16 killed as apathy mars elections

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GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS VIOLENT GUBER, ASSEMBLY POLLS:

16 killed as apathy mars elections Continued from Page 1 Progressives Party (APC) whose candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), won the March 28 presidential election.

In yesterday ’s elections, violence rocked at least seven states across the country leading to 16 deaths.

Five persons were feared killed in Benue; four in Kebbi; two, each, in Rivers and Lagos; and one, each, in Plateau, Bauchi and Ebonyi.

President Goodluck Jonathan blamed the low turnout in his native Bayelsa on the nonholding of the gubernatorial election in the state.

Only the House of Assembly election took place in the state.

The European Union Chief Observer to the elections, Santiago Fisas, also lamented the poor voter turnout at the polls.

As the results of the elections began to trickle in, last night, reports said Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti won 25 of the 26 legislative seats in the state assembly for his party, the PDP, leaving one seat for Labour Party (LP).

Only the legislative election held in Ekiti.

Meanwhile, Governor Rotimi Amaechi faulted the conduct of the elections in Rivers State, describing it as a sham.

He also alleged that his phone number was cloned by some people to send text messages to APC supporters to ask them to boycott the polls, saying it was a ploy to give advantage to the PDP in the elections.

The gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wiki, immediately countered Amaechi, saying all was well with the polls in the state.

Benue: monarch, four others killed

In Benue State, the district head of Utange in Ushongo local government area, Zaki Joseph Kumbur, and four others were reported to have been killed, before and during the elections apparently marred by low turn out of voters.

This came just as INEC offices in Tarka and Ushongo local government areas were said to have been attacked by suspected hoodlums who also snatched ballot boxes in several polling units around Makurdi, the state capital, and in parts of the state in the wave

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

FEAR AND FAITH—2

By Richard Eromonsele

The truth is that the the things we fear never really exist.Their existence is only a figment of our imagination.Fear is like the shadow.The more we get close to it,the more it appears to be running away from us.This is where faith comes in.Faith ordinarily, is tr usting in somebody or something.Philosophically and spiritually,faith is seeing things not in existence as if they are already in existence.It is accepting that the seemingly impossible is possible.Faith is a counter force to fear.Are you afraid that you cannot make it?,Do you think that idea of yours is not do_able?Have faith...

of crisis and violence that affected the polls in the state.

The breakdown of the reported killings showed that two persons were shot dead in Zaki-Biam in Ukum local government area, one gunned down at the North Bank area of Makurdi and another killed in Gwer local government area.

“A young man, who was a kingpin in North Bank, also popularly known as ‘Almighty ’, was shot in the head following disagreement with members of his gang over sharing of money”, a source said.

“In Zaki-Biam, there was sporadic shooting in the main town on the eve of the election. Two persons were discovered dead today (Saturday).

“In Gwer, a medical practitioner (names withheld) was reported to have been arrested over the alleged killing of a voter who he allegedly stabbed to death after a heated argument.”

Sunday Vanguard learnt that the Utange district head, Kumbur, was killed, Friday night in his residence by unknown armed men who stormed the place in a commando fashion.

“His death may not be unconnected with the wave of political disagreements that have characterized elections in that part of the state”, said our source.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ozi Obih said, the Zaki-Biam incident was a political stampede while the North Bank shooting was as a result of disagreement among friends but added that he was yet to get the confirmation of deaths.

Kebbi: Four feared killed by soldiers

In Kebbi State, soldiers allegedly killed four voters in Bayan Dutse Polling Unit, Ginga Ward in Suru Local Government Area.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Nafiu Abubakar, confirmed the incident to journalists.

“Yes, we have received report of four people allegedly killed by soldiers. I will give you details of the killings as soon we conclude our investigation,” he said.

The House of Representative memberelect, representing Suru/ Bagudo federal

•President-elect General Muhammadu Buhari casting his votes in the Governorship/House of Assembly Elections in Daura, Katsina on Saturday.

constituency, Abdullahi Suru, also confirmed this to journalists.

He said the incident happened around noon, yesterday, as accreditation was going on in the area, which predominantly has supporters of the APC. “A ser ving Area Development councillor, Ahmed Sankezu, invited the soldiers to arrest some prominent elders in the area because he was earlier prevented from accessing the PU to perfect their rigging plan”, he added.

The Army Headquarters said it didn’t have information on the incident yet.

Ebonyi: PDP chairman shot dead

In Ebonyi State, the Chairman of the PDP in Ishielu Local Government Area, Emeka Nworie, was reportedly killed by suspected political thugs in the early hours of yesterday.

Police spokesperson, Chris Anyanwu, confirmed to Channels Television that Nworie was attacked in his house in Ezzagu where he was shot several times.

According to Anyanwu, the incident took place around 3am.

He said the attackers had asked for money from their victim, which was given to them, after which they still went ahead to kill him.

The State has had its share of political violence in the run-up to the general elections. Only recently, two people were killed in Ikwo following a clash between the supporters of the PDP and Labour Party.

Lagos: 2 corpses linked to polls

*Tinubu, Bode George bicker on manipulations In Lagos State, the

governorship and legislative elections were marred by apathy in most areas despite the significant improvement in logistic management for the polls.

Two corpses found in Oshodi and along Apapa – Oshodi Road were also linked to the polls.The accreditation and voting processes were most uneventfull in many polling stations.

There were no incidents or problems with the card reader and queues were absent as people went home after accreditation and came back to vote in the afternoon.

However, leaders of the two major parties in the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the APC and Chief Bode George of the PDP, in separate interviews, alleged conspiracies directed against their parties.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, REC, Mr. Akin Orebiyi, however, washed the INEC from all such allegations, saying the conduct of yesterday’s polls was a significant improvement on the presidential and National Assembly elections. According to him, the commission was able to come out with the improvements after internal deliberations.

Speaking to reporters after casting his vote at about 1.45 p.m. at Polling Unit 047, Sunday Adigun Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Tinubu flayed what he described as the deliberate attempt to intimidate voters against the APC. “Throughout the week before the election, there were lots of gunshots across the state. That is scary to the people and that is why they didn’t even come out. That is the method of rigging,” he said.

APC leader also alleged that the PDP-led Federal Government

relegated the Lagos Commissioner of Police, CP, Mr. K ayode Aderanti, to the level of an area commander to enable it perfect it’s plan to compromise the elections.

According to him, the Assistant InspectorGeneral of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu, took over the commissioner ’s functions.

He, however, commended the improvement in the conduct of the elections as compared to the presidential and National Assembly polls two weeks ago.

The assertions of manipulations were, however, dismissed by Lagos PDP leader, Chief Bode George. Speaking to Sunday Vanguard shortly after voting at Evans Street, George described Tinubu’s allegations as laughable.

He said: “Who said it?

Is it Bola or their noise maker? If it is their noise maker, he is from another planet. They wanted the government and they have gotten it.

You cannot continuously be lying to yourself. We are trying to rig, with whom and for what? 16 years, they stayed on the saddle here in Lagos, what is the outcome?

The people say they are tired of the APC and they are hounding them out of the system. The APC says we want to rig, let them say that to the marines, they are clowns”.

The accusation was also dismissed by the Chairman of the PDP in the state, Mr. Tunji Shelle.

The Minister of State for foreign affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, on his part, accused the APC of waging a war of intimidation against PDP supporters.

When asked if the alleged intimidation was

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GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS 16 killed as apathy mars elections Continued from Page 5 responsible for the voter apathy, he said “it could be.”

His words: “Don’t forget that some sections of our soceity were threatened with death.

To that extent, we have to take stock of what transpired in Lagos.

From the feedback, it could be responsible.”

Governor Babatunde Fashola refused to be dragged into arguments on the cause of the apathy by voters. He, however, expressed his optimism that the APC governorship candidate, Akinwunmi Ambode, would win the polls.

“I am always optimistic of any contest. I am optimistic Ambode will emerge the winner,” the governor said after voting in Surulere.

His deputy, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, told Sunday Vanguard at her polling unit at Egbeda Round-About in Alimosho that voters thought the presidential election was more important than the governorship.

She also pointed at improvements in the functionality of the card reader and other logistics.

The Deputy Governor, however, dismissed the allegation that many non-indigenes did not turn out because of the threat by the Oba of Lagos.

“He was not a politician or an APC member.

Besides, that issue was resolved before the election. I think that basically, people wanted change at the centre and that was why they came out en-masse to vote during the last election.

They must have already concluded that continuity be sustained at the state level”, she added.

The PDP governorship candidate in the state, Mr Jimi Agbaje, had, at the beginning of the day, expressed concern on the apathy by voters.

Agbaje spoke to newsmen when he did his accreditation at Ward 2 Polling Unit 009, Duala/Abraham Adesanya Street, Apapa.

Police commissioner parades Lagos

The L agos Police Commissioner, Aderanti, yesterday, paraded Lagos during the elections, spending time around Alimosho and arresting vehicles that were not on special duty that dared to come out.

Financial inducement/ refreshments

Sunday Vanguard observed some refreshments in certain centres during the accreditation process and voters alleged some youths came out and shared money to voters on voting grounds. Some voters collected the money and some turned it down. In the same vein, some voters collected the refreshments and some turned them down according to our sources.

One source said,” I cannot be bought with money. This is one decision I have taken upon myself and nobody will swing my votes to favour his candidate. I didn’t take their money.

And I didn’t take any refreshment from them.

Am I a hungry man to be swayed by a bottle of La Casera and doughnut?”

Rivers: Deaths amid heavy shootings

*Amaechi, Wike disagree In Rivers State, heavy shooting was reported in Ozuoba and Rumuolumeni in Obio Akpor Local Government Area.

Soldiers moved into Buguma in Asari Toru LGA where two persons were feared dead, also amid heavy shooting allegedly by political thugs. A police patrol vehicle, the house of the State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Joeba West, and INEC polling centre in Kalabari National College in the town were razed by unknown arsonists.

It was learnt that about 80 per cent of the card readers deployed in Okrika were not working.

Failure of card readers on massive scale was also reported in Abua Odua LGA where polling officers resorted to Incident Forms.

Meanwhile, Governor Chibuike Amaechi described the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in the state as a sham, saying they were marred by ballot papers snatching and hijacking of other sensitive materials of INEC. He also alleged that his phone number was cloned by people who used it to send text messages to APC members in the state not to participate in the elections.

Amaechi spoke shortly after he was accredited at his

ward in Ubima community in Ikwerre local government area.

His wife was also accredited.

Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. David Iyofor, quoted his principal as saying the election was a failed exercise going by reports available to him from several parts of Rivers.

“From what we saw on our way to Ubima and reports we got from across the state, it is unfortunate this can happen”, he said. In a related development, the leader of APC in Obio Akpor LGA, Chief Tony Okocha, alleged that result sheets for nine wards in the local government were missing.

According to him, they were replaced with cloned result sheets.

Continuing, he said he had directed members of the party to only vote when they see authentic result sheets, adding that he had also complained to the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, Dame Gecilia Khan.

“Our people will go and vote but they should counter sign result sheets if we must vote.

Result sheets for Wards 9, 10, 11,17,13,8,2 and12 are missing”, the APC leader stated.

“I have sent text messages to the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Gecilia Khan, and Professor Olurinde, sent by the Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Atahiru Jega.

“These are th e results we know that have been taking. They replaced them with cloned results.

We are ready for the elections. But the REC should counter sign the result sheets”.

The PDP candidate in the gubernatorial election in Rivers State, Mr. Nyesom Wike, hails from Obio Akpor LGA. About 50 heavily armed soldiers mounted heavy blockade around the family residence of the governorship candidate.

Vehicles were thoroughly searched before being allowed to drive through Wipey Junction, a very busy intersection close to the family residence.

At about 6.40am, the soldiers were emptying sand bags from one of their trucks.

Pedestrians were seen raising their hands as they walked past the soldiers who took strategic positions with their rifles.

•President-elect, General Muhammdu Buhari, and wife, Haiya Aisha Buhari, cast their votes in the Governorship/House of Assembly Elections in Daura, Katsina on Saturday, 11 April 2015.

Wike dismissed the claim by Amaechi that the elections were a sham.

The gubernatorial candidate, who said the governor should not be taken seriously, urged politicians in Rivers to emulate Jonathan who conceded defeat in the presidential election.

“Which election has he (Amaechi) not described as a sham?

He dismissed the presidential election as a sham but when Buhari won, did he not say it was an act of God?”, he said.

He accused the governor of allegedly going round some wards in Obio Akpor local government area, adding that he disrupted the election in Ward 12.

Wike also said INEC had postponed elections in Wards 15 and 16 in the local government area.

Some voters reportedly protested against the presence of Amaechi in some wards in Omagwa in Ikwerre local government area, saying he should go to Ubima where he registered.

The governorship candidate of the APC in the state, Dr Dakuku Peterside, said accreditation for the election went on smoothly in his Opobo community at the time he spoke to newsmem.

He, however, alleged that about seven members of his party were killed in Ogba Egbema Ndoni local government area. This, however, could not be confirmed from the police at press time.

He also alleged that materials were hijacked in several parts of the state.

Senator Magnus Abe, who represents Rivers South-East in the Senate, made similar allegations about Gokhana, saying the elections did not hold there.

Minister of State for Industr y, Chief Kenneth Kobani, countered Abe, maintaining that the elections went on smoothly in several areas of Gokhana local government area.

Plateau: Party supporter shot dead

In Plateau State, voting was nearly marred at the Sarkin Arab Ward and environs when a young man at nearby Ali Kazaure Polling Station in Jos North Local Government Area was shot dead by a security operative.

The deceased was said to be a supporter of one of the political parties and was engaging a supporter of another party in a scuffle before the security personnel standing by intervened to end the quarrel.

In the course of the scuffle, the deceased allegedly drew out a knife but as a soldier tried to take the weapon from him. He was said to have struggled with the soldier and this infuriated the soldier who fired at him.

The timely intervention of other security agents saved the situation and normalcy was restored in the area and elections continued.

Spokesman for the Special Task Force, STF, Capt. Ikedichi Iweha, who confirmed the incident, described it as unfortunate, adding that the man engaged soldiers in a fight when they tried to intervene to prevent him from stabbing his opponent.

Meanwhile, card reader yesterday, for the second time, failed to authenticate Governor Jonah Jang, and his wife, Ngo Talatu, at their Ladura I Polling Unit in Jos South, Local Government Area of the state.

Jang and his wife had

to fill incident form for accreditation just like they did during the presidential and National Assembly elections. Speaking with newsmen after filling the incident form, Jang said “I am impressed with the turnout of citizens.

The exercise was generally peaceful and orderly in polling units monitored in local government areas in Plateau North and Plateau Central zones of the state and officials of the Independent INEC and election materials arrived the various polling units early compared to what was experienced during the March 28, polls.

Turnout was impressive as people were seen being accredited as early as 8am but the PDP gubernatorial candidate, Gyang Pwajok, who spoke with journalists, lamented that his wife and many others were deprived of voting by INEC because of the insistence on permanent voter cards, PVCs. At the central zone, card readers were generally functioning well as hitches seen during the March, 28 polls were not witnessed in all polling units visited while voters were queuing orderly for accreditation.

Bauchi: Councillor beaten to death

In Bauchi State, the chairperson of Bogoro Local Government Area, Hassana Arkila, confirmed the death of the PDP councilor for Gizaki/Badagari Ward, Mr Musa Daniel, saying he was beaten to death by angry youths while on electoral duty.

Arkila described the attack on the councilor as unfortunate and linked the incident to saboteurs of democracy.

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 7

AMID MASS DEFECTION TO APC:

Gov. Aliyu warns against one-party state

By Wole Mosadomi, Minna

G

OVERNOR Muazu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State has warned against one-party system in the country, pointing out that it will not augur well for the political development of the country.

The governor, who spoke with journalists after his accreditation for the governorship and House of Assembly elections, yesterday, said: “We don’t want a oneparty state in the country, we want credible and healthy competition at least between the two major political parties”.

He spoke against the backdrop of the mass defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) after the opposition party’s presidential candidate, M a j o r - G e n e r a l Muhammadu Buhari, won the March 28 election.

“We must do everything possible to sustain the Peoples

Democratic Party (PDP) so that democracy will be entrenched properly”, Aliyu stated. “If you recall when the All Progressives Congress (APC) came together, I was the first person to say that, that was good for Nigerian democracy because it will put PDP on its feet and the federal sector, not only putting it to its feet but will be reorganized.

“In these general elections, believe me, you can see by the number of people coming out, like I said last time, was a kind of mobilization that was done as a result of the issues of Boko-Haram, economy and competence and I think Nigerians have

THE Chief Observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission, Santiago Fisas, yesterday, lamented low turn out of voters for the governorship and state House of Assembly elections in Lagos State.

He said this while observing the elections at St Paul’s School, Davies Street, Breadfruit, Lagos Island.

“It looks like the turnout for the elections is lower than that of the presidential and parliamentary elections especially here in Lagos.

Though it is too early to say so because the polling stations opened early than the March 28 elections.”

He, however, commended the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, for its improvement on the performance of the Smart Card Reader.

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

N

IGERIA’S presidentelect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has said that electoral

He said: “Regarding the card readers, it was much better but in other parts of the country, it depends. But the turnout was lower and we must say that there have been incidents from Rivers State and some other parts of the country. We would have a press conference on Monday in Abuja while a report on the conduct of the elections would be ready in June and submitted in July to the new president, President Jonathan and INEC.” On what could have been responsible for the low turn out in yesterday’s elections, the EU envoy said: “People may have felt the presidential election was more important that the governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections, but that was a big mistake because governors and members of the assembly are closer to the people. But the turn out has been lower around the country.”

My life threatened due to my defection to APC —ex-Delta Waterways Security C’tee member

T

HE Chairman of Egbema Gbaramatu Community Development Forum and member of the Delta Water Ways Security Committee, Mr Michael Johnny, yesterday, raised the alarm over alleged threat to his life by boys loyal to a former militant leader, following his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Johnny, who addressed journalists in Benin City after submitting a petition to the AIG, Zone 5, Benin, said his security details had been withdrawn since his defection to the APC. “What they are doing now is to intimidate me and my supporters so that they can carry arms to polling units to rig the election in favour of the PDP”,

Vice President, Arc Namadi Sambo and his wife, Hajia Amina Sambo, after casting their votes for the Kaduna State Governorship and State Assembly elections at the Swimming Pool Road, polling unit, Kaduna yesterday. Photo: OLU AJAYI.

Buhari on polls: I will prosecute electoral offenders

EU Chief Election Observer laments poor voter turnout, lauds card reader’s performance

By Dapo Akinrefon

made their point in the last elections”.

The governor was, however, optimistic that his party-PDP, at the end of the day, will make it at the state level, saying, “In this local election, people can be assessed by what they are capable of doing and what they will do in the future; based on that, people will cast their votes accordingly”.

Meanwhile, the governorship and House Assembly elections in Niger State went on peacefully, yesterday, but with voters low turnout compared to the presidential and National Assembly elections held two weeks ago.

he said. “As I am speaking to you now, my mother is being harassed and they have cordoned off my residence in Delta with over one thousand armed boys. And why I came to the report here is that the police that they withdrew were not given to me by them; so I am wondering why they will want to withdraw my security so as to endanger my life.

“I am also alerting security agents to watch out for arms at polling units because they are going to rake arms to intimidate people so they can rig the elections. And that is why they are not comfortable that I left them for the APC. I am appealing to the IGP to look into the matter and stop these people from harassing innocent Deltans.

•Says APC studying developments in Rivers, Imo, Lagos offenders must not go unpunished.

To mete out punishment on such people, he said he would encourage the setting up of a special court to first prosecute them.

He said that although he had not fully read the report of Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee’s Report on Electoral Reforms, he intended to to so and extract recommendations that could help the system.

He added that he would seek the cooperation of the National Assembly for a comprehensive overhaul of the system.

The late President Umaru Musa Yar”Adua had set up the committee, later known as Uwais Committee, in 2008, to reform the Nigeria’s electoral system.

Buhari, who spoke to journalists in Daura, Katsina State after he cast his ballot in yesterday’s governorship and state House of Assembly assembly elections in Kofar Baru “3” of Sarkin Yara Ward, Daura Local Government Area, stated that that is the only way to prevent offenders from reaping from where they did not sow.

He said that his party, the APC, was critically following developments in Edo, Rivers and Imo States in the gubernatorial and House of Assembly polls, gathering evidence to present to INEC and the courts.

He said:”I will look for understanding and cooperation from the National Assembly where a change in the Constitution or the Electoral Act is necessary.

So, for me, to make up my mind here and later try to lobby is out of it because some of them, if they are very hard, they will give me a tough time.

I will say that I haven’t read the Uwais Report, but I have read a few of the extracts from the papers, I think it is a good thing and we will encourage it.

“But we need to get a comprehensive report from the field. The running battle from Rivers, the South-East and the rest of the SouthSouth, especially by Governor Amaechi, Governor Rochas Okorocha and governor of

Edo State with INEC officials and law enforcement agencies and the Army is remarkable.

“I think it has to be totally exposed so that Nigerians will know which of the law enforcement agencies and at what levels is undermining the Constitution of Nigeria because the Electoral Act is derived from the Constitution of the country, so that in future, those who are in position will know that they are not beyond the law. I think that is what will bring more stability into the system. In view of that, I will try and work with the National Assembly to make sure that we do something about it.

“I will like to work within the system because we believe in it. I have just told you about three governors and the battle they have with the law enforcement agents in their states.

“We discussed and advised them to try and document these things legally so that it can be taken before the court and we will make sure that we register the cooperation of the court so that people who work against the law are prosecuted, especially those who have lost their immunity and those who think they have immunity because this is the best way to stabilize the system.

“People must not benefit from being lawless. You can’t be in a position by virtue of the Constitution, subvert the Constitution and continue to enjoy the privileges offered by the Constitution. I don’t think that will be acceptable by the APC. So, whether you are in the opposition or the government, you have to behave yourself. I think that is the way we can make progress.”

On yesterday’s elections, Buhari said disruptions were less than in the presidential and National Assembly elections held penultimate week.

He, however, said that the stories in Lagos and other APC states were unfortunate even as he accused the ruling PDP of desperation to win Lagos.

“I think there are less disruptions today than we

had during the presidential and National Assembly elections. I hope that it was as a result of the bandwagon effect because APC had the upper hand during the last elections. But what happened in the South-South and the South-East cannot be compared to what happened today.

“What I saw was that there was a few cases of ballot snatching in some local government areas in Bayelsa and a few disruptions in I think, Adamawa state. But that is nothing near to what happened two weeks ago. I don’t think it is up to 25 percent of what happened two weeks ago. I think that after the elections, both parties, APC and PDP will perhaps make their presentations to INEC or the courts and then more details will emerge.

“Definitely maybe because the turnout is much lower.

From what I have heard, the turnout is much lower from what it was two weeks ago.

Maybe the people just wanted a president and once they got one, they just walked away. They are Nigerians and there is nothing we can do, but to convince them that they have to use this weapon which is the permanent voters card.

“I think we should allow INEC to give its comprehensive report.

Meanwhile, as you mentioned in some of the states, especially in Rivers and Lagos, the two parties are slugging it out. I think we have to take our time and let us get as many reports as possible in accordance with the Electoral act. “I personally want to be legal about this so that people will appreciate that we believe in a system. What we need to do is to modify the system according to the law if we don’t like it and that no one should come out and do whatever he likes to the system.

“For what is happening in Lagos, I think that for whatever political reason, the PDP wants to have Lagos by all means. I have a lot of respect for the governor of Rivers state for his courage.

“It has been a long time as

you all know when at a certain time, the Commissioner of a Police virtually hijacked the state and the governor was virtually sentenced to the streets, fighting thugs without law enforcement agents to survive as a governor while the constitution made it very clear to all of us that the governor is the Chief Security Officer of the state.

“So, a lot of unconstitutional and lawless acts of the PDP are on record and we intend to make the PDP understand it and make sure that according to law, those who are responsible for that are taken to the court and properly charged. We are in this system because we believe in it and we want it to be stabilized because it is better for our country.

“If Nigerians have the confidence that their votes counts, then they will mind their own business and I assure you that there will be much security in the country.

But when people feel that they are abandoned, then they will resist.

“I think that by nature, human beings are rebels especially in Nigeria. You either try and placate them, convince them and show them that their rights are respected, you will not have peace. From what we hear about the money that changed hands in this country, it would have been impossible for APC to win anything in this country because we don’t have any treasury in our pocket.

“There was no amount of money that could convince Nigerians this time around.

A lot of them took the money and did exactly what their conscience wanted them to do, while some even returned the money.

Somehow, Rivers and Lagos were somehow seen as strategic to the PDP. Otherwise, how can APC have a marginal 100,000 votes over PDP in Lagos which is virtually the capital of the APC in the south west.

A lot of things will come out, but we want to do it basically on facts which can be verified and quantified”.

PAGE 8 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS Bayelsa: Jonathan explains poor voter turnout

•President Goodluck Jonathan casting his vote at Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

16 killed as apathy mars elections Continued from Page 6 She said :” I want to confirm the death of a PDP councilor who was beaten to death by irate youths. l am assuring the people of the state that the full wrath of law will catch up with the attackers”.

The chairperson appealed to the perpetrators of the dastardly act to sheath their sword and embrace peace, saying violence is not the solution to political differences.

“The death of the councillor is a signal that the APC is afraid of losing the electoral process. I ask for calm among PDP supporters”, she added.

Meanwhile, voting commenced in some polling units in the state as early as 9.00 am but there was low turn out of voters.

Some of polling units where voting commenced early are Elduniya, Daníyae and Lido Hotel polling units.

The Presiding Officer at El-duniya polling unit, Abba John, said they combined accreditation

and voting because of the few numbers of voters.

He said: “We had fewer numbers of voters unlike the presidential election when we had large turn out.

The electorate and parties agents agreed that voting should commence so that we don’t stay idle”.

When asked if their action was right, John said: “Though it’s wrong, INEC told us to give the voters what they want; that is why we agreed to do it”.

The APC and PDP agents at the polling unit, Kingsley Oyenka and Musa Liman, respectively, said they agreed on the early commencement of voting.

As at 10.30 am, 67 people had voted at Elduniya while 37 had cast their votes at Lido.

Meanwhile, the card reader rejected the thumbprint of Governor Mallam Isa Yuguda at Baba Sidi Primary School, Bauchi where he had gone for accreditation for yesterday’s polls.

It was a replay of the

situation during the presidential and National Assembly elections two weeks ago when the card reader failed to accredit him.

Speaking with journalists after accreditation, yesterday, the governor said, “So far, so bad, the card has rejected my thumb print again. My thumb print was rejected during presidential and National Assembly elections; the samething happened today again”.

Yuguda commended voters for their orderly conduct at polling units.

On the low turn out of voters, Yuguda said” some of the electorates believed in the Presidential election so may be that was the reason for the low turn out but I want to urge them to come out and exercise their franchise.

The APC gubernatorial candidate in the polls, Mohammed Abubakar, while speaking with journalist, at Guru Galadima polling unit after accreditation, commended the turn out and orderliness of the voters.

Reports from Bayelsa State said President Goodluck Jonathan was accredited at about 10.55am at his Otuoke polling unit in an exercise characterised by low voters turnout.

The president was without his wife, Patience.

Unlike the presidential and National Assembly polls where Mr. President was subjected to about 50 minutes wait due to the malfunctioning of card readers, his accreditation, yesterday, took less than a minute.

He later visited his mother, Madam Eunice Jonathan, at her residence, a walking distance from the polling unit.

Jonathan’s mother had earlier done her accreditation.

The president, in an interview with newsmen before he retired to his country home after the accreditation, expressed satisfaction with the exercise as, according to him, “INEC has probably rectified the card reader fault.”

He blamed the poor turn of voters across Bayelsa on the fact that there was no governorship election in the state.

He however expressed hope of PDP victory in the election.

In another development, the state assembly poll in Oruma community in Ogbia council area was marred by alleged hijack of election materials by suspected thugs.

Many eligible were said to have beaten a quick retreat to their homes when the hoodlums stormed the area and carted away election materials.

Ekiti: Voters shun polls

Reports from Ekiti State where only the House of Assembly was holding claimed there was apathy on the part of voters, as the election in different parts of the state witnessed a low turn out.

A visit by our correspondent to Ado, Ikere, Ikole, Afao, Ilawe, Aramoko,Omuo, Isan, Ise and Oye, indicated apathy on the part of the electorate.

At Ise, Ilawe, Ikere, Ayedun and Ijero Ekiti some youths took the opportunity to play foodball at open fields and street roads.

However, the election was generally peaceful.

Governor Ayo Fayose

and his wife, Feyisetan, voted at Maternity Polling Center, Afao at about 2.02p.m Fayose said he was satisfied with the conduct of the electorate.

Abia: Complaints galore

In Abia State, the governorship and House of Assembly elections were generally peaceful.

Reports from across the state indicated that INEC deployed materials in time and accreditation also commenced on time.

However, there were complaints from Ofeme and other communities in Ohuhu clan to the effect that the result sheets supplied to the area were fake. The same complaint was received in some communities in Umuahia South council area.

But the INEC Director of Public Education and Enlightenment, Mr. Edwin Enabor, dismissed the allegations. According to him, when the people from Ohuhu came with their complaint, the electoral officers posted to the area were called to bring the materials which he said proved that what they had were genuine INEC materials.

Also, there were areas where card readers did not work and the people reverted to the manual process. This affected areas like Obingwa, Ohafia, Umuahia South.

There was equally reports of alleged hijack of ballot papers at Ihechiowa in Arochukwu council area, World Bank Primary School and Afara Technical School in Umuahia.

Governor Theodore Orji, who voted at 2.10pm in his Ugba Primary School Unit, expressed satisfaction with the turnout of voters and their peaceful conduct and expressed the hope that it would be the same across the state.

Orji also expressed the hope that PDP would win the polls to retain power in the state.

Meanwhile, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance in Abia, Dr. Alex Otti, has called for the cancellation of the governorship and state assembly elections in the state, alleging that they were fraught with fraud.

Otti alleged while speaking to newsmen in his Umuehim Nvosi, Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area that the elections were marred by armed thugs suspected to be loyal to PDP who allegedly

invaded polling units, shot sporadically and snatched ballot boxes.

KWARA: Optimism amid low turnout

In Kwara State, the elections were reportedly marred by low turn out.

Sunday Vanguard’s visit to some polling units Ilorin,Idofian, Ipee, Ojoku among others showed low turn out, but Ajase Ipo and Offa maintained active participation of the voters with high turn out.

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, the APC gubernatorial candidate in the elections, and the leader of the APC in the state, Senator Bukola Saraki, lamented the low turn-out of the elections.

However, the two leaders commended the peaceful conduct of the exercise, which saw voters’ turn out later being impressive in the state.

Similarly, Minister of National Planning, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, said the voters’ apathy was due to what he termed “the lacklustre attitude of security agencies in the last elections”.

The Minister, who voted in the same polling unit with Saraki, complained of inadequate security presence in the last elections and called on INEC to relocate the three polling units at Ode Opobiyi, saying they were sited in residential areas.

Another APC chieftain, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, who voted at his Baboko Ward, said many Nigerians expect a lot from the incoming administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, noting that they were not that concerned with the state elections.

Also, the Senior Special Adviser to Governor Ahmed on Media and Communications, Dr. Muideen Akorede, who commended the people for the “impressive turn out,” told journalists in Offa that his boss would be re-elected at the end of the elections.

But the Director General of the PDP Campaign in Kwara State, Deacon John Dara, said in Ipee, his hometown, that the PDP g u b e r n a t o r i a l candidate,Senator Simeon Ajibola Ajibola, will shock book makers and win the election.

Continues on Page 10

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 9

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GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS

•Asiwaju Bola Tinubu Casting his Vote at Sunday Adigun Street, Ikeja pulling unit during the Governorship and State house of Assembly election. Photo: Diran Oshe

•Former Vice President and chieftain of APC, Atiku Abubakar, casts his votes for the Gubernatorial/House of Assembly Election, at Ajiya, Ward 2 in Jimeta, Yola, Adamawa State, on Saturday, 11 April 2015.

16 killed as apathy mars elections Continued from Page 8

Edo: Tight security, Oshiomhole laments card reader hitches Reports from Edo State said although only the House of Assembly poll held there, there was low voters turn out. The election was held under tight security. Voting materials arrived the entire 18 local government areas between 8:00am and 8:30am.

However, tension was more in Orhionmwon Local Government Council due to the senatorial election result expected from the area.

Deputy Governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, described the exercise as peaceful but regretted the earlier problem encountered with card readers. Meanwhile, the results of the House of Assembly election trickling in indicated that the APC was winning many seats in the state.

In Ward 5, Ugboko Units 27 and 28, at about 11am, there was a clash between PDP and APC youths after a former Minister of State for

Works, Engr. Chris Ogienwonyi, accused a PDP leader in the ward of confiscating over 40 PVCs belonging to some persons.

However, the PDP supporters insisted he should go to his unit, stressing that he was not supposed to be at the unit which they said was not his voting centre.

However, APC supporters countered, asserting that a chieftain of the PDP in the state, Pastor Osagie IzeIyamu, who came to the area during the incident was also not supposed to be there.

In Edo Central, suspected thugs invaded some polling units in Ewohinmi and carted away ballot papers. The same situation occurred in Opoji.

Governor Adams Oshiomhole, who voted in his Iyamho ward 10 at about 3:10pm, lamented the failure of the card reader in some areas and urged INEC to fish out the bad eggs frustrating the efforts of the electoral body.

The governor also said there was low voters’ turnout because of the frustration they experienced with the card readers.

DELTA: Controversy as soldiers impound commissioner’s car

In Delta State, controversy over the enforcement of the no vehicular movement rule on election day marred the governorship and House of Assembly elections in Asaba, the state capital, as soldiers had a running battle with motorists.

The motorists, which included top government officials, were prevented from driving to their polling units by armed soldiers who insisted on enforcing the regulation imposed by the Inspector General of Police, Suleiman Abba, to the letter.

The action of the soldiers, who raided the city, confiscating keys of drivers sent shivers down the spine of voters, as the serenity of the capital city was shattered creating tension and apprehension in the minds of voters who had finished accreditation and waiting for voting which was billed for 1pm.

In the ensuing fracas and for fear of the soldiers, many voters

took to their heels as they believed that the action of soldiers could not be predicted.

Many of the cars whose keys were collected by the soldiers were left in the middle of Nnebisi Road, the most popular and busiest road in the state capital. As the raid progressed from the Flyover Bridge, the soldiers arrived at JohnBosco, the polling unit where the Delta State Commissioner for Information, Chike Ogeah, was to cast his votes.

The soldiers attempted to seize the key of the commissioner ’s car which led to further commotion.

Ogeah, whose attention was drawn to the incident, introduced himself to the soldiers but the soldiers refused to listen to him and insisted on impounding the car.

The commissioner accused the soldiers of scaring voters away with their action.

But a spokesman for the army, who simply identified as Olaleye O., said the seizure of keys from vehicle drivers was an order from the Inspector General of Police that no vehicular movement should be allowed on election day.

“The order of no vehicular movement means no vehicular movement between 8.am and 6pm. It’s only security agents and others on essential duties that are supposed to be with their vehicles.

The issue of ballot snatching is traceable to movement of vehicles and tricycles on election days”, he stated.

“So while we were going round there was a lot of vehicular movement and we decided to enforce the no vehicular movement order by the IGP. It was announced on the radio and television. People are supposed to walk to

their polling units and cast their votes.

“Nobody has collected any PVC from anybody.

All we are saying is that your vehicle is not supposed to be on the road”.

Answering a question on distance from residence to polling unit and the fact that there were some vehicular movements during the presidential election, Olaleye said “ we are simply enforcing an order from the Inspector General of Police”.

Ogun: Man with several PVCs held

In Ogun, the state police command arrested a man (names withheld) for unlawful possession of several Permanent Voter Cards in Abeokuta during the governorship and House of Assembly elections.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident, said the command was investigating the matter.

Also, there were reports of snatching of ballot boxes in various parts of the state.

According to sources, at Westley School, Unit 002, Ward 009, two men absconded after being caught with stolen PVCs .

But, the police said they had not been informed about the incident.

Meanwhile, a fight broke out at Ward 7, Unit 20, Oba, in Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of the state as PDP agents were alleged to have been inducing voters with money while they were on the queue to vote. A PDP agent was also arrested at the polling unit.

The APC agent at the polling unit, Alhaja Monsurat Ogunfolaji, accused the PDP of attempting to disrupt the

electoral process.

She said that around 3pm she noticed that a man and a woman who had not previously been identified as PDP agents showed up with the party’s tag and started to share money to voters.

She raised the alarm and security agents arrested one of them.

But, speaking on behalf of the PDP, a former Chairman, Obafemi Owode Local Government Area, Babatunde Adesina, alleged that the arrest was a ploy to silence PDP members at the polling unit.

Meanwhile, three policemen were involved in an accident at Wasinmi area along Lagos Abeokuta expressway in Ewekoro local government area of the state.

The accident occurred at about 9:35 a.m while going on an election monitoring around the area.

Our correspondent who witnessed the incident observed that the rickety bus of the Nigeria Police Force belonging to Ewekoro Divisional Police somersaulted from its side facing Lagos axis and jumped to the other prompted the tyres to burst.

Oyo: Ajimobi, Akala, Ladoja upbeat

In Oyo, Governor Abiola Ajimobi, who is the governorship candidate of the APC in the elections; Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala, governorship candidate of L abour Party; and Senator Rashidi Ladoja, the governorship candidate of Accord Party, commended the peaceful conduct of the polls.

Ajimobi, who voted at his polling unit, described the process as peaceful and well-

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015 — PAGE 11

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS 16 killed as apathy mars elections Continued from Page 10 organised.

Akala, accredited at Ward 10, Unit 13, SaboTaara, Ogbomoso, said, “I am impressed with the peaceful way the electorate have gone all about the electoral process. I laud them for being peaceful.

Although I can’t describe the turn out as good, I believe the turnout will be impressive by the time voting commences. I also commend the electoral officials for being prompt in the various polling units. It shows Nigerians are developing with every election. I am also pleased with the security arrangement.”

Ladoja, accredited at Ward 10, Unit 6b, Ondo Street, Bodija, expressed reservation about the accreditation even though he said the polls were more peaceful than the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Ladoja complained that card readers were not working in some places, saying that at Olomi area of Ibadan, ballot boxes were snatched.

Sunday Vanguard observed that there was low turn-out in some places in Ibadan metropolis but some voters said it was not low turn-out, saying the efficacy of card readers this time around reduced queues at polling units.

Ondo: APC, monarch trade words on polls materials’ hijack In Ondo State, the people voted to elect only state lawmakers.

But low turnout, hijacking of electoral materials and violence marked the poll.

Accreditation of voters commenced on schedule while the card readers worked better compared to when they were used during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Reports from across the state indicated that the two major parties, PDP and APC, were out to outsmart each other.

Electoral materials going to Igbonla, Aiyetoro, Ilowo, Idi Ogba and Mahin were reportedly hijacked by thugs who ambushed INEC officials.

An NYSC official who tried to rescue the

electoral materials was reportedly wounded.

In Ondo East council area, a particular candidate was said to have brought thugs to the town on Friday and guns were said to have been booming till yesterday morning.

Security operatives however put the situation under control.

In Idanre, a leader of the PDP in Igbepo camp, Isalu Ehinpetu Ward, Chief Adedeji Lucas, was said to have been attacked with machete while reportedly trying to stop thugs from snatching ballot boxes for the area.

He was rushed to Hope Specialist Hospital where he was referred to the Specialist Hospital in the town.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the elections were also disrupted in three other wards in Idanre but the timely intervention of security operatives brought the situation under control.

Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who voted in Ward 7 Unit 20 in Ondo West council area of the state, said the election was generally peaceful except the disturbing scenario in Ondo East.

A former governorship candidate of the defunct ACN in the state, Rotimi Akeredolu, attributed the low turn out to the nonconduct of the governorship election in the state.

Akeredolu said that although the election was peaceful, the turn out was not impressive.

Meanwhile, the Olugbo of Ugboland in Ilaje area of Ondo State, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, yesterday, denied hijacking electoral materials during the election.

Ondo State APC had alleged that the Oba, in conjunction with his son, Abayomi, who contested the House of Assembly election in the area, hijacked the materials.

The state Publicity Secretary of the party, Abayomi Adesanya, alleged, in a statement in Akure, “Electoral materials were hijacked in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State by His Royal Majesty, Oba Frederick Obateru Akinrutan, the Okoro Ajiga 1, of Ugbo Kingdom, in conjunction with PDP. His son is a candidate of the PDP”.

But the Oba, in a telephone inter view, described the allegation as spurious and embarrassing.

•Sokoto APC gubernatorial candidate, Alhaji Tambuwal , voting in yesterday. Photo: Jimoh Babatunde

Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke casting his ballot during yesterday’s polls

“ I am a traditional ruler. I do not play politics. The allegation is embarrassing”, he said. “ I am in my palace in Ode Ugbo. I am not involved in any electoral malpractices. Its a lie. “ I am the father of politicians. I am not involved in politics even though my son is a contestant.

“It’s surprising that the APC can go to the extent of alleging that I am involved in electoral malpractices. It is unfortunate that they went this far ”.

Meanwhile, the APC alleged that the ballot papers, ballot boxes and result sheets meant for election in Ayetoro community, Ugbo Ward 2, the home of the APC candidate for Ilaje

Constituency 1, had been snatched by armed men The party added: “Also, Ilepete community, the collation centre for Ugbo Ward 3, was attacked by armed thugs; shooting of gunshots took the better part of the early hours of voting at Ilowo to scare voters away.

“The home town of Chief Omojuwa, a former director of OSOPADEC, was also under siege “.

Sokoto: Tambuwal pleads for acceptance of results Reports from Sokoto State said Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, the

Speaker of the House of Representatives, called on contestants and Nigerians to accept the outcome of yesterday elections.

Tambuwal, who is the APC candidate in the gubernatorial election in the state, said the polls were an opportunity for the people to elect those to govern them.

Speaking after casting his vote in his polling station, Shiyar Ajiya, Tambuwal, at about 2pm, he said the elections had been peaceful.

Tambuwal said the no complaint about card readers failure showed that there was improvement in the elections compared to the presidential and National Assembly elections.

The governorship candidate said: “ We have witnessed an improvement compared to that of last two weeks.

“The process of accreditation was very smooth and I have not heard of any complaint.”

Meanwhile, voting commenced in polling stations across the state after smooth and seamless accreditation.

In most polling stations visited, voters turned up for accreditation early as many had to wait for the electoral officers to come.

In Sokoto South and North local government areas, voters turned up in large number with many expressing happiness with the card readers.

PAGE 12 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

‘Why Oba Akiolu’s threat against Igbo should not be trivialized’

By Akoma Chinweoke

T

Former Minister of Interior and APC chieftain, Demola Seriki being accredited

by INEC official during yesterday governorship and state assembly elections in Surulere, Lagos.

HE presidential candidate of the National Conscience Party (NCP) at the March 28 polls, Chief Martin Onovo, has warned that the threat by Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos State against the Igbo cannot be trivialized as a proverb.

According to him, the embattled Oba is a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police and not a comedian.

He noted that the Oba even swore to execute his threat at a time that several Nigerians are being killed in intertribal conflicts in Nasarawa, Benue, Borno among others and called on patriots to rise to check such tensions to avoid more conflicts.

Igbo appeal to Lagos govt, police to protect them after elections

By Evelyn Usman

T

HE Igbo in Lagos have appealed to Lagos State government and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Kayode Aderanti, to put security measures in place to ensure the protection of their lives and property after the general elections.

The appeal came just as they demanded an apology from Oba Rilwan Akiolu of Lagos over his comment that the Igbo would perish in the Lagos lagoon, in seven days, if they did not vote for his choice governorship candidate in yesterday’s elections.

The Chairman, Ohaneze Ndigbo in Amuwo Odofin local government area, Chief Akalika Emmanuel, explained that the call for the protection of life and property became necessary to avoid u n f o r e s e e n

circumstances.

Acknowledging the intervention of the president elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, and opinion leaders from Igbo and Yoruba land, Emmanuel stated that the Igbo had sheathed their sword in demonstration of their love for Lagos State,

as well as their maturity and willingness to be each other brothers’ keepers.

Nevertheless, he demanded that a documentary prove that such threat from Akiolu would not repeat itself be made available, adding that the property of Ndi Igbo would not be unduly

By Caleb Ayansina

T

HE presidentelect, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has been asked to reduce the cost of governance by looking into the remuneration of political office holders and reduce the number of political offices, by the General Overseer of All Christians Fellowship Mission, Rev. William Okoye.

Specifically, the former Chaplain, Aso Villa Chapel told him

(Buhari) to revisit the Stephen Oronsaye-led Committee’s report on civil service reforms which recommended the scrapping of some agencies for guidance.

Okoye, spoke during an interview with newsmen, in Abuja, said the number of political offices should be pruned down in line with global trends.

“Buhari should focus on eradicating mediocrity in governance which “is usually fuelled by too

former member of the House of Representatives representing Ethiope federal constituency and chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party Reconciliation Committee for Kwara State, Hon Solomon Edojah, along with over 6,000 of his supporters, at the weekend, defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Edojah, who announced his defection to APC at his country home, Kokori, in Ethiope East Local Government

Area of Delta State, said: “How can I remain in a party where the man that was ostracized and banished by his people be selected as candidate to fly the party’s flag at the polls?

“As an Urhobo man, the more I struggle to belong to the PDP, the more the Urhobo in me rejects my continued membership of the party.”

Drumming support for the president-elect, Edojah in companied by of thousands of supporters from the Labour Party, LP and the

PDP, urged the Urhobo nation to queue behind and support Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

Welcoming Edojah to the APC on behalf of the party, the APC gubernatorial candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, companied by some chieftains of the party, urged him to bring his wealth of experience to bear in moving the APC to forward just like he did for the PDP while he headed the PDP reconciliation committee in Kwara state.

much consideration on ethnicity, religion, gender and political affiliations. The new dispensation should promote meritocracy ”, he couonselled.

“I congratulate Buhari on his historic victory at the polls; his reputation as a statesman committed to eradicating corruption in governance gives Nigerians hope for a better tomorrow.

“I will advise therefore that he concentrates on areas of his comparative advantage to move our country forward, because no one administration can achieve everything it promises.

“He should endeavour to reduce the cost of governance by taking another look at the remuneration of political office holders, reduce the number of political offices and revisit the Oronsaye Report on civil service reforms for guidance.

“It is not going to be easy, but that is the cost of leadership. Nigeria is about the most expensive in terms of paying of political office holders and we are not so rich. If other rich countries could cut down their cost of governance, we should do that as well, unless we don’t

calculated to seriously intimidate a population”.

Meanwhile, the Ohanaeze Youth Council (OYC), the youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural organisation of Ndigbo, has issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Akiolu to “ retract and unconditionally apologise to Ndigbo” over his alleged death threat to Ndigbo living in Lagos should they fail to vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Akinwumi Ambode, on April 11.

OYC said it considered the comments credited to Akiolu as “a despicable insult on the Igbo nation, home and abroad, least expected of a royal father in the rank of Oba of Lagos.”

Wellness Place classes

By Tony Nwankwo

W

ELLNESS Place is holding its maiden “Do-it-yourself ” classes, Friday, April 17 – Sunday, April 19, 2015. The programme jointly organised

by Wellness Place and Flawless Skin Managers is to

Ex-Aso Rock Chaplain tasks Buhari on cost of governance

Former PDP House of Reps member defects to APC with over 6,000 supporters

A

taxed nor demolished , no matter the direction of the victory o f yesterday ’s governorship election.

Continuing he said: “We also demand that our business premises and other matters of interest will not come under any form of intimidation now or in future”.

He reminded the Department of State Security and the Office of the Federal Attorney General on the need to determine if the Oba’s threat breaches the law, stressing that nobody is above the law “A stitch in time saves nine.

All security agencies must be on red alert now, during and after the elections. The Oba has no constitutional immunity and needs to be de-briefed. With the proliferation of small arms and our recent experiences, this must be resolved proactively”, Onovo said.

“The ‘Terrorism Prevention Act (2011) may be relevant in this matter. The definition of Terrorism in the Act includes; ‘malicious acts intended to seriously intimidate a population .

The threat is obviously

want to move forward, especially given our present economic challenges.”

Okoye warned the incoming administration against any move to cut down the meagre salaries of civil servants, saying: “Rather, we should look for a way of making them more productive and continue to pay them well.

“In any area that we have many civil servants, we can easily retrain them and send them to areas like the agricultural sector, where we need a lot of hands.

Instead of retrenching them, government should retrain them and move them in that direction.”

sensitize models, spa owners, couples, mothers, beauty entrepreneurs, to discover their skins beauty, safely-andgently on facial classes, skin lightening, night creams, spots removal recipes, vitamin serum, stretch marks removal recipes, natural supplements, home made fruit based chemical peels classes and much more.

Speaking on the event which holds at 2nd Floor, Buffalo House, 2 Allen Avenue, Ikeja , Flawless Skin Managers chief executive, Mrs. Chastmier Ejorh, said all registered participants get a goody bag, refreshments, products sampling and certificates of participation.

Registration fee is N10,000.

The first 20 participants to register get a free gift. A participant that refers 3 people to the course get 50% discount.

“Men and women desirous to improve their lifestyles, their looks and health conditions are eligible to participate. Invitations are principally extended to couples who care on how they look and how they appear in public. There will be a “do-ityourself ” session where participants will be educated on the know-how to use appropriate products exclusively to suit individual purposes from the comfort of their homes”, Mr. Ejorh says.

Mama Fadiji dies at 94

M

RS Sarah Aderinola Ayinke Fadiji is dead, aged 94.

Mama passed on to glory on March 29, 2015.

She is survived by many children and grand children including Mr and Mrs Sola Fadiji, Mr and Mrs Segun Fadiji, Mr and Mrs Dare Fadiji, Otunba and Yeye Otunba Olanrewaju Fadiji; and Mr and Mrs Tirimisiyu.

Burial arrangements to be announced by the family.

Late Mrs. Ayinke Fadiji

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 13

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS Scenes from the gubernatorial and House of Assembly polls held across Nigeria, yesterday

Photos by Joe Akintola, Photo Editor, Abayomi Adeshina, Dare Fasube, Diran Oshe, Biodun ogunleye, Nath Onojake, Olu Ajayi, Barnabas Uzosike, Chijoke Nwanpan, Lamidi Bamidele, Bunmi Azeez, Akeem Salau, Akpokona Omafuire, Gbemiga Olamikan, kehinde Gbadamosi and Wumi Akinola

President Goodluck Jonathan casting his vote at Otuoke, Bayelsa State.

President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, and wife casting their votes

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu casting his vote at Sunday Adigun Street, Ikeja

APC gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode casting his vote

Governor Babatunde Fashola been accreditated at Ward G3, Unit E002, State Junior Grammar School, Itolo Street, Surulere, Lagos Miss Lola Agbaje, Bunmi Agbaje;Mr Jimi Agbaje, the PDP gubernatorial candidate in Lagos State, and his wife Mrs Abiola Agbaje cast their votes.

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta PDP gubernatorial candidate, during accreditation C M Y K

Gov Emmanuel Uduahan of Delta State casting his votes

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS

Vice President Namadi Sambo and wife, Amina, after casting their votes in ,Kaduna State

Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala and his wife, Oluwakemi casting their vote in Ogbomoso, Oyo State

Ekiti State Governor AyodeleFayose being accredited

Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa state casting his vote at Bamaina polling unit.

Gov Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola casting his vote at Unit 4, Ward 8, Ifofin, Ilesa East Local Gov Area of Osun

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo casting his vote in Abeokuta, Ogun State

Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi being accredited

Governor Ramalan Yero of Kaduna State casting his vote

Oyo PDP gubernatorial candidate, Sen. Teslim Folarin , casting his vote

Governor Rotimi Amaechi casting his vote in Rivers State

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 15

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS

Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State voting

Sen Musiliu Obanikoro casting his vote at Unit 013 in Ikoyi Lagos

C M Y K

Speaker, Hon of Reps and Sokoto APC gubernatorial candidate, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, casting his vote

Kaduna APC gubernatorial candidate, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, casting, his vote

People on queue for accreditation at Poly Unity 001 and 002, Badagry Grammar School, Badagry, Lagos

Mr Pascal Dozie voting in Ikoyi, Lagos

Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State casting his vote

Prince Terhemen Tarzoor undergoing accreditation in Makurdi, Benue State

Delta APC gubernatorial candidate, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, being accredited

Women in Purdah being accredited in Minna

People being accredited in Lagos

PAGE 16—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

GO VERNORSHIP ATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBL GOVERNORSHIP VERNORSHIP,, ST STA ASSEMBLYY POLLS

General Abdulsalami Abubakar casting his vote in Minna, Niger State

Chief Great Ogboru, Delta Labour Party governorship candidate, during accreditation

A nursing mother casting her vote in Minna

A cross section of voters

A cross section of voters in Ose Ona Ara local Governrment, Ibadan

Youths playing football on a road in Lagos

Soldiers at a road block in Lagos

Empty road in Lagos

Area boys at a polling unit in Iju, Fagba, Lagos

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 17

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No breastfeeding for my kids

The best thing that ever happened to me —Maheeda

— Cossy Orjiakor B

C

oobs-toting Nollywood diva and singer, Cossy Orjiakor, is never one to go missing in a crowd. Not by a long shot. Her humongous mammary has become such a legend, that both men and women cannot ignore her. Though many may find her repulsive but it doesn’t seem to take any hair off her skin as she flaunts them readily anywhere the opportunity presents itself.

The Nutty Queen crooner recently took to her Facebook page to tell her fans how much she cherishes her boobs by heaping praises on God for bestowing her with such gift of life. “ I am so grateful to God for this lovely boobs. Though sometimes they are such a burden. The load gets big but I love them” she says. “ In ten years my boobs will still be firm and good because I will use sucker to pull the milk for my kids. No direct sucking. No breastfeeding” she quips. Then, she added a line that must have got some guys day-dreaming “OMG My boobs fell out again yesterday at TBS. I was so shy of myself as a guy helped package it for me. “

By KEHINDE AJOSE all her undaunted and unrepentant, and you won’t be wrong, controversial singer , Maheeda certainly knows how to get people talking about her. The mother of one has continued to show off her bare body despite claims that she would turn a new leaf this year.

In her Instagram rant recently, the Lasgidi girl said the best thing that has ever happened to her was learning how to deal with her critics. “ “Learning how to deal with stupid and good critics is the best thing that ever happened to my social media self. I deal with them they don’t have power over me” she says and adorned it with a raunchy picture that is all Maheeda like.

Cossy Orjiakor

•Sobola Sotayo

My new boyfriend is the last man I’ll date — Sobola Sotayo

•Maheeda

By TOFARATI IGE

P

retty Nollywood actress, Sobola Sotayo, might have broken many hearts looking to get on the first floor with her as she has revealed to Potpourri that she is engaged. At a recent encounter, the actress who was spotting what looked like an engagement ring told our reporter she is no longer looking for any Mr Right. “’Yes, I am engaged and very happy about it because this is my last” she says. But the ring she was wearing was on the finger meant for marriage not engagement and she was asked why. ”I don’t know. All I know is that I’m engaged, and my man decided to put it on this finger and I cannot question him” she answered.

Sobola premiered a blockbuster movie ‘Bella’ last December but instead of basking in the euphoria of success the movie brought, she is already on set of another movie of hers ‘, titled ‘Aba Ikilo’, a one-cast film that features only her.

On her experience while shooting the movie, she said, ‘Firstly, I thank God for his grace, mercy and favour to complete this project. I cannot really say why I made this movie, but I can tell you that there are so many roles I will love to play. Take a good look at me, no one will cast me as a village girl or try me out as an old woman; that is why I have taken it upon myself to produce movies that will allow producers and my fans see how versatile I can be”.

C M Y K

Cynthia goes s Morgan boobs-focial media launtin g crazy I

By KE

HIND

E AJO SE n the p a Germ st few m pench an juice staonths, Cynt especi ant for flaun r, seems to hia Morgan recent ally on Insta ting her boo have develo, the a pictuly took deliv gram. The b bs on the so ped a “Insta re of her bu er y of a new usty singer cial media criticisgram juice” st on instagr Range Rov who is the f m with peo .The picture am and call er, shared pl ed launtin h g of hee wonderingas generate it dl r asset i f her n s. ew addoads of iction •Cynthia

PAGE 18, SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

Oluchi lands Verve International endorsement deal N

igerian super model, Oluchi Orlandi has just sealed an endorsement deal with Verve international.

The super model who has graced the covers of various top international fashion magazines is currently the host of Africa’s next top model, a reality TV show that gives women the opportunity to kick off a career in the modeling industry.

This is an addition to her recent endorsement deals. In 2013, Oluchi was announced as brand ambassador for Natures Gentle Touch.

In expressing her excitement about the new deal, Oluchi stated that “Africans have a lot to offer the world. The continent is riddled with brilliant minds, and a very rich culture. I’m excited to be a part of this because I believe in Africa and I’m proud to be African, just like my Verve card”.

•Oluchi

K

I once worked as a bricklayer to survive – Reekado Banks

A

s a prominent young Nigerian artiste, Reekado Banks has worked with the cream of the Nigerian music industry including Don Jazzy, Illbliss, Tiwa Savage, Olamide, Korede Bello, Di’Ja and Wale. The story of his rise to prominence however, has not been smooth, as the Mavin Records recording artiste disclosed during a #MySuperStarStory interview.

Born Solomon Ayoleyi Hanniel, the Ondo State indigene revealed that after informing his parents of his intention to pursue a career in music and getting their blessing, he had to hawk blenders in traffic and work as a manual labourer at a construction site in a bid to earn some money to use to record.

He also revealed that at one point, a lecturer at the university told him that he will never make it after preventing him from retaking a test he missed.

His turning point came with the Mavin Records audition where he was picked out of over 5,000 hopefuls. The dreadlocked act, now popular for his ballad “Katapot” credited this triumph to God. In his words, “There is no amount of sacrifice that was enough to get me something this big.”

A

Koga Stu dios set pace with f cast ‘The ourVisit’

oga Studios, the entertainment company popularly referred to as ‘powerhouse’ of Nigerian entertainment has concluded works on the anticipated four-cast movie, The Visit.

The Visit is Nollywood first ever four-man cast movie featuring Bayray Mcnwizu, Femi Jacobs, Nse Ikpe Etim and Blossom Chukwujekwu. Funke Fayoyin of The Gods are not To Blame fame directed the historic flick.

The Visit which was produced in 2014 made several media houses headlines and got a lot of attention for several reasons; the antecedent of the casts, the quality of equipment and antecedent of ‘the director. The icing on the cake, according to movie critics that visited the set, is the storyline.

For the first time, a production house is using two world-most expensive camera to shoot and has quality members of cast.

That is huge’. Speaking on the project, the director, Funke Fajoyin said it was a privilege to have worked on the movie project. ‘It was a privilege to have worked on the project with this cast.

These are great actors in the making.

Nse is phenomenon. Femi Jacobs has been fantastic. He’s the kind of actor who gives you what you want.

Bayray has been enjoying meteoric rise and Blossom is the kind of actor •Reekado we call director’s delight. Working Banks on this project with this kind of investment is an honour. I can’t wait for this movie to be out. This is the kind of ambitious project Nollywood should do. Am proud of Koga Studios’ she concluded.

Rihanna’s DJ shutdown Club Quilox for Heineken Green Light Party

ward winning DJ Black Chiney and DJ Snoop Da Damaja collaborated to deliver an unforgettable club experience at the Green Light Party powered by Heineken held on Sunday, April 5, at Quilox, Victoria island , Lagos .The event was attended by some of the biggest celebs including Uti, Sound Sultan, Illrhymz, Phyno, DJ Jimmy Jatt etc who connected with other fun lovers in a night of excitement and entertainment. The DJs kept everyone on their feet all through the night blending international songs with that of Nigeria.This is the first edition for this year.

According to Kolawole Akintimehin, assistant brand manager Heineken: “When you have guest DJs you wonder how they will blend with the Nigerian music, but Black Chiney and Da Damaja are a good choice because they are good at what they do.

Nigerians are good entertainers and it can be seen in the awards our entertainers have won all around the globe.This is not to discourage Nigerian entertainers, but to encourage the Nigerian entertainment industry that there is so much that we can do out there.” According to DJ Bobby Chin of the collective Black Chiney: “We feel good coming to Nigeria.The energy here is amazing.”My experience with Nigeria is that of love, unbelievable love.”

C M Y K

•Bayray Mcnwizu

•DJ Black Chiney and Senior Brand Manager Heineken Ngozi Nwoji at Heineken green light party, club quilox, april 5th 2015

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 19 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

Promise and fail was inspired by a personal experience —Bokiestar

By KEHINDE AJOSE

F

ast rising Afro pop singer, Bokiestar, popular for her song Promise and Fail revealed that the song is inspired by her personal experience.In a chat with Showtime, she revealed that she made the song because there are many guys who promise and fail.In her words:” The song Promise and Fail is inspired by a personal experience from past relationships.Its for people out there to know that many guys promise and fail .People can relate to it because it happens everyday” Commenting on what she thinks about love and marriage, she has this to say: “Love and marriage is beautiful with the right person.” When asked if she can marry a poor man, she simply said: “No man is poor; every man is rich in their own way.”

From Miami with love

Why I am called the Nigerian Bombshell •Tracy Obonna

—Tracy Obonna T

racy Obonna doesn’t take prisoners when it comes to showcasing her curves. The Nigerian-born US-based actress, model, video vixen and recently, a TV host has an MBA certificate but decided to rest it for the allure of the entertainment world. Ever since she made her mark, she has become a subject of controversy, particularly about the way she shows off her sexy body.

She is known worldwide as ‘The Nigerian Bombshell’, probably on account of her voluptuous body. But since it is better to set any matter straight by hearing from the horse’s mouth, I pinged her to ask her why she is being referred to as ‘The Nigerian Bombshell. What did I get in return? Three bikini pictures you see here now. “I hope these pieces answer your questions” she replied.

•Bokiestar

Ace Roots powers Arondizuogu festival in Lagos A

s part of its effort to project the rich culture and tradition of the African people, Nigeria’s first true African Herbs Spirit mixed drink, Ace Roots recently partnered with the Movement for Arondizuogu Progress to organize the 2015 Arondizogu festival.

The festival which held on Sunday, April 5, 2015 at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos was attended by notable Igbo indigenes like Mazi Chris Okoro, President General Arondizuogu Patriotic Union, Prince Ifeanyi Dike Actor and founder Movement for Arondizuogu Progress (MAP), Mazi Eric Ikoro, President Movement for Arondizuogu Progress. Others are MC Canice Okeke, Honourable Sunny Chiadu SA to the Chief of Staff of Imo state, and Chief Emmanuel Eguim CEO Emax Motors.

One of the high points of the festival was the sampling of Ace Roots drink, which had many attesting to its low sugar content, ‘It is

my first time tasting this drink and I am in love with it already. From the taste alone, I can tell it has low sugar, which is good for me’, Pius Ihediem, one of the guests who sampled the drink, said.

Reacting to the sponsorship, President of the Movement for Arondizuogu Progress (MAP) Mazi Eric Ikoro, thanked Ace Roots for the sponsorship adding that it was instrumental to the success of the festival, ‘We are very grateful to Ace Roots for this initiative. With this gesture, the drink has really proven to be truly African’ Arondizuogu Festival is an annual sociocultural and religious event staged in different parts of the world to celebrate thanksgiving, propitiation and feasting.

According to history, Arondizuogu was founded in the 18th century by Mazi Izuogu, a slave merchant who later united with Iheme to form the Aro kingdom of Arondizogu.

(L-R) Host, Canice Okeke, Regional Trade Makt Manager NB, Olubukola Dare and President Movement for Arondizuogu Progress Mazi Eric Ikoro at the Ikeji Arondizuogu Festival sponsored by ACE ROOTS at National Stadium Lagos.

C M Y K

PAGE 20, SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015 Onikoyi68@gmail.com

I believe in tasteful nudity – Moet Abebe

By JULIET EBIRIM

T

hough born in England, Soundcity TV presenter and upcoming actress, Laura Monyeazo Abebe ,who goes by the name Moet Abebe, lived in Nigeria for 11 years before heading back to England to carry on with her education. In a recent chat with Sunday Vanguard, the screen goddess shared her passion,dreams and what makes her stand out. Excerpts...

When did your career as a TV presenter begin?

I got into the industry about three years ago. It all started with a passion and a dream. It wasn’t necessarily my plan. I had always wanted to be a lawyer, but in my second year in the university, I thought about coming back home and doing something different, interesting and a bit challenging. So, I made up my mind to go into broadcasting and I’ve always wanted to work for Soundcity.

As soon as I moved back, I did a screen test and I got the job.

Why did you decide to delve into acting?

In all honesty, I actually wanted to be an actress first.

How far I’ve gone with TV presenting now is how far I originally wanted to take it with acting. But when I moved back to Nigeria and needed to do my NYSC, there was no way I could do my NYSC with acting. So I decided to serve in a media house. I served here in Soundcity and after my NYSC, I was retained as a full staff.

Which do you prefer – presenting or acting?

In all honesty, I think I equally like both of them but acting is quite fun because today you can be one person and tomorrow you’re someone else.

While presenting is like a reflection of yourself, what you see on TV is actually who I am.

But in acting, I’m a completely different person.

Which are you really passionate about?

Because I’m still rising as an actress, I would say I have more passion for it, because I obviously want to get to a certain level. Right now, since I’m still trying to get up there, I would say I have more passion for acting.

What has fame done for you?

It’s quite nice when you go somewhere and people

C M Y K

recognise you and you also get to meet a lot of people. On the bad side, people often forget that we are human beings and we make mistakes. Sometimes, I may wear something that I honestly thought was spectacular, but it wasn’t. I’m the kind of person that if I make a mistake, I like to acknowledge it and try to change it. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past with this and other things as well, but the main thing is trying to change. There’s no point making a mistake if you don’t learn from it. Some people think because you’re a celebrity you’re not supposed to make mistakes, but it happens, after all we’re human beings.

How easy was it for you to break into the industry?

It wasn’t easy, but I really believe in faith. While in England, I kept on saying to my friends that this (Soundcity) is where I want to work. I felt that because I already had my mind focused, it wasn’t exactly so hard to achieve. When I got here, that was when the real work started, because I had no presenting experience.

I even had more experience in acting than in presenting.

As an actress, how daring can you be at interpreting roles?

I actually take acting quite seriously. If the movie is all about sex, then that’s basically just a porn flick. I’m not going to do that type of movie where all we talk about is sex. But if there’s a scene and as long as it’s not too provocative and as long as my interpretation relates to the actual character, why not?

I’m not going to go nude or anything like that, but I do believe that there’s tasteful nudity. I’m not going to do anything distasteful. As long as it’s necessary to the role, why not?

Are you saying you would go nude if necessary?

No. Take Lupita’s role in the movie ‘Twelve years a slave’ for instance. That’s literally adapting yourself to the role and whatever happened was necessary like what she went through, as opposed to just being naked for fun. So, if it’s tasteful and meaningful, why not? But I’m not going buttnaked. There are limits.

looks have contributed to where you are today?

I don’t think so. There are so many more beautiful people than me and they are not here even though they would like to be. I don’t think it’s based on that. I think I am clearly offering something, my looks doesn’t make a difference.

•Moet Abebe

Are you in a relationship at the moment?

No. What’s your kind of man?

Hardworking. I don’t necessarily want to date anyone in the industry. I don’t judge people that do. But for me and the type of commitment I’m looking for, if I’m to get into a relationship, I’m intending to get married to the person. So I need someone that’s really focused and fully committed. I’m not really about the physical appearance, I’m more concerned about what you’re bringing to the table as regards my future, children’s future and all.

Basically, I want someone who’s hardworking, has his head screwed up properly, who’s making his money and is basically responsible.

You don’t think you can find him in the industry?

I didn’t say I can’t, but I’m not looking in the industry.

Would you say your good

I want to work. I felt that because I already had my mind focused, it wasn’t exactly so hard to achieve.

When I got here, that was when the real work started, because I had no presenting experience

What was your growing up like?

I was an only child from my mum, so I grew up mostly with my mum and grandma. My dad travelled a lot. It wasn’t really lonely because I grew up in a place where there were always kids around, so I had people to play with. But at the same time, I had the benefit of actually being on my own most times that nobody knows me better than I know myself. I feel that gave me the power and the liberty to know my strengths and weaknesses. I actually had a very happy childhood. I like my childhood because I had the opportunity to play with people around and also the time to focus on myself.

Did you grow up here in Nigeria?

Yes, I was here for about eleven years, but I was born in England. I did my nursery and a bit of primary school there. Then I came here, I went to Corona School. After that, I went back to England, got my school cert and A-Levels. Then I went to the University of Manchester where I studied Law and proceeded to law school there.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 21

Close relationships require sacrifice

I

BY ONOZURE DANIA

n fact, many people include sacrificing in the very definition of what it means to truly love another person. Research has shown that couples are happier and more likely to remain in their relationships if the partners are willing to sacrifice for each other.

Sometimes, that sacrifice can be life changing, such as deciding to move to a different State in order to be with your partner.

Other times, it might be something small and seemingly mundane, such as seeing an action movie

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instead of the comedy you would have chosen.

Your spouse comes home from work and excitedly tells you that she was just offered a promotion in another State.

Do you quit your job and move away from your family to an unknown city so that she can pursue her career ambitions? Should you?

Although sacrifice may be inevitable, when the time comes to do it, it’s not always easy.

Often, you may find yourself weighing your needs to be true to yourself and why you should be the one giving up what you want? Against your

desire to be a good partner and do what it takes to make your relationship work, if this is important to him, he should be supportive too.

Sacrifice also raises questions of power.

If you are happy to sacrifice early in the relationship and your partner is not reciprocating, you may find yourself in a situation where you are the one who is always expected to give up and give in.

Over time, this imbalanced pattern of sacrifice may lead to an imbalance of power in your relationship and a recipe for long-term unhappiness and resentment.

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

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

Sacrifice is a two sided thing, while you are deciding whether or not to move across the country to let your spouse take his promotion, your spouse must decide whether or not to sacrifice his promotion in order to let you keep your job. So as you debate whether or not to make a sacrifice, it’s important to question whether your partner has shown the same degree of commitment and is now going through the same thought process.

Has your partner been willing to sacrifice for you in the past or expressed his willingness to sacrifice in the future? In the current situation, are you working together to figure out what is best, or does your partner simply expect you to change

your life to accommodate his?

If your partner assumes that you are the one who must choose to sacrifice, without assuming any of the same responsibility on his end, then think twice.

There is no need to rub your potential sacrifice in your partner’s face, or use it against them, but if your partner is not aware that you consider your act to be a sacrifice, he or she won’t be able to appreciate your selflessness.

In addition, by not realizing that you are incurring a cost for the sake of the relationship, your partner might not understand when you want him or her to return the favour the next time a sacrifice is called for.

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relationship. 07053362727 •Victor, 22, tall, sexy, dark in complexioned and romantic, needs a good and caring sugar mummy in Abuja, who can take care of him, for a serious relationship.

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Sugar Cares Searching Male • A guy, tall, dark in complexion and handsome, from Delta state, needs a caring sugar mummy for a serious

PAGE 22— SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

I miss nothing about being in government —Josephine Anenih

BY JOSEPHINE AGBONKHESE

F

ORMER Minister for Women Affairs and ex-Women Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mrs. Josephine Iyom Anenih needs no introduction. In a recent encounter with Feminista in Lagos, she fielded questions ranging from her political career to the plight of women in Nigerian politics. Above all, the grandmother who says she’s currently having a ‘well-deserved rest’ declared she isn’t giving up on politics despite the setbacks suffered.

What’s your assessment of Nigerian women in the 2015 general elections?

You know the election is part of a process that started long ago with aspirations, primaries and then the election proper, whose second lap we had yesterday. At the stage of aspiring, there were so many women. These women went through primaries but were cut down by their political parties. So, a lot of them could not scale through, especially in the bigger parties.

In the less known parties, you find more women though.

Cumulatively, only a little over 1,000 female candidates were eventually able to face the election proper. And as I said, most of these women came from the less known parties, making it hard for them to succeed.

But why is it hard for women to break through in terms of elective positions?

Such has been the situation even though we’ve been working very hard and have been loyal to our various political parties. It hurts and is quite disappointing that when it comes to elective offices, women are sidelined either by zoning, high-levies or whatever. And of course, because politics has been so monetized, even intra-party elections (primaries) cost so much in terms of convincing delegates to vote to one. So, it’s a question of who pays higher and not about competence.

Aside being an ex-minister, you’ve tested the murky waters of politics in Anambra State for example where you aspired repeatedly but couldn’t win your party ticket; any lesson learnt?

Yes, I’ve aspired several times like you know in Anambra State. In 2007, I aspired to go to the House of Representatives. Also, I wanted to be Zonal ViceChairman for PDP SouthEast. In 2013, I ran for governorship but couldn’t get the party ticket.

Looking back now, what do you think you should have done better?

There was nothing I didn’t do best. As a founding member of my party and pioneer national women leader who worked as a party administrator for over eight years- contributing financially and otherwise, and also a member of the Board of Trustees of my party, what else would I have needed to get an automatic ticket?

That’s all I needed. But because the system has been basterdised, monitized to the extent that nobody cares about your commitment, capacity or contribution anymore but your purse, we’re depriving ourselves unknowingly of quality representation. So, you can be a drug merchant, make money, come to the party and buy your nomination. This country cannot continue like that.

…and would you say this irresponsible act by political parties is why progress is slow for Nigeria?

Of course development will surely be hampered when we keep getting people who are not committed to service occupying key positions; they

...the system has been basterdised, monitized to the extent that nobody cares about your commitment, capacity or contribution anymore but your purse

will only be interested in enriching their pockets from where they spent so much to buy their party ticket. We can all see the impact of this on our society and economy.

Can this trend ever change?

It will but it will require young people for that change to really happen. That’s why I keep talking about attitudinal change because people now see politics as the fastest way to become billionaires. Only a few see political office as a place to serve.

In other climes, you find that to be a Senator or Parliamentarian is not a fulltime job but a part-time job.

You’re paid sitting allowance but must have your own profession going. But here in Nigeria, it is a full-time job!

Beside, our parliamentarians are the most highly paid in the world.

That’s why you see people are ready to do anything to get there because they know it is the surest way of becoming billionaires for life even though they have nothing to contribute positively.

What do you look forward to after these unsuccessful political aspirations; or have you given up?

Well, as long as there is life, there is hope. Besides, I think I’m too young to give up. I haven’t even started. …and what keeps you busy these days?

That’s my point. Politics should not be a full time job. I do a lot of things and professionally, I’m a lawyer.

I’m a human rights activist to start with and I have a functional non-governmental organisation. The truth is, my hands are full. What motivated me when I wanted to go to the House of Representatives was the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women- CEDAW bill, which I wanted to seriously push.

What do you miss about not being in government?

Being in government, for me, was huge responsibility.

It was a lot of hardwork and I don’t think anybody misses hardwork when relieved of it.

I think I’m enjoying a welldeserved rest. Back then, every day, I would wake up wishing I had 48-hours to a day. I was practically working 24-hours non-stop without rest and yet, it wasn’t enough. I’m actually enjoying my rest for now.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 23

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Rapists are not always strangers!

After a particularly hectic session at the restaurant Juliet works for as one of the cooks, she was all for it when Rifukat, her friend of barely a year, who worked in the same restaurant invited her to her place after they both finished work. “I was too buoyed up to sleep”, explained Juliet, “and hanging out with Rifukat was always a laugh. Back at her flat, she poured me a glass of wine and we chatted.

Then she mentioned her husband Lagun. “I’m having problems wit him’, she confided, taking a big gulp from her wine glass. `He doesn’t like me working long hours at the restaurant.

“I knew exactly what she was going through.

Several of my relationships had broken up because of my job. I was a single mum of a four-year-old and it was hard juggling work and being a mum.

Thankfully, my daughter was staying at my mum’s house, so I was free to relax. More of Rifukat’s friends arrived and we all had fun gossiping and listening to music. About an hour later, Lagun and a handful of his friends came in, all the worst for

wear from too much booze. I was instantly on my guard. I didn’t like Lagun’s friends at all.

They were young, loud and yobbish. I went to the kitchen to get myself a drink but when I got back, my seat had been taken. So, I left my glass on the table and stood chatting. Lagun and Rifukat were arguing next to me. `Why didn’t you and your friends stay drinking at your joint?’ My friend asked, `we were having a nice time until you lot turned up’. `Sorry to spoil your fun’, Lagun sneered,`but this is where I live too. I can bring my mates back if I want’. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I finished my drink and left to use the toilet. But as I sat down, someone started shaking the door, trying to force it open. `I’m here!’, I screamed.

“It was the final straw.

I didn’t want to hang around with this bunch of drunken idiots – I wanted to be at home in bed with a cold drink. I finished and went into the living room to say goodbye to my friend.

But suddenly, I was overcome by a raging thirst. My throat was really scratchy and my

heart raced. Rushing into the kitchen, I fumbled for a glass. Next thing I knew, I woke up in my own bed. My head really hurt and I struggled to get up. I felt sick and woozy. I tried to recall the night before. What happened? This was the worst hangover I’d ever had, and believe me, I’d had a few. I reached for my mobile and I’d had nine missed calls – the time was 1 pm. I was a light sleeper. I never slept as late as this.

“Then my mobile rang.

It was Rifukat wanting to know if I knew where Lagun was. `No idea’, I croaked. `I don’t even

know how I got home last night’. `Lagun took you in the car ’, she said, `you were too drunk to go on your own’. `What? I only had a couple of drinks ...’I protested. `I know ’, she said. `You were fine one minute and next thing I knew, you were out cold. It was weird.”.

I became apprehensive. I’d had two or three brandy and cokes, that was all. How had I got so drunk? `If I hear from Lagun, I’ll let you know ’, I said and hung up. Suddenly, my bedroom door opened, and in walked Lagun, stark naked! `What the hell are you doing?’, I

screamed. `Get out!’ He didn’t say a word.

Smirking, he picked up his clothes and left.

“It was a living nightmare – why was Lagun in my flat? Why was he naked? Did we have sex?! I felt sick. He was my friend’s husband.

Had I really betrayed her? I tried to climb out of bed but my entire body ached, and I felt sore down below. What had really happened.?

Falling back in bed, I h ad a flashback from the night before.

I re4membered being shoved against a hard floor, my bedroom floor, I realised with horror. Then there was this memory of a man on top of me, forcing himself inside me. `No, stop!’ I remembered trying to fight back. But he carried on. The man was Lagun!

He’d raped me! I suspected he’d spiked my drink while at their flat so he could take me home and attack me...

“Panicking, I rang my friend back. `What happened last night?’I asked, fearing the worst. `All I remember after you left is waking up in bed and wondering where Lagun was’, she replied.

Well, I knew exactly

where he was, I thought guiltily. But I simply told her I had to go and burst into tears. He was sick beyond words. When I called the restaurant to take the day off, my immediate boss, who is a good friend, wanted to know what happened. I had to confess to him that Rifukat’s husband had raped me. He was appalled. He urged me to get him arrested but I could just imagine the faces of the police men as I recount how I was raped in my own home by my friend’s husband!

And how would my friend react? Would she blame me? Accuse me of leading her husband on?

“In the end I decided to keep the shocking events of that night to myself. One thing was certain – by going to the police, I’d ruin many people’s lives for the sake of one man’s twisted actions. I still see Rifukat at work but I always dash home after my shift. And rapists aren’t always strangers.

I learnt the hard way – you can be attacked in your own home by someone as close as a friend’s husband!”.

08052201867(Text Only)

Exercise for strength and suppleness

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terms of more nourishing food, the body seems to respond to the challenges or demands of an exercise routine much better. When the food is not wholesome enough

,

I

once read some where that “the more the body does the more it can do”. I would frame the dictum a shade differently by saying “the more often the body does, the better it can do.”

When you start an exercise programme the aim should be two-fold— to develop strength and attain great suppleness.

Though you may not initially have any considerable supply of either, commitment, tenacious commitment for that matter, will soon make it possible for you to possess them.

And, with strength and suppleness you don’t wear and tear with as much rapidity. The body can take a lot more bashing and yet not break if we take proper care of it by way of healthy eating, regular exercise and relaxation and, of course, right thinking of a positive disposition.

When we make changes for the better in

it has a telling on the body.

You become a lot stiffer and you tire rather easily at work and play.

When the diet is natural and is ready for eat-

The Spread Eagle stretches out the muscles of the inner thighs. Helps burn fat about the hips and corrects a stoopy posture

The Spread Eagle posture

,

ing in its raw state or with the least cooking time, there is very little toxic waste produced, the system becomes cleaner and lighter. If what goes into the body is health-promoting, then, if you top that with regular but moderate exercise, the body responds beautifully. Muscles that were once flabby tone-up and become well-defined and joints that were stiff and creaky before become supple. Your new-found fitness will enhance how good you feel inside and that will translate into how well you relate with people and events.

Exercise doesn’t only toughen the body, it also improves the mind.

For one, it i m p r o v e s concentration (well, yoga exercise does), a veritable tool in all human endeavours.

The following are some yoga

head. Stay in the position for about 10 seconds, change sides and repeat.

You can go over twice or thrice.

Benefits: The Triangle strengthens the thigh muscles and like the Spread Eagle also promotes good posture.

LEGS AND TRUNK RAISE: Technique: Lying on your back, interlace the fingers of both hands and place them behind the neck. Breathing in, lift both legs and trunk off the floor. Now breathe normally. Stay in this position for five seconds or more.

Benefits: This posture firms up the muscles of the abdomen and upper back.

postures to help you improve your strength and elasticity.

THE SPREAD EAGLE Technique: Sit down and spread the feet as wide apart as you can.

Keep the trunk very erect and hold as far down the legs as possible.

You can stay in this position five and 30 seconds. Bring the feet together when you’re done, rest a bit and repeat.

Benefits: The Spread Eagle stretches out the muscles of the inner thighs. Helps burn fat about the hips and corrects a stoopy posture.

THE TRIANGLE Technique: Stand with the feet wide apart and then turn the trunk to the left Yoga Classes and bend the left knee to waist level, STARTED keep the right knee Physical Therapy Centre locked with the foot horizontally placed to @ 32 Adetokumbo Ademola, Victoria Island Lagos. the position of the foot. Raise both arms 9.00am — 10.00am up and clasp the on Saturdays hands together over-

P AGE 24 — SUND AY Vanguard , APRIL 12 , 2015 SUNDA

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 08056180152, SMS only

She used her friend’s teenage son as her sex toy!

N

KECHI, a divorced mother of three boys was at work when Benson, her partner rang her mobile. “I need to talk to you urgently”, he said. “What for?” joked Nkechi, “can’t wait till we both get home?”

“This is serious darling,” Benson said, “I don’t want you to hear this from any of the boys. Last night, when Christabel stayed over at the guest room she had sex with Chris”. “You’ve got to be joking”, Nkechi gasped.

Chris was her eldest, and only 17, and her friend from college was 42, also divorced.

Nkechi went on: “Benson explained that while both of us were asleep, Christabel had encouraged Chris and his 15-year old brother to have some beer with her.

When Benson got up to use the loo, he said he heard moaning noises coming from the guest room where Christabel was supposed to be sleeping. He’d peeped to find her in bed with my son. As soon as she saw Ben, she acted shocked and spluttered she couldn’t believe she had a 17-year-old lad in her bed!

“I was furious. Blood boiling, I punched Christabel’s number.

Could the nightmare be real? My so-called friend has had sex with my school-boy son under my roof? How sick can you get? When she picked up, I confronted her straight away. `You’re disgusting’, I howled. `You were supposed to be my friend and not my son’s rapist’.

But she denied

everything. `We didn’t really sleep together ’, she whined. `He was abit tipsy from the beer we all had in my room and I remember kissing him. We were both drunk’. `How do you think I feel?’, I yelled at her. `A woman of your age with your tongue down my poor boy ’s throat!’ `It didn’t mean anything” she said flatly. `You know I’m uncontrollable when I’ve had a drink’.

“What type of an irresponsible woman was she? She didn’t even understand that what she did was wrong. `If that was me doing that to your son, what would you do?’ I asked her. `I would fxxxing kill you’, she told me honestly. `Don’t you think you owe me an apology?’ But she refused. `I’m not saying sorry for something I’ve not done’, she fired back then hung up. How I went through the rest of the day at work, I wouldn’t know. As soon as my son came back from school, I confronted him. He felt really embarrassed and told me he was too drunk to remember what happened. I knew he was lying, but he looked so vulnerable I didn’t have the heart to make him feel worse than he already did.

“Things came to a head when one of Chris’s friend’s mum called me. Apparently Chris had been bragging to his friends at school that he was now sleeping with a sugar mummy. This time around, Chris couldn’t deny what he’d already

bragged about. I told him it wasn’t his fault he was corrupted by this shameless woman and he must tell me what really happened. He told me that, as well as having full sex, Christabel had performed a sex act on him. She even made him spilt in her mouth. As he described the explicit act, I felt myself growing angrier. That woman had used my poor son as her sex object. True my son had consented but she’d taken advantage of his naivety and curiosity about sex. He was only 17 for God’s sake – just a little boy.

“I assured Chris that what happened wasn’t his fault. She was the adult – he was 17 and she 43, 26 years younger than her! I thought my children would be safe in the company of a mum like Christabel – I was wrong. Quickly, I spread the news of what she’d done to my son amongst our friends and my ears almost got bent with tales of her sexual

escapade. That type of numpho shouldn’t be allowed into any home with a young man in it.

I’ll never forgive her. If you can’t trust another mum with your children, who can you trust?”

Why happing at work is good for you!

For the eight years he was top dog in America’s politics, President George W. Bush, the one time president of the United States of America was said to sleep for 20

minutes in the afternoon and was regularly in bed by 10 o’clock. As far as anyone knows he still sticks with this routine.

He is in good company.

Napoleon was alleged to have napped between battles and Winston Churchill regularly slept in the afternoon – although he would often stay up all night.

‘Unfortunately, not all top executive and powerful men get as much sleep as they should.” Sleep expert Dr. Chris Idzikowski says: “We are all working harder and getting less sleep than

boyfriend or having a beautiful girlfriend. It’s not about looking for a perfect person because there isn’t any perfect person on earth. It’s not about looking for a fair complexion or a rich person. Having a lot of money doesn’t mean that one has too much pure love.

MONEY CAN’T BUY 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"

WHAT IS A RELATIONSHIP...?..

Many people do not know the meaning of relationship or read different meanings to that word.

A RELATIONSHIP is not about having a handsome

A relationship is about finding someone who respects you, who cares about you in anyway he/she can afford, who understands you, who is proud of having you, who loves you the way you are. Who is faithful to you, who knows how to comfort you, who knows how to encourage you to be your best and who would accept the worst of you, forgive you & who will go through everything without giving up on you.

Such people are very rare to find these days. It takes God himself to bring you such person just like He did for Adam. But your relationship with God will be a major determinant in finding

we need”. So what else is new? According to a recent survey nearly three quarters of us are getting less sleep than we did five years ago.

And more than half the people questioned felt that a lack of sleep was affecting their performance at work. So, could power-napping be the answer?

It could let us get through our long days, says the expert. “Think of the brain as a factory, and sleep as the machinery that allows the factory to be productive. If you nap for around 20 to 40 minutes – you are in the first couple of sleep stages and will feel better when you wake up. You are warming up the machinery to help your brain work better.

But power naps should be short, otherwise they won’t work. If you sleep for longer, you will enter deep sleep. And when you’re woken, you’ll feel irritable. That’s like stopping the machinery suddenly when it’s in full production”.

Sadly, today ’s busy

lifestyles are supposed to be in the way of our natural sleep patterns and we shouldn’t be ashamed to nap. “In our urbanized society, we get up early and go to bed late”, explained the expert. ?”We aren’t programmed to live that way. We need a certain amount of sleep so we build up `sleep debt’.

Most people wait until the weekend to pay it off all at once. But by getting a small amount of sleep in the middle of the afternoon, you can rejuvenate your brain and pay off some of the sleep debt. “Siestas have long been a feature of Mediterranean culture.

Shops and businesses in Greece, Italy and Spain regularly close in the long, hot afternoons. In America some large businesses have special rooms containing massage chairs, where executives can recharge, their occupants, after 20 minutes are ready for more productive inputs.

God knows best!

A man was kneeling down, praying to God. “Oh, God, thank you for giving me such a wonderful wife. Why did you make her such a cook and good

housekeeper?”. “So you could love her ”” replied God. “Thank you, dear Lord, and why did you make her so beautiful and young looking?”. So you could love her ”.

The man smiled. “And why did you make her so kind and affectionate towards me?”, So, you could love her ”. “And just one more question, Lord why did you make her so stupid?”. So, she could love you”.

such person. Keep cultivating a close and personal relationship with Jesus and such person will be a gift from God to you. And If you have got such person already, just keep that person.

Handle him or her with care, be honest & contented with that person and don't do anything to hurt or let down that special person.

Remember, Relationship is a full time commitment/ sacrifice and you must be willing to pay.

Wishing you a Healthy Relationship!

Chris Onunaku 08032988826/08184844015.

My Princess

Life would have worth nothing without you there, I can't explain the feeling dear, but I know it is a true love. You are the only one. I will ever be there for you. I love you sincerely...

James N Okonkwo (Freesoul) ngesinaj@gmail.com +2348066043380

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 25

The recovered weapons

ECHOES FROM OWO DARE-DEVIL ARMED ROBBERY

71-yr-old returnee from abroad, 7 policemen, 3 bankers among the dead!

By Dayo Johnson, Akure

A

71-year-old returnee from abroad, identified as Pa Gabriel Ogundipe, is believed to be among those slain when about 50 armed robbers attacked four banks in Owo, Ondo State, penultimate Friday.

There were also seven policemen, including a woman, two bankers and a bank security official killed by the dare-devil bandits.

The casualties on the part of the armed robbers were seven of the men of the underworld who were killed in the battle with the police while seven others were arrested.

About N9.3million was, according to Ondo State Police Commissioner, Mr. Isaac Eke, among the items recovered from the bandits in an encounter with the police as they fled Owo after the operation.

Gargantuan arms and ammunition were also recovered from them.

Pa Ogundipe, said to have recently returned to his native Owo after sojourning abroad for 25 years, was reportedly hit by stray bullet from the robbers in their escape bid.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the old man met his death at Rainbow Junction near the Federal Medical Center, FMC, in the town.

He reportedly attempted to

C M Y K

look for a safe place to hide during the commotion that followed the sporadic shooting by the robbers while they were trying to get away.

But before he could find a safe place, one of the bullets allegedly released by one of the fleeing robbers hit him and he gave up the ghost.

Other victims whose identities could be confirmed include two bankers, Abiodun Olasemojo and Ademola Oyedokun, and a bank security officer, Femi Ayo. A police source said N9.3million was recovered from the felled robbers while other escaped with several millions of Naira.

It was speculated that the robbers could have been the same who robbed banks in Ikare area of the state last December paying a return visit to the state via Owo. Numbering 50, the hoodlums came in several vehicles including SUVs and shot sporadically, killing the seven policemen and civilians in the process.

Speaking on the incident, the state Police Commissioner, Eke, explained that the suspects were arrested by a team of policemen drawn from Ondo, Edo and military personnel who engaged the robbers in gun duel.

According to Eke “ while the Ondo State policemen were pursuing the suspects, the Edo State policemen helped to

block them”.

Arms and ammunition recovered from the suspected robbers include 12,000 rounds of ammunition , six assault rifles, 17 AK rifles, three riot gunners, one revolver pistol, one chief revolver pistol, 11 dynamites and 142 magazines.

Other arms recovered include two sub machine guns, six Beretta rifles, two scorpion guns, three large rifles, three dane guns, Tarakov rifle and three pump action guns.

Eke confirmed the recovery

Eke confirmed the recovery of the N9.3million cash as well as police uniforms, 33 cannisters of tear gas, police steel helmets and 13 vehicles allegedly used for the operation from the suspected armed robbers

One of the suspects

A section of one of the attacked banks of the N9.3million cash as well as police uniforms, 33 cannisters of tear gas, police steel helmets and 13 vehicles alledgedly used for the operation from the suspected armed robbers.

He gave the names of the bank raided as Ecobank, Wema Bank, First Bank and Skye Bank in Owo. The police commissioner said that the robbers destroyed two police stations and three armored personnel carriers, APCs, during the operation.

Policemen, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations in Ondo State, according to him, “put up a spirited counter attack leading to the death of seven of the armed robbers and the recovery of the arms and ammunition”.

He warned criminals who aid those who come from neighbouring states to relocate as the police command was resolute to root them out of the state.

In another development, 16

suspected militants have been shot dead in the coastal area of the state.

Seven other militants were arrested in Ajapa in Ese Odo local government area of Ondo State A cache of weapons were reportedly recovered from them by security operatives.

The police commissioner said the suspected militants were arrested with the help of Gallery Security Service and military men.

Eke said 76 suspected cultists and one kidnap suspect were equally arrested by police detectives in the state.

The police chief said that the efforts of the Special AntiCultism Squad had started yielding fruits with a view to guaranteeing peace in the state.

He described the cult members arrested by the squad as “die-hard cultists”, adding that they will soon be prosecuted.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY

Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

The health sector we need under Buhari – Oluwole, MDCAN President perform their traditional roles when they take on primary and secondary tiers functions and duties. The internal brain drain, which is preventing health professionals from taking up jobs at primary and secondary tiers, should be addressed. Unless relevant laws are enacted to enable health professionals to earn equitably, whether they work for the federal or state governments, the primary and secondary tiers of health care will remain underdeveloped.

By Victoria Ojeme

T

he President, Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), Dr Steven Oluwole, in this interview, explains the expectations of his members from the president – elect, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd).

You have seen many elections in Nigeria. What do you make of the 2015 presidential election?

The presidential election produced a seismic shift of the political structure and alignments, but the energy must be harnessed to drive development and progress rather than to drive extinction or annihilation of nonparticipating or dissenting tribes, ethnic groups, and members of discordant schools of thought. The outcome of the election says a lot about the vision and expectation of Nigerians for their country. The voting, which was for an ideal, was not a gift to a party to proceed on triumphal procession, but to get to work and fix a crumbling nation. The territorial integrity of the country, which did not disintegrate as predicted, must be preserved.

It is gratifying that the card reader won the accolades of established democracies, which indicate that we can offer the world a lot, rather than copying at all times.

Corruption and security are the major issues the Buhari government promised to tackle. Given how corruption has become so endemic in our national life and also how security has been ‘politicised’, do you see Buhari resolving these challenges?

The phenomenon of the campaign, which centred on the tested integrity of the president-elect, should not be a political device to win election, but the very instrument to govern, and truly reform the culture of ‘government money in Government House’, graft, reckless spending, and impunity of public office holders. The political capital gained by the party in power should transform the landscape and curb the rot only known in Nigeria, where a senator ’s annual take-home pay exceeds that of the President of the USA. Governors’ security votes, which make mockery of sanity, should be streamlined to reality. There must be complete reform from the Presidency to all tiers of government. A fleet of 11 aircraft for the Nigerian President, if indeed true, is inexplicable and outrageous when the President of the US officially has one, and the Prime Minister of the UK has none! It is difficult to defend allocations for meals, diesel and other expenses at the State House when the President of the US pays for his meals!

The difference between what is good for the political ruling class, which works for four years, but wants taxpayers money to purchase and

Oluwole...Health Minister must be a medical doctor maintain mansions, fleet of cars, and pay health bills in perpetuity, and that for the citizens must be rectified. The lifestyle of government officials from the President to the least designated should mirror that of the citizens like we have in Europe. The unions and labour must not become part of the problem, but must remain vigilant to prevent this golden opportunity from slipping away.

You have several unresolved issues and negotiations with the outgoing government.

Considering that a new government will be sworn in on May 29, do you see some of these agreements being implemented or abandoned by the incoming government.

The health services have moved from the mere consulting clinics status, which defined the basis for the 1983 military coup. The tertiary level health care has received remarkable upgrade in the past decade.

The present government has addressed several problems that have bedevilled the health sector, but a lot remains to be done. A major focus of the present government is the unhealthy rivalry among professionals in the health services. The White Paper on the Presidential Committee Of Experts On Inter-Professional Relationships in The Public Health Sector (Yayale Ahmed Committee) Report, which was promised within three weeks, is yet to come out three months after the deadline. It will be monumental waste of resources if this is unfinished.

What are you expecting from the new government in the health sector?

The Health Act is a major step to provide framework and structure for health care delivery in the country, but the implementation must be driven and well guided by all

stakeholders to achieve the stated objectives. The primary and secondary tiers of health care delivery must be made to function and the referral system must be strict for the health services to recover. Currently, the tertiary tier is responsible for practically all meaningful health service delivery in many states of the federation. The teaching hospitals cannot

Appointment of the Minister of Health The position of MDCAN regarding appointment of the Minister of Health is unchanged. This should be guided by professionalism rather than politics. As stated before, the Minister of Health must not merely be a medical doctor, but must minimally possess the following: Basic degree in medicine and surgery; postgraduate qualification, not necessarily in public health; proficiency in public and international health; considerable skills in administration and leadership; must show equanimity towards all professionals in the health team without ethnocentricity Staff training and development Training and development of staff in all fields in the Health Services should continue to make the Nigerian system competitive and attractive such that foreigners will seek health care in Nigeria. Government

policies must promote harmony among all professionals in the Health Services.

Research Government should initiate and support research to develop local areas of interest that international agencies will usually ignore.

Training of undergraduates and postgraduates Curriculum of training undergraduates and postgraduates should not be motivated by politics. Training that should not last more than three years or less should not be stretched to six years to attain contrived status or achieve dubious skills that expose patients to incompetent care givers.

Any advice for the APC led government?

Change must not be wholesale rejection of the past and present! There must be systematic appraisal of the entire system, which should lead to retention of the good, upgrade of the deficient, and replacement of the repugnant.

Health services should be depoliticised, and policies should not be based on demands and threats of unions or groups that can shout the loudest.

The questionable, and possibly ill-motivated, drive to privatise tertiary health care should be resisted. Teaching hospitals should not be converted to for-profit institutions. Such conversion will limit the number and category of patients that can receive teaching hospital services to those who have resources to pay. They will be robbed of their traditional values, and hindered from effective teaching, research, and development of medical services.

Arab Shuwa celebrates Buhari victory in Lagos

By Tony Nwankwo L ast Easter Monday, the Hausa/Fulani community in Lagos State used the opportunity of the work-free day to celebrate the victory of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd). Sultan Jibrin Yahaya, the Sultan Arab Shuwa in Western Nigeria, gathered thousands of his people at his home at Oluti, Lagos, to celebrate the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC candidate at the March 28 election.

Speaking to newsmen at the event, Yahaya said Buhari’s victory had rekindled his hope in the Nigerian enterprise.

“I am an entrepreneur in cattle rearing business. I have herdsmen who transverse the countryside with my herds, but now they have been out of job. I have lived in Lagos for 46 years and I have never had it so rough. Today, I gathered my people to celebrate with them, because I know that this Buhari victory will help to restore our lost glory. I urge Nigerians to cooperate with the Buhari government because without the people’s cooperation he

cannot achieve anything”, the Arab Shuwa said.

He said the president-elect must tackle corruption and instil discipline in the affairs of the country. “He must go

after corrupt individuals to save this country from collapse. If he finds me corrupt, let his government come after me and use me as an example”, he said.

The benefits of being an accountant – ACCA chief Dayo Johnson, Akure

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HE Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Nigeria has organised career talk for accountancy students in some private universities and polytechnics in some states in the South West.

Students from the institutions were made to understand that accountancy is “ a career to be proud of ”.

Participating private schools include Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State; Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU), Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State; Redeemer University, Ogun State; Oduduwa University, Ile Ife, Osun State; Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti and the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti.

The career talk took place at the Sunview Hotel, Akure, Ondo State capital.

Facilitators from the association educated the students accountants on what is required of them to be successful in their career.

Also, their eyes were opened to opportunities that awaits them in future and what they stand to gain over and above their peers in the field of accountancy with ACA qualification.

Leading the career talk was the association’s Business Development Officer, Adeyemi Akinyemi .

Akinyemi said ACCA qualification opens up a whole world of opportunity for professionals by providing them with skills and knowledge relevant to any business.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 27

The concluding part of Patrick Dele Cole’s write up on the doggedness of the Igbo race in achieving their goals against all odds.

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hereafter, another family has its plot of land and farm and so on.

There are few Igbo urban centers.

This small cluster will live near a stream for water and there are market days where goods and services are exchanged. There are four important market days and these market days are used as calendars for when one thing or the other is to be done. But, again, Onitsha is a large native Igbo town.

There is a village square for meetings, announcements, etc. But the nearer the Igbo are to people of other or even similar culture, the villagers become bigger (i.e. they are more urbanized than the Igbo).

The Yoruba live more together in villages and go sometimes far distances to their farms.

The social structures of the Igbo are based on Age Grades, especially in the bigger conurbation or cities, such as Onitsha,Awka, etc.

The Igbo have always been clever people, and took very quickly to missionary education and other aspects of Westernization.

The Onitsha Igbo The Onitsha Igbo are made up of three ethnic groups- the Igala who followed the River Niger downstream from Lokoja to Onitsha, the Edo who came from Benin and the Igbo who lived in villages surrounding Onitsha.

The amalgam of these three ethnic groups made up Onitsha which itself had off shoots in Obosi and environs.

Because of early European contact the Onitsha Igbo went to school early and embraced Christianity- protestant and Catholics. Onitsha is still a major education hub in the east of Nigeria with many prominent schools- the most famous Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Christ the King College, Holy Rosary Girls School, Christian seminaries and teachers training colleges.

This early introduction to education and commerce stood the Onitsha Igbo head above other Igbo, producing the first Igbo doctors, lawyers, professors, etc. The colonial service employed Onitsha Igbo – leading to their dominance in the professions, the judiciary, politics, etc. It is, therefore, no accident that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Justice Anyeagbunam, Chuba Ikpeazu, Ofodile, Prof. Chike Obi, Aje Asika, Sir Louis Mbanefo and a host of others were from Onitsha. So dominant were they that at one time, the upper echelons of the civil service, permanent secretaries, and leaders in the profession in eastern Nigeria, etc were all Onitsha people. There was a back lash when other Igbo people thought the dominance too pervasive and started asking for Onitsha Igbo to move out of positions. It took a long time to get some in Eastern Nigeria balances. The Onitsha Igbo discriminated against other Igbo as uncouth and unpolished people and would not associate with them preferring their daughters to marry any one else except their non- Onitsha Igbo. As a child I often heard Onitsha Igbo drive away other Igbo children who came to play with their own children (sa, nwa onye igbo pu a eba - get away you child of an Igbo man), the Yoruba of Lagos have the same feeling for the so-called Ara oke -Yoruba from the hill, the Saros of Freetown for people from the hinterland- (up – country people) the Parisians for all those outsiders not from Paris etc.

Apprentice system.

Today, they have perfected the apprenticeship system. A successful car dealer, motor spare parts dealer, or mechanic, or trader in electronics, drugs – medicines and

The Igbo giant strides

By Patrick Dele Cole

other pharmaceutical goods, or transport owner, etc., would have young boys,sometimes as young as 10 years,who have been to school for a few years. The young boys are apprenticed to such car spare parts dealer, or a patent medicine shop owner, or a transporter. The apprentice is supposed in the 10 -12 years he works for his boss to know every spare part in an automobile (3000), the name and use of every drug sold in the patent medicine store, etc. After a long time, the owner of the store or transporter would give a substantial amount of money to the apprentice to start his own business in electronic, spare parts, medicines, etc else where. This is the classic way the Igbo do business; and it has benefited them well. They are able to easily beat competitors because of superior knowledge of the product, accessibility and a burning desire to succeed quickly.

Today, there is a virtual Igbo monopoly of spare parts trade (usually Nnewi people), local “pharmacies”, and transportation.

The young man who used to be an apprentice bus attendant would soon grow to own a fleet of buses which will need spare parts, etc. The intercity luxury bus business is 70% in Igbo hands. They are also transporters for goods and small vehicle transporters.

The car hire business is perhaps 60% in the hands of Igbos.

The Igbos ventured into the sale of electronic appliances many years ago, paying exorbitant rents for cramped up spaces in Broad Street, Lagos, which then was busy and noisy as one loudspeaker sought to out do the other. The then Lagos State Governor moved them to Alaba Market which today is the largest electronic market in Africa.

Other ancillary and supporting businesses soon followed – apart from radios, TVs, etc, the market now sells washing machines, refrigerators, freezers, microwaves, etc. It is the centre of pirated music and video films.

Given the opportunity, the Igbo has incredible drive to make a success of

The Onitsha Igbo discriminated against other Igbo as uncouth and unpolished people and would not associate with them preferring their daughters to marry any one else except their nonOnitsha Igbo

any venture.

The biggest property developers in Lagos and Abuja are Igbo. They seem to have a sixth sense for these things.

They were first to really believe that Abuja will succeed as the capital city of Nigeria. They moved into Abuja with a vengeance. Most of the malls in Abuja are Igbo owned. They were willing to pay the price needed for land and permits; and went at it as only the Igbo can do. Other ethnic groups have estates but nothing compared to what the Igbo have. Yet other Igbo branched out into estate development for sale and establishing myriads of hotels.

Marriage among Igbo All these frantic activities must take a toll on social life. Many Igbo billionaires are self educated, having come up through the apprenticeship system.

It means that the girls in Igbo land stayed back to go to school, even though, at the beginning, like most Nigerians, they regarded education of women as a waste of time and money since the young girl will soon marry and leave the family. Thus, today, there is a preponderance of

Igbo girls at school, who currently far out number the boys in both secondary and tertiary institutions.

Bride price in parts of Igbo land used to be expensive. Non-Igbo suspected that the girl’s family was calculating how much they spent on her education and expected the husband for recompense. In the early 40s and 50s, bride price was so high that the Eastern House of Assembly legislated on it!! The girls today fear high bride price for it scares away suitors and now have started to revolt against it.

How do these girls pay for tuition?

Sometimes parents help, relatives help and there is a good dose of self help.

Marriage custom of Igbos is similar to that of many other ethnic groups.

For example, that marriage is not just a union between individuals, but one between families, who, in fact are, sometimes,the initiators, and actually arrange the match-making between the spouses. Today this is not so common. But the other processes remain largely unchanged. When a suitable spouse has been found, people are sent to ask questions about the spouse’s pedigree – is there disease in the family, any witches or wizards or unkind and wicked people, how fecundious have the women been, etc (Aju-ese?)

On receiving satisfactory responses to these questions, a delegation from the family of the husband-to-be is then sent to the girl’s family to ask for her hand in marriage; and her family,at some stage, would have to ask her for her consent. The bride price is then haggled over. On reaching a consensus, the proposed groom is supposed to supply drinks, etc., for four market days (Eke market days).

You may shorten the period by bringing everything in one day. After consultation, including reports on the groom’s family, his standing in society and wealth, a date is fixed for the marriage. To show the bride’s consent publicly –she would take a glass of wine (often palm wine) to the groom to drink in public during the traditional marriage ceremony.

Thereafter, the parents bless the couple and festivities begin. If the marriage is unsuccessful, the dowry is returned; but not if the couples have a male child.

The Igbo take marriage seriously, probably more so than any other ethnic group in Nigeria. Many non-Igbo girls want to marry Igbo men because of this myth that an Igbo man knows how to look after his wife and family. Many of the semi illiterate billionaires marry graduates and they insist that their children get the best education which they had missed.

Trial marriage Every December, thousands of Igbo travel home, especially in areas where Christmas is robustly celebrated. During these holidays, marriages are arranged, couples introduced, etc. One variant of Igbo courtship that is rapidly gaining ground is that of trial marriage. It is really an extension of the custom of knowing the family one is marrying into. Many Igbo bachelors from the U.S flock home every Christmas to see who they can marry while resuming the family bonds which living overseas may have somewhat loosened. Where a successful introduction has been made, the young lady and prospective husband agree to go back to the U.S and live together for some months to see whether they like each other enough to stay married (usually for three to six months), at the end of the period,a decision is made to continue with the ‘’marriage” or

Continues on page 28

PAGE 28—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

Continued from page 27 to terminate it.

Sometimes, the girl would go to the city where the ‘’husband” is working in Nigeria – usually Abuja or Lagos again on trial basis to make sure the marriage is successful.

In the old days, the girl would have gone to stay with the parents of the prospective husband for a while for the groom’s parents to assess her.

These are simply variations of the theme of arranged marriages. Where the experiment does not work, there is no shame or bitterness, whatever was paid in dowry is returned and the ‘’marriage” is dissolved.

The Igbo economy Nnewi, in Anambra State, is now the manufacturing capital of Nigeria. It has several manufacturing factories, several breweries, soft drinks, bottled water, etc, food processing plants, vehicles assembly plants, etc., including the making of generators, and a host of other items. Nnewi has overtaken Ikeja as the industrial hub of Nigeria.

The Onitsha market remains the largest market in Africa, selling practically everything: There are Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese traders in the market. The banks in Onitsha carry the largest amount of cash than any other city. There is an airport in Asaba, capital of Delta State.

The Niger Bridge is the main transport artery between East and West, and perhaps even large parts of Middle Belt and some parts of northern Nigeria. Just south of Onitsha is Awka, the Anambra State capital.

There are plans to dredge the River Niger, build a second Niger Bridge, and a cargo airport in Anambra State. Thus, within an area of a few kilometers to Onitsha, the major market, there is the industrial hub, Nnewi. Also, the administrative capital of Anambra State is 20 kilometres from Onitsha. Nnewi is 10 kilometers from Onitsha. Our planners have to be (compare the axis between New York and New Jersey) blind not to see the potential of a conurbation axis between Asaba/Onitsha; Onitsha-Nnewi, and Nnewi–Awka.

A small investment of building 10lane highways between these three towns will give the biggest industrial and financial fillip for Nigeria; not just for Igbo land.

The Igbos, who live in these areas, have, amongst themselves, the richest individuals in Nigeria. Oraifite has over 10 billionaires; the best known of which is Sir Emeka Ofor.

Anambra State governor, the other day ,called a meeting of 50 people and 25 of them were billionaires.

The rest were no slouches.

The Igbo, sometimes, are too polite for their own good. Each time a politician goes to Anambra State, he makes the promise to build a second Niger Bridge or to dredge the Niger. The Igbo feel that people say these things because they think they are fools. They ask whether the Federal Government built the ports of Lagos for Lagosians? Was the 23 kilometers Third Mainland Bridge built for Lagosians?

A bridge across the Niger is a development of infrastructure that would yield benefit for all Nigeria.

Why does the Federal Government need a special loan or bond to build the bridge? That they do not openly say this in public is perhaps an element of the sublimation of their persecution complex.

Culture The Igbos are proud of their culture. But are also willing to participate in other peoples cultures, and, more importantly, t o

The Igbo giant strides

Gov Theodore Orji

It is impossible to write about the Igbos without writing about the Biafra war. It is futile to go into the pros and cons of the war. The war affected Igbos, as it did other Nigerians.

The Igbos felt that they had something precious to contribute to Nigeria; but the civil war deprived them from contributing, and Nigeria from accepting Igbo contribution

adapt foreign culture to their own. For many years, the black people in the United States had been insulted by being regarded as having no culture. Many changed their names in the belief that this would identify them with Africa; they preferred to be called African-Americans, and took names like Kobe, Jamal, Hussein, etc, little realizing that these were Islamic names, not African names. No matter, the point had been made that Mr. X was African-American and his name was Jamal Juba. About 15 years ago, two cultural tends burst out on the African scene – a distinct music genre, distinct dancing genre and distinct theatre genre. The U.S. has always been open about its debt to Africa in term of music – jazz, pop culture, ghetto dancing and music, etc.

The Yoruba and other Africans contributed to this, not only Igbo. But in the past few years, the young African musicians had taken on world pop culture and Africanized it, dominated it and now own it. There is no Igbo mega star like Fela- so massive was this genius.

However, young men and women are hitting the world stage with beats that cannot have grown from any where else than in Nigeria, and a lot of it, due to Igbo. Hand in hand with this musical explosion.

African drama was re-born but, this

Gov Martins Elechi

time,using new techniques to attune old theme – the advent of Nollywood – which in 10 – 15 short years -is now the third largest movie industry in the world.

Igbo influence, both in new music and in Nollywood, is substantial.

It was generic, and should remain so. But it may die if it imbibes government contagion.

Nearly everything shown in Nollywood about Igbo kingship, princesses and princes, etc., is an exercise in the producers’ imagination.

The cultural basis is there; but the manifestation is poetic license of the producers, and rightly so. Nollywood is not a cultural course: it is entertainment within the imagined context of Igbo culture.

The Biafra war It is impossible to write about the Igbos without writing about the Biafra war. It is futile to go into the pros and cons of the war. The war affected Igbos, as it did other Nigerians. The Igbos felt that they had something precious to contribute to Nigeria; but the civil war deprived them from contributing, and Nigeria from accepting Igbo contribution.

They lost a war they felt was unjust.

They lost property ever y w h e r e , e s p e c i a l l y i n Port Harcourt. But they learnt how better to handle other Nigerians. They channeled their sense of loss into more productive avenues. They now believe in Nigeria; but also believe anything can happen and hedge their bets and build large houses in their villages should any other war break out. They have a mixed feeling for – yet believe that it is now their turn to rule Nigeria.

Some Nigerians, including some Igbos, believe that the eventual break up of Nigeria is a matter of time, unless some fundamental changes are made soon in the political arrangement. The Igbo believe in meritocracy because they are supremely confident that they would prevail.

An apocryphal story goes something like this: If you do an examination with an Igbo man and he has better result and beats you, he will nod as if to say that is natural, that is as it should be. But if you beat him, he would ask you whether the examiner is your brother or who leaked questions to you.

The Igbo lost a lot of houses in Port Harcourt. Lately an old wise Rivers man seeing the Igbo contribution to

Gov Rochas Okorocha

Gov Sullivan Chime

Gov Willie Obiano

Abuja and Lagos wondered whether the Rivers State Government should not invite Igbo back to Port Harcourt to do their magic on housing and the economy in Rivers State.

The practice of young men and women living together before marriage is unknown in all African cultures including Igbo. Hollywood’s portrayal of this practice is nonIgbo and due more to Western acculturation than any thing traditional as a girl may go to her husband’s house after the payment of dowry and the consent of her parents, herself.

Inheritance, even “kingship” and property legally does not go to the children but to the eldest brother of the deceased who, by custom, is now supposed to look after his brother ’s wife and her siblings.

SUNDAY Vanguard,, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 29

How Nigeria, Serbia can consolidate on bi-national ties —Serbian Ambassador

BY VICTORIA OJEME, VICTOR GOTEVBE & VERA SAMUEL ANYAGAFU

The Serbian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Jovan Maric, points out areas his country can improve on binational relationship with Nigeria.

Jovan, in this interview, says that although trade between his country and Nigeria is terribly low, Serbian is eager to become Nigeria’s best trade partner in many areas aside the importation of peanuts and cocoa at the moment.

He also speaks on the former Yugoslavia, the images that emanated from Srebrenica in 1999 among other issues. Excerpts: The former Yugoslavia and its President, Tito, with Tito’s NonAligned Movement during the tuff war between the former Soviet Union and its client states on one hand, and the United States and its allies on the other hand were an inspiration to developing countries including Nigeria.

These developing countries chose not to take sides in this tuff war, but instead chose to cast their lot with Tito’s Non-Aligned Movement. Is President Tito’s story taught in today’s Serbian schools?

I mean, yes, even half of the population of Serbians mean that Serbia must be a full member of EU and another half think that our place is near Russia, China and other similar countries. But, everybody likes that Serbian peoples must keep their future in their hands like in Tito‘s time, our people like to be really independent and to have good connections with so called East and West. Every typical Serbian house in the villages have two doors, one in the front of the house, and the other behind experience during dangers times in our history to flight throughout the garden… Tito‘s Non Aligned Movement were “like two doors” and we explain now to younger generations “those happy times”…

The images that emanated from Srebrenica in 1999 did immeasurable damage to immense goodwill which the former Yugoslavia had garnered around the world under President Tito.

I don‘t think so. Former Yugoslavia was really a good and prosperous country… Unfortunately, so called International Community and “domestic political idiots” divided former Yugoslavia to six states and all these states politically speaking C M Y K

•Dr. Jovan Maric.....Trade between Nigeria and Serbia is terribly low now are small, weak and poor countries. “Srebrenica in 1999” did not damage our wishes and experience about one multiethnic society. We in Serbia still believe in it.

What is the volume of non-oil trade between Nigeria and Serbia?

Trade between Nigeria and Serbia is terribly low, about five million USD yearly and that is nothing! We can and must improve the trade between our two friendly countries. Serbia can import from Nigeria peanuts, cocoa, other tropical fruits and can export to Nigeria also fruits and food-like apples, raspberry, chocolates and so on. We have a good pharmaceutical industry too and we can sell antibiotics, equipment for kidney dialysis, etc.

Does Serbia import oil from countries other than Russia?

Yes, we import oil from Algeria and other Arab countries, like Kuwait, Iraq, and so on The former Yugoslavia used to

be reputed for study and reliable a g r i c u l t u r a l machinery. Does Serbia still manufacture reliable and affordable agricultural equipment?

Yes, of course, Serbia still

Serbia can import from Nigeria peanuts, cocoa, other tropical fruits and can export to Nigeria also fruits and food-like apples, raspberry, chocolates and so on

manufactures reliable and affordable agriculture equipment and it is also the field of our cooperation in

the future.

The Yugo car was sold around the world for many years. What is the state of the Yugo auto plant?

Yugo was a small cheap car for poor people, like Tata in India.

Now, we have in cooperation with Fiat a new model – FIAT 500 L, big car and really good car and we can export that car to Nigeria, for example in USA export are 10,000 to 20.000 per year.

What is the population of Nigerians living in Serbia?

In Serbia there are about 30 Nigerians, as I know, some students, some married women, some businessmen.

Is there anything Nigeria visa applicants can do differently to make the job of your consular officers easier?

Unfortunately, I don‘t think so.

Many people from Africa like to go to rich countries of European Union and Serbia is only a transition country… and visa regime is still so strong, for Nigeria too.

To what extent does religion play a role in the conflict between Serbs and Kosovars in Kosovo? Would it be too optimistic for one to hope that maybe someday Serbs and Kosovars would live in peace in Kosovo?

Religion played a big role in the civil war in former Yugoslavia, 19911995 especially between Catholic Croatians, Orthodox Serbs and Moslem Bosnians. But in Kosovo religion between Orthodox Serbs and Kosovars does not play important role. Kosovo and Metohija, still Serbian region, wish to be independent supporting from Western international community.

Kosovars speaks different language than Serbs. They have completely different culture background, different model of life, values they believe that they be more happy and rich if they be independent.

Because of that, I am not optimist, regarding peaceful life Serbs and Kosovars in Kosovo. There are so many blood in our history, Balkans people are full of emotions, sense of revenge are still strong and I think it must have passed two or three generations and then they would live in peace together.

Dr. Jovan Maric (left), with Mr Victor Gotevbe, Administrative Manager, Vanguard Media Limited

C M Y K

PAGE 30 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 31

C M Y K

PAGE 32—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

Boardroom guru Imomoh celebrates 70

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.

From Left; Chief Egbert Ulogo Imomoh, Celebrant, Mrs Pat Imomoh, wife of celebrant, Sir Steve Omojafor and Chief Sena Anthony.

From left: Chief Dan Okafor, Chief Larry Agose, and Mrs Lydia Agose.

t was celebration galore for Boardroom guru, Egbert Ulogo Imomoh when he marked his 70 th birthday last weekend in Lagos. It was a gathering of corporate titans and why shouldn’t it be? The celebrant has left indelible prints on the country’s business landscape.

Having served as chairman, GTB, to DMD, Shell Petroleum and now holding fort as founder and chairman of Afren Plc, he certainly has something to celebrate.

Photos by Kehinde Gbadamosi

From Left; Mrs Nkechi Ugwu-oju, Mr Emeka Ugwu-oju, Mr Emma Coker, and Mrs Carol Coker.

Ma. Adelaja buried

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he remains of Chief (Mrs) Grace Adebandele Adelaja was laid to rest on Easter Monday at Iloti, Ijebu-Ode.Mama Adelaja was the mother of Mr Tayo Adelaja, Public Affairs Manager (West/ Mid-West) of Nigerian Breweries.

From Left: Pa Mike Fadipe, Chief Augustine Caxton-Idowu and Chief Wole Oduyemi

Charles FForesythe oresythe remembered 1 0 yyear ear 10 earss af aftter

Children of the deceased (L-R): Mr Taiwo Adelaja, Mrs Funke Adelaja and Mr Tayo Adelaja.

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ood memories they say, never die. For Charles Foresythe’s children and widow, it was even better as they remembered their father in grand style with the celebration of his life and times. It started with a thanksgiving at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Marina, Lagos followed by a red carpet reception at the Event Centre, Lekki, Lagos, last weekend. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele.

L-R:Mr and Mrs Deoye Mapaderun and Rot Bala Yesufu. Behind them is Mrs Funke Adelaja.

L-R:Mr Tunde Fisayo; Mrs Omotunde Fisayo; Mr Kehinde Imoyo; Mrs Toyin Imoyo; Mrs Kemi Ajayi and Chief (Dr) Mrs Iyabo Foresythe (widow).

L-R: Mrs Foluke Foresythe; Mrs Toyin Imoyo and Mrs Sade Foresythe.

L-R: Rot. Tayo Adelaja and Rot. Bala Yesufu

L-R: Mr Tokunbo Foresythe; Mr Ibikunle Foresythe; Mr Olumide Foresythe and Mr Babatunde Foresythe, children of the late Mr. Charles Foresythe.

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L-R: Jamiu Awe; Hakeem Awe; Banire Olayinka and Adekoya Segun, all of Lagos Island Club at the reception

Cross-section of Rotarians at the funeral service.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 33

Cash Madam shuts down Ibadan for 80 th o r e m o s t bir thda birthda thdayy businesswoman

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Princess Khadijat Edionseri, celebrant (centre), surrounded by children and their spouses, with chairman of occasion, Adimral Oladeinde Joseph (left).

and notable socialite, Princess Khadijat Kuburat Adebisi Edionseri, popularly known as Cash Madam practically shut down the ancient city of Ibadan on Wednesday when she th celebrated her 80 birthday as anybody who is somebody in the city graced the event. Royal fathers, captains of industry and notable socialites put their affairs on hold to honour the woman who has remained in the limelight of society for more than 50 years.

Photos by Wumi Akinola

R-L: Otunba Abayomi Odunowo (son) Princess Khadijat Edionseri (celebrant) and a guest

L-R: Oba Samuel Adebayo, Eleruwa Eruwa; Alhaji Yusuf Ajadi and Asiwaju Tunde Badmus, former Ogun State Govenor (left) oversee cutting of the cake.

L-R:Engr Mutiu Adebowale, Cash Madam's son, Admiral & Chief (Mrs) Oladeinde Joseph, chairman of the occasion.

Cross section of royal fathers

Okolugbo’s late mum and grandmum honoured

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on. Commissioner of Energy, Deltas State, Comrade Gloria Okolugbo-Ogbekene, Oghenemaga Ogbekene was a happy woman when posthumous investiture of the Ezinne title was

Mama Ndokwa, the Bishop's decorating an Ezinne recipient.

wife

Dr. Neku Okolugbo in a warm handshake with the Bishop.

C M Y K

conferred on her late mum and grandmum respectively by the Church of Nigeria, Ndokwa Diocese, Anglican Communion.

Warri Club member memberss visit Olu of W arri Warri

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he members of Warri Claub led by the President of the Club paid a courtesy call on His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse ll, the Olu of Warri Kingdom, who is their grand patron

Comrade Okolugbo receiving the certificate of award on behalf of her late mother from the Bishop, Ndokwa Diocese, Rt Rev. Obiosa.

His Majesty, Ogiame Atuwatse ll, the Olu of Warri Kingdom (middle) with the President of Warri Club, Hon. Vincent Amejuma Uduaghan (up left) and other honourable members

R-L:Dame Edith Okowa, wife of PDP guber candidate, Delta State, members of her enturage in Mothers Union in the Anglican Communion.

The President of Warri Club, Hon. Vincent Uduaghan (middle) and other Honourable members of the club.

PAGE 34—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

How the presidential poll was won and lost in Edo

•Buhari

By SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

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HE presidential and National Assembly elections in Edo State held amid tension penultimate Saturday, following the sour relationship between Governor Adams Oshiomhole and President Goodluck Jonathan. Oshiomhole had made it clear that the people of Edo will not support Jonathan whom he accused of neglecting the people of the state after they voted for him in 2011, in the election. The Esogban of Benin Kingdom, Chief David Edebiri, also declared that the Binis will not support the president, lamenting that no Bini man was in the administration of Jonathan despite the support given to him in 2011 by the Binis.

Jonathan’s men in the state took up the challenge to prove them wrong. Led by the Bini born billionaire, Captain Hosa Okunbor, the Edo PDP worked tirelessly to get results for Jonathan.

While the Chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, and the Minister of Works, Arch.Mike Onolemenmen, held sway in Edo Central, Okunbor and the state Coordinator of Jonathan/Sambo Campaign Organization, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, led the attack in Edo South.

Soldiers were deployed in Oshiomhole’s base in Edo North and Edo Central. Prior to the election, the governor had raised the alarm when he stated: “We have intelligence and it has been confirmed that the Minister of Works deployed 14 vehicles in the premises of RCC construction company in Benin. This Hilux vehicles were transferred from RCC premises to the headquarters of the 4th Brigade of the Nigerian Army. I have expressed my concern to the Commander of the 4th Brigade that I did not think it was appropriate for the 4th Brigade to collect vehicles from the Ministry of Works for the purpose of this election.

The Commander of the 4th C M Y K

•Jonathan Brigade told me that the vehicles were donated by the RCC because he approached RCC for support. I told him even that is wrong. The Brigade Commander cannot approach Israelis to provide them with security when the Edo State government is here. He has not made such a request to me and I reminded him that Israeli people cannot be assumed to have greater interest in the peace and security of Nigeria than the government of Edo state.

After all we set up Operation Thunder Storm which encourages the military to complement the efforts of the police. I denounced the idea.

Whether RCC or Minister of Works, this is clearly irregular. I expect that the Ministry of Works if they have donations to make it should have been made transparently to the police not the Nigerian Army because the conduct of this election is primarily the responsibility of the police and not the Nigerian Army. That they prefer to donate to the Army rather than the police raises more questions than the

And on the day of the election, Edo North was under 24-hour Army lockdown, as all the entry and exit points into the senatorial district were sealed by soldiers till the early hours of Sunday

answers that have been provided. Our investigation is that these Hilux vehicles provided by Onolemenmen or

by RCC, according to the Brigade Commander, are going to be used to carry soldiers who will not be wearing uniforms to disguise and our information is that they intend to use these people to intimidate the electorate. I have warned the Brigade Commander not to do the sort of thing that Brigadier Momoh did not Ekiti State. In any case, Edo people are Edo people and we cannot be intimidated.

And the Nigerian Army has no business portraying itself as enemies of democracy”.

And on the day of the election, Edo North was under 24-hour Army lockdown, as all the entry and exit points into the senatorial district were sealed by soldiers till the early hours of Sunday. Motorists and pedestrians, who were caught unawares by the lockdown, were stopped from moving and unlucky ones horsewhipped while others were made to face the indignity of being frogjumped. While the InspectorGeneral of Police had announced a restriction of movement from 8:00am to 5:00pm on election day, motorists trapped at a military checkpoint at Agbede, the gateway into Edo North bordering Ewu in Edo Central, told reporters that the soldiers manning the checkpoint said they have orders to stop movement in and out of Edo North till midnight. There were no fewer than 20 military checkpoints in Edo North as follows: Five at Okpella bordering Kogi State, two at Iyamho, which sealed off the governor’s home, five at Auchi, one at INEC office in Auchi, one at Jattu junction, one close to the Jattu home of Hon Philips Shaibu, the APC House of Reps candidate, one at Ikabigbo, Ogbonna, Fugar, and three at Agenebode.

Even journalists were not spared the soldiers’ ordeal as the INEC accreditation cards they carried and reflective

•Oshiomhole jackets they wore were ignored while each reporter was asked to produce his company ID card. The soldiers said the reporters were not permitted to monitor the exercise from one unit to another as they were only allowed to monitor a particular unit. The situation almost became bloody when the youths of Etsako resisted the soldiers who came to arrest some APC leaders.

Oshiomhole and APC supporters in the North, including the House of Reps APC candidate for Owan Federal constituency, Pally Iriase, and that of Etsako Federal constituency, Philip Shaibu, battled the soldiers.

Oshiomhole ensured victory for Gen.Buhari in Edo North and clinched the Senate and the three House of Representatives seats in his area. The state Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Orbih, who is from the area like Oshiomhole, could not save his party from the political fire power of the Comrade Governor.

But in Edo South, the PDP clinched three House of Reps seats while the voters also gave good votes to Jonathan.

The winner of the senatorial seat in Edo South will be determined after the Orhiomwon Local Government election which was postponed by INEC due to the late arrival of materials.

Edo South is APC stronghold but the determination by Okunbor and others to ensure victory for Jonathan gave advantage to PDP National Assembly candidates in the South and Central. In Edo Central, Anenih’s domain, the PDP clinched the senatorial slot and the two House of Reps seats. For the presidency, APC polled 208,469 while PDP scored 286,869 in the state.

Following the victory in the South and Central by the PDP, the party was facing yesterday’s House of Assembly election in high spirit. After the defeat of Jonathan by Buhari, though it came as a shock to PDP leaders in the state, Sunday Vanguard observed that the

party was trying to keep the result of the presidential election behind it and work towards getting majority in the Edo House of Assembly.

But the hope to shock APC again in Edo South may be a Herculean task for the PDP because the APC understands fully the implication of giving out the majority in the state House of Assembly to the PDP; it means the PDP could impeach Oshiomhole before the 2016 governorship election in the state. But as it seems, the APC focused all its energy on the presidential election in the state and that affected it in the National Assembly results in Edo South. Oshiomhole, shocked by the results in Edo South, held a meeting with all the candidates and chairmen of local government councils in the 18 LGAs of the state and tongue lashed them. It was discovered that at least two of the LGA chairmen worked against their party. It was expected that the battle for the Assembly seats will be fierce in Edo but with the presidential victory of the APC, the party was expected to go all out for victory yesterday. Oshiomhole, who spoke after a victory party at Oba Ovonranwe Square, Benin City, penultimate Wednesday, said: “In Edo State, our promises cut across ethnic, religion and other primordial sentiments. So we felt tonight we should celebrate our country, we should celebrate democracy.

The victory of Muhammadu Buhari is victory for Nigeria.

He will be the driver; we are all co-drivers in the business of re positioning our great country. Thank you so much for your role. We also want to appreciate President Goodluck Jonathan for being a statesman when he accepted defeat without any argument. He has led by example and I think we can build on that. You are the best, you are the greatest.

Remember, we have one more lap to go, it is not over until it is over. I trust you will be there for us so that we will be there for you”.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 35

security officer

BUHARI’S PROMISES:

Nigerians speak

By Damilola Igbedion

F

ollowing the victory of the APC at the March 28 presidential election, Sunday Vanguard sought the people’s opinion on the promises made by the party’s candidate, retired Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

THE PROMISES:

1. Provide free education 2. Pay the poorest 25 million people social security money 3. Generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity in four years.

4. Pay NYSC members after service year 5. Provide one meal a day for students 6. Stop Boko Haram and bring back missing Chibok girls 7. Remove immunity from public officers 8. Fight corruption

Chief Opita Obie

Madam Josephine Otu

Buhari seems to be a man of few words, I believe he can do great things, let’s just watch and see as he takes the mantle of leadership in the country. I believe he can do great things in the country.

If only he can removet all those public officers working against the system and deliver on corruption, he would be remembered for a long time.

Mr. Ossas, car dealer

People are waiting for Buhari to deliver on his promises. Can he really fight corruption? Looking around him, the promise appears unrealisable. I only pray that God helps him to fulfil these promises and there are many of them.

Miss Amaka Adimu, 12year-old hawker

I believe Jonathan has done his best, so we hope Buhari can improve on what he had done. I believe the APC candidate can effect the change he promised.

Miss Vivian Onachi

I think he was just making promises. He is not in a position to fulfil many of the promises made particularly on corruption. He was head of state and he changed nothing. To make impact, he has to start the cleansing from his party. However, I think Nigerians have given him a chance, let him use it and let us see how the change goes.

Miss Amaka Adimu I think the man was just sweet talking to capture votes of the people. His antecedents don’t show him doing anything but we watch and see.

Alhaja Fashola, civil servant

If Buhari works with the public and fulfils all his promises, Nigerians would be happy and things will improve. On the issue of Boko Haram, he promised to do something fast to stop the insurgents, bring peace and return the Chibok girls. Again, we hope he solves the matter of perennial power failures in the country.

Mr. Dayo Ogunade, civil servant

C M Y K

I know him as a man of integrity, a disciplined individual. But we want him to create jobs. Many people lost their lives while seeking immigration jobs. I almost lost my life when I went to sit for an exam in Surulere. We had to write the exam standing, because we discovered the organisers didn’t have good arrangement for the exam.

Those who worked with President Goodluck Jonathan, really rubbished the man.

Buhari’s promises are too many and too wide: Provide stable electricity, make Naira equal to the dollar, etc. Many things are wrong in the country for the past 16 years, so when a man makes promises, people are bound to watch to see the change he promised.

Miss Vivan Onachi, self employed

I hope he can achieve all his promises particularly on power supply. It remains a hope anyway. May God help him.

I wish him luck on his promise to help the poor.

Many don’t have a roof over their heads, some are hawking to make ends meet.

Mr. Frank Eze, business man

Chief Opita Obie, businessman

Mrs. Olawale Seun, trader

Mrs. ibu Esther, trader, Ojo Market

I don’t believe in empty promises. I hope he can tame terrorism in the North. I am waiting for May 29, so we know the stuff heis made of I know he was a military head of state, but I would hold back my comments until he takes charge.

Mrs Helen Ebub

Mr Patrick Umoh, bank

Mrs Helen Ebub, trader Buhari has won the election, whatever he promised to implement he should try to do it. It may not be easy but God will help him to overcome so that Nigerian can be in peace.

However, the issue of free meal which is already being implemented in Imo State and some northern states is commendable.

Madam Josephine Otu, trader

Buhari says he will reduce crime rate, make Naira equal to the dollar, improve education, etc. I just pray that God gives him good health to accomplish these things. I believe change has come to the country.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

JOSTLE FOR REPS SPEAKER

David Mark, Ekweremadu:

The APC dicey situation

The last men standing in Senate leadership

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru

By Emman Ovuakporie

T

T

he All Progressives Congress, APC, has a very dicey situation to manage as six contenders emerged to contest the position of Speaker of the House of Representatives.

As at Wednesday, the six lawmakers from five geo-political zones of the country had signified their interests in Hon. Aminu Tambuwal’s job.

The contenders are Hon. Yaku b Dogara from the North-East, Hon. Pally Iriase from the South- South, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila from the South-West, Hon. Abdulmunin Jibrin, North-West, Hon. Mohammed Mungono, North-East and Hon. Ajibola Famuwera, South-West.

Meanwhile the North-East and North-West alone have bulk votes of 160, almost half of the total members of the House which is 360.

The PDP has 130 bulk votes which could be swayed in any direction while 70 votes come from the South West.

The North gang-up could catapult a northern candidate to the coveted position.

What this would translate into is that three Nigeria top positions, the president, the Senate President and Speaker, may remain in the North.

The issue at stake here is where will the yet to be inaugurated Gen. Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government zone the position of Speaker.

His party, (APC) had maintained a chilling silence making Nigerians to guess precisely which zone would secure the position.

The North-West and South-West already have both the positions of president and vice.

The Senate presidency is said to have been tacitly zoned to the North-Central.

The North-East last week issued a statement demanding for either the position of Speaker or Senate President.

The South-East and South-South, from all indications, have no say on the issue of Speaker or Senate President as both zones massively voted for the outgoing ruling party, the PDP. But Edo, from the South-South and South-East produced three APC Reps who, against all odds, defeated PDP candidates in the state.

If APC decides to dump both zones – South-South and South-East-this will automatically show that the dictum of winner takes it all has come to fore.

This may portend danger for a party which campaign slogan was ‘change’.

But in this present dispensation with an APC government at the centre, the scenario may be different.

What basically may make the difference will largely depend on how the party zones the leadership structure of the House.

Technically, the South East has been knocked out as no APC lawmaker emerged from the zone.

The battle is between the NorthEast and the South-South.

Some lawmakers, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard under the condition of anonymity, described

Hon. Gbajabiamila

Hon. Abdulmumin

Hon. Dogara

Hon. Iriase

Hon. Famurewa it as a dicey situation for the APC. One of the lawmakers from the North-Central said: “It is a dicey situation because it can’t be the winner takes it all arrangement as the South made it possible for APC to emerge at the centre”.

“Let me explain further, if you give the North the positions of president and Senate President, then what do you give to the South-South and the South-East?

“The South-South should be given the position as this will make the House work amicably with the centre.

“If this permutation fails, then expect a stiff opposition from the House in this new dispensation”.

Another lawmaker from the SouthEast said: “We worked for the PDP to our own detriment but that does not mean we should be relegated to the background as we must get something tangible elsewhere not

necessarily from the House”.

A lawmaker from the South-South argued: “From all indications, the position should be given to us as we deserve it this time around more than any zone despite the fact that our APC men are few.

“If they use that as a yardstick, then there is no equity and fairness in the whole arrangement because of the philosophy of the winner takes it all then you now jettison a good arrangement”.

But a lawmaker from the NorthEast had a contrary view. He said: “We produced more lawmakers from our zone and for that simple reason we should get it this time around.

“We must be given our rightful position as we delivered far more than the South-South; check the statistics yourself.

“But one thing is certain, the party leadership will take the right decision at the end of the day; just watch out”.

Vanguard however gathered that the two major contenders from both zones are already strategising and networking both the old and new lawmakers before the 8th assembly kick starts.

Dogara is said to be networking as to how to ensure he emerges relying on his legislative experience.

He was in the race in 2011 but had to step down at the 11th hour to allow Tambuwal emerge.

In the 6th assembly he was the chairman House committee on Customs and the present chairman House committee on House Services. He is a lawyer.

Dogara is seen by his colleagues as a forthright lawmaker that is very meticulous in all his legislative duties.

he March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections took a toll on the Senate leadership as the bulk of the principal officers of the Senate was swept away. Only two officers - Senate President David Mark and his deputy, Ike Ekweremadu - remain.

The Senate President and deputy escaped the tsunami suffered by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the hands of the All Progressives Congress, APC, but the duo may not be happy going by the unfolding events as the ruling party will be in the minority in the 8th Senate.

At the moment, the APC has about 60 senatorselect, while the PDP has 49 even though one from Delta State is still in contention as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has declared the election in Edo South inconclusive.

Apart from Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, the Senate Leader, whose state government and the party hierarchy in the state, Cross River, made spirited efforts to stop him from coming back to the Senate for the fourth time, other principal officers of the ruling party that picked the party’s primary ticket were defeated by the opposition APC, which, going by the announced result by the INEC, will form the next leadership of the Senate.

The Deputy Senate Leader, Senator Ahmed Abdul Ningi, who has been in the National Assembly for over twelve years starting from the House of Representatives, was defeated by his APC challenger in his Bauchi Central Senatorial District, while the Senate Chief Whip, Senator Bello Hayatu Gwarzo, representing Kano North, who also has been in the National Assembly since 1999, had his hope of coming back terminated by the APC opponent. The Senate Deputy Chief Whip, Senator Hosea Ayoola Agboola, from Oyo North, was also not lucky, as his hope to come back to the senate was dashed by the opposition party.

But the opposition APC, which seems to have upper hand in the election, at the last count with about 60 senators, only lost one principal officer, the Senate Minority Whip, Senator, Ganiyu Solomon who contested the APC governorship primary in Lagos State and lost.

The Senate Minority Leader, George Akume, from Benue North West, the Senate Deputy Minority Whip, Senator Ahmad Rufa’i Sani, Zamfara West, and the Senate Deputy Minority Whip, Ibrahim Abu, Katsina South all smiled home to victory.

With the result, Mark and Ekweremadu have no role to play in the 8th Senate and may likely come down from the highly exalted seat as presiding officers, unless if there is a miracle, or dramatic turn of events.

One of the ranking senators, who started from the House of Representatives and a PDP member that was denied the Senate return ticket by his state governor, was full of praises to God for being spared the embarassment of losing the March 28 poll.

Sen. David Mark

Sen. Ike Ekweremadu C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 37

Buhari certificate saga tore the army apart – Brig. Gen. Ikpomnwen (rtd) Brig. Gen.Don Idada Ikpomnwen (rtd) is a former Provost Marshal of the Nigerian Army and a lawyer. He represented retired officers of the armed forces at the 2015 National Conference. Last Tuesday, Ikpomnwen defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which he co-founded in Edo State. In this interview, the retired general says he dumped the PDP the very day Gen. Muhammadu Buhari emerged the candidate of the APC ahead of the presidential election. According to him, the fall of PDP was predicted by some of them which was why he withdrew his participation in the party following what he describes as the promotion of mediocrity by the leadership of the PDP. He gives an insight into the mood in the Army when the leadership of the military told the world that they were not in possession of Buhari’s certificate. Excerpts:

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City

Y

OU were in PDP since 1998 until last Tuesday when you defected to the APC. Was the defection the result of the victory of one of your colleagues, Gen.Muhammadu Buhari, the president-elect?

The truth is that I was not just a member of the PDP, I was one of the founding fathers. I was one of the pillars from Edo that made sure that we went into PDP in 19981999. I worked consistently to ensure the success of this party in this state. I was a senatorial candidate.

I was shocked at what happened before and after the primaries.

Later the leadership of the party appealed to me to calm down, that they will want me to go to the centre as a party official, I agreed. I got there and started working to ensure that I was elected into the position of the National Deputy Secretary.

The same cabal made sure that another person with less experience emerged. In the circumstance, after the rigged and fraudulent national convention, we went to court but the next thing was that our lawyer started saying things I could not understand and the judge was persuaded to strike out the case.

That led to my disaffection with the PDP and I stayed away for some time. Having experienced all these in politics, I decided to devote my time to the South-South struggle, which succeeded when Jonathan became the President of Nigeria.

Before then, our struggle was almost rubbished when, contrary to our belief that the South-South will not take the vice presidency, some people within the caucus went and arranged with the Northern Forum and they agreed that the South South will take the position if it is given to an Ijaw person.

That angered me and those like me because that was not what we were struggling for.

I did not completely stay away

•Brig. Gen. Ikpomnwen (rtd) from the movement, we continued to pioneer the whole thing from Edo under the South-South Elders and Leaders Forum, it was in this capacity that we operated when the late President Yar’Adua took ill, we kept on pushing that the then Vice President, Jonathan should be sworn as the President. Later the National Assembly agreed with us and went for the Doctrine of Necessity and okayed the Jonathan presidency.

But with all my struggles, the PDP has never treated me like a member and in my presence, they were promoting mediocre. They never gave people like us a chance, all because the powers-that-be felt we are too vocal, too idealistic, too principled and uncontrollable. I am not uncontrollable; the different between me and them is that I believe that in politics it is service to the people first. If there is any over flow, then everybody will benefit because they say sovereignty belongs to the people.

The PDP almost since inception was taken over by a cabal that can do anything, a cabal that wants you to lick its boot, that wants you to be a slave. I am not cut out to be a slave to anybody. I was trained as a soldier, a strategic thinker, a lawyer and I go for what is ideal. That was our

point of departure. Just before the elections, they appealed to me to come and play a leadership role in the PDP but I told them that all these years they never allowed me to play any role, so how come now?

This happened after the National Conference where I represented retired military officers. But the moment Buhari emerged as candidate of the APC, I knew they knew what they were doing. The convention that threw up Buhari was more democratic and the moment he emerged I spiritually became an APC man because this is a man I had worked with. I have in fact left the PDP since the emergence of Buhari, I have no choice. Nigeria deserves a political revolution and that was why I had to rally all my supporters to work for him during the presidential election. I am exceedingly happy about the development and I want to express my deepest appreciation to all those who helped in his emergence such as Asiwaju Tinubu, Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Amaechi and the APC presidential aspirants who conceded defeat such as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Governor Kwankwaso. It shows that they knew what they were doing. They have put this nation on the path of visible change. I have worked at different times with the general and I knew that all

they are saying about him was to run him down but Nigerians are wiser now.

There is no way I would have worked against Buhari or my state governor Oshiomhole, who has brought visible change in Edo. That is why I am telling our people in Edo that there is no other wise choice than to join hands with this messiah that God had brought to bring credibility to Nigeria and make Nigeria a leading country in the world.

Why Jonathan lost Jonathan’s administration has never been able to chart the right course for this country. Jonathan may be a good man on his own, he may have been a lucky man to emerge on the basis of emotions and sentiments, but certainly he does not have the liver to lead a country like Nigeria.

Jonathan surrounded himself with people who did not mean well for Nigeria. That Jonathan failed to win the election as sitting President did not come to me as a surprise. You only win election in the world now when you are doing well for the country not this situation where there is no security, no power, no roads, nothing at all. The average Nigerian did not feel the so-called impact of the transformation, therefore, Nigerians have no choice than to embrace change. We needed change and that we got. I don’t care what I will benefit, all I want to see is a society where those who work hard benefit while those who are lazy will have themselves to blame. Let us

military to be loyal to individuals and to those in power rather than to be a country. The Army moved away from its constitutional role and became an Army doing routine police work until Boko Haram began to hold towns and cities and operate as a regular force. I did not see the reason for our armed forces to be on the road, supporting politicians in power and being seen as agents to pull down the opposition.

But talking about the sudden turn, that is another intriguing thing. The military that could not curtail Boko Haram over the years began to record unprecedented success when election was on. It means the capacity to do it was there and you refused to do it and allowed our soldiers to be massacred. Nigerians who said government was supporting Boko Haram cannot be wished away because it looks evident that if government under President Jonathan wanted to stop Boko Haram they would have done so as they are doing now.

Army and Buhari’s certificate What happened was sordid, shameful. For a professional army, for the military to come out to say that a former Head of State, a former Commanderin-Chief, a general did not have certificate in their record, the issue really is not whether the certificate was with them or had disappeared, the issue is that a professional army would have said, ‘ we are not politicians, don’t drag us into this political argument going

The PDP almost since inception was taken over by a cabal that can do anything, a cabal that wants you to lick its boot, that wants you to be a slave. I am not cut out to be a slave to anybody

have a government that will create the favourable environment for every Nigerian to achieve its best.

Let us have an environment where we can move around freely and happy.

Boko Haram & Nigerian Army We are all witnesses to how our soldiers have performed in international operations in the past, be it Congo, Yugoslavia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Chad. The puzzle is that this same Army winning laurels all over, all of a sudden became a force that could do nothing in the face of insurgency. The only explanation I have for that is that the military was compromised.

The government contributed to rubbishing and destroying the army all because it wanted the

on. If you are worried about certificate, go to INEC, if you are worried about certificate, go to the school which the man attended’. But for them to say ‘ we don’t have his certificate, we have not seen his certificate on record’, it brought the Army to ridicule, it brought down this country to ridicule. I think it points out to the fact that some people have compromised.

And I was hearing a few days ago on the internet that the same certificate has been found. I think the Army have given good account of themselves in the past, they can continue to play that role as neutral people, as the last hope of the people.

What were the feelers in the Army when the certificate

Continues on page 38

PAGE 38 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

House of Reps Election: Controversy in Epe over ‘ dumped PDP ballot papers’

•Hon. Gbabijo

By Esther Onyegbula

C

ONTROVERSY is trailing the result of the House of Representative election in Epe Constituency, Lagos State, following the allegation by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate, Hon. Apeson Bola Gbabijo, that it was rigged by the All Progressives Congress, APC. Gbabijo is dissatisfied who with the outcome of the election, lamenting that the mandate freely given to him by the electorate was brazenly taken away

by APC and his opponent, Tunji Wale.

The PDP candidate, 57, who was the Minority Leader in Lagos State House of Assembly (2007-2011) and a former member of the House of Representatives, narrated what happened on the day of the election: “On the day of the election, the tradition is that candidates and parties chieftains assemble at the final collating centre. But because they had a hidden agenda, only one person who, by my reckoning, is not in the top echelon of APC, was seated all through the counting and balancing. This kind of rigging has never happened in the history of Epe. I am a politician. I know the intricacies. I know Epe politics but we did not suspect that something was happening. The next day, we were still at the coalition centre. In the evening of the second day, we heard that they was an impasse and that they could not announce the winner of the election. They said they had the authority of Lagos and Abuja to return to Lagos and stop announcing anybody as the winner.

“It was obvious that they were playing pranks while they were wasting time delaying the announcement of the election. I was there as a candidate, their candidate was not there. I was there with my chairman and secretary.

Only their chairman was

there.

“My honest assessment of the election is that it was shrouded in controversy.

There was stuffing of ballot boxes, chasing away of my agents and not allowing the INEC ad-hoc staff to carry out their functions. We have about 346 polling booths in Epe. Unfortunately, we were unable to get materials into a quarter of the total polling booths and, where we had, they arrived very late, and where they arrived very late, the entire process was shrouded in secrecy. Agents who dared them were threatened, that they were going on a journey of no return. That scared many of our agents.

“The result of the election was said to be stalemated by

the INEC staff who consulted with officers of INEC in Abuja and they told her to move all materials to Lagos and discontinue further counting and stop the announcement of result. But to our dismay, we later heard that she was forced to announce the results by those left behind, because we left immediately she gave reasons they couldn’t continue with the counting of votes. Immediately she told me the situation of things, there was argument involving the three candidates. When I suspected that it may snowball into serious problem, we concluded that there was no need wasting time there and we left. Unfortunately, we later heard that the electoral officer announced that my major opponent, the candidate of the APC, won the election. “ I won the election going by what happened at the polling units. It showed I am accepted and people came out massively to vote for me. And there was an ugly incident at the collating centre. We saw some dumped ballot papers at the back of the building at the voting centre.

We were shocked to notice also that the ballot papers were already thumb printed in favour of the PDP and, by extension, me. We called the attention of the INEC official and all the security agents

around to the incident. But I was told that these were some papers that were stopped while collation was going on.

“They said we should maintain the peace because people were highly agitated.

They called me personally and said ‘ Honourable, please calm your people, we will find a way around this thing’ .

But, eventually, they started telling us stories on how somebody could have left the ballot papers there mistakenly. We didn’t buy that because it was huge and somebody would not have left it mistakenly. I told the officials that the only way out was to take inventory of everything and, while we were at it, one APC stalwart came and told INEC officials they were wasting their time on the issue. “ The APC stalwart came with thugs and whisked away the polling officers under the excuse that the counting of votes was more important than the issues raised. While they were whisking away the officials, the thugs brought by the APC stalwart were busy displaying dangerous weapons on the streets. I called the attention of security agents to the dangerous development and they can testify to that. While these things were going on, I concluded that they might have substituted the votes

cast in favour of PDP and replaced them with their thumb- printed ballot papers.

They reduced the number of votes cast in favour of PDP. “I want to implore Professor Jega that the beautiful job he has done so far should not end at the top. He should extend it to other elections. That way, he will be seen like someone with an eagle eye to look at everywhere. Also he should return the verdict and mandate stolen to appropriate people and quarters. We have four honourable members in Epe who have served at difference times since the inception of the fourth republic. With all modesty, I think I am the best out of the four. I have provided infrastructure.

I have provided for the common man. I have trained over 300 youths in skill acquisition. I made arrangement with the Lagos government to educate indigenes. At the end of the day, they were all properly established with working materials. I also provided 17 bore holes and 23 hand pumps for villages.

I provided street lights for about four communities. I built a school through MDG support in my area. I built schools in different communities, even in Ise which is giving me so much headache.”

‘Buhari certificate saga tore the army apart’ •Continued from page 37

saga was on?

Officers will always be officers. We are in touch with ourselves when all these were happening. That issue tore the Army apart because we began to wonder whether this was really the Nigerian Army that we all served in. As soldiers, whether serving or retired, we are friends and many of us were discussing what was happening. It was most embarrassing for retired officers to see what they were seeing and to hear what they were hearing.

The demystification of the military is demystification and rubbishing of officers who have given all they have in the service of this country. It has always been our wish that the Army remains an honourable profession that we knew it to be when we went there, that we strove to sustain and anything less than that embarrasses any good officer and many of our officers are

good. Many good officers that I know watched helplessly as these things were going on, even me there was a limit to what I could say because a good soldier must run away to fight again. I know what I went through, I know the constraints that I had; so for a while I decided to support in a very subtle way those who we want to develop Nigeria.

Message to Buhari Nigeria is lucky to have Buhari. I recall his days as military Head of State, a few things made people feel he was too rigid. The law that visited drug trafficking with death penalty, that was too harsh and it cannot happen in a democracy. Nobody is perfect but three things are important in a democracy and ensuring good governance, the right to choose your leader, the right to change him when necessary and the right and duty to make inputs into the goings on in government. If we all take interest in what is going on, we have already

demonstrated our choice in what is going on now. If any government falls out of grace, that government knows it will go. Even before it gets to that point, if people continue to make their inputs and say what is good that government is doing and encourage government to do it and also voice out what they think is not good that it could be going on, the then government will be challenged.

Any government that is not being challenged by way of having clear picture of what the people want is likely to go wrong. So we all have a duty to make sure that this good man that has been chosen stays on course, we should not be afraid to talk. To me, a strategic thinker, I will always say it as it is and, also importantly, I will do whatever is in my power to ensure that we enhance this government that is coming up.

I did my best in this Jonathan’s administration to speak out the truth but they never listened to me.

I was called by the Obasanjo regime to look at the environment at that time to see whether we needed an organization that will fight financial and economic crimes. I sat down with my team chosen by Obasanjo and, within four months, we gave them a blue print. It was that blue print that gave birth to the EFCC. I did my best to put forward what I believe in because we knew what was happening. Like when I went to the constitutional conference, I also emphasized the need to improve the armed forces by improving the Act setting them up, the need to improve the policy decentralizing it, the need to have a decentralized police for effective federal system.

The important thing is that some of us have done our best even in a hostile environment but I think we will continue to do our best now that we know we have a strong system in place with the emergence of Buhari.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 39

By Favour Nnabugwu

H

awking on the highways has become a menace in Abuja as able-bodied youths dash from one end of the highway to another hawking sundry articles.

Some of them are below 18years, who should be in school while a number of them are armed robbers pretending to be traders. At every slight opportunity, they rob their unwary victims of their valuables.

Admittedly, many of those youths are pushed into this illegal business by extreme poverty and joblessness.

Some of whom are breadwinners not by their own choice but by the harsh realities of existence. They embark on trading on the highways as a last resort because the economy has excluded them and the government has not provided much of social security or welfare.

Speaking to Sunday Vanguard, a ‘pure water ’ hawker, A h m e d Abubakar, aged 16, who arrived in Abuja from Gombe in a lorry noted that hawking on the street became inevitable when there was no means to further his education. He said with every air of confidence that the selling of ‘pure water’ had assisted him to feed himself.

In a mixture of Pidgin English and Hausa language, Abubakar asked, “E better pass make l dey thief. Ko ba aka ba? (meaning, is that not so?).

Nkenna, 32, who sells plantain chips at the Deidei under bridge Berger, told Sunday Vanguard that he came to Abuja after finishing his ordinary national diploma, OND. He disclosed that his plan was to use the business to raise enough capital to go for his HND. He added that he hawks at the junction between 7am and 5pm daily.

Akpan Nfon, a shoe rack seller, lamented the woes of many of his friends who had suffered losses as the result of the activities of the men of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB who often times swoop on them and cart away their market (goods). My advice is that if government does not want to see us here, they should try to make things easier for us by building cheap and affordable shops for us, the type we can afford to pay,”Nfon said.

Mallam Inuwa Sadiq, another hawker, said: “This is what I am doing for now and anybody who wants to get me out of this place should provide another work for me. I don’t care whether there is AEPB or not because they are not the ones feeding me. I came to Abuja to struggle for living and God has been faithful to me.”

Buraimo Saliu, also hawking on an Abuja highway, said, “I like what I am doing. Selling something on the road is better than engage in criminal activities. I am not doing something unusual.

“I am aware that some of us indulge in criminal activities to support themselves but only hawk on the road to cover up but I can’t be part of them because l know God has a good plan for me.

Abuja highway of robbers, desperate youths “The AEPB, and their policemen should concentrate on making shops and houses affordable for the poor in Abuja or leave us alone. I am aware of the risk involved in every business and, if in the course of this work, a vehicle knocks me down and I die, so be it”.

For some others, Abuja is the federal capital city flowing with money and power. They left their villages for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in search of greener pastures only to discover, regrettably, that they cannot afford the basic needs of life there.

Without income, a decent house to sleep in and money to rent shops, they become desperate. Those who are not criminally minded find trading in the streets a survival option.

More often than not, this unregulated trade also constitutes an eyesore to the environment. It poses a threat to the beautification and landscaping of Abuja highways.

Street hawking defaces the environment through littering by people who buy the goods sold by the hawkers and adds to environmental pollution when drainages are blocked leading to flooding and breeding of vectors especially during the rainy season.

Pathetically, those hawkers damn the risk of trading on the highways. This, of course, may be the reason the AEPB kicks against street hawking.

Mr Joe Okairo, AEPB spokesman, in an interview with Sunday Vanguard, said the menace is a clog in the wheel of the FCT, blaming it on the influx of people from other parts of the country into Abuja

I am aware that some of us indulge in criminal activities to support themselves but only hawk on the road to cover up but I can’t be part of them because l know God has a good plan for me

“What we have to understand is that because of insecurity in some parts of the country, like you yourself can witness, the population in the FCT has increased dramatically”, Okairo said.

For an enduring solution to street trading, he disclosed that plan was underway by the AEPB to create a kind of station market for the hawkers so they can indeed vacate the highways.

“We are not resting on our oars; we are not resting until we sanitize the city. We are also trying to see if we can create a soft landing for the hawkers but for now it has not materialized, it is called the station market, we are still working on that but it has not worked out yet”.

On the effects of highway hawking, Mr Biliaminu Taiwo, 30, a civil engineer in Karu, stated that one of the main causes of traffic gridlock in most of the satellite towns in Abuja is the careless manner at which hawkers run across moving vehicles.

He explained that as a result of that, drivers would be made to pull their brakes abruptly to avoid running them over.

“Most times, it is not the bad state of the roads or the queues at various filling stations that cause traffic but hawkers that run across the highways like they own the road. They don’t give way for vehicles because they believe that the drivers should be human and wise enough to pull the brakes,” Taiwo stated.

He recalled that he almost ran down a hawker when he suddenly dashed across the road in an effort to escape from AEPB officials. “It would have been a different story if my car had by mistake climbed him”.

PAGE 40—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

BYDEMOLAAKINYEMI, Ilorin

S

HOCK best captures the political development in Kwara State since the defeat of the candidate of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), President Goodluck Jonathan, in the March 28 presidential election.

PDP, the main opposition party in the state, which had prided itself with FREEDOM slogan,to rescue the state from the grip of the ruling All Progressives Party, APC, is the major casualty in the current scenario as its supporters have left in droves to join the APC. The only female gubernatorial aspirant in the PDP, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, who came third in the party’s primary election, opened the floodgate of the decamping when she defected to the APC a day to the presidential election with her supporters, citing victimization and maltreatment by some power brokers in the PDP in the state.

Between the time the result of the presidential election was announced and the time of filing this report,the state secretary,Barrister Mahmud Abdulrazaq,women leader, Hajia Nimota Oba Wankasi, and youth leader, Barrister Segun Olawoyin, have dumped PDP and directed their teeming supporters to vote for the APC in yesterday’s polls.

The defection continued on Monday when 13 political parties and their governorship candidates adopted the APC governorship candidate, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, as their candidate in the governorship election held in the state yesterday.

Left in the race now with the governor were the candidate of the main opposition, PDP, Senator Simeon Suleiman Ajibola, and that of Labour Party,LP,Dr Mike Omotosho.

The parties, under the aegis of Congress of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP), hinged their decision to defect on the need to be in the mainstream of the nation’s politics.

Speaking at a press conference in Ilorin, the Chairman of the CNPP in Kwara, Alhaji Adebayo Lawal, said the decision to adopt Ahmed was borne out of genuine concern for the progress and development of the state.

Principal officers of all the political parties, six governorship candidates and one deputy governorship candidate were present at the event.

The parties include Action Alliance, Progressive Peoples Alliance, United Progressives

Kwara and its defectors

•Bukola Saraki

•Gov. Ahmed

Gbemisola, in her statement, explained: “After wide consultations, we found in APC a platform that mirrors the ideals of our political family both in content and context especially with under the leadership of General Muhammadu Buhari.”

Shortly after,some leaders of the PDP in Kwara came out to dump the party for the APC. The defectors unfolded their defection in a letter dated April 6, 2015 and addressed to the state’s Chairman of APC, Alhaji Ishola Balogun-Fulani.

•Gbemi Saraki Party, United Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party, Citizen Popular Party, African Peoples Alliance, African Congress of Democrats and All Progressive Grand Alliance.

The governorship candidates that stepped down for Ahmed are Mrs. Felicia Oyewusi (AA), Alhaji Tiamiyu Kamoru (PPA), Deaconess Comfort Kayode (UPP) and Hon. Lekan Alabi (SDP).

Others are Mr. Bayo David (UDP), Hon. Bamidele Omotosho (CPP) and Mrs. Falilatu Bashiru, deputy governorship candidate of SDP among others.

Gbemisola, the eldest

daughter of the late strongman of Kwara politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, in a statement to announce her defection, said she worked for APC in the presidential election having decided to leave PDP. Also, a son of a prominent opposition leader in Kwara politics, Chief Segun Olawoyin, who was also the Youth Leader of the PDP in the state, decamped to the APC. Speaking in Offa on Tuesday, Olawoyin said his decision to leave PDP was informed by the interest of his community, hoping to improve the lot of his people with his defection to APC.

The defection continued on Monday when 13 political parties and their governorship candidates adopted the APC governorship candidate, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, as their candidate in the governorship election held in the state yesterday

The defectors include Rev. Bunmi Olusona, Engineer Adebayo Ajimoti, Alhaji Gobir Mohammed, Alhaji Dele Sarkinwa, Dr. Mohammed Potun, Funso Agaka, Alhaji Nasiru Ubandawaki, Engineer Yunus Abdullahi and Mr. Dada Abiodun.

The former PDP leaders traced their decision to defect to a recent meeting they held with the APC leader in the state, Dr. Bukola Saraki, and their realisation that the PDP is peopled by those who do not have the interest of the state at heart.

The fortunes of the APC in the state further soared the following day as the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) adopted it’s governorship candidate and all APC candidates for House of Assembly seats in yesterday’s elections.

State Chairman of the ACPN, who is also the party ’s gubernatorial candidate,Mr Babatunde Omotosho, said this at a press conference in Ilorin.

Babatunde expressed the confidence of the party in the capacity and competence of Ahmed to continue to steer the ship of the state in the direction of peace, progress, stability and development.

On Wednesday, scores of supporters of Gbemisola Saraki openly tore their membership cards of the PDP and defected to the APC. The spokesman of Gbemisola Ruqqayat Saraki(GRS) Movement, and former Speaker of the state assembly,Hon Yissa Ezikiel Benjamin, supervised proceedings at the occasion.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 41

‘Battle for surveillance contract triggered Delta new bombing, not Jonathan’s loss of re-election’

By Jimitota Onoyume

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hief Judy Asuni is the Executive Director of Academic Associates Peaceworks, a conflict management organisation in the Niger Delta.

In this interview, she dismisses the perception in some quarters that the recent attack on oil facilities in Delta State had any connection with the outcome of the just concluded presidential election.

She calls on the president-elect, General Muhamadu Buhari (rtd), to meet with the South-South and SouthEast regions with a view to integrating them into his administration when he assumes office.

Some time ago you raised the fear that militants had started returning to the creeks ahead of the presidential election. Barely a week after the election, some youths attacked a gas pipeline in Delta State.

Does this in anyway confirm your view?

I think there were genuine fears then. What I picked up from those that had chats with militant groups then was that the militants had plans to attack facilities if President Goodluck Jonathan lost the election.

Those plans were put on hold when it looked like he was going to win.

So when he lost the election, we

Chief Judy Asuni

anticipated fear that the militants might go back to the creeks. However I think President Jonathan’s acceptance of defeat to General Buhari really helped to douse the tension in the area . Meanwhile, I will like to emphasise that from chats I had, the attack on oil facility in Delta State recently had nothing to do with the election.

Let me give some background about these attacks. In February 2013, the third phase militants began to stage attacks on oil facilities particularly in Delta State. These were people who were disarmed, documented but never really engaged in the Amnesty Programme. They took up their frustrations by attacking oil facilities.

We in the Academics Associates Peaceworks have been working in Urhobo,Isoko areas and other parts of the Niger Delta for a number of years where these attacks have been carried out as community relations building consultants for Nigerian Petroleum Development Corporation, NPDC, the operators of OML30.

We started working on this in 2013 and got to know members of the armed groups in the host communities and have also been working with them. We set up peace committees in the local governments to pick up early warning signs of conflicts. In mid 2013, a local company was given surveillance and intelligence contracts by NPDC. This led to tension , people asking why

one person should be given the contract. Various groups kept reacting, asking why it was not spread out. Some asked why the job was given to a man from one tribe and all that, The Managing Director of the NPDC at that time, Mr Victor Briggs, came up with a concept called community facilities protection system. The people of the local government were to protect their own facilities under the concept. This is what Chevron does.

When there is no attack on their facilities in your area, you get a bonus for your development project. . So this system works where the communities

So what we have been seeing in the last few months as resurgent attacks on facilities mainly

by Urhobo ex militants are from members of armed groups who would like to see the surveillance contracts being given to the communities themselves take ownership of the development process.

Unfortunately in mid March last year, the MD who conceived this idea was removed. And so the promises to the communities had never been honoured. It got to a stage, the NPDC called members of the communities and promised to give surveillance jobs to them. More than a year later, this had not happened, instead the contract was renewed for a particular company . This is what is causing tension and agitations.

So what we have been seeing in the last few months as resurgent attacks on facilities mainly by Urhobo ex militants are from members of armed groups who would like to see the surveillance contracts being given to the communities themselves.

These attacks have nothing to do with the presidential election.

In mid March, some of the big surveillance contracts were renewed for people like Tompolo and Asari Dokubo. At that stage, OPC was added. So there is local resentment in the communities that these big surveillance contracts had been given to people outside their communities

and not to the people who are resident there. So the tension is still there.

With recent political development at the centre, do you see the boys going back to the creeks?

Right now the boys are giving Buhari a chance if he would keep his promises. There was initial genuine shock in the Niger Delta that their son lost the election. There had been some questions about the election. Basically President Jonathan set the pace by accepting defeat and urging his followers to handle the defeat with grace.

The youths of the region will give President elect Buhari some time to see if he would actually perform. They would like to see genuine development in the region, issues in the National Conference implemented.

Another important part is that the South-South and the South-East voted largely for President Jonathan but they remain integral parts of Nigeria. And there must be efforts to re engage them, give them a feeling of inclusion in Nigeria so that even though their son will no longer be in office by the end of May they are still vital parts of Nigeria and their roles must be recognised I think if Buhari is able to keep his campaign promises , if he followed his manifesto, then things will be okay.

Any word for the president-elect on the Amnesty Program?

I think the Ijaw youths feel the program has to be continued at least for a while. There were plans to discontinue it at the end of this year.

However there are Niger Delta youths in institutions of learning all over the world. It will be necessary to continue this sponsorship of the programs till they come back home. Even more importantly you must engage them at the end of their program. You must find jobs and provide opportunities for them.

There are very definite techniques on re integrating ex-militants back into society. We need to look at what those in the Amnesty Office are doing, reform it and bring people who understand principles of re integration into the place and make serious effort to see that when the trainees come back from abroad, they are not left on the streets.

You have been involved in conflict resolution in the region. Any advice for the president-elect?

If people feel they don’t have a stake in Nigeria, they make trouble, if they are given a voice they want to make the place succeed.

I want to see the president-elect and his vice meet with the people of the South-South so they can exchange ideas. The same thing should be done with the South-East so the president-elect can know what they expect from him when he assumes office.

In the middle of March, I could not sleep. I was afraid that things were going to go bad because of the elections. But the elections have gone so much well than we thought. I feel extremely relieved about this.

Even if Buhari did not win in the South-South and South-East zones, it is important he incorporates them in his government. I think it is clear that he listens to the concerns of people from these regions.

PAGE 42 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

Why operating in Nigeria e have looked that Nigeria is a vast market of over 170 million people, yet there is low penetration of internet in terms of online retail stores. And therefore, we came out with the concept of Phonekings.com.ng. and we believe it is one big innovation hub of getting people to buy mobile phones, tablets, Computers, Games & Consoles, Electronics and other gadgets at the best and cheapest price ever without stepping outside their living room.

Target of 30% market share in one year We believe it’s achievable. The sector is still virgin. though we understand that competition in the market is high. We have the cutting edge technology and required man power to capture not just the 30% market share but also overtake the projection. We have put in a mechanism and well documented blueprint of sustainability in Nigeria and other African countries.

We are also dealing with poor house numbering system. When it comes to distribution of logistics, we have put in place everything that will make it work.

Yes, we understand the huge problem in Nigeria in terms of house numbering . We have been able to put together a good and detailed plans in terms of getting the good delivered in record time. Our delivery target time is a maximum of forty eight hours.

Dealing with security in the Nigeria online market place We understand that the security situation in the country is a serious issue. and nobody is disputing that fact we are aware of that. But what we have tried as much as possible to address is that our team have their means of identification/tags and they are always in their uniform. Our cars are customized with

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Passage of Cyber security bill will boost online retail — Olusanya

to look at and formulate a policy to push this ahead, because they benefit of the online platform is endless.

Passage of Cyber security The passage of the cyber security bill will of course go along way in turning around the fortunes of eCommerce in the country, because if your are doing any transaction online, you want to be sure that your transaction is safe.

If you put up your details you want to be sure that nobody tampers with your sensitive information. My appeal is for the legislators to pass this bill on time so that there would be a regulatory frame work for national security and even internet security in Nigeria. E-Commerce helping to growth national economy.

Phoneking.com.ng in the next five years In the next few years, we are anticipating exponential growth, we hope to open to African countries, such as south Africa Ghana, Kenya Namibia, Botswana,among others.

Although online retail business is thriving in Nigeria, lack of clear defined regulatory policy is still affecting its growth. In this interview with Emeka Aginam, the Chief Executive Officer of phonekings.com.ng, one of the leading online retail stores in Nigeria, Tayo Olusanya said that passage of cyber security bill would boost online retail store.

Because of the endless benefit of the online platform, he said that government should extend internet penetration in the rural area to further boost online retail business.

Excerpt phonekings.com.ng logo, So this gives customers the confidence that the delivery team from our company are genuine.

If you are talking about the Cyber or online security now, in terms of people using their Mastercard, Visa,Interswich and Verve cards online, our platform is very interactive,scalable, robust and security is 100%.

The back ends o f phonekings.com.ng is handled by major players in the industry. Our payment gateway solutions licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN),if you are using Mastercard,Visa, Interswich and Verve cards it is being handled.

Passage of the cyber security bill will turn around the fortunes of eCommerce in the country

Once you you log on to the site,make your order and if you want to pay online,it takes you to the portal of the banks/ financial institution that issues the cards.

The payment solution is not domicile with phonekings.com.ng but handled by the banks directly. Soyou can pay for your product seamlessly.

Double debit If a customer is debited twice in the course of online payment, it will be reversed automatically.

Measures put in place against hacking Our back-ends is not just handled byphonekings.com.ng but domicile with the various banks and financial institutions so, the only challenge is if the hackers are able to get through to the back-ends through the financial institutions but from our ends,there certainly will be no problem. We are 100% safe.

How regulatory environment affects online businesses At the moment, there is no clear defined regulatory policy on online businesses. We hope that the government and government

•Tayo Olusanya institutions who are in charge of this will be able to sit down and draft a policy for online businesses online business is not regulated. Government will come with the clear cut policy regulating the IT and online business in Nigeria.

Key things to address in ecommerce policy Security is very important. They should also look at the Telecommunication stakeholders as they also have an input into this by for Instance increasing internet penetration to the rural areas. There is so much restriction in the rural areas. so all these and more are what they really need

15b connect ed de vices tto o be video enabled connected devices in 2020, Ericsson predicts E RICSSON’s Media Vision 2020 research has predicted that by 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices, and of these, more than 15 billion are expected to be video enabled.

The driving force behind the Networked Society further further predicted that by the year 2020, time spent watching on-demand and time-shifted content will have reached 50:50 parity with linear and live TV. As the mobile market in Africa continues to grow and Internet access improves, there will be an increased demand for VOD services, as consumers now demand for content everywhere and any time.

As the trend for time-shifted viewing combines with ‘anywhere access, TV service providers must ensure their service offerings keep pace by giving consumers control to record and watch live TV content any time, on any device.

In response to this •Ove change in viewing Anebygd behaviour, Ericsson

has launched its cloud DVR solution offering a unique, proven infrastructure, which allows for seamless augmentation and replacement of legacy TV services with new cloud-based services.

The solution was launched at this year ’s National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas.

Accordingly, this development is expected to immediately position Ericsson as market leader in cloud DVR through new video storage and processing platform.

However, the new platform would reduce cost and complexity in consumer homes, shrinking set-topboxes while delivering consumers with on-demand, anywhere TV access to their content In response to this change in viewing b e h a v i o u r, Ericsson has launched its cloud DVR solution, applicable to all

QAM and IP-based TV platforms. This crucial consumer application is powered by the Ericsson Video Storage and Processing Platform, a high performance, software-based infrastructure.

Ericsson’s new platform offers a unique, proven infrastructure, which allows for seamless augmentation and replacement of legacy TV services with new cloudbased services.

It integrates and visualizes the storage and processing capabilities of as many Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) servers as needed, providing outstanding performance gains and allowing operators to avoid many of the complexities and costs associated with launching new services.

Speaking on the new development, Ove Anebygd, Vice President and Head of Solution Area Media, Ericsson, said that, “Today’s viewers are more prescriptive than ever. They want simplicity in discovery and immediacy of access to TV Anywhere services, and content delivered in the highest possible quality.

“They require the flexibility and speed to connect to huge libraries of content, and the ability to record and watch live and linear content whenever they choose.

MTN Business supports MFIs’ drive for financial inclusion

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OMMIT TED to help Nigeria’s Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), to reach out better to unbanked and financially underserved population, MTN Business, the business-to-business unit of MTN Nigeria, has urged MFIs to embrace cost-effective and operationally efficient solutions in the management of their businesses.

This was the focus of a recently held forum, organised in Lagos

by MTN Business, with the theme: MTN XaaS – Helping MFIs Drive Financial Inclusion.

Speaking in Lagos at a forum organized by MTN with the theme, MTN XaaS- helping MFIs Drive Financial Inclusion, Mr. Tsola Barrow, the Acting Chief Enterprise Solutions Officer, MTN Nigeria, said that technology “has become a key differentiator and enabler for businesses.” That was why, he explained, the MTN XaaS: Micro-Banking Software-as-aService solution was introduced to take the operations of MFIs to another level. The idea was to provide a highly secure, cloud-based solution that, by design, could be implemented within a short time without licensing or setup costs.

“MTN Business is committed to delivering value and driving business growth in Nigeria through tailor-made, productivity-enhancing solutions. We also recognise that microfinance banks provide a huge funding platform for SMEs. Thus, enhancing the service delivery of these banks makes access to funds easier for SMEs, ultimately impacting positively on the economy,” added Mr. Barrow, who was represented by Mr. Olutayo Egunjobi, Senior Manager, Enterprise Marketing.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 43 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

How not to preserve cultural heritage through digitizing films should build their confidence and assume the personal responsibility of developing cultural values in the industry without depending on external funding.

Titi Akinsanmi, Google’s Policy Manager, weighed in on the role of technology and, specifically, the Internet in promoting and passing on Nigeria’s social and cultural values. She spoke of how the Internet is a non partisan, egalitarian and equalizing platform that is increasingly accessible to all irrespective of

By CHRIS ONUOHA FILM

I

t was an evening of expositions when the School of Media and Communication (Pan Atlantic University) in collaboration with HomeVida hosted prominent personalities within the Nigerian film industry.

The forum which was part of efforts put in place to discuss and chart a new way into Digitizing the History of Film in Nigeria with the theme: “Making the link: Technology and Values in Film making”, was held at the Silverbird Galleria, Lagos.

Focusing on the enabling power of Film to instill and sustain our historical and cultural values using the Internet as an enabler, the veterans comprising renowned and respected thespian Taiwo Ajayi Lycett lead the session in company of some Nollywood veteran directors and producers Zeb Ejiro, Teco Benson, Lancelot Imasuen, Tony Abulu while the president of the Association of Nollywood Core Producers (ANCOP) Alex Eyengho, president of the Designers (Costumiers) Guild of Nigeria, Iyen Agbonifo and Titi Akinsanmi, Google’s Policy and Government Relations added colour to it.

As the aim of the Centenary Film Project is to digitally showcase and archive the history of film in Nigeria in an organized and accessible format, they shared from their experience and perspectives on integrating social and cultural values into Nigerian films, the challenges the industry face on quality and distribution and how Internet technologies can help to address these.

Ajayi- Lycett while speaking made a passionate appeal about the need to make more films that espouse the selfworth of the human person based on the combination of an appreciation of human dignity and the celebration of our cultural values, and to corroborate this, Teco Benson highlighted the fact that film making, beyond its economic gains is a major social responsibility that must be carried out with sanctity to help address and shape social and economic issues in the society, while keeping government accountable. In his words ‘the utmost responsibility of film making is to correct while entertaining’.

The engine room of the successful 2014 film ‘Invasion 1897’, Lancelot Imasuen and Zeb Ejiro collectively shared their experiences and opined that, for filmmakers, the focus on films that incorporate social, cultural and national values can be undermined by

•Participants at Digitizing Film conference the lack of funds and the fear of financial loss due to poor sales and low interest by viewers.

According to Imasuen, “filmmakers will rather produce films with junk content simply for survival, rather than quality as historical films may be financially demanding” while Ejiro insisted “that encouraging filmmakers to produce films based on our historical and cultural values

By STEPHEN E. KEKEGHE REVIEW

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ith five poetry collections to his credit— A Song for Tomorrow (2003), Maiden Lines (2004), The Forbidden Tongue (2007), Shadows of the Setting Sun (2012) and of course, The Fourth Masquerade (2014) which won the 2014 ANA prize for poetry, Yeibo has traversed the literary landscape with a laudable ideological commitment. As Shelly avows that the poet is “the unacknowledged legislator of the world”, Yeibo’s socialist vision measures with that of Osundare, Ojaide, Ofeimun and other globally acclaimed Nigerian poets who are engaged in social criticism of the Nigerian state.

Unlike his previous collections that bear the Niger Delta eco-social problem as a major thematic throb, in The Fourth Masquerade, Yeibo broadens his poetic canvas by weaving images of the Niger Delta wounded landscape with the battered Nigerian democratic process. In all the forty eight poems in this collection, Yeibo borrows metaphors from the rich archive of his social milieu to make a striking comment on the nation state. In the struggle to resuscitate a drifting nation as Yeibo poeticizes, it is imperative to employ all arsenals within our reach. In effect, Yeibo’s dual consciousness is manifest in his allegiance to his ancestry and the love for his nation.

While he quests to salvage the vanishing festival drama of his people and their sickening ecology, Yeibo expresses a

requires that issue of funding be looked into.” Tony Abulu indicated that filmmakers

The aim of the Centenary Film Project is to digitally showcase and archive the history of film in Nigeria

economic, social or cultural status. “It helps shape positions and opinions, presenting a unique opportunity for Nigerians to be directly involved in shaping the country’s reputation online by telling her own story.” She said.

In addition, one of the outcomes of the event was announcing a scriptwriter’s competition which will aim at promoting films that inculcate values. Similarly, training session will be organized by the School of Media and Communication for filmmakers on how to take advantage of online tools like YouTube amongst

others.

SUNDAY POEM

Frank fact

By FRED NWAOZOR POEM

Feeling of great tenderness For the militants’ tendency Right from a tender age Tends to save more souls.

Never mind My tendentious note on The tenacious person’s acts But we need To take note of The activists’ acts.

Though, I’m not tentative Because it’s a fact But I smile tentatively.

I speak with no tension But with the highest tempo Of my humble fat, I can’t be a tenant In my tenement.

In fact, I’m on tenterhooks Because,

My idea is not tenuous.

Therefore, I can’t come to grief.

Ebi Yeibo’s The Fourth Masquerade:

Allegiance to Homeland or Nation? peculiar avant-gardism to neutralize every instrument of oppression deployed by the desperate Nigerian elite to plunge the vulnerable masses into perpetual misery.

In the title poem, “The Fourth Masquerade”, Yeibo employs the fourth masquerade, an active character in the annual Olorogun masquerade festival of Ayakoromo, Delta State, Nigeria, as a trope through which he boldly unleashes his verbal missiles on corrupt institutions and individuals.

Like Ohaeto in Voice of the Night Masquerade, in Yeibo’s The Fourth Masquerade, he exploits the mask motif— the masked persona like the masquerade, has the freedom to express himself freely without intimidation of any form. He cautions: “These lines are the owl/Hooting ominous messages/In choking pain”(21). Yeibo employs the

In The Fourth Masquerade, Yeibo broadens his poetic canvas by weaving images of the Niger Delta wounded landscape with the battered Nigerian democratic process

fans in plaything, Yeibo like the masquerade is rejuvenating the masses to engage in active participation in the political processes. The lines are suggestive of the fact that unlike in Yeibo’s previous collections where he appears less engaged to national issues, in The Fourth Masquerade he has worn the mask to speak in a guttural voice. n poems like “The Burden of Blood”, “They Need New Names”, “For Hamza Al-Mustapha”, “Rhythm of the Forsaken”, “Rage in the Desert” and others, Yeibo unfolds his patriotism to his nation , questing to rescue Nigeria from her current decrepit posture.

I

image of the hooting owl, an indigenous metaphor for doom, to caution man against what he perceives as an impending gloom in the Nigerian society.

Yeibo’s attachment to his homeland is also patent in his deployment of maritime images such as “frothy salt waters” and “mangrove swamps” which are emblematic of the Niger Delta landscape. Interestingly, the poet employs these indigenous experiences to comment on the Nigerian condition. Yeibo illustrates that the masquerade in primordial era, maintained an appealing calmness: “Every step a torrent of bliss/Beyond bugs and roaches”(21).

Conversely, owing to the current shades of evil manifestations in our present day society, it is imperative for the masquerade to replicate the violent spirit of the age, “To chase and strike/Running, gasping, yelling mortals/…/In their weakest moments or glitches” (22). By chasing the

As a patriot to his nation, Yeibo in “They Need New Names” parodies the excesses of Nigerian politicians and their party affiliations. He sarcastically regards the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a new PDP that “wrap up ancient maelstroms/in fresh cocoyam leaves” (21); adding that they “Feign defection/ from the plundering party” (30) forgetting yesterday when they, themselves “pocketed the communal pouch” (33).

Consequently, in “Give Us Life”, Yeibo tasks the egocentric leaders to solve the myriads of problems confronting the Nigerian society.

As a humanist, Yeibo in “Rage in the Desert” berates the devaluation of humanity through the gory killings by the Boko Haram sects in Northern Nigeria.

He laments: “Terrorists taunt mortal blood/In the desert, like some plaything”(34).

PAGE 44—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015 japhdave@yahoo.com 08066625505

Bom Boy has made a difference to my writing - Yewande

By PRISCA SAM-DURU INTERVIEW

Y

ewande Omotoso is the daughter of renowned scholar, and writer, Profesor Kole Omotoso. She was born in Barbados but grew up in Nigeria before moving to South Africa in 1992. The writer and poet who is currently based in Cape Town where she works as freelance writer and novelist, is an architect turned writer. Her debut novel, Bomboy, won the South African Literary Award for First Time Author and was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize. Bom Boy which was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize, also made it to the final three at the inaugural edition of the Etisalat Prize For Literature 2013.

The writer who prides in writing novels that “entertain but also get people to think, reflect on themselves and reflect on prejudice”, in this interview, tells more about her career. Excerpts.

D

o you still regret not winning the inaugural edition of the Etisalat Prize?

I can’t really say I regretted not winning the prize. Regret is too strong a word. I was disappointed for a few minutes after the announcement and then you move along. There are things I regret in life but when it comes to prizes, I don’t think it’s worthwhile spending much time regretting such things. In these matters, at a time when scarcity can seem the rule, I prefer subscribing to the notion that there is an abundance.

How has that affected your writings and personality?

Being shortlisted has presented me with many opportunities and has made a difference to my writing endeavours.

What inspired Bomboy?

What inspires is always a hard question for me. The simplest answer is a curiosity to write about someone on the edge of society, separate and yet with a concern for being a part of something – a culture, a people, a family and so on. It’s a kind of one-off story. Whatever comes next will be distinct.

What challenges did you encounter while writing?

Nothing unusual. Time was the biggest challenge, I was working a fairly intense job at the time but it was easy enough to write in the wee-hours. My boss was encouraging and my supervisor was incredibly generous.

You’re an architect, one can’t help wondering its relationship with writing.

I think relationships can be drawn between almost anything if you think about it long enough. In reality though I studied architecture because that seemed sensible and I went back, after working for about five years as an architect, to do a masters in Creative Writing, because that too, at the time, seemed, if not sensible, then what my heart longed for, which is a kind of sense of its own.

Is writing a passion or just following the footsteps of your father?

Both my parents were very influential in my love of writing and reading. I was into my career as an Architect, however, when I chose to study Creative Writing part time and work on a novel as my thesis. It was quite an independent and stubborn thing to do. Which means when I made that decision I also

made sure I was doing it for my own reasons and not anyone else’s.

Etisalat presented you with an opportunity at East Anglia

I can’t really say I regretted not winning the prize.

Regret is too strong a word, I was disappointed for a few minutes and then you move along

University, how has that imparted you?

My time at the University of East Anglia is an experience I will cherish.

More than anything it • Yewande Omotoso connected me with a constellation of writers, a few of whom have become dear friends, and this I am grateful for. I believe that timely associations with fellow writers can have a large and positive impact on the quality of a writer’s work. Apart from that, the staff of the UEA Creative Writing School were incredibly generous and warm. Norwich is a vibrant literary city and the time and space afforded me to write was invaluable.

People are beginning to worry

that for the second time, no Nigerian writer has won the Etisalat prize for Literature, does it say something negative about the quality of works coming from within?

I wasn’t aware of this concern but really, “people” ought to relax. Prizes are an interesting beast. We love and need them, they honour hard work done and provide solid monetary relief to a profession seldom seen as one and definitely known to have “bad

pay”! But Prizes are also hard to gamble with.

I don’t think Nigerians should spend time worrying about whether enough Nigerians are winning the Etisalat Prize! Let’s celebrate that there is such a prize at all, that it is hosted by us, that we invite the continent and the world every year to behold the long and short lists and join us in celebrating the winner.

Lanablack debut with a ne w fform orm of pho new phottograph ographyy

By JAPHET ALAKAM PHOTOGRAPHY

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t was a pleasant Easter package for art lovers especially photography lovers as young classiccontemporary artist, Mr. Tunji Lana unveiled to the world a refreshingly new form of art called LANABLACK, through an open one week exhibition at the Terra Kulture, Lagos.

The launch/unveiling of the Exhibition which opened on Friday April 10 will continue through 17th will afford viewers the opportunity to see the images from an extraordinary photography exhibition which showcases the ability of one man to reach into the farthest recesses of

his mind and provoke its audience to believe that man can recreate anything in any way that he so desires.

According to Terra Kulture’s veteran Curator Ms. Aderonke Akinyele, “LANABLACK is a “style” of photography art which speaks to the viewer to see the world in a different way. It is a very imaginative and expressive creative form of photography which demands the audience to see a new perspective of what ordinarily is and stretch the imaginative power of the human mind.

Mr. Tunji Lana, the originator of LANABLACK noted that the concept of art also has a message for mankind, that it is designed to challenge, provoke and excite people. He clearly stated that it is

a mind-set that is not unbending but a re-creation that makes “everything international” where every object has an opportunity to become more and every subject has the opportunity to see what could be more.

LANABLACK is a style of photography art which speaks to the viewer to see the world in a different way

In a passionate definition, Lana explained LANABLACK to be a visual interpretation of a mind-set that he is urging the world to be magnetized by, to appreciate and to a d o p t . Technically, he elaborated that LANABLACK captures the expressive nature of light and shade. It springs forthtones and textures, drama over subtlety and subtlety over drama; ultimately taking the viewer though a new experience.

This concept introduced

by Tunji Lana in 2014 is being formally launched this year through a one week double location exhibition.

Children Ar or cchildren hildren Artt Club, an equal Ar Artt engagement ffor

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n a monoeconomy country like Nigeria,the need to diversify so as to harness all other talents in other fields becomes necessary. This was why Adeniyi Olusegun established The Children Art Club in Abeokuta.The Children Art Club, an unequal Art engagement for the Nigeria child is moving forward with increase in participation. It is a creative outlet where the kids come together every third Saturdays of the month to express unhindered their artistic talents and learn new skills. In the words of Pablo

Picasso, “Every child is an artist; the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”.

According to the initiator, Olusegun Adeniyi, “the children are our most precious resources; when we fail to recognize these kids’ talents, they recede and diminished. We cannot allow their God’s given talents to go to waste. With the right guidance and stimulating environment, the children can be helped to discover and harness their inner creative genius.”

The Children Art Club is held at the Cultural and Musical Heritage Centre, OLUMO ROCK, Ikija, Abeokuta, Ogun

•Olusegun Adeninyi(Standing) mentoring the children during the March edition State, Nigeria. The March edition was held on March 21

while the next edition holds on 18th April, 1015.

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 45

What we did to commit Jonathan, Buhari to peace ahead of polls – Ben Obi •Says Igbo have no regret standing by Mr President *’PDP will bounce back’

• Senator Ben Obi Special Adviser to the President on Inter-Party relations, Senator Ben Obi, in this interview, speaks on the defeat of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP by the All Progressives Party, APC, in the presidential election, President Goodluck Jonathan conceding defeat among other national issues.

He also speaks on the place of the Igbos in the emerging Nigeria, the statement credited to the Oba of Lagos on yesterday’s gubernatorial election and what PDP did wrong.

Excerpts: he Peace Committee on the presidential election played a very pivotal role in ensuring the peaceful conduct of the elec-

T

C M Y K

tion. What was the source of inspiration for this committee?

Well, I will start by first and foremost congratulate President Goodluck Jonathan for understanding what modern day politics is all about.

If you recall, starting from 2011 when he made that prophetic statement, that nobody should rig elections, for him and that if he loses he will go back to his Otuoke home and no Nigerian blood is worth his political ambition, that caught my attention. Being in politics for nearly 40years, I have hardly found a leader in such a sensitive and powerful position make such a statement.

And when I came on board as his Adviser on inter-party

Starting from 2011 when he made that prophetic statement, that nobody should rig elections, for him and that if he loses he will go back to his Otuoke home and no Nigerian blood is worth his political ambition, that caught my attention affairs, I applied to him in writing, as a follow up to that statement, the need for us to organize workshops in states that would have elections as we went on because there are some states that now enjoy staggered elections different from the general elections.

I wrote to him and the first was Edo and he approved and told me to go ahead and we

went to the state and did the workshop and issued a communiqué which all the participants, the governorship candidates and the chairmen of the political parties contesting election, appended their signatures. When I got back to Abuja, I did some executive memo to him and I got his approval that once there was

any election, my office should go ahead and organize a workshop on free, fair, transparent and credible elections there.

And we did that in Edo, Ondo, Anambra, Ekiti and Osun states. And we would come out with a communiqué where all the candidates would sign and commit themselves to free, fair, transparent and credible elections and non-violence and that helped a lot to douse tension because most of them, having seen their signatures, called me at a point and said, ‘Senator, if not that you made me to sign this document that is now public knowledge, I would not have accepted this’.

But you know what was

Continues on page 46

PAGE 46—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

Continued from Page 45 striking was that as soon as a winner was declared by INEC in less than two hours of such declarations’ those winners got congratulated by President Jonathan. And of all the places we went to, it was only in Ekiti that was PDP. In some places, PDP was even racing to the courts but they found the leader of the party, the President of the country, congratulating the winner. So that became, for me, a stepping stone to going about the issue of peace in our elections.

Now, you recall, last year, when the temperature was extremely high and Boko Haram was on the ascendency and everybody was worried and politicians now took the issue of Boko Haram more as a political issue than what it really was.

I had a meeting with the National Security Adviser (NSA) who said, ‘Senator, why not organize an all-party summit so that we could address this matter since you have been doing this in all the states. ‘I said it was possible.

We were worried about the utterances of political leaders.

So we organized an all-party summit on the 12th of June, 2014, that was the first time Gen. Buhari was in attendance with the President and the President declared it open.

When I wrote to APC, it was discussed at their National Executive Council and it was unanimously adopted as an event that APC will attend officially and they did. And at the end of it, we put out a communiqué that was signed by all the parties.

Again, towards the end of last year, I met the President.

I said, ‘Now, we are going for the general elections, we did for some states, now for the general elections, we are going to have an all-party summit’ and he said ‘ yes, go ahead, I am all for it’.

And then I started discussing with the NSA and we agreed. And I told him that what we wanted to do in order not to bring people that maybe considered partisan or that have interest here and there, let us search for international figures to participate in the summit. And that was how we were able to bring in Emeka Anyaoku, who chaired the event, and Kofi Annan, who was the special guest of honour. And we brought in Professor Gambari from United Nations, Obiako from United Nations. The only person that we brought in locally was Professor Atahirru Jega, the Chairman of INEC. All other speakers, resource persons were from outside.

When I met with the PDP National Chairman and the APC National Chairman, at different times, they agreed and endorsed it. And all the candidates attended and signed what is now referred to worldwide as the Abuja Peace Accord.

Now the Abuja Peace Accord also talked about creating a National Peace Committee to see through the elections and after the elections. And as C M Y K

‘Igbo have no regret standing

by Mr President’

• Ben Obi soon as that was done, we had a meeting. The meeting was between Bishop Hassan Kuka, John Cardinal Onaiyekan and myself, at the residence of John Cardinal Onaiyekan. That was how we were able to assemble those great Nigerians that you see as members of the National Peace Committee.

And it was done deliberately to look for men and women of integrity who, when they speak, all sides will listen to them and that was exactly what we did and set up the first meeting. But, unfortunately, the Chairman of the committee was out of the country and that is Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar. But he now directed that his deputy, Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, should sit in for him. And the second meeting, he arrived, he cut short his trip, he came straight from the airport to the meeting and that is what you have today.

Were you surprised when the President conceded defeat?

If you hear the story I have given to you, from his statement in 2011 and from the approvals that I got to hold all the summits that I talked about and how he participated... don’t forget, on Wednesday or Thursday morning, two days to the elections actually, the National Peace Committee got them both to reaffirm their position on the Abuja Peace Accord and they did.

So, I see the President as a man who is quite conscious of his words. When he says a thing, his word remains his bond. He didn’t think twice about the position that he took.

And when I look back, like I told you, his congratulatory messages to Gov. Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, to Mimiko of Ondo State, to Peter Obi of Anambra State, and to Aregbesola of Osun State, I am not surprised.

Not that the party was in

What I do see is that, in due course, politicians will be going to Otuoke to study the politics of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

sync with him on that, he was just being himself, which is very striking for a political leader at that level and caliber and I think that what I do see is that, in due course, politicians will be going to Otuoke to study the politics of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

This is the first time that an incumbent is losing, not just losing but accepting defeat. Some people have argued that the defeat, as it were of the PDP, is not so much as a result of the lack of performance of the Jonathan administration but the internal failings of the members of the party. As a party man, do you think that members of the party worked as much as they should have done for the re-election of President Jonathan?

The truth is that when the party went into primaries, they sent a negative signal amongst themselves. The party went into primaries and virtually every state came out with one problem after another.

And, for me who have, over the years, founded and managed political parties, I did not, in all of this time, experienced, in an election year, movement of members of a ruling party into the opposition party. In most cases, it was the reverse. You saw people from the opposition party jumping and moving into the ruling par-

ty in an election year.

So when this was happening, I said to myself and my friends in the party that we had a problem, ‘ we really have a problem and until and unless we address these problems, a lot of things would go wrong’. So, for me, somehow to a large extent, we did not help ourselves as a party. And it is important that in order for the party to get back its bearing, we have to go back to the drawing board and put a lot of things right that went wrong in the last 18months so to speak.

And in saying this, I also want to put on record, though the APC won the elections on the 28th of March, the PDP, for all intent and purposes, is not a push over at all. I have absolute confidence that the PDP will spring back into reckoning very soon; in fact, sooner rather than later, take my word for it.

How would you juxtapose this confidence with the fact that there seems to be movement in droves of PDP members to APC? Look, these movements are what you can easily classify as opportunism. Some of them would have moved long ago but most of them decided to wait and vote for President Jonathan. Their interest was to remain in the PDP since the first elections were going to be the presidential and National Assembly polls; their interest was to vote Mr President and then go and continue the battle of discord that had been sown in

their various states.

So I believe what we are experiencing is some opportunist in nature, some want to pay back people in their own coin. So it is not a thing that will last for too long and I mean every word of it. The PDP is certainly not a push over and the PDP will spring back.

What the outcome of this election has shown is the fact that the tripod that we used to know of Nigeria, the North, the South West and the South East, seems to be broken now with the alliance of the North West and the South West, which seems to have excluded the South East in the new arrangement. What does this portend for the South East?

Let me seize this opportunity to express, in no small measure, my satisfaction, contentment for the politics of the Igbo man. We took a decision to stand by President Jonathan as one of us and we stood by that decision, it says a lot.

Even when people are saying no, how can you put all your eggs in one basket, we said no.

And we decided to mobilize in full force our people in Lagos in particular to show the population and strength, numerical strength of the Igbo man in Lagos and you have seen that.

So I am very proud of the Igbo man, for taking a stand and remaining steadfast on that stand.

I join all those who have spoken that we have no regrets whatsoever in the steps and actions taken in support of Goodluck Jonathan as far as the Igbo nation is concerned.

Yes, we may not have been seen to have played a major role in installing Gen Buhari, but, at the same time, you still have some of our people, some of our brothers and sisters who are part and parcel of the APC, who are founding members of the APC. They are also, in their own rights, highly respected Igbos, you cannot wish them away. There is Ugbonnaya Onu, Rochas Okorocha, Chris Ngige, these are highly respected Igbos in their own right.

So I don’t see a situation whereby any group of people or any zone or zones will want to lead this country and will ignore the Igbos. We have shown a serious signal in Lagos. You saw how many seats we won in the Lagos National Assembly elections.

That is a warning shot that we know where we are going, we know where our strengths are and it is not only in Lagos.

We are now going to galvanize our members, first of all to know their rights and to defend their rights. Anywhere and everywhere they are, they should be accorded their due respects as people who contribute to the economy.

For any economy, across the length and breadth of this country, you cannot ignore the local strength of the Igbo man and the economic growth of those areas and that is what we want to say, that, as Nigerians we want to live in peace with our brothers and sisters all over the country.

Anywhere we find ourselves we turn it into our homes, we help to develop the local economy there and, if we can do that then, we believe that other people should accord us that recognition.

People would be talking of the President being from the North West, the Vice President being

Continues on page 47

SUND AY SUNDA

Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 47

’PDP will bounce back’ Continued from Page 46 from the South West. From the analysis on ground now, it appears that the Igbos will lose out in the parliament. Are you not worried that in such critical area, an Igbo man would not be a head of one of those places?

Well, the APC as a party will have to work out a modality through which the party will stretch a hand of friendship and fellowship to the Igbo man. I am not worried as an Igbo man that we have that dilemma.

I am not going to be in the PDP and help create a solution for the APC, I am not a party to that.

But they have to organize themselves, they have to know that they have a block that must be protected, it is very simple. Like I said, I have just mentioned to you a few names of Igbo leaders who are foundation members of APC, they too know what it means.

You were the vice presidential candidate to former Vice President Abubakar Atiku in al election, you have been seen as an Atiku man for a very long time now and then suddenly you parted ways. Was it the difference in terms of politics as it affects your person or as it affects your region? Are you still an associate of Atiku?

First of all, all politics, they say, is local. I have tremendous respect for the former Vice President as my boss, as my friend and my brother. As a matter of principle, I don’t lose friends.

All my friends who are even members of the APC, I walk up to them any day and say ‘do this and do that’. Like I talked about the summit on the 12th of June, as soon as I got the clearance from Mr President to get all the parties involved, I went to Gen Buhari and said, ‘Sir, I would want you to attend personally this event, in your right apart from APC as a party and he accepted and he came.

When they now told him that he has to speak, he said no, his friend, Ben Obi, didn’t tell him he would speak, except if Ben Obi said \’speak’. Then I went to him and said, ‘Sir, you cannot come to a function like this without speaking, you will speak’.

On the 14th of January, this last Peace Accord, I also made sure I spoke to him personally.

So I keep friends, I don’t lose friends because of politics; I mean all those I have worked with.

If I go to Dr Tunji Braithwaite, my leader who we all started politics together, if I go to him now in his Victoria Island residence, his wife would say, ‘Ben, daddy is upstairs in his bedroom, go and meet him there’.

I try to make sure that I do not allow politics to come in-between my friendship with people.

Even though I have not spoken to the former Vice President for some time now, if I pick up the phone and call him now; ‘Ocheidigbo, where are you? What is happening, I haven’t seen you, I haven’t spoken to you, I haven’t seen you, I want to see you,’ what is the way we relate.

We didn’t leave PDP in 2006 because we wanted to leave PDP.

• Obi Obasanjo de-registered us and a lot of people should put these facts in proper perspective.

Obasanjo de-registered us as PDP members. And since we did not retire ourselves because of Obasanjo then, we decided that we have to give a fight and, in giving a fight, we needed a platform and that was how the issue of AC came about and all of that journey started.

And when that one ended up and Yar’Adua became President, he set up the Ekwueme Committee and they started talking to members and calling us back, we came back. I am not used to jumping from party to party.

As one of those who founded the APP in 1998, which later metamorphosed into ANPP, I was the one who gave APP the name on the 27th of August, 1998 at Sheraton Hotel, that name All People’s Party and I became the foundation Secretary.

It was at a meeting where they changed the name of APP to ANPP in Lokoja and they directed Mamud Waziri, the foundation Chairman of APP, and myself who were in government to resign. The late Mamud Waziri and I met, I mean there should be some decorum in this business called politics.

You did not invite us to the meeting, you did not call us to any meeting, you did not say anything to us, you just issued a statement and we said we were going to ignore them. That was how we ignored the directive of the ANPP at that time because we felt due process was not followed.

I am just saying that I am not used to moving from party to party. I believe in a party, I stick with a party and we would move on. So that is it.

Atiku Abubakar, felt his rights in the PDP were not respected as the former Vice President and all of that and he had to move on.

But, unfortunately, I couldn’t be of help at that point.

Looking back now, do you

think that the PDP treated former President Obasanjo right or rather, did Obasanjo treat PDP rightly?

Well, you see, I find it difficult to discuss Obasanjo because a good number of people know that I have some issues over time with

I want to believe that the stakes are pretty high.

And the incoming administration will have to work extremely very hard to meet the demands of the Nigerian people

him and I never liked to discuss leaders.

If a platform was made available for you to be made President for eight years, a platform was made available for you to be BOT Chairman and that platform was made available for you to decide so many things that happened within that platform.

I don’t agree that the position that Obasanjo has attained locally and internationally would be a position where some local chieftains of one party or the other would be tearing membership card before the print and electronic media; what was he trying to prove?

To me, that’s no longer a PDP matter, there is no question about it. Obasanjo is an international figure. There are certain things people at that level must never do and I think that is one of them. So, too bad, he has done that. Let history be the judge of that action. But that is my own personal view. I don’t want to comment about President Obasanjo.

I had reason to go and visit him in Abeokuta and he received me very well. People thought I had this difference with him and I said it is political. If I come to ask his opinion on certain things, I served him. Well, all of that is history.

What do you think Nigerians should expect in the next four years? Do you think that Nigeria will look back at the PDP with nostalgia or you think that the change being preached by the APC will come to pass?

I want to believe that the stakes are pretty high. And the in-coming administration will have to work extremely very hard to meet the demands of the Nigerian people. Everybody has now come to realize the power of the ballot box.

I can assure you, they are going to wait for eight years to pass a verdict. They will even be hoping that it is going to be done within two to three years. That is the way I see the Nigerian people now, on a very fast lane, to get Nigeria to its full potentials, locally and internationally. So they are going to be in a hurry to arrive at destination. So the incoming administration must have to work 20times over, sleepless nights.

Do you have confidence in the in-coming leadership?

I believe we are all Nigerians, I believe Nigerians abound in every nook and cranny that you can involve in your government to help build the country.

I keep reminding people that there was a gentleman called Ronald Reagan. People never had any true recognition for what he stood for apart from being a Hollywood star. But when he came in, he was quite sure of his limitations. But he never made the mistake of not getting the right team around him that shielded him, that helped him and, today, when you are talking about great of great American Presidents, they now call Ronal Reagan because he put square pegs in square holes.

Go and look at the achievements of President Jonathan, he did quite a lot. Now

whether those achievements were rightly put out to the public is a different kettle of fish.

To me, as somebody, who suffered electoral manipulation and was in court for two years, to see how President Jonathan sanitized the electoral process to where we are today, I cannot but continue to thank him.

If you went to court for two years with hard earned money, from courts that have jurisdiction over your matter to courts that do not have jurisdiction over your matter, you will understand my dilemma.

Look at our airports, once you get to the airports in those days, in five minuntes you are sweating like a Christmas goat, and you will complaining that you are back again to this country, things have been turned around.

Look at the railway; look at the road sector; the infrastructure put in place by this man.

Now to come and cap all of these with the icing of the cake on what he did on Tuesday, to me, like I said to some people, the Nobel Peace Prize that some people, some heads of states have been hackling and running for, wanting to get it all cost, I won’t be surprised if that Nobel Peace Prize does not go to President Jonathan.

As we speak today in the continent of Africa, he is the most important political leader, for that singular action of his. And I would be against anybody that would want to bring him down from that high pedestal. He must live on that high pedestal, he has something to give and he has to give those things that God has given to him to give to the people of this country.

What is your reaction to the threat by the Oba of Lagos that the Igbos should vote for a particular candidate or get thrown into the lagoon?

This is a very unfortunate one coming from the highly placed royal father of his standing coupled with the fact that if you look back into his back ground, a retired Assistant inspector General, one is bound to be worried and disturbed.

For a royal father like Oba Akiolu who is not in any doubt about the contribution of the Igbo people in all aspects of development of Lagos to be the one to issue such a threat leaves so much to be desired.

The truth is that I happen to have known his predecessor in office at very close quarters and I know he would never have made such a statement.

I believe that Oba Akiolu made that statement because those were the same words he used against the person of Senator Musuliu Obanikoro, some five months ago, when we went to his palace on a courtesy visit, led by Mr President, the vice president and the national chairman of our party. When I heard him thundering in that manner, it reminded me of that courtesy visit. But we need to remind Oba Akiolu that he is not the only royal father in this country and i am very proud of how my Igbo brothers reacted to him.

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PAGE 48 —SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

BY YOMI OBADITAN

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T was Paul James who defined nation-building as the broad process through which nations come into being. Others look at nation-building as a means by which people within the state come together in order to achieve political stability and economic viability. Whatever angle one may look at nation , it is obvious that Nigeria is a mere state and not a nation. Past efforts at making Nigeria become a true nation comparatively with nations like United States of America, France or Germany have failed.

One reason that has kept the nation on its knees is the divide and rule tactic the colonialists used while laying the foundation for Nigeria; the British cleverly created Nigeria after the United Kingdom where England is far larger than Scotland and Wales.

Without England, neither Scotland or Wales can hold political power. Historically, the northern part of Nigeria has been using its population advantage over the eastern and western parts. Every past elections has favoured the North, as more votes and representatives come from that part.

The structure of Nigeria was that of an in-built power struggle among ethnic groups, most of those who found their way to power never leave until they were forced out. Even then, while in power, it was their ethnic groups that benefitted from the wealth of the nation. Quite often, to retain power, leaders appealed to tribal sentiments; for instance, when General Aguyi -Ironsi came to power after the first coup, he promoted 20 army officers out of which 17 were his Igbo people. The counter coup, led by General Theophillus Danjuma, came for vengeance and almost wiped out the newly promoted officers from the East. The tribalism virus that affected our politicians also inflicted wounds on the military which failed on its self appointed mission of aberration. The military incursion into politics did not only delay our political development, but also crippled nation-building as most of the promotions favoured a section of the country.

The Second Republic began on the same note of fumbling and wobbling, our political leaders did not give priority to unity of the country, but merely sought power for economic advantage. The National Party of Nigeria ( NPN) had national spread but the party ruined the country and wasted the resources. By the time Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Tunde Idiagbon came to power through the barrel of the gun, three members of the NPN were declared wanted for alleged corrupt enrichment to the tune of 6 billion pounds. It was this that led to the abduction of Umaru Dikko in the street of London, before the British police thwarted the operation. Buhari’s first coming would have united and built a new nation, but military politics aborted that mission. It is, therefore, needful that the newly elected President, Buhari, set out immediately he is sworn-in with the task of nation-building.

1993 election The 1993 election that produced the late business mogul, Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, was the last chance Nigeria had to build a new nation. But the election was C M Y K

•President -elect, Muhammadu Buhari

Buhari and the task of nation-building cancelled and the winner incarcerated. Abiola didn’t leave detention alive as ethnicism and tenacity of office by Ibrahim Babangida messed up that move.

The nation was on the verge of war before the Yoruba were consoled with the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. The eight years of Obasanjo did not heal the wounds, rather a new vista that took the form of violence pervaded the political space, first by the youths of the Niger Delta.

Out of frustration, they destroyed oil pipelines that resulted in economic loss to our country. But the late President Umaru Yar Adua granted amnesty to the group and created a Ministry to oversee their resettlement. The Niger Delta militants are back in the creek to carry out the threat of vandalism over the loss of election by their kinsman- President Goodluck Jonathan.

The Boko Haram insurgency, started by Mohammed Yusuf, was receiving foreign funds and training. By the time Yusuf was arrested by soldiers, it was to be the turning point for insurgency in Nigeria. The police allegedly killed him and one-time commissioner in Borno State and many other political gladiators were implicated. The approach to the termination of the insurgency

by Jonathan was poor and has been identified as one of the factors that led to his failure at the presidential election. The y in the North has caused the death of thousands and millions displaced. The over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram have spent about a year in the custody of their abductors without hope that they will be rescued.

The six years of Jonathan will go down in history as one of the

worst governments when viewed against its approach on ethnic jingoism; one ethnic group openly threatened other groups over his re-election. The nation is further polarised today because Jonathan ignored the fact that it was the Yoruba man that recommended him for the presidency. For the six years he has been in office, he starved the South West of funds and denied them projects. Obasanjo was called a motor park tout by Jonathan who said the former president had ceased be a statesman. No elders from the Niger Delta appreciated the magnanimity of Obasanjo in backing their kinsman for the presidency.

The Peoples

Buhari’s task is to heal the wounds of the injured, console troubled souls, mediate between aggrieved Nigerians and assure the youths that a new dawn is here for their emancipation from lack, want and joblessness

Democratic Party ( PDP ) that boasted to be in power for 60 years faltered and fell 16 years after. The party is on the brink of collapse.

Time will tell how far the party will go. PDP is yet to recover from the shock of the defeat it suffered at the presidential election. If Obasanjo is guilty of wastage of resources on power, Jonathan is to be blamed for privatisation of same. Jonathan used ethnicity to destroy the fragile unity of Nigeria. The 2015 election was bittterly pursued by the ruling party. Apart from the initial N21 billion fund raising that was generally condemned, the six weeks before election witnessed wasteful spending by the PDP in the struggle to retain power at all costs. Naira lost its value to the dollar. Bags of dollars were doled out to traditional rulers and men whose political relevance is questionable, especially in the South West. The Awujale of Ijebu Ode was courageous enough to tell the president that Obas are forbidden from campaigning for politicians.

Building bridges Diepriye Alamieyeseigha, a former governor of Bayelsa State, got state pardon at a time the nation was demanding from leaders they should sweep thieves and the corrupt ones from the polity. Jonathan merely promised to fight corruption but fiddled with corruption. It bore evil fruits under him.

While nations were being built, and old foes busy building bridges as it was between US and Cuba, Nigerians were divided and ready to dissolve their country.

Nigerians see themselves from the eyes of tribe and tongue. How do we explain how Yoruba, the third largest ethnic group, could not be in the list of first 45 political

leaders under Jonathan, whereas the people from eastern part were occupying the posts of Secretary to the Federal Government, Minister of Finance, Health Minister and many more and the South-South holding the portfolios of Minister of Petroleum, Minister of Work and Central Bank Governor. Contract awards are done in similar fashion. It was obvious that Jonathan, who enjoyed massive votes from the South West, had repudiated the support. The use of Odua People’s Congress (OPC) to destroy billboards of APC in Lagos by the PDP and the Movements of Actualisation of the State of Biafra ( MASSOB) in the SouthEast to demand for the removal of Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC ), gave the President away as a desperado and a man that was politically drowning.

Jonathan is today being hailed as a statesman for accepting defeat, but the salient issue is that the man has succeeded in dividing Nigeria; his statement that he is more of an Igbo and that was why his father gave him the name Nnamdi is an unforgettable sectionalism. Lagos was neglected by Jonathan, money spent on infrastructural development carried out by the governor on behalf of the Federal Government was not refunded.

Monthly federal allocation was reduced to the level that states like Osun, Oyo Kogi could not pay salaries to workers. Projects awarded to contractors were abandoned due to shortfall in allocation. Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, governor of the State of Osun, stated: “ The reason they gave for reducing our allocation from N4.6 billion monthly to N1.2 billion was that there was pipeline vandalism. On daily basis Nbillion of oil money were being stolen by the vandals,yet we have security that are in charge of these pipes.” He concluded that unless Jonathan is voted out, there will be no development.

Buhari’s task is to heal the wounds of the injured, console troubled souls, mediate between aggrieved Nigerians and assure the youths that a new dawn is here for their emancipation from lack, want and joblessness. The election campaigns were too dirty for good minds. The campaign lacked issues, but full of verbal missiles.

If Nigeria will move forward, there must be a mission to reconcile the various components.

While the composition of the cabinet may be all inclusive, social engineers must be engaged to foster peace, unity and stability in the country.

As a retired general in Nigeria Army, it is obvious that Buhari needs to overhaul the military. The political officers will have to vacate their posts for professional soldiers. The Ekiti video on the Fayose election deserves special scrutiny. Those implicated must be punished. There must be training and retraining of men and officers of the armed st forces in line with the 21 century.

Nigeria Police must be reorganised. The need for modern equipment for the police must be met. Emoluments for officers and men should be provided as and when due. The retired and relatives of those who die in active service must be taken care of.

* Obaditan is resident in Oshogbo.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 49

Buhari’s govt must discard neo-liberal economic system — Prof Ekpo

BY UDEME CLEMENT

Akpan Ekpo, a professor of economics, is Director General, West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM). He speaks on the need for the incoming Buhari’s administration to jettison neo-liberal economic framework used by the outgoing government. ow do you assess Nigeria’s economy in the last six years?

Looking at the performance of Nigeria’s economy in the last six years, I maintain that the economy has recorded only marginal improvement with the relevant indices. Government says the economy is growing at six percent yet unemployment is increasing. Currently, the unemployment rate is 28 percent and is rising among youths. Such high unemployment ratio constitutes output loss to the economy, meaning that the economy is not producing at it maximum potentials. Invariably, you question where the growth is coming from. Has the growth made any impact on healthcare services, standard of education, poverty alleviation and basic amenities? If not, such growth is not meaningful. Why is our economy growing and unemployment is rising very high, even to a crisis level that we are experiencing now? It means what we have is paper growth or jobless growth.

In fairness, President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, achieved single digit Inflation rate due to their ability to maintain price stability within that period. Again, there is a question mark on the inflation level, because what matters is whether the economy is within the threshold. This is because an economy can have 12 percent inflation rate and still be doing well, not that you have single digit inflation and unemployment is at a crisis level in the country. For instance, the real sector is virtually dead and lending rate is very high, the average now is 25 percent. Which investor in the real sector can borrow at such a high rate, improves his margin and he is still able to pay back the loan? If lending rate does not go down, the real sector would be dead completely.

Jonathan did well in his efforts to un-bundle the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), which previous administrations could not. But the issue now is that after privatisation of PHCN, there is still no power supply for industries to grow. Today, the manufacturing sector contributes between 5 and 6 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is very low.

The sector ought to contribute about 30 percent to GDP, for us to say that we are making progress. Currently, we do not know where we are in the Vision 20:2020 target. Are we still following the Vision? This question is important because the Transformation Agenda came

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Prof. Akpan Ekpo

Government must provide an enabling environment for the private sector to create jobs. This requires a deliberate effort by government to bring down lending rate for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to borrow and expand their production capacity from the Vision 20:2020 document.

The present administration has not done well in social services.

Public education system is in disarray, from primary to secondary and tertiary levels.

That is why many people send their children outside Nigeria, even to Ghana to study. Rather than making the existing Universities to be of good standard, government was busy building new ones. Now we have mushroom private schools springing up everywhere in the country. Human capital is key to development. Are these mushroom schools what would give us good human capital development? This government has not also done well in healthcare services because our healthcare facilities are not in good shape, even in slight headache, Nigerians go abroad for health services.

Poverty rate now is 70 percent.

Misery index has been rising over time, when you look at unemployment, poverty, high lending rate, inflation and deficit GDP ratio, showing that the economy has not been doing well.

What is your take on the rebasing of the economy done in 2014?

Rebasing to me is not a big issue, because for 24 years the economy was not rebased. What

has been the impact of the size of the economy on Nigerians?

Has the size of our economy moved people out of poverty?

India and China have large economies, which moved many people out of poverty in the last 10 years. So, rebasing only tells government where to direct economic policies. For example, like housing sub-sector that has potentials to create millions of jobs. Jonathan did well in launching the Mortgage scheme, and if well managed, can address the housing problem in the country.

As Professor of Economics, what economic framework would you advise the in-coming government to adopt in order to fast track development?

They should use developmentalstate-economic philosophy to drive the entire economy to boost the real sector and other sectors of the economy. This type of economic system would make a difference from what the current administration is using, because development would be ultimate in their agenda. Using the right economic framework to implement policies is very important, because if they want to practice neo-liberalism like the present administration is doing, nothing would change.

Neo-liberalism has been rejected in Washington, and this

economic framework contributed to why Nigeria has not recorded tangible growth in the system.

When you liberalise your economy to the detriment of local entrepreneurs, it means you are indirectly killing local industries. Also, government must be able to check the excesses of private sector players.

Government has a duty to manage the economy, therefore, the in-coming administration must be responsible and intelligent government.

Nigerians have lost confidence in all governments not only in Jonathan’s administration. So, the new government must work hard to regain that confidence by developing key sectors of the economy. Such sectors include power, education, manufacturing among others. Unemployment must be tackled, because right now it is a national crisis.

Corruption is also a major issue, but if government runs the economy well, corruption would reduce and anyone guilty of corruption must be punished.

They must be honest with the people, transparent in managing the nation’s resources and should carry the people along by showing good example. Giving the people a sense of belonging is imperative, as Nigerians are now enlightened and are ready to take on any government that cannot provide basic amenities for them. My advice for every government is to alleviate poverty, because any government that cannot move people out of poverty has failed. Nigeria is the only country where middle class citizens run generators. What we have now is generator driven economy.

Government must provide an enabling environment for the private sector to create jobs. This requires a deliberate effort by government to bring down lending rate for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to borrow and expand their production capacity. That way, they can create employment for the people. Government should find out the hindrances preventing SMEs from having access to huge intervention funds approved for them. Why are the big companies accessing the funds while SMEs are not able to benefit from this money? At present, the banking industry is not competitive because only few banks control the entire industry.

As such, direct government policies are needed to bring down the interest rate, and the commercial banks would adjust.

When the current governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) took over, he promised to tackle high interest rate.

How come the interest rate is still very high?

The truth is that CBN is doing well at the moment and we must commend the apex bank.

Another thing is that the apex bank does not just want to force down lending rate. In my own opinion, since inflation is single digit, why not bring down the Marginal Policy Rate (MPR), which has impact on inter-bank

rate, because if we wait for the market, the interest rate may never come down, due to the nature of the industry.

President Jonathan just launched the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN). What is the difference between DBN, Bank of Industry (BoI) and other development banks in the country?

Financial institutions are necessary for development and there are such specalised banks in advanced countries.

Establishing the DBN shows that government is intervening to enhance growth. On the other hand, we have BoI, and other specialised banks in Nigeria. The question now is, have the existing banks achieved the purpose for which they were established?

Aside from this, we must be interested in knowing the ownership structure of the DBN and what makes it unique from other existing development banks. Government must tell us specifically what the DBN is going to address and how it would add value to our economy.

The Naira is gradually recovering at the black market after the presidential poll. With the declining crude oil prices, do you think the Naira can appreciate further?

To improve the Naira, we must produce for export to shore up the local currency. Crude oil export alone cannot solve our problems, as we do not have control over the prices and output. We must use our foreign exchange to support production and not consumption. It is important to note that the States and local governments must be actively involved in developing the economy, because the Federal Government cannot handle everything.

You emphasised on tackling unemployment. Which areas do you think the in-coming government can turn attention to in creating jobs?

Government should create public sector jobs by opening up the Civil Service. For instance, we can look at areas like Customs, Police, Immigration, Civil Defence, Air-force, Army, State Security Services (SSS) and Navy, where million of Nigerians can fit into. This is the time for government to provide employment instead of trying to down-size. The fact is that private sector is profit oriented and cannot employ a large population of Nigerians. So, deliberate government intervention is required to tackle this unemployment crisis. Once government is able to solve this crisis, the large output loss in unemployment would turn into output gain for the economy.

Moreso, there should be social welfare scheme for those who cannot get jobs for no fault of theirs. Government must block revenue leakages in the system.

Healthcare must be given proper attention. Women and youths should be empowered. Securing our economic environment is also important.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

One of the offices of MultiChoice

‘Court Cannot Determine DStv Tariff’ AKINYEMI FALADE

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arly last week, I joined a social media discussion on the ruling of a Federal High Court in Lagos on the subscription fee increment announced by MultiChoice Nigeria Limited.

The suit was filed two lawyers challenging what they consider as arbitrary increment in subscription rates imposed by MultiChoice Nigeria, operators of DStv and GOtv pay-TV platforms, on their subscribers.

MultiChoice, on 3 March, had announced a 20 per cent hike in its subscriptions fees for all its bouquets with effect from 1 April.

The lawyers got their wish (or a part of it), when the judge, Justice C.J. Aneke, gave an interim order that MultiChoice should revert to its old subscription rates pending the determination of the suit on the legality of its new tariffs.

The lawyers, who sued for themselves and on behalf of all DStv subscribers in the country, had asked for an order compelling the National Broadcasting Commission to enforce the pay-per-view scheme, whereby subscribers would only pay for programmes watched, as is allegedly being done in other parts of the world.

They also asked for an order of the court restraining any other individual or corporate entity from filing any other action on the subject matter

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to avoid multiplicity of the lawsuit.

The judge adjourned the case till April 16, 2015.

Many people on the thread on which I joined the discussion (and other places where I have heard the issue discussed) whooped with joy.

Friends, with whom I discussed the matter, cast it as a triumph of good over evil. I admit that I also got infected, fleetingly, with the sweeping feeling of triumph.

But when I snapped out of it, I told myself that it is not yet time to party.

In fact, I do not see subscribers partying when the suit is determined. As much I want (I suspect like everybody else), to be able to determine what prices are paid for goods and services, I know that it cannot happen.

Customers do not prescribe the prices of goods and services in a free market system. Neither do courts nor governments. It is exactly why I am surprised at the order granted by the court.

Prices, my little knowledge of economics tells me, are determined by the market situation.

The market situation, as currently shaped by the value of naira to the dollar and the cut-throat world of television economics in which top-end content attracts a king’s ransom, is one in which businesses cannot survive without appropriate pricing.

I have wondered how MultiChoice should have responded to naira’s

increasingly negative performance against the US dollar, the cur rency with which it buys content, including the Nigerian movies we love to watch. Yes, Nigerian movies.

MultiChoice’s content purchase process in centrally controlled from its South African headquarters.

This ensures that content,

The truth is that the cost of commodities and services soar when the market demands such and no court ever rules that sellers of such commodities and providers of such services must keep offering them to customers at rates injurious to their operations

including that produced in Nigeria, is paid for in dollars.

Given that it will require naira in greater amounts than it used to, the money has to come from somewhere: subscribers. That is what every business does without attracting litigation, at least where there is no regulation prescribing a price ceiling.

Automobile prices have gone up since the naira lost its value; newspaper cover prices are about going up, with the argument that such was compelled by prevailing economic situations. Yet, auto dealers and newspaper companies are not about to be taken to court. When cement prices went up, there was no court action against cement manufacturers.

The truth is that the cost of commodities and services soar when the market demands such and no court ever rules that sellers of such commodities and providers of such services must keep offering them to customers at rates injurious to their operations. Rents go up and no court fixes how much landlords should charge as rent. Even the lawyers who went to court are not likely to be charging what they did two years ago. How has DStv erred?

The lawyers came up with a proposal for pay-per-view model, which they want MultiChoice to adopt as they believe it is done in other countries. I have to say at this point that the lawyers, with due respect, do not

understand what the pay-perview model is. The model is not the same as a la carte. The model is actually more expensive. It is used in the broadcast of high-ticket events for which subscribers have to pay huge sums to watch in addition to paying their regular pay-TV subscription.

Those events are usually live broadcast of sporting and entertainment content and are one- off.

Watching the forthcoming Floyd Mayweather/ Manny Pacquiao fight will cost almost $100 on pay-per-view in the US. That amount is in excess of what is paid for a premium bouquet on DStv, which will show the fight.

Watching the Grammy Awards on pay-per-view is similarly expensive. Pay-perview is not for regular broadcast.

As for a la carte, we already have that being offered by the various bouquets on the DStv platform. A subscriber is invited to choose the bouquet that fits his/her TV taste and wallet. No one is compelled to go for the premium bouquet, which features the most compelling content.

However we may want to slice it, watching pay-TV, like owning a top-end auto or drinking choice wines, is not an inalienable human right.

It is a privilege enjoyed by paying the going subscription. In a free market system, that is how it goes.

Falade, a policy analyst, writes from Magodo, Lagos

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015— PAGE 51

My long experience with Buhari -- 1 N

OTE: Where necessary, I will provide the names of living witnesses to back up any claim made here to substantiate my point.

I have never met the President-elect Buhari in my life. There were two occasions when we could have met; first in 2011, when he ran for president and I worked with his campaign team part time; the second, last year after he clinched the nomination as the candidate of the APC. It was providential that we never met; otherwise I could not have written that first line. On the two occasions, he changed his plans suddenly and there was no meeting. But, I first knew of General

Buhari in January 1984, a few days after the coup of December 31, 1983, which first brought him to power.

It was a most painful experience – at first. I was spending the Yuletide with my in-laws at Akure when the radio and television in the beer parlour changed to martial music to announce the change of government.

Suddenly, even thoroughly drunk patrons of the beer parlouir turned sober.

Without saying goodbye, everybody jumped up and ran home.

Further announcements came soon enough.

Political office holders were ordered to report to the nearest police station.

Some ran away; among who were Chief Adisa Akinloye and Alhaji Umaru Dikko, the Transport Minister in Shagari’s government. But, most reported as instructed.

Among them was Chief Sanu Sobowale, our “Daddy” (my eldest brother who brought me up when

Beauty and strength of Lagos "You should never be ashamed to admit you have been wrong. It only proves you are wiser today than yesterday" —Jonathan Swift S there something emotionally wrong with us Nigerians that while we had just about shifted our political trajectory some are now hell-bent in throwing the proverbial baby out with the bath water? Nigerians, we need to talk and clear the air or we run the risk of deepening the long held resentments and hatred for one another. The last couple of days as you will see below, shows that it is obvious that time has come for that conversation The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, last week, was caught on camera warning Eze Ndi-Igbos on who to vote for: "On Saturday, if anyone of you goes against the Ambode I picked, that is your end. If it doesn't happen within seven days, just know that I'm a bastard and it is not my father who born me, and "On Saturday, if anyone of you, I swear in the name of God almighty Allah, goes against my wish that Ambode, insha Allahu, will be the next governor of Lagos State, the person is going to die inside this water."

He said it and in this day

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and age, no one should be told how to use their vote regardless of what a prominent person says.

That cannot be compromised and be block bought, no matter who demands it. The Oba went on that "I'm not ready to beg, appeal to anybody o.

And that's why Asiwaju and the governor said, I said that is your own. Even the two of them they cannot disobey me. Nobody knew how I picked Ambode. Jimi (Agbaje) is my blood relation and I told him in a plain language he can never be governor in Lagos for now. "The future belongs to God. I am not begging anybody to go, but you must not, I repeat what you people cannot do in Onitsha, what you cannot do in Aba or anywhere."

To demand the Oba to apologise, would be unprecedented faux pas and the Oba in spite of his unstatemanlike.True, we cannot expect the Oba to lose face but there are other ways to ensure harmony reigns. Anything other than that would be counterproductive and it is no way to remedy the situation.

Somewhere along the way, the Oba's council of chiefs failed to advise the Oba that what he said was

our father died well under 60, I was last born), who was the Commissioner for Justice and AttorneyGeneral under Governor Lateef Jakande. They were immediately placed in detention and their bank accounts were frozen. I was

,

“It ain’t the things you don’t know that cause all the problem; it’s the things you think you know that ain’t so.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882. (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 117).

Buhari. But I also grew up quickly. Daddy had only me to take care of when our father died. I had over thirty people hanging on my earnings. Economising and setting priorities became a second habit; next to finding a second source of legitimate income.

Matters got worse when he introduced Decree 4, which made telling the truth a punishable offense for journalists. I wrote my first letter to the Editor of Guardian protesting the outrage. Then, I vowed to get into the media and face the military tyrants. But, the chance did not come until 1987 but that needs not delay us here. In 1987, I started writing for the VANGUARD on Mondays on Marketing and Economics. However,

Contrary to the lies told by the PDP and other columnists, it was the Tribunal which jailed people, not Buhari

,

39, at the time, and Daddy and I were still struggling with the maintenance of the families of one brother and two cousins, whose fathers had died. Suddenly, I had all the families on my lap at a time when young men were enjoying themselves.

God knows, I woke up every morning heaping curses on

before 1987, my views of Buhari had changed. What changed it?

First, contrary to the lies told by the PDP and other columnists, it was the Tribunal which jailed people, not Buhari. Second, of the twenty-one Governors on trial, belonging to NPN, NPP,

not in keeping with what we expect from a ruler of his stature and importance.

From what is known and respected about Lagos and Lagosians is its diversity.

That is the beauty and the strength of Lagos and its people. What the Oba had demanded, in the old days would have been common place, when the Oba was an absolute ruler and the subjects do his bidding as a result. Nowadays, the Oba is seen as a unifier and the elder to all Lagosians in respective of the tribes. This is what makes Lagos truly unique. If people know about Lagos they would wish their own state was that inclusive. Historically during the Biafra War, it pledged all in Lagos to support all Igbos as refuge and for those that went

Rochas Okorocha of Imo State for taking on an important subject tribal partisanship. Like a competent matador, he held firmly to the bull's horns and steered the beast to halt. This particular election has been telling and it was pretty ugly as it has shown the depth of partisanship and divisiveness along religion and tribal lines.

This was vicious and the political parties took advantage. We all bore witness as we see the votes cast and distributed across the nation. So Okorocha was brave enough and talk eloquently he did too.

While addressing leaders of the APC and party supporters in Owerri, he spoke about the political progress of the Igbos as

Nowadays, the Oba is seen as a unifier and the elder to all Lagosians in respective of the tribes. This is what makes Lagos truly unique back during the war to the east, their property and homes were protected and rents collected by their owners on return, we accounted for them. For the Gordion Ojiako, the spokesperson of the Eze Ndi Igbos in Lagos, should not have promised that Igbos would vote massively for the APC on Saturday's gubernatorial election. We cannot be so blind to lead people and expect them to follow without question.

All together forward "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools"-Martin Luther King, Jr My hat off to Governor

lagging behind the other major tribes and that this was due to their leaders' selfishness. He laid the blame on the leaders’ lack of vision. He went on to say that this may have denied the region the opportunity to produce the next President of the Senate.

Many have thought this but never has there been a time when in a gathering of Igbo leaders that the subject has been discussed. Then in an open letter, he made very salient observations; that they (Igbos) couldn't override a pathological hatred for General Buhari and that instead, they cut their nose off to spite their

GNPP, UPN, and PRP, only two governors were completely exonerated.

They were Chief Adekunle Ajasin and Lateef Jakande.

All the rest, Hausa/Fulani, Igbo, Edo, Tiv, Ebira were jailed WITHOUT D I S C R I M I N AT I O N regarding ethnicity, state or religion. Alhaji Jakande, Dr Alex Ekwueme, and Tokunbo Ajasin are my living witnesses.

Commissioners, and Ministers, found to be innocent were also released. Our Daddy, as well as all the Commissioners in Lagos State, except one, were released with a letter confirming that he had been investigated and found blameless. Dr Ekwueme and Alhaji Shehu Shagari, President and VicePresident were also exonerated. Granted, all had been detained for several months, but, for me (and I believe for Tokunbo Ajasin) it was a source of pride to us that our heads of family had undergone the severest test for integrity and had passed the test in flying colours. The day Daddy came home with that letter was the day I forgave Buhari. He had given my family something we can be proud of for the rest of our lives.

The other person whose imprisonment could have made me to hate Buhari for life was Chief Bola Ige. I can state authoritatively that I knew Bola Ige before his wife and children and this is why. Bola Ige and our

Daddy were admitted to Ibadan Grammar School the same year and they finished the same year. My family lived in Zaria at the time and Bola Ige’s family at Kaduna. Among their classmates, Daddy was “Zaria boy” while Ige was “Kaduna boy”. They were the best of friends. In our house Uncle Bola, as I called him, was known as the man who spoke in strange tongues. He spoke Yoruba, Hausa and English, all of which we understood.

But he and Daddy also lapsed into another language which sounded like gibberish to others and me. It was later when I was admitted to Igbobi College that I knew the language was LATIN. Ige was fond of saying to Daddy “This your small brother is more brilliant than both us”.

That was a great compliment coming from the brightest student in his class.

For obvious reasons next to our Daddy’s case I was deeply interested in Ige’s case, who at any rate was a lawyer already. When Ige was sentenced, I had to go and read the entire verdict delivered by the Tribunal to believe that he deserved the sentence. And to some extent, he did. I also read the verdict on Onabanjo, who was a colleague of Ige and Daddy from the Action Group days in the 1960s.

And, I was satisfied that he too deserved the sentence. I was sad but satisfied that justice had been done….

face. He went on that they "played tribal and religious politics to the tilt as drunken sailors, and failed the man and the chance to make history as Senate President" He said that people let emotion get in the way of politics and blames the herd mentality where many followed the likes of Peter Obi and Arthur Eze, who were only after their own interest and not serving the masses. He bemoaned that after over five decades of post-independence, other tribes have produced many presidents time over and the Igbo are yet to do so.

Instead he said they blame others. "If only the Hausas didn't do this or Yorubas didn't do that, perhaps the god of politics will bless our lot. And sadly it won't stop until we learn to coexist with others instead of our 'better than thou' attitude when dealing with the Hausas and Yorubas. We are not better than anyone, these folks we thumb our noses at, are God's creatures like us. We don't like the Hausas and we don't like the Yorubas, yet we populate their states in search for our livelihood" I do hope that the time has truly come to have an open and honest conversation and we all have to take a long hard look at ourselves.

Okorocha has passed on the dialogue baton and I applaud him.

Emir Muhammadu Sanusi II, then the CBN governor, was hounded off his post for exposing multibillion-dollar shortfalls in oil revenues reaching the treasury. He submitted to parliament a 300 page of documentation in support of his claim.

Reuters has since reviewed the dossier, which offers one of the most comprehensive studies of waste, mismanagement and what Sanusi called "leakages" of cash in Nigeria's oil industry. The dossier includes oil contracts, confidential government letters, and private presidential correspondence and legal opinions.

Of course the president confirmed that there would be top ranking investigations. It seems that Alison Madueke, is getting uncomfortable but she insists that the report will vindicate her.

At an investigative hearing by the Senate Finance committee in 2014, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala said the un-reconciled amount stood at "only" $10.8 billion. Whatever the amount, it is difficult that the amount of money can just disappear and stay unaccounted for so long.

It seems that this time, Nigerians will know what actually happened to the missing money.

On Monday, the presidential candidate of the APC, Muhammadu Buhari, urged President Goodluck Jonathan to release the full report and publish same in national newspapers to allow Nigerians establish how their money was spent.

No more sticky fingers, private jet ,personal ATM and anyone who dare try, there would be consequences.

Where is the money?

The controversy over the alleged missing money started September 2013 after Mr. Sanusi sent a memo to President Jonathan, alleging that the NNPC was diverting oil revenues for at least 18 months, amounting to $49.8 billion, about N8 trillion.

PAGE 52 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015 against the law to campaign before 90 days to an election fell on deaf ears.

Those were the days when the Secretary to the Government of the Federation had to travel from one location to another across the nation to formally receive signatories of ‘millions’ of Tr a n s f o r m a t i o n Ambassadors of Nigeria urging the President to recontest. These have all changed.

Who says change may not come? government, it seems obvious that this time around, there is no going back. Change is not just coming; it has come before its inception date-May 29,

,

If the change that is coming takes that cosmetic posture, this column and well meaning Nigerians will cry aloud again irrespective of what we are called

,

2015.

First, the incumbent is not succeeding himself. That in itself is a change that may be hard to reverse because the victory was neither by a small margin nor was it really contentious. Another change the nation has already experienced is that unlike the last 4 sets of elections, particularly the 2011 elections, massive destruction of lives and property did not happen. It is indeed a significant

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos, , 08116759758

The fallacies of delusional negative triumphalism (1)

T

HE March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections are now part of Nigerian political history, and the gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly versions were concluded yesterday. Like all truly historical events, the elections have both intended and unintended consequences. On the one hand, a new President has emerged, together with a different set of federal legislators that would run the executive and legislative arms of government at the centre for the next four years beginning from May 29, 2015. On the other hand, there is a new realignment of political forces:ultraconservative members of the Northern establishment and some politicians in the South- West formed a successful alliance that returned political power to the North. In the final results of the Presidential electionsannounced by chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof.

Attahiru Jega, 12,663,950 Nigerians voted for the incumbent President and flag bearer of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, whereas his arch rival and presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress

change that for the first time in the history of a presidential election in Nigeria, the loser conceded defeat and refused to create room for those who always

(APC), retired Maj. Gen. MuhammaduBuhari, garnered 15,405,928 votes.

By simple arithmetic, 2,741,978 more Nigerians preferred Gen. Buhari to Dr. Jonathan for the office of President. In addition, majority of the newly elected federal legislators belong to APC, although it is yet to be seen whether the party would have absolute majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives to carry through its programmes without soliciting for cooperation from the PDP. Expectedly, as one of those who genuinely wanted the incumbent President reelected for a second term of office, his defeat was disappointing. I have always pointed out that the Jonathan administration has not performed well in three critical areas, namely, the fight against corruption, economic management and provision of security. Nevertheless, I believe that the power sector reforms carried out by the federal government, successful conclusion of the national conference and noticeable improvements in agriculture, education, transport infrastructure, payroll system, and so on were enough to warrant the President's re-election. But, given the overwhelming number of votes Gen. Buhari got from the North

benefit from violence to swing into action. One change that many Nigerians have overlooked is that for the first time too, President’s Jonathan supporters obeyed him. In the past, they hardly listened to good counsel; a good example being their refusal to allow the man to govern as they harassed him 2 years before time to seek re-election. All pleas that their request was a distraction and that it was and PDP's dismal performance there, it is clear that powerful members of the Northern establishment under the aegis of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) were not impressed by President Jonathan's preferential treatment of Northern Nigeria in the distribution of federal projects. Consequently, Inspite of the numerous developmental projects in education, agriculture, transportation, and manufacturing executed by the federal government in Kano, Sokoto, Katsina, Kaduna, Bauchi etc., members of ACF did everything in their power to sabotage President Jonathan and ensure that the presidency went back to one of their own this time around. In my opinion, prominent Northern politicians that worked against the President's reelection are ingrates; they allowed narrow ethnic calculations to override superior arguments for the legitimate claim of the South-South to retain the presidency until 2019. To every reasonable person, ingratitude is bad: it is especially so in politics because it tends to discourage genuine efforts aimed at addressing fundamental inadequacies in the society. Overall, it is gratifying that Mr. President did more for the North than for the SouthSouth geopolitical zone for, inter alia, his action demonstrates that a given area can get more than its fair share of federal projects without necessarily producing the President.

Now, pharisaic Buharimaniacs have been peddling the obviously

The beauty about change is that when its time comes, nothing stops it. This perhaps explains why all efforts to stop the coming change in Nigeria failed.

The attempt to alter the course of change through postponement failed as 6 weeks rolled by, within the twinkle of an eye, without a change in the nation’s political disposition. In the same way, the rumour that plans were underway to remove the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Attahiru Jega through preretirement leave did not come to pass just as the attempt to arrest change through a campaign against the use of the all important Card Reader did not work. Indeed, because the time for change had come, legislators who previously used their offices to legally prohibit electronic voting were hypnotized by change to formally lift the ban before the same change swept many of them off the scene.

Change being that powerful, that it may not false notion that anyone who supports President Jonathan either must have been bribed by the PDP presidential campaign organisation or harbours the expectation of being invited to "come and chop."

In their warped calculus, Mr. President's electability is so improbable that only people with "cash and carry" mentality would

,

A

t an informal gathering a few days back, some discussants expressed concern over the possibility of the much awaited change in the nation’s public affairs turning out to be a mirage.

Their position is based on a number of concerns. To start with, there is the feeling that with too many members of the defeated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) defecting to the winning All Progressive Congress (APC), it might be business as usual after all.

The kinds of PDP leaders who have been falling over themselves to congratulate the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, could cause some apprehension that he may be overwhelmed by the well known nation’s political hawks who are already warming up to him. The argument is that the nation may soon be shocked to find the same faces in strategic positions thereby taking us all back to square one. While no one can predict what our politicians can do as some of them are always in every

it is gratifying that Mr. President did more for the North than for the South-South geopolitical zone for, inter alia, his action demonstrates that a given area can get more than its fair share of federal projects without necessarily producing the President

,

support it. Of course, the same allegation could also be levelled against popular columnists who hyperbolised Gen. Buhari's virtues and relentlessly castigated President Jonathan. Now, it is astonishing that highly placed commentators, including Professors and doctorate degree holders, wrote as if Gen. Buhari is the messiah with a magic formula that would automatically eliminate corruption, rejuvenate the economy and restore lasting peace and security nationwide. Aside from that, they ridiculed President Jonathan and his wife from every angle,

come is irrational as nothing can stop change. As the old saying goes, the only thing that is constant is change. Thus, those who fear that change may not come after it has come should be less worried.

The conduct of electioneering leading to yesterday’s Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections cannot but be commended.. The air of civility was everywhere. No hate speeches except the isolated case of Lagos where one of the best of our Obas got caught. Judging by his well known peaceful demeanour, perhaps his speech was taken out of context as some of those he reportedly threatened applauded the speech when it was made. In any case, media coverage of politics has since returned to normal giving their toothless regulators no hard times. As a matter of fact, anyone visiting Nigeria for the first time may have thought he was in Europe except for our bad roads, inadequate public supply and outright poverty. These are what must change now. Luckily, signs that they will change are already visible with the automatic recovery of our battered naira as soon as the results of the March 28, 2015 Presidential elections were released. Its fate will no doubt get better by the day as the incoming administration will have no cause to abuse it as was done before We must give the benefit without even acknowledging his modest achievements and commendable desire of Mrs. Jonathan to help her husband succeed Several politically. commentators who hitherto projected an image of fairness and objectivity when writing about national issues shamelessly claimed that Dr. Jonathan is clueless, weak, and incompetent and that he has achieved nothing since he became President about five years ago. Some even questioned the quality of his doctorate degree, while self-styled pro-democracy activists that excoriated military dictatorships for jeopardising the evolution of democracy in Nigeria started writing essays supporting the presidential ambition of Gen. Buhari, a dyed in the wool soldier who presided over the most brutally suffocating military regime in Nigerian history.

The delusional transfiguration of Buhari from a former military dictator into a messianic democratic leader necessitated a response from those not mesmerised by the shibboleth of "change" by APC's vuvuzelas who felt that the positive side of Jonathan's presidency has been deliberately undersold. As part of that response, I drew attention to various factors which militate against the suitability of the retired general for the office of President at this time, and concluded that Jonathan should be allowed to continue. The way I see it, notwithstanding the weaknesses of his government, the President deserved a second term in

of the doubt to General Buhari to use his proven disciplined character to give the nation a new sense of direction as he has promised. As earlier canvassed in this column, what Nigerians desire is real change and not sloganeering. If food for instance becomes cheaper, it would be obvious that agriculture is being well managed. Under that circumstance, news items about how millions of farmers have gotten fertilizers and GSM phones would be extraneous. The same is true of our economy, better value for our naira; equitable distribution of wealth; real employment etc are better than economic terminologies of gross domestic whatever.

Nigerians are tired of their well-being been stated like the old weather report which rather than predict rain so we can take our umbrellas to work, reveals scattered thunder, partly cloudy etc.

If the change that is coming takes that cosmetic posture, this column and well meaning Nigerians will cry aloud again irrespective of what we are called. It would be a calamity if insensitivity to criticisms is again adopted because it has since become clear that if the out-going government had listened to voices and redressed concerns instead of dismissing us as yesterday’s men’, the nation would have been the better for it.

So, welcome to a changed Nigeria. order to complete or see to advanced stages some of the laudable d e v e l o p m e n t a l programmesand projects his administration embarked upon all over the country.

Now that Gen. Buhari has won the elections, the spectre of negative triumphalism by Buharimaniacs is rearing its ugly head, typified by delusions about the purported unsurpassed sterling qualities of Gen.Buhari and continued disparagement of President Jonathan.

The phenomenon, like an octopus, has many tentacles. For starters, ardent supporters of Gen. Buhari are making caricatures of how Mr. President would travel from Aso Rock back to his village, Otuoke, in Bayelsa state. Dr. Dele Sobowale wrote gleefully that Dr. Jonathan is a self-confessed political undertaker who should "now start preparing for the longest journey he had ever undertaken in his life." For Dr. Ogaga Ifewodo, Gen.Buhari's quasi-ascetic lifestyle exemplified a man of character and integrity, which fulfils the yearnings of Nigerians for an exemplary leader with zero tolerance for corruption.

Accordingly, the attempt by Buhari'smilitary dictatorship to smuggle Umaru Dikko back to Nigeria from the United Kingdom to face trial for embezzlement was fantastic, because it proved beyond reasonable doubt that the President-elect "would chase corruption and the corrupt to the ends of the world."

To be continued

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 53

BUHARI HAS COME AGAIN M

r. Muhammadu Buhari, former Major-General in the Nigerian Army, former Military Head of State of Nigeria, and Commanderin-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces until he was overthrown in a palace coup in 1985, was last month elected as Civilian President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is, first of all, a remarkable transition from regimental life to Civvies street. He has not only become one of the “bloody civilians” of whom yesteryears he railed against, he describes himself as a “convert to democracy.” But that is not the most remarkable of the implications of Muhammadu Buhari’s election last month as president. Two important things stand out: first, Buhari’s victory is a tribute to persistence.

His doggedness finally paid off from four election cycles, starting with his first attempts leading the opposition charge as the defunct ANPP’s Presidential candidate in 2003 (running with the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo), and 2007, pairing with the late Edwin Ume-Ezeoke, to 2011, when he ran under a new banner, the CPC, with the Pastor Tunde Bakare as his Vice-Presidential nominee. In each of these moments, Buhari contended that election rigging and irregularities sanctioned by the

incumbent power had denied him his mandate.

He sought legal and extralegal means to restore those mandates. Indeed, in 2007, he rejected the agreement to enter into a “government of National Unity” between his party, the ANPP and Umar Yar Adua’s PDP government, but instead quit the ANPP, and helped to found a new platform, the CPC, which again fielded him against Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. Buhari’s loss in 2011 fueled widespread violence in the North of Nigeria, where he is something of a folk-hero. The orgy of violence spiraled almost seamlessly into the widening of the Boko Haram insurgency. With Boko Haram expanding its activities which had begun under the Obasanjo presidency, and which gave no respite to President Jonathan, there was allegation that Buhari and key northern political interests were behind the insurgency to fulfill their sworn pledge to make Nigeria ungovernable under the minority southern president Goodluck Jonathan.

Eventually, Boko Haram – the spate of unmitigated violence and the Jonathan administration’s seeming lead-footed approach to it - came to prove to be Jonathan’s Achilles heels in last month’s presidential elections. The insurgency obscured all the potential

achievements of the Jonathan administration. It created a very cynical, impatient, and frightened public which began to see Buhari in newer light as a credible choice for change from what has been seen as PDP’s sixteen year-run of listlessness and corruption.

Buhari’s past as a military dictator suddenly had cache; his stern exterior, after a little dab of paint: a Buhari in Igbo and Yoruba attires; a Buhari in suit looking awkwardly westernized, and Buhari with more moderate views about nation, Sharia, and toleration, a new party machine funded from depthless bags sold Buhari’s candidacy to the Nigerian public as the next best thing after Goodgoody. It no longer mattered to some of his former bitterest opponents in the South West of Nigeria, particularly a key faction of the Yoruba upper Middle and professional class, led by former Governor Tinubu and his Lagos cohorts, that Buhari’s brief tenure as Nigeria’s Pontifex Maximus (1983-1985) violated key Yoruba political personalities and economic interests. It is equally a great irony of fate and a unique reflection of the plebian mind that in democracy things change quickly in the political neighborhood, when we consider that Buhari’s VicePresident, Mr. Osinbajo,

DIASPORA MATTERS

My Friend Has A Story (2)

M

y friend was not going to give me a summary of his life story, rather, he was so relaxed you would think he was at the end of his journey.

“There is definitely something about you that has not changed,” I cut in to his story.

He paused and asked: “What is that?”

“Your love of and for food,” I said.

He looked me straight in the eyes with a smile and waved his hand across his face to let me know that my comment on food was made at the most inappropriate time or insignificant to the topic of discussion.

He continued: ”Bobo, as I was saying before you brought in the food angle.

While in the secondary school, my dream was to marry any girl who has good cooking skills. But who was I kidding?”

He picked up his glass of water, looked into it. Rather than have a sip from it, he placed it back on the table.

“After gaining admission to the university, the standard I set for a wife candidate changed. With a

dream of settling down immediately after my youth service, I felt a pretty woman with a WASCE certificate will suit me. This was why I did not bother venturing into any relationship in the university.”

Now, I was becoming very uncomfortable with my friend’s story. I was also mindful of the fact that spending too much time around here listening to his seemingly unending story might cost me far more than I budgeted for at the Train Station Car Park, and the risk of hiim missing his train.

To avoid any of these, I cut in once again.”Can we start walking back to the station so you do not miss your train?”

Reluctantly my friend said yes, picked up his glass cup and had a final sip of water from it. We headed towards the station.

“Bobo, I really do not know what’s happening to me. I wanted a wife who would be comfortable in putting on trousers, mini skirts, apply a few colours on her face and make me a modern husband. I dreamt of a wife modelled after the

girls I saw on the campus, but whom I could not relate to.

“In my head then I felt if only I could get my degree, I would be able to handpick from a retinue of girls,” he said.

According to him, after graduation, trouser wearing ladies were top on the list of his “conquests”.

“However, this was just the start of my challenges. I did go out with a few of them. You know some of them, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, I do. I still remember that fair complexioned lady we gave the name ‘Oyinbo Pepper’.

We thought she was the one for you. But you changed your mind again”, I said.

“Bobo, a few years after graduation my levels changed again. When I started on my career path, I had a rethink of my criteria for a good wife. I discovered that it was childish of me to think “ability” to wear trouser was a strong point in a lady,” he said. He told me how settling down at work changed his perception of a good wife. He realised that most of his colleagues

former Professor of Law at the University of Lagos, is married to Obafemi Awolowo’s granddaughter; the man whom Buhari allegedly showed pepper in 1984. Buhari’s victory proves that in politics, there are no permanent foes; just permanent and often contingent interests. Even agnatic voices, like our own Captain Blood, began to speak uncharacteristically in tongues, lubbish-style, about a man against whom he had staged political combat since 1984, when Buhari sought to do him in.

Buhari’s quality of dogged and single-minded pursuit of an objective – the presidency – is in itself epic.

There are those who suggest that Jonathan was a colourless president; but that single act gives him timeless colour, because it adds a new dimension to the evolution of public governance and the democratic tradition in Nigeria It does also reveal something of the man’s character; and certainly something for which his opponents must worry. It is certainly no accident that Boko Haram’s guns went silent as soon as INEC declared Buhari winner.

They must be ruing their day. In a relay, Asari Dokubo, went on record to describe himself as working for “Any

Many old age bachelors or spinsters, especially in the disapora, find themselves in this corner because they simply refuse to be ruled by common sense who were married or into serious relationships were more particular about what roles their partners would play in their lives than having them as “trophies”.

My friend started work in the days when desktop computer was just making an entry into the workplace in Nigeria. He was lucky to be trained in the use of computer to perform better at work.

This, unfortunately, also changed his criteria for the type of wife he would marry.

“At this stage I wanted a wife who is a university graduate and can use the computer. I wanted a wife who can flow with the technology race.”

“I still dont get your drift,” I said.

“Bobo, this has been the story of my life. I am yet to get married after so many years. I have been changing the criteria all these years.

Government in Power” – no longer the threat to take war to the North, should Buhari win; MEND quickly sent a congratulatory message, saying “Buhari’s victory is an act of God”; as did Gani Adams of OPC, and the churlish Fani-Chichidodo, who said about his various Goebellian attacks on Buhari, “It was not personal. I was just doing my job.” The second important element or significance of Buhari’s victory has been frankly over-analyzed, both in the local and international media. It is about the willingness of the incumbent to concede after his loss of power. It has been suggested as a threshold or landmark event in Nigeria, where no such has happened since Nigeria’s independence in 1960. But those of us who are a bit more historically minded should know that concessions have been made in power by those who consider Nigeria far above their personal interest. It is on record that Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe won the 1957 elections, for which the British colonial Governor-General, Sir James Robertson, first setting the standard of electoral manipulations and gerrymandering in Nigeria, invited Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to come first to head the government at the center, even before the votes had all fully come in 1957 for the first home rule government.

Azikiwe conceded and bid his time even though his party as compensated by having the highest number of ministers in that government in 1957-1960.

In the independence election of December 1959, again Azikiwe’s party, had the highest plurality of votes nationwide, and could

very easily have formed the National Government with the Action Group. But against the threat of a Northern secession, much like today’s Boko Haram, compelled Azikiwe to agree to join the Northern Peoples Party in a “government of national unity,” one from which Awo’s Action Group opted out, but which along the road torpedoed the AG in due course. President Jonathan’s concession of power, and his invitation of his opponent to power redeems him totally. There are those who suggest that Jonathan was a colourless president; but that single act gives him timeless colour, because it adds a new dimension to the evolution of public governance and the democratic tradition in Nigeria. But the greatest of the implication of the presidential election in Nigeria is that once again,this country confounds Naijaskeptics, who had built and harped on all kinds of apocalyptic, end of history scenarios for Nigeria with this election.

But apparently, Nigeria is not disintegrating just yet, and is not bathing itself in blood from this election.

Meanwhile, the ball is now in Buhari’s court. Nigeria has come a long way since 1984, yet the burden of nation-building remains the same. Buhari has fought since 2003 to be president. Now it has been handed to him on a platter of gold: it is now his move, because Nigerians have moved the game on the chessboard. Buhari wants to govern to rebuild the economy; create opportunities for all Nigerians; strengthen Nigeria’s national security and defence capacity, eradicate corruption, and clear Boko Haram. He has four years.

I want a woman who can drive, a woman who can fix her own car when it breaks down. I want a woman who can multi task. I want a beautiful woman, a wife who will be all I have ever dreamt of. I want a woman as exemplified in the bible.

I have not been able to get one of my dreams”.

Now I get it. He is still single. Without a thought, I said: “Do you know why you have not succeeded in this area?”

“Hold on and let me finish,” he said.

I heeded his advise.

He continued: “The problem is I have met a lot of ladies with these qualities, but I have been looking for one who combines all the qualities.

I want a woman who is caring, educated, beautiful, elegant, fashionable, tech driven, a good career, compassionate, mother, friend, dependable, can multitask etc”.

I could feel at this stage that my friend seem to need a little help as he was getting really emotional, so I seized the opportunity of the long pause, while with a corner of my eye I looked at the station clock. It was a few more minutes before his train’s arrival. “Your problem is actually within yourself. You have set too many expectation benchmarks for your supposed wife,” I said.

For the first time in this brief meeting, my friend seemed to agree with me.

He nodded, looked away

from me and I could see a “ray” of regret flash across his face.

He is not the only one in this situation. Many people have such high standards for themselves in relationships that they end up missing on the ideal wife or husband. While there is nothing bad in having a “high quality” husband or wife (if there is any), we sometimes do not consider the fact that we can mould our spouse to whatever we want him or her to be. The idea is to get someone you are compatible first.

Many old age bachelors or spinsters, especially in the disapora, find themselves in this corner because they simply refuse to be ruled by common sense. The irony of it is that they end up lowering the standards to a ridiculous level and enter into “any” relationship just to get by.

Some have been lucky to have good partners, while some are consigned to troubled marital lives.

As the train finally came to a stop, and my friend was about about walking through the barrier to the platform, I held his hands and said “if you keep searching for gold you may be disappointed. But take a silver and “polish” it into gold.”

He squeezed my palm, hugged and walked through the barriers. I stood there wondering if I had helped him at all, or I had confused him the more. I would call later to find out.

PAGE 54 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

APC‘s party of intolerant go-getters — LP • Says gale of defections will lead to one party state

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Abuja

L

ABOUR Party has condemned the gale of defections in the country after the All Progressives Congress, APC, won the presidential election on March 28, stating that the development was capable of making the

country a one party state from May 29.

Labour Party in a statement issued in Abuja and signed by its National Secretary, Dr. Olukayode Ajulo, said since General Muhammadu Buhari was declared winner of the presidential election, unfolding events had shown that the party is a

party of intolerant gogetters.

He said, “Events since the flag bearer of the APC was declared winner of the March 28 presidential election have shown that the APC is a party of intolerant gogetters, who would not brook opposing views, much less allow an opposition party to sur-

vive.

“With the APC, there is no doubt that our fledgling democracy is at risk of devouring avariciousness of a one-party state.”

The party in the statement noted that a typical example of intolerant attitude of the APC was evidenced in the haste with which the party al-

legedly encouraged its members in Ekiti State to engage in uprising, even when there was a case pending in court over crisis in the House of Assembly.

Ajulo accused the APC of rushing to instigate the 19 members of the Ekiti House of Assembly to attack the state government, describing such action as an invasion. ”They hurried to Ekiti led by 19 ousted lawmakers in a manner that can best be described as an invasion, even when an election is just one week away and in circumstances unbecoming of member of a party that claims to be an agent of change” Commenting on the APC’s distancing itself from the statement credited to the Oba of Lagos over a curse he placed on the Igbos living in

Lagos if they refused to vote for his candidate, Akinwumi Ambode of the APC as the next Governor of Lagos, Ajulo said the action smirked of insincerity and deceit.

Labour Party also carpeted the APC over the crisis in Rivers State, stating that the party had turned Rivers into a battle ground through spurious allegations and protests in its bid to keep fomenting trouble, encouraging rancor and intimidating opposition, even before it takes power.

It said, “It is interesting that while the APC is busy marching on Abuja and petitioning over results from the South-South and SouthEast where the party was defeated, it is yet to find its voice regarding the issue of underage voting, non-usage of card readers in the core North where the party got unbelievable landslide victory.”

Why I dumped PDP— Johnny

A

chieftain of the Peoples Demo cratic Party, PDP, in Delta State, Chief Michael Johnny has decamped with 5,000 of his supporters to All Progressives Congress, APC. Chief Johnny in a press conference on his defection said: ‘First, I want to appreciate God, the maker of the heavens and the earth, and who is able to make everything possible.

“Today, I am glad to announce my defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress APC. No doubt, today history is being made in my life and also thousands of my supporters across Delta State”.

According to him,he decided to join the APC not for any personal interest but for the countless problems and challenges confronting his people in Niger Delta, particularly the youths, who have been denied access to good living.

He further explained that he took the decision with his supporters to join the APC, to afford them the opportunity to support the incoming government, and also create the enabling environment to strengthen economic activities in the

Niger Delta region.

His words: “Despite the oil in our land, majority of our youths have been made beggars, while few are enriching themselves, this must stop now.

“I have absolute confidence in the incoming government of General Muhammadu Buhari to address all these problems accordingly.from the same region”.

Mrs Ebosa bids farewell at 77

T

HE death of Mrs Victoria Odoma Ebosa, Nee Gbragada of Jakpa town in warri north local government area of Delta State has been announced. Mrs Victoria, a septuagenarian died on the 5th of April 2015.

She is survived by Chldren, Grandchildren and Great Grand Children.

Burail arrangement will eb announce by the family in due course.

•Late Mrs V. Ebosa

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015, Page 55

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. Email: sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

BUHARI AND THE STEPS OF SINGAPORES’ LEE KUAN YEW Dear Sir, “There is nothing more touching than the sight of a Nation. In search of its great men, nothing more beautiful Than its readiness to accept a hero on trust”- James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) n Egyptological me tempsychosis and buttressed by the Holy Bible, it is stated with unequivocal clarity, that, “there is a time for everything.” Hence, the English playwright William Shakespeare posited that “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which when taken at the floods leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyages in their lives are bound in tempestuous waves.”

Indeed, the political tidal surge in Nigeria has lifted Major General Muhammadu Buhari to the zenith of its mountainous height when Buhari won the presidential election conducted on the 28thMarch, 2015. He won with his APC by scoring a total vote of 15,424,921 as against President Jonathan’s PDP’s 12,853,162. This was a glorious victory indeed.

It will be recalled that like Abraham Lincoln, Mohammadu Buhari contested for the presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011. But the long awaited victory after some many years of his political marathon race came to fruition in the 2015 Presidential election.

We commend his Spartan

I

C M Y K

and Trojan courage and patience. We must also commend the patriotic, statesmanlike, iconic and gracious conceding of defeat and subsequent congratulatory benediction and love sent to the President-elect.

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, must be commended also, for doing a yeoman’s job for the way and manner in which he conducted the 2011 and the 2015 elections in the face of political Lilliputians and constitutional dwarf ’s provocations.

Deserving of the greatest commendation is the Nigerian electorate. They stood under the sun, rain and other inclement weather including crass insecurity to forestall the pauperization of their franchise by voting in an orderly manner for the candidate of their choice. They were the quintessential exemplification of the Pulchritude of Democracy. We commend their courage, integrity and honour. Indeed, we commend all the electoral umpires, observers from the United Nations, African Union, Ecowas, Nigeria and the Media in its entirety etc. To God Almighty (Jehovah Elohim) be all the glory in Jesus Name, Amen.

After all the splendiferous political theatrics and social brouhaha, we now come to call a spade a spade and not a mere gar-

dening tool. We must set forth at dawn. Nigeria is a country that has been wallowing in the labyrinth and oubliette of political, socio-economic manacles, gyves and erebus for over 53 years. The march to nationhood has been straddling between and betwixt psychotic corruption and arrested development. We have seen all types of military regimes and so called democratic governments to no avail. We are still cocooned in the throes of crass underdevelopment.

We need no ghost to tell us that to clear this Augean stable requires the stout guts of Herculean proportion. We call on Presidentelect Muhammadu Buhari to rise to the occasion by confronting these problems head-on. We admonish him and his APC team to remember,amongst others, the unblemished immaculacy and the perfect example in nation building set by Lee Kuan Yew, the late president of Singapore.

Singapore was a trading centre until destroyed by

the Javanesse in the 14th century. The city was revived by Sir Stamford Raffles for the British East India Company (1819), and developed rapidly as a port for shipping Malaya’s tin and rubber. It acquired a cosmopolitan population and became a strategic British base. Occupied by the Japanese (1942-45), it achieved self-government (1959) and joined (1963) and left (1965) the Federation of Malaysia. Since independence it has become wealthy under the strong

rule of late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015).

Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew is gone, but his allembracing developmental strides will remain etched in the walls, chiseled on the iron and the sands of time in singapore. Is Buhari and his APC ready to interrogate developmental indices in Nigeria? TIME WILL TELL! CHIEF BOBSON GBINIJE MANDATE AGAINST POVERTY (MAP) WARRI. 08023250378

Gov. Uduaghan deserves commendation Dear Sir,

I

N our Nigerian society, a man who holds public office or any office of trust as the case may be, is never appreciated until perhaps he leaves office when his works and achievements begin to speak for him.

Sadly, this is the circumstance our amiable governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, of Delta State finds himself today. While his development strides which are as visible as the daylight dot the length and breadth of the state, some persons who have probably resolved not to see anything good the governor does are at the forefront dismissing and belittling his achievements.

The truth is, whether Governor Uduaghan

critics choose to appreciate his achievements or not, the fact remains that his people-oriented programmes, policies and developmental efforts will eternally be remembered

by Deltans, living and yet unborn.

His well articulated programmes have positively touched the lives of Deltans. From his free education policy, free maternal healthcare for nursing mothers and children below the age of five, to his effective and highly subsidized transport service (Uduaghan Buses), micro credit scheme, to the massive renovation of public primary and secondary schools to world class standard, Asaba Airport, to his urban renewal project in most towns in the state, speak

volume of his unparallel achievements.

In as much as we believe that Governor Uduaghan may not be perfect, his government policies and programmes are among the best managed and executed in the country.

This indeed represents the plethora of awards he has received from different reputable institutions both within and outside the shores of the country.

There is no gainsaying that Uduaghan’s only sin against his detractors and critics is the fact that he chooses to be careful with the state finances as against his predecessor who allowed his cronies unfettered access to state’s treasury.

The question is, can those at the forefront criticizing the governor today say they

have not benefitted from his people-oriented programmes, whether directly or indirectly?

Perhaps if they have not benefitted directly, their relatives have. Can they boldly say they don’t have relatives who board Uduaghan buses on daily basis? What about his free maternal care policy for nursing mothers and children under five? Do they want to say their peers or relatives have never been beneficiaries?

There is no doubt that Gov. Uduaghan has indeed performed creditably and the least we can do as Deltans is to appreciate him rather than castigate him!

Eugene Adaji writes from Sapele, 08127029122 or 08166077222

Page 56 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

VIEWPOINT

By Ucham Obi

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF

Why incumbent Senator defeated his opponent on March 28

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HE defeated All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for the just concluded Anambra South senatorial election, Ernest Ndukwe, was recently reported as claiming to have won the senatorial election and called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to issue Certificate of Return to Sen. Dr. Andy Uba, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the declared winner of the election.

This is an apparent continuation of Ndukwe’s pre-election approach to the business of senatorial representation. The elections are over and the winner declared, so he should collate his grievances and head straight to the election petition tribunal. That is where defeated and aggrieved people go to. Claiming victory on the pages of newspapers is unproductive.

ANAMBRA SOUTH: Andy Uba won fair and square Ndukwe’s request to Uba to surrender his mandate to him if he had honour was uncalled for. After many months of vigorous campaigns, this kind of comedy should be heartily welcome. However, on the serious side, I will let Ndukwe know that it is because Uba has a lot of honor that he will not relinquish the mandate freely given to him by the people, to a man rejected by the same people.

I will also like to correct Ndukwe’s illusions about winning the election.

He did not win the election and, for very many reasons, he couldn’t have won. The first reason, he was marketing what the people didn’t consider necessary to their representation. He marketed himself as an orator, a boardroom guru and an international telecommunications expert.

In fact, in one media outing, his media consultant, Ozoemena Ikwueto, said that rather than sit down with his people to discuss his community’s issues, Ndukwe would rather deliver an address at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in

Geneva, Switzerland.

Sadly, it was the same people he could not sit down with to discuss issues that voted on March 28 and not people from Geneva. The people were shopping for a representative who could sit down with them, articulate their views and head to the National Assembly in Abuja, and not in Geneva to present them. They were not looking for a boardroom expert because they know that the Senate is neither a blue chip company nor a talk show. Therefore they decided to keep faith with the soft-spoken Uba, who very often spends time with them discussing issues.

Similarly, the people who voted on March 28 raised very grave accusations against Ndukwe and rather than rebut those accusations, Ndukwe chose to grand stand. For instance, he was accused of total disconnection with his people. He didn’t attend their meetings and didn’t contribute to the development of his town by paying his levies. He never responded to the accusations. On the accusa-

tion, that he sold water from his borehole to his poor villagers, his only response was that, the act of selling water was not enough to disqualify him from seeking to represent them.

People did not take kindly to this insensitive arrogance.

To defeat Uba in any election in Anambra South, one must borrow from Muhammed Ali’s Philosophy.

The legendary boxer said that, “ to beat a champ, you must whip a champ”. Uba is a colossus in Anambra South and he didn’t get to that position by accident. He got to that position by staying very close to the people, with audacious philanthropic gestures and provision of visible and touchable dividends of democracy. His philanthropy, whether in the mould of scholarships, start-up grants for businesses provision of vehicles for mass transit businesses or direct allocation of food supplies to indigent families are hugely felt in the seven council areas of the senatorial zone.

Finally, I want to advise Ndukwe

ONAJITE IGERE ADJARA III: 1950-2015 VIEWPOINT

By Charles Adingu

TRIBUTE IN BRIEF

The life and times of the first Urbobo graduate monarch

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N life, there are people who make things happen while others either watch things happen or merely ask: What happened? Those who make things happen become societal greats where their efforts become directed not for selfish and egocentric ends but for the common good of all peoples. They are easily identified with passion to achieve and an uncommon spirit of courage to continue to trace the locus of their contemporary society and sustain its fabrics and development momentum. More often than not, such men depart this world early due to daily trauma suffered on account of challenges bedeviling society and several arrows of betrayal, disappointment, and deceit internalized by them due to the actions of the same people they seek their well being.

It is against this backdrop that we begin to cogitate the life and times of HRM ONAJITE IGERE ADJARA MI(JP),THEOVIEOFOGORKINGDOM, the first Urhobo graduate monarch. He was aged 64 years at the time he joined his ancestors. I did not know this man until we met at a meeting of the University of Ife Alumni Association hosted by the late Chief Efe Akpobi in 1992. Both of us discussed life generally and co-incidentally both of us were also old boys of St. Peter Clavers College, Aghalokpe, this was how our friendship turned that of an elder and younger brother until his last day.

HRH Onajite Adjara III (JP) was born at Otagor on 28lh November, 1950 on the eve of the 4th anniversary of the reign of his father Adjara II. He attended the Roman Catholic Mission School, Otogor from 1955 to 1960 where he got his forst School Leaving Certificate and got admission into St. Peter Claver’s College, Aghalokpe in 1965 and got his West African School Certificate in 1969.

He taught at St. Theresa Grammar School, Ughelli and Ekakpamre

Grammar School, Ekakpamre both in Delta State before he got admission into the then University of Ife, lle-lfe, wherehegraduatedwiththeB.AHons: English in 1977. He did his National Youth Service Corps in Sokoto State between 1977/78. After the National Youth Service Corps, he joined the Ibunor Construction Company Limited Benin - City in 1978 as the Public Relations/Administrative Manager before ascending the throne of his father in

1987.

His Royal Majesty over the years distinguished himself as a leader who sees leadership as service to humanity and the Almighty. He was an inestimable man of truth, not missing words when it comes to saying it as it is with attendant unique features of a true traditional ruler. He was a leader personified with zero tolerance for corruption and injustice. A communicator par excellence who believed in democracy and he preached about the process of decision making in all his various interactive sections till his last day. He was extremely popular among his subjects for his fair mindedness. He was charismatic as he was humble. His humility coupled with a penchant for simple lifestyle, has sometimes given a contradictory impression about his noble background.

HRM was loved the more for by the people of Ogor ‘ Kingdom. He expanded the process of decision making in council meetings by the ‘inclusion of all sectors in the community.

HRM Onajite Igere Adjara III, I for several years, served as Chairman,

to save his smug, sanctimonious hogwash for the National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal. He has no moral platform to stand on and preach about inducements. If he has evidence of inducements that corrupted INEC officials, he should joyfully assemble them and present his evidence before the tribunal. It is an electoral offence to induce electoral officials and this evidence would be helpful in the tribunal and not on the pages of newspapers.

However, I know that, if Uba contests against Ndukwe for a vacant ITU seat in Geneva, Uba would probably lose but if Ndukwe re-contests this Anambra South senatorial seat against Uba ten more times, he will certainly lose ten more times. I advise him to be honorable in defeat and congratulate Uba as quickly as he can because the distinguished senator won the election fair and square.

•OBI is Snr. Media Aide To Sen. Andy Uba.

Urhobo Traditional Rulers Council 2013-2014, member youth Empowerment Programme (YETA) Delta State 2012;ChiefWhip,DeltaState Chapter of TROMPCON, 2007-2010; National Vice Chairman, Zone 1, TROMCON; member, Delta State Traditional Council, 2006-2014; member, Delta State Transition Committee that led into Uduaghan Administration. No doubt therefore, he received encomiums and highly prestigious awards from different parts of Nigeria during his reign.

He was an exemplary husband and father whose devotion to family growth through discipline produced professionals. As a pillar of the Catholic Church,hehardlymissesSundayservices.

He was a powerful inspiration. The lesson of his life is that for every developed family, community or society at large, there was a determined and selfless leader. Onajite Igere Adjara, who was committed traditionally to mother earth on Thursday, 5th February 2015, was a determined and selfless leader. May God bless his soul.

Oronto Natei Douglas, a fiery mouth piece of the Niger Delta VIEWPOINT

By Pastor Power Ziakede Aginighan TRIBUTE IN BRIEF

Celebrating the life of an activist

N

IGERIA has lost a great son.

A great blow has been dealt on the Niger Delta struggle for social, economic and environmental justice. A leading light amongst the Ijaw ethnic nationality is gone. I am personally devastated by the death of Oronto Natei Douglas in the early hours of Thursday 9th of April, 2015 at the age of 49.

At 20.27pm on the 12th March 2015, I sent this text message to his mobile phone: “Comrade, Good evening. You are in my thoughts.

May God perfect everything that concerns you. Odudu”. He replied at 21.27: “Amen”. That was the last contact I had with him.

I met Oronto Douglas between 1987 and 1989 when I returned to my alma mater, the Rivers State

University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt for the Bachelor of Science Degree in Accountancy as student on advanced standing. He struck my attention during the campaigns for positions in the Students Union Government of the University. I recollect my involvement with him and Mr Moses Taribi to ensure the emergence of David Brigidi as President of Students Union of that institution.

Oronto Douglas was a Law student at that time.

The next time I saw the fire of activism in him was when the Ijaw met at Kaiama, the cradle of Ijaw revolutionary thought, on the 15th May, 1993 to ratify the Constitution of the Ijaw National Congress(INC). Oronto Douglas was in his elements throughout the clause by clause debate of the draft Constitution of the INC which was presented by the Ijaw National Coordinating Committee led by Prof (Rev) Christopher Dime under whom I served as Secretary. It was Oronto Douglas that moved

the historic motion for the adoption of Ijaw National Congress as the name of the apex social cultural body for the protection of the Ijaw interest within and outside Nigeria.

Since living the University, Oronto Douglas has been a frontline advocate for human rights in Nigeria and a leading light in the campaign for environmental justice in Niger Delta. He was one of the defence lawyers for Ken Saro Wiwa and other Ogoni sons in their trial by the Ogoni Civil Disturbances Tribunal set up by the then Head of State General Sani Abacha.

Saro Wiwa was executed with eight other Ogoni prominent sons on the 10th of November, 1995 in defiance of appeals by the Commonwealth and other organisations and individuals.

Oronto Douglas went on self exile during the days of the maximum dictatorship of Sani Abacha.

He used the period to walk in the footprints of Saro Wiwa by drumming further international atten-

tion to the deplorable condition of his Niger Delta Peoples back home, the pervasive poverty in the midst of so much wealth.

On his return to Nigeria, Oronto Douglas founded the Chikoko Movement as a non violent mass movement for the defence of the environmental rights of his Ijaw people and indeed the people of the Niger Delta. With Isaac Osuoka as his Secretary, Oronto Douglas presided over the historic Aleibri Convention of the Chikoko Movement in August 1997 which heightened the consciousness amongst Niger Delta youths of their rights to a decent environment and the benefits that accrue from the exploitation of the crude oil and gas resources derived from their land.

The Chikoko Movement stood for the “defence of the rights of the ethnic minority nationalities in Niger Delta Area, the right to self-determination of the constituent ethnic nationalities of Nigeria, an end to all environmentally

damaging economic activities by Trans-national oil corporations in the Niger Delta Area and the abrogation of all obnoxious laws like the Land Use Decree and the Petroleum Decree” that deny the people the right to control their land and mineral resources for sustainable development of the area.

Oronto Douglas was not left out in the build-up of the events and activities that led to the proclamation of the Kaiama Declaration of December 1998 by thousands of youths of the Ijaw Ethnic nationality. This provided the most significant impetus to the clamour for resource control by the Niger Delta oil bearing communities after the Ogoni Bill of Rights proclamation by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni Peoples(MOSOP) in the early 1990s.

•Aginighan was founding Secretary of Ijaw National Congress and former Acting Managing Director of NDDC.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 57 sam.eyoboka@gmail.com

08023145567 (sms only)

TESTIMONIES GALORE AT CHOSEN'S EASTER RETREAT

By OLAYINKA LATONA

T

HE 2015 Easter retreat of the Lord’s Chosen Church might have come and gone but the experience will remain fresh in the minds of those who attended at the church's Revival Ground at Ijesha Bus Stop, along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway in Lagos.

The 2-day programme witnessed a huge turn-out of worshippers some of whom travelled from different parts of the country to worship the God of covenant of peace and blessing.

People claimed to have been healed of diverse sicknesses and health challenges including the dreaded HIV, bedwetting, deafness, with women testifying, to the glory of God, of being healed of barrenness.

Amidst testimonies from previous programmes, more miracles were recorded just as the General Overseer of the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Revival Movement; Pastor Lazarus Muoka mounted the pulpit to deliver the sermon for the second day and a series of prayer session.

The general overseer explained that Easter symbolises the victory of Jesus over death.

And by extension it was victory over hopelessness and anarchy, “for Christ’s resurrection ushered us a new hope for peace and blessing."

He added that connecting God through prayer releases unimaginable weapon of warfare against the devil for needed victory.

Muoka further explained that the resurrection of Jesus Christ which is what Easter stands for, was the bedrock of mankind’s reconciliation with his Creator.

“Without Jesus Christ resurrecting from death, there would not have been any hope of restoration of the peaceful relationship we had with God before our fore-parents severed it through sin.

According to the general overseer, Easter was tied to hope, peace and blessing, and these, he continued, were the intangible chords that helped people to overcome the sad and sordid situations that might be confronting them with a sense of hopelessness.

“Easter therefore brings that optimism that no matter how difficult or challenging your situation or condition may be, knowing the resurrection will remind you that if Jesus could defeat death, then all things are possible.”

“By Christ death and resurrection, the covenant of peace and blessing which mankind originally had with God at creation was restored.

“Many people, who have been hearing Vice President elect Prof. Yemi Osibanjo in a hand shake with The General about the true blessings of joy but have Overseer of The Lord's Chosen, Pastor Lazarus Muoka during his recent cournot experienced it, will experience it. tesy call to the Chosen hqtrs Some, who have witnessed it and are asking God when their turn of blessing will have their portion of blessing and b r e a k through, whatever you have lost through Adam will be restored to you,” he noted.

He advised the nation to use the opportunity of Easter to embrace the peace and blessing that C h r i s t brought to mankind, shun sin, *Cross Section of the Mass Choir at the 2-day Easter Crusade with the theme; 'God's Covenant of peace materialism and blessings' at the Chosen Revival Ground, ljesha, Lagos. and live a righteous life, stressing that no situation defies the people were afraid before the elections Describing God as a covenant keeping power of God; once the Almighty decides thinking there would be crisis in the counGod and one who can give solution to all to attend to it. try but we prayed for peace and God’s will problems, Muoka said Nigeria is presHe enjoined Christians to be faithful, beto prevail and ently experiencing peace after the presilieving that with God, all things are possiGod told us that peace will reign in the dential election due to the fact that God ble. country,” he said. answered the prayers of the saints. “Most

Shun sin and embrace holiness---Rev Adeniran

By OLAYINKA LATONA

T

HE District Superintendent of The Apostolic Faith, West and Central Africa, Rev. Adebayo Adeniran, has urged Nigerians to put their hope in God like never before and keep praying for peace to continually reign in the country, stressing the need for Nigerians to shun sin and imbibe the fear of God in order to experience divine transformation in the country.

Rev. Adeniran made this call during the annual Easter Concert of the Apostolic Faith Church at its West Africa and Central Africa (WECA) headquarters, Campground Road, Anthony Village Lagos. The theme of this year's pro-

gramme was; “Look to Calvary”.

Stressing the need for Christ's intervention, leadership in every home, and individual transformation to propel national development, Rev. Adeniran said: “No man can live above sin and corruption except Jesus Christ helps him.

"The good thing is that the Lordship of Jesus Christ is needed everywhere in the world, especially in terminating corruption and other social vices. God had an agenda of eliminating corruption before man could think about it because God knew what corruption can do to a people, community and to a nation", he said.

Explaning the significance of Easter to

Nigeria as a country, Rev. Adeniran said Nigerians should look up to God for the healing of our nation, taking away and uprooting of corruption that have held us captive.

He said the masses have "a lot to enjoy but when the heart, hands and environment are corrupt, the only thing we can do is to suffer and be in distress but that should end by the grace of God. “The Church is praying for Nigeria, her leaders that God will intervene beyond elections to heal the entire Nigerian state from the leadership to the followers so that we can have integrity not with man alone or commity of nations but with God of heaven,” he noted.

Continuing, he said: "I personally

believe that the hope for Nigeria is in God and as we look unto God that He will help our leaders and the followers to turn our hearts to God, to rip the nation of corruption and give us righteous men in positions, men that God can walk with and not those that will be a reproach to God. “The March 28 presidential election showed us that there is a hand that rules in the affairs of men. Majority of Nigerians were so afraid but God gave us a peaceful election and I believe that if we look up to God, He will do much more for us as a nation.

“Election does not solve all the problems in a nation, the healing of the partici-

Continued on Page 42

PAGE 58—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015

Christian Laity holds National Prayer

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HE Christian Laity Association of Ni geria recently held its 35th annual national prayer breakfast fellowship at the Shell Hall, Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Theme of this year's fellowship was; “They found grace in the wilder-

ness.”

The group used the occasion to pray for the youths, nation, Nigerian economy, the incoming leadership of the nation, the judiciary amongst others.

National co-ordinator of the association, Mrs. Modupe Odukoya de-

scribed the 35th edition of the prayer summit as a landmark event that coincided with the recent peaceful presidential election despite the fact that many people were worried and nervous at the outcome of the polls.

“The theme of this year ’s

The Apostolic Faith Choir at the Easter Concert

'Shun sin and embrace holiness' Continued from Page 41 pants and the leadership is very important. Integrity is needed in our country; righteousness in high and low places in every nook and crannies of our communities.

According to him, environment is something

"we must turn to now and I know that if we truly turn to God, He will turn to us. God has a testimony and record concerning us in Nigeria, each time we turn to Him, He turns to us and once He accepts us we turn away. But this time

around, we must not remove our gaze from the Almighty God until our nation is healed of all the vices.

“I believe that Nigeria can be healed and become great again. I believe that God can help us as a nation," he prayed.

Nigerian pastor invents special mobile App for students

A

BELGIUMBASED Nigerian pastor, Mike Chuks Nwanegbo, who is also the national coordinator of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Belgium, has developed a mobile application known as Nkuzi Mobile App. According to Pastor Nwanegbo, who is also a member of the board of The International School of Flander, Waterloo, Brussels, one of the leading schools in Belgium, “Nkuzi Mobile App is Africa’s number one students' educational resource mobile app on android platform, aimed at helping students to pass their examinations with ease.”

Explaining the rationale behind the application, the cleric said: “The idea is to make available past questions of GCE, JAMB, NECO and others to students through the mobile phone. Instead of students playing games on their mobile phones, they can download Nkuzi mobile app for free.

Once downloaded, the student can choose a subject and the app will

*Pastor Mike Nwanegbo present questions and answers by simply clicking a button “Get answer”.

Speaking with journalists on his invention, the national co-ordinator said he discovered that

lots of students spend their time playing games on their mobile phones instead of paying attention to their studies.

“So, I was moved to take their studies to them on their mobile world and this is a gift to the students in the land of my nativity”, he said.

He stated that Nkuzi website could offer students other free services such as class work support, students forum, chat room and student counselling forum.

He added: “Nkuzi has developed another app for ladies called ‘Women’s World’. This app helps a woman to calculate her menstrual circle, when to expect her period, and possibly get pregnant and also her safe period.”

Students are directed to visit the website www.nkuzi.com and partners and marketers, who are passionate about spreading this vision are encouraged to do so.

fellowship, “They found grace in the wilderness,” is the true picture of our nation. Nigeria has been in the wilderness of sin, corruption, mismanagement and yet God granted us His mercies to have a peaceful election which is nothing but His providence."

According to her the fellowship has not relented in praying for peaceful election and the peace that greeted the presidential election was no doubt the answer to prayers.

“All voices of evil were silenced and we are grateful to God that our 35th edition is coming at a very important time," she noted.

Odukoya explained that the prayer meeting actually started at Dodan Barracks during the civil war.

According to her, by 1980, the thought of making it an annual event was conceived and since then, God has not failed the group.

She prayed for the President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari that God will help him to lead the nation aright while advising Nigerians not to think that they can fool God who is all wise.

2015 Second Section of 21st Sinod of the St. Mary's Anglican Church Oluyole Estate, Ibadan

*Bishop Anglican Church, Ibadan Dioces, Right Rev. (Dr) Joseph Akinfenwa delivering his speech at the 2015 Second Section of 21st Sinod of the St. Mary's Anglican Church Oluyole Estate, Ibadan.

SHOT: DARE FASUBE.

OJO LAUNCHES BIOGRAPHY

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ORMER National Secretary of Pentecostal Fellow ship of Nigeria, PFN, Archbishop Joseph Imariabe Ojo marks his 66th birthday celebration/official presentation of his biography, ONCE UPON A JOSEPH on Saturday, April 18, 2015 at his church, Calvary Kingdom Church, Kilometre 24, Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Cele-Nice B/stop, Lagos. Time: 12.00 Noon.

Youth must live by example –-RCCG Pastor

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BUJA - The regional pastor, The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Region 4, Pastor Ezekiel Afolayan has admonished youths to build their identities in Christ Jesus to live exemplary lives, reports CALEB AYANSINA. The cleric said they could only do exploits, when they recognise who they were in God and abide by His words.

Afolayan stated this at the 10th anniversary of the Singles Connection tagged: 'I know who I am' held at the RCCG Bread of Life, Province 1 headquarters, Mararaba in Nasarawa State.

Afolayan, the guest speaker at the programme also urged all Nigerians to pray for the peace of the nation.

The regional pastor called on political actors to shun violence, and take the outcome of polls with a sportsmanship spirit, saying God is the only one who decides a leader.

In his remarks, the coordinator of the Single Connection, Barr. Simon Oweazim explained that the programme was designed "to draw youth to Christ, reveal to them the mind of God. "We try to expose them to some of the things they need to do in the area of relationship, although the first connection is to get connected to Almighty God for them to get connected to the bone of their bones.

"We also help them to

nurture their youthfulness, so that they will not go into vices and do things that do not glorify God, for them not to have their destiny altered."

The provincial youth president, RCCG

Nasarawa Province 1, Oluseyi Ojelabi reminded the youth that they were wonderfully made by God and they should always see themselves as a peculiar generation.

Nigeria, A spoilt child ---Bishop Fafeyiwa

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HE Diocesan Bishop of the Methodist Church Nigeria, Ogbomoso Diocese, Rt. Rev. Olugbenga Fafeyiwa recently at the 19th Annual Synod of the church described Nigeria as a spoilt child.

Methodist Church Nigeria, Diocese of Ogbomoso held its synod with a theme, "Aglow with the Spirit" with inspiration from Romans 12:11b at the Caretaker branch in Ogbomoso.

Rev. Fafeyiwa, reflecting on the theme, said "to glow means to radiate light or heat or both," asserting that Nigeria today, more than ever before, needs the intervention of God in all facets of her life.

"The political situation of the country raises dangerous posers every day. So many politicians are in positions of authority through rigging and manipulation of election at all costs. We cannot leave the destiny of our nation in the hands of political thugs," he warned.

Rev. Fafeyiwa therefore charged Christians to take active role in elections so as to effect the right change

the country is envisaging, since the Church is the best change agent and not to leave governance in the hands of those who do not fear God. Christians were urged to vote credible candidates and not corrupt politicians who are sharing money around but have nothing to deliver.

On the plight of the Chibok girls, he lamented that their story is unfortunately fading away from our national newspapers.

He equally x-rayed the state of our economy and regretted that the economy was not growing as expected, adding "it is so bad that about N240 is being exchanged for $1 at the black market presently.

Among the dignitaries that graced the official opening of the synod was the Archbishop of Ibadan Diocese, Most Rev. Kehinde Stephen, who was ably represented by Very Rev. Olusoji Mewoyeka, the Ibadan diocesan administrative manager. Others include Prince Oyetunde Okanlawon who represented the Oyo State Commissioner for Trade and Investment, Hon Oyefunke Aworo.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015, PAGE 59

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S it good to go to school; get a good job; build your own house and have lots of money? Not according to Jesus. These things are highly valued by men. But Jesus teaches that: “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight.”

(Luke 16:15).

Therefore, it is not surprising that Jesus had none of these accomplishments as a man. In his doctrine, they are the preoccupation of Satan and men. Therefore, they are offensive to God. Jesus told Peter that the things of men are the things of Satan and not of God. He said to him: “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” (Matthew 16:23).

What then is good? Jesus says: “No one is good but One, that is, God.” (Matthew 19:17). Therefore, anything that is of God is good.

Jesus considers only the things pertaining to the kingdom of God to be good.

Everything pertaining to this world is evil. Schooling, jobs, housing and money pertain to this world and, as such, are evil and not of God. Everything earthly is a human alternative to the will of God in heaven. Continued devotion to the things of this world militates against our desire to be with the Father in heaven and is therefore absolutely evil.

Jesus says to his disciples: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much

THE LOVE OF LIFE IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13). This indicates he sees men as evil. In order to be good, men, who Jesus also categorises as “the sons of this world,” have to become “the sons of light;” another word for sons of God. Jesus says: “The sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.” (Luke 16:8).

This means all our affinities to men and to this world must be relinquished in favour of God and the kingdom of heaven. These include allegiances to fatherland, to family and relatives; and to race, sex and creed. Jesus says: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26). He says furthermore: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be my disciple.”

(Luke 14:33).

ens our life as evil. This makes us define evil erroneously in relative terms. If the enemy kills us, he is evil; but if we kill him, we are good. However, God sees evil in absolute terms.

Jesus regards as absolutely evil anything that undermines God’s will. This makes man’s life the greatest evil of all. The love of life, expressed in our determination to enhance, promote and safeguard our temporal condition, commands our allegiance even above the first and greatest commandment; which is to love God with all our heart.

Therefore, Jesus regards man’s love of life as the root of all evil and the basis of every sin.

Indeed, we steal, cheat, fight, kill and commit adultery in order to save our lives. We only overcome sin by hating our lives.

Relative and absolute evil

Jesus’ re-definition of evil

Men are consumed by the love of life, leading us to regard anything that threat-

Jesus reveals that the love of life makes men enemies of God. He tells us that God

Man’s love of life is the root of all evil and the basis of every sin

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ENERAL Over seer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye has charged Nigerian fathers and would-be fathers to direct their energies to serving God diligently and genuinely for them to fulfill God’s ordained plan for their lives and get to the top.

The man of God who described fathers as the heads and important persons in different homes prayed for God’s protection for the family heads.

Adeboye made the call during a special prayer programme organized for fathers and would-be fathers at the national headquarters of the church in Ebute-Meta, Lagos. Theme of the programme was; “Ye shall be the head”.

Defining head as "being in charge, to be preferred above others, to lead, have the last say amongst others," Pastor Adeboye told the congregation that despite the fact that fathers were in-charge,

they are not above God who put them in such positions to occupy hence the need for the fathers to acknowledge the Lordship of God in all their activities.

“To be the head means you will be above all others but not above God who promoted you because He is the promoter,” he said.

Highlighting some of the conditions for one to be lifted and promoted by God, Adeboye said; “God will promote anyone who is obedient to Him in all things; follows Him 100 per cent with everything; pursue God diligently; have servant spirit and avoid sin like poison”.

According to him, the only thing that can stop God’s blessing and promotion in a man’s life is sin, urging heads of homes and mothers not to bow to the desires of the flesh, world affection and not compromise their faith.

Adeboye also advised the congregation to totally submit their lives to God, saying this would enable them to escape from the bondage of Satan.

Also calling on fathers in

Evil misnomer The problem with the love of life is that men are totally unaware of its sinfulness.

The love of life blinds men to the truth about good and evil. Indeed, we define our righteousness by the extent to which we love and pro-

TREM rewards cleaner who returned found N12m

Serve God diligently, Adeboye tells fathers

By Olayinka Latona

has made the hatred of life in this world the primary prerequisite for the attainment of eternal life. Jesus says: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25).

Thereby, Jesus redefines evil using the kingdom dynamic whereby what is highly esteemed among men is abominable in the sight of God. (Luke 16:15).

Since men esteem their life highest of all, Jesus defines everything that diminishes our love of life in this world as good. Therefore, in his doctrine, poverty becomes a blessing. He says: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20).

He also categorises facing adversities in life as a blessing: “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Luke 6:21).

Indeed, Jesus says: “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your

name as evil, because of the Son of Man.” (Luke 6:22).

Correspondingly, Jesus tells us not to bother to resist evil anymore: “I tell you, do not resist an evil person.

If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” (Matthew 5:39). He insists we must love our enemies: “I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. (Matthew 5:44).

Moreover, Jesus says we should not fear death: “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more.” (Luke 12:4).

Death becomes something good because it leads to our reunification with the Father in heaven: “If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father.’” (John 14:28).

But life is evil because it keeps us away from God.

mote life; the very thing that God hates. Therefore, to understand good and evil from God’s perspective, we must first break free from the bondage of the love of life.

The love of life prompts us to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and to make “evil things” like the atom bomb and the machine-gun; as well as “good things” like the aeroplane and the aspirin. But both our “good” and “bad” products are evil in God’s sight because they are of the world and not of God. Accordingly, John counsels: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15-16).

Therefore, it is wrong for Paul to say: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” (2 Corinthians 5:19). God will never reconcile himself to anything, least of all this absolutely evil world. It is also erroneous to say we become righteous by being washed in the blood of Jesus. We can only become righteous by following Jesus’ example of laying down our lives for others.

Jesus says: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13).

the country to exhibit Godly example in all their doing, Special Assistant to the General Overseer on Administration and Personnel, Pastor Johnson Odesola advised them to submit themselves under the surgery of God for them to function maximally.

In his words: “All the heads in Nigeria have to submit themselves under the surgery of God for them to function maximally and they should use their heads to lead their families and young ones in Godly and peaceful manners to let them know that as we conduct our lives we need to put the love of others and nation forward”.

“We thank God for divine peace we are presently experiencing in our nation, the coming administration should listen to God because Nigeria's problem is a compounded one and they must endeavor to handle them bit by bit. They should not attempt so much at a time but rather solve one problem at a time. I believe the Church is praying for them to succeed," he added.

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RESIDING Bishop of The Redeemed Evangelical Mission, TREM, Dr. Mike Okonkwo, at the Easter Sunday resurrection service honoured Miss Ugwu Josephine, the lady who found over N12 million at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos where she works as a cleaner and returned the money to the airport authorities.

She was honoured with a plaque, a certificate and an undisclosed amount of money. Josephine Ugwu, an airport cleaner who accidentally discovered N12 million. She found $28,000 and other foreign currencies totalling about N12 million and located the owner. The woman earns just N7,800 as her monthly salary for a 12-hours a day job. The man couldn't even compensate her for returning his money, just carried the bag.

L-R: Bishop Peace Okonkwo, Ugwu Josephine and Bishop Mike Okonkwo after the presentation of the award to Ugwu Josephine in recognition of her honest service to the nation.

PAGE 60 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015 PAGE 61

WEEKEND RESULTS Premier League: Swansea 1-1 Everton, Southampton 2-0 Hull, Sunderland 1-4 Crystal Palace, Tottenham 0-1 Aston Villa, West Ham 1-1 Stoke; Bolton 1-2 Norwich, Ipswich 3-2 Blackpool; Tottenham 01 Aston Villa; West Ham 1-1 Stoke; Millwall 0-2 Watford, Birmingham 21 Wolves, Crewe 1-1 Leyton Orient, York 1-0 Hartlepool; West Ham 1-1 Stoke (Arnautovic, 90)

Championship: Birmingham 2-1 Wolves, Bolton 1-2 Norwich, Derby 1-1 Brentford, Ipswich 3-2 Blackpool, Leeds 1 -2 Cardiff, Middlesbrough 2-0 Rotherham, Millwall 0-2 Watford, Nottm Forest 0-1 Huddersfield, Reading 0-0 Blackburn, Sheff Wed 1-1 Charlton

League One:

*Aaron Ramsey scores to put Arsenal 1-0 ahead at Burnley. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Reuters

Aaron Ramsey’s early effort earns Arsenal eighth win in row at Burnley

By Idowu Ajigboteso with Agency report

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FIRST-HALF goal from Aaron Ramsey was enough to continue Arsenal’s winning run and cut Chelsea’s lead to four points, at least until Sunday afternoon, leaving Burnley hoping to pick up points from more amenable opponents in their bid for Premier League survival.

Defeats for Sunderland and Hull before the game kicked off had given Burnley the chance to make a giant leap with a win. Due to Sunderland, in particular, throwing away their goal-difference advantage, three points for the Clarets here would have helped Sean Dyche’s side escape the bottom three altogether and reach the dizzy heights of 16th, which would have represented their best position this season.

The only snag was that beating Arsenal has become rather difficult of late. Tottenham were the last side to do it in the league and since that defeat in February the Gunners had posted an impressive seven conC M Y K

secutive wins.

Burnley ’s challenge was to somehow interrupt that sequence – a draw would not have propelled them so far up the table but it would have been a more than acceptable result – but on Grand National day there was never much chance of an upset. By the end of the evening Arsenal were still the form team of the Premier League and Burnley were still in trouble.

Sam Vokes had an early chance snuffed out by David Ospina from David Jones’ alert throughball, though Burnley did not make the best of starts. From the outset Arsenal kept them pushed back in their own half, moving the ball slickly around the edge of the penalty area, and the amount of time and space Alexis Sánchez was finding was ominous.

Jason Shackell increased the pressure on his own defence after 11 minutes with an attempted clearance that found an Arsenal player and, though Tom Heaton was able to beat away Sánchez’s shot-cumcross from the left, yel-

low shirts were queuing up for the loose ball on the six-yard line. Mesut Özil had the first try but could not find a way through before Ramsey collected the rebound and found the net.

Burnley could not gain sufficient control of the midfield to play the game further up the pitch, though Kieran Trippier did demand a splendid diving save from Ospina with a well-struck freekick from 20 yards out after Laurent Koscielny had fouled Ashley Barnes.

It was clear home chances from open play would be rare and Barnes was unlucky on the half hour to find the ball sticking under his feet after neat work by Danny Ings to beat Héctor Bellerín on the left had created half an opening.

Arsenal can strike from set pieces themselves and Santi Cazorla was not far away with a curling effort when Sánchez won a free-kick on the edge of the area. The visitors were actually winning too many free-kicks around the area for the home fans’ liking and when Olivier Giroud went to ground twice in

quick succession the crowd registered displeasure with Arsenal’s gamesmanship and Mike Dean’s refereeing.

Sánchez joined in on the stroke of the interval, going down far too easily on the left touchline and provoking the Burnley fans once again so that the half ended with boos and cries of “cheats”. The home supporters had a point, Arsenal were pushing it a little, though they were also stroking the ball around with effortless grace and completely subduing their opponents within the rules.

Burnley were probably relieved to turn round just a one goal down.

Arsenal had not created many chances but they were content simply to keep possession and play within themselves after taking the lead, fairly confident that the home side would not mount any sustained attacks while being penned back in their own half.

Barnes brought a routine save from Ospina early in the second half, after Shackell had headed down from a corner, before Sánchez brought

a smarter one from Heaton with a low shot from the edge of the area that threatened to curl inside the goalkeeper’s right hand upright.

The second half was not proving quite as one-sided as the first, however. Though Koscielny blocked a couple of hopeful efforts from Sam Vokes and Ings without too much difficulty Burnley were getting closer to the Arsenal goal, taking up the sort of positions from where a defensive mistake or a moment of inspiration might have led to an equaliser.

Ings almost supplied the inspiration in the 65th minute with a determined run past a couple of defenders in the penalty area, only to find he could not shake off Nacho Monreal.

When Ben Mee beat Bellerín all ends up on the right to steal into the area and cross, George Boyd failed to apply his usual reliable touch.

Ings then attempted an overhead kick from close to the penalty spot; he kept his shot on target but could not summon the power to trouble Ospina.

Barnsley 1-1 Chesterfield, Coventry 1-0 Colchester, Crewe 1-1 Leyton Orient, Doncaster 1-1 Rochdale, Gillingham 1-0 Bradford, Oldham 2-2 Sheff Utd, Port Vale 0-0 Milton Keynes Dons, Preston 11 Bristol City, Scunthorpe 2-1 Crawley Town, Swindon 1-0 Peterborough, Walsall 1-0 Fleetwood, Yeovil 1-1 Notts County

League Two: Wimbledon 0 Oxford Utd 0, Cambridge Utd 2 Accrington Stanley 2, Carlisle 1 Dag & Red 0, Luton 0 Burton Albion 1, Morecambe 3 Portsmouth 1, Newport County 0 Bury 2, Plymouth 2 Mansfield 1, Shrewsbury 4 Exeter 0, Southend 1 Tranmere 0, Stevenage 2 Northampton 1, Wycombe 2 Cheltenham 1, York 1 Hartlepool 0

SPANISH LEAGUE RESULTS: Malaga 2-2Atletico Madrid; Real Madrid 30 Eibar; Sevilla FC 22Barcelona; Athletic Club 1-1 Valencia; Elche 0-1 Getafe; Villarreal 0-3 Espanyol; Barcelona 4-0 Almería; Deportivo de La Coruña 1-1 Córdoba; Granada 1-1 Celta de Vigo; Rayo Vallecano 0-2 Real Madrid;

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S UNDAY Vanguard Vanguard,, APRIL 12, 2015,

Politics puts 2015 National Festival in limbo

By Ben Efe

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HE 2015 National Sports Festival is in a permanent freeze as a date cannot be fixed until the dust raised by politicking for the various elective posts across the country has settled.

It was originally scheduled to hold in December 2014, but a combination of factors prevented the hosts Cross River State from pulling off the sports fiesta. This include the presidential primaries and uncompleted sports facilities in the host city, Calabar.

Cross River commissioner for sports, Patrick Ugbe stated during the week that for now there hasn’t been any decision on whether it will hold before the tenure of Governor Liyel Imoke expires on May 29.

Imoke, who was deeply involved in the re-election bid of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan, had shown so much commitment to have the festival come off the ground, but at the moment sports, in which he invested so much resources have taken a back seat.

“We cannot have a date for the sports festival for now. It is after we are through with the elections, then we can seat with the governor and chart a new course,” Mr. Ugbe revealed.

AYAC: AFN invites athletes for trials

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THLETICS Federation of Nigeria will hold a selection trial for junior athletes that will represent the country at the second African Youth Athletics Championships, billed for Mauritius April 23-26.

Nigeria won the maiden edition held in Warri Delta State.

According to AFN technical director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, the country will select a medal winning team at the trials that will be conducted at the Yaba College of Technology on Wednesday April 15.

He stated that camping of athletes will commence after the trials adding that all concerned athletes and coaches should make their international passports and vaccination (yellow) cards available.

Also the second All comers meet will hold on the same day.

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The situation is complicated by the fact that there is change of guard at the Federal level and also it is not certain where the pendulum would swing in the governorship elections that held yesterday. It only remains to be seen if Senator Imoke’s successor will continue with the numerous sports projects he embarked upon.

In another development, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria has been assured that the All Nigeria/ Cross River Championships will go on as scheduled in Calabar. The event, which the State government has bankrolled for three years running as part of its grassroots sports development will hold in July. There were speculations that it might be canceled because of the political situation.

“We are waiting for the AFN to come up with details. It is a sponsored programme and so it will hold when the AFN says it would,” the commissioner added.

WINNING WOMEN... Falcon’s strikers Desire Oparanozie and Francisca Ordega celebrates

CROSS River FA Elections: Ekpeyong, Eta Egbe ask NFF to hold due polls

By Eddie Akalonu

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HE ex-international goal keeper, Eta Egbe and former team Manager of defunct NITEL FC of Lagos Ekpeyong Ene-Ita say they are waiting on the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, to go to Calabar and conduct due elections into the Cross River State Football Association.. “ There was no elections contrary to what some have claimed,” Egbe said. “We havewrittenNFFinAbujatocome down and conduct proper elections because what they termed electiontheothertimewasasham.

It was held in the house of one of the parties. That to us is unacceptable,” said the former national U-20 player in an interview. “We are waiting patiently that NFF send their arbiters down here to conduct due elections in our state.

That is the only way to give our state a deserving FA,” he emphasised.

Both Eta Egbe and Ekpeyong Ene-Ita were disqualified from contesting in the elections on grounds that they presented Tax Clearance papers from outside the4 state. The development they claimed left the polls inconclusive on the day in question.

However, tempers flared up when it was later revealed that the polls went on elsewhere without their participation. According to Ene-Ita, he was disqualified on the ground that he brought his tax clearance from Lagos, while

Eta Egbe was also rejected based on the allegation that he brought his tax clearance from Abuja.

“On polls day, he went on. Players Union in Cross River State, carried placards in protest against

the present executives’ stay in the office stating that they have been there for over 20 years without achieving anything. We want a change in the State F.A. office, they must go”, the players Union were said to have insisted.

Falcons eye better performance in WWC

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FTER roasting Mali 9-1 on goals aggregate on Friday, the Super Falcons of Nigeria are eyeing a respectable outing at the FIFA Women World Cup starting in June.

Boosted by the foreign pros like, Desire Oparanozie, Asisat Oshoala, Francisca Ordega and Onome Ebi, the Falcons demonstrated that they will not be push overs even as they play in a group of death in group D of the world cup, featuring USA, Sweden and Australia.

“We are happy with the result against Mali. It is the Lord’s doing. And it is good that we have qualified for the All Africa Games after missing out in 2011.

“Certainly, with this performance we have confidence that

we can do well at the world cup,”said the team captain Evelyn Nwabuoko.

Oparanozie, Oshoala and Ordega scored two goals each,

while Nwabuoku and Esther Sunday added one each to give the Falcons an 8-0 thrashing of the Malians they played a 1-1 draw with in the first leg in Bamako.

I want to replace Iheanacho in Eaglets, says Aliu Bolaji

By Eddie Akalonu

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UDDING Star Aliu Adams Bolajifrom BRF FootballAcademy,Lagos,wasahousehold name in the2011 and 2012 Lagos Secondary School’s Principals Cup Soccer competition while featuring for Obele Odan Community Senior High School, in Surulere, Lagos.Theutilityplayerregistered seven goals in the 2012 competition before his school crashed out in the semifinals tie against Agege

High School, at the Agege Stadium. But the player wants to achieve greater heights in the game.

Speaking in Lagos, the six foot tall youngster described Rooney of Man United FC and Man City and Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho as his role models. “In-fact my greatest desire now is to take over Iheanacho’s role in the national U.17 National team, “if I am given a chance to prove my mettle by the handlers of the Golden Eaglets

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 12, 2015 PAGE 63

Arsenal, Man. U, City can overhaul Chelsea — Mourinho ...Mikel returns

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HELSEA coach Jose Mourinho has stated that it was not yet all clear for his team as Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are potential title winners in the English premier league.

Chelsea will face Queens Park Rangers in a London derby today and Mourinho is hopeful of collecting all three points to improve his situation.

“All of them pose a threat,” Mourinho said.

“Mathematically, any team with less than 21 points distance to us is in the race challenge.

“Being objective, a team with seven, eight or nine points is points is still in the race.

“We need to win five or win four and draw two. It’s just a little bit better than after the game against Stoke.

“Any points we get against QPR improves our situation but we need points Meanwhile the Blues manager disclosed that apart from Diego Costa, all his players including John Obi Mikel are fit for the game.

Mikel has been missing for over a month now, with a knee injury that eventually required surgery and caused him to miss the Capital One Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

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Continued from back page “We would like to congratulate Gabon for being declared the winner.

But there was something ... and in the coming hours or days you will hear what, especially from the Algerians,” Abbey said.

“Even the Executive Committee members who voted did not know the result of the vote. Only two of them, with Issa Hayatou, were called to look at the vote.

“They were all ushered into the conference room where the media and representatives of the three countries were,” he said.

“What the votes were, we didn’t know. There were 14 members of the Executive

Committee who voted. What the rules say is that there must be an outright winner, with a minimum of eight votes.

“In this case, we didn’t know how Gabon won – whether they got five or eight or 10 or 13 or 14 votes nobody knows, even now. Even the Executive Committee members weren’t told the results of their votes.

“Everybody was brought to the conference room and CAF President just took a paper that said Gabon had won.

“I found it quite embarrassing that this is happening in 2015. Maybe that is the value and culture here at CAF headquarters.

Like they say in strategic management, that is how business is run here.”

Siasia Cracker... John Obi Mikel tackles Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney during a game. Mikel is expected back in Chelsea’s squad today.

Continued from back page

His last Premier League game came in the form of an 18-minute cameo against Aston Villa on February 7th.

Costa could miss Chelsea’s next four games with the recurrent hamstring

Akande and forward Etebo Oghenekaro sounded resolute on their mission to Zambia.

“We have prepared hard for the game. Nigerians should expect nothing but victory from us in this game.

We are fully ready and by God’s grace, we won’t disappoint Nigerians,” Oghenekaro said.

On his part added 3SC shot stopper Akande said,”we know it is going to be a tough battle, tougher than the first leg. We have been preparing hard and definitely ready for the game. Victory is our target and I believe God will crown our efforts with victory.”

injury.

But Mourinho is certain he will return to action before the end of the season, although expects his star striker to miss the matches with Manchester United, Arsenal and Leicester be-

fore the end of the month.

“He will certainly be back before end of the season,” Mourinho said.

“We have eight matches to play, if he plays four it is normal.”

United will fall — Pellegrini

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ANCHESTER City are not “a mess” and are going to Old Trafford to win, coach Manuel Pellegrini declared ahead of today’s derby.

Victory over Manchester United in the Super Sunday derby

would take City above their third-placed rivals and mean a piece of history for Pellegrini’s side: United have never lost five straight league games against the same opposition.

The champions will

Suarez reveals Real interest UIS Suarez has re vealed that he could have joined Real Madrid last summer instead of Barcelona.

The Uruguay international swapped Anfield for the Nou Camp following his country’s World Cup campaign in Brazil, and has gone on to establish himself as a regular in Luis Enrique’s starting XI after missing an early chunk of the season through suspension.

Suarez shone during his time at Liverpool after arriving from Ajax in 2010, scoring 82 goals in 133 appearances as he scooped multiple individual awards during his final season on Mersey-

CAF not transparent — Ghana FA

side.

And speaking to Cope radio, the talismanic forward admitted that Real Madrid attempted to snap him up before he joined the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar at Barcelona.

Suarez explained: “Real Madrid were very interested in me, but my dream was always to play for Barca. When I heard the name ‘Barcelona’, I didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“Yes, they are for me [the best team in the world]. For all what the club is and what it stands for. For me, yes. “[Would I have played for Real?] You never know what will happen in foot-

ball, but luck would have it that Barca knocked on my door, and that was the club I wanted. It was a dream that I had for many years and it came true.”

travel across town as underdogs having lost four on the spin away from the Etihad, while Pellegrini is facing accusations he is taking the team backwards.

But the manager is convinced City are performing well enough to halt their neighbours’ recent resurgence.

He said: “For me, a draw is never a good result. I understand we are not having the results we need playing away - 2015 has not been a good year for us.”

•Suarez

Coach Siasia said he expects a hostile reception in Zambia, but his team will weather the storm.

“We hope to defend well and convert the chances we missed in the first game,” said Siasia, who has strengthened his team with players from the victorious Flying Eagles including strikers Taiwo Awoniyi and Bernard Bulbwa.

“We have to be very smart, contain them and catch them on a fast break.”

Zambia U23 coach Fighton Simukonda has the full complement of his invited players and has boasted Nigeria will return back home empty handed.

“Nigeria can’t come here and beat us in Lusaka, we are ready for Nigeria, we can even play them right now,” he said.

Who owns Manchester?

Continued from back page UEFA Champions League qualification.

“I dream of it,” he said.

“Every player shall dream of victory.

“I’ve had to think with my staff and players a lot a of days how we have to beat Manchester City.

“You are sitting in that process to win against your next opponent and of course you want to win because it is a big step in the table.

“Third place is then reachable and, a month ago, nobody was thinking about that besides me.

“Third is also good because you are certain to qualify for the Champions League and we are doing better than the goals we set in pre-season.”

However, Van Gaal believes two defeats to Swansea City this season will always rank as a bigger disappointment than potentially losing twice to United’s local rivals.

“As Manchester United you cannot lose two times to Swansea City,” he added. “I think that is a bigger failure than when we lose against Manchester City two times.”

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 12, 2015

CAF not transparent — Ghana FA T

HE Ghana Football Association has congratulated Gabon over winning the rights to host

Africa in 2017 but also e x p r e s s e d dissatisfaction in the Confederation of

African Football’s voting process.

A member of Ghana’s bid committee for the

AAG qualifier: Siasia has no excuse to fail — NFF

2017 AFCON championship, Randy Abbey claimed that the process of voting was “embarrassing” and lacked transparency.

He also accused CAF of keeping majority of her 14-strong executive committee in the dark throughout, revealing that both Ghana and Algeria have serious concerns about the legitimacy of Gabon’s victory.

Continues on page 63

J

UST before the departure of the Dream Team to Lusaka, for the crucial All Africa Games qualifier against Zambia, the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation, Dr Sanusi Muhammed, said the football house was sure the team had been well motivated to win the testy clash in Zambia.

He reiterated the fact that they(NFF) had “done everything humanly possible” to ensure that the team secured a win in Lusaka and “qualify” for the 11th All Africa Games.

According to him, the onus was now on the coach and his boys to justify the trust vested in them.

“On our part, we have done everything to ensure that the team does well in Zambia and qualify for All African Games. The onus is now on the coach and his wards to do well.

“The NFF approved everything Coach Samson Siasia requested for and I can tell you that the spirit in camp is very high. By the grace of God, we are going there to beat them.

“We are not happy that we drew the first leg here, but with the calibre of players in camp, we will beat them,” he said.

We’ll surprise Zambia T — Siasia

•Awoniyi

•Siasia

•Mukuka-Mulenga

Who owns Manchester?

L

•Pellegrini

•Van Gaal

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1.Nobel-winning Archbishop (7-4) 5.Sailor (3) 7.Consumed (5) 8.Domesticates (5) 9.Ovum (3) 10.Electricity counting gadgets (6) 13.Highlander (4) 15.Poem (3) 17.One that contests (9) 20.Nigerian tribe (5) 22.Cereal (5) 24.Demoted (9) 27.Pig’s pen (3) 29.No one (4) 30.Sulks (6) 33.Away (3) 35.Presses (5) 36.Till (5) 37. Swine (3) 38. “The Man Who Saw Tomorrow” (11)

DOWN 1.Sleeping vision (5) 2.Possessor (5) 3.Tax (4) 4.Depressing (9) 5.Argentinian dance (5) 6.Wash lightly (5) 11.Greek letter (3) 12.Distress call (1-1-1) 14.English boy’s name (5) 16.Obstacle (3) 17.Bovine animal (3) 18.Mindfulness (9) 19.Alarm (5) 21.Help (3) 23.Village house (3) 25.Gnome (3) 26.Vast age (3) 27.Condescend (5) 28.Youthful (5) 31.Circular (5) 32.Trades (5) 34.Old Russian King (4)

OUIS van Gaal is dreaming of a first derby vic tory when Manchester United take on Manchester City in the Premier League today, but insists defeat would not be his side’s biggest failure this season.

United suffered a 1-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium in November, but have since climbed above their neighbours into third following a poor run of form for Manuel Pellegrini’s men.

City have lost their last three away matches and Van Gaal is hopeful of inflicting more misery on the champions in the chase for Continues on page 63

HE national U-23 team, the Dream Team will today clash with their Zambian counterparts for a ticket to the football event of the 2015 11th All Africa Games billed for CongoBrazzaville, later in the year.

It is, no doubt, a tough call as even the Nigerian players have acknowledged the enormity of the battle ahead.

The first leg in Abuja ended in a goalless draw and so both teams have equal chances to grab the qualification ticket to the tournament.

Under coach Austin Eguavoen, the Dream Team failed to qualify for the last All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique and will therefore hope to avoid a repeat in Zambia.

Foreign-based professionals Paul Onauchi (Denmark) and Umar Aminu (Turkey) will not be available for this match after their respective clubs refused to release them.

Despite the odds, the mood at their Golden Peacock Hotel camp in Lusaka evokes victory.

Coach Samson Siasia had told his countrymen back home that the team was condemned to win the encounter.

Dream Team goalkeeper Abiodun

Continues on page 63

MATCHES TODAY EPL QPR Man U

vs vs

Chelsea Man City

1:30pm 4:00pm

La Liga Getafe CF Espanyol R. Soceidad Cordoba

v v v v

Villarreal Athletic Deportivo Elche

11:am 4:00pm 6:00pm 8:00pm

Newcastle

8:00pm

Tomorrow’s match Liverpool v See solution on page 5

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