Nigeria won't break up- Abdulsalami

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Nigeria poorly rated in health statistics – Onuk *Thistle Praxis points way forward

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From left: Chief (Mrs) Titi Arobieke, former Chairman, Agboyi-Ketu LCDA; Hon (Arch) Dayo Bush-Alebiosu, Member House of Reps, Kosofe Federal Constituency; Barrister Adesina Adegbite, Secretary, Nigeria Bar Association, Ikeja branch and Professor Mike Ikhariale, Chairman, Public Hearing on Constitution Amendment in Kosofe Local Government during a Public Session/Town Hall meeting on the review of the Nigerian Constitution at the Kosofe Federal Constituency held at Ogudu, Lagos, yesterday. Photo by Lamidi Bamidele.

IGERIA is currently rated poorly in many health stati stics, according to the chief executive officer (CEO) of Thistle Praxis, Ini Onuk.

Onuk spoke yesterday at the third edition of Thistle Praxis Sustainable Conversation series held at the Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos under the theme “Public Health: Tackling Challenges for

Effective Service Delivery.”

Making a case for the imperative of this initiative, Onuk, who was also the lead discussant at the occasion, said: “Maternal and child mortality in Nigeria remains among the highest in the world.

Nigeria alone is said to account for 10% of maternal deaths worldwide. Diarrheal diseases, malaria, HIV, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases

continue to threaten lives and reduce productivity.”

Acknowledging previous and ongoing attempts to ameliorate the situation such as the National Strategic Health Development Plan (NSHDP), he noted that achieving an acceptable level of success requires a “concerted effort from all stakeholders in the industry towards providing a knowledge base and support for the NSHDP through robust and frank engagement on the path to sustainable health care development.”

Navy exercise in Niger Delta

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IGERIAN Navy conducts a major fleet evaluation exercise code named Exercise FARAUTA from 11-17 November 2012, in the Bight of Bonny. The exercise is to intensify the on-going naval operations in the Niger Delta with emphasis on Bonny-Akassa-Escravos axis (an area notorious for crude oil theft) up to Vanguard Staff walking along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway yesterday, during the extent of the offshore the Walk for Life which took off at Vanguard premises, Apapa, Lagos. Photo oil platform at Bonga and Bogi.

by Diran Oshe.

Vessels during the fleet evaluation exercise code named Exercise FARAUTA in the Bight of Bonny.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012 — PAGE 5

Constitution amendment: Lawmaker escapes lynching in Kano *Sharia, state creation, revenue sharing dominate public hearing

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

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From left: Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Chief Bode Akindele and Chief (Mrs) Atema Akindele, celebrant during the special thanksgiving service at the Methodist Church Nigeria (Diocese of Lagos Mainland)) Hoare's Memorial Cathederal, Yaba, Lagos to mark the 60th Birthday of Chief Mrs Rosaline Atema Akindele (FCIS), 'Mama Iyabo' Group Director-Modandola Group. Photo Shola Oyelese

UNIPORT four: More suspects in police net

BY EGUFE YAFUGBORHI

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OLICE in Rivers State have urged the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) student community and the general public not to construe the reopening of the university as an end to the trial of suspects of the Aluu four murders.

Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Ben Ugwuegbulam, in a statement, yesterday, noted that the clarification had become necessary following public apprehension as management last Thursday declared Uniport reopened after

being shut to academic activities following the October 9 students protest over the murder of their schoolmates in Aluu community.

According to the PPRO, the trial of the suspects was very much on and more arrests had been made in the police determination to ensure that the culprits were brought to book working in concert with the courts.

Ugwuegbulam, who welcomed resumption at the school, cautioned students to go about their normal activities peacefully, assuring that security around the institution and its host

communities had been beefed up to keep the peace and forestall breakdown of law and order.

Sunday Vanguard however noticed that students were yet to fully embrace the reopening announced three days earlier as the student population in and around the school was still scanty with returnees coming into campus in trickles.

modality adopted by the facilitators.

Imo, Enugu and Cross River people voted for state creation among others while Bayelsa people craved for 100 percent resource control.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Waziri Tambuwal, said the public hearing would produce a constitution that has wider wider scope of consultations and inclusiveness.

Tambuwal, who represents Tambuwal/Kebbe federal constituency, Sokoto State spoke in Tambuwal during the public hearing held in the town.

Sharia protests rock Kano Echoes of Sharia reverberated across the 24 centres designated for public hearing on the proposed amendment of the Constitution of the Republic in Kano weekend as Muslim faithful protest the non inclusion of Sharia in the list of items to be reviewed by the National Assembly.

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Gowon hails Edo people for re-electing Oshiomhole

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM Benin-City

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SOLUTION

tates creation and reversal of the revenue allocation to favour states and local governments yesterday topped the demands of Nigerians across the country as they trooped out to make inputs into the new constitution to take effect in 2013.

The occasion was the public hearing held by the House of Representatives in the nation’s 360 federal constituencies.

Shariah was high on the demand in Kano State where there were protests over the alleged non-inclusion of the Muslim legal system on the list of items to be reviewed in the 1999 Constitution.

A member of the House of Representatives in the state also narrowly escaped death after a mob attacked him in one of venues of the public hearing over alleged poor

representation. In Ogun State, confusion trailed the exercise as some people kicked against the

ORMER head of state, Gen eral Yakubu Gowon, was one of the dignitaries that graced the inter-denominational service organized by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), as part of the activities to usher in Governor Adams Oshiomhole for a second term.

While the former head of state hailed Edo people for voting massively for Oshiomhole in the July 14 governorship election, Oshiomhole used the opportunity to explain why his government took a hard stand on teachers, saying “even the Bible says he who does not work does not eat”. Comrade Oshiomhole said he prays to God everyday to have the courage to do the right thing for the people of the state. The service which attracted the cream of the society in Edo State including former Head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria, market women, Youths and students was held at the hard court of the Samuel Ogbemudia stadium.

Responding to a plea by the Chairman of CAN in Edo State , Bishop Peter Imasuen, for him to recall the sacked teachers, Oshi-

omhole said: “The prayer I ask for everyday is for God to give me the courage and wisdom and to constantly remind me that I am here not because I am the best. I am here because he chose to favour me with the responsibility of leader-

Aftermath of violent attacks: Bauchi’s population hits 7 m

BY SONI DANIEL

Regional Editor, North

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iolent attacks by terrorists groups in parts of the North are now causing unexpected socio-economic problems for Bauchi, one of the states in the region considered relatively peaceful and progressive.

Findings by Sunday Vanguard revealed that no fewer than three million persons fleeing from the spate bombings in the neighbouring states in the region, now make their temporary homes in Bauchi, thereby adding to the state’s burden.

It was learnt that the state, credited with a population of 4.6 million residents according to the 2006 population census, is now grappling with how to cater for a surging population of seven

Nigeria won’t break — Abdulsalami Continues from page 1 wherever you go, you see Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Kanuris and others, so there is nothing that can break up this country because God has brought us together”.

Abubakar however urged Nigerians to stand up and assist the present administration overcome the developmental challenges facing the nation,

ship to harness the resources of our state and to creatively manage them. “I have been very fortunate because it is one thing to think you have done your best and it is another thing for the people to appreciate it”.

adding, “Government alone can not do it, every citizen must join hands with government to tackle the problem of insecurity”.

Speaking earlier during a courtesy call on the governor, the former head of state urged young Nigerian leaders to strive at building a virile nation, stating that the future of the country lies in their hands.

million.

Bauchi, which is not an oil-producing state and depends on its agrarian economy and a monthly allocation of between N3 billion and N3.5 billion from the centre, is said to be experiencing serious financial difficulty, as a result of the development.

Governor Isa Yuguda lamented the ugly development in the state in an exclusive interview with Sunday Vanguard last night.

Yuguda, a chartered banker and politician, regretted that his state has had to grapple with a problem it did not create and had drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the burden it was being exposed to as a result of rising security challenges in the North.

Yuguda noted, “We are now struggling to cope with the large number of victims of violence streaming daily into Bauchi and we believe that at a point the Federal Government will come to the aid of the state.

“As a responsive and responsible administration, I have taken steps to provide emergency accommodation and other facilities to provide some form of succor to these displaced persons as part of our contribution to humanity”.

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Subsidy scam: Oil barons warned against harming Okonjo-Iweala, Allison-Madueke

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HE Southern Man date, a coalition of socio-political groups from the three geo-political zones of Southern Nigeria, has warned against harming the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance and her Petroleum Resources counterpart, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, following reported threats against them by owners of oil

companies indicted in the subsidy scam.

Okonjo-Iweala had cried out, last weekend, on threats by oil barons whom she alleged were harassing her and trying to intimidate her into abandoning the transparency she has brought to bear on the fuel subsidy system.

The following day, the Petroleum Minister also alleged that some pow-

erful forces were after her and wanted her out of government for her roles in the various probes into shady deals in the oil sector.

Southern Mandate said in a statement in Abuja, yesterday, that it was compelled to take the decision against the backdrop of “the unrelenting attacks on the two top public officers which have taken a frightening and absurd dimension.”

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RESIDENT, Chris tian Association of Nigeria,CAN,and founder of Word of Life Bible Church,Pastor Ayo Oritse-

Oritsejafor gets private jet jafor, has joined the league of Nigerian Preachers that own private jets.

‘Uduaghan serving the electorate well’

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ELTA State leaders, under the aegis of The People’s Movement, say Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan is serving the electorate well and would not steal government funds or divert such funds into his private accounts. Reacting to the petition by a group called the Movement for the Protection of the Rights of Deltans (MPROD), the lead-

ers said Uduaghan was committed to developing Delta, stressing that the position of MPROD came as a shock to the good people of the state.

“This administration whose policies have extensively touched on the lives of Deltans deserves the loudest applause for its ingenuity, resilience, steadfastness and purposeful leadership.”

Oritsejafor’s jets, marked N431CB,was delivered to him,yesterday,at the celebration of his 40th year of being on the pulpit,which held at the Word of God Bible Church in Warri,Delta State.

Although,the aircraft was not flown to the venue of the occasion, the announcement of the USA manufactured 10-seater Bombadier/ Challenger 601 aircraft, at the occasion by one of the pastors,was greeted with loud ovation and applause.

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DEATH PENALTY FOR TERRORISTS, KIDNAPPERS IN DELTA:

Furore over the killing of Asari Dokubo’s associate by soldiers

By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South

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INCE soldiers took over security on the Delta State axis of the Warri-Sapele- Oghara-Benin and Warri-Eku-Abraka highways, and other strategic entry and exit points in the state, there has been some measure of sanity in the state.

For a while in Warri and Sapele, it looked as if kidnappers and other criminals, who had scared the daylight out of residents in the state, were afraid of confronting the fierce-looking soldiers. Ironically, the same criminals who live by the sword are afraid of dying by the sword.

Death penalty

Besides the military offensive, some persons attribute the development to Lt.Col. Ifeanyi Otu (2nd right), Commanding Officer, 3 Battallion, the seriousness members of the Delta State House of Assembly have demparades some suspects onstrated in putting final changes to a Bill for a Law to Prohibit Terrorism, Kidnapping, Hostage- taking and the Use of Bombs and Other Exwith papers as the ransom and rity Adviser (NSA), Col. Moplosives and other Matters took it to the designated place hammad Sambo Dasuki Connected Thereto. The bill (a dustbin near Ekpan Gener- (rtd.); Director General, Destipulates death for offenders. al Hospital). The two suspects partment of State Service , Indeed, residents, who arrived the location, whereas DSS, Mr. Ita Ekpeyon; relewere beginning to heave a our troops in mufti had con- vant national and internationsigh of relief, were taken doned off the area well ahead al legal, human rights, civil soaback, last month, when solof the time. ciety and security organizadiers seized six youngsters, “Unsuspecting of the secu- tions to the matter. aged between 17 - 27 years, rity arrangements, they collectAccording to it, “Comrade one of them, the son of a staff ed the bag of ransom and made Tony Moro had gone to visit of a multinational oil compaoff, they were gunned down as the alleged bunkering kingny, suspected to be members they tried to escape. We recov- pin who had levelled subof an inter-state kidnapping/ ered three mobile phones and stantiated allegations against car-snatching syndicate, on the fake ransom, their corpse him. Comrade Tony Moro who Warri-Sapele Road. and exhibits were handed over vehemently denied the alleThe question on the lips of to the police”. gations was murdered at the many was what were the kidchief ’s instance by powernappers/car snatchers thought Dokubo-Asari drunken Joint Military Task they were doing on that road group spits fire with the way soldiers tacticalForce officers believed to be on ly positioned themselves, from the chief ’s pay roll.

NDPVF was the first to raise morning to night.

“We hold that this Dokubo Asari.....We hold that this despicable dust over the killing of Moro, The suspects, who spoke to extra judicial murder of Comapplication of jungle justice will be totally resisted who, it said, was a “senior reporters, admitted they were rade Tony Moro, a respectable member of the group and a kidnappers/car snatchers, but family man, a well known and claimed they were only two Fidelis Amani, were reported- eanyi Otu, told reporters how brother”. celebrated Ijaw musician, canThe group’s spokesperson, months old in the nefarious ly shot dead by men of the 3 Moro and Amani were killed. not be and will not be allowed business. Security agents are Battalion, David Ejoor Bar- His words:“On October 23, Comrade Rex Anighoro, in a to be swept still interrogating the suspects racks, Effurun, near Warri, in 2012, at about 0910 hours, a statement, said Moro was ex- under the carpet. We hold that report of the activities of hired tra-judicially murdered by to understand their modus a sting operation. assassins was lodged at our “men of the Joint Military Task this despicable application of operandi and sponsors.

However, Niger-Delta activ- office by a would- be victim. He Force working in concert with jungle justice will be totally ist and Lagos lawyer, Barrister said that two persons called one renowned oil bunkering resisted … as no one has the Hullabaloo Festus Keyamo; Niger-Delta him and sent threat messages kingpin and hotelier who or- right to take another man’s life But, not even the arrest of without recourse to the law. the “boys” and a suspected People Volunteer Force, ND- with an Airtel number that a dered Comrade Tony Moro’s “We demand the immediate woman paid them N1 million dare-devil kidnapper, Anayo PVF, led by Alhaji Mujahid murder over unsubstantiated arrest of the chief and the seto kill him if he did not pay a Dokubo-Asari; and the Moro Anyanwu, who had been on claims”. ransom of N10 million. curity officers who executed family insist the suspect was the wanted list of the police at The statement called the “So we asked him to play the murder by the chief ’s aunot a kidnapper and was exOkwe, near Asaba, has genattention of President Goodalong, while the unit set out to tra-judicially killed by soldiers. thority. erated the kind of controvertrack down the criminals. Fol- luck Jonathan; Minister of Jus“We also demand the immesy that the killing of a susWhy we killed Moro, lowing a good operation plan, tice, Mohammad Bello Adoke, diate release of Comrade Tony pected kidnapper and assasat about 1610 hours on Octo- SAN; Inspector General of Po- Moro corpse to his family for sin, Tony Moro, has generat- Amani— Army lice, Alhaji Mohammed Daed in the last few days.

Commanding Officer of 3 ber 23, 2012, we arranged a hiru Abubakar; National SecuGhanamustgo bag filled Continues on page 9 Moro and another suspect, Battalion, Effurun, Lt. Col. IfC M Y K

SUNDAY

We learnt of Moro’s death from Vanguard —Keyamo Addressing reporters in Warri, few days after, Lagos lawyer, Keyamo, threatened, on behalf of the Moro family, to petition the Inspector Inspector-General Police to commence investigation into what he termed the ‘extra judicial killing’ of Moro by soldiers under the guise of suspected assassination and kidnapping plots.

Keyamo, who was represented by Matthew Omonade, a solicitor from Keyamo Chambers, said, “We want to petition the IGP to investigate the extra- judicial killing of citizen Tony Moro by men of the 3Battalion Effurun in connivance with a chief .”

He went on, “We are solicitors to Tony Moro family. Tony Moro was called by the chief that one boy, who used to play music for Tony, was arrested and had confessed that Tony planned to kidnap him (chief).

He was called to an hotel in Ekpan and he went with his girlfriend, Faith Bile, on October 23, 2012.

“The chief was in company of plain clothes securitymen when he met Tony with his girlfriend. After exchanging pleasantries, he requested that his girlfriend was not to be part of the meeting and Tony gave his girlfriend money to board taxi and she left. Since then Tony has not been found and we only learnt about it in Vanguard that Tony was killed as a suspected kidnapper, “ Tony earned a decent living as a musician.He was never a criminal.We condemn the killing in its entirety, we will take the right step by petitioning the IGP to investigate the killing and bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to book. We are against extra-judicial killings.Is the army or the police to investigate kidnap allegation?”

I was told Moro won’t come out alive —Girlfriend

Moro’s girlfriend, Miss Faith Bile, also narrated the story of what happened.She said: “On October 23, I followed Tony to the hotel.The chief greeted us, and thereafter threatened Tony to speak the truth that he planned the kidnapping or else he will be killed. We met plain-clothes security men at the bar of the hotel.The chief now asked Tony to send me away as the meeting they wanted to hold was private. “ Tony gave me N2,000.As I was going out, two guys met me and told me that Tony may not come out alive. I was afraid

Furore over the killing of Asari Dokubo’s associate by soldiers

Tony Moro... a suspected kidnapper or a victim of extrajudicial murder?

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proper burial amongst others”.

A senior officer of the DSS in Warri, nevertheless, told Sunday Vanguard that the chief, indeed, reported the matter to the Service, but he declined to exercise patience for the men, who went for another operation in Sapele, to return to handle his matter.

He said the complainant was advised to wait till about 4.00 pm, but the chief said he waited till the time they told him they would get in touch with him through the defunct DWSC member, and it was when they not forthcoming and the killer squad was on his neck that he ran to the army for refuge.

His words, “I now met the army on Monday. The group had called me repeatedly with the same Airtel number asking how far. I told them I would have to go the bank to get the money and they said I should send a woman to bring the money to them at Ugborikoko or Emebire.

“From the point I reported to the soldiers, they were with me and planned every step I took. Therefore, getting to the time, I told them that the girl was afraid to bring the money.

They said she should not be

As I was going out, two guys met me and told me that Tony may not come out alive. I was afraid as I left; since then we have not seen Tony

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Keyamo...Tony earned a decent living as I left; since then we have not seen Tony”.

My story-Chief

Sunday Vanguard met the man at the centre of the controversy for an interview. The chief is a contractor and a known peace advocate among the Ijaws in Warri and he was said to have assisted Moro financially on several occasions before the unfortunate episode. In fact, Moro was a family acquaintance.

He confirmed that he received a phone call from a strange number on October 19, with the caller telling him that

he worked for the most proficient assassination/kidnap group in town, and that the gang had been hired to eliminate him. The chief said the caller demanded N15 million ransom from him to stave off death and he negotiated it down to N10 million, which they agreed should be delivered to the gang on Monday, October 21.

“By Monday, I went to the DSS, Warri with a member of the defunct Delta Waterways and Security Committee, DWSC, Warri, to lodge a report”, he said. The chief ’s experience with the DSS was, however, unpleasant, as,according to him, help did not come readily, which made him to resort to the military.

afraid, that there was no police involved in the matter.

Nevertheless, I told them the girl was terrified and they said I could send a boy. ( Pointing at a boy sitting close to him during the interview with Sunday Vanguard, he said, “That is the boy I sent”). After about 30 minutes the soldiers were with me, I called them back to say I had found a boy.They said I should give the phone to the boy.They told the boy to bring the money, but the boy told them he was afraid to come there, and they now agreed to a place in Jakpa”.

He added, “It was entirely an arrangement by the soldiers. They stuffed a bag with papers instead of the N10 mil-

lion ransom and left with the boy. It was in the process of collecting and escaping with the `money’ that I later learnt two of the kidnappers were killed”.

The chief said that after the soldiers had left with his boy to purportedly deliver the ransom, he received a call in which a female voice threatened to eliminate him and members of his family if he

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Continued from page 8

Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012—PAGE 9

It was entirely an arrangement by the soldiers. They stuffed a bag with papers instead of the N10 million ransom and left with the boy

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did not call off the security agents he had sent to track them down. However, he told the caller he did not send anybody after them.

The chief told Sunday Vanguard that he was at the scene where Moro was killed by soldiers, but he was told that he and one other person were the ones that came to collect the ransom on Jakpa road and were shot by soldiers as they were escaping after collecting the papers disguised as N10 million.

Anighoro counters chief

However, the NDPVF spokesperson,Anighoro, countered the chief ’s claim, saying, “On 23 October, at about 5.30 pm, somebody called Tony to say the chief had alleged that he planned to kidnap him.

Tony called the chief and he went to meet him at his hotel.

Since Tony went to meet him and they sent his girlfriend away, we have not seen Tony; we only read about his death in the newspapers.

“The chief has threatened that nothing will come out of any case, that Tony was already dead.We called on the Warri Area Police Commander if he was aware of any allegation against Tony.He said no. We want justice to be done. Our leader, Asari, has said that before his return, the chief should produce Tony alive; if not, there will be trouble”.

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Our new Chief Justice is doing well fore being endorsed or discarded. The politicians who are against the stand of the CJN are perhaps inadvertently suggesting that to petition is a wasteful exercise. In other words, the contents of any and every set of grievances should be discountenanced without taking a look at it suggesting that there is no basis for petitioning in society. Of course, that

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woman.

In other words, the CJN being female should condone any wrong allegedly done by or on behalf of a woman. To do so, is to place morality over a rule. It is heart-warming that Justice AlomaMukhtar is once more on the right path by not allowing the emotions of the moment to affect her guiding principles.

Let our politicians who are always jumping into conclusions recognize that whereas everybody can be a politician and hold all sorts of political positions, it is not so with being a judge. Accordingly, that the President appointed Justice Jumbo- Ofo and that she was duly recommended by the NJC; that the allegations against her appointment should have been cleared before the swearing-in day; that we are all desirous of giving women a chance and that Chief Justice Aloma being female should have led in the crusade cannot kill a petition. Instead, the issues at stake ought to be thoroughly examined and appropriately handled before anyone can support or reject the petition. For now, it is dangerous to put undue pressure on Aloma who has shown at all times that she cannot be compromised. We therefore urge her to hold on to her duties with the diligence inherent in her outstanding virtues.

the tallies in conceded Florida also to the president.

He did win in Florida by a very razor-thin margin; and it is beginning to seem that nobody ever wins in Florida with extremely wide margins; but Obama’s victory here is in fact significant for two reasons: one it is indicating the increasing changes in the demography of Florida, and two, the increasing importance of the Hispanic

ginning to phase out into a second generation of Cuban immigrants.Ohio was another key spot where the President’s campaign strategists had created a firewall – a failsafe option were he to lose key places like Colorado, Wisconsin and Iowa; places he also won quite handily on Tuesday.

He may even have won the election without Ohio. Two important questions came out of Obama’s victory and his successful coalition, which has now sent the GOP, the Republican Party into a tailspin and into a post-election soulsearching. Whither the Republicans? Is there a

ocrats were able to sew together a powerful coalition of African-Americans, Hispanics, women and younger voters to create a national plurality of votes that gave President Obama his second mandate. But it is the end of election, and it is the next day, and the day to begin to govern: President Obama is confronted by a slew of domestic and foreign policy issues: a slow economic recovery that economists say might be worsened with what they now call the “fiscal cliff ” – a rather strange neologism for permitting aspects of the last budget to slide off, erasing the long years of tax-cuts all round for Americans unless the US parliament – the Congress - arrive at some bi-partisan agreements.

The Republicans and conservative economists argue that permitting the US to slide off that “fiscal cliff ” might result in deep recession; there are some economists who actually do not agree, suggesting perhaps that this might be a blessing in disguise that might then strengthen the hands of the re-elected President Obama to fulfill his electoral mandate to increase the tax of the wealthiest Americans as a way of solving the America’s possible debtoverhang. The new

Obama administration is faced with the problem of dealing with the immigration issue, the still terrible level of unemployment, and a slow economic growth marked particularly by the stupor in the Housing market and in manufacturing.

On the foreign policy scene: President Obama is faced with the question of Syria and the increasing face-off with Iran, which last week fired at an American drone.

There are many who fear that the rhetoric might escalate into combat in this very tricky zone, particularly as Iran is beginning to hurt by American-led sanctions over the nuclear question, and a defiant Assad in Syria digging in against the clearly foreign-sponsored uprising and civil war in Syria.

Assad’s defiance comes true in his statement on Thursday to a Russian TV, “I’m not a puppet made in the West. I was born in Syria, I will live and die in Syria.” The increasing international dimension of the Syrian and Iranian situation, and developments in the Pacific Realm, and China’s increasing assertion of its sphere of influence will define the tenor of the Obama presidency going forward. It is left to be seen where Africa stands in Obama’s foreign policy. \

courage family life in Nigeria. I, too, deprecate the rule whereby a woman is not allowed to benefit from a slot reserved for her husband’s state of origin but we must not overlook the fact that it is because such a rule exists that people were able to put up the petition.

Therefore, what the critics should have done would have been to decry the rule and call for its abolition and not to expect the CJN to ignore it while it subsists. To do so, is to give room to our CJN to determine which rule she likes and should

It is heart-warming that Justice Aloma-Mukhtar is once more on the right path by not allowing the emotions of the moment to affect her guiding principles

can only happen in utopian societies where there are no claims and counter-claims and where there are no rivals and opponents.

One strong point in the arguments of the pro Jumbo- Ofo analysts is that the petition can affect the sanctity of marriage and indeed dis-

Again, Obama ARRACK Hus sein Obama was re-elected the president of the United States last Tuesday in a fiercely contested election. He defeated the Republican candidate Mitt Romney by a plurality of votes and by taking 300 of the Electoral College votes. Americans of the political divide between the two parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, went into the elections nail-biting; it was too close to call and it could go either way according to the polls. The exit polls had the two candidates polling equally in the battleground states.

Nothing more visibly telegraphed the emotional dimension of this election than the picture of the US president Barack Obama, in his last campaign night at Iowa, then seen as a key battle-ground state, shedding tears that powerfully spoke of a stirred and final moment. It was then up to the voters the next

follow and which rule she dislikes and can ignore. Such a posture which places the determination of issues on the temperament of an operative does not augur well for society. That most people think that a rule is retrogressive does not make the rule to become non-existent.

within 60 days from the date of the judgment of the tribunal is perhaps a good example of how technicality buried the substance in the case of the Adamawa Governorship election.

Our premise is that if a man says his opponent is a thief it is better for our justice system to acquit or convict the accused rather than to say the allegation should have been made earlier or that it was not written in a particular form. We need to go beyond technicalities in criminal matters.

This was why we commended elsewhere, the handling of the allegation that the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido’s qualification was fake.

The case went up to the Supreme Court and at each level the Governor proved beyond doubt that the allegation was false and he won. Thereafter, he sued his petitioner for defamation before the latter owned up to his mischief and begged for forgiveness. It was a veritable plus for democracy, justice administration and the rule of law that the judiciary did not use technicality to shield the Governor from the due process of law. If so, why should we crucify the CJN for seeking to investigate a petition? It is indeed naïve to argue that the CJN should have allowed the swearing-in of Jumbo-Ofo simply because the CJN is also a

morning. Here in Florida, another key election battleground, I watched the elections in what is now known as the key I4 corridor in Central Florida, which holds the balance for any national electoral outcome. That corridor is the future of American politics by the evolving architecture of its electorate and the shifting demographics that seem to place Hispanic vote in the epicenter of American politics.

The lines were long in Florida. Voting went on till 10:00pm even after the polls had closed nation-wide because of the vast turn-out of voters who had been driven both by the campaign issues and by the on-theground get out the votes operations of the parties in a tightly run campaign.

In the end of course President Obama won.

As at Friday, the election result in Florida had not been announced even though the Romney team, after considering

,

,

,

O

NE of the topi cal issues of the previous week was the refusal of Justice Mariam Aloma-Mukhtar, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) to swear-in one of the newly appointed Justices of the Court of Appeal. The CJN reportedly based her decision on a petition alleging that the Judge concerned, Justice JumboOfo did not deserve the appointment on the grounds of State of origin. Many commentators especially politicians have loudly and publicly chastised the CJN for the decision. I disagree with them and commend the CJN for living up to her hard earned reputation.

What the critics have failed to realize is that the refusal of the CJN does not amount to a perpetual stop to Justice Jumbo-Ofo becoming a Justice of the Court of Appeal. The point which needs to be appreciated is that every petition ought to be examined be-

I would have applauded Aloma’s critics especially legislators if they had moved to ‘kill’ whatever enabled the CJN to take the position she took. After all, ours has been a pro-active legislature that knows what to do even with the critical principle of the “doctrine of necessity ”. Rather than do that, public attention was instructively drawn to the attention of S 238(2) which says a person shall become a Justice of the Court of Appeal if he or she is appointed by the President on the recommendation of the National Judicial Council (NJC). It does not seem well thoughtout to take the section to mean that nothing else including death can stop such an appointee from holding office. The same is true of the argument that the CJN being the Chairman of the NJC should have ensured that all issues were ironed out before the appointment was made. This is because the argument takes a posture which suggests that any fresh information that comes to light after the appointment must be shut out forever- a trend which has for sometime now roped the nation in a toga of technical justice.

The provision of Section 285 of our Constitution which says that an appeal from a decision of an election tribunal must be heard and disposed off

The new Obama administration is faced with the problem of dealing with the immigration issue, the still terrible level of unemployment, and a slow economic growth

Votes, particularly with a large number of the Puerto Rican population in Orlando, and the changes in the Cuban votes in Miami, as the old generation of antiCastro Cubans who once voted overwhelmingly for the Republicans over the Cuban issue are be-

,

new America? There is increasing criticism within in that party itself, that the Republican Party is too old, too white, and too rich, and too out of touch with the realities of contemporary America, particularly on the social issues and on the immigration question. The Dem-

PAGE 12—SUNDAY VANGUARD,NOVEMER 11, 2012

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

The normality of abnormality (2)

them on, are the result of deep-seated alienation and psychic malfunctioning which stem from skewed individual character and sadistic social environment.

Now, the fundamental problem associated with mob psychology is the powerful and overwhelming eddies of uncontrolled psychic energy which overwhelm reason during moments of collective excitement and hysteria. As a general rule, mobs tend to act irrationally, and their vortex of collective aggression trumpscivilisational qualities that differentiate homo sapiens from other animals.

Therefore, in order to reduce the deadly effects of mob action and jungle justice, wise upbringing of children is extremely important.

Parents should make conscious efforts to inculcate the right values into their children, values that promote humane living through loving- kindness and forgiveness. What is required is appropriate combination of rational

benign discipline and communication between parents and children. As I stated earlier, the injunction “spare the rod and spoil the child,” is usually counter-productive if strictly adhered to by parents and adults. It tends to promote sadistic infliction of physical pain on children for the sake of pain, which provides suitable soil for germination of sadism later. Aside from parents, teachers play a vital role in the character formation of children. Therefore teach-

with the families of the murdered students. Law enforcement agencies must identify those responsible for the heinous murder and bring them to justice expeditiously.

An issue that has generated much controversy among Nigerians both within the country and abroad is the scathing indictment of late Chief ObafemiAwolowo, Rtd. Gen. Yakubu Gowon and others for war crimes by world-renowned novelist, Professor Chinua Achebe.

In his Biafran war mem-

,

F

ROM the forego ing, it can be in ferred that acts of extreme sadism, especially the type manifested by those who actually brutalized and killed the four undergraduates and the mob tha t cheered

The Igbo versus Yoruba polarisation of reactions to Achebe’s comments on Awolowo has projected the ethnic question in the country

ers, just like parents, require a wise combination of “carrot and stick”to produce children with good hearts and minds.

Of course, proper upbringing of children is the most challenging task any human being can undertake. Parents, teachers and members of the society as a whole should appreciate this, and make sure that children imbibe the values of love, kindness and forgiving spirit.

I sincerely commiserate

,

oir, There was a country, Achebe accused Awolowo particularly for being a ring-leader in the formulation of genocidal policies by Gowon’s administration that led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Biafrans during the civil war. Of special concern in this regard is the policy of starvation, which Awolowo defended thus: “All is fair in war, and starvation is one of the weapons of war...” Some pertinent is-

sues can be distilled from reactions to Achebe’s book. First and foremost, the fact that Awoists, especially those of Yoruba extraction, reacted violently to the indictment of their iconic figure is a dangerous form of hero worship which must be condemned. Hero worshippers are like religious fundamentalists; they can go to any length, including deliberate falsification of history, use of violence and destruction, just to defend their idol.

Without any atom of doubt, Awolowo was a great man who contributed to the development of Yorubaland – some would consider him the greatest Yoruba of the twentieth century. Hence Achebe’s accusations do not obliterate Awolowo’s legacy which, like the legacies of other iconic political figures, is not without blemish.

Consequently, irrespective of his impressive achievements, Awolowo was not infallible. He was human, and like every human being, committed errors of judgment sometimes.

Defending him in a very uncouth manner by committing ad hominem fallacy against Achebe or by deliberate distortion of facts is definitely disingenuous and uncalled for.

The psychology of hero worship is interesting. It is a symptom of psychical immaturity and selfalienation which ultimately boils down to obsessive craving for an object of devotion, for an infallible existential guide to navigate vicis-

situdes of the “human condition.” A hero worshipper apotheosises a fellow human: in his mind the hero is an extraordinary human being beyond the reach of criticism. But is there any human being, dead, alive, or yet to be born who has not, or can never, make mistakes? Fundamentalist Awoists should stop creating the false impression that their idol is a perfect human being who cannot err at a time of crisis. That said,Ebenezer Babatope, Ayo Opadokun, Ayo Adebanjo, BiyiDurojaiye, Femi Fani-Kayode and the band of Yoruba irredentist lynch mob should have marshalled facts to debunk Achebe’s claims instead of calling him names.

Actually, inspite of their high falutin essays, they did not refute the central argument of Awolowo by Achebe. Consider this:in his 1983 interview republished recently to inoculate Awolowo’s reputation against Achebe’s criticism, the late politician courageously re-affirmed the policy of starvation against Biafrans. In the interview Awolowo recounted how, as a top official of Gowon’s government, he visited Biafra while the war was raging.

He saw children suffering from kwashiorkor, and discovered that the food sent to Biafra by international humanitarian organisations was being hijacked by Biafran soldiers. In his words: “So I decided to stop sending the food there. In the process the civilians will suffer. But the soldiers will suffer most.” Thus it is

evident that for Awolowo, deliberate starvation of one’s enemy in war time, whether soldiers or civilians, is expedient and morally justified. The untenability of Awolowo’s position, particularly from a humanitarian perspective, is self-evident.

Frankly speaking, it is difficult to rationally justify the vituperations of Okpadokun and others against Achebe, considering that Awolowo himself unsuccessfully attempted to justify the inhuman policy of starvation against the secessionist Biafrans. Probably deep down they have a gut feeling that Achebe might be right, and that his policycontravenes certain provisions of the Geneva Conventionwhich, in a nutshell, lays down the moral bottom-lines for the conduct of war. Keep in mind that during wars the warring camps commit atrocities, although the stronger side tends to do so to a greater extent than the weaker side.

Secondly, the Igbo versus Yoruba polarisation of reactions to Achebe’s comments on Awolowo has projected the ethnic question in the country into bold relief by drawing attention once again to the ethnic faultlines preventing the evolution of a great Nigerian nation. Most highfalutin defenders of Awolowo are Yorubas, whereas an overwhelming majority of Achebe’s supporters are Ndigbo. In the push-meI-push-youexchanges between the two sides, vital issues raised by Achebe were relegated to the back burner.

TO BE CONCLUDED.

Ribadu Report: Oronsaye vindicated, expert says

BY LEKAN BILESANMI

A

N Abuja-based c h a r t e r e d accountant, Mr. Ademola Ogunkunle, says the declaration by the Federal Government that the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force headed by Mallam Nuhu Ribadu did not carry out a critical part of its assignment of data collection and verification has vindicated the position taken by Mr. Stephen Oronsaye , deputy chairman of the Ribadu committee and former head of service of the federation, that due process was not followed by the committee before submitting the report.

Speaking in an interview, Ogunkunle said Oronsaye had raised the issue of figures not verified, adding that Ribadu should have listened to Oronsaye to avoid the kind of embarrassment the hasty submission of the committee’s report has brought to the members and to Nigeria.

The report on page 2 states that: “The data used in this report was presented by various stakeholders who made

submission to the Task Force in the course of our assignment at various dates, which have been disclosed in relevant sections of the report. Due to time frame of the assignment, some of the data used could not be independently verified and the Task Force recommends that the

Government should conduct such necessary verifications and reconciliations.”

Ogunkunle said the self-indicting statement lends credence to Oronsoye’s position that the report would hardly stand rigorous scrutiny in the test of time to justify its integrity.

He said from his understanding of the situation, the issue was about process and procedure, adding that the output of the committee after industry review which should be input of what the government wants to do must be evidence-guided and data driven.

Free medical aid for 260 in Lagos

BY LUCKY OJI

R

IVET Specialist Hospital, AjaoEstate, Lagos has given free screening/ consultancy services to over 260 patients as part of its policy of giving back to the society.

The screening ranged from eye/visual screening to ultra sound screening for women, blood pressure (BP), urinalysis for kidney disease, blood sugar for diabetes and HIV. One of the directors of the hospital, Dr. Dapo Soyinka, called for more awareness on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the country, lamenting that the devastating effect of the scourge was underreported.

He made this known

during the occasion which marked the hospital’s one year anniversary, appealing to public spirited individuals, corporate bodies and NGOs to partner with the hospital in reducing the health burden of Nigerians.

Speaking also on the programme, Dr Folasade Soyinka advised

Nigerians to observe regular check-ups, as early detection of diseases will make for easy treatment and save people from avoidable deaths or health complications.

She urged the people to embrace the Federal Government’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), saying it is the easiest way for the masses to access health care.

Agbogun tasked on stewardship of Agbor

T

HE newly a p p o i n t e d President-General of Agbor Community, in Delta State, MajorGeneral Chukwuka Agbogun (rtd.), has been charged to work towards meeting the expectation of the people.

A community leader and educationist, Mr. Frank Aziken, in a statement, said the task before Agbogun was enormous but expressed hope that the retired army general would rise up to expectation.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NO VEMBER 11, 2012, P AGE 13 NOVEMBER PA

BETWEEN BARACK AND GOODLUCK

How to recover squandered goodwill *Why President Jonathan must do a reality check now

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of Nigeria, President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.

By Jide Ajani

F

or Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the last two years (of this term) in office would either be his best or his worst. Best because if he embraces the realities of Nigeria’s complex political sphere and does what is right, he stands to ride on a crest of renewed goodwill; worst because if he squanders what is left of his popularity which is already running on deficit, he would have only himself to blame. Therefore, his destiny is in his hands.

Before the guard dogs throw darts in this direction justifying it with the erroneous impression that a savage attack is being launched, refuge is sought in the words of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair who had written in his book, A Journey, that his “last two years in office were, in many ways, the best of years and the worst of years”.

Whereas Blair can now look back and recoil in disgust about those terrible last days or glory in the triumphs of same, Nigeria’s President Jonathan has the luxury of carving a destiny for himself in positive terms.

Jonathan, like re-elected American President Barack Hussein Obama, allowed goodwill to slip away from him.

For the Kenyan-born Obama, it took the first presidential debate against Republican candidate Mitt Romney, to realize how easily matters can run into a state of flux – Obama bungled the first debate.

Whatever happened to Obama during that debate, he allowed Romney to savour a sense of resurgence in popularity and consequently creating a fresh fierce battle for the race to the C M Y K

White House, a development unforeseen as recently as early October.

There are similarities between the circumstances that brought Obama and Jonathan to power. Breaking long held stereotypes, both men rode to power on a wave of tremendous goodwill which shattered long held myths.

Whereas Obama first discovered that there was a world of difference between masterful oratory and policy execution when, during the mid-term congressional elections, his party lost seats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives (in fact the House fell into the hands of the Republicans

Conversely, whereas Jonathan, who is wickedly credited the Nigerian President to have sent the highest number of condolences to state governments, churches and families in response to the incessant deadly insurgent attacks of the Boko Haram sect, did not create but inherited the scourge that has become the fundamentalists’ insurgency, that does not in any way mean he should continually brandish the Magna Charta of helplessness and, therefore, hopelessness, as reason for the perceived lack luster performance of his administration.

There are similarities between the circumstances that brought Obama and Jonathan to power. Breaking long held stereotypes, both men rode to power on a wave of tremendous goodwill which shattered long held myths with John Andrew Boehner replacing Democrat Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi as Speaker), it does not appear that President Jonathan appreciates the enormity of the complex realities of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political sphere.

Also, once Obama discovered that his performance during the first debate handed undeserved momentum to Romney in a hitherto one-sided race, he swung into over-drive mode.

To the very essence of Obama’s realization that he ran the risk of losing the election if he didn’t re-invent himself, it should be stated here for purposes of clarity that he swung into action, throwing everything, including the Kitchen Sink, into it. It has paid off with a re-election. Though the race was expected to be very, very tough, generating the possible nightmarish prospects of a 269/269 Electoral Col-

lege votes apiece, Obama won with over 300 Electoral College votes.

For Nigeria’s own Jonathan, this is the time to come clean. He has one or a combination of the following options.

He can declare immediately after reading this piece that he is no longer interested in seeking re-election in 2015 and, therefore, expects those who want to kill one another because of political power to isolate him and other innocent Nigerians from their evil agenda of getting back power at all costs.

He can declare that he plans to seek re-election after largely solving most of the current problems besetting the nation – corruption, decaying infrastructure (power supply and roads should stand alone), insecurity, falling standards of education, et al.

He can, like Obama did after the first debate, seek restitution by first owning up that he has performed badly so far; and then engage a more focused leadership agenda beyond the mandibular indulgence called Transformation Agenda.

Finally, just as there is a plethora of challenges confronting Obama as he seeks to continue ruling America (like the now notorious fiscal cliff, immigration reforms, job creation), and which he has sworn to tackle head-on even as he pledges to walk across the aisle, President Jonathan too, can grow beyond the now manifest and sometimes divisive shambolic posture of his Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and seek genuine, constructive participatory agenda (not Government of National Unity, GNU) for development.

That way, if he conducts himself and the affairs of his office appropriately, his last two years (again, we repeat for emphasis, in this term) may be his best in office.

But if the present template which to some is at best rooted in the belief in “my people”, and some times dwelling on the shambolic, spiced with unprofitable gentility, he may be in for the worst two years of his presidency.

The choice is his.

And if not now but some time in future (depending on how President Jonathan wants history to record his tenure), the very basis of Francis Fukuyama’s THE END OF HISTORY And The Last Man, his treatise about the very core of liberal democracy and the fact that it has withstood the machinations of men, may shine on Nigeria and a leadership ready to lead the people out of the woods would emerge.

Best years! Worst years!! Mr. President, please choose.

P AGE 14—SUND AY PA 14—SUNDA

Vanguard , NO VEMBER 11, 2012 NOVEMBER

By Hugo Odiogor, Gbenga Oke in Texas & Laju Areyinka

A

fter months of intense politick ing, the presidential election in the United States held on Tuesday and, from the result that emerged, “nothing changed”. Barack Obama remains President and the Democratic Party remains in control of the Senate. The Republicans retain their control of the House of Representatives and the issue now is how to move America away from the political acrimony that almost brought the country to a stand still in the last two years of President Obama’s first term.

He won both the electoral votes as well as popular votes. To say this election is the most contested in recent American election would be the least as Obama faced the biggest battle of his life to win. It took Mitt Romney and his campaign office some time to congratulate the President even when the electoral votes showed that the President had clinched more than 270 votes.

In a political system where party discipline is the norm, the political forces that immobilised the government are still at work. The House Speaker realised this when he issued a statement emphasising the need for compromise in passing legislation and that supporting the executive arm of government will be difficult as required.

Mitt Romney realised the enormity of the problem that Obama will face when he said that the time of playing politics was over and Americans have to join their President and pray for him to succeed.

According to Romney, “there is the need to find a common ground to confront the challenges that face our country, the challenges of governance, especially the need to uphold the principles on which America was built”.

Romney’s concession speech was conciliatory and therapeutic, given the deep division that emerged during the campaigns. It was equally more mature than that of John McCain four years ago.

It was exactly 5.15 am Nigerian time that Obama clinched the second term ticket, when the projections from Ohio indicated that he had won the votes but this was not conclusive as counting of the absentee ballots were still going on. Since 1964, no Republican Party candidate has won the White House without Ohio and the battle was close as both parties spent much of their time and money campaigning in Ohio. The focus was therefore on Ohio and Florida. With the results from West Coast covering California, Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Washington State, Obama had taken a commanding lead.

The ground battle strategy

His strategy in the swing states seemed to have paid off with the victories in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa, Wisconsin, New York and New Jersey. The defeat of Romney in Massachusetts was bad news but the worst came when his VP nominee, Ryan Paul, was beaten in Wisconsin, his home state. Obama and Joe Biden had won their own states of Chicago and Delaware. In the end, Obama was able to take a command 303 electoral votes while Romney was left stranded at 206 electoral votes, with or without, Florida.

C M Y K

Day Obama renewed faith with Americans and the world

Apart from targeting the swing states, the Obama campaign team massively mobilised the rural population, in what was regarded as the ground war. They had made sure that they had more registered voters and were more determined to do leg work during the campaign. Although Gov. Romney got more funds for the election, he spent much on advertisement.

The strategy of early voting worked for Obama who had earlier put his reelection in trouble with his flop at the first presidential debate, which widened the battle ground. His campaign used the early voting machinery to get ahead in swing states like Ohio, Florida and Virginia.

The impact of same sex vote

Also, same sex marriage contributed a lot to Obama’s victory. Votes from each state showed gay marriage couples gave their votes to Obama as well in a state like Maryland, 52% of gay marriage couples supported Obama.

Democratic senate candidate Mrs. Claire McCaskil won her senate race too.

Divine Intervention

Hurricane Sandy was a third major force that gave Obama the needed breather after the flop at the debate.

First, the hurricane halted the momentum that Romney was building as the election approached. Secondly, it gave the President the opportunity to play his role as the President and Commander-in-Chief as he quickly responded to the humanitarian needs of those affected.

The President won new friends among the governors and mayors of the devastated areas. However, about 87% of Americans believed President Obama handled the devastation of Hurricane Sandy well, a situation which caused a major problem within the GOP to Obama’s advantage. The coming of Sandy was another setback for Romney because a Republican

Governor of New Jersey had to quit politics and told the world how good and responsive Obama was during their plight. The few days the storm lasted did not give Romney the opportunity of attacking the President the more because both candidates had to face nation building.

Demographic coalition

The exhilaration of Obama’s victory was not lost on the coalition that he built four years ago, a coalition of the minorities, namely the blacks, the Hispanics, young people, women, not excluding the elderly. This was the crowd that chanted “Four more years, Four more years.” to greet the President-elect, the first black man to win US presidency and to also win a tick to complete an eight-year tenure.

It was the same coalition that was missing from the crowd of Republic challenger, Romney, the same coalition that is the fabric of the American people. President Obama gave away the very secret of his victory when he said: “I believe we can keep the promise of our founders, the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from or what you look like or where you live. It doesn’t matter whether you’re black or white or Hispanic or Asian or Native American or young or old or rich or poor, able, disabled, gay or straight, you can make it here in America if you’re willing to try.”

Obama got 93% of black votes which represents 13% of the electorate. He got 71% of votes from Latinos representing 10% of the electorate. Latinos are the fastest growing-segment of the population. Their share of the vote expanded from 9% in 2008 to 10% in this election. The President won 67% of the vote four years ago. He increased that to 71% this year. Latinos were crucial in helping Obama win the battleground states of Colorado and Nevada, and in putting the President in the lead for Florida’s 29 electoral

votes.

And they were just as important in turning the former swing state of New Mexico into what appears to be an increasingly safe state for the Democrats. Obama’s victory was made possible with the help of Latinos, women, African American coupled with the support of former President Bill Clinton who campaigned in states like Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio. President Obama won over 40% of whites, although less 3 points than he did in 2008.

Sixty percent of young voters chose Obama. One fact that the election threw up is that the gap between blacks and whites in America is expanding as some whites went too far to promote racism. Some had campaign T-shirts with the inscription, “It’s time to get a white man back in the White House”; others were using social media to deride President Obama, but in the end, the American people voted to reject racial bigotry.

Obama’s victory is a major setback for the Republicans as it has once again shown that the GOP party has lost touch with an average American citizen.

How Romney Lost

He fought a serious battle using race as a factor among the whites to run President Obama down in all ramifications. Mitt Romney, against all odds, gave his concession speech and congratulated President Obama about 12pm American time. His plan during the campaigns was to use the issue of economy and the un-employment rate to find his way to the White House.

His campaign had thought even if Obama wins Ohio, once Republican Party can take Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, where Ryan comes for, it would be possible to neutralize Ohio which early result had favoured Obama. Unfortunately, the calculation was wrong as Obama won Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and New Hampshire early enough to show he was likely to win the election.

A statement credited to him that he only cared about 47percent of Americans was also a setback for him as well as lying to the electorate in Ohio that Jeep is shipping jobs to China - all these backfired as it all turned out to be false after all.

Reactions in Texas

Majority of Democrats made a loud noise around Houston immediately after the election result was announced while some took to the streets to enjoy the rest of their nights in clubs. Although Texas happens to be a Republican stronghold, some people who spoke with Sunday Vanguard said in the next four years, the state might lean towards the Democrats as there is an influx of more blacks and Mexicans into the state.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, NO VEMBER 11, 2012, P AGE 15 NOVEMBER PA

By Jide Ajani

T

his is a minute-by-minute encounter with Nigerians on election night and the immediate reaction which greeted the election of Barrack Hussein Obama that fateful night of Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Kareem Bakar, GM, MANGO CAFE, allowed Sunday Vanguard into his world and why the café remains the place to be for Nigerians in Maryland, and the US, in general.

Consider this scene: The ladies are beautiful, really beautiful. The guys! Well, cool and calm.

The ladies numbered 25. They were hauled together in the café. They danced to the rhythm of the beat. A few others, numbering about 30, were outside, phones in hand, faces aglow.

The ladies outside were actually preparing for the great moment. The telephone calls were being made to places as far as Nigeria and other parts of the globe; and as close as Maryland or DC. Then there were the guys. Naturally, they outnumbered the ladies. Mind you, it was not by design. It just so happened that that was the place to be that night.

Back inside, the beat of ‘gongo a so’, by 9NICE, was blaring forth from the speakers.

The ladies gyrated to the rhythm and this was more than admired by the guys. From the really erotic to the slow moves, the common trend which was very noticeable was the joy and happiness. It was as though a jackpot had been hit.

DJ T BOOGIE was in charge and he had his job well cut out. From raga reggae to pop, the mix was rhythmic and you could not but nod and shake that thing even as you were seated.

Meanwhile, at the bar, Kareem Bakar, the owner of the ‘joint’ was busy attending to requests for juices and tots of brandy. Milled around the bar were men and women of mature disposition – working class, yuppies and a few senior citizens. Bottles or goblets in hand, all eyes stayed glued to the plasma on the wall. Even those dancing could not but keep their gaze on the TV. This is where they all cool off. This is MANGO CAFE. This is election night. This is the night of Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

Welcome to the world Bakar, 49, has created in Maryland.

MANGO CAFE is located on 4719, Annapolis Road, Bladensburg, Maryland.

The Cafe offers catering services, events management and organizes private parties.

Although the scene this night was electric, Sunday Vanguard was told that weekends are also always like that too.

Everybody waited in bathed anticipation for that moment.

You do not need to be told that this MANGO CAFE is a haven for Nigerians and Africans – the boisterousness, the excitement, even rambunctious nature of the average African was pervasive.

Built bungalow-style, it offers a refreshing difference to the American burger life depicted on TV. ‘Asun’ (peppered, diced goat-meat) is served in this cafe but that is just the least of what you get to enjoy and which makes you

FOUR YEARS AGO

When Nigerians in US went wild for Obama on election night

Obama

want to believe that Lagos is also in Maryland.

The official language could be mistaken here. Blindfolded and dumped in the hall, you could mistake the place for any of the night clubs or joints on Allen Avenue, Opebi, Ojuelegba, Festac Town, all in Lagos, or the clubs you have in GRA PortHarcourt, or the clubs in Abuja.

While it is not exclusive to people of Yoruba extraction alone, it is just so that it is this boisterous set of Nigerians who patronize the place the most – Bakar is from Ogbomosho, Oyo State, South West Nigeria.

Back to the story: As Sunday Vanguard sat, watching and actually appreciating the gyration of the waists of the ladies, an order was placed for three tots of Jack Daniels and a can of RED BULL. You open the can and pour the content into the glass and you immediately half the full glass.

This was the first time in over a week you’ll be having that – Vanguard’s Bar in the newsroom provides you with the most exotic of brandy or whiskey or a good bottle of choice red wine, along with a can of energy drink and either gizzard or suya or isiewu (goat head) to boot. All these while the job moves on at a frenetic pace. In fact, the grand irony is that it is on those very dull days when the bar does not operate or function at all that you experience hiccups in the day’s editorial operations.

So, you can imagine if after all of almost 10 days this was the first taste of whiskey.

Barely another five minutes you pour the remaining content of the energy drink into what is left in the goblet, you down the content and most eyes are on you.

‘Where’s that guy from’, a lady whispers to her friend.

For a brief moment, the attention of some shift from the election results being monitored and almost all eyes are on you.

Bakar walks up to you and says, “aburo (brother), let’s go out and talk.”

He says he organizes shows to which in attendance is always a capacity crowd.

A very hard working man, he’s been in America for over two decades.

Likeable, unassuming and quite very friendly, Bakar hails from Ogbomosho, in Oyo State.

He’s not been back to Nigeria in a very, very long while.

But he lives the good life in Maryland. Married with kids, he continues to explore opportunities in Maryland.

Return to election night: At about 11:55pm (Eastern time), when the result of Virginia is announced, putting Obama’s electoral votes over the top of the required 270, an ecstatic roar rings out from inside the hall. Beamed immediately on the screen afterwards was the announcement: “Barrack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States of America”.

Hugging, handshaking, clinching of fists were the next

acts.

Even Bakar could not hide his emotions.

It was described by some as the end of “400 years of slavery” Though slavery had been declared banished over a century ago, “the real and concrete end of slavery is the election of Obama as America’s 44th President.

This is the liberation that people have always hoped and prayed for. The election of Obama marks a turning point for America as a nation because its standing in the comity of nations was already dwindling. You know when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches cold; and the way things were going simply gave America away”, enthused a seemingly inebriated fellow whose name was given simply as Majek.

Reminded that the downturn in the economic fortunes of Americans may have played a part in the emergence of Obama, another individual, a lawyer, living the American dream and identified as Muyiwa Sobo, was quick to point out that “ whereas we can not say the economy did not play a part, it was not the only major consideration”.

According to him, “this whole thing started when President George Bush was sworn-in in January 2004.

The people did not want him to come back but once he came back, the whole thing changed dimension. But you have to admit that once Obama gave that speech at the Democratic Party Convention in 2004, it started but some did not notice. The economy was not this bad at that time. That was when the need for change crystallised into a movement”.

Sobo, who insists that things would change for the better in America, has company in many people Sunday Vanguard spoke to.

C M Y K

PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Constitution amendment: Lawmaker escapes lynching in Kano Indigenes of Yenagoa/ Continued from page 5 In what look like coordinated actions, reports across the 24 federal constituencies where large crowd turned out for the public hearing almost degenerate to a religious centre as clerics who had invaded the venue openly preached against the exercise describing as a “jamboree and wasteful venture”.

In municipal councils, proceedings were abruptly wounded up following reports of an attack on the member representing Gwale federal constituency, Yushari Bashir Galadanci, by a mob over what they called his “poor representation and lack of patronage” since he was elected to the Green Chamber.

The serene atmosphere degenerated as a huge crowd waiting to gain entrance into the main arena shouted “bamayi bamayi” (we don’t want you ) on sighting the lawmaker that had arrived the scene in company of pockets of loyalists.

The crowd surge forward menacingly and Galadance that was fully conscious of the consequence of the mob action retreated to his car and sped off.

The development forced other political office holders to stay away from the venue of the public hearing as majority of the issues presented were rejected except local government autonomy, state assembly autonomy and abolition of State Independent Electoral Commission.

Enugu backs state creation, opposes state police The creation of an additional state in the South East zone and in Enugu State in particular received a unanimous endorsement at the public hearing on the review of the 1999 C o n s t i t u t i o n .

The eight Federal Constituencies where the exercise took place recorded impressive attendance as eminent personalities in the various constituencies addressed the constituents.

In Enugu North/Enugu South Federal Constituency Forum organised by Rep Ofor Chukwuegbo, Senators Jim Nwobodo and Ken Nnamani addressed the p a r t i c i p a n t s .

They applauded the decision of the Reps to bring the exercise down to the people saying the long clamour for a national conference had been achieved through the exercise.

At the session held at Obollor headquarters of Udenu Local Government, participants unanimously demanded the creation of Adada State.

They stated that they were ready to concede every other item as contained in the template document for voting on the constitution for the realization of the proposed state.

Bayelsa constituency demands 100 percent resource control

Kolokuma/Opokuma Federal Constituency in Bayelsa State demanded that states be allowed 100 per cent control of their natural resources and pay taxes to the Federal G o v e r n m e n t .

The demand for resource control was made in a unanimous vote by the people at the Yenagoa/ Kolokuma/Opokuma federal constituency public hearing held at the De-Prize multi-purpose hall in Y e n a g o a .

The event, which was chaired and moderated by Chief Festus Lot, witnessed a large turnout of community leaders, youth groups and women groups from the various communities in the c o n s t i t u e n c y .

In his submission, Barrister Inemo Oruebimiekumo called for the accordance of political authority to enable the federating states control their natural resources.

Ekiti: No constitutional role for monarchs The people of Ekiti State voted unanimously that there should be no defined and specific roles for the monarchs in the new c o n s t i t u t i o n .

The session was attended by the six members of the House of Reps from the state led by Hon Opeyemi Bamidele , who represents Ado/Irepodun/Ifelodun Federal Constituency and top traditional rulers, as well as civil and human rights societies.

C’ River opposes creation of state for South East A section of the people of Cross River State opposed the call for the creation of additional state for the South E a s t .

The people of Obubra/Etung constituency based their opposition on the premise that it would joepardise their chances of having Ogoja S t a t e .

The people also opposed the lamendment of Section 214 (1) of the 1999 Constitution to enable for the creation of state police in the country.

Confusion in Ogun Pandemonium almost broke out in four local government areas of Ogun State at the public session on the review of the constitution.

The constituencies kicked against the modalities adopted by the facilitators.

Most of the federal constituencies in the state recorded rowdy sessions as people booed their representatives while alleging a foul play.

The four local governments, Abeokuta South, Remo North, Sagamu and Ikenne had rowdy sessions amidst rejection of the exercise.

In Abeokuta South, the audience booed their representatives, Segun Williams, accusing him of poorly representing them.

But, in Remo Federal constituency, the member representing the area at the lower chamber, Bukunola Taofeek Buraimo, resisted an alleged attempt by the chairmen of three local governments in the constituency to subdue the wishes of the people.

Ebonyi constituencies call for creation of more states THE Afikpo North/ South constituency called on the Federal Government to strike a balance in the creation of states within the six geopolitical zones of the country in order to ensure even distribution of resource among states.

The amendment exercise, which went to through a question and answer procedure, saw the people of the constituency giving a-yesvoice-vote to the creation of more states for the South East for the purpose of equilibrium, that the House of Assembly be granted financial autonomy as it is with the National Assembly, abolishment of the state joint local government account, LGs properly assuming a third tier of government, tenures of LG Chairmen and Councillors be defined, abolishment of the State Electoral Independent Commission, rotation of the Presidency among the six geopolitical zones of the country among others.

In Imo, state creation is it The session at Aboh Mbaise/Ngor Okpala federal constituency, Imo State commenced after hundreds of constituents started thronging the Mbutu Secondary School venue of the programme as early as 8am.

Representative of the constituency and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha, in his address, told the gathering that the essence of the exercise was to ensure grassroots participation by aggregating the views of the people for onward transmission to the House of Representatives.

Voting was done on about 18 items slated for consideration on the template. Issues that elicited the most consideration included state creation, the indigeneship question, financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly, role of traditional rulers, among others.

Edo roots for local govt autonomy THE people’s public session on the review of the 1999 constitution held successfully in the nine federal constituencies in Edo State with majority of the people of the state, calling for amendment that will ensure complete independent of local government councils.

Borno: Revenue allocation must favour states In Borno State, Governor Kashim Shettima called for the review of federal allocation in favour of the state and local governments, as they are closest to the people.

Reports from Sokoto said a former Minister of Finance and one time Nigerian High Commissioner to United Kingdom, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji observed that there should be a clear demarcation of responsibility between states and federal government in the funding of security agencies in order to avoid diversion of public f u n d s .

C M Y

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 17

CONSTITUTION AMENDMENT

Reps to Constituents:

Come let us reason together *House takes process to the people *Initiative excites civil society, stakeholders

By CHARLES KUMOLU In what appears to be a clear departure from the grandstanding endeavour of past legislators about constitution amendment, the Speaker Aminu Tambuwal-led House of Representatives may have stolen the thunder with its Peoples’ Public Sessions, PPS, approach to the amendment of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Last Thursday, the Speaker flagged off the process but yesterday across the 360 federal constituencies, reps tried to give vent to the demands and aspirations of their constituents. This is the story.

WHEN the House of Representatives instituted its Ad-Hoc Committee on the review of the 1999 constitution on September 25, 2011, not a few were apprehensive that the process, would arouse public interest given that similar attempts in the past fell below the expectations of proponents of constitution amendment in the country.

But fourteen months down the line, the mixed feelings that trailed the commencement of the exercise have given way to sudden enthusiasm, following the sense of purpose with which the House appears to be pursuing the cause.

Currently, the nation seems to be in a frenzied mode as a result of the public sessions held across the 360 federal constituencies in the country yesterday.

Convened by the House Committee on the Review of the constitution, the oneday event which was officially flagged of by the Speaker of the House, Aminu Bello Tambuwal, last Thursday, November 8, 2012, is a response to the strident calls for a more participatory and transparent review of the constitution.

Also, the public hearing, it was gathered, is in conformity with the House’s commitment to making the process a participatory, robust and inclusive one.

This explains why the Hearing entitled: Peoples’ Public Sessions, PPS, attracted a panel of experts and stakeholders which included members of State Houses of Assembly, Local Government Chairmen; the Nigeria Labour Congress; Trade Union Congress; the Nigerian Bar Association; the Academic Staff Union of Universities; Nigeria Union of Teachers and Civil Society Organizations,CSOs. Others are; The National Association of Nigerian Students; Nigerian Youth Council; The National Council of Women Societies/Representatives of Women Organizations and The Nigeria Union of Journalists.

Participatory, inclusive and transparent review

Speaking at the flag-off ceremony in Abuja, Tambuwal said the Public Sessions programme is a consultative initiative of the House aimed at ensuring a more participatory, inclusive and transparent review of the Constitution.

Tambuwal called on Nigerians to take full advantage of the opportunity offered by the House to participate in the 2012 Constitutional review process ‘’ It is expected that this broad based approach to the process of amending the Constitution will be more credible and open to all citizens and that popular participation shall be greatly enhanced. It is designed to embrace all segments and sectors of the polity,’’ he stated.

Tambuwal further explained that the public session was convened in line with Section 14 of the 1999 constitution which encourages the promotion of popular participation by the citizenry. ‘’Whereas the House of Representatives is fully conscious of the fact that under Section 4 of the Constitution, the Legislative powers of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are vested on the National Assembly and that by Section 9 of same, the procedure for altering the Constitution is expressly prescribed, we do not lose sight of Section 14 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which encourages the promotion of popular participation by the citizenry in governance,’’ he noted.

In addition, he said, ‘’it is in the light of this realization that we have opted for a process which is certainly more cumbersome. The main objective is to inject credibility in the process and by necessary implication the final document and ensure genuine ownership by Nigerians.’’

Tambuwal(m),Ihedioha(l)

Accordingly, he said, ‘’even though a template has been introduced, we have made it clear that it is a general guide embodying the collation of preponderant issues in the, record over 200, memoranda submitted by members of the public. However both the categories and quantum of issues that can be introduced into the process remain open. Put differently the template is completely open to adaptation to meet local and extenuating circumstances. Again, it is in the spirit of unrestrained transparency that video coverage of all the proceedings is instituted. This electronic document will be available for purposes of reference and verification.’’

Referendum unconstitutional in Nigeria Consequently, Tambuwal called on Nigerians to take full advantage of the opportunity offered by the House to participate in the 2012 Constitutional review process. ‘’While acknowledging the public compliments that have greeted the People’s Public Sessions initiative, I also note the well intentioned suggestions put forth by other individuals and groups for alternatives, the most prominently canvassed being the employment of referendum as a process for the Constitution review.’’ he maintained.

Continuing, the Speaker of the upper legislative arm said, ‘’as an institution, we have sworn to defend the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This implies that whatever our zeal in responding to public and even popular opinion on issues of critical national importance we must at all times be guided by the spirit and letter of this Constitution.

Having said so, permit me to state right away that referendum as a Legislative process is not contemplated by the Nigerian Constitution. It cannot therefore be an option, being unconstitutional.’’

Stressing further on why the House shunned referendum, against popular demands, Tambuwal explained thus: ‘’For referendum to be a lawful legislative or even administrative decision making process in any jurisdiction, it must either be expressly prescribed in the Constitution of that Legal system, or must have become a constitutional convention by notoriety or a child of necessity arising from constitutional overthrow as in a post revolution situation.’’

Citing contemporary examples, he said, ‘’ Switzerland and Chile for instance have this principle provided in their Constitutions, while in the United States of America (USA) it is only provided in

the Constitutions of some states but not in their Federal Constitution. The closest thing to this in the USA Constitution is that 2/3 Two-Thirds of States can by vote demand a referendum for purpose of a constitution review.’’

Still rationalizing why referendum was not considered, he said, ‘’it is our opinion that section 9 of the Constitution is very comprehensive and unambiguous. It is also deductive from Sub Section (2) of the Section 9 that popular participation in the process is intended and the Peoples’ Public Sessions initiative clearly offers that. We are also persuaded that this process once successfully carried out should reasonably lay to rest the raging arguments about the autochthony of our Constitution and consequently “we the People” will no longer be a lie.’’

Continuing, Tamuwal said, ‘’for the avoidance of doubt let me state that neither I nor the House of Representatives is averse to referendum. The fact is that it is not available to us as an option now. The House will however willingly accept a bill proposing the inclusion of referendum in our Constitution in the on-going process.’’

Similarly, while explaining the rationale for organizing the sessions, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Constitution Review Committee, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, noted that it was primarily to improve the inclusiveness and participation of members of the community and other stakeholders in the amendment process.

Amendment without difficulty

Ihedioha, who also said this at the flagoff ceremony in Abuja said, “the objectives of the Sessions are to increase the capacity of the participants to collate and prioritize issues that require alteration or

Continues on page 18

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Placing the constitution review process in context T

HE title of this essay suggests that the Constitution, its review and the process for effecting its review be placed in contexts. What such flagging of a governance decision calls attention to is an injunction not to treat the exercise of review as an act of necessity but an exercise whose value is not prima facie self validating.

The call for putting the exercise in context implies that issues of contexts unaddressed can vitiate the relevance of such an exercise to the enhancement of the stability, legitimacy and authority of Nigerian constitutionalist government. This author ’s contexts define a perspective he wishes to recommend to concerned citizens whose participation is invited by the National Assembly House of Representatives. I will deal with the contexts proposed seriatim.

C M Y K

John Amoda.... Who should establish and who should review

constitutions?

,

· First the tradition of Constitutional Review from pre-independence to the present. Review of constitution have always been initiated by the seating governments. This was the case in the constitution reviews preceeding and ushering in independence for the successor governments of independent Nigeria. It was the case in 1979, 1989, 1999 and now in the 2012 exercise. The first implication of this tradition is that whatever is the resultant constitution, no matter its contents, by virtue of its origin, this and preceeding constitutions are constitutions for the people by government. There has therefore not being a republican constitution of the people for the people by the people. Whether such a republican process is feasible is another matter. The fact that the people have not organized themselves by a process of their own choosing fashion their own constitution is an observation of importance in the characterization of Nigerian government in terms of its sovereignty. The above observation is noteworthy especially in the context of what has become a national consensus on the need for a process for identifying claimants of sovereignty either in terms of ethnicity, cultural affinity or party affiliation and how such claimants can be generally validated by other claimants. This is the political goal of the calls for national or sovereign conferences.

Commendable therefore as this House of Representative consultation of adhoc assemblies is, the very fact of the adhoc nature of the groups consulted still stamps the process of consultation as governmental.

The issue of republican ownership of agreements by which difference of interest in Sovereignty are to be reconciled have yet to be addressed in post colony Nigeria.

A governmental process of constitutional review postpones tackling this generic issue and thus stamps the eventual constitution as an interim and stop gap constitution. · Second is the issue of the longevity of constitution in Nigeria.

Every supremacist government had undertaken review of received constitution.

By Supremacist government I refer to government whose opposition parties find it difficult to effect change of administration of the federal government by elections. The Military governments and the PDP Federal Government are supremacist governments. Constitutional review by these governments have had an overriding aim, namely to enhance their legitimacy through a process of cooptation of the opposition. Rather

The nostalgia for True Federalism has as its context disquiet over what is seen as suffocating unitarism at the centre

,

than address the issue of republican ownership of the constitution this Constitution Review will further widened the divide between Government and the People.

In this present exercise the Carrot provided to buy peace and time is state creation, a Carrot which creates the demand for yet another constitution review perhaps a decade from the conclusion of the present exercise. · Third is the question of constitutionalist governance itself.

Political conflicts over sovereignty definition and representation in Nigeria are yet not constitutionalized.

This is the worrisome implication of the call for Sovereign National Conference. Nigeria is still deemed as a proposal and a project. The nostalgia for True Federalism has as its context disquiet over what is seen as suffocating unitarism at the centre.

Those calling for devolution of powers from the Centre to the States are unmindful that whatsoever unity that binds the People of Nigeria together is of the Federal, not of the states, and that devolution of powers to the state will only sectarianized political competition in the state. Why is there such unified animus against the centre? An explanation is to be found in the fact that Nigerianness instituted through Abuja is problematic for those whose Nigerianness was formed in the era of Regionalist Nigeria- a Nigeria confederal in its spirit, whose regions were dominated by supremacist parties. Nostalgia points to the lack of will to address the fundamental fact, the retreat from nationalist patriotism that remained relevant only in the politics of Regionalist Nigerian Independence. · The fourth context is the fact of insurgency and the regional environment characterized by the

breakdown of the security walls demarcating the internal from the external. State making that provides the condition for institution building and legitimation requires that state making parties be able to militarily stabilize their borders and redefine these borders in terms of the locales of threats to government and its supporting society and economy. It is as these parties take on hand these necessary sovereignty tasks that the consequent need to address their internal divisions and external threats and to negotiate constitutions that institutionalize their stakes in power and provide the platform for concerted action at home and abroad become urgent and compelling. We need to give heed to the situation in Mali, our ECOWAS neighbour. The security issues of Mali are not specific to that country. We have elements of the Mali security condition here at home.

Mali shows how the relevance of constitutions are determined. In the Mali capital South, the sacking of an elected Government by military political interest groups has put an end, temporary or not to constitutional government. The conquest of Northern Mali by Tuareq invaders and the establishment of their rule in northern Mali addresses the issue of sovereignty in Mali. It is therefore clear that the issue of militant insurgency in the North East of Nigeria is a national sovereignty issue and we see that sovereignty must first be established and defended before the constitutional expressions of sovereignty is routinised. Mali tells why the matters of sovereignty and its secured legitimation is the necessary and sufficient context for defining the relevance of governments and of their modes, whether military or constitutional.

Finally is the context of agency. Who should establish and who should review constitutions? The issue of modality is secondary. In the system of government in place in Nigeria the registered political parties should be the agent for establishing and reviewing their constitutions. Office holders run on the platform of parties.

They represent parties as elected officials. The prevailing mode of government should not be a hybrid so long as it is parties that field candidates for office. The constitution that will be produced is not self enforcing. It will be administered by Government. Elected officials have no monarchical or aristocratic ownership of government. They are elected and re-elected on party platforms. When the obvious is set aside in favour of convenience or opportunity, then building enduringly is not the aim. The question is can we against the background of the Arab Spring and Mali in our backyard and in the context of the extant security condition at home, dare to embark on constitution review without placing the decision in contexts?

House takes process to constituencies Continued from page 17 inclusion in the 1999 Constitution, and to constructively engage with their legislators. Prepare and produce the views and positions of the participants on the issues proposed for amendment in the Constitution.”

He further noted that, “the exercise is also to increase the capacity of the House of Representatives to receive inputs and suggestions on constitution amendment from individuals and groups, as well as provide a platform for the House to respond to the concerns of the citizens on the constitution amendment process.”

In addition, Ihedioha said, “the views and summarised positions will be prepared and forwarded to the Committee on Review of the Constitution in a language that will enable the Members of the Committee to consider and decide on issues proposed for amendment without much difficulty. ‘’One key concern of the Committee and the House of Representatives on the exercise, has been how to achieve Constitution amendment with the participation and involvement of the people. It is in pursuit of this goal that the leadership of the House has asked members of the House to go back to all the 360 federal constituencies in the country to mobilize the participation of every Nigerian in the

process of this amendment exercise.’’

Going down memory lane, he said ‘’you will recall that in 2010, the National Assembly achieved a major milestone in the history of constitution making by successfully amending the 1999 constitution. That amendment reflected the commitment and determination of the National Assembly to correct the gaps observed in the constitution, but it fell short of the entire expectations of Nigerians on the contending issues in the Constitution.

So, soon after the 7th House of Representatives was inaugurated, it was clear that some of the issues not addressed in the

Continues on page 19

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012 — PAGE 19

Continued from page 18 2010 amendment still agitated Nigerians, therefore, requiring a further amendment of the constitution.’’

Also speaking on the composition of the committee, Ihedioha stated thus: “The House Committee on Constitution Review,CRC, is made up of one member per state, the principal officers of the House and some members representing the interests of women, a total of 51. It is chaired by Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.”

He, however, commended the media and other stakeholders for supporting the initiative, noting that the the process of collation of the reports would be transparent and would involve all the stakeholders who participated in the sessions. ‘’I specially want to thank the media, our development partners including the British Department for International Development ,DFID, and the United Nations Development Programme’s Democratic Governance for Development Project ,UNDP DGD, for supporting this initiative. I also want to thank the professional bodies and organizations who sent their representatives to participate in the organization of the sessions in the 360 federal constituencies for their participation and support,’’ Ihedioha added.

Nonetheless, prominent issues discussed and voted for at the sessions yesterday, were; Recognition of the six zonal structure; states creation; structure, funding and creation of local governments; residency, citizenship and the indigeneship question; justifiability of economic and social rights; fiscal provisions; independence of state legislatures; amendments to the exclusive legislative list to devolve more powers to states; Others are: fiscal federalism; abolition of state electoral commissions; Immunity removal; State police; zoning and power sharing; term of office of Governors and President whether single term of 5, 6 or 7 years or a renewal term of 4 years; independent candidacy; voting age; improved women representation; disability rights; diaspora voting; single National chamber legislature; presidential or parliamentary system; role for traditional rulers; further electoral reforms among others.

Over 200 memoranda

It was also gathered that no fewer than 200 memoranda have been received so far on the exercise.

Further checks indicated that the dominant issues so far on the memoranda received include: Indigeneship, Residency and Citizenship under the Constitution, Immunity clause, accountability, judicial reform etc; National Security and Police Reform and Fiscal Federalism, Local Governance and Restructuring/Devolution of P o w e r s Others are; Financial Autonomy for Local Government Councils, Removal of the Land Use Act and the National Youth Service Corps from the Constitution, Part time legislature, Abolition of joint states/Local Government Account System, Voting Rights for Nigerians living in the diaspora, Zoning/rotation of offices of President/Governors among others.

Speaker Tambuwal ... pointing the way forward

House takes process to constituencies Initiative excites civil society, stakeholders

Meantime, the move has continued to generate excitement from civil society groups, international development agencies and other stakeholders.

At different fora including exploratory meetings held between the House Committee and stakeholders, civil society groups and organizations lauded the initiative and pledged total commitment to making it achieve the desired results.

Speaking on a programme monitored on AIT , Civil Rights activist and member, National Human Rights Commission Board, Hajia Saudatu Mahpi, commended the House for initiating the constituency meetings.

Representatives of professional interest groups, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders at a meeting with the House Committee hailed the efforts and also offered suggestions on how to make the process thorough.

International Non-Governmental Organizations and development agencies like the National Democratic Institute (NDI), DFID, among others, have also keyed into the idea of the constituency meetings by extending goodwill gestures to the organizers.

In a letter to the Deputy Speaker and Chairman of the House Committee on Constitution Review, the National Orientation Agency, NOA, congratulated the House for the initiative.

While commending the initiative the

initiative is an idea that debunks SNC,” he said. The NLC boss who led a team of affiliate council workers unions from 27 different countries to the event, also endorsed the guidelines set out for the programme, saying they would ensure transparency.’’

For the National President of Nigeria Union of Journalist,NUJ, Comrade Garba Mohammed, the process was highly participatory, hence, he canvassed for the amendment process to consider imputing the Freedom of Information Act, FOIA, into the constitution.

Also giving kudos to the House, President of Academic Staff Union of Universities,ASUU, Dr. Nasir Isa Fagge said the initiative would evolve a peoples’ constitution, just as he opined that the 1999 constitution is inherently defective and amendments will not cure the defects.

In the same vein the Leader of Alliance for Credible Elections, ACE, Mr. Emma Ezazu said, ‘’PPS is giving democracy a rejuvenating slogan that Civil Society Organisations ,CSOs, will continue to harp upon even after the programme.”

President of National Council for Women Societies ,NCWS, Mrs. Nkechi Mba also said, ‘’Nigerian women commend the initiative and we ask that the constitution should be made to be gender-sensitive.”

The National Youth Council of Nigeria ,NYCN, was also among groups that hailed the PPS, as its President, Mr. James Ajani Olawale said, ‘’Young Nigerians believe in the present leadership of the House of Representatives as this is the only time that the youths of the country have been

One key concern of the Committee and the House of Representatives on the exercise, has been how to achieve Constitution amendment with the participation and involvement of the people National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, Chief Oliseh Metuh said, ‘’we declare our support for the peoples’ public sessions. There is no body that is better qualified than the House of Representatives to embark on this exercise. It will help in deepening our democracy.”

Similarly, the President Of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Abdulwahab Omar, said,“the peoples’ public sessions

engaged by the National Assembly.’’

Relatedly, from the Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi, came this passmark:’’This initiative is unprecedented. There has been nothing like this before.”

across the 360 constituencies in Nigeria, indicated that exercise commenced simultaneously at 10:00 am as scheduled with minor concerns.

Highlighting this in a statement earlier, Ihedioha said, ‘’the Public Session shall be organized and implemented in every federal constituency by an independent Steering Committee of experts and stakeholders as announced; The Steering Committee shall choose a Secretary from amongst its members; It shall be held on the same day, Saturday November 10, 2012, at 10:00 am in all the Federal Constituencies in Nigeria; It shall be held in a public place where members of the public shall have unfettered access.”He further stated thus: “Every constituent is free to participate in the Session; The Proceedings shall be uniform throughout the country as far as is practicable; The Steering Committee shall make efforts to ensure wide publicity for the Sessions, in every part of a federal constituency, so as to guarantee the participation of all Nigerians at the grassroots; Decisions at the Session shall, as much as possible, be taken by consensus but where that fails, then by voting, where the views of the majority shall prevail.”

Ihedioha, also explained that, “voting shall be by show of hands or voice vote; The Steering Committee shall ensure that every item to be voted on, are explained to the people in the language prevalent in the locality; Each Federal Constituency may indicate other issues requiring amendment, other than those listed in the Template, for the attention of the House Constitution Review Committee; There shall be a video recording and written reports of the proceedings of the Session across all of the Federal Constituencies by the Steering Committee, which shall be submitted to the Clerk of the Committee not later than seven days after the event.”

It will be recalled that the Sixth Assembly had in 2010, successfully amended the 1999 Constitution. The amendment was a major milestone in the history of constitution making in Nigeria because it was the first time that a democratically elected legislature had succeeded in amending the constitution.

Previous amendments to the constitution had been made by either the colonial or military regimes. Instructively, the amendments that were made in 2010 focused mainly on electoral matters and were aimed at enabling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to organize more credible elections. The amendments also involved including the National Industrial Court in the Constitution as a superior court of record. Although the 2010 Constitution amendment was described as landmark event by many, the content of the amendments were however quite limited.

Several useful proposals for the amendment of the Constitution which were received could not be concluded before the dissolution of the Sixth National Assembly in May 2011.

The major downside of that exercise was the indiscretion of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to attempt to extend his maximum tenure of two terms of four years each. He did not get his wish. But in nthe process, some other useful proposals for amendment which had been put in the same basket along with the tenure elongation proposal were all thrown away.

The sessions at a glance

The procedure for yesterday’s exercise C M Y K

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY VANGUARD,NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Email: woman-vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

Leadership: Assess performance with a mirror

T

C M Y K

HE two things which those of us who have to watch our weight dislike intensely are, the weighing scale and the mirror. With the former, you may say that it is faulty, and that the figure it shows is not your actual weight, and you're much lighter than that. But, with the mirror there's no hiding place; the bulk you see is your real size, even if you try to look at yourself from various 'favourable' angles. So, you will just have to accept that you don't have the perfect body and will need to go a serious diet/exercise regime to lose weight and trim down.

Governance is pretty much the same thing. If you want to know how effective you are in what has been entrusted to you to do, look at the end results of the decisions you have made, objectively and truthfully, as if you're looking at the mirror.

Assess your work as if you're assessing the work of another person, looking at it with an unbiased critical eye, and ask yourself if the desired goal was achieved. Don't rely fully on the aides, praise-singers and sycophants around you to assess your performance for you.

Most of them, afraid for their jobs, or, wanting a favour from you, may rather go denounce you and your lack of competence behind your back than tell you the truth. This is normal, so, you have to acknowledge that you will need to assess your effectiveness yourself.

Also, it is impossible for you to please everyone, for there would be people who have made up their mind never to see any good in your work. Still, it is wise as a leader, to listen to those criticisms attentively and objectively, weigh every one of them carefully to find out if there could be some truth in them, instead of declaring your critics your enemies and embarking on a vengeance crusade.

In any leadership position, (home, work, politics, governance, etc.) there won't be any noticeable progress if the leaders refuse to listen to criticism of any sort. A leader who really wants to serve successfully and impact positively on the lives of the people he/ she is leading, would weigh criticisms objectively to find out if they're justified, and resolve to make amends to reach his/her goals.

At the end of the tenure, there would be satisfaction all round that that rule has uplifted the standard of living of the ruled.

Acquiring power for self-serving purposes is not restricted to the third world countries only, but in our case it's tied up with an intense desire to enrich ourselves with public funds. This is why progress is very slow, if any, and there's this tendency to cling to power indefinitely, if possible.

The founder of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Mr. Mo Ibrahim, a Sudan-born telecoms tycoon was reported recently to have urged African leaders to be brutally honest in criticizing governments which are not performing.

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

Maybe it's time for us to consider independent candidates. Who knows, people may then be elected purely on merit, rather than the tribe/ ethnic group to which the person belongs

He was speaking after his foundation announced that for the third time in four years, it would not award its Prize for Achievement in African Leadership - the world's biggest individual prize - as no suitable candidates were found. Part of his address said, 'If you look in a mirror and see an ugly face, maybe you are really ugly. It's not the fault of the mirror. We need to be a little bit more brutal in order to move forward. We need more honesty to say the tough things. We should be free to really say the truth wherever it is needed.'

Tribe, ethnic group This is good advice, not only to leaders on our continent, but to leaders all over the world. Still, we need it more in the third world, particularly in Africa, and especially in Nigeria, where we're more concerned about the tribe/ethnic group a leader belongs, and also the political party, than his ability to perform well.

Whatever the level of governance, federal, state, local government, these are the determining factors here, and this has led to misfits being put in the saddle.

Maybe it's time for us to consider independent candidates. Who knows, people may then be elected purely on merit, rather than the tribe/ethnic group to which the person belongs.

We want law-makers and people in other

decision-making positions to be people who really want to move the nation forward. Like I've said in the past, Nigeria is huge in terms of human resources. We have people who can help to accelerate the development of the country. Yes, we're known to be a corrupt country, and no-one is protesting that strongly, but out there, are a few Nigerians who can lead well at every level. But the problem is what happens when they get to the seat of power. They start out well, but along the way, they get sucked into the system as they listen to the self-seeking persons around them. Soon they are dancing to the tunes of these ones, and they lose focus of the goals they had lined up to achieve.

They are told that they're performing, and they believe it without bothering to check themselves if what they're being told is true. Now, we don't need people from other nations, states and local governments to tell us that things are not working in our areas of governance.

Leaders are not locked away from the rest of us; they have eyes with which to assess their work.

They also have relatives and friends who can tell them the true state of things about unemployment, sorry state of our hospitals and healthcare,

deteriorating educational system which makes us turn out many graduates who are unable to express themselves well and write application letters for employment; very bad roads; poor transport system; increased criminal activities and lack of security of lives and property. We sign good purposes into law, but don't bother to see their implementation. We're too busy struggling for power and money.

Surely our rulers cannot pretend that they don't know the myriad problems we have.

W

hat hope for good and effective governance? One thing is sure. Splitting the country will not solve the problem because even within a state or local government area, there's still the ethnic or family factor about who should rule or occupy what position.

Good governance can be achieved when as a nation we shed our greed, our selfish interests, get-rich quick attitude, and resolve to put the nation first. It will be achieved when we resolve to tell the truth about performance, and when nonperformers have the courage to resign from their positions.

In short, we need to raise a new crop of people who are devoid of the Nigerian factor in their makeup.

Latest Fashion on Latest Fashion Trends 2011 Traditional Indian

fashiondesigncompetitionh.blogspot.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11,2012 — PAGE 21

Email: woman-vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

*Dr.Dumebi Owa

Like I always say, it took only two people to spread syphilis round the world.

In my own corner, I've tried to be as helpful as I could. If you come consult met, you would know what I'm talking about; I do not attend to my patients in a hurry!

When I was growing up, I once overheard a woman complaining that she had not

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA finished talking to her doctor before he gave her R. (Mrs.)Dumebi Owa, a mouth! When you eat and get full, you prescriptions. So, now that I'm Dental Surgeon and rush to the toilet to pass out wastes, a doctor, I believe strongly that trained health counsellor, and that's also what happens in your my patients have to be listened is a multiple Masters Degree holder mouth! We all have millions of micro- to! I spend time with them in Public Health, Environmental organisms in our mouth, so, when we because they must have and leave food particles there, it is confidence in me as their Management and Public eat like we've called them to party! They doctor, having entrusted their Administration. After her first will eat, get full, and then lives in my hand! Even degree at the University of Ibadan, pass out wastes in the though you've she had gone to the UK where she form of acid, which come for got married and had her children. then starts toothache, I Actually, I've While there, she worked as a decaying the will talk noticed an Market Researcher, and since her tooth and about your leaving you t e e t h , return to Nigeria with her family, increase in breasts she has pitched her tent with the with mouth incidences of caries odours and a n d Ministry of Defence. In this o t h e r s . and other tooth cervix if interview, Dr.Dumebi who is also ctually, you're a ailments because the current President of the A I've noticed woman, Medical Women's Association, an increase in our diet has b l o o d Nigeria-MWAN, Lagos Chapter, incidences of changed... pressure, laments poor dental health caries and other etc. If you're awareness in Nigeria and speaks tooth ailments above 40 years, on MWAN's activities, among because our diet has I automatically changed; with a lot of junk sundry issues. refer you for Prostate food all-over town. We're what we eat, Specific Antigen test because From your experience, how so, this is affecting our teeth. The prostrate issues are on the much awareness do you think mouth happens to be the mirror of the increase and the older you get, Nigerians have about dental body, and that's why you could even the higher your risks. detect certain diseases by examining health?

How are you coping with Health wise, Nigerians are poorly the mouth. There's a lot of hardwork your position as Lagos informed, but when it comes to dental to be done on health issues in this part MWAN President? healthcare, it is worse. Dental health of the world. Government cannot do Waoo! People think MWAN is awareness in Nigeria is very low, and it all; people should learn to support a full-time job now! Since I took that's why I like talking to people about in their little ways. If foreigners could over nine months ago, we've it at every given opportunity. How many contribute their hard-earned money had activities like never before. of us know that we're supposed to brush to send down to us as aid in Nigeria, We've conducted free our teeth after breakfast and not before why can't the rich among us also help screenings for diabetes and breakfast? Yes, you ought to have the less privileged? high-blood pressure on market But what have you done in your men and women at Oyingbo. We brushed before going to bed at night because the essence of brushing is to own little corner to enhance marked the World No Tobacco remove the food particles in your dental health?

Day with the Federal College of

D

Education, and we also were at the Federal Technical College at Yaba to raise more awareness about HIV/ AIDs. We were at the Methodist Girls School to mentor the girls, and were also at the Old People's Home on World Health Day to give free medical services. On World Prison Day, we went to the Kirikiri Prisons. During the laser fever insurgence, we were on air sensitizing the public. Also, we're collaborating with the Lagos University Teaching Hospital to carry out free mammogram screening and also free surgeries for children with cleft palette and lips. People who require cataract surgery will also be treated at very subsidized costs, with lenses also given to them. These are products of our collaboration with LUTH. We also observed the month of October set aside for cancer awareness. In September, we collaborated with the Lagos State chapter of the International Federation of Female Lawyers on a health outreach in Makoko.

Personally, I do not like watching people suffering. I feel so much pain, so, from what I observed there, MWAN is going back to Makoko in a bigger form, to bring succour to the community. I therefore implore wellmeaning Nigerians and companies to assist.

MWAN has no activity on dental health on her list‌?

We've been organising dental screenings, and we're still planning a school health visit. You know, some time ago, groups used to visit schools to examine the teeth and nails of pupils, but they hardly do that now.

So, we're planning to revive that.

Because MWAN is quite encompassing, having specialists in different health areas, we'll sensitise them on different health issues as well.

How would you rate the percentage of women specialising in the sciences these days?

Up women!! We're doing very well in this regard, and I'm encouraged. We have an increasing number in women Mathematicians, Doctors, etc. and these women have continued to work extra-hard to prove their worth.

C M Y K

P AGE 22 —SUND AY Vanguard , NO VEMBER 11 , 2012 —SUNDA NOVEMBER

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Polygamy fall-out-when the first wife walks W

HEN Anuolu decided she’d had enough of a marriage that lasted all of 26 years, her decision wasn’t triggered by rows or infidelity - though the couple had a share of both. Instead, it was the corrosive resentment that ate away at her husband as she re-invented herself. When she got married, she was a secondary school teacher and her husband a senior lecturer at the university. But as her self-confidence grew, she took on fresh challenges. As she grew out of her old subservient role, her husband’s resentment festered.

“When I went back to the university for a masters’ degree in human resources, my husband felt it was a waste of time and money”, said Anuolu now in her early fifties.

“He also seemed threatened when I got a good job in human resources and met new people. He tried to undermine my confidence, my opinion seemed irrelevant to him. He didn’t listen to whatever I had to say. We began leading parallel lives as he spent more and more time with one of his old students who had two kids by him.

“In the meantime, my three children were doing well in school and the company I worked with promoted me to head of human resources. I had the option of taking the furnished apartment that went with the job, or settle for a generous rent allowance. When out of curiosity, I went to look at the apartment, I fell in love with it. It was a very compact three bedroom flat in a block of flats owned by the company.

It was now or never.

Though I liked my husband, I was no longer in love with him. I remembered all the meals I had to pack away because

he’d eaten at his second home. Whenever I told him I was unhappy, he said I was being ridiculous, what else did I want? The kids went to good schools and inspite of his other ‘ wife’ he seldom slept away from home and I had a good home most women would give their right arm to have.

“I knew my husband would never have initiated a separation as our lives together suited him to the ground. But, like do many professional women today, I wanted more out of a relationship than boring routine. It was as if all the fun had seeped out of my marriage. As I took up the offer of free accommodation, I thought of a way of breaking the news to him. But I told the kids first. My last daughter was in the university and her two brothers had already left the house to do their own thing. When I eventually told my husband, he thought I was out of my mind. What sane seemingly happily married woman leaves a stable home to live the life of a single woman?

“He put his foot down.

This nonsense should stop or I forget I was ever married. But I was determined to spread my wings. It took me a while to get the flat to the standard I wanted before I moved in. When my husband sort the support of the children, they told him they knew what was going on. I told him he didn’t have to shuttle between two homes, now he could move his ‘ wife’ in to take over where I left off ... “ According to relationship expert, Francine Kaye, a lot of men these days reach retirement age and find themselves propelled unwillingly into separation because they have failed to heed the warning signals as

their once deferential, stay-at-home wives seek new autonomy and fulfilment. “These men have bought one kind of wife off the shelf - the school teacher and home-maker - and the deal was that she wasn’t supposed to change,” she says. “But people do change and couples are not recognising the signs and implications until it’s too late.

“The husband has often been working really hard to provide for his family and he feels unappreciated when he reaches the end of his career to discover his wife has found a fresh sense of fulfilment and an identity separate from her old one as a wife and mum. There is a phrase for it: ‘Women who walk and men who don’t see it coming.” Even wives who don’t have challenging jobs to boast of, stick with their married children and happily look after their grandchildren.

Anuolu said it took all her will-power to tell her husband she was moving out. “He is basically a good man,” she said.

“There was nothing inherently wrong with him. We had just reached the point where we were merely coexisting. I probably wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have a better alternative. Now I have a ful-

filling job, a busy social life and the freedom to meet friends and go out at will - in short I’m not lonely and I’m not looking for a relationship.

For now, I’m happy being me ... “ Is he the right man for you?

According to Dr. Holmes, a senior psychologist specializing in human relationships at Manchester Metropolitan University, you can tell who’s right for you. As he puts it: “There are basically five ‘party man’ personalities and, if you know what to look for, they’re easy to spot. Men tend to over perform in the presence of others especially at a party, when their.personalities become exaggerated.

These guys think their character is what attracts the women, and so they’re not going to tone down their approach”. In short, once you know what to look for, just a few minutes of careful observation and a quick chat will reveal exactly what he wants out of a date and thereby ensure you get Mr. Absolutely Right.

Mr. One Night Wonder: “I use my body lan-

from the sky to the earth just for you.

Chris Onunaku dekris4real@gmail.com 08032988826/08184844015.

My 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"

Loving someone

Loving someone is more like touching a star in the sky. Even if that person out there does not love you,keep on trying, maybe one day that star will fall

Sweetheart i asked God a rose he gave me a garden i asked God 4 a drop of water and he gave me an ocean i asked God for an angel and he gave me you. honey I will always be there for you. chukwumanchukwuma@yahoo.com

Don't look back

In track, coaches always tell athletes not to look back while running, because this action slows you down. Moral of the story; don't look back on your

guage and my eyes a lot when I’m at a party ”, says Scott, a 26 year old trainee pilot. “I also try to touch the girl as much as possible to break the ice and relax the situation. For instance, I might place a hand on her lower back when I guide her to the bar or table. I use lines such as “I love the perfume you’re wearing - you’d better not get too close, you’re driving me wild”.

A slow gentle sniff around the neck can lead to a gentle peck on the cheek.

“One night stands are always exhilarating. In fact, the last one I had was about a week ago. I was with a girl I work with. We went for a drink and she told me her flat mate was out and that we could have the flat to ourselves. She made it clear she was looking for fun.

We went back to her flat and had sex. I always make sure it’s safe sex, by the way. There was a bit of tension in the air the next time we worked together, but that adds to the excitement. I love the thrill of the chase. When I was 19, I met a girl in college. Our relationship lasted throughout our course. But back in Lagos, commuting between two states eventually

took its toll and she ended the relationship. I took the break up quite hard and it became a watershed in the way I behave. These days, I make sure relationships are short and very sweet.

That way, . I don’t get hurt and have a lot of fun.

“Not long ago, I was at a friend’s party and this girl kept looking at me. I could tell she was interested by the way her eyes followed my every word.

I didn’t encourage her at all, but she just stayed on until the early hours. It was pretty obvious she was up for more than just a friendly chat, so a few hours later, after a lot of flirting I thought, “What the hell”, and booked us a motel room.

“We parted the next morning when I had to rush to work after oversleeping. She was a stunning girl but there was no question - that was it for me. The next day, she turned up with her number and a present.

I’ve never called her back and I never will. Being Mr. One Night Stand means I can be anyone I want to be for a few hours. It is extremely sexy and very exciting.”

How to spot him: He’s an odd blend of intimacy without commitment. He seems totally alluring and irresistible but beware whatever he tells you over a few drinks, his interest is only short term. You might bump into him hanging on to the end of the bar trying to find his friends, or wandering aimlessly around a club having come from nowhere and heading nowhere. He’ll appear to have all the time in the world for you, yet will ask you your name more than five times in one evening. He avoids any questions that might reveal his whereabouts over the next two weeks.

first true love unless you know you're ready to move Bunmi on.

07/11/2012.

Pasola Fred Obinna pasola2007@yahoo.co.uk +2348057161505,+233260947966

Because of you

My love, because of you I have done extraordinary things, I have cross both my family and friends' rules and regulations, I have made critical indecisive decision. My mother said "women can bring you fortune or misfortune". I know you have brought me fortune. I know blood is thicker than water, but love is thicker than blood. I love you my love, nobody can change it.

Kelechi Ndubisi kconeofafrica@gmail.com, 08032900530, 08185515552

SUND AY Vanguard , NO VEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 23 NOVEMBER SUNDA

She couldn’t remember all the men she’d been with!

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POILT brats often get over the rag ing homones that make them misbehave to the point of being delinquent, to transforming into well-behaved adults that are pure joy to their parents. Once in a while though, you get the really awful ones that make their parents wonder if they hadn’t been given the wrong babies at birth.

Years ago, when I was between .hous helps, Latifat, a distant relation came for a brief stay pending when I would get a new help. Down the road lived Anita, with her rich parents. Within weeks, Anita struck some sort of friendship with Latifat that was baffling, they had absolutely nothing in common.

Latifat became Anita’s side-kick. They did everything together and virtually lived in each other’s pockets. Anita introduced Latifat to sex, and it didn’t take long for the eager adolescent boys in the street to join the queue of happy samplers.

It was a relief to send Latifat back to her parents but having tasted the forbidden fruit, nothing could price her off the clutches of Anita. She visited constantly and Anita’s mum confessed

hen the inevitable happened - Anita got pregnant! “In this day and age?” I asked Grace, her mother. “We all knew she liked boys, shouldn’t you have kitted her up with some sort of contraceptives - and condoms:’ She shook her head sadly. “You know Anita would please herself no matter the discipline you try to give her,” she told me. “Well, she’s now pregnant at 22 and has refused point blank to tell me who the father is.

Can you have a word with her? Please? She might open up to you?”

But why me? If she couldn’t confide in her mother, where was the guarantee she would open up to me? Grace looked so forlorn and desperate that I promised I’d try.

S

C M Y K

of our afflictions.

Mastering the art of deep breathing, for instance, can make us overcome respiratory problems such as asthma. The right type of exercise will see us quickly through a running nose or congested sinuses. Even persistent headaches can be overcomed with the right exercise and breathing technique.

It may come as a surprise to many that learning to relax properly leads to a reduction in cholesterol levels, heart rate and blood pressure.

This is suggestive that the body can put thungs right on its own. We only must help it along, adhering to the right habits and eschewing the wrong ones. Remember that a thousand and one things can go wrong with the body of a youngster as well as that of an adult if the living habits

hen I started feel ing out of sorts weeks later, I never even suspected I could be pregnant. I’d had a period just before the holiday. But when the morning sickness started, I became panicky. I was all alone. In the last week, I’d gone to bed with four men without any protection. I don’t even have a steady boyfriend and it would be humiliating to now point at one of my ‘conquests’ as the father.

I can’t have this baby Aunty C! I’ll have to get rid of it. Mum wants me to name a dad for the unborn child, but there really is none.

“To save face, I told my parents it was a boy I was seeing on and off and that it was really over between us. The relationship wasn’t that serious, I told them. I said I must have missed a pill and that I haven’t told the guy because he wouldn’t want anything to do with it as I’d changed my number as soon as we broke off. I’m already three months gone as it

is and wouldn’t want a situation when an abortion would be dangerous”. I was on the verge of telling her exactly what I thought of her when she burst into tears. I was alarmed. Did she have it in her to be remorseful. Her sobs were really wracking ones that I held her in my arms. ‘I am a slut,’ she sobbed. “I don’t know how I got into this mess.

I will never forget how sad and beaten mum looked when she found out. My dad simply shrugged, shook his head sadly and left the room... I felt so ashamed.”

When next I had a talk with Grace, I told her Anita had obviously turned a corner withthis experience she’d had.

She was sad about the abortion because of her religion, but what could she do? I kept mum about how Anita got pregnant, telling her the lie she’d already told her mother.

It is now a sober and wiser Anita that scuttles in and out of the house.

She graduates soon - but what a way to grow up!

She could easily have avoided her pain by listening to her parents instead of seeing them as the enemy ...

marked improvement.

Here are some postures to improve lung capacity increase strength and flexibility.

LEG RAISE (against the wall) Technique: Lie flat on your back and raise both legs up against the wall. Interlace the fingers and place the back of the head on the hands. Now breathe out completely and begin to inhale slowly but deeply. First let in the breath by extending the belly to the fullest. Then, still breathing in expand the sides and breathe in yet some more and then breathe in further more to fill the upper chest by drawing a heavy sigh.

Hold the breath for about 5 or 10 seconds and begin to breathe out slowly letting out the air in the upper chest, the mid-section and finally contracting the abdomen expel

all the breath you can. An inhalation, retention and exhalation make up one round of deep breathing.

Benefits: This exercise aerates the lungs properly and helps asthma and other respiratory problems.

THE TRIANGLE Technique: Stand with the feet wide apart and turn to the left as you bend the left knee. Keep the right knee locked with the right leg in a diagonal position and the hands overhead with the palms clasped. Keep the trunk, neck and head very straight. Maintain the pose for 10 or 15 seconds.

Repeat on the other side.

Benefits: the Triangle pose tones up the leg muscles shedding excess fat there.

This posture also helps you hold your body in a more upright posture always.

W

T

Health for you now OMETHING I read once ran this: Of all the creatures in the world, the human being has the least sense of body management.”

At first I was in doubt. I thought, “we have come up with all sorts of medication to heal diseases of all kinds; we have created all sorts of dishes to make each meal a bit of a return to paradise; we have all types of clothing to help us live through the changes in weather. So, what could we be doing wrong to merit such a sweeping indictment. ‘As I read on, I gradually began to understand what the writer meant.

We eat wrongly, we breathe wrongly and we also don’t seem to realise that the body has a mind of its own and that allowing the body’s own mind to be in charge could signal the beginning of the end to most

were being irresponsible but we were carried away by being lean, mean pulling machines - and having the best holiday of our lives.

she couldn’t handle her daughter’s escapades. It was a relief when she got admitted to the university and lived on campus. But relief turned to bewilderment as Anita now had a fertile ground for her shenanigans. Men fell over themselves to be with her and she’d had nasty incidents of irate boyfriends posting her nude pictures on their mobiles!

I don’t know what she told Anita because, bright and early the next day, which was a Saturday, she was at mine. All her defiant look was gone and instead stood a very frightened young woman. “What do you intend to do?” I asked her after a very awkward speech. “I don’t know,” she said sadly. “What does the father have to say about all this?” .1 prodded. “Aunty C, I don’t really know who the father is .. :’ My jaw nearly hit the floor.

“What do you mean?” “l’d always been careful about contraceptives,” she offered, “ and I sometimes carried condoms in my bag. But when we

had the long vac, a group of us girls threw really wild parties whenever our parents travelled abroad. We girls often teased ourselves on how fast we could pull men and how many. At first we all used condoms, but as the holiday progressed, the parties became wilder and there were instances when we had spur-of-the-moment sex. Condoms hardly featured then- especially with us being really drunk most of the time.

The men didn’t even bother to ask if we were protected and I was far too drunk to even think about the consequences - like STDs or unwanted pregnancy. I knew we

lack proper direction. For example, the body of a young person who refrains from exercise or the healthful games his peers engage in will soon find that he lacks the stamina and the sheer joy of living as expressed by his active friends. In the same way a grown-up who spends his days with a belly full of wine and flesh will soon find he can’t keep

pace with his colleagues after just a few months of such inordinate indulgence.

But then health soon radiates from a person as he attempts to mend his ways. The way to great health is self-commitment. Once the resolution has been made and stuck to with tenacity of purpose it’s only a matter of time when the body will begin to show

*Leg Raise Pose

Yoga classes at 32 Ademola Adetokunbo Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

PAGE 24 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Is Dr Okonjo-Iweala still relevant?

Guilty by association One of the most durable and destructive legacies of discrimination is the way we've internalized a sense of limitation; how so many in our community have come to expect so little from the world and from themselves.-Barak Obama HOW DO NIGERIANS BEHAVE? EFORE my epiphany, I used to cringe whenever a Nigerian is caught or exposed as a criminal. I used to get a n g r y, f r u s t r a t e d , ashamed that “ there goes another Nigerian again letting the sides down”, or “why can’t they behave or “why are they disgracing the rest of us law-abiding Nigerians?”.

B

I remember in those dark days when I cringe as another news report another Nigerian con other people out of their hard earned money.

Actually , does it really matter what others think about a group of people? What matters is , what those people thinking about themselves-what they value: their morals and way of life.

Prior my epiphany, I would go the extra mile, to show others that there are Nigerians like myself , who are law-abiding and honest. I did not want people to know that I am a Nigerian, It gets worse when they patronise you with “ you do not behave like a Nigerian” I mean how do Nigerians behave?

sanjo decided to launch a debt-free Nigeria into the debt trap from which we were released by Okonjo-Iweala – but not before paying through our collective noses to the Western creditors and millions of dollars in commissions disappeared into private pockets belonging to people close to the corridors of Obasanjo’s power.

Now, she is leading us back into debt and mil-

The greatest robbers are not armed robbers. The greatest robbery, even against other tiers of government, is committed by the Federal government

lions more will vanish into private pockets as commissions…

FG: STEALING AND SMILING –1

“Suffering and smiling”,(Fela Anikulapo Kuti, describing Nigerians in one of his most memorable pieces.

All masochists need conscienceless sadists to administer the pains the victims endure. In Nigeria, the masochists remain Besides, I do not think they know a lot of Nigerians! To be honest , I really do not think there is a type of Nigerian. I mean, there are good Nigerians and there are bad Nigerians.

My moment came when I realised that I am not responsible for every Nigerian/black/African person that happens to commit a crime or misbehave. And it is not my problem that people are not intelligent enough to work out that they are good and bad Nigerians/women/African like everything else. It is so liberating as this is psy-

,

T

save them. For that matter, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, have not been able to help Greece and Spain from lurching to the brink of economic disaster. The recommendations they offer Greece and Spain are fuelling incipient revolution in those countries.

Unfortunately for Nigeria, World Bank and IMF brand of economics is all Dr Okonjo-Iweala knows. That is what she is offering Nigeria.

Nothing original; just the same old carbon copy of an economic paradigm last experienced before the Great Depression woke the world up to the bareness of the approach at times like these.

Before we proceed, let me take our readers down memory lane, especially those who have been with us for more than ten years. Unijankara people have never failed to participate in issues concerning the economy. In fact, we were involved in all the economic policy debates since the ill-advised Udoji Awards of the Gowon administration which ruined the Nigerian economy for more than ten years. We were also here when General Oba-

,

“Economists are like theologians. Every religion other than their own is the invention of man, whereas their own particular brand of religion is an emanation from God”.

Karl Marx, 1818-1883 (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 45).

O listen to the Federal Minister of Finance, you would think she is the only one in the entire country who ever read economics. From her illreceived but well-understood position on fuel subsidy to her current mantra $75 per barrel benchmark, about which she had spoken at great length and launched a book, you would think $75 per barrel was some kind of divine revelation to her alone.

Indeed, like most “prosperity theologians”, who rake in millions from increasingly impoverished church members – and the worse the economic condition the fuller the churches become.

More bankers have been retrenched in the last three years, and more are on the way out, than at any time in history.

Neither prayers, nor the World Bank brand of economics had been able to

the people; while the psychopaths remain the people in governments nationwide. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the greatest robbers are not armed robbers. The greatest robbery, even against other tiers of government, is committed by the Federal government of Nigeria. This is not peculiar to Jonathan; it is a tradition inherited from former governments. The grand larceny reached its present record level in 1999 when “my brother” Obasanjo mounted the saddle. Despite all pretences, corruption took off at a furious gallop and has accelerated ever since. It can even be said, with a great degree of justification, that fraud is now the main business of the Federal government.

They don’t fix roads; power supply remains

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epileptic; top officials go to Germany for healthcare and their wives go to the same place to “rest”; and, fuel scarcity is back with the pains associated with it. Meanwhile, individually and collectively, federal government officials steal with reckless abandon.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu’s committee told us nothing new. The Ministry of Petroleum and not my bag but I will endeavour to remain the best Nigerian I can be, regardless of what other people may think or do. I believe Nigeria deserves better from its people.

2 Controlling the media

A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.-Bertrand de Jouvenal People, they say, deserve those who govern them. Power drunk politicians are playing with fire if they think they can control what people write, when we know they can-

Power drunk politicians are playing with fire if they think they can control what people write, when we know they cannot control what people think

chologically so burdensome and most of us carry this for a long time and don’t even know it.

Nowadays , I know am a Nigerian and a damn good one to boot! So whatever any other Nigerian do good or bad is

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not control what people think.

So the Chairman, House Committee on Public Accounts, Finance and Appropriation in Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr. Olusegun Olaleye, intends to appeal to the

NNPC parade the bestdressed pen-robbers in the world. Every time someone is said to work for NNPC or the Ministry, at the middle to top levels, you can almost be sure you are possibly looking at a serial criminal who has not been caught. Fortunately for them, and, unfortunately for us, some top government officials do not “give a damn”, working for a boss who also does not “give a damn either.

Every new swindle uncovered is shaken off like water off a duck’s back.

In fact, generally known incompetence, as well as, deliberate or inadvertent complicity, provided the abiding environment for fraud to flourish in the Nigerian petroleum sector – unlike the Ghanaian sector; where they have a real Minister….

NUHU RIBADU: SOME PEOPLE JUST NEVER LEARN --1

“If you work with glue; sooner or later you are going to get stuck”. Leo Tolstoy, I828-I9I0 (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 76.

Mallam Nuhu Ribadu is stuck once again. Why Ribadu, former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, accepted an appointment from his presidential election opponent, President Goodluck Jonathan, will probably never be truly revealed. Ribadu will always hang on to the figleaf of “patriotism” to explain his motives. He probably never heard about Dr Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, who in-

Federal Government to enact laws that will curtail the misuse of social media by “disgruntled elements in the public”.

And he goes on, “In the same vein, I want to call on the Federal Government to generate certain laws to guide against unprofessional practice by some writers who just sit down and peddle unfounded rumours”.

Is he serious? I mean, he is alluding that the disgruntled elements have influenced the media!

That’s coming from him.

They use and abuse the media when they seem fit and now they want to gag the media? Too late to shut the stable door after that horse has bolted.

The social media has liberated many of us whose eyes were covered, and whose mouth were closed. Freedom of expression is enshrined in our constitution, so where on earth do they think they can control information on the superhighway? These people are protesting that the minions (us, the citizens) have no right to protest. Don’t you know who they are?

formed us that, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel” (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 182).

But scoundrels are not the only people taking refuge under love of fatherland. World class mugus also do. Nuhu is not a scoundrel; at least, not yet. But, he is not wise either.

There were rumours that Ribadu accepted the offer because he was broke. There might be some merit in that. After all, the man had been destitute of top grade job since he was shown the gate at the EFCC. It is the verdict of history that gratuities and severance pay go down like sand in the upper chamber of the hour glass over time – unless replenished.

Soon, a former employee, without a steady job, finds bank balances tending towards red – especially when there is a heavy mortgage to pay for the expensive building purchased when the going was good. So, if he needed “bread” (Fela again), NNPC and the Ministry of Petroleum was the right place to go; but Nuhu went with the wrong attitude given the organisation’s culture.

At NNPC, anybody invited, to “come and eat”, is expected to come to the table, not with a spoon, but a shovel. It is an establishment for gluttons; not a place for whistle blowers. Thus, when Ribadu started singing like a female canary, in heat, he invited the sort of response the whole world witnessed from Mr. Oronsaye, the former Head of Service.

They are the honourables, first ladies and so on". So while they are living large, we should be so grateful that we are at least struggling to survive. We cannot educate our young in a system that is so substandard, that is non existence. We are feeling insecure at home, at work; on the roads and places of worship! They have no backup plan for the country as they are milking our coffers and taking it abroad so when the proverbial hits the fan, they leave us to fight amongst ourselves. Our youths have no stake in their future .They spend a fortune on grand edifices, jet planes, overseas shopping sprees, expensive lifestyles and medical tourisms for their own family. The deaths tolls are piling up due lack of adequate roads, substandard transportation, health and social care services and our education system, please don't get me started! We have to educate ourselves and our young ones to refuse not to be bought nor compromise our integrity. We either succeed together or we might as well die together as fools!

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 25

How Ondo high chief took own life

BY DAYO JOHNSON Akure

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HY did a 48-year -old man with the chieftaincy title of Akorewolu of Ibule Soro, in Ifedore local government area of Ondo State commit suicide?

This is a puzzle that may remain for a long time with the family of High Chief Oluwole Boboye, a staffer of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA, who, on Wednesday , hanged himself in his bedroom at his expanse compound in the serene community of Ibule at about 11.35 a.m.

The suicide is especially puzzling as the victim had six children, one of them an undergraduate, a dutiful wife and a fairly good job.

The late Boboye, who lived in Ibule, about ten minutes drive to his office, reportedly woke up that fateful morning and handed over N20,000 to the wife as house keeping allowance, but with a statement which the wife could not immediately decode until it was very late.

A family source told Sunday Vanguard that the man, who owned two cars: a Mercedes Benz 180 and a lift back Volkswagen-Passat car, usually went to office on motorcycle, popularly called Okada, maybe to beat the traffic or to disguise.

He was said to have told the wife that something would happen that day and that she should take care of the children but the wife could not understand why her husband of over twenty years was speaking in parables. The wife was said to have reported the husband to his friends in his place of work. But further steps were not taken to make the deceased expatiate on his riddle. Boboye’s friends reportedly put a call across to him phone but he refused to pick it. The wife was said to have complained that the behaviour of the high chief in the days before he died was strange.

Boboye, a plumber in the Works Department of FUTA,

He was said to have told the wife that something would happen that day and that she should take care of the children but the wife could not understand why her husband of over twenty years was speaking in parables.

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left the house as usual and headed for his office on Okada only to leave the office after he was sure that members of his family would have left the house. He was said to have gone to the market where he purchased a rope and headed back home to hang.

According to one of those who saw the corpse after it was removed with the help of a native doctor, it had several stab

Boboye ...hinted he will commit sucide

wounds in the chest. It was gathered that N50,000 was found in his pocket while another N33, 000 was met on the table in his room.

One of his co-workers said the sudden death of Boboye came as a rude shock and could not be explained.

He said Boboye was seen that morning in the office and that he did not look like somebody planning to kill himself.

”He had no reason to kill himself. He was comfortable.

He had two cars, a house and was building another. He was healthy, had a dutiful wife and promising children. You can see that from all sides he had no reason to want to take his own life. But now that it has happened, it’s a mystery,”the co-worker stated. His dangling body was said to have been discovered by his friends

who accompanied the wife to the house after calls put across to him were not answered.

They were said to have been surprised to see his cars and the Okada parked in the compound and was expecting to meet him in his room only to be confronted with the dangling body of the high chief.

Unconfirmed report said the wife fainted on seeing the body of her husband and was immediately revived. Alarm was raised and elders of the community and family members were invited. After some traditional rites were performed, the body was removed from its hanging position and taken to the General Hospital at Aiyetoro Estate, Ibule. The police in Ondo State described the death of the FUTA staff as shocking.

Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, the image maker of the state police command, Aremu Adeniran, said the deceased hanged himself in his room at Ayetoro Estate, Ibule. Adeniran said investigation into the incident had commenced.

He added that police detectives had swung into action and will soon unravel the mystery behind the death of the 48 year old plumber. The family of the deceased declined comments on the suicide.

Community leaders equally refused to speak on the death of the high chief, describing the manner of his death as an abomination.

One of them noted that traditional rites will have to be done in the community to appease the gods.

Puzzle as man kills wife in toilet

BY DAUD OLATUNJI Abeokuta rented house?

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hen the news filtered into town that a man had pushed his wife into a completely filled pit latrine resulting to her death, the story sounded bizarre.

The news was the more strange as the couple was described as friendly and gentle.

Following the development, residents of Agbado, in Ado-Odo, Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State have remained in shock. The middle-aged victim was identified as Rauda Alaraba who met her fate during a domestic squabble with her husband..

Some residents of the area have continued to raise posers. What could have prompted the 46-year-old Surajudeen to throw his wife into the pit latrine in their

Was it done to punish her or was it accidental? The murder suspect was paraded in Abeokuta. The storeybuildingwhere the incident happened became a Mecca of sort when the news broke that Rauda was made to eat feaces after she entered the latrine before she gave up the ghost.

The marriage of the couple was said to have produced some children but the husband, it was learnt, was not gainfully employed and had to rely on the wife, a petty trader, for sustenance.

Many neighbours of the Alarabas, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed concern that the suspect must have been under a spell as he was never known for violence.

However, Ogun State Commissioner of Police,Mr. Ikemefuna Okoye, while

parading Suraju and other suspected criminals, at the State Command Headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, narrated that the suspect committed the crime at about 7.20p.m. penultimate Sunday.

He said the suspect would be charged to court after the completion of the interrogation .While disclosing how the police got the story, Okoye said: “The Agbado Division had a distress call that a man had pushed his wife into a deep pit and we quickly rushed to the scene where the victim was metdead in the pit.

“The suspect was immediately apprehended and we are still interrogating him, he will be charged to court as soon as we are done with our in

Continues on page 27

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Citizen Odoki Dead or Alive?

Ransom

“The next minute another voice said, “O boy you don hear wetin you father talk, we want N5million.” Moments later, they started running around for the money.

The kidnappers, the son noted, called again that they should come with what they had raised so that their father would be released. “This money was sent by our step mother and one Mr. Isaiah, our father ’s employee.

But he was not released and their lines were switched off for a day”,he said. “After that day, they called with another line saying that money was not the kind of money they were looking for; we should pay another sum of one million Naira afresh.

This time, we sought the aid of the police in Rivers State and the State Security Service, who marked the notes, shirt as requested by the kidnappers.”

Three years after kidnapping, whereabouts of oil giant’s staff unknown Family demands justice, writes IGP

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA, Yenagoa

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lmost three years after the kidnapping of their bread winner, the Odoki family of Ekeki in Yenagoa local government area of Bayelsa State is still crying for justice.Mr. Sylvanus Odoki, a staff of Nigerian Agip Oil Company OB/OB Gas Plant, Omoku, Rivers State, had, on December 3, 2009, travelled to Owerri, the capital of Imo State, where he was running an M.Sc programme at the Federal University of Technology(FUTO) to sit for exams.

Rescue operation His plan, it was learnt, was to rejoin his family at the concluIn line with their operational guidesion of the exams. But this was not to be as he was kidline, he said the police reported at the napped the next day by some persons whose motive has recommand headquarters in Owerri bemained mysterious just as his wherefore embarking on the rescue attempt.

Odoki...questions over police investigation abouts.

He explained that the marked N1m Though it was gathered that some and shirt were not only dropped at the agreed bush but also suspects were arrested and arraigned that the police monitored and followed up the tracking device in court in connection with the matter, and found the shirt dumped along the road and also traced the family is not satisfied with the way the money to a house at Umuziogu, Uzoagba village in Ikeduthe matter is being handled. The vicru local government area of Imo State. At the house, a woman tim’s son, Oyikieni, who walked into identified as Christy Onuwa and her son,according to him, Vanguard office in Yenagoa crestfallwere found with part of this money (N40,000) claiming it was en, said they are no longer at ease with given to them by “her son named Nnanna that came with his the way the police are handling the friends, but that they had gone.” kidnap case of their father. He noted with sadness that in spite of the arrest of some persons in possession of some Quest for justice of the marked money paid as ransom The alleged suspect he lamented has not been found while for the release of his father, justice is his father too is yet to return three years after. “We are asking far from being done. for justice to be done as a family because this case has been in day, he called me saying ‘I have been kidnapped’ According to him, they have peticourt for a long time and nothing seems to have come out of .This was unlike him;he does not speak English tioned the Inspector General of Police it,” he said and called on the Inspector General of Police to with us on phone.” and the Assistant Inspector General of wade into the matter to ensure justice.

Police Zone 6 Umuahia to wade into the matter in the interest of justice “We are asking for justice to be done as a family because this case has been in court for a long time and nothing seems He added that his wife got pregnant to have come out of it,” he told Sunshortly thereafter, but the boy she deday Vanguard. livered did not resemble him.

Recalling the forceful seizure of his The applicant therefore urged the court father whom he described as a Godto dissolve the marriage and grant him fearing man and pillar of the family, custody of the children, because he he said, “Our father, Mr. Sylvanus didn’t want to have anything to do with Odoki of Ekeki town, Yenagoa in YenaElizabeth anymore. goa local government area of Bayelsa The wife, 31, pleaded that the court State, was until his abduction a staff should not dissolve the marriage as she of Nigerian Agip Oil Company OB/OB still loved Abayomi. She also apthat she had sex with his best friend. pealed to the court to help her beg her Gas Plant, Omoku, Rivers State. He

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA And to add salt to injury, the incident husband as, according to her, she was & AMATA BRIDGET was running an M.Sc degree protook place in their matrimonial home. ashamed of herself. She claimed that gramme at the Federal University of Narrating the incident, Abayomi, 50, the situation made her feel guilty, askr.

Abayomi Orioye Technology, Owerri (FUTO) Imo told the court that she told the wife on ing her husband to forgive her for the has urged an IjaniState.Continuing, he said, “My father the day the sacrilegeous act took place sake of their children. kin Customary Court, Latravelled for his exams and lodged at that he was going on a tour only to gos, to dissolve his marMeanwhile, the court president, Mr. Givenchy Hotel along Nekede Road return home unexpectedly and caught S. K. Hussain, adjourned the case for riage to Mrs. Elizabeth

by Basic Bus Stop Owerri on Decemhis wife having sex with his best friend. further hearing.

Orioye because he found ber 3, 2009. “At about 10p.m. the next

He noted with sadness that in spite of the arrest of some persons in possession of some of the marked money paid as ransom for the release of his father, justice is far from being done

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I caught my wife in bed with my best friend – Man, 50

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SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 27

Matrimonial mess in court!

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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hief Gabriel Osawuru Igbenedion, Solomon Iyobosa Edebiri and Professor P. E. Igbinovia were among prominent Bini sons that gathered recently at the Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre, Benin City, Edo State to take a critical look at the arts, culture and politics of the Bini ethnic nationality.

The event was the annual seminar of the Solomon Iyobosa Edebiri Centre for Change. And the theme this time was Bini Nation, Yesterday, Today and the Future.

President and founder of the body, Chief Solomon Edebiri, lamented the set back in the famous Bini Kingdom. He called for practical steps to take the ethnic nationality to the next level.

According to him, key historical Bini communities could be transformed into tourist sites as part of move to move the nation forward. Ugbine community for instance, he said, was where eight British soldiers were killed and buried during the first colonial encounter with the Bini nation, adding that this area could be developed into a historical tourist attraction.

He also said the chain that was used to anchor the boat that brought the white men to Bini was called Gelegele and it is still in Ugbine. According to him, Uruokhokoh occupies a central place in Bini history because it was there those sent to execute a prince, Ikaladerhan, spared him. This place, Edebiri said, could also be developed into a tourist attraction because of its centrality in Bini history.

“Ughoton town is known for its three strong traditional significance: Eze, Oke and the Ikhinmwin”.

He also spoke of Udo, home town of Arhuan, a popular Bini

*’I went mad after my wife slept with co-tenant’ *’He is randy, dated my friend’

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA & KAFAYAT TIJANI

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LEFT: Igbinedion, receiving an award from Edebiri, at the occasion.

A new agenda for Bini prince, who was a giant and Queen Idia as another area that could attract tourists’ attention.

The story of the famous Bini kingdom is incomplete with reference to the giant Arhuan and Queen Idia. Edebiri said their town, Udo, could be built into a famous historical sight for scholars and tourists.

He also spoke about the near absence of Bini sons in national politics. He said they were very visible in the past but they seem to have disappeared, a situation he said should not be encouraged. He enjoined the forum to see the challenge to reposition the Bini nation in world map as a major task that should be achieved.

Lamenting the deplorable state of several Bini communities, he called for private and public partnership to tackle the challenges.

He further urged great sons and daughters of the Bini nation to get involved in the sacrifice to rebuild the kingdom.

Edebiri also called for more local governments for the area.

The event was used to honor four prominent Bini sons for their contribution to advancement of the Bini nation. They were Chief Gabriel Osawuru Igbinedion, the Esama of Bini Kingdom; Rev Felix Omobude of the Covenant Gospel Church; Dr Chris Ogiemwonhy, a former Minister of State for Works; and Dr Iyayi Efionayi, Chairman, Iyayi Group of Companies.

Igbenedion, who spoke on behalf of the awardees, said he was elated with presentations at the summit. He challenged Bini sons and daughters to take the challenge to move Bini to another level.

Earlier, Professor P. E. Igbinovia, in his paper, While Benin slept, called for an enlarged conference of the Bini nation to adopt common position on governance, structure of the Nigerian federation and other related issues.

His thought provoking lecture urged Benins to be conscious of their past, present and future.

Other speakers at the event were Squadron Leader Ehi Ighile and Dr Osaretin Aigbovo. They all called for collective drive to advance the cause of the Binis.

Puzzle as man kills wife in toilet Continued from page 25 vestigations”. Meanwhile, another couple are in police net over alleged illegal possession of firearms. George Dada, said to be an octogenarian and his 64-year old wife, Sidikat, were also alleged to be shielding their son said to be on the wanted list of police.

According to the police, findings revealed that the couple are parents to a wanted armed robber suspect, Adeyemi, who was at large.

The police commissioner said that the couple were arrested following the discovery of some guns and ammunition hidden in their residence located at 21 Obarinwa Street, Aiyeg-

bami, Ago-Iwoye.

Okoye said, “The DPO of Ago-Iwoye, Stephen Iriavbijeh, got information that suggested that the couple’s son, one Adeyemi Dada, is a robbery suspect and he led a team to conduct the search. “ On getting there, the suspect was not seen but, while executing the search warrant, one cut-to-size gun, two locally made pistols and 16 live cartridges were recovered in his mother’s wardrobe.“Thus the arrest of the two of them in whose possession the firearms were found for thorough interrogation.” The commissioner said the couple might be charged to court if the culpability of the allegation against them was established.

42-year-old man, Mr. Tairu Hammed, has told an Orile Agege Customary Court, Lagos, that he caught his wife, Fatimo Hammed, pants down with one of his co-tenants.

Tairu, who was dragged before the court by his wife for being wayward, said he was shocked to see his wife’s slippers by the door of his co-tenant when he returned home around midnight.

“I went mad immediately I discovered that my cotenant was having sex with my wife, and that led to her exit from my home”.

Fatimo, on her own, said her husband had sex with her friend, Munirat, adding that when she could no longer cope with what happened, she moved out of the matrimonial home.

She claimed that her husband had denied her of access to her children since she moved out of his house four years ago.

The mother of five claimed that Tairu did not tell her that he was already married.

She added that she got to know of Tairu’s previous marriage shortly after the husband rented an apartment for her to live with her five children.

The 37-year-old woman, who claimed to have met Tairu in 1993 and they became husband and wife three years after, also said that despite the fact that their union is blessed with five children, Tairu did not pay her bride price.

“Tairu is wayward. He goes crazy for anything in skirt|”.

She urged the court to dissolve the marriage and grant her custody of the children.

Meanwhile, the court president, Mr. J.O. Adewusi, adjourned the case for further hearing.

Kwara lawmaker gives back to Omupo

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMi, Ilorin

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he people of Omupo constituency,in Irepodun local government area of Kwara State surely have reasons for voting Hon Moshood Bakare of PDP to represent them in the state House of Assembly.

In fact,the last Eid-El-Kabir celebrationswill linger in their memories for a long time. On the occasion, the lawmaker gave each of the eight units N50,000 to be shared among the members.

At Omupo where Bakare gave the money through the party executives at the local government, he also donated exercise books and big notebooks to the pupils.

The chairman of the party at the local government, Alhaji Babatunde Salami, who was present at the occasion, said the gesture was in line with the directive of the political leader in the state, Senator Abubakar Bukola Saraki, that all political office holders in the PDP must go back to their constituencies and empower the people to support the efforts of government. He commended the lawmaker for being a loyal member of the party and urged others to emulate him. Salami however told the mammoth crowd that the gesture from the lawmaker is just a tip of the iceberg stressing that more was still to come. Bakare, in his address, commended his people for their continued support, urging them not to be deceived by the antics of the opposition in the state. The legislator explained that the money for each of the eight units in the constituency namely, Ora, Igbaja 1,2 and 3, Idofian 1 and 2, Agunjin and Omupo, was to add to whatever they had for the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations .

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28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Lilly Oluw ole laid tto o rest Oluwole It was indeed a celebration of life when Late Mrs Lilly Akundoyo Oluwole, wife of a notable Engineer, Chief Ezekiel Oluwole, was laid to rest in Ibadan penultimate weekend. A well-attended funeral service was held at Chapel of Resurrection, University of Ibadan for peaceful repose of the soul of the deceased.

Family members, friends and children of the deceased were part of the large crowd that thronged the church to pay final respect to the woman, many described as “loving and kind-hearted’’. Photos by Dare Fasube

The Miller’s wedding

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edding bell tolls recently for Amorighoye Miller, the Chief Security Officer for Vanguard Media Limited when he took his bride, Roli Kate to the altar.

The couple, Amorighoye and Kate were joined by friends and family members at both the traditional and ‘White’ wedding. Photos by Bunmi Azeez

L-R: Chief Ezekiel Oluwole (husband), Mrs Olufunmilayo Makanju and Dr Oladunjoye Oluwole.

The couple; Mr and Mrs Miller Amorighoye at the traditional outing

L-R:Mr Adeleye Makanju, Mr Funsho Oluwole and Mrs Jisola Oluwole.

L-R:Mr Edema Ogbuagu, Mr Reg. Uku and Engr.

Eddy Agbahor.

The couple; Mr and Mrs Miller exchanging rings

L-R: Prof. Egerton Uvieghara, Dr (Mrs) Carol Ajuyah and Engr Lawrence Ajuyah.

Anniv er sar Anniver ersar saryy ANTHONY Foursquare Gospel Church, City of Refuge held a choir concert and revival to celebrate anniversary of the church.

Zonal Church Choir in group photograph Zonal Sup. and Pastorate Rev. Dean, Pastor (Mrs) Adegbenga Adekoya C M Y K

L-R: Mrs Isabella Agbahor and Miss Didi Agbahor.

Dedication

MR and Mrs Onyebuchi Okoye dedicated their twins: Michelle & Michael Okoye at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, City of Light Parish, Festac Town, Lagos.

Mr & Mrs Onyebuchi Okoye

The couple with Pastor and Pastor (Mrs) Steven Emonefe

The couple; Mr and Mrs Miller with family members

SUNDAY, Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012 — 29

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Gbagi’s son w eds in W arri weds Warri

ormer Minister of State for Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi entertained friends and associates when his son, Ejiro, wedded at the Delta Steel Company Township, Warri, Delta State, recently. Many notable personalities graced the occasion. Photos by Akpokona Omafuire

Omolara Okafor opens Beauty Parlour

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molara Okafor signed her way into the heart of the beauty business when she opened QM Nail Lounge Gift Factory in Lekki Phase 1 last Sunday. The ‘beauty place’ was declared opened by the ever-glamorous Yeye Oge of Lagos, Chief (Mrs) Opral Benson herself with the owner’s family and friends in attendance. Photos by Shola Oyelese

L-R: HRM E.M. Egbi, Okobaro of Ughievwen Kingdom, Olorogun, Kenneth Gbagi, groom's dad and HRM Felicia Egbi, Queen of Ughievwen Kingdom.

L-R: Omolara Okafor, CEO, QM Lounge, Margaret Amechi ,her grand mum , Opral Benson and David Okafor, husband

From Left; HRM E.M. Egbi, Okobaro of Ughievwen Kingdom, Mr. & Mrs. Ejiro Gbagi and HRM Felicia Egbi, Queen of Ughievwen Kingdom

The couple: Mr. & Mrs. Ejiro Gbagi

L-R: Mrs Laticia Oke (Omolara’s mum), Omolara Okafor and Mrs. Sonde

Pot-pourri of style as Bozimo’s son weds ALAOWEI Broderick Bozimo, former Minister of Police Affairs and wives, Hon. Justice Rosaline and Barr. Joyce, brought their clout of eminence and influence to bear, when their son, David Bozimo walked down the aisle, the woman of his dream recently. It was a superlative affair all the way as the wedding attracted the movers and shakers of society.

Groom's parents: Chief Alaowei Brodericks Bozimo and wives, Hon. Justice Rosaline Bozimo (former Chief Justice of Delta State (R) and Barr. (Mrs) Joyce Bozimo (2nd L) with couple.

The couple, Mr. & Mrs. David Bozimo C M Y K

L-R: Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta North; Senator James Manager, Delta South; Couple and Senator Pius Ewherido, Delta Central

The Couple, Mr & Mrs David Bozimo flanked by parents of the bride, Bashorun (Hon.) Askia Ogieh, JP and Chief (Mrs) Grace Ogieh.

L-R: Bashorun (Hon.) Askia Ogieh, JP; HRM Isaac Udogri I, the Ovie of Uzere Kingdom; HRM Omote Ewhiri, the Ovie of Emede Kingdom and Chief (Mrs) Grace Ogieh

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMER 11, 2012, PAGE 31

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PAGE 32 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

has a direct impact on the economy. We were the first to set up an uplink factory to take Nigerian stations out and put them on satellite. If you go around Africa, there’s a lot of information about Nigeria that wasn’t there. Such is now freely available. The impact has been massive. Nollywood has been greatly impacted by the investment from our sister company, M-Net, and Africa Magic, which, to a large extent, you could almost call ‘Nigeria Magic’, given the amount of Nigerian content on it.

Why MultiChoice’ll invest more in this country— John Ugbe, MD *Says ‘when you talk Africa, you talk Nigeria’

By Jide Ajani John Ugbe, Managing Director, MultiChoice Nigeria, in this interview, speaks on his company’s business activities in Nigeria and the immense possibilities for growth one year after being appointed the first Nigerian head of the South African pay-TV company. He also speaks on the digital migration deadline set for 2015 and why Nigeria is so important to the continent.

Excerpts: It’s been one year since you’ve been at the head of the business of MultiChoice Nigeria. How much of your set vision has been achieved?

My vision was in line with that of the company, which is to be the source of entertainment and the leader. That’s what I sat down to do. In the last one year, we’ve pioneered, we kept ahead, we’ve always brought innovation first. We really do not see things launching in other places before Africa; and when you talk Africa, you talk Nigeria.

So, we’ve stayed ahead of innovations around the world.

How has your background and experience in MultiChoice impacted your work during the one year of

Mr. John Ugbe, MD MultiChoice

,

What would you say are the highlights of the last year, especially given that you came to be the first Nigerian head of the company?

It’s been a very fast year for us. From introducing the new Walka 7 mobile hand-held TV, to the High Drifta, to the introduction of the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, and also, most importantly, to the introduction of the 10 per cent discount – which is a first for us at MultiChoice,we’ve always given back to the subscribers in different ways, but we went out to give our biggest yet by putting in the 10 per cent discount for our subscribers who pay their subscription on time. It’s been our biggest initiative to date. We are proud, even if it means losing some money in introducing such initiative. But it tells you what we are here to do, which is to continue to invest in growing the business, growing Nigeria, and local content out of Nigeria.

invested in the country, we’re happy that we are here for the long run. We never look at reaping the rewards in a short time, but we take a long time view of everything we do.

We really do not see things launching in other places before Africa; and when you talk Africa, you talk Nigeria

,

being in the saddle?

One good thing is I’ve been around the MultiChoice group for about 14 years. My general technology background has also been very helpful because a lot of what we do links back to technology and innovation in technology. So, my background has been quite very helpful. But also as a

Nigerian, it means I understand the Nigerian environment very well and I’m able to connect with our subscribers.

Nigeria is a huge market. A lot of people feel the level of what you company is currently doing, for instance the subscription base, is still like a drop in the ocean. How much more of the potential do you plan to tap?

We see a lot of potentials in Nigeria, and we believe there’s a lot of growth still to come out.

Nigeria is at the moment trying to fix a lot of infrastructure challenge, for instance the on-going power privatisation exercise. I believe when that is concluded, this economy will jump. So, a lot of these policies that have been put in place will all encourage growth. Definitely we see a lot of growth coming from Nigeria and, as a company that has consistently

Do you have specific targets as to your growth projections?

Definitely we are looking at growth in the market. But you can’t separate one product from the macro-economic realities in every economy. We believe, with the GDP growing and the non-oil part of the economy growing, we’ll see our business grow with the country.

How has MultiChoice, since starting out here in 1993, impacted the Nigerian economy generally?

In the area of employment.

And it’s not just people who are working for us. If you look at people who have worked for us and where they are in the industry, you’ll see that they are quite big players. We also have entrepreneurs we’ve developed as part of our Super Dealers initiative. We have over 40 of them with over 100 offices nationwide. They employ thousands of people who have a lot more people depending on them. These are big businesses that have been set up by the instance of the encouragement and investment from us. They support large staff complement.

Also, we’ve paid over N15 billion in taxes and we’ll continue to be a good corporate citizen. Over the years too, we’ve invested over $200 million in local content, which

With regards to content, there are issues of, sometimes poor quality films and repetition of programmes.

How’s that being addressed?

One thing we continue to do is development. We have a scriptwriting workshop where we develop scriptwriters.

Recently, we had a content masterclass at the Africast Conference, where we did a lot of training on content, production, directing, lighting, etc. So we continue to train and invest in those and that goes directly into the skills that are available in the market.

We also work quite a bit with the press. We have the yearly MultiChoice-CNN Awards, and we also run a training programme with MultiChoice and CNN, in-country, to develop skills in the media. We also invest quite well in sports.

The Nigerian Premier League, we ensure those matches go live, and you can see the quality of the league is improving. There’s also basketball. We sponsor the Basketball League and also ensure all the matches are seen live.

We saw that there was a decline in Nigerian basketball and we decided to do an intervention. For the last three years, we’ve sponsored the DSTV basketball league.

There’s been noticeable growth so there’s a lot more emphasis on basketball, and, for the first time ever, we qualified for the Olympics basketball event. Beaming the Premier League and the basketball league live costs us millions for every game that is played, but we think it’s an investment in the future and our people. We believe there is a lot of growth potential for the future of Nigerian sports and we are ready to support and work with the administrators to ensure Nigeria is at the forefront of that growth.

Continues on page 33

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 33

Continued from page 32

Aside sports, what other areas are you investing in?

We have a programme that we sponsor. It is in collaboration with the University of Wits in South Africa and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The programme, being run by our sister company, Supersport, trains our administrators on sports administration. I believe that’s one of the interventions needed to ensure that we become better managers of our football clubs and our national teams. There’s a lot of this kind of initiative that are not known to many, but which we continue to do.

What’s your investment in the community, talking of CSR? From the community perspective, we support the Sickle Cell Foundation. We have a programme we’re organising with them in the next month or so.

We also support the Lagos State Government in the Adopted Schools Programme. Igbobi College is one of the schools on our programme. Earlier in the year, when they had their 80th anniversary celebrations, we commissioned a new Science Laboratory for the school. Another project close to our heart is the MultiChoice Resource Centre, where we have resource centre in schools. We have over 200 of this running nationwide and we continuously grow that so we can give quality education to the kids at the very early age. They can get visual stimulation through watching stations like Discovery. It’s a lot of education not just entertainment, things that expose them to different parts of the world.

In the area of technology transfer, how has MultiChoice helped the industry in Nigeria, transferring knowledge and technology from other climes?

If you look at one of our older programmes, New Directions, which was an investment into content and productions, some of the people that participated then own TV stations today. A lot of training, direction and mentorship went into producing that. So there’s been a lot of transfer of skills. When we started with sports production in the country, we had to bring in professionals from around the world to cover football matches. Today we’ve got a full Nigerian crew, in-country, who not only direct and put content from Nigeria on air but are also hot cakes around Africa for

Ugbe....We are providing an easier route to digital migration in Africa

matches and other sports content. And what we have here are full HD studios. Through the building of our own full HD studios for shooting programmes like Tinsel, we have the best of equipment locally, and Nigerians have been trained to handle this equipment.

How much of technology are you employing now in your payment systems, especially the cashless policy of the Central Bank?

We were one of the companies that had full support for the cashless initiative. Right now, you can’t even walk into any bank and pay cash for your DSTV subscription. But more importantly is our adoption of mobile technology, mobile payment, which now allows you to pay for your subscription from your couch while watching TV. We recently introduced a DSTV application on Blackberry, Android and on the iPhone and iPad. These applications were developed specifically to allow subscribers pay, check highlights, reactivate your accounts if disconnected and fix any problems right on your couch. So, we believe in using technology to solve problems and we’ve always demonstrated that. We pioneered quite a lot of this and also support federal government initiatives.

Still talking of pioneering technology, what efforts are being made in the area of digital technology?

We always tell people that the flagship of our products, DSTV, is actually digital satellite television. With the digital migration, we started it a long time ago. We started from satellite and we are proud to be the second satellite provider in the world to migrate to digital technology. So we have a lot of experience with digital technology. More so, we are pioneering digital terrestrial technology around Africa with our GOtv

brand. You’ll see that in a lot of African countries. We are providing an easier route to digital migration in Africa. We are helping to ensure that Africa doesn’t miss the deadline for digital migration. It’s better its adopted early because there’s a lot of gains which the government will see from digital migration. And not just the government, but the subscriber who is for once assured of a clear TV signal to his home.

What informed the introduction of your newest brand, GOtv? GOtv in Africa is a digital terrestrial product, which now offers an alternative to accessing our digital services, but without a dish. As I said earlier, it’s a

,

‘When you talk Africa, you talk Nigeria’

They should expect better quality of entertainment and more local content on their TV. There’s lot more innovations coming, which we’ve lined up for next year

product that gives Africa an easier route to digital migration.

It is innovative, and there’s a lot of pioneering technology behind this offering. We are happy for us to ensure that the reach of digital services is expanded to a lot more people than just the DSTV product.

Recently, MultiChoice sponsored the Digital Dialogue Conference in South Africa.

What informed your involvement?

We, as a company that operates around Africa, felt there was not enough discussion around digital migration. What is the impact, what are the gains? The average man on the street doesn’t know what it means and hasn’t shown his support for it.

So, we felt by bringing the media around Africa together, it will ensure that people get involved.

We brought different issues that had to be addressed and we felt people will get a lot of information about the impact and gains of digital migration. It’s purely from our altruistic point of view but we wanted the information to be out there, we wanted people to be informed. And who best could do that than the media? So we brought together the media all over the continent to build those relationships and ensure that the continent is not forgotten.

How much of effort is also made to strengthen customer service channels and treat subscriber complaints?

,

In the last one year, we’ve made some of the biggest strides in customer service. The DSTV application on Blackberry, Android, iPad and the rest, that I mentioned earlier, is a case in point. The service allows you to, without talking to any customer service agent, just sit on your couch and pay for your subscriptions, fix any error on your TV screen, and check programme details. It’s revolutionary, as you don’t need to wait for any one – it’s self service.

Also, about three months ago, we opened a new call centre, with a bigger command of staff to handle customer complaints and resolve service issues. We also opened up new offices nationwide. We have offices in all the geo-political zones and these outlets are even owned by entrepreneurs, who work hand-inhand with us to provide services.

So, customer service has been key in our agenda – how do we make people happy? And we’ve worked to introduce quite a few innovations to ensure people are happy with our services.

In the days and months ahead, what more innovations should your subscribers look forward to?

They should expect better quality of entertainment and more local content on their TV. There’s lot more innovations coming, which we’ve lined up for next year. As we like to say here, with DSTV, nothing else matters.

We’ll ensure we stay true to this.

Banking risk: WAIFEM calls for effective policies, internal control BYUDEMECLEMENT

S

takeholders in the banking sector have been advised to ensure effective risk management and control structure to mitigate financial system instability in order to enhance efficiency in the industry.

The Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM), Prof. Akpan Ekpo, gave this advice in the opening ceremony of the regional course on ‘Advanced banking supervision and financial stability’, organised by WAIFEM, in Lagos, stressing that effective internal control apparatus can promote bank’s operational efficiency to ensure compliance with the regulations.

Speaking through his representative, the Director, Debt Management Department, Mr. Baba Musa, he explained that an effective risk management and control structure are not sufficient to mitigate financial system instability, rather, an institutional culture, which ensures that written policies and procedures are actually translated into practice must be of paramount interest to management of the banking sector.

He added, “The three basic elements, which provide the foundation for the soundness of the financial system include sound leadership, strong prudential regulation and supervision

Rep of the DG, WAIFEM and Director, Debt Mgt Dept, Mr. Baba Y. Musa (c), Rep of the Facilitators, Mr. Paul Mende (r) Mr. Musa Euraclyn Williams, Director of Admin, WAIFEM (l) at the opening ceremony of WAIFEM Regional Course on Advanced Banking Supervision and Finacial Stability.

as well as effective market discipline. Sound leadership is critical for financial system stability.

This begins with good corporate governance, which entails having capable and experienced management, a coherent strategy, business plan, clear lines of responsibility and accountability. To ensure financial stability, execution of the overall objectives of the organisation must be supported by rigorous internal controls and effective risk management. These control measures are critical to ensure the provision of timely and reliable information, as well as early detection and prompt correction of errors and irregularities, which may crop up in the organisation.”

PAGE 34 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

Baffled by her sudden interest!

Dear Rebecca

I

AM a 24-year old undergraduate . The girl I’m in love with is about my age and she’s a librarian. Our relationship started three years ago. Since then , she has not been serious with me until lately, as she didn’t want anybody to know about our relationship.

When an interested student asked her about us, she said we were cousins.

But when he asked her for a date she refused.

She also refused to go out with me too. We fixed dates on two occasions but she never showed up.

When I arrived home for my father ’s interment some months ago, her attitude towards me changed completely. A day before the burial, she gave me some money. I was so overwhelmed by the gesture and I expressed my profound appreciation .

A day after the burial she agreed to go out with me for the first time .

Since then our dates are frequent and she’s no longer worried about being seen with me.

She has made me understand that I’m the only love of her life and I believe her.

Frankly speaking, I’ve always loved her and I’ve told her so. I’ve proposed marriage and she hasn’t objected. Right now, I mean business with her, but I’m worried about her sudden change in attitude. Please advise me.

Worried, Kaduna State.

REPL Y REPLY

O

ne cannot accu rately guess the sudden interest this girl now has in you.

However, it could be that during the burial ceremony of your father, she

had the opportunity to assess your family , and then arrived at the conclusion that you could be a good ‘catch’ as a husband. That is her attitude now, but you don’t know if she’s stopped searching for a husband, or, you’re just accepted until she finds another man she feels would make her a better husband.

At 24 and already a worker, I’m sure she’s ready for marriage now, and perhaps has been for several years. She may not have wanted an open relationship with a student earlier, because she wanted to leave herself free for more mature men who were ready to settle down . Girls mature much earlier than men and if they can help it, they would not marry men within their own age group . This is understandable . If they do, many of them may always look older than their husbands, if not now, later. The man himself, when he’s ready to settle down, may consider her a ‘mama’, and then have the perfect excuse for that dating young girls.

Also, men of the same age-group as their girlfriends, are seldom ready these days to settle down when the girls are ready, due to problems with getting a job and saving up marriage.

I advise that you relax and enjoy your relationship with this lady as it is at present, but stop all talk of marriage unless you are quite sure that you will be financially strong enough to settle down s o o n .

Be honest, however, and let her know when you’re likely to be ready to settle down. You need to complete your studies, do the youth service, get a job, save up for a place of your own, first, before inviting a lady to come share your life in marriage.

I advise that you relax and enjoy your relationship with this lady as it is at present, but stop all talk of marriage unless you are quite sure that you will be financially strong enough to settle down soon

Do you think she’s really a virgin?

Dear Rebecca I am in my twenties, an undergraduate and deeply in love with this girl who is a polytechnic.

We are both from the western part of Nigeria.

My problem with her is that at 25, she is still a virgin. Aunty Rebecca , I love this girl so much but she has refused to let us feel each other. She claims she loves me much but wouldn’t have sex with me . It’s been almost 13 months since our relationship started . Haven’t I tried ? Whenever I make a serious move to sleep with her, she would burst into tears . She says I’m the only guy in her life and she will not want to lose me, but aunty , she is making the whole scene dry for me.

One day , she told me that from the way I’m going, I would drop her for another girl who will give me what I want.

Aunty, I know I can’t because I really love her, but I am worried . Is she truly a virgin or not?

Please help.

Steve, Calabar REPL Y REPLY

Y

ou have a very wrong notion about having girlfriends. You think that the main reason for dating girls is so that you can satisfy your sex urge. Hence , you said you have tried (been reasonable) for remaining with her for almost 13 months without having sex .

God did not create girls for men to satisfy their sex urge with as and whenever they like, but rather , as their companion and sex mate only in a committed relationship like marriage. This is why fornication (sex by unmarried people) and adultery (sex with some one you are not married to) are a sin in the eyes

of God . If you were a father , you wouldn’t want boys to use your daughter as a sex object, would you? I wouldn’t know if the girl is a virgin or not , and since you don’t own her body, it isn’t your business to doubt or believe her. You should be ashamed of yourself for reducing the poor girl to tears all because you

want to satisfy your sex urge at all costs. If sex is the reason you tell her that you love her, I suggest you leave her. You will surely find another girl, and she too would find another boy . A boy who truly loves a girl would wait until she is ready for sex, which should be after the wedding.

This cheat wants me back!

Dear Rebecca

T

HE boy who deflowered me has left me. Our affair which began last year was short lived. He wrote to me stating that he was putting an end to the relationship.

I didn’ t believe he could do this, considering how much I cared for him.I was in such a terrible state of grief I thought my heart would break. Just after our separation , he started dating my girlfriend .

Their affair lasted only two months before they packed it up. Now he is back pleading that I should forgive him. I’ve refused.

Each time he comes on his repentance mission and I turn him down, I’ m never myself afterwards. We are both from the same State. I’m a student while he is a trader.

What should I do?

Assunta, Lagos.

REPL Y REPLY

I

guess the reason you felt bad when this boy left you for another girl was be-

cause you allowed him sex, and he de-flowered you . If you had not had sex with him, your pride would have been hurt alright, but you would not have felt such terrible grief . For self respect , it is important for a girl to retain her virginity until she’s properly married, or, at least, has done the traditional wedding. You did not state your ages but I assume that you must both be quite young still, and far from wanting to settle down in marriage.

As a student, your studies should take priority over relationships with boys. Work hard so that you can be in position to stand firmly on your feet financially later. I suggest you don’t go back to this boy who dropped you for your friend , even if it breaks your heart when he comes to apologize for leaving you, and to beg that you should take him back.

He is merely bouncing back to you perhaps because he was able to

treat you as he liked when you were on with him. This may be something your friend did not allow him, hence they parted . If you soften and take him on gain, he would remain with you only until he finds another girl he considers more suitable for him.

Shortly you will find you the girl he keeps running back to when other girls reject him. It would be unwise of you to allow such a thing.

Even if he promises marriage, don’t believe him until he actually makes formal moves about it like approaching your people.

How ever , if you really love him and feel that he could be your ideal man, then return to him, but also have other boys openly and casually as friends. Both of you should mix with other boys and girls so that you can know what sort of partner you would like. Keep sex out of the relationship.

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

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard,

NO VEMBER 11, 2012 — PAGE 35 NOVEMBER

OIL WELLS’ WAR: ROLLING DICE ON THE HIGHWAY 2

I joined Kalabari people to make the point clear, says Graham Douglas

Alabo Graham Douglas

BY JIDE AJANI, SAM OYANDOGHA & JIMITOTA ONOYUME

L

ast week, this newspaper alerted Nigerians to the high wire danger of the trio of President Goodluck Jonathan, Governors Seriake Dickson and Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Bayelsa and Rivers State, respectively, rolling dice on the highway during rush hour. That piece was predicated on the possibility of whipping sentiments among communities in the disputed oil wells’ of Kula, ElemSangama, Soku, Idama and Abissa.

The 1st to 10th edition of the administrative map which depicts both states had always placed these communities in Rivers State, with the boundary being River Santa Barbara. But the 11th edition of the map moved the boundary and changed all that. Now, the new boundary is River Sombreiro in Nembe area of Bayelsa State, when the provisional 12th edition of the administrative map was released.

Both sides are laying claim to the Soku fields. They are mobilizing their people.

Then there is the issue of N17billion paid from an escrow account to Bayelsa State which the Rivers State government insists was wrong. Bayelsa has come out to deny this.

Meanwhile, President Jonathan has waded into the matter suing for peace.

We present two interviews here as a follow up.

The first with former aviation minister, Alabo Graham Douglas, who led the public protest by Kalabari traditional rulers in Rivers State last week; and the paramount ruler of Oluasiri, King Iyerite Awululu, on the Bayelsa front.

Excerpts: concern. Yes I joined them to ensure that It appears Kalabari chiefs have tak- we made the point clear. But I was not the en the battle over who owns five oil rich leader. We have stratified order in our socommunities to the streets. After their ciety according to the founding houses Abuja march, they came to Port between 1881, 1882, 1883.

We did not as such protest. It was a Harcourt to do something similar, this confined area in Abuja where they made time to Government House, Port Hartheir grievances public. court?

The Presidency reportedly expressed I don’t think it is appropriate to say we discomfort with your involvement in have taken the battle to the streets. They the whole exercise? only reinforced their demand and (Cuts in) I think that will be an unfortudetermination to ensure there is equity, nate impression and an unfortunate justice and fair play in consonance with conclusion. the rule of law.

I was very embarrassed. The matter had The Supreme Court had made a probeen resolved as a family matter. But I was nouncement on the issue but it was neiequally embarrassed when a young little ther here nor there. What they did was to see to it that there was no deviation from boy insulted our persons, called us school the true act of justice. They have to make boys, called us irresponsible, singling me an expression publicly to ensure that things out.

I was not the leader. But I do fully endorse never deviated to their detriment. whatever they decided to carry out. They You were part of the protest in Abuare my people.

I cannot, for all the world, ja? betray my people or not take sides with There was no protest. them. I was not the leader. You don’t take I was not even there.

You see, if my people are doing some- sides against the family.

What is the situation now? thing, that is where I am going to be Amicably resolved! because my home is my final resting place.

Kings and chiefs of the place had a frank And as a High Chief of the place, anything

,

To Presidential Adviser: I was equally embarrassed when a young little boy insulted our persons, called us school boys, called us irresponsible, singling me out

,

I consider detrimental to them will be my

talk with the president in the presence of the governor. I was not there but what I got was that the president was very sincere and very innocent in most of the impressions earlier cultivated. He assured them that equity and fair play would take place. And he would ensure that the brotherly love that exists among the Nembe and Kalabaris, the Ijaws remains unshaken.

What we heard was that nothing serious came out of the meeting; that all parties were told to stop talking to , the media about the issue?

That was just an aspect. But the meeting was fruitful.

But do you see peaceful resolution of the issue at the end of the tunnel?

There is peace already; we are not waiting to get to the end of the tunnel first. We are the same people, Nembes and Kalabaris.

We have been together from time immemorial. We have been neighbours for ages. My great grandmother has a link with Nembe and I still know her root there. So we will always ensure there is peace and harmony at all times. If anybody says there is no peace then it is an illusion. We are satisfied with the intervention of Mr. President. We have expressed our implicit confidence in his ruler ship. Everybody was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting with Mr President. The Ijaws cannot be separated But there was this report that some Kalabari youths are planning to forment trouble in these communities?

That is speculation. Security people have a method of raising the alarm. Kalabari youths are not in any way planning to create or forment any problem.

You are a Chairman of a committee set up by your party to reconcile aggrieved members of your party, the PDP, in Kano State. How far have you gone with the task?

We have done the preliminary. I believe that there is suspicion and fear between

the divide, I call it mixed grill. The national chairman of the party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is out to build the party, reconcile aggrieved members.

He thought that some senior members of the party should handle the reconciliation. In Kano, there have been misgivings about some founding members of the party. The governor of Kano State has been able to organise the party.

So what we’re looking for is to see how we can reconcile all aggrieved members. .

There is misgiving on all sides, so, as the chairman, to handle the reconciliation, I thought we should keep it in abeyance for now, we will go back to it later.

But how is the party, particularly with the recent cry by the national chairman that some high profile members were leaving?

That is not true, it was newspaper sensational report. There is no party greater than the PDP. It is a grass roots party. It is the largest party in Africa. Those who are not there are disgruntled and frustrated.

They will come back What is your assessment of Nigeria at 52?

We are a heterogeneous, multi ethnic and multi cultural group coming together to form a nation. Too much diversity! America got independence about 1776, they still have their challenges. We are just 52, Nigeria is developing. People tend to rush things. The military system of administration is different from the style of politicians.

The military man does things the way he wants it. The politicians have some form of distractions occasionally. We have had good leadership, bad leadership.

We have had wonderful economy. The management of the economy had been epileptic. We had security challenges and like I said before, Nigeria is an evolving child. We will still get there. Presently all Continues on Page 36

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Vanguard , NO VEMBER 11, 2012 NOVEMBER

O

cate between the two states, Rivers State does not have any right to make any case.

For the avoidance doubt, that case was struck out just 3 or 4 months ago in the Supreme Court and I don’t know why they are now crying. The Elem Sagama that they are talking about or hammering on left, right and centre is a fishing settlement of the Nembe people.

luasiri is Ward 13 in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State having a common boundary with the Abua and Akuku Toru people of Rivers State.

The name Soku became famous because of the LNG Gas Plant. The LNG Gas Plant is at the centre of Oluasiri land so distant from Soku. It is a minimum of 22-minute boat drive with the fastest speedboat, from the gas plant to Soku community, which is very close to Degema and Abonema.

The gas plant that is in contention which case has been on for the past 20 years is at the centre of Oluasiri community in Nembe land.

In this interview with King Iyerite Awululu, he explains why the claims by Rivers State government are not correct.

The paramount ruler of Oluasiri speaks more on the controversy between Bayelsa and Rivers States on disputed oil wells! (The interview took place before President Jonathan’s intervention) Why is the place in dispute called Nembe land?

I was born in 1957 and when I came on board I realised that there was an instrument from the Eastern Nigeria Government creating Nembe District Council and approving Oluasiri as one of the areas to produce councilors. From available facts and records, Oluasiri was granted this status by the Eastern Nigeria Government and has been producing councilors since 1956. There have been series of cases between the Kalabaris and the Nembes even before I was born and this strife has also been on before the establishment of the gas plant. There was a court case in 1913, 1918 and 1923 in the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court (and there are) judgments.

Why mentioning Nembe?

Before the creation of Bayelsa State, Brass was the original local government from which Nembe was created and Nembe was a District Council under Brass which had its common boundary with the Kalabari people.

Before the creation of Bayelsa State, how was Nembe and Brass?

Brass and Nembe, before the creation of Bayelsa State, constituted one local government.

I want you to note that point.

There was a conflict between Brass local government and Akuku Toru local government that informed the constitution of a committee called Justice PB Akiri Commission of Inquiry into the disturbances and conflict between the Nembe, Brass and the Kalabari people, all of us in Rivers State.

What was the outcome of that report?

The Surveyor General of Rivers State, as at that time, Mr. C.T Horsefall, was from Kalabari area.

The map was prepared and (allegedly) doctored in favour of the Kalabari people and it was contested in the PB Akiri’s Panel and that map, according to the panel, was misleading and could lead the state into confusion and decided to set aside that map.

Really?

The Commission of Inquiry further stated that the boundary commission should hasten in ensuring that a proper demarcation of boundary between Brass and Akuku Toru be done.

From 1992 up till now, the National Boundary Commission, which would have demarcated a clear boundary between Brass and Akuku Toru or between Bayelsa and Rivers States, is yet to do so.

King Iyerite Awululu, Olua 1, Ibenyanaowei of Oluasiri

The issue was on before President Jonathan was born — King Iyerite Awululu zSays Bayelsa’s claims are genuine When Olusegun Obasanjo became President, the matter came up again on the ownership of the oil wells, so the President set up a committee to verify the oil wells in this area.

You are aware that Bayelsa State was created in 1996 and in 1999, or thereabouts, President Obasanjo came on board and the committee set up by the president came to the field to verify who owns what; which oil wells belong to which state and that team was a joint one.

Were Bayelsa and Rivers State made aware of this?

The committee co-opted the Surveyor Generals of Rivers and Bayelsa States and the Deputy Governors of both States and some other persons that were relevant to the committee’s assignment to verify these wells.

And they came up with a report that the erroneous name of Soku Gas Plant, which was supposed to be named Oluasiri Gas Plant and the revenue accruing from the oil facilities should be credited to Bayelsa State. The revenue that they probably paid

to the Escrow Account based on the recommendations of the committee, they now started crediting this revenue to the Bayelsa government for the past 3, 4 or 5 months; I don’t know when they started. So as the present Governor of Rivers State came on board, he felt that this should not happen. You are aware that he made a similar case with Akwa Ibom people and he started making case with all the boundary people. At the end of the day, the Supreme Court now decided that there was a previous report on the matter, when the two states were both part of old Rivers State and directed the National Boundary Commission to facilitate the demarcation between either Brass and Akuku Toru or Rivers and Bayelsa States.

It is, therefore, surprising and disappointing to see the Rivers State government argue that revenues are accruing to Bayelsa from the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission be stopped, when they do not have such rights. Rivers State has no locus standi and it is only the

commission that is given the powers to demarcate local government and state boundaries and until the National Boundary Commission comes up with a position to demar-

How is that so?

The original name of Elem Sangama is Ogbuama. Before oil was discovered in that place, probably in 1958, there was nothing like Elem Sangama. The instrument creating Nembe District Council, in the then Eastern Region in 1955, 1956, while in the one creating the Kalabari District Council in 1960, 1961, you will not find any place named Elem Sangama.

So I want to say that they are just crying for nothing and I can assure you that, one day, the truth will be out. Akuku Toru was created out of Degema local government while the original local government of the Nembe and Ogbia people was the Brass local Government.

I don’t know why they want to shift this blame on President Jonathan. The argument was on before Mr. President was born. In the instrument creating the Nembe District Council, there is a place called Oluasiri local council and this council is made up of 18 principal communities not fishing settlements. In the years past, when the Seismic Surveyors came, they kept their house boat at Soku and came to Oluasiri to discover the oil and in their survey document it is referred to as Soku line. Let them go and investigate. So the way forward is for the National Boundary Commission to do its work without delay.

`I joined Kalabari people to make the point clear’ Continued from Page 35 hands should be on deck. We are not a nation yet.

The nation is talking about constitutional review. Any comment on this?

I am one of those who do not believe that the National Assembly should review the constitution. There are several ethnic nationalities in the country. National Assembly therefore cannot make good representation for the various ethnic nationalities.

In those days we all used to assemble in an open place to x-ray contestants and then elect. But that is not the situation now.

Instead of democratically elected people, selectocracy is now the watchword, and they are the people you are asking to bring a new constitution. They cannot represent all sections of the country.

All the ethnic nationalities should come together to discuss the type of government we should run, whether it should be parliamentary, federal system etc. The American presidential system is too complex for us.

Which body should handle the conference you’re proposing?

Ethnic nationalities should convoke a national conference to give us a people constitution.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 37

ODIA OFEIMUN AND THE ACHEBE CONTROVERSY (3) Why did the plotters of the counter coup of July 1966 release Obafemi Awolowo from prison? What role did this play in whittling the position of Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu?

What did Awolowo offer Ojukwu that was outside of secession but which the latter turned down? You will read this and many more in today’s last but one series.

The question is: if Ojukwu signed the warrant, how did the effectuation of the warrant wait for so long until it coincided with the order given by Lt.Col Yakubu Gowon at the head of the revenge coup, for Awolowo to be released? This is an important question because Awolowo was not released until seven months after the first coup of the year. The historic task fell upon the revenge coup makers who had toppled General Aguiyi Ironsi after a rigorously organized pogrom against the Igbo, with a number of other Southerners added to the kill. It was certainly to gain a wider base than their Northern security ambitions allowed that the release of Awolowo from Calabar Prison was announced.

It leaves a sneaking feeling that Ojukwu's powers over the Eastern Region, to which all Igbo in the Nigerian diaspora had to return in search of a safe haven, had not yet become so all-pervasive as to be able to countermand a swiftly executed decision by Federal authorities intent on releasing Awolowo from jail. Nor would it have been politic for Ojukwu, even if he had the power, to attempt to prevent Awolowo from being released after a Federal order to that effect. It would have amounted to holding Awolowo hostage. Could it be said then that in order not to fall into the role of hostage taker, Lt. Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, as Military Governor of the Eastern Region carried out an order initiated by a Federal Military Government that he had so flagrantly repudiated?

Whatever is the case, it was the release that enabled Awolowo to participate in the discussions to resolve the crisis through sundry Leaders of Thought Meetings up till Awolowo’s peacehunt to Enugu before the first shot in the Civil war was fired.

It may well be added that it was Awolowo's participation in Gowon's administration that enabled him to get a copy of the Ifeajuna manuscript.

A copy was sent to him by a wellwisher who thought he should know about the plans that the January 15 1966 coup makers had had in store for him. It was in similar fashion that he got a copy of the transcripts of the Enugu meeting after the tapes were said to have been captured at the fall of Enugu and the take over of the Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting service

by Federal Forces. Awolowo had the two documents in safe keeping when I became his Private (Political) Secretary in June 1978.

They were among the many papers, not part of the main body of his library, which he had to bring out for my education to help my work as his “involved and committed researcher”, as he requested for in his newspaper

Awolowo Achebe Achebe, started the controversy on Awolowo’s war-time policy; Ofeimun, attempts to set records straight

Awolowo and the forgotten documents of the civil war advert for the job.

I read the documents as part of many such efforts to induct me into the job. I was authorized to make copies for a number of party officials and stalwarts as a means of education in preparation for the battles that the newly formed Unity Party of Nigeria was expected to face in the Second Republic. So let me put it this way: that I read the full text of the Ifeajuna manuscript within three months of my new job. The other document, the transcript of his meeting with Ojukwu, was a typescript that had to be cyclostyled in order for many

them before the election because he did not want to draw attention to the false charges at the treasonable felony trials. We did not think the period of election was the best period to do so especially one which he thought to be critical for a man of seventy who may never have another chance. The dubious value of letting the world know that coup-makers had latched upon him as the saviour they were looking for could have had a doubleedged impact with a capacity for damage that may not have been easy to control. After the election, however,

Awolowo always wanted to have the documents made public. He hadn't thought of releasing them before the election because he did not want to draw attention to the false charges at the treasonable felony trials more copies to be made in preparation for the controversies that we expected to confront in the course of the 1979 election. Although there were quite a few brickbats during that election, not much came that required the appeal to the documents. But Awolowo always wanted to have the documents made public. He hadn't thought of releasing

there was no more need for such caution. That was when Ebenezer Babatope who had always rooted for it as a job for his friend Arthur Nwankwo of Fourth Dimension, publisher of his own Coups and the Barracks Revolt, was authorized to send a copy to the Fourth Dimension for publication.

Unfortunately, as Babatope reported it

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later, Arthur Nwankwo said Ifeajuna's family was not in favour of the publication. Thereafter, little was done to bring the document to public attention. And, that was how the matter died.

Except that I, who had been instrumental to having Awolowo bring out the document could not forget what I had read.

Whenever I was confronted by a Nigerian argument which required using the materials from the manuscript to clear the ground, I used it.

Especially in my rather longish articles for TheNews magazine during the June 12 Struggle, from 1993 to 1999, I took special notice of the arguments in the manuscripts in my responses to those who deployed old fictions to seek to undermine the geo-ethnic reality at work in the annulment of the election.

ctually, after I stopped being Chief Awolowo's private Secretary, Kole Omotoso who frequently shared what he has called my 'lived-in library' at Seriki Aro in Ikeja while he was writing his book Just Before Dawn, brought the manuscript of Obasanjo's Nzeogwu to my attention. It was a rather flimsy affair which he said he had been given

by Professor Jide Osuntokun of the University of Lagos for a prepublication assessment. I read through it at one sitting and told him it was a disgrace for Obasanjo, a former Head of State, to be offering such a flimsy fare about the best celebrated soldier in the history of coup-making in Nigeria. As the closest friend to Nzeogwu, virtually sharing the same bed with him on the night before the January 15 coup, he was expected to know enough about him to fill a fulllength book. If he had nothing to write, I said, he should go after the letters that they once exchanged, the articles written in whatever magazine at school or wherever, and whatever snippets they could get from all the history books about the man. I proposed that he should at least avail himself of the reasons given by Emmanuel Ifeajuna in the manuscript that has been going from hand to hand without finding a publisher. At the mention of Ifeajuna's manuscript, Kole Omotoso insisted that I had to talk to Jide Osuntokun myself. So I followed him to the Staff quarters in the University of Lagos where I told the Professor without too much preamble what I had told Kole.

I also told him that I had a copy of the manuscript in safe-keeping, but that I would not give it to him. If Obasanjo was serious about the manuscript, I said, he knew where to find one; that is, if he didn't already have a copy. In

Continues on page 38 C M Y K

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ODIA OFEIMUN AND THE ACHEBE CONTROVERSY

Awolowo and the forgotten documents of the civil war Continued from page 37 the end, although I cannot now tell where he found the copy that he quoted from, and fairly generously in the published text, I am only too glad that he caused all those letters to be published which are today some of the source materials for anyone interested in assessing Nzeogwu's personality and character. Of course, the book, Nzeogwu, landed Obasanjo in a controversy that led to his being openly criticized in public by his former deputy, retired Major General Shehu Musa Yar'adua. The lands he had acquired in some parts of the North were threatened with seizure as a punitive measure for his writing about the soldier whom many Northerners considered a villain.

I

n a sense, I would say that I have Obasanjo to thank for the confidence I have had in talking about the Ifeajuna manuscript. Obasanjo's use of the manuscript proved it that the copy that I had kept away was not fake. Whether its content was reliable or not, the point is that the soldier who wrote it had put enough of himself, true or false, into it for Nigerians to know what he wished that we know about the coup that he led. What he wished may have been false but it was unthinkable for a country not to want to know what a man who had done so much to transform its history had to say. It has nothing to do with the sensitivities of his family. In any case, forty years after, all the millions murked up by the January 15 coup that paved the way for all the succeeding military interventions in Nigeriá's history, deserve to know what he had to say for himself and his colleagues. Of interest is that in spite of the famed unreliability of Ifeajuna, none of the narratives written about the Nigerian crisis by the principal protagonists Alexander Madiebo, Ademoyega, Ben Ghulie, and Hilary Njoku have differed in any substantial sense apart from turns of phrases, from the core of what Ifeajuna wrote in the white hot heat of the moment that followed the coup. The contentious issue over their choice of Awolowo has been repeated by the participants in the core group that set out to change the government before they were overtaken by Ironsi, and the echelon that surrounded Ojukwu in Kano who would not allow Nzeogwu to make use of troops in that city to march on Lagos as he had planned to do after he discovered that the coup was botched in the South. It is a matter for historical counterfactuals what the history of Nigeria would have been like if Nzeogwu had not capitulated but had mustered enough will and force to organize a Northern Army that would march upon Lagos from Kaduna. His collapse into the maw of the ethnic mush that had overtaken the coup was the Nigerian equivalent of the seppuku which he was obliged to commit if he were a Samurai in the Japanese army.

What happened to the coup makers thereafter including the fact that those who benefited from the coup were unwilling to put them on trial is part of the story that must also have made it difficult to publish Ifeajuna's manuscript.

For that matter, what Nzeogwu called “Emman's lies” did not have to be true to see the light of day. There

was a good enough reason to know that although Ifeajuna was Igbospeaking and many said he was close enough to Azikiwe to tip him off about the impending coup, he took a scathing swipe at the former President of Nigeria in a manner that was itself some “history” worthy of the record.

Nzeogwu's opinion of Ifeajuna's incompetence in carrying out the coup is undubitably right on the mark. But it does not invalidate what Ifeajuna had to say. In fact, from hindsight, it can be claimed that what Nzeogwu said on coup day about their intentions was largely corroborated by Ifeajuna's manuscript. That it should have taken so long for it to make its debut between covers is to say the least a national tragedy. The tragedy, it must be said, was egged by the fact that those who hijacked the coup from the five majors did not want the story out because they obviously did not want to identify with the views expressed in it. For the more ethnically inclined ones, the very idea that true sons of the Igbo carried out a coup and wanted to hand it over to Awolowo, a man they regarded as an enemy of their ethnic group, was simply the height of the absurd. To the makers of the July 29 Revenge coup, it would have scuttled their much haggled presumption that it was an Igbo coup. Either way, the manuscript had not a chance.

T

he other forgotten document of the civil had a better chance but its absence from circulation for a long time, was no less a tragedy. It was supposedly captured among other tapes of the Biafran Broadcasting Corporation when Enugu fell to Federal troops. The tapes were transcribed with glee, according to Awolowo, by those who thought it would finally nail him for the agreement he reached with Ojukwu to have the Western Region secede with

*Yakubu Gowon, war-time head of state Ojukwu to agree for the Eastern Region to come to a national conference and to support the creation of states as a basis for a Federal system free of the hegemony that the North had over the rest of the country; and all the regions in the country had over the minorities. If Ojukwu agreed, he believed, he had enough influence with the minorities of the Middle Belt and in the South to urge a shared positioning with the East and the West for a common stand in opposition to hegemonists in the North who would not want states created. It turned out that Ojukwu did not want states to be created. That was the sticking point.

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t must have seemed to the Easterners who had been so overdosed by myths about Awolowo's hatred of the East that he was merely trying out the old animosities in the garb of a pacifier trying to win, by other means, the battles he had always pursued in Nigerian politics. The bottomline is that Ojukwu and Awolowo did not reach an agreement.

Their positions in spite of the parliamentary language in which they were couched were fundamentally at variance. Not to forget: it used to be taken as apocryphal by all, except core Awoists, that Ojukwu actually came to see him in the guest house on the last night after the day's plenary. He

It must have seemed to the Easterners who had been so overdosed by myths about Awolowo's hatred of the East that he was merely trying out the old animosities in the garb of a pacifier trying to win, by other means, the battles he had always pursued in Nigerian politics the East as Radio Biafra never stopped insisting. As it turned out no such thing, is to be found in the tapes.

Rather Awolowo was making a passionate plea for the continuance of Nigeria as a single political entity. He repeated some of his bitterest criticisms of the North and Northern leaders but he believed that it was possible to manage the differences between Nigerians if ethnic groups and regions enjoyed more autonomy. This was simply a parrot cry of his which, as those familiar with his campaigns and his books, especially Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution and The People's Republi, would know, required a common welfare policy in education, health, and employment, to unite all the ethnic groups. He was too old he said to abandon all the dreams he had had for his country. Nor would he like to come to the East with a passport.

His solution, which obviously did not get down well with Ojukwu was for

wanted a one on one with Awolowo.

Understandably, Awolowo refused a one on one. Soyinka has now retailed in his autobiography, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DAWN,(131-132) what Awolowo told him: “The 1967 eve of secession delegation of national public figures authorized by Yakubu Gowon, to dialogue with Eastern leadership had been led by Obafemi Awolowo, and the formal, well-publicised meeting between the two sides lasted nearly all day. The Easterners listed their grievances and demands, spoke with all apparent seriousness, and saw their guests off to their chalets. Late that same night however, Awolowo was disturbed by a knock on the door.

It was the Eastern leader, Ojukwu, himself. He admitted that he had waited till late into the night so as to be able to speak to Awolowo in strictest privacy. Sure, said Awolowo, but he also insisted that at least one or two

•Odumegwu Ojukwu, late Biafran leader persons join him. That was agreed, and Awolowo called up the adjoining chalet, woke up the Police commissioner for the Western Region, Olufunwa, and a close political aide.

Accompanying Ojukwu was a small team that included a Professor of History from the University of Ibadan who had fled, like other Easterners, to their beleaguered state. Years afterwards, during the struggle against the Abacha dictatorship, the same don introduced himself to me at a meeting in the United States in 1996, and revealed his participation at the nocturnal meeting of thirty years earlier. His account was a consistent and detailed confirmation of what Awolowo confided in me that afternoon.

Odumegwu Ojukwu's mission was unambiguous, Awolowo said to me.

“The young man had come to inform me that the East had decided on secession, and that there was no going back. All that was left was the announcement of a date. He said, “Sir, I have not come to argue, but to inform you. It has been decided”.

“It was clear that any discussion was futile”, Awolowo continued , “Äfter all, we had done nothing but talk all day.

Ojukwu confessed that he had agreed to meet the delegation at all only out of respect for my person. Biafra had already taken a decision”.

“I was not surprised”, the Chief admitted. “I did one thing, though, I made one request of him in fact, I insisted on it. I said to Ojukwu at least, let us in the West - I, specifically have a minimum of two weeks notice before you announce the decision. And he promised. Yes, he promised me that much”.

I hesitated, but could not resist asking: “Why two weeks? You told him you needed two weeks - to do what?

Awolowo gave one of his enigmatic smiles, “You know Olufunwa, the Police Commissioner?”.

I nodded Yes. “Well, apart from me, he is the only one who knows the answer to that question. And he's not likely to tell you either ”.

I did not press him.

Hardly had Awolowo's delegation settled back into Federal territory than Ojukwu declared an Independent State of Biafra. The date was May 30, 1967. A short while after, Chief Awolowo accepted to serve as Commissioner of Finance under Yakubu Gowon.

The Federal Government had however made a pre-emptive move.

On May 27, Gowon abolished all four regions and split the nation into twelve new states. This achieved the goal of dangling before the entities that were newly carved out from the East, the attraction of their own autonomous governance, with all the resources of

Continues on page 39

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 39

ODIA OFEIMUN AND THE ACHEBE CONTROVERSY

Awolowo and the forgotten documents of the civil war Continued from page 38 the oil soaked Niger delta. Between the two strokes, loyalties in the former Eastern Region were split. War appeared inevitable” Soyinka's narration does not include the parting shot that Ojukwu gave the next morning as he followed Awolowo to the tarmac to say goodbye. Shaking the Chief with both hands, Ojukwu said in Yoruba “Baba, atilo” 'Old one, we’ve gone'. (as Awolowo reported it to his followers). As he took off from Enugu Airport with his fellow peace hunters, Awolowo knew that Biafra was on the cards. He did not expect Ojukwu to make as immediate an announcement as he did. But it should not have been any surprise. A prospective war leader who reveals a decision of such strategic significance to a prime decision-maker on the enemy side should not be expected to wait a moment longer than necessary to pre-empt a counterforce. It would have been better if Ojukwu had not told Awolowo anything about the plans to announce Biafra. But once he did, he was obliged to break whatever promise he had made. What kind of General would reveal such information to another, a potential antagonist, who had his own calculus of the power equation in the country that he was intent on splitting apart and not be worried about the consequences of a leakage. The short of the matter is that once Ojukwu discussed Biafra with Awolowo, it was, or should have been, clear that any promise he made about giving Awolowo a breathing to organize his own fraction would not be respected.

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S such, there is nothing in the forgotten documents to suggest that Ojukwu and Awolowo had reached any decisions about what to do if Ojukwu had waited. What Awolowo could have done can be left to the imagination. Only a very naïve Ojukwu could have accepted an agreement made with Awolowo as viable in the circumstances of the Western Region at that time. Certainly, Ojukwu was not that naïve. He was calculating enough to have known that whatever influence Awolowo had over his Yoruba people was not enough.

Ojukwu was Nigerian enough to know that that influence would not have much cut in a situation where a virtual occupation army, as Awolowo actually called it, commanded by a brazenly Northern catchment in the army, was sitting pretty in the Western Region.

It was an army only just moving from a secessionist disposition to the format of national unity. What is now well known is that the Yoruba echelon in the Nigerian Army was roundly prounity. Among soldiers, on both sides, it was naïve to have expected that the Yoruba officers in the Army or even its civilian leadership would consider going into a coalition with an Igboled secessionist move without their having made a genuine contribution to the framing of the project. Were there to be a handshake across the Niger, it would have had to depend not on any one-sided plans but a community of grievances shared. The intelligence that Awolowo himself gathered impressionistically during the Enugu meeting gave him enough reason to believe, as he told his followers thereafter, that the Eastern Region was not prepared for the war it was about to embark upon. Even if he was the most feckless leader in the world, and Awolowo was not known to embark on a project he had not given much thought to, there was hardly a chance that he would agree to go into a war on Ojukwu's side on the basis of a two week mobilization of his people.

Incidentally, Awolowo's hunch was

*Nnamdi Azikiwe (Ojukwu sought his views) shared on harder evidence by Biafran military leaders led by Hilary Njoku who knew that Biafrans had been stampeded into but not readied for war.

In order to appreciate Hilary Njoku's position, many people would need to read Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, the love story in a time of war, if only for the atmospherics. It shows how the General gave wooden sticks to his people, as civil defenders, in a shooting war claiming that no force in Black Africa could subdue Biafra.

Sheer emotional grandstanding was what the war effort rested upon. But for the shenanigans on the Federal side, the deliberate pussy-footing and sometimes larking in the war front, as a way of setting the stage to settle some

they like, what is important is that the house should be big enough to accommodate all of us comfortably, without friction and without trouble. I think we should forget about federation or confederation. Let us see what the contents are going to be. Once the contents are stated then we will allow political scientists to give it a name they like. The name does not matter to us so long so we are satisfied that this is the sort of thing we need to make us live together as Nigerians.

“I was a little bit disturbed by the point you made before. I hope you have not taken a final decision on it, that is, that the East will not associate with the North in future. Easterners have fought more than any other group in this country over the years to make Nigeria what it is, or what it was, before the crisis began. I think it will be a pity if they just forget something for which they have laboured for years . Many of the Easterners who fought for “One Nigeria” are no longer with us. It will not be a good tribute to their memory by destroying that“one Nigeria”., Certainly, it is not going to be the same as it used to be. I have taken a stand on that, and I am prepared to drop tribal labels at the moment, but I know in my own mind what sort of thing I have in view for the federation. But I think it will be a great pity and tragedy and disservice to the memories of all those who have gone to disband Nigeria. And here we are not here to criticize anybody, I think it is generally agreed that some units have done more for the unity of Nigeria than others. The East certainly have not yielded first place to anyone in that regard. I would like you to consider that aspect very seriously”.

This position taken on Saturday 6th May 1967 was quite in sync with the

Easterners have fought more than any other group in this country over the years to make Nigeria what it is, or what it was, before the crisis began. I think it will be a pity if they just forget something for which they have laboured for years scores with the authorities in Lagos, it would have been a much-shorter war.

As readers of Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo's biography of Obasanjo must know, Murtala Muhammed never gave up his grouse: “We told you not to end the war the way you did so as to sort things out, you went gaddam gaddam (Hausa expression for heedless rush) and finished it. Now you have a lion in your hands, a lion that does not roar, bite or claw, absolutely inefficient and ineffective”, Muhammed charged impulsively.”

As for the People’s General in Biafra, he was carried shoulder high on a wave that he could have resisted and steered in a different direction but preferred to manipulate. At any rate, what Awolowo had offered Ojukwu as a solution to the crisis was absolutely outside the rooting for secession. It was more coherent and more consistent with his already fairly well known position on Federalism and a strategy of welfarism as a solution to the Nigerian crisis. At the meeting, as the published document shows, Awolowo believed that:…….“What we want in Nigeria is a house to be built which will be big enough to accommodate all of us, without friction, without trouble.

Let us have a plan made, let us get an expert contractor to build the house.

When the house is completed to our satisfaction let them call it what name

position he had taken at a meeting of the Leaders of Thought meeting at the Western Hall, Agodi, Ibadan, on Monday 1st of May, 1967. In that speech, his aim was to undermine the position of those Nigerian Leaders of

*Tanko Yakassai, reportedly confirmed “training of guerillas for the Camerounian Sawaba”

Thought who, as he later explained, were “seriously suggesting that the so-called four component units of the country should go their own separate ways as so many sovereign states”.

Specifically, he meant to repudiate the proposition that the Federation would be viable even without the East as was being canvassed by some people who had, in his words, “settled it finally in their minds the sort of Constitution they consider suitable for the whole country, or such part of it as may be left after the East shall have opted out of the Federation”.

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t the Agodi meeting, he placed four imperatives before the Western Nigerian Leaders of Thought in particular and the Nation in general. Of the Four Imperatives he said: “Two of them are categorical imperatives and two are conditional.

ONE: Only a peaceful solution must be found to arrest the present worsening stalemate and restore normalcy.

TWO: The Eastern Region must be encouraged to remain part of the Federation.

THREE: If the Eastern Region is allowed by acts of omission or commission to secede from or opt out of Nigeria, then the Western Region and Lagos must also stay out of the Federation.

FOUR: The people of Wester n Nigeria and Lagos should participate in the AD Hoc Committee or any similar Body only on the basis of absolute equality with the other Regions of the Federation” It would require a major somersault in logic to make this look like a vote for the secession of any part of Nigeria. Actually as early as August 1966, on his being repreived from his ten year imprisonment, Awolowo had made a speech in which he said: “The breaking up of Nigeria into a number of sovereign states would not only do permanent damage to the reputation of contemporary Nigerian leaders but would also usher in terrible disasters which would bedevil us and many generations to come.” To contort such a speech in favour of secession belongs to a vaulting refusal to see no reason that is not pro-secession. To insist however that Awolowo encouraged the Igbo to secede actually insults the intelligence of the average Igbo. The implication is that after the pogrom of 1966, it required an Obafemi Awolowo, whether as a goad or quarry to hearten the attempt at secession. It is close to saying that they thought of an alternative that was different but had to bow to Awolowo's, an old enemy's, prodding. This may be the picture that many Biafrans liked to have of themselves. Those who think the Igbos deserve a better picture of themselves may be called names. But it does not change the score.

CONCLUSION NEXT WEEK Did Awolowo single-handedly disable the war efforts of Biafra?

Why did army Generals and federal agencies involved in the war not give Awolowo the needed cover by restating that there was collective effort at ensuring that Biafra did not succeed?

What role did the Unification Decree of Aguyi Ironsi play in the pogrom against the Igbos in the North before the war? Why did Biafrans suffer more casualties than the federal forces? There is a suggestion that Biafra sent people to war without weapons: Do you agree?

Well, all these and many more shocking revelations await you in the concluding part next week

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M A I L B A G

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

The beauty of a transparent voting system Dear Sir,

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HEN will our shameless and incorrigible politicians grow up and behave in a civilized manner with decorum, by giving us a transparent voting system, as we witnessed in the U.S. general elections of 6th November, 2012, that was devoid of ballot box stuffing, snatching of ballot boxes, manipulation of election results at the collating centers and no heavy security presence to deter violence by political thugs?

The U.S. general elections which took place on 6th November, 2012 and for which I stayed awake throughout the night and listened as the results where being relayed by BBC in my Sony 12 Band Radio, as we had no light that would have enabled me to watch it live on DSTV, until Obama was declared the winner some minutes after 5am on 7th November, 2012, was a clear manifestation of the beauty of democracy which our country is yet to get it right after we have practised democracy for 24 years of our 52 years as an independent country.

I am 64 years old and I have vowed not to take part in future elections in our country, until we introduce the electronic voting system as recommended by the Justice Uwais-led Electoral Reform Committee, but which our politicians threw out, because they know that they will never win elections without manipulating the results, by corrupting the staff of the electoral body and if we do not go back to the less expensive parliamentary system of government.

The only stage in our voting system

that is transparent, is at the polling centre which has not been disrupted by political thugs and the voters have cast their votes and the results are counted and pasted in the presence of the voters. It is at the collating centers that the results are manipulated and the political party that out-rigged the other parties and is in power wins.

I once wrote that we should device a system whereby once one votes, it is registered electronically and there will be no room for writing of the results with hand, in order to make our voting system transparent. But who will bell the cat, as our politicians are hell-bent to win elections by all means, as politics is the most lucrative venture

in our country presently and the quickest route to instant wealth and a lifetime of comfort and luxury, without sweat?

Ifeka Okonkwo Plot 44, Ahocol Housing Estate, Phase II, G.R.A, Awka.

Between governors & okada riders Dear Sir,

T

HE commercial motorcycle popularly known as Okada was recently banned by some state governors leading to job loss to some people across the country who use it as a means of surviving the hardship in Nigeria.

Okada was borrowed from the defunct Nigerian local airline. The commercial motorcycle is strictly hired to convey people to their different destinations, especially cities of Nigeria that has huge traffic gridlock.

Commercial motorcycles are mainly used in West African countries, including Togo, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Okada appeared in the late 1980s during an economic downturn in Nigeria. Jobless youths began to use motorcycles to earn money by transporting passengers on narrow or poorly maintained roads to far away cities and villages. This type of transportation quickly became popular and gained acceptance. It has become a means of transportation regularly used by the young and the old, and men and women. Unfortunately the

rise in Okada usage has been accompanied by increased occurrences of risky driving and accidents on Nigerian roads, as a result, Okada has come under heavy criticism, resulting in legislation intended to restrict or prohibit their operations in some Nigerian cities.

To some extent, Okadas have adequately assisted the jobless graduates, semi- illiterates and others to have constant source of income.

Though Okadas have constituted nuisance in the country in terms of criminal activities and resulting effects of accident victims of Okadas. The fact remains that Okada has created jobs for many distressed Nigerians whose hopes were dashed by non-performing leaders. The increasing wave of crime in major cities of Nigeria could be traced to some Okada riders. Although there are black sheep Okada riders who decide to use it for criminal activities and nothing else.

Okada business has helped many Nigerians to keep hope alive in all levels since our government cannot provide necessary social amenities, including the public-private initiative too. It is not only in Lagos State that

Okada riding is banned but other states like Rivers, Delta, Enugu, just mention but a few.

With the ban or restriction of okada, the cost of transport fare has increased in some states while commuters and passengers are stranded in most bus stations in Nigeria. Traffic hold ups are the order of the day in the major cities of Nigeria since the ban of Okada riding. It is sad that most state governors never considered its implications while passengers bear the brunt of such tyrannical and oppressive decisions. Too many laws placed on Okada riders in some states of the federation have prompted the incident of armed robbery, pickpockets and social vices in the country.Uniformed men are having swell time arresting Okada riders without any cause.

Though the outright ban of Okada riders in Nigeria is not the best.

If Okada riders should be totally banned, alternative means of livelihood and transportation should be provided by these so-called state governors.

GODDAY ODIDI, Public Affairs Analyst, 20 Oro Street,Ajegunle, Apapa Lagos.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 41

N-Delta Ministr Ministryy & the N29billion contract question

BY CHRIS OCHAYI, CALEB AYANSINA

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HE establishment of the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs by the administration of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua on September 10, 2008 was in response to the agitation for a greater attention to the nation’s oil producing Niger Delta region which had long been neglected by successive administrations. The neglect gave rise to the agitation which turned violent at its peak with Niger Delta youths taking up arms in what came to be known as militancy in the region.

From the inception, the first Minister, Chief Ufot Ekaette, and the current Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe, then Minister of State, got marching order by Yar ’Adua to take advantage of the ministry to undertake accelerated development of the region. Specifically, the ministry was charged with providing critical infrastructure needed as a vehicle for rapid development and the creation of jobs for thousands of youths who had no means of livelihood.

The projects considered as most critical include the multibillion East-West Road meant to connect the states of the Niger Delta to the western part of the country, as well as canalisation and dredging of several rivers in the region.

Four years down the line, the much-needed infrastructure has delayed in coming, largely due to paucity of funds which stem from inadequate budgetary allocations to the ministry by the Federal Government.

Consequently, the great hope of an immediate turn-around of economic activities, other than oil production, in the region, is gradually turning to despair in some quarters and, of course, questions are being asked.

The ministry’s challenge in the fulfilment of its mandate and the quest to meet the aspirations of the people of the region as an intervention ministry has become evident.

In the face of this challenge, the ministry has embarked in a development agenda, by fashioning out a collaborative framework, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme, with a view to setting up a structure to raise and pool funds.

Some people have accused the ministry of either not doing enough or misappropriating funds allocated to it for infrastructural projects and therefore calling for the removal of the minister.

Penultimate week, a former member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dino Melaye, accused Orubebe of shady deals involving alleged fictitious contracts totalling N29 billion. He alleged that the contracts were awarded by the Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs between 2010 and 2011.

He noted that the scam C M Y K

involved payments for phantom projects, overbudgeting and violation of Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, guidelines for the award of contracts.

Melaye, who claimed to be the leader of Anti-Corruption Network, a whistle-blowing organization with headquarters in Abuja, while addressing newsmen, said, “The award of these fake contracts, which had been onThe Hon. Minister of Niger Delta Affairs going, violated the BPP rules but were nevertheless fully standing on top of speed boat while addressing The traditional ruler of Bulou Ndoro paid for with the authority of journalists on the progress of canalization of community, Chief Coniel Segi addressing Nigeria’s Ministry of Odoubou-Ogbobagbene creek project. journalists on the project.

Finance.”

He listed the contracts to include the canalization of in Abuja, described the Ogbobagbene, Burutu in LGA actually exist and that works are Odoubou-Bololou creek in allegations as “false, fallacy, was awarded to Snecou Group ongoing at the project sites.

Ogbaba- Gbene, Burutu LGA, unfounded and an attempt to of Companies LTD on March 7, “We have come to see things ourselves. We have in the sum of for at a cost of N1.259 billion; land bring to disrepute the good 2011 and these reclamation and shoreline image” he built for himself over N2,431,040,173 and that the communities project has attained 18% communities have projects and protection at Ogbobagbene, for the years.

The minister, who said he was completion. He said the these projects have been which N2.431bn was fraudulently paid; and the never in his life involved in any company got N364,656,026 as executed. We have been given canalization training of fraudulent activity, noted that mobilisation fee even as only the details of the level of Foupolo-Bunu Ndoro creek in “the projects in question are N350,000,000 was appropriated performance and none of the projects has been completed Burutu LGA for which existing projects which are for the project in 2012.

Orubebe, who noted that the 100%. No payment has been N2.370bn was paid even located in communities and contractors had worked hard for made up to 100% either.” though the project did not exist. could be verified at anytime.”

Giving the details of the the ministry, recalled how he Confirming the existence of Melaye in the documents he claimed to have obtained from contract awards, he said personally had a meeting with the projects, the Amayanbou of the ministry alleged that the contracts for canalization/river the banks funding the contracts Ogbobagbene community, contract for land reclamations / training of Foupolo-Bulou where he assured them that the Chief Seaman Temukoro, said shoreline protection project at Ndoro creek in Burutu Local projects will be given priorities the contracts for canalisation of Odoubou-Ogbabagbene creeks Ogbobagbene, Burutu LGA, Government Area of Delta State in the 2013 appropriation.

On the alleged violation of will fast track development of Delta State, under the watch of was awarded to First Marine the ministry and awarded in &Engineering Services Limited BPP Act, the minister said: the area.

Also speaking on the projects, 2010 at the cost of on February 2, 2011 at the cost “There was a process through N5,813,743,373.92 was found of N2,370,668,252, with a which contracts are awarded. the Director of Environmental to have been over-funded to payment of mobilisation fee of Evaluations of contracts are not Management in the Ministry of done by the Ministry of Niger Niger Delta Affairs, Engr. the tune of N12,925,132,704.00. N335,600,252.

According to him, the project, Delta.

If proposals are Andrew Ojogbo, said, “This is ”This was despite the costreduction review totalling which commenced on June 7, generated by the Ministry of one of the canalisation projects Niger Delta, it will go to the Due we have in the ministry. This project, as the minister Process Office.

“And that is what is contained mentioned at the last press in the Due Process Act. He has briefing, was awarded on come to tell Nigerians that he February 2, 2011 following never read that law. He was just approval at the Federal in the House of Executive Council, FEC after Bureau of Public Representatives. All the the processes were done by the Procurement, BPP, had given Due Process Office. Of course, no objection to the project.”

Group scolds Dino Melaye, by that Act, any project that is above N1 billion will have to go says allegations are baseless Meanwhile, the Group of ExN1,067,349,380.28 given by the 2011, has attained 40% to the Federal Executive completion even as the ministry Council, FEC. Presidents of the National BPP,” he stated.

Besides addressing a press Association of Nigerian Orubebe took Melaye’s is owing the company allegations with all seriousness, N661,692,409 for outstanding conference, a pained Orubebe Students (NANS) has berated especially as they came at a certificate. The minister took the media on inspection Mr Dino Melaye for making time the ministry just opened regretted that the federal tour of the projects sites. He what it called baseless various windows of partnership allocation for the project in 2012 was accompanied by the allegations against the person presidential team led by the Orubebe in respect of contracts with development partners with was paltry N10 million.

Orubebe clarified that the Special Adviser to President on currently being executed by the a view to accessing greater funds for the development of the canalization at Odoubou, Project Monitoring and ministry in Niger Delta.

Ogbabagbene Bututu LGA of Evaluation, Dr. Sylvester The group stated that in as Niger Delta. much as it has zero tolerance The hope for greater funds Delta State was awarded to Monye.

In fact, traditional rulers and for corruption in any form and was to augment the paltry Ogbosite International Limited annual budgetary allocation, at the cost of N1, 259,233,750 community leaders in the wanted people to join hands in which had dwarfed the on February 2, 2011 with communities where the projects the anti-corruption crusade, it progress of the ministry ’s N188,885,813 mobilisation fee were sited came out openly to “disagreed with any individual ongoing development projects made to the contractor who confirm the existence of the that will do it to tarnish others image.” in the region, especially, its subsequently moved to the projects.

Speaking in Abuja on behalf The presidency also flagship project, the East West project site on June 7, 2011 and the project reached 65% confirmed the existence of the of the group, Com. Etuk Road dualisation. projects contrary to Melaye’s Williams maintained “ while Consequently, in a swift completion.

Putting the certificate paid to claims. some government officials may reaction to the allegations, the Leading the presidential team not be trusted, that should not ministry, the minister has date at N337,743,131, the threatened to file a legal action minister said the ministry is on a fact finding mission to mean everybody in government the company some communities in Burutu is corrupt”. against Melaye. According to owing According to him, “a critical him, “I have consulted my N299,683,716. He said the Local Government Area of lawyers and I hope that Dino project got only N360,000,000 Delta State, Special Adviser to look into the allegations raised the President on Projects by Dino shows that they lack Melaye will also be ready to in the 2012 appropriation.

The third projects which is Monitoring and Evaluation, merit and should be meet me at the court because I Land Reclamation/Shoreline Monye, said that contrary to the disregarded by every am heading to the court”. project at allegations, the projects N i g e r i a n ” .

Orubebe, at a media briefing Protection

The ministry’s challenge in the fulfilment of its mandate and the quest to meet the aspirations of the people of the region as an intervention ministry has become evident

PAGE 42 — SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 11, 2012 SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER

Help ttoo ins insttall good governance, Uduaghan tasks religious leader leaderss

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Christianity is under threat, says Primate Okoh

By CALEB AYANSINA

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BUJA---THE Pri mate, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh has cautioned African nations, saying that with the level of insecurity, poverty, doctrine of prosperity among other factors, it is obvious that the Christian faith is seriously under threat in the continent.

The primate who was speaking at the 2012 Divine Common Wealth Conference (DIVCCON) with the theme: 'Contending For The Faith' in Abuja, said there is need by all Christians to imbibe common Christian faith in line with the Bible.

His words: "The Christian faith is seriously under attack in Nigeria from without and within. From without, we are concerned about violent expressions of Islam represented by Boko Haram. "In some parts of the North, the Christian faith is an endangered specie. Boko Haram is not just against Christians, but has stated emphatically that it wants the Christian faith rooted out of the North.

"This is the idea behind the bombings, shootings, slaughtering and maiming it has been executing.

As a result of the violence, many Christians have been intimidated and had relocated to safer places.

Our dioceses in Maiduguri, Damaturu, Kano, Bauchi, Yola, Zaria, Jos, etc are now drastically depopulated.

"The next threat is African Traditional Religion, and its various expressions in cults. This is a threat in two ways: outright violent confrontations as in the examples of Afikpo Diocese, Diocese on the Coast, Western Izon, etc.

The other threat is more subtle, presenting paganism as culture and tradition, with many ignorant Christians swallowing it hook, line and sinker; thus promoting a syncretistic faith.

"The main threat from within is, disunity among Christians which exposes the Church to so many disadvantages. There is scarcely a common understanding of how to approach the advance of violent Islam – some canvass C M Y K

fire-for-fire approach; others believe that Christians must continue praying and even try to preach to the Muslims with a view to converting them.

Meanwhile, the killing and Muslim advance

continue unchecked.

"In between the two extremes are those who believe in dialogue and seminars. Unfortunately, Boko Haram is a faceless mafia, which makes this proposition merely academic, and non-effec-

tual. Another threat from within the Church is the fact of nominalism – the case of faith that is one mile wide and one inch deep, leading to distorted beliefs. An aspect

Continued on Page 43

BUJA—DELTA State governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has charged religious institutions assist in the installation of good governance in Nigeria, saying the country’s quest for peopleoriented leadership must not be left in the hands of political leaders alone.

Explaining that religious institutions are veritable agents of transformation, Uduaghan said unless religious leaders see political leadership as an area that requires collective efforts of everybody in the society, the country’s renewed efforts at pro-

*Ezinne Theresa Archi of St. Michael's Catholic Church, Lafiaji, recently marked her 70th birthday anniversary. The celebrant flanked by Monsignor Gabriel Osu and others.

Fashola, others task women on national growth

BY OLAYINKA LATONA

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IGERIAN women have been advised to contribute their quota to the development and growth of the country, especially in the area of science and technology.

Speaking during the fourth annual ARISE conference of the Lagos Province 4 of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (Apapa Family) tagged; “Women of the cutting edge”, First lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola urged Nigerian women to transcend their immediate circumstances and strive to bring about needed change in the country.

She urged them to seize every opportunity

available to them to contribute their individual and collective quota to the growth and development of the country, pledging that the present administration in the state will continue to empower women, stand for the truth and not waver.

In a similar vein, the wife of Ekiti State governor, Mrs. Erelu Fayemi urged Nigerian women to be active in the task of building a positive future for the country, noting that there were mixed perspectives by many Nigerians on the future of the country.

Mrs. Fayemi who, in 2011, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of Africa, said women must endeavour to change Nigeria’s story from that of hopelessness to that of hope.

The hostess of ARISE

conference, Mrs. Siju Iluyo-made opined that there is an urgent need for more female participation in science and technology, adding that the nation’s development and growth depend on science and its development of women scientists.

In her words: “As women we cannot shun science because daily we are beneficiaries of this sphere of human endeavour. We live in houses, travel by air, land and sea. We make use of technological devises and they are all scientific in nature. Women should be more involved in making contributions to scientific studies.”

Describing women as primary care givers and teachers at home, Mrs. Iluyomade said there is need for the female folk to sharpen their skills

and giftings for humanity and common good, saying they have huge responsibilities towards transforming the nation and being a soothing balm in a sad world.

Participants had an opportunity to undergo several healthcare treatment including screening for various ailments and those who were diagnosed for ailments were treated free at the event, while Pastor Obii Pax-Harry took the Word ministratrion and singled out certain individual for special prayers.

She also advised Nigerian women to pray for a new altar in the country, stressing that women on the cutting edge are agents of change who will not pursue their selfish interests but that of

Continued on Page 43

By JOSEPH ERUNKE viding people-oriented government would be an exercise in futility.

Delivering a keynote address through Delta State Commissioner, Directorate for Multi-lateral Relations and Abuja Office, Mrs. Gloria Okolugbo at the National Leadership Conference of the Methodist Cathedral Church, Abuja, the governor tasked the church, in particular, to provide points for search for good governance.

Dr. Uduaghan, whose address centred on leadership and good governance, said it was in recognition of the need for purposeful leadership that his administration was concentrating only on areas of priority.

He said leadership and good governance were paramount in the life of his administration, noting that this has been demonstrated in several areas since he assumed duty. He particularly mentioned the part he has played since flood ravaged the state.

“For us as a government, we have not rested in our search for good governance for the people. Since thousands of our people were displaced by flood, we have been there with them; we sleep with them, eat with them and share with them. This is leadership by example”, he said.

While noting that his state was worst hit by the flood, Uduaghan said he was consoled in the fact that God, according to the Holy Bible, would not end the world with flood a second time.

Delivering a paper on a theme; "Integrity and good governance promote peaceful co-existence," Barrister Oyekola Omowunmi Iyabode, tasked leaders to see good governance as a service to the growth and development of the community.

He enjoined those who find themselves in positions of authority to shun corruption and must see integrity and moral principles key ingredients to bring about good governance.

“Corruption undermines good governance and fundamentally destroys the integrity of an organization”, he emphasised, adding “corruption will not diminish in the society until government makes all effort and take necessary steps to increase the integrity of such a society. The incidence of corruption has risen and the peaceful tie among people of different faith, race colour has been greatly hampered”.

SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 11, 2012— P AGE 43 SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER PA

BRIEFLY......BRIEFLY......

'CHRIS TINIT Y IS UNDER 'CHRISTINIT THREA T' THREAT' Continued from Page 42

HELL ON EARTH

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HE Christian concept of hell; a place where God allegedly burns sinners forever in the world to come, is non-existent in the Bible. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus never preached it. What he did was to proclaim national judgment on Israel in the tradition of the prophets. This judgment was fulfilled in Israel in this life and not in the life to come. Jesus said: “When you see all these things, know that it is near---at the doors!

"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.”

(Matthew 24:33-34).

Worms not dying

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esus warned the Jews: “If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire, where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, and the fire is not quenched.’” (Mark 9:4748). The hell Jesus ostensibly speaks of here is a mistranslation of the Greek word “Gehenna” in the English bible.

This Gehenna has no applicability to Christian notions of hell. Gehenna is physical: hell is spiritual. Gehenna is time-bound: hell is eternal.

Jesus’ Gehenna is actually a valley outside Jerusalem where little children were sacrificed to Moloch; an idol god.

The sacrifices were abolished by King Josiah.

Thereafter, Gehenna became a place where all manner of refuse and even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals were incinerated. It was also referred to as Tophet; a place of burning, a valley of slaughter, and a place of calamitous judgment.

Thus, Isaiah and Jeremiah, for example, declared the fiery judgment of Tophet on recalcitrant Jews. (Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 19:13).

Following this prophetic tradition, Jesus’ choice of words, “their worm does not die,” is exactly the same as that used by Isaiah to prophesy God’s destruction of Jerusalem in the mesC M Y K

God’s fire and brimstone is not rained on disembodied spirits in hell in the world to come sianic age: “They shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:24).

This means it would be physically possible to see corpses burning during the fulfilment of this prophecy. Worms are physical; they cannot exist in the Christian hell, which is spiritual.

But Isaiah and Jesus talk of physical worms eating decomposing physical bodies. Isaiah says this would be abhorrent to “all flesh” as opposed to “all spirits.” Therefore, this will take place on earth and not in the Christian hell.

Moreover, there is nothing here about the sufferings usually associated with the Christian hell. The decomposing bodies are of dead men who can no longer feel any pain. Since the process is physical, it cannot be deemed to continue for eternity, as in Christian notions of hell.

Unquenchable fire

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imilarly, when Jesus pro claimed “unquenchable fire” on unrepentant Jews, his audience would have known he was talking of physical national judgment in the prophetic tradition. For example, God said to Israel in Ezekiel: “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree and every dry tree in you; THE BLAZING FLAME SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED, and all faces from the south to the north shall be scorched by it. All flesh shall see that I, the LORD, have kindled it; IT SHALL NOT BE QUENCHED.” (Ezekiel 20:47-49).

Again, this is essentially apocalyptic prophetic language. The “unquenchable fire” is kindled in this life as opposed to the life to come.

As in Isaiah’s prophecy,

“all flesh,” and not “all spirits” would see it.

Therefore, God cannot be referring here to the Christian hell.

Unquenchable fire was also proclaimed on Jerusalem by Jeremiah: “Execute judgment in the morning; and deliver him who is plundered out of the hand of the oppressor, lest My fury go forth like fire and burn so that NO ONE CAN QUENCH IT, because of the evil of your doings.” (Jeremiah 21: 12). This unquenchable fire was set by the Babylonians during Jeremiah’s lifetime in 586 B.C. It devoured the palaces and gates of Jerusalem. However, it was only metaphorically unquenchable; it came physically to an end.

Amos also warned the Jews: “Seek the LORD and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, WITH NO ONE TO QUENCH IT in Bethel.”

(Amos 5:6). Note that the fire is not in the Christian hell in the world to come but in Bethel, which is in this world. This prophecy was fulfilled on earth in 722 B.C. It was not kindled by demons but by Assyrians. In consuming Israel, it was prophetically unstoppable. However, no one believes it is still burning today.

Consuming Fire

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esus says: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). This statement is locationspecific. The fire Jesus says he came to send is on earth and not in hell.

Its object is the nation of Israel, which is in this world and not in the world to come. Jesus says furthermore: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:6).

This is the same kind of apocalyptic language

Isaiah used when he proclaimed God’s national judgment upon Assyria: “You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble; your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be like the burnings of lime; like thorns cut up they shall be burned in the fire.”

(Isaiah 33:11-12). A s syria is in this world and this fiery judgment began and ended in this world.

Fire and brimstone

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he same applies to other prophet ic proclamations. Christians need to understand that God’s fire and brimstone is not rained on disembodied spirits in hell in the world to come. It is rained on human-beings on earth. That is what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah. (Genesis 19:2425). All Jesus did was to proclaim similar judgment on Israel: “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

Thus, Jesus proclaimed the same kind of national judgment that the prophets proclaimed on Israel. He said it would take place in Gehenna, a location outside Jerusalem. He also said it would happen within a generation. (Matthew 23:36). T h u s , Peter wrote to the Israelites of his day: “The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.” (I Peter 4:17).

This shows Jesus’ Gehenna has nothing to do with Christian notions of hell, which were unknown to Jesus’ Jewish audience. The condemnation Jesus proclaimed on Israel was surely the “unstoppable” fiery destruction of Jerusalem which actually took place in A.D. 70. According to Josephus, over one million Jews were slaughtered by the Roman army. Their bodies were then physically dumped in Gehenna and burnt.

of this fact arising partly from it is the ease with which individual traders, carpenters, civil servants, housewives, unemployed graduates now establish their own churches, become the archbishops, general overseers and teach whatever catches their fancies.

"In addition, against the harsh economic realities of our country, is the growth and acceptance of the doctrine of prosperity. All this distort the orthodox faith. In the larger African setting, violent religious extremists such as we have in Nigeria are spreading to other African countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

"Recently, in Dar es Salaam, seven churches were burnt by Muslims on the excuse that a boy urinated near a mosque. Kenyan and Ugandan churches have at different times been attacked by the extremist AlShabaab Islamic group which is very active in East Africa. Kenya is executing a full military campaign against this sect.

"The situation in Sudan is complex and complicated.

The Islam of Sudan is a fundamentalist brand, and there is a high traffic between that country, Nigeria, Kenya and other neighbouring countries. In addition to all this, there is the fluid situation in Egypt under the Muslim Brotherhood as well as the boiling situation in Lybia. Again, Nigeria is exposed.

Apart from all this, the Twareg rebels in North Mali have added to the threatening situation against Christianity.

"They have formed a group, movement for Jihad in West Africa, which openly threatened Nigeria, should it send troops to intervene in the situation in Mali. Furthermore, the problem of disunity is growing within the African Church (provinces) at CAPA, with the rich Western powers employing effectively the divide-and-rule tactics by literally buying consciences of church leaders.

"We also have political, social and economic problems which equally threaten our faith such as political instability, poverty and hunger as well as the hydra-headed dragon so well known in Africa, corruption! The problem of war and internally displaced persons all combine to make the African Christian Faith quite tenuous.

"In the wider Anglican Communion, the picture is not brighter. In England and Scotland the political authorities have taken over the homosexual crusade; they are moving slowly but steadily towards TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada.

"We pray for the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

Officially, only the Roman Catholic Church authorities are standing for historical orthodoxy. And of course, the last Indianapolis Convention Resolutions have made it clear that TEC has no sentiments about Orthodoxy and the rest of the Communion. Where does this leave us?

"The ‘faith’ is something which is delivered to us. It is not something which we have discovered for ourselves. The facts of our faith are handed down to us from generation to generation a tradition, going back to Jesus Himself.

"The Christian faith is something which is once and for all delivered to us. There is something permanent and unchangeable about its content, but certainly to be rediscovered and appropriated in every age. It is this: Jesus Christ came into the world and lived and died to bring salvation to men.

"The Christian faith is something which is entrusted to God’s consecrated people. It is not the property of any one person. It comes down within the Church, it is preserved within the Church, and it is understood within the Church.

"The Christian faith is something which must be defended. Every Christian is a defender of this Faith.

Every Christian of every generation must defend it.

It is the duty of every generation to pass it on uncorrupted and unperverted," the primate stated.

Fashola, others task women on national dev Continued from Page 42 the country. She further explained that once women get it right, the nation will likewise get it right.

Other persons present at the conference include the former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Mrs. Sarah Sosan, wife of Kogi State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Tokunbo Awoniyi, Senator Daisy Danjuma, wife of the Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Mrs. Elizabeth Ayodele among others.

PAGE 44—SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 11, 2012 44—SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER

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hat will say was the turning point in your life?

The turning point in my life was the day I gave my life to Christ which changed every thing. I believe that change begins from the inside.

One of the reasons Nigeria is struggling today is because the transformation agenda we are talking about is not yet focused at per-sons and who they are from the inside. The constitutional amend-ment they are currently talking about...I don’t believe that the problem of Nigeria is the constit-ution.

You can amend it, but who will implement the new one? Is it not the same people who have being using the old one.

Everything about change must begin from the inside. If the man inside doesn’t change the man outside won’t change either. The turning point of my life was the day I took that decision in Sapele to give my life to Christ, because suddenly I saw myself the I way I really was. A clear picture came to me and I realized why I was living that way. It’s because I was living my life without God. I was trying to live my life the best way I could without realizing that there is a better way.

There is an invisible person that influences us as Christians even when you don’t see any-body.

That was how the change in my life began because the places I used to go I stopped going there and the people I used to move with I stopped because the change on the inside did not agree with those kind of people. I bought a Bible and I started seeing life in a different light as my eyes opened to better possibilities.

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ere these things pre-destined? Is it possible that God decided to take you through that route, ugly it was, in answer to an earlier prayer by your mother?

My mother became pregnant and had me because she desired to have a male child. She went to the First Baptist Church, Broad Street, Lagos which was pastored by Dr. J.T. Ayorinde who later became the first Nigerian General Secretary of the Baptist Conference. My mother went there to pray and challenged God; 'if you give me a male child I will give him back to you'. That was the beginning of the beginning but you know that was the commitment made by another person on my

C M Y K

Why I left Church of God As part of a multiple jubilee celebration, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, Pastor Joseph Ayodele Oritsejafor, for the first time, spoke on the controversy that trailed his exit from the Church of God Mission, CGM where he started his spiritual voyage 40 years ago. According to him, "after I have left my life was still connected to that great man" (Archbishop Idahosa). He spoke with SAM EYOBOKA. Excerpts....

•PastorOritsejafor's children(triplet). behalf. I grew up and went my own way but God Who knew those commitments…you see it’s strange that Moses started life in the home of his enemy; he grew up there, understood the lives of his enemies, educated by them and got the best of every thing among them.

When I look back now, I can boldly say that a lot of these experiences, ugly as they are, actually prepared me for what I am today. I have discovered that there is no experience that we go through in life that is wasted; good, bad, ugly.

They are all useful. That is why the Bible says ‘all things work togeth-er for good…’ I am happy today because there is no way I could have learnt the things I learnt then if I didn’t go through that way. No experience is lost and I am grateful to God. I cannot applaud myself for those experiences, but I thank God because I have gained a lot and continue to gain from them.

While there are bad things in those ex-periences, yet there are some usefulness in them because one can learn, one

has learnt and one continues to learn from the experiences.

Can you relive your experience at the Church of God Mission where the turning point actually started?

I will never forget

fy potentials in people.

I knew him from the day I gave my life to Christ but the day I had the closest encounter with him that changed my entire life was during an evening service in Benin; the place was packed and he wanted a song and I jumped

One of the reasons Nigeria is struggling today is because the transformation agenda we are talking about is not yet focused at persons and who they are from the inside Church of God Mission because that was where I became a Christian. I was in the Baptist Church but I knew nothing about God. I gave my life to Christ under the ministry of the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa and immediately became an active part of the church. One thing I would be grateful to God for about that man was that he was able identi-

out to lead the song. By the time I fin-ished that ministration, he asked me; “Who are you?” I told him my name and he said; “I know your mother. Tell your mother I want to see you. I want to see her too.”

That was how a very close contact started and I started com-ing to his home and spending a few days there even when I had returned to

Sapele. He liked me. I became assist-ant pastor and very vi-brant but there were certain situations I don’t want to get into, that lead me to go to the Baptist seminary.

He didn’t like it. However, when I re-turned, my heart was to start a church and I went on a seven-day fast. But on the day fifth day the Lord said to me: “Break the fast. I have answered your prayer.” So, I had to break the fast and the very next day, I had a knock on my door and it was Archbishop Idahosa with three other persons.

It was strange to me. He asked me what I wanted to do now, but I couldn’t answer him. So he said, you must be a pastor in Church of God Mission.

“You don’t have a choice.

I didn’t come to ask you.

I came to tell you.” The way he said it, there was no room for discussion.

He added: “When I leave here, I am going to see your mother to tell her the same thing.”

The interesting aspect was that God spoke to me later: “That’s why I told you to break the fast that I have already answered your prayer.” That was how I came back to

Church of God Mission where I was asked to start a church. In six months my branch in Sapele became the largest in CGM as a whole.

It grew so much, that in three months I gathered enough money to buy microphones, amplifiers and everything at a time when no other church except the Idahosa branch had a microphone. I went to Benin to tell him, I have the money and I wanted to buy these things, because I didn’t know where to buy these things and he was visibly shocked. He took me in his car and drove to a shop in Benin and show-ed me what to buy and I paid before he took me to garage where I chart-ered a vehicle to Sapele. I didn’t ask him for any assistance and knowing him, he didn’t even vol-unteer any. He was excited and I could see something in his eyes saying; “I knew it.

I know I made the right choice!” Eventually, I moved to Warri and a lot of people thought that was a mistake. At the service this morning, I said; “when you submit to people they become res-ponsible for your mistakes and what have you.” Idahosa told me to move to Warri. It didn’t make sense because at that point there were people who knew me as a friend to Reinhard Bonnke and many other heavyweights at that time. Some persons were not happy, wondering what I was going to do in Warri. However, I prayed and God said ‘go.’ Against all odds and advices, I obeyed and moved to Warri. I had some ugly experiences when I came but it is part of my life that I am ever grateful for because it helped to mould me. If there was anybody I learnt anything from, it was the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa. I don’t care what anybody thinks of him, I think he was a hero as far as I am concerned.

He was a great man; an incredible man. I thank Continued on Page 45

SUND AY V ANGU ARD, NO VEMBER 11, 2012—P AGE 45 SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD, NOVEMBER 2012—PA

Mission—Pastor Oritsejafor Continued from Page 44

God for all the exp-eriences I had in CGM. But you left the place in not too pleasant circumstances…

It depends on the way you look at it. It wasn’t pleasant because I thought that was where I was going to be for life—especially after the fasting experience and the archbishop walking into my house and the confirmation I got from God—but what I didn’t realize, and most of us do, is that life comes in phases.

There are different levels and at every point when you have to move to another level, sometimes there could be frictions. It could be rough, tough.

But all that is just a sign that you are about to move to another level. It was in November 1987. The inter-esting thing about my life is that a lot of the very fundam-ental things in my life seem to always happen in Novemb-er. I was born in November, got converted in November, I married my late wife in November; I met my present wife in November, Word of Life started in November and many more.

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e went for the CGM con-vention which used to be in the first week of November and certain things began to happen on the platform which shouldn’t be. I tried to go from behind to sort out whatever it was, but what I discovered later was that there were certain people who were instigating crisis. I didn’t know then, but now I know. I tried to sort out things but no; to the point where it became obvious that I could no longer remain there. There were pronouncements that were made publicly that it would be out of place for you to remain in a place where there were such public pronouncements about you; telling you to move on. It was that bad that some foreign guest speakers had to stop by in my hotel room to say; ‘young man, you have to move on.’ I can't even tell you some of the things they said. I tried all my best to contain it but to no avail. The whole country was tensed up be-cause of the incident and I was surprised that the events stirred up so much emotion across the country. The very next week, my very good friend, Dr. Ezekiel came over to Warri here to see me and we sat together and I drafted a letter of apology to the late Archbishop; while I knew I didn’t do anything. Dr. Ezekiel took it and went to Benin and gave it to him. He waited till the late archbishop read the letter. Dr. Ezekiel told him to pray for me, which he did in his pres-

ence. I wasn’t there. Later, I went on my own to see him and he prayed for me. Though he would still go out there, saying things about me in the media, but I never replied. It would have been very stupid of me to reply, because your father is always right. Your father is never wrong! Never!

It’s a foolish child that goes in public to compete with his father. That is my philosophy even till date. Throughout the period I didn’t make any defence, but I was sneaking in and out of his house and he would laugh. I never questioned him for anything he said, because I think he never meant those things he was saying about me. The man loved me and I don’t believe he meant to hurt me when he said those things he said about me. When my late wife passed, he was one of the first people that came to my house.

He came, sat with me and spent consider-able time with me, praying with me. I could see the tears in his eyes.

Before I got married to my new wife, I took her to him for his approval. He sat her down and threw some bombs at her apparently in his effort to get something out of her and at the end he took me out and told me to go ahead. He prayed with us. Though I left the CGM but I was still there, in the sense that the connection remained and we continued to work together. For the last two, three years before he passed, I attended his convention uninvited and quite naturally they would put me on the platform and all that.

That probably was the most important part of my life in Church of God Mission because after I left, my life was still connected to that great man.

That marked the beginning of Word of Life Bible Church.

No doubt there would have been some experiences either pleasant or not. What would you say such experiences were?

When I got saved God ministered to me, saying that at a time I would go back to my beginning. I was born in Lagos where I started my early life. So, my thinking immediately I left Church of God Mission, was that I would go back to Lagos. I didn’t understand that my beginning was right here. My plan was to move to Lagos because that was home or so I thought. But in my usual way of doing things I had to pray just to get proper clearance from God. I prayed and He said: “Son, you are not going anywhere.” I was discouraged because all my things were already packed. I prayed again but God still said ‘this is home. You are not going anywhere. This is the beginning.’ That was one experience I will never

ment. So what I did was to hire a microphone and one horn speaker and mount-ed them on a rickety vehicle with one of cousins who likes talking inside the vehicle. While the vehicle was driving round Warri, she was announ-cing the beginning of Word of Life Bible Church. Do you know that even at that I was afraid of what was going to happen on the inaugural day which was a Sunday. I in-tentionally fixed it on a Sunday because I know it was a day of worship and those who want to come would come. I left my house late that day because of fear, but to my greatest surprise there were people there and I spent most of the service weeping; not out of sorrow as such rather it was joy.

I didn’t know that people would turn up but they did. I immediately announced a twoweek prayer seminar, which started the next day, Monday.

Pastor John Ahre of Life Christian Centre in Ughelli sang for me that day a song he reckoned I loved so much; "Lean on me."

The next day, I started the prayer seminar and whatever offering we gathered we used to make one or two chairs. I just carpenters around who were coming to our aid. Small small we gradually developed until we moved here.

•Pastor Ayo

H

•Pastor Ayo and his wife

That probably was the most important part of my life in Church of God Mission because after I left, my life was still connected to that great man forget. So, I had to start Word of Life Bible Church. It was rough, because I had nobody that I could call my own.

There were just one or two people that I could send a message. To find money to rent a place…..look it was rough! I didn’t have anything.

There were those who were just laughing at me, saying

‘you are crazy. You are stupid.’

But I took the risk because this was God’s mind for me. After I prayed, I settled it. I fixed the date. At that time, being a military era, you couldn’t preach on TV. I couldn’t go on TV, so I couldn’t even make any announcement of TV. Radio and TV stations would not accept any religious advertise-

ow has the 40-year journ-ey been?

Trying but exciting. Un-certain but today I can say fulfilling.

Adventurous but today, I can say I can see clearly now. I am grateful to God. One thing I would say to young people, don't do anything if you are not sure, it's God. The way I see people getting into ministry today, is very troubling to me. As a leader of Christians in this country, I am very troubled. As a leader of the youngest move of God, which is the Pente-costal Movement, I am very troubled. We are almost an uncontrollable group of people and the way it is, is because we have had an experience which is called the Holy Spirit experience; which is good. The problem that has come out of that is that when people cough, they say its the Holy Spirit. They talk nonsense, they say its the Holy Spirit.

How do challenge a man who says he's motivated by the Holy Spirit? This is what we have done to the Pentecostal Movement and it very painful.

The consolation God gave me is that for every move of God had had its own teething and trying periods beginning with the great Roman Catholic Church to the Protestatant, the Anglican, Lutheran, Methodist, to the Presbytarian, Baptist and so on. There are trials, problems that happened so long ago that people today don't really know.

PAGE 46—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

BY DANIEL ALABRAH VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The fallout of peace in the oil bearing region.

F

OLLOWING a memoran dum by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on the growth and industrialization of the oil producing states in Nigeria, the Federal Government recently approved 44 projects for the Niger Delta. According to the Information Minister, Labaran Maku, the projects include the construction of roads, bridges (and) environmental projects as part of the phased development of the region. The projects are expected to spur economic development of the region.

The move represents a welcome response to calls on the Federal Government to apply the resounding success of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP) as a lever for the limitless economic, industrial and social changes in the Niger Delta. The argument is that if peace is the outcome of amnesty, there must be a progression that we must refer to as the fallout of peace. The process does not terminate at the point where we have drawn on amnesty to achieve a cessation of hostilities and attained calm in the region.

There must be a continuum

Time for big business in Niger Delta where the new thesis of peace must also give birth to a new set of enterprises. We must relate amnesty to the rubric of dialectics. Only then can we understand the full potential and advantages of what the scheme has offered the country and its citizens.

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VIEWPOINT

Amnesty’s peace is not peace for the sake of peace. It is a soil in which we must sow seeds of development and investment

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If the pre-amnesty era produced in the Niger Delta a horde of armed lords and their acolytes that were protesting the hijack of their God-given resources and the resultant clashes between them and the state crippled the nation’s economy and scared local and foreign investors, it follows that a post-amnesty era must logi-

cally have its own soil (conditions) of productive (non-destructive) result. We must see the Federal Government’s move on these 44 projects in the Niger Delta in that dialectical light.

Amnesty’s peace is not peace for the sake of peace. It is a soil in which we must sow seeds of development and investment. It is a soil from which will arise “a strong manufacturing base… so that we could offer opportunities for employment, innovations and dignified living to all Nigerians,” according to the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Chairman, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Hon. Kingsley Kuku.

The Niger Delta should now be the fulcrum of the country’s industrial development and partnership with foreign investors, thanks to amnesty.

To get an objective appreciation of what this piece is about, let us look at the pattern of Chinese economic intervention in Africa in recent years.

China has been initiating apex-level contact with the continent lately. Recently, President Hu Jintao led economiccum-diplomatic delegations to at least five African nations. He was in Nigeria, Tanzania, Mauritius, Senegal and Mali.

A close check revealed that

some of these were societies in transition, where after conflict resulting from challenges in nation-building, a definite path is now being chosen as an enduring foundation for progress.

The Chinese are a calculating lot. They engage in business in societies that have potential for growth; where there is peace and stability along with the generous provision of renewable resources and sustainable energy. Amnesty has the paved way for Nigeria to assume these magnets for investments. It is conceivable, therefore, that the Chinese, whose country has effectively emerged as the world’s second biggest economic player, would see Niger Delta’s bouquet of developmental invectives through the amnesty programme and the Federal Government’s initiative as a green light to invest in the area.

Of course, it is not only the Chinese that will be interested in doing business in the Niger Delta. I foresee the group of Asian Tigers stepping in also with their technological prowess and their investment. Looking ahead to that era, Kuku says there “will be increasing plurality and complexity in (the) society” of the big business amnesty’s peace is offering in the Niger Delta.

The former agitators will then secure employment to exhibit the skills they have acquired under the amnesty programme. They won’t have to wait endlessly for jobs that are not forthcoming if 44 projects are on the way and there are conditions enticing foreign companies to come in with their capital.

These were not possibilities, even in the minds of the most incurable optimists among us!

But the daring alternative view of the late President Umaru Yar ’Adua and his successor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, in bringing on board the amnesty intervention has changed the situation radically. It has given us a new lease of life, offering hope that we can diversify our export portfolio as well as industrialize and engage in non-oil business.

The future of rapid transformation awaits the country with the starting blocks in the Niger Delta, courtesy the peace midwifed by amnesty. And as Kuku said, the program has achieved “ what it was meant to do and the benefits accruing from it far outweigh its costs.”

Alabrah is Head, Media and Communications, Presidential Amnesty Office, Abuja, Nigeria.

Dickson, Zuma & Investment Fever

BY FRANCIS OTTAH AGBO

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The economic collaboration between South African and Bayelsa State.

O

N Friday, October 26, Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State and his investment team stormed Johannesburg, the business capital of South Africa on the invitation of President Jacob Zuma. This visit and the power packed investment summit, held at the Hilton Hotel, upped the ante in the vortex of investment in Bayelsa State.

The meeting was sequel to the governor ’s visit to the country in May where he and his team wooed investors to the state. These businessmen are expected to replicate some of the infrastructure that make South Africa a strong economy in Bayelsa. This novel drive of Dickson is hinged on his belief that Bayelsa has a lot to tap from the South African economy which he describes as having all the trap-

pings of a first world economy.

Expectedly, the governor ’s first pot of call was the South African State House in Pretoria. Zuma was at the University of Pretoria where he was delivering a lecture in an occasion put together to honour the longest serving president of African National Congress (ANC), the late Oliver Thambo, and others. When he was told that Dickson had arrived, there was no other way the South African strongman could have honoured the countryman - governor than to cut short his engagement and cruise to his office to receive the governor and his team.

Dickson informed his host that he is currently emulating his party, African National Congress (ANC), by running Bayelsa from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) headquarters in Yenagoa at least once every month. While rolling out the investment potentials of his state, the governor proclaimed that government has put in place time-tested insurance policies for all investors and investment. He said his government has turned the state into a construction site by embarking on

massive road networks, the construction of Deep Sea Port in Angge, modern airport in Yenagoa and other infrastructural drives, adding that unlike in the last five years, the state now has enough savings to meet up with contractual

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VIEWPOINT

The electorate have the right to know the resources accruing to the state and how they are spent which to me is a cardinal principal of democracy

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agreements and cater for the rainy day. What appeared to have impressed the president significantly was the free education policy of Bayelsa and the fact that the country-man governor did not go to the capital market to finance these

lofty projects and programmes.

Responding, Zuma praised Dickson for enthroning probity and accountability in the governance culture of Bayelsa.

After the courtesy call, the governor and his team hosted what a pundit tagged mega Investment Forum at the Hilton Hotel in Johannesburg where the potentials of the glory of all lands were laid bare.

Dickson went down memory lane on why it was crucial for his state to partner with South Africa and assured investors of having a return for their money in Bayelsa. He however warned brief case businessmen and contractors to keep off from his state.

He averred that he is the first governor in Nigeria to have enacted Compulsory Savings Law and Transparency and Accountability Law which make it compulsory for government to save money for the state and render account to the people of the state because in his words “the electorate have the right to know the resources accruing to the state and how they are spent which to me is a cardinal principal of democracy.”

The South African govern-

ment was represented at the investment forum by the First Lady, Mrs Nompumelo Ntuli Zuma, and the South African Deputy Minister of Economic Planning, Professor Elizabeth Thabelth Mukezi. The minister looked forward to the signing of MoU between South African Infrastructure Development Corporation and Bayelsa State and emphasized the willingness of South Africa to partner with Bayelsa State because in her words, “Governor Dickson has put in place in-built parameters that are likely to make his state an investor’s destination.”

The climax of the investment forum was the signing of letters of cooperation with Naidoo and Associates Consulting Engineers and Construction Management Company and the Black Business Council which represents the 5 th African Black Business Community. The governor also inspected the Bayelsa Development Corporation office billed to be commissioned in January.

Agbo, a Nigerian based journalist and public affairs analyst, wrote from South Africa.

Contribution of not more than 800 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 47

A pseudo-president’s unending hangover VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Pitfalls in Mallam Ribadu’s claims on the EFCC

A

quick look back at Ni geria’s 2011 presiden tial election shows that any of four major contenders could have become president.

They include Dr Goodluck Jonathan, who eventually won the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, a PDP; former Head of State and candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, Gen. Mohammadu Buhari; All Nigeria’s Peoples Party, ANPP, candidate and former governor of Kano State, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau; and former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who was Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, candidate in the election.

I have decided to start this piece on the review of the possibility that any of them could have won because of the relevance of one of the presidents the 2011 election never gave us, and that is Mallam Ribadu. The nation will surely miss his bravery, garrulity and theatrics. In this season when citizens groan under the pains of fuel scarcity and the burden of harsh economic climate, a Ribadu presidency would have been more entertaining such that we will always have reasons to ‘laugh away our sorrows.’ Unfortunately, that is not to be courtesy of those flood of votes pulled together across

each leadership of the commission especially as they concern the Ribadu era and that of his substantive successor, Mrs Farida Waziri.

It is a fact that soon after there was a change of leadership in the country following the 2007 elections that produced the presidency of Alhaji Umar Musa Yaradua/ Dr Goodluck Jonathan, Ribadu, who was in his fifth year as EFCC Chairman, was technically eased out of office when he was sent on a course at the Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Jos. His then second in command, Ibrahim Lamorde, became the Acting Chairman of the EFCC and worked in that capacity for about six months after which the immediate past Chairman, Mrs Waziri, was appointed.

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TRIBUTE

the country to catapult Jonathan as president.

In the absence of this, however, Ribadu’s fans must always have moments to refer to.

That is, there will never be a dull moment. One of such recent moments was the drama that greeted the report presentation of the petroleum special task force headed by Ribadu to Jonathan. Just as that controversy was fading away, the former EFCC boss dabbled into his usual rhetoric with a view to stirring another controversy that will put him in the news and enjoy free publicity.

According to a report Ribadu was quoted to have said the following in a bid to justify his self delusion that the EFCC was created out of Ribadu, by Ribadu and for Ribadu only: “When I was removed from the EFCC, they brought people with the intention to destroy the work of the EFCC. “It is easy to destroy than to build. I pity the people who are in EFCC today because they are coming after the people who destroyed it.

“When you fight corruption, it will fight back. We saw that corruption fought back at the end of 2007 in Nigeria when corruption took over, when the leadership of Nigeria embraced corruption and they were ready to fight those who were fighting corruption and replaced those who were fighting corruption with corrupt people to turn things upside down.”

At this juncture, it is highly expedient to once again examine these claims, bring forth facts and figures, which have since been in the public domain, of works done under

dictment.

If on the other hand, he was making an implied reference to Waziri, he again needs to be told that only fools will fall for such claims that cannot be backed by the Commission’s record of achievements. Before Ribadu can be taken serious on his claims on EFCC after his removal, he needs to disprove or controvert the following facts and figures in the Commission’s records of achievements.

The EFCC under Waziri recorded not less than 450 convictions in about three years including the first and till date the only high profile case ever recorded by the Commission through a court trial that got up to the Appeal Court. Ribadu needs to be reminded here that the top shot convict-

Ribadu needs to be reminded here that the top shot convicted in this case had once been cleared by him

It is on record that Ribadu never handed to Waziri. He indeed handed over to Lamorde in a three page handover note. Was Ribadu therefore referring to Lamorde with whom he had worked from the inception of the agency as the one who destroyed the Commission since he(Lamorde) was the one he(Ribadu) handed over to? If that was his intention, then he should be told here that, that was a self-in-

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ed in this case had once been cleared by him. It is also not in contention that the highest single recovery in the history of the Commission today is that of a former bank chief executive and this was achieved under Waziri.

It is also in the Commission’s records today that though about 10 high profile cases were being prosecuted in court as at 2008, this figure has moved to about 75 under

Waziri’s three and a half year tenure.

For the first time in the life of the EFCC, officers were well motivated with enhanced salary packages, insurance cover for both staff and assets of the agency.

Before I am accused of defending Waziri’s tenure in the EFCC, it will be apt to conclude with a portion of a report done by the US based international organization, Human Rights Watch, released in August 2011. According to the HRW report entitled “Corruption on Trial?”, “Even the EFCC’s critics generally agree that the agency has done a competent job of prosecuting apolitical financial crimes, especially advance fee fraud cases. By March 2011 the EFCC had arraigned some 1,200 people for advance fee fraud, securing so far more than 400 convictions. That side of the EFCC’s work has continued apace under Waziri.

In view of the above, it is obvious that if we have to quantify leadership achievements in EFCC in terms of facts and figures as against mere grand standing and vain garrulity, Waziri in three and a half years did and achieved much more than Ribadu in his five years. I challenge him to come out clean and present his score card of what he did to develop the agency rather than to continue to dwell on this falsehood and self-glorification rhetoric that EFCC was destroyed by his successors as if no other Nigerian can successfully lead the agency other than him.

Otubu, a public affairs analyst, contributed this piece from Airport Road, Effunrun, Delta State.

Ayeni Oladipo: Tough cop bows out Anglican Primary School, Ikere from 1958 to 1964. He was at Annunciation School, Ikere from 1965 to 1968. From

TRIBUTE

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

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TRIBUTE IN BRIEF A police commissioner retires after a meritorious service

B

Y this time next month, the police would be seeing off one its most experienced officers after spending 31 years of his 60 years serving his country.

The Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Mr Emmanuel Ayeni Oladipo, will be missed by the force as a cop who has traversed the rough and treacherous waters of policing Nigeria and is coming out unscathed.

His subordinates and people that know him describe him as

Mr Emmanuel Ayeni Oladipo

hardworking, sincere, kind and incorruptible. He is an officer who has served the police in various capacities. He has travelled far and wide, acquiring knowledge and experience.

Emmanuel Dipo was born in Ikere Local Government Area of Ekiti State on 10 December, 1952. He attended St. Peter’s

Mr Emmanuel Ayeni Oladipo, will be missed by the force because he was a cop who traversed the rough and treacherous waters of policing Nigeria and is coming out unscathed

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1968 to 1970, he was at Okemesi Grammar School, Okemesi Ekiti. He then attended University of Ibadan for his first degree in 1976. He later attended University of

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, for his master ’s degree. He holds B.Sc (Hons) political science and master’s in public administration.

He attended several professional courses and workshops like Cadet ASP Course as well as Citizenship and Leadership Training.

Oladipo Ayeni also served in several Commands and Divisions including Cadet ASP Attachment (Divisional Crime Branch, Traffic, Counter and Administration), Oyo State Command.

He served as a DPO in several states before rising to the position of Director, Central Planning and Training Unit, Police Training Unit (Police Staff College, Jos).

From 2002 to 2003, he was Deputy Commissioner of Police, State C.I.D., Ogun State Command. He was then made Coordinator, Ports Authority,

Lagos State Police Command.

In 2005, he became the Deputy Commandant, Police College, Kaduna.

He once served in the Intelligence Unit, Force Headquarters’, Abuja.

In November 2008, he became the Commissioner of Police, Ogun State Command.

For his hardwork and crisis management and crime prevention, he bagged the “Man of the Year” Award by Ebonyi State, and also the “Plateau Peace Award” for ensuring a peaceful and credible election in Plateau State when it was thought impossible.

Oladipo is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In his leisure time, he enjoys reading, listening to gospel music and playing lawn tennis. He is a devout Christian and happily married with children.

PAGE 48—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

chimeena@yahoo.com 0802635036

Return of Life in Coal City during any art occasion.

Senator Ayogu Eze, the Chair of the Senate Committee on works was the night’s chairman, with the revered Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe as Special Guest of Honour.

Other special guests included Barr Joe Mmamel Enugu State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism who represented the State Governor, Mr. Victor Ezenwoko, Executive Director Regional Businesses Diamond Bank the ‘gold sponsor’ of this year’s festival.

L

The overall winner of 2012 Life in My City festival at Nike Hotel, Enugu

BY MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU FESTIVAL

T

HE 2012 edition of the Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) came to a resounding climax of creative beauty, gaiety, and joyous excitement honoured by royalty at the Nike Lake Resort Hotel on Saturday 27.

This 6th edition of the annual youth art festival which is the biggest exhibition of new works anywhere in Nigeria entered its final week on Monday 22nd October with a preview of the best 100 new works in Nigeria encompassing all five areas of visual art for the media and sponsors.

Elder K.U. Kalu, Chair of the Board of Life In My City Art Initiative – the CAC registered trusteeship which is the custodian of LIMCAF, briefly introduced the gathered reporters and few representatives of the sponsors to the expertly curated array of the creative output of Nigeria’s young artists before Ayo Adewunmi took the clearly impressed guests through the works on exhibition.

Then followed over the next two days, the art workshops for both children and teachers. Nearly fifty students from selected primary and secondary schools attended the children workshop on Tuesday 23 rd while over twenty teachers of art in secondary schools attended the teachers workshop the following day.

W

hile the children enthused about the works of art they were able to produce, the teachers went as far as deciding there and then to form an association of art teachers in primary and secondary schools in order to keep alive what they had learned at the workshop and to help as a formal body the promotion of the teaching of art which they admitted was being sorely neglected especially in the public school system.

Thursday October 25 was Africa Day of the LIMCAF finale week. This was the day of the opening of the novel

Photo Africa Exhibition. Photo Africa was a completely new venture for the Festival organizers. It featured an exhibition of thirty of the best of nearly seventy works entered by photo artists from around the continent which was neatly mounted at the Enugu Station of the Nigerian Gallery of Art. By this time Enugu always a surprise to visitors with regard to the response of its citizens to art occasion was agog with excitement as the grand finale and award night approached because huge billboards acknowledging the sponsors and donors and announcing the event were all over the city complementing the radio and television

,

While the children enthused about the works of art they were able to produce, the teachers went as far as deciding there and then to form an association of art teachers in primary and secondary schools in order to keep alive what they had learned at the workshop

,

announcements inviting the public to the occasion.

T

he public did not disappoint. As already mentioned it had always been a pleasant surprise to see the size of audiences especially at the Festival’s final events over the past five years. This year’s and 6th edition of the festival award night was, not only no exception, it exceeded anything this reporter has seen anywhere in Nigeria

presentation came to a climax with the progressive announcement of the five top winners with Miss Mariagorreti Eze of the IMT, Enugu emerging the totally overwhelmed toast of the festival as winner of the overall first prize of N500,000 (five hundred thousand naira) with her work, rejuvenation.

Earlier in the evening, Senator Eze his opening remarks had enthused about the great future awaiting the festival after the pioneering work of the founder, Chief Oji and the Chair of the Board, Elder Kalu and others. He promised to bring in four sponsors for the 2013 edition and urged the organizers to take the festival to a much bigger venue by including other forms of art.

I

gwe Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha ife In My City Art Fes had in his speech lauded the aims tival Award Night 2012 also boasted in the and objectives of the Festival and audience an impressive pledged his support for the restoration array of traditional rulers, of the artistic heritage of Enugu dehigh political office hold- claring also, as he called for support ers, art scholars, teachers, for the Festival that “My position is gallery owners and of that in no area of development must course throngs of students and young the commitment to the overall welfare artists who had entered their works for of our young people be allowed to the competition. There was also a star slide”.

All in all, this 6th LIMCAF was a most cast grand finale jury of art scholars, remarkable outing. Sponsors, Diamond teachers and gallery owners including Bank, First Bank and Access Bank as two expatriates specially invited from Ghana and from the French Embassy well as Tachi Studios Enugu and the French Embassy and Alliance in Abuja It should be mentioned here that Francaise can rest assured that they apart from the founder and for five have got a good investment going in years the festival’s chief financier, the Festival. The future is truly promChief Robert Oji Chairman and Chief ising of an international art tourism Executive of Rocana Nigeria Ltd., the destination arising in Enugu and NiFrench through the Alliance Francaise geria. network in Nigeria and the Culture Department of the Embassy were especially during the early years the most important supporter s of LIMCAF. Twenty-five finalists had been invited as always from across the country with the largest numbers coming this time around from Enugu, Auchi and Lagos. As the evening wore on and the finalists were lined up in no particular order, the jury explained how they had been chosen through their chairman, renowned art teacher Professor Jerry Buhari of the Ahmadu Bello University. Going up Secondary school students at one of theart workshops from the consothat marked the occasion. lation prize winners his

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 49

I come from a catholic home where ‘sex’ wasn’t a word—Chika Unigwe

,

themes would have haunted me had I remained in Nigeria. What I do know is that I would have still written. And

Belgian married and Nigerian born writer, Chika Unigwe last week in Lagos became the second Diaspora writer to win Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas, NLNG $100,000 prize for literature. Her entry, On Black Sister Street, which explores sexual slavery and other precarious situations of women floored Olusshola Olugbesan’s Only A Canvass and Ngozi Achebe’s Onaedo:The Blacksmith’s Daughter to clinch the coveted literary prize. In this interview, the serial award winning writer fielded questions about the book and her perception of the prize. Excerpt: What is your candid assessment of the NLNG Prize ? think the LNG Prize is a gener ous initiative, which not only ena bles LNG to plough back into the community, but promotes Nigerian literature as well as encourages it.

Do you think the prize contest has significantly impacted on the development of literature in Nigeria?

I think it does , if only for the fact that many people are encouraged to read the shortlisted books, many more people are introduced to books they might not have heard of and many more are encouraged to write. With the emphasis of the jury on overall packaging, writers and publishers are encouraged to produce works that can stand alongside books written and published anywhere else.

‘Besides the book party introduced

by Committee of Relevant Art, CORA for the promotion of shortlisted works for the context, do you think that winners and their works have gained the kind of popularity and exposee expected from the stature of this prize?

I am not in Nigeria, so quite unaware of the kind of promotion made in Nigeria, but on social media, certainly a lot of buzz was generated around the shortlisted works. What might be another way to promote the books would be to organize LNG shortlisted writers’ readings, a format the Booker Prize , for example, uses. The LNG could organize readings in different locations where the shortlisted books would be available for purchase. They could also organize competitions around the shortlisted books, a format the Orange Prize uses. It also gives readers a chance to win the books in addition to creating more buzz around the books.

Why did you write On Black Sister Street?

I come from a very conservative, catholic home where ‘sex’ wasn’t a word we could use. Then I moved to Belgium and to my shock, saw prostitutes behind display windows. When I was told that a majority of the black prostitutes in Antwerp were from Nigeria, my curiosity could no longer be contained. I had to find out why anyone would come so far to work as a prostitute , I had to find out their stories Prostitution, loneliness and human trafficking are issues in Diaspora narratives. How much of these issues form the aesthetic strands of On the Black Sisters Street?

Whatever theme I pursue in my works, I strive to write pleasurable prose. I see that as one of the most

I

Chika Unigwe fundamental obligations of a writer: to write prose which is beautiful, that entertains the reader. Tolstoy in Anna Karenina writes of Anna’s suicide in such delicious prose that the darkness does not completely overwhelm one.

On Black Sisters Streets’ themes of loneliness and prostitution are not the lightest of themes, but I hope the prose makes the themes much more digestable to the readers.

Would you have explored these thematic strands if you were writing in Nigeria?

I have absolutely no idea what

On Black Sisters Streets’ themes of loneliness and prostitution are not the lightest of themes, but I hope the prose makes the themes much more digestable to the readers

,

I would have written as best I could.

What are the greatest challenges that confronted you when researching this story?

I had to rid myself of whatever prejudice I might have had about prostitutes; I had to come to the women with a blank slate. I also had to get over my fear and discomfort , and go to the red light district. I wanted to feel what it

was like to be a Nigerian woman there, not as a tourist, but as a possible ‘new girl.’

Who are your anticipated readers?

I never write with an audience in mind. I just hoped that it would find a good home, and find its way to readers who liked good books To what extent do your dominant white readers connect with the narrative of prostitution, loneliness and human trafficking?

I think that first and foremost, On Black Sisters Street is a human story.

We empathize with characters because they are human like us, even if their situations are strange to us. When we read novels, we put ourselves in the body of the characters (even if the characters have human qualities but are not human).That is why children enjoy folktales where animals talk and laugh, yet they have never seen a talking, laughing animal. We also read to discover the unfamiliar, so they leave the book with a knowledge they did not hitherto possess.

We are told that you first published the novel in Dutch. Does translation from Dutch to English distort the geography and idiom of the narrative?

Every translation is a work of art. A translation approximates the original, it can never copy it word for word.

Often a translation enriches because it is doing something different to the text. ‘ Translation’ replaces the Old English word, ‘awendan’ from ‘ wendan’ which means ‘to turn, to direct.’ I think a good translator aims to direct the original in a way that the translated work remains true to the original, while at the same time infusing it with a different kind of life. I did not do the Dutch translation myself, but I am delighted with the result.

Extract from On Black Sister Street

T

HE buka was a small building, ambitiously named Mama Eko’s Cooking Empire. The billboard bearing its name

also carried weighty promises inscribed in cursive gold: delectable finger-licking dishes. an orgasmic experience. one trial will convince you! Beside the promises, the face of a man with his tongue hanging out lusted after a bowl of pounded yams. Lining the front of the Empire, cruel-looking cacti.

Mama Eko said they brightened the building better than flowers, which needed watering and love, caring for like a child. “These don’t mind whether you remember them or not.

They just keep growing!”

In the ten months Ama stayed in Lagos, her life followed a routine that began to bore her in its insistent constancy. Every morning from Monday to Friday, she would get up at half past five, have a quick shower, dress up, and take the molue to the Empire.

She would arrive just before seven.

Jangling keys, she would open first the burglary-proof door, a blue construction of security grille, and then she would open the wooden door, draw the curtains, dust the chairs, and start slicing bread for the breakfast customers. Mama Eko would come about an hour later, and Uju would be there in time for the lunch rush. On Saturdays Ama went food shopping with Mama Eko and Uju. And on Sundays they rested. There was no frantic hurry up or we’ll be late for church. Just a stretching out on the bed with the ease of a pampered cat, yawning at leisure and watching TV while Uju whipped up delectable dishes in the tiny kitchen, sending Mama Eko into

realms of culinary pleasure where she haahed and ahhhed and said Uju could not but marry a good man. Any girl who cooked the way she did was sure to end up with a good man. That was how the world worked.

It was a better life than Ama had in Enugu, she could not contest that, but its predictability, its circular motion that took her from the small flat to the tiny Empire and back to the flat, nibbled at her soul, which still yearned to see the world.

During the week, the breakfast run was fairly easy; it was slow, and many people asked for buttered bread and tea. Ama could butter bread with her eyes closed, and mixing tea and milk was a child’s chore. The afternoons were hectic. The food got more complicated, and customers were more exacting, having spent the morning shut in their offices, chasing deadlines, listening to impatient bosses tell them what to do. They came to the canteen for a world far removed from their offices. They wanted their fufu to be the right consistency, the soup to be just right, and would complain if it was not.

“Ah, Mama Eko, this fufu dey like water oo.”

“Sister Ama, na so fufu dey dey for where you come? Dis one na for to drink?”

“Na small child cook dis food? I no go come here again if na like dis your food dey!”

“Dis food no sweet today at all at all.

Na so so salt full am.”

“Dis na soup abi na water?”

“Wey de meat wey suppose dey dis soup? Na ant you give me make I chop?”

Ama and Mama Eko would apologize, promising better food; blaming inclement weather or the time of the month for the fall in standard of the food; offering an extra piece of meat, a bottle of something to drink.

Any incentive to keep the customer happy. Ama looked forward to the customers, for sometimes they came with bits of her dream. Reminding her of what she might otherwise have forgotten, keeping her on her toes, so that she could never be complacent: young women slinging expensive handbags, coming in from the bank on their lunch break. Sometimes they came ac- companied by eager young men in suits and ties. But mostly they came alone, bringing into the buka the sweet-smelling fragrances of perfume and freedom. And the elegance of perfectly groomed nails and expensive hair extensions. Ama spoke to them.

She always spoke to them. They had a charm that pulled her, so that after she had taken their order, noting it in meticulous handwriting on a sheet of paper, she hovered around.

“Sister, your hair is very well done.

Where did you have it fixed?” “Oh, thank you. Headmaster ’s. I always go to Headmaster ’s.” Ama could see the smugness in their eyes as they announced the salon, lifting hands with painted nails to the hair, touching it as if in reassurance that it was indeed well done. Ama could not afford the exorbitant rates charged by the hairdressers at Headmaster ’s.

She always got her extensions fixed at small salons, cubicles with one hairdresser or two, who charged her sixty

naira for their labor.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

ART BRIEFS

Historical analysis of Trade and Transport in the Lower Niger

BY CALEB AYANSIN A ANSINA

BY LAJA THOMAS

REVIEW

E

VER since the publication in 1956 of Professor Kenneth Onwuka Dike’s Trade and Politics in the Niger Delta: 1830-1890, the Niger Delta region has been of great interest to Nigerian and foreign scholars. Most studies of the region have focused on the way in which its unique geography has combined with historical personages and significant events to throw up issues that are germane to a proper understanding of the region in particular and the Nigerian nation as a whole.

Dr. Anthony Danladi Alli’s Trade and Transport in the Lower Niger: 1830:2011 is a worthy contribution to this intellectual tradition. It focuses upon a vital area of the Niger Delta area, namely, the Lower Niger river, which the book defines as the portion of the river starting from the confluence at Lokoja where the Benue joins the Niger, flowing southward until it splits into the delta before entering the Atlantic Ocean.

The book utilises historical and economic perspectives to review a particular aspect of the region’s economy and proffer suggestions as to how it can be enhanced.

In taking up this task, Dr. Ali performs a duty that is both scholarly and activist. As a scholar, he seeks to further knowledge and enhance understanding of one of the country’s most significant geopolitical entities. As an activist, he seeks to show how the re-

Trade and Transport in the Lower Niger: 1830-2011 Dr. Anthony Danladi Ali, Adenuga Concepts, Shomolu-Lagos,2012, pp-295 gion can rise above the current stalemate of low level insurrection, widespread political corruption, and popular disenchantment with the lamentable state of things.

The book is divided into six chapters.

The first chapter is titled “Transport History of the Lower Niger,” and it pro-

vides a clarification of the basic terms and issues that are to be dealt with at length later in the book. These clarifications include defining the meaning of transport; a review of relevant literature on the lower Niger; the transport history of the Lower Niger, and the River Niger itself.

The second chapter is titled “InterGroup Relations and Trade in the Lower Niger Up to 1997. It examines the features of the Lower Niger River; the peoples of the Lower Niger; trade and inter-group relations in the Lower Niger up to 1997; the introduction of foreign currency and its aftermath; and the Niger Delta.

Chapter Three is titled “Trade and Transportation in the Lower Niger: 1830-1960,” and it focuses upon the nature of trade in the Lower Niger between 1830 and 1960; the companies involved in that trade, the volume of trade between 1879 and 1960; and the competition among road, rail and water transport between 1923 and 1945.

The fourth chapter is titled “Government’s Effort at Developing Transportation on the Lower Niger: 1953-2011.”

This chapter examines the maintenance of ferry services on the Lower Niger between 1901 and 1997; the establishment of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) in 1997; dredging and the politics of transportation in the Lower Niger between 1901 and 2011; and the politics of the colonial railway.

Chapter Five is titled “Problems and Prospects of Trade and Inland Water Navigation in Nigeria.” The chapter evaluates the prospects of trade and inland water transportation in well as the inland transportation systems of Britain, the United States of America, the Netherlands and Germany.

The book also has two appendices, an extensive bibliography and a list of secondary sources and figures;and equally contains many relevant tables which offer a graphic presentation of the issues under discussion.

These sources are particularly useful to the understanding of relevant quantities like tonnages, budgetary allocations, expenditures, and growth patterns over time.

The methodical approach of the author to his subject is suggested by the detailed outline of his chapters given above. This methodological approach enables him to undertake a comprehensive study of transport and trade in the Lower Niger river by situating it within the appropriate historic , political, economic, diplomatic and other contexts.

Trade and Transport in the Lower Niger: 1830-2011 by Dr. Anthony Danladi Ali is a noteworthy addition to a growing list of incisive scholarly works on what is arguably Nigeria’s most important economic region. It will reward those who approach it with an open mind, and makes a veritable contribution to the commendable efforts to turn the Lower Niger into an African equivalent of the Ruhr or the Great Lakes.

VISUAL

D

R. Duniya Gambo of the De partment of Fine Arts, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has called for the establishment of Endowment Fund for Artists ‘to help lead the country attain technological advancement.

Gambo, Curator of the on going Santi Art Exhibition at the Thought Pyramid Art Gallery, Abuja made the call, while speaking with Vanguard art.

He said it is unfortunate that despite all art institutions in the country that, “it does not add to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP)”, because of neglect and over concentration on oil.

“It is so unfortunate that governments do not have endowment for Artists, they are always on their own, and we are encouraging government again to institute endowment for artists to give them grant, so that they can lead this country in to the technological drive that we are looking for.

“If you check, all the endowments we have are from international organizations, but the question you want to ask

Don tasks FG on Artists Endowment Fund is why do they think that foreign countries will bring their money and invest on our art? Instead of them benefiting from the idea of our art and culture here in Nigeria, other countries are the one benefiting from the idea and bring it back for us to consume”, Gambo lamented.

According to him, “the exhibition like this is to disabuse the mind of the people and to correct impression that religion and art work are at loggerhead, art is art is not about creating image to worship”.

He therefore urged parents to have re-think about preventing their siblings from taking art seriously as profession, “because it is art that drive science and technology, without art there will be no science. Parents should allow their children who have skills and talents to take their path”.

UK Embassy launches A Dangerous Journey to Unknown

BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

FILM

T

HE Hibiscus Foundation UK last week at Eko Hotel, Lagos, launched a unique animated film that presents the shocking and inhuman horrors endured by victims of trafficking titled A Dangerous Journey.

The launch at Eko Hotel Lagos which was the first time ‘A Dangerous Journey’ would be screened before a Nigerian audience, was presented in partnership with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP).

The initiative according to the British embassy was supported by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) the British government department responsible for immigration and control of the country’s borders; as well as prominent Nigerian dignitaries, representatives

from several European High Commissions and Embassies and government officials.

UKBA will regularly monitor the scheme and evaluate how successful it is in educating and deterring the young women who are most vulnerable to people-traffickers.

A Dangerous Journey was commissioned by Olga Heaven, founder of the Hibiscus Foundation as part of a new campaign which focuses on using the short animation to educate women and girls in Nigeria about the dangers of people-trafficking.

The animation is based on the truelife story of a young girl who fell victim to the techniques used by traffickers, whose ‘Dangerous Journey’ began when she accepted a free flight to the UK. Rather than freedom, she was locked up, instead of an education she was forced into prostitution and instead of a better life she ended up frightened and alone. She eventually managed to escape - most do not!

Atamu awards first set of scholarships

A

LL roads lead to Agbarho, Delta State, as pan-Urhobo group of professionals in Lagos, Atamu Social Klub of Nigeria (ASKN), gives scholarship to 10 indigent but brilliant Urhobo students on Saturday, November 24.

According to Fidelis Odia, chairman of the Awards Committee, the students emerged after a rigorous screening and interview process conducted by a panel of respected academics at Delta State University, Abraka comprising Prof. (Mrs.) Rose Aziza, Dr. Sunny Ahwefeada and E. M. Darah, and another in Lagos made up of Dr. Thomas Evwierhoma, Dr. Anthony Okeregbe and Innocent Towurhor.

Disclosing that the students would be given the scholarships at an awards ceremony scheduled for the Palace of

the Osu Ivie of Agbarho, Odia explained that the awardees would constitute the first set of indigent but brilliant Urhobo students to be granted scholarships by Atamu.

While the awards ceremony would be chaired by Chief Michael Omeru, chairman of Niger Construction Company, he added, Dr. Sunny Awhefeada of the Department of English and Literary Studies, Delsu, would examine the “Role of Socio-Cultural Institutions in the Development and Growth of Education”.

Odia added that the maiden edition of the Atamu Annual Scholarship Awards was planned as a test-run exercise to kick-start the full activation of the Atamu Education Endowment Fund instituted during the tenure of former president of the club, Obaro Osah.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER, 11, 2012, PAGE 51

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52 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

to December 9 in Lagos due to lack of funds.

Sources close to the Edo State Sports Council in Benin city revealed that Governor Oshiomhole is playing hide and seek with the athletes as he has refused to approve funds for the National Sports Festival that is 17 days away.

The source who pleaded anonymity stated that the athletes and officials are cautiously optimistic over their participation as they are yet to resume camp and the governor also keeping mute over their fate, adding that all appeals through the Commissioner for Sports, Miss Anita Evbuomwan to the governor has not yielded any fruits.

“Only last week the commissioner told us during a meeting with the coaches that the governor has not approved funds for the festival because she failed to provide answer to his inquiry on how many gold medals the state could win at the Lagos festival”, the source said.

The former national coach said the athletes and coaches are agitated because there is no more time for preparation.

“If by now nothing is on ground for the festival and we are not in camp, does the governor expect miracles from us. Without adequate preparations, we may not be able to even retain the third position we took in Port Harcourt”, he stressed.

Eko 2012: Edo athletes unsure of participation

•As Governor Oshiomhole delays funds

BY OSARETIN EMUZE

T

HERE are strong indications that Edo State, third place finisher in the 2011 National Sports Festival, tagged Garden City Games may not take part in this year’s event scheduled for November 27

•Governor Adams Oshiomhole

Massari donates equipment to Commissaires’ Association

A

N Italian and cycling enthusiast Chief Giandomenico Massari over the weekend donated equipment worth thousands of Naira to the Nigeria Commissaires Association (NCF) to enhance better performance of the cycling arbiters during competitions.

The president of the federation, Chief Alfred Ale told Saturday Vanguard sports that the equipment donated by Chief Massari to the Association include a printer, laptop, electronic timing equipment and a generator to ease officiating during competitions especially the forthcoming National Sports Festival tagged Eko 2012.

He said that Chief Massari who had earlier in the year sponsored a Commissaires’ course in Ibadan has

contributed immensely to the development, training and retraining of Commissaires in Nigeria.

“Words are not enough to thank the chairman of Massari group of companies for his magnanimity. My prayer is that banks chiefs, oil companies, GSM companies and individuals should emulate Massari and help elevate Commissaires in Nigeria.

It sad that Nigeria has only one UCI recognised commissaire in the person of Reverend Moses Iloh who is above 70 years,” Chief Ale emphasised as he appealed to all and sundry to help bring UCI instructors to Nigeria to help organise UCI courses.

Oshiomhole’s wife resurrects through golf tourney

T

WO years after she departed this world, Clara, the late wife of the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomole, will be remembered through a five-star golf tournament at the lush course of the UBTH (University of Benin Teaching Hospital) Golf Club in Benin.

Event date is December 8 and 9.

Interestingly, the game put together for late Madam Clara will be signaling the first Pro-Am event the club will be hosting since its inception some six years ago. The members of the club amounting to well over 300 golfers are eagerly awaiting the sumptuous tourney.

The Captain of the Club, Professor Waziri Erameh, informed that in as much as the club was eager to remember the late Governor’s wife through a grand event,

the overall success of the event would be determined by efforts from Hon. Dan Mayuku’s Evergreen concept and support from Action Congress big wig, Osagie IzeIyamu.

However, the Chairman of the event’s Organizing Committee, General Inienger, disclosed that his Committee is set to play host to an unprecedented tournament in the history of the club and that nothing short of total success will do.

“We are all set”, Inienger said with all confidence only a General can muster. “I can tell you professional golfers in the country will participate.”

African Masters: Onyali eager to relive rivalry with Ojokolo

BY BEN EFE

F

ORMER African sprints champion, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi has declared that she was eagerly looking forward to racing against arch rival Endurance Ojokolo during the Africa Masters Championships billed for May 2013.

Onyali, Nigeria’s most decorated athlete in the twilight of her career, battled hard to keep young, up and coming Ojokolo at bay. The rivalry came to a head at the 2003 All Africa Games in Abuja, where Onyali beat Ojokolo to the gold in the Women’s 100m.

“I’m excited about running at the African Masters Championships. And most definitely I will love to race

against Ojokolo. Perhaps when the younger ones see us perform they will want to go and replicate it as they participate actively,” Onyali stated.

She submitted that the Masters is a veritable platform for retired athletes to keep fit.

“Sports is a life saver. More participation in it as a retired athlete means less trip to the hospital.

We the former athletes are very happy that we are having a platform like this to compete.

At the last All Nigeria/Cross River Championships in Calabar, we had a mock run. A lot of athletes turned up and things have picked up,” said Onyali, who is a member of the Confederation of Africa Athletics Athletes Commission.

Regina George faces booze charges

U

P and coming Nigerian 400m runner is fast carving a reputation for herself as a bad girl. She will appear in court on December 14 to face a drunken charge.

The athlete who represented Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympics was arrested by the police after she was found wandering.

The police officer said he found George, walking south on Gregg Avenue. The police report said George, 21, appeared unsteady on her feet with bloodshot and watery eyes.

George was booked into the Washington County Detention Center shortly before noon and faces charges of public intoxication, obstructing governmental operations, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to Washington County Sheriff ’s Office website. “”We are aware of the situation with Regina and are disappointed that she put herself in that position,” said Lance Harter, the Razorbacks women track and field coach. “We are continuing to gather the facts and will take appropriate action once we have that information.”

This will not be the first time George is

getting herself into trouble. She was arrested in March 2011 for allegedly fighting basketball player Chrisstasia Walter, over a man.

•Regina George

World discus champion faces life ban for doping

W

ORLD discus champion Darya Pishchalnikova of Russia could face a life ban from the sport if she is found guilty of taking a prohibitive substance. RUSADA executive director Nikita Kamayev said the World AntiDoping Agency (WADA) was conducting an investigation after one of Pishchalnikova’s samples tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

“WADA asked RUSADA to take a sample from Pishchalnikova. The test found the presence of a heavy substance (anabolic steroid),” Kamayev was quoted as saying by local media.

“The test came out positive - it’s a fact

and now we must wait for the official statement.”

Pishchalnikova, who won the 2011 discus world title in Daegu, South Korea, and finished second at the London Olympics this year, proclaimed her innocence and requested analysis of the B sample.

She has already served a doping ban of two years nine months from July 2008 to April 2011.

The 27-year-old was among seven leading female Russian athletes found guilty of manipulating drug samples before the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 11, 2012, PAGE 53

C M Y K

PAGE 54—SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

C M Y K

Francis promises good outing against Venezuela

S

UPER Eagles’ left back, Benjamin Francis said he will give his best against Venezuela in Wednesday’s international friendly in Miami, Florida, United States of America.

Francis is among the nine domestic Eagles listed for the friendly tie against the Venezuelans by assistant coach, Dan Amokachi after the side 31 win against an amateur

side, Water FC of Abuja on yesterday.

The Heartland strongman said though he is excited with making the cut what is important is Eagles’ victory in November 15 encounter.

“Everybody gave his best in camp to be in the squad to face Venezuela and we know not all of us will make the list given the pegged number by the coaches.

“So for those who made the list and those who didn’t we’re united on Eagles’ victory. That’s the atmosphere when the list was read out.

“I’m just lucky to be listed, I’ll do my best to earn a final shirt and ensure we have a good game against Venezuela. So we’re looking forward to picking a resounding victory,” he said.

The encounter is a buildup game for Eagles’ 2013 Afcon campaign in South Africa. Other domestic Eagles who made the list include Chigozie Agbim, Godfrey Oboabona, Azubuike Egwuekwe, Solomon Kwambe, Umar Zango, Henry Uche, Sunday Mba and Ejike Uzoenyi. They will be joined by 11 foreign-based players earlier announced.

GOLF... From left to right, one of Nigeria’s representative to the World Golfers Championship, Usenobong Akpabio, Sales and Distribution Executive, MTN, Omatshola Barrow and another golfer, Uko Orok at the Nigerian Food and Entertainment night held during the just concluded MTN World Golfers Championship in Durban, South Africa.

13 clubs register for National Scrabble Club finals •As NSF honours Gov Akpabio

A

RRANGEMENTS have reached advanced stage for the conferment of Grand Patron on the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Chief Godswill Akpabio by the Nigeria Scrabble Federation, NSF during the National Club Finals holding in Abuja November 1518, 2012.

President of the NSF, Chief Toke Aka who disclosed this at the weekend said, “The investiture of the Governor will be at

the closing ceremony of the club finals on the 18th of November in Nicon Luxury Hotel in Abuja.”

Meanwhile, a total of 13 clubs have indicated their willingness to be in Abuja for the championship, Faruq Baba-Inna, Chairman Technical Sub-Committee of the NSF said, adding that two other clubs from Warri and Sapele are still being awaited.

The clubs which have already entered for the

Club Finals include Benin and Abeokuta Scrabble Clubs, Central Scrabble Club, Pyramid Scrabble Club, Uyo Scrabble Club, Confluence Scrabble Club, Ibadan Scrabble Club and Surulere Scrabble Club.

Others are Gusau and Kano Scrabble Clubs as well as Shell Scrabble Club of Port Harcourt and Victorious Scrabble Club.

All the clubs are required to register five players and two reserves each.

Martins talks tough as Real visit Levante

O

BAFEMI Martins, just given a chance to don the Super Eagles jersey again by Stephen Keshi, has promised Real Madrid a tough time as the La Liga champions visit Levante today.

Madrid eager to close up against rivals Barcelona on the log are hoping for a win at Levante, where they have not won for more than four years.

Martins who has scored four goals from five matches stated that Real Madrid will want to win to end their miserable run at the Ciutat de Valencia, but Levante will fight hard. “Real Madrid C M Y K

are coming to our home to win, because they lost last year,” Martins told reporters.

“We expect a war, because this year they want to do better, but we have to play our own game.”

The 28-year-old striker refused to discuss who of him and Cristiano Ronaldo was faster, but said that he hopes his team-mate Sergio Ballesteros can get the better of the Portuguese ace just like the last time around.

“Ronaldo is a great player, one of the best in the world, though I wouldn’t like to say if he’s first or second.

•Obafemi Martins “We are both fast forwards, but surely we will not face each other because I am not a defender. Hopefully [Sergio] Ballesteros will do the same as last year.”

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012 — 55

Much Ado about retreats and summits R

ECENTLY former Governor of old Bendel State, Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia celebrated his 80th birthday and I don’t know what Edo and Delta States did to celebrate the man that made their domain the talk of the nation, especially in sports.

Dr Ogbemudia, no doubt will be a very sad man today when sports is mentioned in the two States, Edo and Delta because what we have there today is a shadow of what he left behind some 35 years ago.

Midwest, from which Bendel State metamorphosed, was the bedrock of Nigeria’s sports because of the foundation Ogbemudia laid. He ensured that talents were discovered from schools and villages across the State and groomed into stardom.

That was how Bendel State discovered athletes like of Felix Imadiyi, Charlton Ehizuelen, Peter Okodogbe, Maria Usifo, and even our own Victor Omoregie, Vanguard’s Corporate Affairs Manager. With such array of fine athletes who got scholarships from the State, Bendel was number one in sports in the country.

Just like you have them in athletes, Bendel also had seasoned administrators like Isaac Akhioye, Abraham Ordia, Jimmy Omagbemi, Awoture Eleyae and Abdul Karim Amu among others, whom the State loaned out to the country to replicate what they were doing in Bendel in the larger Nigeria. So the catch them young from the schools philosophy spread like wild fire. That was how the likes of Mary Onyali was discovered from a mere Inter House Sports competition somewhere in Lagos and she blossomed into an African and world star.

After the exit of Ogbemudia, subsequent governments jettisoned his policy on grass-root development for already made stars with which the State, now divided into Edo and Delta, won medals at competitions, especially the biennial National Sports Festival.

Sports administrators eager to massage the ego of their governors, used state funds to recruit athletes from less financially endowed states to prosecute the sports festival. That is why you will see a Bayelsa State swimmer competing in Edo State colours or an Edo cyclist winning gold for Delta State.

With this attitude, sports took a nose dive in the States, including the socalled number one States in sports. No attempts were made to discover and groom new athletes from the grass-root.

Athletes were recruited and even sent abroad purportedly on scholarships and ferried home whenever the sports festival was at hand.

They never minded the residency clause for athletes to have been domiciled in their States for at least six months consecutively before they can be allowed to participate. Even when the sports festival was closed for athletes who have participated in more than two international competitions, the administrators who camped athletes abroad for a local competition

like the sports festival were the only ones who kicked against it.

After Nigeria failed at the Olympics, President Goodluck Jonathan and the Delta State Governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan felt that hosting a Retreat and a Sports Summit respectively were the panacea to finding the way out. No sirs.

Good as the ideas were, the only solution however, is going back to the Ogbemudia philosophy, school sports and grass-root sports development.

These Retreats and Sports Summits are shadow-chasing ventures which will further deplete our already dwindling resources.

Governor Uduaghan especially, should ask from his administrators how many athletes they have discovered since after Blessing Okagbare was ‘discovered’ or the kind of grass-root programmes they have on ground to discover more Okagbares.

Delta State is no longer talking about Oghoghene Egwero because he is already spent. Okagbare, for the governor ’s information, is not a candidate for the Rio Olympics in 2016, so budgeting millions of Naira to prepare her for it will amount to pouring water into a basket.

For Edo State, sports is dead there after the people’s governor chose to leave sports in the hands of a commissioner who can barely differentiate a tennis racket from that of badminton. Edo and Delta States cannot boast of an athletes camp like that which Ogbemudia built in Afuze so no monitoring of the athletes by well trained coaches as Bendel had it in those days.

T

he story is not different in other States of the federation. Only a few States, Lagos and now Cross River States can be said to be grass-root oriented. No hiring of mercenaries to prosecute Sports Festivals every two years like the big two, Edo and Delta do. Ogun and Rivers recently joined in the bug. Lagos is hosting the festival this year but not desperate to win with hired mercenaries.

The Delta State governor must be commended for knowing that sports in Nigeria is dead and thought of a way out to revive it. He should know that his State should begin the revival by going back to school sports and not crying for US-based athletes to be included in the National Sports Festival.

The solution also does not lie in inviting world class coaches from Jamaica and other places to speak ‘Grammar ’ for our athletes and administrators. Before Jamaica, Nigeria was the greatest threat to the US’ dominance in world athletics. How did we do it then? That is the question we should be asking ourselves today.

Instead of these Retreats and Summits, President Jonathan should ask his sports administrators to exhume from their shelves earlier works done in the same respect. The most recent are those of the Presidential Advisory Committee headed by General Ishola Williams as well as the Vision 20:2020 Committee, both done under the late President Umar Musa YarÁdua.

SUNDAY Vanguard, NOVEMBER 11, 2012

TODAY’S MATCHES Man City v Tottenham Newcastle v West Ham Chelsea v Liverpool

2.30pm 4pm 5pm

ECSTACY...

Super Eagles forward, Victor Moses gliding to celebrate his winning goal against Shakhtar Donesk last Wednesday. His former coach at Wigan Athletic, Roberto Martinez says he could have been an asset to the Three Lions of England

Wigan coach hails Moses’ rising profile Results Aston Vila Arsenal Everton Reading S’hampton Stoke Wigan

2 3 2 0 1 1 1

Man Utd Fulham Sunderland Norwich Swansea QPR West Brom

By BEN EFE

W

IGAN Athletic coach, Roberto Martinez said that by allowing Victor Moses play for Nigeria, the Three Lions of England missed a player that would have added bite to their team.

Moses’ profile has kept on rising after his £9 million from Wigan to Chelsea and Martinez who had never lost faith in the youngster stated that Moses had something extra as a player and England would have benefited. Moses represented England in the junior cadre, and despite representations made by Martinez to former England coach Fabio Capello, Moses was ignored and he pledged his allegiance to Nigeria.

“Victor is quite a unique player. When you work with him you realise he is not a normal footballer and not a typical modern winger,” Martinez told the Daily Mail.

“He is an old-fashioned type of winger, with incredible raw talent that allows him to go past people. He brings real penetration to the wide positions “Teams are so well set up tactically these days that you need players who can bring something different, and they don’t appear that often.

‘Victor is that type, though.

Even if you look at the great footballing cultures, like Spain and Holland, you see that players of this type are very rare. Victor could have been a

3 3 1 0 1 0 2

*Says he could have been weapon for England

real weapon for any team in world football.

“Football is a matter of opinions, so there is no right or wrong over whether he should have been tied to England. But it is difficult to find players like him, not just in England, and I am sure he could have adapted

anywhere.”

“If he continues to have the same impact at Chelsea, he will get plenty of chances to show his talent. He is ready to compete at that level and show what he is about.

“It is no surprise to see him playing at the highest level, and you have to remember he is still a very young man in football terms.

AWC: Equatorial Guinea don’t scare Banyana Banyana — Van Wyk •As Falcons go for crumbs against Cameroon

S

UPER Falcons nemesis, Jannie Van Wyk says Bayana Bayana of South Africa are not bothered by the strong showing of the the Equatorial Guinean team in the Africa Women Championship, AWC, which comes to an end today.

Van Wyk scored the important goal that stopped the defending champions, Super Falcons on their tracks.

She declared that having beaten Nigeria, the 2008 champions will not stop Banyana Banyana from picking their first AWC title.

The hosts beat South Africa in the 2008 final and as the two sides meet today in the 2012 final at the same venue, Van Wyk stated that statistics will not play any role in the

game. The South African women have lost all three matches they played against Equatorial Guinea.

“Yes, they beat us again in the opening game of this tournament. But that won’t matter. Obviously we were still warming up for the event and coming to terms with the conditions.

We’re in high spirits now and we will go into the final with the same spirit we had against Nigeria.”

Van Wyk believes this year was preordained to be theirs.

“I really believe 2012 was just meant to be our year. First we made history by going to the Olympics, now we’ve finally beaten Nigeria. I believe we can come back home with the cup. We will be African champions.”

Nigeria and Cameroon will play the third place match before the final at the same venue. When both sides met in the group stage, the Falcons won 2-1.

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