Crisis rocks APC over Kogi election impasse

OCHEREOME

NNANNA

P.20

OWEILAKEMFA

P.19

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62638

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015**

Mr & Mrs

Crisis rocks APC overKogi election impasse

Continues on Page 5

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•Party presents Faleke as running mate to Yahaya Bello•Faleke kicks, rejects offer; threatens to go to court•Youths protest, attack Ali, others at Audu's 8th Fidau; want son as gov

By EmmanuelAziken, PoliticalEditor, Charles

Kumolu, KingsleyFanwo & Omeiza Ajayi

ABUJA—THE AllP r o g r e s s i v e s

Congress, APC, was lastnight tethering towardsa major crisis over thestrong positions of majorstakeholders onresolving the problemsarising from the death ofits candidate in the KogiState governorshipelection, PrinceAbubakar Audu.

The crisis in the party,it was learnt, was alsoquietly seeping into thepresidency with seniorpresidency officials

9

How N65bn Abachaloot was spent— Okonjo-Iweala 37

8Power problem: Fashola meets with DISCOs

JERRY GANA @ 70:— Former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (left) congratulating Prof. JerryGana during the 70th birthday celebration of Prof. Gana at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Maitama,Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Missing cash:Defence Hqtrs detainsGenerals, recalls othersfor questioning

COLUMNISTS:

Hope andhopelessness

FG's N5,000SWP:Questions,questions

Is CBN’SMPC strongerthan Buhari?

HENRYBOYO

P.36

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

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Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015—3

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CMYK

POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015—5

IT'S UP TO YOUBY AYO ADIO

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Crisis rocks APC over Kogielection impasse

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE

Continues from Page 1

COMMISSIONING—From left: Head, Personal and Business Banking,Standard Bank West Africa, Lincoln Mali; Representative of Amuwo-OdofinConstituency 1, Lagos State House of Assembly, Dipo Olorunrinu; ExecutiveDirector, Personal and Business Banking, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Obinnia Abajue;and Head, Customer Channels, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Abiodun Gbadamosi, atthe commissioning of the Satellite Town, Lagos, branch of the bank.

Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting yourenergy and bringing more of what you want intoyour life— The Secret

A PERSON may understand the importance ofbeing grateful, all too often when life throws

us curve balls, this grateful mindset all butdisappears. It certainly is easier to be grateful whenyou are on a winning team and things go in yourfavour. However, the true test of resiliency is thosemoments when one can’t seem to get over pastregrets and disappointments. After all, we mightwonder, when things go wrong what really do wehave to be grateful about? Be grateful for what youalready have and you will attract more good things.

What makes you special isn’t really what youdo but who you are. Strive to become better

each day and life will reward you tremendously.It's up to you.

It is only a foolish snail that thinks it canquench the fire with it's saliva.

taking different positionson the issue.

At the centre of thecrisis, as exclusivelyreported by Vanguardlast Friday, was thedecision of the partyacting in concert withassociates of PresidentMuhammadu Buhari topresent Alhaji YahayaBello who came secondin the APC governorshipprimaries as the newcandidate of the party.The party had alsopencilled James Faleke,who was Audu’s runningmate in the penultimateweekend election, asalso running mate toBello.

However, Faleke, whohad earlier through hislawyer, Wole

Olanikpekun written theparty to lay his claim tothe mandate of the lateAudu, at the weekend,further stoked temperswith his formal decisionto reject his nominationas Bello’s running mate.

In a letter to the party’snational chairman, ChiefJohn Odigie-Oyegun,Faleke flatly rejected hisnomination as runningmate to Bello, who heaccused of betraying theparty in its time of need.

Against thebackground of the deathof Audu, party officialsacting in concert withassociates of PresidentBuhari, it was learnt,had pencilled down Belloas the new candidateupon his second placefinishing in the partyprimaries with Faleke as

running mate. Under theplans, MohammedAudu, son of the latecandidate was also beingproposed as Secretary tothe State Government toassuage the camp of thelate Audu.

However, the planswere seriously beingundermined, last night,with reports that Falekewas set to go to courtwith three SeniorAdvocates of Nigeria,including one from KogiState enlisted to pushhis case at a FederalHigh Court today.

The party, last nightwas nonetheless,pushing ahead withBello. Bello, whoaccording to sources,had been told by partyofficials not to leaveAbuja was, last night,invited to presenthimself at the partysecretariat this morningfor his unveiling as thenew APC candidate inKogi State.

Reflective of his newstatus, security aroundBello has been raisedwith military, police andDepartment of StateService operativesgiving him all roundsecurity.

Despite theantagonisms towardshim, Bello has beenreaching out bytelephone to leadingstakeholders. Amongthose he is believed tohave reached wereFaleke and ChiefClarence Olafemi, whois one of the staunchpillars behind Faleke.Vanguard could notconfirm the details oftheir discussion. Bellohas reached Prof. IsaiahDaniel, the directorgeneral of the AbubakarAudu CampaignOrganisation seekinghis support.

His efforts nonetheless,those pushing for Falekeargued that Bello

distanced himself fromthe party immediately helost the party primaries.It was being said lastnight that he did notpresent himself at thetwo rallies attended byVice-President YemiOsinbanjo at Lokoja andOkene.

INEC gives APCtomorrowdeadline

The IndependentNational ElectoralCommission, INEC,meanwhile yesterdayaffirmed that the APChas until tomorrow tosubstitute the late Audu.

The commission hadearlier refuted claimsthat it gave a deadline tothe party to forward thename of its newcandidate.

However, DeputyDirector in charge ofPublicity at thecommission, NickDazang told Vanguard,last night, that the partyhas till December 1, tosubmit the name of itscandidate. He washowever, silent onwhether INEC wouldretain the late Audu’sname on the ballot papershould the party fail todo the needful before thedeadline.

“APC has beenrequested to submit acandidate before or onDecember 1, 2015”, hesaid, directing furtherenquiries to the party.

In his letter to Odigie-Oyegun rejecting hisnomination as runningmate to Bello, Falekealso asserted the fact thatthe APC lost in Bello’spolling unit and ward,points he projected toreflect his claim thatBello worked against theparty during theelections.

Faleke rejectsAPC offer

In the letter to thenational chairman datedNovember 27, 2015which was also copied toINEC and the APCnational secretary,Faleke said:

RE: My purportednomination as DeputyGovernor

Information at mydisposal from theNational Secretariat ofour party, the AllProgressives Congress,APC, and my telephoneconversation with yourgood self, confirmed tome that the party hadissued INEC form andsubmitted my name asrunning mate to AlhajiYahaya Bello in theforthcoming unusualand strangegovernorship electionsscheduled for December5, 2015, covering 91polling units in KogiState, to elect a" s u p p l e m e n t a r ygovernor."

Mr. Chairman, youmay recall that an

election was conductedon November 21, 2015 inwhich I was runningmate to the late PrinceAudu Abubakar. I,therefore, remain fullycommitted to that jointticket which received theblessings of the partyleadership includingyour good self evidentfrom your attendance atthe campaign rallies toensure total victory forour great party throughwhich the people of KogiState massively andoverwhelmingly votedfor us.

Following the demise ofmy principal after theannouncement of resultsfrom the polling units,wards, local governmentareas and the state, ourparty had the highestnumber of votes of240,867 against PDP’s199,514 thus creating adifference of 41,353 votesbetween the two leadingparties. On the strengthof this, I hereby stateclearly that I remain theGovernor-elect of KogiState on the platform ofour great party.

Please take this letteras confirmation todisassociate myself fromthis unusual andstrange supplementarynomination of myhumble self as runningmate to Alhaji YahayaBello. This also serves asa notice of rejection of thepurported illegalnomination of myself asrunning mate to AlhajiYahaya Bello.

I wish to put it onrecord that I was neitherconsulted nor informedby anybody before myname was submitted asrunning mate to a manwho has since theconduct of the primaries,abandoned the party,took the party to court,worked for PDP therebycausing our party to losehis polling units with 88votes to his ally party,the PDP’s 116, repeatingsame feat at the wardlevel with APC scoring1,146 to PDP’s 2,058.

While it is true that thesaid Alhaji Yahaya Belloparticipated in ourprimaries, it is trite thatparty primaries areconducted to produce acandidate and once acandidate is produced,the congress being an adhoc tool of the party forthat purpose shoulda u t o m a t i c a l l y

extinguish.It is clear from this

injustice, that our partyis on the path ofrewarding disloyaltyand discouraging loyaltythrough this act ofimpunity for which we allfought the PDP.

It may also interest youMr. Chairman, that thesaid Alhaji Yahaya Bellosince the conduct of theprimaries had been alooffrom the party activitiesas it is on record that hedid not attend a singlemeeting or campaignrally of the party.

Mr Chairman, I amsure that it is neither inyour interest nor that ofthe party in particularand the public ingeneral to lord anillegality on the people ofKogi State.

Please take note that Iam not interested insurrendering themandate of the people ofKogi State bestowed onthe Audu/Faleke jointticket at the Nov 21 pollsas I remain theGovernor-elect.

Sir, I believe in theleadership of our greatparty to resolve this inthe shortest possibletime, failure upon whichI shall be forced to seekredress in the Court oflaw.

In the same vein, APCyouths from Kogi Eastcontinued their protestagainst Bello, yesterday.

Some of the youthsattacked dignitaries atthe 8th day prayer for thelate Prince Audu atOgbonicha on Sunday.

Senator Ahmadu Ali, aformer NationalChairman of the People’sDemocratic Party andSenator NicholasUgbane whorepresented the KogiEast Senatorial Zonebetween 2003 and 2011were among the victimsof the attack. Theirvehicles were allegedlyvandalized by therampaging youths whowere heard chantingsongs in support ofMohammed Audu, son ofthe late Prince AbubakarAudu.

The youths threatenedto disrupt the December5 supplementary pollunless Mohammed Auduis fielded by the AllProgressives Congressas replacement for hisfather.

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 , 2015

Pastor'sson, 17,allegedlyrapes,murdersgirl, 14,in Delta

By Emma Amaize

SAPELE—A 17-year-old son of a pastor hasallegedly killed a 14-year-old girl afterraping her, while hernine-year-old sisterescaped with woundsinflicted on her by thesuspect at Sapele,Sapele LocalGovernment Area, DeltaState.

The incident occurredat Oduduru Road,Sapele, same streetwhere a kidnap gangshot dead a youngpastor, Great Oduduru,last week.

The kidnappers weresaid to have trailed abusinessperson to thearea.

A source saidworshipers at thesuspect’s father ’schurch were shocked atthe conduct of his son,which they described asunbecoming of cleric'sson. .

By Esther Onyegbula

Police nab 5 suspected fraudsters in Lagos

LAGOS—OPERATIVES of theRapid Response Squad,

RRS, have arrested five membersof a 15-man syndicate thatspecialized in defraudinginnocent members of the publicin Lagos and its environs of theirhard-earned money.

The suspects identified asAdeola Oladele, 42, FridayPhilip, 33, Israel Ibe, 35, OyewoleThompson, 30, and OnyebuchiGodwin, 20, were arrested byRRS operatives after a tip off.

Vanguard gathered that the fivesuspects who were arrested inOko -Baba- Sule, off WilmaStreet, Olodi ,Apapa, were takento the State Headquarters of theRRS, Alausa, Ikeja, forinterrogation.

They allegedly admitted beingculpable and stated that it wasgreed and unemployment thatlured them into crime.

They also claimed to be 15 innumber, with one Toronto, as thekingpin of the syndicate.

Suspect's accountOyewole Thompson, 30, said:

“We are 15 in number and wedivide ourselves into groupswhenever we want to go on theprowl. We usually walk aroundBoundary Market and MarineBeach, all in Apapa, where wego after our preys. We introduceourselves as foreigners thatbrought some imported gadgetsfor sale. We convince our victimsand anybody that falls into sucha booby trap, we will milk him orher dry. We will ask him or her tobring Naira, which we wouldeither change into fake US dollarsor British Pounds. Toronto is thehead of our syndicate, whileIfeanyi, Emeka, Bobo and Onyibohead different groups.”

Residents of the affected Wilmaarea, who also came and testifiedagainst the arrested men,claimed their base under theWilma flyover was a dangerousand no-go area where cries ofstudents and ladies were oftenheard.

Victim’s accountA 26-year-old victim, Chiamaka

Anusim, narrated her story; “Mytravail began sometime inAugust, 2015, when I wasaccosted by a man who I laterknew as Oyewole Thompson, atMile 2 bus stop, on my way toAgo Pallace way. The man justwalked up to me where I waswaiting to board a tricycle thatwould take me to Ago andintroduced himself as a foreignerwho was looking for ladies whocould assist him to market someused phone sets and laptops hejust brought from abroad. I toldhim that I was in a hurry to go fora nanny job interview. The mankept on pestering me, that he wasgoing to reward me handsomelyif I could assist him market theproducts and I succumbed to thepressure. From there, he took meto a place under the Wilma

flyover where he asked me to paysome amount of money, but I toldhim I had nothing on me, that itwas only my ATM card that wason me. I met two other men there.

“That day, I gave him my ATMcard and he went to the nearestGTBank and withdrew N40,000.The next day I went there, hecollected my ATM card again andwithdrew N70,000. The third timeI went for the products to be givento me, he collected the N60,000that was on me. When I askedabout the products, he also askedme to come with another N40,000,a roll of white handkerchief, awalking stick and three fouls withwhich to do some rituals beforethe products could be given to me.He said the N40,000 was to beused to procure a week-old baby

to concoct the charm. I didn’t evenknow what was controlling me asI was obliging him for whateverhe asked me to bring. It was like adivine rescue when I saw armedpolicemen who invaded the placeand started shooting sporadicallyinto the air to effect their arrest.

"That was how we were allrounded up and brought downhere to Alausa. I thank God for mylife.”

Gang leader opens upOne of the leaders of the gang,

Oyewole Thompson, said: “I wasa clearing and forwarding agentbefore I joined this gang. I wasintroduced to this business bySunny T. We wash money (printfake foreign currency), we lie to

people that we are foreigners.Our chairman is Toronto whilesome of the other members ofthe gang are; Emeka, Ifeanyi,Bobo and Onyinbo who is stillat large.”

Recovered exhibitsSeveral denominations of fake

US dollars and four mobilephones were recovered from thegang.

Speaking on the incident,when contacted, Commander,RRS, Olatunji Disu, an AssistantCommissioner of Police, ACP,confirmed the arrests and saidinvestigation had begun and assoon as the probe wasconcluded, the suspects wouldbe charged to court.

Boko Haram kills soldier, 6 others in freshBorno attacks

MAIDUGURI—ABOUTseven persons including a

soldier, were killed in both Bamand Gajigana villages of Biu andMagumeri Local GovernmentAreas of Borno State.

In the two attacks, whileunspecified numbers of teenagegirls were abducted in BamVillage, scores of people wereinjured in Gajigana village afterinsurgents set ablaze shops andhouses without confrontation.

Bam is about 7 kilometers awayfrom Buratai village the hometown of Chief of Army StaffLieutenant General Tukur YusufBuratai. Buratai village hassuffered series of Boko Haramattacks including the razing downof a mansion owned by the Army

The suspects

General.A resident of the area who fled

to Miringa town for safety,Mallam Ali Bam, told Vanguardon phone that the insurgents wentto the village at about 3:30 am atthe weekend and set ablaze thewhole village, after killing fourpersons and fled unchallengedwith unspecified number ofunmarried teenage girlskidnapped.

He said “the Boko Haramterrorists after separating a lot ofteenage girls from married womenin Bam, set ablaze the wholevillage and fled with the girlsunchallenged, as the attack lastedfor some hours before they fled. Icalled on General Buratai to dosomething as we have been tellingthe soldiers that the Boko Haramwere so close to the village, but

they only went to Mangarivillage which is few kilometersaway from Buratai and shot intothe air and left. The soldiersdon’t want to confront theterrorists, Buratai should betterdo something before they startattacking and sacking villages,as they were doing before.”

Similarly, Boko Haramterrorists attacked and burntdown Gajiganna village killingthree persons including a soldierbefore carting away a lot offoodstuff.

Gajigana is north and about50 kilometres drive fromMaiduguri.

A member of the Civilian JTFfrom the area, Mallam AliyuJibrin, told Vanguard that theinsurgents who came at 8:30pmon Friday started shooting

By Ndahi Marama

•Abducts teenage girls

sporadically into the air to scarepeople, where they killed oneman, one woman and a soldierbefore they carted away a lot offoodstuff after setting ablaze all theshops in the village.

“I believe it was a revengemission, because recently, wearrested over 17 Boko Haraminsurgents in the community andhanded them over to the military.I am calling on the Federalgovernment and the militaryauthorities to do something aboutthe pockets of insurgents in the bushesand villagers before they regroup and startattacking big towns and villages," hestated.

He lamented that the attack onGajigana could have been avoided ifsoldiers acted on the information at hand,but when they came the soldiers took totheir heels without facing the insurgents.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 , 2015—7

Fraud suspect dies in EFCC'scustody

By Soni Daniel

W A R R I — T W Os u s p e c t e d

pickpockets were weekendapprehended beforegetting away with aniPhone and an unspecifiedsum of money stolen fromthe pocket of a traditionalruler at a funeral service inEffurun, Delta State.

The suspects in their early30s, had invaded the venueof the funeral service ofChief Torch OritseweyinmiTaire, and had strategicallypositioned themselvesbefore luck ran out on them.

One of the suspects wascaught in the act by anundertaker at the grave sidewhile the corpse was beinglowered into the grave.

Upon a body search by acombined team of police andmilitary personnel present,the phone and a wad ofcash was found in thepocket of the suspect whowas immediately takenaway with his accomplice.

Police arrestsuspectedpickpocketsat funeral

By Egufe Yafugborhi& Perez Brisibe

ACCIDENT: Scene of an accident at Ojuelegba Bridge, Surulare, Lagos, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

ABUJA—TRAGEDY hashit the Economic and

Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC, after a suspect in itscustody, suddenly developedchest pains, and died.

Arowofela Olufemi, who wasbeing investigated by thecommission followingallegations by the Securitiesand Exchange Commission,SEC, that he fraudulentlyconverted over N100 milliondividend warrants to himself,died in a military hospital,where he was rushed to byofficials of the EFCC.

A statement made availableto Vanguard yesterdayindicated that Olufemi hadcomplained of chest painsearly in the day and wasrushed to an unnamed militaryhospital in Lagos, where hegave up the ghost beforedoctors could attend to him.

The EFCC statement wassigned by its spokesman,Wilson Uwujaren, who saidthe cause of the suspect’sdeath was unknown as at thetime of going to the press.

Uwujaren said: “The causeof the sudden death is yet tobe ascertained even as thecorpse of the deceased hasbeen deposited at themortuary of the LagosUniversity Teaching Hospital.The family of the deceased hasalready been notified of theincident while the matter hasbeen reported to the OnikanDivision of the Nigeria Police.”

It will be recalled that thelate Olufemi was arrestedfollowing a complaint by theSEC, alleging that he was

Man, 54, in Police net over alleged fraud

involved in fraudulentconversion of dividend warrantsof over N100 million.

Following the report by SEC,operatives of EFCC arrested

him at the premises of a bankwhile attempting to cashalleged stolen dividendwarrants.

After his arrest and

detention, he was offeredadministrative bail but couldnot produce a surety to perfecthis bail thereby leading toextended incarceration.

By Esther Onyegbula

LAGOS—POLICE in LagosState have arrested a 54-year-

old man alleged to be an expert inswindling unsuspecting membersof the public by selling fakemobile phones as genuine onesto them.

The suspect identified asMichael Bisa, was weekendarrested along Oshodi-ApapaExpressway at about 5: 50 pm,when the policemen attached toRapid Response Squad, RRS,on patrol, suspected hismovements on sighting him.

Confessing to the crime, thesuspect, who is a native of DeltaState, said poverty led him intothe act of duping innocentpeople.

Explaining the tacticsemployed to swindle his victimsunder false pretense, Bisasaid: “What I usually do iscalled exchange. Myprospective victims will havethe mind of buying handset fromme but unknown to them, Iwould have changed the realhandset to soap wrapped withcut-to-size carton put inside anenvelope. I will engage themin discussion after showingthem the real phone initially,and in the process of bargainingfor the price, I will change itwith the aid of white

handkerchief to fake phone.And I will tell them to keepthe phone inside theirpockets immediately, thatpeople are watching us. Assoon as they leave the spot,I will change my clothes tomake it difficult for them toidentify me in case the victimdiscovers that he has beenduped.”

The suspect who has fourchildren from three differentwomen, explained that hisfriend, Hakeem Tijani, nowlate, introduced him to the actof stealing.

“I was a refrigeratortechnician in Uvwie LocalGovernment Area, Effuru inDelta State before I came toLagos to look for greenerpastures about 15 years ago.But my expectations weredashed when situations gotso hard for me in the centerof excellence. I met oneypung man then, HakeemTijani, he is late now, and hewas the one that introducedthis act of stealing to me.Since that time, about fouryears ago, this act of stealinghas been my only source oflivelihood.”

The suspect, who looked frail,said he was a drug addict,saying “my first wife taught me

how to smoke all sorts of harddrugs including cocaine. She laterdied from the complications shesuffered due to much intake ofhard drugs.”

The Police Public RelationsOfficer, PPRO, DeputySuperintendent of Police, DSP, JoeOffor, confirmed the arrest.

Items such as fake phones, keysoap cut- to- size, shirts, money,packet of envelopes and cut-to-size cartons, were recovered fromhim.

CustomsdestroysN11.56mworth offrozen foodin Benin

The suspect., Michael Bisa.

BENIN—THE NigerianCustoms Service,

NCS, Federal OperationUnit, Zone C, weekend saidit destroyed 1,365 cartons ofimported frozen productsvalued at N11.56 million inBenin City, Edo State.

In a statement by theComptroller of Zone C, MrVictor Dimka, in Benin,NCS said 1,205 cartons ofthe 1,365 cartons containedimported frozen poultryproducts, valued at N9.6million.

The remaining 160cartons contained frozenfish estimated at about N1.9million respectively.

The statement said theitems were destroyed onSaturday at the NSC officein Benin.

It added that the itemswere seized on Thursday byofficers and men of NCS inthe Benin-Ekiadolor area atabout 1.00 p.m.

According to thestatement, the Duty PaidValue, DPV, of the poultryproducts and frozen fishwere N1.5 million and N2.2million, respectively.

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 , 2015

ICPC moves against sacked Perm Secs•N292m found in ex-perm sec’s account•Chukwu defends land allocation

By Omeizia Ajayi

ABUJA— MORE factsemerged, weekend, as to

the actual reason PresidentMuhammadu Buhari sackedsome permanent secretaries,among them, that of theFederal Capital TerritoryAdministration, Engr. JohnObinna Chukwu.

Chukwu, it was learnt, wasamong the eight permanentsecretaries being investigatedby the Independent CorruptPractices and other RelatedOffences Commission, ICPC,over alleged illegal dealswhile in office.

But the ICPC declined togive details of the financialtransactions for whichChukwu was being probed.

The anti-graft agency optedto probe the permanentsecretaries when its operativesdiscovered N292 million in theaccounts of one of them justwithin six months of hisappointment as a topgovernment official.

However, our correspondentlearned that the former FCTpermanent secretary mightsoon be summoned forquestioning over his role insome questionable financialtransactions under SenatorBala Mohammed as Ministerof the Federal Capital TerritoryAdministration.

However, a source in thecommission said the probe ofthe former permanent secretarywas in connection with some

financial transactions andquestionable landallocations under him.

“These are very weightyand serious allegations thatthe commission is currentlyworking on. Do not forgetthat Engr. John ObinnaChukwu was the accountingofficer of FCTAdministration duringSenator Bala Mohammedand it will be strange if he isnot aware of alleged missingfunds.

"However, as soon asinvestigation is concludedon these issues, thecommission will invite himto explain his role,” thesource said.

When asked whetherPresident Buhari dropped

him as a result of corruptionallegations, the source said: “Idon’t know why he wasdropped because I am not thepresident’s spokesman, butone thing is certain, we arecarrying out seriousinvestigations into theadministration of the FCT inthe last dispensation.”

Contacted, Chukwu queriedwhether the people who gotland allocations during histenure were not Nigerians.

He expressed readiness tocooperate with the anti-graftagencies anytime he would becalled upon to defend histenure.

“Are they saying the peoplewe gave land are notNigerians? Well, when I amcalled upon for explanation, Iwill be available”, he said,declining further comments.

CELEBRATION: From left, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Department of Financeand Adminstration, FHQ Abuja, Danazumi Job Doma; University of Lagos Bursar, Dr LateefOdekunle; Vice Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Rahamon Bello; Prof. Jerry Gana thecelebrant and Editor-in-Chief, Vanguard Newspapers, Mr Gbenga Adefaye during the 70thbirthday celebration of Prof. Jerry Gana at St. Matthew's Anglican Church, Abuja. Photo:Gbemiga Olamikan

Fashola, NERC meet with DISCOs on tariffBy Clara Nwachukwu

LAGOS —MINISTER ofPower, Works and

Housing, Mr. BabatundeFashola, is meeting with themanagement of distributioncompanies, DISCOs, todaywith a view to acquaintinghimself with them and alsointimate them about hisexpectations from them on theway forward.

The meeting, which will holdin the minister ’s office thisafternoon comes ahead of ascheduled meeting betweenthe power industry regulator,Nigerian ElectricityRegulatory Commission,NERC and the DISCOs, todiscuss the contentious issueof tariff.

This comes as NERC said ithas already worked out somebenchmarks for DISCOs tomeet in order to approve tariffincreases for them.

Fashola had earlier met withVice President Yemi Osinbajo,and later with the Chairmanof NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, lastweek, to discuss developmentin the nation’s power sector,during which according tosources familiar with themeeting, stressed the need forDISCOs to recapitalise.

The minister had noted thatthe DISCOs needed toperform better, adding thatthere were several optionsopen to them includingrecapitalisation by floatingtheir shares in the capitalmarket to raise the necessaryfunds to retool and run theiroperations.

He had also agreed thatsome deliverables be set forthe DISCOs, as funding willno longer be accepted as anexcuse for non-performance.

But there were alsospeculations that the minister

may have given approval toNERC to revoke licences ofdistribution companies who areunable to meet theirprivatisation obligations.

The speculations may havebeen given credence by therecent pronouncement by theDirector General, Bureau ofPublic Enterprises, Mr.Benjamin Dikki, who warnedthat the Federal Governmentwould reacquire the stakes ofnon-performing DISCOs for $1,and float their shares on thestock market.

Some of the DISCOs, whowere also allegedly pencileddown for such licencerevocations, denied knowledgeof such a move, and toldVanguard that “If such is tohappen, we will be

communicated formally inwriting.”

But denying thisvehemently, Amadi toldVanguard on phoneyesterday that Fashola couldnot have given suchapprovals, considering thathe is yet to have the detailsof the DISCOs operations,and was still studyingdevelopments in his ministry.

According to him, “theminister can’t approve forlicences to be revoked whenhe doesn’t have any detailson the operations of theDISCOs. Besides, revocationof licence is a last resort afterevery other measure mayhave failed. So it is not adecision that is taken lightly.”

New tariffHe, however, admitted that

the Minister, NERC and theDISCOs will be meeting todayfor a formal introduction toFashola, while NERCdiscusses the deliverablesupon which tariff increaseswill be approved for theDISCOs.

Amadi disclosed: “NERC isworking on service levelagreements with the DISCOs,which will be tied to deliverablesthat will go with new tariffs,going forward.”

He further said: “The meetingwith them (DISCOs) is strictlyto talk about tariff. The ministeralso wants to meet with them tointroduce himself to them andurge them to brace up to theirresponsibilities.”

Gana at 70:Osinbajo,Gowon,Adeboye, Okoh,others harp onservice tohumanity

By Caleb Ayansina

ABUJA — THE VicePresident, Prof. Yemi

Osinbajo and other eminentNigerians, yesterday, urgedNigerians to live a life full ofservice to humanity as an elderstatesman, Professor JerryGana, celebrated his 70thbirthday in grand style.

Speaking at the birthdaythanksgiving service in honourof Prof. Gana, who clocked 70years, at the St. Matthew’s(Anglican) Church, Maitama,Abuja, the Vice President saidin any capacity people findthemselves to serve, theyshould do it with all their heartand mind, knowing fully wellthat God is the rewarder ofthose who diligently servedHim.

Osinbajo said service tohumanity is service to God,noting that “whatever it is thatwe have or we are doing, wemust do it well. Whether it isimportant or not that is whereGod has placed us to play arole.”

The vice president describedGana as “one of the fewtalented Nigerians, who hasbeen able to get himself into theconsciousness of Nigerians.”

In his goodwill message,former Head of State, GeneralYakubu Gowon (retd) saidGana had lived a life worthy ofemulation and demonstratedthat the ultimate thing to do inlife is service to the people.

Also speaking, the GeneralOverseer of the RedeemedChristian Church of God(RCCG), Pastor EnochAdeboye and General T. Y.Danjuma described Gana as aman of the people, who isrecognised across all faiths inthe country.

Wishing him many peacefulyears ahead, they urgedNigerians to always live a lifethat gives glory to God byaffecting others positively.

In his sermon, the Primate,Church of Nigeria, AnglicanCommunion, the Most RevdNicholas Okoh urged thecelebrant to continue to speakthe truth, as there is nothingelse to be afraid of at 70.

“You should continue to speakthe truth at all times to glorifyGod. As a statesman, help usto build the country. Theyounger generation is entitledto good life and if they don’tget it, they will write off ourgeneration,” Okoh said.

Responding, the celebrant,Prof Jerry Gana gave glory toGod for keeping him alive towitness his 70th birthday andpromised to continue tocontribute his quota to thedevelopment of the country.

CMYK


Missing cash: Defence Hqtrs detainsGenerals, recalls others•May use some detainees as witnesses against Dasuki

By Soni Daniel,Northern Region Editor

ABUJA — IN a bid to recoverstolen defence cash running

into trillions of Naira, the DefenceHeadquarters might have startedrecalling no fewer than 20Generals said to have beeninvolved in the purchase of armsand ammunition for the country.

Competent military sources toldVanguard last night that thesuspected top military officerswere being detained at a militaryfacility in Abuja and would soonbe made to face the music fortheir roles in fleecing the nation.

Similarly, the sources hintedthat key military, naval and airforce officers, who had retiredwithin the last three months, werealso being recalled to face aninvestigating panel probing thepurchase of arms for the nationsince 2009 with a view toascertaining their roles in themissing defence funds.

According to one of the sources,who spoke in confidence to ourcorrespondent yesterday, theinvestigative panel, which wasraised by the Chief of Army Staff,is headed by a BrigadierGeneral, whose name was notalso disclosed for securityreasons.

According to a source, “I cantell you that the currentleadership of the Defenceinstitution in Nigeria has zerotolerance for corruption given theneed to give Nigeria a new leaseof life. All those suspected to havediverted any money meant for thearmed forces are being recalledto explain their roles in armspurchase.

“As we speak, some Generalscurrently serving are underdetention at a military facility inAbuja while some who hadretired but held sensitiveappointments relating to arms

and logistics procurement havebeen recalled by an investigatingpanel.”

It was learnt that some of thedetained top military officersmight have connived with somenational security officers to diverthuge sums of money set aside forthe procurement of vitalequipment and platforms for thearmed forces by acknowledgingreceipt of such items when nonehad been supplied.

The Presidency is said to haveordered the military authorities totake immediate steps to recoverstolen funds allocated to them.

Panel reportThis followed the report of a

panel raised by PresidentMuhammadu Buhari on August31 this year to look into defencebudget and recommend the wayforward for Nigeria.

In turning in its interim report,the panel raised the alarm thatcertain individuals saddled withthe task of arms procurement forNigeria, made away with hugesums and left the army to fightwith bare hands.

The panel said that extrabudgetary interventions collatedby the committee was N643.8billion while the foreign currencycomponent was $2.2 billion.

The report indicated that theamounts excluded grants from thestate governments and fundscollected by the Directorate ofState Services and the Police.

The statement said thecommittee observed that in spiteof this huge financialintervention, very little wasexpended to support defenceprocurement.

Failed contractsThe committee also observed

that of 513 contracts awarded at$ 8 , 3 5 6 , 5 2 5 , 1 8 4 . 3 2 ;N2,189,265,724,404.55 and

54,000.00 Euros, 53 were failedcontracts amounting to$2,378,939,066.27 andN13,729,342,329.87 respectively.

According to the statement, thecommittee also noted that theamount of foreign currency spenton failed contracts was more thandouble the one billion dollars loanthat the National Assemblyapproved for borrowing to fight theinsurgency in the North East.

It stated that the committeealso discovered that paymentsto the tune of N3.850 billionwere made to a single companyby the former NSA withoutdocumented evidence ofcontractual agreements orfulfilment of tax obligations tothe Federal Government.

The statement said: “Furtherfindings revealed that betweenMarch 2012 and March 2015,the erstwhile NSA, Lt. Col.Sambo Dasuki (retd) awardedfictitious and phantom contractsto the tune ofN 2 , 2 1 9 , 1 8 8 , 6 0 9 . 5 0 ;$1,671,742,613.58 and9,905,477.00 Euros.

“The contracts, which weresaid to be for the purchase offour Alpha Jets, 12 helicopters,bombs and ammunition werenot executed and theequipment were never suppliedto the Nigerian Air Force,neither are they in its inventory.

“Even more disturbing wasthe discovery that out of thesefigures, two companies, wereawarded contracts to the tuneof N350,000,000.00;$1,661,670,469.71 and9,905,477.00 Euros alone.

“This was without prejudiceto the consistent non-performance of the companiesin the previous contractsawarded.

“Additionally, it wasdiscovered that the former NSAdirected the Central Bank ofNigeria to transfer$132,050,486.97 and9,905,473.55 Euros to theaccounts of SocieteD’equipmente Internationauxin West Africa, United Kingdomand United States of Americafor un-ascertained purposes,without any contract documentsto explain the transactions.”

N7bn Kanohospitalready in2016—Dangote

K A N O — C h i e fE x e c u t i v e

of the DangoteFoundation, Ms HalimaDangote, has said that theongoing construction of amulti-billion naira state-of-the-art Operating Theatreand Diagnostic Centre atthe Murtala MuhammadSpecialist Hospital, Kanowill be completed next year.

Ms Dangote, whodisclosed this when herteam visited the Kano StateGovernor, Dr. AbdullahiUmar Ganduje, weekend,said the Operating Theatreand Diagnostic Centre willcost the Foundation N7billion.

She attributed the earlierdelay to technical hitchesand said the new contractor,Dantata and Sawoe, hasreturned to site. She alsosaid the routineimmunization programmeof the Foundation has beenextended to Bauchi, Yobe,Maiduguri and Katsina.

She said the foundation’sBusiness School’s Project atthe Bayero University Kanohas gulped N524 million,even as it injected N500million into Kano School ofTechnology.

Ms Dangote also revealedthat the Foundation wasdetermined to build a500MW of electricity stationin Kano. She describedsome of the projects as“game changing projects” tobe completed in the nexttwo years.

Responding, GovernorGanduje said the Presidentof Dangote Group, AlikoDangote has done a lot forthe people of Kano who willremain grateful forever. Hesingled out the contributionof the Foundation to thefight against polio disease,adding that it was indeed amassive intervention.

He said with the help ofthe Dangote Foundation, thestate will soon be given itspolio free certificate, adding:“We are ready to doanything to support youreffort.”

He further describedDangote’s intervention atthe Murtala MuhammadSpecialist Hospital asmassive, saying the hospitalis one of the oldest in WestAfrica.

The Foundation has alsocompleted the constructionof seven out of the 11primary health care centresit is building in the state.

VISIT: From left: Executive Director, Dangote Foundation, Hajiya Halimat Dangote; DangoteProject Division, General Manager Civil, Auwalu Haliru; and Governor Abdullahi UmarGanduje of Kano State during a visit to Hajiya Mariya Sanusi Dantata Ultra Modern MedicalComplex by Dangote Foundation under construction, in Kano, Saturday.

Yuletide: Army advisesNigerians on security

By Kingsley Omonob

ABUJA — DAYS after theDepartment of State Services,

DSS, warned Nigerians,particularly residents of the FCT,of plots by the Boko Haram terrorgroup to carry out attacks andbombings in market places andreligious centers, the NigerianArmy has urged citizens to be extravigilant and security conscious intackling insecurity in the countryas the Xmas and New Yearseasons approach.

Acting Director, Army PublicRelations, Col. Sani Usman, madethe call, weekend, at inauguralannual lecture of Class 1992Alumni of Mass CommunicationsDepartment of Bayero UniversityKano (BUK).

In a paper he delivered entitled‘Crisis Communication andSecurity Consciousness: A CaseStudy of Nigeria’ at the occasion,Colonel Usman, who is also an oldstudent of the department insistedthat Nigerian military andintelligence operatives arevirtually in every local governmentcouncil in the country trying topre-empt the dastardly plots ofenemies.

Usman said citizens shouldnot only rely on security forprotection but should besecurity conscious and provideuseful information to relevantsecurity agencies.

He said: “With the kind ofintelligence we receiveregularly from the military andsecurity operatives, the citizensneed to be proactive andsecurity conscious while themedia intensify campaign onsame.

“Internal security challengeis not a problem unique toNigeria. The US, UK, Franceand many other countries facesimilar challenges within theirborders on daily basis.

“The difference betweenthese countries and ours is themanagement of threats by thegovernment and the citizenry;how knowledgeable they are,how patriotic and united theircitizens are against threats ofinsecurity and crisis.

“The countries are neverdivided on political, ethical,religion or professional groundwhen the interest of the nationis the subject."

CMYK

10—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Synagogue: Lagos arraigns TBJoshua, others today

By AbdulwahabAbdulah

LAGOS — THE trustees ofSynagogue Church of All

Nations, SCOAN, will today bearraigned before a Lagos StateHigh Court in Ikeja over thecollapse of a six-storey buildingin the church on September 12,2014, which led to the death of116 persons.

Senior Pastor of the church,Prophet T. B. Joshua is one ofthe trustees.

The trustees will be arraignedbefore Justice Lawal Akapoalongside the engineers thatconstructed the collapsedbuilding.

A statement by the DeputyDirector, Public Affairs of theLagos State Ministry of Justice,Bola Akingbade, confirmed the

scheduled arraignment.Justice Ibrahim Buba of the

Federal High Court in Lagoshad dismissed the fundamentalhuman rights enforcement suitsfiled by the engineers whoconstructed the collapsed six-storey building to stop theirplanned trial.

The engineers— Mr. OladeleOgundeji and Mr. AkinbelaFatiregun—had filed twoseparate suits before JusticeBuba seeking an orderrestraining the police frominviting, arresting orprosecuting them over thevictims’ death.

The Lagos State Governmenthad set up a Coroner Inquest tounravel what went wrong, andvia a verdict delivered on August7, 2015 by Magistrate OyetadeKomolafe, the Coroner had

indicted the engineers andrecommended them forinvestigation and prosecutionfor criminal negligence.

The engineers had filed thesuits following the Coroner’sverdict, which attributed thebuilding collapse to structuraldefect.

The engineers hadspecifically rejected theCoroner’s verdict, describingit as “unreasonable, one-sidedand biased.”

But Justice Buba, in hisruling on the defendants’preliminary objection, heldthat the engineers “had notmade out a case ofinfringement on theirfundamental rights even onthe merit of the application,”and dismissed theirapplications.

AIB faults Senate’s claim on air accident reportsBy Lawani Mikairu &

Daniel Eteghe

LAGOS— ACCIDENTInvestigation Bureau, AIB,

yesterday faulted the Senateclaim that the agency is keepingthe reports of investigation intoair crashes in the country from thepublic, describing the claim asuntrue.

A senator had during plenary,last Tuesday, said theinvestigative reports on Sosolisocrash of 2005, Bellview crash of2005, ADC crash of 2006 andDana crash of 2012 were yet to bein the public domain. But AIBsaid that the reports in question,like many others, were on theAIBs website.

According to Tunji Oketunbi,Head, Public Affairs, AIB, “theattention of AccidentInvestigation Bureau (AIB) hasbeen drawn to a report that theSenate on Tuesday condemnedthe Accident Investigation Bureaufor keeping the reports of

investigation into air crashes in thecountry from the public.

“The upper chambersubsequently mandated itsCommittee on Aviation tothoroughly investigate the remoteand immediate causes of the trendand report its findings to theSenate within two weeks.

“The distinguished senator thatraised the matter before the Senatealluded to the reports on Sosolisocrash of 2005, Bellview crash of2005, ADC crash of 2006 andDANA crash of 2012 as majorreports that were yet to be in thepublic domain.

“Accident Investigation Bureauholds the Senate and thedistinguished senators in highregard and would not want to joinissue with the premier legislativearm.

“However, the AIB is saddenedby this unjustified vilification ofthe bureau on the floor of theSenate as the allegation was mostlyincorrect. The Senate was

misinformed. As at the time thedebate was going on in theSenate, the reports referred towere on the bureau’s web site(aib.gov.ng) and just a clickaway from any interestedmember of the public.”

He revealed that “For recordpurpose, Sosoliso Accidentreport, which had beenreleased since 2006 andpublished in the nationalnewspapers has been on thebureau’s website for severalyears now. Bellview and ADCcrash reports have beenpublished and have been on ourwebsite since 2012 whileDANA’s preliminary report hasbeen published since July 2012.Other outstanding accidentreports are being diligentlypursued.

“A little research, including acheck on our website or theaviation committee of the Senatewould have made this debateunnecessary.

FUN UNLIMITED: From left: Commissioner for Information & Strategy, Mr. SteveAyorinde; General Manager, Lagos Television, Mr. Deji Balogun; wife of Lagos StateGovernor, Mrs. Bolanle Ambode; Commissioner’s wife, Mrs. Bimbo Ayorinde; member,Lagos Television Management Board, Mrs. Toyin Ayanbadejo and Permanent Secretary,Ministry of Information & Strategy, Mr. Folarin Adeyemi, during the official opening ofthe LTV Christmas family funfair tagged "Fun Unlimited," at LTV, Agindingbi, Ikeja, onSaturday.

Cylinderexplosion:Lagos assuresvictims ofadequatemedicalattention

By OlasunkanmiAkoni

LAGOS — THE Lagos StateGovernment has assured

victims of the Owode-Onirinscrap market, along Mile-12,Ikorodu Road, cylinderexplosion receiving treatmentat the Lagos State UniversityTeaching Hospital, LASUTH,Ikeja of adequate medicalattention and would notabandon them.

Permanent Secretary of theMinistry of Special Duties andInter Governmental Relations,Dr. Ibironke Sodeinde gavethe assurance at the weekendduring her visit to the survivorsin LASUTH.

The victims who were 11 innumber, including firefighters as at the time ofadmission were rushed fromthe scene of the fire outbreakat Owode-Onirin area ofIkorodu as a result of directexposure to suspectedammonia gas discharged fromruptured abandoned cylindercausing the fire fighters andthe traders who becameunconscious to be rushed tohospital.

N117m debt:Court freezesguarantor’saccounts in17 banks

By Innocent Anaba

A LAGOS High Courth a s

granted a garnisheeorder nisi attaching anymoney in the accounts of theguarantors of HolyviewInvestment InternationalLimited in about 17commercial banks in thecountry, for allegedlyrefusing to pay a judgmentdebt estimated at N117million.

Trial judge, Justice OlusolaWilliams granted thegarnishee order to ensurethat money in the account ofthe guarantor, Pastor SamsonOluwamodede, incommercial banks and otheragencies are attached for thepayment of the judgmentdebt.

The court gave the orderfollowing a motion ex-parteagainst HolyviewInvestment InternationalLimited, Mr. BabatundeFrancis Adebayo and PastorOluwamodede (judgementdebtors).

The court directed thebanks to file on oathstatements of accountsshowing the judgmentdebtors’ financial status withthem up to date immediatelyprior to the service of thegarnishee order.

The court also directed thecommercial banks to attachall money in any account(s)in their custody to satisfy thesum of N117 million debts’adjudged due to thejudgement creditors.

However, following theorder of court, one thegarnisheed banks, GuarantyTrust Bank Plc, admitted onoath in an affidavit filedbefore the court, that theguarantor of the debtors,Pastor Oluwamodede,maintain accounts with GTBwith available balances in thesums of N4,045,832.45,N 2 , 1 3 0 , 3 3 7 . 4 4 ,N1,071,863.34, $3,027,50,£2,130,337,.44 and •110.00

However, at the resumedhearing of the suit, GTB ina motion on notice, soughtleave of the court to vary thegarnishee order nisi on thegrounds that the figuresearlier provided by GTB waswrong due to typographicalerror.

The bank said in theapplication that the amountcontained in all the accountsheld by the 3rd judgementdebtor, Olumodede with it,cannot make up thejudgement sum andtherefore, cannot satisfy theentire judgement debt.

Oil marketerdenies subsidytheftallegations

By AbdulwahabAbdulah

LAGOS— An oil marketer,Adaoha Ugo-Ndagi, has

told a Lagos High Court sittingin Ikeja that the N1.9 billionsubsidy fraud charge preferredagainst her and three otherswere false.

Ugo-Ndagi, ManagingDirector of Ontario Oil and GasLimited, who was testifyingbefore Justice LateefaOkunnu, maintained that theallegations were an attempt tosettle old scores betweenOntario and two other keyplayers in the industry.

She urged the court todischarge and acquit herself,Ontario and Mr WalterWagbatsoma, ExecutiveDirector of the firm, of the nine-count charge of conspiracy,obtaining property by falsepretences, forgery anduttering.

Led in evidence by thedefence counsel, Mr EdokaOnyeke, Ugo-Ndagi, said shehad never met the thirddefendant, Mr FakuadeBabafemi, a staff of thePetroleum Products PricingRegulatory Authority (PPPRA),until they were arraigned incourt.

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015 — 11

Obasanjo raises alarm over unemployment

By Daud Olatunji

Ajimobiappointsm e d i aaides

By Gbenga Olarinoye

Era of economic hardship over in Osun —Aregbesola

By Ola Ajayi

Ekiti First Lady rounds off tour today in Ado Ekiti

BURIAL: From left, Deputy Governor, Osun State, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Member, OsunHouse of Assembly, Hon. Israel Aloba and Chairman, Osun House of Assembly Committeeon Information and Strategy, Hon. Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, during Oyintiloye's mother'sburial in Ibokun, Osun State, weekend.

ABEOKUTA—FORMERPresident, Chief

Olusegun Obasanjo, hasurged the federal, state andlocal governments to do morein the area of employment.

The former president whospoke at the 10th anniversaryand 6th and 7th convocationceremonies of Tai SolarinUniversity of Education,TASUED, Ijagun, Ijebu Ode,warned: “If there is no job forthe unemployed to feedthemselves and also tocontribute to the developmentof the country, then, we will allbe sitting on gun powder.

“If university education wasnot for development then, itwas not serving any usefulpurpose. It must be fordevelopment, personal, local,national and even global andthat is very important.”

He stated that education is ameal ticket for anybody that hasit, adding that it is also a meansof breaking the poverty cycle.

Obasanjo advised: “I believein lifelong education. Nobodyshould stop learning until heor she die.”

He said that he accepted theaward because of thepersonality the school wasnamed after, saying that TaiSolarin was one of the greatesteducationists the country hasever produced.

He also told the audiencethat he was honoured to behonoured in conjunction withChief Hannah Idowu DideoluAwolowo, insisting, “Anywhere

Mama is being honoured, wemust join hands to to honourher.”

Obasanjo was honouredwith an Honourary Doctorateof Education in PoliticalScience while HID washonoured with HonouraryDoctorate in BusinessEducation while AlikoDangote was conferred withHonorary Doctorate inScience and BusinessEducation. HID Awolowo'sdaughter, Mrs Tola Adeniran,received the award on behalfof her mother's behalf.

Ogun State governor,

Senator Ibikunle Amosun, inhis speech at the occasionsaid: “This year’s convocationceremony, which marks thesuccessful completion ofanother academic session, isa continued demonstration ofcommitment to the productionof qualified teachingpersonnel for our educationsystem.

“You are all expected to useyour collective wisdom,knowledge, ability andexposure to sustain andpromote the ideals of thisgreat institution.”

He disclosed that the 12

First Class students would begiven automatic employmentby the state government.

The Vice -Chancellor of theUniversity, ProfessorOluyemisi Obilade, in herwelcome address, said: “Theuniversity is a specialiseduniversity, uniquelypositioned to respond tonational and globaleducational needs forequipping graduands withthe necessary andpedagogical skills as well ascontent knowledge foreffective teaching andlearning.”

OSOGBO—AS thepresent administration in

Osun State enters its 6th year inoffice, the governor, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, has said that theeconomic hardship in the state hascome to an end.

The governor stated this duringthe commissioning of the new Ife/Orile-Owu 33KV feeder line atOrile-Owu, Ayedaade LocalGovernment Area of the state.

Aregbesola noted that hisadministration is committed tomaking life meaningful andabundant to the people of Osunhence the infrastructuraldevelopment in the nooks andcrannies of the state.

The governor commended thepeople of Orile-Owu and itsenvirons for their patience overthe years before electricity wasrestored to the communities at thecost of N225 million.

Speaking earlier, the PermanentSecretary, Ministry of WaterResources, Rural Developmentand Community Affairs, Engr.Oriolowo, commendedAregbesola for his ingenuity in

creating the ministry in Osun.He noted that the age-long

isolation of some settlementsfrom the national electricity gridis now addressed with theconstruction of the new 33KVoutdoor bay at 132/33KVtransformer stations inAjebandele in Ile-Ife.

Govt deserves no tax —CSCEO

Meantime, a group in the

state, under the auspices of CivilSociety Coalition for theEmancipation of Osun State,CSCEO, has declared that thepresent administration in thestate, under the watch of Mr.Rauf Aregbesola, did notdeserve to collect any tax fromindigenes of the state.

He said this was because thegovernor allegedly failed toadhere strictly with the provisionof the amended 1999

Constitution of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria thatstipulated the condition forcollection of taxes.

It also stated that Aregbesola'sadministration in the state didnot provide any dividend ofdemocracy to the people of thestate since November 27, 2010that would encourage thecitizens to perform theirobligation to the stategovernment.

I B A D A N — S I Xmonths after being

sworn in as the governorof Oyo State for a secondterm, Senator AbiolaAjimobi, yesterday,announced the names ofthose that will form hiscommunication team.

Before theappointment, people inthe state had expectedthat the governor wouldform his cabinet inSeptember.

According to astatement by the Head ofService, Mr. SojiEniade, Mr. YomiLayinka, a broadcaster, isthe Special Adviser onCommunication andStrategy, while a formerPunch Journalist, Mr.Akin Oyedele, is theSenior Special Assistanton Print and Broadcast.

The governorappointed an IbadanPolytechnic top official,Mr. Femi Ipadeola, as hisSenior Special Assistanton Public Affairs.

Until his newappointment, Layinkawas the Chief OperatingOfficer of the BCOS, aswell as a Senior SpecialAssistant to Ajimobiduring the governor ’sfirst tenure.

Oyedele is a Universityof Lagos graduate ofMass Communication,where he emerged asoverall best graduatingstudent of his class. Hewas a ChiefCorrespondent with thePunch Newspaper until2010 when a formergovernor of Ekiti State,Dr. Kayode Fayemi,appointed him as SpecialAssistant on Media.

Ipadeola, who has heldtop administrative andboard managementpositions in public andprivate sectors was theDean, Faculty ofBusiness andCommunication Studies,The Polytechnic, Ibadan,until his new position inthe administration ofAjimobi.

WIFE of Ekiti StateG o v e r n o r , M r s

Feyisetan Fayose, will todayround off her one week tourof all the 16 local governmentareas of the state in Ado Ekiti,the state capital.

According to a statement inAdo Ekiti yesterday by herSpecial Assistant (Media),Gbenga Ariyibi, the first ladyhad used the opportunity ofher tour to distribute Mamakits and specialised milks to

pregnant women in all the 15local governments earliervisited

Mrs Fayose, according tothe statemen, equallydistributed school bags andsandals to some indigentstudents in different parts ofthe state.

Highlight of herexcellency ’s programmeduring the tour was thesensitization of women onhow to key into family

planning process, the needto discourage teenagepregnancy and the speciallecture delivered by theofficials of Ekiti StateTeaching Hospital, Ado Ekitito pregnant women.

Mrs Fayose was receivedmultitude of people, mostlymarket women and Iyalojas,women leaders and theOloris in all the placesalready visited.

CMYK


Paramilitary pensioners seek review of 2004Pension Scheme Act

By Gabriel Enogholase

Forgive our father’s wrongs, late Olu’s children urgeItsekiri nation

By Egufe Yafugborhi

Uvwie LG Treasurer disownsdocument before DTHA

I'm committedto workers'welfare —GovEmmanuel

BENIN—PENSIONERSfrom the paramilitary forces

in Nigeria have called on theFederal Government to review the2004 Pension Act which capturedthose who were not eligible, witha view to returning them to theformer pension scheme and theirgratuity reimbursed.

The pensioners, in a statementin Benin, Edo State, weekend, byMr. P. Hiaghana, at the end oftheir meeting, accused the FifthNational Assembly of foisting onunsuspecting Nigerians, anallegedly reprehensive,oppressive and discriminativePension Act devoid of fairness toall.

Noting that the ContributingPension Scheme was a laudableprogramme, it said that the 2004Pension Act from inception washinged on deceit and self servingmotives rather than to address theproblems it was meant to solve.

They said: “The legislators of the5th National Assembly, many ofwhom are the owners andshareholders of the various PFA’sin the country, enacted the law tosuit their whims regardless ofwhose rights was trampled upon.Otherwise, how could they haveplunged would be retirees whohad attained 25 years and aboveof their services into the 2004Pension Scheme knowing fullwell that they would not havecontributed any substantial

amount to their pension?”They noted that the idea of

exempting only those with twoyears and below of their servicesfrom the scheme had exposedtheir cryptic and nefariousintentions and wondered howfeasible it was for anybody to useless than four years to contribute7 ½ percent of his salary for hispension of 35 years.

The pensioners said that while

that was not feasible, those ofthem who were not eligible byvirtue of years served wereroped into the scheme becauseof perceived avenue to makehuge gains by the facelessowners of the PFAs.

“The consequence of this wasto delve into peoples’ gratuitieshaving observed that themeagre sum contributed wouldnot make up for their pensionsand branded it lump sum. Prior

to 2004 Pension Act, letters ofappointment speciallystipulated that employees onretirement are entitled to threeyears annual salary as gratuityand pension for life.

“This was not consideredwhen enacting their self servinglaws, nor did it bother them thatthe so-called lump sum is a farcry from reality when comparedwith three years annual salaryof the old pension scheme," theysaid.

WARRI—CHILDREN ofthe late Olu of Warri,

Ogiame Atuwatse II, haveurged the Itsekiri nation toforgive their father of anywrong he might have doneduring his reign.

The children, at a specialgathering in honour of theirlate father at the AghofenPalace ground in Warri,weekend, also drummedsupport for Prince GodfreyEmiko, the Atuwatse’ssuccessor, who is to becrowned December 20.

Speaking in the company ofher siblings, Tsola, Toju, Ola,Neye and Olori-Atuwatse,widow of the departedmonarch, Princess Nere Teribasaid, “Forgive him if he hadoffended you. Find it in yourhearts just to let it go. Heblessed everyone. He neverkept or harboured grudgesagainst anyone. He kept us onour knees praying.”

She commended the federaland state governments,including former Delta Stategovernors, James Ibori and Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan,

incumbent Dr. Ifeanyi Okowaas well as Daniyel Reyeniejuand the entire Iwere nation,for the honour accorded their

father while he was on thethrone.

“I thank Iwere nation forhonouring my father whenhe ascended the throne atthe age of 42. Growing up

as a young man, the elderlyand chiefs honoured andcrowned him even though hewas not a conventional king.I thank the late Chief Owenand Chief Rewane.”

By Festus Ahon

ASABA—DELTA StateHouse of Assembly Joint

Committee on Public Accountsand Local Government Affairswas bemused when theTreasurer to Uvwie LocalGovernment Area, MrEmmanuel Afigo, disowned thedocument he submitted to thecommittee.

The committee had invited thesuspended chairman of thecouncil, Mr Henry Baro, to clearsome of the issues raised in the

document submitted by thecouncil.

The committee, at its lastsitting invited the actingchairman of the council, Headof Personnel Management,Treasurer, and cashier to appearbefore it.The Treasurer, Mr Afigo, whoarmed himself with a documentother than the one he had earliersubmitted, told the committeethat the copy he came with wasdifferent from what thecommittee had.

Students on our scholarship programme havereceived their payments —Amnesty Office

By Emmanuel Elebeke

Alleged falseinformationagainstex-UNIBEN VC:EFCCprosecutespetitioner

By Simon Ebegbulem

BENIN—AN Edo StateHigh Court sitting in

Benin, has granted bail to oneMr Kehinde Samuel who isbeing prosecuted by theEconomic and FinancialCrimes Commission, EFCC,for giving the commission falseinformation against the formerVice Chancellor of theUniversity of Benin, UNIBN,Prof. Osayuki Oshodin.

Samuel had, on October 10,2014, filed a petition againstthe former VC, alleging thathe mismanaged andmisappropriated fundsaccrued to the Universitywhile he was VC of theinstitution.

The accused, who was theHead of the Information,Communication andTechnology Department of theuniversity, was among thosewho were retrenched by theformer VC over allegedmisconduct.

Counsel to EFCC said thecharge against the accusedwas “weighty considering thecircumstances,” and urged thecourt to reject his bailapplication and remand himin prison for misleading thecommission.

By Chioma Onuegbu

UYO—AKWA IbomState governor, Mr.

Udom Emmanuel, has saidthat his administration wascommitted to the welfare ofworkers in the employment ofthe state government.

Emmanuel, who stated thisyesterday at the monthlyprayer summit held at theLatter House Chapel,Government House, Uyo, alsoannounced that modalitieswere being worked out for thepayment of severance benefitsto political office holders in thelocal governments across thestate.

He said that hisadministration would ensureprompt payment of salaries toworkers despite the economicdownturn while gratuities andother entitlements were beingpaid in batches.

The governor directed thenew Head of Service, MrsEkerebong Akpan, to ensurethat civil servants due forpromotion were promoted totheir appropriate cadres.

OFFICE of the SpecialAdviser to the President

on Niger Delta and Coordinatorof the Presidential AmnestyProgramme has dismissedreports in some quarters thatsome students abroad, havereturned to the country due tolack of resources to meet theirfinancial obligations.

In a statement, the Media andCommunication Consultant tothe Amnesty Programme, OweiLakemfa, described the claim asuntrue and misleading, sayingthat the students abroad and inthe country on the amnestyscholarship programme havesince received their payments.

“We wish to state that there isno iota of truth in the claims thatsome students abroad havereturned to the country due tolack of resources to meet theirfinancial obligation. The

students abroad and in thecountry on the AmnestyScholarship Programme havereceived their payments,” thestatement said.

He explained that a few

students abroad were yet to bepaid because the payments,which have foreign exchangecomponents, have to passthrough the new TSA Policy atthe Central Bank of Nigeria.

UNVEILING: From left: Mr Tolu Lawani, Marketing Manager, West, East & North Africa,Hewlett Packard, HP; Mrs Ifeyinwa Afe, Managing Director, HP, Nigeria and Mr OladimejiOlaniyi, representing Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State, at theunveiling of the New HP Incoporated in Lagos, at Civic Centre, Lagos. Photo: AkeemSalau.

CMYK


Soldiers nab 15 Delta youths allegedly onprotest

By Emma Amaize &Perez Brisibe

Rivers assures NYSC members on security, welfare

By Davies Iheamnachor

Jonathan condoles with Eruani, Azikel Groupboss

Ndokwayouths flaybrutalisationof newsmen

UGHELLI—SOLDIERShave intercepted about

15 youths of Ndokwa ethnicnationality in Delta State whowere going for a peaceful protestagainst an oil company at AseOmoku community in NdokwaEast Local Government Area ofthe state.

They accused the youthsaccosted at Ashaka of planningto raze the Independent PowerPlant, IPP, project in Okpai.

A source, however, said thatthe soldiers found no dangerousweapons on the youths whenthey searched them.

Among those arrested wereNnamdi Uwai, OnowomaDickson, Nnamdi Community,Valentine Uyabeme,Ijeegbunem Obi, KelvinNwadele, Kanayo Kukagha,Agriga Ossai, Dinma Kukaya,Nelson Mabeme, Chidi andUche Mabeme.

Leader of the Coalition ofNdokwa Youth Leaders, MrAlex Agha, who confirmed thearrest of the youths said, “Theyexplained to the soldiers thatthey had no business with IPPand their mission was to AseOmoku, where they were goingfor a peaceful protest, yet theywere arrested.”

He said other members ofthe coalition who were earlierstopped by soldiers from goingto Ase Omoku proceeded toUmuseti community, theheadquarters of the oil firm,Sterling Global, to lodge theirgrievances and were received

by the Base Manager of thecompany, Mr Mohan.

A source at the 222 Battalion,Agbarha-Otor, in UghelliNorth Local Government Area,confirmed the arrest of theyouths, but alleged that ayouth leader sponsored them

to disrupt activities of oilcompanies in the area andextort money for personalbenefit.

He told one of our reportersthat the military handed overthe youths to the Police AreaCommand, Ughelli.

FORMER PresidentGoodluck Jonathan and

wife, Patience, along withdelegations of chiefs of OgbiaKingdom, Bayelsa State, havevisited the group president ofAzikel Group, Dr EruaniAzibapu, to condole with himand his family on the death ofhis father, the late ChiefAllwell Eruani, Aguda the IX,the Obanema ofEmadike.

Jonathan said thelate Chief Eruaniwould be greatlymissed by Ogbiapeople andBayelsa State.

He described thelate monarch as ana c c o m p l i s h e dperson who died atthe age of 82,noting that he had

raised a celebratedentrepreneur of Niger Deltaextraction, who is the GroupPresident of Azikel Group.

Azikel Group is aconglomerate of companieswith diverse interests inbusiness and special focus indredging, petroleum andpower sector of the economy.

The Group President, while

thanking the former President,his wife and the dignitaries,said he needed the wisdomand guidance of his fathernow, to help navigate thechallenges of business andleadership, tap from hiswealth of knowledge as agreat old time enterprenuer,industrialist and a communityleader.

CONDOLENCE VISIT: From left: Dr Eruani Azibapu, President, Azikel Group; formerPresident Goodluck Jonathan and wife, Patience, during a condolence visit to Dr. Azibapuon the death of his father, the late Chief Allwell Eruani, Aguda IX, the Obanema of Emadike,in Ogbia Kingdom, Bayelsa State.

RIVERS State Governmenthas reassured National

Youth Service Corps, NYSC,members serving in the stateof its commitment to theirsecurity and welfare.

The state government gavethe assurance at the NYSCOrientation Camp in NonwaGbam-Tai, Tai LocalGovernment Area of the state,during the swearing-in of over2,591 2015 Batch B, (Stream II)corps members deployed to thestate.

Addressing the corpsmembers, Secretary to theRivers State Government, Mr.Kenneth Kobani, said the stategovernment was ready toensure the security of corpsmembers serving in the state.

Kobani added that thegovernment would give moreattention to the welfare of thecorps members, to amelioratetheir suffering.

He urged them to ensure thesuccessful completion of theirservice year, stressing that thestate government wouldprovide them all the neededsupport in that regard.

Kobani also admonished theNYSC members to overcome

every political challenge thatthey may be confronted within the state.

He said: “The Rivers StateGovernment will help inevery possible way to make

your service year a success.Your security and welfare areguaranteed. Try to overcomepolitical and other challengesyou may be confronted within the state. Do not allow

anybody to use you anddestroy you during yourservice year, rather use theservice year as a mark ofhonour to our fatherland.”

By Ochuko Akuopha

OLEH—THE youthwing of Ndokwa

Neku Union, NNU, hasdescribed as barbaric anddevilish, Thursday ’sbrutalization of somejournalists by youths ofOkpai and Benekucommunities in Ndokwa-East Local GovernmentArea, Delta State.

NNU youth wing, in astatement by its SecretaryGeneral, Presley Idi,condemned the attack andcalled on the DeputySpeaker of Delta StateHouse of Assembly, FridayOsanebi and the Chairmanof the council, Mrs. NkechiChukura, to wade into thematter.

The statement said: “Thejournalists who arecorrespondents fromdifferent media houseswhich include Vanguard,The Nation, Sun, NewTelegraph, Pointer and DBS,amongst others, wereheaded for a village inNdokwa East to carry outtheir lawful duties when theyouths ambushed anddescended on them at OkpaiJunction.

“The most annoying part isthat, the journalists were notonly mobbed andmanhandled, but they werealso robbed of valuables. Tocomplicate matters, thesepeople are the same peoplewe run to, to help us bringthe problems and disastersfacing our region to thenotice of the entire world.

“It is in line with the abovethat we condemn in totalitythe actions of thesehooligans, who are trying torubbish the good name ofour youths especially thoseof us from Ndokwa East.

“While I may not speculateabout the culprits beingsponsored, I demand thatthe councilor representingthose wards and the youthleaders of both communities,as a matter of urgency, issuean open apology and allstolen items returned, so thatthis show of shame may bewiped off our faces."

CMYK


Thanksgiving Service for late Chief Oritseweyinmi Torch Taire, in Lagos

From left, Mrs. Adefemi Abeke Taire, widow, and Professor Ben Ohumselu,duringthe Thanksgiving Service for late Chief Torch Oritseweyinmi Taire, at Yaba BaptishChurch Yaba, and reception party at Anthony Sport Field, Adebayo Mokulu Street,Anthony, Lagos, yesterday. Photos: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor

From left, Emeritus Prof J.P. Clark, and Aremo Olusegun Osoba, former governorof Ogun State.

From left, Mrs. Jumoke Funmi-Adeshina, Chief Bengy"Apollo" Oseragbaje, and Dame Damola Akran.

From left, Mrs. Evelyn Rewane Fabyan, Ms YeyeRewane, and Mrs. Rita Amuka.Mr. Sonny Aminaghan, and his wife, Chuko.

INFRACTION: SEC sets aside N5bn for investors’compensation ...pegged at N200,000

Glo's comedy,new dimension —Subscribers

By Nkiru Nnorom

THE SECURITIES andExchange Commission,

SEC, has set aside N5 billion asa seed capital to jump-start theNational Investors ProtectionFund, NIPF, to compensateinvestors who may sufferpecuniary losses in the course oftheir transaction in the capitalmarket.

The NIPF is a scheme beingpromoted by the SEC tocompensate investors that sufferlosses due to the insolvency,bankruptcy or negligence of acapital market operator, CMO.

The NIPF, according to the setof rules approved by the SEC’sboard earlier in the year, willapply only to defalcations byinsolvent or bankrupt capitalmarket operators that are not

dealing with members of anySecurities Exchange or CapitalTrade Points.

Accordingly, the NIPF will befor the purpose of compensatinginvestors whose losses are notcovered under the NIPFadministered by SEC and CapitalTrade Points.

Speaking at the post CapitalMarket Committee, CMC, pressbriefing in Lagos, the DirectorGeneral, SEC, Mr. MounirGwarzo, said the Commissionhas also pegged compensation atN200,000.

He explained that the NIPFcovers the entire capital marketand is broader in scope than asimilar fund being promoted bythe Nigerian Stock Exchange,NSE, that seeks to provide respiteto investors who suffer losses asa result of defalcation by dealing

member firms of the Exchange.He noted that the SEC taxed

itself to provide the initial grant,saying that subsequently,operators in the market wouldmake annual contribution to thefund.

He stated that the first set ofbeneficiaries would be compens-ated before the end of the year.

“The National InvestorsProtection Fund is not meant topay an investor all he has lost inthe market; it is just a temporarymeasure. So, if you have investedN1 million and for certain reasonyou are not able to get to N1million in between the time beforefurther investigations are done,before that operator is called toexplain and the assets of theoperator are sold and theproceeds used to pay the investor,the SEC will use the NIPF to pay

you the maximum amount ofN200,000 before you get the finalamount,” he stated.

“So, the sum of N5 billion hasbeen set aside for that purpose.This I think is an excellent feat thathas been achieved by the SEC,even though we have very limitedresources.

"We have not been funded forquite a while by the governmentand everybody knows that themarket has gone down. So, wehave to even sacrifice some of ourkey initiatives. We sacrificed someof the trainings that our staffneeded to attend just for us to beable to set aside this money, andthis amount of money is solely setaside by SEC, but as we moveforward, the National InvestorsProtection will be funded by themarket,” Gwarzo added.

GLO SUBSCRIBERS,who attended the

company’s Laffta Fest showin Awka, Anambra State, onFriday have described it asa new dimension to comedyshows in Nigeria.

Speaking after the showin Awka, the customerscommended the nextgeneration network forbringing the comedyconcert currently touringmajor cities in Nigeria toAwka.

A member of AnambraState House of Assembly,Hon. Timothy Ifedioranma,who attended the show saidthe Glo Laffta Fest initiativeis a very laudable idea.“Coming to watch thesegreat comedians performrelaxes the nerves,” he said.

New Telegraph constitutes board, appoints editors

THE BOARD of Directors ofDaily Telegraph Publishing

Company Limited has constitutedits board and effected changes inthe management of the NewTelegraph newspapers.

The board in a statement issuedon Sunday approved theappointment of Alhaji Idi Farouk,a former Director General,National Orientation Agency,

NOA, as the Chairman of theBoard of New Telegraph.

Other board members includea Senior Advocate of Nigeria,SAN, Chief Solo Akuma; Rev.Emeka Abone; Mr. OlakunleGidado, Managing Director, BPWest Africa, and ManagingDirector/Editor-in-Chief of NewTelegraph, Mrs. FunkeEgbemode.

Also, as part of efforts toreposition the newspaper, newappointments have been made tothe executive management of thepaper.

The Daily Editor, Mr. Yemi Ajayiis now the Managing Editor,Business and Strategy while theDeputy Editor, Daily, Mr. EmekaObasi becomes the ManagingEditor, Publications and

Operations.The Sunday Editor, Mr. Emeka

Madunagu, has been appointedthe Managing Editor (South)while the Saturday Editor, Mr.Lawrence Ani, is the ManagingEditor, North and Abuja.

Also, the board approved theappointments of new editors forNew Telegraph titles.

Mr. Ayodele Ojo is the Daily

Editor while Mr. Geoffrey Ekennais the Deputy Editor, Daily/GroupHead of Newsroom.

Mrs. Juliet Bumah is the newSunday Editor while Mr. WaheedBakare takes charge of theSaturday Telegraph.

Mr. Felix Nwaneri is the newGroup Political Editor.

All the appointments take effectfrom December 1, 2015.

CMYK


BIAFRA: Ohanaeze seeks unconditional release ofRadio Biafra boss

•S-East govs to discuss with Buhari•Stop making infuriating comments —PSC Chairman

THE apex Igboo r g a n i z a t i o n ,Ohanaeze Ndigbo,

yesterday, rose from its Imeobi(highest decision organ)meeting in Enugu and calledon the Federal Government torelease Nnamdi Kanu, thedetained Director of RadioBiafra and leader of IPOB,unconditionally.

However, the meeting, whichwas billed to hold withrepresentatives of MASSOBand IPOB was boycotted by thepro-Biafra groups.

Ohanaeze's directive wascontained in a communiquejointly signed by the NationalPresident of Ohanaeze, ChiefGary Enwo-Igariwey and theSecretary General, Dr. JoeNworgu.

They said that agitations andpublic protests over Biafra hadbeen exacerbated by thedetention of Mr. Kanu, thedirector of Radio Biafra. At themeeting attended byrepresentatives of both theMovement for theActualization of SovereignState of Biafra, MASSOB, andthe Independent People ofBiafra, IPOB, in Enuguyesterday, Ohanaeze furtherexpressed displeasure overthe continued incarceration ofKanu, saying that it wasgravely concerned overcurrent wide-spread publicBiafra agitations in states ofthe South-East and some otherstates of Nigeria for theactualization of Biafra.

The communique read inpart: “Ohanaeze Ndigbo, theapex socio-culturalorganization of Ndigbo inNigeria and the Diaspora, isgravely concerned by currentwide-spread and public Biafraagitations in states of theSouth-East and some otherstates of Nigeria.

“These agitations and publicprotests have becomeexacerbated by the detentionof Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, thepromoter/proprietor/director ofRadio Biafra by Department ofState Services, DSS.”

It further stated that“Ohanaeze Ndigbo fears thatthese developments maythreaten the security andpeaceful co-existence ofNigerians wherever they maybe domiciled, and

consequently, decided tosummon an emergencymeeting of Imeobi OhanaezeNdigbo to discuss thesituation.

“This emergency meetingwas held in Enugu at theNational Secretariat ofOhanaeze Ndigbo on Sunday,(yesterday), November 29,2015. Representatives of thevarious organizations andassociations involved in thecurrent public protest alsoattended the meeting.

“The Imeobi OhanaezeNdigbo, after extensive candiddiscussions and analysis ofthe situation is of the view thatthe current agitations are thedirect result of the excruciatingpain of severe injustice,marginalization and exclusionof Ndigbo from decisionmaking structures in Nigeriaas currently configured.

“The Imeobi OhanaezeNdigbo strongly avers that theexclusion of Ndigbo indecision making structurepresents danger to the unityand well-being of the country,not only now, but also infuture, and should beredressed urgently.

Attacking UwazuruikeMeantime, the movement for

the Actualization of theSovereign State of Biafra,MASSOB, and the IndigenousPeople of Biafra, IPOB, alsoyesterday, lashed out on theleader of MASSOB, ChiefRalph Uwazurike, accusing himof hypocrisy and deceit over hiscall for the unconditionalrelease of the incarcerateddirector of Radio Biafra, Mr.Nnamdi Kanu by the FederalGovernment.

This came as the formerChairman of Police ServiceCommission, PSC, Chief SimonOkeke cautioned some Igboelders to “stop makingpronouncements that can bevery infuriating anddishonourable to the agitatinggroups . He also urged themto speak out early when youthsstart derailing, instead ofkeeping what he called“criminal silence” andsubsequently condemningthem when things get out ofhand.

MASSOB and IPOB leadersafter their joint meetingattended by other leaders of thetwo groups said: “ChiefUwazurike’s appeal was “anexpression full of insincerity.”

The groups' statement madeavailable to newsmen by Mr.Uchenna Madu, and

spokesman of IPOB Mr. EmmaPowerful on behalf of otherleaders, also alleged that“Uwazurike has never liked Mr.Kanu because he (Kanu) isbecoming more popular,consistent and trusted by Biafraagitators," adding that "inUwazurike’s mind, he is happywith Kanu’s ordeal in the handsof the Federal Government .”

Chief Uwazurike whileaddressing loyalists and friendsof MASSOB who stormedOwerri for the thirdanniversary of the exit of DimChukwuemeka OdumegwuOjukwu, which hadOjukwu’s wife, Chief BiancaOjukwu, Dr. FredrickFasehun and Major HamzaAl- Mustapha in attendancehad called for Nnamdi Kanu'srelease.

“We do not believe inUwazuruike’s call for Mr.Kanu’s release, just as wecondemn the speech atOjukwu Memorial ceremonywhere he also said that somepeople claiming to bechampions in their littleknowledge, forget thatIgboland is landlocked and thefive states of South Eastcontribute less than eight percent of the economy of Nigeria.That is the height of his deceitthat he is actually fighting forthe actualization of Biafra. It isa statement of somebody thathas been compromised, andshould not be taken serious.

“That statement wasindirectly encouraging theNigeria government tocontinue their detention andpersecution of Mazi NnamdiKanu, the current Biafrahero. If not, how can

somebody like Uwazurike bemaking such comments andhe wants people to take himserious? We saw where hewas going and we decided toleave him,” they said.

Discrediting agitators Chief Simon Okeke, who

was the former PSC chairmanregretted that some Igboleaders had been discreditingthe youths agitating for thesovereign state of Biafra.

He said: “The war is over,we have all integrated intoNigerian, there was thedoctrine of 'no victor, novanquished,' so the Nigerianexperiment has been goingon. I have served as PSCchairman and even after that,I have been in pursuit ofprogress of Nigeria, startingwith peace and progress inIgbo land. I think we shouldstay together as a country, butissues of Igbo marginalizationand victimization are real.They are there and veryglaring and must beaddressed, but not withviolence and incessantprotests.

“Sometimes truth can be bitter,but it must be told. There arecertain pronouncements fromIgbo elders that can be veryinfuriating and dishonourableof someone that calls himself anelder.

"I have always spoken aloud,I have always said that our Igboelders should correct the youthsearly when they are goingastray, but they seem to bekeeping silent. Their silence iswhat I have always called'criminal silence.'

“If you see the young ones

By Emeka Mamah,Francis Igata, PeterOkutu, Chimaobi

Nwaiwu & ChinonsoAlozie

INAUGURATION: Governor Ikpeazu (middle) flanked on the right by his deputy, Ude Okochukwu, on theleft by Darl Uzu (Chairman of the Enyimba Industrial Development Company Ltd's board), and othermembers of the board, during the inauguration of the company, weekend.

going astray and fail to speakout, your silence is criminal.,”he said.

Discussing with BuhariMeantime, Governor David

Umahi of Ebonyi State,weekend, revealed that thegovernors of the South Eastgeo-political zone had taken adecision to discuss issuesrevolving around the recentagitation by IPOB in thecountry.

Governor Umahi made thisknown when he received theleadership of the Abakpa MainMarket Traders Association atthe Government House inAbakaliki.

According to Umahi, theSouth-East governors hadlistened to the complaints of theagitators and had decided todiscuss the issues with thePresident.

“We have listened to thecomplaints of the boys. Thereis no way anybody would saythat what they are saying iscompletely outside the truth,but just like husband and wife,you must have a way of gettingalong through dialogue.

“The governors of the South-East have taken up the matterwith Mr. President and I believethat we don’t need another warin this country. I want to pleadwith you to encourage whoeveris involved that we have takenup the matter and we will doeverything possible to makesure that their feelings areaddressed.

“We should not supportsecession. We should notsupport demonstrations; weshould not support thecastigation of our leaders.”

• As MASSOB, IPOB accuse Uwazuruike of hypocrisy, deceit

CMYK


E N U G U —STAKEHOLDERS

from across EnuguState,weekend,approved thesetting up of Local GovernmentCaretaker Committees for the 17local council areas in the state

pending the time adequatebudgetary allocations would beprovided in the 2016 stateappropriation for the conduct oflocal government elections in thestate.

The stakeholders who gatheredat the Old Government Lodge,Enugu gave the approval afterGovernor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi

briefed them on variousprogrammes and projects of hisadministration, including theissue of the pending localgovernment polls since the tenureof the local government councilswill expire on January 4, 2016.

Consequently, the governorannounced at the expandedmeeting that,”in order to avoid

vacuum, on 4th January, 2016, thelocal government caretakercommittees will be constituted andthis is in keeping with the extantlaws of Enugu state.

“Whatever we are doing will bein consonance with the LocalGovernment Laws”, he told thepolitical and opinion leaderswhich included Deputy SenatePresident, Senator IkeEkweremadu, immediate pastgovernor of the state, ChiefSullivan Chime, formerinformation minister, Chief NniaNwodo, former Minister of Power,Prof. Barth Nnaji, among others.

Addressing the people,Governor Ugwuanyi offered tworeasons the local council pollswould not hold before theexpiration of the tenure of thepresent councils, which includes,”the on-going local governmentstaff audit and other reforms” inthat tier of government in whichthe state government wants to fishout ghost workers said to beprevalent in the system.

The governor reminded theleaders that during the lastmeeting of the state caucus atthe Banquet Hall, GovernmentHouse, Enugu, it was agreed that,“all activities towards the localgovernment elections be put onhold to enable the committeehandling the exercise to concludeits assignment."

UMUAHIA—A group, Catholic Network ofNigeria [CNN] staged a protest weekend in

Bende, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State,calling for the change of the Justices of the Court ofAppeal Owerri, Imo State.

According to the group which is sympathetic tothe opposition All Progressive Grand Alliance[APGA], it has no confidence in Owerri Apeal CourtJudges.

The placards-carrying group comprising mainlyof youths and women, alleged that some Judges atthe Owerri Appeal Court are very close to thetribunal Judges that handled cases in Abia tribunalsand therefore have no confidence that they wouldconscientiously review the cases from Abia.

Displaying placards with inscriptions, “Catholicsare against injustice, the Court is our hope, all weare saying is give us justice, Abia State must be

free, Change the Appeal Court Judges forus, we voted for change, we want our votesto count, we want our mandate”, amongothers, the group said that the protest wasbeing held simultaneously in the threesenatorial zones of the state.

According to the coordinator of the group,Catechist Ambrose Udensi, they have

already written to the President of Courtof Appeal, the Chief Justice of Nigeria andNational Judicial Council [NJC] as wellon the issue, urging that the Justices atthe Owerri Court of Appeal be redeployed“because the people of Abia do not haveconfidence and trust in them”.

ENUGU COUNCIL POLL: Stakeholders approvecaretaker c'ttees for 17 LGAs

By Francis Igata

Group protests in Abia, calls for change of Appeal CourtJudges in Owerri

By Anayo Okoli

Ebonyi govt givescontractors ultimatum

ABAKALIKI—EBONYI State government hasgiven all the contractors hired to keep the

capital city clean three months deadline to meet upto its contractual agreement or lose their contracts.

State Commissioner for Environment, Mr MosesOgodo-Ali who disclosed this in Abakaliki at theweekend after the monthly sanitation exercise saidany contractor who fails to meet up the deadlinewill be shown the way out.

He noted that the state had already laid off threecontractors last September for non-performance andreplaced them with new ones; and would nothesitate to take a similar action against other erringcontractors.

The Commissioner however, noted that 80 percent of the contractors were very obedient and hadbeen keeping to the terms of the contract.

Abia govt tointroduce freemeals inprimaryschools

UMUAHIA—ABIAState government

said it would sooncommence serving freemeals to primary schoolspupils in the State.

To this end, thegovernment has set up acommittee and mandated itto liaise with the Ministryof Women Affairs to workout details of theprogramme.

The commissioner forInformation and Strategy,Comrade Bonie Iwuohawho announced this said itwas the decision of the StateExecutive Council meetingheld on Wednesday.

According to Iwuoha, tenschools would be selectedfrom each of the 17 LocalGovernment Areas of thestate for the pilot take-off ofthe programme.

He said that a total of3,000 pupils would be fedthree times a week duringthis pilot stage, namely onMonday, Wednesday andFriday.

Umeh mournsdead CWOmembers ofAwka diocese

FORMER NATIONALChairman of All

Progressives GrandAlliance, APGA, andMember of Board ofTrustees, BoT, Chief VictorUmeh, has expressedshock and grief over thedeath of eight members ofCatholic WomenOrganization, CWO, of theAwka Catholic Diocese ina ghastly auto crash.

The women wereconfirmed dead, along withthe driver of their bus ontheir way back from acondolence visit last Fridaynight when a lorry knockedtheir bus off the road, whichled to a summersault. Tenother members of theorganization were said tobe in very critical conditionsand admitted in hospital.

In a condolence messageto the Catholic Bishop ofAwka, Most Rev. PaulinusEzeokafor, and hisAuxilliary, Most Rev. JonasOkoye, the Chaplain ofCWO, Awka Diocese andthe Diocesan Director ofCWO, and all the membersof the CWO Awka Diocese,released by his SeniorSpecial Assistant (Media),Mr. Stan Okeke, ChiefUmeh said that the deathof these dedicated CWOwomen was a personal lossto him because he hadclosely associated withthem in their activities.

SHOW: From left, Hon. Hilary Udanoh, Executive Chairman, Anambra East Local Government; MiracleOkocha, Comedian Acapella, and Silvia, during the Glo Laffta Fest comedy show in Awka, Anambra State.

CMYK


CMYK


OPINION

Politicians, leave the Federal HighCourt alone

BY SAM EKPE

“The Judiciary is the last hope of the com-mon man”, is a very popular maxim in thecountry. Every one, both the high and mightyand the downtrodden, places the Judiciary invery high pedestal. Even without any funds toprosecute their cases the poor have willing andavailable public spirited lawyers to handle cas-es on their behalf.

Generality of Nigerians, therefore, have veryhigh regard for the Judiciary and see it as a no-go-area in our everyday life of politics withbitterness, without remorse and restraint. TheJudiciary is seen as a hallowed Chambers, witheven handed dispensation of justice and equityto all. Through the ages from our Independenceto the military rule years and now in our ThirdRepublic, the Judiciary has been regarded as aneutral body that is not involved in the hustleand bustle of our everyday political life.

Even in a few cases when some judicial offic-ers were involved in malfeasance the NationalJudicial Council had stepped in to mete ap-propriate sanction, the most recent being theirrecommendation of the immediate retirementof Justice Madaki of the Port Harcourt Divi-sion of the Court of Appeal.

When therefore the abhorrent and divisiveissue of politics rears its ugly head in the Ju-diciary every patriotic Nigerian should feelconcerned and worried. It is in this light that

one views the news item in the Nation of Tues-day November 17, 2015 titled “Successioncrisis hits federal high court over chief registrar’spost”.

An analysis of the story gives the impressionthat it was intended to project and protect theinterests of some sponsors. It is very unfortunatethat these days the pages of reputed newspa-pers are used to serve particular interests. Thenews report gives the indication that themanagement of the Federal High Court arepushing for the appointment of the next ChiefRegistrar of the court, irrespective of the statuson seniority cadre. “There were indications thatsome workers might take the plot to distort thesuccession system to Prof itse Sagay-ledPresidential Advisory Committee on WarAgainst Corruption. The workers includingsome Deputy Chief Registrars have vowed toresist the aberration of seniority list forpecuniary political gains, “ the story reads.

What a tendentious claim? What do thesponsors of this kind of publication want toachieve? What does pecuniary political gainmean? Questions, questions and morequestions. After listing the names of past ChiefRegistrars of the Federal High Court whoseappointments were allegedly based onseniority, the author of the story thencontradicted himself by stating that:“Although seniority has been the norm inappointing all the Chief Registrars, there is noregulation or law saying appointment mustbe made on seniority “. If this is the case why allthe noise and unnecessary dust that is beingraised?

Why raise this issue at all if seniority per seis not the only criterion that is considered inpromotion in the public service. Even in theArmed Forces, Police and other paramilitaryorganisations, is seniority the only basis in pro-motion exercise?

Even under the President MuhammaduBuhari administration many promotionexercises have been taking place without thepromoted officers being necessarily the mostsenior. The present Service Chiefs werepromoted over and above some officers thatwere senior in rank to them. OgbonnayaOnovo a former Inspector General of Policeserved under his junior Mike Okiro before hewas appointed Inspector General. The presentCommandant General of National Securityand Defence Corps (Civil Defence) waspromoted above his senior. It is only arguablyin the appointment of Chief Justices of theFederation that recourse is made strictly onseniority of Justices of the Court.

The brains or ghosts behind the present agi-

tation in the Federal High Court are also dis-

torting facts, engaging in outright falsehoodand what students of logic will describe as fal-lacy of hasty generalisation. For instance, theyallege that: “This is the first time we are experi-encing this kind of thing. Once the administra-tive cadre is altered, favourism will set in and itwill be bad for the Judiciary at this level”.

But in truth and in fact this will not be the firsttime seniority was not considered in promo-tion to Registrars of Federal High Courts.

The present Registrar of the Supreme Courtwas not the most senior when he was appoint-ed. He was even number three in hierarchy.Similarly the Registrar of the Court of Appealwas even number six in order of seniority. TheRegistrar of FCT High Court was not even inthe service cadre of Federal High Court butwas picked from Sharia Court of Appeal. Hewas only just recently promoted to ChiefRegistrar of FCT High Court.

The agitators also neglected/refused to in-form whoever cares to listen that the three Se-nior Deputy Registrars of the Federal HighCourt were promoted on the same day. Howdo you now determine who is the most seniorto be promoted Chief Registrar.

In all organisations, including the PublicService and the private sector, the most impor-tant considerations for promotion of officersare versatility, competence and administrativecapacity, trust and reliability, and general ac-ceptability of the officer by the staff of the orga-nization.

The present unease about the appointmentof a new Chief Registrar of the Federal HighCourt, apparently sponsored by vested inter-ests is absolutely unnecessary.

*Mr Ekpe, a media and PR consultant,wrote from Abuja.

The present unease aboutthe appointment of a newChief Registrar of theFederal High Court isabsolutely unnecessary

IT came as cheering news that thetwo contractors engaged by the federalgovernment to reconstruct the 167-kilometre Lagos/Ibadan Expresswayhave moved their equipment back tosite to resume work.

The Federal Government underformer President GoodluckJonathan had hired Julius BergerPLC to reconstruct and widen theportion from the ShagamuExchange in Ogun State to theLagos metropolis. RCC wasawarded the Shagamu to Ibadansection. A lot of progress wasmade, and hopes were highamong the road users that thetraffic nightmares and frequentaccidents experienced on thenation’s busiest highway wouldsoon be a thing of the past.

Work, however, came to ascreeching halt after the change ofgovernment in May this year, fuellingfears of another abandonment of worksuch as was experienced when thefederal government handed the roadover to a local private concessionaire,

As work resumes on Lagos/Ibadan Expressway

Bi-Courtney.We are hoping that work on this

road and others nationwide cannow proceed without any furtherbreak. The completion of theLagos – Ibadan Express must beseen as a national priority andpursued with single-mindedcommitment until it is completedon its due date, March 2017.

The reason for this is obvious.Lagos is the economic meltingpot of the nation. It houses thecountry ’s largest airport andbusiest seaports. It is the primaryport of entry for all manner ofimported goods, particularlypetroleum products. That is why

the expressway is overcrowded withtrucks, trailers, tankers, lorries andother vehicles of all shapes and sizesfrom all over the country, all headingfor Lagos to lift goods and humancargoes.

It is, therefore, imperative thatthis road and others like it around thecountry (such as the Shagamu-Benin-Onitsha, Benin-Warri, East-West Road,Enugu- Port Harcourt Express,Onitsha- Enugu –Abakaliki Express,Abuja-Okene Express, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Express, Ibadan-Jebba-MokwaExpress and others) must be kept wellmaintained to move the commerciallife of the nation forward. Goodmaintenance of our national highways

is one of those avenues through whichthe federal government touches thelives of ordinary Nigerians andpromotes their economic wellbeing,and therefore must no longer be toyedwith.

We call on the federalgovernment to focus a criticalportion of the proposed $25 billioninfrastructure fund in the totalupgrading of our nationalhighways to modern daystandards, ensuring that they arewell lit and provided withfacilities to cater for accidentvictims and the overall comfort oftravellers. These make travellingby road safer and morecomfortable.

We commend the Buhari regimefor nudging the contractors backto site on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and hope that work will resumeon all other temporarily abandonedfederal highways as soon as possible.

CMYK


CMYK

Send Opinions & Letters to:[email protected]

The President will always have his wayBy Eric Teniola

TO date, of all ministerial screeningby the Senate, the most controversial

has been that of the former President of theNigerian Bar Association,Chief RichardOsuolaleAbimbolaAkinjide, SAN. And thatwas as far back as 1979-about 36 yearsago.I covered the proceedings in the Sen-ate at that time. Chief Akinjide contestedthe gubernatorial election of Oyo State onNPN platform in 1979 but lost to ChiefBola Ige of the UPN. In a case instituted atthe presidential election tribunal by ChiefObafemiAwolowo of the then UPN, ChiefAkinjide was a counsel to the eventual win-ner in the tribunal, Alhaji Shehu UsmanShagari.

On Thursday October 18, 1979, Presi-dent Shagari included the name of ChiefAkinjide along with the 33 ministerialnominees to be screened by the Senate. ThePresident of the then Senate was Dr. JosephWayas from Ogoja. Twenty- four hours later,the Senate rejected the nomination of ChiefAkinjide along with that of Chief PaulUnongo from Benue State. On November17, 1979, the then Monday caucus of theNPN which was then the most powerfulbody in the country met at Dodan Barracksresidence of the President and decided tofight back so as to ensure that ChiefAkinjide’s candidacy as Minister wasapproved by the Senate. It was agreed atthe meeting that for President Shagari tolose so early in a battle while his Presiden-cy was still young would send a wrong sig-nal.

The Monday caucus was made up ofPresident Shagari; the Vice-President, Dr.Alex Ekwueme; the Chairman of the rulingNPN, Chief AugustMeredithAdisaAkinloye; the Secretary of

the party, Alhaji Suleiman Takuma; theSenate President Dr. Wayas and the DeputySpeaker of the then House of Representa-tives, Alhaji Idris Ibrahim from Minna,(since the Speaker, Chief Edwin Umeh-Ezeoke, was from NPP). The NPN had noBoard of Trustees.The Monday caucus wasdesigned by Alhaji Shagari to carry hisparty along on National issues so as not toappear as if he was a sole administrator.

On November 28, President Shagari,wrote a letter to Dr. Wayas re-presentingChief Akinjide and Mr. Paul Unongo. Forover 15 days, the Senate slept on the letterfrom President Shagari. At 4.10 p.m. onDecember 13 1979, the Senate constituteditself into a committee to decide on the fateof Chief Akinjide. The then Senate leader,Dr. Abubakar Olusola Saraki from Ilorin/Assa, moved two motions that afternoon.

The first, was for the Senate to rescind itsdecision of October 19 in rejecting ChiefAkinjide as a Minister of the governmentof the federation. After much heated de-bate, the first motion was approved whenSenator Victor Akan from Eket pressed fora division with 48 Senators approving thefirst motion and 39 Senators rejecting themotion. It was the second motion movedby Senator Saraki requesting the Senateto approve the nomination of Chief Akin-jide as a Minister that brought the fire-storm. The then leader of the UPN in theSenate, Senator Jonathan AkinremiOla-waleOdebiyi from Egbado, opposed themotion as well as the leader of the NPP inthe Senate, Senator Jaja AnuchaWachukwu from Aba, even though therewas an existing NPN/NPP accord. SenatorWachukwu and Chief Akinjide have beenpolitical rivals under the then Prime Min-ister AlhajiAbubakarTafawaBalewa when

they were both Ministers between 1960 and1966. Senator Odebiyi argued that ChiefAkinjide was not fit to be a Minister withreference to his past misdeeds.He alludedthat it was against the rules of the Senateto reconsider a decision that has been tak-en earlier by the Senate. He was joined bySenator Cornelius Adebayo(Kwara Cen-tral), Senator SikiruAyodejiShitta Bay (La-gos), Senator Stephen AdebanjiAkintoye(Ondo Central), Senator F.O.M.A t a k e ( B e n d e l / D e l t a ) , S e n a t o rEmmanuelKayodeOgunleye(Ondo) Sena-tor Abrahim Aderibigbe Adesanya(IjebuIgbo) and Senator ChristopherLaogunAdeoye(Osun).

Senator Uba Ahmed(Bauchi), SenatorCyrus NwidonaneNunieh(Bonny/Bori),Senator BitrusBziguKajal(Mubi), SenatorAndrew Abogede(Benue Central), SenatorVictor Akan(Eket), SenatorJaloWaziri(Bauchi East) all of them NPN,pleaded on behalf of Chief Akinjide.

In moving the motion for ChiefAkinjide,Senator Saraki said that ChiefAkinjide was well known throughout thecountry and that he is one of the best Nige-

rian that could be a Minister. He said: “Weshould not allow any political vendetta.Chief Richard Akinjide should not be a vic-tim of circumstances. I would like to ap-peal to each and everyone of us in this Sen-atethis afternoon that the right course forus to take is to rescind the decision andconfirm the nomination of Chief RichardAkinjide to be a Member of Cabinet of theFederal Republic of Nigeria”.

After a stormy debate during which somemembers staged a walk out, the SenatePresident ordered the clerk of the Senate,Mr. A.A. Coker to take a roll call of theSenators who stayed behind to ensurewhether a quorum was formed.ChiefAkinjide was eventually confirmed as aMinister by 48 votes all from NPNSenators and only one dissenting voice,Senator AdemolaAdegoke. Those whoabstained were Senators Isaoah N. Ani,B.C. Okwu, U.L. Barma, L.Z. Zing, E.P.Echueruo, JajaWachukwu, GarbaMattaand Obi Wali- all of the NPP.

Chief Akinjide later became the Ministerof Justice and Attorney General of theFederation and served between 1979 and1983. He was succeeded by ChiefKehindeSofola(SAN) from Ikenne in Ogunstate. As for Chief Paul Unongo, he too wasconfirmed by 28 votes with six abstentions.The Senate then adjourned at 8.00 p.m.

The simple lesson to be learnt since 1979,is that as long that you have a Presidentwho carries his party along with him andwith a majority so united in the NationalAssembly, so long will such a Presidenthave his way in the National Assembly nomatter what. Such a President will alwaysget what he wants.

The opposition can bark but can neverbite. The opposition can have their say butthe President will have his way.

*Mr Teniola, a former Director at thePresidency, wrote from Lagos.

As long that you have aPresident who carries hisparty along with him andwith a majority so unitedin the NationalAssembly, so long willsuch a President have hisway in the NationalAssembly no matter what

Hope and hopelessness

PRINCE Abubakar Audu stoodon the verge of history. He had

been twice governor of Kogi State,and the electoral results showed thathe would be elected a third time.Everything seemed in his favour;poll results, the mood of theelectorate, his party calling the shotsat the centre and being in control ofstate apparatus. An enthusiasticAudu was waiting to be declaredwinner, instead he was declareddead.

First, disbelief, then shock, despairand anger. People who believe inthe inevitability of death would notaccept that it could come calling a man in whose honour victory feastswere being cooked. So he must havebeen murdered. His supporters andsome family members concluded thatit was either witchcraft or poison. Forgood measure, they fingered anobviously innocent political leader asthe culprit and asked for his arrestand trial.

Despite this, there was still massdisbelief he could be dead. Then inthe midst of despair, hope camegalloping in the shape of a prophetand his followers who pronouncedthat they could resurrect Audueven as his funeral rites were goingon. The family waved aside thisband of obvious jokers. But the

hysterical crowds took them serious.So when the family prevented theprophet, the believing crowds brokethe door to bring in the prophetic bandof warriors. They wanted nothingmore than Audu brought back to lifeto claim his mandate and govern.Meanwhile, the unbelievers were outin the compound, digging his grave.

Soon, news filtered out that hehad been resurrected. I got it on theinternet, and wondered if there is anyprecedence in his ancestral lineage.The illusion went on until it was timeto bury Audu. The crowd resisted;how do you bury a man that is alive?Hope gave way to hopelessness;illusion to reality. The believingcrowds turned on their prophet,attempting to send him to where Auduhad gone.

The death has been followed bylegal somersault appropriately led bythe learned people from the bar. Theconstitution, Electoral Act, decidedcases of the Supreme Court andsimple logic dictates the way to follow;conclude the elections and swearin the winners. But this is not thepolitics of it. People crushed byanguish need to be pacified,especially where they believe thatAudu’s death was designed todeprive them of the prizedgubernatorial seat. So they were

given the fiat to democraticallyproduce a new gubernatorialcandidate, and leave the rest tohistory. As for the implications; lettomorrow, take care of itself.

This type of crowd hysteria, controlof the mind, hope andhopelessness, characterised thereaction to the death of populistpolitician Adelabu Adegoke, aliasPenkelemes, on March 28, 1958. He had died in a motor accident,perhaps occasioned by over-speeding. To his fanaticalsupporters, it was bad enough thattheir hope of a better future was gone.But what made the death mostsuspicious was that the accidenthappened in the Remo Division,near Ikenne. Now, Adegoke’s mainpolitical rival, Obafemi Awolowo(Awo), was a Remo man fromIkenne. The coincidence was toomuch. The conclusion of thesupporters was that Awo must havein some metaphysical way, killedtheir hero. So they took to the streetsin search of Awo’s supporters,

coincidentally was the name of oneof the conspirators. The haplessman explained he was not Cinnathe conspirator . He shouted: “ I amCinna the poet, I am Cinna thepoet”, to which the mob responded:“Tear him for his bad verses, tear himfor his bad verses”.

Germany was one of the besteducated and civilized countries. Itproduced famous intellectual giantslike the philosophers: ImmanuelKant and Georg Wilhelm Hegel,the fathers of world revolution; KarlMarx and Frederick Engels andwriters like Walter Benjamin andBertolt Brecht. Yet in post-First WorldWar despair, hunger and anger,the German electorate not only votedfor Adolf Hitler, but also followed himlike a hypnotised herd. The Hitleradministration gave the people food,reversed their economic fortunes, builta car, the Volkswagen, specifically forthe lower classes, gave them hope,and pride in their country. Withdecisive leadership and effectivepropaganda, Hitler controlled theminds of the populace so muchthat they swore by his name andwere ready to die defending him.With leading countries like Britain,United States and the then SovietUnion - for their strategic nationalinterest - willing to tolerate oraccommodate him, Hitler almosttook control of the world. Even whenhe committed atrocities like carryingout genocide against Blacks andJews, the German populacecontinued to support him.

Those who believed AbubakarAudu would resurrect; killed in thename of Adegoke Adelabu; believedthat Obafemi Awolowo appeared inthe moon; followed Adolf Hitler orkill in God’s name, have the sameproblem: controlled minds. Nohuman being should allow another,control or toy with his mind.

burning their property and killing atleast 20 of them. Sixty four Adegokesupporters were sentenced to deathfor those murders.

When I was a teenager on LagosIsland, I heard a commotion. Withother neigbours, I rushed out to findthe streets clogged. Many wererunning or walking briskly whilesimultaneously looking at themoonlit sky. On enquiry, we weretold that Awo, the most popularpolitician in Western Nigeria, hadappeared in the moon! I stood,peered in the moon and saw nothingunfamiliar. My close friend, AlbertOkopie also saw nothing unusual. We asked some believers what exactlythey were seeing. They explainedthat the bust of Awo with his traditionalcap and glasses was in the moon.All around attested to this anddiscussed animatedly how their god-like hero had decided to manifesthimself and glory by appearing inthe moon. He was their hope. In amoment of tactlessness, Albert said the description they weremaking of the claimed personappearing in the moon also fittedanother politician, Aminu Kano. Wewere set upon; how dare we make such a blasphemous suggestion?After pleas by some elders around,we were let go.

Such crowds and fanaticalsupporters as those at Audu’s funeral,reacting to Adegoke’s death or theclaimed appearance of Awo in themoon, are extremely dangerous toreason with. Such moments aretimes when reason take flight. I recallsuch moment in the play, JuliusCaesar by William Shakespeare.After Mark Anthony had roused thecrowds with his oration at Caesar’sfuneral, they went after theconspirators who assassinated him.In the streets, the mob came acrossa man who was asked to identifyhimself. His name was Cinna, which

Such crowds andfanatical supporters asthose at Audu’s funeral are extremelydangerous to reasonwith; no human beingshould allow anothercontrol or toy with hismind


OPINION

CMYK

FG’s N5,000 SWP: Questions,questions

NIGERIA waited impatiently for theAll Progressives Congress, APC,Federal Government to come forwardand tell the nation when it is going toimplement one of its controversialcampaign promises – payment ofN5,000 monthly stipends to poor Ni-gerians. You will recall that the party,which dethroned the Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, at the 2015 generalelections, had listed an unprecedentedlitany of 81 campaign pledges, of whichthis welfare stipend was number 15.

It specifically states as follows: “Cre-ation of a Social Welfare Programme,SWP, of at least five thousand naira(N5,000) that will cater for the 25 millionpoorest and most vulnerable Nigeriansupon demonstration of their children’senrolment in school and evidence ofimmunisation to help promote familystability”.

When the opposition PDP senatorsraised a motion some weeks ago, com-pelling the APC Federal Governmentto start implementing this campaignpromise, their counterparts of theruling party used their numericalmajority to quash the motion, thussetting the public agitated as to wheth-er the government was interested incarrying out its promise to Nigerians.People feared that the APC might havebacked out of this, like it has attemptedto disown some of its other campaignpledges.

However, at another forum, Vice Pres-ident Yemi Osinbajo reiterated the in-tention of the Federal Government toimplement it. Wife of PresidentMuhammadu Buhari, Hajiya Aisha,called on the APC Federal Governmentto pay the money as promised. Themost recent indication that the SWPstipend is still very much on the cardswas the announcement by the newMinister of Youth and Sports, SolomonDalong, who, on a condolence visit tothe National Chairman of the APC, DrJohn Oyegun, disclosed that theN5,000 SWP stipend will be providedfor in the 2016 federal budget, meaningthat the payment will start next year.

The imminence of this programme isnow beyond question, so it seems. Butthe “how” and “wherefore” of it are veryhazy. Questions are waiting to beanswered if this programme is goingto work at this juncture of our queasyeconomic standing. Number one: WHOare the beneficiaries of thisprogramme? Who are these “25 millionpoorest and most vulnerableNigerians” and HOW do you determineit? This alone is going to cause a lot oftrouble unless it is properly addressed.

The World Bank, in 2014, put thenumber of “poor” Nigerians (thoseliving on about two US Dollars or belowa day) conservatively at 58 millionpeople. Vice President Osinbajo,however, paints a gloomier picture ofthe situation. When a delegation of theAlumni Association of the NationalInstitute for Policy and StrategicStudies, NIPSS, paid him a courtesyvisit in his office at the State HouseAbuja. Osinbajo who (like his party)likes to dramatise the “parlous” stateof affairs that this administrationinherited from the last regime, said that110 million Nigerians are living belowthe poverty line. This was a rehash ofthe 2008/2009 figure published by theNigerian Bureau of Statistics, NBS,which the World Bank figures of 2014had adjusted to 58 million.

Whether it is the World Bank’s 58 mil-lion or Osinbajo’s 110 million, the truth isthat the APC’s 25 million target for pay-ment of the stipend is a far cry from thenumber of Nigerians waiting to collect it.If you give the stipend to some and leaveout the others, that is a recipe for disaster.You will be creating a problem where noneexisted, all in the name of winning an elec-tion.

Now, let us look more closely at APC’s25 million people. Contrary to popularexpectations that this “ windfall” istargeted at “the unemployed youth”, theAPC says it will be paid to the poor whoshow evidence of enrolling their childrenin school and presenting them forvaccination. In other words, thebeneficiaries must be parents (whethermarried or single, I presume). If you haveno child to show evidence of schoolenrolment and vaccination you may notqualify, unless, of course, the governmentdecides to waive the proviso.

Obviously, this campaign promise hadthe intention of encouraging the sectionof the country with high rates of out-of-school children and reluctance to embracevaccination in mind – the North East andNorth West. It is also in these areas thatpeople get married and start having chil-dren even as unemployed youth, mendi-cant, disabled or destitute citizens. Thenoble intention of encouraging more peo-ple in these areas to send their children toschool and get them vaccinated cannot beoverlooked. The hallmark of a sound gov-

ernment policy is that they are used tosolve problems in society. But where youpay this stipend only to married peopleignoring the unmarried, unemployedyouth struggling to cope with poverty, twounsavoury outcomes are inevitable.Number one is that those excluded becausethey are not married will be up in arms.Number two is that the youth who are liv-ing in unemployment and poverty mightbe encouraged to become parents in or-der to qualify for the stipend, thus perpet-uating poverty.

Now comes the next question: Will theAPC Federal Government also providefree education to the children of these des-perately poor parents? Or will they (theparents) be expected to pay for thechildren’s school bills from this paltrysum?

More questions. Where will thegovernment get this huge amount from ata time that governors are trying to backout of paying the minimum wage to theirworkers due to lack of funds? My layman’smath tells me the Federal Government willneed a hefty N1.5 trillion annually to off-set the bill. This is more than the amountthat former President Goodluck Jonath-an’s government paid as fuel subsidy in2013. Some people will argue with senti-ment and say why not? If trillions can bespent to enrich a few members of the pe-troleum “cabal”, why worry about a wel-fare programme for the poor? The differ-ence is that while the subsidy actually en-riches the “cabal” the stipend will merelytranquilise the poor while keeping thempoor. Few will be able to ride on theirN5,000 out of poverty.

If this amount of money is available tobe doled out, why not put it into policiesthat will multiply benefits and actuallygive the more enterprising jobless a chanceto escape poverty? Why not invest it inagriculture and associated value chain,mining, real estate, capacity building,entrepreneurship training andentrenchment, infrastructure and suchother areas that create gainfulemployment on a massive scale? Why givefish to the “poorest and most vulnerable”Nigerians rather than teach them how tofish? Why foist this form of undignifyingdependency on our youth?

The APC Federal Government is reallyconfusing us with their conflicting signals.The President is shouting it on the rooftopsof world capitals that the country is“broke” and unable to pay its ministers,but his VP and one of the ministers aretelling us that implementation of thiscontroversial and improperly chewedSocial Welfare Programme that will gulptrillions annually is around the corner.

I smell trouble.

Whether it is the WorldBank’s 58 million orOsinbajo’s 110 million,the truth is that theAPC’s 25 million targetfor payment of thestipend is a far cry fromthe number of Nigerianswaiting to collect it; if yougive the stipend to someand leave out the others,that is a recipe fordisaster

The limits of bodylanguage

BY JUDE OPARA

NIGERIANS have been groaning under the heavy burdenof acute fuel scarcity which has hit the country for the

third week running. Also the issue of power which manythought was beginning to improve for the better has gone badagain, thereby leaving behind anguish and lamentationsacross the nation.

Interestingly, these vital components of a nation on the pathof recovery were witnessed as soon as Muhammadu Buhariwas sworn in as president last May. Then what was on the lipsof many people was that the body language of the new Presi-dent was beginning to work.

The moribund refineries, we were also told, started to oper-ate to a certain level and there was a ‘promise’ that with justfew months, the issue of fuel scarcity and the attendant hard-ship experienced by Nigerians will be things of the past.

The argument in many quarters then was that since therewas a new sheriff in town, the people who hitherto used to siton the progress of the generality of Nigerians for their selfishinterest were afraid of being hounded into jail, hence the deci-sion to allow the system work again like what is experiencedin many other climes.

The masses who have always been at the receiving end of

the usual drama and power play between the Federal Gov-ernment and the all powerful oil marketers heaved a sigh ofrelief that the days of hurray were here at last. They thoughtthat the fuel importation which has made even the governmentto lose count of how much it spends will be a thing of the past.

But surprisingly, just six months down the line it seems thatwe are returning to Egypt which we thought we had left forgood. The scenario has not been anything different from whatit used to be in the past as the two vital indices: fuel and power,have once more become the most elusive commodities onecan get.

In fact, the issue has become so complicated that all what wehere in the media is that there is enough fuel to serve every-body and that people should stop panic buying; however, thereality on ground does not support the argument that peopleare creating the scarcity due to panic buying.

In parts of the country,petrol now sells for as muchas N150 naira at fillingstations, while at the everready black market it goesfor as much as N300 per li-tre. This has forced many carowners to park their vehicleswhile hoards of commutersare daily seen stranded atbus-stops.

However, while this sce-nario plays out, the Federal

Government seems not to know what to do to quickly end thesufferings of the people. We have heard that the oil marketersare demanding for a payment of their outstanding arrearswhich the government owes them and that the government isplanning to make a payment of N413 billion but till date thatis yet to happen.

The recent events have forced many analysts to ask if the so-called body language of President Buhari which led to themarginal improvement witnessed in the distribution of petro-leum resources and power supply has waned. If that is thecase, it then means that truly there is a limit to what mere bodylanguage can achieve; this also suggests that if Nigeria musttruly solve most of these perennial problems, then efforts mustbe put in place to build sustainable institutional programmesthat will automatically make things work instead of the per-ceived personal disposition of the man on the saddle.

In fact, one real danger with the body language syndrome isthat it only works for a few weeks or months because initiallythe civil servants who usually make or mar every system willtry to understudy the new man with the aim of finding outhow to circumvent the system to their own benefit, and oncethey find that way they will continue to manipulate it fromtime to time. The country must not continue to rely on the so-called body language because when its effects wanes like itappears to be happening in Nigeria, the consequences areusually more devastating. Therefore, Nigeria must begin toput in place strong institutions instead of the usual celebra-tion of a perceived strong personality.

*Mr Opara, a commentator on national issues, wrotefrom Lagos

Nigeria mustbegin to put inplace strong insti-tutions instead ofthe usual celebra-tion of a perceivedstrong personality


How N65bn Abacha loot was spent—Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

CONFERENCE: From left: Mr. Oyinkro Olobio, NGO Stakeholder RelationsAdviser, SPDC; Ms Bekeme Masade, Executive Director, CSR-in-Action andAmos Gagar, Director, PwC, at the sustainability in the extractive industryconference organised by CSR-in-Action in Abuja.

•Say it was spent on roads, electricity, others

LAGOS—FORMER Ministerof Finance and Co-ordinating

Minister for the Economy, DrNgozi Okonjo-Iweala told theWorld Bank that about $500million (N65bn) recovered fromthe late Head of State, GeneralSani Abacha in Switzerland wasspent in the 2004 and 2005budgets on roads, electricity,education, water and healthacross all six geo-political zonesof Nigeria.

This was contained in thedocuments the World Bank sentto Socio-Economic Rights andAccountability Project, SERAP,following enquiries made bySERAP on how the money,tagged Abacha loot was spent.

A statement issued yesterday bySERAP executive directorAdetokunbo Mumuni, said theorganization has “receivedseveral documents from theWorld Bank totalling over 700

pages on information on thespending of recovered assetsstolen by the late General Abacha,with some of the documentssuggesting that the Abacha lootwas spent on roads, electricity,education, health and water.”

The organisation said: “SERAPcan confirm that last week wereceived several documents fromAnn May of the Access toInformation Team of the WorldBank following our Access to

InformationRequest to theBank. We alsoreceived a letterdated 24November 2015from MrR a c h i dBenmessaoud,Director of theWorld Bank inAfrica.”

“In total,SERAP hasreceived over700 pages ofdocuments,which we arenow closelystudying andscrutinising

with a view to discoveringwhether the documents containdetails that Nigerians wouldlike to see and whether theinformation correspond to thefacts on the ground. After thisanalysis, we will respond to theBank and consider our options,including filing an appealbefore the Bank’s Access toInformation Appeals Board andtaking other appropriate legalactions nationally andinternationally to discover whatexactly happened to Abacharecovered loot,” theorganisation said.

The organisation said that “Inthe meantime our preliminaryreview of some of thedocuments and the letter fromMr Rachid Benmessaoud haverevealed certain facts whichraise more questions about whatexactly happened to Abachaloot: First, that Mrs NgoziOkonjo-Iweala as Minister ofFinance in a letter dated 9January 2005 explained to theBank that around $500m(N65bn) of Abacha lootreceived from Switzerland wasprogrammed into and spent inthe 2004 and 2005 budgets on

roads, electricity, education, waterand health across all six geo-political zones of Nigeria.”

“Second, Mrs Iweala explainedto the Bank that N18.60bn wasspent on roads; N10.83bn spenton health; N7bn spent oneducation; N6.20bn spent onwater; and N21.70bn spent onelectricity. She also said that partof the funds were spent on new andongoing investment projects. Mrs Iwealasaid that relevant federal ministries havethe full details on the spending ofrepatriated Abacha loot. The Bank notedthat there was no funds monitoring andtracking mechanism in place to trace thespending of Abacha loot,” theorganisation also disclosed.

“Third, Mr Rachid Benmessaoudconfirmed that the World Bank played amonitoring role in a return of assets bySwitzerland but that the Bank is notcurrently involved in the monitoring ofspending of Abacha loot that have beenreturned to Nigeria in recent years. Hesaid that the Bank would be prepared toset up a mechanism to monitor the useof Abacha loot if the Nigerian governmentrequest the Bank’s assistance in thisrespect.”

SERAP then argued that “given MrsOkonjo-Iweala’s involvement in thespending of Abacha loot, PresidentMuhammadu Buhari should urgentlyprobe the role of the Ministry of Financeand relevant federal ministries at the timein the spending of Abacha loot particularlygiven the strong allegations ofmismanagement that characterised theuse of the funds”


Continues on page 39

YOU have notbeen so visiblein politics inrecent times. Is

it age or you are justplaying it cool?

I am a prominentmember of the Board ofTrustees of the PDP andI play very active role inIbadan, Oyo State andin other parts of thecountry. So I am veryactive in the PDP.

Apart from the former

Minister of State forFCT, Oloye JumokeAkinjide, is there any ofyour other children whois also in politics?

Biafra is dead and buried— Akinjide

By Ola Ajayi All of them. Abayomi who also is alawyer is very active in

people that have beenpicked are bad but I amtalking aboutgeographical spread. Weshould not give theimpression that thecapital territory belongsto a particular part of thecountry. It should besomething that belongsto the whole country.That is the objection Ihave and I hope that willbe corrected very soon.

Since President

Buhari assumed officesix months ago, howcan you rate hisperformance in the fightagainst terrorism?

He has been trying hisbest. I mean there areareas in which I mighthave done thingsdifferently but overall, Iwill give him a goodpass mark as presidentof the country.

So Nigerians did not

make mistake votinghim as the President?

I would not sayNigerians have mademistake although I wouldhave preferred GoodluckJonathan to win theelection. But since he hasbeen elected, I acceptthe election and all of uswill support him tosucceed.

In your wealth of

wisdom, what do you

I don’t want totalk on thedefeat of PDP.In allelections,somebody hasto winsomebody hasto lose.Nobodyshould talk ofdefeat as if it isa disease

I don’t believewe should breakup the country.We should beobjective; weshould benationalistic. Weshould warnthose peopleand if they don’tstop they shouldbe called toorder

•Akinjide:Pro-biafra agitators should be called to order

politics, Mobola, mydaughter is very activein politics and if youcount Jumoke thatmakes them three, somy family is very activein politics.

What is your

assessment of theassignment ofportfolios to theministers?

He nominated verygood people, I have nodoubt about that. Butmy concern is withAbuja, the FederalCapital Territory. Whenwe were in Lagos asFederal Capital, YarAdua was a Minister forLagos and he came from

the North. WhenObasanjo was in officebefore the CapitalTerritory was created, aYoruba person was incharge. But since theCapital Territory hasbeen created,Northerners have beenministers throughout. Idon’t think that is thebest for the country.

I will like to see anIgbo, Yoruba, Middle-Belt man be a ministerin charge of the CapitalTerritory. To consistentlypick someone from theNorth as Minister forthe Capital Territory isnot in our nationalinterest and is not good.I am not saying the

think the presidentshould do to make thiscountry better?

Economically, Nigeriais the greatest in Africa.There is no doubt aboutthat. But, we have acommittee of 20 of whichSouth Africa is a memberand Nigeria is not, I don’tthink that can besupported at all. Nigeriashould be one of thepeople in the committeeof 20, why Nigeria isexcluded, I don’tunderstand at all. Itcannot be defended, itcannot be justified. Weshould not be lookedupon as if we are thecolony of Europe orsomebody who should beplaying third or fourthrole in that regard.Europe and America,Japan are wrong.

What is your candid

advice to both theFederal Governmentand the Pro Biafranprotesters on the Biafranagitation?

Anybody supportingBiafra must be very, verywrong. I don’t know theirreason but whatever theirreason, they are wrong.We fought a war forthree years over Biafraand Biafra was defeatedand the whole countryunited with the beliefthat Nigeria shouldremain one country andthe Igbo joined thecountry and since thenthey have beengovernors in the country,they have been ministersboth at the state andfederal levels. They havebeen ambassadorsabroad. I don’t see whyanybody should now beasking for Biafra again,I think it should berejected.

I think they should callthem to a meeting andtalk to them as father toson and ask them to stop

LEGAL icon, Chief Richard Akinjide, SAN is one of Nigeria’s leading politicianswho firmly set himself as a reference point in legalese with his successful defenceof President Shehu Shagari’s fulfilment of the constitutional requirement of two-third of the then 19 states in the 1979 election.

Akinjide served as minister of education in the Tafawa Balewa’s cabinet in theFirst Republic and as minister of Justice and Attorney General in the SecondRepublic government of President Shagari. Akinjide was a frontline member of thedefunct National Party of Nigeria, NPN and served as the party’s legal adviserprior to his appointment as attorney general. He is presently, a member of theBoard of Trustees, BoT of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. In this interview, hereviews the actions and inactions of the Buhari government, the prospects of thePDP following its recent electoral loss among other national issues.

•Says PDP will bounce back soon

CMYK

Continues from page 38

VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015—39

because there is noreason for them to dowhat they are doing. Inthe last government, wehad an Igbo as Ministerof Finance (Dr. Mrs.Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala)and also, we had an Igboas Secretary to thegovernment, we also hadIgbo as ambassadors inmany parts of the world.So, there is no excuse foranybody to say he wantsto break up the countryagain after we fought abloody war of aboutthree years. We don’twant to go back to that.We want peaceeverywhere and we wanta fair share whether youare from the North, East,West, South, Middle-Belt everything shouldbe evenly and fairlydistributed.

While you say you are

still active in politicsbut the likes of ChiefOlusegun Obasanjo,and Edwin Clark havechosen to opt out ofpolitics. Do you think itis good for the politywhen men of yourstature are opting outone by one?

Those people you havementioned havepositions and arestatesmen. There is noway they can get out ofpolitics. It is in our blood;it is part of our life and itis in the national interestfor us to be activelyinvolved in politics andin governance. I willforever be in politicsthroughout my life, I willnot opt out of it at alleither as an adviser or asa statesman. Inwhatever form that isappropriate, I willdefinitely play somerole in the nationalinterest.

What do you think

actually led to the defeatof PDP in the lastgeneral election?

I don’t want to talk onthe defeat of PDP. In allelections, somebody hasto win somebody has tolose. Nobody should talkof defeat as if it is adisease. When they doelections in America,one has to win one hasto lose. The same inEngland, even inGermany, Israel,Australia and Japan.Defeat in election is nota disease; it is a normal

general elections. So,what is really the wayout?

That is subjectivewhether there is internaldemocracy or not. WhatI know is that in anyelection, one will winone will lose.

Whether this is thereason for winning orlosing is a differentmatter. But I have noproblem that whathappened has happenedand I have no doubt that

Ok sir, do you believe

in Zoning? Oh yes. Certainly, we

cannot be monolithic. One country cannot berun by a set of people allthe time. We can have aYoruba running it thistime next time it couldbe Igbo after that it maybe Kanuri, Hausa orFulani. I believe that weshould be moving theoffices from place toplace.

Given the recent

kidnap of Chief OluFalae by some Fulaniherdsmen and theagitation of someYoruba leaders on theissue, what suggestionswould you proffer tosolve the issue ofFulani herdsmen in theSouthwest?

What they did to Falaewas very bad and we allsupport Falae. But, Idon’t believe we shouldbreak up the country.We should be objective;we should benationalistic. We shouldwarn those people andif they don’t stop theyshould be called to order.

What is your advice tothe APC government, atleast on how it can dothings better?

We should offer verystrong opposition at thefederal level and makesure the government isrun properly and inthose states where we

Biafra is dead and buried I don’t knowtheir reason butwhatever theirreason, they arewrong. Wefought a warfor three yearsover Biafra andBiafra wasdefeated andthe wholecountry unitedwith the beliefthat Nigeriashould remainone

I think theyshould callthem to ameeting andtalk to themas father toson and askthem to stopbecause thereis no reasonfor them to dowhat they aredoing

•Akinjide:We must support Buhari to succeed

process. One partycannot be in powerforever and one partycannot be in oppositionforever. I don’t see defeatas a disease; I see it as anormal political process.

But the fact is that

with the reputednumerical superiorityand influence that PDPwielded years back,nobody thought it couldlose election quickly?

I don’t use the wordquick. What happenedwas normal; sometimes,a party rules the countryand in another electionit is defeated and afteranother election thatparty finds its way back.Don’t look at winning ordefeat as a disease it isa normal process. Ithappened recently inCanada whereby the sonof a former primeminister is now a primeminister in Canada.

Looking at ourelectoral system, whatdo you think should bedone to make it moreattractive to peopleoutside to stopcomplaints of rigging?

It is culture. This typeof election is not in ourblood. We copied itfrom Europe andAmerica and othercountries, and over in thegenerations and years tocome it will become partand parcel of ourculture. Look at India.India is the secondlargest country in theworld following Chinaand yet in my view thegreatest democracy inthe world is India. I willrate India better thanAmerica and that is verygood and that is whatNigeria should copy.

So, do you see any role

for the BOT of the PDPto return the party towinning ways?

Leadership is veryimportant, leadership ofthe party with the rightperson. Then, two, weshould nominate theright candidate, once wehave the rightleadership andcandidates who havecredibility. I am sure thecountry will vote forPDP again.

The issue of internal

democracy was veryloud in the PDP in OyoState and some otherstates prior to the last

PDP will come back topower again, PDP willwin elections.

In 2019? As soon as possible. Can you say precisely

that PDP did well in thelast 16years?

Very well in manyrespects.

Very well? That comment is

subjective. It is notobjective and otherpeople may holdopposite views. Politicsis argument and I listento anybody whether it isright or wrong. But inmy view, PDP has donewell. Once we pick theright leadership to runthe party and we pickthe right candidates tocontest elections for usat all levels we will bewinning.

Do you agree with

Raymond Dokpesiwhen he said that theparty made a mistakeon the issue of zoning?

He said the partyought to have allowedthe North to completeits term and also to allowthe North to go for a 2ndterm instead of choosingthe former PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

You may be right youmay be wrong. I respecthis opinion that is whatis called democracy. Youmay see something aswhite, I may see it asblack and you may seeit as green.

won elections, we shouldprovide goodgovernment and run thegovernment properly. Inthose areas where weare opposition, weshould be goodopposition, we shouldnot make it as a matterof life and death.

How has the judicial

system fared in the last55 years afterindependence?

Oh Nigeria we’ve gotthe best democracy andjudiciary in the whole ofAfrica. I have no doubtabout that at all. If youlook at our judgmentsand law reports it is asgood as anything inCanada, Australia, NewZealand, England andwe will continue to dobetter. I am proud of thiscountry. I am a memberof the English Bar,Nigeria Bar and AfricanBar. I practise in threejurisdictions and I enjoyit very much.

Is there any of your

children practising law? Oh yes. I have about

nine or ten of my childrenwho read law and wifeand grandchildren whoare studying law and Ihave about three of mygrandchildren who arein banking and I alsohave in business and Iam very proud of mychildren andgrandchildren. I havebeen lucky the boys havemarried very welllikewise the girls and wewill do our best tocontinue to contribute tothe well being of thiscountry.

CMYK

40—VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

BAYELSA DECIDES

LAST Saturday's mega rally and the flag presentation

to the Peoples Democratic PartyPDP governorship candidate inBayelsa State, GovernorSeriake Dickson was theculmination of his nearly onemonth community tocommunity, meet the peopletour in which he traversed thelength and breadth of statereaching out to all thecommunities and also passingthe night in some of thesecommunities with the message,“vote for PDP for peace andstability.”

The epoch making event,which took place at the SamsonSiasia Stadium, Yenagoawitnessed yet anotherunprecedented crowd ofsupporters of the PDP whobesieged the venue as early as7am for an event billed for 10am.

In spite of the sweltering sun,the thousands of supporterswaited patiently for thecommencement of the eventdubbed mother of all rallies,which did not start until about1.55pm when former PresidentGoodluck Jonathan arrived thevenue in company of GovernorDickson.

The former President tooktime to go round the venue toacknowledged cheers from theteeming supporters.

Security operatives had ahectic time controlling thecrowd as the various supportgroups of the party and itscandidate battled to outdo oneanother with their dance stepsand giant banners echoingtheir support for the re-electionof Governor Dickson.

Though the All ProgressiveCongress APC is expected tohold its mega rally, today at thesame venue, political observersin the predominantly riverinestate are unanimous in theirview that the presence of theformer President, Dr. GoodluckJonathan, the National

*Former President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd left) supported by the Governor of BayelsaState, Hon. Seriake Dickson (3rd left) his wife, Rachael (left), the Governor of Delta State,Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa (right) and the Acting PDP National Chairman, Prince Uche Secondus(2nd right) cutting the tape to commission the Restoration Fly Over Bridge in Yenagoa.

Dickson’s day in YenagoaBy Samuel Oyadongha

& Emem IdioWorking Committee of PDP,some PDP governors, an arrayof National Assembly membersfrom the state and the SouthSouth among others wassymbolic of the preparednessof the party to maintain itscontrol of the state and ensurethe region remains a PDPstronghold.

The former president, whograced the occasion, in hissolidarity message restated hisunapologetic support forDickson amongst othercontenders, insisting that he(Dickson) will take Bayelsa toa greater height.

Describing Bayelsa State asa PDP stronghold, Jonathandeclared that Dickson by allconceivable standards hasperformed creditably well andis qualified to do a second termin office.

He called on Bayelsans

particularly the youths tosecure their future by votingfor the PDP in the Saturdayelection noting that Dicksonis the only candidate that cansecure their future.

Dr. Jonathan described

Dickson as a visionary leaderand stressed the need forBayelsans to reciprocate hisgood deeds in terms ofprovision of infrastructure andlaying of the foundation forinvestment andentrepreneurship to thrive inthe state.

His words, “for the past 16years, being a pioneer deputygovernor and an Actinggovernor at the state level, avice president and president ofour country, I am in a ppositionto say that Dickson has triedand is still trying."

The former President whoalso commissioned the firstflyover in Yenagoa and thenewly dualised Azikoro Roadalso in Yenagoa shortly after therally added, “We should all beconcerned about what Bayelsawill be in the 25 years andbeyond and not what we wantto gain today. You can only seethat from the kind of policies,projects and programmes thata governor brings."

Performing the flag handingover ceremony, the ActingNational Chairman of the party,Prince Uche Seconduslampooned the Buhari ledfederal government forrunning the nation’s economyaground six months into officeand urged Bayelsans to totallyreject the All ProgressiveCongress APC in Saturday'selection.

Prince Secondus who notedthat the PDP was aware ofclandestine moves beingmade to rig the election,called on the electorate to

come out en mass to vote forthe PDP and stand firm todefend their electoral rights.

Also, the chairman of thePDP Governors Forum, Dr.Olusegun Mimiko describedthe APC government asclueless and without directionin managing the nationaleconomy.

In his speech, Dickson saidthe flag presentation was theclimax of his community tocommunity meet the peopletour stressing that from hisinteraction with the people, hewas convinced that PDP wouldemerge victorious.

He reiterated his commitmentto a peaceful poll and stressedthe need for the federalgovernment to do everythingwithin its reach to ensure a freeand fair election in state.

He expressed appreciation tothe National WorkingCommittee of the PDP and histeeming supporters within andoutside the state, noting thatthe turnout has furtherconfirmed that the people of thestate have rejected the leadingopposition party APC.

Among dignitaries at the flagpresentation are the ActingChairman of the PDP Board ofTrustees, Haliru Bello,Governor Ifeanyi Okowa ofDelta State, Vice Chairman,PDP, South South Dr. CairoOjougboh, Chief Olisa Metuh,serving and former NationalAssembly members includingSenator Adolphus Wabara,Ibrahim Mantu, Chief EmekaIhedioha, Hon Leo Ogoramong others.

DescribingBayelsa State as aPDP stronghold,Jonathandeclared thatDickson by allconceivablestandards hasperformedcreditably well

THE leadership of the AllProgressive Congress

(APC),weekend dismissed asunfortunate and misleading the claimby the former Deputy Governor, Hon.Peremobowei Ebebi that the formerGovernor and flag bearer of the party,Chief Timipre Sylva engaged inillegal financial and wastefulspending of over N50billion in twoweeks during his tenure as governorof the state.

Ebebi, two time Speaker of the stateHouse of Assembly was Sylva’s deputyfor three years before he was impeachedin a controversial manner and replacedwith Chief Werinipre Seibarugu.

The former deputy governor hadduring the PDP mega rally lastSaturday claimed that the people ofthe state should reject the APCcandidate, Chief Timipre Sylvabecause of financial recklessness andwasteful spending of N50 billion whilein office as governor of the state.

But the APC through the Director of

By Samuel OyadonghaMedia and Publicity of the Sylva-Igiri Campaign Organisation, ChiefNathan Egba, in a statement inYenagoa, described the allegation ofthe former Deputy Governor asmisleading and unfortunate.

He said, “it is unfortunate thatEbebi choose such platform to makethis allegation many years afterleaving office. It only shows hisshallow grasp of the processes ofgovernment. He spent all his timeas a Deputy Governor under ChiefTimipre Sylva in pursuit ofpecuniary gains and never paidattention to what was happening ingovernment.

“It is not surprising that afterfailing to achieve his target in officeas a Deputy Governor, Ebebi hasresorted to peddling lies andmischief for selfish gains with adrowning administration in thestate.”

Chief Egba also mocked the PDPover the alleged anti APCcomments made during the lastSaturday rally saying it was anindication of panic over its looming

N50bn expenditure: Sylva accussesDickson of lying

•Sylva

CMYK

defeat at the weekend election.He said, “virtually all the speakers at

the rally were exhibiting signs of panicat the realization of an impending defeatas they all kept making unfoundedallegation against Sylva and the APC ina bid to whip up voters’ sentimentsagainst the party.”


CMYK


Northern govs vow to defeat BokoHaram, poverty

By Peter Duru

M A K U R D I —GOVERNORS of

the Northern states havevowed to join forces to defeatBoko Haram insurgents andthe attendant povertyunleashed on that part of thecountry.

The governors also pledgedto deepen the relationshipamong the people of differentsections of the region to fostergreater unity.

Chairman of the NorthernGovernors’ Forum and BornoState Governor, Alhaji KashimShettima, spoke yesterday inWannune, Tarka localGovernment Area of BenueState when he led two othergovernors of the forum to paya condolence visit to SenatorGeorge Akume, who recentlylost his elder brother andparamount ruler of Tarka, thelate Chief Gabriel IndyerAkume.

Governor Shettima said:“The leaders of the northwould not relent until peace isfully restored in the troubledspots of the north just like ourjoint resolve to overcomepoverty in the north will

continue to enjoy top priority.”The governor, who pleaded

for patience andunderstanding among thepopulace, said everything wasbeing done by thegovernments of the northernregion to ensure sustainableeconomic growth in the area.

He said their visit tocommiserate with the people ofBenue State and the Akumefamily in particular was afurther demonstration of theoneness and unity of purposeof the people of the region.

In his response, SenatorAkume said the visit broughtcomfort to him on account ofthe assurance that he had

friends who could stand byhim in his hour of grief andneed.

The Northern Governors’Forum chairman wasaccompanied on the visit byhis Jigawa Statecounterpart, AlhajiMohammed Abubakar,Governor Samuel Ortom ofBenue State and severalfederal lawmakers from thenorth.

WORKSHOP: From left: Speaker, Borno State House of Assembly and Chairman,Conference of Speakers Forum, Hon. Abdulkareem Lawan; Governor Abdulfatah Ahmedof Kwara State ; and Speaker, Kwara State House of Assembly, Dr. Ali Ahmad at a workshopon Administration of Criminal Justice Act in Ilorin.

Agric workers threaten strike overallowance

By Oboh Agbonkhese

LAGOS — Workers in theagricultural sector, on the platform

of Nigerian Council of the InternationalUnion of Food, Agricultural, Hotel,Restaurants, Catering, Tobacco andAllied Workers’ Association, IUF, havethreatened industrial unrest if efforts atmaking the Federal Government extendthe benefits of hazard allowance to themfailed.

They lamented that while theircounterparts in the livestock andveterinary sub-sector, categorised ashealth workers, had been enjoying theallowance, the Agricultural and AlliedEmployees’ Union of Nigeria, AAEUN,had been negotiating for same benefitfor the past 15 years without success.

At a briefing in Lagos, Chairman ofNigerian Council of IUF, Mr. LekeSuccess, said if President MuhammaduBuhari was really interested indiversifying the economy and makingagriculture the pillar of national growthand development as he promised, therewas need to implement hazard allowancefor agricultural workers to motivate the

workforce and drive policyimplementation.

According to him: “Although it hasbeen argued that technology hasreduced the stress associated withagricultural activities, the changescome with new risks related to theoperation of sophisticated machineryand exposure to intensive use ofpesticides and a variety ofagrochemicals.”

He added that a memorandum onthe acknowledgement andrecommendation for hazard allowancein the salary structure of workers wasin the office of the Secretary to theGovernment of the Federation foronward presentation to FederalExecutive Council, FEC, before thenew administration took over on May29.

On his part, President of AAEUN,Mr. Simon Anchaver, said a reminderhad been written to the FederalGovernment and that Nigeria LabourCongress, NLC, was ready forindustrial action if the governmentpushed agricultural workers to thewall.

Don't rejectNYSCmembers, DGappeals tocorporatebodies

By Caleb Ayansina

ABUJA— DIRECTOR-GENERAL of the

National Youth Service Corps,NYSC, Brigadier-GeneralJohnson Olawumi, weekend,Abuja, appealed to corporatebodies not to reject corpsmembers posted to them forthe one year mandatoryservice.

NYSC DG said instead ofrejecting those posted to theircompanies, they should createavenue for the corps membersto add value to theirorganizations, whiledeveloping their professionalskills.

Olawumi, who spoke at theswearing-in ceremony ofstream two of the NYSC Batch‘B’ 2015, at the KubwaOrientation Camp in Abuja,noted that each corps memberwould be equipped withentrepreneurship skill for selfreliance during their stay incamp.

“For the private sector, wecan only continue to appeal tothem that they should takeadvantage of the potentials inthese young men and women,their companies are going tobe better for it,” he said.

FirstPost Newsmagazineawards forDec 19

FIRSTPOSt MediaE n t e r p r i s e ,

publishers of FirstPostNews magazine has saidit will be holding its 2015award with the theme,“ S u s t a i n a b l eDevelopment,” onDecember 19, 2015, inLagos.

Being the maidenedition, the Publisher,FirstPost News magazine,Clementina Olomu, saidthe essence is to rewardpeople who have come upwith sustainableprogrammes which hasimparted immensely intothe lives of people.

According to Olomu,“we at FirstPost MediaEnterprise firmly believethat for any country tohave sustainableprogrammes for the futuregenerations, all handsmust be on deck. Theindividuals, the families,the society andgovernment must live upto its responsibilities."

CMYK

44—VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 , 2015

CONFERENCE: From left, MrsNwamaka Chidi-Aroh, National Instituteof Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN)awardee; Mr Nnanyelugo Chidi Arohreceiving the award from NIMNPresident,Mr Ganiyu Koledoye andCommissioner for Commerce andIndustry,Mr Sam Ogbu-Nwobododuring the Pre-AGM event at NIMN 2015annual marketing conference, in Enugu.

FAAN, union reach truce overstrike action

By Lawani Mikairu

LAGOS — THE FederalAirports Authority of Nigeria

, FAAN, and the Air TransportService Senior Staff Association,ATSSSAN, have agreed to beginnegotiation over the ultimatumthe union served the agencyconcerning industrial action.The union had, weekend, giventhe agency 48 hours ultimatumto address their grievances.

The union had demanded thatFAAN immediately reverse theapproval granted Bi-CourtneyAviation Services Limited(BASL), the operator of theMurtala Muhammed Airportdomestic terminal, known asMMA2, to commence regionaloperation.

Union’s reason for thereversal was that BASL hasallegedly refused to pay forservices rendered to it by FAAN,

noting that it isfrom suchaccruing revenuesthat the workersare paid theiremoluments.

Reacting, theG e n e r a lManager, PublicAffairs of FAAN,Yakubu Dati saidthe FAANmanagement wasaware of theseissues and hasstarted initiatingprocesses tohandle them asthey are.

He said: “Whatever issues theunions have expressed, we willdeal with as a family. Theirgrievances will be looked into andas I said we have already starteda process to get to an amicablesolution that will not lead to anyunrest. So we appeal for calm andurge the union to partner us aswe all want one and the samething, the growth of thisindustry.”

Dati also said these issues wereones that would be solved as afamily and that FAANmanagement was concernedabout all the outstanding debtsand doing all in its power toameliorate the situation andmaintain the normalcy that hasbeen on for a long time now.

The union had earlier given theagency 48 hours ultimatum toaddress these issues, but with thereadiness of FAAN to attend toall these issues, the union agreedto a truce.

In a letter dated November 26,2015 signed by Rotimi Kehindeon behalf of the general secretaryof ATSSSAN addressed to theManaging Director of FAAN, theunion said, “We hereby placebefore you and your managementthe under listed demands to bemet within 48 hours or facewithdrawal of service in all FAANformations.

“ATSSSAN is seeking, amongother things, the immediatereversal of the approval grantedBi-Courtney (MMA2) tocommence regional flights whenwe all know that Bi-Courtney isnot paying for services renderedby FAAN.”

CMYK

Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, NOVEMBER 30, NOVEMBER 30, NOVEMBER 30, NOVEMBER 30, 2015—452015—452015—452015—452015—45

By Chioma Obinna

AS part of its commitment to improvingaccess to healthcare in developing

countries, Merck, a leading science andtechnology company is supporting theWorld Health Organisation, WHO, in thefight against schistosomiasis in Africaincluding Nigeria. Nigeria is currently thelargest recipient of the Merck Praziquanteldonation programme. Praziquantel is themost effective treatment for the parasiticworm disease schistosomiasis. Merck hasdonated nearly 71,000,000 tablets to WHOfor Nigeria and another 34 million willfollow by the end of this year. Just recently,the company opened an office in Lagos,HealthFeatures however spoke to the ViceChairman, Executive Board & DeputyChief Executive Officer of Merck, StefanOschmann on the company’s plans for thecountry’s health sector. He said their coreplan is to ensure that medicines areavailable at lower prices in public healthinstitutions,assist Nigeria combatSchistosomiasis disease and drugcounterfeits.

Excerpts:

Our plans for NigeriaWe have developed what we call Africa

Strategy Development Parameters such asdemographics, economic growth and wehave come to a conclusion that Africa isthe most vibrant growth area in the world,and the agregates of all African economiesmight be equivalent to China and we wantto be part of this.

We have opened our office in Lagos andwe have had sessions with differentpolitical stakeholders in Abuja last weekon Universal Health Coverage and howNigeria can make progress in the area ofhealthcare and also we are working on ourcore responsibility project and the mostimportant one that we have is to combatSchistosomiasis, a disease that is veryprevalent in Nigeria. Only this year, wedonated 35 million tablets to Nigeria’shealthcare system so that most schoolchildren can be treated.

It is a terrible disease many children havedied, many cannot go to school, and haveretarded development and this can besolved. Nigeria is one of the countries that

‘Our core responsibility is to combat schistosomiasis disease in Nigeria, others’

have made rapid progress in treating thisdisease.

Nigeria health sectorWe are trying to be partners in solving

the problems. We have just presented anew technology system that can make abig impact on HIV diagnosis andtreatment. It can also be applied to otherdiseases. We will also contribute in the fightagainst counterfeit medicine which is a bigproblem in Nigeria and many othercountries. We are also doing capacityadvanced programmes in the so calledNon Communicable Diseases, NCDs, inNigeria and other African countries.Healthcare systems in Nigeria and otherAfrican countries have been focused oninfectious diseases such as HIV, malaria,tuberculosis among others, neglectingother tropical diseases. The NCDs suchas cardiovascular disease, diabetes,respiratory disease and mental health isbecoming more important. We have beenworking with academic institutions so thatmedical students can train better in areassuch as diabetes.We are also gettinginvolved in local communities so that they

Stefan Oschmann, Vice Chairman, Executive Board & Deputy CEO of Merck

can be prevented without drugs. It can betackled with simple lifestyle changes. Andif detected early it can be treated very well.

The issue of drug distribution is anotherchallenge. For medicine, supply chain isvery important; some problems with theftneed to be addressed. We believe Nigeriais making progress in the area ofcounterfeiting and we are optimistic aboutthe future.

Currently, Nigeria is struggling withpollution, inequality, crime and corruptionbut a company that is active on a globalscale must be able to deal with these. Wehave been working on a compliantscheme. It is very important that ouremployees understand compliance intoday’s world.

Access to quality medicineOur industry needs to make sure that

we adapt our business model so that wecan make medicines available at prices thatcan guarantee access. We need to do publicprivate partnerships.

We need to join forces with Nigerianplayers to make medicines moreaffordable. We need to work on supplychain, security and reliability. We need tomake sure that medicines are being safelydistributed to the people that need them.In some areas like neglected tropicaldiseases, we need to work with socialresponsibility programmes and donatemedicines because the very poor cannotafford every cheap medicine.

We are thinking of making drugsavailable at much lower prices in publichealth systems and charge regular pricesin private institutions for those that canafford it. Such a programme is already onin countries like Ghana. We are workingon malaria, we are developing technologyfor important diagnostic parameters inmalaria. We have also developed insectrepellent that can be used on insect andcombat malaria. But we are mostly activein the field of diabetes, hypertension,typhoid disorders as well as cancer.

Only this year, wedonated 35 milliontablets to Nigeriahealthcare system sothat most schoolchildren can be treated

Foundation acquires cancer, cardiacmanagement equipment

WORRIED about the gap in cancertreatment in Nigeria, Niger

Foundation has procured the RocheCobas e411 machine for better diagnosisand treatment of cancer and heartdiseases even as it organised ContinuingMedical Education, CME, for medicalpractitioners in Enugu on the importanceof effective diagnostic testing for cancerand heart disease.

The training with the theme “Use ofBiomarkers in Clinical Practice andPatient Care” was organised incollaboration with ISN Products Limited.

In his lecture, a Surgical Oncologistand Director of the Oncology Centre,University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital,UNTH, Prof. E. Ezeome, explained thattesting for tumour markers with suchmachines will ensure easy and accuratediagnosis and better treatment for cancerpatients.

Ezeome said tumour markers have

become increasingly important in cancermanagement as almost all cancers havebiomarkers associated with them.

He further emphasised that tests fortumour markers should be highlysensitive and specific and that it isimportant that the testing laboratory useshigh quality equipment andstandardised kits to perform the tests inorder to minimise variation in test resultsby testing for these tumour markers onequipment such as the Cobas e411acquired by Niger Foundation Hospital.

Also, a Consultant Physician andCardiologist, UNTH, Dr. B. Anisuba whospoke on the use of cardiac markers inearly diagnosis and management ofpatients with heart diseases listed idealcharacteristics of effective cardiac markertest to include; accuracy, reproducibility,ease of interpretation by the doctor, highspecificity and sensitivity, andavailability of point of care testing.

IN realisation of the national medium andlong term plans of the Federal

government to establish a functionalBiomedical Engineering TrainingProgramme in the country, 18 students,representing nine Federal and stateteaching hospitals, and private hospitals,have passed out of the Lagos UniversityTeaching Hospital, LUTH, School ofBiomedical Engineering.

At the graduating ceremony last week,Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry ofHealth, Dr. Amina Shamani, said thedevelopment was the culmination of anextended Memorandum of Understandingsigned a year ago between the Ministry ofHealth, GE Foundation, EngineeringWorld Health, EWH, and the LUTH for athree-year period (2014-2017).

Shamani said components of theagreement were to create a nationallyaccredited and sustainable BiomedicalEngineering Technician, BMET, trainingschool and Centre of Excellence at theLUTH.

"The main objective is to strengthenhuman capital development, specificallyfor the healthcare technical workforceresponsible of management of medicalequipment in the various health facilitiesin Nigeria.

"There is no doubt there is a gap atpresent and we need to develop policiesand plans to strengthen in-country towardsensuring that Nigerians are equipped withrequisite technical skills and administrativeknow-how to effectively manage medicalequipment in contemporary healthsystems in the country," she observed.

The Chief Medical Director, CMD,LUTH, Prof Chris Bode, said each of thegraduating students successfullycompleted a thorough on-the-jobprofessional training under auspices of theGEF/EWH.

Describing the development as anothergood thing to happen to the health sector,Bode said the Federal Government isencouraging participation of public andprivate institutions, because good healthis not the exclusive preserve of anyhospital.

"No one knows where they would gettaken in the event of an accident, so allhospitals should have good equipmentthat is well maintained at all times."

In a statement, the Head of the LUTHBiomedical Training Centre, Prof. CarmenWalker, said the programme takes itscurriculum from Duke University in NorthCarolina, in the United States, and onIndustry Standards for BiomedicalEngineering Training. Walker said the goalis in saving equipment because by savingequipment, lives are being saved.

LUTH graduates 18 biomedical engineersBy Sola Ogundipe

can do better in early detection of suchdiseases and to also work on lifestylechanges because many of these diseases

CMYK

46 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

Global rallies demandclimate change actionHUNDREDS of

thousands ofpeople are marchingworldwide to demandaction to stop climatechange, but one protest inParis was marred byviolence.

More than 2,000 eventsare happening globally onthe eve of a UN summit inthe French capital.

In Paris, police fired teargas at a large group ofdemonstrators gathered inthe Place de la Republique.

Our correspondent saysthe group was apparentlyprotesting against France’sstate of emergency.

The order, banning publicgatherings, was put intoplace after the 13 Novemberattacks in the city, in which130 people died.

Many of those involvedin the clashes wore masksor covered their faces.Images showed protestersand police walking overcandles and tributes left forthe attack victims at amakeshift memorial.

Prime Minister ManuelValls tweeted (in French) that the clashes were“undignified” and showeda lack respect to thememorial.

Nicholas Haeringer, ofthe campaign group

350.org, said protestsshould still be allowed tocontinue, adding thatcampaigners would “standagainst any attempts by theFrench authorities to use theincidents this afternoon tounnecessarily clamp down

Pope brings unity message to CentralAfrican Republic

POPE Francis hascalled for unity in the

Central African Republic(CAR), a country torn bystrife between Christiansand Muslims, urging itscitizens to “avoid thetemptation of fear of others”.

The 78-year-old Argentinepontiff arrived on Sundaymorning in the capitalBangui, in the last leg of asix-day African tour takinghim also to Kenya andUganda.

Unity “is to be lived andbuilt up on the basis of themarvellous diversity of ourenvironment, avoiding thetemptation of fear of others,of the unfamiliar, of what isnot part of our ethnic group,our political views or ourreligious confession,” hesaid in a speech beforeinterim President CatherineSamba-Panza and otherdignitaries.

The acting president askedfor “forgiveness” from PopeFrancis over the sectarianviolence that has gripped

the country over the pasttwo years and praised thepope for his visit despitesecurity fears.

“Central Africans haveinflicted unspeakablesuffering on other CentralAfricans. And for that, the

Attackers injure senior armyofficer in Burundi

A SENIOR armyofficer was wounded

in an attack by unidentifiedgunmen in Burundi at theweekend on his way to thecapital, witnesses said onSunday, the latest in a seriesof shootings targeting topofficials.

Violence has racked theAfrican nation for monthssince President PierreNkurunziza said he wouldrun for a third term in officeand then went on to win adisputed election in July.

The capital Bujumburaand surrounding area hasbeen the focus for a spateof shootings andassassination attempts.Western powers andAfrican neighbors worryBurundi, which emergedfrom a civil war in 2005,

could slide back into ethnicconflict.

In the latest incident lateon Saturday, ColonelSerges Kabanyura, themilitary commander for oneof five regions of Burundiwho previously served ina brigade protecting thepresident, was injuredwith five soldiers, a soldierwho witnessed the attacktold Reuters.

“About five personsarmed with rifles anddressed in militaryuniforms stopped us whileheading to Bujumbura city.When they saw that wewere soldiers they shot atus injuring five of us and,as we shot back, they fled,”said the soldier, speakingfrom hospital inBujumbura.

BURKINA Faso holds elections on Sunday,

the first since a popularuprising toppled the WestAfrican nation’s longtimeleader and launched aturbulent period of transition.

Hundreds of thousands ofcitizens took to the streets inOctober 2014, furious overthen-President BlaiseCompaore’s bid to scrapconstitutional term limits andstay in office.

Compaore resigned andfled the country, ending his27-year rule of one of thepoorest countries in theworld. But the transitionalgovernment soon found itselfat odds with his elitepresidential guard.

With no incumbent on theballot and the presidentialguard now dissolved,candidates and analysts saythe vote will be the most openand democratic in BurkinaFaso’s history.

“We have a real chance fordemocracy here,” saidTahirou Barry, one of 14presidential candidates. “Forthe first time, the incumbentpresident is not a candidate.This leaves the voters free ofpressure, and there is fairplay in the process.”

Turkey to hand over Russianpilot’s body

TURKEY is preparingto send back to

Moscow the body of theRussian pilot who was killedafter his plane was shotdown on the Syrian border.

Lt Col Oleg Peshkov’sbody was received by

Turkish authorities at theSyrian border earlier in theday.

Turkish forces shot downthe plane saying it hadviolated Turkish airspace,which Russia denies.

The incident has sparkeda furious row between thetwo countries, with Russiaannouncing sanctionsagainst Turkey.

Rebels from Syria’sethnic Turkmen com-munity opened fire on LtCol Peshkov and his co-pilot as they tried toparachute intogovernment-held territoryon Tuesday.

The rebels said he haddied by the time hereached the ground.

His body was flown fromthe border to the Turkishcapital Ankara onSaturday afternoon, fromwhere it will be taken toRussia.

IRAN has overhauledthe way in which it

offers contracts to foreignenergy companies in a bidto attract up to $30bn ofnew investment.

The terms of the new oilcontracts will be morefavourable to foreigninvestors, who will beallowed a greater stake inlong-term profits.

Iran is gearing up for thelifting of sanctionsfollowing the nuclear dealwith six world powers inJuly.

The country has some ofthe biggest oil and gasreserves in the world.

The new contracts wereannounced at a conferencein Tehran attended bymany of the world’s majorenergy companies,including BP, Shell, Total,Statoil and Sinopec. Therewere, however, no UScompanies present.

The new contracts put anend to the so-calledbuyback model, which hashistorically deterredforeign investors, whereoverseas contractorsdeveloped and operatedan oil field before handingit over to Iran.

Now, more lucrativelonger-term contracts will

Iran seeks $30bn of new oilcontracts

be offered, where foreigncompanies can retain astake in the field.

About 50 oil and gasprojects are expected to beunveiled during the Tehranconference, taking place onSaturday and Sunday.

“The contract modelsintroduced today are notperfect or ideal, but aneffective and responsivemodel for both sides,” OilMinister Bijan NamdarZanganeh said.

Israeli Defence minister saysRussian plane violated airspace

A RUSSIAN Jetrecently penetrated

Israeli airspace but was notshot down, thanks to anopen communicationsystem between the twocountries, Israel’s defenseminister said Sunday astensions continued to flarebetween Ankara andMoscow after Turkishtroops downed a Russianwarplane.

Defense Minister MosheYaalon said the planeentered about a mile (1.5kilometers) into Israeliairspace by “mistake” andimmediately turned aroundback to Syria when theRussians were notified. Fortwo months, Russia hasbeen carrying out airstrikes

to support SyrianPresident Bashar Assad.

Yaalon told Israel Radiothat after Russiaannounced its aircampaign in Syria, IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, along withhis military chief of staffand other officials, metwith Russian PresidentVladimir Putin. He said Israellater opened a channel forcoordination with Russia “toprevent misunder-standings.”

He said there has been oneincident so far of a Russianplane entering Israeliairspace and it was“immediately corrected in thecommunications channel.”He didn’t say when itoccurred.

Burkina Fasovotes after year ofpolitical turmoil

sons and daughters of thiscountry must recognise their faults and ask forforgiveness... that yourblessing will transform intoa catalyst for thereconstruction of thiscountry,” she said.

Muslim as well asCatholic representativescame to the airport towelcome Francis.

“The Holy Father has notcome to Central Africa forthe Catholics, but for CentralAfricans. It is a good sign ofa reconciliation between

Muslims and CentralAfricans,” said El AdjiTchakpabrede, arepresentative of thecountry’s Islamic com-munity.

Describing himself as a“pilgrim of peace,” thepontiff said the localCatholic Church wouldwork for reconciliation.

Francis was expected touse the Popemobile duringhis visit, despite concernthat the local authoritieswould not be able toguarantee his safety.

CENTRAL AfricanRepublic’s interim

president CatherineSamba-Panza on Sundayasked for “forgiveness”from Pope Francis for twoyears of “evil” sectarianviolence she dubbed “adescent into hell”.

“Central Africans haveinflicted unspeakablesuffering on other CentralAfricans,” she said onmeeting the pope in thecapital, Bangui, where thesituation remains volatile.

“On behalf of the rulingclass of this country but

•••CAR leader asks forforgiveness for sectarian violence

also in the name ofeveryone who has playedany part in this descentinto hell, I confess all theevil that has been donehere throughout thecourse of history and askfor forgiveness from thebottom of my heart.”

CAR descended intobloodshed more than twoyears ago after longtimeleader Francois Bozize, aChristian, was ousted bymainly Muslim rebels,triggering the worst crisissince independence in1960.

•Pope Francis with interim president of theCentral African Republic, Catherine Samba Panzaas he arrives in Bangui on November 29, 2015.

A memorial to Lt Col Peshkov and the marinewho died in the rescue of his co-pilot outside theRussian defence ministry.

on civil liberties.”Earlier in Paris, a

human chain was formedby hundreds linking armsalong the 3km (1.9 miles)route of a march that wascalled off after the 13November attacks.

CMYK

VIRGINIA

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “HEY’ By Andy Akman

[email protected]

TERROR MUDA in “Scavenger Elite” By Lanre Kehinde

HOME & ABROAD By Lawrence Akapa

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLINGSend ySend ySend ySend ySend your datour datour datour datour date and place of bire and place of bire and place of bire and place of bire and place of bir th tth tth tth tth to the Aso the Aso the Aso the Aso the Astrtrtrtrtrologicalologicalologicalologicalological

Counselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, PCounselling, P.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 1.M.B 100000000007, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos7, Apapa, Lagos

YOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAY

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139L E I S U R ETHOUGHT FOR TODAYTHOUGHT FOR TODAYTHOUGHT FOR TODAYTHOUGHT FOR TODAYTHOUGHT FOR TODAY

By Richard Eromosele


LEO; Entrance of romantic Venus into your Star Signwill enhance your prospects. Both financial and love re-lated success are possible.

VIRGO; This is not the right time to rely on promisesmade by others. Continue to take matters-of-the-heartseriously. Reason with your reliable associates

LIBRA; Tension within the domestic scene will start toease off. Yet you will need to watch what you do withinyour base till after 10.15pm tonight.

SCORPIO; Both yourself and other important person-alities to you are beginning to see things from same pointof view making it easy for you to eliminate unnecessaryrift.

SAGITTARIUS; Venus moves into a positive angle toyour Star and encourages peaceful settlement. Exhibi-tion of maturity on your part will favour you better.

CAPRICORN; Gradually you are dropping aggressiveapproach you have adopted in the last few days to thebetterment of your cause. Remain practical till after10.15pm.

AQUARIUS; Better than yesterday; however that isnot to say you should throw caution to the wind. Improve-ment on your love life indicated. Try to comport yourself.

PISCES; After a few days of fun you may need to settledown to serious business. Those of you working till verylate evening will need to be more careful till after 10.15pm.Reason with your tried and trusted old hands(friends).

ARIES; Venus moves into a positive angle and boostyour sparkling personality to the betterment of your cause.Could be a nice day for the-young-at-heart.

TAURUS; It is important you don’t allow your mind towander unnecessarily so that minor but costly mistakeswould be averted. Avoid late evening confusion.

GEMINI; Recent tension generated by controversyover money will start to ease off. Be more vigilant if youare working late in the evening.

CANCER;. Other people will continue to have theirsays and if you try to indoctrinate them tensed atmospherewill be aggravated. Be patient.

Dear Joshua,I want to know about my future, especially what I should

expect from my love life both in the immediate and far future.However that is not to say I am not interested in good finan-cial standing.

Frank, Onitsha.

Dear Frank,Although there will be a particular time you will need to be

more careful so that you will not gamble with love as pre-dicted under your love life.

What I wrote for you under career can equally go for yourfinance. The difference here is inability to hold on to yourgains (profits) partially by the contact made between yournatal Saturn and Venus as stated under your career andsome other times by your love of LUXORY (easy life). Al-though the Saturn influence can be mitigated as I said underyour career, the love of luxury comes from your stelliu-Tau-rus which must not be totally discouraged but should notbe allowed to go beyond your control. Yes envy and jeal-ousy can creep in as indicated by the oppositions betweenyour natal Venus/Saturn in Taurus and Jupiter in Scorpio,but that is not enough excuse for either failure or manipula-tion of occult powers against you. Whatever anybody saysand/or does GREAT FINANCIAL SUCCESS is your por-tion.

The most influential planet during your birth hour is Ve-nus-the planet of MONEY and LOVE. You are the romantictype whose magnetic personality and open handedness aresources of big trap to his members of opposite sex. As hand-some as you are you truly crave stability in your love life/home and the happiness you desired will be yours. You willneed to watch carefully around and during your 42th yearon earth as you may be tempted to gamble with matters-of-the-heart.

AMBITIONis what

you want toachieve. It couldbe long term,itcould bemedium, it couldalso be for the

short term.It is agood thing forevery human tobe ambitious. Am a n ( w o m a n )without ambitionis like a car

without driver.Such a car cannotmove forward.Itis ambition thatpropels the manto strive,to stressand to challenge

himself to attains e e m i n g l yu n a t t a i n a b l egoals. A manwithout ambitionis a man withoutfuture. What isyour ambition?

No Future Ambition?

What should I expect ?

48 —Vanguard, MONDAY48 —Vanguard, MONDAY48 —Vanguard, MONDAY48 —Vanguard, MONDAY48 —Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

CMYK

Tommy Anaduakanever told me hewas leaving soon—Widow

By Ikenna Asomba

IT was an emotional momentof discovery for Mrs. Dorothy

Anaduaka, widow of the lateEditorial Coordinator ofVanguard Newspapers, Mr.Thomas Anyaegbuna Anaduaka,when members of Vanguardchapel of the Nigerian Union ofJournalists, NUJ, visited the No.13/19 Araromi, Alafia-Orile,Lagos residence of their latecolleague, fondly called PaAnaduaka, to pay him their lastrespects.

Led by the chapel chairman,Mr Innocent Anaba, theVanguard members had takenturns to pay glowing tributes tothe veteran and consummatejournalist who died on October7, 2015, aged 77 years.

Moved by the tributes, thegrieving widow said that eventhough her husband’s deathcame as a rude shock to herbecause he never told her or anyof the children that he wasleaving, she was comforted by allthat were said about him whichshe said represent a confirmationof what he was to her: a simple,innocent and good man, whowas altruistic and ready to assistpeople not minding the agedifferences.

“When it comes to assistingpeople, he could even help a littlekid without minding his age. Hewas loving, kind. I lived with himall these years without any dent.Even when we hadmisunderstanding, before youknow it, it’s all over.

“I can’t recall any record of ushaving any grievance passing onto another day. We both lived ourlives to what God has said, thatwe mustn’t as Christians,not toallow the anger that we have tolast till the next day. That’s howwe have lived our lives,” sherecalled.

Asked to share her last momentswith her late husband, she saidin an emotion-laddened voice:“There was no last moment. I hadno last moment with TA. Hisdeath came as a rude shock. Hedidn’t tell me that he wasleaving. It all happened onOctober 6, 2015, that when hebecame so sick, we had to takehim to the hospital very early onOctober 7.

“The previous night before hepassed on, I kept on praying andbelieving God, that he wouldrecover from his illness. I kept

on praying, but he wasshivering and frightened. Hewasn’t even responding to theprayers. I prayed all through thenight, but all I observed was thatmy husband was only somemutterings things I didn’tunderstand. But I kept onpraying that at a stage I calledthe son, who came and joinedus.

“The following morning, werushed him to the hospital. Thedoctor had to administer drip onhim; so, I was in the hospital andkept on praying. Aftersometime, my son and I slept offbecause we were so worn outhaving not slept the previousnight.

“When we woke up, wenoticed that the dripadministered on him hadstopped running. We shookDaddy, but he became still likea stick. The nurses came in toconfirm that he was dead, but Ididn’t believe them. The doctorcame in and said same, I didn’tbelieve him. It was when my in-law and our Pastor friend camein, to confirm same, that waswhen it dawned on me thatDaddy had actually passed on,”she said.

While paying tributes to PaAnaduaka, his colleagues at theVanguard Newspapers, whoexpressed shock over hisdeparture barely a week after hewas retired from activejournalism, described him asvery humble, respectful,hardworking, a firm believer injustice, equity, fairness and acomplete professional journalistto the core, who did his jobspassionately.

Vanguard’s Senior AssistantEditor, Mrs Judith Ufford said:“Pa Anaduaka’s passing cameas a shock to me, because I sawhim a couple of days back sittingat his table. I went to inform him

that the page 18 (Editorial page)for a particular day was ready. So,when I got to the office thefollowing Monday and was toldthat he had passed on, I wasshocked.

“Pa Anaduaka, even for his age,was a very competent old man.He was the kind of man who willspot an error and immediatelydraw your attention to it. I willalways remember him as one whodid his job to the very last. He wasa very humble, hardworkingelderly man.”

On his part, Anaba said: “PaAnaduaka despite his age treatedpeople who worked with him andfar more younger than him ascontemporaries. He wasn’t aperson who cared about age. Allthat mattered to him was gettingthe work done. He had so manypeople that in age they wereyounger, but they were senior tohim on the job. But he neverbothered. He was a completeprofessional journalist that did hiswork passionately. With no

apologies, Pa Anaduaka was agood man, who was very goodat his works. We, his colleaguesat Vanguard will miss himdearly.”

Also speaking, VanguardGroup Sport Editor, Tony Ubanisaid: “Pa Anaduaka has left amonumental legacy forpractitioners of journalism andMass Communication students.Pa Anaduaka is one who shouldbe remembered; he’s one that weare very proud of. He was a veryhumble and respectful man.

“He loved God till he died. Hewas a man who loved his wifetill his death. He was a man whowas always talking of about hisfamily. He was compassionate tillhis death. He was a man thatnever grumbled at anything. Henever grumbled at work, noteven when people younger thanhis first son, gave him anassignment. Pa Anaduaka atwork, understood that it was allabout professionalism and hepracticed it to the end. For us still

living, I think we should takepositives from the death of PaAnaduaka,”.

Similarly, Vanguard AssistantLabour Editor, Victor Ahiuma-Young described Pa Anaduaka asa man that firmly believed injustice till he breathed his last.

Ahiuma-Young recalled that“There was a story Pa Anaduakagave to me which involved someunion leaders that were dis-engaged in AfriBank. When hebrought the story, I told him thatI needed to speak to the otherside and he said go ahead. Itpained me that before I spoke tothe other side, Pa Anaduaka hadpassed on. My concern was howwould the people who gave PaAnaduaka the story know that ithas been published.

“Pa Anaduaka was a man whofirmly believed in justice. He willalways fight and ensure that youget justice. That was why hebrought that story to my attention.Our hope is that he has gone toenjoy eternal rest with hiscreator,” he said.

Foundation to make largest bag in the world

By Christopher Njoku

LIGHTUP Foundation has concluded plans to make the larg-

est Canvas bag in the world, tobreak a Guinness WorldRecord.

Speaking at the event whichtook place recently at AnglicanGirls Grammer School Surulere,the Chief Executive Officer, MrsOlasubomi Iginla said that thefoundation got directives fromGuinness World Records onhow to break the current record,which was achieved by Man-isha Ogale in India at the Ko-rum mall on 21st of April 2013,with its measurement as 8.68mlong, 6.62 m tall and 0.71mdept.

She said the bag which willbe termed ‘Bag of hope’ will be

9.36m high, 10.32m width and2.64m depth.

Iginla said: “The bag will bedesigned by children from dif-ferent parts of the world. Weplanned to start the sewing inNigeria, divide the bag into dif-ferent parts, send it to select-ed countries and then finallyassemble the parts in the Unit-ed Kingdom.

‘’I was doing a course in Ox-ford when this idea came up,that we can actually raisefunds for children in need withthis bag of hope, if we makethe biggest bag in the world,call it the bag of hope and getas many young people in-volved in putting a sequenceon the bag,” she said

She urged Nigerians to showcare to children in need, prom-

ising that the bag of hope will beused to raise funds to help theless privileged in the society withthe aim to alleviate the sufferingof the masses.

“We really need people to helpus in Nigeria, the bag will beused to raise funds to support theless privileged children in iden-tified places in the world throughdonation of funds raised to nota-ble organisations that care for theless privileged children andyoung people, as well as fund-ing various African projects.”

She also encouraged youngpeople to express interest by in-volving themselves in the project,saying that every child will getan award sticker from LightupFoundation to show that they wereamong those who broke therecord.

Pa Anaduaka,even for his age,was a verycompetent oldman; he was thekind of man whowill spot an errorand immediatelydraw yourattention to it

From left: Mrs. Dorothy Anaduaka [widow] Mrs. Esther Ojo and Mrs. Ifeoma Nwankwo, during theChristian wake-keeping for Late Pa. Thomas Anyaegbuna Anaduaka former staff of VanguardNewspapers, at his residence in Orile-Iganmu, Lagos on 28 th November, 2015. Photo: Bunmi Azeez


SAYINGS OF OUR ELDERS

Send us your Sayings of Our Elders. They must be African sayingsor proverbs. Biblical or English proverbs are unacceptable.

Address your sayings to: [email protected]

I have sown a riga without a neck. Let him whocuts a neck for it put it on.

- Hausa proverb

Inflation in NigeriaInflation in NigeriaInflation in NigeriaInflation in NigeriaInflation in Nigeria

PRESIDENT Buhari shouldcome to our rescue because the

current hike in fuel price hasskyrocketed the price of commodities inthe country. People cannot afford twomeals a day due to high prices of foodstuffs. Soon people will start stealing justto feed.Anonymous 07057006736

On TOn TOn TOn TOn Taraba Saraba Saraba Saraba Saraba Stattattattattate goe goe goe goe gov electionv electionv electionv electionv electiontribunal judgmenttribunal judgmenttribunal judgmenttribunal judgmenttribunal judgment

It is unfortunate that a court or tribunalwill rely on matters considered asinternal affairs of a political party tonullify an election. It is a travesty ofjustice and an apparent manifestationof the partiality of the judicial process.

No court of law has the powers todelve into the internal affairs of a politicalparty unless a member challenges thedecision of the party in a pre-electioncourt. Tribunal erred in holding that acandidate dully sponsored by a politicalparty whose name was forwarded toINEC was never so sponsored. That isan aberration.

The question is who sponsored thecandidate or where did INEC get thename of the candidate who was returnedas duely elected and issued with acertificate of return as duely elected?Barr Anthony O. Obi ( Onitsha)+2347062902368

Politicians and ourPoliticians and ourPoliticians and ourPoliticians and ourPoliticians and oureconomyeconomyeconomyeconomyeconomyNigeria is a country endowned withhuman and natural resources yetnothing seems to be working well. Sincethe fuel subsidy there has not been anyimprovement? What are Nigerianleaders doing with our resources? TheFederal Government should explainbecause the hardship on Nigerians isincreasing .Fidelis 08037235403

NASS’s leadership andNASS’s leadership andNASS’s leadership andNASS’s leadership andNASS’s leadership andSaraki’s purposeful directionSaraki’s purposeful directionSaraki’s purposeful directionSaraki’s purposeful directionSaraki’s purposeful direction

Without Saraki’s strategy of mobilisingPDP’s NASS rebel members to join APC,the party would not have won theelections in the first place. If APC daresto do something stupid against Saraki,he might make them regret their actions.. Ochiks, O.S. +2347081369442

Electricity distributionElectricity distributionElectricity distributionElectricity distributionElectricity distribution The Federal Government should as a

matter of urgency take back electricitydistribution and set up a functional bodyto handle the industry. EEDC is guiltyof lack of response , cheating andstealing from the people.

Anthony O. Obi Esq... Onitsha+2348056009586

Flour Mills security men andFlour Mills security men andFlour Mills security men andFlour Mills security men andFlour Mills security men andNigerian RailwayNigerian RailwayNigerian RailwayNigerian RailwayNigerian RailwayCommisssion ApapaCommisssion ApapaCommisssion ApapaCommisssion ApapaCommisssion Apapa

The main reason the many beautifulparks dotting Lagos are abandoned isnot far-fetched. It is to avoidembarrassment from overzealouspersons who behave as if these placesare meant for ghosts. There is this wellmaintained park laid with a pavementfor pedestrian traffic leading to ApapaRailway Station.

Unfortunately, the security men ofFlour Mills of Nigeria in their usualauthoritarian posturing forbid the publicfrom taking this shortcut.This calls forthe intervention of the Nigerian RailwayCommission, NRC and the Apapa LocalGovernment on the matter.Comrade Akido Agenro2348055410516

FG and alleged dialogueFG and alleged dialogueFG and alleged dialogueFG and alleged dialogueFG and alleged dialoguewith the Boko Haram sectwith the Boko Haram sectwith the Boko Haram sectwith the Boko Haram sectwith the Boko Haram sect

Those calling for roundtable talks withBoko Haram should understand thatmembers of the sect are not normalpeople, and whoever wants to dine withthem needs a long spoon. Apart fromthis, what the sect’s members are askingfor are unrealistic, so negotiating withthem is out of the question.Anonymous 08056278553

Corrupt cases againstCorrupt cases againstCorrupt cases againstCorrupt cases againstCorrupt cases againstformer governorsformer governorsformer governorsformer governorsformer governors

Imagine that some former governorsand politicians with pending corruptioncases in court are today Senators andHouse of Representatives memberswhen they should be in jail.

It is unfortunate that in Nigeria,people get elected to public office whilein detention or having criminal casespending against them. It goes to showNigerians are good at celebratingcorruption. Nigeria’s constitution shouldbe amended to bar people withquestionable characters from vying forelective posts until they are cleared.Charles 080381070933

FFFFFuel subsidy pruel subsidy pruel subsidy pruel subsidy pruel subsidy probeobeobeobeobe What is happening to those found

guilty in the fuel subsidy probe? It isvery apparent that Nigerians have notrust in reports by committees set up bythe Federal Government. PresidentBuhari should take a bold step in thismatter to probe and prosecute thosefound guilty.Steadfast foundation 08158086822

Buhari batters Dasuki while we watch!

Sheikh Amin

DASUKI may be the first but will neverbe the last. Those who feel that they

are free will soon know that they areinvolved than Dasuki. DSS is destroyingNigeria by total disregard for the rule oflaw, Since President Buhari and DSS haveno regard for the law that created them,very soon we Nigerians will alsodisregard the law that protects their office.

Anunobiba

In all these why only Dasuki? What ofthe Service Chiefs and Ministers ofDefence? I smell a rat. Dasuki I believe isready to appear in court . Please collect allevidence and witnesses and take him tocourt where I am sure he will eventuallybe granted bail. If found guilty he shouldbe given maximum sentence. Otherwiseit looks suspicious. People will think thereis plan to eliminate him because of someinformation he may have in his possessionas former NSA.

Opamkaa

I don’t know why you guys areexpressing so much surprise at the GMB’shighhandedness. Call him out for hisdictatorship and spare us the surprise. Wesaw it coming; the only question shouldbe why he is masquerading as a democrat.From the those-who-voted-for-me-and-those-who voted-against-me statement inWashington, DC, his ultra selective waron corruption, his cronyism, to his personalvendetta, the dictator is simply beinghimself. Those that have questions toanswer are those who should have knownbetter and still went ahead to endorse and,actually, tilted the elections in his favour.We are only months into his presidency. Itwill be a long, long, rough ride.

Sooner than later, the economy will biteeven more with the price of oil not readyto creep out of the $40s per barrel. Onewould have expected him and his team tosee the crunch time coming and be readywith creative ideas to chart a course thatwould diversify the economy. What theyfeed us, instead, are excuses and blamegame. Obama did not dwell on George

Bush on whose watch the US economynose-dived. He rolled up his sleeves andcame up with a set of policies that took theUS economy out of recession in recordtime. The worst part of Buhari’s case ishis intolerance of criticism and his utterlack of humility. Add this sorry persona tothe present economic woes vis-à-vis hisrobust campaign promises and you havea recipe for Mark Anthony’s soliloquy -“Now let it work! Mischief, thou art afoot,Take thou what course thou wilt.” Buhariis making a difficult situation more difficult,and he is making the likes of Soyinka andother big shots, who stuck out their necksfor him very awkward. With Boko Haram,the South East youths agitation, and thefresh demand for resource control, theGeneral is facing a near perfect storm. Hewill do himself a world of good to soberup and be a leader rather rather than aruler.

Chike Obidigbo

KEEP it to yourself , GEJ doesn’t needit from a person like you

Slumberry Ugwueke

OBJ you can’t see a president like GEJ inyour life time again whom you can pushup and down during his tenure and hewill still call you Baba. If u don’t want goback to prison, keep your mouth shut inthis GMB administration because this onena Hausa not Igbo,

Georgecolligon

On a parting note, old age is good andeverybody prays to live to attain old age.But old age should not be used to causeconfusion or division. It is better to keepquiet rather than make statements that willmake us look ridiculous and childish.Even a fool who keeps silent is consideredwise; when he closes his lips, he is deemedintelligent. Proverbs 17:28

Six months after,Obasanjo lauds Jonathanfor successful handoverto Buhari

BIAFRA: MASSOB faction accuses SouthEast Govs, Ohanaeze, others of betrayal

Ezeugo Anslem Iriri

YEYE senators mtcheew.....toothlessbulldogs.... They can only make

noise....senators who have no powerover ministers.....talkative

Peter Shola Olorunyomi

How about the senators having manyfilling stations accros the nation? Letthe senate president talk to thosesenators in the house first.

Ngozi Okorie

From where will he end fuel scarcity.From Teharan, Mali or France?

Inuen Ekom

NOT only betrayal, they makethemselves too cheap for

northerners who controls our oil blockto buy them off.

OlifireSanity prevailed at their meeting and

they arrived at a reasonable conclusionthat Biafra is dead and buried. Themomentum is gone. That’s smart ontheir part.

But hear Iwuanyanwu “Ndigbo arethe major shareholders in Nigeria. IfNigeria is a corporate enterprise,Ndigbo own over 70 per cent equityand deserve to be given their due. TheIgbo man is the only Nigerian whobelieves in one united Nigeria’ Really?Is this man joking or not in Nigeria orhas not heard of Nnamdi Kanu andhis bunch of miscreants agitating forBiafra? Or maybe he doesn’t see Kanuas a Nigerian. I want to ask if Igboshold 70 percent meaning others share30 percent according to their gogoro.Humn, interesting. Ire o

Oko Henry Obidima

Biafra forever come rain come sun,Biafra must stand.

Senate gives Buhari 2-

week ultimatum to end

fuel scarcity

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Samuel do hereby

confirm that the names

Jessy Diepreye refer to

one and same me. All

former documents

remain valid. General

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Tarimobowei do hereby

confirm that the names

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to one and same me.

All former documents

remain valid. General

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54— Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2015

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CAF U-23 AFCON:


EGYPT and Algeriaplayed out a 1-1 draw

in their group B opener ofthe CAF Under-23 AfricaCup of Nations yesterdayin M’bour Senegal.

The first half endedgoalless in a match bothsides missed scoringchances. But it wasEgypt’s MahmoudKahraba who openedscoring in the 54th minute.However, the Algeriansfought back and Zeine-dine Ferhat levelled up inthe 68th minute.

“It was a difficult match.There is always a tradi-

Egypt, Algeria settle for draw

tion in matches betweenthe two sides, at any level.A very difficult match tostart a competition with,said Egypt coach HossamAl Badri.

Egypt will play Nigerianext on December 2.

All is not lost, says SA coach

SA men’s U-23 coachOwen da Gama be-

lieves all is not lost afterhis side went down 3-1 toSenegal in the openingmatch of the CAF Under-23 Africa Cup of Nationstournament.

“There is no excuse, weall have to shoulder theblame. At the end of theday we should have takenour chances. People aresaying we played well butthen again you don’t getpoints for playing goodfootball. Unfortunately onthe day some players did

not pitch up. It had a mas-sive influence on the gameand impacted on the restof the team,” said DaGama.

“We take the loss as ateam, just like we havetaken wins as a team.What we don’t need nowis the blame game or fin-ger pointing. We have togo back and see what mis-takes we did and rectifythem. It just wasn’t ourday.” South Africa’s nextopponent in the tourna-ment is Zambia who lost2-1 to Tunisia.

Iwu: We'll not let Nigeria down

NIGERIA under-23and Heartland goal-

keeper Emmanuel Iwusaid the team will not letNigeria down at the CAFunder-23 AFCON.

Iwu, who helped Heart-land to a respectable fin-ish in the concludedNPFL season made thecut for the tournamentdespite not being part ofthe qualifying series forSenegal 2015.

“I’m happy to havemade the team for the

tournament and I’m alsograteful for the opportunityto serve my country,” Iwu.

“We are in Senegal forbusiness and we want toput smiles on the faces ofNigerians.

“My message to our fansis we will not let themdown, we are going tomake them proud.”

Nigeria are in Group Bof the Caf Under-23 AfricaCup of Nations alongsideMali, Algeria and Egypt.

Also coach Samson Sia-sia assured that the taskof qualifying Nigeria forthe Olympics will beachieved. Adding that theboys are determined towork hard.

“We are here to qualify forthe 2016 Olympic Gamesin Rio de Janeiro. We haveto train hard and makesure the players play to in-structions. All teams de-serve to be here. For us(Nigeria), we are tacticallysound and know the kindof opposition to expect.”

Rivaldo Coetzee (left) had a tough time in dealingwith the Senegalese attack in Dakar.

•Iwu, Nigeria's U-23 keeper

•Kahraba


The election of those threeboards are overdue; other

believed minor occurrences aregathering moss.

NFF elections, AkwaUnited and other stories

"P INNICK disclosed that the tenure of the Boards of the Leagues, under which umbrellaKawu became Member of the NFF Executive Com-mittee, has expired.

“The tenure of the Boards of the Nigeria NationalLeague, Nigeria Women Football League and theNigeria Nationwide League has come to an end.Alhaji Kawu is no longer a Member of the NFF Ex-ecutive Committee.”

I am not always very comfortable with “hear say”.I came back from a CAF assignment in Egypt twoweeks ago to hear that a board member of the NFFwas querried. Dili Onyedinma’s sin was that she hadgone to the media to vent her anger as regards thereported poor state of the women game in Nigeria.

My story teller said in an effort to sign off for theseason the women Super Six was taken to Umuahiaand the clubs came out with complaints galore, be-moaning lack of sponsorship and the dismal qualityof organization etc.

For Mrs Onyedinma, this was a campaign againsther, one that is coming on the eve of the electionsand she decided to fight back.

The story goes further to say that she admitted thewomen game had suffered but that she should notbe held responsible. She pointed accusing fingersat her colleagues in the board who she said contrib-uted in her failure. Off camera, she mentionednames. On camera she said she was ready for a fight.

On the basis of the above, she was queried.The day our girls were knocked out of the All Afri-

ca Games, the Sports Editor of the Sun, George Aluocalled for my comments and I told him without minc-ing words that our women lifted us when the menlet us down. That we have never had problems inAfrica, winning with wide margins of 10-0, 7-0 etc,but that to see us now been beaten black and blue,thrown out of the Olympics by Equatorial Guinea (We even drew in Abuja-Abomination- could not winthe All Africa Games …….then there was cause forconcern.

Today, on the FIFA ranking we are on the all timelow of 38 in the world!

The domestic league is another story entirely. Poororganization, no sponsors or partners, walk oversgalore…..so many regrets, only for the Chair personof the Women League to come out FIVE YEARS AF-TER to lay blame on the doorsteps of her colleagues.

That is my quarrel, why NOW? Why did she notshout out before now? How did the NFF Board stopher and her colleagues from elevating the standardof the women game especially in the area of spon-

sorship? Is her reaction also political, coming on theheels of a belated and over due election? Is the NFFquery a function of her washing the dirty linen of thesoccer ruling body in public?

Women football in Nigeria is comatose and yearnsfor a new breadth of life.

What took me back to this was a news piece re-leased last week by the hard working media chief ofthe NFF Mr Demola Olajire, where the President ofthe NFF Mr Amaju Pinnick came out fuming, pum-meling Alhaji Kawu, Chairman of the Amateur leagueboard. In the course of his response he revealed thatAlhaji Kawu’s tenure of board of the NFF had ex-pired and that he could not speak for the board. Re-

ally? True?Interesting, very interesting. That took me on a re-

search assignment and I was shocked to discover thatthe elections into the boards of the Women League,the Amateur league and the National league was lastheld in 2011. Specifically on January 29 2011. In otherwords elections into these boards should have beenheld over a year ago.

Question. What, is stopping these elections? Whywas Alhaji Kawu not stopped from attending boardmeetings? How come the NFF President just real-

ized that Alhaji Kawu “…is not a member of the board?”The election of those three boards are overdue. Oth-

er believed minor occurrences are gathering moss. In2016, President Pinnick will need to punctuate his in-ternational and national advancement by looking backat the domestic scene, both on and off the field. Hecannot afford to neglect his back. I wish I could saymore.

UYO IS WHERE TO BE……This evening at the impressive banquet hall of the

Government House Uyo, the red carpet will be laid outas Governor Udom Emmanuel officially receives thevictorious Akwa United team, the History Makers

A month ago, a phone call by the permanent secre-tary in the Governors office Mr Umoh Bassey ( Ex Rov-ers of Calabar) saw me receiving an “order” from thesecretary to Government Mr Etekamba Umoren, on theneed to do everything possible “…….to make sure thatGovernor Udom Emmanuel lifts that cup in Lagos andbrings it back to Uyo”

Today belongs to the players, the technical crew, man-agement and board led by the favoured and pragmaticAkparawa Nse Ubeh who less than eight months onthe saddle as Chairman has written the state’s name inthe history books of Nigerian football and given AkwaIbomites cause to rejoice.

Today belongs to the state sports commissioner, SirMonday Uko, the Permanent secretary in the ministryand the director of sports , the stakeholders, thesupporters……..History makers all. Today belongs toGovernor Udom Emmanuel who sees this victory as amanifestation of God’s approval and acceptance of theleadership bestowed on the state, and predicts greaterglory in the future in all spheres of governance.

Today belongs to Akwa Ibom………Akwa IbomAdakkada. Ubong enyene Abasi ( Akwa Ibom is on itsfeet. All glory to God almighty

So much has been written about the nature of thereward that will be handed out to the team and theirhandlers. Some have suggested cars, others land, whilesome still will go for cash incentives.

Whatever happens today the Governor will there af-ter order for the punctuation of celebrations in order to“prepare for Africa”. He wants a blue print on his tableby the first week of January at the latest. He wants thebest players recruited to beef up the team, the techni-cally crew strenghthened and the management forti-fied. He wants the CAF Confederation cup on his ta-ble.

Your Excellency, your wish is our command.See you next week.

HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP . . . President FROTGROUP,Leading sponsor of The Nigerian FootballFederation Four day leadership training programmein the United Kingdom, Mr Frank Momoh (left) inhandshake with NFF president Amaju Pinnick at EkoHotel, VI during the week.

Mikel laughs as Costa throws bib at MourinhoTHE bad blood

between Diego Costa and Jose Mourinho seemsto have continued as thestriker threw a bib at hismanager in Chelsea

Costa was not named inChelsea’s starting 11 andwas left on the bench allthrough their goalless Premier League drawwithTottenham yesterday.

After warming up, Costawas not called up to enterthe game and he was nothappy about it.

As he made his way to thebench, the striker pulled hisbib and threw it backwardstowards his coach, Mourinho.

Nigerian midfielder, JohnObi Mikel who was sittingbehind Mourinho saw it alland laughed.

Mourinho who wasfocused on the game did notsee the bib. When pressedon the incident after thegame, Chelsea managerMourinho said he didn’texpect Costa to be happy to

be on the bench.“I was not expecting a

player to be on the benchjumping and singing... atop player on the bench is

not happy. If he wants to hurtme, it’s not with a bib,”Mourinho said.

“I don’t like my subs towarm up. I just want them

to be mentally ready to playfor when we need them.There’s no issue betweenme and Diego, it was just adecision.”

Plateau Utd’ve returned to where theybelong—Bewarang

By Jude Opara,Abuja

Apparently basking inthe euphoria of the promo-tion of Plateau United FCto the elite Nigeria Pre-mier League, GeneralManager of the club,Bitrus Bewarang says theJos based side have re-turned to the rightful placethey belong.

Bewarang who is alsothe President of the Nige-rian Football Coaches As-sociation told journalists inAbuja yesterday that theteam have what it takes tocompete at the highest lev-el of club football in thecountry.

He further stated that his

magic of getting qualityresult from the players andtheir coaches is by ensur-ing that they were well paidand as at when due.

“We have what it takes toretain our place in the pre-mier league because thestate government is veryinterested in supporting usand most importantly as amanagement we alwaysensure that our players andtheir coaches are paid verywell and that also meansthat if you don’t do well youleave the system, I will sackyou and that really putpressure on them to per-form. I train my coachesand pay my players well sothey know they have to

play well and win match-es for me or you leave.

“Plateau Utd is not a nov-ice in Nigerian football andthat means that we willdefinitely survive the heatof the NPL because evenin the federations cupmatches, we defeated pre-mier league teams like;Giwa FC, 3SC as well asKano Pillars the leaguedefending champions inthis year.”

The former assistantcoach of the Super Eaglesalso hinted that while heintends to retain most ofplayers that helped in se-curing the promotion, hewill recruit some other ex-perienced players to beefup the team for the taskahead.


CMYK


Uganda

club’s players to buy mo-torbikes, commonly knownas boda bodas, which arewidely used by businessesin Uganda to transportpeople and luggage.

With the cost of livingcontinuing to rise in theUgandan capital Kampala,club chairman AliSsekatawa told BBC Sportthey no longer want theirplayers to strictly rely onthe income they get fromplaying football.

The club’s managementhas, however, asked theplayers to hire riders andnot to ride the motorbikesthemselves, due to the risk

involved.“We are looking at a way

of having a self-sustainingsystem and when our staffis sorted they can playwell,” Ssekatawa said.

URA FC are one of themost popular UgandaPremier League sides andhave represented the EastAfrican country in the CafChampions League andConfederation Cupcompetitions - Africa’sbiggest continental clubcompetitions.

The numbers of bodabodas have recentlyballooned in Kampala, butso have the number ofaccidents - rising eight-fold

in the past eight years,with businesses looking atsafer ways of operating thebikes.

Earlier this year URAFC’s commissioner DorisAkol promised they wouldhelp the players with an al-ternative money-makingventure and club chairmanSsekatawa delivered 17motorbikes to the playersat the club’s trainingground on Thursday.

Long-serving defenderand Uganda internationalSimeon Masaba said hefavoured the initiative, asit will help the players toearn extra income for theirfamilies.

continued from B/P

Fury shocks Klitschko to become Heavyweightchampion

THE Gypsy King of England is amazing-

ly, wonderfully, sensation-ally – and tearfully – thenew heavyweight champi-on of the world.

Tyson Fury ended thedecade-long reign of thegreat Wladimir Klitschkowith a display of astonish-ing nerve and virtuosity –just as he said he would.

It was the biggest shockin boxing since JamesBuster Douglas beat MikeTyson 25 years ago as heinflicted Kitschko’s firstdefeat since 2004 to winthe IBF, WBO and WBAheavyweight titles.

The 27-year-old Mancu-nian giant made the near-40-year-old Klitschko lookslow and old with elusivedaring, his impudenttaunting and, above all,with his quickness of handand foot.

But it wasn’t simply theUkrainian hitting the agebarrier which has openeda rich world of opportunityto the man who would behappier living in a travel-ler’s caravan than a man-sion.

As is custom, Fury burstinto song in the ring afterwinning.

What preceded that wasa phenomenal effort and arichly deserved triumphagainst heavy bettingodds. Fury had talked thetalk for months and hedidn’t just walk the walk,he danced the dance.

Klitschko struggled allnight to catch up with himand although there wererounds which Fury let slipby failing to throw enoughpunches, his triumph wasfor unorthodox valiance.

Both men were generousto the other at the end.

Fury may have to do itall again as it is believethere is a re-match clausein the contract.

Perhaps back in Germa-ny if that proves to be thebest commercial prospect.Although Wembley Stadi-um would fill for this one.

Whether Kitschko wouldwant to go through all thefrustration again is anoth-er matter.

He could retire.For Fury, who now holds

all those treasured belts,there is the prospect of ahuge unification bout withAmerican holder of theWBC title, Deontay Wild-er.

Fury thanked Jesus. Kl-itschko admitted: ‘Icouldn’t land by jab or mybig right.’

That says it all.It was just above freez-

ing in Dusseldorf but theroof firmly closed over theEsprit Arena and the car-pet covering the footballturf ensured a hot night, atleast so far as the tempera-ture within was concerned.

This was a welcomechange from Hamburgthree years ago when Kl-itschko beat David Haye asicy winds swirled teemingrain around the canopycovering the ring, soakingthe rest of us.

Generating a fight tomatch the heat of the greatindoors was up to Furyand Klitschko but they hada comfortable environmentin which to work.

A second threat by Furyto pull out of the biggestnight of his life had alsogiven him the foothold hewanted in the ring. A pro-test, supported by the Brit-ish Boxing Board of Con-trol, secured the removal ofa thick layer of foam fromunder the canvas whichgave the floor of the ringthe impression of a boun-cy castle, which wouldhave put a man of Fury’svast size at risk of a twist-ed ankle.

Fury said he had ‘neverbeen in a ring so spongy’.He won that appeal, as hehad already prevailed withhis demand to wear hispreferred gloves.

So the big fight wentahead, with Fury havingjust been told by his wife,Paris, that she is expectingtheir third child. Despitebeing pregnant she was at

ringside wearing a jacketemblazoned with silver dol-lar motifs, among a crowdof more than 50,000.

The rich and famouswined and dined sumptu-

ously on one end of the pitch,in the manner to which theyhave become accustomed atthese lavish Klitschko occa-sions. There was anothercomplaint when Team Fury

discovered that Klitschko’shands had been wrappedwithout their observerpresent. The champion dulyunwrapped and re-wrappedhis hands.

Nigeria

secod half and almsotallowing Mali to claw theirway back into the game.

Parading what seemed adream strking pair ofLiverpool’s Taiwo Awoniyiand CF Sfaxien JuniorAjayi in attack, Nigeriamade a dream start whenAjayi netted the opener inthe 15th minute.

Ajayi;s goal could nothave come at a better time,scoring against the run ofplay, tipping in the ballwith the back of his rightfoot.. He was a regularscorer during thequalifying matches for thistournament and fullydeserved to get the ballrolling for Nigeria.

The goal seemed to fireMali on with the likes ofSalomon Diarra, AdaaTraore and captainBoubacar Diarra attackingthe Nigerian defence,manned by NdifrekeEffiong, Sincere Seth,Segun Oduduwa andZaharadeen Bello.

Even though they hadthe majority possession,Mali found EmmanuelDaniel in goal for Nigeriaimpregnable. The festiveatmosphere in the stadiummade the match all themore interesting as bothwest Africans went for eachother’s jugulars.

In the 30th minute,Diame Traore’s free kickwas blocked by the Nige-rian defence line. Malicontinued probing for theirown goal but Nigeria stoodfirm and took the lead inthe 35th minute, whenmidfielder UsmanMohammed unleashed afiercesome strike into theback of Mali’s net.

And in injury time of firsthalf, Ajayi scored hissecond of the night,tapping in captainAzubuike Okechukwu’sinitial shot, looking like apredator.

But in the second half,Mali gave Nigeria a scarewhen two goals, the first apenalty by Adana Nianein the 54th minute and andthe second ten minuteslater by.Sisoko beat threeball watching Nigerians toscore second goal for Mali.

Nigeria will be back toaction on Wednesdayagainst Egypt. A win forNigeria will qualify themfor the semi final.

continued from B/P

•Siasia

LMC takes reform campaign to WorldLeagues Forum in Paris•Dikko to firm up discussion with La Liga

THE Nigeria Profess- ional Football League,(NPFL) will tomorrow inParis, France join otherworld football leagues at theWorld Leagues Forum to

discuss the future of theleague in the scheme of theemerging FIFA structure. Itis the second edition of theWorld Leagues Forum(WLF) and Nigeria will berepresented by theChairman of the LeagueManagement Company,Mallam Shehu Dikko whosaid it will be anotheropportunity to seek globalpartnership and support forthe internal reforms inNPFL and also the on-going campaign to arrestcapital flight from domesticsports industry to Europewhich has denied theLeague the right kind offunding.

“We will use the platformto further drive the messageof on-going internal reformsin the NPFL and also thecase for better funding of theleague and clubs forimproved players’swelfare”, Dikko said tonpfl.ng shortly before

departing for the congress.Organizers of the

congress disclosed that allthe four candidates for thenext elections for the FIFAPresident’s office haveconfirmed their participationat the meeting at which theyare expected to unveil theirplans for world football withemphasis on the footballleagues.

“We will have theopportunity to discuss thefuture of football and the roleof the leagues in thegovernance landscape withPrince Ali Ben Hussein,Cheik Salman ben IbrahimAl-Khalifa, Mr. TokyoSexwale and Mr. JeromeChampagne”, wrote theorganizer to the LMC.

Dikko said that the forumwill also avail the LMC theopportunity to furtherdiscuss developmentalpartnership with theleadership of the SpanishLeague as a follow-up toearlier correspondencesalready exchangedbetween the La Liga and theLMC.

•Klitschko slams a right hook into Fury’s facea

CMYK


CMYK

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How to Play Sudoku

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

FRIFRIFRIFRIFRIDDDDDAAAAAY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSY'S ANSWERSWERSWERSWERSWERSTTTTTODODODODODAAAAAY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLEY'S PUZZLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30 , 2015

CMYK

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

Fury shocks Klitschko tobecome Heavyweight champion

Page 54

Mikellaughs as

Costathrowsbib at

Mourinho—Page 52

Uganda’s club buystaxis for playersUGANDA Revenue

Authority (URA) FC-one of the country’s big-gest clubs - have encour-

aged their players to earnextra cash, by helpingthem to get into the lu-crative motorcycle taxi

business.URA are helping thecontinues on page 54

—Page 52

•Klitschko bled profusely from his face after beingcut on his top right eyelid

•Klitschko slams a right hook into Fury’s facea

•Mikel

EPLTottenham 0 Chelsea 0West Ham 1 W/Brom 1Liverpool 1 Swansea 0Norwich 1 Arsenal 1

LA LIGAGetafe 2 Villarreal 0Eibar 0 R/Madrid 2Vallecano 0 A/Bilbao 3

CAF U23Egypt 1 Algeria 1Mali 2 Nigeria 3

RESULTS

AFCON U-23:Nigeria survive Mali’slate blitz, shoot to top

By John Egbokhan

NIGERIA got their campaign at the CAF U-

23 Championship off to ashaky but winning startyesterday, edging Mali 3-2 in their Group B clash atthe Stade Caroline Faye inMbour.

A game of two halves,saw the Nigerians scoringthree goals in the first half,while Mali got the secondhalf, netting twice but fall-ing short of nicking theequaliser, which they trulydeserved on the evidenceof their performance andsecond half display.

This is a match that

Coach Samson Siasiawould quickly want to for-get as he attempts to qualifyNigeria for next summerOlympic Games in Rio DeJaneiro.

Siasia like most Nigerianswould not be happy withthe second half display ofhis Dream Team, wholargely went to sleep in the

continues on page 54

•Ajayi

ACROSS:2 Clothing (5)7 Twenty (5)8 Little (5)10 Heron (5)12 Fitting (3)13 Javelin (5)15 Advance (7)17 Called (6)19 Sea-bird (3)20 Enticed (7)23 Pour (4)25 Expensive (4)26 Ordained (7)30 Prosecute (3)31 Determine (6)34 Own (7)37 Claw (5)38 Beverage (3)39 Instrument (5)40 Platform (5)41 Ice-house (5)42 Greeting (5)

DOWN:1 Range (5)2 Vision (5)3 Rue (6)4 Ooze (4)5 Slapped (7)6 Change (5)9 Imitate (3)11 Caught (7)13 Condition (5)14 Strayed (5)16 Abroad (3)18 Dishearten (7)21 Satan (5)22 Verdant (5)24 Missive (7)27 Hint (3)28 Item (6)29 Saying (5)32 Freight (5)33 Giver (5)35 Ocean (3)36 Location (4)

ACROSS: 2, Eject 7, Bear 8, Occult 9, React11, Sod 13, Cad 15, Ewer 16, His 18, Code 19,Section 20, Used 22, Diva 23, Tingled 25, Eden27, Eel 28, Mere 30, Dud 31, Rod 33, Stern 36,Scarce 37, Abut 38, Troop.

DOWN: 1, Below 2, Err 3, Era 4, Tot 5, Act6, Plead 10, Chic 11, Secured 12, Deleted13, Conifer 14, Delayed 16, Hedge 17,Steel 18, Cod 21, Din 24, Left 26, Dunce29, Rogue 32, Pry 33, Set 34, Ego 35, Nap.

Crisis rocks APC over Kogi election impasse

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