution to the dead trap called Lagos-Ibadan expressway,”he said.

Pleading with the president to ensure that the project is professionally handled and delivered on time, Mimiko said the decision to reconstruct the road is a blessing to Nigerians and the South-west in particular even as he asked road users to take cognisance of the repair and drive more carefully on the road.

makes sense that if the future our dear state, Katsina, is to be bright and secure, nothing is too much to do to advance that cause.

When my administration came in for the first tenure in 2007, one of the areas we looked at was human capital development. For us to develop our human capital, we needed adequate investments in education without necessarily neglecting other sectors”.

Most youths seek sex information – Lagos dep. gov Also speaking at the occasion, the deputy governor of Lagos State, Mrs Adejoke OrelopeAdefulire, said 88 percent of young people look for information about sexual health at some stages in their lives.

Orelope-Adefulire said that most young people seek advice and information from their neighbours, friends or peers when their parents are not forthcoming in educating them about sex in a negative way.

According to her, social media provide uncontrolled platform where they discuss sex issues with their friends but which constantly expose them to unhealthy i n f o r m a t i o n . ” The ability to monitor the development of our children should be our priority, as you will agree with me that parenting will solve a lot of problems that may arise from regular discussion, counselling and monitoring,”the deputy governor added.

The chairman of the occasion was Justice George Adeshola Oguntade (rtd).

Also present at the programme, among others, were the First Lady of Bauchi State, Mrs Biodun Yuguda; Rev Dele Babalola; and the book reviewer, Professor Ajike Osanyin.

Mrs Odu dies at 62

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RS Maria Ikwo Odu of Sawonjo Town, Yewa North LGA, Ogun State, is dead. She was aged 62.

According to the burial arrangement by the family, Christian wake takes place Thursday, July 11 while interment takes place in her husband’s compound at Sawonjo on Friday, July 12 and thanksgiving holds on Sunday July 14 at The Apostolic Church, Sawonjo She is survived by six children

Late Mrs Maria Ikwo Odu

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 — PAGE 7

L-R, Elder Godsday Orubebe, Minister of Niger Delta Affairs , President Goodluck Jonathan and Hon Seriake Dickson, Governor of Bayelsa State during President Goodluck Jonathan recent visit to Yenogoa, Beyelsa State

L-R, Rotarian Kehinde Ayo-Kasumu,President Rotary Club of Lagos,Seni Oduyoye,Director, Club Administration, Rotary club of Lagos with Daba Obioha,Director Public Relation Rotary Club Of Lagos And Otunba Henry Afolabi Alu,Director, Rotary Foundationat the Rotary club of Lagos Investiture ceremony of Rotarian Kehinde Ayo-Kasumu as the 53rd President and induction of Board of Directors held at Nigerian Law School, Victoria Island, Lagos .PHOTO BY AKEEM SALAU

Serve your people not political parties,Tambuwal tells political leaders

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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PEAKER of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, yesterday, urged elected political office holders to deemphasis the issue of the political party that brought them to power and serve the electorate.

According to him, what concerns them in the House of Representatives was how to serve the interest of the generality of Nigerians and not party politics. He stressed that finding solution to the problems facing Nigerians was what was uppermost to members of the National Assembly.

Tambuwal spoke in Benin-City during the birthday and silver jubilee wedding anniversary of the Deputy Governor

of Edo State, Dr Pius Odubu. Other dignitaries at the ceremony include Governor Adams Oshiomhole; Crown Prince of Benin Kingdom, Prince Ehenede Erediauwa; Chief John Odigie Oyegun; Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe; Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri; National Assembly members; PDP leaders; and wives of the deputy governors of Enugu and Delta states.

The Speaker said, “When the deputy governor was speaking, he did mention that majority of our members from 1999 till date, several are here seated in this hall; that conveys a very important and significant message of the character of the House of Representatives. In the House of Representatives, whether serving or out of office, all members are of

the same family.

“We are always consulting and should any of us have an event, we take time out to be there. The Deputy Leader of the House, who is supposed to be the number two PDP member of the House, Hon.Theo Ogogo of Isoko Kingdom, is seated here to support our brother the deputy governor. So many of us

from different parties, ANPP, CPC, ACN, PDP are seated here.

“What concerns us as a House is the Federal Republic of Nigeria because we represent constituencies that are delineated based on the population of the Nigerian people. And the moment you are elected a member, you are expected to serve and represent

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

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igeria Governors Forum (NGF) has outlive d its usefulness

and, therefore, should enter into voluntary liquidation, according to the former acting managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Pastor Power Ziakede Aginighan. Aginighan, in

a statement at the weekend entitled, ‘One Governors Forum, Two Chairmen; The Needless Distraction’, said the confusion over the chairmanship election of the NGF had brought to the fore some of the aberrations in the Nigerian polity.

“Instead of being servants of the people for whom they should have

Court halts presentation of candidate for office

BY LEKAN BILESANMI

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ore trouble is brewing in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the July 20 special national convention of the party as an Abuja High Court has restrained it from accepting the candidature of Chief Olisa Metuh for the position of National Publicity Secretary in the polls to be held during the convention.

The court gave the order in a suit filed by two PDP members from Metuh’s home state of Anambra: Hon Kenneth Enemuo and Chisata Okoye.

Metuh was the National Publicity Secretary in the recently dissolved PDP

in the state led by the former deputy governor of the state, Lucky Imasuen, Odubu pointed out that despite the political affiliations, “ we are all brothers”. He added, “And I want to urge my friends and brothers in the PDP to support this administration because Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole has done well for Edo State”.

Governors Forum has outlived usefulness —Ex-NDDC boss

MORE TROUBLE AHEAD OF PDP CONVENTION NEC and is believed to be seeking re-election in the special national convention.

Defendants in the case are the PDP, the National Chairman, Alhaji Bamangar Tukur; Metuh; Colonel Austin Akobunbu (rtd) on behalf of himself and South-east PDP zonal executive and Prof Jerry Gana, for himself and on behalf of the PDP special national convention planning committee.

The restraining order was imposed by the court pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The court also restrained the defendants from refusing the plaintiffs from participating at the special national convention.

that particular constituency irrespective of which platform of the party you have contested the election and won.

Therefore whatever we do in the House, we consider the federation of Nigeria as a basis of our decision”.

While expressing his gratitude to the Speaker and other dignitaries that attended the ceremony including PDP members

The plaintiffs grouse against the candidature of Metuh in the election due to be held at the PDP special convention is that whereas the Office of the National Publicity Secretary was zoned to Anambra State in 2012, “since the inception of PDP, Anambra South Senatorial District has been representing Anambra State at both Zonal and National Working Committee with Olisa Metuh alone spending over 10 years, to the exclusion of other 2 zones of Anambra North Senatorial District and Anambra Central Senatorial District.”

Enemuo, in an affidavit in support of motion on notice, made the

following claims: “That prior to the 21 March 2012 National Convention, the then South East zonal Executive Committee of PDP and the then National Executive Committee of PDP imposed, Chief Olisa Metuh, 3rd Defendant in this Suit, who is from Anambra South Senatorial District of Anambra State, on the people of Anambra State as the sole nominated candidate for post of National publicity Secretary of PDP to the exclusion of any other person and contrary to our zoning arrangement to Anambra North Senatorial District and Anambra Centra l Senatorial District of Anambra State.”

some regard, governors in Nigeria have become very powerful that they conduct themselves as feudal lords over the commonwealth of Nigerians entrusted to them in their respective states,”the immediate past Executive D irector, Finance and Administration of the NDDC and a former governorship aspirant in Delta State said. He pointed out that the National Economic Council and council of state were enough constitutional bodies for the governors to engage the president if there is the need rather than resorting to bickering in the NGF. “The lofty idea of having a Governors Forum reportedly copied from the United States of America as a forum for peer review has u n f o r t u n a t e l y metamorphosed into a platform for very intense influence politics amongst our governors with the attendant waste of resources direly needed to provide better living conditions for Nigerians. Instead of sitting down at the various state capitals to take strategic leadership decisions, our Governors now criss-cross the Nation with retinue of aides attending meeting of one Governors Forum or the other,”he added. .Aginighan continued: “As long as men get elected into positions in Nigeria because of very

deep pocket, ‘godfatherism’ or ‘power connection’ and not through the wish of the electorate expressed through the ballot, the spectre of very powerful elected officials who get away anything they do will remain with us.

Ordinarily, one would have expected the various Houses of Assembly to call their Governors to order.

But how can they do so when it is well known that most State legislators got elected at the behest of their Governors.’’

Boeing 777 crash lands at US airport

BY TONY NWANKWO,

with agency reports

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n Asiana Airlines B oeing 777 flying from Seoul crashed while landing, yesterday, at San Francisco International Airport, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said. FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said it was flight No. 214, and it was unclear how many people were on board. Images from television station KTVU in San Francisco showed extensive fire damage to the airplane, which had lost its tail in the crash. Fire engines were on scene and the fire, which had burned through the cabin’s roof, appeared to be out.

PAGE 8—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

BY FEMI FANI-KAYODE

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Mr. Edward Snowden, the whistleblower

President of Bolivia, Evo Morales

Spies, ‘kidnappers’ and Obama right-thinking and discerning person that America, under Obama, is a nation that has literally been driven mad by its own paranoia and obsessions and that is completely drunk on power.

Their ultimate objective is to control the entire world and to impose their will on each and every one of us.

I commend the courage of those truly progressive nations and leaders that have condemned the Americans and their allies on this issue, that have defied American imperialism and that have stood up for Snowden for exposing the illegal and immoral acts of the Obama administration.

These nations include Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba and a number of other Carribean and Latin American countries. I also commend Julian Assange’s Wikileaks organistation for standing by him as well and I commend Russia and China for refusing to hand him over to America.

It is the courage of those world leaders that are strong enough and that have cultivated the fortitude, the resolve, the decency and the humanity to rise up to the occasion, to stand up for the weak and to look the American bully in the eye and say ‘’thus far and no further’’ that keeps the rest of us going.

Nigerian, German, French outrage

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et the revelations of the excesses of the American state did not stop there.

During the course of the

week, they were also caught spying on some of their own European allies and friends. The fact that the American National Security Agency (aka ‘’No Such Agency”) have bugged the telephones and internet activities of government officials, government buildings and foreign embassies of their closest allies in the world was brought to the attention of the world.

dark secrets by the American state were exposed by Snowden’s concerning the new PRISM system that the Obama administration is now using to spy on every individual and every government in the world. The implications of this are frightful and obvious to even the dullest amongst us and frankly speaking it is disgraceful. Now I ask- where are the defenders of America

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HAT an eventful and exciting week. Last week, US President Barack Obama came to Africa, the Bolivian President was ‘kidnapped’ and the most damaging revelations about the American state spying on some of her own most trusted allies was brought to the public realm. I will touch on all three of these events in this contribution.

In a futile attempt to apprehend the 30-yearo l d A m e r i c a n whistleblower, M r. Edward Snowden, a plane that was carrying the President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, was diverted to Austria on its way back to Bolivia from Russia.

France and Portugal, based on intelligence reports from the Americans, closed their airspace to the plane because they believed that Snowden was on it and that he was being secretly smuggled to Bolivia.

This was a plane that was part of the Bolivian state’s presidential fleet and that was carrying the President of that country. Bolivia is a sovereign state which is not at war with anyone. This act was not only grossly disrespectful to Bolivian but it also violated international law and all the norms and rules of international diplomacy and decency. I t w a s a c l e a r breach of the Vienna Convention on international flights which says that the aircraft of the leader of any sovereign state has immunity and cannot be treated in such a manner. To make matters worse, the presidential plane was searched and President Morales, by his own words, was treated as if he were nothing more than a ‘’common criminal’’. I would have to agree with the Bolivian Vice President that, in actual fact, Morales was actually ‘’kidnapped by America, her European allies and the forces of imperialism’’.

He was eventually released and allowed to fly home but up until then President Morales was holed up at the airport in Vienna for no less than nine hours even though it immediately became clear to all that Snowden was not on his plane. This was a truly shameful episode. When the Americans and their allies treat leaders from the smaller and weaker nations of the world in such a way simply because those nations and those leaders have stood up for truth and justice and have resisted their ignoble quest to persecute the innocent and conquer the world, it diminishes us all.

From this incident alone, it ought to be clear to every

From this incident alone, it ought to be clear to every right-thinking and discerning person that America, under Obama, is a nation that has literally been driven mad by its own paranoia and obsessions and that is completely drunk on power

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The Europeans, quite rightly, have not taken the matter lightly. The reaction of the French President, Francois Hollande, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has been one of absolute outrage and they have all wholeheartedly condemned the behaviour of the Americans in very harsh terms. They even went as far as to suggest that this matter could affect the massive deal on trade regulations that the two economic powerhouses were about to begin negotiations on. All these illegal acts and

now and where are the Obama-lovers? Will they seek to defend this illegal, despicable and treacherous act of the Americans (who are prepared to go as low as to spy on even their own allies) as well? I say shame on them, shame on America and kudos to Snowden. He has exposed the illegal and indefensible acts of the American state and he has proved to the world that they seek to secretly watch, monitor and record the activities of every single nonAmerican on the planet. It is left to the rest of us to either resign our fate to God and accept it sheepishly or to resist it as best as we can with our loud protests until we get

our privacy and our security back. I am encouraged by the fact that even our very own President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration were also taken aback by this spying scandal and that they actually cultivated the courage to ‘’warn the Americans’’ about their spying ways. On this issue I commend our President and our government.

Obama and Africa

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his brings me to the issue of Obama’s visit to Africa. There can be little doubt that when President George W. Bush was in power he did a lot for Africa with his PEPFAR initiative which saved the lives of millions of Africans and protected them from AIDS. Yet did not stop there. He also gave more financial aid to African countries than any American President that ever came before him, he supported Nigeria’s bid for debt relief and and debt cancellation and, with his full implementation of President Bill Clinton’s AGOA initiative, he helped African businesses to grow by opening up the American market to their consumer and agricultural products. These are just some of the things that George W. Bush did for Africa. By way of contrast, Obama has done next to nothing for us and has in fact dramatically reduced American aid, trade and support for our continent.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 9

"Transformation! what Transformation?"

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

ASUU/ASUP: One strike too many Dear Sir,

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HE importance of education to the growth and development of any nation cannot be over emphasized. Education is so crucial to economic growth that any nation that genuinely hopes to develop must vehemently and consistently appropriate a large chunk of its budget to developing its educational sector.

This is because without education, no nation would attain meaningful economic and socio-political development.

Now when we talk of our leaders being responsible, what we are saying is that they should stop paying lip service to the educational sector. There is no doubt that the best legacy any parent can give to their children is quality education, so our leaders should realize that there is urgent need to overhaul the comatose educational sector in Nigeria because we cannot develop if we as a nation do not have a sound educational system. The fact is that there is hardly any segment of our educational system that does not require urgent attention. From the primary, secondary to the tertiary education in Nigeria, the same story of neglect abounds. But this time around, we are tired of promises, so we want action on the part of government.

Two months into the nationwide strike embarked upon by the Academic Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) the Academic Union of Universities (ASUU) has now

embarked on an indefinite nationwide strike over the failure of the Federal Government to implement a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with ASUU with respect to paying lecturers ‘‘EARN’’ allowance of N12,500 per month.

While several moves had been made on the part of ASUU to ensure the government implements the agreement, these had yielded no results over the years hence their decision to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike as a last resort.

The Nigerian education sector is presently in a state of rot due to perennial neglect by successive governments and one wonders how we can attain the vision 20:2020 if education is not given utmost priority in the scheme of things.

ASUU on their part had reduced the

‘‘EARN’’ allowance, which is the bone of contention, to 80% but the Federal Government had agreed to pay 50%.

The issue here is why would government legally enter into agreements and renege on such agreements? It beats one’s imagination that matters regarding education are handled with utmost levity by the government. Yet we cannot develop if education is relegated to the background in the scheme of things.

There is no equality in a system where a local government councillor earns three or four times the salary of a university lecturer. Any system that relegates teachers’ welfare to the background will definitely produce half-baked graduates and graduates who cannot prove their mettle in the labour market. Why would government wait until lecturers embark on strike

before taking action? Does it mean that strike action is the only language the Nigerian government understands?

When are we going to get to a time when lecturers will no longer embark on strikes in Nigeria.

The Federal Government should urgently call ASUP and ASUU to a roundtable and iron out the issues with them so that they can call off the strike as soon as possible to avoid the negative consequences of these avoidable strike actions. We want action now from the government and not mere promises. It is high time we discouraged strike action as the only tool that can coerce government into action on matters of public concern.

Tayo Demola Public affairs analyst, Lagos. tayodemola@gmail.com

Road blocks: An appeal to Inspector General of Police Dear Sir,

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E wish to commend your banning of police road blocks across the country.

Since the time you made this announcement, traversing the Benin, Oghara, Mosogar, Jesse, Amukpe, and Warri highway has been peaceful.

Driving along the road has been less stressful and the presence of the Joint Task Force,JTF, has drastically removed the hoodlums who

specialized in robbing travellers of their belongings. The then police check points were not able check the criminalities along the highway.

Surprisingly, police check points are bouncing back ferociously with its attendant agony, delays, unnecessary bickering, wasting of time and hostile interrogation. This police come back is prevalent from Oghara, Mosogar, Jesse and AmukpeWarri axis of the road.

Sir, we are appealing to you to stop this menace that is rearing its ugly head again. There has been peace along this road and the people here have been praising your commendable stopping of the check points and the JTF for their marvelous crime bursting without unnecessary power show.

John Odeh writes in from Jesse Town, Delta State

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

SS mutiny: PDP’s ship of counterkerous elements –2 L

asked him to stay on. That shows how much control the Captain has over the ship. Unfortunately, the Captain did not consult us, Area Boys, we would have advised him that, “it is useless pushing a drunkard; he will fall down all by himself ”. Captain should have waited…He should wait; the CE will end up in the sea. Mark my words.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer, who defied the Captain, is experiencing revolt from the crew himself. He recently ordered two cabin heads, one in the Southsouth and the other in the Northwest wing of SS MUTINY to leave the ship on suspension. The Southsouth cabin head ignored him (perhaps because he believes that “silence is the best answer for..”); the Northwest cabin head sent a reply to the suspension order telling the Chief Engineer that the fellow is not only unfit to be Chief Engineer but should go and jump in the ocean; and suggesting that Chief Engineer should be thrown overboard if he refused to take a dive willingly. Can you now see why Captain should have waited for Chief Engineer to do himself in?

Bedlam is the only way to

Imagine Nigeria "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -- Eleanor Roosevelt HE Obamas made a trip to sub Saharan Africa with all the fanfare that one would expect from a consummate head of state, diplomat and an enigma. Barak and his family made the best use of the opportunity that the position of the first family bestowed; visiting prestigious people, iconic places and making appearances and speeches to inspire the young and show the old guards how it is done with ease and charisma filled with the Obama aplomb.

President Barack Obama focused on Nelson Mandela's legacy and democratic progress in an address aimed at South Africa's youth.

Obama in his rousing speech said: "The reason I came to Africa is because Africa is rising, and it is in the United States' interests - not simply in Africa's interests - that the United States doesn't miss the opportunity to deepen and broaden the partnerships and potential here" and he asked South African youths "to seize a moment of great promise" whilst pointing to the legacy of Mandela and

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the ailing anti-apartheid leader's long-held vision of equality and opportunity.

Obama was in no illusion that progress in Africa is fragile and he stressed that Africa needs to focus on expanding opportunity, promoting democracy and supporting peace.

He was in his usual astute and au-fait manner and got the attention of those that matter- the youths. For he knows with them, lies the future of Africa. He also told his attentive audience of the new US initiative to help improve access to electricity,that's a start.

By the look on the young people listening to every single word of the speech, it must have resonated with the young that someone that important said that they matter and that in their hands is the future.

So some Nigerians grumbled and felt slighted that the Obama Caravan missed Nigeria. I hear some said it was a snub that how could he snub the giant of Africa? Really? What has the giant done of late to warrant his status? Why do we always cling to our potential and not striving to ensure that we are indeed who we say we are ?. We need to rise above

describe what is going on in the rest of the PDP ship.

One Southsouth cabin head, scheduled to get off the boat, in 2015, suddenly coveted the bunk of another cabin member. Without consultations with the owner of the cabin, Southsouth cabin head announced that the owner had conceded

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“A group without a leader is a mob”.

ATE President John Kennedy, 1917-1963, of the United States, in his classic, PROFILES IN COURAGE, recalled a Senator who told anyone, who cared to listen, “I never quarrel; but I fight. And when I fight, a funeral follows”. From the second year of PDP in Nigeria, the party had left a trail of blood. They never quarrel; but they fight. Till today, over twenty murders remain unsolved as a result of PDP members fighting as elections approach. What we are witnessing now is probably the warm-up to 2014 mayhem. By this time next year, a few funerals would have followed the fights. There is absolute bedlam in that “ship”.

On any other ship, the Captain’s word is law – but not here on SS MUTINY. Three weeks ago, the Captain ordered the Chief Engineer, CE, to hand over to somebody else and get off the ship. Two days after the order was given, the Chief Engineer, not only announced to everybody, including the Captain, that he was going nowhere; he made good on his defiance by calling a meeting of the engineers and mates who

palaver there might not remain non-violent for much longer. Three of the combatants are retired, but not tired, military men – a full General and former PDP ship Captain, a Colonel and a Commodore – all are, by training, as stubborn as donkeys. The former Captain, unlike Mandela, Bush, or Blair, who left partisan politics, when their days were done, had refused to stay on his Hill top mansion. He labours under the illusion that he is indispensable and he is totally immune to insults. Because of the obstinate refusal of the ex-General to go and rest, the Southwest wing of the mutiny ship is in full disarray. Any meeting called by one faction is sure to be challenged by another faction. “A group without a

Over N50 trillion had been budgeted and spent, yet today, fourteen years after we started out on the new democratic dispensation, all we can see is the same internal struggle within the party to seize power and to loot the public purse

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the bunk to Oga of Southsouth cabin; he appointed the bunk owner as the “Manager ” of his cheerleaders. Bunk owner, taking that as a slap in the face, responded with an uppercut to the jaw of Southsouth Oga. They are still going at it and blood might flow or someone might disappear any time soon; this is happening at one of the kidnap states of Nigeria; reminding historians of what happened there in 2009-2011.

Southwest wing of SS MUTINY is undergoing low violence free for all; the

leader is a mob”; as we all know. The Southwest wing is leaderless; so you know what they are; or don’t you?

Out of the thirty six power-holders in Nigeria, PDP has twenty two as cabin heads in SS MUTINY. As at last count, seven of them are not on speaking terms with the Captain. Six of them combined with outsiders to hand the Captain a black eye and a bleeding nose when he poked his nose into the affairs of the thirty six power-drunkards. His tag team partners returned to the Captain’s cabin blood-

mediocrity and move towards excellence and 100% commitment.

Why should he? After all, the malingering state of our nation is there for all to see, except for those who remain deluded and out of touch with reality; the systematic corruption, forgotten generation, rise in unemployment, lack or nonexistence basic health and social care, human rights violations, broken down judicial and greedy legislators, and not to mention grand scale nation wide in-

leaders flout the rule of law?

Whatever the reason for Obama's omission, so if we call ourselves Giant of Africa when all we can muster is feeble purr? Whatever it is felt happened by his absence we should ask ourselves if it is really important in the full scheme of things, that Obama's one day hub-nobbing with our politicians, who would have argued and justified spending more money to grandstand the short stop over?.

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Nigeria is not worthy of a visit and pandering to our leaders does not serve the needs of ordinary Nigerians. On the contrary, it would have endorsed their corrupt behaviour and greed

security .

I do wonder at times about why we as Nigerians, like to show-off to the rest of the world about hosting leaders such as President Obama rather than for us, to focus on the main issues of solving our problems at home, protecting and looking after our citizens abroad, let us mend our extensive break-down of law and orders, the over inflated egos of our leaders and loss of humanity towards one another. So what makes us think that every head of state of note should kowtow and pay us a visit?

Should we for one moment of appearance that he had not mentioned that Nigeria is failing its citizens, that corruption is rife and our

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Will the lives of ordinary Nigerians change? So in my opinion, it is not what people call you that counts, it is what you answer to! I really don't think anyone refers to Nigeria as the giant of Africa but ourselves.

If this is the case, are we truly that? What is the point of believing we are giant of Africa and have no presence of mind or grace to better our people? Nigeria is not worthy of a visit and pandering to our leaders does not serve the needs of ordinary Nigerians. On the contrary, it would have endorsed their corrupt behaviour and greed.

And Obama in his speech was addressing this very issue"History shows us that

ied and booed by spectators. Altogether, it has been a “bloody business” for Captain. Never in the history of Nigerian politics had a Captain of a ship faced such mutiny as this one. Yet, he still has duty to bring the ship safely to port.

Can he?

JOKES APART. “A political deserves the approbation of Americans [or any country in the world] only as it represents the ideals, the aspirations and the hopes of the [people]. If it is anything less, is is merely a conspiracy to seize power ”, President Dwight Eisenhower, 18901969, November 7, 1956.

That the PDP is in disarray can only be disputed by the greatest liars on earth.

The same individuals would probably deny that the PDP, which prides itself on being the largest political party in Africa, has never and probably will never represent the “ideals, the aspirations and the hopes of the Nigerian people”.

Right from the first day of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in office on May 29, 1999, the PDP had constituted itself into a conspiracy against the people of Nigeria. Three PDP presidents, from three different zones of Nigeria - the Southwest, the Northwest and, now, the Southsouth – have occupied the presidency at Aso Rock from 1999 till today. Over N50 trillion had been budgeted and spent, yet today, fourteen years after we started out on the new democratic dispensation, all we can see is the same internal struggle within the party to seize power and to loot the public purse.

My first book on the PDP, titled PDP: CORRUPTION

INCORPORATED, covered part of the Obasanjo years in office. It was a shameful episode in Nigeria’s history. Some of those who are leaders of PDP today were also top members of the biggest of Abacha’s political parties, UNCP, and, would have gladly supported Abacha becoming the civilian president in 1998.

Foreign governments, even now, are still returning Abacha loot to Nigeria. So what has changed? “Show me your friends……”.

Obasanjo’s administration has not been called to come and account for the about N8 trillion of public funds. Jonathan has had three years to do it and he is clearly not interested in accountability by his predecessors. Obviously, the only way we are ever going to get Obasanjo and others, who handled public funds from 1999 to 2007, to account for them, is to have a new political organization in the Federal government.

The second volume of PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED will cover the periods between 2006, tail end of Obasanjo’s government, to 2012 which covers Yar’Adua’s two and a half years plus two years of President Jonathan.

From all the evidence available to me, nothing has changed. In fact, more trillions of public funds have disappeared without trace in the six years. The continuity, which those supporting the PDP government seek, is nothing more than the licence to continue in office for personal gain of top party insiders, the parasitic private sector and their close associates.

Visit: www.delesobowale.com

progress is only possible where governments exist to serve their people and not the other way around," he said, drawing cheers from the crowd". And he continued "Across Africa, the same institutions that should be the backbone of democracy can all too often be infected with the rot of corruption. The same technology that enables record profits sometimes means widening a canyon of inequality" . So it is there for all to see and we should not deny the status quo, it is what it is.

So we need to get off our high horse put our house in order and stop throwing tantrums, when people do not acknowledge our presence. Only insecurity espouses such attitude if we are confident in our abilities,we won't for once care how people behave towards us because we would know who we are and be assured of our self-worth .

Bet they didn't see that coming!

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."-- Epicurus You know how they say that a day is a long time in politics? It truly is a long time. I had planned my page days in advance that but when I awoke on Thursday morning,I had to shelf my story. Watching the news that morning I heard that President Morsi was out, that the army was in.

The president and his men have been held by the army in an unknown location.

The Egyptians had spoken, they came out en

masse and they were determined that come what may, they had enough of their democratically elected president and they wanted him out. They returned to Tahir Square, the symbolic home for people's power, they refused to be moved unless their demands were met;the resignation of Morsi.

Morsi thought he could ride it out, gave in a little but a little too late. The army waded in and gave him an ultimatum, he still was not budging. In fact, he point-blank refused and that he was legitimately elected and could not be forced to resign that he would rather lay down his life for his country. Admirable as that is,in the end, the army moved quickly and decisively.

The Army general, AlSisi addressed the nation only 48 hours after the military issued its ultimatum to Morsi to yield to weekend protests of millions of demonstrators nationwide.

In his address to the nation, the General said,the armed forces felt it had no choice but to dismiss the president and "contain the cause of division and the roots of tensions and confront the challenges to exit the current crisis."

I have experienced several coups in Nigeria and its state of political uncertainty and it is only when you have experienced life under the army regime,that you value your rights and life as a free person.

For the Egyptians,they wanted a change and risk the army coming in over Morsis' government .

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 11

ed or indeed of becoming victims of ‘stray bullets’ keep away from the sacred civic duty of voting. In Oguta, security operatives armed to the teeth were eve-

rywhere. They reportedly rounded off a batch of thugs numbering about 20 at Agwa community, disarmed and arrested them, yet; there was still ample snatching of ballot boxes.

Considering the numerous stories of how security personnel act scripts of the highest bidders by intimidating likely opponents, what would be the fate of the 2015 elections?

As for the Judiciary, the handling of election controversies has become the weakest point in its constitutional mandate which is the settlement of disputes.

There are by far too many examples of how politicians often used the judiciary to win elections in Nigeria. For the 2015 elections, will our judges refrain from the trend of using technicalities to supplant substantive justice? In earnest, it is often quite difficult to comprehend the type of joy and peace which society can enjoy from certain judicial pronouncements. For example, the Ondo State election tribunal had declined jurisdiction to look into the petitioner’s complaint that several unlawful names were injected into the voters’ register which was used to conduct the election. To the tribunal, the ‘frivolous’ complaint was only a pre-election matter. How does a candidate get to know that fake names had been surreptitiously injected into the voter ’s register until their votes have been counted when in Nigeria even INEC does not know the authentic voters’ list? Put different-

ly, do the defects in a voters’ register become good because attention was drawn to them after the casting of ballots?

Luckily, the Court of Appeal overruled the tribunal.

It would not have been strange if it did not. After all, the same Court of Appeal which also ruled that it was a breach of the electoral law for INEC to have failed to display the voters’ register for the public to scrutinize properly before the election could not be persuaded that the issues were strong enough to have adversely affected the conduct of the election. Why should INEC not follow the law? Meanwhile, the most fundamental element of an election is the voters’ register because the number of polling stations, ballot boxes, ballot papers and other materials are usually determined by the numerical strength of the register.

When it is over listed, the extra ballot papers arising from the supposed figure in the register can be used to rig elections through multiple voting. When the register is under-listed, those excluded can cause chaos and general disruption of the voting day process.

Thus, if our subsisting inaccurate voters’ register and INEC’s temporary voters’ cards would be in use in 2015, should we expect success?

The injection of fake names into the Ondo voters’ register could only have been done by INEC - our electoral umpire that is permanently overwhelmed by any type of election. Did

the returning officer actually endorse the Oguta election result as alleged? No one knows. Whereas the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Professor Celina Okoh, eloquently described how the election was violently disrupted in certain polling centres which made INEC to declare the event as inconclusive, she made no mention of how election materials were as usual late to the centres. When it is a general election, people tend to sympathize with INEC for having to withstand some daunting logistics of elections associated with Nigeria’s difficult geographical terrains. When it is an election in only one State, the story is the same.

In Oguta - just one local government area, the election was in only 4 out of 11 wards for only one seat in the Imo State House of Assembly, yet media reports revealed that many voters became restive after waiting in vain for several hours for the election process to commence. When will INEC conduct an election where materials do not arrive late to an election centre? Even smaller issues call for concern. As of today, the commission as a referee uses only the green card. It does not appear to have a red card. The last time it summoned courage to wave a yellow card at the ruling party about defects in its National Convention, it did so one year after the event! What a referee for the all important 2015 elections!!

not managing it wisely.

Moreover, given government's half-hearted implementation of agreements with ASUU in the past, the union is justified in thinking that government does not really intend to keep its own side of the bargain this time around also. Nevertheless, if indeed it is true, as Okojie alleged, that ASUU did not get back to government after its National Executive Council meeting at Olabisi Onabanjo University before announcing the strike, then the union acted in bad faith.

Why is ASUU in a hurry to

Yet, it would be intellectually dishonest, and false, not to highlight some of the ways lecturers have contributed to the financial problems in various publicowned universities. To begin with, university authorities across the country, just like politicians in government right now, are guilty of financial recklessness and mismanagement of resources.

Government-owned universities derive funds from two principal sources, namely, government subventions and internally generated revenue (or IGR). In terms of IGR, authorities of the University of Lagos are working very hard to optimise the revenue-generating potentials of the institution. But there are many leakages in the financial

necessary, foreign trips embarked upon by top management staff of the universities.

All this constitutes a huge financial burden on the system and prevents university authorities from paying lecturers what is due to them. Why are the local branches of ASUU unwilling or unable to demand accountability and transparency from relevant principal officers of their various universities? ASUU must begin to look inwards because several Vice Chancellors, bursars etc. will not survive painstaking scientific audit of their institutions: corruption and misappropriation of funds are not the exclusive preserve of politicians - there are also bad eggs in the universities.

Again, I do not support indefinite strike because of its negative effects on students and other stakeholders, including lecturers. Frequent disruptions in the academic calendar compromise academic quality, frustrate students and prolong the duration of academic programmes. The social costs are immense too, for both students and their families.

It is disappointing that ASUU does not consider it appropriate to conduct a thorough scientific study of the repercussions of frequent strikes on various stakeholders within and outside the university system. As academics, we are supposed to manifest an unceasing desire for knowledge and truth.

Therefore, how can we, seekers and custodians of knowledge at the highest level resort to strikes ad nauseam without corroborating evidence of its overall effectiveness in improving the system? The mere fact that our salaries in-

crease after each strike does not necessarily mean that we have become better lecturers and researchers, let alone guarantee positive change in other variables that determine the quality of knowledge impartation in the universities. Let us tell ourselves the truth: funding is a serious problem militating against high standards and best practices in Nigerians universities and government is the major culprit here. However, the kind of students and lecturers in our institutions of higher learning nowadays, I submit, is a bigger problem. Many students are not in school to be educated; they just want to get certificates as soon as possible and join the rat race for primitive accumulation.

On the other hand, the spirit and attitude of people joining the academic profession, especially in the last fifteen years, is a negation of what the spirit and attitude of a genuine academic should be.

Of course, teaching in a university is fundamentally a vocation. Thus, anyone that chooses it must be prepared to put the quest for truth above everything else.

Unfortunately, a crowd of self-centred, hypocritical, promotion-intoxicated careerists who are afraid to tell senior colleagues that run the system the plain truth, especially when the latter perform badly increasingly dominate the academia. Some of these misfits are so fanatic about strikes that they would resort to violence to prevent dissenters like me from teaching, forgetting that when everyone is thinking and acting alike, not much critical thinking is going on. CONCLUDED.

2015 elections in Nigeria may fail have never been able to bring our political thugs and their sponsors to book.

Therefore, is it not time to go beyond the usual focus on the ignoble roles of our politicians during elections? While not condoning such unwholesome posture, the rationale for the conduct of our political class which is to win an election at all cost is easy to identify. But how do we place the

(c) the electoral body.

Ensuring that malpractices do not mar an election is no doubt rational. It is ostensibly for this reason that an election venue in Nigeria often takes the pattern of a battle field with far too many armed personnel hovering around. Unfortunately, the so called security operatives often become the problem as many voters for fear of being molest-

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N Saturday June 29, 2013, an elec tion was held in Oguta constituency of Imo State. The umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, says it could not declare a winner because the contest was inconclusive. This time around, those who are usually fast at commending the Jega led INEC have been a bit cautious. The truth however is that INEC has never performed above average. As one newspaper aptly opined the other day, those who praise our elections are “those who lower standards to accommodate mediocrity”. It was thus a relief to hear that President Goodluck Jonathan has himself showed disgust over the outcome of the Oguta election - an event which in reality was not in any way different from our other elections. Against this backdrop, we agree with the President that those who made the rerun election in Oguta to be inconclusive must be brought to book.

History tells us that we

Ensuring that malpractices do not mar an election is no doubt rational. It is ostensibly for this reason that an election venue in Nigeria often takes the pattern of a battle field with far too many armed personnel hovering around

other actors in the game who are supposed to be neutral? Do they too have an election to win? Relevant here are (a) Security operatives, (b) the Judiciary and

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PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

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NCE again, anoth er round of insen sate indefinite strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has paralysed academic activities in federal and state universities nationwide. According to the union, the decision to go on strike stems from government's insincerity and lack of seriousness, which led to the non-implementation of some provisions of the 2011 agreement.

Specifically, the issue concerns "earned allowances," that is, allowances meant for the excess workload by lecturers, which include teaching more students than the recommended number, supervision of postgraduate dissertations, and sundry administrative functions performed by lecturers. For me, President Goodluck Jonathan is a great disappointment to his former colleagues, considering the fact that as a former lecturer, he should have invested heavily and wisely in the educational sector. When military dictators were in power, they put a lot of money into defence because that is their primary constituency.

There is no good reason why a former academic should not give preferential treatment to the education sector, because well-educated human capital is the most important factor in national development. As I

have always argued whenever ASUU resorts to indefinite strike, successive federal and state governments have never lived up to their responsibilities to institutions of higher learning in the country. This is because of heart-rending corruption and lack of deep appreciation by political office holders of the fundamental role sound tertiary education plays in national development, especially now that we a living in a knowledgedriven globalising world.

Speaking of corruption, Jonathan's administration lacks the moral authority and iron will to deal with it decisively. Consequently, scarce public funds that ought to be used to improve education and other critical sectors of our national life are looted and the remainder is wasted on the sybaritic lifestyles of top government functionaries.

That said, the reaction of Prof. Julius Okojie, Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission (NUC) to the current strike is disingenuous. According to him, ASUU should have persevered because the amount it presented to government for settling the unpaid allowances was huge.

Prof. Okojie ignored the fact that there is enough money to meet most of ASUU's demands, but President Jonathan and other top public office holders are

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Why I am against ASUU's frequent indefinite strikes (1)

I do not support indefinite strike because of its negative effects on students and other stakeholders, including lecturers

declare an indefinite strike just for earned allowances, to which only some lecturers are entitled anyway? In my view, considering the serious damages to the universities caused by frequent indefinite strikes, ASUU should have been a little more patient, no matter the level of frustration with the unnecessary delays by government in paying the allowances.

From the foregoing, government is wrong in failing to abide by the terms of the agreement it has with representatives of the lecturers and deserves blame for giving ASUU an excuse to embark on strike once again.

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pipelines of our university system as a whole which prevent optimum utilisation of available resources to cater for the welfare of lecturers. For example, it appears that the universities are competing to see which one would have the largest fleet of redundant brand new cars and which Vice Chancellor would drive the biggest and most expensive jeeps. In addition, the new bureaucracies and directorates of questionable value to the growth of the system created in various universities cost a lot of money to maintain. We should not fail to mention the numerous, mostly un-

PAGE 12—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Mass Hysteria who has access to me unlike the Whatsapp messenger app that gives everyone who gets my phone number unfettered access. My grouse however is not with the different applications but with the mass hysteria being fuelled by a generation of messenger and Facebook addicts.

There is an intrinsic need we all have to belong and be a part of something or even an ideal. Belonging is a basic ingredient of our identity and the numerous forms we all have to fill from time to time reinforces the point that to exist you must be classified and identified as something. Most of us are identified by our sex, origin, religion and even passions. In the new age of terror, being an unknown quantity classifies one as suspect at best. So back to the topic at hand, mass hysteria was the only answer that came to mind

when a lady on my Blackberry messenger list posed a question. The background of the story is a tragedy of great proportions and it happened in the life of a young lady that I always found very humble, warm and reserved. She had walked into one of my stores in the company of a friend and told me about

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OCIAL media combined with technology has connected people all over the world. There are so many vehicles technology employs to marry very strange bedfellows. Face book and the numerous messenger applications have heralded the emergence of a new community.

The novelty of texting and messaging wore off with the popularity of the messenger applications and all the major technology players have launched one.

Most popular in this neck of the woods are the blackberry and Whatsapp messenger applications. They cost next to nothing and with smart phones being more affordable, they are the platforms of communication for everyone. My personal preference would be the blackberry as that affords one a higher level of privacy. I can determine

The tragedy I write about was not just what occurred in the past week but it had apparently began a few years back. It started with a pregnancy that resulted in a still birth and as painful as that must have been, it was followed a few years later by another pregnancy, thankfully a live birth but the child died two years later. I wasn't close enough to have known all of this and I probably wouldn't ever have if I had not seen her picture on a BB display with the dreaded R.I.P Status. Hers was a face I knew so I had asked the person who posted it if it was the same girl I knew. She was at best late twenties or early thirties, so it didn't make sense. It was tragically very true, that shy, young, deter-

Those who hop on the hysteria train should sober up and realise that life is terminal by nature; we are all dying and we will all die

her business. She was an artist and I had been particularly taken by her own simplistic manner of application. Her work was tasteful and reserved just like her and I always remembered her fondly.

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mined and very humble young lady had died. Her third try at procreation had cost her, her life. She died bringing a baby to life. Tragic; so very tragic!!

The little information I have conjures imageries of

FEATURE NEWS BLOODBATH IN WARRI

We will hit back – Itsekiri group *No retreat no surrender – Ijaw militia *Yoruba group sues for peace

BY EMMAAMAIZE, REGIONAL EDITOR, SOUTH-SOUTH, GODWIN OGHRE AND FESTUS AHON

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TSEKIRI ethnic na tionality in Delta State, yesterday, warned that there would be a full-blown war in Warri North Local Government Area of the state if the Egbema Radical Group, ERG, an Ijaw group suspected of turning the area into a killing field, last week, shed any more Itsekiri blood.

National chair of Itsekiri Youths Movement, IYM, Comrade Omolubi Newuwumi, issued the warning while reacting to the claim by the ERG that it would not allow local government elections or any other election to hold in the area unless its demands were met.

No fewer than 12 Itsekiri were killed and seven communities razed allegedly by the self-styled agitators, who, yesterday, dismissed the claim by security agents that they were on the run.

The spokesperson, Ami Dada, told Sunday Vanguard that, despite the claim by security agents that members of the group had gone into hiding, “It is not true that we are on the run, we have not gone into hiding, and there is no retreat, no surrender.”

Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, had, on Friday,

stated that the suspects were on the run following a massive manhunt for them by joint security operatives of the police and army.

It was gathered that the Joint Task Force, JTF, which had established new outposts and laid siege to suspected hideouts of the group, was planning on cutting off food supplies to the gunmen.

A source said leaders of the gunmen, however, got wind of the plan and had in place measures to get food items to them in their movable camps.

“These people are not from a particular Ijaw community, they are from different communities; one of their top leaders was an exmilitant leader that surrendered arms and accepted amnesty from the Federal Government. He operated in Bayelsa State, they build camps from place to place, and they are not in one place”, the source said.

“They can be here today and be in another place tomorrow, you cannot pin them to one particular location and they know the ways in the creeks”.

50/50 ratio Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, yesterday, ERG spokesperson, Dada, maintained, “We are not afraid of anybody, we stand by our quest for political emancipation of the Ijaws of Warri North, there is no peace and there will not be peace until our demands are addressed.

“We have said that Ijaw

Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan should also be allowed to produce the chair of Warri North, that is our position, there will be no election if an agreement is not reached on this matter. The Warri Peace Agreement has to be implemented, political offices have to be shared 50-50 between the Ijaw and Itsekiri ethnic nationalities in the local government for peace to reign”.

He denied that the group issued death threats through phone calls or text messages to Egbema-Ijaw leaders, notably ex-militant chiefs, “Gen” Ezekiel Akpasubowei and “Gen” Aroni, saying, “They are our brothers, we cannot threaten their lives, but the truth is that they are betraying the cause of the EgbemaIjaw. We leave them to their fate.”

Dada said the group was not responsible for Wednesday’s reported killing of a couple and child from Tisun community, adding, “if government was willing to address the matter, they were prepared to come for dialogue with national leader of Ijaw ethnic nationality, Chief Edwin Clark, as chief negotiator”.

Itsekiri will not accept more bloodshed - Newuwumi A furious Newuwumi responded, “I am warning that there will be a fullblown war in the creeks should Ijaw militants carry out any further onslaught on the Itsekiri people and kill any one of them again.”

The Itsekiri Youth Movement leader told Sunday Vanguard, “Itsekiri people will not allow people to spit on their face any longer,. As much as I am not advocating war, I am advising the Ijaw in Gbaramatu kingdom, Burutu, Bomadi, Rivers and Bayelsa to stay out of the matter and leave the few miscreants from Egbema-Ijaw to handle the crisis they have created.

“Since the rascals, that is what I believe they are, think that it is by killing innocent Itsekiri people and burning their communities that they can resolve the non-existent marginalization they are talking about in the local government, then, let us see how far they can go.

“They are saying that they will not stop even if their person wins election as the chairman of Warri North Local Government, this is what happened when they began a similar carnage in Warri South West Local Government Area, the Itsekiris conceded the leadership of the local government to them.

“Yet up till this moment, there is no peace in Warri South West. The Ijaw people want to do the same in Warri North”.

According to him, no ethnic group has monopoly of

pain, disappointment and I must confess I was sad. No one deserves these repeated or should I say avalanche of heartbreaks this young girl dealt with before eventually paying the ultimate price to attain the joy of motherhood; a joy she will never enjoy. Now I am sure you are wondering what this tragic situation has to do with the topic of mass hysteria; let me tell you. As is the case with social media, different pictures of the deceased showed up on a lot of displays and platforms and this is what prompted the question that inspired the column. A friend wondered why people that didn't even know the lady that died put up her pictures on their DP; was it just to spread gist? Or were they using a tragedy to belong? My answer is simple, mass hysteria!

So what is mass hysteria?

Its an out pouring of emotion that is overly dramatic, insensitive and very transient. We cant blame technology and social media for it, its not new; social media just amplifies it. It is sometimes fuelled by fear or guilt. Most of us are shaken when we see others cut short and our fear for ourselves trigger vapour like emotions that may be initially hot but temporary. Its why most people won't honour an invitation to a birth-

day party but will show up for that person's funeral and display grief. It is mourning without purpose as it does nothing for the living or the dead. The pain felt by friends and even family will eventually be classified as mass hysteria if it is not channelled productively. This particular tragedy has 2 main characters; the husband and the child.

That poor baby who will never know her mother's love, her husband; shell shocked by a loss that he can't explain; becoming both mother and father in such sorrow. It is hypocritical to celebrate someone in death yet pay no heed to who and what they left behind. I saw a lot of it when my mother died; so called friends vied to be seen and be relevant in the proceedings. They were no where to be found months after; 18 years later and they remain no where to be found. I hope the friends of the young lady who died realise that friendship transcends death and stay friends with that child.

Those who hop on the hysteria train should sober up and realise that life is terminal by nature; we are all dying and we will all die.

Any emotion which is not meaningful or even heart felt is hysteria. In this particular case it is hypocritical.

power in Nigeria. “Itsekiri people are human beings like every other Nigerian, and that they will no longer fold their hands while the Ijaw people take advantage of their peaceful nature to be slaughtering them like chickens”, Newuwumi said.

“Ijaw militants in the creek who are responsible for carnage should sheathe their swords and embrace dialogue or be prepared to face reprisal in case they kill any indigene of Itsekiri again.

“I can tell you that the waterways will henceforth be no more havens for Ijaw militants if they try it anymore”.

War Newuwumi’s warning came just as two Itsekiri groups in Warri North, Agbukumasa, led by Comrade Oma, Comrade Ogopele, Comrade Ojubaku, and Agbakara, led by Comrade Jimi and Comrade Deboy, yesterday, requested all Itsekiri chairmanship aspirants in the forthcoming local government elections in the area to suspend their interest and campaign.

Sunday Vanguard was informed that Itsekiri youths in the area were also preparing to to go war with the rampaging Ijaw youths if they were not called to order.

Govt insensitivity While the security agencies and the hoodlums are flexing muscle, Newuwumi said Itsekiri ethnic nationality was not happy that the federal and state governments have not deemed it fit, five days after the crisis erupted, to visit and send relief materials to the affected persons and communities.

“It smacks of insensitivity and irresponsibility on the part of government to sit down complacently while innocent citizens were being decimated in their own country without assistance when they know

that thousands have been rendered homeless and food scarcity has set in,” he said.

The Itsekiri youth leader called on the federal and state governments to proceed on a fact- finding tour of the the crisis-torn areas to ascertain the level of carnage inflicted on the people by Ijaw militants.

He frowned at the leadership of Olero and Didi communities for not speaking out or taking position on the on-going crisis, saying necessary disciplinary action would be taken against the leadership.

Newuwumi also slammed the member representing the area in the Delta State House of Assembly for not speaking out or coming to the aid of the people in his constituency since the crisis broke out.

O’odua coalition condemns bloodletting Meanwhile the Federal Government has been urged to bring to book those responsible for the Delta killings.

In a statement issued by the O’odua Nationalist Coalition (ONAC), of which the Itsekiri Nationalist Movement (INM) is a member, the group said the Federal Government must take full responsibility of bringing to book those responsible for the killings.

The group said it was aware that the figure of those killed is being kept in wrap to prevent a backlash adding that more people might have been killed as against the number given by the authorities. The group said the Itsekiri in Niger-Delta have been singled out for orchestrated massacre. The statement was signed by Mr Sunday Akinuoye on behalf of ONAC.The group said the continued targeting of Itsekiri in Delta may resisted in equal measure if the killings did not stop.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 13

RAJI FASHOLA UNSCRIPTED (1)

How the governor and his men rule Lagos T

his is the story of the Lagos State Executive Council, EXCO! More importantly, however, it is the story of a state governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, and how the state EXCO takes decisions that affect the millions of people living in the state. It is a story that is at once compelling and revealing. From the very serious to the very mundane and sometimes ridiculous, spending about 11hours observing the EXCO members and their chairman invokes a feeling of appreciation regarding what it takes to govern the complex state called Lagos. This is a first part in what can be described as a fairly formal environment. Another session, openended, would be presented.

“E mi-o ni gba o” (I no go gree-o, I won’t allow it) Abraham Lincoln once said that “if you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend”. That, perhaps, is what has kept Lagos State together under the governorship of Babatunde Raji Fashola. At first, it was like a very difficult pill to swallow for Lagosians – his style, the need to change Lagos State and make it a mega city, the demolitions, the new rules he created on how to operate and govern; the apolitical posturing, sometimes bordering on the stiff-necked – because the old style, the affable, politically induced aura of inclusiveness and tolerance that his successor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, had created, was seen by many as a template for success in governance.

But here was a man, a gangling lawyer, thrust upon a polity of clashing socio-economic-religious and political C M Y K

11 hours inside Lagos State EXCO meeting The heat, the exchanges and the jokes interests, in a manner most shocking; and pushing an agenda that was considered alien and finicky! It was so bad that even between Fashola and Tinubu, there was a disagreement on matters of style.

However, today, because Fashola took Lincoln’s admonition to heart, that there was need to first convince Tinubu and Lagosians that he is indeed a sincere friend, he has been able to win many, very many, to his cause.

Decisions thought to have been rash and anti-people appear to be yielding results. The catch-phrase in Lagos is, Eko o ni baje (conditions in Lagos will not be allowed to degenerate) Therefore, when Fashola told members of the EXCO, last Monday, that “E mi-o ni gba o”, he was insisting that he needed to make his position clear about the need to “keep faith with the promise and commitment made to the original shop owners of the burnt Tejuosho market”, by allowing them the right of first refusal – that is, allow them to come forward, make a bid to buy the shops and then be disqualified by their own incapacitation to comply.

This was at the 106th Lagos State Executive Council meeting.

A Council of Equals The observation of the EXCO meeting was up close.

The meeting started at exactly 9:20am: 2011-2015, 106th LSEC MEETING. The EXCO chambers, on the first floor of the Governor ’s Office, is well laid out. With 71 chairs, arranged on two simple terrace floors, it was a packed chambers and any form of lateness is

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By JIDE AJANI

Because Fashola took Lincoln’s admonition to heart, that there was need to first convince Tinubu and Lagosians that he is indeed a sincere friend, he has been able to win many, very many, to his cause

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not tolerated. The EXCO members are 43 in number (see box) Indeed, there are fines for infractions on the established rules of the EXCO meeting. As is always the case when Fashola has a private, close-knit public function, telephones are either kept at bay or totally switched off. So, at the security entrance in the buildings, all phones – including commissioners’ – had to be deposited.

Anxiously, you expected the governor to come in through a designated back door that links his office to the chambers but he was not forthcoming.

While you expected him, it was Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, the female deputy governor, who called the meeting to order.

And contrary to some views about her lack luster persona, she acquitted

herself with enviable dignity and decorum. She took charge.

“This meeting is called to order”, she bellowed into the microphone.

While a few of the commissioners were still bantering, she called them by their designation – “Works, please sit down; Agric, please the meeting is called to order ”.

Within seconds, there was pin drop silence in the EXCO chambers.

From where she sat at the head of the arrangement, to her immediate right was a vacant red leather chair; to her left is another woman, the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Dr. (Mrs) Idiat Oluranti Adebule. At the other end of the fiveseat arrangement sat the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ade Ipaye, and to his own left sat the Chief of Staff, Lanre Babalola.

Before the commencement of the meeting, the deputy governor announced the presence of the duo of Sam Omatseye (Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation) and I! We were warmly welcomed.

Businesslike, Adefulire started the meeting, she moderates while Fashola chairs.

“Let’s have a look at the minutes of the last EXCO meeting”, Orelope Adefulire announced – after an opening prayer.

Because you are not a member but a first time observer, the next thing you heard from the presiding deputy governor was a bit confusing: “Page 1, 2, 3, 4…….10, 11, 12, 13”.

At that point, one of the

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PAGE 14 —SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Inside Lagos EX CO cchamber hamber EXCO commissioners noted an observation in the minutes on page 13.

That was when it dawned on you that fast as she was reading out the numbers, the deputy was not merely engaging in numeral recitation. The commissioner noted a correction on page 13. After the formalities of making the correction, she continued counting.

There were other observations on pages 20 and 27.

It was a 34-page minute, printed on yellow papers.

Enter Raji Fashola

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t exactly 9:34, Governor Fashola cames in, dressed in a black bow tie, grey suit and a sky-blue shirt.

Devoid of any formality, he simply took his seat at the middle of the five seats at the head of the siting arrangement and the meeting continued as if nothing had happened.

His only interjection was to say that Omatseye and I were in the gathering to observe and “ you can behave and conduct yourself as if they are not here”. The governor added: They have earned their stripes and should know what to publish and what not to publish”.

That statement, coming from the governor, transferred the responsibility of censorship to us.

As he warmed his way into the meeting, he threw banters with the Economic Planning Commissioner, Ben Akabueze, the only non-Lagosian in the EXCO – he was inherited from the Bola Tinubu administration.

His entry did not in any way alter the course of engagement.

Perhaps, dwelling on the fable that the Executive Council of the Federation, EXCOF, meetings, when Olusegun Obasanjo was President, played out no more than a very powerful king holding court with subordinates, the EXCO meeting of Lagos State can be engaging.

Of importance is the quality of the discussion as would be discovered later.

There was an update on the issue of a pedestrian bridge that was reported to experience an “imminent collapse”.

To this, the Works Commissioner insisted that there was no “imminent collapse” but that the bridge was distressed..

“When you say imminent collapse”, the Works Commissioner charged, “it means the bridge would collapse today or tomorrow but when we inspected it, it showed that the bridge was distressed and we are already on it”.

Fashola and a few seconders made the commissioner understand that the observation that the mail he got read “imminent collapse” and that it was for the commissioner to explain and address the house on the correct status of the bridge. The commissioner ’s contention was that the use of the phrase imminent collapse was inappropriate. This engagement lasted for some four minutes.

Putting the people first

The health commissioner made a C M Y K

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Continued from page 13

presentation on the virus presently giving concern to the Saudi and French authorities; the Saudis, moreso, because of the up-coming Hajj. For an EXCO that is religionblind, every contribution during the discussion was how best to protect the pilgrims from Lagos. Therefore, the advisory from the Saudi authorities about not sending terminally ill, elderly, pregnant women, children (12 and under defined as children) on pilgrimage this year, was extensively discussed. Conclusion: High-level consultations with the clerics and some stakeholders would be held with immediate effect. But the EXCO members were also concerned about other sources that would supply pilgrims, if they would take the advisory as seriously as the Lagos government was doing. In terms of ratio, the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the Centre for Disease Control, CDC, are hopeful that with

Mind you, these points he “had picked up” are products of the e-mails, letters, the telephone texts, postings on Facebook and twits from you and I, as well as personal on-the-spot informal assessment of some assignments

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a globally recorded case history of 77 with 40 fatalities, the virus, contracted from bats, with a common symptom of cold, “is not as deadly as the SARS global pandemic which struck in 2003. Indeed, the EXCO made a resolution to possibly buy the machines for detection at the state’s major entry point – the airport.

Incidentally, last Monday was Tunji Bello’s birthday. A special cake was brought in and, at about 10:06, the meeting was broken for Bello’s birthday cake-cutting ceremony.

That done, business resumed.

The virtual governor

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fter the meeting resumed, the pace changed.

Fashola disclosed that he needed to make some points which he “had picked up in the course of the previous week”.

Mind you, these points he “had picked up” are products of the e-mails, the letters, the telephone texts, postings on Facebook and twits from you and I, as well as personal on-thespot informal assessment of some assignments.

The governor pointed out that in the Abraham Adesanya Estate, Lekki, some of the roads therein were going bad. He ordered immediate remedy.

He also said he noticed some abandoned ambulances at the entrance of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH. He

Chambers with Governor, Dep Gov, Chief of Staff, SSG and Attorney General wanted to know why the situation existed. He had one issue or the other to discuss and seek remedy for.

Next was the exchange over the Central Business District, CBD. Fashola said while he was driving through Nnamdi Azikiwe last Sunday, he discovered that the refuse points were overflowing. He charged the Adviser in charge of CDB to be more functional. She, in turn, made it clear that the solution was already in a memo she’d recently sent to the governor. The exchange was both revealing and instructive. The Adviser would not succumb to the suggestion that she was taking a back foot; just as the governor stuck to his gun that whatever needed to be done should be done to clear the mess.

At a point, the Adviser requested for privacy to which the governor retorted that there could be no other private forum that the one they both already were in. She then told Fashola pointblank what needed to be done. At that point, a pall of silence fell on the chambers. But because here was a governor who had set tasks and deliverables, he did not push to argue against the Adviser’s suggestion which is going to be very drastic. This exchange lasted for almost 10minutes.

A stickler for details, Fashola took on the Commissioner for Physical Planning. He said a building appeared to have suddenly sprouted in-between two others somewhere on the same street. He found it curious that people could build on the space. He said he could vouch that his dependable commissioner could not have approved such; worse still, he said he “noticed that the building contractor was just stacking blocks on the road, thereby obstructing traffic”. He needed the ministry officials to go there and check; and he believed the building would have to give way.

Still on things he picked up, he said he’d observed that Molue and other commercial buses were already filing on the Carter Bridge again and causing congestion.

He touched on almost all sectors from health to social welfare, the aged and underprivileged, et al. In the health sector, Fashola said, “Rwanda is stealing medical tourism from Nigeria”.

Though he admitted that “ war throws up opportunities for fresh

breakthroughs” and “I also think our own challenge with terrorism can also help build our own doctors without borders”.

Demonstrating that if “you do not constantly evolve for the better, other people would catch up with you, he stated, “Just look at Spain yesterday against Brazil. The world has caught up with Spain and there ticki-tacki style and that was why the two teams from Spain were roundly defeated during the Champions League competition; the same happened yesterday”.

“My people”, he continued, “the lesson for all of us is that we cannot rest. We need to keep striving to break new grounds. That people are saying we are doing well is not enough. Other states are also striving”.

Akabueze, buckets of cold water and a gov to the rescue

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ut if you think that the earlier exchanges were heated, what transpired when Akabueze and his team presented the Lagos State Development Plan, SDP, was something else.

The LASG EXCO is not an easy place to be. The EXCO meeting is not a place to try to flaunt your intellect. If you think you are intellectually grounded, try bamboozling your way through the presentation of a memo. It is also not a place where you pull wool because there are people waiting with buckets of cold water - they would pour the water on you and your wool.

After what appeared to be an admirable presentation by Akabueze on projections and prospects for a Lagos in 2025, his colleagues took him to task. He took their observations in good stride.

The plan, for the overall development of the state, would be driven by public and private sectors as well as civil society. It is for all and organized in three parts - Lagos today, Lagos tomorrow and then the implementation. It has a 15-year life-span programme with development pillars.

The vision to strategy is hinged

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 15

Lagos: The engaging session Continued from page 14

Exco in session

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on the following: 1. Economic development 2. Infrastructure development 3. Social development and security 4. Sustainable Environment For each of these, there are objectives/outcomes; policies and strategies; and MDA sector policies.

By the time his colleagues punched holes in some of the projections you could not but feel sorry for Akabueze.

For instance, the projection that today’s unemployment rate of 8%, which is expected to become 5% by 2025, was thought to be unrealistic.

There is expected to be a 40% access to homes for the population.

In some cases, the plan was short on details.

Fashola, who excused himself and later came back to rejoin the meeting after about 90mins, would occasionally interject or amplify a question or response regarding the plan.

Akabueze was, however, up to the task. He took his colleagues’ reservations one after the other.

Firstly, he pointed out that “Nigerians delude themselves that ‘in Nigeria there are good plans but it is a problem of implementation”. That can’t be true, he said because every good plan must be implementable because implementation is part of a plan.

In any case, if a plan is simply about little vision, then you can as well continue to do the routine.

Waterfront Commissioner ’s intervention about the enormity of the problem of coastal erosion in terms of its financing was cut by the deputy governor because it was becoming a seminar on its own. Even as he attempted to continue, OrelopeAdefulire said he should present a paper on that to which the Waterfront Commissioner said “Ben, I will come to you so we discuss this later”.

Some of the commissioners also believed that with the challenge of power and finance, actualizing the plan would be very difficult.

To this, Fashola admonished all to think locally and be more creative in raising funds.

He maintained that a vision needs to be very ambitious.

In 1999/2002, there were 34committee reports; by 2004, they were compressed to the 10-point agenda. All these were diagnostics and from 2007/2008, “we began to solve the problems”.

Now, the governor said, we have three, four, five year plans. “Physical and economic planning is the back bone of what we’re doing and both will determine our success or failure”.

Then came a strange but ingenious suggestion. From Fashola and Akabueze came the idea that commissioners should look inwardly for funds that may not be of priority utilization that can be consolidated in a pool for the purpose of taking care of the housing needs of the people of Lagos.

Fashola, who does not appear to suffer foods at all, cannot be described as infallible. However, just as John Craig had said, that “no matter how much work you can do, no matter how engaging your personality may be, you will not advance far if you cannot work through others”, the governor, working through his EXCO members, cannot but be appreciated

Come and make your case

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his is not about pork-barrel. You must earn that allocation.

Though it was not the operating rule, you could discern that the aggression to have more resources for your ministry so that you can perform played a role in the arguments and debates. In any case, there was also the seemingly unwritten brief that your points of view had to be grounded in intellect and logic. That way, pouring cold water on you would not be an easy thing.

Then you had the chairman of EXCO, Fashola himself, who kept engaging

his commissioners like a lecturer dealing with a bunch of precocious students. Not that he always had his way – because there were a few times when presentations were being made and you could see Fashola nodding or taking notes. Left handed though, part of the governor ’s luck is that his parents did not force him to change and become right-handed – it is thought in this part of the world that being left handed is not good for children and, therefore, in their formative years, they should be forced to become right-handed. A medical report, decades ago in the United States, found that students, who were

EXCO MEMBERS 1. H.E, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) - Chairman 2. H.E, Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire - Deputy 3. Mrs. Oluranti Adebule 4. Mr. Adesegun Ogunlewe 5. Mr. Adeola Ipaye 6. Mr. Lanre Babalola (Chief of Staff) 7. Prince Gbolahan Lawal 8. Mrs. Olusola Senapon Oworu 9. Mr. Ben Akabueze 10. Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye 11. Mr. Tunji Bello 12. Mrs. Florence Oguntuase 13. Mr. Adetokunbo Abiru 14. Dr. Jide Idris 15. Mr. Oyinlomo Danmole 16. Mr. Bosun Jeje 17. Mr. Aderemi Ibirogba 18. Mr. Ademorin Kuye 19. Tpl. Olutoyin Ayinde 20. Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi

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21. Mr. Adebiyi Mabadeje 22. Dr. Wale Ahmed 23 Mr. Disun Holloway 24. Mr. Kayode Opeifa 25. Prince Adesegun Oniru 26. Dr. Obafemi Hamzat 27. Mr. Enitan Oshodi 28.Engr. Taofiq Tijani 29. Mrs. Aderinola Disu 30. Mr. Seye Oladejo 31. Otunba Fatai Olukoga 32. Dr. Oladiran Folami 33. Dr. (Mrs)Yewande, Adesina 34. Mr. Jimoh Ajao 35. Mr. Lateef Raji 36. Mr. Taofik Tijani 37. Prince Gboyega SalvadorAdebayo 38. Mr. Ayo Gbeleyi 40. Mr. Babatunde Hunpe 41 Mr. Abimbola Sodipo 42. Engr. Ganiyu Johnson 43.Mr. Dolapo Badru

naturally left-handed possessed some very unique qualities. Forcing them to become right-handed, alters the natural thought process and patterns. So, all thanks belong to the senior Fasholas.

In terms of style, briskness was it. You may miss the sequence if you are not attentive: “Motion moved for adoption, seconded; counter?

If none, by consensus?

Okay moved”. Then the governor reaches for the gavel and hits it on its receptor. That is how motions are moved after exhausting the debate.

When he intervenes, he does so to save both arguing parties from one another.

He does not allow time to be wasted.

As the meeting was going on, he was attending to files.He called the man in charge of PPP and admonished him to cut the needless bureaucracy in signing agreements in the power sector “Be hung for taking initiative; let me be the one to complain that you are too fast”, Fashola charged.

At about 3pm, there was lunch break.

By 3:30, the EXCO chamber was filled with members to continue.

Is the EXCO just a rubber stamp for Fashola’s agenda? Not at all.

From what the eyes could see – apart from the deputy governor and the chief of staff, the EXCO members did not know of our participation – the members, too, have earned their stripes a la Fashola. The governor had insisted that the meeting would come to a close by 6pm. It didn’t. The meeting ended by 7pm. And to think you arrived Fashola’s office from 8am.

But there was a Whitepaper on government views and decisions on the report of the committee to examine sources and management of IGR of state owned tertiary institutions. The examination of the Whitepaper took so much time.It was Bill Cosby who said: “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody”. Throughout the meeting and, as issues were being debated, you could decipher that these were people who were not interested in pleasing one another. Some who had been cracking jokes before the meeting started began to tear one another’s points of view to shreds.

And Fashola, who does not appear to suffer fools at all, cannot be described as infallible.

He cannot also be described as a saint because once he doesn’t agree with a point of view, he remains adamant – he only evens it out by ensuring that a superior argument is presented. But just as John Craig had said, that “no matter how much work you can do, no matter how engaging your personality may be, you will not advance far if you cannot work through others”, the governor, working through his EXCO members, cannot but be appreciated. And that is why he appears to be very popular in Nigeria.

C M Y K

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Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Why UK is working and Nigeria is not Feyisike Adeoye, Executive Director, Community Peoples Initiative Against AIDS (COPEAIDS), was on a two-week tour of the United Kingdom. She reports that the sturdy social and political institutions of the British are rooted in a strong culture of respect for human dignity .

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T appears nothing manmade on earth is new that the creator had not hitherto bestowed on nature. Our textiles are modeled after butterflies, submarines took after whales, our war strategies sourced from wild animals and their intrigues for survival, limousines shaped after reptiles. Little wonder that as the Virgin plane took its flight, my mind flashed to partridges in my ancestral village, the way they scurry forward before a flight from the hunter, followed by a lowly ascent before the cruising altitude, supported by two protruding wings. The landing of the plane at Heathrow took the same pattern; a lowly descent, then the tyres are pulled out, and gradually it makes a smooth landing. At cockcrow in London when we arrived, chilly winds received us. We were lucky. Months before, the temperature equaled my deep freezer. I was seeing Great Britain for the first time. It was amazing. London spoke of a strong, timeless culture, an invincible prowess and the aura of ancient grandeur.

This chilling wind had no mercy for the silk on my little companions; we were cut unawares by the weather because we thought there was no need for winter jackets since we were already in summer. Heathrow airport was a beauty to behold, everything from something as little as lighting to elevators and other gadgets worked perfectly. You jump on the elevator and, in a twinkle of an eye you get to your next port. Hundreds of thousands of people from all parts of the world landing at the airport at different moments, as if the whole world is in a state of flux! Here is a society ruled by share discipline. Orderliness is a custom. At the immigration, there were special considerations for European and British citizens. In my country, there were no such considerations. Women and children were given special considerations, not in my own country Nigeria. Immigration was smooth except for an embarrassing moment when at the port of entry a black immigration officer who attended to me spoke in Queen’s English. When it was the turn of my little companion, he broke into the dialect of a village Yoruba man urging my companion to press the fingerprint machine with his ‘ika atampako,” the thumb. Every visitor had the fingerprint recorded. This, to me, offers a huge security advantage, unlike in Nigeria where fingerprint remains strange.

At shopping malls, details of a customer is taken, CCTVs are located on almost every nook and crevice, making crime unattractive. While the Nigerian Federal Government was quarrelling with Lagos State on the installation of CCTV, London Borough alone, with a population of

9,000 people, the size of a Nigerian village, has 609 CCTVs. Shetland Council and Corby Borough Council have more CCTVs than the San Francisco (US) police department. Wandsworth, with 1,113, has the highest number of CCTV cameras in London with four cameras per 1,000 people. Individuals also could install CCTV in their homes. The security operatives do not need to be bribed before they do their jobs. I think the process of recruitment helps. In Nigeria, police recruits pay before being enlisted. They even have to buy the forms. In UK, police is public service. UK has an amazing security network. There were no visible policemen with AK-47, unlike in Nigeria, yet UK is more secure than my own country. I gathered there is heavy presence of intelligence officers who are working to complement the CCTV cameras that were installed at strategic locations around the city. Old women and

The Prime Minister of UK, one of the world’s richest countries, lives in 3-bedroom flat, on No 10 Downing Street. In our case, the governors and president live in whole towns and whole villagesize mansions, with no fixed addresses: Aso Rock, Government House, etc With what I experienced in my two weeks stay in London, I now know why the British was able to come all the way from that long distance to unknown land like Africa and all other British colonies, overpower the people and colonize them men are often used as security agents, spying on the environment when their wards are away to work and school.

Another area that fascinated me was the transportation system. The train lines traverse the entire country and services work24 hours. I was in Cambridge. Wales and Europe could be connected easily from London city centre. Records of travellers are kept through the electronic ticketing system. As you are getting out of the airport, the underground train station is there to take you to your destination within and outside London. The fast trains arrive at less than five minutes intervals. You even get notices on the

screen that in the next few, five, six minutes, a train or bus would arrive. No one missed the target. I took time to watch throughout my two-week stay at the instance of a research team working on the epic film on the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Public ethics here is strong.

Discipline? The queue culture is everywhere and at every time: eateries, bus stops, sidewalks and even while waiting for the elevators.

The average British detests noise, unlike in my home country where shouting begins from dawn and ends at dusk: at home, the highway, street corners, buses, in taxis and at bed time.

The work ethics here is strong. My host would tell me the consequences of resuming late, same with public officials here, unlike the average civil servant in Nigeria. London must have passed through an excruciating epoch, when her generations cut down the trees with brutal zeal. Now, the new generation of Londoners treats each tree or flower as human.

Traffic in the UK takes primary consideration for people. Mankind owns the road not machines, unlike Nigeria where vehicles own the roads and pedestrians including women and children are made to haste across the road and sidewalks.

The road is planned in a way that everybody is taken into consideration in the planning, that is, the pedestrians, the disabled people on the wheelchair, children on the buggies and baby carriers. I could not remember hearing one single horn of a car for the two weeks we spent.

There was quietude even in the neighborhood. The street lights were working perfectly and there were no traffic officials on the road. Expectedly, the two weeks that we stayed, the light did not blink once not to talk of power outage. This creates an efficient work environment. No ‘ta, ta, ta’ from generators. The housing system is organized in a way that people get decent and affordable accommodation.

You can get a home for 50,000 pounds.

You need not pay cash down unlike in Nigeria. You can pay within a period of 20 to 30 years. In my country, with this amount, you may not even be able to buy a piece of land. Here is a system that does not encourage greed and avarice. The government makes maximum use of the land available by making sure that the space is effectively put into use. In Nigeria, the rich build mansions on vast hectares of land to the disadvantage of landless people. Government officials here do not live on the sweat of the people. The Prime Minister of UK, one of the world’s richest countries, lives in 3-bedroom flat, on No 10 Downing Street. I was there and toured the building. In our case, the governors and president live in whole towns and whole village-size mansions, with no fixed addresses: Aso Rock, Government House, etc. When we visited the home of the Prime Minister, soldiers on horses were filled with affectionate expression.

We took pictures with them. No sub machine guns. No AK47s. The sanitation of the United Kingdom environment is

taken seriously. The streets are clean and neat. Every home has three waste disposal containers, one for recycle dirt, the second for food leftovers and the third for general garbage. Spending on public health last year alone was 5.45 billion pounds. The provision of public health is not driven by any Federal Government but by local councils. Children occupy a special place in the heart of Great Britain. Children, as it used to be in my village, play at the backyard, functionally fenced away from cars and harmful devices. Mostly, children go to bed at 8pm. In Nigeria, I have seen little children on the streets as late as 11pm and by 5am their parents would wake them up to work. Children and students ride free buses.

In my own country, children and students pay. In the buses, old people stand up for little children to sit down, in my own country, children are made to withstand the rigour of standing even through long drives. Spending on public education last year alone was 694.89 billion pounds. There is a strong link between the universities and the industries that fund researches in higher institutions.

In the UK, food is cheap and diverse. In my country, there are food varieties. Foods are fresh, neat and preserved in a way that it will not be injurious to human system.

In my country, foodstuffs are sold on the bare floor, sometimes on heaps of dirt. UK is a capitalist country but for children, education is free and qualitative which includes free bus passes for all students from primary school to university.

No matter your age, once you are a student, you are qualified for free bus. We left London for Nigeria after the two weeks stay and it was like moving from heaven to hell. My little companions kept asking why our elevators were not working and the airport was so dark and frightening. Armed personnel welcome visitors with AK-47 and my companions asked over and over again: why is Nigeria not Britain? I tried to explain. I failed to convince them. UK has her own challenges.

The economy is shrinking. Less and less people are giving birth to children with daring consequences on future manpower. Youth violence is real. Figures from England and Wales suggest that 8.9m crimes were recorded against adults last year. There were 0.9 million crimes against children of between 10 and 15 years. But that was 5percent decrease compared with preceding year. In my country, there are no reliable statistics.

With what I experienced in my two weeks stay in London, I now know why the British was able to come all the way from that long distance to unknown land like Africa and all other British colonies, overpower the people and colonize them. It is simple: doggedness, determination and a sense of purpose. We have a lot to learn as a nation from Great Britain.

How did Great Britain take such a giant leap in science, art and culture? The answer is simple: discipline, hard work, diligence, selflessness and thinking ahead for unborn generations. These are the real attributes that are lacking in Nigerian leaders. If there is any lecture I wish not to listen to, it is ‘How Europeans underdeveloped Africa.” No. We no longer have any reason to lay prostrate, after half a century of freedom from colonial rule

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 17

BOKO HARAM

North taking advantage of Jonathan’s weakness – Pastor Kure Dismisses emergency rule that keeps govs in power Says extremists nearly stopped Christian leaders from seeing ailing Yar’Adua ‘The Abacha Nigerians didn’t know’

W

HY have you chosen to remain in the North despite the security challenges and threat to life?

Two reasons: one, I am a northerner.

Two, I have to encourage my people that the Lord has not abandoned us.

As long as I am there, they have faith that one day God will intervene. The day I leave, hope leaves. They believe if God will not protect me, God cannot protect them. They ’ve always looked up to us. We show them the way of the Lord and we cannot abandon them now. If we die, that’s fine. It must be God’s portion for our lives. We are not afraid of death. The same way the other side is not afraid of death, we are not.

You see so much of death sometimes that death has lost its meaning. We just pray that these issues are resolved eventually and I believe they will be resolved.

What can you say about the origin of all these crises in the North?

The truth is that crisis is embedded in the culture of the North. The culture and history of the North have always been that of crisis. When they talk about poverty being the reason, they are just giving reason that is not real.

Poverty has always been in the North from time immemorial. In fact, poverty is part of the culture of the North. I don’t think it has its roots in religion; from the beginning, the poor have always depended on the rich to be fed.

C M Y K

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BY SAM EYOBOKA Emmanuel Nuhu Kure is the National Secretary of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN, but based in Kafanchan, Kaduna State where he is the pastor of Throneroom Ministry, Recently, he was in Lagos for a programme at the National Stadium, and took time off to speak with Sunday Vanguard.

Excerpts of interview…..

Pastor Emmanuel Nuhu Kure

The elite in the North, that we do not know of - we pray one day God will reveal them. But most of these people, making noise and pressurising the President Goodluck Jonathan government, are the sponsors of this thing. They pay their tithes behind and come to make noise in the open.

They were never encouraged to be rich. So, poverty is part of the culture; it’s what makes the North go round.

Forgive my choice of language. We may be using it now as a weapon of war, but that is not speaking the whole truth. Go there every Friday, you’ll find the poor lining up along mosque areas waiting for people to come and give them money. It’s the culture of the land. It will not change maybe for another century except the North decides to change that culture. And, of course, culture is established by men.

It’s men who set the pattern; it’s men who can change it. I don’t care how many Almajiri schools the government builds, poverty will remain in the North except the northerners change the culture. I grew up to meet it; I grew up to hear about it. I’m getting older now, it’s still there. We are just using it at this hour to bring down a government that did not start it.

The crisis did not begin with Boko Haram. We’ve had Maitatsine; we’ve had all sorts of crises all over the place.

It is this one that has particularly got

out of hand and is threatening the whole nation. Before, the crisis was restricted to locales and they were contained. They were just sects fighting against sects; they were not necessarily sects fighting Nigeria. This time around, some political miscalculations boomeranged. The founder of Boko Haram, the late Mohammed Yusuf, was involved with politicians at the beginning. But the marriage went sour. One thing led to the other and he got killed and his people decided to go for vengeance. From vengeance, a religious component was introduced and, to make it have impact, Christians were dragged into it. They began to hunt and kill Christians because that was the shortest route to get recognition. If they wanted their cause accepted by the world, they needed to burn a lot of churches. Christians are actually easier to kill than Muslims. So it was a matter of easy target until the Christians in some areas began to fight back and people were beginning to say that Christians were fighting Muslims.

The world never took into cognizance

that the Christians have been killed all these while. I think Christians have a right to self-defense where government is not protecting them enough.

Christians should not just sit down and die like rabbits on the streets.

And there is something people don’t notice. When (elder statesman) Alli Mungono was kidnapped, something came out of it that the world didn’t notice. The people who kidnapped the old man had great respect for him and they treated him with respect. But did you note what they said? They said they were not interested in his person; all they wanted was his contribution to the war effort. Did that not go far enough to let us know that there are very respectable people contributing to their war efforts? The elite in the North that we do not know of and we pray one day God will reveal them. But most of these people making noise and pressurizing President Goodluck Jonathan government, the truth is that they are the sponsors of this thing. They pay their tithes behind and come to make noise in the open. That is the only way they can keep themselves alive: by speaking openly against the government like they are doing while paying their tithes behind. How many of them have not contributed to the Boko Haram war effort? So it’s all hypocrisy. They just heat up the polity in an attempt to destroy this nation. I think we should begin to read between the lines in those matters.

The president once said his administration had been infiltrated by agents of Boko Haram, but strangely he has not been able to do anything about it.

What will you identify as the constraints of the president?

Continues on page 18

PAGE 18—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Late Gen. Sani Abacha

Late Musa Yar’ Adua

President Goodluck Jonathan

‘3 govs should have gone with emergency rule’ I

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Continued from page 17

sympathize with this president.

This is not the best of times to be the president of Nigeria. Even the will of the strongest man will be tested in these times. Not even a Muslim president going through this kind of pressure will remain sane. So, it’s not about Islam or Christianity. I want to say that the people are just taking advantage of the weakness of the president. The president, by nature, is a very nice person. He’s a kind hearted person sometimes to a fault for that kind of office. If the president slaps you, he watches how you will react. If you look too pained and you are over disturbed, he sends you a soothing balm. That’s the kind of person that is leading us now and you can’t blame God for creating him like that. That is him by nature. I’ll give you an example, this declaration of state of emergency, I’m sorry I was not happy with it because it did not go far enough.

When you declare a state of emergency in any state, you remove the governor. These are governors that have been accused of complicity. Gov. Murtala Nyako has been creating problems for his own state there. We don’t know whether he is part of the problem there.

You declare a state of emergency and you leave Nyako in power. The other man in Borno has been there and he has not been able to solve the problem. You want to wipe out the disease and you leave those who have created an atmosphere for the disease or who have allowed an atmosphere that incubated it to exist. That is the president’s way of meeting the North half way; the same North that would not allow him breath; the same North that will not give him credit for what he has done right when he does it right.

Everybody interprets his actions in terms of politics because they are from the same party. The president needs somebody from the North to tell him when he has done right that he has done right for God’s sake. Everybody in the North is playing opposition even when they are not opposition. Everybody is just being abusive, they are not being positive about it. But then it’s not their fault, it’s the weakness of the president himself. There are some things that are drastic, they have to do with human lives. If you are going to take actions, they should be drastic enough to solve the problem. Human blood is involved on both sides; Muslim blood, Christian blood, and those C M Y K

So why can’t the President also take the drastic steps that answer the prayers of those bloods that are crying out? You declare a state of emer-

gency and then to try to compromise with the North, you left their governors? And you know it has had its own effect

bloods are crying out to the God of heaven to intervene. So why can’t the president also take the drastic steps that answer the prayers of those bloods that are crying out? You declare a state of emergency and then to try to compromise with the North, you left their governors. And you know it has had its own effect. It is like the Law of Karma. The same governors added their votes to beat the PDP’s candidate at the NGF election. There are some things that would have fallen in line without them. So he has held down the hands of God from completely doing what He would have done, the effect it’d have had if he had put up administrators. Why would they do it in Plateau State and they won’t do it in other states?

If it came to us, those of us in the Middle Belt, they will flog us as if we have no parents, but when it goes to the far North, everybody softens. They reduce the hand with which they measure justice. Why must it always be like that in this nation? When it came to Gov. Joshua Dariye, they did not only humiliate him, removed him, put an administrator for six months, people lobbied for them to add more to those months. Why must they do that for one part of the country and they won’t do that for another part? That is why I will not be surprised the way things are now; the efforts of the military that is enforcing the law in those three states are undermined. I think that they (North) are just taking advantage of the president, taking advantage of his weakness.

The politicians are holding him captive for his weakness on all sides, from the opposition, to the ruling party. As a Church, we pray everyday to break that hold on him because if Nigeria must move forward, the president must act drastically.

I must be fast to make this comment; this year, have you noticed that he has broken away from the norm? It was worse last year. This year, the president is beginning to take real independent steps, not being manipulated by anybody. His most drastic step since he came to government took place this year. This year has been a dividing of times and seasons for the president. We rejoice that he is beginning to break loose from the spell.

We’ve always thought that the president was under a spell; that he needed to begin to bite. He needed to begin to move in the direction that God ordained for him and we think we are beginning to see that and we rejoice.

Do you think that this state of emergency will bring an end to Boko Haram?

It will go far. I think negotiations eventually will finish the rest. It’s already done much. Go to some parts of the North and you will see some semblance of sanity. People are moving around, they are confident. I think the crisis we should be addressing more now is the Fulani uprising. The Fulani are gradually taking the place of the Boko Haram right now and I think we should be concerned. The Fulani thing is not just in the North; it’s all over Nigeria. In the Yoruba land now, we’ve had so many of that, whole villages ransacked and wiped out, and the governors of those states are not saying anything. They are suppressing the thing. I don’t know when the government will find a solution to the Fulani restiveness. I think that might be the new frontier. We are moving from Boko Haram to the Fulani now.

Actually the Fulani are almost taking over the Boko Haram fight, making it their own.

With the picture you are painting about the esperation of the North to remain relvant vis-à-vis the Fulani

uprising an the desire of government to always neotiate; do you think there will ever bea time when there’ll be peace in this country?

Yes, when the patriotic ones are born.

There are northerners who are patriotic except that religion has a way of affecting them eventually. They start being patriotic, and just when we are developing great hopes, they dash our hopes by tilting towards religion and spoiling the whole thing. Let me tell you one of those northern patriotic people. The late President Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua was a very sincere man. The other one that was a complex man but was still patriotic is Gen. Sani Abacha. Deep inside him, he was a real patriotic Nigerian. You won’t believe it but that’s the truth. They say that every man has his own extreme; every man has his own weakness. He was a complex man who was in love with power, but let me tell you, Abacha would bite a Muslim as much as he would bite a Christian in trying to do what was right.

You were close to him…

Don’t say I was close to him. I had access to his government. You can’t be close to any of these people. I’m sorry to say that. As a priest, you cannot, not even as a prophet.

Those who knew him will agree with me but, unfortunately, it is not always what you want the world to know that they get to know about you. There are some final aspects of you that the world might never discover. Thank God that there is a book in heaven that records us, maybe when we get there, we’ll get to know more about each other.

Somebody like Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) for example; I admire him, despite the criticisms by some Christians. At a time, I really thought that Buhari would be one of the saviours of this nation; one of the finest individuals that the North has ever produced but I’m beginning to do a rethink. It takes provocations and incidents to bring out a man. When Buhari made that broadcast on radio in Kaduna where he was lambasting the Federal Government about the Boko Haram thing and comparing it with the late Yar ’Adua’s efforts, everything about him disappeared in me; every respect I had went out. I began to thank God that he never became president; we would have been in trouble. And I pray he never becomes president. Any party that chooses him, that party will never win elections. Even the North will not vote him. That is not the kind of leader we want in Nigeria. It’s very unfortunate that you allow such provocations. It’s a sign that it’s time for him to retire from politics before he messes up the rest of glory that he has left.

If APC really wants to give Jonathan a good fight, they should bring out a man that is truly patriotic. They should not commit the same sin they are accusing PDP of. Whether it is PDP, APC, ACN, ARN, all of them are the same.

It’s the same autocracy that is taking place in ACN. You were one of the four Christian clerics who went to pray for the late President Umar u Musa Yar ’Adua.

What was your experience there?

You are taking us back to the Old Testament.

It is part of the Bible. Besides, you promised to tell the world what transpired….

Well I don’t think I want to open that can yet. The day will come, maybe, after this government, we can talk about that further. This government is an offshoot of that government. Let’s allow that for now. But the truth is that I admire Yar ’Adua for principles. He was one Muslim with a difference. He had his own pressure, Islamic pressure. Of course when a Christian is a president, Christians will pressurize that president and vice versa; but the president should be able to draw the line and know that he is a president for everybody. Yar ’Adua tried to do that. Some of us who were priests were frustrated. For example, they didn’t allow us access to him. If it were not

Continues on page 19

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 19

Continued from page 18 Yar ’Adua himself calling our names and saying we should come, nobody have allowed us see him. There were Muslim extremists within the government that did everything to stop us at the gate even when the president said we should come.

After you got there?

Even before I got there. And I’m not the only one with that experience.

Some of the fathers will tell you the same thing. They will go there on official appointment and they will be stopped at the gate. For the first time in the history of this nation, we were being stopped at the gate when we had official appointment with the president himself, under Yar ’Adua. I’m not the only one with that experience. Others are being nice about it, they won’t talk about it. In Yar ’Adua’s time, sometimes we were stopped at the gate. So we took it in good strides, it was their turn. But I think we should be nicer about that. Aso Villa should be open to all, whether they be Muslims or Christians, and that’s why I’m happy that the president, during Christmas, Muslims will gather to go and pay him homage and he will open his doors for them. During Yar ’Adua’s era, they made it difficult. They ’ll choose only their politicians. Politicians are not Christian clergy.

When you people visited, was President Yar’Adua still alive?

Of course he was alive! Do you sincerely believe that I, David Oyedepo, John Onaiyekan and Prof. Yusuf Obaje will come out and tell you a lie that he was alive when he was dead?

Would you think we would do that and lose our salvation?

From the power outage at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja to the virtual military take over of Abuja when he returned, the impression Nigerians had was that it was his dead body that was brought from Saudi Arabia….

Well I don’t know whether it was a dead body I shook. I shook a hand and the hand lifted itself. If it was dead, then I needed to have cast out some demons. I never saw a dead body that day. He was helpless but he was not dead.

Did he recognize you?

He didn’t have enough time to start recognizing us individually. If you’d been to the Presidency, sometimes, the protocol will just keep rushing you. The most important thing was to pray for him. But he was alive. He tried to recognize us, he made efforts to speak.

They tried to calm him down; it was like they didn’t want him to talk. But he made efforts to speak, especially when it came to Onaiyekan, there was some recognition. Onaiyekan was the CAN president and he had had more rapport with the president than the rest of us. But the essence of our meeting with him was to pray for perfect healing, to bring deliverance onto him.

That means your meeting with him was very brief, like 5-10 minutes?

I can’t remember now but it was not as brief like that. It was naturally done but it was sharp and straight to the point.

What were the criteria for the selection of the four of you?

I don’t know, you’ll ask them. I was called. For me, I got to understand later because, at that time, I didn’t have any position, I was not in the politics of CAN or any of the organizations including PFN. I was just one God arrested from the side and put him at the center. The reason the Yar ’Aduas gave later was that I had given prophetic insight into the late president’s situation for many years. I prophesied his coming into power, he came into power. Even against Abubakar Atiku, I prophesied and he came to power. I had prophesied also how he would end if he didn’t do some things. I told him what his destiny was; his destiny was to handle the Niger Delta crisis that time—another kind of Boko Haram.

The killings had begun in the Plateau and other places. I had told him that part of his destiny was to bring peace to the North. He was to be like a bringer

‘They almost stopped clerics from seeing ailing Yar’Adua’

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C M Y K

The late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was a very sincere man.

The other one that was a complex man but was still patriotic is Gen. Sani Abacha. Deep inside him, he was a real patriotic Nigerian. You won’t believe it but that’s the truth

of peace to the North. And that if he refused to lay that standard and allowed Muslims wipe out Christians deliberately, the Lord will take his life from him. I also told him the time line when that would take place. Whether it was a coincidence or it was a reality, I spoke what I saw and it came to pass; I also told the vice president his timeline, meaning that if it worked like that, the vice president will also become president. They remembered that role so they thought this man knew the programme. When I went there, they pulled me aside and said ‘ the reason you are here sir, go beyond that, can God show mercy? Can God change these timeline?’ It’s like deep inside of them, they felt he might not survive.

And they had the right to ask God for mercy. That was why they called in the Muslims and Christian leaders.

So I knew my own mission but when I got there, I sensed that it’d not happen like that and I told them what would make him escape. I told them that privately. That was me and them, it had nothing to do with the four. My reason for being called was slightly different from the other three. I think Oyedepo was called because of the miracles in the Living Faith Church.

We were called in because they believed we had access to God and that we could pray some effective prayers that would help the matter. And the Lord spoke to them after that. I think that is just about the details I can give you for now.

What did you tell them?

Yes I told them something, that is why I said at the right time. I had to leave a meeting at the Sports Complex to go for the Yar ’Adua prayer session and

came back to it to conclude it and I had made a comment in that meeting that the Lord had said that within three weeks they should take him out of the Villa to somewhere he’d be withdrawn from the pressure and troubles. That was the time when the polity was heated. I told them to take him away from the Villa because while he was there within those three weeks, even if as much as one mosquito bite him once, he would die. I told them I saw only three weeks. So, if they had taken him out within those three weeks, maybe God would have shown mercy and given him some rest and added some time to his life. I don’t know how much time, I’m not God. I’m just an oracle who spoke for that season. And the understanding I got later, I was told they couldn’t take him out because it was not politically convenient. They were afraid that Jonathan would take over if they took him out. They kept him there to ensure Jonathan did not take over even when it was to the detriment of his health. Maybe it was a tactical move; the wife had no say in those matters.

Contrary to general opinion that she was the one calling the shots?

Nigerian politicians are very complicated and sophisticated people; when they know their interest will be at stake, they will use you to remain relevant; they will keep you there until they get what they want. I think she was also under captivity. This is my opinion. Of course she would have wanted her husband to live; she would have wanted to remain the first lady naturally. Let’s not pretend about these things. Constitutionally it was not her call; it was the politicians’ call which

was what the people in the National Assembly and Nigerians were calling, that, ‘let the constitution have its way’.

It was a constitutional call, it was not her call.

We understand she was the coordinator…

I don’t know about that.

Christians have been at the receiving end of all these crises. What is your advice to them and how did you emerge as the PFN national secretary?

I think that sincere Christians should step up their acts by getting more involved with government. They should not shy away from government. We should aggressively pursue government and governance with a mind to changing things and setting examples of how things should be. Unfortunately, those people who are sincere, whether Christians or Muslims, are, often times, not too aggressive, and, because they are not aggressive, they are kept away from power. It is the rascals and very aggressive ones that seem to always hijack power. I chose those words deliberately. They are the ones who raise the thugs that eventually become the problem to this nation and they seem to be turning Nigeria every time and confusing Nigeria. I believe God that a revolution would soon take place that will displace those people and install the right people in power. But Christians must no longer play the second fiddle; the world is no longer innocent. Let’s step inside and save the world. We must do what our saviour did; we must get involved in politics. For my emergence as PFN secretary; I didn’t politic for it. I belonged to the National Advisory Council, NAC, which, by constitutional provision, handle elections; and later brought before the National Executive Council, NEC, for ratification. I just went through a process. The truth is that I didn’t expect to be elected, I didn’t go as a candidate. I never imagined myself to be a candidate.

Actually I went for that election to become the balance. My intention was if I found anything carnal in it, I was going to scuttle it. I ended up being captured. I think that is just how I got there. I want to believe that it was divine.

PAGE 20— SUND AY V anguard, JUL Y 7 SUNDA Vanguard, JULY 7,, 2013

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

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F you’re African, especially if you’re Nigerian, you’re born into one culture or the other, whether you’re conscious of that fact or not. It is not put down in book form, but is passed on by our parents, and by the larger society. There are things you just don’t do because of the culture you were born into. Some of these have to do with moral values/ ethics, sanitation, and deference to what rulers stand for.

Not so long ago when most elders were known for their uprightness, integrity and sense of responsibility, they were, along with the traditional rulers, the custodians of our culture, which in many cases, had been in operation for decades.

Respect for parents, elders, and traditional rulers meant respect for those in authority too; an attitude which is very necessary for the good functioning of any society. Breakdown of law and order in the society starts with disobedience to these people in our lives.

Still, there are several things I don’t like in our culture; the chief of all being cruel widowhood rites, disinheritance of women, and disregard for the well-being of the girl child.

Thank God that there are NGOs all over the country/ world, doing things to sensitize the various governments to bring about desired changes, and some governments are trying to comply.

If we’re able to upgrade the status of women, and empower them, they will contribute meaningfully to the good growth of the society as they raise well-adjusted citizens for the nation, in accordance with what’s worthy in our culture.

Civilization/democracy or not, we must uphold the good values in our culture, so that we can have a nation we can be proud of, to pass on to the young persons who are the future of our country.

It is sad that even though the concept of democracy and freedom is meant to improve the quality of the human life, if we allow the western world to make us lose what’s good in our culture, I’m afraid we shall sink into the mire of moral decadence.

In some areas of life, as they claim they’re marketing/exporting democracy, they’re trying to wipe out certain aspects of our culture which brought us pride, respect, and made us stand out as special people And what’s our present reaction to this maneouvering/ sometimes bullying? We tremble and are afraid to take a firm stand on what we know is good in our culture.

Standing firmly by the good in our culture public smooching’. The piece went thus: ‘Kissing in one town in the Kingdom of Swaziland could now land you in a bit of trouble. Lovebirds locked in spasms of romance in the town of Siteki have been forewarned their amorous embrace may cost them a twelve dollar fine.’ ‘Public kissing that is to the extreme and causes other people to be uneasy will be covered by our by-laws. It will be regarded to be public indecency,’ Town Clerk Mzwandile Ndzinisa, told AFP. ‘A peck on a baby’s cheek doesn’t fall into this category, he added.

Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, already has tough public order laws. Cities forbid indecencies like urinating in public, street vending and lit-

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

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C M Y K

I was impressed when I read on the internet the other week that Swaziland (an independent state within the South Africa enclave) ‘outlaws

I don’t believe a country where a government worker can admit to misappropriating ‘only a few billion naira’ is poor. If we suffer lack in Nigeria, it’s because we have selfish, greedy and irresponsibly dishonest people in positions they shouldn’t occupy

tering. What is done in private should be done in private, not in public. The law addresses public issues in public places, said Stembile Simelane. Siteki resident Thembi Mdlovu agreed. ‘Kissing in public is not practised in our culture. I think we should respect our culture.’’

I thought it was brave of this tiny country to take a stand on

a thing which is now considered very normal in the western countries, but which their own culture abhors.

Kissing is meant to show affection, and even in the western countries, it used to be a very decent thing in public, with pecks on the cheeks.

But gradually moral values began to take a dive there as permissiveness and outra-

Cultural displays from Calabar carnival, Cross River State.

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who expressed such views were old-fashioned fuddy duddy people in the departure lounge of life.

That means that there are people of all ages in that civilization who don’t approve of the moral decadence in their society.

geous behaviour became the order of the day; heavy petting on the streets, not minding that children and young persons of impressionable minds are looking on, is now common sight. While some people may find the sight amusing, some are embarrassed that what’s supposed to take place in the privacy of your house, is now on display in public. How do such people explain what’s going on to their little children, who might be fascinated and curious by the sight, and might be driven to start experimenting in sex much earlier than is healthy?

After reading the piece on Swaziland, I expected to see vile comments on the Yahoo notice board, condemning the country’s bylaws as primitive and repressive. Surprise!

Surprise! Most of the views I read supported the Swaziland stand on what their culture stands for, and lamented the ugly sight of heavy petting which is allowed in public in their own countries in the western world. Some saw such public display as degrading and offensive to other citizens, and to romantic relationships. I doubt if all those

We in this country don’t need to jettison what’s decent in our culture and embrace the filth in other people’s culture simply because we’re afraid of them. Are we being colonized all over again? On the day that I read the piece on the internet, there was a headline in one of our national daillies – ‘Britain to suspend aid to Nigeria over gay bill.’ Should this prospect make us tremble?

Even though this my article isn’t on that subject, and frankly I don’t care who marries who, I think the giant of black Africa should stop quaking and dancing to the tunes of other countries.

If we’re truly an independent country, we should stand for what our conscience tells the majority of the people is good in our culture.

As for foreign financial aid, I don’t think our country would crumble if we don’t get a dime. I don’t believe a country where a government worker can admit to misappropriating ‘only a few billion naira’ is poor. If we suffer lack in Nigeria, it’s because we have selfish, greedy and irresponsibly dishonest people in positions they shouldn’t occupy.

Anioma cultural display, Delta State

Calabar carnival

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 21

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

S

he admires greatly, women like Mrs.Ransome Kuti and Queen Amina of Zaria who fought bravely for the liberation of women in Nigeria. A member of the Young Women Christian Association-YWCA since 1969, Mrs.Oyeyemi Tinubu is the Chairperson, National Membership Committee, YWCA. In this interview, she bemoans the dwindling effect of the judicial system on women’s movement in the country and x-rays how women are manipulated even in politics.

What’s the essence of your annual membership day celebrated across the world a couple of months ago?

The goal of our World Membership Day is to bring members together to reaffirm their involvement in the YWCA movement. In other words, it’s to renew their association with this movement, in terms of reminding ourselves of our responsibility towards ensuring justice and quality welfare for women and girls across the globe.

Essentially, how would you assess the Nigerian situation in this regard?

Women have not been given their rightful place in the community and country as a whole, in terms of governance. The percentage of women in government is still too low, and those who have the opportunity to be in government have not been acknowledged nor given adequate opportunity to contribute to or influence policies; even policies that affect them. Every woman has a right to decisions concerning her life, and this applies to the home front as well! A woman is not inferior to a man, and the earlier we understand this, the better for us all.

According to statistics, women are very much prominent in the scheme of affairs in the Western world, compared to what we have in Nigeria?

What’s your view on this?

If you go into British history or the histories of these countries you have in mind, you’ll discover that the situation was the same. The women were however brave enough to stand up for their rights, not minding the consequences. But in Nigeria, a lot of us women haven’t

Mrs.Oyeyemi Tinubu

Our system suppresses growth, progress of women — Mrs. Oyeyemi Tinubu

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C M Y K

Every woman has a right to decisions concerning her life, and this applies to the home front as well! A woman is not inferior to a man, and the earlier we understand this, the better for us all

got the courage. For those who displayed courage, take for instance women like Mrs.Ransome Kuti and Queen Amina of the North, we knew what persecution they went through because they were fighting for the rights of women. Today, even your own male child will beg you not to try to

fight the cause of women.

Why? Because there is no justice in this country!

You go to the law court, you won’t find justice, and when you go to the church, you’re counseled on submission! All these zero down to our upbringing, and I think we need a change. We need to start training the

girl and the boy child equally, and start desisting from letting the boy look down on the girl, believing he is more superior. Give them equal opportunity in education and give them equal opportunity even in the area of freedom. We all go to the same universities, but because of the upbringing,

(07036819426) later in life, the men begin to see women as lesser beings. We need a serious change.

You talked about improving the representation of women in government; if women could mobilise towards helping a male politician win an election, why is it hard for them to mobilise towards increasing their representation by also helping themselves win elections?

I have tried my hands on politics at the grassroots level and I must tell you that I was sad to see what goes on in this country.

The things men can do when it comes to elections and voting in this country, I tell you categorically, no right thinking mother would do them. There’s a lot of manipulation, violence and inhumanity! To me, women are more responsible and godfearing; it would be difficult for a woman to just want to terminate the life of another woman simply because of a political position. Even the night meetings are enough to discourage us from politics.

Just like women in the banking industry who weather difficult storms to grow in their profession, why can’t female politicians rise up to the demands of Nigerian politics?

The analogy of a banker is different from politics; in politics, there is plenty of intrigue! Banking is a profession that has guidelines, methods and systems; my daughter works for a bank and I know what I’m talking about.

But the procedure of politics in this country is not such that enables a woman to get deeply involved without the men, and of course, the men will not support a woman all the way! In Europe, a woman could be supported if she has the points and a defendable manifesto, but not in Nigeria. Even, their children join politics as early as secondary school!

Hence, by the time they become adults, they ’ve mastered the game. But in Nigeria, because of the chaotic nature of our politics, no parent would want to allow his/her child do so because they ’re scared of losing that child.

In a nutshell, I want to say that our political system needs serious overhaul.

Otherwise, this country will continue to move in circles.

PAGE 22 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013

Religion may be a problem Dear Rebecca

I

’M 23, in love with a 22-year-old girl.

We’ve been going out for three years now and plan to marry in future. We are family friends and I met her in our house. From there, I started developing interest in her. I stay with my elder brother while she lives with her parents.

Her parents know me very well. When I asked her for a relationship, she at first refused, but later she agreed to be my girlfriend. Now, we have become inseparable.

Rebecca, I’m in love with this girl. I love her with all my heart. She is the only person in my life and will always be, even after I marry her. I have told her and she agreed but the problem is our religion. We are both from the same state, but she is a Christian while I’m a Muslim. For me, being of different religion is no problem because we have Christians, Moslems, traditionalists, and even pagans in my family. Her parents are not that liberal. They ’ve been wondering if we’re having a relationship and she has been denying that we are. What if her parents object to my marrying her when the time comes? Would it be alright if we elope? We love each other very much. Please, I need your advice urgently.

Adamu.

REPL Y REPLY

E

xperts on human behavior say that worry is the greatest enemy of our health and happiness, and that most of the time, however, the things that we worry about never happen. I understand your anxiety about whether this girl will be your wife or not, but at 23, you are not yet in a position to take a wife. You did not say what you both do, whether working, studying or training, but at 22 a girl could be ready for marriage even if she is a student. Will she wait for you to be ready for marriage? Even if she does wait for you, would you still want her as a wife then? With only a year between your ages, you may consider too ‘old’ and you may long for a younger girl. You

cannot say how things will be in a few years’ time. She too may no longer feel that you are the ideal man for her to marry. As we get older our views and outlook on life change. You have to make allowance for that and not start worrying about the future. I don’t think the issue of religion would pose a problem if when you are both ready for marriage, you are both convinced that you want to marry each other.

By then, you would have both agreed on several things that could bring problems to a union; like how many children to have, what religion to raise the children in, money matters, whether or not you should work, among other things. It is difficult to change human beings, so, don’t falsely agree to some things, thinking that you would change your wife’s view or attitude later. Be transparently honest about what you expect in marriage. As for the parents, when they see how steadfast your relationship has been over the years, they would give their consent.

You said you are all family friends; that should help, especially if they know you to be a responsible and well-behaved man from a peaceful background. I would advise that enjoy the relationship the way it is, suspend all talk of marriage, concentrate on your career, and see how the relationship will go.

Learnt ‘no sex’ is harmful!

Dear Rebecca

I

must first and fore most commend the good work you have been doing on this page. I very much appreciate the way you solve people’s emotional problems. I’m a young man of 23, an undergraduate. I have never had sex since I was born.

It is because of my shyness in talking to girls and my kind of upbringing which condemn and see it as an abomination.

Five years ago, when I was the head prefect of my school, I had the attention of beautiful girls that I almost asked them for romantic relationship, but shyness and fear stopped me from doing so. Not even the advice from my friends

Be transparently honest about what you expect in marriage.

As for the parents, when they see how steadfast your relationship has been over the years, they would give their consent

could make me change my mind. However, shortly after graduating from secondary school, there was this terrible feeling of regret that I didn’t use that opportunity I had with girls. But I’m proud of the respect I earn from my friends. I have vowed to keep myself until I’m married. My dear Rebecca, the problem, now is that each time I’m in bed at night, I feel like making love to a woman. I have tried to get myself out of it but all to no avail. Could this lead to any health complication? I feel I might be clogging sperms somewhere in my body.

My fears became compounded when I read a health report that men’s sperm count is enhanced by frequent ejaculation, that is, meeting a woman on a regular basis or masturbation. I’m afraid and confused. I do want to lose my virginity.

Puzzled REPL Y REPLY

I

f you don’t want to lose your virginity, then don’t. Experts say a man’s body cannot be clogged up by sperm if he doesn’t have sex or masturbate, because nature has a way of balancing out things. In fact, men who want to make their wife pregnant are advised not to have sex too often so that they can conserve their sperm to make it of a richer quality. So, you lose absolutely nothing by not

having sex throughout your life, especially if it isn’t your intention to get married and have kids.

Releasing sperm while asleep and having a desire to have sex are all healthy for a man. Is it wrong to feel hungry?

No. It is the way you satisfy your hunger that could be a sin e.g. stealing, cheating or killing to have what to eat. Wanting to have sex is all right for both male and female, but for believers, you are to have sex only in a committed relationship like marriage.

That’s the God-approved way and it brings no sorrow, like unwanted pregnancy, likely abortion, venereal diseases, etc, by God’s grace.

You can live a very fulfilled life career-wise, helping humanity, travelling, living a healthy and useful life, etc. without having sex, getting married or even having children. It’s a matter of choice and what you feel would make you feel happy in life. After all, what matters most when we return to Our Maker, is the position of our soul with Him; how we’ve served, loved and obeyed him; not how much sex, kids, money, etc. we’ve had.

However, in spite of your upbringing and shyness, I have a feeling

that you would want a relationship with girls and would one day want to get married, have sex and children. There’s no hurry about this at all.

Don’t succumb to peer pressure about having girls and sex.

It is a personal and private thing to you, so, you don ‘t have to explain your stand to anyone.

I advise you start making casual friends with girls around you so that you can get rid of your shyness and get to study and understand girls.

Chat generally with them about studies, friends, family, etc. Exchange books, course notes, magazines, etc.

As you mix regularly with them, you would become used to being in their company and conversation would flow easily. Don’t forget that most girls are shy too and they look up to a boy to initiate conversation and friendship.

As time goes on, you would find it easy to talk to a girl of your choice, with whom you’ve been friends for a while, about your feelings for her. Or, you can send her a card.

Note that a boy/girl relationship is not for sex.

There are clean books on sexuality and sex from bookshops that can be of use to boys and girls.

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: Dear Rebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007, Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 23

When your teenage kids lose it!

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ANDFULS of lit erature on how to deal with teenage offsprings are useless more or less when their hormones start raging. At least that’s what the experts tell us. Unfortunately, it’s this rebellions attitude that most men exploit when happily teaching their curious teenage conquests all they know about sex. Deji had the penchant for them and that’s made me put a bit of distance between us.

We’re still good friends however, and he consults me from time to time whenever he needs to.

He recently called at mine after almost a year of our seeing face-to-face.

Most of the time, we talked on phone.

He’d decided to redecorate his living room and I’d recommended the carpenter I’ve used for decades. He was quite impressed by the end products and asked me over for a preview. The couch was particularly impressive and as we both bounced on it, playfully toying with the idea of testing it for comfort, the doorbell shrieked.

Deji was a bit annoyed, he wasn’t expecting anybody, he assured, and hurriedly went to the door to dismiss whoever it was. I was a bit irritated when he walked in

with one of his ‘girls’.

She had a man with her and carrying a bundle of what turned out to be drapes, on her shoulders, and an obioma (mobile tailor!), in tow.

Talk about division of labour: Deji must have contracted her to handle that part of decorating!

She pointedly ignored me and I was amused.

All these young girls that have suddenly become ‘active’ believe they’re at par with the older generation“You could have phoned first”, Deji grumbled. “Why?” she wanted to know. “I only called to hang the drapes and for the tailor to make any alterations if necessary. I don’t need you to be home to do that”. For once, a bit of his cocky confidence.

And 1 was intent on sitting things out with this small rat. This was my ‘me’ time with him and 1 intended to make the most of it. By the time the curtains were hung, they looked a bit lop-sided but 1 said nothing.

Shortly after, L abi, a good friend of Heaven only knows when they got hooked on the habit though they no longer bother to hide their shameful habit from me.

A few times, I’ve discovered the stuff in their luggage on their way out of

the country and 1'd confiscated it. I am well known in the society and no druggie is going to drag my name in the mud. I’ve often met them half-way. As long as they don’t try and take the stuff out of country, they can have as much as they want to buy the stuff when they get back to college.

Deji’s came in, not looking pleased with himself. Seeing we wouldn’t be alone, Madam Curtain, hanger left, directing a smirk at me.

All Deji did was ask Labi if the business partners he went to pick up from thue airport had settled in before Labi let rip.

“They arrived all right and are now settled elsewhere, no thanks to my two sons”, he said.

“Before I checked them into their hotel rooms, I insisted on them having drinks at the house first.

I wanted them to see how well I lived. As soon as we got home, I got out of the car to get the steward to ring in their luggage but when I opened the living room door, the air was thick with the acrid smell of Indian hemp!

I beat a hasty retreat to the car, informing the bewildered guests that someone had left an urgent message for me at the hotel! I then instructed the driver to take us to the hotel to

unwind.

“In the meantime, I was boiling with anger. My two sons are currently with me on holidays and believe me, I don’t know how to handle them.

They smoke help like they smoke cigarettes and their awful end-ofterm results didn’t even give them sleepless nights. Heaven only knows when they got hooked on the habit, though they no longer bother to hide their shameful habit from me.

Would you believe my older son had the nerve to grumble that the stuff they buy over there does not ‘shack’ them as much as the ones in this country? Several times, 1'd threatened to throw them out in the streets but their mother always finds ways of making me change my mind .. “ Thankfully, not all parents are that indulgent with their wayward offspring. I was with an older aunt after Labi’s visit when she told me her youngest who is just 18, was on admission at a private hospital. He’s always had a drug problem and I thought this incarceration was to dry him out, until my aunt fumed he’d recently had the nerve to ask her to ‘stuff it’ when she admonished him on his

weird behaviour. “His poor dad had told him to come home at decent hours because we live in a respectable area”, said the poor woman. But instead of feeling contrite, he told his father he was shocked that his dad could tell him off in a house that belonged to his mother. More or less saying his dad was a spineless sponger. It was then I knew drastic measures had to be taken to bring the lad to his senses, Discreetly, I arranged for the nightguard to get a few more guards from the neighbourhood and be on the lookout for my son.

Anytime he came in very late, they were to ‘deal’ with him.

“Three days later, he practically crawled in on all fours, howling. The guards had so professionally walloped him that there was no visible bruise on his body. The next day, he couldn’t even get up for the pains and I sent for the doctor.

‘This is just a sample,’ I warned him as the doctor took him away, ‘next time.. you touch the stuff and have the nerve to insult your parents, you’ll get the same treatment’. Touch wood, he’s never stepped out of line since his nasty, shocking experience.

and arrange your hands next to your feet. Now, lift your body off your heels, hump up, drop your head down. Stay in the position for some 7-10 seconds.

Rest awhile by sitting on your heels and repeat. *The A-Headstand A-Head stand TECHNIQUE: Put your feet while apart and drop

your trunk hold your ankles with the ..of your head on the floor.

Keep in this position for some 10 seconds.

Return to the original position, rest awhile and repeat.

BENEFITS: This pose affects the endocrine glands favourably. The hamstring are stretched.

08052201867(Text Only)

Health in the doldrums? Exercise!

C M Y K

being.

And you do not have to overdo things. All that’s expected of you is to be regular, just as you regularly eat.

I have always said it’s the lack of regularity that’s the root cause of every unhealthy problem.

Just like the psalmist said: Man is fearfully and wonderfully made.

Eat good food, and exercises well enough, and you’ll be able to manifest a body that can attest to the glory of your maker.

No one was born to be ever falling sick without respite We all can improve on our bodies.

Help yourself with these postures.

The Spread Eagle TECHNIQUE: Sit flat on your buttocks.

Spread out your legs as far apart as can be. Now, attempt to hold, or rather hold your big toes with

your forefinger and thumb, put your forehead

to the floor.

Stay in the pose for some 5 seconds and return to the original position.

BENEFITS: This pose strengthens the back muscles, the hamstrings and the pelvic region.

TECHNIQUE: Sit on your heels

,

W

HEN you think you do not feel as you used to feel before, then it’s time to stop and think about what it is that’s causing the difference.

You remember being boisterous, energetic, enthusiastic, in short energetic about life.

You think the years past are responsible. You’re perfectly right. The mistake is, you’ve stopped living with the same exuberance as you did as a youngster.

Well, that’s your fault.

Why should you think all the good things that conduce to health should end at one point or another in your life? Health and well being are meant for you. But you should work towards sustaining them from the cradle to the grave, so to speak. But here, one thing is for sure, it’s never too late to seek to be healthy with its attendant benefit of well-

One thing is for sure, it’s never too late to seek to be healthy with its attendant benefit of well-being

The Headstand Pose

,

The Spread Eagle Pose Yoga classes at 32 Adetokunbo Ademola, Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

P AGE 24— SUND AY Vanguard , JUL Y 7 , 2013 SUNDA JULY

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Post-nuptial depression? The aftermath of an expensive wedding

S

HOW-STOPPER weddings are a delight any day.

They should be. They have gulped millions of Naira not to talk of the stress both families have to go through before the, D-day. Matters are made worse by the wedding planners who tell you how lavish the wedding should be, and give you elaborate innovations the young couple never even thought of! Decades back, weddings were a far cry from what they now are - as expenses go. Couples rarely lived together and after the wedding, there was the excitement of moving in with your new partner and living together for the first time.

These days, however, the newly-weds have had the ‘looking’ and there isn’t much to look forward to. Dora, who got married less than a year ago, in an extravagant ceremony, confesses that she is not so sure she wants to stay married. Part of the problem with this type of wedding is that there is no way the actual marriage can match such excitement.

She says, “1 wanted a wedding to remember and went about it with a vengeance. A huge tent with air conditioning was erected on a field and all our savings went into decorating all the chairs, tasteful drapes had to match the decoration and the tent. The cake, a masterpiece, cost an arm and a leg! We had an array of flowers and fruits,.some of which

their wedding, some couples are not prepared for the realities and believe just being married is all their relationship takes. I tell couples to think back to when they first met and try to enjoy some of the simple things in life.

They also need to realize that they can’t live in a state of permanent excitement and feeling they must always be planning a project.

were flown in from South Africa. My expensive bridal dress with that of the groom and the bridal train gears, were all something to behold.

Even the music took a lot of planning. A few days to the wedding, guests flew in fi:om Britain, South Africa and the United States.

“1 felt elated to be surrounded by family and friends, all making efforts to give their best.

When it was all over, whenever, I felt terrible all I could do was re-live my wedding day and how wonderful it was. For all those preparations, 1 was the centre of attention. Then, suddenly after the wedding day, life went back to normal- the general project was over and I suffered what is termed a post-nuptial depression. My new husband was fed up with me.

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"

My rib

I have seen through your eyes the beauty of being loved, C M Y K

We were supposed to be having a wonderful, extravagant two-week honeymoon in Dubai - not a postmortem of an event that should remain a pleasant memory.

“Even after the honeymoon, I couldn’t tear myself away from the wedding photos and videos. I spent hours endlessly looking at them, reliving the day. After work, 1 would move around the house in the evenings, wondering what to do.

‘When I was planning the wedding, there was always something to choose or someone to contact urgently. Now, much as I loved my husband, I felt restless as there was no reason to keep meeting up with friends and family to plan anything elaborate.

“Our evenings reverted to the humdrum of dinner and watching the box -

rather than talking about wedding sitting, plans - or what type of decor to have. I also found myself inexplicably irritated by my husband. When I was planning the wedding, there was so much to do that I ignored the little niggles every couple have.

But, as we began married life and should have been so happy, these became magnified and we began bickering which we never did before. After the fun of our wedding, married life felt flat. .. “ Unfortunately, it is not just the brides that suffer post-nuptial depression. Most young grooms admitted that they also felt incredibly low after the wedding.

The saving grace for the bride is that she falls pregnant quickly, or is already pregnant be-

I have accepted to love you till death, I know you worth my love and care, Sweetie,I will always love and cherish you forever...

James N Okonkwo (Freesoul) ngesina363k@yahoo.com 08066043380 .

My love essay

In all my life,you are the only love essay I have written in my my heart,and nothing can change that and nothing can take it away because it is lodged within the enclaves of my heart. In fact no human language can adequately convey the deep sentiment of my love for you because it is beyond measure.

Books indeed will be written to capture the entire gamut of my love for you.

fore the wedding and fills her day with something exciting; the arrival of a baby. The poor husband needs to find another focus in his life - something to plan for, like a new baby, perhaps.

However, it’s now been discovered that postnuptial depression is contributing to marriages breaking up very quickly. According to a psychotherapist, “All those brides painstakingly planning their big day and who are likely to risk massive anti-climax after the event need to be careful. Potentially, starting your marriage feeling such huge disappointment is dangerous. This high expectation of marriage is ultimately a contributing factor to the rise in divorce.”

“The worry is that after the trauma of planning

Getting Your Love Life Back After The Wedding Making a big commitment such as marriage can have detrimental effect on your sex life. But, it doesn’t have to if you follow these five-step plans to revive things in the bedroom department.

Step 1: Agree you won’t have sex for seven days.

That will take the pressure off and let you both relax.

Step 2: Use the breathing space to get back ‘into’ each other again; enjoy each other’s company.

Step 3: Discuss exactly what marriage means to you. Is it that once you have wedded, you should settle down and not be sexy?

Step 4: Start from scratch on sex. Kiss and cuddle, focus on foreplay but don’t go to orgasm yet.

Step 5: Allow your passion to build up over the week. Not being able to have intercourse will make you want it even more. If desire is still low, don’t panic. Get the help of a counsellor.

Akachukwu Ferdinand. aka5forever85@gmail.com 08063819314

Telephone love

Telephone love, you sound so sweet on the line Telephone love, you make my day every time When you call I feel so good Wish you were livin' in my neighborhood So you can hang up the phone and rush on over Take up where we left!

Cent Obama centobama@gmail.com +2348061379003

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 25

By SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin-City

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C M Y K

EDO …

N I A G A S Y M O IN SOD AMID PASTOR

r o f d e r e t a c e How w t r u o C e m e r p u S kidnapped r e t h g u a d , e f i w justice’s – Suspect f alleged rapist of 7-yr-old girl o *The confession

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t was harvest of arrests in Benin City, Edo State capital after men of the Department of State Security (DSS) paraded three members of a gang suspected of kidnapping the wife, daughter and driver of a justice of the Supreme Court, Justice Bode RhodesVivour, in May. Seven other suspects paraded were three alleged extortionists who were said to have threatened to kill their victim if he didn’t pay up and a musician for trafficking in persons. The State Director of the SSS, Mr. Bello Bakori, who paraded the suspects before Governor Adams Oshiomhole and journalists, said the suspects confessed to the crimes and that three members of the gang that kidnapped the justice’s wife remained at large. He said Mrs. Rhodes-Vivour and her daughter were kept in a house along Zomi Zomi area, in Upper Sokponba area of Benin-City where the kidnapping suspects were arrested. All the kidnapping suspects are from Delta State while the trafficker in persons is from Edo. One of the suspects confessed that he was ignorant of the people who were abducted but only fed them as directed by the kidnappers. According to him, “they brought them to the house, a woman and her daughter and I was asked to go out to buy rice for them to eat. Sometimes I bought bread for them too. But I didn’t know they were kidnapped”.

Oshiomhole expressed shock that majority of the crimes committed in the state were perpetrated by Deltans. He declared that the building used by the kidnapping suspects to hold the justice’s wife, daughter and driver will be demolished. “For the landlords, we have made the decision that anyone that aids and abets kidnapping will have his structure demolished.

Any hotelier who does not follow the instruction of documenting those who stay in his hotel and allow his hotel to be used for kidnapping or human trafficking, we will demolish the hotel. Nobody has the right to make money out of the pains of Nigerians”, he said.

Oshiomhole expressed joy that security agencies were able to arrest the gang that kidnapped the wife and daughter of the Supreme Court justice, saying: “This is a major breakthrough. What is important is for criminals to know that there is no more immunity. It is a matter of when, not whether they would be caught, and that the officers

Mrs. RhodesVivour and her daughter were kept in a house along Zomi Zomi area, in Upper Sokponba area of Benin-City where the kidnapping suspects were arrested

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and men are determined to do their best and those involved in crime would be brought to justice”. He noted: “Majority of these criminals, 95% of them, are from Delta State. It shows that in this business of crime, criminals are very mobile. No state can find solution as they keep moving from one state to the other.

When their colleagues hear that they have been put on trial, they would look elsewhere.”

To members of the public the governor said. “This is something that people should take into account, that your own relation may well be the source of your problem. Your own cook may well be the source of your problem; your

guard may well be the source of your problem. All of us need to be careful and not take anything for granted.

The lesson from this effort is that when we report to law enforcement agents, they can be arrested, but when we pay ransom, then we are providing additional incentives for the criminals to remain in business. Every ransom we pay is an opportunity for them to do more. The message is clear, we must resist paying ransom. We must take law enforcement agencies into confidence. We must trust them. Let me use this opportunity to appeal to our parents that we must watch over our children, particularly our daughters. As we heard from one of those arrested, this business is to attract unsuspecting young girls into travelling with all kinds of lousy promises. In their innocence, they submit and they take them across the borders and they face all kinds of dehumanizing experiences”.

Barely 24 hours after the parade of the suspects, the Edo State Police Command paraded another 26 suspects amongst them a pastor, Philips Ogbebor, alleged to have forced a 20 year-old male member of his church (names withheld) into sodomy. After having it through the anus,

the pastor allegedly threatened to kill his victim if he disclosed the dastardly act to anyone.

There was also an alleged case of rape against two suspects who were said to have dragged a 20-year-old female victim into the bush just as the police paraded five persons including a middle aged woman, from Ojah, Akoko-Edo local government council, accused of burning to death one Funmi Abiodun on the allegation of being a witch responsible for the death of a relation. According to the Edo CP, Funso Adebanjo, “the war against criminality is relentlessly being waged against men of the underworld; the command is not leaving any stone unturned as regards crime and criminality in Edo State. This man, who claimed to be a pastor, defiled a young person. Another thing that is so common here and I don’t know why it is this defilement.

I wonder if there is something about it, you see old men defiling young girls who are five years, two years, and so on”.

Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, Pastor Ogbebor simply said, “God will judge, go and talk to others. I don’t have anything to tell you but God will judge”. However, his victim narrated: “I told him I had never done this since I grew up, but he insisted; it was painful and I now said I will

not allow it again. After the second attempt, I said I would expose him;then he said we had to take an oath that if I ever said it out, I would die.

He carried sand and olive oil and poured it on my head. He killed a black fowl and gave me the liver and gizzard at around 2 am to eat threatening that if I ever said it out, I will die like the fowl died. But when I realised that it is a sin, I met a man of God that he should pray for me, that God should forgive me and that I was ready to say it since he forced me and I went to the church publicly to say it out.

When he heard it, he was now threatening me, sending his younger brother and others after me; since then I have been running”.

Also, two persons, Frank Chukwudozie, Samuel Ugochukwu, allegedly dragged a 20-year-old lady into the bush and forcefully had carnal knowledge of her.

Chukwudozie narrated: “We had been admiring her, but each time we tried to talk to her, she refused. So, that particular day, we watched her as she stepped out of their house, we followed her till we got to a lonely area, then we caught her, took her to the bush and raped her ”.

Another suspect, Obaze Aigbontaen, 32, was arrested for alleged defilement of a seven-year-old girl. His confession: “I don’t know what to say, it is the devil’s work. I did not know when something pushed me to take the little girl and made love to her before she started shouting. I had to close her mouth with handkerchief. But I am sorry for what I did, it is the devil”.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013

JOURNEY OF NO RETURN TO BORNO

Tears flow freely for 10 Oyo Boko Haram victims

By OLA AJAYI, Ibadan

*’Emergency rule deceived them’

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‘Emergency rule misled us’ C M Y K

FOR SLAIN IBADAN TRADERS—Sympathisers and relations of the slain traders weep as their bodies arrive

Ibadan. Photos: Dare Fasube.

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f weeping could raise the dead, tears from hundreds of traders at Bodija Market, Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Tuesday, would certainly do.

But the grief that trailed the death of ten traders, allegedly murdered by Boko Haram in Muguna, Borno State was not enough to wake the dead.

Even though the news of the slain traders had been broken through a phone call by one of their customers on Friday, June 28,many of the traders were still thinking miracle could happen until they saw the bodies of the victims. The remains of the traders were delivered to their families who gathered at Egbeda Local Government Area of the state to collect them.

Two colleagues of the victims, Alhaji Ibrahim Ademola and Taoheed Azeez, escaped the attack. The victims were said to have been slaughtered. One of them who initially survived the gun shots was said to have been butchered. The survivors were allegedly shot but pretended as if they were dead.

The victims were identified as Emiola Akeem, one of the executives in the market, Seye Adegboyega, Jelili Popoola, Ojo Mosobalaje, Fatai Kareem and Femi Oyetunde. Others are Ninalowo Saheed, Saburu Lanlehin, Lekan Oladokun, Sola Adeoye and Nurudeen Lawal.

It was gathered that one of the victims was so dismembered that his corpse could not be carried from the scene of the attack. Sources said it had started decomposing.

When Sunday Vanguard visited the market, many of the traders wore mournful looks. Most of the shops were under lock and key. Some of the traders slept on benches while others stood in clusters to discuss the ugly incident.

The case was worse at the beans and fish sellers sections of the market.

The market Public Relations Officer, Mr. Akeem Emiola, said the emergency rule imposed by the Federal Government in Borno State deceived the slain traders.

According the image maker of the market, the traders would not have died the market association had not lifted the ban on traveling to the North at one of their meetings following the emergency rule.

When four of our people were killed in May 5, we told our people not to go there again. But, our members said since emergency rule had been declared, we should continue with our business trips

,

He said, “When four of our members were killed on May 5, we banned traveling to the North by our members. But the emergency rule which government imposed deceived us. We thought that since the emergency rule was in operation, there would be security for our people. After the announcement of the emergency rule, our colleagues went there twice and came back without harm.

This last was the third trip.”

Clamour for disintegration When asked about his stance on the statement by some aggrieved people that if being

together in the same country would be this costly and dangerous, it would be better if everybody goes on his own, he said the killing of the people and the insecurity was unbearable.”The best thing for us is to go our own way and they, too, go their own way.

This kind of thing cannot continue. If I travel to Ghana or Cotonou, there is no security threat. I will be safe there. Citizens of other neighbouring countries respect our feelings, show love, and encourage togetherness but, the opposite is the case in a country I call my own. How can you explain a situation whereby people who we call our country men attack our people at 3pm. We have been saying it over and over again. Our responsibility as citizens is to find a job to do and not be a burden to government. The duty of government is to provide security for us. But the government has failed in its own duty,” Emiola said.

“When four of our people were killed in May 5, we told our people not to go there again. That lasted four to five weeks. But, when we had another meeting, our members said since emergency rule had been declared, we should continue with our business trips. We agreed. They went about two

times and nothing happened.

We thought that the imposition of the emergency rule would provide security for us, but, we were mistaken”. The interview with the Bodija Market PRO continued: Why they killed our people All they wanted to do was to scare us from trading so that their people(Hausa) would be bringing the goods down here.

In the previous attack, they killed our people and collected the N11million, and, in this latest attack, they collected N22million from our people before slaughtering them. How would my people not say we should disintegrate?

We prevented reprisal attack Some of our people were so grieved that they wanted to carry out reprisal attack, but, we did not allow them because two wrongs cannot make a right. It is not the same Hausa that killed our people that are in Ibadan here. We can’t attack them. We won’t think like they think. We would show them that we are more civilized.

Rumour of protest We won’t stage any protest.

Our governor has been very good to us. It would be unfair to protest in Ibadan when the attack was not carried out here. It is the fault of the

Federal Government and not our state governor, Governor Abiola Ajimobi. When those corpses were brought yesterday(Tuesday), the governor was not around but he sent his Commissioner and one Special Adviser.

Any future trips to the North?

What should we go and do in a place whose people tell you point blank that they don’t want you? Should we continue going there so that they can be killing us? We won’t go there again. When our people were attacked the first time, relatives of our people, even though, they did not relate with the deceased people while alive, accosted us asking why we sent their relatives to the battlefront? Up till now, we are still trying to explain to them that after the initial ban, these boys came to us saying they did not want to die of hunger. When they go like that, they get some money in their pockets.

Effects of refusal to go for business trip It won’t affect us much. The beans we buy there is just one out of other several varieties.

They call it “Oloyin”(brown tasty beans) and it is not the only place that produces it. It is just that they produce more quantity than other places. We can get it elsewhere.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 27

ALLEGED RAPE IN CHURCH

The devil used me – Bishop

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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ANY found it hard to believe. They made calls to confirm if those close to the bishop had heard the story.

But the ‘man of God’ himself told the story before journalists at the State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Bishop Chibuike Nwabueze narrated the story of how he allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl after ministering at Calvary Army Ministry, Rumuoji Eneka in Obio Akpor local government area of Rivers state.

He blamed it on the devil and also accused his host as the one who set him up. According to the cleric, after he finished ministering, he retired to rest.

The girl later came for deliverance.

He said that while he was

pleading the blood of Jesus on the little girl, she started removing her dress. Before he could restrain her, he said he found himself on top of her.

“But to my greatest surprise, I was surprised when I saw her pulling off her blouse and skirt.

But, before I knew it, I had a carnal knowledge of her. That is the truth of the matter.”

His head suddenly dropped after the confession, then went up again; this time he said anybody could have fallen for it.

According to him, when he realised he had sinned against God, he called some junior pastors to tell them what he had done to pray for him.

Nwabueze said he took a second look at the little girl who probably was still lying nude and waiting for a second round and what he saw pissed him off.

“She started laughing at me.

She said ‘are you angry?’ I told

her that I did not know she had hypnotised me. She said I should not bother,” the bishop said.

“I was so angry and annoyed that I called some of my pastors and made a confession, that I did not know what was happening.”

Nwabueze said it was not true that he raped the girl, stressing that it was a consensual act. He also dismissed the allegation that he later procured abortion for the girl when the father called to inform him that she was pregnant. According to him, it was the girl’s father that did it but he paid the bills.

The bishop maintained that the pastor of the church where he went to preach set him up and he fell for it.

“We have different Colleges of Bishops. I am the Chairman of the Communion of Bishops in Rivers State. Well, what actually happened was a set up. It was setup by my enemies. I have so many people who are my enemies. The man in-charge of where I went to minister is my enemy. He is the person that set me up,” he stated.

“He invited me to his church

*Eneka...I suddenly found myself on top of the girl for a programme, claiming to be my friend. After the programme, he set me up because of the tussle over the chairmanship of the communion.”

Meanwhile, the police have advised Christians to be vigilant and ask the right questions sometimes on the actions of some pastors. This way the police said, Christians could different between true and fake pastors.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of Rivers SCID, Mr Samuel Okaula, who paraded the bishop and a male nurse who allegedly facilitated the

Dein of Agbor:

Monarch at 28 months comes of age F

ROM conception, the king is out of the ordinaryAncient African proverb.And so it is with Benjamin Ikechukwu, Keagborekuzi 1, Dein of Agbor. And yet, even more so is the above proverb actually true of the reigning Agbor monarch.

Born on June 29, 1977 (the year in which Nigeria hosted the world under the aegis of the second edition of the World African Festival of Arts and Culture, FESTAC), Benjamin Ikechukwu was afterwards to set a global record as the youngest monarch in the entire universe at his installation in 1979, at a mere 28 months.

This historic event (recorded in the 1981 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records) set in the wake of the untimely death of his father and then reigning Agbor monarch, James Obika Ikechukwu, was later to set the pace for the trail-blazing life of the unusual king.

The succession to the ageless Agbor throne was in deference to the existing tradition of hereditary succession which began at the onset of the third dynasty of Agbor royalty in 1270 AD, during the C M Y K

reign of Dein, after whom the reverential title of the current monarchy is known and addressed.

Dein reigned for 37 years (from 1270 to 1307 AD), before his death, following which his son, Dein Owuwu, was instituted king.

Owuwu reigned for 26 years (from 1307 to 1333). Keagorekuzi I was installed in October, 1979 after his father, Dein Ikechukwu, died in 1979. He reigned for 11 years.

Following security concernsmainly in relation to the sustainability and stability of the stoolthe 28-month-old monarch and a select few from the royal family relocated abroad where he (Dein Keagborekuzi 1), lived for the first two decades of his life.

The decision of the family to relocate abroad created inclemency in some aspects of the generic life of the kingdom, especially the copious lack of immediacy of a royal rallying point for the people. However, all that has gone with the return of the Agbor monarch to the ancestral kingdom, who has done a tour of the entire kingdom to rally his subjects round the ageless crown (which he symbolizes) and to facilitate individual and corporate

Benjamin Ikechukwu, Keagborekuzi 1, Dein of Agbor reintegration among his people.

The goal is to restore, to pre-eminence, the kingdom and its people and their essence.

At the instance of Keagborekuzi 1, intensive and extensive consultations and actions deployed by the royalty, coupled with a plethora of institutional and other reforms, have since started yielding fruits, with Agbor gradually regaining its stead as one of the oldest and most respected kingdoms in the country, and its people, well enamoured of their king.

Now, at 36, the kingdom is beginning to show irreversible signs of credible multi-dimensional visibility, within and outside of our shores, while its royal emblem, Keagborekuzi 1, already has a bagful of garlands to his youthful

neckline. The evidence?

Keagborekuzi is one of Nigeria’s most exposed kings, in terms of trans-cultural interaction, liaison and activism. He has been guest of honour/ guest speaker, Belgium King’s Day celebrations; guest of honour at Spanish Day celebrations and Guest of the German Embassy, during the visit of the German Chancellor to Nigeria. He was also one of the monarchs invited by the Federal Government to receive the Queen of England during her visit to Nigeria. He is an Officer in The Order of Belgium.

His Majesty has also been invited to many African and European nations. One of Kaegborekuzi I’s huge regrets is that recently a trip he was to have made to South

abortion, also said people should be conscious of worship centres.

He said Nwabueze would be arraigned before the court to serve as a deterrent.

Reacting to the development, Executive Director, Institute of Human rights and Humanitarian Law, IHRHL, Mr Ayankwee Nsirimovu, described the action of the bishop as unfortunate as it was done by one in a position of spiritual trust.

He said the incident was one case out of the experiences of under aged girls, married and single women in the offices of randy bishops and clergy men.

Africa with former President Olusegun Obasanjo to wish the ailing Nelson Mandela, on behalf of not only himself as a young African monarch but also on behalf of all black people across the world in particular, soonest recovery for what Mandela did and went through for the black people of the world. In 2006, the Obasanjo Presidency named him the Chancellor of a University, thus making him, at 29, the youngest Chancellor of any university - public or private-in all of Africa. As if to consolidate his allround appeal and relevance, the Delta State government once named him Vice-Chairman, Delta State Traditional Rulers’ Council, thus becoming, at his age, the youngest traditional ruler to hold such a position.

He has introduced myriad reforms to drive the kingdom, safe and sound, into the next millennium.

He has instituted cultural and traditional reforms such as would enhance the cohesion of the kingdom, hedge up its competitiveness, raise its visibility at the national and trans-national fora, and increase its strategic relevance in the increasingly relevant traditional institution in our increasingly dynamic polity.

That is the dream of the average Agbor man ; the hope of their traditional stool and the expectation of their well beloved man of history- Keagborekuzi I. In the meantime, what else can one tell the pre-eminent monarch than to wish him well as he strives to recreate an ageless kingdom in alluring garbs of civilisation and relevance? Doo Dein! Doo Dein!! Nito ni-Enyi fe. Ogi Azun Gbomee Ohimii.

PAGE 28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Eriegwa Itsekiri Ladies Society hosts convention

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th n Saturday, June 29, 2013 Eriegwa (beautiful) Itsekiri Ladies Society held its 29 anniversary rd and 3 biennial conference at the Chevron Club, Lagos with a lecture and dance.

The theme of the lecture was: “Promoting Our Lingua Franca” and it was delivered by the Guest Speaker, Mr. Oma Eyeoyibo. The chairman of the occasion was Mr. Ajijala Rone-Orugbo while the Special Guest of Honour was Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

It was a jolly good day of fun and merriment as guests were treated not only to deluxe refreshments but also entertaining Itsekiri dances. Photos by Shola Oyelese

L-R: Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Barr. (Mrs) Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi and Mrs Patricia Arawore.

L-R:Mr Folabi Oyeyemi, (Barr) Mrs Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi, President of the Society, Sen. Oluremi Tinubu and Mr Sam Amuka-Pemu.

Mrs Roli Kowe Etuwewe Ibanga (3rd L) , Barr. (Mrs) Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi with some of the Society’s executive members

Mr And Mrs Richard Okotie

Burial of R ev FFrancis rancis Shaibu Re

Governor Adams Oshiomhole, flanked by Hon Philip Shaibu, Majority Leader, Edo State House of Assembly, and his wife, Mrs Shaibu, dancing at the reception after the burial of Rev Francis Shaibu, father of the Edo State lawmaker at Jattu, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo State.

C M Y K

L-R: Barr. Mrs Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi, Mr Aji Rone-Orugboh and Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

Mr Mac Eyoyibo, Barr Mrs Uwala MurphyAkpieyi , Mr Aji Rone-Orugboh and Senator (Mrs) Oluremi Tinubu .

L-R: Barr. (Mrs) Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi, Barr.

(Mrs) Grace Ogbemi presenting award to Mr Afolabi Oyeyemi while Mrs Roli Kowe Etuwewe Ibanga looks on.

Mr Robinson Eyeoyibo, Mr Afolabi Oyeyemi and Mr Oma Eyoyibo (Guest Lecturer).

L-R:Senator Oluremi Tinubu, Barr. (Mrs) Uwala Murphy-Akpieyi and Mrs Roli Kowe Etuwewe Ibanga.

Prince and Mr s. TTemit emit ope Ogunbank ew edding Mrs. emitope Ogunbanke wedding

Holy solemnization between Prince and Mrs. Temitope Ogunbanke was held recently at Immanuel Anglican Church, Asi-Ibadan.

The couple, Prince and Mrs. Temitope Ogunbanke, during their engagement

Former Minister of Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope, coordinating the couple to cut their wedding cake

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 —29

‘Who’s Who’ honour Go Govv. Shema at son’s wedding

The couple, Yamani Ibrahim Shema and Shenaz Dan Dawaki (m), flanked by their parents

Gov. Ibrahim Shehu Shema and father of the groom in a hand shake with the Chairman of PDP BOT, Chief Tony Anenih, while Malam Nuhu Ribadu looks on.

THERE can be no greater honour than when your son is marrying his hearthrob and your family, friends and well-wishers rally round you to celebrate.

So it was for Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema of Katsina State penultimate Saturday when he and his in-laws from the Ibrahim Dan Dawaki family gathered at a reception dinner held at Thisday Dome Abuja to celebrate the wedding of their children, Yamani Ibrahim Shema and Shenaz Dan Dawaki.Eminent personalities at the event were led by the nation’s First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan.

The First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan shaking hands with the former Speaker of the House of Representatives. Umar Ghali Na'aba.

Orubebe condoles with Ologodo’s family

Minister of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, paid a condolence visit to the family of Chief Edwin Ologodo over the demise of their mother at the family compound in Boji Boji Owa, Ika LGA, Delta.

R-L: Gov. Ibrahim Shehu Shema, Senator Pius Anyim, Secretary to the Goverment of the Federation, Hajia Bola Shagaya and Mr Mike Oghiadomhe, Chief of Staff to the President.

R-L: Dame Patience Jonathan,Hajia Namadi Sambo, wife of the Vice President, Hajia Fatima Shema, First Lady of Katsina State and groom's mother, Hajia Dan Dawaki, bride's mother and Hajia Bola Shagaya.

Nkemdilim Uwaje weds Eyinmisan Begho

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kemdilim Uwaje, daughter of the ICT icon, Chris Uwaje, wedded Eyinmisan Begho, son of Mr. Andrew Begho. The traditional wedding took place at the bride’s parents’ home in Lagos while the ‘ white’ wedding was in faraway Florence, Italy.

R-L: Chief Tony Uti, former Chairman, Ndokwa East LGA, Elder Godsday Orubebe, Hon. Minister of Niger Delta & Chief Waka

A cross section of guests

Orubebe acknowledging cheers from the audience

R-L: Mr Gbenga Egunjobi, Chris Uwaje, Nkemdilim, Eyinmisan, Mrs Karin Uwaje and Mrs Ashim Egunjobi, during the traditional wedding.

R-L: Tony Uti,Igboba of Aboh Kingdom , Orubebe, and Barr. Alex Ikpeazu

L-R:Father of the groom, Mr. Andrew Begho, the couple,Eyinmisan and Nkemdilim Begho, with Chris Uwaje, father of the bride

C M Y K

Eyinmisan and Nkemdilim Begho cut their wediing cake in Artimino

Father of the bride, Chris Uwaje, digs the last dance with daughter, Nkemdilim.

PAGE 30— SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013

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can stand anywhere in the world to say Nigerian children are stars. They know what they want and they make it known to anyone that cares to listen. I tell you, today, children, your voices count. Don’t keep quiet and don’t let anyone shut your mouth.

You are the future and the hope of the world. No abuser should be allowed to frustrate your dream.

At the recent Vanguard Children’s Conference, your suggestions are so important that we are dedicating this week’s publication and the next one to let government and all stakeholders know that children appreciate what they are doing for you and the need to do more.

Children, don’t only read, tell your friends about abuse and give them numbers to call.

Very soon, abusers will know that their home is the zoo and not among human beings..

Enjoy your Sunday and do have a great week

Children’s Voices at the Conference

Our teachers and counselors should teach us sex education Our teachers and counselors should teach us sex education and they should tell us all the facts.

They should not just tell us to abstain from sex without telling us the reasons and consequences. Also, they can tell us how to recognize abuse, how to prevent it and what to do when we have been abused – Chidera Obiora, CEDEC Int’l School

We have not heard where offenders are punished We heard that government made laws to protect children from abuse but we still hear cases of child abuse and we don’t hear what punishments were given to the offenders.

Government should make sure that offenders are strictly punished especially those who abuse children sexually – Ekene Omejekwe, CEDEC Int’l School

their students Teachers and counselors can curb child abuse when they show interest in the welfare of their students.

Also, most students are afraid to confide in their teachers because the teachers are not friendly and students too, fear that their issues will be used as a topic for discussion in the staff room. So, they can’t confide in their teachers – Nnena Osegbe, Bukdel Schools

Teachers should be friendly so that we can have confidence to tell them what we are going through Child abuse is when you violate the right of children.

We are the future of the country; so our teachers should try and impact more knowledge in us. You know, some teachers just come to school not knowing what to teach. They believe that whatever they say, students will believe them and take it like that and it should not be so. Also, teachers should be friendly so that we can have confidence to tell them what we are going through – Salem Daniel, Glodavis International School

Government should do more to curb child abuse Nigerian children should know that they are the future of the country and they should not allow anybody to steal their dreams by abusing them in any form. Also, I know that the government is really trying but they should do more to curb child abuse because we children are the future of the country and any form of abuse can affect a child physically, emotionally and mentally – Divine Daniel, Glodavis International School

Child abuse is corruption and it must be stopped Child abuse is corruption of the highest order and it must be stopped. My advice to children is that anytime anybody touches them intimately, they should report to a trustworthy elderly person and try as much as possible to stay away from the person in future – Divine Temidayo, Bukdel Schools

C M Y K

Teachers should show interest in the welfare of

The problem of child abuse is due to lack of information I have really learnt a lot and I’ll pass on the information to others who

are not privileged to attend this programme because child abuse is now too rampart in our society. Every time I read newspapers, I always see stories of men like 50 or 60 years having sex with children of ages five and six and so on and I think this problem is arising from lack of information.

Government should empower children with information since parents refuse to give it – Oyinpeju Olaseyi, Morningstar Academy Teachers should be paid well so they can work well Government should empower and encourage teachers because these days, people don’t respect teachers and despite all their hard work, they are usually paid poorly and this in turn make teachers not to be too serious about their work, they sometimes neglect their students and not teach them what they are supposed to know and when a teacher does not pay proper attention to their students, they will not know which student needs help or not – Uwad Efe, Morningstar Academy

CHIDERA OBIORA

DAMILOLA ADEKOLA

DIVINE DANIEL

DIVINE TEMIDAYO

EKENE OMEJEKWE

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 — PAGE 31

Govt should curb child abuse Child abuse is not good. I always feel sorry whenever I see little children who are supposed to be in school hawking on the streets with their dirty clothes and sometimes putting on shoes or slippers. I wonder what their parents are doing and why they are not taking care of their children. I pray that government can quickly do something about this because it is not good – Princess Kalu, Mylod Private School We should not do things that will be an invitation to abusers Child abuse is taking advantage of a child without his/her consent and it is not good because it affects a child in so many ways. Also as children, we should not do things that will be an invitation to abusers like putting on indecent dresses, sagging our trousers, watching pornography films and being in a deserted area with the opposite sex – Oluwole David, Mylod Private School Parents and teachers should take care of children very well Child abuse to me is a child being beaten up for no reason and the child refusing to report it to the right authorities. Parents and teachers who are in charge of children should take care of them very well because we are the future leaders and we should be allowed to grow very well to fulfill our dreams – Onyiyechi Eze, Mylod Private School Government should punish offenders I have learnt that anytime someone touches my private part, it is a form of abuse and I should report that person immediately to my parent or my teacher.

Government should help us to punish anyone caught abusing children – Emelobi Angel, Prince Charles Int’l School I will pass information on child abuse to others As a Vanguard child abuse Ambassador, I am going to tell my friends about child abuse, how to avoid abusers and numbers to call in case of abuse. I think when we are all informed about this issue, we will know what to do and how to stop people from abusing us – Nweke Ikenna, Learning Park School Female children should stop wearing revealing clothes I want to advise girls that they should stop wearing clothes that reveal their bodies because this can be C M Y K

EMELOBI ANGEL

IROH CHRISTIAN

OBI OLUCHI

PRINCESS KALU

EMMA ONYIYECHI

NNENA OSEGBE

OLUWOLE DAVID

SALEM DANIEL

GBOLARIN ADEJOKE

NWEKE IKENNA

ONYINYECHI EZE

IBUKUN AJAPE

OBED KELVIN

OYINPEJU OLASEYI

UWAD EFE

seen by offenders as an invitation to rape or sexually harass them. Also, I have learnt that when girls are sleeping or sitting down, they should always be careful and make sure that they are fully covered because this is usually one of the things that cause sexual abuse – Damilola Adekola, Learning Park School

Christian, Prime Montessori School

without the child’s permission.

Government should make strict laws especially on child trafficking. They should not only make laws but make sure they are strictly enforced no matter who the offender is. This will make the issue of child abuse really go down if not totally eradicated. Also, teachers and counselors should know their students so that it will be easy for them to know if something is not right with any of their students – Gbolarin Adejoke, Methodist Girls High School

expression of individual student and they will be able to know when something is wrong with any of them. Also, students should be free to talk to their teachers and counselors; this is the only way they can get help when they need it – Obi Oluchi, Methodist Girls High School

Our parents should listen to us when we report abusers Child abuse is not a good thing. Our parents and teachers can really help us to stop it if they can listen to us when we talk to them or report someone to them. Also, we children should stop doing things that will make us to be abused like when we disobeyed our parents and they flog us, flogging is also a form of abuse – Iroh

Children should be truthful and obedient to their parents I have learnt that some of the things that cause child sexual abuse include the types of friends we keep.

My advice to children out there is that they should be careful of the kind of company they keep and whenever they are going somewhere, they should always tell their parents truthfully. If elderly people advice them, they should always heed their advice and not behave the way they like – Ibukun Ajape, Joyceville Schools Government should make strict laws especially on child trafficking Child abuse is when you take advantage of a child

Teachers should develop close relationship with their students When teachers develop close relationship with their students, they will be able to know the mood and

UGU-FRANCIS ODINAKA

Girls should stop wearing revealing clothes I want to tell girls out there that they should not put on clothes that will expose their body because this kind of exposure will lead to the attraction of boys and men and it can lead to sexual abuse. Also, teachers should always be friendly so that we students can feel free to always go to them for advice and counseling – Emma Onyiyechi, BACS School

PAGE 32—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

ACHEBE AND ‘F ATHER OF AFRIC AN LITERA TURE’ ‘FA AFRICAN LITERATURE’

So sad Soyinka raised the issue at the wrong time — Nwankwo *‘His ghetto categorisation of African Writers Series unfortunate’

In what circumstance, I mean how did you receive the news of the death of Chinua Achebe? And what was your immediate reaction?

I was at the African Literature Association annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. It was my friend, Tanure Ojaide, who first called me early in the morning to inform me. I broke down and wept. Obi Nwakanma was there in the room with another friend. It was a strange but remarkable news to coincide with the opening of that annual global conference on African arts and letters, and it cast quite a pall on the event…a parting final exclamation on what Achebe did for us all.

Did you and Chinua Achebe have a personal relationship?

Awe and respect and admiration and all kinds of feelings always interfered with what you might call “personal” each time I was with him. I recall a night in the eighties when I had just returned from the USA, a young lecturer fresh from the Ph.D programme at University of Texas, one of my favourite undergraduate school teachers, Dr. Juliet Okonkwo, organised a special event in which she deliberately positioned me on the high table beside Achebe.

I sat there dumb all night. I think that’s what you call “celebrity struck”. She thought she was doing me a favour. I was in paralysis.

C M Y K

So, if any, can you share those qualities of him that you cherished?

He always struck me as a very simple man, but that simplicity had a rare grace and dignity for such a famous person. When we were at University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in the 1980s, he would breeze into my office and ask me one thing or the other and leave. In the 70s, when I was an undergraduate, I remember that habit of his… always walking in the campus, to events at the Arts Theatre and so forth. You cannot imagine the personal pain I had been through watching him over these years sitting quietly on that wheel chair. I really have tremendous respect for his family who endured all that, especially his ever faithful wife, Christie, who was always there to help him.

Given the depth of your love and admiration for him, I like to think that you may have done or are going to do more than just granting this interview to honour his memory.

I have a long poem dedicated to him called “Bird of Distances” in my last book, OF THE DEEPEST SHADOWS AND THE PRISONS OF FIRE. I also wrote a new poem, “No Tears Today ”, after his passing which was read at the University of Nigeria ceremonies on May 21 to mark his death. Within four days I spoke or read at three different cities marking the event. On one occasion, I even took a dangerous night bus to make it on time to the UNN Night of Tributes.

Presumably, for easy access to the airport the event of honouring the heroic life of Chinua Achebe by the Senate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was held at the Enugu campus instead of the main campus where he wrote, edited, and taught so many years ago.

,

Chimalum Nwankwo, fiery literary critic and awardwinning poet, is Writer-inResidence and Professor of English and World Literatures at NigerianTurkish Nile University, Abuja. He was Chair, Department of English and Speech, North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, USA. Andi Bula, an Abujabased writer and poet, spoke with him about Chinua Achebe, the controversies...

You cannot imagine the personal pain I had been through watching him over these years sitting quietly on that wheel chair. I really have tremendous respect for his family who endured all that, especially his ever faithful wife, Christie, who was always there to help him

How was the Night of Tributes by the Department of English and Literary Studies to celebrate him the same day?

The Nsukka night was a great night of performances and readings. It was a fitting celebration for the soul of such a great man… quite an inspiration for young people.

With the colossal impact Achebe has made on millions of readers dead or alive on the African continent basically through the publication of the

,

spiritual Things Fall Apart which has sold over 12 million copies, the sheer immensity of it being translated into more than 50 languages of the world, and the near 100 awards or more that he won among which are over 40 honorary doctorate degrees from so many universities across the globe, do you think there is any other African writer with the same stature as Achebe, given especially that Emenyonu, while paying tribute to him, said

“legendary writers like Chinua Achebe come perhaps once in a century”? And do you foresee that in the nearest future someone else can achieve the same feat— or even more? What is the future of African writing?

African writing has a very bright future. The energy is there, and the field is full of talents still inchoate but growing ever so steadily. A phenomenon like Chinua Achebe is a great boost, and one of his great prophecies is already flowering and manifesting…Morning yet on Creation day...

Emenyonu is right. It is very difficult but you never know with humanity and the periodic geniuses which tenant this planet. Cosmohistoric figures are always a rare breed, but Achebe will remain for ever an inspiration and a deathless phenomenon.

Never mind that I have already stated the number of languages in which Things Fall Apart has been

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 33

translated. But I’m not sure really, since there are variations of the figures.

Some people put it at 60 languages or below. In his tribute essay to Achebe, Emenyonu says there are 65 languages into which the novel has been translated.

Yet, recently, a journalist, Victor Ogene, has put it at 150 languages. What can you say is the accurate figure?

Could Ogene be correct?

In future, the numbers thing will become unimportant and irrelevant as in the case of the ancient Greeks. Classics proliferate with the rising awareness of various peoples about issues that are squarely within the precincts of the unavoidable crises of selfdetermination and oppression all over the world.

As the Guest Editor of African Literature Today number 30 (the issue before Achebe’s death), you asked this rhetorical question in your editorial which has been a small talk among Nigerians in the field of literature: “Why has the Nobel Prize in literature eluded Chinua Achebe?” And Elechi Amadi seems to have responded, not as a direct answer to your question though, where part of his tribute to Achebe reads: “I believe the Civil War affected Achebe very deeply and probably robbed him of the Nobel Prize.

Between A Man of the People (1966) and Anthills of the Savannah(1987),Achebe’s creativity had a lull of 20 years which dealt a fatal blow to any Nobel Prize ambition”. This, no doubt, is an over flogged issue but it is often interesting talking about. Could you please respond to what Elechi Amadi has said?

First of all, check out the Nobel Prize qualifications.

They claim in summary that they are looking for impact.

The manner the whole world reacted to Achebe’s death affirms an impact which the Nobel laureate committee obviously missed. The prize has never been directed or determined by a numbers game. How many books did Toni Morrison write? I want you to note that in the past I predicted a number of times that Achebe would never get the Nobel Prize. See at least my interview in The Muse no 40, journal of the English Association of the University of Nigeria… Not after the really deadly onslaught at the citadels of white superiority racially and intellectually.

Please go back again and read the end of Chapter 8 of Things Fall Apart where the white skin is compared with leprosy.

Go back and re-visit Achebe’s attack of Albert Schweitzer, and then of course re-read Achebe’s destruction of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness , and tell me whether if you were white you would recommend Achebe for the

Nobel Prize. Heart of Darkness, by the way, is one of the top 100 great books in the Western tradition. Those who thought they were the “custodians” of that tradition fought Achebe’s essay for many years. It was only a few years ago that a man as eminent as Professor Graff came to the conclusion that “Achebe was right” about Conrad’s book. Graff indeed encouraged his colleagues in the American academy to accept that fact !

In Ngugi’s tribute to Achebe, the latter came off as “the father of African Literature” even though the Kenyan writer did not state it in the exact words. Besides, many in Africa and beyond see Achebe in that light even though the late writer did not seem comfortable with the appellation. In an interview, Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka is obviously irritated by this reference to Achebe as the father of African Literature, hence he has referred to the appellation as one of “literary ignorance” or “momentary exuberance” and has gone on to say “education is lacking in most of those who pontificate”, adding that it is an “embarrassment” and “it is all rather depressing” to him.

How would you react to all this? Is Ngugi correct? Was Achebe’s refusal of the title out of modesty? Do readers of literature and literature scholars alike have absolute right in saying who is their hero? Do you perceive “jealousy,” “rivalry” and “illwill” in Soyinka towards the late Achebe as some people are echoing? Could this be why he wasn’t even present at his friend’s burial?

In his tribute, famous Kenyan author, Ngugi wa Thiong’o noted that at one point in his life, people who did not know him asked him if he was the author of Things Fall Apart in his country. In the same tribute, he also pointed out that Soyinka acknowledged that he met a similar fate elsewhere…whether he was the author of Things Fall Apart? These encounters are very significant in terms of their implications in relation to the stature of the writers with Achebe. Whatever anybody says about that appellation, “father of African Literature”, now or tomorrow, I would find rather inane, amusing, and redundant.

Soyinka himself said that Achebe was uncomfortable with the “ father of African literature” ascribed to him.

Christians can, I am sure, appreciate the story about the response by Jesus to a similar question,. “Art thou the son of God?” The modest noncommittal response was, “Thou sayest.” It is unfortunate, sad , and also rather depressing that Soyinka should go so far as to charge the millions of readers and critics… young

‘So yink a’s ghe tt o ‘Soyink yinka’s ghett tto cat egorisation of categorisation African W rit er Writ riter erss Series unf or tunat e’ unfor ortunat tunate’ and old people… all over the world with “ignorance” for calling Achebe “father of African Literature”. You see… just as Soyinka ascribed to himself and his favourite contemporaries “pioneer quartet”, I think that if claims were heinous crimes, it is a more heinous crime that Soyinka’s was more direct, with quotation marks or without. He claimed “pioneer quartet”. Achebe never claimed that he was “father of

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Continued from page 32

had waited till after Achebe’s burial for such utterances or debate. I wish he had never opened his mouth so early about this subject because I find it so untimely…but who am I anyway? A man like Professor Afejuku has wondered with shocking naiveté and zany insensitivity whether Achebe thought about his Itsekiri and Yoruba in-laws while writing There was a Country. Now…that is how horrible and how low Nigerian primordiality could descend. And do we wonder how Achebe’s family would be feeling about the kind of strange sentiments swirling crazily out there at the heels of the transition of a man who suffered so much and sacrificed quite a bit of his time for oppressed people all over this world?

the Nobel committee as “a gaggle of Swedes” in disgust over preferring Soyinka to Achebe is irrelevant just as it should be irrelevant to some of us that anybody thinks that Achebe is the “father of African Literature’. Mark also that of all the names Soyinka mentioned of those who could also be called father of African Literature, whether it is Mazisi Kunene or Kofi Awonoor or any other name that we could all think up, no

It is unfortunate, sad , and also rather depressing that Soyinka should go so far as to charge the millions of readers and critics… young and old people… all over the world with “ignorance” for calling Achebe “father of African Literature

African Literature”. Also, the four of them were not the only serious writers at that point in time in the history of literature in Nigeria. Forget the eminence which greeted their names down the road. Note that the Nobel Prize Committee gave Soyinka the Nobel Prize. Not all readers thought he deserved the prize, but it is the right of that group to dispense that honour according to its choices or preferences. That an eminent highly respected Nigerian thinker and writer referred to

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one has a global text such as Things Fall Apart in his or her resume. Not even Soyinka himself. Let everyone try a shot at some honesty about this point…The last point about this really sad subject is that, I do not think Soyinka raised this subject at the right time. The whole thing is really so untimely and unfortunate…And this is about a man that supposedly was his friend. They wined and dined together. I truly really really wished that he

Asked earlier in the same interview how he saw Achebe’s role in the popularisation of African literature as editor for Heinemann’s African Writers Series, Soyinka replied :“As a literary practitioner , my instinct tends towards a suspicion of “ghetto” classifications— which I did feel this was bound to be….I refused to permit my works to appear in the series…

Permission to publish The Interpreters was granted in my absence…All in all, the odds come down in favour of the series—which, by the way, did go through the primary phase of sloppy inclusiveness, then became more discriminating.” How do you see this?

There is so much that is so dreadfully infra dig about this whole interview…so abysmally beneath what many of us had before now thought of Wole Soyinka. To associate AWS with ghettorization is not something which anyone who claims commitment or engagement with the problems of the black world would say. I am appalled at the troubling Caucasian condescension in the sub-text or sub-tone of that remark, though in terms of Soyinka’s consciousness, the pedigree is still clearly from his old thing about the tiger not having to proclaim his tigritude which the late high priest of Negritude, Leopold Sedar Senghor, dismissed with a telling “the Negro talks”… Can you see why so many Africans are so suspicious of his Nobel Prize?

Can’t you see how such rather unkind suspicions and misgivings find fuel in Soyinka’s politics of culture…? Can you imagine the number of very serious African writers that one would probably never have heard about without AWS…whether the series started sloppily or not…? Think about the story Achebe told about the near loss of the Things Fall Apart manuscript, and the rejection it encountered before Heinemann gave that gift to the world…And as for this other thing about Adewale Maja-Pearce, that’s their business… If I were MajaPearce, I would be celebrating because when a big guy anywhere is beating up on a little guy, sympathy always stays with the little guy.

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013

LAGOS AIRPORT CONCESSIONS

Disputes that defy court judgments *FAAN, AIC Hotels resort to self-help *And the Bi-Courtney case on the sidelines

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HIS is obviously not the best of time for the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN. This is because the agency is beset by battles against some of its concessionaires. On one hand, the agency is locked in a war of attrition with Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited over the management of the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, which Bi-Courtney management is laying claims, following the Build, Operate and Transfer, BoT, agreement signed between both parties about a decade ago. On the other hand, it is waging a battle against Maevis Nigeria Limited over its Airport Operations Management System, AOMS, designed to shore up its revenue generation and AIC Hotels Limited over a parcel of land at the Lagos airport leased to the company for the purpose of building an international hotel under a concession arrangement.

Although the issues relating to these developments are currently in one court or the other, parties involved have lately resorted to self-help, with each accusing the other of circumventing court orders and, at the same time, laying claims to victory in the courts. But the one that appears to be assuming a dangerous dimension, as weapons are now reportedly deployed, is the case between the airports authorities and AIC management. While FAAN argued that the agreement that covered the leased land was skewed in favour of AIC, alleging that the promoters of the hotel used their closeness to the Presidency at the time they got the land in 1998 to arm-twist it into signing an agreement it was not a party to its drafting, AIC management said nothing of such happened, contending that since government was a continuum, the agreement subsists.

So far, neither FAAN nor AIC Hotels Limited, owned by industrialist and politician, Chief Harry Akande, has indicated interest to shift ground. Besides, FAAN said its efforts to retrieve the parcel of land from AIC were in tandem with a review of skewed concession agreements with many organisations in public interest.

Recent developments, it said, made it imperative for the statusquo to be altered. Citing security reasons, FAAN said it was leaving nothing to chance in ensuring that all concessions, including the lease agreement on the use of land, guaranteed public interest. The agency said even if the land was leased to AIC Hotels Limited some 14 years ago to build a hotel, emerging security situation in the country had nullified that intention, noting that the facility would expose the airport to

potential terror attacks. The land in question is close to the diplomatic car park of the MMIA .

However, armed with what it described as government’s approval secured in 1998, AIC Hotels Limited recently attempted to resume construction at the site, which it abandoned some years ago but was met with resistance by FAAN. Since the crisis broke, FAAN and the firm had been at daggers drawn, making the issue difficult to resolve, especially as the company is asking for $78 million compensation the former considered outrageous.

The question being asked is, why should FAAN pay the concessionaire that much, when the firm has nothing on ground to show that it means business, after many years of inability to deliver the project?

However, AIC Limited had, by virtue of the ruling of late Justice Kayode Eso delivered on June 1, 2010, been awarded $48.124 million damages and loss of income arsing from frustration suffered in the hands of FAAN. The company had gone to an arbitration panel , headed by the late jurist, to seek redress.

Reacting to the frequent of faceoffs between both parties since the crisis began, General Manager, Corporate Communication, FAAN, Mr Yakubu Dati, accused the firm of taking the laws into its hands by attempting to forcefully gain access to the land belonging to the agency and, by extension, the federal government.

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BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR & DANIEL ETEGHE

Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos....When will this dispute end? expanded further into the disputed land.

“Without prejudice to the fact that the Federal Government did not find the parcel of land in question fit for a hotel project from the beginning, this land is being acquired now by the government in the public interest for the reasons stated earlier,” the FAAN spokesperson said.

“It is curious that AIC chose this time to forcefully enter into the said piece of land, having kept quiet for over 15 years. We hate to

While FAAN argued that the agreement that AIC got and which covered the leased land was skewed in favour of the latter, AIC management said nothing of such happened, contending that since government was a continuum, the agreement subsists

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Dati said the moves by the concessionaire was one of the steps taken by some private sector players to derail the implementation of the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan and vowed that the agency would not be deterred in its efforts to retrieve the land. According him, the land in dispute is meant for construction of a new international terminal for MMIA, as envisaged in the airport master plan, in line with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) the government entered into with China. The construction work had since began and is expected to be

believe that this act of brigandage is a calculated attempt to blackmail the Federal Government, which is on a mission to rescue the aviation industry from the rot that resulted from many years of neglect.

“We are informing all aviation stakeholders that FAAN has the mandate of government to transform all our airports to meet acceptable international standards and no act of blackmail, or intimidation can deter the government from accomplishing this mandate.”

But AIC Limited would have none of this. Personal Assistant to Chief Harry Akande, Mr Gbenga Akinyemi, said the company was

on the land by virtue of the lease agreement it entered into with FAAN since February 1998 and subsisting for 50 years.

He alleged that the personnel of FAAN, numbering about 20, led by a retired colonel, in conjunction with security agencies, chased workers out of the site as they set to commence work on the hotel building.

According to him, there is a subsisting court order, which stopped FAAN from coming into the land to harass its workers.

Akinyemi said the project would in no way compromise safety and security at the airport, as major airports in other parts of the world had hotels built in them for the comfort of travellers.

Speaking in the same vein, General Manager , Administration and Business Development, AIC Hotel Limited, Chief Niyi Akande, said the land was leased to AIC Hotel Limited in 1998 and that the agreement was registered as number 55 at page 55 in Volume 2010 of the Land Registry of Lagos State.

“There is a court injunction which is still subsisting. We did not go through the back door. They leased the land to us for 50 years.

We signed an agreement and we did not just come here to take the land. FAAN should obey court decisions,” he said. His entreaty on FAAN stemmed from the injunction granted the company on February, 18, 2002, by Justice R.O Nwodo, and other subsequent injunctions restraining the agency from disturbing AIC Limited from conducting its legal business on the land.

With men of the police keeping watch over the disputed land to avoid any break down of law and order, the controversy rages.

But FAAN’s Director of Legal Services, Mr. Jacob Mark, was quick to dismiss this, saying all

the lands in Nigeria belong to the Federal Government. According to him, what the agency was doing to secure the land was in overriding public interest, national security and and aviation safety considerations.

He said: “All the land around the airport anywhere in Nigeria belongs to the Federal Government. Not to any individual. When the land is given to any individual or organisation, it is given as lease, under some terms and conditions for a specified number of years that the agreement covers.

“In the case of AIC Hotel Limited which claims to own land at the airport, it is unthinkable for anybody to reason that way and hold on to such argument”.

Although Airport Police Commissioner, Mr. Olatunde Caulkrick, had assured repeatedly that the police would maintain security at the disputed land until peace was restored, the incident, last Tuesday, completely defeats that assurance, as clash again broke out between both parties, with each allegedly accusing the other of hiring thugs to foment trouble.

Observers contend that past dispensations in FAAN were not thorough in signing concession agreements with private players who indicated interest in investing in the aviation sector, arguing that in as much as the agency was desirous of opening to foreign investments, the right draft agreements should have been prepared by its legal department. But again, the present dispensation in FAAN had said consistently that contentious concession agreements were foisted on the management in the past by forces close to the corridors of power. Perhaps only

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 35

RISK MANAGEMENT

Recipe to stop sub-region’s banks’ collapse

BY UDEME CLEMENT

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O strengthen the financial institutions to enhance stability in the banking system, the Central Banks of Anglophone West African countries namely, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, are mapping out new strategies to focus on risk banking supervision, modern techniques needed to tackle the changing structure of banking system and prudent behaviour by financial intermediaries to prevent system collapse now and in the long-run. To achieve these objectives, The College of Supervisors of African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), in collaboration with West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, organised a regional course on ‘Banking supervision: Intermediate level’ for Central Banks within the zone. Some experts spoke with Sunday Vanguard on the imperative for modern supervisory techniques and the impact of the on-going banking reforms in the sub-region.

Risk management vital to prevent system-Mr. Belal Kanneh, Central Bank of Liberia : West African sub-region needs experts in risk banking supervision. The banking industry is very crucial to economic growth and development of every country. It is imperative for banks in the sub-region to focus on risk management in order to build on the ongoing banking reforms to prevent system collapse now and in the long-run. This requires taking due advantage of the extensive capacity building programmes for regulators and supervisors within the sub-region to keep on track with international best practice. For example, the on-going reform in the banking industry in Nigeria has strategically repositioned the sector for greater growth.

This will enable the regulators to effectively tackle new challenges posed by globalisation in the financial system. This implies that regulators and supervisors must undergo regular capacity building programmes to understand the modern techniques needed to enhance effective monetary policy management to strengthen the economies in the sub-region.

For instance, the regional course put together by the Institute covers an overview of banking supervision, risk management, consolidated supervision, corporate governance principles, corrective action framework and bank licensing process among other topics relevant to risk-focused supervision, which are relevant to risk management in the financial system.

Modern techniques of supervision, bank licensing and preventive measures are required to avoid bank failures- Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management, Prof. Akpan Ekpo: Regulators must have in-depth knowledge, modern techniques of supervision, bank licensing and preventive measures required to avoid bank failures.

Over the last decade, the financial markets

Prof. Akpan Ekpo

Mr. Belal Kanneh

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Mrs. T. Jatta

Given the rapid technological advances, there is need to strengthen the internal discipline of capital markets to ensure stability of the financial system

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have become more open and the use of administrative controls to restrict the activities of financial intermediaries is no longer in vogue. Nowadays, national capital markets are not insulated from capital flows, and government intervention

to counteract undesired capital market developments is no longer fashionable.

Also, given the rapid technological advances, there is need to strengthen the internal discipline of capital markets to ensure stability of the financial system. It is imperative for regulators, supervisors of the financial system and those concerned with systemic stability to promote prudent behaviour by financial intermediaries. I want to focus on the changing structure of the banking system and risk focused banking supervision.

In recent years, international banking scene has witnessed strong trends toward globalisation and consolidation of the financial system. The stability of the system has become a major challenge to bank regulators and supervisors throughout the world. The multilateral initiative leading to evolution of international supervisory standards and codes, as well as evaluation of adherence thereto, represent resolute

attempts to address this challenge.

In the sub-region, supervisory process has concomitantly evolved and it aims at attaining a certain level of robustness and sophistication consistent with international best practice. However, globalisation and liberalisation have added other dimensions to the challenges of regulation and supervision of the banking system. A relatively new tool to deal effectively with the new challenges is risk-focused banking supervision. Risk-focused allows for optimising the synergy from different activities, such as regulatory and supervisory functions to enhance the overall efficiency in the system. It entails the development and maintenance of a dynamic supervisory plan that responds to the organisation’s changing risk profile.

Successful implementation or risk-focused supervision requires existence of efficient risk management architecture, adoption of risk-focused internal audit, a strengthened management information system and trained personnel in risk management and risk-based audit.

Financial system regulators must embrace constant training programmes to meet international standard- Mrs. T. Jatta, Central Bank of Gambia : This is very quite imperative because capacity building programmes are designed to adequately equip regulators in the subregion for the task ahead. To ensure effective transfer of skills, the Institute has established collaborative technical partnership with global institutions known in capacity building for economic and financial management. The financial system in the sub-region can achieve rapid development if the supervisors and regulators take full advantage of these capacity building programmes.

Disputes that defy court judgments Continued from page 34 “In the case of AIC Hotel Limited which claims to own land at the airport, it is unthinkable for anybody to reason that way and hold on to such argument”.

Although Airport Police Commissioner, Mr. Olatunde Caulkrick, had assured repeatedly that the police would maintain security at the disputed land until peace was restored, the incident, last Tuesday, completely defeats that assurance, as clash again broke out between both parties, with each allegedly accusing the other of hiring thugs to foment trouble.

Observers contend that past dispensations in FAAN were not thorough in signing concession agreements with private players who indicated interest in investing in the aviation sector, arguing that in as much as the agency was desirous of opening to foreign investments, the right draft agreements should have been prepared by its legal department. But again, the present dispensation in FAAN had said consistently that contentious concession agreements were foisted on the management in the past by forces close to the corridors of power. Perhaps only an intervention by the Presidency would help resolve the issue, especially as the courts have not been able to do that.

President of Aviation Round Table, ART, an advocacy group on the industry, Capt.

Dele Ore, said though FAAN was doing the right thing in retrieving its parcel of land from AIC Hotels, it was, however, going about it the wrong way. Ore, a former Director of Operations of the defunct Nigeria Airways and a DC-10 pilot, blamed past dispensations in the agency who he accused of signing ridiculous agreements with concessionaires to service their selfish interest and not that of FAAN.

He condemned the situation where both parties resorted to self-help, instead of allowing the court to decide the matter.

Speaking in the same vein, General Secretary of Nigerian Aviation Professional Association, NAPA, Comrade Abdul Rasaq Saidu, said: “All I know is that when government rolls out a very good policy, the executors of these policies have not always been upright in terms of element of corruption that they possess, I believe the government should involve external bodies such as the Attorney General of the Federal, Accountant General, the Auditor General and so on in the process of signing concession agreements because when you look at the previous concessions that were signed, they were signed fraudulently and FAAN didn’t partake in the signing process and I think that is the bone of contention. ”But since the court has given its judgement on FAAN and AIC over the parcel of land, both parties should abide by the ruling of the court, whatever the court says should be binding on each of the parties because we are all civil citizens of this country and we are governed by the laws of the land.

Again I see most private individuals who want to do business with government as people who want to rip the government off its resources and that is not good. They should work together so both parties could profit from whatever concession agreement that is entered into.”

FAAN DEFIES COURT ORDER ON BI-COURTNEY Meanwhile the saga between FAAN and Bi-Courtney in respect of the concession agreement entered into on April 24, 2003 took a violent turn on June 6, when FAAN

officials pulled down bill boards erected at the Lagos airport by the concessionaire.

This action was said to have been taken without notice and in total violation of the concession agreement.

On November 15, 2011, in a case titled Bi-Courtney Limited vs. The Managing Director, Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria and FAAN, the issue of the agency’s right to pull down advertisements installed

by Bi-Courtney came before the Federal High Court for resolution.

In a judgment delivered by Hon. Justice Stephen Jonah Adah, the court decided that under the agreement, FAAN had no right whatsoever to take laws into its own hands. If there is any dispute between FAAN and Bi-Courtney, the dispute, according to the court, must be resolved by arbitration in accordance with Article 22 of the concession agreement.

“The sum of it is whether the defendants can in any dispute relating to the concession agreement take action to resolve disputes without resorting to Article 22 of the said agreement for dispute resolution mechanism. It is obvious in the light of the said agreement that the defendant cannot so act … It is ordered also in consequence of this that the parties should refer their dispute for amicable settlement as prescribed by their agreement”, the court stated.

FAAN and Bi-Courtney have been in dispute over the concession agreement.

In 2009, the Federal High Court sitting at Abuja ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria and FAAN to hand over the General Aviation Terminal to Bi-Courtney in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/50/2009 delivered on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. There have been four appeals against this judgment all resolved in favour of Bi-Courtney. The orders are yet to be obeyed by FAAN.

PAGE 36 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013

The First Lady in Rivers

BY HOPE IGWE-AGBO VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Dame Jonathan gains nothing from a disunited home state

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OTHERS in Rivers State are happy once again since the visit of the mother of the nation, the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. This is because of the gains of her recent visit including the establishment of the South-South secretariat of her pet project, Women for Change and Development Initiative.

Now, the dividends of democracy would trickle faster to the women and youths in the state and the zone. It is however sad that all the time the First Lady spent in Rivers State, Governopr Rotimi Amaechi and his wife, Judith, did not attend to her.

Amaechi simply sent his deputy, Tele Ikuru, to the events. Even the Okrika Local Government Chairman, Tamuno Williams, did not care to show up and, of course, his wife was nowhere near the events. Yes, there are some perceived political

differences between Amaechi and President Goodluck Jonathan, but should such matter be allowed into the public domain? Did the governor expect the President’s men and supporters to keep quiet forever while he went about around the country and beyond collaborating with opponents of Mr President?

In August 2010, when the First Lady visited Rivers State, there was an incident that has continued to divide Government House, Port Harcourt and Abuja.

Amaechi was alleged to have threatened Okrika people right there in the presence of their highly esteemed daughter, Dame Jonathan, about how he ‘must’ demolish some of the waterfronts where most of the people reside and do business.

The issue of demolition is a controversial and tempestuous one. Apparently noting that tempers were beginning to rise and to douse it, the mother of the nation was said to have intervened and cautioned the governor on the need to use consultation instead of force. This simple matter was spinned out of hand to the extent that has to this day remained a sour point.

A better handling would have turned the matter to mere fun.

Media reports said Amaechi took offense and never cared to support the First Lady all through her stay until she left for Abuja. The hostility seems to have continued. Instead of those around the governor to try to close these gaps and view the First Lady’s utterances in the positive, in the light of what she wanted to convey, being the need for caution and peace, the aides continued to fan the

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a footing in the Presidency and hope to use it to great advantage for their areas, the case of Rivers State seems to be the opposite.

It is not often that a state such as Rivers would produce a governor and president who come from the same university (Uniport), grew up in Port Harcourt, and produce both president (old Rivers State) and the First Lady (from Okrika in Rivers State). To crown it all, the

If a wife decides to go back to her roots and build consensus and platforms to resolve all issues and lead a front to relate with her husband’s administration, would she be seen as antagonistic to the interest of Rivers State?

embers of hatred until the relationship festered.

No matter what is perceived to be happening between him and Jonathan, Amaechi ought to have come out to receive the First Lady during her latest visit. In fact, some feel that it would rather have been a wonderful opportunity to mend fences.

When other states crave to have

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same state produced the chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). Such a lucky state would have maximized this overwhelming advantage and probably build a lobby team around their sister to penetrate the Presidency and other federal institutions. It would be left to imagination if there is any problem under the sun that this strategy

would not solve. Those around the governor forget that nobody knows what tomorrow may bring and that alliances do change. The truth is that the First Lady has reason to want to make peace trips home. If a wife decides to go back to her roots and build consensus and platforms to resolve all issues and lead a front to relate with her husband’s administration, would she be seen as antagonistic to the interest of Rivers State? After all, she would not gain anything from a disunited home state. This explains her peace tour that touched the homes of the most prominent leaders who control sections and groups of the state.

All over the world, relations, mother, and even children of leaders often expand the support base of the spouses or principals.

This is fair so long as no breach of the law was involved. As Mr President’s image maker, Reuben Abati, has already explained, the First Lady is most unlikely to aspire to any other higher office or contest for positions in Rivers State and so has no reason to drag office with anybody.

*Hope, a lecturer, resides in Port Harcourt, Rivers State

NGF Election: Democracy, morality and loyalty question

BY BAMIDELE ADELOYE VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Governors Forum crisis exposes politicians character

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HE rumblings within the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) have exposed some ignoble but hitherto hidden characters of some of our political operators.

The purported ‘election’ of the Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has amplified the hidden flaws in these leaders thus putting to question their morality, loyalty and the genuineness of their claim to being democrats.

At best, they could be accused of playing politics with the destiny of the nation Quite a number of issues have come up since the NGF imbroglio, but, sadly many Nigerians are not taking cognizance of them, especially as they affect our growth as a nation. They seem to have fallen for the wicked propaganda of the architects of the crisis in the forum to discredit the Presidency and further polarise the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

The NGF saga has, for instance, unmasked a disloyal party man who connives with the opposition to frustrate his own

party and discredit his own leader. Loyalty is a character test that must be passed to qualify for a position of leadership.

Amaechi’s loyalty to his party should not be in doubt considering the role the party played in his emergence as governor. The Rivers governor did not contest the election that brought him to office in 2007, but got to the position through the instrumentality of the court as made possible by the availability of the PDP platform.

The moral uprightness and loyalty of the principal actors in the NGF crisis, especially those of the Amaechi faction, are also

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the game of politics” is, to say the least, shameful.

If being deceitful with display of highest degree of unreliability is what it takes to demonstrate one’s political prowess, then the Amaechi-led team would have succeeded in redefining ingenuity in politics.

Till date, the account of the Jang led-faction of NGF that the Northern Governors’ Forum, under the chairman, Governor Babangida Aliyu of Niger State presiding, arrived at Jang as the consensus candidate for the NGF chairmanship is yet to be denied.

Neither has Aliyu denied the fact that he also presented Jang

It is impossible for something to stand on nothing; neither can a wobbly process bring about a commendable and justifiable outcome

in serious doubt. They have the exposed themselves as undemocratic and unfit for leadership positions.

The account of the Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankaso trying to justify the betrayal of his group against the other northern governors who agreed on Governor Jonah Jang as the consensus candidate for the NGF chairmanship election in the name of wanting “to teach them

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to the larger PDP family as the consensus candidate.

The question then is, why the betrayal at the critical point when the Niger State governor should have stood to be counted?

Also laid with suspicion was the decision of Amaechi to insist on re-election as against the conventional one-term tenure and the succeeding pattern of consensus.

The story has been told of how

the Rivers governor allegedly declared the forum’s constitution to accommodate a two-term tenure for the Chairman and drag the forum away from its successful tradition of choosing its leader by consensus.

The most critical of the issues is the justification for shortchanging the North in the rotational agreement of the forum’s chair.

Dr Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who represented the North in the forum handed over to Amaechi, a southerner. And by the rule of the forum, Amaechi should return the baton to a northerner after two years in office, only for him to renege, in connivance with some northern governors who did not see anything wrong in their act of betrayal, apparently because they are the beneficiary of the treacherous act for now. They want to get at the President, using his own kinsman to give him a public showdown in an attempt to ridicule him.

Genuine democratic values demand that a contestant cannot preside over his own election to the extent of personally producing the ballot box and the ballot papers the way Amaechi did in the NGF poll.

The account given by the Jangled faction of the forum indicates that despite the insistence of members that the Rivers governor should step down as the Chairman for a neutral person to be chosen to conduct the poll,

he was adamant and the result of the ‘election’ reflected that all the 35 Governors present at the venue participated even though Dr Segun Mimiko of Ondo State challenges the Amaechi group to produce evidence that he voted.

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra also boycotted the election, yet the ‘result’ did not reflect that thereby giving credence to the claim of the Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswan that what took place at the Rivers State House in the name of election was a sham.

It is natural that genuine democrats will kick against the imposition of the result of a shambolic election on members but unfortunately, the populace have been hoodwinked to gloss over the process that led to the result of the ‘election’ rather than insist on a transparent process, if at all the rules of the forum must be changed.

It is impossible for something to stand on nothing; neither can a wobbly process bring about a commendable and justifiable outcome.

To advance, Nigeria needs sincere and dependable leaders.

Definitely not men and women who take delight in experimenting with the destiny of the populace by playing selfish games in the name of politics as the governors in the Amaechi camp are doing.

*Adeloye is a Lagos based public commentator.

Contribution of not more than 1,200 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 37

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The monks’ pains over cancer, HIV

BY VICTORIA OJEME In this interview, the Director, Pax Herbal Clinic and Research Laboratories of the Catholic Monastery, Rev, Fr. Anselm Adodo, explains the relationship between orthodox and herbal medicine and how cancer can be cured through herbal treatment.

What is the Catholic Monastery all about?

A monastery is a place set apart from the active world where people have time to reflect and pray. This is a Catholic Monastery. So a Catholic Monastery is a place where a group of Catholic monks live, to make time for prayers, study, meditate and reflect.

There are different monasteries: Buddies Monastery, Hindu Monastery, even Muslim Monastery.

Apart from the meditations and studies, what else do monks do?

Monks do different activities to help themselves, to feed themselves because Saint Benedict said that monks should feed by the works of their hands and they should also be models of hard work; and even though they are set apart, he emphasised that their reflection should bear fruit in activities and labour. Like each monastery adapts to the environment, the work they do is conditioned by the environment they live in. For example, here in Ewu monastery, we have farm, poultry, we do a lot of agriculture, we study, and we teach; we give people spiritual reflection, people also come for retreat.

In addition to the things we do, twelve years ago, we started a herbal centre; normally every monastery has a herbal garden, but, in Ewu, it happened that we went further to develop a health centre, we developed healthcare in a traditional way, it is a way of promoting the culture to show that there is something worthwhile in it.

For some time now, there has been agitation over licence to herbal producers because of dosage problem. Do you have licence for the drugs you produce?

Actually the history of herbal medicine is the same history of medicine generally; it is rather unfortunate that we are now demarcating. Medicine is actually one and it has the same function, that is, to provide remedy to sicknesses and diseases. Traditionally, people have their own ways of giving dosage.

It is a method. So the complain about dosage is actually more from those who have not sat down to study the background and culture in which herbal medicine has grown. The idea of dosage in orthodox medicine is not C M Y K

Rev. Father Adodo...Rate of breast cancer alarming

I think it is arrogance and pride that brought this conclusion, otherwise western medicine is derived from traditional medicine the same as it is in traditional medicine because when you are dealing with synthetic chemicals, you have to be precise. If you want 10ml, you have to take 10ml because that’s what your body needs to carry out the right healing process because those chemicals can be very dangerous in the body system.

It is a different story when somebody is eating pawpaw and you say ‘take one slice’ and the person takes three slices; it will not do any harm to the

person or you tell somebody to take one cup of orange juice and he decides to take three because these are natural fruits meant for the body. So the idea of dosage is made by those who think they are more knowledgeable and they are not patient enough to listen to what subscription is. I think it is arrogance and pride that brought this conclusion, otherwise western medicine is derived from traditional medicine.

What are the treatments people receive here?

We run a general practice where people come with different complaints; malaria, typhoid, circulatory problems.

We analyse each case and then prescribe medication, we have developed over 12 to 13 years and there are different stages of this medication.

We are actually running a comprehensive system, we have a clinical centre like the health centre; we have the research department where we have micro-biology laboratory, chemistry laboratory, coordination laboratory and specialists in those areas, we even have pharmacists. So our process goes through different stages before you finally have the finished product which

we now prescribe and monitor the reaction and how the body responds to the treatment.

For those who need to be referred to other areas for further investigations, we also do that. This is a clinic, a clinic is where people come to make complaints and the physician decides what step to take and we keep a record of all our patients. We don’t go about announcing what we have cured, we just make sure all our cases are documented and allow external bodies, if and when they are ready, to come and see the documents. That is why we don’t advertise or go about making claims, we help those who come here and leave it to them to tell whoever they want to tell.

Apart from malaria that you mentioned, what else do you cure?

We treat typhoid, malaria; we have specialists here in infertility, cancer, HIV, infections, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, syphilis.

Do you have cases of breast cancer here?

Yes, and it is alarming. It is an epidemic; it is a situation that government should handle with a lot Continues on page 38

PAGE 38 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Continued from page 37

‘Cancer, HIV and the herbal connection’

of seriousness and declare an emergency because the rate at which it is occurring is very high. It appears common but the fact is that there is more incidence of breast cancer in the past five years. We were told in the past that everyone will die of one cancer or the other; the older you get, the more likely you would get cancer; but now you see people in their 20s and 30s who have cancer. It is no more a disease of old age, it is becoming a disease of people from all walks of life; I believe something is wrong somewhere and we have to look into it seriously.

In your own analysis, what do you think is the cause?

It has been said on many occasions even by World Health Organisation, that there is a link between diet and cancer. Lets look at it the way it was done in the case of smoking and lung cancer so that we will be able to pinpoint which particular diet and substance in the food that we eat, in the colouring we add into our food, in the cream we rub on our skin, is there a particular substance that can be identified as causing a particular kind of cancer? I assure you this can be done if there is sincerity on the part of the government and those carrying out researches. Cancer is caused by diet, lifestyle but the challenge for us is to link a particular cancer directly to a particular food or life style or stress.

We know that stress is one of the major problems in the modern day life and we know that if the immune system is weak, the body is prone to a lot of diseases. So could it be stress? Can we carry out a study of those who sleep three to four hours, and eight hours and see what kind of sickness they suffer from? I suppose researchers don’t do much on this but I am encouraging that these are the things we need to do in our various centres.

Those who put herbal and traditional medicine out of the picture are wrong because here we say western medicine must work closely with the traditional healers in order to make a way forward.

Health issues are multiplying, the system in place is too foreign; it doesn’t really suit the mindset and the culture we live in; so we need a new thinking.

This is what we have been promoting and we have also been doing a lot of research, we are not just complaining but we have made a concrete proposal about health policy in Africa and Nigeria. Cancer requires a lot of attention; for now, I believe the increase in fast foods in the cities and remote villages is not helping us.

Do you think cancer should be treated with herbal than with western medicine?

Yes, looking at the history of medicines; most of the medicines that were discovered like penicillin, it was from observation of some fungi growing on plates. So it was actually nature that provided penicillin and has been one of the most revolutionary drugs that medicine has ever discovered. The same thing with many C M Y K

Rev. Father Adodo...Medicine has gone astray from original purpose

Cancer is caused by diet and lifestyle but the challenge for us is to link a particular cancer directly to a particular food or life style or stress of the other substances like insulin for diabetes, they didn’t come from observations in the laboratory from mixing chemicals, they actually came from studying and looking at nature.

Although medicine can claim to be the originator and claim the credit for that, the reality is that it is nature that provided these medicines and I believe that medicine has gone astray from its original purpose. We are now focusing more on machines and experts who will operate these machines and carry out one test or the other; lets stop deceiving ourselves, there is need to come back to the roots; because that is where our problems are located and it is also where the solution is located.

In the last 30 years, there has not been any major drug discovery; they are only recycling the same drugs.

From Chloroquine to Capquine, we are recycling the same substance, so I believe we need to go back to nature, to its root in order to find remedy to

cancer and hypertension.

We know that medicine works but we should also remember that we pay a big price for the cure that you get for medicine. You may take a drug for ulcer, it may cure you but then the drug that cures the ulcer elevates your blood pressure, so you start taking hypertension drugs and truly it lowers your blood pressure, but the side effect is that you now have diabetes; then you start taking drugs for diabetes. As you control diabetes, you have another problem; maybe it has affected your kidney and the circle goes around. So what is the purpose? I have seen a drug for asthma where the drug indicated that the side effect is sudden death and sudden stroke, don’t you think it is better you keep the asthma and survive than to treat the asthma and have sudden death? So you can imagine such a drug prescribed by doctors, it shows how we think and its also tells us that something is wrong somewhere.

This issue of doctors recommending the cutting of breast as cure for cancer, is there no other solution?

In medicine, it is officially stated that there is no cure for cancer; so the cutting of the breast is to prolong the life a little bit. We are working with Howard University Hospital in America where we do a lot of research on cancer. They told me they have made a lot of progress in the last 10 years and the progress is that they have been able to prolong a cancer patient by six months. To them that’s a

lot of achievement. I told them in Africa that is nothing, what is six months?

Cutting of the breast I suppose works in 1-3 percent cases and most cancer anyway has already spread beyond the supposed affected areas. So cutting of the breast is not the solution. There are few lucky cases where it has not spread, you may cut off the breast and it may work. Even in those cases because they are not sure, they still have to carry out chemo and there is also evidence which is very clear c y ch se a lcitn flait hemo has 1-2 percent success rate and about 80 percent dangerous side effect which is well documented. I suppose, out of frustration, physicians have to do something because the mentality of bio-medicine is that doctors are meant to do something; whatever it is, just do it. It is a wrong attitude to health care and it causes more damage. That is why I believe medicine is not just science. Medicine is actually culture; most of the medical practice is culture.

The scientific part is the one that belongs to pathology, biology, but that will make up 20 percent, the remaining 80 percent is culture, so many people are alive based on how many surgeries they have done in life. African people value their bodies and I have seen a lot of women that were told that they would die in four months if their breasts are not removed, and all they told the doctor was, ‘No problem, let me stay the way I came’.

Nigerian medical practice is being tempted to operate outside the culture of Nigeria. Already, there is gap between the people and hospital ideas, people are seeing hospital in a negative sense now because it is like a foreign thing which came from outside and is not considering the culture.

As a medical sociology, this is the area that we have been very much keen about, when you see a doctor who tells his patient with breast cancer that her breast should be cut off. It is unfair to use such language, A doctor should be able to call his patient aside and get his or her view when it comes to matters like taking off some part of someone’s body? Because it is assumed that the physician and the patients are colleagues, they need to discuss.

So if a doctor calls a patient and says ‘ we have to cut your breast’, that manner of approach is against our culture because it is against our view of the body and the medical system has to look into that. But we are not doing all that, we are just imitating what is practised in other cultures. American medicine is modified according to their culture and genuine medical practice in Africa must continue to consider the culture, we must use the right language and the right attitude for people to change their ways of life.

At the moment, there is too much monopoly of health care by medical practitioners, a medical doctor should engage himself with treating the patient not into administration and controlling how money is spent; that is one of the reforms and practices we need.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 39

BYOLA AJAYI, Ibadan

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Devotee’s mission Guru Maharaj Ji, who did not deny Dr. Osigwe, gave a vivid account of how the devotee came to him.

He said, “His search for the truth brought him to the lotus feet of Maharaj Ji. After taking steps to try and test Maharaj Ji in his way, he got answers to all nagging questions bogging his life. Based on his personal conviction on who Maharaj Ji is, he decided to queue for my knowledge. On August, 5, 1989, divine knowledge was revealed to him at my mission at Owerri, Imo State”.

He also confirmed that Dr. Osigwe later brought five other members of his family. Among them were his mother, the late Madam Lucy Osigwe, and her sister, Dorothy. According to him, both of them had mental challenges and he healed them.

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Satguru Maharaj Ji. Pix by Dare Fasube

RIDDLE O VER 78YR -OLD W OMAN’S DEA TH OVER 78-YR YR-OLD WOMAN’S DEATH

Why we kept mum’s corpse in wardrobe for 10 years — Satguru Maharaj Ji devotees *‘We carried Imo police along’ He also mentioned one Ikechinachi as one of those brought to him for healing.

Maharaji claimed that Ikechinachi, who was studying Mathematics in the US, was brought to him by Dr. Osigwe for healing and Ikechinachi thereafter in 2001 left for home after being healed.

He added that one Chibuzor, who allegedly brought in the police to this matter which he

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he embalment of the re mains of a 78-year-old Madam Lucy Osigwe by one of her children, Dr. Chimezie Osigwe, a devotee of the founder of One Love Family, Satguru Maharaj Ji, since 2003, continues to generate ripples.

The incident has launched the serene town of Ejemekuru, Imo State into public discourse. The allegation against Dr. Osigwe, currently in police detention, is that he used the remains of his mother for ritual and that two other members of the family had also been used.

To get to the root of the matter, Sunday Vanguard visited the Ashram (place of worship) of Guru Maharaj Ji on km 10, Lagos - Ibadan expressway.

One knotty part of the incident is that the two persons, Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe and Dorothy Osigwe, alleged to have been used by Dr. Osigwe for ritual, are alive. Another is the account of the episode by Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe. She took exception to the detention and allegation against her elder brother, Dr. Osigwe, that he used the remains of their mother for ritual.

With teary eyes and emotionladen voice, she pleaded with the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to ensure immediate release of her brother who she said was being punished for carrying out the instruction of their late mother who died in 2003, but the corpse found in a wardrobe in the son’s house in May, 2013.

While explaining the shady areas in the incident, Satguru Mahraj Ji condemned the action taken by the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Katsina, alleging that “he betrayed the trust reposed in him as the number two security officer of the state”.

He said that contrary to the claim of the state police boss that two of the daughters of the Osigwes were missing, the two women were with him and that the police boss was at liberty to question them if he so wished.

the embalmment of the corpse was a collective agreement of members of the family.

What killed Madam Lucy Osigwe?

“The exploration of oil by one company in the area led to the cracking of most houses in Ejemekuru. Some part of our house split due to vibration of the equipment used by the oil company. My mother was going to the toilet one day when

Before the death of my mother, she instructed Dr. Osigwe to ensure that the first child who is a professor in the US must see her corpse before burial

described as “purely private matter of the Osigwes”, was equally brought for divine knowledge which he claimed he got. Maharaj Ji warned that the Imo CP should “beware of his current campaign of calumny against the holy name of Satguru Maharaj Ji that never fails”.

Guru Maharaj Ji wondered why he has been a subject of attack since 1986 in the course of which he said his character had been assassinated.

One of the two persons allegedly declared missing by the Imo CP, Mrs. Ogechi Osigwe, narrated what killed her mother and why Dr. Osigwe embalmed her remains. She said

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the broken wall fell and hit her on the head. We treated her for some time and eventually she died. Then my brother took the case up with the oil company to pay compensation for the death of our mother”, she said. The interview continued: Why did Dr. Osigwe keep the embalmed corpse in his room Before the death of my mother, she instructed Dr. Osigwe to ensure that the first child who is a professor in the US must see her corpse before burial.

Detractors and mischief makers are trying to capitalize on this incident to deceive the general public that my elder brother, Chief Chimezie Osigwe,

used our mother for ritual. Besides, they want to use the opportunity to smear the personality of Satguru Maharaj Ji and his mission and create the impression that he is one of the accomplices to the presumed ritual acts.

When our mother died, Dr. Osigwe, being the third child in the family, informed all the members of the Osigwe family that mama was dead. Owing to the strained relationship between him and the rest of the family members and due to the fact that they had vehemently opposed his decision to be a devotee of Satguru Maharaj Ji, our most senior brothers, who are in the US, came out, point blank, to say they would never have anything to do with the death of our mother.

They said since Dr. Osigwe bluntly refused to heed their advice to denounce his membership of Satguru Maharaj Ji, which they erroneously believed is a cult organization, it is left for him to do whatever he liked with the corpse of our mother. In the tradition of the Igbo, being a third child, it is not quite proper for him to proceed to announce publicly the death of mama without agreeing with the elder brothers; hence, he decided to embalm the body until a time they would come home to see her body intact, so that nobody would accuse him of having used any part of the body for ritual. Besides, Dr. Osigwe was a school teacher then and he did not have the amount of money that could be needed to give our

mother a befitting burial.

Police aware of the embalmment My brother, Dr. Osigwe, then went to Oguta Divisional Police Station to make his case known to them with the assurance that, if, on the long run, his elder brothers refused to come back, he could use the money he would get from the case he had with Chevron Oil company to bury mama because the case favoured him. He agreed with the police that the corpse of our mother should be given a long pending the time the case will be over.

He equally agreed with the police that since the date of the burial was uncertain, it would be advisable to embalm the body in the house to avoid a situation where the mortuary officials may decide to dispose of the corpse if the body overstayed. The body was finally embalmed in the house with the knowledge of the police and a medical doctor.

Police inspect embalmed corpse As Chevron case dragged much more than expected, he tried to borrow money to do the burial ceremony. All those he contacted refused to help because he was a devotee of Maharaj Ji. He became a regular caller at the police station to keep them abreast of the fact that the corpse was yet to be buried. The police, from time to time, visited the house to inspect the body.

By last year, 2012, the Chevron case ended in his favour and he went back to the police station to inform them. On arrival, he was informed that the two police officers handling the matter had been posted to Aba in Abia State. He traced them and broke the news of the case he won. The police officers assured him that whenever he was ready, should inform them because they would surely witness the burial ceremony.

It was in the process of trying to have access to the money that some members of the Ejemekuru community, who are sworn enemies of Chief Osigwe; used one of the family members who happens to be the son of my immediate elder brother, who was always antagonizing Chief Osigwe for being a lover of Maharaj Ji, to forcefully break into the house and invited the police for their so-called expose.

To prove that the corpse was not used for ritual, no part of the body of late Madam Lucy Osigwe, my mother, was removed or dismembered. Police should examine the body and see if any part was removed.

The body is intact.

When asked if the detained Dr. Osigwe had any document issued by the police that approved that he should embalm the corpse and keep it at home when there are hospitals in the area, she said there was a document which showed that the police approved of the action.

PAGE 40— SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

08116759757

THE BOK O HARAM SC ARE IN AKURE JJAILBREAK....

AILBREAK....

BOKO SCARE

Our close shave with death – Prison officials

T

he arrival of 30 armed men at the Olokuta Medium Security Prison, Akure, at about 12.05 a.m., last Sunday, in commando style, shouting, ‘We are Boko Haram’, was enough to send jitters down the spines of the prison officials.

Reports said the gunmen invaded the prison mainly to free some of their colleagues arrested by the police for armed robbery in one of the new generation banks in Akure. On arrival, they headed to Cell D where their members were allegedly kept and bombed the wall to set them loose.

175 suspected hardened criminals, many of whom were billed to be executed, escaped in the jail break that Minister of Interior Abba Moro described as an embarrassment.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the gunmen lined the Akure-Ore expressway and the long tarred street that leads to the prison shooting sporadically Walls of other cells within the prison and the watch towers were riddled with bullets while all the street lights within the premises were destroyed with gunshots. Also, some vehicles parked in the premises were damaged The prison is less than a kilometre to the headquarters of the 32, Artillery C M Y K

Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Owena Barrack located on the Akure-Ore expressway.

While the gunmen freed their colleagues, other suspects kept in the same prison for armed robbery, among other offences, took advantage of the situation and escaped.

The gunmen, according to sources, came in buses and cars.

The claim by the gunmen that they were Boko Haram insurgents made

,

BY DAYO JOHNSON, AKURE

was about to be shot by one of his men when the leader pleaded for him saying he was a “woman” and that he should be spared.

The Mobile Policeman, who, out of fear, could not walk on his legs, resulted to crawling into the bush to escape the firepower displayed by the gunmen. Although he too survived, the commander of the Mobile Police Unit attached to the prison, identified as Isaac, who rushed to the scene after

Although he, too, survived, the commander of the Mobile Police Unit attached to the prison, identified as Isaac, who rushed to the scene after he was informed of the jail break by his subordinates, was not as lucky as he was shot on the leg. He was treated at the military hospital in Akure

security operatives attached to the prison to abandon the place to hide in nearby bushes and the prison primary school while some jumped the fence on hearing the sound of the dynamites used to blow the wall of the prison.

A Mobile Police man, an inspector, was one of the survivors.

Dependable sources at the prison said the inspector, who was on duty, was seen by the leader of the gang and

,

he was informed of the jail break by his subordinates, was not as lucky as he was shot on the leg. He was treated at the military hospital in Akure.

Insider’s job theory

Meanwhile, reports said some warders and other prison officials may have been quizzed for allegedly aiding an external force to attack and free hardened criminals.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the Prison High Command has ordered a probe into the jail break which, according to sources, may have had input of either the security men attached to the prison or the officials of the facility. It was speculated that it may also be a joint collaboration between security men and prison officials.

This submission was buttressed by the allegation that security in the Olokuta Prison was relaxed before the attack. Also, it was alleged that those who were supposed to man the two towers strategically located within the prison premises did not notify the security attached to the place of the arrival of external forces which was a major security lapse.

Unconfirmed report said some warders and prison officials were under probe for the security lapse that Sunday.

It was gathered that the Interior Minister, Moro, has requested the state prison comptroller, Tunde Olayiwola, to furnish his office with details of the jail break and to bring to book if there waany complicity on the part of the prison officials and security officials attached to the place

Escapees in brothels

However, the Ondo State Police Command, the day after the jail break, announced that 54 of the escapees had been re-arrested in brothels in Akure and environs where they were identified by residents as strangers.

The state police image maker, Wale Ogodo, said many of the escaped inmates were rearrested in Idanre, Owo, Ondo and Akure, the state capital.

Findings revealed that those picked up in brothels were more than 20.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that following a tip off by some village heads in the areas, the police swooped on them and arrested them The state prison comptroller, Olayiwola, in his reaction to the jail break, described it as unusual, noting that many of the fleeing prisoners had been rearrested and returned to the prison.

Olayiwola, who said the re-arrest of the escapees was a continuous exercise, dispelled the speculation that the attack was masterminded by Boko Haram. ”We cannot specifically identify those behind the attack, but the attack is unusual. One of our officers was injured and he is in the hospital right now receiving treatment but I am assuring that those behind the attack, we will bring them to book”, he said.

The prison comptroller noted that the attack was the first of its kind in the history of the prison.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 41

C M Y K

PAGE 42—SUND AY 42—SUNDA

Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

PROLOGUE

President Jonathan at yesterday ’s Nigerian Army Day celebration...he needs to warehouse more goodwill for 2015 election

BY JIDE AJANI

A

mbivalence! That is the most common of the failings of men.

When points of view clash, in equal proportion and quantum, the human mind suffers. That is why there is temptation, sin and repentance – but we can leave repentance out of this.

The human is categorized as being different from animals because he has the ability to think. Though, as babies, that ability is not immediately put to the test!

Therefore, the phrase, he/she is only a baby, or child, is used to indulge and tolerate some funny mannerisms put up by the young ones.

Indeed, because of infancy, most learners of trade, profession or vocation, are sometimes allowed to make mistakes and then correct their wrong steps. For democracies, the same can be said.

That is where the ability of man to decipher, to differentiate between that which is good and that which is bad, comes in handy.

Because the world is no longer made up of pockets of isolated republics or nations, lessons are learnt from the mistakes of nation states, their rulers and their people.

And that was why on December 18, 2010, in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia , after Mohamed Bouazizi ‘s self-immolation , an act which he carried out in protest against police corruption and ill treatment, things began to change. “With the success of the protests in Tunisia, a wave of unrest sparked by the Tunisian “Burning Man” struck Algeria , Jordan , Egypt , and Yemen , then spread to other countries. The protests also triggered similar unrest outside the region – a testament to the fact that no nation is an island.

And with the Arab Spring came democratic elections.

Those who threw out Hosni Mubarak in Egypt saw hope of a new, freer, liberated Egypt. And between the choices they had to make, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi, was, in their estimation, a better choice compared to the shambolic opposition – mind you, the Brotherhood had operated as a shadowy force within the political sphere in Egypt.

Morsi’s victory was impressive and Egyptians gave the Brotherhood their mandate. Just last Wednesday, the military in that country, after providing Morsi what

Mohammed Morsi ...gone

Mohammed Morsi, Goodluck Jonathan and how to warehouse goodwill was supposed to be a way out of the political crisis confronting him by suggesting that he called the opposition and negotiate peace, struck, arrested Morsi, appointed the head of the Supreme Court in the country as interim leader, and with it the end of an era. All these, just after one year in office.

In 2010/2011 Nigeria, the people were faced with a choice between a hegemonic force that wanted to place an unwritten agreement above the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic.

Just before then, a clique, otherwise referred to as a cabal launched a futile but concerted bid to deny Goodluck Jonathan the rightful opportunity to become Acting President.

But Jonathan, with the help and support of right-thinking Nigerians across the political divide, became Acting President.

In fact, in pursuing his constitutionally guaranteed right, Jonathan sought and won the presidential election of 2011 with a landslide.

Some two years after that massive victory, the story is not the same.

Just as Morsi began to see things differently, President Jonathan, too, has been seeing things rather differently.

Within his first month in office, the idea of a single term of six years was suggested from his office.

Then came other instances of political distractions – most of them, selfcontrived.

The most recent and indecipherable in some quarters is the action of Mr. President and his party, the Peoples

Democratic Party, PDP, suggesting to Nigerians that the type of agreement that was peddled by the North and which was to be used to deny Jonathan the presidency in 2010/2011, can be adopted after an election in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF; specifically that an individual with 16 votes takes precedence over his counterpart with 19votes in an election process.

More importantly, however, for this purpose, there are some things that remain eminently puzzling.

For instance, Olusegun Obasanjo’s style of politicking via subterfuge for eight years as President and Commander-in-Chief, with its attendant backlash, is being replayed all over again by President Jonathan. His handling (read meddling) of the affairs of his PDP is a major distraction that creates the impression in the minds of members of the public that staying in power and controlling the party is more important that delivering on the dividends of democracy.

Again, just as Obasanjo became consumed by his re-election plan, President Jonathan is allowing some people around him to leverage on that state of mind to his own detriment.

It is still some 19/20 months to 2015 general elections and nothing says Mr. President cannot stem this slide into confusion. The goodwill that brought him to power deserted him just eight months after being elected when, in January 2012, Nigerians protested against him, calling him all sorts of names.

Now, between Morsi and Jonathan, there

must be a streak of mis-steps which has now caused the downfall of the former – notwithstanding the manner of the fall.

Nigeria has passed that stage.

But Mr. President needs to accumulate and then warehouse more goodwill if indeed he wants re-election.

Lastly, the Flying Eagles of yester-years, fumbling and wobbling to breast the tape, has never fetched any athlete the medal.

Mr. President should re-energise and focus more on good governance, lay off the excess baggage he is carrying in the shape of selfserving sycophants who deceive him and are readily available to point to him those who are disloyal or those who do not mean well for him. Then he would also need to treat the diarrhea of the mouth that appears to be afflicting a few of his trusted pillars of support. The ministers, who insist that other Nigerians know nothing but whose miracle work is only on paper, would need to be made to understand that macro-economic growth without an elevation in the wellbeing of Nigerians is nothing more than voodoo economics because the well-being and prosperity of the people is the sole determinant of any economic engagement – and to think that by July 2013, a budget passed in December 2012 is still a subject of controversy regarding nonimplementation.

On the home front, Mr. President would do well to help Madam at the top distinguish between the Presidency and the filial value of a spouse, as well as equip Madam at the top well enough to assist her reduce the collateral damage that her actions, utterances and inactions would cost in tangible and intangible form. Finally, the Nigerian people, to whom Jonathan would go back to and beg for votes in 2015 should take primacy of place in every action he takes. These done, he would have begun his journey to reclaiming the lost goodwill as well as warehouse enough for the electoral battle ahead.

Any suggestions of disloyalty, political permutation sans the above suggestions may not necessarily cost him the 2015 election. But he can be rest assured that after his second term of office and by the time he would have packed his load to Otuoke, Bayelsa State, Obasanjo’s near irrelevance beyond being an irritant today may turn out to be more glorious that how Nigerians would regard him post-2019.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PPA AGE 43

democratically elected government is over, the unfolding political drama in Egypt is more than a nightmare.

Morsi, who rode to power last year in a controversial election, was warned about the resolve of the Arab spring styled protest that engulfed Egypt barely one year after the election of the country ’s first democratic government.

Tahrir square, the archetypal theatre of Egypt’s power struggle, is certain to see more outpouring of popular emotions as both supporters and opponents of Morsi government pitch for support. Nobody should expect the Muslim Brotherhood to back off easily.

By Hugo ODIOGOR Foreign Affairs Editor

O

pposition to Egypt’s military ouster of the Islamist backed government in Cairo heralds a journey to political and economic uncertainty for the country that holds the balance of power in the politics of the Arab world.

Leaders of Muslim Brotherhood and Tamarod movement embarked on show of strength to assert their positions on the political developments in Egypt, where the military sacked President Mohammed Morsi on Wednesday and replaced him with the Chief Judge of the Supreme Constitutional Court, SCC, Mr. Adly Mansour.

MILITARY FACTOR Since the Gamal Abdul Nasser ’s coup that toppled King Farouq, 60 years ago, the Egyptian military has remained the most powerful political institution in the country.

So when General Abdul Fattah AlSisi asked Morsi to arrest the crisis plaguing the country, it was only a timely warning which the stubborn president refused to heed; of course, from the days of the Pharaohs, Egyptian leaders are known to be stubborn. But the good thing about the drama playing out in Cairo is that the military may have decided to play down its role and manipulate the system from behind the scene.

The military sees its role as that of preserving the country’s stability, but, more importantly, securing its own position and privileges. The events in Egypt show how easily the demand for social change could easily degenerate into mob-rule, especially when those in power fail to address the causes of social discontent that inspire street protests.

The truth remains that if an elected government like Morsi’s could not

Ousted President Mohammed Morsi of Egypt

EGYPT’s MORSI

An ouster foretold!

•Africa and the domino-effect arrest the social, political and economic drift in Egypt, it is doubtful if Mansour ’s handpicked interim government could do much.

ROAD MAP In announcing the sacking of Morsi, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the world that the democratically elected government had failed to meet the aspirations of the people.

Top on the list of the road map is the proposal for a review of the controversial constitution which eroded the secular status of Egypt. The Mansour interim government is also charged with organizing legislative and presidential elections. The new government has promised press freedom, with the enactment of professional code of practice.

Mansour is expected to carry out a review of the suspended constitution.

He is also expected to set up a transitional council made up of the army, the youths, the Coptic Christians and opposition parties. One of the earliest supporters of the changes in government is Mohammed ElBarradi, an opposition leader and the former head of U.N nuclear watchdog (IAEA).

Also supporting the changes are the pope of Egypt’s Coptic Christians, an orthodox Christian group in Egypt.

,

GLOBAL RESPONSE Muslim Brotherhood leaders have outrightly rejected the military ousting of Morsi and demanded the immediate release of the deposed leader. The Brotherhood has found diplomatic support from Nigeria, African Union, Turkey and Yemen, where there have been demands that the will of the people of Egypt should be respected. Morsi himself issued a statement that his government is the only legitimate government in Egypt.

He called for negotiations with other political and social groups in Egypt.

The military, which has banned the Brotherhood’s television channel, has kept Morsi under arrest. There are fears that the Muslim Brotherhood may embark on violent resistance to the new development.

But the United States (US) and its allies have been cautious in their response to the events in Cairo-U.S president Barak Obama simply asked for the handing over of power to a democratically elected government.

Japan neither condemned nor supported the political development in Egypt.

The European Union and United Nations called for caution as events in that country unfolded. The African Union (AU) has expelled Egypt from the regional body.

The Salafis group and Tamarod movement, whose street protests inspired the military to sweep Morsi out of power have expectedly, backed the changes.

Whether the militarybacked regime change in Egypt will bring about the desired democratic renewal in the North African country is the nightmare facing Mansour, the interim leader

,

The Tamarod is the rebel youth group which began the massing of opponents of Morsi’s government at Tahrir Square, Cairo in late June.

CHALLENGES Whether the military-backed regime change in Egypt will bring about the desired democratic renewal in the North African country is the nightmare facing Mansour, the interim leader.

But for Nigeria and other government in sub-Saharan Africa who may have deluded themselves that military takeover of power from a

POLITICAL HUBRIS Since Morsi took over power in 2012, there had been a struggle between the secular and religious forces in Egypt.

The Muslim Brotherhood, still in a war mood, was unequivocal in its description of the events of Wednesday, as a military coup d’tat but for the opposition group, made up of young people, Coptic Christians, liberal political elites and women, the ouster of the Morsi administration and its anachronistic political agenda is an opportunity for a fresh beginning.

In between the two camps, there is this eerie feeling that Egypt’s political land-scape will remain uncertain, volatile and unstable in the near future.

First, the military swore in Mansour as the interim president and gave him the powers to make constructional declaration. The 67-year-old was appointed a judge of the SCC by former President Hosni Mubarak who was swept out of office in February 2011.

Mansour was appointed as the SCC Chief Justice by Morsi last year but the court has not been favourable to the ousted leader ’s political agenda to Islamize Egypt’s political system.

The SCC upheld Morsi’s narrow and controversial electoral victory in the presidential election. It also upheld the controversial referendum on the new constitution drafted by the proIslamic panel set up by Morsi.

DOMINO-EFFECT Will the regime change in Egypt have domino-effect on Africa and the Arab world? That is the potent danger that looms large in the days ahead especially in the continent where the ruling political elite have bastardised the concept of liberal democracy.

Analysts argue that Egypt’s crisis goes much deeper than the recent political chaos. With the leader of the SCC taking over the presidency at the behest of the military, the new government will likely represent a coalition of interests facing many of the same challenges that brought about Morsi’s downfall. Egypt’s population has grown well beyond the means of the state to support its needs, and even a strong state will struggle to ensure sufficient supplies of basic staples, particularly fuel and wheat.

ECONOMIC FACTOR Underlying the question of what political structure will emerge from from on-going crisis, the fundamental fact is that Egypt is running out of money. Dwindling foreign reserves point to a negative balance of payments that is sapping the central bank resources. At the same time, Egypt’s reliance on foreign supplies

Continues on page 44

PAGE 44—SUND AY 44—SUNDA

Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

By CHARLES KUMOLU

C

ERTAINLY, when an American philosopher, George Santayana, noted that ‘’those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it,” the ancient and modern Egyptian leaders were not his reference point. But with a recurring history of a presidency that had always ended ignominiously, the country could easily pass for the focal point of that historical quote.

The sight and sound coming out of Egypt imply that history should not be ignored in order to understand the unprecedented change happening right now. Hence the belief that the recent ousting of Mohammed Morsi as President has evoked the memories of the historical Pharaohs/leaders and their ignominious end!

From the Biblical Pharaoh, who refused to let the Israelites go, to the 21 century Hosni Mubarak, who transformed from a reformer into a dictator, the history of Egyptian leaders has largely been shaped by vaulting ambitions.

The Pharaohs, for instance, amassed unimaginable wealth and power, built impressive monuments to impress their followers and foreign powers, prepared their tombs long before death, ruled with iron fist and usually left power unsung.

However, this legacy has persisted un-

THE MAKING OF THE 21ST CENTURY PHARAOH THIS is the story of the Pharaonic mentality that has persisted in Egypt for ages even after the Pharaohs had long disappeared.

Egypt ...mass protests in Cairo

til today, as modern day Egyptian leaders have continued to abuse their authority, killed the opposition, tortured, maimed, plotted, connived, and clung to power by every possible means.

A proper understanding of the rise and fall of the post-1952 Egyptian revolution leaders like King Farouk; Muhammad Naguib , Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat , Hosni Mubarak , and Mohamed Morsi , says volume about how reckless Egyptian leaders had been with power.

Farouk The last Egyptian monarch was forced to abdicate, and went into exile in Monaco and Italy where he lived until his death. Following his abdication, Farouk’s baby son, Ahmed Fuad, was proclaimed King Fuad II , but, for all intents and purposes, Egypt was now governed by Naguib, Nasser and the Free Officers.

Muhammad Naguib As the leader of the Egyptian revolution, Naguib became the first President of the Republic of Egypt. Disagreements with Nasser led to his forced removal from office. The al-

legation that he haboured sympathy for the Muslim Brotherhood was among the early signs of Naguib’s impending ouster. Like Morsi, Naguib was also accused of becoming dictatorial. Hence he was shown the exit door by a fellow coupist Abdel Nasser. In addition, he was subsequently placed under house arrest for 18 years until 1972.

Abdel Nasser Nasser was also among the leaders of the revolution.

Little wonder he was made Naguib’s Deputy.

After a failed assassination attempt against him allegedly by the Muslim Brotherhood , Nasser arrested Naguib and eventually assumed presidential powers 23 June, 1956. He is generally revered in the Arab world following his support for Arab nationalism. His death on September 28, 1970 brought his presidency to an end.

Anwar Sadat Upon the death of Nasser in 1970, Sadat became the third President of Egypt.

Saddat, who ruled for 11 years, faced widespread demonstrations following the decline in his popularity.

Amid the internal uprisings, Sadat was, on October 6, 1981, assassinated by Lieutenant Khalid Islambouli during a victory parade held in Cairo,.

It was gathered that his murder was on the orders of

Omar Abdel-Rahman , who placed a fatwa on him, ostensibly, for establishing an accord with Israel. He also reportedly described himself as a Pharaoh.

Hosni Mubarak The coming of Mubarak after the assassination of Sadat was welcomed with general enthusiasm, especially among those who believed that he would not repeat the mistakes of his predecessor.

But from a reformer Mubarak became a dictator during his 30-year rule.

By the time he was forced out of office in February 2011, Mubarak had ruled longer than anyone since Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Albanian-born viceroy of the Ottoman Empire credited with bringing Egypt into the modern age.

Mohammed Morsi To many, Morsi was a reminder of the Biblical Pharaoh, who refused to heed the warning about an impending doom should he fail to release the Israelites from captivity. By not heeding a military ultimatum to strike a deal with his opponents, the former President evoked the memories of the Pharaoh that perished for being hardened against the Israelites. Opposition to him had grown following the November 2012 decision to grant himself unlimited powers, including the right to legislate without judicial oversight.

An ouster foretold!

Continued from page 43 den on state finances.

The second major challenge stems from Egypt’s vulnerability to international food markets though dire warnings of food shortages have been frequent in the media. . Bread is a staple of the Egyptian diet, and Egypt relies on imports for more than half of its wheat consumption. Although farmland within Egypt is increasingly dedicated to growing wheat, there is simply not enough arable land for Egypt to feed its population.

Although Egypt is a vast country geographically, most of its land is uninhabitable desert. Population growth is accelerating in Egypt’s densely packed urban centers, threatening to worsen

these underlying challenges. Population growth in 2012 hit its highest levels since 1991, reaching 32 births per 1,000 people and bringing the country’s population to 84 million, according to initial government estimates.

This represents an increase of 50 percent from 1990, when the population was just 56 million. Egypt’s fertility rate is currently 2.9 children per woman and is expected to remain above the replacement ratio of 2.1 for at least the next two decades. As a result, the United Nations projects the Egyptian population to exceed 100 million by 2030.

This means that Egypt will have a growing pool of young people of working age in the coming decades, creating substantial challenges for the Egyptian state to provide them with economic oppor-

tunities, or at the least sufficient basic goods.

Ousted Egyptian leader Mubarak faced similar problems, and growing poverty and joblessness are arguably among the root causes of the uprising in 2011 that unseated him. The wave of protests that challenged Morsi, who became the first democratically elected president in the country’s history, should be understood as a continuation of this swelling trend.

While Egypt has been able to secure some limited funding from regional players such as Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Libya, it remains locked in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund over some broader, more sustainable financial relief. It is possible that the new government will find a

level of stability that the increasingly isolated Muslim Brotherhood leadership was unable to sustain in the face of rising disputes with former coalition partners and a firmly obstructionist judiciary.

However, the military’s decision to unseat Morsi underlined the instability inherent in Egypt’s political system and may make it even more difficult for Egypt to return to the good graces of financial markets or Western powers. In any case, mounting demographic and economic pressures mean that the job of managing Egypt’s economic challenges will become incrementally more difficult with each passing year and for each faction that occupies the presidential palace.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PPA AGE 45

President Jonathan

2013 BUDGET

Okonjo- Iweala

David Mark

Senate, Presidency at war W

HAT can be termed a testy relationship between President Goodluck Jonathan and the Senate came to the open on Tuesday when senators got provoked.

The problem had to do with the 2013 Budget implementation. The lawmakers, while reacting to a statement credited to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, warned her not to set them against the President.

One would not really need the services of a soothsayer to tell that the relationship between the Executive arm of government and the National Assembly was frosty especially as the Minister related with the lawmakers on the budget.

There appears to be cutting of corners and not recognizing the positions and offices of some persons. The budget palaver would not have got to this level if there was no mutual suspicion between Okonjo-Iweala and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters.

The Special Adviser’s Office, as the name implies, ought to play a significant role in dousing the tension had it been carried along by the Minister.

The attack on Okonjo-Iweala began on the Senate floor after the Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media and Information, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, Abia South, chided her over her statement that the Federal Government would not be able to pay workers’ salary by September, due to non-passage of the 2013 Budget amendment bill into law.

Infact, what the Minister meant was that the lawmakers must rush and pass the amendment bill or the country and Nigerians would hold them responsible for any collapse of the nation’s economy.

The Executive arm, through Okonjo-Iweala, seemed to be tactically pushing everything to the doorsteps of the lawmakers.

Abaribe, noting that the Senate and the National Assembly in general, was an arm of government the way the Executive arm is and could not be a rubber stamp to a fellow arm, warned that the Minister must not pitch the National Assembly against the President, adding that such statement was capable of inciting workers against the lawmakers.

Okonjo-Iweala had, while speaking on a radio programme, on Monday, been quoted as saying the national economy would collapse due to the failure of the legislature to pass the new amendments to the 2013 Budget.

Jonathan had forwarded a bill amending the 2013 Budget of N4.987 trillion to the National Assembly in March, an action the lawmakers have not been favourably disposed to.

,

BY HENRY UMORU, Abuja

back from our vacation this year. ”There is absolutely no way amendments of these nature would be considered for the short time that we have until we go on our national vacation. And the point really is this, it not about the report that there are differences; and this was discussed with the presidency that we take care of the differences and deal with them.

Coming to now bring up a whole list of amendments that are even much more than the original that was sent, I do not expect the presidency would say we shouldn’t have enough time to go through i t . ”In addition to that, we have other things we would want to deal with.

What we would want to appeal is that efforts should not be made to put us on a collision course. We are not on a collision course.

The budget palaver would not have got to this level if there was no mutual suspicion between OkonjoIweala and the Office of the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters

Rather, the National Assembly asked the Executive to immediately commence work on the 2014 Appropriation Bill. The delay over the amendment prompted the Minister to warn, during the interview on Ray Power FM, that if there was no re solution on the bill, the government would not be able to pay public sector workers by September.

Explaining the delay and the reason the National Assembly could not pass the budget, the Senate spokesperson, Abaribe, said, ‘’What we got from the President, which is actually the third Amendment, is a sort of document amending the budget.

Now we found that these documents are even larger than the budget itself and there is no way the Senate and even the National Assembly can consider these amendments until we come

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”We are all interested in making sure that the budget as passed would be implemented, and implemented in such a way that everybody within this country will get the benefit of why the budget was passed in the first place. ”We know that in September as the president has promised, there is going to be a new budget. So, when you bring a budget of this volume and then you bring another budget in September, what do you expect us to do?”

Reacting to Okonjo-Iweala’s statement, Abaribe, who noted that the Senate was perplexed and dismissed the insinuation that the economy would collapse, said, ‘’The National Assembly was perplexed when we heard today(Tuesday) the comments allegedly made by Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy with respect to the budget. First of all, the Senate does not view the

comments made lightly. The feeling of the Senate and of course the National Assembly has always been that we do not expect Ministers of the Federal Republic and appointees of the President to make comments that tend to give the impression of a collision course between the Executive and Legislature, because we are all working towards the same purpose; and which is to make sure that we take care of the welfare of Nigeria. ‘’Therefore, we find it not to our liking when a comment is made that tends to say that government will shut down if the National Assembly doesn’t do anything. We do not agree with that”.

According to the lawmaker, the third budget amendment proposal sent by Jonathan to the Senate was more voluminous than the original 2013 budget document.

He added that as a result of the size of the new proposal, the Senate could not deliberate on it until senators returned from their annual vacation in September.

The vacation begins in August. “If there are differences, we shall discuss with the president in order to trash them out. The president cannot expect us to pass the proposal without looking into the voluminous document”, the Senate spokesman said.

“The Finance Minister should not put us on a collision course with the president. The Senate will consider what was sent.” Abaribe’s reaction came the same day Jonathan sent a third 2013 Budget amendment to the Senate through a letter addressed to Senate President David Mark and dated June 26, 2013, bringing some changes in some select expenditure categories, even as he noted that some capital projects whose allocations were reduced by the National Assembly be restored as that would help promote national development.

The lawmakers could not discuss as plenary was suspended in honour of the late Senator Pius Ewherido, DPP, Delta Central, who died June 30.

In the new proposal, the President accused the National Assembly of removing some capital votes from the initial

proposed amendments thereby making execution of such projects impossible and these amounted to N72.4 billion cut which the president wanted the senators to restore. This is just as the lawmakers accused Jonathan of reneging on an earlier agreement that should he sign the 2013 Budget, they would approve an immediate follow-up amendment he would send.

The areas the President wants changes to are: Ministry of Works: Abuja-Lokoja Road reduced by N4 billion; Kano-Maiduguri Road reduced by N3.5 billion; Dualisation of Ibadan-Ilorin Section 2 reduced by N5.5 billion; Rehabilitation of Jebba Bridge reduced by N1 billion; Special Intervention Fund for Emergency Roads and Bridges washout across the country reduced by N6.28 billion; Dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin reduced by N4 billion; Ministry of Health: MDG HIV/AIDS ARV drugs allocation reduced by N1 billion; Routine Immunisation Vaccines reduced

by N1.75 billion; Malaria Programme procurement and distribution of insecticides reduced by N0.8 billion; payment of pledge for Onchocerciasis Recertification cut by N0.12 billion; National Trauma Centre, Abuja reduced by N0.1 billion; Ministry of Power: A total of N16.3 billion was cut from power projects including the 215MW Kaduna Dual Fired Power Plant,which was reduced by N2.25 billion; 2nd Kaduna-Kano 33KV DC Lines reduced by N1.5 billion; Gombe-Yola-Jalingo 330KV SC Line reduced by N0.6 billion; Maiduguri 330/132KV Substation reduced by N0.3B; Kaduna-Jo s 330KV DC Line reduced by N0.5 Billion; Omotosho-Epe-Ajah 330KV DC line reduced by N0.8Billion; Ministry of Transport: Construction of Abuja-Kaduna Rail was reduced by N1.4 Billion; Jebba-Kano Rail line Rehabilitation reduced by N0.5 Billion; procurement and Rehabilitation of Wagons/ locomotives reduced by N1Billion;insurance of Locomotives reduced by N0.2 billion.

PAGE 46—SUND AY 46—SUNDA

Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

2013 BUDGET STAND-OFF

Okonjo-Iweala is deceiving Nigerians — Hon. Osagie

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on. Samson Osagie r e p r e s e n t s O r h i o m w o n / Uhunmwode Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. Last Tuesday, he moved the motion which led to the House summoning the Minister of Finance, Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, over the alarm she allegedly raised that the nation could be shut down by September if the National Assembly refused to pass President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2013 Budget Amendment Proposal. In this telephone interview, Osagie throws light on how the issue of constituency projects remains the bone of contention in the current face-off between the National Assembly and the Presidency.

What do you have to say about media reports that the current stand-off between the Executive arm of government and the National Assembly over the 2013 Budget arose due to the fact that the Presidency refused to execute the constituency projects in the Appropriation Act? I am not surprised because the issue of constituency projects has been the source of conflicts between both arms of government. I insist that due to our level of development as a country, lawmakers better understand the problems of the people. As such, we have every right to insist that development projects must be executed. We have no apologies to anybody for taking that position. Our problem with the Executive stems from the undue tardiness that they always exhibit in implementing capital projects in general; not just constituency projects. Apart from constituency projects, which constitute less than 20 % of the approved capital expenditure of the budget, there are so many other capital projects that were initiated by the Executive arm itself which they are not executing. It was only recently that the Federal Ministry of Works has been seen everywhere trying to look at the roads. What about the other sectors like health, education and power? The constituency projects are not just for members of the National Assembly. They are projects meant for the development of

our people. The budget is not segmented as to say there is an aspect devoted to only constituency projects. They are all capital projects introduced into the budget by members of the National Assembly. We know the problems confronting our people and they include lack of basic amenities like electricity, potable water, good roads and schools. During our electioneering campaigns, we made promises to our people that we would provide these amenities to them when elected.

No Minister has ever visited the nooks and crannies of this country to solicit for the support of the people during the electioneering period. It is the legislators that visited every hamlet and village to interact with the people. So we are properly placed to ask for development projects for our people.

But going by the letter President Goodluck Jonathan sent to the National Assembly two weeks ago, which could be referred to as 2013 Budget Amendment proposal, he gave the impression that the National Assembly diverted funds from certain top priority capital projects like the Lokoja-Abuja Highway, Kano-Maiduguri Highway and several others like that.

Can you give your perspective on that?

Let me also tell you that it is an anomaly to ask for an amendment to an Appropriation Act. The best approach should have been for the President to present a supplementary budget proposal. A supplementary budget is meant to address the revenue shortfall for a particular project in a particular fiscal year. In order to address this problem, the President ought to come with a supplementary budget proposal to make up for the projects that need to be executed. On the issue of moving funds from one budget subhead to another, only the Committee on Appropriation can speak about that.

Even at that, what about the initial funds appropriated for various capital budget heads?

How much of those funds have been released? If, for instance, you requested for N10,000 for a project, and only N8,000 was appropriated, the question that needs to be asked first is

Osagie..Nigerians are being deceived about the state of the economy

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By Oke Ndiribe

Those who are handling the economy are causing confusion by giving the impression that economic growth has no relationship with job creation and other concrete indices of development

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whether you have spent the initial N8,000 allocated for the project? The answer to that question is no. So, what they ought to have done is to first utilize the funds that have been appropriated and then come by way of supplementary budget to ask for additional funds to cover the ground that needs to be covered.

So, the idea of hiding under an amendment budget, to

renew the entire budget is unacceptable and is unknown to our constitution in terms of budgeting. That is the problem on ground.

Even the Senate has said that given the nature of the socalled amendment proposal which is so voluminous, it is unlikely that the senators can consider it before embarking on vacation. Do you know that the Executive asked for an additional N40 billion in the amendment proposal they brought? So, what the Executive is trying to do is to blackmail us and cite that as excuse for their failure to implement the 2013 Budget.

How do you mean?

This is because most sectors of the economy are not working. Those who are handling the economy are causing confusion by giving the impression that economic growth has no relationship with job creation and other concrete indices of development.

Nigerians are being deceived about the state of the economy.

How can they say there is economic growth when the people cannot feed or get jobs?

But there’s SURE-P and they also claim to have data showing that they’ve been creating jobs?

They said they are creating jobs here and there under the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). How many people

do you know who have secured jobs under the SURE-P ? You can’t just assemble 30 young unemployed people and pay them N10,000 and repeat that in another three months and you call that job creation. The handlers of our economy think that Nigerians are fools who don’t know what they are doing. The people cannot see the impact of what the handlers of our economy are doing; it is not being felt despite all the propaganda. That is why we in the National Assembly are saying “we are no fools”. If you say we have tampered with some of the budget heads, we have the right to do so for good reasons.

They have not released the funds we appropriated for capital projects. As a result of this, ministries, departments and agencies of government (MDAs) are crying over nonrelease of funds to them.

What can you say was the reason for the slash in the recurrent expenditure projections of the budget?

The Committee on Appropriation is working out the details on that. However, there was an issue pertaining to that which has been confirmed by the Ministry of Finance. You may recall that after the 2013 Budget was passed by the National Assembly, the Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Head of Service of the Federation came out to tell Nigerians that they discovered over 450,000 ghost workers in the civil service. But the salaries and allowances of those ghost workers had already been appropriated for in the 2013 Budget. What happened was that both personnel and overhead expenditure proposals were unreasonable in most cases.

There are agencies which exist on paper but which are not on ground and budgetary provisions were made for them.

Really?

So, if in an effort to exercise the role of acting as checks and balances on the Executive, we decide that such agencies do not require bloated allocations, you cannot blame us. It is left for them to come forward with convincing arguments to tell us these are the total statistics of the work force they have. But when they who are making the proposal to us telling us that they have ghost workers in the service, it means they don’t even know how many actual workers they have. It is the same people that appropriate money for both real and ghost workers. Until they are sure of how many workers they have in the service, we cannot be certain if what we appropriated for workers salaries is not even more than what is required.

The unnecessary alarm that the Minister of Finance, Dr (Mrs) Okonjo Iweala, has raised was designed to blackmail and stampede the National Assembly into doing what they want. It is for this reason that we have said that the picture the Minister has painted about the budget is not correct.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 47

APC: Oshiomhole battles Ize-Iyamu, Odubu

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

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Governor Adams Oshiomhole in the hands of the governor’s men during the local government elections, Ize-Iyamu collaborated with the Olaghodaro group geared towards ensuring that his men were not left out in the proposed APC in Edo State.

The group has built its structure in all the state’s local government councils waiting for the registration of the APC. When the Odubu group found out that they were bring uprooted in the councils by the Olaghodaro group, they

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HE proposed All Progressive Congress (APC) has ignited a political battle in Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in Edo State ahead of the 2015 National and State Assembly elections and 2016 governorship election in the state. As Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s second term tenure will expire in 2016, the political musketeers in the ACN want to seize the structure of the APC for their political interests which had led to a big battle for the soul of the proposed party in the state.

The battle actually commenced during the party’s primaries for the local government council elections held 20 of April when the two major camps in the ACN, that of the former South South Vice-Chairman of the ACN, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, and that of the deputy governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, struggled to gain control of the 18 local government councils so as to have grip of the political structure of the councils with a view to achieving their rumoured governorship ambition.

But Oshiomhole, who has become a master in the politics of the state, countered their moves through Edo in Safe Hands, a political group made up of his core loyalists. The group is led by his former Chief of Staff and the current Commissioner for Works, Osarodion Ogie, and the Majority Leader of the State House of Assembly, Philip Shaibu. With the blessing of the governor, this group wrestled power from the two blocs and handed them over to Oshiomhole. Apart from two or three of the council chairmen that their loyalty is still being tested, others are hundred per cent loyal to Oshiomhole. After their woeful defeat in the hands of Oshiomhole, loyalists of Ize-Iyamu and those of Odubu went back to the drawing board to re-strategize. Luckily for Odubu, the Crown Prince of Benin Kingdom, Prince Ehenede Erediauwa, has come up openly to campaign for him, asking the governor to allow his deputy succeed him, citing his loyalty. On the other hand, Ize-Iyamu, who has been accused of being the arrow head during the administration of Governor Lucky Igbinedion, has said he had no hand in the alleged failure of that administration but rather adduced the politics of godfatherism, PDP crisis and the debt incurred during the military administration in the state as reasons for the failure of the administration. He however posited in a lecture that the administration could not be said to be a total failure due to the achievements it made in health, industry and repayment of debt, insisting that the administration could have done better if not for the factional crisis that erupted in the PDP then.

However, following his experience

and waiting for the green light from their boss to strike. And they struck eventually.

How they struck Three weeks ago, Oshiomhole invited all the council chairmen for a meeting where he expressed his disappointment that having been voted into office three months ago, he expected them to concentrate on how to deliver the dividends of democracy to their people rather they have been

Oshiomhole invited all the council chairmen for a meeting where he expressed his disappointment that having been voted into office three months ago, he expected them to concentrate on how to deliver the dividends of democracy to their people rather they have been holding meetings on how to succeed him in 2016

came up with the Tiger Group to checkmate them. Consequently, the groups held meetings despite the warnings from the governor that he does not want to be distracted with the politics of 2016. The state chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Comrade Godwin Erhahon, expressed concern that some CPC and ANPP members were already being invited for meetings in the name of the yet to be registered APC and warned that such act would jeopardize the merger in the state.

Sunday Vanguard lear nt that following the meetings by the groups, the leaders of the party no longer hold ACN meetings and that the situation angered Oshiomhole who now decided to fix the situation his own way, because as the two groups met, the governor ’s men, led by Ogie and Shaibu, were monitoring the situation

Dr Pius Odubu

Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu

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holding meetings on how to succeed him (Oshiomhole) in 2016. He asked the chairmen, “how will you feel when you hear that people are holding meetings on how to succeed you as chairman of the council just few months after your election? The chairmen echoed “ we will not be happy”. The governor warned the chairmen to desist from such meetings otherwise he would not hesitate to use the apparatus of the party to deal with them. He went on the inform them that his desire was to ensure that all his projects were completed and news one built for the people and would not want to be distracted with the politics of succession. The chairmen went home.

Obviously he was talking this way due to his labour background, but the core politicians whom he met in the ACN knew that the battle for 2016 has just begun. However, in a bid to neutralize

the Ize-Iyamu and the Odubu structures, the governor’s political adviser and a political heavy weight in his own right, Charles Idahosa, came up with a political group, Edo Solidarity Movement (ESM) penultimate week. This group is made up of all the governor’s men including Rev Egharavba, Modino Emovon, Gentleman Amegor,Alhaji Usman Shagadi and Benson Edosanwan. Sunday Vanguard learnt that before the emergence of this group, the Ize-Iyamu group had promised to dismantle its structures across the state in order not to distract the governor. But Idahosa, who is seen to be neutral between the two groups, led the group to its first general meeting at Urhokpota hall, where they declared their loyalty to Oshiomhole. Their own message was that they will not allow any group or individuals hijack the forthcoming APC, insisting that the governor must have a hand on who succeeds him in consultation with the leaders. Charle T, as he is fondly called is leading this group but, in the shadows, you have the governor ’s associates, Ogie and Shaibu. The group zeroed on Idahosa because of his declaration that he has no governorship ambition. Though some Odubu loyalists are in this group, the group is in form control of the governor’s men. Ize-Iyamu is a political tactician and his camp viewed the formation of this group as a political missile against his political interest despite his assurance to the leaders of the party that he was dissolving his political structure in the interest of the party. However, in a meeting held at Government House, on Tuesday, Chief Tom Ikimi berated the leaders of both camps and ordered that any form of meetings geared towards getting Oshiomhole’s successor must cease. He stressed that the governor must not be distracted and that at the right time the governor will be the one to anoint his successor.

PAGE 48—SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

Anambra 2014: Why Gov Obi will not anoint a successor – Okunna, Chief of Staff

BY LEVINUS NWABUGHIOGU

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Professor Chinyere Stella Okunna....

Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. Eight of those goals are practically basic goals and we are achieving them.

We chose a strategy for achieving that vision that is multi-sectoral.

The MDGs cut across various sectors from poverty to education to health, water resources, the environment, women empowerment. And to achieve them, government must also adopt a multi-sectoral approach and we did that by adopting as a vehicle what we called “the Anambra Integrated Development Strategy ” (ANIDS).

Specifically, can you mention those areas you have performed creditably?

I will begin with addressing poverty which is goal one of the M D G s .

Fortunately for us as a state, Anambra cannot described as a poor state that is in terms of its people because the Igbo person is entrepreneurial. The Igbo person abhors begging or being dependent on others. So, by our very nature, we are people who make an effort to pull ourselves out of poverty. We are supporting that spirit of our people by also intervening in various ways to make sure poverty is not extreme.

The very first thing we did was to do a poverty mapping as a state. You cannot fight a monster you don’t know what it looks like or hard to find. Poverty had to be identified to tackle it.

We did a poverty mapping of the state to identify the poorest LGAs. Once we identify them without neglecting others, we scaled up interventions in those areas. And we found out that one thing that makes people poor is poor in those areas was poor access. The poorest LGAs had no access from the seat of power into the remote areas.

They had no access to evacuate agricultural produce and they are also the food producing

areas. The poorest areas are in Anambra West, Orumba South, Awka North and Ogbaru and these are the food baskets of the state. Because there was no road in those areas, they couldn’t bring their produce to market here to earn better income.

People couldn’t go in there to give agricultural inputs. So, what we did was to work in those areas with good roads. And in Awka North, most communities did not have electricity not to

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She misses her students in the Mass Communication Department of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University where she lectured. But there are other ways to render service to the people, she says. In the last eight years of Governor Peter Obi’s government in Anambra State, Professor Chinyere Stella Okunna, who was first appointed as Commissioner for Information and later asked to Head the Budget and Economic Planning Ministry which she runs concurrently as Chief of Staff to the Governor, in this interview, looks back and says that anyone who disagrees that the administration has not performed is crazy. She explains why her principal, ahead of the 2014 gubernatorial election in the state, will not anoint a successor.

Excerpts: OW has it been in the last eight years that you have been in active politics?

It’s been good. At the beginning really, it was tough because I have always been a teacher all my life. And leaving the classroom was a big blow to me in many ways and it took me time to adapt coupled with the fear of politics. When I came in here, I didn’t know what to expect. I dreaded politics. At the beginning, the portfolio I was given was Information; back then, I was always afraid because there is this belief that Information Commissioners or Ministers are propagandists.

And if you are a Commissioner or Minister of Information; if your principal is not doing well, woe betide you because you will turn into a liar. You have to tell lies to cover their shortcomings.

So, there was this fear I had when I came in here. So, the first year or thereabouts, I was trying to juggle everything. But, luckily, the man I came to work with, Peter Obi, wasn’t a man you have to lie for. He was a man whom I thought had vision. So my belief in his vision made the work easier for me because I saw a good reason for leaving the classroom. But that didn’t mean I didn’t miss my students because I believe in mentoring people particularly young women and being here for so long has not given me the opportunity to mentor as many young women as directly I wanted. But, all the same, I left the classroom, a little bit apprehensive in the beginning but what I saw here strengthened my resolve that my leaving the classroom was worth it. Peter Obi gave me good reasons to believe that the move I made wasn’t in vain. He had a vision, policy direction, vehicle for reaching a destination. And I have done so much to support that vision and to make the vehicle reach its destination.

Would you say that the vision has been realized?

The vision is to achieve the

entrepreneurial something. And again, these are those four local government areas that are mainly agrarian in nature. We have done well in education.

Education here was in a very pitiable condition mainly because when the war ended, government took over schools from the Missions.

Most good schools in those days were Missions Schools and government took them by force, and, I think, they mismanaged them. When we can in, education was in a very horrible state, practically all the structures were dilapidated. So the governor did what was unthinkable, what other governments did not find the courage to do. He returned schools to the former owners, the Missions. We did not just return the schools, we retained payment of salaries of teachers. Above all, we are still giving grants. So, almost every year, the government is disbursing billions of Naira directly to the bishops overseeing those s c h o o l s .

Althogether there were about a thousand schools. About four hundred and something were Catholic Church owned, three hundred and something by Anglican Church and two hundred and something by government. Go there now and see the amount of work, renovation, rehabilitation being done and the schools are beginning to come back to what they used to be.

Government came under heavy criticism because of that.

You cannot fight a monster you don’t know what it looks like or hard to find. Poverty had to be identified to tackle it.

We did a poverty mapping of the state to identify the poorest LGAs

talk of water supply. We are begging to build there now. And the governor’s wife undertook something that was unprecedented. She began poverty intervention thing for women, vulnerable women, mainly widows and other poverty challenged women. She visited them personally. The governor also toured those areas to empower them and give grants. And right now, we are beginning something that I consider as the climax of our poverty eradication scheme. We are a CCT, Conditional Cash Transfer, through the MDG where more than 2,000 poor house-holds were selected from five poor LGAs and the criteria are there and every month, we give each of them N5,000. And at the end of one year we give a bulk of N100,000 for them to begin an agric related

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It was the right way to go.

People normally think government property is nobody’s property. No body takes care of it. It is just there. But the church is eminently qualified to manage schools. If you recall Senator Chukwumereji speaking at Prof.

Achebe’s burial, he counted and said if you know all those who became people in those days, they either went to Government College or schools like that. The difference is clear. There is this single-minded commitment by the church to their own school and they are doing well.

Morality has improved.

Values have come back to school. Children are beginning to behave like human beings. We used to do school tours with the governor then and the kind of children we saw in school before the handover was something else. And there is now

competition between the schools owned by the Anglican Church and the ones owned by the Catholic Church. And even the government schools are beginning to sit up to try and measure up with the standard of Mission Schools. The difference is there. Anybody saying it was a wrong thing is not knowledgeable about school management in Anambra State.

He should come home and we take him to the schools.

There is something most people consider a big minus in Peter Obi’s administration. In the whole of eight years, the governor did not conduct local government elections against the letters and spirit of the Constitution. Morally and legally, do you think that it justifiable?

Well, right and wrong are relative. Legally maybe, if it is in the Constitution, that means it is not legal not to have elected people at that level. But legality is not always morality.

There are reasons why we hadn’t done local government elections h e r e .

Much of it, legal. Much of it, litigations. Much of it, opposition. Much of it, bad blood, so to say.

We have preferred to conduct elections several times and they were scuttled. First of all, there was this reason that we shouldn’t do it with the existing voters list. When we got over that hurdle, people went to court to stop us from conducting elections. I don’t know what the legality is now. I am not a lawyer but I know our hands had been tied.

So, we struggled with all those issues and I think the governor himself said that if all those people who are in court against us could withdraw all those suits, we will do the elections.

Tell me about the opposition in Anambra. How has this administration been working with the opposition because you mentioned them earlier?

Some of them are just crazy, truly, truly crazy because even when you see a government doing the right thing and people know they are doing the right, some lunatics say they are not doing anything. You can see government is achieving things and you are trying to say we are not doing any thing. I think that is lunacy. For me, democracy means even when you are opposing somebody, at least you should acknowledge where the person has done well. Look at what I just mentioned in education and you are telling me now people are saying it is not the way to go. They are merely opposing for opposing sake. Talk to the bishops where schools have been returned. Go the schools and see what was there before they were returned and see what is going on there now and you marvel at what has been done. The partnership between the church and the state is unheard of anywhere.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 49 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

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AVE you no ticed that the primary business of pastors is the collection of money? Every manipulative trick in the book is used to do this.

The father of this disgraceful practice is Paul. Without a doubt, Paul is a past-master at manipulating churches for money.

It is not for nothing he boasts to the Corinthians: “Crafty fellow that I am, I caught you by trickery!”

(II Corinthians 12:16).

Mercenary Paul Paul says Christians are “indebted” to pre-achers: “If the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.” (Romans 15:27). This selfserving principle provides the blueprint for the “sowing and reaping” deception prevalent in the churches: “Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6: 6-7).

The deceiver here is Paul. For him, “sowing” is not planting the word of God in our hearts according to Jesus’ injunction. (Luke 8:11-15). It is not even giving to orphans or to widows. It is giving money to the socalled “man of God;” in this case, Paul himself.

You see the trick here?

Paul fabricates a highfalutin religious principle primarily designed to get people to give him money. He says: “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and

PASTOR PAUL’S MANIPULATIVE WITCHCRAFT doctrine. For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain." (I Timothy 5:17-18).

Since man is not an ox, this amounts to quoting Moses out of context.

(Deuteronomy 25:4). Indeed, according to Jesus, we should not even expect a “thank you” for our services: “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, 'We are unprofitable servants.

We have done what was our duty to do.” (Luke 17: 10).

419 specialist Paul barrages the Corinthians repeatedly. He says to them: “If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? If others are partakers of this right over you, are we not even more? Nevertheless we have not used this right, but endure all things lest we hinder the gospel of Christ.” (I Corinthians 9: 11-12).

The man is nothing but a 419 specialist. Paul says it is “a right” to collect money from them, but he will not use this right. So why is he talking about it if not because he wants their money. Is he not, in effect, doing what he says he should not do---hin-

Hold on to your wallets and purses boys and girls. Pastor Paul and his minions are after your money dering the gospel---by asking them for money?

Then he goes on: “Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.” (I Corinthians 9: 14).

This is another one of Paul’s blatant lies. Surely, the Lord himself does not want the gospel to be hindered? All believers are required to preach the gospel. Does it mean, therefore, all believers should live by the gospel? Certainly not! Jesus’ position is diametrically opposite.

He says: “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

(Matthew 10:8). This means we are not to insist on payment for spiritual services rendered.

Master manipulator Paul’s tactic is to go around asking for money while protesting he is not: “For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any

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S National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA and the Lagos State Government have again intensify their campaign for residents of flood-prone areas of the state to vacate their areas to avoid a repeat of last year’s disaster, the Lagos branch of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria recently issued two cheques to two Lagos communities to alleviate their sufferings.

In a brief ceremony after its quarterly general meeting at the Guiding Light Assembly, Parkview Estates, Ikoyi, PFN chairman, Apostle Alexander Bamgbola described the gesture as a token to assist those who lost valuable prop-

erties to the last floods.

Apostle Bamgbola who was flanked by members of his executive council, said the committee decided to begin with the Badagry and Ojo out of the 12 provinces in the state, promising to extend the same gesture to all the others as resources are made available.

According to him, the state PFN takes care of challenges facing members at the grassroots, because that is where the suffering is. “Many ministers of God go through a lot and last year when there was flood in Lagos many churches were watched away, buildings destroyed several, ministries totally frustrated, and unfortunately we don’t have sufficient resources.

“Welfare is needed at

Paul’s robbery Paul is unrelenting.

He continues to harass the Corinthians in another letter: “Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I ROBBED OTHER CHURCHES, taking wages from them to minister to you. And when I was present with you, and in

ren. We have mission-aries and places like Badagry and Epe ministers are living in very harsh conditions,” he added.

Asked if there can be peaceful elections in the country next year following the sec u r i t y challenges that have threatened the nation’s corporate exercise, he said: “I believe that amidst all the *Apostle Alex Bamgbola (r) presenting a cheque to the proc o n f u s i on vincial chairman of Ojo, Bishop Andy Ogbu. within the polity among the state levels of this debts and at the individ- politicians ahead of 2015 Fellowship, many mini- ual levels, many mini- elections, there will be stries are under the shed sters cannot pay the peaceful elections.” and several others are in school fees of their childReminded that the

PFN donates to flood victims s

By SAM EYOBOKA

of you, we preached to you the gospel of God. (I Thessalonians 2:9).

Okay Paul, why not leave it at that? But no! He goes on: “I have used none of these things, nor have I written these things that it should be done so to me; for it would be better for me to die than that anyone should make my boasting void. What is my reward then? That when I preach the gospel, I may present the gospel of Christ without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel.”

(I Corinthians 9:15-18).

Note the manipulation here. Paul says he would rather die than collect any money. But the reason why he is saying this is precisely because he wants them to give him money. We then discover he actually collects money without committing suicide, using another cunning rationalisation: “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-

smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:17-19).

This is pure manipulative witchcraft from a very a smooth-operator.

In a subtle but devious manner, Paul maintains when you give something to him, you are automatically giving it to God. This makes Paul God. The things sent to Paul were well-pleasing not to Paul, but to God. What witchcraft! He then says because they gave to him, his God will supply their need. The God in question here is apparently not “our God” but Paul’s personal exclusive God. Does it mean God will not supply their need if they don’t give anything to Paul?

need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no one shall stop me from this boasting in the regions of Achaia.” (II Corinthians 11:7-10).

The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks! The same Paul who says he would rather die than collect money now reveals he “robs” others of their money. So the problem with the Corinthians is that, in spite of his arm-twisting, they have not given Paul money. But Paul refuses to be denied. He says deceptively: “For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong! (II Corinthians 12:13).

Haba! To what lengths will this man go to extort money from these poor people? How can they be inferior just because they refuse to give money to Paul? He then sends a gang of “the brethren” to collect money from them willy-nilly, while insisting they must give it “cheerfully.” (II Corinthians 9:1-6). Nevertheless, he continues to deny his actions: “What I want is not your possessions but you.” (II Corinthians 12:14).

Hold on to your wallets and purses boys and girls. Pastor Paul and his minions are after your money. They are full of trickery. Before you know it, you will be out of pocket.

spectre of June 12 annulment is still haunt-ing the nation, Bamgbola said Nigeria's situation cannot be worst than this, adding that there are committed people who are praying fervently for the survival of the nation.

“If you look at the raging fire in the country from the human angle there is bound to be anxiety among the people, but I can assure you that God has plan for this nation and He will not allow it to disintegrate,” he assured, adding “Nigeria is a nation where many people are crying to God and God hears the cries of the poor.

“That is why we believe that 2015 will come and we will see amazing things that the Lord will do among His people in this country that man cannot humanly explain,” he stated.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7 7, 2013

By JAPHET ALAKAM LECTURE

Nigeria is a bookless country

—Prof. Emenanjo

Despite the importance of books, the number of graduates produced by the various universities and the volume of books produced in the country every year, statistics available has revealed that Nigeria, the most populous country in black Africa is not a book friendly country.

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By ESTHER ONYEGBULA

PRESENTATION

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enowned Nigerian beauty brand, House of Tara International, last week launched its highly anticipated book House of Tara 100 Voices in an exclusive event in Lagos.

With a foreword written by former World Bank Vice President, Africa Division Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, the book is a moving and emotional account of 100 women and some men who have flourished as they worked as House of Tara representatives. The young Nigerians who had their stories captured in the book expressed what this experience meant to them and how they had risen against all odds in a heart-felt documentary premiered during

Left - right, Managing Director UP Plc, Mr Samuel Kolawole, Mr Lalekan Are, Chirman, Board of Directors of UP Plc and Prof. Nolue Emenanjo, Keynote Speaker . endangered artifact. Some of the challenges include: the social media, games and sports, especially association football, the film industry, the rise of aliteracy, non-existent legislation and weak laws about book piracy and plagiarism, conflicting signals from educational s y s t e m , p o v e r t y , uninspiring attitudes to the book.

He observed that all p e o p l e , agencies and institutions with high stakes in the m a k i n g , development and use of books find themselves on the horns of the same dilemma.

To him, these factors “are dealing deadly blows to the book as a metaphor for enduring literacy, serious

,

his was the submission of Prof. E. Nolue Emenanjo of the Dept of Linguistics and Communication Studies, University of Portharcourt while delivering his keynote address at the 5th edition of the authors forum held at Kakanfo Conference Centre, Ibadan .

The forum which was well attended is an idea conceived by the management of UP Plc as a forum for finding solutions to various problems facing the book industry in the country.

Speaking on the topic titled How Safe is the Book,the erudite scholar who has published over 100 books described Nigeria as a book less country. Emenanjo who is of the view that the book remains an effective medium of mass communication, with education, information, entertainment persuasion and news among its specific objectives, pointed out that despite the importance of book and efforts by many to revamp the reading culture, Nigeria is not a book friendly country, “Nigeria is a chronically book less country and most Nigerians are great lovers, great buyers, avid readers, nor fanatical users of books. Indeed, Nigeria is not a book friendly country.” He stated.

Enumerating some of the challenges facing the book, Emananjo lamented that the book in Nigeria today is an

learning and sustainable growth and development, worldwide.”

The greatest single threat to the book globally is social media. But he rightly noted, that the truth and reality in the evolution of the media line is that no new medium ever displaced those before it.

Rather, the new medium

The book remains an effective medium of mass communication, with information, entertainment persuation and news among its specific objectives complements and synergizes with those before it. “The greatest competitor to the book is the internet with its multiplicity of sub-media.

Given its poorer of resilience, relevance and immortality, the book has developed its submedium, the e-book for those

who have the know-how to access and use it, and the audio book. It is true that today we have serious book clubs here and there.” He also noted that, “ revolutionary and far-reading as the e-book, and, in fact, the entire social media have become, as avenues for information and entertainment, they can never replace the hard/ conventional book. All that one needs to use the hard book in most climes is sunlight/ daylight. Not so for the e-book and (some of) the engines of ICT and of the social media which relief on electricity.”

,

F

or the book to be safer, in the comparative degree, Emananjo proffered the following: strengthening the educational system; longevity for education policies, programmes and practices; making Literature in English

and Nigerian languages compulsory for certificate in the entire formal school system, strengthening weak laws and legislation that negatively affect the book, making the use of English for special purposes compulsory all through tertiary education, putting in place a National Language and Literacy Policy as some multilingual countries like Australia, Lithuania etc have and functional and sustainable literacy and numeracy should be the major thrust in all’ that are taught and learnt in the formal and non-formal educational systems of our states and the nation.

As according to him, “ whether imaginative/fictive or informative in thrust, the ebook, the audio book or hard book, general or specialist, in its audience, the book remains one of the solid realities in today’s print medium.”

E

arlier in his speech, the Chairman, University Press Plc, Dr. Lekan Are, urged publishers to pay greater attention to quality book production in order to build the intellect and shape the consciousness of the citizens.

He stated that the role of authors as knowledge and character moulders has become relevant considering the intellectual challenges the citizens are facing. He also disclosed that as part of its corporate social responsibility, the company donated books worth Five Million Naira to nine secondary schools in Oyo State, adding that they will follow it up next session with the establishment of Readers Club in these schools to ensure that the books are put to good use.

House of Tara unveils 100 Voices the event.

In her address, the chairperson of the event Mrs Ibukun Awosika,, said that the book is to inspire other young Africans not just Nigerians to use the stories of these 100 to challenge others to find a way to inspire people.

several hundred entries sent in from all over Nigeria was no easy feat,” said Cynthia Mosumola, one of the inspiring women who selected the stories. “Everyone had something unique and I was extremely inspired; it has

taught me to never take for granted investment in p e o p l e ” .

Other inspiring women who selected the stories include Honourable Abike Dabiri, Member of the Federal House of Representatives; Adesuwa

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he creative director and CEO of House of Tara International, Tara FelaDurotoye revealed that the company has established a fund to create assistance for young people who did not have access to the required capital to enable them become a House of Tara representative.

“Selecting 100 stories out of

Onyenokwe ,Publisher of TW Magazine and others.

The well attended event which was held at the Four Points Hotel by Sheraton, had senior executives of Blue Chip companies, financial institutions, Lagos State government and members of the diplomatic corps.They included; Eku Edewor, Tosyn Bucknor, Bola Balogun Glam Networks, Ufuoma Ejenobor, Mrs Kemi Ogunleye of PANA Television, among others.

I

The book House of Tara 100 Voices presented to the public

n her closing remarks, Mrs Fela-Durotoye noted that, “if anything should happen to me, I would feel fulfilled by the lives of people in Nigeria and the world that House of Tara has impacted”.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUJY 7, 2013, PAGE 51

Prof. Duro Oni

Prof. Ebun Clark

Prof. Wole Soyinka

Soyinka, Ebun Clark, others to be honoured at UI Theatre golden jubilee ANNIVERSARY

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NE of the leading school/department of Theatre Arts in the whole of Africa, the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan is set to celebrate its golden jubilee in August. They will also use the occasion receive its illustrious products, in a grand ceremony billed for the university.

In line with that, the alumni association of the department has line-up activities to

celebrate five decades of the department in a grand style.

Explaining the celebration recently in Lagos, Professor Duro Oni, chairman of both the association and the organizing committee said an international conference and a grand Home-Coming dinner would hold from August 28 to 31. He hinted that the conference would host and unite scholars, culture practitioners, as well as government officials across five continents to investigate 50 Years of Theatre in the African Academy.

The conference, according to him,

,

By JAPHET ALAKAM

The Theatre department has over the years produced leading practitioners aside impacting positively on the society in general

,

is expected to interrogate issues and topics, including Theatre in Africa and African

Theatre, Methods, Theories and Frameworks, African Theatre in the Diaspora, Regional Studies, Theatre, Gender and Identity Studies, Theatre and Cultural Orientation, Theatre and the African Film Industry.

But as a major segment of the celebration, some of the prominent alumni of the department who would be recognized during the ceremony include Professors Geofrey Axworthy, J. A. Adedeji, Wole Soyinka, Dexter Lyndersay, Ebun Clark, Demas Nwoko, Dapo

Adelugba, Femi Osofisan and Esohe Molokwu. Others include Professors Duro Oni, Lanre Bamidele, Mathew Umukoro, Saint Gbilekaa, Charity Angya, Mabel Ervierhoma, Segun Ojewuyi and Sunday Ododo. On the same list are Reuben Abati, Chuks Okoye, Tunde Awosanmi, Battiloi Warritay, Wasee Kareem, Longley Evru, Jahman Anikulapo, Sola Balogun, Greg Odutayo, Femi Jarrett, Taiwo Oladokun, and Pamela Udoka.

Professor Oni also disclosed that the 50th anniversary celebration kicked off on March 8, 2013 with the first Geoffrey Axworthy Lecture, entitled The Ritual Pursuit, delivered by Prof Wole Soyinka at the Trenchard Hall, University of Ibadan. The celebration would thus continue in August with both the international conference and the home coming dinner.

A

s a way of making the celebration an all encompassing one, Oni disclosed that the association is equally building a database of all Alumni of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan both at home and abroad.

The database information, according to him, would serve as a platform to further disseminate information about the proposed International Conference and Grand Home Coming Dinner.

The Department of Theatre Arts, University of Ibadan was the first of its type in all of Africa. It was established in the 1962/63 academic session and has over the years produced leading practitioners aside impacting positively on the society in general.

FG establishes slave route resource centre in Calabar

By CALEB ANYANSINA CULTURE

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he Federal Government has disclosed that it is in partnership with the Cross River State Government to establish a Slave Route Resource Centre in C a l a b a r .

This followed launching of cultural tourism programme on the slave route in Africa, by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The programme Sunday Art gathered is aimed at identifying, restoring and promoting sites and places linked to the memory of the slave trade.

The Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke who stated this in Abuja while presenting his score card at the ministerial platform in Abuja said government would work with UNESCO to set up museums of slavery to strengthen the memory of slavery, develop a tourist trade focused on remembrance and promote social and economic development through tourism.

On the National Theatre in Lagos, the Minister explained that not all national theatre would be concessioned, as some parts that had become slum harbouring reptiles would be handed over to private investors through the private public partnership initiative to manage.

He clarified that government

was not selling the monument, but taken step to ensure its complete turnaround to improve the country ’s image as well as boosting the economy. ”What we are saying is that the national theatre structure as it is currently in existence is not going to be handed over to anybody, but government said as a business proposal aimed at those areas that has been abandoned for 40 years that session of the national theatre which is now a slum harbouring reptiles, that session that is now turned to a beer parlour we will turn it into a shopping mall, a recreational park, a hotel.

It will not be giving to an individual and that is why we are calling for private public partnership, after the period of concessioning, it will return to Nigeria. This is to bring our own equivalent of Mandela square, which does not belong to any individual,” he clarified.

M

eanwhile, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, in Abuja, on Monday, inaugurated the National Heritage Council and Endowment for the Arts (NHCEA) to identify, preserve and employ places and objects of heritage as a vehicle for development.

The minister who disclosed that additional 100 heritage sites had been identified by government across the country, added that, the government was determined to promote its value and

Edem Duke, Tourism,Culture and National Orientation Minister potentials, for the good of the public and the development of the country.

According to him, “the decision to set up the council is informed by the centrality of the arts to the socio-economic development of Nigeria.

“The prevalent and encouraging activities in the Nigerian creative industry are a clear pointer to the fact that arts can no longer be relegated to the backwater. It is this industry that continues to create a sustainable platform for our youths to express their natural talents, get employment and create jobs for many others.

“Art home and abroad, Nigerians are creating masterpieces in works of art, while our cultural industries are also brimming

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with activities. The endowment for arts is therefore, set up as a platform we intend to use to offer support and funding for project exhibiting artistic excellence, creativity and innovation for the benefit of individuals and communities.

“It is also to bring the arts to all Nigerians and provide leadership in arts education and development. We believe that this is achievable, as we call on the private sector, philanthropists and individuals to support the endowment”.

he terms of reference of the board members of the council includes; “protection and conservation of places and objects of heritage significance and the registration of such places and objects.

“Integration of heritage management into the planning system of government and the private sector, as well as securing funding for heritage management and development.

“They shall also identify and support excellence in the arts, offering funding grants for projects exhibiting artistic excellence”.

Continuing, the minister said, “The above terms of reference now become the central objectives for the committee to carry out its functions within these limits, they are expected to secure

the necessary resources, provide desired facilities and exercise effective control and coordination of application of the funds”.

Group backs Mutu Ijaw youths under the aegis of Niger Delta Youth Peace Initiative Movement, NDYPIM, has backed Mr. Nicholas Mutu, member, representing Bomadi/ Patani Federal Constituency for another term due to his outstanding performance.

The group made this known in a statement signed by Comrade Ebikabowei Edon, National President; Comrade Donald Etiete, Secretary and Comrade Amagbe Solo Stanley, Publicity Secretary.

According to the statement: "We the members of NDYPIM have resolved to back Hon. Nicholas Mutu for another term after a careful analysis of his performance vis-a-viz those seeking to take over from him, we concluded that he deserves another term.

"He has influenced so many developmental projects to his constituency. He has touched lives in empowering youths and women”.

The group appealed to anyone planning to contest against Mutu to rethink and support him, insisting "there is no vacancy there."

PAGE 52—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY, 7, 2013

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013, PAGE 53

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 --PAGE 54

Wimbledon Final: Murray in final showdown with Djokovic A

NDY Murray secured a second Wimbledon final appearance as he overcame Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in four sets to set up a showdown with Novak Djokovic.

Murray certainly did not have things his own way against the big-serving 24th seed and dropped the opening set of the contest, but he gradually wore down his opponent to ultimately record a 6-7 (2/7) 6-4 6-4 6-3 triumph.

Janowicz was quick to demonstrate his heavy artillery, fending off a break-point in the fourth game of the match with a 121mph second serve.

He survived two more in the tenth, again a booming second serve coming to his rescue, while Murray remained largely untroubled on his delivery, losing only five points on serve before the pair headed into tie-break.

Janowicz raced into a 4-0 lead after Murray wildly sent a drivevolley long and, although the Scot clawed back the next two points, he went on to surrender the set in tame style as he came up with his opening double-fault on the first of the Pole’s five set points.

But Janowicz quickly returned the compliment as he produced two double-faults in the space of three points to gift Murray an immediate break at the start of the second.

With the Pole looking to have rather lost his concentration, the British No 1 had a couple of opportunities to secure a doublebreak in game five but saw his opponent rediscover his composure just in time.

Janowicz then spurned a chance to break back when netting a forehand down the line and Murray was forced to survive three more break points in his next service game before edging into a 5-3 lead.

But when called upon to serve out for the set the Scot produced a game worthy of his opponent’s huge delivery with four big first serves comfortably good enough to see him level the match.

Murray saw off two break points in his first service game of the third set, but did not survive in the next as Janowicz responded to a drop-shot from his rival with an even cuter one of his own to finally convert on his seventh break point opportunity, opening a 3-1 lead in the process.

Murray rescued that break in the seventh game, following a fortunate net-chord with a whipped forehand winner on the run and then turned the set on C M Y K

Bafana Bafana, Eagles clash for Mandela A FRICAN Nations Cup 2013 champions, the Super Eagles of Nigeria and the Bafana Bafana of South Africa will play an international friendly on August 14 in honour of ailing former anti-apartheid campaigner and South Africa President, Nelson Mandela.

The match, which comes up at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is part of the annual Nelson Mandela challenge. The other game will see Bafana Bafana take on African Nations Cup runners up, Burkina Faso at the FNB Stadium Johannesburg on August 17.

Other activities on the day will see an Italian Masters team locking horns against the South African Legends.

“It is a great honour for us to be associated with such a huge and significant, and also highly important project for our former President. When we got the invite to be part of this venture, we did not hesitate as Madiba has made a selfless sacrifice for the nation” said SAFA President Kirsten Nematandani.

“We are obviously mindful of the fact that the former President is not well in hospital. We can only wish him all the best for him to come out and be among us so he can continue to inspire us as he has done for many years.

This event shows that no one can unite the country quite like he has, and we are proud to be taking part” the SAFA boss said.

•Mandela

•Murray

Horror... as fans behead referee T its head with a second straight break as a defensive backhand from Janowicz drifted long.

He did not have things his own way serving for the set, Janowicz taking him to deuce after

smashing a pass straight into his opponent’s body, but Murray regrouped and eventually closed it out with an ace down the middle.

HERE were absolutely hor rific scenes at an amateur football match in Brazil when spectators lynched a referee and put his head on a stake after he had killed a player.

The barely believable incident happened in Maranhao, Brazil.

According to reports in Brazil, referee Otavio Jordao da

Ronaldo’s heart remains at Real Madrid R

EAL Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has reiterated his desire to continue playing in La Liga.

Ronaldo’s future at the Bernabeu has been the subject of constant speculation this summer with the 28-year-old recently admitting he missed English football.

Manchester United have been linked with making a sensational move to bring the Portuguese ace back to Old Trafford after selling him to Real in 2009.

However, Ronaldo insists he has no plans to leave Real and is happy to continue playing in Spain.

“I enjoy of course to play there [Real Madrid], I play there for four years so I want to continue there,” Ronaldo told Sky Sports News.

“It is not the best day to speak about my future. I am going to

have time to speak about that at the beginning of pre-season.”

Real have previously attempted to curb the rumours about Ronaldo’s future by announcing on several occasions that they intend to agree a new contract with the player having two years left to run on his current contract.

And new coach Carlo Ancelotti recently made it clear that Ronaldo is central to his plans at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Italian boss said: “My opinion is easy. Ronaldo’s a fantastic, marvellous player.

“It’s an honour to coach a player like Ronaldo like it was to coach Zidane.

“Ronaldo was not on the list of players like Brazilian Ronaldo, Zidane and Ronaldinho that I coached.

“He will be on the list of players I coached now and I am so happy for that.”

Real president Florentino Perez outlined his confidence

•Ronaldo last month that Ronaldo will sign a new contract.

He told 20minutos: “He’s our most important asset, and we will build the future of Madrid around him.

“Soon we will clarify this issue. I have no doubt that Cristiano is going to retire at Real Madrid. I’m convinced that he’ll renew. The renewals are done before the season starts.”

Silva (20) fatally stabbed footballer Josenir dos Santos Abreu (30) during a heated moment of a match.

Santos Abreu is believed to have argued and then struck the referee after being unhappy with a decision.

It is believed the referee was carrying a knife throughout the match and fatally stabbed the player in retaliation.

Santos Abreu was rushed to hospital but died from injuries on the way.

Outraged by the incident, some spectators then apparently decided to inflict a gruesome revenge on the referee.

According to reports, the referee was tied up, beaten, stoned and quartered. They then put his head on a stake and planted it in the middle of the pitch.

One man, Luiz Moraes de Souza, 27, has been arrested over the incident. He has admitted to assaulting the referee but denied killing the man.

Police are searching for two more suspects.

They are currently viewing video footage of the incident filmed by a witness with a mobile phone.

In a statement, the regional delegate of Santa Ines, Valter Costa, who is looking after the case, said: “One crime never justifies another crime. Actions likes this do not collaborate with the legality of state law.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JULY 7, 2013 — PAGE 55

FIFA Under-20 W/Cup: No injuries, suspension worries for Ghana G

HANA Under-20 coach Sellas Tetteh will have his full squad for today’s quarter-final clash against Chile as he has no suspension worries ahead of the must-win game at the Istanbul Arena.

The Black Satellites will tackle the South American side knowing victory will secure them a semi-final berth at the global showpiece.

Sellas Tetteh’s men doused off doubting thomases when they inflicted a shocking 3-2 win over tournament favourite

Portugal at the round of 16.

The unexpected victory has heightened expectations among Ghanaian local fans as the players

have been urged to go for the ultimate.

Chile beat Croatia 2-0 in their last encounter but will have a difficult Ghanaian

group of ex-inter nationals, led by Etim Esin, a former Nigeria midfielder, during the week, staged a peaceful protest round the National Stadium, Lagos, against “the plight’ of most ex-players in the country.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the ex-internationals, who were also supported by some present and upcoming players,

…As NFF owes him 20 months

BY BEN NWACHUKWU, ABUJA

F

OLLOWING the res ignation of the national U-20 team, Flying Eagles’ Coach John Sam Obuh from the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF job, the federation will

through its General Secretary Musa Amadu hold talks with him on a yet to be fixed date at its glasshouse headquarters in Abuja.

Sunday Vanguard sports gathered authori-

said they were aggrieved with recent sudden deaths ravaging them. Esin told NAN that ex-internationals who had served the country were not doing well after their many years of service to their fatherland.

“We are not doing well and something has to change, many of us are living in penury and dying one after the other.

We lost Rashidi Yekini, Okey Isima not too long

ago, and now Thompson Oliha, who knows who is next?

This does not go a long way to encourage many upcoming players to give their best to their fatherland when they see what their seniors were going through,” Esin said.

He said that before Oliha’s death, he had approached the chairman of Akwa-Ibom State Football for help, but the man claimed he did not know who was Oliha.

A case for grassroot coach, Isaac Osagie F

OR four weeks I was not been able to put my pen on paper on issues I would have loved to write about. Issues like Super Eagles near loss to Namibia in a World Cup qualifier in Windhoek and then the embarrassing refusal of the players to travel to Brazil for the Confederations Cup over protests on slashed match bonus.

I will revisit the bonus brouhaha on a later date but mention must be made of the Eagles performance at the Confederations Cup. A win and two losses and they crashed out of the competition and Nigerians are divided in their comments.

Some condemned their loss, particularly the 30 loss to European and

if they negotiate the tie against the La Rojita.

Chile, on the other hand, have had a sterling debut tournament.

This

Amadu, Obuh meet over unpaid salaries, allowances

Ex-internationals protest in Lagos over neglect

A

side to contend with today.

Ghana will set-up a meeting with either France or Uzbekistan in their semifinal clash on Wednesday

world champions, Spain and I wondered what they expected from a team still in progress of becoming a power house despite the Africa Nations Cup triumph earlier in the year.

Truth must be told, Stephen Keshi must look for alternatives to Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses who are still nursing injuries and whose absence were hugely felt in Brazil.

Brown Ideye and Ahmed Musa are unsuitable for the Eagles striking roles as they showed in Brazil.

Whatever Nigerians feel about the team, they proved they are a team to be reckoned with when the real thing, the 2014 World Cup comes knocking. By then both

Moses and Emenike and Ogenyi Onazi would have reunited with the rest of the squad.

Nigerians should just be patient with the team and particularly Keshi who has shown that home-based players could be relied on to stand the best in the world.

While on a little break to contest an election into the Executive Committee of the National body of the Sports writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN), for which I am now the Deputy National President of the body, Vanguard sports carried a story on the AFN president, Solomon Ogba commending one Isaac Osagie and his wife Edem for their effort in scouting for

tournament has been dominated by South American heavyweights Argentina and Brazil in previous editions, but this time the Chileans and Uruguayans have flown the South American flag very high in the absence of those two giants.

Bartoli wins Wimbledon title

tatively that Amadu on receiving the coach’s resignation letter on Thursday promised him that the federation would not sweep the issue of his unpaid salaries and allowances under the carpet adding that a date would be fixed for a meeting where it would be sorted out once and for all.

Confirming the meeting, Coach Obuh told Sunday Vanguard sports that the issue of his unpaid salaries has remained unaddressed

by NFF but noted that now that he is no longer in the employ of the federation and with the assurance he got from the General Secretary that they would treat the matter with dispatch, he has no doubt that the federation would not want him

to languish in poverty while his money is tied down.

The Coach who tutored the country’s national U17 team that came second at the FIFA U-17 World Cup hosted by Nigeria in 2009 and led the national U-20 team to quarter final and second round stages of the FIFA U-20 World Cup competitions held in Colombia in 2011 and the ongoing edition in Turkey disclosed that he did not allow the lingering unpaid salaries distract him.

HE women’s single title at Wimbledon has gone to France’s Marion Bartoli who dealth Sabine Lisicki.with a crushing 61 6-4 defeat.

The 28-year-old, a losing finalist against Venus Williams in 2007, swept aside her German opponent is one hour 21 minutes to claim her first Grand Slam title.

Bartoli becomes only the second French woman to win Wimbledon in the open era, following in the footsteps of Amelie Mauresmo who won in 2006.

“I’m so happy I am holding the trophy. It has been my dream since I was six years old. I would like to thank everyone in the crowd who supported me today,” Bartoli said.

young athletics talents in primary and secondary schools.

I didn’t get to read the story because of the stress of election campaigns. I was however availed the opportunity to so do through an unusual avenue, the VistaWoman page of Sunday Vanguard which is usually anchored by our respected very senior colleague and Woman Editor, Helen Ovbiagele in a piece “SPORTS: Encouraging hunters of talents”.

Ovbiagele hit the nail on the head when she asked “What can be done to help these coaches so that they can travel far and wide in the country in search of promising athletes? Will there be adequate funds and facilities provided by government for the training of those athletes found by both the coaches and the AFN?” Yes, it is not enough to commend coach Osagie and his wife for their good work of scouting for talents. Chief Ogba should go a step further to ensure that the talented young athletes discovered are taken over

by government with the support of the private sector for grooming for future competitions.

This is the practice in countries desirous of harnessing their potentials for national glory and Nigeria should not be different. Luckily for the AFN and Chief Ogba, the National Sports Commission, NSC has mapped out a strategy to assist federations and talented athletes and coaches through direct funding especially in sports marked out as having comparative advantage for medals in major Games.

Coach Osagie’s case should not be like that of Tobias Igwe, alias Toblow, known for his prowess in discovering young athletes at the grassroot and also grooming them to limelight but never commended nor encouraged. Sometimes Toblow is even treated with disdain by some state governments who throw him out of job for being a non indigene of those states. Yet Nigeria wants to excel at international competitions.

In case the AFN or Chief Ogba forgets coach Osagie and his wife, the grassroot development department of the NSC should take it upon itself to encourage him by mobilising him from the special fund the sports minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi talked about during the inauguration of the newly constituted sports federations in Abuja last month.

This way, Osagie and his wife will be encouraged to comb the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in search of budding talents the country can groom for the 2020 Olympics because it is already too late to hope for medals in the Rio Olympics in 2016.

I say this because those who are likely to win medals, especially gold, are already almost two years into preparation. We can ask our own Daniel Igali, current president of the Wrestling federation, as it took the Canadians six years from 1994 to prepare him to win for them their first wrestling gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

T

•Obuh

SUNDAY Vanguard, JULY 7, 2013

We hired Saintfiet to help us beat Nigeria — Malawi FA boss

BY BEN EFE

A

S the countdown begins for the crucial 2014 World Cup

qualifier between the Super Eagles and the Flames of Malawi on September 7, Malawi Foot-

CHAN qualifier: Mba shoots down Cote d’Ivoire again

BY JACOB AJOM, KADUNA

A

FRICAN Nations Cup 2013 hero, Sunday Mba yesterday proved to be the slayer of the Elephants of Cote’d Ivoire, when he scored a brace and made two other goals in the home-based Eagles’ 4-1 victory over their Ivorian counterparts in the CAF African Nations Championship first leg qualifier decided at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna.

Mba during the Nations Cup in South Africa scored the winning goal in the semi-final clash against the Elephants and in Kaduna, he justified his high rating in African football and barring any unforeseen circumstances, Mba will return to South Africa in February where the CHAN tournament will hold.

Gambo Mohammed, the Kano Pillars striker who missed a seater in the Confederations Cup match against Spain in Brazil, opened scoring in the 14th minute after he was set free in the Ivorian box by Mba whose tailor made pass

FIRING POWER... Super Eagles attacking midfielder, Sunday Mba puts Ivorian players in the firing range as he scored a brace in yesterday’s CAF African Nations Championship qualifier at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium Kaduna. made it all certain that Gambo will make amends for that miss. The lanky striker made a good turn and took his spot in the far right of Sylvian Gbohouo in goal for Cote d’Ivoire.

Mba, doubled the lead with his trade mark shooting from outside the box in in the 28th minute. However,

I don’t score only on Sundays— Mba

S

UPER Eagles midfielder, Sunday Mba has laughed off insinuations that he only scores goals when Nigeria’s national team play on Sundays.

Mba attained legendary football status in Nigeria after his winning goals against the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

The Enugu Rangers man netted both goals, in the quarterfinals and final of the competition, on Sundays.

The 25-year-old scored twice as Nigeria thrashed the Ivory Coast 4-1 in a 2014 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifier against the

Ivory Coast at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna on yesterday.

“People say I always score on Sundays and can’t score if we play games on other days. It is funny because the two goals I scored at the 2013 Afcon were great goals that coincidentally came on Sundays,” he told supersport.com.

He then took the time to appraise Saturday’s performance against Les Elephants who were reduced to nine men late on.

“I don’t think we played badly (against the Ivoirians). It is usually more complicated to play against teams that are reduced in numbers.

the Ivorians fought back causing anxious moments for the Eagles and just before the break, they were rewarded with their only goal of the match when Coulibally Fousseny capitalised on a hesitant clearance by the Eagles defence to slot the ball pass Chijioke Agbim in goal for the Eagles.

The Ivorians’ fighting spirit was deflated in the second half when Asale Rodger handled the ball in the box and was subsequently sent off for dissent by the referee. Mba made

no mistake from the spot to register Nigeria’s third goal.

As if that was not enough Baresi Gloudeou was also sent off for elbowing Mba and from then it was lights out for the Ivorians. However, the Eagles failed to find the knock out punch to bury their opponents but it was Ifeanyi Ede who finally hammered home the last nail in the 83rd minute to put the match beyond the reach of the Ivorians. The second leg comes up on July 27 and a good result for the Eagles in that match will see them through to

South Africa.

Meanwhile Coach Stephen Keshi was angry over the goal conceded by the team Assale waltzed the Eagles’’ defence practically unchallenged before laying the ball for Coulibaly to finish.

“I was very pissed about that goal,” he said. “We worked on exactly that kind of play at training of having someone dribble from the wing into the centre and how to keep our shape and prevent it.

“I can’t understand how we will spend so much time working on something in training, and then when it happens in the match, we concede a goal from it.”

ball Association boss ,Walter Nyamilandu has declared that Tom Saintfiet was hired for the purpose of beating Nigeria at home.

The young Belgiumborn coach was hired by the Nigeria Football Federation to be technical director, but that appointment was overturned by the Sports Minister, Bolaji Abudulahi who preferred home breed coaches to be in the position. Shuibu Amodu has since been hired.

And for Saintfiet, beating Nigeria will be a very good way of settling scores, hence he readily accepted the Malawian job on interim basis and his services are offered for free. The Malawians need a victory to overturn the Super Eagles leadership of Group F and they believe that Saintfiet who has knowledge about the Eagles, having played a draw against them during his spell as Ethiopian coach, will work magic.

Saintfiet confirmed that his mission was to beat Nigeria and he was looking forward to doing so when the two World Cup aspirants meet to decide who advances from the group.

“I know Nigeria and I know Malawi, I am convinced that Malawi has the quality to win and qualify for the play-offs.

FIFA U-20 RESULTS France Uzbekistan

4 0

TODAY’S MATCHES Iraq vs S/Korea 4 p.m.

Ghana vs Chile 7 p.m.

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1.Nobel-winning Archbishop (7-4) 5.Sailor (3) 7.Consumed (5) 8.Domesticates (5) 9.Ovum (3) 10.Electricity counting gadgets (6) 13.Highlander (4) 15.Poem (3) 17.One that contests (9) 20.Nigerian tribe (5) 22.Cereal (5) 24.Demoted (9) 27.Pig’s pen (3) 29.No one (4) 30.Sulks (6) 33.Away (3) 35.Presses (5) 36.Till (5) 37. Swine (3) 38. “The Man Who Saw Tomorrow” (11)

DOWN 1.Sleeping vision (5) 2.Possessor (5) 3.Tax (4) 4.Depressing (9) 5.Argentinian dance (5) 6.Wash lightly (5) 11.Greek letter (3) 12.Distress call (1-1-1) 14.English boy’s name (5) 16.Obstacle (3) 17.Bovine animal (3) 18.Mindfulness (9) 19.Alarm (5) 21.Help (3) 23.Village house (3) 25.Gnome (3) 26.Vast age (3) 27.Condescend (5) 28.Youthful (5) 31.Circular (5) 32.Trades (5) 34.Old Russian King (4)

SOLUTION on page 5

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