Tension in NNPC over $13.35bn oil project

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Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi; with visiting Consul General, Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Walter Von Den Driesch, during a business dinner with the Governor, in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti Sate.

From right: Vice President Namadi Sambo; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Niger Delta Power Holding Company, Mr. James Olotu and Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power Reform, Mr. O.S. Egberongbe during Vice President’s meeting with Nigerian Independent Power Project contractors at the Presidential villa in Abuja yesterday.

Crude oil theft: JTF seizes three vessels, destroys 362 illegal refineries

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

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HE Joint Task Force, JTF, code named Operation Pulo Shield, yesterday, launched an operation along the creeks and waterways of Delta and Bayelsa states, leading to the seizure of three vessels and destruction of 362 illegal refineries.

The operation was carried out simultaneously in the Kolokolo, Bisigo, Igbomatoru, Sagana areas of the two states.

Also raided by the men of the JTF were the Ogbokodo creek and the Ugbokolo area of Delta State.

Many of the indigenes of the area panicked at the sight of armed soldiers and heavy gun boats, but were assured by the soldiers of their safety.

The spokesperson for the JTF in the region, Lt. Col. Oyeama Nwachukwu, said the action was new as it is part of the strategy of the newly deployed commander, Major General Bata Debiro.

“The operation led to the destruction of 362 illegal oil cooking ovens usually referred to as local refineries in Kolokolo area and Bisigbo in

Warri South Local Government Area of Delta State; Igbomatoru, in Ijaw South Local Government and Sangana in Bayelsa State,”Nwachukwu stated. ”Three vessels and seven barges engaged in oil theft were also scuttled by troops of the JTF in Opobo River, Bonny Local Government of Rivers State and Tomkiri in Brass Local Government of Bayelsa state.” ”The operation also led to the scuttling of 75 wooden boats (Cotonu boats) conveying illegally siphoned

petroleum products at Ogbokodo creek and Ugbokolo areas of Warri South West of Delta state. 175 suspects were arrested in the operation and handed over to prosecuting agencies for litigation.”

The JTF spokesman also noted that the new commander of the JTF, Debiro, had unfolded his strategy to stamp out illegal oil bunkering in the Niger Delta. ”The new commander averred that he would be highly mobile and fluid in the fight against illegal oil bunkering. He stated that sitting like a lame

duck in the office is not his approach and had already embarked on an appraisal tour of troops’ deployments including Naval Forward Operational Bases (FOB) in Brass, Bonny, and Escravos.

The tour also took him to Nigerian Navy Ship Delta in Warri, and to amphibious troops of 3 and 146 Battalions and 343 Regiment of Nigerian Army deployed in Warri, Bonny Island and Nembe respectively,”he said. ”The commander of the multiagency security outfit, while on courtesy visit to military

formation commanders, security agencies and traditional rulers’ council in Bayelsa State Capital, Yenagoa during the week, General Debiro stated, unequivocally, that his mission is portrayed in the four-word directive of President Goodluck Jonathan to the task force to ‘STOP ILLEGAL OIL BUNKERING’.

“Nigeria is the only country where people engage in oil theft with the connivance of our country men and we must put an end to it”.

Tension in NNPC over $13.35 oil project Continued from page 1 that there was the need to realign the faulty Floating Production, Storage and Offloading, FPSO, bid evaluation process and award of the contract to the actual lowest, most competitive bidder in line with the original contracting strategy and due process requirement.

The NNPC GEC also touts

SOLUTION

Samsung’s $3.3 billion bid for the Egina FPSO as the lowest bid, whereas the bid submitted

by Hyundai and duly recommended by both NAPIMS, Total and endorsed by the NCDMB is for $3.1 billion.

The NNPC GEC claims that it arrived at the $3.3 billion at a negotiated price for the FPSO ranging between 5% and 10% of Samsung’s quoted price.

The Egina main field is a 1993 production sharing contract located offshore Nigeria within OML 130 in water depths ranging 11501750m. The block is operated

by Total Upstream Petroleum Nigeria 24% on behalf of the NNPC in partnership with Brasoil 16%, Sapetro 10%, on the PSA half side of the block and NNPC 50%.

Top level sources described the action of the GEC as frightening. “If sets a very bad precedence”, one of the source noted.

“You just can’t jettison the recommendations of both NAPIMS, Total and the NCDMB, and invite a contractor to negotiate on your own, it runs against the grain of due process. If you are not satisfied with the processes, the best thing would have been to demand a re-tender exercise,” another sources stated.

The recommendations and observation of the GEC also indicted NAPIMS, Total and the tenure of Mr. Andrew Yakubu as group executive director; exploration and production. Yakubu is the current group managing director of the NNPC .

Although the NNPC, GEC claims that $238 million (taxes, VAT, NCD) was calculated and added by Total and NAPIMS to the Samsung tender on the basis of 7% as against 6% or $186.9m and zero per cent to Hyundai, investigations revealed that Samsung did not quote taxes, VAT and NCD in its commercial bid submitted in December 2011.

Hyundai’s commercial bid however included all the taxes, VAT and NCD Fund in line with the bid requirements.

The 7% represents Nigerian Withholding Tax 6% and 1% statutory contribution to NCD Fund.

The NNPC GEC also claimed that $525m was added to Samsung’s bid, while $336m was added to that of Hyundai, but failed to explain to the Board that the different additions were a result of a post-bid clarification meeting with each bidder in February 2012.

NAPIMS, Total, NNPC GMD indicted In a submission that completely indicts all those

who superintended the bids evaluation, including NAPIMS, Total and Yakubu, the NNPC group executive director in charge of exploration and production at the time, the GEC claimed that the evaluation team compromised the tender process.

“The FPSO package analysis revealed several issues and inconsistencies in the evaluation prices, especially the differences in values between the initial round and subsequent rounds of bids evaluation,” the GEC stated.

“We noted that the FPSO tender evaluation team opened negotiation process during the commercial evaluation exercise, which compromises the entire tender process where ridiculous figures were assigned to one of the two bidders in order to arrive at a conclusion.”

Our investigations further revealed that even though these submissions appear far -fetched and designed to justify the imposition of Samsung, Yakubu endorsed the indictment of his tenure as GED exploration and production.

Efforts to reach the NNPC GMD proved abortive at the time of filling this report. A text message urging him to respond was also not answered.

PAGE 6—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

Plateau: ‘5 human skulls recovered from community leader’s ceiling’

BY TAYE OBATERU

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HE Special Task Force (STF) maintaining security in Plateau State, yesterday, paraded the community leader arrested the previous day with five human skulls.

This is as normalcy returned to Wase Local Government Area where sectarian crisis resulted in the death of over 20 people.

STF spokesman, Captain Salisu Mustapha, paraded the community leader with the skulls which were recovered

from the ceiling of his residence at Mangun in Mangu LGA on Friday following a search.

He said the suspect would be handed over to the police for further investigations.

Also paraded were three other men arrested with arms in various parts of the state.

One of them was arrested with two rounds of 7.62mm special the suspect allegedly kept in a soak-away behind his residence also in Mangu LGA. Another suspect was arrested around 6 pm on Friday at Foron village in

Barkin Ladi LGA with one locally made rifle, one locally made pistol, one round of 7.62mm special during a stop and search operation.

Mustapha said the last suspect paraded was found with a locally made revolver with five cartridges in Busa Buji area of Jos also during a stop and search operation.

He said the suspects would be handed over to the police for thorough investigations and confirmed that peace had returned to troubled Was local government area after the skirmishes of the past few days.

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member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Bitrus Kaze, has faulted the provisions of the bill on national grazing reserve and stock routes currently before the National Assembly describing it as contrary to the provisions of the constitution and incapable of solving the security problems between herdsmen and farmers.

Kaze, who represents Jos South/ Jos East in the House,

Rep faults grazing reserve bill in a statement, said the provisions of the bill are expansionist and draconian, adding, “Rather than solve any security problem, the discriminatory provisions of the bill, if passed, will certainly worsen the age-long clashes between farmers and pastoralists.”

Mega Praise anointing

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HIS year ’s annual programme of Mega Praise International Christian Centre, under the theme, Beginning strong with extra oil, which started on Sunday, 6 January, closes today at the church headquarters at 4, Amusa Street, Off Iya Ojo Road, Ajegunle, Lagos with a special anointing service.

According to the senior pastor

of the church, Apostle Godfirst C.N Onyeaku, “since it is a proven principle that God cannot do anything to anybody except he is provoked by the act of prayer, I specially received this inspiration from God to begin every year with service prayers and fasting to open the heavens for the new year blessings and to receive divine direction from God.”

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013 — PAGE 7

Vehicle plunges into Lagos lagoon •Lone occupant survives

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI & MONSUR OLOWOOPEJO

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Toyota Sienna bus, yesterday, skidded off the Third Mainland Bridge and plunged into the lagoon.

The accident, which happened around 11 a.m., shortly after the monthly environmental exercise, resulted into heavy traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge and environs, before men of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, the police and other emergency agencies moved in.

It took the intervention of local divers to rescue the only victim, identified as Shola Oladimeji.

He was later taken to hospital for medical attention.

According to an eyewitness account, the vehicle was on high speed when it skidded off the bridge and plunged into the lagoon.

Secretary-General of Makoko-Iwaya waterfront community, Mr. John Mautin Keke, claimed to have spoken to the victim, driver of the vehicle, after he was rescued, gave his name as Shola Oladimeji.

Keke, who led the rescue team, explained:”We heard a loud sound and all we saw was a Toyota Sienna bus, enroute Oworonshoki, axis, plunging into the lagoon at about 11:15 a.m. Moments later we saw a man waving his hands for res-

cue. ”At this time, we were concluding the monthly environmental sanitation exercise. ”Immediately, our men, led by me and other baales, rushed with our boats to the scene to rescue him. ”After we rescued him, we took to him to the nearest health centre to give him first aid. Few

minutes after he regained consciousness, I personally interviewed him to get his personal data. And he disclosed his name; his wife phone number and where we works. ”The man said he works in Goshen Estate, Lekki Phase 1 and he resides at Oyemekun Str, Beckley Estate, Abule Egba.”

Lead poisoning: Bukola lauds president for saving 1,500 children

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI,Ilorin

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HAIRMAN, Sen ate Committee on Environment and E c o l o g y, S e n a t o r Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has commended the move by President Goodluck Jonathan to save the lives of over 1,500 children in Bagega, Zamfara State, by releasing funds for remediation of the area.

This is contained in a statement by his media aide, Bamikole Omishore. It would be recalled that the campaign to Save Bagega has been growing in recent weeks, and Saraki led calls from the Senate to the Federal Government for a swift remediation.

The Committee on the Environment had received a brief from NGO Medicin Sans Frontiere (Doctors Without Bor-

ders) on the need to take immediate action to avert the further deaths of children.

Their report suggested that over 400 children had died already as a result of lead poisoning and another 1,500 were at risk of death, due to the environmental damage as a result of poor mining processes.

According to the statement,“ The release of funds from the Federal Government for the environmental clean up in Bagega is great news for the local community as well as for the thousands of people that added their voice to the campaign.”

•From right: Prof. O. C. Igwe, Pro-Chancellor of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN; Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC Chairman; Dr. Alex Otti; Dr. Fola Adeola; Dr. Anyim Pius Anyim; Prof. S. O. Igwe and UNN Vice Chancellor, Prof.

Bartho Okolo at the university’s convocation yesterday. Jega, Anyim, Otti, Adeola received honorary degrees at the occasion. Photo: Hill Ezeugwu

•Sir Kenny Okolugbo, a DESOPADEC commissioner representing Ndokwa, Delta State {r}, presenting the keys of some patrol vehicles donated by the commission to the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Ikechukwu Aduba, recently.

Jonathan wants the private sector, alumni to fund varsities

BY TONY EDIKE

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RESIDENT Good luck Jonathan, yesterday, urged the private sector to join hands with the Federal Government in forging partnerships with the universities in funding research and scholarships as part of efforts to improve education in the country.

Speaking at the 42n convocation of the University of Nigeria, Jonathan also called on the alumni of universities to provide greater support for their schools, citing examples of leading foreign universities.

He told the graduating higher degree students of the university that they “have an obligation to maintain a vigorous relationship with your alma mater. All over the world, alumni groups are strengthening their long-standing relationships with their alma mater and contributing to their growth and development. Yale and

Harvard alumni contribute over 27% of the budgets of their alma mater.”

Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission, Prof Julius Okojie, represented Jonathan at the convocation where Secretary to the Government of the Federation Senator, Anyim Pius Anyim, and four other personalities including the INEC Chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, were inducted honorary alumni of the UNN through award of doctorate degrees.

Anyim received the Doctor of Laws honoris causa while INEC chairman Jega received the Doctor of Public Administration honoris causa.

Mr. Tajudeen Fola Adeola, chairman of MainOne Cable and founding managing director, Guaranty Trust Bank, as well as Dr. Alex Otti, Managing Director of Diamond Bank, received the honour of Doctor of Business Administration.

The president told the awardees they should be proud of the honour from

UNN. He stated, “It is a thing of pride that one of Nigeria’s oldest and largest universities has found you deserving of its most prestigious award. I believe that this

honour will not only strengthen your relationship with this University, but will also enhance your contributions to national development.”

How to stop sexual abuse in schools, by Rotary boss

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ARENTS have been told to give attention to the welfare and progress of their children.

Government is also urged to reinvigorate the inspectorate department in the education sector and school staff as a requisite for breeding responsible future leaders.

These submissions were made by the President, Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro, Lagos, Rotn Dammy MattiBalogun, along with the Assistant Project Director, Christianah Fate Foundation, Mrs Serah Oyerinde and the Headteacher of the Wahab Folawiyo Junior High School, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos, a co-

educational institution, Revd. Isaac Dada Akinyanmi, at a one-day seminar on the theme: Sexual Abuse and Prevention.

At the event, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Ikoyi Metro and organized by the Christianah Fate Foundation, the need for the parents and guardians to monitor and guide their children from falling prey to sexual abuse, especially from bad peers that might influence them, was stressed.

Pupils were counseled to refrain from unholy habits and remain focused on their studies, for them to excel in their callings.

PAGE 8—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27 , 2013

Mystery bodies on river:

No clue yet — Gov Obi zGood governance team scores him high

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU

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OVERNOR Peter Obi of Anambra State has exonerated President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration from blame over the decay of infrastructure in Police College, Ikeja, saying the rot was not brought about by the present administration.

He also said there was no clue yet on the bodies found floating on a river in his state.

Obi, who spoke while fielding questions from State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Police Fund Committee chaired

by Vice President Namadi Sambo, however, said the fedral administration was working hard to resolve the challenges facing security agencies in the country.

He said Jonathan was committed to changing the fortunes of security agencies, especially the police. On the corpses

floating on a river in Anambra State, Obi said despite his promise of N5m for people with useful information, he had no clue yet.

He assured that proper autopsy must be carried out on the corpses in order to know what went wrong especially since there was no reported case of communal clash in the area.

He said, “It is not as if this thing happened in Anambra State. The bodies were floating on the water. They stopped at the border between Enugu and Anambra.

“As things are now, I have offered N5m to whoever can give me clue. I am looking for clue. If you look at the way the bodies are, they must have lasted for days in the water.

“I have said we must do proper autopsy on each body just to tell what happened. So far, nobody has come and say they are missing somebody, no communal clash, nothing. So what

do I do? I am not a magician.”

Meanwhile, the National Good Governance Tour which concluded its tour of Anambra State yesterday scored the administration of Governor Peter Obi very high in meeting the aspirations of the people in all areas of governance.

Speaking at an interactive session with the people of the state at the Women Development Center, Awka after the three- day tour that took the team to the three senatorial zones of the state, the minister of information, Mr. Labara Maku, said the tour had opened the eyes of Nigerians to what had been said about Obi in terms of delivery of dividends of democracy and having a stable state after what the state experienced before he became governor.

According to him, the projects being executed by the state government were amazing because they touch on the lives of both the rural and urban people.

Above: From left :Mrs Biola Babatope (wife of the celebrant); Chief Ebenezer Babatope (celebrant); Mrs Bimpe Babatope (wife of the celebrant) and formerGovernor Adebayo Alao-Akala of Oyo State at the 70th birthday of Babatope (Ebino Topsy) at Kings Event Centre Ilesa, Osun State, yesterday Below: From left: Alao-Akala; former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of Osun State: ACN spokes person, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and Governor Segun Mimiko of Ondo State, also at the occasion.

Mali: Jonathan, at AU meeting, presses African nations for more troops BYBEN AGANDE Abuja

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resident Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, arrive Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, for the 20th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union (AU) where he is expected to press further to secure the commitment of other African coun-

tries to send troops to participate as part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) led intervention force now battling Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militants in northern Mali. Already, Nigeria’s diplomatic effort has secured South Africa, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania as well as Chad commitment to send troops to assist in the ef-

fort to curtail the spread of terrorism from Mali.

Nigeria’s delegation, led by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ambassador Olugbenga Ashiru, had met with other African government officials to press for their commitment to the multinational force. Ashiru informed a delegation of African and British government officials that the crisis is Mali should

not to be seen just as a regional problem but with likely consequences outside the sub region if it was not controlled. ”Interestingly, nearly all the countries we have had meetings with on the sidelines of this AU Summit, have all been very forthcoming. They are all supportive of the leadership that Nigeria has shown. They are supportive of our efforts in

Mali, they are supportive of what ECOWAS is doing to quickly assemble immediate force,” he said. Ashiru went on: “countries such as Chad,

FRSC operatives protest directive to obtain driver’s license

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

2 killed in SSS, terror suspects gun duel in Maiduguri T

BY NDAHI MARAMA Maiduguri orno Express Cen tral Motor Park, located beside the State Security Service, SSS, office, along Kano- Jos Road, Maiduguri, Borno State capital, yesterday, became a battle ground when SSS officials engaged some suspected terrorists in a gun duel leading to the killing of a grasshopper seller and one security official.

An unconfirmed report revealed that some of the suspects were arrested.

Similarly, two persons suspected to be terrorists were arrested in their

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abandoned building hideout in BulunbutuAbuja area of the Borno State capital leading to the JTF operatives condoning off all routes linking the area.

The operation led to the killing of a civilian who was shot. Two AK47 rifles were found in the possession of the arrested suspects, according to a reliable source.

Efforts to get the JTF spokesman, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, to comment on the incidents proved abortive as he could not be reached on phone.

Minister pledges on youth devt

BY FESTUS AHON

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INISTER of Youth Development, Mr Inuwa AbdulKadir, has reiterated the commitment of the ministry towards ensuring absolute compliance with the provisions of the law regarding youth development in the country.

Speaking at National

Youth Leaders’ Retreat on the Action Plan and Focus of the Ministry for 2013 held in Asaba, Delta State, Abdul-Kadir stated that compliance with the provisions of the law was in line with the rule of law mantra of the present administration.

While reaffirming his determination to build a strong, virile and united

National Youth Council of Nigeria, NYCN, he enjoined youths in the country to be vigilant and ensure that eligibility for participation in leadership was on the basis of the prescribed age bracket of 1835 as contained in the National Youth Policy and the amendment to the NYCN constitution without compromise or waiver.

Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Africa have all expressed determination to also contribute troops to the campaign going on in Mali.

he Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) has directed the operatives and staff of the organization to compulsorily possess driver ’s license before the end of January or they would not be paid salary.

It was learnt that the directive has not gone down well with the staff of the FRSC, especially those who do not have vehicles. ”It’s like asking Immigration officials to go and procure travelling documents whether he has money to travel or not,” a source said.

However, FRSC Deputy Corps Public Education Officer, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, while speaking

with newsmen on the issue on telephone, explained that the directive concerned only FRSC operatives who drive but without license, saying that it had nothing to do with payment of salary.

Kazeem explained that encouraging operatives to undergo driving proficiency and obtain driver’s license had been an on-going internal policy of the FRSC, adding that there were laid down sanctions to be meted on those who failed to comply. ”It will be very wrong for an FRSC official to arrest someone for driving without a driver’s license when he himself does not have. It’s just making sure we put our house in order,” he said.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 9

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

Nigeria’s GSM networks: Legalised robbery -- 1

What the president saw Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.-Albert Einstein The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. Albert Einstein HE depiction by the Channels TV regarding the appalling state of the Police College, Lagos, has indeed given us the reasons why our police are the way they are. It goes further than that: it is a microcosm of how every aspect of our everyday living condition has gone to pot.

It is also indicative of how much value the government, the people and our society place on themselves and each other. We know that there is money in the country, the politicians are aflushed

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with it. But this programme does not prepare you for the miserable depths of the inhumane and contemptible sights of the police living conditions.

The mere fact that the disrepair has been so long in the making is intolerable but on the level of disregard for human condition and health, it is a monumental example of who we are as a people. When do we ever complain about the despicable way we are treated on a daily basis by the rich and powerful?

We r a t h e r keep mute and pray things improve.

We do nothing, we have learned to play the victim so well, it has become our second nature.

Until now, the public was not aware of the derelict nature of these colleges. So the rot has been festering for so long unabated. Apparently, n o

they are not made in India. I remain to be convinced that anything from that country is for real.

Unfortunately, the Nigeria-based and the South Africa based operators appear to be doing all they can to surpass the Asia-based network in

Today, there is probably no honest Shareholders Association left. So, I hope those who have undertaken to monitor the networks will not soon succumb to the enticements of the sector.

Trillions of naira are at stake

swindling Nigerians – while providing increasingly poor quality service.

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igeria is probably the only place in the world where a network can tag on to your calls music, messages, jingles etc, and charge President has visited the college in over 70 years!.

So that begs the question; who is present at the police passing out parade? Does the police commander visit these colleges? Who does the yearly maintainance?

Where is the public healthbody, who should have condemned the college so long ago. To rub salt into wounds of the graduating police, they have to buy their own uniform and equipment, so you wonder why they are “collecting” the dividends from the public on their “investment”?.

We go on with the bad

despair. People are rolling over and playing ball, they are so used to being devalued and derided that they are so used to the neglect and a b u s e o f p o w e r. W h y do we hate ourselves that much? We have come to accept the unacceptable from our employers, relatives, friends and the government.

The Police barracks is just the tip of the ice berg. Everywhere we take a good hard look, is falling apart, yet we continue, and tell ourselves it will get better. How long are we going to take our heads out of the

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The Police barracks is just the tip of the ice berg. Everywhere we take a good hard look is falling apart, yet we continue, and tell ourselves it will get better

condition and wait for others to complain or we go on with the status quo, because no one listens. That’s right, we become beaten down and battle weary that the mere suggestion to stand and complain fills us with dread and

institutions to regulate the operators in the private sector. Allied to that is the failure of the people to organize and fight their exploiters. Nigeria is a particularly a sad case. We continue to put up with atrocities committed by “elected” government officials, as well as, scandalous practices by the private sector swindlers. Two organizations deserve our attention in this regard – the first is a government agency, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, which has practically surrendered “Fellow Nigerians” to the slaughter house of the GSM network operators.

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communication networks

by Asian and African countries which very quickly bring in corrupt practices.

Yet nothing promotes the rapid growth of unethical practices in poor countries, like India, South Africa and Nigeria more that the failure of

,

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IGERIAN GSM network owners are swindling Nigerians and smiling all the way to the banks – whose ATM machines also rob depositors mercilessly. If the government of Olusegun Obasanjo had planned to take Nigerians to the financial slaughter house, it could not have done it better than by introducing the GSM and licensing companies based in Nigeria, Asia and South Africa as the major carriers. High ethical standards are in short supply in those countries; that is certain.

By the way have you heard the story about the study to determine the country with the worst ethical standards? Three finalists emerged representing continents: USA, Italy and Nigeria. Each sent a business mogul who was supposed to wade through a pond.

The corruption index was determined by how high the water reached on his

body. First, the American went in and sank up to his knees; then the Italian who was covered up to his chest. Then it was the turn of the Nigerian to enter the pond. Everyone was astonished when Nijerman sank only up to his ankles. Before they could ask questions he whispered to them “Shoo, I am standing on an Indian”. When it comes to sharp business practices Nigerians are light years behind Indians. Back in the early 1990s, when I ran a course, at the Nigerian Institute of Management, NIM, on CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY, that was the opening story. Till today, the story has not changed. The minute a company or product carries a Made In India label, I instinctively move away – unless there is no alternative. So, I never touch their GSM network in Nigeria and I will never buy a Made In India car. The only exceptions I have made is DANA Airlines, because it is sometimes the only airline going my way at a particular time and day; and KIA Motors, because

,

“It [is] beautiful and simple as all truly great swindles are”. O. Henry, 1862-1910; slightly modified.

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p 239).

you for calls not completed while you listen to the rubbish they tagged on to calls. All the three biggest networks, MTN (South Africa), Globacom (Nigeria) and Airtel (India) -- are guilty of this practice. I have also been told that others like ETISALAT have resorted to this sharp practice.

Americans and Europeans largely invented the mobile telephone systems and the operators were more ethical when they were based in those continents. One of the unpleasant repercussions of globalization had been the acquisition of controlling shares in

,

sands and really see what is going on. Find a way to redress it; collectively. We are what Nigeria is waiting for, no point passing the buck.

It is easy to shrug indifference or dismiss any crop of police and say they de-

ments in the past which had degenerated into paid mouth organs for the business sectors they were supposed to be monitoring.

About thirty years or more ago, late Mr Akintunde Asalu, started a one-man crusade to monitor closely the activities of companies quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE. In the beginning, Asalu was a thorn in the flesh of the directors of companies in which he had even very few shares. He attended every Annual General Meeting, AGM, and tried as best as he could to serve the interests of small shareholders.

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ust as the Depart ment of Petroleum Resources, DPR, had handed over motorists to filling stations to be wickedly exploited through “doctored” pumps and adulterated products, NCC officials have adopted a “See no evil and hear no evil” approach to the affairs of the networks – as if they are somehow excluded from the pervasive poor service and exploitation.

The second is civil society group which claims to be monitoring the networks on behalf of the rest of us. Since, I don’t know how this organisation operates, it is difficult for me to decide whether to commend their efforts or to condemn them. We had seen positively spirited move-

ater, a Shareholders Association developed around him and, while he probably remained true to the mission, the others in the Association discovered that they could make easy money by pretending to champion the causes of shareholders while allowing themselves to be bought off by the companies. Today, there is probably no honest Shareholders Association left. So, I hope those who have undertaken to monitor the networks will not soon succumb to the enticements of the sector. Trillions of naira are at stake. These people are killing us. Let me list a few ways by which we have been led to the slaughter house.

Visit website: www.delesobowale.com.

serve the appalling condition because of how corrupt, indisciplined and incompetent they are. Yes, but no one should live in such deplorable condition.

Room after room,the condition was worse than the last, the grounds, the facilities; it is better not to linger. It is a wonder there have not been fatal accidents.

The brevity of the exposé, must have rattled Jonathan’s cage publicly or did develop a conscience overnight and felt compelled to show us with media present. I really do not secondguess, his motives but his modus operandi has been consistence in terms of grandstanding and nothing comes out of it. We would not wait with bated breath so if you want things done, do it yourself. If we treat people right, we will get good result out of them.

So, Jonah inspected the living quarters and with a number of his team including the chairman of Channels Television, Mr John Momoh. So, where is that unannounced visit?

Where do you begin cleaning such mess and level of disrepair? There should be a public hearing of the

cream of the police, including the police commissioner, the police affairs minister and all the regional heads of police.

The big question is where does the revenue go to for the maintenance of these buildings? It is of course the people's tax that supposedly pays for these piles of rubble?

That says a lot about the importance that we place on the force that we rely on to serve and protect the citizens. Now we know the rot was cemented a long time ago. Is there, then, any wonder why some police officers are involved in criminal activities? Goodluck says the exposé is a piece of sensationalism that it showed the Ikeja College in a bad light and it is not the only police college. That’s right, Mr President, you have done it again.

Up and down the country it is the same and the Ikeja Police College is in such a state, dismissing and demeaning the programme does not detract from the act that it is bad enough. So it would have been better or the president accepts that things are this bad and it should not continue.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 11

Deploy Agric Minister to INEC port for him to be properly funded to do a good job. The man asked for billions of naira to organize a credible voters’ register and he got it.

Schools were even closed for weeks to enable him use some of their facilities for the exercise.

Surprisingly, INEC brought in tools called ‘Direct Data Capturing machines’ (DDC) which functioned like ‘second-

,

I

N 1999, the military organized an elec tion for the return of democracy to Nigeria.

Whether the election was free and fair did not quite matter because everyone, having become tired of dictatorship, accepted its outcome so as to prevent the military from finding an excuse to stay-put in the political terrain. The revelation by the independent election observers that the election had more votes than voters suggested that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had an inaccurate voters’ register. We seem to have continued till today to use incorrect statistics to conduct elections in the country. In 2003, the electoral body allegedly spent N45 billion to organize fresh registration of voters but the claim by its then chairman, Dr Abel Guobadia that our election process had been largely computerized was refuted by his successor, Prof. Maurice Iwu. Thus, when Prof.

Attahiru Jega took over, many Nigerians conscious of INEC’s fragile database canvassed sup-

Adamawa, Kogi, Bayelsa, Edo etc. Partly on account of the charisma of Jega and partly because some of the elections were considered better than past exercises, some people have remained optimistic that the difficult days would soon be over. We are however not similarly enthused by the rather inconsequential incremental reforms of our election process. What

Manual voting has no efficacy. It can only enrich groups like thugs, polling agents, INEC staff, security agencies, university vice chancellors who serve as returning officers and judges at ALL levels

hand’ implements. Till date, she is yet to produce permanent voters’ cards from an exercise that took place some 3 years back. Worse still, old problems such as late arrival of election personnel and materials and other logistic deficiencies have still not left us as they were observed in many of the elections since then in places like

,

Nigeria needs now is an electoral body that can premise its operations on technology and employ international best practices in the conduct of elections.

Accordingly, we need to go for a hitch-free strategy and not one that merely produces elections that are flawed but appear better than previous ones. Here, the ap-

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

The growing cynicism about Nigeria’s future (1) the United States of America or China.

His argument, which has a ring of plausibility about it, is that Nigerian rulers have demonstrated their inability to govern a modern state efficiently and effectively.

He also said that the quickest way for a Nigerian to get angry or de-

,

T

HAT Nigeria is facing a huge cri sis of leadership at the moment is beyond dispute. It is also beyond question that an increasing number of Nigerians are entertaining extreme (some might say weird) ideas about the best way to deal with the problem.

Deficiencies in leadership have reached such a disturbing level that more Nigerians are reechoing late Chief Sam Mbakwe’s unduly criticised recommendation that we should invite Britain to recolonise the country.

A few days ago Mbakwe’s proposal was reechoed by a close friend who lamented bitterly the continuing terrible mismanagement of public funds and infrastructure by politicians and their acolytes. At another occasion, a highly travelled associate of mine suggested that Nigerians should swallow their empty pride and give out the country on at least a fifty year lease to either

litical and economic power sucking the country dry, are genuinely happy with the way our country is going at this time? How many of us are comfortable with the agonising level of poverty, unemployment, insecurity, destitution, disillusionment, hopelessness and premature

The average Nigerian politician is always eager to introduce silly and irrelevant parochial issues into leadership matters, especially when such diversionary strategy is favourable to his warped political ambition

pressed is to think about the depressing absurd condition of increasing suffering in the midst of plenty.

Certainly, it is easy to dismiss such cynicism about Nigeria as lazy arm-chair criticism and evidence of lack of love for one’s country. But to be candid, how many Nigerians, aside from parasites in the portals of po-

,

death nationwide? Is Nigeria not increasingly approximating the infamous Hobbesian state of nature in which life is poor, solitary, nasty, brutish and short? The reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the above is that any sincere Nigerian who reflects on the current state of affairs knows that Nigeria has been very poorly admin-

proach of Dr Akinwumi Adeshina, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in his reforms of our Agric sector recommends itself. Oh yes, we must not allow the controversies of the huge sums involved in the telephone arrangement for farmers to becloud the principle of the innovation. We are not concerned here about how the Minister repeated what his Permanent Secretary said while purporting to clarify it, neither do we care about the cost of the project nor who picks the bill. Instead, what matters are the gains of his innovation.

Unlike many political office holders, Adeshina rejects the use of hype to guide policies. Rather, he relies on evidence based on modern technology and well analyzed data to transform Agriculture in Nigeria”. If INEC adopts the same approach, it would be more efficient in carrying out its mandate instead of abdicating from them to suit the emotions of the moment. For instance, it was wrong of INEC to have, on account of the hype of undue tension created by politicians disenfranchised some voters in 2012 by refusing to revise the voters’ register to include those who had become eligible to vote since after the last registration exercise. It is note worthy too, that Adeshina understands his target audience as well as the complexity of his assignment. He is

aware of the 3 types of farmers in Nigeria, that is, the real farmers who work on farms; the remote control farmers who direct works in farmlands in rural areas from the large cities and the bureaucratic farmers who though have no farms are well positioned to divert farming incentives to themselves. Adeshina chose to use technology not only to concentrate on the real farmers; but also to annihilate the impostors. INEC needs to similarly patronize real voters and stamp out the ghosts and their fake returns.

What Adeshina did was to find a way to directly reach farmers in the rural areas with relevant information having found that it is difficult to communicate with71 percent of them. The same farmers who are also likely to be voters can as well be reached with relevant voter information that can put a halt to low voter turnout and the large number of spoilt ballot papers in our elections. If like Adeshina, INEC partners with relevant bodies like the Ministry of Communication Technology the lame excuse that Nigeria is not ripe for electronic voting would no longer hold. In fairness to INEC, Section 52 of the Electoral Act which bans the use of electronic voting is unfair because it constraints her in the performance of a legally imposed mandate. The provision of Section 118 of the Constitution that

“the registration of voters and the conduct of elections shall be subject to the direction and supervision of the Independent National Electoral Commission” is so clear that there is no vacuum in the law which the legislature seeks to fill by directing INEC as it has done through the Electoral Act. In earnest, a look at paragraph 15 Part 1 of the Third Schedule to the Constitution gives the electoral body the power “to organize, undertake and supervise elections”. The same paragraph allows the legislature to get involved only in regulating the registration of political parties which shows clearly that our legislators who are themselves contestants in the game of elections have no say in the conduct of elections let alone the format or voting method to be used.

The bogus ‘busy body’ provision of the electoral act must therefore be expunged to allow our electoral body to do what is done everywhere else.

Manual voting has no efficacy. It can only enrich groups like thugs, polling agents, INEC staff, security agencies, university vice chancellors who serve as returning officers and judges at ALL levels. It is only technology that can actually wipe out election malpractices and also nullify the intimidating power of incumbents.

Adeshina can be of help here.

istered, especially since 1970. More tellingly, President Goodluck Jonathan’s shambolic approach to our problems is worsening, rather than lessening, an already bad situation. It seems that the end of the Biafran war marked the beginning of a downward trend in the country’s evolution as a geo-political entity, the commencement of an era characterised by mindless waste of incredible opportunities for greatness.

Germany and Japan are solid examples of how serious countries emerge from the ashes of a terrible war to rebuild themselves and transform into first grade players in the international scene. Unfortunately, in our own case the end of a devastating war actually brought about an epidemic of inept, corrupt and irresponsible leadership, with catastrophic consequences for the country with the largest concentration of blacks in the world.

To illustrate how Nigerians have been chasing shadows for decades consider the painful fact that, more than half a century after independence and forty three years after a bloody civil war, supposedly intelligent and welleducated politicians and opinion leaders in the society are still splitting hairs about the ethnic origin and religious affiliation of a would-be Presi-

dent, instead of focusing on the capability of the person to perform creditably, based on clearly defined relevant criteria for quality leadership.

Make no mistake about it; the average Nigerian politician is always eager to introduce silly and irrelevant parochial issues into leadership matters, especially when such diversionary strategy is favourable to his warped political ambition. Such immature approach to politics, coupled with a corruption-infested electoral system that delivers the highest votes to the highest bidder, makes politics the profession of hustlers, fraudsters, and carpetbaggers.

From a wider perspective, the ruling elite in Nigeria are too self-centred and visionless to realise that the strongest weapon against, and best refutation of, humiliating racism against black peoples of the world is a united, strong, economically virile and highly industrialised Nigeria, a country where universally acknowledged values of merit, excellence, freedom, transparency and accountability predominate. White supremacist supporters cannot be routed by emotionally charged fallacious verbal attacks. Instead, what is required is for a black country like Nigeria to emerge as a dominant force in the global economy, education, industri-

alisation and socio-political engineering. Shortly after World War II, and even before then, Asians were subjected to serious racial slurs basically because of their physical appearance.

But now, with the emergence of China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and other Asian Tigers on the global stage and competing favourably at the highest level of technological innovations and economic development with the most developed countries of Europe and North America, the situation has changed dramatically.

No one in his right mind would consider a Chinese or Japanese etc. inferior to an American or European.

Thus, in the quest for equality of races, achievement and wealth production is everything, while biological endowment is everything else.

When one considers the future of Nigeria from the perspective of its present ruling elite, there is little reason for optimism. This is due to the fact that the very poor attitudes to leadership characteristic of military dictators in the country are still predominant among politicians in positions of power and influence, from the presidency down to local government administration.

To be continued

PAGE 12—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JANUARY 27, 2013 lack of trying or lack of purpose.

Inspiration is never lacking and ideas are all around. I have found zeal is killed by the tongue. Small as it is the tongue will be the downfall of most people. If I can give anybody who wants counsel to succeed this year it will be two words, short and sharp. My advice will be to "shut up". The elders say, not all clothes need to be spread in the sun. This year, guard your dreams with all diligence; lest you lose your zeal and others make off with your dreams.

Some people will rightfully question my right to ask people to be discreet,

D

I S C R E T I O N really is the better part of valour; it is keeping things close to one's heart; gathering all available information to make better choices. There is strength and integrity in discretion; there is wisdom and purpose that serves to protect and even bestow honour and trust.

There is an old Yoruba adage that loosely translated means that older people don't have mystical powers but are cautious. Caution is discretion in thoughts, in deeds and in words, caution is why they seem to have all the answers.

While I determinedly did not make any new year resolution this 2013, I have determined it will be a year of purpose; a year of deliberate and purposeful strides. The year by all accounts is pretty young but it is moving at a pace that will leave most people behind if they have no purpose. What we will find are plans unravelling like a spool of thread into nothing; it will come at the cost of hopes, dreams, ambitions and for some even life.

The words you read today are as much for me as they are for you. They are to

keep me in check and focussed. I am determined to stop unravelling. A life that falls short of fulfilling its full potential is unravelling. Those of us who can admit to ourselves that we haven't quite done enough to get us where we should be will freely admit it. Picture a large spool of thread going downhill, picking up speed every foot and getting smaller and smaller. This year I am picking up my spool by the hand and stopping any more decline. This probably sounds like one of those pep talks we give ourselves every new year but keep an open mind as you read on and find that purpose this time can be fueled by deliberate action. Notice my continuous use of the word deliberate.

Putting action behind every inspiration is a deliberate move towards achieving a purpose in whatever shape or form. I am particularly inspired by faith and this year I am not waiting for all the dots to connect before I leave the middle age comfort zone to take giant strides into the future. In simple language; I will follow up every idea and inspiration with investigation and the right action, where it leads will be up to providence. Failure will not be for

,

Purpose

Purpose for me is not all about prosperity. It's about fulfilling destiny; living to my full potential and achieving all that is possible

,

after all everyone needs help. They would be right, most of us need a helping hand to succeed. The question to ask is this, are you sharing your dreams to show off, to be relevant where you feel insecure or are you just a lose canon who cant be quiet? I am getting very irate with people who just cant be trusted to maintain the integrity of their person or even that of others because they can't stop talking. They are generous with information to the point of their destruction and whether it is malicious

or plain stupid; they need to get a grip.

Sharing their own gist is bad enough, sharing that of others is criminal; especially when you have that information because they love and trust you!!!!!! Word to the wise; look around you and begin to cut off all those with loose lips; if you are the one guilty; stop it before you end up a pariah; friendless and loveless!! Some people have unravelled into nothing because they shared their dreams prematurely.

Case in point is Joseph. (Telling his brothers is dream was not wisdom) I don't suppose that there is a magic pill that will suddenly put me on the Fortune 500 and even if there was I'd be a tad suspicious about the fine print.

Purpose for me is not all about prosperity. It's about fulfilling destiny; living to my full potential and achieving all that is possible.To do that I am investing myself in the Word; I will spend enough time in the Word so I can master the world. It will be the fuel in my engine and I will top up daily such that there wont be any space left for discouragement and lethargy. I have concluded the only way to stop unravelling is to stand! I will stand spiritually, emotionally and spiritually and my zeal combined with the grace and favour of God will do the rest. Purpose also requires painful pruning and refinement. Some people and situations will need to be contained! Note I don't say amputated. Valour speaks to courage, heroism, honour and wisdom. All these will be the right tools to manage friends and foes; wars and enmity are unnecessary and time wasting. All life requires of me this year is that I be present; that I be discreet, that I show wisdom and fully establish purpose as my deliberate intent..

13 commissioners may lose jobs in Adamawa

BY UMAR YUSUF

A

cabinet shakeup looms in Ad amawa State as result of the crisis that engulfed the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, of recent.

Sunday Vanguard learnt that no fewer than 13 of the 27 commissioners, scores of advisers in Governor Murtala Nyako’s cabinet including key political appointees have been pencilled down for sack any moment from now.

Their alleged offence, according to sources, is the role they played in the

crisis in the party which divided the party into the Joel Madaki, and the recognized Umaru Mijjinyawa Kugama-led EXCO which tenure had not expired.

At a meeting held at the PDP secretariat along Galadima Aminu Road in the state capital, yesterday, the Chief of Staff to the governor, Alh. Abdulrahman Abba Jimeta, hinted that dismissal of those sabotaging the PDP, led by Kugama, would find their way out of Nyako’s cabinet within a week.

The governor, who also attended the stakeholders meeting, comprising of the state PDP EXCO led by

Kugama,ward and local government leaders of the party, the elected local government chairmen on the platform of PDP,said his administration was not perturbed by unrecognized persons parading themselves as leaders of the PDP in the state.

He said his overwhelming desire was to transform the state through infrastructural development and not to get involved in party crisis, adding that he was elected to make impact in Adamawa by injecting human oriented programmes.

One of the commissioners alleged to have played some role in the crisis,

Amosun, Adefuye preach peace as recipe for devt

N

IGERIANS have been charged to offer constructive suggestions on how to move the nation forward.

They were also enjoined to live in peace at all times.

Those remarks were contained in the address by Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, delivered on his behalf by the Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Hon Tola Banjo, at the 2012 Annual Lewu day, held at Odolewu.

Commending the Odolewu community for their loyalty, Amosun unfolded government programme to improve the area to include a dual carriage way to facilitate socio-economic development of the community, expansion of its health centre as well as the establishment of a tertiary institution, which would enhance the immense opportunities for the indigenes and their neighbours.

In his welcome address at the event, the Babalaje of Odolewu, Senator An-

thony Adefuye, reiterated the need to invite the sons and daughters of the town to come home and develop the community through establishment of cottage industries.

He invited Nigerians, at home and in Diaspora also “to come to Macedonia and help us”. He disclosed that

gone were the days when indigenes were enveloped in the fear of being killed by “ witches and wizards”.

Adefuye assured the community, associates and other well wishers of his continued loyalty and dogged strides in returning the community to her enviable pride.

SPDC-West empowers Delta women

T

HE SPDC-West has empowered Ugborodo women of Delta State with the handing over of vehicle for the transport scheme provided to them by the company.

Commissioning the project, Dr. (Mrs.) Mariam Benka-Coker, Team Leader, GMoU Implementation & CIC, Forcados Terminal, urged the women to set up a committee that will manage the project, saying the cardinal focus of SPDC is to empower them so that they can be sustainable.

She said the transport scheme is to

generate fund, adding she was happy to see the transport truck, and commended the Ugborodo Community Trust for their efforts, especially James Umukoro, Community Inter Face Coordinator Swamp 1, Ann Utuedor, Community Relations Co-ordinator.and the Women Leader with her team.

Responding, the Women Leader, Madam Mercy Olowu and the representative of Ugborodo Community Trust, Monday Tenumah thanked SPDC for the project and promised to sustain it

Mr. Felix Tangwami, who, until recently was in charge of Social Integration Ministry, has since been sacked.

The Adamawa PDP had been polarized along two factions. One was led

by Kugama and the other by Joel Madaki that was inaugurated by Ambassador Umar Damagum,who was said to have been mandated by the National Working Committee of the PDP to reconstitute of new EXCOs of the party at all levels.

Sir Anusim for burial

S

IR Pius Chigozie Anusim, a Knight Of St. Christopher, is dead,aged 75.

Service of songs hold at St Augustine’Änglican Church, Amaukwu Orodo, Mbaitoli, Imo State on Thursday, January 31 while a commendation service is scheduled for the Cathedral of Transfiguration of the Lord(CATOL) Owerri on Friday, 1st February.

Anusim will be laid to rest at his residence, ‘Onyeaka House.

Outing service holds on Sunday, 3rd February at St Augustine’ Anglican Church Amaukwu, Orodo.

He is survive3d by his wife, children and grand children.

Late Sir Pius Chigozie Anusim

SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

JANUARY 27, 2013,

PAGE 13

How Palace Guards saved Emir of Kano’s life zAdo Bayero responds positively to treatment in London hospital

BY JIDE AJANI & ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD, KANO.

Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero

P

enultimate Saturday, history chose to repeat itself with fatal precision.

This is about the story of two Emirs of Kano, whose body guards paid the supreme price for the safety of their temporal lords.

In the afternoon of February 2, 1903, the Palace of Emir Alu, then Emir of Kano, was besieged by the British.

Their mission was to extract surrender from what appeared to be the last bastion of defence for the ancient city.

Having convinced itself of the bounden duty to conquer the city in the quest to appropriate the massive land of Kano for Her Majesty , the British troops, under the command of Colonel Moorland, finally invaded the palace.

But they did not bargain for what was to follow.

Two Royal Guards, Sarkin Shanu Dan’Gwari and Salama Jatau, put up a resistance that was at once shocking just as it slowed down the conquest of the city. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a futile resistance. In the duel that ensued, rather than allow the British to easily overrun the palace, Dan’Gwari and Jatau fought to the end. They died, trying to save the palace of the Emir of Kano.

14 days to that day 110 years after, a similar event of murderous proportions played itself out.

But this time, it was not at the palace of the Emir. It was right in the precinct of religious and spiritual obeisance, a prayer place, a mosque.

The revered Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, was just about leaving Masalacin Murtala area of the Kano metropolis where he had gone to attend a Qur•fanic graduation ceremony when bedlam struck.

The Emir had barely spent 100minutes there when it was time to leave.

There was no premonition that something dastardly was about to happen.

C M Y K

,

Above and below: The Emir’s vehicles riddled with bullets during the attack

Gunmen, operating on motocycle (Okada), opened fired on the Emir’s convoy as the cars made to leave the area. The Emir, said to be hypertensive by palace sources, was hit by a bullet on his right hand. His blood pressure shot up immediately after.

Perhaps, had the guards not shielded Emir Bayero, the assassins’’ bullets would have riddled his body. And he may have passed on.

Narrating the attack, a security source said the guards in the entourage of the Emir had, in line with tradition, fired their dane guns to signal the monarch’s exit after the programme when some gunmen detonated a bomb. The explosion triggered pandemonium. “The blast”, the source said, “ was followed by sporadic gunshots on the convoy by four gunmen operating on motorbikes’’.

In the process, Bayero’s official vehicle was shelled by the attackers.

In the milieu, the Emir ’s driver and

Continues on page 14

PAGE 14—SUNDAY

Vanguard ,

JANUARY 27, 2013

When bodyguards saved President Ronald Reagan’s life zAnd the Colonel U. K. Bello example

BY JIDE AJANI

(with agency reports)

W

hereas the Reagan assas sination attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into his presidency, a certain Lieutenant Colonel U. K. Bello, the ADC to then military President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, fought and died defending Dodan Barracks, Nigeria’s seat of power, and his boss on Tuesday, April 22, 1990.

When Gideon Gwarso Okar and his men stormed Dodan Barracks early that day, Bello, in collaboration with some more senior military officers, arranged to ferry President Babangida to safety.

It was while defending the seat of power and his boss that he lost his life.

In the case of Reagan, while leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., he and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. Reagan suffered a punctured lung and heavy internal bleeding, but prompt medical attention allowed him to recover quickly. At 2:27 pm Eastern Time as Reagan exited the hotel through “President’s Walk” and its T

A scene from the Reagan assassination attempt Street NW exit toward his waiting limousine, Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers.

While the Secret Service extensively screened those attending the president’s speech, in a “colossal mistake”, the agency allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 ft (4.6 m) of him, behind a rope line. Unexpectedly, Reagan passed right in front of Hinckley. Knowing he would never get a better chance, Hinckley fired a Rohm RG-14 .22 cal. blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds, missing the president with all six shots.

The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady

Ado Bayero responds positively to treatment in London hospital Continued from page 13 three guards lost their lives.

The guards, identified as Ahmadu Magayaki, Barde Sarkin Ruwa and Dan’muri Sarkin Kano, died while trying to shield the Emir from the assassins’ bullets. Others who died in the shooting were the Emir’s driver; the eldest son, Sanusi Ado Bayero, was also badly hit by bullets.

Other wounded sons were identified as Turakin Kano and Ciroman Kano.

The guards formed a human ‘Wall of Berlin’ around Bayero while the gunmen continued their shooting.

Everything lasted barely two minutes. According to a security source, “the casualty on the part of the royal guards was high because of their display of gallantC M Y K

ry in the face of terror. Despite the danger, they massed round the Emir until he was rescued to the back up car and ferried away from the spot”.

A title holder and member of Kano Emirate Council, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the palace guards literally gave their lives to save the monarch.

According to him, ‘’the fearlessness they displayed saved this city from being plunged into an orgy of mayhem’’.

The traditional title holder, who was in the Emir’s entourage during the ugly incident, explained that the “guards formed a human shield round the monarch

during the volley of fire”, adding that “they stood their ground until the Emir was rescued to a back up vehicle.

“From what I saw at close range, it was evident that the casualty figure on the part of the guards was bound to be high”,he said, but was quick to add: ”We are lucky many of them survived though with gunshot injuries”.

L

ater that evening, phy sicians were invited to attend to the Emir in the palace and the prognosis was that he needed a better medical attention as he was said to have relapsed into a very high hypertensive mode.

He was flown abroad that Saturday night.

in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty, in the back of his neck as he turned to protect Reagan.

Hinckley now had a clear shot at the president, but the third overshot him and hit the window of a building across the street. As Special Agent In Charge, Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen as he spread his body over Reagan to make himself a target.

The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the limousine.

The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly 1 in (25 mm) from his heart. Had Parr hesitated for a moment, the presiIBB...Tears for U.K Bello dent would likely have been hit in the head.

He was believed to have been flown abroad with his eldest son.

Reports from palace sources indicate that Alhaji Bayero is responding well to treatment.

In fact, the mood ‘’inside the palace is one of joy because most people were very apprehensive when it became clear that the best thing to do penultimate Saturday would be to fly him abroad; but the reports reaching us show that the royal father is doing well; the same thing for his sons, Sunday Vanguard was told.

As for the palace guards and the Emir ’s driver, funeral prayers were held at the Emir’s palace last Friday.

The prayer session attracted top flight politicians, captains of industry, traditional rulers, artisans and thousands of urban dwellers.

In the meantime, Gov. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of Kano State has donated the sum of N1 million and a three-bedroom flat each to the families of the aides of the Emir who lost their lives during the attack on the convoy.

Presenting the cash and al-

location forms to the next of kins of the slain palace guards, Governor Kwankwaso said the gesture was aimed at alleviating the sufferings of the bereaved families, stressing that his administration had always been compassionate to the families of those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Dr. Kwankwaso disclosed that the gesture of the state government would also be extended to the four other people who sustained injuries during the attack. ”Apart from donating N1 million and a house to each of the three families of the slain guards, government has decided to give four people who suffered injuries the sum of N250,000 each,” the governor said, revealing that he had also directed the Kumbotso Local Government to arrange a similar gesture for the families of the late Interim Management Officer (IMO) of the council and his aide, who were also killed during the attack which came barely one year after a coordinated attack on Kano by terrorist left scores dead.

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 15

zObi...held up in the US by 9/11

By DOTUN IBIWOYE Senator Ben Obi is the Special Adviser to the President on Inter -Party Relations. In this interview, Obi says he warned as far back as 12 years ago (2001) that terrorism in Nigeria could turn deadly. According to him, his experience motivated an anti -terrorism bill he initiated eight years ago in the Senate. He also speaks on President Goodluck Jonathan’s plan for Nigeria this year, Igbo leadership and the potentials of the country achieving Vision 20:2020, among other national issues.

Excerpts:

I

nsecurity has become a major is sue in the country. How did we find ourselves in the unsavoury situation?

The truth here is that when the issue of terrorism came to this country, it was completely at the worst state. We were unprepared for it. Nobody ever believed that, in Nigeria, people could tie explosives around themselves and blow themselves up.

I was in Washington when terrorists carried out the 9/11 attacks. I was held up there for one week because they stopped us from flying back (to Nigeria) due to the attacks. I went to attend a meeting at the Pentagon, I was there with the National Security Adviser.

When I came back, I made a report to the NSA that ‘now that we have seen a new dimension of terrorism taking place in America, it will only be a question of time before we will experience it in Nigeria’.

So, when I went into the Senate, which C M Y K

I warned that terrorism in Nigeria could go deadly

— Senator Ben Obi, Presidential Aide •’Jonathan’s plan for 2013' •Says Igbo have no leaders I had to battle in court for two years after my mates were sworn in June 2003, I got sworn -in on February 2005, by 15 March 2005, I had put in two bills: one had to do with the establishment of anti- terrorist agency and eradication of terrorism. I gave reasons why the bills should be passed.

In the course of it, President Obasanjo directed his Attorney General, Bayo Ojo, to send in an executive bill after my bill had gone through the first reading. After the first reading, my colleagues from the North called me and said they were not comfortable with the bill, and they asked if this was sponsored by Israel. I told them that terrorism does not know colour. So they set up a committee to look at the bill, went through it and found out it was an innocent bill and a good one.

Meanwhile, I had recommended and

pleaded with Professor Jubril Aminu to second a motion on the bill; Aminu was the Nigerian Ambassador in Washington when the 9/11 happened, and he was the one who spoke on behalf of ambassadors (to the US) to President W. Bush condemning the terrorist act.

The bill passed the second reading before we left the Senate. I’m happy today that the process of passing the bill is on the way.

In the first week of the year, President Goodluck Jonathan assured that 2013 will be better than last year. But majority of Nigerians are not convinced because the same rhetoric have been repeatedly made by him. What is your take on this?

The president explained the situation, and I think he has given his word as president of the country, that 2013

would be a better year than 2012. And I want Nigerians to believe that it is not easy for a man in the position of the President of Nigeria to make such a declaration, I can vouch for him. Because there are several things that he has advantage of knowing ahead of all of us, so I believe that 2013 would be a better year.

During the presidential chat late last year, he had to take stock of the activities from the beginning to the end of 2012. You would also agree that no matter how much detailed report given by newspapers, people will still say that they are not satisfied. Being a president does not make him a super human being. There are so many things that are on the table of the president that a good number of us are not opportune to go out and verify.

And there are so many information also available to the Mr President that are not appropriate to let out for various reasons. Some of them may be security. But then, these are things that affect the dayto- day lives of Nigerians. When it becomes a security issue, it is advised that you don’t go into such things until cerContinues on page 16

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Vanguard ,

Continued from page 15 tain things are put in place. So, once you occupy the seat of the President of Nigeria, there are several things people would want to know from you about the state of the country.

Just because people are yearning to know these and you decided to let go, the reactions may be devastating.

National Life Politicians would tell you that votes now count. That means that aspect of our national life is improving. We must be able to get our electoral process right. If we are able to put it together as it is being done now, the power sector, transport, then our industries and factories can come back to life. What that would cause is employment for the youths and the quest to be part of violence, terrorism or vandalism as being constituted by evil doers would drop.

The transformation agenda would bring clear changes that would impact on the lives of the Nigerian people. It is on course and I believe that is part of the reason the president said we will see a better 2013.

Some people don’t even pay their tax; yet they want to enjoy the benefits of government. Where would the money come from? Above that, we have a country, and we want this country to be united, we want this country to grow.

We will go into the year and be able to do an appraisal of 2013 to see if things have really started to improve. So I believe that for a man in that position to say to his fellow countrymen that things would improve, I believe things will improve.

Y

ou mean Nigerians should be optimistic when all we had in the past were empty promises?

When former President Olusegun Obasanjo was in power, people were saying he was harsh. When we had the eight years of his tenure, Nigerians said he was high handed because, as a general, he came with the tactics of the military. And people were saying we needed a democratic president. They said we needed a president with human touch and human face. Then came the Yar’Adua administration and people were saying,’ oh, now we are getting it’. And then President Jonathan came on board.

I am happy because I am serving under President Jonathan, because I try in my own interactions with him to see if we can try to govern this country using democratic elements.

We know that he is the Commander- in-Chief, but let us see if we can do without applying that touch of commander-in-chief to make him bring down heaven on Nigerians, for any reasons whatsoever.

What i am trying to say is that Nigerians are saying’ no, we don’t want this high C M Y K

JANUARY 27, 2013

would be relegating cocooning him into that small area of the region.

I am not looking up to anybody to emerge as an Igbo leader, because Igbo are big and they don’t have leaders.

Leadership in Igbo land is more of a collective thing.

‘Igbo have no leaders’

W

z Obi...we don’t believe in monolithic leadership handedness’. Gradually, President Jonathan is trying to make sure that things are done properly, he reviews and consults before taking decisions on issues. Knowing my colleagues in the political arena, everybody counts himself very important. Everybody says he/she is a stakeholder. So, based on that, we try to make as many consultations as possible to be able to get the right answers.

We may not be hundred percent in the results of the consultations, but at least people agree with us that they are being consulted.

A

nd the issue of corrup tion that ex-President Obasanjo noted is not being fought thoroughly.

There are agencies mandated to address the issue of corruption. My own simple position is that those agencies have not come straight to Nigerians that the tools they work with are being denied them. I am also conscious of the fact that in the days of Obasanjo’s administration, I was one of those legislators that quarreled with the impeachment of some governors with less than two thirds members in attendance - in Plateau, Oyo and Ekiti- which was virtually spearheaded by the EFCC. I am not saying that the governors were not corrupt, but, as a legislator, I believe that an impeachment can only succeed with votes of 2/3 of the assembly and nothing less.

It happened even in Anambra State when the legislators relocated to Asaba.

As long as I remain an adviser to President Jonathan, I would advise him to give the agencies the tools to work.

They have their own rules of how to go about it, so they should fight it just to make sure that the result is there, clearly that there are no issues as far as the constitution is on ground, nobody is above the law.

Everybody must be subjected to the law of the land. Whoever is found wanting, let the full sledge hammer of the law come

upon him. And once the president tells you to do that, which he is doing now, nobody wants the president taking over the duties of the EFCC. We have to draw the lines. But if the EFCC comes up to say that they’ve not been funded, they don’t have the tools to work and they are being denied this or that, that is a different ball game. Then you can see President Jonathan battling corruption.

People must not expect President Jonathan to play a role you find some former presidents playing in their tenure.

T

he postponement of the PDP Board of Trustees election and the ouster of a key member of the party give room for pundits to believe that there are intrigues going

Igbo to wait for President Jonathan’s decision on 2015 presidency. What message are you trying to pass across?

Igbo people don’t really believe in a monolithic leadership. It has always been a collective leadership. Odumegwu Ojukwu’s case was different because he found himself leading the people at a particular time that was quite volatile.

And he was gifted. he was a teacher, he was a fighter, he was an orator, he was a courageous administrator. And he loved his people; he came from an aristocratic home, but settled with the people. He came from an aristocratic background to help his people and then chose the philosophy of showing the light where the people could find their way. That was a different era. And, of course,

Igbo people don’t really believe in a monolithic leadership. It has always been a collective leadership.

Odumegwu Ojukwu’s case was different because he found himself leading the people at a particular time that was quite volatile. on in the party?

PDP is a huge political party and, for anyone to effectively manage the affairs of the party, more so when you want to play a more speculative role for the growth, you need to really scrutinize the BoT members, to know which of them would really uplift the credibility of an ambassadorial committee. So, if it is going to be the chief adviser, then that person must be able to carry the tag of a party like the PDP. So, when things like these happen, I am not surprised. For me, it is nothing unusual.

Y

ou were at the forefront of the agitation to immortalize the late Odumegwu Ojukwu and you advised the

he was a man who had style and tradition, so all of that counted.

He never went out of his way to declare himself Igbo leader.

I can say this authoritatively because I was actually one of his closest friends for many years. In fact , he hated the word “leader”, he would like you to say ‘i am a responsible citizen’. Yet he found himself playing a major role and leading the people.

In talking about leadership, don’t forget we also have Dr. Alex Ekwemen, who is very highly regarded. Because of Ekwueme’s emergence at the national level, it would really be difficult to place him as an Igbo leader. He was the vice president of Nigeria, and it

e are looking and work ing toward Nigeria as one of the top 20 countries in the world in 2020. Do you think we are still working in that direction and is it achievable within this timeframe?

Government is programmed to actualize that dream. Again, it is not an easy effort for Nigeria to be one of the 20 economies of the world by 2020. But the potentials to achieving that is on the ground.

We only need to do the right thing and that is why President Goodluck Jonathan came with the transformation agenda. It is only through the transformation that we would be able to get our acts right. But if we don’t key into the transformation agenda, we go back to our system of doing things, it is clear that we would go into our old habits. And once we are able to do that in two years, a lot of things would change. And because Nigerians are very active in doing things, I don’t see how we cannot do that.

However, we should also be conscious of the fact that all the other countries are not static. If we want to overtake them, they are also on the move. I am conscious of that fact.

Now look at one major issue in Nigeria developmental stride.

The issue of electoral process. At least, today, Nigerians must give credit to President Jonathan. The first time a sitting president would say, ‘listen to me, let nobody rig election for me. No Nigerian blood should spill because of my election. If I lose, I only go back to where I came from!’. And ever since then, he has stood by the truth in the Nigerian electoral process.

In Edo State, he mandated me to go there to ensure the constitutional rights of the people on free and fair elections. I went there and did a workshop and told them that President Goodluck Jonathan, though a PDP member, had no interest in who emerges as governor and that the process would be free, fair, transparent and credible. And I went there and I did my workshop. And the candidates came.

At the end of the day, it was a free and fair election. When we got to the time of Ondo State, he called me again and said ‘go to Ondo State and conduct that sensitization workshop again, and tell them it is going to be a free and fair election’. To a large extent, the elections were free and fair in Edo and Ondo. President Goodluck Jonathan was the first to congratulate the two governors: one, ACN and the other Labour Party.

And I think the only way this country can develop and grow and become one of the 20 economies by2020 is for us to work hand-ingloves and move on. I know Nige-. rians have suffered a lot.

I am appealing to them to exercise a little bit of patience and we will get there.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 17

.... CRIME AND NATIONAL SECURITY

EXCLUSIVE: POLICE REPORT 2

Late Olaitan Oyerinde...who killed him?

Governor Adams Oshiomhole... aggrieved

IG, M .D Abubakar...promised to set up a committee to look at the investigative report

Who killed Oshiomhole’s private secretary?

Regional Editor, South-South With case file CR:3000/X/ FHQ/ABJ/FSARS/VOL.T1/90, dated August 1, 2012, in respect of the matter of the killing of Olaitan Oyerinde, wherein it was reported that a total of 16 witnesses and 18 suspects were interrogated, including Mrs. Funke Oyerinde, Sunday Vanguard presents you the concluding part of the report whose investigation spanned four weeks of rigorous work. It is about the bungling of an investigation, the reasons of which are yet to be properly explained because of the massive incongruity in the report of the investigation. It will shock you.

HILE the (DSS) paraded some people who alleged to have confessed to the killing of Comrade Oyerinde on account of armed robbery, the Nigeria Police also said they have in their custody exactly the same number of persons who allegedly confessed to the killing of Comrade Oyerinde.

“Following the murder of Comrade Oyerinde, the Governor gave the security agencies a 14-day ultimatum to find the killers, which he suspected was politically-motivated.

Within a few days of his murder, Mr. Governor was in-

W

zHow

investigation was bungled

,

BY Emma Amaize,

While the (DSS) paraded some people who alleged to have confessed to the killing of Comrade Oyerinde on account of armed robbery, the Nigeria Police also said they have in their custody exactly the same number of persons who allegedly confessed to the killing of Comrade Oyerinde

,

formed by the (DSS) in confidence that they had made some progress, having located Comrade Oyerinde’s telephone and those who bought it and eventually using their own skills, they were able to arrest, one after the other, those who have since confessed that they killed Comrade Oyerinde.

“Subsequently, at about the end of June, the (DSS) again, apparently to assure the Governor of the progress made, paraded the suspects before the Governor and he had the opportunity to ask some questions, for about 45 minutes, about the murder and they told

him who fired the shot, where they stood, who bought the phone and for how much and they also showed him the weapons used and the amount of money they found which was less than fifty thousand naira.

“From the interface with the suspects paraded by the DSS, the Governor was convinced that they were indeed responsible for the murder of Comrade Oyerinde to which they had confessed. The suspects also repeated to the Governor the confessions they had made to the (DSS) that they were the same gang that made an attempt to attack the State Commissioner for Information,

Hon Louis Odion at his residence and their account corroborated that of Hon Odion who narrated to the Governor that ‘it was the vigilance group in his area that scared the attackers away’.

Ugolor’s posers Rev Ugolor, who is at the centre of controversy, Tuesday, in Abuja, also addressed reporters, calling on President Jonathan to constitute an independent committee to review and reconcile the conflicting reports by the DSS and the police in a bid to unmask the killers of his friend, Comrade Oyerinde. He also tasked Jonathan, the National Assembly and the civil society to unravel the mystery behind the controversial police report on the murder, which was at variance with that of the DSS. His words: “I want Nigerians to challenge the police authorities to tell Nigerians whether it was true that Danjuma Musa and Murtala Usman – the two accused armed robbers are still alive, they are in local prison; whether it was true they were in detention on April 24 and between April 24 – May 24, they were not grant-

ed bail. And we know that from the police command to Oyerinde’s house is about one kilometre.

“How did they fly? What happened? Who escorted them to Olaitan’s house? Who brought out the guns that were in police custody since April 24 last year?

Sunday Vanguard’s Findings: Sunday Vanguard is in possession of the “Police Investigation Report”, reference number, CR:3000/X/FHQ/ ABJ/FSARS/VOL.T1/90, dated August 1, 2012, in respect of the matter. A total of 16 witnesses and 18 suspects were interrogated, including Mrs. Funke Oyerinde, wife of the deceased. Sunday Vanguard waited for four months after we obtained after we obtained the police report to lay hands on the SSS report, which remained hard to pin down.

However, with the recent outburst by Oshiomhole, the reports of the independent findings had to be made public.

Motive From the police report, it was clear that the motive of the killers of Comrade Oyerinde was not political. They were simply hoodlums, who found out that he came occasionally to transact business at a local for-

Continues on page 18

PAGE 18—SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

Two different suspects paraded by the DSS and police...

‘How investigation was bungled’ eign exchange bureau in Benin City. In fact, the agent, who is one of the suspects, was the one that set him up. He recruited the other suspects to rob his client. Oyerinde owned a double-barrel gun and might have been trying to reach for it, when the hoodlums shot him. Before his death, he had an annoying disagreement with his landlord, Architect Hope Akpo, aged 51 years, over N1.2 million rent for which the landlord petitioned the Secretary to the State Government and Chief of Staff to the Governor.

In fact, the relationship between Oyerinde and the property owner was so terrible that Architect Akpo, who issued him a quit notice and cut off water supply to his apartment, dragged him to the court to recover his property.

Arrest of suspects The claim of the DSS in its report is quite believable and the police, indeed, arrested some other persons connected with the same crime and the gang that carried it out.

One of the suspects arrested by the police, 26-year-old Auta Umaru Ali, a nomad, who hails from Gumi in Gumi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, confessed to the police that he belonged to two robbery gangs. He started robbery in early 2011. The investigation report quoted Ali thus: “The first robbery gang is made up of Haruna, Ibrahim, Sanda and some other Fulani boys and their area of specialization is armed robbery, along Benin-Lagos Expressway, around By-pass and Benin/Abraka/Obiaruku road. He averred that they usually block the road, stop vehicles and rob passengers of their property, which include telephone, money, gold jewelries, necklaces, etc.

“He identified his second gang of armed robbers as Danjuma Musa, Muritala Usman, C M Y K

Asamah Moses Okoro, alias Auchi boy and himself. He also identified Garba Usman Maisamari, a notorious buyer of stolen goods, as the person who buys all their loots after robbery operations. He revealed that on May 3 (24 hours before Oyerinde was killed), Danjuma Musa called him on telephone and informed him of an armed robbery operation at GRA, Benin City, that night. He further revealed that Danjuma Musa also asked him to come to Owina Junction, where they

Why it came up with the theory is not very clear.

Birds of the same feather Nonetheless, Ugolor, is a very close friend of the deceased. Their friendship started in 2009 when the latter was appointed private secretary to Oshimohole. Oyerinde was very useful to Ugolor in the activities of his NGO and liaison with the state government.

Both of them practically shared the same vision and a day before he was killed, he and the deceased went on a

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Continued from page 17

With respect to Rev David Ugolor, the allegations against him hinge entirely on the confessional statement of Garba Usman Maisaimari. It is trite law that in the absence of independent evidence, the confession of an accused person is not admissible evidence

usually drink as the take-off point, which he did.

Thirty-three-year-old Umaru Adamu, alias Duna, who claimed to be a dealer in foreign exchange, buyer of stolen goods and an armourer for a robbery gang, declined knowledge of the armed robbery at 2nd Ugbor road. He was arrested in connection with Oyerinde’s murder and admitted that the gun used for the operation was collected from him on May 3, 2012. He also told police that the same gun was returned at about 09.30 hours to him at a petrol filling station, along Ring Road, Benin City. His grandparents hail from Niger Republic.

What is, however, incongruous in the police report is that detectives, who were looking for every available way to tidy up the case, made a fatal blunder in roping Ugolor as mastermind of the murder.

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social outing at Madam Serah’s drinking spot in Benin City.

The late Oyerinde dropped Ugolor at his residence before proceeding to his own residence same day and the activist was jolted from his sleep in the early hours of the next day by a phone call from Oyerinde’s wife, informing him that her husband had been shot by bandits. Both Ugolor and Oyerinde’s wife rushed the deceased to the Central Hospital, Benin City, where he later gave up the ghost.

In fact, the late Oyerinde was building his personal house in Benin City at the time of his death and Ugolor is the one supervising the project for him.

Rev Ugolor: Was it a set up?

Forty-two-year-old Ugolor, according to the police report, described his identification by Maisamari “as the mastermind

of the dastardly act as blatant, false and wicked”, adding that he had never met the suspect in life, “except at the identification parade.

“He claimed that he has not overtly or covertly requested for any government appointment, not even through Oyerinde and wondered what he will benefit from his death. He posited that as a human rights activist and television programmes resource person, Maisamari must have seen him on television and is now looking for whom to drag into his mess. He vehemently denied any involvement in the murder of Oyerinde, stating that he has never visited Ring Road for dollar exchange with the deceased in his life, not to talk of gong with a Camry car as late Olaitan does not have a Camry car,” the report added.

Sunday Vanguard investigation showed that Ugolor ’s main link to the murder was that 39-year-old Maisamari, born in Bagudo area of Kebbi state, stated, “The job (murder of Oyerinde) was given to him by one David, who promised to pay him N20 million if the job was successfully executed”.

According to the report, “He further stated that the said David paid him an advance payment of N200,000, out of which he gave Danjuma Musa, N100,000. He described David as black in complexion, not too tall, but get body small. He also described him as always wearing a native dress but speaks English language fluently”.

“He stated that he has known David for the past one year and that David usually changed money from him and has bought gold from him once. He also stated that David told him that he wants to take over late Olaitan Oyerinde’s office if he is killed. He also confessed that late Olaitan was trailed twice by the trio of himself, Danjuma Musa and Moses Asamah Okoro in order to know his

house as GRA, Benin City.

“He further said that David has not paid the N20 million and each time he called him on phone, he will be saying he is in Abuja and will pay when he comes back. He was not able to give the said David’s telephone number but stated that David calls him with MTN, Glo and Etisalat numbers, but when he lost his phone and did welcome back, he lost David’s numbers. He admitted informing Danjuma Musa, Moses Asamah Okoro, Muritala Usman and Auta Umaru Ali that the operation was a hired job meant to kill the man in a meeting they held at Owina Junction, Benin”, the police said in the report, signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP Chris O. Ezike, FSSARS, Abuja”, the report continued.

It was palpable that that story of Ugolor as mastermind of the murder is a fabrication as Maisamari admitted masterminding the robbery that led to Oyerinde’s death.

Said the report, “According to him (referring to Maisamari), late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was his customer who changes dollars into naira for him. He recollected the late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde had changed money from him on three occasions- the first time being $500, the second $500 and the third time- $850, which was on 03/05/2012. According to him, on the second occasion when late Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde came to change money, he telephoned Moses Asamah Okoo to come with his motorcycle and as Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde left, they trailed him to his house at No 65, 2nd Ugbor Road, Benin City.

“He also confessed that on 03/05/2012 when the man came to change money, himself and Moses Asamah Okoro also trailed him, but he ended up in a beer parlour around Adesuwa road area.

That they left him to plan the

Continues on page 19

SUNDAY

‘How investigation was bungled’ operation. He admitted that he asked Danjuma Musa to contract Muritala Usman and Auta Umaru Ali to meet Moses Asamah Okoro at Owina Junction so that four of them can execute the job successfully. Okoro informed him through telephone when they were to strike and also informed him that the operation had been executed successfully after the operation.

“He confessed that he bought all the items from late Comrade Olaitan’s house which he itemized as two laptop computers, two galaxy telephone handsets, gold jewelries, four blackberry telephone handsets and that he paid a total of N150,000 only advance , remaining N32,000.”

Reading the police report between the lines, it is not difficult to conclude that the suspects interrogated by the detectives were under pressure to admit that Maisamari informed them that somebody, David, promised to pay them N20 million if Oyerinde was killed, but the actual mission was to rob the private secretary.

Like Oyerinde, like Alhaji Ismaila Aliyu The way Oyerinde was killed on May 4 was the same manner one Alhaji Ismaila Aliyu, a businessperson and foreign exchange dealer from Kebbi State was murdered May 21, 17 days after, by a robbery gang in Benin City.

The gang usually trailed people, who carry out foreign exchange transaction, to their homes to steal money from them. Aliyu’s murder was unsung by the media because of his social status.

In Aliyu’s case, a 36-year-old dealer in foreign exchange at No 6 Erie Street, Benin City, who is already in police net, called one of the suspects, Abubakar, arrested in connection with Oyerinde’s murder, to contact other bandits to waylay him and steal the foreign currency that he normally brought home. Danjuma Musa, Moses Asamah Okoro and others went to Aliyu’s house at No 21 Second Ihiogbe Stree, off Wire Road, May 18, and May 21, they trailed him from his office to the house and shot him dead.

Unfortunately, Aliyu was heartlessly murdered, but the gang did not find money with him.

Holes in police report What made the police report suspicious was its claim on two suspects, Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman. The suspects allegedly confessed that the armed robbery operation of May 4, 2012, which resulted in Oyerinde’s death was carried out by them in conjunction with Auta Umaru and Moses Asamah and that the gun found with them was the same gun used to kill the deceased.

They also told the police, “Garba Usman Maisamari, who fingered Ugolor as mastermind of the murder, “had deep knowledge of the operation and bought all the items that were stolen from the house”.

On page 7 of the 93-page report, the police said, “The interrogation yielded amazing result as both of them confessed that the armed robbery operation of 4th May, 2012 at No 65, 2nd Ugbor road, GRA, Benin City, which led to the death of Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde was carried out by them …”

The police in the report noted that the two suspects in question - Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman - “have been in Edo Command custody for unlawful possession of cartridges since 24/05/2012…”

However, apparently in a hurry to come up with a list of suspects, police

investigators strangely concluded that the same suspects were responsible for the murder of Oyerinde, 10 days after, even at time they were in police custody. It is surprising that the police authorities did not crosscheck this information because it was on the strength of the alleged confession by the said suspects, who linked Maisamari to the murder, that Ugolor was arrested as the mastermind.

Investigations by Sunday Vanguard showed that in a letter, dated July 18, 2012, entitled, Transfer of Casefile Exhibits’, addressed to the DIG, “D” Department, FCID, Abuja, the Divisional Police Officer, Esigie Police Division, Benin City, CSP, Yakubu Mohammed, handed over the said weapon to the FCID. According to the letter, “On the 24/ 04/2012, at about 06.30 hrs, one F/No, 430274, Cpl John Ubogu, attached to Esigie Division, presently on Foreign Peace Mission at East Timor, brought one locally made cut to size pistol and one cartridge to the charge room...

“He stated that he recovered the exhibits at the side of one abandoned vehicle while returning from night duty at about 06.15 hrs. The exhibits were later referred to exhibit keeper for safekeeping. I hereby, transfer/forward one cut-to-size pistol and one cartridge for further investigation, please”.

The two suspects were taken over by FSARS operatives for further interrogation, but the aspect of their report, which categorically stated that the said weapon was used in the Oyerinde murder, is what has cast doubt on the entire investigation.

The DPP saw the ambiguity in the police report and observed thus: “By a letter, dated 18th July, from the office of the DPO, Esigie Division,

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Continued from page 18

What made the police report suspicious was its claim on two suspects, Danjuma Musa and Muritala Usman. The suspects allegedly confessed that the armed robbery operation of May 4, 2012, which resulted in Oyerinde’s death was carried out by them in conjunction with Auta Umaru and Moses Asamah

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Benin City, addressed to the Deputy Inspector General of Police, FCID, Abuja, on “Transfer of Casefiles/ Exhibits”, which letter contained in your duplicate case file, an exhibit, to wit; a locally made cut –to- size gun and one cartridge said to have been recovered on 24/04/2012 by the Esigie Police Division, Benin City, were sent to FCID, Abuja.

“This is alleged to be a weapon used during the robbery incident that took place on 4th May, 2012. Another incongruity, Could a weapon recovered and in possession of the Police be confirmed by suspects to have been used for the commission of the offence”. This inexcusable bungle is why Oshimohole, Ugolor, civil society groups and Nigerians are spitting fire and calling on President Jonathan to unravel the mystery.

It is one riddle in the entire affair, which the police must unknot believably before its report on the Oyerinde murder would be treated as a document worth the paper on which it is printed.

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 19

PAGE 20—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JANUARY 27, 2013

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

Tribute to late Mrs Funso Animashaun (nee Kayode)

BY DR. ADENIKE YESUFU (NEE BANJO)

F

UNSO, words cannot express my feelings. When one has known someone for as long as I have known you, when one has had a long history of closeness and togetherness one is at a loss at the sudden and unexpected passing of that someone. The last time we spoke just a few days before you passed on, you were sharing your thoughts and plans for the future ahead. Your throaty laugh was still ringing in my ears when I heard of your passing. It was quite sudden, no notice, no indication nor hint that the end was near. We chatted for about two hours in our usual fashion touching on everything under the sun.

The passing of any loved one is sad but thankfully with you, the pain and the shock quickly became Good News as I was instantly made aware of where you had gone because among many things you were a woman of faith. You had laid the foundation for an eternal place in the heavenly kingdom. Coincidentally you responded to that inevitable call on the day of the Lord. I remember the very many hours that we have shared together in prayers. I remember your journey of faith. I remember your growth in faith, your unflinching commitment to your faith and your devotion to your Lord and Saviour. I thank the Lord for you. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116 vs. 15).

Funso spending time with you was always fun. Starting from when we were young and still in school. We would visit each other and later escorted each other to and fro between Oyekan Road and Ogunlana Drive, having laughs, sharing our thoughts about life, about dreams, about aspirations, about loves and about the futures. We always had so much to say to each other, so much to talk about, and so much to laugh about. As we grew older the bond became stronger.

We were later separated physically with residing in various places in the world but the bond did not weaken.

You have been a friend who sticks closer than a sister, to use the Biblical expression. You like people, you reach out to people and you extend to people.

F

unso, you were a woman of im mense inner strength. You handled life with stoicism. The best part of your life was your fierce devotion and love for the people in your life and around you, your children, your family, your friends, your students, etc., as the Lord commanded that we should love all. For you teaching was not just a vocation it was a call, a minC M Y K

PEACE THOUGHTS

By Dr. Adenike Yesufu E-mail: ayesufu@yahoo.ca

Funso I say Farewell to you but not farewell to all my fondest thoughts of you. Within my heart they will continue to dwell.

Sleep on, dear friend and sister till we meet again at Jesus feet

was firmly rooted in your cultural heritage. You lived your life to the fullest with an impressive joie de vivre. You appreciated life and the source of your numerous blessings.

You had a deep understanding of roles and expectations and you were well aware of your own responsibilities in them all. I watched you over the years struggle to maintain a balance in all the statuses that you occupied, a wife, a mother, a sibling, an in-law, a teacher, a principal, a friend, a Christian and an armchair politician. Thankfully you did not die with unfulfilled dreams except that of visiting the Caribbean where your late mother came from. I was looking forward to facilitating that and accompanying you. We might just do that in another life!!!

Funso time and age did not take its toll on you. You remained your pretty self till the very end. The greatest hallmark of your life was the inner beauty that radiated to what we all see from the external.

The best part of you is your interactions with people. You believed in relationships, you valued relationships, you worked on relationships. This is the memory of you that will remain forever with many whose paths have crossed your own. You are not dead; your memory is warm in the hearts of those you love and those who love you.

T

istry. Your care and love for the children in your charge is legendary. You were a great teacher; your heart was irrevocably centered on the betterment of the young souls placed under you. Parents knew that you were genuinely interested in the successes and comfort of their children. Your professional journey serves as a reminder to all of us that the tragedy of life is having no goal to reach. You set goals for yourself and you strive to achieve them. You pursued your career with the one sole aim of getting better at each level. You lived your life with a certain type of quiet resolve rarely found in many. Your optimistic view of life leaves you undaunted even in the face of severe scepticism and criticism from others.

o borrow from Funeral Blues

by Wystan Hugh Auden we will not stop all the clocks, we will not cut off the telephones, we will not prevent the dogs from barking

we will not silence the pianos, neither will we muffle the drums. We will bring out the coffin; we will let the mourners come. We will send out the message that you have translated because the Scriptures tell us that there is a time to live and there is a time to die.

E

verything that has a beginning has an ending. We will celebrate your life. We will roll out the drums. We will sing in thankfulness of all that you were. Mark Twain says that Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. Funso being the pragmatist that you were I know what you will say in response to all these. In the words of Anne Bronte you will say to your children, to all those close to you, to all those you love and to all those who love you. ‘Do not stand at my grave and weep I am not there. Weep if you must, parting is tough, but life goes on. Cry for me a little. Think of me sometimes, but not too much. Think of me now and again as I was in life.’

And to me Adenike your close friend you will say in the words of Henry Scott Holland, Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral, 1847-1918 ‘All Is Well, Death is nothing at all, I have only slipped into the next room. I am I and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still.’

Funso I say Farewell to you but not farewell to all my fondest thoughts of you. Within my heart they will continue to dwell. Sleep on, dear friend and sister till we meet again at Jesus feet.

F

unso you always had interesting per spectives about life and situations. I usually marvel at your uncanny instinct at discerning people and situations. You also had a subtle sense of humour. Remember whenever we talked about how poorly paid teachers are you would say that God loves teachers, which is why He has reserved our rewards in heaven. Funso you were always so proud of your roots. Remember how you would always describe yourself as an authentic Omo Ile Ife. Your identity

Late Mrs Funso Animashaun

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 21

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk

(07036819426)

Education should be given priority attention —Dr Ori Obasi some money for the downtrodden. I was really amazed when I was eventually appointed a commissioner in the state.

Let us talk about your life as a teacher…

I started my career as a classroom teacher, and I have written and published several books. These include Laughter of the gods which is in use in some of the states, A Pot of Fortune, etc. I loved and enjoyed teaching, and I think it is a most rewarding profession because you’re able to influence lives, and make a good change in people. I was principal of several schools but the last one was Girls High School, Aba. I retired voluntarily in 2005 when I was appointed a commissioner. I however have in mind the establishment of a school where I could demonstrate my love for education. However, I’m presently preoccupied with non-governmental charitable activities because of their impact on the lives of the less privileged.

For instance, I have a programme on reading under which children who can’t read could learn to read in two weeks. I do this especially in the rural areas.

What then do you do to generate income for yourself presently?

Along side running some businesses, I speak at seminars and also generate some income from my books.

From your perspective as an experi-

Dr.(Mrs.)Ori Obasi.... Any teacher who is not ICT compliant is there-

fore deficient!

By JOSEPHINE IGBINO VIA IGBINOVIA

She was a two-time commissioner in Abia State- Commissioner for Education 2005-2007, Commissioner for Agriculture 2007-2009, and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) deputy governorship candidate at the Abia State 2011 April governorship poll. Dr.(Mrs.)Ori Obasi is a renowned educationist and administrator with a first degree in English Education, two Masters Degrees in education and a Ph.D in Early Childhood Education which she is at the verge of completing.

She also holds an honorary Doctorate degree in Education. Dr. Obasi speaks on her life as an educationist, politician and philanthropist in a recent chat with Vista Woman.

Excerpts:

C

OULD you take us through your childhood days?

I’m the last of six children.

My parents were loving parents who

encouraged their children to do their best to be successful in life. Whenever I brought home good examinations results, my father would say that I should work harder because I would study abroad. So, that was an incentive to do well at my studies.

There was togetherness and love in the home, and we usually had dinner together childhood. It was an enjoyable time.

Your background clearly implies you’re an educationist, how then did you get into politics?

Though I’ve been a two-time commissioner in Abia State and a onetime Deputy Governorship candidate, I would say I really do not know how I got into politics; I believe it was the handiwork of God. The year I served as the Chairman of the International Inner Wheel District 914 was the same year I was appointed a Commissioner! I could not even finish my tenure as a District Chairman. Actually, under my leadership, the district really touched the lives of many less privileged because I went the extra mile to raise quite

therefore deficient! If teachers have no knowledge of ICT, how will students gain such knowledge? Another problem is that a lot of states do not have enough teachers. When you have one teacher teaching over 600 pupils a subject at the same time, how will that teacher give them assignments and mark those assignments? The implication of this is that what one does not practice, one cannot master effectively! We really need to bring in more teachers and increase their capacity. Some teachers have used one lesson note for over ten years without realising that times are changing! The environment makes a whole lot of difference also. If the atmosphere in a school is conducive, learning is much easier and enjoyable.

Where should we expect to see you in the next few years?

If I have an option, I would love to keep teaching; not classroom teaching anyway.

I would love to be in management of education. I may want to go teach in the university because I had done that earlier in my life. I actually want to see education given priority attention and I want to see teachers’ capacity increased.

When you travel abroad to see what education is like in developed countries, you really would want to replicate it here.

From your stint in politics, what’s your advice to women concerning participating in politics?

Some teachers have used one lesson note for over ten years without realising that times are changing! The environment makes a whole lot of difference also. If the atmosphere in a school is conducive, learning is much easier and enjoyable

enced educationist, what’s your assessment of our educational system?

Our educational system is okay, but it could be better. Part of what is lacking is proper supervision because some teachers would need prodding to do the work for which they are paid! These days, you hardly find inspectors in schools like we did in the past, and that is the root of the lack of supervision. Secondly, from time to time, teachers need to have updated re-orientation courses; especially in the area of ICT because the world has turned into a global village and our children have to be able to compete with their counterparts across the globe! Any teacher who is not ICT compliant is

Women should venture more into politics. I’ve been there and I enjoyed it.

Once you know your terrain and you’ve got integrity, you will make a credible politician and you’ll make your people happy.

You’re a past District Chairman of the International Inner Wheel District 914, what inspired your joining the club?

I’ve been in the club for about 20 years now. In those days, you only joined Inner Wheel if your husband was a member of the Rotary Club, and my husband was a member. However, the rules are now relaxed and women whose husbands are not Rotarians could be invited to be members of the Inner Wheel.

C M Y K

PAGE 22—SUNDAY VANGUARD , JANUARY 27, 2013

Dear Rebecca

He says same church will make sex okay!

Dear Rebecca

I

AM a girl of twenty working as a secre tary typist. There is a boy who has been chasing me for a while now.

Since knowing him, he has been showering me with gifts and money. He proposed marriage to me, and I have started loving him myself.

My problem is that I am a member of a Christ to others. In addition, I am afraid that he may not be able to hold back from having sex with me. Being pure is also a condition for being a member.

He has even agreed to be a member of this church, and he believes that will make it possible for us to have sex in our relationship.

Should I have sex with him or forget about him?

Angela, Asaba

a position to have sex with you before marriage, does not show much selfdiscipline on his part.

Who knows what would happen when you have started to have sex with him? After ‘sampling’ will he not have satisfied his curiosity and turn to another girl ?

I suggest you tell him that he is welcome to join your church but that you should wait until marriage, before you have sex .

Meanwhile stop accepting money and gifts from him, and concentrate on your church life. Our religion and faith are what keep us going in life and it is important that we comply with the requirements.

I

AM 18, a first year medical student. I had secondary school education in a seminary. At my age, I don’t have any casual friend of the opposite sex, let alone a girlfriend. I see it as an illstar or luck. I will like to do something about it no matter what it takes. My friends scold me for not being able to walk up to a girl since I’m handsome and intelligent.

They call me’’righteous man’’ because I pay no attention to girls who come around with body languages. Truly speaking I don’t know how to approach a girl of any age or, how to treat a girl .

Sometimes, I wish I don’t have to have anything to do with them.

Please aunty, advise me on how to interact

I can’t connect with girls! with girls . If I don’t learn now I don’t think I will be an efficient gyneacologist. I intend to specialize in that field.

Ralph, Lagos.

REPL Y REPLY

D

ON’T accept the challenge of your friends that you should be able to walk up to a girl and chat her up. If you do, you could be shouted at by the girl, and you would feel humiliated.

Maybe there’s some bad ‘belle’ behind the comment since you said they told you that you’re handsome and intelligent enough to do so.

Looks and intelligence are not what can make a girl sincerely fall in love

with you. It’s basically the way you present yourself - clean, polite, humble, and with a sense of humour and responsibility. But must you connect with girls by all means? Does your heart want that, or, do you just one to be like ‘one of the boys’? You can be a brilliant gyneacologist without having a relationship with girls/women, because, while attending to them, you should only see them as patients, not as love interest. At the College of Medicine, I’m sure you’re being taught how to relate with your female patients without any amorous feelings.

Why are you planning to specialize in gynaecology if as you said in your

REPL Y REPLY

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OU should not have sex with him, but stick to the teachings of your church. This man may love you, but it seems that his pursuit of you right now, is mainly with the aim of having sex with you. This is not right especially when he is aware of the requirements in your church. He should encourage you to remain faithful, making sure that you do not fall into temptations.

For him to want to become a member for the sole purpose of being in

Dear Rebecca

I

AM a reader of your column ‘’Dear Rebecca ‘’ and I enjoy every bit of solution you offer. I therefore need your advice.

I am 18 years and in love with a man nine years my senior. He has promised to marry me after my WAEC. In a few weeks time I would have been through with WAEC . We have been dating for two years now.

He is very nice and most members of my family like him.

The only problem I have is my sister and her husband.

Should I marry now?

They feel that he is not educated and rich enough and besides, they want me to read further.

To this, he also told them that I can continue with my studies after marriage.

I am so confused.

Please advise me before I take a decision I will regret.

Martha, Lagos REPL Y REPLY

T

he acquisition of higher educa tional qualifications is something every

girl should strive for these days .

This would make her enlightened and also empower her to get good employment and hopefully live a more fulfilled life. In certain ethnic groups in our country, husbands with little or no education, willingly sponsor their wives for higher education which would raise the status of his family. Some of these women may later feel too ‘high’ for their husbands but many remain in their marriages.

If you want to study further, you will have to

ask yourself if this man is the sort of husband you would want to be at your side as a graduate.

Would he fit into the sort of life you envisage for your life? Would you be proud to have him as the father of your kids?

Some men may agree that their girlfriends could study further after marriage, but later they would refuse, for one reason or the other. Some get very jealous and nasty when their wives acquire higher qualifications than they have. Life would be unbearable for

these women.

Rich or poor, SSCE qualifications are not enough for anyone. it is best to study now that you are young and not shackled with being a housewife and mother.

This is the time to concentrate on your studies.

Your man is only twentyseven. He can afford to wait for you. If you don’t want to marry him, please tell him so now, and don’t allow him to spend money on you.

letter you sometimes wish you have nothing to do with women?

Your patients would be mostly women if you are a gynaecologist. Even as a doctor , you will have to treat female patients as I don’t think there’s a special hospital for men only in the country.

Now, there is no age at which you must have a girlfriend , and whether you are good looking and intelligent or not , you don’t owe anybody any explanation about a relationship with girls. It is not compulsory that you must have a girlfriends, marry and have children. These are personal decisions you have to make , one way or the other . If in your heart you want to have a girls in your life in a romantic way, start off by smiling politely at girls around you, and greeting them.

These could be your course mates or neighbors . If there are girls in your family, try to interact more with them, chatting and helping out in the house, just so that you can get used to being around girls.

From regular greetings with those around you in class, you can stop sometimes to chat about studies. You can even ask then to help explain an aspect of lecture you had . If you are polite and nice, girls would like chatting with you. Don’t try to have a romantic relationship until you are very used to being in the company of girls and chatting with them, and you understand them at least, a little. At 18, you don’t need a special girlfriend, so, don’t feel bad when friends around you boast of their conquests with girls. Boys like to brag about such things, and most of what they say they’ve done, or, are doing to girls are lies. Just smile when you hear such things, and move on. You don’t have to join in. Your priority in life now is to concentrate well on your studies, not only to make good grades, but to be one of the best in the Medical profession later in life. Don’t let the issue of girls and a romantic relationship mess up your career. Medical studies are tough.

Good luck.

•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 , JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 23

The wages of sin is sweet revenge!

I

T 1S often said that trouble always comes in threes, and that no matter how terrible your situation, there are thousands of other problems that would make yours pale into insignificance. Not so long ago, I had to see Dedun, a good friend, for a favour.

“Have you heard about Iyabo?”, she asked excitedly. Iyabo is another member of our group. A very enterprising lady, she’d been the rock behind her husband’s success. Thanks to her and her late father’s muscles, Lekan, her husband rode rapidly up the ladder of success in the telecommunications company he worked for, and he’d just been posted to Ibadan to head the South-West operations of his company.

He’d left Iyabo in the big company house they lived in Oregun whilst he tried to find his feet in his new job before sending for his wife and two of the six children he’d had from four different women.

“Well, what about her?”

‘I asked. Surely, she couldn’t have been pregnant after all these years?

That would have been the icing on the cake of her relationship with Lekan.

Instead of playing mother to his ‘sullen’ overgrown

kids, it would be nice that her own child should benefit from her maternal talent. “Lekan has moved in with another woman!” Dedun dropped the bombshell.

“Moved in where’!” I was still very confused.

The last time I saw Lekan before he moved, he was his flamboyant self, playing at being a responsible married man. Lekan's company lodged him in an hotel pending when a suitable accommodation could be found for him, but he moved in with this buka owner mother-of-three and says he’s in love with her.

The woman was abroad with her husband until a year ago when she rushed back home after the husband was arrested for drugs dealing.”

“I was in shock! Do people actually behave in this heartless way?

One minute, you believe you have a rock-solid marriage and the next, it’s come crashing round your ears. I was enraged at the unfairness of it all.

Who did he think he was? .,Where did Dedun get her story from?

“Iyabo called me herself,” she said,” and I promised we would both come to see her. She’s really distraught.”

I bet she is, I fumed.

The energy I’d thought had deserted me after a day’s hard work instantly bounced back. We got into Dedun's car and didn’t mind the traffic.

When we eventually got to Iyabo’s house, I marvelled again at the madness that Would. possess a father of six to leave a mansion and go to live with a mother of three In a coup. When Iyabo let us in, she burst Into tears. She’d lost a lot of weight and was a shadow of her vivacious self. After all she’d sacrificed for her husband, she wailed,this was how he treated her. Now his office had gotten in touch with her, giving her three months to pack up and leave the house so its new owner could move

in.

“So what plans do you have?” I’d wanted to know. She told us of her efforts to locate her husband in the hotel he was now living and how he’d humiliated her in the presence of his trollop.

He was in love,he told some of his co-workers from Lagos that offered to come with her to intervene, and the sooner she got that into her head, the better it would be for her to move on. “The woman he moved in with looked brash and wild,” Iyabo continued.

“I was shocked and traumatized by it all that I lashed out at Lekan and, but for the quick intervention of the people around us, he would have beaten me to a

pulp.”

“You still haven’t answered my question, I reminded her, boiling with concealed rage: “What plans do you have?" “What plans could I have except to move my things? That's why I need you people to let me move into one of your boys’ quarters:’ “Why would you want to move to a boys’ quarters from a sprawling house like this?” I asked her. “Listen, you shouldn’t be the one to suffer because of your husband’s recklessness. From this moment, you have to make an inventory of all the things in the house and we would pass copies to our friends who would be interested in buying. And for starters, I’m interested in that new computerand freezer! What about you Dedun, anything you particularly fancy?”

They were both wideeyed and looked at me with the respect gangsters regard their leader.

“You have two months to move out. By the time you finish flogging all of the beautiful things in this house, you will have more than enough money to rent and furnish a decent flat. As for those Alsatian dogs that are his pride and joy, find a good vet to help you sell them off - you

should get a tidy sum for them. The giant generator would be the last to go ... “ By the time Lekan got wind of what was going on weeks later, most of the items in the house were sold. He rushed back to a house he hadn’t visited for close to five months and found it bare. Even the furniture had been carted away as Iyabo didn’t want any reminder of what she went through in her new house. She was pondering on what to do with the pistol she had discovered hidden in the room when she heard Lekan raving and ranting downstairs at the only domestic left. “To this day, I don’t know what propelled me to do what I did,” recalled Iyabo later.

“I’d never seen a gun in my life. But I gingerly walked downstairs with the pistol, which was heavier than it looked, and aimed the gun at him. It was a pleasure to see the great fear in his cowardly face. He did a quick about-turn and bolted out of the door! It was later I learnt the gun wasn’t even loaded!

“By the time I finally left the house, only books and our wedding photographs were left. Let him get rid of those himself."

knees and the elbows touching the floor.

For beginners it maybe impossible to assume the full posture so it will do to hold as far down the legs as you can and lower the trunk the furtherest down you can go.

Duration: Stay in the position for about 10 seconds and gradually go up to a minute or two.

Lie down on your back when you’re through to allow the circulation stabilise.

The head to knee tones up the muscles of the back, the arms and hamstrings. The ‘doubling up’ lends gentle massage to the digestive organs improving the way the body handles nourishment. In the women-folk this posture is said help & painful periods and eventually stop it completely.

It’s also a great exercise for long distance runners as the hamstrings are where the long distance runner is most likely to develop muscle pulls.

08052201867(Text Only)

Health for you now

S

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

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

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

Mastering the art of deep breathing, for instance, can make us overcome respiratory problems such as asthma. The right type of C M Y K

exercise will see us quickly through a running nose or congested sinuses. Even persistent headaches can be overcomed with the right exercise and breathing technique.

It may come as a surprise to many that learning to relax properly leads to a reduction in cholesterol levels, heart rate and blood pressure. This is suggestive that the body can put thungs right on its own. We only must help it along, adhering to the right habits and eschewing the wrong ones. Remember that a thousand and one things can go wrong with the body of a youngster as well as that of an adult if the living habits lack proper direction. For example, the body of a young person who refrains from exercise or the healthful games his peers engage in will soon find that he lacks the stamina and the sheer joy of living as expressed by his active friends. In the same way a grown-up who spends his days with a belly full of wine and flesh will

soon find he can’t keep pace with his colleagues after just a few months of such inordinate indulgence.

But then health soon radiates from a person as he attempts to mend his ways.

The way to great health is self-commitment. Once the resolution has been made and stuck to with tenacity of purpose it’s only a matter of time when the body will begin to show marked improvement.

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

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

by drawing a heavy sigh.

Hold the breath for about 5 or 10 seconds and begin to breathe out slowly letting out the air in the upper chest, the mid-section and finally contracting the abdomen expel all the breath you can. An inhalation, retention and exhalation make up one round of deep breathing.

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

HEAD TO KNEE Technique: Sit down with the feet stretched out in front of you and close together. Now raise both hands overhead and gently lowering the trunk and hands as far down as you can and then return to the upright position with the hands still overhead and then go back down again. Do this for a couple more times to limber the back and hamstrings for the full head to knee pose.

In the final stage of the posture, you form a ring with the forefinger and thumb around the corresponding big toes with the forehead resting on the

* Leg Raise

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

P AGE 24 —SUNDAY

Vanguard , JANUARY 27 ,

2013

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

08056180152,

SMS only

Religious difference can be dangerous to your marriage

F

OR close to five years, Jide and his wife had tried unsuccessfully for a baby.

Their doctor had assured them nothing was wrong with either of them - all they had to do was let nature take its course.

And to help nature along, Ann, Jide s wife, sought divine intervention. “Almost overnight, my wife turned into a religious fanatic,” Jide lamented.

“She no longer cared for the orthodox church we attended because I seldom went with her. Instead, she joined one of these’ charismatic’ churches.

‘Fasting and constant prayers became so entrenched in her religious rituals that whenever I wanted to make love to my wife, she would urge us to pray first. That, along with her popping in the thermometer the doctor gave her to find out if she was ovulating.

By the time she finished with her rituals, it was either that my ardour had been completely doused, or I’d fallen asleep.

Needless to say, I found someone who didn’t find spontaneous love-making sinful. My wife and I grew further and further apart that when my lover became pregnant, I didn’t encourage her to abort the pregnancy. In fact, I felt vindicated that I could father a child without going to the church all the time to confess to sins I didn’t count offensive. So when next my wife gave me her righteous than-thou sermon about waiting on the Lord, I told her nothing was wrong with my faith - that she should fine-tune hers instead. I also told her why. That was the end of the marriage as far as she was concerned ... “ Every nook and cranny you turn these days, there are one or two ‘charismatic’ churches

springing up. Here, the congregations range from toddlers to pensioners. Some in their whitegarment get-ups and lately, some in such attires they could have stepped off the pages of fashion magazines. What each church has in common is that it follows a strict form of evangelism - salvation by faith, the authority of the Bible, the death of Christ as a means of forgiveness, speaking in tongues and faith healing, and lays a lot of emphasis on payment of tithes - the more generous these tithes the more salvation for your troubled soul.

A new convert to one of such churches believes that, “being in the church gives me an ability to ask for forgiveness for my sins. I was completely set free.” I’d been going on and off for a year when, one night during a vigil, the ‘prayer-warriors’ put their hands on my head, I felt I was somewhere else in heaven. I felt heat going through me.

Tears came into my eyes and I felt like crying. That night, I really felt Jesus, and it changed my life.

Now life is more meaningful. Jesus has given me confidence, assurance and peace of mind.

The church has also made me realize that marrying someone outside the church would weaken my commitment.

If God wants me to meet a man and marry him, He will put these opportunities in my way. The choice will be clear, real and obvious.”

For a girl in her midthirties, with a high-profile job and a state-of-theart car, she obviously needs spiritual intervention to find such a compromising husband! Recently, Paul said he rummaged through his wardrobe to find some of his expensive clothes and

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"

Do the rich ever love?

At times I see it on Tv...a rich guy loving a poor girl,or a rich lady lifting the status of a poor guy. But

shoes gone. Puzzled, he asked his wife who confessed that she’d donated the items to a relief centre for the homeless! ‘Our pastor urged us to look into our wardrobes and that anything we hadn’t worn in the last three years should be donated as we obviously didn’t need such items.

“I was livid. 1 work hard to keep my wardrobe,” Paul said. “Only a month before then, my two boys had donated their expensive shoes and wristwatches when they were urged by the church to forgo earthly things dearest to them if they wanted to reap great spiritual dividends! How can you laden school children with such a burden?”

Gbade, a highly successful industrialist nearly had a heart attack when his wife confessed that she’d given all her expensive jewels to her church, to be sold and the money used for the glory of God. “Those jewels were gifts from me,” fumed Gbade.

“She had no right to give them away without consulting me. Over the years, I’d taken the opportunity to buy her all sorts of expensive jewels whenever I travelled. Now she wore no jewelries at

all and looked like a widow on a perpetual mourning jag. I warned her of the consequences of living with a wife that looked nothing like the woman I married and drew the line at turning our three children into religious freaks.

“We’ve now decided to separate amicably.

We’re both basically Catholics and divorce is out of the question but I’ll be darned if I would live my life making love to a wife who makes you feel you are violating her ... “ The most amazing thing is the ease with which these churches are set up any day of the week, only to balloon into large phenomenon almost overnight. Religion is now more of a capitalist show with a motto that screams; start your own show and see how well you compete!”

Just One Glass Of Wine A Week While Pregnant ‘Can Harm A Baby’s IQ’ Drinking even a single glass of wine a week while pregnant can risk lowering your child’s intelligence, researchers warn.

They say even small levels of exposure to a

in reality, it's never the same... Why? I thought they say opposites attract. A young man sees a lady she admires,but the gulf in class limits him.

I wanna be rich,not to get any girl, but to be free love anyone. I just wish a poor guy who is hardworking can be free to be with the rich lady of his dreams,without fear of anything,or the lady dominating...

I wish love is free and fair.

Stan Stan stanfeelings@gmail.com

Dear Blessing

O Blessing, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your hot displeasure. For I am weak; my love, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled; but you, Blessing – how long? I am weary with groaning all night I make my bed swim; I drench my couch with my tears. My eyes wastes

alcohol in the womb alter a baby’s brain development and can result in a loss of up to four IQ points.

However, there was no effect evident among children whose mothers abstained during pregnancy, suggesting exposure to alcohol affected intelligence, the study published by Bristol and Oxford universities found.

Although official guidance says alcohol is best avoided in pregnancy, there is conflicting evidence about how much can be consumed safely, with research indicating that light drinking does not adversely affect a baby’s development.

The study looked at 4,167 mothers and their children to see if they had four common genes which influence how quickly an individual breaks down alcohol. ‘.

Those with a greater number of these genes take longer to rid themselves of alcohol, which makes them more vulnerable to its effects.

Only eight children did not have any of the four genes.

The scientists then examined the mothers’ al-

cohol consumption.

‘Moderate’ drinking was regarded as anything less than six units of alcohol a week - the equivalent of three standard glasses of wine while some of the women abstained through the whole of their pregnancy.

Heavy drinkers were excluded.

When youngsters whose mothers were moderate drinkers were tested at the age of eight, those who had three of the gene variants - meaning they were slower to rid alcohol from their systems - had a lower intelligence when compared with those who had either one or two. Children with all four genes were found to have, on average, a reduced IQ of four points in comparison to those with one or two. The intelligence of children whose mothers avoided alcohol was not affected, no matter how many genes they had.

Scientists said the results provide evidence that exposure to alcohol in the womb has an effect on brain development Dr Ron Gray, of Oxford University, who led the research, said: “The basic message is a precautionary one - why take the chance? So women have good reason to choose to avoid alcohol when pregnant.

Drinking even a small amount of alcohol while pregnant can do harm to your unborn child. We already know around 6,000 babies a year are born with brain damage, physical problems or learning disabilities as a result of heavy alcohol consumption.

‘It is impossible to say what constitutes as a “safe” amount of alcohol, so our advice to mothers is; don’t take a chance and drink no alcohol at all.’

away because of grief: it grows old because of tears.

Hear me, my love, lest my tears runs like Ontisha river, Please come back to me…………. I love you……

Emma Mine 07051037749 Delta State.

My indispensable lover

My lady, my love for you is as green but fresher than the ever green forest, it is whiter than white, brighter than refined silver, and more glittering than diamonds. The words of men can not express how beautiful you look, the creative works of men cannot fully express your true beauty. You are a marvelous creation of God. I will add my extra life to your life so that you can live longer than your expectation. I love you very much.

Omorville Umoru omorville@yahoo.com, 08062486549

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 25

Rebellion in the house of God

zCatholic priests reject bishop-elect z’ By this action, the clerics have revolted against the Pope’

T

he opposition from some Catholic priests in Mbaise, Imo State, following the appointment of a priest from Awka Catholic Diocese, Rev Monsignor Peter Okpaleke, by Pope Benedict XVI as the bishop –elect of Ahiara (Mbaise) Diocese has indeed jolted the Church.

Eight priests from Mbaise land, known to habour the largest concentration of Catholics in Nigeria, had, on January 12, staged a peaceful demonstration in the area to drive home their opposition to the appointment of the Anambra State –born priest as the Bishop of Ahiara Diocese.

Incidentally, one of the books authored by Monsignor Okpaleke is entitled, “Conflict prevention, management and resolution in the Church”, and observers are optimistic that, with his experience in this area, the opposition he is facing from those who will constitute his flock in Mbaise would be resolved amicably.

In Mbaise, it is common to find two or more children of the same parents as Catholic priests and many of them are either carrying out their evangelization in many parts of the world, or are teaching in tertiary educational institutions. Indeed, they have the highest number of Catholic C M Y K

,

BY VINCENT UJUMADU

It was shortly after the appointment that some Mbaise priests began to meet to deliberate on the development which later culminated in the demonstration, led by eight priests from the diocese, expressing their opposition to the appointment

,

priests in Nigeria. Since the demise of the late Bishop Chikwe of Ahiara Diocese some years ago, the position had remained vacant and many indigenous priests from the area have been jostling to fill the vacancy. In the past two years, Reverend Monsignor Theophilous Nwalor has been overseeing the diocese and some even thought he was going to be elevated. However, they were disappointed when the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in December, last year, announced the appointment of the Awka –based priest, Okpaleke, as the bishop-elect of Ahiara Diocese.

It was shortly after the appointment that some Mbaise priests began to meet to deliberate on the development which later culminated in the demonstration, led by eight priests from the diocese, expressing their opposition to the appointment. While they argued that they had nothing against the person of Okpaleke to be made a bishop, they insisted that they have credible priests from Mbaise to be elevated to that position, especially in these days of indegenization of the church.

They also argued that despite the high quality priests produced by Mbaise Diocese, none had been made a bishop in any diocese in Anambra State.

The action attracted condemnation from a cross section of the society, while others said the irate priests had the right to express their view over any matter. Professor Kanayo Onyiliora, who retired from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, told Sunday Vanguard in Awka that the argument of the priests was absurd because of the universality of the Catholic Church.

He said: “In my opinion, the powers that chose Monsignor Okpaleke, including the Holy Father, have made the best choice out of the over 2,000 priests that traced their origin to Anambra and Imo soils.

Mbaise priests, by this action,

have revolted against the Pope.

By their puerile, myopic and very illogical actions, one wonders why and how they qualified to be men of God acceptable in the Catholic Church.

“The motives of this rebellion against the Pontiff are political and Anambraphobic and, without doubt, they are asserting their religious chauvinism. They have clearly demonstrated that they do not believe and accept the universality of the Catholic Church and they are now poised to crystallize and establish their own form of Mbaise Catholicism in Nigeria and worldwide. Pope Benedict should direct that they be defrocked completely because they have shown that they are enemies of the Church.”

A laity, Sir Godwin Oforma,

Bishop Chikwe...battle to succeed him tears church apart

who also reacted on the matter, said it was strange that priests, who are expected to work in any part of the world, should lead a revolution against the pronouncement of the Holy Father, adding that it was an indication that they had other motives for choosing to become Reverend Fathers. According to him, with the controversy generated by the appointment of Okpaleke, there is need to give the priests an orientation that would drum it into their ears that the place of birth of a priest was immaterial to where he found himself in the course of his work.

Like Mbaise, Awka Diocese has a large concentration of Catholic priests and none was prepared to dabble into the matter. However, some people at Okpaleke’s parish at Umubele, Awka said while they were happy that the cleric had been elevated to the position of a bishop, they regretted that they would surely miss him in view of his fatherly disposition towards members of the parish. “If the people of Ahiara Diocese in Mbaise know the kind of person Monsignor Okpaleke is, they would be thanking God and the Holy Father for naming him their bishop,” one of them stated.

However, some people observed that Anambra has been favoured in the appointment of bishops.

PAGE 26—SUNDAY Vanguard,

JANUARY 27, 2013

Seplat Pearls:The day the girls trounced the boys

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

T

he hall erupted in cheers and backslap ping while the trio of Chinyere Abbat tam, Kafayat Ogundeko and Rahmat Usidebhoforeacted with shock as the reality of the moment dawned on them.

After two grueling months of competing in the SEPLAT PEARLS Quiz competition during which they answered over 2,000 questions on a wide range of subjects, from Mathematics to English, Biology and Physics, the three young and amazingly resilient women from Ufua Memorial Group of Schools, Uromi were declared first place winners and they were going home with N1.3m in cash as well as a brand new school bus.

It was a moment many could not have envisaged a day earlier when, in an almost cruel twist of fate, the girls, who had shown class all along, barely managed to qualify for the final round by a hair’s breath as the best losers.

But they were on fire that morning, from the moment they mounted the podium and began to take questions from the quiz master, Dr. Chidi Enwerem, and his team.

They displayed not just intelligence but a calm composure that spoke of all that is possible when preparation meets opportunity.

And then, just a few minutes shy of half past 2pm, the hall erupted as the three young girls easily vanquished their last challengers, three shell-shocked boys from what seemed like a more prestigious school, the University Preparatory School, Benin.

It was a moment any parent or teacher or student for that matter would be proud of.

Others in the top five were students from Gbenoba Grammar School, Agbor; Bethel International Secondary School, Agbor; Lumen Christi, Uromi and St. Anastasia Heights Secondary School, Effurun.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company Limited, one of the foremost independent oil and gas companies in Nigeria, operator of the NPDC/SEPLAT JV assets, OML 4, 38 &41, and its partner, the National Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), had announced the commencement of the landmark initiative: SEPLAT PEARLs Quiz competition, in October 2012.

The sole aim of the competition is the promo-

For wrecking church, pastor drags wife to court

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

S

he fights me at the slightest opportunity, she is a pest in my life”. Pastor Ope Balogun stated this while pleadig with an Orile Agege Grade ‘B’ Customary Court, Lagos, to end his three-yearold marriage to his wife, Taiwo, who he accused of troublesome acts and nagging. The 54-year-old cleric, who lives at 7, Ilupeju Street, OkeOdo, Agege, testified that he had not known peace since he married his wife. ”My wife, Taiwo, is a troublesome woman. She has driven almost all my church members away ”,the petitioner stated. ”My children from my previous marriage cannot come C M Y K

zThe

prize for the winners

zThe winners displaying their cheques with the Seplat staff

tion of academic excellence in secondary schools in Edo and Delta States.

The oil company’s education based initiative was launched barely five months after the implementation of the highly successful sight restoration project, the SEPLAT “Eye Can See” programme.

PEARLs is targeted at students in public and private secondary schools in the company’s states of operation.

This quiz competition it is expected to stimulate healthy competition among schools in the designated areas, encourage learning and reward outstanding academic performance.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Seplat Petroleum Development Company, Mr. Austin Avuru, said during the launch that, as a socially conscious corporate citizen, NPDC/SEPLAT JV has “continually demonstrated firm commitment to a long term infrastructural development of her host communities, as well as, to growing the human capital and intellectual aptitude of the people in these areas.”

Speaking during the awards ceremony, Dr. Chioma Nwachuku, General Manager, Corporate Affairs & New Business Development congratulated the winning schools and runners up for their consistency and gamesmanship while noting that SEPLAT inaugurated the quiz competition as a means of promoting academic excellence in secondary schools in Edo and Delta States ‘because young people represent the future of any community, and indeed the nation and they need to be encouraged to embrace the spirit of scholarship and supported to understand and appreciate the fact that there is good reward for scholastic excellence.”

Dr. Chidi Enwerem, Lead Consultant, Inquest Integrated

to our house because they are afraid of my wife.My family members cannot visit me as well. ”My Bible school students cannot continue their studies because of her incessant troubles and even some pastors working under me left the church.

Balogun also alleged that his wife drove him out of his house on Nov. 2012. ”She pursued me from the house and she still came to damage the windows of where I am taking refuge,”he said.

Meanwhile, Taiwo, 36, denied the allegations. She said, “I am the ninth wife of Pastor Balogun. Trouble started when I took in and he told me that he did not want a child again but sex. ”He maltreated me during the pregnancy and did not pay my hospital bills when I was delivered of the baby. ”I love and respect everyone around my husband,but what usually causes misunderstanding between us is the issue of money. ”He does not give me and my child money for feeding. ”After the delivery, he told me that I should be eating once a day, so how do you expect the house to be peaceful?”

The defendant told the court that she didn’t want to leave her husband because of her child.

(consultants to SEPLAT PEARLs Quiz competition), was pleased with the level of success recorded during the six months span of the programme.

The representative of the principal of the winning school, Mr. Akinmodu Mathew, who is also a Physics and Mathematics teacher at Ufua Memorial Group of Schools, also bared his mind on the competition. An elated Akinmodu described his mood as “very happy and excited to see that our school has emerged the winner. When we started the competition, I had faith that we were going to win because on the first day it was only one student that represented our school. We were the best losers yesterday and today we are the winners; so I feel very happy.”

His proud students were no less effusive in their reaction. Miss Abbattam Chinyere, who was obviously the most impressive of the trio, said: “feels great to be a winner. First, I give God the glory because he is the one that made it possible for me to win. I want to say thank you to SEPLAT because they made me read harder because, on my own, I won’t be able to read this well. I even bought past questions to prepare me for this competition.”

Her colleague, Kafayat Ogundeko, expressed similar sentiments. “I feel very happy to have won this.

From the beginning, I was hoping and praying to God to help us win the competition and God indeed helped us. I want to say a big thank you to SEPLAT Petroleum Development company for organizing this competition. Through the quiz they challenged us and they gave us the opportunity to challenge ourselves.”

‘This husband is a gold digger’

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA because of the will my father ”He is a gold digger, he loved me t, he refused to work.” With left behind and, because of tha bayo asked an Orile Agege, these words, Mrs Temitope Sho os terminate to dissolve her Grade ‘B’ Customary Court, Lag hus ban d’s feti sh her r 13- yea r-o ld ma rria ge ove abandonment. behaviour,frequent beating and s at 5, Olusegun Street, Orilelive who an, wom The 35-year-old band left her since ten years Agege, told the court that her hus not work through out the ago. ”My husband is lazy; he did band and wife, he leaned on period we were together as hus dst tears when narrating how me. The mother of one spoke ami and denied her access to her her husband had been fetish years ago, I don’t know where t child for eight years. ”Since eigh ng or talked to him on phone. my child is, where he is schooli ase my child for him to spend ”My husband begged me to rele n I have not seen my child. his holiday with him and since the they were all lying to me. I ”I have gone to his family but se. I single handedly took suffered so hard in Shobayo’s hou husband, Bankole Shobayo, care of my child,”she said. The n the third time. Meanwhile, failed to obey the court summo Adewusi, adjourned the case the court president, Mr Joseph till Jan. 31 for further hearing.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 27

BY OLALEKAN BILESANMI illary Clinton tops the list of most influential wom en in politics; her influence is felt in Washington as much as it resounds far away in Benghazi, the Libya stronghold of late Moammar Gadhafi. As the US Secretary of State wraps up her assignment at the White House and possibly prepares for the US presidential race in 2016 as its being widely speculated, she has left many women across the world inspired by her daring leadership in very cumbering male-dominant terrain.

One of such Clinton’s inspired leaders is Nigeria’s Dr. (Mrs.) Ngozi Olejeme. Her dynamism, visionary leadership and style set her on the class of the African women leaders Clinton describes as models for democracy. Olejeme, fondly described as boardroom czar, has played tremendous role in politics to the point of note. Her role in nation building fires through the burning passion to transform lives in homes and communities across Nigeria but more dipped in her native home town in Oshimili South, Delta State, Southern Nigeria.

Touching lives through nation building values are the common philosophy she expresses in the peculiar leadership roles she has played for about two decades. These values are inscribed in the innate expression of her core leadership principles- touching lives one at a time until the entire community is transformed into a prosperous society- This is the guiding philosophy that drives her input in politics and socioeconomic development of Nigeria.

Olejeme was instrumental to the political awakening of women in Nigeria; she encouraged

H

Olejeme ... in search of a better life for the people

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

Olejeme: Time for social security for Nigerians

and supported equality in government.

At a time when politics was a ball for only the male folks she tore down barriers and contested in the governorship primaries of her party, the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as governorship candidate in Delta State in 2007. A keenly contested race that humanized election as her campaign was configured on ending poverty and improving quality of life for all in the oil rich state.

Just like Hillary Clinton, who said “that where women are marginalized, where they’re demeaned, where their rights are denied, there is the likelihood you will have less democracy, more poverty, greater extremism, so is Olejeme, by breaking entrenched barriers to open up equal opportunity for women to realize their full potentials.

In 2009, Olejeme was appointed for a four-year term as board chairman of Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, NSITF. For her transformational leadership at NSITF, she got reappointed for another term in 2011. She is also

‘I caught my randy husband pants down with our neighbour’s wife’

chair of Pension Trust PLC, a subsidiary of NSITF, which strictly administers pension matters.

She was instrumental to the enhanced services of the NSITF, where she fought for and won the acceptance of Employee Compensation Scheme, ECS, and the passage of the bill into law. The scheme protects all categories of workers both in private and public sectors across Nigeria. The scheme simply makes provision for compensation to employees and their dependents for any injury, disease, disability or death arising in the course of employment.

“The ECS is the realization of the expression of my passion to see Nigerian workers at par with their counterparts in developed countries and I would like to thank Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for accenting to the bill and for giving us support to move Nigerian workers forward, I also want to thank the Minister of La-

bour, Emeka Wogu and the entire members of the National Assembly and ofcourse, the management and staff of NSITF who all worked to ensure that the ECS is operational in Nigeria.”

She and her team in Nigeria are pushing for a functional social security for citizens that are badly hit by harsh economy and those yet unemployed. Quite an ambitious project that Olejeme is optimistic President Jonathan has got the will to improve the living standard of the most populous West African country. Many believe Olejeme has got the experience and compassion to drive a social security program in Nigeria.

Her foundation, Ngozi Olejeme Foundation, shares a few of this experience.

It caters for the widows, it empowers women and the under privileged. And her role in the Country ’s Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program, SURE-P, a program derived from the partial removal of subsidy for fuel, speaks of her capacity to care for the poor through adapting poverty ending policy.

”He didn’t make love to me for eight months. ”After our wedding, I stayed for five years without an issue. Throughout the period, life was unbearable for me. ”I developed high blood pressure in the process but my husband did not feel concerned.”

These were part of the testimony of a 39-year-old woman who urged an Agege Grade ‘B’ Customary Court to dissolve her 11-year-old marriage over battery and threat to life.

Mrs Oluwatosin Abiodun, a trader, of 5, Bemil Street, Ojodu, told the court that her husband treated her like a slave and made life unbearable for her. ”I lived in hell on earth. I lived in fear, pains and anguish. I kept all these to myself because I didn’t want my home to break”, Oluwatosin said in her evidence-in-chief. ”The worst part of it was that my husband was dating a neighbour ’s wife and even brought her to my matrimonial home and I caught them pants down. ”My husband is now married and the other woman is right inside his house. ” While with him, he would beat me with iron rod. He pampered me when I was delivered of a baby, after that, he resumed his beating habits. “I am tired of the marriage. I want the court to end the union and grant me custody of the children. The 42-year-old husband, Olatunji Abiodun, an engineer, did not appear in court. Meanwhile, the court president, Mr Emmanuel Shokunle, adjourned the case till Feb. 19 for judgment.

‘My wife pushed me into another woman’s arms’

BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

O

ur love became a nightmare when he found solace in another woman’s arms and he changed to a wife beater”. A house wife, Mrs Olubunmi Jolaogun, disclosed this while praying an Orile-Agege Grade ‘B’ Customary Court,Lagos to put an end to her 9-year-old marriage to her husband, Olubode, over desertion and lack of care. The

35-year-old-woman, who lives at 2, Musa Street, Ikotun, told the court that her marriage had been nothing but a nightmare. ”My husband had nothing when I met him, and I was the one taking all the responsibility at home. ”When things started getting better for him, he neglected me and, before I knew it, he had impregnated another woman and spends quality time with her. ”He lied that he was going to Abuja. I later saw the receipt of the

hotel he lodged in here in Lagos during that time,”she said. ”He always accused me of prostituting which I never did; he came to report me to my parents and, in the process, he slapped my elder sister.”

Olubunmi, a mother of two urged the court to dissolve the union and grant her custody of the children. Meanwhile, Olubode, 38, denied the allegations. He said, “I did not leave her. My business took

me out of the house. I have always cared for her and the children. ”While I am away, she doesn’t sleep in the house, and I don’t know where she normally goes. She is extremely stubborn and doesn’t listen to me. ”She has not spent up to 30 weekends in my house for the past four years and I don’t know why ”. Olabode, who lives at 9, Temidire Street, Ikola, Ipaja, Lagos also told the court that his wife had pushed

him outside and could not be a caring and responsible husband again if the marriage was not dissolved. ”If the custody of the children is granted her, I want my children to be taken to my parents every holidays, because my wife’s family contributed negatively to our fight”. The court president, Mr Joseph Adewusi, told the couple to maintain the peace and adjourned the case till Jan 28 for further hearing.

28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

prayer Fidau Grand wedding for Adekanbi Olanrewaju’s daughter

O

mowonuola Wuraola Olanrewaju, daughter of former Minister of Communications, Major General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd) and Oluwaseun Abayomi, son of Engineer Kolawole Michael Banjo, walked their way into matrimony in style as they did theirs in exotic splendour. The wedding took place in La Plaine St. Andre, Seychelles th on November 24 of last year.

Even though the venue was an island in faraway Seychelles, family and friends found their way to be with the couple who, without doubt, had a pleasurable union.

for

Yewa Muslim Community organised a special Fidau prayer for Late Alhaji Bisiriyu Kolapo Adekanbi, treasurer and a member of Ogun State Independent Electoral Commission, OGSIEC at Central Mosque Ayetoro last week. Photos By Wumi Akinola

L-R:Alhaja Risikat Adekanbi; wife of the deceased and Omoba Kuburat Adebisi Edionseri; Iya Suna of yewaland

Major-General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd), bride’s father, walking the bride, Wonuola, to the reception

Major-General Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd) (8th from right), former IGP Musiliu, AIG Tunji Alapinni (Rtd), bride’s mum, the couple and others.

I

R-L:Maj-Gen. Tajudeen Olanrewaju (Rtd), bride’s dad, Chief (Mrs) Yemisi Olarewaju, bride’s mum, the couple, groom’s mum, Mrs Stella Longe Banjo and groom’s dad, Engr.

Kolawole Michael Banjo

The couple, with family and friends

R-L:Oba Azeez Akinola Adelakun, Alaye of Ayetoro and Omoba Kuburat Adebisi Edionseri

Iya Suna of Yewaland, Omoba Kuburat Adebisi Edionseri and Imam Sikirulahi of Ayetoro Central Mosque

Urhobo Progressive Union launches Cultural Centre project

t was indeed a special day for members of Urhobo Progressive Union, Asaba Branch, when they launched their ultra-modern Urhobo Cultural and event centre project in Asaba. The occasion also saw some members of the Union being conferred with awards of excellence. Here are some of the awardees in pictures by Nath Onojake

Comrade and Mrs Mike Okeme (awardee) C M Y K

Mr and Mrs Semitoje, Executive Secretary, Directorate of Infrastructure,Delta State, receiving their award

Mr and Mrs Abel Esievo (awardee)

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013 —29

Commendation ser vice ffor or A de tilo service Ade detilo tiloyye

T

Procession of lawyers in honour of the deceased

he Dioceses of Lagos , Lagos West, Badagry, Lagos Mainland and Awori, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) on Wednesday organised a commendation service for late the Most Revd. Dr. Joseph Abiodun Adetiloye at the Cathedral Church of Christ Marina Lagos.

Notable dignitaries drawn from the clergy, the academia, law, business community, government and others converged to pay their last respect to the late former Archbishop/Metropolitan of The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) .

Photos by Diran Oshe

Business Abuja

retreat

in

BUSINESS leaders and executives gathered in Abuja last week to rub minds on variety of business issues. The ‘thought leadership session’ as it was tagged, was powered by MasterCard Worldwide and it turned out to be an allencompassing forum for progressive business thoughts.

L-R: President /CEO, MasterCard Worldwide, Mr. Ajay Banga, Head of Financial System Strategy 2020, Mr. Oluwatoyin Jokosemimi and Country Manager, MasterCard Worldwide, Ms. Omokehinde Ojomuyide

L- R: The Most Revd. Dr. E. Adebola Ademowo, Bishop, Diocese of Lagos and Her. Excellency Mrs Adejoke Adefulire-Orelope, Deputy Gov. of Lagos State

L- R: Chief Ernest Shonekan, General Theophilus Danjuma (Rtd) and wife, Senator Daisy Danjuma Mr. Ajay Banga and Mrs. Christabel Onyejekwe, ED, NIBSS

L- R: Otunba Subomi Balogun and Christopher Kolade

Amb

Bala Y esufu bags a ward Yesufu aw

C

hief Bala Yesufu, the Public Affairs Manager at Heineken, has bagged another award and it is Distinguished Alumni Award of Federal Government, Enugu.thThe popular socialite received the award at the 40 Founder’s Day ceremony of the school

Dr. Oyewo of Fed. Min. of Education, representing Minister of Education, presents Chief Bala Yesufu with Distinguished Alumni Award C M Y K

L- R: Mr. Oladipo Okpeseyi (SAN ), Deputy Chancellor, Owo Diocese Justice George Oguntade , Chancellor, Diocese of Lagos Justice Babasola Ogunade , Chancellor, Diocese of Lagos West , and Mr. Gbalahan Folayan , Diocesan Treasurer Lagos

Omotoshos-Orija wedding THE Omotosho family and the Orija family became one when their children were united as one at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Catholic Church,Ajisegiri,Adigbe,Abeokuta.

L-R:Mr & Mrs Adegoke Adesola Omotosho of Bells University(bride’s Parents), Mr & Mrs Tolulope Orija(Couple), Mr Sanyaolu Orija(groom’s Father) & Mrs Mogbonjubola Oliyide

L-R: MasterCard Worldwide, President/ CEO, Mr. Ajay Banga, AGM/Group, Head, E-Banking, Fidelity Bank ,Mrs. Carolyn Folami and Ms.Omokehinde Ojomuyide

Tolulope and Eyita Eyitayyo EYITAYO Ajala, daughter of Mr Tunji Ajala has signed off her maiden name to Eyitayo Sobakin, son of Mr. Victor Shoyele. The wedding held at Olubadan Recreation Field, Ibadan

L-R: Mr. Tunji Ajala, bride’s dad, Mrs Hannah Sobakin Sopein, groom’s mum, couple, Mr Victor Shoyele, groom’s dad and Mrs Bola Ajala, bride’s mum

PAGE 30—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

SUNDAY

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By MCPHILIPS NWACHUKWU

ou were a participant at the 2012 Bishop Tutut leadership program, which culminated in the documentary presently showing on Aljazerra television as Tutu’s Children. Can you tell us about the build up to your nomination?

The Archbishop Tutu Fellowship Program is a program organised by the African Leadership Institute...a five months program. It commenced in 2006;Aljazeera decided to make a documentary of it in 2012 and luckily I was selected to participate. It is a scholarship program for future African leaders between the ages of 30 and 40. I was nominated by my CEO, Hassan Usman, who incidentally is a Tutu Fellow. Tutu’s Children is the name of the documentary and it basically captures the essence of the program which is to model an African leadership that works after a role model who has demonstrated selfless leadership at every level. The program starts from Stellenbosch in Cape Town, afterwards you are expected to commence a community development program. It further continues in Said Business School, Oxford and you conclude the program in London.

The whole idea behind the programme is to create a new set of young leaders, who can provide good leadership and direction for Africa’s most troubled conditions. How did you as an individual fit into this task?

I am an Afro-optimist and I believe that Africa can change in my lifetime. The challenges span the spheres of education, health, infrastructure and corruption. We already know all of that. The issue,to me, is that a time comes when we have to draw a line and move on. Yes, we have always had bad leaders, but for how long shall we keep complaining? I believe that the time is now and the responsibility is ours, not that of our parents, not that of our children. I preach this and I also act it. We need to stand up and take our destiny in our hands. It is amazing that we all have an idea of what should be done, but the gap I see is action and Tutu’ s Fellowship Program offers that fantastic opportunity that gal-

vanises the required momentum that will catalyse the needed change in Africa.

What was the programme all about? And how does the documentary approach intend to change the negative African narrative?

The program is about change, it’s about creating momentum, it’s about strategy, it’s about showing that we are dissatisfied with the status- quo and finding new ways of doing things. We, as African youths, must stand up and be counted for the sake of posterity.

The documentary is to show that there are young leaders who are dissatisfied with the way things are going and are yearning for change. It is also to show that a training program of this nature exists where young Africans can apply and be trained for free. It is also to tell the world that we are creating a platform for change. Everyone who has passed through the training program will lend his voice to the call for change. The rest of the world, when they watch the documentary, will know that Africa is not a dead continent as they thought. The youths are doing something to get the continent back on track and this we are determined to achieve.

Can you tell us about a typical day at the training centre?

It is very tasking in Cape Town, the program runs from 8am till 8pm and sometimes you have group assignments that can keep you longer. It’s mentally challenging and also full of fun. The most amazing thing is that you have young Africans who are coming from different countries with similar problems, and sense of feeling makes us a family. You can easily relate to corruption, lack of infrastructure, no healthcare and some of the other challenges facing the continent. Ultimately, the time spent is nothing to be compared with the benefit derived from the exercise and the program. A typical day challenges you to come up with solutions of tackling Africa’s problems.

What fascinated you most about the whole exercise and do you think it was worth your time?

One interesting thing is the belief that Africa and, by extension, Nigeria can be better.

Africa can change in our lifetime

— ‘Desmond Tutu’s Son’

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (I) with ‘son’

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lijah Onyeagba, who describes himself as an Afrooptimist, was among the 25 African youths who par ticipated at the 2012 Bishop Tutu Leadership Fellow ship held in Cape Town, South Africa. Designed to raise a new set of African leaders who can confront some of the most disturbing problems facing the continent, the programme has been shot into a documentary entitled, Tutu’s Children, that challenges Africa’s narrative as a place of hope and new vision. Presently showing at Aljazeera television, the documentary is already gaining acceptability by the viewing public. In this interview, Onyeagba, a Nigerian participant and Group Head, Real Estate, Aso Savings Loans Plc, Abuja, shares his experience.

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013,PAGE 31

The program is about change, it’s about creating momentum, it’s about strategy, it’s about showing that we are dissatisfied with the status- quo and finding new ways of doing things

We have a vision of a new Africa (Nigeria inclusive) where the leaders are responsible enough to take the right decision and the citizens rise up to the challenge of holding their leaders for accountability. I will encourage any young African who have the desire to join the movement to be part of it both directly and indirectly. We have more to lose than today’s leaders; therefore we cannot continue to adopt a sitdown and look approach and keep hoping for a miracle. The popular uprising in North Africa is an example. Revolution will start from ourselves before it can get to others. It can be contagious.

In one word, what is the greatest African problem and how can it be solved?

The problems are multi-faced and interwoven. Leadership is

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key and the importance of education cannot be over-emphasised. Look at Malaysia, Singapore, China, India....examples are everywhere. If the right leaders are in place, every other thing will fall in line.

By the nature of this training, you already have an enormous task at hand. How do you intend to domestic your experience to benefiting larger members of society?

The dissatisfaction of the status quo has to be personalised.

I have started from my sphere of influence: family and work place. I chair a foundation called LEAD Foundation (www.theleadfoundation.com).

We are working on educating the less privileged by offering some scholarships, empowering the women through some micro- credit scheme, involved

in giving awards to university lecturers to encourage them to be of good behavior .There are lots to do, but, most importantly, starting from self is a good stating point. Otherwise, one could be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the problem that one will find it difficult to make an impact.

As one who works in the real estate sector, how do you intend to bring your experience from this programme to addressing the housing sector for instance, knowing that housing is a major issue in Nigeria with a disturbing housing deficit confronting the nation?

The housing sector has got the capacity to catalyse economic development and job creation in Nigeria. Our responsibility is to make our voice heard until government gives it the required attention. A sector that contributes just 1.7% of the GDP and has got the potential of doing double digit cannot be over-looked by the government. My company, ASO Savings & Loans plc, has consciously decided to play in the affordable housing segment because a huge deficit exists in that space. As people are getting their houses, they, in turn, become socially responsible, can create employment both for themselves and for other people.

PAGE 32—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 33

Brand Communication …The Imperatives for Brand Positioning reasons of its importance, method, sequence, logic and scientific analysis…and so much more. The consequence of a badly managed creative process is better imagined. We at MC&A DIGEST and some others, who share similar burden, have dedicated ourselves to stating rules of advertising, reminding fellow practitioners of the MUSTS of practice, in order to help guide against bad creative products.

Bed creative products are lethal, toxic to brands and destructive to investors.

Brands handled by nonprofessionals die, resulting in failed investment and all the ripple effects down the line.

Unfortunately, over 80% of brands in the market today suffer from bad creative products of unprofessionally managed development process. Interestingly, the big brands across banks and financial institutions, drinks, telephone services, food & beverages, luxury goods, travel and tours, education, entertainment make up the numbers to a large extent.

Increasingly, these big brands have been so badly managed; their campaigns are now negatively posing a problem to the profession. New entrants to the profession of brands

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HELF off-take or consumer engagement of any brand is a culmination of so many activities prior. One of such inputs is brand communication or advertising. Depending on set-objectives, an advertising support can drive target market awareness for brand, help proper brand identification from among competing brands, stimulate tactical sales growth, enlighten target market on new developments, announce reward for patronage or loyalty, answer questions or just simply announce a given brand’s presence. Every campaign effort is capable of achieving so much, depending on set objective.

Suffice that every campaign effort is objective driven. As a professional, it is the responsibility tied to a campaign or advertising that excites me. A campaign must deliver on its objective. So whether a campaign effort is to be evaluated on its effectiveness, efficiency or appropriateness, it all begins by bench-marking its effect against set objective.

Advertising or campaign development – from planning to execution – is a logical sequence of activities, frontally. Starting from the client who generates the campaign brief, it runs through a careful and professional distillation of the brief, verification of claims, instructional information bothering on hypothesis contained in the brief. Full throttle on the creative process starts only after due and diligent distillation of the client’s brief, onward concept generation, creative review, process completion, clients’ final check on agency ’s proposal, before campaign breaks. It is a whole and very long sequence of so many inputs. It is simply termed a process.

One would reason that the process is so long and carefully broken down and methodological because of the end-result. As a matter of fact, the primary and immediate consequence of a badly managed campaign planning and development process is its boomerang. A badly or unprofessionally managed creative process results in a campaign that directly attacks own-brand – be it a product, idea, service, etc. It is easier to develop a bad or selfdestructive creative end product than a successful one.

So, it is instructive that the creative process and sequence of activities is driven through by professionals.

Again, it seems the process is called a creative process for

on the very critical element of brand differentiation.

Basically, marketing is about differentiation. Differentiation underlines the individuality of brand in their totality, at the market place. A brand represents itself among competition at the market

The task of effective and functional differentiation is primary for every creative process. It only requires deep thinking, proper and articulate understanding of the contending issues, scientific, knowing what questions to ask and where to seek what information

management now think what they see are the ideal, instead of what they really are: case study on how not to manage a brand.

It is for the purpose of correcting this wrong impression we need to properly articulate the ideal situation.

Every brand support effort in form of advertising or marketing communication must “sell” the given brand as a distinct personality and its offer/promise, to the extent of target audience engagement.

It could all start from share of TA mind. For the purpose here, we shall have to skip part of the creative process in this analytical piece, to focus

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place, representing its individuality, with all its character traits, attribute and offer. This community of brands exists in the presence of broad and peculiar similarities that becloud their individuality, in varying degrees. Among brands in same market segment, the similarities are more pronounced. Because brands can only sell on the strength of their individuality, the most important challenge, therefore, is carving any given brand’s individuality, communicate same for the purpose of (1) creating awareness for the brand and its offer, among its target market, (2) establishing a

contact or meeting point between the brand and its target market, (3) effectively tell a persuasive story (including the brand’s offer and promise) that will, at least, pull the target market towards tr ying the brand’s offer, believing it will deliver on its promise. These three target objectives are primary and fundamental to every brand.

When a marketing campaign or advertising achieves the above, the brand is established and ready for new targets.

Unfortunately, however, brand communication or campaigns common today, do not show evidence of appreciation of these basic marketing communication objectives. As mentioned above, inadequate professionalism and/or lack of it, results in creative products that, at best attempt to create awareness for their brands.

Even at that, they create the awareness with the wrong effect.

All kinds of reasons are given for such weak creativity, including size of relatively similar brand offering, nearcommodity posturing of competing brands. As is commonly said, brands in particular market segments share so many similarities, it is almost impossible to successfully achieve differentiation. Take leisure and tours, snacks, carbonated drink market, body care market and recently, energy drink market. Majority of brands in the markets mentioned above are more often to suffer from improper differentiation.

Consequently, a campaign developed for them neither make concrete promise nor leave the target audience with memorable information that is

important for top-of-mind presence, engagement or recall after “initial contact”.

But, the task of effective and functional differentiation is primary for every creative process. It only requires deep thinking, proper and articulate understanding of the contending issues, scientific, knowing what questions to ask and where to seek what information, ability to properly articulate available information, scientific analysis of market and consumer insight and a very aggressive, bold and purposeful visual interpretation and execution.

We do not think there is any brand that cannot be distinguished from competition and be made to stand alone for its offer, peculiarities, and promise and market position. For every brand communication or advertising campaign, the process must establish the operative strategic thrust, the broad creative platform and the brand’s positioning statement. All of these are the creative imperatives that set the focus towards a successful creative execution.

In sequence, the creative imperatives are derived; derived from a proper application of the creative brief forms, examined at a properly constituted creative review session, seen through by a team of experts intellectually equipped enough to logically and scientifically piece the hoard of information presented at such sessions together, to tell a whole story. The job is completed when the story that emerges at the end of the creative process play out good enough to achieve the marketing and communication/advertising objective, as should be contained in the originating document: THE CLIENT’S BRIEF. The missing link and the reason we find majority of ads and campaigns that are empty of substance, ineffective and dangerous, is that this logical sequence is considered too difficult a road to travel, for many people who go about parading themselves as advertising practitioners on the one hand, and those on the clients’ side who have also become too lazy to discern who the true professional is, and how to fit in to the creative process. So many so-called brand managers today cannot read a good brief (not to talk of writing one). Most brand managers/marketing managers/corporate affairs on the clients’ side are not trained for the responsibilities of their offices. Consequently, they corrupt the system from the start point.

Brands and brands owners must begin to rethink their work system and value preferences, because until the present system changes, casualty in form of failing brands will keep rising. at them

PAGE 34—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

Strange projects mar Nigeria’s budgets – John Chukwu *’The Chinese devt model can help us’

BY AKOMA CHINWEOKE

With the appreciable growth the economy recorded in 2012, many analysts hope Nigeria would see higher growth, higher equity valuations, robust reserves, firm oil prices and slightly lower inflation this year.

Mr. John Chukwu, the managing director/founder, Cowry Asset Management Limited, is a leading investment banker and a multi-dealing operator in the capital market. In this interview, he speaks on why the country needs to evolve policies that will lead to reemergence of the manufacturing sector. Excerpts:

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Mr. John Chukwu....The industry is still one of the groomers of quality human capital in Nigeria. dium term development plan.

Based on the above factors, to improve on the rate of budget implementation, the chief executives at the federal and state levels should populate their cabinet with competent individuals who can initiate, drive and supervise programs

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OW would you as sess the perform ance of the country economy in 2012 and what are your expectations for 2013?

I believe that Nigeria’s economy fared relatively well in 2012 particularly when compared with the performance of other economies during the year. With a quarteron-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate that averaged over 6%, foreign exchange reserve appreciation of over 34%, strong foreign direct/portfolio investment inflows, stable exchange rate, moderate inflation rate, etc, the economy recorded appreciable growth during the year. However, due to the structure of the economy – crude oil dependent - this growth was largely without commensurate growth in employment hence there was little or no improvement in the general income level/living standard of Nigerian citizens.

Over the years, poor budget implementation by government at all levels has sabotaged key public infrastructures. What do you think should be done to check the trend which has led to a steady increase in the cost of doing business in the country?

Poor budget performance in Nigeria can be attributed to two major factors. The first one is the quality of supervision by the relevant heads of the Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDA), particularly the Ministers and Commissioners at the federal and state levels respectively. The second factor is the introduction of strange projects in proposed budgets by members of the legislatures in the course of approving the budget. Such projects are at times difficult for the executives to implement since they don’t pass through the project initiation and defence process and may not fit into the ministries’ me-

The additional measures that need to be taken to sustain the recovery of the capital market as well as improve on the market’s viability include encouraging some of the successful multinational companies operating in the country to quote their shares on the floor of the

Our policy makers need to restructure the education curriculum to focus more on technical skills as well as development of entrepreneurial skills. We also need to evolve policies that will lead to reemergence of the manufacturing sector

and projects to successful completion. On the other hand, members of legislatures should desist from imposing projects on the executives by inserting projects not previously included in the draft budgets. Such projects if they are desirable should be introduced to the relevant ministries at the point of input collection so that they can go through proper costing and evaluation.

The Nigerian Stock Market is beginning to show signs of recovery after months of decline. What further measures do you think should be adopted by the government to ensure speedy recovery of the market?

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Nigerian Stock Exchange. This can be done by creating listing incentives for such companies. Incentives such as discriminatory tax rates on corporate profit and dividends for quoted companies may encourage companies that are reluctant to list their shares to consider being quoted on the Exchange. Other factors that should help strengthen the capital market are, the achievement of single digit inflation and interest rates, sustenance of current strong financial performance by quoted companies, maintenance of exchange rate stability and political stability.

The market is currently dominated by foreign inves-

tors. What happens if they decide to exit from the market?

It is an obvious fact that where a market is dominated by foreign investors, a sudden exit by such investors will destabilize the market and possibly create a market crash.

With the current dominance of market activities by foreign portfolio investors (which interestingly is already correcting), our economic managers should focus on managing those economic variables whose negative indicator could trigger adverse reaction from foreign portfolio investors. Such economic variables include the country’s foreign exchange reserve, exchange rate stability and policy on foreign exchange controls. Other factors that may unnerve foreign portfolio investors is if there are indications that the country’s economic policy direction may shift from a freemarket system to a command and control economic system.

It is an open secret that most businesses in the country often bribe the government to remain in business.

How does this impact on the economy in the long run?

While it may be true that many businesses operating in Nigeria pay government officials what may be called bribe either to gain undue advantage or to avoid a sanction, there are actually two strands of payment, which most people fail to differentiate. One strand, which is the most endemic, involves business managers inducing public officials to compromise the tenets of their office by granting such businesses unmerited favours or waiving penalties incurred by them for infringement of the law. The second strand involves the public officials intentionally frustrating or delaying the release of well merited project awards or payments for already executed jobs, until they compel the business managers to part with some cash. While the first instance is a case of bribery, the second instance can be termed as extortion. Although both instances have the effect of increasing the cost of doing business in Nigeria, the cases of bribe have the additional effect of project failure as incompetent businesses are given projects which they lack the skill to execute. In some instances, these abuses lead to the execution of white elephant projects, which are not required in the economy. In the long run, both bribe and extortion lead to higher cost of doing business in Nigeria compared to other economies and make the countr y ’s economy less competitive as well as less productive.

High unemployment rate has caused a lot of distress in the country’s economy. How can the country adequately tackle poverty and the menace of unemployment which has assumed a dangerous dimension?

The solution to Nigeria’s high unemployment has to be multifaceted. The starting point in the orientation and quality of education that the country’s youngsters are getting. Our policy makers need to restructure the education curriculum to focus more on technical skills as well as development of entrepreneurial skills. We also need to evolve policies that will lead to reemergence of the manufacturing sector, which is naturally the sector that creates more jobs in an economy. In addition to the above, government can create immediate jobs by embarking on infrastructure developments such as roads, rails, housing, etc, construction. An enabling macro-economic environment such as low interest and inflation rates, stable exchange rate, etc that encourages the private sector to strive will also help create more employments for the teaming unemployed. Finally better physical infrastructure such as good transport system, reliable power supply, etc will act as stimulus for employment generation.

Nigeria has painfully missed several opportunities of being the preferred country of destination for international investors. What lessons can we learn from a country like China which has successful transform its economy?

Interestingly, several of the policy measures used by China to transform its economy can easily be adopted by Nigeria with very little modifications. Among the policies which Nigeria can adopt is the Chinese policy on qualitative and quantitative education, which enabled the country’s huge population to be turned into an effective workforce, hence China’s emergence as the global manufacturing centre. Nigeria can also learn from Chinese policy of constructing world class physical infrastructure, which contributed to that country ’s lower cost of production as well as China’s zero tolerance for corruption (which is punished by death sentence).

Experts have expressed the fear that the country’s banking sector still lacks the needed manpower to ensure economic explosion. What is your view on that?

While it may be true that many experienced persons may have exited the banking industry, I don’t think that there is any major skill gap in the Nigerian banking sector. I think that the industry is still one of the groomers of quality human capital in Nigeria given the career development policies of most of the banks.

Above all, these banks have the potential to scale up the professional skills of their staff whenever the need arises.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 35

BY KUNLE KALEJAYE

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Nigeria’s oil production faces threat ...amid fears of vandals renewed activities

major cities. Aside from this, three staff of PPMC lost their lives to an attack on oil facilities by armed vandals.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) said 1,283 suspected vandals had been arrested from early 2012 to January 2013. While this may be true, not a few industry watchers dismissed this as a scratch on the surface as the real vandals are very sophisticated to be apprehended like mere criminals.

Speaking on the development, Mr. Tamuno Green, an engineer with an oil servicing company in Warri, Delta State, said a contract was signed by the Federal Government with, some ex-militants for the purpose of intense surveillance of oil facilities in the Niger-Delta and afterwards there was sanity.

Green explained, “Sometime in 2012, the president, for whatever reasons, thought it wise to engage the repentant militants in a more productive project of oil facility surveillance across the region and, in Delta State, for instance, Oil Facility Surveillance Ltd was so contracted, and, even if some of us criticized the rationale behind the president’s action back then, it later dawned on us that nothing could have been more effective as these people seem to know the creeks better than gov-

Arepo pipeline fire disaster ernment uniformed agents and, in most instances, they even know those who carry out these acts and penetrate them so easily. ” Hence before long, the nation’s crude production began to rise! Not because new fields were discovered, after all there has been no licens-

contractors, and now, government has refused to renew their contracts hence the rise in the activities of oil pipeline vandals.

“This is because the people you refer to as vandals are not rag-tag or riff-raffs; they are professionals, very enlightened and educated peo-

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I G E R I A’ S achievement of all time high 2.6 million barrels of crude oil daily is under threat as pipeline vandals seem set to resume their activities, following some respite after government contracted ex-militants on surveillance of oil facilities in the Niger-Delta.

Recently, it was reported that the country lost about N170 billion to pipeline vandalism over a period of time,but the act was checked when the Jonathan-led government contracted exmilitants to monitor oil facilities.

The Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC), while reacting to our the challenge, tried to put things in perspective.

“The nation is losing huge amount of money to the spate of vandalism across the country, both on crude theft and refined products”,it said.

According to the company, over N90 billion was lost to crude oil theft,as against N10 billion lost to refined products stolen in 2011. In 2012 alone, stealing of crude oil through pipelines reduced to N 42 billion, while products theft increased to N20 billion”.

Considering the huge damage to the lines, it was gathered that about N8 billion was spent to effect repairs between 2011 and 2012. This includes the expenditure on security and environmental integrity.

The recent attack on oil facilities was System 2b, Nigeria’s most strategic pipeline running from Atlas Cove, offshore Lagos up to Kwara State.

The attack is responsible for the epileptic supply of petrol in some parts of the country which has given rise to occasional vehicular queues at filling stations around Lagos, Abuja and other

Due to incessant vandalism, most of the pipelines are not functional, therefore posing threat to smooth distribution of products using these facilities

ing rounds since 2008 or thereabouts but we were, as a nation, able to ramp up 2.6 million daily crude production. That was due to the activities of these surveillance

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ple engaged by highly unscrupulous elements with access to cash and ammunition, and they are also following events. They are aware that there is no contract

binding the surveillance companies of these dreaded ex-militants and the government, hence they should be able to unleash terror on oil facilities without interference. I think government should, as a matter of national urgency, renew the contracts for these companies to continue their surveillance activities of oil facilities especially in the Niger-Delta, and this should not be politicized in any way in view of its strategic importance to national earnings and development. ” It is so important because even the nation’s budget depends highly on oil production output because it is mono-dependent economy we’re operating here in Nigeria.”

According to him, about a month ago, Oil Facility Surveillance Ltd (MT Lady Jay) arrested a ves-

sel filled to the brim with illegally refined diesel (AGO) with a ten-man crew. “This arrest was carried out in the Escravos River, while both vessel and crew were handed over to the appropriate security agencies for further investigation, even without a contract in place as we are aware that the contract they had with government expired in February 2012”,he added.

Nigeria has about 15000 kilometers of oil pipelines, four refineries that are producing less than 145,000 barrels per day. With about 121 oil depots, the nation operates 62 jetties and about 25,000 fuel tankers hauling products across 24,500 filling stations across the country.

From the total of 24,500 filling stations, the major oil marketers have 2,471; independent marketers have 22,033, while the NNPC has 37 retail outlets.

Due to incessant vandalism, most of the pipelines are not functional, therefore posing threat to smooth distribution of products across these facilities.

Also it could be recalled that Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC) declared force majeure on outstanding cargoes of Bonny Light with effect from 4 M ay 2012. The action was blamed on production deferment caused by incessant crude theft and illegal bunkering on Nembe Creek Trunkline (NCTL). Shutdown of the line for repairs resulted in a deferment of some 60,000bbls per day of production. The NCTL is the major conveyor of SPDC’s and third party production in Eastern operations to Bonny Terminal, and had to be replaced when the old one became weakened due to the installation of many crude theft points.

Customs keys into new monetary policy

BY UDEME CLEMENT

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HE Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is putting measures in place to key into the new monetary policy introduced by the

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on E-form ‘M’ to enhance trade facilitation and revenue generation in line with global trend.

The Service is also embarking on a wide enlightenment campaign to carry importers along on the E-registration system using what is described as Importers Tax Identification Number (TIN), in order to fast track cargo clearing across the country.

The Customs Area Controller (CAC), Area 11 Command, Onne Port, Port Harcourt, Comptroller Magaji Mo-

hammed disclosed in a chat with Sunday Vanguard, while talking on the achievement of the NCS over three decades of existence and the ongoing reforms in the Service, to mark the International Customs Day. Giving insight into the E-form ‘M’ monetary policy he said, “This policy is newly introduced by the apex bank to enhance the cashless monetary policy that is already on-going in the country. This implies that anyone who intends to import goods into the country must obtain the form and register on line. The new policy is introduced by CBN while TIN Number is introduced by Customs. TIN is issued in partnership with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), which means that an importer

must now obtain E-form M and process the same online after getting his TIN number, before he can successfully import and clear goods at the Ports without any hitch.”

On Customs challenges with TIN compliance he said, “The major problem facing the introduction of TIN number is the level at which importers are willing to accept such changes. Also, some importers seem to be facing challenges with the new system registration and therefore, are not following the right procedure. Both freight forwarders and the importers may out of frustration decide to condemn it.

He went on, “There is a help-line provided by the FIRS to guide importers while

processing the TIN registration.

The essence of TIN is to make cargo clearance more effective like what obtains in developed countries. E-registration is designed to check fraud in the system.

Aside from that, it will reduce stress and no additional charges are required in the process of obtaining TIN number. Both Customs and FIRS are working hand-in-hand to map out more enlightenment programmes to educate the stakeholders and the public on the economic benefits of the new system of importing and clearing goods in the Ports. We have gone a long way and we want people to key into the new system to enhance economic growth and development now and in the long-run.”

On recent developments in the Command, he stressed, “The newly recruited officers and men are to be registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which had already been flag off by

Comptroller General of Customs, Dikko Inde, at the Headquarters in Abuja. The Service is trying to improve the health the standard of all

officers as well as their families to serve as motivation for better for better performance.

Compt Dan Ugo,(left) presenting the Comptroller-General of Customs Award to CSC Jatau Micah Garba of Federal Operations Unit, Zone 'A' ,Ikeja during the just concluded Customs Conference.

PAGE 36—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

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

Unveiling of the late Odumegwu Ojukwu's statue Dear Sir,

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HE mammoth crowd that had gathered at Nkpor junction, Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State hours before the arrival of the Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and his entourage to unveil the statue of late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Eze Igbo gburu gburu) was is a testimony to Ojukwu's good work for the Igbo people.

It was a carnival of a sort as the people arrived in droves to witness the event despite the hot weather.

When the governor and his entourage arrived, I was struck by the display of the musicians band that played that day. I cannot deny that I enjoyed the splendor – the impressive features. Nkpor junction once known for traffic jam has now been reconstructed by Governor Obi to ease traffic. Motorists coming from Limca Road now turn to Obosi Road or cross over to Ogidi end without much hassle.

The imposing statue of late Ikemba now stands elegantly at the centre of the round about.

Before unveiling the statue, Governor Obi briefly said the departure of his oldest political friend and mentor saddened him who according to him was irreplaceable.

Despite the carnival-like atmosphere,

officers of the Nigeria Police were on hand to provide adequate security during the occasion.

I want to commend the governor for making us proud as he had enumerated his plans to beautifying the environment and further embark on road projects to the reduce problems encountered by motorists plying Nkpor, Ogidi, Obosi areas of

the state.

To put the record straight, the ovation that greeted such promises was a mark of approval and public support for his government. The crowd roared with out of order jubilation as the governor unveiled the statue.

The deputy Chairman of APGA in the state, Chief Ifeanyi Udokwu elated by large turn out, enjoined the people to

support the governor in his efforts to make Anambra better, such support is certainly needed he said.

It was a day the people will never forget in a hurry as I gauged the sentiments of the people around and they were all supportive of what was going on.

Cletus Okereke writes in from Anambra State.

PDP chairmen’s sons and oil subsidy scam Dear Sir,

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HE two people who have occupied the highest position in PDP, Senator Ahmadu Ali, the Ex-National Chairman, and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the incumbent, have had their sons involved in the current national embarrassment called oil subsidy fraud. That is to say, the boys were alleged to have collected money for fuel importation which they never delivered.

The great cause of continuance of corruption in this country is that the game is learnt and rehearsed at family level, as leaders of this country

consciously or otherwise initiate their children into it, who continue where their fathers stopped, so Nigeria is passed from corrupt fathers to corrupt children.

Certainly these young Tukur and Ali have been groomed by their fathers both as enterpreneurs and future prominent players in the political arena of the country.The agitating question is, if at their young age they’ve started to dupe the country, what type of grooming have they received from their fathers? The facesaving explainations the old men could give for their their sons excesesses is that the young men are old enough to

answer for themselves. By smartly disowning their sons at the point of being caught, they have only ended up soiling their hands the more and indicting themselves the more. They should take responsibility for the misdeed of their sons because the lads only played the style they learnt from their mentors.

Let these men swear by the heavens that they are not aware of the activities of their sons who rode on their backs to prominence. If it was awards that these young men won, would their fathers have disowned them?

Nath Ngerem writes in from Lagos

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 37

Most of what I have done in life have been on scholarship

– Dr Akinroye, cardiologist turned consul

BY FEYI BANKOLE

F

T

HE famous saying that invest ment in knowledge pays the best interest has practically played out in the life of Kingsley Akinroye. Perhaps he would have lived his entire life in obscurity had it not been his avid thirst for knowledge that has made gaining of scholarship a walkthrough for him in a world where many struggle endlessly for it.

Scholarship all the way “The only thing I could think of was to read and go to school. My father was an official of the local government in the 50s and my mother was a prominent trader. My father believed in education because he was one of the foremost men that had the benefit of education in my community. I had scholarship when I was in secondary school at the Baptist High School, Osun State, in the late 60s; I had scholarship while at the University of Lagos Medical School, from which I graduated in 1975 and I did my post graduate training at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, and at Greater Glasgow Cardio-Thoracic unit, Meanskirk Hospital on scholarship. I also had further training in Cardiovascular Epidemiology at the University of Kuopio in Finland and at the Finnish National Public Health Institute (KTL) still on scholarship. Most of what I’ve done in life as fellowship programmes has been on scholarship too! Maybe God C M Y K

Akinroye...Honorary Consul of Finland

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rom an Apomu town boy in Osun State to a world renowned cardiologist, that is the story of Dr.Kingsley Kolapo Akinroye. VicePresident of the World Heart Federation in Geneva, President of the African Heart Network and also Executive Director, Nigerian Heart Foundation, Kingsley’s titles are almost inexhaustible. In November last year, he became the first black in this part of Africa to have been appointed the Honourary Consul of Finland, following the opening of the Honourary Consulate of Finland in Lagos by the Ambassador of Finland to Nigeria, Her Excellency Mrs Riitta Korpivaara. Enjoy our session with him!

Most of what I’ve done in life as fellowship programmes have been on scholarship too! Maybe God just directed me to what I should read and always made me pursue knowledge

just directed me to what I should read and always made me pursue knowledge. I could remember going to work voluntarily with my father at the local government during holidays and on weekends simply because I didn’t want to be idle at home. I do not know whether that contributed, but I know I just wanted to be meaningfully occupied at such times. This is not to say I didn’t play soccer and other games as a child”, he explained.

No formula about life Akinroye, however, cannot attribute his success to his commitment to gaining knowledge as he went on to explain: “I believe it is God’s favour, blessing and grace that have made me whatever I feel I am today. I cannot talk about any qualities that have taken me to this stage, but can only just say ‘thank you’ to the Lord because I really do not

believe there is any formula about life.

More importantly, I continue to learn the power of God, as the one that determines everything. I can only advise that we imbibe the culture of honesty in everything we do, albeit we cannot be a hundred percent perfect”.

Cardiologist turned consul Like he indeed noted, only ‘God’s grace’ could have made a cardiologist who did not in any way specialize in international affairs a Honourary Consul of Finland, one of the most competitive economies in the world.

“I was actually surprised about the appointment because I didn’t apply in any way. Usually, most consuls are indigenes of Finland! The day I was informed about the appointment, I was very surprised because, basically, Finland had actually never appointed any consul in this part of Africa! I really do not know what they’ve seen in me because I’m not the first person that has gone to Finland to study”, he said vivaciously.

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Between Nigeria and Finland As a Honourary Consul, Akinroye is

expected to be a bridge between Nigeria and Finland, especially in the areas of business, trade and culture.

“Finland is very well known for education, information technology and communication, and I hope to see how that could be used to benefit our health sector, which is my area of specialization. Also, as indicated in the corruption index by Transparency International, you find that down below the ladder is Nigeria, identified as the 35th most corrupt country in the world, while Finland is up the ladder, among the first three countries in the world with least corruption. That is an area from which I want my country to learn. We can do it; there’s nothing impossible. If you also know the history of Finland, you’ll find out they worked hard to get to where they are”, he enthused.

Healthcare in Nigeria As we rounded-up our session, Dr.Kingsley Kolapo Akinroye could not hide his distaste with healthcare delivery in Nigeria.

In his view, albeit its standard seems poor too, education in Nigeria is better than healthcare because the top ten universities in Nigeria could afford to compete with top ten in Europe and America while the top ten hospitals in Nigeria cannot in any way be compared with their counterparts abroad or even in some other African countries.

PAGE 38—SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

Oshiomhole vs Airhiavbere: ‘The oracle has spoken again’ A

S Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State commenced his second term after defeating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the July 14, 2012 governorship election, Gen. Charles Airhiavbere at the election petition tribunal, on Wednesday, Oshiomhole is now faced with the burden of who succeeds him in 2016 which Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered is currently giving the former labour leader serious concern.

The reason for his concern is not far-fetched. Prior to his election in 2008, infrastructures in the state were in a state of decay while the politics of Edo was in the grip of a group in the PDP. But he has been able to liberate the people from political slavery and has turned the ancient city of Benin to a modern one. The state election petition tribunal, led by Justice Muazu Pindiga, affirmed the reelection of the governor and dismissed Airhiavbere’s petition, asserting: “If there is any petition starved of evidence, this is certainly one. Judges cannot perform miracles or conjure evidence.

The petition is bereft of any evidence and devoid of substance”. In his reaction, Oshiomhole said: “ It is very clear, Edo people spoke very loudly and I won 18 over 18.

You have heard the judgment of the court, that this was just an exercise in futility. My friend, my brother, Airhiavbere, knew he lost and he lost clearly. But he made himself to think that he could manipulate the judicial process. And this is a case he has been made to swallow the bitter pill. That when people has spoken and the law is clear and the Nigeria people are unanimous that the Edo election was the best, it is not within the capacity of an individual to black to white.

And hearing the language of the tribunal, it was clear that this was an empty petition designed to waste the time of the court and also to waste the time of all of us who have had to be involved in the process.

But I recognize that in this democracy, it will take time for people to realize that the ultimate sources of power in a democracy are the people and the people spoke clearly.

“I won 75 per cent of the votes and even we have said that C M Y K

Edo LG polls signal 2016 guber race between Odubu, Ize-Iyamu camps

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z Oshiomhole..... My friend, my brother, Airhiavbere, knew he lost and he lost clearly every thing they complained about we agree, you led evidence in 52 units, out of 2,620 voting units, even if we dash those 52 units he knows that this would not have changed anything. Like I said before, Nigeria judiciary has always demonstrated courage, demonstrated rule of law and today they have again reinvigorated that. And I can only say we give thanks to God for having a panel made up of men of integrity.

“Lastly, we will remind Charles that we are friends and brothers; in a multi-party democracy only one person can win election, a lot of persons are free to contest, that is the beauty of multiparty democracy. We have to try to come to terms with this reality, that there is no way for two persons to win and therefore Edo people spoke loud and clear. But now it is all over, I ask him to join us as an Edo person so that together we can take the state to the next level”. The Esogban of Benin, Chief David Edebiri, asserted: “ The oracle has spoke again, no body fights with the oracle, not even Airhiavbere”.

Though the governor may have won at the tribunal, Sunday Vanguard learnt that

zAirhiavbere

Oshiomhole is worried about what will happen to the state after him. He has therefore commenced strategies that will enable him get a successor that shares the same vision with him. But in the

,

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

of the two groups, who are mainly former members of the PDP, provided the manpower and the expertise used in outsmarting the PDP in all the elections that the ACN won in the state.

Former members of the PDP, provided the manpower and the expertise used in outsmarting the PDP in all the elections that the ACN won in the state.

state ACN, there are two powerful blocs which Oshiomhole has managed since he assumed office. One faction is led by the deputy Governor of the state, Dr Pius Odubu, while the other is led by the South South ViceChairman of the ACN, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu.

Oshiomhole does not belong to either of the groups, but he is very much aware of their existence because, apart from the governor ’s personality which gave more life to the ACN in Edo State, members

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Odubu and Ize-Iyamu are angling to succeed Oshiomhole. It would be recalled that the Ize-Iyamu faction opposed Odubu’s nomination as running mate to Oshiomhole prior to the July 14 governorship election, but, with the doggedness of the governor and the intervention of former Governor Lucky Igbinedion, the issue was resolved amicably. But there are indications that the 2016 governorship election in the state may tear the party apart

and, as a result Oshiomhole, who is mindful of that and what happened to the PDP in the state, is trying to put a political structure in place to avert crisis.

The governor, it was learnt, is going to use the April 20, 2013 local government election to build a structure ahead of the 2016 governorship election. Since the announcement of the election date, members of the two powerful camps in the ACN have been strategizing on how to install their men in the 18 local governments. The battle for the souls of the councils by the group leaders is understandable because if they are able to install their loyalists at the grass roots, it will assist in projecting their governorship aspirations ahead of 2016. However, in a recent meeting held at the residence of the former Foreign Affairs Minister, Chief Tom Ikimi, in Benin City, the governor warned the leaders against factionalizing the party, just as he insisted that no leader will impose any candidate on the people. The governor, who was obviously reacting to the agitation by some leaders that they should be allowed to produce candidates in the area, explained, at the meeting, that imposition of candidates destroys a party but rather admonished the party leaders to support candidates who are popular among their people that will eventually excel at the general election.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Matters, Chief Charles Idahosa, who disclosed the resolve of the governor to conduct free and fair election in the 18 local government, debunked the allegation of anointed candidates ahead of the election. “The governor has pleaded that we should try as much as possible to ensure that everybody has a fair chance of winning and participating because if you are in a system and you lose fairly, you will participate with the winner to deliver because there are some local governments that we have up to ten to twelve aspirants; so all we are trying to do is to bring them together to let them know that, at the end of the day, only one man will become the chairman. So what we have been doing is to give them advice”, Idahosa stated. “The Conitnues on page 39

SUNDAY

Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 39

Corruption: Critics not fair to Jonathan – Seigha

BY DAPO AKINREFON

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MR Manijar Seigha is chairman of the Niger Delta Nationalities Forum. In this interview, he disagrees with critics who say President Goodluck Jonathan is not sincere in fighting corruption.

Seigha argues that though corruption has grown to become an unwritten culture in Nigeria, the president is doing his best to combat it.

Excerpts: YOUR group canvassed for President Goodluck Jonathan’s election in 2011.

How do you evaluate his performance so far?

First of all, to evaluate performance, one must compare. If I am to compare President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to other leaders in Africa, he has done well in keeping the country together despite provocations that could have brought unexpected results. On that note I score him 80%.

Secondly, if I am to compare him to other Nigerian leaders, let us say from 1999 to date. I will score him 75%, the late Yar’Adua 65% and OBJ 50% using the first two years in office as a basis.

Thirdly, if I am to measure his performance based on electoral promises, for example, short term promises like – electoral reform, respect for the rule of law, press freedom, legislative autonomy, judicial freedom etc., I will score him 80%. But on long term promises like, security, power supply, road rehabilitation, unemployment, development of the most critical economic area like the Niger Delta, corruption etc, I will score him 30%. I believe the foundation he is laying will determine the elasticity of growth and development in the long term. The average score for his promises is 55% while the mean for all the input of 80%, 75% and 55% gives him 70%.

However, Nigerians whose idea of Jonathan becoming president is for him to put food on their family table may score him zero, especially if the quantity on the table has remained the same since he assumed office. Of course these Nigerians are not bothered whether their immediate LGA chairman or governor is delivering on electoral promises or not.

The thinking that Nigeria is such a super rich country where Jonathan is expected to sort out all our problems in a jiffy is the Nollywood story of the year, Take a look at the 2013 annual federal budget as approved by the National Assembly. It is 4.9 trillion Naira. Mr. President is expected to fix power, agriculture, health, transport, security, housing, and C M Y K

Because Jonathan has learnt from previous mistakes, he is taking his time to ensure that we get the desired results cost effectively. These are the facts unknown to most of us

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MR Manijar Seigha....The truth is that corruption has grown employment, then bring food to every home including those who are not prepared to work…with just 4.9trillion Naira. I have taken time to divide that amount, say 5 trillion Naira by the 160million population of Nigeria.

Interestingly, every Nigerian is entitled to thirty one thousand, two hundred and fifty Naira only (N31, 250) per year. Maybe the president should give some people their own share so that they can let him be.

Let us take power for example; when OBJ came in 1999, he was anxious to fix the poor power situation and he truly meant it. He therefore invited Chief Bola Ige, his friend to handle it. Ige in turn promised to fix electricity in six months. However, a year after the promise, there were still major challenges with power.

By the end of OBJ’s eight-year tenure, power was still not available as promised. It was not because he was unwilling but because the process lacked strategic planning. Money was released but the result was negative. Yar‘Adua came in, used two years to ascertain

why the huge amounts spent could not fix the power problem. Now Jonathan is here and, as usual, we are rushing him.

Power generation and distribution in a country like ours that is already lagging behind is a huge technical project that requires clinical and strategic planning. Because Jonathan has learnt from previous mistakes, he is taking his time to ensure that we get the desired results cost effectively.

These are the facts unknown to most of us. It will require about 32billion US Dollars to get us uninterrupted, 24hour power supply and this will also take not les than 18months to accomplish.

Remember 32 billion US Dollars converted to Naira is over 5trillion Naira which is just about the same as our annual Federal budget for 2013. We know that our annual budget cannot be used to sort out only the problem of power because there are other areas of critical need. This is why the government of Jonathan is unbundling and privatizing the power sector. In other words, breaking the PHCN

into companies and selling them means the companies can go anywhere, be it America, Canada, Oyingbo, to raise the huge sums with the technical expertise and partnership to get us light in record time. This way, it will not put unbearable pressure on our annual Federal budget.

The point being made here is that our annual budget alone cannot be enough to fix the power demand even in the next 10 years. Performance should therefore be measured in terms of strategic planning and not just political expediency. At any rate, power supply is definitely more stable than it was before Goodluck Jonathan came into office.

Your rating of the president appears high, but some people seem to disagree with you We canvassed for votes for Mr. President in Lagos during the 2011 elections and he got 68% of the votes in Lagos. In October 2012, I met eight of the families that voted for him and we discussed current happenings around the president. Six families said they would not vote for him again because the information at their disposal indicated that he has not delivered. One family said they would make

their mind up at the end of his four-year tenure. The last family said, given the same opportunity, they would vote for him again. After spending some time with the six families who said they wouldn’t vote for him again, five changed their minds because they had fresh information that enlightened them on how government works in terms of strategic planning and the limited resources at the disposal of the president.

Do you think he is sincere in fighting corruption?

The truth is that corruption has grown to become something of an unwritten culture in Nigeria, believed by many, practiced by almost all and denied by all. Therefore, compelling President Jonathan to go and fight corruption the way we want him to do it is equal to telling him to put his neck on the guillotine. No single man can fight an element of culture except the society in which that culture is practised decides wholesomely to do away with that element. At best, Jonathan can only strengthen the appropriate institutions and motivate the personnel therein to do their job.

However, what is most important and urgently desirable is for the legislature to legislate precise and unambiguous laws regarding corruption and for the judiciary to interpret these laws like a sharp knife. To me, if the legislature and the judiciary can put their acts together, the executive will have no choice but to follow the rules of the law. The strength of the lion is in precision, no leakages no ambiguities; otherwise you can imagine the result.

A case study on my argument is the Cynthia Osukogu murder case. The executive through the Nigeria Police has done its bit

Edo LG polls signal 2016 guber race between Odubu, Ize-Iyamu camps Conitnued from page 38

governor said in one of our recent meetings and the thing made so much meaning to me that if you think you are the governor or godfather that you can impose or anoint a candidate, can you anoint the candidate for the voters? We just saw it in the outcome of the tribunal ruling.

The godfather in PDP imposed and anointed the candidate, you all saw the war in the PDP primaries, seasoned people were thrown out, the former and immediate past governor was thrown out and, at the end of the day, he imposed him on

the PDP but could he impose him on the electorate? After imposing him on the party, he lost the 18 local governments, he lost all the wards in Edo south and that was what the Comrade Governor was making reference to. So the issue of anointing or imposing one person does not arise.

There will be primaries, areas where we can decide and everybody agree, we go ahead and if one person out the aspirants from any council says no, we go for primaries”.

Whereas names such as Odubu, Ize-Iyamu, immediate past Chief of Staff, Barr Osarodion Ogie, incumbent Chief of Staff,

Patrick Obahiagbon (Igodomigodo) and Senator Ehigie Uzamere are being mentioned as possible successor to Oshiomhole, the onus lies on the governor who will play a major role on who succeeds him.

The calculation is that whoever the governor anoints from Edo South may have to pick the incumbent Majority Leader in the state House of Assembly, Philip Shuaibu, who is from Etsako like Oshiomhole, as his running mate. Fortunate for Shuaibu, apart from the fact that he is Oshiomhole’s man-Friday, he is one of the lawmakers in the state who have done a lot for his people in terms of

delivering the dividends of democracy to his people. But the worry amongst members of the ACN in the state is what will happen to the party in the event that the governor failed to pick either Odubu or IzeIyamu and decide to pick some one who is not as popular as the duo due to the fear that the two camps may clash if he decides to pick either of them.

But recalling how the governor handled the issue of his running mate in 2012, one may not have cause to worry.

Oshiomhole was able to calm the nerves of supporters of both camps and, at the end, the party went into the gubernatorial election united.

PAGE 40—SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013 — PAGE 41

Aregbesola condemns insurgency in Mali

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he governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has condemned the Malian military adventurists whose incursion into the affairs of the African country has

culminated into the turmoil into which that country has been thrown.

Aregbesola, who stated the need for professionalism in the military, said the crude hijacking of power from a

democratically elected government in Mali, almost a year ago, has given an unprecedented rise to insurgency.

Speaking at a civic reception in honour of two retired military top

brass; former Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, and former Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Muhammed Dikko Umar, in Osogbo the governor reviled the coupists in

Mali, saying there was no need however for the soldiers to have truncated the democratic rule when the tenure of the overthrown regime was at its twilight and the nation was almost ripe for another election. He said, “Last year, a tragedy

befell democracy in Africa again when a group of mis-adventurists in Mali toppled a democratically elected government. This was an unconscionable and mindless attempt to once again drag a nation and a continent back to the dark ages.“Whereas, every nation goes through its own troubled times. But this does not call for the subversion of democratic process in such country. Subversion is simply an invitation to anarchy, chaos and destruction.

“We as a people and lover of democracy, called on African leaders to speak with one voice by restoring democracy in Mali. Not only that, Captain Sanogo and his group of tragic adventurists must forthwith be courtmarshalled for their heinous act. ”It is sad that Sanogo is still walking freely today and in fact, still a serving officer in the Malian Army”.

Radiographers Board opens office in Kano

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD, KANO

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ADIOGRAPHER Registration Board of Nigeria, yesterday, open northern zonal office in Kano.

The office is anticipated to cater for members from 13 states spread across the North west and North east geopolitical zones.

Radiographers Registration Board, established by Decree 42 of 1987, is a regulatory agency for radiographers in Nigeria.

In a speech during the ceremony, the Kano Acting Registrar, Mr. Okpaleke Michael, expressed optimism that the decision by the Bayero University to establish a radiography department will go a long way to resolve the dearth of manpower in the region.

PAGE 42 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013,PAGE 43

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PAGE 44 --- SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

sameyoboka@yahoo.com

08023145567 (sms only)

Adeboye to pray for workers in financial institutions

Olutoye blasts Pentecostal pastors

BY SAM EYOBOKA

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ONCERNED Christians for Ministerial Integrity, an interdenominational network aimed at the establishment of integrity among ministers of the gospel, has just concluded a 3-day Ministers/Church Workers Conference, with a charge by the president, Evangelist Samuel Olutoye on ministers to rise and eliminate the evil of ministerial secrecy.

Evang. Olutoye’s passion is for the enthronement of righteousness, holiness, purity, sanctification and salvation over what he described as ministerial secrecy including immorality, transgressions and anything that has the trappings of worldliness.

To him, salvation is the ultimate in the Christian voyage. It’s over and above all other treasures on earth and to overcome worldliness in the Church, he stressed that the undiluted truth of the gospel must be preached by the men of God to their congregation. Theme of the programme: "Who is on the Lord's side?"

According to him, at the moment there’s spiritual down turn; there is corruption even in the Church, noting that “all those powerful messages we used to hear in those days have been taken away from our altars.”

Continuing, he maintained that today’s churches are full

of people but there are no Christians, adding “ we have fellowships without love for one another. We often preach about forgiveness but there are some pastors who do not forgive.”

Speaking on “Ministerial secrecy”, Olutoye averred that today’s church is witnessing power without purity, arguing that several herbalists and magicians have all taken up bibles and are now preachers and workers of miracles which is why we have the crisis in the North and over 70 per cent of the nation is against the Church of God. He also told the congregation of pastors, ministers and other church workers at the Lagos conference that what we have today is a church getting older without corresponding maturity; the higher they go in ministry, the closer they are to hell.

“In Lagos and some other cities of the nation, when you say you are a pastor people hiss, because demons who are not gainfully employed have all become pastors and they are making things difficult for the remnants to survive in ministry,” he stated.

According to the evangelist, there is so much corruption in the Church; “how can a man of God sleep with members of his church and still come to the altar to preach? I have never seen where men of God tell lies like this generation. We have lost integrity. It is evil for men of God to divorce their wives and members celebrate

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*Evangelist Samuel Olutoye such announcements.

“Immorality has become the order of the day. Homosexuals abound in the church today,” he said, stressing the need for pastors to, first and foremost, embark on a mission to save themselves before thinking of saving others.

He noted that pastors and ministers need to go back to God because of the imminent judgment of God, noting “if God does not judge this generation, He will have to apologise to Annanias and Sapphira. Men of God who make prophecies that never come to pass and as a result Nigerian governments no longer believe that there are pastors in the country.”

Olutoye therefore enjoined pastors and ministers of the gospel in the country to first purge themselves and rise up to eliminate all recognizable evils currently working against the spiritual growth of the Church in Nigeria.

To attain that level is to go back to the old time religion where people preached the truth of the Bible and lived the truth no matter whose ox is gored.

He also urged men of God, especially the fake ones, who have allowed profanity to thrive in Christendom and have sacrificed the true Word God on the altar of sentiments and personal aggrandizement, to repent and avoid the judgment.

Earlier, Pastor Taiwo Ishola of Perculiar People’s Ministry, Akowonjo, in his opening message, also urged ministers to retrace their steps from the present rot in the Body of Christ and enthrone righteousness in all their doings.

He maintained that in this precarious period in the world, there is the urgent need for us all to return to God who only has the capacity to deliver us from the current evil.

Alpha Nigeria trains 70 evangelists

By OLAYINKA LATONA

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S part of efforts to evangelise the entire world for Christ, a non-governmental organisation, NGO, Alpha Nigeria Evangelism Discipleship Ministry recently embarked on the training of people who will in turn train members of the public especially prison inmates in different parts of the country.

The programme tagged: C M Y K

“Prison Global Älpha Training” attracted over 70 participants who were drawn from different denominations including officers of the Ikoyi prisons and members of Prison Fellowship of Nigeria.

Alpha Nigeria, according to the national director of the organization, Mrs. Abiola Ogunbiyi, was set up by Alpha International in the UK over 25 years ago, adding that Alpha Nigeria has been running series of courses in some of Nigerian churches since

2003.

In her word: “Alpha Nigeria training cuts across all churches. We have trained members of Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal churches, Roman Catholic, Cherubim and Seraphim among others.

"This year we are focusing on prison and youths and that is why we invited officers of Ikoyi Prisons to actively take part in this wonderful programme,” she maintained.

The National Director urged

Nigerians to have a positive attitude towards one another, saying that they must imbibe the spirit love and shun selfishness. They should work towards the peace and progress of the nation.

In his welcome address, the Controller General of Prisons, Mr. Zakari Ibrahim commended the good gesture of Alpha Nigeria, adding that it was God who laid the mandate of transforming souls of the incarcerated into the hearts of the organisation.

HE Redeemed Christian Church of God RCCG has concluded plans to hold a special prayer session for bankers, accountants and auditors for God to make them more efficient and contribute meaningfully to national development, reports OLAYINKA LATONA. The special prayer titled; “Divine treasurers”, according to Pastor Goke Aniyeloye, an assistant pastor-in-charge on special duties, is scheduled to for Sunday, February 3, at the church's national headquarters, Throne of Grace, Ebute Metta, Lagos at 8.00 a.m.

Speaking on behalf of the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, Pastor Aniyeloye said God is in need of divine treasurers, people who could be trusted to help manage the financial resources of the nation.

He added that God is interested in the financial aspect of His children, therefore wants them to be prudent with their finances and other resources.

“God needs divine treasurers, people who can be trusted to help manage the financial resources He has committed into our hands for the upkeep of the nation and his house,” he noted.

“We live in a world of uncertainties, economic predictions by experts have failed, businesses have collapsed, banks have failed and gone underground.

"Many bankers, accountants, and auditors have been retrenched and are now roaming the streets in search of jobs.

“However God is in the business of making divine treasurers, He wants us to be prudent with finances that He has committed into our hands, either through the public or private individuals," Pastor Aniloye explained.

BSN honours Makinde, others

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RELATE of Methodist Church Nigeria, His Eminence Sunday Ola Makinde is among the personalities to be honoured by the Bible Society of Nigeria (BSN) with the award of Selfless Service to God and Humanity on February 8, 2013.

Event is scheduled for the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as chairman. Other awardees include the first governor of Lagos State, Brigadier-General Mobolaji Johnson, rtd. and chairman/CEO of Modandola Group, Sir Bode Akindele.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 45

Ijebu South West Diocese dedicates 4 buildings

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THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST

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ELIEVERS should be schooled in kingdom dynamics. One of the dynamics of the kingdom of God that Jesus brings to our attention says: “The last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:16). This word of prophecy is problematic for Christians. It means many Christians are called but only a few will be chosen.

The first in this world can never be first in the kingdom of God

The firstborn Jesus said to his disciples when he first sent them out to preach the gospel: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 10:5-6). He insisted on this initial exclusivity because the Jews were God’s firstborn (Exodus 4:22), so the gospel was preached to them first. They then became last by rejecting it. Thereafter, the gospel was preached to the Gentiles, who received it. Thereby, the Gentiles, who were last, replaced the Jews and became first.

Another corresponding kingdom dynamic says: “the older shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23). Thus, Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son; but God preferred Isaac to him. Esau was Isaac’s firstborn son; but God chose Jacob. Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn; but he forfeited his birthright by sleeping with his father’s concubine. (Genesis 35:22). Thereafter, Judah became first. (Judges 20:18).

Manasseh was Joseph’s firstborn son; but God preferred Ephraim. (Genesis 48:17-19). Aaron was the firstborn son of Amram (Exodus 6:20); but God chose his junior brother Moses to supersede him. David was the last child of Jesse; but he was preferred as king before his older brothers. God’s chosen successor to David was Solomon, who was younger than even Adonijah.

Going by these kingdom dynamics, Christians who are now first will become last. Unbelievers, who are now last, will become first. God says prophetically of insiders: “They have moved me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation.”

(Deuteronomy 32:21).

In the kingdom of God, the way up is down. The first in this world can never be first in the kingdom of God. The only way the first in the world can be first in the kingdom is if the first in the world becomes last in the world. Then it can become first in the kingdom.

Unbelieving believers Jesus was unimpressed with the faith of Jewish insiders. On a number of occasions, he categorised their faith as “little faith.” (Matthew 16:8; Luke 12:28). He once said to them in exasperation: “O faithless generation, how

long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?” (Mark 9:19). He also complained about them that: “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” (John 4:48). However, the Samaritans outsiders believed in Jesus without him having to perform any miracles whatsoever. (John 4:3942).

When Jesus healed 10 men of leprosy, only one of them came back to give thanks. That man was not a Jew but a Samaritan. Jesus marvelled at this. He asked: “Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine? Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (Luke 17:17-18). Leprosy is often a metaphor for sin in the bible. If the prophetically healed “sinner” who subsequently lived a life of gratitude in the scriptures was not a Jew; then he would not be a Christian today.

When Jesus found “great faith,” it was not among Jews but among the Gentiles. He said to a Canaanite woman who adamantly sought healing for her daughter in spite of Jesus’ feigned reluctance: “O woman, great is your faith!” (Matthew 15:28). H e also commended the faith of a Roman centurion who recognised that Jesus did not have to go physically to the sick in order to heal them, but could decree healing from anywhere. Jesus said of him: “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8:10). This is tantamount to saying of today’s firstborns: “I have not found such great faith, not even among Christians.”

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ecause the first becomes last and the last first, Jesus point ed out that: “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4:25-27).

Following this pattern, Jesus only revealed himself as Messiah to two people in the scriptures, and they were both “outsiders.” The one was a woman by Jacob’s well. She was a Samaritan and not a Jew; therefore she was last. But by giving her a privileged revelation of who he is, Jesus made her first. (John 4:25-26). The other was a man he healed of blindness. Although that man was a Jew, Jesus only revealed himself to him after he had been excommunicated from the synagogue. (John 9:35-38). His excommunication made him last, thereby positioning him for elevation in Christ. He became first through his steadfast commitment to Christ his healer, even in

the face of persecution by the priesthood.

Believing unbelievers This means in biblical times, the kingdom of heaven was more accessible to “outsiders” than to “insiders.” The Jews, believing the kingdom was their birthright as sons of Abraham, rejected Christ. Jesus said to them: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.” (Matthew 21:42-43).

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esus’ position is that genuine faith would often not be found among believers in the church but among unbelievers who will repent and accept him completely. H e t h e n maintains that for this very reason, there will be a reversal of fortunes: “I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

(Matthew 8:11-12).

Christians are today’s sons of the kingdom.

Therefore, the prophetic design of the gospel is inescapable. The race is not to the swift. (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Many Christians now deemed saved will be lost. Many unbelievers now deemed lost will repent and be saved. The arrogance of Vashti opened the door for Esther, a foreigner, to replace her as Queen of Persia. (Esther 2:4/17).

The unfaithfulness of the Jews opened the door for the Gentiles. Today, our unfaithfulness as Christians will open the door of faith to unbelievers. That is kingdom dynamics.

As it is written: “It shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘ you are not my people,’ there it shall be said to them, ‘ you are sons of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10).

T was a magnification of the glory of God on full display at the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Ijebu South West recently when a newly completed Bishopscourt and three other buildings were dedicated before as large congregation who had gathered to celebrate the third anniversary of the inauguaration of the diocese at Odogbolu in Ogun State.

The three other buildings dedicated by the Rt. Rev. Babatunde Ogunbanwo, the Diocesan Bishop, were the Diocesan Secretariat, the bishop’s chaplain’s house and the diocesan service quarters.

Nine other bishops, dozens of priests and numerous prominent parishioners from 10 archdeaconries which make up the diocese attended the ceremony. The occasion also witnessed the presentation of plaques to 12 eminent parishioners of the diocese for their different forms of support and assistance in the development of the diocese.

Exuding joy and a sense of fulfillment, the Diocesan Bishop, in his exhortation, attributed the landmark achievement on the occasion to the grace of God and the willingness of the parishioners to contribute to the cause of spreading the gospel.

Dr. Ogunbanwo urged the congregation not to be weary in their service to the Lord, assuring them that God to whom such services were rendered would most certainly reward them beyond their imagination.

Defending his decision to execute the four projects simultaneously, instead of one project at a time, Dr. Ogunbanwo remarked that God had told him that He had men and women in the diocese whom He would use to accomplish all the four projects within a short space of time.

The bishop went on: “My advice to all our parishioners is that they should always be positive.

Do not believe that anything is impossible. There is nothing that God cannot do. And our God will not use angels to achieve what may seem impossible to you. He will use ordinary human beings like you and me to achieve what many people may consider impossible.”

At the ceremony, the Rt. Rev. Ezekiel Awosaga, bishop of Ijebu Diocese, from whose ecclesiastical territory the Diocese of Ijebu South/West was excised in January 2010, described the event as “a milestone”.

He went on: “What I have observed here is the manifestation of the grace of God. Like the bishop said, when he started, he never expected that this kind of thing could happen but God has made it possible by stirring the hearts of the people to rise up and give a helping hand to him, especially the major donors who took one structure or another. So we bless the name of the Lord. We pray that God will continue to bless those that He has used to maker this day what it is and what we are witnessing.”

Similarly, the Bishop of Remo Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Michael Fope, in his contribution, said: “I salute Dr. Ogunbanwo’s doggedness. Although he is from this particular town, the people have supported him and he has worked very hard. I congratulate him.”

Other bishjops who were presen at the occasion included Rt. Rev. Nathaniel Ogundipe of the Diocese of Ifo; the Rt. Rev. Samuel Ogundeji of the Diocese of Egba West; the Rt. Rev. Olugbenga Oduntan of Ajayi Crowther Diocese; the Rt. Rev. Johnson Atere of the Diocese of Awori; and the Rt. Rev. Otubayo Obijole of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan.

L-R: Bishop of Ijebu South West, Rt. Rev. Babatunde Ogunbanwo, his wife, Mrs. Olatundun, Remo Diocese, Rt Rev. Michael Fape, Ajayi Crowther Diocese, Rt. Rev. Oduntan Olukemi and Rt. Rev. Olubayo Obijole at the third anniversary of the Diocese of Ijebu South West Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communon) and dedication of diocesan office complex held at Odogbolu Ijebu in Ogun State.

PAGE 46—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

Issues in NTA-StarTimes JV agreement

BY SUNDAY ADIGUN VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Redressing the skewed broadcasting deal

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was elated and surprised recently when I read in the newspapers that StarTimes, the Chineseowned and operated pay television company, was launching DVB-T 2 decoders in the Nigerian market. Elated because I am aware that T2 decoder is the latest technology has to offer in that area; and surprised that the Chinese company had been selling something less to Nigerians before now.

The decoders StarTimes’ was selling, before now, used the first generation Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial technology, which had been phased out in a number of African countries like Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.

These countries, in readiness for the digital migration deadline, have adopted Digital Video Broadcast Terrestrial (DVB-T2), the second generation decoders, as the standard for digital broadcasting. The sale of first generation decoders by StarTimes

implies that subscribers may be faced with unpleasant consequences at the expiration of the digital migration deadline.

Though an upgrade from DVB-T to DVB-T2 technology is a possibility, attempting to upgrade after the digital switchover may cost subscribers more. DVB-T is not compliant with DVB-T2. This may necessitate a recall of the first generation decoders and a need by subscribers to buy new decoders not long after buying the ones they currently use.

The authorities in Kenya and Uganda have banned the importation of DVB-T, the first generation decoders.

As far back as 2008, Nigeria, according to Engr. Yomi Bolarinwa, NBC Director-General, had committed to the DVB-T2 technology. Yet, when StarTimes kicked off in the country in 2010, it treated the commitment with indifference by selling T-1 decoders.

But why, despite the country’s commitment to T-2 since 2008, did the regulator allow StarTimes to sell first generation decoders to Nigerians?

Within the industry, there are suspicions, not exactly implausible, that the regulator has been cowed by the might of NTAStarTV Network.

Naturally, this reinforced the belief that StarTimes dumped decoders rejected elsewhere

on Nigerians.

For some obscure reasons, the Joint Venture, JV, agreement between the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, and Star TV Network Limited has escaped the headlights of public scrutiny. This, inevitably, has granted a free rein to

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There is no doubt that the behaviour of medical and health workers in our hospitals grossly falls short of expectation

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StarTV Network Limited, promoters of StarTimes, a Chinese-owned concern licensed to provide Digital Terrestrial Television, DTT, in Nigeria.

The JV agreement produced NTAStarTV Network, in which the NTA has 30 per cent shareholding. This cost the Federal Government N750million, paid on behalf of the NTA to

the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, in form of operating licence fee.

Another issue is the promotion of unfair competition. The absence of a local legislation on competition has engendered an anti-competitive spirit. According to the terms of the JV agreement, the NTA is forbidden from entering into any relationship with another broadcaster, satellite or terrestrial, and was compelled to annul those entered into prior to the agreement.

The NTA was also a victim–of its own agreement! On account of its relationship with such broadcasters, it had a steady income stream from monies paid for the shared sites. The annulment of the relationship, naturally, turned off the income tap.

The potential for further erosion of Nigeria’s interest is also contained in the Digital Migration Whitepaper, which many knowledgeable people in the industry say recommends that the government will licence a minimum of two or a maximum of three signal distributors when the transition analogue to digital terrestrial technology begins.

The government has constituted a Digital Implementation Team, which is made up of industry experts and stakeholders in both the private and public sectors. On account of

its 157 transmission sites across the country, the NTA has been recommended as the public broadcasting signal distributor. One of the team’s first step may be the ratification of the NTA as the signal distributor. This will make NTA the custodian of all distribution frequencies in the country and operators will have no other option other than to go to the NBC for licensing and the NTA for their respective lashings of frequencies.

Ordinarily, this does not appear inimical. But with the NTA/StarTimes combo in place, the implication may be that the responsibility for a matter as sensitive as broadcasting is effectively in the hands of a Chinese firm. NTA, for instance, is performing no technological role in relation to the Direct Terrestrial Television roll-out, having conceded this to StarTimes.

Also, the NTA, as the public signal distributor, will have almost unlimited control over broadcasters, who will be dependent on it for frequencies.

Any operator that shows signs of irritation with the arrangement may have to face grotesque consequences. The dice, as it is, is heavily loaded against other players in the i n d u s t r y .

Adigun, journalist and public affairs analyst, is resident in Abuja .

The minister, doctors and health workers

BY BOLA IBRAHIM VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF Medical and health workers behaviour falls shorts of expectation

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HE first time I heard of JOHESU, the Joint Health Sector Unions (an unregistered amalgam of several unions operating in the public health sector), was sometime in 2010 when they staged a noisy demonstration at the National Assembly to protest the appointment of Professor Onyebuchi Chukwu as minister of health. At that time, I had wondered what horrid past encounter Chukwu had had with the health workers to warrant such a reaction from a national trade union. I would soon learn that the protesters had really nothing personal against him – it was just that they couldn’t stand yet another medical doctor as the minister of health! Chukwu’s appointment was merely another opportunity to reignite the protracted battle for supremacy between doctors and other healthcare professionals over the management of government-owned health institutions and the health sector in general.

It is no surprise that from that

beginning the minister ’s every pronouncement, move and body language has been viewed with antagonism by JOHESU. Nothing the minister did to promote professionalism and industrial harmony in the sector seemed to satisfy the union.

JOHESU has not denied the minister’s statement that it was under him that progress was made in their long agitations for the adjustment of career structure/progression for health workers, which saw the barrier to promotion of health workers to the directorate cadre finally removed. JOHESU has not complained of unpaid salaries, allowances or denial of promotion or training as was the case in the past. For some time, they apparently succeeded in deceiving less discerning Nigerians by carefully couching their intense hostility to the minister in very altruistic and sometimes patriotic rhetoric. With every strike or threat of strike, choreographed public demonstrations and inflammatory press statements, their advertised discontents have undergone several revisions and adjustments. Once, a strike action was recklessly ordered and a ridiculous, almost comical ultimatum issued for the minister ’s removal over a Federal Government circular forbidding skipping of grade levels for all cadres of workers.

When reminded that the matter

was already before the industrial court, they shifted to the alleged deterioration in Nigeria’s health indices, falsifying the Mo Ibrahim human development index to create the picture of total collapse of the health sec-

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VIEWPOINT

There is no doubt that the behaviour of medical and health workers in our hospitals grossly falls short of expectation

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tor. When the correct figures, easily obtainable on the internet, were pointed out to them, as if they did not know beforehand, they shifted to the WHO data, again misrepresenting the easily verifiable data which all indicate that Nigeria is making steady, if not fast enough progress in the attainment of set health goals, except the sudden setbacks on polio.

In the latest press statement (Vanguard, January 11, 2013, p.49) however, JOHESU has finally revealed its real grudge:

why should the Federal Government confer undue advantage on their arch-rivals, the medical doctors, by granting them “exclusive role as the chief executives of hospitals”? Why not create a level playing field for all medical and healthcare workers by handing over the management of hospitals to neutral hospital administrators? This is what JOHESU calls “international best practice”. In the end, JOHESU has reduced its overall objectives and raison d’être to one single agenda: t o dethrone doctors as exclusive chief medical directors of government-owned hospitals!

In a way, this writer endorses the JOHESU demand for our hospitals to be run by trained hospital administrators and hopefully insulate them from petty professional rivalries that often expose patients to pain and harm. But JOHESU should not forget that where hospitals are run on such models, they are profitable ventures which unavoidably entail partial or total privatization. However, the last time the outsourcing of some services in hospitals was broached, the same JOHESU went up in arms, threatening the Federal Government with yet another strike action! Is privatization of public hospitals not in line with international best practice? I s J O H E S U n o t aware that WHO, the leading

global health agency, has been headed from inception by medical doctors? Is it not an absurdity that JOHESU seeks to dictate to government on who should head or manage its own strategic asset or on which business model they should operate?

Yet their contracts and conditions of service are clearly outside such spheres.

There is no doubt that the behaviour of medical and health workers in our hospitals grossly falls short of expectation.

Other health workers see doctors as arrogant but some of them have exhibited the worst form of arrogance and rudeness to patients. JOHESU is always eager to assess the performance of the health minister based on its arbitrary and always ambiguous sets of criteria but let it not forget that its members are also constantly being judged harshly by patients and the public. In fact, the Federal Ministry of Health should hasten to conduct a productivity audit on all health sector personnel and devise ways of giving the patients major roles in such appraisals.

JOHESU can longer pretend not to know that its constant brinkmanship and the poor attitude of its members are among the main factors driving outward medical tourism.

Ibrahim, a health management consultant, is based in Abuja

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 47

VIEWPOINT

BY OKHAREDIA IHIMEKPEN Viewpoint in brief VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The road to an efficient transport sector

Onolememen : The future of our roads of works in 2012 and that of N47, 462,431,157.86 was released in the 1st and 2nd Quarters, while the Ministry has, so far, utilized the sum of N44, 073,708,342.70 within the period under review. From this analysis, he said the percentage of the fund utilized from the fund released is 93% while the percentage of the fund released

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ORKS Minister, Arc. Mike Onolememen, struck the right note sometimes last year in Abuja during his presentation on matters arising from the 2012 budget and to mark proposals on projects/ programmes for the 2013 budget.

The total network of public roads in Nigeria, he said, is estimated at about 200,000km out of which the Federal Government owns and manages 35,000km representing 18%, while the states and local governments have 15% and 67% of the road network respectively. Most of the local government roads are unpaved. He continued that, in Nigeria, the road sector accounts for about 90% of all freight and passenger movements.

The renowned architect reminded Nigerians that although federal road network constitutes 18% of our total national network, it also accounts for about 70% of the national vehicular and freight traffic, thus underscoring their crucial importance to the economy.

He didn’t stop there, realizing that taking care of the future of Nigerian roads is an assignment beyond the Jonathan Goodluck’s government, he said, “In the 2012 financial year, the Federal Ministry of Works will focus greater attention on funding on-going projects”. According to him over 90% of budgetary provisions are allocated for on-going projects and 10% earmarked for new ones. He explained that the sum of N143, 592,745,849.00 was appropriated to Federal Ministry

At the assumption of office of Onolememen as the Minister of Works in 2011, it is on record that only about 30% of the federal road network was in good condition

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from the annual budget is 31%.

The president, during his electoral campaigns in 2011, promised the transformation of the road sector; with a view to promoting trade, generating

employment and alleviating poverty, improving standard of living and diversification of the economy. To what extent it has translated to these goals are evident in the road sector as they are verifiable.

At the assumption of office of Onolememen as the Minister of Works in 2011, it is on record that only about 30% of the federal road network was in good condition. The ministry was also said to have inherited over 160 ongoing projects at various stages of completion coupled with institutional and management problems. All these have become history as the ministry has rehabilitated constructed and dualisation of over 76 federal roads, including the ongoing Dawson-Oluku road in Benin City with over 100 other ongoing projects across the country. It is also interesting to note that only the other day, the ministry reawarded the Benin-Shagamu express road at the cost of N60 billion. And the dualisation of the Okene Benin express way.

Other completed projects are the rehabilitation of Ukoni-Amedokhian old road and the construction of two bridges along Auchi-Ekperi-Agenebode roads in Edo State.

Onolememen’s journey through bravery, unique charisma, profound courage, rare intellect, selfless service, nationalism and unequivocal re-

sponse to duties may have started from his deep involvement in number of projects and programmes in both the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy; which includes the Petroleum Trust Fund and the Ministry of Defense projects in the past.

As we deepen our democracy and infrastructural development and since we now seem incapable of finding solutions to other means of transportation, since the aviation and our water ways have remained lame duck like our PHCN, the system should encourage the evaluation of our roads development in the other tiers of government to complement the federal, this is the only way we can come up with a holistic system that has a passion for our road development.

If Jonathan can have more of the Onolememens with intellectual, political savory and idealistic visions to overcome the decay in the aviation and our water ways, he can be rest assured that the country will forge ahead with economic and social development as the transport sector remains a sinaquanon to our economic progress and growth.

This is the only way he can guarantee us the future of our transport sector.

Ihimekpen, a public affairs analyst, lives in Benin-City.

Dawn of new era at UNIBEN

BY JULIET OSAKWE Viewpoint in brief VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF The road to an efficient transport sector

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AST year, the Ranking Web of World Universities named Uni versity of Benin (UNIBEN) the institution the leading university in Nigeria and no.22 among the first 100 universities in Africa. That not withstanding, the university community has more reasons to celebrate. Towards the close of last year, the university held its 38th convocation ceremony which also coincided with the third anniversary of the administration of its current Vice Chancellor,Prof.Osayuki Godwin Oshodin, who is running a five –year tenure .The outpouring of commendations by the university community to the Vice Chancellor for the great, positive turn-around the institution had witnessed under his stewardship in those three years could not but stand the man tall and proud even in his widely acclaimed humility.

In his usual humble manner, Oshodin did not call for celebration of the anniversary but a special publication,

detailing the achievements and challenges of his administration as well as an appraisal of the administration by critical stakeholders including principal officers, union leaders, staff and students, was presented to the university community.

Although,the Vice Chancellor regarded his achievements as modest,

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VIEWPOINT

His successful reconciliation of various interest groups in the university will continue to high light the return of good times to the institution

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pledging his readiness always to go the extra mile in search of whatever will uplift the status of the university and the welfare of staff and students, it was clear from the encomiums showered on him by stakeholders in their assessment of his stewardship that he had surpassed their expectations of

him when he was appointed in 2009.

From Comrade John Osaretin Alile, Chairman of the Senior Staff Academic and Non Academic Union(SSANU), University of Benin Chapter: “He has done well in the area of providing infrastructure.If you look at the issue of welfare for students and staff, you would see that he has done extremely well. If we were to score him in an examination, there is no doubt that we would give him an A”.

According to Dr Anthony MonyeEmina,Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU),“Prof Oshodin has been moving the university forward to the best of his ability and within the limits of available resources. I would, particularly ,score him high in the area of staff welfare.

Since he came in, he has been paying salary much earlier than it is used to be in the past and all outstanding challenges relating to old allowances and arrears, including promotion arrears that has been lingering since 2002 ,he paid them off. Staff training and sponsorship of conferences are also going on very fine within the limits of available resources.”

His counterpart,Mr Sunday Momoh, Chairman, National Association of Academic Technologist (NAAT), had this to say : “Prof Oshodin’s administration is God-sent, we’ve never had it

so good….Things have been wonderful ,he’s an administrator par excellence.”

Comrade Joel O.Idonije, Chairman, Non Academic Staff Union(NASU) sees Oshodin as a servant leader.

Before Oshodin’s appointment, the university was drifting and had virtually reached the precipice as a result of several years of leadership crises and internal strife. Under his watch, the university has witnessed massive construction of faculty/departmental buildings and lecture theatres, renovation of existing ones, renovation of students hostels and staff quarters, provision of infrastructures such as boreholes and generators to ensure constant water and power supply as well as sponsorship of capacity building programmes for both staff and students. He cleared the backlog of allowances owed staff and the backlog of promotion exercise. He has ensured promotion of staff is now done as and when due.

His successful reconciliation of various interest groups in the university will continue to high light the return of good times to the institution. Oshodin is not satisfied yet .His vision is for the institution to be ranked among the first 100 leading universities in the world. *Osakwe can be reached on mail: juli_success@yahoo.com

Contribution of not more than 800 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

PAGE 48—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

VIEWPOINT

BY DANIEL ALABRAH VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF President Jonathan's visit to police college and the reactions of people.

Lessons from Jonathan’s Police College visit before asking some pertinent questions: When was the recording that was played back to the world done? How was the TV outfit able to film what passes for a pigsty at the college without detection? Was the expose intended to damage the image of the Federal Government? He got no answers from the Commandant of the college, Commissioner of Police I.F. Yerima.

Nor could his deputy or other senior aides he turned to for help. Whether there were answers or not, the President had triggered something more momentous and satisfying than Yerima’s answers would have provided.

Cynics have, however, chosen to dwell on the President’s comments and questions as to how and why TV cameras were allowed to record what practically goes for a clip from a film on a poultry farm. Two leading political groups, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties as well as scores of others have also commented on the matter, halfheartedly lauding the President for the visit but refusing to admit that for the first time in many years a Nigerian President has walked the tough talk with an iron resolve.

There are leaders, military and civilians, that have glossed over such disclosures of serious malaise in the past.

We have had a leader, who after being confronted with a similar situation, simply tossed the report to a lieutenant for follow-up. The matter evapo-

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IXED reactions have trailed the surprise visit of Presi dent Goodluck Jonathan to Nigeria’s premier Police College in Ikeja, Lagos. Leaving for Ivory Coast to attend a special ECOWAS summit on the crisis in Mali, the Nigerian leader made a stopover in the former federal capital and headed straightaway for the police school.

What triggered the unscheduled visit was the expose on the college by the privately-owned Channels Television.

The station had shown sordid pictures of the elite police college: half-way roofed dormitories, broken windows, over-populated hostels, interns sleeping on the bare floor and dilapidated toilets.

The President wanted to ascertain for himself if the pictures were from another world or were simply put together electronically. He discovered probably that the TV station showed far less than the mucky pictures it transmitted. He took his time to assess the rot at the college by visiting among other places the hostels, toilets, officers’ mess, dining halls and kitchen.

As he ended the messy affair at the Officers Mess (no pun intended), President Jonathan made for his car, to continue the flight to Abidjan, but not

The surprise visit is a clear indication that the President will no longer be comfortable with just giving the orders nor just asking his field men to do the work

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rated and the nation was the loser because a leader reneged on the matter of accountability and responsiveness.

The import of the President’s visit is that he has fired a timely salvo that puts all Nigerians, but notably public office holders and contractors on our

toes. The President is watching like the Big Brother in George Orwells’ acclaimed novel, Nineteen Eighty Four. But whereas Orwells’ character is mischievous, Jonathan’s watch is to ensure accountability and more productive and useful deployment of the country’s resources. He has backed this up with the prompt setting up by the Police Affairs Minister of a panel to unearth the cause of the rot in the college and other police training institutions in the country.

Critics may say the President deserves no special kudos for doing what he did because he did his duty. But how about if he chose to follow the beaten track of our lackadaisical tradition? After all those who did so are still strutting the streets celebrated in the media and in the society.The surprise visit is a clear indication that the President will no longer be comfortable with just giving the orders nor just asking his field men to do the work.

He is sending out the word that he will now keep watch over them to do the work so that the masses of the country are not conned by men and women who privatize money given them for the development of the society.

The man, Gen. Azazi: A tribute

BY MICHAEL AWE TRIBUTE IN BRIEF The late NSA lived a noble life, spurred by contentment

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O tragic event is ever antici pated or welcomed; but one of the most shocking of such bad occurrences in 2012 was the air mishap that claimed the lives of General Andrew Owoye Azazi, the immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA; the amiable Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and four others on Saturday, December 22, 2012 in the home state of Azazi, Bayelsa.

Azazi’s death, like that of Yakowa or any other tragic incident, still remains a nightmare especially to those who are close to him through official and personal relationships. He was a complete gentleman. He related very warmly with people not on account of their status or the level of intimacy with him but as a lifestyle; he treated and addressed people with humility, respect and candour.

He was a congenial person to work with. Azazi had never for once made his staff or subordinates felt that he was the boss but a team leader. Even as a topmost army officer when he was Chief of the Army Staff, those who knew him intimately maintained that he was “very civil and fair minded in all his dealings...too gentlemanly that some people could not believe that we still have his ilk in the military.”

Azazi’s disposition to issues had never been hinged on any other factor than merits and facts; unlike some other ‘big bosses’ whose mood often dictate their reactions. He was a good listener and a meticulous decision maker. Regardless of who was offering an idea, the late army general usually

Late Gen. Andrew Owoye Azazi respected, accepted and applied superior views, arguments and ideas. He enjoyed engaging his aides in sound intellectual debate as a norm towards taking feasible and defensible decisions.

Azazi was very desirous of good governance, peace and credible public administration while in office as the NSA that he willingly offered help and co-operation to a few MDAs not only in the area of security but in some ways of enhancing their operations. Labaran Maku, Information Minister had, in a live telecast in January 2012, acknowledged this co-operation offered to his ministry by the office of the NSA. Azazi changed the cult-like administration of national security. He believed that Nigerians should be adequately and regularly informed about their security situation; whereas withholding information for too long often encourage foreign media to inundate Nigerians with distorted facts of security stories. He was a patriot of the highest order. He would stop at nothing to defend the corporate interest and integrity of Nigeria whenever the need arose. One of such instances was when the United States alerted its citizens, nay, Nigerians that some designated spots and hotels had been marked for attack by a terrorist group.

Hours after the announcement, Abuja, indeed, most parts of Nigeria were tensely struck with fear as vocal Nige-

rians were asking what our security chiefs were doing if information like this could elude their notice.

Azazi was miffed not at the piece of information but at the needless sensation and panic the announcement generated. Explaining to a select media executives at an interactive session barely a week after, he said the information was not new. “We had been on top this situation since we got wind of this plot. In fact, we alerted our security collaborators and the management of the facilities concerned to step up security checks and surveillance. Thus we moved security personnel into the marked areas to void the plot”.

The perennial bombing of public and worship edifices and movie-like killing of innocent people by an extrem-

,

TRIBUTE

In proffering solution to the security challenge, Azazi was a proponent of state police option

,

ist Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, characterised most period of Azazi’s tenure of office as NSA. In fact, the dare-devil activities of the ruthless sect eventually led to his removal and a few others from office.

In proffering solution to the security challenge, Azazi was a proponent of state police option. I’m not sure if he ever made this public but he believed the tendency for abuse of the process by state chief executives could be taken care of in the provisions of the law.

His Asaba (Delta State) statement which traced the unabated upsurge of terror attacks in the country to the con-

flict of political interests in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, was typical of Azazi’s candour. Even when I told him that President Jonathan seemed not to be on the same page with him over his statement, he said “I can’t join issues with Mr. President.

He’s my Commander-in-Chief. I have simply expressed my mind and those concerned know very well what I’m talking about.”

Unknown to many people, Azazi went into real estate business immediately after his retirement as Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) in August 2008. In fact, he was on his way to the airport on a business trip to the United States in October 2010 when President Jonathan invited him for the NSA job.

A very brilliant and consummate intelligence army chief, Azazi had one of the fastest growing military careers in the history of present day democratic Nigeria. Between May, 2006 and June, 2007 the late general had been decorated with the ranks of major general, lieutenant general and general.

Many of those who called or sent sms to express grief at his sudden exit described him as a “great man.” His ilks are few among the top echelon of the society. He had seen it all but not blinded by the spoils of office. He was philosophical about life; hence he said to me: “Whenever I was in a convoy with siren blaring ahead of us, I often asked myself ‘is this life all about?’ of course not. I see opulence and power as ephemeral and I was never excited about them. Though it was a privilege for me to experience this for a little while, making the best of every opportunity for humanity is enough satisfaction for me because I know there is more to life than all these.” This was the personal creed of Azazi and he lived a noble life spurred by contentment, service to humanity and fear of God. Good night Azazi the Great. * Awe is a Lagos based media consultant, Email:mikeawe@yahoo.co.uk

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 49

chimeena@yahoo.com 08026350360

CRITICAL INTERVENTION

A

ll through the remarkable literary career of Professor JP Clark (the First African writer to be appointed professor of English), the centrality of his plays has always been the relevance of the culture of his own people. Clark, the man of memorable electrifying verses, the man who vomits poetry naturally without conscious effort, deserves all the accolades in the world for beaming the beauty of the Ijaw culture to the world. Clark skillfully makes a break from this his universally acknowledged cultural zone when his play The Wives’ Revolt emerged in the literary scene after many years of hibernation in Kiagbodo where his MUSE supposedly dwells.

In The Wives’ Revolt which signals Clark’s first valedictory speech to culture, he awakens and addresses new realities in his environment.

Perhaps bothered by the challenges thrown up by his environment he artistically feels a sense of responsibility to come up with his prescriptions and claim the garment of human rights activist in abandonment of the garment of culture activist. In a dance of commitment towards this new task, Clark in his play (The Wives’ Revolt) of three characters with six parts designated as PROCLAMATION, DISSENT, WALK-OUT, LULLABY, RETURN AND RECLAMATION, draws attention to the crisis in Erhuwaren village bred by an oil company. The crisis stems from an oil money given to the community by an oil company operating in their land. Erhuwaren as an oil company is made up of the descendants of Udumede and Meghwere in four wards – Ikemeghwre, Ikikimedi, Adjesaba and Urevwodo. The oil money is divided into three parts in the community vis=a

JP Clark’s metadialetics in the Wives’ Revolt and All For Oil vis elders, men of particular age-group and women. But this arrangement does not go down well with the women who hold the view that the money should be divided into two equal parts between men and women. In protest, the women abandon their responsibilities in the home leaving the homes and streets of Erhuwaren littered with dirt and roaming goats. Faced with this reality of dirt in the community, a law that bans the ownership and rearing of goats is proclaimed by the men. This proclamation gives birth to the exodus of the women through Otughieven, Eijophe, or Igherekan, Imode to Eyara. In Eyara the women are accommodated and cared for by Ighodayen, a notorious prostitute. By the time the women are back to Erhuwaren through the repentant pleas of the men leading to the sharing of the oil money into two equal parts along with other compensations as demanded by the women as grounds for resolution of the matter, they are all infected by Ighodayen and to cure this affliction, a doctor and team of nurses are brought from Warri to administer treatment on the women.

The resolution of the matter in favour of women signals Clark’s espousal of equality of women with men - a feminist touch that marks a new thematic direction in the writings of Clark. Beyond the feminism the man espouses and celebrates anchored by the three characters – Okoro, Koko and Idama – Clark also in the play awakens other serious issues such as ; the issues of underdevelopment of host communities by oil companies, self-inflicted underdevelopment in host communities, the primacy of women liberation, greed and arrogance of men, marital faithfulness of women, insensitivity of oil companies to development matters, host communities knowledge of the manipulative dance of oil companies in their areas of operation, danger of female prostitution, men’s disrespect and distrust of women and men’s vindictiveness.

Though Clark explores all these issues with only three characters, artistically he makes the reader feel and hear

Prof. J.P. Clark

,

BY EKANPOU ENEWARIDIDEKE

Clark, the man of memorable electrifying verses, the man who vomits poetry naturally without conscious effort, deserves all the accolades in the world for beaming the beauty of the Ijaw culture to the world

the echoes of other characters relevant to the development of the plot.

The message of JP Clark in The Wives’ Revolt is clear, timely and relevant viewed against the backdrop of the challenges of the time. Clark’s message outweighs the language of the play in importance because the language is a departure from Clark’s characteristic hypnotising poetry – a reality that has severally provoked critical questions as to whether Clark and his poetic muse have clashed, or could it be another Clark’s artistic choice employed to reinforce the thematic orbit along which the play journeys.

Interestingly in a move that bears semblance to a continuum of Clark’s break from cultural preoccupation in drama, he has delivered his second valedictory speech to culture, this time with a radi-

,

ant retention of his characteristic poetic genius. The traces of poetry in this second valedictory speech throws Clark up as a poet extraordinaire who has reconciled with his MUSE hitherto on the run in The Wives’ Revolt. It appears Clark’s poetry assumes a more compelling force with age. Clark’s second valedictory speech to culture is embedded in his latest play ALL FOR OIL – a play in which he raises and addresses new issues and situations relevant to the Ijaws, Urhobos, Isokos, Kwales and Itsekiris in particular, and Nigeria in general.

Even in All For Oil the posture of Clark is that of a human rights activist bothered by the exploitative distortions in the lives of his people. Clark’s metamorphosis in recent plays parallels an activist poised to address the encumbrances of

his people revolutionally using any available or handy instrument – perhaps all in commemoration of artistic emancipation from his erstwhile cultural enclosure or paradise.

In All For Oil, a play of nine parts artistically designated as REGAT TA AND AF TER, SCHOOL REPORT, COURT RETURNS, ENVOYS, CHAINS, BRIEFING, AUDIENCE, RITE OF BROOM and SICKBED. Featuring characters like Chief B e k e d e r e m o (Ambakederemo), Mitovwodo, Fuludu, Nemugha, Branuvwere, Piniki Ederume, Egerton Shyngle, Chief Dore Numa, Bar Rolle, Messenger, S.L. Bucknor, Chief Babigha, Chief Egbe, Fiobode, Johnson Nana, Col. M.C. Moorhouse, and A.C. Burns, the fulcrum of Clark’s portrait is that of Chief Bekederemo, Chief Dore Numa and Col. M.C. Moorhouse. The vision of Clark in All For Oil is communicated through the network of the activities of these three characters. Characters like Mitovwodo, Fuludu, Nemugha, Branuvwere, Piniki Ederume, Egerton Shyngle, Bar Rolle, Messenger, S.L. Bucknor, Fiobode, Chief Babigha, Fetaroro, Chief Egbe and A.C. Burns merely play roles that intensify and illuminate the behavioural compositions of these three characters. In line with the design of the play, these characters cannot achieve their devices without the complementary roles of the other characters. The roles of the other characters bring out the true qualities of Chief Bekederemo, Chief Dore Numa and Col. M.C. Moorhouse – qualities thrown up for analysis, examination, criticism, commendation, approbation and disapprobation as a vehicle for Clark to build his prescriptions, stated or implied, on the problems of Warri – problems rooted in the colonial days.

The play All For Oil opens with a celebration that brings together Chief Bekederemo, chief Dore Numa and many others. Frederick Lugard, the Governor-General and Commander-in-chief of Nigeria on tour of the southern provinces, is in Warri as part of the tour. Ijaws, Itsekiris, Urhobos, Isokos and others have come to honour the visit with different cultural displays and performances.

Chief Bekederemo, Chief Dore Continues on page 50

PAGE 50—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013

Human Cargo marks Nigeria’s Black History Month

Continued from Page 49

send Fiobode to tell chief Bekederemo of the outcome of the meeting.

C h i e f Bekederemo’s plan to present comp l a i n t s against chief Bekederemo is aborted.

Fiobode reveals that the Court (Bar Rolle) tells them in confidence that the Chief Dore Numa has been striped of majority of his Prof. JP Clark powers by the officers from kernel with the Niger company Lagos, each group of peoin Ganagana, Chief ple in the province now Bekederemo has a strong repul- made autonomous in the sion against the manipulative running of its own affairs devices of Chief Dore Numa in and court and in the sendWarri and Benin. Guided by his ing of a member to the Court lawyer Egerton Shyngle, he Of Appeal. Even this stripbrings genuine reports against ing of Dore’s powers is not Chief Dore in the office of Col. sufficient for Chief M.C. Moorhouse, an officer Bekederemo who expects administering the government more. He grows infuriated of Nigeria in the absence of Sir when Fiobode tells him the Frederick Lugard. Chief outcome.

Bekederemo’s complaint is that In anger, he opts for a Chief Dore Numa parades him- broom from Fiobode and self as the paramount ruler of sweeps out the life of Chief Ijaw, Urhobo Dore Numa and Itsekiri for the perand under this fidy in these facade he is words: “… busy leasing with my left The message people’s land hand I of JP Clark in to the colonial sweep away government the life of THE WIVES’ without the Dore.

REVOLT is knowledge May his and consent of life go out clear, timely the people. He with all his and relevant demands an minions he end to this placed in all viewed against nonsense. Col. to prethe backdrop of courts M . C . side in Izon, Moorhouse in Urhobo, the challenges tells Chief in Isoko, in of the time Bekederemo Kwale, in that senior ofAboh, and ficers from Laeven in his gos will come own Itsekiri to handle the land, yes, matter and that he should ex- everywhere the white man pect justice. Even in making the has overpaid him for the complaints, Chief Bekederemo dirty services he has done does not have confidence in against his own people.

Col. M.C. Moorhouse and Whisk! Whisk! Whisk!. May would have preferred to see Dore’s life go out like the Frederick Lugard because puff of a foul wind. May it Chief Dore Numa and Col. evaporate like the mist when M.C. Moorhouse are friends in the sun rises. May he leave perfidy and exploitation but behind no seed to increase Egerton Shyngle and Col. the tree of his life. May his M.C. Moorhouse persuade life end with his career….” him to expect justice from the Chief Bekederemo’s maauthority. However, on the day nipulation by Chief Dore the senior officers come to Warri Numa and Douglas is folto handle the matter, Chief lowed by his illness. Chief Dore Numa and the Resident Bekederemo becomes ill, Commissioner of Warri, Doug- confined to his sickbed. He las, lie to them that Chief feels within him that he Bekederemo who is arrogant will die, and out of deep and recalcitrant has severally concern, he asks his elder turned down their calls. It is sister Yenken to die before only Chief Egbe and his brother him so that when he evenMr. Skin who are in the meet- tually dies, she will not ing. The senior officers leave suffer but she only claps in without Chief Bekederemo’s his face in derision. account.

To be continued Chief Egbe and Mr. Skin

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Numa and others storm the place with their varying displays. When the party is over, Chief Bekederemo and his entourage troop to chief Egbe’s compound in Ogbawangue for a supper because Chief Egbe, his friend, is married to Fiobode, Chief Bekederemo’s sister.

Chief Dore Numa angrily storms Chief Egbe’s compound with the accusation that Chief Bekederemo and Chief Egbe connive to disgrace him at the reception party. His complaint is that Chief Bekederemo’s outfit and the boat’s display are applauded by all the people in the reception party. He is overshadowed and outshone

by Chief Bekederemo in the party when the focus is supposed to be on him (Chief Dore Numa) as the paramount Chief. They explain to him that it is no plot to disgrace him before His Majesty.

Specifically, Chief Bekederemo awakens him to the fact that his flags flown are below his (Chief Dore Numa’s) flags which proclaim him as paramount chief, the Olu of Ijaw, Itsekiri and Urhobo written boldly on them. Chief Dore Numa calms down and admits that he cannot see all that because he cannot read and write. His anger dies down and they begin to talk as friends, dine together and depart happily.

In another direction Chief Dore Numa perfects a move to arrest Chief Bekederemo over a problem between Chief Babigha has with Chief Bekederemo.

Chief Bekederemo burns down Chief Babigha’s shrine in his avowal to clear Kiagbodo of evil and destructive gods. Chief Babigha’s daughter, Ditimi, is married to Chief Dore Numa and so he reports to him of his humiliation in the hands of Chief Bekederemo. Chief Dore Numa mobilises a column of armed soldiers, white men and porters to go to Kiagbodo and arrest chief Bekederemo. They troop to Erhuwanren and force Chief Okajivor to lead them to Kiagbodo. At that time Piniki Ederume is on errand by Chief Bekederemo to see Chief Okajivor. From one of the porters bound for Kiagbodo chains fall to the ground and a corporal helps the porter to drag it back into the box after hitting him with the butt of the gun as a warning. The porter cries out thus, ‘ reserve your fire for Bekederemo’ and through this the people in Erhuwanren know that they have come to arrest Chief Bekederemo. It is Okajivor ’s wife Enyevwiara who discovers this and makes it known. In advance, Okajivor sends Piniki back to tell Chief Bekederemo. The white men and the soldiers come to Kiagbodo to arrest Chief Bekederemo who gives his account of the matter convincingly and strikes up acquaintance with them immediately to the puzzlement of his detractors. He throws a party for them and the issue of arrest dies.

As a trader in palm oil and

,

BY JAPHET ALAKAM CELEBRA TION CELEBRATION

F

or the first time since the history of black history month, Nigeria as a country will this year official identify with this important black celebration, courtesy of the Lagos Theatre Association. The Black History Month is a month set aside to remember all important people in the history of Africa and the entire black world. The occasion also celebrates the important events like the infamous slave trade that ravaged the black world for centuries. The event was first celebrated at Kent State University in February 1970 .

Speaking at a media parley in Lagos put together by the Lagos Theatre Associates in collaboration with Ajo productions, Fred Agbeyegbe, grand living legend of Nigerian Theatre disclosed that Nigeria will join the rest of the world in celebrating this year’s black history month with the stage of The Human Cargo, a play about slave trade in Africa.

Harping on the importance of the celebration and Nigeria’s inability to be part of event since inception, renowned lawyer and elder statesman, Agbeyegbe stated that Nigeria’s joining of the league of celebrants of Black History Month in the world is long over due.

He pointed out that since the beginning of the Black History week in 1926 in the United States of America which later metamorphosed into the Black History Month in 1976, Nigeria one of the countries that produced over 3.5 million slaves to America during the Slave trade era has not participated in the celebration because according to him, “ we are a very misfortune people, governed by a government that pretends to serve the people but end up serving themselves.”

Continuing, he observed that apart from the efforts of the likes of Centre for Black African Art and Civilization (CBAAC) that marks it every year, Nigeria has not formally declared nor participated in the month long celebration.

But this year, the Lagos

Theatre Associates/Ajo productions led by Fred Agebeyegbe will officially represent the country for the first time as they join the rest of the world in the celebration of the Black History month.

Highlighting on the programme for the celebration, Muyiwa Oshinaike stated that the celebration is to make people know about the devastating effects of man’s inhumanity to his fellow human especially now that the West have declared economic slavery through the visa lottery that is taking Africans back to the States for another slavery.

According to him, the celebration will kick off on the 1st of February with a Jumat Service at Folawiyo Mosque Surulere followed by an interdenominational service at 1st Baptist Church Surulere on 3rd.

Continuing, he added that on 4th, there will also be a declaration of the Black History Month by Ndubuisi Kanu at Freedom Park, Lagos, while

,

JP Clark’s metadialetics

The celebration is to make people know about the devastating effects of man’s inhumanity to his fellow human

,

the celebration proceeds to the University of Lagos on the 5th February under the support of Centre for Black African Arts and Civilisation( CBAAC).

The play which was commissioned by UNESCO for the Black History month will begin in Nigeria and end up in US as a climax of Nigeria’s contribution to the Black History Month. It will be staged at the National Theatre, Iganmu from8-10th February and at Muson Centre, Lagos from 15th to 17th before traveling to Atlanta, USA from the 23rd to 25th of February, 2013.

Right -Left, Fred Agbeyegbe and Muyiwa Oshinaike during the media parley

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013, PAGE 51

BY ESTHER ONYEGBULA INTERVIEW

L

emi Ghariokwu,self taught Nigerian born artist is the famous illustrator of late Afrocentric king Fela Anikulapo Kuti's record labels. He also illustrates so many other artists and his creative album designs tell beautiful stories about music and carries along strong message from the artists across through visual capturing of metaphoric thoughts of the artists.

Designing about twenty six of Fela’s album covers, and over two thousand other album covers in the last thirty eight years, Ghariokwu has no doubt doubt carved a niche for himself.

In this interview, the famous illustrator bares his mind on a wide range of issues.

Was art something you set out to do initially?

For me, I have been very fortunate to have discovered my purpose in life in the sense, that I have always drawn made sketches. I didn’t study art formally in higher institution, but the little experience I had in primary and secondary school helped me a great deal. After I finished Secondary School I continued with my art drawing, I went to Nigerian Television Service (NTS) now Nigeria Television Authority where I did live drawing on the shows like Youth Scene, Youth forum, and Image makers.

So how did your path cross with that of the late Afro-beat legend Fela?

It was predestined, in 1974.

Two significant event happened, one was the release of Bruce Lee film titled “Enter the Dragon” which was very popular then.

A man in my neighborhood who ran a beer parlor asked me to make a portrait of the film which had Bruce lee and two other actors which I did and he paid for the portrait and hung it in his beer parlor.

Secondly bought Fela’s album titled Roforofo fight which literally means mud fight and then I decided to do an album cover to illustrate

How I became Fela’s Illustrator — Lemi Ghariokwu title of the album, so I drew Fela dancing on mud. That particular incident became very significant because the first attempt on my own, I translated it. I didn’t illustrate literally, I didn’t draw Fela fighting on mud, or people fighting on mud. I drew Fela dancing on mud, because to me the music was a danceable jolly good music.

As destiny would have it, a journalist with the then Sunday Punch Newspaper Babatunde Harrison a regular at the bar where I had done the Bruce lee portrait saw the portrait and requested to see me and he was directed to my house which was less than a stone throw. When they brought him to my house he asked me to show him my art works which I immediately brought out from under the bed, that was when he saw the Fela’s album cover that I had done. And he asked if I did album covers? I answered in the affirmative even though I was not too sure of myself because. The next day he brought a picture of fela and asked me to do a portrait of Fela which I did within 24hrs.

The next day when Mr. Harrison came around and saw the portrait, he immediately chartered a taxi that took us straight to Kalakuta republic. Then Fela had just started and it was like a shock to the society for someone to break out from the society to lead his own life.

When we got there, we were told that Fela was asleep but latter he came out, wearing just pants and my hands began to shake he took a look at me and asked, “are you the artist” and I said yes, he then took a look at the

portrait and said a few words that remained in my memory several years after, because it was the first time someone said that to me.

He said “Wow! God damn!

And then he ushered me in and offered me a drink brought out his cheque book and wrote a cheque of one hundred and twenty Nair, which is equivalent to a hundred thousand. I returned the cheque to him and told him that I didn’t want the money. Fela was so surprised at that gesture, he tore the cheque and asked for an exercise book which he wrote please admit bearer to any show free of charge. I collected that and that became my ticket to Kalakuta Republic.

Your art works seem very complex. How would you describe your works?

My art can be described as

•Ghariokwu

eclectic because I am self taught, I learnt from seeing things, checking out things, reading books, and attending art exhibitions. My style varies but by the role I played vis-à-vis Fela’s music, message, ideology and politics, I would describe my art as social conscious. It is very illustrative to a large extent, I love to translate, reflect and give in depth explanation with my art. Most people see my art work as rebellion, in England they call my art the art of rebellion.

While some see it as erotic because by virtue of meeting Fela when I was eighteen years I was exposed to total freedom of expression with my art and I never looked back. I was 21years and still

living with my parents when I did the album cover of Yellow Fever one of Fela albums. I actually paid a model thirty Nair to model nude for me when I did that artwork. Some say my work is comical. I express myself the way I feel like. It is left for the viewer to interpret.

How many album covers have you designed?

In my career so far I have designed over two thousand album cover in the last thirty eight years. And apart from doing album covers for Fela’s album, I have done album covers for more than a hundred other music artiste like Bob Marley, Lucky Dube, Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Maryanne Makeba, Mariah Carey, I was able to do this because I worked as an in house designer for PolyGram records for eleven years after Fela. I also designed album covers for Sony records.

Locally I have done album covers for Adewale Ayuba, Shinna Peters, Raskimono, Ortize Wiliki, Majek Fashek, Tu face, Idris Abdulkareem.

So what inspires you?

My inspiration comes from the concept of what ever I am working on. If I am designing a book cover for instance, I just don’t start drawing, I first of all read the book, do research and then translate what ever the artiste is trying to pass on to the people. So I love my art to act as a mega phone and an added value to the music or the story in the book.

My basic inspiration comes from the movement of people in my environment, my interaction with people in my environment and the world scene at large. I am also inspired by nature.

Harmony Life: Magazine for the family

BY PRISCA SAM-DURU

REVIEW

H

armony Life Family Magazine, edited by Mercy Arigo Ighobose is one magazine published for everyone who belongs to a family and is coming as a priceless material for the restoration of values such as love, honesty and other virtues which the family institution is hitherto known for.

The colourful and well designed magazine which employs the services of a group of editors, seasoned writers, designers and advertisers, according to the editor has come to the news stand as a magazine on rescue mission.

Divided into five sections; Harmony Head addresses issues affecting men, treats female matters and also deals with matters that affect babies even as it generally takes care of family related matters through interviews with c e l e b r i t i e s .

The magazine as the name

implies, incorporates so many elements that cover every area that concerns family life.

Interestingly, renowned international footballer and exSkipper of the Nigerian Super Eagles as well as Bolton Wanderer, Austin Jay Jay Okocha is the front page personality for its maiden edition.

With his picture and that of his beautiful wife Nkechi adorning the front page, the master dribbler while fielding questions that touch on his private life speaks extensively on how peace, love and harmony reign in his family.

He also gives a lot of insightful advice to both young and old couples for a better society.

There are other interesting issues captured under different headings in this maiden edition which include; Afraid To Give Birth To A Sickler, Using Breast Feeding As A Contraceptive Method, Steps To Choose A Life Partner: How not to Marry A Stranger; Gay, Polygamy,

Harmony Life Family Magazine, Edited by Mercy Arigo Ighobose.

Publised by United Graphics Co. Ltd.

Bigamy, Bisexual…The Confusion, etc.

It is important to state here that all the areas carefully covered in Harmony Life Family Magazine would surely make the expected impact on the society especially now that it has become important to restore the world from the hands of negative effects of modernisation.

PAGE 52

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY, 27, 2013,

I Love You It could be quite tragic to lose your love.

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The simple yet timeless “I love you” will never fail when you try to express your feelings. Cheers!

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•Cyndy, 23, from Imo state, but resides in Awka, needs a guy, aged 30-35, from East, who is a Christian, intelligent and focused, for friendnship.07062719738 •Juliet, from Enugu, needs a male friend, who is an Army officer, loving, caring, rich and resides in either Imo, Enugu, Calabra or River state.07060765631 •Phil, needs mature male friends 08136627922

Searching Male

•Desmond, 25, needs matured male friends for serious friendship.

07063271863 •Michline, 43, married and a business man needs a lady, for just friendship.

07068184429 •Bensure, needs caring female friends, aged 21-25.

07035178536 •Raphael, 15, needs both male and female friend, aged 13-17, from Warri.

07065291091 •Chris, 24, light in complexion, from Edo state, needs female friends, aged 20-40.

08065186134 •Peter, 25, from Lagos, needs female friends, aged 19-35, who resides in Lagos.

08136128539 •Emma, 20, physically and mentally alright, from Sapele, needs disable persons for

Lovers Searching Female

•Stella, 25, busty and romantic, needs a kind and caring man, for a relationship. 08068684663 •Ella, 20, needs a financially buoyant man, for a love affair.

08154884237 •Precious, 40, self employed, busty and needs a God fearing, responsible and matured man, for a serious relationship, that would lead to marriage, aged 45-55, tribe is not a barrier.08138712040 •A lady, 24, pretty and from Delta state, needs a good and caring guy, that can show her love and also take care of her financially. 08137155151, 08174754155 •Ayotemi, needs a cute and caring guy, aged 25-30.

07066151958 •Nubile, 27, pretty and desirous needs an articulated, cut clean and good looking mature man, aged 33-50, who is buoyant and willing to take care of her.08035243952, 08101870984 •Maryjane, 28, needs a cool guy that is responsible, aged 35 and above.08188653215, 08038198351 •Joy, 24, dark in complexion, tall and slim, from Abia state, but resides in Ph, needs a

DISCLAIMER!

country for a romantic relationship. 08109173198 •Frank, 32, independent, single and generous to a fault, needs a good girl, for a serious relationship.08064640258 •Good luck, 31, needs a responsible, and God fearing woman, aged 25-30, for a serious relationship that will lead to marriage.07033237225 •Archibong, 39, handsome, sexy, honest and from Akwa Ibom, needs a lady, aged 3040, who is from Akwa Ibom state, for a relationship.

08075173166 •Godwin, 21, an up coming Gospel artiste, needs a girl, who is God fearing, humble and caring, for a relationship.

08060202605 •Emmanuel, 26, self employed from Anambra state, but resides in Agbor Delta state, needs an employed lady, who is fun loving, cute and a graduate, for a serious relationship.08138327978 •Jerry, 29, resides in Delta state, needs a girl, for a serious relationship, aged 20-26.

08124025682, 07062063770 •Leo, tall slim, fair in complexion and needs an employed lady, aged 25-30, around Warri, for a relationship. 08066280253 •Emmanuel, 36, from AkwaIbom state, but resides in La-

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

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

gos, needs an employed or a self-employed lady, for a wife.08086694528, 08159198569 •Michael, needs a decent girl, for a serious relationship.

08039317329, 0818421278 •A guy, 24 and a student, needs a pretty lady, aged 1825, for relationship.

08189665010 •Isaac, resides in Benin, needs a mature lady, aged 1855, from any state.

08164550243 •Christopher, 29, a graduate, light in complexion, needs a serious and beautiful caring and employed lady, aged 2934, in Lagos for faithful relationship that will lead to marriage.

07033176168 •Ola, 44, 5.8ft tall, light complexion, a paint contractor and resides in Lagos, needs a beautiful, romantic and busty lady, aged 28-35.08085754160 •Tobby, needs a financially ok and fat clean lady, from a good family, aged 25-45, for a serious relationship.08097001945 •Israel, needs a girl, aged 2024, for a serious relationship that would lead to marriage.

07066613035 •Martiano, 21, 6ft tall, , fair in complexion and resides in Benin city, needs a girl, aged 16-20, for a serious relationship.07039694554 •Suni, 28, resides in Warri, needs a God fearing girl, from either Delta or Edo state, for a serious relationship that will lead to marriage aged 18-24.

08039311421 •Kelvin, 29, 5.9ift tall, self employed and resides in Lagos, needs a decent lady, aged 20 – 25, for a relationship that will to lead to marriage.

08156008493 •Hero, 30, a graduate and resides in Warri, needs an employed lady, for a relationship.

08067503931, 08059568265 •Martins, resides in Delta state, needs a beautiful, sexy and busty lady, for fun.

08137187094 •Mike, 31, resides in Lagos, needs a calm headed lady, preferably in Lagos, for a serious relationship.

08035127973,07062256289 •Pere, 18, reside in Warri, needs a lady, aged 22-28, for a romantic relationship.

08100860628 •Kelvin, 35, romantic, needs a nice and caring lady, either a widow or single matured lady, for a romantic affair.

08025713383, 08034232469 •Chimezie, 37, 5.6ft tall, chocolate in complexion, a business man from Enugu state but resides in Lagos, needs a lady, aged 25-34, for serious relationship, that can lead to mirage.08165089078 •Charles, 32, tall, dark in complexion, slim, educated and resides in Abuja, needs a mature lady, for a relationship.

08037937849 •Toney, 28, chocolate in complexion handsome and needs a sexy and pretty girl, aged 20-25. 07056414464 •Morrison, 24, average height, fair in complexion, handsome, a student and resides in Delta state, needs a girl, aged 18-30, for a serious and lasting relationship.

08139612638 •Francis, 49, chocolate, slim, needs an employed fair in complexion lady in either Edo or Delta state, as second wife.08105351650 •Ola, 26, a graduate, employed and needs a girl, for

serious relationship.

08130155660 •A man, resides in Delta state, needs a matured and God fearing woman, as a wife.

08096021822, 08025508456, 07030727729 •Paul, 55,a widower, with 2 kids, average height, slim, dark in complexion and employed in Lagos, needs a fair in complexion, plump, busty, financially independent, but t HIV-Positive woman, aged 45 -60, for a lasting r e l a t i o n s h i p .

08024543892,08037421060 •Justice, 22, from Warri, needs a lovely and understanding lady, for a relationship.

08063793600, 08158424058 or BB pin 32657d45.

•Alhaj, 35, needs a religious Muslim lady, aged 30, for marriage.08087074640, 08138856900, 08170141833.

•Fidelis, 27, needs a God fearing girl, aged 20-30, for a serious relationship.

07035279764 •Pablo, from Ughelli in Delta state, needs a lady that is beautiful and sexy, for a relationship.08109084682 •Josy, 26, resides in Abuja, needs a pretty and jovial, lady. 08026336682 •Obruche, 45, tall, chocolate in complexion, needs a beautiful lady that is rich.

08021455927 •Kings, from Delta state, needs a clean and busty lady, from Asaba only, for fun and romance.07035222858.

•Richard, 22, chocolate in complexion and resides in Lagos, needs a lady, who can take care of him, aged 30-50, for a romantic relationship.

07033798710 •Abiodun, 36, a Muslim and a business man, from Ondo state, but resides in Lagos, needs a lady, for a relationship.

08084910710, 047068585740 •Austin, 30, handsome and a clean guy, needs a tall, fat and dark in complexion lady for serious relationship.

08181387823 •Oscar needs a decent and employed, tall and charming, lady, who resides around Lekki axis, for a serious relationship. 08077185522 •Churchill, 27, a student, needs a good, caring and loving girl, for a serious relationship. 08037466335

Sugar Cares Searching Female

•Val, 22, slim and sexy, resides in Delta state, needs a caring sugar daddy to take care of her .07065011453 •Mercy, 28, a student, resides in Lagos, needs a sugar daddy that is caring.

08164098446 •Joy 23, sexy beautiful and intelligent, needs a caring sugar daddy for a fun filled relationship for matured minds.08123427649,07069654633 •Lydia, 28, resides in Enugu, needs a sugar daddy, 08135894723 •Amaka, 24, pretty, needs a caring sugar daddy, who can take good care of her.

07067133345 •Joy, 20, dark in complexion, busty, well endowed and respectful, needs a rich and caring a caring sugar daddy. 08179683337

Searching Male

•Benedict, romantic and resides in Delta state, needs a

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY, 27, 2013 PAGE 53

WEEKLY HOROSCOPE Joshua Adeyemo

caring sugar mummy, for a relationship.08129230116 •Bee jay, 22, needs an educated and exposed sugar mummy that will assist him in furthering his education, for a romantic affair.

08033374919 •Donald, 28, average height and resides in Warri, needs a sugar mummy.

08158389107 Buzo, from Anambra, .needs a caring and good sugar mummy who is rich.

08156679160 •Ben, 32, a graduate and a business man, needs a rich, lovely and caring sugar mummy, aged 45-65, for marriage. 07084574036.

•A guy, presentable and active, needs a sexy sugar mummy that can take good care of him financially in Delta state.08181024111, 08034964615 •Emeka, from Delta state, needs a caring, kind and sexy sugar mummy, aged 3549. 08184008173 •Moses, needs a sugar mummy, that can take him abroad, for a relationship.

08127629751 •Michael, 22, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy, near Delta state michealluis7gmail. com.

07051010651 •Aluko, 35, from ile-ife, needs a sugar mummy, that can take good care of him, aged 35-55, for a serious relationship.08031161373 •A guy, needs a busty and not too slim sugar mummy, for a serious relationship, aged 40 -45.07084438384 •Oz, 24, agile and caring, needs a sugar mummy, who is financially stable.

447852753300, 08035343211 •Harmony, 22, needs a sugar mummy in Warri.

08074212456 •Godwin, 20, a driver, from Edo state, needs a sugar mummy to take care of him.

07058447089 •Mikel, 25, tall, slim, good looking and needs a matured sugar mummy am good looking, tall, slim and very active.08162218318 •Charles, 24, a graduate, resides in Delta state, needs a sugar mummy.08035325614 •Owen, 26, a student, from Edo state, needs a sugar mummy for a serious relationship. 08058911872 •Dickson, 27, hot and strong, needs a rich and caring sugar mummy.08160626301, 08081524588 •A guy, 29, needs a sugar mummy, to take care of him.08085256350, 07035906939, 08085256350 •Jonathan, 34, needs a beautiful sugar mummy, aged 4652, for a relationship.

08037251078 •Chuky, 27, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy.

08068291255 •Michael, 21, handsome and strong, from Delta state, needs a sexy sugar mummy.

08135950606 •Frank, tall, dark in complexion and needs a nice and caring sugar mummy, for an intimate and romantic relationship.08181607441

•Md, 30, single and business man in Warri, needs a rich sugar mummy, aged 45-65, for marriage. 07035268119 •Chuky, 27,from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy.

08068291255 •A guy, presentable and active, needs a sexy sugar mummy that can take good care of him financially in Delta state.08181024111 •Kevin, 30, needs a sugar m u m m y, a g e d 3 0 - 4 5 .

Delta state, needs a rich sugar mummy, from either Delta or Edo state.08174754155 08103743860 •Femi, resides in Lagos, needs a caring sugar mummy, that will take care of him, aged 35.

08034152128 •Trevor, 29, chubby, handsome, dark in complexion, matured, employed and resides in Warri, needs a caring and attractive sugar mummy, for a relationship. 08062665481

08160511498 •Nicole, 25, a student and resides in Benin, needs a rich, beautiful, sexy, caring and God fearing sugar mummy, for a serious relationship.

08099093464, 08075316162 •James, resides in Abuja, needs a sugar mummy in Abuja.

08059122022, 08072769295, 08066209300 •Ade, 29, tall, sexy and God fairing resides in Abeokuta in Ogun state, needs a nice, decent, sexy and comfortable sugar mummy for a relationship, aged 35-55.

08026644549,08034556941 •Mike, resides in Lagos, needs a sexy sugar mummy.

08063436796 •Dominic, 25, tall, slim and light in complexion, in Benin, needs a slim, caring and sexy sugar mummy, aged 2750.

08184266218, 07036294209 •Chinedu, resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy that is rich and can take care of him. 08032522465 •Alex, 25,from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy.

08100247678, 0708399444 •John, 19, needs a rich and sexy sugar mummy in either Asaba or Agbor for a discreet affair. 07085428216 •Valentine, needs an employed sugar mummy, aged 35-50. 08168495789 •Kevin, 22, cute, intelligent and sweet needs a sugar mummy to assist him financially, in his studies.

08030813180 •Jerry, 29, resides in Delta state, needs a sugar mummy for a relationship aged 35-50 08179110253,08155566873 •Alvin, 21, handsome, romantic, energetic and resides in Delta, needs a sugar mummy within and around Delta, for a romantic relationship.07065325395 •Daniel, 20, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy that can take care of him, aged 3050, for a serious relationship.07066772752 or degbon@ymail.com •Rex, 30, a graduate and resides in Benin City, needs a secretive sugar mummy, for financial assistance or job opportunity. 08169061510 •Jeff, 20, , tall, dark in complexion and a student from

•Kennedy, 22, needs a sugar mummy for a serious relationship.08100960948 •A guy, fair in completion and active, need a loving and sexy sugar mummy, who is busty, aged 40-55, that can take good care of him. 08181024111 •Kess, 17, needs a sugar mummy, aged 30-40, for a romantic relationship 07080098910 •Johnson, 19, dark in complexion, handsome and from Benue state, but resides in Abuja, needs a sugar mummy, in Abuja.08097368471 •Isaiah, 27, tall, light in complexion, a model and musican and with good physique, needs a wealthy and elegant sugar mummy, in Lagos or Abuja.

08189702456, 07067798104 •Chuky, 27, from Delta state, needs a sugar mummy.

08068291255 •Honeybell, 23, fair in complexion, tall, slim, sexy and beautiful, needs a sexy and rich sugar mummy, aged 3045, in Benin, that can take care of him financially.

08076537859 •A guy, 22, resides in Abuja, needs a sugar mummy.

08179495252 •Lonelyb, 25, handsome and chocolate in complexion, needs a nice, elegant, sugar mummy, aged 30and above, in Edo, Delta or Onitsha.

07036366409 or 07067175765 •Michael, 27, resides in Lagos, needs a good sugar mummy, who can sponsor his education and also take care of him, aged 35-50.08080304081 •Zito, needs a caring sugar mummy, aged 38 and above, from Delta or any nearby state, for a relationship.

08121479333 •David, 25, a graduate and resides in Lagos, needs a sugar mummy, that can take care of him financially.

08101592371, 08125903310, 08180348702 •Ken, 29 and a graduate, needs a caring and faithful sugar mummy, aged 38-45, for a serious romantic relationship. 07064778199 •Jd, 25, resides in Lagos and needs a sugar mummy, that can take care of him, for a relationship.08031876557

08056180139

About the Moon

P

eriods of the Moon’s fluctuation as given here-under, are when unexpected frustrations and disappointments are possible .And those are the times when other people should not be taken for granted. However if I write that such periods/days favour you, you have no cause to worry. Therefore you are advised to plan your week carefully. Such periods/days are: 3.12.am to 4.20am of Tuesday (same day)* 5.20am to 4.56pm of Thursday.(same day) 1.24pm of Saturday to 4.55am of Sunday.

First of the three periods can be more sensitive, especially for the night crawlers.

During the week, Moon will go through Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces and Aries.

LIBRA (Sept 23 – Oct 22) BUSINESS; Important development within your base indicated.

Be ambitious.

MONEY; Watch what you do around the mid-week. Be moderate.

LOVE; Travelling for love can become more exciting..

SCORPIO (Oct 23 – Nov 21) BUSINESS; Do away with unnecessary argument and/or bad agreement.

MONEY; Unless you exhibit maturity you would blow the top over money.

LOVE; The more family minded you are the better for your cause.

S AGITTARIUS (Nov 22 – Dec21) BUSINESS; You are likely to become aggressive more than necessary. Be calm.

MONEY; U’ll succeed after initial challenges. Utilise Thursday fully.

LOVE; You can still have both your say and way. Avoid clashes please!!!

CAPRICORN (Dec 22 – Jan 19) BUSINESS; If you’re not confrontational, you’ll have cause to smile.

MONEY; Element of good luck will help your cause, on Monday and Saturday.

LOVE; Very soon you’ll have genuine cause to smile. Be patient.

AQUARIUS (Jan 20 – Feb 18) BUSINESS; As the saying goes “health is wealth” take care of your health.

MONEY; Friends can become helpful. Utilise Monday and Saturday.

LOVE; Take good advantage of this week because romantic Venus will go away from a positive angle to your Star after this week (on Saturday). Be adventurous.

PISCES (Feb 19 – Mar 19) BUSINESS; It’s an ambitious week when things will work out fine for you.

MONEY; Monday and Saturday are your best days of the week.

LOVE; Unless you’re more tolerant, domestic water’ll boil up.

ARIES ( Mar 20 – Apr 19) BUSINESS; Unnecessary argument can hamper your progress.

Exhibit maturity.

MONEY; Be more careful on Monday. But Thursday is your good day.

LOVE; You just have to be as vigilant as possible within your home base.

TAURUS ( Apr 20 – May 20) BUSINESS; Do not sign important contract in a hurry. Be very practical.

MONEY; Last minute argument can break important business deal.

Whatever happens you will emerge winner. Tuesday’ll bring good opportunities.

LOVE; Your sex appeal is becoming stronger. Reach out to your loved ones.

GEMINI (May 21 – June 20) BUSINESS; Don’t rely on other people for the needed results; MONEY; Watch your steps more carefully on Monday.

LOVE; You may have last minutes opportunity.

CANCER (June 21 – July 22) BUSINESS; Don’t allow personality clashes and ego to destroy good relationship.

MONEY; Gamble not with money, especially around mid-weekWednesday.

LOVE; You may be pushed to the wall on Tuesday. Be patient please.

LEO (Jul23 – Aug 22) BUSINESS; Full-Moon may bring challenges on Tuesday.

MONEY; Mars in Leo can tempt you to become extravagant.

LOVE; Early part of the week’ll bring great excitement. Be more friendly.

VIRGO (Aug 23 – Sept 22) BUSINESS; Mars comes into your Star and boost your confidence.

MONEY; Your being hard working’ll yield good result.

LOVE; Resist the temptation to gamble from mid-week. Be loving.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013 --PAGE 54

I still believe in Balotelli —Pandelli I

TALY boss Cesare Prandelli has insisted he still believes Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli will fulfil his potential and

become one of the best players in the world.

The 22-year-old impressed at Euro 2012 as he helped the Azzurri to the

final of the competition, but has struggled to find his best form this season.

Nevertheless, Prandelli continues to have faith in

Cote D’Ivoire first to qualify for Q-final

Balotelli, and hopes the controversial forward will invest in himself and let his football do the talking from now on. ”I have given Mario some personal advice that will stay between the two of us,” Prandelli told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

•Beat Tunisia 3-0

G

ERVINHO, Yaya Toure and Ya Konan Didier scored one goal each against Tunisia on Saturday at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenburg to secure Cote D’Ivoire’s ticket to the quarterfinals of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.

The Elephants deservedly took the lead when Gervinho clinically finished off a superb one-two with Lacina Traore.

Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure made it 2-0 with a stunning curler into the far corner from 20 yards.

And substitute Didier Ya Konan put further gloss on the Ivorians’ victory when he rolled the ball home with virtually his first touch.

The result means Ivory Coast lead Group D on six points and are unlikely to finish lower than second.

Tunisia remain on three points and will have an eager eye on Saturday’s late game between Algeria and Togo.

DUELING... Ivory Coast midfielder Cheick Tiote (C) vies with Tunisia’s forward Hamdi Harbaoui yesterday at Royal Bafokeng Stadium in a Group D match. Ivory Coast won 3-0.

Aussie Open: Azarenka retains title, weeps

V

Put vows to put Zambia to the ‘sword’

A

FTER chalking up all three points against Ethiopia with an emphatic 4-0 win in group C of the 2013 African Nations Cup, Burkina Faso coach Paul Put said his team is totally focused on beating Zambia in their last group game to qualify for the quarter-final.

Burkina Faso won their first game in a Nations Cup final since 1998 when they hosted. According to the coach his team has gathered momentum.

“We will be ready for Zambia on Tuesday and we are committed and united in our cause to C M Y K

qualify ”, the coach stressed.

However, Zambia coach, Herve Renard said all is not lost for the defending champions. “We have our destiny in our own hands. I think we are still capable of qualifying to the quarterfinal”, Renard said.

Burkina Faso are currently topping the group with four points. A win for them against Zambia will see the Stallions cementing their position in the group, while a loss or draw will certainly see Zambia out depending on the result between Nigeria and Ethiopia.

ICTORIA Azaren ka yesterday retained her Australian Open title and kept hold of the world number one spot with victory over Li Na in the Melbourne final.

Azarenka’s joy saw her burst into floods of tears, while Li added the pain of failure to the physical pain she endured during the match.

The Belarusian, 23, came back from a set down to win 4-6 6-4 6-3 on a cool and blustery evening on Rod Laver Arena.

In a scrappy match, Azarenka proved the stronger in the closing stages after Li rolled her ankle twice and hit her head in two heavy falls.

The victory brought Azarenka her second Grand Slam title after last year’s win at Melbourne Park, and ensured she will not be overtaken by Serena Williams in the next world rankings.

However, it was the 30year-old Li who carried most of the support throughout the final, due in part to Azarenka’s controversial medical timeout in her semi-final against Sloane Stephens.

Azarenka had been accused of gamesmanship, despite later insisting the

timeout had been necessary because of breathing difficulties.

Either way, the negative attention she garnered in the build-up only added to the support for the already popular Li. “Unfortunately, you have to go through some rough patches to achieve great things,” said Azarenka. “That’s what makes it so special for me.

I went through that, and I’m still able to kiss that beautiful trophy.”

•Azarenka

Anambra boys, girls win Abuja Unity Cup

A

NAMBRA State has won the 2012,edition of the Abuja Unity Cup, U-16,boys and U-18 Girls soccer championship organised bt YSFON at the Abuja Parade ground over the weekend.

Anambra boys’ team defeated their Nasarawa counterparts 2-0 to lift the trophy while the girls spanked their FCT counterparts 3-0 to also emerge champion.

YSFON president, Dr. Nasiru Yusuf Gawuna, commended the standard of the competition saying the future of the game is good for the youths of this country.

According to Dr. Gawuna, plans have been com-

pleted by his federation to improve the game among the youths of this country as he enjoined all wellto-do Nigerians, govern-

ment as well as corporate bodies to come to the aid of his Federation so as to develop the round leather game.

NSC sets tough conditions for Federations elections

N

IGERIANS aspiring to become members of any of the non concessioned Sports Federations may have a tough hurdle to scale through if the elections guidelines published by the National Sports Commission, NSC is anthying to go by.

Among the criteria spelt out for prospective Board members are that they must be financially sol-

vent, understand the federation’s responsibilities and must have sponsored competitions at state or national levels.

The guidelines signed by the NSC Director General, Dr. Patrick Ekeji also stated that membership of the Boards would be 12 including the president, vice president and secretary general as well as nine other members.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JANUARY 27, 2013 -- PAGE 55

We need a new strategy, Mikel confesses N

IGERIA midfielder John Obi Mikel has said that the team needs to work harder and find a way to kill matches after Friday’s 1-1 draw against defending African champions Zambia in Mbombela.

The Group C encounter was one of the most anticipated fixtures of the first round and it lived up to its billing with Nigeria earning a penalty kick in the first half after Ahmed Musa was brought down in the box by Nkausu Davies.

Chelsea’s Mikel stepped up to take the spot kick but saw his shot saved by Kennedy Mweene. He redeemed himself in the second half when he won a tackle and released Emmanuel Emenike to score on 57 minutes.

Mweene emerged hero

for the defending champions when he converted a late penalty to make the game 1-1.

“I think we did well, the team did really well but again we conceded [late

in] in the game,” said Mikel.

“We have to keep working, we have to keep believing in what we do and in the way we play.

“Hopefully in the last

game we will get the three points that we need to qualify for the quarter finals.”

About his missed penalty attempt, Mikel said: “It’s one of those things in the game, penalty is not an easy task but we went ahead again and I think we should learn more how to keep a lead.

“We just have to keep concentrating and keep doing what we’re doing.”

With two points apiece, Nigeria will play Ethiopia while Zambia will play Burkina Faso in the last group game on Tuesday as they seek quarter final tickets.

SUPPORT.. Super Eagles midfielder, Mikel Obi (left) closes up in support of team-mate, Nosa Igiebor (m) during the match against Zambia on Friday.

We’ll focus on Ethiopia, says Keshi C

OACH Stephen Keshi has said Nigeria will now focus on their final Group C tie against Ethiopia on Tuesday after they drew with Zambia.

The Super Eagles could again not defend their lead as they allowed defending champions to fight back and cancel out Emmanuel Emenike’s 57th minute opener on Friday.

Nigeria and Zambia have now recorded two points apiece in as many matches, while Ethiopia and Burkina Faso play the second game of the day.

“We wanted the three points today with due

respect to Zambia, they are a great team and have been together for the past four years and also they are the defending champs,” said Keshi. “All

AGLES captain, Joseph Yobo said youngsters Kenneth Omeruo and Godfrey Oboabona gave a good account of themselves in the heart of the Eagles defence in their game against Zambia on Friday.

Yobo was rested in the 1-1 draw against Zambia due to injury.

“You have to give credit to the young lads. They played a good game. If

When both teams last clashed in Addis Ababa two years ago, the match ended in a 2-2 draw with Nigeria needing a lastgasp equaliser.

Eagles need new attitude to make an impact, says Lawal

By EDDIE AKALONU

A

tlanta ’96 gold med alist, Garba Lawal has said it is not impossible for the Super Eagles to become one of the front runners in the race for the coveted trophy of the Africa Nations Cup in South Africa.

Yobo hails Omeruo, Oboabona partnership •Targets Ethiopia return

E

the same, I’m happy with the result.

“We just have to get ahead and forge ahead against a very good Ethiopia team.”

not for a bad call by the referee they would have kept a clean sheet,” said Yobo. The Fenerbache of Turkey defender who was fingered for the 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso said that he was doing everything to be fit for the Eagles last group game against Ethiopia.

“I strained my ankle a bit when I went for a tackle early in the game and the medical team felt I was not ready to come back.

Lawal, a former left back of the team said despite playing a 1-1 draw with Burkina Faso, Monday and Zambia Friday, the Eagles can still gain advantage in the group if they approach the competition with a new attitude and determination, stressing that the players should know that football has changed.

He however, added that there is still hope the team could come out tops with the last group match.

“I believe we are still in the race as others. The onus is on the players to prove themselves because they can do it if they bring out their hearts and play,” he said, adding “But I think also that they may well do this with focus, new attitude and be totally committed to making a success of this competition.”

Continuing, he said,

“In the remaining games, players should avoid such mistakes and not be complacent as it happened against Bukina Faso when they threw away the match in the last seconds of the tie.

As professionals, such critical moment is not when to lose concentration. They should keep their cool on the ball to prove to opponents they are in the competition for serious business.”

Lawal, who played in the Ghana/ Nigeria 2000 and Mali 2002 Nations Cup, said he believed the technical crew have packaged a team capable of representing the country well and players on their part should rise to the occasion and see every opponent as a threat that just must be overcome with the sole purpose of returning to winning ways as demanded by Nigerians who look up to the team for something to celebrate.

We won’t sack Keshi now – NFF •Eagles are

A

RE you among those agitating for change over the poor results from the Eagles in the Nations Cup? The Nigeria Football Federation has given a tacit backing to the team and their technical officials describing them “as work in progress”.

Nigerians, both from home and those in South Africa, have been irritable with the performance of the team that has seen them draw matches that they ought to have won.

But Publicity Chairman of the NFF Board, Chief Emeka Inyamah has pleaded for patience from Nigerians saying that the team “are still undergoing transformation. I know the feelings of Nigerians but the truth is that these team are work in progress.

The Burkina Faso team have been together for four years. The Zambian team too won the last Nations Cup and they have been together. If you look

work in progress at the Eagles, some players have not spent three months in the team. We need to be patient and allow Keshi to tinker these team. With patience, these team will meet the aspirations of Nigerians”, Inyamah pleaded at their Stay Easy Hotel which was very uneasy after yet another draw against Zambia.

Asked if they would turn their face the other way if Keshi fails to cross the first round or quarter finals, Inyamah said that the board would decide when that happens.

“Whatever happens, the board will meet to decide whether to bring in fresh hands that will lead Nigeria to the World Cup. That has not happened and we don’t want it to happen. They still have a match at hand and a chance to qualify if they beat Ethiopia”, Inyamah said.

21 Egyptian football fans sentenced to death

A

N Egyptian court has sentenced 21 football fans to death for taking part in a riot at a match last year in which 74 people were killed.

Violence has swept Egypt after the ruling to sentence 21 Masry fans to death for their part in the fatal Port Said stadium disaster.

Around 1,000 people were injured in the extraordinary riot on February 1 last year, which took place when fans of local side Al-Masry clashed with fans of Cairo team Al-Ahly after Masry had beaten the away team 3-1.

Those killed were had either been crushed in the stampede to escape the stadium, caught in explosions or fell from the stadium walls, according to witnesses.

As the judge announced the sentence at the court in Cairo, relatives of the victims cheered and wailed in relief, shouting “God is great”.

But shortly after the verdict was announced there were violent scenes

at the prison where most of the defendants are being held, with two policemen shot dead as families of the condemned tried to storm the building.

Meanwhile, following the sentencing to death of the 21 fans, riots broke out in the Egyptian city of Port Said, claiming the live of two football players and 28 other people.

Minutes after the Cairo court handed down the sentences, protesters rampaged through Port Said, attacking police stations and setting tyres alight.

Relatives tried to storm the prison in Port Said where those convicted were being held, leading to fierce clashes with security forces that killed two policemen. The two players were shot to death as they were apparently on their way to practice near the prison.

The director of hospitals, Dr Abdel Raham Farah, said Mahmoud Abdel Halim al Dizawi, a football player in the city’s Al Marikh club, had been shot three times and died.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JANUARY 27, 2013 TODAY'S MATCHES

S/Africa vs Morocco — 6pm C/Verde vs Angola — 6pm RESULTS

C/Ivoire Algeria

3 0

Tunisia Togo

0 2

Keshi’s confession:

Gang-up against Eagles: NFF fires protest to CAF

This Nations Cup’s so tight

L

T

HE gap between the best and the rest of the teams at the African Nations Cup is narrowing which is why this year’s tournament is wide open, Nigerian coach Stephen Keshi has said.

Keshi, whose team played defending champions Zambia in Nelspruit Friday, said he had been impressed by all 16 teams who made it to South Africa, and that the days when minnows reached these finals only to lose heavily to bigger teams had gone.

“I am very impressed with what I have seen so far,” Keshi told reporters at a media conference at a hotel resort set in the rolling Mpumalanga countryside some 15 kilometres from the Mbombela Stadium venue.

“You can no longer differentiate so much between which teams are better. In the old days you could predict how many goals one team was going to score against the other but now you don’t know what is going to happen. You might think one side will win but you don’t know.

“I think this is wonderful for African football. The competition is so tight, you look at the likes of Ethiopia and Cape Verde and some of the other countries. I am very impressed with their performances and the standard they are reaching.

“Look at how Togo played against Ivory Coast, for example. There is no one outstanding team. It is a very tight competition and that is good.”

RESULTS

Stoke Bolton Brighton M’field Norwich QPR Reading Man Utd

0 1 2 0 0 2 4 4

Man City Everton Arsenal Wigan Luton Milton K. Sheffield U Fulham

1 2 3 1 1 4 0 1

Five of the first eight matches ended in draws and, following Wednesday’s second matches in Group A, six of the 10 matches to date have ended all-square.

No team scored three goals in any of those games and only South Africa, who beat Angola 2-0 on Wednesday, won by more than a single goal.

Keshi talks from experience, having played in five final tournaments and won the cup with Nigeria when they were last champions in 1994, although he missed the final.

He is now a head coach at his third finals, after stints with Togo and Mali, and is bidding to become only the second man after Mahmoud El Gohary, who won the cup as a player with Egypt in 1959 and as Egypt coach in 1998, to win it in both roles.

He turned 51 years on Wednesday and when asked if he had taken time out to celebrate his birthday, Keshi said: “No, I didn’t. I wake up every day and think every day is my birthday, and I do not feel under any pressure here. We know what we have to do, the atmosphere among the players is fantastic and we are ready to face the champions.”

•CRUNCHY...

Super Eagles’ midfielder Nosa Igiebor (top) vies for the ball with Burkina Faso’s Florent Rouamba in their first group game at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Monday. The match ended 11. Photo: AFP

CROSS WORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Nigeria’s neighbour (8) 4. Nigerian tribe (4) 6. Bird of prey (5) 7. Geometrical shape (8) 8. Shaft (4) 9. Tidy (4) 10. Turncoat (8) 11. One (4) 12. Within (2) 13. Boxes in training (5) 15. Tub (4) 18. Looked at (4) 21. Nigerian state (4) 23. Notion (4) 25. Sports field (5) 27. Above (2) 28. Image (4) 29. Lowers (8) 30. Emblem (4) 31. Hausa boy’s name (4) 32. Dared (8) 34. Barrier (5) 35. Friend (4) 36. Gently (8)

DOWN 1.Bed (3) 2. Enugu soccer team (7) 3. Maiden name (3) 4. Planet (7) 5. Chosen by vote (7) 9. After this (4) 10. Knock (3) 14. Nigerian Grammy Laureate (3) 16. Hatchet (3) 17. Hello (2) 19. Still (3) 20. Mathematical constant (2) 21. Anambra city (7) 22. Cancel (7) 24. Extinct flightless bird (4) 25. Sowed (7) 26. Lettuce (3) 32. Animal doctor (3) 33. Twelve hours (3)

IVID with rage over the question able officiating against Nigeria at the on-going African Cup of Nations, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF has fired a protest letter to the Confederation of African Football, CAF. Technical Committee Chairman of the NFF, Barrister Chris Green confirmed that they have protested to CAF to look into the questionable calls by referees in the two matches so far played by Nigeria.

“We’ve registered our protest to CAF. The whole thing is annoying”, Green said at the Stay Easy hotel abode of the NFF. Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi had complained about the poor officiating that saw the Eagles receive five yellow cards and one red card in their first match against Burkina Faso which ended 1-1. And in the second match, what seemed like a penalty for Nigeria against Zambia was denied when Ahmed Musa was viciously hacked down inside the box. Not only that, the Egyptian referee that officiated the match against Zambia murdered sleep when he awarded a questionable penalty against Nigeria to allow the defending Champions share the spoil at the end of proceedings.

Eagles goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama was so pained that he described the penalty award as ‘bizarre’. “That is the worst penalty call I’ve ever since in my life. It’s bizarre. It’s a weak call and I’m mad about it”, the ordinarily quiet goaltender boiled.

Keshi summed it up when he said that “I want people to look through the replay and judge if indeed it was a penalty”.

South African TVs have been replaying the penalty call to show that the call was indeed bizarre with many soccer fans criticizing the level of officiating at the Nations Cup.

SOLUTION on page 15

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