Buhari's aide gave us fake 2016 budget - SENATE

...towards a better life for the people

**

VOL. 25: NO. 62672

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

N150

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Court orders arrest of Tompolo 12

50 years after Operation Damisa IT is exactly 50 years today since the military adventurers foisted a successful coup on the nation. The coup not only shaped Nigeria’s democracy, it also led to the killings of prominent political leaders.

In this special edition, Vanguard reflects on the success of Operation Damisa, as the coup exercise was named, why it was called an Igbo coup, and what was regarded as one of its immediate causes.

...See pages 37-40.

Buhari's aide gave us fake 2016 budget — SENATE •Vows not to work on budget until real copies are available •Demands electronic version to make own copies for Senators

By Henry Umoru & Joseph Erunke

A

BUJA — Rumblings over whereabouts of the 2016 Budget proposal of the Federal Government in the Senate came to a climax yesterday as the Senate accused the Senior Special Assistant to the President

Continues on Page 5

COLUMNISTS: P.19

OWEI LAKEMFA

Eritrea: A decayed revolution P.17

DONU KOGBARA SWEET & SOUR

More about managing success with grace

Mr & Mrs ARRAIGNED—Former Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr Patrick Akpobolokemi (M), being assisted by one of his counsel, at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi,, Lagos, where he was arraigned by the EFCC for alleged fraud and money laundering, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Alleged N400m fraud: EFCC files 7-count charge against Metuh C M Y K

Medical doctor dies of Lassa 6 fever in Rivers 9

2 Sinking Naira: Senate summons CBN gov, Emefiele

2—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Missing 2016 budget shameful —PDP

By Henry Umoru

A

BUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday, described as shameful and an i n t e r n a t i o n a l embarrassment the declaration by the Senate that the hard copy of the 2016 budget presented to the National Assembly, NASS, by the Presidency was missing.

The party has, therefore, asked the National Assembly to immediately commence impeachment process of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The party also urged the Senate to carry out a thorough and holistic investigation into the matter.

In a statement, yesterday, by PDP's Acting National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, the party also asked the Ministers of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; Budget and National Planning, Udo Udoma, and the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, to resign having failed to provide the much-needed capacity in the management of the nation’s economy, resulting in the embarrassing crashing of the nation’s currency.

Secondus said: “The National Working Committee of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, rose from a meeting Thursday (yesterday) charging the National Assembly to commence impeachment of President Muhammadu Buhari for the various constitutional breaches, especially the submission of two versions of the 2006 budget.

“The party said the National Assembly should thoroughly investigate the shameful act, including the distortion and banding of figures to accommodate their personal interest and ensure that appropriate sanctions is meted to whoever has a hand in the dubious action that has brought embarrassment to the legislative body.''

S.L.A. AKINTOLA: From left— Ambassador Abayomi Akintola; immediate past Governor of Oyo State, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, and his successor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, at a lecture marking the 50th anniversary of the death of the late Premier of the Western Region, Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, yesterday.

SINKING NAIRA: Senate summons CBN Gov, Emefiele

By Babajide Komolafe, Henry Umoru, Joseph Erunke & Michael Eboh

T

HE naira appreciated yesterday to N302 per dollar in the parallel market, thus halting three days of sharp depreciation even as the price of Nigeria’s reference crude oil grade, Bonny Light, slid below the $30 per barrel mark, dropping to $29.47 per barrel.

Meanwhile, following the increasing depreciation of the naira, the Senate, yesterday, summoned the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it next week.

From N305 per dollar, Wednesday, the parallel market exchange rate dropped to N302 per dollar at the close of business yesterday, indicating a N3 appreciation.

President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said that the appreciation was occasioned by drop in demand for foreign exchange and indications that CBN might review its decision to stop dollar sales to bureaux de change, BDCs. The naira depreciated in the parallel market by N25 naira between Monday and Wednesday, following the announcement by CBN on Monday to stop sales of dollars to BDCs.

Earnings dip

Also, the price of Nigeria’s reference crude oil grade, Bonny Light, slid below the $30 per barrel mark, dropping to $29.47 per barrel, according

to data obtained, yesterday, from CBN. This was even as the price of Brent crude, the benchmark crude oil grade, rose to $30.77 per barrel in the international market. Brent crude had dipped below $30 a barrel on Wednesday, for the first time in more than 10 years, a day after the U.S. benchmark took a similar fall.

Specifically, Brent traded as low as $29.96 a barrel before settling down 55 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $30.31 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe, the lowest settlement since April 2004.

Therefore, using an average crude oil production of 2.2 million barrels per day, as stated by CBN, it is expected that the total amount accruable to the Federal Government and oil companies in Nigeria on a daily basis would dip to $64.83 million, about N12.967 billion daily, using an average exchange rate of N200 to a dollar.

Job loss at BP, Shell, Chevron

Consequently, as a result of the continuous decline in the price of Nigeria’s Bonny Light and other crude oil grades, experts are predicting massive job cuts in the Nigerian and global oil and gas industryiesin the next couple of days.

Already, the world’s biggest oil companies are slashing jobs and discontinuing major investments, especially as the price of crude falls to new lows.

A report obtained from the Associated Press noted that companies that would be affected by the declining oil price would not only be the big

oil producers, but the numerous companies that do business with them, such as drilling contractors and equipment suppliers.

Particularly, companies like BP, which had earlier in the week said it is cutting 4,000 jobs, had already commenced trimming down their operations to cope with the slump in oil, whose price had plummeted to its lowest level in 12 years and is not expected to recover significantly for months, possibly years.

The report had quoted Chevron as saying last year that it would eliminate 7,000 jobs, while Shell announced 6,500 layoffs. Furthermore, some analysts are forecasting a drop near $10 a barrel, making companies to brace up for more trouble.

In particular, Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Calling the bottom in a market is always dangerous, akin to catching a falling knife. But when the clamour for lower prices becomes a stampede, warning signs and alarm bells tend to start going off, which suggests that a more prudent approach might be advisable.”

The uncertainty, the report said, is making companies think twice before sinking money into new oil projects.

“On the North Sea, there is a standstill in the new project, which may create a hole in the pipeline of projects next year,” said Florent Maisonneuve, Managing Director and cohead of Oil & Gas at AlixPartners in Paris.

Subsequently, CBN had in its Economic Report for the Month of October 2015, put the average price of Nigeria’s reference crude, Bonny Light at $49.23 per barrel in October, indicating a 1.3 percent increase relative to the level in the preceding month.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, on the other hand, had stated ýthat of the 18.24 million barrels of crude oil lifted on the account of NNPC in October 2015, 12.07 million barrels and 6.17 million barrels were for domestic and export markets, respectively.

It said: “At an average oil price of $47.45 per barrel and exchange rate of N195.95 to a dollar, the domestic crude oil lifted by NNPC is valued at $572.998 million or a Naira equivalent of N112.279 billion for the period.

“The remaining crude oil lifted for export was valued at $305,856,048.03 at an average price of $49.58/barrel. The total value of crude oil lifted on the account of NNPC in October, 2015 was thus $878.854 million."

Meanwhile, concerned by the increasing depreciation of the Naira, the Senate, yesterday, summoned the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to appear before it on Tuesday next week at 11a.m., to explain the continuous weakening of Naira against the Dollar.

The development was sequel to a Point of Order raised by the Leader of the Senate, Ali Ndume, APC, Borno South.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who presided over the plenary where the issue was raised, having listened to Senator Ndume, subsequently directed Ndume to convey the Senate’s resolution to the CBN governor.

ANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 3

4 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

EFCC's eagerness to arraign Tompolo suspicious —Ijaw group

By Emma Amaize

A

SABA—THE Ijaw People Development Initiative, IPDI, Warri, Delta State, has said that the hyperactive attempt by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to arraign the leader of the defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, in court, was to serve the private interests of some scheming persons.

National President of the group, Austin Ozobo, told Vanguard on phone, “It is palpable that the court summons demanding Tompolo's compulsory appearance does not serve the best interest of the country, it was meant to serve the personal interests of some unscrupulous elements.

“In the first instance, he did not receive the summons in question even as at Wednesday and could not have appeared in court the next day, Thursday.

The people who orchestrated the affair know he would not appear in court on Thursday.

They have a hidden agenda.

“This is simply an attempt to witch-hunt him politicall. We condemn the flagrant threats to declare Tompolo wanted, which

is the next plan.

“It is a fact that the judiciary is no longer independent.

President Muhammadu Buhari now controls the judiciary, they should go ahead and make any order that suits him.”

IPDI, however, advised, “The government in our opinion should harmonize Tompolo’s many contributions

as regards the sustainable peace in the Niger Delta and not upset him with flimsy accusations.

“Oil supply in this country was cut down to 500 barrels from 2.5 million barrels per day and Tompolo yielded to former Presidents Umaru Yar ’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan’s call and accepted amnesty and today, the daily

crude supply has increased to 2.8 million barrels.

“From when he accepted amnesty till now, he has been helpful to government at various levels in maintaining law and order. So, it is left for the current government to decide what it wants to do, to continue to witch-hunt him for political reasons or act otherwise.”

COMMISSIONING: From left: Amb. Patrick Dele Cole; David Venn, Chief Executive Officer, Spectranet 4G LTE and Dr Ishmael Igbani, Chairman, Intercontinental Distillers Limited, during the commissioning of Spectranet office and commercial launch of Spectranet brand in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Court issues bench warrant for Rep's arrest

By Gabriel Enogholase

B

ENIN—AN Edo State High Court sitting in Benin has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Mr. Philip Shauibu, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Etsako federal constituency over his failure to appear in court in the charge brought against him by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC. Trial judge in the matter is Justice Esther Ikponmwen.

Shauibu is facing a six-court charge of false declaration of his income tax clearance in which he had claimed that he was a staff of Zaknote Ventures Nig. Ltd in November, 2006.

The lawmaker is said to have absented himself from the court on two occasions for the commencement of hearing on the matter. When the matter came up for hearing yesterday, Justice Ikponmwen ordered that Shauibu be brought to the court on January 21, 2016, the day the matter was adjourned to.

In the charge before the court by the ICPC, Shauibu was alleged to have, in July 2010 in Abuja, knowingly made a false statement to officers of the ICPC by stating that he was an employee of Zaknote Ventures

C M Y K

Nig. Ltd, from 2003 to 2006.

He was alleged to have made a false statement knowingly to officers of the Board of Internal Revenue, Edo State, contrary to Section 25 (1) (a) and punishable under the same section of the ICPC Act, 2000.

The lawmaker was also alleged to have in November

2006, furnished a false statement to officers of the Board of Internal Revenue, Edo State, stating in the forms he submitted for application for Income Tax Clearance Certificate that he was an employee of Zaknote Ventures Nig. Ltd, which he knew was not true.

He was also alleged to

have furnished false information to officers of the Board of Internal Revenue, Edo State, when he applied for his income tax clearance certificate and claimed that the application was made by the management of Zaknote Ventures Nig. Ltd., which was false and misleading.

Observers laud INEC's conduct of Bayelsa poll

By Samuel Oyadongha

Y

ENAGOA—A coalition of Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, accredited observer groups for the Bayelsa State governorship election, yesterday, declared the just concluded poll as transparent, free, fair and credible, saying it complied with the relevant electoral laws and global best practice.

The coalition, in a communiqué in Yenagoa and read by Dr. Gabriel Nwabu, President, Centre For Credible Leadership and Citizens, recommended the Bayelsa poll as a model for other elections in the country.

He said, “There was a remarkable improvement in the performance of the Card Readers in terms of authenticating Permanent Voters’ Cards and resolving issues associated with

over voting, snatching of ballot boxes, and manipulation of election.

“We, as a coalition of INEC accredited observer groups hereby adjudge that although the process was characterized by massive violence, thuggery,

ballot box snatching, it must be noted that INEC is an electoral management body and not a security/law enforcement agency. Consequently, the entire process as demonstrated

by INEC was transparent, free fair and credible."

College of Education Agbor to get first on-campus hostel

By Tare Youdeowei

A

GBOR—HERITAG E Plus, an Abuja-based organisation, has said that it was set to construct the first oncampus hostel in Delta State College of Education, Ika, Delta State, in a bid to correct the anomaly of students staying off campus which exposes them to moral decadence.

Managing Director of the

organisation, Mr. Robinson Uhrorho, in a statement, yesterday, said that the foundation laying ceremony will hold in February in the school’s premises.

The proposed hostel which, according to Uhrorho, is to help the growth of education in Delta State, is to be named after Pa Authur Okowa, an educationist and father of Delta State governor, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa.

Osanebi lauds Okowa’s commitment to law and order

S

By Godwin Oghre

APELE—DEPUTY Speaker, Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Friday Osanebi, has commended Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and the Executive Council of Delta State Government for their unalloyed commitment to maintaining law and order in order to boost investors' confidence in the state.

Osanebi made the commendation yesterday while speaking with news men shortly after a one-day stakeholders summit on vandalism of oil and gas facilities and installations with the theme, “Security and Environmental Challenges in Oil and Gas Sector in Delta State - The Way Forward,” at Petroleum Training Institute, PTI, Effurun.

The Deputy Speaker maintained that Governor Okowa had demonstrated an unchecked zeal and commitment towards ensuring peace in the state.

“Governor Okowa has demonstrated unrestrained zeal and passion in ensuring a peaceful Delta State where investment can strive,” Osanebi, said.

We never cautioned Anirah against Igbuya, says group

By Festu Ahon

A

SABA—A chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Delta State, Mr Famous Sagay, has described as false and baseless, a media report that a group, the Politicians and Political Office Holders, PPOHIS, cautioned the party’s House of Assembly candidate in Sapele constituency, Chief Felix Anirah, against engaging in campaign of calumny against the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Chief Monday Igbuya.

Reacting to the media report, Sagay, a former Secretary to Sapele Local Government Local Government Area, alleged that the PPOHIS which purportedly issued the statement and its Chairman, Ogheneochuko Abeke, were faceless.

He added that from investigations, “There is no one with the name Ogheneochuko in Abeke family.”

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 , 2016—5

POCKET CARTOON ‘Budget not missing’

DIALOGUE—From left: Chairman of the Board, Media Trust Limited, Mallam Kabiru Yusuf; Vice President Yemi Osinbajo; former Head of the Federal Civil Service, Alhaji Adamu Fika, and former Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Charles Soludo, during the 13th Daily Trust Dialogue at National Conference Centre & Suites in Kado, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: NAN.

Buhari's aide gave us fake 2016 budget — Senate Continues from Page 1 (Senate), Senator Ita Enang of doctoring and circulating fake copies of the budget proposals.

In defence of its integrity, the Senate vowed not to work on the fake proposals allegedly circulated by Enang until it receives an electronic copy of the budget document which will be reproduced for senators.

Vanguard also learned yesterday that the same alteration of the budget document was done in the House of Representatives, but House officials were quick to intercept the doctoring and insist on the circulation of the original proposals as submitted by the President.

Circumstances around the budget document became an issue last

Tuesday when it emerged that the proposal as submitted by the President could no longer be traced. The discovery prompted the Senate into a closed-door session following which the Senate Committee on Ethics was mandated to investigate the issue.

The issue also led the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola Saraki to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday afternoon.

Senator Saraki yesterday confirmed the doctoring of the budget proposals by Enang at the end of deliberations on the report of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Public Petitions on the issue.

Saraki added that the available hard copy of the budget presented to the Senate was different from the one laid before

IT'S UP TO YOU

BY AYO ADIO EVER let what you are going through break you, instead use the situation to break a record.

It's up to you.

N

TAKE HEART

BY ELLA RANDLE

Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved — Thomas Monson

I

F you are too busy to help other people, then you have missed the mark. Taking the time to spontaneously, as well as plan events that helps other people, maybe one of the greatest joy in life you. Helping others helps open you up to new side of yourself. It helps you connect deeper with those you help and humanity in general. And for most, it makes for meaningful existence in a world that is self-focused.

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE You don't tell a blind man that there is no salt in the soup.

the two chambers of the National Assembly by President Muhammadu Buhari, shortly before both chambers embarked on Yuletide break last December.

Senate officials, however, shied away from pointing out the differences between the two copies yesterday.

Senator Saraki nevertheless, said the report of the committee fingered the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Senator Enang, for the act. He said the Senate would as such suspend its initial plan to begin consideration of the 2016 appropriation bill until the Presidency submits the soft copy of the original budget that was laid before the two chambers of the legislature. His words: “We have received the report of the Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions on investigations surrounding 2016 Appropriation Bill. Our finding is that Senator Ita Enang, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate), Ita Enang printed copies of the 2016 Appropriation Bill and brought to the Senate.

“We have discovered that what he brought is different from the version presented by Mr President. We have resolved to consider only the version presented by Mr President as soon as we receive soft copy of the original document from the executive."

But briefing newsmen, after the day’s plenary, Senate spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said, “The report about a missing budget is not true. We don’t have a budget that is missing.

But you recall that the Senate President did inform Nigerians that there is an issue that a committee was asked to investigate.

The investigation by the committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, has been submitted in the executive session. It was a decision we took at the last executive session.

“Our findings are these: That Mr. President did lay the budget before the joint session of the National Assembly and thereafter, the Senate went on recess and upon resumption, copies of the document were produced

by Senator Ita Enang, who is the SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and the copies were submitted to the Senate and House of Representatives.

“What we found out is that the document submitted by Senator Ita Enang, upon our resumption, has some d i f f e r e n c e s , discrepancies with what was originally laid by Mr. President in the joint sitting of the National Assembly.

“However, the Senate in defence of its own integrity, honour, will not work with what has not been laid on the floor of the National Assembly.

We are constitutionally mandated and duty bound to consider only that budget that had been so laid by Mr President.

“Right now, for reproduction, we are awaiting the soft copy of the originally submitted budget so that the National Assembly can reproduce the copy itself.

That is the only time we can have confidence in the document we want to work with.

“The budget submitted by the President is not missing; we already have copies of it but what we are saying is that for us to reproduce for our members, it is easier, based on the quantum of document that has to be produced, that we get the soft copy of that original version so that we can reproduce it. ‘“ He disclosed that the Senate has fixed Tuesday, next week to discuss the budget, saying copies of the

document would be circulated to senators when the soft copy demanded from the presidency was received.

“By next week, we want to go down to business, senators have picked dates to speak during the three days set aside for debate on the 2016 budget.

“The Senate leadership was mandated to speak with all those concerned with the document, that was why the Senate President was in touch with Mr President.”

Abdullahi refused to speak on the claims by the House of Representatives that it had its own original version of the document.

“I am not in the position to say the differences between the document submitted by the President and the one brought by Ita Enang. The committee that investigated the issue did not include that in their report.

“As at the time the Senate President promised to make copies

available to senators today (Thursday ), he was working on the assumption that what was brought by the executive were copies of the original copies submitted by Mr President, but based on the outcry, it was discovered that there is another version different from what the President gave us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Senator Enang, who is at the centre of the development, has refused to comment on the level of his involvement, as alleged by the Senate.

Enang told journalists who sought his view on the matter that he would not join issues with senators.

“I have chosen not to comment on this issue for personal reasons. ‘’We must work together to make the Senate as an institution to grow. The President is my boss and the senators are my bosses. I won’t join issues with them.

So, let the whole matter remain as it is”, he said.

Senate visits ICPC, promises to assist Buhari on war against corruption

By Henry Umoru

A

BUJA—THE S e n a t e , yesterday, stormed the office of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), with a vow to support President Muhammadu Buhari in his fight against corruption.

Speaking when he led the Senate Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes to ICPC Chairman, Mr. Nta Ekpo, Chairman of the Committee, Senator Chukwuka Utazi said that the Senate will work out modalities on how to strengthen anticorruption institutions.

According to Senator Utazi, this would be achieved during the consideration of the 2016 budget at the committee levels, adding, “this administration has to fight corruption and we are here as a committee to strengthen this commission. We are also asking you to look at the ICPC Act and then bring suggestions as amendments that will help us do our job.

“We are going to help Mr President succeed in his fight against corruption. We must also focus on prevention, rather than prosecution.

It bothers us that the only thing we hear about ICPC and other antigraft agencies is prosecution.”

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Medical doctor dies of Lassa Fever in Rivers

By Jimitota Onoyume

P

ORT HARCOURT—A medical doctor with Rivers State-owned Braithwait Memorial Specialist Hospital, BMH, Dr. Livy Ijamala, has died from Lassa Fever, bringing to three the number of people killed by the disease in the state.

Chairman of the state branch of Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Dr. Furo Green, disclosed this yesterday in Port Harcourt, saying the late doctor, Ijamala, who died in the early hours of yesterday from the ailment, had contact with patients infected with Lassa Fever.

Dr. Furo added that the late medical doctor had been buried in line with recommendations of World Health Organization, WHO, for deaths from contagious diseases.

He also said a team from WHO had already visited the hospital for assessment, adding that the hospital had been decontaminated and that those who had contacts with the late Dr. Ijamala had been placed on observation.

He said: “Last night, one of our hard-working doctors in the department of obstetrics gynaecology, Dr. Livy Ijamala, lost his life following infection with Lassa Fever. This is the price medical doctors and health personnel pay for offering health services to the public.

“The hospital is being decontaminated as we speak. All medical doctors and healthcare personnel that had primary contact with the late medical doctor have been placed under observation.”

… as doctors begin strike

He also said medical doctors in the state were on three days strike to protest the frequent abduction of medical doctors in the state.

He said within the week two of his colleagues, Dr. Isaac Opurum and Dr. Ib Aprioku were taken hostage at separate times.

He said in 2015, 21 doctors were abducted in the state.

According to him, the warning strike was to

draw attention to the plight of medical doctors.

He said: “While we are not happy to go on strike, the strike now appears to be a blessing in disguise

because fewer doctors and patients came to the hospital today, thereby, reducing the rate of contacts among medical doctors and patients.”

‘How LASTMA officials caused my friend's death’

By Abdulwahab Abdulah & Jane Echewodo

A

coroner ’s inquest into the death of one Ikechukwu Abasirim was, yesterday, told how the deceased was crushed by a vehicle being pursued by the Lagos State Transport Management Authority, LASTMA, officials on Apapa-Osodi expressway.

The coroner ’s court, presided over by Magistrate M. K.O. Fadeyi of an Ogba Magistrates’ Court, was informed that the deceased who accompanied his friend, one Demian Eke to repair his faulty vehicle by the road side, was crushed by a fleeing commercial bus driver pursued by LASTMA officials.

Leading proceedings before the court, a lawyer to the deceased, Kennedy Osunwa, explained that on October 27, 2014, Abasirim, a conductor, was working with his

friend, along Cele-Mile 2 Expressroad when their vehicle developed a fault, prompting the driver to park at Rainbow Bus Stop.

According to the lawyer, “a combined team of police and LASTMA officials was pursuing a commercial bus from Mile 2 to Rainbow.

“At that point, the deceased alighted from his vehicle and the commercial bus being pursued by the officials crushed him dead.

“His friend, Demian, rushed him to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead.”

Demian Eke also testified before the court.

The coroner had issued witness summons to LASTMA’s head office and State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID, Panti, Yaba, Lagos State, to give evidence on what led to the killing of late Abasirim.

The court decided to adjourn further hearing in the case till January 28.

Man rapes, impregnates 14-yr-old househelp

By Tina Akannam

A

businessman, Malam Yahai, has been dragged before a magistrates’ court sitting in Garki LGA of Jigawa State by a 14 years old girl for allegedly raping and impregnating her.

The 14-year-old is asking the court presided over by Magistrate Aliyu Roni of the Maigatarin Bawan Allah Village in Garki Local Government to compel the suspect to take responsibility of naming of the new born baby she delivered, including slaughtering a ram and providing clothes for her son.

Narrating her ordeal before the court, the girl, who works as a house girl to Malam Yahai’s wife, said Yahai raped her

several times.

She said Yahai always took advantage of her whenever his wife was out of the house, adding “My Lord, I cannot tell how many times he forced himself on me.”

The suspect was also accused of allegedly giving N30,0000 as bribe to the representative of the village of Siyori, Malam Salisu Makaho to influence police officers handling the case.

However, the suspect, Malam Yahai, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The judge ordered for further investigation, adding that when police conclude investigation, a date for continuation of hearing will be fixed and adjourned till the completion of police investigations.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—7

Suspected kidnappers kill couple for rescuing victim

By Emeka Mamah

E

NUGU—POLICE have arrested a suspect who allegedly masterminded the killing of a couple, Mr Marcel Aba and his wife, Jacinta, at Amaja in Enugu Ezike in September last year for aiding security agents to free a kidnapped man, who is from Anambra State, and was tied to a tree in a forest close to the couple’s home.

The suspect’s name was simply given as Mr. Idoko, a native of the community.

The kidnapped man was seen

in the forest separating Amaja community from Adupi in Benue State in September by a woman, who ran back to inform her husband. Her husband then alerted members of the vigilante group in the area.

Members of the vigilante were also said to have alerted the nearest police station in the area, which sent detectives to free the kidnap victim.

However, the couple were reportedly slaughtered by the suspected kidnappers, following a tip-off by some members of the vigilante group from Amaja.

Police arrest eight cultists in Ogun

By Daud Olatunji

A

B E O K U TA — S O M E suspected cultists reportedly involved in the killing of one Yusuf Ogidan in Agbado area recently and some kidnappers that abducted two female teenagers in Onihale, Ogun State, have been arrested by the state Police Command.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, in a

statement said the police operatives attached to Agbado Division of the command, Tuesday, embarked on massive raid of black spots in Agbado and its environs after the police got a tip-off on the whereabouts of some suspected cultists.

He said they were members of Aye and Alora, who had clashed within the area recently over supremacy, which led to the death of Yusuf Ogidan.

Loaded in Lagos. PHOTO: Biodun Ogunleye.

Man, 33, remanded in prison over N85m theft

By Bartholomew Madukwe

A

Lagos State High Court, Ikeja, has remanded in Kirikiri prison, a 33-year-old man, Oyebuchi Okadigbo, for allegedly stealing N85 million belonging to one Alhaji Muhammed Adios.

The presiding judge, Justice Sedotan Ogunsanya, ordered that the defendant be remanded in the prison and fixed March 24 for commencement of trial.

Okadigbo was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy to commit armed robbery, but he however pleaded not guilty.

The charge stated that the offence is contrary to Sections 297 and 295 (2) (a) Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

According to the lead counsel from the office of Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Mrs Mosunmola Balogun, the defendant and others at large committed the offence on November 14, 2014.

Balogun explained that the defendant and his accomplices robbed the victim (Adios) in his residence, along Lagos Badagry expressway.

The prosecutor

maintained that the defendant, after collecting the N85 miilion, also went away with the victim’s Blackberry Curve 5, clothes and ECOWAS international passport.

Carpenter in court for punching off woman’s teeth

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carpenter, Benjamin Joseph, yesterday appeared in a Lugbe Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, for allegedly punching off the teeth of a woman.

Joseph, 23, was arraigned on a four-count charge of criminal trespass, assault, causing grievous hurt and theft.

The prosecutor, Mrs Ndidi Ukaoha, told the court that one Timilade Oluwale of Gosa borehole reported the matter at Iddo Police Station on December 11, 2015.

Ukaoha said that on December 10, Joseph came to the complainant’s medicine shop for treatment on his wounded leg and was charged N1,200, which he refused to pay.

She said: “When Joseph came back to her the next day demanding for drugs, she asked for the money in respect of the previous day’s service before she could listen to him.

“She said that Joseph forced his way into the shop and beat her up.

“The accused punched the mouth of the complainant and removed one of her teeth.”

She also said that in the process the complainant lost N50,000.

The prosecutor said that action contravened Sections 342, 365, 241, and 287 of the Penal Code.

The Judge, Mr. Garba Ogbede, granted him N100,000 bail and a surety in like sum, and adjourned the case till February 2 for hearing.

8 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Securing release of 219 Chibok girls my responsibility —Buhari Orders NSA to probe the abduction Says ‘I have done my best’

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

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BUJA — PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, said that securing the release and safe return of the missing 219 Chibok girls was his responsibility.

This came as he ordered National Security Adviser, NSA, General Babagana Munguno (retd), to set up a panel to investigate the abduction of the girls from Government Secondary in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014.

The panel, however, is yet to be named by NSA. A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, yesterday, stated thay the “investigation will seek to, among other things, unravel the remote and immediate circumstances leading to the kidnap of the girls by Boko Haram terrorists as well the other events, actions and inactions that followed the incident.”

Meanwhile, speaking at a meeting attended by some parents of the abducted girls, representatives of the Chibok community and members of the #BringBackOurGirls movement at the Banquet Hall of the State House, President Buhari said that he remained fully committed to his pledge to rescue the girls.

He regretted that the previous government he succeeded failed to purchase the necessary weapons meant to adequately combat insurgency in the country.

His words: “I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls on my mind.

The unfortunate incident happened before this government came into being.

"What have we done since we assumed office? We re-organized the military, removed all the service chiefs and ordered the succeeding service chiefs to deal decisively with the Boko Haram insurgency.

“In spite of the terrible economic condition we found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources to give to the military to reorganize and equip, retrain, deploy more troops and move more forcefully against Boko Haram.

“And you all know the progress we have made. When we came in, Boko Haram was in Adamawa, Yobe and Borno. Boko Haram has now been reduced to areas around Lake Chad.

Securing Chibok girls my responsibility

“Securing the Chibok girls is my responsibility. The service chiefs and heads of our security agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire C M Y K

financial straits that we found the country in, I continue to do my best to support their efforts in that regard.

“This is a country where we were exporting average of two million barrels per day at over $140 per barrel. Now it is down to about $27 to $30.

“You have been reading in the press how they took public funds, our funds, your funds and shared it, instead of buying weapons. That was the kind of

leadership I succeeded. That was the kind of economy I inherited.”

I have done my best

President Buhari, who was accompanied to the meeting by the Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan Ali; Minister of Women Affairs, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan; Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Gabriel Olonisakin; Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen Tukur Buratai and National Security Adviser,

Maj.-Gen Babagana Monguno (retd), however, stated that he had tried his best to secure the release of the girls.

“God knows I have done my best and I will continue to do my best,” Buhari said.

Also speaking at the meeting, Chief of Defence Staff said in the last three months, the military has liberated more than 3,000 people kidnapped by Boko Haram in the north eastern part of the country.

He said the military had the ability to rescue the Chibok girls, but added that “intelligence is delicate and we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the lives of the girls.”

VALEDICTION: From left, Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Commissioner for Justice, Mr Chinwe Aguma, and retiring Chief Judge of the state, Justice Daisy Okocha, at the valedictory ceremony in honour of the Chief Judge, in Port Harcourt, yesterday.

Photo: NAN.

Terrorists now hide bombs among vegetables —Military

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BUJA — THE military has alerted Nigerians on the new strategy by Boko Haram terrorists to cause havoc among the populace by masquerading as fruits and vegetable vendors, wheeling Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) as groceries into crowded areas.

In a statement issued, yesterday, and signed by the Acting Director of Defence Information, BrigadierGeneral Rabe Abubakar, the military said: “The terrorists now hide IEDs under vegetable wares in carts and wheelbarrows and move to crowded places where they detonate them for maximum casualties. The recent terrorists attack in the NorthEast is a case in point.

“Having been effectively dislodged and decimated, the Boko Haram terror group has commenced some systematic isolated attacks mainly on soft targets in their desperation to remain relevant.

“The Defence Headquarters hereby advises the general public to constantly be alert to this latest terrorist tactics and to report promptly any suspicious persons or objects to the nearest security agency."

LASSA FEVER: FG orders restriction of patients with high fever to states of residence Begins search for 35 contacts of Abuja victim

By Sola Ogundipe & Victoria Ojeme

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AGOS — TO forestall the effects of the Lassa fever outbreak in the country, the Federal Government has urged patients with high fever not to travel out of their states of residence, even as tracing of 35 persons believed to have had contact with the deceased Abuja patient has begun.

Disclosing this in Minna, Niger State during a courtesy call on the state governor, Abubakar Bello, Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the restriction was part of efforts by the Federal Government to strengthen the Lassa fever alert system so as to achieve effective monitoring of the disease in the country, Adewole, who noted that it was failure of the notification system that made it impossible for the ministry to respond

promptly to the situation in the state, reiterated that the Federal Government’s mission and mandate in the health sector was to keep every Nigerian safe.

He emphasised that since the outbreak of the disease this year, the fatality rate in the country had so far remained at 44 per cent.

The minister reassured that there was no person-to-person or hospital acquired infection recorded except the case in Plateau State, noting that the federal ministry would support all states and local governments in the training of health workers in the affected states, especially as there was need for further investigation of all the reported cases.

In a directive to the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, NPHCDA, Dr. Ado Muhammad, during a visit to the community where 16 people were killed by the current Lassa

fever outbreak, Adewole directed the immediate renovation of the primary health centre in Fuka, Niger State, and said it must be repositioned to render 24 hours service.

Search for 35 contacts of Abuja Lassa fever victim

In a related development, tracing of 35 persons believed to have had contact with the late Abuja Lassa fever patient has begun.

The deceased, whose identity remained unknown, died at the National Hospital, Abuja on Wednesday.

Coordinator, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof. Abudulsalam Nasidi,who confirmed the contact tracing, said 15 persons have been placed under surveillance. The number, he stated, might increase by the end of the day as the contact tracing is continuous.

Earlier, spokesperson of the National Hospital, Mr. Tayo Hastrup, announced the setting up of isolation centre in the hospital for treatment of Lassa fever, as hospital workers have been prepared for such cases should there be any reocurrence.

Haastrup also revealed that the test conducted on the other suspected patient came out negative. He, therefore, assured FCT residents that the hospital was adequately prepared and ready to deal with any emergency.

In his response, Governor Sani Bello, who was represented by his deputy, Ahmed Ketso, called for incorporation of traditional healthcare healers into the National Primary Health Care delivery system due largely to their being the closest to the people particularly in rural areas.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 9

Alleged N400m fraud: EFCC files 7-count charge against Metuh

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

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BUJA — THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, yesterday, preferred seven-count criminal charge against detained National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mr. Olisa Metuh.

Metuh and his firm, Destra Investment Limited, were charged before the Abuja Division of the Federal High Court over alleged N400 million fraud.

The charge marked FHC/ABJ/ CR/05/2016, was signed by the Assistant Director, Legal & Prosecution Department of the EFCC, Mr. Sylvanus Tahir.

The filing process was perfected, yesterday, by EFCC lead prosecutor, Mr. Rotimi Jacobs, SAN. The charge against Metuh borders on alleged money laundering, breach of trust and criminal diversion of public funds.

Specifically, EFCC, alleged that Metuh had in November 2014, collected N400 million from the erstwhile National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki, (retd).

The fund, which was withdrawn from an account of the Office of the NSA operated with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, was allegedly transferred to Metuh through account no. 0040437573, which Destra Investments Limited operated with Diamond Bank Plc. EFCC insisted that whereas the fund was earmarked for campaign activities of the PDP, it said Metuh diverted most of it to his personal use. It alleged that Metuh converted part of the money to $1 million which he used for his personal business.

Besides, Metuh was alleged to have transferred N21.7 million to another chieftain of the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih.

18 witnesses to testify against Metuh

Already, the anti-graft agency has lined up 18 witnesses that will testify against Metuh and his firm before the high court.

Among those to testify in the case are representatives of the Office of the NSA, representatives of Diamond Bank, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, FirstBank, Heritage Bank, Nneka Nicole Ararume, Alhaji Abba Dabo, Mallam Kabiru Ibrahim, Olayinka Badejo Okusanya of CMC Comet, Ahmadu Umar of Kwalaye Investment Limited, Theophilus Musa of Capital Fields Investment and six EFCC investigators.

Though the charge against Metuh has not been assigned to any judge for his arraignment, however, Justice Okon Abang, yesterday, adjourned till January 20 to hear the suit challenging the continued detention of the PDP spokesman in EFCC custody.

Justice Abang adjourned hearing on Metuh’s fundamental right enforcement suit on a day the EFCC insisted that his detention was sequel to a valid court order.

C M Y K

Detention sequel to valid court order —EFCC

Counsel to the EFCC, Mr. Jacobs, SAN, maintained that the commission obtained a remand order against Metuh in line with provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.

Jacobs said the ACJA, 2015, permitted the EFCC to detain an accused person pending completion of investigation into criminal allegations against such person, so far there is a valid approval from a competent court.

He said: "It is arrant nonsense for anybody or group to say that

the suspect is being detained illegally for political reasons.

EFCC is established by law and as such, cannot take the laws into its hand. The truth is that there is a valid and subsisting court order that permitted the detention of the man.

"The order was issued by the court based on the avalanche of documentary evidence that was placed before it."

The EFCC lawyer told the court, yesterday, that the commission would need time to study Metuh’s fundamental right enforcement suit which he said was only served on the anti-graft agency Wednesday morning.

Arguing that EFCC still have five days to respond to Me tuh’s

suit, Jacobs, yesterday, persuaded Justice Abang to adjourn the matter which he said was not ripe for hearing.

Even though Metuh, through his lawyer, Chief Ifedayo Adedipe, SAN, urged the court to abridge the time within which the EFCC could respond to the suit, Justice Abang, yesterday, declined the prayer.

Adedipe accused the EFCC of not only detaining his client illegally, but also failed to arraign him within the time stipulated by the law.

He contended that the antigraft agency ought to have concluded its investigations before arresting an accused person.

TOWN HALL MEETING:

DirectorGeneral, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mounir Gwarzo (left) and Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Director, FSS2020, Mr Mohammed Suleyman, during a town hall meeting on e-Dividend Registration in Abuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

CBN reports a depressed manufacturing sector in 2015 Non-manufacturing sector growing steadily

By Emeka Anaeto, Economy Editor

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AGOS— DATA from the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has indicated sluggish growth amidst adverse operating environment across manufacturing sector at year end 2015.

But the apex bank’s report shows non-manufacturing sector at steady growth during the same period.

CBN Manufacturing PMI Index for the month of December 2015 shows production level and new orders are growing at a slower rate, raw material inventories (unused raw materials) increasing at a faster rate, supplier delivery time declining at a faster rate, and employment level decreasing at a slower rate.

The Statistics Department of CBN conducts on monthly basis, the survey of purchasing and supply executives of manufacturing and nonmanufacturing organizations in 13 states in Nigeria, two states in each of the six geo-political zones, and the Federal Capital

Territory, FCT. The survey result is used to compute the monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

According to the survey results, Manufacturing PMI stood at 51.2 per cent, same as in the preceding month indicating a little above average level of activities.

Of the 16 manufacturing products groups, eight reported expansion in the review month in the following order: cement products; petroleum & coal products; food, beverage & tobacco products; textile, apparel, leather and footwear products; chemical & pharmaceutical products; plastics & rubber products; furniture & related products and primary metal products.

The remaining eight subsectors, however, reported contraction in the following order: appliances and components products; non-metallic mineral products; transportation equipment; fabricated metal products; paper products; electrical equipments; computer & electronic products; and printing & related support

activities.

At 55.4 percent, the production level index for manufacturing sector grew for the fourth consecutive month.

However, the index grew at a slower rate when compared with the level in November, 2015.

Of the 16 manufacturing subsectors, 10 reported growth in production during the review month in the following order: cement products; petroleum & coal products; textile, apparel, leather and footwear products; food, beverage & tobacco products; furniture & related products; chemical & pharmaceutical products; primary metal products; plastics & rubber products; printing & related support activities; and transportation equipment.

The computer & electronic products sub-sector reported no change while the remaining five reported contractions in production during the review month in the following order: non-metallic mineral products; appliances and components; paper products; fabricated metal products and electrical equipment.

Exchange rate volatility, others cripple stock market —NSE

By Peter Egwuatu & Nkiruka Nnorom

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AGOS — AMIDST continued pressure in the foreign exchange market, the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE, yesterday said the continued slide in the stock market indices is a fallout from the volatility of the foreign exchange rate as well as uncomplementary economic policies of the government.

Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, while presenting the stock market outlook for 2016, said the NSE expected 2016 to be challenging for the market after the index shed 17.4 per cent last year with losses continuing into this year, as oil prices plunged and the domestic economy faltered.

According to him, “the prevailing volatility in the foreign exchange rate in the country will continue to pose challenges to the growth and recovery of the Nigerian stock market.

He said: “Foreign equity investors, who accounted for 54 per cent of trading volumes, were on the sidelines owing to the lack of clarity on Nigeria’s forex policy and Naira weakness.”

Onyema, who stated that the exchange anticipates return of investors, who have been on the sideline since the slump in crude oil prices commenced in June 2014, said the current instability in the Naira could make the dream unrealisable.

According to him, “investors are not as much bordered about the Naira exchange rate to the dollar as they are about instability in the currency. Investors are also concerned about the credibility of the exchange rate policy before committing their resources to a particular stock.

“If the exchange rate is stable, investors will be able to make investment decision, but whereby the exchange rate continues to be volatile, it will be difficult for them to invest.

"Investors want to be sure that there is stability in the currency; they want to know that rate does not keep changing every day."

10 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 , 2016

Solid minerals earnings can surpass oil revenue —KADCCIMA

By Naomi Uzor

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AGOS—THE Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KADCCIMA), yesterday, said that earnings from the solid minerals sector could surpass what the country is currently getting from oil as revenue.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos, ahead of the 37th Kaduna International Trade Fair (KITF), KADCCIMA’s Second Deputy President, Hajiya Muheeba Dankaka, called on federal, state and local manufacturers to come together to develop the sector owing its huge revenue potential.

According to her, this year’s edition of the fair entitled ‘Promoting Solid Minerals Sector for Sustainable Economic Development in Nigeria,’’ was deliberately chosen to compliment government efforts in its attempt to diversify the economy and make it less dependent on oil as its major revenue earner.

Dankaka said: “The new administration is confronted with a huge financial burden caused by the reduced federation revenues which have been largely sourced from proceeds of crude oil sales. One key sector which offers great potential in achieving this is the solid minerals sector.”

APC chieftain lauds Ambode over roads reconstruction

By Faith Bature

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A G O S — T H E Administrative Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, Mr Segun Idris has lauded the ongoing reconstruction of 114 roads in the Lagos State.

In a statement made available to Vanguard, Idris said the effort by the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led government would consolidate the state's infrastructure and productive base of the state.

Idris called on Lagosians to give the state administration the needed support in terms of fulfilment of their civil obligations to enable it accomplish its goals.

C M Y K

Task force nabs two robbery suspects, 81 miscreants in Lagos •Warns against use of BRT routes

By Olasunkanmi Akoni & Chris Onuoha

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AGOS—THE Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) has paraded two suspected armed robbers arrested by operatives of the unit at Idera City Scheme, Eleko, Lekki, Lagos.

The task force also arrested about 81 miscreants yesterday at Oshodi in an overnight operation led by the task force boss.

The suspects, comprising 61 males and 20 females would be arraigned in court for prosecution as soon as possible.

The two armed robbers, identified as Ismaila Obajimi (28) from Oyo State and Sherrif Ibrahim (29) from Osun State, were paraded with locally made pistols and different types of charms in a bag which they usually used in robbing and terrorising people around Eleko and its environs.

Parading the suspects, Chairman of the state taskforce Superintendent of Police, SP, Olubukola Abe explained that prepreliminary investigation revealed that the suspects, a fourman gang, claimed to be engaged as land grabbers (Omo-Onile) on Kayetoro family land, Eleko, Lekki, Lagos by one Buhari-Oloto and have been in the business of armed robbery for long in the area. Abe said police have also begun investigation with the aim of arresting the other two gang members namely, Raymond and Azeez for prosecution.

Abe added that the matter has been transferred to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), Ikeja for further investigation, however, cautioned members of the public to assist security agencies by giving information about any suspected activities of individuals within their area or community.

In another development, chairman of the task-force has warned motorists in Lagos State

PROTEST: Members of Human Right Defenders and Advocacy Center, protesting what it calls President Muhammadu Buhari's disobedience of court orders and disregard of rule of law in the fight against corruption, at Lagos State House of Assembly, Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday. Photo by Bunmi Azeez. to strictly adhere to the state traffic rules on restricted BRT routes across the state.

Abe said, “Lagos State Traffic Regulations enforcement on restricted BRT routes across the

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AGOS lawyer, Mr EbunOlu Adegboruwa has withdrawn the enforcement of fundamental human rights suit he filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on behalf of National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa Metuh before a Federal High Court, Lagos.

In a statement dated January 13, Adegboruwa said though he was never briefed by Metuh to file the suit, he only instituted the case when he felt the PDP spokesman was being treated unfairly.

newly commissioned Ikorodu to Mile 12 BRT Road where motorcyclists, commercial bus drivers have refused to stop operating on these restricted routes inward Ikorodu.’’

DISOBEDIENCE OF COURT ORDERS: Groups want Buhari impeached

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AGOS—A coalition of civil society groups, yesterday staged a protest at the Lagos State House of Assembly protesting the continued disobedience to court orders by President Muhammadu Buhari and his refusal to adhere to the rule of law.

The protesters, numbering about two dozens, armed themselves with placards with messages such as “Say no to disobedience to court order and impunity; obey the rule

METUH: Adegboruwa withdraws suit against EFCC Adegboruwa, who disclosed he

By Abdulwahab Abdulah

State is not negotiable to anyone. Motorists should expect more stringent traffic enforcement from Task Force Office. And full enforcement would soon commence on the

had filed a notice of discontinuance of the case before the court, noted that the step became necessary since Metuh had instituted similar case before a Federal High Court, Abuja.

He said: “On Monday, January 11, 2016, I filed an application before the Federal High Court, Lagos, challenging the continued detention of Chief Olisa Metuh, the spokesperson of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, the leading opposition party in Nigeria.

“Subsequently on Tuesday January 12, 2016, I filed an application to compel the EFCC to produce Chief Metuh in court.

However, I have on January 13, 2016, filed a notice of discontinuance of the said suit.

of law, say no to rule of fear; let there be strength in justice; disobedience to court order is state of anarchy; Enough to corruption and impunity; stop the corruption in the judiciary now, among others.

In a letter to President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, the groups demanded the commencement of impeachment proceedings against President Buhari if he continues to disregard court orders and rule of law.

In the letter, signed by Innocent Agbo for Human Rights Defenders and Advocacy Centre (HDAC), Dandy Eze and Emmanuel John, the group said they are demanding for impeachment of Buhari for several reasons among which is Buhari’s utterance during the media chat that those granted bail by the court will not be released based on his conviction of the gravity of the offence they committed and not based on the rule of law.

They also cited continued detention of some people, among which is for National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki in lieu of court order and continued detention of Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh by Department of State Security (DSS), stressing that it

is a call to anarchy and violation of the 1999 constitution.

They argued that the President is a product of constitution and must comply with court orders within two weeks.

4-yr-old wins Cussons Baby N1m education grant

By Akeem Salau

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AGOS—A 4-year-old, Imisi Oladapo from Chrisland School, Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lagos, has emerged the inaugural winner of the 2015 Cussons Baby toddler competition tagged “Grow and Shine’ to the N1million education grant grand prize and products from the Cussons Baby range of products.

Also, Ehiarekhian Peter Hayble, 4, a pianist and Amarachi Akujobi 5, a dancer came second and third to win N250,000 and N150,000 education grant respectively.

Oladapo, whose choreographic performance received standing ovation from judges, parents and other contestants, smiled home with the competition’s educational grant of N1 million at the competition grand finale held at Planet One, Maryland Lagos over the weekend.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 11

Police arrest 150 Boko Haram suspects in Ondo

By Dayo Johnson

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ALPABLE fear enveloped Ondo State, yesterday, as Police detectives reportedly intercepted a truck loaded with about 150 persons suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect.

Reports had it that the suspects have been taken to the State Police Command, where they are being interrogated.

Vanguard gathered that items allegedly recovered from the suspects include 18 locally made guns, 2 jack knives, 22 cutlasses as well as several flash lights.

But the Police Command has allayed fears, asking the people not to panic as they are on top of the situation, adding that investigations were on to verify the identity and mission of the suspects.

Vanguard also gathered that detectives from the Funbi-Fagun

Divisional Police Station in Ondo Town intercepted the truck with registration number KANO NSR 97 XZ, loaded with the suspects, who are from the northern part of the country.

Also, the suspects were said to be coming from Kebbi State and heading towards Ore town in Odigbo Local Government area of the state before they were intercepted by the police at Lipakala junction in Ondo town.

It was gathered further that following a tip off, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in charge of the Funbi Fagun Police station, Mr Olu-Ojo Ogunmoyole and men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad from the Police headquarters in Akure swung into action and went

after the truck conveying the suspects.

The suspects, after being apprehended were detained at the Police station before being taken to Akure.

Speaking with newsmen, one of the suspects, Abdulahi Sheriff denied that they are members of the sect.

Abdulahi, who said that they were “farmers coming from BirniKebbi to farm in Ore town”, noted that they left their homes owing to the prolonged dry season in their state which has affected their farming activities.

The DPO of Funbi Fagun Police Station, Ogunmoyole told newsmen that the suspects were intercepted during a surveillance

operation carried out by the antirobbery squad attached to the Police division.

He, however, advised people of the community to remain calm and go about their lawful businesses.

When contacted, the State Police spokesman, Mr Femi Joseph denied that the 150 suspects arrested in Ondo are members of the Boko Haram.

Reacting to the arrest, Joseph said investigation so far conducted showed that they are farmers travelling to Ore town for farming activities.

On the weapons found in their possession, the police spokesman said some of the apprehended men were hunters.

...Nab eight killer cultists in Ogun

By Daud Olatunji

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BEOKUTA—THE Ogun State Police Command has arrested some suspected cultists, involved in the killing of one Yusuf Ogidan in Agbado area recently and those who kidnapped two female teenagers in Onihale area of Ogun State.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Muyiwa Adejobi in a statement said the Police operatives attached to Agbado Division of the command, on Tuesday, embarked on massive raid of black spots in Agbado and its environs after the police got a tip-off on the whereabouts of some suspected cultists.

He said, the cultists were members of Aye and Alora, who had clashed within the area recently for supremacy, which led to the death of Yusuf Ogidan, and arrested six members of Aye confraternity.

He said the suspects are Michael Ayodele, Taofik Adeosun, Oladipupo Damilare, Femi Iseotan, Samuel Akinyele and Anjorin Ismaila.

According to him, the suspects have made useful statements in connection with the killing of Yusuf Ogidan, a member of Alora confraternity.

...Rescue two teenaged girls from abductors

Similarly, the Police detectives attached to Otta Division led by the Divisional Police officer have rescued two female teenagers from their abductors on Tuesday, while on anti-crime patrol along Ijako/Sona road Otta, in Ado Odo Otta Local Government Area of Ogun State.

VISIT: From left: Minister of Solid Minerials Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi; Minister of state, Abubakar Bwari, and President, Miners Association of Nigeria (MAN), Alhaji Shehu Sani during a courtesy visit by MAN’S officials to the ministry in Abuja yesterday. Photo: NAN.

BREACH OF CONTRACT: Court

seals banks in Osogbo

By Gbenga Olarinoye

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SOGBO—TENSION rose at the branches of a new generation bank in Osogbo, when officials of the Osun State High Court stormed the bank premises to effect a court judgement.

Branches of the bank located at Fagbewesa, Alekuwodo, Fakunle and LAUTECH areas of the state were sealed off as workers and customers, who were around, were chased out by the court bailiffs.

Also, properties of the bank, which included vehicles, generating sets, computer sets and some undisclosed cash were carted away by the court officials.

The bank had entered into agreement with Tuns Farm in 2005 when the bank offered a credit facility of N414,000,000 to the company to develop the Abuja property projected to earn TUNS a net income of N1.152 billion.

According to a copy of the judgements delivered by three judges of the Osun State High Court, TUNS Farms Nigeria Limited was awarded the sum of N3,991,150 against the bank over alleged breach of contract.

It was gathered that the bank only released N150 million, a situation that was said to have frustrated the company’s project and caused TUNS huge loss of investment.

Justices Oyejide Falola, A. O. Ogunlade and Adeigbe Aderibigbe in separate judgements had awarded N3.8 billion to the claimant against bank.

Owo youths accuse Police of indiscriminate arrest, extortion

By Dayo Johnson

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KURE—SOME aggrieved youths in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, yesterday, stormed major streets protesting against alleged indiscriminate arrests, extortion and harassment by men of the State Police Special Anti-Cultism Squad.

The aggrieved youths, at about 8am, marched to the palace of Olowo of Owo, Oba Folagbade Olateru-Olagbegi to intimate him of the development.

Armed with placards with inscriptions such as “We need help, not hurt”, Anti-Cultists squad are scammers, not security agents” and “No more innocent arrest in our land”.

Addressing the protesters, the Ojomo of Ijebu Owo land, Oba Kofoworola Oladoyinbo appealed against the break down of law and order.

Oba Oladoyinbo promised to intervene in the matter and bring a lasting solution to it.

12—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Court orders Tompolo's arrest A

By Innocent Anaba

FEDERAL High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, ordered the arrest of a former Niger Delta militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo).

Trial judge, Justice Ibrahim Buba issued a bench warrant for Tompolo's arrest after he failed to appear in court to face the criminal charges filed against him and others by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. The judge had, on Wednesday, summoned Tompolo, ordering him to appear yesterday, but the accused did not turn up.

Other accused in the charge include a former DirectorGeneral of the Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Patrick Akpobolokemi, who appeared in court in crutches; Global West Vessel Specialist Limited, Odimiri Electricals Limited, Kemi Engozu, Boloboere Property and Estate Limited, Rex Elem, Destre Consult Limited, Gregory Mbonu and Captain Warredi Enisuoh.

They were all in court and represented by counsel, except Tompolo.

Meanwhile, the charge was not read to the other accused persons as it is a joint trial, which requires the physical presence of all the accused persons, before the charge could be read to them and their plea taken.

EFCC’s prosecutor, Festus Keyamo, informed the court, yesterday, that the summons and charge were duly affixed on a conspicuous part of Tompolo’s home at 1, Chief Agbanu DDPA Extension, Warri, Delta State, as ordered by the court.

He said Tompolo ignored previous invitations by EFCC during investigation and failed to report to make a statement.

“We were able to go to Warri on Wednesday and pasted the

processes on his wall. We took photographs of them as ordered by this court “In view of the absence of the first accused (Tompolo) despite being served, may we come under Section 141 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 to apply for a warrant of arrest.

“Even at the point of investigation, the accused person spurned all invitations to him. Now he has also disobeyed the court. We, therefore, apply under Section 141 so that we can compel his attendance,” Keyamo said.

Akpobolokemi’s lawyer, Dr Joseph Nwobike, SAN, said though he was not representing Tompolo, it would be in the interest of justice if the former militant leader was given more time to be in court having only been served with the summons a

day earlier.

“A person served in Warri, Delta State, may need some time to come to court, moreso, when he is outside jurisdiction,” he said.

But Keyamo pointed out that before the summons were issued, Tompolo had acted like an “outlaw.”

Ruling, Justice Buba said there was evidence that Tompolo had consistently ignored EFCC’s invitations, so he had no option than to order his arrest.

The court said, “The process is to serve him with summons to appear. Where he appears, that is the end of the matter.

He will answer the charges.

Where he fails to appear in obedience to the summons, the other process is to compel his attendance by way of arrest.

“There is an affidavit

showing that the first defendant was served as ordered by the court. In the circumstance, the court is in a position to exercise its discretion to order for the arrest of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) to compel his attendance to answer the allegations before the court.

“It is so hereby ordered that the warrant of arrest of Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo) shall be issued forthwith.”

The accused persons in the 40-count charge were alleged to have diverted N34 billion, which accrued from a public private partnership agreement between NIMASA and Global West Vessel Specialist Limited for personal use.

The alleged offence contravenes Section 15 (1) of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) (Amendment) Act 2012 and punishable under Section 15(3) of the same Act. Meanwhile, further hearing in the matter was adjourned till February 8.

L-r: Minister for Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun; wife of MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mrs. Ronke Ogunsanya; wife of the Vice President, Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo; and MD/CEO, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Segun Ogunsanya during the premiere of Airtel touching lives season 2, held in Abuja, yesterday

Urhobo Social Club honours monarch

U

RHOBO Social Club, Lagos, will tomorrow hold a reception in honour of the Chairman of Urhobo Traditional Rulers Council and the Ohworode of Olomu Kingdom, His Royal Majesty, Ovie Richard Layeguen Ogbon, Ogoni-Oghoro I. The reception for the revered 99year-old monarch, who is also a Royal Canon of the Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, will hold at the Palace Ground, OgoniOlomu, Delta State.

Chairman of the Reception Planning Committee, Olorogun Edoreh Agbah, said that the reception, which will be under the chairmanship of Olorogun Moses Taiga, was in recognition of the immense contribution of the Ohworode to the development and peace of Olomu Kingdom, Urhoboland and Delta State in general, in his 27 years on the throne.

There will also be a lecture on Traditional Rulership by Professor Sam Ibodje of the University of Port Harcourt.

The event, which will attract other traditional rulers, and eminent personalities in Urhoboland, Delta State and beyond, will also witness a performance by the famous Ema Dancers of Ughelli among other attractions.

HRM Ovie Richard Ogbon, Ogoni-Oghoro I

GCUOBA holds AGM

T

HE Annual General Meeting of Government College Ughelli Old Boys Association, GCUOBA, holds January 18, 2016 at the College Hall, Ughelli, Delta State.

According to the National Publicity Secretary, Stephen Ighofose, this year ’s general meeting will start with a pre-AGM of the GCUOBA’s National Executive Council, NEC, while the grand event holds on January 19 with all the Olds boys, teachers, students and

parents in attendance.

Activities scheduled to take place during the meeting include the commissioning of the newly renovated and refurbished Orerokpe House, hostel and emergency generator house built for the college by the Old boys.

Others include; inspection of school facilities, House, metal and wood workshops, library, ICT centre, sickbays, dining hall and sports facilities, as well as awards to deserving students.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—13

Rivers govt flays military operations in three LGs ...says it's politically motivated

By Jimitota Onoyume

P

ORT HARCOURT— RIVERS State Government has expressed worry over the military operations in three local government areas recently that allegedly resulted in destruction of property and harassment of persons.

Media aide to Governor Nyesom Wike, Mr Simeon Nwakaudu, in a statement, yesterday, alleged that one Major Mustapha, who was reportedly a star witness of the All Progressives Congress, APC, during the hearing on the election petitions in Abuja, was in the team leading the military operations.

The government also expressed worry over the timing, saying that the operations were ahead of the re-run National and State Assemblies elections in the state.

He said: “Ahead of the re-run National and State Assemblies elections in designated constituencies in Rivers State, three local government areas in the state are under politically motivated attacks which have left in their trail, tales of deaths, blood, destruction and open intimidation.

“These joint military/Police invasions have taken place in three councils of the state namely, Gokana, Asari-Toru and Ogba/ Egbema/Ndoni(ONELGA). One recurring decimal in these three deadly invasions is the fact that one Major Mustapha features in all of them. Major Mustapha, a pro-APC military officer, was the

Rivers State APC star witness during the hearing of election petitions in Abuja.

“At Asari-Toru council on January 6, 2016, Major Mustapha and his team of soldiers and mobile policemen invaded the residence of the caretaker council chairman, Ambassador Sobomabo Jackrich, destroying his home and valuables before killing about five youths. They also abducted 50 youths and women who were taken to Port Harcourt.

“The same scenario played out in Bua Yeghe in Gokana LGA where Major Mustapha and his squad attacked the

home of Chief Solomon Ndigbara, a former Niger Delta agitator. They burnt his home before abducting his wife and 70 other youths. Major Mustapha's illegal squad also attacked the home of Chief Ndigbara in Port Harcourt, damaging the facility.

“On January 13, 2016 the soldiers and mobile policemen were at ONELGA were they unleashed mayhem on lives and property. The residents of the area are still counting their losses.

“It is imperative to point out that in these three LGAs where Major Mustapha and other

illegal security operatives struck, they were accompanied by known APC political thugs and militants who acted as identity operatives. These APC agents who were embedded in these illegal operations were kitted with security uniforms.

Despite these security costumes, they were identified by locals.

“This level of political desperation is unknown to the nation’s democratic history. No authority had in the past handed security platforms to political thugs and associates to unleash untold mayhem and death on law abiding citizens."

PRESIDENT BUHARI RECEIVES ASIODU: From left; President Muhammadu Buhari, Chief Philip Asiodu and Former Chairman Transition Committee, Dr Ahmed Joda, during an audience with the President at the State House in Abuja. Photo: Sunday Aghaeze.

Buhari’s anti-corruption war targeted at Ijaw—IYC

I

JAW Youth Council, IYC, yesterday, took a swipe at President Muhammadu Buhari's anti-corruption crusade, alledging that it was targeted mostly at former President Goodluck Jonathan’s kinsmen who served in his administration.

IYC noted that the ploy was orchestrated to smear Jonathan's image and undermine his achievements before Nigerians and the international community.

The trio of Eric Omare, IYC spokesman, Mr. Razak Amatoru, National Deputy President IYC and Mr. Atigbi Freedom, Chairman, IYC, Western Zone, who addressed newsmen in Effurun, Delta State, noted with disdain, the disregard for the rule of law enshrined in the 1999 constitution, noting that the Federal Government was persecuting the anti-corruption crusade violating the inalienable rights of Mr Patrick Akpobulokami, former MD Nigeria Maritime safety and Administration Agency, NIMASA, and others through

the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC. They reiterated IYC's stance on the support of the prosecution of alleged treasury looters, cautioning that while carrying out investigations and arrests,

the rule of law should be adhered to.

They called on the EFCC and the Federal Government to respect on-going cases between Tompolo and EFCC in court.

They warned that

President Buhari should not jeopardised the efforts of late president Musa Yar ’Adua and his immediate predecessor in bringing peace to the Niger Delta by provoking youths of the region to resort to lawlessness.

INEC issues certificates of return to Dickson, deputy

By Emem Idio

Y

ENAGOA—FOUR days after he was declared winner of the Bayelsa State governorship election, Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and his running mate, Rear Admiral John Jonah (rted), yesterday received certificates of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The certificates of return were presented to the governor and the deputy governor elect at the INEC state headquarters, by the National Commissioner in charge of South-South, Dr

Mustapha Lecky, assisted by the State Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC, Baritor Kpagih.

The state INEC headquarters was turned into a carnival of sort as associates and supporters of the PDP sang and drummed while the occasion lasted.

In his remarks, National Commissioner, INEC, South South, Dr Lekcy, said that the presentation of certificates of return to the governor and deputy governor-elect was in line with the statutory responsibility of the Commission which makes it mandatory to issue certificates of return to the winners within

seven days after declaration.

Lecky said, “Section 68, subsection 1 and 75, subsection 1, of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended, states that the declaration and return of the candidate at the election by the returning officer is final, subject to review only by the Election Tribunal or Court under the Act." In his remarks, Governor Dickson, who dedicated the victory to God and the people of Bayelsa State, thanked the people for their resilience and for defying intimidation to vote overwhelmingly for the PDP, assuring that he will not let them down.

UNIBEN to revoke contracts of non-performing contractors

By Simon Ebegbulem

B

ENIN—THE Vice Chancellor of University of Benin, UNIBEN, Prof.

Faraday Orumwense, has tasked contractors handling projects in the university to ensure that they meet the agreed dates for completion or have their contracts revoked.

Prof. Orumwense, while inspecting on-going projects on the university campus, said that the completion of the projects was top on his list.

According to him, “It is the desire of the management of this university to make this institution rank among the world's best universities and that is why we are encouraging investments that will enhance learning and ensure better welfare for our staff.”

The VC, who was accompanied by some principal officers of the university, inspected the newly constructed undergraduate and postgraduate hostels, lecture halls, the School of Medicine and the Faculty of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, Prof.

Orumwense who spoke to newsmen after the inspection, said cultism in the university had been reduced to its barest minimum due to increased surveillance by security operatives both within the university and outside.

First Clerk, House of Reps dies at 85

T

HE first Clerk of the House of Representatives, Chief Benjamin Olinma, is dead, aged 85.

Lying-in-state comes up January 22 at his residence, 25, Umuonyia Street, Umuonaje Quarters, Asaba, while Requiem Mass holds at St. Joseph's Catholic ProCathedral Church, Nnebisi, Asaba. He is survived by widow, children and grandchildren.

Late Chief Olinma

14—Vanguard, FRIIDAY, JANUARY 15 , 2016

50TH COMMEMORATION OF SIR AHMADU BELLO'S DEATH IN KADUNA PHOTOS: OLU AJAYI

From left: Governor Ahmed Nasir El-rufai of Kaduna State, chairman of the occasion, Justice Mamman Nasir, Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Sa'ad Abubakar III, and Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, at the 50th commemoration of the demise of Sir Ahmadu Bello, at Arewa House, Kaduna in Kaduna, yesterday. Photos: Olu Ajayi.

From left: Governor Dairus Ishiaku of Taraba Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima.

From left: Former Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum, ACF, Alhaji Ibrahim Commassie, and Senator Zainab Kure.

The Yeriman Zazzau, Alhaji Munir Jafaru (left) and former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Salihu Ibrahim (retd).

Governor Abdul'aziz Yari Abubakar of Zamfara State (left) with Governor Ahmed El-rufai of Kaduna State at the event.

Nigeria's size makes it attractive as a nation —Osinbajo A

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

BUJA—VICE president, Yemi Osinbajo yesterday said that Nigeria’s population is one formidable factor that has continued to make it attractive.

The Vice President who spoke at the 13th annual Daily Trust Dialogue in Abuja titled: "50 Years After 1966: Is Nigeria Rising”, stated that Nigeria has the potential of not only being the giant of Africa but a major economic giant in the world.

He said: “Whoever it is that wants to go his own way will find that our size is why we are an attractive proposition.”

“Our country has the potential not just to be the giant of Africa, but a major economic giant in the world,” adding that it is that giant of a nation that the Nigerian elites have a duty to deliver.

According to him, the size of Lagos State alone is larger in terms of economy than several African countries, submitting that Nigeria is better staying together and maintaining our unity.

Addressing the question proposed in the title of the Dialogue chaired by former Head of the Federal Civil Service, Alhaji Adamu Fika,

Osinbajo said “there is no question at all, our country is rising despite all challenges”.

He noted however that “in the history of nation everywhere there is the question of elite consensus.”

The Vice President added that the elites must agree that a group or nation must be built, adding that the duty was not that of political elites alone, but religious, professional and traditional elites as well.

He regretted that such

consensus has eluded the nation over the years.

"Nation-building is based on elite consensus. There may be divergent views but unless we agree as to how to govern this space, we could be going round and round in circles. This is why despite all we have done it does appear that we are moving in circles,” he said.

While observing the need to make and implement good polices that would move the nation forward, Osinbajo also

underscored the importance of evolving a legal system where equity and justice would be dispensed within a reasonable time frame.

He further explained that based on the level of avarice, greed and corruption that has been discovered, if oil was selling for $200 per barrel, Nigeria would have still ended up in an economic mess.

The Vice President however restated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari towards building a great Nigeria.

“I can say on behalf of the

Why we must support Buhari to win anti-corruption war —Bafarawa

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor

A

BUJA—DESPITE being detained for three weeks for allegedly collecting N100 million from the $2.1 billion arms fund, former Sokoto State Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa, has pleaded with Nigerians to stand by President Muhammadu Buhari to win the anti-corruption war and save Nigeria from avoidable poverty and backwardness.

Bafarawa said in an interview with Vanguard in Abuja on Thursday, that he had no ill feelings against Buhari and the Economic and Financial Crimes

Commission for detaining him along with others who allegedly collected money from the former National Security Adviser, describing his ordeal as an act of God. The two-term governor said that both Buhari and the EFCC were doing their work and should be commended and encouraged to do more but within the ambit of the law so as to push the frontiers of war against graft further.

He pointed out that Buhari could not win the anti-graft war alone and must be backed by all so Nigerians could be rescued from the endemic corruption that had been deeply rooted in the

country’s fabric.

Bafarawa said: “The determination by Buhari and his administration to focus on eliminating corruption from Nigeria is a blessing to this country and something that all Nigerians with good conscience should applaud."

Bafarawa, however, called for more enlightenment of Nigerians to appreciate the effort of the government in stamping out corruption and reposition Nigeria for greatness.

"Buhari, therefore, needs the total support of all Nigerians because if the war against corruption fails, it would the country many years to recover from the menace of graft

president and myself that we have no desire to be wealthier than we already are, that our only desire now is to improve the lot of the country and make it greater,” he said.

Clarifying that the reason for the social investments proposed to cost half a trillion in the 2016 Budget was not just about compassion, he said: “If we don’t make such social investments, we are merely waiting for doomsday.”

Other speakers at the Dialogue were former Chief of Defense Staff, General Martin Agwai, the Nigerian Representative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Mairo Mandara and former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Professor Charles Soludo.

and its attendance challenges," he said.

Barafarawa however disagreed with the Buhari administration for approving huge sums from the public treasury to some state governors without probing how they spent their monthly allocations and other revenue generated by them.

The former governor said that it was unacceptable and pathetic for governors, who earned huge cash from rising oil revenue from 2007 till a few months ago, to squander such and go for bailout funds when they successfully managed the economy of their states and left indelible marks with little oil revenue between 1999 and 2007.

He said the Sokoto people

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—15

Biafra: IPOB threatens to resume protest over sick Kanu •90 days in cell, Ohanaeze tells Buhari to release him to Igbo leaders •Agitation by MASSOB, IPOB misguided —Arch-Bishop Chukwuma

By Vincent Ujumadu, Chimaobi Nwaiwu & Francis Igata

T

HE INDIGENOUS People of Biafra, IPOB, has threatened to continue its protest in the South East and South South states of the federation if

by January 18, 2016, its leader and Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu was not released from the cell of Department of State Services, DSS. IPOB alleged that apart from denying Mr. Kanu access to his doctors, the Federal Government through the DSS, has devised another way of complicating his already deteriorating health condition, by making him to sleep on bare floor, thereby making him to contract pneumonia, which may possibly kill him.

'Release Kanu to Igbo leaders' Similarly, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo sociocultural organisation, has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu to Igbo leaders, assuring that they would make him realize the futility of continuing his pro- Biafra stance.

Chairman of state presidents of Ohanaeze in the seven Igbo speaking states, Dr. Chris Eluemunoh, told reporters in Awka, Anambra State, that Igbo leaders were equally concerned with the security challenges posed by the activities of the proBiafra group, adding that once Kanu was released to Igbo leaders, they would sit him down and discuss with him and make him realize the negative effects of continuing with efforts to actualize the Biafra Republic.

Also, International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law, a rights group, has called for the release of Kanu, 90 days after he was arrested by the DSS in Lagos, and taken into its underground custody in Abuja and held without trial or conditional (bail) release or unconditional release till date.

The group in a statement by its chairman, Emeka Umeagbalasi, insisted that “the arrest and detention of Citizen Kanu and their circumstances are in grave violation of all known constitutional, regional and international conventional liberties or civil and political rights.

"Gravest of these violations by Buhari and his DSS are the provisions of Section 35 (4) (a) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as well as Sections 293, 295 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Ac, ACJ, of 2015.

“Therefore, we feel saddened and alarmed over Buhari administration’s anarchic approaches and dispositions, which are steadily leading Nigeria to irreparable destruction of its organised society, public morality and decency. The C M Y K

COMMISSIONING: Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State (centre); Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Engr. Babachir David Lawal (2nd right); Deputy Governor of Ebonyi State, Kelechi Igwe (left); former Governor of Ebonyi State, Sen. Dr. Sam O. Egwu (2nd left), and Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Mr. James Ocholi, at the official visit/ formal commissioning of CBN road, at the Centenary City, Abakaliki. Photo: EBSG consequences of the Buhari administration’s contempt for rule of law are economically, politically, socially and ethnoreligiously calamitous.

Economically speaking, for instance, no rational foreign investor will risk his or her investment or capital in a country where its president boldly appeared on national television and declared disobedience to judicial decisions and disrespect to rule of law as sacrosanct and the corner stone of his administration.

“Citizen Kanu’s detention of over 60 days without trial or bail release is prohibited by Section 35 (4) (a) of the 1999 Constitution which clearly stated that “any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with subsection 1 (c) of this section(reasonable suspicion of committing any criminal offense or preventing commission of a criminal offense)shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time, and if he is not tried within a period of: (a) two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who is in custody or is not entitled to bail (in capital offenses), he shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him) be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date.”

Agitations by MASSOB, IPOB misguided However, worried by the agitation for Biafra and release of Nnamdi Kanu mounted by the Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, and IPOB, the ArchBishop, Enugu Ecclesiastical Province, Most. Rev. Emmanuel Chukwuma, yesterday, took a swipe at the pro-Biafra groups describing the demonstrations as misguided.

The cleric said the protests by the youths were borne out of frustration occasioned by abysmal infrastructure decay in the SouthEast geopolitical zone that led to

many ideal hands in the region.

IPOB’s Media and Publicity Officer, Mr. Emma Powerful, who addressed newsmen in Nnewi, said, the Federal Government had devised a systematic way of snuffing life out of Mr. Kanu.

Apart from denying him access to his doctors, they have subjected him to sleeping on the bare floor, which made him to contact pneumonia, which can possibly take his life.

Respiratory problem “Information reaching us from DSS office is that Mr. Kanu has been complaining of pains at both sides of his lungs. He has been having persistent cough for the past two weeks, and the coughing is so severe that traces of blood is noticed in the sputum.

He is equally having respiratory problem now.

“They have also perfected another plan and way of killing his morale and frustrating him in the DSS cell. They are doing that through denying him access to newspapers and magazines, all in an attempt to shut him out of what is happening, because according to them, he is a 'never say die' type of activist that needs all manner of frustrating and intimidating measures to make him renounce his agitation,” he said.

The group allegedly gathered that Kanu was also being tortured and harassed to the extent that sleeping had become the most difficult thing he could have, and therefore, warned that what Boko Haram was doing in the North East would be a child’s play to what they would do if anything unsavoury happens to Mr. Kanu.

“We are Biafrans, our level of technological development has gone beyond what people know, If we can do what we did during the Nigeria-Biafra war, then one can imagine what we will do at this computer age. That we decided to be non-violent does not mean that we cannot do what Boko Haram insurgents are doing.

"We are being pushed to the wall by the present Nigerian

government, and we will soon display a little of the stuff we are made of, if Mr. Kanu is not released on January 18, when his case is coming up in court,”he warned.

IPOB urged all its members, all pro-Biafra groups and agitators to be in Abuja on January 18, 2016 for Mr. Kanu’s court appearance to witness the proceedings of that day.

Meanwhile, IPOB has replied a former Commissioner for Information in Anambra State, Chief Maja Umeh and a former council chairman in the state, Chief Dennis Ngene, who accused its members of causing trouble in Anambra State, saying they were looking for political relevance they lost in the state since they could not use their position to positively affect lives .

Chief Umeh, an All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, chieftain who served under former Governor Peter Obi’s administration and Chief Ngene, now an All Progressives Congress, APC, chieftain, accused IPOB of causing trouble in Anambra State, and IPOB described him and others as irrelevant people in Anambra State, which was why the current government in the state dropped them.

“Some politicians are no more relevant in Igbo affairs. Some think that they will get political relevance by criticizing us and saying unprintable things about us and our detained leader. They should stop insulting us or they will be visited by the wrath of angry Biafrans,” said IPOB. Issue of insecurity According to Eluemunoh, a lot of discussions on how to tackle the issue of insecurity in the country was going on among Igbo leaders, adding that Kanu’s issue could be better handled and resolved if he was released to enable Igbo leaders get involved in the matter.

He said: “IPOB and MASSOB can operate as pressure groups and not as secessionist groups.

Many Igbo people are residing

in other parts of Nigeria and there is no way they can abandon their investments to return to the East in the name of Biafra.”

He, however, commended IPOB for ending their protests that grounded many cities in the South East last year, assuring them that they would benefit more if they adopt dialogue in their approach to national issues.

The Ohanaeze leader also spoke on the recent statement credited to the Enugu-based Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka in which he was quoted as saying that some people were planning to assassinate President Buhari, as reckless.

He added: “Mbaka should face his evangelism as a priest rather than create panic in the country.

If he received any revelation, the better thing for him to do was to keep it to himself and pray to God to avert such a thing. The president is the Commander -in -Chief of the country’s Armed Forces and is capable of securing himself. W"e see the statement by Mbaka as a distraction.”

He said that Ohanaeze supports the president’s anticorruption war, adding that with the way he was going, sanity would soon return to the country’s socio -economic life.

Civil war Addressing newsmen in Enugu, Bishop Chukwuma regretted that the agitators did not experience the Nigeria's civil war to appreciate its toll on the Igbo nation that will warrant strident calls for secession at a time the Igbo were yet to recover from the quagmire of the war.

“Our people have invested in other parts of Nigeria. The agitation for Biafra is a grievance being shown in a wrong way because of frustration. The youths are frustrated because many of them have been used and dumped by politicians. Most of these politicians have failed them. The appointment of an Igbo in President Buhari's cabinet does not translate to infrastructure development.

“All that we need now is the empowerment of our youths.

Federal Government should ensure constant power supply so that industries will be established to create jobs to curb restiveness.

An idle man is the devil's workshop. The Igbo is in support of the President’s anti-corruption fight. The people who have stolen our wealth should be brought to book and the funds recovered plunged in the development of our area," Chukwuma said.

“We are aggrieved over the state of our roads. There is no federal presence in the SouthEast. Our prisons are congested among others. Although we did not vote for Buhari, we now know where his administration is going and we have embraced it.Buhari should temper justice with mercy over Biafra agitation and release Nnamdi Kanu unconditionally." “the Arch Bishop appealed.

16—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Ekwunife threatens to sue Umeh for libel

By Enyim Enyim

O

NITSHA —SENATOR Uche Ekwunife Campaign Organisation, yesterday, threatened legal action against the candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh in the scheduled fresh senatorial election for Anambra Central zone should he fail to refrain from alleged malicious, libelous and sensational statements against its candidate, Senator Uche Ekwunife of the All Progressives Congress, APC. A statement by the chairman of the campaign organization, Sir Edwin Uboo in Awka, said that

the organisation was particularly angered by Umeh’s alleged continued deliberate malicious misinterpretation, misrepresentation and sentimentalization of the Court of Appeal judgment in Enugu that

Ekwunife was disqualified from contesting the scheduled fresh election expected to hold in March, 2016.

“Take final notice that if any further attempt is made by yourself (Umeh) or any of your

aides to misrepresent, misinterpret or misquote the judgment of the Court of Appeal, we shall instruct our solicitors to seek legal redress against you. Be warned,” it stated.

The organisation noted that

Umeh’s action was a propaganda calculated at deceiving the general public that Ekwunife had been disqualified by the Appeal Court from contesting the senatorial election for Anambra Central district.

FG’s N5,000 stipends not for indolent people — Ngige

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

A

BUJA—MINISTER of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, yesterday, said that the stipend of N5,000 promised by the government of All Progressives Congress, APC, for unemployed youths was not for the indolent people.

He said that no country would

give free money, stressing that Nigeria would not be an exception.

Speaking to journalists yesterday at the national secretariat of the APC in Abuja, Ngige, however, revealed that the Federal Government would ensure that the youths were trained in various skills and programmes to justify the money.

He added that the project would

also involve the state governments.

According to him, there will be categories of people, who would earn higher than the N5,000.

“We also have the programme on the commission cash transfer.

Though even you, the press, has said it, we won’t pay N5,000 for people to be indolent. No country in the world would pay people to go home and sleep and collect

cash. So, Nigeria would not be an exception.

“We will pay some people N5,000, we will pay some N10,000, and even for people in teacher conversion scheme, we will pay more than N10,000 and N15,000 as stipend while in training, and then after the training, they are going to be employed by state government and the Federal Government in different institutions.

"It is not a programme we shall run alone, the state governments are going to buy into it. They are going to synchronize with us.We are going to do it in synergy.”

Ngige also stated that some of the programmes will “span through Ministry of Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Labour.

"Agriculture, because we have some agricultural universities, we will convert some people to teach the relevant agricultural science.”

The minister who stated that Nigeria has various skill acquisition centers also underscored the importance of training the youth.

“The ministry has specialist skills acquisition centres; we have seven like that in the ministry under the commissioner of skills or directorate for skills.

“The NDE have over 120 centres scattered all over the country. We also have those that have been built by state government and we want to capture all of these into that scheme and then get people to the scheme to be bricklayers, POP designers, builders, welders, electronics repairers and the one they called mecha-tronic, repair of vehicles, automobile carpentry, painting and fabrication of all sorts."

JOGS 74/79 meeting JEBU-ODE

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G R A M M A R School, JOGS, Old Boys Association 74/79 set will be hosted by Ajayi Segun (legal practitioner & property consultant) on January 17, 2016, at 110, Plot 37A, Freedom Way, Opposite Delta Afrik Tower, 3rd Round- About, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos.

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Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 —17

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AST week, I wrote about the many Nigerian VIPs who do not manage success graciously, change for the worse the minute they cease to be ordinary citizens and start treating old friends (and blood relatives as well, in some cases) very shabbily, even when these folks who knew them before they became VIPs have helped them a lot in the past and are therefore owed considerable goodwill and courtesy.

I also complained about the gratuitous cruelty that too many Nigerian VIPs inflict on decent members of the General Public, who approach them for jobs or business.

I pointed out that the foreign dignitaries I know do not misbehave when they rise to the top and wondered why so many of their Naija counterparts are so obnoxious.

My comments really struck a chord with Vanguard readers and several of you contacted me to say that you agreed with me and tell me about the bad experiences you have had with arrogant and ungrateful Big Men and Big Women.

Let me share one particularly sad story with you:The Vanguard reader in question – let’s call him X – was doing quite well in Abuja about 10 years ago. He was a government contractor and had a nice flat and 2 cars.

Then, out of the blue, a former classmate – let’s call him Y - got in touch with him.

Y, an engineer, had worked for a construction company in Lagos but had recently lost his job because the company was having cashflow problems. So Y had decided to try his luck in Abuja and needed somewhere to stay while he was jobhunting.

X warmly welcomed Y into his home, ensured that he had 3 good meals every day, insisted on loaning him his second car so he could move around town easily, introduced him to most of his Abuja friends so he could enjoy a vibrant social life and took him to see some of his government C M Y K

More about managing success with grace clients.

Eventually, Y was employed by a Junior Minister he’d met via X. Soon he was able to move out of X’s home, hand back the loaned car and stand on his own 2 feet. Five years later, Y was appointed to head a parastatal. And X threw a party for him.

Much to X’s surprise, Y suddenly became aloof and was never available when X suggested that they meet; and after repeated failed attempts to continue with a friendship that had started 3 whole decades previously at their secondary school in Ilorin, X finally got the message, quietly gave up on Y and got on with his life.

All of the success I have achieved in this world is because of my prayers, my hard work and God’s love for me, not because of any socalled favours from anyone

A couple of years ago, disaster struck. Despite only being 42 at the time, X had a stroke.

Fortunately, the stroke didn’t kill him or permanently incapacitate him. He gradually recovered. But he ran out of money because he wasn’t able to work at all for several months and the intensive medical care he’d required had cost millions.

So, swallowing his pride, he went to Y’s luxurious official residence, to plead for modest financial assistance. When he got there, the security guards told him that their Oga was in and called their Oga from the intercom phone in the gatehouse, to ask whether they could allow X to enter the compound. The answer was “no”.

X and Y have a mutual pal who attends the same church as Y. And the mutual pal bumped into Y a few Sundays later, after service, and gently berated Y for not helping X, who had lavished so many favours on him when he was in need. And do you know what Y said to the mutual friend, without any trace of remorse or irony?

“All of the success I have achieved in this world is because of my prayers, my hard work and God’s love for me, not because of any so-called favours from anyone”!!!

OK, so there are 2 sides to every tale of woe. And justice demands that we don’t jump

to negative conclusions about any individual on the basis of mere hearsay…and that we

give VIPs the benefit of the doubt when there is no concrete evidence to prove that they are guilty of the misdemeanors of which they have been accused.

But, by pure coincidence, I happen to know Y, the parastatal head who treated his generous ex-benefactor so shoddily. And he has an excessively high opinion of himself…and a reputation for being nasty; and I have heard so many similar stories about Y from other people that I think it fair to describe him as a chronic sadist.

I also, coincidentally again, happen to know people who know X; and everyone from whom I have sought a character reference has told me that he’s an immensely pleasant guy who helps others whenever he can and deserves respect and support.

As luck would have it, Y was recently sacked by President Buhari and I hear that he is being investigated for corruption. And I have no idea whether he is a thief or not, but he is at least a callous, pompous ingrate; and am so incensed by his treatment of X, his kind-hearted old school chum, that I hope he winds up in jail!

Kudos to El-Rufai

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T was announced, last week end, that Kaduna State will provide government primary school pupils with free meals when the new term commences next Monday.

Shehu Usman Adamu, Kaduna’s Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, says that the programme has been amply provided for in the state’s 2016 budget…and that the food vendors in each of the 255 wards have been organised into cooperative societies, to facilitate implementation of the programme.

The Commissioner added that: “School-based management committees comprising of parents and notable community figures, have been sensitised to support, monitor and report on the performance of the programme in each of our schools”… ….[and will] “meet their respective vendors to jointly review the procedures and modalities for effective service delivery [and] strictly monitor the programme to ensure that any bottlenecks that emerge in the initial stages are resolved.”

The programme, in addition to ensuring that even the poorest pupils gain sufficient nutrition, “is designed to boost the economy at the grassroots by involving

•El Rufai people at the community level as vendors. It will also expand the market for our farmers, even as it brings more of our people into the formal economy,” Adamu said.

I salute the enlightened and dynamic Kaduna State Governor, Nasir el-Rufai, for coming up with an ambitious, compassionate and progressive initiative that will impact positively on thousands of lives, if everything goes according to plan.

Responses to: donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811 675 9752 (texts only).

PLEASE KINDLY NOTE THAT UNLESS YOU REQUEST ANONYMITY, YOUR COMMENTS MAY BE PUBLISHED, WITH YOUR NAMES AND CONTACT DETAILS ATTACHED.

18 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

NIGERIAN Army Board of Inquiry constituted to investigate alleged professional misconduct by some officers in the 2015 general elections has returned a punitive recommendation of compulsory retirement of two senior officers. The board also recommended that three officers would lose their command and one other officer will face criminal prosecution for collecting financial gratification. Furthermore, fifteen officers are placed on their watch list and nine other officers are to be further investigated by the EFCC over allegations levelled against them.

Additionally, six officers are to face an audit committee and sixty two officers mostly of the rank of major and below were to be given letters of displeasure and to appear before their respective General Officers Commanding for counselling. These measures arose from the unprofessional and partisan conduct of the affected officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Army during the 2015 General elections, as well as the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections . The

The arm y’s re tirement of tw o of army’s retirement two offficer icerss over Ekiti, Osun polls Army high command had set up the board following petitions received from the public after the polls.

Since the return to civil rule, the role of some personnel of security agencies in maintaining law and order has been unsalutory and sometimes undermines the tenets of democracy.

Things have not improved since former President Olusegun Obasanjo initiated the idea of deploying soldiers at elections. The trend continued despite a court ruling against it. Much as we appreciate the need for law and order to be maintained before, during and after elections in the country, we consider it highly reprehensible and a subversion of professional ethics for security agents particularly soldiers to get involved in election matters

beyond the boundary prescribed by the call of duty.

That is why we commend the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, who departed from the practices of the past by setting up the board of inquiry rather than exonerate his officers and men when there was unassailable proof of complicity. We also commend the moral courage of the board’s chairman, Major General Adeniyi Oyebade, for the far reaching recommendations made.

We implore other security agencies involved in past elections including the navy, airforce, the Police and Department of State Service operatives to follow the lofty example of the army by investigating allegations against their officers and

men. This is desirable because to sustain the nation’s flowering democracy, the military in particular should imbibe the culture of subordinating its officers and men to dictates of civil authority. Their absolute neutrality during elections should never be in doubt. Officers and men who willfully collaborate with politicians to undermine electoral processes are not worthy of their professional callings. Much as we agree that erring officers should be disciplined, we recommend that there should be continuous training and orientation of personnel to be deployed by the military and other security agencies during elections.

Those who are perceived to be partisan in their disposition should be excluded from such exercises. Finally we urge the army authorities to painstakingly review the recommendations in line with its legal and administrative procedures because of the grave implications on the career of the affected officers in particular and the Nigerian army in general.

OPINION Ikpeazu:: What Abia truly needs

By Ojo Maduekwe

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INCE the Justices of the Appeal Court in Owerri arrived at a judgment that has been widely criticised and rightly referred to as being “fundamentally wrong” by Mike Ezekhome (SAN), I have read commentaries siding with Alex Otti of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), and one thing they all brazenly promote is the disregard for the rule of law, which application was recently applied in the conduct of Bayelsa State’s 2015 Governorship election.

On Sunday, January 9, Bayelsans completed a voting process that was kickstarted last year, re-electing incumbent Governor, Seriake Dickson. The initial December 5, 2015 election was declared inclusive by INEC and January 9, 2016 slated for the re-run in which Dickson garnered 134,998 votes to defeat Timipre Sylva of the All Progressives Congress who scored 86,852 votes.

A cursory but serious look at the rationale for the initial cancellation of the substantive election of December 5 by INEC, will betray Otti’s apologists as a people with little regard for the rule of law.

The relief that Governor Ikpeazu has always sought from the court is that the law be upheld. Where close to 300,000 voters are being disenfranchised and victory declared on the basis of a 50,000 margin lead, what the law proposes is a

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rerun election. Anything short of this is a flagrant disobedience to the law, and anyone who supports such is inviting chaos.

Failing to justify the Appeal Court’s judgment on the basis of what the law dictates, Otti’s apologists have resorted to emotional arguments and citing a debateable “private sector management experience” as the reason he remains the best thing to happen to Abians [sic] and how if he’s crowned governor, he won’t go hand-in-cap to Abuja begging for handouts.

Any commentator who’s been following development in Abia from the campaign period and since May 29 when Governor Ikpeazu was sworn in as the duly elected Governor of the State will know that he’s been one of the staunchest proponents of an Abia that is independent of a diminishing federal allocation through an improved IGR. Beyond rhetorics, substantial progress continues to be made in improving the State’s IGR. When his fellow governor’s sought the easier route to handling the dwindling

It is also thoughtless for anyone to attempt to heap the many years of Aba’s neglect on Governor Ikpeazu

economy by proposing a reduction in the N18,000 minimum wage, Governor Ikpeazu reacted by assuring Abia workers of steady salary and improved IGR, which according to him, was the best way to keep Abia afloat. Abia’s current IGR hovers around one billion naira, and for those who cannot see beyond their prejudice and refuse to hear from both sides before penning their jaundiced copies, there are efforts to ensure it keeps increasing.

Otti’s publicists should know that being exposed and having the ability to read a balance sheet or coming from the private sector, does not place him shoulders above Ikpeazu. These relative attributes are no absolute prerequisite for turning around an economy. Examples abound where some Nigerian Governors, with all their credentials, when entrusted with governing their States, failed in bringing about a change in the fortunes of these states One notion Otti apologists continue to promote is the fallacy that Aba remains retrogressive. It smacks of ignorance for anyone to allege that changes have not been made in Aba since Governor Ikpeazu assumed office. Abia has witnessed drastic changes since the coming of Governor Ikpeazu. The ongoing development in parts of Aba was what necessitated the graveyard silence that greeted the Appeal Court judgment.

It is important that we set the record straight. The silence was not because majority of those resident in Aba are made up of people with ethnic ties with the

Governor, no, rather, Aba comprises of largely non-indigenes, and so there should have been no reason (whether political or ethnic) for the massive support that the administration of Governor Ikpeazu has been receiving from the residents of the city, except that they are pleased with his performance, which is a shift from what used to obtain in recent past.

It is also thoughtless for anyone to attempt to heap the many years of Aba’s neglect on Governor Ikpeazu, who has only been in the saddle for a little over seven months, yet has performed remarkably well. This is inspite of distractions by the opposition APGA. For the few who prefer to peddle misinformation as commentaries on a government that they’ve not taken time to reappraise is to say the least unfortunate. In all their vituperations, it is comforting to note that when it comes to the development of Aba, Otti apologists and the government of Governor Ikpeazu are on the same page.

Recently, the Governor commissioned the Owerri road, built using the cement pavement technology, following which he inspected the construction of the new Umule and Tonimas roads all in Aba. Aba may not have reached its peak in terms of development, but it’s definitely not “decrepit, an eyesore and insecure”, and Ikpeazu, the man that Abia truly needs, is well disposed to ensure that this once abandoned city fully regains its lost glory.

•Mr. Maduekwe is SA Media to the Abia State Governor.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016— —19 Send Opinions & Letters to: opinions1234@yahoo.com

Eritrea: A decayed revolution

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RITREA is a relatively unknown African country.

Little news filters out. In October 2012, I wanted to pay with a hundred dollar bill in a Washington supermarket, and the cashier declined. He asked me to pay with a smaller denomination, which I did not have. Noticing his features, I asked if he was of African decent.

He asked if I knew Ethiopia. He said his country is near Ethiopia.

I asked, Eritrea? “Yes” “So why didn’t you simply say you are from Eritrea?” “I tell people, and they never seem to have heard of such a country” I assured him that his country is on the African map with capital in Asmara, the major port in Massawa and Isaias Afewerki as President. He seemed shocked.

Excitedly, he called his supervisor and co-workers who all happen to be Eritreans to see somebody who knows their country.

The following year, I stayed in a hotel in Lusaka, Zambia.

Having a few extra days to kill, I decided to ask for a discount. I was told to see the manager. Given his features, I asked if he was Ethiopian, Eritrean or

Somalian. His face lit up. “You know Eritrea?” “Of course”. We discussed about his country and he said even in Zambia, very few people had heard about his country.

If the country is so little known today, imagine the situation in 1980 when it was part of Ethiopia. At that time, there was a hot debate amongst radical elements and intellectuals in Nigeria over whether to support the indivisibility of revolutionary Ethiopia under Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam or the bloody war of Eritrea to secede. The Eritrean struggle was led by the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front (EPLF) a group of left wingers who had clipped the wings of the rival Eritrean Liberation Front (ELF) a conservative group supported by the Arab world.

I was then a student in the University of Ife, UNIFE (now Obafemi Awolowo University) and there were Ethiopian and Eritrean students on campus each explaining their own side and wanting support from Nigerians. Internationally, Ethiopia was on solid ground; Africa wanted post-colonial

states to remain intact. Also, Ethiopia hosted the Organisation of African Unity ( now AU) which stood for African unity.

Additionally, it had succeeded in portraying the Eritrean struggle as an attempted ARABAZATION of the Red sea.

Also, Ethiopia was one of the most consistent supporters of the liberation struggles in the continent. To worsen the Eritrean case, the EPLF was revolutionary. This alienated it from the Arab States and the West, while the revolutionary government in Ethiopia had the backing of socialist states like the Soviet Union and Cuba.

But the Eritreans in UNIFE led

by Wolde Yitzak, a professor in the Pharmacy Department argued that the Eritrean Question was a case of decolonisation as the country was an Italian colony, seized and stripped as a war booty by Britain following the defeat of Italy during the Second World War. They argued that despite a

I was in Asmara in 2015 and saw a society stalled in time; weary– looking people in the streets who seemed caged and resigned to fate

referendum in which Eritreans voted for independence, the United Nations issued Resolution 390 of 1952 federating Eritrea to Ethiopia.

That ten years later, Emperor Sellasie abolished the Eritrean parliament and annexed the country. So the issue, as far as they are concerned is one of the right of a people to selfdetermination in accordance with fundamental human rights. A question was, given the overthrow of feudalism in Ethiopia, why can’t they work with the new revolutionary government? The Eritreans said they tried but that the Mengistu government was no less hegemonic.

To verify the claims of both sides, there was the need to send an independent person to Ethiopia who will also go into the war zone to meet with the then rebels. Dr. Dipo Fashina of the UNIFE Philosophy Department offered to undertake the dangerous journey. During the 1981/82 academic session, he went to Sudan and crossed into the rebel held areas, and then the war front. He met the EPLF hierarchy including current president, Isaias Aferweki.

His report was that the Eritrean leaders, fighters and people he met were bright men and women; strategic and determined fighters, brilliant analysts and radical socialists.

Eritrea he said, was an Africa promise, and recommended that the EPLF be supported.

A combination of factors including the Eritrean war and two civil wars, led to the collapse of the Mengistu government. In a UN-supervised referendum in 1993, 99.83 percent of Eritreans voted for independence. But the Eritrean revolution has not

Oshodi market: Yoruba and Igbo relationship

By Clement Udegbe

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N the 5th January, while many in Lagos and all the major cities of Nigeria, had travelled to their enclaves for the Christmas and New Year celebrations, the APC government in Lagos State, chose to demolish Oshodi market, and destroyed the means of livelihood for over 1500 traders. This is the way these citizens started their New Year, while the APC government in Abuja are asking Nigerians to brace up for hard times, when life has been so hard, rough and tough, since May 2015, when they came to power.

The timing for this mischief is particularly bad, coming at a time, when most parents will be thinking of sending their wards back to school in the new year, at a time when the Federal Civil Servants had not been paid their salaries, the purchasing power of the people is low, and those who managed to save something had travelled for the festivities, only to be called back to watch helplessly, the demolition of their shops and belongings.

Most of these victims are Igbos and Christians, who had travelled.

The traders had dragged the LASG to the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, eight years ago, secured an injunction not to demolish the section of the market, in their redevelopment plan. In spite of the court injunction, LASG issued a two weeks quit notice on 24th December 2015, but seven days after, they locked up the market on Thursday New Year eve, and commenced arrest of persons who had interest in the market, to discourage them from reentering the market, waiting for the demolition tractors to arrive!

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LASG must have done this to hit the citizens involved below the belt, to strangulate them economically. Some of them will muster the courage to go to court to seek redress, especially given the type of notice they were given, and the Gestapo type operations against them.

The Honorable Court will do its job, at the appropriate time, but meanwhile LASG would have taken possession, displaced the people, rendering them permanently impoverished, without means of livelihood, left to suffering galore!

Yes, the court may order compensation and all that, but it will be essentially for the records, as this type of leadership may not care to pay such compensations in good time.

Chief Raji Fashola, SAN, the immediate past Governor of Lagos State , is a very senior Lawyer, and would not have contemplated this type of lawlessness against the people. In 2013, Fashola woke up one day and deported poor Igbos, by picking them up and dropping them across River Niger in Igbo land overnight.

It was a big slap and insult on the face of

The age long friendship between Ndigbo and Yorubas must be kept, and improved upon, although it remains doubtful whether this government can achieve it

Ndigbo, and an uproar followed. The man subsequently apologised to Ndigbo, and challenged Ndigbo to endeavour to rebuild their zone, and make it good for business, and living. Many of us sons of Igbo land, took that challenge from Fashola, to work to make Ndigbo see the need to think Igbo, act Igbo, and do the best to make Igbo land a good place for mankind.

Although it has been said that Fashola did not approve any factory in Lagos in his last tenure as Governor, in keeping with their unwritten political pact with the north, in order to keep Ndigbo away from Lagos, he was a better person to Ndigbo, and come to think of it, why build in Lagos, when there is land and facilities elsewhere in Igbo land?

I consider Fashola a good friend of the Ndigbo, in the sense that it is only your good friend that would tell you the truth even when it hurts your feelings and ego.

Why run around the whole place building everywhere, when Abakaliki, Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri, and Umuahia are begging for development and investments? Why build and develop places where your Governors will be running all the time to come to beg for your closed shops to be reopened; Chief Ohakim, came and begged Chief Tinunbu, over Berger Vehicle market in mile 2, and later Chief Okorocha came and begged Chief Fashola over Ladipo Market.

When will the begging stop?

Now, unlike Fashola, Governor Ambode, is a professional accountant, who seems to have issues to grind with Ndigbo.

During the 2015 elections, Lagosians had to choose between, Jimi Agbaje of PDP, and Akinwunmi Ambode of APC, both full Yoruba sons, and Christians.

Agbaje had a closer and better relationship with the common man,

delivered. Eritrea was no doubt isolated during its lonely war of liberation; unfortunately, the country seems caught up in that isolationist psychology. Like China, it shut its doors to be selfsufficient before facing the rest of the world, but unlike China, it is not developing. Rather, it seems decaying and reminds me of Cambodia under the Pol Pot revolutionaries. Cuba has also faced serious isolation even by fellow Latin Americans, but it delivered to the people. That is why Cubans are ready to lay down their lives in defence of their revolution. In contrast, Eritreans are fleeing in droves as if pursued by devils. Israel alone has some forty thousand Eritrean refuges while monthly, an average three thousand Eritreans are said to be fleeing monthly, mainly to Sudan.

Eritreans are also high in the number of refugees making the perilous sea journey into Europe.

I was in Asmara in 2015 and saw a society stalled in time; weary–looking people in the streets who seemed caged and resigned to fate. A major source of worry is the mandatory military service which has an entry point but not an exit one.

Its 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia over a patch of land, left some 19,000 Eritreans dead and a broke and broken country.

Eritrea today, remains on a war footing with the strain of maintaining some 4,000 troops in the demilitarized zone and 120,000 on its border with Ethiopia. Unemployment is very high, wages, even of bank managers, very low. Eritrea has to recreate itself; to be revolutionary is not to be wedded to poverty and underdevelopment, it is to deliver dividends to the people.

reached out to all, even had to ride on Motorcycles, and Tri-cycles to reach the people, but the Oba of Lagos suddenly waded into matter and threatened Igbos to vote Ambode or die in the Lagoon, a declaration that brought xenophobia into Lagos politics, tilted everything against Agbaje, and created the seeming growing hatred of Ndigbo by Ambode as amplified by this demolition of Oshodi Market.

Apart from his very beautiful campaign gingle, ‘ Ambooo….., Ambo ..…’ there is nothing good coming from this government, so far. Traffic has become more chaotic, as Oshodi-Apapa Express way have defied solution, and for those living from Cele Bustop to Badagry Road, value of life and living has dropped drastically. Lagos is no longer what it used to be, Lagos has changed!

This terribled New Year package for Oshodi traders, is a bad sign and message to non-indigenes. Oshodi is among the LGAs in Lagos, where non-indigenes wax strong politically, so their back must be broken. This APC government in Lagos rather than bridge, is widening the gap of hatred between Ndigbo and Yorubas!

God help us.

In a system like ours, where government remembers the people only when they need Internally Generated Revenue, and the people's votes, most of the victims of this demolition, will have no option than either to run back to relations and friends for help, and where no such help is found, resort to crime, destitution, while many others would commit suicide or plunge into the Lagos Lagoon, as the Oba has cursed! That Curse has to be Broken! The age long friendship between Ndigbo and Yorubas must be kept, and improved upon, although it remains doubtful whether this government can achieve it.

*Mr Udegbe, a lawyer, wrote from Lagos.

20—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Tears of joy as foundation empowers less privileged youths in Benue

By Peter Duru, Makurdi

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MOTIONS were betrayed recently when over 100 less privileged youths and women, drawn from different parts of Benue State, graduated from the free training and empowerment programme of SEV-AV Foundation, a pet project of the wife of the immediate past Governor of Benue State, Mrs. Yemisi Suswam.

The beneficiaries of the programme which was the ninth in the series, were trained in various arts and craft including catering, fashion designing and tailoring, welding, bead making, computer education among others.

The programme also availed the beneficiaries the opportunity to start small scale businesses of their own to enable them support themselves and their families.

Smalls scale businesses Like others before them, the graduands, who until being enrolled in the SEV-AV skills acquisition programme had no source of livelihood.No wonder they were moved to tears when they were all called forward to receive free tools to enable them start off smalls scale businesses in the trade they were trained in.Addressing the beneficiaries earlier, Mrs. Suswam noted that the programme which was inaugurated about eight years ago, was not a profit -making venture.She said it was her little way of giving back to the society to better the lot of the ordinary citizens who had nothing to fall back to.”

I introduced this free training and empowerment programme because I feel the pains of the poor and less privileged in the society and I felt the only way I can reach out to these persons is to provide them a veritable platform to enable them actualise their dreams. I am not doing this for personal gains or to gain political relevance

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but to give back to the society which is the basis for human existence,”Mrs. Suswam said.

Continuing, she said: “As a non -governmental organization, NGO, we are committed to adding value to the lives of the ordinary citizens especially people ravaged by HIV/AIDS, as well as empowering youths and women towards self reliance. I therefore challenge the privileged in our present day society to lend a helping hand to the less privileged and by so doing we will all make our world a better place”. She added.

The former Governor’s wife who warned against the politicization of the activities of the Foundation observed that the ceremony was the first since the end of the Gabriel Suswam administration, stressing that it was a litmus test of its sincerity and commitment to the development of youths and women in the state.She appreciated the resilience of 100 graduands saying “this ceremony has proved wrong the impression of pessimists, who had thought that the NGO would not outlive the previous administration.”

She also pledged to partner with any government interested in the meaningful development of its people, for

I introduced this free training and empowerment programme because I feel the pains of the poor and less privileged

Mrs. Suswam presenting gifts to one of the beneficiaries. the overall benefit of humanity.

A widow and mother of one of the beneficiaries, Mrs. Theresa Vershima, could not fight back tears when she acknowledged the benefit of having her son and others trained in different

trades and also empowered to carry out the trade. She challenged other well to do persons in the state to undertake similar venture. ”If most well to do persons in this state can undertake to train

and empower our youths, widows, and other less privileged in the society, like what SEV-AV has been doing, the rate of social vices and crime in our society would to a large extent be reduced.” She said.

CANDLE FIRE TRAGEDY!

How three siblings cheated death in Lagos community

By Bose Adelaja

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OR the faithful who worshiped at Christ Galilee Gospel Ministry, CGGM in Ikorodu, a Lagos suburb, Sunday, 10th January will remain evergreen in their lives. It was on that day that three siblings, Sulaimon Taiwo, Kehinde and Quadri who escaped a midnight fire that gutted their abode, testified amidst thunderous praises to the Almighty God. The siblings who reside in a one-room apartment at No 9, Ogo-Oluwa Street, Igbogbo/ Ikorodu lost their father over ten years ago, leaving their upkeep in the hands of their widowed mother. Although the were born into a Muslim family, the siblings and their mother later converted to Christianity. While Mrs Sulaimon became a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, Taiwo and Kehinde who are twins and their brother Quadri pitched tent with CGGM. Vanguard Metro, VM

learnt that the pastor of CGGM has being of immense financial assistance to the woman in her bid to fend for the children.

Trouble started last Friday when Mrs Sulaimon left for the monthly Holy Ghost Congress at the Redemption Camp along the Lagos Ibadan expressway. After the day’s work, the children retired to bed.

Intermittent coughing Quadri was said to have lit a candle and slept off on a mattress in the room. Around 1am, one of the children began to cough intermittently and this attracted a neighbour who suspected that something was amiss in the room. He was said to have rushed out on discovering that fire had engulfed the room occupied by the Sulaimons. This prompted the neighbour to raise an alarm which attracted other neighbours.

VM was told that before

sympathisers could rush to the scene, the room had been taken over by fire, eliciting fears and weeping that the children have been roasted to death.

The neighbours who managed to stop further spreading of the inferno, were astonished by the fact that the children were unhurt. Only one of them allegedly inhaled the smoke from the fire and was promptly taken to a nearby clinic for first aid treatment.

When their mother returned from the Holy Ghost service and saw the crowd of sympathisers, she almost fainted. She later gave glory to God on learning that her children escaped unhurt.

In a chat with VM, the children said they were fast asleep when the incident happened, ‘’It was Quadri who lit a candle and put it on the floor before we all went to bed,”they saw while glorifying God who spared their lives through the prompt intervention of neighbours.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—21

Pay more attention to MDAs in debt recovery, ECAN tasks DISCOs E

XECUTIVE Secretary, Electricity Consumers Association of Nigeria (ECAN), MR. Goodluck Enyinna, has tasked Distribution Companies (DISCO) to pay more attention to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in its debts recovery.

Enyinna gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.

“I am advocating that DISCOs should pay more attention to MDAs to collect their debts because these are the organisations owing DISCOs huge sums in debt” he said.

According to him, if MDAs, Army and Navy will pay all the debts they owe DISCOs, consumers will not need to pay more tariff.

He said that the new tariff which would be introduced in Feb. 1 by Nigerian Electricity Commission (NERC), would run for 10 years.

He said that no new tariff would be introduced until the end of the 10 years. Enyinna listed credible tariff for Nigerians, revenue short falls for DISCOs and good revenue to enable DISCOs to get their upstream market obligations as reasons for the new energy tariff.

According to him, an energy consumer will pay, on the average, about N8,000 every month when the new tariff becomes operational.

Enyinna called on consumers to go to the nearest distribution company and pay N25,000 for their prepaid meter through the Credit Advance Payment for Metering Implementation (CAPMI)

BRIEFING: From Left; Mr Olivier Thiry, Managing Director, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr Andrew Enahoro, Head Legal &Public Relation Manager, Promasidor Nigeria Limited, and Mr Festus Tettey, Head of Marketing Promasidor Nigeria Limited, During the Press Breifing on the Announcing the 2016 Promasidor Entries for Quill Awards, for Journalists, by Promasidor Nigeria Limited, held in Lagos.

Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi programme introduced by NERC. According to him, if the meter is not installed within 60 days of payment for the meter, DISCOs have no right to disconnect such a customer.

He said the money a consumer paid for installation of his meter would be repaid to him in two years and this would be done by capturing it in his tariff. Enyinna said that the consumer would also be given 14 per cent interest on the amount he paid for the meter.

He listed challenges of the as-

If the meter is not installed within 60 days of payment for the meter, DISCOs have no right to disconnect such a customer

sociation to include funding which, according to him, is not the case overseas,” he said. He explained that due to lack of funds, NGOs could not effectively carry out their duties. Enyinna said ECAN went to court in 2011 to challenge DISCOs on charging maintenance fees on consumers and the association was able to stop them from collecting the fee from customers.

He also said that the court action saved the country the sum of

N240 billion, being the amount consumers were paying annually on meter maintenance to DISCOs. According to Enyinna, this year, the association will carry out massive sensitisation programme to consumers for them to know their rights.

He called on electricity consumers in the country to conserve energy by switching off their appliances when not in use and to also ensure that they paid for their electricity bills. (NAN)

Olam invests $275m on wheat, pasta mills in Nigeria $113.75

$2,865.00 -29.00 $14.76

0.29

$30. 59 0.28 $30. 79 -6.25 CURRENCY

BUYING

By Princewill Ekwujuru

-1. 05

SELLING

US DOLLAR 196 196.5 282.7104 283. 4316 POUNDS 212.797 213.3401 EURO 195. 9804 196. 4804 FRANC 1.6655 1.6698 YEN 0.3062 0.3162 CFA 270.8824 271.5735 WAUA 29.7995 29.3483 RENMINBI 52. 2151 52.3483 RIYAL 28.6307 28.7037 KRONA 270. 8916 271.5827 SDR

197 284. 1528 213. 8829 196. 9803 1.674 0.3262 272. 2645 29. 9524 52.4536 28.4816 272. 2737

CBN Exchange rate as at 14/01/2016

O

LAM Nigeria said its Singaporebased holding company, Olam International Limited has acquired Amber Foods Limited for $275 million. If the amount is converted with the current official exchange rate this amounts to N8.4150billion.

The deal was consummated through Olam’s subsidiary Quintessential Foods Nigeria Limited who are owners of the wheat and pasta manufacturing assets of BUA Group in Nigeria.

The BUA Group, is a diversified foods and infrastructure business group in Nigeria, it’s among the top five wheat millers in the country with wheat milling and pasta manufacturing capacities of 3,760 and 700 metric tonnes per day (TPD) respectively.

The assets to be acquired include

two wheat mills and a pasta manufacturing facility in Lagos, a mill in Kano, and a wheat mill and a pasta manufacturing plant under construction in Port Harcourt.

The wheat milling sector in Sub-Saharan Africa has been an area of investment focus for Olam since 2010 when it acquired Crown Flour Mills, CFM in Nigeria. Since then, Olam has expanded Crown Flour Mills capacity and set up milling operations in Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon.

Accordingly, this acquisition will strengthen Crown Flour Mill’s position as the number two wheat miller by sales volume and make it a leading pasta player in Nigeria. Crow Flour Mill’s total wheat milling capacity in the country will increase from its current 2,380 TPD to 6,140 TPD once the facilities in Port Harcourt are completed in June 2016.

The Country Head of Olam Nigeria, Mukul Mathur, said: “We are confident about the growth prospects in Nigeria, so expanding our participation hereis a logical step to capitalise on the opportunity.

Our value-added export business in the country puts us in a strong position to generate the much required forex and actively support the Produce-Add-ValueExport, PAVE initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Managing Director of Crown Flour Mills, Anurag Shukla, added: “This acquisition further increases Crown Flour Mill’s ability to provide low cost food staples to the Nigerian population that have been manufactured in-country.

Wheat-based products, such as pasta, have grown in popularity among Nigerians due to changing tastes, the gradual rise of convenience and, for many, as an affordable option to meet carbohydrate requirements.”

22 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Fidelity Bank SME deposit liability in excess of N120bn

By Nkiruka Nnorom

F

From left: Divisional Head, Corporate Communication, Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr. Naif Absussalam; Assistant Manager, SEC, Mr. Abubarkar Suleiman; Assistant Manager, SEC, Mr. Abdulrahman Abubakar; and Head, Marketing Development, SEC, Mr. Henry Rowland, during SEC e-dividend registration exercise in Abuja

IDELITY Bank Plc has said that its Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) deposit liability has grown to over N120 billion, while its loans to the sector is in excess of N60 billion.

Making the disclosure on the Fidelity SME Forum, a weekly radio talk show programme organized by the Bank on Inspiration FM. Lagos, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fidelity Bank Plc., Nnamdi Okonkwo, said the size of its SME liability, as well as the loan book is indicative of the bank’s avowed commitment to the sectors.

Okonkwo noted that the bank intends to intensify support for Micro and Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) through a number of unique initiatives geared towards raising their

NSE to go public this year

By Peter Egwuatu & Nkiruka Nnorom

T

HE Nigerian Stock Ex change (NSE) yesterday said it is poised to complete its proposed demutualization which commenced about eight years ago before the end of the year.

The Chief Executive Officer of the NSE, Mr. Oscar Onyema, stated this while addressing financial journalists on the ‘NSE 2015 Recap and Outlook for 2016’.

Demutualization is the process by which a member-owned Exchange is converted to a shareholder-owned Exchange.

With demutualization, the NSE should be exposed to robust corporate governance; enhanced efficiency and transparency associated with publicly quoted companies.

Demutualisation allows the Exchange to be listed on its own floor where investors would have the opportunity of investing in the self-regulatory organisation. The plan to demutualize the stock exchange commenced in 2009, but was delayed for various reasons.

However, in order to fast-track the exercise, the Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, in 2011 set up a 21-man committee to review and recommend how the Exchange will be demutualized.

Speaking at the event yesterday, Onyema said that demutualization of the Exchange formed part of its key initiatives in the New Year, adding that the framework and C M Y K

regulations for the exercise are already in place for a smooth take-off.

He explained that a consortium of financial advisers and legal consultants and tax advisers have been appointed to drive the demutualization process.

He said: “Demutualization, typically, is very long process and you don’t demutualize in a vacuum. You must have a frame-

work and appropriate regulation within which you can demutualize and that was done early last year.

“The Exchange then had a framework within which it could work and the framework has resulted in us coming up with financial advisers and consultants.

“That work is on-going and there is a project team working

on that. We are raising it to the level of one of our top three projects in 2016 and hopefully, we are going to deliver it.”

He explained that throughout the year, the Exchange focused its priorities on restoring and upholding investors’ confidence in light of the headwinds facing the African marketplace.

Except for one, all the African stock exchanges were negative.

Equity market: Vetiva predicts higher volatility in 2016 strong correlation of the between $50 - $60/bbl in the

By Peter Egwuatu

V

ETIVA Capital has said that the 2016 is going to be tough for the Nigerian equity market and has predicted that the market will record higher volatility.

In its market report for the outlook in 2016, Vetiva said “ With the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE ASI returning -17 per cent in 2015, closely in line with our scenario analysis for Brent crude oil price at $45/bbl, our outlook for the equity market in 2016 remains anchored on the direction of oil prices.

As such, we think the equity market is headed for another tough year as oil prices stay “lower for longer ” with economic concerns ranging from currency to corporate earnings overshadowing seemingly low stock prices; we expect heightened volatility for much of the year.”

It added: “We re-iterate the

Nigerian equity market to oil prices and with the price of Brent crude oil hovering $38/ bbl coming into 2016.

“We think losses will be less steep this year with the potential for a positive year close given our expectation for oil prices to rebound to

second half of the year.”

On fixed income market: “We expect demand for fixed income securities will open on a healthy note, largely supported by domestic banks and pension funds (PFAs). In the second half of the year however, we foresee uptick in yields.”

level of competitiveness in a challenging business environment. This year, he said the bank hopes to increase its loan book by aggressively lending to MSMEs which have been touted to be the next cash cow in the economy.

The Fidelity Bank boss explained that the bank currently boasts of a 50 per cent SME loan to deposit ratio, which is an indication that the lender remains highly committed to supporting MSMEs in Nigeria, particularly in the area of access to finance.

Alluding to the bank’s plan to step up the tempo of engagement with MSMEs amid the nation’s harsh economic conditions, Okonkwo noted that the bank’s SME customer base is in excess of 600,000 and are evenly spread across the nation’s geographical regions.

The bank chief pointed out that the lender has made significant headway in the disbursement of the Central Bank’s MSME Development Fund as 70 customers have already accessed requisite credit to expand their business.

“We are currently one of the top two leading banks in the disbursement of the Fund”, he added.

According to him, Fidelity focuses more on productive segments of the economy where margins are not robust. This move, he added, helps MSMEs in these industry verticals optimize the performance of their respective businesses.

“The structure and pricing of the funds provide us the window to finance SME related transactions, which otherwise would have been expensive to finance from our balance sheet for the SMEs”, he explained.

Propelled by its one-on-one business advisory services and other capacity building initiatives, Okonkwo, said the lender has one of the strongest SME franchise in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy by GDP.

Private sector growth accelerated in December—Stanbic IBTC PMI

By Nkiruka Nnorom

T

HE private sector in the country recorded an accelerated growth in the month of December as business conditions improved to the greatest extent since July, 2015, according to Stanbic IBTC Bank Purchasing Manager Index (PMI).

Stanbic IBTc had last month launched PMI to help gauge the health of private sector businesses in the country. The Index is compiled by Markit, a

leading global diversified provider of financial information services. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had officially adopted the Stanbic IBTC Nigeria PMI as the Nigerian government’s private sectorbased index for the country.

Readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show deterioration.

The seasonally adjusted Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria

PMI posted 54.5 in December, thereby signalling a solid improvement in operating conditions at companies in Nigeria.

Up from 53.9 in November, the latest reading was the highest in five months. The quarterly average in Q4 (53.5) was slightly lower than seen in Q3 (54.0).

According to the report, the key factor behind growth of the sector as a whole was higher new orders – the latest rise was the fastest in six months.

VOL. 1: NO. 17

FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 , 2016

•Ooni of Ife

•Oba Solomon Omisakin: Late Obalufe

OONI OF IFE’S DEPUTY:

Existing

Ruling houses fight over Obalufe stool

By Gbenga Olarinoye

S

INCE the death of the late Obalufe of Ile-Ife, Oba Solomon Omisakin, in October 2015, efforts by the ruling houses to find a suitable candidate to fill the vacant stool have not yielded any positive result because of the contending forces.

The Obalufe, who is the traditional ruler of Iremo in IleIfe is the head of Ife kingmakers and next to the Ooni in hierarchy, according to the tradition of the ancient town.

An attempt to fill the stool late last December led to serious tension in the ancient town of Ile-Ife, as the controversy surrounding the selection of the new Obalufe caused rancour among the supporters of the 10 contenders to the throne from Aga ruling house of the town.

made known to the public and the winner installed as the substantive Obalufe.

In a statement, he said that the screening committee had on December 31, 2015 conducted an election among 10 aspirants to occupy the vacant stool where he (Elu Abayomi) had emerged the overall winner with 115 points with the runner up having 98 points.

He faulted the position of opponents that somebody from a female lineage cannot be chosen as Obalufe, saying that “there is a historical guide as to how the stool should be filled”.

He also recalled that “two previous Obalufes before the immediate past were from female lineage and contributed immensely to Ile Ife”.

His words: “Obalufe kingdom is made up of four ruling houses from the onset and they are Ajugbusi, Adogbodo, Aga all males while Jaojo was a female.

From this arrangement, gender discrimination is evident.

“Based on the existing arrangement, there is no controversy over the next house to fill the vacancy owing to the fact that the immediate past occupant was from Adogbodo and the next is Aga.

The process of selecting a new Obalufe started with the inauguration of a committee under the chairmanship of Comrade Ayoola Olafiranye.

The committee was saddled with the responsibility of screening all the contenders for the stool and report its findings to the ruling house.

The committee invited all the 10 aspirants and they were screened but before it could submit its reports, majority of the contenders accused the committee of planning to announce the name of an

aspirant from the female lineage, Elu Abayomi and that Elu was not even qualified to contest.

This led to a rancour at the ruling house as the supporters of the contenders threatened to shut down the town if Elu Abayomi was announced as planned.

Specifically, one of the contenders, Fatai Adiyeloja expressed worry over the action of the committee and cautioned aggrieved youths in Ife to remain calm, assuring them that the matter would be

IN THIS EDITION

Killer prison warder: Family of Okada rider cries out over conspiracy •Page 25

An attempt to fill the arrangement stool late last “This Aga also consists of five December led to compounds; Laakaye, serious tension in the Oganrun, Akinbusola, Tolase and Gbenla. When it was the ancient town of Ileturn of Aga ruling house then, Ife, as the controversy Laakaye produced the Obalufe and now any of the four surrounding the compounds could produce the Obalufe because there is no selection of the new successive arrangement as per Obalufe caused sequence of production among rancour among the the five compounds.

“It is on this premise cum the supporters of the 10 personal interest of the Baale contenders (the aged in the compound) Mr

resolved.

Similarly, one of the contestants to the vacant stool, Elu Abayomi, asked that the final result of the contest be

Why we’re at war with Amosun — LASISI, OGUN ASUSS BOSS •Page 26

Bello Adeyeloja to have his son participate in the contest that informed his decision to throw the contest open to all the five compounds in Aga ruling house”, he added.

Speaking on the development, the Logun Apata of Ile-Ife, Chief Atimi Bada said that the contenders for the Obalufe stool must come from the male lineage adding that those from female lineage could only contest if there is no competent person from the male lineage.

According to him, “this rancour was avoidable if the

Continues on page 24 C M Y K

24 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

ONDO STATE

KILLER PRISON WARDER

Family of Okada rider cries out over conspiracy

By Dayo Johnson

T

HE family of a 24 year old motorcycle operator, popularly known as Okada rider, Benjamin Okoli, who was brutally murdered five months ago by a Prison warder in the premises of a court in Akure, has cried out over alleged conspiracy by security operatives in the state, to sweep the matter under the carpet.

They alleged that the identity of the killer prison warder is still shrouded in secrecy by the security operatives five months after Benjamin was gruesomely murdered.

Also, an attempt to seek justice in court, according to the family has always been frustrated by security operatives who may have “deliberately closed the case” because the killer is one of them.

They, however, went spiritual saying that the killer would know no peace until he is brought to book and made to pay for the dastardly act.

Benjamin was shot at close range at the premises of

Olukayode Magistrate Court after he was re-arrested for allegedly trying to escape while his lawyer was perfecting his bail documents.

The family told SouthWest Voice that “ we foresee a conspiracy by the Olokuta prison authority and by extension the Nigeria Prison Service to sweep the matter under the carpet."

Benjamin’s offence, according to his family, was that he reportedly contravened the state government’s order which temporarily suspended the operation of commercial motorcycles in Akure, the state capital.

SouthWest Voice gathered that the deceased was arrested by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps,NSCDC, officials along Arakale road in the Akure metropolis after he had finished the days’ job.

Reports had it he had gone to the area to buy fuel ahead of the next day’s business when he was picked up by officials of the NSCDC, who reportedly were acting on the orders of the state government following their

•Peter Ekpendu: Comptroller-General, Nigerian Prisons Service

•Later Benjamin Okoli protest and destruction of government properties and structures.

The alleged refusal of the late Benjamin, who was a floor tiler, but occasionally operated the Okada business to settle those who arrested him, landed him in deeper trouble as he was handed over to the Police.

His problem was compounded when his matter was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCII) of the Nigeria Police. He was reportedly locked up for 10 days when he could not meet the demands of his interrogators.

The late Benjamin was, however, arraigned at the Olukayode Magistrate Court on August 5, last year.

Speaking with SouthWest Voice, brother to the deceased, Emmanuel, said that Benjamin was a victim of extral-judicial killing.

Emmanuel said “the lawyer we

engaged was able to secure his bail based on stringent condition and that was what we were trying to sort out when my brother tried to escape. His attempt to escape, I think, was a fallout of the inhuman treatment he had all through his illegal detention at Olokuta Medium Prison, prior to his arraignment in court by the Police.”

Emmanuel said when his escape attempt failed, he was rearrested and brought to the court premises. “This was after he was beaten mercilessly by the security operatives in the court premises.

Some minutes later, we heard some gun shots right there and that was the last we saw or heard of our brother”, he explained.

He said the suspected killer and his colleagues rushed his brother to the state specialist hospital after he was shot.

Benjamin, according to him,

Ruling houses fight over Obalufe stool Continues from page 23 committee had done the right thing in a transparent manner.

We all know that the female lineage can contest only if there was no competent person from the male lineage.

But in this situation, there are nine contenders from male lineage, yet, the committee attempted to pick the only one person that came out from the female lineage. It is not right”.

A legal practitioner, who hails from the same ruling family, Mr Alaba Awoseemo, also faulted the committee for allegedly favouring a contender from the female lineage when there are many contenders from the male lineage and cautioned against C M Y K

anything that could threaten the peace of Ife and Osun State.

Head of the Ruling House, Chief Bello Adiyeloja, said since the contenders could no longer trust the committee members, it has become imperative to dissolve the committee to prevent avoidable trouble in the town.

He said: “Given the current situation at the stage of the selection process of the Obalufe, I have directed that the committee should be dissolved and we will take the appropriate steps subsequently. We will ensure the emergence of our new monarch without bloodshed in Ife”.

The Chairman of the committee, Comrade Ayoola Olafiranye, who declined comment on the committee’s report, said since the contenders, their supporters and other people have passed a vote of no confidence in the committee, he would prefer not to talk on the outcome of the screening of the aspirants.

Olafiranye said: “What else can I say when they have already rubbished everything we did and they have dissolved the committee when we have not even presented the report of our findings to the ruling family? I cannot say anything on the issue”.

This was after he was beaten mercilessly by the security operatives in the court premises, some minutes later, we heard some gun shots right there and that was the last we saw or heard of our brother

was pronounced dead by the time he got to the hospital.

His corpse was later dumped in the morgue.

The brother lamented that “we were forced to cough out N42,000 for the autopsy after which we had to raise another money for his burial in Kogi state”.

Emmanuel said that it has been difficult to get the killer warder to tell the world why he shot Benjamin at close range and in cold blood even after he was rearrested.

He alleged that all efforts to ensure that justice was done in the last five months had always been frustrated by the prison authorities who had continued to shield the identity of the killer of his brother.

He lamented that life had not remained the same for the family as the deceased was the breadwinner.

Meanwhile, the deceased family through a lawyer, Orlu Mills have sent a petition to the Ondo State Police Commissioner, Mike Ogbodu.

Threatening to seek justice in the law courts, the family of the deceased have vowed to pursue the case to a logical conclusion.

Logical conclusion Mills said: “Information at our disposal showed that the Warder who shot Benjamin was just a trigger happy cop as he was not among those who pursued him in the initial place. We are aware the Police have commenced investigation on the matter and have requested the prison authorities to hand over the warder to no avail. We foresee a conspiracy by the Olokuta prison authority and by extension the Nigeria prison service to sweep the matter under the carpet.

There must be an end to impunity, and extra judicial killings if this country must progress. Nobody is above the law.”

Police, Prison Service react When contacted, spokesperson for the Nigeria Prison Service, Ondo State Command, Tunde Ogundare said that the matter was still under investigation Ogundare added that appropriate action would be taken after a thorough investigation by the prison service. The State Police command equally assured that the matter would not be swept under the carpet.

Spokesman of the state Police Command, Femi Joseph, told SouthWest Voice that the matter was still under investigation.

Though the late Okada operator had been buried in Kogi State, his home town, the family has pleaded with the Police authorities not to allow their son die in vain.

They said that only justice would assuage the loss of their breadwinner.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 —25

OGUN STATE MODEL SCHOOLS:

Why we’re at war with Amosun — LASISI, OGUN ASUSS BOSS

•Lasisi: Government should focus on the existing schools

By Daud Olatunji

I

N his recent media chat, Governor Ibikunle Amosun cleared the air on the alleged plan to concession the multibillion 28 model schools in the state. What is the position of ASUSS on the construction of the model schools?

Our union is not against the establishment of the model schools, but what we are trying to tell the state government is that they should renovate the existing schools. They should put it in proper position before establishing the model schools.

Also, we cannot establish the model school and employ fresh graduates rather government should post experienced teachers who are already in the service to the model schools, because they are already on the field and they know better than fresh teachers recruited by government so far.

Whether the schools are concessioned or not, education development should be important to the state government. The existing schools should be taken proper care of in terms of structures, teachers as well as the environment.

Most of the existing schools in Ogun State are over-populated.

Many structures are in a sorry state, some buildings have leaking roofs, no furniture for the students and no replacement for retired teachers.

The stand of the union is that the government should focus on the existing schools and when they are through with renovation of the existing schools, they can focus on the model schools.

Will you say that the free C M Y K

education policy of this present administration is well thought out? Is the policy well implemented in your view?

Let us say the obvious, there is no way a government can single-handledly sponsor free education in any state or all over the world. The reason is the population of students keep increasing everyday. When we look at Ogun State because of the free education of the state government, parents have already abandoned their roles to the the government and teachers, because they are no longer buying any educational material for their wards. They believe the state government is running free education which has led to an explosion of students in our schools.

Explosion of students If you go round the schools in this state, we are having overpopulation of students, because of the free education being run by the government. Now, in schools we have two categories of students, students that are willing to study and students that are forced to study because it is free.

Due to the free education policy of the government, the number of students who are forced to go to school are many because their parents are not paying a dime.

This is affecting the infrastructure of the schools, the infrastructure continue to decay, we are having dilapidated walls all over the place. Most schools have leaking roofs, no desk and benches to seat on for both teachers and students. That is why we continue to appeal to

CHAIRMAN of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASUSS, in Ogun State, Comrade Akeem Lasisi, bared his mind on issues surrounding the states' free education policy, unified examination and appointment of Principal-Generals among others.

Excerpts:

the state government that no government can fund education solely if it want the best.

We are not opposing the free education policy but the government cannot do it all alone. They are saying education is free, are you saying health is also free? If health service is not free, education should not be totally free.

Students in public primary and secondary schools in the state last Monday resumed for the second term of 2015/2016 academic session, yet pupils and students have not be given their results for the first term likewise their promotion results in the last academic session to their present classes.

The JSCE examination result had not been released and the students have been automatically promoted to the next class. Do you think this is a challenge in the state education sector?

The society continues to blame teachers without looking at rudiments of this problem. The major part of the problem we are having with developing education in this state is the problem with junior WAEC. Ordinarily, for a student to be promoted to SSS1 should be by choice. For example, if his knowledge is very low such student does not need to proceed to the senior school.

If the intelligence of any student is in the hand and not the brain, such a student doesn't have to proceed to conventional senior secondary school where you are stream lined to either commercial, science or humanity class. Such student is supposed to drop out from JSS3 and start learning a trade or go to technical college and start

developing skills through the hands.

However, what we have today is 100 per cent transition to senior secondary school, that is why we continue to appeal to the federal and state governments to look into our education set up.

In the 2016 budget of Ogun State, over 20 per cent is allocated to the educational sector, what is your opinion?

UNESCO has stated that 26 per cent of the total budget should be allocated to the education sector, at this point I have to give kudos to Governor Ibikunle Amosun for allocating over 20 percent of his budget to educational development in the state compared to other states in the country where little is allocated to educational development.

One thing is to allocate funds to educational development, another thing is implementation.

We have already made our stand known to the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota and we believe the best will be done for us in the field.

Sometimes last year, one of your members was relieved of his appointment base on what the state government tagged “offensive examination question”. How far has the union gone in respect of this issue?

The issue of Mr. Adegbenro is a very pathetic one. We observed that what the man did was nothing but promotion of excellence. Although, as a public servant, there are certain rules guiding our profession, there are certain rule prohibiting a public servant on commenting on state policy. If you are a public servant, you have no right to comment on government policy in public service rule. Mr

Our union is not against the establishment of the model schools, but what we are trying to tell the state government is that they should renovate the existing schools

Adegbenro contradicted the public service rule. But the deed has already been done, we will continue to appeal to the state government to temper justice with mercy on this issue. We have consulted eminent personalities in the state, and even beyond the state on this matter. The issue now is between Mr Adegbenro and the state government and I will not want to comment on it because the information at our disposal was that the matter had been taken to the court.

We will continue to appeal to the state government, laws are made for human beings human beings are not made for law. We appeal to the state government to allow the sleeping dog lies by reabsorbing Mr. Adegbenro back to the system.

What is your take on the unified examination system?

We believe quality educational services is one of the five cardinal agenda of the state government, that his why we are contributing our own idea to the state government, because we are on the field, we are doing our own practicability not on theoretical aspect, you can sit down in office and formulate the policy, we will implement the policy on the field.

Interest of the students The first is the issue of unified exam, it will be our own joy and the interest of the students that the unified exam should be left to the school authorities in first and second term,while the state can conduct the third term exam. The reason is that academic calendar can be disrupted in some schools in the state, there are some activities individual school has that is different from others and this may not allow them to complete the syllabus.

But if we are organizing unified exam every term, we are trying to encourage examination malpractice because in situation where a teacher will not be able to complete the scheme of work before exam and the question were set on such topic that he was unable to treat with the student, the teachers have to pass such student.

We appeal to the state government to allow individual school to conduct first and second term exam and the state will be conducting unified exam in third term exam and we think they will consider our own observation.

THE TEAM EDITOR: Adeleke Adeseri 08054682557 (sms only) CORRESPONDENTS: Ola Ajayi Gbenga Olarinoye Dayo Johnson Dapo Akinrefon Daud Olatunji Olasunkanmi Akoni Rotimi Ojomoyela Monsuru Olowoepejo

Ibadan Osogbo Akure Lagos Abeokuta Lagos Ekiti

26 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

C M Y K

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30—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Have a baby by me, baby?

Baby-mama arrangements: Trendy or tacky?

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NCE upon a time, the term baby-mama was one you only heard in American rap music, a term describing a woman who had a child with a man to whom she is not married and that she has no intention of marrying.

When you thought of a babymama, you thought ghetto, drama, children with different fathers and of course, bling.

Baby-mamas, by definition, are those ones whose only relationship with their ‘significant other’- their babydaddy- is the child and the benefits that accrue from the flow of income.

It is not exactly clear when the notion, the practice and the word crept its way into the Nigerian scene, but all of a sudden it is here and growing in practice.

Lives of celebrities It is by no means a new thing for modern Nigerian women who want to pursue a career in peace or just want some freedom, to decide to have children without necessarily placing upon themselves the daily demands of acting as someone’s wife.

In these cases, the woman does not necessarily depend on the father of their children, whether physically or emotionally, and does not expect her children to do so.

This phenomenon is therefore significantly different from the Baby-mama one.

Of course, nowhere is this new trend more prominent than within the entertainment industry, where lives of celebrities are put under constant scrutiny by the various media; and as with every other lifestyle choice, young fans aspire to the actions of their loved celebrities regardless of their prior opinions.

As such, this particular lifestyle choice has trickled down and has even become something of a trend. The recent public debacle still playing out with David Adeleke, the singer more popularly known as Davido is C M Y K

however forcing players to take a more than cursory look at the baby-mama trend, while highlighting its ups and downs.

It’s not all the time that Babymama situations have ended so badly in the industry. Many of the brightest stars of the great galaxy of Nigerian music/ entertainment including Nice, Wizkid, Olamide, Seun Kuti, Ice Prince and the king of all baby-daddies- Tuface Idibia. In the case of Idibia, he has managed to create a balance between all Baby-mamas, while even marrying one of them, Annie.

Also getting to marry their baby-daddies have been Omawumi, Anita Okoye and Lola Okoye, who married Tosin Yusuf and P-Square

• Seun Kutis baby mama and daughter

respectively. It remains to be seen how smooth the transition can be from Baby-mama to inlaw and wife, but there will be more than enough case studies

Nowhere is this new trend more prominent than within the entertainment industry, where lives of celebrities are put under constant scrutiny by the various media

many years down the line.

In the mean time, there is enough drama to keep fans entertained, and to have prospective Baby-mamas asking themselves whether it is even worth the trouble.

There is Oritsefemi, who had his instagram account hacked and accused Babymama numero uno, though she vehemently denies it; and KSwitch whose exotic Babymama was pictured banging frantically on his gate, 7 month old infant in tow.

Some might tell them of all the advantages, the most obvious of which is that the relationship is most likely to be open, which means she is relieved of any burden to be faithful to her baby-daddy.

This, however, could also turn into a disadvantage of its own, as the likelihood of the babydaddy becoming a baby-daddy over and over again then becomes very real.

Besides, it’s not all “have a baby by me, baby be a millionaire”, as famously sang by 50 Cents. As the Davido debacle has shown us, celebrity Baby-mamas often have to scrounge too, at least on their own levels, and would be disciplined for bad behavior.

In addition, Baby-mamas have no legal rights whatsoever outside of the rights of the child, and must be prepared for skirmishes from other babymamas every so often.

What was the advantage again?

Baby-mamas and legal rights Nothing can beat the rush that a celeb Baby-mama gets when she is under the spotlight on account of someone else’s talent, especially when the baby-daddy is treating you like a million dollars. Ask pop star, Olamide’s, Baby-mama, who gets shout outs from the singer in concerts. Being a groupie is so very fun- until a tot comes along, ironically.

Surely, children of entertainers are not exactly expected to have regular lives, yet some of the most prominent entertainers who have children in some other parts of the world have them within a marriage and make a song and dance of making a ‘normal’ home for their child, the most obvious examples being Kanye West, who married the devastatingly sexy reality siren Kim Kardasian; and of course Jayz, who married Beyonce.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—31

Ojokoro council launches entrepreneurship scheme for women, youths

By Olasunkanmi Akoni

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• Sophia Momodu and Davido

Have a baby by me, baby?

Davido Baby-mama drama timeline March 2015 News first broke that Davido, the Aye crooner, was warming up for fatherhood. Omo Babaolowo (OBO) as he’s nicknamed was expecting his first child from one of his lovers whose name had been revealed as Sophie Momodu, an Abuja based lady also known as Belladonna. She was 28 and he 22.

May 2015 The media went to town with baby shower photos. The newborn’s mother was identified as Ovation publisher Dele Momodu’s cousin. He shared the photos on his instagram page and wrote “Warmest congratulations to Mr. David Adeleke Davido and my cousin Sophie Momodu on the birth of your beautiful daughter. May God always provide for you and protect your family…

Stay blessed.”

The speculations had started.

June 2015 Davido hosted friends to a birthday party for his Babymama at the prestigious venue of Eko Hotel and suites in Lagos. There were rumours that pressure was on his to marry the mother of his child.

September 2015 The singer first dropped hints that he will not be marrying his Baby-mama in June. In the months to come, he would repeat this often. In a newspaper interview in September 2015 (not this paper) he was asked: Now that you have a daughter, are you considering getting married sometime soon? His answer? Not at all; I am not considering getting married now.

October 2015 New mom, Sophie Momodu, shares photos of herself with uncle, Dele Momodu stepping out for an event in London.

Although, the HKN boss says he has no plans of marrying his baby mama now, Sophie Momodu continues to live it up.

December 2015 Baby-mama row becomes public as Davido’s family attempts to fly baby, Imade, abroad without the consent of its mother. There is a huge public upheaval and debate on the matter, considering the allegation that the child was poisoned by cannabis through the mother ’s milk.

The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, ps alerted with allegations that the baby had been forcibly taken from her on July 11. Petition also claimed that repeated efforts by Sophia to get her baby back since then were unsuccessful, leaving her to turn to friends and her cousin, Dele Momodu, for help.

January 2016 As though it couldn’t get worse, things get uglier as both parties trade invectives and take private documents into the public domain.

Though baby has been reunited with mother, it is still unclear if allegations against the mother are strong enough to deny her custody of her own child.

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JOKORO Local C o u n c i l Development Area, LCDA, has commenced an empowerment programme aimed at engaging indigents especially, the youth and women in productive ventures in boosting ability to provide for their families.

The Executive Secretary of the LCDA, Mrs. Faust Olajoku speaking at a programme to empower over 2, 000 artisans and residents of the area, said the council has demonstrated how small entrepreneurship can genuinely tackle the problem of poverty and unemployment in the grassroots.

She urged the beneficiaries to take advantage of the gesture, saying, “grassroots empowerment schemes can only be beneficial to the people if adequately utilized.”

Olajoku added that with such programmes, the people of the area would no longer be idle especially among the youth and the women folks who are mostly in the redundancy net.

She maintained that the council embarked on the program to ensure that more of their citizens benefit and get engaged in one trade or another, stressing that the two-month skills acquisition

•Women receieving empowermenmt scheme

programme, 2015 had empowered more than 2000 beneficiaries to become self independent in starting their own individual businesses as entrepreneurs and become employers of labour.

The council boss, while congratulating the beneficiaries, appealed to them to make judicious use of the opportunity to pave way for others even as she commended instructors and all those that contributed in one way or the other to the success of the programme.

“I sincerely express my profound gratitude to all the beneficiaries for their patience throughout the duration of the programme which I know would go a long way to provide income for our people in Ojokoro LCDA and its environs. I am quite sure

that my people especially the beneficiaries would no longer be idle. I make bold to say that the council intend to do more in future”, Olajoku said.

Earlier in his address, the Head of Administration of the LCDA, Mr. Rasheed Pedro, expressed optimism that the programme would go a long way to engage people in the area in so many ways, thus, making them productive.

One of the beneficiaries, Ms Onya Chinemere, who graduated as a fashion designer, expressed her appreciation to the council and expressed assurance on behalf beneficiaries, while admonishing them to be passionate and be decisive in whatever they are doing and above all, utilize the talent so garnered from the training.

Control your temper; guide your utterances in the face of any provocation — Hon Lola Akande advises women while addressing inmates of Female Section, Kirikiri Prison during an assessment tour of the prison, noting that, unguided action taken on the spur of the moment in anger usually ends in regrets.

She added that, it is ideal for all to learn to restrain oneself from indulging in any acts of violence whenever there is a disagreement.

She urged inmates to From L-R: Hon Lola Akande, the Lagos make judicious use of State Commissioner for Women Affairs their time in prison by and Poverty Alleviation, an inmate who presented a beautiful neck bead to the learning skills or Commissioner and the Deputy vocations that would be Controller of Prisons in charge of the useful in earning a female prison, Mrs. Ekpendu M. Lizzie living and be selfemployed instead of depending on others after their

By Esther Onyegbula prison terms.

ON Lola Akande, While reacting to their plea the Lagos State for a State pardon, Akande Commissioner for Women promised to look into their Affairs and Poverty Alleviation request and discuss with has advised women to control appropriate authorities for their temper and guide their assistance. utterances in the face of any The Commissioner provocation in order not to be commended the Deputy found on the wrong side of the Controller of Prisons in charge law. of the female prison, Mrs. She gave this advice recently Ekpendu M. Lizzie, whom she

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described as a mother, for bringing so much transformation to the prison and the lives of the inmates.

Earlier, Mrs. Lizzie Ekpendu appreciated the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation for its support for the needs of the prisons service in general and particularly in the area of providing teaching materials for Skill Acquisition Programmes for the inmates.

Movement of inmates She, however, appealed to the Commissioner to use her good Offices to assist them with the provision of transportation for the movement of inmates to and from courts as well as an ambulance for inmates who require medical services.

According to Ekpendu, “we need an ambulance; my chief is finding things quite difficult when it comes to taking inmates to the hospital especially at night. We desperately need an ambulance”’.

32 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 with

PRINCE OSUAGWU

08050498513 princeosuagwu@gmail.com

Telecom sector: How MTN Nigeria provided intrigues in 2015

By PRINCE OSUAGWU

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o matter how one reviews activities of 2015 in relation to activities of operators in the telecom sector, MTN Nigeria will dominate. The company engaged in many ground breaking initiatives that defined the growth of the sector, but however, was later in the year to incur the wrath of the regulator over inability to disconnect improperly registered subscribers on its network.

A fine of N1.04 trn was imposed by the NCC on the company which to some people portrayed it as a company that did not care whether laws guiding the sector are obeyed or not. Whether the opinions people developed about the company based on these activities were right or wrong, they however ensured that the company was constantly on the spotlight We have decided to briefly highlight a few of those activities that would have voted MTN Nigeria as the most talked about telecom operator in the year under review.

MTN Foundation @ 10 One of the many ways through which MTN Nigeria shone brightly in 2015 was the impact it made, and has continued to make through its CSR vehicle, MTN Foundation. Founded in 2005, the foundation positively impacts the lives of many Nigerians through its several activities and amazing works. Supported by MTN with 1% of its Profit after Tax annually, several life-changing initiatives have been deployed with project partners and state governments in 550 locations country-wide to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians in Health, education, economic empowerment, arts, culture and entertainment.

The Foundation also launched its ‘What Can We Do Together’ initiative where Nigerians were invited to participate in and partner with the company to identify select areas of needs requiring attention and support.

With this, 200 communities benefitted from boreholes, transformers, school furniture and donation of household items for orphanages.

MTN Trutalk Win A Home Promo: This promo generated a lot of buzz and excitement for MTN in 2015. The promo afforded 11 customers on its network to C M Y K

address a human need, shelter and own three bedroom houses worth N15m each. The houses were showcased by Lamudi Nigeria, through its vast array of developers. 24 people also won N11,000 cash every hour every day,.

MTN Tech+: The MTN Tech+ congregated an ecosystem that promoted cutting-edge technologies through education, enterprise and innovation in the African Market through exhibition. The expo had a consumer electronics show that provided a platform for companies to display and exhibit products with electrical components. There was a place where new technology and new products merged and innovations converged. It also gave manufacturers, concept generators, content developers and software/hardware companies a platform to showcase their product and services to a broader market.

MTN Project Fame 2015: One of the enduring and most impactful ways through which MTN help in transforming lives and empowering West African youths is the MTN Project Fame.

For the past eight years, MTN Project Fame has been taking

Even school children benefitted. young t alents off the streets and leading them to fame, stardom and economic empowerment.

MTN Project Fame has been able to actualize the quest for youths to become the best they can be.

The 2015 edition saw an 18-yearold Jeffrey Akoh winning the competition, smiling home with a N5 million cash prize, one-year recording contract and a SUV.

For the past eight years, MTN Project Fame has been taking young talents off the streets and leading them to fame, stardom and economic empowerment

MTN Prestige Launch: With the MTN Prestige, the company celebrated its High Value (HV) customers, 100 CEOs and captains of industry to a night of alternative music at a prestigious musical event’. The platform provided an opportunity to engage, endear and excite its HV customers in order to build a stronger brand connection with them. The high point of this event was the launch of the MTN Prestige loyalty and reward programme for its HV customers where customers will get to enjoy a wide range of cost optimization, lifestyle and business benefits among others.

MTN Golf/polo: For many years, MTN has sponsored the annual World Golfers Championship (WGC) and other golfing competitions, as well as polo. These tournaments

Kosava deals wows Lagosians with Snap-a-way-Give-away

By LAJU IREN Thousands of Lagosians who visited Ikeja City Mall to celebrate the Yuletide season had the opportunity to win amazing prices in the snap-a-way-give-

away organized by Coupon website, Kosava deals, in partnership with the Silverbird Group.

Participants were required to take ‘crazy selfies’ which qualified them for lots of give-

From left: Chiwete, Njokanma,Head,Business Development & Sales; Oyihoma Saleh,Chief Executive Officer& Co Founder; Ocheme Saleh, Chief Operation Officer & Co Founder and Nnamdi Okeke, Chief Technology Officer/Co Founder, all of Kosava Digital Limited during the Kosavadeals Snap-away-Giveaway awareness of the company at Ikeja City Mall Alausa, Lagos.

away prizes. Speaking on the motivation behind the event, Managing Director of Kosava Deals, Mr. Oyohoma Saleh said the event was solely designed to enhance the value of online retail experience in Nigeria.

He said: “Before we started Kosava Deals just about a year ago, we noticed that there was no reliable and easy way for Nigerian consumers to find out if retailers have a coupon or discount to help save them money while shopping. This is due to retailers distributing these promotions using a variety of channels in an attempt to gain mass exposure but on the flip side creating a more complex discovery process for consumers.

With Kosava, we are bridging this gap by creating one reliable destination for consumers to find these offers.

have proven to be viable and reliable platforms for customer engagement and interactivity with MTN high-value customers and equally reinforced its role as an enabler of socio-economic development across several fronts in Nigeria. Through its charity gesture, the MTN UNICEF Charity Shield international polo tournament made a N5 million donation to UNICEF with respect to its campaign against HIV/AIDS pandemic among Nigerian children.

MTN Polo: The MTN Polo 2015 was another talking point for the telecoms leader. The event converged lovers of polo. MTN’s involvement in the promotion of Polo and other sports in the country made the Nigerian Polo Federation (NPF) President, Francis Ogboro, to shower encomium on MTN. He stated that, MTN provided a platform for youths and other sports enthusiasts to direct their energy to gainful activities.

Through its charity gesture, the MTN UNICEF Charity Shield international polo tournament made a N5 million donation to UNICEF with respect to its campaign against HIV/AIDS pandemic among Nigerian children.

The cheque presentation was witnessed by the Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Barnabas Bala.

NCC fine on MTN: The imposed N1.04 trillion ($5.2 billion) fine on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission over its failure to disconnect unregistered SIM cards was another talking point in the country. The company which has been the industry leader and bellwether, suffered the sanction for failing to wipe out or disconnect 5.1 million unregistered lines from its network. NCC had in August instructed the telecoms industry to deactivate all unregistered SIM.

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Vanguard, FRIDAY , JANUARY 15, 2016—33

Falana and facts on Dasuki’s case Dear Sir,

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T is apparent that Femi Falana (SAN) is not conversant with the facts of Dasuki’s case otherwise he would not have argued that the Federal Government disobeyed the order concerning Dasuki’s bail.

Dasuki was initially arrested and charged to Court by the DSS on allegation of possession of firearms. He brought an application for his bail which was granted.

However before he perfected his bail conditions , the DSS re-arrested him on another allegation of misappropriation of the money budgeted for the purchase of military hardware for the military to fight Boko Haram. This was after a Panel set up by the National Security Adviser, General Mungono (retd) headed by Retired Air Vice Marshal John Ode had submitted a Report indicting Dasuki and others of mismanagement of money budgeted for purchase of military hardware.

Immediately the Report was made public, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the arrest and prosecution of all those indicted in the Report. This is how Dasuki was re-arrested. In other words, Dasuki was re-arrested for a different crime from which he was initially arrested and granted bail.

This is legal and proper in law because the facts of the previous case is different from the subsequent one.

However, the Federal Government of Nigeria brought a motion before Honourable Justice AFA Ademola seeking the Court to set aside the bail earlier granted Dasuki. Justice Ademola in a considered ruling dismissed the motion and ordered the Federal Government to comply with his previous order.

The Federal Government of Nigeria filed a motion seeking for a stay of execution upon lodging an appeal against the ruling of Justice Ademola refusing to set aside his previous order granting bail to Dasuki. In December 2015 when the motion was scheduled for hearing, the Counsel to Dasuki filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection challenging the jurisdiction of the Court to hear the motion filed by the Federal Government seeking for an order of stay of execution of the Order granting bail to Dasuki on the ground that the Federal Government was in disobedience of the Order granting bail to Dasuki.

This stalled the hearing of the motion filed by the Federal Government seeking for a stay of execution because the Federal Government’s legal team was served in Court that morning with the Notice of Preliminary Objection filed by Dasuki’s counsel and needed time to react. The case was accordingly adjourned to the 21st January 2016 for hearing.

So factually and technically and indeed in law, it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the Federal Government of Nigeria is in disobedience of order granting bail to Dasuki.

In law when a party has appealed against a court order and sought a stay of execution of such order, that Party cannot be said to be in disobedience of that order.

In Kanu Nnamdi’s case, the offence which he was previously charged with

and granted bail is also different from the subsequent one which the DSS rearrested him.

Okoi Obono-obla, Lagos.

Curious paradoxes of a govt Dear sir

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RIOR to the 2015 general elections, the then opposition party criticised and demonised every activity and those occupying various political positions in the ruling party, especially the president. Today, the opposition party is in the saddle and there is a growing dissatisfaction among the populace. Their expectations are been cut short as there is no clear cut direction of government’s policy. The dearth of policies and measures to drive the ailing economy is a cause for concern and the very few in place are being changed at will.

For instance, it was at a press interview that the president appreciated the enormous suffering of citizens who need to be allowed to access foreign currency they lodged with their banks. This shows that the closing of domiciliary accounts for foreign currencies was not given the required thought before it was embarked upon. Secondly, the insidious withdrawal of the appropriation bill from the National Assembly for amendment also shows that the economic team is yet to grasp the depth of the present economy realities. The paradox is that the then opposition overreached itself in a bid to take over government without concrete plans for what to do with it other than to victimise the opposition.

It is curiously paradoxical that the president remained in opposition while the country experienced 16 years of oil boom only to get into office when the economy is about to enter a recession.

Today, many states cannot pay salaries.

For the first time, Nigerians experienced a three months fuel scarcity at a stretch ` without a solution in sight. The naira is at its weakest ever in our history. Most banned items do not have local alternative. More people are losing hope today in this system. The sweet words of campaign should be translated into reality.

The seeming peace in the ruling party is but that of the grave yard. The leadership of the National Assembly has been strongly tied to the Code of Conduct Tribunal and much cannot be expected from that hallowed chamber in this atmosphere of fear and intimidation, which pervades the land.

Those concerned should know that power belongs to the people. Citizens who were promised better employment opportunities are losing jobs.

Businesses that were promised better infrastructural provisions and environments are closing shop for lack of foreign exchange to operate.

Some university programmes are put on hold as payment through TSA has strangled many of them. These paradoxes are too many for comfort. The human elements must be taken into consideration so that the country does not go down just to fight corruption.

Dr. Adimorah Ikem, Asaba .

34—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Bayelsa poll: Hitler hails Jonathan over PDP, Dickson victory

Coalition of rights groups condemns Abia appeal decision

By Anayo Okoli

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MUAHIA—COALITION for Civil Societies for Credible Election, CCSCE, has condemned what it called “the spate of controversial, incoherent and varying judgments coming from the Court of Appeal,” noting that the trend was “worrisome and

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PROMINENT chief in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Delta State, Chief Beck Hilter, has commended former President Goodluck Jonathan for the resounding victory by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and Governor Seriake Dickson at the Bayelsa State governorship election.

The Ijaw leader and marine expert, in a statement, yesterday, in Warri, expressed appreciation to the people of Bayelsa for the supports and casting their votes en masse for the PDP and Governor Dickson.

Hitler congratulated Dickson on his re-election and appealed to Chief Timipre Sylva, candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, to accept the outcome of the election and work with the governor.

He, however, sympathised with the various families, who lost their loved ones during the election, adding that “now that the elections are over, the people of Bayelsa State should live in peace and come together to develop the state.”

disturbing.”

The coalition called on the relevant judiciary authorities to ensure that the trend was stopped to restore the integrity of the nation’s judiciary.

Briefing journalists, yesterday, in Umuahia on the Appeal Court judgment on the 2015 Abia governorship election, the coordinator of the group, Onuoha

Biafra: Kanu’s detention‘ll create national problem —Cleric

By Nwabueze Okonkwo

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NITSHA—THE General Overseer of Bethel House of God Mission, Awkunanaw, Enugu, Enugu State, Bishop Amaechi Agbo has advised the Federal Government to release the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu without further delay, to avoid throwing the nation into an unmanageable crisis.

He said Kanu’s continued detention will continue to create more problem for the Nigerian nation since according to him, detention of Kanu will not stop Biafra from becoming a reality, rather it would generate a crisis that will quicken the coming of Biafra.

Bishop Agbo who spoke at a special service organised for Nigerian leaders, noted that Biafra will surely come to pass, but not as soon as it is being speculated, rather at the appropriate time

when the crisis will possibly force Biafra to separate from Nigeria.

“As for Biafra, it will come to pass but not now. Crisis will force Nigeria to separate from Biafra and nobody can stop it at the appropriate time,” he said.

By Anayo Okoli M UA H I A — S I X T Y undergraduate students from six local government areas of Abia Central senatorial district

have been awarded scholarship by the senator representing the district, Chief Theodore Orji.

The N100, 000 scholarship for each of the beneficiaries drawn from universities, polytechnics

On the general state of the Nigerian nation, Bishop Agbo identified 2016 as a year Nigerians would witness positivelike changing transformation in the country.

of a proper democratic culture.

According to Oliver, the Court of Appeal judgment disenfranchising Obingwa, Isiala Ngwa North and Osisioma Local Government Areas was “very unfair, grossly perverse and ought not to be allowed to stand.”

If allowed, he pointed out, it would confer an undue power on a candidate in any election to invite any court to cancel elections in areas where he is not comfortable or has no support.

According to him, the Appeal Court judgment even denied Governor Okezie Ikpeazu the right to vote for himself as he called on the judiciary to make the votes of Obingwa, Osisioma and Isiala Ngwa already cast to count in the determination of who governs them in Abia State.

The group commended the

Why APGA did not get money from alliance with PDP —Umeh

By Emmanuel Aziken

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MMEDIATE PAST chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Victor Umeh has said, the party did not collect a single kobo to support the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the last presidential election, noting that the support was essentially ideological.

Speaking against the background of reports that some other political parties including the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and Accord Party, collected N100 million each to support the PDP, Umeh said that nobody collected

Orji awards N6m scholarship to indigent, brilliant undergraduates

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Oliver, said it would be unfortunate if such was allowed to stand as it could create voters' apathy and cynicism.

The group said that it was their duty as civil society groups to draw the attention of discerning members of the society and the authorities of the adverse consequences of the development that could mar the development

and colleges of education from across the nation, is awarded under the aegis of Senator T. A. Orji Scholarship Scheme.

The scholarship is for indigent and brilliant students.

a kobo on behalf of APGA for the support given the PDP in the last presidential election.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Umeh, the party’s senatorial candidate in the forthcoming Anambra Central re-run election ruled out the participation of the immediate past senator, Uche Ekwunife in the election, noting that she cannot participate in the same election on the platform of two different political parties.

“We didn’t get into that arrangement because of monetary benefit. Not a kobo was given to anybody or APGA. Some people think that APGA, being a robust supporter of President Jonathan more than the SDP and Accord Party, which got N100 million each, then we must have got more, but I am so happy that I didn’t entangle myself in such thing.

"It would have been an opportunity for those who are worried that I am contesting the senatorial election to come and

pick me up and dump me at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, cell.

Affirming the ineligibility of the former senator representing Anambra Central in the forthcoming election, he said: “Having been disqualified through her previous party, crossing over to the All Progressives Congress, APC, would mean that she would be contesting one election on two different platforms if she was allowed to contest.

“This is very absurd and I think that she is wasting her time and therefore, has to get proper legal advice. Whoever advised her that she can jump from PDP to APC and become its candidate and return to the election, has not given her proper advice.

"Assuming that she has that right, the Supreme Court judgment that I explained, has foreclosed that option. There is nothing that can make the APC present her for the election.”

By Bartholomew Madukwe (08102479985) nwamad@yahoo.com

PEOPLE SPEAK

Should corrupt officials willing to return stolen funds be pardoned?

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f they should be pardoned, let them first be punished because of the suffering they subjected Nigerians to by looting public funds.They should have their names published in local and foreign media. -Mrs. Ifeoma Ayambuba, Businesswoman

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hat is good for the goose is good for the gander. Anyone speaking about pardon should be ready to pardon all criminals. They should not pardon the elite only and leave the poor because the elite are the real thiefs in Nigeria. -Mr. Obuwin Cyril, Worker

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here are many Nigerians serving different terms in prison, just because they stole little things as goats, shoes among others. If that is the case, why are we now talking about pardoning those who stole millions of naira?

-Mr. Sani Abdulsalam, Entrepreneur

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ardon corrupt officials in Nigeria! When you pardon one person, others will loot because they believe the government will pardon them too. We do not need that. Their act is making so many suffer, while they live good. Miss Jazmim Tera, Businesswoman

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his is a very interesting question. But let us take our mind back to a nearby country like Ghana.What if Jerry Rawlings had pardoned those who stole money in Ghana, they would have witnessed more atrocities till today. -Mr. Lawrence Idowu, Worker

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agree they should be pardoned because lots of them will not return money if they are still going to jail.

The government should do their homework well to ascertain the amount embezzled by the looters and modality for refund. -Mr. Mushere Okan, Self Employed

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 , 2016—35

Release Zakzaky, in-law, others now, Islamic Movement warns

By Jimoh Babatunde

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ADUNA—MEMBERS of the Shiite Islamic Movement of Nigeria has called for the unconditional release of its leader, Sheikh Ibraheem Yaqoub Zakzaky, his sister-inlaw, and other members incarcerated since last month as well as release of corpses of those killed for proper and befitting Islamic burial.

The group in a statement said since the December 2015 faceup with the Nigerian Army that the government has not been able to justify atrocities committed by the army that led to their members arrests.

“We are still adamant in our request that the Sheikh be set free unconditionally, because up to now the government has not been able to justify the unjustifiable atrocities committed by the army that led to his arrest.”

The movement they say is relieved that Zakzaky is still alive as revealed by members of the contact committee set up by the National Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, NSCIA, that visited their leader where he is being held by the federal government.

“According to a member of the

committee, Prof. Dahiru Yahya, they met the Sheikh and his wife Sister Zeenah Ibraheem in Abuja, who are all recuperating from the bullet wounds they sustained during the army’s attack on the Islamic Movement in Zaria.

The group said they welcome the development as “it is a step forward in quelling the anxiety of the teeming millions of

Muslims and non-Muslims alike, all over the globe, in knowing at least the whereabout of the Sheikh and the condition of his health.”

The movement in the statement signed by the Media President, Ibrahim Musa, said they have been able to establish some figures that indicate how gruesome the avoidable attack by the Nigerian army has been.

“In our list there are about 730 people, men and women, who are still missing, since that fateful Saturday 12th December, 2015. These missing people were either killed by the army or are in detention, but whose where about is still unknown and undisclosed.

“Also there are 220 brothers of the Islamic movement in detention in Kaduna Central prison, some of them with fatal gun wounds and burns.

The Islamic Movement said from reliable reports that they have been able to confirm the detention where some of their members are being held by the Nigerian army in Kaduna, Bauchi and Abuja.

BRIEFING: From left: Hajia Muheeba Dankaka, Deputy Chaiperson, Main Organising Committee of 37th Kaduna International Trade Fair; Usman Salauwa, Director-General, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, and Dr. Abdul-Alimi Bello, President, Kaduna Chamber of Commerce, during a briefing by the chamber on 37th Kaduna International Trade Fair In Lagos.

Senator, lawmaker's rift scuttles appointment of LG chair

M

By Peter Duru

AKURDI—THE lingering rift and power tussle between Senator Barnabas Gemade and the lawmaker for Vandeikya/ Konshisha federal constituency, Hermen Hembe, has reportedly scuttled the appointment of a local government caretaker committee for Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State.

Vanguard learned that Governor Samuel Ortom, who yesterday inaugurated new caretaker committees for the 23 local government areas of the state, left out Konshisha local government due to the rift between the duos who hailed from the local government area.

St Edna's old students meet

O

LD students of St. Enda’s College, Agbarho (formerly Agbarho Grammar School, Agbarho) Lagos branch, holds its monthly general meeting tomorrow at 12B, Abuja Close, Agbara Estate, Agbara, Ogun State at 3.00 p.m.

General Secretary, Mr. Sunny Orode urges members to be punctual to discuss crucial issues concerning the school and members.

C M Y K

According to the informed source, the duo, who supposedly control the politics of the local government area, could not agree on who should be appointed into the new caretaker committee for the area.

He said: “The fact is that the governor could not inaugurate a new caretaker committee for Konshisha alongside the other 22 councils because Senator Gemade and Herman Hembe who are the top APCpoliticiansfromthatareacouldnot agree on who should be picked.

“The disagreement stemmed from the fact the immediate past caretaker chairman of the area, Mr. Kor Adem, is a closepoliticalallyofSenatorGemade,and this time, Mr. Hembe is insisting that he should be allowed to produce the next chairman which the Gemade camp is resisting.

Labour reaches agreement with Nycil over sacked staff

By Oboh Agbonkhese

O

TTA—THE four union executive committee members sacked by Nycil Nigeria Ltd. will get one year gross salary, while the 13 other staff will get six months, according to the agreement reached between National Union of Chemical, Footwear,

Rubber, Leather and NonMetallic Products Employees, NUCFRLAMPE, and Nycil with the Ministry of Labour, Ogun State Office, mediating.

The resolution ended the picketing of Nycil headquarters at Otta, Ogun State, which had entered day two, following the sack of 17 workers during the yuletide break in what

NUCFRLAMPE National President, Comrade Boniface Isok described as “an ambush.”

After the negotiation, which lasted for hours, Isok told journalists: “We gave the company seven days to recall the 17 workers but they ignored us, so we locked up the company. Thank God for the agreement, this must be implemented within seven days.

Rights group urges FG to arrest, prosecute alleged sponsors of Boko Haram

L

AGOS—HUMAN rights group, Youth and Conflict Resolution Initiatives, YCRI, has charged the concerned authorities to arrest and prosecute sponsors of Boko Haram group.

YCRI in a release by its International Relations, Mr Efemena Agadama, while appreciating the sacrifices of the Nigerian armed forces against

the terrorists, said the federal government must not forget that Boko Haram could only be eradicated when the sponsors are identified and legally held accountable for sponsoring the atrocities of the sect.

The statement read in part: “This is acceptably vital in conflict resolution to deter a recurrence as there still remains no statistical or logical explanation on how

those Boko Haram fighters alleged to be uneducated and jobless could have amassed those heavy war arsenals and destructive technology to have attacked and seized sizable amount of lands from the Nigerian federation.

“The audacious belief that some powerful individuals and groups can purchase weapons of war for jobless youths and unleash mayhem, destruction and deaths on sleeping communities must stop."

16 mgt staff of Bauchi fire service sacked

B

By Suzan Edeh

AUCHI—THE Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, has terminated the appointment of 16 management staff of the state fire service.

According to a source, the sack was a result of the alleged failure of the service in addressing the alarming rates of inferno in the State.

The source said the governor was not happy over the way and manner houses were being destroyed by fire in the state without the intervention of the fire service.

“The governor procured fire fighting vehicles for the fire stations on assumption of office to save lives and properties, but failure of the fire service to live up to its responsibilities led to the sack of the management staff” “The sack is to serve as a deterrent to others as well as to ensure productivity in the system,” the source added.

Bello Mohammed emerges new Ohi of Adavi

L

By Olorunfemi Fanwo

OKOJA—ALHAJI Bello Mohammed Oreyi has been elected by the Council of Kingmakers as the new Ohi of Adavi in Kogi State.

Ireyi who succeeds the late Ohi, Dr. Bello Ibrahim, who died on October. 14, 2015 at the age of 78, emerged the new Ohi after beating nine other contestants in an election for the vacant stool.

One of the kingmakers, Mallam Yakubu Beida, while announcing Bello as the new Ohi elect, said that Bello polled eight out of the 13 votes, while four other contestants scored one vote each.

He said that five other contestants had no vote.

“Having scored the highest vote which was 8 out of the total votes cast of 13,AlhajiBelloMohammedIreyi isherebydeclaredthewinnerand returnedelectedasOhiofAdavi,“ he said.

36—Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

VISIT: Governor Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom State (3rd right); High

Commissioner of Jamaica in Nigeria, Ann Scott ( 3rd left); Counsellor and Head, Political & Economic Section, Embassy of the Kingdom of Belguim (2nd Right); an official of the embassy (2nd left) and promoters of Mary Slessor Legacies, during a courtesy visit to the governor in Uyo.

WEDDED: From left— Elder Segun Olusanya, groom's father; Mrs Lola Dada, brides mother; the couple, Mr and Mrs Seyi Olusanya; Dr. Bola Olusanya, groom's mother and Rev Joseph Dada, bride's father, during the wedding between Fikayo and Seyi at Foursquare Gospel Church, Ikoyi, Lagos.

AGRICULTURE: From left— Dr. Nimota Akanbi, former Nigerian Ambassador to the Netherlands; Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State at the flag-off of the second phase of the agricultural equipment for commercial hiring operators at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanisation, Ilorin, Tuesday.

LAGOS ROADS: From left— Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Local Government & Community Affairs, Mr. Bababtunde Sanuth; Commissioner for Local Government & Community Affairs, Alhaji Muslim Folami; Chairman, Conference 57 and Executive Secretary, Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Kolade Alabi; and Lagos State Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, during a briefing on the commencement of construction of 114 roads in Lagos State by Conference of Local Governments and Local Council Development Area, at Ikeja, Lagos.

GMD/CEO, UAC Nigeria, Mr. Larry Ettah (right) and MD, UAC Property Development Company Plc, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, at the ceremony.

ONE-STATE ONE-PRODUCT: From left (front row)— Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Funmi Ajayi; Director/Zonal Controller, Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Mr. George Enyiekpon; Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Otunba Bimbo Ashiru; Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Modupe Bosede and others, at a follow-up meeting on One-State One-Product initiative in Abeokuta.

SHELL PENSIONERS: Apostle Francis Ojoh (right), inaugurating

the new Shell Pensioners Association executive, (from left) Chairman, Mr. Lucky Dudun; Vice Chairman, Chief Pitylove Abanre; Mr. Godswill Komani and others, during their annual general meeting in Warri. PHOTO: Akpokona Omafuaire.

C M Y K

GOVERNOR'S CUP: From left— General Manager, Corporate Affairs Manager, Federal Airports Authority Nigeria, FAAN, Mr. Yakubu Dati; Captain, IBB Golf Club, Abuja, Mr Hamid Abbo; Captain, Rayfield Golf Club 1913, Jos, Mr. Dagwom Howlshe, and Captain, Laminga Golf Club, Professor Nuhu Dakum, during the 2015 Plateau State Governor's Cup in Jos.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 37

When soldiers touched the tail of the tiger

•Major Nzeogwu

Prologue

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

T

HE military exercise was codenamed Exercise Damisa, a word drawn from the Hausa word for tiger, the largest animal in the cat family. The leader of the operation in the north was Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu whose middle name means crocodile, the aquatic foe of many tigers.

Remarkably, when Exercise Damisa fully unfolded into its real intentions in the wee hours of January 15, 1966, it left in its trail the flow of blood that can be imagined when a hungry crocodile grasps the tail of the tiger.

Hungry crocodile Exercise Damisa was the cover in the North for the first military coup staged in Nigeria. While the coup in the north with epicentre in Kaduna was largely successful despite the aversions of one Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Ojukwu who held sway as commanding officer of the brigade in Kano, the operation failed in the rest of the country.

The instigators were ideologically minded army officers who were fuelled by a revolutionary zeal to upturn what they saw as the social and political malaise in the land.

Foreshadowing the January 15, 1966 coup were crises in some sections of the country, particularly in the Southwest and the MiddleBelt sections of the country.

Though essentially localised, the political alliances between the active players in those crisis-ridden C M Y K

•Major Ifeajuna sections of the country and the men at the federal level inevitably translated the crisis into a national crisis. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, one of the nation’s founding fathers

•Major Gbulie

who had seemingly lost out in the political battle with his erstwhile deputy in the Action Group, Chief Samuel Akintola was as at January 15, 1966, under incarceration in

Excerpts of Major Nzeogwu’s coup speech My dear countrymen, no citizen should have anything to fear, so long as that citizen is law abiding and if that citizen has religiously obeyed the native laws of the country and those set down in every heart and conscience since 1st October, 1960.

Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand 10 per cent; those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office as ministers or VIPs at least, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society and put the Nigerian political calendar back by their words and deeds.

Like good soldiers we are not promising anything miraculous or spectacular. But what we do promise every law abiding citizen is freedom from fear and all forms of oppression, freedom from general inefficiency and freedom to live and strive in every field of human endeavour, both nationally and internationally. We promise that you will know more be ashamed to say that you are a Nigerian.

Why they called it an Igbo coup — First Republic Minister, Mbazulike Amechi

Calabar Prison serving out a sentence for alleged treasonable felony. Some of his lieutenants were either in other prisons under the same yoke or had simply relocated from the country.

Dictating the pace and pattern of political policy was Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern Region who held sway in Kaduna as leader of the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC, the party that with its allies formed the largest bloc in the federal parliament.

Sir Bello, was also the Sardauna of Sokoto and a great-greatgrandson of the conquering Fulani warrior, Sheikh Othman Dan Fodio who founded the Fulani hegemony over most of Northern Nigeria.

Though the economy was throttling at a relatively modest pace, economic prospects at the time of the coup were already becoming clouded by the political shenanigans of the period. In the North, opposition elements were being denied economic access and licences to state-controlled economic facilities.

In the West, political disciples of Awolowo who were not in prison were forced to keep a low profile.

Indeed, in the whole country, the malady of corruption was assuming what was at that time described as monstrous proportions with government

Nothing good about military intervention — Adebanjo

business being facilitated by the ten percent factor.

It was under this cloud that the idealistic army officers that led the January 15 uprising surfaced. The officers were by several accounts influenced by the university graduates in the army who at that time were less than ten.

The most idealistic of them was the fiery Major Emmanuel Ifeajuna, a Commonwealth Games medallist and one of the first graduates to have enrolled into the army.

By several accounts, the plan for the operation commenced sometime in 1965 with Majors Nzeogwu, Ifeajuna, Wale Ademoyega, himself a graduate of history among the ring leaders.

Flamboyant industrialist The operation turned bloody in Kaduna and Lagos with the heads of the regional governments in the North and Western regions, Bello and Chief SLA Akintola eliminated. Also eliminated were the prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa and the minister of finance, the flamboyant industrialist turned politician, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh.

That the coup was propelled by revolutionary instincts was underscored by the fact that Nzeogwu was followed by many northern soldiers in the killing of the North’s premier, Sir Bello.

However, the casualties of the coup with the notable exception of one, Colonel Arthur Unegbe were all non Igbo. That was against the fact that the majority of the coup planners were also Igbo.

In days, the political permutations increasingly changed bringing sectional hues to the coup.

Fifty years on, the flacks from that coup attempt and the fractures generated from it continue to haunt the nation.

The many misconceptions about Festus Okotie-Eboh —Dere Awosika, daughter

38—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Why they called it an Igbo coup — Mbazulike Amechi CHIEF Mbazulike Amechi, popularly known as ‘The boy is good’ was a first republic parliamentarian and first post Independence Minister of Aviation. He was a strong member of the defunct Zikist Movement and since the first bloody military coup on January 1966, which sacked the politicians, Amechi has been living in his community, Ukpor in Nnewi South local government area. He spoke on his experience:

By Vincent Ujumadu

O

N the coup: On January 15, 1966, themy struck and turned the weapons which we issued to them to defend the country, on the government and the leaders that issued the weapons to them. In the process, they killed the Prime minister of the country; they killed the premier of the West; they killed the premier of the North. They were about to kill the premier of the East but what saved Dr Michael Okpara was that Archbishop Macarious, the president of Cyprus, was his guest that night and probably they wouldn’t want war between Cyprus and Nigeria.

On the other hand they could not kill Chief Dennis Osadebey because there was no Army in Benin at the time of the coup and so Osadebey managed to escape.

They also killed Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, the Federal Minister of Finance. They also killed some members of their own group. For example, Brigadier Maimalari was innocently killed.

My close friend, Colonel Arthur Unegbe was also killed. He was in charge of the Armoury and because he was reluctant to release the Armoury to them, they shot and killed him in his house. Since then, Nigeria has never been the same and Nigeria has never attained anything near the dreams of the founding fathers and nationalists and fought for independence of the nation.

Many people had the impression that the coup was tribal in nature in view of the way casualties were recorded.

I don’t know about that but I have told you the reason why Okpara could not be killed. I was going home myself. The first time the military entered the Midwest, I met them at Abudu because my wife had a baby at Charles Borromeo Hospital at Onitsha and that day they were to be discharged from hospital. So after the parliamentary session on 14th January, 1966, I drove from Lagos through Benin. I slept in Benin so that I could get to Onitsha in good time to be able

•Amechi to pick my wife and the baby.

They were moving to Benin from Enugu or so. By then I didn’t know that something happened in the night because it was already morning. My car was carrying the NCNC and the Nigeria flag and at Abudu, one Army jeep swerved off the road and ran into our lane. My driver swerved into the field and the jeep came into the field also. An Army captain came out of the jeep and ordered his driver to move on.

I didn’t know a coup had taken place. I just took it that the soldiers could be drunk and could do anything. It was only when I got to Onitsha that my mother in-law told me that the Army had taken over government and killed the prime minister and others. She said the radio had been announcing it and that was how I knew that there was a coup.

There and then, I told my driver to remove the flags on the car.

By then, the coup plotters had announced that Dr Nwafor Orizu, the acting president had been removed because the president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, was abroad on medical trip. They said they were handing over the government to General Aguiyi Ironsi and were expecting a

I didn’t know a coup had taken place. I just took it that the soldiers could be drunk and could do anything

Killing of Igbo soldiers

Nothing good about military intervention —Adebanjo CHIEF Ayo Adebanjo is a chieftain of the Pan-Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere. In this chat, Adebanjo urges the younger crop of politicians to take a cue from mistakes made in the First Republic.

By Dapo Akinrefon

W

HAT is your assessment of the intervention of the military into the political arena?

The sacrifice made by our forefathers in establishing democracy, they (military) truncated it and ever since, we have not recovered. They truncated the federal system of government, which gave each region autonomy, we have not recovered from that and that has been causing a lot of instability.

The military introduced corruption to the country at that time and by the time they left, after an interregnum of about 33 years, the young element saw the military as a standard and this has not been paying us at all. If you remember it was during the

Babangida regime that politics was monetized and that institutionalized corruption.

There is nothing good to write home about the military regime because each time they come, they set the country backwards. When the Tafawa Balewa administration was truncated, some of us accused them of corruption by receiving ten per cent. Those of us who said that, we must apologise to the politicians of that time because those who are collecting bribe now do not take 10%.

So, there is nothing to write home about the military. What we are clamouring for is for the good old days of democracy should come back.

What lessons are to be learned from the

•Adebanjo intervention?

The present crop of politicians that we have jump from one party to another, there is no standard, no vision, no principle. We should try to establish the standard laid by people like Chief Obafemi

broadcast. So I rang my confidential secretary, one Mrs. Marinho to go to my house in Ikoyi to ask one Joe Obi to pack all my things, separating government property from my own and put my things in a lorry and send home. That was how I ended my ministerial appointment. By the third day of the coup, everything I had was at home here and I said thank God. Well, the Army took over and they continued to blunder. They continued to do what they were trained to do; that is to destroy; to kill and to loot. Then the quarrel between two Lieutenant Colonels – Ojukwu and Yakubu Gowon – eventually led the country to a civil war. Ojukwu said he was senior to Gowon and that Gowon cannot be the head of state when he (Ojukwu) was a governor.

Awolowo, who believed in the principle of honesty, integrity and service to the people, which is no longer the yardstick now.

For instance, you find a good man in one party today, the moment you deny him a platform for election, he is going to another party, not on any principle.

You must have a party with a vision, with integrity and principles which the politics of today lack.

You cannot find a politician who could say that for the past 20 years, he has been in one political party, if you trace the history of some politicians today, they must have changed parities more than once, I do not want to embarrass anybody. It has not been a pleasant experience at all, we can only pray to God that he should effect the change to make the future good for the youths. The youths should learn.

Gowon said if you want to be head of state, come to Lagos so that soldiers could take order from you. The argument continued until it led to the killing of Igbos in the north and killing of Igbo soldiers all over the country, with one of them buried alive in Ibadan. The young man had insisted on not doing what they wanted and they threatened to kill him. He said he was prepared to die; after all it was only one bullet that could kill him.

So they told him they were not going to waste a bullet on him and buried him alive after forcing him to dig his grave. He was a major in the Army. A lot of atrocities were committed then.

What do you could be the reason for the coup?

I wouldn’t say I knew the intention of the boys who took over government because Ademulegun and other Yoruba officers never admitted that it was an Igbo coup. It only happened that there were more Igbo officers involved in the coup because there were so many Igbo officers in the army at that time.

C M Y K

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016—39

The many misconceptions about my father, Festus Okotie-Eboh —Dere Awosika, daughter DR. Ajoritsedere Awosika served as the permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Ministry of Science & Technology and the Federal Ministry of Power respectively. In this chat, Dr Awosika, who is the sixth child of the late federal commissioner for Finance, Chief Festus Okotie-Eboh, says she is not bothered whether or not the Federal Government immortalises her late father. Excerpts:

By Dapo Akinrefon

F

IFTY years after his death, how are his children planning to remember him?

We remember him every day but hold a memorial event annually. Fifty years after his death, his principles and the issues he fought for still need to be examined. Fifty years after his demise, there is a need for history to make room for him as an enigma. It is to this extent that we intend to launch a book in his honour titled, ‘Chief F.S. Okotie-Eboh; CMG/MP: In time and space.’

My father should be remembered as somebody who was brave, honest and made his money from hard work. This is a country where people believe that anybody who has money stole it. My father was raised by poor parents and he worked very hard for his country. He never stole Nigeria’s money; rather, he gave his money to the country. Before he became a minister, he owned shoe, plastic, cement and rubber factories and never made a noise about free education. He practised it.

Noise about free education He was accountable and a man of great discipline.

How would you want the government to remember him?

The government will need to choose how best to honour a man with the aforementioned feats and qualities. Efforts have been made to ask the federal government to immortalise him, but I want God to put a stamp on the book we would be launching. I want people to remember him for the impact he made while alive. The government has not been fair to him.

Did he not encourage any of you to take after him?

My father died when we were very young. I was 13 years old when he died. But he drew some of his sons into his business enterprises.

C M Y K

What memorable times did you share?

To be honest, the major memory of him was his disciplinarian and prudent attitude. I attended a boarding primary school at age five and whenever I was home on holiday, he made sure that I interacted with his cook, driver and steward including their children. He treated everybody equally. I grew up in that way without seeing myself different from others. There was no difference between me and other children in our environment.

Besides, he did not allow us to know that he had money. But I heard it from my school that my father was rich. He used to neatly arrange some pennies on a table in his room. Each time he asked me to go and tidy his room, I used to see the pennies.

But if anybody took one of the pennies, he would know.

Before he joined politics, he was involved in many business activities. How did he create time for his family?

My father created time for his family. The way we work now is not the way that people worked during his time. He always left his office in the Ministry of Finance located at Mosaic House, Tinubu Square, Lagos, at 3:30pm and by 3:45pm, he was home. We always ate lunch together with his guests.

Honesty and hard work

•Dere Awosika

•Late Okotie-Eboh

Before he left, he commissioned the Asaba-Onitsha Bridge. He wrote a letter on January 13, 1966 that the prime minister should declare a state of emergency or they would all be killed

Where were you when he died?

I was in Sapele. Sir Tafawa Balewa sent for him on January 12, 1966 to return to Lagos and cut short his leave. Before he left, he commissioned the Asaba-Onitsha Bridge. He wrote a letter on January 13, 1966 that the prime minister should declare a state of emergency or they would all be killed. My birthday is January 15 and I was in Sapele celebrating it.

He called me a day before my birthday to tell me to have a big birthday party. We were celebrating when the message came that there was a coup and that he had been killed. We did not believe the news initially especially as we had to search for him for a year. It was after a year (in 1967) that his corpse was brought in before the civil war.

Some people believe that he changed his name after marriage. Can you shed light on this?

No, he was first Festus Samuel Edah. He later discovered that Edah was an adopted father and that his biological father was Okotie-Eboh. That was why he changed his name. He had nothing to lose answering to Edah because he was already a success at the time. He did what he knew was right which had been part of his character. He

was never one to do otherwise once he knew he was doing the right thing.

What kind of father was he?

He was a comet and a very rare person. I can confidently say that because I have worked with top executives in the country. Thus, I often wonder how my father still had the time to pack my loads whenever I was returning to school, read my letters and reply them and how he achieved all he did at his age.

I was young and did not know what they told the family. There were many soldiers deployed in Sapele when the corpse of my father was brought in that day.

Perhaps, the government felt that the people would react violently to the reality of his death.

I got the idea that my father was a comet that day. As his corpse was brought to Sapele in the afternoon, everywhere became dark. There was no rain but the whole town was engulfed in darkness.

How have his children been coping since his death?

We are coping well.

We have some issues as children but some of the issues are individualistic based on the principles some have imbibed.

What values did he teach you?

My father taught me honesty and hard work. He also taught me to be detribalised. I married a Yoruba man and I have friends in all parts of the country. My home is home to all.

When I was a Permanent Secretary in the ministries of Internal Affairs, Power and Science and Technology, I never had an Itsekiri person either as a special or personal assistant. They came from other tribes.

What do you miss most about him?

I miss the fact that he did not live long. I also miss the fact that he was unable to consolidate on the great foundation he laid. I miss his fatherly role but I must add that my husband has done well for me. In all, I am happy that I married a good man.

40—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

It was the quarrel between Mrs. Awolowo and Mrs. Akintola — Yakassai D r. Tanko Yakassai was an active political player in the First Republic having held several national positions in the defunct Northern Elements Peoples Union, NEPU among which were National Financial Secretary, National Youth Leader, National Organising Secretary and subsequently National Secretary of the Aminu Kano led party. In the Second Republic he shifted to the National Party of Nigeria, NPN and was the Presidential Liaison Officer to the National Assembly. He currently chairs the Northern Elders’ Council. He speaks on the factors that led to the January 15, 1966 coup and the consequences thereafter.

By Omeiza Ajayi

Y

OU were very much around in 1966. Was there any need for the coup of that year?

No, and I said it in my autobiography because, the only argument was that there were political crises in Western Nigeria between two factions of the Action Group AG -the Awolowo group and that of Akintola.

Of course, that crisis was serious butitwasonlylimitedtoareasaround Ibadan and Ijebu-Ode. Then, in Tiv division, there was crisis between supporters of the AG and UMBC and the result was that the crisis in thesetwoplacesledtosomekillings, but the rest of the country was in peace.

The pretext the military used was that they took over power in order to quell those two crises in those areas.

But if you look at the consequences of their actions -all they wanted to do was to save lives, but the coup led to the civil war and a rough estimate of the number of people killed on both sides during the war was five million

which was not even the accurate figure.

So, if you came to save less than a hundred lives and you ended up killing over five million people, would you call that intervention justified? The coup was not necessary, but it was part of the process of development. You see, what brought about it was the

The military took over in 1966 believing that they could stop the killings in some parts of the West, but in the end they created a condition for the civil war

•Yakassai quarrel in the Action Group, but even that quarrel, according to insiders, was not “national”.

People said it was a quarrel between the wife of the AG leader, Chief Awolowo and the wife of the man who succeeded him, his deputy, Chief Akintola and the reason for the fight was that when Awolowo was the Premier, the allegation was that his wife was getting contracts for the supply of exercisebooksandreadingmaterials in primary and secondary schools and that when he left power and was succeeded by his deputy, the wife of the deputy insisted that the contract should be shared between

her and Mrs Awolowo.

That led to a quarrel between the two wives and eventually it became a quarrel between two giants which led to the break-up of the party, but the public view of the crisis was that Akintola was of the opinion that the only way for the Yorubas to be in the mainstreamofNigerianpoliticswas to cooperate with the northern leaders.

Awolowowasopposedtothatand the crisis led to the split of the party at their convention in Jos, I think in 1962 or thereabout. That was what led to the crisis and also that was the excuse given by the military to take over power.

In essence, could that be the

Military intervention shaped Nigeria’s democracy — Col. Ogbebor, retd England, many countries who Though not involved in the January 15, 1966 coup, Col. Paul Ogbebor (Rtd) was nevertheless, a major player on the side of the Federal forces in the civil war that followed the uprising.

In this interview with Vanguard, he insists that military intervention eventually helped to shape the nation’s democracy. Excerpts:

By Simon Ebegbulem, Benin City

M

I L I T A R Y intervention in

our political system has helped us a lot there is no doubt about that. That insinuation that it is our problem is not true. The 1975 coup came with mixed reactions because Gen. Gowon had successfully ended the war.

The problem was that he gave a date for hand over unfortunately he changed that date twice and that led to the 1975 coup. It is difficult to describe any coup as justified or not because some people will be happy while others would disagree.

C M Y K

So military intervention has helped us a lot, otherwise if it was during the civilian era that the civil war came, Nigeria could not have survived it. As at 1966 January, Nigeria was already factionalized with restiveness in the West. Remember the operation WETIE in the West and in Benue area, remember the battles in the Tiv area, many people died.

The Tivs wanted to separate from the Northern region. You also remember the skirmishes in the South East when many people could not cross the Niger bridge. That was why the January 1966 coup was welcomed all over the country. War in any country will come when it wants to come

•Ogbebor and normally it is a tonic. We had the American civil war and after that America started to have progress. China, Spain,

Military intervention has helped us a lot, otherwise if it was during the civilian era that the civil war came, Nigeria could not have survived it

witnessed military intervention later witnessed progress and that is the same with Nigeria.

The military intervention in Nigeria was an act of God and it helped us a lot. If you remember that as at 1966 we had only three to four universities in Nigeria, we had regions those days but today we have many states rather than regions. And each state is today a centre of development.

The military intervention has helped us in achieving rapid development. The only problem is that during military rule freedom is limited but they take decisions that directly impact on the lives of the people.

Most of the people talking don’t know about the civil war.

Without security no nation will stand. What the military did in 1966 was to secure the nation. If the military had not come by then there would have been serious problems.

But the military intervention came to sustain Nigeria.

beginning of our setback in our quest for true democracy?

In our march towards perfecting democratic rule, the military intervention was the main cause of our setback. The first one of 1966 and the second one of 1983 when Buhari overthrew Shagari.

We have had 16 straight years of civilian rule. Do you foresee any possible military incursion in the nearest future?

Well, I am not God; only God can tellwhatwouldhappeninthefuture but, at times the disenchantment anddissatisfactionwithinthesociety at large, could affect the psyche of the different segments of the society, the military also included. For instance, there is widespread poverty and lack money in circulation in the country now.

People, hardly are able to have enough to take care of themselves and their dependents.

The military took over in 1966 believing that they could stop the killings in some parts of the West, but in the end they created a condition for the civil war. When the price of oil came down from $45 to about $7 per barrel in 1982/83, Buhari and his group thought that if they took over power, they would be able to handle the situation. This was exactly why they overthrew Shagari.

Buhari’s broadcast I read Buhari’s broadcast and he talked of corruption but there was no corruption because I just went through the list of members of Shagari’s cabinet, aides, ministers, advisers, assistants and others, and Ithinkwewere75orso.Throughout the two-year period of the military tribunal, only five people were indicted. Most of those convicted were state government officials but people at the centre, the majority of them, were not indicted and so we cannot describe that regime as corrupt.

The corruption that we are now talking about was exacerbated by the military from 1983 to date. Even the misfortune we had was that when this country was going back to civilian rule, power was handed over by the military to a retired military officer and therefore he ran the system with a military psyche.

Now, he handpicked Yar’Adua and after he died, he (Obasanjo) manoeuvredtogetJonathantotake over with the hope that he would continue to dictate from the background. He amended the constitution of his party to make himself the life-chairman of the Board of Trustees BOT. This was after he had sold everything saleable to his kitchen cabinet boys and when Yar’Adua came, he realized that life could not continue that way and he decided to reverse the sales of many of those properties and other policies. When Jonathan succeeded Yar’Adua, Obasanjo also hoped that he would stay in his Ota Farm to be dictating things to Jonathan because dictatorship is part of the military psyche and they live by directing their subordinates.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 41

Muslim SoulMates Do you seek a Muslim life Partner?

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ELCOME to Muslim SoulMates in Vanguard. A unique platform for single Muslims who wish to find their potential marriage partners on this page. We have designed it to help you find perfect soul mates every Friday.

We will also give counsel where necessary in order to keep with the halal standard. Our aim is to further develop couples that could be blessed, compatible, enduring following Islamic injunctions. It promises to be a rewarding service just as we will treat all inquiries and submissions in confidence.

Send your profile, contact and details of who you want, not more than 75 words to isholaism@yahoo.co.uk. Names and contacts will not be published.

Rabiul-Thani 5, 1437 A.H.

A Muslim's obligation of Love for Allah W HEN we love Allah, that love draws us closer to Him and helps us build a strong relationship that can help us in this life and in hereafter. As Muslims, our faith requires that our love for Allah and his prophet supersedes any other type of love for any other object or creation.

Many scholars agree on the basis of sound ahadith that Allah creates a person (and his heart) in such a way that he has the natural inclination to love Allah.

However, as a person’s heart gets corrupted by doubts, desires and other temptations, that love has to be rekindled through faith and knowledge.

Love of Allah requires us to love what Allah loves and to dislike what displeases Him and to further demonstrate that love by following the Quran and the Sunnah. This should be a reminder for those of us who merely provide lip service about their love for Allah and His messenger rather than actualizing that love in real behavioral commitments.

Let’s review various aspects about the love of Allah and how we can build and nurture that love in our hearts.

The Obligation to Love Allah Allah has made His love obligatory on the believers. Many of us find it easy to express that love verbally but unfortunately our actions don’t reflect that love for Him. How can we claim to love Allah when we take what He has revealed lightly, don’t follow His commands, and fail to make our behaviors reflect what pleases Him?

Temptations of temporal life Many times we find that love missing from our hearts because our hearts are filled instead with doubts, vain desires, and temptations of temporal life. As Ibn Taymiyyah stated in one of his books (Diseases of the Heart), one of the reasons for this has to do with the lack of right knowledge. To counter doubts, therefore, we need to firm up our beliefs, and we need a better overall spiritual perspective in order to counter desires and temptations. We also need to clear those doubts that hinder the instilling of that love for Allah by learning more and asking questions. Consider one of the hadiths which shows the prophet getting angry with a group of people for taking a decision that resulted in someone unnecessarily losing his life. On

that the prophet said, “Could they not have asked if they didn’t know? Indeed the cure for ignorance is to ask” [Sunan Ibn Majah and classified as Hasan].

When we don’t make that effort and don’t plant that love in our hearts, our actions too come out short and empty and we risk His anger and making our deeds fruitless. Allah says in the Quran: “That is because they followed that which angered Allah, and hated that which pleased Him. So He made their deeds fruitless” (Surah Muhammad:28).

What do we have to do specifically to love Allah? Take the example of the companions of Prophet who used to say that “We love Allah”. In response to that and to provide them a yardstick to know whether they indeed loved Allah, Allah revealed the following verse: “Say (O Muhammad SAW to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Quran and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allah is OftForgiving, Most Merciful.”

(Surah Aal-e-Imran:31) What pulls us away from loving Allah?

To properly answer this question, we need to search deep within our souls about the motivations that drive our lives and our understanding (explicit or implicit) of the purpose of our lives. That is because the purpose of our life drives our goals, actions, and behaviors in general. For many of us, earning a living tends to be the focal point of our lives, including a total immersion in building our

Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness (delight) of faith: the one to whom Alláh and His Messenger become dearer than anything else, the one who loves a person and he loves him only for Alláh’s sake

dwellings, families, and so on while neglecting our duty and love for Allah. The time that we spend on various activities reflects our priority and love for each of those activities. For those of us who exhibit that behavior, Allah says the following: “Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that you have gained; the commerce in which you fear a decline: or the dwellings in which you (seek) delight – are dearer to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause; then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious” (Sura At-Taubah: 24).

We can, therefore, infer that while we do have an obligation to attend to our responsibilities, that should not divert us from building our relationship with Allah. As He says in the Quran:

R-L: Circuit president, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at Abuja, Dr.Abdul Lateef Busari; Dutse Jama’at President, Alh.H.A.Ahmad and Circuit Missionary Abuja,Muallim Nooh Abdussalam, during the graduation ceremony of 2nd AminulQur’an held at Dutse Baupma primary school,Abuja.

Building our relationship “Let not your properties or your children divert you from the remembrance of Allah. And whosoever does that, they are the losers” (Al-Munafiqoon 63:9).

Love of Allah triggers sweetness of faith The prophet had said as narrated in both Sahih hadith, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness (delight) of faith: the one to whom Alláh and His Messenger become dearer than anything else, the one who loves a person and he loves him only for Alláh’s sake, and whoever hates to revert to disbelief, after Alláh has saved him from it, as he hates to be thrown into the Fire.”

Love of Allah can keep us away from sins Today, when the hearts of most of us are filled with lusts, desires, temptations and fantasies, we need to remind ourselves that it is not possible to have those take room in the same heart where we want to plant our love for Allah.

Always ask yourself whether what lives in your heart makes you neglect Allah, and is worth more than the love of Allah? When we start replacing the lusts, desires, and fantasies that live in our heart with Allah’s love, then we will see ourselves regaining that love back from Allah.

Ibn Taymiyyah said, “the more the servant loves his Master, the less will he love other objects and they will decrease in number.

To be concluded

L-R: Back row:FauzurRaheem Odefunso,AbdusSamad Ajao,Muhammed Jamiu Salih,Hayatullah Abdulwahab, Muhammed Kamil Salih, the teacher,Muallim Bashiruddeen Sulaimon,Farid Ahmad Akintayo,Abdul Warith Sanusi,AbdulFatah Abdul Kareem and Faruq ShabiL-R front row:Abdul Muqaddim Adediran,Mubarak Ahmad Ojo and Rafiq Ahmad Sanusi, during the 2nd Aminul-Qur’an Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at,Dutse Abuja.

Ahmadiyy a se or cent enar Ahmadiyya sett ffor centenar enaryy celebration

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HE Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, Nigeria is set for 100 years celebration of its existence across the country. The event which will be marked across the country will kick off in Lagos next week. The Islamic organization in Nigeria was formally inaugurated in 1916 with the 21 members whose membership were confirmed from Qadian. This effectively led to the arrival of the first foreign missionaries Late Maulana Nayyar. The organization started at No 62 Bamgbose street ,Lagos Island, Lagos.

Early members comprises of Muslim elites in Lagos from the Muslim Literary Society, the Muslim Juvenile Society and the Al- Quran Group, led by Late Alhaji Muhammad Basil, Jubril Martin, Lawal Agusto, Alfa Idowu Yakub of Isale Igangan,Imam Kasumu Rufai Ajose,Badamosi Fanimokun, Alfa I.L. Durosimi Etti,Tijani Adele,Oba Musediku Buraimoh Adele 11, Yinusa Hameed,Imam Yusau Popoola Oyesile Shodeinde, Alfa Muhammad Jimoh Abdul Salam(Selem),Tijani Ariyo,L.A Bada,Abdur Rasheed A. Smith,Alhaji Abass Elegbaa ,Alfa Ismaila Ayinde Shitta - Bey , Teacher Yunus, Junaid Yusuf,Imam Imoru of Mushin (Kanuri)Imran Adewusi Onibudo, Buyiaminu Gbajabiamila,and Alfa Saka Lawole,Alfa Muhammadu Shittu Ade John,Alfa Abdus Salami Ebun Agbabiaka- Alfa Muhammad Raji Ipaye, Alfa Abdul Rahaman Ashafa Balogun of Idi -Omo Isale Eko. Others were Alhaji Saka Tinubu,Imam M.B Dabiri,Baidu Balogun,Alfa Bisiriyu Kisu,Alfa Hamzat Adio Subair,Alfa Sulaiman Wilson Shonibare, and Alfa Ashafa Tijani of Martins Street, Lagos. We gathered that some of these early members would be honored during the celebration.

According to the Head media publicity sub committee of the Centenary Ahmadiyya Celebration Committee, Qasim Akinreti, the celebration will run from the beginning to the end of the year with a thanksgiving centenary conference - Jalsa Salana.

42— Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

NSC still in place –Dalung

BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja

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HE Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung yesterday refuted the rumour making the rounds that the federal government of Nigeria has scrapped the National Sports Commission (NSC).

Dalung who spoke while addressing members of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) in Abuja said the issue is not a secret and that when the report of the committee set up by the government to that effect is made public, he will also inform Nigerians about it.

“Once it is scrapped I will announce it. I will call a press conference to formally tell you about it but since it has not been done, we will not speculate about it. But I think this is emanating from the misconception of what will happen under the merged ministry of Youth and Sports.

“Of course the President has merged so many ministries but in our own case we were merged and the commit-

Shocker

Continues from BP

the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Abuja. It was learnt that the samples of the players urine were taken at the end of the games by the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) from where the said eight reportedly failed the dope test.

Dalung who confirmed the development equally regretted that the said eight medals have been threatened from the total number that was won at Congo Brazzaville.

“It us true that some Nigerian athletes tested positive to banned substances at the last All Africa Games. About five to eight medals have been indicted because of the development and that takes us to why we are meeting here with the NOC. We still want to intensify our advocacy on anti doping. The issue of doping is not always as we say it.

Sometimes it could be from the food the athlete has taken or they may have taken some drugs

tee set up has made recommendations. Once the recommendations are made public we will call the press and brief them.”

There has been this argument among sports analysts over what will be the status of the NSC and its erstwhile chief accounting officer, the Director General with the merger with the Ministry of Youth which also has a Permanent Secretary. Recall that the Steve Orasanye committee set up by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan had among others recommended the merging of ministries, agencies and departments.

*Yakmut

CHAN: Eagles to get $2000 winning bonus

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UPER Eagles play ers will receive the sum of $2000 each for a win at the 2016 African Nations Championship billed to commence tomorrow in Kigali, Rwanda. A source in the team currently preparing for the championship in South Africa disclosed that the team would not without knowing the implications before the event. So what we are planning to do is to try to improve on our advocacy on anti doping,” the minister stated.

Some of the athletes who have equally been handed four year bans from any sporting activity include; Deborah Odeyemi, Chinazo Amadi, Samson Idiata in athletics, Sunday Eze Para athletics and Thomas Kure in Power lifting.

Nigeria placed second with 47 gold medals behind overall winners Egypt at the championship.

Ighalo Continues from BP new contract by Spurs.

This season, Ighalo has twice won the best African player in the EPL under the auspices of New African Soccer.

Mezut Ozil (Arsenal), Marko Arnautovic (Stoke City), Romelu Lukaku (Everton) and Riyad Mahrez (Leicester City) are the other nominees for December 2015.

earn similar amount as the A team. Sunday Oliseh’s men would earn $1000 for a draw. The technical crew will earn $4,000 for a win, and $2,000 for a draw.

Meanwhile, the Eagles will be lodged at the four-star Hill View Hotel in Kigali during the group stages of the competition.

The hotel is located in

the Kiyovu district, inside the Kigali City Centre and will house the Eagles for 11 days before they leave Kigali for Gisenyi where they will play their final group game against Guinea on January 26.

Okowa better than me —Pinnick T

HE immediate past executive chairman of Delta State Sports Commission and President of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, has hailed his replacement, Chief Tony Okowa, as a right peg in a round hole and an assurance that Delta sports will remain in the upward swing.

Commending the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, on the choice, Amaju revealed that Tony Okowa had been part and parcel of the success story of Delta sports.

“We have worked together for years and I can vouch for him. He has contributed immensely to Delta sports and I know he will do very well and even surpass the achievements of my predecessor, Chief Solomon Ogba and myself.

I expect him to go places because he understands the terrain and

has worked with us on many fronts. He is even better than me in temperament because I know I can be difficult to work with but Tony is cool, calm but calculated,” Amaju said.

Amaju also described other members of the board as very competent and experienced and pleaded with them to give Okowa the same support he received from them while as the executive chairman.

On his part, a man of few words, Okowa said he knows that expectations are high and that the works of the board as a team will speak for it.

He assured that he will put in everything to keep Delta sports at the top even with more effective innovations.

The members of the board sworn-in yesterday at the Government House Asaba include Eldington Kuejubola, Neville Bekederemo and Mrs Chimonye Dafe-Aliyu.

Cross River renews bid to host Sports Festival

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HE Cross River State government has renewed its resolve to host the twice postponed National Sports Festival originally slated for 2014.

The State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Asu Okang gave this assurance on Monday while leading a threeman State delegation on a courtesy visit to the Minister of Youth and Sports Solomon Dalung in Abuja.

Okang also assured the Minister that facilities for a successful sports festival were being put in place while the old ones were being upgraded. He urged the Minister to pay a working visit to the State to see the level of preparation for himself. Responding, the Minister assured the delegation of his support for Cross River State to host the National Sports Festival.

*SWEARING-IN: From left; Chairman, Delta State Sports Commission, Mr. Tony Okowa, Mr. Eddington Kuejubola, Mr. Nelville Ambakenderemo and Mrs. Chinonye Daphey during the swearing-in of the Delta State Sports Commission Board by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in Government House, Asaba yesterday

Toriola, Offiong for Olympics qualifying tourney ry in Africa as the first

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FTER missing their places at the Rio 2016 Olympic during the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Nigeria’s Segun Toriola and Edem Offiong will another shot at making it to Brazil at the 2016 Olympics Qualifying Tournament in Khartoum, Sudan on February 16 to 18. The tournament holds after the ITTF Africa Top 16 Cup. Toriola who inspired Nigeria to overcome

Egypt to claim the men’s team title in Brazzaville failed to make it to the last four when he was defeated by Chineseborn Congo Brazzaville star, Jianan Wang in the quarterfinal while Offiong who played the game of her life against Egypt’s Dina Meshref narrowly lost to the Egyptian at the same stage of the African Games in Brazzaville.

However, the dream of Toriola of making histo-

athlete from the continent to feature in seven Olympics may be realized in Sudan.

According to the President, African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), Khaled El-Salhy, Egypt is the only country in Africa that will not be competing in the qualifiers having secured the required two places in Brazzaville, with Assar brothers - Omar and Khalid qualifying already.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 43

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BANJOKO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss O m o b o l a j i Oluwadolapo Banjoko, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omobolaji TonyUzoama. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

AKAMO—I, formerly known and addressed as Akamo Monsurat Omolara, now wish to be known and addressed as Lawal Monsurat Omolara. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IDONGESIT—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Idongesit Edem Effiong, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Idongesit Eric Gbemudu. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

CHISOM—I, formerly known and addressed as Oluwadarasimi Michelle Egbuiwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Chisom Michelle Oluwadarasimi Egbuiwe. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

PETER —I, formerly known, called and addressed as Aiyejino Omo Peter, now wish to known, called and addressed as Aiyejino Omokudu Vincent. All former documents remain valid. General public please note. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

IKECHUKWU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ikechukwu Patience Success, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Juwah Patience Success. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

EMU—I, formerly known and addressed as Emu Ifeoma Celestina, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ifeoma Celestina Emurayeshe. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

JOSHUA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Stephanie Osarenmwinda Joshua, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Stephanie Igbinovia.

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

AGUH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Susan Nnenna Aguh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Susan Nnenna Nwankwo. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

IGURUBE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Igurube Obruche Patience, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Patience Kenneth Okolo. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

IRONE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Irone Edna, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omadeli Edna. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

ANNEREJORITSE— I, formerly known and addressed as Anne Annerejoritse Oziegbe, now wish to be known and addressed as Anne Ighokien Oziegbe. All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

OBELE —I, formerly known and addressed as Obele Priscillia, now wish to be known and addressed as Aniagboso Priscillia.

All former documents remain valid. The general public should please take note.

UDEH—I, formerly known and addressed as Dennis Chinaecherem Udeh, now wish to be known and addressed as Dennis Chinaecherem Adimchinob.

All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

Confirmation of name UDE—I, formerly known and addressed as Mr. Confidence Basil Ude, Arusi or Arisa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mr. Confidence Basil Nnana. All former documents remain valid. General public please note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Offor Chukwuanugo Isaiah and Offor Anugo Isaiah is one and the same person.

All documents bearing the two names remain valid. Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Nigerian Judiciary and the general public please take note.

JEREMIAH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Atunu Ugwem Jeremiah, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Atunu Barnabas Asuai. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHIKEZIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chikezie Uchenna Maryann, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abubakar Uchenna Maryann. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

APREALA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Apreala Peremoboere Flora, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onome Progress Obokaghra Peremoboere Flora. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Correction of name I, Igbegbe Goodness Obediah do hereby state that my name was wrongly written in my West African Senior School Certificate result slip as Igbegbe Goodnews Obediah instead of Igbegbe Goodness Obediah.

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

U L A G W U — I , formerly known and addressed as Anthony Chima Ulagwu, now wish to be known and addressed as Anthony Chima UlagwuEchefu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHIKEZIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chikezie Oluchi, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oluchi Asimana. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of Names These names, Money Ebibuleami Justina and Money Ebi Justina belong to the same person but now wish to be known and addressed as Money Ebi Justina. All former documents remain valid, first bank, Eco bank and the general public to take note.

Confirmation of Names These name, Anasi Odi Okoro and Anasi Odi Linus belong to the same person but now wish to be known and addressed as Anasi Odi Okoro Linus . All former documents remain valid, Union bank, UBA and the general public to take note.

Reconciliation of names This is to notify that in my NABTEB-NBC/NTC with exam number 1103558, I used the name Patience Igho Cousine but in my result it was written Patience Igho but now wish to be known and addressed as Patience Igho Cousine.

All former documents remain valid, any authority and the general public to take note.

Reconciliation of Name That the names Osemeka Vincent and Osemeka Amechi Richard belong to me and refer to one and the same person, but I now wish to remain known, called and addressed as Osemeka Vincent. All former documents remain valid.

The general public to please take note.

Reconciliation of Name That the name wrongly spelt as Akpore Gospel, the one rightly spelt as Akpore Godspel, as well as Akpore Eyimofe Godspel, are mine and refers to one and the same person, but I now wish to remain known, called and addressed as Akpore Eyimofe Godspel.

All former documents remain valid. The general public to please take note.

O S U M A H — I , formerly known, called and addressed as Miss Ese Lovette Osumah, now wish to be known, called and addressed as Mrs. Ese Lovette Antigha. All formal documents remain valid. The general public to please take note.

NWEKE —I, formally known and addressed as Miss Nweke Ndidiamaka Cherlyl, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fiaka Amaka Cheryl.

All former documents remain valid. Delta State University, Abraka , National Youth Service Corp, NYSC and general Public should please take note.

Confirmation of name This is to certify that Joseph Anthony Afia and Akpartre Anthony Atita is the same and one person, but now wish to be known and addressed as Joseph Anthony Afia. All former documents remain valid. Zenith Bank Plc, FCMB Bank and general public please take note.

Correction of name My name was wrongly spelt as Mrs. Effiong Felicia, instead of Offiong Felicia. All former documents remain valid. GTBank and general public please take note.

UKUONI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ufuoma Ukuoni, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ufuoma Termath. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MBA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Mba Stella Ozioma, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ejinwa Stella Ozioma.

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

OGIDIOLU—I, formerly known and addressed as (Miss) Ogidiolu Gloria Amarachukwu, now wish to be known and addressed as (Mrs) Osasu Gloria Amarachukwu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OBI-NWOKE—I, formerly known and addressed as ObiNwoke Obiageli Chinwe, now wish to be known and addressed as Obi Obiageli Chinwe. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKAKA—I, formerly known and addressed as Akaka Ignatus Ndu, now wish to be known and addressed as Ezediokpu Ignatius Ndu. All former documents remain valid.

General public please take note.

ENILOLOBO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Kafilat Agbeke Enilolobo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Kafilat Agbeke Enilolobo Salihu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 45

Vanguard CLASSIFIED A F I N O TA N — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Neburagho Afinotan, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Neburagho AfinotanEtuwe. All former documents remain valid. Delta State Civil Service Commission and general public please take note.

OKAFOR—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Okafor Amarachukwu Ugochiyerem, Miss Okafor Amara, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. O k o n k w o Amarachukwu U. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

CHIDOZIE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Chidozie Chibugo Gloria, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Obiegbu Chibugo Gloria. All former documents remain valid. NYSC and general public please take note.

N WAU J O H — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Nwaujoh Esther Gladys, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Fredrick Esther Gladys. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EFFIONG—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Imaobong Effiong Inyang, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Imaobong Bassey Obot. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IKUKU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ejovwoke Augustina Ikuku, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ejovwoke Augustina Chiadika. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AKABUO —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Benedicta Akabuo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Benedicta K. Okoro.

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

ANI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ani Fesochukwu Cynthia, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Okoloba Fesochukwu Cynthia. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AV W O M A K PA — I , formerly known and addressed as Miss Avwomakpa Revival Ejovwokeoghene, Miss Avwomakpa-Ovakporie R e v i v a l Ejovwokeoghene, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Oduneka Revival Ejovwokeoghene. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EBOWELE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ebowele Toyin Celestina, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ekrake Toyin Celestina. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ONYEBUEKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Onyebueke Henry Okechukwu Sopulu, now wish to be known and addressed as Sopulu Okechukwu Henry. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Reconciliation of names This is to confirm that the names Beauty Orighoye Ebbah, Beauty Orighoye Oboraguono and Beauty Onome Umurhurhu refer to one and same person.

I now wish to be known and addressed as Beauty Orighoye Ebbah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

WEISS —I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Sandra Ogheneochuko Weiss, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Sandra Ogheneochuko Weiss-Akwenuke. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EMA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oqua Okon Ema, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Atirolaoluwa Oqua Olujimi. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ONYEMAOBI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Onyemaobi Joy Onunwa, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joy Onuchukwu Woke.

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

OYII—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Oyii Lois Zibenifiensewo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Mate Lois Zibenifiensewo. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EPHRAIM—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ephraim Benedicta Emmanuel, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Ekpo Benedicta Idongesit. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IHEKE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Iheke Queeneth Nmaju, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. A l i l i Chimbuonyeukwu Queeneth. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

INYANG—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Abigail T. Inyang, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Abigail Rowland. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OLOHIGBE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Aigbikor Olohigbe Ruth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Omoaghe Aigbikor Ruth. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

IHEANACHO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Perpetua Chinasa Iheanacho, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Perpetua Chinasa Olugbue. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UDOH—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Hephzibah Sunday Udoh, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Hephzibah Ndubuisi Ernest Eweamaonye.

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

JESSE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Joan Ijeoma Jesse, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Joan Jesse Joseph. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Obiagwu Ikechukwu Nnamdi and Obiagwu Ikechukwu Darlington is one person. All formal documents remain valid. UBA, Access Bank and general public please take note.

Confirmation of Name This is to confirm that Ernestina Okuata Cukelu and Ernestina Okuata Chukelu refer to the same person. All formal documents remain valid. UBA, Keystone Bank Plc, Pension Scheme and general public please take note.

ALI—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ali Ngozi, now wish to be known as Mrs. Ofoigbo Ngozi Peace. All former documents remain valid. NYSC, bank and general public take note.

OKONKWO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Onyinye Udoka Okonkwo, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Onyinye Udoka Emmanuel Nwokedi.

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

A D E B I S I — I , formerly known and addressed as Samson Adebisi, now wish to be known and addressed as Samson Olushola Olaopa. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ADADU—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Unwese Kate Adadu, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Kate John Attah. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

AGUNABOR—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Nkemjika Mary Agunabor, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Nkemjika Mary Kanwanye. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OKAFOR—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ozioma Mirian Okafor, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Ozioma Mirian Ejiogu. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

OGUNLEYE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ogunleye Olusola Kehinde, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Igbalajobi Kehinde Olusola. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

MALLE—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Malle Andoka Comfort, now wish to be known and addressed as Miss Martha Kyauta Malle.

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

O LU WA DA R E — I , formerly known and addressed as Oluwadare Fola Diamond, now wish to be known and addressed as Oluwadare Folasade Alice. All former documents remain valid. GT Bank and general public please take note.

IYORSHE—I, formerly known and addressed as Orngudwem Iyorshe Terver David, now wish to be known and addressed as Iyorshe David Terver. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of name This is to certify that Asheta Miletwelve and Asheta Miletwelve Oldtom is the same and one person but now wish to be known and addressed as Asheta Terry Miletwelve. All former documents remain valid.General public please take note.

OMEJOGHARE—I, formerly known and addressed as Omejoghare Philip, now wish to be known and addressed as Iki Philip. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

EYITUOYOR—I, formerly known and addressed as Moneyman Eyituoyor, now wish to be known and addressed as Money Eyituoyor. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

ULOHO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Uloho E. Grace, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Grace Ejaeta Odjoji. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

Confirmation of name This is to certify that Udoma Ovuomane C l e m e n t Adarighofua,Udoma Clement and Ovuomane Clement Adarighofua is the same and one person but now wish to be known and addressed as Udoma Ovuomane Clement Adarighofua. All former documents remain valid. General public please take note.

UBIOMO—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ubiomo Patience, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs Patience E.U. Emerhie.

State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Asaba, Unity Primary School Agbarho and general public please take note.

EKAMA—I, formerly known and addressed as Miss Ekama Aghogho Elizabeth, now wish to be known and addressed as Mrs. Lawson Aghogho Elizabeth.

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

46 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

Enyimba treated me badly, Ikhana laments V

ETERAN coach Ka diri Ikhana still can’t get over his rude exit from Enyimba FC, a side he guided to a record 70 points win of the Nigeria Professional Football League.

Ikhana, won the CAF Champions League with Enyimba in 2003, was hopeful of spear-heading the club’s continental campaign this season, but his contract was not renewed. “I never planned for what befell me at Enyimba which remains a rude shock,” Ikhana told Supersport.com.

“I want to re-examine all over again the whole experience to see where I got it wrong though it has been really difficult laying hand on any fault committed while on the saddle.

“The closest I have come to fault myself were the few times we had arguments on the job which is normal. Outside that, I do not think I did anything wrong.

Keshi buries late Wife today

Late Madam Keshi...

T

HE funeral of Kate Keshi late wife of former Super Eagles coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi has been fixed for today in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.

Kate passed on at the family ’s home in the United States of America on the 9th of December 2015.

According to information made available by the family to thenff.com, service of songs for the late Kate Keshi will hold on Thursday at St. Pa u l ’ s Catholic Church, Benin City, Edo State. Friends and families of the late Kate Keshi will also hold a farewell programme for her today.

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I want to play in Rio Olympics — Mordi

By Jacob Ajom

T

“Though I’m getting over the shock right now, I still want to relax a bit before I give any club my word for the upcoming league season. “Of course, there have been clubs rushing to have me on their bench but I do not want to rush any decision.”

Retraction: We published a story titled, NFF to renegotiate Glo contract, yesterday. We have since discovered that the story is not true. We apologise for the embarrassment the said story may have caused to all parties concerned.

Tough Luck... Kadiri Ikhana dumped by Enyimba

Host us too, Youth athletes cry out to Buhari

By Ben Efe

N

IGERIAN youth athletes who did the country proud, at the Commonwealth Youth Games last July in Samoa Island have asked to be included in the list of sports men and women to be hosted by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 21.

The athletes won 11 medals and placed seventh out of the 40 nations that participated in the Games. This was despite the discomfort they faced during preparations and the competition. While in camp, the athletes and their coaches did not receive any upkeep allowance.

“The athletes deserved to receive recognition for

their efforts at the Games. They made a whole lot of sacrifices. It was a tedious journey to Samoa. Almost three days of transit and flying over seas .

“We went there with only nine athletes, and we were able to win 11 medals. The athletes over stretched themselves, we even converted a boxer to run the relays. “ We need to appreciate these young athletes, even if it is just a handshake with the President, it will encourage them a lot,” said coach Seigha Porbeni, who was with the team in Samoa.

President Buhari will host the FIFA Under-17 winning the Golden Eaglets, the Flying Eagles who won the 2015 Africa Youth Championship, the Olympic Eagles who

won U-23 African Nations Cup, Africa Games medalists, D’Tigers who won a first-ever Afrobasket Championship to qualify for the Rio Olympics and Wellington Jighere who won the world scrabble championship.

WENTY Three year old US based Nigerian basketball player, Jeremiah Mordi is itching for a spot in the 2016 Rio Olympics-bound national basketball team, D’Tigers.

Filled with patriotic verve and a will to serve, Mordi who left the country at age 5 for the US said his ambition to play for his country is based on his belief that he has something to add to the national team.

“Every coach wants to have great players and ultimately a great team.

I have followed the Nigerian team since the 2012 Olympics. I want to help add more depth to the team. I know I can fit in,” a determined Mordi told Sports Vanguard at the National Stadium, Lagos yesterday.

Mordi believes he has a lot to contribute to the national team should he be selected for the Rio Games. “The Olympics is the biggest stage for any athlete to compete in. It is my dream to represent my country of birth. I am ready.”

In the US, the soft spoken Delta State born basketball player is a New

Mordi...Basketball dreams York Queens College senior guard. In April 2015, Mordi was named to the All Met, Second Team, by the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association. He earned Second Team, All-East Coast Conference accolades at season’s end.

Mordi became the 12th player in QC basketball history to surpass the 1000-point plateau for his career and eventually finished with 1243 points, passing QC Hall of Famer Geoff Maloney in the process. He recorded a triple-double against NYIT and reached double-figures in scoring in 25 of 27 contests.

“I am a shooting guard and have worked hard.

When I graduate in June, I will be eligible for NBA draft,” he said.

Medal Boys... Nigeria 4x400m relay quartet at the Youth Commonwealth Games show off their prize, now they want a pat on the back from the President.

Doping scandal: Police declares Diack wanted

I

Papa Massata Diack...

NTERPOL said Thurs day it has issued a wanted notice for Papa Massata Diack, son of Lamine Diack, the disgraced former president of world athletics’ governing body the IAAF. “RED NOTICE: Papa Massata Diack, wanted

by France on bribery, money-laundering & corruption charges,” the Lyon-based international police organisation said on its Twitter account.

Diack’s profile and mug shot were added to the list of 332 other wanted people on Interpol’s online list.

Lamine Diack stood down as IAAF president in August before he was charged with corruption

by French judges.

Lamine Diack and his son, a former marketing consultant for the IAAF, are suspected of having made millions from bribes and other shady deals.

Diack junior was banned

for life by the IAAF’s ethics commission on January 7.

Independent investigator Dick Pound revealed that Diack, organised “conspiracy and corruption” at the heart of the federation and sanctioned fraud and extortion of athletes.

Pound’s report added to a rapidly growing scandal involving organised doping and its concealment that has rocked world athletics and drawn compar-

ison with a corruption and governance scandal at football’s governing body FIFA. Pound found that Diack, had established his own “informal, illegitimate governance structure” at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

But the report said other senior staff “could not have been unaware” that normal procedures were being circumvented.

ANGUARD, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016 — 47

Vanguard, FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016

CHAN: Eagles ready to rumble -Centre Spread

Shocker: Nigeria lose AAG medals •As 8 athletes test positive to banned drugs

BY JUDE OPARA, Abuja

I

T was a huge shock yesterday when it was revealed that no fewer than eight Nigerian athletes who participated at the last All Africa Games in Congo Brazzaville have had their medals

withdrawn after it was confirmed that they have tested positive to banned substances.

This revelation was made when the Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Dalung held a strategic meeting with board members of

TOUGH: Super Eagles players in a tough contest during a CHAN qualifier

•••Fly to Rwanda

N

Continues on Page 42

•Dalung

Ighalo, Ali battle for EPL top award

O

DION Ighalo and Dele Alli are on the shortlist for the Player of the Month of December in the English Premier League.

Nigeria international Ighalo has netted 13 goals for Watford in the EPL, while Nigerian-

•Ighalo

born Alli has netted five for Spurs from midfield.

Both players are making their debut in the English top flight.

Alli’s smooth transition to the big league has been rewarded with a

Continues on Page 42

NSC still in place – Dalung Page 42

•Oliseh

IGERIA ‘B’ team will fly out of Johannesburg, South Africa, this morning for Rwanda ahead of this year’s CHAN. The team will depart 8am local time and officials said flying time to Kigali is estimated to be three hours.

The team, made up of players from the Nigerian domestic league have been training in Pretoria, South Africa, since January 2 in readiness for the CHAN. CHAN Eagles are so far unbeaten in both competitive and friendly

matches.

They finished third on their debut at the 2014 CHAN in South Africa.

They will play their opening match in the competition on Monday against Niger.

Tunisia and Guinea are also in their first round group.

•Akas Eagles captain

QUICK CR OSS WORD CROSS OSSWORD

TODAY'S PUZZLE

YESTERDAY’S PUZZLE

ACROSS 4 Wander (5) 7 Summary (6) 9 Dog (3) 10 Enthusiastic (3) 12 Rustic (5) 13 Frozen (4) 15 Readjusted (5) 17 Oppose (5) 19 Respect (4) 20 Salute (5) 22 Sailor (3) 24 Wished (7) 27 Tankard (3) 28 Wear (5) 31 Cease (4) 33 Tarnished (6) 35 Angry (5) 37 Broad (4) 38 Delete (5) 39 Spike (3) 41 Brown (3) 42 Shy (6) 43 Viper (5)

DOWN 1 Season (6) 2 Drastic (6) 3 Vigour (3) 4 Certain (4) 5 Veracity (5) 6 Aroused (8) 8 Robe (4) 11 Penninless (9) 14 Act (4) 16 Asterisk (4) 18 Pace (4) 21 Renovated (8) 23 Stagger (4) 25 Drink (4) 26 Sketched (4) 29 Loathsome (6) 30 Team (6) 32 Ski-slope (5) 30 Team (6) 32 Ski-slope (5) 34 Precede (4) 36 Back (4) 40 Material (3)

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS ACROSS: 1, Stem 4, Dim 6, Gasp 9, Lit Reversed 11, Amen 14, Par 16, Seamy Released 21, Liver 23, Defiance 24, Start Lip 31, Find 33, Imitated 34, Tee 35, Seer Lie 37, Tent.

10, 19, 27, 36,

DOWN: 2, Teem 3, Meet 4, Diseased 5, Made 6, Glade 7, Aim 8, Steam 12, Cross 13, Liama 14, Pal 15, Revel 17, Amend 18, Yoked 20, Definite 22, Rip 25, Trite 26, Rider 28, Pill 29, Part 30, Seen 32, Nee.

How to Play Sudoku

P

lace a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no number can appear twice in any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Dept Hotline: 014544821. Abuja Advert Hotline: 09-2921024. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Ag.Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

C M Y K