Polls Postponment: Criticisms Mount

...towards a better life for the people VOL. 25: NO. 62337

Coup against constitution by security chiefs — FALANA 58

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ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Presidency shops for Jega's replacement 8

POLLS POSTPONEMENT:

Criticisms mount •INEC was ambushed by FG, PDP — Fashola •Conducting polls in a hurry is dangerous –Abba-Gana •It's a disappointment — U.S •It's a coup against the constitution—Festus Okoye

By Clifford Ndujihe, Emman Ovuakporie, Dapo Akinrefon, Charles Kumolu, Gbenga Oke & Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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AGOS—THE polity was awash with harsh criticisms, yesterday, over weekend’s postponement of the 2015 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over insecurity concerns and poor arrangements.

The Presidential and National Assembly polls initially fixed for February

Continues on Page 5

COLUMNISTS

Economic mismanagement in retrospect •P.44

Wanted: A president for new Nigeria •P.20

Mr & Mrs

BRIEFING—APC Presidential Candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Middle) addressing newsmen on the postponement of the general elections by INEC, yesterday, in Abuja,while National Chairman of APC, Chief John Oyegun (Right) and National leader of APC,Bola Tinubu look on at the briefing. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

May 29 handover date Ivor y Coast wins sacrosanct — Jonathan 8 AFCON 2015 64 C M Y K

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

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4 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

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POCKET CARTOON

ADEBOYE—Pastor E.A. Adeboye of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, cutting the tape during the official handing over of the All Christians Praise Centre donated to the Redeemed Christian Church of God by the Ejemu family in Ila Orangun in Osun State, yesterday. Photo: Dare Fasube.

POLLS POSTPONEMENT: Criticisms mount Continues from Page 1 14 were shifted to March 28, while the governorship and state assembly elections meant for February 28 will now hold on April 11.

Among those who criticised the move were the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (Ret); APC Senators, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, the United States of America and some eminent lawyers among others.

However, there were also eminent persons, who said that the polls’ shift was within the law and would pave the way for the conduct of a peaceful and credible election.

We must remain calm but resolute – Buhari

In a statement on the postponement, Buhari appealed to APC supporters to remain calm.

He said: "This postponement, which comes on the heels of the bogey of the National Security Adviser that half of the registered voters were being disenfranchised was exposed as a crude and fraudulent attempt to subvert the electoral process. The PDP administration has now engineered a postponement using the threat that security will not be guaranteed across the length and breadth of Nigeria because of military engagement in some states in the North East. It is important to note that although INEC acted within its constitutional powers, it is clear that it has been boxed into a situation where it had to bow to pressure. Thus, the independence of INEC

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Happiness and success in life is simply the gratifying combination of liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking who you do it with —Take Heart Quote There is a beautiful saying that there comes a time in life when you walk away from all the drama, and the people who create it. Surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad, and focus on the good. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is part of life. Getting back up is living.

Focus on the activities and people that make you happy, and filter out the avoidable opposites. For in reality, we often make our lives complicated when it’s really quite simple: Find what it is that makes you happy and spend more time doing it. Find who it is that makes you smile and spend more time with them.

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has been gravely compromised.

"As a Nigerian and a presidential candidate in the elections, I share in the disappointment and frustration of this decision.

This postponement coming a week to the first election has raised so many questions, many of which shall be asked in the days ahead. However, we must not allow ourselves to be tempted into taking actions that could further endanger the democratic process.

"Our country is going through a difficult time in the hands of terrorists.

Any act of violence can only complicate the security challenges in the country and provide further justification to those who would want to exploit every situation to frustrate the democratic process in the face of certain defeat at the polls.

"If anything, this postponement should strengthen our resolve and commitment to rescue our country from the current economic and social collapse from this desperate band. Our desire for change must surpass their desperation to hold on to power at all cost. We are clearly dealing with people who feel they can get away with placing their personal interest over those of our nation and its citizens. What is at stake is the very survival of our country. We must not allow this temporary delay to abort this great opportunity. While I share the pains and frustrations of my fellow citizens over this development, my deep faith in the democratic process assures me that

this country, with your support, will overcome.

"We must remain resolute and rise above all provocations. We must continue to trust in the entire democratic process and in INEC, which has been brought under so much pressure in the last few days. Our trust can only serve to encourage the electoral body to remain steadfast and remain committed to the rule of law. I wish to state strongly that our party will not tolerate any further interference with the electoral process. The rescheduled elections of March 28th and April 11th, 2015 must be sacrosanct.

"Nigeria is definitely greater than any of us, and much more important than our individual ambitions. Before us there was Nigeria, and long after we are gone there will still be Nigeria. Let us continue to do our part to make it the great country that it should be.

We must rescue our dear country. God being on our side, we shall salvage Nigeria together."

It’s a sinister plot to derail democracy — APC senators

APC serving senators, yesterday, condemned the postponement of the polls, saying it is a ‘teleguided plot’ by the Peoples Democratic Party, to derail democracy.

Spokesperson of the APC Senators Forum, Babafemi Ojudu (Ekiti Central) in a statement in Abuja said: “What we are seeing is a desperate and jittery response to the imminent defeat of the PDP. The postponement has shown the helplessness of INEC in the face of a malicious cabal bent on destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Besides, the APC senators claimed that the decision to shift the elections had raised a big credibility question on INEC and the forthcoming polls. “This decision is borne out of fear of defeat and malice against the people of Nigeria".

INEC was ambushed by FG, PDP – Fashola

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, yesterday, said the INEC was ambushed by the Federal Government and PDP to postpone the general elections.

Speaking with newsmen after collecting his Permanent Voter’s Card, PVC, at a polling unit within the premises of Itolo State Senior Grammar School, off Eric Moore, Surulere Local Government Area, Fashola, who collected his PVC in the presence of

the state Resident Electoral Commission, REC, Mr Akin Orebiyi, condemned the postponement, saying the move was to achieve PDP Federal Government agenda.

Earlier, at Arewa Community rally in Onikan Stadium, Lagos Island, he appealed to them not to be provoked and to remain calm.

According to Fashola, “On the postponement of the elections, I think that the reality is that INEC was ambushed by the PDP and the federal government and I think Nigerians must be disappointed. I use this opportunity to appeal to Nigerians to remain calm, especially to supporters and members of the APC."

US expresses disappointment

The United States government has also expressed ‘deep’ disappointment by the decision to postpone Nigeria’s presidential election, which had been scheduled for February 14.

A statement by U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, shortly after the announcement of the poll shift by Jega said political interference with INEC is unacceptable.

The U.S. government in its reaction said: “It is critical that the government does not use security concerns as a pretext for impeding the democratic process”.

The US said the international community would be watching closely as the Nigerian government prepares for elections on the newly scheduled dates.

According to Mr Kerry, “the United States underscores the importance of ensuring that there are no further delays.

“As I reaffirmed when I visited Lagos last month, we support a free, transparent, and credible electoral process in Nigeria and renew our calls on all candidates, their supporters, and Nigerian citizens to maintain calm and reject election-related violence,” Mr. Kerry said.

Ensure credible election—UN

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his reaction to the postponement urged electoral authorities “to take all necessary measures to enable the citizens exercise their right to vote in a timely manner,” including the rapid distribution of voters’ cards. “This is imperative for ensuring a credible, free and transparent election,” his spokesman said in a statement.

It’s a bad omen – Chekwas Okorie

The Presidential Candidate and National Chairman of the United Progressive Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie described the polls’ shift as a sinister design by manipulators of the electoral process, which he said is a bad omen for the growth of democracy in the country.

His words: “The development is a bad omen for Nigeria’s democracy.

The capitulation of INEC to the executive pressure does not speak well of INEC’s constitutional independence.

“The letter written by the National Security Adviser, NSA, triggered off this interference, it is bad. The somersault of the Chief of Defence Staff who recently assured of readiness of the military towards ensuring adequate security only to change his statement is scandalous to a General of his standing.

“There are security challenges in five local government areas of the North East and Nigeria is made up of 774 local government areas. This will be a bad precedence if because of the five local government areas elections are shifted in the entire 774 council areas.

“I urge Nigerians to remain calm, but to be vigilant. This shift to six weeks is a prelude of more sinister design by the manipulators of the electoral process.”

Continues on Page 60

6 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Two men charged with N2.5m gold jewellery robbery

12 die in accident along Ife-Ilesa Expressway

By Gbenga Olarinoye

By Bartholomew Madukwe

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AGOS—TWO persons, Hossein Jibo and Umaru Haruna, have been arraigned before an Ikeja Magistrate Court in Lagos for allegedly robbing Biodun Babalola of his gold jewellery worth N2.5m.

Jibo and Haruna, both 30 years of age, are being accused of committing the alleged offence on October 27, 2014, at 0300hrs at No. 1 Dada-Alaja Street, Oke Arin Lagos.

The duo were also accused of robbing one Mrs Alebiodu Joy of her N1.3m, while armed with gun, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.

They were arraigned on a 4-count charge of armed robbery brought against them by the police.

One of the counts read: “That you Hossein Jibo ‘m’ and Umaru Haruna ‘m’, and others still at large, on October 27, 2014 at about 0300hrs at No 1 DadaAlakija Street, Oke Arin Lagos, in the Lagos Magisterial District, did rob Gold Jewellery worth N2.5m, property of one Biodun Babalola ‘f’, at No. 18 Faruka Apaba Street, Laderi Lagos.”

According to the police prosecutor, ASP Eranus Nnamonu, the offence is contrary to Section 294 and punishable under Section 295 (1) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

However, when the charge was read to the accused, they pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe granted the accused bail in the sum of N250,000 with two sureties who are to have paid tax for a period of 3 years.

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S O G B O — T W E LV E people yesterday lost their lives in a ghastly motor accident involving a Toyota Sienna space bus and a Toyota Hiace bus along Ilesa-Ife Expressway.

It was gathered that the accident, which happened at about 4pm, claimed the lives of some of the occupants of the passenger bus and the Sienna.

Eyewitnesses told our correspondent that officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps were rescuing the injured at the scene of the accident as of the time of filing this report.

According to the source, the driver of the Toyota Hiace bus was said to have left his lane and drove against traffic.

Children were said to be in one of the vehicles and an eye witness said no fewer than

ALABAR—DEALERS in motor spare parts in Calabar, are counting their losses from the fire that gutted Bedwell Market, Calabar, which destroyed goods worth over N200 million.

The traders in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar, described the incident as a set-back to their business.

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was eventually cleared.

Policemen and other road users were said to have joined the rescue effort to save the lives of some of the victims

ALLEGED ATTEMPT BY BZF TO DECLARE REPUBLIC OF BIAFRA: Bail application for hearing today

By Austin Ogwuda

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PRESENTATION: From left; Musician, Iyanya; the General Manager, Consumer Marketing, MTN Nigeria, Richard Iweanogu; winner of 2014 brand new KIA Car and former Dean, Student Affairs, Prof Harrison Oloruntade Dele Alonge and Dean, Student Affairs, University of Lagos, Professor Tunde Babawale during MTN’s Surprise Your Professor presentation at the University of Lagos.

APC, PDP trade words over rising wave of violence in Kwara

By Demola Akinyemi

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LORIN—RULING All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kwara State and the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party ,are at logger heads over the increasing wave of political violence in the state, which led to the alleged killing of one person.

Aside from the PDP supporter who was killed in the process, the

violence also resulted in the destruction of branded APC vehicles at Share, home town of Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed yesterday.

Minister of National Planning and Deputy Chairman, National Planning Commission, NPC, Dr Suleiman Abubakar, a chieftain of PDP in the state in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media , Alhaji Abdulrahman Abdulrauf, yesterday, alleged that

Calabar traders count losses as fire guts market

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four children were among the dead.

The Siena bus, it was gathered, left Abuja for Lagos and the accident happened few hours before the driver could reach his destination.

When contacted, FRSC Sector Commander in Osun State, Mr. Mohammed Hussein, confirmed the accident but said he did not have the details.

The accident, according to him was caused heavy traffic on the road which left motorists stuck in the area for several hours before the road

Mr Anthony Umeojiaku, Chairman, Motor Spare Parts Dealers Association in Calabar, said the incident which occurred in Tyre Line section of the market had rendered the victims helpless.

Umeojiaku who put the total value of the loss at N200 million, said that the affected members now depend on contributions from friends and sympathisers.

According to him, as I am

speaking to you now, most of the victims feed on contributions from people.

“Moreover, we buy these goods from Lagos on credit and it will now be difficult for us to pay back.

I am afraid that most of our members may not continue with this business. So I call on all wellmeaning Nigerians, organisations and government agencies to come to our aid,” he said.

one Alfa Saadu deen of Kuntu area, believed to be a PDP supporter in Ilorin West local government area of the state, was killed last Friday.

In a sharp reaction, the All Progressives Congress in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Sulyman Buhari, denied the party’s involvement in the killing and reiterated its call on security agencies to investigate the series of attacks on the party, including the shooting of two of its members last Wednesday as well as the attack of its branded vehicles at Share, Governor Ahmed’s hometown yesterday.

Describing the killing as strange and alien to Ilorin culture, the minister urged the security agencies to probe the killing, with a view to bringing the perpetrators of the act to book.

He said: “While we sympathize with the family of the deceased, we want to reiterate that politics is not a door-die and that God gives power to whom He so pleases.''

NUGU—A team of lawyers, led by Mr. Olu Omotayo, who is also the Zonal Director of the Civil Liberties Organization in the South-East will formally move the bail application for the 11 members of the Biafra Zionists Federation, BZF, currently remanded at Enugu prisons over an alleged attempt to declare Republic of Biafra.

Omotayo confirmed to Vanguard yesterday that “all is now set for us to move the application tomorrow (today).”

The 11 members of the group are facing a three-count charge of treason, while their leader, Mr. Benjamin Onwuka, a lawyer, is facing additional count charge alone, thus bringing the number of his charge to four.

It will be recalled that sometime in December last year, the national chairman of Biafra Zionist Federation , Comrade Cyril Onyia, led other members to carry out peaceful protest in Enugu.

They also forwarded their protest letter which they handed over to Omotayo to Amnesty International in London and United States Consular General in Lagos over Federal Government’s continued, unlawful detention of Benijamin Onwuka and 10 others.

It stated that “When the criminal charge against them came up on December 8, 2014, it was adjourned to December 18, 2014, for argument on the bail application of the accused persons.

“On December 18, 2014, the court did not sit but the case was adjourned to a far date of February 9, 2015.

“The was a ploy to frustrate the agitation and demands of the Zionist Movement and the plan is to keep our leader in detention until after the so called general elections.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 —7

Man arrested over cousin’s murder, arson in Enugu

By Francis Igata

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NUGU — MEN of the Special AntiRobbrey Squad, SARS, Enugu Police Command, yesterday, arrested one Eko Goddey, a.k.a Warrior, who hails from Uyi-Ette in Olamobara Local Government Area of Kogi State over alleged killing of Gabriel Apula, his cousin.

The deceased allegedly died following the injuries allegedly inflicted on him by the suspect over land tussle which had claimed lives in border communities of Enugu and Kogi states.

Police spokesperson, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, said: “The suspect and his gang members tied the victim's legs, roasted him and set some houses ablaze.

“Our operatives, through intelligence report, swooped on them at their hideout in Eteh and arrested the suspect.

“The Police are on the trail of other fleeing members of the gang.

The suspect is largely responsible for the burning of 47 houses during the communal land clash between border communities of Eteh in Enugu and Kogi states.

“Items recovered from the suspect’s hideout include a locally made single barrel short gun and a locally made single barrel rifle with two cartridges.

“The command is appealing to members of the public to report any person seen with gun shot wound to the nearest Police station.”

Gunmen kidnap Plateau ex-gov's father, Dariye zDemand $10m ransom

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

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OS — THE father of a former governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye, has been kidnapped by gunmen in Bokkos Local Government Area of the state, with the abductors demanding $10 million ransom.

Dariye’s father, said to be in his 80s, was taken Saturday night in

his residence at his village, Mushere.

It was gathered that the gunmen fired gunshots in the air to scare residents of the area before the victim was abducted.

The state police command has confirmed the incident as its Police spokesperson, DSP Abuh Emmanuel, explained to Vanguard in Jos yesterday: “At about 8pm on Saturday, armed men, numbering about nine,

People queuing to buy kerosene at N50.00 per litre at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Mega Station, at the ongoing Kero-correct Programme in Port Harcourt.

Group claims responsibility for attack on military formations, piracy in N-Delta

By Samuel Oyadongha

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ENAGOA — THE leadership of Ifalibabou Revolutionary Movement, IRV, has claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on military formations and rising piracy on the waterways along the creeks of Niger Delta.

The group made this known in a statement issued yesterday in Yenagoa by its leader, General Sese.

The statement said the failure of those in charge of the amnesty programme to include members of IRV in the third phase of the programme has forced them back to the creeks to take up arms against the society.

He said: "Ifalibabou Revolutionary Movement wishes

to express the fact that the bane of the current attacks on military formations, sea piracy and general unrest across the creeks of Niger Delta, is as a result of the failure of the third phase federal amnesty and the amnesty process in general.

"The group has identified the fact that the stock of Niger Delta youths currently marauding the creeks are its former members.

They are everywhere in the Niger Delta, from the part of the region bordering Cameron and Nigeria down to Delta and Ondo states.

"The leadership of the group forsees this circumstance and had made several protests in the past on the streets and on papers to the Federal Government, but the system

‘Some politicians plotting to protest in Aba against polls' shift’

By Anayo Okoli

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M U A H I A — FOLLOWING the shift of this month’s polls by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Abia State Government yesterday, claimed that some politicians from other states were planning to invade to Aba to demonstrate against the shift in polls.

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invaded the compound shooting sporadically and took the man away.

“We do not know the identities of the elements but efforts are being intensified by the Police to know the whereabouts of the men with the intention of rescuing the kidnapped man.”

Neither the victim’s son, Joshua Dariye, now a senator representing Plateau Central, nor other family members could not be reached for comments at press time.

It, therefore, warned the unnamed politicians to steer clear of Aba and, indeed, the whole of Abia State, saying security agencies had been put on alert.

The government, through a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Theodore Orji, Charles Ajunwa, said though the constitution allowed freedom of speech and association, they should be applied responsibly.

It said: “In as much as the 1999 Constitution (as amended) allows for freedom of speech, association and movement, these unpatriotic politicians should not use Aba as base for perpetrating their evil intentions thereby portraying Aba as where anything goes.

“These unpatriotic politicians, who don’t have the interest of the country at heart, have no right to demonstrate in Aba."

had been unable to check the excesses of those leaders in the Niger Delta who are bent on fighting against the inclusion of this group in the federal amnesty process.

“As expected, the end will be the killing of our armed personnel and the untimely death of some of our youths.”

It noted that of about 3,000 of its followers, only 26 persons were absorbed in the amnesty programme.

The group added that when the JTF came to Foropa Town in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area for a disarmament programme on December 30, 2010, over 100 members of Ifalibabou group relinquished their arms, lamenting, however, that only one was absorbed from the community.

The group noted: "What does the federal authority expect of the remaining population of the youths from this community?

"We urge President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, personally initiate a process that will lead to the integration of all former members of this group to avoid their being manipulated by opposition politicians to wreak havoc in our society. A stitch in time saves nine."

Abia pensioners protest non-payment of pension arrears

By Anayo Okoli

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MUAHIA— PENSIONERS in Abia State, yesterday, protested non-payment of arrears of their pensions and gratuities, lamenting the death of most of their colleagues.

The protesters, who marched peacefully from the Sub-Treasury Office on School Road through Bende Road and Aba Road, took their protest to Government House, Umuahia.

The retired workers, who were guarded by the police, carried some placards which lamented and condemned the sufferings of their members due to nonpayment of their pensions and gratuity.

Chairman of National Union of Pensioners, NUP, in the state, Comrade Chukwuma Udensi, who led the protest, said all efforts to see the governor in the past proved fruitless.

He said they decided to carry out the protest because they had been finding it very difficult to meet with the governor on the matter.

Udensi, who addressed his members before they embarked on the march, also said two ultimatums they gave the government expired without any person talking to them.

According to him, instead of meeting with them, the government paid them only one month.

“This kind of treatment has caused many of our members to die and if we continue to keep quiet, it means sending more of our members to death,” Udensi said.

Addressing the protesters at Government House gate, Permanent Secretary, Government House, Mr. Nkwa Chukwu, thanked them for their peaceful disposition and appealed to them to exercise patience. He assured that the government would attend to their needs.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

By Soni Daniel, Regional Editor, North

Presidency shops for Jega’s replacement

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BUJA — WITH the s u c c e s s f u l postponement of the elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, the Presidency has launched a two-pronged war to ensure that President Goodluck Jonathan wins the election convincingly.

The two strategies are to stop Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress candidate from contesting the election with Jonathan and the replacement of the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, with a less independent-minded person.

Jega, it was gathered, had been described by hawks around the president of being too independent-minded and ‘uncooperative’ despite being given the job on a platter of gold by the president’s men.

Vanguard learnt that Jega might have unwittingly played into the hands of the forces arrayed against him by agreeing to shift the elections.

Legal war to disqualify Buhari Competent sources said last night that the move to remove Jega and the legal fireworks against Buhari, would be taken up simultaneously with effect from this week given the timeframe made possible by the shift.

The retired general is to be prosecuted by a team of legal luminaries for ‘lying on oath’ that he had a school certificate with the Nigerian Army when he knew that it was untrue.

The plaintiffs are said to have settled for trying Buhari for alleged ‘perjury’ instead of outright non-possession of certificate following legal advice that the latter would be more difficult to prove within the time at their disposal.

Vanguard lear nt that although Jega reluctantly succumbed to pressure from the Presidency and its security chiefs to shift the polls, he might still not be allowed by the forces to conduct the rescheduled elections between March 28 and April 11.

Vanguard gathered from competent sources that the Presidency was no longer comfortable with Jega and was, therefore, working tirelessly to get him out of the commission to pave the way for a more ‘trusted hand’ to conduct the rescheduled elections.

It was learnt that the forces arrayed against the INEC boss had convinced the

President not to renew Jega’s tenure, which is expected to lapse on June 13 this year.

The forces, it was learnt, felt that Jega was rather too ‘difficult’ to deal with, having not allowed himself to be dictated to by anyone since assuming office like other appointees of the government.

It was learnt that in a bid to sweep off Jega from his seat without raising any dust, he would be asked to comply with the civil service procedure by proceeding on his three months terminal leave with effect from March 1, this year since he is expected to retire on June 13.

S-West gov’s brother may replace Jega Vanguard gathered that in

zConsiders S-West gov’s brother zLegal war to disqualify Buhari hots up his place, the Presidency was considering bringing in another academic from the South-West, who is currently heading a tertiary institution in the country.

The professor of Political Science and International Relations is said to be a sibling of a serving governor in the South-West, who is a close ally of President Goodluck Jonathan and his party.

Competent sources also told Vanguard last night that although the name of the academic had been made known in security circles, it was not clear whether the man had been cleared by the forces with a view to sending his name to the National Assembly for

possible confirmation, as required by law.

Working against Jonathan's interest As a prelude to removing Jega from office, some close allies of the President had started accusing him of taking side with the opposition to undermine the success of Jonathan and his party in the next election.

Earlier last week, Jonathan’s godfather, Chief Edwin Clark and other prominent politicians from the Southern part of the country had accused Jega of working against the interest of the president and the PDP and

asked him to resign from the commission.

Although no evidence was adduced by Clark and his group to support their allegation, they nonetheless called for the arrest of Jega.

Similarly, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, on Saturday, said Jega had lied about the state of the commission’s preparedness for the conduct of the election.

In the same vein, the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh, accused INEC of working with the opposition to deny its members of permanent voter cards in some states. He called on the security agents to probe the commission over the development.

May 29 handover date sacrosanct — Jonathan zCalls for international community, CSOs' support

By Ben Agande

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BUJA — President Goodluck Jonathan has assured Nigerians that the May 29 handover date remains sacrosanct as it is the terminal date of his first term in office.

In a statement yesterday, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, quoted the president as saying that the adjustment by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, should be accepted

by Nigerians as necessary decision to ensure that Nigerians are not disenfranchised.

While calling for support from the international community and civil society organisations, President Jonathan noted: “This is not a time to trade blames or make statements that may overheat the polity, but a time to show understanding and support the electoral commission to conduct the elections successfully.”

The statement The statement read: “Following the adjustment of the dates for the 2015 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April

RETREAT: From left: Managing Director, Arik Air, Chris Ndulue; Jerry Weller, Global Development Officer, VIP TV; Prof. Pat Utomi, Founder, Values in Leadership (CVL); CEO, Arik Air, Dr. Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, and Deputy Managing Director, Arik Air, Capt. Ado Sanusi during Arik Air senior management retreat, in Lagos.

11, yesterday (Saturday), President Goodluck Jonathan has reassured the nation of his commitment to the sanctity of May 29, 2015 as the terminal date of his first term in office.

“He strongly reaffirms that May 29 is, has been, and will remain sacrosanct.

“The President appeals to all stakeholders to accept the adjustment of the election dates by INEC in good faith, as the electoral body has a responsibility to

conduct credible elections in which every Nigerian of voting age is afforded the opportunity to exercise their civic right without any form of hindrance.

“President Jonathan believes that this is not a time to trade blames or make statements that may overheat the polity, but a time to show understanding and support the electoral commission to conduct the elections successfully.

“It is the President’s understanding that INEC’s decision ought not to generate acrimony since it acted within its powers under the law and in consultation with all relevant stakeholders.

“He calls on the international community, civil society and the electorate to continue to support the administration’s commitment to a free, fair, credible, and non-violent electoral process.”

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 — 9

French firms to invest 240bn Euros in No serious investor can ignore Nigeria —Sapin Nigeria, others zzAs Okonjo-Iweala suggests innovative financing

By Emma Ujah, in Paris

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ARIS — FRANCE has set aside 240 billion Euros for investment in Nigeria and other African countries in a move aimed at reinvigorating the European country’s presence on the continent, the French President, Mr. Francois Holland, has announced.

Speaking at the second French-African Economic Forum in Paris, weekend, he said the initiative was already a success and marked the beginning of a rejuvenated partnership between his country and the African region.

He said: “France is ready to bring development and investment to Africa. In Africa, there is a convergence of interests between French investors and Africans. We will and must fund Africa better in its projects development. The main risks are not in Africa and we must look at Africa like we do for other regions.”

The president told the large gathering of over 500 French and African investors that a large portion of the resources would be channelled into the provision of infrastructure, especially electricity power generation and distribution.

His words: “Access of Africa is key to the future of the world and we are here to form a forum community of like minds. Africa has a beautiful future and France has a lot of products that would benefit both France and the African region.

“Africa is our future, therefore, we must work out a strategic growth framework in which Africa has the capacity to ensure its own development because the region is full of resources that are yet to be developed.”

According to the President,the French ExportImport Bank has been established and would become operational from next month as part the strategy to boost economic activities of French companies in the region.

Nigeria as investment destination—Sapin

Earlier, the French Minister of Finance, Mr. Michael Sapin, said Nigeria would be major beneficiary of his country ’s new push for greater investment in Africa, saying: “If you are not in Nigeria, you are not in Africa.”

Sapin said with a huge market and investment C M Y K

Broadband Plan: Council calls for accelerated implementation

By Emeka Aginam

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FORUM: From left: Mrs Ibiye Ekong, Executive Director, South-South/South-East, Skye Bank Plc; Mr. Sam Ndata, Doyen of the Nigerian stockbrokers, and Mr. Timothy Oguntayo, Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Skye Bank, at a stockbrokers forum organised by Skye Bank, in Lagos. potentials, “no serious investor can ignore Nigeria, given the large population, highly skilled human capital and massive untapped natural resources.”

He added that already, a contact group had been formed to ensure that French investors took the front roll of business activities in Nigeria and other countries of the African region.

According to Sapin, “perception about Africa is changing rapidly, especially after over a decade of steady impressive economic growth, even when most regions of the world were experiencing retarded growth or even recession.

"French investors have to know this, that French needs Africa. With a budding young

population who are highly skilled and entrepreneurial, we must give impetus to this needed collaboration between Africa and France."

Okonjo-Iweala suggests innovative financing

In her presentation, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi OkonjoIweala, suggested what she described as “innovative financing, in the quest to mobilise more public funds on the African continent.

According to her, “it is necessary to try innovative financing because of the gap between the current public funds and the development

needs of African nations.”

She urged development partners to put more funds into tax administration, noting that $1 funding of tax administration could generate as much as $30 in tax.

The minister added that the strategy of Public Private Partnership, PPP, should be developed across the continent, given the reality that public funds could not meet development needs.

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala also called for innovating the remittances of the Africans in the Diaspora by creating instruments to enable Africans outside the region to play greater roles in the development efforts of their home countries.

NSITF assures adequate treatment, rehabilitation of injured workers

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By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

BUJA — THE management of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Scheme, NSITF, has renewed its commitment towards rendering adequate treatment and rehabilitation of injured workers.

Managing Director of NSITF, Umar Abubakar, who gave the assurance, weekend, when he visited the management of the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, in Kaduna said NSITF does not stop at paying compensation to injured works, but treat and rehabilitate them where necessary.

He explained that NSITF had

also created an atmosphere where injured workers do not become a burden to family members after treatment in a case where the injury did not allow such an employee perform his previous duties.

According to him, “once an employee is covered, the employer does not need to bother with any treatment or payment. NSITF takes care of everything from medical treatment to rehabilitation if there is need for it.

“It also pays handsome benefits to a deceased employee’s spouse for the life of that spouse as long as he/she does not remarry, or to the child till age 21 or when the child

graduates from a tertiary institution.”

The NSITF boss further emphasized the need for teachers in the country to benefit from the ECS especially in the face of the insurgencies in some parts of the country, adding that the trust fund has the backing of the law to ensure employers comply with the scheme and that NSITF management under his watch was using dialogue approach as the first option.

Responding, Director General of the institute, Dr. Aminu Sharehu, commended NSITF for its interest in teachers, expressing willingness to partner with the fund in ensuring compliance to the ECS.

AGOS — THE Broadband Council has called for accelerated implementation of Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2013- 2018 to ensure that Nigeria achieves a five-fold increase in broadband penetration by 2017/2018.

The council chaired by the Minister of C o m m u n i c a t i o n Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson, took the decision at its regular quarterly meeting, in Abuja The council, among other things, acknowledged the progress made on the implementation of the Broadband Plan in the last 18 months, especially the increased capacity rolled out by telcos and other infrastructure providers which had resulted in a two per cent increase in broadband penetration in 2014.

The council also noted the successful auction of the 2.3GHz spectrum, licensing of the first two Infracos for metro fibre rollout and called on successful bidders to quickly rollout to improve the pace of implementation.

It commended the trial of TV White Spaces approved by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, to reduce cost of internet access and expressed concern on the need to increase the landing points of international submarine cables beyond Lagos to other coastal states.

The council also commended the telecoms operators for their leadership in the area of base station infrastructure sharing and deployment and resolved that this needed to be extended to fibre.

Additional landing points in the country, according to the council, would not only reduce vulnerability and risks associated with a single point of failure but would make it faster and cheaper to lay terrestrial cable from these points to other parts of the country.

Calling on NCC and the Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) to provide financial incentives to accelerate the imlementation, the council acknowledged that some milestones were missed due to schedule delays.

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Lagos Police command creates new Unit to counter crime

By Evelyn Usman

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AGOS—THE Lagos State Police Command weekend, disclosed that it had created a Tactical Operational Unit,TOU, that would support the Rapid Response Squad in the fight against criminality in the state.

Making the disclosure during the donation of four patrol vans by Heritage bank and Etisalat Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n company, the command boss, Kayode Aderanti, said that part of the aims of the unit would be to carry out surveillance on vulnerable areas within the command.

Appreciating the private companies for the gesture which he said was a step in the right direction towards ensuring a peaceful environment for business to thrive in the state, Aderanti called on other corporate bodies within the state to borrow a leaf from the donors. “ We have a tactical operation unit that was created in order to lay out security to support RRS. We will deploy these vehicles to vulnerable points so that when people are leaving and returning from their offices, there will be Police presence, to ensure that miscreants who usually harras them , don’t have a space. We intend to close the space that is remaining , by way of ensuring critical visibility,” he said.

In her remark, the Executive Director, Heritage Bank, Gloria Okpoboma, stated that the donation of two Hilux vans, walkie talkies, ballistic vests and helmets, was part of the bank’s support to complement what she described as the good work the command was doing.

APC, PDP bicker over billboard vandalism so sure that it will win Lagos, as it has been lousily boasting, why is it precipitating a war in Lagos?

AGOS—THE Lagos State Addressing a press conference and decisively to stop the Does it also have the capacity to chapters of the All yesterday, Lagos APC Publicity brigandage of the PDP in the manage the war in the unlikely event that it wins a state where it Progressives Congress (APC) Secretary, Engr. Joe Igbokwe, state. and the Peoples Democratic Party alleged that some thugs Mr Igbokwe accused the PDP is not welcome?

“We want to state that our (PDP) yesterday engaged in war masquerading as members of the of “inciting and inviting a war in of words over vandalisism of its illegal Federal Task Force in Lagos by the reckless way and members are running out of posters, billboards and banners all Lagos pulled down the posters manner they have been patience in this continued over Lagos by thugs and and billboards of APC candidates destroying APC banners, posters provocation. While we are trying our utmost best to restrain our hoodlums. all over Lagos, even on Lagos State and billboards all over Lagos”.

While the APC accused the PDP roads.

He said: “It is clear that the PDP members from being drawn into of sponsoring thugs to vandalise The party, however, called on the thinks it can overwhelm Lagos any war that will undermine our its billboards, the PDP faulted the Lagos State Police Commissioner with brute force and state well oiled wheel of change, we claim, saying it was untrue. and his command to act quickly sponsored criminality and if it is warn that there is a limit to tolerance and that our members may be forced to react even if to defend themselves and their interests.

“We warn that the PDP should not mistake our resolve to keep the peace as a necessary condition for the long desired change Nigerians are longing for, as a sign of submission and docility.

We warn that we may be forced to react if pushed to the wall and the perpetrators of this ongoing deliberate brigandage will be held responsible for this.

“We call on the Lagos State Police Commissioner and his command to act quickly and decisively to stop this brigandage for we cannot continue to complain while the PDP is deliberately allowed to breach the security and peace of Lagos. We warn that Lagosians will not tolerate this criminality any longer. We leave BRIEFING: From left, Publicity Secretary All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State, this as a last warning.”

Mr. Joe Igbokwe; Media Strategist, Akin Ambode Camping Organisation, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku and member of APC Publicity Committee, Mrs. Yinka Babalola, at a press APC’s claim untrue — PDP conference on destruction of APC billboards and posters by thugs suspected to be sponsored In its defense, Lagos State PDP by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP at the APC secretariat, Lagos, yesterday. tackled the APC over its claim.

Speaking with Vanguard, state Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr Taofik Gani said: “We know that the true intent behind the falsehood now employed by the Lagos APC publicity is simply to lay the foundation to claim that there was no level playing ground in the process leading to the They argued that security of life restructuring and election.” elections. Obviously they are

By Monsuru Lamenting the country’s lax losing in the coming elections.” and property must be addressed Olowoopejo before the chairman of security, they noted that its officers “They are also notorious for Independent National Electoral did not have the capabilities to raising accusations in area they AGOS—SOUTHERN Commission, INEC, Prof. prevent a breakdown of law and have committed default or plan to Nigeria Ethnic Attahiru Jega, organized the order should there be one in any commit default.”

While he dismissed the Nationalities have said elections earlier scheduled for of the geo-political zones of the country. assertion made by the APC over postponing the 2015 general February 14 and 28, 2015.

They spoke at a Town Hall Convener of the meeting, Mr. removal of its posters, the party’s elections would afford the country the opportunity to address issues meeting at the MUSON centre, Timi Kaiser-Wilhelm, said ethnic spokesperson said it was their that could impede achieving a Lagos, deliberating on the theme nationalities were not against the posters that are being torn and “Nigeria at Crossroad: elections but noted that there was subsequently removed by APC free and fair polls. need to consider other factors that supporters. would ensure free and fair “It is our posters that are being elections in the country. torn. The police have their He said: “For instance security, intelligence report and that is why going into the elections without they want to protect all parties, not addressing it could affect the PDP in particular. My call at this outcome of the elections. So there time is for the Police to arrest and is need for us to restructure the prosecute the APC leaders who mandate, it disclosed that its made this disclosure at the end country. may have said this to come and personnel had been undergoing of the route march by ratings “Even the ongoing distributions show why he should not be jailed training in the last one year on and officers of the Western and of PVCs have been structured in for maligning the Police in order human rights violation, assuring Naval training commands in a manner to favour the north not to obstruct their powers to that there would be no Lagos. minding other regions in the maintain law and order. brutalization of civilians in the The route march, as explained country.” ''The APC is always quick to course of discharging its duties. by the FOC, was to repose Timi Kaiser-Wilhelm added condemn or blackmail any The Flag Officer confidence in members of the that the number of PVCs government official, agency or Commanding, Naval Training public on the preparedness of the allocated to the regions further system which they cannot Command ,NAVTRAC Rear service lateing to internal security attest to plans by the electoral compromise to support their Admiral Babatunde Egbedina, operations. commission to favour the North. inordinate cause,” he said.

By Dapo Akinrefon

...APC claim untrue — PDP

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Postponing 2015 elections will help address issues — Southern ethnic group

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POLLS: Navy expresses preparedness, trains personnel on human rights violation

By Evelyn Usman

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AGOS—AS the 2015 elections draw nearer, the Nigerian Navy, weekend expressed its readiness to discharge its duties where necessary, with a warning to miscreants to have a rethink on their excesses As first step to achieving this

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015—11

Fayemi, Rep condemn poll shift

By Gbenga Ariyibi

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DO EKITI— F O R M E R governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi and a member of the House of Representatives, Bamidele Faparusi, have condemned the shift of the February general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, describing same as a coup against the electoral process in the country.

Fayemi, who blamed the Presidency and the military for the shift, said that INEC Chairman, Prof. Atahiru Jega, succumbed to pressure by the powers that be by postponing the elections.

Speaking in Isan Ekiti, his country home, yesterday, shortly after a church service to mark his 50th birthday at Saint Martins Catholic Church, Fayemi vowed that he, along with other

pro-democracy activists and all lovers of democracy would resist attempts by those he branded as antidemocratic forces, to derail the country ’s constitutional democracy.

Commenting on an alleged audio clip, where the state governor, Mr Ayo Fayose, had an alleged secret meeting with a group of people aimed at rigging the June 21 governorship election in his (Fayose) favour, Fayemi assured that more revelations would soon be released to complement the audio tape.

The former governor expressed shock that a sacred institution like the military, could have got enmeshed in acts that could subvert the democratic process, noting that such trend was dangerous to the survival of the democracy.

“It was apparent that the military and the Presidency boxed INEC to a tight corner to get the postponement to achieve their devilish motives. I believe that what we are expected to do as democrats must be those things that would strengthen democracy.

For military to be saying that it would overcome insurgency, what it had failed to curtail in five years is standing logic on its head? You could see that Nigerians are very unhappy."

Also speaking, a member of the House of Representatives, Faparusi, described the poll shift as “provocative, unjustifiable and suspicious,” adding that it would be difficult for the military to overcome the Boko Haram it had failed to exterminate in five years within six weeks, urging Nigerians to be vigilant about the new development.

Adeyeye to APC: Take your audio clip on Fayose to tribunal as evidence

By Gbenga Ariyibi

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DO EKITI— MINISTER of State for Works, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, has challenged the All Progressives Congress, APC, to tender the newly released audio clip at the tribunal as an evidence if it was so sure of its facts.

The minister, who described the alleged audio clip as a t e c h n o l o g i c a l manipulation which cannot stand the test of time, said in a statement in Ado Ekiti, yesterday, that Governor Ayodele Fayose did not hold meetings on how to manipulate the election with anyone.

He said: “The APC people know where to go if they have evidence that the election was rigged.

“It is foolish for anyone to be crying that an election was rigged eight months after the election was held. This is more so that there was an election petition tribunal where the evidence ought to have been presented.

“No amount of campaign of calumny and blackmail can erase the fact that Ekiti people willingly elected Governor Fayose. APC is only chasing shadows having admitted earlier

C M Y K

that Ekiti people indeed voted for Fayose but they did so because he gave them rice.”

Adeyeye said it was amusing that the same people who castigated Ekiti people for voting Fayose because of “stomach infrastructure,” are now saying that the election was rigged.

He said it was the APC that actually plotted to manipulate the election, using Information Technology and thuggery, but the heavy presence of the military foiled the plans.

Faulting the audio clip, Adeyeye said: “In this age of Information Technology, it is possible

to even manipulate videos not to talk of audio. It is possible to make someone who cannot speak French to appear on video speaking French.

“It is also possible for the voice of someone who died 10 years ago to be manipulated such that he will appear as speaking on current issues. GSM providers are doing it by making one's voice to appear like that of a celebrity.

“Therefore, APC should take their so-called audio clip to court where it will be subjected to proper scrutiny both legally and technologically rather than using the media to promote a dead issue.”

UPN gov candidate tackles INEC over postponement

By Daud Olatunji

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B E O K U TA — G O V E R N ORSHIP candidate of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, in Ogun State, Prince Rotimi Paseda, has berated the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for postponing the general elections, earlier fixed for this month, saying that the action will give room for

insinuations.

Paseda spoke at Sabo, in Sagamu Local Government Area of the state shortly after he was installed as the Garkwa Hausawa by the Council of Hausa Chiefs in Ogun State.

According to him, INEC should have allowed the elections to hold as earlier scheduled, whatever lapses noticed would then be corrected in future elections.

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

PDP, APC agree on peaceful polls in Rivers

By Jimitota Onoyume

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ORT HARCOURT—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, have promised to work for crisis-free elections in Rivers State.

Governorship candidate of the PDP, Chief Nyesom Wike, and his counterpart in the APC, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, gave the assurance, weekend, during a meeting with the newly appointed Assistant Inspector-General of Police, AIG, Zone 6, Mr. Tunde Ogunsakin.

Peterside also appealed to the Police to step up their effort to secure lives and property of members of his party, saying that they had suffered several politically motivated attacks in the state.

Mr. Ogunsakin said he called a meeting of political stakeholders in the state to agree on peaceful elections, adding that the Police were ready to effectively police the state during the elections.

He said: “I have a mandate from the Inspector General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba, to ensure that elections are peaceful in my zone.

“The law is no respecter of anybody, no matter how highly

placed. As such, political activities must effectively accommodate the interests of all without undermining the fundamental human rights of the citizens and without also compromising the peace, order, security and safety of lives and property in Rivers State.

“This is very essential as I will not compromise anything

that will cause a breach of public peace, riotous conduct and any other act likely to cause a breakdown of law and order in any of the four states under my control.

“As part of a wider strategy to ensure that electoral offenders are dealt with decisively, upon assumption of office as the Assistant Inspector General of Police,

Zone 6, Calabar, I set up a Special Investigation Team on Electoral Offences to deal with electoral complaints and offences. I have directed all my Commissioners of Police to also constitute Special Squads on Electoral Offences and transfer all electoral offenders to my office in Calabar during and after the elections.”

INSPECTION: From left: Group Accountant, ATCO, Mr. Daramola Solomon; MD, ATCO, Mrs. Derin Talabi and MD, Food, Agro & Allied Industries, Mr. Sudhansu Sinha, during an inspection tour by ATCO executive to Food, Agro & Allied Industries Limited’s new factory facilities.

ALLEGED N1.5BN LARGESS: Okunbor urges Edo PDP youths to remain calm

By Simon Ebegbulem

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ENIN—SOME leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Edo State, led by, Capt. Hosa Okunbor, weekend, waded into the crisis raging between the leadership of the party and youths of the party over an alleged N1.5 billion presidential largess meant for the youths, which they alleged was diverted by the state Coordinator of Goodluck/Sambo Campaign Organisation, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

The youths, under the aegis of Grassroot Youths Initiative, GYI, during a protest last Friday, barricaded the gates of the party's secretariat in Benin City and vowed to unleash mayhem on the party leadership if the money was not made available to them.

But Pastor Ize-Iyamu, in his reaction, described the allegation as unfounded, saying that no such amount of money was provided for the presidential rally. He alleged that the crisis was being fuelled by the All Progressives Congress, APC administration in the state “so as to create division in the PDP before the elections.”

Also, the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, said the protest was unnecessary since

no such money existed, alleging, that the crisis was being instigated by the state APC government in order to destabilise the PDP which, according to him, was stronger in the state now.

However, when the youths

attempted to embarked on another protest, Saturday, Capt.

Okunbor, E. J. Agbonayinma and the President of One Love Foundation, Patrick Eholor, met with them and appealed to them that no such money came from the Presidency.

They urged the youths not to jeopardise the chances of the party ahead the elections, as Okunbor assured that the youths will continue to receive whatever was meant for them, insisting that the allegation as Ize-Iyamu said, was untrue.

Urhobo nation expels officers from UPU

By Godwin Oghre

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OSOGAR—A CONGRESS of the working organs of the Urhobo nation, consisting of executives of Urhobo Progress Union, UPU, Elders Wing, Women Wing and the Youths (Ighele) Wing, which held, weekend, in Mosogar, Ethiope West Local Government Area of the state, has expelled some erring members of UPU executive committee.

Those expelled were, Chief T. A. Onoge (2nd Deputy President General), Mr O. I. Ojevwe (Assistant Legal Adviser), Chief N. Odogu (National Auditor, non-elective position), Alhaji A. A. MumakaiUnagha (Assistant National Publicity Secretary) and Mr Efeduma (ExOfficio member), all of who were assistants to other major office holders in UPU. They were accused of working against Urhobo agenda in the 2015 general elections, allegedly inciting members of the public against the current UPU leadership,

unconstitutionally arrogating powers to themselves as well as blackmailing prominent Urhobo sons and daughters.

The motion for their expulsion was moved by the Secretary General of Forum of Presidents General of the 24 kingdoms of Urhobo nation, Chief Kenneth Iwhewhe, and seconded by the President of Urhobo Youths Council, Ovie Igho Anthony.

The motion was adopted by a unanimousous ‘yes’ vote.

Thereafter, the Chairman of Urhobo Elders/Leaders Forum, Justice T. Dugbo, called on UPU to ratify their expulsion, to give it a legal backing, which it did through its President General, Chief Joseph Omene.

Earlier, Urhobo nation had, through the UPU, called on politicians to be wary of a handful of sycophants who, it said, were bent on destroying its unity, culture and common political agenda, for their selfish interest, particularly the recent Uvwiamughe Declaration.

Edo PDP warns against removal of Jonathan’s posters in Benin

By Gabriel Enogholase

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ENIN—EDO State Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has warned those responsible for the defacing and removal of its presidential candidate's posters, President Goodluck Jonathan from the streets of Benin to desist forthwith, describing their action as undemocratic and unnecessary.

“We received reports that certain people were defacing and removing posters of PDP and those of President Jonathan from the streets of Benin.

I appeal to those responsible to desist from doing so. Whether the posters are removed or not, the people of Edo State will vote according to their conscience.

“You can see that as a responsible and democratic party, we placed our posters along with those of the presidential candidates of other parties and that shows how liberal we are,” said state Chairman of the party, Chief Dan Orbih, while addressing journalists in Benin, yesterday.

The party also denied a statement allegedly credited to Governor Adams Oshiomhole that it hired crowds from the neigbouring states of Anambra, Ondo and Kogi to its presidential rally in the state.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015—13

Use polls shift interlude to perform EPZ groundbreaking, NAIG urges Jonathan

By Daniel Gumm

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ARRI—THE National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, NAIG, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use the interlude provided by the six weeks postponement of the general elections, originally billed for February 14 and 28, to perform the groundbreaking of the Export Processing Zone, EPZ, in Delta State.

NAIG, led by Alero Tenumah, in a statement in Warri, Delta State, noted that "in as much as the polls’ postponement came as a surprise despite earlier claims by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, that it was ready for the conduct of the elections, Itsekiri graduates across the globe would be delighted to see President Jonathan fulfill his promise to the Olu of Warri by coming to perform the EPZ ground-breaking early March before the eagerly anticipated polls."

According to NAIG, "postponement of the polls by INEC has created enough time for the Minister of Petroleum and the Delta State Government, in concert with the Presidency, to work out a feasible date between now and

early March for the groundbreaking which has suffered two postponements."

NAIG, in the statement, also appealed to Itsekiri leaders to pick a credible candidate among the four Itsekiri sons vying for the Delta South senatorial district seat, so as to boost the chances of Itsekiri

producing the next senator to represent Delta South at the National Assembly, insisting that it was the turn of Itsekiri nation to produce the next senator based on the rotational agreement of single tenure each among Itsekiri, Ijaw and Isoko of Delta South.

Jonathan had told the Olu of

Warri and members of the Warri Council of Chiefs during a private visit in Warri, that he would perform the EPZ ground-breaking early March after the polls earlier fixed for February would have been concluded, hinging his promise on hectic campaign schedule.

RECLAMATION: From left: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State; HRH Haliru Momoh, Ikelebe III, Otaru of Auchi, Mr. Hassan Kadiri, Chairman, Etsako West Local Government Area and Mr. Clem Agba, Commissioner for Environment and Public Utilities, at the flag-off of the reclamation works at the Auchi Gully Erosion project, in Auchi.

Wike'll empower market traders with business grants — BANIGO PDP flyers and souvenirs. in the state.

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HE deputy governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Rivers State, Dr. Ipalibo Harry-Banigo, has said that the incoming Nyesom Wike administration will empower traders with business grants to lift their commercial activities.

Mrs. Banigo, who spoke during visits to six major markets in Port Harcourt, noted that the new PDP administration will encourage entrepreneurship and self reliance across the state.

Decrying the conditions of the markets, Dr Banigo, said that the Wike administration will reinvent all markets in the state through targeted rehabilitation.

She particularly called on market women to support the Wike/Banigo ticket as it was the first time that a woman was being given the opportunity to contribute to decision making at the highest level in Rivers State.

She said: “I call on all women traders backed by their male counterparts to vote massively for the Wike/Banigo ticket. This is the first time since the creation of Rivers State in 1960, that a woman will have the opportunity to serve as deputy C M Y K

governor. I am pleased to also inform you that our incoming administration will ensure that traders get business grants to improve their businesses.”

In all the markets visited, Dr Banigo explained in pidgin English, the party’s blueprint for Rivers State and also shared

She was accompanied on the visit by Nigeria’s Ambassador to South Korea, Ambassador Desmond Akawor, two members of the House of Representatives, Mrs Blessing Nsiegbe and Mr Ken Chikere.

Also on her entourage were female Federal Commissioners

Dr Banigo also received in audience, lawyers under the auspices of New Rivers Lawyers Initiative.

She commended the lawyers for endorsing Mr Wike and herself, saying that the incoming administration will ensure the independence of the judiciary.

Peterside, the way to go in Rivers —FEYII

By Gbenga Oke

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ECRETARY to Rivers State Government, Mr George Feyii, has described the governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the state, Dr Dakuku Peterside, as the best candidate to govern the state and called for his election at the coming polls.

Feyii also said that Peterside was the only competent candidate among his contenders.

Speaking to a crowd of supporters at a rally in Khana, he called on the people of the area not to waste their votes because a vote for Peterside was a vote for competence.

He said: “Rivers people have already resolved to vote for competence, track record, fear of God, background, fairness,

courage, justice and equity and only the APC candidate satisfies these requirements. This massive crowd has presented us an opportunity to show that Khana is for APC because Peterside is the only way to go.

“I had the opportunity of working with the two major

people in this contest. I followed the two men at the Executive Council and having worked closely with them, I am in a better position to speak on their character. In terms of quality of being, Peterside is the way to go and we must encourage our people to go the right way."

IDU drums support for Ogboru, Erebi

By Festus Ahon

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S A B A— P O RTHARCOURT branch of Isoko Development Union, IDU, has called on the people of Delta State to vote enmasse for the governorship candidate of Labour Party, Chief Great Ogboru in the April governorship election, describing him as the most

capable hand to govern the state in the next dispensation.

Endorsing Ogboru and his running mate, Elder Peter Erebi, former President General of the IDU as their candidate, the union, in a statement, said it was the first time in the annals of Isoko history that an illustrious Isoko son will feature in the governorship contest of a political party.

Edo flags off N5.7bn Auchi erosion control project

By Simon Ebegbulem

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ENIN CITY— GOVERNOR Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has flagged off the N5.7 billion Auchi Erosion project to tackle the menacing gully erosion threatening the community. He described the project as a historic intervention that will change the fortunes of the kingdom.

Speaking at the flag-off of the World Bankassisted project, weekend, Oshiomhole, said: “We have borrowed N5.7 billion to protect this great kingdom of Auchi, to restore hope and to remove the fear and the pain the people suffer when it rains because that is the primary purpose of government.

“The loan is at an interest rate of less than one percent and it was spread so thinly that we pay painlessly. So, it takes a sensible, competent and transparent government to access this World Bank facility for the people."

Vote PDP, LG boss urges traders in Delta

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G H E L L I — CHAIRMAN of Ughelli North Local Government Area, Delta State, Mr. Kenneth Ibru, has called on traders at the Ughelli Market to support all candidates of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the forth- coming general elections.

Making the appeal during the commissioning of eight lock-up stalls in the market, the council boss described the party’s candidates for the various positions as tested and trusted leaders, who have all it takes to take Delta State to greater heights.

He urged the traders to sensitise all eligible voters in the areas to support the ruling party, saying that PDP has all it takes to meet the yearning and aspiration of the people through purposeful leadership and governance.

14 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

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Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015—15

We're unperturbed, ready for victory — CHIME POLLS SHIFT:

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By Austin Ogwuda & Peter Okutu

NUGU—ENUGU State governor, Sullivan Chime, said, yesterday, that his party was not perturbed by the shift in election dates by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as it had already prepared for victory anytime the poll would hold in the state and at the national level.

This came as the shift in poll has continued to elicit reactions from stakeholders in Ebonyi State.

Chime, who spoke during a PDP campaign rally at the headquarters of Enugu North Local Government Area, weekend, made it clear that in spite of the postponement of the election, the PDP would surely win at the state and national levels.

“PDP is the only viable political party that will guarantee the sustenance of democratic dividends in Nigeria having delivered on its promises,” he said.

While frowning at the attitude of some members of the PDP in the state that decamped to other political parties to contest the forthcoming elections, having failed to secure tickets at the primaries, Chime also dismissed

insinuations that PDP had entered into an alliance with other political parties to achieve electoral victory.

He said: “Everybody in politics of Enugu State today is one time or the other a member of the PDP. “Because they could not realize their personal ambitions; they joined other parties and started going about deceiving people to vote for their new parties, that

they are in agreement with the PDP. Anybody saying that is wasting his or her time.

“Anytime we have the elections, we will vote for the PDP, we will vote for President Jonathan, Hon Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and our other candidates.”

Also addressing the rally, the PDP governorship candidate, Mr. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, called on the people to vote for the candidates

of the PDP both in the state and at the national level.

Meanwhile, candidate of PDP for Ezza North/Ishielu federal constituency in Ebonyi State, Anayo Edwin, noted that the postponement of the election would further assist the military in its fight against insurgency, especially in North East geopolitical zone of the country.

OUT-REACH: From left, Pastor Iyabo Ladipo, member, Arise Women; Pastor Siju Iluyomade, Convener; Mrs. Uche Nwandison, and Pastor Funke Henshaw, sensitising the people to vote, during the Arise Women free medical out-reach to Itedo Community, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos, weekend. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

Ekweremadu canvasses Ndigbo support for Jonathan, Ugwuanyi

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Joseph Erunke

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NUGU—DEPUTY Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has appealed to Ndigbo to give support to the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan and governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Enugu State, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi.

According to him, the duo will never forget the support

by Ndigbo and Enugu people respectively if elected in the forthcoming general elections.

Senator Ekweremadu gave the assurances while addressing communities in Ezeagu Local Government Area of Enugu State in

continuation of his re-election campaign and inspection and commissioning of projects he attracted to the area under President Jonathan’s administration.

Ekweremadu, who inspected the 17 km Obuofia-ImeziowaAmokwe road project, also commissioned a classroom block at Unity Secondary School Ihuonyia, Amansiodo-

Oghe and three primary school blocks at UmumbaNdeagu and also promised to renovate dilapidated primary school blocks in UmumbaNdeagu and donate transformers to several communities in the Council.

He said: “You would observe that there have been positive developments in Ezeagu since the inception of the

SENATE: Anambra South must get it right —NWAFOR ORIZU, ELENDU President of the Senate and former

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WKA—ANAMBRA South Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Senatorial Candidate, Senator Andy Uba, has received the backing of Prince Orji Nwafor Orizu and Chief Nobis Elendu for the March 28 National Assembly election, saying the zone cannot afford to get it wrong this time.

While Prince Nwafor Orizu is rallying the people of Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State for Uba, Chief Elendu, a lawyer and a member of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), said the senatorial zone would reap from Uba’s experience, if elected.

A lawyer and son of Dr. Abyssinia Akwaeke Nwafor Orizu (former

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current democratic era. Many roads have been built in Ezeagu and some communities now have water and electricity.

“But the truth is that these have not gone round and it is our belief that every community in Enugu West is entitled to good road, water, electricity, good schools, and other essentials of life."

acting President of Nigeria), Prince Nwafor Orizu, made the call in Ozubulu during Senator Uba’s campaign in the town. Uba’s mother and paternal grandmother were from Ozubulu.

Elendu spoke at Oko, Orumba North Local Council during Uba’s campaign rally in the town.

He reminded the crowd that Sen. Uba in his first term in the Senate was made the Chairman of a very important Senate committee and that if they voted for him and he got to the Senate again, he would become a ranking member of the apex lawmaking body and could not get any position less than what he got in his first term.

I'm not contesting against anybody in Imo — OKOROCHA

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By Emmanuel Elebeke

WERRI—IMO STATE governor, Owelle Rochas Okoroocha, has claimed he has no serious challenger in the state for his re-election bid in the forthcoming election.

Governor Okorocha made the declaration during a town hall meeting organized by Imo State liaison office, Abuja, weekend.

He said his rescue mission in Imo was on course and could not see any challenger that would stop his second term bid in the state.

The governor challenged the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, led Federal Government to name projects initiated in the state by President Goodluck Jonathan that would sway voters in the state for the PDP candidate.

'APGA'll establish good governance in Lagos'

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AGOS—THE ALL Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, has promised to establish good governance in Lagos State by giving dividends of democracy to the people if voted into power in the coming governorship election.

The governorship canditate of APGA in Lagos State, Prince Adeshina Olayokon while addressing party faithful in Lagos, yesterday, affirmed that his party had a well entrenched grassroots presence that would make it spring suprises in the coming elections as it was fielding candidates in the national and state assemblies elections.

He stated that APGA was set to use its existing p r i m o r d i a l infrastructure, high population density and high talented human resources to establish good governance in Lagos State.

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JFEBRUARY 9, 2015

Plots to alter candidates' list thicken as NLC confab begins

By Victor Ahiuma-Young

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S the National D e l e g a t e s Conference, NDC, where new leaders of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, would emerge, begins today in Abuja, indications have emerged of plots to alter or dump the list of cleared candidates by the Credentials Committee, CC, to pave way for some annointed candidates.

Findings revealed that one the targets is a candidate who was earlier schemed out, but by divine providence, today he is a deputy president in waiting. According to Vanguard investigations, the plotters and their agents would raise the matter on the floor of the conference, preferably tomorrow, the second day of the conference.

A senior secretariat staff told Vanguard that “the pressures to reopen the nomination list are overwhelming. I can bet you, it will not happen. We are going to resist every attempt to reopen, alter or

even dump the nomination list. It is unheard of in the history of NLC. Those mounting the pressures certainly have other agenda. We are waiting for them. I am convinced that most delegates will not allow it.”

Cleared candidates Recall that Vanguard had on January 19, 2015, reported that since the list of cleared candidates was released by the credentials committee on Tuesday January 6, 2015, NLC had been under intense pressure to abandon or alter the list.

It was gathered that same day after the committee released the list of contestants duly cleared for the conference as mandated by the NLC's Constitution, the National Union of Road Transport Workers in a letter to the General Secretary of NLC protested the perceived exclusion of its President who submitted Nomination Form to contest for the post

of Deputy President due to the fact that the Nomination form was not appropriately filed as stated in the Memo of December 12, 2014.

The publication of the list of duly certified contestants by the Credentials Committee was part of the Secretariat Report to the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting of NLC held, January 20, 2015 at Labour House Abuja. Vanguard learned that the letter from the NURTW was raised at the National Executive Council, NEC, meeting and the National Administrative Council, NAC, meeting and both

meetings rejected the protest. Investigation revealed that plans have been perfected to raise the complaint of NURTW as a constitutional issue at the conference during the Congress-in-Session at which time the election into various positions would be conducted.

However it is being argued that raising such complaint during the election is unconstitutional as the work of the Conference Credentials Committee is covered by Article 29 of the NLC Constitution. Also, raising the issue of re-opening

PDP 'll consolidate on achievement since 1999 —DELTA ASSEMBLY SPEAKER

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PEAKER of Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Peter Onwusanya, weekend said the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, administration in the

state, would consolidate on the achievements recorded since 1999 with a fresh focus on employment, generation and enhancement of socio political lives of youths and women, if elected in the coming election.

The speaker who gave the assurance during the flag off of his ward to ward election campaign for a second tenure in Asaba, Oshimili South Local Government area, said empowerment and skills acquisition for youths and women would be in the front burner to enhance the standard of living of the people.

Onwusanya said during the campaign in which the Delta North Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates, Peter Nwaoboshi and Onyemaechi Mrakpor, respectively, also promised effective representation, that his second tenure in office would touch the lives of his constituents in many ways.

According to him, “it will be rewarding for all people of Anioma and Delta State in general to vote PDP for all positions from president, governor, Senate, House of Representatives to House of Assembly because the incoming administration will continue to give attention to empowerment of youths and women.”

Earlier, the chairman of PDP in Oshimili South Local Government area, Mr. Ebielim Maduemezie, assured that the constituents would “vote PDP all the way”.

nominations for elective offices during the election besides being unconstitutional could lead to chaos of unimaginable proportions and capable of undermining the Delegates Conference.

According to a labour veteran, "the planned hearing of any appeals at the Congress-in-Session for purposes of re-opening nominations for elective offices at the 11th Delegates Conference when nominations have been duly closed is ultra vires

and, therefore, null and void. The List of Contestants duly cleared for NLC Delegates Conference Elections released by the Conference Credentials Committee is the appropriate and only list of contestants for elective offices for NLC Delegates Conference Elections at the 11th Delegates Conference of NLC. If NLC Secretariat is allowed to raise the complaint at the Congressin-Session during the election, such would amount to an affront to Article 29 of the NLC Constitution."

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 — 17

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18 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 ANY number of reasons could be given for the postponement of the elections billed for February 14 and 28, but none would ameliorate the disappointment of Nigerians that the numerous experiments the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has performed since 2011 came to such sorry conclusion. INEC never indicated it was not ready for the elections.

Suggestions that the elections be postponed on two critical points – security and the slow distribution of the permanent voter’s cards, PVCs, were rejected by INEC which often responded that it was ready.

INEC was so ready that it repeatedly said it had plans for displaced voters in the crisisridden North East to vote. It said every registered voter would get the PVC. While it was making these promises, some cards were not ready, some of its card readers had not arrived, and it was uncertain if they would arrive and be distributed before the elections, the first of which was to hold on February 14. Only 45, 829, 808, or 66.58 per cent of registered voters had collected their PVCs by February 5, nine days to the earlier date proposed for the presidential election.

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By Peter Obi

HE youth constitute critical elements in societal development. Whatever the human and material resource endowments of any geo-political entity, no serious government can afford to neglect or overlook the youth, who indeed are the foundation for the future.

For a long period in the Nigerian experience, the youths [18-35 years age bracket] did not received a fair deal in the developmental scheme of things. From acts of omission and commission, they suffered neglect, marginalization, discrimination and even persecution.

This sorry state of our youths clearly poses threats to national security, stability and sustainable development, which no leadership worth its salt would treat with levity. In deference to these realities, the Jonathan administration incorporated that critical element into its programme of action.

The [Nigerian] National Policy on Youth conforms to the United Nations’ guidelines and extends to Nigerian youths in the Diaspora. It succinctly rates the youth among “the greatest assets that any nation can have ... They serve as a good measure of the extent to which a country can reproduce as well as sustain itself ...”.

Under the present dispensation, quite a number of initiatives and activities have come on-stream towards giving Nigerian youths deserved places in the economy, polity and society.

The National Youth Employment Action Plan [NYEAP] is anchored on

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INEC’s Postponement Of 2015 Elections INEC said it was ready for the elections until a letter from the National Security Adviser which stated that security could not be guaranteed during the elections. The security agencies had asked for “at least six weeks to conclude a major military operation against the insurgency in the North East,” according to INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega. The position of the military was that a concentration of its attention in the operations would leave it

without enough resources to participate in the elections.

The tie between the elections and the success of military operations in the North East is bound to “at least” disturb Nigerians. Suppose the military does not attain the anticipated level of security in six weeks, would the elections suffer further postponement? Should the military decide the date of elections?

INEC is hiding behind Section 26(1) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended). It states, “ Where a date has been appointed for the holding of an election, and there is reason to believe that a serious breach of the peace is likely to occur if the election is proceeded with on that date…, the Commission may postpone the election and shall in respect of the area, or areas concerned, appoint another date for the holding of the postponed election, provided that such reason for the postponement is cogent and verifiable”. The section never envisaged the total postponement of elections; the measure was to deal with specific areas.

Our democracy is on trial. We should all rescue it from feigned concerns.

OPINION Taking on the youth development challenge diversification of the nation’s economic base [particularly into agriculture and agro-business]; operation of vocational/ entrepreneurial/skills development centres for tertiary level students and youth service members by the State and FCT administrations; audit-evaluation/ restructuring/strengthening of such job creation agencies as the National Directorate of Employment, National Poverty Eradication Programme and Industrial Training Fund; and enhancing the enabling environment for enterprise development.

The Jonathan administration stepped up gear on youth engagement with intensified collaboration with the private sector. Strategic areas of focus include

Entrepreneurship Development Centres have been set up in the six geo-political zones to bridge gaps in various elements of youth entrepreneurship development. To date, over 200,000 youths have benefited

Small & Growing Businesses and Entrepreneurship; Vocational Education & Job Centres; Graduate Employment & Business Process Out-sourcing [ITenhanced Services]; Public Works Programme [PWP]; Agriculture & AgroProcessing; Local Content Development & Innovation; and Housing & Construction.

Under these schemes, concrete support is being given to the organized private sector, informal sector, women and youths to lead the way in building a moreinclusive democratic and economicallystable Nigeria and hence, enable the country attain a pride of place as the economic Giant of Africa.

Entrepreneurship Development Centres [EDCs] have been set up in the six geopolitical zones of the Federation to bridge gaps in various elements of youth entrepreneurship development. To date, over 200,000 youths have benefited from the programme. The Federal Government is also setting up Comprehensive Youth Centres in those zones to be operated and managed under Public Private Partnership [PPP] arrangements.

Included in their schedules are demonstration farms; standardized vocational training programmes; small business bureaux for entrepreneurship training; referral and counselling programmes for youth in conflict situations, those afflicted with disease and the traumatized; and sporting & leisure

facilities. Such is the attractiveness of the youth centre initiative that some of the State Governments are setting up similar facilities to engage their youths constructively.

The Subsidy Re-investment and Empowerment Programme [SURE-P] was inaugurated in the wake of the Federal Government’s partial removal of oil subsidy in early 2012. Co-ordinated by the Federal Ministry of Finance and managed by a team of proven integrity, SURE-P is complementing other development programmes of the three tiers of governance. Its mandate [which actively involves the youths] covers development of a National Safety Net programme targeted at the poor and most vulnerable members of the community on a continuous basis; rehabilitation & restoration of abandoned railway infrastructure; construction of 3,430 kilometres of standard gauge railway lines across the country; rehabilitation of abandoned road and bridge projects; creation & maintenance of a stable mass transit system; promotion of vocational training, maternal & child health care and women & youth empowerment programmes.

Continues tomorrow *Mr. Obi, former governor of Anambra State, is Deputy General of the PDP National Campaign council.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015— —19

The Yorubas

By Patrick Dele Cole

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HE Yoruba town of Ibadan is largest native market in Africa. The Yorubas engage in the business of planting and trading in Cocoa, Palm produce, timber, rubber, and kola nuts, apart from their normal food crops.

They are good businessmen and women, some of whom dealt in timber, cocoa, kola nuts, trading from Lagos to Bathurst (now Banjul), in The Gambia, and South Congo; whist the Ijebus, Ijesha and the Oyo speaking Yorubas deal in general merchandise.

They have high entrepreneurial ability; and they are also the leaders in the professions, such as Law, Insurance, Banking, Medicine, Accountancy, Architecture, Engineering, etc. The Yorubas are in International Businesses – Ogunlesi, Doherty, Odutola, Bank – Anthony, Harry Akande, Adenuga, Otudeko etc.

They again equally excel in Arts and Drama. Wole Soyinka, Bobby Benson, Victor Olaiya, Hubert Ogunde, Ojo Ladipo, Titiola, Dapo Adelugba, Ola Rotimi, to mention just a few, are of the Yoruba stock. They were also front runners in the News and Entertainment Media in Nigeria.

Examples abound in the Publications of the Akede Eko, Daily Times, Punch, Nigerian Tribune, Daily Sketch, etc.; whilst the Western Nigerian Television (WNTV) was the first Television Service in Africa;, which was supplemented by the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service (WNBS), with the Radio Service.

They are, yet again, trend setters in fashion; and are well ahead in Education; having started with Free Primary Education in 1955 under Western Region Government of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, which gave them an edge as regards mass education, thereby creating a gap between Yorubas and the rest of Nigeria, that is still yet to be bridged.

The Ph.Ds of Ekitis are well known, and they far outstrip other Nigerian groups in higher education, and their rate of female education far outstrips the respective rates of the other groups, particularly at that tertiary level.

Large scale prosperity had made it possible for Yorubas to have a major say in the development of Nigeria. They have abundance in political willingness, political astuteness, and incredibly ambitious/ enterprising. The combination of the above qualities has led them three times to the Leadership/Presidency of Nigeria, and the 4th MKO Moshood Abiola’s presidency was aborted by the Babangida military administration, which declared its annulment. The Yorubas have managed to live more harmoniously with the other groups, as well as among themselves. In fact, religionwise, the Yorubas are heterogeneous, as one Yorubas family may have all the three religions within the same one family fold, namely, Christianity, Islam, and Traditional Religion.

The Yorubas seem to have a deeper social life than others, regardless of the degree of outward manifestation of Westernization. They are culture enthusiasts. Yorubas are well cultured people, and even, those of them who do not speak the language, just like the majority who speak the language, understand the custom, etc, learning at an early age how to kneel down, prostrate, etc., at all levels. The Yorubas have a greeting for all occasions : For example, for walking, standing, selling, travelling, working, resting, etc.

The Lagos Yorubas (the Lagosians), who were the least educated of the Yoruba race, missed out on the 1956 Awolowo Free Universal Primary Education (FUPE). I had a friend, Mr. Lamikanran, who was my boss in BP. He told me a story

The Yorubas remain, as of today, the only one of the three major ethnic groups that has not threatened the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria

which reinforces the wisdom that the best form of defence is attack. The office had 10 Yorubas. One retired and was replaced by an Ibo. The remaining nine held a meeting to complain about the onslaught of tribalism in BP!! The Yorubas have no fear of succeeding in Nigeria; are prepared to go it alone – so confident are they that will make it. No other ethnic group in Nigeria, are prepared to accept a break up, the Yorubas would be happy to go it alone, and are confident of success. There are some who was argue that paragraph is clearly a misrepresentation of the Yoruba character and national aspirations. As regards the first issue, the BP tale, certainly does correctly portray the true Yoruba trait. They are not an exclusive/selfish people, like some of the other ethnic groups of Nigeria. As regards the second issue, of the three (3) major ethnic groups of Nigeria, only the Yorubas have not threatened the corporate existence of Nigeria. At its inception, the Second Military Coup Leader declared that: There was no basis for unity; whilst another ethnic group attempted to secede from Nigeria, which led to the Biafrian War. Despite all the vicissitudes the Yorubas suffered during the NADECO period of the Abacha Regime, it is on record that the Yorubas never expressed any secessionist view. Rather, they kept on demanding for a Sovereign National Conference which would enable the Nigerian people truly determine the form and nature of their association with one another within the Nigerian national entity. Where then is

INEC and worrisome statistics on voters

By Yushau Shuaib

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HERE is anxiety in the land over this month’s general elections. To be sure, the presidential and national assembly elections will hold on February 14, 2015 while those of governors and state assemblies have been scheduled for February 28. Some of the fears though, especially about security and logistics challenges, have been allayed by recent pronouncements and disclosures from security agencies and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The Forum of Spokespersons of Security and Response Agencies, FOSSRA, which has membership drawn from military, security, intelligence and response agencies, has pledged to remain professional, non-partisan and apolitical at all times while promising to ensure adequate security and fairness before, during and after the February elections.

The assurance from the August body is very crucial because membership include representatives from Defence Headquarters, Army, Air force, Navy, Police, Department of State Services, DSS; Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC; National Intelligence Agency, NIA; Office of the National Security Adviser, NSA; Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC; Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS; Nigeria Customs Service, NCS; Nigeria Prison Service, NPS; Federal Fire Service, FFS; Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC and National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. In its communiqué, which was signed

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In its official analysis of the nationwide that, through efficient and effective interagency collaboration, their respective voter registration database, INEC had agencies would ensure maximum security confirmed the registration of 73,528,040 of voters during the 2011 registration. cover during the election period.

On its part, the Independent National Because of some defect in the total Electoral Commission, INEC, has also said registration, the electoral body officially that it has received all the necessary registered 68,833,476 voters for the logistics and funding for the elections. elections in February 2015. The figure was Speaking at a one-day lecture organised arrived at after removing over four million by the African Policy Research Institute, voters that were allegedly engaged in APRI, on the forthcoming elections, the duplicate registration. The removal was INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega done through the Commission’s AFIX and said that the Federal Government had Business Rules for the printing of PVCs. There is also the relocation of all Polling approved and released funds required by the Commission to conduct the elections. Units, PUs, from churches, mosques, The INEC boss was quoted to have said: private compounds and even veranda of “Funding is always an issue, but I can say schools so that all PUs would be inside that for INEC in terms of our preparation, enclosures in line with international best it is no longer an issue, anybody will always practices. Nigeria now has 119, 973 polling want to have more money but we believe units nationwide for the elections.

With the introduction of 145,000 Smart that we have sufficient resources to be able to conduct the 2015 general elections. So, Reader Cards, SRCs, to check rigging or manipulation, INEC has we can say that funding is insisted that it wouldn’t allow no longer an issue for us those with temporary voter as far as the election is cards to vote in the election. concerned.”

These Smart Reader Cards What may jeopardise the will authenticate the holder election, which most INEC should of any PVC, confirm his or people insist must hold as extend her finger print and detect scheduled, is the inability fake or cloned PVC. of a significant number of distribution of Most worrisome of the prospective voters to obtain PVCs to the eve statistics is the data on their permanent voter's of elections registered voters and card, PVC. number of cards distributed The statistics released by rather than voters. While the INEC to justify its level of February 8, 2015 to confirmed registered voters preparedness calls for are 68,833,476, the number more concerted efforts, to allow more of cards distributed as at mobilisation and massive potential voters February 1, 2015 is sensitisation campaigns to 42,779,339 which gives ensure that nothing is to receive their 62.15% of the distribution. compromised towards cards It is alarming that some fruitful elections.

the evidence of the Yorubas wanting to go it alone apart from the other ether ethnic groups?

They remain, as of today, the only one of the three major ethnic groups that has not threatened the unity and corporate existence of Nigeria.

The Yorubas have their own Traditional clothing Industry, at which they produce the Adire and Aso Oke cloths, etc Awolowo’s Yorubas legacy remains enduring. He pushed the ethnic group forward, to become second to none in all areas of human endeavour.

Chief Awolowo was not universally liked by all Yorubas, and several fought him to the death. But his influence on them remains pervasive.

The Yorubas in the Diaspora The Yorubas in London took early advantage to buy houses originally allocated to them for having children in the U.K. Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s tightened the regulations allowing people born in England or of English parentage to claim domiciliary status and citizenship. She also introduced selling of Council accommodation to those who occupied them.

Nigerians in the U.K. bought the Council flats they lived in; and since then have been able to transport members of their families to the U.K. on the basis of house ownership and British citizenship. Moreover, the Yorubas are the majority of those having houses in the U.K., they were serious minded and worked hard.

Continues tomorrow •Dr. Cole, a former ambassador, wrote from Lagos.

states with larger population of voters, and curiously strongholds of the opposition are indeed backwards in distribution. For instance, states that are governed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, like Lagos, Kano and Rivers merely recorded 38%, 52%, 49% of distribution of voters cards while those under the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, like Taraba, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna states have high distribution rates of at least 80% each.

On the relocations of poling units, INEC should as matter of urgency, educate and announce addresses of the new locations to voters to avoid confusion on election days.

While adopting its Business Rule in removing over four million registered voters, INEC should realise that there is likelihood that some genuine names might have been removed by the AFTEX technology. It is therefore essential that those innocent potential voters that might have been affected should have the opportunity of redress. If necessary, they should be re-registered just like the Sultan of Sokoto was treated when he complained that his name was missing.

While most of the major stakeholders have insisted on the conduct of elections on the stipulated dates, INEC should extend distribution of PVCs to the eve of elections rather than February 8, 2015 to allow more potential voters to receive their cards and avoid disenfranchisement of electorates. Though it could be cumbersome to combine the logistics involved in preparing for the real election with card distribution, INEC must ensure that every voter receives his/her card. A situation where an average Nigerian, who is not a politician, complains of not receiving PVC is quite worrisome.

•Mr. Shuaib, a commentator on national issues, wrote from Abuja.

20—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

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FTER what looked like a prevarication, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has finally endorsed the second term bid of President Goodluck Jonathan.

This much was made known last week when its President, Chief Gary EnwoIgariwey, led a delegation to present a document to that effect to the Governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, who is the Chairman of the South East Governors Forum.

He gave two main reasons for the Igbos deciding that Jonathan is “their main candidate”: to ward off the possibility of another insurgency, this time from the South-South should the president lose, and the need for him to complete the good work he started. He added that Igbos have decided to consolidate the bridge they built to the South-South.

I believe Ohanaeze has portrayed the correct opinion and wishes of the Igbo people by choosing Jonathan as their “main candidate”. What it means is that Jonathan is not necessarily the only one. Igbos should feel free to vote for any presidential candidates of their choice. No one will be called a “saboteur” for doing so, but the chosen candidate of the Igbo for the presidency of Nigeria from 2015 to 2019 is Dr Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan.

Where I want to differ a bit is the talk about the need to support Jonathan to avoid another insurgency from the South-South. I don’t believe that we should succumb to such threats. This is democracy, and there is no such thing as gunpoint democracy. If you want votes you go out and ask for them.

You beg and lobby for them. You sell your candidacy as a salesman goes about persuading people to part with their money to buy their goods. The vote is the sovereign power of the citizen which, in a democracy, you are seeking to enable you assume power to serve. When you threaten the country with violence unless you win, my primary instinct is to deny you the vote, and the heavens won’t fall.

When Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and his Northern Leaders Political Forum (NPLF) in 2010 threatened Jonathan that “those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable”, and went on to say they would make the country ungovernable, Nigerians reacted to the threat with a resounding, landslide victory for Jonathan. Yes indeed, Boko Haram was armed to make governance difficult for Jonathan, but who suffered the bruises?

Whose communities were seized and temporarily Islamised by Boko Haram?

Who were being daily massacred by Boko Haram? Who are in the internally

Wanted: a president for new Nigeria (2) displaced camps? Whose local economies were devastated? Where is the theatre of the current war on terror?

There is abundant evidence that when a group starts an insurgency, it is the people of their locality that bear the full brunt of it. During the Niger Delta militancy crises, the entire Niger Delta creek communities were on the run both from the army and the militants, just as North Eastern communities are today. The waterways and creeks were drenched with oil spills and the ecological disasters that were created have yet to be quantified. The national economy faltered, but it was mainly the Ijaw common person that bore the pain. Threats have a very stupid place in a democracy!There is no substitute for peaceful electioneering. Whoever

I am not sure how far Buhari will go in sharing power with Tinubu. Tinubu will make demands that could get him rapidly put away from the regime’s centre of gravity – or worse. He will remind Buhari’s boys of his sacrifices to make him president

wins should lead with the full support of all Nigerians. That is the only way forward.

Ohanaeze was right in saying that Igbos need to complete the bridge they built in 2011. In spite of their diversity in language, they and the people of South-South belong to the same general cultural pattern, even though the Minorities have their own distinct identity and strategic interests.

In 2011, the Igbo, after assessing the political equation of the time, decided not to sponsor presidential or vice presidential candidates but to throw their weight fully behind Jonathan, based on the primordial sentiments of contiguity and consanguinity. The political equation for 2015 has not changed much. The only change that has taken place is that the Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu camps that went it alone, have now merged into one camp and received a great reinforcement from the camp of PDP deserters. The truth is that the Buhari candidacy was put together with very little Igbo input, and if he comes to power, Igbos will remain fringe elements, just as they were when Buhari was a military head of state in 1984/ 85. There is nothing about Buhari that suggests he has become a large-hearted nationalist who will forget about the civil war and the fact that Igbos have never looked in his direction since he started running for president.

That is exactly the problem of going back to the dark past to exhume individuals whose time has expired to come and lead contemporary Nigeria that is now the largest economy in Africa; the number one choice of investors in Africa and the biggest money-spinning environment for investors in the world. All these things did not happen by chance. They are products of the efforts of President Jonathan’s economic team led by Dr.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy. The public/ private partnership model of capital development championed by the Jonathan administration has opened up the economy in a way never seen before in this country. That is why, in spite of the insurgency in the North East, the economy is thriving.

Moreover, President Jonathan’s administration has embarked on a large-scale restoration of public amenities like roads, railways, the power sector, agriculture and educational facilities, which collapsed under the military era, particularly during the regime of Muhammadu Buhari, when not a single project was initiated or completed. Jonathan’s major problem is that his government lacks the skills and strategy to communicate his programmes to the public. This made it easier for his opponents to use propaganda to make him look like a non-performer.

The president Nigeria needs at this juncture is not one who will come and stop the various national renewal programmes going on and leave this country with another junkyard of abandoned projects and revoked commitments, such as the Second Niger Bridge. For us to be able to conclusively judge Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s contributions to the development of Nigeria, he needs eight years in office like former President Obasanjo. I am convinced that the next four years will be a moment of harvest of seeds planted in the last four years which are now germinating right before our eyes. I am also convinced that the defeat of Boko Haram is in sight, and that unless the enemies of the nation open up another front, Nigeria will have a more peaceful atmosphere to build her economy from now to 2019.

If Buhari takes over power at this juncture, we are likely to experience a lot of discontinuities. In the first place, the government may take two years to resolve the internal contradictions of power tussle between a putative president Buhari and the National Leader of the APC, Alhaji Ahmed Bola Tinubu. I am not sure how far Buhari will go in sharing power with Tinubu.

Tinubu will make demands that could get him rapidly put away from the regime’s centre of gravity – or worse.

He will remind Buhari’s boys of his sacrifices to make him president. Then, Buhari’s boys will, in turn, show him that they have now reclaimed their power, and two captains cannot be in one boat.

If tomorrow comes, you will remember I said so. If you don’t remember I will remind you.

OPINION

By Ebuka Emenike

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NGR. Ernest Ndukwe, former chief executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission requires no much of introduction here. He steered the ship of Nigeria’s telecom revolution, and sign-posted Nigeria’s image across the globe with his transparent management of the nation’s telecom resources. He democratized mobile phone services and put mobile phones in the hands of every Nigerian after decades of lack.

In advanced societies where performance, integrity, commitment to selfless service and other sterling virtues guide people’s choice for effective representation in the upper chamber of parliament, Engr. Ndukwe’s aspiration to represent Anambra South Senatorial Zone under APGA, would have been declared a no-contest in his favour!

Even in a clear contest where citizens of this senatorial zone are allowed to vote in an open, fair and transparent manner, the Ndukwe personae towers above any contestant to the senate, irrespective of party affiliation. But elections in this zone are always mired in controversies with major allegations being that results of elections come from the blues even when ballots are not cast.

But the trio of Uba brothers, Senators Ugochukwu and Andy, and now Chief Chris Uba, propped up by then President Olusegun Obasanjo ahead of former Vice President of Nigeria, Chief Alex Ekwueme, has made it clear that the senate seat belongs to the family. Chief

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Ndukwe for Senate: Challenge of Uba brothers Chris Ubah at a recent press conference asserted that the elder duo has taken their turns, and 2015 is his turn. The refusal of Senator Andy to let him is now a subject in court while both are currently in the field campaigning for the seat under the PDP. It may sound ridiculous but it is widely believed that the disposition, whims and caprices of the Ubah brothers have become the rule about who gets elected to any office in the zone. Even in most unusual circumstances, the Ubah brothers have prevailed against any opposition be it at inter or intra-party levels. At the Senate, Senator Ndukwe’s Andy Ubah is the current Chairman of the Senate emergence under Committee on INEC. His APGA may be the aides believe that this position is strategic to his break to the cycle future political ambitions.

Chief Chris Ubah, on his of inaccessible, part, is a member of the BOT non-performing of the PDP. The self acclaimed godfather of Anambra State representation of PDP, plays court as all aspirants pay homage and the people

queue for tickets to contest any electoral seat in the PDP. The fear about the political connections of the Ubah brothers to the Presidency, and INEC, appears to be the biggest threat to Ndukwe’s aspiration. Notwithstanding that for all the years that the Ubah brothers have held sway, dividends of democracy for the people in the zone has been a mirage and never been a subject of discussions. For all their connections, the two Federal Roads within the zone - Nnewi – Ekwulobia – Oko-Umunze road, and Nnewi –Uga – Okigwe road passing the front of their residences, have not received any government’s attention. Their presence at the corridors of power is read in the newspapers like fiction stories. The electorate in the zone are only privileged to see the Ubah brothers once in four years – during electioneering campaigns when they engage in salutary interactions with political and opinion leaders in the zone.

Perhaps, Engr. Ndukwe’s emergence under APGA may be the break to the cycle of inaccessible, ineffective, and indeed, non-performing representation of the people of the South Senatorial zone of Anambra State. Bu the question is: Will Professor Jega’s men in INEC muster the courage to conduct free, fair and transparent election in the zone and let the people decide who would represent them? *Mr. Emenike, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Ekwulobia, Aguata LGA of Anambra State.

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Aftermath of fire outbreak:

400 displaced Pako residents cry out •Appeal to govt, politicians for assistance

By Esther Onyegbula

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IFE has become a living hell for residents of Pako in Ajegunle whose houses were recently consumed by a mid-day inferno. The fire which, according to reports, began at about 12 noon, was allegedly caused by power surge and affected about 10 houses on Deliverance Street and Akinyo Lanre Street, rendering over 400 persons homeless.

Although no life was lost, properties worth millions of naira were reportedly lost as most residents had gone to their respective places of work and businesses when the incident occurred.

When Vanguard Metro, VM, visited the scene, families affected by the incident were seen squatting with relatives and friends, either discussing or lamenting their losses to the inferno.

Speaking to VM, one of the landlords of the affected buildings, Chief Hakeem Akinyo, said: “At about 11.30 am to 12 noon I was mobilising people to the venue of the PVC collection centre because I am one of the executive members in the local government council area. All of a sudden we just heard people shouting fire! fire!! I was within the community but not in my house,

so I ran back to my house.

Behold when I got there the whole place was on fire. We tried to rescue people. When we called the fire service they said we should give them about 12 hours for them to mobilise and come; unfortunately they didn’t come.

We tried all we could to put off the fire to no avail. The DPO Ajeromi was around and helped in his own little capacity. By the time we were able to finally put off the fire about 10 houses has been destroyed. We thank God because no life was lost, but we lost properties worth millions

•One of the burnt buildings.

•Apostle Jesse Dele

The only thing I have left is this dress I’m wearing; all my belongings and valuables were consumed in the fire

of Naira”.

Lamenting, he informed that the problem started with a power surge, adding: “We noticed that the voltage was very high. This was what caused the fire outbreak. We don’t have shanties here; all the buildings are brick because the area is well developed. Among the buildings destroyed by the fire are a church and a mosque.

•Chief Hakeem Akinyo About 400 people are now homeless on account of their houses being burnt.

“We need government assistance to help us rebuild our lives; we lost everything to the fire outbreak, and government should put in place a financing system for victims of fire outbreak. Families affected by the incident are currently squatting with relatives and friends because they lost all

Lagos: Violence mars election campaigns

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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N spite of the stern warning by police authorities to residents to shun violence in the build up to the February 2015 general elections, it has been a reign of terror in some parts of Lagos as politicians intensify their campaigns. One of the most recent clashes involving politiciansofthePeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, was recorded in Oke Odo Local Council Development Area and Agege Local Government Area of the state.

At the end of hostilities, four people sustained various degrees of injury and are lying critically ill in hospitals awaiting surgery to extract pellets and bullets shot at them by rampaging thugs in the garb of political opponents.

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They were identified as Messrs, Tunde Solaja, Mr. Nurudeen Olukowi, A. Tobi and Jenrola.

Mr. Aderemi Adeyemo, APC campaign committee chairman in Oke-Odo LCDA, narrowly escaped being shot. According to Adeyemo while speaking with newsmen: “We call the attention of the Nigerian security agencies and, in fact, the entire peace-loving members of the global community to a series calculated peace breaches that are being perpetrated in our communities by terror gangs of the PDP to harass and intimidate members of our party as well as other innocent citizens in the course of their daily lives.”

It was gathered that prior to the attack, there have been incidents of clashes over the defacing and tearing of campaign posters, destruc-

tion and vandalization of banners and billboards of candidates. It assumed a more dangerous dimension on the morning of Thursday, January 22, 2015 when APC members flagged off the LCDA campaigns at the party’s headquarters located along Ekoro Road in Abule Egba Area of Lagos State.

Adeyemo narrated thus: “As law abiding citizens, on the day preceding the event, we had put the various police formations in our locality on notice that we shall be holding a walk-through in the council area to commence our campaigns and we were assured of adequate protection.

“Unknown to us however, an armed gang stationed at Old Ota/ Ekoro Road Junction began to molest and harass our members, men

andwomenontheirwaytotheAPC partysecretariat.Intheprocesseight of our members were physically assaulted, two of whom were hospitalised.”

According to another eyewitness, Mr. Deacon Isaac Omoregie, the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, of Oke-Odo Police Station who responded swiftly by leading his team to the scene of the infraction could not do much to restrain the terror gang which had already mobilized more of their members and were brazenly brandishing different weapons. No arrest was made.

Apparently, in an attempt to avoid what could have degenerated into a gang war, the APC members reportedly left the scene to continue their road tour programme in other parts of the local government.

they had in the inferno. This is why we are calling on the Governor of Lagos State, and all politicians in the area to come to our aid. What we need is government assistance to help us rebuild the houses.

Members of my family are just scattered, we have written to Lagos State government as well.”

For Apostle Jesse Dele of Christ Deliverance Pentecostal Bible Church Incorporated: “That day the light was fluctuating and the voltage was very high and then there was an electrical spark. This led to the outbreak. We had to rescue the school children from the buildings.

Smoke everywhere By the time we finished rescuing the children there was smoke everywhere and we could not go into the burning buildings; so everything was lost to the fire. If the fire fighters had come to our rescue maybe we would have recovered some of our belongings. But all the same we thank God that we are alive.

On her part, Mrs Esther Dele noted thus: “The incident did not just render me and my family homeless, but it has affected my life severely. The only thing I have left is this dress I’m wearing; all my belongings and valuables were consumed in the fire. I and members of my family have been living from hand to mouth since the incident. We have been surviving on the goodwill of neighbours and friends. At the moment my children sleep in the church.

“I went to work that day and before I came back everything was gone. It was like a dream.

But it is the reality staring us in the face.”

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VANGUARD PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014

From left, Professor Anya O. Anya, Chairman of the occasion; Mrs. Ekaete Unoma Akpabio, First Lady of Akwa Ibom State, representing Governor Godswill Akpabio; Mr. Sam Amuka, Publisher Vanguard Newspapers; Mrs. Rita Amuka, Mr. Adeola Ipaye, representing Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos State, and Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, at the Vanguard Personality of the Year Award 2014. Photos: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor; Kehinde Gbadamosi, Lamidi Bamidele, Bunmi Azeez & Akeem Salau

From left: Mr. Charles Black, Alh. Ahmed Maiyaya and Alhaji Kawu Aliu

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From left, Mr. Ben Murray Bruce, Chairman, Silverbird Group; Mr. Bisi Olatilo, and Professor Olu Akinyanju, Chairman, Sicle Cell Foundation Nigeria.

Mr Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager/Editor in Chief, Vanguard, receiving Vanguard Personality Award 2014 on behalf of Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State from Professor Olu Akinyanju, Chairman, Sickle Cell Foundation Nigeria.

From left: Malam Ibrahim Ismail and Mr. Sunmi Smart Cole.

Amb Dele Cole (left) and Alhaji Sule Lamido, Jigawa State Governor.

From left, Funke Adeshina; Tola Omole, and Tomike Ibikunle

From left: Emeka Nkwocha, Advert Manager, Vanguard newspaper and Mr. Tunji Olugbodi. Managing Director/ CEO at Verdant Zeal Communications Ltd

From left, Mr. Raymond Esiri, Dr. Matthew Estralomi, and Professor Egerton Uvieghara.

Chief Andrew Oru (left), and Mr. Peter Arigbe

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VANGUARD PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR AWARD 2014

From left: HRH. Olu Olanrewaju, Jenifer Okey Nussy, of Key media Nig Ltd, Okey Nwosu, MD Key Media Nig Ltd and Dubem Ngwuluka, Business manager Diamod bank Plc

Ibrahim Musa, Kano Liaison Office, Lagos and Alhaji Umar Shehu Minjibir, Head of Service, Kano state representing Kano State Governor, Rabiu Kwakwanso

From left: Alh. Senatu Dalha-Danzomo, Prof. Abdullahi Ribadu and Prof. Jibrila Amin

From left Ibrahim Ismail; Adamu Waziri and Amb. Ibrahim Kazaure

From left, Wilfred Usani, Special Adviser, Tourism Development, Cross Rivers state; Mr Christian Ita, Chief Press secretary and Etim Caiafas, Commissioner for Finance, representing Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State.

from left Ahmad Hassan; Umaru Hadejia and Bashir Dalhatu, Walin Dutse from Jigawa State

Mr Albert Okumagba (left), receiving Vanguard African Business Personality of the Year on behalf of Mr Tony Elumelu from Erelu Abiola Dosumu.

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From left, Dr. Abiodun Adebiyi, Dr. Owolabi Babatunde, and Dr. Remi Agboola.

From Left; Mr Sam Omotseye, Chairman, Editoral Board, The Nation Newspapers; Mr. Oma Djebah, Mr. Ikeddy Isiguzo, and Mrs. Chioma Isiguzo.

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50—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

other United Nations top officials.

But that notwithstanding, what is important to us now is how to consolidate on the gains we have had in the campaigns and to ensure that we win the elections.

What are the chances of your party in your zone that is the Southwest, considering the fact that you have only Ondo and Ekiti as PDP states?

Let me be firm in telling you that there is no way APC and Buhari will defeat Jonathan and the PDP in the Southwest. I am not talking in terms of governorship contest. No, I am talking about presidential contest.

Despite the noise being made by the APC, there is no way Buhari and the APC will beat the PDP in the Southwest because all we are doing in the Southwest are all rooted in the tradition and culture of our people in Yoruba land.

Awolowo said that before you can be a good Nigerian citizen, you must first and foremost be a good Yoruba man, a good Hausa man, a good Igbo man and the rest of them. So we believe that before we can chest out in the Southwest to say we are good Nigerians, we must be very good and acceptable Yoruba patriots and this is what we are doing.

Yoruba patriots

•Babatope: I am Awolowo’s Afenifere

Yoruba elders have seen something good in Jonathan — Babatope CHIEF Ebenezer Babatope, 72 came to national limelight as the fiery director of organisation of the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN in the Second Republic. Babatope was a shinning light among Nigeria’s progressives. An unrepentant Awosit till date, his ideological bearing, however, became an issue among some during and after his years of service in the General Sani Abacha regime where he held the transport portfolio. Such concern also shadows his prominent standing in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Even when many question his present ideological leanings, however, none has as of date questioned his morals in the midst of the morass that is depicted of his party, where he serves as a member of the Board of Trustees, BoT. In this interview with Vanguard, Babatope bares his mind on the campaigns so far, chances of President Goodluck Jonathan and the place of PDP in the South West among other issues.

By Henry Umoru

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HERE were complaints that when the PDP and the APC started, the campaigns were not quite issue based. Have we moved from insults to issues now?

The PDP has always ensured that its campaigns are purely issue based. You hardly can see us throwing insults to people or jiving at them. No! We carry out the messages of the party to the people. And it is the other party, the opposition party, the APC that is involving itself in throwing insults upon people and in signing peace treaty which they don’t believe in and in ensuring that they cause confusion.

But we thank God that the PDP has not played the game as they are playing it because if we had played the game as they are playing it, there would have been chaos and catastrophe in the society. We are very interested in ensuring that we mobilize the greatest number of Nigerian people to see the side being presented by the PDP and to be with us at the campaigns and the election victory.

Does that mean that the peace treaty will not work since you are saying that the APC does not believe in that?

When they signed the treaty, honestly I was not into self seeking about it because I know that the APC boys are naturally

belligerent, they are naturally repulsive to anything which in fact can move for amity in political relationship. I know they can never be anything supportive of any action of my people to ensure that we don’t have violence. So I didn’t give it a chance.

So when they now decided to throw stones at the president in Katsina, also in Bauchi and also made an attempt at bomb throwing in Gombe, I just felt well, this country is greater than all of us and God Almighty loves Nigeria and will never allow our country to disintegrate. It is the APC that is responsible for the breakdown of the Abuja Peace Accord that was signed, in the presence of Kofi Annan and some

And when the results come out, it will surprise everyone the votes that Jonathan will score in the Southwest. We beat them the last time; we are going to beat them this time again.

What is your take on the endorsement of President Jonathan by the Afenifere?

It is a very good development.

I am not in that Afenifere group.

I am Awolowo’s Afenifere. But I have tremendous respect and regard for the leaders of the Afenifere group that declared support for Jonathan because

I am Awolowo’s Afenifere. But I have tremendous respect and regard for the leaders of the Afenifere group that declared support for Jonathan

they were my leaders in the Unity Party of Nigeria when I was their director of organisation and I really respect their intelligence and I respect the way they view the future and the way they responded to issues to ensure that the Yorubas are well prepared for the future.

There are things they would have seen because they are a group of elders: Chief Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Adebanjo, Chief Olaniwun Ajayi, all of them in the Afenifere. They are people who are not frivolous, who are never sentimental or emotional about issues, they are people who view matters constructively and objectively.

Growing strength When they made their pronouncement, I know that the Yoruba people because we don’t joke with maturity, age as expressed in Yoruba land, would have picked something that these elderly people know what they are talking about.

So it is a good thing they have done for the PDP and honestly speaking I am very happy about it and Nigerians are happy about it and the Yoruba people are very delighted about that development because they will add fillip to the growing strength of the PDP for Jonathan’s presidency in the Southwest.

How would you look at the two major presidential candidates, Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari?

Even while sleeping it is obvious. You must forgive me, while sleeping I will pick Jonathan. Any human being that invests heavily in individual freedom is the human being that should be supported to run the democratic experiment that we are having in Nigeria.

The past of Buhari shows that he is not a man that can be described as a democrat. A lot of people perished under his first coming. I was one of his victims.

I was in jail for 21 months. I was not in government. I was just a party official, director of organisation of the banned Unity Party of Nigeria led by the great Obafemi Awolowo. I spent some time in Kirikiri prison, from there they took me to Jos prison, from there they took me to Yola prison.

So I know what I am talking about. And many innocent people were killed.

Three innocent young men were executed on back dated laws because they said they found them with cocaine. What is cocaine? Cocaine is criminal, but it is attended in civilized countries with imprisonment.

So why you are asking me to pick between Jonathan and Buhari, I will pick Jonathan because since Jonathan came to power in 2011, not one single Nigerian has suffered executive

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It 'll be a disaster if we don’t change Jonathan — Gen. Momah GENERAL Sam Momah (retd) , a former member of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council and Minister of Science and Technology, Gen. Sam Momah, hold s PhD in Strategic studies and is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineer. He once served as a Principal Staff Officer to General Muhammadu Buhari, (retd) the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress. Momah, in this interview dismisses the furore over Buhari’s certificate as a dent on Nigeria and not the former head of state. Excerpts:

By SONI DANIEL, Regional Editor, North

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OU were the Principal Staff Officer to Buhari when he was the GOC of the 4th Division of the Nigerian Army. What do you make of the controversy over his missing certificate?

Honestly, the certificate issue is very embarrassing to some of us because here we are talking about the survival of Nigeria. We know that Nigeria is at the brink of collapse and here we are, with one of our best Generals, who have trained in the best institutions in Europe and America, including the United States War College, which by all standards is a Post Graduate institution, and you are talking about school certificate.

I find it ridiculous and unbelievable how our political class could be so petty and mundane at this particular crucial time. It is unnecessary to go that low because we must win at all cost.

The certificate saga is something that they should realise that they are denigrating the image of Nigeria and not just General Buhari.

Conference; he has given the women 35% Affirmative Action on gender equality and has tried to tinker with agriculture, the cassava bread issue, which has now virtually died and now he is trying to bring up a rice issue.

I know that he voted about 100 billion Naira to revive the textile industry and all that.

Indeed, I can say that he has tried his best for Nigeria.

But the point is that when you have a president who says that stealing is not corruption and treats corruption with kids gloves, then most of that money released, just disappears. There is no system that will progress if there is no accountability.

Jonathan has tried, but he has left the core issues which are security and corruption hanging loose.

If you cannot secure the lives of Nigerians, then I do not see why you are there as the Commander-in-Chief of the country. You are keeping some of us sleepless.

Right now, we have a country where kidnapping is

Gender equality That is one of your best Generals and you are denigrating him. If you are the one trying to use a nonissue to disparage Buhari, what should outsiders think of us? We must be careful of what we do and not take it that far.

How do you rate the two major contenders in the forthcoming presidential elections?

Jonathan has tried his best.

I doff my hat for him for holding the Constitutional

To us in the army, we know that there is no doubt that General Buhari is vying to become the president of Nigeria virtually for only patriotic reasons

•Momah: I have worked under Buhari as his Principal Staff Officer

the order of the day; a country where unemployment is off the roof, about 80 million Nigerians unemployed; we have a country that God has blessed with petroleum, but we are importing oil and refineries are left unutilised.

We have a country where the index of growth which is power, is virtually nonexistent.

Nigeria is 187 out of 189 on the global index, so we are almost the last on the list of countries in terms of availability of power. We generate less than 4000 megawatts of electricity for 170 million people; while South Africans are 50million people and they generate about 40,000 megawatts of electricity.

The president has not dealt with the core issues that would have made Nigeria what it ought to be. We know what our foreign reserve was when he came in. It was $48 billion; now we know what it is. Naira is going down the drain with over N200 to the dollar; our money is almost getting valueless. So when you ask me to compare the two, I think that we do not have a comparison to make.

How convinced are you that General Buhari can perform better than Jonathan if he wins the next election?

Everybody has antecedents; I have worked under Buhari

as his Principal Staff Officer when he was a GOC. We know him as incorruptible, we know him as being a man of Spartan life, one who is disciplined. We know him as a man of his words; his word is his bond, so he can be trusted. He has been patriotic, he is an achiever, one that you give a task to, and he gets it done.

To us in the army, we know that there is no doubt that General Buhari is vying to become the president of Nigeria virtually for only patriotic reasons. I was privileged to visit him in Daura when I went there to attend an event; I was amazed to find out that Buhari has only a bungalow in his village and nothing more. There were no luxury leather chairs there but simple wooden chairs. He lives a Spartan life because he does not believe in tampering with money that is not his.

But many have described Buhari as a religious fanatic?

Aren’t you worried about that?

To be an effective commander, you have to be seen as being neutral. So in the army we do not tolerate such.

Playing of naked politics The troops are made up of Christians, Muslims and

other religions, and you have to command them. So, if anybody is trying to input that Buhari is a religious bigot, just know that the person is playing naked politics, far from the truth.

What can you say about the quality of the election campaigns?

The campaigns have been very poor in quality. It has been very disgraceful because they have not been issuebased. It has been praisesinging and mud-slinging.

Obama became re-elected based on two issues. They asked him, ‘if you are elected, what will you do about Osama Bin Laden,’ and he replied, ‘I will kill him.’ Journalists were shocked that Obama could be that brutal and blunt.

When he became president, he quietly planned and killed Osama Bin Laden. Based on that, he was re-elected.

Americans like someone keeping his words.

Again during Storm Katrina, it was towards the election, Obama left his campaign preparation to go and look after the people that were affected by the storm. He used his incumbent opportunity to prove that he is a caring person. That is what I expected the incumbent Nigerian president to have done. All the displaced

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Yoruba elders have seen something good in Jonathan — Babatope Continues from page 50 murder in his hands.

No one single Nigerian has gone abroad to Britian, to America, to Paris, to Italy, to Germany to say that he is being witch hunted at home and he is looking for political asylum. If anybody says that he is deceiving himself, not under Jonathan. And Jonathan is a man who allows everybody to air his opinion. So with that it is Jonathan all the way.

Many people left the party after the primaries under Mu'azu, what is your take on this?

Muazu has been trying his best and he is leading us in this battle, for this great electoral war we are fighting and I think that we of the PDP should give him all the support.

I am not telling you that everything about our secretariat is rosy, I won’t tell you that.

But we will first of all finish the elections and win the elections before we come down. But Mu'azu has been doing very well and he is somebody who is in fact very versatile in political matters. He is a person who respects the people and he is a gifted orator.

When he speaks Hausa language or he speaks Fulfude, you will find out that he is a gifted orator.

Mapping out of strategies So he is going to lead us in the battle and we are going to come out victorious and when we come out victorious, then we will then settle down and map out strategies by which we are going to push our party forward, with total reformation, total reorganization, so that at the end of the day the PDP will stand head and shoulder above all the other competitors.

As campaigns continue and will end in the next couple of days, what do you think your party should be concentrating on now?

We must not relent in our efforts, we must continue to campaign very hard and when the president finishes all the tours he is making to all the 36 states of the country and the FCT, the grass root members of the party must ensure that they sustain the campaigns with the people.

And not only that, we must ensure that our messages are got by the people of Nigeria. We must use the radio stations in all the states.

We must use all the media available, we must use the social media to ensure that our messages are sent to the people, within the time frame that we have now.

We will give the opposition no respite. We must continue to sustain what we have gained and what in fact we believe we can still gain by moving to the people. So we are very well set and when we are set and we keep the enthusiasm of our

people very well mobilized then we are home and dry and we will be home and dry.

So you see the PDP winning?

Oh, the PDP is going to win. I am not a magician neither am I a soothsayer, but I think that we are going to win the presidential election and when we win presidential election, all other things will follow, but we are going to win. It may not be with such a gap. Don’t forget that they are now having a coalition of parties. But despite that the PDP will still win.

of the elections.

We are still battling with insurgency in some parts of the Country. What is the way forward?

We must continue with the appeal that President Jonathan has been making to the Boko Haram people, let them drop the guns, let them embrace peace, let them know that they have a lot to gain with us, the rest of the country in investing in the unity, progress and stability of Nigeria. Nobody will gain anything by all these shootings. Nigeria has been a country that has really

•Momah

It 'll be a disaster if we don’t change Jonathan — Gen. Momah Continues from page 51

•Babatope

We will give the opposition no respite. We must continue to sustain what we have gained and what in fact we believe we can still gain by moving to the people

I have done some graphs and I am not going to sketch it out now.

There will be a battle in some states.

I give the PDP an edge in 15 states; I give the APC an edge in 9 states and I give the two parties tough battle in about 12 states and those 12 states are states that the two parties could conveniently make 25 per cent. So at the end of the day, the PDP will win. But like I said I am not going to disclose our operational strategies which are drawn up or organizational plan which are drawn up, but I will rely on it and work on it until we get to the elections and we have the results

witnessed some of these fundamentalist religious groups.

I mean we had at one time Matatsine.

I was in prison with some of the Maitatsine people in Yola prison during the Buhari time.

And I could remember very well, one day one of the Maitatsine people just used a razor blade to cut off the hands of one of his colleagues and decided to suck the blood. I was there and immediately the military people were called in and they quelled the riot.

Have you forgiven Buhari?

The question of forgiving Buhari or not forgiving Buhari does not come in. It is a difficult thing to say forget. But the question remains, has even Gen. Buhari, has he ever said sorry for what happened during his reign? He has not said sorry. A man has not said sorry to you and you are asking me if I have forgiven him. If the man says I am sorry, it is a simple English term, I am sorry. Do you want me to go and cut off his head? He has not said it and that man that I know very well, will not say so because those who vote for him and who are jumping up now campaigning for him will soon jump down and will feel sorry for themselves and they may be sorry for themselves until their dying days.

persons should have been taken care of and Boko Haram crushed. If he had done that, he wouldn’t need to campaign; people would vote for him. So these issues are clear and straight forward.

We can’t go on this way, we need a change.

We are toying with something that can spell disaster if we fail to effect a change now: May God forbid such disaster upon us.

Are you not worried that militants have threatened war if the election does not favour their own candidate?

Well I am not surprised that this is coming up because, for long or too long we have treated militants and all sorts of

We can’t go on this way, we need a change. We are toying with something that can spell disaster if we fail to effect a change now

law-breakers in this country with kid’s gloves. We have even talked of negotiating with Boko Haram, people who do not just shoot but also slit throats. They have been killing people like goats.

It is hard to believe that the government spends N24 b annually on the militants for them to guard our pipelines. Yet they do not guard the pipelines. They break it and scoop oil making us to lose about $1m every day. So if an individual now goes to buy warship, you can imagine what is on the ground. A war ship is never switched off; it is always on 24 hours of the day. It is expensive to maintain it.

And that is what an individual has. We have given them too much latitude and too much money. It has come to a point where we must assert our sovereignty as a people because the country belongs to every one of us.

They buy war ships, build universities abroad and live in luxury while the majority wallows in abject poverty. This impunity must stop else Nigeria will go down the drain.

It’s unfortunate that many Nigerians do not know that Nigeria is sinking. It must be prevented. When people make such statements, you can imagine the state of madness that we are in.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015—53

‘10 years after my wife died of cancer, early diagnosis saved me’

By Gabriel Olawale

usually visited the toilet two or three times.

I went for test and discovered that my PS was high and when they carried out biopsy they observed that certain levels of cancerous cells had been developing. Luckily for me because it was early stage I was flown to India where the cancer was removed.

Further, Ohiaeri recalled that it was early detection that saved him. “Many people out there are yet to know their status. It is not as if we have no doctors that are knowledgeable about cancer in the country, it is just that the facilities are not always there.

“Since I came back from India, I have discovered the right equipment here are not relatively

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RECISELY 14 years ago, Alfred Ohiami, a Pastor of the Fountain of Life Church Ilupeju, had a personal encounter with cancer when his 33-year- old wife died of the disease as a result of late detection.

Ohiami, who is currently the Deputy Director, Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, Lagos, said he learned a hard lesson from the experience.

In an encounter with Features Health & Living during a forum held by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, CECP-Nigeria ,to raise awareness about cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection and treatment, he told a heart-rending tale of his travails.

He recalled that the delay in seeking a doctor’s consultation caused his wife’s situation to go from bad to worse and by the time she went for consultation and obtained diagnosis of cancer of the oral cavity, it was too late.

“I lost my wife in 2000 to cancer and 10 years later I almost lost my life as well. If not for early detection, it would have been a different story today. In my wife’s case, initially she complained of pain in her wisdom tooth. She kept postponing going to the hospital. We thought it was just normal pain that she would only need to remove the affected teeth,

• Pastor Alfred Ohiami. but when we decided to a visit hospital it was already late.

“The doctor observed that the affected tooth was beyond pain and recommended biopsy. The result of that test revealed to us that it was cancer. We travelled to the United Kingdom to seek medical help but by the time they removed the tumour, it had got into the blood stream. Despite series of chemotherapy, she died at the age of 33.”

Alas, 10 years after the death of his wife, Ohiami began to notice strange signs in his own body. It was also cancer. But he had learned his lesson that early detection is key. He wasted no time getting a consultation and today is alive to tell “My own case would have been the same, I noticed that I was visiting the toilet frequently to the extent that within an hour, I

Health workers should end strike now — Dr Rahman Lawal, MD, Yaba Psychiatric Hospital

By Sola Ogundipe

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HE Management Board, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba, Lagos has urged healthworkers to return to work immediately in the interest of the patients who are the centre of healthcare in the sector.

Expressing mixed feelings of joy and sadness over the development, Medical Director, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Yaba-Lagos, Dr. Rahman A. Lawal, said the strike action which started about three months ago is getting too long and has affected patients who desperately needed our professional services.

JOHESU embarked on indefinite strike action on November 12, 2014 to protest among other issues what they called nonimplementation of memorandum of understanding with the Federal Government and the release of circular which contains adjustments of salary since January 2014.

He noted that a presidential committee of experts on inter-professional relationships in the public health sector led by Alhaji Yayale Ahmed was constituted

by Federal Government to take a holistic look at the crisis which is well over four years now with a view of finding a lasting solution. Appreciable progress has been C M Y K

made and the task of the Committee has been concluded. Efforts are underway for the release of government white paper on the Committee's report.

Lawal said it is noteworthy to mention that some of the issues which the union is agitating for its members are important.

The Union is however advised not be confrontational or physical in the way they press home their demands for improved welfare for their members and to refrain from acts that may be inimical to the services rendered by other workers who are not on strike.

At a meeting rcecently HODs and Management of the hospital passionately appealed to the Union to suspend the strike in the interest of the patients. The HODs were also enjoined to encourage their subordinates to return to work and ensure that all service windows in the hospital are well manned at all times.

All through the strike, Lawal said the hospital is still operating skeletal services in the out-patient and emergency clinics, “I therefore wish to plead with JOHESU to show good understanding and return to work in the overall interest of our numerous patients who bear the brunt and whose care, survival and continued existence lies basically in our hands.”

When they carried out a biopsy they observed that certain levels of cancerous cells had been developing

available, even the boost scan is only available at the University College Hospital, Ibadan and some few places. One is bound to ask why Nigeria does not have all this equipment.”

With cancer being the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, and the likelihood to worsen in developing countries such as Nigeria over the next two decades, experts worry over the need to early diagnosis and treatment.

Management of cancer remains largely conservative and with little or no funding for highquality research and facilities for treatment, millions of those affected in Nigeria continually remain at risk.

The Executive Secretary, CECPNigeria, Dr Abia Nzelu, calls for commitment of resources towards the acquisition of Mobile Cancer Centres, MCCs across the country to facilitate cancer prevention through screening and early treatment at the grassroots.

Nzelu notes that thousands of Nigerians do not survive cancer as a result of late detection.

“At CECP our focus is to take cancer prevention to the grass roots through the acquisition of 37 Mobile Cancer Centres, MCCs at the cost of N95 million each for all states in the country including FCT. According to the WHO, over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, and about 80,000 die from the disease; this comes to 240 Nigerians every day or 10 Nigerians every hour, dying from cancer.

Appropriate legislation is answer to strikes — Prof Chris Bode, CMD LUTH

By Gabriel Olawale

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HE Acting Chief Medical Director, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, Idi Araba, Lagos, Professor Chris Bode, said that only the enactment of a policy that will outlaw strikes by unions or groups of workers in public health sectors can put a stop to incessant strike in the country.

Bode, who gave the recommendation during a situation update of the current health worker;s strike embarked upon by the Joint Health Sector Union, JOHESU, said except such policy is put in place and rigorously implemented, the spate of persistence health sector strikes would continue unabated.

In his view, the season of strikes witnessed in the sector has persisted because those meant to cater for the sick are not identifying with the sensitive nature of their profession which has to do with life and death.

"Appropriate legislation is the only thing that can mitigate against all this unnecessary strike action by one union today another one tomorrow. If we as a Nigerians say from now on healthcare which is an essential service should only be a sector where those employed by government cannot go on strike, if we

make such legislation only those that have interest in that will remain, but it is for us as Nigerians to make such legislation, to form ourselves into pressure group, until we get such legislation and it become binding on everybody.

"How will you feel if your house catches a fire and you call the fire brigade or Police and they tell you they are on strike? It is the same thing with healthcare even if not bigger because we are dealing with saving humans," Bode stated.

Appealing to JOHESU to call off the strike, the CMD noted that some of their demands have been taken care by government and would be implemented soon.

"The striking workers should please consider things that have suffered set back as a result of the strike. The good thing about what is happening is that government has responded to most of those things they requested for; the Yayale Ahmed Committee Report was meant to solve the problem in the sector.

“Every Teaching Hospital and Federal Institution was instructed to submit names of those due for promotion and allowances yet to be paid have been captured in 2015 budget. We are just appealing to them to resume work and wait because things cannot be done in hurry.”

54—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Jonathan’s group declares support for Buhari

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

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BUJA—MASS Movement for Goodluck, MMG, a group canvassing support for the re-election of President Goodluck Jonathan has dumped him for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Candidate, General Muhamadu Buhari.

At a ceremony held, weekend, in Abuja to formally receive its members into the fold of APC, the group which changed its name to Mass Movement for Buhari, MMB, said it would now channel its resources and structures to realize the ambition of APC presidential candidate.

Giving reasons for dumping both Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the group’s National Coordinator, Mr. Kenneth Ibe-Kalu, said PDP had barricaded itself against the people, adding “It is evident that PDP has barricaded itself against the people. It intends to lead and has no answers to their survival and future livelihood. Leadership can only be effective when it is accessible and the led is also catered for”.

APC in Osun decries shift in polls date

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HE All Progressives Congress in Osun State, yesterday, described the shift in election dates from February 14 and 28 to March 28 and April 11 as a wanton conspiracy against democracy in the country.

A statement by the party's spokesman, Kunle Oyatomi, said ''no matter the intention of the conspirators in effecting the changes, it will only strengthen the resolve of Nigerians to vote out the PDP from office.''

While describing the shift as 'disgraceful', Oyatomi said the action has further dampened the image which the PDP had given Nigerians in the comity of nations as 'an incompetent, disorganised and unserious group of people, that cannot manage their political, social and economic affairs.''

The party further said it did not know how far ''this joke on our collective intelligence as a nation will go.

But certainly, what is not in contention is that the Jonathan administration has further ridiculed all of us in the estimation of the entire world.''

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From left: Chief Raymond Ihyembe, former Managing Director of Afribank PLC; Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and Senator (Mrs) Stella Omu at the funeral service of Lady Grace Mayen Udoma, the matriarch of

the Udo Udoma family, at Ikot Abasi, Akwa Ibom State, weekend.

Former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Nsima Ekere (left), with his successor, Lady Valerie Ebe (right), and Senator Eme Ekaette during the funeral service of Lady Grace Udoma, at Ikot Abasi

Shift of election date’s bad omen— Okorie •It’s dangerous and reckless to conduct elections in a hurry—Abba-Gana

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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BUJA—REACTIONS have continued to trail the shift in start of election date from February 14 to March 28, 2015, with the presidential candidate and national chairman of United Progressive Party, UPP, Chief Chekwas Okorie, describing the shift as a bad omen for the growth of democracy in the country.

According to him, the postponement is a sinister motive designed by manipulators of the electoral process.

But former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and member of Board of Trustees of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Engr. Mohammadu Abba-Gana,

said it would be dangerous and reckless by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to conduct elections in a hurry without tackling all the challenges before the commission.

Chief Okorie said it was “a bad omen for Nigeria democracy. The capitulation of INEC to the executive pressure does not speak well to the INEC constitutional independence. The letter written by the National Security Adviser, NSA, triggered off this interference, it is bad. The somersault of the Chief of Defence Staff who recently assured of readiness of the military towards ensuring adequate security only

to change his statement is scandalous to a General of his standing.

“There are security challenges in five local government areas of the North East and Nigeria is made up of 774 local government areas. This will be a bad precedence if because of the five local government areas elections are shifted in the entire 774 council areas. As a patriot, I urge Nigerians to remain calm, but to be vigilant. This shift to six weeks is a prelude of more sinister design by the manipulators of the electoral process.”

But the former Minister of the FCT, and BoT member of the

PVCs DISTRIBUTION: We’re being marginalised by INEC —PWDs

By Caleb Ayansina

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BUJA - PEOPLE Living With Disability, PWDs, weekend, alleged that they were being marginalised by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, in the ongoing distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs. Consequently, they unanimously threw their weight behind the recent postponement of the election to March by INEC, while endorsing President Goodluck Jonathan for a second term.

“Majority of persons with disabilities cannot access centres to get their PVC. Each centre you go to there is a rush, we are about 27 million and the voting age is about eight million, that kind of number cannot be disenfranchised in this country,” the PWDs said.

Briefing newsmen in Abuja, the group said it had approached INEC to have a better way that will make it conducive for them to collect their PVCs, but lamented that INEC refused. This, according to the group, puts people with disabilities at the mercy of the people.

Specifically, Bar. Ihekwoaba Paul, a PWDs, said by INEC’s

action, they had been tactically denied their rights to vote in the forthcoming general election. He said: “Over a million persons with disabilities have been able to collect but lamented that the blind have been completely marginalised. I monitored the PVC distribution in the south east and many of my people are completely disenfranchised, they don’t have access.

“I went to the commissioner in

Imo state, and I said Madam, what provision do you have, she told me INEC has no provision for persons with disabilities at this point. With respect to them having privilege to vote, that they we have to be at the mercy of Nigerians, if they allow them to come first, fine, if they don’t allow them, they will have to go home. I said that it is not right, I sent text to Jega that, please give two days and he said no we don’t have time for that.”

PDP, Engr. Abba-Gana, said there was no need for INEC to conduct elections in a hurry when the commission was facing some challenges, saying that it would be dangerous and reckless to do so.

Abba-Gana had advised the INEC to listen to wise counsel during the presentation of a book, titled, “Why President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected in 2015” written by Odiche Monday Odiche and sponsored by Change Initiative Forum, CIF, in Abuja. The former FCT Minister said: “Since about two million Permanent Voters Card, PVC, are yet to be distributed and since it is legal to conduct the elections not earlier than 90 days and not later than one month (30 days), so it is legal now to within the constitution and Electoral Act, to say that the election can be shifted to April this year so that INEC will have the whole of February and March to conclude all the challenges which they are grappling with.

“Anything worth doing, must be done very well and I am sure that is the reason why the Council of States, very wisely advised INEC to consult very widely and inform the nation since they are the only institution empowered by the constitution to conduct elections.

“Now there is a problem about logistics, a problem about shortages and about other things, still there is clear two months, if they want the election can be done in April.

NSITF assures on treatment of injured workers

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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BUJA—THE Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Scheme, NSITF, has renewed its commitment towards rendering adequate treatment and rehabilitation of injured workers.

Managing Director of NSITF, Umar Abubakar, who gave the assurance, weekend, when he visited the management of the National Teachers’ Institute, NTI, in Kaduna, noted that the trust fund does not stop at paying compensation to injured workers, but also treat and rehabilitate them where necessary.

He explained that NSITF had also created an atmosphere where injured workers would not

become a burden to family members after treatment in a case where the injury did not allow such an employee perform his previous duties.

He said: “Once an employee is covered, the employer does not need to bother with any treatment or payment. NSITF takes care of everything from medical treatment to rehabilitation if there is need for it. It also pays handsome benefits to a deceased employee’s spouse for the life of that spouse as long as he/she does not remarry, or to the child till age 21 or when the child graduates from a tertiary institution.”

The NSITF boss further emphasized the need for teachers in the country to benefit from the

ECS, especially in the face of the insurgencies in some parts of the country, adding that the trust fund had the backing of the law to ensure employers complied with the scheme.

He also noted that NSITF management under his watch ,was using dialogue approach as the first option. Assuring the management of NTI that they were already covered by the scheme as the Federal Government had paid for all its employees, Abubakar called on the Institute to compel other employers in the education sector to key into the programme. “We want to collaborate with your Institute to reach every employer of teachers,” he stressed.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 — 55

ABIA GOV POLLS: lmo Indigenes'll vote lkpeazu, PDP — Orji’s aide

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BUJA—SPECIAL Adviser to Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State on Public Communication, Mr. Ben Onyechere, has said that Imo indigenes residing in Abia State will vote for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Abia State, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu and the PDP in the coming general elections.

According to him, in the choice of candidates, Imo people cannot make the mistake of trusting or mortgaging their future in the hands of Igbo haters, nor can they afford to give their votes CONVOCATION: Dr. Musa Babayo, Chairman Board of Trustee, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, to parties that are owned by TETFUND, (right) receiving Honorary Doctorate Degree of Public Administration from Prof. Benjamin individuals.

His words: “At this point in Ozumba, Vice Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka during the school's 44th Convocation with the Nigerian political history, we theme; Rebuilding the Nigeria Dream: Mapping the Building Blocks, at the Main Hall of the school. know where to pitch our political tents, which is the reason we must subscribe to a truly national party which has no religious or ethnic connotation.

''In Nigerian politics, Governor Theodore Orji has crafted a name for Igbos because of his acceptability and the only way to build on the foundation he has laid is to give Dr lkpeazu an unflinching support in the governorship election.

“As the special adviser to the governor on public affairs for many years now, l remain the highest ranking lmo indigene in Abia and the only way to pay Governor Orji back for recalling Imo indigenes, paying salaries of Imo PDP staff as well as re-instating ITC in Abia is to vote for PDP candidates, because I am here to attest to these facts and stand as guarantee for the requirements of Imo indigenes in Abia.

“I can assure that we are better off with Dr Ikpeazu because he is a God fearing man, who will run a peopleoriented government.''

Registered dredgers decries NIWA inability to curb illegal dredging

By Ifeyinwa Obi

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RECEPTION CEREMONY: New Knights of St. Mulumba, Lekki Sub-Council at the reception ceremony at the Catholic Church of Transfiguration, Victoria Garden City, VGC, Lekki, Lagos.

Knights of St Mulumba task Nigerians on care for less-privileged

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AGOS—THE Knights of St Mulumba, Lekki Subcouncil, Lagos has advised Nigerians to support the care for the less privileged, promote positive values that would engender a better society and believe in good cause for common good.

Speaking during an outdoor function of the group, Arch.

Jonny Ngonadi, Grand Knight, Lekki Sub council revealed that KSM, which is a group of dedicated Catholics, whose main concern is to live life of holiness and use their resources in furthering the missionary mandate in their homes and in the larger society, seeks to make the society a better place by helping the needy and the poor and giving succour to the destitute, the disadvantaged and the oppressed in the society.

According to Arch. Ngonadi; “As a group, we work towards a high sense of order and discipline within society, work for justice

always and everywhere for the benefit of mankind, live an exemplary catholic life and defend the faith as well as support other intentions and actions that are good, noble, sacred, holy and beautiful. These virtues, members are encouraged to live out in their lives, in order to make the society that radiates love and peace.”

Chief Tony Idigbe, Deputy Grand Knight, Lekki Sub-council, explained that KSM, whose membership spans all cadres of professionals such as government administrative officers, teachers, lawyers, businessmen, professors, engineers, bankers, doctors and other professionals in all strata of the economy are called to a greater call of service by mirroring the faith, hope and charity of the Christian tradition in intention and actions.

Idigbe, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said; “From the structure of the Order, the Church carries out the missionary mandate through the efforts of the clergy,

religious and laity of the people of God. In all, every member of the Church through unity and love strives to accomplish the Lord’s sacred instructions.

According to him “Since the establishment of KSM, the Association has continued to witness men with their wives contributing their quota to the spiritual/temporal growth of the Church. They bind themselves into fraternal organizations with the general objectives of fighting evil and promoting good. In particular, they set themselves the necessary task of uprooting the systematic and structural evil in the society. That was the spirit of the early Catholic knighthood and that is ours today.

“We are called to embrace the culture of life through pro-life programmes, take advantage of KSM’s spiritual resources, sponsor vocation and education of indigent persons, witness to Christ’s gospel as well as love and care for all human persons.”

AGOS—THE inability of the Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to check activities of illegal dredgers may have begun to adversely affect the well being of members of the Dredgers Association of Nigeria (DAN).

The body which specifically, laments their dwindling prospects of paying back loan facilities obtained from banks has therefore, called on NIWA to urgently intervene and stop illegal dredging of sand in waterways across the country.

Executive Secretary of the association, Richard Ntang, made the call in an interview with newsmen in Lagos, noting that not only do the illegal dredgers recklessly excavate sand, making the depth of water ways irregular and dangerous for transportation and aquatic activities, they also sold the sand below agreed price, thereby under cutting profit margins.

Ntang who noted that only the NIWA and the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals could effectively tackle the problem, especially in Lagos State also Posited that un-restraining them could lead to boat and ferry accidents.

“Wages have increased and the cost of diesel is still high.

Most of us are working with bank loans which are becoming difficult to service due to recent development.

“Sand now sells for N1,500 per cubic metre from the N2,300 it sold some years ago, but the

unlicensed dredgers sell below N1,500 per cubic metre of sand.

“This has made breaking even difficult,” he said.

He spoke further: Unlicensed operators have caused havoc to the even depth of nation’s waterways.

“Unsafe dredging activities pose threat to the safety of lives and the environment because it can cause a canoe or boat to capsize at will”.

He stressed that sand dredging business had become more challenging as most operators find it difficult to pay their bank loans due to proliferation of unlicensed dredgers.

According to Ntang, sand dredging is capital intensive as the equipment required are costly and spare parts have to be imported.

When the NIWA Image maker, Mr. Fadile was contacted, he insisted that the Lagos Area Manager, Mr Muazu Sambo was on top of the situation and should be contacted.

When contacted, Mr Muazu Sambo, however assured that the agency would tackle the issue appropriately, a claim the registered dredgers doubted, as they maintained that if NIWA was up and doing, their association would have fared better.

“We will not support illegality, we will work in conjunction with other regulatory agencies to control the activities of the operators.

“The authority will ensure the issues are tackled within the confines of the law,” Sambo said.

56 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9 , 2015

Vanguard CLASSIFIED

AirAsia jet crash: Divers recover more bodies I

NDONESIAN crews pulled out more bodies following last year’s crash of an AirAsia jet, raising the total to 100 so far, authorities said yesterday.

Of the 100 bodies recovered, 72 have been identified, police said.

Efforts are underway to identify the remaining victims.

AirAsia Flight 8501 plunged into the sea on December 28 as it flew from the Indonesian city of Surabaya toward Singapore. It had 162 people on board.

Divers resumed their attempt to lift up the fuselage of the Airbus jet yesterday, after earlier attempts failed.

Before the plane crashed, the co-pilot was flying the jet as the more experienced pilot monitored the flight.

Things may have gone wrong in a span of three minutes and 20 seconds, triggering a stall warning that sounded until it crashed into the Java Sea, according to I n d o n e s i a ’ s transportation officials.

Greece needs bridge loan, not bailout — PM Tsipras

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REECE cannot service its huge debt and will seek a bridge loan rather than an extension of its bailout, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has said.

In an address to parliament, he also promised measures to cut bureaucratic spending and said his government would stick to all its pre-election pledges.

Mr Tsipras’s far-left Syriza party won elections last month on a promise to end austerity measures.

Meanwhile, the EU officials have rejected his efforts to renegotiate Greece’s bailout terms.

“The bailout failed,” Mr Tsipras said told parliament on Sunday.

“The new government is not justified in asking for an extension ... because it cannot ask for an extension of mistakes.”

He said that Greece wanted to service its debt.

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•Indonesian crews have recovered more bodies following last year’s crash of an AirAsia jet, bringing the total to 100 so far, authorities say.

Ukraine crisis: World leaders to broker peace in Minsk Wednesday

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FFORTS to broker a peace deal in Ukraine gained momentum yesterday with leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine announcing they aim to hold fourway talks this week, even as fighting rages on.

The plan for a meeting Wednesday in the Belarusian capital of Minsk emerged from a phone call between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The aim is to draw up a package of measures that revives a muchviolated September peace plan. Preparations for the summit will take place Monday in Berlin with talks between senior

•U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, speaks, as French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, left, and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier listen on the last day of the 51. Security Conference in Munich, Germany, yesterday. diplomats from the four countries.

Ukraine’s Poroshenko raised the possibility that the meeting Wednesday could prove to be a breakthrough after months of futile diplomacy.“They (the leaders) expect that their efforts during the Minsk meeting will lead to the swift and unconditional

cessation of fire by both sides,” his office said in a statement.

But Putin cautioned that the summit might not come about. “We will be aiming for Wednesday, if by that time we are able to agree on a number of the positions that we recently have been discussing intensely,”

Kerry: ‘We are on the road’ to defeating IS

S

ECRETARY of State John Kerry says the U.S.-led coalition is “on the road” to degrading and destroying the Islamic State militant group in Iraq and Syria.

“I believe we are on the road to [degrading and destroying IS],” Kerry said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview that aired Sunday. “Yes, I absolutely do.”

The coalition, Kerry said, has regained more than 20 percent of territory that had been under IS control and killed “a significant

proportion” of its top leadership.

“We believe everything — including the governing process in Iraq itself — is moving in the right direction,” the secretary said. erry’s comments come following airstrikes launched by Jordan against the militant group last week after an IS video showed one of its captured pilots being burned alive in a cage.

“The coalition is strong, more committed than ever, particularly in the aftermath of the burning of the Jordanian

pilot,” Kerry said.

Retired Gen. John Allen, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter IS, said on ABC’s “This Week” that the pilot’s killing “galvanized the coalition.”

Kerry also reiterated the administration’s position that the United States is not willing to put “boots on the ground” in its fight against IS, relying on ground troops from Iraq and other members of the coalition instead.

UDEAGBARA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Udeagbara Nnenna Judith, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ikebude Nnenna Judith. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ODU—I, formerly known and addressed as Odugbemi Oluyomi Amos Akeem, now wish to be known and addressed as Olusegun Oluyomi Amos. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

DIKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Dike Chiwendu Cynthia, now wish to be known and addressed as Osuji Chiwendu Cynthia. All documents remain valid. General public please take note.

DIKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Duruoha Joan Nkemjika, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Dike Joan Nkemjika.

All former documents remain valid. Lonadek Nigeria Limited and general public please take note.

CHIANSON—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Sharon Mumbur Chianson, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Nyor Sharon Mumbur.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

NGADI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ngadi Uchenna Chinyelu Alexandra, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Igwe Uchenna Chinyelu Alexandra.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Addition of name AKPA—I, formerly known and addressed as Innocent Akpa, now wish to be known and addressed as Innocent Ojochenemi Akpa. All former documents remain valid. Nigeria Electricity Liabiliy Management Company (NELMCO) and general public please take note.

Confirmation of name AWONUSI—This is to confirm that Awonusi Somorin Ifeoluwa Abolade and Somorin Ifeoluwa Abolade is one and the same person but now wish to be known and addressed as Somorin Ifeoluwa Abolade. All former documents remain valid.

The Nigeria Immigration Service and general public please take note.

Confirmation of name This is to certify that the names, Miss Chukwuani Agatha Tochukwu and Miss Ani Agatha Tochukwu refer to one and the same person as Miss Ani Agatha Tochukwu.

All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MARK—I, formerly known and addressed as Mark Eno-Obong Glory, now wish to be known and addressed as Eno-Obong Glory Onoriode Genesis Edoh. All other documents remain valid. Anglican Nur/ Pry School, and general public, please take note.

U M O R E N — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Umoren Mary Uyaiabasi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mary Uche Omah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

A N YA N W U — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Augusta Olachi Anyanwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Augusta Olachi Anyanwu-Egbom. All former documents remain valid. Fidelity Bank Plc and general public please take note.

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VANGUARD, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9 , 2015 — 57

OUTH African Niger army repels fresh Boko Haram attack S writer Andre Brink, one of the most outspoken critics of the on border town terrorists and apartheid regime, has unfortunately a shell fell died.

IGER’s army on the market. There Brink, 79, died on N repelled the was one person killed Friday night on board a second attack in three

days by Boko Haram on the border town of Diffa on Sunday, a day before its parliament votes on whether to join a regional offensive against the Nigerian Islamist group.

Several people were killed in fierce early morning fighting when Boko Haram gunmen attempted to advance toward the town but were pushed back by the army, military sources said. Residents reported hearing heavy weapons fire.

Hours later, an explosion in Diffa’s market killed at least one person and left 20 injured, six of them in a serious condition, according to a doctor in the town hospital.

Residents had initially said the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber.

However, Defense Minister Mahamadou Karijo visiting Diffa to pay

•Boko Haram sect homage to soldiers killed in Friday’s attack - said the detonation was due

to a stray shell.

“This morning, there was shelling by the

and six wounded,” he told state television.

“The situation is under control and we hope that tomorrow parliament will authorize us to go on the offensive,” the minister added, accompanied by his Chadian counterpart.

An emergency services worker had earlier told Reuters at least five people died in the attack.

Authorities imposed a curfew in the town from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (1400 ET to 0000 ET).

Al Jazeera journalists get Egypt retrial date

T

HE retrial of two Al Jazeera journalists detained in Egypt will begin on 12 February, judicial sources say.

Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were sentenced to seven and 10 years respectively last June. A court ordered a retrial last month.

They were arrested in 2013 along with

Australian colleague Peter Greste after being accused of collaborating with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr Greste was freed a week ago.

A decree issued by President Abdel Fatah alSisi last November allows the deportation of foreign prisoners. Mr Fahmy, who held dual Canadian

and Egyptian citizenship, renounced his Egyptian nationality this week in an attempt to secure his release.

Egyptian and Canadian officials had indicated that he would be deported to Canada.

Mr Mohamed is an Egyptian who holds no dual nationality.

flight to Cape Town after visiting Belgium where he had received an honorary doctorate, local media say.

Brink wrote in Afrikaans as well as English. His novels have been translated into more than 30 languages.

Some of his books, including A Dry White

Anti-apartheid writer Andre Brink dies Season which was turned into a film, were banned in South Africa.

Other novels include Looking on Darkness and Philida for which he was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2012.

Andre Brink was a literature professor at the University of Cape Town at the time of his death.

Bodies of four newborn babies found in freezers in S/Africa

S

OUTH African police said Sunday they have discovered the frozen corpses of four newborn babies in freezers at a house in the southern city of Mthatha.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house on Saturday and made the grim discovery of the infants estimated to be aged between just one and two months.

“The babies were found in two freezers,” police spokesman

Mzukisi Fatyela told AFP. Police are looking for the owner of the house, a woman, who was away in Johannesburg at the time of the search.

Investigations have been launched and the bodies have been sent for post mortems.

Mthatha is one of the main towns in Eastern Cape province and lies near Qunu, the final resting place of former president Nelson Mandela.

58—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Coup against the Constitution by security chiefs

By Femi Falana, SAN

A

T a public lecture delivered at the Chatham House in London last month, the National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki, (retd), disclosed that he had “advised” the Independent National Electoral Commission to postpone the election.

The reason adduced then for the unsolicited advice was that the INEC needed time to distribute permanent voters cards to all registered voters.

As an adviser to the President on national security, the NSA has no powers whatsoever to give directives or advice to the INEC.

Statutory nexus Indeed, there is no statutory nexus between the INEC and the NSA to warrant the purported demand for the postponement of the General Election. To that extent, the NSA acted illegally. The INEC rightly rejected the unwarranted interference from the NSA. But as soon as the INEC announced that all arrangements had been put in place for the distribution of the remaining permanent voters cards in readiness for the February 14 election, the NSA

FEMI FALANA, SAN began to sing a different tune.

At that juncture, President Goodluk Jonathan convened a meeting of the Council of State.

The NSA and the security chiefs were curiously invited to the meeting with a view to convincing the Council members to endorse the postponement of the election.

To their utter dismay, they failed to achieve the illegal objective as the Council declined to support the postponement of the election.

C M Y K

The Presidency had wanted the advisory body to usurp the constitutional duty of INEC by taking a “decision” on the postponement of the election.

In a desperate bid to blackmail the INEC to postpone the election the NSA wrote a letter to the INEC to the effect that the armed forces could not provide security for the election because of the operations in the north east region.

By writing directly to the INEC on the security situation in the north east region, the NSA usurped the functions of the National Security Council.

That is the only body that has the constitutional duty to “advise the President on matters relating to public security including matters relating to any organization or agency established by law for ensuring the security of the Federation.”

The Council which is established under section 153 of the Constitution is comprised of the President, Vice-President, the a Defence Minister, Chief of defence staff, minister of interior, minister of foreign affairs, inspectorGeneral of police and national security adviser.

•Map of Nigeria

•Chief of Defence Staff, Badeh there is violence or actual threat of a breakdown of law and order.

Since the reason for the postponement of any election must be “cogent and verifiable” it is crystal clear from the press conference addressed by Professor Jega last night that the INEC did not verify the bogus claim of the NSA and the security chiefs as required by

Security chiefs It is pertinent to point out that the security chiefs are not members of the National Security Council.

Neither are they members of the Nigeria Police Council.

Therefore, they lack the constitutional power to make any authoritative pronouncement on the security of the nation.

Even though the NSA is a member of the National Security Council he cannot usurp the constitutional responsibilities of the body with the connivance of the service chiefs.

Since the NSA and the service chiefs acted illegally and mala fide the INEC ought to have rejected their politically motivated request for the postponement of the Election.

The reliance on section 25 of the Electoral Act by Professor Attahiru Jega, the INEC chairman is totally misleading.

The provision does not support the postponement of a general election in the entire country but “in the area or areas” where

•INEC Chairman, Attahiru Jega

the law.

By saying that they would not provide security in aid of civil authorities pursuant to section 217 of the Constitution the security chiefs have committed the offence of mutiny contrary to section 52 of the armed Forces Act. Contrary to the mistaken belief of the INEC leadership the armed forces have no role to play in the electoral process.

Since it is the exclusive constitutional responsibility of the Nigeria Police Force to maintain law and order during elections the INEC should have called off the bluff of the security chiefs. More so, that the Inspector-General of Police had confirmed the readiness of the Police to provide security for the election. Just last week, the federal high court sitting in Sokoto declared illegal and unconstitutional the involvement of soldiers in election duties. That judgment is binding on all authorities and persons in Nigeria.

Tenure elongation

By causing the election to be postponed the NSA and the security chiefs have staged a coup against the Constitution

It is pertinent to point out that the postponement of a General Election throughout the country is provided for under section 135(3) of the Constitution where it is stated that “If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of four years mentioned in subsection (2) of this section from time to time, but no such extension shall exceed a period of six months at any one time.”

Since the President could not persuade the National Assembly to pass a resolution for tenure elongation on spurious grounds the service chiefs allowed themselves to be manipulated to subvert the democratic process.Thus, by causing the election to be postponed the NSA and the security chiefs have staged a coup against the Constitution.

They are liable to be prosecuted for the grave offence of treason at the appropriate time.

Democratic process If the satanic Boko Haram sect is not defeated by the armed forces of of the republics of Chad, Cameroon and Niger in the next six weeks the security chiefs are likely to ask for another postponement of the General Election on the ground that the operations in the north east region have not been successfully concluded.

As such extension cannot be accommodated under the Electoral Act and the Constitution, the democratic process may be terminated by the security chiefs to pave way for the much touted interim national government.

Since some of the Colonels who played a dominant role in the criminal annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election have taken over the security of the country the democratic forces in Nigeria should be prepared for a long drawn out battle for the restoration of civil rule.

In the circumstance, I am compelled to urge Nigerians to beware of the “Ides of March”.

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015—59

FAYEMI: Celebrating a change agent at 50

By Olayinka Oyebode

I

T was a warm afternoon at the OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, South Africa, sometime in March 2013. Dr Kayode Fayemi and I were returning to Lagos after receiving the Samsung Award for Best State Government in ICT Education at an impressive ceremony in Cape Town. Mr. Governor, as he is fondly called, had sought to spend some time at the business class lounge of the South African Airline, and because I was engrossed in a discussion with him and another official of the administration, Muyiwa Ogunmilade, he had urged me to come along.

After going through my boarding pass and discovering that I was billed to fly the economy class, the female SAA official politely stopped me from entering the lounge. JKF’s attempt to convince her to allow me in, in order for us to conclude our discussion was met with a straight face by the official.

Futile protest The waitress, however, said I could be allowed in if the governor and Ogunmilade could present their gold cards.

Pronto, they both brought out their gold cards. Having confirmed the cards the official was about giving another condition when the activist in JKF came out. He politely asked that his card be returned to him and told the officials that he would rather take a walk around the airport with me rather than being denied my company at the lounge.

I made a futile protest against his decision to abandon the lounge because of me, knowing he needed to catch some rest. Alas, it was too late.

“No, Yinka, it's not worth it.

What is the big deal about the lounge. Don’t worry, let’s just take a walk around before boarding time”.

Thus we left the lounge and spent about half an hour buying books at a particular book store at the airport and the remaining time was spent strolling around before boarding time.

That South African experience was for me perhaps the most humbling experience I have had as an adult. It was a lesson in simplicity and leadership taught in the simplest manner imaginable. It also typifies the experiences of many who have come in contact C M Y K

•Fayemi with Dr Fayemi whether in the classroom, newsroom, lecture room, political rallies, in the trenches or in the hallowed chambers of the Ekiti State Executive council where he presided over the affairs of the state, together with his carefully selected team for four impactful years.

Fayemi in and out of office believes in two things - service and justice. He believes life is worthless without service service to mankind. On justice, Fayemi is a firm believer in that timeless Latin legal phrase: Fiat justitia ruat caelum (Let justice be done though the heavens fall). He remains today one of the few Nigerian politicians that have really tested the country’s legal system in the bid to determine some knotty issues.

As Fayemi attains the golden age today, it is obvious that the energy and wisdom to run even a more impactful race in the second half of the century are bubbling in him like an hyper-active volcano

It is no longer news how he fought from one court to another for three and a half years to retrieve his mandate which he eventually got via the declaration of the Court of Appeal sitting in Ilorin on October 15, 2010. It is also on record that his administration lost some cases in the state courts and that put paid to some actions of the government including the conduct of the local government election which the Peoples Democratic Party stopped through an injunction from the state high court in January 2012.

He believes that service does not end with the completion of one’s tenure in office. To him, service continues for as long as one still has his breath. He was recently asked how he has been coping with life after service during a lecture he delivered at the Afenifere Renewal Group annual lecture in Abeokuta,Ogun State last month. His response: “I am still in service. My idea of service does not end with occupying an executive position. Even attending party meetings, executing some assignments on behalf of my party, or town union amount to service.”

Many believe that JKF’s headship of the hugely successful national convention and presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in December last year and his current assignment as the head of Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the party’s presidential campaign have kept him even busier than his former assignment as governor of Ekiti State.

Perhaps what they do not

know is that such excellent organisational touch he brought to bear on the APC convention- regarded as the best organised in the country’s history- is simply the JKF signature that distinguishes his four year tenure in Ekiti and makes it a reference point. He believes that when a leader provides the right leadership, the followers would embrace excellence and make it a habit.

For those who have followed his trajectory from his student days through pro democracy agitation and the current political participation, JKF is guided by the social democratic principle of lifting the weak and vulnerable in the society.

His four years stint as governor of Ekiti State witnessed a sincere and consistent effort at banishing poverty and sickness. This was because he knows too well that a poor society is a sick and sickly one.

His genuine concern includes how transactional politics can be replaced with transformational leadership.

Whereas his critics would readily fault these ideas, describing them as lacking in immediate political gains, yet JKF earns their respect for his commitment to these ideals.

Weak and vulnerable His penchant for development and insatiable desire to get the government to provide for the weak and vulnerable in the society led to some policies including the social security scheme which pays N5,000 monthly stipends to elderly indigent citizens above 65 years; free and compulsory primary and secondary education; computer per child initiative in public secondary schools; comprehensive renovation of all public schools and hospitals; free healthcare for the physically challenged, children under five, pregnant women and elderly citizens among others. The need to spread development across the nooks and crannies of the state also led to the introduction of five kilometres road project implemented yearly in all the council areas. When the structured empowerment programmes for youths and women is added, you have a government that put something for everybody under the JKF administration.

As Fayemi attains the golden age today, it is obvious that the energy and wisdom to run even a more impactful race in

the second half of the century are bubbling in him like an hyper-active volcano.

He was born on February 9, 1965 into the family of the late Chief and Mrs. Francis Falade Fayemi and is a native of IsanEkiti in Oye Local Government Area.

John Kayode Fayemi received his first degree in History from the University of Lagos in 1985, a Master ’s degree in International Relations from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), in 1987 and a doctorate in War Studies from the King’s College, University of London, England in 1993, specializing in civilian-military relations and defence planning.

Prior to joining partisan politics, Dr Fayemi was the pioneer Director, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD). He was a Georgetown University Leadership Fellow in 2000 and a Senior Visiting Fellow in African Studies, North Western University, Evanston, USA in 2004.

Associate fellow He is also an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ibadan and was on the Adjunct Faculty of the African Centre for Strategic Studies, National Defence University, USA, between 2001 and 2005. He was a member of the Governing Board of the Open Society Justice Institute, New York and African Security Sector Network.

Fayemi has written and lectured extensively on governance and democratization. He is also a recipient of several awards, fellowships and grants including the Ford Foundation grant on Special Initiative on Africa and the Macarthur Foundation research grant. He was honoured with the Leadership Newspaper ’s Governor of the year award, 2012; the Zik’s Prize in Leadership (Good Governance) Award in 2013; Champion Newspapers Governor of the Year award in 2014.

Even with what some might consider as his foibles, there is no doubt that in JKF the researcher, the teacher, the activist, administrator and strategist come together to yeild ideas that can help change the way we think and act about leadership, scholarship, political tolerance, social justice and human capital development.

From the four corners of the country and beyond come fifty gbosas for this innovator, democrat and change agentabove all, an Omoluabi - as he joins the golden club today.

•Oyebode, a journalist, is former Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Ekiti State.

60—Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

BRIEFING—The supreme head of the Cherubim and Seraphim (C&S) Unification Church of Nigeria, Most Reverend Solomon Adegboyega(2nd r); Host spiritual father, Ebaho Erebi (3rd left ) and other spiritual heads of the church, during a briefing on the 2015 annual general conference, yesterday, at the Eternal Sacred Order of C&S, Orimolade close, Agodo-Egbe,Lagos.

POLLS POSTPONEMENT: Criticisms mount Continues from page 5

Conducting polls in a hurry is dangerous –Abba-Gana

However, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Engr. Mohammadu AbbaGana, said the it would be dangerous and reckless if the INEC conducted elections in a hurry without tackling all the challenges before it.

Abba-Gana advised the INEC to listen to wise counsel during the presentation of a book titled, “Why President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected in 2015” written by Odiche Monday Odiche and sponsored by Change Initiative Forum, CIF, in Abuja.

“Since about 20 million Permanent Voters Card, PVC, are yet to be distributed and since it is legal to conduct the elections not earlier than 90 days and not later than one month (30 days), it is legal now within the constitution and Electoral Act, to say that the election can be shifted to April this year so that INEC will have the whole of February and March to conclude all the challenges which they are grappling with."

Postponement is unfortunate, unpatriotic—Tsav

the polls shift is to truly enable the military carry out the final onslaught against Boko Haram, this is quite reasonable. But if it is to prepare ground for the PDP to perfect its rigging machinery as they did in Ekiti State, then it is tragically unfortunate and unpatriotic. But did the military not think of this onslaught five years ago?

Why wait until a few days to the scheduled presidential election?"

It is a coup against the constitution —Festus Okoye

Also speaking, National Coordinator of the Independent Election Monitoring Group, IEMG, Mr. Festus Okoye, said: ‘’The IEMG is not convinced and will not accept the postponement of the February 2015 elections as the reasons given for the said postponement are not cogent and verifiable.

"We view the postponement as unwarranted and a coup against the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigerian people and therefore unacceptable.

"We condemn the decision by the security agencies and forces not to provide security for the February 2015. The said decision is a coup against democracy, the constitutional order, the electoral process and the Nigerian people."

Postponement is Former Lagos State constitutional – Commissioner Police, Agbaje Alhaji Abubakar Tsav picked holes in the postponement, saying: "If C M Y K

However, Lagos State Governorship Candidate of the PDP, Mr. Jimi

Agbaje, said that the postponement of the elections fell in line with the Nigerian constitution.

Agbaje spoke, yesterday, when his campaign train stopped at Eti-Osa. According to him, the postponement would facilitate the holding of more credible and better inclusive elections by INEC. He said that a slight delay in the polls should raise no eyebrows so long as the May 29 handover date remained sacrosanct.

“It is apparent to everyone now that the postponement is within the confines of the Constitution and the electoral guidelines,” he said. “As long as May 29 remains sacrosanct, everything is in order. And it is obvious that May 29 remains sacrosanct.”

Nyiam, Odumakin, Opara hail move, want Jega probed

Former delegates to the 2014 National Conference, Messrs Tony Nyiam and Yinka Odumakin have called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Sulieman Abba, to investigate allegations levelled against the Chairman of the INEC, Professor Attahiru Jega, that he is colluding with the Northern Elders Forum to manipulate the general elections in favour of a particular presidential candidate.

Speaking, yesterday, in Lagos under the aegis of the Transition Resurgent Group, they said Jega had continued to gloss over the allegation made against him by the Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly where he was

said to have met with leaders of the NEF. Mr Odumakin, who read the communique of the group said: “They (SNPA) accused Jega among others of attending meetings with leaders of Northern Elders Forum where plots were hatched to compromise the integrity of the electoral process in Nigeria. The group claimed further that the INEC boss accepted a donation of 150 laptops for each state of the North from the Northern Elders which were given to youth activists to compromise the registration process among legion of other charges.”

Accusing the INEC chairman of having a hidden agenda, Odumakin said: “We are calling on the InspectorGeneral of Police to investigate the allegations against Jega and if Jega does not admit that there are lapses, then he should step aside.”

On the postponement, Odumakin said it offered an “opportunity to beam a searchlight on Jega and INEC.” In his remarks, Col Tony Nyiam (Ret) chided the INEC boss for failing to ensure even distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) wondering why more PVCs were distributed in the North East that is contending with serious security challenges than the South that is relatively calm.

Nyiam said “there are some communities that have been battling to get their PVCs in the South and this raises some concern. It is left for Nigerians to decide whether Jega should resign or not but we have no confidence in Jega.

Also, if the allegations against Jega are not cleared, he should step aside.”

Reps divided

Members of the House of Representatives shared divergent views on the development. Some of the lawmakers who spoke to Vanguard were of the view that INEC must have been influenced by the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Others argued that the apex electoral body took the right decision in the right direction and that no law was violated due to the shift by INEC.

INEC did not violate any law –Ogor

Deputy Majority Leader, Leo Ogor (PDP, Isoko Federal constituency), in his reaction said: “I think INEC did the right thing by shifting the polls because it has no right to disenchafranchise any Nigerian as many till date do not have their

Permanent Voters Card, PVCs. Since no law was violated, I think INEC did the right thing to move Nigeria forward and that I fervently support it”.

It’s the proverbial hand of Esau, voice of Jacob – Gbajabiamila

Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila (APC, Surulere Federal Constituency, Lagos), on his part said: “We must concede INEC’s general powers to fix and cancel election dates. INEC’s reason for postponement also seems logical on the surface. However a deeper analysis and closer scrutiny reveals a lot more.

It reveals perhaps the proverbial hand of Esau and voice of Jacob. A complete about turn barely 24 hours after INEC’s clear ready to go to presentation to the council of state says a lot.

“The independence of INEC has been put to question because the sum of what we heard from INEC now is that its powers to determine election dates have been usurped and the military now determines when we have elections in this country simply by their saying so. That is a dangerous precedent."

It is a step in the right direction – Gujbawu Hon Kyari Gujbawu (PDP, Maiduguri Federal Metropolis), in his contribution said: “I believe, it’s the right step in the right direction.

Democracy is all about participation through the right to exercise voting for one’s choice in a free and fair election, and of course under a fearless atmosphere.

“So, for me it’s only natural that INEC considered all these variables as germane for them to conduct the election for it to be a credible one. I don’t understand the whole anti-attitude to shifting a date within the ambit of our law so as to have a credible election."

Akintola, Ozekhome offer legal perspectives Speaking on the development, some leading lawyers and senior advocates including Niyi Akintyola (SAN) Mike Ozekhome (SAN) offered some legal insights.

Things can’t be same again — Akintola Commenting on the issue, Akintola said: "The prevailing development has upset the calculations of many political pundits.

The shifting of the polls

may upset the apple cat in spite of the political arithmetic that favours or disfavours the major candidates. Things can certainly not be the same again."

There’ll be constitutional crisis if...

—Ozekhome On his part, Ozekhome said: "My initial reaction had been that the elections must go on as scheduled because of the hopes, aspirations and expectations that Nigerians had invested in the electoral process.

However, INEC is the only electoral umpire that we have in this country and it had said that the situation it found itself is such that it could not go on with the election. Jega said that he had consulted widely with the civil society, all stakeholders, security agencies and even the Director General of the NYSC which INEC relies on for adhoc staff and that he had come to the conclusion without pressure that it was better to shift the election.

"The constitutional provision and the electoral act provisions are that the election must not be earlier than 150 days before May 29 and not later than 30 days before swearing in. What the electoral act demands of INEC is that the reason for shifting the election has to be cogent and verifiable and it is now left for Nigerians to decide whether the issue of insurgency is not cogent and verifiable.

"There is a constitutional crisis that may arise if election holds in 32 states out of 36 because the entire country is the constituency of the president, he must (apart from having majority of votes) score 25 per cent of the votes in two third of the states of the federation and Abuja.

"So, if the election is conducted in 32 states without fulfilling the constitutional requirement, there will be a constitutional crisis.

This is what INEC considered and postponed the elections.

There may be anger and disappointment over the postponement but my appeal to Nigerians is that it is better late than never. We should not sacrifice the unity and cohesion of Nigeria because of a little delay in the conduct of the election."

Vanguard, MOND AY, FEBRU ARY 9, 2015 — 61 MONDA FEBRUARY YOUR LUCK TODAY

LEISURE

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

ARIES: Monetary Venus makes an ingress into your Star sign with good luck to you. Financial success is closer to you than you can imagine. Give it a big push.

TAURUS: Here is a good day when influential personalities around you will be willing to assist you but you will need to take the initiative. Take good advice.

GEMINI: This is your day. The more ambitious you are along your career line the better for you. And friends are willing to give the needed supports.

CANCER: Your mind is truly active and if you’re more practical about it success’ll crown your efforts. Reason with your tried and trusted friends.

LEO: Coming of monetary and loving into a positive angle to your Star sign is a big plus. On a day like this the more ambitious you are the better. It’s good to be loving.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele

H

OW do you see things? I mean how do you interpret what you see? What coloration do you give events in your life

How Do You See Things? and in the life of other individuals?

How you see what happens is more

TERROR MUDA

important than what actually happens whether to you or to another

in “Never say goodbye”

person. One thing is certain – no matter what happens, someone, somewhere, will surely benefit from it. If this is so, why not you?

Think about it!

By Lanre Kehinde

VIRGO: The more willing you are to listen to your partners and/or spouse the better for you today.

Friends are trying to convince you that the are reliable.

LIBRA: The more push-full you are along your career/business lines the better. Embrace new method at work. Don’t neglect your love life.

SCORPIO: Here is a day you are not meant to ignore new ideas that come suddenly. It’s good to take matters of the heart more seriously. Listen to your spouse please.

SAGITTARIUS: Monetary and romantic Venus is joining mighty Sun at positive angle to your Star and bringing you good influence. Be more ambitious.

KAPTAIN AFRIKA

in

“Pretty Lunatic’

By Andy Akman

CAPRICORN: Although your being co-operative can enhance your scope, your personal ideas and initiative are guarantee for a bigger do.

AQUARIUS: Those of you who are more consistent will have more to gain. Good ideas on monetary issues will enhance your finances. Be more family minded.

PISCES: Entrance of monetary and romantic Venus into a positive angle is meant to enhance your finances. The more willing you are to take good ad-

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING Send yyour our dat th ttoo the As tr ological datee and place of bir birth Astr trological Counselling, PP.M.B .M.B 1100 00 7, Apapa, Lagos 007,

Dear Joshua, On your lucky dates try to maximise your gains on one hand and or the other hand, try your best possible to avoid trouble and/or loss during those dates to beware of. But take note that there is nothing to worry about concerning dates to beware of because, they are mere warnings. However the lucky dates are for real.

VIRGINIA

dadadekola@yahoo.com

IMPORTANT DAYS DAYS FOR YOU IN 2015 YOUR LUCKY DATES March 8 & 17.

April 14, 19 & 28.

July 2, 11 & 16 August 3, 8, 13* & 22.

September 3/4, 9, 23 & 27*.

October 2*, 7*, 16* 20, 25 & 30.

November 4, 11, 13***, 17, 21** & 26.

December 1***, 10, 14, 23 & 28.

DATES TO BEWARE OF May – 6 & 27 June – 16* & 30 July – 21 Aug – 10 & 24 Sept – 7 Oct – 18 Nov – 1 Dec – 6 Prince Joshua Adeyemo

HOME & ABROAD

By Lawrence Akapa

62 — Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

AFCON 2015: Hayatou slams western media C

AF president Issa Hayatou has slammed the global news media for focusing too much on the violence that occurred at the end of the African Nations Cup semi-final between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

The Black Stars supporters were evacuated and play stopped for over 30 minutes after home fans threw objects on the pitch and in the stands, leading to riot police firing teargas into the stadium. Equatorial Guinea were fined $100,000 and ordered to pay for the treatment of Ghana supporters who were injured, but Hayatou said western media dramatised the events on Thursday, going so far to say outlets were there to “perpetuate colonisation.” “The press always dramatise, particularly the western press,” he said.

"When something bad happens in Europe, they say it’s an error. When something happens in Africa, they begin talking about corruption.

“What happened in that [abandoned 2012] match between Serbia and Italy? It’s the same as what happened here, but when it’s Africa it’s different. It’s irrelevant that it’s a semi-final. It’s a football match. The western media are simply here to perpetuate colonisation.”

Ibenge: We won but not motivated

D

PANDEMONIUM . . . Policemen evacuate a tribune during a riot when missiles were thrown on the pitch in the 2015 African Cup of Nations semi-final match between Equatorial Guinea and Ghana in Malabo. Photo: AFP

Kidiaba happy with final bow D

EMOCRATIC Republic of Congo goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba admits he was delighted to bring down the curtain on his international career by claiming bronze at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Leopards captain announced earlier this week that Saturday ’s third-place play-off against host nation Equatorial Guinea would be his last involvement in interna-

tional football before he retires. And, the 39-yearold was able to bid farewell to the DRC national team by helping them see off National Thunder 4-2 on penalties after 120 minutes of AFCON action finished goalless this weekend.

“I am really happy about my last international appearance. I don’t really know what to say, but I will demonstrate my joy back in Congo,” said Kidiaba.

Doualla laments fourth place finish

M

IDFIELDER Ellong Doualla says his Africa Cup feels incomplete after Equatorial Guinea failed to even finish as third best.

The 2015 Africa Cup hosts lost 4-2 on postmatch penalties to DR Congo in their third and fourth play-off tie following a scoreless draw in Malabo on Saturday.

Doualla scored one of Equatorial Guinea’s two successful spot-kicks in the shoot-out to decide the tournaments bronze medalist.

“I feel some dissatisfaction. I would have liked to go back with a medal,” Doualla said who came on as a 45th

minute substitute for Ivan Esono.

“But I must be happy with the fourth place which means a lot for my teammates and I.” Equatorial Guinea’s fourth place finish is their best placing from two Africa cup appearances.

Burkina Faso fire coach B

Doualla

*Put

C M Y K

TOP MAN... Democratic Republic of Congo’s goalkeeper Robert Kidiaba Muteba (R) punches the ball away during their AFCON third place play-off football match against Equatorial Guinea in Malabo. Photo: AFP

URKINA Faso have fired Belgian coach Paul Put after he failed to guide the Stallions past the group phase of the Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

Burkina Faso, who were beaten finalists at the 2013 tournament in South Africa under Put,

only managed a draw and a goal to be eliminated from Group A of the 2015 edition of the competition. In a communiqué sighted by AfricanFootball.com, the Federation Burkinabe de Football (FBF) said they have terminated the contract of the coach, which was to run till 2016, as a

result of “poor results” and after they studied the Equatorial Guinea 2015 report of the coach.

The FBF thanked the coach for qualifying the country to the final of the 2013 AFCON and the final playoffs of the 2014 World Cup where they lost to Algeria.

They also announced that they will immediately begin the search for a new coach.

R Congo coach Florent Ibenge has admitted that his team was not motivated despite winning the 2015 AFCON bronze medal. DR Congo beat hosts Equatorial Guinea 4-2 on post match penalties after a scoreless draw in Malabo on Saturday to pick up bronze in a game that did not explode but had its fair share of sparks.

The Leopards picked up bronze when they converted all their first four penalties.

Equatorial Guinea on the other hand missed their initial spot kick by Javier Balboa before Robert Kidiaba saved Raul Bosio’s penalty.

DR Congo settled for third best after failing to reach the Africa Cup final for the first time since 1974 when they tumbled at the semifinal stage lost 3-1 to Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday.

“It was not our best game. Equatorial Guinea and our team were disappointed not to reach the final,” Ibenge said. When things happen this way, it doesn’t lead to a great game. We wanted to put some rhythm into the match as they had one day less of rest. But we didn’t manage it and it led to this difficult game.”

However, Ibenge said he was taking some positives from the tournament and that DR Congo now had a great foundation to mount a challenge for the 2017 Africa Cup title.

Ibenge C M Y K

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 — 63

Omeruo shines in Middlesbrough win Kalu Uche on target Super Eagles defender Kenneth Omeruo returned to the Middlesbrough starting eleven and played all 90 minutes as his club defeated Charlton 3-1 to keep up with their promotion chase.

The 21-year old was impressive at the back for ‘Boro, and stayed off the referees book for the entire duration of the match, even though manager Aitor Karanka wasn’t very pleased with their first half display. ‘’Boro went ahead in

the first half through an early lead by Patrick Bamford in the 6th minute, but conceded a 37th minute equalizer, and went into the break at 1-1.

And Karanka believes the goal they conceded helped his team get in the game.

“The worst thing was to score and the best thing was to concede because we needed to wake up and play the way we can and we did that in the end,” he said after the game.

for Levante N

•Kalu

IBB calls for adequate funding of beaten even at lesser Sports Olympics Games.

BY WOLE MOSADOMI, Minna

F

ORMER military president, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida has

•Omeruo

Players' unity a must – Erico

BY JACOB AJOM NIGERIAN players have been challenged to come together in order to chart a united front for their own good.

The advise was given by a former Nigeria goalkeeper and one time Super Eagles goalkeeper trainer, coach Joe Erico in Lagos while presiding over a peace meeting between two players unions; the National Association of Nigerian Footballers and the Association of Professional Footballers of Nigeria.

Erico said there was strength in unity hence, the two players’ unions must come together.

“Football is team work, coming together as a team will do a lot more good for Nigerian footballers that what obtains presently,” Erico said.

At the meeting which was attended by ex-footballers, coaches, football supporters club Presi-

Ideye Continues from BP It was the attacker ’s second league goal of the season. He scored against the champions, Manchester City on December 26, 2014.

Soon after the match, Ideye twitted the follow-

dent General, Rafiu Ladipo, football enthusiasts, journalists and NANF President Harrison Jalla, the conveners who called themselves as concerned footballers submitted a blueprint for the unification of the two unions.

Presenting the ‘ road map’ for the coming together of the two bodies, chairman of the concerned group, a former Nigeria international, Clement Temile said, “ we are determined to ensure that the two players bodies become one.

We have had a lot of rancour and it is not giving footballers any good image.”

All those who spoke emphasised the need for unity among the players so that together, they could face challenges facing their members.

“Today, a lot of us(exfootballers) are dying in poverty, some on their sick beds but because we are divided, the unions ing message: “From down and out to Brown and in. Difficult game today but thank God we came back strong, great job from all the lads.”

Ideye is the club’s record signing after he joined for £10 million in July, 2014.

called on government at all levels to fund other sports being regarded as lesser sports in order to bring more laurels to the country through sports.

General Babangida in a message to the closing ceremony of the maiden edition of the IBB annual open Badmiton championship organised by the state Badminton Association said if such attention accorded football was being given to other sports in the country, Nigeria would have been a country to be

the

Represented by former Minister of Interior, Alhaji Abubakar Tanko, Gen. Babangida said the country has the potentials to excel in other sports and that what is needed to be done is to explore the potentials and groom them for National and International competitions.

The former President promised that the championship will go National from next year to further promote the game and also hunt for more talents.

IGERIAN attacking midfielder, Kalu Uche, was among the goals scorers as Levante coasted to a 4-1 win over Malaga at the Ciutat de Valencia on Saturday.

Playing in only his second league match for Les Granotes since joining the Spanish La Liga club in the January transfer window, netted the fourth goal though it was David Barral who stole the show with a hat-trick.

In the 12th minute, Uche turned provided for Jose Luis Morales whose rightfooted shot from outside the box was saved by Malaga goalkeeper, Carlos Kameni.

But it was Malaga that went into the lead after 24 minutes through Juanmi’s finish from inside the six yard box.

Barral would score the first of his three goals two minutes later to even the score.

On the half hour mark, Uche nearly gave Levante the lead with a thumping header from close range but kameni made a big save before Barral scored from the spot to put Les Granotes in front for the first time with eight minutes to the break.

Eaglets tackle Fasbir Football Academy Wednesday Erico have not been able to do anything for them.”

The absence of Austin Popo, Secretary General of APFON raised a lot of eyebrows. However, the conveners of the unification meeting were quick to point out that his absence would not take away anything from what had been achieved achieved. “No one man can hold the rest of the country to ransom,” Segun Oguns said.

Zamalek Continues from BP tigation.

What caused the violence wasn’t immediately clear. Security officials said Zamalek fans tried to force their way into the match without tickets,

T

HE Golden Ea glets would engage Fasbir Football Academy at the Giginya Memorial Stadium in Sokoto in their last domestic friendly match before travelling to Niamey for the 2015 African U-17 Championship to be held between February 15 and March.

Coach Emmanuel Amuneke said here that it was imperative to play a local club partly as a token of appreciation for their hospitality to the team by fans and footsparking clashes. Fans have only recently been allowed back at matches and the Interior Ministry planned to let only 10,000 fans into the stadium, which has a capacity of about 30,000, the officials said.

ball stakeholders since their arrival on Friday. “ We are going to give our best against Fasbir FC on Wednesday and apart from the fact that this match would be an opportunity for us to see the readiness of the players, we want to also appreciate the people of Sokoto for their support to us since we arrive here,” said Amuneke.

•Amuneke

Ivory Coast win Afcon 2015

A

FTER 120 minutes of exhilarating and a breath-taking penalty shootout, Ivory Coast pipped Ghana 98 on penalties to clinch their 2nd Africa Cup of Nations title in Equatorial Guinea last night.

The Ivorians soaked all the pressure mounted by the Black Stars, particularly in the pulsating second half of the extra

time to clinch their second African title since 1992. The penalty shootout was not devoid of drama as the Elephants missed their first two kicks before overtaking the Ghanians who missed their third and fourth kicks. It became a ding dong affair until Ivory Coast keeper took the decisive kick which gave them the trophy.

C M Y K

Vanguard, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

Ideye inspires West Brom escape BROWN Ideye scored for West Bromwich Albion on Sunday as the Baggies came from behind to draw 2-2 with Burnley in a Barclays

Ivory Coast win Afcon 2015 *Beat Ghana 9-8 on penalties

3 6 .

P —

English Premier League game at Turf Moore.

Ideye started the game as a second half substitute as he replaced Chris Baird on 46 minutes.

Nineteen minutes after he was introduced, he was making the headlines for the wrong reasons as he received a yellow card for dissent.

The former Dynamo Kyiv man however sent WBA into delirium as he netted in the 67th minute.

Ideye rose highest in a crowded penalty area to plant an emphatic header past the Burnley goalkeeper, Tom Heaton following an expert corner from Chris Brunt.

Continues on Page 63

•Ideye

22 die as Police, Zamalek fans clash A riot broke out night outside of a major soccer game in Egypt, with a stampede and fighting between police and fans killing at least 22 people, authorities said.

The riot, only three years after similar violence killed 74 people, began ahead of a match between Egyptian Premier League clubs Zamalek and ENPPI at Air Defense Stadium

*CHAMPIONS: Ivory Coast captain, Yaya Toure with the AFCON trophy.

east of Cairo. Such attacks in the past have sparked days of violent protests pitting the country ’s hard-core fans against police officers in a nation already on edge after years of revolt and turmoil.

A statement from Egypt’s public prosecutor said the violence killed 22 people and that it had ordered an inves Continues on Page 63

QUICK CROSSWORD

TODAY'S

PUZZLE

FRI DAY'S FRIDAY'S

ANSWERS

ACROSS 1 Prank (4) 4 Flap (3) 6 Groups (4) 9 Spoil (3) 10 Masculinity (8) 11 Press (4) 14 Meadow (3) 16 Animal (5) 19 Renew (8) 21 Relinquish (5) 23 Lifts (8) 24 Assembles (5) 27 Before (3) 31 Grasp (4) 33 Ceremonies (8) 34 Sphere (3) 35 Force (4) 36 Carefree (3) 37 Gentle (4)

DOWN 2 Mineral (4) 3 Repeat (4) 4 Tiles (8) 5 Kick (4) 6 Grin (5) 7 Organ (3) 8 Hurries (5) 12 Besom (5) 13 View (5) 14 Rule (3) 15 Nimble (5) 17 Sharp (5) 18 Rendezvous (5) 20 Commonplace (8) 22 Evening (3) 25 Mistake (5) 26 Cat (5) 28 Shoot (4) 29 Movie (4) 30 Giant (4) 32 Limb (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Shells 5, Climbs 8, Blizzard 9, Laid 10, Use 12, Entry 15, Off 17, Vex 18, Elf 19, Ski 20, Usual 21, Tea 22, Cod 23, Pie 24, Tot 26, Ewers 29, Nod 33, Pole 34, Ailments 35, Revere 36, Dancer.

DOWN: 2, Holes 3, Lazy 4, Stain 5, Cider 6, Idle 7, Brief 10, Upset 11, Evict 12, Exude 13, Taupe 14, Yelps 15, Often 16, Fraud 25, Ozone 27, Whale 28, Riled 30, Outre 31, Mere 32, Bean.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

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C M Y K