pro-jonathan govs finally split NGF

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Pro-Jonathan govs finally split NGF

From left: Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank, Mr. Segun Agbaje; Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun; and his wife, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun; during the GTB/ Ogun State Principals’ Cup Final in Abeokuta…recently.

BY HENRY UMORU, SONI DANIEL & JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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IGERIA Governors Forum (NGF) may have finally broken up after a segment believed to be loyal to President Goodluck Jonathan set up a parallel body to the one led

by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

Amaechi emerged as the NGF chairman for the second tenure in the Forum’s controversial election on Friday.

He defeated Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State, said to be the candidate of President Goodluck Jonathan by 19-16 votes.

Jonathan and Amaechi had purportedly been locked in a feud allegedly related to the 2015 presidential poll and the Rivers governor ’s running of the NGF which, in recent past, opposed some of the actions of the Federal Government.

Although the Presidency, last night, said it was not involved in the NGF election, indications emerged that it was unhappy that governors in its camp bungled the move to stop Amaechi’s return into the NGF leadership.

The opposition parties asked Jonathan to accept the outcome of the NGF election in good faith.

In the meantime, the Amaechi camp maintained a ‘ wait-andsee’ attitude.

The Jang group, made up of 18

governors, mostly from the PDP, yesterday, distanced themselves from the Rivers governor’s reelection as the NGF leader, saying he ceased to be their leader on Friday when his first tenure ended.

The splinter NGF, led by Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and Chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum, PDP-GF, presented Jang as the new Chairman of the NGF. It announced the plan to set up a different secretariat for their meetings so as to disconnect from the Rivers State Governor ’s Lodge, which had served as their meeting point in the past two years. he 18 governors converged T on the Benue State Governor’s Lodge in Asokoro,

Abuja and tried to discredit the electoral process that threw up A m a e c h i .

They are: Akpabio, Jang, Idris Wada of Kogi, Gabriel Suswam of Benue, Sullivan Chime of Enugu, Martin Elechi of Ebonyi, Theodore Orji of Abia, Peter Obi of Anambra and Isa Yuguda of Bauchi.

Others are: Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo, Ibrahim Shema of Katsina, Mukhtar Yero of Kaduna, Garba Umar of Taraba, Ahmed Abdulfatah of Kwara, Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta, Liyel Imoke of Cross River, Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa and Gombe Deputy Governor,

SOLUTION

Thaanod Rubainu.

The governors, who met behind closed doors for about two hours, later issued a communique, saying they stood by the endorsement of 19 governors, who had earlier pledged their support for the candidature of a consensus candidate (Jang) and not Amaechi.

Mimiko, who described himself as the Vice Chairman of the Jang-led NGF, read the sixparagraph communique issued and jointly endorsed by the faction.

The communique read: “The Nigeria Governors’ Forum, under the new leadership of Governor Jonah Jang, as Chairman and Governor Olusegun Mimiko as the Vice Chairman, at the inaugural meeting held today, Saturday, May 25, 2013, resolved as follows: ”The new Chairman of the NGF thanks Northern Governors’ Forum, the PDP Governors’ Forum and all the governors for the support and confidence reposed in him and vowed to work for the interest of the Forum and country. ”The Chairman of the NGF, Governor Jonah Jang, vows to unite members of the Forum, work for the interest of the Forum and the country. ”The Forum re-states its commitment to continue being a platform for peer review, productive and collaborative engagement with all levels of government. ”The Forum also resolves to continue to encourage and collaborate with Mr. President to restore peace and security in the country”.

The meeting of the splinter group, Sunday Vanguard learnt, was called apparently to discredit the victory of Amaechi and stop him from resuming as the NGF leader.

A governor, who was at the meeting, lamented the loss of the seat to the Rivers governor by the pro-Jonathan camp, blaming the defeat on the inability of the group’s strategists to be decisive.

According to him, even though he was drafted by top politicians to identify with the splinter NGF, some aggrieved governors gave protest votes to Amaechi to register their displeasure with the inability of the pro-Jonathan camp to produce a single candidate for the post at the right time. ”We lost not because people don’t like the president but because of continuously shifting

our candidate till the last minute.

I am sure the president’s camp would have carried the day if Yuguda or Shema had stood against Amaechi,” the source said.

The Amaechi camp remained unperturbed by the attempt to discredit his victory. Although the Rivers governor could not be reached for comments, a source close to him said the NGF had chosen its leader and there was nothing anybody could do about it. ”In this life, whenever some persons try to play the role of God, they will always be put to shame so that nobody takes the place of God”, the source added. ”Amaechi was elected by people who are still alive and whatever anybody is trying to do after the election is medicine after death”.

of Anenih, the PDP-GF moved out from the BoT Chairman’s compound at about 4pm and headed to the Presidential Villa to brief Vice President Namadi Sambo on what led to the emergence of Amaechi.

But, before then, the proJonathan governors had inspected a building donated to them by a South-South governor, to be used as its factional NGF secretariat in line with their resolve not to have anything to do with the Rivers Governor ’s Lodge.

The Amaechi’s camp, yesterday, kept mute over the attempt to discredit the election.

The Rivers governor was said to have left Abuja for Port Harcourt to continue with the duties of his state after winning the election on Friday night.

Presidency angry; Suswam, Shema, Sambo, Anenih shocked Yuguda, Mimiko, Obi ndications emerged, last I night, that the Presidency was unhappy with the outcome of the

NGF election.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that Jonathan, attending the summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa, was disappointed with the way the election was handled by those who had assured him that his candiate would take the day.

The president, it was learnt, was particularly displeased with the bungling of the process that gave Amaechi easy ride over his candidate.

Under the arrangement agreed with the Presidency, the PDP Governors Forum, PDP- GF, headed by Akpabio, was to merely present the list of its 19 members who had signed a secret document since April and pledged to back any candidate put forward by the Villa at the venue of the NGF poll.

They were said to be under instruction to impress upon the NGF the need to simply read out the names of those who endorsed the document.

But convinced that it had more members on its side than the Amaechi’s camp, the PDP-GF reportedly accepted to go into voting when the poll was called.

Unknown to the president’s loyalists that many of those who had earlier endorsed the paper before him were not still with him, they were said to have simply voted according to their conscience once they were issued with ballot papers.

The analysis of the voting pattern clearly showed that no fewer than six PDP governors voted in protest against Jang.

Although the PDP- GF-led, yesterday, presented Jang as their factional leader of the NGF, the action, it was learnt, did not impress the Presidency and the party hierarchy.

Akpabio, the PDP-GF leader, also presented Jang to the Chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, BoT, Chief Tony Anenih, in his residence in Asokoro, who was also said not to be impressed with the method adopted for the poll.

After labouring for about an hour to explain to the BoT Chair what he and his colleagues did to ensure that the Plateau governor was elected, Anenih reportedly felt that some fundamental errors had been made when the governors accepted the NGF to go into election instead of reading the names of those in support of Jang.

Not satisfied with the reaction

affirm parallel group’s position

eanwhile, the Deputy M Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum,

Suswam of Benue State, says the Forum endorsed the emergence of Jang as the Chairman of the NGF. He said a meeting of the Forum, presided over by Dr Babangida Aliyu, the Chairman, unanimously adopted the Plateau governor as consensus Chairman of NGF, and they stood by that decision.

Fielding questions from newsmen, Suswam described as fraudulent the process that purportedly produced Amaechi and said even in a village council election, an out-going Chairman cannot preside over his own election.

The Benue governor said it was in acceptance of the leadership of the Plateau chief helmsman that 18 governors turned up for their faction’s NGF inaugural meeting despite the less than 12 hours notice and expressed optimism that the next meeting would bring more governors to the fold.

Confirming the position, the governor of Katsina State, Shema, said in the overall interest of the nation, he and his Bauchi State counterpart, Yuguda, had to step down their ambition to lead the Forum when the northern governors endorsed Jang as the consensus candidate.

Jang thanked governors ‘’for the confidence’’ reposed in him to serve them as the Chairman of NGF and pledged to work for the interest of the NGF..

The Plateau governor spoke while addressing journalists, yesterday, after his NGF splinter group’s meeting.

The Chairman of the SouthEast Governors’ Forum, Mr Peter Obi, and the Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum, Imoke, also yesterday, announced the decision of the governors in their zones to support the leadership of Jang.

In attendance at the meeting were the governors of Plateau, Kogi, Benue, Enugu, Ebonyi, Bauchi, Abia and Ondo. Others were the governors of Katsina, Kaduna, Delta, Anambra, Taraba,Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Gombe and Kwara states.

‘President Jonathan not involved in NGF election’ But the Presidency said,

Continues on page 6

PAGE 6 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

Pro-Jonathan govs finally split NGF Continued from page 5 yesterday, that Jonathan had nothing to do with the NGF poll.

A statement by the president’s spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, said it” noted with regret the

mischievous effort by sections of the mass media to portray President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as an interested party and the main loser in yesterday’s election of the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF)”.

The statement continued:

“Contrary to the impression of Presidential partisanship and interference in the affairs of the Governors Forum erroneously conveyed by some headlines in the media today, President Jonathan who is currently leading Nigeria’s delegation to the African

Union Summit in Addis Ababa had no preferred candidate in the NGF elections and could therefore not have been “floored” by any other candidate as some newspapers sensationally reported.

“President Jonathan has

African Union leaders mark 50th anniversary in Ethiopia

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FRICA’s 54 leaders are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity. Opening the event, Ethiopian PM Hailemariam Desalegn spoke of “a great leap forward in the panAfrican quest for freedom, independence and unity”.

AU head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma warned that conflicts could be silenced only by “solidarity and unity”.

The OAU, which became the African Union (AU) in 2002, had its origins in the struggle for decolonisation.

It was founded in Addis Ababa in 1963, the venue chosen to mark the anniversary 50 years on.

But while its successor has adopted a policy of seeking African solutions to internal problems, it

has been criticised for failing to respond quickly enough when rebels seized power in Mali in 2012.

However, the AU has sent peacekeepers to Burundi and Darfur and has deployed an

intervention force in Somalia.

Among the dignitaries attending Saturday ’s ceremony was US Secretary of State John Kerry, who warned Nigeria’s armed forces to avoid human rights

abuses in their campaign against Islamist extremists.

While defending Nigeria’s right to crack down on militant group Boko Haram, Mr Kerry said “one person’s atrocities do not excuse another ’s”.

French soldier in uniform stabbed near Paris

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RENCH authorities are investigating whether the stabbing of a soldier in a Paris suburb was a copycat attack in the wake of the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, killed in London this week.

“They tried to kill the soldier because he was a soldier,” said French Defence Minister JeanYves Le Drian.

The soldier was on patrol in the area of La Defense when he was stabbed in the neck by an unknown man who

escaped.

His injuries are not lifethreatening and he is in a stable condition.

Earlier, French President Francois Hollande had said all possibilities were being explored but there was no evidence yet of any link to the killing of Drummer Lee Rigby in the Woolwich area of London on Wednesday.

But Mr Le Drian said the soldier had been targeted, and said he was determined to lead “an implacable fight against

terrorism”.

The 23-year-old French soldier was patrolling in uniform with two colleagues in the suburban railway station at La Defense late on Saturday afternoon.

He was attacked from behind by a man wielding a knife or a boxcutter.

The assailant, whose identity is unknown, ran away into a crowded shopping area before the two other soldiers were able to react.

the greatest possible respect for the Nigerian Governors Forum as an independent body of mature, responsible, and knowledgeable elected political leaders who have a critical role to play in strengthening democratic governance in the country, and who are quite capable of running their own affairs without being tele-guided, as some media reports misleadingly implied.

“The President has always shown a willingness to work harmoniously with any leadership freely and independently chosen by the Governors Forum for the collective progress and development of all sections of the country and will continue to do so.

“He has not in the present instance or ever before, interfered in elections to leadership positions in the Governors Forum. Reports in the media which convey that impression are totally off the mark and the handiwork of mischievous individuals and groups with the intention of sowing the seeds of discord and disunity in the polity.

“President Jonathan trusts that as true democrats and respected national political leaders, members of the Governors Forum will quickly resolve the issues and differences amongst them which emerged yesterday and continue to contribute effectively to national development as a strong,

and progressive body”.

Accept Amaechi’s victory in good faith CNPP lso, yesterday, the A Conference of Nigerian Political Parties,

CNPP, advised Jonathan to accept the outcome of the NGF election.

The CNPP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Osita Okechukwu, counselled the president not to pander to the whims and caprices of bad losers, asking him to consider the collective interest of the country.

The umbrella body of registered political parties admitted, however, that the victory of Amaechi as the NGF chairman was a good omen for Nigeria’s democracy and harbinger of good fortunes in the 2015 general elections.

According to the CNPP, “Gov Amaechi’s victory is All Progressive Congress, APC’s merger at work; the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the first time has been beaten in their own game. Mr Fix-It and his men failed.”

The PDP in Amaechi ‘s home state of Rivers, yesterday, congratulated Jang as “ winner of the NGF election”. At a press briefing in Port Harcourt, the publicity secretary of the party, Mr Nwanosike Samuel, said the Rivers PDP aligned with the position of Akpabio that Jang won the election.

Aero resumes flight to Douala

BY LAWANI MIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE

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ERO Contractors has announced that, effective May 27, the airline will commence thrice weekly flight operations between Accra and Douala.

Addressing aviation reporters yesterday in their corporate head office, Lagos, the Accountable Officer of the airline, Captain Russell Lee Foon, said the Douala flight, which will be operated with a Boeing 737, will depart Accra for Douala at 8:00 via Lagos; while Douala to Accra flight departs Douala at 13:00 to Accra through Lagos.

Lee Foon said the Douala route is the airline second regional destination and will soon commence flight operations to central Africa.

According to the official, Libraville, Conakry, Dakar, Morovia, Kinshasha routes will be aggressively pursued and operated in 2013. When asked why the airline had to suspend operations to some regional routes before, Lee Foon said the airline had learnt from “ the mistakes of the past as every route must pay for itself “ Speaking also about these services, Obaro Ibru, Aero’s Acting Managing Director, said: ”We are making travel more convenient and reliable for our customers. It is a proud

moment to welcome Douala into the family, a destination which we are confident will serve our customers well.

It will give them more choices and flexibility in planning their business and leisure trips.

“The launch of the route is part of our strategy of focusing on operations in Africa which is a key growth area for the airline and also in line with the airline’s regional expansion programme.”

Group lauds Mutu HE Niger Delta T Youths Peace Initiative Movement, NDYDIM, has commended Mr. Nicholas Mutu, member representing Bomadi/ Patani Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives for influencing developmental projects to his constituency.

The group made this known in a statement signed by Comrade Ebikabowei Edon, President; Comrade Donald Etiete, Secretary and Comrade Amagbe Stanley, Publicity Secretary, respectively.

According to the statement, “the vote of confidence was passed on him after his performance was analysed and assessed.

We carefully justify that he has performed very well”.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 7

Why centenary celebration is dear to Nigeria — FG

BY CHINWEOKE AKOMA

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Mrs. Kehinde George, chairperson, Building Collapse Prevention Guild, presenting the guild branded T.Shirt to the Chairman of Amuwo Odofin while Mr Kunle Awobodu, the Guild National President looks on.

HEAD of plans to mark Nigeria’s 100 years, the Federal Government says it will deal with the challenges hampering the nation’s progress.

Speaking at the unveiling of the official media partners and brand ambassadors of the Nigerian centenary project in Lagos, the Minister of State for Works, Amb. Bashir Yugudu, who represented the Secretary to the Government of the

Gunmen kill security operative in Borno

BY NDAHI MARAMA

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U N M E N suspected to be members of Boko Haram, Friday night, shot dead a security official assumed to be a staffer of the Department of State Security (SSS) in Ajilari/Gomari airport ward of Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

This brings to four the number of people killed in the area last week, including the General Manager of a filling station, even as one person was reportedly kidnapped there.

Our correspondent gathered that the gunmen in yesterday’s incident, who operated on foot, wearing (Baban Riga) flowing gowns and hiding AK47 rifles inside, invaded the

house of the security officer and shot him before fleeing.

A neighbour, who did not want his name mentioned, said the gunmen struck at about 7:22pm.

He said, “We were sitting in front of our house around 7:22pm when we heard gunshots close by.

We immediately ran into

the house for safety. This morning (yesterday), we learnt it was an SSS officer that was shot dead”.

Another source said that “after the gunmen shot and killed the SSS operative, the men of the JTF arrived the scene and took his body to an undisclosed morgue in one of the hospitals in the metropolis”.

‘Exclude Adamawa from emergency rule’

BY CHRIS OCHAYI

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HE National Peace Summit Group, NPSG, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to have a rethink and exclude Adamawa

State from among the states under emergency rule, noting that the situation there was not as precarious as in Borno and Yobe states.

National Coordinator of NPSG, Mr. Theophilus

Tinubu: Opposition leaders to rescue Nigeria

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ATIONAL leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, says leaders of opposition parties remained resolute in their desire to reconstruct Nigeria.

According to him, the opposition parties will create a chance of a bright and better future that will erase poverty, unemployment and insecurity.

Tinubu noted that there are leaders in this country capable of chasing away “the demons” whose activities have remained a source of impediment to growth.

Speaking at Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST), Wudi, yesterday, when he was conferred with a honorary doctorate degree, he said, “History teaches that those who stay resolute shall win in the end; we are resolute for there is no shame in wanting democracy, no shame in wanting prosperity, fighting against poverty, ignorance and diseases, just as there is also no shame in believing

Due to lack of GSM services for the past 10 days in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa now under emergency rule, the spokesman of the JTF, in Borno State, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, and the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Gideon Jubrin, could not be reached for confirmation of the killing.

in justice, striving for a better life and demanding good governance.”

The ACN leader went on: “A heavy cloud hovers overhead and there seems to be no woe by which we are not besieged: poverty, unemployment, diseases, religious and ethnic divides as well as terror, sadly, our house is weak because of poor infrastructure.

“All that is needed to address the country ’s problem is to possess the willpower to face the challenges, and education

plays a vital role in this direction”.

The ceremony turned to a political gathering with the attendance of the CPC presidential candidate in the 2011 polls, General Muhammadu Buhari; governors of Ogun and Oyo states, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Senator Bola Ajimobi respectively; former Ogun state governor, Olusegun Osoba; Mr Nuhu Ribadu, and speaker of the house of Representatives, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal.

Ekpon, described Adamawa as the most peaceful state in the North East.

While commending Jonathan for his proactive effort in addressing the protracted insecurity situation in the North East, Ekpon pleaded with the president to reconsider the case of Adamawa.

He said, “the Federal Government took the decision after very wide consultations with relevant stakeholders in order to restore normalcy to the North East. Part of the president’s effort at restoring normalcy is the granting of amnesty to insurgents from the North despite opposition from across the country.”

Ekpon said “the situation in Adamawa State under the leadership of Governor Murtala Nyako is not the same as Borno and Yobe states which are the epicentres of the insurgency.”

Federation, Senator Pius Ayim Pius, while soliciting for media support, said the centenary celebration is very dear to President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration, the nation and the citizenry.

“What we are doing is for Nigerians to know that this is our project . It is not a project that belongs to the government alone. We are all Nigerians and we are happy we are 100 years old as a nation and it is a thing for us to celebrate. We believe there is enough room for all of us to participate in this c e l e b r a t i o n , ” Yu g u d u

FG charges NYSC Board on reform

BY CALEB AYANSINA

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HE Federal Government has charged members of the newly inaugurated Board of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, to pursue total implementation of the ongoing administrative structure of the scheme.

The Minister of Youth Development, Inuwa Abdulkadir, who gave the charge at the inauguration of the board members in Abuja, told the board “to spare no effort in improving the operational efficiency of the NYSC as the veritable engine room of the scheme”.

He went on: “The governing board should take up the task of pushing the reform process of the NYSC National Directorate forward to

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ATIONAL President of Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), Mr. Kunle Awobodu, has appealed to builders and other stakeholders to with government to prevent buildings collapse, by complying with the Lagos State Building Law 2010 and shunning quacks. He also urged the public to act as the watch dog by reporting any infringement on building

law to the authorities.

Awobodu spoke at a meeting of professionals comprising builders, architects, engineers and estate development managers convened to strategise on zero-building collapse in Lagos.

Town planning consultant and Chairman of the Lagos State Chapter of the guild, Mrs Kehinde George, reiterated the need for every building to have an approved plan by the

town planning body, if zero building collapse must be achieved. In furtherance of the awareness campaign a c t i v i t i e s , Aw o b o d u , George and Arc.Augustine Otuoke, Chairman, Amuwo Odofin cell of the guild, paid a courtesy visit to the Chairman, Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Comrade Adewale Ayodele, to solicit his support on a summit on building collapse in the area.

eliminate flaws in the administrative structure and other related issue of archaic data management procedures and facilities, unreliable statistics as well as unsatisfactory performance of civil servants and corruption.

“You will need to pay particular attention to the recurring instances of falsification of service records in the directorate as well as apparent imbalance in recruitment exercises in both state and national directorate.

“You should also ensure that in all your activities, you strictly comply with the principles of due process to which this administration is totally committed so that NYSC Directorate will follow suit thereby enthroning prudence, transparency and accountability in the workings of the Scheme.”

Gains of capacity building’ BYLAMIDI BAMIDELE

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HE importance of continuous training on leadership capacity building in both corporate and g o v e r n m e n t a l organisation have been emphasized.

Speaking during a workshop on leadership excellence tagged, ‘Developing the critical skills’ in Lagos, Mr Lere Baale, Director, Business School, Netherlands, emphasized the need for

Professionals unite to end buildings collapse BYPEACE ONYEUKWU

stated. “‘The president has said over and over that the celebration is purely private sector driven. The media consultant has been appointed. His duty is to be telling Nigerians each of the celebration. We have lined up a lot of activities for the celebration and this is just one of the most important aspect . We need the media, we are a friend to the media and we believe that jointly we can tell Nigerians what we are doing to celebrate our nation for turning 100 years”.

continuous training of managers both in the corporate and government organisations. According to him, “If people have leadership skills, they can develop good ideas”. He stated further, “The private sector have embraced leadership in a more robust way and that is why you see businesses growing day by day”.

The three-day workshop was organised by Vision and Talents, a human resource development organisation in Lagos.

Free breast cancer screening in Lagos

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O curb the spate of breast cancer in women, the Soroptimist International of Lagos Mainland says not less than 50 women will be screened for breast cancer at the Lagos State General Hospital by the club.

Assuring that the cost would be borne by the

club, Mrs.Titilayo Ojeifo, the General Manager, Industrial Equipment Division, R.T Briscoe Nigeria Plc, who spoke during her installation as the president of the club, also pledged massive facelift for the club’s school in her two-year tenure.

PAGE 8 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

Police rescue four kidnapped foreigners in Port-Harcourt

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

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OLICE have rescued four kidnapped foreigners at Borikiri area of Port Harcourt.

Confirming the development, Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Angela Agabe, gave the victims names as Vadym Shytov, from Ukraine; Obaya Marak, from Kiribati; Mikhail

Teresgji, from Russia and Oleksiv Ishmyetvev, from Ukraine She said the men were abducted off the coast of Bayelsa waters on April 22, adding that they were sighted around Borikiri area two days ago.

According to her, the anti-kidnap squad of the police quickly mobilised to rescue them.

The police spokesman,

who said the rescued hostages had been handed over to their firm, added that investigation was on to track down those behind the abduction.

“The state commissioner of police, Mr Mbu Joseph Mbu, received the hostages and handed them over to Mr Larry Etete, a company staff.

Investigation in progress,” Agabe said.

EMERGENCY: Police dismiss fear of backlash in Plateau

BY TAYE OBATERU & HOPE OFOBIKE

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HE police in Plateau State have allayed the fears of residents over the speculation that some of the insurgents being dislodged from the three states where emergency rule has been declared were finding their way to the state, saying there is no cause for alarm.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Olakpe, said at a press briefing that residents had nothing to fear as the various security agencies were collaborating to ensure that there was no backlash of the situation in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

He said the war against crime in the state was

yielding fruits as the command smashed a 24-man armed robbery syndicate which specialized in snatching of cars, handsets, laptops and production of ammunition.

Parading the suspects at the police headquarters, Olakpe said: “The gang members, some of whom claimed to be students of the University of Jos, specialized in car robbery using pestle and handmade guns. ”We also have in our custody an occultic gang group who murdered a man last December, putting his buttered body in a Ghana- must go bag”.

He said about 18 cars were recovered from neighboring states of Bauchi, Kano and Nassarawa and called on the public

to be alert and car owners to ensure they do not drive at odd times.

‘No killer -gas but killer -equipment’ killer-gas killer-equipment’

BY LEKAN BILESANMI HAT the hell is “Wthis noise about

killer gas from Niger Republic? It is sheer nonsense”. This is the reaction of Femi Akinola, a Lagos based gas dealer, when told about the text messages branding the gas from Niger Republic as either substandard or explosive.

He fumed: “I have been in this gas business for the past 18 years and

OIL FIRMS VS COMMUNITIES

Ondo raises truce panel

BY DAYO JOHNSON ed the 15-member comAkure mittee on behalf of Governor Olusegun Mimiko ORRIED by the at Ugbonla town.

Traditional rulers in Ilunending agitation and harassment of aje, led by the Olugbo of oil companies by some Ugboland, Oba Obateru communities in Ondo Akinruntan; the ChairState, the state govern- man, caretaker committee ment has inaugurated a of the Ilaje local governcommittee to liaise be- ment area, Mr.Banji tween the companies and Okunomo; and representatives of oil firms in the the communities.

The Ilaje (Ugbo) Coast- area attended the cereal Communities Devel- mony.

Orisamolua urged the opment Committee is to serve as a platform to committee members to enhance a robust rela- sustain the current peace tionship between oil in the area so that oil prospecting companies firms carrying out their operating in Ugboland responsibilities without and their host communi- any form of threat, intimidation and harassment, ties.

Director of Finance and will be happy to impleAdministration of the ment projects that will be Ondo State Oil Produc- of benefit to the people.

Akinruntan noted that ing Areas Development Commission, OSOPA- members of the commitDEC, Mr. Sola tee were selected from Orisamolua, inaugurat- their various oil and com-

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Mr. Chris Cooter, Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria (l), with Rev David Ogolor, African Network for Environment for Economic Justice, ANEEJ, co-ordinator , during Cooter’s visit to Benin City, Edo State. Photo: Barnabas Uzosike.

munity associations because they were found to be men of proven integrity.

Chairman of the committee, Oba Femi Ogbaro, pledged that the committee will put the interest of their people above personal interest.

I am well informed to know that there is no substandard gas from Niger Republic.What the problem is, is the substandard and killer equipment we have around.

Very aged equipment, hose, burner, regulators that could not support our gas specification.

Those bringing in refurbished equipment are behind this hoax. They are just trying to de-market those bringing in gas from that neighbouring country. I buy from a reputable gas plant that sells the gas from Niger Republic and it is of good quality and even better than those being paraded as the good ones”.

The Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR) had doused a growing fear in homes week when it debunked the claim of substandard or killer-domestic gas in circulation, saying all gas being sold across the country are in tandem with the standard speciified by the Standard

Organization of Nigeria.

The clarification, made during a gas stakeholders meeting in Lagos, came in the wake of mounting fears that some dealers are selling gas that is below acceptable standard. The peddlers of the hoax even deployed the use of sms to frighten unsuspecting consumers. Those behind the falsehood advanced the reason of higher proportion of butane in the gas from Niger Republic than required locally.

Akinola, whose AF Gas collects gas from various sources and sells to corporate and individual end users, decried the hoax. “Ever since I have been buying the so called gas from Niger Republic, I have not received any complaint of explosion of injury on account of use of the gas. We have a network of distributors and we discuss issues affecting the industry, no one has come out to say the gas from Niger Republic

is not good”, the dealer said.

“The origin of this claim is from the inability of the unscrupulous gas business men to create artificial scarcity to hike the price of gas.

That is their usual tactic and, since we have the influx of gas especially from Niger, they are jittery and would go to any length to discredit the gas”. He pointed to a cabal in the sector who would always work against anyone trying to deny them the opportunity to exploit the people, noting that there is nothing like cancerous gas.

Another gas dealer, Collins Ugochukwu, who said he liked the gas from Niger Republic, described the situation as worrisome. He lamented that such rumour, if not checked, may kill the gas business because those using it would opt for kerosene.

Admission crisis: Ekiti FMC Nursing School students petition health minister

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI Ado Ekiti

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ARENTS and guard ians of about 150 students of the School of Nursing ,Federal Medical Centre, FMC, Ido Ekiti, who were made to forfeit their admission status by the authorities of the school, have petitioned the Federal Ministry of Health and the

Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria, alleging sharp practices in the marking of their papers in the examination conducted by the school.

The school authorities had weeded the students by admitting only 50 out of about 200 that wrote the examination.

The Chief Medical Director of the FMC, Dr

Lawrence Ayodele Majekodunmi, attributed the action of the school to the students poor performance during the examination to qualify them for indexing.

According to him, most of the affected students were unable to make their resit papers ,even when two different examinations were conducted for their make up.

But, according to the concerned parents in their petition entitled, ‘Atrocities,non -challant attitude and fraudulent practices of the School of Nursing,FMC,’and dated 21st May, 2013, they called on government and the bodies charged with the supervision of the school to act to save the future of the school and affected students.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 9

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

Open letter to President Jonathan on sacked civil servants in Abia Dear Sir,

Your Excellency sir, E the non indigenous civil servants, mostly from the south eastern states who were working with Abia State Government and were sacked or disengaged by the State Governor in the month of September 2011 want to use this medium to appeal to you to intervene on our behalf.

Since we were disengaged or sacked, no arrears of our salaries or entitlement have been paid to us and the governor has refused to give us audience.

Many of us have served the government for more than 30 years and have been working there before Abia was carved out from old Imo State and was retained by Abia State Government and some came on interstate transfer either because of their families are resident in Abia or their spouses who are Federal Government or other conglomerate staff were transferred to Abia State while others were employed direct by Abia State government to meet their manpower demand.

The only reason the state government gave to support its action was that, in 1991, when Ebonyi State was carved out of Abia and Enugu State, the then military administrator of Enugu State, Temi Ejoor, told the indigenes of Abia and Ebonyi states in the civil service to go so that they can help boost manpower of their states. This policy was condemned by many Nigerians

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without minding that it was a military regime. When Governor Okwesilieze Nwodo took over as the civilian governor of Enugu State, he reversed the policy and recalled all the nonindigenes that were relieved of their jobs, but only those who had already secured a comfortable job refused to go back.

This Abia State government action has already got some casualties, 56 of us have died and 20 others have lost their spouses because of the hopeless situation of no money to take care of their families. Our children, some of them in the universities have dropped out of school. Many of us have been thrown out of our rented accommodations because of no money to pay rents.

Those our children who have become drop outs because their parents were used and dumped, will they not be liabilities to Nigerians and the government? If tomorrow they become deadlier than Boko Haram who will blame them? Their parents had good plans for them, but were used and dumped as non-indigenes. May be the Federal Government will come up with another amnesty because of somebody’s carelessness.

When some of us went to Enugu during the South East Governors and other Stakeholders Summit to intimate them of our predicament, we were rounded up and arrested at Abakpa Nike, and dumped in their police cell on the orders of Abia State government. We were there till the end of the summit and nobody knew what happened as we were invited to come

and state our case at the summit. Even when we tried to meet at St. Fimbers Catholic Church, Umuahia to discuss our problem and the way forward, mobile policemen were sent to disperse us.

Some of us from other states of the federation and few people who are from Ishiagu from Ebonyi State have been reinstated , maybe, because they come from the same town with the Secretary to the Federal Government.

Your excellency Sir, you are our last hope we will be grateful if you can

intervene for us so that government of Abia State will either reinstate us or pay us all our entitlements.

Your obedient servants Signed Mrs Mrs A Madu Okoli For Imo State, Mrs R. N Okafor For Anambra State, Mrs P.N. Ozor, For Enugu State, Mrs Mercy Kanu For Ebonyi State.

That presidential pardon Dear Sir,

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REVIOUS presidents had exercised the pardon power relatively evenly throughout their respective terms in office with the usual burge during the Christmas season and on anniversary days.

In the latest pardon of ex-governor Alameyeseigha, the president exercised the authority given by the constitution to grant reprieves and pardons.

The power is absolute. Even a serial killer could be pardoned and utterly unreviewable. It could be rescinded by the next president. The president may grant a pardon before a trial or without a trial. The pardon granted Alameyeseigh produced consternation, outrage and disbelief.

Chief Alameyeseigh had not petitioned to have his sentenced commuted. The judge who convicted him said he would have imposed a death penalty had the law allowed it.

If one says he is sorry for what he has done, if he accepted his guilt then my thoughts would be different but when one refuses to say that how can we responsibly set him free. Prudence, morality, common sense and custom suggest that executive clemency should be reserved for the repentant and reformed.

The fact that a pardon could be granted without a prior justice investigation and without a recommendation from the Attorney General could be counted on the fingers of one hand.– C.C. Okereke, is resident in Anambra State.

PAGE 10 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

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XPECTEDLY the President’s decla ration of emergency has provoked harsh criticism from the usual opposition groups – particularly the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN. As someone born and bred in progressive politics, I had spent all my life in the same camp as the progressives – even if, lately, the Awoists and progressives have started to resemble, increasingly, like the conservatives they want to replace at the centre.

Now, there is more hype than real performance from the standpoint of progressive agenda. A new leadership is in place – and that perhaps explains the difference in orientation.

Still, on the major issues, I had gone along with them – until now. On Boko Haram, the ACN has been offering distractions instead of helping to solve the problem. That is politics; what the nation expects from everyone, faced with this catastrophe, is statesmanship. That means proposing the other options available to the nation – instead of continuing to dismiss every initiative by government.

Let us take a trip down recent history with one fact in mind – the original Boko

Haram killings started before Jonathan became President. So, he did not start the problem – he inherited it. But, first let me make a necessary diversion.

Jonathan’s chief spokesmen, Reuben Abati and Okupe had spent the last two years chasing shadows and making themselves a liability to the President – when he most needed their credibility. Abati, in particular, should have been in all the newspaper houses weeks before this monumental announcement drumming up support for the measure. But, after his self-destructive defence of what happened to LEADERSHIP staff, Abati had slammed the doors in his own face in every print media house. Okupe is even worse; he was a failure as Obasanjo’s spokesman; he has done nothing to make his second coming a success. The official spokesmen have now created a vacuum which “unofficial” representatives have started to fill.

Two new “spokespersons” soon emerged to fill the vacuum left by Abati and Okupe – Kuku and Asari Dokubo. Unfortunately for Jonathan, they have also created more problems for Jonathan than they solved – if they solved any. The fractured PDP, which he leads, instead of providing support, had for some time become part of the problems which

Turning the other way….

“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people” – Martin Luther king, Jnr. HERE are people that are not what they seem. Even when we have an inkling that something is not right, we remain tight lip and look the other way. We remain silent and pretend that everything is what it should be and beside, if why should we care when it does not affect us so why, should we rock the boat? This NIMBY(not in my backyard)attitude is not helpful at all. I believe good people should not let bad things happen.

I am talking about the recent baby making factory scandals. This is not the first time such scandal has been exposed and yet, here we are in 2013, right in full view of the community, a deplorable crime was been perpetuated and no one bats an eyelid. And this is not the first time a racket

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like this has been exposed.

We hear the madam behind this repugnant crime is at large, I do hope that when they find her, they hurl her before a good judge and hit her with the full weight of the law.

We had a similar scandal by a Kenyan evangelist, Gilbert Juma Deya, based in the UK in 2004. His organisation, Gilbert Deya Ministries, claimed that Deya is able to help infertile women to conceive through the power of prayer. Oh! They were full of it that their church was “the fastest growing ministries in the UK and worldwide. Their unique selling point was this holy man can give infertile couples miracle babies. He got carried away as he boasted that his ministries performed this miracle “through the power of prayer and the Lord Jesus”.

He says he has helped sterile women give birth. This should have been a red warning to right thinking people.

Millions of Nigerians will enlist to provide support for the President of Nigeria on this difficult project of bringing peace to our potentially great country

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to take a hard look at his aides and ask himself if they still represent value for money. The bottom line for spokesmen is “are they still credible?” Credibility of spokesmen is indispensable because the “medium is the message”, as Marshall Macluhan had taught the world. Send somebody with tainted integrity to deliver your message; and nobody believes it. That is a fact Jonathan must understand.

After that Jonathan needs to reach out to create a new set of followers; people who support his measures on war and will help to get the message out to those who don’t understand or have not taken a hard position.

The members of the new coalition need not support

as well as criticism. As the war deepens, the propaganda war will also escalate. The enemies will try to proclaim atrocities at every turn. Accusations of genocide, real or imagines will become more common – threatening to separate the Commander-In-Chief, C-IC, from the troops. To minimize this tendency, the President will need to develop a stronger relationship with the media than now exists.

They at least can help by helping government to get its own story to the public.

How to build that relationship will constitute one of the most important tasks of government. The hoax of 185 people killed at Baga is an example of what the government should not al-

So he had one woman testify that she had three children in less than a year!

I would have thought the woman would have submitted herself to science. And as always the women all had to travel to Kenya to give birth. It all came to light when his wife was arrested following a tip off and charged with stealing children. At close inspection of their Nairobi home, the police made a shocking discovery; they found ten children and none of these

based couple took their five month twins to the embassy in preparation to travel back to the US. The children were born in Nigeria, where the “mother ” had earlier given “birth” to the twins. Nothing wrong in that but what followed was that the couple could not provide documentation or antenatal evidence that the children were indeed theirs.

So when the DNA test was revealed either of the “parents” were biologically theirs as they had earlier

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“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide; in the strife of truth and falsehood, for the good or the evil side”. James Russel Lowell, 1819-91.

Jonathan must now manage. Some of the problems, like the palaver over Governor Amechi’s plane and the brutal attack on LEADERSHIP, were self-created.

Yet, despite all these, the President of Nigeria still needs all well-meaning Nigerians to bring the war in this country to an end. He has taken a tough position outside Aso Rock; he needs

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Support the president and JTF: In our own interest –2

the President on everything else; they simply believe that he has the best plan for bringing the war to an end.

So, it will be a one-issue coalition; it will not even be involved in any re-election plans that the President might develop.

It is my strong belief that millions of Nigerians will enlist to provide support for the President of Nigeria on this difficult project of bringing peace to our potentially great country.

The declaration of emergency has suddenly placed our brothers and sisters in uniform in greater danger

For every child snatched or sold or worse there is a mother deprived of the joy of motherhood. How long do we shrug our shoulders and move on, bouncing from one despicable scandal to the next?

children had any genetic connection to the Deyas.

These nefarious couple were operating a scam; stealing babies in order to selling them to gullible and desperate people. You have thought that they should have asked how come they could have a baby and not be pregnant. But it seems no one ask; they just take as read.

So again, this week in a UK black newspaper front page another couple came up with miracle twins. This Nigerian born American-

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claimed.

The couple were subsequently arrested and it transpired that the woman had been given traditional medicine that resulted in the birth of the twins (so they claimed). They did confirm that the birth did not come cheap; the twins came with a N1.8 million price tag paid to a woman operating from a traditional clinic, somewhere in Port Harcourt, River State.

The husband told the authorities that he was given herbs to develop his sperm

low to continue un-countered. That propaganda coup for the enemies of Nigeria has damaged the war effort more than is generally realized.

THE MINISTER VERSUS THE GOVERNOR: TWO NAKED DANCERS “A truth that’s told with bad intent; beats all the lies you can invent, William Blake, 1753 - 1827 Last week, the Federal Minister for Aviation was at the House of Representatives to explain why a jet imported by Governor Rotimi Amechi of Rivers State had been grounded. The entire episode would have been comical if it was not tragic. Everybody now knows that planes are also flying bombs – which can devastate people if they crash on their communities. Yet, the Minister of Aviation, sat in the NASS chambers, and announced that her Ministry allowed the government of Rivers State to bring a plane into Nigeria in September of last year and to fly it around the country, and endanger our lives, without fulfilling all the conditions for such an intrusion on our lives. The Ministry obviously did not care if the plane was air-worthy; they could not “give a damn” if it posed a security risk; they did not check if appropriate duties and tariffs were paid; they did not ask if it was adequately insured. In fact, they did not undertake any of the checks established by various aviation laws in Nigeria. They allowed the aircraft to fly.

The plane was allowed to fly because in 2012, Governor Amechi was still considered a friend; so he could be allowed to act with impunity. But, this is 2013, and Amechi has

count and the woman said that she also was given some herbs to make her pregnant. She was convinced that she was pregnant because she said she felt pregnant. She was told by the woman she called Mrs Okoro, not to go to the hospital because if she were to go to the hospital and she should have a scan they would not find the babies or she may miscarry.

So how gullible are these people that they bought the ruse hook, line and sinker.

This I find so hard to believe. No one thinks of what becomes of these stolen or trafficking babies, and I am sure there are many of these children home and abroad. The psychological and emotion al damage to these children is immeasurable and there may be more who are experiencing emotional and physical abuse.

We know that the police have exposed another baby making factory in Imo State. Are there many more in these places in other neighbourhoods or how many people know women who suddenly come home with a new born with no prior signs of pregnancy?

How and why do we look away and are so indifferent to what is going on around us? We really need to be more community oriented, they say it takes a village to raise a child then, let us show more humanity and if something smells suspicious, looks suspicious, and by goodness sake, it is sus-

transformed into an enemy of Aso Rock. All of a sudden, the Minister of Aviation has woken up to her responsibilities. Even now, most of her statements are so bizarre, anyone listening, like me, must wonder if the Minister knows the difference between truth and falsehood – or, simply does not “give a damn” whether she is believed or not.

Meanwhile, the Governor himself is not smelling like roses from the revelations so far. First, it matters not whether the aircraft was procured for N7 billion or N9 billion. There is no state in Nigeria whose people are so affluent that its governor can spend N7 or N9 billion on a private jet which is used for personal trips unconnected with his responsibilities as governor.

The aircraft was delayed in Akure, where the current drama started, while the governor was on a condolence visit to Ekiti State.

Going out of state to shed tears, crocodile or real, is not one of the statutory functions of a governor. So, it was a private visit. The people of Rivers state should not be made to pay for it.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to know how many private trips were made, at the expense of the people, before the Minister of Aviation woke up from her slumber to put a temporary stop to the nonsense. I said temporary because, either way, the palaver is not about the people of Rivers State – it is a fight between factions of the PDP about sharing the spoils accruing from being “elected” to office.

At least now, we begin to understand how the aviation ministry is managed.

V i s i t : www.Delesobowale.com

picious. Most important, for every child snatched or sold or worse there is a mother deprived of the joy of motherhood. How long do we shrug our shoulders and move on, bouncing from one despicable scandal to the next?

Response to: Oga, drop something….

Your above captioned write-up refers.

You ‘are not missing something’. YOU MISSED something. You were not around long enough to see the impunity build-up.

No, we don’t resign ourselves to fate. We should (start) continue the clean up process by making the police men/women have pride in their work/profession.

The IG started it “unknowingly” by removal of road blocks. Let’s take it further by “cleaning up” – 1. The police men/women themselves (provide new uniforms & communication gadgets).

2. The police stations;- it should no more be (‘approved’???) garage for broken down vehicles.

3. Re-introduce the “Barracks” system. Meanwhile, clean up existing ones.

4. (I knowing put this last) Change entry requirement for recruitment but it MUST include passing Physical + Hygiene examinations.

How can we expect ‘clean’ behaviour from people who have become so dirty? Regards, Alh Musah Ali.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 11

in Benin City. At the height of his reign of terror, he masterminded the shooting of the then State Commissioner of Police. Contrary to the general belief that Ani-

ni had some ‘juju’ powers, part of which he used to trace the Commissioner to the spot where the latter was shot, his real power was later found to be that he had a mole in the Police.

It is this type of story that convinces many people that it is moles in the security agencies that coordinate criminal operations.

How come, some would ask, that the Police usually arrive at a robbery scene only when the criminals have concluded their business and have left the area?

Would anyone blame those who are reluctant to help the police with vital information?

In the recent past, the celebrated case of a suspected terrorist who was arrested and reportedly allowed to escape later is another issue that has remained inexplicable. It is on the same score, that the Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has been asking everyone to help unravel a case in which the ammunition which by police record was in police custody was the same one allegedly used to kill his principal secretary. Early this month, the police arrested one of its men assumed to have leaked the information that led to the ambush of security agents who were on a mission to arrest some suspected cultists in Nasarawa State. Since then, no less than 15 police officers and men accused of connivance with the cult group to massacre their colleagues have been arrested. Whereas it has be-

come easy to believe the allegation that moles in the Police are part of the nation’s complicated security dilemma, the police is not the only place where there are moles. They are in earnest all over Nigeria The latest suspected mole in the Nasarawa massacre is not a police personnel but a Director in the civil service of the Nasarawa State Government. According to media reports, security agents who were still peeved over the killing of their colleagues by the dreaded Ombatse Cult Group swooped on the Director after tracing certain vital information leaked to the cult group to his telephone. If this is shocking, a more scaring story is that which says that there are now moles in our revered military. On January 19 this year, a Mali-bound military convoy was ambushed and attacked by insurgents in Okene, Kogi State leading to the death of 2 soldiers while 5 others were injured. The Army has now confirmed that the ambush was made possible by information leaked by a soldier to the insurgents. According to Lt.-Gen. Azubuike Ihejirika, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the soldier, who is now in detention, is awaiting court martial in connection with the leakage.

The consolation the rest of us now have is that the army is dealing with the issue in a down-to-earth manner. The pragmatism must not be inchoate - it has to be taken to its logical

conclusion. The way any one found wanting is being handled, the recent stern warning by the COAS at a seminar organized by the Army at the Transformation and Innovation Centre, that all offenders would be decisively dealt with and the public enlightenment initiative on the subject are no doubt reassuring. Now that moles have become a crucial part of our security challenges, the Army must reform its recruitment process so as always attract only applicants with some measure of integrity. A continuous assessment of operatives for which the Army is well known should more than ever before incorporate a strategy which easily identifies and quickly uproots operatives that have a tendency to degenerate into moles. In addition, how to handle a mole should form an essential part of the strategy for forecasting, planning and coordinating the arrangements for combating terrorism.

The Police on its part may find it hard to deal with the subject because of long years of neglect and subsisting prejudices but if it prioritizes the issue, it would not be insurmountable. Nothing else dislocates an arrangement better than saboteur -insiders. The issue of moles in Nigeria’s public institutions has escalated to a proportion in which no organization is free from it. This is thus the time to deal with the subject before we record more moles than citizens.

abruptly because of marriage, and matrimonial restrictions against intensely emotionally satisfying affairs and friendships with others make marriage a prison that nourishes jealousy and deceit.

Other drawbacks of matrimony include economic inconvenience (especially for husbands who are usually the breadwinners, although these days an increasing number of women are assuming that role), the extremely challenging burden of raising children, curtailment of extracurricular activities and adventure, legalised bondage, intrusion into one's privacy and private space, difficulties from

condition of married women from different social strata in Nigeria is difficult to get, there is no doubt in my mind that a large number of Nigerian men do not have the qualities needed to sustain marriage which can override the disadvantages highlighted above. The same thing, mutatis mutandis, is applicable to Nigerian women also. Far from "living happily ever after", marriage is usually an exceedingly difficult and miserable endeavour for a sizeable number of women because of temperamental inadequacies of their husbands.

Many husbands are neurotic, unintelligent, intolerant, stingy, arrogant, untidy, overbearing, dishonest, violent, impecunious, lazy, and immature in love.

Some of them see themselves as God's gift to their wives, and believe the ancient superstition that wom-

some men are so insecure, so afraid of their wives being more successful than themselves that they compel them to be complete homemakers. Hence, rather than bringing dignity and honour to their wives, a significant number of husbands bring hell to the unfortunate women. Unfortunately, women have been brainwashed through religion and intimidated by unfair customs and economic dependency to endure bad, boring and unhappy marriages. On the strength of what we have said thus far, it is clear that only a tiny percentage of marriages are genuinely happy or successful.

There are just too many pressures connected to living together as husband and wife such that fulfilment is rare in marriage.

Fulfilment in life depends on the extent to which an individual is able to unfold his or her productive powers in work and in love without undue interference and oppression. It connects with the ability to meet one's legitimate goals and aspirations.

Thus, it is evident that a single man or woman with the appropriate mental, intellectual, and spiritual dispositions and skills can lead a fulfilled life, whereas it would take much more for a married person, with all the difficulties associated with matrimony, to achieve the same feat. Let us now summarise the essential points of our discourse.

Marriage is an important social institution created by human beings at the dawn of civilisation to cater for their biological, economic, and emotional needs - it is definitely wrong to attribute

its origin to a divine being.

Religious conceptions of matrimony are inadequate for our time because they stem from antiquated superstitious conceptions of humans and flawed understanding of the need for intimate relatedness between man and woman. Marriage has advantages, especially in the cooperative effort of parents to produce responsible offspring.

However, because of its numerous restrictions and the high demands it makes on privacy it leads to frustrations and unhappiness.

For men and women with the right mental dispositions, marriage can enhance the quality of their lives, provided they establish strong emotional connection and compatibility as good friends before they decide to tie the knot. Nigerian women tend to become strongly attached to an unhappy marriage, to desperately want children, to feel that once they have been supported by their husbands for a number of years they cannot stand on their own feet economically if the marriage breaks up, to care too much about their marital status after a certain age - and for other silly reasons - to hang on to a bad marriage. The wrong notion that everyone must marry, that a woman is incomplete or without honour if she is unmarried, and that fulfilment in life requires matrimony has led to many hasty marriages that ended disastrously.

Therefore, marriage is not compulsory at all; but if you must marry please look very carefully before you leap or else you might not even live long enough to regret it.

CONCLUDED.

Moles all over Nigeria!!! the opportunity to extract approvals of huge resources supposedly to quell the strikes. There is doubt if government ever knew the real roles of some of the committees it assembled to resolve crises. Some members probably passed information to the other side thereby making resolution difficult as well as turning the matter into a recurring

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HEN President Goodluck Jonathan observed not long ago that members of a dreaded insurgent group had infiltrated his own government, some people thought it was politics. From the look of things, it is becoming difficult to doubt the assertion.

Although it might not be easy to identity insurgents within the federal cabinet as they may never openly portray a combatant disposition, they are probably there as patron moles who supply information on the workings of government to the insurgents. Such people have always been in such privileged positions anyway. Some persons who had been in the corridors of power years back can confirm that the popular incessant strike actions on prices of petroleum products in the Obasanjo administration were partly fuelled by information from top government officials to labour.

The way it worked was this: Once the strike was about to start, the privileged officials would quickly seize

been stories to that effect.

Indeed, the Nigerian judiciary had in the past convicted moles in our Police that helped criminals in diverse ways to wreck havoc on society. A good example being the celebrated underworld gun trotter, Lawrence Anini who with the unfettered support of a police officer instilled fear in all and sundry for quite some time

There is doubt if government ever knew the real roles of some of the committees it assembled to resolve crises. Some members probably passed information to the other side

phenomenon.

Can it also be true that there are insurgents among our law enforcement agencies? It would appear so because there have always

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PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

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NDIGENOUS Nigeri an cultures, Christianity, and Islam recommend marriage for everyone. For instance, Christianity teaches that he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favour from God (assuming that such a being exists). Because The Holy Bible appears to have been written from a fundamentally masculine perspective, there is no mention of a wife finding a good thing if she gets a husband. Islam also encourages marriage, while according to native customs and traditions, an unmarried state for both men and women is an abomination.

Marriage has some advantages over remaining single; but it does not follow that everyone ought to marry. The benefits of matrimony are obtained at a heavy price. Albert Ellis, in his highly entertaining and informative book, Sex and the Single Man, discussed the advantages and disadvantages of marriage. Now, since majority of Nigerians are convinced that marriage is good and that it is an institution established by God for human benefit there is no need to belabour its advantages here. Instead, we shall highlight its disadvantages to encour-

age those considering marriage to reflect deeply and dispassionately before crossing the Rubicon, so to speak. One of the most serious disadvantages of marriage, particularly monogamy, is the restriction on sex, companionship, and love. We have already identified the instinct for sexual variety in humans, which make lifelong fidelity to one's spouse difficult despite the exhortations of religious teachings. Let us consider the issue of companionship and love.

Hypocrisy and self-deception aside, in majority of cases the intensity of love and desire for companionship with which marriages begin tend to dissipate with passing years due to a number of factors, most especially the deadening effect of excessive familiarity with each other as a result of living under the same roof for a long time. As a result, many married people feel suffocated by the expectation that it is their duty to love their spouses "till death do them part".

However, to feel it is one's duty to love so-and-so is one of the surest ways to stifle love, since love can only flourish when it is free and spontaneous. Oftentimes close friendships end

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Facts and fallacies about marriage (4)

A successful marriage is one in which the husband and wife (or wives) enrich each other's life

in-laws, and marital unhappiness. This leads us to the second fallacy, which is that the dignity and honour of a woman resides in her husband. Certainly, a successful marriage is one in which the husband and wife (or wives) enrich each other's life. Still it is a simplistic hyperbole to assert categorically that having a husband necessarily dignifies a woman. Although relevant statistics about the

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en are innately inferior to men and, therefore, must be submissive to them at all times. To be candid, some husbands are just impossible. There are innumerable cases of women either killed or maimed by irascible and drunk husbands; in other instances, some husbands have forced their wives to abandon successful businesses or careers just because of stupid jealousy and possessiveness. Indeed,

PAGE 12—SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 13

•Gov. Akpabio

•President Jonathan

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ATELINE, Addis Ababa, about 48hours ago: At about the time Asishana Okauru, Director General, DG, of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, was announcing Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as the elected Chairman of the body, one of the aides to President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan whispered to the President that Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State had been elected as Chairman of the same body. Minutes later, Jonathan, who also held a secret meeting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo in Addis Ababa (ostensibly over the multifarious political challenges besetting the former), was made to understand that the earlier information he got was not true in every material particular.

Back in Abuja, Nigeria: Meanwhile, the state governors, who had assured President Jonathan that they would deliver to him a malleable NGF Chairman, had to re-strategize on how to make the best of a very bad situation.

Therefore, the panic mode and the hasty frenzy that the governors engaged was with a view to ensuring that by the time Jonathan returned to the country, they would have something credible to present. The presidency has, however, strongly distanced itself from the politics of election of the NGF. Indeed, Sunday Vanguard gathered, yesterday, that the inability of the proJonathan governors, led by Godswill Akpabio, to exorcise the ghost of Babel from their midst led to their greatest undoing.

Between Governors Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State and Ibrahim Shema of Katsina State, the election was lost before it even took place. The massive pressures piled on both men by their colleagues in the Northern Governors’ Forum to reconsider their ambition to become the NGF Chairman was no more

C M Y K

•Gov. Amaechi

AMAECHI AND GOVERNORS’ FORUM ELECTION

Tipping the balance of presidential control

By JIDE AJANI than a fool’s errand as both men refused to step down for one another.

The concatenation of events did not stop there as even the earlier intervention of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors’ Forum to get each to step down failed.

This was how Jang came into the

What this also implies is that even within the PDP itself, the governors had not been on the same page. One of the errors of the pro-Jonathan group made was to construe an endorsement for the real election. Another was the walkout staged by some governors even before the results were announced.

The argument that Amaechi should have stepped down before the election (something unknown to their

,

LAST Friday’s defeat of the pro-President Goodluck Jonathan group in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, is a signpost for the beginning of greater confusion and crises that would attend the build-up to the 2015 presidential election.

•Gov. Jonah Jang

In addition, handlers and strategists of the President would need to device better ways of enthroning effective control of the political space beyond the braggadocio of presidential swagger and gubernatorial peregrination with a view to endorsing hokum

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picture. Sunday Vanguard discovered that the choice of the Plateau governor did not go down well with a few of the PDP governors. But he was the one presented at the end of the day as a compromise candidate to contest against Amaechi. But with its 23 state governors, the PDP group could not stop Amaechi as he polled 19 votes against Jang’s 16 – the Yobe State governor was not available to vote. Abubakar Yari of Zamfara was elected Amaechi’s deputy.

Of the 16 votes for Jang, Governors Peter Obi of Anambra (All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA) and Olusegun Mimiko of Ondo (Labour Party, LP), helped to shore it up, meaning only 14 core PDP governors voted for Jang and, by implication, are sympathetic to Jonathan.

constitution) is tantamount to asking a sitting President to vacate office because he is seeking re-election.

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lso intriguing is the fact that Jonathan, Akpabio and Amaechi are all of the South South stock.

Therefore, when, yesterday morning, all manner of tricks in the book were being played out by Jang and his additional convert-governors at the Benue State Governor’s Lodge, it had become obvious even to the blind that these were concerted efforts in mere damage control.

A communiqué which suggested that, just as there emerged a putative PDP Governors Forum in the early days of the face-off between Jonathan and Amaechi, another faction of the NGF

group had emerged came to light.

And just as the PDP zoning arrangement was thrown into the dustbin during the election of a Speaker for the House of Representatives, the president’s wing of the NGF suffered yet another defeat – this, coming after the House had indicted the Ministry of Aviation in its handling of the documentation of this self-same Amaechi’s aircraft.

During the meeting, Jang, while addressing the media after the inaugural meeting which he presided as the ‘Chairman’ thanked Nigerian Governors for the confidence reposed in him to serve them as the Chairman of NGF and pledged to work for the interest of the Forum and country. The group’s communiqué was read by his Deputy, the Governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Mimiko. They vowed to unite members of the NGF, and work for the unity of the country.

The implication of Friday’s event is that either with Jang or Amaechi, Jonathan has unwittingly allowed some fat cats around him to open him to the opprobrium of the public regarding his handling of the politics of the face-off between him and Amaechi.

In addition, handlers and strategists of Mr. President would need to device better ways of enthroning effective control of the political space beyond the braggadocio of presidential swagger and gubernatorial peregrination with a view to endorsing hokum.

All attempts to extract a response from the Amaechi group failed. A source close to the Rivers governor told Sunday Vanguard that the feeling in the camp is the “pleasure of watching old men dance naked in the open believing that the people are not seeing their nudity.

He added: “ Nigerians are intelligent people and they know the charade being passed off as protestation”.

PAGE 14 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

S

enator Magnus Ngei Abe, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was a Minority Leader in the Rivers State House of Assembly, a former Commissioner for Information in the state and Secretary to the State Government.

Abe, who currently represents Rivers South East in the Senate, is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream). He chaired the Senate Joint Committee on Petroleum, Downstream, Upstream, Finance and Appropriation.

In this interview, Abe bares his mind on the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states and the crisis in Rivers PDP, among other issues.

EXCERPTS:

•Senator Magnus Ngei Abe

H

OW do you view the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states by President Goodluck Jonathan?

The President as the Commander-in-Chief gets his briefings and information that the rest of us actually will not have. So, I don’t think it will be proper for anybody to question how he takes his decision based on the advice he is getting from his security chiefs. Given the level of information available to him, he took the decision at the time he felt that the situation called for it and I would not like to make any guess on that.

What I would like to say is to call on all Nigerians not to look at the crisis going on today in some parts of this country as a political issue. It is not a PDP matter; it is not a Jonathan matter. Nigeria is under threat and we need to take that very seriously. As we speak now, the constitutional freedom guaranteed to all citizens of this country is no longer being enjoyed by millions of Nigerians.

The freedom of movement, freedom of association, C M Y K

freedom of worship and freedom of religion guaranteed by the constitution is not enjoyed by millions of Nigerians. Even the right to life is no longer there, people are taking lives with reckless abandon. We may have issues with others when it comes to politics, but, in this particular matter, I think all Nigerians need to rally together and stamp out this evil called insurgency. We should do what we can to bring it under control.

I would like to support our troops and all the security agencies who are putting their lives at risk to get this under control and I think we should not only support them, we should also honour them.

Again, people have talked about amnesty in relation to the state of emergency. I want to say that the two issues are not related. As far as I am concerned, the state of emergency does not, in any way, affect the issue of amnesty. Anybody who is conducting himself in a manner that is contrary to public order is not interested in amnesty. Anybody who is interested in amnesty will not be conducting himself in a manner that is contrary to public order; he will be

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By HENRY UMORU

If people don’t take advantage of the amnesty and are gathering somewhere to make bombs and carry out attacks, then the emergency powers would be available to security agencies to deal with them

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talking to the amnesty committee.

So, both issues can go together at the same time and I want to call on all those who are affected or involved to take advantage of the amnesty instead of creating a situation that calls for resolution by force.

Y

ou think the amnesty can work under the state of emergency?

I don’t think the two issues are related directly. If somebody wants to take

advantage of the amnesty, the option is still open. If people don’t take advantage of the amnesty and are gathering somewhere to make bombs and carry out attacks, then the emergency powers would be available to security agencies to deal with them.

Do you think the state of emergency would resolve the issue considering that there have been troops on ground before now?

I believe that leadership is a contest of ideas. Nobody knows everything.

In government, when you have a situation where there is breakdown of law and order, where people cannot obey the law and where people are not guided by the norms of what to do and what not to do, the option opened to government is to call on the army or the security forces to restore order by force. The other option is to try to dialogue with whosoever is doing that to stop it. So, if anybody has a third option that

has not been revealed, he is free to contribute his ideas. If you think this one will not work, say what will work, all we want is peace in Nigeria.

If I know of any other one that is better than the options available now, I would gladly say it right here - that we should not be doing this, this is what we should be doing.

But if people don’t have contrary or better ideas and this is the one that is on the table that we know, then we should support it to make it work.

Right now, I cannot think of what we can do other than try to restore order in these areas by the means that are available to the Nigerian state.

Your party, the PDP in your state, is under siege. Your governor, Chibuke Amaechi, is believed to be at war with the president. Where do you stand in all of these?

I don’t know of any faceoff with the president. There are Continues on page 15

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 15

’Rivers crisis not in the interest of Jonathan, Amaechi, PDP’ Continued from page 14

on governance in Rivers State?

I am not in Rivers State. It is having adverse effect even here in Abuja. So, that question should be directed to the people in Rivers State, but I don’t know how you can have a situation where the House of Assembly was sealed and all sorts of things are going on and you ask if it is having adverse effect. Of course, it will have adverse effect on governance and the whole idea of what is going on is to create adverse effect on governance. The idea is to keep Amaechi busy and it is being done in a wrong way. It is not being done in a way that I think actually helps in bringing about solutions that we need in the region.

those who are taking advantage of their political ambitions and desires to create a situation of crisis in the South-South and I want to say clearly that having problem in the zone is not in anybody’s interest. It is certainly not in the best interest of the PDP, it is certainly not in the best interest of the president, it is certainly not in my own interest. So, anybody who genuinely wants PDP to succeed and anybody who genuinely wants the president to succeed will not be trying to create bush fires where there is no need for it.

I

•Senator Magnus Ngei Abe the truth and stand the truth on its head,..., we all went for a congress, everybody knew it, it was televised, we spoke after the congress, then somebody gets up to deny something at that level.

There are things I would be afraid to do because, when my children grow up, I don’t want people to say ‘this is how your father was’. So, I won’t do it, but if people can do it for the sake of power, I have nothing against it, but what I am saying is that they should not set the state on fire. Don’t use the police as an instrument of politics, don’t do the things that can take the lives of ordinary people and create confusion that you might not be able to come out from.

Everybody is free to play politics and quarrel and make up, but let us draw lines that will allow people who are not politicians to be able to live their normal lives because the way we are going now, people who are not politicians would be caught in the crossfire and that is not the kind of leadership we should be providing.

As someone who participated fully in the congress, at what point did the Dan Orbih-led committee produce two lists?

There were no two lists, there was total peace until we saw the court summons.

But the one they brought to the PDP secretariat when they inaugurated that committee was signed by Dan Orbih?

Yes, he did. That is not an issue. I don’t care as far as people can sleep with what they do. I know that, at the end of the day, outside of man, we will answer to God. So, I am not worried by what people do,

all I am saying is that whatever we are doing, we should do it in such a way that we are conscious that it can affect the ordinary people who are not involved.

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et us not do it in such a way that can bring our children out, and they start throwing bombs; we bring in the police and compromise them. As we are now, I don’t know the kind of security Rivers people can get. The state has invested more in the Nigeria Police than any other government; we have put in more in trying to create public order in the state than any other government. I challenge the police to disprove what I have said.

So, how can we because of politics turn the police around to become an instrument of disorder in Rivers State. All I

What is the way out?

I am a senator, a member of PDP Senate caucus. The caucus took a decision to set up a committee to look into the matter. I am confident in the committee and I don’t want to say anything that will look like I am pre-empting the effort the Senate is making. I think they will be able to find the way forward because there is no problem that doesn’t have solution. So, for now, I have confidence in the Senate’s effort and I want to urge all parties to give peace a chance and cooperate with the committee.

Constitution Committee and president’s tenure?

I am not authorized to brief the press on the activities of the Constitution Committee, but what I would say is that the committee is working in the interest of Nigerians and we are looking at the problems of our constitution, our democracy and trying to look for solutions to the challenges that we have based on our experiences so far.

Part of the reason people advocate six-year single tenure is that they actually think that if you look at our current democracy, out of the eight

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don’t want to say anything that will pre-empt the efforts that the Senate is making to reach out to all parties and allow peace to reign in River State, but I will like to say very, very clearly that you can have disagreements, we are politicians and there is no way we can all agree to everything, but that does not give the right to some of the things that are going on in Rivers State. It gives nobody such right and it will not work in favour of anybody. So, I just want, at this point, to be part of trying to look for solutions that will allow politicians to disagree, play their politics without playing politics with lives of people.

How do you compromise the police to the extent that is going on in the state? We have talked about people saying that they don’t want state police because it could be abused by politicians. That is what is going on in Rivers State. Will even state police do what is being done in Rivers State today?

So, I don’t want to go there.

The PDP caucus in the Senate met and took a decision to set up a committee to look for a political solution and I stand by the decision, but I would like to repeat that what is going on in River State is not in the interest of the SouthSouth, it is not in the interest of the President and definitely not in the interest of Rivers people.

Abuja politicians are alleged to be fanning the ambers of discord in River State. Do you agree?

The issue of Rivers PDP, as far as I am concerned, is neither here nor there. Like I said, people are politicians, people are looking for power, this is the season for that. But that by itself wouldn’t be a problem. Any time there is transition, politicians break into camps and try to do and undo; that is normal and shouldn’t be a problem. What I am against is the level to which this is being allowed to degenerate for whatever reason. That is what I am against. Outside of that, people are free to play their politics and whatever they want to do within the law, it is fine by me; they have the right. If people want to look at

The idea is to keep Amaechi busy and it is being done in a wrong way. It is not being done in a way that I think actually helps in bringing about solutions that we need in the region

am saying is that we should take a deep breath, calm down, look at the interest of Nigeria, look at the interest of the South-South and, more importantly, look at the interest of the president. Is this the kind of problem we should be creating for the president at this time, with the situation in Nigeria, right in the SouthSouth? Should we be doing that?

Are you saying that the crisis have has adverse effect

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possible years that a president gets from the two terms of four years each, more than four years of it is lost to politics. You spend the last two years of the first term preparing for the next elections after spending one year; if you are new trying to learn the ropes, then you spend the next two years of the other term doing the succession battle. So, a lot of real time that could actually be spent in trying, the much people can achieve is lost, a lot of

resources are also wasted in that effort.

So, to save the country that expense and rigour, if we have a single tenure, you come in, use one year to learn what you want to learn, you have like three or four years to give your best undistracted and, at the end of the day, you leave. I think the country will get more value. That is what a lot of people think and that is why people are advocating that.

There is nothing personal about it; it is just a question of trying to find what is best for Nigeria.

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nd I want to make the point that any project needs a minimum number of labourers to get the desired result. If you want to build this house now, and they say you need 10 people to build it in one year, if you want to do it in six months, you need 20 people, if you want to do it in 10 years, you need five people, but you must have people to do it. The problem I am beginning to see with the Nigerian project is that we need to look for enough Nigerians to deliver it. This project cannot be delivered by Hausa people, it cannot be delivered by South-South, it cannot be delivered by Christians, it cannot be delivered by Muslims, it cannot be delivered by Yoruba people. This project can only be delivered by Nigerians who are prepared to put the interest of Nigeria, one Nigeria and one nation under God, over and above every other interest.

It needs leaders, who must be ready to sacrifice, not only their own, but even those around them in order to be able to achieve a dream of a prosperous and united Nigeria and, if we cannot find enough people, we will not be able to deliver the project. The question we all need to ask is, can we find enough Nigerians to deliver this project properly? We all need to begin to look for them, people who will be able to do the right thing at challenging times.

So, that is what I think we need to look at and, anybody who is looking at the constitution needs to look at it from that perspective, don’t start looking at how it serves the interest of the North or the West; you cannot develop the North without the West, you cannot develop the South without the North, it is one country.

If one has one body, if one finger begins to hurt, you can’t sleep, if it is tooth ache, you won’t sleep, you won’t say that it is only when it is your eye that it is your problem, any part of the body that is not going well, it is your problem. You cannot educate the children in Igbira and not educate the ones in Baga, they will come and you will be awake. If Nigeria will work, let us make it work, if it will not work, let us have the courage to admit that it is not working and begin to review our situation.

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PAGE 16—SUNDAY

Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

London terror suspects

THE WOOLWICH KILLING- MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS

BY FEMI FANIKAYODE

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ome things just don’t add up when it comes to the Woolwich killings.

There are certainly more questions than answers. Let us examine the facts. An offduty British soldier by the name of Lee Rigby was walking down the street in the charming and peaceful London suburb of Woolwich. All of a sudden, and out of the blue, he was randomly selected and run over by a car which was being driven by two young black men. After they hit him to the ground with the car the two young men jumped out of it, armed with machetes, knives, a rusty old pistol and a meat cleaver, and in a deep and uncontrollable frenzy amidst shouts of ‘’Allahu Akbar’’, proceeded to take his precious life by carving him up, mutilating him, butchering him and beheading him in full public glare.

This all happened barely 100 metres away from Rigby’s Army Barracks home. The attack began at 2.30 pm whilst the soldier gave up the ghost at approximately 3.00pm on a four-point inter-section roundabout and crossroads.

Immediately after finishing their gruesome act the killers then conducted their own impromptu press conference, brandishing knives and meat cleavers in blood-soaked hands, with random members C M Y K

Were Nigerian suspects under ‘Peter-Powers’ type of hypnosis? of the public asking to be filmed and qouted whilst their clothes were soaked, drenched and dripping in human blood. After their ‘’press conference’’ ended they moved to the other side of the road and calmly waited for the police to arrive. They had all the time in the world to do so but they plainly refused to run and attempt to

young men charged at them brandishing their knives and meat cleaver in a menacing way and attempting to shoot their old and rusty pistol. Unfortunately for them the pistol exploded in the hand of the individual that tried to use it. They were both promptly shot, wounded and disarmed.

Yet before the police arrived another rather curious inci-

Are we not being fooled again by the ‘’powers that be’’ and the state just as we were over ‘’9-11'’ and over the murder of Princess Diana, both of which were clearly inside jobs with strong illuminati connections avoid arrest or the imminent arrival of the police. According to eye-witnesses (and I watched the footage on CNN) the police took no less than 30 minutes to get to the scene and confront the two killers.

They did NOT get there in the 9 minutes that they are claiming.

When the police eventually arrived instead of surrendering peacefully to them or attempting to run away, the two

dent took place. A strange yet very courageous Scandinavian woman, who just happened to be sitting on a bus that was driving past, told the bus driver to stop when she saw the carnage that was being inflicted on the dying soldier, got off the bus and calmly walked over to the killers even as they were still killing him. She then proceeded to have a detailed conversation with them asking them why

they were doing what they were doing and assuring them that in the end they would lose the fight because it was ‘’just them against many’’.

Is this not a rather curious encounter? Who really was that Scandinavian lady and who does she really work for?

Is she a genuine hero or is she what, in security and intelligence circles, is known as a controller? Is she part of the system because to do what she did took immense courage? So many questions still need to be asked and answered. For example why did the police take so long before responding? Why were the killers given all the time in the world to conduct a graphic, loud and unofficial press conference in the streets with members of the public after beheading and carving up the young soldier?

Even more curiously the police and intelligence agencies have now admitted that these two young men were “known to them”. If that were the case how come they were never put under close surveillance, monitored, questioned or arrested? Why did all this have to take place at exactly 3.00pm in the afternoon, at that location (a crossroads of

four junctions) and on that date? Why did the assailants have to cut off their victims head, hang around there for thirty minutes whilst ranting and whilst soaked and covered in their victims blood?

Why did the killers insist that only women could come near the dying body of their victim?

Why was this whole thing allowed to happen and to drag on like it did for 30 uninterrupted minutes by the authorities? Why did the police refuse to move in even though numerous members of the public were having detailed conversations with the assailants?

Was this whole thing some kind of state-sponsored illuminati-style human sacrifice?

Was it designed and orchestrated by the authorities to create more terror in the land and to give them the opportunity to introduce more draconian laws, curb immigration and do away with even more civil liberties on the grounds that they wish to fight the very terror that they themselves created. Are we not being fooled again by the ‘’powers that be’’ and the state just as we were over ‘’9-11'’ and over the murder of Princess Diana, both of

Continues on page 17

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 17

Scene of the killing Continued from page 16 which were clearly inside jobs with strong illuminati connections? . If anyone doubts this assertion they ought to do themselves a favour and find the time to watch David Icke’s revealing documentary titled ‘’9/11-It Was An Inside Job’’.

It is on Youtube. They can also find his numerous books and watch his numerous documentaries on the murder of Princess Diana. Their world view will change dramatically after that. Back to Woolwich.

Are there not clear parallels between the Woolwich incident and the Boston bombings which took place just a few weeks ago. Are there not similarities in the profiles of the two sets of killers in both incidents. Both operations were conducted in full public glare and in the afternoon. Both operations were carried out by two Americans and two British citizens respectively each of them with a foreign heritage and family ties with nations that are rife with and that are being torn apart by Islamist terror. In the case of the Boston bombers the two perpetrators had strong links and family ties with Dagestan and Checnya in the case of the Woolwich incident both perpetrators had equally strong links and family ties with Nigeria. Both sets of killers were Muslim fundamentalists and both sets were ‘’known to the intelligence agencies’’ of their respective countries. Both countries in which the murC M Y K

Were Nigerian suspects under ‘Peter-Powers’ type of hypnosis? ders took place, i.e. Great Britain and the United States of America, are the greatest allies and leaders in the war against terror and they are both committed to standing ‘’shoulder to shoulder ’’ with one another in that fight. Is it not strange that similar acts of terror will take place in the two just a few weeks apart and that those acts of terror were all carried out by people with similar profiles and virtually the same age.

The coincidences are just too many and things just don’t add up. The performance of the British police particularly has opened up the door for a lot of speculation. They made so many mistakes. Yet I can assure you that the British police and intelligence agencies are NOT that sloppy.

They are amongst the best, if not the best, in the world and they just don’t make mistakes.

There is far more to this whole thing than meets the eye and there is also a sinister purpose and agenda to it. The full picture has not yet been shown

to us and perhaps it never will but little by little those that are well-versed in these matters will work it out and the truth will be exposed.

Yet the questions just keep coming. Is it possible that those two British boys of Nigerian descent were under some kind of ‘’Peter Powers’’type hypnosis and mind-control system which was triggered off by something or someone. In many of his books and videos David Icke has alluded to the usage and existence of such capabilities by the more advanced intelligence agencies in the world for the last ten years and he has cited many examples of such usage. Initially I was skeptical about his assertions until I listened and read carefully and I cross-checked the examples and the events that he cited. After that I was convinced that he was right and ever since then I have acknowledged the fact that we live in an exceptionally dangerous world where only the dullard would rule anything

out. Back to the two young men that killed in Woolwich.

Were they cultivated, ‘’programmed’’ and used by agents of the illuminati in the British establishment to carry out this gruesome operation and this monstrous sacrifice?

It is relevant and interesting to note that the two suspects were not just British citizens of Nigerian descent but that they were both Muslim CONVERTS. That is to say they were both brought up as Christians and then somewhere along the line they converted not just to Islam but to it’s most extreme and radical brand. They became dangerous Islamists that were prepared to kill for their faith. Who cultivated them and took them to this point and how did it get so bad?

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ore important ly will this whole episode not give the western powers and the British people another reason to demonise Islam and target mosques and Muslim clerics?

Is that part of the plan and the wider picture? Is the whole idea to create the atmosphere for vicious reprisal attacks against Muslims and Nigerians in the U.K.?

Is all that I have written here far-fetched? You may believe so but I don’t. And neither have I gone mad. The devil is real and the illuminati is it’s tool for world control and domination. It has been

around for years and those that are part of it operate in the deepest secrecy.

Yet even if you do not agree with me on anything that I have said here, the questions that I have raised are legitimate and they are indeed food for thought. In this game there are no coincidences and everything happens for a reason and has its own symbolism and purpose. As far as I am concerned only David Icke can crack this Woolwich nut and unravel it’s secrets and I look forward to the day that he does.

Meanwhile I pray that the soul of Officer Rigby rest in perfect peace and I urge every Nigerian that is resident in or that is visiting the UK, especially if they are Muslims, to be exceptionally careful in their movements and in their dealings with the British people and authorities. There is far more to this whole thing than meets the eye and whether anyone likes to admit it or not, sadly, there will be some kind of backlash against our people at some point.

As for the two British men of Nigerian descent (whose names I refuse to mention) that cut short the life of this brave young and heroic British soldier in the prime of his life for doing absolutely nothing wrong, may they both die a slow and terrible death and may they rot in hell. *Fani-Kayode is a former Aviation Minister

PAGE 18— SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

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hanks to those experts on healthy-eating, who are constantly telling us what is right/wrong for us to feed our system with, many people in most parts of the world are now cautious about what they eat and drink. You can’t help but join in, if you want your body to hold together, so that you can be healthy, active, and hopefully, live long.

Some of us have been so conditioned to this that before we buy packaged foods and drinks, we carefully check the contents/ingredients on the label. Sugar is out; salt is out; full fat in anything is out; carbohydrate is out; gluten is out, etc. The list is endless, as you avoid anything that can possibly contain cholesterol, the bad fat they say can lead to several health conditions.

Red meat, of course, is a nogo area. You’re told that lamb is better for your health. As for poultry, you should remove the skin since that’s where the fat is. Turkey is too high in fat. Eggs are said to be full of harmful cholesterol, particularly the yoke.

As for drinks, nothing seems safe, except for fruit juice labelled sugarless. Even then, experts say there’s hidden sugar in there in the fruit syrup/fruits used.

Carbonated drinks should be avoided.

Any wonder that some young people, particularly young ladies, have developed one form of eating disorder or the order; e.g. anorexia, which is as a result of starving the body of food and its nutrients, and bulimia, which occurs when the victim gorges on food, and then goes to throw it all up, in order to avoid it going into her system to cause weight gain.

I had thought these were disorders fashioned for our sisters in the developed countries, but at a seminar some weeks ago, I learnt that we have a few cases here.

These are serious health conditions which can lead to serious emaciation and eventually death, when they linger for a long time.

“This is terrible news, I must say,” said a participant at the seminar, when some pictures of victims were shown on a screen. “It’s not African. We don’t deliberately reject food in dangerous ways like this; not even while fasting. We do love to eat, as a race.”

“What do you expect?” asked a lady. “We’re emulating the western world in which ladies are expected to be stick-thin to be regarded as pretty or attractive. Don’t C M Y K

View-Point

Helen Ovbiagele Woman Editor

After being brought for counselling, we don’t seem some again. ” “Helen, I don’t believe all these,” whispered a friend who was sitting next to me at the seminar. “I know about anorexia and bulimia, but it can’t happen in this country. Our ladies diet and watch what they eat, but none of them would want to deliberately starve themselves to death in order to remain thin. Have you ever seen any of our models and actresses looking this emaciated and repulsive?”

“No, but it can happen.

We have many exposed and sophisticated young

lecture purpose. Tell me who can resist all the delicious Nigerian dishes we prepare.

I’m not saying this seminar is not helpful, though. It’s very enlightening and instructive.”

“On the other hand,” continued the resource person, “ we need to combat obesity. It is a life-threatening condition, just like Bulimia and Anorexia. Our foods are full of all the wrong things for a healthy living, and we do tend to eat heavily. This is in addition to all the sugary drinks we consume avidly.”

“We’ve just been served some soft drinks here,” countered a voice in the audience.

Our Food, Health & The Experts

you see the models and actresses in magazines and films? They need to be very thin for their roles, and many young women believe that’s what makes them attractive and desirable, and so, they emulate them and begin to starve themselves.”

“Yes indeed,” agreed the resource person. “But then, some of them get addicted to the rigid regime and develop bulimia and anorexia; conditions that deprived their bodies of nutrients, and which could cause infertility, and make some organs pack up, according to nutrition experts. We’ve seen a few cases here, but luckily, with the cooperation of their parents and other members of their families, about three of them are gradually resuming sensible eating again, and overcoming the condition.

ladies here these days, who are keen to copy ladies in the western countries. These may be true cases.”.

“Hm! I need to be convinced. These could be

“Well, er, that’s true. The organizers of the event did.

However, it’s just a bottle each, right? And I can see that not everyone accepted the offer. In controlled

We should also help build up our young ladies’ confidence in themselves, through guiding them to be hardworking, honest, responsible, morally upright, polite, clean, helpful, and self-developing in meaningful ways, and not to think that looks and a thin figure are the only things to bring them joy and self-fulfillment, and make them acceptable Kwashiokor victims in wartorn areas of Africa, and they’re using the pictures for

quantity, it’s okay from time to time. We shouldn’t drink it with every meal. We’re

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concerned too about the way our children are raised on fast foods these days. Health experts warn that they are bad for our health. Food items that we should drastically cut down on are – starchy foods like products of refined flour, yams, rice, red meat, eggs, fried foods, alcohol, …...........”

M

y friend and I had heard enough. We quietly slipped out of the venue.

I think that seminar was very useful, and the NGO is doing a good job, giving talks on healthy eating, but I think the important thing is that we should raise our children to be disciplined in everything; including what they eat and drink. We can’t monitor and control what they eat and drink outside the home, but if they’ve been brought up to eat healthy, many of them will keep the habit.

We should also help build up our young ladies’ confidence in themselves, through guiding them to be hardworking, honest, responsible, morally upright, polite, clean, helpful, and self-developing in meaningful ways, and not to think that looks and a thin figure are the only things to bring them joy and self-fulfillment, and make them acceptable.

As for what’s right for us to eat and drink, there’s an everchanging scene.

What experts condemn today, they recommend tomorrow.

Recently, we were told that eggs are very good for us, and that the white in particular, is of immense value. This time around, they didn’t say it has to be free-range hens only.

Soya that they recommend highly, some now say, avoid it if you have Arthritis. The other week, researchers said that deficiency in salt intake can cause serious ailments, and that there’s no conclusive evidence that salt causes hypentension!

F

or many years, red wine was recommended, then they changed to white wine, now we’re back to red wine!

There was a scare the other day that pies in some supermarkets in Britain contained horse meat, and they were withdrawn. Some people came out to say they’ve eaten horse meat and it’s nutritious.

Well, I suppose all experts are human like the rest of us, and cannot possibly get everything right at all times.

Disciplined moderation in everything, I think, is the recipe for a healthy living.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 19

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

Barr Olayinka Oladunjoye:

Revamping education in Lagos State (Part-2) T

oday we bring you the concluding part of our last week’s chat with Barr.(Mrs.)Olayinka Oladunjoye, the Honourable Commissioner for Education in Lagos State and shrewd woman behind the transformations in the state education sector. From a distressing 9% students’ performance recorded by the state in the 2011 WASSCE, to an impressive 39% in 2012; that’s one of her striking achievements! Today she explains how the state is tackling unemployment through her ministry’s technical and vocational education amongst sundry issues. Excerpts:

•Barr. Olayinka

Considering the spate of unemployment amongst secondary and tertiary school leavers across the country today, what programmes do you have in place to encourage selfemployment and address unemployment?

It may interest you to know that the Lagos state government has five technical colleges and that we’re expanding our facilities. Last year also, we launched the graduate apprenticeship scheme with much enthusiasm. We’re working with a lot of agencies. I’m meeting with the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association-NECA today, we’re doing City & Guild examination, and we’re telling the world that technical education is not inferior to any other form of education; it’s simply the ability to use your hands!

Sometime last year, we had six thousand pupils that graduated from our technical schools. As we speak, most of them are gainfully employed while others are into private practice. We’re partnering with industries, and they are the ones to determine our curriculum, depending on what is needed in their industries. This way, it is easier for our students to C M Y K

secure jobs by the time they graduate, because of their competence. We’ve also identified some of our schools for specialization. In Epe, we’re focusing on building in partnership with Julius Berger. In Ikorodu, MTN is partnering with us and NECA is helping to teach plumbing, tiling, electrical, carpentry, etc. In Ado-Soba, we’re looking at electrification and we’re working with our electricity board and some other agencies, to ensure we impact the students maximally. In Agidingbi, we are partnering with Samsung for Electrical Electronics, and in conjunction with Lagos state, Samsung has a huge infrastructure with state-ofthe-art equipment inside the Samsung Academy there.

These facilities are there and what we need to do more as government is advocacy; we need to work on an advocacy programme to tell the world the things we have, so they could benefit from them.

But don’t you think another way of addressing unemployment could be to encourage children to take up skills from an early age?

What we intend to do as government is to identify pupils that are more creative with their hands. With them,

we want to begin entrepreneurship and technical education from primary school. So, we’ll identify some schools and equip them with facilities for certain technical and vocational education. With each of these schools, we’ll focus on different skills to ensure specialization. This is how we hope to catch children early. The plan is on and it’s going to the executive council

,

BY JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA

meet international standards in all her schools. I want to be remembered as the commissioner that came and ensured that private education is what private education should be; because we’re supposed to work together as partners in progress. I want to be remembered as the commissioner that gave schools in Lagos State a facelift.

In Ado-Soba, we’re looking at electrification and we’re working with our electricity board and some other agencies, to ensure we impact the student maximally

for approval. Once that is done, it would become a policy. Technical and vocational education is my baby and I’m passionate about it.

What would you want to be remembered for after serving here?

I want to be remembered as being the woman that came and had 100% success in WASSCE. I want to be the commissioner who had toilets and sanitary conditions that

,

You resume work as early as 8.am and you don’t return home until late in the evening; how do you combine this job with your home front?

Fortunately, I have a husband who understands, and who doesn’t do 8.am to 5.pm like me. He’s a lawyer as well.

Also, I don’t have little children; my youngest child is 21 and most of my older children are married and are all in their various homes.

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Really, I have no challenge from home.

You clocked 54 on May 6th but yet you look much younger, beautiful and energetic; what’s the secret?

Peace of mind, happiness that radiates within me, and just allowing God to take control because sometimes life is beyond individuals. The fact that we have a good governor who listens and meets with this ministry every month also makes my job a lot easier.

Sure, there must have been challenges…

My challenge is just results and how to make education better. So, I’m building on the foundation my predecessor laid because I wouldn’t have a take-off point without that foundation. In the course of my job, I could shout on anyone or get angry, but it’s just for the work to go on smoothly because the governor is shouting on me as well(Laughs).

Parents are certainly your partners in progress, so, what’s your advice to them on how they could promote learning and education in general?

It’s sad that some parents have never been to their child’s school and do not even know where they are located. So, whether the child is in school or not, they don’t know. Once a child is morally upright and disciplined, it’s easier for teachers to deal with him or her. Like I always emphasize, it is only parents that can instil discipline in their children. I therefore want to implore all parents to live up to their responsibilities.

Advice to children?

This is your life. We only want to give you the key to open the door to your future, and interestingly, the state governor is doing this free of charge. He even goes as far as paying for their WAEC examination fees! This is an opportunity for you to go to school and be better citizens for the society at large because we need you to qualify as doctors, lawyers, technical professionals, fashion designers, builders, stylists, electricians, accountants, etc.

Advice to teachers?

My teachers have keyed into the vision of the state, and we’re partners in progress.

My telephone numbers are open to them and we communicate on how to move forward. I believe they ’re going to leave their names on the sand of time, and would be proud to see children who have passed through them, in future.

PAGE 20—SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

The Yoruba are ancestors of the black Cushite migrants and settlers that did not go to Africa with the other descendants of Cush but that rather chose to settle in the areas and environs that were to later become the ancient cities of Mecca and Medina in what is presently known as Saudi Arabia

OLD YORUBA KINGDOM

e h t e r a o Wh ? e l p o e p Yoruba (2)

BY FEMI FANI-KAYODE

I

n his 2,000 page book entitled, ‘’Ile-Ife-The Source of Yoruba Civilisation’’, Prince Adelegan Adegbola wrote the following about the Yoruba people: “The Yoruba are the progeny of great kingship, efficient kingdom-builders and astute rulers. They have been enjoying for centuries a well-organized pattern of society, a pattern which persists, in spite of all the changes resulting from modern contacts with the western world. Their kings have, from very long past, worn costly beaded crowns and wielded royal scepters. No one remembers the time when the Yoruba people have not worn clothes. Their character of dignity and integrity is an ancient one. In reality, the Yoruba claim to be descendants of a great ancestor.

There is no doubt at all that they have been a great race. They are, and they appear in some ways to be detrimentally over-conscious of their great ancestry and long, noble traditions.....the Yoruba are one of the most researched races in the C M Y K

world. According to Professor S.O. Arifalo, by 1976, the available literature on the Yoruba, despite many omissions, numbered 3,488 items. These vast amounts of works are quite substantial and unrivalled in sub-Saharan Africa. Also the artefacts showed that the Yoruba were intelligent, complex and wealthy people whose art and technological skills were unsurpassed in pre-historic Africa. Almost everything we know about the Yoruba people comes from Ile-Ife.’’ Professor Adegbola’s research is as fascinating as it is outstanding. It is a ‘’must read’’ for all those that are interested in finding out who the Yoruba are, where they came from, what they stand for and what their contribution to religion,culture, the arts and civilisation really is.

Adegbola’a research into the history of the Yoruba and the various Yoruba kingdoms is second to none. His findings certainly put a lie to the controversial assertion made by Sir Hugh Trevor-Roper, one of the bestknown and most respected historians that ever lived, who once said that

‘’the history of Africa is darkness, nothing but darkness’’. Nothing could be further from the truth and it is clear to me that this Englishman, despite his outstanding credentials, knew next to nothing about our rich history, heritage and culture which, in my view, was far more advanced and goes back for thousands of years more than even his own. In this essay, I will make my own contributions to the debate and I will concentrate primarily on the pre-historic era of the Yoruba before the coming of Oduduwa to Ile-Ife and before the establishment of the great kingdoms and princely states. I will focus on their origins as a people and their migratorary patterns.

The Yoruba are ancestors of the black Cushite migrants and settlers that did not go to Africa with the other descendants of Cush but that rather chose to settle in the areas and environs that were to later become the ancient cities of Mecca and Medina in what is presently known as Saudi Arabia.

They were not Arabs but they were there as settlers for thousands of

years and they constituted an industrious, prosperous, powerful, large and respected minority within the larger Middle Eastern community. However they were eventually driven out of those Arab towns and communities and forced to leave them for refusing to give up their religious faith, their deep mysticism and paganism and their idol worship after Islam was introduced to those places by the Prophet Mohammed in 600 AD. They migrated to the banks of the great River Nile in Egypt where they intermingled and inter-married with the Egyptians, the Nubians and the Sudanese of the Nile. The Egyptian roots and connections of the Yoruba are deep and irrefutable and the third and final part of this essay is dedicated solely to exploring and explaining those roots. For thousands of years, many of the Yoruba remained on the banks of the Nile but the bulk of them eventually migrated to what was to later become known as north-eastern Nigeria and once again they settled, mingled and inter-bred with the Shuwa Arabs and the Kanuris of Borno.

From there, they eventually swept across the whole of the north and migrated down south to the forests and farm lands of what is now known as south-western Nigeria making their primary place and location of settlement and pagan worship Ile-Ife. Ile-Ife is to the Yoruba traditional worshippers what Mecca is to the Muslims and what Jerusalem is to the Jews and the Christians. The establishment of IleIfe as the centre and source of all that is Yoruba was confirmed by Oduduwa himself when he sent his sons out from Ile-Ife to other parts of Yorubaland to establish their own independent kingdoms, including Bini Kingdom. It was after that that we broke up into various kingdoms and communities within what later became known as the old Western

Continues on page 21

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 21

Continued from page 20 Region of Nigeria. Some of those kingdoms and empires were sophisticated, powerful, large and great (like the Oyo Empire) and some were not so great and large.

Yet each was fiercely independent and established it’s own sophisticated system of government, customs, legal codes and conventions.

Sadly these Yoruba kingdoms spent one hundred years fighting one another in totally unnecessary civil wars before the arrival of the British but it is a historical fact that they were never defeated in any war or conquered by any foreign army.

Yet the only things that they had in common amongst themselves was their language (which broke into different dialects), their historical heritage, their affinity and respect for Ile-Ife and their acknowledgement of that town as being their spiritual home and finally their acceptance of the Oonirissa of Ife as ‘’the living manifestation of Oduduwa, the quintessential icon of royalty and splendour and God’s chief representative on earth’’.

This collection of different kingdom states with a common ancient root were collectively known as the ‘’Yoruba’’. Yet the fact of the matter is that the word ’’Yoruba’’ has NO meaning in our language or any other language that is known to man.

No-one has been able to tell us with certainty the meaning of the word ‘’Yoruba’’ or indeed where it really came from. This really is very strange and is indeed a deep and unsettling mystery. For all we know, it could even be a deep and ancient insult. That is why I have always preferred to be referred to as an ‘’Ife’’ rather than a ‘’Yoruba’’.

Another question that is often asked is why did our forefathers indulge in all the mass migrations from first Mecca and Medina, then to Egypt, then to Borno, across the vast plains and desert lands of northern Nigeria and then finally settled in the forests of the western region?

Historians have ventured a number of reasons for this but the truth is that no-one knows with much certainty. My own personal theory is that the reason that our forefathers kept having to migrate until we found somewhere of our own was either because of war or because we refused to give up our pagan beliefs and practices. I believe that when Islam was eventually introduced into the areas that we once settled, our forefathers suffered all manner of persecution for their tenacity to their ancient pagan faith and their refusal to convert and consequently they had to move on. I may be wrong and many historians have offered one or two other explanations for these mass migrations yet whatever the reasons for them may have been, whether they were due to war, famine or religious persecution, it is clear that the influence of the Arabs, the Egyptians, the Nubians, the Sudanese, the Kanuris, the Nupes

e h t e r a Who ple? o e p a b u Yor ) (2

*Femi Fani-Kayode

Yoruba kingdoms spent one hundred years fighting one another in totally unnecessary civil wars before the arrival of the British but it is a historical fact that they were never defeated in any war or conquered by any foreign army and all the other nations that we once lived with, mingled with and mixed our blood with through breeding and marriage is very strong amongst the Yoruba people, their music, their language and their culture till today. We shall return to this theme in part three of this essay.

For thousands of years, the Yoruba were pagans and Ifa was their cornerstone. Their faith was polytheic in nature and they believed, like the

ancient Egyptians, not in one Supreme Deity, but in a pantheon of gods each of which had it’s own place and served it’s own purpose. As a matter of fact, most of the ancient gods that the Egyptians worshipped were introduced to them by Yoruba diviners, sorcerers and pagan priests. Such was the level of our influence on Egyptian culture, religion and history. The monotheic faiths of Islam and Christianity were both espoused by the Yoruba thousands of years later and were both established primarily by the strong trade links that existed between them and the Hausa/Fulani from the north, the Turkish traders of the Ottoman empire from the southern Atlantic coast, the Portuguese and European traders who plied that same southern Atlantic coast and the Christian missionaries who vigorously evangelised the whole territory. Both Christianity and Islam eventually took full root in the land and in the hearts and minds of the Yoruba people whilst paganism, ‘’Ifa’’ and the practice of their more traditional faith was eventually pushed to the back seat. This was quite an achievement because, for thousands of years, both Christianity and Islam were fiercely resisted by the Yoruba and even till today many Yoruba people still tenaciously hold on to their traditional faith. That is why it is very difficult to find a Yoruba family that does not have Christians, Muslims and adherents of the more traditional and ancient tribal faiths in their ranks.

The slow and massive migration of the Yoruba from Arabia, Egypt, Borno, through northern Nigeria and to their own homelands in the south-west is why they, together with the other numerous tribes in ‘’midwestern’’ (the Bini, the Ishan, the Urhobo, the Itsekiri, the Isoko and all the other tribes that were once part of the old Western Region of Nigeria) and ’’northern’’ Nigeria are generally known as the ‘’Sudanese Nigerians’’. This is because they all migrated from north Africa and the Sudan to their present locations. By way of contrast, the various tribes from the rest of southern Nigeria who migrated from eastern and southern Africa to their present locations comprise of the Igbo and the people of the eastern Niger-Delta area (including the Ijaws, the Ikweres, the Kalabaris, the Efiks, the Ibibios, the Ika Igbos and all other tribes that were part of the old Eastern

Region of Nigeria). These people are known as the ‘’Bantu Nigerians’’ and they are very different from the Sudanese in terms of their outlook to life, their culture and history. Permit me to explain this assertion. The history of the people that are known as the ’’Sudanese Nigerians’’ is welldocuemented, well-entrenched and well-acquainted with strong and respected hierachial structures and the administration of extremely large and powerful, culturallydiverse, cosmopolitan and sophisticated empires that once stretched across thousands of miles of different territories and civilisations. These great empires, which were headed by powerful kings and emperors, such as the Oyo, Habe, Nok, Nupe, Tiv, Borgu and Sokoto Empires, conquered many lesser peoples in centuries past and administered many territiories when compared to the Bantus.

The Bantus only experience and knowledge of ancient empire and kingship is limited to a few relatively small yet notable kingdoms and coastal states in what is presently known as Nigeria’s eastern NigerDelta area. Examples of these are the Kalabaris who have their Amayanabo, the Efiks who have their Obong and a few others. The most populous tribe amongst the Bantus are the Igbo.

T

hey are originally of Jewish stock and they have absolute ly no history of kingship, empire and organised hierarchical structures. They were essentially republican in nature and they were a collection of village and forest communities that were bound together only by their common language and their ancient heritage.

That is why the Igbo often take pleasure in saying ‘’Igbo enwe eze’’, meaning ‘’the Igbo have no king’’.

Outside of the royal kingdoms of Onitsha and Asaba, to have kings and chiefs amongst the Igbo was a relatively new phenomenon which certainly does not pre-date the last 150 years. As a matter of fact, the kings of those two towns and communities were not even originally of Igbo stock but were offshoots of the royal house of Bini in what is presently known as Edo State. The Obi of Onitsha and the Asagba of Asaba and indeed most of their subjects were descendants of the Oba of Benin and the people of Edo respectively. The Igbo did not even have chiefs until 150 years ago. It was when the British colonialists arrived in the east that they appointed ‘’warrant chiefs’’ for them. This explains why the Igbo particularly find it exceptionally difficult to understand the complexities and subtleties of people that do not share their republican heritage or beliefs.

*Fani-Kayode served as minister of aviation under the Obasanjo administration

PAGE 22 — SUNDAY VANGUARD , MAY 26, 2013

She always wants things her way!

Dear Rebecca

I

’ M 30 and from the east. I’m in love with a girl of 20 from the northern parts of the country. We’re been together for two years and some months now and we are seriously in love.

Athough she is still in the secondary school, I have promised to marry her.

The problem now is that she doesn’t want to discuss us with her uncle who lives here in Minna but insisted I go straight to her parents in the village. She always wants things done her own way. I tried to convince her that things should be done in the proper way and that we should talk to the uncle here first but she wouldn’t listen.

Aunty Rebecca, please I need your advise because I don’t want to get myself into any kind of trouble. I really love this girl and I wouldn’t want another lady in her place.

before you tie the knot. In fact, in Africa, this is very important because in spite of modern living, many people still want to stick to family and culture so as not to seem the odd person in the family. On the surface, you are right to say that you should approach the girl’s uncle who lives where you both

are in Minna.. This is what most southerners would do.

It is the uncle who would inform the people at home that a certain man is showing interest in the girl and that the man would like to come see them in the village.

Home people would now send a reply to the man

through the girl’s uncle, and a visit would be arranged, if they want to consider him as an inlaw.

But this is not the procedure among some ethnic groups even if the uncle was sponsoring the girl’s education there in Minna. He may know that you are dating the

Dear Rebecca

I

am a 23 year old boy. When I was nineteen I indulged in masturbation which I practiced for about three years. My problem now is that I discharge sperm at will either when sleeping or when urinating. I am now very skinny and look like a 15 year old.

Please advise me whether It can be stopped medically or spiritually. Can my problem be solved by a gynecologist?

Sule, Sokoto

REPL Y REPLY

W

hen you are con templating marriage with someone whose language and culture are different from yours, you have to try to find out more about these

His friend is after me

I

want to say a big thank you for the way you advise young people in their emotional problems. I say more grease to your elbow.

I am a young girl of 17, who is awaiting her WAEC results. Three years ago, I fell in love with a boy who is now 22. we both appreciated and respected each other.

Then a problem arose.

When I asked him to braid my hair, he said he had no money. He then began to avoid me. Later on, I came to understand that he was hiding and wouldn’t want to see me.

When I visited him, I was always told he was not around. Then I wrote him to express mt anger

that force you to become violent in the home as you try to enforce your will and get her to obey you? The spirit of ‘give and take’ is necessary to help make a marriage successful, but with the ten year age gap between you, you, as a man feel offended when she rejects your decision, and you may be tempted to use force.

May be you’re expecting that marriage may change her. That’s possible, but know that it is difficult to change another human being. Only God can do so, wait until she leaves secondary school before making a final decision; for or against marriage.

I indulged in masturbation

Chike, Minna

Dear Rebecca

girl, but he wouldn’t be the one to contact the girl’s parents. You would go do that yourself. I suggest you study this school girl and her people’s customs properly before you take any serious step about marriage. It is advisable to love with one’s heart and head, and not get carried away.

Apart from customs, consider her family back ground, religion, and her own character and habits. Already, you complained that she always wants to have her own way. You’re obviously not comfortable with that. How would you cope with that when you marry her? Won’t

and tell him that I did not understand him any more.

When we later met, he then said he was fed up with me and that I should go look for another boyfriend since it appeared he was not good enough for me. After two years.

But to my surprise, one of his friends is now after me. What do I do?

Confused girl., Onitsha .

REPL Y REPLY

I

must say that at 14 years of age, you started having romantic relationship too early. Even now, since you are waiting to get your WAEC results, and perhaps go for further studies, you should not embark on boyfriend/girlfriend business yet, but

have several boys as ordinary friends. Many young people believe that ant relationship with members of the opposite sex has to be a romantic one, and the girls believes that having a boyfriend is avenue for getting money and presents. This is all wrong. It is important for young people to have responsible members of the opposite sex as ordinary friends so that they can have the opportunity to study and understand their ways. Later, this would help them know the type to have romantic relationship with, and also marry. In our world, nothing goes for nothing, so if a girl keeps asking and getting money from a boy, he would want something in return, and that thing

is usually sex. I know there are girls who don’t mind using their bodies to make money, but it is sad for a girl of 14 to ask a boy to give her money to make her hair. That girl is is putting herself in a humiliating position.

She’s selling her self respect and self-esteem.

No wonder our men treat girls shabbily for self-respect, and to bring honor and respect to her family, a girl should live within her means, and not set eyes on things she knows her family cannot afford. I suggest you make ordinary friendship with boys, including the one who is coming back after two years and his friend who’s trying to date you.

Tell them that you don’t want romance in the relationship.

REPL Y REPLY

A

medical expert says ‘wet dreams’ or producing sperm while asleep or first thing in the morning, is a normal part of a young man’s life. If this has never happened to a man, and he has never produced sperm, there could be cause for worry. The expert did not think that masturbation would bring on a non-stop flow of sperm, and he advises that you consult a urologist (an expert in reproductory and internal organs) in a teaching hospital:’ Luckily, you live in a university town so, this would be easy.

Feeling guilty about masturbation (what experts say is a safe way for men and women to relieve sexual tension) could bring on psycological problems which could lead to loss of appetite and weight.

Not to mention unhappiness and depression, if you cannot control it, and you feel that it is a sin, and an abnormality. It isn’t any of these, according to the different medical personnel we spoke to, and it cannot cause sicknesses or infertility. It is not harmful, but like anything else in life, do it only if your conscience permits it and you have pleasure in it.

Some maarried couples may use it as a means of relieving themselves when’ the Woman is expecting a baby and sex is unsafe. It is a way of avoiding adultery.

I suggest you take your mind off masturbation and sperm, and concentrate on keeping a healthy body. Eat a balanced diet of carbohydrates and protein, and vegetables and fruits.

Engage in sports and exercises, and hobbies like music, reading, dancing, etc, A depressed state of mind can bring on any ailment. I don’t think there is anything wrong with you, but the specialist’s examination is important.

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

SUNDAY Vanguard , MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 23

Should she dare reveal the father of her child?

A

CCORDING to Laide, Eddie, had been the only good thing that had happened to her throughout her university years. “‘Isn’t he a hunk, aunty?’”, she’d gushed the first time Eddie came to the house with her.

Eddie had gone to the loo then and we had a few minutes to gossip. He was a hunk alright and I urged Laide to hold tight to him, make sure they got hitched as soon as her studies were over. “‘Impossible,” she sighed, .... he’s gay.” I gulped. You hear cases of alleged gays and lesbians but I’d not really come across one at such close quarters. Eddie was his funny, chatty self when he came back and it seemed both of them had such a good rapport. It was a pity they couldn’t take it further.

Shortly after this visit, Laide met and fell in love with Ola. She said she loved Ola, he was her rock, her kind of reliable soul mate. Within two years, wedding plans were in full gear. Eddie remained a good friend of the couple - after all he posed no threat to the relationship. Or so they both thought. On Ola’s stag night, Eddie offered to take Laide out. “We went to a great party of

one of Eddie’s friends,” she said, “‘and we both drank and laughed our way through it. When he took me home, we continued the easy banter we often had between us.

But suddenly, Eddie stopped and gazed at me. He then moved his lips towards mine. I’d never experienced anything as sensual as the kiss we ‘shared. It stirred the feelings I once had for him but which I suppressed when I learnt he was gay. We were so frantic with lust. Were the mmours false? The sex was amazing - raw and intense. Better than what Ola and I ever had!

“Somehow both of us dropped off afterwards,

but by next morning, Eddie was long gone. I called his mobile later in the day but he didn’t answer or return my texts.

I was confused. How could he ignore me after what we’d jus shared? I continued with our plans for the wedding a couple of days away. Ola and I had already decided I should come off the pill so I could get pregnant as quickly as possible.

Secretly, over the next few weeks, I tried again and again to contact Eddie as he hadn’t even bothered to attend the wedding. No luck. He obviously must have regretted our night of passion. Then I realized I’d missed a period. What a disaster! It had to be Eddie’s as Ola and I

hadn’t had sex while we were busy planning the wedding.

“What reason would I give for having an abortion under my new husband’s roof? So there was only one thing for it. I’d have to juggle my dates and pretend the baby was Ola’s. And nine linonths later, he was delighted to be the father of a bouncing baby boy. But when I look at my baby’s face, it’s Eddie face I see. It’s a good thing Eddie has cut off contacts with me.

Aunty C. I have to bear this burden alone you’re the only big sister I can confide in. My guilt eats away at me all of the time. What else could I have done but pretend my son is Ola’s?”

I’m sure she didn’t

want my response to that. What could I say?

Over and over again, women have passed children fathered by their lovers on to their husbands. Most of the time, the unsuspecting husbands happily get on with their new role as a dad. Once in a while, when such husbands overstep their bounds, the revenge seeking wives have spilled the beans without giving much thought to the real victim - the innocent child! Last year, a lawyer friend said she couldn’t get over the embarrassment she was put through by a friend’s daughter she was trying to help.

She explained: .... Her husband of only 11 years was not only involved with another woman, he wanted a divorce and was adamant the wife would leave with nothing. They have three lovely children and I put the wife in touch with one of these fire brand divorce lawyers that are now making the waves.

When it came to the custody of the children, however, the husband insisted he would take his first child of the marriage and the only son, so his wife wouldn’t spoil him with her liberal atti-

tude. She could keep the girls. She was livid. “‘Out of the blues”, the lawyer told my friend later, “‘she shrieked that her husband couldn’t have the boy because he wasn’t the biological fa-

and repeat.

Next comes THE HEAD TO KNEE (Standing) Technique: Standing with feet close together,

Technique: Sit down with both legs out-stretched infront of you. Draw up the right knoe and place the right foot on the outside of the left thigh above the left knee. Place the right hand at the back of the waist and clutch the right thigh with the open left hand.

THE TIE-UP Technique: Lie flat on your back, swing both legs back wards and hold both ankles tight behind the head.

Benefits: The above exercises apart from tidding the spine of stiffness, message the abdominal region, improving digestion and helping achieve a more thorough bowel action. Some vital organs like the kidneys and liver benefit from these same postures.

ther. You could hear gasps from the court.

Realising the danger she’d dropped, she clamped up. The judge then advised the couple to sort out details of their divorce and adjourned the case.

“The lawyer was furious. What was the point of all the brilliant defence he’d put up when this dark secret would eventually be let loose?

The husband insisted on blood tests for all the children and the poor lawyer is now running helter skelter trying to see if there could be any silver lining. He believed it would be ethically wrong to abandon his client at her most vulnerable.

Now that this frivolous girl had upset the apple cart, what would happen to the son in future? My advice to women bottling up secrets they could never keep is to just take the bull by the horn and face the repercussion of a sordid confession. Confession done almost at the last minute brings nothing but heattache and resentment to everyone concerned ... “.

08052201867(Text Only)

W

HEN I first t o o k

up the practice of Yoga exercises with my teacher, one of the things he harped on was attaining and maintaining a spine that was supple and flexible. He would say things like if you walk and sit straight you breathe deeper and the extra oxygen ensure you’re healthier. He had made an observation several years before I met him, and pointed that out to me. He noticed that because the market women sat earned straight behind their wares they cou’t remain seated for hours on end.

I also observed that most of the version could bend so low with knees locked. Thgis meant they lud supple backs and harmstrings.

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I was to find out later in several Yoga looks that a person was as young as his spine was flexible.

For an elastic spine the year devised numerous postures.

The regular practice of these postures makes it posible for an in his eighties and beyond to

* The Wheel

maintain the kind of health and vitality you’d associate with someone of twenty years or more younger.

In term of the human antomy, there are nerves originating from in between the vertibrae and leading to all parts and organs of the body. So it makes sense to draw a

,

Your spine says it all

connection between an elastic spine and a very healthy internal environment.

The following are a few of the many exercises to improve the spine.

The regular practice of these postures makes it posible for an individual in his eighties and beyond to maintain the kind of health and vitality you’d associate with someone of twenty years or more younger

THE WHEEL Technique: Lie flat on your back, draw up your knees with the heels close to the buttocks. Turn the arms backwards and place the palms …. dwn on the floor. Now raise the entire body to form a wheel.

Stay in the pose for about 10 seconds and then come down. Rest awhile

,

bend down the trunk such that the forhead lighty touches the knees and forming a ting with the forefinger and thumb around each big toe.

Hold the pose for 5 or 10 seconds. It can be done once or twice more.

THE SPINAL TWIST

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

P AGE 24 —SUNDAY Vanguard , MAY 26 , 2013

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Could your libido be said to be rampaging at 60?

R

ECENTLY, one of the avid read ers of this column wrote to let me know that: “‘You must be deluding yourself in the belief that the older generation of today, including your good self, with their rampaging libido, are now having the best sex of their lives with all the trimmings! Could your reason why be related to your having worked for the press when it was being revolutionised? If you must know, your writings over the decades have caused a proportion of your readers to be riddled with anxiety, due to your continued assertion that sex is the pinnacle of life itself.

Na wa oh! Morin, the disgruntled reader and a beautician in her early 50s continued: •gAs a result of some of your readers, I’m sure, have suffered a bout of mid-life depression, when they realised your “=guide book to sexual satisfaction’ didnt work for them.

That sometimes, just getting on with life is coolenough. In my opinion, the assumption that women of yesteryears were less vigtal in a limited view. Even though clogthes were blander, but I bet a lot of women were more vibrant and enjoyed what was available. They did their best and lived with and around people who cared about them, and weren’t racked with insecurities about their figures and material worth. They lived in an era wheer newspapers and magazines could be counted on y our fingers and you still have some fingers left. They led their lives

as best they could with what they had.

“Today, it seems that so many career women purshing 60 and older demand to be seen as a force to be reckoned with – in and out of bed! Do they or their spouses/lovers never get a headache? Believe me, I sometimes feel the need of a paracetamol when I read some of your exploits.

I

’m simply lost for words. A couple of months ago, a male reader wrote he was thinking of jumping ship as my articles were no longer making a grab for his lions! Now Morin wants to virtually chase me off the page of this newspaper, because of what she termed oversexed oldies’ raging libido! It is a fact that a healthy libido has very little to do with age. The ‘yesteryear period Morin referred to had nothing but old wives’ tales and few media reports to enlighten them. These days, the print and electronic media have made access to erotic sex more available – not to talk of sex toys for both male and female that guarantee instant orgasms without your clamping a partner to your chest!

Some months back, a well-known society lady walked into a party with this handsome dude and tongues started to wag. “‘What happened to her former toy boy of almost three years,” someone asked in disdain. “‘She caught him with a friend of hers,” was the explanation a ‘friend’ of hers offered. ‘You know she doesn’t suffer fools when it comes to these young

Y

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

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

Baby, I love you!

I adore you. I long to hold you close to me. I feel such warmth and comfort when I am in your arms. I

men that always tag along with her to A-list social functions. She would invest heavily on their grooming and whenever any of them feels confident enough to test other waters, he’s prompty pushed out of the door - a replacement always hovering in the wings.

“She has a lot of muscles and often gives her young men the financial leg-up they need – apart from opening a few business doors for them. One leg out of line - that’s it.

There’s always freshfaced opportunist in the wings to replace a ‘traitor’ !” ow would dear Morin call this woman’s libido ragging because she can afford these ‘service managers?’ Why would she attack people of her own sex and leave out the men who wrote the book on `rampant sex and underaged partners’. A few weeks ago, there was this magazine story of a popula socialite who left her husband of over 30 years. She was the fourth wife but as soon as she left, the husband promptly replaced her with two

N

women all under 30 – and he is 75! Could a 75-year old man’s libido be said to be ragging even with the help of viagra?

Unfortunately, Morin didn’t let on whether or not she’s married and when last she’d felt her libido ragging. If you’re reading this today dear Morin, you need to get a grip! Don’t give up on your libido - there could be more mileage in you yet before you retire to the departure lounge.

Life is short and you need to make the most of what you could still scrape out of the bottom of the barrel!

Do You Want Your Work To Be Better Organised?

If you lack the motivation to jump-start projects and assignments at work;or have a bad habit of scrambling to get the job done by pulling a stressful allnighter, then you may have a bigger problem than lack of organization. In fact, the speedbump in your progress might be procrastination.

Employer-

am relaxed and content when we sit on the couch and talk. My heart is at peace when we lay on the floor and cuddle each other. My heart quivers when you touch my face and my passion flows when you touch my lips. I get immense pleasure from gently touching your face and feel tremendous yearning and passion when I touch your lips. I long to be near to you. I want nothing more than to be close to you. With a passionate affection, Cent Obama centobama@gmail.com, +2348061379003

My Love

A warrior does not quit in fighting for the things he loves, a alpinist does not stop climbing until he reaches the top of the mountain. A sculptor does not stop carving until the object has formed into its required shape. Baby, all I want you to know is,... I will never give up loving you. I shall see the end of

Employee.com identifies these types of on-the-job procrastinators and provides simple techniques to combat that masty urge to delay: The perfectionist sets high standards and then worries about falling short of them, causing her to avoid starting the task. If this sounds familiar, set two deadlines.

The first is your own and the second is the real one. Meeting your personal deadline will allot extra time to perfect the project before actual date.

T

he fantasizer has great ideas that make the boss happy, but later frustrate him or her with the lack of results. Avoid a guilt trip by not biting off more than you can chew. Do the required project first, and if time permits, put in the extra mile to make it sizzle!

The crisis maker loves a challenge and lives and dies by under the gun motivation. If you get an adrenaline rush from cutting it close, then you might want to get thrills by picking up

some new hobbies. At work, you should start projects earlier and reward yourself for being prepared ahead of time.

The stubborn worker uses her anger towards a superior or co-worker as an excuse not to do a certain task. Chances are when she does complete it, she does it incorrectly or, incompletely. So, if you’re pissed off, simmer down, take a chill pill and try talking to the person in question to resolve your conflict. If you’re still feeling spiteful, then try to see the value you can gain by executing the project in a timely fashion.

Isn’t it just like a man? (Humour)

Some students are asked to write a sentence using the words ‘love’ and ‘sex’. The women all write along the line of: when two mature people are:’deeply in love and respect each other, it is morally and spiritually acceptable to society that they engage in the physical act of sex. The men write: ‘I love sex’.

You Know You’re Getting Older When... (Humour)

1. Your partner says: ‘Let’s go upstairs and make love’. And your answer: ‘Pick one, I can’t do both.

2. You don’t care where your spouse goes as long as you don’t have to go too.

3. You’re cautioned to slow down by the doctor instead of the police.

4. An all-nighter means not having to get up to go to the bathroom_ Going bra-less pulls all the wrinkles out your face.

our love. A peaceful life, beautiful children, in eternal bliss.

Kelechi Ndubisi KC. Kconeofafrica@gmail.com, 08032900530

Baby!

My little baby's mine. Nothing will ever change my love for you. Do you know why I call you baby?

Babies are soft in heart, innocent, calm, lively and very romantic. Babies don't pretend they always show how they feel. They don't lie, they make you happy, and become the pride of their mothers' lives.

Do you know what I like most about them?

They love their mothers with all their hearts and will only suck their mothers' breasts. Baby, you possess all the characteristics of a baby that is why you are my baby. I love you.

Omorville Umoru omorville@gmail.com, 08062486549

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 33

Our plan to resuscitate Ajaokuta, by Gov Wada *’We want to be the best state in agriculture’

BY BOLUWAJI

A

S the Federal Government is working round the clock to diversify the nation’s economy from oil, the man at the helm of affairs in Kogi State, Capt. Idris Wada, declares that there is no going back on his agricultural transformation agenda. Wada spoke on his return from Cape Town, South Africa where he attended the World Economic Summit. He also hints of his state’s involvement in the moves to resuscitate the Ajaokuta Steel Complex.

appendix at the Wo r l d Economic Forum for a g r i c u l t u r e .

There was a section which focused on the Nigerian agricultural transformation agenda and our presence there made sense because Kogi State has keyed into the agricultural transformation agenda of the Federal Government fully, we have focused on accelerated agricultural development and staple crops processing at Agbado in the western area of the state. I was invited to share my experiences on some grey areas with investors, development partners on the efforts our state is making to translate agricultural transformation into reality and also find out the opportunities that are available in Kogi State for investors.

I also touched on political will on the part of our government which is the catalyst to investors confidence in agricultural transformation. I had the opportunity to present a paper on this subject which was well received.

BENEFITS We are already enjoying the dividends of the conference; we have an encounter with CARGHIL, one of the reputable manufacturing companies in the United States of America which has agreed to partner with Kogi State in the area of cassava growing and processing at Agbado.

The company will grow a variety of cassava and establish a starch processing factory to produce sweetener and sucrose for our food manufacturing industries.

There is a lot of benefits in the agriculture programme because it will create jobs for our teeming unemployed youths in the state. This programme will involve small scale farmers fusing into commercial farm.

We have allocated 15 hectares of land to Carghil for

Idris Wada....There is a lot of benefits in the agriculture

programme.

this programme and Kogi State government has cleared three hectares of the land because land clearing is a major problem in agriculture. The representative of the company followed us from South Africa

,

TRIP TO SOUTH AFRICA. My trip to South Africa was at the request of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture because there was an

security. To bring foreigners into the country, you have to assure them of maximum security. On this, I also gave them full assurance that Kogi State will provide security to any serious investor willing to

We are not unaware of the limited resources of the state, but I am also aware of the potentials and the endowments. We are trying to leverage on this by inviting investors from both within and outside the country

so that we can have extensive discussion on the project.

The other fallout is another company called Cardinal Stone which has also shown interest to invest in the state in the area of cassava growing because they have a programme on deriving agricultural value chain arising from cassava programme. This company is already in partnership with Nigeria Flour Mills to utilise the Agbado cassava.

I will be meeting with them to continue our discussion and sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This will lead to cassava production for the benefit of the people.

These are the immediate fallouts of the conference.

CHALLENGES OF AGRO TRANSFORMATION .

One of the challenges I identified was allocation of land which, in most cases, belongs to the communities.

On this aspect, we gave our assurance to investors and their investments. The second challenge I mentioned was

,

come to the state for the purpose of investment and this will certainly have no cost effect on him. We also have the political will showing that

government is willing to attend to issues that concern the investors and their investments in the state.

Land clearing is one aspect in mechanised farming where prospective investors get discouraged because of the high cost of hiring bulldozers and excavators to clear the land and prepare it for farming.

So where Kogi State has offered to clear three hectares for the investor is a major incentive. It is our hope and desire to invest vigorously in agriculture and be the best in Nigeria.

I have to state categorically that Kogi State is safe for investors. A typical example to buttress this assurance was the establishment of Obajana Cement in the state which, today, is the largest cement company in Africa and very soon it will be the largest in the whole world. This clearly shows that the state is not only safe but also conducive for business.

And we also have Ajaokuta Steel Company which is the largest steel complex in Africa, even though it is not functioning properly at the moment. The state and federal governments are making concerted efforts to see the possibility of the steel complex coming back to life because, if the steel complex is functioning adequately, it will create jobs and many subsidiary companies will come to do business there.

So, when I was at South Africa, I made it clear that the issue of insecurity in some parts of Nigeria does not affect Kogi and as such the state is very safe to invest in.

Those who are peddling the rumour of insecurity in the state are not sincere to themselves and the state. This is an era of politics where some people will never see

anything good in the sitting government; this is one of the challenges we have in this country where some citizens, because of their selfish political motive, will destroy what belongs to our nation and the people.

MOBILIZING RESOURCES. We are not unaware of the limited resources of the state, but I am also aware of the potentials and the endowments of the state. We are trying to leverage on this by inviting investors both within and outside the country who have the strength to work on their own or in partnership with the state government.

What the government is doing in agriculture is really like planting a seed which will have a long-term benefit for the people.

Agriculture is the way forward for us as a state and the initial investment we are making is to show the way and that is why our focus in Sarkin –Noma, Koton Karfi and Ibaji is enormous and we have involved over 6, 000 people who ordinarily have nothing to do especially after the flood disaster that ravaged many communities.

These people planted rice three months ago, they are harvesting it now. If they find that in three months they can earn good money, the zeal to do more will certainly come and this will reduce crime in the state. We on our part as government will not relent in our efforts to assist farmers in the areas of seedlings, fertilizer and other incentives.

Kogi State government does not intend to run farms, that is not our business; instead the government will encourage the people to farm in order to earn a living.

Cross River’s new industrial status

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

B

ack in 2007, even as the Tinapa Tourism and Leisure Resort was still at its inaugural state, the dominant factor in the Cross River State economy were plantations planted in the late 60s and early 70s by the Dr Michael Okpara South-Eastern State a d m i n i s t r a t i o n .

Rubber, palm and cocoa plantations, to serve as sources of raw materials for industries in the south east and south west, occupied thousands of acres of land in the three senatorial districts of the state. Apart from occupying vast portions of land, trees in the plantations have become aged and unproductive thus making them a burden to the state than a dependable revenue yielding investment.

Along side this came the “civil service state” stigmatization which Cross River had become synonymous with owing to the vast number of workers in the employ of the state.

Senator Imoke, desirous of pulling the state away from this obnoxious status, brought ingenuity to bear while creating ministries and departments on assumption of office. One of such departments which has since become an invaluable asset in driving the state’s economy and generating massive employment is the Department of Trade and Investment Bureau. Imoke’s vision in establishing the Investment Promotion Bureau is to function as a One Stop Investment Centre (OSIC) dedicated to attracting and facilitating investments to Cross River and providing support for in-coming investors. From

inception in 2008, and Mr Gerald Ada, a Regional Manager with Diamond Bank brought in by the governor to manage it, the state’s investment portfolio has witnessed increased inflow in FDI both quantitatively and qualitatively.

This has consolidated Cross River ’s position as the preferred business destination in Nigeria. Current business visitation to the OSIC is in excess of 300 companies and those that have commenced activities in the state have a combined investment portfolio in excess of $2billion.

Imoke’s vision of building a private sector-driven economy is, without doubt, crystallizing right before everyone’s eyes. Major private investors such as General Electric (GE), Dangote Cement, OCICI Ltd, Essar Power, Project

Continues on page 35

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

SURE-P GIS : Securing the future of graduates

BY EMMA UJAH

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Okonjo Iweala to ensure information given is accurate after which interns are matched to firms/ organizations on a first-come first-served basis, in their their fields of study and states of residence Commenting on the scheme, coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, “the GIS is a practical and innovative response to the unemployment challenge which brings together the synergies of government and private sector partnership to maximize the energy of youth. It demonstrates what is possible when we come together to create

,

ANUARY 2012 will ever remain in the annals of the Goodluck Jonathan administration as one of its mosttrying moments as protests against the decision of the federal government to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) nearly brought the government to its knees.

After several days of protests mainly in Abuja and Lagos the most important cities of the nation, politically and economically, respectively, and later Kano, where miscreants turned it violent, the federal government was forced to review its decision by turning it into a partial removal.

The President and key members of his cabinet saddled with the responsibilities of managing the economy were betrayed by the governors and even top government functionaries at the federal level. Even though the governors had agreed with the federal government to remove the subsidy, many of them went back to their states dissociated themselves from that decision, especially when it became very clear to them that the action was no longer politically expedient from.

Consequently, rather than leaving the pump price of petrol entirely to market forces, the federal government pegged it at N 97 per litre.

With the admission that even a partial removal of subsidy would hurt ordinary Nigerians, the federal government decided to put in place some palliative measures to cushion such negative effects. Various programmes and projects were therefore announced through which funds saved from the subsidy removal could be reinvested in the society and make life more meaningful for the masses.

One of such programmes was the Graduate Internship Scheme, GIS, which commenced in October, 2012 as a social safety net component of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P). It is implemented by the Federal Ministry of Finance with a mandate to provide short term employment for graduates.

The scheme aims to achieve this by creating opportunity for interns to be attached to firms /organizations where they can work for a year to gain experience, enhance their employability and enjoy a monthly stipend of N18,000.

The scheme has three main objectives which are to: enhance the employability of up to 50,000 unemployed graduates in the 36 states of the Federation and the Fer through internship programs in preselected institutions; reduce the vulnerability of unemployed graduates; and build manpower base towards attaining national development operations.

According to the Implementation Strategy document Interns and firms/ organizations apply online to benefits from the scheme. Interns fill in all their details including bio data, field of study and state of residence. Firms/ Organizations fill in their details including their core competence, years of experience and office address. Verification of all firms/ organizations to ensure their mentoring.

Officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance led by Mr. Peter Papka, as Coordinator administer the GIS. Mr. Papka has earned a reputation for integrity and transparency from his handling of the World Bank-funded Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project , LEEMP, under which the lives of millions of Nigerians, especially at the grassroots were transformed through the provision of water boreholes, schools, health facilities and irrigation.

Mr. Papka’s team, verify GIS all interns

The GIS target youths between 18-40 formed a critical mass for the desired accelerated economic development of the nation which could not be ignored

Christopher Kolade Organisations interested in taking interns will set selection criteria for each position and the system will automatically send them a pool of graduates to select from.

The organisation will then select their preferred graduates. Once selected, the graduate will be notified and be asked to report at the organisation for orientation and briefing on work schedule.

D r. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala met the interns and participating firms /organization in Abuja, at a stakeholders’ forum recently for an interface with participating firms and beneficiaries for feedback on the

The plan of the Federal Government is to ensure that at least 1,000 unemployed graduates will be engaged in every state. The program will be scaled up to 100,000 in the second phase

new paradigms in response to the challenges that confront us as a nation.

“The GIS is part of our tripod strategy for responding to the youth unemployment in Nigeria. This strategy has three layers because we recognize that the challenge is a multi-dimensional one.

“The first phase of the GIS program, up to 50,000 unemployed and under employed graduates will be engaged by the end of 2013 as interns in reputable organisations to build their skills and make them relevant in today’s workplace”.

The plan of the Federal Government is to ensure that at least 1,000 unemployed graduates will be engaged in every state.

The program will be scaled up to 100,000 in the second phase.

So far 1,937 firms have registered for the scheme out of which 1,371 were verified and only 293 were approved, while 1,078 were rejected for their inability to meet minimum requirements. 84, 772 interns have applied, made up of 59,872 males, 24,900 females and 329 physically challenged. 1,159 interns have been deployed across the country.

To be eligible for the GIS, firms must be registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission,CAC and must provide evidence of VAT registration and tax clearance certificates. In addition firms must be prepared to provide a mentoring plan for each intern.

Interns on the other must be graduates between ages 18 and 40 years who must have completed the mandatory NYSC or have been exempted.

To participate in the program, organisations and young unemployed graduates are to register on the GIS website www.wyesurep.gov.ng.

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progress so far made and challenges being faced in the scheme.

Some of the GIS interns revealed that they were not being paid the monthly stipends regularly and as a result were facing difficulties in their work places.

The minister therefore ordered immediate payment of stipends to interns.

D r. Okonjo-Iweala had called for a frank discussion on all issues with a view to ensuring that all interns received full benefits of the programme in terms of their welfare, as well as, skill acquisition and mentoring to make them either better employable by the private sector or opt out for entrepreneurial endeavours.

“I am happy that you have spoken up.

This is why we are holding this stakeholders interactive session to enable have a feedback upon which necessary actions can be taken to ensure that the programme achieves the purpose for which it was intended.

“All those who have not received their stipends should list their names and their firms to enable the secretariat follow-up immediately. Latest within a week all such interns must be paid”, she directed.

The minister noted that about 1.8 million employable individuals were entering the nation’s labour market annually and that with youth unemployment put at about 37 per cent, the figure were unacceptable and required concerted efforts by both public and private sector operators to address the challenge.

According to her, the GIS target (youths between 18-40 formed a critical mass for the desired accelerated economic development of the nation which could not be ignored.

She appealed to private sector operators

,

to collaborate with the federal government with a view to making a successes of each of the programmes targeting employment generation in all sectors.

Submission of timesheet key to stipend payment- Papka The Director who Coordinates the SURE-P GIS in the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Peter Papaka, explained that such delays could have arisen from the failure of the firms where the interns were attached to submit the Time Sheet or the failure of interns to report for work regularly, as required by the regulations.

His words, “once an intern is deployed to a firm, time sheet which records attendance to work is maintained to ensure that the intern is committed to the scheme to be eligible for monthly payment.

“The firm is expected to submit to our office details at the end of the month on each intern the basis of which payment of stipend is effected directly into intern’s bank account.

“Some of the lessons have been that firms don’t make returns as expected while in some instances the firms decline because interns have not fulfilled the requirements to qualify. Part of the essence of this project is to inculcate discipline in interns and that money is earned.

Kolade urges greater corporate responsibilities Also speaking, Dr. Kolade urged all wellmeaning Nigerian individuals and corporate organizations, to borrow a leaf from the employment generation programmes of the federal government to save the youths from the streets in overall interests of the society and the future of the nation.

He challenged corporate organizations to see the scheme as a new window to broaden their Corporate Social Responsibilities, CSRs, by accepting as many interns as they can and end up by providing regular jobs or mentoring them enough to become entrepreneurs.

“Through the GIS, we are addressing the immediate needs of the graduates and building a future for the graduates and the society. The graduate is the seed material of the future of Nigeria. The GIS is an opportunity for us to build or re-build our nations”, the ace broadcaster said.

He also urged members of the Nigerian public to exercise faith in the scheme which has been designed to meet the twofold objectives of empowering the interns to make themselves more sellable in the labour market and build the capacity to venture into private businesses.

Chairman of Zinox Computers, Mr. Leon Stan Eke urged corporate bodies to pay more attention to human development else they would lose their investments would crumble as they would be left to people without requisite capacity to management them.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 35

How Customs intercepted mindboggling ammunition in Oyo — DC Oteri handed over the items to the Nigeria Police in the state, to carry out a thorough investigation to unravel the culprits behind the importation. Also, the citizenry should collaborate with government to fight crime by volunteering useful information to appropriate security units in the country.

I am using this medium to appeal to community leaders to sensitise their wards on the dangers of smuggling, especially in the light of the serious security challenge in our country. I encourage all those who want to engage in legitimate foreign trade to come to us for inquiries or access the Customs website for import, export transit trade information.

Aside from the ammunition, what other uncommon trend of smuggling have you discovered in the Command?

We have uncovered various techniques. For instance, within just one month, we recorded seizures of 2,716 bags of rice, with Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over N30.7million concealed with charcoal in a long truck. Other seizures include 28 fairly used assorted cars and Jeeps with DPV of N21.3million, 2,500 cartons of frozen product with market value of N12.5milion, a lorry loaded with 700 cartons of foreign shoes, a bus loaded with prohibited textile materials, 521 used tyres concealed with 600 bags of animal feeds in a trailer and the DPV is put at over N2.2million.

Also, in the first quarter of 2013, a total of N4.6billion revenue has been generated, as against N3.9billion realised in the same period in 2012.

The seizure of 56,750 rounds of ammunition in Oyo/Osun Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), which is one of the highest seizures of ammunition in the history of NCS in the country has attracted attention of all Nigerians to the Command. The Command, which previously had records of low seizures has become the centre of activities in the last one month, with massive seizures of prohibited goods ranging from large volumes of cartridges to used tyres.

Sunday Vanguard gathered that the ammunition, neatly loaded in 227 cartons, and conveyed in a vehicle, were concealed in bags packed with dried cassava tubers. The new Customs Area Controller of the Command, DC Oteri Richard, speaks on the interception of the ammunition and recent operations in the Command.

HE interception of 56,750 rounds of ammunition in Oyo State is one of highest seizures of ammunition in the history of Customs in Nigeria. How did you uncover such crime?

To start with, I just took over in the Command on 16 April, 2013. I came determined to vigorously build on the achievement of my predecessors. As such, I had series of meetings with patrol officers in the Command to restrategise our operations by utilising best practices of modern day antismuggling techniques. This led to the achievement of unprecedented levels in suppression of smuggling as attested to by huge seizures and detentions made within one month of my assumption in the Command.

The seizure of the moment is 56,750 rounds of ammunition neatly packed in 227 cartons. The vehicle used as a means of conveyance was arrested along Igboho road within Saki axis by Continued from page 33 vigilant officers. The culprits concealed the ammunition in bags packed with Master, Brentex Petroleum Services, Dado dried cassava tubers like farm produce Oil and Gas, Artee Group, Oaando GAS in a bid to escape security checks, but and Power, Genesis Electricity Limited, the timely intervention of officers Flour Mills Integrated Foods, Premier thwarted their craftiness.

Feeds, Godilogo Farms, South Gate Oyo/Osun is known to be a Cocoa, Southern Fried Chickens, amongst Command with low economic others, have entered the state’s investment activities. What measures did you put space. The spin-off effects of these investments are job creation in excess of in place to revive the Command?

The modern day Customs is 50,000 and increase in internally generated for the state. intelligent-based and we are working revenue tirelessly to reduce incidence of Wilmar, Asia’s leading agribusiness smuggling to the barest minimum, group, which has taken over the CALARO because the current management has and Ibiaye palm plantations, is investing provided us with the wherewithal to S400 million in agro- cultivation and accomplish this task. For instance, we processing and, in return, N1.375 billion have our intelligence network and in internally generated revenue. 20,000 are being created from this trained officers positioned at strategic jobs investment. locations to block all loopholes within The company has capacity to cultivate the Command.

Imagine the 7,500 hectres annually and has entered implications, if such large quantity of into a joint venture agreement with PZ ammunition had gone into our Cussons for its refining operations. Ada economic environment, and perhaps said Wilmar is a signatory to the into wrong hands! The interception of International Roundtable on Sustainable such dangerous weapons has Palm Oil (RSPO) which means that it is prevented havoc on our economy. In involved in sustainable palm oil the spirit of collaborative effort, we have production that is eco-friendly and socially

T

56,750 rounds of ammunition seized by the Oyo/Osun Command of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

The DPV is N400.6million, as against N49million realised within the same Imagine the implicaperiod in 2012. tions, if such large quanNigeria, is celebrating 14 years of un-interrupted democracy, what will tity of ammunition had you say are the achievements of gone into our economic Customs within this period? environment, and perLet me focus on the current management, the Service under the haps into wrong hands! leadership of the Comptroller General The interception of such of Customs, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko Inde, has achieved harmony and dangerous weapons has understanding from the top to the prevented havoc on our bottom. Customs has been well economy reformed through intensive capacity building programmes for officers within and out side Nigeria. The modern This shows the difference of over N659. Customs is intelligent driven with 7million, representing an increase of vibrant and dynamic leadership. NCS 17 percent. From January to April this now has world class training colleges year, a total of N50million was realised adequately equipped to enhance from duty collected on 494 vehicles, as effective transfer of skills to enhance against N25million collected on 338 productivity in the Service. Dikko’s vehicles for the same period in 2012. election as the Vice-President of World In the past one month, a total of Customs Organisation was in recogniN22million was collected on 216 tion of his numerous achievements and vehicles, which represents an increase uncommon transformation he brought of over 100 percent of the cumulative to bear in the Service. For instance, total from the first quarter of 2013. Also Customs procedures now are e-proin 2013, a total of 86 seizures were cesses, which further enhanced effimade, comprising second-hand ciency in the system to stimulate trade clothes, used vehicles, prohibited textile facilitation in line with global trend. materials, used tyres and many others.

,

BY UDEME CLEMENT

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Cross River’s new industrial status

C M Y K

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responsible”.

Another investment is that of the United States General Electric which has acquired land at the Export Processing Zones Authority. With an investment portfolio of S1 billion in a manufacturing and assembling plant, it will generate internal revenue of 500

There are huge opportunities in the over 18,000 sq km of arable land in the state for crops, abundant solid mineral deposits including huge limestone deposits, beautiful mountains and vast rain forests for investment

,

million naira for Cross River. In the case of Orientals Energy Resources Limited, it has acquired land for a factory to manufacture pipe mills and is investing $300 million and over 1,000 jobs are

accruing from this investment alongside internal revenue to the tune of 120 million naira annually.

Dangote Group is also investing in the state through the establishment of a cement manufacturing plant worth $800 million while Essar Power has concluded arrangement to establish an energy and power plant with the capacity to generate 250 megawatts of electricity.

Energy and gas companies like Oriental Energy Resources Limited and Brentex Petroleum are to set up plants valued at $300 million and each to manufacture pipe mills expected to cumulatively yield $50 million in IGR fro Cross River. Major retail outlets like Artee Group and Southern Fried Chicken have set up their chain of shops in the state.

There are huge opportunities in the over 18,000 sq km of arable land in the state for crops, abundant solid mineral deposits including huge limestone deposits, beautiful mountains and vast rain forests for investment. Information Minister, Mr. Labaran Maku, during the Good Governance Tour in February, after going through the investment portfolio of Cross River was amazed by the progress and described it as the emerging Nigeria’s manufacturing hub.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BUSINESS & PRACTICE IN NIGERIA:

Trade Liberalization, Global Competitiveness and Local Market Regularization

O

President Jonathan fundamental basis of interpersonal relationship (corporate and individual), fairness, economic development, engagement & reward for human resources.

Agitations among groups within any given nation in today ’s world are stirred by the influence of money. That explains the evolution and design of new models for business operations, corporate inter-relationship and terms of engagement, even within nations (including Nigeria).

But in driving for economic development as the new global value measure and indication, there has come to be, a new corporate person of THE STATE. So, in global presence, nations (STATES) now posture as corporate entities for the good of its immediate and primary stakeholders.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS therefore is a creation of the new world economic order.

Global Competitiveness runs on certain terms, chief of which is ‘individual advantages’.

Global competitiveness is a challenge for creative investment of limited resources for ‘personal’ gains, versus the competitive bodies/persons/ institution in the presence of comparative advantages open to all. The first implication of the above is that the onus is on all individual competitors to determine how best to USE own-resources for optimal gains, benefits or advantage,

knowing that the options and opportunities are open to all.

That is the exciting thing about GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS. Nations, as corporate individuals, are primarily charged with gainful

,

VER time, since the turn of trend in global business practice, in line with notional, regional and global business practice and engagement, Nations and people have been concerned with re-inventing rules of business engagement, with focus on professionalism, value appreciation, principles for competition, taxation, economic/finance environment liberalization (lending, cost of lending, profit repatriation/ transfer of earnings) trade best-practices and human resources management, engagement and reward. All of these details for consideration fall within the ambit of regulatory bodies and authorities across nations, regions and global spread.

Citizens and peoples across the world are equally concerned and affected.

Since 2010, The World Economic Forum has had to direct its focus on businesses around the world in line with the underlying elements listed above, with a view to properly aggregating the impact and import of every business engagement in contribution to global wealth. Wealth of nations is now the basis for international relations. Details of global economic development, parts of which are trade, industrialization and over-all businesses practices, have become important to all.

That explains why the theme for World Economic Forum, 2013, is Global Competitiveness among nations. The terms of reference under the theme, Global Competitiveness, are the issues we started with, in putting this paper together, as stated above. It is only logical that since economic development (business, trade and practice) has replaced politics and military might in the value and measure of strength and relevance among peoples, the rules of engagement must be carefully defined, for the good of one and all.

Sequentially, and consequent upon the new status of wealth and its direct effect on global relationship, multi-lateral organizations structured for policy development and adherence monitoring, world-wide, have also stepped up their involvement and impact in ensuring fair and democratic application of set-rules – again, for the good of all (and world peace).

In applying this global change within individual nations, governments have also engaged in aligning with the global shift in paradigm – paying more attention to economic issues as the

(increase in unemployment), closure of over 60% of business within the sector, loss of revenue (even to the government itself), increase in fragmentation and in some cases total destruction of families (as a result of bread-

Global competitiveness is a challenge for creative investment of limited resources for ‘personal’ gains, versus the competitive bodies/persons/institution in the presence of comparative advantages open to all

investment of own scarce resources, for the benefit of their people.

In one of our papers on Outdoor Advertising business in Nigeria, we did list the consequence and implications of the then ‘new’ government policies on the business and practice of outdoor advertising in Nigeria, with particular emphasis on excessive and multiplicity of taxation, hoarding/display locations, permit, dues and consequent cost of operations on businesses and practitioners.

We listed, as consequence of the change then, loss of jobs

,

winners’ disengagement from productivity), and the damage to outdoor advertising practice in Nigeria.

But all the above negative impact put together, do not measure up with the negative implication of TOTAL DEREGULATION of our local business space for direct foreign entrants (into) – OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BUSNESS IN NIGERIA. To begin with, we must see our local market as our local resource of immense value, which must be carefully and profitably invested for the good of every stakeholder, for

the common good of one and all, according to known rules of engagement, going by G L O B A L COMPETITIVENESS. We are yet to see the benefit for Nigeria, among the committee of nations, if, for instance any corporate body in South Africa can come to Lagos or Abuja to open shop and start operation as an outdoor business owner, based on the terms that are simply same with a Nigerian business in same industry, when same opportunity is not open to a Nigerian investor in same field, in South Africa.

This does not stand up to any good reasoning. More-so, it does not show a demonstration of adequate awareness for, and internalization of the rules of engagement for favorable global competitiveness.

As it stands presently, there is a need to protect our local outdoor advertising space from abuse and plundering by foreigners who do not intend to add value appropriate for fairness, and in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

Firstly, their presence in this market tilts the competitiveness to their advantage so unfairly, local practitioners lose out completely. The playing field is never level, because they come into this market as satellite investments of corporate bodies back home, with much more abundant investible resources that put them in advantage position in the market. Frontally, they sell sophistication and appreciated value offering, but in real terms, what they do is exploit the environment for their competitive advantages, so as to establish their hold and then-on, continue with exploitation.

Our local outdoor advertising industry is suffering under the exploitation of our over liberalization by foreigners, we need to consider a change.

Apart from capital flight, these foreign corporate players do not have commitment to improving the local environment; they will not take on any investment capable of enduring benefits such as human capital development, nor environmental protection. In protection of our market space as our local resource for our global engagement, we should, at least ensure a regime of corporate rules governing foreign participation similar to what obtains in nations of intending entrants, for our own good.

The nation, the business and practice of outdoor advertising in Nigeria will the better for it.

SUNDAY Vanguard,

MAY 26, 2013 —PAGE

37

KILLER-FRIEND ON THE LOOSE

‘He made me a widow nine days after our wedding’

Biggy...allegedly shot dead by childhood friend

BY SIMON EBGGBULEM, Benin-City

I

f 35-year-old Amaosa Otabor, alias Biggy, had known he was walking into his untimely death, he would have stayed at home last Sunday morning. Otabor was allegedly shot dead by a childhood friend in Upper Uwa, on the out skirts of Benin City. The incident caused pandemonium in the area after residents heard a gunshot in the compound of the suspect and it became glaring that somebody may have been shot. It was learnt that the deceased, who worked with his father in their cattle farm, woke up that fateful day at about 7am and decided to visit a nearby street. Sunday Vanguard was told that the deceased went to the compound to visit one Matthew, the suspect’s younger brother who lost his father in-law. But when he got there, he met his friend and two other colleagues. Sunday Vanguard learnt that as they were chatting, there was a quarrel between the suspect and one of the other friends identified as C M Y K

*

Ugbesia. While the quarrel intensified, the suspect rushed to his car and emerged with a gun to the surprise of his

Sunday Vanguard visited the family of the deceased as it was revealed that he wedded his wife according to customs and traditions of the Binis only nine days before the murder to enable him participate properly as a genuine in-law in the burial of his father inlaw scheduled for June. Besides, Ameze, the wife of the victim, apart from their two children, is carrying a pregnancy. She lamented: “My father is in the mortuary. I have no mother. Now my husband who is all I had was killed by his friend”. She narrated her ordeal: “He woke up in the morning and said he was going to see his friend but his friend ended up killing him. Now I have no mother, no father, no husband. If he had known that his friend will kill him, he would not have gone there that morning. They were childhood friends and he (suspect) even knows that I lost my father and his corpse

Now, I am pregnant and all alone with three children friends. But the deceased, who thought it was a mere threat, blocked the suspect from pointing the gun directly at Ugbesia and appealed to him to drop the gun. But rather than dropping the gun, the suspect shot Otabor in the chest. The father of two fell.

The friends took to their heels without making any effort to rush him to hospital. It took a while before the relations of the victim heard about the incident and rushed to the scene. But by the time they rushed him to hospital, he was dead. Angry youths from Upper Uwa, where the deceased resided, stormed the residence of the suspect and razed the house.

It was a pitiable sight when

is in the mortuary yet he went to kill my husband”. The wife went on: “Now, I am all alone with three children and pregnant. I know the killer-friend as a 419 person because he uses different cars and he will say he has dollars in the booth of his car. And when my husband noticed that he is into 419, he started staying away from him. As a result, my husband became close to his junior brother called Matthew.

Matthew’s father-in-law died and it was actually Matthew my husband went to greet when this incident happened.

We just did our wedding last week, the 11th May, so that my husband will participate properly in the burial of my father. And the burial is com-

ing up next month. I wish the police will arrest this bad friend and kill him too so that his children and wife will pass through what I am passing through now. That is all I am begging the police to do because I don’t have any where to go now. Who will train my children?”

The father of the deceased, 75-year-old Pa Otabor, said the last he heard from his son was when he gave him some money in the morning of the day of murder. His words: “Last Sunday, the 19th of May, I met my son at about 7a.m. who gave me some money in respect of a meeting and he left home. I came back home at about 7pm, undressed and prepared to go to bed. But I started hearing people shouting outside that he was dead, that one Lucky, his friend, shot him.

I asked if it was my son they were talking about or someone else. I came downstairs and I asked his brother to go to the suspect’s house to check.

When my boy got there, they said they had taken his body to hospital. He ran to the hospital and saw him on a stretcher; the hospital said they could not treat him until they called the police. He died and they took the corpse to the morgue. I went to the police and they said they were looking for the suspect.

“The police told me they got information where he could be and the DPO stationed his men there since morning and asked them not to leave the house. The door of the house was locked, so they went for a search warrant because they said without that they could not force the door open”. Asked what he heard about the murder, the father explained: “The suspect was his friend.

I heard they were about four of them in house and an argument ensued between Ugbesia, one of them, and the suspect. The suspect went to bring out a gun, so my son said ‘please don’t shoot him,

Ameze ...seeks justice

Ugbesia is your friend; what are you doing? Please drop the gun’.

Then he told my son to leave the road or he will shoot him instead and, before they could say Jack Robinson, he shot my son in the chest and he fell.

Everybody in the house ran away.

I learnt it took some persons around time to come and take my son to hospital but it was already too late. My son worked with me at the cattle market and now, look at his wife and children (weeping).

My appeal is that government should fish out the suspect.

People have been trying to phone him, he replied one of them that he heard they had gone to burn down his house, that he will fight back and find those who burnt his house. But I ask him to come out.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in Edo State, DSP Moses Eguavoen, described the incident as unacceptable, saying the command was investigating the matter and on the trail of the suspect. According to him, “though we have not made any arrest, we are on the trail of the key suspect.

The matter is being investigated seriously and no matter how the suspect tries to run, we will get him”.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY Vanguard,

MAY 26, 2013

NIGER-DELTA AFTER OIL

How to avert the Oloibiri metaphor,

by Aginighan I

f we neglect to reduce the development gap between the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria and the oil wells dry up or oil ceases to be a revenue earner for Nigeria, then we will all be bowailing the re-enactment of the Olobiri metaphor, according to Pastor Power Ziakede Aginighan, a former acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Aginighan spoke in a paper presented at the third Ijaw Foundation Convention held in Houston, Texas, US. Extracts from the presentation: Niger Delta is the territory of tributaries and distributaries of the River Niger in the Southern belt of Nigeria made up of marshy swamps, estuaries, meandering creeks, rivers and rivulets occupied chiefly by the Ijaw ethnic nationality and adjoining ethnic minorities, namely the Itsekiri, the Ilaje, the Ogoni and pockets of Isoko, Urhobo, Ukwuani and Ibibio communities. It is the territory of Nigeria where Government gives the excuse of difficult terrain for the neglect of its development.

The Niger Delta known to precolonial and immediate postcolonial Nigeria for the purposes of development was a territory occupied largely by the Ijaw and the Ogoni.

After oil and gas This refers to the period where the oil reserves of the Niger Delta get exhausted or when oil ceases to be a revenue earner for Nigeria due to gradual shift from fossil fuel to alternate sources of energy.

The Oloibiri metaphor Oloibiri metaphor speaks of the state of being used, abused and abandoned.

In 1961, the Nigeria Federal Parliament enacted the Niger Delta Development Board Act to comply with Section. 14 of Nigeria Constitution Orders in Council 1960. The Act established the Niger Delta Development Board with, amongst other functions, responsibility for “”advising the government of the Federation of Nigeria and the governments of Western and Eastern Nigeria with respect to the physical development of the Niger Delta.

Misleading definition of Niger Delta Some writers and Government Institutions have defined Niger C M Y K

Delta as coterminous with oil bearing States. By this erroneous definition they go on to classify the defunct Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission(OMPADEC) and the current Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) as part of efforts by the Nigerian State in addressing the Niger Delta question.

Jedrzej George Frynas, in his book Oil In Nigeria: Conflict and Litigation between Oil companies and village communities wrote on page 48: “As a gesture of goodwill towards the oil producing areas, the Niger Delta Development Board (NDDB) was established in 1961”.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Oil was not a factor in the economy of Nigeria in 1961 when the Niger Delta Development Board was established.

The Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, in its official website stated this: ‘The establishment of a separate Ministry to handle the development of the Niger Delta is the latest attempt by the Government to find an answer to the myriad of problems ranging from environmental degradation to poverty and unemployment, facing the people of the area.

Other interventionist agencies which had been in place before the emergence of a full fledged ministry included the Niger Delta Development Board of 1960, the Presidential Task Force on 1.5% which the Shagari Administration set up between 1979 and 1983,

the Oil Mineral Areas Producing Development Commission, OMPADEC of 1992 and the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC which came on board in 2000’ This publication wrongly presents 1.5% Presidential Task Force on Oil Producing Areas, OMPADEC and NDDC as successor agencies to the Niger Delta Development Board that was set up in 1961.

In fact, the NDDB has no successor agency. It was created with the noblest of intentions by the first Republic Tafawa Balewa Government in keeping with the understanding reached at Lancaster House in 1958 and the subsequent Niger Delta Special Area Proclamation of 1959 Niger Delta and the national economy Paradoxically, the territory that was identified as difficult to develop has borne the burden of Nigeria’s oil and gas production for the past 5 decades. With an oil sector that provides over 80% of Nigeria’s Government revenue and 95% of foreign exchange earnings, the difficult Niger Delta swamps and creeks account for over 70% of the Nation’s oil output The export terminals through which oil produced in Nigeria is exported are all located in the

same neglected territory. These include: • The Forcados Terminal operated by Shell • The Bonny Terminal operated by Shell • The Qua Iboe Terminal operated by MOBIL • The Escravos Terminal operated by Chevron • The Penington Terminal operated by Texaco • Brass Terminal operated by AGIP The uninterrupted exploration and exploitation of oil and gas for over fifty-five(55) years in the Niger Delta has had devastating impact on the ecosystem of the region.

Oil Spills and Gas Flares have negatively impacted on the vegetation as well as marine and arboreal life in the Niger Delta.

The prevalence of a number of health hazards in the Niger Delta is attributable to Oil and Gas exploitation.

The widening gap As at 1961, when the Niger Delta Development Board was established with the mission to advise Governments of the Federation as well as the Eastern and Western Regional Govermnents on plans and schemes to develop the Niger Delta Special Area to bring it into parity with the rest of Nigeria, the rest of Nigeria had only two

Universities, namely the University College Ibadan and the University of Nsukka and very few airports 53 years after Independence, it took DSP Alamieyeseigha becoming Governor of Bayelsa State for the 1st State owned University to be established in the Ijaw territory, the highest educational institution in Ogoni is a State owned polytechnic. It took Goodluck Jonathan becoming President of Nigeria for the first Federal University to be sited in the Ijaw land. The rest of Nigeria has so many Federal and State-owned Universities, Teaching Hospitals, many Federal and State Polytechnics, many Federal and State Colleges of Education, Federal Medical Centres, so many international airports and many other indices of development funded largely from the oil and gas revenue derived mainly from the neglected tract.

Though the Ijaw were amongst the earliest to demand for political space before Independence, only Bayelsa State has been created for them while the rest of Nigeria has proliferated into 35 States with a Federal Capital territory sustained by the oil wealth derived mainly from the Ijaw territory.

From 1999 when the Constitution came into effect, 13% of oil

Continues on page 39

‘After five years of marriage, my husband disowned me’

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

M

r Lawrence Adigbohun told an Agege Grade ‘A’ Customary Court that his wife, Blessing, brought a concubine to his house, and wanted to stab him with a knife. Meanwhile, Blessing, a 24-year-old factory worker, who was dragged before the court by her husband, told the court that her husband lied to people that she was his niece, and not his wife. ”When I was delivered of our baby, he lied that I was his niece, that I had a problem and that was why I was staying with him for five years,” the embattled wife said.

”My husband is not responsible. He comes home late in the night. He womanises, takes alcohol and enjoys spending money on night club. “At 72, my husband goes crazy for anything in skirt. ”He does not give me money, lies that he has not been paid salary at end of every month. I spend my money on our child’s feeding and school fees, but he prefers to carry plate to Mama Put shop than to give me money for cooking. ”Any misunderstanding between us, he threaten to kill me”. According to her, the husband dated a neighbour. Lawrence claimed to have met Blessing some years ago and they became husband and wife subsequently. ”After the death of my first wife, I

married Blessing because I needed a companion. I care for her, give her money for the children school fees and feeding”, the husband said. ”She uses the money to take soft drink, she takes at six bottles per day. She doesn’t stay at home to take care of the children. ”She wanted to stab me with a knife. I ran to the police station because of her concubines. ”She brought one of her concubines to my house and one of my neighbours caught her and she lied to him that it was her pilot-brother until l heard that the pilot died long time ago”.

He urged the court to dissolve the union and grant him custody of the only child.

The court president, Mr Emmaunel Shokunle, adjourned the case till May 27 for further hearing.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 39

Lagos community battles blindness

Dayo Johnson Akure

BY EBUN SESSOU

M

usibau Akara, 60, is among thou sands of people on the verge of losing their sight to cataract. Consequently, he is seeking succour in the ongoing free eye screening and surgery in Epe area of Lagos State.

Narrating his story to Sunday Vanguard, Akara said life was rosy and everything was going on smoothly for him until his sight began to fail him.

“I started having problem with my sight three years ago when I discovered I could not read or see objects properly.

“I actually did not know what was wrong with my eye.

I tried all I could to solve the problem to no avail”, he lamented.

Akara is not the only one going through this ordeal. There are several others in Epe about losing their sight to cataract, refractive error and glaucoma.

The 5-day free eye screening and surgery programme organised by Chevron Nigeria Limited, Eye Foundation Centre and a Lagos State lawmaker representing Epe constituency 1, Honourable Abiodun Tobun, revealed that majority of those having different eye defects are those within the age bracket 40 and above with high cases of cataract.

A medical practitioner, Dr. Tayo Bogunjoko, who was at the centre, told Sunday Vanguard that the most prevailing eye problem is cataract as well as

Epe...restoring sight

refractive errors while a few glaucoma problem is also on record.

“There is hope for people suffering from cataract if the problem is reported on time. It involves the use of surgery on the patient provided there is no more pathology at the back of the eye,” Bogunjoko said.

Meanwhile, Musibau is optimistic that with the programme, he might be able to regain his sight. Another resident, Mrs Adenola Taiwo, 46, said she could no longer see or read perfectly. “When I came to the programme, I was told I had refractive error but after underwent screening, I was given eye glasses.”

Omotolani Ogunbanwo, 25, said, “I have been experiencing itching and swallowing eyes for a while and I have not been able to do anything to it. I used to have worms on my eyelids. But, with this programme, I know that there will be solution to the problem”.

Meanwhile, Mr. Deji Haastrup, Gen-

eral Manager, Policy Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria Limited, said the involvement of Chevron in health issues was because health problems are on the increase.

Haastrup who was represented by Mr. Esimaje Brinkinn, Chevron Advisor, Social Performance, disclosed that investing in health is key to the development of the company.

President, Eye Foundation Centre, Dr. Adekunle Hassan, said, “the partnership is part of the corporate social responsibility of the organisation.Member, Lagos State House of Assembly, Abiodun, said, “The programme is aimed at reducing blindness in my constituent and that is why I have put up this programme for the benefit of my constituency. Asked if the programme was the first of its kind in Epe, he said, “The eye screening programme is the first attempt in health related programmes and it will be a continuous process in my constituency. “

‘How to avert the Oloibiri metaphor’ Continued from page 38 mineral and gas revenue accruing to the Federation has been paid to the oil mineral and gas producing States in proportion to the quantum of oil and gas produced. It has been observed that most of the States that have benefited from this constitutional provision have not recognised derivation in the disbursement of the funds they have received. The oil mineral and gas bearing communities have been at the mercy of powerful State Governors, most of whom utilise the larger portion of derivation funds for areas that do not suffer environmental devastation arising from oil exploration and exploitation activities. The Governors of these States are hardly concerned about linking up the difficult oil bearing territories by road. Opobo, Bonny, Kula, Soku, Brass, Ogbolomabri, Foropa, EgbemaAngalabiri, Peretorugbene, Ojobo, Forcados, Burutu, Oporoza, Ogidigben, Ugborodo and Polobubo are still completely alienated from the rest of Nigeria, although virtually all the export terminals are located in this neglected territory.

Averting the Oloibiri metaphor The Nigerian Government should direct all its agencies particularly, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, Federal Ministry of Works, and all other Development Service providers to take advantage of the peace of the graveyard afforded by the Presidential Amnesty C M Y K

Succour for Ondo widows, orphans

Programme in the Niger Delta. In so doing, they must take cognisance of the debt of development owed the Niger Delta Special Area arising from the destruction of the ecosystem caused by oil exploration and exploitation of over 5 decades superimposed on the natural difficult terrain recognised before the prominence of oil.

The granting of political space to the two ethnic nationalities covered by the Niger Delta Special Area Proclamarion, namely the Ijaw and the Ogoni, through:The creation of Oil Rivers State for the Ijaws of Rivers and Akwa-ibom States The creation of Ogoni State out of Rivers State The creation of Toru-Ebe State for the Ijaws of Delta, Edo and Ondo States The revolutionary pressures we have had in the Niger Delta, namely, the Adaka Boro revolt in the Ijaw territory, the Ken Saro Wiwa uprising in the Ogoni, the Kaiama Declaration and Oil War led by the likes of Asari Dokubo, Tompolo, Boyloaf and Ateke Tom are all traceable to reneging of the undertaking of the Nigerian State at Independence to develop the Niger delta and the paradox of pervasive poverty in the midst of so much wealth.

If we neglect to reduce the development gap between the Niger Delta and the rest of Nigeria and the oil wells dry up or oil ceases to be a revenue earner for Nigeria, then we will all be bewailing the re-enactment of the Olobiri metaphor.

May God forbid.

SUCCOUR came for over 500 aged widows in Owo, Ondo State as a non-governmental organization, Elizabeth Foundation, empowered them.

Free medical tests and treatment were carried out on the widows while food items and clothing materials were distributed to them.

Their spiritual lives were also ministered to.

Chairman of the Foundation, Olayide Adelani, said the programme was designed to assuage the suffering of widows,orphans and the less privileged.

Adelani said the project, founded in 2001, serves as intervention for widows and to empower them, saying thousands of widows and the less privileged have been assisted by the organisation nationwide.

He disclosed that the organisation was borne out of her late wife, desire and passion to help the less privileged and also to immortalise her.

According to him, the body had identified some of the challenges faced by widows and associated with them in order to share and provide succour to them.

“We have so far empowered over 1, 000 widows since we started because we have been doing it in Abuja and Owo,”he stated.

“We minister to the physical needs of the widows by attending to their health. We have doctors and nurses. We give them foods and clothes. We also minister to them psychologically and spiritually”.

’No crisis over the Aidonogieship’ MEMBERS of the Aidonogie-in-Council from South Ibie clan, in Edo State have declared that the chieftaincy dispute in South Ibie clan has since been laid to rest with the provision of the amended law by the Edo state House of Assembly in 2006, therefore urged some members of the community to restrain from actions capable of disturbing the prevailing peace in the area.

The council was reacting to a statement by some members of the community led by Dr Bello Imam, which created the impression that the current Aidonogie of South Ibie, Alhaji Aliyu Danesi, was occupying the seat illegally following an Appeal Court ruling which disqualified the two contenders of the throne.

Young Citizens peace programme

BY TOMMY ANADUAKA Young Citizens of Nigeria, a non-governmental organization and bedrock for human excellence and national development, is proposed to the Federal Government it’s plan to host “Peace and Unity” programme in the six geo-political zones of the country.

In a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan issued on behalf of the organization by its National President, Bar r. Peter Uche Lotobi, and Secretary General, Barr (Mrs.) Ruth Erihri, the NGO proposed that the peace and unity programme will commence from Abuja.

The organization remarked that its members have, in utter disgust, watched the way innocent Nigerians are being killed by Boko Haram insurgents in the name of religion as well as the increasing insecurity situation in the country.

The group while appealing for support from the Presidency and other well meaning Nigerians, stated that the programme, if assisted in carrying it out, will be of immense benefit to all and put a stop to these violent acts.

They commended the patron of the organization, Gen. A.A. Abubakar, for his continued support to the group.

PAGE 40—SUNDAY, Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

Pizzazz as O’tega Emerhor’s daughter weds

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he razzmatazz could be felt all over the Island just as the glamour would not let go in the memory long after, when Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Alliance Group, gave his daughter in marriage to Toritseju Ashogbon, son of Chief Ashogbon.

The day was Saturday, May 18th and the couple

From left: Mr Edwin Tonwe, groom's dad, Mrs. Rita Emerhor, bride's mum, the couple, Mr and Mrs Toritseju Ashogbon, Mrs Evelyn Tonwe, groom's mum, and Olorogun Otega Emerhor, bride's dad

were joined together at the Guiding Light Assembly, Parkview, Ikoyi before the bridal train headed for the Ark Event Centre. Lekki where the reception held. Many dignitaries graced the occasion.

Photos by Bunmi Azeez

L-R:Chairman, Standard Alliance lnsurance Plc, Alhaji Yahaya Sa’ad, Olorogun Otega Emerhor, and MD, Champion Newspapers, Mrs Nwadiuto lheakanwa

L-R: GM, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Dr David lsiavwe,former DG, NSE, Prof. Ndi OnyiukeOkeke and Engr Yemi Esan

L-R: Dep. Govs of Koji and Lagos States, Mr Yomi Awoniyi and Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, with the bride's parents, Olorogun and Chief (Mrs) Otega Emerhor

L-R: Barr. C.O. Ikpen, Deacon Gamaliel Onosode and Mrs. Dorcas Lawal.

Akibu Amoo Oriowo celebrates 70 in style

I

t was a day of joy and merriment for Alhaji Akibu Amoo Oriowo, alias Ase Manager, when he turned 70. To celebrate the special occasion on May 11, a deluxe birthday bash was held at Aguda Grammar School, Aguda, Surulere.

L-R: Lady Maiden Ibru of Guardian Newspapers, Deaconess Grace Dada and Deaconess Mary Katugwa.

Amara ge ts cer tif ication gets certif tification

A

mara Blessing Nwosu was recently certified by The Protocol School of Washington. She will provide public relations, etiquette, and protocol services to local businesses and government agencies.

Alhaji and Alhaja Akibu Amoo Oriowo

Dancing time for Alhaji Akibu Amoo Oriowo.

C M Y K

L-R: Mr. Gani Bisi, Mr. Muftau Akibu Amoo and Mr Alabi Adebayo Oluwo

Amara Nwosu.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013 —41

The da dayy of Alpha-Ma Alpha-Mayy Club

A

lpha-May Club does not celebrate its annual anniversary without holding a lecture to x-ray some topical national issues.

Penultimate Saturday, when the Club held its 28th anniversary at the Metropolitan Club, Victoria Island, Lagos, its searchlight was beamed on peace and unity. The lecture’s theme was “Ingredients For Peace and Unity Amongst the Various Ethnic Nationalities in Delta State- The Itsekiri Position.” Guest Speaker was Chief Isaac Jemide while Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN) chaired the occasion. Photos by Shola Oyelese

L-R: Mr A . S. Mene,Chief Mike Ugbeye, Chairman of the club, Prof Itse Sagay, Chaiman of the occasion; and Chief Brown Mene

L-R: Chief Brown Mene, Chief Allison Ayida and Chief E. F . Esisi

L-R: Mr O . Edukugho, Mr I. Sobotie, Chief Tola Aragho, Chief Yemi Emiko and Chief T. Adegbel

Chief Tokunbo Thomas , Prof Egerton Uvieghara and Mr Ajijala Rone-Orugbohi

Ebunoluw a Nath-Ut oh Ebunoluwa Nath-Utoh weds Ebinbin Ajagun

Mr and Mr gbude Mrss Ernest A Agbude Solemnization of Holy matrimony between Anne and Ernest now Mr and Mrs Ernest Agbude was held recently at St. Theresa catholic church, Ewah road Benin city. The marriage between Edo and Delta states attracted personalities and well-wishers from different parts of the country.

Solemnization of Holy matrimony between Ebunoluwa Oghale Nath-Utoh and Ebinbin Maurice Ajagun took place at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Maitama,, Abuja. Photos by Gbemiga Olamikan

The couple with the bride’s parents: Mrs. & Mrs. Ebinbin Ajakun

L-R, Former NTDC DG, Otunba Olusegun Runsewe; Engr. Kayode Adeyin; the bride's dad,Mr Ayodele Nath-Utoh C M Y K

Mrs Bridget Rone -Orugboh, and Mrs Akoyi Lawson

The couple: Mrs. and Mrs. Ebinbin Ajakun Couple

Groom’s parents: Dr and Dr (Mrs.) Ayo Ajagun, with the couple

Couple with parents; Mr and Mrs Agbude

PAGE 42 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013

.... CRIME AND NATIONAL SECURITY

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HE position of Commissioner of Police, Delta State is a hot seat because of the volatile nature of the multi-ethnic oil-rich state.

One-time Commissioner of Police, Bauchi State, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, is the present occupant of the hot seat. He spoke to Sunday Vanguard on his frequent battles with kidnappers, armed robbers, the crime situation in the state, and what he is doing to weather the storm.

Y

ou recently clocked one year in office as Commissioner of Police in Delta State. What has it been like policing a state as complex as Delta?

Delta State remains a flash point, but I am used to tough terrains as an officer that has been tried and tested in hot spots across the country with the better part of my career spent in the Police Mobile Force, PMF, culminating in my appointment as the Commissioner of Police in charge of PMF in 2009. I was the Commissioner of Police incharge of Plateau State at the heat of the crises in 2010; the CP, Bauchi State during the upsurge of Boko-Haram insurgency in 2011 and now CP, Delta State, where you have all the vices to wit kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism. Added to these is the multiplicity of ethnic groups and the accruing conflicts of interest – Yes! I must admit that policing Delta State is indeed complex and tough, but I can assure you that we have surmounted the odds with the various proactive measures put in place by the Command. So far, we have remained on course in our efforts at ensuring that the good people of Delta State go to bed with their two eyes closed.

The biggest battle in the state is that against kidnapping and armed robbery - are you winning or losing the war?

From our statistics and numerous breakthroughs in 2012, we arrested 467 suspected armed robbers/ kidnappers and rescued about 97 victims unhurt. Compared with the figures of the years before, coupled with the new measures put in place to check mate incidents of high profile C M Y K

Mr. Aduba.... Police officers and other security agents are not magicians. We need information to work with

KIDNAPPING, ARMED ROBBERY

Some security agents were compromised

— Aduba, Delta police boss •Provides hints on how citizens can tackle kidnappers, robbers

By EMMA AMAIZE, Regional Editor, South South crimes, which, for obvious reasons, cannot be made public, we can considerably say we are indeed on course at winning the battle against kidnapping and armed robbery in the state.

W

hy have you not been able to arrest the alleged most wanted kidnapper in the state, Kelvin, said to be from Kokori?

Point blank! His people are sheltering him. They are not helping matters. Police officers and other security agents are not magicians. We need information to work with and where the people from the immediate community of the wanted suspect choose to shelter the suspect , it

becomes indeed a cumbersome job for the entire security agents. However, I can assure you that we are closing in on him and his days are numbered.

What are your biggest challenges in the battle against kidnappers?

Insider actions. From the numerous cases of kidnapping that were cracked, more than 90 per cent of them have an insider act, while less than 10 per cent are merely opportunistic. The Queen of Ogwashi-Uku kidnapping wherein a palace boy acted as a pointer and a spring board to the hoodlums and the Osadebe case are examples.

Furthermore, there is the problem of getting to know members of the society with “hostage value” to closely monitor and guard them.

There is also the issue of the often-apprehensive members

•Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, Delta State Commissioner of Police of the families to rush and pay ransoms, thus encouraging the hoodlums, rather than working patiently and closely with the security agents to stamp out this menace from our midst with a note of finality. These are the big challenges we are facing in our war against kidnappers. ome top government officials and Deltans are said to always pester you when police apprehend suspected kidnappers/armed robbers known to them. How do you manage to keep to ethical standards in such cases?

Naturally, overtures were made on some occasions, but, we have always stood our grounds and boldly ensured that justice was done in each case. It is on this premise that we arraigned two lawyers in

S

the state whose actions, from our investigations, bordered on criminality. Furthermore, I must point out that our dispassionate actions as touching the enforcement of our statutory duties cut across, as even within the police circle and other members of the security agencies, those involved in criminal activities are immediately tried departmentally and dismissed from the force before being arraigned in the regular court for the substantive offences.

There was the case of a son setting up himself as being kidnapped and demanding ransom from the father. When the boy was arrested, we refused to yield to family emotions and sentiment; and the suspect was made to face the

Continues on page 43

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 43

'Some security agents were compromised' Continued from page 42 full wrath of the law.

L

ast year, some police officers were arrested for writing a kidnap threat to a serving judge in the state.

You ordered their detention and trial, but one or two disappeared into thin air.

How was the matter handled?

Yes, while four of the police officers were arrested, tried departmentally and dismissed from the Force before being arraigned in court for the offences committed, one of them indicted by evidence did escape, but was also tried departmentally in absentia and dismissed from the Force.

While we are still making efforts to effect his arrest, the actions taken as enunciated above became imperative, as we are strictly guided by the Code of Conduct laid down by the Inspector General of Police, IGP, M.D Abubakar, wherein it was stated that you either shape up by keying into the code or be shipped out.

What is your word to Deltans on police preparedness to stamp out kidnapping in the state?

Policing is not a one- man affair but a collective one with envisaged inputs from members of the immediate community.

There is no sitting on the fence as all members of the society should be ready to be part of the intelligence network. With our modernized telecommunication system, members of the public must show more eagerness to pass genuine information to security agents as the Force is fully poised to ensure that the societal evil called kidnapping

I

Mr. Aduba....We have been recording increased out-put in crime prevention is stamped out. Moreover, you will agree with me that armed kidnappers are already retreating from the state.

What is the strangest case you have handled since you came to Delta State?

The strangest case I handled since my assumption of office as CP, Delta State is the involvement of security agents in kidnapping and high profile crimes such as armed robbery.

There was the incident of a threat letter sent to a serving High Court Judge in Warri area, wherein some four policemen, including the Judge’s orderly, were indicted by evidence and also the case involving a serving military officer in the robbery of tankers conveying petroleum products and car snatching.

These cases were, however, neatly concluded and with particular reference to the police personnel involved in the issuance of threat letter to a serving High Court Judge, they were collectively tried departmentally and dismissed from the Force before being charged to court where they are currently standing trial.

The same action was meted out to the military officer.

What is the major crime you have cracked since you came to the state?

The biggest crime cracked among several remarkable breakthroughs, is the arrest of a blood- thirsty kidnapping/ armed robbery kingpin, who confessed to have successfully been involved in over 40 armed robbery operations during which more than 15 security agents, including army and police personnel, were killed. In one of the con-

,

How has it been between police and the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, office in the state. I understand the police hierarchy in the state is not happy with the way some cases are treated?

Not exactly, though there are one or two cases we had sharp disagreements on, that has been treated at the top level.

So far, there have been synergy with the two departments being indispensable organs of our criminal justice system.

Between 2012 till date, we have arraigned about 276 cases of kidnapping/armed robberies and other high profile crimes, and case-files appropriately transmitted to the office of the DPP for vetting and prosecution as the case may be.

these officers through my committee of friends, each of them were given IGPs certificate award for gallantry and courage coupled with recommendations made on their behalf for special promotion.

As regards our men in the field; that is those involved in special patrols; Anti – kidnapping Squads and SARS, we appealed to the state government for payment of monetary allowances to them, and this is truly impacting positively on the personnel, as we have been recording increased output in crime prevention.

Four of the police officers were arrested, tried departmentally and dismissed from the Force before being arraigned in court for the offences committed

,

fessed operations of the suspect that occurred in December, 2011 at Warri main market, a pregnant woman and her husband were shot dead by this gang and jewelries valued over N3m carted way.

So, looking back, I can say that the arrest of the kingpin and two other members of his gang and the daring recoveries made thereto, which included a cash sum of $30, 000 US Dollars; arms and ammunition of different shades and sizes is the biggest heist I have made so far.

Which case have been the most difficult for you, and which you have not cracked?

The most difficult case for now and which we have not fully cracked is the robbery incidents of two banks in Ibusa in the course of which we lost six officers, some of whom are dedicated crime fighters. However, we

apprehended eight members of the gang and made some remarkable recoveries during the onslaught, but there are some members of the gang, who are at large and we are still making efforts to apprehend them.

You have won many awards as Commissioner of Police in Delta. How do you feel about them?

I feel so elated and humbled to be recognized by members of the civil society, NGOs and pressure groups in the country and beyond with such arrays of awards, arising from the performance of my duty as a law enforcement officer.

However, among the lots, the most treasured award is the one that was “personalized” and bestowed on me by Crime Watch International at Accra, Ghana where I received the “Most Outstanding Crime Bursting Police Officer in West Africa” award.

What are you doing to improve the lots of your officers and men as their performance depends largely on how well the authorities take care of their welfare?

I have tried as much as possible to ensure that our men get rewards, either in cash or in kind, for outstanding performances. For instance, our officers that courageously confronted the hoodlums that invaded two banks in Ibusa in May 2012; those that effected the arrest of the afore-stated kidnap kingpin and members of his gang and other breakthroughs achieved by the Command were rewarded.

Besides the instant cash to

f a police officer stops my car on the road and asks for money even when my particulars are complete, or insist I must pay money for bail, what do I do?

Stop and search of vehicles and the issue of bail during investigation are only ad-hoc proactive/reactive measures in furtherance of our statutory duties of law enforcement.

Where/when it becomes necessary to embark on these measures, a police officer is expected to exercise utmost discretion while dealing with members of the public and requesting for money is completely out of it. However, where such request occurs, please patiently stand your ground and report such unwholesome practice to the Divisional Police Officer within whose jurisdiction the incident occurred or you make use of our distress call numbers: 08036684974, 08125273010 and 08075390753.

If armed robbers storm my house, what do I do?

In the event of such attack, please calm down; do not lose your cool, as experiences have shown that most of these hoodlums are usually junked in hard drugs during operation.

So, in such event, as traumatic as it could be, our advice is that you stay calm but be very observant and make use of our distress call numbers immediately the opportunity arises and for which we have guaranteed 10 minutes response.

What do I do if kidnappers abduct me?

Also be calm and observant, comply meekly with their instructions and we implore family members and relatives of such victims not to be too hasty in payment of ransom, but rather co-operate with security agents in their bid to track down the criminals.

C M Y K

PAGE 44—SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

C M Y K

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 45

When the Senate dissolved party lines for emergency rule

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HE Senate read the mood of the nation correctly when it threw its weight behind the imposition of state of emergency in the troubled states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.

Following the nationwide broadcast by President Goodluck Jonathan where he declared the state of emergency and in line with the Senate Standing Orders 2011 as amended, the lawmakers called for a session to deliberate on the official gazette by the President.

The senate session, on Tuesday, drew over 70 members from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; 18 from the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN; seven from Congress for Progressive Change, CPC; eight from the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP; three Labour Party, LP; one from the All Progressive Grand Alliance, APGA; and one from Democratic Peoples Party, DPP. The senators resolved to put aside party politics in favour of national interest.

Despite the criticism of the president’s emergency rule proclamation by the leadership of the ACN, especially by the national leader of the party and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, senators elected on the platform of the ACN showed that they were worried over the massive killings and wanton destruction of property by members of the Boko Haram sect in the three North-East states where emergency was declared and they told Nigerians Jonathan did a very good job.

The session commenced

when Senate President David Mark, at 11.05a.m, led other principal officers from his office to the chamber.

The Order Paper showed that the motion by Senate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, PDP, Cross River Central, was on the state of the nation.

To start the discussion, Senator Victor Lar, Plateau South, moved a motion for votes and proceedings; he was seconded by Senator Atai Aidoko Ali, ANPP, Kogi East.

Mark, who read the gazette of the declaration, called on Ndoma-Egba to direct the Senate. The Senate Leader drew the attention of the senators to Senate Standing Rule 136, as amended.

Section 136 reads, ‘’The President shall in a closed session brief the Senate on the circumstances of the Proclamation of a State of Emergency and thereafter make available to the Senators the documents as

,

By HENRY UMORU

David Mark....The summary of our discussion is the fact that the democratic structures will remain in place.

The summary of our discussion is the fact that the democratic structures will remain in place, the governors and local government chairmen, has as it were, the backings of the federal government and they should be supported maximally to ensure that this is brought to a logical conclusion

provided by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

Ndoma-Egba then moved for a closed door session and seconded by Senate Minority Leader, Senator George Akume, ACN, Benue NorthWest.

The senators entered into the closed door session at 11.32 am to discuss the

,

gazette and, at 12.44pm, reconvened for the business of the day.

Speaking at the resumed session after the closed door meeting, the Senate President, Mark, said: ‘’At the closed session, we extensively discussed some of the issues that we think are very important to this proclamation of state of

emergency. We want to emphasize very emphatically that all the democratic structures must be left in place and must be allowed to operate fully and actively and they must also be involved in all the efforts that the Federal Government is putting up to bring this ugly situation to an end. ‘’The summary of our discussion is the fact that the democratic structures will remain in place, the governors and local government chairmen, has as it were, the backings of the federal government and they should be supported maximally to ensure that this is brought to a logical conclusion.”

Mark, who disclosed that

100 senators were present during the session, with nine absent, added that 72 was required to pass it and, at 2.55pm, he called for yes vote and the senators unanimously voted in support of the emergency rule proclamation.

Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Media, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, explained that the senators took the unanimous vote to protect the people.

Abaribe said that, at the closed door session, all senators, including members of the ACN, spoke frankly on the need to put Nigeria as a common interest before any political leaning, just as he said that the Senate was yet to get any request for additional funding for the emergency. He added that government may be using contingency funds to handle the state of emergency.

Senators who spoke separately to Sunday Vanguard admitted that they told themselves the truth at the closed door session that enough of the insurgent killings.

The ACN senators, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said that prior to Tinubu making the statement kicking against the proclamation, he had not digested the document and he never sought their opinion on the matter, even as they said that Nigeria as a country was bigger than any individual, group tribe or party.

The Presidency hailed the National Assembly for the unanimous decision to approve the president’s proclamation of state of emergency.

In a statement by the Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emodi, the Presidency noted that the senators and members of the House of Representatives endorsing the declaration have once again demonstrated that national interest must at all times be placed higher and above partisan and sectional c o n s i d e r a t i o n s .

EMERGENCY: How Reps tinkered with proclamation

By OKEY NDIRIBE

F

RESH facts have emerged on why President Goodluck Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency in three northeastern states got unanimous endorsement in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

It was learnt that security reports concerning the situation in the states had become alarming.

A particular report indicated that Boko Haram militants had threatened that they would overrun Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, within seven days.

The group’s planned invasion of the state capital was said to have created fear within Borno State government circles.

It was gathered that when the lawmakers discussed Jonathan’s proclamation in an executive session, legislators from the affected states were reticent.

A member of the House who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on condition of anonymity said, “Even though our colleagues from the affected north-eastern states couldn’t support or oppose the President’s proclamation, they complained that they could no longer visit their constituencies due to the high level of insecurity prevailing there. We know they were afraid of speaking up due to their fear for their own lives”. However, the President received overwhelming support of the lawmakers during the closed door session.

It was gathered that most

Aminu Tambuwal members of the House decided not to oppose the step taken by Jonathan after several senators had urged them to refrain from politicising the emergency rule proclamation based on the grave security situation in the North-East.

Indeed, a member of the House from Jigawa State, who was approached by a reporter,

appealed to be left alone.

The lawmaker said: “Please, don’t ever request for my comment on the President’s declaration. Don’t you know they could come after me if I say anything they don’t like?”

Although the constitutional provision that a minimum of 2/ 3rd of the 360 members of the House (240 ) was required to endorse the emergency rule, all the 253 members present at the session, which lasted over four hours, voted in favour of the emergency rule declaration.

The House introduced some amendments in the proclamation sent to the National Assembly by the President.

The amendments included a clause that provided that governors and local government chairmen of the affected states

shall continue to be in charge of general administration of their territories. Another clause stated that the emergency rule shall only apply to the affected states with regard to the provision of security, order and safety. The House also resolved that funds accruing to the affected states and local government areas must not be tampered with by the President.

The House introduced a clause that victims of terrorist attacks should be compensated by government.

Speaker Aminu Tambuwal announced the establishment of a six-member conference committee to harmonise the resolutions of the House and that of the Senate. The committee submitted its report on Thursday.

PAGE 46 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

Senate Leader Victor NdomaEgba says there is nowhere in the Constitution that the democratically elected structures should be dissolved under emergency rule, pointing out that the dissolution in past dispensation was unconstitutional. Excerpts of interview:

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OME people are of the view that the emergency rule in the three states of the North is a bit late in coming considering the impact on the nation’s sovereignty.

The current security situation in the country is not something that would have been exactly predicted. Terrorism as a phenomenon globally has thrown up a new challenge; so every nation ordinarily should anticipate and prepare for it, but I am not sure that, in Nigeria, we expected this dimension of terrorism. So, to us, it is something novel and, when you are handling something new, you try to come up with strategies that will address the situation, but, clearly, the routine strategies that we employed were no longer working. So it is difficult to say it is timely or untimely, but what I can categorically say is that the time has come for a change in strategy and a change in tactic.

We sent three committees to Baga, they have not submitted their reports formally; but they have informally briefed us, a situation where 10 local governments are already lost to the insurgent, suggests that something dramatic, something extra-ordinary should be done.

If you look at the provisions of our constitution, the term extraordinary was used only once and that is in section 305, so the time has come for us to apply extra ordinary measure. I will not say that it is late.

We had coordinated bombings ofmind-boggling magnitude in Kano twice; could we say that the situation now amounts to something extraordinary?

The moment they took insurgency to the level of taking over completely 10 local governments, hoisting their flag, and even attempting to install their own government, it became a worrying sign that something different had to be done.

The president seems to be under tremendous pressure…..

When you aspire to be president, you are taking the whole burden of the entire country; every nation has its own problems in different dimensions and it is just one thing where the buck stops, that is the table of the president. The fact that you are president does not mean that you will experience only some problems, you still have local, national and international problems. Those problems will be there and what makes you the president and chief executive is that you are expected to be the one to solve the problems, and, as president, you ought to have the capacity to solve them.

Some people think this type of emergency rule with the democratic structure in place may not be wise. Do you think it could have been done otherwise without prejudice to what we have experienced before?

In the previous experience of emergency rule, elected structures were dissolved, that was clearly unconstitutional. I remember when emergency rule was declared in my first time in

the Senate, some of us said the constitution does not contemplate the dissolution of the elected structures. Section 305 of the constitution provides for emergency rule and gives power to the executive and the National Assembly to deliberate on it; it does not, in any way, provide, envisage or contemplate the dissolution of the elected structures; it does not say governor or elected members should go. Now, when you talk of elected institutions, it is either the governor or legislators; the constitution, in a separate provision. describes how their offices can come to an end. So, there is nowhere in Section 305 that an additional provision is made on the removal of the governor or dissolution of the House of Assembly, which means that you are bound by the provision that the constitution made for their termination or removal. So, removal of a governor or dissolution of the House of Assembly is not in Section 305. If we did it in the past, it was unconstitutional.

How do you rationalise the spirit of emergency declaration when the chief executives of the state are in place?

What is the impact of the state of emergency in our constitution? The impact is that certain freedom is curtailed: freedom of association, of movement, of speech, that you can be detained for a certain period; beyond that, you must go to court. That is the freedom that is affected? And why is freedom affected? Because for you to address freedom, to some extent, has to be curtailed for security agencies to do what they have to do effectively, and the security agencies, for the purpose of the state of emergency, may work with the governor in the state, but do not necessarily have to work with him, because it is basically a military operation and the governor has nothing to do with military operation. State of emergency provides the atmosphere for the military to operate.

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BY KAYODE AJALA & LEKAN OLAOSEBIKAN

EMERGENCY: Constitution does not contemplate dissolution of elected structures – Senate Leader Ndoma-Egba

Victor Ndoma-Egba....The president’s broadcast was not a proclamation constitutionally official gazette of the government of the federation issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in the federation or any part thereof ”. The president’s broadcast was not a proclamation constitutionally.

Until that gazette was issued, the president’s broadcast remained a statement of intent to declare a state of emergency. What he told Nigerians was his intention

When you aspire to be president, you are taking the whole burden of the entire country; every nation has its own problems in different dimensions and it is just one thing where the buck stops, that is the table of the president

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In terms of funding, will come under budgetary or extra budgetary?

If the president needs more funds than what he can find in the budget, he will come to the National Assembly and, I believe, we will help because the issue of insecurity is perhaps the most significant issue today in our polity .So it is expected that the president will need support…

Definitely, the National Assembly will give Mr. President every support to bring this challenge under control.

48 hours after the president’s declaration, the National Assembly did not ratify the emergency declaration.

There is no provision in the constitution that says the president should publish the declaration. Section 305 of the constitution says (reading it): “ Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the President may by instrument published in the

to declare a state of emergency.

The emergency becomes effective when it is published in the official gazette, which is when the state of emergency takes effect. Let us see subsection 6; it says (reading it)”: A proclamation issued by the President under this section shall cease to have effect: (a) if it is revoked by the President by instrument published in the official gazette of the government of the federation; (b) If it affects the federation or any part thereof and within two days when the National assembly is in session, or within 10 days when the National Assembly is not in session, after its publication, there is no resolution supported by twothirds majority of all members of each house of the National assembly approving the proclamation”. In fact, the constitution does not say that the president should make a broadcast, it says when he issues

an instrument published in the official gazette. So it is when that gazette is published, then the two days or the ten days as the case may be become applicable.

Even the operational word “may by instrument”, does it confer sacro-sanctity on the action?

What it means is that it may or may not proclaim the emergency rule.

Management of emergency with the democratic structure in place.

That is what I have been explaining to you. It is a military operation. Whatever operation they want to carry out will not be carried out in every part of the state affected. They are just few locations.

Let’s talk about the challenges faced by the Senate.

The Senate is 14 years old. We have issues of institutional memory, because parliament is a very peculiar body. You take the normal capacity challenges of a 14-year-old institution, compounded by a massive loss of institutional memory, by a high turn over of senators. In the USA that we say we are fashioning our democracy after, before a senator loses an election, he must have done somethnig unforgiveable. Now in our 14-year history as a Senate, it is only two senators that have 14 years experience; that is, between 1999 and today, the Senate has lost 107 senators, the two are Senator David Mark and the Chief Whip, Senator Bello Gwarzo. And the Senate is a peculiar institution where institutional memory is the aggregated memory of individual senators and experience. In the US, there are bills that are years old and they are not dead because the US Senate is never dissolved, but, in Nigeria, the Senate is dissolved every four years; and when dissolved, nothing survives; even bills that are here stand dissolved, everything has to start afresh. This is a major constitutional challenge. One,

you have loss of memory; two, even if a committee was at the point of concluding an assignment, both the committee, its membership and its work all stand dissolved at the end of four years This constitutional challenge, is it part of the constitution amendment that is going on?

We can’t just amend the dissolution aspect; you also have to agree on tenure, that is the only way to ensure continuity.

You also have to agree on staggered election.

Many people believe the Senate can do a lot more than it is currently doing.

Yes, we could achieve more.

The problems we have in this country are not what we could solve in quick fixes. Most of the problems have their origin almost in antiquity. Take the power sector, over 20 years, there was no investment in that sector.

And the facilities are not selfrenewable; so the facilities are old as there was no new investment in the sector. This government now inherited a problem that has been there that took 20 years to accumulate and we expect it to be fixed overnight.

The security challenge did not start today, it did not start yesterday, it started when the contradictions in our polity were suppressed rather than negotiated. For almost 30 years of military rule, the contradictions were held down by the jackboot, they were never discussed.

These are contradictions that ought to have been negotiated through a tedious process; when they now came up, people now think they can be fixed overnight. Take infrastructure, for instance, the roads did not get bad overnight , ditto education, the collapse of values did not happen overnight.

We will be lucky if they are fixed in a generation. We should stop this scapegoatism and escapetism of the PDP. Some of the problems unfortunately may survive PDP. We pray they don’t.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 47

Corruption as crime against humanity

BY CHRIS OKOTIE VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Engendering real change via paradigm shift

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E seem to be losing our sense of rage as a people over the corruption pandemic that clogs the wheel of the nation’s development at all levels. Our poor ratings in international measurement of human progress have become situations normal for a country that earns $225million dollars daily from oil exports alone.

Whenever reputable rating agencies highlight our bottom leagues status in the Human Development Index, or the nation’s unenviable top position in the league of the world’s most corrupt, Nigerian government officials either make light of these vital information, or lampoon its authors as enemies of the nation. It just demonstrates vividly the rapid degeneration of our moral ethos and how impervious to reason our leaders have become.

Every nation deserves the leaders it gets. In our case, our strange romance with corruption began with the enthronement of a kleptomaniac leadership at the exit of the military from our polity. The biggest mistake of the electorate is the sale of its franchise to greedy ruling elite who cap-

tured power and corned our resources to the extent that it is now adept at the tricks of selfperpetuation.

Unlike in some countries where terrorism is a consequence of ideological or political struggle, corruption gave birth to terrorism in Nigeria. It created the extreme social conditions that drove the youths to the trenches.

Corruption is a parasite that grows within every political process. It has always been the negative side of development all through the ages. It is dark side of human nature called greed and avarice, and every political system in history has had to contend with a corrupt elite be it in feudal, monarchical, totalitarian or authoritarian setting.

Attempts to contend with institutionalised corruption is the very factor that birth revolutions or any form of radical change in the socio-political order. History proves clearly that if progress must occur, corruption at the highest levels of governance should give way. The war against corruption cannot be won by the introduction of harsh punitive measures. We have no evidence that prescription of capital punishment has ever served as an effective deterrence against culpable homicide or any form of premeditation murders or even armed robbery.

This is why the advocacy of capital punishment for corruption, though well meaning and imperative, cannot solve

the problem.

However, those who viewed corruption as crime against humanity have my vote because it brings to global focus, an insidious, vicious white collar crime that knows no clime or level of development.

It has the same effect in Washington and Mogadishu. Corruption is a universal crime that inflicts equal pain on victims across borders and racial

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VIEWPOINT

change in Nigeria is a shifting paradigm in leadership with the enthronement of a new generation of leaders who are not the product of the corrupt godfathers. But ours is a polity that is reproducing itself in the shape of godsons who are even more corrupt than their progenitors.

The emerging new generation of independent leaders, unencumbered by the pressures of

Attempts to contend with institutionalised corruption is the very factor that birth revolutions or any form of radical change in the socio-political order

or political divides. It knows no religious or gender demarcation. Like war victims, it affects women, children and the poor more than the rich who easily take flight to safer climes in the face of danger.

Like war crimes that is regarded as crime against humanity, corruption is rife at the level of leadership worldwide, and because of the magnitude of resources involved, the commonwealth of world nations or communities could be appropriated by a ruling clique to the hurt of millions of innocent souls who become victims of a war in which no shot is fired.

What can engender real

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political merchandising and defence to corrupt king makers, would be able to utilise resources for real development. Such leaders could fight corruption by decisively prosecuting its perpetrators in a transparent, expeditious judicial setting.

Nothing short of a revolution could produce this kind of leaders, and it need not be bloody. Singapore proved that revolution could come through peaceful means if the man at the epicentre of the change is patriotic, focused, committed and willing to lay down his life for the vision of making his country a success story. Peo-

ple-power street protests toppled the authoritarian government of Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines. The Arab spring movement that began in Tunisia sacked the government of President Ben Ali with fewer deaths recorded than our terror war with Boko Haram.

Boko Haram senseless campaign cannot produce any positive change in its favour because it is a journey to nowhere that carries only its victims in an express train to perdition. Any struggle worth its while must be noble in its goal, able to address specific injustice in a way that advances the welfare of humanity. The key goals of Boko Haram, via eradication of Western education and the Islamization of Nigeria, are antithetical to our overall corporate objective as a nation. Taken as it is, it does not even serve their interest in any way.

What cannot be denied is that Boko Haram leaders are sure candidates of the International Criminal Court, because of their blind insensate campaign that kills children, women and other defenceless, innocent souls. Nevertheless, the peaceful engagement of this sect being canvassed by northern elders should be given a chance; maybe the waging of peace could end this war so that the war against corruption may begin in earnest. *Okotie, a pastor of Household of God, was the presidential candidate of Fresh Party of Nigeria in the 2011 p o l l s .

Email:okotie@revchrisokotie.com; follow on twitter@Revchrisokotie; 08078421451(sms only)

ICPC/NUC crackdown on illegal Varsities

BY SEYE ADESINA VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Fake institutions as manifestation of corruption in the polity

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HE Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Re lated Offences Commission (ICPC) and the National Universities Commission (NUC), in a collaborative effort, last week, closed down and physically sealed up the premises of 41 illegal universities operating in the country.

The exercise, which was simultaneously carried out in nine different zones nationwide, with the assistance of the police, the State Security Service (SSS) and the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), led to the arrest of some proprietors and top officials of the affected institutions.

Justifying the move, the Chairman of the ICPC, Mr Ekpo Nta, represented by Prof. Olu Aina, a member of the Board and Chairman of the ICPC/NUC Task Team, said the 41 institutions sealed up were those whose addresses were known out of a total of 67 unapproved universities offering unaccredited courses

discovered during a University System Study and Review(USSR) by the ICPC and the NUC. Nigerians are familiar with the issue, nay menace, of illegal universities or what many refer to as fake universities. The NUC has had a long running but unsuccessfull battle with the operators.

The failure of the NUC to stop or curb their activities has been attributed partly to its reliance on civil measures, such as directives. It lacked power to coercively enforce compliance with the law on establishment of universities.

The intervention of the ICPC and its collaboration with the NUC has brought a welcome fillip to the war against illegal universities. The new approach of physically closing down the affected institutions,siezing their properties and arresting their officials for possible prosecution will go a long way to deter actual and potential offenders.

The case against illegal universities and their operators is a very serious one because of the evil and danger they pose to the society and the development of the country. Succinctly articulated by the ICPC Chairman , it evokes national outrage and societal condemnation. He argues: “ These unaccredited institutions,apart from extorting huge sums of money from

Nigerians,are manned by unqualified personnel and operate in makeshift structures and poor environment that cannot qualify our youth both in learning and character for the award of recognised university degrees. ”Students of these institutions are not admitted through JAMB( Joint Admissions. and Matricu-

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VIEWPOINT

The crisis of illegal universities is to the education sector what advance fee fraud is to the business sector. It is perpetrated by dubious people with criminal intentions who are exploiting the system for what they can gain

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lation Board ), neither are they qualified or considered for the NYSC ( National Youth Service Corp ). As a result of these deficiencies, the so-called students of these illegal outfits are not

equipped for employment in the public or private sector. In the end, certificates obtained from such institutions become useless and the period of study becomes a monumemental waste of precious time.

Close watchers of the education sector believe that to find an enduring solution to this menace, the authorities should address the issue of abuse of establishment of satellite campuses of universities, which some traced as the root cause of the emergence of illegal tertiary institutions in the country. Government directives and sanctions in this regard must be diligently enforced.

The government also needs to take a look again at the rules, processes and stages of establishment of universities to see if there are loopholes being exploited by operators, in view of the claim by some illegal operators that they were given temporary approval and conditions to fulfil.

Nevertheless, such claims are untenable, inexcusable and fraudulent if the affected institutions have been awarding degrees and diplomas for years without meeting the conditions which should have qualified them to award such degrees.

Analysts also believe that parents have a crucial role to play in ridding the country of this menace. According to them, parents

who know that their wards are not qualified to gain admission into the standard public and private universities patronise the illegal ones in a bid to cut corners.

They are the type of parents who encourage their wards to engage in examination malpractice and even go t o the extent of arranging special centres in remote places to facilitate it.

Analysts of this school of thought agree with ICPC’s view that students of shut illegal universities did not deserve compensation; rather, they posit that parents in the records of such institutions, responsible for paying student fees, should be treated as accomplices aiding and abetting the crime.

The crisis of illegal universities is to the education sector what advance fee fraud is to the business sector. It is perpetrated by dubious people with criminal intentions who are exploiting the system for what they can gain. It is another manifestation of the hydra headed corruption monster in the polity.

The ICPC and the NUC should not allow sentiments by interested parties to sway their resolve on this matter. This war to sanitise the countriy’s tertiary education sector is one war they must win because of its importance to the future of the nation. *Adesina lives in Lagos.

PAGE 48 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

What Jonathan wants from the opposition, by Senator Ben Obi Senator Ben Ndi Obi, an Anambra high chief, was vice presidential candidate of the Action Congress (AC) in the 2007 presidential election won by Alhaji Umar Musa Yar ’Adua. He was later appointed by President Goodluck Jonathan as his Special Adviser on Inter-Party Affairs upon assumption of office. Since his appointment, Obi has preached the need for politicians to eschew party politics, especially after elections, and embrace national-interest politics, in order for the leader in power to successfully move the nation forward. To him, with sincere commitment and unwavering cooperation of all stakeholders, the current socio-economic imbalances and security challenges facing the country would become a thing of the past.

He spoke to Sunday Vanguard at his Abuja home. Excerpts:

Y

OUR major advocacy as President Goodluck Jonathan’s Special Adviser on InterParty Affairs concerns the need for leaders of all parties to join hands with President Goodluck Jonathan in the interest of the nation, setting aside party politics. How much of that would you say has yielded results?

I keep speaking to leaders of the opposition parties. I understand they are opposition parties and I understand their right to criticise and that there is nothing wrong to criticise the administration that is considered to have erred in one way or the other. Once the criticism is objective, it’s nothing wrong.

But I keep speaking to them that once elections have come and gone, we have to put our hands on deck to allow the ship to sail and berth safely in the interest of the country.

The reason is because the country itself is going through a lot of challenges and our peers have moved on from being under-developed nations. And these are the likes of India, Malaysia, Brazil and so on. In the 60s, Nigeria was ahead of them and the only way we can catch up with those countries is for us all to work as a united people. That doesn’t stop them from being opposition.

We must drop personal interest and put the national interest over and above any other institution. That is the only way I have seen that every country is developed.

That is the only way I have seen that people also create an atmosphere whereby

countries are built into nations.

And the other aspect that is, a task is of course, the aspect that all of us believe in, the Vision 20:2020. That was not created by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was established in the era of General Sani Abacha administration. And then, since we know that the other countries that are in the current 20 economies of the world are not going to remain static for the Nigerian nation to come and catch up with them, it becomes imperative that we do certain things right and work hard enough together to make this country to be able to attain that position.

So, you see, this is the reason for my call on all opposition parties to work hand-in-hand with the president for us to achieve our positions in the global arena that will begin to see us as a key player in the arena of the comity of nations.

The issue of national conference, recently, reared its head again with the Patriots insisting that there was no alternative for the

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BY BASHIR ADEFAKA

Senator Ben Ndi Obi....We must drop personal interest and put the national interest over and above any other institution.

Now that the talk is based on national conference involving ethnic nationalities; at the last meeting of the Patriots, that was discussed and it was part of the issues raised by the chairman of the

There is nothing wrong with a national conference; there is nothing wrong with a national dialogue; but a sovereign national conference is almost impossible because you cannot have two sovereignties

nation to move out of its present challenges except the president convenes the confere n c e .

You once expressed a position that once there was a National Assembly in place, it was within its constitutional responsibility to do so and not by anybody or group elsewhere. Taking a look at their fresh demand, what is your position now?

You see, what I said ab-initio was in reaction to the issue of the sovereign national conference. There is nothing wrong with a national conference; there is nothing wrong with a national dialogue; but a sovereign national conference is almost impossible because you cannot have two sovereignties. The moment you have an elected president, the vice president and the elected legislatures, it is difficult to begin to talk about sovereign national conference.

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Patriots, Prof.

Ben Nwabueze. He did say then that a forum would be established and the forum would meet with Mr. President and leaders of the National Assembly to programme the way the national conference would go.

That is the kind of thing dialogue can bring about. And I’m pretty certain that the president will definitely grant them audience and listen to them. I have not heard the president saying he’s against national conference. But it is the modality that it will take.

Since they now want to meet with Mr. President and leaders of the National Assembly, it’s a welcome development.

In his time, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo granted pardon to people like Mukoro, a member of the Major Gideon Okar group behind the 1990 coup, followed by the amnesty granted by Alhaji

Umaru Musa Yar ’Adua to Niger Delta militants when he came to power. Others like General Oladipo Diya, General Tajudeen Olanrewaju, the late General Abdulkarim Adisa, all military officers (now retired) from the Yoruba part of the country where the cries of marginalisation have thrived non-stop, were, until recently, on the line awaiting their own pardon. The pardon was recently announced but delay in the gazette is generating worries as it is not yet clear who and who are really on the pardon list, due to conflicting reports in the media. How long will it take Mr. President to conclude this?

Well, the issues of General Diya, General Olanrewaju and others that you have just mentioned were very sensitive matters. President Goodluck Jonathan, before going into all of such things, needed to do consultations.

Really, I’m not aware of what you are talking about, but knowing President Goodluck Jonathan, he would do some very big consultations before granting pardon to leaders of such calibre. Now, as you can see, he has done that. Since he has started it, he would finish as he is never known for starting something and not finishing it. The delay in gazetting does not mean he has stopped the process.

Now that the stage is set for such things to take place, it is going to be done to a logical end.

What is your general appraisal of security, infrastructure and other areas of development?

I can say that we are moving on slowly but surely. Yes, we

have faced a very serious challenge on security but it came to us as a completely new development.

Nigerians were not known to be involved in terrorism and suddenly we find ourselves neck-deep in it. Again we must congratulate our security agencies because, as I said, this is alien to us, but they have tried to live up to expectation by making sure that nothing has happened without them tracing… And then ever since it all started, security agents have been made now to take counter and anti-terrorism training and that has improved the skills of our men and women in the security agencies.

And we have to give some kudos to the agencies starting from the National Security Adviser (NSA).

On infrastructure, there has been general improvement on our roads and one must congratulate the Minister of Works for at least making the roads motorable from what they were some four, five years ago. More importantly is that the president himself has assured Nigerians that by 2014, we will report a remarkable change in the lives of Nigerians. And I believe he has the data of how things will be looked at. That is why it is also important, as I said earlier on, that we must all support him to be able to deliver on these things. Let us leave politics. We have one year plus to go into politics of 2015. So, let us use that one year plus that we have, maximisingly, cooperating with ourselves to get the best for our country and then, after that, the issue of politics can commence.

My candid advice is this: let us work hand-in-hand with Mr. President so that Nigerians will enjoy democracy he has promised them, not distract him. Some of these things you see are just distractions.

Mr. President is seen as a leader that does not witchhunt and so is careful to be hard on opposition, put sideby-side with some past regimes. Is it part of his political strategy to win the hearts of the opposition to support him ahead of time or it is just deliberate or natural of him?

Well, you cannot say it is a deliberate attempt. It is the character of Mr. President such that he believes that you can criticize his administration and then make suggestions and he asks for recommendation and the way forward and it will be considered. It’s just by nature that he accommodates. He’s a man who asks people to go around and who likes to consult. So, he’s not in any way doing so because he wants to woo the opposition. It’s characteristic of Mr. President that he does not witch-hunt. What he’s doing, he’s acting as executive president not as commander-in-chief whereby you have to use force to counter force.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 49

SWORD OF THE SPIRIT NECESSARY EVIL

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HERE is God when bad things happen? The psalmist says: “Our God is in heaven.”

(Psalm 115:3). He has always been in heaven and he will always be in heaven. Solomon says: “God is in heaven, and you on earth.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2). Over and over again, Jesus gives us the precise location of God. He is our Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:11).

God will not short-change us in the evil we have to face but will make sure we have just the right amount we need

Sinful love of life Heaven is the kingdom of God. In heaven, the will of God is always done.

On earth, it is not always done. God is not the ruler of this world. Dominion was given to man, but we surrendered it to the devil. According to Jesus, the devil is the ruler of this world.

(John 16:11). Therefore, this world is evil and bad things always happen on earth. Thus, Jesus warns his disciples: “In the world you will have tribulation. (John 16:33). This is inevitable because, while in the world, we are in the devil’s territory.

God hates the life we lead in this world. According to Jesus, life in this world is absolutely evil to God. We know this for sure because the Father only grants eternal life to those who hate the life in this world. Jesus says: “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25).

The person who loves the life in this world does so in opposition to God. All men are evil because we love life.

Jesus says: “ what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15). That which is most highly esteemed among men, which is abomination to God, is life in this world. This explains why the worst thing that can happen to a man is to die or be killed, and the worst injury man can inflict on an enemy is to kill him or her.

Living dead However, those not belonging to the kingdom of God are actually dead, as far as God is concerned. If you want to view the most graphic image of the Father's view of the world, carefully study Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. Where was the Father? He was not in the far country. The far country was to the Father the realm of the dead. The Prodigal Son died when he left the Father. He only rose from the dead when he returned. (Luke 15:24).

Jesus took the same position when one of his disciples sought permission to go and bury his father before following him. He said to him: “let the dead bury their own dead.” (Matthew 8:22). The dead are those not in the presence of the father. Can a dead man be killed? No; he is already dead.

How do you protect a dead man from death? You cannot; he is already dead.

The only protection you can give to a dead man is to raise him from the dead.

Therefore, Jesus offers no more and no less. The Father has one will that he has entrusted to his Son, Jesus.

That will of God is not the person we marry, or the job we do, or where we live. That singular will of God is that we should be resurrected from the dead.

Jesus says: “I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:3840).

Bread of life Jesus raises the dead back to life by bringing the kingdom of God down to earth. He draws men into the kingdom NOT by washing us in his blood (an entirely pagan construct), but by giving us his word; the bread of life.

Jesus says: “A time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25).

But even after we receive this new life, we remain in the domain of Satan. Jesus said to the Father concerning the redeemed: “I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one.” (John 17:15). Since we remain in enemy territory, the devil will not leave us alone. Therefore, “many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19).

However, the devil can do nothing to us without God’s permission unless we sin and break the hedge of protection he builds around us. Thus, God said to Satan concerning Job: “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” (Job 1:12). Jesus reveals that Satan even asked for God’s permission to tempt Peter. He said to him: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail.” (Luke 22: 31-32). Why would God grant permission to Satan to afflict his beloved?

Necessary evil In one of his hard sayings, Jesus reveals that evil is necessary in the life of his people. He says: “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34). But why would God allow and tolerate this? Why do the redeemed need trouble every day in this miserable world? We need trouble so that the power of Christ in deliverance and salvation may be revealed to us and in us. (John 9:1-3).

We need evil, in order to partake of God’s divine nature in overcoming it.

Indeed, the man who is not con-

fronted with evil is at a disadvantage and cannot develop into a perfect man. Therefore, God will not short-change us in the evil we have to face but will make sure we have just the right amount we need.

The evil that confronts a child of God is by God’s permission. Jesus said to those who came to arrest him: “You could have no power at all against me unless it had been given you from above.” (John 19:11).

God furnished the power and without his permission it could never have been done. Similarly, child of God, no one can hurt you, rob you, jilt you, injure you or abuse you without God’s permission.

It is God himself, and not the enemy, that sets good and evil before us.

(Deuteronomy 30:19).

He does this, not for our injury, but for our benefit. To be overcomers like Jesus, we must overcome this evil world. (Revelation 21:7). Evil constitutes mere hurdles in our way in the steeplechase race of life. When the race is run and the books are tallied, we will then fully understand God’s grand design and know that he allowed evil for noble reasons. Thereafter, all evil will be abolished.

ANSWER THE INVITATION My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.” And my heart responds, Lord I am coming (Psalm 27:8, NLT).

There is a glorious invitation coming to you. God is asking you to come and seek His face. It may be for one hour, one day, three days or more. He wants you to come aside from your busy schedule and spend some time alone with Him. He wants to speak to you. He wants to give you direction. He wants to sort out some critical issues in your life. It is time to seek the face of the Lord (Hosea 10:12).

When God invites us to seek His face like this, it is for our good. It is either there is a disaster coming that He wants to avert, or there is a critical destiny direction He wants to give, or He wants to release a special blessing. Whatever it is, the invitation is for your good. If you answer, you will be blessed, if you refuse, you will miss something major. Your life may depend on it (Isaiah 45:19).

When a man answers this kind of invitation from God, he returns as a changed man, loaded with the blessings of God, with his face shinning bright. That was the experience of Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John when they were on the mount with Christ (Exodus 34:29-30).

Don’t be too busy for this invitation. You cannot do more than pray until you have prayed. It has been said by a man of God that when man works, man works but when man prays, God works. By answering this invitation, you put yourself in a position for God to work for you and in your behalf.

And the difference will be very clear for all to see (Isaiah 64:4).

Therefore, without any hesitation, answer the call of God. He is waiting for you.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3).

RCCG extends CSR to 255 LGs, says Odesola

T

HE Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) says it has impacted over 255 local government areas in the country through its annual corporate social responsibility programmes, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. Special Assistant to the General Overseer on Administration and Personnel and the Pastor-incharge of the Headquarter church, Pastor Johnson Odesola made this known while briefing journalists, at the RCCG national headquarters in Ebute-Metta, Lagos.

Odesola revealed that the sum of N433.3 million has been spent on numerous social responsibility, adding that the church have gone be-

yond spirituality to impacting on the society in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility with a view to giving relief to the underprivileged.

Enumerating some of the church's achievements, the cleric said between August 2012 and May this year RCCG procured free drugs, free glasses for those with eye problems, care-giver for people living with HIV including their drugs, provision of toilets, libraries, classrooms, digging boreholes, providing books for both primary and tertiary institutions across the country, among others.

In his words: “About a year ago, the church in her determination to reach the less privileged

across the country, made a move to select senior pastors as well as assistant provincial pastors to be in charge of Corporate Social Responsibility both in rural and urban areas.

"We have been able to cover a lot of places including Jigawa, Bidda, Katsina, Taraba, Maiduguri and impacted on state schools according to the Lord’s command to freely give.

“Our scholarship scheme with an annual budget of between N150 to N200 million is free for anyone to apply, provided the candidate sits for the qualifying examination and comes out successfully which is to ensure that scholarships are given to those who are qualified," he added.

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 19 19, 2013

chimeena@yahoo.com 08056180157

Intrigues, politics in Achebe’s burial

From left— President John Mahama of Ghana, President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State at the burial.

I

T would have been diffi cult if the burial of Chinua Achebe had passed without any controversy.

Apart from the fact that the dust his autobiography, There was a Country raised was yet to settle, the announcement of his death started another round of controversy.

The first controversy that came out was when the renowned author was announced dead last March.

Argument began to rage in several cultural, literary and political circles on the kind of burial Achebe would have.

While some said it would be traditional burial, another group said it would be Christian while another said Achebe was an atheist.

All had their reasons.

Achebe in his novels, especially those set in pre colonial and colonial Nigeria accused both Christianity and colonialism as being responsible for Africa’s woes. But then Achebe had neither been seen in a church, neither had he been seen in the traditional setting.

This made some others say he was an atheist.

But those who said he would be buried as a Christian had noted that Achebe in 1999 after the Odenigbo lecture, which he delivered at the Assumpta Catholic Church, Owerri, Achebe’s family was at the church for a thanksgiving. They also pointed out Achebe’s strong Christian background as reason to argue that Achebe never left Chris-

tianity even though he did not make his Christianity public. Bishop Ikechi Nwosu of Aba Diocese, who gave the funeral sermon in Ogidi also pointed out this fact that he had a strong Christian background.

The controversy was laid to rest by the family who in a letter signed by the duo of Ike and Chidi to the media, said Achebe would be buried as a Christian by the Anglican Church.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was to lead the international committee.

The family also queried the meaning of traditional burial.

Even the duo could not quell the controversy as they failed to say whether it was Achebe’s wish to be buried as a Christian forcing the traditional elders in Ogidi and the Christians there to struggle for the burial of Achebe. Both groups wanted to bury the writer. Achebe was a titled chief in Ogidi.

Primate of the Anglican Church, Most Rt. Rev. Nicholas Okoh, had told a gathering at the Commendation service for Achebe in Abuja on Sunday, May 19, that the conflict Achebe narrated in his novels were now happening to him. Achebe, especially in those novels set in pre colonial and colonial Nigeria, reported about the conflict between modernity and traditional Nigeria, Okoh said. Okoh in his sermon reported that to underscore the conflicts also happening to Achebe, said the Christians and traditionalists in Ogidi were fighting who would bury the writer. The struggle, he went on, reflected the conflicts in Achebe’s novels and that those things he wrote

were now happening to him.

The argument was to come up again the next day, Monday 20 at the Festival of Life, Times and works of Chinua Achebe: Lessons for Nigeria at the International Conference Centre, Abuja. The symposium, put together by the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) brought eggheads from many parts of the world to discuss the topic. The keynote address was given by Prof. Umelo Ojinma. Ojinma whose voice is like that of Achebe, in his lecture, said Achebe wrote the truth, and that in There was a country, Achebe wrote to avoid

,

BY MCPHILIPS NW ACHUKWU & NWA UDUMA KAL U KALU TRIB UTE TRIBUTE

there was need for the book.

Ofeimun, he went on, while rejecting the book by defending his boss, Chief Obafemi Awolowo due to some comments on Awolowo in the book

by Achebe, ended up supporting Achebe’s The trouble with Nigeria. Ofeimun had said that Awolowo was saved in the west by his good leadership prowess, a point The trouble with Nigeria made which Ofeimun had denied.

Reactions which followed after the lecture were equally controversial. While Prof. Olu Obafemi had defended Ofeimun, Prof. Chimalum Nwankwo said Nigerians were quick to jump into an argument based on ethnic and tribal sentiments without all the facts.

Ofeimun, he said, writes brilliant things but he also ends up confusing everybody in his essay. He noted the cat and mouse game between writers and government, saying Achebe was also accused of planning coup because his new novel in 1966 predicted the coup by the military regime.

Nwankwo then returned to the controversy surrounding Achebe’s burial, pointing out the dualism that controls Achebe’s vision. At an Enugu literary tributes for Achebe, Nwankwo said he had asked a relation of Achebe whether the writer said he would be buried as a Christian. The man was blunt but ended up saying they heard from the wife, Nwankwo said.

Nwankwo therefore said it was quite characteristic for

All sorts of politicians used the Achebe burial to showcase themselves, yet Achebe was against politicians. Being an election period in Anambra, some aspirants used the burial to make some political statements

the pitfalls of forgetting as stated in the book. Nigeria, he went on, were used to forgetting a problem while the issue persists and so go about making the same mistakes.

Ojinma upbraided the former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon and the poet, Odia Ofeimun. Gowon, he said responded on the autobiography by saying that Achebe wrote as one who did not participate in the civil war, and that he himself would write the true account of the war.

Ojinma said if Gowon would say such a thing to somebody like Achebe who was actively involved in the civil war, then

,

Achebe to leave such matters open, showing the dualism of Achebe.

The controversy began to take a more serious dimension the next day which indeed led to the sacking of the Nwala led National Transitional Committee, NTC, the next day at the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport, Abuja.

That all was not well in the committee was noticed at the Christian centre. In fact, it was Okoh who first pointed it out.

Okoh had noticed the sparse number of people that graced the sermon and wondered why it was so. Nwala, in his response, had said that the mis-

take would be corrected. Information gathered said it was due to poor publicity that only few people attended the service.

By the next day, Monday May 20, while receiving the body of the late literary icon, Iwuala was said not have been sacked right at the airport owing to what a source said was due to an argument he had with members of the Achebe family.

It was said that committee members had been having arguments. The argument began because a member of the committee allegedly used the committee money to pay his one year- office rent to the tune of N1m. This had angered the family and another member was allegedly added to the group. The man was said to have become a thorn in the flesh of the committee as he cut down most of the things the members added to fleece it.

All this, it was said, had led to a frosty relationship between the committee and the family, leading to dissolution of the committee by the family that Monday at the airport in Abuja.

It was therefore not surprising that Iwuala did no say anything at Awka during the state reception for Achebe last Wednesday. His committee, it was learnt, expired in Abuja.

A new committee was in charge in Anambra set up by the state government. Iwuala had his seat at Awka, alright but was quiet all through the event. Even in Ogidi, he was not mentioned, though he attended the funeral service.

One other discernible thing at the funeral was the insistence of the African culture to be present at the funeral. For example, the Ohafia war dance troupe, in spite of having no space to perform, made itself present at the gate of the Anglican church in the home of Achebe, showing the rich culture of the Igbo to the world. It was the same in Awka during the reception.

The insistence of the Atu dance masquerade of Ogidi was intense and when the dancers took over the space, it was spectacular. Culture was present and full, even when the church tried to obscure it.

Yet, it was also political. All sorts of politicians used the Achebe burial to showcase themselves, yet Achebe was against politicians. Being an election period in Anambra, some aspirants used the burial to make some political statements. Some printed posters, condoling or celebrating the icon but under their political banners and different political parties such as PDP, APGA, APC.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 51

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PAGE 52 — SUND AY V ANGU ARD , MA Y, 26, 2013 MAY SUNDA VANGU ANGUARD

H

Love

i, few things in life can cause us to experience such a broad range of emotions, from the floating in air feeling of being in love for the very first time to the pain and agony of our most recent broken heart. In between, somewhere we find the love we not only can live with, but want to live for. Cheers!

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013, PAGE 53

P

OPULARITY must be fun; popular people seem to have a natural flair for getting liked. People want to be around them, things seem to come easily to them and it can look like they have a charmed life. Now we shouldn't compare being known or even famous to being popular; one is just recognizability while the other combines recognizability with affection and even common affinity.

Popular people have one thing in common; they all look and feel familiar; you think you know them; something about them is so familiar that you quickly let your guard down. They make friends easily and get along with all creatures; its a feat I sometimes admire. Not being a popular person has made me a curious observer/admirer of those who are.

One would think popular people would be wildly successful! After all they are the life and soul of every party/gath-

C M Y K

ering. They are those who show the greatest potentials with great leadership skill as youngsters so it never fails to amaze me that they never amount to much when it really counts. They don't seat on the boardrooms and are hardly on the Fortune 500, they often find their glory days passed when the partying was loudest.

The sad reality is that being popular and liked is not a recipe for success.

A certain amount of ruthlessness mixed with ambition and a large dose of hunger won't make anyone popular but 9 times out of 10 it will bring some level of success. Nice guys sometimes don't come first because they are not willing to push anyone or step on anyone to get ahead. The richest under thirty in the world didn't think anything of perfecting his friend's ideas and cutting them out of the company to make

Facebook a global phenomenon.

Lately I came across someone who used to be the life and soul of every gathering back in the day. He was from an illustrious family and lived like a king when we were in school. In those days having a car made you royalty as no party was complete without him and his particular set of friends. I couldn't find any reasonable explanation for his lacklustre life considering he had been born with a formidable platform to launch from and I spent a long time thinking about him and wondering what was responsible. He is not the only such person I know, and as a parent I wonder at what point we enable our children to grow up into adults who can't be successful later on in life. A majority of the popular children I knew earlier on in life were from comfortable and even very rich homes.

They had things and ad-

,

Mr Popularity

vantages the rest of us didn't dare dream of.

They travelled to exotic places and we all flocked around them trying to feel like we belonged.

Most of them were quite nice and I remember visiting some homes that left me gasping in awe.

Their parents had the right connections and they should have been successful but a great percentage of them are not. I am beginning to wonder whether making our children too comfortable by giving them the best of everything is ac-

watered by opportunism.

You are only as popular as your entertainment value. People will flock around you if there is something to gain and while that is fine as a young person, they will flock away as adults when the business of reality and survival begins.

A recent edition of Time magazine describes the young generation as narcissists, fascists and entitled. Please permit me to add opportunists.

They are the "Me, Me and Me" generation.

Popular people often find themselves making sacrifices to maintain loyalty. It's all about perception and they can't stand for anything lest they lose the perceived adoration of their admirers

tually setting them up to fail.

So back to popularity!

What does it really mean to be popular? Why do people flock around you and why would you be singled out for affection by a majority? Nothing goes for nothing and if truth be told everyone wants something. If it is not material, it will be emotional or even physical. Popularity is a seed

,

They remind me of those entitled and popular children who have now failed as adults. They want the best, most expensive and latest of everything; they just aren't willing to wait or work for it. They will live off their parents at home for as long as they can and even when they move out their parents are the free supermarkets and ATMs they use with abandon.

Like the popular kids of my youth, they are obsessed with perception.

They desire all the trappings of success and want to drive the cars their fathers drove at 50 in their 20s! The tragedy of it is in the numbers.

When I was growing up, comfortable kids were the minority but with the reemergence of a formidable middle and upper class, the entitled kids are the majority. Parents are working their fingers to the bones to provide the creature comforts of what Time calls the narcissistic, opportunistic and popular generation.

Popular people often find themselves making sacrifices to maintain loyalty. It's all about perception and they can't stand for anything lest they lose the perceived adoration of their admirers.

Successful people on the other hand know the value of discipline and sacrifice, they know that life is not a partying 100 metres sprint but a marathon that takes sweat, blood and time. We all should take a look at our offsprings, the Facebook generation who spend their time uploading pictures on the Internet, enjoying the sweat of their parents and generally loafing. They will find out soon enough that life is not a popularity contest; after all, their parents won't live forever.

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PAGE 54 — SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

Secrets of Delta State’s leadership in sports – Pinnick A

MAJU Melvin Pinnick, chairman of the Delta State Sports Commission, here spoke with ISAAC OLAMIKAN on the secret behind the string of successes the state has achieved in recent National Sports Festivals and other issues. Excerpts:

Why Delta is dominating National Sports Festivals This can be attributed to two factors namely predisposing and facilitating factors. The predisposing factor is the vision of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan in establishing the state’s sports commission which is the super structure for sustainable sports development.

In 2007 when he sent names of commissioner nominees to the state House of Assembly for consideration he did not include the name of anybody for the sports ministry. Instead he sent a bill to establish the Delta State Sports Commission in line with national thinking. I call that a predisposing factor because the structure that we have not only been developmental but futuristic. The structure is all embracing.

It makes provision for the creation of a platform in the commission for sportsmen who are aging to be replaced by younger ones who are being groomed. So, there is no vacuum. The other factor is the facilitating factor whereby we do strategic planning and prompt release of funds for all our programmes. We do not let lack of funds or bureaucratic bottlenecks to hinder our resolve to maintain the top position in sports. In all these we praise the vision of Governor Uduaghan for sustainable sports development.

We do not poach, rather sportsmen come to the state on their own volition. I hate the word poaching because in this

•Okagbare

•Gov. Uduaghan time and age there is what is called free movement of sportsmen. For example, an athlete wins a gold medal for a state and he gets N50,000 as his reward.

If that athlete knows that if he had won the gold medal for Delta State he would be given N1,000,000 which state do you think he would prefer? We have a department that takes care of our athletes welfare as far as their home town. An athlete who knows that winning a gold medal makes him to get N1,000,000 and automatic employment as his reward will be proud to wear the colours of the state that offers him such an opportunity.

What we have done in Delta State is to create a comfort zone.

It doesn’t prevent us from doing the needful. I can tell you that close to 90 percent of our medalists at the recent National Sports Festivals were home grown talents.

To me, poaching is a made up word just to paint our achievements in a negative manner. We do not poach athletes they come to us. We came back from the last National Sports Festival and before Christmas most of our athletes were smiling home with millions of naira. Kingsley Forcados that got nine gold medals in swimming got N9million as reward.

Team Delta captain, Faith, that won six gold medals got N6million reward from the state government. She built a house in Obiaruku with the money she realized from the last two National Sports Festivals. That

is in line with the human capital development of the three point plan of the Uduaghan administration. If you look at the global scene, Philip Idowu, a Nigerian, is competing for Great Britain even Daniel Igali that we’re celebrating today competed for Canada. These countries provided platforms for the athletes.

Apart from these things we have put in place to better the living standards of our athletes, we also ensure provision of quality facilities. Athletes need quality facilities to perform. So, if you look at all these factors where is the poaching of athletes that some people talk about come in? The girl that won silver medal for Lagos State in the last sports festival is from Delta State but we are not complaining.

Her parents live in Lagos. We have an Itsekiri man in charge of youth development in Cross River State. That is his comfort zone and we are happy for him.

I share a robust relationship with him.

People look for greener pastures; that is the reason they move around. Otherwise, Warri Wolves FC would have been filled with Warri people; Enyimba FC would have been filled by Aba people etc. In sports, we try as much as possible to eliminate all kinds of boundaries.

The Mba saga Rangers are playing pranks on Agbim, Mba issue. Rangers have been playing a very funny game. In Agbim’s case, we understood they had a

goalkeeper that was injured and thus we decided to let them have Agbim. We did a documentation which was supervised by the General Secretary of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Barrister Musa Amadu. We demanded N15million but after intense negotiating we agreed to take N8million and inserted a clause that we’ll be entitled to 30 percent of any future deals on him. That deal was in the last week of last month (April) and they pledged to pay us before May 15. Today is May 14 and they are yet to pay us.

The management of Warri Wolves has been instructed to withdraw Agbim’s license.

Some people may want to whip up sentiments for Rangers because it is an old team. Some may even want to whip up sentiments for the players because they are national team players.

But to me, one day heroism is not a reason for impunity or going against what the statute says. We released the players to Rangers because of national interest. In the football statute, there is no word like national interest. Rules and regulations must be followed to the letter.

In Mba’s case our consultant is discussing with them. We have two very important letters – one from the football federation saying that he is our player and a letter from the League Management Committee (LMC) saying the same thing.

We have respected the NFF who mediated in the matter and gave a ruling in our favour. But Rangers are dilly-dallying.

For instance, before the AFCON 2013, Rangers had written to us demanding for these players but we responded that for Mba we’ll collect N12million while for Agbim we demanded N15million. That is the letter they have been brandishing that “Warri Wolves have agreed to take N12million for Mba.” They are just being mischievous. That letter that has been overtaken by events; that letter that they did not even

tender in the course of the investigation into the case.

When I pointed out the date on the letter to the NFF they were appalled at the kind of game Rangers are playing. Mba’s value before the Nations Cup is different from his value after the Nations Cup. When Thierry Henry went to Arsenal he cost them just 500,000 euros but he was sold for 22million pounds. So, Mba’s value yesterday is not his value today. We are not go to accept peanuts. We know ultimately that Mba is being prepared for overseas. They have secured a club for him. Warri Wolves as the rightful owner of the player will benefit totally from that deal. The essence of the club is not for social services but to make money.

ULO deal The ULO deal is not new. It actually started last year. The sponsor was impressed with Warri Wolves achievements last season and thus he decided to sponsor the club. In terms of state sponsorship, it is presently the biggest deal. Delta State has the best sporting facilities In all modesty, I don’t think there is any state that has the kind of sporting facilities that abound in Delta State. We have municipal stadia in all the local government areas. We have three gigantic stadia that can host any kind of sports event. The Asaba Stadium called the Stephen Keshi Stadium will be commissioned before December.

There are two world class swimming pools being constructed. One will be ready in June. We’ll commission it with the Chief of Naval Staff swimming competition. Next year we’ll commission the Asaba Swimming pool.

The state benefitted immensely from hosting of African Youth Athletics Championships, AYAC. The AYAC was a Confederation of Africa Athletics, CAA project. About 40 percent of those that took part in the championship were from Delta State.

Mikel reaffirms readiness for Kenya, Confed Cup

S

UPER Eagles midfielder, John Mikel Obi reaffirmed his commitment to the team with an assurance to his coaches and the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF that he will be available for the crucial national assignments that lie ahead.

This is coming on the heels of his appeal to be left out of the friendly against Mexico in the United States while raising a few eyebrows over his involvement

in the friendly game between his Chelsea side and Manchester City in the same US. As a mark of his assurance to be available for the World Cup qualifier against Kenya and Namibia as well as the Confederations Cup in Brazil next month, Mikel reportedly told the Eagles’ team secretary, Enebi Achor that he would be at the Brazil Embassy in London tomorrow for his visa.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, MAY 26, 2013 — PAGE 55

Politics of Sports Development: When journalists are no longer stakeholders

BY SADIQ ABDULLAHI

T

HERE has never been a more opportune time for the Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi and the newly appointed DirectorGeneral, Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye to clarify the vision and mission of the National Sports Commission (NSC) as sports federation boards settle to develop a comprehensive development plan and source for funding. There is no better time for sports stakeholders to unite for change in the sports sector to protect the integrity of the sports industry. Patrick Omor-odion’s piece “When journalists are no longer stakeholders” offers the opportunity to write about the politics of sports development

within the context of the recent National Sports Federation elections.

The path to sports development in Nigeria has always been rough, nasty and long, but as the nation wrestles with the new policy direction and the Abdullahi’s directives, all sports stakeholders including the press corps have to work together to avert the failure of not winning a medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

The Federal Government through the NSC has made its intentions clear. This is another strong attempt to reform a sector plagued with big challenges, issues, and problems. There is the need to not only be inclusive but to create and support an environment in which there will be increased mass participation, sports infra-

structural development, drive for sports excellence, and a well-coordinated program that supports athletes’ development and progression to high performance. Omorodion described how politics in the Nigerian Basketball Federation played. Raw politics returned individuals to various boards such as the Nigerian Tennis Federation, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, and the Handball Federation etc. A case in point, Omorodion writes, “ while outside they argued while real stakeholders like retired Col. Sam Amedu were left out of the board, a common journalist was nominated.”

Law suits, allegations and claims will be longed. Col. Ahmedu’s case is good example of fairness, access, and

Make Rio 2016 preparation top priority — Owoseni tells Elegbeleye

BY EDDIE AKALONU

F

ORMER Nigeria Tennis Federation, NTF, vice president Yemi Owoseni has urged Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye, the new Director-General of the National Sports Commission, NSC to make preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games a priority as he settles down.

He said that the new helmsman must immediately put in place, not just the modalities for Nigeria’s participation in Rio2016, but also the strategies for athletes and coaches’ development with a view to doing well in the Games. “Hon. E l e g b e - l e y e s antecedents of having worked in various sports committees are a plus for the sector, but I would enjoin him to try to involve a strong sports policy that will foster rapid development of all sports in a way that national federations would be more functional and more result oriented and responsive to the yearnings of Nigerians for higher performance.

He should also concentrate on grassroots sports development because it is the basis of sports growth in any country of the world,” he said in an interview.

Owoseni, who is also the Confederation of African Tennis (CAT) Zone Two Vice President expressed confidence that the new D.G would

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equality. It is fine to say that “I want him (Ahmed) to know that there is always another time and that time could be his to mount the saddle.) We should endeavor to fight for justice and for what is right now and not wait another four years.

Minister Bolaji Abdullahi, in my assessment, has done well. If the NSC hopes to assist the

bring his wealth of experience to bear in the discharge of his duty. “ Hon. Elegbeleye is a well known face in the sports sector, being the former chairman of Ondo State Table Tennis Association at which level he contributed his quota towards the development of the game in the State besides being also Permanent Secretary, Ekiti State Civil Service

Commission.

He has come at a more pressing time that there is an urgent need to properly coordinate Nigeria’s participation at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and one only hopes the D.G would see that all the National Sports Federations are well coordinated and put in the right frame for challenges ahead,” he said.

one individual. The future of the develop-ment and growth of sports in Nigeria requires innovative and creative thinking, and a bold and fearless leadership and the willingness to go beyond the status quo. Minister Abdullahi is running the second leg of a 4 by 100 meters very well and if he maintains the pace, Nigeria should do well going forward.

Football: Ogwashi-Uku Union congratulates school Nwakunor, a distinguish

T

HE Ogwashi-Uku Youth Development Union, Lagos Branch has congratulated Comprehensive Secondary School, Ogwashi-Uku for its efforts in the on-going Governor’s Cup Competition for Secondary Schools in Delta State.

The Union, under the leadership of Mr Henry

sports philanthropist who has always been offering material, financial and moral support to the school, said in a statement that, “We are also proud that you represented Delta State at the recently concluded NNPC/ Shell Cup all Nigeria Secondary School Football Championship.

Most especially, the Union congratulates you on your semi-final victory against Adjekuta Secondary School played at the Agbor Township Stadium. This amazing performance of yours should serve as a morale booster as you approach the Warri Township Stadium on Tuesday for the Final.''

Afrobasket men’s camp opens as NBBF reappoints Bakare

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POWER LEAP... Nigerian Triple jumper, Tosin Oke taking a leap at the London 2012 Olympics where he placed 7th with 16.95m. Yemi Owoseni has called on the new DG of the NSC to make preparation for the Rio Olympics a top priority so that Team Nigeria could excel.

33 or so National Sports Federations to reposition themselves, this is time to go for it. We are in the tie-breaker of true transformation of the sports sector. The focus now should shift to our preparation for the All African Games, Commonwealth Games, and the Rio Olympics, because the interest of the nation is greater and bigger than the interest of

HE Nigeria Basket ball Federation announced yesterday that training camp for Afrobasket men will open in Abuja today, May 26th through Thursday May 30th where 12 players from the home league will sweat it out for inclusion in subsequent camps, invitational tournaments and ultimately in the team to Abidjan in August.

Meanwhile, the federation also yesterday reappointed Coach Ayo Bakare to head the team’s coaching staff to build on the success of the programme since 2011 and ensure the sustainable growth of the team into a winning unit. The Olympic team’s assistant coach, Sani Ahmed was also returned and Union Bank coach and ex- national captain, Ayinla Johnson returned to the senior team staff after his departure in 2005/2006 when he assisted Coach Sam Vincent.

Two young coaches, Abdulrahman Mohammed of Abuja team, Mark Mentors and Ogoh Odaudu of Portharcourtbased Royal Hoopers were added to the coaching staff as a deliberate succession plan and to ensure that they grow with the program and

take over at the appropriate time.The federation hinted that it is considering an essential addition to the coaching staff with expertise in strength and conditioning and or statistics.

The coaching staff for the Afrobasket women’s team was also announced. The crew will be headed by veteran Coach Scott Nnaji who was head coach when Nigeria won the Afrobasket in 2005 in Abuja and was an assistant at Mali 2011.

He is to be assisted by Coaches Lateef Erinfolami of First Deepwater and Adewunmi Aderemi of First Bank. The staff

also includes Coach Emmanuel Odah of FCT Angels and a female coach to be determined and announced later, who, together will form the succession pair for the future survival and success of the team.

The federation explained that the home-based staff were selected in anticipation of the impending fiba change of calendar and competition format from 2017 which entails playing home and away for continental, world and Olympic qualifiers and therefore requires a unit that is easily mobilized and can stick together over long periods of time.

CATCHING THEM YOUNG... Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Joe Erico addressing a section of young footballers at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin during MTN Football Scholar Season 3 trials there on Tuesday.

SUNDAY Vanguard, MAY 26, 2013

Get athletics organised, Okon tasks new AFN board

F

BY BEN EFE ORMER sprinter, Gabriel Okon has

told the new board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN to take a

Battle of Kasarani: Mikel’s form excites Keshi S

UPER Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi heaved a sigh of relief at seeing key midfielder, John Obi Mikel make an impact with Chelsea during their friendly outing against Manchester City in the USA on Thursday.

Mikel who wanted to be left out of Nigeria’s friendly against Mexico on May 31 was nursing a hip injury and that was a source of worry for Keshi who is facing a tough task on June 5 in Nairobi, Kenya where he must beat the Harambee Stars to stay in contention for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

“It is interesting seeing him in action. We need all our players to be fit for the task ahead,” said the coach after training with the Eagles in Germany were they are camped for Mexico friendly and the crucial World Cup qualifier against Kenya.

Mikel was on for all 90 minutes for the Europa Cup champions who surrendered a 2-0 lead and fell 4-3 to City. He was playing for the first time after a hip injury that kept him out of the last three weeks of the 2012/13 season. He was

progressive look at how the sport could be best organised to meet international standards.

Okon, who is based in California, USA but comes home to help in technical matters stated that it was important that the AFN steps away from the path of chaos, so that the sport will be appealing to Nigerians and prospective sponsors.

“The way we have been doing things are very frustrating for everyone, the athletes, coaches and even administrators,” said Okon.

He urged the AFN to address issues concerning the athletes in the most professional manner so that there will be harmony in the federation.

“For instance, during our trials there should be a proper coordination.

All athletes should be given the appropriate accommodation and they should all stay in the same place.

“And also there should be criteria for training grants.

Everything should be printed out before the season begins so there will no favoritism and biased selection. “ I wasdoing it for Amos Adamu. It was all printed out in black and white,” said Okon.

Mikel reaffirms readiness for Eagles — P.54 KINGS OF EUROPE....Bayern Munich’s Dutch midfielder Arjen Robben (L) celebrates scoring Bayern’s second and winning goal with Bayern Munich’s German midfielder Thomas Mueller (R) during the UEFA Champions League final football match between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium in London yesterday. AFP PHOTO paired in central midfield

by Chelsea U-18 player, Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Mikel was a major factor in the Eagles success

CROSS WORD PUZZLE

at the 2013 Nations Cup in South Africa. Keshi had doubted his availability for the match against Kenya, but his

outing with Chelsea in their two-game friendlies against City gave the Eagles coach reason to believe that he will

ACROSS 1.Nigerian state (4) 3. Niger-Delta tribe (8) 6. W. African country (5) 8. Wind instrument (4) 9. Vast (8) 11. Meadow (3) 12. Smallest part (4) 13. Unemployed (4) 14. Have ambition (6) 16. Attachment (5) 18. Spy (5) 20. Hangs around (7) 22. Irritate jokingly (5) 24. Nigerian state (5) 26. U.S. currency unit (4) 29. Insects (4) 30. Orb (4) 31. Sailor (3) 32. Hoped for (8) 33. Smooth (4) 34. Tox (5) 35. Sun-measuring equipments (8) 36. Consolidates (4)

DOWN 1. Nigerian state (7) 2. Middle Belt tribe (5) 3. Nigerian tribe (6) 4. Distending (7) 5. Examine (7) 7. Stockpile (5) 10. Seize with teeth (4) 14. Engine part (4) 15. Cereal (3) 17. No (Scottish) (3) 18. Enquires (4) 19. Pen tip (3) 21. Maiden name (3) 22. Businessmen (7) 23. Hang (7) 25. Isles (7) 26. U.S. currency unit (4) 27. Sportswear firm (6) 28. Go in (5) 30. Makes beer (5)

present a solid team against Kenya.

RESULT Bayern Munich

2

B. Dortmund

1

TODAY’S FIXTURES SPAIN

SOLUTION on page 15

Real Sociedad Espanyol Athletic Bilbao Atletico Madrid Getafe Malaga Osasuna Real Betis v Real Valladolid Valencia

v v v v v v v

Real Madrid Barcelona Levante Mallorca Rayo Deportivo Sevilla Real Celta Vigo Granada

7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m 7 p.m

v v

Lorient Lyon Marseille Toulouse Valenciennes AC Ajaccio Bastia Bordeaux Brest Lille

FRANCE v PSG 8 p.m v Stade 8 p.m v Stade de Reims 8 p.m v Montpellier 8 p.m v Troyes 8 p.m v Nice 8 p.m v Sochaux 8 p.m v Evian Gaillard 8 p.m v AS Nancy 8 p.m v St Etienne 8 p.m

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