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Page 1: Boko Haram: Amnesty committee under fire

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61925

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

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•Amnesty has failed — Northern CAN•The whole thing is confusing — Balarabe Musa•JTF kills Boko Haram top commander in Borno•We didn't claim we spoke with Shekau — Amnesty C'ttee source

COLUMNISTS:

•P.48OCHEREOME

NNANNA

LES LEBA•P.40

•P.24

Amnesty committeeunder fire

PAUL BASSEY•P.54

—P.6

BOKO HARAM:

WORLD TOP1000 BANKS:Zenith ranks6th largest inAfrica

AL-MUSTAPHA—Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer, CSO, to late Head of State, Gen. SaniAbacha being received by a large crowd in Kano yesterday. Inset: Founder of Oodua Peoples Congress, OPC, Dr. FrederickFasehun, leading Al-Mustapha out of the plane at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. Photos: Abdulsalam Muham-mad. See story on Page 7.

BY CLIFFORDNDUJIHE, DAPO

AKINREFON & LUKABINNIYAT

LAGOS—THE Presidential Committee

on the Dialogue andPeaceful Resolution ofConflicts in NorthernNigeria, came under se-vere criticisms, yester-day, from across thecountry following denialby Boko Haram leader,Abubakar Shekau thatthe sect had entered intoa cease-fire agreementwith the Federal Govern-ment.

The Committee came

N65.1BN SUBSIDY DEBT:Mobil, Total, others threatento stop fuel import

HERO'S WELCOME FOR AL-MUSTAPHA IN KANO

•P.15

Bayelsalawmakers sue forpeace in Rivers 11

CMYK

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CMYK

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013—————33333

CMYK

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POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 — 5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

BOKO HARAM: Amnestycommittee under fire

Continues from page 1

Excellence is to do a common thing in an un-common way— Booker T. W. There are many com-mon things begging to be done in an uncommonway.

Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth andI’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live inmy heart forever —Native American proverb

DURING Mark’s first month at college, the professor gave his students a pop quiz. He was

a conscientious student and had breezed throughthe questions, until he read the last one: “What isthe first name of the woman who cleans the school?”Surely this was some kind of joke. He had seen thewoman several times. She was tall, dark-haired andin her fifties, but how would he know her name? Hehanded in his paper, leaving the last question blank.

Just before class ended, one student asked if thelast question would count toward the quiz grade.“Absolutely,” said the professor. “In your careers,you will meet many people. All are significant. Theyeach deserve your attention and care, even if allyou do is smile and say ‘hello’”. Mark never forgotthat lesson. He also learned her name was Dorothy.

This story best illustrates the importance of rec-ognising that everyone is important and relevantin the scheme of things. In essence, knowing andacting on this principle in our everyday dealingswith people we encounter, may just be the key tonot only influencing and making good friends, butalso, to being loved and appreciated as we wouldlove to see happen in our world.

RETREAT—Country Chairman, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC)/GuestSpeaker, Mr. Mutiu Sunmonu; Director-General, NESG, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr. and the Chairman,Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), Mr. Foluso Phillips, at NESG retreat held at the RaddisonBlue Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos.

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under attack on a daythe Joint Task Force(JTF) Operation RestoreOrder II in Borno State,said that it has succeed-ed in killing a top com-mander of Boko Haram

sect, Bulabulin Nganar-am, who was on thewanted list of the JTFwith a N10m bounty. Thesect commander whowas killed in a shootoutwith the taskforce wassaid to be responsible forthe killing of a teacher

and three students ofSanda Karami Second-ary School, Ruwan ZafiMaiduguri.

Chairman of the Com-mittee and Minister ofSpecial Duties, AlhajiTanimu Turaki, had on aHausa service pro-gramme of Radio FranceInternational monitoredin Kano, July 8, that theFederal Government hassecured a ceasefire dealwith the sect which hadclaimed responsibilityfor terrorist attacks thathave led to deaths ofabout 4000 people since2009. The Presidencycorroborated AlhajiTuraki’s announcementwhich it claimed hadShekau’s consent.

Imam Marwana, amember of the sect saidto belong to Shekau’scamp reportedly con-firmed the truce dealand begged Nigerians toforgive them “over thenumber of people killedin the country. I appealto those who lost theirloved ones to our activi-ties to forgive us and onour side, we have for-given all those who com-mitted atrocities againstus.”

Denying the cease-fire, weekend, Shekau,who endorsed the attackand killing of a teacherand 29 secondary schoolstudents at Mamudo,Yobe State penultimateweek, said: “Let me as-sure you that we will notenter into any truce with

these infidels. We willnot enter into any trucewith the Nigerian gov-ernment. We believe inthe massacre inflictedon the secondary schoolin Mamudo andDamaturu and otherschools. We earlierwarned that we weregoing to burn allschools. They areschools purposely builtto fight Islam.”

Reacting to this al-leged denial by Shekau,however, a source in thecommittee said the au-thenticity of the state-ment credited to Shekauwas in doubt, since itcould not be verified.The source added thatthe committee had neverclaimed it spoke withthe sect leader himselfand that unlike in thepast, the sect leadernever came out to dis-own the spokesman,who negotiated on be-half of the group.

Govt must be trans-parent – Onyema

Meanwhile, reactingto the confusion yester-day, the National Chair-man, Foundation forEthnic Harmony in Ni-geria (FEHN), AllenOnyema, who is coordi-nating the amnesty pro-gramme for Niger-Deltaex-militants, argued thatthe government has to bemore transparent andtell Nigerians those itreached agreement withas was done in the

Niger-Delta in the caseof militants.

His words: “If it is truethat the presidentialcommittee had any con-tact with real BokoHaram and they haveaccepted cease-fire, thatis welcome but theymust be sure of whatthey are saying. It willbe very embarrassing forthe Federal Governmentif the impasse continuesafter the cease-fire. Theyneed to let the countryknow those who hadsigned the cease-fire.

“When Chris Ekiyortook over as the leaderof the Ijaw Youth Coun-cil, he went round thecamps and got the mili-tants to accept non-vio-lence. We knew who andwho were in the cease-fire agreement. KingsleyKuku, Godwin Abbe,Tony Anenih and otherspaid visits to the mili-tants and it was tel-evised. It was madeopen. We know the ex-militants. Who are theBoko Haram leaders andmembers that the com-mittee spoke with? Whoand who agreed tocease-fire? I want thegovernment to be trans-parent so that the coun-try will be free. I don’tlike what is happeningin the North. A biggerand peaceful Nigeria isbetter for us.”

The whole thing is con-fusing—Balarabe Musa

On his part, formergovernor of old KadunaState, Alhaji BalarabeMusa said the ceasefireagreement between theIslamic sect and FederalGovernment had be-come confusing basedon Shekau’s denial.

He said: “We are nothaving what we expect,that is the ceasefire, be-cause the reports areconflicting. There is thisreport from the chairmanof the committee thatagreement has beensigned and Shekau wasinvolved and nowShekau is saying he isnot a party to the sign-ing of any agreement.

There is also this reportthat there are two fac-tions of Boko Haram;there is one led byShekau, which appearsto be the original butthere is also a more mili-tant faction led by agroup. And so, the wholething is confusing. Wedon’t know whether ornot there is an agree-ment between the Fed-eral Government andBoko Haram leading toa ceasefire.”

Boko Haram has infil-trated Jonathan’sgovt—Afenifere

On its part, the Pan-Yoruba socio-politicalorganisation, Afenifere,said that it was obviousthat Boko Haram hadinfiltrated the adminis-tration of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan.

Afenifere’s PublicitySecretary, Mr. YinkaOdumakin, told Van-guard on phone: “I thinkwe should take Turaki,chairman of the Presi-dential Committee onBoko Haram to task nowbecause we saw him ontelevision that they havesigned a ceasefire withBoko Haram and heeven said something sooffensive that BokoHaram has promised notto attack during theRamadan. Assuming itwas true, it was okay forBoko Haram to go andattack people on Christ-mas Day but they cannotattack during Ramadanand for a minister of theFederal Government ofNigeria to be party tosuch an agreement, thenit is quite discomforting.

“Now that Shekau hasdenied that agreement,we need to ask whichBoko Haram Turaki wasclaiming and it showsclearly that may also bea confirmation of thestatement credited to thepresident some time agothat Boko Haram hadinfiltrated his govern-ment. It shows that theremay be sympathizers ofBoko Haram in govern-

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6—Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

Police arrest informant, 3 other alleged pipeline vandalsPolice's poor remuneration caused my return – Informant

BY EVELYN USMAN

LAGOS — OPERATIVES ofthe Inspector-General of Po-

lice Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalism Unit, week-end, arrested four suspectedpipeline vandals in Shagamuarea of Ogun State and recov-ered a 33,000-litre truck loadedwith petroleum products si-phoned from the Nigerian Na-tional Petroleum Corporation,NNPC, pipeline.

Surprisingly, one of the sus-pects, Ismaila Adetoro, 40, wasa police informant. The suspectwho confessed to have aban-doned the illicit business twoyears ago before becoming a po-lice informant, told Vanguardthat he was tempted to go backbecause of the stipend the Policepaid him as an informant.

“The suspects,” according tothe officer in-charge of the unit,Friday Ibadin, an Assistant Com-missioner of Police, “had beenregular visitors to the spot. Act-ing on tip off, the policemen ledby Sector Commander, OnaghiseOsayande, a Deputy Superin-tendent of Police stormed thescene weekend while the van-dals were at the verge of leavingwith the loaded 33,000 litres truckwith number plate XP 453 SMK.

“Four of them, Ismailia Adetoro(40), Raufu Odoniyi (39),Oyedeji Salim (22) and TobiOlalekan (25), were arrested atSagamu area in Ogun State.Ismaila popularly known as com-missioner has been on ourwanted list.

“Investigation revealed thatdespite the fact that he was help-ing the police to track down van-dals, he was also actively in-volved in the act.

"The fight against pipeline van-dalization is a collective respon-sibility of all and we should beproud to help law enforcers toprotect our natural resourceswhich are there for our develop-ment.”

I went back because ofpolice's poor payment

Looking remorse, Ismaila saidhe was forced to go back to van-dalism following failure on thepart of the Police to review hispayment as an informant .

Hear him: “I was into pipelinevandalism but stopped when I

realised the danger involved. Idecided, rather, to help the Po-lice fish out vandals by alertingthem anytime I discovered anyillegal act in Sagamu area. In re-turn, I was compensated.

“But the truth is that I am a fam-ily man with so much responsi-bilities and what they were of-fering did not help matters at

all. At a point, my vulcanizingbusiness was no longer booming.And because there was no at-tempt on the part of the police toreview the payment, I decidedto go back.“I called one Alhaji and askedhim to include me in his nextdeal. But unfortunately, I wasarrested."

The suspected vandals

Two policemen, five robbery suspectskilled during shoot-out

BY EVELYN USMAN

LAGOS — FIVE suspectedmembers of a notorious rob-

bery gang said to have beenterrorizing Lagos State wereshot dead early yesterday dur-ing a shoot-out with operativesof the Special Anti-RobberySquad SARS, Ikeja, Lagos.

Preliminary investigation, ac-cording to Police sources, re-vealed that the robbers were re-sponsible for the killing of themanager of 04 Hotel and threeother staff in Ajah, last week.

During the operation at thehotel, the hoodlums were said tohave accused the manager andstaff of the hotel of giving the po-

lice information about their gangwhich led to the arrest of theirleader.

However, other suspectedmembers of the gang met theirwaterloo during a multiple op-eration, yesterday, in the proc-ess of which two policemen werereportedly killed.

Report had it that the gang firststormed Ajah area of Lagos atabout 1am,where they snatcheda Honda Odyssey space bus.

From there, they reportedlyheaded for Ajao estate. Midway,they reportedly shot two police-men who were on patrol in EbuteMetta area. One of the police-men, according to police sources,died while the other was rushed

to the hospital.At Ajao Estate, the gang was

said to have operated at a ware-house where telephones andelectronic gadgets were kept. Ontheir way out, they reportedlyengaged a team of policemen ondistress call to the scene, killingone of them.

When news of the shoot-outreached the Commissioner of Po-lice, Mr Umar Manko, he wassaid to have deployed a team ofpolicemen from SARS led by thecommander, Mr Abba Kyari to thescene.

The operatives reportedlytrailed the robbers to stadiumarea of Surulere at about 4 am,where they engaged them in a

gun duel.Vanguard gathered that the

robbers kept driving on topspeed and at the same time fir-ing at the operatives, headingtowards the Island .

“Three of them were shot deadin the process. Driver of the ve-hicle was hit but he kept movinguntil they reached Eko bridge.At that point, the vehicle somer-saulted. Three of them managedto get out of the car and escapedwith bullet wounds while five ofthem lay dead,” Police sourcessaid.

The bodies of the dead suspectswere sighted at the command’sheadquarters, Ikeja, yesterday.

Extradition: PDP chieftain urges courtto quash judgment

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS — A PEOPLESDemocratic Party, PDP, chief-

tain in Ogun State, Prince BurujiKashamu, has urged the Courtof Appeal, Lagos, to set aside itsjudgment delivered on July 2regarding the purported attemptto extradite him to the UnitedStates by the Federal Govern-ment.

He said the judgment was “de-livered without jurisdiction” be-cause the panel’s integrity wasquestioned.

Kashamu is contending thatwhile the appeal was pending,a petition was written accusingthe panel of justices of allegedcompromise in another appeal.

He (Kashamu) was accused ofbeing behind the petition.

Following the development,Kashamu said he wrote a sepa-rate petition urging the court toconstitute an independent panelto hear pending appeals involv-ing him.

He averred in an affidavit insupport of the appeal, that “Inspite of the aforestated petitionof the respondent/applicant al-leging likelihood of bias againstthe Lagos Division of this court,and without awaiting the out-come of the said petition writtento the President of the Court ofAppeal, a hearing notice wassent out fixing hearing for April18.

“The judgment was not read in

open court and typed copiesthereof were not available to par-ties until July 8, 2013. A reason-able onlooker would come to theconclusion that there were otherconsiderations than the end ofjustice involved in the mannerthe case was determined and theresult.

“The panel of the Court of Ap-peal, Lagos constituted by its pre-siding justice lacked jurisdictionin any event to determine theappeal in the circumstances ofthe unresolved allegation of biasmade against it by the respond-ent/applicant in his petition.

"The judgment of this court de-livered on July 2, 2013 is, there-fore, a nullity having been deliv-ered without jurisdiction."

DESOPADECofficialabducted,police orderlykilled

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

BENIN— A POLICEMANattached to an official of the

Delta State Oil Producing Ar-eas Commission,DESOPADEC, was killed, Fri-day night, by gunmen sus-pected to be kidnappers in EdoState.

He was killed while alleg-edly attempting to preventthem from abducting his bosswho was later said to have beentaken away to an unknown des-tination by the abductors.

The police orderly was shotin the head while one of thesuspected kidnappers was alsokilled.

Vanguard gathered that theDESOPADEC official and thepoliceman were said to be trav-elling along the Benin-Lagosby-pass when they were at-tacked by the kidnappers whoapparently may have beentrailing them.

One of the abductors wassaid to have been shot deadby the policeman before he waskilled just as three other per-sons in a tipper lorry sustainedgun shot wounds.

One of the injured occupantsof the tipper lorry told news-men at the Central Hospitalthat they were hit by bulletsfired by the kidnappers.

Jailbreak:Security beefedup in Abiaprisons

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA— FOLLOWING increasing cases of

jailbreak in parts of the coun-try, Mrs. Ukwuori Ndukwe-Kalu, the Abia State Comptrol-ler of Prisons, said weekend,that security has been beefedup around prisons in the stateto checkmate such occur-rences.

According to the comptroller,the prison authorities were col-laborating with security agen-cies to ensure that tight secu-rity was maintained aroundprison yards in the state.

Ndukwe-Kalu spoke whenmembers of the Assemblies ofGod Church, Item Street,Umuahia, visited inmates ofUmuahia Prisons.

She said: “We want to takeproactive measures, and othersecurity agencies aresynergizing with us.”

The comptroller warnedagainst any suspicious move-ments around prison forma-tions in the state.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 — 7

My freedom still adream— Al-Mustapha

KANO—MAJOR Hamza Al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Of-

ficer to late Head of State, General SaniAbacha, who regained his freedom lastFriday, after 14 years in incarceration, brokedown in tears, yesterday, in Kano whilerecounting his experience, saying his free-dom was still a dream to him.

Moments after arriving the ancient cityof Kano, Mustapha paid courtesy visits tothe palace of the Emir of Kano and Gover-nor Musa Kwankwaso at Kano GovernmentHouse, where he said: “I have an emptyhouse to go to.”

At Kano Government House, Mustaphasaid: “I was opportuned to meet my be-loved late father and mother twice duringthe last 15 years and now I have an emptyhouse to go to.”

The former CSO told his host that his entryinto the Government House was a clearreminder of an event on October 24, 1998,when he was brought into the GovernmentHouse in tattered cloth and in chains byhis captors in an attempt to rope him in foralleged attempt to topple a constituted au-thority.

He said: “I am yet to reconcile with myfreedom because I am yet to believe thatthis was the same Al-Mustapha that wasbrought into this House in tattered shirt,and in chains October 24, 1998.

“I was moved between Kano and Yobefrom October 24 and 26 all in an attempt toimplicate me over an alleged coup to over-throw the civilian government.”

Al-Mustapha, who was accompanied byOodua Peoples Congress, OPC, NationalLeader, Mr. Frederick Fasehun,Muhammad Abacha and several otherchieftains of OPC, said: “I am yet to un-derstand what is happening to me. It isstill a dream and I am finding it difficult toadjust to the reality.”

He also said there was a wicked attemptto kidnap his two siblings while in custody.

He said: “I suffered serious witch-huntand persecution all in an attempt to paintme black before the whole world.

“Yesterday is gone. I have forgiven allthose who perpetrated the evil against me.I am back home and we are drawing a newline for a better Nigeria.

“In all I have got justice at last and weremain grateful to God, who has made itpossible for us to enjoy our liberty oncemore.

‘A father in Fasehun'“I found a father in Otunba Frederick

Fasehun, who had been very supportive.A detribalised Nigerian, he stood by meduring my travail and he is with me nowthat I have regained my honour and lib-erty.”

In his speech, Governor Kwankwasocommended the judiciary for standing bythe truth, adding that Al-Mustapha’s or-deal was a lesson to everyone

According to Governor Kwankwaso, “Al-Mustapha’s freedom gives me joy, and hisfreedom is a big lesson to all of us. I wishto seize this opportunity to commend thejudiciary for siding with the truth.”

Al Mustapha had earlier in the day ar-rived Kano to a rousing welcome as scoresof residents lined Kano streets to catch aglimpse of him.

Commercial activities were brought to a

stand-still till late evening as peopledefied Ramadan to join others on thestreet.

Armed soldiers took over his personalsecurity on arrival, while a combinedteam of police, OPC and local militiascontrolled the huge but orderly crowdof supporters and well-wishers.

Al-Mustapha was forced by the hugecrowd to postpone the proposed visit tothe grave of his late parents, where hewas billed to offer special prayers

In an interview with reporters at Gov-ernment House, Al-Mustapha de-fended his visit to cleric, T. B. Joshua,describing him as “an old friend whocannot be forgotten so easily.”

On his military careerAccording to Al Mustapha, “immedi-

ately I regained my freedom, I headedstraight to the palace of Oba of Lagos.Then I visited T. B. Joshua and otherimportant dignitaries that identified withus during our travails.”

Asked to confirm when he wouldresume work against the backdrop thathe is still a Major in the Nigerian Army,He said: “The decree that set up themilitary is very explicit on the issue, andthe court verdict left no vacuum onsame.”

While in the city, Al-Mustapha visitedthe emir’s palace, government Houseand General Sani Abacha’s residencelocated at Gidado Road, Nasarawa, GRAKano.

BY ABDULSALAM MUHAMMAD

ABUJA (REUTERS)—SUDANESEPresident, Omar al-Bashir, arrived

in Nigeria yesterday, for an African Un-ion, AU, summit on HIV/AIDS as hishosts chose to ignore an InternationalCriminal Court, ICC, arrest warrantagainst him.

Bashir, accused of mastermindinggenocide and other atrocities duringSudan’s Darfur conflict, which has leftsome 200,000 people dead, in theoryrisks arrest if he travels to one of themore than 120 states, including Nigeria,that have signed up to ICC.

He has been refused trips to Uganda,South Africa, Malawi and Zambia in thepast because of his indictment. This ishis first trip to West Africa since the war-rant was issued.

AU voted in 2009 not to cooperate withICC indictments, saying they wouldhamper efforts to end Sudan’s multipleconflicts. Bashir rejects the ICC charges.

Presidential spokesman, Dr. ReubenAbati, said: “The Sudanese Presidentcame for an AU event and the AU hastaken a position on the ICC arrest or-der. So Nigeria has not taken action dif-ferent from the AU stand.”

Human Rights Watch InternationalJustice Programme Director, EliseKeppler, said Nigeria had “the shame-ful distinction of being the first West Af-rican country to welcome ICC fugitiveSudanese President, Sudan al-Bashir.”

Sudan’s Bashirarrives NigeriaWhy he's here— Presidency

Page 8: Boko Haram: Amnesty committee under fire

8—Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

NLC worriesover review,hike inpowertariffs

BY VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG

INSPECTION: From left— Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim, Deputy Chairman, HouseCommittee on Works; Mr. Mohammed Wudil and Mr. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi, CommitteeChairman, during the inspection of Ebu-Asaba Road, Delta State.

Senate shifts PIB meetingfor Constitution, Ewherido

LCCI faults FG's replacement of CotecnaBY OMOH GABRIEL

LAGOS Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, LCCI,

has faulted the Federal Govern-ment’s decision to replaceCotecna at the Lagos port.

LCCI said the replacement ofCotecna has created capacity gapat the port, which was showingin current poor cargo clearing.

In a statement by the Director-General, Mr. Muda Yesuf, thechamber said: “The decision byFederal Government to replaceCotecna as the service providerresponsible for inspection andoperation of scanning machinesat the Lagos Ports Complex,LPC, Apapa is already taking itstoll on the efficiency of cargoclearing process at the port.”

Federal Ministry of Financerecently reshuffled the operationsof the destination inspection

agents operating in majorports in the country.

CBN's circularA circular to all banks by

Central Bank of Nigeria onJune 17, said: “Following theextension of Destination In-spection of Imports at the Ni-gerian seaports, airports andland borders and the appoint-ment of service providers fora period of six months witheffect from June 1, 2013 toNovember 30, 2013, by theFederal Government of Ni-geria, all authorised dealerbanks and the general publicare hereby notified of the fol-lowing for compliance.

“Messrs Global ScansystemsLimited, Cotecna Destination In-spection Limited and SocieteGenerole De Surveillance, SGS,have been appointed by the

Government as InspectionAgents to carry out the assign-ment during the period.

“The entry points for im-ports to Nigeria have beengrouped into three lots andallocated to the inspectionagents as follows: the Desti-nation Inspection Agents,DIAs, are expected to assumeduty at their new allocatedlots with effect from Friday,June 14, 2013.

“Apapa Seaports: CotecnaDestination Inspection Lim-ited will transfer operationsto Global Scansystems Lim-ited; Grimaldi Port-PTML:Global ScanSystems willtransfer operations toCotecna Destination Inspec-tion Limited.

“Idiroko Land Border: SGSScanning Nigeria will trans-fer operations to Global

Scansystems Ltd; Calabar SeaPort: Global Scan systems willtransfer operations to SGSScanning Nigeria Limited.

“All other sea, airports andland border operators will re-main as they are.”

It was not immediatelyknown why the ministry di-rected these changes.

LCCI's opinionHowever, LCCI said: “LPC

is the biggest and busiestport handling a substantialpercentage of the importscargo. The replacement ofservice provider has createdserious capacity gaps in thecargo clearing process.

“Reports reaching LCCIindicate the worsening ofcongestion at the LPC result-ing from delays in the scan-ning of containers and other

related activities.“This development has pro-

found implications for the pri-vate sector and the economy.There will be high demurragecharges arising from delays inclearing of cargo, high cost offund on borrowed funds byimporters.

“There will also be disruptionof production schedules ofmanufacturers as raw materi-als are stuck at the port, inabil-ity of suppliers to meet contrac-tual time-lines, aggravation ofcorruption and extortion at theport as importers struggle toclear their cargo through thebottlenecks.

“There is also the risk of exac-erbation of inflation as goods arenot quickly cleared from the portto meet relevant needs in theeconomy thus undermining thesupply side of the economy.”

ABUJA—FOLLOWINGdebates on report of the

1999 Constitution, the Senatehas been forced to shift aplanned public hearing on theprovisions of the new Petro-leum Industry Bill, PIB, withthe thirty-six state governorsand Minister of the FederalCapital Territory Administra-tion, FCTA, Senator Bala Mo-hammed.

The public hearing on the PIB was slated for tomorrow,Tuesday, but had to be shifteddue to last Tuesday’s conclu-sive voting on clauses to beamended in the 1999 Consti-tution and a valedictory ses-sion for late Senator Pius

Ewherido from Delta CentralSenatorial District.

It will be recalled that Sen-ate had mandated its fourstanding committees on Petro-leum Resources (Upstreamand Downstream), Gas andJudiciary and Human Rightsto work on the new PIBthrough a meeting with thepublic and other stakeholdersin the oil and gas industry.

Session for Ewherido,burial arrangements

Meanwhile, Senate willhold a valedictory session forlate Senator Ewherido, onWednesday, July 17.Ewherido died on June 30 atthe National Hospital, Abuja.

A statement by the family

said the body of SenatorEwherido would leave forWarri immediately after thevaledictory session in the Sen-ate, while on Thursday, July18, Urhobo Progress Union,UPU, will hold a valedictorysession at UvwiamugeAgbarho at 11a.m.

The ststement said: “At 4p.m.same day, service of songs willhold at Mother of the Re-deemer Catholic Church,Effurun, while on Friday, July19, funeral service will holdat Catholic Cathedral, Warri.

“Burial will take place atEwu Urhobo same day, whileon Sunday July 21, outingservice will hold at CatholicChurch, Ewu Urhobo.”

The joint committee on the

new PIB had initially beenfixed for July 16 and 17 to meetwith state governors, Ministerof Petroleum Resources, Mrs.Diezani Alison-Madueke; Co-ordinating Minister of theEconomy and Minister of Fi-nance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and Attorney-Generalof the Federation and Ministerof Justice, Mohammed Adoke.

President Goodluck Jonathanhad in July 2012, submitted thenew PIB to the National Assem-bly.

Chairman of the Joint Com-mittee, who is also Chairmanof Petroleum Resources, Up-stream, Senator PaulkerEmmanuel, PDP, Bayelsa Cen-tral, yesterday told journalists:“On the scale of urgent mattersof national importance, the con-stitution of the Federal Repub-lic takes precedence.

“As you are all aware, Sen-ate was unable to vote lastThursday because we had tointervene in the Rivers StateHouse of Assembly fracas oflast Tuesday. The whole ofWednesday plenary was de-voted to that.

“Senate decided on the shiftbecause we will also dedicateWednesday plenary as a val-edictory session for one of ourdeparted colleague, lateSenator Pius Ewherido fromDelta Central.”

For public hearingAlso invited for the public

hearing are the Group Manag-ing Director of the NigerianNational Petroleum Corpora-tion, NNPC; Executive Secre-tary of Petroleum TechnologyDevelopment Fund, PTDF,and the Executive Secretaryof Nigerian Content Develop-ment and Monitoring Board.

Others are all managingdirectors of international oilcompanies, OICs; managingdirectors of indigenous oilcompanies, unions, includingNUPENG, PENGASSAN andoil-producing communities.

ABUJA—NIGERIALabour Congress,

NLC, weekend, ex-pressed concern over in-cessant and exorbitantreview of electricity tar-iff by Federal Govern-ment.

It called on the govern-ment to direct NigerianElectricity RegulatoryCommission, NERC, to urgently review down-ward the entire multi-year tariff structure in theinterest of Nigerians.

NLC, in a statement byits President,Abdulwahhed Omar, ex-pressed shock thatthe tariff had arbitrarilybeen increased fromN225 to over N700, evenwithout steady powersupply.

The statement read:“This review, whetherdone suddenly or in ad-vance, is without justifi-cation or rationale andstand condemned as itwill negate whatevergains expected to be re-corded by the muchvaunted reform in thepower sector.

“Congress believes thatthe multi-year tariff struc-ture as designed by Ni-gerian Electricity Regu-latory Commission,NERC, tacitly approvedby government, only pro-tects the interest of inves-tors in the power sector."

BY HENRY UMORU

Page 9: Boko Haram: Amnesty committee under fire

Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 — 9

INSPECTION: From left, Sen.Barnabas Gemade, Sen. Babafemi Ojudu, Sen. Gbenga Ashafa, SenateChairman, Committee on Works, Sen. Ayogu Eze, Sen.Oluremi Tinubu, and Senate Vice Chairman,Committee on Works, Sen. Basheer Mohammed, during the Senate Committee on Works' inspection ofThird Mainland Bridge, Lagos, weekend.

FG summons NPA, MWUN,NIMASA over strike threat

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

ABUJA — THE Fed-eral Government has

summoned the manage-ment of Nigerian Ports Au-thority, NPA, MaritimeWorkers Union of Nigeria,MWUN, Nigerian Mari-time Administration andSafety Agency, NIMASA, and other stakeholders to acrucial meeting, today, inAbuja, to find solution tothis week planned strike byworkers.

The workers are protest-ing 12 months unpaid sala-ries of tally clerks, onboardsecurity men, among othergrievances.

MWUN had given themanagement of NPA thisweek to pay the salariesand have other grievancesresolved or the unionwould withdraw workersfrom all ports' formationsacross the country and shutthe sector.

It was gathered that be-fore the invitation for themeeting, the union had

perfected plan to begin anindefinite strike byWednesday.

The plan to down toolswas sequel to the extensionof an earlier 14 days ulti-matum issued on June 12,following the interventionof the Federal Governmentthrough the Minister ofLabour and Productivity,Chief Emeka Wogu.

Following the interven-tion, the union extendedthe ultimatum with another14 days to enable NPA andothers involved to sort out

the issues.Leaders of the union la-

mented that since the ex-tension which expires to-day, the management ofNPA allegedly refused totalk to them, pay the work-ers or resolve other griev-ances.

Fashola plants 1000trees imported fromIndia, Borno

BY MONSUR OLOW-OOPEJO

LAGOS — GOVER-NOR Babatunde

Fashola of Lagos State, yes-terday, planted over 1, 000new trees imported from In-dia and Borno State, to markthe annual tree plantingday, even as he asked par-ents to look after their chil-dren and be conscious ofthe kind of values, trainingsgiven to them to preventthem from constituting pub-lic nuisance.

It will be recalled thatVanguard reported that thestate had planted 4.3 mil-lion trees since the begin-ning of the present admin-istration.

At one of the centres forthe 2013 Tree Planting Cam-paign, with the theme‘Green is Peace,’ atOnipetesi, Agege, Fasholasaid that the aim was to pre-vent flooding in the state,saying, “I hope that thesetrees will do the people ofLagos the good that theyhave done to the people ofIndia.”

The new trees of two spe-cies called Blackboard Treeor Indian Devil Tree andMilaila Abori from India

and Borno State respec-tively.

According to him, “thetwo major trees that we areplanting today are not in-digenous plants. They arethe two plants I broughtfrom my trip to Borno Stateand India eight weeks ago.

...On parentsFashola, who spoke at the

5th Kafaru Oluwole TinubuMemorial Ramadan Lec-ture at the Blue Roof,Agidingbi, Ikeja, said in-stead of blaming govern-ment for security lapses,people should also criticallylook at their families andobserve the training givento their wards.

According to him: “Thefamily unit is the most im-portant unit in any commu-nity. And I think that it iswhere the first governmentstarts.

"Father and mother andthe management of limitedresources, population;value development, moraltraining, the restraints andcontentment and whatother knowledge they im-pact on the children. Thoseare the children who be-come great men or difficultmen as the case may be."

Judge for trialover allegedabuse ofpower

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS — Embattledjudge of the Federal

High Court, in Lagos, Jus-tice Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia,has been dragged before aLagos High Court inIgbosere, over allegedabuse of judicial power.

The lawyer, John WilliamDong, is claiming N5 mil-lion as damages againstJustice Ofili-Ajumogobiafor ordering his arrest anddetention for four hourswithout any charge or trial.

Joined as respondent inthe suit, is the Superin-tendent of Prisons incharge of Federal HighCourt, FHC, Prisons Cell.

THE FINAL journey oflate Mrs. Ella Ikokwu,

wife of Second Republicpolitician and AnambraState Chairman of the de-funct Nigerian PeoplesParty, NPP, Chief GuyIkokwu, begins today, July15 with a service of songsat RCCG, Eric Moore, La-gos.

Madam Ikokwu died re-cently in the United Statesof America after a brief ill-ness, aged 84. Her remains,

Madam Ikokwu’s service of songsholds today

Chief Ikokwu said, wouldbe conveyed home soon forinterment.

Late Mrs. Ella Ikokwu

Why we must rally round Amaechi — TinubuBY EMMANUEL

AZIKEN, political editor

LAGOS — ACTIONCongress of Ni-

geria, ACN leader,Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubuhas urged support for

Governor ChibukeAmaechi of Rivers Statefrom the hierarchy of thePeoples DemocraticParty, PDP, who heclaimed, have addedpublic brawling to theirachievements.

In a terse statement is-sued by his media officelast night, Tinubu de-scribed the ensuing cri-sis in Rivers State as anorchestrated plan that isin line with the PDP’sdefinition of democracywhere minority opinionprevails over majority.

He thus warned that Ni-gerians must rally roundthe embattled governorand chairman of the Ni-gerian Governors' Fo-rum, NGF, to ensure thatdemocracy is not re-de-fined.

He cited the recentelection for the chairmanof the NGF and the questof five members of theRivers State legislatureto dominate the othersas illustrations of how farthe PDP would go toachieve its aims evenagainst reason.

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10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

S-West PDP chieftainsat war over nationalscribe’s appointment

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — CHIEF-TAINS of the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, inthe South West are now atwar over the vacant posi-tion of a new National Sec-retary of the party after theremoval of the former Sec-retary, Prince OlagunsoyeOyinlola by a court order.

As a result of allegedmarginalisation of the zonein the distribution of elec-tive positions in spite of tre-mendous support by mem-

MEMBER OF theHouse of Repre-

sentatives, OpeyemiBamidele has assuredsupporters of the ActionCongress of Nigeria,ACN, in Ekiti State thatthe party would not runinto a crisis on account ofthe tussle between himand Governor KayodeFayemi for the party’s2014 gubernatorial ticket.

Bamidele, representingAdo-Ekiti/Irepodun-Ifelodun Federal Con-stituency of Ekiti State,stated this while givinghis mid-term report in theHouse of Representativesto a homegrown socialcultural group, EkitiParapo in Lagos, yester-day.

He, nevertheless, as-sured that the tussle forthe ACN gubernatorialticket between him andGovernor Fayemi wouldon the contrary make thepeople of the state moreunited.

Yesterday, Bamidelewas, nevertheless concili-atory as he fended off is-sues pertaining to the gu-bernatorial contest orother political issues as

he said that it would beunfair to raise them up inthe absence of his politi-cal opponents within theACN who were absent atthe function.

“We are transiting fromcivilian regime to real de-mocracy and at the endof the day it will make ushave a more united EkitiState where our childrenwill grow to be veryproud of,” the lawmakersaid.

Presenting his accom-plishment in the last twoyears, he cited his lead-ing role in the establish-ment of the National As-sembly Budget and Re-search Office, NABRO,asserting that he hadthrough his position aschairman of the HouseCommittee on LegislativeBudget and Researchensured the establish-ment of the long desiredbody.

He also pointed at hisinterest in pushingthrough bills to improvethe opportunities of peo-ple living with disabilityto the extent of creating“conditions favourable tothe attainment of theirhighest goals in life,whatever those goals maybe.”

Fayemi, Onicommiseratewith Fajuyi’sfamily

ADO EKITI — THEState governor of

Ekiti State, Dr. KayodeFayemi and his predeces-sor, Engr. Segun Oni havecommiserated with theFajuyi family over thedeath of the wife of lateMilitary Governor of thedefunct Western State,Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi,Eunice Ayodele.

According to the onlysurviving son of the de-ceased, Mr. Donald Fajuyi,the matriarch of Fajuyi fam-ily was said to have passedon at about 6.45 a.m., yes-terday, in her sleep at herOkesa family house, AdoEkiti

According to him, hismother could have turned85 on July 27.

Prof. Modupe Adelabu,the state Deputy Governorand wife of Ekiti State Gov-ernor, Erelu Bisi Fayemiwere among the early call-ers at the family housewhere they condoled withthe family and were re-ceived by Donald.

The duo described thedeceased as a rare motherand prayed that God wouldgive the family the fortitudeto bear the loss.

Donald, who himself is65, thanked former LagosState Governor, AsiwajuBola Tinubu, for rebuildingthe old family house in2009.

He equally thanked thestate governor, Dr. KayodeFayemi, Senator FemiOjudu and others for help-ing the family in variousways, saying he wouldsurely miss his mother.

“We had planned to cel-ebrate her 85th birthdayfrom July 27 to 29. Wealso wanted to mark the47th anniversary of herhusband’s death whichis on July 29.”

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

My guber ambition won’tcause crisis — Bamidele

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN

bers of the party for theemergence of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, theposition of the scribe wasconceded to the zone.

But, now a member of theBoard of Trustees (BoT) ofthe party, Chief BodeGeorge is presenting acandidate from Lagos Statewhile the incumbent zonalcaretaker chairman, IsholaFilani and other executivemembers have appointedanother person, ProfessorAdewale Oladipo fromOsun State to fill the samevacancy.

Soyinka at 79, saysNigeria in critical period

BYDAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA —NOBEL laureate

and literary icon, ProfessorWole Soyinka, yesterday,said that, Nigeria is in acritical period following theincessant attacks from thedreaded Boko Haram sect.

He urged Nigerian stu-dents, especially those re-siding in violence-proneareas of the North, not tobe discouraged by the ac-tivities of the sect.

Professor Soyinka, whohowever, charged thePresident GoodluckJonathan-led Federal Gov-ernment and state gover-nors to eliminate barriersand create conducive en-vironment for Nigerians toaccess qualitative educa-tion, urged the Nigerianyouth to demand from thecountry leaders their rightsto sound education andsafety so as to enjoy abetter future tomorrow.

The Nobel laureate, whospoke in his AutonomousRepublic of Jegba in

Abeokuta, Ogun Statecapital, yesterday, whilereceiving 79 studentsdrawn from across thecountry and who partici-pated in a essay competi-tion to mark his 79th birth-day.

He submitted that theactivities of Boko Haramgroup has painted a bleakfuture for millions of Nige-rian youth in the northernpart of the country whosechances of getting edu-cated, according to him, ismade narrower and chal-lenging by the sect’s mind-set and assault on educa-tion.

While fielding questionsfrom the pupils, Soyinkasaid: ”We face a very criti-cal period as a nation. It isa very difficult time, verydifficult time. How many ofyou came from Borno State?Is there any of you thatknows somebody whoseschool was burnt or wholost friends, in other words,some of you have experi-enced the practical impactsof the negative things go-

ing on there?“I don’t want you to feel

bad about it, I don’t wantyou to think it is too nega-tive or too bleak, but I wantyou to look at the positiveaspect of life, your intellec-tual development, youreducation and cultural de-velopment...”

Wife of the Governor of Ogun State, Mrs. Olufunso Amosun, son of Prof. Wole Soyinka/Ogun State Commissionerfor Health, Dr. Olaokun Soyinka in a group photograph with 79 winners of the Memoirs of Our Future EssayCompetition in commemoration of Prof. Soyinka's 79th birthday anniversary in Abeokuta.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013 —11

Rights groupflaysAl-Mustapha’s15yrsincarceration

Ugolor vs Police: Battle shifts toSupreme Court

BY FESTUS AHON

Delta demolishes illegal structures for flyover

As Onuesokelauds judgment

BY EMMA AMAIZE &FESTUS AHON

BENIN—THE legal battlebetween the Executive Di-

rector of African Network forEconomics and EnvironmentalJustice, ANEEJ, Rev. DavidUgolor, and the Nigeria Policeover the N5 million awardedagainst the Inspector- Generalof Police by an Edo State HighCourt has shifted to the Su-preme Court, with the IG urg-ing the apex court to set asidethe ruling of Appeal Court onthe judgment sum.

Inspector-General of Police,Alhaji Muhammed Abubakar,and the Nigeria Police in theirappeal are challenging the rul-ing of the Court of Appeal,Benin Division, which ordered

YENAGOA—WORRIED bythe crisis rocking the Riv-

ers State House of Assembly, law-makers in Bayelsa State, have ap-pealed to parties involved in thecrisis to sheath their swords in theinterest of peace.

Raising a motion under mattersof urgent public importance, theDeputy Speaker, Chief VictorSam-Ateki, representing BrassConstituency I, said there was noalternative to peaceful co-exist-ence.

Meantime, Pilot group has con-demned what they termed theshow of shame on Tuesday in thehallowed chambers of the RiversState House of Assembly.

A statement by the spokesmanof the group, Mr. Festus Egbe,wondered how a group of five law-makers could claim to have im-peached the Speaker of theHouse, Mr. OtelemabaAmachree, who had 26 lawmak-ers on his side.

Calling on Nigerians to protectthe nation’s democracy, the groupsaid the botched impeachment ofthe Speaker, was an indicationthat the era of political rascalitywas gone.

Meanwhile, Bayelsa AssemblyDeputy Speaker, reminded thelawmakers in Rivers State that thelegislature was the only symbolof democracy, adding that nomeaningful development could beachieved under crisis.

Sam-Ateki said : “All handsmust be on deck to resolve the is-

UGHELLI—CHAIRMANof Nigeria Social Insur-

ance Trust Fund, NSITF, Dr.Ngozi Olejeme, hascommended PresidentGoodluck Jonathan for givingwomen the opportunity to fullyparticipate in the developmentof the nation.

Olejeme, in a chat with news-men, said: “The action of thepresident in carrying womenalong in the scheme of thingsis a clear proof that he appre-ciates that intelligence is notthe exclusive preserve of men.”

She thanked the President foradvancing the interest ofwomen, adding that womenhad been given visible positionin politics in administration.She called on other arms ofgovernment to do likewise inorder to touch the lives of morewomen.

ASABA—CONSTRUC-TION of the first flyover

in Asaba, Delta State, to easetraffic is in sight as structureserected on the right of way,including a church buildingwere, weekend, demolished,just as the state governmenthad taken delivery of two

WARRI—FORUM forJustice and Human

Rights Defence, FJHD,Warri, Delta State, yester-day, said it was an embar-rassment for justice sectoradministration that MajorHamza Al-Mustapha,former Chief Security Of-ficer, CSO, to ex-Head ofState , to late Sani Abachaand Alhaji LateefShofolahan, spent over 14years in prison.

The duo were acquittedof the murder charge lev-elled against them last Fri-day.

Meantime, former gover-norship aspirant in DeltaState, Mr. SunnyOnuesoke, has commendedthe Court of Appeal, Lagos,over the release of Major Al-Mustpha and Shofolahan.

Onuesoke, who spoke tonewsmen, weekend, whilecelebrating the release ofthe duo in his Agbarha-Otorcountry home, alsocommended PresidentGoodluck Jonathan for notinterfering with the judicialprocess that culminated inthe freedom of Al-Mustphaand Shofolahan afterspending over 14 years inprison for murder and con-spiracy charges.

He described the appel-late court’s decision, settingaside the sentence handedAl-Mustpha andShofolahan on January 30,2012 by Justice MojisolaDada of the Lagos HighCourt, Igbosere, by theCourt of Appeal as the actof God, adding “the presid-ing judge, Justice RitaPemu, is a woman of integ-rity.”

Al-Mustpha andShofolahan were sentencedto death by a Lagos HighCourt for the murder ofAlhaja Kudirat Abiola, whowas shot dead in Lagos onJune 4, 1996.

Onuesoke said: “The re-lease of Al-Mustpha andShofolahan is good for thegrowth of our nascent de-mocracy. It shows that thejudiciary still remains thehope of the common man.At last justice has beendone in this case.”

FJHD in a statement byits National Coordinator,Mr. Oghenjabor Ikimi, saidjustice delayed was justicedenied.

Bayelsa lawmakers sue for peacein Rivers crisis

Call for probe as Pilot group condemns mayhemBY SAMUEL OYADONGHA &

JIMITOTA ONOYUME

NSITF chair laudsJonathan overappointment ofwomen

sues that led to the current cri-sis in Rivers State House of As-sembly.

“There is no issue that cannotbe resolved amicably.”

He called on all stakeholdersand well meaning citizens toavoid inflammatory commentscapable of aggravating the al-ready tensed situation in theRivers State House of Assem-

bly.”The deputy speaker explained

that the motion became necessarybecause of the historical bond thatexisted between Bayelsa and Riv-ers states.

Similarly, Pilot group alsocalled for thorough investigationinto the role of the Police in thefracas that rocked the House, add-ing that security operatives should

act to restore public confidence.“The posers can go on and on

but the truth is that the securityagencies in Rivers State havefailed again to live up to theirconstitutional responsibilities ofprotecting lives and property ofNigerians,” he said.

Commending members of theHouse of Representatives for itstimely resolution on the issue, thegroup urged the Senate to takesimilar action.

BY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE

BY AUSTIN OGWUDA

the IG and police to deposit thesum of N5 million awardedagainst them in an interest yield-ing account with a commercialbank.

It will be recalled that an EdoState High Court sitting in Beninand presided over by JusticeEdigin awarded the sum of N5million as damages in favour ofRev. David Ugolor over his un-lawful detention, following themurder of the late Oyerinde, Pri-vate Principal Secretary to Gov-ernor Adams Oshiomhole.

Dissatisfied with the judgmentof the lower court, the IG and theNigeria Police Force approachedthe Court of Appeal to set asidethe judgment.

However, the Court of Appeal

in its ruling upheld the submis-sion of Rev. Ugolor’s counsel,Afolabi Olayiwola, to the effectthat the judgment sum of N5million must be paid into an in-terest yielding account, pendingthe determination of the appeal.

However, the IG and the Ni-geria Police in the appeal beforethe Supreme Court, by theircounsel, Onwuka Igwe, prayedthe apex court for an order of stayof execution of the order of theCourt of Appeal requesting theappellants to put the sum of N5million into an interest yieldingaccount to be managed by theDeputy Registrar of the Court ofAppeal, Benin Division, pendingthe hearing and determination ofthe appeal before it.

heavy duty towing trucks toremove illegally parked vehi-cles.

State Commissioner forWorks, Mr. Funkekeme Solo-mon, supervised the demoli-tion, with his Lands, Surveyand Urban Development coun-terpart, Mr. Patrick FerifeEkumeku.

The Commissioner for

Lands, Ferife, said: “If youlook at the master plan ofAsaba, the position of EagleAssembly (now demolished)is on the right of way and wehad given the owners of theaffected property more thanthree years notice to relocatebefore the commencement ofthis flyover project.”

VISIT: Chairman, House Committee on Works, Mr. Ogbuefi Ozomgbachi (left) and Gover-nor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, during a visit to the governor in Yenagoa.

Page 12: Boko Haram: Amnesty committee under fire

12—Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

Warri North crisis: Ijaw groupcommiserates with Itsekirifamilies

S-East, S-South govs wives hold widowhoodsummit in Uyo

BY EMMA AMAIZE

CONFERENCE: Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State (right)and Managing Editor, Daily Independent, Mr. Akpandem James, at MbohoAkwa Ibom Conference in London, yesterday.

WARRI—IJAW Peo-ples Development

Initiative, IPDI, Warri,Delta State, has sympa-thised with the families ofItsekiri natives, who losttheir beloved ones in thereprehensible July 2 in-vasion of their communi-ties in Warri North LocalGovernment Area of thestate by some armed Ijawyouths.

This came on a day aleader of Egbema King-dom in the area, ChiefLadina Yebu, commendedDr. Emmanuel Uduaghanfor visiting the variousItsekiri communities where

BOMADI—TRANSI-TION Committee

Chairman of Bomadi Lo-cal Government Area,Delta State, Mr. CollinsOlorogun, has beenawarded the Icon of Hopeand Inspiration to South-South by the South-SouthYouth Assembly, SSYA

Presenting the award atthe chairman’s office inBomadi, the youth group,drawn from the nine oilproducing states in thecountry, said the award wasbestowed on the Bomadicouncil boss in recognitionof the giant strides his ad-ministration has recordedin area of peace and secu-rity, sanitation and humancapital development.

The group said:“Olorogun stands outamongst the chairmen inthe South-South region.”

The group had listed pa-rameters used to assessproject executions andgood governance, main-taining that the awardwould further rekindle hisefforts towards nationbuilding.

UYO—WIVES ofSouth-South/South

East Governors will to-day hold a summit onwidowhood in Nigeria inUyo, Akwa Ibom State.

The two-day summit, isentitled NationalWidowhood Summit andis expected to provide aplatform for sharing ofideas towards seeking

BY ONOZURE DANIA solutions to the chal-lenges facing widows inNigeria.

The facilitator of thesummit and wife of CrossRiver State governor,Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, said the summitwill be chaired by Sena-tor Helen Esuene,Chairperson, SenateCommittee on WomenAffairs.

Mrs. Liyel-Imoke, who

is also the Founder/Board Chair, Partner-ship Opportunities forWomen EmpowermentRealisation, said HajiaZainab Maina, Ministerfor Women Affairs, isschedule to deliver thekeynote address, add-ing that she would behosted by Mrs. EkaetteAkpabio, wife of the,Akwa Ibom State gover-nor.

some lives were lost dur-ing the attack by the Ijawyouths.

National President ofIPDI, Mr. Austin Ozobo, ina statement, in Warri, said:“Ijaw and Itsekiri are inter-married; it is good we har-monise our differenceswithout resort to war, it isour prayer that war doesnot break out between Ijawand Itsekiri again.

‘’We urge both parties tosheath their swords andemploy dialogue to settletheir differences. We wanta transparent settlement, letthe governor, Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan,avoid bias over the harmo-nisation process of bothparties. Let us forget aboutthe issues of minority or

majority in managing thecrisis.

‘’If we are talking aboutmajority, the Ijaws wouldnot have produced thePresident of this country,if we are also talking aboutmajority, the Itsekiri wouldnot have produced thegovernor of Delta State.

‘’What we want is some-thing feasible to bedone to bring lastingpeace to Warri and itsenvirons. Our candidopinion is that GovernorUduaghan should adoptrotational arrangementof the Warri North chair,State Assembly andCommissionership posi-tions among the Ijawand Itsekiri in the area.”

Bomadi LG boss gets Icon of Hope award

Edo IPMAN begins lifting of petroleumproducts

BENIN CITY—THEEdo State Department

of the State Security, DSS,has waded into the factionalcrisis that is rocking theBenin zone of the Inde-pendent Petroleum Mar-keters Association of Ni-geria, IPMAN.

Following the interven-tion, the Benin zone willcommence loading of pe-troleum product by Mon-

BY SIMON EBEG-BULEM

They also commendedthe council boss for the pru-dent management of theSubsidy Re-investmentProgramme, SURE-Pfunds to enhance the liv-ing standard of the people,saying it was satisfied withthe level of development inthe council as well as theyouth-friendly policies andprogrammes which gavethe youths a sense of be-longing in the scheme ofthings.

SSYA also appealled toBoko Haram to shun vio-lence and embrace peaceto foster national unity.

Receiving the award,Olorogun commended theyouths for bestowing onhim the award and prom-ised to continue the goodjob of making the lives ofthe people better, just ashe called on other youthsof the region to always beof good ambassadors of theregion.

day, July 15, which wassuspended a week ago dueto the factional crisis rock-ing the zone.

The national adviser tothe IPMAN and formerNational Vice-President ofthe association, ElderKonkon Ogbeide, who dis-closed this, yesterday, toVanguard, said the EdoState Director of the DSS,Bello Bakori met with thewarring factions and it wasagreed that they shouldsheath their swords so thatloading of petroleum prod-

ucts will commence byMonday (today), whileother contending issueswill be settled amicablywith the national leader-ship of the IPMAN.

He appealed to ag-grieved members to backthe Solomon Ogbewe care-taker committee set up bythe National body to pilotthe affairs of the IPMANuntil an election is held inthe state, just as he de-scribed the purportedelection which producedanother chairman ofIPMAN in the state asnull and void.

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013—13

COMMISSIONING—From left; Chief Emeka Wogu, Minister of Labour and Productivity;Professor Jerry Gana, Chairman of the occasion; Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State;CEO of Jades Hotel, Arc. Benson Ezem and his wife, Mrs. Ezem, during the commissioningof Jades Hotel, Wuse Zone 2, Abuja, weekend.

Ebonyi community alleges exclusionfrom flood compensation

4 parties in Imodrum support forAPC

Anambra toreward firstclassgraduates

Orji warns Abiaindigenes inChina againstdrug trafficking

BY PETER OKUTU

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA—GOVERNORTheodore Orji of Abia State

has warned indigenes of thestate resident in China againstdrug trafficking.

A statement by the Governor’sChief Press Secretary,Ugochukwu Emezue, statedthat the governor gave theadvice in a town hall meetingwith Abia people residing inChina.

Orji, who was on theentourage of PresidentGoodluck Jonathan’sinvestment summit visit toChina, warned Abia indigenesto be law abiding and shun theurge to push hard drugs.

He reminded them thatAbians were noted for integrity,hard work and excellence, andimplored them not to doanything that would bringshame to the state and thecountry as whole.

Orji pleaded with those whohad factories in Gwangzhou andother cities in China to comeback home to also establishfactories in such areas as Aba,Umuahia and Ohafia, even ashe assured them of adequatesecurity.

BY CHIDINKWOPARA

ABAKALIKI—AKPOHA inAfikpo, Ebonyi State,

weekend, expressed dissatisfactionover marginalisation and non-compensation of its people over the

flood that hit the area last year.Briefing newsmen at Afikpo

North local government councilheadquarters, leader of thecommunity, Chief Simon Egwu,noted that the money released

by both federal and stategovernments to flood victims inthe state did not get to any ofthem at Akpoha, adding thatonly relief materials got to them.

He said they were at the

Local Government council toregister their protest and appealfor inclusion in the payment ofcompensation since many of thepeople, mainly farmers, sufferedseverely from the flood disasterthat affected several states in thecountry.

Egwu said: “We can’tunderstand why our people whowere the worst hit by the flooddisaster could be excluded. Theflood that took place last yearsubmerged our farms anddestroyed our crops.

“We couldn’t harvest anythingfrom our farms. This occurrenceled to the impoverishment of ourpeople”.

Reacting, Chairman of thecouncil, Tony Ekoh, expressedshock at the protest by membersof Akpoha, noting thatdisbursement of funds to floodvictims had long beenconcluded by the council.

Ekoh said: “The protest cameas a surprise to me. We havelong concluded the payment ofcompensation to victims.

“How come, is it now that weare talking about localgovernment election that peoplewill now decide to protest?”

BY VINCENT UJUMDU

AWKA—GOVERNORPeter Obi of Anambra

State has promised that thestate government wouldreward indigenes whobagged first class degreesin their fields of study as away of motivatingexcellence.

The governor, who spokewhile presenting amountsranging from N1 million toN3 million to six indigenesof the state who excelled intheir fields of academicstudies, said the action wasto change the value systemthat had been throwing uppeople with questionablemeans of livelihood in thesociety.

Those recognizedincluded Miss RoselineEjindu who was the bestgraduating student at theUniversity of Nigeria,Nsukka and Mr.Ugochukwu Alutu, whomade a first class inEconomics and Statistics atthe University of Benin.

OWERRI —F OURpolitical parties in

Imo State, weekend,reaffirmed commitment tothe emerging AllProgressives Congress,APC.

The political partiesrepresented at the meetingincluded Governor RochasOkorocha’s AllProgressives GrandAlliance, APGA, All NigeriaPeople’s Party, ANPP, ActionCongress of Nigeria, ACN,and Democratic PeoplesParty, DPP.

Addressing the partyloyalists, Okorochadescribed the emergence ofAPC as a child ofcircumstance and linked itto the abysmal failure of theruling People’s DemocraticParty, PDP, to satisfy theyearnings of the citizenryin the past 14 years ofgovernance.

Okorocha said: "Thismeeting has becomenecessary, especially nowthat the IndependentNational ElectoralCommission, INEC, hasassured APC leadershipthat the new party has metthe guidelines forregistration".

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BOKO HARAM: Amnesty committee under fireContinues from page 5

ment who are trying totailor it to that direction.”

Boko Haram shouldembrace peace—GaniAdams

Speaking on the issue,National Coordinator ofthe Oodua Peoples Con-gress, OPC, Otunba GaniAdams sued for a truceand advised Boko Haramto dialogue with the gov-ernment.

“I will advise them toobserve ceasefire be-cause the internationalcommunity does not ac-cept terrorism any longer.There is no way you starta terrorism cause andend well. My advice tothem is that they shouldnot start a battle they can-not win. For the purposeof peace and tranquillity,they should ensure theyembrace peace so that wecan move forward,” heenjoined.

Govt should disbandAmnesty Committee —

Northern CANThe Christian Associa-

tion of Nigeria (CAN) ofthe 19 Northern statesand the Federal CapitalTerritory (FCT), also yes-terday said that thePresident of CAN, PastorAyo Oritsejafor has beenvindicated after being re-buked by somenortherners for express-ing doubt over the re-ported ceasefire dealreached between the Is-lamist terrorists group,Boko Haram, and thegovernment last Mon-day.

Public Relations Officer(PRO) of Northern CAN,Mr. Sunday Oibe, speak-ing with newsman, yes-terday said: “The pro-nouncement by Mr.Shekau, the real leaderof Boko Haram, has cometo vindicate CAN andour national leader, Pas-tor Ayo Oritsejafor. Hewas called many nameswhen he said that he didnot have confidence inthe questionable an-

nouncement of a cease-fire between the FederalGovernment and BokoHaram.

“Today Boko Haram’snumber one man hascome to speak with scornand contempt against theceasefire agreement. Ifyou meet some of thecommittee members per-sonally, some will confessto you in private thatthey have never met anyfoot soldier of BokoHaram, not to talk of anyone near its leadership

“We in Northern CANbelieve that the Amnestycommittee is useless andhas failed. It lied to Ni-gerians about this cease-fire just to fool PresidentGoodluck Jonathan toextend its tenure so theycan grab more money. Allthose giving PresidentJonathan this unwise ad-vice are either doing it forself-serving reasons, orare trying to deceive himinto a blunder that willnot only destroy him po-litically, but jeopardisethe corporate existence ofNigeria.

“We want to advise ourChristian brothers in vul-nerable places to be ex-tra-vigilant, includingother non-Christianswho may be target of thedemonic antics of BokoHaram. Northern CAN is

calling for the immediatedisbandment of the am-nesty committee. Allmonies that would besquandered on the com-mittee should be put intosupporting the Joint TaskForce and vulnerablecommunities in affectedstates. Enough of thisjamboree with scarcepublic funds. Enough ofhypocrisy.

“Finally, there can beno amnesty for unre-pentant murderers andinsurgents without rec-onciliation with the vic-tims. As Christians, for-giveness comes verynaturally as taught us byour Lord and Saviour Je-sus Christ, but theremust be show of genu-ine repentance. There-fore, the amnesty com-mittee, even in its com-position, was in the firstplace an insult to Nige-rian Christians. Andnow, see how it hasfailed”, he said.

Turaki's ceasefire claimfalse, says Arewa youthleader

Also reacting to the de-nial of any ceasefireagreement between theFederal Government andthe Boko Haram sect,Arewa Youth Forumleader, Gambo Gujungusaid that they were

aware that the claim bythe government ministerwas false and asked himto apologise and resign.

The group called on theFederal Government todisband the AmnestyPanel and stop wastingtaxpayers’ money forsomething that would notyield any positive result.

However, spokesmanfor the Arewa Consulta-tive Forum, AnthonySani, called on the Fed-eral Government to con-tinue the process of dia-logue with the sect mem-bers, noting that theprocess of ending terror-ism the world over hasnever been easy.

Sani said: “We wouldadvise that whatever ittakes, the Federal Gov-ernment should continuethe process of dialogue.As dialogue progresses,those opposed to endingthe crisis would join.

“We do not want thedenial by Shekau to dis-courage the governmentfrom continuing dialoguewith the group. Over-coming terrorism is noteasy,” he noted.

Sani, however, regret-ted that government wentpublic with the an-nouncement of a cease-fire when the terms of theagreement had not beensorted out by the two par-

ties, thereby bunglingthe entire process.

“The Amnesty Commit-tee should have wrappedup all the issues underthe terms of a ceasefirebefore making any an-nouncement,” Sani said.

Attempts to reach theMinister proved abortivelast night as he neitherresponded to callsplaced to his mobilephone nor text messagessent to the same phone.

JTF kills BokoHaram topcommander

Meanwhile, the task-force in a statementsigned by its spokesman,Lt Col Musa said: “TheJoint Task Force (JTF) be-tween 3-8 July, 2013 dis-lodged Boko Haram Ter-rorists from their mainenclave in BulabulinNganaram, Aljajeri andFaluja areas of Maidug-uri metropolis.

“During the encounter,some terrorists werekilled in the fire fight in-cluding the main Amir ofBulabulin Nganaram(who was on the wantedlist of the JTF with aN10m bounty). He wasresponsible for the killingof a teacher and threestudents of Sanda Kara-mi Secondary School,Ruwan Zafi Maiduguri."

N65.1BN SUBSIDY DEBT: Mobil, Total,others threaten to stop fuel import

BY CLARA NWA-CHUKWU

LAGOS—MAJOROil Marketers As-

sociation of Nigeria,MOMAN, has threat-ened to stop the impor-tation of Premium MotorSpirit, PMS or petrol, ifthe Federal Governmentdid not pay its outstand-ing N65.1billion subsidyclaims.

The outstanding sum isthe combination of thefollowing:

*import claims from2011 - N49.5billion

*bank interest pay-ments – N13.10billion

*foreign exchangeclaims – N2.5billion

The majors, comprisingMobil, Total, MRS, ForteOil and Conoil, howeversaid that only aboutN9.4billion of the totalsum had been paid aftermuch pressure on gov-ernment, still leaving ahuge outstanding of

N55.7billion unpaid.The marketers noted

that some of these claimshave remained outstand-ing since 2011, withhuge implications ontheir operations.

The Executive Secre-tary, MOMAN, Mr.Obafemi Olawore, toldjournalists in Lagosweekend that “The im-plication of the non-pay-ment of our claims is thatit is affecting our bottomline, and this will lead toa reduction in petrol im-portation, and eventuallythe downsizing of work-ers.”

He noted that one ofthe six-member grouphas not been paid since2011, while the burdenof the foreign exchangelosses of N2.5billion arebeing borne by three ofthe marketers and stillcounting as long as theclaims remain unpaid.

Olawore argued that

the majors were not try-ing to blackmail the gov-ernment as suspected,noting that the bankswere no longer willing toextend credit facilities formembers to continue toimport fuel due to thehigh interest rate of overN13.10billion that haveaccrued since 2011.

“If the banks don’t giveus the facility, and gov-ernment is not payingus, what else can we do?Of course importationwill stop because ourability to continue withthe process has beenweakened. Also, interestcharges have eaten deepinto our meager reserves,and there may be noother option than to startstaff rationalisation,” hesaid.

Products importationPetrol and kerosene are

the two refined petro-leum products approved

for subsidy by the federalgovernment, to enablemarketers sell the prod-ucts at regulated pumpprices.

However, because ofthe politics involved inkerosene importation, allother marketers aban-doned the process, leav-ing only the NigerianNational Petroleum Cor-poration, NNPC with theburden of importing, andselling at N50/litre pre-scribed by government.

Other marketers sellkerosene at betweenN100 and N170/litre de-pending on location andoutlet.

Currently, the majorsare the second largestimporters of petrol sec-ond to the, NNPC, whilethe independent market-ers merely complementimports with whateverquantity they could bringin.

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OPINION

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*Mr. Chukwueke, a commentator on na-tional issues, wrote from Aba, Abia State.

BY KEN CHUKWUEKE Between Okorocha and Abia lineBetween Okorocha and Abia lineBetween Okorocha and Abia lineBetween Okorocha and Abia lineBetween Okorocha and Abia lineGOVERNOR Rochas Okorocha

may not have imagined the extentof viral and collateral damage hischaracteristic bravado will spiral into,when he personally supervised theclosure of Abia Line loading bay at 5Wetheral Road Owerri Imo State. Heordered its closure without the optionof notice for the company to at leastpitch tent elsewhere. This may nothave tickled anybody’s fancy, exceptthat over one month after forcefully up-rooting of Abia Line Network, theestablished sleight hand ofpretending to have picketed othertransport companies, who carried onwith their businesses unmolested, hasbeen made open.

Abia Line was forced out of a yet toexpire rented property at 5 WetheralRoad, but ironically other transportcompanies were allowed to continuebusiness in the premises.

The Imo State Governor, whopersonally supervised the ejection ofAbia Line, may have done so onaccount of how he desperately wantedto restore the master plan of OwerriCapital Territory, but the strategicadoption of selective punishment,meted out to Abia Line is casting ahuge doubt on that position.

Imo State Government is at libertyto leverage on any aspect of the LandUse Act for the good of the people. Itis also true that the dispossessed

native owners of such properties aretreated with some level of dignity,given that governments should servethe interest of the people.

The management of Abia Line,rather than hurriedly instigate areprisal, cautiously and wisely maderepresentations in a move to drivehome the point that “two wrongs don’tmake a right.” Retinue of evidence,located in public domain, abound todrive home the point that Abia LineGeneral Manager UgochukwuUwaeke wrote Governor RochasOkorocha, copied Abia State GovernorSir T. A. Orji and the General Managerof Imo Transport Company Limited,requesting the Imo State Governor toreconsider his decision or relocate thecompany, no matter how remote thelocation, to ameliorate hardship hisaction was causing Abia Line.

Days turned into weeks and weeksinto months without a word fromGovernor Okorocha. In this irritatingand unacceptable milieu, Abia Linewallowed in limbo, while businessflourished for Imo Transport Companyboth in Aba and Umuahia where themagnanimity and brotherly bond ofGovernor T. A. Orji allowed itunfettered access to strategic andcentrally located loading bays in AbiaState.

The hurriedly ejection of Peace Mass

Transit and Rivers Transport Companyafter Abia State reacted is comicallydeceptive. It is not anything differentfrom the volte-face of Imo State mouthpiece; Chinedu Offor whoseunfounded allegation that the GeneralManager of Abia Line hurled insultsat Okorocha could not fly. The GeneralManager of Abia Line wrote aharmless letter with graphic details ofthe economic woes his outfit wasfacing on account of Okorocha’sclosure of Abia Line loading bay inOwerri and humbly requested him torescind the decision. It is alsopedestrian to hoodwink the public byclinging to another falsehood that AbiaLine ran into a breach of tenancyagreement with its former landlord atthe Egbu Road loading bay.

Abia Line had tenancy issuesat Egbu Road loading bay which

a court of competent jurisdictionresolved. It is not in any way relatedto Wetheral Road and its strategicbusiness interest which is being hurt.Even if these conjectures were true,would they constitute grounds for thegovernment of our sister State, Imo,to aggravate the misery of Abia Lineby throwing it out of the Wetheral Roadloading bay, which it legally paid forand acquired? Does the governmentthink of the hardship it is imposing

on Abia Line and its passengers?All the boasts about political

influence Governor has have norelevance to this issue. Overestimating our invincibility is onereprehensive attitude that pitches managainst God and makes Him livid.

Governor Okorocha in aspiring tocater for the public interests shouldenlarge his understanding of thepublic. Great as his resolve to restorethe Owerri master plan may be, it isnot adequate reason to impinge on theright of others. He cannot protect theinterests of his people by denyingothers access to property they haveacquired legally.

The olive branch and commendableentreaties of Abia Line GeneralManager advanced through aharmless protest letter to GovernorRochas Okorocha should have beenreciprocated, especially in the spiritof long existing sisterly bond betweenthe States.

If Governor T. A. Orji should belarge hearted enough to allow ImoTransport Company the use of juicerloading bays in Umuahia and Aba,denying Abia Line a fragment of suchopportunities in Owerri under thecircumstances being witnessed turnsequity on its head.

Public interest is not the same asdiscrimination which is what governorOkorocha is unleashing on Abia line.

The Chaos In RiversThe Chaos In RiversThe Chaos In RiversThe Chaos In RiversThe Chaos In RiversState Must StopState Must StopState Must StopState Must StopState Must Stop

THE nation and the world at large got a shockeron Tuesday, 9th July 2013 when the simmeringcrisis in the state’s chapter of the People’sDemocratic Party (PDP) and the Rivers StateHouse of Assembly resulted in a free-for-all inthe House chamber. Members of the Assemblywere seen attacking one another with dangerousobjects which left some of them seriously injuredand hospitalised.

The faction of five members of the Houseopposed to Governor Chibuike Amaechi, threwcaution to the winds and assembled early that dayand announced they had impeached the Speaker,Hon Otelemabala Amachree. In his place, HonEvans Bipi presented himself as the new Speaker.The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria1999 stipulates that for the impeachment of anyelected official to be valid, not less than two-thirdsof the members of the House must vote in itsfavour. This clearly did not happen.

The most regrettable part of it was that the Police,having been intimated of the possibility of trouble,drafted scores of their men to the Assembly. Andyet, it did not stop the grievous assault onmembers from taking place. The Police simplywatched while the law was being broken withimpunity. In fact, some uniformed officers wereseen helping to perpetrate evil as reminiscent ofthe horrific scenes seen on NTA in 2003 followingthe Governor Chris Ngige kidnap saga inAnambra State.

We are at a loss how people described in manymedia reports as “thugs” were able to find theirways into the Assembly grounds and even the publicgallery when security men reportedly screenedpeople getting into the arena. One would havethought that with crisis forewarned, strict stepswould be taken by the law enforcement agenciesto keep out non-members and to arrest anyonewho abandoned their legitimate duties as legislatorsand opted to foment trouble.

We condemn what happened in Rivers State lastTuesday in the strongest terms. This was a day thatdecorum was thrown to the winds, while themonster of lawlessness reigned supreme. Itsmacks of political madness for a handful of fivelegislators to purport to impeach a Speaker in totalcontravention of the constitution.

We must find a way to severely sanctionpoliticians and public office holders who perpetrate

such constitutional iniquities. Otherwise, ourdemocracy will continue to be mired in politicalbackwardness. Perhaps, it is time for us toconsider the long suggested establishment ofconstitution courts to deal with matters such asthese.

We commend the House of Representatives forquickly intervening and taking over the legislativefunctions of the House until tempers cool andmembers come back to their senses. The Houseand the Senate should conduct a joint inquiry intothe roles played by the law enforcement agents,particularly the Police, on that day. Those whofailed in their assigned duties to enforce the lawmust be made to face the music.

The crisis in Rivers State is beginning to acquirea more dangerous turn, with the supporters ofboth sides now confronting each other in thestreets. We are living witnesses to the horrorsthe nation went through as a result of the activitiesof political thugs and cult groups who laterbecame militants and went into the creeks todisrupt the peace and economic wellbeing of thecountry.

The nation has paid dearly to pacify and stabilisethe Niger Delta. We must not allow ugly recenthistory to repeat itself. The political combatantsmust sheathe their swords and allow the peopleof the state to live peacefully with one another.

There is no substitute to politics withoutbitterness.

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Egypt freezes Muslim Brotherhoodfunds

Mr Morsi’s supporters have been staging protestsdemanding his return to office

EGYPT’s publicprosecutor has issued

a temporary freeze on theassets of senior MuslimBrotherhood leaders aswell as senior leaders ofpro-Morsi parties andgroups, Egyptian statetelevision has reported.

The freeze is temporaryand pendinginvestigations in ongoingcases related to events inal-Mokatam, al-Nahdasquare, and theRepublican Guards Club,all venues of clashesduring the aftermath of theJune 30 protests.

The freeze will affectMohamed Badie, thegeneral guide of theMuslim Brotherhood, aswell as Khairat al-Shater,Mohamed Ezat, Mahi

Ekef, Saed ElKatatni,Essam ElErian, MohamedElBeltagy - all members ofthe Islamist MuslimBrotherhood group.

Senior leaders of thepro-Morsi coalition,including Essam Sultan,Assem Abdul Majed,Safwat Hegazy andHazem Abu Ismail, will

also be affected by thefreeze. Bassam al-Zarka,the deputy chairman of theSalafist al-Nour party, toldAl Jazeera that he did notknow the whereabouts ofMorsi, asserting that thesubject of the formerpresident’s currentlocation was “surroundedwith secrecy”.

Russia: No asylum request yet fromSnowdenRUSSIA has said that

it had not yetreceived a formalrequest for politicalasylum from USwhistleblower EdwardSnowden, who has beenholed up in transit zoneof Moscow airport sinceJune 23.

Foreign MinisterSergei Lavrov said onSaturday that the countrywas not in contact withSnowden, who brokethree weeks of silenceand asked for refuge inRussia until he couldsecure safe passage toLatin America.

Latin Americancountries such asVenezuela, Bolivia andNicaragua have offered

him asylum.Snowden, a former

National SecurityAgency contractor wholeaked a trove of USelectronic surveillancedocuments, told activists

at a meeting in Russia’sSheremetyevo airport onFriday that he was beingprevented by Westerngovernments from flyingto the Latin America.

9 militants killed in U.S. drone,Pakistan air force strikes

AT least nine suspectedmilitants, including

two foreigners, were killedin Pakistan’s lawless tribalregion in a U.S. dronestrike and a separatePakistan militaryoperation, security officialssaid yesterday/.

Pakistan has seen aspate of militant attackssince Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif took officelast month, putting

pressure on his team to actmore aggressively to curbthe insurgency.

Missile strikes byunmanned U.S. aircrafthave inflicted the mostdamage against Talibanfighters in themountainous areasstraddling the Afghanborder in past years,sometimes with heavycivilian casualties.

Zimbabwe police, soldiers begin earlyvotes cast

POLICE officers andsoldiers who will be

on duty during Zimba-bwe’s July 31 electionbegan voting yesterday

, the eve of a court hear-ing to stop the processbecause Prime MinisterMorgan Tsvangirai’sMDC party says police

numbers were inflated.Zimbabwe will hold

presidential and parlia-mentary elections andpolice chiefs have beencampaigning for Ts-vangvirai’s arch-rival,President RobertMugabe, telling rank-and-file to vote for theveteran leader and hisZANU-PF party.

Zimmerman cleared inshooting of Trayvon Martin

Neighborhood watchvolunteer George Zim-merman was cleared ofall charges late yesterdaynight in the shooting ofTrayvon Martin, the un-armed black teenagerwhose killing unleashedfurious debate across theU.S. over racial profiling,self-defense and equaljustice.

Zimmerman, 29,blinked and smiledslightly when the verdictwas announced. He

could have been convict-ed of second-degreemurder or manslaughter.

Malian troops open France’sBastille day parade

TROOPS from 13 African countries that took

part in the French-led waragainst al-Qaida-linkedextremists in Malimarched with the Frenchmilitary during the BastilleDay parade in Paris yes-terday to honor their rolein the conflict. U.N. troops

in blue berets who werehelping to stabilize thewest African nation ofMali also paraded withthousands of other soldiersdown the Champs-Ely-sees Avenue in France’sannual tribute to militarymight.

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OPINION,

,

BY NNAEMEKA ORUH

TWO issues grabbed the headlines penultimateweekend.Here,I will try to examine these issues

as reflections of the state of our country Nigeria.First, the N100,000 issue that trended on twitter

that weekend.It was not about politicians.Neitherwas it about OJB Jezreel’s kidney transplant fee.Itwas about a poor girl who committed the crime ofasking a young man on twitter to help herfinancially.The guy asked for sex in return for theN100,000 that the girl needed.Irresponsible andimmature as he is,the young man munched the directmessages and released them on twitter.The foxespounced and began to tear the girl to shreds.Whileso many people decided to understand the situationas a case of a girl demanding money for sex,theymissed the real issue: that the guy had decided toexploit the girl who needed help by asking forsexual favours.He did not ask for sex first,and thegirl asked to be paid.She asked for financial helpfirst,then he demanded sex.But as usual,we refusedto see the real message and focused on calling hera whore.

Then there is the sexist angle of bloggerspublishing the story and putting up only the girl’spicture.There is a guy involved too,why was his own

What’s in a dog?

*Mr. Oruh, a commentator on national issues,wrote from Lagos.

picture not published? Why was the story all aboutthe girl,with nothing said about the guy’s apparentexploitative nature? That is the story of ourcountry.But then,what’s in a dog?She is awhore,right?

On Saturday, July 6,2013, gunmen attacked aboarding school in Yobe and killed several schoolchildren.The gunmen were said to be members ofthe Islamist group, Boko Haram. Boko Haram hasbeen a menace to the country for a while now,andindeed seem to be the major security challengefacing the Goodluck Jonathan administration.Thekilling of the school children was a new dimensionto their acts,but unfortunately the President’sresponse was not completely a newdimension.According to reports, President Jonathansaid the gun men will “go to hell”. Killers will go tohell,the Holy Book has told us.The question thoughis,do we wait for judgement day?Mr.President,should we now say God is the president?Was that what the president of a country should besaying when faced with extreme terrorism?There is

nothing wrong with the comment.The problem is,isthat supposed to be the response to a terroristact?The American president would have taken theissue as a matter of national emergency.Butthen,what’s in a dog? The children aredispensable,right?

What’s in a dog really? What’s in a country wherelives are worth nothing?What’s in a country wherethe leaders are busy fighting each other for the nextgeneral elections and care nothing about thecitizenry?What’s in a country where school childrenare brutally murdered and tomorrow,we move on asif nothing really happened?What’s in a countrywhere randy sexist men hug the limelight for goodafter demeaning poor women in dire need ofhelp?What’s in a country where socio-economicconditions have made young men and women easyprey to the machinations of religious bigots? What’sin a country where a former lecturer sits as thepresident and universities are closed due to a strikeaction by the Academic Staff Union of Universities?

Our dignity has been trashed, and ourlives,well,our lives,are they worth more than thelives of dogs?

IT was horrible in the corridors ofpower in Port Harcourt on Tuesday last

week. If it were a scripted Nollywood homevideo, it would have been either age-barred or altogether banned by theNigerian Video Censors Board. An“honourable” member had a heavy, bluntobject in his two hands. He swung it overhis head and delivered a hit on theforehead of another “honourable” member.

Rather than the victim turning tail andrunning for dear life as fast as his feet couldtake him, he was spinning around like aheadless chicken. Perhaps, he was toodazed to run. He was repeatedly attackeduntil he found himself near an exit door.Just before he plunged into it, his assailantreleased a final hit across back in the waistregion. We later heard the blunt object wasa camera tripod – a steel object!

Someone described that cold-bloodedassault as an “attempted murder”. Thatassailant, whoever he is, must beprosecuted accordingly. The victim couldeasily have fallen down and lost his life.After all, the late Hon. Aminu Safana, alegislator from Katsina, simply slumpedduring a heated argument in the chamberof the House of Reps during the PatriciaEtteh scandal in 2007 even though he wasnot even assaulted.

Another sickening part of it all was thata policeman decked in his newly-acquiredfatigue uniform was seen stripping thevictim of his black jacket and in the processrendering him more vulnerable before hisattacker. Earlier on, five members of theRivers State House of Assembly opposedto Governor Chibuike Amaechi hadconducted a comical charade in which theysaid they had impeached the Speaker ofthe House, Otelemabala Amachree,

‘Game on' in Riversreplacing him with Evans Bipi. What elsewould you call a situation where five outof 32 members of a legislature wouldpurport to carry out an impeachment whenthe constitution clearly says they neededtwo-thirds majority or roughly 20 members.The impeachment’s nullity was provedwhen 26 members later assembled andattended to a supplementary budgetbrought to the house by the DeputyGovernor, Tele Ikuru.

What happened that Tuesday was a moveto push Governor Amaechi further to theouter fringes of power, perhaps before thefinal nudge. The opposition rehearsed itsroles very carefully. You must have seenhow the grounds of the Assembly wereflooded with people described as “thugs”in some media quarters. Since there was ascreening of both members and visitors tothe Assembly, with scores of policemen inevidence, how was it possible for “thugs”to make it into the “hallowed chamber” ofthe House if superior powers were not inthe picture and on the side of theopposition?

And how come that the policemen saton their palms and watched the live movie,rather than do their job as law enforcementagents? Those (like Dr. Doyin Okupe, theSpecial Assistant to the President on PublicAffairs) who said the Presidency hadnothing to do with events of that day weremerely playing to the gallery. This wassimply the latest episode of the President

Goodluck Jonathan versus GovernorChibuike Amaechi political muscle-flexing.It was the newest phase of the politicalgame meant to push matters rapidlytowards the endgame.

After the Nigerian Governors’ Forum(NGF) election, which Amaechi doggedlycontested against the directives of hisparty, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)and won, thus making President Jonathanlose face; he had drawn a bold battle line.He not only gave the president’s politicalenemies in the north the opportunity tobetray the Party and the President; he wasalso the rallying point for the rebellion.

Thereafter, the two sides (President andGovernor) made that routine protocolencounter at the Port HarcourtInternational Airport when Jonathan visitedhis home state. It was splashed all overthe front pages of the dailies, andspeculated as a move towardsreconciliation. The following day, the majorstakeholders opposed to Amaechi in the

Rivers State PDP led by Hon. Felix Obuah,visited the President in Aso Villa. Theyincluded Amaechi’s former principal, ex-Governor Peter Odili. That visit was meantto keep the President focused on hiswarpath with the Governor.

The anti-Amaechi group would obviouslywant him out of the picture as soon aspossible because he could remain anirritant on President Jonathan’s path to re-election in his home base. The PDP andthe Presidency are set for a general re-jigof structures in readiness for the oncomingpolitical high season and undesirableelements will be dropped from the wagonas soon as possible.

Amaechi started this crisis by striking theposture of an opposition element; a strangebedfellow, within the ruling party. He choseto fight the party and the Presidency fromwithin, rather than honourably resign andjoin his allies in the All ProgressivesCongress (APC) parties, to which he is nowthe rallying point. People say he has the

constitutional right to do what he is doing,but the party also has the right to protectitself from a member who now acts in theinterest of the opposition. This is powerplay, and it is game on.

Amaechi says he is under siege. Whatdid he expect? He would do the same toanyone who undermines him. The handthat disturbs the bee’s nest will be stung.

TUESDAY, July 9, 2013 became an important day in our history of war onterrorism. It was on this day that Hon. Justice Bilikisu Aliyu of an Abuja Federal

High Court sentenced Shuaibu Abubakar, Salisu Ahmed, Umar Babagana, andMohammed Ali, all members of the terror group, Boko Haram, to life in jail fortheir parts in the bombing of the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) office in Suleija.

Many were elated that, at least and at last, some terrorists have been brought tobook, even if they got less than they deserved: death, which they meted out totheir victims.

Concerns remain, though. What about their sponsors; the big men who assembledand financed the ugly venture? You don’t kill a snake by cutting the tail leavingthe head. Secondly, sending them to jail for life means we have to be vigilantforever for fear of their affiliates setting them free through jailbreaks, the sort wewitnessed in Ondo and Bama prisons recently.

Boko Haram convictions

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi

The anti-Amaechi group would obviouslywant him out of the picture as soon aspossible because he could remain an irritanton President Jonathan’s path to re-election inhis home base

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IT is alleged that majorityof Northern leaders are

ambivalent on the Boko Haraminsurgency. Why?

If you want to exploit people,deny them education. And in theNorth education is being deniedto the public because publicschools there have collapsed.

The only schools functioningare private schools but how manyparents can afford it? Secondly,the public health system has alsocollapsed. So now people haveto provide water, security,education, health care systemand every other thing forthemselves.

Today, the North is known forits agriculture business and over80 per cent of northerners relyon agriculture and agriculturetoday cannot thrive without theinput of government, whichincludes supply of fertilizers,good quality seeds.

All these things havedisappeared. As I am talking toyou today, a 50 kg bag of fertilizercosts about N5,000. How manypeople can afford it? And somestate governments like the statewhere I come from, for the last30 days or more, people haveplanted and up till nowgovernment has not distributedfertilizer, when will theydistribute it?

The type of people that we putin office is not reflective of thereality on ground and my belief

How Jonathan stopped Egyptian stylerevolution in Nigeria — Masari

HON Aminu Bello Masari was former Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007.In this interview with GBENGA OKE, he responds to issues of insecurity in the North and assertions ofambivalence by northern leaders, the preparedness of the All Progressives Congress, APC for the politicalbattle ahead and the crisis that has recently enveloped the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF. Excerpts:

,

,subsidy protest was notdiscontinued? You can seepeople all over Lagos, Abuja,Port-Harcourt, Kano and Kadunarose up to the occasion and if theyhad not rescinded their decisionand the rally in Lagos and otherplaces were allowed to continue,it could have developed intosomething. So for anybody tothink it cannot happen inNigeria, such person is deceivinghimself and it is a huge joke. Itcan happen if certain decisionstaken by government are notfavourable to people.

This Arab spring is not onlylimited to Arabian nations, bad

governance and bad election canlead to such uprising.

It will happen here exceptcertain things are done and weare moving towards that becausethe alienation and deprivationare growing and when they growto certain level, surelysomething must give way.

In Nigeria today, there is nojustice and fairness. So, no mancan control what is happeningunless we address thefundamentals and provideleadership at state and localgovernment levels that are trulyelected by the people and whichwill be held accountable by thepeople.

Really, the attitude of leadershere in the North will have tochange and our lifestyle willhave to reflect the reality onground.

Governors and localgovernment chairmen todaybehave like emperors, doingwhatever they like with thewealth of the people because theydepend on Federation Accountand not Internally GeneratedRevenue (IGR).

failure for governors, localgovernment chairmen, councilorsand other political appointees tosend their children to privateschools, when they refuse to sendtheir children to publicinstitutions, it means thoseschools are bad.

For me, this is an indictment onthem to provide good and qualityservice to the people they governand that is why there is noaccountability.

We can overcome this insecuritysituation but if we do not lay asustainable foundation, it willrecur and maybe this time, it maynot be on religion but between therich and the poor and the rich willbe determined by the type ofclothes he wears, house he lives,car he drives and the area helives.

There is this argument by someNigerians that APC interimleadership is being dominated byMuslims. What is your reactionto it?

This is the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) campaign and let metell you, we Nigerians startlooking for good a leader, let it be

a Christian or Muslim. If weallow ourselves to be dividedalong religious lines, this countrywill not move forward. If there isbad governance by a badMuslim, is it only Christians thatwill be worse for it? No, it is allNigerians that will be worse forit.

President Jonathan is thePresident today and a Christian,the bad policies, bad governanceand the insecurity taking place,are they only affecting Muslims?

Bad governance is badgovernance and it affectseverybody irrespective who is atthe helm of affairs.

So I think we better startthinking of how we are going toproduce a good leader for ourcountry irrespective of thereligion they proffer. As aMuslim, my Quran taught meGod will support a just leader beit a Christian or Muslim but Godis not with an unjust leader evenif he lives in Saudi Arabia.

For us, it is not about religionbut about those who will providegood leadership. By the time allnecessary registration processesare completed, Nigerians willrealise APC will be a differentparty, it will be a party that willproduce credible leaders, we willbe a party that will be answerableto the people and serve thepeople and not the currentsituation.

Responsibleleadership

We are going to play by therules, we are going to be a justparty, we are going to be aninclusive party and we are goingto provide responsibleleadership and responsiblegovernance through APC.

To what extent do you thinkthe APC alliance will go givenfailed past alliances?

What is about to happen willbe the first of its kind in Nigeria.This is not an alliance but amerger of three major oppositionparties and some sections ofAPGA and DPP.

What we are seeing is not analliance but a merger of majorpolitical actors to form a strongparty to challenge the PDPdominance of government inNigeria since 1999.

So, this is the first time we arehaving a merger since 1999 tobecome one, by the time thecertificate comes in, there wontbe CPC, ACN, ANPP but APC.

So it is a merger and notalliance and history has beenmade because this is the first timein Nigeria where parties form amerger and produce only onepolitical party.

We believe with thecommitment shown by leaders ofeach of the parties in the merger,

Continues on page 49

•Masari

This Arab spring is not only limited toArabian nations, bad governance andbad election can lead to such uprising

is that for you to provideresponsible leadership theremust be good, free and fairelection.

In Nigeria, people who wonelection were denied andleadership was given to thosewho did not win. How do youexpect those who did not win tohave respect for ordinary theperson when they know at theend of the day it was not ordinarypeople that put them in powerand it is not ordinary people thatwill put them in power again?

So unless we address thesefundamental issues of justice andfairness, we will know no peace

because there is no peace withoutjustice.

Do you foresee anything likethe Arab Spring happeninghere?

Do you think that was notgoing to happen if the fuel

This issue is not aboutreligion, sectionalismand hostility it is aboutleaders short-changingtheir people. It ishappening all over thecountry but worse in theNorth because we havedenied our peopleeducation.

Can you imagine agovernor that has notprovided basicrequirement of primaryeducation, but was goingto spend billions infeeding people duringRamadan?

This is a contradiction.Give them goodeducation and they willfind their level. How canwe stop this insecuritywhen a local governmentchairman with hisappointees is patronisingprivate institutions? So,they have no confidencein what they aresupposed to be doing.

There is noresponsibility inleadership and it is a

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How Jonathan stopped Egyptian stylerevolution in Nigeria — Masari

Continues from page 48there is a strong resolution that weneed alternative governance andthe only way to achieve that isthrough the merger of these partiesto become one in order to form onemanpower, capacity, resources tochallenge the PDP who control thegovernment at the centre.

Given the general clamour forpower shift in the North and therecent assertion by GovernorBabangida Aliyu that the North willnegotiate power shift, does theAPC have a position on the issue?

First, whatever they are doing isa PDP arrangement. Let them sortthemselves out, I don’t like tocomment on what PDP is doing butwhat I will ask is whether we arestill seeing a softening oppositionby the Governor of Niger Statebecause once he says they willnegotiate, it means they will acceptsomething which was totallyopposite to what he was sayingsome two months ago that theyproduce another candidate.

I read it but I was a bit confused•Masari:

about what he meant that they willnegotiate power come 2015. Is it asoftening opposition because they keepsaying there was an agreement withPresident Jonathan to do one term, so arethey now saying they will negotiate withJonathan.

I am a bit confused about what he istrying to say unless he is trying to be likeall big men we know that speak from bothsides of the mouth. For us, when we arefully registered, we will produce leadersaccording to the constitution of the party.

So are you saying APC won’t cede thepresidential ticket to any particular zone?

We will produce leadership accordingto the constitution that is submitted to theIndependent Electoral Commission,(INEC). We have outlined how to go aboutproducing our leaders, so we will goaccording to the provisions of theconstitution to produce our leaders andcandidates in all the elections in Nigeriacome 2015.

APCformation

For us in APC, justice and fairness isthe issue and I think the issue of rotatingthe presidency is because there is nojustice and fairness on the part of thoseruling us. But in APC, we are going to bejust and fair to all Nigerians and at theend of the day, by the time we produceour leaders and Nigerians see theirquality, they will know that we haveproduced leaders who are going to governirrespective of religious beliefs becauseNigerians will be treated justly and fairly.

What is your take the crises rockingNigerian Governors’ Forum?

First, you will have to ask yourself whatthe Nigeria Governors’ Forum has addedto the quality of lives of an averageNigerian. It was formed to protect thegovernors themselves and they also useit to influence the Presidency on what theywant. It is for themselves not for me andyou or other ordinary Nigerians. So beforeyou even delve into the fight of the NGF,what does the forum represent?

It is a club and they are doing it for theaim of protecting themselves fromprosecution, protection to be part of

government, they are not talking abouthow to better the lives of ordinaryNigerians. All these are not part of theiragenda. It shows they are neither herenor there.

Secondly, when they had an election andthere was somebody who won and theyrefused to recognize who won, you wantto recognize the person that lost. Why?

Because you felt the person that has woncome 2015 will not support you to getelected. What is your business with thatbecause not all governors in the forum aremembers of your party? When you have aleader of the PDP governors’ forum, youshould be contented with that. What is hisbusiness with governors’ forum, whichinvolves all governors irrespective of theirparties? What is the business of thePresident and the PDP?

I don’t even care even if they dissolvethe forum because I know the body doesnot add value to the polity or the lives ofthe people. If you could remember whenI was in PDP, when I led the PDP reform,we fought the governors’ forum becausewe want the party to stand with the peopleand those PDP governors made sure thereform was killed and we were squeezedout. We told President Jonathan that timethat this elephant called governors forumwill grow to the extent that nobody will beable to control them. I think it is bad that36 governors will conduct an election andthey cannot uphold the election.

So what does that portend for thecountry?

The outcome of the NGF election hasshown clearly what the PDP is planningfor 2015 elections and we are ready forthem. These are the reflections of 2015 andthese governors are the ones to leadelections in their various states. Look atthem and hear them talk.

One of them said he will not attendanother regional meeting. Look at himwho got elected on the platform of anotherparty, he won and decamped to anotherparty and he is talking about morality, thiscan only happen in Nigeria.

Governor Yuguda was elected on theplatform of All Nigeria’s Peoples Party,(ANPP), he left there and joined the PDPand this is somebody talking aboutmorality.

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$300 dollars to beatEagles, Oduduru, COSAFA,probes and other stories

THE headline carried by Complete Sportsnewspaper yesterday was very appealing.

Cash rain for Malawi to beat Eagles.The story said the Malawi Flames welfare package

will be improved by “hundred percent “ before theirall important 2014 World Cup qualifier againstNigeria in September.

The story quoted Suzgo Nyirenda the GeneralSecretary of the Football Association of Malawi (FAM ) as saying further that a proposal has beensent to the National Sports Council to up thewinning bonus from K 30,000 to K100,000 while thedaily camp allowance will be moved from $50 dollarsa day to $75 dollars a day.

From investigation, Malawi Kwasha 330, equalsone dollar, so by simple arithmetic, efforts are on topay the Malawians $300 dollars (Yes three hundreddollars) as winning bonus for them to beat the SuperEagles! Don’t laugh. I wonder whether the Eaglesare reading this.

Let us move from there to Zambia, host of theongoing Council of South African FootballAssociations (COSAFA) Senior Challengecompetition. As you are reading this, I am not sureCoach Keshi has left for Zambia, but that is wherehe should be.

COSAFA embraces Zambia, South Africa, Angola,Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho etc. In Zambia, CoachKeshi with or any of his assistants will not only havethe opportunity of watching Malawi at close quartersbut will also benefit a sneak preview of South Africaand Zambia, two countries we are likely to face inthe decisive round of the World Cup if they make itout of their groups.

Before we get back to Football, let us punctuatethe stories with that of a young man called DivineEjowokoghene Oduduru. “ Africa’s fastest youth” Irepeat that one of the best things to happen to oursports was the African Junior AthleticsChampionship hosted by AFN in Delta State andwon by Nigeria, dusting all the Kenyans, Ethiopiansand South Africans of the of world track and field. Igave the Federation Kudos for it and prayed othersto emulate same.

,

,

After that championship, I got to read a lot ofrave reviews about the champions of that event. Aparticular coach could have taken a full page advertin a newspaper to gloat over his discovery ofOduduru, who he swore was Usain Bolt personified.

Off we went to the IAAF World Youth Championshipin Donetsk and stories filtered out that did no creditto my great expectations of a medals haul. What ofthe “great” Oduduru ? That he failed to even qualifyfor the 100m final but was ready to make amendsin the 200m by blowing the opposition tosmithereens.

Sunday afternoon, I had the privilege of watchingOduduru in the 200m final. What a disappointment,coming in 6th with a time of 21.37 seconds in the racewon by Jamaica’s Michael Ohara in 20.63 seconds.In the words of my wife, “ Why is he so thick andstiff?” Was Warri a fluke? How come other Africacountries we dusted were winning medals with ease?

(Including Nigerian born Ketira Orji of the US wholeapt 6.39 in the Long Jump girls). In the Boysmedley relay final we blundered to 7th position.

Felt so bad on Sunday listening to the Kenyan andEthiopian anthems again and again, watching theirathletes mounting the victory rostrum so often (Inthe 3000m steeplechase girls, it was all African affair)Kenya placed second on the overall medals tableswith eleven medals including four gold. Ethiopia hadeight medals, South Africa two, while Egypt andMorocco also appeared on the medals table. NoNigeria.

Pray, do we need a probe to find out whathappened in Warri and Donetsk?

Talking about probes, after reading Adokiye,Odegbami, Christian Okpara, Pius Ayinor……..Ihave nothing to add concerning the scandalous 145-0 scoreline that has made us the laughing stock ofworld football. I have also called on the NFF to probethe strange ouster of Rangers from the CAFConfederation Cup.

Tomorrow, a panel will sit to probe allegations ofsell out in the National League, while a panel set upby the NSC to look at the Bonus issue and the SuperEagles embarrassing posture in Namibia is toconclude its sitting by next week.

The NFF reacted swiftly by stepping into thescandalous Nationwide row, but Christian Okparaof the Guardian says “ …..But followers of Nigerianfootball believe the NFF action could be the preludeto sweeping the matter under the carpet. Theirargument is hinged on the Federation’s treatment ofprevious cases of match fixing including the LobiStars versus Sunshine Stars case of last season “Weighty, very weighty. The NFF must therefore actwith dispatch. The current case is without mincingwords a national disgrace and we must get to thebottom of it and fast too. NFF is the sole footballcontrolling body in the land. They are to conduct thepreliminary investigation and decide to transfer sameto either the police or the EFCC as the case may be. Any thing to the contrary will be viewed differently.Ask FIFA.

See you next week

How come other Africacountries we dusted

were winning medalswith ease

EVERTON bossRoberto Martinez

wants a reunion with Vic-tor Moses, on loan.

But the key to Martinezand Moses linking up atGoodison Park, after beingtogether at Wigan, is heldby Jose Mourinho.

If winger Moses, 22, isin the Chelsea manag-er’s plans, then he’ll bestaying at StamfordBridge.

But if Mourinho feelshe won’t be able to giveMoses enough matches,another ex-Wigan mancould be on his way toEverton.

Martinez has alreadysigned three of his formerLatics players – ArounaKone, Antolin Alcarazand Joel Robles.

And he has also taken assistant boss GraemeJones, chief scout KevinReeves, goalkeepingcoach Inaki Bergara andconditioning coach Rich-

Martinez wants Victor Moses on loanard Evans with him fromthe DW Stadium to Good-ison.

Nigeria internationalMoses was a reluctant saleby Wigan to Chelsea for£9million only a year ago.

The problem for Everton

will be if the Blues decidethey want to recoup theirmoney and not loan Mo-ses out.

Martinez, meanwhile, ishoping to use his contactsin Spain to add to his Ever-ton squad.

you begin to hear of suchm i n d - b o g g l i n gscorelines”, Chukwubemoaned.

The scores were thehighest in Africanfootball sinceMadagascar’s AS Ademawon 149 -0 in a 2002match where losing side,State Olympique Emymescored numerous owngoals in protest at arefereeing decision.

‘’We’ve reported thematter to Police as it is acriminal matter ”,Chairman of the NFF

ChukwuContinues from BP Media and Publicity

Committee, Chief EmekaInyama told SportsVanguard.

“They should follow itup. This is Nigeria. Beforeyou know it, this case willbe over without anypunitive measure to theoffenders”. Chukwu said.

Nigeria has been on thefront burner of the world’smedia since the goals glutas all attention waits onthe NFF to come out witha decision on theperpetrators of thisscandalous footballscores.

TEAM Nigeria’s onlymedal’s hope in the

boys 200m EjowokogheneOduduru finished sixthposition on Sunday to takethe country to 30th positionon the placing table, as the8th IAAF World YouthChampionship ended inDonetsk, Ukraine.

Oduduru who injuredhimself in the race,returned 21.37 seconds.

He was admitted in theIAAF Medical centre soonafter the race and wasreplaced in the boys

IAAF WYC ends with Team Nigeria in 30thposition medley relay event where

Nigeria placed 7th onSunday.

Jamaican MichaelO’Hara won the 200m in atime of 20.63 secs, whileBrazil’s Victor Hugo DosSantos and Cuba’s ReynierMena were second andthird respectively.

Oduduru’s sixth positionmoved Team Nigeria from39th position to 30th. Thecountry finished fifth in thegirls 400m and eight in theboys 110m hurdles.Though there was nomedal won, but TeamNigeria was able to make

it to four finals as againstthe three finals at the lastedition in France. Topathletics countries such asBahamas, Colombia,Belgium, Canada and theNetherlands occupiedbetween the 43rd and 52ndpositions at the close ofevents yesterday.

Jamaica with six goldand two bronze medals wastop on the table, followedby Kenya (four gold, threesilver and four bronze.)Australia and Ethiopia hadthree gold medals, whilethe United States finishedwith two gold medals.

FRANCE defeatedUruguay 4-1 in a

penalty shootout to wintheir first Under-20sWorld Cup title on Sat-urday after a fiercely-contested final ended0-0 after extra-time.

Dimitr i Foulquierscored the decisivefourth spot kick in front

France win U-20 World Cupof a sparse crowd,beating Uruguaykeeper Guillermo deAmores to seal victoryfor France who beatTurkey, Uzbekistanand Ghana on the wayto the final.

Earlier, Ghana eased

past Iraq 3-0 in the third-place playoff.

The competition was atest of Turkey’s ability tohold a major sportingevent ahead of the Sep-tember decision on thecity that will host the 2020Olympics.

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e-mail: [email protected]

How to Play SudokuTHE 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.

YESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERYESTERDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSDAY'S ANSWERSTODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLETODAY'S PUZZLE

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

Vanguard, MONDAY, JULY 15, 2013

ACROSS: 1, Enlist 5, Father 9, Naval 10,Hubbub 11, Lazing 12, Bless 14, Loud 17,Ere 18, Fete 20, Error 22, Faded 23, Pitcher24, Aimed 26, Depot 29, Stud 30, Jet 32,Dare 33, Hades 35, Exceed 36, Natter 37,Revel 38, Teemed 39, Tender.

ACROSS3 Big (5)9 Chief (6)10 Beast (6)11 Bitter (5)12 Exchange (4)15 Mature (4)17 Lee (7)20 Acme (3)21 Inflexible (5)23 Servant (4)25 Servant (4)25 Run (4)26 Taut (5)28 Stitch (3)30 Treachery (7)33 Snare (4)35 Eat (4)36 Scholar (5)38 Item (6)39 Dirty (6)40 Chubby (5)

DOWN1 Ecstasy (5)2 Kayak (5)3 Meadow (3)4 Bowman (6)5 Win (4)6 Finish (3)7 Scope (5)8 Slumber (5)13 Whine (7)14 Braid (5)16 Bit (7)18 Correct (5)19 Mine (3)22 Wood-nymph (5)24 Delve (3)27 Platitude (6)28 Den (5)29 Squander (5)31 Inane (5)32 Poor (5)34 Tug (4)36 Seed (3)37 Hew (3)

DOWN: 1, Exhale 2, Labour 3, Snub 4, Table5, False 6, Alas 7, Tailed 8, Rugged 13, Erected15, Orbit 16, Doped 18, Fared 19, Tenor 21,Rid 22, Fed 24, Aspect 25, Muscle 27, Parted28, Terror 30, Jaded 31, Tenet 33, Here 34,Sale.

Fantasy Football Scores

Jail ‘em now before it spreadslike cancer — Chukwu

BY TONY UBANI

It’s not every day thattwo football

matches produce acricket-like score of 146goals.

As Nigeria FootballFederation continues itsinvestigation to unravelthe culprits behind the79 – 0 and 76 – 0scorelines respectivelyrecorded by PlateauUnited Feeders andPolice Machine FC,former Green EaglesCaptain and later coachof the Super Eagles,Chairman ChristianChukwu has asked thesoccer-ruling body toprosecute the offendersbefore they spill into theNigerian PremierLeague.

“I”ve never seen or

heard of such outrageousscorelines in my life. Itis unheard of andunimaginable that suchthings we hear or see onforeign news ishappening before us.The NFF should act fastto prosecute theoffenders and send outwarning signals to theirlikes. If not, negativethings that will bringour football to disreputewill spread like cancer”,Chukwu who captainedRangers to the CupWinners Cup triumphin 1977 said.

“They should save thisbeautiful game for us.Bad people andpoliticians areinfiltrating it. It is onlywhen bad people enterinto football system thatContinues on Page 54

THE home-basedSuper Eagles are

expected to resume camptoday ahead of the all-important clash againstthe Elephants at the Sta-de Felix Houphouet-Boigny

Already, head coachStephen Keshi hascalled 24 players to campfor the return leg of their2014 African NationsChampionship (CHAN)final qualifying game inAbidjan on July 27. TheSuper Eagles lead 4-1from the first leg lastweekend.

All the players are ex-

Eagles camp resumestoday pected to report in Abuja

today. Keshi has invitedfour new players, includ-ing one defender, onemidfielder and two strik-ers, in line with a pledgeto inject a few new facesfollowing the first leg winat the Ahmadu Bello Sta-dium, Kaduna.

It’s a terrorist attack onNigerian football — Pa Ojidoh

146 goal scandal:

VETERAN footballadministrator, Pa

John Ojidoh has describedthe 146 goal scandal as a ter-rorist attack on Nigerian foot-ball and called on relevantfootball authorities in thecountry to descend heavilyon the culprits without fur-ther delay.

In a message to SportsVanguard, the formerdefunct Bendel State FAChairman called on theNigeria Football Associ-

ation to hand bans to theplayers and referees in-volved in both matches.“Ban the referee and as-sistants for life, hand clubofficials to the State Se-curity Service and courtmartial the police officersin charge of Police Ma-chine FC,” Ojidoh said.

Continuing, the formerreferee said, “This is aterrorist attack on theimage of association foot-ball.”

IAAF WYC ends with Team Nigeria in 30thposition — Page 54

•Keshi

PREDATOR: Super Eagles midfielder Sunday Mba(R) tries to get the ball past Ivorian defender BaresiGloudoueu during their 2014 African NationsChampionship (CHAN) qualifier in Kaduna.Nigeria won 4 -1. PHOTO: AFP

TWO WEEKS TO LIVE

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