move to split northern govs' forum heightens

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61895

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

Move to split NorthernGovs' Forum heightens

COLUMNISTS:

•P. 48

OCHEREOMENNANNA

Continues on page 5

•Plot to remove Aliyu as chairman thickens•Gana denies role, still consulting•Two govs want Aliyu to recognise Jang

PAUL BASSEY•P.52

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICAL

EDITOR

WEDDING—President Goodluck Jonathan (2nd-R) in a handshake with the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja, John CardinalOnaiyekan (L) at the wedding ceremony of the son of the Chief of Staff to the President, Mike Oghiadomhe (R) in Abuja onSaturday. With them are Primate, Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh (2nd L); Senate President,David Mark (3rd L)and the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, Mr John-Kennedy Opara. More pho-tos on Page 41

LAGOS—JUST daysafter the Nigerian

Governors Forum, NGFwas split, the same forcesalleged to have spon-

sored the crisis in the fo-rum are alleged to be di-recting their arsenal atthe Northern States Gov-ernors Forum, NSGF.

The first step aims toentangle the chairman ofthe forum, Governor

Onaiyekan lambastsPDP over crisis inRivers State •P.14

Sale of NIPPs: FG toreinvest proceeds inpower sector •P.8

Fresh facts emerge on Nasarawa killings —P.7

Nigeria'sdebt-GDP ratiostands at20.77%— DMO

•P.19

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2— Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013—3

4 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BY CALEB AYANSINA

AES 6-starhotel debuts inAbuja

Jang moves to woo Amaechi’s supporters

By EMMANUEL AZIKEN,POLITICAL EDITOR & OLAS-

UNKANMI AKONI

As ACN, CPC flay Jonathan’s recognition of Jang

NATCOMStasks Ministeron NASERAover basestations

ABUJA—THE National Association of

Telecommunications Sub-scribers, NATCOMS,weekend, urged the min-ister of communation tech-nology, to order the Na-tional EnvironmentalStandards RegulationsEnforcement Agency,NESREA, to leave the tel-ecommunications industryalone to bring about goodquality service to telecomsand ICT subscribers andconsumers.

The association said in astatement by its NationalPresident, Chief DeoluOgunbanjo, that the agen-cy was overstepping itsbounds by sealing base sta-tions.

Ogunbanjo said: “It israther unfortunate that theNational EnvironmentalStandards RegulationsEnforcement Agency,NESREA, under the lead-ership of Dr. Ngeri Benebois over stepping its boundsonce again, disturbing theTelecoms industry by seal-ing base stations.”

ABUJA—THE Federal Government weekend threat-

ened to shut-down and prosecuteoperators of illegal museumsacross the country, as such ille-galities could jeopardise thecountry’s heritage resources.

Director General of NCMM,Alhaji Yusuf Abdallah, disclosedthis to newsmen after playing hostto members of the House Com-mittee on Tourism and Culture,who were at the headquarters ofthe commission in Abuja on over-sight function.

Abdallah said government gaveroom for private body or individ-ual to come into the developmentof museum, but it would not con-done a situation where it would itwould be done without the com-mission’s knowledge, calling onthe operators of illegal museumsto approach NCMM for regular-

Libel: 10 SANs, 87 lawyers to defend Melaye

ABUJA—AES Luxury Apartments Abuja,

weekend, made history bybecoming the first 6-starhotel to be commissionedin Nigeria.

The luxurious apartmentwas officially opened at acocktail party organized forselected guests.

The official commission-ing, which took place at thehotel premises, located atDaki Biyu District, oppo-site CITEC estate, alongJabi area, which is a 15minutes drive in either di-rection to the City Centre,or the Nnamdi Azikiwe In-ternational Airport, waswitnessed by key person-alities from both the publicand private sector.

Declaring AES Apart-ments open, the Ministerof Culture and Tourismand National Orientation,Chief Edem Duke notedthat, “With what I haveseen here today, AES isindeed a “first amongequals”.

ABUJA—NO fewer than 87civil rights lawyers and 10

Senior Advocates of Nigeria,SANs, have indicated interestto render free legal services tothe former member of the Houseof Representatives, OtunbaDino Melaye, over the suit in-stituted against him by the At-torney-General of the Federa-tion and Minister of Justice, Mr.Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN.

The lawyers said their servic-es fall under pro bono services

BY CALEB AYANSINA

FG threatens operators of illegal museums

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAK-WURU

ization. He said: “I call on both the

state and local governmentsthat are interested in settingup museums to always get in

touch with the National Com-mission For Museum and Mon-ument, NCMM, in order forthem to be regularised, because

the law that set up the com-mission requires us to regu-late the establishment of mu-seums.

to tackle the 11-man legal teamraised by the AGF in the N10.2 bil-lion libel suit slammed on Melayewho is the Executive Secretary ofthe Anti-Corruption Network at anAbuja High Court.

But Melaye told Journalists thatneither himself nor the anti-graftgroup had been served the courtnotice.

He said: “It shows that those inthe legal profession have recog-nized the abuse of office and fla-grant disregard for the rule of lawby the AGF. Many of the lawyerscomplained of the conduct of the

AGF and have vowed to furnishthis case with additional infor-mation and obvious cases ofabuse of office by Adoke.

”The bastardization, monetiza-tion and commercialization of thelegal profession must stop. Con-flict of interest must become his-tory. Public interest must beplaced above selfish or personalinterest in the discharge of offi-cial responsibilities in the officeof the AGF. The battle to salvageour country from all forms ofabuse of office is a battle of noretreat, no surrender.”

VISIT: Chief Oris Onyiri, President-General, Egi People's Assembly, EPA (middle) intro-ducing Mr. Ashish Thakkar, Chairman, Mara Group (right) to HRH Eze London Nwobiyebe(left) and others, during the visit of some international investor's to Egiland for the Egi MJGFloat Glass project, at Egi, Rivers State. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke.

LAGOS—FACTIONAL chairman of the Nigerian Gover-

nors Forum, NGF, GovernorJonah Jang of Plateau State hascommenced moves towards woo-ing estranged governors alignedto his rival, Governor ChibukeAmaechi.

The move nonetheless, the Ac-tion Congress of Nigeria, ACNand the Congress for ProgressiveChange, CPC, yesterday,slammed President GoodluckJonathan for his recognition of theJang faction of the NGF.

The ACN described the presi-dent’s recognition of the Jang fac-tion as a slap on the principle ofdemocracy. The CPC on its partdescribed it as an act of perfidysaying the presidency workedfully to sabotage Amaechi’s vic-tory and followed on by turningthe vote on its head.

Jang in a session with news-men in Lagos, weekend, flayedinsinuations he lost the NGFchairmanship election sayingAmaechi rigged the polls as hechallenged his rivals to show thefull length of the video film of thepoll which he said would debunkthe claim of a free and fair poll.

“Let them show every body go-ing to vote,” Jang said as he wassupported by his colleagues, Gov-ernors Liyel Imoke of Cross River,Peter Obi of Anambra and SegunMimiko of Ondo all of whomflayed the poll as deficient indemocratic standards.

Governor Jang neverthelessvowed to win elements in his ri-val’s camp to his side, saying hewould not for the sake of the NGFchairmanship lose his salvation inChrist.

Jang said: “I have now startedcalling them and even my chair-man (Northern States Governors

Forum chairman, BabangidaAliyu of Niger State) who wouldnot pick my calls before.”

The ACN and CPC in sepa-rate press statements issued bytheir respective national public-ity secretaries, Lai Mohammedand Rotimi Fashakin, flayed thepresidency for last weekend’sendorsement of the Jang factionof the NGF.

‘’President Jonathan is fritter-ing away whatever is left of hiscredibility by the day. Hisspokesman said in a statementthe day after the NGF electionthat the President has alwaysshown a willingness to workharmoniously with any leader-ship freely and independentlychosen by the Governors’ Fo-rum for the collective progress

and development of all sections ofthe country and will continue to doso.

‘’But it is now clear that the presi-dency’s statement is not worth thepaper on which it is written, thatin the Nigerian presidency, wordsdo not carry their exact meaningsand that the spokesmen for thePresident speak for no one butthemselves. When viewed in thecontext of similar deceitful state-ments by the presidency in thepast, especially on the health of theFirst Lady, one can see a growingpattern of a lying presidency, apresidency that likes to hide be-hind one finger. This is sad, be-cause without credibility, a Presi-dent cannot govern successfully,’’ACN said.

The CPC on its part said: “The

deception did not travel for toolong. President GoodluckJonathan’s endorsement of Gov-ernor Jonah Jang as the ‘elected’Chairman of the Nigeria Gover-nors’ Forum, NGF, has finallyremoved the wind off the sail ofthe rigmarole and denials as re-gards the source of the contrivedcrisis in the NGF.

“As a Party, we are appalled bythe President’s abandonment ofthe ship of state to cause need-less overheating of the polity. TheNGF, as it stands, remains a vol-untary platform among Niger-ia’s governors, with no consti-tutional function. How the elec-tion of the chairman of the NGFcaptured the animated interestof the President, despite theseeming myriad of issues be-setting the Nation State, is stillpuzzling.”

CMYK

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE


LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from page 1

Move to split Northern Govs'Forum heightens

The truth is, we can do great things after we pray,but we cannot do great things until we pray. So theword for you today is, keep on praying.

We can only be said to be alive in those momentswhen our hearts are conscious of our treasures

— Thornton Wilder

GRATITUDE means thankfulness, countingyour blessings, noticing simple pleasures, and

acknowledging everything that you receive. Itmeans learning to live your life as if everythingwere a miracle, and being aware on a continuousbasis of how much you’ve been given. Gratitudeshifts your focus from what your life lacks to theabundance that is already present. In addition, be-havioural and psychological research has shownthe surprising life improvements that can stem fromthe practice of gratitude. Giving thanks makes peo-ple happier and more resilient, it strengthens rela-tionships, it improves health, and it reduces stress.

Two psychologists, Michael McCullough andRobert Emmons wrote an article about an experi-ment they conducted on gratitude and its impacton well-being. The study split several hundred peo-ple into three different groups and all of the par-ticipants were asked to keep daily diaries. The firstgroup kept a diary of the events that occurred dur-ing the day without being told specifically to writeabout either good or bad things; the second groupwas told to record their unpleasant experiences; andthe last group was instructed to make a daily list ofthings for which they were grateful. The results ofthe study indicated that daily gratitude exercisesresulted in higher reported levels of alertness, en-thusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. Inaddition, those in the gratitude experienced lessdepression and stress, were more likely to help oth-ers, exercised more regularly, and made greaterprogress toward achieving personal goals.

AMIGO SEALED—The popular Amigo Supermarket sealed by the Department of State Service,DSS, following the discovery of a cache of arms in Kano. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida.

Babangida Aliyu ofNiger State in a web ofcontroversies that couldlead to his removal aschairman of the forum as

early as this Thursday ina scheduled meeting ofthe Northern Governors'Forum.

Central to the allega-tions to be raised againstGovernor Aliyu is his

failure to recognize theGovernor Jonah Jang-led faction of the forumwhich last weekend re-ceived the enthusiasticbacking of the Presi-dency.

The move being di-rected against GovernorAliyu it was learnt, isbeing coordinated bytwo governors aligned tothe presidency from theNorth.

The move against Gov-ernor Aliyu is allegedlyalso being matched witha local crisis to removethe structures of the Peo-ples Democratic Party,PDP in the same mannerthe local structure of thePDP was stripped fromthe embattled governorof Rivers State, Gover-nor Chibuke Amaechiweeks before NGF elec-tion.

Gana denies rolein fresh plot

The domestic moveagainst Aliyu, it was al-leged last night, was be-ing articulated by Prof.Jerry Gana, a formerminister and a memberof the Board of Trusteesof the PDP. Gana,sources disclosed, ismobilizing against thegovernor using as a rea-son, the agitation bystakeholders in thedominant Nupe zone foranother shot at the gov-ernorship.

Prof. Gana, however,rebuffed the claim lastnight, saying that hisongoing consultationswith his people were es-sentially aimed at articu-lating their feelings onwhat and where theyshould go in 2015 asconcerning the gover-norship.

The speaker of theNiger State House ofAssembly, AdamuUsman told Vanguardon telephone that noagitation against thegovernor had reachedhim at press time yester-day. Usman is the sixthspeaker of the NigerState House of Assem-bly.

Aliyu is generally re-garded to be one of thegovernors fully en-trenched in the RotimiAmaechi-led faction ofthe NGF. His inclinationis despite the fact thathe had penultimate Fri-day presented GovernorJang as the consensuscandidate of the NSGFhours before the NGFchairmanship electionwhich Amaechi won.

When Jang, with Gov-ernor Godswill Akpabioand 16 other governorsclaimed victory upon anendorsement allegedlygiven to him, Jang by theNSGF and the PDP Gov-ernors Forum, Aliyu de-clined to support him.Aliyu like some othergovernors from theNorth and the Southhave stuck withAmaechi.

It was learnt, yester-day, that in a bid tobreak the resistance ofthe anti-Jang governorsand Aliyu’s alleged useof the platform of theNSGF to block the en-dorsement of Jang, somehawks in the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)had now decided tomove against Aliyu’scontinued chairmanshipof the NSGF. Aliyu hasretained the chairman-ship of the NSGF for thesix years he has been inpower. A bid to transferthe chairmanship to Gov-ernor Jang was derailedby some core Northerngovernors followingtheir anger over the cri-sis in Plateau State thathas pitched Jang’s eth-nic Beroms against itin-erant and local Fulanis.

Two govs wantAliyu torecognise Jang

Two of the Northerngovernors who were inthe race for the chair-manship of the NGF, itwas learnt yesterday,were driving the processamong Northern Gover-nors to remove Aliyuand would allegedlyonly stop if Aliyu recog-nises Jang’s chairman-ship of the NGF.

Meanwhile, at home,the governor it was al-leged could soon be con-fronted with an internalrebellion from within hisparty, following ongoingconsultations by Prof.Gana on a successor toGovernor Aliyu in 2015.

Associates of GovernorAliyu alleged that one ofsuch meetings held inBida, on May 11, 2013.It was reportedly heldunder the cover of a re-ception for Secretary tothe Government of NigerState, Hon Saidu NdakoIdris Kpaki, in Kpaki Vil-lage.

Prof. Gana however,rebuffed the insinua-tions last night and toldVanguard that while he

was sensitizing and lis-tening to his people thatthere was no plan fromthe Presidency againstGovernor Aliyu.

“I have every right asa leader to consult withmy people and it is very,very important and it isnot every consultationthat should be seen as aconspiracy.

“Since 1999 when webrought the PDP, ourown people in Zone Ahave always asked us,where do we go, what dowe do? I am a democrat,I like to consult with ourpeople to know exactlyhow they feel. So, it wasa consultative meeting,it was not a conspiratorymeeting at all!

“There is no designfrom the Presidencyagainst GovernorBabangida at all. Noth-ing like that whatsoever.

“It is now publicknowledge that the gov-ernor of Niger is nowmore comfortable withthe opposition and thatis not our fault, he hasgraced a number of theirfunctions which he isentitled to and we didn’tcomplain and he wascelebrated at the ACNconvention in Lagos. Hewent with the partychairman and with quitea number of membersand we didn’t complain,so nobody is raisinganything against himfrom the presidency, heis entitled democrati-cally to do whatever hewants to do.

“There is no plan fromthe presidency todistabilise Niger State atall.”

Gana said his consul-tation was essentially onhow to convince theNupe people who arebased in Zone A on howand where they shouldmove ahead of 2015given the fact that theyconstitute the majority ofthe population of thestate.

“I am thoroughly inPDP and we have tohave a strategy,” Ganasaid yesterday.

6—Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

Ghanaian, 3 Beninoise offer N520,000to vandalise pipeline —Task Force

BY EVELYN USMAN

LAGOS — OPERATIVES ofthe Inspector-General of Po-

lice Special Task Force on Anti-Pipeline Vandalisation have ar-rested a Ghanaian and threeBeninoise who allegedly at-tempted to bribe the operativeswith N520,000 to allow them si-phon petroleum product frompipelines in Epe area of Lagos.

During preliminary investiga-tion, one of the suspects, accord-ing to the officer in charge of thetask force, Friday Ibadin, an As-sistant Commissioner of Police,confessed that members ofAkaraba community in Epe wereengaged in the illegal act

The suspects whose identitieswere given as Fufo Soglo (Gha-naian), Christopher Suso,Matilda Idowu and Yovo Itoh, allBeninoise, were reportedly ar-rested at a police tent in AtlasCove, weekend.

Ffty-year-old Maltida Idowuwho admitted being the group’streasurer told newsmen that fol-lowing intensified surveillancearound pipeline installationsaround Epe, some members ofthe community decided to con-tribute money to give to police-men to allow them unhinderedaccess.

According to her, “oneChukwuma called me to raise N1million from members of our com-munity to bribe policemen. Welevied ourselves N50,000 eachand I decided to do the collec-tion. But at the end I was able toraise only N500,000 from 10 per-sons while I paid N20,000,thereby totalling N520,000.When we contacted Chukwuma,he told me to bring the money tothe police tent at Atlas Cove.”

With the money intact, the sus-pects were said to have gone toAtlas Cove, apparently to have afield day. But they were takenunawares as they were appre-hended.

ACP Ibadin said the policemenled by the Sector Commander,Lagos, Onaghise Osayande, a

Deputy Superintendent of Police,played along with the vandalswhen they offered to bribe them.

He said: “They got four of themarrested while they were aboutto handover the N520,000 tothem. We recovered valves with12 different holes connected to itfrom them. With this kind of tech-

The suspects

nological connection, these van-dals can siphon over 50,000 li-tres in less than 30 minutes. Weare working with the villageheads to sort out members of thecommunity who are actually inthe business and prosecute themaccordingly."

Womandocked forallegedlystabbingdaughter todeath

BENIN —A MIDDLE-AGED woman, Peace

Agbonlahor, has appearedbefore a Magistrates Courtin Ekpoma, Esan West Lo-cal Government Area of EdoState for allegedly stabbingher daughter, AbundanceAgbonlahor, to death by us-ing a kitchen knife.Vanguard learnt that the

accused committed the of-fence on March 23, 2013along Borehole Road,Ekpoma.

The act, according to thecharge, is punishable undersection 319(1) of the Crimi-nal Code Cap 48, Vol. 11,and Laws of defunct BendelState of Nigeria of 1976 nowapplicable in Edo State.

However, the magistrate,Mrs. Margaret Iluobe, de-clined taking her plea, in-sisting that the matter didnot fall under the court’s ju-risdiction.

She, consequently, re-ferred the matter to Direc-tor of Public Prosecution,DPP, for advice. How kidnap kingpin, Kelvin, tricked

Delta police bossHe is using fetish powers — CP

BY EMMA AMAIZE

ASABA — THE mostwanted kidnap kingpin

in Delta State, Kelvin, sus-

pected to be a drug addict,ambushed and killed threeofficials of the Nigeria Pris-ons Service, NPS, Warri,with his gang, 48 hours af-ter he phoned the state Com-missioner of Police, Mr.Ikechukwu Aduba, beggingfor amnesty.

Aduba, who thought he wasdealing with a remorsefulhoodlum called his boss, In-spector General of Police,Mr. Mohammed Abubakar,minutes after his discussionwith Kelvin ended, March11, to narrate what tran-spired and obtain his per-mission.

Aduba, who spoke duringa Nigeria Union of Journal-ists, NUJ, Asaba, Showtimeprogramme, said the IGPwas not opposed to grantinghim official pardon.

Kelvin had promised thecommissioner that he wouldassist the police to smash thekidnap industry in the stateand the Inspector Generalpredicated his imprimatur onhis surrendering arms andcooperating with the police.

Unknown to CommissionerAduba, it was a hoax, as thekidnap kingpin, currently onthe run, struck two days af-

ter with a gang of nine gun-men and successfully freedtwo notorious kidnap sus-pects, identified as Rufusand Frank, from warders,while they were taken tocourt on March 13.

Aduba said the kingpinhad not been arrested sincethen because informationabout his whereabouts wasin short supply.

Aduba said from his find-ings, the kidnap kingpin wason drugs and speaks like ahuman being when he issane, but once he hadsniffed, would behave like amonster.

He attributed the prowessof Kelvin to a shrine inKokori, known as Egba,which he said most of thepeople owed allegiance to,stressing that information athis disposal indicated theperson that could neutralizeKelvin’s powers was the OseEgba (chief priest).

He said his initial plan wasto blow up the shrine, whereKokori people go to renewtheir charms, but he changedthe idea to see how the chiefpriest could assist the policein the task of checkmatingthe kidnap kingpin.

Police nab man, 25, forselling son for N.5m...two accomplices also in police net

BY ANAYO OKOLI

UMUAHIA — THE AbiaState Police Command has

arrested a 25-year-old man,Chisom Ihemebirim from AmuziObowo in Imo State, for sellinghis one and half years old son,Chidubem Chisom for N500,000.

The command also arrested oneAbraham Ukaiwe, 27, fromAsaga Ohafia in Abia State saidto be Ihemebirim’s accomplice inthe deal to sell the boy.

Little Chidubem Chisom wassaid to have been sold to oneMercy Nwachinemere, 45, ofUmudi Abayi in Osisioma, AbiaState who has also been arrested.

According to the Police Com-missioner, Mohammed TilliAbubakar, little master ChidubemChisom was recovered from thebuyer.

Parading the suspects,Abubakar said his men moved

into action following a report byone Kasarachi John, 23, fromMbawsi in Isiala Ngwa NorthCouncil said to be the estrangedwife of Ihemebirim.

Kasarachi John, according tothe Police Commissioner, re-ported that sometime in Febru-ary 2013, she had a misunder-standing with Ihemebirim, herhusband which made her toleave his house.

According to her, shortly after,in March 2013, she received in-formation that their son,Chidubem Chisom, has beensold by the father, Ihemebirim.

Speaking to journalists,Ihemebirim admitted selling theboy for N500, 000. According tohim, he used the money to proc-ess documents he wanted to useto travel to Libya or Spain. Healso claimed that he used part ofit to renovate his house.

Ekhomu urgesJTF to intensifyhunt for hiddenweapons

BY EVELYN USMAN

LAGOS — IN view of themilitary’s position that

there could be more arms de-pots in some other parts of thecountry, renowned securityexpert, Dr. Ona Ekhomu,weekend, advised the JointTask Force, JTF, to intensify itssearch for weapons of massdestruction to cripple the ca-pability of terrorists to carry outattacks in the country.

This is just as he attributedwhat he described as ex-tremely porous nature of Ni-geria’s land, air and sea bor-ders as means through whichdangerous weapons weresmuggled into the country,urging border security agentsto exhibit more dedication andprofessionalism in their workto interdict dangerous weap-ons.

Reacting to last week’s sei-zure of a large cache of armsin Kano, Ekhomu said ag-gressive searches and sei-zures of weapon wouldgreatly limit the ability of ter-rorists to carry out bombings,shootings, killings andmaimings.


BY SONI DANIEL, RE-GIONAL EDITOR, NORTH

Why Ombatse cult killed policemen, DSSoperatives

PLAUSIBLE reasons why theOmbatse cult killed no fewer

than 100 policemen and securityoperatives in Eggon community ofNasarawa State have begun toemerge.

Findings by Vanguard revealedthat the fear by the Eggon-speak-ing natives of the state that Gov-ernor Alhaji Tanko Al-Makura, isplanning to renege on his pledgeto serve for only a term of fouryears, triggered the lethal on-slaught.

Competent government sourcesconfirmed to Vanguard, yesterday,that Governor Al-Makura was in-terested in a second term althoughhe had served notice in 2011 to dojust four years and hand over toan Eggon politician, since the areahas never tasted the governorshipseat in the 16 years of the state’sexistence.

According to findings, Eggon,which are mostly Christians andconstitute the dominant ethnic racein the state, are found in all theLGAs of Nasarawa State but theyfeel politically marginalised by suc-cessive administrations.

The latest attack by the Ombatse,which is said to have emerged asa ‘private army’ to protect the po-litical and social interests of theEggon, was believed to have beencarried out to send “appropriatemessage” to the governor that the‘Eggon time has come’ to take overfrom him.

Senator Solomon Ewuga, anEggon politician, who backed Al-Makura to emerge as governor onthe Congress for ProgressiveChange, CPC, platform in 2011,said in an interview that it waswrong for the governor to repudi-ate on his vow to serve only a termand give the chance to an Eggon.

According to the lawmaker,“These are the very people whohave voted consistently in everyelection to support or remove onegovernment or the other. Thepresent governor, Al-Makura, is abeneficiary of Eggon vote and nottheir violence,” the lawmakerpointed out.

“The governor told me he want-ed to come back for a second termbut I reminded him of his promiseto do just one term but he askedme if we had an agreement he wasgoing to hand over to me and Isaid no but that he had promisedthe people to do a term during andafter his inauguration”.

2015 linked to attack

It was not clear last night whatsteps the Federal Government wasplanning to take against perpetra-tors of the evil act apart from theretirement of the DSS director inthe state and the redeployment ofthe police commissioner.

The police authorities, however,

assured that killers of the police-men and the security operativeswould be brought to justice. ForceSpokesman, CSP Frank Mba “in-vestigation is on-going, we areunwavering in our commitment tofinding the killers and bringingthem to justice”.

The Federal and Nasarawa stategovernments have paid N2 mil-lion to each of the families of theslain policemen and securityagents.

Further finding showed thatthere were fears that going afterthe cult group could spark moretrouble in the state and alter per-mutations for the 2015 poll.

It was learnt that the oppositionin the state was keen on fieldingan Eggon candidate in the nextelection to oust governor Al-

WORLD MILK DAY—From left: Mr. Peter Eshikena, MD/CEO, Friesland Campina WAPCONigeria and Prof. Ngozi Nnam, President Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Guest Lecturer atthe World Milk Day celebration by the company in Lagos. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Edi-tor.

PDP blastsACN,CPC...says it'llwin more statesin 2015

BY HENRY UMORU

ABUJA—THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yester-

day, challenged the Action Con-gress of Nigeria, ACN; Con-gress for Progressive Change,CPC and other opposition polit-ical parties to conduct primaryelections preparatory to the 2015elections.

While describing leaders of theyet to be registered All Progres-sives Congress, APC, as daydreaming for saying it will winthe presidency, the PDP, howev-er, vowed to win more states aswell as the Presidency at theelection.

In a statement by PDP Nation-al Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh,the PDP, however, dispelled fearsthat divergence of views andopinions among its memberswere capable of frustrating its ef-forts ahead of 2015, saying thatthis will rather strengthen theparty.

It said it was against the back-drop that it was a reflection of itsdemocratic stance where mem-bers have opportunity to air theirviews and freely canvass theiropinions unlike what obtains inthe opposition parties whereopinions and views of membersare muzzled by political godfa-thers.

The PDP National PublicitySecretary, who noted that the op-position alliance will soon be indisarray, stressed that most ofthose in the ranks will be be-trayed and victimized by thegodfathers.

Budget 2013: Executive doesn't want Senate to tamperwith figures — Gemade

Makura from office.It was learnt that those opposed

to the governor’s stay in officebeyond 2015, were seriously con-sidering tapping Senator Ewugato defect from the CPC and jointhe PDP, which has strong follow-ership, so as to recapture thestate.

Alternatively, the anti-Al-Makura camp, is said to be look-ing in the direction of LabaranMaku, the information minister,to challenge the governor in thenext gubernatorial contest.

But Al-Makura has defendedhimself, saying that he has invest-ed immensely in Eggon andshould be appreciated.

However, the Chief Priest ofOmbatse, Chief Ala Agu, hasblamed the governor for the at-

tack, saying that the governornever called him for dialoguebefore sending troops to kill himfor no just cause.

Agu denied killing the police-men, saying that his god killedthem before arriving Eggon.

“When the security men cameand because they were drunk,my god did not allow them tocome to me and they died onthe way,” Agu said.

The Director General of theDepartment of State Service, Mr.Ita Ekpenyong, said last weekthat the service had forgiventhose who killed 10 of its menduring the failed attempt to up-root the Ombatse cult group lastmonth. Ekpenyong spoke at anevent to honour the dead secu-rity men in Abuja.

BY HENRY UMORU

ABUJA—CHAIRMAN, Senate Committee on National

Planning and Poverty Alleviation,Senator Barnabas Gemade, PDP,Benue North/West, yesterday,gave an insight into the face-offbetween the Executive and theSenators, explaining that the ex-ecutive wanted a situation wherethe figures sent must not be tam-pered with.

According to him, the contro-versy which was brewing betweenthe two arms of government, waswhether or not the National As-sembly has the power to appro-priate, just as he said the FederalGovernment believed that it candecide the level that appropria-tion should go from one activityof government to the other.

The former National Chairmanof the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, however, noted that one ofthe reasons why there was budg-

et logjam, was that the executivearm of government presently be-lieves that the National Assem-bly does not have the power tointerfere with budget appropria-tion to Ministries, Departmentsand Agencies of government.

Senator Gemade, however,warned that the position of theexecutive arm on the powers ofthe National Assembly on appro-priation negates the relevant pro-visions of the 1999 Constitutionas amended.

Speaking ahead of today’s pub-lic hearing on the need to reviewthe Planning and BudgetingProcess, Senator Gemade stressedthat the controversies surround-ing the 2013 Budget amendmentwere not as straightforward aspeople would imagine, notingthat the issues are complicated.

The Senator argued that thepublic hearing will be an avenueto speak on the over loaded na-

ture of the Ministry of Finance,as well as the 2013 budget, add-ing that his committee wouldexamine the appropriateness ofthe current functions and place-ment of the Budget Office of theFederation whether it was rightlysituated or it was discharging itsfunctions optimally.

He explained that the publichearing came from a motionmoved by Senator OlubunmiAdetumbi, which among others,seek to draw the attention of theSenate and the public to the needfor a review of the budgetingprocess and return to the era oflong and medium term plan-ning, instead of the ad hoc, an-nual planning currently adopt-ed by the Federal Government.

Senator Adetumbi had can-vassed the position of mergingthe Budget Office and NationalPlanning after separating theformer from the Ministry of Fi-

nance, just as he said the Min-istry should concern itself withthe management of the nation’sfinance and treasury.

Senator Gemade said, “I do notspeak for the National Assem-bly, because I am not the spokes-man, but as a senator I will clearlystate here that the issues in-volved in the 2013 budget arevery complicated. They are notas straight forward as many peo-ple have put it.

“The issue is whether the Na-tional Assembly really has thepower of appropriation to theextent that they can decide whatlevel of appropriation should gofor what activity of governmentand the executive arm believesthat you don’t have the power,all the power you have is to agreewith the figures they have putfor each activity of governmentbecause you are not the one whois going to carry it out".


Sale of NIPPs: FG to reinvestproceeds in power sector

BY MICHAEL EBOH &SEBASTINE OBASI

MEETING—From left: Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe; Vice President NamadiSambo; and Governor Gabriel Suswam of Benue State, during the Vice President's meet-ing with the Prime Minister in Yokohama, Japan, yesterday.

LAGOS—THE Federal Government, weekend, disclosed

that proceeds from the sale of 10power plants across the countrywould be re-invested in the powersector.

Speaking at a forum in Lagosto herald the flag-off of its invest-ment road show, Mr James Olo-tu, Managing Director/Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, Niger Delta Pow-er Holding Company Limited,NDPHC, owners of the NationalIntegrated Power Project, NIPP,said the decision to re-invest theproceeds in the sector was to fur-ther boost the capacity of thecountry’s power infrastructure.

According to him, when col-lected from buyers of the powerplants the money would be re-invested in the sector to boostpower supply to all nooks andcrannies of the country.

Olotu said: “This will unleashthe huge potentials of Nigeria,leading to meaningful economicgrowth and development".

He disclosed that the FederalGovernment is to sell 80 per centof its stake in the power plants,as the remaining 20 per cent willserve to assure buyers of theplants of the safety of their invest-ment and minimal governmentinterference in the daily affairs ofthe companies.

Sale to be completed July2014

Olotu said government plansto complete the sale of the powerplants by July 2014, adding, how-ever, that the plants would notbe handed over to the buyersuntil they have been commis-sioned.

He expressed optimism thatwhen privatised, the plants willbe run in such a way as to attractfurther investment in the coun-try’s power sector, as well as inother sectors of the economy.

He said, “the privatised firmswill be run in such a way thatwill attract further investment inthe sector. This is so because thebuyers will testify to other poten-tial investors of the transparencyof the process and government’s

commitment to the sanctity ofcontract among others.

He added that the Board of theNDPHC has considered variousstrategies available to it, as well

as endorsed and approved rec-ommendations of the consult-ants to the project and forward-ed same to the Presidency whohas given the go-ahead.

Also speaking, Arit Mohind-din, Transaction Adviser on Pri-vatisation to NDPHC, said withthe investment road show sched-uled to kick off in Lagos, on June

4 and 5, 2013, the governmentwould be wooing both local andforeign investors in Nigeria, Lon-don, Hong Kong and New York.

He noted that the road showwas designed to attract credibleinvestments which meet the nec-essary requirements, adding thatits intention is to attract as manyinvestors as possible.

The power plants the NDPHCplans to sell are the 750 megawatts Olorunsogo, phase II pow-er plant in Ogun State; 451MWOgorode power plant in DeltaState; 225MW Gbarain powerplant, near Bayelsa State;1,07MW Alaoji power plant nearAba in Abia State and 451MWIhovbor power plant in Edo state.

Others are the 561MW Cala-bar power plant in Nsit Nyong,Cross River State; 338MW Eg-bema power plant in EgbemaOhaji, Imo State; 434MW Geregupower plant in Ajaokuta, KogiState; 500MW Omotosho powerplant in Ondo State and 250MWOmoku power plant in RiversState.

Adeboye urges Nigerians to pray against plane crashes

BY SAM EYOBOKA &OLAYINKA LATONA

REMEMBERING DANA AIR MISHAP

LAGOS—THOUSANDS ofNigerians, yesterday, defied

early morning torrential rains inLagos to attend two programmesof the Redeemed ChristianChurch of God, RCCG, wherethe General Overseer, PastorEnoch Adeboye revisited lastyear’s Dana Air plane crash inLagos, which claimed 153 lives,

praying against similar occur-rences in the country.

Similarly, Lagos State Gover-nor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fas-hola hailed the church for itscontinuing commitment to so-cial reformation programmesand for leading quietly by ex-ample, praying that God willcontinue to reward the churchexceedingly as it toils ceaseless-ly to change the society.

Speaking at a special prayersession for chief executive of-ficers of organisations at thechurch’s national headquartersin Ebute-Metta, Lagos, PastorAdeboye urged Nigerians topray fervently that the countryshould not experience such airmishaps again.

Commiserating with victims ofthe DANA Air crash, the Gen-eral Overseer urged Nigeriansto offer prayers to God to com-fort, guide and support the af-fected families.

In his words: “Today make ita year that the DANA Air planecrashed in Lagos. Lives werelost during the incidence. Letus pray that there will not beanother crash in Nigeria; thatNigeria should not experiencesuch a thing again. It is onlythe Almighty God that can com-fort the affected families. I praythat God should support andcomfort those who lost their

loved ones during the planecrash”.

In his message to the variousCEOs in attendance, titled: “Un-usual worship gives unusualbreakthrough” Adeboye advisedthem to imbibe righteousness,cultivate the habit of appreciat-ing God in all circumstances,explaining that praising Godalways lead to divine break-through.

Enumerating some keys thatcan open divine doors and makeroom for breakthrough for theparticipants, Pastor Adeboyeurged them to seek God’s divinewisdom, seek knowledge and ahunger to serve God with alltheir beings.

At the second service at therain-soaked main bowl of theTafawa Balewa Square in Lagos,venue of the sixth EXCEL Con-vention of the church’s ApapaFamily, Pastor Adeboye urgedbelievers in the country to em-brace change, declaring that atime would come when nobodywill become anything withoutbelievers’ endorsement.

Speaking on a topic titled “Bethe change”, Adeboye urgedChristians to, at least, preach thegospel to one person a day, add-ing “every Christian is a branchof Christ and a branch looks ex-actly like the tree. If Christ is theLight of the world, therefore eve-

ry Christian is a light of the worldand must show forth that light atany time.”

He commended the leadershipof the Apapa Family which hasbeen touching lives in differentsegments of the nation’s life, andespecially for being the firstchurch to float a football club thathas graduated to the nationalleague.

In his goodwill message to theleadership of the Apapa Familyof the church, Fashola said: “Oneof the reasons why the EXCELprogramme excites and inspiresme year on year, is its focus onthe less fortunate in our society.No society is immune from themand yet society often ignores theirplights. That is why EXCEL is someaningful.”

Continuing, he thanked thechurch for reminding us throughEXCEL, of the true role of theChurch and other similar organi-sations in society, as partners inprogress and change agents.

“We desire a Lagos that is or-derly, clean, safe and secure butdo we abide by the simple laws,rules and regulations that willmake it so? Do we break the traf-fic laws when there are no trafficwardens in sight or throw litterout of our car windows simplybecause no one is watching us? Itis the little things we do that bringabout great change"".


8,000propertyowners getquit noticein Ogun

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

DANA CRASH: From left— Dr. Aderemi Desalu, Permanent Secretary, Lagos StateMinistry of Special Duties; Dr. Wale Ahmed, Commissioner for Special Duties, and Mr.Aderemi Ibirogba, Commissioner for Information and Strategy, at a briefing on the firstanniversary of Dana air crash, yesterday.

O S O G B O — F O R M E RDeputy National Chair-

man of Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, South, Alhaji ShuaibOyedokun, has urged formerpresident, Olusegun Obasanjo,to stop further public criticism ofPresident Goodluck Jonathan’sadministration policies and pro-grammes.

Oyedokun also denied any con-nection between PDP South-Westand Obasanjo’s posture concern-ing President Jonathan, sayingthe former president was on hisown.

Speaking in Osogbo, yesterday,on the recent developments inthe party, the PDP Board of Trus-tees, BOT, member stated that nomatter the inadequacies of thepresent administration, PresidentJonathan deserves more time.

He said: “I am very carefulwhile trying to comment aboutObasanjo. This is because he isfirst and foremost a global fig-ure. He is a mentor to manypeople.

“He is also a former presidentand, above all, he is a respectedYoruba man.

“But his recent posture on na-tional affairs has become an em-barrassment to the nation. Hisstatement back home is alsocausing a lot of disintegration.

“First of all, his attitude to theBoko Haram issue is not ex-

PDP chieftain to Obasanjo: Stopattacking Jonathan

pected of a statesman, al-though he made a bold at-tempt, sometime ago, by go-ing to Borno to discuss withleaders of the sect.

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

“However, while going thereone would have expected thathe consulted with other lead-ers in the North such as formerMilitary President, IbrahimBabangida, and Gen.Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) toget a better result.

“He made statements therethat disrespected PresidentJonathan, telling him to usebrute force to quench the in-surgency. Also his recent ut-terances outside the countryabout Nigeria are not ex-pected of a good leader."

52 graduate with First Class at Babcock

Probe me, Oni dares Fayemi

Rep condemns attackson Nigerians in S/Africa

FORMER Governor ofEkiti State, Chief Segun

Oni, has challenged GovernorKayode Fayemi to probe thefinances of Ekiti State fromMay 29, 2007 till date.

The former governor, whospoke through his media aide,Mr. Lere Olayinka, in Ado-Ekiti, yesterday, said that hewas not afraid of probe.

He said: “This time around,

Fayemi must make real histhreat and if he does not, wewill go to court to get and or-der to compel him to do so.

“However, he must not bethe one to appoint those whowill carry out the probe be-cause the finances of the gov-ernment during his own ten-ure must also be probed.”

While addressing ActionCongress of Nigeria, ACN,supporters in Ado-Ekiti, week-end, Governor Fayemi hadsaid: “With the conclusion ofthis case, they should be readyto account for how they stoleour money, the contracts theyused to siphon our money andall the micro-credit moneythey stole.”

IBADAN—CHAIRMAN of the House of Rep-resentatives Committee on Foreign Affairs,

Nnenna Ukeje, has condemned the renewedattacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

Speaking in Ibadan, yesterday, the lawmakersaid that the renewed attacks came at a timewhen Nigeria and South Africa had shown com-mitment to fostering closer relationships.

Ukeje, PDP-Abia, recalled how in May bothcountries signed Memorandum of Understand-ing, MoU, in different spheres of human en-deavour.

She said that the agreements should trickledown the citizenry, especially from South Af-rica and urged Nigerians to remain committedin the knowledge that the government woulddo everything to protect them.

The lawmaker commended the South AfricaHigh Commissioner, Mr. Louis Mnguni, for hisquick intervention and promised to work closelywith him until the resolution of the issues.

ABEOKUTA—OGUNState government

said it had served quitnotice on no fewer than8,000 owners of illegalstructures and shantiesacross the state, and1,020 owners sanctionedfor violating the physicalplanning laws of thestate.

Commissioner forPhysical Planning,Adebayo Fari, stated thisweekend at a briefing atthe Oke-Mosan office ofthe governor inAbeokuta.

The commissioner,however, disclosed thatthe ministry had suc-cessfully resolved 146petitions out of 167 re-ceived so far, saying thatover 4,000 buildingplans have been ap-proved, while anotherfour have been regis-tered by the government.

Ilaje councilprovides freehealthservices

AKURE—FREE medical services were

provided over the week-end for the aged, preg-nant women and chil-dren in the oil-rich com-munities of Ondo Stateby the Ilaje RegionalDevelopment Council,IRDC.

The aged people werescreened for hyperten-sion and diabetics, whilethe pregnant womenwere given prophylacticdrugs. The children wenthome with treated mos-quito nets.

The communities thatbenefited from the freeservices include Awoye,Molutehin, Gbagira,Igho and Odo-fado.

The IRDC also embarkon community-basedhealth education on pre-vention and manage-ment of hypertensionand diabetics.

Secretary of the Coun-cil, Mr. Adeyemi Abiye,expressed gratitude toChevron and assuredthe communities that thecouncil would soon em-bark on indoor and out-door residual spraying.

BY DAYO JOHNSON

NO fewer than 52 students,yesterday, graduated with

First Class honours at BabcockUniversity, BU, Ilishan-Remo,Ogun State. 1,059 made SecondClass Upper, while 248 madeSecond Class Lower.

BU’s President/Vice Chancel-lor, Prof. James Makinde, said

1,359 graduands wereawarded degrees and di-ploma, cutting across the ninefaculties of the university.

Twenty graduated with Post-graduate Diplomas, 71 withMasters and 41, Doctor of Phi-losophy, Ph.D.

He said: “1,359 graduandswill be awarded degrees anddiplomas in Basic Applied

Sciences, Public and AlliedHealth, Education and Hu-manities, Babcock BusinessSchool, Law and SecurityStudies, Computing and En-gineering Sciences, NursingSciences, Agriculture and In-dustrial Technology, and theBenjamin S. Carson School ofMedicine, in its Biochemistryprogramme.”

BY IKENNA ASOMBA


DONATION: From left— Mr. Omojola Felix, Project Manager, MTN 21 Days ofY’ello Care, 2013; Mrs. Ukpanah Utoh, Secretary, MTN Nigeria; Mr. Buraimoh Benjamin,SOS Children’s Village Director, and Mrs. Enumah Maria, representatings SOS VillageMothers, at the presentation of gift by MTN to the children of SOS Village, Isolo, Lagos.

Transformation agenda noteffective— Employers

EMPLOYERS of labour,under the umbrella of

Chemical and Non-MetallicProducts Employers’ Federa-tion, CANMPEF, weekendin Lagos, said the implemen-tation of economic policies inthe transformation agenda ofPresident GoodluckJonathan was yet to make thedesired positive impact onthe manufacturing sector ofthe economy.

At its 34th annual generalmeeting, President of theFederation, ChiefDevakumar Edwin, said: “Abrief review of the businessoutlook for the year underreview shows that despitethe Federal Government’savowed commitment totransformation agenda byespousing economic policiesthat would engender eco-nomic growth in critical sec-tors of the economy such asours, policies implementa-tion are yet to make the de-sired positive impact on themanufacturing sector of theeconomy.

“The high cost of produc-tion, poor sales occasionedby weak purchasing power,liberal import policy, lack ofinflow of investible fundsdue to security challenges,among others, have contin-

ued to impact negatively onthe survival strategies ofmember companies to break-even.”

“Industries have continuedto reel under the yoke of epi-

leptic power supply, poorand uneven infrastructuraldevelopment, security chal-lenges, multiple taxation andlevies by the three tiers ofgovernment.”

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG & KELECHI

AZUBUIKE

Catholic Archbishop cautions FG on amnesty forBoko Haram

LAGOS—CATHOLIC Arch-bishop of Lagos, Alfred

Adewale Martins, has cautionedthe Federal Government againstplanned amnesty for Boko Haraminsurgents, saying amnesty was notjust about giving out money.

The Archbishop, who celebratedhis 54th birthday in Lagos, said:“If there is money to be paid toBoko Haram insurgents, then thesect’s victims, as a matter of jus-tice, must be compensated also.”

Archbishop Martins, who washosted by the Grand Knights ofSaint Mulumba, Lagos Metropoli-tan Council, said members of Boko

Haram must first be identified andseen to be repentant, before theFederal Government could giveamnesty to them.

Touching on other national is-sues, he wondered why Nigerianshad reduced life to the level of ex-change for money.

He called the recent baby factorydiscovered a national disgrace.

BY STARRYS OBAZEI

Lagos Assembly haltsdemolition of Pelewura Market

LAGOS State House of Assembly has directed the

state ministries involved inthe planned demolition ofPelewura Market annex toput the exercise on holdpending the outcome of theinvestigation by the commit-tee set up to investigate thematter.

Chairman, House Commit-tee on Transportation, Com-merce and Industry, BisiYusuff, gave the order dur-ing a meeting with the offi-cials of Ministries of Physi-cal Planning and Urban De-velopment, Lands Bureau,and representatives ofPelewura Market Annex, La-gos Island at the AssemblyComplex, weekend.

Yusuff also ordered the con-cerned agencies to dialoguewith the traders on where torelocate them to and possi-ble compensation.

He said: “Seven days no-

tice is too short for thesetraders to relocate to any-where. We are not in militaryera where anybody can har-ass or intimidate citizens.

BY OLASUNKANMIAKONI

NAFDAC parades 4 overN59bn fake drugs importation

NDLEAN25m:Baba Suwevows toappealjudgment

MR. BabatundeOmidiran, popu-

larly known as BabaSuwe, has vowed to ap-peal the ruling of AppealCourt in Lagos, whichquashed the N25 millioncompensation earliergranted to him by a La-gos High Court againstthe National Drug LawEnforcement Agency,NDLEA.

The Appeal Court had,Friday, ruled that NDLEAhad good reasons to de-tain Baba Suwe, and setaside the N25 millionawarded by JusticeYetunde Idowu of a LagosHigh Court, to the ace co-median.

Speaking through hislawyer, Mr. BamideleAturu, weekend, in Lagos,he said the Court of Ap-peal decision would betaken to the SupremeCourt because it was onethat could encourage theculture of impunity on thepart of law enforcementagencies.

BY BARTHOLOMEWMADUKWE

NATIONAL Agency forFood and Drug Adminis-

tration and Control, NAFDAC,weekend, paraded four sus-pects over the importation ofcounterfeit drugs worth N59million.

While parading the suspectsbefore newsmen, Director-Gen-eral, NAFDAC, Dr. Paul Orhii,said he was more embarrassedby people losing their lives dueto fake drugs than flimsy claims

of those he described as ‘fakedrug abettors’ on failure oftechnology in identifyingfake products.

The names of the suspectswere given as Mr. PaulOgbonna, Mr. CelestineEruokwu, Mr. Ifeanyi Edeh,and Mr. Ozoemena Odo.

Orhii said that Mr. Celes-tine Eruokwu was a genera-tor dealer, but was arrestedfor importation of 90,000doses of counterfeitMaloxine tablets.

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

LAGOS—AHEAD ofthe statewide resi-

dents registration exer-cise later in the year,Lagos State Governmentwill today commence apilot residential registra-tion for civil servants.

General Manager ofLagos State ResidentsRegistration Agency,LASRRA, Mrs. YinkaFashola, said, weekend,that the exercise wouldalso allow the state allo-cate resources evenly tomeet the needs of itsresidents.

Fashola said when thestatewide exercise com-mences, it would be a con-tinuous one and wouldgive residents opportu-nity to prompt renewal oftheir information.

She added that about337 registration centres,including centres lo-cated in the 20 local gov-ernments and 37 localcouncil development ar-eas, had been earmarkedfor the commencement ofthe programme.

Pilot phaseof Lagosresidents'registrationbegins

BY MONSUROLOWOOPEJO

Book launch

A new book, The BigConspiracy, which

reveals the rot in Niger-ia’s aviation sector andpublic life is to be pre-sented to the public today.

The book touches on is-sues such as the DANAaircraft crash of June 3,2012.

Authored by FolasadeOdutola, a former provostof the Nigerian College ofAviation, Zaria, and anaviation expert with 35years of experience, over20 of which in the safetyfield, The Big Conspiracyseeks to expose some grayareas believed to be re-sponsible for the seemingirresolvable problems fac-ing the aviation industryin Nigeria.


Delta propertyowners warnagainstfraudsters

Okowa should succeed Uduaghan —Ogboru

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

PDP should pay reparation to Edo people—-Esogban of Benin

BY SIMONEBEGBULEM

Bayelsatasksstakeholderson Ijawculturepreservation

Urhobo deserves place in FederalExecutive Council —Aziza

LIMGE/Shelltocommissionfire station

BY EMMA AMAIZE &FESTUS AHON

ABRAKA—CHIEF Ju-lius Ogboru, younger

brother of Democratic Peo-ple’s Party, DPP, candidatein the 2011 governorshipelection in Delta State, ChiefGreat Ogboru, has said thatSenator Ifeanyi Okowa wasthe best gubernatorial can-didate in the state to takeover from Governor Em-manuel Uduaghan in 2015.

Senator Okowa is amongthe leading gubernatorialaspirants from the NorthSenatorial district of the stateand was the first runner-upto the incumbent, Dr. Udua-ghan, in the 2006 PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, gov-ernorship primaries.

There was to be a run-offbetween him and Udua-ghan, but Okowa concededand was later appointed Sec-retary to the State Govern-ment in 2007. Currently, heis the Senator, representingDelta North Senatorial Dis-trict in the Senate.

Speaking during the inau-guration of D-Peace, a polit-

ical pressure group, champion-ing equity and fairness in thestate, at Abraka, Ethiope EastLocal Government of the state,Chief Ogboru identified Sena-tor Okowa as the most capableaspirant to pilot the affairs of the

state among those eying thegovernorship seat in 2015.

Pointing out that Okowahas the pedigree and expe-rience to govern the state,he said that having as-sessed those being touted as

interested in governing thestate, “I found Okowa to bemost eligible in terms of ex-perience, past record of goodperformance, reach andgrassroots connection.”

THE Ogwhorhor familyof Ovwian Community

in Udu Local GovernmentArea of Delta State, haswarned against fraudsters,who are bent on selling oth-er people's landed property.

In a statement, weekend,by Chief Patience Unukog-bon, the family called on buy-ers to stop going throughthose outside the family, whoclaim to be sellers of Ogoodeland in Udu.

She said, “We advise thegeneral public to ignore anygroup of persons trying torubbish the Ogwhorhor fam-ily name with false reports orcomments and we call onbuyers to avoid purchase ofOgoode land from those peo-ple bent on destroying thefamily name for their selfishgains. We also call on secu-rity agencies to check theexcesses of the team led byone cleric.”

Meanwhile, elders of theOgwhorhor family andyouths have passed a vote ofconfidence on Chief Unukog-bon for accountability, trans-parency and trust andprayed that God will contin-ue to give her wisdom andstrength to manage the fam-ily property and continuallysecure Ogoode land.

THE Lagos IslandMillennium Group

on the Environment,LIMGE, has announcedthe planned commission-ing of its N1 billion, pur-pose built, and well-equipped fire station inLagos Island.

The project, which is akey component of LIM-GE’s ongoing rebirthagenda for the Lagos Is-land was facilitated in aground breaking partner-ship between LIMGE andShell Nigeria Explorationand Production Company,SNEPco, and other insti-tutional partners.

LIMGE’s new target,according to its President,Mrs. Taiwo Taiwo, is toensure “that no buildingon Lagos Island is evergutted by fire again."

BY FESTUS AHON

U G H E L L I — P R E S I -DENT- General of

Urhobo Progress Union,UPU, General Patrick Aziza(rtd), weekend, said that theUrhobo nation, as the fifthlargest ethnic nationality inthe country, deserves a placein the Federal ExecutiveCouncil.

Aziza, while receiving theleadership of Urhobo YouthCouncil, UYC, led by Mr.Henry Baro, charged Urhobo

politicians to be selfless wher-ever they find themselves, not-ing, “whatever position you aregiven is because you are fromthe Urhobo ethnic nationality.Therefore, you are holding thatposition in trust and you mustbe selfless in whatever you do.”

Thanking UYC for its solidari-ty, he said; “I am furtherstrengthened by your visit. Yourgroup has been very support-ive.” On UPU leadership's visitto Arewa Consultative Forum,he explained that the visit wasfor the benefit of the Urhobo

people, adding, “My lead-ership of UPU is determinedto build bridges across allthe ethnic groups in thecountry for the benefit of thefuture of our children and toadvance the political pros-pects of the Urhobo.”

Aziza said he will contin-ue to uphold the constitu-tion of UPU, which he sworeto do, reiterating that; “Icame to unite the Urhobopeople; they must be unitedin the struggle for a betterplace.”

BENIN—CHAIRMANof Benin Forum and

Esogban of Benin Kingdom,Edo State, Chief David Ede-biri, has called on Edo StatePeoples Democratic Party,

PDP, to pay reparation to thepeople of the state for the allegedunder-development the statesuffered during the over 10 yearsof PDP administration in thestate, or forget about winningelections in the near future.

He said: “Unless the party, inconjunction with the FederalGovernment, pays back all themoney their agents here lootedfor 11 and half a years to thetreasury of Edo State, and ifthey cannot give us the moneythey looted, they should give usjustice. If the Federal Govern-ment can guarantee that therewill be justice in the case ofthose who looted Edo Statefunds, then people can start lis-tening to them.

“In the absence of the above,

PDP cannot win elections inEdo State for now becausethose who were alive whenthey looted this state for over10 years are still alive. Wenow have something to com-pare with, we saw their gov-ernment and today we areseeing another government.So, the PDP can't think ofcoming here to win electionsfor now, it is not possible.They should refund all themoney they looted as a sortof reparation to Edo Statepeople as held by varioustribunals.

“In the alternative, theyshould give us justice be-cause if we know that thosewho stole our money arebehind the bars that maygive satisfaction."

Y E N A G O A —BAYELSA State

Commissioner for Cul-ture and Ijaw NationalAffairs, Dr. Felix Tuodolo,weekend, urged stake-holders in Ijawland towork towards the promo-tion of Ijaw culture to saveit from extinction.

Tuodolo, who represent-ed Governor SeriakeDickson at the 2013 WorldMuseum/Culture DayCelebration in Yenagoa,said the Ijaw nation isendowed with rich cultur-al heritage that couldgenerate income as muchas what the state getsfrom crude oil from theFederation Account.

CANONICAL INSTALLATION: From left: Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Lady ValerieEbe; Senator representing Cross River State Central Senatorial District/Senate Leader, Sena-tor Victor Ndoma-Egba, and a former military Administrator of Akwa Ibom State, Navy Cap-tain Joseph Adewusi (rtd), during the canonical installation of Bishop Joseph Ekuwem asArchbishop of Calabar, at the Sacred Heart Cathedral, Egerton, Calabar.

This is to inform the general public that

Mr. Adaga Anthony E., an employee of

NNPC died on the 9th of December,

2012 in Makurdi.

That his daughters— Onyeche Adaga

(29 yrs) and Aladi Adaga (26 yrs) are

his next of kin.

Signed: ONYECHE ADAGA

PUBLIC NOTICE

CMYK


Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013 — 13

Community petitions Assembly overface-off with Okpara Agric varsity

Projects:UNIZIKteachinghospital shopsfor N2.5bnBY VINCENT UJUMADU

AWKA—FORMER Chairman of Peoples Democrat-

ic Party, PDP, in Anambra State,Chief Bright Nebedum, week-end, described as the triumphof the people’s will, the Courtof Appeal sitting in Owerri, ImoState, decision, upholding Sen-ator Andy Uba as the dully nom-inated candidate of PDP for theAnambra south senatorial zone.

Chief Nnebedum, said it wasnot just the people of Anambra

OWERRI—THE NationalAssembly has been com-

mended for passing a Bill out-lawing same-sex marriage in Ni-geria.

Catholic Archbishop of OwerriEcclesiastical Province, HisGrace, Dr. Anthony Obinna, inOwerri, Imo State, while fieldingquestions from the citizenry, said“God created us male and female.We have to respect that identityso that our children, who are be-ing influenced by the toxic wastesfrom Europe and America, will beinsulated from this sort of abomi-nation that led to the destructionof Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The Archbishop, who spokeahead of a two-day pro-life con-ference holding in Owerri, la-mented that the country had ex-perienced a terrible assault on thesacredness of life imported from

BY ANAYO OKOLI

Obinna lauds NASS for passing anti same sex Bill

UMUAHIA—THE face-offbetween the authorities of

Michael Okpara University ofAgriculture, Umudike, Abia Stateand one of its host communities,Amaoba Ime, in Ikwuano LocalGovernment Area of the state, hasdeepened, as the community hasaccused the University of violat-ing the order of the Abia StateHouse of Assembly on the landdispute between the universityand the community.

Consequently, the communityhas petitioned the House, protest-ing the alleged action of the Uni-versity, which the community, saidviolated the order of the House,urging the parties to stay clear ofthe disputed area until the mat-ter was resolved amicably.

The traditional ruler of AmaobaIme, King O’tuwa 1st, in the pe-tition to the House, alleged thatthe university was building onthe disputed area “though youasked the university not to con-tinue.”

The community also alleged thatthe university had changed thesequencing of the survey pillarsto make room for eight additionalhectares in the disputed area, in-sisting “we donated 171.14 hec-

AWKA—AUTHORITIES of Nnamdi

Azikiwe UniversityTeaching Hospital,NAUTH, Nnewi,Anambra State, said week-end, that the hospital wassourcing for N2.5 billion in-tervention fund to completesome projects at its perma-nent site.

Chief Medical Director ofthe hospital, Prof. AnthonyIgwegbe, said during thecommissioning of theAnesthetic machine, in-stalled at the Guinness EyeHospital, Onitsha in con-junction with GuinnessNigeria Plc, that with theamount, 50 per cent of on-going projects at the per-manent site of the hospitalwould be completed to pavethe way for movement tothe site.

He explained that thehospital was already ask-ing for upward review offunds allocated to it, add-ing that a formal request tothat effect had been madeto the presidency throughthe Minister of Health.

tares of land, not 179 hectares.We know the boundary, theboundary was not in contentionthen and should not be now.”

“Federal Government pay-ment schedule was changed toreflect payment for 179 hectaresand signed by Mr. Chukwu.Authentic federal paymentschedule shows that govern-

ment acquired and paid for 171.14hectares of land from Amaoba.”

The community said that “theuniversity’s action is flaming avery volatile situation that is alreadyon a disaster cliff,” accusing theUniversity of not respecting con-stituted authority.

Abia State House of Assembly

waded into the land dispute andordered parties to steer clear ofthe disputed area. The HouseCommittee looking into the mat-ter, set to resolve the matter haddirected the state Surveyor Gen-eral to appear before it to edu-cate it on the survey plan dis-played by the community.

....As PDP chieftain lauds Uba’s A’Court victory

Army holdsChief of Staffconfab inAbakalikitoday

ABAKALIKI—THEHeadquarters of 82

Division of the NigerianArmy, Enugu, is set to hostthe Chief of Army Staff 2ndquarter Conference 2013 inAbakaliki, Ebonyi State, thestate capital today. Theevent starts today throughtill Wednesday.

Colonel Hamza Gamboin a statement for the Di-rector, Army Public Rela-tions, said that the confer-ence, organised by Nige-rian Army Headquarters,Abuja was in line with Ni-gerian Army annual activ-ities.

Gambo explained thatthe focus of the conferencewas to appraise the per-formances of NigerianArmy formations in combat-ing the current securitychallenges in their respec-tive areas of responsibility,adding that the forumwould also create opportu-nity to confirm the extentof the implementation ofthe decisions reached dur-ing the First Quarter Con-ference within the Forma-tions of AORs.

BY PETER OKUTU

BY CHIDI NKWOPARA Europe and America.“In 2009, when the issue of

reproductive Bill came into thestate House of Assembly, theCatholic Church galvanised thepeople to defeat the ugly Billthat was aimed at increasing therate of promiscuity, as well as

legitimise abortion on demand.Obinna noted that the assaults

on the sacredness of life had ne-cessitated the pro-life conference,so that “our people will becomemore conscientised and begin todefend our children and womenfrom aberration.”

Noting that he was happy thatAfricans regard life as very sa-cred, Archbishop Obinna ex-pressed worry that each timethese toxic wastes are beingmoved to Africa, they come in theguise of Christian and religiousfashion.

South senatorial zone that are hap-py with the appellate court’s deci-sion, but all democrats in the state.

“The court’s decision is an affir-mation of the wish of the peopleand the role of the judiciary as thelast hope of the people. This willfurther encourage Senator Ubah toforge ahead with his people ori-ented programmes. This case wasan unnecessary distraction, butnow that it is over, he can get downwith his projects towards improv-ing the lives of the people. As a

grassroots politician, Senator Ubahas done a lot for the people andhe intends to do more if he getselected to serve at the highestlevel.

“His record as governor for 17days is one of great encourage-ment. He displayed what lead-ership is all about. He has all thecontact, ideas and vision to turnthings round for the best in thestate if he gets the ticket of theparty in the state.”

“ Uba as a mobiliser has raisedthe bars with what he has doneso far in the Senate, so nobodyhas any doubt about his ability todeliver on his promises. Fromwhat he has done in the senateso far, he has shown that he hasthe capacity to make the differ-ence. Now that the court mattershave been dispensed with, wewant him to focus on the taskahead.”

It will be recalled that MrNicholas Ukachukwu hadchallenged Uba’s election onthe grounds that he was notthe duly nominated candidateof the party.

BY INNOCENT ANABA

Anambra 2014: Guber aspirant reveals package for aged

AWKA—AS AnambraState gets ready for the

2014 governorship election, aPeoples Democratic Party, PDP,guber aspirant, Dr. AlexObiogbolu has that he will in-troduce a systematic condi-tional cash transfer if he be-came governor of the state.

Obiogbolu at the PDPstakeholders meeting at Nteje,Oyi Local Government Area ofAnambra State, said that inthe package, aged citizens

from 60 years and above,who are not pensionerswould be entitled to amonthly stipend from thestate government.

He said the move wouldtake pressure off the childrenof the concerned aged per-sons and provide an enablingenvironment for aged ones tofully enjoy their old agewithout anxiety over whatthey would eat, while theirchildren will have the oppor-

tunity to concentrate on beinguseful to themselves and thesociety because of the assurancethat they are getting somethingfrom the society.

He said: “An average Ameri-can is ready to die for Americanot just because he is an Ameri-can but because the Americansociety is investing heavily onthe social welfare of the citizenin which there is allowance forthe unemployed.”

THANKSGIVING: Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Awka, Bishop Alexander Ibezim (left),receiving family members and friends of Justice Okechukwu Okeke, during a thanksgivingservice for Justice Okeke, who recently retired from service, at St. Jude’s Anglican Church,Adazi-ani, Anambra State, yesterday.

CMYK


From left: Director, European-American University, Com-monwealth of Dominica, Dr. Luke Okojie; MD/CEO, MabseedNigeria Ltd, Dr. Abu Alidu Moses and Deputy Head, AfricaOperations, European-American University, Prof. MikeNwaubani, at the conferment of doctor of science on Dr. AbuAlidu Moses in Lome, Togo.

103, 080 Nigerian children live on anti-viral drugs — UNICEF

BY PETER DURU

I’ve fulfilledmy promises,support meto do more— Kwara govMAKURDI —

THE UnitedNations Children’sFund, UNICEF, has dis-closed that over103,080 Nigeria chil-dren require and live onanti-retroviral drugs tostay alive as a result oftheir HIV status.

The world body re-vealed that, out of sixmillion annual new

births in Nigeria, over56, 681 are HIV posi-tive.

This was made knownby HIV/AIDS specialistat the UNICEF ‘A’ FieldOffice, Dr. FemiAdeyemi, at a three dayZonal NetworkingMeeting for MediaPractitioners on PublicAdvocacy and AllianceBuilding for Preventionof Mother to ChildTransmission of HIV,held in Makurdi.

Dr. Adeyemi, whotook an overview andupdate on prevention ofmother to child trans-mission of HIV in thecountry, lamented that,of the 2.9 million HIVprevelence rate in thecountry, 1.7million werewomen.

ILORIN— KWARAState governor

Alhaji AbdulfatahAhmed, weekend, hassaid he has fulfilled hiselectoral promises to thepeople of the state andurged them to continueto support his adminis-tration to enable him domore.

The governor, whospoke during hismonthly media -chat tocelebrate his two year inoffice, said that despiteall challenges Nigeriahas done well in itsdemocratic processeswhen compared with itsother peers in AfricanSub-region.

“Nigeria has faredwell and with God wewill move higher andhigher in the fulfilmentof democratic dividendsto the people “, he said

On the fulfilment ofhis administration’selectoral promises thegovernor explained thathis administration hasbuilt over 200 classrooms across the statewhile the state govern-ment has reduced theschool fees of KwaraState University(KWASU) to enablemore people have ac-cess to quality educa-tion.

Governor Ahmednoted that the govern-ment has also reposi-tioned all the stateowned colleges, whilethe reconstruction ofgeneral hospital acrossthe three senatorial dis-tricts in the state havereached about 90 percent completion.

He said that on theemployment generationthe state governmenthas provided employ-ment for 3,000 youthjobs in the KWABESbridge programme, not-ing that the state gov-ernment has done a lotin the economic and in-frastructure develop-ment of the state.

Meanwhile, GovernorAhmed has canvassed acomplete review of theuniversity educationcurricula to makegraduates job creatorsrather than job seekers.

Governor Ahmedmade the call, weekend,in his address duringthe maiden convocationof the Kwara State Uni-versity (KWASU),

BY DEMOLA AKINYEMI

He noted that “at themoment the annual fig-ure of pregnant womenwho are living with HIV/AIDS in the country isabout 56,681.”

While taking a state bystate assessment of theHIV/AIDS prevelencerate in the country, he

stresed that the fig-ure ranges from oneper cent in KebbiState, which he saidwas the lowest in thecountry, to 12.7 percent in Benue, whichrepresents in thehighest in the coun-try.

Cardinal Onaiyekan lambastsPDP over crisis in Rivers

BY: VICTORIA OJEME

ABUJA — THE MetropolitanCatholic Archbishop of Abuja,

John Cardinal Onaiyekan, has lam-basted the ruling Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) over the crisis playing outin Rivers State.

Onaiyekan, who berated the partyover the suspension slammed on theGovernor of Rivers State, ChibuikeRotimi Amaechi, said the whole thingdoes not make sense.

Speaking on the suspension ofAmaechi by the PDP and the allegedimpeachment moves against him dur-ing the Italian National Day in Abuja,Onaiyekan said: “The whole thing doesnot make sense to me. The only senseit makes, is that this is again, the ras-cality of our politicians at play.

“When politiciansquarrel, they begin toplay dirty games onone another. In theprocess, nobody isthinking of the poorpeople. I am not sureall this talk has any-thing to do with serv-ice of the people ofRivers State. And it isa pity,” Onaiyekansaid.

Onaiyekan furthersaid: “Of course, ifPDP wants to impeachhim, everybody knowsthat they can becauseI am told that all mem-bers of the State As-sembly of Rivers State,are all PDP, which initself, is a suspiciousfact that all membersof a particular House

of Assembly are of thesame one party.

“What kind of elec-tion did they have?And what kind of de-mocracy are we talk-ing about? Can youimagine the NationalAssembly being all ofone party and we claimthat we are practisingdemocracy? We arejoking.

“So, the whole thinghas been flawed fromthe beginning. How itwill end, I don’tknow.”

On the state of emer-gency declared inBorno, Yobe andAdamawa states, theformer President of theChristian Associationof Nigeria, CAN, andthe Catholic Bishops’Conference of Nigeria,commended Presi-dent GoodluckJonathan, saying,“this was a state ofemergency with a dif-ference.”

According toOnaiyekan: “Very of-ten or most of the time,when a state of emer-gency is declared, thedemocratic structuresare suppressed andsomeone is appointedto run affairs.

“In this case, the gov-ernors have been leftin their place as wellas the local govern-ment chairmen.”

S & P upgrades AccessBank’s long-term creditrating to ‘BB-’

FOREMOST GLOBAL rating agency,Standard & Poor’s Rating Services (S&P)

has upgraded Access Bank’s long-term creditrating to ‘BB-‘from ‘B+’ with a stable outlook.

Similarly, the bank’s long term Nigeria na-tional scale rating was upgraded to ‘ngAA-‘from ‘ngA’, attesting to its continued adher-ence to global best practices, sound corporategovernance and best-in-class risk managementframework.

This is the second consecutive upgrade thebank has received in two years and attests tothe resilience of the bank and its importance tothe Nigerian financial system and economy atlarge.

CMYK

Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard,Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3 MONDAY, JUNE 3 MONDAY, JUNE 3 MONDAY, JUNE 3 MONDAY, JUNE 3,,,,, 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 —15—15—15—15—15

How to treat infected wounds Pink Pearl takes breast cancercampaign to Abia, Cameroon

•Participants queuing for a breast cancer screening during Pink Pearl's"Two Breasts are Better than One" campaign in Kumbo, Cameroon

UNDOUBTEDLY, typicalsigns of infected wound

include swelling, pain, fever,and the presence of pus. Butabsence of these signs does notmean the wound is not in-fected, however. According toexperts unless a wound is veryrecent, you should assume thatuntreated wounds are likelyinfected or may become in-fected.Infected wounds should betreated by a physician or othermedical expert. When that isnot immediately possible, thereare steps you can take to carefor the wound until you are ableto contact medical personnel.

Good sanitation is very impor-tant when dealing with anywound and is a necessary partof infected wound care. Makesure your hands are clean be-fore tending to the wound anduse only sterile

Things you will need:

To treat wounds you needsterile gauze, medical tape,antiseptic ointment or solution,clean water for wound irriga-tion, sterile tweezers and otherinstrument for removing deadtissue.

Instructions:

Wash your hands carefullybefore treating the infectedwound. Be sure to clean be-neath your fingernails and useantiseptic soap if available. Af-ter sanitising your hands, puton clean exam gloves if glovesare available.

Sanitize the area of skinaround the wound with alco-hol or an antibacterial solution.Cleaning areas of skin near thewound site will prevent acci-dental contamination of thewound by any harmful bacte-ria present on the skin.

Carefully wash any foreignmatter and pus from the wound.Avoid scrubbing the wound.Scrubbing may open blood ves-

BY CHIOMA OBINNA

IN the spirit of enlighten ing and empowering theless fortunate African women,Pink Pearl Foundation hastaken its campaign “TwoBreasts are better than One”to Cameroonian woman aspart of activities to mark thisyear’s National Women’s Day.

In a lecture at the event,Dr. Ufuoma Okotete, Execu-tive Director of DiamondHelix Hospital; spoke on theessence of early detectionwhile Mrs. Orode advisedthat “those already with thedisease shouldn’t bestigmatised, rather theyshould be cared for and loved,all they need is hope’.

In his remarks, Mr. OnyeUbanatu urged the women tospread the word to other

women who weren’t able to at-tend the event. “Pink PearlFoundation is a rapidly growingforce against cancer, and it showsits determination in reducing ris-ing mortality rate which cancercauses in Africa with eachpassing day. The foundationcontinues to save lives and givehope where needed.” Thewomen were taken through asession Breast Self-Examination(BSE) with emphasis on theneed for regular mammographytests and checkups. A free breastand cervical cancer screeninglater followed after the trainingsession.

Of the 175 women screened,16 were found to have lumps/mass tissues in their breast while67 were diagnosed with cervici-tis, discolorations or discharges.

sels, allowing bacteria to enterthe bloodstream. It is better tosimply pour water over thewound to wash out debris. Ifthere is dead tissue present andvisible within the wound, try toremove as much as possible.

Place antibiotic ointment, oran antiseptic solution, on ster-ile gauze and apply to thewound. Secure the gauze to thewound and try to keep thebandage clean. Bandages mayneed to be changed frequently,and at these times the woundshould be checked.

Seek professional medical at-tention for the wound as soonas possible. Infections can getserious very quickly. Even asmall wound should be treatedseriously if it shows signs of

infection.Tips and warnings:A tetanus shot may be neces-

sary for those who have not hada tetanus shot in the past fewyears. Make sure the bandageis not too tight and check it fre-quently. Keep bandages dry

Seek medical attention imme-diately for infected wounds, forlarge wounds, and for anywound that won’t heal. If thereis an increase in swelling of thewound, or you see redness (in-cluding red lines) spreadingout from the wound, or fever ispresent, this may be a medicalemergency. Seek immediatemedical attention.

Do not use hydrogen perox-ide on serious wounds andnever use it on deep wounds.

•Treating open wounds as soon as possible after theyhappen is often the only way to prevent further damage.

Nigerians patronise private-owned hospitals over govts’ — POLL

A new weekly poll resultsby NOI Polls have

shown that 79 percent of Nige-rians do not have access tohealth insurance. The poll alsorevealed that almost 45 percentNigerians rely on private hos-pitals/ healthcare facilities fortheir healthcare needs, with 25percent Federal GovernmentHospitals (25percent) coming

a distant second.However, the Poll identified

poor healthcare facilities andthe lack of facilities in some in-stances as the main factors re-sponsible for the high rate ofinfant mortality experienced inthe country.

The latest poll on thehealthcare system which heldfrom 2nd week in May, 2013 is

type of healthcare facilitymainly used by Nigerians.

Results showed that almost5 in 10 respondents (45 per-cent) use Private Hospitalsand Health Facilities; fol-lowed by 25 percent who useFederal Government Hospi-tals. Furthermore, 13 percentof the respondents stated thatthey use State Governmenthospitals, and 10 percent sim-ply use Pharmacies/Drugstores. Other facilities usedinclude TraditionalHealthcare (3 percent), LocalGovernment Hospitals/HealthCentres (2 percent), and FaithHealing Centres (1 percent).

Respondents were subse-quently asked: Do you haveaccess to any form of healthinsurance? From the results,almost 8 in 10 respondents (79percent) answered negativelyto the question, indicatingthat they do not have accessto any form of health insur-ance. On the other hand,21percent answered “Yes” tothe question. At the geo-po-

expected thatthe results &findings fromthe poll willhighlight theperceptions ofNigerians andstimulate com-mentary toproffer recom-mendations tostrengtheningthe country’shealthcare sys-tem. Partici-pants in thepoll answeredfive specificquestions toestablish the

litical zones, South-East regionhas 26 per cent slight majorityof respondents that claim to haveaccess to health insurance andfemale respondents appear tohave a slight edge over male re-spondents with 24 percent whenit comes to accessing health in-surance.

Respondents that said theyhad access to Health Insurancewere further asked: If yes, whatform of Health Insurance do youhave? The overall majority of 59percent stated that they haveaccess to the National HealthInsurance Scheme. This is fol-lowed by 35 percent who saythey have access to health insur-ance via a private Health Man-agement Organisation paid bytheir employer; and 6 percentwho say they have access via aprivate HMO, but self-funded.The North-West has the highestproportion (83 percent) of re-spondents that benefit fromNHIS, followed by the North-Central. Also, the South-West hasthe highest percentage of 51 per-cent through their employers.

CMYK

OPINION


BY NNAEMEKA ORUH

LOADS of critics will arise after reading this essay. ManyAfrican feminist critics could come for my jugular. I hope

though that they will appraise the issue objectively and ad-dress it effectively. On my part,I will try as much as I can to bevery objective and underline my points with verifiable facts,and keep it short. Very short. After all, this is only just a roadmap. One of the most salient points of this year’s Big BrotherAfrica is the relationship issue in the house. Of course there aretwo most significant ones: Goldie and Prezzo; Talia versusKeagan/Seydou. This essay is not all about the details of thesetwo relationships. It is about how these relationships clearlyunderscore the issue of supposed female subsumation in Af-rica. Supposed, because whenever female subsumation is dis-cussed, it is in reference to the man subsuming the woman.Nobody ever mentions the woman’s/women’s part.

First, Goldie and Prezzo. Obviously, as a Nigerian, Goldiedid have a whole lot of chances of making it to at least the lastfive/six. Big Brother Africa’s history testifies to this. But, was sheable to do that? Clearly, she could not. It was not because Afri-cans would not have kept her in the house if she did try to beentertaining a bit. The major reason was because she lost sightof why she was in the house and made her new focus Prezzo.And true to type, the self-styled President utilized the opportu-nity presented to him by the unfocused and unassertive Goldie.

Upon meeting Prezzo, Goldie lost focus and made him herprimary focus of entertainment. She washed, cooked, tended toand loved him wholeheartedly. In doing this, she malignedherself from her housemates and also failed to provide thenecessary entertainment to Africa. Consequently, she becamethe most hated housemate to have ever come out of Nigeriasince the inception of the Big Brother Africa show. Through-out the entire history of the Big Brother Africa, I do not thinkthat Nigerians have hated any Nigerian housemate more than

Big Brother and thegender issue in Africathey hated Goldie during her time there. I know that somepeople will point to the fact that Nigerians still voted for herduring her stay in the house, but then, sheer patriotism madethat happen. No Nigerian made any extra effort to keep her inthe house, and when she was evicted, everybody heaved a sighof relief.

The question now is, was Goldie not completely Africanwomanish in her actions in the Big Brother Africa house?

A traditional African would say she was. The nouveau Africanlady will hesitate and show her “ambivalence”. Exactly howthey(the women) subsume themselves and give men all thepowers. My assertion here is that Goldie’s obsession withPrezzo led to her “early” eviction. As pointed out above, loadsof people all over Africa could not feel her “entertaining”personality, hence she never, at any point, was Africa’s beloved.Yet Prezzo stayed on to be the first runner-up. As you would seelater on, African women decide who is entertaining.

Next up is Talia. Sweet and beautiful Talia. Africa’s beauti-ful queen. Loved by both male and female. Beloved of Angolaand Seydou. Talia had it all working for her when she wasSeydou’s loving and faithful girlfriend. In staying true toSeydou, she became the epitome of African beauty mixedwith African virtue. Africa loved her; Seydou campaigned forher; and she had a very high chance of dragging the numberone spot with Keagan. Then like Eve(not Big Brother Africa’sEve), she fell. Keagan, dangling the serpent.

Talia, who had continuously professed her love for Seydouand stayed strong. Liked by all the housemates, she was nevernominated for eviction. The only time she came up for evic-

tion was when “Biggie’s machine” chose her country. Whenthat happened, Africans showed her love. Sey showed her loveby campaigning for her too. But during the last week, Keaganmoved in with one thing in mind: seduce her. He succeeded asshe fell for that with just a week to go. It seemed that Keagan’smotive was “exterminate the dual opposition of Talia andSeydou”. That done, she lost Seydou’s support. Now, mostimportantly, she lost the support of African women. I willexplain.

It is quite obvious that majority of the voters/fans of BigBrother Africa, or indeed any reality show are women.

They decide who wins and who does not. While most of themcome out in public and try to support Talia, behind, they criti-cized her actions and withdrew their votes. To them, she hadbetrayed “African womanhood”. Meanwhile, Goldie, whostayed faithful and was lauded as the epitome of African wom-anhood by most of the African women(after her eviction ofcourse) was also evicted for being “too in-love”!

My summation: African women are too patriarchal to de-fine what they are agitating for. Their thought processes areso male-defined that they willingly hand over themselves andtheir sisters to male domination. If the man says, “she is toolovey-dovey”, the African woman accepts and searches forthe guillotine. If he says she is a tramp, the African womanasks for public execution!

My purpose in this essay is not to answer questions. What Imerely wanted to do is to point out two things; firstly, Africanwomen are the architects of their own downfall. Secondly,lack of principle and discipline make African women submitthemselves to male domination. Live television has proventhis and live television(especially reality shows) reflects real-ity. I have provided guiding points! Let the debate begin!

*Mr Oruh, a social commentator, wrote from Lagos

FOR African leaders the attainment of theGolden age by the African Union, which start-ed of as the Organisation of African Unity inMay 1963, was something to celebrate. But itwas a celebration that was lacking in high-light of accomplishments on social, politicaland economic fronts.It was also a celebration that failed to set

forth agenda for the future and perhaps testi-fies to the limited vision of those who leadAfrica today.Africa is a continent that is well endowed in

human and natural resources. It is also a con-tinent that is lacking scientific and techno-logical mindset and aspirations.For the member states that form the African

Union, what has been so manifest in the past50 years has been tales of woes, arising fromwars, natural disasters, poor leadership, lackof development hunger, diseases and mind-less exploitation of the continent by externalpowers, with their local collaborators.The leaders that gathered in Addis Ababa in

the Chinese built headquarters of AU, did nothave much to count as their achievement.The Mo Ibrahim award for leadership in Af-

rica has failed in the past three years, to finda leader in the continent that deserves to beso honoured.

AAAAAU BeU BeU BeU BeU Beyyyyyond 50ond 50ond 50ond 50ond 50thththththAnnivAnnivAnnivAnnivAnnivererererersarsarsarsarsaryyyyy

African Union has failed to rise up to the oc-casion in Mali where France sent its troops tohalt the Al-Qaeda backed Islamist from takingover the entire country. The African Interna-tional Support Mission (AFISMA) has contin-ued to flounder because it has to rely on Ex-ternal funding from western countries. Theproposed African standby force remains a mi-rage while the continent has become a havenfor Islamist fundamentalist push for politicaland economic control. There is also the scram-ble for resources from Africa by China andAsian countries while the continent remainsbuffeted by poverty, corruption, bad gover-nance and civil strifes.

The Economic Commission for Africa has noblue print for a continental economic growthwhile the entire project of economic integra-tion is in disarray with Maghreb nations ofNorth Africa, sponsoring Islamist insurgencyin sub-Saharan Africa. The East and CentralAfrica Economic Commission is struggling tofind its bearing while South Africa Develop-ment Commission SADEC remains a one manshow where South Africa is the dominant pow-er. With sit tight leaders like Yuweri Museve-ni in Uganda, Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe,Omar El-Bashir in Sudan, Dos Santos in An-gola, the African peer review project has gonecomatose. All these have left sordid taste inAU’s glass of Champagne.We therefore call for an urgent review of the

concept of leadership at national and conti-nental levels, which will establish the rele-vance of the existence of a body such as theAU.We urge humanist philosophy of leadership

which will enthrone their citizens at the cen-tre of their leadership ethos and vision. Thiswill end this present hunt of African leadersby the International Criminal Court (ICC)which seems to have become political alba-tross on the neck of African leaders.

CMYK


OGHIADOMHE’S SON WEDS

From left: President Goodluck Jonathan; Groom, Mark Omo with the bride,Omolade, and Senate President, David Mark, at the wedding of Chief ofStaff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe’s son, Mark Omo, in Abuja,weekend. Photos: Abayomi Adeshida

From left: First Lady, Mrs. Dame Patience Jonathan; wife of the Chief ofStaff to the President, Mrs. Louisa Oghiadomhe and Chief of Staff to thePresident, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe

From left: Primate of All NIgeria, Anglican Communion, Most. Rev. NicholasOkoh (left); Omo Mark Oghiadomhe and his bride, Omobolanle; parents ofthe newly-wedded bride, Mr. & Mrs. Dele Okeya, during the solemnisationof the matrimony, at the Cathedral Church of The Advent, Gwarimpa, Abuja

From left: Father of the groom, Chief Oghiadomhe with his wife, Louisa andparents of the bride, Mr. & Mrs. Okeya.

CMYK

CMYK



Queen Elizabeth II marks 60th anniversary of coronationQUEEN Elizabeth II

was marking the 60thanniversary of hercoronation in privateyesterday after indulgingin her passion for horseswith a day at the races.

The 87-year-old monarchand her husband PrincePhilip spent Saturday at theEpsom Derby, echoing theevents of a year ago thatkicked off her four-daydiamond jubilee party.

Queen Elizabeth took thethrone on February 6, 1952upon the death of her fatherking George VI, but toallow for a period ofnational mourning, she wasonly crowned 16 monthslater in London’sWestminster Abbey.

The queen will be joinedby the royal family and2,000 guests at the abbeyon Tuesday for a servicecelebrating the anniversary.

At the Epsom Downscourse, the monarch, an

avid racing fan and a notedracehorse breeder, seemedin good spirits, whilePrince Philip followed theaction through binoculars.

The queen and her 91-year-old husband weremarking the actualanniversary day in a low-key fashion at Windsor

Castle, west of London,where they regularly spendthe weekend.

“They are spending theday privately,” a

Buckingham Palacespokeswoman told AFP.

“The main focus isobviously on Tuesday’sservice.” Queen Elizabeth

and Prince Philip willreturn to duty on Monday,attending a reception forthe Royal National Institutefor the Blind at St. James’sPalace in London.

Turkish PM blames opposition for protestsPRIME Minister Tayyip

Erdogan accusedTurkey’s main secularopposition party yesterdayof stirring a wave of anti-government protests, as

tens of thousandsregrouped in Istanbul andAnkara after a lull andtrouble flared again in thecapital.

This came as thousandsof people were on Sundayoccupying Istanbul’sTaksim Square, theepicentre of the worst

demonstrations in a decadeagainst Turkey’s Islamist-rooted government whichhave seen almost 1,000people detained and scores

wounded. Police used teargas on protesters in Ankarabut the clashes wererelatively minor comparedwith major violence inTurkey’s biggest cities onthe previous two days.

Calling the protesters “afew looters”, Erdogan saidhe would press ahead withredeveloping Istanbul’sTaksim Square, a projectwhich provoked thedemonstrations that havewidened into a broadershow of defiance againsthis Islamist-rooted Justiceand Development Party(AKP).

Syrian rebels battle Hezbollah in LebanonH E Z B O L L A H

guerrillas fought adeadly battle with Syrianrebels in Lebanon’s easternborder region earlyyesterday securitysources said, in the latesteruption of Syria’sconflict on Lebanese soil.

Sources said at least 12

rebels were killed in thefighting east of theBekaa Valley town ofBaalbek, but the tollwould not be clear untilbodies were retrievedfrom the remote andrugged border area. OneHezbollah fighter alsodied, they said.

Syria’s two-year-oldconflict has increasinglysucked in its smallerneighbor, with deadlyfighting shaking thenorthern Lebanese cityof Tripoli and rocketshitting the Bekaa Valleyand southern Beirut.Shi’ite Muslim

Hezbollah, whichsupports PresidentBashar al-Assad, isfighting alongside hisarmy to drive rebels fromthe Syrian border townof Qusair, whileLebanese Sunni Muslimfighters have joined theanti-Assad revolt.

CMYK

CMYK



OPINIONBY DANIEL ALAOWEI-GREEN

*Mr. Alaowei-Green, a political analyst, wrote fromAbuja.

,

,

*GENESISTHAT Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark is an enigma isan understatement. That many Nigerians are aware ofhis true pedigree and launch-pad is an overstatement.

A scion of the Clark family of Kiagbodo town in BurutuLocal Government Area of Delta State, Chief Clark is asibling of Professor John Pepper Clark, AmbassadorAkporode Clark and Robert Clark, SAN. Diminutive buthighly - assertive, Chief E. K. Clark strolled into nationalconsciousness when he was appointed Commissionerfor Education by the then Military Governor of the oldMidwestern State, then Colonel Samuel OsaigbovoOgbemudia. In 1971, in a minor cabinet reshuffle, ChiefClark replaced Chief A. Y. Eke as the Commissioner forFinance and Economic Development when the latter wasappointed as the Federal Commissioner for Education. As fate would have it, Chief Clark, himself, later servedas the Federal Commissioner for Information.

He was briefly an elected Senator in the diarchyexperiment foisted on the nation by the IbrahimBabangida Administration. When the exercise collapsedon November 17, 1993, Clark virtually consigned himselfto his Kiagbodo, Delta State country home neitherappearing on the social nor the political circuit.

*CLARK, A KING KONG?

E. K. Clark and the season of wolves

Continues tomorrow on pg 18

The militancy in the Niger Delta creeks that hadheightened at this period, gave the crucial fillip andplatform to Chief Clark’s new-fangled ethnic nationalismas the champion of Ijaw Resurgence and Emancipationwith an undertone of gaining state, sub-regional andnational relevance. With an anchor in the Presidency,Clark has become the toast of position-seekers, influence-peddlers and political-jobbers while using the unwarymilitants as bargaining chips. He rattled and harassedex-Governor James Ibori during his second tenure to noend and continued the process when Dr. EmmanuelUduaghan took over the reins of government in 2007 tilldate. The Boko Haram insurgency and the imbroglioover Jonathan’s eligibility to contest for a “second term”in 2015, has given the old man enough preoccupation ofsomething to rail and rue about.

*NEW TARGETSTime was when Elder Godsday Orubebe was the Acolyte-

in-Chief, Crown Prince and heir apparent to the political(or ethnic?) conglomerate that was being assembled bythe self-styled Ijaw Leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark.Though his alchemy was/is hinged on the enthronementof ethnic hegemony anchored on myriads of gun-wieldingmilitant groups and fiefdoms led by some leaders with

weird and awe-inducing names and nomenclatures likeGeneral Shoot-at-Sight, General Boyloaf etc. Chief Clark’sdeft political calculations and stratagems needed thebacking of some of these emerging centres of raw powerand means of coercion to act his epic script.

Chief Clark’s self-serving ethnic jingoism andMachiavellian disposition towards the uplift of the Ijawnationality is of recent occurrence and only bloomed withinthe last three years.

It is trite wisdom that since Orubebe has declared hisintention to run for the office of the Governor of DeltaState in 2015, it is generally-held that Chief Clark wouldhave allowed the President’s political and media spindoctors to address the issue from the perspective ofPresident Jonathan’s touted moratorium on the self-samepolitical infraction allegedly committed by Elder Orubebe.

It is glaring that instead of being idle, Chief Clark hasdecided to throw stones into his own domain from theoutside not caring whether innocent persons are hit inthe process.

WHAT started like a rumour is nowa confirmed conflict. Hon. Chibuike

Rotimi Amaechi, the Governor of RiversState and President of Nigeria, DrGoodluck Jonathan, who hails from nearbyBayelsa State, are locked in an “exhibition”fight towards the 2015 election year.

The recently concluded NigerianGovernors Forum (NGF) election whichAmaechi won tells a lot of short stories.For instance, it tells us that indeed, theGovernor of Jigawa State, Alhaji SuleLamido, is no longer in the president’spolitical camp. In fact, he went out of hisway to organise an economic summit inhis state as the Federal Government stageda classy mid-term Democracy Day in Abujawhere it tendered its scorecard for publicevaluation.

The Jigawa summit drew a number ofpeople that should have been in Abuja,such as former president OlusegunObasanjo. Obasanjo openly said Lamidowas the man who should be entrusted withthe nation’s leadership. Based on hisperformance in his state, Lamido is,indeed, a fine material for the presidency.But Obasanjo is not known for choosingor endorsing candidates in the nationalinterest. His selfish interest is always aheadof every other consideration.

Poor qualityleadership

If anyone thinks the period between 2007and today has been spent under poorquality leadership Obasanjo is the manbehind it all. So, we must watch it whenhe endorses a candidate, and decide forourselves if what he wants is what we alsowant.

What is not too clear yet is whetherLamido will challenge President Jonathanfor the People’s Democratic Party (PDP)ticket in 2015. House of Reps Speaker,Aminu Tambuwal, has also beenpussyfooting, goaded on by some northernleaders to run for president. He chose toattend a local event in Sokoto State onDemocracy Day. The implications areobvious if Lamido and Tambuwal willcontest with the president for the PDP ticketunless, of course, they would be joiningthe All Progressives Congress (APC) andfight from there.

The Governors’ Forum election alsoexposed some PDP governors from theNorth, such as Dr. Babangida Aliyu of

Amaechi’s rebel warNiger, Admiral Murtala Nyako ofAdamawa, Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano(who is also said to be nursing apresidential ambition) and Aliyu Wamakkoof Sokoto State. They, along with Lamido,were the party rebels who, after endorsingDr. Jonah Jang as PDP’s consensuscandidate, switched to Amaechi, thuscompromising their positions within theparty.

Amaechi is engaged in a brazen rebellionagainst the president and the PDP. He hasbecome the rallying point of PDP rebelgovernors and the governors of theopposition APC states. I have oftenwondered what he really hopes to achieve,after beating the president’s candidate inthe Governors' Forum election. For theopposition APC, it is a telling gambit. Theyhave made a great inroad into the PDP.Even if these PDP governors would notjoin their party, they have unsettled theunity of the ruling party with hopes ofgaining more ground. They have won atactical victory.

the larger chunk. Secondly, the president,so early in the day, now knows who hisenemies are, especially within the PDPfold. He can now deploy his countermeasures. But for Amaechi, victory at theNGF polls is at best a pyrrhic one. Fromnow till the day he leaves office, he willnever know peace. Jonathan will chasehim with venom. It is going to be a fratricidalwar. William Shakespeare in Macbethwarned of such conflicts: “the nearer inblood, the nearer bloody”. Professor JibrilAminu once told me of a Fulbe saying thattranslates thus: “Why should I harm you?Am I your brother?”

The principle of contiguity andconsanguinity applies closely to therelationship between Rivers and Bayelsa.Jonathan’s Ijaw people inhabit both states.In addition, most Bayelsa big shots stilllive primarily in Port Harcourt, the RiversState capital. Strategically putting it,President Jonathan cannot afford to havethe greatest threat to his re-election be fromRivers. He will likely fight Amaechi withthe no-brakes vehemence with which he

settled the hash of former GovernorTimipre Sylva of Bayelsa. ChibuikeAmaechi is an intelligent man. But he isnot a wise man. He is action-packed, buthe lacks self control. Power without controlis nothing, an old Asian saying goes.Amaechi has been overwhelmed by thearrogance of power and oil money and hefails to realise how preciously the peopleof the Niger Delta – and the South East forthat matter – value Jonathan’s presidency.

Call it sentiment if you like, but it countsfor a lot in Nigerian politics. I don’t seehow the Niger Delta and South East willwant to exchange Jonathan’s presidencyfor Chibuike Amaechi's vice presidency! Idon’t see how the South-South will like tothrow away a position they fought fornearly fifty years. When will they have itagain? That is the sentiment Amaechi isgoing to run against.

When the PDP announced their decisionto suspend him from their party, Amaechicalled on the opposition and “youths” todefend “Rivers State”. As if harkening tothe call, a feral Arewa critic of the Jonathanadministration, Mallam Nasir el Rufai,pledged to go to Rivers State and “fightfor Amaechi”.

I hope reason prevails in both camps. Ihope this “war” does not start. We all needpeace in Rivers State, just as we need it inevery state. But should this “war” start, Ilook forward to seeing el Rufai actually inRivers State with his daughters in persontrading tackles. That would be a refreshingdeparture from the past when suchindividuals incited violence and duckedinto the cozy confines of their opulentmansions while the children ofimpoverished Nigerians attacked oneanother. I hope the president maintainshis usual, matured cool and avoids thecounsel of warmongers. There are manyways a Nigerian president can get evenand seemingly difficult matters taken careof.

Chibuike Amaechi is an intelligent man. But he is nota wise man. He is action-packed, but he lacks selfcontrol. Power without control is nothing, an oldAsian saying goes. Amaechi has been overwhelmedby the arrogance of power and oil money and he failsto realise how preciously the people of the NigerDelta – and the South East for that matter – valueJonathan’s presidency

Gov. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

The president’s camp has also won anunlikely tactical victory. Though itscandidate was defeated, the NGF has splitinto two, with president’s camp holding


,

,

,BY ADEKEYE ADEBAJO

,*Mr. Shuaib, a commentator onnational issues, wrote from KofarDukawuya, Kano City.

*Dr. Adekeye is executive director of theCentre for Conflict Resolution, Cape Town,South Africa.

BY YUSHAU SHUAIB

I NOTED with interest the response fromAmedu Ogbole Ode, the spokesperson

in the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs(‘Nigeria’s Foreign Policy – in Decline orRobust?’, Vanguard, 13 and 14 May 2013;and The Guardian, May 15 and 16, 2013)to my article ‘Decline of Nigeria’s ForeignPolicy’ (The Guardian, May 6, 2013).

It was Gabriel Olusanya, the formerDirector-General of the Nigerian Instituteof International Affairs, NIIA and formerAmbassador to France, who coined theexpression ‘area boy diplomacy’ to describethe country’s foreign policy under theautocracy of General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), as conducted by his often abrasiveforeign minister, Tom Ikimi. The ForeignMinistry’s response to my critique ofNigeria’s current foreign policy follows asimilar vein, and suggests that some of ournational institutions still appear to sufferfrom the era of military rule in which honestdisagreement is treated as high treason.Debate and disagreement are surely thelifeblood of democratic discourse. Ratherthan engaging in sober, rational discussion,this vituperative response reflects adefensiveness unbefitting one of Africa’sfinest diplomatic services. A critical 900-word article should surely not be treatedas a seditious 300-page book in a fit ofparanoia in which the respondent playsthe man and not the ball.

It is important to note that I started thearticle by praising Nigeria’s past andcurrent foreign policy. I noted that thecountry played a leading role in the

The perils of ‘Area Boy Diplomacy’RIGHT OF REPLY

liberation of Southern Africa; itspeacekeepers helped to calm two civilconflicts in Liberia and Sierra Leone in the1990s; it was instrumental in building theinstitutions of the African Union, AU, after2002; and it currently has peacekeepersdeployed in Sudan’s Darfur region, Liberia,Guinea-Bissau, and Mali.

There are, however, five important pointsthat I made in my article which the ForeignMinistry spokesman has failedsubstantively to address.

First, I noted that Nigeria’s internationalvoice has become muted. I cited twoexamples: The fact that Abuja failed to rallysupport to prevent South Africa’sNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma from assumingthe Chair of the AU Commission last yeardespite its principled and, in my view,correct position that no representative of alarge African power should occupy the post.Mr. Ode’s assertion that “Nigeria did notcontest any election with South Africa’s DrNkosazana Dlamini-Zuma” thuscompletely misses the point. The issue wasnot about Nigeria contesting for theposition but rather its failure to use itsdiplomatic clout effectively in defence of apublicly stated principle. I also noted asanother example of Nigeria’s loss ofinfluence the way that the United Nations,UN, brushed aside Abuja’s objections toremoving Ibrahim Gambari as SpecialRepresentative of the AU)/UN hybridmission in Darfur (UNAMID), despite thecountry having the largest contingent inthe field. The point was not about Gambarias an individual, but rather that the countrycould have pushed to have anotherNigerian as Special Representative or even

as Force Commander (a post held byNigeria’s General Martin Luther Agwaibetween 2007 and 2009).

My second point was that Nigeria’sproud 50-year UN peacekeepingreputation has been badly damaged by thequality of its soldiers and equipment, withconsistent complaints having emanatedfrom the UN Department of PeacekeepingOperations, DPKO. I would have thoughtthat this would be an issue of great concernfor the Foreign Ministry. Quoting publicstatements by the UN Secretary-General,Ban ki-Moon, praising Nigeria’s efforts tore-equip its troops still amounts to closingthe stable-door after the horse has bolted.We should not underestimate how muchdamage has already been done by thisfailure, and it will take much work to repair.

My third unanswered point is thatSouth Africa has become a more strategicactor in global diplomacy than Nigeria,despite our country having impressivelyspearheaded support for the liberation ofSouth Africa. Even though it has apopulation three times smaller thanNigeria’s, South Africa is the only Africanmember of the Brazil, Russia, India, China,and South Africa, BRICS, economicgrouping and the Group of 20 (G20) majoreconomies, and remains the only Africancountry out of 10 global strategic partnersof the European Union, EU. These are

issues I would expect our Foreign Ministryto tackle head on rather than citing visitsto Nigeria by foreign leaders fromGermany, Brazil, Indonesia, Lebanon,Poland, Saudi Arabia, and Britain. The factthat Nigeria’s Foreign Minister was alsohosted by his American counterpart inWashington is of little consequence anddoes not really constitute an effectiveforeign policy. Unless diplomacy isreduced to state visits, bilateralagreements, and air-miles, these banalexamples are neither concrete norsubstantive achievements. We are, after all,not a banana republic that measuresforeign policy success by state visits oragreements signed.

Mr. Ode also appears to have missedthe nuance of my fourth point about theloss of influence in Nigeria’s foreign policy:the recent French-led military interventioninto Mali. While I acknowledged that theelimination of the militant threat innorthern Mali was in the interest of bothAfrica and the West, I was uncomfortable(as many Nigerians are) with Abujaapplauding an old-style neo-colonialFrench intervention in its West Africanbackyard. If the actions of Boko Haramconstitutes the biggest threat to our nationalsecurity, should we not be engaging in aproper debate on issues such as why someof our largest peacekeeping contingentsare deployed in Sudan and Guinea-Bissaurather than Mali and Somalia wheremilitant groups have reportedly trained,and formed alliances with Boko Haram?

My fifth and final unanswered point wasthat delays in Nigeria’s payment of its UNdues weakens its political credibility, evenas it seeks to return to the UN SecurityCouncil next year. Any serious countrywould surely observe the simple rule of“no representation without taxation”.

REALISING the importanceof knowledge, skill

acquisition and job creation, theKano State government throughits Kwankwasiya slogan isfighting ignorance, street beggingand other vices through massiveinvestment on education andcritical infrastructure.

This writer was recently invitedby the duo of Jafar Jafar and BabaDantiye, Media Assistant andDirector, Public Relationsrespectively to Governor RabiuMusa Kwankwaso of Kano State.While still waiting inside thereception hall of the GovernmentHouse, Governor Rabiu MusaKwankwaso and his Deputy, Dr.Abdullahi Umar Ganduje strolledin. They were on their way toinspect some ongoing projects inthe city. They asked a guest andmyself to join the team on theinspection tour.

I must admit from the outsetthat I had close encounter with,and supported former Governor,Malam Ibrahim Shekarau duringhis eight-year tenure. Due to thataffinity, some aides and supportersof the current GovernorKwankwaso have often

Kwankwasiya: Tamingignorance and begging in Kano

challenged some of us to makesincere appraisal andcomparisons of the twoadministrations in the state.

As the convoy moved from sitesto sites, youths and the elderly,especially women, trooped out tohail the Governor. Apart fromsome newly established schools,we also visited sites of an ongoingmegacity project aimed atdecongesting the old city. Thenew city is spread in three estates:Kwankwasiya, Amana andBandirawo with different types ofresidential accommodations withprovision for schools, securityposts, commercial andrecreational centres. Otherongoing projects include:construction of dual carriage waycomplete with street lights; flyover bridges; rehabilitation ofroads; modern trailer parks andthe important independent powerplant project which is expected togenerate 35 MW of electricityfrom Challawa and Tiga Dams inKano. Already the street andtraffic lights in the metropolishave become functional throughindependently generatedelectricity without depending onPHCN.

Rather than talking about past

administrations or accusingpresumed political enemies forwhatever excuses, Kwankwaso isso passionate about educationprojects in the state with newschools being established, andsome created from abandonedstructures.

The Governor traced thesecurity problem in the country toignorance and lack of properknowledge of religious and moralinjunctions. He said parentsprocreate in dozens as if theywere meant for sale and abandonthem to becoming almajiranci(destitute beggars) withoutprovision for feeding, clothingand shelter, which he describedas ‘un-Islamic.’ “We cannotcontinue to tolerate begging inour city. Never!” he declaredmatter-of-factly.

In an effort to discourage childbeggars from the streets andensure their return to schools, the

state has reintroduced freefeeding, materials and uniformsfor pupils in primary schools.Schools for Quranic and Islamicstudies are now established toincorporate Western educationand skills acquisition. Thecurricula is designed in such away that knowledge acquiredwould empower the participantsand improve their standard ofliving spiritually and socially sothat they could become useful tothemselves and the society.

Related to this, the governmenthas created rehabilitation centresfor destitute where they couldlearn some skills rather thanprostituting and constitutingthemselves into nuisance on thestreets. The state is working on alaw to ban the shameful act ofbegging anywhere in Kano.

Though the newly establishedNorth-West University hasfulfilled NUC requirements andequipped with state-of-the-artfacilities, there are also variousskill acquisition institutes forentrepreneurship developmentto empower people to be self-employed. Some of the institutesinclude those deliberatelydesigned for training on fishery,poultry, livestock, farming, film-making, and even sports, amongothers. The most impressive isthe Kano Corporate SecurityInstitute which graduates wouldreplace tired but refused-to-retiresecurity gatemen who are indeedvery old.

On Corporate Security Institute,the Governor said: “The initialidea is to ensure that we haveprofessionally trained securitypersonnel who are strong,healthy, mentally alert youngmen and women. We cannotcontinue to have old peopledoing the jobs while theirchildren and grandchildren arejobless. We want to see indigenesof Kano well-dressed, proud incorporate security outfit doingtheir job professionally andearning decent living.”

While scholarships are providedto indigenes for foreign studieson specialised fields of medicine,engineering, piloting and otherscience-based education, thestate is working to ensure thatadditional teaching hospitalscould be provided for universitiesin the state. There is balance ingender representation in thescholarship scheme thatencourages female-education,especially in the specialised fieldof paediatrics and gynaecology.An average Northerner wouldrather prefer a female medicaldoctor to attend to the crucialmedical needs of their wives.

On the source of funding,Governor Kwankwaso said thestate relies on the FederationAccount and its improvedinternally generated revenue,IGR, to fund the projects.

Rather thantalking about pastadministrations ,Kwankwaso is sopassionate abouteducation projectsin the state withnew schools beingestablished

The Foreign Ministry’sresponse to my critiquesuggests that some ofour national institutionsstill appear to sufferfrom the era of militaryrule in which honestdisagreement is treatedas high treason


Continues on page 49

WHO was your politicalmentor, your political

god-father?I’ve never really had a political

god-father since I started politics.Who influenced you into

politics?My father influenced me. My

father was very far from politicsbecause my father was a trainedteacher who later retired as aschool principal. But I think hisown experiences in life alsotaught him to build up hischildren in such a way that theywill have choices that theypreferred, not necessarily whathe wanted. And he did a lot interms of educating me on thatfreedom of choice. As young aswhen I was starting secondaryschool, my father had startedcultivating the idea of giving menewspapers to read, and he didnot only tell me to read them, hewould ask me questions on thenewspaper that I read.

Politicalintrigues

When I eventually leftsecondary school, the first copyof Nicole Machiavelli’s book, ThePrince that I read was my father’scopy. He gave me that book toread. He just said look ‘Pius, readthis book, you don’t have tonecessarily implement what ishere, but read it again and again,you will understand politicalintrigues because the way I lookat you, I think you will beinterested in politics as it willteach you the political lessons thatyou will need for the rest of yourpolitical career.’

Have you implemented theprinciples from Machiavelli?

No, I have not, but if you readThe Prince, one thing it does toyou, is to tell you the possible

Why Urhobos are unhappywith the FG – Sen Ewherido

SENATOR Pius Akpor Ewherido, erstwhile member of the Delta State House ofAssembly and for one year, acting speaker of the House is presently vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport.

A philosophy graduate and lawyer, Ewherido has often not shied away fromtrudging the lonely path in the fight of ideas. It was as such no surprise that hetook on the political establishment in Delta State in 2007 when he perceived amanipulation of the gubernatorial primaries of his former party, the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP. Today, he is remarkably, the only Senator on the platformof the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP.

Ewherido's convictions even when isolated from the political establishmentwere not always lost among his people. In 2011 he was elected to the Senateahead of the PDP candidate, Chief Ighoyota Amori, a patron of the Urhobopolitical establishment in a keenly fought election. On the heels of his recent50th birthday anniversary last May, Senator Ewherido fielded questions on life’slessons, his legislative experience, the loneliness of being the only DPP senator,and of course, the alleged isolation of the Urhobo nation from the FederalGovernment. Excerpts:

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN,POLITICAL EDITOR

intrigues that can occur inpolitics. Even if you don’timplement them, you can scalethe loopholes. I mentioned ThePrince because it’s a worldacclaimed book. If not there aremany political books that hebrought and gave to me to read.

You have been a legislator atthe state and now at the federallevel. What is the difference?

At the federal level is a moremature arrangement and thelevel of freedom andindependence is higher at thefederal level than at the statelevel. At the federal level it’s adifferent ball game. I am in theSenate for instance and it is aplace with a lot of very matureminds and very experiencedpersons and there’s a limit towhich you can push people ofthat level around.

So you agree that governors

dominate or oppress statelegislators?

Clearly, you see, I have alwayssaid this, until you free thelegislature from the financialapron strings of the executive, you can never have truedemocracy.

You are the only DPP memberin the Senate. What is it likebeing the only senator on theplatform of a party?

It’s an interesting experience,it’s not something I willrecommend, but it’s aninteresting experience.Sometimes I joke and say “look,I am the chairman of the DPPcaucus in the Senate;” peoplewould ask me you are chairmanunder who? I will say look, sinceI’m alone I constitute both thechairmanship and membershipof that caucus. But it’s an

interesting experience, becauseit also gives room for some levelof independent thinking. Ibelieve in making the best out ofa bad situation. When you saythat I’m the only DPP senator, theview from outside is oh that’s abad situation, but it’s also achallenge. I love the challengein it, and by the special grace ofGod, by the end of my tenure,I’m sure that I will justify thatchallenge.

Sir there’s been a lot of outcryfrom your constituency aboutthe perceived marginalisation ofthe Urhobo nation at the federallevel. Do you agree?

Well as it is today, clearly wehave no representation at theFederal Executive Councilneither are the Urhobo people atthe apex of any reasonableparastatal in this country right

now. Of course for a people, it’sa painful experience; and ofcourse, any Urhobo man willclamour for a better arrangementthat will guarantee his place inthe Nigerian polity, and of courseI can’t think differently or feeldifferently from the way mypeople feel. We have madeseveral appeals and we havebeen told that the situation willbe addressed.

I think that the situation shouldbe addressed in the interest ofour people because whether youlike it or not, in Delta state,Urhobo people are the majoritygroup. A situation where all theappointments that have gone toDelta don’t take the Urhobopeople into consideration, thatsituation will not make them ahappy people. And they voted

Imo Governorship: What goes roundcomes round

BY INNOCENT ANABA

*Ewherido: State legislative houses should be freed

WHAT was thought to have been a settled judicial matterconcerning the governorship of Imo State may not really be over.Tomorrow the Supreme Court rules on whether the erstwhilegovernor of the State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim can exploit a legalloophole to reclaim the crown he lost two years ago.

WHEN on April 14, 2007,Independent National Electoral

Commission, INEC, cancelled thegovernorship election in Imo State, theAll Progressives Grand Alliance’scandidate, Chief Martins Agbaso criedfoul, as he felt short-changed.

Although he went ahead to participatein the rescheduled election held on April28, 2007, he also went to court tochallenge the cancellation after he lostthe rescheduled election won by IkediOhakim. Agbaso failed to upturnOhakim’s victory, as he lost at the electiontribunal and the regular courts. It was

held that it was out of place for someone,who took part in an election and lost toturn round to say that the organiser of theelection did not have the powers to canceland reschedule the elections.

Ohakim, then candidate of PeoplesProgressive Alliance, PPA, thoughdefected to Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,later was the beneficiary of both therescheduled elections and the variouscourts’ judgments on the matter.

But as fate would have it, Ohakim is inthe position which Agbaso was some yearsback. In a somewhat similar circumstance,INEC declared the governorship electionof April 26 2011 in Imo State inconclusive,hinging its position on the fact that there

were no elections in four local governmentareas namely Ohaji Egbema, Oguta,Mbaitoli and Ngor Okpala. INECconsequently conducted supplementaryelections in four councils on May 6, 2011and like Agbaso, Ohakim participated in thesupplementary elections and also likeAgbaso, he lost and cried foul just likeAgbaso did then.

PDP, which went to the tribunal on behalfof Ohakim, argued that the supplementaryelection was illegal because it was heldoutside the 30 days stipulated by theconstitution for the successor of anincumbent governor to be elected. It lost itsargument and appeals to the Court of Appealand the Supreme Court were alsodismissed. Strangely, rather than abide bythe decision of the apex court, Ohakim, sawan opportunity to re-argue his case byapplying to be joined as a party in a casefiled by Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN

Continues on page 49

describe as the majorhighlight of your 50 yearson earth?

I want to thank God firstthat I survived up to thispoint because a lot of thingshappened in these my 50years. There were thingsthat would have turned mylife around by way of eventerminating my life, butGod has preserved me.But thank God, I’m stillalive to be 50. I thank Godfor it. It’s not by my power,it’s by God’s power; andmy prayer is that Godshould continue topreserve me.



and its governorship’scandidate in Imo, ChiefIfeanyi Ararume. Ohakimdid not join the suit whileit was before the FederalHigh Court, Owerri, ImoState, which dismissed thesuit by ruling that theissues raised were postelection matters, whichought to have been takento the election tribunal.

Despite objection to hisapplication to be joined inthe appeal, the Court ofAppeal in its wisdomallowed Ohakim to jointhe appeal. Okorochathereafter, challenged thediscretion of the Court ofAppeal to allow Ohakimchallenge the judgment ofthe Federal High Court,which dismissed ACN’sand Ararume’s case. ACNand Ararume, dissatisfiedwith the judgment of thelower court, consequentlyappealed to the Court ofAppeal, Owerri.

Election petitiontribunal

Opposing Ohakim’sapplication, Okorochaargued that Ohakim’sparty, the PDP had earlierchallenged the subjectmatter of the suit at theelection petition tribunaland lost.

He argued that PDPchallenged the decision ofthe election tribunal up tothe Supreme Court andlost, further arguing that toallow Ohakim to challengethe lower court’s judgmenton appeal was formulatedto afford him theopportunity to pursue tworemedies against the sameinfraction in two courts atthe same time.

Okorocha formulated twoissues for determination:-Whether by the combinedeffect of S. 233(1), (2) and(7) of the 1999 Constitution,(as amended) and S. 133(1) of the Electoral Act, 2010(as amended), as well asthe relief sought at thelower court by Ohakim in

his appeal, the lower courthas jurisdiction to entertainthe appeal and grant therelief sought while notsitting as an electionpetition appellate court.

Secondly, whether thelower court has jurisdictionto hear the appeal byOhakim, the subject matterand the relief soughthaving been heard anddetermined by theSupreme Court on March2, 2012 in an electionappeal No. SC/17/2012 -PDP Vs Okorocha andothers. However, in apreliminary objection,Ohakim through his legalteam led by Chief WoleOlanipekun, SAN askedthe apex court to dismissthe appeal.

He said that it wasmandatory for GovernorOkorocha to first seek andobtain the leave of eitherthe Court of Appeal or theapex court before filing thecase, being an appealagainst the exercise of thelower court’s discretionarypower. He argued thatOkorocha failed to obtainthe leave of either the Courtof Appeal or that of theSupreme Court beforefiling the appeal.

He argued, “Being anappeal against the exerciseof the lower court’sdiscretionary power, leaveof either the said lowercourt or this court ismandatorily requiredbefore filing the appeal.”

Ohakim asked the apexcourt to dismiss the appeal.The court, meanwhile is todetermine whether acandidate, whose matterhad already been heardand decided by thegovernorship electionpetitions tribunal, the Courtof Appeal and theSupreme Court can re-open such a case andwhether such a caseconstitutes an abuse ofcourt process as the issuethat was decided on by thetribunal and Court ofAppeal are one and thesame.

Imo Governorship: Whatgoes round comes round

Why Urhobos are unhappy withthe FG – Sen Ewherido

overwhelmingly for Mr.President. Urhobo peoplehad the highest vote inDelta for Mr. President. Youknow in politics, whenpeople vote for youmassively, they also expectcommensurate rewards. Soas a representative of theUrhobo people, I willcontinue to appeal to thefederal government toremedy the situation andgive our people befittingappointments that willbring down tension in thearea.

What would you


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Keshi

many before the Cup ofNations, and ratednowehere near the likesof Elephants of Coted’Ivoire and Ghana’sBlack Stars,Keshi’s Eagles over-came an uninspiringstart with focus anddetermination and sweptto glory.“We showed good stuffagainst Mexico despitemissing a number ofplayers and we will evenbe stronger in Nairobi. Iam looking forwardto three points onWednesday,” Keshi saidas the Nigeria delega-tion boarded the planein Houston to fly back toFrankfurt, Germany atthe weekend. He wasclearly upbeat followinghis team’s gutsy 2-2draw with the CentralAmerican champions ina prestigeous friendlyon Friday.In Frankfurt, influentialmidfielders John Mikel

Continues from BP

Obi and Fegor Ogudeand Russia-based for-ward Ahmed Musa willjoin the squad for theflight to East Africa. Theteam is scheduled to flyaboard a LufthansaAirline flight to AddisAbaba (Ethiopia) onMonday night, beforeconnecting an EthiopianAirline flight to Nairobi,arriving in theKenyan capital in theearly hours of Tuesday.The Nigeria FootballFederation has beenworking assiduouslywith the High Commis-sion of Nigeria in Nai-robi to monitor arrange-ments and possibleschemes by the hosts,and an NFF advanceparty flew into theKenyan capital on Sun-day morning.Nigeria’s High Commis-sioner to Kenya, Ambas-sador Akin Oyateru, wasscheduled to fly backinto Nairobi on Sundayevening from officialassignment abroad.

and being at the bottomof Group F.

The record shows thatin 11 previous encoun-ters at senior level,Nigeria have won nineand drawn two, with theKenyans still searchingfor their first win againstthe Super Eagles.

Nigeria have scored29 goals in those match-es, against Kenya’s five.Before their gutsy 1-1draw with the Eagles inCalabar in March, Ken-ya had lost all five pre-vious visits to Nigeria bythree-goal margins.

Even at U-23 level,Nigeria overcame a 0-0draw in Lagos againstKenya in a qualifyingmatch for the 1996 Olym-pic Games, to post a 3-0win in Mobassa and goon to win Africa’s first-ever Olympic footballgold.

On Sunday, HarambeeStars’ Belgian coachAmrouche said: “Themorale in camp is moti-vating and every playeris eager to wear thecountry ’s colours. Iknow it will not be aneasy match, but we aredetermined togive the local fans anopportunity to enjoy andcelebrate.”

Yet, Kenya have notwon a qualifying matchsince beating Togo 2-1 ina Cup of Nations quali-fier in February 2012.

Kenyans

Continues from BP

Obisesan

twice.Obisesan was not the

only beneficiary of thefriendly weather andcheering crowd asquite a number of theother athletes also re-corded their season’sbest performances atthe meet.

Obisesan’s newrecord which sent theformer record of 61.75mto the athletics ar-chives will only be rat-ified according to theAFN Technical DirectorNavy CommodoreOmatseye Neisiama,once the necessarydope test is conducted.

Continues from BP Speaking with jour-nalists after her feat,Obisesan gave thanksto God for helping herthus far even as shestated that she hopes todo more in the daysahead.

“I am very happy toachieve this and Iknow it only means Ishould work harder toget better results”.

Also reeling with ex-citement over the newrecord was the SportsMinister Mallam Ab-dullahi who told re-porters that the NSCwill work closely withthe AFN to chart theway forward.

CELTIC midfielderVictor Mugubi

Wanyama and South Af-rica-based Brian Man-dela have joined the na-tional team HarambeeStars residential campin Naivasha ahead ofWednesday ’s crucialWorld Cup qualifieragainst Nigeria.

The two joined theteam yesterday morningjust in time for the firsttraining session at theOserian Complex in Na-

Wanyama, Mandela ready for Eaglesshowdown

ivasha.Harambee Stars’ head

of delegation HusseinTerry said the arrival ofthe two has boosted mo-rale in the camp.

He also confirmed thatDavid Gateri and ArnoldOrigi have also joinedcamp though they arenot eligible to play in theWednesday fixture. Ga-teri, who is based inSouth Africa, is injuredwhile Origi, Kenya’snumber one goalkeeperis serving a one-match

suspension after pickingtwo consecutive yellowcards.

“Gateri is still nursinga groin injury and hispresence with that of Ori-gi has done wonders tolift morale in camp,”said Terry.

Terry has also thankedPresident Uhuru Keny-atta for his gesture ofpromising cash incen-tives if Stars gun downthe Super Eagles.

President Kenyatta haspromised Sh3 million tothe Stars if they winwhile Nairobi SenatorGideon ‘Sonko’ Mbuvi,has pledged Sh1 millionfor a win and Sh200,000for each goal scored.

Elsewhere, CAF Pres-ident Issa Hayatou isexpected in Nairobi forthe June 5 World Cupqualifier in Nairobi.

Itsekiri in Edo task Oshiomhole onelectoral promises

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

BENIN—ITSEKIRIOil and Gas Produc-

ing Communities of Ik-poba/Okha Local Gov-ernment Area of EdoState, have appealed tothe state governor, Mr.Adams Oshimhole, notto renege on the elec-tion promises he madeto them while cam-paigning in Ologbo forre-election.

They recalled that dur-ing the campaign, thegovernor promised togive them two positionsof Special Advisers and

Special Assistants aswell as the constitutionof the Ossiomo RiverWaterways SecurityCommittee, when hecommenced his secondterm.

In a statement after ameeting of Itsekiri Oiland Gas ProducingCommunities at Ologbo,weekend, the communi-ties lamented that as theproverbial goose thatlays the golden egg,they had been deprivedof their due benefitswith nothing to show foroil and gas exploitationand exploration, whilelife threatening hazards

had been their lots.“These naturally en-

dowed communities withoil and gas as their mainstay have over 25 oilwells spread across thelength and breadth of It-sekiri communities in Ik-poba/Okha area of EdoState. They includeOziengbe and OredoFlow stations where PanOcean Oil Company andNational Petroleum De-velopment Company,NPDC, are prospectingfor oil and gas. These oilwells, from records, ac-count for one of the rea-sons why Edo State isbeing classified as a Ni-ger Delta state,” theysaid.

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, Political

Editor & NKIRUKANNOROM

Anambra guber: Ubah to stepdown from Capital Oil for 2yrs

CHAIRMAN of Cap-ital Oil and Gas

Limited, Chief IfeanyiUbah, is to step down fromrunning his Capital Oiland Gas Company underan agreement reachedwith Asset ManagementCompany of Nigeria,AMCON, while he pur-sues his interest in poli-tics.

The agreement, whichtakes off this week accord-ing to AMCON, will seeUbah out of the manage-ment of Capital Oil andGas for the next two years,whether the billionairebusinessman is successfulin his gubernatorialpursuit or not.

Managing Director ofAMCON, Mr. MustafaChike-Obi, who disclosedthis in an interview withVanguard, said Ubahwillingly agreed to theterms.

A senior associate ofUbah, contacted on thedevelopment, refused tocomment on the issue.

Ubah is one of the prom-inent gubernatorialhopefuls in contention tosucceed Governor PeterObi who leaves officeearly next year. The elec-tion to succeed Obi isscheduled for the end ofthis year.

The agreement betweenAMCON and Ubah,according to Chike-Obi, isupon the indebtedness ofthe billionaire business-man to some banks. Thedebts were taken over byAMCON as part of itsintervention.

“We told him to go andrun for governorship, but

if you run for governor,you cannot run your com-pany because we don’twant to be seen as spon-soring a governorshipcandidate. So he agreed,”Chike-Obi said.

“He’s gone to run forgovernorship. We havetaken over themanagement of his com-pany. We are going toappoint all the executivedirectors for his companyand when he finishes, hecan come back anddiscuss coming back tothe company, but he can’t

do it for less than twoyears. So, we are notpartisan,” he said.

On the full terms of theagreement with Ubah,Chike-Obi said:

“We gave him twochoices. We said to him,‘We can’t tell you not torun, but you owe us a lotof money. So if you wantto run, you will give upthe management of theplace or we prefer that youdon’t run, but go andmanage your company sothat we get our moneyback.’”

Delta Attorney-General clearsair on death penalty law

BY AUSTINOGWUDA

A S A B A — D E LTAState Attorney-

General and Commis-sioner for Justice, Mr.Charles Ajuyah (SAN)said in Asaba, DeltaState, weekend, that theDelta State Anti-kidnap-ping and Anti-TerrorismBill, 2012, passed intolaw by the state Houseof Assembly on April 17,this year, by overridingof the veto of thegovernor, cannot takeretroactive effect.

He said that the 60persons were convictedfor kidnapping/robberyby various courts in thestate, assuring that hisministry had stepped upprosecution in that di-rection as well as othermatters.

Ajuyah said: “It (anti-kidnapping law) took ef-fect from the day theHouse exercised its pow-er (overriding veto). Youfind that on the Bill,they specified the com-

mencement date. Youknow the law cannot takeretroactive effect. Youcannot pass the law nowand punish somebodywho committed the of-fence at that time that lawwas not in existence. Itbecame law when theHouse exercised itspowers.

“Let me make this clar-ification because of thenature of kidnapping,what it takes and the el-ements of the offence, wehave always found itvery convenient tocharge suspects for kid-napping and also armedrobbery because everykidnapping offence willinvolve the use of arms,parting with money andall such things. So weare careful.

“I will add that out offive kidnap cases wemay have, it may be onlyone that we may findnecessary to charge forkidnapping, dependingon the facts of the caseand the evidence wehave."


DID I watch the match? That is the questionthat came to me again and again, Saturday

morning.My ‘yes’ answer was followed by ‘…what was

the result?’ ‘How did we play?’Of course I watched the match and I believe mil-

lions of Nigerians did (My brother Steve Ukpongrang by 2.15 am to find out the station that was air-ing the match) that is the passion, the sacrifice, thatmost Nigerians paid, banishing sleep to be able tosee what I have always considered ‘…a mere friend-ly’.

Before the match, I had repeatedly said that thatthe Mexico Friendly was welcome since it was meantto prepare us for the crucial World Cup clash againstKenya in Kasarani, Nairobi. (I only pray that hav-ing to play that match in far away US and jettingdown to Kenya thousands of miles away will nottake a toll on the boys)

Yes I was condemned to watch the match in thewake of the sudden withdrawals of key players,weakening the squad. Coach Keshi woke up lastweek to learn that Moses, Mikel, Kalu Uche andReuben were not going to be available to him. Be-fore then, Nations Cup highest goalscorer Emm-manuel Emenike, dogged by injury had been ruledout of his plans.

Handling a National team is a different cup oftea. Once invitations had been given out and nego-tiations concluded with clubs, except you had placeda player on a stand by, it becomes difficult callingup a replacement at short notice. Not only haveplayers considered it an insult and an afterthought,others believe they are not psychologically prepared,while some clubs refuse such late requests. Thatwas the fate of our national team gaffer as he facednot only a formidable foe in Mexico, but a test runof a crucial world cup qualifier fast forwarded byour participation in the FIFA Confederation Cup, apotential 8 matches in 29 days needing a surplus ofplayers, even on stand by.

So, did I watch the match? Yes I did and intenselytoo. The first twenty five minutes confirmed my fears,that of lack of quality in the defense and midfield.That period, Mexico would have buried us, thankGod they did not. Burying us would have generat-ed psychological implications going into the Kenyamatch. If we could not beat Mexico, then we shouldnot lose either.

'Did you watch thematch?'

As if they heard me, the boys started coming intothe match with flashes of personal brilliance thatwere punctuated by the more experienced and com-pact Mexican side. The Hernandez goals that ex-posed our defense, the inability to take advantageof our numerical strength when Mexico were re-duced to ten men are some of the issues CoachKeshi should be concerned with before Wednes-day.

I will not attempt an individual assessment ofthe players for morale sake, but I can convenientlysay that most of the boys on display did not dis-play National team stuff, what I will call here “Su-per Eagles material”. To be in the national teamyou must be above a certain standard in terms of ability and capacity either as an individual or asa team player. Less than five players in that matchscored above average.

For crying out loud, we are Champions of Africa,a pride that was nearly dented by Kenya but whichwe must hurriedly reclaim against same Kenya. I

have heard Mikel Obi will be available, that AhmedMusa will be called up and the defense line? Whatabout the absence of a leader in the line up, a rolethat Enyeama tried to play when he came in ?

I have ever had any doubts that we possess thewherewithal to dismiss Kenya bearing in mind thatthis is only the preliminary matches of the WorldCup qualifiers as tougher African battles lie ahead.

I saw the match against Mexico and I am happythe match came along to expose us to the realitieson the ground even as we face Kenya in a few hoursand Namibia in a few days. Perhaps a victoryagainst Mexico would have been deceptive, giv-ing us a false impression of invincibility. Perhapsthis draw will delight the Kenyans, believing weare beatable only for us to strike and before theyknow what hit them, we are on our way to Wind-hoek, Namibia…….

Okagbare's rising profileThis was another sleepless night, Saturday as I stayed

awake to see Blessing Okagbare dare a very ambitiousfield in Eugene to place second in an IAAF DiamondLeague event.

At a point, the powerfully built Nigerian thought shehad come first, jumping for joy, but when the officialresult was released, her 10.75 seconds could only placeher second behind two time Olympic 100 metres cham-pion Shelley-Ann Fraser- Price who returned a time of10.71 seconds, while Veronica Campbell Brown was thirdin a field that included Carmelia Jeter among others.

The Eugene meet also afforded me the opportunity ofseeing Qatar’s London 2012 bronze medalist MustazEssa Barshim jump to a new Asian record of 2.40 me-tres. Now, the 21 year old is the hope of the world toerase Javier Sotomayor’s 2.45 metres high jump recordset since 1993.

What about Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi, yes Bu-rundi who dusted all in 800 metres women with a worldleading time of 1.56.72?

Okagbare’s recent successes transports me back to daysof yore, when World Athletics was worth watching asNigerians flooded the circuit. No more. I pray the recentsuccesses of Okagbare will be well managed, advan-tage Nigeria.

See you next week.

,

,Shocker: Bolt poses with cannabis T-shirts

OLYMPIC sprintking Usain Bolt

was blasted by anti-drugs campaigners lastnight — after apparent-ly promoting the use ofcannabis.

The 100m and 200mchamp posed withclothes made by US firmThe Pothead Diaries.

The star, who has ad-mitted smoking dopewhen he was young,posted a picture of its T-shirts on his Instagramaccount. According tothe Pothead website, theclothing range is a “col-lection to express yourinner pothead”.

It adds: “Celebrate ourlove for the culture andour involvement in it.Join us in getting in-volved with the evolu-tion of cannabis appar-el.” But the photo pro-voked a storm of contro-

versy last night, witheven Bolt’s loyal fansattacking the 26-year-old Jamaican, famous forhis Lightning pose.

One of his Instagramfollowers posted: “Don’tthink you should broad-casting that. b smart.”

Lucy Rowe, of SkunkSense, a charity for peo-ple affected by the classB drug, also criticisedBolt — a hero to mil-lions.

She said: “I wouldhope that such a char-ismatic young man whois very much a rolemodel for young peoplewould have more com-mon sense than to givefree publicity to a com-pany which so blatantlypromotes cannabis use.”

Addiction specialistMark Dempsterclaimed: “He’s using hisposition to promote

something that cancause not just addiction,but also create mentalhealth problems foryoung people.”

In 2009 Bolt, worth£32million a year insponsorship deals, ad-mitted smoking dope asa youngster in Jamaica,but said it was no long-er part of his lifestyle.

He said: “Whenyou’re a child in Jamai-ca, you learn how to rolla joint. Everyone triedmarijuana, includingme, but I was reallyyoung.”

Bolt’s spokesman didnot respond to requestsfor comment. Last nightthe photo was removed.

Potty ... Usain Boltin web photo with T-shirts

That period, Mexico wouldhave buried us, thank Godthey did not. Burying us

would have generated psy-chological implications

going into the Kenyamatch. If we could not beatMexico, then we should not

lose either

CMYK


Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-8944295. Advert Dept: 01-7924470;Hotline: 01-8737028; Abuja: 09-2341102, 09-2342704. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Advert:[email protected]

Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: MIDENO BAYAGBON. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

e-mail: [email protected] to Play Sudoku THE VIGILANTE

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line canhave two of the same number).

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (alsonine lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within abold block (nine blocks) contains number from 1through 9. This means that no number can appear twicein any block, column or row.

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, divisionor multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2013

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

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YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

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Eagles vs Harambee Stars

Keshi turns to God

ACROSS: Rascal 5, Teeter 9, Macaw 10,Garret 11, Mended 12, Newer 14, Rift 17,Red 18, Fume 20, Dread 22, Woman 23,Brother 24, Reply 26, Tuned 29, Idle 30, Orb32, Mere 33, Mined 35, Bridal 36, Roster37, Revel 38, Needed 39, Tennis.

ACROSS3 Javelin (5)9 Thoroughfare (6)10 Placard (6)11 Finished (5)12 Cupid (4)15 Family (4)17 Relegated (7)20 Cover (3)21 Quilt (5)23 Discharge (4)25 Pour (4)26 Dissuade (5)28 Greeting (3)30 Fall (7)33 Saucy (4)35 Loathe (4)36 Map-book (5)38 Rest (6)39 Cashier (6)40 Dulcet (5)

DOWN1 Noted (5)2 Broom (5)3 Prosecute (3)4 Wrote (6)5 Top (4)6 Wand (3)7 Booth (5)8 Splendid (5)13 Get (7)14 Compact (5)16 Illness (7)18 Cheated (5)19 Wager (3)22 Instruct (5)24 Beverage (3)27 Recount (6)28 Asunder (5)29 Burst (5)31 Premature (5)32 Disparage (5)34 Mess (4)36 Donkey (3)37 Fixed (3)

DOWN: 1, Regard 2, Strife 3, Amen 4, Later5, Tamed 6, Ewer 7, Tedium 8, Redden 13,Western 15, Irked 16, Table 16, Forum 19,Maker 21, Dry 22, Wet 24, Ribbon 25, Place27, Neaten 28, Debris 30, Oiled 31, Beret 33,Mare 34, Dole.

HEADER......Mexico’s Diego Reyes (left) heads theball away from Sunday Mba, during the exhibitionmatch at Reliant Stadium in Houston on May 31.It ended 2-2. Photo: AFP

Kenyansturn to Roho

Juu

KENYAN footballcommentators in-

sist that blind optimism,or what is known asRoho Juu in Swahili, willkeep the Harambee Starsgoing and their fanscheering at the Moi In-ternational Sports Cen-tre, Kasarani on Wednes-day.

Football writer JamesWokabi, writing in thetwice-weekly Game Yetu!sports paper, remarkedthat Roho Juu meansKenyans still believetheir Stars can progressto the deciding final fix-ture of the 2014 FIFAWorld Cup African seriesdespite having earnedonly two points fromthree previous matchesContinues on Page 51Continues on Page 51

Obisesan sets newnational record in Ilorin

NEW nationalrecord holder in

women hammer QueenObisesan (Middle, inWhite) acknowledgingcheers from the crowdwhich include the SportsMinister Mallam BolajiAbdullahi and FalilatOgunkoya

A new national record of63.79m in the Women’sHammer event was set byQueen Obisesan over theweekend at the fourth legof the SolidWorks/AFN

Golden League Meet heldat the Sports Complex ofthe University of Ilorin,Kwara State.

The athletics friendlyweather, coupled with thecheering crowd which in-cluded Honourable Min-ister of Sports and theChairman of the NationalSports Commission Mal-lam Bolaji Abdullahiworked in favour of Obis-esan as she broke the na-tional recordContinues on Page 51

Kenya won't be easy— Keshi

NIGERIA CoachStephen Keshi

says the African champi-ons have God ontheir side and will pickup the three points atthe end of Wednesday’s2014 FIFA World Cupqualifying match againstKenya in Nairobi.

The 51-year old’stroops surprised the con-tinent by winning theAfrica Cup of Nations inSouth Africa in Februaryand Keshi believes theteam still has divine sup-port as they seek toreach the 2014 globalshowpiece in Brazil.

“I am not saying any-thing (about Wednes-day’s match) except tosay thatGod is working with usand we will be preparedfor this match. Thefocus is there and wehave the determinationto get a good result.”Discountenanced by

COACH Steohen Keshi would not like to gointo any controversy with the Nigeria Football

Federation (NFF). He has had enough since theNations Cup victory. But one can infer that from hisremarks and countenance after the 2-2 draw withMexico here at the Reliant Stadium, that he is nothappy with the arrangement of camping in Germany,flying long hours to Houston and then flying backto Germany for a few days and flying from thereagain to Kenya for this Wednesday’s FIFA 2014 WorldCup qualifier against the Harambee Stars in Nairobi.

“It is not easy flying long hours to this game,flying long hours to Germany again and then leavingGermany to Kenya, arriving on Tuesday and thenplaying on Wednesday, not easy at all. It is not goingto be easy in Kenya”, Keshi said.

His countenance portrayed some difficult momentsfor him, especially when the weather in Germany isfreezing, despite the fact that it is summer time.

On the match against Mexico, Keshi said that at2-1 and then playing against 10 men, “my boysthought that the game was over and did not play towrap up the game. But it is one of those things thatyou learn from friendly matches. We will go back toanalyze it and make amends where necessary”.

BY ONOCHIE ANIBEZE, Houston

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