SULTAN TO JONATHAN: Declare total amnesty for Boko Haram

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61832

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

Continues on Page 5

SULTAN TO JONATHAN:

•P.17

DEAR BUNMI•P.35

•P.19ROTIMI FASAN

COLUMNISTS:

OGAGAIFOWODO

•P.19

Says Muslims were major victims of Wukari ‘madness’98% of polio victims have Muslim names — MinisterHow Northern govs split Boko Haram — Pg. 9Gunmen kill DPO, 9 others in Borno — Pg. 6

BY LUKA BINNIYAT

KADUNA — THESultan of Sokoto,

Alhaji Sa’ad AbubakarIII, yesterday, askedPresident GoodluckJonathan to immediatelygrant amnesty to allmembers of the Islamicsect, Boko Haram, as away of encouraging themto lay down their arms.

Abubakar, who is alsothe President-General ofJa’matu Nasril Islam,O G U N H O U S E I N R O W D Y S E S S I O N

Declare total amnestyfor Boko Haram

Opposition members took over the hallowed chambers of the Ogun State House of Assembly, yesterday. (INSET LEFT): Thebroken Mace. Photo: WUNMI AKINOLA.

Dr Eugene Juwah,Executive ViceChairman, NigerianCommunicationsCommission, NCC(left) and DrHamadoun Toure, ITUSecretary General,after a meeting at theMobile WorldCongress, inBarcelona.

I leave my husband's killers toGod — Slain CP's widow — P.8

PIB splits Senators — P.9

CMYK

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013

CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 — 3

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CMYK

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013—5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from page 1

SURROUND yourself only with people who aregoing to take you higher – Oprah Winfrey.

A summary of an astonishing perspective andpearls of wisdom from Adrienne Rich.

She said responsibility to yourself means refusingto let others do your thinking and talking. It meansinsisting that those to whom you give yourfriendship and love are able to respect your mindand heart.

Responsibility to yourself means that you don’tfall for shallow and easy solutions. For women, sheadvised that marrying early as an escape from realdecisions, getting pregnant as an evasion of alreadyexisting problems. It also means that you refuse tosell your talents and aspirations short...and this,in turn, means resisting the forces in the societywhich say that you should be nice, play safe andhave low professional expectations, drown in loveand forgets about work, live through others, andstay in the places assigned to us.

It means that we insist on a life of meaningfulwork, insist that work be as meaningful as love andfriendship in our lives. It means, therefore, thecourage to be “different”...The difference betweena life lived actively, and a life of passive driftingand dispersal of energies, is an immense difference.

Once we begin to feel committed to our lives,responsible to ourselves, we can never again besatisfied with the old, passive way.

Don’t envy the signs of happiness in any man,because you do not know the secret grief he isexperiencing; an average man has a grief unknownto most. Happiness is the capacity to carry life ex-periences well!

JNI MEETING: From right: Sultan of Sokoto and President-General, Jama'atu Nasril Islam, JNI,Alhaji Sa'ad Abubakar III; Secretary-General, JNI, Dr. Khalid Abubakar and the Shehu of Borno,Alhaji Abubakar Garbai El-Kanemi, during the JNI Annual Central Council meeting, in Kaduna,yesterday. Photo: Olu Ajayi.

JNI, the umbrella as-sociation of all Muslimunions, also denouncedthe recent violence inWukari, Taraba State,where several peopledied, describing it as“madness beyond com-prehension” lamenting

that Muslims were themajor victims.

The Sultan spoke atthe opening of theannual central meetingof the JNI in Kadunawhere the Minister ofState for Health, Dr.Mohammed Aliyu Pate,was invited to enlighten

the gathering on thec o n t r o v e r s ys u r r o u n d i n gvaccination againstpolio.

Those who attendedthe meeting weremainly NorthernMuslims, traditionalleaders and clerics.

Sultan Abubakar, whoexpressed deepconcern over the spateof bomb attacks andkidnappings byterrorists in parts of thecountry, argued thatextending amnesty tothe sect members wouldpave the way fordialogue between thesect and the FederalGovernment.

Making reference to asimilar amnestydeclared for militantsin the Niger Delta, hesaid: “The type ofamnesty that endedmilitants’ unrest in theNiger Delta will besuitable for the North.Initiating a restorationand rehabilitationprogramme that wouldintegrate the terroristsinto the larger societywill pave the way fordialogue rather thanengaging them in anendless war.

Spate ofinsecurity

"We want to bring toattention of thegovernment ourchallenges. As Muslimleaders, we feel veryconcerned and veryworried the way thingsare going on in Nigeriatoday, especially theinsecurity issue in this

country. We haveproblems in the North,we have in the South-East, we have in theSouth-West and in theSouth-South. Webelieve it is the duty ofthe government toprotect all of us.

What happenedin Wukari wastotal madness

"My brothers andsisters, what happenedin Wukari a few daysago is total madnessb e y o n dc o m p r e h e n s i o n .Because if you followthe news, how can anissue between theyouths playing footballturn into whathappened in Wukariwhere the major victimshave been Muslims?

“You have been livingtogether for centurieswhy all of a sudden doyou say you do not wantto live with oneanother? These aresome of the things weshall be discussing.Either there issomething somewherewe do not know, or wecome to the tabletogether (with the otherside) and seek thesolution.

“By the grace of God,we believe that theissue of security orrather, insecurity,terrorism and their likesshall be discussed. Wehear of terrorismeverywhere, everyday.We have heard in thenews that the Presidentshall be visitingMaiduguri in a couple

of days. And praise beto God, that the Shehuof Borno is here and hewill be briefing us thisevening.

Amnesty for BokoHaram

“We want to use thisopportunity to call onthe government,especially MrPresident, to see howhe can declare totalamnesty for allcombatants (BokoHaram) withoutthinking twice. Thatwill make any otherperson who picks uparms to be termed acriminal.

“If amnesty isdeclared, it will give somany of those youngmen who have beenrunning and hiding toembrace that amnesty.Some of them havealready come out,because we have readin the papers that somehave already come out.

"Even if it is only oneperson that denouncesterrorism, it is the dutyof the government toaccept that person andsee how he can be usedto reach out to others.It is left for thegovernment to use thatperson, evaluate himand see whether he isgenuine or fake.

“These are some ofthe things we arepushing for, yet peoplewill be saying that weare not doing anythingas Muslim leaders inthe north. No! We aredoing much more thanwhat any other personhas done. And I want tocommend you all. Wewill continue to do moredespite criticisms.”

98% of poliovictims haveMuslim names— Minister

On polio outbreakand other epidemics insome states of theNorth, the Sultan saidJNI would continue to

work with the Ministryof Health and otherrelevant agencies ofgovernment to ensurethat children in theregion are immunisedagainst such deadlydiseases.

Addressing the JNIleaders on polio,Minister of State forHealth, Dr.Mohammed Aliyu Pate,regretted that onlythree countries in theworld, includingNigeria, Afghanistanand Pakistan, sti l lrecorded incidences ofthe wild polio, pointingout that “98 per cent ofthe children that arevictims of this diseasehave Muslim names."

He said: "It isunfortunate that therehave been a lot of falseclaims going on aboutthe wild polio virus inNigeria.

"The opposition to itled to the unfortunatedeath of nine innocentfemale health workersin Kano State. Thatshould not happenbecause immunisationof children is in thebest interest of thechildren and oursociety.

"By 2007, Niger,India, Pakistan, Nigeriaand Afghanistan werethe only countries in theworld that had poliocases. Today, India andNiger are off that list.Go to our streets todayin the north, you willsee how polio hascrippled our children,turning them todisables and beggars.’’

The Governor ofKaduna State, AlhajiMukhtar Yero, whodeclared the meetingopen, enjoined Muslimleaders to preach peaceto their followers,promising to ensurethat Q’uranic Schoolsbuilt in the state teachquality Western andIslamic education. Themeeting is expected toissue a communiquétoday.

Declare total amnesty for Boko Haram —Sultan

POCKET CARTOON


BY CHIDI NK-WOPARA

Gunmen kill DPO, deputy, 8 others; setablaze police station, bank in Borno

BY NDAHI MARAMA

BY GODFREY BIVBERE

Nollywood actor on the run over alleged N20m fraud

Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Mr Tonye Ebitibituwa (left) and Deputy Commission-er in-charge of Operations, ACP Isaac Akinmoyede at a briefing on the slain Kwara StatePolice Commissioner, Late Mr Chinwike Asadu in Enugu, yesterday.

MAIGUDURI—BARELY17 hours after the assas-

sination of Mobile PoliceTraining Camp, MPTC, com-mandant and a traditional rul-er, gunmen suspected to bemembers of the Boko Haramsect attacked the Gwoza Di-visional Police Station andMainstreet Bank, killing theDivisional Police Officer,DPO, Abubakar Digire Aham-du, his deputy; and eight ci-vilians caught up in the cross-fire on Monday.

Gwoza Local GovernmentArea of Borno State is a bor-der town with Cameroun; and135 kilometres south-east ofMaiduguri, the state capitaland epicenter of activities ofthe Islamist sect group.

The gunmen, according toresidents who do not wanttheir names mentioned for se-curity reasons told Vanguardthat the attackers used Impro-vised Explosive Devices,IEDs, and petrol-bombs intorching the police stationand the bank, before cartingaway undisclosed amount ofmoney from the bank some750 metres away from thetorched station.

Narrating the incident, asource said: “We were aboutgoing to bed when we heardmultiple explosions and gun-shots at the divisional policestation on market road. Thedogs started barking, whilethe few people remaining atthe main junction of Maidug-uri-Mubi road; ran for safety,as the gunmen exchangedgunfire with the policemen atthe station for over two hours.

“Twenty minutes after, Iheard another explosion at theMainstreet Bank premises;followed by sporadic gunshotsthat lasted for another half anhour. My neighbours hurried-ly shut their doors, becausethe gunmen could burst intotheir houses.”

Another source from theGwoza General Hospital alsotold newsmen that the bodiesof the DPO and seven otherswere brought in by the policein two Hilux patrol vehiclesfor identification.

He further disclosed that thegunmen got into the bank, afterdragging the bank manager fromhis house at gunpoint to its doors,before carting away undisclosedsums of money from the strongroom and torching it at about10.25pm.

Another resident said that theirchildren and wives could notsleep, as the gunshots continuedinto the early hours of Tuesday.

“The whole area covering Gwo-za Wakane and the residentialnorth flank of Market road

were scary with sporadic gun-shots that lasted for over fourhours. This is the first time inGwoza we are having this type

of multiple attacks by Boko Har-am gunmen”, said residents.

The Borno State Police Com-mand spokesman, Gideon Ji-

THE police are on the trail ofa Nollywood actor (name

withheld), alleged to have mas-terminded a N20 million fraudin a freight forwarding company

Vanguard gathered that theNollywood star allegedly perpe-trated the act over several monthsbecause of his strategic positionin the company which gave himaccess to vital documents andaccount details of many clients.

The Nollywood star was saidto be the account officer of a par-ticular ‘big client’ of the firm, aposition which made him to beprivy to outflow and inflow in thatparticular account.

From this position, the actor al-legedly received cheques of var-ious sums, which he allegedly di-verted to private intereststhrough a microfinance bankwith allegedly connivance of of-ficials of a commercial bank inLagos.

Police sources, however, toldVanguard that the bubble burstwhen the company embarked ona comprehensive audit of its 2012books.

Our source at the Apapa AreaCommand of the Police whopleaded anonymity disclosedthat the matter is still under in-vestigation, but he confirmedthat, when the Police went afterthe said staff of the company atAboru in Ipaja, a Lagos suburb,but the actor was said to have

moved out.He was however traced to the

new hiding place where Police

reportedly met the family mem-bers who also claimed not to knowhis whereabout.

11 arraigned for allegedly stealinggenerators worth N40m

BY ONOZURE DANIA

...woman docked for breach of peace

LAGOS—A 50 year old man,Abiodun Ashiru and 10 oth-

ers, were yesterday arraigned forallegedly stealing 22 generatingsets, belonging to Mantrac Cat-erpillar company valued at N40million.

The 11 suspects, who were ar-raigned before an Ikeja Magis-trate’s Court, are facing two-count charge bordering on con-spiracy and stealing.

The police prosecutor, inspec-tor Iranus Nnamonu, told thecourt that Abiodun Ashiru, 50,Afeez Kolawole 23, MusliuOyedele, 32, Sunday Thomas,32, Emmanuel Effiong, 23, Sun-day Omadachi, 27, Dele Baba-jide, 38, Oche Stephen 36, Oge-degbe Afolabi 33, Kabiru Aliu 33and Jubril Sulaiman 39 and oth-ers now at large, committed thesaid offence, at Caterpillar Com-pany Oregun Ikeja area of La-gos.

Nnamonu said that the de-

fendants, who were casual work-ers were said to have committedthe offence between July 2012and January 6, 2013.

He alleged that they commit-ted the crime while they were stillworking with the company.

According to him, the offencecommitted is punishable undersection 409,285 (8) of the crimi-nal laws of Lagos state 2011.

However, when the two-countcharge was read to the defend-ants, they pleaded not guilty.

Magistrate A.O Komolafe,granted them bail in the sum ofN100,000, with two sureties inlike sum and adjourned the mat-ter till April 9, 2013.

Meantime, a 21-year-old wom-an, Doris Aliboro, was alsodocked before Magistrate DemiAjayi, of an Ikeja MagistrateCourt, for allegedly causingbreach of peace.

Aliboro, who is facing a onecount charge, was said to haveconstituted herself a nuisance tothe public by breaking the deck-ing of her apartment.

Villagersdiscovercorpsesdumped in pit

OWERRI— UNIDENTIFIED corpses in vary-

ing stages of decompositionhave been found in a pit atMgbirichi, along the Ower-ri-Port Harcourt federal high-way.

Vanguard learnt that theshocking discovery wasmade by some women, whowere on their way to theirfarms.

Scared by the finding, thewomen rushed back home toannounce the developmentto their fellow villagers.

Confirming this to Van-guard, one of the villagerswho spoke on ground of an-onymity, said “the communityleaders quickly reported theincident to the DivisionalPolice Headquarters,Umuagwo.

“Health workers super-vised by policemen later bur-ied the two fresh bodies inthe pit, while the other de-cayed human parts, includ-ing bones which littered theplace, were not attended to”,the villager said.

BY DAYO JOHNSON

Mimiko's wiferaises alarmover fakefacebookaccount

AKURE—THE wife ofOndo State Governor,

Mrs Olukemi Mimiko yes-terday raised the alarm overactivities of swindlers whohave been operating a falsefacebook account in hername.

According to a statementby Mrs Mimiko, fraudstershave been using the fakesocial media account tofleece innocent people inthe name and an image ofher person as well as plac-ing her biography on the fa-cebook account.

She said: “ My attentionhas been drawn to the ex-istence of a fake facebookaccount created by somecyber criminals in the pop-ular social media network .

“The purported facebook-social media account withthe name Mrs OlukemiMimiko has my personaland official pictures.”

She pleaded with the un-suspecting public to be vig-ilant so as not to fall prey tothe antics of the fraudsters.

brin, yesterday confirmed theincident, adding that therehave been no arrest made, asinvestigation has commenced.


BY IFEANYI OKOLIE &DONALD ARJI

Ex-'Bakassi' member arrested for alleged robbery

Decomposed bodies of 2 missing babiesfound in Ketu

BY EVELYN USMAN

THE Lagos State Police Command, yesterday, said it was

on the trail of the owner of a vehi-cle in which corpses of two chil-dren were found, Monday, inKetu area of Lagos.

The dead bodies, were identi-fied as those of Toheeb Adedokunand Falilu Tajudeen, both threeyears old, who disappeared fromtheir parents’ house located at 18Taike street, Ketu on January 25,2013.

Police sources told Vanguardthat the bodies were found follow-ing report by two staff of the Ketubranch of a micro finance bank.

The bodies of the children werereportedly in their decomposingstate. But the circumstances sur-rounding their death could, how-ever, not be ascertained.

It was gathered that they prob-ably strayed or were kidnappedthat fateful day, following the row-diness of the area, as a result ofthe burial ceremony of the ownerof the building.

Since their disappearance, both

parents have made frantic effortsto locate their whereabouts. Theywere therefore, taken by surprisewhen they were invited by the Di-visional Police Officer, DPO, in-charge of Ketu division yesterday,

where the news was broken tothem.

Father of one of the children,Rasaq Adedokun, a commercialdriver, who was too stunned tospeak, simply stated that he was

at work when he was informedabout his son’s disappearance.

Meanwhile, operatives at theSpecial Anti Robbery Squad havereportedly taken over the investi-gation.

Staff of the National Hospital protesting over delay in promotion and welfare in Abuja,yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.

Man crushed to death in autocrash

AKURE– A middle-agedman, Alfa Kabiru, was

crushed to death in an auto crashin Akure, capital of Ondo StateMonday.

Vanguard gathered that thecrash occurred at about 9.00pmand it involved a truck withnumber plate Lagos FKJ 944 XAsaid to be loaded with news-prints.

It was learnt that the truck hadonly two occupants, the driver andthe deceased person.

Eyewitness account had it thatthe accident occurred when thedriver who was on top speed lostcontrol of the vehicle.

The truck which was comingfrom Oba Adesida road and wasdescending the sloppy Adeg-bemile Cultural Centre lost con-trol and rammed into a buildingat the First Bank roundabout.

The driver who lost control ofthe truck reportedly swerved offthe road and somersaulted beforecrushing the deceased to death.

Vanguard learnt that the driv-er was seriously injured in thecrash and was rushed to the hos-pital while the remains of the de-ceased had also been depositedat the mortuary of the hospital.

It took more than two hours forthe officials of state Fire Service,Ministry of Works and men of thestate Police command could re-move the victim from wreckageof the truck.

A colleague of the deceased whosaid he was in another vehicle

Displaced market women protesting evacuation from Abule-Osun market, Oriade Local Council Development Area inLagos State, yesterday.

BY DAYO JOHNSON explained that their trucks weretraveling to Abuja from Lagos todeliver newsprints.

He said: “We were going toAbuja from Lagos to deliver somegoods. We left Lagos together thesame time but I overtook themwhen they were buying fuel be-fore we got to Akure.

“When I got to Owo, I calledKabiru only for me to hear a voiceof a police officer who told me theirvehicle had an accident and laterinformed me that Alfa Kabiru wasdead.”

LAGOS—THE Ilemba PoliceDivision, yesterday, said it

has arrested a suspected armedrobber said to have been terror-izing the residents of Sabo On-iba community of Ojo local Gov-ernment Area .

The suspect, identified asChristain Umini, 22, said to bea dismissed member of the pro-scribed vigilante group in thecommunity, “Bakassi”, report-edly used a gun-like object todispose his victims of theirproperty.

He also allegedly confessedthat he was responsible for thevandalisation of a car owned bya community head and other

As police, suspects trade words over extortion

residents of the community,claiming that he ventured intorobbery because of his dismissalfrom the community vigilante.

He said: “I decided to ven-ture into robbery after I was dis-missed from the community vig-ilante group. As a former mem-ber of the group, I knew thenooks and crannies of the com-munity".

Police sources confirmed thearrest to Vanguard, adding thatthe suspect will soon becharged to court after furtherinvestigation.

Meantime, two suspects ac-cused of drugging and robbinga Chinese national, Zhang Ba-fan, in his hotel room at Ojoarea of Lagos State, have peti-tioned the Inspector General ofPolice, MD Abubakar, over al-

leged attempts by the Area ECommander, Dan Okoro, to cir-cumvent investigation, illegalarrest and prolonged detention.

Dan Okoro, an Assistant Com-missioner of Police, however toldVanguard, that he was aware ofthe petition explaining that thesuspects were arrested follow-ing complaints from a Chinesenational who accused them ofdrugging and robbing him.

The suspects identified asRowland Okorie and IfeanyiNdubisi, who were paraded lastWednesday, by the Area E Com-mander before newsmen at theState Command Headquarters,Ikeja, told Vanguard thatthey’ve been detained for morethat 13 days by the area com-mander on a crime they didn’tcommit.

Alleged murderof policeman:Ondo NBAthreatens tosue police

BY DAYO JOHNSON

We'll prosecutesuspect — Ondo CP

AKURE – THE Ondo Statechapter of the Nigeria

Bar Association, NBA, yester-day, threatened to sue the Ni-geria Police Force if the sen-ior police officer who alleged-ly shot his junior colleague inOndo town was not broughtto book.

Inspector Adelaku Lawalwas allegedly murdered by anAssistant Superintendent ofPolice, ASP, Kazeem Shehu, ata relaxation centre in Ondotown.

The chairman of Ondochapter of the Association, MrKunle Adetowubo, said theNBA would challenge the ac-tion at the law court if neces-sary action was not takenagainst the assailant.

Adetowubo said the associ-ation would take all legitimatemeans to ensure that the mat-ter was not swept under thecarpet by compelling the Po-lice authority to investigate thesuspect.

However reacting to this, theState Commissioner of Police,Mr Patrick Dokumor con-firmed that the Criminal In-vestigation Department, CID,of the Ondo State Police Com-mand would soon prosecutethe suspect, Mr. Kazeem She-hu, an Assistant Superintend-ed of Police, ASP.

22-yr-old jailedfor theft

IBADAN—A 22-year-old,Gbenga Oladeru, has been

sentenced to one and halfyears imprisonment for steal-ing two motorcycles valued atN380,000.

An Ibadan Chief Magis-trates’ Court on Tuesday sen-tenced the convict who wassaid to specialise in stealingof motorcycles.

The prosecutor, Insp. Olale-kan Obayanju, told the courtthat the defendant was ar-raigned on a two-count chargeof conspiracy and stealing.

He said Oladeru and a col-laborator committed the crimeon November 22, 2012 atGbenla area of Ibadan.

Obayanju said the offencecontravened Section 516 and390(9) of the Criminal CodeCap 38 Vol. II Laws of OyoState, 2000.

The defendant had at an in-itial hearing pleaded guilty,but changed his plea.

8—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013

Nigerianever had$67bnexternalreserves,says CBNGov

I leave my husband's killersto God— Slain CP's widow

NDDC REPORT: From left— President Goodluck Jonathan (left) receiving the re-port of the Presidential Monitoring Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission,NDDC, from Chief Isaac Jamide, Chairman of the Committee in Abuja, yesterday. STATEHOUSE PHOTO.

Rapists to get life sentence, as female circumcisionattracts 2yrs

ENUGU—MRS ObyAsadu, wife of the Kwara

State Commissioner of Police,Mr. Chinwike Asadu, whowas shot dead by unknowngunmen in Enugu last Satur-day, said, yesterday, that shehad decided to allow God han-dle the murderers of her hus-band in His own way.

She told Vanguard at theirAmorji Nike residence inEnugu, where she was receiv-ing sympathisers, yesterday,that her late husband was avery quiet person who couldnot have hurt anybody to war-rant being killed.

Mrs. Asadu spoke just as theState Commissioner of Police,Mr. Tonye Ebitibituwa, dis-closed that several arrests hadbeen made in connection withthe murder of the police bossand the shooting of his twopolice escorts but declined togive details of their numberand identity.

The CP met with top secu-rity officials, comprising theGarrison Commander, 82 Di-vision of Nigerian Army,Enugu, and the Director ofDepartment of State Services,DSS, where they discussedcrucial security issues at thestate Police Command Head-quarters, Enugu.

They reviewed the existingsecurity strategies with a viewto adopting new measures totackle current security chal-lenges in the state.

‘He was harmless'The widow, however,

frowned at the insinuationsregarding the motive of thepolice boss, saying thosespeaking about her late hus-

band did not know him verywell as, according to her, hecould not have done anythingbad to the extent of anybodydeciding to take his life pre-maturely.

She said: “I leave the kill-ers of my husband in thehands of the Almighty Godbecause I depend solely onHim to fight our battle. What-ever happened only Godknows, because He sees bothin day and at night.

“I am worried about all sortsof things people are sayingand writing in the papersabout what they claim to haveknown about my husband be-cause they know nothingabout him. They are all false.

“They are trying to portraymy husband as a public fig-ure but he is not. Until his re-

cent appointment as Commis-sioner of Police, Kwara StateCommand, many people didnot know him as he had cho-sen to live a quiet life.”

‘We've madesome arrests'

Briefing newsmen on theupsurge of violent crimes inEnugu State in recent times,CP Ebitibituwa, who assumedoffice as the state police bosstwo weeks ago, said the com-mand has made some arrestsin the effort to unravel themotive behind the killing ofthe Kwara State CP.

But he insisted that he wouldnot disclose the number ofthose in police net or theiridentity as doing so mightjeopardise the process of in-vestigation, adding that the

suspects are still undergoinginterrogation.

Army lends supportMeanwhile, General Officer

Commanding 82 Division ofthe Nigeria Army, Enugu,Major General AdebayoOlaniyi, has pledged that themilitary command would sup-port the police in ensuring thatperpetrators of the crime werefished out as quickly as possi-ble and brought to book.

He described the death asshocking and unfortunate, say-ing God in His infinite mercywill expose his killers.

The GOC stated this duringa condolence visit to State Com-missioner of Police, Mr. TonyeEbitibituwa at the Police Head-quarters, Enugu over the deathof the Kwara State police boss.

BY TONY EDIKE

ABUJA—NIGERIANmen, who forcibly have

carnal knowledge of women,may end up spending therest of their lives in jail if theexecutive arm adopts the rec-ommendations of the HouseRepresentatives report on abill for an Act on ViolenceAgainst Persons (Prohibi-tion).

Any man convicted of rapeis liable to life imprisonment.

Also, persons convicted ofgang-raping any victim shallbe liable, jointly and severally,to a minimum of 20 years im-prisonment without an optionof fine.

However, where the offender

is less than 14 years, he shallbe liable to a maximum of 14years imprisonment and aminimum of 12 years, withoutan option of fine.

Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa,representing Ikorodu Fed-eral Constituency in Lagos,while presenting the 51-clause bill that was exten-sively considered andadopted by the lawmakersyesterday, said it had becomeexpedient for the bill to be-come law going by the ris-ing cases of violence againstpersons in the country.

Female circumcision andgeneral mutilation also drewpunishments as any personconvicted of performing it orengaging someone to carryit out risks four year jailterm or a fine not more thanN200,000 or both.

Aiding female circumcisionattracts N100,000 or two yearjail term or both, while anyperson convicted of frustratinginvestigation and prosecutionof offenders is guilty of felonyand liable on conviction toimprisonment not more thanthree years or a fine not ex-ceeding N500,000.

The legislators are alsorecommending imprison-ment not exceeding fiveyears or a fine of N100,000or both for anyone con-victed of willfully causingor inflicting physical injuryon another person bymeans of any weapon, sub-stance or object.

Also anybody who incites,aids, abets, or counsels an-other person to commit theact of violence and is guiltyof the offense is also liable

on conviction to imprison-ment for a term not exceed-ing three years or to a finenot exceeding N200,000 or toboth fine and imprisonment.

The lawmakers also recom-mended that any person whocompels another by force orthreat to engage in any con-duct or act of sexual or oth-erwise to the detriment of thevictim’s physical or psycho-logical well-being, commitsan offense and is liable onconviction to imprisonmentfor a term not exceeding twoyears or a fine not exceedingN500,000 or both.

However, the recommenda-tion that the victim has the rightto terminate pregnancy result-ing from rape and provedharmful to the health of thevictim was rejected by thelawmakers and deleted.

BY OKEY NDIRIBE &EMMAN OVUAKPORIE

LAGOS—GOVER-NOR of Central Bank

of Nigeria, CBN, yester-day, said the countrynever had up to $67 bil-lion as external reserves,adding that the highestlevel of reserves attainedby the country was $62billion.

He said this at the Met-ropolitan Club Luncheonin Lagos, in reaction tothe recent debate over thenation’s external reservebetween the Federal Gov-ernment and former Min-ister of Education, Dr. ObyEzekwesili.

The former Minister hadsaid that the Federal Gov-ernment, under formerPresident, Yar’Adua andPresident GoodluckJonathan had wasted ex-ternal reserves of $67 bil-lion saved under theObasanjo’s administra-tion.

Commenting on debate,Sanusi said: “First, let ustalk about the numbers.Nigeria never had $67 bil-lion of reserves in its his-tory. The highest level ofreserves was $62 billionunder late PresidentYar’Adua.

“There is also a certaintruth to a basic proposi-tion that if we savedmoney when oil price washigh, it is expected thatwhen oil price crashes, wewould de-save.

“Look at Germany, US,UK, after the crisis. Theyall had huge deficits. Soour incurring of deficit wasa reduction in reserves.

“Now having said that,no one can deny that be-tween 2010 and 2011,when oil price was goingup, we should have savedmore than we actuallydid and we spent morethan we ought to. AsCBN Governor, I spentthe whole of those twoyears talking about fiscalleakages.

“We cannot deny thatthere is need for seriousgovernance review oftransparency and account-ability in the oil sector.”

BY BABAJIDEKOMOLAFE


MEETING: Baroness Lynda Chalker, Coordinator, Honourary International Inves-tors Council, HIIC, and Chairman, Africa Matters Limited (right), and Dr. Olusegun Aganga,Minister of Trade and Investment, addressing newsmen after her meeting with PresidentGoodluck Jonathan in Abuja, yesterday. STATE HOUSE PHOTO.

How northern governorssplit Boko Haram

PIBsplitssenators

LAGOS—THE recent split inthe ranks of the Islamist insur-

gent group, Boko Haram, leadingto a division over a ceasefire, hasbeen traced to a recent peace ini-tiative spearheaded by the North-ern States Governors Forum,NSGF.

The peace offensive, which sawa delegation of the forum meet withthe second-in-command of the BokoHaram group, it was learnt yes-terday, may also have opened wayfor the proposed presidential visitto Maiduguri, Borno State, sched-uled for tomorrow.

The peace initiative, under theauspices of NSGF, was spear-headed by the Committee on Rec-onciliation, Healing and Securityheaded by Ambassador ZakariIbrahim, a former Director-Generalof the Nigeria Intelligence Agency,NIA.

It also recommended a compre-hensive amnesty for the combat-ants and rehabilitation of all thoseaffected by the crisis.

The committee, Vanguard learntyesterday, has written the chair-man of NSGF and GovernorBabangida Aliyu of Niger State,detailing a rundown of the proc-ess that led to the declaration ofthe ceasefire which has now beenrebutted by the acclaimed leaderof the group, Abubakar Shekau.

C'ttee's letter to NSGFIn the letter dispatched to Gov-

ernor Aliyu, yesterday, and whichgave an account of the visit toBorno and Yobe states by a sub-committee of the main committee,Ambassador Ibrahim was quotedto have said: “In Maiduguri, theCommittee was able to meet withsome people strongly believed tobe members of the sect, and hadvery useful discussions with them

which culminated into the offerfor ceasefire and subsequentpress briefing by the leader,which has given rise to the con-fidence building that culmi-nated in the visitation by theChief of Defence Staff and othersecurity chiefs, the Vice Presi-dent and 10 All Progressive Con-gress, APC, governors.

“The meeting was held at theGovernment House,

vince him to publicly renouncehostilities and also designate aplace of his choice for furtherdiscussions and negotiationswith the Federal Government.

“They also dissociated them-selves from other criminalgroups that perpetrate atrocitiesin the name of Boko Haram forvarious selfish reasons, andpromised to assist authorities infishing out all such perpetratorsof criminal acts.

Sect's demands"Having agreed to cease hos-

tilities, they also made certaindemands: That all detaineesagainst whom a case of crimi-nal involvement was estab-lished should be prosecuted bycourts of competent jurisdiction.

Conversely, all those againstwhom there is no evidence ofcriminal involvement shouldbe released unconditionally;

"An area should be desig-nated for all combatants to vol-untarily surrender themselvesand their weapons withoutfear of harassment ormolestations."

RecommedationsIn their recommendations on

the way forward, the commit-tee said: “This Committeeshould arrange for further vis-its to Borno and Yobe states tomeet with this group and othergroups that have now indicatedtheir willingness to come intothe peace process. Accordingly,these discussions should be inconjunction with the govern-ments and the Elders Forum ofeach of the states.

“This Committee recom-

mends that the President visitsBorno, Yobe and Kano statesand should meet not only gov-ernments of these states butalso with a cross section of theelders of the various commu-nities.”

The committee sugested thatthe President should declarea general and unconditionalamnesty; order the immediaterelease of all detaineesagainst whom there is no es-tablished case of criminal in-volvement, and the immediateprosecution of those againstwhom there is evidence of crimi-nal involvement, before courtsof competent jurisdictions.

On Yusuf's killersOther recommendations are

that the protracted court caseagainst the suspected killersof Mohammed Yusuf bebrought to a quick determina-tion;

Federal Government shouldconsider not only the rehabili-tation of combatants, but alsocompensation for those whohave suffered in one way orthe other during the period asa sign of goodwill and na-tional cohesion; and some of

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,Political Editor

ABUJA—THERE wasa sharp split in the

Senate, yesterday, be-tween the Southern andNorthern Senators, whendiscussions on the newPetroleum Industry Bill,PIB, commenced on thefloor of the Senate.

But for the maturity ofthe Senators, the entiresession would have beenrowdy as membersshouted down one an-other when discussionsstarted on the Bill.

The lawmakers, yester-day, had opposing viewsover the host communitydevelopment fund andthe national frontier ex-ploration agency, just assome of the northernSenators strongly chal-lenged the 10 percentallocation for host com-munities and the struc-turing of the nationalfrontier explorationagency.

These were some of theissues raised when Sen-ate Leader, VictorNdoma-Egba, presentedfor discussion a Bill foran Act to provide for theEstablishment of a Legal,Fiscal and RegulatoryFramework for the Petro-leum Industry in Nigeriaand for Other RelatedMatters for Second read-ing.

Also yesterday, follow-ing a motion by Ndoma-Egba and supported bySenator Ganiyu Solo-mon, a minute silencewas observed by theSenators for late Assist-ant Political Editor ofGuardian Newspapers,Ogbodo John who diedlast Thursday in aghastly motor accident.

At the beginning of athree-day debate on thebill yesterday, majority ofthe senators who spoke,however, regretted thatin spite of the money the

BY HENRY UMORU& JOSEPH ERUNKE

Continues on Page 14

Maiduguri,w h e r eu s e f u land im-portantcritical is-sues werediscussedand at theend theyvowed toc e a s ehostilitiesand arepreparedto surren-der them-s e l v e sand theirweapons.

“ D u r -ing thediscus-sions, theleader oft h eg r o u p ,who issecond-in-com-mand toI m a mShekau,promisedto meetand con-

t h enorth-ern gov-ernorsshouldaccom-p a n yt h ePresi-dent onhis visitto thestates.


I never endorsed National Good GovernanceTour —Fashola

Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president dies at 58

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH & ONOZURE

DANIA

Alleged fraud:Court grantsAlex Okoh leaveto travel abroad

LAGOS—ALEX Okoh,arraigned alongside

lawyer and businessman,Dr Wale Babalakin wasyesterday, granted leave totravel abroad by JusticeAdeniyi Onigbanjo of anIkeja High court on medi-cal ground.

The leave of court was se-quel to an application fromhis counsel, Mr. OlaniranObele, who prayed thecourt to allow the defend-ant to travel to the UnitedKingdom for medicalcheck-up.

The duo of Babalakin andOkoh are facing trial overalleged transfer of N4.7 bil-lion on behalf of formerDelta State governor, JamesIbori, as preferred againstthem by the Economic andFinancial Crimes Commis-sion, EFCC.

They were arraigned withtheir companies; StabiliniVisioni Ltd., Bi-CourtneyLtd. and Renix Nigeria Ltd.

Ruling on their applica-tion, Justice Onigbanjo or-dered the EFCC to releasehis travelling documents toenable him keep his medi-cal appointment with theUK hospital betweenMarch 6 and 19.

L AGOS—GOVERNORBabatunde Fashola of La-

gos State, yesterday, said henever endorsed the NationalGood Governance Tour, NGGT, bythe Federal Government to the 36states of federation as beingclaimed in some quarters.

Minister of Information, Mr.Labaran Maku, had claimed thatGovernor Fashola was present atthe discussions that led to the birthof the tour.

Fashola, while addressing newsmen during an inspection tour ofongoing projects in Lekki andVictoria Island axis of the state,said: “The fact that you presentsomething at the Governor’s Fo-rum does not mean that all of usare bound by decisions if we ex-press our disagreements.

“If we do not express our disa-greement, clearly we would bebound by decisions that are taken.Again, all of that is subject to lawsand people must understand whatthe Governor’s Forum is for.

“It’s a peer review mechanismby association to learn from oneanother. So, I can’t submit for ex-ample the independence and sov-ereignty of the people of Lagos atthe Governor’s Forum and I ex-press my clear disapproval of theinitiative because the question Iasked was that, what was the pur-pose of the tour?

“It does not matter what it costsor what it does not cost, that isanother debate, and first of all Iwant to understand what it isabout.”

“Do the people of Nigeria needa tour to know that they are beingwell governed? That is the realquestion, what is the tour sup-posed to achieve? Are they resolv-ing problems at project sites?Where are their projects? What isthe value of a Good GovernanceTour when you can’t implement abudget?

“I can go on tour of projects be-cause my budget performed 89 percent last year and I am not on agood governance tour, I am on aproject inspection tour trying to

solve problems at project sites.” Fashola noted that a major

yardstick for measuring goodgovernance could only be doneby those who know, saying “theeconomy of Lagos is now ratedahead that of Ghana and theUnited Kingdom.

“Presently the Lagos Stateeconomy is being upgradedfrom stable to positive, that isgood governance, you don’tneed any campaign to do that.So people should take them-selves seriously and take all ofus seriously when they talkabout these things some of us

listen and it offends us. That ismediocre level to which govern-ance is sometimes being takenand we hope they will take thiscriticism as a need to change thegame. We can do better thanthis, I am convinced, my coun-try can offer a lot more betterthan it is giving now.”

Fashola, who added that hisadministration was currently ex-ecuting no fewer than 1,966projects across the state in fur-therance of its objective of turn-ing it into Africa’s modern megacity, accused FG of starving thestate of ecological fund.

INSPECTION: From left: Prince Adesegun Oniru, Commissioner for Waterfront andInfrastructure, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State; Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Com-missioner for Works; Dr. Taofik Folami, Special Adviser on Environment to Gov. Fasholaand others, at Goshen Beach, Victoria Island, during the inspection of ongoing projects inthe state, yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez

Tackle terrorism, oil theft,Chalker advises Jonathan

BY BEN AGANDE

Abuja—Despite theremarkable im-

provement in Nigeria’seconomic outlook re-cently, the HonoraryInternational InvestorsCouncil, HIIC, haswarned that the gainswould be lost unless de-cisive steps were takenby the Federal Govern-ment to check the bour-geoning terrorism inthe northern part of thecountry and oil theft in

the south.Coordinator of HIIC, a

body that advises Presi-dent Jonathan on build-ing positive image to at-tract international inves-tors into the country,Lynda Chalker, toldState House correspond-ents after meeting withPresident Jonathan thatNigeria had to be upand doing as it wouldface stiff competitionfrom other African coun-tries with equal endow-ments in natural re-sources.

V E N E Z U E L A —President Hugo

Chavez, of Venezuela isdead. He died at the ageof 58.

Vice President NicolasMaduro, surrounded byother government offi-cials, announced thedeath in a national tel-evision broadcast. Hesaid Chavez died at 4:25

p.m. local time yester-day.

During more than 14years in office, Chavezroutinely challenged thestatus quo at home andinternationally. He po-larized Venezuelanswith his confrontationaland domineering style,

He repeatedly provedhimself a political survi-vor. As an army para-troop commander, he leda failed coup in 1992,then was pardoned andelected president in1998. He survived acoup against his own

presidency in 2002 andwon re-election twomore times.

Chavez underwentsurgery in Cuba in June2011 to remove what hesaid was a baseball-sizetumor from his pelvic re-gion, and the cancer re-turned repeatedly overthe next 18 months de-spite more surgery,chemotherapy and ra-diation treatments. Hekept secret key details ofhis illness, includingthe type of cancer andthe precise location ofthe tumors.

*Late Hugo Chavez

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 —11

Ogun Assembly crisis gets messier

BY OLA AJAYI

Ogun PDPyouths rejectdissolutionof S-Westexco

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

I ’ll defend Nigeria with my last blood—Obasanjo

FG tocommence EIAof Arepopipeline site

BY MICHAEL EBOH

Two factions lay claim to speakership

ABEOKUTA—THERE wascommotion at the Ogun

State House of Assembly, yester-day, after the mace, a symbol ofauthority of the House, was bro-ken by aggrieved lawmakers ob-structing the Speaker, SurajAdekunbi, from announcing thesuspension of four members.

Already two lawmakers, SurajAdekunbi ane Remmy Hassanare laying claim to thespeakership.

This was compounded by al-leged possession of guns bysome lawmakers prompting thesecurity agents to thoroughlysearch some of the lawmakers,journalists and visitors to thechamber.

As if this was not enough, an-other Speaker, Remmy Hassanwas purportedly elected by 14 law-makers after the first rowdy ple-nary where four of them were sus-pended.

Trouble started few minutes af-ter the commencement of the pro-ceedings around 11a.m. whenthe Speaker announced the planto sanction four members that al-legedly disregarded the Houserules at the last sitting.

According to Adekunbi,Remmy Hassan, OlufemiAkintan, Adija Adeleye-Oladapoand John Obafemi reprentingOdogbolu; Egbado North 11; Ifo11 and Remo North constituen-cies had been suspended for“various acts bordering onunparliamentary behaviour andgross disrespect to the legislative

Mace, symbol of authority broken

Both factions have members suspended

institution.”In an attempt to counter their

suspension one of the affected law-makers, Khadijat Adeleye-Oladapo rose, allegedly grabbedthe mace placed before theSpeaker and broke it.

She was subsequently joined byother aggrieved lawmakers num-bering about 13 who thensmashed the mace.

Adekunbi had called the major-ity leader of the House, IsrealJolaosho, to move the motion forthe suspension of the four law-makers before the lawmakersbroke the mace.

Announcing their suspensionAdekunbi said: “Consequently,these Honourable members arenot to be seen within the premisesof the Ogun State House of As-

sembly henceforth.”The House comprising 26 law-

makers has been polarised intotwo groups with both Adekunbiand Remmy Hassan leading thefactions.

Attempt by the Speaker, to re-convene the House at 2:30pmwas aborted as Remmy Hassanprevented the Speaker from seat-ing, saying “Suraju has been sus-pended, he is no more ourSpeaker, I am the Speakerprotem.”

Briefing after the commotion,Adekunbi explained that he triedto give all the lawmakers equalright during the plenary.

ABEOKUTA—THEFederal Govern-

ment, yesterday, said itwould soon begin the En-vironmental Impact Assess-ment, EIA, of the vandal-ised pipeline site at Arepo,Ogun State, to determinethe extent of pollution andthe damage done to the en-vironment.

Speaking during an in-spection of vandalizedpipeline sites at Arepo andDiamond Estate, Lagos,Mrs. Joy Nunieh-Okunnu,National Coordinator, Hy-drocarbon Pollution Resto-ration Project, HYPREP,said the government wouldcarry out an environmen-tal impact assessment ofboth sites and would takeaction if it was discoveredthat the area was unfit forhuman habitation.

She said: “We are herebecause the Minister ofPetroleum Resources, Mrs.Diezani Alison-Maduekeasked us to come here andsee things for ourselves. Weintend to deploy our re-sources and commencework at Arepo as soon asthe Ogun State Govern-ment gives us an office fromwhere we can operatefrom.”

A B E O K U T A —YOUTH forum of

the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, in Ogun State,yesterday, rejected the dis-solution of the party’s ex-ecutives in the South Westas well as the State execu-tives by the national lead-ership. Operating under the um-brella of Ogun State Pro-gressive Youth Forum,OPPYF, in a communiquéby its Chairman, AlhajiAkintunde Farouk and Sec-retary, Mr. MusaAkinlolu, demanded thatthe party’s lead Counsel,Mr. J. K. Gadzama, SAN,tender unreserved apologyto the Party in the nextseven days for allegedly“misleading the party intaking a decision that was notin the party’s interest and againstthe constitution of Nigeria.” PDP’s South West executiveand state executives were twoweeks ago sacked based on therecommendation of Gadzama tothe party’s National WorkingCommittee, NWC.

A B E O K U T A —FORMER Presi-

dent OlusegunObasanjo, yesterday,said he would use thelast drop of his blood todefend the unity andprogress of Nigeria.

This came as PresidentGoodluck Jonathan de-scribed Obasanjo as “atrue nationalist and pro-moter of national unity.”

Obasanjo spokeduring his 76th birthdaycelebration, at OlusegunObasanjo PresidentialLibrary in Abeokuta.

The birthday celebra-tion also featured apublic presentation of abook titled “OlusegunObasanjo- the Presiden-tial Legacy-1999-2003.”

Obasanjo said: “Evenif it remains the lastbreadth in me, I willwork, preserve and pro-mote the unity andprogress of Nigeria,

As Jonathan lauds him @ 76

work for Africa develop-ment and indeed pro-mote humanity.

“If you are in publicservice and you expectcommendation of menand women, you may bethe most disappointedhuman being on earth.So, if commendations docome, take it as it comesand accept it and if itdoes not come, don’tworry.

“Some people hadmade it a point of dutyto run this place (Presi-dential Library) downeven before it started.One day we were hereand one man said hewanted to apologise. Hesaid he joined people tocondemn the librarywithout even knowingwhat it is all about. I toldhim that it does not re-ally matter, since Godhas not condemned us.”

In his goodwill mes-sage, President

Jonathan, representedat the celebration by hisChief of Staff, Mr. MikeOghiadomhe, saidObasanjo was a trueelder statesman andpeace loving person.

The President said:“Your success are wellplaced in the history ofour dear country. We cel-ebrate with you as youcontinue to contribute tothe growth and develop-ment of Nigeria.

“You demonstrated thiswhen military regimeswere still fashionable, youshunned the unusualtemptation of regime ex-tension to usher in democ-racy in 1979.

“You have served Ni-geria diligently and withtotal commitment, whenin 1999 after the unfortu-nate incidences in ourcountry and the opportu-nity came and you werebeckoned upon to serve aselected president.”

SWEARING IN: Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, presenting certificate ofoffice to the newly appointed Acting Chief Judge of the State, Justice Oyebola Adepele, aftershe was sworn in, at the Governor’s Office in Osogbo, yesterday.


Presidential c'ttee scores NDDC low

Edo House orders commissioner-nomineeto appear today

BY SIMONEBEGBULEM

BY BEN. AGANDE

ABUJA—THE Presiden-tial Committee on the

monitoring of activities of NigerDelta Development Commis-sion, NDDC, returned a damn-ing verdict on the activities of thecommission since its inception,saying that the commission’s ac-tivities were characterised byabandoned projects, unjustifiedand arbitrary variation of projectscosts and retention of incompe-tent contractors.

Submitting its report to Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan, yes-terday, Chairman of the Commit-tee, Chief Isaac Jemide, calledon the Federal Government tourgently implement the recom-mendations contained in the re-port in order to reposition thecommission to perform its in-tended role.

President Jonathan, who re-ceived the report, thanked mem-bers of the committee for a jobwell done and promised thatgovernment will study the reportand take necessary action.

While presenting the executivesummary of the report, ChiefJemide said that his committeeundertook a “painstaking in-spection, assessment and eval-uation of projects and pro-grammes executed by NNDC, aswell as other relevant activities.

Specifically, I wish to report toMr. President that a total of 609projects spread across the threestates were physically inspectedand evaluated. Of the 609projects monitored, 222 (36.5%)were completed, 102 (16.7%) areon-going and 285 (46.8%) wereabandoned at various levels ofcompletion. The monitoring of1,510 projects for the period2005-2011 in the remaining sixNNDC states had been complet-ed and the reports are being

compiled for submission to Mr.President.

“To further enrich its findings,the committee interacted withhost communities, stakeholders,NDDC contractors and officialsand discussed grey areas, witha view to correcting the anoma-lies identified in the course ofthe project inspections. The de-tails of the projects monitoredand the specific recommenda-tions thereon are contained inthe report."

Completed only 36.5% of 609 projects monitored

BENIN—EDO StateHouse of Assembly, yester-

day, ordered Aanena Jemitola,the commissioner- nominee, whoabsented herself from the screen-ing, to appear today, with an au-thentic copy of her doctor’s re-port, following her excuse thatshe was ill.

The House Committee incharge of screening of the 19commissioner-nominees, submit-ted by Governor Adams Oshiom-hole, had reported to the entireHouse, Monday, that it had con-cluded the screening of 18 of thenominees and lamented thatJemitola did not present herselffor screening nor submit her cur-riculum vitae to the committee.

Chairman of the Committeeand Majority Leader of the stateHouse of Assembly, Mr. PhilipShuaibu, expressed shock overher non-appearance, but said thatthe nominee from Akoko Edo in-formed the House last Thursdaythat she was ill.

However, the commissioner-nominee appeared before mem-bers of the Committee, yester-day, and informed them that shewas hospitalised in Benin Citybefore she was moved to anoth-er hospital in Lagos.

When she was asked to present

her doctor’s report, she present-ed a doctor’s report that had thedate of February 17, 2013, whilethe Committee members ob-served that that particular Fridaywas February 15 and not 17.

Sensing foul play, the Commit-

tee chairman ordered that thedoctor, who issued her with thereport at the state hospitalshould appear before the House,just as she was also asked topresent the doctor’s report fromthe hospital that attended to herin Lagos.

Uduaghan explains delay in RefineryRoad project

WARRI—DELTA State Gov-ernor, Dr. Emmanuel Ud-

uaghan, yesterday, said the de-lay in the completion of the fivekilometre Refinery Road, Effurun,Uvwie Local Government Area,was caused by problem of com-pensation.

Inspecting the project, he point-ed out that the contending issueshad been resolved.

The governor, consequentlyasked the contractor, ARC Con-struction, to deliver the project bythe end of May, according tospecification.

To avoid delay and high cost ofcompensation, he said the gov-ernment had to redesign the roadto cut off several property andassured that his government willnot leave any uncompletedproject at the completion of histenure.

BY EMMA AMAIZE &AKPOKONAOMAFUAIRE

Imoke writesC-River House,resumes work

He said: “There will be nouncompleted project when I amleaving office. I expect the jobto be completed by May 31 orthey should have done appre-ciable work but the standardmust be maintained.”

CROSS River State governor,Senator Liyel Imoke, has

resumed work after a three-month vacation.

Imoke, who returned to thecountry on Friday, had, in com-pliance with the provisions ofthe Constitution, written to thestate House of Assembly, noti-fying them of his return.

Meanwhile, the governor hascongratulated former PresidentOlusegun Obasanjo on his 76thbirthday. Imoke, in a statement,described Obasanjo as the fatherof modern Nigeria.

Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, Delta State Commissioner of Police (mid-dle); Mr. Chris Ubani, member ,Igbodo Development Union,UKBranch (right), and others, during the foundation stone layingceremony of the new Igbodo Police Station. Photo Nath Onojake.


From left: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, former President of Nigeria; his wife,Chief Bola Obasanjo and Senator Ibikunle Amosun, Ogun State Governor,during a book launch, organised by the Olusegun Obasanjo PresidentialLibrary, OOPL, to mark the 76th birthday of the ex-President, in Abeokuta,yesterday. 'Photo:Wumi Akinola.

Shell declares force majeure onBonny Light ….As oil theft soars in Niger Delta

SHELL PETROLEUMD e v e l o p m e n t

Company, SPDC,yesterday, declared forcemajeure on Bonny Lightfollowing the shutdown ofNembe Creek Trunkline(NCTL) after a leak wasobserved on Sunday.

The cause according toShell in statement, madeavailable to Vanguard,would be determined by aJoint Investigation Visit,which will be scheduledonce the leak point hadbeen excavated.

Shell’s Corporate MediaRelations Manager,

Precious Okolobo explai-ned in the statement that thecompany had mobilised ateam to repair the line afterthe investigation.

“Then, NCTL will reopenfor operations,” he said.

Shell had earlier threate-ned to completely shutdown its 150,000 barrel perday Nembe Creek oil pipe-line due to an “unprece-dented” amount of oil theft.

Between the 22nd and25th of February, thecompany said 12 flowstations producing into thepipeline were shut down bysafety systems three times

due to oil theft.The leak on Sunday

according Shell occurreddirectly on the NCTL andnecessitated its immediateshutdown for repairs.

The pipeline, accordingto Shell, was replaced in2010 at a cost of $1.1billion.

“It is getting to thecrunch that rather thanallow people to continue toattack my pipeline anddevastate the environ-ment, I may actuallyconsider shutting downthe pipeline completely,”Shell Nigeria MD, MutiuSunmonu said.

PIB splits senatorsContinues from Page 9

region had received fordevelopment so far, therewas nothing to show interms of infrastructural de-velopment, especially incommunities where oil wasbeing produced.

There were accusations ofmismanagement of 13 per-cent derivation fund andNiger Delta DevelopmentCommission, NDDC, fundamounting to the tune ofN11.3 trillion, against theNiger Delta region gover-nors since 1999.

This apparently influ-enced the senators to op-pose the Host CommunitiesFund provided for in thePetroleum Industry Bill,PIB. The bill is currentlypending before the Na-tional Assembly.

Prior to yesterday’s ple-nary on a Bill for an Act toprovide for the Establish-ment of a Legal, Fiscal andRegulatory Framework forthe Petroleum Industry inNigeria and for Other Re-lated Matters, the senate,after one failed attempt, fi-nally debated the PIB.

It was Senator AhmedLawan, ANPP, Yobe North,who first opposed the pro-vision of 10 percent fund forthe host communities in thebill, on the grounds that theextant laws did not onlymake provision for 13 per-cent as derivation fund butNDDC and other sources offunding for the Niger DeltaStates.

According to him, thoughhe was in full support of thebill, there was undue finan-cial attention on the NigerDelta region. Citing news-paper interview with Ijawleader and elder statesman,Edwin Clark, and othernewspaper references,Senator Lawan insisted thatthe region had so far re-ceived a total of N11 trillionbetween 1999 and date.

He expressed regret thatthose at the helm of affairsin the region had refused tocarry out commensurate de-velopment, especially in theoil host communities, saying“I am in full support of thebill but with some massivereservation.”

Lawan regretted that atpresent, Nigeria has not

been able to disclose thereal quantity of crude oil itwas producing or theamount the country wasrealising on oil to its citi-zens. He contended thatoil companies should betransparent and free fromgovernment interventions.

He demanded a re-search exploration to becarried out across thecountry, even as he urgedhis colleagues to stronglyoppose the 10 percent forthe host communities, add-ing that it shouldn’t haveany room in the PIB as thecurrent 13 percent deriva-tion fund should take careof such.

His remark that mostgovernors of the regionhad failed to live up to ex-pectations, in spite of thehuge amount made avail-able to the region since1999, attracted reactionfrom Senator James Man-ager, PDP, Delta South.

Manager, under theSenate’s Point of Order,geared for open confron-tation, saying that Lawanwas being unnecessarilyemotional.


CMYK

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013————— 1717171717

,

,

OPINIONBY JOHN AINIOFENOKHAI

*Mr. Ainofenokhai, a commentator on national issues,wrote from Benin, Edo State.

Continues on pg 18

THE abandonment of ethics in the articulation of privatefixations and resentment for Chief Tony Anenih was

quite evident in Is’haq Modibbo Kawu’s column, entitled:“Anenih: The political dinosaur returns”, published onpage 17 of Vanguard of Thursday, February 28, 2013. Itwas also published the same day on the back page ofBlueprint newspapers, where Kawu is Chairman ofEditorial Board.

Curiously, he had about two years earlier, in the August11, 2011 issue of Vanguard newspaper, expressed the samefixations and resentment in an article with the title: “ChiefTony Anenih: A political dinosaur at 78.” Can you, hereand now, spot the difference(s) in both titles? Except forthe words “returns” and “at 78” which explicate thecontexts of his writings, the titles of both articles and theirtheses are largely the same: To demonise Anenih.

In Kawu’s voyage of demonisation, the crux of hisparanoia, which he desperately wants us to relate with inhis argument ad-hominem is that Anenih is a politicaldinosaur, whereas he had on both occasions failed to offerexplanations to justify his position. A quick check on theword “dinosaur ” in a dictionary explains it thus:“Somebody that is hopelessly out of date or incapable ofadapting to change.”

Anenih: Modibbo Kawu’s regurgitations and tyrannyIf that is so, it then means that, Kawu’s assessment of

Anenih, as incapable of adapting to change, is defective.For Kawu and his cohort to view Anenih from that prismis promotion of irrationality and seeming lack ofknowledge to adequately appreciate the changing natureof politics. Have they forgotten that the only thing that ispermanent in life is change?

How could Kawu have suggested that a man, who hasso far been of, and lived for all times, as has been shownby his return to the position of Chairman of the Board ofTrustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),which was crudely wrested from him in 2007 by formerPresident Olusegun Obasanjo, is a political relic? This isstanding logic on its head! Anenih is not outmoded asKawu would want us to believe; he changes with the times.If, however, the good fortunes of Anenih explain how to bea relic, not a few would consider it a complement.

Whereas, in the capacity to change his approaches,strategies and/or tactics to solve knotty issues lies thepolitical dexterity of Anenih; otherwise, he would havebeen unable to always rebound in the fast changing andintriguing world of Nigerian politics where the name ofthe game is duplicity, treachery and tyranny, the last beingthe sort that Kawu has constantly demonstrated as a

columnist.It is this tyranny of columnist Kawu that has enjoyed a

vast flourish on the pages of Vanguard (and latelyBlueprint) each time the world around Anenih has a goodreason to celebrate him. Abusing the privilege of hischance meeting with Anenih in his Asokoro residencewhere he holds court like an archetypal political leaderin 2006, he has simply resorted to declassifying in hiscolumn, in a bid to disparage him, details of that meeting.Kawu’s tyrannical bashing of an innocent man withoutgiving him an opportunity of defence in the body of thecolumn is unfair.

When Anenih celebrated his 78th birthday in 2011; and,the volume of paid congratulatory/goodwill messages innewspapers by associates and loyalists was high for a manwho was not holding any executive office in thegovernment of the federation at that point, Kawucomplained because Anenih’s influence transcendedpublic office and because he has been able to deploy hiswealth, which sources are legit to defend his followersand protect their interests.

“No man is good enough to governanother man without that other’sconsent.”- Abraham Lincoln

IT will be difficult to find enthusiastic,independent support for the

continued existence of State ElectoralCommissions. But they will continue toexist because they serve very powerfulinterests that have nothing to do withthe growth and development of thedemocratic system. They will continueto cause further damage, because theyprovide the pillars of the awesomepowers of Governors. Governors haveto agree to an amendment of theconstitution, and they will not toleratetinkering with election managementbodies which guarantee them virtualcontrol of all political power in the twotiers of government in states. Far fromabolishing SIECs, governors will usetheir control of state legislators to makeand amend electoral laws which canfurther enhance the electoral fortunes ofruling parties.

The recent elections into offices of localgovernment councils in Gombe Stateremind us of the hopelessness of thestruggle to entrench some semblance ofdemocratic values and practices at thelowest levels of governance in thiscountry. The Gombe variant is only oneamong many travesties which are onlymarginally affected by local colorationand whims of state chief executives.Only two parties, PDP which rules andthe CPC fielded candidates for the entireelections. CPC had candidates in onlytwo out of the 11 LGAs. It had gone tocourt to challenge the high cost of thenon-refundable deposit (N500,000,N250,000 and N150,000 forChairmanship, Deputy and Councillor,respectively). It failed. It tried to stopthe elections until its grievance over thefees was resolved, it failed. Apparentlyneither the party nor the candidatesthemselves could raise the amountswithin the period allowed. So the partywent to the elections to contest for asprinkling of councilor positions and twoout of 11 chairmanships positions.

One day before the elections, gunmenrode in on motorcycles and shot deadfive people and injured seven in Gombe.The levels of security were raised. Allentrances and exists into Gombe and theneighbouring Kwami, the two LGAswhere both PDP and CPC hadchairmanship candidates were heavilymanned. There was also visible andpronounced presence of securitypersonnel in and around the town.Voters who came out to vote wereconfronted by heavily armed securitypersonnel moving around the town.Many chose to give up voting and stayindoors. Others say they were told to goback home in explicit terms.Interpretations of election day events inGombe and Kwami LGAs were thereforeheavily contested by voters andobservers. Pro-government comments

State Electoral Commissions

said there was heavy turnout and theelections were peaceful free and fair.PDP won virtually all the positions atstake. The opposition claimedintimidation, threats and harassment,and said no elections took place. ThePDP won all chairmanship positions.CPC won in a few councillorship wards,lost an opportunity to make a positiveimpact on the merger talks, and createdthe impression of a party too poor andtoo disorganised to police the ballot.

The PDP had unopposed candidatesfor all positions in Akko, Balanga, Billiri,Nafada and Yamaltu Deba LGAs. Voterswho turned up in LGAs where only PDPcandidates were fielded were asked to“affirm” candidature, or candidates were“ returned unopposed” as winners.Affirmation had been made illegal by theState Assembly just before the elections,but CPC cannot challenge it where ithad no candidates contesting.

On the whole, “elections” took placein only two out of the 11 LGAs in GombeState, and the ruling party coastedhome, as it does everywhere, with abagful of victories, leaving behind fewcouncillorship positions for theopposition. What was unique aboutGombe was that in 79 electoral wards,the PDP had no opposition at all, andthe legality of the manner winnersemerged is open to legal challenge. Noone, however, will challenge theseresults. No one challenged results inKaduna State recently when PDP won22 of 23 LGA chairmanship positions.No one raises eyebrows anywhere whenresults return 97 percent victories forruling party candidates all over the

control their purse strings. So peopledo not contest for positions of chairmanand councilor to serve the people, butto become errand boys of governors.They feed off the crumbs left, grow fatfrom exercising non-accountable power,and live permanently in hiding frompeople who they can neither serve norhelp.

Presidents who feel frustrated at thepowers of Governors know the

sources of such powers, but cannot domuch about them. President Jonathanwas a Deputy Governor, and a Governor.He knows of the powers a governorexercises. The late Umaru Yar ’Aduacould not stop his state from massivelyrigging the first LG elections under his

watch as President, even though he wasseriously looking into how he canimprove the electoral process. Ifpresidents cannot reduce the unhealthycontrol of governors on LG funds, on whogets elected, and on how partymachinery functions, who can?

You could start with a constitutionalamendment which proscribes SIECS, butthis will not succeed with the governorsin place. They will exercise their controlover state legislatures to frustrate anyattempted amendment. The NationalAssembly cannot proscribe SIECS. Thecourts cannot do so. Yet, without allowingsome genuine democracy at the lowerlevels, it is useless attempting to reformand improve the electoral process.Governors and presidents emerge ascandidates, and are elected throughflawed processes. Party delegates fromward and local government levels aredetermined by governors, overseen bychairmen and councilors whose electionsare rigged. Delegates are bought andpaid for, and they do the bidding ofgovernors, not their constituents. It goesall the way up. Control of political powerand funds of LGAs is therefore a vitalnecessity for all State governors, and thesingle most destructive source ofsubversion of our democratic process.Presidents owe their positions to thewhims and dispositions of governors.Governors garner massive powers toprotect their positions, determine whobecomes president, and determine howhe works all because they haveunhindered access to pervert the will ofthe people at the level which mostintimately connects the citizen with thestate.

Improvements in levels ofaccountability and responsibility ofelected leaders will be impossible toachieve until local councils are freed fromthe damaging control of state governors.When a state governor literallyhandpicks you, funds your campaignand virtually guarantees your “victory”,it will be impossible to say no when hedemands all loyalty from you. Your fundsare his. Your job is to enhance his politicalassets and fight his enemies. You haveno responsibility to the local citizens,beyond reminding them daily that allmoney and power comes from statecapital.

The current attempts to amend theconstitution is likely to produce nothing.The nation would have wasted billions,as is the tradition, in chasing shadows.But constitutional amendments are tooimportant to leave to law makers andgovernors. Nigerians must raise theirvoices in demanding that reforms thatshould free local governments fromcontrol of states must be made betweennow and 2015. State electoralcommissions must be abolished, jointaccounts abrogated, and statelegislatures should have their powers toprescribe operations of localgovernments further limited.

country, irrespective of theparty in power.

No one should besurprised that our democracyis shriveling either.Governors amass massivepowers because theydetermine who becomeschairman and councilor, andthey control the use of thefunds of local councils. Theyalso control, through suchdominance, party structuresfrom ward to state levels.Even LGA elected officials

from opposing parties are powerlessagainst governors because the latter

State electoralcommissions mustbe abolished, jointaccounts abrogated,and state legislaturesshould have theirpowers to prescribeoperations of localgovernments furtherlimited

Prof. Jega, INEC chair

CMYK

OPINION


*Mr. Ainofenokhai, a commentator onnational issues, wrote from Benin.

BY JOHN AINIOFENOKHAI

Continued from pg 17

THE columnist’s disposition, as a pseudo-member of the faded clan of self-

acclaimed Marxian apologists/socialists,perhaps, stemmed from the despicablechicanery of a patron-saint picture of himthat readers are made to glean from hiswritings; whereas he and his cohort havethe innate tendencies to acquire powerswithin their spheres of influence andexercise it even ruthlessly to preserve theirselfish interests. But because he wields thepower of the pen, he has derogatorily puthis subject under public spotlight.

Kawu despises the ability of Anenih tosurvive, in his words, “in the dark, smoke-filled inner recesses of the cloak-and-daggerworld of politics, where he wields effectivepowers of influence and control.” Is Kawua politician and is he angling to dislodgeor take over from Anenih? Would he havebeen happy if Anenih had been longconsumed in the world of politics that he sogruesomely depicted above? It seems so.

In his latest article on Anenih’s return asChairman of the PDP Board of Trustees,Kawu anchored his anger on the platformof his claims that Anenih has resided fortoo long in the inner recesses of “the cloak-and-dagger world of politics (and) withinthat stuffy, hot-as-hell redoubt, what theycook is conspiracy against the best interestsof the Nigerian people” and yet he is a

survivor.The conclusion that “what they cook is

conspiracy against the best interests of theNigerian people” is certainly not correct.Again, he failed to explain this; and it istherefore difficult to speak to someparticulars. But successive governmentssince 1999 have been working to build avirile and prosperous nation. Nigeria iswork in progress.

The Federal Government under the ableleadership of President Goodluck Jonathanis making significant progress in the varioussectors of the economy. The nation maynot have got to her Eldorado yet, but thereare prospects that she will get there andthis is in the best interest of Nigerians.

His further claim that “the broken anddysfunctional country in our hands today,is testimony to the politics which Anenihhas represented since 1999,” is alsofallacious. What is patently dishonest inKawu’s verdict was the cruel attempt to re-invent the wheels. How could he havesuggested that 14 years of democracy haveleft the country “broken and dysfunctional”?That we have democracy, in the firstinstance, is functional.

This, no doubt, is the language of amember or an apologist of the oppositionparty. Perhaps, the newly-formed All

Progressive Congress, APC, should considerappointing him as its publicist or mediaconsultant. And, again, to reinforce hisproclivity for the opposition parties, Kawuhad tried to condemn the PDP for takingsteps to checkmate the excesses of itsgovernors in the Nigeria Governors Forum.He also spoke about the alleged de-robingof his friend, Obasanjo, whom he hadbashed on several occasions in his columnswhen he was in Daily Trust.

In the process, he exposed his lack ofunderstanding of the essence of the

recommendation by Professor Jerry Gana-led Committee that streamlined themembership of the Board of Trustees. Therewas no script, as he claimed, to removeAtiku Abubakar from the BoT. Atiku, by hisact of leaving the PDP to AC to contest the2007 presidential election, removed himselffrom the BoT. Therefore, he could not returnto continue his tenure that he abandoned.Atiku and someone like Ghali Na’Abbawho also left the party and the BoT wouldnot, punitively, be readmitted into the Boarduntil 2014, when a new tenure is expectedto begin. Both are respected leaders andmembers of the party.

Again, I laughed at Kawu when he naivelysuggested Anenih and co were aware “that

President Jonathan cannot go to theNigerian people on the basis of his recordof performance.” Although he did not giveparticulars to prove his claim, was he sayingthat the Jonathan administration has notdone anything since coming in the saddle?This, again, was playing the trump card ofthe opposition.

This government has built administrativeinfrastructure and frameworks that willdrive the transformation process in thecritical sectors of the economy. The criticalwork being done in the power sector withthe building of independent power plantsto boost generation and the privatizationof the electricity distribution through therecent coming on board of DistributionCompanies (Discos) are clear indicators ofremarkable progress. President Jonathanhad promised that the power situationwould have remarkably improved by theend of this year.

What of the road infrastructure thatgovernment is building through theinstrumentality of the Federal Ministry ofWorks and the rehabilitation beingembarked upon by Federal RoadMaintenance Agency, FERMA?

Well, back to Anenih, columnist Kawushould know that there is nothing he can doabout the personality of this experiencedand influential politician who is committedto his party and loyal to constitutedauthorities.

Anenih: Modibbo Kawu’s regurgitationsand tyranny (2)

Concluded

THE Presidential Amnesty Programmehas to start taking responsibility for its short-comings. At the moment, it thinks that othersare to blame for lapses in its activities, someof which bring the programme to disrepute.Last December, 67 students that it sent for

skills training at a school in Larnaca,Cyprus, were withdrawn - after thediscovery that the school had noaccreditation for the courses it was offeringthe students.Is the Amnesty Office apologising for the

mistake? No, rather it is preparing to putthe students through another set of tests, todetermine who among them would beeligible for placement elsewhere. Whathappens to those who fail the new tests?There are no answers.Things are even a bit more bizarre, the

students since their return had been keptin the dark about their future. The AmnestyOffice is blaming the contractor whoenlisted the school for the failedprogramme in Cyprus. The students wentto the school in 2011.If trainees had concluded the training,

HoHoHoHoHow Amnesw Amnesw Amnesw Amnesw Amnesty Tty Tty Tty Tty TrainingrainingrainingrainingrainingWWWWWorororororksksksksks

they would have returned with certificatesthat prospective employers would haverejected. Their time has been wasted andnobody is discussing recovering the moneyfrom the vendor who sold the fakeprogramme to the Amnesty Office. Is thathow government money is wasted? Howwould such vendors be deterred if theyknow they would get away with theirdeeds?The unexplained maltreatment of the

returnee trainees is another cause forconcern. Why would the trainees besubjected to another round of tests as if theywere responsible for their placement in afake school? Were they, like the school,found unsuitable for the courses they were

studying? What would be their fate nowthat they would not be trained, afterpromises of training and an aborted onein Cyprus?Mr. Daniel Alabra spokesman for the

Amnesty Office mouthed an explanation.“It is true that the students were broughtback when we discovered that the schoolwas not accredited, principally to savethem from avoidable problems.“We cannot allow them to waste their

precious time and return with worthlesscertificates and be stranded in Nigeria.That is why we are doing our best to sorttheir problems out once and for all.”Nice as this sounded, “doing our best to

sort their problems out once and for all,”does not appear to include ensuring thatall the trainees who retuned from Cypruswould be given another chance to besaved “from avoidable problems”.The Amnesty Office should do two things

quickly: get all the returnees back toschool and make the vendor return thepayment for the fake school, to save itself“from avoidable problems”.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013—————1919191919

,,

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PDP, power mongeringand the APC (2)

ALL Progressive Congress, thepolitical party that was

cobbled together from at leastfour other major parties, is theopposition answer to the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, behemothin a Nigeria where the idea ofindependent candidacy is yet togain sound footing howeverdesirable. These parties areconsidered regional in theirpower base but the PDP at the bestof times reflects the ethnic origin/biases of its most senior/vocalmembers from the presidentdown to party leaders andgovernors.It is therefore no less regionalthan the CPC, ACN, ANPP orAPGA. Most times what unitesthe various units of power in thePDP as the other parties is classinterest more than ethnicsolidarity which comes into playonly when members of the close-knit caucuses lose out in thepower game. But is anything thematter with a party with nationalaspirations drawing most of itsmembers from a particularregion? Once the manifesto ofthat party speaks to the needs ofthe vast majority of the people ofthe country and is not aimed at

promoting sectional interestsuch party should, in my view, beable and ought to be allowed tofunction. It goes without sayingthat a party that emerges fromsuch background must ofnecessity open up its ranks at alllevels to people from otherregions/backgrounds if it is tosurvive. The kind of human needsand aspirations political partiespromise to uphold and pursuebear no regional, ethnic orreligious labels. The necessity forsolid education, affordablehousing, proper health care,sufficient provision of food andemployment all backed withappropriate infrastructure,among other requirements, areuniversal enough to commandnational allegiance for any party.

Without disrespect to otherpartners in the APC, the‘coalition’ is held togethermainly by the ACN and the CPC.This much is obvious in thevisibility of the respective leadersof these two parties, Bola Tinubuand Muhammadu Buhari. It is areflection of the elitist nature ofour politics that we are not toldwhen these parties sought and gotthe permission of their

‘congresses’ to proceed into thismerger that should in practicalterms spell the end of each of theformer parties as they wereknown. (This may be overlookedwhere leaders can be trusted towork in the interest of the peopleand also given the ‘emergency’circumstances under which theparties are working). Otherwise,the likelihood is that some ofthem might want to declare theirindependence once things don’tgo their way. But if thispartnership is to go anywhere theimperative of equitable respectfor all partners, irrespective oftheir individual strengths beforecoming together, must be stressedand adhered to as failure toobserve this is often grounds formumbled discontent growinginto open disagreement andrevolt. In this wise, both the APGAand ANPP ought to and shouldexpect to be treated withequitable respect.

Equitable here because bothresponsibility and power

and, of course, sharing of officewould also follow the path ofwhat each has brought to the

table. That said, what are themotivations for the comingtogether of the parties?

If the inaugural address by TomIkimi announcing the birth of theAPC is anything to go by, theparty’s goals are no differentfrom the usual goals politicalparties put in their shopping listand they are as basic as I havementioned above. Ikimi did notelaborate on these. But shouldNigerians take the APC on thestrength of their claim? The claimneeds to be tested and one way togo about this is to look at thepedigree of the leading membersof the party. At least until they winat the polls if things work out forthem. Let’s not forget though thatboth Buhari and Tinubu havebeen here before and nothingcame out of their plannedagenda. Personal aspirations,too strong to resolve before theelection, proved the undoing oftheir understanding. The ACN allbut disowned their presidentialcandidate who has since joinedthe government of his opponentat the polls, President GoodluckJonathan. The CPC would havenone but Buhari leading it to thepolls and when it lost it took ittoo badly, more or less incitingviolence by its members. TheCPC’s arrangement with ANPPfell through with nothing tosalvage. What are the assurancesthat things would work out thistime?

Buhari has a lot going for himby way of integrity. But has thelast ten years in active politicsweaned him of his moreautocratic tendencies? Could hisreadiness to work with aChristian leader like TundeBakare be sign that he would notseek to promote his religion atthe expense of other religions?And how ready would he be tostep down for another member ofthe coalition who might be more

acceptable to the party than him?The last question also applies toTinubu whose campaign duringthe governorship election inOndo State was like the outingof a bad-tempered school masterout to beat an offending pupilinto line. He fumed, cursed andbragged at the opposition LP andits candidate. This is sayingnothing of the manner hebreathed down the neck ofFashola, almost pushing him outof office at a point. Is he moreamenable to a more democraticway of doing things now? Therecan be no doubt of his activisttemper/credentials but howprepared is he, if the claim is true,to cut down on his tendency forprimitive acquisition? We aretold there are no permanentfriends or enemies in politics- buthow does this play out with a onetime power monger like Ikimi?For a man with an obese ego whotended to pretend he was a soldierin the arrogant manner he talkedand carried himself as Abacha’sminister, can he be trusted towork for the new party? Whatforced him from the PDP in whichhe served as returning officerduring the convention thatbrought Obasanjo into office?Was it the loss of patronage andpower in the PDP that led himinto the APC? What assurancesare there that he has weanedhimself of his autocratic side?

The PDP is not going to andshould not be expected to remainimpervious to what the APCrepresents. It would bring in bothfair and foul means to fight andin this it would be looking for theweakest links in the APC chainwhich are the uncommittedmembers, people easily blownaside by material wants. In theend, we might by default be closerto a two-party state than we careto know. A little to the right, alittle to the left?Concluded

SPEAKING at last of her hitherto ultra-secret six-week “rest” in Germany, Mrs

Patience Jonathan, not known for nuanceor circumspection, made a directcomparison to the Biblical Lazarus whomJesus raised from the dead. “I am notLazarus,” she said, then added “but myexperience was similar to his.” Not merelysimilar but greater, as she soon showedwhy her back-to-life miracle tops the actby which Jesus sought to prove that he is“the resurrection and the life” and thatwhoever believes in him “will live” even“though he were dead.” Lazarus had beendead for four days when Jesus raised himfrom the tomb; our First Lady Lazarus, onthe other hand, had been dead for morethan seven days. “I passed out for morethan a week,” she said. “My intestine andtummy were opened. ... My doctors saidall hope was lost. ... God woke me up afterseven days.” It was a classic case ofassertion by denial.

Since the odd mixture of carnival andpious devotion that characterised theJonathans’ thanksgiving at the Aso Rockchapel 17 days ago, many have expressedoutrage. Weary of remarking on the firstcouple’s many doings that display theirsingular lack of discretion in the use (notto say “abuse”) of power, I initiallyresolved not to write a word on this latestinstance. I found myself only wishing thatthe attending Man of God at thethanksgiving, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, hadbeen summoned to perform the miracleof healing Mrs Jonathan right from thestart. That way, I thought ruefully, thenation would have been saved the huge

A President and his Lady Lazarus

sums of money poured into her furtivemedical tourism trip. Additionally, wewould have been spared the saga ofspeculations by the public and childishdenials by the Presidency’s spokespersonthat ensued. And, also, the piety party. Butthen I was enveloped by a sense of sadnessover yet another egregious show ofcontempt for the people on learning of themanner in which the President, throughhis wife, finally disclosed the reason forher stay abroad. And I kept asking: Whynow? Why choose to disclose it to God,who must be presumed to have known allalong anyway, and not to the people? Whyhadn’t the President thought to address thenation and thank the people for footingthe hefty bill of his wife’s expensivetreatment; for their prayers? Surely, thepeople matter in all this, and it is betterlate than never to acknowledge them — ifthe great secret is to be (partially) revealedafter all?

That was when it dawned on me thatperhaps the President, as virtually all ofour high political office holders, do reallybelieve the claim they are fond of making:that it is God, not man (the electorate),that personally installs them in office.Until now, I hadn’t imagined it to be aliteral article of faith among our rulingclass. Yet, there was the President who forsix months had treated the cause of hiswife’s mysterious disappearance from thecountry as a hyper-sensitive state secret,choosing, when he finally decided to parthis lips, to address himself only to God. Itis true that the disclosure was made by hiswife, but aren’t the two one before God?

For thepious, it is ofcourse aninjunction toput God firstin all things,though givent h econstitutionallyguaranteedsecularity ofNigeria it isnot too much to ask our righteous leadersto separate their personal devotions fromstate matters. After all, as even Christ

counselled, there are the things of God andthere are the things of Caesar.

In hindsight, I suspect that the belief indivine anointment to office is one

reason why our rulers do not care for usmere mortals; why Jonathan could say “Idon’t give a damn” when asked about theclamour for a public declaration of hisassets. Compare that outburst with whatLouis XIV of France purportedly said,

“L’état c’est moi” (“I am the State”). LouisXIV ruled at a time when monarchsclaimed to be the direct representatives ofGod. And if God is not accountable to anyone, then neither are his appointedrepresentatives.

I confess that I remain shocked byPresident Jonathan’s latest display ofcontempt for the people. Five monthsearlier, he had sparked another outrageby claiming that the masses of people whotrooped to the streets last year to protesttheir further impoverishment through hisremoval of yet another phantom fuelsubsidy were sponsored and manipulatedby unnamed enemies. The people, he said,had been lured into risking life, limb andliberty with bribes of “pure water” andstreet music. Oh, the fools and simpletonshe must lead!

If Jonathan didn’t believe that he wasspecially anointed by God to be president,that come 2015 God will renew theanointing on his head through PastorEnoch Adeboye, and that the people donot matter a jot in the process, he mightjust give a damn about insulting them everso often. It seems to me, then, that amongour many political challenges, one of themost urgent is how to make our “elected”leaders imbibe a basic minimumunderstanding of representativegovernance and the character, attitude andcomportment it demands of them.

What unites thevarious units ofpower in partiesis class interestmore than ethnicsolidarity whichcomes into playonly whenmembers lose outin the powergame

Among our manypolitical challenges,one of the most urgentis how to make our“elected” leadersimbibe a basicminimumunderstanding ofrepresentativegovernance

20 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 , 2013

Debate of the masses

,

,

PHCN at it again!

BY EBELE ORAKPO

HA! Man don suf-fer for this coun-

try oo!” exclaimed a com-muter in the CMS-bound bus by nameComfort as the buscrawled through the usu-al heavy Lagos traffic.

“My sister, you are notthe only one. We are allsuffering. Is it the un-bearable heat, high costof living, deplorableroads, rogue politicians?Where do I start from?See as people dey sweatlike Christmas goats,”complained Iyabo.

“The heat is not pecu-liar to Nigeria abeg,” re-torted Abu. “It’s every-where. That is the resultof the climate change weare experiencing theworld over – extremeweather conditions likeextreme heat and ex-treme cold. Unfortunate-ly, we are the cause ofthat through our activi-ties.”

“Yes, it may be globalbut other countries’ gov-ernments have a way ofdealing with it to amelio-rate the effects on thepeople, but not the Ni-gerian government,”countered Iyabo.

Said Comfort; “Mygrouse is with the elec-tricity utility company,Power Holding Compa-ny of Nigeria, PHCN.They are adding salt toinjury. I thought theyhad repented.” “Repent-ed from red to black orfrom what to what? Ithink the correct name isPlease Hold Candle, Nolight,” joked Abel.

Continued Comfort;“Could you believe thatthey brought our Febru-ary bill on February 6?What type of nonsense isthat?” “We were accusingthem of inefficiency andnow they are trying to beefficient and you are stillnot happy. Na wah forNigerians,” said Ify.

“Over-efficiency deyworry them, period!” saidCharles.

“I got mine at about thesame time, I think on the7th of February. I mean,it’s crazy. How can I payfor services not ren-

dered?” asked Iyabo.“Don’t be melodramat-

ic. They will provide theservices,” said Ngozi.

“How did they know theamount of electricity wewere going to consumefor the month?” askedComfort, to whichCharles replied thus:“The usual outrageousestimated bills. Theydon’t read metres at all.They just sit in their cosyoffices and cook up fig-ures and send to people.Before you say Jack Rob-inson, they will come todisconnect you for notpaying the bills. Na mon-ey dey insult person.Otherwise, I would haveinstalled full solar systemand PHCN can go to hell.Make dem no worry. Verysoon, people will be sofrustrated as to go back tothe days of jungle justicewhere they kill and maimPHCN officials at theslightest provocation.”

Said Comfort; “The mostannoying part was thattwo days after bringingthe bills and urging us topay, there was power out-age for almost two weeks.I made a pot of vegetablesoup with the little mon-ey I had and had to keepwarming and re-warm-ing the poor soup until itbegan to swear for me. Wedid not have light untilabout two weeks later.”

Said Iyabo; “Thank GodI did not bother to pay.Many people went tocomplain about the crazybills and they were toldto either pay or have theirlines cut. Imagine the in-sult!”

“No be small insult. Aneighbour who lives in asingle room was given abill of N9,000. Our billjumped from N6,000 toN15,000, meanwhile wehardly stay at home andwe make sure we turn offlights when not in use,”said Comfort.

“The only solution is forpeople to get the pre-paidmetres. But they stoppedissuing the metres be-cause it became difficultfor them to cheat consum-ers. May God save us inthis country,” saidCharles.

“

Why suspected pipeline vandalswant Kumuyi to intervene•We’re palm wine tappers—suspects•No, they’re pipeline vandals—NSCDC

BY BOSE ADELAJA

FOR suspectedpipeline vandal,

Imeh Etim, 27, only theurgent intervention ofthe General Overseer ofthe Deeper Life BibleChurch, Pastor WilliamKumuyi, can rescue himfrom his present predic-ament. Ime who said hehas been a member ofPastor Kumuyi’s churchfor the past 13 yearswants the cleric to usehis good office to savehim from an uncertainfate. Imeh was arrestedrecently with two of hissiblings, Bassey, 25 andEffiong, 32 and a familyfriend, Samuel Christo-pher, at Ojo area of La-gos during a raid byagents of the anti-van-dals department of theNigeria Security andCivil Defence Corps,

‘’Despite the fact that he hasbeen in the palm wine businessfor many years, he cannot makeends meet. Apart from this, thejob is strenuous and he usuallyruns to us for money. That iswhy I asked him to stop the busi-ness but he remained adamantuntil law enforcement agentscame there and arrested us,’’ hesaid.

Asked if he was aware of ille-gal bunkering going on in thearea, he responded thus: ‘’Yes,

‘’He begged us for a ride intothe forest to tap palm wine ashe did not have enough mon-ey for fare, but the law enforce-ment agents met us on the wayand arrested us,’’ they said.

In his own account, Effiongsaid: ‘’I am a palm wine tap-per and I am aware of illegalbunkering in the forest but I re-gret my failure to inform secu-rity agents of the atrocities inthe area until they raided theplace’’.

Parading the suspects,Obafaye said two motorcycleswere also impounded on thatday as well as 750 litres of pe-troleum products, adding: ‘’Wereceived an intelligent reportthat some vandals wanted tooperate in the area and we car-ried out a surveillance; our menwere inside the forest for over14 hours and when the sus-pected vandals eventuallycame around, we arrested. Wehave our intelligence team inevery nook and cranny and to-day, we thank God that thosewho are actually perpetratingthe evil have been nabbed.

“Arepo is opened up now, thebush and illegal structures builtaround the place have beencleared. So, no more hidingplace for the vandals at Arepo.But it’s like the vandals havecrossed over to places likeAkute and Ojo. When your op-ponent is stronger than you, youhave no option than to surren-der; the vandals were over-whelmed by the sheer numberof our men last weekend’’.

He begged us for a ride into the for-est to tap palm wine as he did nothave enough money for fare, but thelaw enforcement agents met us on theway and arrested us

The suspected pipeline vandals paraded by NSCDC in Lagos

NSCDC, Lagos State Com-mand, in connection with pipe-line vandalism.

But Imeh, who claimed hewas a fisherman, said he wasarrested when he paid a visitto his elder brother, Effiong, apalm wine taper, also in Ojoarea of Lagos. The four wereparaded by NSCDC LagosState Commandant ShemObafaye, at the State Secretar-iat in Alausa, Ikeja. But in adramatic twist, Imeh, Bassey

and Christopher are now accus-ing Effiong of being responsi-ble for their trouble.

While Imeh claimed he was afisherman, Bassey and Chris-topher said they were commer-cial motorcyclists, while Effiongwas a palm wine tapper.

Speaking with VanguardMetro, VM, Etim said he hadissued several warnings to hisbrother to quit the palm winebusiness because of the dangerassociated with it but Effionghad turned deaf ears to thewarnings.

Imeh said he had repeatedlyurged other members of theirfamily to use everything at theirdisposal to stop Effiong fromcontinuing with the business.

all of us are aware; and that ispart of the reasons why I askedhim to choose another vocation.Now see what his stubbornnesshas caused the entire family. Iusually go there to remind himof the danger ahead not know-ing that last weekend’s visit willland me in trouble’’.

Giving their own account, Bas-sey and Christopher said onthat fateful day, Effiong visitedtheir park and asked for a rideto the forest in order to trans-port some gallons of palm wine.But it turned out to be a ride intotrouble as they landed into thehands of law enforcementagents who arrested them andimpounded their motorcycles.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013————— 2525252525


At the just concluded developer ’s

workshop held recentlyin Lagos, the global soft-ware giant, Microsoftsharpened developers’skills using its innova-tive products and solu-tions.

Being one of the big-gest technology work-shop which drew a largeattendance of the Nige-rian developers’ commu-nity , the event was tar-geted at empoweringdevelopers to better po-sition themselves with-in the industry.

Speaking on the ration-ale for the workshop,Shina Oyetosho, Devel-oper Platform Evange-lism Lead, Microsoft An-glophone West Africasaid: “The workshop waspart of the Microsoft 4Af-rika Initiative geared to-wards empowering indi-viduals’ innovation forglobal competitivenessand to educate the devel-opers on how to positiontheir software.”

The Developers Work-shop was an offshoot ofthe Microsoft 4Afrika In-itiative launched on Feb-ruary 5th aimed at sow-ing seeds of growth andinvestment on the Afri-can continent.

Earlier in his address,Emmanuel Onyeje,Country Manager Mi-crosoft Anglophone WestAfrica, charged the de-velopers to create moreuser-friendly and inno-vative Apps that willhelp to enhance users’experience.

He encouraged them tocome up with consuma-ble content that peoplecan easily buy into.Onyeje advised that “Ac-

Microsoft empowersdevelopers forimproved productivity

BY EMEKA AGINAMcess” one of the pillars ofthe 4Afrika Initiative wasneeded to drive contentconsumption throughdevices.

He said that the Cor-poration was focusing ongiving people skills forthem to employ peopleor to be employed.

According to him, theMicrosoft was partneringwith the Federal Govern-ment of Nigeria tolaunch an InnovationCentre in the countryand to set-up an AppFactory that will provideWindows apps by Nige-rians for Nigerians, andalso provide them skillsfor employability.

Donald Oyeleye, anapp developer at In-foware Limited, develop-ers of the Infoware Fi-nance App spoke onapps for the financial in-dustry.

He explained that theessence of developingapps is to help userssolve specific problemsin order to their enhanceproductivity.

Akinwale Ariwodola,an IT Consultant withAntinormal Limited andSasha Winston-Onyiah,Lead Programmer atIDSL taught the devel-opers on how to developApps for Windows store.

The workshop provid-ed a strong networkingplatform for developersto interact and leverageon Microsoft productsand solutions for effec-tive application develop-ment. Participating de-velopers commended thecontinuous efforts of Mi-crosoft at encouragingtechnology penetrationas well as personalgrowth.

SMARTING from his exploits at the re-

cently concluded MobileWorld Congress in Bar-celona, Spain, the Exec-utive Vice Chairman ofthe Nigerian Communi-cations Commission,NCC, Dr Eugene Ju-wah, has declared thatNigeria’s Gross Domes-tic Product, GDP, wouldenjoy up to 15 percentincrease from ICT contri-butions in 2015.

The current ICT contri-bution to GDP is 5.6 per-cent and Juwah said thatthe massive jump to 15percent would happendue to the government’sstructured investmentand regulatory interven-tion.

Juwah also highlight-ed on this projection atthe Mobile World Con-gress when he appearedon the Broader Way2013 Forum – Make itPossible, organised byequipment manufactur-er, Huawei, in Barcelo-na last week.

Speaking among a pan-el of experts from indus-try and administrations,Juwah traced phenome-nal developments in thecountry’s communica-tions industry and sub-mitted that current pro-grammes and strategieswill put Nigeria on a fast-er lane in Broadbanddeployment and devel-opment.

He however regretteda dearth of infrastructurein the sector which af-fected projections andgrowth when placed sideby side with the coun-try’s huge population,admitting that it result-ed in only 6 percent data

penetration currently.He therefore can-

vassed for synergy be-tween government andthe private sector in in-frastructure funding andbuild out in order to stim-ulate demand and com-petition.

He said that althoughthe licensing of 2.3GHzwill be concluded thisyear; and thus be able tostimulate further compe-tition in the telecommu-nications industry, theNCC has been develop-ing a broadband conceptfor the country whichwill encourage govern-ment to give financialincentives to service pro-

encourage the two tech-nologies.

Putting people at thecentre of the business,almost all the expertsgathered at the forumwere of the opinion thatcompetition should notonly focus on prices buton services and qualityas well.

Speaking in anotherforum, Dr HamadounToure whose tenure atthe ITU has witnessedground-breaking devel-opments in the ICT sec-tor, including the digitalmigration, hailed thetransformation in the tel-ecommunications sectorwhich is driving pro-

most populous nation.Toure was particularly

excited that "Africa ispart of this inclusivetechnology that has giv-en voice to the voicelessand allows even the or-dinary folks in rural ar-eas to participate in glo-bal discourse and shareuseful information."

He hailed manufactur-ers for turning the phoneinto some multi-purposedevices saying that “it isno longer a phone butmulti-purpose devices.”With these devices, peo-ple are able to share in-formation and bouncethem around the world.

Information whenshared is divided be-tween people but whenit is communicated dig-itally so many peoplewill have access to thatinformation globally,Toure explained.

The ITU SecretaryGeneral was pained thata kind of technology coldwar seems to be brewingbetween developedNorth and developingSouth, and appealedthat such war should notbe allowed to happenotherwise it will hurtgrowth being recordedin the sector.

Toure also stressed theimportance of Cyber Se-curity, saying it touchesthe life of everybody in-cluding government andchildren. Cyber Securi-ty is a very serious andsensitive issue, Touresaid, adding that therewas an overriding im-portance to protect chil-dren in Cyber Space. Hecommended administra-tors and regulators forteaming with the ITU forChild online protection.

*L-r: Peter Garich, Service Director, Service Provider Infrastructure Current Analysis, USA; MarioCastillo, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Gerts-berg, Senior Vice President, Technology, Strategy, Governance and Programmes, Deutsche TelecomAg, Germany; Wen, Vice President and Director, MIIT, Huawei; Eugene Juwah, Executive Vice Chair-man, Nigerian Communications Commission, and Yu Quan, Chief Strategy Officer, Wireless BusinessUnit, Huawei at Huawei Broader Way Forum 2013 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

‘ICT to contribute 15% to GDP by 2015’BY PRINCE OSUAGWU

viders that will take serv-ices to far-flung areas,unserved and other un-der-served places.

In fact such incentives,according to him, willinfluence a commandingreduction in the cost ofbandwidth and this ex-pectedly, will put band-width in the hands ofthose who need it but areyet unable to afford it.

On the infrastructureside, he further advocat-ed for equal focus on thewireless and wired tech-nologies. He appealed toequipment manufactur-ers and suppliers tocome out with productsthat can harmonise and

found changes in all sec-tors and helping coun-tries to meet millenniumdevelopment goals(MDGs), among others.

For instance, the digit-al economy allows any-one, anywhere play anactive role in global is-sues and value chain,Toure said.

Toure was excitedabout ICT growth in Af-rica, a continent that hasbecome an honey pot formobile growth, and spe-cially commended Ni-geria for a good regula-tory framework by theJuwah- led team whichhas exploded mobilephone growth in Africa’s

Africa is part of this inclusivetechnology that has given

voice to the voiceless and al-lows even the ordinary folks

in rural areas to participate inglobal discourse and share

useful information

,

,

AFTER a successful final audition in

Lagos, the MTN Busi-ness Next Titan Realityshow is setting up a bootcamp to engage its 51pre-academy contestantsin a most thrilling capac-ity building and famili-arity experience. Pro-posed for the third weekof March 2013, the real-ity show in Nigeria willhelp contestants buildcharisma, strengthencharacter, enlighten per-sonality; refine their ide-as and empower them toenrich the national econ-omy.

It will be recalled, how-ever, that the organizersof the reality show threwopen the gates for allNigerian graduates, whoare above 18 years and

below 35 years of age,precisely four weeksago. The first auditionwas held in Abuja; thesecond was in Port Har-court, and lastly Lagos.Overall, more than fivehundred contestantsturned out in all the lo-cations, whereas 16, 10,25 contestants were se-lected respectively.These Nigerians wereselected based on thegenuineness and feasi-bility of their businessplans as adjudged by thesitting judges, whoseexperiences cut acrossthe media, commerceand entrepreneurship.

The business ideasrange from food process-ing and distribution tosoftware manufacturing,alternative electric pow-er source.

MTN next business titansengages Nigerian youths

BY LAJA THOMAS


Govt must subsidizecomputers for students

Continues from

pleased to partner with Zi-nox, a regional leader withthe capacities and high eth-ical value required to de-liver on its promise to usetechnology to drive devel-opment nationally and in-ternationally.

Expressing enthusiasmfor the Nigerian hardwareindustry, Pearson said thatas a long-standing memberof the Intel Diamond Club,Zinox would continue toenjoy information andtechnical exchanges tomake the company morerelevant to the economy.

He said that Zinoxshared the Intel passion foradequately empoweringthe education sector. Heinformed that Zinox hasbeen responsible for thecomputerization of over 65per cent of the tertiary in-

stitutions in Nigeria. Oflate, he said, Zinox devel-oped and deployed thelargest e-learning suite inAfrica solely for the pur-pose of providing afforda-ble access to content for theeducation sector.

“The Zinox world-classhub, which went live, re-cently would bring relief tomany educational institu-tions beginning from April2013 when Zinox streamse- Content to educationalinstitutions at half thepresent cost”, he stated.

The Zinox boss revealedthat the ultra modern fac-tory would begin produc-tion before the end ofMarch while explainingthat, the delay in bringingup the factory was due tothe irregular power supplyin the country.

DIMENSION Data last week intro-

duced its global Man-aged Cloud Platform(MCP) in Nigeria, prom-ising that it was going toserve the needs of bothpublic and private enter-prise, as well as serviceproviders.

Dimension Data saidthat it’s cloud offeringwill enable clients to ac-celerate their adoption ofcloud computing, in-crease strategic agility,lower ICT infrastructuremanagement expenses,and reduce cloud migra-tion complexity and risk. Cloud technologypresents a new con-sumption model for ICT

solutions and serviceswrapped in a predicta-ble, monthly commercialmodel, which allows itsadopters to reduce cost ascloud reduces the totalcost of ownership ofmanaging infrastructureand applications.

According to the Gen-eral Manager, Enter-prise Solutions, Dimen-sion Data Nigeria, JideAgbaje, “the availabilityof cloud computing inNigeria makes it easierfor organisations to har-ness the cost and agilitybenefits of Cloud as itprovides organisationshigh speed access to se-cure, enterprise-classpublic, private, hybridand hosted private cloudservices in the country”

Meanwhile, SolutionsExecutive, DimensionData Africa, Mr TonyMunro, had earlier de-clared that “while thebenefits of cloud comput-ing are very compelling,the complexity of plan-ning, building and man-aging cloud infrastruc-ture, is significant.Cloud providers need toaddress client concernsabout security, compli-ance, integration, per-formance, capital ex-pense requirements, aswell as deployment andoperational risks – to al-low clients acceleratetheir Cloud journey,”

The company’s publiccloud services are said tobe available immediate-ly even as dedicated pri-

vate cloud services canbe deployed in a matterof weeks, allowing cli-ents to enjoy the bene-fits of a fully automatedCloud architecture with-out the risks or excessivetime associated withbuilding the architec-tures themselves.

Dimension Data saysit offers public and pri-vate cloud Compute-as-a-Service(CaaS) solu-tions that provide self-service, on-demand,cloud-based compute,storage and networkingresources which are ful-ly managed using aWeb-based or REST-based Application Inter-face (API).DimensionData’s managed hostingservices go beyond infra-

structure hosting andalso include deploy-ment, management anddelivery of applications.

The MCP is enterprise-grade, offering multiplelayers of security, admin-istrative controls, 99.99percent availability SLAson public cloud, 24/7support and integratedmanagement capabili-ties. Agbaje claimed that“our cloud IaaS offeringsare designed to addressthe performance and se-curity concerns of organ-isations. We have madeit easier and less complexfor organisations of eve-ry size to benefit from theflexibility and scale ofcloud technologiesthrough automation andbroad global coverage”,

Dimension Data launches cloud services in Nigeria

BY PRINCE OSUAGWU

BY EMMANUELELEBEKE

ABOUT 238 Nigerian students in pub-

lic tertiary institutions inthe Northern zone, wererecently presented withN200,000 scholarshipawards, each, by theMTN foundation.

The scholarship, the4th in the series ofMTNF science and tech-nology scholarship andMTNF Scholarshipawards for blind studentscomprised of 205 scienceand technology studentsand 33 blind students,drawn from various insti-tutions of higher learn-ing across the country.

Presenting the award,Chairman, MTN Foun-dation, AmbassadorHamzat Ahmadu, saidthe gesture was born out

MTN gives 238 less privileged students N47.6bnworth of scholarship

the organization’s pas-sion to reward excel-lence in students whowere found worthy andhave worked extremelyhard and deserve an op-portunity to pursue theirdreams of higher educa-tion.

‘‘We celebrate academ-ic excellence in studentswho have worked ex-tremely hard and whodefinitely deserve anopportunity to pursuetheir dreams of highereducation. We also rec-ognize the exemplaryefforts of a special groupof students who have toovercome daily challeng-es in their quest for abrighter future.’’

‘‘It is about shapingNigeria’s future througheducation. It is aboutmaking an investment inthe lives of tomorrow’s

leaders, by providingthem with an opportuni-ty to pursue their dreamsdespite limitations. Tothe beneficiaries, youhave done to earn aplace in this scheme, andyour parents and guard-ians should indeed beproud of you. Imploreyou not to rest on youroars,’’ said Ahmadu.

According to Amb.Hamzat, the gesturewould also be extendedto other successful stu-dents in Owerri and La-gos for the Eastern andWestern zones on March7th and 14th respective-ly.

In her goodwill mes-sage, the Minister ofWomen Affaires andYouth Development,Hajia Zainab Mainarepresented by Mr.George Osy described

the gesture as indica-tion that the organiza-tion is commitment toacademic pursuit of per-sons with disability andfinancial challenge.

For her, the gesturewould bring unprece-dented advancementand bridge the wideninggap between the lessprivileged persons andthe rest of the society.

‘‘It is an advancementof education equaliza-tion. It is coming at a timethe present administra-tion is committed to part-nering with corporateentities to take educationin Nigeria to the nextlevel. This group consti-tutes 35 percent of thepopulation, and I thinkthat it is necessary toextend such support tothem. I enjoin every ben-eficiary to see this as anopportunity to work

harder and contribute tothe nation building,’’ hesaid. He then called onother corporate organiza-tions to emulate the ges-ture,’’ noted.

Also speaking, the min-ister of education, Prof.Tukayaatu Rufai repre-sented by Mrs. FlorenceChukwu, while com-mended MTN for re-warding hard-work, saidthat the importance ofthe gesture to nation’sbuilding cannot be overemphasized and urgedthe company to sustainthe initiative. The executive Secretaryof the Foundation, Ms.Nonny Ugboma said thebenefiting students wereconsidered worthy of theawards after series oftest and examination pro-cedures that revealedthem as true championsin academics.

According to her, about500 students joined thescheme while about 800returned for maintainingtheir high grades. Shenoted that about 300 stu-dents graduated from thescheme in December2012 and were giventechnical training to en-able them become em-ployable in the labourmarket.

‘‘For us, it is not justabout award, we believeon building their capac-ities on interview tech-niques, building theirCurriculum Vitae, all tomake them employable.Our reach is beyond uni-versities. We also involvepolytechnic and collegesof education studentsfrom both federal andstate government. Weare confident that whenwe give them the finalhandshake, they will beready to face the labourmarket with prerequisiteskills and capabilities,’’she added.

President of the JointAction for Persons withDisability, Barr. DanlamiBasharu said it was un-common to see organiza-tions giving huge sup-port to persons with dis-ability. He called on thecorporate world to reachout to empower peoplewith disability, insistingthat it is only when theyinvest their money wise-ly that peace can reignin the society.

Responding on behalfof the beneficiaries, aChemical Engineeringstudent of Federal Uni-versity of Technology,Minna, Agi Tyoor said‘‘We are going to makegood use of this oppor-tunity. This is going togo a long way to makingour studies easier.

L-r: Executive Secretary, MTN Foundation, Ms. Nonny Ugboma; Director MTN Foundation, Mrs.Aishatu .P. Sadauki handing over an MTNF Science and Technology Scholarship Award Certificate toMr. Adamu Aliyu Jimoh, a beneficiary of the MTNF scholarship award and Assistant Director, Ministryof Education, Mrs. Florence Chukwu at the MTN Foundation’s scholarship award ceremony (phasefour) at the National Universities Commission, Abuja recently.

28—Vanguard28—Vanguard28—Vanguard28—Vanguard28—Vanguard, , , , , WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, , , , , 20132013201320132013

2 0 1 4 W O R L D C U P Q U A L I F I E R :

Toro cautions Eagles aheadof Harambee Stars clash

South Africa. I also know thathe will like to retain the crop ofplayers that executed and wonthe African Cup of Nations.

“Yes we have won theNations Cup, what remainsnow is the World Cup and mostimportantly, I don’t wantNigeria to underrate any team,not even Kenya”, he said.

The former Bauchi StateSports Commissioner said heis certain that Nigeria wouldqualify for the next World Cup

in Brazil as he expressed happinessover the role played by home-basedplayers.

He said, “I am sure the Eagles willqualify. He should ensure everythingis put in place for us to qualify .Whether Nigeria is going to do wellat the World Cup or win it, I don’tknow. But I am certain that Nigeriawill qualify for the World Cup. Wehave committed players from whichKeshi is going to select the best forthe country. Kenya must fall on March23rd ”, he vowed.

By SOLOMONNWOKE

3SC goalkeeper Dele Ajiboye has saidthat he will fight to be on the Super

Eagles squad after he was handed asurprise call-up.

The 22-year-old shot stopper was among24 players from the domestic league pickedfor a 2014 World Cup qualifier againstKenya and while he admitted he wassurprised by his call-up, he hopes to takehis chance.

”I am so happy by this invitation eventhough I wasn’t expecting it now, but Ialways knew my time to play in the Eagleswill come. This is the chance I have beenwaiting for and I hope to do my best,”Ajiboye said.

On his chances against the likes ofVincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide andChigozie Agbim, the former Pontevedra CFof Spain goalkeeper said he is ready tobattle them for a place on the squad againstKenya in a World Cup qualifier on March

Ajiboye vows tobattle Enyeama,

Ejide forEagles ’ No.1

23 in Calabar.”I know we have top

goalkeepers in the Eagles, butI am ready for the challengesand I am confident I will doenough to be on the team toface Kenya.”

The former Olympic teaminternational also disclosed hewill join the Eagles trainingcamp in Abuja on Monday.

”I know the camp willresume on Saturday, but wehave a league game onSunday against Gombe andso I will be in camp onMonday,” Ajiboye said.

•Ajiboye

GOLDEN Eaglets pounded theDiamond Zebras of Botswana 9-0 in the

reverse fixture of two-legged internationalfriendly on Monday at the U J Esuene Stadium,Calabar to complete a 12-0 aggregate routingof the Southern African cadet side.

Last Saturday, the Nigerian Under-17 teambeat their Botswana counterparts 3-0 withEaglets’ head coach, Manu Garba describinghis wards as wasteful.

Monday’s game was tighter with Botswanapacking the defence with more players. Theside coach, Kagiso Kobedi brought in four newplayers to fortify the team but in the end it didnot stop rampaging Nigeria’s budding team.

Golden Eaglets pound Diamond Zebras 9-0

• Keshi

•Eagles

AHEAD of this month’s2014 World Cup

qualifier against theHarambee Stars of Kenya inCalabar, former SecretaryGeneral of the Nigeria FootballAssociation (NFA), Alhaji Sani

Ahmed Toro has cautioned theSuper Eagles not to beswayed by their 2013 Afconvictory in South Africa.

Newly appointed headcoach of Harambee

Stars of Kenya,Adel Amrouchehad boasted that

Nigeria’s 2013Afcon victory was not

enough reason for Kenyato fear the Super Eagles.He tasked Eagles’ head

coach, Stephen Keshi and hisplayers not to rest on their oars.

“I believe by now Keshi musthave submitted his programmefor the World Cup and the FIFAConfederation Cup and theearlier the FA approves of it, thebetter. I know Keshi is notgoing to gamble with or becarried away by the victory in

VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY, , , , , MARCH 6, , , , , 2013—2013—2013—2013—2013— 29 29 29 29 29

despite coping without topscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic,who is suspended.

Ibrahimovic, who hasscored 26 goals, has beenmasking PSG’s weaknesses.When he’s out of form, like inSaturday’s 1-0 loss at Reims,the team seems short onoptions.

PSG’s win in Valencia threeweeks ago contrasted sharplywith Saturday’s poor display,which was PSG’s secondstraight away loss to a teamfighting against relegation -a worrying statistic for a clubaspiring to join Europe’s elite.

gung-ho approach will only seethe Clydesdale Bank PremierLeague champions cut openagain.

Celtic conceded early in thefirst leg as Alessandro Matripounced and were then hit withtwo late sucker-punches whenClaudio Marchisio and MirkoVucinic both struck as NeilLennon’s men desperatelysought a goal to take with themto Italy.

Having learned that harshlesson, Lustig believes themanager will have to remain

cautious - even given Juve’scommanding lead.

He said: “We need to try togo forward and score somegoals, but if we are too open inhow we think, then Juventusare a really good team and willhave a really good chance toscore.

“So we will need to take it alittle bit easy.”

Meanwhile, former Celticassistant manager JohnRobertson reckons Celtic can beproud of the work they havedone on the continent this year.

Celtic’ll be cautious againstJuventus, insists LustigVS

CELTIC full-back MikaelLustig has warned his

team-mates they cannot affordto go all out attack as they tryto overturn Juventus’Champions League lead.

The Hoops travel to Turinyesterday with only the faintesthopes of stunning the Old Ladyin today’s last-16 second legfollowing their 3-0 defeat inGlasgow last month.

But Lustig, who will remainbehind in Scotland alongsidecaptain Scott Brown after bothpicked up injuries, realises a

•Lustig

Lagos Int’l PoloTournament: Kano,Ibadan teams kick-start second phaseHOSTILITIES resume today at the

2013 Lagos International PoloTournament with Ibadan and Kanoteams squaring up in crucial encounters.Kano Susplan will take on Kano DMSfor a place in the Low Cup

Representative of MTN Nigeria, oneof the major sponsors Kola Oyeyemi,General Manager, ConsumerMarketing,, said the company hadalways been loyal to its core clientele,adding, “the rationale for sponsoringthe Lagos Polo Tournament and othersaround the country, is based on seekingways to connect with the passion pointsof MTN’s customers. Polo is a platformto associate with our customers becauseof their passion for the game of kingsand the king of games.

We will continue to identify with thepassion points of our customers as wecontinue to promote not only Polo, butother sporting activities so as to enrichtheir lives by making them to love more,laugh more and live more” he added.

Kano Ibah and Trivia/Trojan won theDansa Cup and the Oba of Lagos Cuprespectively in the opening week of thedouble edged tournament.

PARIS Saint-Germain’sinconsistency in theFrench league has yet

to impact its ChampionsLeague campaign as the bigspenders hold a 2-1 leadahead of today’s return leg inthe last 16 against Valencia.

PSG has not reached theChampions Leaguequarterfinals since 1995 andwill be favored to progress,

PSG coach Carlo Ancelottirefused to criticize his playersfor their poor showing againstReims and said the loss doesnot change his plans forValencia.

“I don’t think so,” the Italiansaid. “Wednesday’s match isimportant, that’s true, butwe’ve already prepared forit.”

Ancelotti has Brazil centerhalf Thiago Silva availableagain after nearly two monthsout with a hamstring injury,but winger Jeremy Menez isdoubtful with a sore hip andsat out Monday’s training.

Pirlo warnsJuventusagainstcomplacencyJUVENTUS playmaker

Andrea Pirlo has warnedhis side against complacencywhen they host Celtic in thesecond leg of theirChampionsLeague last-16 tie today.

The Italian champions leadtheir Scottish counterparts 3-0 from the first leg played inGlasgow last month.

”Celtic for a start will bewounded,” he told theScottish Sun. “They are a veryproud football club and havea very proud set of fans.

”It will have hurt them to seethe way they were beaten attheir home - and if we arecomplacent, then that is whenthey could have theirrevenge.

•An action from Lagos Int’l Polo Tournament

•ZlatanIbrahimovic

CMYK


IN Nigeria, it is compulsory tohave motor insurance before

using or keeping a motor vehicleon public roads. However, sincemost Nigerians buy insurance justto get cleared from law enforcementagents on the roads, they choose togo for third party motor insurancewhich is a lot cheaper thancomprehensive policy.

Consequently, because of thepreconceived notions that thirdparty policy is just to beat lawenforcement agents, many don’trealize that a third party policy isactually legal and indemnifies theinsured from third party losses.Unfortunately, a lot of accidentedvehicles which ordinarily wouldhave been repaired by the insurancecompany are borne by the carowners.

How third party worksFor a third party motor policy, the

first party is you; the second partyis the insurance company while thethird party is everyone else.

So third party motor insurancemeans that if you damage (crashinto) someone else’s vehicle, theinsurance pays the owner of thatvehicle (the third party), or moreimportantly if you injure someoneelse with your vehicle, theinsurance pays. Third party liabilitycoverage is part of your basic motorpolicy and covers you for claimsmade against you by other driversafter a crash.

In other words, under third partyinsurance you cannot claim for the

HoHoHoHoHow third parw third parw third parw third parw third partytytytytyinsurance winsurance winsurance winsurance winsurance worororororksksksksks

PenComlicenced

PFAs

* ARM Pension Managers Limited.

* Leadway Pensure PFA Limited.

* Premium Pension Limited.

* Sigma Pensions Limited

* Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited.

* Trustfund Pensions Plc.

* Aiico Pension Managers Limited.

* APT Pension Fund Managers Limited.

* Crusader Sterling Pensions Limited.

* Fidelity Pension Managers Limited.

* Future Unity Glanvills Pensions Limited.

* IEI-Anchor Pension Managers Limited.

* NLPC Pension Fund Administrators Limited.

* Legacy Pension Managers Limited.

* Oak Pensions Limited

* Pensions Alliance Limited.

* Penman Pensions Limited.

* Royal Trust Pension Fund Administrator

Limited.

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA car you are driving regardless ofwhether it is a brand new tearrubber. You need a comprehensivecover for that. If you are drivingsomeone else’s car, it won’t pay tohave the car you are drivingrepaired. Only the car you hit. Ifyou are responsible for a crash, youmight also be responsible for payingto repair another vehicle or coveringits driver’s medical costs. Thirdparty liability coverage protects youagainst these claims, covering thecost of damage and injuriessustained in a crash in which youwere at fault.

It is worthy of note that the moneyto pay for damages comes from thepremiums. Invariable, if premiumhas not been paid for a third partymotor insurance, there won’t be anycompensation whatsoever, in caseof accident.

If you go for a third auto partyinsurance from a registeredinsurance company, you will be ableto save yourself of the costassociated with causing damage toothers. Assuming your car injureda pedestrian, the insurancecompany will pick up the medicalbills and thus save you from beingtorn apart by the relatives of theinjured.

However, note that the claim youcan make on an auto insurancepolicy is limited. So, find out thelimit to the loss the insurance policycovers before subscribing. Forexample, an auto insurance policymay only cover loss up to a certainamount say N1,000,000. Thismeans that if the vehicle youdamaged is worth more than that,

the insurance company will onlyprovide N1,000,000.

More importantly, as soon as theinsurer thinks you are not acting‘in good faith’ in other words theythink you are trying to rip themoff, they will refuse to pay thatclaim, cancel your insurance,report you to the police for fraudand put you on a blacklist. To geta third party auto insurance policycontact a registered insurancecompany or use the services of aninsurance broker.

Having good insuranceIf you think you can fight off

against an unexpected disaster byyourself then that is great;otherwise, insurance is your bestshot. Insurance means you do nothave to be on the streets, ifsomehow the main family breadearner passes away, or the roofover your head is snatched or yourlife savings are stolen. In all thesecases, a good insurance is yourroad to quick recovery.

According to Mr. Yemi Soladoye,an insurance expert, the greatestasset insurance bestows is theabsolute peace in case of mosttraumatic moments of ones life. “Adying man, who is insured for life,would breath his/her last incomplete peace, knowing he/shecan pass away without fretting overthe financial state of his/her family.In automobile accident, you do notlay down in a panic attack, if thevehicle is properly insured. Henceit would be justifiable to claim thatinsurance brings an extra strengthto face the worst upsets of life”,Soladoye said.

Last week, in our haste to go to press, weomitted names of some insurancecompanies registered by the National

Insurance Commission, NAICOM, to operateinsurance business in the country. The omittedcompanies are hereby listed

*Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc

*FBN Life Assurance Ltd

NAICOMregisteredinsurance

companies -continuation

•A third party policy could return your car to shape


,

By ROSEMARY ONUOHA

Mr. John Ugana (notreal names) is a

retired police officer whoserved in the Nigerian PoliceForce for 35 years. Before heretired, the ContributoryPension Scheme, CPS, cameon stream and all his pensionentitlements were transferredto his Retirement SavingsAccount, RSA. Ugana retiredand relocated back to hisvillage in Benue State andwent back to his farm withoutcollecting his pension.

When Ugana’s PFAdiscovered that he did notcome to claim his pension, thePFA tried reaching him on histelephone line, but it was notconnecting. The PFAcontacted his former office andwas told that they knownothing of his where about.The PFA went to the addresshe submitted as hisresidential address and hisformer neighbours said hejust left without tellinganybody where he was going.

Luckily for Ugana, in theprocess of trying to locatehim, a close friend who knewof his whereabouts briefed thePFA about it, so the PFA wentto his village to look for him.When he was eventuallyfound, he was asked why hedidn’t bother to collect hispension; Ugana said he neverknew the pension scheme wasreal and he never believed init.

Scenarios like this arebecoming commonplace withthe CPS due to various

WhWhWhWhWhy yy yy yy yy you musou musou musou musou must updatt updatt updatt updatt update ye ye ye ye your PFour PFour PFour PFour PFAAAAAssssstttttatusatusatusatusatus

reasons. Reasons such as,RSA holders changingaddresses and not informingtheir PFAs; RSA holderschanging phone lines and stillnot informing their PFAs;account holders not tellingtheir beneficiaries about theirpension before dying; as wellas RSA holders not writing Willto specify who their benefitsshould go to in case of death.

Only recently, Pension FundOperators, PenOp, lamentedthat un-accessed pensionbenefits is growing on dailybasis and it is becoming a bigchallenge to the pension sectoron how to locate the actualbeneficiaries.

Your contribution in the CPSis not money that you need forday to day living. Hence, thereis need for you to give accurate

Kenneth, a Car DealerI don’t have any insurance policy and this

has nothing to do with my understanding ofthe programme because I know there are variouspolicies available, but to me, insurance cannotprotect me against any risk, it is God whoprotects.

Godwin Kiroma, a Domestic Gas SellerWe have it before but it has expired and that

is due to the fact that I am just a manager here.But as soon as the owner of this place arrivesfrom abroad, we will renew it. But for all thevehicles we are using in moving our products,they are all insured. The reason why manypeople are no longer using insurance is becausethey felt cheated or because they have used itfor a year and when they discovered that therewas no problem in the whole of one year theythen decided not to renew. Their thinking thatit is only God that protects them, thus they see

How do you see third party insurance?no need in spending their money on somethingthat they cannot get immediate value for if theyeven get it at all.

Mr. okonko, Company Security Officer.We all know that insurance works in many other

countries but here in Nigeria, there are a lot ofevil manipulations that surfaces. When we talkabout insurance and to worsen the case, we don’thave a strong legal policy and backing that willrescue one that has been cheated.

David, Oil Deport Security ManInsurance is very good and everybody love

good things but in the Nigeria context, the storyis not the same. Because as you see me here, Iam working based on contract and though thenature of the work is very risky, and because ofthe style with which we are brought here wecannot even challenge our employee to get it forus. How much are we being paid that we will

still be using our own money for insurance?

Okoro, Tanker driverI am a tanker driver by profession and every

tanker that is loaded here just as in any other oildepots in Nigeria, the owners tell the drivers thatif your vehicle is involved in any accident, theywill pay you or probably your family certain amountof money. But all these are lies. You may not knowthis until a person close to you is involved in anaccident or dies. Nobody will give them one koboand then you will discover that there is nothinglike insurance in the real sense. It is only talk thatwe know how to talk because when it comes toacting, we are nowhere to be found and thegovernment is not helping too, they let thiscompanies take advantage of Nigerians withoutpaying for such action.

By WILLIAM JIMOH

Please, send your questions and enquiriesto [email protected]

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

information to your PFA so thatwhen you finally retire,controversy won’t arise. Moreso, if a retiree is not around toenjoy his pension benefits dueto death, his/her realbeneficiary is not in doubt.

Since pension remittancesare made by employers and noteven by individuals, there isneed for the individual toupdate his/her PFA on recent

developments which theemployer might not be awareof.

The desire of Pension FundOperators is to grow thesubscriber base of the CPSfrom about 5.2 million atpresent to over 20 million inthe future. However, the desireis that every subscriber enjoyshis pension and retirement atthe end of the day.

•Notify your PFA whenever you change address.

CMYK

32—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6-, 2013

Continues on page 33

OUR subject is grim, a causeof one of our deepest anx-

ieties - bordering on the nervouskind - about the present and fu-ture of this headache countrycalled Nigeria. If education is boththe nursery and bedrock of thefuture, the place where the intel-lect and character of the men andwomen to lead a society, shapeits political vision, and engage inits productive work are trained,then there is good cause for thenervous anxiety we all feel withliterally every report that comesthese days from the schools, inparticular - and only because ofour topic today - the universitiesand other tertiary institutions.

And, no, I am not now thinkingof the national embarrassment ofso-called university students whocannot spell their names - okay,if that is putting it too bluntly -

LEADERS OF TOMORROW:

gin with an attempt to clarify whatsecret cults are by first going tothe origin of confraternities inNigeria. For, today, the terms“confraternities” and “secretcults” do not mean separatethings in the mind of the public:the one immediately suggests theother.

The word confraternity, accord-ing Webster’s dictionary, means“a lay brotherhood devoted tosome religious or charitable ser-vice; a society, especially of men,united for some purpose or insome profession.” The root wordis the Latinate “frater” whichmeans brother. The first fraterni-ty, Phi Beta Kappa, was formedon December 5, 1776 in the Unit-ed States of America. It wasfounded at the College of Will-iam and Mary in Williamsburg,in the colony of Virginia; a col-lege second only to Harvard asthe oldest institution of higher

one who cares to look will find inthe manifesto of the Pyrates Con-fraternity, or the Seadogs, the old-est. It was founded, according tothe history published on its web-site, to combat class privilege orelitism, affectations or the blindaping of British colonial cultureand social mannerisms, tribalism,discrimination, convention or sta-sis, and social injustice of anykind.

Its members also sought to liveby the code of chivalry - to deferto and protect the weaker sex(presumably from gender dis-crimination as well, although thisis not explicitly stated). In otherwords, its primary concern wasto do whatever it could to ensurethat the first university college inNigeria would produce thinkersand visionaries and not yes-menand women dying to cast them-selves in the image of the colo-niser.

Ethnicchauvinism

Today, the pernicious mix ofclass and ethnic chauvinism thatserved as its impetus might soundstrange, but here is how thePyrates Confraternity describedthe context of its emergence, aview corroborated by objectivestudies, as in the essay “Violencein the Citadel: The Menace ofSecret Cults in the Nigerian Uni-versities” by AdewaleRotimi, pub-lished in a 2005 issue of the Nor-dic Journal of African Studies, andto which I will make further ref-erence below. Meanwhile, hereis how the Pyrates Confraternitydescribes the context of theiremergence:

“In the early days of the Uni-versity College of Ibadan … high-er education was a near exclu-sive preserve of children fromwealthy homes. The product ofthis middle [sic] upbringing, sci-

present indignities, or strove as-siduously to be admitted to thesophisticated circle of their flash-ier peers. Ashamed of their peas-ant or worker background, someplayed on the ignorance of theirparents who made prodigioussacrifices to enable their childrenjoin the aristocratic sets, in ap-pearance and acquisitions at least.So thoroughly did they absorb thehabits and ethics of the class towhich they desperately aspiredthat they, in effect, even outdidthe “natural” elite of the univer-

the heightened agitation for in-dependence came the sad andpredictable appeal to tribal senti-ments as the motley array of eth-nic nationalities, not previouslyunder one national government,jockeyed for position and power.This tendency was absorbed bythe University College, Ibadan,which “became a breedingground for the worst kind of trib-al thinking clubs,” such that theStudents’ Representative Coun-

sity campus. Not surprisingly, stu-dent clubs were a reflection ofthese ambitions; so also was theorientation of the Student’ Rep-resentative Council, which oftenmade demands on the rest of theNigerian community as if it wasa body of exotic strangers fromouter space.

“In the 1950s, Nigeria was in anationalist ferment and along with

ons of business tycoons and colo-nial aristocracy, brought into theUniversity College all their no-tions of class privilege and indif-ference to the social realities ofthe nation. The handful of stu-dents from poorer backgroundseither stuck doggedly to theirbooks, looking forward to the daywhen the prize of an academicdegree would compensate their

,

,The founders of the Eiye Confraternity,we are informed, believed strongly in theespousal of the traditional African teach-ings towards human and spiritual excel-lence against the backdrop of colonialsubversion of the African mind

Persons ofcharacteror criminals?

Ifowodo delivered this lecture at Oleh, Delta State, un-der the auspices of the Solomon Ogba Peace Group inCollaboration with Flomat Books

•On Confraternities as secret cults

By OGAGA IFOWODO

who cannot tell a noun from averb or finish three sentenceswithout an embarrassing gram-matical or semantic error. Thereare, indeed, “the miracles,” thedesert flowers, that astonish usthrough sheer improbability. Butthey exist in spite, and not be-cause, of the current state of ourtertiary institutions. To return tothe point, I am, rather, thinkingof what has been dubbed “themenace” or “scourge of secretcults.”

Confraternities and secretcults: Separating the dreamfrom the nightmare: Let us be-

learning in America.Even that long ago, it

had all the features asso-ciated with the fraternitiesthat are a part and parcelof American universitiestoday, such as lofty prin-ciples, a motto, an insig-nia, rituals, a code offriendship and camarade-rie. Phi Beta Kappa heldregular meetings duringwhich its members dis-cussed literary and socialquestions of the day, in-cluding such hot politicaltopics as taxation and rep-resentative democracy.

Because it was formed during theperiod of revolution, it could onlyhold its meetings in secret.

Three years after it was formed,chapters were established at Yaleand Harvard. This became themodel for all subsequent frater-nities and sororities (the sister-hoods) as well.

The manifestoes of nearly, if notall, of the “secret cults” known tooperate within but also outside thecampuses profess adherence tothese characteristics. At least, thatis what you will find with respectto the five oldest and better knownones. It is undoubtedly what any-

OGAGA IFOWODO

Map of Nigeria

Education minister, Prof Ruqqayatu Rufai


JTF averts bloodshed in Delta

Delta LG bossassures onpeace,security

BY EMMA AMAIZE

Edo among three fastest growing statesin Nigeria —Chukwumerije

JTF to Shell: We're winning battleagainst crude oil theft

BY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

VISIT: Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State (left) and Senator Uche Chukwumerije, Chairman, Senate Committeeon Education, during a courtesy visit by the Senate Committee on the governor in Benin City, yesterday.

Mutu urged tore-contest in2015

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM& GABRIEL

ENOGHOLASE

WARRI—JOINT TaskForce, JTF, in the Niger

Delta, has averted bloodshedbetween Orugbene and Afoug-bene communities in BurutuLocal Government Area of Del-

ta State.Vanguard learnt that ten-

sion mounted following theattack on Orugbene commu-nity leader, Chief JohnbullFebakumor, by suspectedAfougbene youths, who laidsiege to Burutu River with

two speed boats and stoppedboats conveying passengers.

Reports said the youths,armed with wood and otherdangerous weapons,pounced on Febakumor, ac-cusing him of standing as awitness in a land dispute

between Afougbene andOgulagha communities.

Chief Febakumor, whospoke to Vanguard from hishospital bed in Warrri, yes-terday, said: “It is God thatsaved my life, they almostkilled me. On Monday morn-ing, two speedboats carryingabout seven persons eachstopped the passenger boatthat was carrying me along-side others and they startedbeating me.

“I asked them why theywere beating me and theysaid I was a witness in theland dispute between Afoug-bene and Ogulagha commu-nities. If not for the JTF, theywould have killed me.”

Tension rose between bothcommunities because of theincident, but soldiers mount-ed surveillance on the water-ways and saved the situationfrom degenerating.

YENAGOA—JOINT TaskForce, JTF, in the Niger

Delta code named OperationPulo Shield, weekend, saidthough it does not have the man-power to position operatives per-manently to monitor crude pipe-lines spanning over 6,000kmacross the mangrove swamp ofthe Delta, it had recorded majorsuccesses in its fight againstcrude oil theft in the last 15months in the region.

Reacting to claims by Shell Pe-troleum Development Companythat oil thieves were setting uptank farms and barge buildingyards, JTF, through its spokes-man, Lt. Col Onyema Nwachuk-wu, in a statement, said: “We arefighting a good fight in combat-ing the menace of oil theft in theNiger Delta. This is evident inthe number of successful inter-ceptions and arrests that we hadmade, not only in 2012, but evenin the two months that we havespent in the new year.

“Last year alone, 7,585 anti-il-legal bunkering patrols were con-

ducted. A total of 18 vesselsand 1,945 suspects were arrest-ed while 4,349 illegal crude oildistilleries were destroyed.Also destroyed were 133 barg-es, 1,215 open wooden boats(Cotonu boats), 187 oil thefttanker trucks, 178 illegally dis-tilled fuel dumps as well as5,574 surface tanks."

On Shell’s claim that oil

thieves were setting up tankfarms and barge buildingyards, he said: “I suppose thatthe oil companies are stake-holders in the security of Ni-geria’s oil sector and thereshould to be a synergy be-tween them and securityagencies in the country in-cluding the JTF, which is attheir beck and call, wonder-ing why the oil companieswere not giving security agen-cies such information."

BENIN—CHAIRMAN,Senate Committee on

Education, Senator UcheChukwumerije, has ratedEdo State among the threefastest developing states inthe country, attributing sameto the character and politicalleadership of Governor Ad-ams Oshiomhole.

Senator Chukwumerije,

who gave the assessmentduring a courtesy call on thegovernor in Benin City, yes-terday, said: “In terms of re-sources, you are not as richas the richest states or thefirst segment of the richestin the country, but in termsof achievements, you sharewith two other states that featof being the fastest develop-ing state in the country.”

Noting that his committeewas in the state to overseethe most distressed sector of

the country and yet a sectorthat is most pivotal to the fu-ture of the country, he said:“We have a governor that hasthe trait, which has beenproved in the theatre of pop-ular struggles. You see your-self particularly excited be-cause, if you transfer thattrait into education, you willhelp us bring into educationthe kind of transformationwhich anybody who believesin the future of the countrywould wish for.”

U G H E L L I —CHAIRMAN,

Isoko North Local Gov-ernment Transition Com-mittee, Delta State, Mr.Samuel Idise, yesterday,said his committee wascommitted to the suste-nance of peace and se-curity in the council.

Idise, who spoke whenhe led the Head of Per-sonnel Managementand members of thecouncil’s transition com-mittee on courtesy visit totraditional rulers in thearea, solicited for thesupport of the monarchsin the task of securinglives and property of thepeople of the council.

He said: “We are hereto get your royal bless-ings and ask for yoursupport in the area ofcommunity policing, soas to keep the peace andsecure lives and proper-ty of our people. The is-sue of peace and securi-ty should not be left togovernment alone; itshould be everybody’sbusiness.”

BY FESTUS AHON

YOUTHS, in BomadiLocal Government

Area of DeltaState,under the aegis ofBomadi Youth Consulta-tive Forum, BYCF, havecalled on their repre-sentative at the Nation-al Assembly, Mr. Nicho-las Mutu, to re-contestthe House of Represent-atives seat in 20015.

BYCF, in a statement byits chairman, Mr. JosephBekesuoyeibo, said aftera careful analysis of theantecedents of Mutu'sactivities, all stakehold-ers and leaders have re-solved to urge him toserve again.

Passing a confidencevote on Mutu, the groupsaid he had done ex-ceedingly well in the ar-eas of effective repre-sentation, infrastructuraldevelopment and humancapital development.

BYCF urged Mutu tolistened to the yearningsof the electorate as hecontinues to transformthe lives of his constitu-ents.

38 —Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013

Abia govt, Police dismiss reportedshooting at Kalu's home

Water scarcity hitsOwerri, environs

Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State (left) receiving a signed Memorandum of Understanding,MoU, with Shanid Agricultural Company Ltd. from the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Prof.Mkpa Agu Mkpa, in Umuahia.

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA — ABIAState Government

has dismissed as a hoax

reported shooting at thegate of the country home offormer Governor Orji UzorKalu, last weekend, sayingit was part of theorchestrated mudslingingto smear the image of thestate.

Abia State PoliceCommand had alsodismissed it and asked thepublic to regard the reportof the said invasion of theformer governor’s home“as sponsored anddiversionary.”

State Commissioner forInformation and Strategy,Dr. Eze Chikamnayo, saidthe whole thing was afabricated story.

An aide to the formergovernor, Pastor ChukwudiOkoroafor, had lastweekend claimed that hewas trailed by gunmen onmotorcycle to the gate ofCamp Neya Estate, homeof the former governor, whoopened fire on the bus hewas driving, believing hewas still inside the vehicle.

The incident was said tohave occurred about 10 p.mwhile the aide was said tobe waiting for the gate tobe opened for him to driveinside the compound..

But Chikamnayodismissed the claim as “afabrication from the pit ofhell which only happenedat the gate of his cerebralimagination.”

The commissioner saidthe former governor usedthat as one of his ways toraise false alarm to create afalse impression that therewas insecurity in the state.

He, therefore, advised theformer governor to giverespect to his former officeand behave like “a

statesman whose voiceshould rather be ofmodulation instead ofinstigating crisis or cryingwolf where there was none.

Chikamnayo alsoaccused the formergovernor of planning toincite students of the stateuniversity, ABSU, whichrevoke his degreecertificate last week, toembark on protests in orderto disrupt the prevailingpeace in the state.

The commissionerwarned that governmentwould not fold its arms andallow “disgruntled

politicians” to drag the stateback to the dark days ofinsecurity and criminality.

Meanwhile, the newcommissioner of police inthe state, Mr. Usman TilliAbubakar, had in astatement by his PPRO,Geoffrey Ogbonna, ASP,said the incident was notreported anywhere in thecommand.

According to him, “whenpolice visited the purportedscene of the incident, therewere no empty shells ofexpended ammunition orcartridges to suggestoccurrence of suchincident.”

BY CHIDINKWOPARA

OWERRI— ACUTEwater scarcity has

hit residents of Owerrimetropolis andadjoining communities,even as nobody knowswhen the ugly situationwill abate.

V a n g u a r dinvestigations revealedthat the affected citizensare already suspectingthat epidemic ofunimaginable proportionmay soon hit themunicipality, if nothingwas done immediately torestore water supply.

It was also gathered,yesterday, that themanagement of PowerHolding Company ofNigeria, PHCN,disconnected electricitysupply to OtamiriRegional Water Worksand other waterestablishments, overN65,378,596.95 debtstanding against thestate government as

unpaid bills.One of the workers,

who spoke on grounds ofanonymity, explainedthat the current situationin the place was madeworse by the non-availability of afunctional electricgenerating set.

Confirming thedevelopment in atelephone conversation,PHCN Senior Manager,Public Relations, OwerriBusiness Unit, Mr.Ositadinma Ugwuafor,said the stateg o v e r n m e n tcumulatively owed theestablishment overN224.2 million.

He said: “PHCNactually disconnectedpublic power supply toOtamiri Water Works.The state governmentowes PHCN a lot ofmoney. We even intendto disconnect otheroffices, sincegovernment does notwant or is reluctant toclear the bills.”

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Govt sets up panel to probecomatose Abia newspapers

UMUAHIA — ABIAState government has

constituted a judicialcommission of inquiry intothe management of AbiaNewspapers andPublishing Company,publishers of the state-owned AmbassadorNewspapers, which hasbeen in comatose for years.

The five-member panel,headed by Justice AmaobiAgbara, has the mandateto, among other things,investigate the immediateand remote causes of non-functional state of AbiaPublishing Company from1999 till date.

Inaugurating the panel,Governor Theodore Orjisaid it should also identifythe assets, includingprinting machines andvehicles, acquired by the

publishing company from1999 till date.

Orji also urged thecommission to investigateand determine whether thefunds and assetsappropriated to AbiaNewspapers andPublishing Company wereproperly managed withinthis period, 1999 till date,and identify those involvedin the mismanagement offunds appropriated to thecorporation.

The governor furthertasked the panel to makerecommendations on howthe company could bemade functional and betterefficient, saying the panelwas not targeted at anyindividual or group.

Orji explained that thepanel was raised followingpetitions received fromconcerned citizens of thestate.


Glo ambassadors: Chioma Chukwuka-Akpotha and Desmond Elliot (left)presenting a BlackBerry Z10 phone to Barrister Ogboru Elmoni, a post-paid subscriber and Principal Partner of E.E. Ogboru and Associates, atthe commencement of sale of the handset to customers, at Glo Corpo-rate Sales office, in Lagos.

Mr. Mike Omeri, Director General, National Orientation Agency, NOA (left), re-ceiving the official kolanuts from HRM. Obi Chike Edozien, the Asagba of Asaba,Delta State, during a courtesy visit to the palace, weekend.

Senator Ike Ekweremadu, Deputy President of the Senate (right) with Mrs. VeronicaOgbodo, the widow of late John Abba Ogbodo of The Guardian Newspapers (2nd left;other family members of the deceased, during a condolence visit to the family of lateOgbodo, who died in a motor accident, while on official duty in Kogi State, last week.

From left: Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Executive Director, Business Devel-opment, Nigerian Stock Exchange, NSE; Hakeem Ogunniran, Man-aging Director, UACN Property Development Company, UPDC andFolashade Ogunde, Finance Director, UPDC, during the presenta-tion of facts behind the offer of UPDC REIT, at the Nigerian StockExchange.

Briefing on Boko Haram victims, in Abuja

Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili consoling Mrs.. DeborahShettima from Maiduguri.

Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili (2nd right) condoling Mrs. Deborah Shettima, fromMaiduguri (2nd left), Adamu Abila from Yobe (middle), Moses Ezekiel (left)and other Boko Haram victims

From left: Musa Asaka, Christians Association of Nigerian, CAN, National Secretary; James Fadele,President, Christian Association of Nigerian Americans, CANAN, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, former Minis-ter of Education and member of the Board of Trustees, CANAN and Pastor Laolu Akande of CANAN,addressing a press conference on Victims of Boko Haram, jointly organised by CAN and CANAN, inAbuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamika

From right: Mrs. Deborah Shettima from Maiduguri who lost her husbandwith two daughters kidnapped by members of Boko Haram; Adamu Abilafrom Yobe State, displaying his photograph taken shortly after he was shotby members of Boko Haram and a pastor Saranal Chinda, who lost almostall his church members, during a press conference by CAN and CANAN, inAbuja. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan.


Group wantsprominent rolefor Lokoja incentenarycelebration

Nigeria records 60,000 maternal deathsannually —NPHCDA boss

BY PETER DURU & TINAAKANNAM, WITH AGENCY

REPORT

Insecurity: Suswam urges proper educationfor northern youths

BY PETER DURU

Plateau teachers shun govt’s offer to endstrike

LOKOJA—A socio-cultural group, Nige-

rian Cultural Develop-ment Consultants, yester-day, asked the FederalGovernment to accordLokoja a prominent posi-tion in the celebration ofthe country’s 100 years ofnationhood.

The call is contained ina statement by the Chair-man of the group, Dr.Hinmikalu Paul and Sec-retary, Dr JacobOlorunshola, in Lokoja.

It said the call was nec-essary due to the promi-nence of the historical andpolitical roles of Lokoja inthe emergence of Nigeria.

It said the anniversary,slated for 2014, was wor-thy of celebration becauseit would be a period ofnational rebirth.

MAKURDI—NO fewerthan 60,000 Nigerian

women die annually as aresult of complications inpregnancy and dearth ofqualified health workers tocater for pregnant women inthe country.

This was made known inMakurdi, by the DirectorGeneral of National PrimaryHealth Care DevelopmentAgency, NPHCDA, Dr. AdoMohammed, while flaggingoff the scholarship schemeinstituted by CapacityPlusNigeria for 874 studentNurses, Midwifery andCommunity Health Exten-sion Workers drawn fromhealth institutions across thecountry.

In Jigawa State, three chil-dren were also said to havedied of measles while over240 others were reported tohave been infected with thedisease just as the KanoState Government said yes-terday, that it recorded 800cases of measles in 11 localgovernment areas of thestate since the outbreak ofthe disease last week, bring-ing the total cases of mea-sles reported in the twostates to 1,043 within theperiod.

Dr. Abubakar Labaran, thestate Commissioner forHealth, who spoke in Kanowhile fielding questions

MAKURDI—GOVERNOR Gabriel Suswam of

Benue State has advocatedproper education for northernyouths as the only panacea for

VISIT: From left: Mr. Anil Nair, General Manager, Olam Nigeria Ltd; Mr. George Reji,Plant Manager, Olam Nigeria Ltd, and Mallam Dahiru Ado-Kurawa, Chairman, PresidentialCommittee on Benchmark on Rice, during the committee’s visit to Olam mechanised ricefarm at Doma, Nasarawa State.

from the News Agency of Ni-geria, NAN, listed the affectedlocal government areas asKabo, Gwale, Dala, Kumbotso,Madobi, Ungoggo, Tarauni,Karaye, Municipal, Faggeand Tsanyawa.

Labaran said: “The eightlocal government areas thatmade up Kano metropolis arethe worst affected.”

He added that the state gov-

ernment had taken measuresto control the spread of the dis-ease “as no death has beenrecorded by any of the hospi-tals in the state.”

However, in Makurdi, BenueState, Mohammed said: “Withclose to 60,000 pregnantwomen dying annually as aresult of lack of well trainedpersonnel and complicationsin pregnancy, it is indeed a

welcome relief to see this ini-tiative by CapacityPlus; aUSAID funded organisation,become a reality in Nigeria.”

Represented by a Director inthe Agency, Dr. Eric Nwanze,Mohammed noted that theinitiative would go a long wayin addressing the dearth ofprofessionals in the health sec-tor especially in the training ofnurses and midwives.”

peace in the region.Suswam spoke against the

backdrop of the security chal-lenges confronting some north-ern states including Yobe, Borno,Kaduna, Kano and Adamawa,among others.

The governor spoke yesterday,while laying the foundation stoneof Ashi Skills Acquisition Centreat Anyii in Logo Local Govern-ment Area of the state.

Represented by his deputy,Chief Steven Lawani, the Gover-

nor said: “I sincerely believe that,while addressing the securitychallenges in the North, the pro-vision of qualitative education forour youths remains a potentweapon against the security situ-ation we are living with today.

”Our leaders and stakeholdersowe it a responsibility to invest ineducation and the provision of vo-cational training for our youths inorder to place them on a betterstead to become useful to them-selves.

”I commend the proprietor ofthis centre for embarking on aproject that would positively im-pact on the lives of the youths ofthe state; I urge others to emulatehim since government alone can-not adequately fund education.”

In his speech, proprietor of thecentre, Dr. Terkura Suswam, saidwhen completed, the centrewould be made of five depart-ments that would be manned byChinese experts who would trainyouths from across the country onvarious skills including arts andcrafts.’’

JOS—THE strike by workers in six state-owned ter-

tiary institutions in PlateauState may linger as the stategovernment has not respondedto the demands of the workersalmost two weeks into the strike.

The joint staff unions of theinstitutions had on February 22,resumed the strike which theysuspended last year demand-ing the payment of unpaid ar-rears and allowances, amongothers.

However, it was gathered thatthe state government has so farignored the workers refusing to

engage them in any negotiationtowards ending the strike.

Government officials had ac-cused the workers of refusing togive the state government anynotice on the strike asking theworkers to return to work andembrace dialogue.

The workers have so far stuckto their guns insisting that theirdemands had long been tabledbefore government without anypositive response.

President of the Joint Unionsof Plateau State-owned TertiaryInstitutions, Mr. VictorDawurung confirmed to Van-guard yesterday, that there hadbeen no response to their de-

mands from government “so thestrike continues.”

The grievances of the workersinclude alleged refusal of the stategovernment to pay the threemonths salary arrears which ac-cumulated during the last year’sstrike, the 27 months arrears ofincrement on the new salarystructure and the non-implemen-tation of seven per cent peculiarallowance and two per cent allow-ance for non-teaching staff.

Dawurung had at a briefing pre-ceding the strike said memberswere disillusioned by govern-ment’s insensitivity, adding thatover 150 members of the jointunions have left the institutionsto seek greener pasture.

BY TAYE OBATERU

DAMATURU—THEMinistry of Envi-

ronment in Yobe State,yesterday, embarked onan intensive cleaning ex-ercise in Damaturu, aheadof President GoodluckJonathan’s scheduled visiton Friday.

The News Agency ofNigeria, NAN, reports thatareas expected to be vis-ited by the president suchas the ‘Red Bricks’ Hous-ing Estate, the ultra-mod-ern Damaturu Hospitaland the State Universityare wearing new looks.

The Commissioner forEnvironment, Alhaji WakilSarki, told NAN that theministry embarked on theexercise to add aestheticvalue to the city.

The commssioner said:“We are using the newlyprocured sanitation equip-ment for a clean andhealthy environment be-fore, during and after Mr.President’s visit to thestate.”

Damaturuwears new lookahead ofJonathan’s visit Blames it on lack of qualified health workers, others

THE VINCENTIANRetreat Centre,

Ojodu-Ikeja, comencesits monthly three-day re-treat today by 5p.m., andwill end on Friday, March8.

The event with thetheme: Cross to Crown willfeature Confession, Sta-tions of the Cross, Adora-tion, Vigil and Holy Mass.

It will be hosted by theVincentian fathers.

Retreat

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 , 2013 — 45

Kenyatta leads in Kenya vote count

UHURU Kenyatta, aKenyan politician

who has been chargedby the InternationalCriminal Court withcrimes againsthumanity, was leadingby a wide margin in theKenya electionyesterday , with nearlyhalf the votes counted.

Mr. Kenyatta, whocomes from one of therichest, most powerfulfamilies in Africa andhas been accused ofbankrolling deathsquads that killedwomen and childrenduring the chaos of

Kenya’s election fiveyears ago, was leading54 percent to 42 percentover the second-placecandidate, RailaOdinga, Kenya’s primeminister.

Kenyan election lawsays that the winningcandidate must securemore than 50 percent of“all the votes cast” andMr. Odinga’s supporterssay that the electioncommission mustconsider the more than300,000 rejected ballotsas part of the total. Ifthat is the case, someanalysts predicted that

Mr. Kenyatta might notclear the 50 percentthreshold, prompting arunoff.

Ahmed Hassan, thehead of Kenya’s electioncommission, concededthat the number ofballots rejected for straymarks and otherirregularities was “quiteworrying,” thoughelection observers said itwas not particularlysurprising given thecomplexity of theseelections and that votershad six ballots in theirhands, for national andlocal races.

US empowers Nigerian women

BY VERA SAMUELANYAGAFU AND

PRISCA SAM-DURU

THE United Statesyesterday, pledged

to enhance the status ofwomen in Nigeria with

training and skilla c q u i s i t i o n .This came as the USConsulate in Lagosoffered 30 womentraining and skillacquisition workshop, toequip them with the

capacity to face theeconomic challenges inN i g e r i a .The two day leadershipworkshop, which held atthe U.S ConsulateLagos, availed them theopportunity of beingplaced at the forefront ofsteering the leadershipwheel for a betterNigeria economy, hadthe duo of US DiplomacyOfficers, RhondaWatson, and ChinenyeNwadike pledging thataside empowering thewomen with the skills,they will individually befollowed up withnecessary assistance toenable them achievetheir set goals.The workshop Watsonnoted, is the focus of theUS department of States,on how to empowerwomen “because womenmake up more than 50%of the population allover the world. Wethought it will be veryhelpful to have aprogram that allowswomen who are trying todo something positive intheir community to haveopportunity to gettraining that will enablethem push forward themassages that they wantto convey.

German law makers visitNigeria for trade talk

BY EMEKA AGINAM

A Delegation fromGerman Federal

Parliament will arriveLagos this weekend fortalks on federalgovernment andparliamentary level.

The Delegation,according to a statementfrom the German embassyLagos is expected to visitEco Atlantic City site,obtain information aboutproblems of coastalerosion due to climatechange and maninterventions, visitBeachland Estate atIbafon, former nucleus ofthe German community.

Accordingly, accordingto German embassy, thedelegation will visitEFInA (EnhancingFinancial Innovation &

Access) dealing withfinancial inclusion andmicro others by The Bill& Melinda GatesFoundation.

The German MPs,among the highly Africainterested andexperienced Mr HartmutFischer MP, too, will meetwith persons active in thecultural sector, researchscholarship holders ofA l e x a n d e r - v o n -Humboldt Foundationand members of theGerman businesscommunity.

On a reception to behosted by General Waltervon den Driesch, thedelegation will meet withMembers of Lagos StateHouse of Assembly andmembers of theDiplomatic and ConsularCorps in Lagos as well asmembers of the media.

Hugo Chavez suffers new severeinfection

V E N E Z U E L A NPresident Hugo

Chavez is suffering froma new,severe respiratoryinfection followingcancer surgery, thegovernment has said.

Information MinisterErnesto Villegas saidMr Chavez’s conditioncontinued to be verydelicate.

Mr Chavez, 58,returned to Venezuela

Prankster nearly sneaks into meeting of Cardinals

AMONG the men inred gathering today

at the Vatican ahead ofthe papal election, theimpostor in purple waseasy enough to spot.

The meeting had notyet begun whensomeone noticed thatone of the bishopsposing for pictures withthe arriving cardinalswas wearing his cassockand his crucifix slightlytoo short.

On closer inspectionthey realized his purplesash was just a scarf.

The impostor’s phonyecclesiastical robes wereconvincing enough that

he nearly managed toget past the door of the

cardinals first crucialmeeting since the poperesigned.

last month after beingtreated for cancer inCuba, but has notappeared in publicsince.

Many Venezuelanshave been demandingfull details about hishealth.

The informationminister chose to speakon national radio andTV, at 22:00 on Mondaynight. His tone wasstern.


BY KENNETH EHIGIATOR, LAWANIMIKAIRU & DANIEL ETEGHE

ON Tuesday night in Lagos, naturebarred its fangs as the storm that

accompanied the heavy downpour of thenight in some parts of the metropolis leftdestruction in its wake. Road traffic wasgrounded, commuters were stranded atbus stops and those who managed to getvehicles to their destinations spent hourson the road. Many did not get to theirhomes until yesterday morning. Thedevastation was even more pronouncedin the aviation sector due to flightdisruptions. Flights were delayed andaircraft already in the air were diverted toalternative airports to land to avert disaster.This is because the storm had alreadyimpacted negatively on electricity supplyto the Murtala Muhammed Airport,making it impossible for any aircraft to takeoff and land.

Emirates flight from Dubai which wason its way to land at the airport had to bediverted to Lome, Togo, as the Lagosairport was in pitch darkness. It is notimmediately clear if navigationalequipment were damaged by the stormbut the weather element disrupted flightoperations into and out of the airport.Industry regulator, Nigerian Civil AviationAuthority, NCAA, had always advisedpilots to adhere to weather reports fromNigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET,especially at this time of year when suchdebilitating weather phenomena aswindshear, microburst and thunderstormhover around airports.

Aside from direct power source fromPower Holdings Company of Nigeria,PHCN, the airport in Lagos is alsoconnected to two standby automaticgenerators, which should set off whenpower from the electricity company goesoff. This did not happen because thegenerator was also submerged in the floodthat trailed the rainfall. But spokesman ofFederal Airports Authority of Nigeria,FAAN, Mr Yakubu Datti, said in astatement, yesterday, that the outage atthe airport was due to power surge fromthe power company. In the past suchpower surges had damaged sensitivenavigational facilities as InstrumentLanding System, ILS, and radar systems.

According to Datti, the incident onlyoccurred for about six minutes beforepower was fully restored to the airport.He explained: “The airport is connectedto two main power sources from Ejigboand Egbin power stations. The storminitially knocked off the power supply from

Ejigbo which led to a three-minute outageat the airport before our engineersswitched over to the alternate power supplysource from Egbin.

“That supply line was later affected bythe storm, leading to another three minutepower outage. Our engineers thenswitched over to the airport’s standbygenerators, some panels of which wereunfortunately soaked with water, due tothe heavy flooding that resulted from theheavy rainfall. This resulted in a blackoutat the “E” wing of the airport, includingthe avio bridges. It was for this reasonthat arriving passengers on aninternational flight were processedthrough an alternative route at theterminal and in the process, were exposedmomentarily to the rain.”

Departingflights

He further explained that all departingflights were delayed for about 30 minutes,to enable FAAN engineers rectify the faultsin the generators before full power supplywas later restored to the airport leading toresumption of all operations.

Vanguard investigation revealed that theoutage prevented United Airlines, Deltaand Air France passengers who werealready on ground before the rain startedfrom disembarking from the plane untilpower and normalcy were restored. It wasgathered that the power improvementproject at the airport which wouldeliminate incidents such as this had beencompleted and is being test run,preparatory to formal commissioning bythe airports authorities.

Although what happened last Tuesdaywas a natural phenomenon which wasnobody’s fault, it is, however, an indicationof what level of disruptions weather wouldcause airline operations in the country thisyear, and the need for the authorities tobe prepared for the occurrence. Poweroutage at the Lagos airport had been arecurring decimal as the airportsauthorities had not been able to really puta seal to the problem. Last year, the airportsuffered an outage that last for over thirtyminutes, following collapse of both sourcesof power supply, prompting both local andinternational airlines to divert to alternateairports, while those on ground weretemporarily grounded. A similar incidentoccurred two years ago. The NnamdiAzikiwe International Airport in Abuja isnot insulated from this problem as airlineshave suffered a similar fate at the airport.

Day thunderstorm crippledflight operations at MMIA

The Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos


,

,

Anxiety reigns overimminent flood

THOUGH Nigerians are yet to recover from the devastating effects of the 2012excessive rainfall, the nation is again confronted with predictions of unusual rainfallin 2013. In view of the havoc this might create if the predictions become real, fear isthe word across the country. CHARLES KUMOLU reports.

2013 RAINFALL

WHEN the Director- General of the Nigerian

Meteorological Agency, NIMET,Dr. Anthony Anuforom, whilepresenting the 2012 seasonalrainfall prediction and the reviewof 2011 Nigerian climate, lastyear, said Nigeria was expectedto witness normal rainfall, whilesome parts would experienceflooding that may likely washaway houses and farmlands, nota few heeded the warning. Andby the time the rains came, thestates of Anambra, Bayelsa,Benue, Cross River, Delta, Edo,Kogi, Kwara and Niger, amongothers, were virtuallysubmerged by floods.

First, it was the flood whichravaged Lokoja and parts ofKogi that made the headlines.Then came more reports of otherincidents of flooding across thecountry. Areas that were neverimagined would be floodedrecorded same in destructiveforms. By the time the raging

flood had calmed down, thecountry reportedly lost assetsworth N300 billion which isequivalent to two percent of itsGross Domestic Product GDP.Like the previous year, NIMEThad on February 15, madepublic its 2013 weatherpredictions for the country,predicting normal rainfall,except in Sokoto, Kebbi, Nigerand Kwara states, where it mightbe excessive.

2013 predictions onrainfall pattern

Anuforom noted that therainfall pattern in most parts ofNigeria was likely to be similarto that of 2012. “However, someareas in the North-Western partsof the country, which also fallwithin the catchment area of theRiver Niger, the total rainfallpredicted for 2013 may exceedthat of 2012. Rainfall for 2013 ispredicted to be normal over

large areas of the country. Theexpected changes in the annualrainfall are well below normalin Abeokuta and above normalover Ibadan and Yelwa areas.Predicted rainfall for theNorthwest areas of Sokoto,Kebbi, Niger, Kwara andenvirons is likely to be abovenormal in comparison to 2012,”he said.

Consequently, he advisedrelevant authorities to useNIMET’s updates issuedregularly to control possibleadverse impacts. Anuforom alsosaid the forecast was notautomatic as the predictionscould change due to climatechange, adding that the volumeof rainfall for the year wouldrange from 420 cubic metresspread over 120 days in theextreme North-East to 2,980cubic metres over a period of 290days. “These forecasts arestatements of probability and arebased on the available scientific

knowledge and data. Man’sknowledge is still limited and,therefore, some margin of errorwithin tolerable limits is notunusual. The conditions thatdetermine the rainfall patternover Nigeria have become morevariable due to the effects ofclimate change and globalwarming.

Adequate preparation againstrisks: “This is a big challengefor atmospheric scientists all overthe world. NIMET will continueto monitor the trend in all partsof the country and publishupdates as the rainy seasonprogresses, early release of theforecast is to create good lead-time for adequate preparationagainst risks and hazardsassociated with weather andclimate extremes.” In the heels

state government was ready forthe rains as it had startedmapping out strategies to ensurethat disasters were mitigatedduring the period. He added thatthe state government, through theMinistry of the Environment wasworking hard to ensure thatflooding was minimised this year.

Similarly, the Head ofGeography Department,University of Lagos, Prof. IyiolaOni, had at a recent workshop onMainstreaming Climate Changein the university’s curricula,warned that the probability offlooding was more because of theunusual rainfall appearing inJanuary this year. He noted: “Weare not supposed to have rainfallsin January, as we have in somecities like Lagos. It is part of thechanging climate patterns that we

Continues on page 49

Aerial view of the 2012 flooding in Bayelsa State.

We have initiated awareness onbasic safety measures like clearingof water channels of refuse anddebris

of this was the recent call by theLagos State government onresidents of the state, to beprepared for heavier rainfall thisyear.

General Manager of the LagosState Emergency ManagementAgency, LASEMA, Dr. FemiOke-Osanyintolu, said NIMEThad predicted heavier rainfall forLagos this year. He said:“NIMET has informed us thatthere will be heavier rainfall inLagos State this year but we arewell prepared. We have changedthe way we are now doing ourroads.” Accordingly, he said the

have been experiencing over theyears which is one of the effectsof climate change.”

Fears of excessive early rains:On the strength of thesefrightening predictions,VanguardFeatures, VF, findingsindicated that many are worriedgiven that the nation is yet torecover from the devastation of the2012 excessive rainfall whichresulted in destructive floodingacross the country. Thisapprehension is furtherheightened by the early rainsrecorded in some states recently,


Continues from page 48

which could be an indication ofwhat to expect during the year.Accordingly, the states of Lagos,Ogun, Kaduna, Plateau, Oyo,Anambra, Ondo, Cross River,Imo, the FCT, among others,have recorded first rainfall inJanuary-a period which beforenow falls under the dry season.

With the developmentincreasing fears of excessiverainfall, not a few are scared aboutthe possibility of having anotheryear of damaging rains. Forinstance, the first rain in Ibadanthis year was accompanied byheavy storm, destroying manybuilding roofs, filling stations,shops, worship centres, and thePower Holding of Nigeria,PHCN, poles. Worst hit wereAjegunle, Olorunsogo, Toll Gate,Felele, Basorun, Muslim, Soka,Fodasis, Ring Road, Baba Nla,Challenge, Molete andOlunloyo. Also affected areIghodalo, Academy, Omiyale,Olomi, Olunde, Ayegun, Aba-Alfa, Jaloke, Papa-Eleye, Aladi,Ire-Akari all in Oluyole LocalGovernment Area. It is againstthe backdrop of this scenario, thatmany question the preparednessof concerned agencies at alllevels of government in the event

Anxiety reigns over imminent flood

*Governor Obi (4th left) wading through a flooded area in Anambra State,last year

that the predictions become true.Disaster reduction strategies:

Responding to the level ofpreparedness for the rains thisyear, Head, Public Relations ofthe National EmergencyManagement Agency, NEMA,Mr. Yushau Shuaib, told VF thatthe agency had prepared for thisyear’s rainfall before NIMET’sprediction.

Disaster reductionstrategies

Shuaib said: “Before theprediction, NEMA hadintensified its efforts in its DisasterReduction Strategies to ensurethat the major stakeholders at thenational, states and localgovernments are abreast of theirresponsibilities in putting inplace structures and programmesthat could reduce the negativeeffect of heavy rainfall.” Whiledebunking the view in somequarters that NEMA’s handlingof last year ’s flooding wasunsatisfactory, Shuiab said theagency was presentlyintroducing new measures indisaster management.

He noted: “While there weresome challenges during lastyear’s flooding in the country,

force evacuation of someresidents living on flood plains.This year NEMA has started inearnest its consultations withstakeholders like respective StateEmergency ManagementAgencies, SEMAs, and therespective Local EmergencyCommittees, LEMECs, to beproactive in their strategies toreduce the risk since as humanswe can’t prevent or control heavyrainfall and overflowing of dams.We have initiated awareness onbasic safety measures likeclearing of water channels ofrefuse and debris.”

Building along theflood plains

In addition, Shuaib said:“Since the prediction this year ismore specific to some states, theDirector General of NEMA,Muhammad Sani-Sidi, has

instructed the zonal coordinatorsof the agencies to examine thestructures in areas that wereadversely affected last yearwhether they could withstandheavy rainstorms and alsowhether there are buildingsalong the flood plains and waterchannels that could be reportedto appropriate authorities. In fact,the assessment tour wouldcommence very soon based onthe directive of the DirectorGeneral.

“NEMA is a federal body withonly seven zonal offices locatedin each of the geo-political zones.Therefore, since the agencycould not be at each of the 36states and 774 local governmentsof the federation at all times andat each emergency situation, asthe coordinating agency ondisaster management in thecountry, we rely on thecooperation and supports of other

stakeholders, especially responseagencies and volunteers group.For that reason we have continuedto build the capacity ofemergency workers and thetraining of our differentvolunteers groups that couldassist whenever the need arises.”

Further speaking on efforts toensure that 2013 rainfall does notcatch Nigerians unawares, Oke-Osanyintolu told VF that LagosState is putting all necessarymeasures in place to handle theresultant effects of the rains. Hesaid: “Lagos State is ready andwe are doing everythingnecessary to ensure thatLagosians are not takenunawares. LASEMA as anagency has continued to sensitisestakeholders on the matter andour sister agency, LAWMA, is alsoassisting in addressing anyimpediments that would workagainst our efforts to handle anysituation that might arise.”

there were some levelsof accomplishment inensuring minimaldamages to people andtheir properties. Wewere able to deploymassive publicawareness campaigns asearly warningmechanism as well as


THE congregation of local andinternational guests that

gathered at the Nnamdi AzikiweUniversity, Awka, Anambra Statelast Friday for the public lecturewas the unusual lot. Seated inthe university hall weredistinguished men and womenfrom varied professions, arguablythe most urbane congregation theuniversity had received in recentyears.

It of course had to do with thepersonality and position of thelecturer, Senator IkeEkweremadu, the deputypresident of the senate andchairman of the SenateCommittee on ConstitutionReview, SCCR.

The lecture titled “Policing andnational security in Nigeria: Thechoices before us” wasunderstandably selected in thelight of the ongoing securitychallenges in the country thathave brought renewed focus onthe nation’s security architecture.

To discuss SenatorEkweremadu’s paper were somedistinguished Nigerians drawnfrom the professions, amongwhom were Mr. Simon Kolawole,former editor, ThisdayNewspaper and presently amember of the paper’s EditorialBoard; Mr. Brian Browne former

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,POLITICAL EDITOR

Consular, US Embassy, Nigeria;Prof. Cyprian Okonkwo,Commissioner, Nigeria LawReforms Commission, Abuja;Prof. Nuhu Yakubu, former ViceChancellor, University of Abujaand presently vice chancellor,Sokoto State University, Sokotoand Prof. OBC Nwoliseh, Facultyof Social Sciences, University ofIbadan.

The governor of Anambra State,Mr. Peter Obi was present as thechief host of the event.Ekweremadu, remarkably, is notnew to the advocacy for therestructuring of the country’sfederalism, which last year, hedubbed as feeding bottlefederalism arising from theskewed operation of thestructures of the federation.

Structures ofthe federation

From the onset, SenatorEkweremadu made it clear thatthe presentation was essentiallyhis personal opinion and notreflective of the senate or theSenate Committee onConstitution Review which heheads. The DSP commenced thelecture with the classic definitionof the role of the state in the livesof the populace. He said: “It wasthe Greek philosopher, Aristotlewho said that the state exists forthe sake of life, and continues for

the sake of the best life. Alongthe same line, the Constitutionof the United States of Americasuccinctly captures the essenceof government. It reads:

We the people of the UnitedStates, in order to form a moreperfect union, establish justice,

where a policeman born andbred in Bayelsa, for instance, isposted to Sokoto or Yobe alreadyputs such police officer in adisadvantageous position byreason of language barrier,cultural differences and limitedknowledge of the environment.So, the police officer is renderedineffective ab initio,” he said.

Senator Ekweremadu alsomarshalled points adduced byopponents of state police, notably,the possibility of secession andpolitical abuse by governors.

While appreciating the concernof sceptics he, nevertheless,pointed out that thedisadvantage arising from abuseof state police by governors didnot as much as outweigh theadvantages he enumerated.Besides, he said that operationalguidelines could be made thatwould limit the role of governorsin the operations of state police.

He enumerated a number ofother federations operating multilevel policing from where Nigeriacould learn from even as hepowerfully asserted thatNigeria’s continued policingsystem was archaic,dysfunctional and out of tunewith the nation’s federalism.

Nationalsecurity

In the discussion that followed,Professor Onyeka Nwolisa of theUniversity of Ibadan, noted hisconcern that the concept ofnational security in Nigeria hadbeen narrowed to the provisionof logistics such as vehicles andarms without consideration of theenvironmental concerns. Heparticularly cited the provision ofjobs and infrastructure as acomplement to the securityarchitecture towards reducingbreaches in the security network.

Nwolisa was to also profferconsideration of what was calledas Strategic SpiritualIntelligence, SSI in the resolutionof unresolved crimes. Hewondered why babalawos andother native means were notbeing used to resolve difficultcrimes.

Governor Obi the chief host inhis own remarks called for thefull implementation offederalism. The public lecturewhich was organised by theuniversity through its departmentof public administration wasindeed a bold intervention intoan issue of topical debate. It wasas such not surprising thatEkweremadu paid glowingtributes to the university vice-chancellor, Prof. Boniface Egbokafor the initiative.

The only scar to the lecture wasthe loss of Mr. John Abba-Ogbodo, a journalist with TheGuardian who died in anaccident on his way to attend thelecture.

•Ekweremadu: lecturer

various stages of colonialism andwere primarily aimed atministering to the imperialinterests of the British overlords.The history of the Nigeria policecan be traced back to the year1861, when the British Consul inLagos established a 30-manstrong Consular Guard. This wasto later become the “HausaGuard” in 1863 which wasregularised by an Ordinance in1879 to become the Constabularyfor the Colony of Lagos or morepopularly as the “HausaConstabulary” commanded by anInspector-General of Police.”

“The Lagos Police Force wascreated on January 1, 1896.Following the creation of the OilRivers Protectorate in 1891 whichhad its headquarters in Calabar,another constabulary was formedfor the protectorate. The area wasfurther declared the Niger Coastin 1893 with a Niger CoastConstabulary. The Royal NigerConstabulary was created in1888 by the Royal NigerCompany after the company wasgranted the Royal Charter byBritain in 1886. The Royal NigerConstabulary had itsheadquarters in Lokoja wherethe Royal Niger Company hadimportant installations andbusiness interests along the RiverNiger.”

“The Constabulary was laterdivided into the NorthernNigeria Police Force and theNorthern Nigeria Regimentfollowing the proclamation of theNorthern Protectorate andSouthern Protectorate at theexpiration of Royal NigerCompany’s Charter. Part of theNiger Coast Constabulary andthe Lagos Police Force formed theSouthern Nigeria Police Force in

insure domestic tranquillity,provide for the common defence,promote the general welfare, andsecure the blessings of liberty toourselves and our posterity, doordain and establish thisConstitution for the United Statesof America.”

It was significant that the classicdefinition of the role of the stateas enumerated by Ekweremaduhas also found bearing in themuch touted constitutionalprovision that is much quoted bysome Nigerian parliamentarians,to wit, that “The security andwelfare of the people shall be theprimary purpose of government.”

He then proceeded to trace theevolution of the Nigeria Policefrom its first days in the 19thcentury.

“The Nigeria Police emergedfrom various constabularies at

1906, whereas the major remnantof what was the Niger CoastConstabulary formed theSouthern Nigeria Regiment.”

In context, Ekweremadu’sassertion was to prove that theNigeria Police from the colonialera to the demise of the firstrepublic was decentralized to thevarious regions. Theorganization of the police into afederal hierarchy commencedafter the military intervention andhas progressed until now.

Enumerating the advantages ofstate policing, he cited amongothers, the competition thatwould arise in various statesseeking to establish better policeforces, better training, jobcreation, the fact that policemenwould better policeenvironments they are familiarwith. “The current situation

,

,Nwolisa was to also profferconsideration of what was called asStrategic Spiritual Intelligence, SSI inthe resolution of unresolved crimes

Ekweremadu’s musings onpolicing and politicians

FEEDING BOTTLE FEDERALISM:

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 —51

withwithwithwithwithEMMANUEL AZIKEN

POLITICAL METABOLISM

[email protected]

SMS 08052201189

THE news that the Abia StateUniversity, ABSU withdrew

the university degree awardedthe immediate past governor ofthe state, Chief Orji Uzor Kaluwas not surprising to many.

For some folks, it was a logicalstep in the continuing mutualwar of attrition between theincumbent governor, ChiefTheodore Orji and Kalu.

But how the “intellectualassets” of Dr. Kalu became anissue in the acrimonious warbetween the governor and hispredecessor is something that isbound to worry many otherwiseacademically inclined Nigerians.It would be especially so, if theunderlining reason for thewithdrawal of Kalu’s degree wasbased on political consideration.The effect would be that academiccredentials of oppositionists inthe land would be open topolitical permutations.

As governor of Abia State, Kaluhad caused a spectacle when heenrolled in the university raisingmoral questions as to how avisitor could at the same time bea student in the same university.It all passed away as the manyintrigues and wonders of the Kaluyears in Abia. That was until lastweek’s revelation of the

Now, what of Kalu’sWASC result?

revocation of the degree and thepolitical reverberations that camewith it.

When in 2007 Kalu handedover the instruments of office toOrji, few expected the kind ofbickering between the two menas we are now seeing.

Kalu had against all oddsdefied the then authorities bypresenting Orji, his chief of stafffor eight years, as thegubernatorial candidate of thePeoples Progressive Alliance,PPA, the party he nurtured afterhe lost out in the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP.

Governor Orji’s transition fromcustody to the council chambers

of the Abia State government inMay 2007 was a remarkable actof political ingenuity crafted bythe brawny and brainy Kalu thatnot many university degreeholders could have pulledthrough.

Following the transfer of power,Kalu’s junior brother, MascotUzor Kalu emerged as the newchief of staff in the Theodore Orjiadministration that was, however,largely alleged to beprogrammed by the formergovernor and his mother.

The mutual tolerance of the oldand the new continued until theemergence of the GoodluckJonathan administration in 2010

when enemies of Kalu wentthrough the first lady, PatienceJonathan who is partly from thestate, to help Orji out of Kalu’sgrip. Before then, there weresuggestions that Kalu was aboutusing the two governors in hisPPA, - Ikedi Ohakim in Imo Stateand Orji- as bargaining chips inhis own bid to return tomainstream party politics in thePDP. But Ohakim, reportedly astreet wise man like Kalu, pulleda fast one on Kalu, and returnedto the PDP ahead of Kalu.

Orji, who was the onlyremaining governor in Kalu’sPPA when Jonathan emerged,inevitably grabbed theopportunity when the PDP Abiacaucus, led by the Minister ofLabour and Productivity, ChiefEmeka Wogu, went on a carefullycrafted mission in 2010 to “woo”Orji to the PDP.

Chief Orji’s condition foraccepting the offer, it seemed, wasthat the door being opened to himmust surely be locked againstKalu.

Since that separation which haslargely been celebrated as theliberation of the state, andGovernor Orji hailed as thechampion of the liberation, thepolitics of the state has inevitably

put both men at odds.Remarkably, most of those whodined and wined with Kalu andused his political machine toachieve one political seat or theother in 2007 moved along withOrji to the PDP.

Since his famed liberation in2010, Chief Orji according tosome who have visited the state,has progressed in the deliveryof democracy dividends to theelectorate. Visitors to the stateclaim a spurt in infrastructuredevelopment with newconstructions here and there.

One notable politicaldevelopment is the emergenceof a new set of political lords.Where mother and son reignedin the past, a new set of powerwheelers has emerged.

The new power peddlers mayhave checked Kalu, albeit fornow. Given the controversies thattrailed Kalu’s admission intoABSU, it is not unlikely that thosethat did this to him could gofurther to probe thecircumstances under which Kaluobtained his secondary schoolcertificate! But Kalu it is said haslong reaches that make thepresent developments just a stopgap in the running feud betweenthe two men.

APC: Greed 'll destroy them — AmbakederimoCOMRADE Joseph Ambakederimo, an environmentalist, is the National Chairman, South SouthElements Progressive Union (SSEPU) and the Exec-utive Director, Nigeria Rebirth Initiative. In thisinterview with Vanguard he bared his mind ongovernance, the role of South-South officials aroundPresident Jonathan, the emergence of a strongopposition among other national issues. Excerpts:

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

ON the merger by membersof the opposition parties aheadof 2015

Merger is not new in Nigerianpolitics. We have seen somealliances in the past that workedbut there is a difference betweenalliance and merger. Politicalparties have merged before andwe saw the fallout. This one thatthey are doing now that is referredto as All Progressive Congress(APC), I don’t see how far theycan go yet. The greed in ourpoliticians will not make them tobe able to settle down to discusson how they can manage whowill be where. What have theydone up till now? They have notcome out with their manifesto, noideology of the party yet.

We haven’t seen the logo yetand we know that before 2015there will be cracks. Financialinducement from the ruling partycannot be ruled out. Already weare hearing of persons beingsponsored by the ruling party todiscontinue the merger, towithdraw from the merger thattheir party is not part of themerger and do not support it. So,

we are already seeing the crack.For me, I don’t think it is a threatto the PDP because the Nigerianopposition from the beginningcannot put their act together.

After every election they go andsleep. It is only when election isapproaching that they cometogether. You don’t see theirmanifesto when that is what theyshould have done shortly afterthe election in 2011 to sensitizethe people that they are desirousof wresting power from theruling party.

The President has not signifiedinterest in contesting 2015 butthere has been rising oppositionwithin his own party against hisrunning..

2015 will definitely come andgo. And the President will contestsince he is qualified to run forthe office. There shouldn’t be anycontention to that. So long as heis interested in going for a secondterm there should be nocontention from within his ownparty. That is how it is supposedto be. If Jonathan says he wantsto contest in 2015 every partymember should jettison theirambition and support him.

But there should be room forothers to challenge the President

if they believe they havesomething to offer

(Cuts in) Not when you havea sitting president with theambition to run. If he completeshis eight years then those whoare interested can come forward.It is just pure greed, youdefinitely cannot defeat the manso why waste your time.

We know how it works,knowing the kind of politics weplay in Nigeria, money politics.He has the wherewithal to runfor the office, the corporateNigeria will not give you moneyto come and fight the man whohas been their benefactor. It is not

possible. So, if thePresident says hewants to run foreight yearsinterested partieswithin his ownparty should justforget it.

Federal Presencein South Southzone

There is nothingto write home aboutthis except thatsome few governorsare trying. I have notbeen to Uyo but Ihave read in thepapers that thegentleman there istrying; thegentleman inRivers State is alsotrying his best,same in Edo State.In Bayelsa, Dickson

failed woefully, so what do wehave to complain about? Who dowe run to? Do we now say theHausa man in Kafanchan is ourproblem or do we now say theYoruba man from Ibadan is ourproblem? It is a shame as far Iam concerned.

The president is my friend,Orubebe is my friend I will tellthem to the ear, if they so insistthey don’t want to do anythingin the South South after theirtenure, they will come backhome. If the East-West roadwere in good state the peoplethat died in that helicopter crashwouldn’t have died because therewould have been no need to flythe helicopter in the first place.

Helicoptercrash

How many minutes will it taketo drive from here (Yenogoa) toPort Harcourt airport or if Sylvahad built and completed the stateairport. What is there to build anairport? We all went to Dubai andsaw in a space of ten years thegrowth of a city and ask question,is it not the same money that weuse in Nigeria that they use inDubai, in Indonesia andMalaysia? Is it not the samemoney?

These are countries that do nothave money like us but withinthe space of ten yearsdevelopment has come to theirpeople. That is the real meaningof transformation. Here we arestill talking of East-West road forsix years. We are still talking ofone ministry building skillsacquisition centre for six yearsjust to put block on top of blocklike building a house?

•Ambakederimo

just came on board and we areseeing what he is doing and inthe next 3-4years we will see alot of changes, trying to catch upwith the other states.

We have wasted about fiveyears as a result of bad leadershipand governance in the state. Mytake is that the people inauthority right now are from theSouth South. The president isfrom the South South, theminister of Niger Delta AffairsMinistry is from the South South,same with the ministers ofPetroleum, Housing and UrbanDevelopment.

We have the NDDC that has


THE world’s leadingsports consulting

and management firm,Soccerex hascongratulated theHonourable Minister ofSports and Chairman ofthe National SportsCommission, MallamBolaji Abdullahi on beingconferred with the AfricanSports Minister of theYear Award.

In a letter to theHonourable Minister,Daniel Krebs, a directorat Soccerex stated that thebody was pleased to learnof the award to theminister. “The Soccerex

Soccerex commends minister on award

team would like tocongratulate you for thisachievement,” he stated.

Krebs further stated that“we from Soccerex wouldlike to sincerely thankyou again for the supportyou have shown us andthank you for all yourwork in developing sportsin Nigeria.”

The HonourableMinister was honouredrecently by the Institute ofLeadership andManagement in Nairobi,Kenya as the AfricanSports Minister of theYear. The body said ithonored the minister

•Mallam Abdullahi

because of the on-goingreforms in the sportssector and his effort tobuild an enduringgovernance system in thesector.

AFTER two days ofexciting golf, among 82players, the duo of BelloOludare and Dapo Sanyaof Citec InternationalTeam, won the 2013edition of the MTN WorldCorporate GolfChallenge, which tookplace at Le MeridienIbom Golf Club andResort, last weekend.

The team finished withan impressive total of 127points, to dethrone theduo of Okey Igwe andSa’ad Baloni of TeamBolingo that won the2012 edition played inApril, at the same venue.With the result, Citec alsostayed ahead of ICMAServices and OakPensions which placedthird and fourthrespectively.

Citec wins MTN Corporate GolfChallenge

Speaking about thetournament, MTN’sGeneral Manager, Sales,Kunle Adebiyi revealedwhy the company wassponsoring thetournament. “Oursponsorship of thetournament is aboutcorporate health and

healthy living. We, as acompany are interestedin the health and well-being of our customers,Nigerians and the peoplewe deal with. It is our wayof giving to the society.Golf is a great game andyou have to be healthy toplay it. So, MTN isinterested in making ourcustomers healthy.”

AS part of initiativesto reduce child

mortality, improvematernal health andcombat HIV/AIDS,malaria and otherdiseases, the DanielOgechi AkujobiMemorial Foundationwill host friends andbusiness partners to its 3rd

Charity Golf tournamentthis Saturday at the golfsection of Ikoyi Club1938.

The event is inremembrance of lateMaster Daniel Akujobi,who was involved in afatal auto crash along theL a g o s - I b a d a nExpressway, Ogun Statewhile on his way back toschool.

Speaking ahead of theevent, the foundation’sprogramme manager,Sorochi Ugorji, said thechoice of golf a sport wasbecause of its capacity toallow over 100 players ofvarious ages and socialclass, among otherthings, to activelycompete, adding that ithas the ability to improvethe health condition of theplayers.

According to Ugorji, agolfer generallyunderstands the needs ofthe less-privileged anddisadvantaged in thesociety and golf was alsoa favorite sport of the lateMaster Akujobi. Theevent kicked off with aqualifier on the 3rd ofMarch 2013, at the GolfSection, Ikoyi Club 1938,and will be closelyfollowed by the mainevent on March 9.Winners and guests willbe hosted to a cocktaillater in the evening.

DOAMF holds golf tourney

FC Barcelona’s firstteam shirts will next

season be branded byQatar Airways as theyboth sign a three yearagreement Monday.

The three-yearagreement which seewith the airline’s brandname will appear on firstteam shirts from the start

Barca sign 3-year partnershipwith Qatar Airways

of the 2013/14 season willbe effective from 1 July2013.

Qatar Airways willbecome the club’s GlobalMain Partner, signalingthe first time the airlinehas engaged in asponsorship with a majorsoccer club.

The airline’s ChiefExecutive Officer AkbarAl Baker said it will be aunique partnershipbetween the World’s bestClub and the best Airlinein the World, describingthe alignment with Barcaas a “fitting match for bothorganisations, which willelevate the brands to anew platform on theglobal stage and sharingthe same values –passionate about beingthe best at what we do inour respective fields.”•Messi


Eagles for honour in Calabar

OBAFEMI Martins’wish of leaving

Spanish side Levantemid season has hit thebrick wall as the club isnot willing to let go of theplayer.

Levante and MajorSoccer League clubSeattle Sounders havebeen in negotiation, butthe US club it seems arenot ready to part with theN617m (about 3m Euro)buyout clause on theplayers contract.

Obafemi met with theclub president, QuicoCatalan yesterday toforce the move throughbut he got a negativeresponse from Mr.Catalan. He said it willnot be fair to let one oftheir best striker go mid-season without Levantegetting any financialbenefit.

Levante are preparingfor two of the biggestmatches in the team’srecent history, as they willtake on Rubin Kazan inthe Europa LeagueRound of 16. The first legis Thursday with thereturn leg next week.

Levante block Obafemi’s transfer

REAL Madrid manager Jose Mourin-

ho has hailed CristianoRonaldo as the “bestever ” player in theworld.

The two-timeEuropean Cup-winningcoach has labelled thePortugal international asbetter than DiegoMaradona and Pele.

”He is the best. Thebest in the world, yes.Probably the best ever.

“I saw Maradona acouple of times. I neversaw Pele. But Cristianois amazing.

This man is the best.But even he can’t win it

Calabar on March 23.The full list of foreign-

based professionals willbe announced on Thurs-day morning, officialssaid.

The call-ups from tje lo-cal league include six ofthose who made thesquad to the recent AF-CON - Chigozie Agbim,Sunday Mba, GodfreyOboabona, Gabriel Re-uben and AzubuikeEgwuekwe.

Keshi

while Ameobi’s contractat English premierLeague club Newcastleprevented him from thetournament.

However, defensivemidfielder Obi has notbeen involved with hisItalian Serie A clublately.

Officials are alsoinsisting that injuredSpartak Moscow strikerEmmanuel Emenike willbe fit in time for theMarch 23 clash againstthe Harambee Stars inCalabar.

Super Eagles coachStephen Keshi isexpected to meet withthe technical committeeof the Nigeria Football

Obi

There were also recallsfor Papa Idris, Daniel Ak-peyi, Chibuzor Okonkwo,Zango Umar and Solo-mon Kwambe.

Fresh invitees areShooting Stars duo ofDele Ajiboye and TaofeekAdepoju, Zubairu Mo-hammed from Niger Tor-nadoes and Jiya Moham-med of Bayelsa United.

The players will opentraining camp in Abujafrom Sunday, fromwhere they will be joinedby foreign-based playersnext week for the trip toCalabar.

Federation onWednesday to defendhis call-ups.

Top officials of theFederation toldMTNFootball.com,”Keshiis to defend his team listfor the World Cupqualifier against Kenyaon Wednesday beforethe list is released.”

”Coach Stephen Keshiis expected to come upwith a 25-man list for thegame against Kenya,”further stated NFFgeneral secretary MusaAmadu.

The Super Eagles areexpected to re-groupthis weekend at atraining camp in Abujawith players from thedomestic league beforethey relocate to Calabara week to the match.

•Continued from BP


to turn the tie around.Neil Lennon’s side will

feel a sense of injusticegiven they enjoyedquality possession forlarge parts of the matchafter Alessandro Matri’sthird-minute strike putthe Italian championsahead.

It was a tale of missedopportunities for theScottish side and a classiccase of razor sharpcounter-attacking fromJuventus at the other end.

Anthony Stokes couldbe in line for a startingberth at the top of the

Champions LeagueCeltic attack after hiswinner against St Mirrensecured his team a placein the last four of theScottish Cup.Celtic held firm to win 2-1 and with their virtuallyunassailable 14-pointlead at the top of the SPL,

there will be a cleardirective to throweverything at Juventus. Adil Rami’s stoppage-time strike in the first legavoided completecatastrophe for Valenciaand changed thecomplexion of the Parcdes Princes return fixture,but the advantage stilllies clearly with CarloAncelotti’s PSG.


Ronaldo better than Pele,Maradona — Mourinho

on his own. The key isthe team and the teamneeds balance andpeople doing differenttasks. At this level, ifsomebody fails, we haveno chance.

”We never sayCristiano is responsiblewhen we lose a matchand we can’t think he isthe only one who winsit. Without the team heis nothing but the teamwithout him is not thesame.”

•Ronaldo

THE ExecutiveGovernor of Cross

River State, Senator LiyelImoke is top of the list ofpersonalities to behonoured at the first-everNight of Stars, precedingthe inaugural Nigeria

Pitch Awards, which holdat the Conference Hall ofTinapa Lakeside Hoteland Resort, Calabar onSaturday, March 23.

Governor Imoke, whoseadministration hashugely supported the re-

invigoration of the SeniorNational Football Team,Super Eagles and the U-17 Team, Golden Eaglets,will be honouredalongside theHonourable Minister/Chairman, NationalSports Commission,Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi,NFF ExecutiveCommittee andManagement, SuperEagles’ players, and adozen stars of theNollywood industry on anight that aptly marriesfootball andentertainment. The two-hour event starts at 9pm,with the red carpet onfrom 8pm.

Matchmakers ConsultInternational Limited,endorsed by the NigeriaFootball Federation toorganize the NigeriaPitch Awards, is puttingtogether this event that

will annually precede theAwards, and has gone togreat length to ensure itwould be a roaringsuccess.

THE Court ofArbitration for Sport

(CAS) has dismissed theappeal filed by JacquesAnouma against theAfrican FootballConfederation (CAF)regarding his candidacyfor the CAF presidency.The Ivorian FootballFederation (FIF) hadproposed the candidatureof Mr Anouma for thepresidential election of 10March 2013, anomination which wasdeclared inadmissible bythe CAF ExecutiveCommittee.

The CAS has confirmedthat the CAF Executive

CAF Presidency: CAS rejectsAnouma’s appeal

Committee hadjurisdiction to refuse thecandidature of JacquesAnouma, that the CAFStatutes adopted inSeptember 2012 wereapplicable in assessingthe validity of thecandidates in thepresidential election andthat Jacques Anouma didnot meet these criteriabecause he had neverbeen a member the CAFExecutive Committee.

THE HonourableMinister of Sports

and Chairman NationalSports Commission(NSC) Mallam BolajiAbdullahi hascommended the GeneralOverseer of TheRedeemed ChristianChurch of God (RCCG)Pastor Adejare Adeboyefor the organization andsponsorship of theAdeboye U-20 TableTennis Championshipthe final of which washeld at the RedemptionCamp over the weekend.

Mallam Abdullahiwho graced the finals ofthe Championship at theYouth Center,Redemption Camp,commended PastorAdeboye for investing insports development,

“ I am very happy, thatthe RCCG is interestedin sports development,especially, sponsorshipof table tennis, thischampionship will notonly help discover newtalents, but it will alsokeep our youth in goodshape and top form forfuture championships”.

AbdullahihailsAdeboye overtable tennis

•Hayatou

•Eagles celebrate in South Africa.

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e-mail: [email protected] to Play Sudoku THE VIGILANTE

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.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

Sudoku Across3 Waterway (5)9 Toil (6)10 Spin (6)11 Decree (5)12 Dumb (4)15 Agitate (4)17 Thwart (7)20 Finish (3)21 Rubbish (5)23 Every (4)25 Ballot (4)26 Savour (5)28 Deed (3)30 Obvious (7)33 Learner (4)35 Always (4)36 Ledge (5)38 Sickness (6)39 Criminal (6)40 Attempted (5)

Down1 Rotund (5)2 Diminish (5)3 Billiard-stick (3)4 Fiery (6)5 Roguish (4)6 Fortune (3)7 Squander (5)8 Eerie (5)13 Haste (7)14 Eject (5)16 Lean (7)18 Hackneyed (5)19 Serpent (3)22 Throng (5)24 Crone (3)27 Develop (6)28 Expiate (5)29 Fish (5)31 Avoid (5)32 Elf (5)34 Scorch (4)36 Clique (3)37 Whim (3)

Across: 1, Resist 5, Spiral 9, Loyal 10, Pellet11, Damage 12, Dally 14, Item 17, Lay 18,Vote 20, Dared 22, Fined 23, Langur 24,Totem 26, Burst 29, Roue 30, Jet 32, Seer33, Hades 35, Gagged 36, Pagoda 37, Resin38, Cadged 39, Deftly.

Down: 1, Repaid 2, Salver 3, Sled 4, Total 5,Sadly 6, Play 7, Reason 8, Leered 13, Laughed15, Taboo 16, Melee 18, Virus 19, Tense 21,Dam 22, Fob 24, Tragic 25, Turgid 27, Report28, Treaty 30, Jaded 31, Tepid 33, Here 34,Sane.

World Cup Qualifier:

•Continues on Page 54

SUPER EaglesCpach, Stephen

has picked 24 playersfrom the domestic leaguefor a 2014 World Cupqualifier against Kenya in

Keshi lists 24 home stars for KenyaGoalkeepers: Chig-

ozie Agbim (EnuguRangers), Daniel Ak-peyi (Heartland) DeleAjiboye (3SC)

Defenders: EgwuekeAzubuike (Warri Wolves),Papa Idris , Zango Umar(Kano Pillars), GodfreyOboabona, SolomonKwambe (SunshineStars), Chibuzor Okonk-wo (Rangers), EzekielBassey (Lobi Stars), Ben-jamin Francis (Heart-land), Zubairu Mu-hammed (Tornadoes)

Midfielders and For-wards: Sunday Mba(Nigeria), Gabriel Ru-ben, Gambo Muhammed,Ubale Mannir (Kano Pil-lars), Pius Samson(Ranchers Bees) GomoOnduku (Sharks), Obin-na Nwanchukwu (Heart-land), Ayo Saka (Enyim-ba), Jiya Muhammed(Bayelsa FC), Emeka Eze(Rangers), AnthonyOkputu (Lobi Stars), Ade-poju Taofeek (3SC)

Full squad

•Oboabona

•Agbim

JUVENTUS will take acommanding 3-0 lead into the

second leg of their Champions Leaguelast 16-clash with Celtic tonight. Alsotonight, Valencia take their last-minutelifeline to Paris in a bid to overhaulPSG’s 2-1 lead in the ChampionsLeague round of 16.

The Scottish giants were on the endof a football lesson at Celtic Park withlate Claudio Marchisio and Mirko

Champions League: Juve, PSGalmost there

•Continues on Page 54

•Coach Keshi

INTER Milan aceJoel Obi and Shola

Ameobi are likely tomake the 25-man Eaglessquad for a 2014 WorldCup qualifier againstKenya later this month.

Obi missed the 2013Africa Cup of Nations inSouth Africa due to along-term muscle injury,

Obi, Ameobi forEagles recall

•Joel Obi•Continues on Page 54

Inside

•Ronaldo better than Pele,Maradona — Mourinho

•Levante block Obafemi’s transfer

•CAF Presidency: CAS rejectsAnouma’s appeal

More stories onPages 28-29

Tonight’s Matches

Juventus v Celtic 8:45pm(Juve leading 3-0 from the 1st Leg)

PSG v Valencia 8:45pm(PSG leading 2-1 from the 1st Leg)

Vucinic strikes leaving Celtic needing amiracle

SULTAN TO JONATHAN: Declare total amnesty for Boko Haram

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