Scandal, confusion rock Jega's INEC

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SUSPENSION

Senate Leader Ndoma-Egba, guber aspirant fight back suspension, alleged that the affected persons instituted a court case against the party, among other reasons.

He announced that former Governor Donald Duke was not included on the suspension list because there was nothing incriminating him as participating in inducing party national officers and corrupting recently held ward congress delegates.

It was gathered that those suspended were strong members of the PDP who seemed not to be on the same page with the party’s policy of “conclave” where the government of the day handpicks whoever should stand for election.

The suspension took place less than 24 hours after the governorship aspirant, Agba, arrived Cal-

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU & UCHE IKECHUKWU, ABUJA

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ENATE Leader, Sena tor Victor NdomaEgba, has described the suspension slammed on him, one of the governorship aspirants in Cross River State, Goddy Jeddy Agba, a former National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Venatius Ikem, and the member of House of Representatives for Ikom/ Boki Constituency by the state chapter of the party as a joke taken too far.

Ndoma-Egba, reacting to the suspension, at the weekend, dismissed it, saying that though he had not been notified of any such suspension, if it was true, it was the action of frustrated people.

Although he said the said suspension was a non-issue, the Senate Leader told newsmen in Abuja that while he was yet to be officially notified of the purported suspension, the move by the Cross River chapter of the party to suspend him would amount to nothing.

“I’ve heard the rumour; I don’t believe that the state chapter of the PDP will display such crass ignorance.

If they did, then it’s a pity and quite unfortunate. It would be a comedy of very frustrated people, ‘’ the senator stated.

He, however, promised to throw more light on the issue later.

Cross River State Chapter of the PDP had, on Friday, said it had suspended Ndoma-Egba, Agba and Ikem, among others.

The state Chairman of the party, Ntufam John Okon, who announced the

Gunmen kill Gov. Al-Makura’s driver in wife’s presence

BY ABEL DANIEL

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U NMEN

sus pected to be Fu lani, yesterday, killed Mr. Abdullahi Ozegya Mairuwa, one of the drivers of Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura of Nasarawa State along Obi Keana Awe Road.

Mairuwa, in the company of his wife, Salamatu, during a visit to his home town, Keana, in Keana local government area of the state, was shot twice on the chest at about 8:30am at Tudun Adabu village.

The gunmen were said

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

TOTAL SUCCESS —4

By Richard Eromonsele

***In your quest for total success, where do you place God? God is the author of your life. God is also the author of success. How can you therefore seek success without the author of success? How can you tell the story without the story teller? How can you expect the building to stand without a solid foundation? Total success is possible. You can succeed in your business, you can succeed in your career, etc. If only you will make God the captain and driver of your life. Fortify your success. Get an all round success. Let God be the nucleus of your success.

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R-L: Chairman, All Progressives Congress (APC), Lagos State, Otunba Henry Oladele Ajomale; National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; party chieftain, Chief Murphy Adetoro; and State Women Leader, Mrs. Kemi Nelson, during a media briefing by the leadership of the APC on the short coming of INEC over ongoing distribution of Permanent Voter ’s Cards, at APC Secretariat, Ogba Lagos…..yesterday. HOTO: Bunmi Azeez

abar after being away on health grounds, and welcomed by a large crowd at the Holy Child Secondary School, Calabar.

Agba was accompanied

by Duke among other political heavy weights from the state.

Duke, in his speech, expressed dismay at the alleged deliberate creation of a divide within the party and accused his successor (Governor Liyel Imoke) of insincerity on the manner he was handling the state’s affair.

He decried the alleged political exclusion policy of the Imoke-led administration in the build-up to next year ’s gubernatorial election, wondering why his successor would seek to deliberately exclude the likes of Agba from running for the governor of the state.

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to have told the wife not to panic as they were only after the husband’s life.

Confirming the incident, Nasarawa State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Numan

Isaila, said the command deployed its officers to recover the body of the

deceased as investigations were on to uncover the killers.

PVCs distribution hiccups designed to rig 2015 polls — Tinubu

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI AND DAPO AKIREFO

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Progressives Congress, APC, National Leader and immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, of planning to, deliberately, rig the 2015 general elections.

Tinubu, who stated this yesterday at a media briefing held at the APC Secretariat in Lagos, declared that the ongoing distribution of Permanent Voter ’s Cards (PVCs), which commenced on Friday in Lagos, has failed.

The APC stalwart also criticised INEC for conducting the exercise in only 11 out of the original 20 local governments in the state, recognised by the Federal Government, while demanding that INEC should repeat and simultaneously conduct the exercise across the state.

He said, “This is a colossal failure and it has eroded my confidence in INEC to be able to midwife successful 2015 general elections. INEC must start the process afresh. The exercise must be conducted simultaneously across the 20 local governments recognised

by INEC, at the same time.

“If they fail, we shall not disclose our strategy; if the exercise fails, something will happen. May be we will go on the streets to protest, may be we will go

to court, we won’t reveal our strategy”, but we have our demands”, he said.

Tinubu, though exonerated the ad-hoc INEC staff, who are majorly undergoing the National Youth Service Corps scheme, put the major blame on the leadership of the Commission.

He stated: “We cannot blame the Youth Corps members who are just helping, it is not their fault.

It is the people in charge from Abuja that failed.

“Four years ago, we sympathised with Jega, when he apologised to the nation over a failed exercise, but what are they going to say again?

“They had four years to plan and put their acts together.

This is a deliberate ploy to fail. They did it deliberately to plan their rigging strategy”.

On the reduction of the voters list from over six

million people to less than five million in Lagos, Tinubu demanded an immediate reinstatement of the almost two million voters delisted from the list.

“INEC cannot disenfranchise anybody. We are reporting the matter to our national secretariat.

Those people removed from the voters’ register are almost two million. That is not acceptable, they must be put back on the list,’’ The APC leader said.

“INEC does not have the power to reduce or remove anybody. INEC is not a court of law. By this action, INEC has flouted the Electoral Act. “You cant say almost two million people are ghosts. If there is multiple registration, INEC must publish the names of those people.

“These almost two million people voted in 2011, are you saying they are ghosts. Were they ghosts when they voted

in 2011? INEC has failed and this is a deliberate failure”.

Tinubu who wondered why INEC could not get the process right in four years pointed out that the, delisting of voters in Lagos, hitches and seeming failures were deliberate to pave way for rigging of the election.

Ashafa condemns PVCs distribution

Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East in the Senate who also expressed dissatisfaction with the absence of INEC officials at certain polling units in Ikorodu, Ketu, Ojota, Magodo and Maryland among other areas under his jurisdiction, called on INEC to react swiftly to all the complaints from the citizens as it could disenfranchised them in the elections in 2015.

Amosun, INEC officials in shouting match round some polling units in list. over PVCs Amosun held a closed door Sagamu local government

BY DAUD OLATUNJI, ABEOKUTA

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gun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun and a national commissioner of Independent National Electoral Commission in South-West, Prof. Layi Olorode, yesterday, engaged in hot argument over the poor handling of the distribution of Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs).

Amosun and Olorode publicly disagreed over whether the exercise should be extended or not.

Amosun, who had gone

area of the state and received reports from many other local governments across the state, later visited the INEC office in Abeokuta and urged the officials to extend the exercise by two days.

A visibly disappointed governor described the second day of the exercise as a mess, blaming INEC for ‘wasting’ the time of his people who he said went to the polling booths, but frustrated by officials.

The second day of the exercise recorded hitches as many people who saw their names could not obtain their cards while some did not even see their names on the INEC

meeting with Olorode who was on official visit to the state and the Ogun Resident Electoral Commissioner, Sam Olumekun, which ended in deadlock.

They later came out and addressed newsmen where they disagreed on the need for extension.

According to Amosun, “ This exercise has not started.

It will start tomorrow, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Anything short of that is not acceptable to us in Ogun. This is a mess as you can see yourself that people are complaining. It is everywhere.”

PAGE 6—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

BRIEFS

TAN lauds Dame Jonathan

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RANSFORMATION Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) has commended the First Lady, Dame Patient Jonathan, on her women empowerment drive v i d e h e r Women for Change and Development Initiative (WCDI) Highly impressed with the distribution of millions of Naira worth of empowe r m e n t / p o v e r t y alleviation equipments to women in Kwara State during the launching of the state chapter of WCDI in

Ilorin the state capital, TAN lauded the efforts b by the First Lady to better the lives of women, describing the project as wonderful.

TAN Director of Public Communication and Strategy, Dr Udenta O Udenta, observed, in an interview with journalists, yesterday that the empowerment drive was in line with President G o o d l u c k Jonathan’s Transformation Agenda.

15m teenage girls give birth annually

BY PETER DURU, MAKURDI

*Placard - carrying prospective voters during a protest at Sagamu Local Government INEC Office in Ogun State over PVCs distribution, yesterday.

PDP shifts National Convention, now holds December 10, 11 •Governorship primaries, December 8; Senate, December 7

BY HENRY UMORU

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HE NATIONAL Lead ership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, shifted the party’s National Convention, slated for December 6, to December 10 and 11, just as it extended the submission of expression of interest and nomination forms by President Goodluck Jonathan for the 2015 presidential election by one week.

The PDP also moved its governorship primary election to December 8 while that of the Senate will now hold on December 7, even as submission of expression of interest and nomination forms for governorship aspirants was extended by

one week.

With the new time-table released by the party, the president will now submit his forms by November 15 as against yesterday, while

governorship aspirants will now submit their forms November 14.

In the 2014 guidelines released after the 66th National Executive Commit-

2015 DEAL: 40 PDP senators get automatic ticket RESIDENT Goodluck available, Sunday Van- lawmakers allegedly taP Jonathan has final- guard gathered that the bled their grievances for a n d Jonathan to address. ly agreed to allow the l a w m a k e r s bulk of senators elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be granted automatic tickets to contest in the 2015 elections.

Although details of how the arrangement would be worked out were not

Jonathan agreed that at least 40 senators be given automatic ticket and allowed to return to the legislature if they win the election.

The president had met with PDP senators last Wednesday where the

2015: Adeboye, Oritsejafor urge Christians to register

BY SAM EYOBOKA AND OLAYINKA LATONA

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ENERAL Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, and the National President of Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, have urged Christians and indeed all Nigerians to take advantage of the continuous voters registration, to acquire permanent voter ’s card ahead of the 2015 polls.

Speaking at two different fora yesterday, the two eminent Christian clerics stressed the point that Christians must come out en masse next February to vote the candidate of their choice which, they argued, is their civic responsibility.

At this month’s Holy Ghost

tee, NEC, meeting, the PDP had fixed the governorship primary election for November 29 while the Senate primary election would have taken place November 22.

Service at the Redemption Camp on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Adeboye urged participants from different denominations to make sure they carry out their civic responsibility by registering for their voter ’s’ card and also vote for candidate of their choice.

He told the mammoth crowd of worshippers including ministers of God to visit the nearest local government to them for the registration exercise, sounding a note of warning to members of the church that voter’s card will be checked on the first Sunday of December.

A source at the PDP national headquarters in Abuja told Sunday Vanguard that the senators initially requested that all of them be given right of refusal so that there won’t be rancour that usually trails party primaries.

However, it was pointed out that such an option may not be popular because some of the senators are not particularly sell-able to the electorate because of their abysmal performance.

The new agreement reached between PDP senators and Jonathan may pitch the president against some of the party ’s governors who want to go to the Senate after their tenure next year.

PDP CONGRESS: Daniel, Kashamu, Abiola’s daughter emerge national delegates in Ogun DAUD OLATUNJI, ABEOKUTA

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ORMER governor of Ogun State , Otunba Gbenga Daniel, the Chairman of the Organization and Mobilization Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party in the South West, Prince Buruji Kashamu and the first daughter of the late winner of the June 12, 1993

presidential election, Lola Abiola-Edewor, yesterday, emerged as national delegates from Ogun State in the local government congress held in the 20 council areas of the state.

Daniel, Kashamu, Abiola-Edewor and other leaders of the party were elected to represent their local government areas at the December 10 and 11 national conven-

tion of the party where President Goodluck Jonathan would be ratified as the party ’s presidential standard bearer for the 2015 election.

While the former governor emerged from Sagamu Local Government Area, Kashamu and Abiola-Edewor won as national delegates to the convention in Ijebu North and Abeokuta North, respectively.

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O fewer than 15 million teenage girls of school age give birth annually, resulting from non- consensual sex and lack of education.

Quoting UNICEF figures, the Director of Registration and Regulatory Affairs of NAFDAC, Dr. Mrs. Monica Eimunjeze, made this known while speaking as an honouree at this year’s Glamorous

Mothers Development Initiative, GLAMODI, Benue Girls Soars programme, held in Makurdi, Benue State capital.

Eimunjeze pointed out that one in every seven girls in Nigeria are given out in marriage before they attain the age of 15 thereby denying them the opportunity of acquiring formal education.

Ogor donates classrooms

I

N his drive to leave an everlasting legacy for Isoko students, Deputy Majority Leader of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Okuweh Ogor, representing Isoko Federal Constituency, has on behalf of his family donated four blocks of 18 classroom sand science laboratory to Alaka Secondary School, Ozoro and renovated 6 classrooms block to Eru Primary School, Igbide. In his

speech during the handing over ceremony of the completed projects at Ozoro in Isoko North Local Government area and Igbide in Isoko South Local Government Area, Ogor stated that the donation of the classrooms and science blocks were parts of his family contribution to the education of the young ones in Isoko nation.

2015 DTHA: NURTW endorses Idisi

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HE Delta State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers,NURTW, Comrade Ifeanyi Obi and the Ughelli branch A Chairman, Comrade Uteme Batere, has endorsed the Ughelli kingdom monarch’s younger brother, Prince Eric Oharisi’s ambition to run for the Ughelli North constituency ll Delta State House of Assembly.

Obi said the union endorsed Prince Oharisi, who is the State Deputy Chairman of the union after having seen him as a worthy servant who served the union meritoriously and had decided to move ahead to contest for the House of Assembly to represent Ughelli North constituency ll..

2015: Ali is right choice for Delta North Senate seat — Esegbue

BY EPHRAIM OSEJI

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former Delta State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr. Leonard Esegbue, says if fielded by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Dr. (Mrs) Marian Ali would win the Delta North senatorial seat with a wide margin. Esegbue says that even as an independent candidate, Mrs. Ali has sufficient goodwill to defeat her op-

ponents in the race.

“Mrs. Ali is an incurable optimist, a compassionate and courageous crusader, a fighter for the less privileged, especially women and children; she would attract transformation in the health sector as a qualified medical surgeon, she has integrity and is outstandingly humble”, Esegbue said.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 — PAGE 7

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 9

•The new couple, Mr. and Mrs. Adedokun Ajibade Adewusi, flanked by the groom’s mother, Deaconess Olusola Adewusi (left), and father, Professor Steve Adewusi, after their wedding at the Foursquare Gospel Church, Agbado Railway Crossing, Alagbado, Ogun State, yesterday.

•L- R: Mr Gbenga Adefaye Editor-in-Chief ,Vanguard; Oba Ademola Ademiluyi, the Lawarikan of Apoje (IFE); Oba Adesiyan Mayowa, the Eyenla of Amula-IFE; the Sooko-Laekun of Ile- Ife, Osun State; Kabiyesi & Olori Adebayo Sijuwade during Mr and Mrs. Adewusi’s wedding. Photos: Diran Oshe.

AZARE BLAST SURVIVORS: Our lucky escape

By Suzan Edeh

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OLLOWING the Friday ’s explosion at First Bank, Azare, Bauchi State, which left seven dead and 10 injured, some of the victims have relived the attack.

A witness said the bomb blast occurred at the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) of the bank as customers were on queue to make withdrawals around

9a.m.

He said some people were killed instantly while others died as they were being taken to hospital.

Other witnesses said mostly affected were Bauchi State civil servants waiting to collect their salaries.

Some of the victims, who sustained injuries and are receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Centre, Azare, are grateful to God for

sparing their lives.

Recounting what happened, Mohammed Garba, a civil servant, said the bomber came to the ATM machine and joined the queue. ‘’The bomber was not a female because I saw him; he was wearing white Caftan. He joined the queue, carrying something that looked like a bag”, he said. “ You know First Bank is usually patronized by many residents, particularly civil servants. There were like 25 customers waiting to make transactions. I was the second to the last

person on the queue before the bomb exploded.

“When the bomb exploded, the whole place was covered with smoke and human parts littered the ground. I was lucky that I did not sustain injury. When I recovered, I quickly left the scene before.

A student at the College of Education, Azare, who did want to mention her name, said she lost her colleague in the incident.

She said, “ I saw Suleiman last on Wednesday. It was one of my friends who called to

inform me about his death. I asked several people who confirmed that he was at the ATM when the blast took place”.

She claimed that there was pandemonium after the blast as hoodlums took advantage of the situation to attack innocent residents.

Another survivor, who spoke anonymously, said most of the dead were civil servants trying to withdraw their salaries.

He said, “Most of the victims were civil servants because salaries were being paid and the queue was quite long. I

just arrived the bank, not up to five minutes, when I heard an explosion that almost shattered my ear drums.

I immediately started running for my life.”

Meanwhile, five suspects have been arrested in connection with the attack.

According to Bauchi State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Haruna Mohammed, out of the 10 people that sustained injuries, five have been discharged from hospital.

He said detectives had begun investigation into the incident.

Man,70, held with live cartridges

By Francis Igata, Enugu

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70-year-old man, identified as Emmanuel Njoku, has been nabbed by the operatives of No 3 Police Mobile Force, Enugu during a stop and search operation at Ozalla, along Enugu-PortHarcourt Expressway, for allegedly being in possession of 20 live cartridges.

The suspect, who hails from Amanato,Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State but resides at Agu-Uwani, Akwuke, Enugu State, was arrested, yesterday, at about 6.15 a.m.

According to Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu,DSP, “the suspect was arrested for being in possession of 20 live cartridges which was concealed under his vehicle driver ’s seat’’.

Amaraizu went on: ‘’The eagle-eyed operatives had stopped one Volvo wagon with registration No Al 599 AKL red in colour and, in the course of the search conducted in the car, a bag containing 20 live cartridges of bullets hidden under the driver ’s seat was

•Another commits suicide

discovered.

“Investigations into the incident have commenced.”

In another development, a man identified as Paschal Anukwu of Eziama,Afam, Mmaku, in Awgu Local

Government Area of Enugu State, was said to have committed suicide.

It was gathered that the deceased trekked to Enyinwomu forest in the early hours of yesterday where he hung himself on a tree before being

sighted and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was confirmed dead by a doctor on duty.

Investigations into the incident by the police have commenced just as his corpse has been deposited at the hospital for autopsy.

2015: ‘Ondo APC won’t impose candidates’

By Dayo Johnson, Akure

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ESPITE the defection of members from other political parties, the All Progressive Party, APC, in Ondo State, at the weekend, insisted that it will not impose any of those that defected on the foundation members of the party as candidates in the 2015 polls.

The state Chairman of the party, Hon Isaac Kekemeke, while presenting the party’s form to a former Finance Commissioner in the state, Chief Tayo Alasoadura, said a

level-playing ground would be given to all aspirants.

Meanwhile, another chieftain of the party in Ondo, Lucky Ayedatiwa, has slammed successive administrations in the state for the neglect of the oil producing communities of Ilaje/ Ese-Odo areas despite being the economic base of the state.

Ayedatiwa said that while majority of the communities in the area live on water, the people do not have potable water.

He spoke in Igbokoda, headquarters of the local government, during his official

declaration for the Ilaje/ Ese-Odo federal constituency seat.

M e a n w h i l e , Kekemeke said internal democracy would take priority in choosing candidates for the party in the 2015 polls, saying nobody will be imposed in any of the 18 council areas of the state. “ All our aspirants will prove themselves as a level-playing ground would be given to all of them’’, the APC boss said.

He said the influx into the party in Ondo State was an indication that it will sweep the next year ’s polls and the 2016/2017 governorship election.

PAGE 10 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 11

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P.O.C UMEH’S POETRY

From 1978 he was Editorial Director at the Publishing House, Nelsons, and from Publishing, he went to government, and retired from public service as the Federal Director of National Productivity.

Umeh’s experience as public school master and civil servant seems to

These poems would have gained more from an investment in more formal authority; a sense of innovation, and a little less emphasis on what is communicated but rather on how it is communicated

selective care. But it speaks in part to the condition of c o n t e m p o r a r y publishing, which today is more democratic, far less guarded, and untroubled by regulation and its sometimes paralyzing gatekeeping.

It is certainly, of course, open to debate, what

Calm acceptance

C

HANGE is a n a t u r a l consequence of growth, every breath we draw is another step in the ageing process, things

change when they get older; that much is obvious in our appearance. Youth in my view is highly overrated, it's a time of turbulence and high charged emotions, I wouldn't do it again for all the tea in China. At this stage in my life I strive toward calm and acceptance of all facets of my reality. I try to change what I can and accept what I can't. One of my greatest treasures is my library. I know everyone will be conjuring images of dusty books on shelves and they would be wrong, I talk of my mental library. Being a very shy child and a stammerer to boot, I spent a lot of time reading and over the course of my childhood, I became a reservoir of information.

Unsurprisingly I wasn't

readers of subtler forms of poetry would make of Philip Umeh’s work, poetry being such a profoundly subjective genre. But it is important here to note that there are two categories, in my view, of poetry and of poets writing currently in Nigeria. There are those who view poetry as a functional and eclectic mode shorn of all alluring and pretentious

supervised and I read anything and everything that came my way; some of those choices would have horrified my parents but they wouldn't have expected the very timid child I was to have such an adult appetite for the written word. Later on in life, I came across what till date remains one of my favourite books and its author; a lady called Katie Byron titled it “Loving what is” it's helped carve out my preferred state of mind; calm acceptance In a few weeks time my company will celebrate 18 years in business and I am amazed at what God did through me. I cant for a minute take credit for doing much as I fully confess to having won the grace lottery; nothing else explains the consistency and diligence I am given credit for. By my own admission and confession, I have a short attention span and I lose interest in things very easily, so

,

accoutrement, but which speak directly to the condition of the world and its experience. There are those who think of poetry as a more aesthetically conscious, and rhetorically complex system of thought whose many layers carry the force of poetic truth and which convey that force

paying attention and showing up for work for what seems like a life time is a major thing. During the week, I granted an interview to a friend who was there at the beginning and it was made sweeter because he also started his own magazine 18 years ago. To be honest we spent half the time catching up on gist and

,

Victor Ludorum – For the Spartan rigours of Umuahia All for Ken Olives for laurels From the city scattered over seven hills All for Ken… .

ramify in the tense, dissatisfied moodiness of his collected poems Rhythm of Conscience & Ambassadors of Corruption (Author ’s House, 2014). The poems are gathered in a self-published collection, and in many ways could have gained from a far more disinterested process, even if only to lend it a little more polish and

,

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HILIP O.C. Umeh studied English at the University of Lagos; taught English at the Government College, Umuahia where he was senior English Master until 1978, and where he himself had been a student, from 1955 to 1961, one year below the writer and political martyr, Ken Saro-Wiwa in the famous school, to whom he addresses a eulogy, “To Ken Saro Wiwa” in his poems:

through the ordered pattern of deliberately layered language. Philip Umeh’s poetry belongs with the former; he privileges utility and accessibility over acrobatics and complexity. The danger of course being that the poems might come off as rant. But if it is rant, it is a sustained rant that speaks equally to the poet’s willingness to get to the meat of things, and rouse, without equivocation, the sedated numbness of his audience, and apply neither balm nor iodine to the cutting edge or effect of his words. Take the example of the title poem, “Ambassadors of Corruption” – there is nothing subtle or circuitous about its purpose. It is, as the Igbo saying goes, a way for the poet to eat the proverbial roasted breadfruit nuts and thereafter bare his teeth to his audience. The effect is singular; piquant: Ambassadors of poverty are The corrupt masters of the economy With their head abroad And anus at home Patriots in reverse order Determined merchants of loot Who boost the economy of the colonial order To impoverish brothers and sisters at home.

question to answer, nor is it strange; I get asked the same thing a lot. Brings me back to Katie Byron's book.

Suffering really is what happens when you refuse to accept reality; by Loving what is, we don’t suffer; we just deal with things as best as we can and live lives that are at peace and entrenched in harmony. I choose to hold on to my peace by all means possible, I calmly accept my present reality without suffering to change it. I am nobody's fool but age has taught me to choose my battles with wisdom and when you do that you end

At a certain stage in life we all must learn to hold on to our peace, to be calm. I have learnt this the hard way; rage is destructive, anger is unproductive and all resentment and negativity makes me less of who I should be

,

reminiscing, he may not find much on his recorder when he transcribes. One of the questions he asked me informs this week's column and it was simple. "How have you coped with all of the ups and downs of business and thrived for 18 years?" It wasn't a difficult

up having very few battles.

At a certain stage in life we all must learn to hold on to our peace, to be calm.

I have learnt this the hard way; rage is destructive, anger is unproductive and all resentment and negativity makes me less of who I should be. Please

Ambassadors of corruption and poverty are The “saviors” of the people Office loafers in the guise of leaders Barons of incompetence With kleptomaniac fingers And suckling filaments Position occupants but enemies of service Locked in corrosive war of corruption With their peoples treasury And killing their future. …

It is a long poem with ten irregular stanzas.

Each stanza plays up on the mood of the preceding stanza, by working a variation of the theme as a repeating cycle of values. There is irony here, but it is not the irony of warm and inverted feelings; it does not take us gently by hand, to reveal itself, it takes us by the scruff of the collar; it is a direct kind of irony; the sort of brash truth that draws attention to itself by its implications. It is darkeyed and shorn of humor, and skeptical. Yet memorable is its amusing caricature of elite doubleness and inversion – the selfregarding “patriot” whose double consciousness, the result of the neocolonial condition that keeps the contemporary African

“elite” at the slippery and interstitial space of the crossroads, with his head abroad, while he defecates at home. Philip Umeh is pitiless with these catchphrases.

Rhythm of Conscience is ordered into twenty sections that give significant heft to the book. The stanzaic order of the poems however, is in fact, not ambitious, and feels in part ambivalent and not too well-thought. These poems would have gained more from an investment in more formal authority; a sense of innovation, and a little less emphasis on what is communicated but rather on how it is communicated. The general frame of this collection is fairly predictable. It is this lack of surprising truth or language that might grate the jaded reader seeking new stirrings from poetry, and a new visionary power. Philip Umeh’s poetry offers none of this, but a sensible, heartfelt, and brutal truth about our contemporary condition.

In general, of course, the critic will quibble about the technical l details; but these poems are to be read – and read purely for their ordinary truth, and their ordinary power to reaffirm for us, and remind us all once again of what Achebe made famous as, where the rain began to beat us.

don't get me wrong I am not on the fast or slow track to sainthood, what I am evolving into is a being who is aware of her limitations, shortcomings and capabilities. At this stage in my life, I am no longer offended by jibes and jeers, I know what I am and what I am not, anyone trying to define me is pursuing a rather useless venture, even I cant define myself. I turned 45 this year and the one thing that I know for sure is that I don't know anything for sure!! I am a student of life, I learn everyday, I am constantly seeking knowledge, so what I said yesterday may change today if I receive new knowledge today and for that I have no apologies.

It would be impossible for anything not to grow, even pieces of plastic that are as inanimate as they come do so and I thank God for growth.

Physical, emotionally and spiritually I have had to grow and the process has been liberating but also sometimes excruciating. The quality of life we have boils down to the choices and I personally cast my vote for calm; joy would be a better option but its often impossible to hold on to so I settle for calm, and I am happier for it. I don't spend my time stewing in negative juices of malice and failure as I don't believe in malice,

negativity, or even failure.

This is not to say I have never failed, in fact on the contrary I make mistakes very regularly but they are not failures because I just make the corrections and try again and again till I get it right. One thing that has served me in my quest for calm is faith, my total dependence on the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide my affairs. We suffer when we try to do God's job and I have personally come to the conclusion that doing it God's way is way more profitable than my way.

I am thankful for a major milestone for Everywoman (my company), its like birthing a baby and watching her grow and thrive. I thank God for life, grace and opportunity; its been an interesting run and I trust all will continue to unfold as God ordains, I am not the star in my life, God

is, He gets the glory, I get the blessings and that is perfectly fine with me. Its a relief to just surrender to the omnipotence of a Higher power and just do the best that I can, I cant do more than that. I will be judged or lauded no matter what I do and thats fine but I remain determined to be calm and accept all that life has to offer.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 13

DELTA 2015 AND THE ISSUE OF INDEGENESHIP

No need heating up the polity over Obuh – Amb. Echegile

By DAPO AKINREFON

AMBASSADOR Godson Onyemaechi Echegile, Nigeria’s envoy to Sierra Leone from 2008 to 2011, is a chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State.

In this interview, the PDP stalwart faults the insinuation that a frontline governorship aspirant in the state, Sir Tony Obuh, hails from Itsekiri land.

He speaks, among other issues, on the 2015 governorship race in Delta. Excerpts: s a stakeholder, what is the state of Delta politics today?

It is as cordial as it could be. This is the season of primaries and you hear all sorts of comments. The only snag is what I will call not paying attention to real issues. People should tell us what they want to give to the people in terms of dividends of democracy so that we will have a barometer with which we can measure them at the end of their tenure, rather than trying to run each other down.

There is this growing agitation for power shift. What is your opinion on the controversy?

I think that is more or less a settled matter. The leader of the party in Delta State, the governor, has reaffirmed that; the Chairman of the party in the state has reconfirmed that it is time for Delta North to produce the governor.

But we need the support of our brothers in Delta Central and Delta South, some of whom are also interested in the race, to do it.

Naturally, when former Governor Ibori came from Delta Central, there were contestants from other senatorial districts. When Governor Uduaghan emerged from Delta South, I contested from the North.

So, you will always have people contesting but the preponderance of the party faithful know that there is zoning and they will move in their voting pattern along that zoning formula. I can bet you, you will see the results.

Still on the zoning controversy, some people have argued that the issue might heat up the politics of the state, if not well handled?

No. If you remember, eight years ago, it was worse than what we are having now. We had the Equity Group, the G-3 and the rest of them, but at the end of the primaries, we were able to resolve the crisis. It is a question of having a mechanism to manage the post-primary crisis, which I think Delta PDP has to manage.

But was there any written document or agreement on the rotation of the governorship seat among the three senatorial districts?

The best of agreements are never written. So, there is no written agreement but there is that understanding.

Are you not worried that the issue might lead to members of your party defecting to another party?

Not at all, we have seen it before.

A

When the present governor emerged as an Itsekiri man, there were all manner of threats, but at the end of the day, we all still voted for him. Some people will make comments but when the chips are down, they will still toe the party line.

But some people say the governor’s continued silence on power shift shows he is not disposed to the idea.

What is your take on it?

No. The governor has not been silent on power shift; he has spoken at different fora that power should go to Delta North. I am close enough to him to know. He has said it at different fora

,

C M Y K

*Echegile ... Obuh not an Itsekiri man the people will decide. I don’t think consensus is possible.

It is been speculated that Sir Tony Obuh has been adopted as the candidate of the PDP and that he is an Itsekiri man, but this is generating heat in the state. Can you clear the air on this?

Let me take it this way. Sir Tony Obuh is not an Itsekiri man. He is an Ika man from Delta North. The wife is also from Delta North. I have known him for upwards of 30 years. These are propaganda thrown up by opponents, but I want to say that the people should focus their campaign on what they will

If people want to raise issues, they should raise issues based on what they will deliver and not trying to attack somebody because they believe he is a front runner or he has the backing of some of the leaders. I don’t think that the right way to go

that power should go to Delta North.

As a stakeholder and PDP chieftain from Delta North, are you throwing up a consensus candidate from the region?

We are not likely going to throw up a consensus candidate for two reasons.

Not all Delta northerners are PDP members. Second, the beauty of democracy is for everybody to lay down what he wants to do and the plans he has, then,

,

deliver to the people.

I can authoritatively tell you that Tony Obuh is from Delta North, the parents are from Delta North. This is coming from mischief makers.

Whether the governor has adopted him or not are stories flying all over the place, and coming from gubernatorial aspirants. You see, all the aspirants are looking for the governor’s endorsement and they are praying for

the governor’s endorsement.

I am aware that all the aspirants, at different times, have gone to see the governor to plead for his support, but I do not see why they should now say that one person has been adopted.

If they had been adopted, would they turn back and criticise that? I am not aware that the governor has adopted anybody, but the point I am making is that they have all gone to the governor for his blessing and they are still praying for his blessing. So, people should not use that as the basis for campaign.

I don’t think there is anything about a Permanent Secretary running for election. First of all, Permanent Secretary’s position is political. Obuh has been a party man. He has shown his membership card. He has paid his party dues. Those are not the issues.

If people want to raise issues, they should raise issues based on what they will deliver and not trying to attack somebody because they believe he is a front runner or he has the backing of some of the leaders. I don’t think that the right way to go.

The gubernatorial issue is said to be causing problem between the Ndokwa and the two other ethnic groups in Delta North. What is the situation really?

Like I said, any of the three ethnic groups, from Delta North, can produce the governor.

I think it was the Anioma Congress that submitted a list. I have not seen the list, but if what I read is anything to go by, they limited their choice to the two ethnic groups of Ika and and Aniocha/Oshimili leaving out the Ndokwa. To me, the Anioma Congress is a very credible organisation, made up of our elders, but I think it was a big omission on their part to leave Ndokwa nationality and that is what is causing the protest from the Ndokwa. We cannot marginalize them in that list. I want to use this opportunity to appeal to our Ndokwa brothers not to overreact on what the Anioma Congress did.

There are speculations that you are still interested in running for the office of governor. How true is this?

I have grown older. I want to leave it for the younger ones to try their luck in the governorship race.

Critics have flayed the governor’s performance since assumption of office. They say he has not performed to expectations.

That is totally wrong. Today, I can go to Asaba from Lagos in the morning and come back in the afternoon because there is an airport there. You see, we cannot do all these things in one day.

Look at his health program; look at the issue of peace and security.

When he came, you could barely go to Delta because there was kidnapping and all kinds of violent crimes, but, today, security has improved.

If you go to the model schools, you will agree he has done well and, in terms of infrastructure, I will score him high. We need somebody to build on this and take us to the next phase of our development.

National Honour I want to thank the President for finding me worthy of that award. It is a call to service to do more for my country. It is a call to be more dedicated to this country.

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

2015: How Ogun people will decide Amosun’s fate,

by Sarafa Isola, ex-minister

BY BILESANMI OLALEKAN

C

hief Sarafa Tunji Iso la started off in poli tics as Chairman, Abeokuta North Local Government in 1998. In 1999, Dr. Jubril Martins-Kuye, a Minister of State for Finance, made him his special assistant. He moved up the political leader when former Governor Gbenga Daniel made him Secretary to Ogun State Government, SSG, during his first tenure in office. In 2007, he was appointed Minister of State of Mines and Steel Development during the tenure of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. STI, as he is popularly called, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, wants to be governor of Ogun State. He says, in this interview, that unlike the PDP, the All Progressives Congress, APC, is a one man party, saying the APC government in the state is spending its last few months in office because” development is not all about expansion of roads.

Why do you want to be governor?

The reason I want to be governor is because I believe I can make more positive contributions and perform better than the present governor.

This is simple. It is about having the right skills. Having being elected the Chairman at the local government level, having had the opportunity of being the SSG under Otunba Gbenga Daniel during which I learnt the nitty-gritty of governance,having also been special assistant to the Minister of State for Finance where I had the opportunity of understanding the workings of public finance and eventually as chief executive of Ministry of Mines and Steel, my experiences are quite unique. With that, I believe I can do better than the present governor of Ogun State.

What is he doing now you think you can do differently and better?

The government concentrates on road expansion and building of over-head bridges. The issue of cost is something else entirely. Let’s assume, for the purpose of this interview, that the governor is expanding roads and building over-head bridges. The issue of performance of any government relates to human index, that is, how are the people of Ogun faring before you took over and now. Go to markets, motor parks; talk to the civil servants and to the masses of our people. You can ask questions randomly whether their lives are better in the last three years. The Constitution of Nigeria, Section 14.2 did say that the primary purpose of government is the security and welfare of the people. And basic economics tells us that the basic necessities of life are food, C M Y K

clothing and shelter. If the people are not empowered to be able to achieve this, do you now say the government is performing? And when you look at human index, you talk of the state of our health care facilities. Visit the General Hospitals in Abeokuta, IjebuOde, Sagamu, Ota and Ilaro, and you will come to a conclusion as to whether our people are being provided good health care delivery. Not many people will ply the road but a lot of people will get sick. So provision of health care should take priority over road expansion. On education, you cannot say the Amosun administration is getting it right.

Do not listen to the propaganda going on, just go to some of our secondary schools and you will find that they are not habitable. If you go to the area of agriculture, I think emphasis should be on rural roads so that farmers can evacuate their produce to the market. As we speak, government has not made any effort to increase productivity in agriculture.

Don’t forget that the peasant farmers still account for the majority of the food we consume in this country. Most of the produce consumed in Ogun as I talk to you comes from outside the state. We get yam from Gboko, tomato from Sokoto. What deliberate agricultural policy has been put in place to stimulate agricultural production so that food can be more available to the people of Ogun State? All these are indices of performance, not expansion of roads or building of over head bridges.

So the roads not have economic values.

Tell me what economic value Totoro, Shokori Kuid Ibara Road, commissioned in the last two years. The roads that contribute to economic development are those ones that lead to industrial areas, rural areas so that they can stimulate production. The roads here are more of aesthetics. I am not aware of people expanding roads doing six lanes in residential areas. Go and check the police diary and see the accident rate on the roads. To curb accident, they now put bumps.

To reduce the rate of accident obviously Why did you expand the roads? Roads are expanded based on traffic situation. In Abeokuta, you only have traffic in few places. I am not aware of any traffic between Shokori and Ibara. Even the over head bridge done at Ibara round-about, the realignment was wrong, the realignment should have been from Panseke to Ibara not from OkeIlewo to Toloro-Shokori. The priority should be things that touch the people. Health, yes, because people will get sick.

Education, yes, people must be educated. And to add to the problem, the roads being constructed are done with loans.

Chief Sarafa Tunji Isola ... government not getting priorities right Anything wrong in borrowing for development?

There is nothing bad in borrowing for development. As a matter of fact, there is no way you can do that without borrowing. But two principles of borrowing are missing in the Ogun loan case. How do you ensure that the roads generate repayment? Tell me what economic activities would emanate from these roads that would generate repayment.

The second principle is the

pose of government should be the welfare of the people. He went further to say that he used welfare to denote the physical, spiritual and mental well-being of the people and that is the index of measuring the performance of any government.

How do you hope to uproot the APC government, one many people believe is a performing one, in the coming guber election?

You are from Lagos and you

There is nothing bad in borrowing for development. As a matter of fact, there is no way you can do that without borrowing. But two principles of borrowing are missing in the Ogun loan case. How do you ensure that the roads generate repayment? ability to collaterize for the loan. Don’t forget that the loans being taken are depositors fund, it belongs to some people. So how do you collaterize the roads by putting barriers on them? For example, I have the intention of building six industrial districts in the state. The roads leading to the industrial districts would be built; power would be evacuated to the districts. It will now be cut into plots. You can borrow money to do that, because while industrial outfits will now come and buy the plots at highly subsidized rates because they are already serviced plot, you use that money to repay. That is good economic sense, not borrowing to build roads. The kind of roads are usually found in developed countries and usually tolled. The issue that must be germane to any government is the welfare of its people. Baba Awolowo, when he spoke to Leaders of Thought in Ibadan in 1967, said the primary pur-

are telling us a government is performing here. It is the people of Ogun State, the registered voters that will determine whether a government is performing or they want a regime change. Ogun people are highly sophisticated and they displayed that in the 2011 general elections. They voted for the then ACN during the National Assembly elections and, the following week, they voted for Jonathan, the PDP, without mixing it up. I can tell you that in 2015, it is going to be more of the person and the capacity of that person to govern that the people will vote for, rather than the party. Gone are those days when people give blind loyalty to party. And my policy is not that of do or die because I have a second address. I will present myself to the people of Ogun and leave them to take their decision which is their constitutional right.

You talk about your party taking power from the APC

which is not only ruling but more united than the PDP, hope this is not pure imagination.

I have told you that what will matter most in Ogun State next year would be more of personality than the party. You and I know that the APC in Ogun State is in disarray.

How? Of course, we are all aware that the people of Ogun State did not vote for APC, they voted for ACN. This is what many people never realized. APC will be going for election for the first time in February. APC has not been tested. It was tested in Ekiti-State and you said how they lost. The people of Ekiti said we voted for ACN, we are not going to vote for APC. But for anybody to assume that the votes given to ACN then would be repeated for APC, the person is living under grandeur illusion. APC is a new party in Ogun State.

It has not been tested. It has not gone through an election.

Is that why it is in disarray.

A. Of course, it is in disarray because the people that originally started the party, the three senators, virtually all members of House of Representatives, majority of the House of Assembly members are at logger heads with the governor because he is running a one man-show. APC is a one man party. It is a common knowledge that the original members of APC where sidelined and taken over by the members of the former ANPP. Common, you know what I am talking about. You know very well that the ACN the people Ogun State voted for is already in disarray and the APC as constituted in Ogun State is just a SIA group. it is not a party, it is just a one man show. Election is around the comer, we shall all witness what will happen. There is no the people of Ogun would subscribe to the wishes of one man because this government has not performed because their lives aren’t better than the way it was. I can tell you that the government will be voted out in February. Mark any word; we would all live to see.

If for whatever reason you are not chosen as candidate of your party, what next.

You should know that I am a democrat. If you offer yourself for service, there should not be any problem if and when you are not picked as your party’s candidate. Election is just a process. If I am not picked, I will congratulate the winner, work for him and let the people of Ogun decide who they want as their governor. It has happened to me in the past, I contested for the chairmanship of my local government, I lost, I wrote a congratulatory letter and personally delivered it to him, engineer Oniyitan of blessed memory and passed some ideas I thought could be useful to him.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 15

2015: The move to stop my re-election, by Senate Leader Ndoma-Egba •Says he has connected with his people

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

SENATOR Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, is the Leader of the Senate. He represents Cross River Central Senatorial District As a ranking senator who has utilized his position to attract projects to his state, he says, in this interview, that he has connected with his people and ready to render more services to them if re-elected.

Excerpts: Cross River State government seems bent on stopping you from returning to the Senate in 2015. What is your problem with your state government?

I have no idea what the problem is. I have stated it again and again; I don’t have any known problem with His Excellency, the governor. But, there are government officials who want my seat and that sends a very clear message. I am privy to certain text messages inviting people to a meeting which came from government functionaries and they said they were under directives to invite them to the meeting. My attitude to it is that democracy is about the people.

Democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people. So I have connected with the people who are the main stakeholders in this project called democracy.

It appears that governors in collaboration with states PDP Chairmen are trying to alter the delegates lists ahead of the congress. What is your take?

I don’t know which primaries you are talking about because the primaries are yet to hold. What happened in Cross River is that they set up caucuses and the membership of the caucuses keeps changing according to their reading of the dynamics on the ground. If they think that the caucuses as composed were not going to achieve a particular result, they will change the membership, so, the membership was no longer as provided for in the Constitution of the PDP; it was dependent on the whims of those who have a particular result in mind.

I long ago protested in writing. I wrote to the state Chairman. I copied the National Chairman. I have not received any response. But because I have protested, I have raised issues about those caucuses; I decided to stay away so as not to validate what they are doing. So, as far as I am concerned, whatever I am doing is going to be guided strictly by the provisions of the PDP’s Constitution and the Electoral Act and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

It appears that many governors are against senators from their states from coming back to the Senate. What do you think is the reason for the acrimony between senators and their governors?

They (the governors) are in a better position to answer. In quite a number of cases, we are told that they want to come to the Senate, but if they have that ambition, it is only logical that we have this kind of disagreement but in a situation like mine, where the governor says he is not coming to the Senate, but you a lot of official presence in the activities of an aspirant, then your guess is as good as mine.

People are wondering, because you have been very close to Governor Liyel Imoke, at what point did you begin to have misunderstanding with him?

I don’t have any misunderstanding with my governor. Like I said earlier, I wish I know what the problem was; frankly speaking, I don’t have any misunderstanding. Nobody has told me what the issues are.

But there was this allegation that you were behind the coming out of one of the governorship aspirants on the platform of the PDP and it was alleged that you took the person to the Presidency and that angered your state governor.

I know that six persons have come to me to indicate their interest and I told all of them to go and talk to the governor who is C M Y K

the leader of the party and then come back to me. My message to all of them was the same. Let us even assume that I have a candidate, how does that make him emerge?

There is a process. He who becomes the governor of Cross River State is going to be determined by a process. So, this is just propaganda that has been recycled again and again. Okay, I have a constitutional right to have my own preferences, just like they don’t prefer me now. Apparently, I have the right not to prefer certain people, it is my right.

Is there any zoning arrangement or agreement, written or unwritten,

I don’t have any known problem with His Excellency, the governor. But, there are government officials who want my seat and that sends a very clear message concerning Cross River Central Senatorial District seat?

There has been zoning. We have this understanding; the Central Senatorial District is made up of two old local governments: Ikom and Obubra. Those two local governments are now six local governments-Old Ikom is now Ikom, Etung and Boki. Senator Matthew Mbu that I took over from is from Boki. Hon Enoh is from Etung. So, we are all old Ikom people. Now, old Obubra has Obubra, Abi and Yakurr.

•Ndoma-Egba The governor comes from Abi. Why was the Senate seat in old Ikom? It’s because in 1999, old Obubra produced the deputy governor; so, they gave the Senate seat to old Ikom.

The Senate remained in old Ikom because old Obubra produced the minister, who is the present governor. The Senate also remains in old Ikom because old Obubra, again, produced a governor in the present arrangement. So, old Ikom takes one, old Obubra takes another. Now, they have come up with a new purported zoning arrangement; that they want to zone the Senate seat on the basis of federal constituencies. And what is their argument?

Ikom and Boki are a federal constituency and they say Ikom has had, Boki has had.

They say the governor was in the Senate from Abi and he’s governor today and so, Abi is out. They also say Yakurr, which is in old Obubra has produced a governor in Clement Ebri. So, Yakurr is out. In their argument, only two local governments have not produced-Etung and Obubra, which is

a federal constituency. You can now see where the thing is going to; it’s like moving from an answer to the question. Now, Etung is the smaller local government in that federal constituency, but from 1999 till date, Etung has produced the House of Representatives member. The deputy governor, who is from Obubra, was impeached in 2001, the late John Okpa. So, Obubra has been fallow from that time till date! So, if you are going to zone on the basis of equity, between these two local governments, Obubra is the one that has had nothing from 2001 till date. Why are you now zoning it to the local government that had something from 1999 till date? So, if you zone it to Obubra, you would have satisfied two things: maintained the old sharing arrangement and satisfied the federal constituency argument. But, I’m the senator representing Cross River Central, at what meeting was that decision taken that I was not there?

Lagos PDP: Getting its acts right ahead of guber primary

T

BY OLUMIDE ABAYOMI

ENSION is building up ahead of La gos State PDP gubernatorial primary later this month over alleged plans by the leadership to skew the process in favour of an aspirant. The favoured aspirant is Mr. Jimi Agbaje, who recently defected to the PDP. Some of those who have indicated interest to contest for the governorship on the party’s ticket include former Minister of State for Defence, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro; the party’s governorship candidate in the 2011 general election, Dr. Ade Dosunmu; the Nigerian Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago, Ambassador Tokunbo Kamson; 2011 governorship candidate of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Dr. Dominic Adegbola; and two other governorship aspirants of the PDP in 2011, Messrs Babatunde Gbadamosi and Owolabi Salis. Others are Branco Rhodes, Segun Adebayo, Gabriel Pearse and Deji Doherty.

On the other hand, those jostling to govern the state on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the state Commissioner for Works, Dr. Kadri Hamzat; a former Accountant General in the state, Akinwunmi Ambode; senator representing Lagos West, Senator Ganiyu Solomon; Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Adeyemi Ikuforiji; and former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Leke Pitan.

However, one factor that will influence which of the two parties would gain the upper hand in the battle for Alausa is the choice of their governorship candidates and the way the candidates emerge.

In the PDP, most of the aspirants are not comfortable with alleged plans to foist Agbaje on the party as he is speculated to have the backing of some powerful forces in the party. The move by the top party hierarchy to present the 2007 governor-

ship candidate of the Democratic Peoples Alliance (DPA) is causing rancor within the rank and file of the PDP. In spite of the determination of his sponsors, one of which is the Lagos-based national leader of the party, to sell the ‘Agbaje project’ to the Presidency, his defection to the PDP is raising dust with stakeholders skeptical about giving their party ticket to a ‘stranger’.

There are reasons for party faithful in and outside the state to be wary of the ‘Agbaje project’ based on his antecedents, in particular, his perceived lukewarm disposition towards criticizing the present regime of the APC he intends to displace using the PDP platform.

As a former member of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and onetime chairman of the APC Manifesto Committee, who was at a time close to being nominated as vice presidential candidate to Muhammadu Buhari in the failed alliance between the ACN and the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) ahead of the 2011 general elections, there have been no serious efforts by Agbaje to clean off the tar on him by skeptics that he was planted in the PDP by the APC to thwart the PDP’s long nurtured dream of delivering democracy dividends to the people of Lagos.

However, being a leading voice during the Occupy Nigeria protest in January 2012 that campaigned against the removal of petroleum subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan, there is little left to the imagination about doubts of his genuine intention to not only deliver Lagos to the PDP but also work assiduously for the reelection of President Jonathan.

The doubts raised by Agbaje’s ‘saintly’ antecedents, with his alleged role in the splitting of Afenifere, are strengthened by recent developments in the polity. With the

party now left to lick its wounds over the defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, to the APC, there are efforts by the national leadership of the party to weed PDP of members who fraternise with the opposition APC. Also, a look at happenings in Ogun and Oyo States calls for thorough scrutiny of the personalities behind the masquerades beating the drums of the ‘Agbaje project, owing to the recent desperation of some people, whose recent game is the divisive politics of religion in a pluralistic and cosmopolitan society like Lagos.

According to an observer, Kazeem Olaniyan, “with what Governors Ibikunle Amosun and Abiola Ajimobi of the APC are doing to their party structures in Ogun and Oyo after being gifted their party tickets for the 2011 election, all efforts must be geared towards avoiding the situation where a party ticket is given to an outsider on a platter of gold, who will, in the future, call the bluff of PDP stakeholders after getting hold of power.”

Perhaps, it is in the light of this that leading gubernatorial aspirants and prominent members in Lagos PDP are mobilizing to stop Agbaje from being imposed as the candidate of the party in next year ’s election.

This explains why they have unanimously called for a free and fair primary to be conducted in November 29 and the reason they are resisting any attempt to tamper with the delegate list of penultimate Saturday’s ward congress in the state to favour imposition on the party.

A party man, Rotimi Osunsan, advised the Lagos PDP to embrace equity and fairness, and remain united in the days leading to the 2015 elections, if it hopes to secure the people’s vote.

PAGE 16 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

OLU OF WARRI SON’S TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE The traditional marriage between Ivie Uhunoma Okunbo, the daughter of Capt. (Dr.) Idahosa Okunbo and and Utieyinoritsetsola Ayonmigbesimi Emiko, the son of His Royal Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse II, the Olu of Warri, was held in Benin-City, yesterday, with eminent personalities in attendance. Photos by Barnabas Uzosike

The couple: Utieyinoritsetsola Ayonmigbesimi Emiko and Miss Ivie Uhunoma Okunbo

From left: Chief Lucky Imasuen; Chief Tom Ikimi; Hon. Mike Onolomemen, Honourable Minister of Works

From left: Chief Dan Orbih, Chief Anthony Anenih and his wife

Chief Eduwu Ekhator, the Obasogie of Benin (left) and Chief Solomon Ogbeiwe

Chief Anenih having a handshake with Chief Edwin Clark

A cross section of Bini chiefs Mr Sam Amuka, Publsher, Vanguard Newspapers (left), with Mrs. Patricia Otuedon-Arawore

From left: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State having a handshake with Pharm. Urhoghide

C M Y K

From left: Olu of Warri’s wife; Dr. Mrs. Anigala; and Hon. Mrs. Irene Imilar Otha

Capt. Osa Okunbo (left) and Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 17

bb pin: 20C37A25

I can’t have a party without alcohol — Eniola Badmus

BY DAMILOLA SHOLOLA

E

niola Badmus became a major hit in the blockbuster movie ‘’Jenifa’ as the ‘Gbogbo Big Girls’, where she played the role of a madame who rented out girls on campus to big men. Then she kept with the same stereotype in ‘`Omo Ghetto’ where she was a leader of bad ghetto girls.

Ever since, the coast has been all yummy for Eniola who has become a hotcake with movie producers. She recently celebrated her birthday in New York and had the elite of the movie industry in attendance. As Potpourri star this week, Eniola lets us into her world: What movies have you done this year?

There’s Uchechi The Blind Cripple, A Child In Me, and many others. We shoot movies every other day, so I can’t even remember, I’ve lost count Which one is your biggest movie so far?

Basically, I’ve done series of films that I feel are successful. At least I was able to prove a point, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. Whichever one that my fans feel they like best, I’m with them Which Actor/Actress do you like working with on set?

I like working with everybody; I don’t discriminate. In as much as you’re good then we’re good to go. I can work with anybody that goes with my flow and can give me what I want; I’m cool with everybody Have you won any awards?

I’ve won many awards.

This year I won ‘The Best Actress 2014 in City People

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Awards’. Then I had three other nominations; I had nominations in GIAMA, I got nominated in NMA as ‘Most Popular Actor ’, that’s one of the biggest nominations I had. Then series of nominations and other awards too.

What has been your biggest challenge since you got into Nollywood?

I’ve been in this industry for a long time; I don’t even look at challenges anymore.

When you stay too long in a particular stuff, it doesn’t look challenging anymore because my life is all about this that I do. I’ve been doing this for over a decade so I can’t just say one thing is challenging. I try my best in all that I do You mostly play bad girl roles in movies, why?

I don’t remember the ones that I played bad girl recently, maybe before, but I know I’ve changed a lot of

stuffs. I’ve been playing other roles too and the fact that I play bad girl role doesn’t mean I am bad, maybe, I’m good at it though.

Have you ever played as someone else’s wife in a movie?

More than enough times.

I understand it is not healthy to be overweight at all, but should it be an issue as a lifestyle?

You and Davido were seen together recently, what were you guys doing?

Shout-out to my brother, Davido! That’s a movie shoot, that’s my movie coming out sometime next year. I shot some in Yankee and I’m shooting part of it again in Nigeria Have you ever thought of losing weight?

Why is this my being big an issue to people? Okay, everybody has to be very very slim, right? In the US they don’t discriminate like

this o, it’s only in Nigeria people get worked up about being overweight. I understand it is not healthy to be overweight at all, but should it be an issue as a lifestyle?

Has your weight affected your career in any way?

How now? That is what has been working for me. It is not easy to be big and famous. Instead of my weight being a drawback, it has actually been a blessing.

Are you currently in any relationship?

Yes, obviously, I would have someone I’m dating; I’ll have somebody I’m planning marriage with, even if I’m not planning marriage, at least I have somebody I’m seeing.

How is it like working with Wazobia FM?

Continues on page 20

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

GIAMA moments G

olden Icons Academy Movie Awards simply called GIAMA Awards held in Houston Texas, United States of America on October 25, with movie stakeholders in Nigeria and diaspora gathering to make the best of what was an enchanting evening of fun and glamour. It was the third edition, adjudged better than previous ones as this year’s edition has on its menu recipes like Ebola awareness campaign, comedy performances, musical

entertainment, unity amongst different ethnicities, amongst others.

Instead of boring you with the technical details, Potpourri looks at the lighter side of the people and moments that defined the award night:

Ini Edo’s bulging waistline

Uche Iwuanyanwu’s rebellious butts heaters’ star

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Uche Iwuanyanwu must have her diary pinned on her minds these days. She seems to go wherever the action is and when she does, she is never missing in action- I mean never missing in action.

But isn’t Uche growing up to be that voluptuous African woman, with everything rounding out in right proportions? Look at the picture again! She wasn’t looking this butty months back.

Maybe her new found love is doing things to her. She may be getting hooked soon.

N

ollywood damsel and Vanguard’s one-time first runnerup of Sexiest Woman in Nollywood contest, seems to be losing her grips on a lot of things. First was her marriage that came tumbling down, then her celebrated bakery and now she looks like losing the battle of keeping those extra pounds in check. Her picture from the GIAMA looks so revealing and got me really believing one of her colleagues who sometime ago said Ini is destined to be a fat mama.

Emem Isong’s new glowing looks adam of

M

Royal Arts Academy, Emem Isong, is never one who displays her sexuality like a calling card. Some have even said that her bust cleavage is never to be seen or at least has never been brandished by the movie maker.

But at GIAMA awards the debutant movie director had some glow about her. Not that you could say you have seen a cleavage but you could have sworn there was a flash of what looked like popping heads drifting apart at a junction. She has just found love- in a Cameroonian. Well, isn’t it funny how the cookies crumble?

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Belinda Effah gets on with her groove

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ome have called this little beauty one of the most friendly actresses in Nollywood and for good reasons too.

Belinda is always a listening ear, ready to offer help, this much Potpourri can boast. Perhaps, her amiable nature is the reason behind her spiraling success. From when she won the Most Promising Actress at AMAA, there has been no stopping Belinda. That she was one of the shining stars at the GIAMA night is just something well expected. She was such a radiant joy as she carted away the Best Supporting Actress honour at the awards.

Stella Damasus, Daniel Ademinokan’s escapade continues

W

hen some trigger-happy journalist first hinted that Stella Damasus was playing funny games with then Doris Simon’s husband, Daniel Ademinokan, Stella ran to the media to deny and demanded for the head of the reporter. She even called Yours Truly of Potpourri, to vent her anger, saying she was only working on a project with the guy. I believed her, it was a word of honour.

But a couple of years down the line it seems the project has not ended. Now, the duo are finding it hard to cover up their escapades.

For crying out loud – they live together now as man and wife! It was no surprise they even showed up together at the GIAMA awards. They are inseparable now, says a source close to them.

Tana Adelana takes no prisoner

I

have always said there is something about this On-AirPersonality turned actress.

Though she hasn’t started really ruffling feathers in acting as she has as an OAP, but she has a thing going for her.

And she has got the goods too.

Here, at the GIAMA she was taking no prisoners as she brought her goods to good effect.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE — 19 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

GIAMA moments Uti Nwachukwu’s emotional speech

Susan Peters struts it soft

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It does look like a successful actress and producer come with certain perks. Since Susan started producing movies there has been some glow about her which captivates the opposite sex. As beautiful as she is coming along with age, there hasn’t been a man to pin on this damsel. Though she has said she keeps her private life private but shouldn’t there be someone rocking her boat? She came strutting the red carpet, looking as gorgeously as her air of regal sensuality could allow.

ove him, hate him but one fact remains that Uti knows his onions. His boisterousness at times may get in the way of how he delivers his lines, but the guy is a sweet guy and certainly has a way with words. Man, could Uti talk! This trait he brought with him to Houston, where he captivated the audience after clinching the Male Viewers Choice award.

Hear him: “Well, clearly it means a lot to me! It’s the viewers choice!! It means that people are watching from all over the world and I am the preferred choice! It means I am in the right profession and people are entertained by my hard work…it’s all God’s doing because if he didn’t bless me with the talent and TV charisma, I’m very sure no one would be impressed or interested in what I have to offer. And yes, my speech was very emotional because I am someone who do not joke with loyalty and appreciation! I know personally how it feels to allow God use you to elevate someone and for that person to become ungrateful, insolent and unappreciative. That is not my style and so for me it’s really important to let those who have been your platform to success know how much you appreciate them – My divine helpers, supporters and friends. I have a very grateful heart. In this world, no one owes you anything! So, I can’t stress it enough how important it is to always express gratitude and appreciation in public every time you get the chance to have a listening audience”.

Mbong Amata’s free and wild look

Padeta Agu kills it all

A

ll our digging on Padeta Agu has hit blank. There’s just nowhere to nail this beautiful damsel that glamourised the red carpet at the GIAMA awards for her outfit that got a bit hysterical. Did she get all the attention? She was simply about the most daring prospect of the night. With a backline looking as lush as a spread of vanilla melting away on an ice-cream with luxuriant wild hair style, Padetu kills it all.

Word has it she’s a budding actress though.

E

ven when Mbong was still married to film-maker Jeta Amata, she didn’t have much inhibitions how she presented herself in the public. Clearly a liberated woman, and with much freedom now, she came calling at GIAMA making more statements than she had ever made.

Stephanie Ma’s killer cleavage does the trick

J

Ivie Okujaye’s winning streak continues

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ittle Genevieve as they call her, doesn’t seem to attend an award night these days without going home with one or two of her own. Alero Symphony’s star got the nod as the Most Promising Actress for her awesome performance in Silhouette. Isn’t she also looking a good dinner ready to eat?

ust like Padeta, Stephanie Ma doesn’t have any profile on our radar.

We are still trying to get a line on her but it would appear that didn’t stop this chesty damsel from getting all the attention at the award night. If not her looks her cleavage must have done the trick for her.

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PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

Continues from page 17 It’s cool. I’m not working with Wazobia FM; I only have my show on Naija FM When does your show air on radio?

It’s Monday and Tuesday on Naija FM by 6:00PM

I can’t have a party without alcohol

Have you gotten any endorsements before?

Yes- many times. I used to be on Vmobile billboard, then on iROKOTv. I did an advert for CBN, even Royco.

What do you find attractive in a man?

I just like a regular guy that has talent, even if he does not have talent, he has to be intelligent. A regular man, an average man; but please no body odour and no mouth odour, such are very important to me.

At your last birthday party, you were seen with bottles of alcohol...

(Cuts) When you have a party, you don’t give alcohol? See, I am a kind of person that doesn’t see a thing like that as anything special. How can any normal person have a party without alcohol? I’m not an SU o, let them know. I’m a born-again Christian but I’m not an SU. When we have parties, we serve alcohol, it is normal. Party without alcohol is nothing, its zero.

What is your advice to

upcoming Yoruba actresses?

They should do what they believe, but they should just do the right thing Who inspired you to become an actress?

Nobody inspired me; I just felt okay I wanted to do it. I did Theater Arts at University of Ibadan and that’s it What has been the high point of your career?

I’m still not at the top of my game, I’m not there yet, we’re still moving. We’ve not reached but we’re on the way, we’re not where we used to be but we’re still climbing Are you planning on getting married?

Yes now, every girl wants to get married at some point in her life.

Even if I’m getting married, nobody would know though.

Why? Because I just want to keep it like that. I am not the kind of person that wants her private life in the open. Any relationship I have, I just want to keep it off the news so it can last. If it’s in the news,

Tony Tetuila advised to drop political ambition

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How would you describe yourself off camera?

I like to chill a lot, I like to just be in my house watching TV, reading novels and watching my other jobs I’ve done that came out and try to correct my mistakes.

I’m always in my friend’s house when I’m not working; I like to chill with my friends and family because that’s the only time I have with my people.

What more should people expect from you?

They should expect good things. They should expect my movie featuring the one and only OBO and other artists like Bukky Wright, Bukki Ajayi, Funke Akindele, Patience Ozokwor.

I’m shooting my movie this year but it’s coming out next year

How Korede Bello’s manager goofed

W

hen Tony Tetuila of the defunct pop group Remedies announced his intention to run in the forthcoming general elections in 2015, people greeted his boldness. At least, as another entertainer, shedding the bling-bling garb of entertainment to make himself useful to his people of Irepodun Local Government of Kwara State at the Kwara State House of Assembly.

But when the part-blond, part-black haired musician came up with his campaign poster, which some said looked more like a promotional poster for a forthcoming music concert rather than a political poster, doubts began to creep in about seriousness of his intent and his state of mind to step into bigger shoes.

Even some entertainers weren’t comfortable with Tony’s bohemian looks; Toolz Oniru for instance made a meal of it on her television show.

However, news reaching Potpourri has it that the political power houses of Ilorin have told the musician to keep his aspiration on hold and advised him to wait for his turn. Though it is not clear whether Tony is listening to the words of the elders or going for broke to try out his luck. But there is a disturbing feeling if Tony’s appearance hasn’t done some damage.

they’ll frustrate the relationship and before you know it, the relationship ends, basically because the man may be scared off by the noise.

BY IYABO AINA

K

orede Bello, one of the fastest rising hiphop singers of today and Don Jazzy of MAVINS’s boy, has got the talent and the right platform to propel him to wherever he aspires to be in the music industry. The talented upcoming artiste hit the limelight after joining his label mates to record the hit ‘Dorobucci’. Since then, things have been on the up and up for the little guy.

But the snag in his nicely put together set-up may be his manager, who doesn’t seem able to manage an upwardly mobile

singer. One of Potpourri reporters approached him to set up an interview with his budding star and all he could do was to assume an air of smugness, asking how many pages could be given his starlet. Now, since when has Korede become Don Jazzy or D’Banj? Imagine the balls of the laid back manager called Kaper, even asking for a front page to have the mug of his client in it. Hope Korede isn’t going to let this guy run him out of showbiz.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 21

Why women have sex 2 Continued from last week.

Kindly accept my apology for my inability to bring you this piece until now. Thanks.

T

rade by barter sex: Just as the phrase imply, this is when you use what you have to get what you want. The first thing that comes to mind here is prostitution, that age old trade of using the body for financial benefits. The activities of the prostitution ring is a multimillion dollar investment worldwide with tentacles in drugs, violent crimes, human trafficking and many other vices.

Interestingly, the average prostitute in many climes no longer enjoy the liberty of dealing her wares as a one man (sorry, woman) enterprise or sole trader to any interested client today. To carry on business as usual, she needs protection and this she invests in with the proceeds from her business as well as sex. Again, a drug addict or junkie will exchange sex for drugs naturally and when caught in a tight corner, many women have been known to exchange sex for their freedom.

Negotiation sex: If the above seem rather on the dark side, let's bring it down to base.

Many things have been written about the power of the female anatomy. I mean, bottom power! Many men, both high and lowly have been known to succumb to the aura of this potent natural endowment. Many women

have perfected the art of using their gifts from mother nature to get what they want through intense manipulation and negotiation. Sex is thus used by women to curry favour, to get jobs, promotions, or even maintain statuesque as the case might be. A friend once told me the trick she uses to

on a leash. Married women are very guilty of this. The sex is meant to man the man feel good, on top of his world even when the woman is not interested or enjoying it.

There are men who take their supposed role as head of the family so seriously they stump their authority around and

Many women have perfected the art of using their gifts from mother nature to get what they want through intense manipulation and negotiation get anything she wants from her boyfriend. According to her, he is one of those shy types who can hardly express his thoughts or views on issues, let alone approach women. So, he considers himself very lucky to have found her and perhaps cannot trade the opportunity of the occasional sex for anything. (not yet, at least). So, for her, most times, She has sex to get him to do stuff for her. Her crude method even involves stopping in the middle of the act to get him to agree to her demand. And the poor thing just crumbles like a pack of cards.

Control sex: This is simply sex used to gain an upper hand in relationships or situation.

Similar to negotiation, the aim here however is to keep the partner

want no one, in or outside of their home in doubt of who is in control. Experience has revealed that many control freaks melt like ice once they get under the hot sheets. A friend whose husband fits this description once informed us that she only allows him behaves the way he does to boost his ego. When they get to their bedroom, they both know who the real boss is because he cries like a baby once she pounces on him.

Revenge sex: This is common with women who have been hurt and want to get their pound of flesh. Often, a wife might cheat on her cheating husband just to get back at him and probably make him feel the way she felt.

It could also be to get back at a partner who has neglected them. Again, she might have

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sex to reassure herself that she is still pretty and desirable by men after she'd been jilted by one, or to simply walk out of an existing relationship. Revenge sex may sometimes take a bizarre twist, depending on motive and individual. While working on my book, Youth, Sex and Wellbeing, I spoke with a lady who confessed to having slept with a boyfriend she was no longer interested in and infected him with a STI. According to her, she'd gone to visit on his insistence, thinking that she would seize the opportunity to inform him of her slight indisposition. But to her annoyance, she caught him escorting another girl off. And though she'd always known she was not his only partner, seeing him that day was just too much and she made up her mind to teach him a lesson. A couple of years back, a National Newspaper published the self confession of a university undergraduate who at the brink of death, afflicted with full blown AIDS, claimed she'd purposely passed on the HIV virus to over 400 men. Her grouse was not with these men but the man who'd given her the virus and she wanted to take her revenge out on the world. If the men thought she was an easy lay at the time, they definitely would have a change of heart after reading her confession!

Psychologists Cindy Meston and David Buss in their book, Why women have sex, aptly summarised the various motives in these words. "Every person brings their own individual history to any sexual situation. The reasons why they

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DISCLAIMER!

are having sex, the way they feel about the sex and the consequences of having sex are all very different across individuals no matter what gender they happen to be".

And that includes men too.

Sexuality and Culture listed the following as reasons why people generally have sex.

• Boosting mood and relieving depression •Duty •Enhancement of power • Enhancement of selfconcept •Experiencing the power of one’s partner • Feeling loved by your partner •Fostering jealousy • Improving reputation or social status •Making money •Making babies •Need for affection •Nurturance •Partner novelty •Peer pressure or pressure from partner •Pleasure •Reducing sex drive •Revenge •Sexual curiosity • Showing love to your partner •Spiritual transcendence

Dear readers, if you have other reasons, perhaps based on personal experience or general view, please, let me know by dropping a few lines via my email box: inthesunlovezone@yahoo.com.

Do have a lovely Sunday!

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PAGE 22—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Email: vanguardwoman@gmail.com

Wrong choices made me a single mother — Sylvia Etim I

n a society where people like to put up appearances and keep up with the Jones, it came as a surprise that anyone would literally take herself to public space and shred it to pieces.

Sylvia Etim’s life story is a compelling read which she has chronicled in a book, “Preserved for Greatness”.

Like many children in the 60s whose parents travelled abroad to study, she was left in the care of grandparents; a strict disciplinarian grandmother and an adorable grandfather fondly called Tete. Life was tough but she constantly battled to surmount the issues of life. In later years, she found herself marrying her childhood sweetheart who unfortunately was already taken.

The event that followed left her a single mother.

Life dealt her a deadly blow but the power of God was near and what many thought would break her, becomes her source of strength as she turns advocate for many single mothers who became so through choices they made in life.

In gratitude to God, the banker turned author, recently launched her first book and album, Amanam. Her story:

•Sylvia Etim

By JEMI EKUNKUNBOR

W

hat inspired you to write this book?

Well, after I came out of all my struggles, with all the near-death experiences, I decided it would be good to let the whole world know my story and learn from my mistakes and know that only God can save.

The book generally chronicles your life story, the thrust being your experiences as a single mother. How did you find yourself in that situation?

I got married when I was not born again. I am sure if I was, the choice I made I wouldn’t have made it. Immediately after my youth service, I got a job with a bank and in less than a year, I got a letter from my childhood friend whom I met in 1978 in secondary school. He was in the USA then. We got talking and after some time, he came to Nigeria to see me. I felt this must have been God-ordained coming back to me 13 years after.

We got married.

But after the marriage, I found out he wasn’t really in a hurry to have me join him. His plans were very far. Although he had told me about his wife, he said he married her in order to have the American green. Do when this came up, I questioned him and he told me that the divorce had not really taken place but that he was in the process. That was when the marriage collapsed.

So there was deception?

Yes, there was deception.

You talked about the choices you made; if you were to counsel somebody today, what are some of those wrong choices you made?

If anybody decides to take a decision concerning marriage and the man comes to tell you that I am divorced or that I am about to divorce or that there are issues, I’d advise that you don’t have any business with that person as long as his wife is still alive. You know husband and wife do quarrel but what happens if they decide to come back together? You’d lose out. So as I stated in my book, you have no business in a relationship where a man has committed himself to a woman. Stick to what God says and you won’t find yourself in such a situation. If you trace how some women became single mums, you’d find out that it is directly related to the choices they made especially with a partner that already has issues going.

Were you too young to decipher that there was deception?

This is a guy I met in my secondary school days and liked.

I was young, naïve, and carried away with the excitement of marrying my first boyfriend. And not being a christian, all the

After I came out of all my struggles, with all the near-death experiences, I decided it would be good to let the whole world know my story and learn from my mistakes and know that only God can save factors played against me.

What is it like raising a child alone?

It’s very difficult especially as I was working at the bank at that time. I worked and lived at two extreme locations. Thank God for my early experiences of waking up early. There were times I came home late and couldn’t help with my son’s assignment.

There are times my son would fall ill on admission and I would still have to go to work. I did everything myself. I was the father, the mother and

everything. Things got better when I gave my life to Christ.

Thank God also for the kind of child He gave me.

What was one most difficult moment for you?

There were several. The worst being times when he fell ill.

There were many times he had to be alone. He did not have a lesson teacher for many years because I couldn’t leave him alone with a teacher or househelp. If his father was there things would have been different. God is great and that is why he did not advocate single parenthood. There was a time we were attacked by armed robbers, in fact, on three occasions; and I had to be in hospital while he stayed with minders. It was very difficult. But we got by.

Would you say these experiences affected his development?

Any normal child that has grown up to know that he has a father without seeing him, will start asking questions and he did. Thank God he wasn’t completely absent. He used to come to see him but didn’t stay for long. His father was telling him one thing and I was telling another. He became angry and was like, what’s going on? But by the time he started growing up, he saw how much I had gone through because we were in it

together.

A lot of people who find themselves in this situation find it difficult to forgive the hurt.

How were you able to heal?

The first thing a lot of people try to do is to take revenge, or continue to be angry or prove a point to a man that is not even looking their way. Unless you allow the love of Christ to enter into you and allow the God of all recompense to work through you and heal you, even if you read all the books in this world, you won’t heal. It was difficult for me because it affected me in every area. I found out I was going round in circles, talking about the same thing. Meanwhile, he wasn’t thinking about me or even remembered whether I existed or died. I lived in denial instead of accepting the situation. When people asked, I would say “I am married, my husband is abroad”. But the reality was that the man was not there. He had moved on and here I was holding on to something that didn’t exist. I found out that if I didn’t release him, I wasn’t going to be released. I discovered I was doing myself so much harm. I became so old because of the trauma and unforgiveness. But when I decided to let go and let God, I started blossoming and I began laughing again.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 23

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Some women are suckers for bad men!

S

OME years back, I was a member of a committee set up by a finance company to help package the programme for its 25th anniversary.

The company secretary, Joyce, a single mother of two in her thirties was the committee’s secretary.

The consultant in charge of all anniversary giveaways was Ted, a cocky middle-aged man wellknown in the industry. A shameless charmer, he had this confidence he could get into the pants of any woman he desired! It was obvious he’d already set his sights on Joyce. Rumours were rife they were having a hot affair.

Stories flew from Ted’s office’s grapevine, and Joyce’s. As a result, the committee was on its guard. More so when any criticism against prices of products presented by Ted, and discussed in his absence, were promptly tabled by him the next meeting. There was no guessing where the leaks came from.

We were almost helpless as all his

proposals met with firm approval from the powers-that-be. Did Joyce have anything to do with that too? Came the night of the anniversary, Ted came with his wife but the way he carried on with Joyce left all of us gasping with disapproval. Months later, it became obvious that Joyce was about to reap the dividend of Ted’s philandering - she became pregnantl Ted’s clandestine visits to her plush office stopped abruptly. Joyce was distraught. “He told me he couldn’t do without me”, she confessed once when we met for lunch.

She was now heavily pregnant. Hadn’t she heard of some of Ted’s escapades? She nodded, “Of course I heard. Who didn’t know how charming he could be,” she said. “But I warned him I was already a single mother who was currently looking after my kids without any financial support from their father and that I wouldn’t want to make another costly emotional mistake. He was actually

angry at the way I was left virtually holding the babies by my ex and said my ex was a heartless coward who ought to be shot! That he would never abandon any of his kids no matter what.

“After Ted stopped calling when I told him about the pregnancy, I was terrified. How could he do this to me? And after all I’d done for him?

Apart from products he recommended locally, there were some he had to travel abroad to bring.

And he was paid in hard currency. He was generous to me all those

times. :But to now drop me like a hot potato? I feel used and ashamed ... “ She eventually had a little girl and when she was almost one, efforts made by friends and relatives to make Ted acknowledge his daughter finally paid off.

He promised to pay a visit on a Sunday, but before the appointed date, Joyce told me tearfully that a woman called her at home. ‘I’m Ted’s wife’ she said boldly. “I just want to let you know he won’t be visiting your baby.’ She

income stretch as long as it could every month.”

Ted was non-repentant when I eventually ran into him, and confronted him on how he treated Joyce. “What did I do that was wrong?” he wanted to know. “Joyce knew I was married. I never told her I would leave my wife for her. Of course I told her I loved her. We all know that is all you women need to hear before you let a man into your bed! I never had any serious feelings for Joyce and we never discussed my having a child with her.

When my wife heard about it, she was furious - she’d put up with a lot from me and my shenanigans over the years. She wasn’t prepared for any more emotional stress and phoned Joyce herself. I don’t know where she got her number from.

Joyce must have wanted a third child so badly or she would have had an abortion. She should bear full responsibility for her decision .... “

then hung up before I could say a word. What could I say anyway? Ted never bothered to see our daughter after that. The spineless idiot. It was one thing to dump me. But dumping our daughter was unforgivable.

Luckily I was able to track down members of his family. They saw my daughter but that was it.

I was about the fourth woman bearing Ted’s child beside his wife. It was so humiliating. But I don’t regret having this child. Only, single motherhood is so hard I have to make my

08052201867(Text Only)

Science researches Yoga

A

CCORDING to r e s e a r c h

psychobiologist and Iyengar Yoga teacher, Roger Cole, “ yoga and science go together very, very nicely.”

A scientist with a doctorate in Health Ps y c h o l o g y, C o l e ’ s studies involve the interface between physiological and psychological processes, specialising in research and biological relaxation, restoration, and biological clocks.

A gymnast when he was in high school, he has been practising for over 20 years and says that yoga offers “a vast storehouse of wisdom” about the body and mind that modern science can draw upon.

In his work as a res e a r c h e r, C o l e h a s documented the effects of various yoga postures on brain C M Y K

waves particularly relaxation poses such as Viparita Karani (Supported Inverted Pose) and Setubandhasana quickly manifested the data brain waves associated with deep relaxation.

He has also delved into the physiological effect of inverted poses, which he says dramatically affect hormone levels, brain arousal, blood pressure, fluid balance and a host of other factors among other changes.

When the body is turned upside down, the heart rate slows and the blood vessels dilate.

The extra blood in the trunk stimulates the baroreceptor nerves in the aorta and neck, which in turn signals the central nervous system to lower blood pressure and slow down brain waves.

Modern science of-

fers Yoga, Cole says, a precious way of observing and qualifying such subtle phenomena, thereby broadening the body of yogic knowledge. “Some people look at the system of yoga as staticthey think its perfect

N o r t h c o u n t r y Yo ga Studio in San Diego, California, USA. “But yoga is still evolving

When the body is turned upside down, the heart rate slows and the blood vessels dilate. as it is,” says Cole, who teaches at the

and we are still inventing yoga today.

“Science can manipulate matter and energy but it doesn’t discriminate between what is beautiful and sacred and what is not,” he enthuses. “Yoga brings

that beauty, turning our investigation into a living art.”

The shoulder stand Technique: Lying on your back, draw up your knees, and place both hands at the back with the thumbs to the hips.

With a bit of momentum, raise the legs up and point the toes skyward. For the beginner, a half-minute in this posture will do until over the longhaul you can say for upwards of two minutes.

The Bridge Technique: Lying on your back, draw your knees up a bit, placing the hands by the lower flanks

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

9.00am — 10.00am on Saturdays

The Shoulderstand

PAGE 24 — SUND AY Vanguard, NO VEMBER 9 , 2014 SUNDA NOVEMBER bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Would you attend your ex’s wedding even if he behaved like a rat?

W

OULD you attend your ex-husband’s wedding to his new bride even if he’s behaved like a rat? When Agela’s marriage broke down irretrievably some five years ago, she was very bitter that she’d been left to raise their three children as a single parent,. “Until that point,” she recalled, “Uzor was my whole life!

We’d met in our mid 20s, and within a few months, we’d had the traditional wedding and moved in together. Within five years, we had two children. Our third child and only son followed and we rarely argued. We had a registry wedding to make our union legal and Uzor ’s business running a security outfit boomed. When I had my third child, it was agreed I quit teaching so as to be around to see the kids grow. I had a fabric shop that I ran from the house but it wasn’t making that much profit and I became increasingly dependent upon my husband financially and emotionally. Once in a while, the thought crossed my mind that if he ever left me it would be like someone cutting off my right arm. Little did I know how much of a premonition it was.

“One night, eight years ago, I got a phone call from a ‘friend’ who thought I should know Uzor had a second family and the other woman had two kids already. My world came crashing down especially when he didn’t deny it. He was full of as he wept and told me he’d been in love with this other women for a while. I would be the last person to live with a man who professed to be in love with another woman, so I told him to do what he deemed fit. Deluding myself he would stay

with his family, he perfected his get-away for as long as it took him to get an apartment for both of them. It was then I realised there was no future for us as a couple and, for the first time, contemplated a terrifying future as a single mother with my matrimonial home and career long gone. Worst of all, I was now 40. Not much of a ‘catch’ for any new man with my three kids in tow.

“I was boiling mad - too angry and broken to cry.

I was hurt and ashamed.

My self-esteem was gone and the aftermath of that betrayal was horrendous. At first, I waded through the days in a state of complete shock. Then the anger and emotional pain started to take hold as I had to move with the kids to a cheaper accommodation.

Whenever I was on the phone to my husband, I would cry and shout at him and avoid conversations when he came in to hand in fees for the ‘kids’ school.

“It was at this stage that my mum sat me down and warned I should forget being so

bitter and make a choice about how to deal with what had happened, or it was going to eat up my life and harm the children into the bargain. I could choose to let my bitterness and rage rule my thinking and become one of those angry women who are always slagging off their ex and never seem to find any real joy in life any more. Or I could put on a brave face and do what was right for the children while my soul slowly died inside. By keeping anger and hurt hidden, she warned “it would eventually find its way out in the form of illness and depression.

“She then offered a third way out - strive to build a healthy relationship to co-parent my children with Uzor’s husband snatcher who had metaphorically ripped out my heart, then carved it up with a knife for good measure!

Although I was livid with what he’d done, mum made me realise that punishing him was not going to help anyone, particularly our children. After all, they were half of both of us.

If I said bad things about

their dad, that meant I was also attacking half the child. Poor mum, she was one of three wives dad ,married7 she was the first wife. I could now imagine how she could have felt. Welcoming two wives while she stayed put in her matrimonial home. At least I didn’t have to live with the other woman.

“Thanks to mum, I learnt to put myself on what I can only describe as a crash course on how to see myself not as a victim, but as a woman blessed with a chance to start again. I may not have chosen for my family to be broken up in such a painful way, but I realised that the choice of how I deal with the situation was mine. It was tough at times. I had to accept some responsibility for what had happened. Instead of hating my husband for throwing away our relationship for a second family, I tried to see things from his point of view. Obviously, the stress of supporting us all was huge. He was deeply unhappy and just because we had made three beautiful babies together didn’t mean he

to thank the Lord above for blessing me with a lifetime of your tenderhearted love.

Y

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

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

Angel in disguise

I said a little prayer for you

I thanked God for the caring you've shown me through the years, for the closeness we've enjoyed in time of laughter and of tears.

And so, I thank you from the heart for all you've done for me and I bless the Lord for giving me the best mother there could be!

I love you mom with all my heart!

Oluku Innocent

had to spend the rest of his life with me.

Painfully, I began to realise that outside of the children, Uzor and I had very little in common. ,j “Gradually, I started ignoring negative comments and ‘advice’ about my ex (many friends deemed my attitude ‘ weird’) and determined to transform myself from a bitter single mother to someone free to have fun again. Within a few years, I had been on some wonderful dates and realised I could actually enjoy sex more in my 40s than when I was in my 20s. Because I wasn’t bitter about the past and refused to believe all men were untrustworthy, I was complimented on being easy to go out with.

“Of course, it bothered me when Uzor announced shortly after our divorce five years ago. he was getting married. There was definitely flashes of jealousy. But after getting over the initial strangeness of it all I got used to the idea. When I actually got an invitation card for the wedding and I told some of my friends I might attend, they considered it beyond bizarre that I wanted to go to the wedding. I asked, what’s so wrong with being nice to your ex?

When I read about the terrible increase in the number of children who became delinquent due to the stress of divorce, I thank God that I had it in me to be magnanimous and forgive. To put the needs of my children first.

So you are battling through a break-up and want to build a new and healthy relationship with your ex, don’t listen to the people who raise their eyebrows when you

tell them you intend to attend functions with your ex and his wife with coolers packed with steaming delicacies in tow! It’s hard to be a perfect wife and even harder to be a perfect ex - but the rewards are beyond measure!”

His Friends Could Be An Indication Of How Serious He is!

Take a close look at your man’s circle of friends to suss out whether you should get serious or show him the door.

The crucial questions you need to ask are: Does he have an eclectic circle of friends?

Look for a good mix. If some of his friends have coupled off, he probably won’t quake about commitment. And odds are that a man with a few female friends can relate to women on an emotional level. But if he’s chummy with a bunch of Casanovas, he may be cut from the same cloth.

How strong are his bonds? A man who’ll do anything for his friends might seem like a considerate catch, but he may not be willing to break away from his boys to give you the quality time you deserve. : Does he treat them with kindness? Men are naturally competitive and show affection by competitive sports. But beware if he belittles his friends’ achievements behind their backs. Not giving them their due suggests he might not applaud your accomplishments.

How do his friends treat you? If his posse is clued into your vitals (e.g. what you do for a living), it’s a sure sign he is serious. Men don’t reveal their feelings easily, so filling them in, denotes you’re already a part of his life.

profprof2010@yahoo.com

The Best Mother

The sweetest thing is when You hold me in your arms, The sweetest thing is when You kiss me on the cheek, The sweetest thing is when I wake up next to you, But the sweetest thing of all Is that I know you are there To hold me and to kiss me And to tell me that you care!

CENT OBAMA +2348061379003

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 25

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Turkey is Nigeria’s best friend — Ambassador Malamadori A

lhaji Ahmed Abdulhamid Malamadori is the Nigerian Ambassador to Turkey. A 3rd Republic member of the House of Representatives and former Minister for Power under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Malamadori was appointed to his current post by the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua, and is one of the longest serving non-career ambassadors still in service.

He granted this interview, in the presence of a Minister in the Embassy, Mr Edward Sarki, in the serene neighbourhood of Ugur Mumcu’nun Sokagi 56, Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. He spoke to the Deputy Chairman of our Editorial Board and columnist, OCHEREOME NNANNA. Can you tell us the process that led to your being posted here as Nigeria’s ambassador to the Republic of Turkey?

I was appointed Nigeria’s Ambassador to Turkey by the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua in 2008. And I was retained by President Goodluck Jonathan. That makes a two-time tour of duty that has lasted for a little over six years. I came here around April and presented my credence on 16th May 2008.

I was so excited by the enthusiasm shown by the former President of Turkey, Mr Abdallah Gul, to expand the frontiers of relations with Nigeria, especially in the areas of electricity and infrastructure. He saidin whatever way we wanted them to assist they were ready to do so without conditions.

After that I realised that not much was known by the Turkish people about Nigeria.

Most of the time they asked about our footballers. I was keen to ensure they knew about Nigeria beyond football since we have a lot of potentials in Nigeria. We decided to organise a business forum in conjunction with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and also the Investment Promotion Commission headed by Alhaji Mustapha Bello. We did very good programmes in three Turkish

cities; Istanbul, Ankara and Konya. Up to 92 business people came from Nigeria.

We made a lot of presentations about Nigeria with business people from Turkey, who also discussed with their counterparts from Nigeria. That really went a long way in advertising Nigeria. I can tell you that the establishment of the Turkish colleges in Nigeria has really helped a lot. They now have a lot of Turkish colleges, some in the North, some in the South and some in Abuja. We have up to sixteen Turkish colleges and a university, which is called Nigerian Nile University. They also have a hospital; a very good hospital in Abuja which was commissioned by President Goodluck Jonathan in his desire to see that he encourages investment into Nigeria. He has been very helpful in encouraging Turkish people to participate in economic development in Nigeria. Many of them have been given very large parcels of land to establish their businesses. One of them was given over 250 hectares of land in Abuja and they are planning to establish an industrial park. The foundation laying ceremony was done by the Vice President. That is a very good initiative by the Turkish side, and it was encouraged by the President.

Before I came here not many Turkish people travelled to Nigeria. The embassy hardly issued ten visas to Nigeria per month. Today, I am pleased to inform you that we issue an average of 250 visas in a month. Many people are going for tourism, many are going to see the potentials, and many are going to invest in Nigeria. During my time here, our investment volume has risen from $200 million to over $1.5 billion. To me, the Turkish people have shown seriousness to Nigeria more than any other country because they are participating in all aspects of life, including the educational sector, health sector, infrastructure, even in tourism, they are willing to invest and they are very good in that area. I can tell you that Turkish people are doing very well in Nigeria.

Has there been any

*Malamadori ... Not much was known by Turkish people about Nigeria exchange of visits between the leaders of the two countries?

I always feel happy when I remember that during my time, there have been exchanges of visits between Nigeria and Turkey. Former President Abdallah Gul was in Nigeria in 2010, and in 2011, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was in Turkey. Our president’s visit to Turkey has encouraged investors from Turkey to go and participate in Nigerian investment activities.

Can you tell us about the Nigerian community in Turkey? How are they faring? How are they finding this country?

There are a lot of Nigerians in Turkey, and many of them are doing very well. In Istanbul we have a very large number of members of the Nigerian community. They have their association, and they are working together, even assisting the Embassy.

If there is any problem we call

We have very few problems, sometimes with those who are arrested and jailed for some crimes, especially drugrelated offences

them to do one thing or the other even before we get to Istanbul, and the executives of the association are doing very well in that aspect.

There was a little misunderstanding between the community and the Embassy at one time, but we have been able to create understanding between ourselves. They believed that we should be able to extend some welfare in terms of finance for peoplewho are in difficulty. But we had to explain to them our limitations and where we can offer help, and they agreed that there is a limit to what we can do.

We are here for Nigerians, and whatever touches any Nigerian we make sure to help them to either realise their ambitions or get out of whatever situation they may find themselves in. In Ankara and other cities we have the professionals, even university professors like Dr Wilson Eme Wilson. We have a lot of Nigerians in the health sector, agricultural sector and so on.

We have very few problems, sometimes with those who are arrested and jailed for some crimes, especially drugrelated offences. There is quite a number of such people in prison, and we are working, between the two governments, to transfer them to Nigeria to go and finish their term.

How many Nigerians do you have on your record?

You see, sometimes they find it difficult to come and register. So far, we have over 3,000 who have registered, but there are many more who are illegal immigrants who find it difficult to come to the Embassy and register. We are doing our best to sensitise them, enlighten

them on the need to come and register. We do our best to ensure that those who pick up to the courage to register with us, even if they are residing here illegally we help them to regularise their stay.

But when they keep on hiding instead of coming to register, there is very little we can do.

When I was processing my visa at the Turkish Embassy in Abuja for this trip I saw a lot of young Nigerians, which made me realise that a lot of our young people are coming here to further their education. How do you rate the quality of Turkish education, compared to Britain, Canada and the US? How safe is it for with what you are getting you go back to Nigeria. To me, government is making serious efforts to address the problems some of our missions are having. But in terms of neglect, I don’t agree. There is no neglect, especially by this government of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is doing very well to encourage our embassies to function properly.

As we move forward to the general elections, the political temperature is rising in Nigeria, and some people are afraid the nation might break as predicted in some quarters.

What do you say to that?

Nigeria will never break. In every country when it is election time people are going about running each other down, even sometimes sabotaging government to ensure they get into power.But the good thing is that Nigerians believe in Nigeria. And the president has emphasised that the elections will be free and fair,

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 29

POLIOMYELITIS

Nigeria set to quit PAIN nations!

BY SOLA OGUNDIPE

F

IRST it was guineaworm, and then Ebola Virus Disease. Now Nigeria is set to eradicate another debilitating disease – poliomyelitis - in the near future. Make no mistake, the country is still polio endemic and has never completely interrupted the transmission of the wild polio virus, but, in recent times, its polio eradication efforts are yielding consistently low numbers.

For 26 years, the Polio Eradication Initiative, a global anti-polio campaign, has waged war against polio, seeking to make it the second disease in history to be eradicated after smallpox.

That dream may come true sooner than expected because the world is seeing the last days of polio in Nigeria, which is one of the three remaining countries on the planet where the polio virus is still circulating. Other countries are Pakistan and Afghanistan. India, which used to be on the list of the “PAIN” countries, was certified polio free in 2011.

Even as the Sub National Immunisation Days, SNIDs, held November 1-4, 2014, in the northern part of the country using the trivalent oral polio vaccine, supplementary immunisation activities using the inactivated polio vaccine were on simultaneously.

It’s essentially a race against time and Nigeria has its eyes on the prize. Hot on the heels of India and appearing next in line to be certified poliofree, there have only been six cases of the wild polio virus in the country so far in 2014 - a historic low. The most recent case was recorded July 24 in Sumaila Local Government Area of Kano State.

In what is being considered a feat, Nigeria has managed to reduce the number of polio cases by nearly 90 percent in one year. This is a tremendous achievement for a country which – as recently as 2012 – had most polio cases in the world.

Little by little, step by step, Africa’s most populous nation has transformed its fortunes in

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polio eradication from one of detestation to admiration. In a dramatic turn around, the world’s worst polio scenario has became one of the world’s best. Nigeria is now the cynosure of the world.

All eyes are on the country to deliver on the promise of a polio-free generation. Now, the jeers at international fora have turned to applause and appreciation. The veil of shame has been discarded in exchange for the cloak of fame.

In separate chats with Sunday Vanguard, Rotary’s National PolioPlus Chair, Dr. Abdulrahman Olatunji Funsho, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, Chief of Polio Communication, Melissa Corkum, talked about the Rotary funds, World Polio Day and the significant progress in polio eradication in Nigeria and what it takes to finish the job.

“Eradication of polio has been a long journey,” said Funsho, who spoke in Lagos, insisting that even though polio distribution has been limited to a small geographic area, the country cannot afford to be complacent. Admitting the high level of progress, considering the geopolitical spread and number of cases, he recalled that Rotary International conceptualised the idea of polio eradication.

“We started in 1985 when 360,000 cases of polio were being recorded every year.

Now the number has been reduced drastically. As at last year the number of cases reduced to 400 in Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. We have also reduced the type of wild polio virus circulating in the country. We used to have Types 1, 2, and 3, but now, the last of the type 2 was recorded in November 2012, and we are left with just type 3, the PolioPlus Chair stated.

“This is the message. As long as one child has polio anywhere, we are at risk.

Every child under five must have routine immunisation.

Look at India. That country had its last polio case in 2011 and was certified free in 2011 by the WHO. We have learned a number of important

•Funsho ...we can eradicate polio with advocacy lessons, and brought in the requisite expertise, from India. We are also coming up with home-grown innovations based on our experience.

Funsho said the intention is to showcase that the world can eradicate polio with advocacy as the main thrust. “The government has remained on board and we have been able to raise $9.0 billion. It will be our responsibility to keep the polio issue on the front burner so that people do not become complacent. Until the job is done, it is not done. Polio eradication is an expensive effort, but it is a task that must be done,” he remarked.

UNICEF’s Chief of Polio Communication, Corkum, said on this year’s World Polio Day, Nigeria has a lot to celebrate in terms of the progress towards stopping polio transmission which the target this year.

“We have a lot to celebrate in terms of keeping our eyes on the prize. This World Polio Day is an opportunity to draw attention to the fact that although we

are very close, we have not finished the job yet. We cannot afford to take our foot off the accelerator; all of us need to double our efforts to ensure every child is reached during the upcoming polio campaign that will have to continue into 2015”, she stated. Expressing cautious optimism, Corkum remarked: “We have made a lot of progress over the last few years and particularly over the past year and a half improving the quality of our campaign and focusing on the high risk areas. But this is the most critical part of the programme and the eyes of the world are on Nigeria to deliver not just a poliofree nation, but a poliofree Africa.

Nigeria has its eyes on the prize of elimination of polio - this is the most critical part of the programme, because the stakes are so high.

“We have witnessed smart progress in the fight against polio and that makes us more optimistic than ever before that we are

This is the message. As long as one child has polio anywhere, we are at risk.

Every child under five must have routine immunisation

gaining an upper hand against the virus. And all crucial stakeholders including Rotary International have played a critical role in enabling us reach where we are. We cannot afford complacency; we really need to continue the way we have been doing, and intensify the more to ensure all the gaps are filled. Until all the bottlenecks in our way in reaching the children are addressed, we cannot be complacent.”

According to the UNICEF chief, one of the things that happened with India was that the government put its resources into polio eradication. “Nigeria is putting resources into the eradication too, but the government should be in the driver’s seat. The establishment of Emergency Operations Centres in Nigeria over the years also helped drive the state and national emergency plans and putting in place stringent measures to act against poor performance.

Lessons from the Emergency Operations Centre, EOC, teams, helped in setting up the Ebola emergency operation centres.

“The lessons from polio put a stop to Ebola. We put into action the experience from the India specifically at the microplanning stage, intensified and focused on health communication at the lower level where focus is on the grassroots and government taking ownership. Polio has to remain a priority of the government.

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 31

PAGE 32 — SUNDAY, Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Olushola Adebule celebrates 80 in style .

F

amily and friends had a jolly good time at the th 80 birthday party of Mrs Olushola Adebule recently. The Anglican Archbishop of Lagos West, Reverend (Dr) Adebayo Akinola conducted the service at Bishop Adelakun Howells Memorial Church, Surulere, Lagos. The jolly party then followed in the church hall.

L-R; Rev. Canon Chris Osunkoya; the celebrant; Rev Adebayo Akinola, Anglican Archbishop of Lagos West and Rev Segun Osifeso.

Elizabeth Egberongbe laid tto o rest Celebrant, Mrs Olushola Adebule, cutting her cake.

Celebrant with family and brother, Mr Gbolabo Ogunsanwo.

Celebrant, dancing with some members of Queen's School, Ede Old Girls, Mrs Ronke Fetugha and Mrs Theodora Lardner.

Celebrant with children (L-R): Segun with wife, Morin; celebrant, and daughter, Bukky with husband, Mr Chris Oshewolo.

Seun and Daniel

M

emorial service held for late M.I.C. Elizabeth Aina Egberongbe (nee Abiona) who passed away on August 24, 2014, at the Celestial Church of Christ, Alpha-Omega parish, Afromedia, Lagos. The deceased was committed to mother earth on August 26, 2014.

Husband of the deceased, Mr. S.S. Egberongbe and children

F

ormer Miss Seun Orilabawaye and Daniel Udeme consummated their Holy union on October 18, 2014 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Apapa, Lagos. Friends and their families graced the special occasion.

The couple, Mr and Mrs Daniel Udeme with their relations

The bride, Mrs Seun Udeme with a friend, Glory Amadi C M Y K

L-R: Mr. S.S. Egberongbe, Daniel Egberongbe, (behind); Tope Egberongbe and Joshua Egberongbe

The couple, Mr and Mrs Daniel Udeme after the church rites

L-R: Navy Commander Koledoye (rtd) and Mr Fashina

SUNDAY, Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9 2014, PAGE 33

Agura of Gbagura mar ks 34th yyear ear on thr one marks throne

T

th he Agura of Gbagura, a kingdom in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Oba Halidu Laloko, has marked 34 year on the throne of his forefathers. The celebration which took place at his palace in Gbagura, Abeokuta, was marked with special Islamic prayers and lecture. Other royal fathers were present to celebrate with him. Photos by Wumi Akinola

Professor Kamalideen Balogun, delivering a lecture.

L-R: Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, Alake of Egbaland, Oba & Olori Halidu Laloko, Agura of Gbagura (celebrant) and Oba Adisa Akindele, Olu Ilupeju, Oke-Odo Abeokuta

Cross section of Egba Muslim High Chiefs at the event.

R-L: Oba Halidu Laloko, Agura of Gbagura, Oba Adedotun Gbadebo, Alake of Egbaland and Oba Onijaye of Ijaye.

Wife of Ogun State Dep. Go ward Govv. bags a aw

W

ife of Deputy Govenor of Ogun State, Mrs Funmilayo Adesegun has been honoured with an award of excellence for her commitment to women development.

Wife of the Dep. Gov of Ogun State, Her Excellency Mrs Olufunmilayo Adesegun, displaying her award of excellence in committment to women development.

Special Senior Apostle A.G.W. Moneke presenting award to Her Excellency Mrs Olufunmilayo Adesegun, while Funmi Ajumobi and church Elders watch.

Past or Bennie Ogbomo mar ks bir thda astor marks birthda thdayy

P

astor Bennie Ogbomo, a Senior Pastor of Bennie Sisters Outreach, an outreach that takes care of widows and the less privileged celebrated her birthday at the church premises.

R-L: Nat. Director of Women Group of OAK, Pastor (Mrs) Toyin Oluitan, church Elders and other women executives.

At the UN Day celebrations in Alvan Ikoku FCE, Owerri last week.

Pastor Bennie Ogbomo cuting her birthday cake with members and beneficiaries of her women empowerment programme.

Pastor Bennie Ogbomo , making a speech at her birthday.

C M Y K

Pastor Bennie Ogbomo giving some food items to orphanage homes

From Left: ABC Duruaku, Mrs. Ada Aguta (Registrar), Dr. (Mrs.) Blessing Ijioma (Provost), Dr. G.N Okere (Deputy Provost), Mr. A.O. Nzelum (Librarian) and Mrs Uzoma Ihedirinma-Abudu

PAGE 34—SUNDAY Vanguard,NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Njideka AkunyiliCrosby: Chimamanda of the art world?

‘Chinua Achebe opened the doors for many people, not just writers’

Y

ou might not have heard about her, but Nigerian born, U.S -based artist Njideka AkunyiliCrosby has been described by CNN “as one of New York’s most promising new talents”. In pop culture parlance, Njideka is the next big thing in the ART world.

I had sought an interview with her in February 2013 but somehow it didn’t work out. So when Victor Ehikhamenor, award winning visual artist and writer – who was in town for the FRIEZE ART FAIR Week and 1.54 African Art Fair - invited me to Tafeta Gallery in Central London, my joy knew no bounds when I met Njideka there. Pronto an interview appointment was fixed for the next day.

A Yale University MFA graduate, her works sold out in the 2012 Arts Basel - the number one fair for modern and contemporary art in the world.

She has also participated in a year-long residency with the prestigious Studio Harlem in New York. Let’s skip the introduction and allow you to dig into this exclusive interview with this brilliant artist who Ehikhamenor describes as the “Chimamanda Of the Art World”. Another exclusive interview onwww.samumukoro.com You left Nigeria at 16 and you wanted to become a doctor.

When did you decide to become an artist?

It was a smooth transmission and I still ended up graduating with biology major. I took my first art class, the second semester of my first year; after that, I took one or two art classes every semester, so I ended up as a double major.

Majoring in art wasn’t really a choice, it was more of I had taken enough classes that I could major in it. Then after I graduated, I took the year off and went back to Nigeria to do the compulsory National Youth Service Corps and that was my

year to really think and make a decision, that was my crossroads moment and I knew I could go either way and it was a lot of weighing where I wanted to go. I loved doing art more; it didn’t seem like work when I was doing it. When you do what you love, it would never feel like work. That choice felt more relevant, more important like there was more of a stake to it, than doing medicine, and of course I didn’t want to go into a “medicine bashing thing” - I was very sick in grad school and doctors saved my life, so medicine is fantastic.

Why was it a defining moment for you?

Just talking about feeling the urgency to do art or feeling like this seems important right now is going back to the conversation we had earlier about it’s hard to want to do the things you can’t see . The first time I really thought I could be an artist was through my professor in undergrad, seeing an artist who was living as an artist, teaching art classes, very happy with his life, very contented very smart, very engaged with his work, making very compelling interesting

work and it was something I wasn’t aware of. Of course there had been very interesting artists working in Nigeria for years, the Nsukka group including El Anatsui, but I wasn’t privy to that world and I think a lot of people were not and are not; so just in my mind, art wasn’t

something visible, my vision of an artist wasn’t the reality of it. I also felt that there were many people doing non-conventional things. It was at a time when I was hearing of more people going into the creative field, more people choosing to pursue music, more people choosing to pursue dance, and art and curating and writing and fashion and event planning, things I never heard of when I was young. When I was young, people will say what do you want to do? and you will say you want to be an events planner. The answers were very rigid and then there were all these people challenging what had been the norm and I felt like I wanted to be part of that exciting change; that’s part of why I made that decision.

Did your parents at any time oppose your choice of career?

They didn’t oppose it but I think they questioned it and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. When I have kids, I think it will be okay for me to question the choices they make, especially if they aren’t part of my world, or things I have no idea about. I think when parents challenge, it comes from a place of love and I remember reading something once. There was a guy who gave a graduation speech and he was giving life lessons. I stopped for a second because it wasn’t one of the clichés; it was something I had never heard before. It was ‘ your parents don’t always want what’s best for you and that made you stop’. Why

*Art work that tells story

Continues on page 35

SUNDAY Vanguard,NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 35

Continued from page 34 won’t they want what’s best for you? And then the next sentence is ‘they want what is safe for you’ or something like that. So it just explains that parents are worried because they go before the kids and they want to know that, when they leave, you won’t suffer, you’ll be comfortable. That is why parents push for safe things.

When they push you to do medicine, they are sure you will get a job and you won’t suffer. With art, it’s very unpredictable and that’s where the challenge comes from.

There’s a lot of family in your drawings and paintings.

How does this personal narrative influence your visual narrative?

I relate that to when writers say write what you know. It is painting what I know and there is a lot of intimacy in my work. I want you to feel; it’s about trying to maybe envelope someone into a domestic space.

Intimacy to come across, it has to be sincere, it is hard for me to make an intimate work if I’m making images of people I don’t know or care about. So making images of people I know and love and have known for years helps push that for me and it really goes back to what I am doing. A lot of it is trying to put my finger on the Nigeria I grew up in, thinking of Nigeria in the mid-eighties, early nineties. I’m thinking of the change from that to the Nigeria of now and it makes sense to do it through the lens of me because I lived in it and the other people who lived in it with me like my siblings.

I’m glad that you brought that up. Your work captures intimate and sensual situations. What role does your husband play in this creative process?

He is quite involved in the work. He has a really good eye, he’s a very good critic and I run a lot of things with him. A lot of artists do it; a lot of times we have studio visits, we have critics coming in and they give you feedback because you’re in this little room for hours every day working. After a point, you don’t see the work anymore, you’re so close to it same way a writer will give a friend or an editor a manuscript to read and they come back and they give you feedback. So I will text him pictures of things in progress and he will give me feedback.

‘No, take that green out, that orange doesn’t match that’. So he’s very helpful. But his aesthetic is very different from mine. When we started dating or when I first started doing art, my colors were very limited. I did a lot of round based paintings and he’s a very colorful person; sounds weird but he loves a lot of colors. He is very into urban culture and street art. And just like influence of street art, he’s very into bright oranges, turquoise.

Being with him, I’ve started buying into that urban aesthetic and my colors have become brighter and bolder.

Do your loyalties to Nigeria and your American husband create a contradiction to your

‘Chinua Achebe opened the doors for many people, not just writers’

*UP AND DOWN: Visual narratives works?

Somewhat…

How? No, I think what it is, is trying to negotiate both, trying to find the in between space or the space where I can straddle both cultures. It is a story of contemporary Africans, especially people of my generation scattered throughout the globe in the UK, in America, in Cuba, in India. How do we maintain our identity as proud Nigerians and also integrate into the new society we find ourselves in,to create this new hybrid identity?

There is this Ghanaian cultural critic who wrote a beautiful essay on “Cosmopolitanism”.

His whole thesis is that cosmopolitanism is actually not about a melting pot; people think it’s about all these cultures coming together and melting to be one thing, whereas it is more about difference existing next to difference, but maintaining their differences.

That is what I’m fascinated about. And it’s the story of contemporary cosmopolitan Africans. How do you exist as a Nigerian in America or in the UK or a Kenyan in South Africa? Just as the world is globalizing and all these movements are happening, there are more and more people in those situations and my work exists on that. And so I am just thinking of myself as a Nigerian and also an American not only through me having an American citizenship but also with my marriage-which has further rooted me to the country-how do these two differences exist alongside each other and trying to explore that with the work?

Even Chimamanda spoke about the danger of a single story. I mean that is something that was very dear to Achebe, his insistence on us telling our story, otherwise other people would tell it to you and it would be a single story, so you complicate it by you telling your own side. I think writers are doing that. I’d like to think all the other creative people are doing it.

The attention that is coming to the Nigerian fashion industry introduces a different part of the country to the rest of the world with interest that comes to Nigeria.

From Fela to the new school people like D’Banj and then the complexity of Nigeria begins to materialize; that’s why I feel connected with literature. I feel like even though we are all doing different things, there is a connection in terms of what we are doing. What that draws me to literature is this borrowing of tradition from somewhere. Chinua Achebe wrote in this language (English) that wasn’t his, he inherited it but he was able to take that language and use it to talk about the experience of the place the language is not

Literature coming out of Nigeria and Africa plays a major role in your work.

Can you name the writers that have influenced you?

[Laughs]. Definitely Chinua Achebe and Chimamanda Adichie. Of course, there are other people. I was talking to someone recently about a book I had heard a lot about growing up but didn’t read it untill recently, Nervous Conditions, by TsitsiDangarembga. It was fantastic. But Achebe opened the doors for so many people not just writers. There is a Nigerian curator, Okwui Enwezor, who talks about Chinua Achebe as being important to him, because he[Enwezor] does a lot of promotion of artists of African descent and I know he gets questioned by people on why is it always about people of Africa and all that, that he promotes. B ut I went for a lecture he gave once and he said nobody ever spoke about people like Andy Warhol who devote their lives to just one artist. He brought up Achebe and talked about this urgency again. He explained that if he doesn’t do it, who will?, and it just seems relevant for him.

So I think Achebe did that for everyone.

from. I think the way he was able to do it actually has to do with things he was doing in terms of structure and formal decisions he was making with the language to make that happen. Achebe has the quote that I love but it’s Achebe quoting Baldwin. He said, ‘English when altered can be made to bear the weight of my African experience. ‘ I really love that because I feel the parallel. My arts training was in America, the Pennsylvania academy which is very rigid. It is like how do I take this tradition that I’ve now inherited and use it to talk about a place that this tradition is not linked to?

How do I alter it to make it bear the burden of this other experience? That is where the experimenting and collating and all those things are coming from. Like how do I break it open and make it do something else? It’s is also still evident on where the tradition comes from.

Why do you combine different materials in your work?

I combine different materials because it’s very interesting when work is made that way.

Looking at your creative process, what would you say is the most difficult part?

The beginning. You obviously don’t want to repeat yourself, you have to come up with something, but it’s like your work is one long continuous conversation, so you don’t want to repeat yourself. It is complicated, because it’s like you have this quest you’re on and you never quite feel you’ve got it because once you have, you are done. So you’re like that dog, digging and digging .

It’s the same area you are digging in but it has to be different. The other side is multi-facet. With each piece, I’m looking at a different facet of a convoluted shape. It is like where do I scan to next because different pieces focus on different things?. But then, just something simple, like what is the image I want to do next?

Do I want to do a group scene? Do I want a single person, two people, is it inside? That takes a lot of time and that work isn’t immediately apparent in the word because all of those decisions require research.

So when I go on, the next two weeks would just be research.

I don’t have my Ipad with to show you a picture but then I have a picture here to show you an idea of how much work goes into it and then, once that’s done, at this point I start working and I have to prepare my paper. The next step has to do with color but the color stuff I can figure out as I’m working.

PAGE 36 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

*One of the villages in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State razed

For a few seconds, shut your eyes and imagine living outside your country and suddenly, you receive a call that almost all your male relations have been wiped out and you no longer have a village to go back to. Your entire village, the place of your birth, has been razed, leaving desolation all around.... Unimaginable!!

But this is the story of Mrs Liyatu Simon Tawasu, a Nigerian who lives in faraway Australia. For a moment, her life seemed to come to a standstill when she received the news that her beloved village, Gwallam in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State had been razed and many killed, including her brother and uncles.

Fifteen men murdered in cold blood! She narrates her story to Sunday Vanguard.

Excerpts: Phone Call: According to Mrs. Liyatu Tawasu, it was on Wednesday, October 1, 2014 that she got a shocking phone call from her sister, who is also living in Australia, informing her that the Boko Haram insurgents went to their village, Gwallam in Hawul Local Government Area of Borno State and burnt down the village to ashes.

As if that was not enough, the heartless insurgents, as has been their practice in many towns and villages, called out their uncles and shot them while forcing their wives to watch as their beloved husbands were being murdered in cold blood.

Not yet done, they seized her only brother, Yohanna and his friends, tied them up and asked them to burn the village church. They refused and

BY ISHOLA BALOGUN

D

iare Michael Etsede, a 32 year- old War ri, Delta State born businessman is in pain, atrophying by the day.

He is bed-ridden with a lifethreatening kidney ailment for which he needs N6million for kidney transplant in order to live to tell his story. His worsening plight has become a source of worry for his only aged father, Pa Emmanuel Etsede.

Since Diare was struck by a renal disease about a year ago,

GRISLY TALE FROM ABROAD

‘Women forced to watch as Boko Haram killed husbands’

,

By Ebele Orakpo

My brother and his two friends, who were tied to the tree, were later killed. My father is still alive because he was away in Kano when this happened *Liyatu Tawasu... no one can quantify my anguish this further infuriated the terrorists.

Why they (terrorists) did not want to burn the church by themselves, nobody knows.

,

One of Yohanna’s friends saw an opportunity to outsmart the terrorists and save his life.

He asked them to untie him so he could go and set the church

ablaze.

They quickly obliged him. He was untied and he went towards the church, pretending to go and burn it down; that was how he escaped.

“My brother and his two friends, who were tied to the tree, were later killed.

My father is still alive because he was away in Kano when this happened.

My brother, Yohanna, the only male child of my father, is gone, died in the hands of vicious group called Boko Haram. My beloved village, Gwallam, has been turned into ashes.

The pillars of the village are gone, and my brother taken,” she lamented.

For days, bodies of the dead littered the ground until the old

*Yohanna ... murdered in his prime women went back to the village to bury their loved ones.

“Right now, Gwallam is still a ghost town as the inhabitants are not yet back to the village, for fear of being killed,” said Liyatu.

“The barbaric action of Boko Haram is getting out of hand. One of my uncles that lost his life, his eldest brother was killed in 2001 when Reinhard Bonke went to Kano. Their aged mother lost two of her sons to extremists. She is left with two daughters-in-law who are now widows.

“When I think of all these, I can only shed tears inside, but I always wish to voice out loudly.

I am a victim; no one can quantify my anguish. I am in a society where I cannot scream, shout, and mourn as an African woman.”

Man needs N6m to live Aged dad appeals to Uduaghan

he has been moved from one hospital to another and now, his chance of survival hangs in the balance with a weekly dialysis to the rescue.

According to the medical report signed by Dr. Bomi-Omowo T. Omade for the Medical Director,Gbagada General

Hospital and made available to Saturday Vanguard, Diare was admitted into the Hospital several weeks ago and being managed for Chronic Kidney disease. “He had two sessions of haemodialysis done while on admission but subsequently were hampered due to financial

constraints.”

Not ready to leave things to chances, his only parent, Pa Etsede, a 75-year-old retiree stormed Vanguard premises to seek for assistance of well meaning Nigerians and the governor of Delta State, (his home state) in order to raise funds for a kidney transplant.

Pa Etsede said: “My son, Diare has

Continued from page 37

Etsede...needs help

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 37

CONFESSION OF STUDENT-CULTIST

‘Our mandate is to fight injustice’

By Wole Mosadomi,

M

innaA 500- level computer science student

of Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna and nine others have been arrested by the Niger State Police Command for alleged cultism.

The suspects were said to have been caught with pistols and other dangerous weapons.After preliminary investigations by the police, sources said seven of the suspects were screened out, leaving three out of which two are students of FUT, Minna.They include the 500- level computer science student and another 200level student.The trio, according to the police, belong to NeoBlack Movement (NBM) a.k.a Black Axe.

*The suspects with arms allegedly recovered from them

The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Olusola Amore, said 10 suspects were arrested after a tip off by members of the public at RafinYashi while planning to initiate new members.He said two locally made pistols, three live ammunition 9mm caliber, three axes and three pairs of fraternity uniforms were recovered at the spot of their arrest.

The 500-level student, who claimed to be the leader of the gang, said he was initiated into the gang four years ago to fight injustice and

oppression in FUT, Minna and also get connected.”I have been in this gang for four years, but I have never fought against any form of injustice because our school, FUT, Minna, is calm. My parents are in Lagos and still together but they are not aware that I am in this problem. In fact, I am regretting being in this mess,” the self-confessed cult member said.On his advice to other students, he said,” I don’t advise even my enemy to belong to this gang because there is nothing to gain from it. I personally am regretting now.

Cultism is not good”. Tears rolled down his cheek as he spoke.On whether he knew of other members, he simply said,”I am about to graduate; so I don’t know of other members.”

2,500 herbal medicines for DNA test

By Favour Nnabugwu

O

ver 2,500 herbal medicines, also called botanical medicine, are undergoing deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA, barcoding to confirm their curative claims.

The usage of seeds, berries, roots, leaves, bark or flowers plants extracts to treat disease in Nigeria will henceforth be tested for safety, dosage and accuracy through DNA. Prof Sunday Thomas, DirectorGeneral of Sheda Science & Technology Complex (SHESTECO), during stakeholders’ seminar on DNA based authentication of raw processed herbal medicines and drugs in Nigeria, said the DNA had become necessary to confirm the claims of herbal medicine practitioners who boast that one medicine can cure all kinds of diseases.

Thomas, in an interview with Sunday Vanguard, said the DNA was important, especially to confirm the claim of herbal medicines to curing several diseases.

The DNA barcoding uses stateof-the-art biotechnology to identify plant material based on short, standardized gene sequences, in a rapid, accurate

Continued from page 36 been on bed since last year. We didn’t know we were treating a different thing until we discovered that he has kidney disease. We have been going from one hospital to another until we got a referral to Gbagada General hospital, Lagos, where he has been placed on dialysis.

The dialysis was initially meant for three times in a week with a cost of about N30,000 to N40,000 but since we could not cope financially, and after further

and cost-effective manner.

“Practitioners of traditional medicine claim to be able to cure various and diverse conditions such as cancers, psychiatric disorders, high blood pressure, cholera, venereal diseases, epilepsy, asthma, eczema, fever, anxiety, depression, benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary tract infections, gout, and healing of wounds and burns”, the SHETESCO boss said Defining DNA barcoding, he said it was the foremost method to authenticate processed plant products such as herbal preparations, alternative medicines, and tea blends. His words: “DNA barcoding reliably identifies most plant fragments to species level. It can even be used to differentiate between very closely related species.

“DNA barcoding is crucial in detecting unlisted species being used as fillers. Systematic DNA barcoding of batches of raw herbal ingredients can verify species identity and prevent harmful substitution”, Thomas added.

Prof Peter Onyenekwe, a toxicologist, explained that the stakeholders meeting targeted experts contribution towards the realization of the objective of the

project which is barcoding of herbal drugs, a systematic way of identifying the major constituents of a herbal drug.

“Herbal practitioners use different kinds of herbs; mix them up so they can claim that what is on the label is what is contained in its content. The new

‘This will enable anybody selling any herbal drug to know that if the drug is found not to contain what is on its label, he will answer for it’

technology, DNA analysis, will detect the different plants contained in a particular drug”, Onyenekwe stated.

“That will allow people to buy what they actually asked for, not just because you know that this particular plant can cure diabetes

and so on, people will just take anything and consume”.

“This will enable anybody selling any herbal drug to know that if the drug is found not to contain what is on its label, he will answer for it. So, everybody will be conscious of what he is selling when he packages his drug. If anybody claims the drug cures A, B, C, D, one can be sure that it indeed cures A, B, C, D”.

President of National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medicine Practitioners, NANTMP, Dr Thomas Omon Oleabhiele, who supported the DNA authentication move, said it will help sift the weed from the shaft “It is the best thing to happen in this country. DNA is very important because it will eradicate adulteration and upgrade traditional medicine and everyone will be proud to make use of it as they will know the formula has been authenticated and it is very good”, he said.

The NANTMP president, however, regretted that the country was fast losing its curative herbs due to deforestation.

“The deforestation in Nigeria, which is very alarming,

Aged dad appeals to Uduaghan examination, we were advised to do it five times in a month. The investigation showed that one of the kidneys is bad and urgent steps must be taken to correct the anomaly lest it affects the other.

I cannot cope financially now, and his condition is deteriorating.”

He stated further: “The medical advice we have now is to go for a transplant which will cost about N6million. That is why I have

come to Vanguard to appeal to Nigerians for help.”

Pa Etsede who retired as an oil worker several years ago said he lost his wife 18 years ago, adding that the fear of losing his son to renal disease was too harrowing to contemplate. According to him, the procedure will cost N6million in France. “ we have started talking with one hospital in France, and one of his brothers has agreed to donate a kidney if

necessary and once the money is available. I want people to help me, I am particularly appealing to my amiable governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State and other good spirited Nigerians to come to my aid, so that Diare can live.”

Cash payment can be channelled into his bank account with the following details: Emmanuel Oris Etsede, 0000060438, Union Bank. Telephone: 08029763528.

is having adverse effect on traditional medicine”.

He also said traditional herbal practitioners need intervention fund to enable them plant medicinal herbs.

“Traditional medicine practitioners should be given loans to enable them establish farms where they can operate in a mechanised manner ”, Oleabhiele added.

Dr Andrew Iloh, the Project Manager, said the limitation of DNA was that it is expensive “If your formulation is very good, you need to protect it because somebody else can copy it based on your own reputation.

Hence the authentication has the value of identifying exactly what you have there, not in the quantity because that is your formulation which is known to you; so it helps authenticate your product; it is just like a fingerprint”, Iloh said.

“Presently, we have about a thousand plants already documented of different species from different families. We still need to collect more and develop our DNA library.

“Medicinal plants contain numerous biologically active compounds such as carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, fats and oils, minerals, vitamins, terpenoids flavenoids, carotenoids, sterols, simple phenolic glycosides, tannins, saponins, polyphenols, to mention few which have medicinal activities”.

Consequently, stakeholders in traditional medicine practice in Nigeria, including NAFDAC, the Nigeria Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development, NIPRD, and the National Association of Nigerian Traditional Medical Practitioners, NANTMP, called for the institutionalization of traditional medicine into mainstream healthcare delivery systems to tackle deadly diseases.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

BOSUN EMMANUEL AUDIO CD:

Voice of Christian Martyrs replies Lai Mohammed

By SAM EYOBOKA & OLAYINKA LATONA

A

NON-PROFIT and interdenominational organization, Voice of the Christian Martyrs Nigeria has taken a swipe at comments credited to the All Progressives Congress, APC, Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed over an audio CD by one Pastor Bosun Emmanuel to a Christian community, saying the APC reaction was misleading, unfair and undemocratic.

In his reaction to General Overseer, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye's statement addressed to members of his church, Lai Mohammed said: "We in the APC are delighted at the GO’s prompt action and statement that the RCCG did not endorse divisive comments in any form or shape, that it has sons and daughters in all political parties, and that the allegations contained in the audio CD are wickedly false, unsubstantiated, ill-conceived and mischievous.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos, the director of Voice of the Christian Martyrs Nigeria, a group with a vision for aiding Christians who are being persecuted for their faith in Christ, fulfilling the Great Commission, and educating the world about the ongoing persecution of Christians, Pastor Isaac Newton-Wusu condemned the statement, which he said was intended to distract well-meaning Nigerians from the truth.

Ethno-religious animosity Expressing dismay at the security situation in the North East, Pastor Newton-Wusu who was flanked by three Christian leaders from the troubled region including Gombe State CAN secretary, Rev. Samuel Bulus, Rev. Daniel Dogo Awayi from Yobe State and one of the celebrated victims of Boko Haram attacks, Brother Habila Adamu, urged Nigerian leaders to rise above ethnoreligious animosity and prevent the nation from being torn apart.

On the Chibok School Girls abducted on April 14, 2014, Pastor Newton-Wusu frowned at the inability of the nation’s leaders to secure their freedom, adding “our leaders should stop creating state of chaos to advance their religious and political agenda. The government and the oppositions must wake up and act now. Those canvassing for a truce with

terrorists must equally be terrorists.”

The VCM helmsman responding the Alhaji Mohammed’s reaction to a letter which was credited to the G.O. of RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adeboye on the issue, “expressed our dissatisfaction about the purported statement which we consider misleading, unfair, and undemocratic. We condemn it as it is aimed at distracting well meaning Nigerians from the truth that would help build our nation.

“Serious issues that affect Nigeria were revealed in the message and Pastor Bosun Emmanuel has the right to express his apprehension about issues that affect Christianity, more so, considering the lethal persecution of Christians in the northern parts of the country. Christians need no instructions from Lai Mohammed on how reasonable people should cast their votes.

Nigeria of today is supposed to be a democratic state that guarantees freedom of expression, free thinking and belief, a free country where people have the right to say yes to their fellow men or even no to God. “If the All Progressive Congress is truly a democratic party, it should never be afraid of an individual’s opinion.

Nobody stops the movement of the winds. The Nigerian constitution guarantees every citizen right to believe what he/she wants to believe in and join any political party of his/her choice, nobody should be hunted or persecuted because of what he/she believes in or not.”

Continuing, he said Mr. Lai Mohammed is not the spokesperson of Pastor Adeboye and he does not have the right to come out and tell Christians what Pastor Adeboye has to say about the free speech of Pastor Bosun Emmanuel.

“With due respect, I believe Pastor Adeboye has a platform where he addresses members of his denomination. Lai Mohammed should steer clear of Christian affairs. If Pastor

*L-R: Rev. Daniel Dogo Awayi (Yobe State), Pastor Isaac Newton-Wusu, Brother Habila Adamu and Gombe State CAN secretary, Rev. Samuel Bulus at the Media conference.

Adeboye wants to pass instruct- inclusive party or what is it? the North East, but now ions to members of the RCCG, How does Mr. Lai Mohammed captured by the Boko Haram.

Mr. Lai Mohammed should not want to describe a party which If Mubi cannot be protected, be the messenger. We have at its inception, nearly all its nowhere is protected. enough of Christian blood national principal officers being shed on daily basis belonged to only one religion? across the Northern Nigeria. Is that a balanced and all Prosperity rooted in peace We respect Pastor Adeboye, a inclusive party?

On the alleged insinuation profound Christian leader, He also alleged that Christwhose messages have changed that Pastor Bosun’s message is many lives and brought hope capable of inciting Christians ians are being used as human to millions of people around the against Muslims, Mr. Lai shield by the Boko Haram world. Lai Mohammed’s res- Mohammed is being eco- insurgents, noting that innoponse on statements credited nomical with the truth. On the cent women are abducted while to Dr. Adeboye does not hold contrary, he is the person young men are forcefully in a free country where all men seeking to incite Muslims recruited to join the insurgents.

He therefore appealed to stand for freedom of conscience against the Christians. “We suggest that he should go and church leaders, to stand up to and justice. listen again to the message. If save lives now. “Our mission the CD was meant to incite is on ground in Yola providing Partisan anybody, Nigerian Christians food and medicals to brothers politics should have been on the streets and sisters who need our help by now. That message was now. We ask Christian univer“However, we want to state calling Christians to prayers sities to help these children that that Nigerian Christians are and revival of the Church lost one or both parents due to citizens of Nigeria just like their worldwide, the Church advo- the persecution of Christians in Muslim counterparts. Nobody cates peace and not war. northern Nigeria. should use partisan politics to CAN Scribe for Gombe State, “I challenge Lai Mohammed divide the body of Christ that to rise as a good Muslim, Rev. Samuel Bulus appealed to has suffered so much in this including his party, to put an Christians across the country country. If Lai Mohammed end to this carnage ravaging especially in the South West wants Christians to vote for his the Nigerian nation, rather should come to the aid of their political party then, APC than raising issues with a persecuted counterparts in the should go back to its drawing godly pastor like Bosun Emma- North East, saying "prosperity board and create a proper nuel, whom I know can never is rooted in peace and without balance in the be purchased to be mischiev- peace there cannot be true party. Chief ous. Christian and Moslem prosperity."

O l u s e g u n leaders have equal rights to Pastor Daniel Dogo Awayi of Obasanjo and contest or follow political Yobe State tearfully articulated many other rea- parties of their choice as equal the position of Northern sonable and citizens of Nigeria. If Christians Eastern Christians, calling on well meaning are concerned about the different denominational Nigerians have structure of any political party, leaders in the country to rise suggested this. they have the right to raise the up to the challenge of inThe party apprehension,” he insisted. surgency in the country beshould create a Emphasizing that Pastor cause the insurgents will stop political plat- Bosun cannot be wrong in his at nothing to carry out their form that takes assessment of APC, because a vision of islamising the nation. into consider- former president, Chief Olu"I call on our leaders who are ation all the segun Obasanjo, also recently currently sleeping to wake up various groups cautioned APC about its strong now to avoid the ugly future in the nation Islamic postures, the VCM and teach their members on rather than director said APC and Lai their responsibilities in the face drag the Chur- Mohammed should go and of insurgnecy," he noted, ch into its poli- take corrective measures and adding that "if you meet any tical mud,” he reassure Nigerians that they are Christian from the North East stated. not seeking to create a party for now, you will discover that he Noting that the Islamic Brotherhood in is already traumatised because all the APC Nigeria. Nigeria is a multi- whenever he goes ti bed, he is governors in religious and multi-cultural not sure of seeing the next day." the South West nation. Every serious minded Habiba Adamu, who survived geo-political political party must strive to gunshot wounds because he region, are reflect the various diversities in refused to convert to Islam. Still M u s l i m s , the nation if it wants a broad carrying relics of several wondering how based support. surgical operations done on Mr. Lai MohaHe maintained that those can- him, appealed to Christians in mmed wants vassing for truce with terrorists the South to acknowledge the such a party to must equally be terrorists, ordeal they are passing be described? pointing out that multi-million through now and assist them.

Is that an all naira weapons were moved to

I challenge Lai Mohammed to rise as a good Muslim, including his party, to put an end to this carnage ravaging the Nigerian nation, rather than raising issues with a godly pastor like Bosun Emmanuel

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 39

God obeys God’s command to love his neighbour. The man who loves God takes good care of his wife. But he does this because of his love for God, and not because of his love for his wife.

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Battle royal I never imagined there would be conflict between my love for my wife and my new-found love for God. How wrong that proved to be. The love of God is very exacting. It is an all-ornothing love. Jesus would not tolerate my great devotion for my wife; and my wife soon had issues with my passion for God. I expected the Lord to be the prince of peace in my home.

Instead, he deliberately instigated conflicts between my wife and me.

For instance, he once said to me: “Femi, I don’t want you to speak to anybody else but me for the next three days.” Of course, I had to alert my wife about this. As can be expected, she was not amused. “How can God say that?” she complained.

“Doesn’t he know you are married?”

Undivided heart

LOVING GOD AND HATING MY WIFE The fact that I am married is precisely why he said it. “The LORD tests the heart.” (Proverbs 17:3). He wants to know who we love. Jesus asked Peter: “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

(John 21:15). I was caught between two implacable lovers; with neither prepared to yield.

The battles for my affections were not only ferocious, they were relentless.

Prince of sword Jesus says: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.

I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:34-36).

The same dynamic applies to a man and his wife. When a man who loves his wife meets the Lord, the Lord will set his wife against him. Husbands and wives don’t start at the same level of faith, and this is often problematic. The Jesus known to the husband might even be different from the one known to the wife; to the irritation and aggravation of their relationship. But the Lord must be our one and only love.

Jesus says: “No one can serve

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HE love we are expected to have for God does not permit any other love. As a matter of fact, if we love God, we must hate everyone else. We must love our neighbour but not because we love him. We must love our neighbour because we love God. God’s love tolerates no rivals. He says: “I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20:5).

I learnt this the hard way. My wife, Karen, was the love of my life. She was my very first love.

It was love at first sight when I met her in high school in Rome. I proposed to her at the age of 16 and got married to her at 25. Marrying her is one of the very best decisions I have ever made. I honestly cannot imagine myself being married to anyone else. But something totally unexpected happened to me at the age of 41.

I fell in love with Jesus Christ.

When a man who loves his wife meets the Lord, the Lord will set his wife against him

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two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” (Matthew 6:24). If a man loves God and loves his wife, there will be inevitable conflicts of interest. God might require him to do one thing out of his love for him. But his wife might want him to do the opposite.

One day, my wife was going to Sri Lanka for a conference.

The Lord said to me: “Femi, you must not miss her.” I knew then that I had to be careful. I did not want the Lord to take my wife away. A few days later, Karen phoned me from Sri Lanka. Her first question was: “Do you miss me?” I said to myself: “this woman wants to get me into trouble.” To her annoyance, I refused to answer.

Love and obedience Any demand that contradicts

Adeboye urges teachers to instil Godly virtues in students

By OLAYINKA LATONA

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ENERAL Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye yesterday urged Nigerian teachers at all levels to instil Godly virtues in their students in line with biblical principles.

Adeboye made the charge during a special prayer programme organised for students, teachers and families at the church's national headquarters, Throne of Grace in Ebute-Meta Lagos with the theme: “Chosen Generation.”

Ministering at the programme which featured a special anointing service, Pastor Adeboye stressed the need for teachers to show good examples to their students, explaining that it is in line with the scriptures and that teachers ought to reflect on accountability in their calling as they had great role to play in rebuilding the nation to achieve greater heights in world global economy.

Adeboye, an accomplished teacher at every level, said teachers are in the business of moulding the lives and destinies of the nation's leaders of tomorrow.

In his words: "Teachers have a huge responsibility on them because they have the mandate to train and educate students in the way of the Lord. Please teachers train the children in your care in the way of the Lord, teach them to fear God and in the right way they should go. When they grow up they will not depart from such good way but make good use of it”.

Also advising the teachers, the Special Assistant to Pastor Adeboye on Administration and Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola tasked teachers on quality education to improve the educational standard in the country.

He described the teaching profession as one of the most respected within the nation's public service, especially at the grassroots level, saying that the opposite was the case nowadays.

Odesola urged teachers to give quality education to the students who would in return be good ambassadors of the country.

Appealing to the Federal Government to motivate teachers and always train and retrain them for the development of the country, Odesola noted that investment in the nation's educational sector will help to achieve economic development of the country.

It's Cry for Mercy at Insight

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NSIGHT Christian Centre, 53, EgbedaIdimu Road, Idimu, Lagos flags off its annual convention titled, Revival 2014 from November 13-16, 2014.

Theme: 'Cry for mercy.'

A statement by Rev. Prince Ufford says it will feature Bishop A. Adeniyi, guest speaker and Insight Worship team.

the Lord is Satanic. We must reject it out of hand. Accordingly, Jesus rebuked Peter: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”

(Matthew 16:23). Having learnt his lesson, Peter says: “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29). To love God is to obey God. Jesus says: “If you love me, obey me.” (John 14:15). We are the servant of whoever we obey.

The love of God must be our one and only motivation. The only acceptable reason for any and every action we take or don’t take must be the love of God. God’s love purifies the heart. We love our neighbour not because he is lovable, but because our love for God says we should. We love our wives because of the enablement of our God who is love. Jesus says: “Without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). Mary provides further counsel: “Do whatever (Jesus) tells you.”

(John 2:5).

Our love for God is far superior to any other love. The love of a man for his wife is exclusive; therefore it is selfish. Selfish love is fundamentally sinful; it promotes sin. A man might even kill out of love for his wife. He might steal out of love for his children. However, the man who loves God does not sin. The man who loves

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OLLOWING the declaration by the Lagos State government that the collapsed Synagogue Church of All Nations, SCOAN, building had no approval, General Overseer of Holy Ghost Christian Centre, Amos Fenwa, has frowned at the development calling on appropriate authorities to take a stand on the issue after thorough investigations.

The cleric who blamed the nation for not according due regard to human lives said it’s high time Nigeria borrowed a leaf from other countries of the world who do not only regard human lives but those of animals.

Addressing journalists in Lagos, to announce the annual Night of Mercy, taking place at the New Gymnasium, National Stadium, Surulere, on November 14, Fenwa said every public building must be certified by relevant government agency before being put into use to avert disaster of any sort.

He said the programme taking place by 9.00 p.m, was designed to pray for the nation especially now that the general elections are approaching as well as

In the end, I had no choice but to sit my wife down and give her the bad news: “The Lord is now the love of my life.” That means in all situations and circumstances, my actions and inactions would be guided solely by my love for God, and not by my love for her. This position is actually to my wife’s advantage. Nevertheless, she considered it to be a betrayal of my love for her and has not completely forgiven me for it.

The Lord says: “My son, give me your heart.” (Proverbs 23: 26). We cannot oblige if our heart is already given to someone else. If we oblige, we cannot divide our heart and share it between the Lord and someone else. Our eyes must be single and our hearts undivided.

According to Jesus, this is the most important commandment of all: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

(Mark 12:29-30).

This leaves no room for loving anyone else but the Lord.

It requires that all the love in our heart must be devoted to the Lord and to him alone. Jesus says: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26).

Instead of seeking to understand this difficult commandment, most Christians simply ignore it.

SYNAGOGUE:

Fenwa wants govt to take stand

BY BOSE ADELAJA presenting the gospel as the final solution to various needs in the society.

The cleric also said that religious leaders and other developers should save lives first before any other thing, noting that the issue of collapsed buildings had become a common feature but the SCOAN’s case was gaining undue popularity because involved a religious organisation.

"I remember when we were constructing our building and we took precautions where necessary, there were periods some building professionals from Alausa came to inspect it and at a time, they stopped the building in order to see all things being done well because human life is sacred," he noted.

PAGE 40—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

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BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

he development in the Senate, after the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ward congress across the country on November 1, 2014, has made observers of political events in the country to ask whether the hunter is being hunted or, according to the late Chinua Achebe in one of his books, ‘Things Fall Apart’, things have really fallen apart in the ruling party. The most interesting aspect of the drama is that majority of the senators now crying foul over the alleged hijack of the party structures in their various states were beneficiaries of the now ‘abnormality’ when the going was good with their governors who also wanted to use them to get their second term tickets, while some of the governors who bestrode the state like colossus but now in the Senate are at the receiving end of the ‘devilish’ seed they sowed.

The drama has some implications if the trend of surrendering political party structures to state governors is not changed. The first implication is that, it has made the governors ‘demigods’ in their various states as they decide who becomes what no matter one’s potentials.

The second implication is that the governors angling to go to the Senate would like to constitute the principal officers and would give the current Senate President, Senator David Mark, a run for his money. With a good number of the governors in the Senate, the present cordiality existing between President Jonathan and the senate may be threatened in 2015.

However, analysts have frowned at the manner the Senate has shut down due to personal grievances despite the fact that the parliament is made up of the ruling and the opposition parties.

Some analysts, after watching the unfolding drama, said what goes around must surely come around, and that the senators lacked the moral justification to complain now because they benefited from the same process they are now condemning about four years ago. In fact, they applauded the process and gave the governors different good names.

To the opposition parties in the Senate, especially the All Progressives Congress (APC), the abrupt

FALLOUT OF PDP WARD CONGRESS

Lamentation in the Senate

*David-Mark adjournment was in contradiction of the mandate given to them by the masses of this country.

Spokesman of the APC, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, while reacting to the adjournment on Wednesday, accused his colleagues from the ruling party of making themselves slaves to the state governors and the Presidency.

He lamented that the Senate did not have any standard and that the opposition senators were at

This is an advantage for the APC as its door remains open for the experienced and qualified senators who can be useful to the building of our nascent democracy and improve legislation

*Senator-Babafemi-Ojudu the mercy of the ruling party, saying that was way the leadership shut down the Senate without the courtesy of calling the opposition senators to a meeting to inform them of the development.

He said, “If we have our way, we in the APC will come here tomorrow and sit.

It should not be about personal interest but about the future of this country. It should be about our people.

Now they have seen injustice, they are fighting.

“We have seen injustice more than three and a half years ago. We wanted to fight, they didn’t allow us to fight. Why must it be that it is when it affects (senators) us that we act? People should have standards. Now they have seen that most of them are no longer welcomed back in their homes, now they have seen that they have made themselves slaves to the executive, and when you make yourself a slave, they will treat you like a slave, now they have treated them like slaves. That is the consequence of that.”

He said that the opposition parties opposed the adjournment by chorusing ‘nay’, but the Senate President ruled in favour of the ruling party’s adjournment call.

According to him, “We were voted for by Nigerians, we are working for

*Senator Odion Ugbesia

Nigerians, but because they have problems with their party, with their president and with their governors, we are not allowed to work. We don’t want to be seen that we APC, members we don’t want to work. We want to work, but the system does not allow us to work. The rules as practiced by the majority, it does not allow us to work.

“It is unfortunate, we are the minority, we will have our say and they will have their way. We are going to call a meeting of our caucus and we are going to discuss this, we will even have expected that they will call an executive meeting and then we discuss this matter, before they just come in and adjourn like that. Some of us came from our constituencies, faraway places so that we could sit for this week, but we are here, we are not allowed to sit. Suddenly, conservatives of yesterday have turned to today’s radicals.”

Another APC senator, who pleaded that his name should not be mentioned, said that what was happening in the PDP was self destruction, adding, “You can see from the name ‘People Destroying People”.

The senator, who was a member of the PDP before joining the opposition, said that the ruling party has senators that were experienced that could help

build the democracy, but that instead of using them for the good of the country, the party wanted to go for green horns, thereby throwing experience to the dust for the personal interest of the governors.

He said, “The senators played into their hands by playing the roles of houseboys instead of doing their legislative role. They have been busy trying to satisfy the Presidency. If we do the right thing, the issue of shortchanging people will not arise.

“This is an advantage for the APC as its door remains open for the experienced and qualified senators who can be useful to the building of our nascent democracy and improve legislation.”

Although some of the beneficiaries of the fraudulent system are complaining, Senator Odion Ugbesia, representing Edo Central, who was the only PDP senator elected in 2011 had lamented that if nothing was done to check-mate the powers of governors, it would one day haunt this country.

Another question on the lips of some analysts is, if the APC leadership senators the tickets and the protest, will they senate also be shutdown to give their colleagues the same solidarity they have forcefully collected from them?

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 41

Women shut down Benue to preach peace!

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

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or seven years, Benue State First Lady, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam, spotlighted women through the ‘Celebrate the Benue Women’ annual fiesta.

Through the programme, which includes cooking competition and display of farm produce and yields from across the state, attracted visitors from far and wide.

The festivities afforded the women an oppotunity to showcase those cherished values of the Benue woman and their tenacity to excel even in the face of daunting challenges just as they were also availed free distribution of cancer and HIV testing kits.

It was, therefore, not a surprise when, last weekend, Benue women, through the National Council of Women Societies, NCWS, in a show of appreciation, bestowed an award on Mrs. Suswam, in a grand reception that shut down the entire state.

Among those who graced the reception ,which seemed like a farewell to a woman that is so cherished by Benue women, were Nigerian First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan; Minister of Interior, Comrade Abba Moro; wives of some northern states governors; Mr. Mike Omeri of the National Orientation Agency , among other prominnent Nigerians.

In her speech, Mrs. Jonathan noted that Mrs. Suswm had left lasting legacies in the minds of the less privileged women, youths and children of Benue State through her pet project, the Sev Av Foundation.

She noted that the award was well deserved noting that the Benue First Lady had, through her programme, given voice to the voiceless and also

encouraged women to take to politics in order to attain the 35 percent affirmative action campaign.

Dame Jonathan also called on women to pray for the peace, unity and the political stability of the country ahead of the 2015 general elections.

She urged women to always offer useful advice to their husbands and children, as political activities gain momentum, in the collective interest of the society.

Represented by the wife of the Senate President, Mrs. Hellen Mark, the First Lady commended the NCWS for recognizing the inestimable contributions of Mrs. Suswam to enhancing the livelihood of women and children in the state.

Dame Jonathan said, “As women and mothers, we must not all forget that we owe it a responsibility to pray for our country and also caution our husbands and children to desist from acts that could be inimical to the the unity, stability and the peaceful conduct of the forthcoming general elections.”.

In her speech, Mrs. Suswam called for peace in the country and expressed gratitude that her modest contributions to the wellbeing of the less privileged women and children, in the last seven years was being recognized by Benue women.

Recounting some of her achievements, she said that through her pet project, the Sev-Av Foundation, the ravaging scourge of HIV/ AIDS had been drastically reduced in Benue, noting that the state, which hitherto had the highest prevalence of the virus in the country, had moved to number seven.

The First Lady, who is the Chairperson of Northern Governors Wives Forum,

•First Lady, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam

Recounting some of her achievements, she said that through her pet project, the Sev-Av Foundation, the ravaging scourge of HIV/ AIDS had been drastically reduced in Benue, noting that the state, which hitherto had the highest prevalence of the virus in the country, had moved to number seven disclosed that through her effort, women in the state have had more than 35 percent in elective and appointive positions, including the appointment of the Vice Chancellor of the state owned university.

The governor’s wife disclosed that Sev-Av Foundation had empowered women and youths through the acquisition of various skills in computer operation, metal work and electroplating, tailoring and

beads making as well as catering and making of spices.

She said, “Close to 1,000 women and youth have benefitted from these skills acquisition centres with the outstanding graduands in each set getting equipment at the end of their six months training to enable them start their own businesses.”

The Chairman of the occasion and Minister of Interior, Moro, noted that

the office of the First Lady was now close to the people than before through the activities of the Benue First Lady.

Moro urged Mrs. Suswam to continue with her philanthropic gestures even after office.

On his part, Chief Steven Lawani, the state deputy governor, who was the chief host, commended Mrs. Suswam on her pet project, Sev-Av Foundation, which he said had impacted tremendously on the citizenry.

In her speech,the state President of the NCWS, Chief Mrs. Tabitha Akure, stated that Mrs. Suswam was selected for the award because she had exemplified herself in the service of the downtrodden in the state.

Governor Gabriel Suswam, who also attended the occasion, urged women to mitigate the effect of the outcome of the forthcoming elections by rightly advising their husbands who may be contesting so that the electoral process would be peaceful and the society would be better for it.

PAGE 42 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Dichotomy between degree and HND is ungodly — Sen. Marafa

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

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enator Kabir Marafa is the Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum Resouces (Upstream). He represents Zamfara Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. He is one of the most vocal opposition senators. In this interview, Senator Marafa said it is ungodly and hypocritical to discriminate between degree and Higher National Diploma, HND, in the workforce. He also speaks on other issues.

Excerpts: The bill to end dichotomy between degree and HND scaled through second reading in the senate, has the Senate the political will to abolish degree / HND dichotomy?

As far I’m concerned, this is one of the hypocrisy that is prevalent, unfortunately, in our body polity in the country. The fact of the matter is that the first degree holder happens to be in the civil service earlier than the HND (Higher National Diploma) holder or polytechnic graduates.

So, they have been the ones piloting the affairs of even, the Ministry of Education and all other parastatals and they always feel threatened by the HND holders. This is the fact of the matter. I am an HND holder. I graduated from the famous Kaduna Polytechnic. I made bold to say that I competed favourably with First Degree holders in a federal parastatal of note.

Immediately after graduation, I started working with the Kaduna refinery and in that refinery; I met products of other universities in Nigeria who we worked together. My appointment was

•Senator Kabir Marafa

confirmed before most of them.

During that time, members were made to pass through on-the-job training among other process, for six months. We discussed and debated over a lot of issues together especially concerning the practical and theoretical aspects of the job. There is nothing they can show me to prove that they are better than me. The truth is that the leadership at almost all the strata was being occupied by degree holders and for whatever reasons, they feel having the HND holders to pass through the system like them, would be a threat to them. You could see even from the pattern of debate on the floor of the senate on Thursday. You don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that

most of those who made their contributions were hypocritical.

Hypocritical, how?

For instance, somebody said there are polytechnics that are operating from a two-bedroom flat. The truth of the matter is that we even have ghost universities that are not in existence at all. Like one of my colleagues said, that in this current age of computer, communication and technological advancement, we have open universities whereby one can study from his bedroom and earn a degree which would be recognized by everybody. So, simply because we have a polytechnic that operates from a two-bedroom flat, does not mean that all polytechnics are bad.

Somebody also talked about requirements for admission into polytechnics. It has been variously argued that examination is not the true test of one’s ability. Now, a lot of our retired and serving military officers passed through the Nigerian Defence Academy when it was just a three year programme but because of this craze for degrees, those who went through the system then, because they have the opportunity to become the political leaders of Nigeria, they were able to change the system to a degree awarding institution. But can anyone tell me in all honesty that the graduates of NDA now, who are degree holders, are better than the products of the same institution, who are not degree holders in those days?

The bottom line is that, we all got it wrong. The dichotomy has nothing to do with the admission requirements. The ungodly thing we are doing in this country is to say that the HND holder cannot be promoted beyond a certain grade level and nobody can

defend that wicked injustice.

I was discriminated against when I was at the Kaduna refinery at the entry point, at that time; a lot of my colleagues are now being frustrated after they were promoted to certain levels. They were told point blank that they cannot proceed beyond certain stages until they acquire additional qualifications. That was happening after they had probably spent four years of training and excellent performance on the job for over 25 years. I started working with the Kaduna refinery in 1985 and my colleagues that are still there now are still being told that they cannot be managers. This is ungodly, it is unconstitutional.

What is the implication of the HND/Degree holders’ dichotomy bill being referred to the Senate Committee on Education?

It is highly unfortunate and the highest case of hypocrisy because the committee, first of all, is being dominated by degree holders. They are obviously going to continue with the whole agenda of discrimination there.

Some of your colleagues argued that the HND holders have no business in administration. They insisted that they have no business being in the civil service because they should be on the field especially when they spend less number of years to acquire their certificate.

Do you agree with their position?

All these arguments are nothing but pure sentiments. I want to say, with due respect. It is all hypocrisy in the land. Honestly speaking, at this time and age where all forms of discrimination are being eliminated in all facets of life both locally and

internationally, why do we want to continue to perpetrated this discrimination against HND graduates? On the number of years being spent in university and polytechnic, it takes a minimum of four years to earn an HND while the number of years being spent in the university to earn degrees before this period differs.

If they say that the HND holders have no business in administration, fine and good but everybody should be able to aspire to the topmost position in his or chosen career. For instance, somebody who passed through the Nigerian Defence Academy in the 1960s and 1970s, spent three years but he can go on to become a Field Marshall in the Nigerian Army. They have never said that because you spend three years, and now since we have people who are spending between four to five years, and coming out with degree, those who spent three years in those days, would not end their career at the rank of a major. That is the crux of the matter. To me, it is not about entry point. There is no way you can argue that the HND holder, after spending 25 years on the job cannot be a manager.

But some HND holders are now going to the university to earn a degree in other fields.

Yes. Necessity is the mother of invention. That is the way I see it.

It also depends on the individual.

To me, I have vowed that I will never go to any university to do anything because I am satisfied with the quality of instructions I received at the Kaduna polytechnic. Those who are going for degree after obtaining an HND were being frustrated to do so due to discrimination. If I want to go for my PhD, I will look at the polytechnic elsewhere in the world that offers PhD and go for it because I don’t see any reason why anybody should say that somebody who spent four years and additional one year practical training would be discriminated against as if they are non Nigerians.

VP ticket: Shema’s needless scheme against Sambo

BY MUSTAPHA ABDULLAHI

K

atsina State governor, Ibrahim Shema, wants to be Vice President via the 2015 presidential election.

He has the right to aspire to that office. But unfortunately for him, it is not a position for which interested aspirants pick nomination or expression of interest form. Whoever becomes the vice president is at the discretion of the president, acting in concert with some key leaders of his party.

But the position, as it is, is not vacant and there are no indications, whatsoever, that President Goodluck Jonathan will drop the incumbent, Architect Namadi Sambo, who has demonstrated extreme loyalty in statecraft. The conventional wisdom for the PDP should be to sustain the solid Jonathan-Sambo ticket, regardless of the shenanigans by some political forces in the North, aimed at short-circuiting the vice president.

Unfortunately, Shema does not believe the Jonathan-Sambo ticket should remain intact.

How did I come to this conclusion? I came to this conclusion after reading a piece written by Dr Kabiru Mato in the Weekly Trust of Saturday, October 25, 2014 wherein he harangued the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, for reportedly, according to him (Mato), telling Shema, at a stakeholders’ meeting in Katsina, to bury his ambition to be vice president to Jonathan.

Whatever the motivation (perhaps, Mato would be in a position to tell us), Shema has his eyes on the VP ball. And to achieve this ambition he seems prepared to throw decorum to the winds. When the Integration Committee chaired

by Anenih was in Katsina, Shema more or less, according to information from the grapevines, ambushed him (Anenih) with an army of his praise-singers who took turns singing Shema’s praises at the microphone. Speakers not only extolled Shema’s performance record in Katsina, they all concluded with the exhortation that Shema deserves

to be made the running mate to Jonathan in the 2015 election.

It is not so much that there is anything wrong in Shema aspiring to become the VP. It is all about the way he has chosen to go about it. Condoning his courtiers to publicly attempt to entrap a very senior member of his party, who led a solid team to Katsina, into making a commitment on a matter like the president’s running mate is bad politics. Savvy politicians know that such matters are pursued in private or behind closed doors.

Clarifications from some persons at the meeting indicated that Anenih agreed that Shema has performed; that he could go to the Senate like some of his colleague governors if he so wishes; that in recognition of his performance, the Federal Government conferred him with a Commander Order of the Niger (CON) award; and that he is also a member of the Conscience Department-Board of Trustees- of the party.

Anenih was said to have admonished Shema and his people that no responsibility

could be higher than the membership of Board of Trustees.

How Kabir Mato came into the picture with his one-sided narrative in which he tried to hang a charge of “unfortunate arrogance” on Anenih, and trivialise the old man’s place and influence in national politics is what baffles me.

From the way he dismissed PDP as a drowning party in the first two paragraphs of his article, it was clear where he belongs or where his sympathy lies.

Therefore, how did the internal affairs of PDP and the aspiration of an individual engage the attention of a columnist unless he was either running an errand for a paymaster or playing the devil’s advocate?

Ordinarily, Mato’s rigmarole shouldn’t elicit a reply. But the situation many Nigerians find themselves in is that if they are unable to access the other side of a story, they are then forced to accept whatever has been put in the public domain. This is how what was basically an internal PDP get-together in Katsina, which was open to only a select

few, has now become a matter of public discourse through Mato’s lopsided presentation.

It is common knowledge that the February 14, 2015 presidential election will be hard fought as the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) would want to wrest power from the PDP. Any internal squabbles over who gets what position at this stage will be playing straight into the hands of the APC and can only be viewed as a case of not heeding the wise words of Anenih, whose proposition was aimed at saving the PDP from internal rancour.

To avoid such detrimental upheaval within the party, it is best that Shema, and all others who may have similar aspirations of upstaging Sambo, sheath their swords. The interest of the PDP as a party that seeks to attain victory at the polls through unity of purpose must be paramount and placed above all personal ambitions. * Abdullahi sent this piece from Kaduna via Mustaphabdullahi66@yahoo.com

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014,

Page 43

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

That October 21 celebration of elderly people Dear Sir,

P

lease permit me to refer to the publication of Dele Sobowale, Frankly Speaking Columnist in your Sunday Vanguard of October 5th 2014 for remembrance and celebration of the elderly at the United Nations Information Center, Kingsway Road, Ikoyi and calling for financial and other necessary support.

Although, the idea seemed laudable but what was not clear was the mode or what the celebration entailed. I want commend the organisers for making a case for the aged and at the same time plead that subsequent occasions be used to sensitise and create awareness among Nigerians, both young and old, corporate bodies and government institutions on the need to take care of the elderly in public places and at

homes.

For instance, in most foreign countries, reserved seats are provided in their public transport for elderly and physically challenged people. Elderly people do not wait to take turns at banks and in all public gatherings, they are accorded respect and priority. At airports, foreign airlines always call passengers of 60 years of age and above to take their seats first.

It is regrettable that most of our people restricted the care for elderly to their own relations and therefore are not bothered about others. I have witnessed commotion at bus stops, younger person would tell an elderly person to wait for his turn. Similarly, younger passengers have been found sitting whilst elderly persons were standing in the Lagos BUS RAPID TRANSPORT (BRT), just to mention a few in-

stances.

From the foregoing, you would agree with me that subsequent celebrations should not only be used to raise funds but educate and promote the culture of taking care and giving priority to elderly people in public places. Corporate bodies and government insti-

2015: The Osagie factor in Edo South Dear Sir,

T

HE coast is becoming clearer on those aspiring to contest the 2015 senatorial election in Edo South Senatorial District.

Some of them are keeping their strategies to themselves, while others are waiting to see how the whole exercise goes. But one thing remains, a gold

The man behind Udom’s campaign success story Dear Sir,

T

HE President of Akwa Ibom Con solidation Alliance, ACA, Pas tor Andrew Nwanta has been a great source of strength in the Emmanuel Gabriel Udom campaign success.

Before the grand style declaration of the Udom in Uyo some days ago, Andrew Nwanta has been a street whizkid and exceptional steward serving individuals, groups and organizations thereby putting the Akwa Ibom political houses in one big umbrella.

The governorship aspirant could not boast of a better man that connects with everybody in all nooks and crannies than this amiable man of God called Andrew Nwanta, because the ACA President has been able to demystify all orthodoxies, simplify democratic access, enhance the value of youth and C M Y K

centralized the imagination despite the humanistic challenges.

He has succeeded in orchestrating a vision of change in the peak of cynicism and as a principled man with conviction about the continuity of the uncommon transformation of Godswill Akpabio, this Jeremiah of the people called Andrew Nwanta has been using the force of his virtue to practically feed, accommodate,sensitize and Udomified every one and anyone who believes in Akwa Ibom.He is always proud to share his vision, his mission and the road ahead for the people while ethics and principles of his divine calling as a man of God remains his watchword.

Understanding the time constrain of most of the aspirants especially Udom Emmanuel when he was Secretary to the State Government of Akwa Ibom,

tutions should circularise a policy statement on ‘CARE OF THE ELDERLY’. Our media should also join in the crusade. Thank you.

B.A. Bakare,Public affairs analyst, 6 Akinwale Street, Ogba, Ikeja.

08033160691 E-mail bilbak12@yahoo.com

Andrew Nwanta Udomized with passion without blemish, a rare attribute in our political society.

He has proven what service to mankind is and has delivered though still delivering the way only a man that has experienced both sides of the coin can.

He has always said, ‘’serving the people is doing what God says you should do and in so doing fulfilling God’s plans and purpose on earth”.

As we march on into the critical part of our political life, this silent power house who is dependable,organized,driven,dedicated and fiercely loyal man called Andrew Nwanta can only be wished that the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former.

Allison Abanum writes in from Lagos

fish has no hiding place.

The name of Honorable Samson Osagie of the House of Representatives now rings a bell among those seen to be warming up for the National House of Assembly election in the next few months. His moves in recent times are a pointer to the fact that he is leaving no stone unturned as his train traverses the nooks and crannies of Edo South, Senatorial District.

There is no doubt that Osagie is a man of the people. He started off with laudable projects as a minority whip, House of Representatives that has given solar power light and industrial borehole to neglected communities across Edo South Senatorial District.

He is networking around the state identifying areas of severe need for these projects and where they will be better appreciated.

Osagie is a leader among leaders in the House of Representatives. The media has not been left out in writing news analysis on the Osagie factor in the 2015 Senate election.

Osagie from his track record is the kind of leader that Edo needs now. Our people have suffered for long.

The system has for too long been bedeviled with inept leadership. We need the type of Osagie to make things work in Edo State and in this country.

Charles Afe Ikhaghe, a public analsyst, lives in Lagos.

PAGE 44, SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Our own stomach infrastructure,

by Ajimobi Governor Abiola Ajimobi speaks on the multiplier effects of job creation in Oyo State.

W

HEN we came into of fice in 2011, we communicated to our people the vision of making Oyo State the preferred destination of investors. In a society that is driven by understandable pessimism and disbelief of promises of government, very few people could take a bet on our vision. Our detractors and traditional cynics even mocked and jeered at us.

Many of them, as usual, played politics with our noble objectives and vision.

We met an Oyo State that did not inspire confidence in investors. We were reputed to be the second dirtiest city in Nigeria. Group violence and political murders stalked the land like a pestilence. Many investors left our state and development agencies wrote Oyo off as a state that had fled from the radar of development.

Inexplicably, providence brought our administration into office at this chaotic period of time. We drew a pyramid of development that had at its foundation an institution of peace and security into an otherwise turbulent Oyo State. For a state that was almost used to bloodshed and political violence, this was unique. We followed it up with a massive urban renewal exercise that had never been witnessed in the history of our state. Even our political adversaries were surprised at our resilience and shocked at the overwhelming result of the exercise.

Encomiums poured in droves from all over the world. Many wondered how we were able to transform the hitherto dirty state into an adorable metropolis. Our response is that our people are the heroes of the transformation.

While the transformation continues, the gospel of our urban renewal effort was predicated on that famous statement by Eleanor, wife of an American President, General Eisenhower, which says that while a leader will take

•Governor Ajimobi a people to where they want to be, a good leader will take them to where they ought to

We were reputed to be the second dirtiest city in Nigeria. Group violence and political murders stalked the land like a pestilence

be.

In our urban renewal and transformation efforts, we have had to engage our people trading on the streets, particularly in flood-prone areas and under high-tension wires/electric cables on the need to ensure their safety and have an environmentallyfriendly state. The recent fire disaster at Molete area and the several unfortunate incidents in the state which claimed the lives of our people trading by the roadsides lend credence to our noble stance. Commendably, our people have been patriotic and have shown considerable understanding and cooperation whilst professional cynics went to town to politicize our vision of a better tomorrow for our people. Thank God, that tomorrow has come with our presence here today.

Our vision was based on removing our state from the unpleasant profile of a backward, violent state that drives away investors.

Today, I am one of the happiest persons on earth. The fruits of the discomfort we might have gone through in the process of breaking eggs while making our omelet are apparently ripe for harvest.

Shortly after we banished violence from Oyo State and began our aggressive urban renewal effort, the Financial Times of London ranked our state as one of the ten investment destinations in the whole of Africa. We had hardly finished savouring this pleasant rating when investors indeed began to troop into Oyo State.

Not long after, a report on capital importation recently released by a federal institution, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) became another testament to the vote of confidence passed on the Nigerian market by international investors. As revealed in the report, total capital imported into the country stood at $5.8 billion as at the end of the second quarter of 2014,

relative to the $3.9 billion recorded in the preceding quarter. Of these, Southwest Nigeria was at the top destination for capital importation in the first half of 2014, with about 98% of total capital imported resident in the Region.

This impressive performance located capital importation into Oyo State as having increased by 697%, approximating $3.49 million, up from $500,000 between the first and second quarter in the year. Happily, our uninformed and mischievous cynics have again been proved wrong in their assertions that there is capital flight in Oyo State.

Investors who have been trooping here have shown that these statistics are no mere fluke. Right now, Oyo State boasts of the presence of a leading soya milk manufacturing company in Nigeria, the largest bread-making factory West Africa, the Number One day-old chicks agricultural company in Nigeria, the biggest support service provider for the telecoms industry in Nigeria, among others.

If you add the largest Shoprite outlet in West Africa that has been recently sited in our state, you will understand how a secure and peaceful atmosphere, as well as an environmentally conducive state, are essential for employment generation and indeed the economic development of the people. Add all these to the rebirth of night life in the capital city, as manifest in the many hospitality industries that have sprung up in the nooks and crannies of Oyo State, you will realize why development experts say that peace and security are the foundation of any society.

The establishment of Rom Oil, an ultra-modern edible oil refinery and margarine plant in Oyo State, is another testimony to our leadership and investors-baiting policies. This international company, a subsidiary of Flour Mills Plc, is a 400 metric tons per day universal refinery.

Thousands of our sons and daughters would be employed by this company. This will have multiplier effects on over a million of their dependents.

This indeed is our idea of the so-called stomach infrastructure.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 45

PFN NATIONAL PRESIDENT JOINS THE FRAY

‘Why pastors need private jets’ •On $9.3m arms deal: The reason we demand probe •On Boko Haram: How we are ameliorating the pains •Says the late Idahosa turned his life around Pastor Felix Omobude is the General Superintendent of New Covenant Gospel Church, an arm of Gospel Light International Ministries ,GLIM, and the National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN). In this interview, he speaks on some national issues as well as life as the PFN President and its challenges. Excerpts:

BY EBUN SESSOU

T

he country just celebrated its 54 years independence, yet Nigeria is unstable. The Boko Haram insurgency has dealt a big blow on the nation killing thousands of people including Christians.

What is your view?

Nigeria is a great nation.

We have overcome many ordeals. Boko Haram does not determine Nigeria success. Today, Nigeria is a nation many other countries have to emulate.

Although, we have challenges of corruption, inequality and injustice, we must celebrate the good things that happen to us.

Boko Haram is an issue but I also believe that the God who saw us through the civil war will see us through this challenge. Boko Haram will become history in Nigeria. I honestly commend the armed forces, many of them have paid the supreme price.

As much as I agree that Boko Haram is attacking the Church, it has also killed many Muslims, and their leaders, including emirs. I think the Boko Haram issue is beyond religious crisis. It is a deadly and evil ideology and the Church has paid a huge price. As at last month, over 750 houses have been destroyed. Many people have become widows, orphans to the activities of Boko Haram.

C M Y K

We will continue to pray and sensitize our people against insecurity. We have also in our own little way rendered assistance to the affected people. PFN launched a fund, called “Emergency Relief”, for victims and people have donated to it and so many people have benefited. We are calling on all PFN members to join in this calling.

Do you think government is doing enough to curtail insurgency in the country?

‘Doing enough’, to me, is relative. Within the limits of what is available, the way things are, I think they are doing well. But I believe they can do more. You probably know that many security personnel have paid the supreme price trying to defend us.

Insurgency and extremism are over the world, it is not an easy war to fight. Nations stronger than us have spent a lot in terms of human and material resources trying to defend themselves and they are still doing so. Nigerians should be patient. It’s not an easy war. It’s not like the regular war.

What is your take on the issue of corruption in Nigeria?

Corruption is a hydraheaded monster that has killed this nation gradually.

If you take a very close look at it, it permeates almost every sector of the country.

You pass through airports, people offer services for

which they are paid and they are asking you if there is anything for them. It’s a shame, it’s an embarrassment. We must all resolve to hate this thing called corruption. Some people will fight it, some people will pay the price for it, but it is something that we must all fight. I believe also that you journalists can help us to highlight the issue. I am just hearing that the United Nations said this government is very corrupt. I don’t know how they came about that. But I’m worried. I am telling you the truth.

Corruption, even in the Church, can be very saddening.

Corruption in the military, corruption in the police, even among you, journalists. To point at Jonathan, this is one of the problems of this nation.

People dump garbage at the centre of the road, and you

Pastor Felix Omobude blame government. When are we going to take responsibility?

Do you envisage the breakup in the country?

I believe it is better to stay together and remain strong with each other.

As the PFN President, so much have been said about pastors owing jets.

Are you also thinking in this direction?

I am honestly waiting when you, the reporter, will come and deliver one to me. If anybody donates to me, I will be glad to receive it.

But, it is not in my agenda.

Should pastors own private jets?

Why must people think that pastors have no right to own private jets? The CEOs of some companies have them. If someone gives me one freely, I will so much appreciate it

This has to do with our developmental process, if a man has the resources. For the man who oversees several thousands of church branches within and outside the country and his work shows evidence that he needs to reach various places, and God provides him with the means to do that, I don’t think such is a crime.

I was at the airport recently. I got there around quarter to six in the morning and spent almost the entire day waiting for a flight. As President of the PFN, I am supposed to visit several places. If I had the means, I would just walk to that airport and fly to Benin and finish what I am doing.

It will serve the body of Christ properly. Why must people think that pastors have no right to own private jets? The CEOs of some companies have them. If someone gives me one freely, I will so much appreciate it. I don’t have the means to use it now. But, if in the process of time God makes it possible, I won’t throw it away. And why should people think that it came through corruption? I left the public service several years ago. I have taken to this work for close to 42 years now. May be, if I

Continues on page 46

PAGE 46— SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Continued from page 45 also had started a business and it had gone well, I could be somewhere today. That anybody who takes to the gospel must be poor, so that people would believe him, is not the idea of the gospel we preach. I have no quarrel with pastors owing jets but the quarrel is how they got it. If they got it through godly manner, I have no quarrel with it, but if it is through a dubious manner, then there is problem.

On the $9.3million arms deal involving Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the PFN is calling for thorough investigation of the issue.

We are not hiding anything and we will not shield anybody. The investigation should show who used the plane, who owns the money among others.

While the Church is growing in leaps and bounds, immorality is also growing. Is there nothing Church leaders can do?

I agree that the Church has grown. I also agree that we have churches on every street but we have not seen the last of it. It is going to grow more. I share your view that, in the midst of good, there are hypocrites.

We are aware that it is not every place that we have the signboard of a church that is truly a church. Jesus Himself gave a parable that a certain man sowed wheat but in the night, someone else sown tears in the same field and when the owner of the farm discovered it, he said, “Leave them until harvest time”. The good, the bad and the ugly, the beautiful may be there but the harvest time will come.

On the other hand, the reason we have so much decadence in spite of so the many churches is because it is one of the dynamics in the society. When I was growing up, there was only one television station that we knew of. It was based in Ibadan at that time. Now there are TV stations all over the place. The only newspaper that was available then was Daily Times. But, today, we have several newspapers and TV stations, yet, people are still uninformed.

The Church is growing, yet crime and other things are growing. The question you will ask is, ‘What would it have been if the Church was not there at all? I believe that

$9.3 arms deal: The reason we want probe — Omobude we are making progress. I believe we are there, where we ought to be.

What is your most challenging task since you assumed office as the PFN National President?

I believe that any leader who leads at such a time as this will consider insurgency as a tasking assignment. I believe that if you are a leader at such a time like this and over 200 young girls are snatched from their school, if you feel unconcerned, there is something wrong with you.

You took over from Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor?

Yes. As his successor, what do you say about him?

Our various past leaders have done a lot to keep our identity, worked hard for the unity of the body for which I am grateful. Pastor Ayo highlighted the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, PFN. He added colour to the Fellowship. I only would have to build on the foundation he had laid and that is what I am doing. I am building on the legacy my forerunners have built and I intend to handover the legacy to anyone who would take over from me.

Is it not worrisome that some of the poor who contribute to building gigantic projects in the Church such as universities have no access to quality education in the same universities they contributed to build?

There are other humanitarian activities that the Church is involved in apart from school. There are hundreds of indigents who would not have gone to school without the help of the Church. It is true that the churches own universities and polytechnics, but you should also know that it is not free to employ teachers and run quality education.

Setting up a school and bringing structure is one thing, growing it is another thing. Education all over the world has never been free, no orthodox church- run

Omobude ...The Church parades the good, the bad and the ugly university is free of charge.

Education in the private set up can never be cheap if it has to be run the way it is supposed to.

Are you saying the poor in the Church should not go Churchowned universities in spite of their tithes and offerings?

That is not what I am saying. The poor in the Church have scholarships.

Each of these churches give scholarships.

Let’s talk on the vision of GLIM? The GLIM started about 26 years ago. I was pastoring with the Church of God

On the $9.3million arms deal involving Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, the PFN is calling for thorough investigation of the issue

Mission before I left. We have a church arm called New Covenant Gospel Church.

We have educational arm- Covenant Christian Academy and the Light House Polytechnic, Bible college, the humanitarian arm.

I honestly never ever thought that I will leave the organisation (the Church of God Mission). I still love the organisation.

That is history.

I prayed over it and it was during the prayer exercise that God gave me the GLIM vision. ...And the challenges of a new beginning?

I lead the church as the

chief servant. The challenges of a new beginning were enormous. We have gone through a lot. The church started in my sitting room, there was a time we had palm trees as roof. Then, we moved to a rented warehouse, until we got to where where we are presently. ...I read that you heard the voice of the late Archbishop Idahosa?

I went to a crusade organised by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa and I heard him preached the gospel. He made altar call and that was how I turned my life to God. I have never known any other pastor in my life other than Archbishop Benson Idahosa. It was at that service that the man of God said ‘empty everything that you have’. It was like a joke, some grumbled and left but we did.

We trekked from miracle centre at Airport Road, GRA, Benin-City down home. I believed my pastor.

I was going to school in America and I went to him; of course it was through his help that I got into school abroad.

Then he said ‘kneel down’ and I did. He said, ‘Omobude, your gift will make room for you’. He put his hand on me and prayed for me; then he put his hand in his pocket and gave me a 100 dollar bill and a copy of the New Testament Bible. I got up and I was staring at him. I knew he had lots of friends. I thought he would ask me to take a card and meet someone, but he said, ‘You go! Your gift will open doors for you’. I never took his words lightly. A copy of that New Testament Bible that he signed is still with me today.’

What are those things your pastoral calling has deprived you off?

Leadership is infectious. As a leader, I try to lead by good example. I check myself and the type of company that I keep and my behaviour. It may not be sinful to eat in the public but I don’t do it because I am a leader. Every leadership position has a responsibility. I try as much as possible to check my consciousness.

Your priorities in life?

My priorities in life include satisfying the God who has called me into this work. I am looking forward to the day I will be welcome by God as a faithful servant.

If you were not a pastor, what would you have become?

I have passion for engineering and I would probably have continued my journey as an engineer.

C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 47 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

Stakeholders unveil new roadmap for National Troupe

By JAPHET ALAKAM FORUM

I

n his first meeting with Art writers in Lagos, the new Artistic director of National Troupe, Akin Adejuwon promised to reinvigorate and reposition the national troupe for effective and efficient performing art service delivery. Few months in the saddle, after due consultation, the Ekiti born artist, realised that for such enviable heights to be achieved, there is need to meet with the stakeholders in the industry. This was what informed the convening of the stakeholders forum , the first since the establishment of the troupe and as would expected, leading theatre practitioners gathered at the Banquet Hall of the National Theatre, Lagos to chart a new roadmap on how the troupe can become more proactive and productive.

One thing that caught the fancy of those present was the number and caliber of people that attended, and that goes to prove that people has been yearning for such opportunity to be part of the change. They include; Oba Sonuga, Prof Duro Oni, Sir Peter Badejo, Ben Tomoloju, Ali MahmoudBalogun, Prof. Sunday Ododo, Larry Williams,Prof. Gbemi Remi Adeoti, Mrs Bridget Yerima, Kabir Yusuf, Efe Eboigbe , Steve James and others.

On ground to do justice to the topic was the Head, Department of Theatre Arts, University of Maiduguri and SONTA president, Prof Sunday Ododo who spoke on The Performative Expression In A Conflict Environment and as expected, the seasoned theatre scholar did not disappoint the audience. arlier, in his opening remarks, Chairman of the Governing Board of the National Theatre/National Troupe of Nigeria, Chief Markus Ishaya who was meeting the AD for the first time advised him to carry every body along and work to better the record of the immediate past Artistic Director, Mr Martins Adaji.

According to him, “you cannot do it alone. Everybody in the troupe has a role to play, and you should take everybody as a stakeholder. Both you and General Manager of National Theatre should work together for good.”

Relying on his experience in the public service, Ishaya pointed out that those who want to succeed always make effort to encourage broad and active stakeholders’ engagement in the planning, monitoring and evaluation process of their programmes.

In his keynote address, Prof Ododo who came all the way from conflict ridden Maiduguri did a grand job as he expressed in-depth analysis of

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the ills and needs of the industry.

Ododo who gave instances of countries where arts based projects has been used to address conflicts and transform them from negative to positive contexts stated that the t r o u p e ’ s performative expression for conflict resolution a n d transformation must as well • Sir Peter Badejo doing what he knows best with members of the Footprints address the of David during the event structural by all levels of government in us; wherever they are failing, tell them; if they injustice and structural Nigeria. refuse to listen and change, dodo recommended that oppression that underlie tell us. NTN should also be beyond the present people’s misery and powerlessness in Nigeria. He stakeholders’ forum, NTN run as a laboratory of artistic observed that underlining all should bring experts in theatre experimentation that should these issues are the nagging for development and conflict yield something new for the questions of ethical decay, transformation to articulate for Nigerian theatre and indeed social injustice, inequality and NTN a realistic and result- the world theatre,” he noted.

He also urged NTN to false sense of nationalism. All oriented blueprint of action. return to mobile open According to Prof.

Ododo, these questions, he said, auditions for the recruitment performative expression for require urgent attention if contemporary Nigeria is to be conflict resolution is not the of artists in order to boost reoriented with fair sense of conventional type the artistes of confidence in its recruitment socio-political relationships, NTN are used to because it has process. NTN should begin distribution of national its modus operandi, adding that to develop performances in resources and reward system workshops must be organised to Nigerian languages and train the artists who will act as through them connect with change agents who must be grassroots indigenous He promised to motivated too and emboldened artistes. intensify efforts Prof. Ododo also tasked the to key into their new role as NTN to begin to package change agents. aimed at Continuing, he said that NTN productions that genuinely popularising the in all her activities should keep interrogate the sociorich cultural faith with the Nigerians and political system, leadership should be careful not to become and followership, national heritage of the a propagandist agency for questions and integration, country government. ‘Wherever the denied freedom and government is doing well, tell injustice in the country, and

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Speaking English the Right Way

By LUCKY OJI REVIEW

S

PEAK English the right way with Royal Christal Speech Series teaches the pupils the right way to master and speak impeccable English.

The books provide detail teaching suggestions on how pupils can easily grasp the pronunciation of words and read alphabets.

To be able to do this, Augustine Eleanya at the lower classes helps in establishing the Letter-sound connection known as phonics which has been a problematic area to non native speakers of English.

The Primary 3 of the series helps in developing a strong foundation of English sound system.

Many people have asked this question in the past and a lot are still asking the same question “why do I need to improve my spoken English”? This book will not only provide a befitting

answer to the question but also will provide young learners of practical spoken English ample opportunity to cope with the internal and social challenges that becloud ineffective communication.

There are several reasons one should improve his spoken English. The need for an improved aspect of spoken English could be seen in the ability of a learner to effectively communicate the ideas or feelings inherent in words. This ability makes an English speaker sound intelligible to all his listeners.

Effective oral communication covers both speaking and reading aspects. In both aspects, a child is required to possess good pronunciation skills. Children could be asked to tell stories or read stories from their literature texts in class. Children with poor pronunciation skills would experience certain degree of internal uneasiness that makes their voices sound unsteady hence, unintelligible. But children with good

presented to the generality of Nigerians, NTN would be failing in her mandate to ‘ensure that productions of the Troupe are geared towards national aspirations’.

Apart from the talks, the interactive forum also featured drama presentation by Crown Troupe of Nigeria, National Troupe of Nigeria (Ajoyo) and the Footprint of Africa.

On his part, Artistic Director, National Troupe of Nigeria, Akin Adejuwon told the audience of the troupe’s mission and promised to intensify efforts aimed at popularising the rich cultural heritage of the country through performances that are of high artistic standard. “We are poised, even though we are often being stretched to the limits due to limited resources, to execute productions as and when due. We are also to be theatrically responsive to pressing national and international issues and to provide a vibrant forum for citizens to brainstorm and regenerate topical issues on the performing arts.”

“To this effect, we intend to direct our products towards identifiable major clients, the Federal Government. As Ministries, Departments and Agencies), the private sector, and the general public; an expansion of this dovetails into the key arm of the Federal Government, the Armed Forces.

The present security situation in the country brings the import of this arm of government to the fore. We will represent this importance through our performative expressions and promote same. speaking skills, reading skills, spelling, and also to equip every user with skills relevant to connected speech performance.

Good pronunciation skill begins with the ability of a child to identify and articulate the English sound units/ phonemes. Each unit has a symbol known as phonetic symbol. These sound units form the building blocks for English words. he author believes that with the building blocks, strong foundation would be laid for good pronunciation to build on.

To achieve that, he employs simplicity in his use of language to ensure that the pupils understand the lessons.

This is further facilitated by the use of objects familiar to the children to make for easy learning.

However, there are few errors which should be corrected in the next edition.

Apart from the few noted errors, Royal Christal Speech Series is a new found solution to improve our pupils grasp of the English language and it covers the nursery and primary schools curricular of English.

T

Royal Christal Speech Support Series; Augustine Eleanya; Royal Christal Services ; 2014; PP. 56 pronunciation skills pronounce words with such fluency that brings meaning to life. These children sound intelligible, with clear voices, good diction, and convincing tune. ractical spoken English requires special set of skills. This book is therefore specially designed to improve their phonemic awareness, pronunciation/

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PAGE 48—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

Mwalimu Ali Mazrui: A hero in the present time A

li Mazrui is really a huge tree that prominently occupies a huge forest of equally huge trees. When such trees are uprooted from the forest, it is a great loss beyond recompense.

The Iroko isn’t just any tree; it has a definitive presence. Nelson Mandela just exited the African forest, and that absence troubled our collective conscience as a people; now we lament Mazrui just like we did when Chinua Achebe took a bow. Dare we raise a dirge? What does these departures portend for Africa?

This may be a dilemma, but I call to mind a double consolation. In this regard, Henry Vaughan’s poem comes handy: They are all gone into the world of light, And I alone sit lingering here; Their very memory is fair and bright, And my sad thoughts doth clear.

Mazrui’s influence suffuses my intellectual and personal development as an individual. I am highly favoured to have encountered this great son of Africa, first as a student of politics, and later in discourse, not only in print but also in at least one personal correspondence. In the first place, I count him as one of my intellectual companions through the tough but enlightening maturation of my intellect. These were intellectual forebears who ensured that we didn’t travel alone through the Sisyphean struggles and existential realities of life and career. There are many others, too many to checklist.

There were for me, the likes of Martin Luther of the Reformation who gave me in junior secondary the concept of reform as a tool for social reconstruction which

defined as intellectual focus so early. Others would include in no particular order, Thomas More, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Karl Popper, Rudyard Kipling, T. S. Elliot, Mahatma Gandhi, John Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, George Bernard Shaw, C. P. Snow, Nelson Mandela, Pandit Nehru, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, Thomas Paine, Cervantes, J. J. Rousseau, Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare, Wole Soyinka, Simeon Adebo, Claude Ake and so on.

Prof. Mazrui’s triple heritage thesis—as well as Peter Ekeh’s two publics - contributed immensely to my understanding of the convoluted dynamics of the postcolonial African society of which Nigeria is a critical manifestation. The severe dysfunctions of the Nigerian civil service, for instance, are a pointer to how the predicament of an unharnessed triple heritage constitutes a disservice to the

,

By TUNJI OLAOPA TRIBUTE

I

•Mwalimu Ali Mazrui

from the incongruous mix of the three elements of our historical experience: First, why is it

The severe dysfunctions of the Nigerian civil service, for instance, are a pointer to how the predicament of an unharnessed triple heritage constitutes a disservice to the progress of the Nigerian state

,

progress of the Nigerian state.

Thus, I am forced to keep revisiting the thesis over and over again in my position as an expertinsider. In my article ‘Ali Mazrui and the Challenge of Africa’s Triple Heritage,’ I raised fundamental questions arising

impossible for people, otherwise distinguished by ethnic, cultural and religious affiliations, to live peacefully together, inspite of the political motives that is the undercurrent of terrorism? If it is, in what sense then would that hope not be truncated by an

LAYER CAKE: An exhibition by PoP Artist Akin Disu opens at Didi

L

AGOS PoP Artist Akin Disu solo show Layer Cake , will open to the public on Friday the 7th of November till Sunday the 9th of November , the show consists of 4 main pieces of work referencing the historical layers that make up Lagos.

Sponsored by Arewa textile Plc the show was opened in a private show by HRM Oba Idowu Oniru in attendance were HE Chief Ernest Shonekan represented by Chief Mrs Shonekan , HRH Erelu Abiola Dosumu National Poet Chief JP Clark and prominent members of Lagos society .Followed by a workshop for students of Holy Child and Methodist Boys High School The Pieces YEOBA , IDEJO , EYINGBETI , and DANKOLO make up Layer

Cake Its a collaborative approach to creating a new social language for the arts.

Complimenting the city’s past and encompassing the future.It

dedicated everything to Africa; he dedicated everything to an understanding of how Africa can successfully convert its negative inheritance of socio-political and economic anomie to a positive capital of genuine liberation and development. In recent times, there has been a widespread and triumphal exaltation of Africa Rising, especially in terms of economic manifestations which, for the economists, translates into several positive macroeconomic signifiers which supposedly spell a better future for Africa. wonder what Prof. Mazrui would have thought of ‘Africa Rising.’ I suspect, however, that he would have, on the one hand, been gratified that Africa is coming into reckoning after ages of subjugation and negative global press. But on the other hand, he would have rejected any form of superficial theorising that doesn’t see the wood for the trees. Thabo Mbeki once said that the twentyfirst century is Africa’s century; Ali Mazrui disagrees. Why isn’t this our best century in spite of growing and glowing macroeconomic achievements? A simple answer would be that we are still far off from a serious exploitation of Africa’s heritage.

Africa has not yet transformed its triple heritage into a platform for continental distinctiveness. All our supposed achievements as a continent has been happening to us rather than as a result of our collective resolve.

A starting point for a genuine liberation of Africa, from Mazrui’s perspective, would be a critical understanding of how this triple heritage past can speak to a modern African future free of ethnic jingoism, gender chauvinism, religious fundamentalism and economic subservience. Mazrui will definitely agree with the US writer, Gayatri Spivak, that ‘If only enlightenment is granted, freedom is almost sure to follow.’

Enlightenment in this context comes from an understanding of our triple heritage but more importantly, how that heritage can fashion an enlarged modern consciousness that could inform Africa’s postcolonial recovery and partnership.

I know what Mazrui is talking about. Like him, I can equally be regarded as a ‘ walking triple heritage.’ I grew up at a cultural juncture where the three critical elements of Euro-Christian, Islamic and indigenous cultural influences converged. The indigenous cultural space was a moderating influence garnered from its several values that encouraged love and hospitality.

What is the significance of Mazrui in the present tense? We have an entire body of Mazruiana collections that essentially are a legacy to how Africans can begin to redefine themselves in a contemporary world of neoliberal globalisation when they have adequately liberated themselves from colonial and postcolonial mental blocks. Marcus Garvey once proclaimed that all emancipation is from within.

Prof. Ali Al’amin Mazrui has left us a legacy that insists that we look deep into our historical reality for the clues to our own liberation. *Tunji Olaopa is Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communications Technology.

is of the city and the inhabitants our needs at this present time to be united. Its all about how individuals fit into communities.

One of the art works on display

It is influenced externally by ,Portuguese tiles , Middle eastern descriptive art , Brit Art culture and the Pop art movement.

Internally the history of Nigeria its arts and cultural references.

Limited edition prints of the show are available during the show which can be followed online at Facebook/pages/ Akin-Disu and on t w i t t e r @akintundedisu .

absolute conception of faith that necessarily exclude the others from religious, and national, communion? What role does selfunderstanding play in our attempts to come to term with our differences and similarities?

How does the knowledge of the Infinite moderate our conscience in the world where other consciences inhabit? t was therefore a huge surprise to me when I got an unexpected call from the sturdy Iroko himself to commend my little effort at making sense of our collective trouble. Who would have thought that Mwalimu Mazrui, of all people, would notice a Lilliputian me, of all people! I was totally dumbfounded by the admission that he had been following with interest my several narratives on the contributions of intellectual compatriots in Nigeria.

Africa’s future is inextricably tied to its triple historical heritage. Our modern experience must take off from that fundamental core of diversity.

For Africa, diversity isn’t just a slogan; it is a critical reality in terms of cultures, languages, and even colonial experiences. For that diversity to spice up our progressive development as a continent, for us to truly rise beyond our predicament, we urgently need to concoct our otherwise virulent diversity into a serious and aromatic recipe.

This is essentially what Prof.

Mazrui dedicated his entire life and prodigious intellect to doing.

Now, that definitive presence on the African and global political science and cultural studies firmament has departed. He fought a good fight of the intellect—he came, he saw and he thought. Prof. Ali Al’amin Mazrui—professor, global intellectual, political analyst, and Africana scholar—didn’t just die; he lived!

Our consolation over these mighty iconic figures is that we are permitted to continue speaking about them in the present tense. They still have a lot to say to Africa’s present predicament in death as much as they did in life. Nwalimu Mazrui was a prodigious scholar with an equally seminal intellect. And he

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SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard , NO VEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 49 NOVEMBER

Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman

96 DAYS TO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Scandal, confusion rock Jega’s INEC zPermanent Voter’s Cards zNorthern Turks take over

BY JIDE AJANI

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resenting proof-positive that and apparent vindication of the eightmonth long stories by Sunday Vanguard that Nigeria’s election management body, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has a hidden agenda being pushed by its National Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, last week’s shambolic distribution of the Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, in some states by the electoral body cleared all doubts as to its intention to bungle next C M Y K

in short supply Commission

year’s general elections. Yet, as if possessed, some national commissioners continue to pursue an agenda on which daylight has come! This report presents the scandal going on in INEC over the 2015 elections; and why another sudden postponement is imminent.

Question: Why was it difficult for INEC to carry out a simple task of distributing Permanent Voter’s Cards, PVCs, in some 12 states last week?

Answer: The inspiration for doing an electoral management job for Professor Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman, and his

band of northern National Commissioners, may no longer be the delivery of a hitch free election but the return of power to the North.

There is basis for this assertion.

In a series of publications by this medium, the nation had been alerted to the dangers of ethnicity and an agenda driven by prebendal consideration which had enveloped Nigeria’s election management body. Indeed, during the 2011 presidential election, a political party sent a petition to INEC under Jega, complaining about some alleged malpractices.

Acting in good sense, an INEC Chairman would have simply directed the party to make its case strongly before a competent judicial body. But shockingly, Jega’s INEC stopped the collation of election results until the INEC Chairman was made to understand that he had no powers to stop the process and that only a competent judicial body, as stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, could do that. The collation of results continued after about four hours – call that a four-hour annulment.

Today, after resisting pressures, there are signs of strain.

INCOMPETENCE ON STEROIDS At a time when we have just 96 days to the presidential election of February next year, INEC and indeed Nigerians are not sure of the number of Polling Units, PUs, which would be used for the election.

Worse still, what was supposed to be the last phase in the presentation of PVCs to Nigerians last week has turned out to be a scandal which has seen many stakeholders calling for Jega’s head.

Mind you, the scandalous outing of last week, which forced the Commission to shame-facedly postpone the activity in some states while not being

Continues on page 50

PAGE 50 — SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Continued from page 49 able to even deliver in most local government areas where the exercise held, is without the introduction of Jega’s mysterious and lopsidedly allocated 30,000 PUs – over 21,000 of the PUs were dashed out to the North.

Yet, Jega has boasted to some of his co-travelers that nothing can stop him from going ahead with his allocation. Perhaps, now that INEC’s disgraceful conduct regarding a mere PVCs allocation is manifest, common sense would prevail.

Interestingly, The INEC Chairman’s excuse for creating his phantom 30,000 PUs is to make voting easier for the electorate.

Pray! A prospective voter without PVC cannot cast his vote even if a PU is situated in his living room.

Therefore, would common sense not dictate to INEC that it would be better to focus on creating the condition precedent (availability of PVCs) before launching an unholy expedition into a lopsided allocation of PUs? WHERE ARE INEC’s CARD READERS? INEC watchers and Jega himself had made the point in times past that manning its initial 120,000 PUs was a challenge. Now that he has added 30,000, how does he plan to man the PUs? Determination of the source of INEC’s election– day staff should also concern INEC. With 150,000 PUs, how does INEC plan to man the units?

Meanwhile, another disturbing development, which itself might become a major scandal, is the Card Reader that INEC plans to use for reading the PVCs. INEC’s Electoral Institute, the body saddled with the responsibility of conducting the training of all election personnel nationwide, was, at press time, in a fix regarding the Card Readers.

The reason for this is that those at the helm of affairs at the institute are yet to see any Card Reader.

They are expected to conduct training for Jega’s 150,000 potential electoral personnel who would each man the PUs across the country.

Now, if just 96 days to the presidential election, the Card Readers have not been delivered and training yet to commence, what other recipe for disaster and catastrophe can otherwise be imagined.

Mind you, of these expected 150,000 Card Readers, 30,000 would be C M Y K

Scandal, confusion rock Jega’s INEC

Prospective voters...where are the PVCs?

Tinubu...Complaints galore

And four years after the 2011 elections and two months to another general elections, INEC is preoccupied with guesstimates while floundering with facts from the field

used to freelance and read any PVC anywhere in the country and the votes would count.

The reason is that going by the INEC Chairman own logic, the initial 120,000 PUs would have an equal number of Card Readers that would be PUconfigured. Each of these 120,000 would have a name and a code.

But because of time, the 30,000 Card Readers that would be brought in for use at the 30,000 PUs would not be PUconfigured.

However, the clever catch is that any of the 30,000 can be used to, therefore, read any PVC in any part of the country

and the votes computed unto INEC’s data base as legitimate votes.

With over 21,000 PUs already situated in the North, what that means is that 21,000 Card Readers stand the possibility of being used to free-load votes.

At press time, the contract award process for the Card Readers have seen some vendors complaining that the process employed by INEC was shrouded in quasi-mystery.

In fact, sources at INEC told Sunday Vanguard that Jega has been too busy lately globe-trotting rather than staying in the country to face his job.

The sources and indeed some staff of the Commission disclosed that the shambolic display by INEC last week cannot be unconnected with the desperation on the part of some National Commissioners of a section of a country who have ringfenced the INEC boss from staying course.

THE PUs SCANDAL AND ITS ARCHITECT Heads of INEC Operations in the 36 states, who were invited to an ongoing IFES workshop in Abuja, were not spared, as, one after the other, they were summoned and compelled by Engr. Nuru Yakubu, the man who is seen largely as the architect of the 30,000 PUs, to submit the implementation report from their states.

Sunday Vanguard was told that some submitted ecopies, a clear departure

from the usual standard format for such an important report, ought to be signed

by RECs. Plans are also underway to carry out new posting of RECs in which case northern RECS would be posted to the South to come and implement these PUs that must be created.

While INEC’s principal officers are busy trying to create these phantom Polling Units which are unsupported by field evidence of actual number of voters (distribution of PVCs to actual voters is still ongoing), the critical field operations, which should give them a clear fact on which parts of the country require more PUs with exactitude, are being neglected or done shoddily.

As the Commission commenced the distribution of the PVCs in 12 states last week, it was not prepared with the PVCs for 11 LGAs in Lagos State, with about seven other states rescheduled for 28 November. This led to a walk-out by Lagos State voters who insisted that they will not receive the PVCs anywhere until INEC was ready to distribute it in all registration areas.

It is instructive to note that effectively distributing the PVCs, after authenticating their owners, is the best way to know how many actual voters are present in each registration area. It is the figures from this exercise that would then give INEC a near exact figure of the number of PUs it requires with minimal adjustments for contingencies.

Rather, and for an academic at that, Jega’s INEC has chosen to climb the tree from the top.

And four years after the 2011 elections and two months to another general elections, INEC is preoccupied with guesstimates while floundering with facts from the field.

It is uncertain if these failures are deliberate given the vigor with which principal officers, who are obligated to ensure that such exact figures were used, are now retreating to past flawed figures which they have admitted are fraught with inaccuracies perpetuated by multiple voters and improperly captured biometric data.

Still, the question to ask a seemingly shambling and shambolic Jega is: Can he sincerely say all these are for a free and fair election, given the very obvious desperation on display?

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard , NO VEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 51 NOVEMBER

Fall of Mubi to

Boko Haram •Lamentation from displaced peoples camp

BY UMAR YUSUF, YOLA

A

fter Michika and Madagali local government areas of Adamawa State were taken over by insurgents on September 7, 2014, the military leadership gave the armed forces an ultimatum to reclaim the two local governments within 48 hours.

The take over had forced the Nigerian troops to retreat to Uba Askira even as the bridge linking the town with the captured LGAs was destroyed by the insurgents.

On October 29, 2014, at about 6:45am, the military formations and outposts located in Uba, MararabaMubi and Mubi started mobilizing to recapture Michika and Madagali.

The engineering section of the Nigerian military had with them a makeshift bridge to enable troops cross the almost 500-meter bridge for the onslaught against the insurgents. About 500 soldiers were mobilized for the ill-fated exercise.

The makeshift bridge was perfectly laid across the river, even as some armored carriers were moved to the Michika axis.

As soldiers crossed to march to Michika enroute Madagali, Boko Haram insurgents struck.

An exchange of fire between the two sides lasted for over three hours. The insurgents, with their superior arms and ammunition, were getting upper hand. The only option for the Nigerian troops was to retreat.

Some called it “tactical retreat” to enable them re-mobilize and reequip to face the insurgents. But this never happened. The troops never went back.

The soldiers ran back to Uba Askira. Even before they arrived Uba Askira, the troops there had received the message that all was not well and they too retreated to Mararaba Mubi. Those at Mararaba Mubi

moved into Mubi town while the insurgents were pursuing them. When the fleeing soldiers retreated to Mubi, pandemonium enveloped the second largest and commercial nerve centre of Adamawa.

Residents started fleeing. They ran not minding their loved ones left behind. Husbands did not care to look for their wives. Mothers ran carrying only the newly born. Seniors did not care to know the whereabouts of their younger ones.

Everybody was running, some in their vehicles, but majority of the people ran on foot towards Cameroun through Guela in Mubi South Local Government Area.

As the people fled Mubi, soldiers abandoned their rifles and uniforms to avoid been identified by the insurgents.

After almost everybody had run out of Mubi, the insurgents entered the military barracks. By the time the barracks was completely in control of the invaders, it was clear that Mubi had fallen.

When Mubi fell, the insurgents advised residents still in town to stay put. The insurgents told the residents that they were not after them, but the military. But the assurance did not stop the civilians from escaping through any available means.

A mother of six, Madam Hannatu Moses, a petty trader in Mubi market, narrated how she escaped with some of her kids. According to her, the husband, whose whereabouts were still unknown, is a bricklayer and left the house in the morning of that fateful day for a site in the town, while she left for her shop in the market.

Hannatu added that when the news broke that Boko Haram had entered Mubi, she was with three of her children. Amid the ensuing pandemonium, she could not even remember if her shop was shut before she fled.

‘In war, you will not know how you ran until you get to a safer place before

you start thinking about what happened”, she said.

“It was the mobile phone that assisted me in connecting with my three other children who were in different schools and they joined us on our way to Cameroun”.

The woman, now in the IDP camp in Damare, Yola, disclosed that she, among thousands others, trekked for two days along the Mubi-Cameroun borders before they arrived the camp.

Scores of other victims, mainly students of Federal Polytechnic, Mubi and Adamawa State University, who trekked along with Hannatu, said they ran out of their hostels without taking any of their belongings with them. According to them, they were part of the fleeing group intercepted and denied entry into Cameroun by the country’s gendarmes after trekking for two days. They, however, appreciated the hospitality of the Cameroun people who gave them food and shelter at the border posts before they were evacuated to the Yola IDP camp.

Another fleeing resident, Mr Joshua Gajere, said that several people might have been killed during the shooting spree that lasted almost two hours in the area captured by Boko Harram.

Facts emerging after the trauma associated with the loss of Mubi, now renamed Madinatul-Islam, indicate that the town and indeed the territory comprising a whole senatorial district in Adamawa State was handed over to the insurgents on a platter of gold.

The insurgents that took over Mubi were said to have been less than 100 while soldiers in the town were reportedly over 1,000.

Mubi had been under night time curfew for the past one year, yet the insurgents arrived the town in broad daylight unchallenged.

From Uba Askira to Marraraba, down to Mubi, there are over five heavily armed military check points and three police divisions, yet the insurgents allegedly walked past unchallenged.

All security units in Mubi were reportedly deserted before the insurgents arrived.

There was a ban on the use of motorcycles in Mubi and environs, yet the insurgents drove into town on motorcycles unchallenged.

Troops were reported to have stopped people from leaving Mubi when stories started filtering in, that the insurgents were on their way only to disappear when the people needed them most.

Since the handing over of Mubi, none of the Federal Government agencies has said anything. Where is the Media Centre? Where is Gen. Olukolade, the military spokesman. Where is Marilyn Ogar, the DSS spokesperson.

Why the defeating silence from even the military authorities in Yola?

The following officials of government hail from the area that has now been taken over

by Boko Haram: A senator, two members of the House of Representatives, two Ministers, Chief of the Defence Staff, the GOC, 3rd Division of the Nigerian Army, governor of Adamawa State, Speaker of the state House of Assembly, and seven members of the Assembly.

•Cooking time in IDP camp C M Y K

PAGE 52—SUND AY 52—SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

PHANTOM BOKO HARAM CEASEFIRE DEAL

FG playing politics with the lives of Chibok girls —Junaid Mohammed •On 2015: `The problem with Jonathan/Sambo ticket’ DR Junaid Mohammed, a northern leader, was a member of the House of Representatives in the second republic, Mohammed, in this interview, speaks on the ceasefire the federal government was said to have agreed with the Boko Haram Islamist group, the 2015 presidential contest and the ripples generated by the defection of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, from the ruling PDP to the opposition APC.

BY LEKAN BILESANMI

Y

ou have consistently been a critic of government. Is it that there is something that you see that other people who don’t criticise government don’t see? l have occasion where people will say it to my face that I am a pain in the neck, not rudely though. Sometimes, people will say ‘you are troublesome, or you are too much of a critic.

Once in a while I laugh it off.

Well, I like what I do. Whether you like it or not, unfortunately, there is little or nothing I can do about it.

However, what makes me happy and fulfilled is the fact that I have done my best as possibly as I came for the country because I believe that Nigeria is an important enterprise. And I think all of us including the civil society groups, should put our differences aside, including our primordial considerations, so that we can make this enterprise called Nigeria a success. Of course, it is not yet a success; that is why I am still actively involved, otherwise I should have retired because, everyday, new issues come up which can make you hit the roof and ‘say what is happening?’.

In hitting the roof, you hit at personalities too…

I think personalities are only relevant when they affect the issue being discussed, but I don’t go out of my way to hit personalities. As a matter of fact, I am not interested in personalities but issues, but when issues touch personalities, then they will be legitimate targets. But if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen. You have no C M Y K

business in public life if you can’t take a punch or two over the belt or under the belt. But I think to be able to survive in public service, you must be able to have a thick skin and I have thick skin and I expect all in public service to have very thick skin.

I don’t think I have gone out of my way to be offensive to personalities. During the just concluded National Conference, Chief Olu Falae, a fellow member, said to me: ‘People who only read about you would think you are an offensive person but frankly speaking, I find you good to be with’.

What is your take on the crisis at the House of Reps triggered by the Speaker ’s defection and subsequent withdrawal of his police details?

I find that very difficult to accept; I find the attitude of the Inspector General of Police who I see as a friend condemnable. I think what he did is a disgrace to his uniform, a disgrace to the police service.

Whether Tambuwal had the right to defect to a n o t h e r political party, to me, is not an issue.

My concern is, if any public

Mohammed...They are playing political football with abducted girls’ lives officer changes party, it is not the duty of the police to interpret what the law says. It is not healthy for a supposed independent police to be seen openly taking sides with the government of the day and trying to win favour from the government.

That is despicable.

Many people see the action as trying to please the President.

Besides, when the police force tries to interpret the law like it is doing, it is s i m p l y breaching the Constitution.

T h e Constitution puts that responsibility in the judiciary. Let the court determine Ta m b u w a ’ s action. Let the

The Federal Government has been economical with the truth for the past 200 days these girls were abducted by this sect

police do its work so that our environment can be safe for our children to go to school, play; so that Nigerians can move freely and earn a living.

Besides, Tambuwal is a lawyer and has been Speaker for more than three years. He is supposed to know the issues; he has been in the parliament two times. So I think it is cheeky and, frankly speaking, it is arrant nonsense for the I.G. to do what he is doing now. The issue of saying the I.G too is a lawyer does not hold water. The Constitution does not allow the kind of action he took against the Speaker.

I think at the end of the day, he may have himself messed up the way Mbu messed himself up in Rivers State and still messing up in Abuja. I think his action is not in the interest of the service. He should look beyond being I.G. He should be concerned about the State of the service after he is gone while he is still there.

President Goodluck Jonathan has picked his nomination form for second term. Do you think he deserves another mandate from the people?

Whenever a politician is campaigning for votes, my

attitude is usually based on what he has promised and assess his performance in office via-a vis the promises he made.

Besides that, the responsibility of government is the maintenance of law and order.

A government must protect your life and mine, your property and mine, these are fundamental responsibilities of government. And when government fails in that rule number one, that government ceases to be a government that one should associate with.

Are you saying the president has failed in that regard?

Absolutely. He failed woefully. We have, right now, a very nasty insurgency, carried out by few terrorists in the name of Boko Haram in the North-East which has been deserted. As we speak, the Chief of the Defence Staff, Alex Badey, has his village in Adamawa being run down by these Boko Harm elements.

That does not portend credibility. I am worried because if the Nigerian armed forces today are in no position to protect your life and mine, then we are in very serious trouble – the presidency has not been able to do anything to Continues on page 53

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 53

`The problem with Jonathan/Sambo ticket’ Continued from page 52 protect our lives. The situation is a lot worse than it was when he came into power. All he has been able to do it to make us more angry, intolerable.

Talking about cease fire, the Federal Government said last month that it had reached an agreement with Boko Haram only for the sect leader, Abubakar Shekau, in a video, to say they had not had any agreement and that the Chibok girls had long been married out. What is your take on this?

The Federal Government has been economical with the truth for the past 200 days these girls were abducted by this sect. The world has been outraged and expressed maximum concern.

Instead of government confronting the issue, what they have attempted to do was to turn the whole matter into a political issue. They wanted to use the lives of the girls to play political football. Everyday, they tell you the president is working hard, very had to the sure the girls are released.

None has been released so far, those who escaped by miracle came to tell stories of how they had been raped, gang – raped; some of them forced to convert into Islam which is a terrible thing. I don’t know where these rascals in the sect learnt their own Islam.

The whole thing about Boko Haram being an Islamic thing is a scandal, because these are bunch of illiterates, from Yusuf, its leader, to now Shekau - they know they cannot defeat the Federal Government. At the

Mohammed ... FG lacks will to tackle insurgency same time, this Federal Government has no will to take on the insurgents and defect them. There are people who are very sinister within the presidency who are advising government to use the issue solely for political end. I don’t believe the Federal Government can handle this insurgency,

Can this be substantiated?

I have been long enough in this game. I don’t have reputation for being reckless. I choose my words with care. A

former army chief (name withheld) is a war criminal and I challenge him to sue me. I challenge other generals who served with him, some of whom are still serving. They have been involved in stealing billons of naira. And that’s why the insurgency is not under control.

And they are not answerable otherwise they would have long gone. Foreigners and foreign governments have been insisting that the army chief must have his day at the international criminal court at The Hague.

You said the president does

not deserve a second term, how about his vice?

Under the presidential system we operate, some of the facts that have to be assessed in who decides a vice president? I think there are antecedents. Whatever might have been the consideration for Goodluck to have picked Namadi Sambo is a miscalculation. And as far as I am concerned, it is evident from what we know that there is nothing to prove that Namadi Sambo to be president himself when opportunity presents itself.

I can justify my verdict with the way they have been handling the power issue in the country when they came to power, Nigeria was generating about 5,000 megawatts, and today we are producing about 3,000 megawatts. There is really nothing to show for it. So if you have got it, show it if you have something, prove it to me, if you have got it, flaunt it.

There is nothing to prove that this man has the capacity or insight to be the vice president of the country and when you have a very weak president and supported by an incompetent vice president, then it is a national tragedy.

For all I care, those two have no business in the presidency, they should go and eat their humble pie and leave so that others can come and try.

How true? If Jonathan wants to lose the election, let him run with Sambo I don’t know the consideration behind that statement but, frankly

speaking, I think what they are saying albeit in coded language is that this vice president has not added and he is incapable of adding any value to the presidential fortunes of the man nominated.

So if the president insists on carrying on with him, that is his cup of tea. I don’t see Namadi Sambo adding any value to Jonathan and he is not capable or has the capability of doing that. I think we owe ourselves the truth. Jonathan, with a liability like Sambo, has not helped this country in anyway. I think this man should be jettisoned.

With a northerner as presidential candidate of the APC, do you see the party doing well in the next election?

Yes, I think APC will surely do in this coming election. I agree that APC will give PDP a good run for their money.

In fact, PDP can be upstaged.

But my concern is if there will be credible election. I won’t be bothered about who emerges. I am interested in the process that would bring about a good leader. And I am worried that PDP has shown the capacity that it does not believe in elections at any level - it is more interested in having a consensus candidate. So if the two major political parties do not believe in elections, then we are in a very serious trouble because there is fundamental difference between what they believe as democracy and what democracy is in reality.

Delta 2015: Olejeme will provide purposeful leadership

By Agberia Efeduku

V

ISION 2015 that seems like eternity in the 1990s is just around the corner. Time runs slow but the future is closer than we might think. We can learn from the past, hold on to today with faith and live in the future with our imagination. With imagination and the creative spirit of purposeful leadership, nothing is impossible in this world. This is the developmentalism spirit with which Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Juliet Olejeme captures our reality. To her, a new dawn is here.

Olejeme brings the developmentalist ideology and agenda to Delta in 2015. It will only take a bridge builder to navigate through our experience to offer a viable promise. It is here experience counts. A blend of the public cum private matrix is enough experiment to provide the proper and fit dose for our ailment.

A philanthropist, entrepreneur, politician and administrator the Delta State gubernatorial aspirant on the platform of the PDP sits on the Board of numerous companies and government

establishments, notably the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) where she the Chairman, Subsidy ReInvestment Program (SURE-P) and Trust Fund Pension. She is versatile with huge coverage, exposure and experience in the corporate world.

At the heart of her governance strategy of development is wealth creation. Government, if handled with the right attitude and purposeful leadership, can perform optimally.

The developmentalism paradigm is premised on the fact that an efficient government is possible and can provide an industrialized economy with full employment, price stability, high output and net export.

Industrialization is fundamental to the quest of the Delta Beyond Oil philosophy.

It can be captured with a greater framework that is inclusive and comprehensive.

Olejeme relies on the deployment of agricultural revolution and the creation and merger of an industrial base to serve as catalyze for an African economic hub in Delta State and takeoff point for the

Nigerian project.

The gubernatorial hopefuls developmentalism is a platform that seeks to reinvent government as critical site and realm in production, distribution, exchange and consumption in the economic sphere. Her governance developmentalism strategy is to make government as fountain of mobilizing society’s resource towards effective competition and building of a comparative advantage economy.

The thrust of this developmentalism is anchored on a social security programme for all Deltans with a vision to create a deliberate distribution and redistribution projects that is inclusive, comprehensive and entrenches it core foundation on mass mobilization of grassroot involvement and passionate commitment. It’s a hybrid cluster of home grown community economic model that will mobilize equal opportunity for all to create an import substitution framework in conserving and generating wealth. The community will own the process and gains of the model with the state acting as facilitator.

The developmentalism brand will

only focus on developing and articulating all sectors of the economy in other to harmonize and promote circular flow of income to significantly multiply within the economy leaving little or no opportunity for leakages.

Technology incubation centers will be created along each sector of the economy to allow for the growth and development of the human capability to contribute enormously to their well-being.

The financial and stabilizing fund for each sector development will be created to provide for robust and unhindered participation of all.

Mentorship programme shall be created for all incubation centers and follow up with entrepreneur buildup agenda.

As an entrepreneur per excellence, the focus of governance will be better service and efficiency allocation in providing large scale economic mobilizing of resources for the benefit of all.

There will be essential consideration in priorities areas like education, healthcare delivery, housing, industrial development, security, sports, youth and women

empowerment, rural and urban renewal, transportation and infrastructural development.

As strong supporter and finance director, Goodluck Support Group, Olejeme candidature will attract Federal Government projects to Delta State. This is in good faith and will be equitable spread across the three senatorial districts of the state. All appointments shall be done in the interest of the people and will seemly represent the interest of the larger society.

There shall be upgrade, training and development of Ministries, Departments and Agencies to meet with current global trend. Under a developmental state, the bureaucracy is expected to play the critical role as active partner of the executive arm of government. In this regard, the bureaucracy shall be comprehensively enlarged to play developmental role as agent of government.

With this enlarge economic blueprint, Olejeme is set to be the first female governor in Nigeria.

•Efeduke is a public affairs analyst.

Page 54 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Obuh: Beyond Uduaghan and beyond oil VIEWPOINT

By Peter Orhii VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The time for reconciliation

I

N business schools across the world,themodulesalwaysinclude a focus on succession planning. Every chiefexecutiveorheadofacompanyor corporation is taught from the very day he assumes that position to begin the process of identifying his replacement.

This is because as accountants never forget to remind us, a business, a corporation and indeed, a state government, is a going concern. There must be continuity.

A chief executive or governor who steps down from the saddle and hands overthereinswithoutpickingasuccessorislikeamanwhodiesintestate;without leaving a will. When Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State exits office on May 29, 205 the expectation from political analysts is that he should be able to hand over to a successor who would not just take Delta beyond Uduaghan but beyond oil. Continuity must be the watchword.

VIEWPOINT

BY GOODLUCK JONATHAN

TRIBUTE IN BRIEF

Celebrating the life and times of a musical maestro

W

HAT is mortal of King Robert Ebizimor would be interred but the essence of this great musical maestro of our generation remains imperishable eternally.

It is therefore with a heavy heart but great appreciation of a talented life that was fully maximized for impact on humanity that I on behalf of myself, my family and the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria send our deepest of condolences to the family of Ebizimor and all lovers of his music world wide.

King Robert Ebizomor by a twist of fate was said to be on his way to his home town Angalatiri in Sagbama local government of Bayelsa state for a “survival party”, having

VIEWPOINT

BY GODWIN ADINDU

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Admonition as Abia State goes to the polls

T

HESE are precarious times for the Ngwa nation of Abia State! Perhaps, no period may have been so critical in the political history of the people than the current time. It is a time of a very delicate decision, a decision that will shape or mar the destiny of the entity for many decades to come. No time will the Ngwa be as careful, cautious and as altruistic as this time.

The reason is simple: there are many weapons fashioned by adversaries.

The Ngwa nation is currently standing at a crossroad. After a long journey, with all the vicissitudes and ordeals, it has come to that thin borderline where one wise steptakes us over the cliff and a miscalculation pushes us down the slope from where the journey began.

Yet, I must commend the Ngwa political stakeholders at home for the caution and the wisdom they have exercised so far. They understood very clearly the political temperament of the state and have trod carefully in tandem with the political mood.

There have been many struggles in the past and many mistakes made

LastFriday,SirAnthonyChuksObuh, formerPermanentSecretary,respected civil servant and well-versed policy maker, who paid a courtesy visit to Vanguard newspapers last Monday, formally declared his intention to contest for the office of governor of Delta.

His declaration was witnessed by a mammoth crowd of well-wishers that was made up of distinguished Deltans aswellasyoungmenandwomenfrom politicians to traditional leaders, organized labour, civil servants as well as students. Flanked by his wife and aides, Obuh,inhisspeech,displayedafacility not just for words but the spirit of a team player and apostle of continuity.

It is pertinent to provide insight into whatthe‘DeltaBeyondOil’isaboutand how Uduaghan conceptualised and began implementation of the idea.

The governor had noted that his drivingforcewastheurgentneedtoescape the devastating consequences of overdependence on oil which Professor MichaelJ.Watts,whoco-authored,‘The Curse of the Black Gold’, identified when he noted that “the Delta is awash not only in oil but in ferocious intra and inter-community struggles…”

“Like all governors in the Niger Del-

ta, this was one complex challenge I met upon assumption of office. There were other problems confronting the youngadministrationrangingfrompoliticalconflicts,toviolentyouthconflicts, armed insurgents, to ethnic rivalry amongst the various ethnic groups in Delta State,” Uduaghan said.

His “Delta Beyond Initiative” was conceptualised as a means of ameliorating, not just the effect of the so-called resourcecurse,butasatruechiefexecutive, ensuring the continued survival of Delta when the oil runs out.

He launched the ‘Delta Beyond Oil’ initiative as a means of raising InternallyGeneratedRevenue(IGR)instead of depending solely on the monthly hand-outs from the Federal |Government.

According to him “to address this, we adopted a strategic approach. First, within the first few weeks of my administration, I quickly empowered the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) … to go down to the rural, oil-producing communities to create jobs, stem the growing army of unemployed youths and provide the much-needed infrastructure in designated host communi-

ties. 50% of the 13% derivation accruing to the state or about approximately $222.5 million annually is passed on to the commission.”

Explaining further Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan revealed that “we conceivedanddesignedanewcomprehensiveeconomicdevelopmentframework with investment strategies and approachesthatensuredthatothersectors of the economy in the state are brought on stream. The idea was to expand and complement oil receipts as alternative income sources and focus oninternallygeneratedrevenues(IGR.) Some of our direct government investments aimed at catalysing state-wide developmentincludethecompletionof an international airport in Asaba….Takingadvantageofthehuge economic activities in Onitsha market, which is about 15 minutes away, the Asaba Airport has the potential of being the busiest airport in Nigeria.”

These must have been the initiatives and policies Obuh had in mind when, during his formal declaration, he said, “I want to assure you today that the march we are starting today is a consolidationoftheopportunitieswehaveand that we’ll expand on the opportunities thatwehaveandwe’llgrowDeltaState to a situation where all of us will be proud and feel dignified any time we

King Robert Ebizimor can not die survived a cancerous attack on his leg when he was involved in a ghastly accident that he very sadly did not survive.

Our consolation lies in the fact that he is survived not only by good children but his monument of exploits in the Ijaw folk music, “owigiri”.

He used his many compositions to masterfully capture the stories of his land in very graphic imageries. The dexterity of his musical output earned him a cult like following as he fired the imagination of the people.He was very clearly a true practitioner of relevant art.

King Robert Ebizimor brought joy, gladness and good tidings to all who had the good fortune of meeting him, listening to him or watching him perform on stage.

King Robert Ebizimo is a folk-

lorist who used his talent to promote the Niger Delta struggle through lyrics and dance. Many of his brilliant compositions including : O BA YOU KUMOR; KEME KE MANNY WATER; SI BONE SUOMO, ENIYE KPEMI, DUO MA BOU, EBIERE KE BEDE EGBE; ‘BIBO YE’ and ‘BO BRA will stand the test of time.

From one lyrical wax to another he sang for justice, peace, fairness, equity, harmony, love and progress in Ijaw Land and Nigeria. In his great artistic life were all the elements rolled: a poet, dramatist, novelist, authority on oral literature and a great philosopher.

In him you would find the echoes of the great playwright Professor J.P Clarke, the depth of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle and the communicative imagistic sophistication and the proverbial profundity of Oral

Letter to the Ngwa and history has opened our eyes to the absurdity and foolishness of always swimming against the tide.

The Ngwa nation must note that, except for the firm and unwavering decision of Governor Theodore Orji who, against all pressure and odds, has stood his ground on power rotation and has kept his word as his bond on handing over to an Ngwa, there could not have been this present silver lining in the skyline of the Ngwa nation. We must recall that in 2001, at Okpuala Ngwa, the traditional cradle of the Ngwa nation, the former governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, told the people, face-to-face, eye-ballto-eyeball, that his daughter who was three years then, would grow to rule the Ngwa if they do not support him for a second term. That was the height of insult against the collective sensibilities of a people.

Indeed, it was there and then that the Ngwa decided to run a pararallel line with Kalu. They immediately routed for the Otuonu Struggle, a great mass movementfor which I gave my career and my life.

The movement raised the momentum of the Ngwa agenda and brought many issues about the people to the front burner of national discourse.

Yet, as in all history of wars and liber-

ation struggles, the people have over time sat back to review the struggle and gained some valuable insight and wisdom and also saw the need for a change of strategy. The lesson is pertinent that political victory can only be gained by playing with the status quo. It is an unnecessary dissipation of energy to run at cross purposes with an incumbent power. This is a suicidal mistake the Ngwa will not make again.

Luckily for us, the incumbent power in Umuahia and Abuja is determined on power shift to the Abia South and precisely to the Ngwa.

This is one great milestone that Ochendo has helped us to cross. And, I repeat, save for this political magnanimity of Ochendo, save for this divine uprightness of a leader, this dream will still be too far-fetched for the Ngwa and the reasons are very obvious. There is a deep-seated conspiracy nurtured by an unfounded stereotype against the Ngwa by the other sections of our polity. But, today, Ochendo has raised the bar of equity by treating all Abians as one people and insisting that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

The Ngwa must show gratitude to Ochendo for setting this stand-

literature.

One of the greatest messages he has left with us is to render any help we can to our living brothers and sisters while they are still breathing because if they die they “don go o!”.

Though it is our wish that his “don go” moment were delayed, we must surrender to the will of the Almighty who knows the appointed time for each and every one of us.

In his life time, he rekindled an interest in the language and culture of the Izon people and so in death we must pay him back by ensuring that his catalogue of songs are played to our children and their children so they know we have a culture that educates, entertains and civilizes it adherents.

Great minds like him however shame death derisively as there is ard of equity. If we could realise the intense pressure that has been mounted on the governor forhim to renege on his words then, the Ngwa will forever say prayers of gratitude to a great man of justice and firmness of character. The governor is the only leader of Abia who has demonstrated that balance of power is critical and crucial for our common existence as one common humanity of Abia State and he is honestly committed to achieving this template of togetherness and harmony.

As every intelligent and wise father does when time is drawing nigh, Ochendo has also been deeply worried about who, among his children (here gubernatorial aspirants), could keep the house in order. The decision is not about his personal relationship with people, not about the people’s clout and pedigree but about the future and destiny of the over fifteen million Abians. It is about the peace and progress of Abia.

Today, Ochendo has done his part for the Ngwa, the rest lies in the hand of the people. Lamentably, the current monster standing between the Ngwa and their time-honoured aspiration is the personal selfishness of the aspirants. It is no more the war of ideology but the war of personal ego. Like Mobutu Sese Seko said of himself and Congo, some of the aspirants hold the view that there

seeourselvesaspeopleofthisgreatstate.

My dear people of Delta State, we have grown, we have had opportunities, but there is still a lot more to be done in the futureandwecandothatifwe’reableto concentrate on what we doing now, expand on it and then carry out an integrated development that will see us moving from stage to stage. What we want is a continuation in the rendition of service…that will ensure that people are properly employed and engaged; opportunities to benefit from the value chain that is now the in thing in our country.”

With shrinking oil revenues and fall in the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as the ripple effect takes its toll, only states like Delta with well-articulated and implemented policies that not only provide but ensure alternative revenue sources beyond oil will survive.

And as Uduaghan, the architect of the Delta ‘Beyond Oil’ policy, prepares to leave the stage, it is imperative that someone versed in government, and whowasapart,notjustofthethinktank but the implementation, be entrusted with the task of ensuring that the policy is not derailed.

Is that man Obuh? Time will tell.

•Orhii is a public affairs analyst something in them death can’t handle. Long after their remains are committed to mother earth their works continue to keep them alive.

For ages to come the voice of Ebizimor will continue to ring loud in millions of ears. He belongs to the tribe of Nigeria’s cultural greats of all seasons like, Rex Jim Lawson, Hubert Ogunde, Fela AnikuapoKuti, Mamman Shata, Dan Maraya Jos, Victor Osadebe, Oliver de Coque and a host of legends.

As he departs this side of eternity, comets are seen and the heavens blaze forth his demise.

Good night dear brother! Thank you for your selfless service to our people and our Country. Your stay here on earth teaches us to live a life that positively impacts on others. You are a great man!

•President Jonathan delivered this tribute at the burial of King Robert Ebizimor cannot be Ngwa governor without them. Yet, at the nick of time, Congo existed without Mobutu. At the nick of time, there will be only one Abia governor of Ngwa extraction that God will ordain. No one is more Ngwa than the other. No one is more qualified than the other. It is only God that gives power.

I feel very worried to see that the Ngwa cannot come together even at this perilous time when we are just at the foot of the bridge. After the rain and the sun have beaten us for years, we are now standing at the foot of the bridge, ready to cross.Yet, our albatross is no more our adversaries but ourselves. Individual ego of aspirants is the current albatross of the Ngwa. People are so self-conceited that they cannot come to terms with the fact that it cannot be them. Why must it be you at all times? What is critical now is the destiny of the Ngwa nation and Abia State and not you.

If the tide is not flowing to your favour, why must you be the stumbling block? Why not collapse your ambition to the current tide and think of Ngwa first? This is where the Yoruba have always been wiser.

I am speaking to the conscience of the Ngwa people

•Adindu is the President-general of the Abia Renaissance Movement (ARM)

SUNDAY Vanguard,NOVEMBER 9, 2014, PAGE 55

PDP: CORRUPTION I N C O R P O R AT E D Chapter 10.

In addition, I challenge Femi Aribisala to provide the Annual Reports and Accounts of the NNPC from 1977 to 1979 to prove that the Corporation, in its entirety, was worth $2.8 billion. If the entire organization was not

of hostile columns by people like late Dr Tai Solarin and the butt of jokes by Fela Anikulapo, Abami Eda, was the $2.8 billion loan which Obasanjo secured for Nigeria and which several people claimed was mostly embezzled. I have no proof of theft.

But, I know that $2.8 billion had featured in

our history only once in 1978-1979 and it was the loan.

Now, let me quickly turn to the coup of 1983 and Buhari’s involvement in it, which Femi, deliberately inferred was staged to prevent a report by Saraki from being presented. Here again, Femi’s grasp on Nigeria's history is so poor that I hope this is not representative of the stuff he teaches; if it is, the students have my sympathy.

To start with, Buhari was the Head of the Third Armored Division in Jos when the coup plotters, led by Babangida and Abacha struck. They invited Buhari to come and take charge and removed him at their conveniece. So, the statement “Buhari conveniently overthrew Shagari” is a blatant lie.

The lie is made more heinous by the fact that there was no Saraki report to “be dealt with”.

Let me quickly explain why.

Shagari was re-elected for the second term and sworn in October 1, 1983.

From October to December of that year, just three months, both the Executive and the legislative branches of government were still taking shape. The Senate President had just finished the composition of the numerous committees of the Senate and none had resumed work before they went on

around and it is here to bite them in the derrière.

Crossing the floor is not new so why are they asking for his head? Tabuwal is an insider and he knows quite a lot. This must have shaken the inner sanctum of the PDP and it must have sent shivers indeed to the very core of the party faithful. They are no longer at ease and so they have every reason to be fearful. So they do what they do best;send in the scribe to abuse the defector and ask for his head.tell the party faithful he was not that important anyway.

Politics is a dirty game and one that is very close to the second oldest profession, in fact sometimes you cannot tell them apart! In Nigeria, Politics is very dirty indeed and on a very different level compared to anywhere else in the world.

PDP is playing a very dirty game indeed and they are changing the goal post as they go regardless, of what the constitution states. The Nigerian constitution is clear that only the members of the House could chose a Speaker from whatever party and once they are chosen they need to serve the interest of the House and impartial in discharging their duty. Well, this is Nigeria.

It does not work like that and both parties are guilty of flouting the rules that guides the House or any law for that matter.

So here we are,PDP want him out of the house and they are looking for no less than impeachment. lawsuits are flying

everywhere and suing and c o u n t e r suing. First round to Tambuwal ,he has been successful in the courts that stops the move for PDP to make such move.

It is now up to the President of the Senate, David Mark, who has promised to do everything in his power to defend the sovereignty of the legislature. That is a big task as the law makers are such rowdy lot and they are out of control.

Mr. Mark said ; “I want to assure all of you that I would do the needful, to protect and defend the legislature at all costs.

“I am therefore doing all

legislators are already hindering the optimal functioning of legislative duties.

It is shocking that in this day and age, we have people who should know better fighting tooth and nail regardless of the fact that the common man on the street has never had it so bad.

I do not think in living memory we have had so many badly behaved,uncouth,selfish and corrupt crop of politicians largely responsible for damaging the very moral fibre and common wealth as the present politicians.

Comparing Buhari with Jonathan – 2

N

.B. The title had been slightly amended from Part 1.

I never experienced so many tears shed over a few words; so many crying more than the bereaved.

And, the fun is just starting.

Aribisala, in an a s t o n i s h i n g

Political pandemonium Oh,what a tangled web we weave. When first,we practice to deceive - Sir Walter Scott

A

healthy democracy requires a decent society; it requires that we are honourable, generous, tolerant and respectful.-Charles W. Pickering Hide nothing, for time, which sees all and hears all, exposes all.-Sophocles Since the speaker of the House of Representatives,Aminu Tambuwal’s defection to the APC, there have been calls for the him to step down. In fact,it was not as polite as that. The mega phones, the PR mouthpiece and the political knives were sharpened calling for the scalp of Tabuwal.

Political lynch mob is out to humiliate and sully the defector to submission; what do they do? Well, they removed his security details that is what they did.

The man had to drive himself to work!. It is disquieting that the police dances to tune of the big politicians. These lines are blurred when the police are used as muscle to strike fear into their Rivals.

Yes, Aminu Tambuwal

walked across the floor of the house to join APC from PDP. This is not new and in fact,the man has done this couple of times in his political career but the furore that followed him this time is shocking.

Shocking,that grown people are behaving like hoodlums and spoilt brats.

They are chucking their rattles out their prams because they are not getting their way. You would have thought that 2015 is the be all and end all for these desperadoes or is it?.

The provision under the constitution is clear that any elected member would have to resign if he crosses the floor of the house to another party unless, such action was a result of a division in his original party.

That sounds reasonable, you would think as the PDP have actually exploited this loophole in the past when they took in three elected senators from Lagos state on the very same ground of said division in their party.

In doing so, they have already set a dangerous precedent, I bet, they did not see that coming this time

Contrary to what Femi, in his absolute ignorance wrote, the Commissioner ’s power under the decree were so proscribed he could not have single-handedly removed a kobo, not to talk of $2.8 billion, which the NNPC, in 1977-79, never had. (See my book

I challenge Femi Aribisala to provide the Annual Reports and Accounts of the NNPC from 1977 to 1979 to prove that the Corporation, in its entirety, was worth $2.8 billion. If the entire organization was not worth that much, how on earth could $2.8 be missing?

,

,

“Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.” Shakespeare, 1564-1616. (VANGUARD BOOK p 25).

demonstration of arrogance of ignorance piled more falsehoods into one paragraph than any respectable columnist and public opinion molder should be allowed to get away with in two years. I don’t know how old Femi is, but let me present FACTS which can be verified, not wooly statements like “in the late 1970s”.

Buhari became the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources in 1976 and held that position until April, 21, 1977 when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was promulgated into law by Decree 33 of 1977.

Buhari was made the non-Executive Chairman of the Board which included, the Managing Director, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economic Development, the Managing Director, and three persons to be appointed by the Federal Executive Council.

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“Under Buhari’s watch as Petroleum Minister in the late 1970s, $2.8 billion (worth billions of naira today) was missing from the NNPC ACCOUNT. The matter was subject to Senate investigation under the Chairmanship of Olusola Saraki in 1983. But, before the report could be dealt with, Buhari conveniently overthrew the Shagari government in a military coup.” Femi Aribisala, VANGUARD, Tuesday, October 21, 2014.

worth that much, how on earth could $2.8 be missing? At any rate what were the MD, the Permanent Secretaries and the other Board members doing while Buhari alone made $2.8 billion to disappear?

Furthermore, at the time, the President granted the crude lifting permissions; and the revenue was paid directly into the Central Bank account.

How did Buhari collect $2.8 billion from the CBN? And where is Femi’s proof? I can bet my life he can provide none. NONE!!!

For Femi’s education, because he badly needs it, the only $2.8 billion which made the headlines in 1978-1979, and later became the stuff

It is shocking that in this day and age, we have people who should know better fighting tooth and nail regardless of the fact that the common man on the street has never had it so bad

that I can to resolve the current impasse,” I wish him the best of luck but it is becoming a circus, when adults should should know better trade insults and threats like candies are allowed to bring the integrity of the house to disrepute and there is no consequences.

What an example to our nation and the world,our law makers are a rowdy and unruly lot who are not ashamed to use their fists and the police at their disposal.

Presently, according to some insiders in the house, the disgruntled PDP

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So the deals and counter deals are made does not make a change to the quality of life of the common men,women and children in Nigeria. We have never had it so bad in terms of our reputation and all these law breakers want to do is to fight and jostle for positions for next years. Insiders have already confirmed that there will be more mass defections to follow as the PDP stalwarts are angry that GEJ intends to stand for a second term are upset because they believe Mr Jonathan intends to stand for a

Christmas break in midDecember – and from there into retirement.

When exactly did the Saraki “investigation” start? Who were the people called? And when was the report prepared?

Even the village idiot knows that the Nigerian Senate does not work so fast as to dispose of alleged theft of $2.8 billion in two and a half months. Was Buhari called or are we to believe that the Committee would investigate a matter and write a report without calling the one accused?

The whole damned thing is simply a figment of Aribisala’s over-fertile imagination thrown up to satisfy his anti-North, anti-Islam bigotry…

second term. I hear many more scurry feet making it across the floor of the house. it is not going to be pretty, in fact take cover.

OIL PRICE DECLINES TO $82.

“The only thing necessary in life as in art is to tell the truth” Leo Tolstoy, (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, P 255).

We warned our Fellow Nigerians about inevitable decline of crude prices to under $90, when it was selling for $112. Tuesday, November 4, 2014, it went down to $82. What was the Finance Minister telling Nigerians? What was Jonathan being told?

V i s i t : www.delesobowale.com or Visit: w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / biolasobowale

Characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.-Aristophanes From my mail box-I laughed when l read in your article of Sunday 26th Oct., advising Nigerians to vote with their conscience. Do you think they have not always done so, even from first republic days of Awo, where he is said to have scored zero in most constituencies in the north.

As it was then, so it is now.

What do you think is the purpose of all the multibillion pre-election rallies?

Can’t you recollect Governor Forum’s election, where some powerful interests upheld endorsement, rather than actual open voting captured on video? Will they ever accept a vote less than the almost 30 million endorsement claim?

So my sister, the problems are the conduct of the elections by biased officials backed by the uniformed services.Greetings. HMG Justice will overtake fabricators of lies and false witnesses.-Heraclitus The young and the restless I am sure that you have heard it all but no one is talking about the pledge that GEJ signed, sometime back to eradicate poverty in Nigeria by 2015.

Well, it is not going to happen any time soon, is it?

PAGE 56—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Government Score Card: Good initiative; but... different manufacturing firms were set to assemble vehicles in Nigeria almost amounted to saying that the sector was still trying to take off. Last week’s score card had much of this example. It is even more unacceptable to hear the employment of such diction in the final year of a term as if we are still at the beginning of a term It is thus obvious that last week’s score card needed to be more comprehensive.

Put differently, the scope should have been widened

In the area of law enforcement, the partisan stigma which the premature withdrawal of police protection from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal has put on our police should have been explained

to accommodate all sectors of governmental activities.

One area that everyone would always love to have a score card upon is public power supply. Is the score card there what critics refer

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

The question concerning miracles (1)

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INCE human beings invented religion thousands of years ago, the belief in miracles, that is, in acts of God which contravene natural laws governing phenomena, has been a leitmotiv in the architectonic of religious consciousness.

In particular, the holy scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam contain numerous accounts of miraculous events occasioned by active intervention of God or by extraordinary individuals backed by divine power, which appear to suspend and put in abeyance the workings of natural laws as ascertained through wellauthenticated empirical evidence. Of course, Oriental and African traditional religions also contain accounts of miraculous events, but their appeal depends less on belief in the reality of miracles than is the case in the three Abrahamic religions mentioned above.

In Nigeria, noisy and swanky Pentecostal churches have taken belief in miracles to a completely new level altogether, to the extent that traditional Christian denominations, such as Catholic and Anglican churches, are losing members steadily to the newer denominations because of frantic quest for miracles.

Notable Pentecostal churches in Nigeria where pastors have

to as a drop by as much as 1,476 megawatts? In a recent editorial, the Punch newspaper alleged that “the root of the current problem has been a bungled privatisation process that resulted in the sale of the electricity firms to companies that lacked both the technical knowhow and the financial muscle to play big in the power sector” How true is this?

The Nigerian constitution says the purpose of government

elevated regular performance of miracles to the level of an art form as a mode of winning converts.

On Sundays and other selected days in the week, millions of gullible Nigerians and foreigners attend church services and special programmes like crusade and night vigils organised by different churches to receive miracles. Pastors of the Pentecostal churches know that a large percentage of their members are intellectually lazy and always on the lookout for quick and easy solutions to the existential challenges that confront them from time to time.

C o n s e q u e n t l y, unscrupulous "anointed men and women of God" exploit the hopes, fears, dreams, expectations and anxieties of believers to devastating effect. There are numerous corroborable stories detailing thoroughly despicable legerdemain pastors employ to extort huge sums and valuable assets from naive church members desperately searching for miracles. In fact, incidences of unreported and undocumented deaths abound which result from physical and psychological abuses and traumas suffered by ardent believers in churches, "holy mountains," crusade grounds etc. Such cases are

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shall be the welfare and security of the citizenry. The score card of a Nigerian government would thus be incomplete if it focuses on only activities concerning the economic well-being of usually suppressed by the churches concerned to avoid bad publicity and loss of members to rival organisations.

In real terms, the quest for miracles takes different forms, from the ridiculous to the utterly horrific and absurd.

Oftentimes, miracle seekers are cajoled by their pastors, general overseers or prophets to buy blessed water, anointed oil and special handkerchief from the church premises or other designated outlets run by the churches, which would enable them access divine healing, divine breakthrough and whatever it was that they wanted. Oftentimes women desperately desirous of children are tricked into sleeping with the "man of God" in order to actualise their wishes.

Sometime ago, in widely circulated audio-visual recordings, Nigerians got firsthand information from former members of T.B. Joshua's Synagogue of all Nations and Lazarus Muoka's Lord's Chosen Charismatic Revival Ministries about the extreme activities going on in the church. From the recordings, it is obvious that pastors and general overseers of "miracle manufacturing churches" go to any length and use every possible means, to acquire alleged divine power and deploy it to exploit people en masse.

Hence, the overriding philosophy that undergirds pastors' obsession with power to perform miracles is the crude Machiavellian principle of "the end justifies the means."

Now, because of the explosive increase in the number of pastors

police protection from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal has put on our police should have been explained. The defection of the Speaker from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressive Congress (APC)) as the Inspector General of police rightly observed is covered by our constitution.

Accordingly, the first reaction to the incident should not have come from the police but from the House itself whose members should have been allowed to decide whether or not to remove the Speaker. It is only after then and indeed after the Judiciary would have settled any litigation on the subject that the police can make any move on the status of the Speaker. The truth however is that what Nigerians want to celebrate in law enforcement is not police involvement in political defections between APC and PDP because both parties are essentially one body with two names.

These observations notwithstanding, no one can fault the worthiness of the Federal Government’s decision to institute the score card scheme just as it is wrong for anyone to federalize public accountability. Rather, it should occur at all levels and in different arms of government; otherwise, it will be hard for anyone to say we have a true democracy. If so, states and local governments ought to

undertake similar score cards by organizing sectoral briefings on their developmental projects.

The need for this is more glaring at the local government level where as we hear, state governors capture the allocation and leave Chairmen of local councils with some pocket money for their personal use. Why should that happen when funds allocated to many of our local governments are higher than the budgets of some countries in our subregion?

The situation in some states could be more annoying as many of them are reportedly run like a one-man business. That is not all, due process is hardly observed in the award of contracts. Again, the amount of money spent on publicizing projects often competes favourably with the entire project sum.

Sometimes, the publicity stints could be distasteful; hence we hear titles like action governors and u n c o m m o n transformation.

Interestingly, all that the so called transformers do is to merely build some roads and a few other projects.

What is uncommon about such developments that are taken for granted in other climes? Besides, what is uncommon about things that had in the past been commendably achieved by great men like Ogbemudia in the old Midwest and Audu Bako in Kano?

Nigeria had better fashioned out a more rational score card regime

claiming to perform miracles, the ridiculous extent believers are willing to go in order to experience divine interventions at the point of their needs and the dangers associated with uncritical belief in miracles, we shall investigate critically the possibility of miracles.

In this connection, we identify the nature of miracles and weigh the evidence, if any, which makes religious adherents interpret some events, occurrences and phenomena as miraculous.

We also explore other possible explanations for

Old Testament, the New Testament reports several incredible feats performed

by Jesus, intended to convince his audience that he was truly the son of God. But the profoundest miracle in Christendom is the said resurrection of Jesus on the third day after his crucifixion.

For Muslims, revelation of The Holy Koran is a miracle of the utmost importance to believers.

Belief in miracles, as we observed at the beginning, is as old as religion. In our own day, inspite of the tremendous achievements of science and technology in elucidating the way the world operates, people still cling tenaciously to the actuality of miracles. That attitude is partly responsible for the survival of religion in the face of rampaging contemporary secularism.

Now, belief in the reality of miracles is predicated on the presumption that the cosmos is a well-ordered system in which things happen according to determinate patterns or laws of nature. Without the idea of natural laws that determine the structured regularities of occurrences in the observable universe, the concept of miracle would be meaningless. St. Augustine's subjective definition of 'miracle' reflects popular understanding of the concept. According to him, a miracle is whatever is hard or appears unusual beyond the understanding or expectation of the observer.

It follows, as Simon Blackburn observes, that our habits of mind prevents us from seeing the entire universe as the miracle that it is, and that it would

appear so to someone who could see for the first time.

In the medieval period, the idea emerged that a miracle is something special, contra consuetum cursum naturae (contrary to the usual course of nature). After the seventeenth century revolution in science, particularly physics, belief in miracle receded somewhat. It was thought that the laws of motion, as laid down by Newtonian physics, provide definitive mechanical principles that determine the occurrence of phenomena in the world, upon which laws the French mathematician, Pierre Simon de Laplace, erected a deterministic account of the universe.

The Scottish philosopher, David Hume, provides one of the best philosophical analyses of the concept of miracle. In his famous essay "On Miracles" (1750), Hume defines 'miracle' as a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the deity, or by the interposition of an invisible agent. Now, an alleged miracle invariably occurs within the backdrop of established regularities and expectations; it violates previous knowledge, which is why an extraordinary power is usually invoked to account for it.

Stories of miraculous events, particularly those recorded in religious scriptures, are never attested to by a sufficient number of men and women, of such unquestioned good sense education and learning as to rule out delusion in themselves and of such undoubted integrity as to eliminate all suspicion of any design to deceive

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AST week, the F e d e r a l Government presented its ‘score card’ featuring some of its notable Ministers throwing light on government activities in some sectors.

The initiative is no doubt praiseworthy considering that Nigeria has had a rather long history of low public accountability. If the scheme is sustained, as the present administration has done for a while now, we can hopefully look forward to the institution of a culture of accountability in governance in Nigeria.

Government should thus be commended and encouraged to regularize the practice.

But then, there is need for government to appreciate that a score card is not a manifesto, but a record of what has been done or undone in governance.

Against this backdrop, a score card cannot take the form of a plan of action which essentially focuses on “ what we are set to do”.

Therefore, the score card on trade and investment matters which revealed that

the people without a corresponding emphasis on the security dimension of the government’s mandate.

In earnest, what the people of Nigeria desperately desire at the moment is the security of their lives and property. If so, what was the score card on security? This of course must have put a big question mark on the televised score card programme because while we were watching our Ministers on one channel reeling out their achievements, some other channels where transmitting reality scenes of Nigerians fleeing for safety from Mubi, a major city in Adamawa State that has for a while experienced ample measures of insurgency.

Could it be true that the insurgents who attacked the Mubi Police Station and the Prisons facility in the town actually set free 366 prisoners? Answers to questions like this would have made for a proper score card on security.

Those in charge of the Ministry of Defence would have also done well if they had come forward to explain how much they have repelled insurgency and how many portions of captured territories have been recovered. Such an effort would have placed in perspective the official vow that not a single portion of our territory would be let go.

In the area of law enforcement, the partisan stigma which the premature withdrawal of

Belief in miracles, as we observed at the beginning, is as old as religion. In our own day, inspite of the tremendous achievements of science and technology in elucidating the way the world operates, people still cling tenaciously to the actuality of miracles

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such phenomena, and identify the consequences of rejecting belief in miracles on believers and on religion generally.

As indicated earlier, a miracle is an event or phenomenon that apparently violates known laws of nature. The Holy Bible, just like The Holy Koran, is replete with accounts of miracles. Aside from the miracles attributed to Yahweh in the

To be continued

SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 9, 2014, P A GE 57 SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER PA

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2015:

The man who will present Jonathan to Nigerians

BY HENRY UMORU

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HE National Executive Committee, NEC, of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, September, 18, at its 66 th meeting, adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as the party’s sole presidential candidate to be ratified at the December 6 National Convention ahead of the 2015 election.

According to the NEC, the move thereby closed the gates against any other presidential aspirant. The PDP organ argued that this became imperative because no serious party would change a winning team like Dr. Haliru Mohammed Bello Jonathan’s which “has performed with its transformation agenda and has also changed the face and ensured the well-being of Nigerians”.

Preparatory to the NEC meeting, governors elected on the platform of the PDP, members of the National Assembly, the party’s Board of Trustees, BoT; National Caucus and the state Chairmen had announced their endorsement of the president.

Governor of Niger State and Chairman, Northern States Governors’ Forum, NSGF, Muazu Babangida Aliyu, at the meeting, spoke on behalf of the PDP governors; a former Deputy National Chairman of the party and member of the party’s Board of Trustees, Alhaji Shuaibu Oyedokun, spoke on behalf of the BoT; President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, who doubles as Chairman of the National Assembly, spoke for the National Assembly and Ambassador Justina Eze spoke for the PDP women.

Soon after they spoke, a former Acting National Chairman of the PDP and erstwhile Minister of Defence, Dr. Haliru Mohammed Bello, moved a motion to give the endorsement legal backing.

A former governor of old Anambra State, Chief

stormed the Wadata Plaza, PDP National Secretariat, penultimate Thursday, where he was presented the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms by the party’s National Organising Secretary to enable him contest the election.

By picking the forms, the stage is now set for the man, Mohammed, to formally present the president to Nigerians and the world, on Tuesday.

After the PDP’s victory in the 1999 elections, President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Mohammed as a Commissioner for the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

He was appointed Minister of Communications in June 2001 in a minor cabinet reshuffle at a time government was planning to privatise Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), replacing Mohammed Arzika, a post he held till May 2003.

When he left as Minister of Communications in 2003, he returned to the administration of the PDP as National Vice Chairman for the North-west comprising the seven states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa and Zamfara.

In March 2008, he was elected the Deputy National Chairman of the party to former National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor.

In January 2011, he emerged the PDP’s seventh National Chairman, but in acting capacity when Dr. Okwesilieze Nwodo stepped down from the position of Chairman of the PDP. After he emerged the acting National Chairman of the PDP, Mohammed championed the interpretation of the controversial zoning system of the ruling party to favour Jonathan.

At the PDP primaries of Thursday, January 13, 2011, he played a key role by saving the PDP from what could have rubbished the party if he had not assumed the position of Acting Chairman because Nwodo had stepped down in compliance with a court order. Before he came up, Nwodo was already preparing to speak and introduce Jonathan as the party’s candidate. The party knew the implication of such an action and immediately asked Mohammed to take charge.

Jim Nwobodo, seconded the motion Soon after the secondment, the PDP National Chairman, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, put the motion to vote and members of NEC unanimously adopted the president’s endorsement.

A Presidential Declaration Committee with Haliru Bello as Chairman was immediately raised.

After the inauguration of the committee, Mohammed disclosed that the president would formally declare to Nigerians that he was presenting himself for re- election, November 11.

He said, ”The president gave us the task to organize the modality for creating a platform for him to meet Nigerians and announce his response to the various calls for him to come out and declare his interest in the presidential election. The date that is fixed is Tuesday, November 11. On that day, there will be a forum for the president to meet Nigerians to announce his decision.”

Preparatory to the declaration, Jonathan

Soon after the 2011 election, Mohammed was made the Chairman of a 20-member Board of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). He was later made the Minister of Defence.

The compensation with the appointment to head a key ministry was interpreted against the backdrop that the PDP zoning formula was somehow jettisoned under the watch of Mohammed as party Chairman thus failing to re-elect another northerner in the 2011 presidential election, after the death of President Umaru Yar’Adua.

Later, Mohammed was removed as Defense Minister.

Now, he is heading a sensitive Presidential Declaration Committee with nine sub-committees.

He is the man that will, on Tuesday, present Jonathan as the presidential candidate of the PDP to Nigerians.

PA GE 58—SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 9, 2014 58—SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER

Jonathan’s mixed grill

A retrospective look at the almost four years of the Jonathan administration with a match of his promises and his performance in office.

Security Following the general insecurity in the country, Jonathan promised to make anyone caught breaching the public peace to face the full wrath of the law, make sure that no part of the country is allowed to be a sanctuary for criminals, confront headlong ethno-religious violence in the country, ensure there is no sacred cow in the fight against corruption, strengthen EFCC and ICPC to fight crime , eradicate kidnappings impeding entrepreneurship in South-east, pursue bombers and terrorists among others.

BY CHARLES KUMOLU

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HE key imprint of the transformation agenda heralded at the outset of the 2011 presidential election campaign was that Nigeria would be transformed into a new nation in various aspects of human endeavour. Almost four years into his term, an analysis of the specific promises of transformation shows the administration succeeding in some sectors and also struggling to attain key parameters of the agenda in some strategic sectors.

Jonathan, it would be recalled, had during his whistle-stop campaign across the 36 states of the federation , pledged to fix the following sectors; power, economy, energy & gas, education security, agriculture, water resources among others. He also promised a better deal on the Niger Delta issue, women empowerment, and reforms where necessary.

Infrastructural development Accordingly, the president promised among others; to revive the rail system in the country, complete Lagos to Jebba rail project, intervene and revitalize the moribund Nigeria Machine Tools and other infrastructure owned by the Federal Government, modernize the ports, complete the second River Niger bridge before the expiration of the tenure, make the Minister of Works to immediately start repairs of the road leading to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and assist in resuscitating all the collapsed industries in Kano State.

Others are to work towards making Akanu Ibiam Airport in Enugu an international airport, seek alternative funding means to repair the Benin-Ore Road, give Sokoto-Kotangora Road unfettered attention Verdict Almost four years after, there is a consensus that the President has made remarkable achievements particularly on road construction, as many federal roads are now receiving attention. However, no new sea ports have been proposed while many of the country’s major airports have been rebuilt. Remarkably, the contract for the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge, was recently awarded to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Power The nation was promised constant supply of electricity, stable power supply by the year 2015 so that small and medium scale industries can thrive again, exploration of the coal deposits in Benue and Kogi states, construction of more dams, building of more hydro-power stations.

The electorate was also assured that Nigerians would not use generators more than two times in a week, increment in power generation to about 4,747 megawatts by December 2011 and reduction in the importation of generators by at least 90% by 2015.

Verdict Though the government promised about 4,747 megawatts by December 2011, the nation surpassed that mark mid last year when power generation rose to about 4,307.7MW with an additional 170MW,which served as spinning reserve.

But after the resignation of then Minister of Power Prof. Bath Nnaji, the power situation worsened as supply dropped to 3,224.3MW. At the moment, the nation is reportedly generating about 3,443MW, as power supply has remained unreliable. However, further investigations revealed that transmission, among others, remains the current

Verdict Despite the recent declaration of state of emergency in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, observers argue that enough is not being done to curb insecurity.

This is one area that there seems to be a general consensus that the president has not done well. While kidnapping was at one time only prevalent in the South-east, it has in the last few years fully spread into a booming industry in some other parts of the country especially in Delta, Edo and Lagos States. Similarly, the administration’s war against graft has been generally described as weak and unproductive.

zPresident Goodluck Jonathan challenge in the sector given that most transmission infrastructure are obsolete Also power generation companies that emerged successful in the bidding process of the privatization of the sector received their certificates. But all these are yet to translate to relative stability in power supply, thereby leading to doubts on the possibility of a stable power supply by 2015.

Economy The president pledged to work with the private sector and all the relevant agencies to stimulate industrial growth, introduce 5-year term budgeting, diversify the economy, to revive the Ajaokuta Steel complex and Itakpe Iron Ore Company, address the issues of unemployment through diversification of the nation’s economy to that of sustainable agricultural development across the 36 states of federation, reduce production cost by inviting manufacturers of high demand commodities in the country to set up production factories in the country and get industries in Lagos up, bring industries to the Niger Delta, create 1.5 million jobs within 2 years, constitute a special committee drawing experts from the MAN, NACCIMA and related bodies as well as key government officials to deliberate regularly on policies that will improve the nation’s economy among others.

Verdict While the administration is claiming economic growth of 6.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 with inflation down to single digit, fiscal deficit of 1.8 of GDP and foreign reserves $48 billion, others have argued that the reality is to the contrary. An estimated 70% of the nation’s budget is spent on servicing paraphernalia of government, while foreign debts are accumulating.

Education At the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife Osun State, Candidate Jonathan promised a holistic review of the nation’ education policy.

He also pledged to establish at least one federal university in each state by the end of 2012, improve on hostel facilities across the nation, revamp Almajiri system of education, work towards improving the education sector as a prelude to transforming the economy and as means of empowering the people. He also promised to improve on teaching and learning environment in schools and to make every Nigerian of school age have access to education.

Verdict The administration initiated a programme to provide 400 schools for itinerant scholars in northern Nigeria known as Almajiri. There is also a reported 15 percent increase in pass rates in school leaving examinations in Nigeria.

The number of federal universities in Nigeria was increased by 12 as well, just as blocks of classrooms in 15 states were completed as part of efforts to meet Millennium Development Goals, MDGs. However, the increase in the number of federal universities has been met with criticisms over the administration’s failure to improve on the standard of the existing universities all of which have fallen out of global reckoning. The condemnation is buttressed by the allocation of N426.53billion to the sector which, at about 10%, is grossly below the UNESCO recommendation of 26 percent.

Energy & gas The president pledged to make Nigeria go beyond producing and exporting crude oil to exporting refined petroleum products, create 600,000 new jobs in the gas industry , boost gas supply from 1.0 billion cubic feet per day to 10 billion cubic feet by the year 2020, facilitate the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Law with emphasis on local content such that jobs are created for Nigerians among others.

Agriculture Jonathan promised to boost agriculture through irrigation and maximizing vast mineral resources in the country, revive the marketing boards to ensure that farmers are no longer cheated on the sales of farm produce while more silos would be built to help farmers preserve their products, provide farmers with information on agricultural production and move towards mechanized agriculture and make each state to specialize in two crops; cash and local crop.

Verdict The promise has been largely unfulfilled. The Petroleum Industry Bill, PIB, is still stagnating in the National Assembly. Nigeria is still largely dependent on imported fuel even while a large amount of money is still spent on refineries that are not producing at capacity. The administration has been dogged by its failure to fully address the corruption emitting from the payment of petroleum subsidy to importers and the continued insinuation of the sector as a nest of corruption.

Verdict The administration’s strides in the agriculture sector have been largely commended and the sector is after many years of stagnation again looking up , while the country’s agriculture experts are now the toast of their peers around the continent.

SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 9, 2014, P A GE 59 SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER PA

Jonathan’s works and yesterday’s pains we’ve forgotten JOHNSON ADEYEMI

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ot so long ago in Nigeria, a personal car was not only the prized asset of many years of savings and austere sacrifices; it had also become the source of a constant battle. To drive a personal car around town, required having a very vibrant network of friends who could quickly inform you about what part of town you could source black-market fuel for almost twice, if not thrice the official pump price.

On very good days, fuel may be available at the official pump price, but to buy a reasonable quantity, you may have to spend half a day, if not all day in a fuel queue that may extend several blocks within a metropolis. There were days when people had to park their cars all night or slept in them in such queues, to buy such precious fuel.

For those who used public transportation on intercity routes, it was not uncommon to sit in such queues for hours before finally setting out on their destination, or stopping on the way to join such queues before proceeding to their final destinations. Sometimes, the drivers of such commercial vehicles were compelled to carry an extra barrel of such fuel in a vehicle on such journeys to guarantee his return trip, in doing so; the passengers were vulnerable to the risk of being roasted at every point in the journey. This writer lost an aunt who was a family bread-winner when one of such vehicles got burnt from its incendiary 50 litres plastic petrol can, in the trunk of the

On Election Day, you will be lucky to get accredited by election managers, and you will be luckier still to be given a ballot paper to vote

passenger vehicle, on her way from Lagos to lbadan. Today, some Nigerians who came out of such experiences alive are being nudged by power seeking ‘’born to rule’’ politicians who are now recruiting some politicians of the South West region, to describe the end of such pains as the work of a clueless president.

Not very long ago in Nigeria, to contest an election was the cause of much consternation for family and friends, especially if you were in a party other than the Peoples’ Democratic Party. Before elections, it took much bravery to conduct political campaigns. On Election Day, you will be lucky to get accredited by election managers, and you will be luckier still to be given a ballot paper to vote. If you were diligent enough to mobilize your supporters to go to the polling units to vote and they were lucky to cast such votes. It would still make very little difference. The results that will be announced would have been written in the living room of your opponent, if he was anointed by the ruling party, sometimes you may callously be told that the election was conducted the day before.

Even more astonishing, there were occasions when the elections were conducted with voting done normally to present a farcical reality, and at the end, while voters were waiting for the results to be collated, an announcement will be made in the electronic media, presenting results in which the number of voters will appears as numerous as the number of bacteria in contaminated culture, without reference to any existing voter register.

Today, when even opposition party officials strut around election venues and national party officials are able to visit polling units as election observers instead of being represented by party agents, power seeking politicians, who have won landslide local government elections without releasing the voting figures, want us to believe that president Jonathan is dictatorial.

Specifically for the South West, the difference between elections under diktat and

democratically conducted elections under the Jonathan administration are remarkable, dictatorship was visited on the South West when the people of Ondo burnt properties of election usurpers, when leaders were given to the people by the Obasanjo regime in 2003 and 2007, this contrast markedly with the processes and outcome of elections in Lagos, Ogun,Oyo in 2011 and recently Ondo, Ekiti and Osun where the declared winners of the elections were well received by the voting public under the Jonathan era, unlike the “takeover” of the South West by our own Obasanjo in 2003 and 2007. Its therefore surprising how the so-called new breed of leaders are now leading the South West to slaughter under those who have persistently stood against her interest and who have historically repressed the will of the South West people in many previous elections since 1964/65 and imprisoned Awo, denied him victory in 1979, 1983 and also brutally did worse to another illustrious son of south west, Chief Abiola whose pan Nigeria mandate was annulled, himself imprisoned and eventually killed in detention.

Not quite long ago in Nigeria, to travel through a local airport was an ordeal and it was easier to wait to board a flight before relieving oneself in-flight, because of the poor state of the facilities. Today local airports are comfortable ambiances even though it can still be better.

Also, it was not unusual to borrow money to send children out of the country, to even French-speaking African countries because of limited university spaces.

But today 12 additional universities have rapidly expanded not only the university spaces available within Nigeria for tertiary study, but have also increased the job opportunities for academics and the job and business creating capacities of 12 previously quiet towns in Nigeria, like the previously quiet towns of Oye-Ekiti in Ekiti State, Kashere in Gombe state, Dutsin-Ma in Katsina state and many others.

Additionally, roads that have been abandoned for decades are receiving the first major federal attention.

Still, we are being nudged by power seeking politicians, who can only point to the efforts of far-away governments who built bridges for constituents, and then compelled them to pay 130,000 Naira yearly at 250 Naira per crossing per day, for using such bridges daily as their proof that the Jonathan government is not progressive and has done nothing but inflict pains on Nigerians. We do accept that Nigerians still have much to gain from democratic governance; that there are many roads that have not been attended to; that the railway couches and rail station termini can be more modern, that election outcomes can still improve; that the new investors of the power companies can make power supply more predictable by targeting the most critical hours of the day before progressing to full power supply; that corruption can and should be fought more forcefully, but looking at our past and what efforts president Jonathan has put in to bring about transformation, there are many pains he has helped us to put behind us and deserves our commendation. *Adeyemi is a Lagos based development analyst

PAGE 60 —SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014,

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Page 62, SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

AFCON 2015 Qualifiers:

Ejide banks on players’ club form to see Eagles through S

UPER Eagles second choice keeper, Austin Ejide believes that the national team will scale through the qualification hurdles for the 2015 Nations Cup based on the form exhibited by the players invited by Coach Stephen Keshi, in their various clubs.

The Super Eagles are walking on a tight rope and they need to win their next games against Congo Brazzaville and South Africa’s to stand a choice of defending the trophy they won in 2013.

The Israel-based Ejide said that the players being regulars with their clubs were a plus for the Eagles, adding that with the support of the fans the mission of qualifying for the tournament will be possible.

“The good thing is that the players of the team are getting regular play time with their various clubs. I’m happy with the progress of the team thus far, even against Sudan.

“I really hope that we’ll see such consistency even from the fans as we prepare for Congo and on our return home to Uyo against South Africa,” Ejide told footballlive.ng.

The Eagles will visit Congo on November 15 and three days later face the Bafana Bafana at the newly commissioned Akwa Ibom Stadium. The Eagles are currently on four points, Congo are on seven points, while South Africa leads the group with eight points.

The Eagles lost their home game to Congo, while they drew 0-0 in Cape Town.

Sizzling... Ahmed Musa seeing action with his Club CSKA Moscow.

Stoke coach wants Moses to deliver more S TOKE manager Mark Hughes says he has no issue with Victor Moses describing himself as a Chelsea player this week.

Moses made the statement after being asked if he would consider signing permanently with Stoke during or at the end of his season-long loan from Chelsea.

Ghana job excites Grant

F

ORMER Chelsea coach Avram Grant said that he is looking forward to working with the Black Stars of Ghana after he was named by the Ghana Football Association.

Grant who is yet to agree on personal terms with the GFA stated that it was an honour to be associated with the former African champions and was eager chart a new course for the Black Stars.

“It is a great honour to be given the nod to handle arguably the best soccer nation on the continent. I am very delighted with this opportunity and I will do my best to move the Black Stars forward,” Grant told Footballmadeinghana.

“I already know and monitor almost all the Ghanaian players playing abroad and I C M Y K

also know some of them playing in the local league so it will never be a problem.”

The 59-year-old Israeli led Chelsea to the Champions League finals in 2008 and also masterminded Portsmouth FA Cup finals berth in 2010.

The GFA did not put a timeline on when they intend to make a firm appointment but say they will offer Grant a two year contract with a mandate to win Ghana their fifth Africa Cup of Nations title.

The Black Stars have been without a coach since Appiah left the job after the opening two 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and was replaced by Maxwell Konadu on a temporary basis.

“He’s absolutely right in saying that he’s still a Chelsea player,” said Hughes this afternoon, “Chelsea obviously wanted him to get his confidence levels up again and as we stand everybody is winning.

“Chelsea are seeing a player getting back up to form, we are delighted with what he’s producing and Victor has certainly benefited from playing with us.

“We are not at the point where we are going to have conversations about Victor’s

future because it’s not the right time.”

Moses has apparently created no fewer than 16 chances so far this season, but Hughes warns he has to keep delivering.

“In almost every game he’s having an impact and it’s important because we’ve got Marko Arnautovic and Oussama Assaidi who had a lot of game time last year.

“Maybe the competition for places is helping him because he knows he’s got to play well to stay in.”

Victor Moses... Striving hard at Stoke City

Golfers fail Hole-in-one test at ToyotaWuraola Ojo tourney •Nojim, Ajala win Pros, Ladies events

BY SOLOMON NWOKE

S

OFELA Nojim, the Resident professional of the Miccom Golf Club Adda, Osun and Shade Ajala of the Ogbomosho Golf Club have won the professional and Ladies golf events of this year’s Elizabeth Wuraola Ojo Memorial Golf Tournament hosted at the Smokin’ Hills Golf Course, Ilara Mokin in Ondo State.

Nojim posted 72 gross to win professional event but failed to make the Hole-in-one which would have qualified him to drive home the exotic 3.5 Toyota Camry which was sponsored by Toyota Nigeria Limited. Lasis Lateef of the Abeokuta Golf Club posted a gross of 74 for the second place while Enaigbe Victor o the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin posted a gross of 75 for the third place .

Ajala scored a total of 47 points to win the Ladies event while Dupe John of Ekiti Golf Club placed second with a total of 38 points just as Opawunmi Shade of Ewekoro scored 36 points for the third place.

A total of 17pros and 12 ladies entered for the Toyota Nigeria Limited sponsored tournament to mark the 11th anniversary of Chief Mrs Wuraola Ojo passing on.

NB lifts Onitsha sports club tennis

BY NWABUEZE OKONKWO

W

INNERS emerged on Saturday at this year’s annual Lawn Tennis championship sponsored by the management of Nigerian Breweries Plc. NB Plc, for members of Onitsha Sports Club. Various categories of prizes were distributed to winners and runners-up.

Presenting the awards to the winners after the keenly contested competition that lasted for several hours at Court I and Court II of the Sports Club, the sponsors of the annual tournament, NB Plc reassured members of the club and their tennis players of their continuous support for the tournament.

Addressing the participants after the finals of the tournament, the Public Affairs Manager, South East, Mr. Patrick Ejidoh who represented the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Nicolas Vervelde explained that the championship would continue to hold in the commercial town, stating that the championship occupies strategic place in the calendar of NB Plc.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014 — PAGE 63

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 9, 2014

Mourinho: Our unbeaten run will not last

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HELSEA manager Jose Mourinho accepts his side’s unbeaten run will not last forever but believes victory at Liverpool reinforced their position as title contenders.

Goals from Gary Cahill and Diego Costa, with his 10th of the season, saw Chelsea recover from Emre Can’s opener for the home side to record a comeback win at Anfield.

The victory made it 11 league games unbeaten for Chelsea since the start of the season and consolidated their position at the top of the table, but Mourinho cannot see his team emulating Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ side from 2003-04.

“I think it is possible to be champion - before the season started we considered ourselves contenders but in modern football, especially in the Premier League, I don’t believe in an unbeaten run,” Mourinho said.

“It is a good start and I believe my team can keep this stability.

One day we will lose and the next game we will win again and one day we will play badly because it is the nature of the game but we will recover the quality of our game.

“I know that the negative moment will arrive, the defeat will arrive, and we are prepared for that. At this moment we are a happy camp. One day the defeat arrives and when it does we will be the same.”

Brendan Rodgers felt his side deserved a draw from the match after Steven Gerrard’s late shot appeared to hit the arm of Gary Cahill in the penalty area, though Mourinho was relieved that goalline technology came into play to POWERFULLY MADE… Diego Costa making hay for Chelsea, while Liverpool defenders Alberto Moreno (r) and Dejan assist in awarding Cahill the Lovren watch helplessly in their premier league match yesterday. equalising goal.

BY BEN EFE

G

LADIATORS of the Nige ria Football Federation crisis are warming up for a fresh round of controversy as the appeals committee is expected to meet between November 11 and 12 to examine all the petitions emanating from the September 30 elections held in Warri, Delta State.

Several protests challenging the eligibility of Mr. Amaju Pinnick will be entertained and his main antagonist, Chris Giwa is waiting in the wings to raise some dust just in case, these petitions

Fresh NFF crisis looms •As appeals committee meets

turn the tables against Pinnick.

They include that “the election was not supposed to be held in the back yard of the one of the contestants,” and “Mr. Pinnick is holding three different portfolios at the time of his election.

These protests were filed by several aggrieved parties including Barrister Ike Igbokwe, Abba

Suleiman and others.

It was gathered that Mr. Giwa is head strong and optimistic that at the appropriate time he will reclaim his “mandate”.

“Mr. Giwa has not given up at all. He is waiting for the out come of the protests from the election in Warri before embarking on the next line of action,” said an asso-

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1.Taraba capital (7) 4.Exchanges (5) 6.Crest (5) 7.Speared (7) 9.Fashion (5) 10.Weird (5) 11.Donor (5) 13.Domain (5) 17.Crestfallen (3) 19.Face (8) 20.Pianos (6) 21.Much (6) 23.Stayed (8) 24.Frozen water (3) 25.Snake (5) 27.Own up (5) 30. Arise (5) 31. Evade (5) 32. Dotted (7) 34. Lariat (5) 35. Moves like a horse (5) 36.Sowed (7)

DOWN 1. Incarcerates (5) 2. Nothing (3) 3. Command (5) 4. Cue (5) 5. Vapour (5) 8. Dog (3) 12. Nigerian state (6) 14. Ovum (3) 15. Connected (6) 16. Cooked (6) 17. Glare (5) 18. Ill-fated (6) 22. Maiden name (3) 25. Revise accounts (5) 26. Staggers (5) 27. Old fable writer (5) 28. Child (3) 29. Gave in (5) 33. Benin chieftain (3)

ciate of the Giwa FC proprietor who was elected president of the NFF in an August 26 poll, that was not authenticated by the world soccer governing body as it did not follow procedure.

Giwa obtained a court verdict which sacked the board led by Mr. Pinnick in October. But he withdrew case to save Nigeria from being banned by FIFA.

It was learnt that it was the Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo who prevailed on the President, Goodluck Jonathan to wade into the matter to save Nigeria from another embracement.

Giwa withdrew the case at the prompting of the President. But he and Pinnick were advised to reach a settlement, however, it seem both men are reluctant to give in, since they both lay claim to the top seat of the NFF.

TODAY’S MATCHES Sunderland Tottenham West Brom Swansea

v v v v

Everton Stoke Newcastle Arsenal

2.30pm 2.30pm 2.30pm 5.00pm

RESULTS

See solution on page 5

Liverpool Burnley Man. United Southampton West Ham QPR Almeria Eintracht Frankfurt Freiburg Hoffenheim

1 1 1 2 0 2 1 0 2 3

Chelsea Hull City Crystal Palace Leicester City Aston Villa Manchester City Barcelona Bayern Munich Schalke 04 FC Cologne

2 0 0 0 0 2 2 4 0 4

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