...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 61910

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

Nigerians to depositN723,000 for UK visa

Continues on page 5

•New law to affect other Africans, Asians•Visitors to forfeit money if...•Nigeria 'll reciprocate, says Abike-Erewa

COLUMNISTS:

54

OCHEREOMENNANNA

LES LEBA38

DELESOBOWALE

48

17

NGF:You can't challenge me, Jang tells Fashola

LONDON — BRITAIN is planning to

force visitors from India,Pakistan, Nigeria andother countries, whosenationals are deemed topose a “high risk” of im-migration abuse to pro-vide a cash bond of morethan N723,000 (£3,000 ,$4,600 or 3,500 euros)before they can enter thecountry, a report saidyesterday.

The Sunday Times

8

SPAIN: A BRIDGE TOO FAR— Spain's forward, Roberto Soldado (L) vies with Nigeria's defenders- GodfreyOboabona (C) and Uwa Echejile during their FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 Group B football match, at the CastelaoStadium in Fortaleza, Brazil, yesterday. Nigeria lost 3:0. Photo: AFP. See story on Back Page.

Manager arrested forrobbery in own bank

BY EMMAN OVUAK-PORIE, WITH AGENCY

REPORT

5

Youths nab 31 BokoHaram suspects inBorno

8

2 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 3

4 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

POCKET CARTOON

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013—5

LIFEWORDSBY PASTOR ITUAH

Continues from page 1

Nigerians to deposit N723,000for UK visa

A man of power and authority who has an extramarital affair or who is having an affair, can nevertake fully rational and sensible decisions excepthe is a very wicked man, and that in itself is a badthing.

QUIT worrying about how everything is going to turn out. Live one day at a time; better

yet, make the most of this moment. It’s good tohave a big – picture outlook, to set goals and makeplans, but if you’re always living in the future,you’re never really enjoying the present in the wayGod wants you to — Joel Osteen

Joel Osteen’s, encouraging words do bring a bustof sunlight that cast away shadows in times ofgreat need. He says, when you are tempted to getdiscouraged, remind yourself that the divine in-tent for your life is getting brighter; you are on yourway to a new level of glory. You may think you’vegot a long way to go, but you need to look back athow far you’ve already come. You may not be eve-rything you want to be but at least you can thankGod that you’re not what you used to be.

Your dreams may not have turned out exactly asyou’d hoped, remember, you are of great value anda precious being. No matter what you go throughin life, no matter how many disappointments youexperience, your value in God’s eyes always re-mains the same.

So hold your head up high, knowing that God isin control and he has a great plan and purpose foryour life.

This much I do know, when you let go of old val-ues and accept the higher ones, you increase yourability to accept more of God’s love in your life.

newspaper said thatfrom November, a pilotscheme would targetvisitors from those threecountries as well asBangladesh, Sri Lankaand Ghana.

Visitors aged 18 andabove would be forced tohand over £3,000($4,600, 3,500 euros)from November for a six-month visit visa.

They will forfeit themoney if they overstay inBritain after their visahas expired.

Initially the schemewill target hundreds ofvisitors, but the plan isto extend it to severalthousands, according tothe broadsheet’s front-page report.

The weekly paper saidthe move by Home Sec-

retary Theresa May isdesigned to show thatPrime Minister DavidCameron’s Conserva-tive Party is seriousabout cutting immigra-tion and abuses of thesystem.

The populist UnitedKingdom IndependenceParty has been encroach-ing on the Conserva-tives’ traditional corevote in recent months.

Cameron wants an-nual net migration downbelow 100,000 by 2015.

“This is the next stepin making sure our im-migration system is moreselective, bringing downnet migration from thehundreds of thousandsto the tens of thousandswhile still welcomingthe brightest and thebest to Britain,” May

was quoted as saying.“In the long run we’re

interested in a system ofbonds that deters over-staying and recoverscosts if a foreign nationalhas used our public serv-ices.”

A Home Office officialsaid the six countrieshighlighted were thosewith “the most signifi-cant risk of abuse”.

Last year, 296,000 peo-ple granted six-monthvisas were from India;101,000 from Nigeria;53,000 from Pakistan and14,000 each were fromSri Lanka and Bangla-desh.

Reacting to the newBritish visa policy, yes-terday, House of Rep-resentatives CommitteeChairperson onDiaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa said the FederalGovernment should im-mediately counter it

Manager arrested forrobbery in own bank

BY AUSTIN OGWU-DA

ASABA—AN Operations Manager

with a first generationbank in Agbor, DeltaState has been arrestedby the police for alleg-edly conniving with anarmed robbery gang thatraided the bank, week-end.

The gang had in acommando style opera-tion, succeeded in cart-ing away millions ofnaira in both local andforeign currencies onFriday, while some bankcustomers and passers-

by were wounded in theprocess.

Delta State Police com-mand’s spokesman, Mr.Lucky Uyabeme, saidthat “the arrested Opera-tions Manager of thebank is helping the po-lice in its investigation.The command will notleave any stoneunturned in ensuringthat all the hoodlumsinvolved are brought tobook.

“Preliminary investi-gation revealed an in-sider connection in thebank robbery as the two

keys to the strong roomthat were supposed to bekept by two differentsenior staff were leftwith the OperationsManager, who in turnleft the strong roomopen.

"The four bullet proofdoors were not tamperedwith. One of the seniorstaff of the bank whowas supposed to be withone of the keys to thestrong room purported tobe sick, handed over thekeys to the OperationsManager,” Uyabemesaid.

Editorial movements at The Sun

L A G O S — T H EBoard of The Sun

Publishing Limited hasapproved new editorialappointments with effectfrom July 1, 2013. Onthat date, new editors

will take over at differ-ent levels, of the publi-cation.

According to Mr TonyOnyima, Managing Di-rector/Editor-in-chief,the new appointments“are aimed at driving

our growth strategy andthe Board’s vision oftransforming the com-pany into top rate mediaand entertainment or-ganization”.

The new editors are:Onuoha Ukeh, DailySun, Bruce Malogo, Sat-urday Sun, andAbdulfatah Oladeinde,Sunday Sun. There arealso new Deputy Editors,News Editor, EditorialPage Editor, PoliticalEditor, Business Editor,while the erstwhile edi-tors, who served thecompany meritoriously,have been assigned tofresh duties.

Ukeh, editor of Satur-day Sun since 2008,moves up as editor of thedaily newspaper. Analumnus of the Yaba Col-lege of Technology, Ni-gerian Institute of Jour-nalism, Ogba, and La-gos State University,Ojo, from where heholds degrees in BookPublishing and Journal-ism, respectively, thenew editor of the dailynewspaper comes inwith more than two dec-ades of experiencetucked under his belt.

Before he joined TheSun as Assistant Editorin 2003, Ukeh hadworked at Post Expressas Metro Editor, ChiefSub-Editor, and Editorof the daily paper, re-spectively. He was also

at Champion newspa-per, Sentinel Magazine,and The Guardian.

Ukeh also holds a Sen-

JONATHAN IN CAMEROUN—President Goodluck Jonathan (L)greets a girl who presented him a bouquet of flowers on his arrival at theYaoundé International Airport for the Gulf of Guinea Summit on maritimepiracy and armed robbery in Yaoundé, yesterday. Right is the Prime Ministerof Cameroun, Mr Philemon Yunji Yang. Photo: NAN.

ior Management Pro-gramme (SMP) certifi-cate of the Lagos Busi-ness School, and is co-

author of three books,Inside the Newsroom,Democracy of Our Land,and God’s General.

with the principle ofreciprocity. According toher, “Britons should bemade to pay a similaramount although we arestill going to study thepolicy very well to knowwhether it affects all Ni-gerians. For now that isall I can say but I assureyou, if it is true, Nigeriawill take a position onit.”

6 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Customshands overkiller officerto OgunPolice

BOKO HARAM: Youths (a.k.a Civilian JTF) searching vehicles on the streets of Maiduguri, during a hunt for BokoHaram suspects, yesterday. PHOTO NDAHI MARAMA.

How hoodlums spilled my blood— Monarch’s wife

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

ADO EKITI —WIFE of theApeju of Ilupeju Ekiti, Olori

Tolu Oniyelu, yesterday, relayedher ordeal in the hands of hood-lums allegedly hired by one ofthe aggrieved members of thecommunity to protest the instal-lation of an unpopular candidateas a chief in the town.

According to her, the hoodlumsshed her blood and made her tobleed from the nose.

Crisis erupted in the town, Fri-day, when some aggrievedyouths took to the streets in pro-test over installation of the thirdin command to the monarch, MrIsrael Ojo, whom they describedas imposition against a popularcandidate, Mr Amos Aseperi.

She, however, debunked therumour that her husband im-posed Mr. Israel Ojo on thetown, saying the traditional coun-cil set up a committee whichasked the next ruling house toproduce a candidate to be in-stalled as the new Olugbosu.

Olori who spoke in Ado Ekiti,disclosed that Ojo was confirmedas the rightful candidate by thepanel and the traditional rites hadbeen performed on him.

According to her, trouble

started on Friday as an unnamedchief in the town installedAseperi, an ex-soldier, asOlugbosu.

She added that Aseperi, afterhis installation, mobilised someex-soldiers, armed with guns anddanced round the town. OloriTolu added that Aseperi laterdanced to the palace with his fol-

lowers and met Kabiyesi and thechiefs holding a meeting.

According to her, he askedKabiyesi to bless him which wasa great insult. The monarch re-fused and the ex-soldiers whofollowed Aseperi to the palacestarted shooting in the air anddestroying parts of the palace.

“They hit my nose with a gunbutt and I started bleeding. When

I questioned him he told his sup-porters that he did not send themto injure me.”

The Police Public Relations Of-ficer in the state, Mr. VictorBabayemi, said although nor-malcy had been restored to thetown, policemen were still thereto ensure that hoodlums did notfoment trouble again.

JTF nabs eight suspects over SPDCpipeline infernoBY SAMUEL OYADONGHA

YENAGOA — THE Joint TaskForce, JTF, in the Niger Delta

code-named Operation PuloShield, yesterday, said its opera-tives have arrested eight personsin connection with the recent fireoutbreak at a Shell Petroleum De-velopment Company, SDPC,pipeline in Bodo West, GokanaLocal Government Area, RiversState.

Also, five suspected crude oilthieves were nabbed in twoseparate raids in the creek of thedelta.

Spokesman of the Task Force,Lt. Col Onyema Nwachukwu ina statement in Yenagoa said the

arrest of the eight suspects waseffected by troops of 146 Battal-ion of Sector 2 of the JTF.

Nwachukwu said the troopswho sighted the fire at about 1.30am on Wednesday mobilised tothe scene where they found thesuspects in two tug boats.

He said the suspects upon in-terrogation, claimed to be em-ployees of Steve Integrated Tech-nical Service and Sege Marinehired by Shell Petroleum Devel-opment Company to fix brokenpipelines in Bodo.

The suspects, he said, are cur-rently in Sector 2 Headquartersfor preliminary investigations,adding that they will be handed

over to an appropriate prosecut-ing agency if found culpable atthe end of the investigations.

Also, troops deployed atSanbarth have arrested two sus-pects who specialized in vandal-ising oil pipelines alongKalamabo and Opukula commu-nities in Akuku Toru council areaof Rivers State.

The suspects, FinefaceShedrack and SolomonDoutimiti, identified as serialpipeline vandals and illegal oildistillers, according to the JTFspokesman, were arrested bytroops of 130 Battalion of Sector2 after three nights of ambush.

Ex-LASTMA official arrested for impersonation Man hangs self at MKO Abiolastadium

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA— CONFU-SION has enveloped

Kuto area of Abeokuta, follow-ing the discovery of the life-less body of a middle-agedman found dangling on a treewithin the MKO Abiola Inter-national Stadium in Kuto,Abeokuta, yesterday.

An eye witness told Van-guard that, the lifeless bodyof the man was found fewminutes after he hanged him-self on the tree. He said anattempt by policemen from

Ibara Division to save his lifewas unsuccessful as he wasconfirmed dead at the stateGeneral Hospital in Ijaye,Abeokuta.

Contacted, the state PublicRelations Officer of Police Com-mand, Muyiwa Adejobi, con-firmed the incident, stressing thatnothing was found on the manto either unravel his identity orthe rationale behind his action.

Ademuyiwa further explainedthat the Police were alerted by aman whose shop is close to thetree within the stadium on whichthe man hanged himself.

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — THE Nigeria Customs Service,

Ogun State Command, hashanded over its officer(names withheld), who al-legedly killed a 45-year-oldwoman, identified as Mrs.Fausat Oyede, to the Policein the state for further in-vestigation.

Addressing newsmen atIdi-Iroko office of the Cus-toms, the state Comptrol-ler, Ade Dosunmu lamentedthe incident, describing it asunfortunate.

He said it became expe-dient on the command tohand over the officer to thePolice after it had conductedan orderly room trial onhim.

There was confusion inIlase in Ipokia Local Gov-ernment Area of the state,last Thursday following thekilling of the mother of fiveby a Customs officer whoaccused the woman of be-ing in possession of contra-band goods and shot herdead while in a car.

The incident, according tofindings, sparked off reac-tions from the residents whoreportedly chased the Cus-tom officers away from thearea, before the timely in-tervention of the Policebrought the situation undercontrol.

Dosunmu, flanked bymembers of the immediatefamily of the deceased, ex-plained that the killer of-ficer while on patrol in theearly hours of last Thursday,shot at a vehicle conveyingthe deceased and other pas-sengers, claiming that thevehicle was laden with con-traband.

BY EVELYN USMAN

LAGOS — THERE was anuproar, yesterday, at Mile

Two, along the Oshodi /Apapaexpressway, Lagos, followingwhat was later discovered tobe a false alarm by a dis-missed official of the LagosState Traffic Management Au-thority, who was allegedlyresisting arrest.

In the end, however, the dis-missed LASTMA official iden-tified as Muhammed Ayinlawas whisked away by the prov-ost unit of LASTMA , for al-legedly masquerading him-

self as an official of theagency.

Preliminary investigation,,according to spokesperson ofLASTMA, Bola Ajao, revealedthat Ayinla (40) was dis-missed from LASTMA threemonths ago, for alleged mis-conduct. He reportedly re-fused to collect and sign forhis dismissal letter but con-tinued to parade himself asan official, until he was ar-rested.

Vanguard’s findings re-vealed that the suspect hadbeen working at Mile Twowith some LASTMA officials

who apparently were notaware he had been dis-missed.

Ayinla’s illegal activities werereportedly discovered by theteam of LASTMA officials as-signed to Mile Two.

Explaining how Ayinla met hiswaterloo, Ajao said: “The prov-ost received a tip off from motor-ists on a LASTMA official whooperated in mufti and arrestedindiscriminately. Surveillanceflash was placed on him and hiscup was filled as he was eventu-ally arrested wearing the crestedvest of the agency.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013—7

ALAUSA: From left— Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Group; Mr. KunleAlake, Chief Operating Officer, Dangote Group and Governor Babatunde Fashola of LagosState, at a State House function in Alausa, Lagos.

Afeniferetasks FG onLagos-Ibadanroad

Confab on insecurity: Soyinka, Sule,Anyaoku, Clark, others storm Uyo

DISTURBED by worseninginsecurity and political ten-

sion in the country ahead of the2015 general elections, eminentleaders of thought, statesmenand politicians across the sixgeo-political zones will con-verge on Uyo, Akwa Ibom StateCapital, next week, to chart theway forward.

They will gather atLe’Meridien Hotels & Resorts,between July 2 and 3 for a po-litical summit on the future ofNigeria, convened by ProjectNigeria— National ConsensusGroup.

The two-day summit, with thetheme National Security andPolitical Stability in Nigeria,according to Malam NasserKura, Head of Communications,summit secretariat, was beingconvened to douse the tensioncreated by the emergency situ-ation in the country.

Kura said: “The summit is be-ing convened against the back-ground of the current chal-lenges facing our dear country,Nigeria, in the areas of nationalsecurity and political stability.

“It is with a view to kick-start-ing a profound process of na-tional consultations and politi-cal negotiations capable of fos-tering enduring solution to theheightening tension in thecountry.”

TargetsHe said “the national family

meeting” was expected to workout and agree on a popular mo-dality for securing political andconstitutional stability for the fu-ture of Nigeria in the light of thepervasive insecurity and insur-gency in the country

“The emergency national con-sultative meeting is designed tobring together distinguishedstatesmen, government function-aries, political and religious lead-ers of thought from the six geo-political zones, to discuss andnegotiate an agreed modality forsecuring the stability and futureof Nigeria.”

Kura added that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, former presi-dents/heads of state and theirdeputies, leadership of the Na-tional Assembly, state governorsand ministers were expected toparticipate at the summit.

Delegations,discussants

Some eminent persons ex-pected to lead delegations anddiscussions at the confab in-clude: First Republic Ministerand Chairman, NorthernElders’ Forum, Alhaji YusufMaitama Sule; legal luminary,Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN);Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole

Soyinka (Lead Speaker); Gen-eral T. Y. Danjuma, Dr. AlexEkwueme and Chief EdwinClark.

Others are Chief EmekaAnyaoku, Senator Bola AhmedTinubu, Chief Ayo Adebanjo,HRM Amayanabo AlfredDiete-Spiff, Dr. TunjiBraithwaite, Chief SolomonLar, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai,Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Amb.Christopher Kolade and AlhajiAliko Mohammed, Chairman,Arewa Consultative Forum,ACF.

Mallam Adamu Ciroma,Chief Olu Falae, AlaboGraham Douglas, Chief BisiAkande, General AlaniAkinrinade (rtd), Prof. PatUtomi, Chief ReubenFasoranti, Afenifere leader;Chief Audu Ogbeh, Bishop

Emmanuel Gbonigi, SheikAhmed Lemu, Senator DavidDafinone, Alhaji IshiakuRabiu and Gen JeremiahUseni (rtd).

MoreAlso expected are Senator

Ken Nnamani, Chief JohnNwodo, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor,Bishop Mathew Kukah, ChiefChukwuemeka Ezeife, AlhajiBamanga Tukur, Prof. ItseSagay (SAN), Mr. OlisaAgbakoba (SAN), AlhajiGambo Jimeta, Mr.Abdulwaheed Omar (NLCpresident), Mr. Peter Esele(former TUC president) andProf. Grace Alele-Williams.

Others are Dr. Iyorchia Ayu,Chief Philip Asiodu, Prof AkinOyebode, Dr. ArthurNwankwo, Alhaji Umaru

Shinkafi, Mr. Sanusi LamidoSanusi, Prince Tony Momoh,Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Mr. FemiFalana (SAN), Mallam NuhuRibadu and Dr. Kalu IdikaKalu.

Also expected are Prof. DoraAkunyili, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Prof Kimse Okoko,Alhaji Bashir Tofa, Prof. ChidiOdinkalu, Solomon Asemota(SAN), High Chief RaymondDokepsi, Dr. FrederickFasehun, Dr. Odia Ofeimun,Prof. Attahiru Jega, Dr. SuleHamma, Dr. Junaid Moham-med, Otunba Gani Adams,Hon Nkoyo Toyo, Hon. AbikeDabiri-Erewa, Mrs. Ayo Obe,Mr. John Momoh, Mr. ShehuSani, Rear Adm. NdubuisiKanu (rtd), Mr. Ben MurrayBruce, and Chief Mike Oze-khome (SAN), among others.

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

States may not be able to pay workers if...— Oshiomhole

GOVERNOR AdamsOshiomhole of Edo

State has raised the alarmthat soon state governmentsmight not be able to pay thesalaries of workers and meetother obligations if the Fed-eral Government refuses torelease state allocations as atwhen due.

Already, investigations re-vealed that most state gov-ernments were finding it dif-ficult to pay their contractors,who are now threatening toabandon ongoing projectsand lay off workers.

“Very soon states may notbe able to pay salaries as atwhen due, if the delay in re-leasing state allocations con-tinues,” GovernorOshiomhole said at the just

concluded 9th Triennial Del-egates Conference of theTrade Union Congress of Ni-geria, TUC, in Abuja.

He said: “You now knowthat for this year our budgethas not been performing.

“Despite all the debatesabout benchmark for thebudget, in the end the Na-tional Assembly resolved itand there were speculationsby all kind of analysts.

“You know our analysts of-ten put their reputations onthe line depending on the nextconsultancy that they want.

“They tell us that the worldeconomy is going to comedown and that the Americanshave discovered new fuel,that there are things hap-pening in China and theeconomy is stagnating andtherefore, the oil price woulddrop.

“I have always said thatwhen they talk like that, theytalk as if the world is static.It is not. Those nations saidto be creating these problemsare not sitting on the prob-lems; they are working tochange those conditions.

“In any event, it is now nomore theory. Six months intothe New Year, oil price hasperformed over and abovethe oil benchmark. So, whathappened to all the forecasts?Oil is performing more thanbetween 20 and 25 percentmore than the budget.

“Yet, we are not able to re-ceive our share of the Federa-tion Account as at when due.

“They say we cannot fundthe budget. Why? Is it be-cause we are selling less?No, we are not because wecan see it on CNN.

“It is not a classified statematter or a classified secu-rity matter. Oil is selling over

and above the budget. So whyis the budget not performing?

“Now we are told it is be-cause of the level of crudetheft. I read in one paper thatas much as 600,000 barrels ofcrude is stolen per day.

"And because of the amountthat is stolen, what is left isnow below the budget exportvolume.

“So, are we now going tomake national budget to factorin stealing? Is that the option?So, if it is not about the price, itis about the volume of theft. Youcan ask a question.

“Can your wife tell you thatthe two legs of the elephantare missing from the pot ofsoup? You can be searching forthe liver in a pot of soup be-cause it is small.

“However, when your cooktells you that the two legs ofthe fowl cannot be found inthe pot, then that cook has astory to tell."

BY VICTORAHIUMA-YOUNG

YORUBA socio-politi-cal group, Afenifere,

has called on the FederalGovernment to urgentlyintervene in the deplor-able condition of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway andgridlock on the road,which it said had wors-ened in the last threedays.

The group, in a state-ment by its National Pub-licity Secretary, Mr. YinkaOdumakin, alleged thatthe state of the road hasled to countless road car-nage over the years.

It said the condition hasbeen particularly de-pressing in the last threedays, during which mo-torists spend about fivehours on journeys thatshould not take themmore than 55 minutes.

It said: “Motorist spendan average of six hours ona journey that should nottake more than 55 min-utes on the road.

“The physical strain ofthis anomaly isunquantifiable. We havehad promises of workcommencing on that roadin recent times, but we areyet to see action.

“The state of that roadis unacceptable and wewant to see commence-ment of real reconstruc-tion and not patchworkwithout further delay.”

BY IKENNAASOMBA

8 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

TRANSCORP's AGM: From right— Mr. Chinedu Eze, Secretary; Mr. Tony Elumelu, Chairman; Mr. Obinna Ufudo,President/CEO, and Olorogun O'tega Emerhor, Director, all of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) Plc,during the company's 7th annual general meeting in Abuja.

Youths nab 31 suspectedBoko Haram suspects in Borno

M A I D U G U R I —YOUTHS Vigilante

group in Borno State, otherwiseknown as Civilian JTF, week-end, arrested 31 Boko Haramsuspects in various locations inMaiduguri metropolis amidstovations and commendationsfrom residents and soldiers ofthe Joint Task Force, JTF.

The arrested sect memberswere immediately handed overto the various local sector com-manders of JTF for further in-terrogation and investigation.

The suspects were believed tohave been dislodged from theirtraining camps at SambisaGames Reserves Forests and

Kirenowa, a border commu-nity with Chad, after troopsattacked the camps followingdeclaration of state of emer-gency by President GoodluckJonathan.

According to the chairmanof the vigilante group,Abubakar Mallum, the sus-pects were nabbed at NEPAMarket junction, AnguwarDoki, Shuwari II andGambouru market, amongother areas of Maidugurimetropolis.

JTF commended the youthsin the joint manhunt of flee-ing Boko Haram suspects.

Its spokesman, Lt.-ColSagir Musa said: “JTFcommended these youths for

assisting our soldiers andpolice arrest these terrorists’suspects among people liv-ing in the metropolis.

"The youths have also re-newed their efforts in sup-porting the JTF in the cur-rent operations.”

Speaking on the youths’modus operandi yesterday inMaiduguri, the group’sleader, Mallum said: “Al-though some people call us‘Civilian JTF’ in the man-hunt of Boko Haram sus-pects in Maiduguri, wemembers of this YouthsVigilante group operate atstrategic locations with or-dinary sticks and cut-lasses.”

BY NDAHI MARAMA

NGF CRISIS: Jang urges courtto strike out Fashola's suit

A B U J A — F A C T I O N A Lchairman of Nigeria Gover-

nors’ Forum and Governor of Pla-teau State, Mr. Jonah Jang, hasasked an Abuja High Court tostrike out the suit filed againsthim by Governor BabatundeFashola of Lagos State for beingfrivolous.

In a preliminary objection hefiled before the court, Jang main-tained that the Lagos State gov-ernor does not have the right toseek for an order that will re-strain him from parading himselfas chairman of NGF.

He further challenged the ju-risdiction of the court to hear andadjudicate on the matter, con-tending that “any dispute withinNGF cannot be taken to an AbujaHigh Court by virtue of Part C ofthe Companies and Allied Mat-ters Act, CAMA, which pre-scribes that disputes should beresolved at the Federal HighCourt instead.”

Consequently, Jang, throughhis lawyer Mr. Tayo Oyetibo(SAN), prayed the court to ter-minate Fashola’s suit at the in-terlocutory stage for want of ju-risdiction and for the fact that theplaintiff lacked the locus to insti-tute the action.

Describing the disputebedeviling NGF as “non-justiceable as it relates to a meredispute as to political dignity,”the Plateau State governor ar-gued that the fact that his LagosState counterpart never contestedthe NGF chairmanship election,stripped him of the legal right toinstitute or sustain the action.

He argued that GovernorRotimi Amaechi of Rivers State,whom Fashola claimed won theelection, did not complain to thecourt that his mandate had beenusurped or was named or joinedas a party in the suit.

Jang further maintained thatgoing by the way the suit wascouched— “between the Gov-ernor, Lagos State and the Gov-ernor, Plateau State”— theplaintiff suggested a dispute

between Lagos and Plateaustates’ governments, whichautomatically strips everycourt of jurisdiction, save theSupreme Court, which is be-queathed with the exclusivejurisdiction to determine orresolve disputes betweengovernments of states or stategovernments and FederalGovernment.

He said: “Traditionally,NGF does not hold electionsto produce a chairman. It isthe practice that the chair-man of the Forum is ap-pointed by consensus of themembers.

“Where a consensus cannotbe reached, the candidatesupported by a simple ma-jority would become thechairman.

“In pursuance of the fact

above, Governor Amaechiwas informed that 19 of the36 governors of the states ofthe Federation have indi-cated in writing their deci-sion to support GovernorJonah Jang as Chairman ofNGF.

“Despite the fact above,Governor Amaech still in-sisted that there must be anelection and that he mustpreside at the meeting.

“At this stage, GovernorAmaechi produced ballot pa-pers which were unilaterallyprinted without prior author-ity of other members of NGFand started distributing samefor the purpose of the so-called election.

“When Governor Amaechirefused to step down asChairman of the Forum, but

BY IKECHUKWUNNOCHIRI

insisted on presiding to con-duct the election, 18 out ofthe 35 members present atthe meeting immediately in-dicated their unflinchingsupport for Governor JonahJang as the new Chairmanof the Forum without preju-dice to their objection to theinsistence of GovernorAmaechi on presiding overthe election process.

“Despite the fact that 18 ofthe members present sup-ported the 1st defendant asthe new chairman of the Fo-rum, Governor Amaechi andthe 2nd Defendant still wentahead to announce to thepublic that GovernorAmaechi emerged as thewinner of the election.

“As soon as the announce-ment was made, 18 out of the35 governors, who werepresent and supported the1st defendant, stormed outof the venue of the pur-ported election to demon-strate their disapproval ofthe political charade.”

It will be recalled thatFashola had asked the highcourt to stop Governor Jangfrom parading himself as theleader of the NGF and alsoissue an order of injunctionrestraining him from usingthe name “Nigeria Governor’sForum” in respect of any otherorganisation that does nothave the 36 governors asmembers and/or in any othermanner inconsistent with theConstitution of the forum.

He equally urged the courtto restrain one Mr. OsaroOnaiwu (3rd defendants)from parading himself as theSole Administrator of the Ni-geria Governors’ Forum inany manner whatsoever andhowsoever.

Dangote,Anyaoku,otherseulogiseMogaji atFidau

FORMER SecretaryGeneral of the Com-

monwealth, Chief EmekaAnyaoku, Alhaji AlikoDangote, state governorsand other prominent Nige-rians, yesterday, paid trib-utes to late Alhaja AbibatuMogaji, mother of formergovernor of Lagos State,Asiwaju Bola Tinubu at theeighth day Fidau prayersheld in her honour, yester-day.

Alhaja Mogaji died lastSaturday, June 15, at her10 Adigun Street, Alausa,Ikeja, aged 96.

Some of the dignitaries atthe event held at TafawaBalewa Square. Lagos,were, governors of Lagos,Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Edo,Imo and Ekiti and diplo-mats from Liberia, Senegaland Ghana.

Also at the Fidau wereSenators George Akume,Ganiu Solomon, GbengaAshafa and lawmakers fromLagos, Oyo and Osun states,led by Deputy Speaker of La-gos State, Mr. KolawoleTaiwo, Mrs. MonsuratSunmonu and Mr. NojimSallam, respectively.

Alhaji Yahyale Ahmed,Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu,former governors of Imo,Ogun, Anambra, AkwaIbom and Kogi states, Mr.Olusegun Osoba, Mr.Achike Udenwa, SenatorChris Ngige, Obong Vic-tor Attah and PrinceAbubakar Audu, respec-tively, were also there.

BY OLASUNKNAMIAKONI & MONSUR

OLOWOOPEJO

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 9

ASSEMBLY: Mr. IbrahimTizhe, President/Chairman of Computer Professionals RegistrationCouncil of Nigeria, CPN (middle), in a hand-shake with an inductee, while Alhaji SekinatYusuf, Vice President/Chairman of CPN, watches, during the IT Assembly, in Abuja. Photo: byEmeka Aginam

NGF CRISIS: Lagos ACN condemnsPresidency, PDP

115m widowsin the worldlive in abjectpoverty— Ban Ki-Moon

BY BARTHOLOMEWMADUKWE

Newswatchphoto editorsues NRC forassault

LAGOS — AS wid-ows across the

world celebrate the Inter-national Widows’ Day, theUnited Nations SecretaryGeneral, Ban Ki-Moon,yesterday, said about 115million widows in Nigeriaand other parts of the worldlived in abject poverty.

In a statement from theUnited Nations Informa-tion Cenre, UNIC, Ki-Moon, pointed out that 81million widows had suf-fered physical abuse.

He called on Nigerianwomen not to lose theirrights when they lose theirhusbands, saying, “nowoman should lose herrights when she loses herhusband. Girls married tomuch older men are espe-cially vulnerable.

“Let us use InternationalWidows’ Day to advocatefor the rights of all widowsso they can enjoy betterlives.”

LAGOS — LAGOSState Chap-ter of the Ac-

tion Congress of Nigeria, ACN,has berated the Presidency andthe Peoples Democratic Party, PDP,for allegedly sowing and sustain-ing crisis in the Nigeria Gover-nors’ Forum, NGF.

In a statement, it said PDP andthe Presidency by their actionswere creating doubts on the mindsof Nigerians on their faith in de-mocracy, which they hadleveraged to gain undue advan-tage over all Nigerians since 1999.

The statement by its PublicitySecretary, Joe Igbokwe, said by theway the PDP and the Presidencyhad allegedly gone to “create cri-sis in a body that unites Nigerian

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS —Photo Editor,

NEWSWATCH Newspa-per Mr. BabatundeOgundeji, has dragged theNigerian Railway Corpora-tion, NRC, before a Fed-eral High Court, sitting inLagos, for the assault hesuffered at the TerminusOffice in Ikeja, Lagos,while taking photographsof passengers hangingand sitting on top of a mov-ing train.

He is claiming the sumof N50million as damagesfor what he described as“assault and battery,” heallegedly suffered in thehands of “agents, servantsand privies” of the corpo-ration on August 13, 2012.

The photo Editor , whosecamera was earlier seized,claimed he almost lost hislife during the encounter,contended that the Divi-sional Police Officer of theRailway Police Station,Agege, Lagos and the Sta-tion Manager, eventuallyreleased his camera to him“on the condition that thephotographs would not bepublished.

governors and the audaciousmanner they are sustaining thiscrisis, are enough to warn Ni-gerians that those that benefittedgreatly from our fight againstmilitary rule are not ready to de-part from the path ofunconstitutionality.

It advised Nigerians to braceup for further struggles if they

are not to continue witnessing the de-liberate distortion of democracy tobenefit a small cabal that neither be-lieves in democracy nor are desirousof its growth.

“By now, Nigerians are all awareof the undue interest shown by thePDP and the Presidency to annex theNGF for their self serving purposesbefore the NGF election.

“Such desperation foundmeaning in the orchestratedcampaign of calumny thePresidency and the PDPlaunched against the Chair-man of NGF, GovernorChibuike Amaechi over theunfounded speculation that hewas eyeing the vice presi-dency.”

DE-FLOODING: Lagos embarkson demolition, drainageclearance in Apapa

BY OLASUNKANMI AKONI

LAGOS — WORRIED by the perennial flooding in Apapa area of

Lagos, the state government has em-barked on aggressive clearing ofdrainages in the area as well as en-sure free flow of traffic.

It equally directed the supervisingofficials of all ongoing drainageprojects to remove or demolish all ob-structing objects along drainage pathsto achieve maximum result.

Commissioner for the Environment,Tunji Bello, spoke, weekend, duringan inspection of the area as part ofmeasures to check cases of flood in thecurrent rainy season.

Currently, work is ongoing on someof the collector drainages in the area.

For instance, clearing of drainagesystem is ongoing in Liverpool/Sig-nal Barrack/Creek Road, MarineRoad, Randle Road, while construc-tion is also on course around Ma-rine Beach and Leventis/Arakan Bar-racks collector drain.

However, on Warehouse, Pelewuraand Randle Roads, the drainageswere discovered to be blocked, caus-ing flooding and obstructing motor-ists who had to wade through the wa-ter.

The commissioner explained thatthe ministry had received severalcomplaints from residents on thechallenges they faced whenever itrained.

Minister of Works,to speak atUnilag’s lecture

BY LAJU ARENYEKA

LAGOS — MINISTER of Works,Mike Onelemen, will Thursday,speak on “Economic Transforma-tion through Infrastructural Devel-opment: The role of Project Man-agement,” at the University of La-gos, UNILAG.

The lecture, organised by theDepartment of Building, is part ofthe 9th edition of its annual man-agement lecture series.

A statement by the Head of theDepartment, Prof. Godwin Idoro,said the lecture would seek to ad-dress fundamental developmen-tal issues in Nigeria and proffersolutions.

He added: “Mr. HakeemOgunniran, Managing Director ofUACN Property DevelopmentCompany Plc, will preside overthe event as chairman. The Hon-ourable Minister of Lands, Hous-ing and Urban Development, Ms.Ama Ayinge Pepple, CFR, will bethe special guest of honour.”

Nigeria to host summit on migration, terrorism inWest Africa

NIGERIAN INSTITUTE ofIn-ternational Affairs, NIIA,

in collaboration with Delphi Consult-ing Nigeria, plans to host a three-dayInternational Brainstorming Session

BY EMEKA AGINAM on Migration and Terrorism in WestAfrica.

The event, which is scheduled totake place in Abuja from July 24 –26, 2013, is conceptualised to mobi-lise multi-lateral and multi-nationalefforts to combat issues arising frommigration and threat to national se-

curity, particularly amongmember countries of theEconomic Community ofWest African States,ECOWAS, and the Sahelregion.

The brainstorming ses-sion is in line with the re-cent call by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, formulti-lateral co-operationto tackle acts of terrorism.

Consequently, the ses-sion will focus on cross bor-

der movements of personsand the growing trends ofinsurgency in West Africa.

It will also examine casesof proliferation of smallarms and light weapons inthe region and the huge im-portation of arms andammunitions by foreignersin breach of territorial integ-rity and sovereignty of theirhost countries.

Equally slated for discus-sions are the stringent im-migration laws and policiesbeing adopted by theUnited States and membercountries of European Un-ion which will affect Nige-rians intending to travel aswell as those in theDiaspora.

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

VISIT: Prof. Adebiyi Daramola, Vice Chancellor, Federal University of Technology, FUTA,Akure, in a handshake with Oghenekome Onokpise, professor and distinguished researcherat Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, and Prof. J. A. Alokan, Dean, School ofAgriculture and Agricultural Technology, FUTA, during Onokpise’s working visit to FUTA.

Aregbesola denies slapping deputyBYGBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO — OSUN StateGovernor, Mr. Rauf

Aregbesola has denied everslapping his deputy, Mrs.Grace Tomori, stressing that therumor was aimed at causingdisaffection capable ofdestabilising the state.

The governor said a cordialrelationship exists betweenthe two of them.

He added that “I have neverbeaten anybody in my life. Infact, I don’t beat my children,let alone beating any other per-son. More so, the Deputy Gov-ernor is older than me, so howdo I beat an elderly person.”

Governor Aregbesola, whospoke during a seven hour liveprogramme tagged ‘Ogbeni tillday break,’ weekend, main-tained: “I don’t have any quar-rel with my Deputy, and I can’thave any with her because Iintentionally chose her and noone choose her for me.

“I think I can work with herand that is why I chose her. So,no differences exist betweenus.”

The deputy governor whowas also present at the pro-gramme confirmed the claimsof the governor when she was

asked to respond to the alle-gation that the governor onceslapped her.

The deputy governorstressed that a cordial rela-tionship exists between herand the governor,, addingthat she would remain loyal

to the governor.On the crisis rocking the Ni-

gerian Governors’ Forum(NGF), Governor Aregbesolasaid: “Let the NGF take care ofitself. The forum is a voluntaryone and it is not compulsory thatevery Governor is a member.”

He also denied insinuationthat the debt profile of the statehas risen to N300 billion, say-ing that the opposition wasonly making the allegation todestabilise the progress of thestate and cause confusion.

...lauded by Okonjo-Iweala,World Bank, over goodgovernance

THE MINISTER of Finance, Dr. NgoziOkonjo-Iweala, has observed that Osun

State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,through his programmes, has demonstratedthat good governance is possible.

Also, the World Bank confirmed that the Fed-eral Government’s Youth Employment andSocial Support Operation (YESSO) was repli-cated from the Osun Youth EmpowermentScheme (OYES) started by Aregbesola.

In the same breath, the governor said thatthe nation would be great economically only ifits people became very productive.

Tambuwal lambasts OsunPDP over comment

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

ADO EKITI —THE Speaker of House ofRepresentatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal,

yesterday, shocked his audience when he lam-basted members of the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, in Osun State for criticising himfor speaking glowingly about the administra-tion of the governor of Osun State, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, urging them to see performancein governance beyond partisan politics.

Members of the PDP in the state a few weeksago, condemned the Speaker for eulogisingAregbesola for the good job he is doing in thestate during his visit.

Tambuwal was speaking at Ilawe Ekiti, head-quarters ,Ekiti South West Local Governmentarea of Ekiti State during the first year corona-tion ceremony of Alawe of Ilawe Ekiti,, ObaAjibade Alabi

PDP’s zonalmeeting

A MEETING of theleaders of the Peo-

ples Democratic Party,PDP, is to hold today inIbadan, the Oyo Statecapital.

The meeting, which isat the instance of ChiefIshola Filani-led Care-taker Committee for thePDP in the zone, willtake place at the party’szonal secretariat.

The expanded zonalexecutive committeemeeting will, among oth-ers, discuss issues relat-ing to the forthcomingzonal congress.

Those expected at themeeting are all the sixstate party chairmen inthe zone, members of theBoard of Trustees fromthe South West and 10leaders from each of thesix states of the zone.

RUN holds1st inaugurallecture

THE REDEEMER’SUniversity, RUN,

will hold its first ever In-augural lecture on Tues-day 25th June,2013 atthe International YouthCentre of the University,Mowe, Ogun State.

Prof Ahmed Yerima ofthe department of Thea-tre Art, College of Hu-manities will deliver thelecture with theme: ‘Re-fracted Universe, Alter-native Realities TheArtist as GOD’

Oyo AccordParty chidesAjimobi overcontracts

BY OLA AJAYI

ACCORD PARTY inOyo State has ac-

cused the Ajimobi ad-ministration of patronis-ing foreign contractors tothe detriment of oyostate contractors.

In a statement signedby its media Director,Prince Dotun Oyelade,that Ajimobi is now ask-ing each of the 33 coun-cils to forward thenames of three contrac-tors to him has justifiedthe complaints that allthe plum contracts of thepast two years have beenhandled by contractorsallocated to him by theleadership of the ActionCogress of Nigeria,ACN, outside the shoresof Oyo state.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 —11

Ex-militants want EFCC to probe alleged fraudin amnesty office

BY EMMA AMAIZE

WARRI—A kidnap victim,Mrs. Tobore Oborevowri,

has called on Inspector Generalof Police, IG and Director General,Department of State Service, DSS,to investigate the escape of thesuspected leader of the kidnapgang that abducted her in 2011.The suspect allegedly escapedfrom Ogwashi-Uku Prisons, DeltaState.

The kidnap kingpin, remandedwith four other accused personson the orders of a Delta State HighCourt sitting in Asaba, reportedlyescaped from the prisons on May26.

Mrs. Oborevwori, a housewife,was kidnapped May 8, 2011 inOsubi town, Okpe Local Govern-ment Area of Delta State and ittook the combined efforts of secu-rity agencies in the state to rescueher.

In a petition, dated June 14,addressed to the Director General,DSS, Abuja, by her lawyer,F.O.Olokor, she described the es-cape of the kidnap kingpin as“strange, bizarre, questionable”and called for a thorough investi-gation into same.

APC: Nomerger c’tteein Delta—OKOTIE-EBOH

Kidnap victim asks Police, DSS toprobe suspect’s escape

Her lawyer said that his cli-ent was informed that an officer/staff of the Federal Prisons,Ogwashi-Uku, who was sup-posed to be off-duty on May 26,brought out the suspect from his

cell and was with him for overthree hours before he fled.

The petition read, “The storywas that the suspect walked outof the Federal Prisons, Ogwashi-Uku, clad in prison officers/staff

uniform. The escape of the sus-pect from the Federal Prisons,has now greatly endangered thelife of our client, who is the starwitness in the charge of con-spiracy to kidnap, kidnapping,illegal possession of firearms andarmed robbery preffered againstthe accused persons.”

UGHELLI—DELTAState Chairman of Ac-

tion Congress of Nigeria,ACN, Chief Adolo Okotie-Eboh, weekend, said thatmerger committee had notbeen set up at the state levelin view of the merger of allmajor opposition parties inthe country.

Okotie-Eboh in a state-ment, said: “My attentionhas been drawn to publica-tions, wherein one ChiefPhillip Eyagomare actingon a purported directive ofSenator Eferakaya, who henamed as chairman of anon-existent Delta StateMerger Committee soughtto advise party members inDelta State.

“For the avoidance ofdoubt, I state that the saidChief Phillip is not a regis-tered member of ACN inDelta State and is unknownto the party and myself.With respect to SenatorEferakaya and as an elderof our party, I do not intendto trade words with him onthe pages of newspapers orany other media.”

PORT HARCOURT—DEPUTY Speaker, Riv-

ers State House of Assem-bly, Mr. Leyii Kwanee, hasexpressed disappointmentover the absence of progressin Nigeria’s democracy, 14years into the current demo-cratic dispensation.

Kwanee, in Port Harcourt,blamed the absence of de-mocracy on the Nigerianpolitical class’ condemnabledisrespect for rules govern-ing sustainable democracy.

Just arriving from a con-ference on “Emerging De-mocracies in Africa: Chal-lenges and Opportunities,”held in Abuja, the DeputySpeaker, noted that many inthe political class indulge inanti-democracy actions.

He bemoaned politicians’defiance of internal democ-racy in political parties, vio-lation of human rights andthe rule of law as well asdisrespect for the ballotprocess, citing the opposi-tion to the Nigeria Gover-nors Forum election won byRotimi Amaechi, Governorof Rivers State as a classi-cal case.

BY EMMA ARUBI

WARRI—NO fewerthan 100 former militants

in the second phase of thePresidential Amnesty Pro-gramme have called on Eco-nomic and Financial CrimesCommission, EFCC, to inves-tigate the Amnesty Officeheaded by Mr. Kingsley Kuku.

The former agitators allegedthat the amnesty committeeheaded by Kuku was short-changing them, adding thatthey had not been paid theirallowances/arrears after theirdisarmament and one weektraining/orientation pro-gramme in Akodo, Lagos Statesince December, 2011.

In a statement by TiminepreAgbeyei, Sele Mezeh and Bello

Lawmakerblames lackof democracydividends onpoliticians

Edo group lauds NDDC on projects

BY FESTUS AHON

BY EGUFE YAFUG-BORHI

CONDOLENCE: Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Lady Valerie Ebe (left), present-ing a condolence letter to the paramount ruler of Ukanafun, Okuku Victor Umoh, during thefuneral service of his mother, late Mrs. Tity Umoh, aged 122, at Uruk Otong, UkanafunL.G.A, Akwa Ibom State.

Akpotu, Chairman, Secretaryand Public Relations Officerrespectively, they accusedKuku of short-changingthem of their monthly sti-pends and called for his re-moval without delay. They

also passed a vote of no confi-dence on him.

“We appeal to EFCC to beamits search light on the amnestyoffice to unearth the fraudu-lent activities that has beenon-going since he (Kuku) has

turned the office into a politi-cal arena.”

They appealed to PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to inter-vene in their plight urgentlyto sustain the peace in the re-gion.

BENIN CITY—A group, Benin Develop-

ment Union, BDU, hascommended Niger Delta De-velopment Commission,NDDC, for the 800-capacityhostel for medical students atthe University of Benin,UNIBEN and the numerousprojects initiated by the currentleadership of the Commissionin Edo South Senatorial districtin particular and Edo State in

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

LG chairmen raise alarm over insecurityBY JIMITOTA ONOYUME

P O R THARCOURT—FOUR lo-

cal government areas chair-men in Rivers State have raisedalarm over deteriorating secu-rity situation in their respectivecouncils.

In separate interviews withVanguard, Chairman, OkrikaLocal Government Area, Mr

general.The group, however,

frowned on the activities ofthe Ministry of Niger DeltaAffairs, lamenting that theMinistry was yet to executeany project in Edo State, andcalled on the National As-sembly and the Presidency tobe vigilant with the funds ac-cruing to the ministry.

It noted that the allegedgubernatorial ambition of theminister, Mr. GodsdayOrubebe may have made the

ministry lose focus.While commending the NDDC

commissioner in the state, Mr.Henry Okhuarobo for his effortsin ensuring the completion ofprojects embarked upon by thecommission, it said that thenumber of projects being ex-ecuted by NDDC in Edo Statewas an indication that PresidentGoodluck Jonathan has genuinedesire to transform the NigerDelta region through adequatefunding of the NDDC.

Tamuno Williams and MrsMaureen Tamuno of OguboloLocal Government Area, said thecrime index was gradually risingin their councils.

The Okrika council boss,Williams, said pipeline vandal-ism was on the increase in hiscouncil, noting that within oneweek, two attacks on pipelineswere recorded.

He said at the moment, it was

becoming difficult to maintain lawand order in the council. “We arehaving difficulties in our variouscouncils in ensuring that there isno declining security.”

On her part, the ChairmanOgubolo council, Mrs Maureen,said that she no longer has ac-cess to the state Commissioner ofPolice to discuss crime related is-sues in her council. According toher, in the past, she could accessthe state Police boss on securitymatters, but same had not beenthe case lately.

Others who complained aboutthe security situation in theircouncils include the Chairmen ofOpobo/Nkoro council, MrMacleen Uranta and his counter-part in Etche, Mr. ReginaldUkwuoma.

Meantime, the Chairman ofOkrika council, Williams has saidthat the Okrikans would not sup-port an Ikwerre candidate as thenext governor of the state. Hesaid that the Ikwerres had theirturn with Governor ChibuikeAmaechi, hence somebody fromanother part of the state shouldstep into the office, when Gover-nor Amaechi bows out in 2015.

12 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Publishers hailUduaghan’sSupremeCourt victory

Crisis rocks Catholic Church in Benin

ABUJA—THE Asso-ciation of Commu-

nity Newspaper Pub-lishers of Nigeria,ACNPN, has laudedthe Delta State governor,Dr Emmanuel Uduaghanon the Supreme Courtconfirmation of his elec-toral victory.

President of ACNPN, DrPrince Oromonokpaye,and Prince CharlesUmejei, Delta State Chair-man, in a congratulatorymessage, weekend inAbuja, also praised the ju-diciary for not allowingpeople to ridicule it.

He said: “We expressour deep regard for theexcellent jurisprudence ofthe Supreme Court Jus-tices. It is a victory for de-mocracy, judiciary andgood people of Delta State.We register our unalloyedsupport for Dr Uduaghanand Prof Amos Utuamaleadership in our state.”

BENIN—A group in theCatholic Church in

Benin,Edo State, Edo LiturgicalGroup, has demanded the re-moval of the Archbishop of theMetropolitan See of Benin,Most Rev. Augustine Akubezeand a Benin Priest, made aBishop in his place for the trueevangelization of the people ofthe kingdom.

The group, which addressednewsmen in Benin, weekendby its Chairman, Mr AndrewAyemwenre, also accused theA r c h b i s hop of punishing Benin peoplefor demanding for a BeninBishop to help achieve properevangelization in their land inaccordance with the recom-mendation for the church byPope Benedict XV.

“In less than two years ofArchbishop Akubeze’s coming,there appears to be a designby him to replace our people,priests and laity in the Catho-lic Church. The Edo Liturgi-cal Group visited him on morethan four occasions to find theway forward.

“Among issues raised wereone Edo Mass for parishes atprimetime in the entire dio-cese, copies of Edo Bible andMissal be made available inthe Church, use of Edo songsat Mass, Priests in the Arch-

CONFERENCE: Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta/Chairman, PresidentialAmnesty Programme, Mr. Kingsley Kuku, Guest Speaker (middle); Special Adviser on En-vironment to the Bayelsa State governor, Mr. Inuruo Wills (left); Mr. George Etomi (secondleft), Mr Dennis Amachree (second right), and Chairman, Section on Business Law, Mr.Gbenga Oyebode, SAN, at the grand finale of Nigerian Bar Association 7th Business LawConference in Lagos.

As group demands removal of ArchbishopBY GABRIEL ENOGHOLASE diocese to learn to celebrate

Mass in Edo language, the re-instatement of Pa VincentOsakue to the knighthood,which was withdrawn byAkubeze and Mr. ChrisAghimien as Secretary of theLaity Council of the Archdioceseof Benin and the retention of thename, Edo Liturgical Group.”

He insisted that despite peacemoves by the group, the Arch-bishop failed to accede to any oftheir requests and refused toapprove the one Mass on Sun-day for the indigenes in all par-ishes in Benin-City.

“Holy Cross Cathedral as aParish has 28 Sunday Masses ina month while only one Mass is

said in Edo language for her in-digenes. This means that of the364 Sunday Masses in a year,only 12 is in the native tongue.Meanwhile, in Onitsha and theentire Eastern Nigeria, the re-verse is the case. The use of Edolanguage as part of the Mass isa taboo to Archbishop Akubeze,”the group said.

PORT HARCOURT—THE Rivers State

Government is to de-velop an alternativeeconomy to oil. Chair-man of IntegratedMedical Industries,IMI, and Commissionerfor Health, Dr SampsonParker, who disclosedthis during the first testrun of the integratedmedical industriespower plant, said thegovernment was al-ready addressing thechallenge of youth un-employment.

Meantime, the stategovernment said it hadsaved N1.4 billion fromthe ongoing salary veri-fication exercise in thestate public service.

Head of Service, MrSamuel LongJohn,when the state chapterof Nigeria Medical As-sociation, NMA paidhim a courtesy visit athis office, said the ongo-ing salary verification ex-ercise had nothing to dowith salary cut, as it wasto ensure that staff of thestate government werepaid their appropriatesalaries, adding that itwould also help guideagainst irregularities inpayment.

He said the verificationexercise had helped thestate government saveN1.4 billion from paymentirregularities, noting thatthere were situations,where some persons wereearning far above theirentitlement. The irregular-ity he said was discoveredthrough the ongoing staffverification exercise.

Continuing, Dr. Parkersaid “Oil has been goodto Nigeria and the Riverspeople but GovernorChibuike Amaechi be-lieves that the best way tosustain the developmentin Rivers State is to de-velop an economy that isindependent of oil. That iswhy the Rivers State Gov-ernment has investedheavily in manufacturing,farming, education,health, and energy.

“We are already seeingthe results as youths un-employment is reducing,”he said.

IMI buildsintegratedpower plant

As Rivers govtsaves N1.4bnfrom salaryverification

BY JIMITOTA ONOY-UME & BRIGHTOGUNKILEDE

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013—13

16-yr-old girl found dead atAba block industry

AnambrapartnersNDLEA tofight drugabuse

BY VINCENT UJU-MADU

BY CHIDI NK-WOPARA

Oguta rerunpoll: Policewarn troublemakers

AGM—From left: Finance Director, UACN Property Development Company, UPDC Plc,Mrs. Folasade Ogunde; Managing Director, Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran; Chairman, Mr. LarryEttah and Company Secretary, Mr. Godwin Samuel, at the 15th Annual General Meeting ofthe UACN Property Development Company, UPDC, Plc, at Golden Tulip Hotel, Amuwu-Odofin, Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi.

Polio:Okorocha hailsUNICEF,Rotary

Onoh's family drags Enugu govt to courtover demolition

Group asksN-Assembly towithholdS-East states'allocations

ABA— A 16-year-old girl wasfound dead, weekend, at the

premises of a block industry inAba, Abia State. The girl hawked groundnutsaround Eziukwu road in Aba.

The News Agency of Nigeria,NAN, reports that her remainswere dumped at a corner of theindustry naked, with her panthanging on one of her legs andfoam oozing out of her nose.

The tray of groundnuts beinghawked by the deceased was kepton top of a nearby platform veryclose to where her body wasdumped.

Some residents at the scenesaid the girl must have been stran-gled but was made naked to makeher death seem like a rape.

A man, who pleaded anonymi-

ty, said the girl got a call as shewas selling groundnut to himaround 8 p.m. on Friday from thesuspected killers and hurriedlydashed out to attend to her caller.

“I know her well. She was sell-ing groundnut to me around 8p.m. when she got a call. She toldthe person to be patient with herthat she will soon come to meethim.

“I jokingly told her that sheshould make sure she sold theentire groundnut to her caller. Shelaughed and hurriedly left to an-swer her supposed caller,” thesource said.

Another source close to thevictim’s family said they be-came apprehensive whenthey called her phone numberrepeatedly around 9 p.m. on

the fateful date, but the phonewas switched off.

They were, however, noti-fied on Saturday morningthat the girl had been founddead at the premises of ablock industry.

They said the brother-in-lawto the lady had to notify thepolice of the crime after resi-dents on the street showedthem her corpse.

The Police Area Command-er in-charge of Aba AreaCommand, ACP Rabiu Dayi,described the incident as un-fortunate.

He assured that the policewere on top of the situationand would, with time, ascer-tain the cause of her deathand the people behind it.

BY TONY EDIKE

A socio-cultural organisation, Ndigbo Unity Fo-

run, NUF, has called on theNational Assembly to with-hold the monthly allocationsdue for local governments ofthe five eastern states on ac-count of refusal by governorsof the states to conduct localgovernment elections.

The group condemned theactions of the governors, de-scribing it as undemocraticand an act of wickednessagainst the people at the grassroots.

In a statement made avail-able to Vanguard and signedby its president, AugutineChukwudum and SecretaryGeneral Chinedu Onye-buchi, the group said “thenon-conduct of local govern-ment election has deprivedthe people at the grass root ofdemocracy dividends. It is to-tally uncalled for and a dem-ocratic aberration that theSouth East Governors who arebeneficiaries of our democraticsystem will now put the sys-tem in abeyance through thenon conduct of the local gov-ernment election".

AWKA—ANAMBRAState government

promised weekend to joinhands with the NationalDrug Law EnforcementAgency, NDLEA, in wag-ing war against drug traf-ficking and consumption.

Governor Peter Obi madethe pledge while present-ing five brand new vehiclesand a cheque for N10 mil-lion to the agency in Awka.

The vehicles include fourpick-up jeeps and an 18-seater bus.

The governor said his ad-ministration was desirousof ensuring that the statewas rid of all forms of illicitdrug business and con-sumption.

He also assured that hewould personally carry thecampaign against harddrugs to Nigerians in vari-ous parts of the world andurged the people to join thebattle to save the countryfrom the menace of drugaddiction.

OWERRI—IMO StatePolice Command has

warned people who haveno business with the forth-coming state assembly re-run election in Oguta localcouncil area to distancethemselves from the area.

The State Commissionerof Police, CP, Mr. Mu-hammed Katsina, who readthe riot act also said thecommand was aware of theinflux of strange faces intoOguta council area aheadof the poll.

The CP said: “The com-mand will not hesitate tocommensurately deal withanybody or group of per-sons found to be geared to-wards disrupting the peaceof the area.

“Those who have no busi-ness in the area are ad-vised to stay clear of thepolling zones”.

The Imo police boss alsourged parents and guardi-ans to warn their childrenand wards to resist thetemptation of beingdragged into any un-healthy act.

BY CHIDI NK-WOPARA

OWERRI—IMO Stategovernor, Chief Rochas

Okorocha, has commendedthe United Nations ChildrenFund, UNICEF, Rotary Inter-national and other stakehold-ers for sustaining the fightagainst polio virus world-wide.

Okorocha made the com-mendation while flagging offthe 2013 Maternal, New Bornand Child Health Week,MNCHW, at Mbaitoli localgovernment headquarters,Nwaorieubi.

The governor said: “I urgemothers to ensure that theirchildren are immunized. Thisis the only way to ensure thatImo sustains its current po-lio-free status. The exercisewill go a long way to reducephysical disability in thestate”.

Wondering why some par-ents failed to exploit thegoodness of UNICEF andother concerned donors in thefight against child-killer dis-eases, the governor appealedto Imo stakeholders to embarkon massive awareness cam-paign for the eradication ofpolio virus in Nigeria.

ENUGU—THE family offormer civilian governor of old

Anambra State, late Chief Chris-tian Onoh, has dragged EnuguState government before the stateHigh Court claiming N10 milliondamages on their property demol-ished in Enugu. In the suit, number E/284/2013,representatives of Karastan Com-pany Limited owned by Dr JosefUmunnakwe, Onoh’s son, andsome family members of theformer governor, listed the StateCommissioner for Land and Sur-vey, Dr. Chukwuemeka Ujam, andhis Capital Territory Development

Authority, ECTDA counterpart,Engr. Ikechukwu Ugwuegede, asdefendants.

The legal action, according tothe plaintiffs, was brought pursu-ant to the damages suffered byKarastan Company Limited,whose property situated at plots6 - 14 Ekulu West layout, GRA,Enugu, was demolished by Enu-gu Capital Territory DevelopmentAuthority, ECTDA, on June 18,2013.

The plaintiffs, including Kara-stan Company Limited and itsDirector, Mrs. Caroline Onoh,who is the wife of the demisedformer governor, are also askingthe court to make a mandatory

injunction “restraining the de-fendants, their agents, privies orworkmen from further interferingwith or disturbing in any man-ner whatsoever their rights ofownership/possession of the plotsthat had certificate of revalida-tion dated June 12, 1985.”

Onoh family is also praying thecourt for a declaration that thepurported withdrawal of approvalearlier granted them for introduc-tion of parking space and rea-lignment of a road on the prop-erty by the Commissioner forLands and Survey and the rea-son contained in the withdrawalletter of March 20, 2013, becomenull and void and of no effect.

14—Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

INDUCTION— From right: General Mohammed Buhari, (rtd), former Head of State; Chief ErnestShonekan, former Head of State; General Oladipo Diya, (rtd) former Chief of General Staff; during the2013 annual lecture, Life Achievement Awards/and Induction of new Fellows of the Nigerian Academyof Engineering with the theme 'Engineering opportunities and challenges related to producing a broadrange of polymer products from oil and gas,' at the Main Auditorium of the University of Lagos. Photo:Kehinde Gbadamosi

Nigeria records 25 polio cases in7 months

1,500 Nigerian refugees flee to Cameroon— ENVOY

Maku mourns Daily Trust MD; saysdeath a huge loss to journalism

BY BEN AGANDE

ABUJA—THE state of emergency declared in the North-

Eastern states of Borno, Yobe andAdamawa by President GoodluckJonathan has forced about 1,500refugees into the northern part ofCameroon, Nigeria’s ambassadorto that country has said. Speaking with newsmen on Pres-idential delegation to the summiton Regional Security in Yaounde,Cameroun, the Nigerian Ambas-sador to Cameroon, AmbassadorHadiza Mustapha, said the fig-ure which had been confirmed bythe United Nations High Commis-sion for Refugees was no wherenear the 3,000 reported in themedia.

According to him, the bilateralcooperation between Nigeria andCameroun in the areas of securityhas checked activities of BokoHaram terrorists.

According to the envoy, theCameroonian government hasgranted the refugees unlimitedstay until the situation normalisesin their respective states.

Mustapha said: “There is a say-ing that you cannot choose yourneighbours but you share boththe good and the bad with yourneighbours. It is true that wehave seen not only with the BokoHaram insurgency but with thedeclaration of State of Emergen-cy, a few refugees who havecome into the Cameroon.

“This is what happens, as longas you cannot choose your neig-bour but you can choose how youlive with your neigbour, that iswhy peace is very important. Andsince I have been here 10months and we have put the Ba-kassi issue behind us, there hasbeen a lot of improvement in ourrelationship. And with that im-provement and with that peace,a lot of cooperation is now possi-ble.

”In the area of terrorism, there

is a lot of cooperation betweenour security agencies and thatof the Cameroonian in terms ofexchange of information evenin joint operations. They have

also given us quite a lot of sup-port, sometimes we have evenhad exchange of suspected per-sons.

“Like you rightly noted, this

is possible because of the peacethat now exist between us. A lotof things is possible because bothcountries security agencies are co-operating very well".

BY VICTORIA OJEME

ABUJA— THE Executive Director, National Primary

Health Care Development Agen-cy, NPHCDA, Dr Ado Moham-med, has disclose that 25 cases ofpolio have been recorded in thelast seven months

He stated that almost 70 percentof the cases were from Yobe andBorno states as a result of insecu-rity.

Mohammed made this disclo-sure at a send-forth for the pio-neer photographer and camera-man of the agency, Mr. Niyi Ayeg-boyin, in Abuja.

He said: “Let me correct that

misconception. In the last sevenmonths, we have 25 cases. Whenyou compare this to where wewere last year, and with the pressrelease by Independent Moni-toring Board, the Federal Gov-ernment has been commendedfor its efforts and leadership.”

Dr Mohammed stressed thatgovernment was working to-wards ensuring that the countrywas rid of the disease.

He emphasized that casecounts had reduced by over 50percent and that only a mild typeone had been circulating, whilemore dangerous type two andthree had not been circulatingin the last six months in Niger-

BY EMMANUEL ELE-BEKE

ABUJA—INFORMATIONMinister, Mr. Labaran Maku,

has described the death of theManaging Editor of Daily TrustNewspaper, Mallam SuleimanMohammed, as a huge loss to thejournalism profession.

The minister stated this in Abu-ja when he paid a condolence vis-it to the management and staff ofthe newspaper.

He said the deceased workedhard to uplift the standard of theprofession and showed exempla-ry character as well as uncommoncommitment to journalism.

He remarked that the people ofNasarawa State, where the de-ceased hailed from also share fromthe loss, as a young state that isin need of manpower, especiallyin the media to complement the

projection of the image of thestate and its citizens.

The minister also condoled thefamily of the deceased andprayed God to strengthen andgive them the fortitude to bearthe irreparable loss.

In his response on behalf ofthe management of Daily Trust,the Deputy Editor-in-Chief,Mallam Mahmud Jega, said theLate Mallam Suleiman Moham-med was a thorough professionalwho practiced for over three dec-ades across the country.

He described the deceased asa man of good character and re-lated easily with people from allshades of opinions and divides.

Jega said they were stunnedby his sudden death, while inactive service but they were con-soled through the good testimo-nies of people on the life andtimes of the deceased.

CMYK

CMYK

Vanguard, `MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013—15

Former President Ibrahim Babangida (left) and the Yeriman Zazzau, Alhaji Munir Jafaru(right) at the event.

TURBANING:From left: Senator Daisi Danjuma; the Jarmai Zazzau Lt. Gen.TheophilusDanjuma; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal; and Emir of Zazzau, AlhajiShehu Idris during the turbaning of Lt-General Danjuma (rtd) as the Jarmai Zazzau, in Zaria,Kaduna State, Saturday. Photos: Olu Ajayi.

PDP elections: S-West, S-Eastkick off campaignS-West still burdened by ongoing legal cases

BY EMMANUELAZIKEN, POLITICAL

EDITOR

S-West still burdened bylegal cases

The South-West, it was learnt, ishowever, being burdened by the twoissues of zoning and the court ac-tion instigated by disaffected partymembers over the original electionof last year.

The former National Vice Chair-man, Engr. Segun Oni, sacked bythe court upon the process instigatedby disaffected party members overthe conduct of the zonal congress,

it was learnt, was yet to decidewhether to seek for a fresh term.

“We are still waiting on keystakeholders on how the zoningwould be decided,” a key associ-ate of the former governor toldVanguard yesterday.

He was hopeful that Oni wouldmake a categorical decision onthe issue before the stakeholders’meeting.

However, another party officialfrom one of the South-West stateswas pessimistic about the zone

LAGOS— CAMPAIGN forthe eight vacancies in the

National Working Committee,NWC, of the Peoples Demo-cratic Party, PDP, has kickedoff in earnest with a numberof the ousted officers mobilis-ing key stakeholders in theirzones to win back their seats.

While the South-East partystakeholders are understoodto be pushing for the returnof its officers that were forcedto resign, the South-West cau-cus, it was learnt, was still spliton the issue and the processof filling the key offices allo-cated to the zone.

A meeting of South-Weststakeholders to determinehow to share the three toppositions of National ViceChairman, National Secretaryand National Auditor, it waslearnt, has been fixed for nextweek.

The meeting and the plan,however, could be derailed bythe ongoing legal issues aris-ing from the last zonal con-gress that are still in court.

The South-East, Vanguardlearnt, is also to meet nextweek on the same issues onthe position of National Pub-licity Secretary and NationalWomen's Leader that areshared to the zone, now va-cant.

Metuh may return

Yesterday, it was, however,learnt that Chief Olisa Metuhcould be riding his way backto office upon the recommen-dation of his performance inthat office between March2012 and his resignation lastThursday.

It was also learnt that the in-fluential South-East caucus inthe National Assembly andelements from the zone ap-preciative of Chief Metuh’swork as the party’s chief pub-licist were already drummingfor his return with strategicmeetings being held with oth-ers concerned.

However, a definitive pro-nouncement on an automaticreturn for Metuh, it waslearnt, would be made nextweek at a South-East caucusof the PDP being arranged forEnugu.

fielding replacements for theempty positions given what healluded to the ongoing cases inthe courts against the conduct oflast year’s convention and con-gresses.

“Unless the cases are with-drawn, the prospects of theSouth-West meeting the dead-lines for the election of the offic-ers would be very difficult,” theparty official said yesterday onthe condition of anonymity.

Eight of the members of the

Poverty, terrorism, weapons of human rights violations —Angwe

BY INNOCENT ANABA

LAGOS — CHAIRMAN, Network of National Human

Rights Institutions in West Af-rica, NNHRI-WA, Prof. BemAngwe, has identified povertyand acts of terrorism as strong-est weapons of human rights vio-lations in West Africa and calledon the various governments inthe sub-region to muster themuch needed political will totackle these challenges frontally.

Angwe, Executive Secretary of

Nigeria’s National Human RightsCommission, NHRC, in Dakar,Senegal, weekend, at the confer-ence of the Human Rights Com-munity in West Africa, noted thatthere were wide spread violationsof rights across the sub regionarising from violent conflicts anddeficit of governance.

Against this backdrop, Angwetasked various governments ofWest African countries to prioritiseprogrammes targeted at povertyreduction, employment creation

and the protection and promotionof rights of the people. He saidattention should focussed on thevulnerable groups including thephysically challenged persons,women and children.

Angwe called on countries inthe sub region that were yet toestablish National Human RightsInstitutions, NHRIs, to hasten theprocess in view of the potency ofsuch institutions in the promotionand protection of human rights.

He urged countries that estab-lished NHRIs to strengthen them

in line with the Paris Principlesof 1993 to guarantee the inde-pendence and financial au-tonomy of such institutions.

He said: “Human rights viola-tions occur in all countries of theworld, but it becomes a biggerproblem if human rights institu-tions cannot offer help when vic-tims of rights violations seek re-dress, just because they lack in-dependence, effective enforce-ment procedures or the neededresources.”

TourismMinister hailsGlobacom forSlide &Bounceconcert

ABUJA — MINISTERof Culture and Tour-

ism, Chief Edem Duke,has described Globacom asthe only Nigerian companythat has identified with theaspiration of the ministry inthe area of youth engage-ment and empowerment.

Duke who made the re-marks in Abuja, weekend,at the Glo Slide & BounceConcert said the telecom-munications outfit had con-tributed significantly to thepromotion of arts and cul-ture in the nation.

The minister whocommended Globacom forits efforts at empoweringthe Nigerian youths, par-ticularly given the supportthe telecommunication out-fit has given to the nation’sentertainment industrythrough the endorsementof artistes in the country,urged other corporate or-ganisations to emulateGlobacom.

Wogu didnot taskJang onNGF polls

LAGOS — IN our storypublished Friday, June

21, 2013, entitled “HowAmaechi defeated Jang—Oshiomhole,” the Ministerof Labour and Productivity,Chief Emeka Wogu, wasreported to have called onGovernor Jonah Jang ofPlateau State to accept de-feat in the Nigerian Gover-nors Forum, NGF, chair-manship election in the in-terest of free and fair elec-tion in 2015.

The attribution referred towas made by GovernorAdams Oshiomhole of EdoState, who like Wogu, waspresent at the Trade UnionCongress of Nigeria, TUC,9th Triennial Delegates Con-ference, that took place inAbuja.

Wogu who representedPresident GoodluckJonathan actually said theNGF was a voluntary as-sociation registered withthe Corporate Affairs Com-mission which he (Presi-dent) had never and wouldnever interfere in its affairs.

The mix-up is highly re-gretted and we apologiseto Chief Wogu for the em-barrassment it may havecaused him.

OPINION

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

*Mr. Kupoluyi, wrote from FederalUniversity of Agric., Abeokuta, OgunState.

BY ADEWALE KUPOLUYI

Continued from People&Politicd pg

IN the late 1970s, when there wasan effort by the Federal Government

to scrap HND, with the hope ofcreating a pool of technicians that willbe different from engineers, asproduced by the universities, but thisattempt failed due to the poorimplementation of the policy thatmerely replaced HND with a lowercertificate; National TechnicalCertificate, NTC, which wasvehemently resisted by the students.

To redress the anomaly, an attemptwas made by the Olusegun Obasanjoadministration to end thediscrimination between HND and BScgraduates. In a 40-page paper, thePresidential Committee on theConsolidation of Emoluments haddiscovered that entrants into the publicservice with HND are barred fromreaching the highest grade even whenthey were found competent.

Before the removal of the ceiling onthe salary grade level/rank, thepromotion of HND holders in thenation’s public service terminated atGrade Level 14, while theircounterparts holding universitydegrees were allowed to reach level17.

Other bias meted out to them includeinequality in salary Grade Level

(HND - GL 07 & BSc - GL 08), securitypersonnel - Bsc (Commissioned),HND (Non-commissioned),promotion; HND (maximum of GL 12),while BSc (Unlimited), banks andother financial institutions treat HNDholders like outcasts while BScholders are employed asadministrative staff, as HND holdersare confined within the executivecadre.

Ironically, the frustration had led nota few into all kinds of unemployment,social vices, criminality, non-chalantattitude and complete frustration bythose unfortunate young men andwomen who are groomed to betechnically-versatile products, self-employed and job-creators.

What we should do is to strengthenour polytechnics, realising thatalthough the university strives toimpart a particular kind of educationby teaching ‘why things work’, thepolytechnic on the other hand teaches‘how things work’ thus, theycomplement each other.

Therefore, non-technical coursesthat are irrelevant to the coremandates of the institutions should belimited to the barest minimum in thepolytechnics to allow them maximize

their capacity to train technicians,technologists and middle-levelmanagers.

Over the years, the nation has beenexperiencing imbalances anddisconnect between the actualmanpower needs of the economy andthe educational system, resulting indire structural imbalances that areinimical to national development.

As I have observed in an essay, WhyHND Should Not Be Scrapped, “Theelite should be blamed for policyfailures because as policies are beingformulated, they also build landminesin order to take the advantage of suchloopholes for their selfish interestwhen eventually the policies fail” (TheVanguard, 27/06/2008, page18).

The nation now needs well-orchestrated objectives that willharness its many talented manpowerto produce the synergy that will driveit to development that is not madepossible under the presentarrangement.

The bitter truth is that inasmuchas we have university graduates

who are better than polytechnicgraduates, there are also polytechnicgraduates who are also far better than

the university graduates. So,polytechnic graduates are notmentally inferior in anyway.

And to the UK example, we shouldnot kill our polytechnics. The needsand aspirations of the nations may besimilar but the structure and thepeculiarities of the two societiescompletely differ.

The National Board for TechnicalEducation, which supervises theseinstitutions that currently stand at 110for tertiary technical institutions and159 technical colleges, should urgentlyreview the curricula of polytechnics tomake them go in tandem with modernday reality. It should be appreciatedthat the real sector of the economy isthe engine room for attainingenvisaged development, hence a well-managed economic system requirestechnical hands that propel theindustries to run to optimal capacity.

Without delay, government shouldpay less attention to party politics andend the ongoing strike by embarkingon dialogue with the angry workers.The workers too should be responsive,bearing in mind that all their demandsmay not be met at a go. This is theright thing to do.

Concluded.

Killing our polytechnics (2)Killing our polytechnics (2)Killing our polytechnics (2)Killing our polytechnics (2)Killing our polytechnics (2)

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan isunhappy with Nigerians. He is in no doubtthey have lost moral values, includingrespect for elders. The President asked thechurch to redeem the situation when heflagged off the National ChristianCampaign on Social Transformation.The campaign is important enough to cut

across religious lines, if it is to have animpact that would ameliorate a pervasivenational condition. Can we do somethingabout it? “Our priorities are misplaced. We have

trained our children to insult elders,parents fight teachers who discipline theirchildren and so we have been reproducingbadly behaved children, who come underpeers influences. The church itself has notalways done what it should do, some of theteachings in some of our churches haveturned the bible upside down, the bible ismeant to teach us which is right and helpsus to do righteous things.” he added.Nigerians, he continued, have lost the

values for hard work, respect for theirelders, truthfulness, honesty, contentment,humility, patience and all moral virtues.The situation is worse than the President

President’s RPresident’s RPresident’s RPresident’s RPresident’s RespectespectespectespectespectFFFFFor Elderor Elderor Elderor Elderor Eldersssss

elaborated. The bankruptcy of theNigerian is almost comprehensive. FewNigerians are exempt from the President’saccusations; fewer Nigerian settings arebereft of the picture he painted. The causesand solutions are not as simple as thePresident’s analysis.What should really worry Nigerians is

that the authorities believe that their rolesbegin and end with speeches in acomplainingly accusatory delivery whichsuggests that the causes of and solutionsto our national woes lie elsewhere. Theyshould not distance themselves fromchallenges.

Are we interested in solutions or blamesharing? Who would provide thesolutions? What does the President meanby respect for elders? How do we insultour elders?Our cultures make respect for elders

mandatory. Respect is not only aboutgreeting elders. The respect we give peoplereflects in how we treat them. We agreewith the President that we do not treat ourelders well; it is to be noted too that ourcountry has remarkable disregard forpeople, whether they are children, thepoor, the sick, or the physically challenged.Is it possible to be more practical in

respecting elders? We can and it is a shamethat we have neglected them all theseyears. The hundreds of thousands who diewaiting for the pittance that passes fortheir pension are elders. Some, like retiredRailway workers, have gone for six yearswithout pension. Their pathetic survivalstories elicit indifference from theauthorities. If we respected elders wewould have treated pensioners better.The biggest insult to elders, these days,

do not come from unruly children, butwell-behaved adults.

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 49

50 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

8TH DAY FIDAU PRAYERS FOR LATE ALHAJA ABIBATU MOGAJI

From left: Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary-General; Chief Bisi Akande,National chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria; Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, Asi-waju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and Mr. Dan Abudakuri, formerGhana Minister of Trade and Industry, representing Ghana President, at the 8th day Fidau Prayerfor Late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, mother of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at Tafawa Balewa Square,Lagos, yesterday. Pix: Bunmi Azeez.

From left: Alhaji Aliko Dangote, President Dangote Group; Alhaji AbubakarAudu, former Kogi State Governor; and Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former EFCCChairman.

From left: Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State; Gov. Adams Oshiomhole ofEdo; Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun and Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun.

From left: Alhaji Lateef Jakande, former Governor of Lagos State; SenatorAnnie Okonkwo and Gov Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.

From left: Senators 'Jide Omoworare, Domingo Obende, 'Bunmi Adetunmbi,'Gbenga Ashafa, Pius Ewherido, 'Gbenga Kaka, Akin Odunsi, RobertBoroffice, 'Femi Lanlehin and 'Femi Ojudu.

From left: Chief Rasaq Okoya; Chief Samuel Adedoyin;and Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, Alaafin of Oyo.

From left: Mrs. Adejoke Orelope-Adefilure, Deputy Governor of Lagos State;Prof. Modupe Adelabu, Deputy Governor of Ekiti State and Otunba Titi Laoye-Tomori, Deputy Governor of Osun State.

YOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAYYOUR LUCK TODAY

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

VIRGINIA

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Princess Shii’ By Andy Akman

dadadekola@yahoo.com

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” By Lanre Kehinde

HOME & AWAY by Lawrence Akapa

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 51

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

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

By Richard Eromosele

TERROR MUDA in “Never say Goodbye’ By Lanre Kehinde

ARIES: Monetary Venus makes an ingress intoyour Star sign with good luck to you. Financialsuccess is closer to you than you can imagine. Giveit a big push.

TAURUS: Here is a good day when influentialpersonalities around you will be willing to assistyou but you will need to take the initiative. Takegood advice.

GEMINI: This is your day. The more ambitiousyou are along your career line the better for you.And friends are willing to give the needed supports.

CANCER: Your mind is truly active and if you’remore practical about it success’ll crown yourefforts. Reason with your tried and trusted friends.

LEO: Coming of monetary and loving into apositive angle to your Star sign is a big plus. On aday like this the more ambitious you are the better.It’s good to be loving.

VIRGO: The more willing you are to listen to yourpartners and/or spouse the better for you today.Friends are trying to convince you that the arereliable.

LIBRA: The more push-full you are along yourcareer/business lines the better. Embrace newmethod at work. Don’t neglect your love life.

SCORPIO: Here is a day you are not meant toignore new ideas that come suddenly. It’s good totake matters of the heart more seriously. Listen toyour spouse please.

SAGITTARIUS: Monetary and romantic Venusis joining mighty Sun at positive angle to your Starand bringing you good influence. Be moreambitious.

CAPRICORN: Although your being co-operativecan enhance your scope, your personal ideas andinitiative are guarantee for a bigger do.

AQUARIUS: Those of you who are moreconsistent will have more to gain. Good ideas onmonetary issues will enhance your finances. Bemore family minded.

PISCES: Entrance of monetary and romanticVenus into a positive angle is meant to enhanceyour finances. The more willing you are to takegood advice the better. Be loving.

Dear Joshua,I am a regular reader of your work since you

were with The Punch Newspapers. I want youto please tell me my lucky dates and dates tobeware this year (2013). More ink to your pen.

Joshua Aba.

Dear Joshua,On your lucky dates try to maximise your

gains on one hand and or the other hand, tryyour best possible to avoid trouble and/or lossduring those dates to beware of. But take notethat there is nothing to worry about concerningdates to beware of because, they are merewarnings. However the lucky dates are for real.

IMPORTANT DAYS DAYS FOR YOU IN2013.

YOUR LUCKY DATESJuly – 2, 11 & 16August – 3, 8, 13* & 22.September –3/4, 9, 23 & 27*.October – 2*, 7*, 16* 20, 25 & 30.November – 4, 11, 13***, 17, 21** & 26.December – 1***, 10, 14, 23 & 28.

DATES TO BEWARE OFJuly – 21Aug – 10 & 24Sept – 7Oct – 18Nov – 1Dec – 6Prince Joshua Adeyemo

Do you want long life?...DO you actuallywant to live long onthis planet earth? Ifyour answer to theabove question isyes, then why areyou still entrenchedin those things thatcould shorten your

life span? Forexample, on everypackage ofcigarette is writtenamong others. “TheFederal Ministry ofHealth warns thatsmokers are liable to

die young”. Yet, thedaily convert ofyoung persons whosmoke today isalarming. If thetruth must be told,every smoker iscommitting suicide.

Do you want longlife? Then honouryour father and yourmother, honourelders and be honestto yourself and toyour neighbours.

Think about it!

52 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 —53

4,000-year-old mummyin UK spins

A museum has probedinto a real-life cause

of a mummy’s tomb aftera relic almost 4,000-yearsold started moving on itsown.

The 10-inch-tallstatuette of a man calledNeb-Senu, which datesback to 1800 BC,mysteriously spun180degrees with nobodygoing near it, the Mirrorreported.

Curators were baffledafter they kept finding itfacing the wrong way andrigged up a time-lapsecamera to catch whoeverwas moving it.

But incredibly thecamera shows the figure

moving on its own accordin front of crowds ofvisitors who passed bywith hardly a second look.TV brainbox Brian Cox,who presentsprogrammes such as theWonders of Life, is amonga group of experts beingasked if they have anyidea what is causing thephenomenon.

The statue has been inthe Manchester Museumfor over 80 years.

N. Africa’s Al-Qaeda says European hostages still alive

EIGHT hostagesNorth Africa’s Al-

Qaeda is holding are stillalive. In a statement onTwitter, al-Qaeda in theIslamic Maghreb (AQIM)said it would soon releasea video of the captives.

Five of the hostages aresaid to be French, thenationalities of the othersare not clear.

The statement came afterrallies were held acrossFrance organised byfamilies of four of thehostages. The events inParis, Saint-Cere, Nimes,Nantes and Orleansmarked 1,000 days of theircaptivity. “We would like toreassure the families andparents of the hostages oftheir children’s safety. Wewill soon, God willing, aira new video showing thefive French hostages,” thestatement said, reproducedon several jihadistwebsites. It repeatedprevious statements byAQIM that the groupwould kill the hostages ifFrance carried out any newmilitary operations in NorthAfrica.

France sent troops to Maliin January after al-Qaeda-linked militants threatenedto over-run the capital,

Bamako.AQIM said it remained

open to negotiations.Thierry Dol, DanielLarribe, Pierre Legrandand Marc Feret werekidnapped in Niger bymilitants in September

2010 in the town of Arlitwhile working for a Frenchnuclear firm. A videoreleased in September 2012provided the first evidencethat they were still alive.

Mr Legrand’sgrandfather, Rene Robert,

told French TV onSaturday that “there havebeen a lot of missedopportunities, there hasbeen a lot of time lost andit is time to bring thissituation to an end”.

Malaysia declares smog emergency

M A L A Y S I Adeclared a state of

emergency in two parts ofthe southern state of Johoron Sunday, as smoke fromland-clearing fires inIndonesia pushed airpollution above the levelconsidered hazardous.

The illegal burning offorests and other land onIndonesia’s Sumatraisland, to the west ofpeninsular Malaysia andSingapore, to clear spacefor palm oil plantations is achronic problem duringthe June-September dry

season.The “haze” caused by

fires in Riau province onSumatra has alsoshrouded neighbouringSingapore but air qualityin the city state improvedover the weekend afterreaching hazardous levels.

15 killed in Kenya attack

AT least 15 peoplewere killed in a

grenade attack onSunday in a remotevillage in northernKenya where low-keyclan clashes havedisplaced hundreds ofpeople in the past week,the Kenya Red Cross andlocal officials said.

P a s t o r a l i s tcommunities in northernKenya have longwrangled over thecontrol of highlyvaluable grazing land.

But the fighting, inwhich more than 20

villagers have beenkilled in the past twodays in Manderacounty, near the eastAfrican nation’s frontierwith Ethiopia andSomalia, has marked anescalation in tension.

Residents say thepolitical class in the areaare using clan militia tojostle for top positions inthe local administrationand to settle old scores.

The epicenter of thefighting is located about800 km from the capitalNairobi.

*Supporters of four French hostages held rallies marking 1,000 days of captivity

•Edward Snowden

NELSON Mandelahas become

critically ill in hospital, theSouth African presidencyhas announced.

In a statement, PresidentJacob Zuma said MrMandela's doctors were"doing everything possibleto get his condition toimprove". "He is in goodhands," said Mr Zuma.

South Africa's first blackpresident, who is 94, wastaken to hospital earlier thismonth for the third time thisyear, with a recurrent lunginfection.

The statement said MrZuma had visited MrMandela in hospital inPretoria on Sundayevening and was told theformer president'scondition had worsenedover the past 24 hours.

"The doctors are doingeverything possible to gethis condition to improveand are ensuring thatMadiba is well-looked afterand is comfortable. He isin good hands," saidPresident Zuma, using MrMandela's clan name by

to improve but that hiscondition remainedserious. More recently, oneof Mr Mandela'sgrandsons, NdabaMandela, said hisgrandfather was gettingbetter and he hoped hewould be home soon.

Mandela's wife, GracaMachel, thanked all thosewho had sent messages ofsupport, saying they hadbrought "love, comfort andhope". Mandela is reveredfor leading the fight againstwhite minority rule inSouth Africa and then

Nelson Mandela critically ill in hospital

Edward Snowden seeksEcuador asylum

F U G I T I V Ewhistleblower

Edward Snowdenembarked on a new stagein his life on the run onSunday night, fleeingHong Kong by plane toRussia and lodging a bidto claim asylum inEcuador.

Snowden has also hadhis U.S. passport revoked,an official said Sunday. Itwas annulled before heleft Hong Kong for Russiaand while that could com-plicate his travel plans, thelack of a passport alonecould not thwart his plans,the U.S. official said. If asenior official in anothercountry or with an airlineorders it, a country couldoverlook the withdrawnpassport, the official said.

Snowden, a former CIAcontractor who leaked thecontroversial US spyprogramme, also madefresh claims about UShacking attacks againstChina, which yesterday

•Nelson Mandela

which he is widelyknown in SouthAfrica.

There has beenlittle informationabout MrM a n d e l a ' scondition inrecent days. On13 June MrZuma, whoreleases allupdates relatingto the reveredleader, said theformer president'shealth continued

preaching reconciliationdespite being imprisonedfor 27 years. He left powerafter five years aspresident. The formerpresident and Nobel PeacePrize winner is believed tohave suffered damage tohis lungs while working ina prison quarry.

He contractedtuberculosis in the 1980swhile being held in jail onthe windswept RobbenIsland. Mr Mandelaretired from public life in2004 and has rarely beenseen at official events since.

On Saturday, it emergedthat the ambulance inwhich Mr Mandela wastaken to hospital on 8 Junebroke down, meaning hehad to be moved to anothervehicle.

But Mr Zuma said hehad been assured that "allcare was taken to ensurehis medical condition wasnot compromised".

"There were sevendoctors in the convoy whowere in full control of thesituation throughout theperiod. He had expertmedical care," he said.

termed the US as the“biggest villain” in cyberespionage.

Fugitive former U.S. spyagency contractor EdwardSnowden is seekingasylum in Ecuador, theQuito government said onSunday, after Hong Konglet him leave its territorydespite Washington’sefforts to extradite him onespionage charges.

An aircraft believed to becarrying Snowden landedin Moscow, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeakssaid in a statement he was“bound for the Republic ofEcuador via a safe route forthe purposes of asylum”

54—Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

OPINIONBY ADEWALE KUPOLUYI

*Mr. Kupoluyi, wrote from Federal University ofAgric., Abeokuta, Ogun State.

SHOULD our polytechnics continued to be relegatedto the background? This question has been asked

times without any consensus as to whether the answershould be in the affirmative or not. This confusion isworsened by government’s inability to be decisive andmake up its mind on what it hopes to do with polytechniceducation. This inconsistency in public policy formulationand implementation could largely explain why ourpolytechnics will have to be on strike for several weeksrunning without anybody really doing something concreteto end the imbroglio.

What dominates our national life is politics. It is politicsgalore – left, right and centre. Sure, politics is importantbut it becomes counter-productive if good governance issacrificed on the altar of party politics. Members of theAcademic Staff Union of Polytechnics have down toolsover the non-constitution of governing councils forpolytechnics, monotechnics, and colleges of technology;non-release of government white paper of the visitationpanels to federal polytechnics and non-commencementof the NEEDS Assessments of the Nigerian polytechnics.

Other grievances include need for the changing of thedeplorable conditions of state government-ownedpolytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of technology;the continued appointment of unqualified persons asrectors and provosts by some state governments and the

failure of most state governments to implement theapproved salary package (CONPCASS), and 65- yearretirement age for their members.

The union is also aggrieved by the insistence of theOffice of the Accountant-General of the Federation inimplementing the Integrated Personnel and PayrollInformation System, IPPIS, module; continued delay inthe amendment of the Polytechnics Act; the appointmentsof principal officers on acting positions in somepolytechnics, monotechnics and colleges of technologybeyond the approved periods; the review of thepolytechnics’ scheme of service; and the non-commencement of the re-negotiation of the FederalGovernment/ASUP agreement as contained in the signedagreement.

To any discerning mind, the agitations put forward bythe workers are legitimate and reasonable. What isworrisome, however, is the inability of the appropriateagencies in addressing the issues raised but this is nothappening maybe because it's about the polytechnics.

It is saddening that polytechnic education in Nigeria isbeing treated with disdain, culminating into why theirgraduates are regularly stigmatized in the labour marketand seen as mere educated-illiterates. Going back thememory lane, this system was originally adopted from

the British. It was designed not to be more thanintermediate institution to train technologists and middle-level manpower. That is, the Higher National Diplomacertificate was never meant to be equivalent to aBachelor’s degree as erroneously being claimed hereover the years.

This disparity has continued to create acrimony until itwas abrogated in1992 under the British Higher EducationAct, in which all the polytechnics in the United Kingdomwere elevated to conventional universities. Despite whatcritics claim that polytechnics have outlived theirusefulness, the strategic importance of polytechniceducation - as enunciated in the Nigeria’s National Policyon Education – to provide for practical, technicalknowledge and skills that are necessary for agricultural,industrial, commercial and economic transformation –cannot be over-emphasized. Unfortunately, most studentsseeking admission into higher institutions in Nigeriawould hardly pick polytechnics. The reason is simple:Why choose polytechnics when the universities are there?Many students that end up in polytechnics are thosewho could not secure university admission coupled withthe pressure and influence of parents and guardians,who always prefer that their children and wards attenduniversities.

Killing our polytechnics

exposed to the ways that moreadvanced or civilised societiesoperate their systems.

Gone are the days when cattlerearers and al majiri teachers whobarely understood the Englishlanguage (let alone speak it) weremade ministers. There is no partof the country that cannot boast ofsome of the best in academic orprofessional training. In spite ofthis, rather than an improvedstandard of leadership output,what we see most of the time islike child’s play compared to whatobtained immediately before andafter independence.

On Monday, June 10th 2013,

FFFFFrrrrrom America with a wom America with a wom America with a wom America with a wom America with a warningarningarningarningarningISPS around the world. Toimplement the new Code, theFederal Government in 2004dissolved the PresidentialCommittee on Maritime Safety(PICOMS) and handed over thejob to the Nigerian Maritime andSafety Agency (NIMASA). Justlike the PICOMS before it,NIMASA simply sat on its palmsand allowed the rot to continueuntil US Coast Guard came a fewmonths ago to investigate securityarrangements at the Nigeria ports

unless a foreign power breathesdown their neck?

This reminds us of whathappened to our airports duringthe years that General SaniAbacha held sway over thiscountry. The situation at theairports were so bad that the USdecertified Nigeria by ensuringthat no aircraft from Nigeria wasallowed to fly directly into the US,while America-originating flightscould not come directly to Nigeria.As usual, this was the tonic weneeded to begin frantic reforms.Eventually, in December 2010, theUS was satisfied with our effortsand gave Nigeria Category OneCertification. The then DirectorGeneral of the Nigerian CivicAviation Authority, Dr. HaroldDemuren, was wildly exhilarated,and so were most industry

I HAVE been watching the Ministerial Platform organisedby the Federal Government to showcase the

achievements of the President Goodluck Jonathan regimein the past two years. For me, most of them have done well.Among the outstanding were Mike Onolememen (Works),Stella Oduah (Aviation), Idris Umar (Transport, especiallyrailways), Segun Aganga (Investment), and Okonjo-Iweala(Finance).

Former Power Minister, Barth Nnaji, was running topson my list until he was unceremoniously sent home. Andsince then, the power sector has gone back to where itbelongs: among the dogs.

My most performing Minister is Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina(Agriculture). He killed fertiliser racketeering, ensured thefloods of 2012 did not bring us hunger and is developingvalue chains in a rapidly revitalised sector.

Bravo, all, including President Jona himself.

Best perBest perBest perBest perBest perffffforming Ministorming Ministorming Ministorming Ministorming Minister? Aer? Aer? Aer? Aer? Adesinadesinadesinadesinadesina

Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Minister ofAgriculture

stakeholders. It was almost likethe euphoria that a servantexhibits when given a pat on theback by his master. Demurencontinued to celebrate what hebelieved was an enviablepersonal achievement until when,suddenly the Dana Airlines planecrashed. And that was thebeginning of the end ofDemuren’s days in office.

Let us thank the USA forhelping prod our leaders fromtime to time to get up and do theirjobs in critical areas of oureconomy, especially whereAmerican security interests areinvolved. Since America won’tpush us in areas not connectedto their interests, we may neverbe able to clean up and moderniseour major international gatewaysat the Murtala Mohammed

we opened the newspapers andread screaming headlines on adiplomatic note forwarded by theAmerican Embassy in Nigeriathrough the Ministry of ForeignAffairs to the FederalGovernment. It warned that theUnited States of America inconjunction with its allies wouldstop patronising Nigeria ports if,after ninety days, the sorry stateof security in the nation’s portswere not improved to comply withthe International Ships and PortsFacility Security Code (ISPS).

After the 9/11 terror attack on theUS, part of steps the country tookto prevent terrorist attacks was toensure the establishment of the

and went back to report it was anon-starter.

It took this ultimatum by the USfor President Goodluck Jonathanto prevail on officials in charge ofsecurity at the ports to get going.I found it very laughable and agreat pity when the GeneralManager in charge of security atthe Nigerian Ports Authority,retired Col. Jamil Tahir, said theNPA has “swung into action”following the US warning andpresidential kick on the butt. So,his NPA, NIMASA and all thesecurity agencies that help toslow down port operations andgrease the wheel of corruption atthe ports would not do their work

International Airport (MMIA)Ikeja and the ports at Apapa, TinCan, Warri, Koko, Port Harcourtand Calabar.

It is unbelievable that the roadleading to the MMIA isovergrown with weeds and unlitat night, thus presenting the firsttime visitor to Nigeria with themost unflattering impression ofour backwardness andcarelessness to security matters.It is also inconceivable that Apapaand Tin Can, the primaryeconomic gateways, have theworst road networks, with poorlyserviced trailers and tankersblocking everywhere withoutregulation. Law enforcementagents are all over the place, intheir uniforms, yet, there is noorder. These agents are there tofill their pockets and ensure thattheir vessels or those of theirfriends and relations go free afterfouling the laws.

Apapa, the nation’s foremosteconomic link to the world outthere is almost like a districtwithout governance. Neither theFederal Government nor theLagos State Government is readyto do their duties to the city.Everybody is only interested inwhat he can get for himself out ofApapa. As this is no business ofAmerica’s, there is no hope forApapa!

Continues on page 16

EVERYDAY, at everyopportunity, the obvious leadership deficit in the system is

lamented. Poor leadership is not only or always about the sittingpresident or governors. It is about the ability and readiness ofNigerians to embrace their duties and discharge themresponsibly, responsively and deliver the highest standard ofresult in the world.

Most Nigerians currently occupying positions of leadershipand governance are well educated. They studied in the besttertiary institutions in Nigeria and abroad or at least have been

,

,It is unbelievable that the road leading to theMMIA is overgrown with weeds and unlit atnight, thus presenting the first time visitor to

Nigeria with the most unflatteringimpression of our backwardness and

carelessness to security matters

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013—————5555555555

,

,

,

,

OKada: A ban long awaited

BY NATHAN UMEJIAKU

*Dr. Umejiaku, a retired varsity lectur-er, wrote from Owerri, Imo State.

BY ERNESTOMOARELOJIE

*Mr. Omoarelojie, a commenta-tor on national issues, wrotefrom Benin City, Edo State.

Warped fallacies on Abia State

LONG before the hammer fellon commercial motorcyclists,

better known as Okada riders,effectively proscribing theiroperation in three of the 18 localgovernment areas of Edo State,the governor, Comrade AdamsAliyu Oshiomhole, resisted everypressure brought on him to put astop to their operation. For him,the argument that the motorcycleor okada had become the mosthandy vehicle for crime was notgood enough for a ban. Indeed,he is known to have arguedseverally that motorbike is not theonly vehicle employed bycriminals. For him, therefore, if theban is premised only on the factthat dubious characters find it veryhandy in executing their nefariousundertakings, it may as well beextended to buses, cars and SUVsalso known to have beenemployed severally by criminalelements in their operations. Buton Tuesday, June 11, 2013, hisresistance gave way whensecurity experts presented himwith more convincing evidenceduring one of the regular statesecurity council meetings.

Thus, against his erstwhileconviction, the Comrade-Governor agreed that indeed, itwas time to do the needful, hencehe did not hesitate in declaringthat okada will no longer be

tolerated in at least three localgovernment areas of Oredo,Ikpoba Okha and Egor. Olukuand Ekosodin in Ovia North Eastand Aduwawa in Uhunmwondelocal government areas were lateradded to the number, bringing thetotal to five. Notably, all affectedareas are within the precinct ofBenin City, the state capital.

But just as observers were almostsettled in the belief that the nextstep will be the replacement ofokada with tricycle as a moreviable alternative, the Governoradded a clincher by emphaticallydeclaring that Keke Napep, as thetricycle is popularly called, wouldnot be allowed anywhere near anyof the major roads within the statecapital. Instead, he reeled outpalliatives, including loans,being worked out up by the stategovernment, in collaboration withsome banks, lined up for genuineoperators and others in alliedbusinesses affected by the ban. Inhis words: “We have a duty toprovide for people who havebeen here doing okada businesswithout underminingsecurity...For those ones I believewe can partner and work outsome doable alternatives. If theyhave interest in transportation wehave set up a committee already,which is being chaired by thechairman of our economic teamto work out various schemes,including procuring vehicles, so

that rather than ride on twowheels, we have four wheels."

For many observers, the ban oncommercial motor bikes is longoverdue. It did not matter that theGovernor has, until now,managed to fend off the pressureon him to put it into effect. Inparticular, it is, in many quarters,an inevitability given thatavailable facts proved that thesector has remained a majorconduit for undermining securitygenerally. That is in addition tobeing the harbinger of avoidableroad carnage that has resulted inthe irreparable damage to thelimbs of many people and deathto a lot more, responsible for over80 per cent of accident recordedin the state. Yet, for many morepeople, the sector is the quick-fixmedium for ritual bandits whohave successfully scurriedunsuspecting victims to theirgruesomely hideous ends. So itdid not altogether, come as acomplete surprise.

While the wait for the ban in Edolasted, a huge number of

operators, sent packing from otherstates, including Delta and faraway Nasarawa, found their wayinto the state. With most of themnever tutored on the need to obeytraffic regulations, their presence,almost literally, added fuel to theexisting confusion, with recordsin hospitals across the statecapital proving that they areresponsible for the rise in deadlybut avoidable carnages on roadsacross the state capital. Whetherby happenstance or design,security statistics indicted motorbike operators as being mainlyresponsible for upping the antein criminal activities in the state.

Certainly, no leader worth hisname would ignore the possibilitythat allowing sector to continueportends grave dangers andwatch the trend continue. Thus,it became incumbent that againsthis erstwhile position, theComrade-Governor did nothesitate in his decision to issuethe ban order, if only for the longterm benefit it will have for boththe operators, the state and itspeople generally.

For the operators in particular,the ban may have come as a rudeshock. However, there is hardlyany doubt that on the long run,they, like everyone else, will behappier for it. The reason is thatbanning the sector is a lot betterfor everyone as the otheralternative is the reign of terrorwith the possibility of all becomingvictims of the sector's manysinister realities at one point orthe other. Therefore, rather than

see it as a policy for furtherpauperizing the poor or raisingthe state's unemployment profileas some have argued, theyshould regard it as a tough butnecessary policy decision meantto safeguard the collectiveinterests of the state and its everyresident. The Comrade-Governorput it very succinctly when hesaid: “I am convinced that wecannot continue to allow thissituation to continue. While I amvery concerned about the fact ofthe level of unemployment in thecountry, and in Edo State we haveour own fair share ofunemployment, I am convincedthat the long term interest of jobcreation requires that you attractinvestors and investment to thestate. It is a settled issue thatinvestors will not be in a hurry togo to any state that the level ofcrime has risen beyondacceptable level."

Reports have shown how manyunsuspecting passengers haveended as victims of armed robberyor worse still, of ritual bandits fortaking advantage of a supposedlyquick and easy ride home at latehours. Indeed, while manyluckier passengers ended upwith broken limbs (sometimeirreparably) due to therecklessness of many riders,available records show that a lotmore ended up dead for optingto take a quick ride over someseemingly difficult trafficgridlocks.

GREAT historian, Michael Crichtononce said: “If you don’t know

history, then you don’t know anything.You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part ofa tree“. How many of us know history?Even those who know had always tried tohypocritically re-write it for pecuniaryreasons. But that cannot obliterate or eraseit, no matter how long it takes. One of suchpersons who have been trying to re-writeAbia history on the pages of newspapersand internet blogs is OdimegwuOnwumere, the acclaimed author/poet ofAbia history who was part and parcel ofChief Orji Uzor Kalu’s government in thestate for eight years, between 1999-2007.

It is also on record that the eight yearsadministration of the government in thestate was nothing to write home about, asthe state was always in the news for thewrong reasons, despite Kalu’s penchantfor publicity and propaganda. If the stategovernment was not abusing or fightingthe Chief Olusegun Obasanjo led-FederalGovernment, the government was busyfighting Abia politicians which Kalutagged Abuja politicians. Nobody daredadvise or challenge him on what to do orsay publicly, because he believed he knewall and the buck stopped on his table as theexecutive governor of the state. While allthese were happening, the wheel ofgovernance was grounded in the state foreight years. Family political dynasty andpersonal business interests were promotedat the detriment of Abia people.Onwumere never saw anything wrong ingovernment’s action then because heneeded to protect his source of livelihood.

But since the power equation changed inthe state and at the centre, providing a leeway for Gov Orji to liberate the state fromthe stranglehold of his predecessor andfamily, which he did before the 2011general elections for the good of the peopleof the state, Onwumere and hisbenefactors have returned to the trencheswith a mandate to bring Orji’s government,his family and achievements down at allcost. An agenda which has failed frominception, but they are desperately lookingfor what to hang on to remain relevant inthe eye of Nigerians who know them morethan they know themselves.

That is why Onwumere in his wild goosearticle titled, “Indeed Orji is Performing”published in ThisDay of Tuesday June 11,2013, after engaging in unduecircumlocution, fabricated lies that studentsof Umuocham Girls Secondary School,World Bank Aba were allegedly asked topay N3,700 for no just cause. Onwumerelater alleged that the imposed levy was forthe teachers in the school to take care ofthemselves, because the state governmenthad abandoned them for long. Who willbelieve this cock and bull story? Teachersare presently on strike in some states acrossthe country over the non-payment of 27.5%“teachers peculiar allowance” by theirstate governments; Abia is not involvedbecause the government has paid. Abiawas the first state to pay the minimum wageof N21,000 to workers in the country. Sowhy should teachers in Abia, if it was true,task students to pay money for theirupkeep, whereas they are being paidsalary regularly?

It might not be ruled out that some badelements in the teaching profession might

levy students illegally without government’sknowledge or approval, but why shouldgovernment be held responsible, whenthey did not approve such levy? This wasenough to expose the hypocrisy andcynicism in Onwumere and his paymasters.On the allegation that pupils wereallegedly asked to pay N8000 for CommonEntrance Examination in the state,whereas there is free education in the state,did the free education programme of thestate government exclude the payment ofexamination fees? Well, I am not sure,because I know that it has to do with tuitionfees term after term and not examinationfees.

Onwumere also claimed thatbeneficiaries of the government ‘s youthempowerment programme were graduatesand allies of government, and queried whygovernment would wish a graduate todrive Keke Napep. What is wrong with thatin a Nigerian society where unemploymentrate is very alarming today? We havegraduates in the country today who arelanguishing in jail for engaging in armedrobbery and other crimes. We havedoctorate degree holders in Nigeria whoare scrambling for driving jobs in Dangote.So which is one is better? Being a proudowner and driver of a bus, car, or tricycle orengaging in crimes against humanity?

What did the government, in whichOnwumere served for eight years between1999 and 2007, put on ground as legacyprojects? How many industries did thegovernment established or revived in thestate? How many youths did theyempowered then? Why did the governmentbequeath a huge debt for the incominggovernment in 2007? What was the state ofinfrastructure and security in the state thenand now? Will Onwumere and hispaymaster deny that there is no newmagnificent Workers Secretariat inUmuahia today and a renovated one also?Or will they deny that there is no modernGovernment House and InternationalConference Centre nearing completion inthe state now?

Also, will they deny that the state capitalUmuahia which was more of a glorifiedvillage square before now has not assumedthe status of a modern state capital withsteady power, courtesy of Ohiya PowerStation revival which the state governmentpartnered the Federal government toactualize. It is a fact that the presentgovernment has constructed and is stillconstructing many roads in Aba and otherparts of the state. Almost every sector of theeconomy is experiencing governmentintervention ranging from agriculture tohealth and the state is better for it.

The state has also experienced lesspolitical crisis. What Nigerians hadexpected Onwumere and his paymastersto do or be doing is to factually andsincerely tell the world what they did well,while in charge of government in the statefor eight years that the present governmenthas not done better, if there is any, apartfrom grandstanding and political gimmicks.

Onwumere should advisehis principal to borrow aleaf from his colleaguesacross the country, whohave since moved on toallow their successors to

govern their states withoutundue interference

Banning the sectoris a lot better for

everyone as the otheralternative is the

reign of terror withthe possibility of allbecoming victims of

the sector's manysinister realities

56 — VANGUARD, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

We are building Gombe fromscratch— Gov DankwamboFORMER Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ibrahim HassanDankwambo was elected governor of Gombe State in the April 2011 elections.After swearing-in, he took stock of the state and declared that the top threeitems on his agenda for developing Gombe are Education, Education, andEducation. Indeed, he has invested heavily in the state’s educational sector,evidenced by the construction and rehabilitation of many primary andsecondary schools.The tertiary sector is also feeling his impact as he is building a college ofeducation and a school of basic and remedial studies. Of course, Gombe StateUniversity which he inherited is not left out. In this interview with selectnewsmen in his office in Gombe, Alhaji Dankwambo laments that it is an uphilltask to get refunds when a state government, because of urgent needs, goes outof its way to do a federal road. Excerpts:

BY ADEKUNLE ADEKOYA,GENERAL EDITOR

,

,

WHAT has your experience been like

in the past two years?We are coming from a state

that was nowhere in the last16 years. We are a stateamong those that receive theleast funds from theFederation Account, andwithout facilities that cangenerate revenue. What isdifferent in some other statesis that facilities were there atinception that can be used togenerate revenue. Like Lagosfor instance, I don’t need tobuild Victoria Island again; Idon’t need to build Ikoyiagain.

The houses are therebecause the government builtthem. So, anytime I wake upand impose all sorts of taxes,they don’t have choice, theyhave to pay and that is just it,tell them to pay and they pay.I don’t have such leverage offacilities in this place.

Leverage offaculties

I cannot charge even forwater unlike in some otherplaces where water is alreadyprovided, dams have beenbuilt, water has been pipedand all they need to do is takecontrol of revenue collections.

Here in Gombe, I don’t evenhave water. So, how can Icharge water rate?

The most important thing isthat we are optimally usingthe little resources we have tomaximize benefit for ourpeople.

It appears you have donemuch in the education sectorand some other areas. Whatwill you focus next?

There are still a lot of things

to be done in the educationsector because, in some placesin Gombe, students are stillstudying under trees; so, westill have a lot to do. We stillhave a very poor teacher-student ratio and poor scienceand arts ratio in terms ofpersonnel in the schools. Westill have a lot of gaps becauseall the ongoing rehabilitationand new constructions willmanifest in the future intoadditional costs of alsorunning the institutions. Inthe next one or two years, theschools may be due forpainting for example, so it isa continuous investment ineducation.

But the most importantinvestment, going forward, isin teacher-training and re-training; in books investmentand supply. Also, we arelooking forward to a situationwhere we will partner, be itPPP or some other forms offinancing, for the steadysupply of books to children inGombe State. What is verydifferent about Gombe is thatin certain parts, we still haveto attract the children to schooland keep them. There aresome places in Gombe wherewe have good schools but thechildren still decline but westill try to attract more.Recently, we attracted someof them back to the schools,including girls.

When we came, we set up

an agenda that will run for along period of time and thisagenda was endorsed byGombe people and theagenda will be carried byanybody that comes to leadGombe whether I or anybodyelse and we all agreed that,from time to time, we will sitdown and review the agendafor development.

It is not only for education,it is the same thing for health,infrastructure, trade andtourism. It is virtually the samething for all the sectors of theeconomy. Some of the projectsyou have seen are the quickand short term deliverables.

How much is your

Continues on page 57

project and she has madesome comments especially onthe way the concessionairehandled the project and theyare determined to completethe project, which will fetchus about 40 megawatts ofpower within six months. Ifwe can get 40 megawatts ofpower in Gombe, I will assureyou that Gombe will not needPHCN and we can come outand guarantee power supply.

I also know that there areinitiatives with the Germanstoo on a solar farm and thepattern of financing is stillbeing worked out. But thishuge gas reserves within theborders of Gombe and Bauchiis there and I am sure thatthey are making plans and assoon as they finish, maybe wewill know because they willrequire at least our supportand contribution. We areready to support them toensure that we don’t haveblackout in Nigeria.

What is youradministration doing toaddress the problem of watersupply in Gombe State?

Fortunately or unfortunatelyfor us, there are some placeswhere you cannot getborehole water. You will digas deep as 500 meters in someplaces in Gombe and not getwater. So, the only solution isto get a dam or treated waterwhich is piped. Fortunately,we have a dam in Gombe butit is about 45 to 50 kilometres,so we are drawing the waterlittle by little and it is a huge

investment. The first one wedid; when the water came intoGombe, we had to distributein and around Gombe and thatcost us about N4.2 billion.

The next thing was to extendit to certain areas. In theseareas, if you drive, it is likeyou are getting to almost theborder of Gombe and inGombe there is no groundwater at all. So, we havesucceeded in extending up to78 kilometres of pipelinetowards that side and thatcost additional N1.8 billion.

Cost oftreatment

The Gombe reticulation isalmost 90 to 95 per centcompleted. Also when youtake dam water, you are alsoadding to the cost of treatmentand cost of maintenance.When I came, we ran the damat about N90 million a month.As at today, the cost ofmaintenance is about N242million.

As the Accountant-Generalof the Federation, sittingover billions of Naira couldyou tell us what was theattraction for thegovernorship of Gombe?

(Laughs)I was not thepresident; it was the presidentthat was sitting over billions.I was only helping him tomanage the funds as acustodian. So, I wouldn’tknow how to spend it because

We have a robust financialmanagement system and I want toassure you that, as at today, there is nosingle certificate of valuation that issubmitted to Gombe State that is notpaid

*Dankwambo

administration supportingthe gas power plant in theworks for the state?

I am not very familiar withthe project because this issome of the problems that wehave sometimes. If it is aproject or programme of theFederal Government, I maynot be in the best position toshed light on it. I know alsothat the Federal Governmenthas deliberately made effort todevelop our coal reservesthrough the same channel. Iam not sure of thearrangement but I know it isin one of the plans that about1000 megawatts of coal poweris in the pipeline.

I am also aware that theMinister of State for Powercame to inspect the dam water

VANGUARD, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 57

We are building Gombe from the ground— Gov Dankwambo

,

,

committee to reconcile pensionliabilities. Recently, committees wereset up for states and localgovernments on pension liabilities.

In Gombe alone, pension liabilitiesare up to N2 billion plus and the localgovernment is almost the same. So,if I say it is this and it is laterreconciled and you find out it islower, it will not be nice. But I assureyou that it is not a problem becausewe have restructured our debt andwe are within a very comfortable limitof debt revenue ratio. So we are verycomfortable with that.

How are you financing theprojects given Gombe State’smeagre resources ?

We have a very pragmaticfinancial management system andwe tie our projects to cash flows.We are not that indebted. Weinherited a lot of debt and whatwe did was to restructure the debt,so that we can create space fordevelopment.

We have a robust financialmanagement system and I wantto assure you that, as at today,there is no single certificate ofvaluation that is submitted toGombe State that is not paid. I amnot saying that we have all thefunds to pay but we do littlefinancial management to ensurethat our obligations are paid as atwhen due.

I did not have that kind ofresponsibility.

On debt, when we came, weattempted to know and reconcile theexact liabilities and I want to tell youthat this kind of reconciliation iscontinuous because the financialmanagement was not as robust as itis now and we do not want to take itas a task to say ‘let us reconcile first,know the exact date and moveforward.’

What we have attempted to do isto continue to reconcile as weprogress and I am sure as soon aswe finish establishing the numberbecause I will soon inaugurate a

Continues from page 56

WHAT is your assessment of the current

administration in RiversState?

For me, I still believe that thegreatest asset of any nation orany group of people is thehuman asset and anyonetrying to harness that asset,that human resources bygiving them opportunity toexcel will definitely help tomake the society excel.

The government in my placehas taken the issue ofeducation very, very seriously.The quality of primaryeducation which I alsobelieve is the foundation ofany society, if you don’t havea good early education, youkeep struggling in the laterdays of life but he hasprovided very goodfoundation for our childrenand also, he has provided forall those not within that range,educational opportunitiesoutside the shores of this

Amaechi has done more than we asked for— Sen AkeSENATOR Wilson Asinobi Ake represents Rivers West Senatorial district in the Senate under the rulingPeoples Democratic Party. He is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Labour. In this interview, headdresses recent issues concerning the crisis in his party in Rivers State. Excerpts:

BY JOSEPH ERUNKE There was a man I met whotold me that Amaechi hasworked but he hasn’tbenefited directly from him.That is how he viewsdevelopment.

So it depends on the waysome people perceivedevelopment and because ofhigh level of ignorance.

We suffer when we don’tknow what somebody is doingin our society for the growthof tomorrow, so no matterwhat you do, it is noteverybody that will be veryhappy, it is not everybody thatwill be very pleased witheverything you are doing,they must find a way ofdiscrediting you.

For us as true Rivers people,we believe that he has takena very good measure to lay avery good foundation for thestate.

Are you not worried overthe controversy trailing yourstate branch of the PDP?

Definitely, every true RiversState person and every true

forge ahead with one politicalfamily.

Do you believe thatconstitutional procedure wasfollowed in the sacking ofObio Akpor Localgovernment council?

I am a senator of the FederalRepublic of Nigeria and thosethat carried out that action arelegislators in the Rivers StateHouse of Assembly.

Usually, when decisions aretaken in parliament, there

must always be somedissenting voice.

If somebody feels stronglythat they have donesomething illegitimate, in notfollowing due process, has itbeen examined by law?Because we have laws that wehave to resort to and I am suresome people have gone tocourt, so it is now within thecourt to say whether they hadfollowed due process or theyhad not followed due process.

Do they have the law, localgovernment law before them?So if they have the localgovernment law, which I knowall the states have, to governactivities of local governmentsin the states, if they havefollowed the processeslegitimately, why should wequestion their action?

You know, when there wasproblem when Late PresidentYar’Adua was ill and we hadto adopt the doctrine ofnecessity to settle the issue.It did not mean that wecouldn’t have done otherwisebut for the sake of the country,for the sake of the nation, wehad to adopt something thatwould save the situation.

Interestof people

So, whatever is the interestof people, let them treadcarefully that these areelected persons of the state,they have a duty to the stateand that the decision waspassed by the majority of themembers in the State Houseof Assembly.

That is very important. Wemust give them that, becauseit not when a decision doesnot favour you that you thinkthat decision is wrong andthat it is only right when itfavours you.

I think that legislators havesome levels of responsibilityand immunity and if theyhave done their job and youare not happy about it, I thinkthe most appropriate thingyou should do is to go to thelaw court to air your views.

country by giving massivescholarship to our children tostudy overseas. So, with whathe is doing, you can begin tohave a mental estimate of howRivers State will become likein the next ten years.

By the time these childrenin primary schools will growthrough the learningenvironment they are passingthrough to the quality ofsecondary school he is alsobuilding and then, givingthem opportunity for higherinstitutions, then you can beable to measure or havemental idea of what ourworkforce in Rivers State looklike and how the input andthe output is going to be.

I believe Amaechi has givenRivers people more than theyhad asked for from him.

But given the performanceyou mentioned, why is thegovernor still being tackledat home?

Well, there is no way youwill work to the satisfaction ofeverybody; it depends on howyou perceive development. Ittakes an open mind tounderstand when there isdevelopment.

member of the party will besaddened by what is reallygoing on in my state.

We believe that it is like inevery other humanorganization where there isup and down and that at theend of the day, reason willprevail and peace will reignand we will come back and

*AkeFor us as true Rivers people, webelieve that he has taken a verygood measure to lay a very good

foundation for the state

58 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 59

60 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 61

THE INSPECTORS . . . The Director General of National Sports Commis-sion (NSC) Hon. Gbenga Elegbeleye (3rd right), NSC Director FEAD Dr.Bolaji Ojo -Oba (2ndleft), Yann Craven CGA regional Coordinator Africa(3rd left), Sani Ndanusa NOC President (left) during the site inspection ofthe 2014 CommonwealthGames village in Glasgow, Scotland on Wednesday(June 19th, 2013).

Emenike

their crucial World Cupqualifier against Malawiin September.Emenike has only justcome back from injury fol-lowing six weeks out witha knee problem. Now heis hoping he can pick upwhere he left off for cluband country.“I suffered that terribleinjury while my confidence was high and luckilyI have returned to trainingafter six weeks out,” he toldBBC Sport.

“I am not at 100 per centyet, I still need matchrhythm with my club and getback to rewarding them forthe support, and honour ourloyal fans and everyone who

Continued from BP stood by me.“After five very difficult

months, I also hope to playfor my country again in Sep-tember.”

With the African Cham-pions struggling at the on-going Fifa ConfederationsCup, his absence has fur-ther denied them a keythreat up front.

“At the moment we havecapable strikers in thesquad and it is very impor-tant this team and fans cometogether because theseplayers represent our coun-try.”

Back in March the Afri-can Cup of Nations top scor-er had criticised the coun-try’s coach Stephen Keshiand officials for ignoring

him after he suffered an in-jury at the Nations Cup.

But after speaking atlength with both the coachand president of the Niger-ia Football Federation(NFF), Aminu Maigari, theSpartak Moscow striker in-sists he has put the past be-hind.

“I felt a bit bad back then,but all that is behind menow because everyone musthave learned greatly fromthat situation,” Emenikesaid on Saturday.

“I was not happy andwhen I am not happy, I donot have the power to hidemy deep disappointmentsand feelings.

“When I finally spoke withthe coach [twice], and theNFF president, everythingwas discussed and sorted.It was a great step forward.”

Okagbare

sia, with the OlympicGames barely three yearsaway, Blessing is still ontrack as a medal poten-tial. She has run a windassisted 10.75 in Oregonthis year and jumped 7.14m in the Long Jump inDoha, Qatar. That wouldhave been an Africanrecord if it was not alsowind-aided.

‘’Someday, I’ll put asmile on the face of Dr.Emmanuel Uduaghan,the governor of DeltaState. That is my prayerand I’m working towardsit,” Blessing said yester-day, just after reigning asqueen of the tracks for thethird consecutive year.She ran 11.25 to win theCross River/AFN WorldChampionship trials inCalabar last week. Her

Continued from BP outing was part of herWorld Championshippreparation which shesaid she started last No-vember, few months afterthe London Olympics.

‘’When I qualified forthe 100m final in London,everybody banked on meto win a medal. It didn’thappen and many peo-ple saw me as a failure.But the Governor of Del-ta State did not see meas one. He called me toencourage me and toldme that I was one of thebest in the world. He hasbeen very fatherly to me.He is a great mentor andmotivator and I want torepeat here that myprayer is to put a smileon his face some day witha medal.”

Blessing wished thatthe Federal Governmentcould do more for sportsin the country.

‘’We have the potentialto do well but we needmore in terms of planningand support from the Fed-eral Government. With-out people like GovernorUduaghan, the AFN Pres-ident, Chief Ogba andAmaju Pinnick, it is pos-sible that one would havedropped out of track andfield. When I dedicate an-ything I win to Dr. Udua-ghan I know why I do so.Here’s a governor whotakes interest in yourtraining, nutrition, coach-ing and general welfare.And it is not only me. Hedoes that to some athletestoo. He is the pillar of oursports in Nigeria now. Hehas given me traininggrants and has been goodto sports generally and Iwish others could emulatehim for Nigeria to becomeworld beaters.”

Head of sports in Delta,Pinnick said that theywould continue to supportathletes.

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62 — Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

,

,

Believe me, I donPort o! . . . .

...having to stay awake tilleleven PM to catch the

Confederations Cupencounter with Uruguay wassuch a huge sacrifice that nodoctor will recommend to hispatient especially those of us

above 50

NO matter the result of yesterday’s matchagainst Spain, or what will become of the

Flying Eagles desperate fight to get back intocontention against Cuba in Turkey today, I havemade up my mind to “Port” join and support anothersport.

I know it will be difficult deciding which sport Iwant to pitch my tent, but I just must make an effortif I do not want to drop dead, killed by football,maimed by a group of boys who go about theirbusiness lackadaisically, not minding what happensto my mental and psychological state.

It was in this column that I reported how my bloodpressure shot up in Kenya as I watched the Eaglesfluffing scoring chances that were to help draw usnearer Brazil.

Those who went to Namibia have worse stories totell. Before our match, Kenya had done us the favourof holding Malawi, so all we had to do was to beatNamibia and qualify with a match to spare.

‘Match to spare’ meant that we could have usedthat last match to field our domestic players whoincidentally have a tough CHAN assignmentagainst Cote Divoire. Qualifying with a match tospare would have meant not “wasting” preciousfunds inviting twenty players from abroad and allattendant expenses and anxiety to win the lastmatch.

Qualifying with a match to spare would haveafforded us the opportunity of trying out players inthe striking position, a department that has been soglaringly hollow in the current Eagles set up... inNamibia we suddenly fell behind and had tostruggle to level and leave qualification to the lastmatch!

How could they win when all their thoughts werefocused on their planned war with the NFF overbonuses?

That is the headache, the stress, the trauma that

we go through supporting our football. How can Iforget having to wake up by 2am to watch the Eaglesplay a friendly against Mexico? Even having to stayawake till eleven PM to catch the ConfederationsCup encounter with Uruguay was such a hugesacrifice that no doctor will recommend to his patientespecially those of us above 50.

Yet, when you dare to express YOUR opinion, sayit the way you feel, you get insulted by those whowant you to adopt their own view point, notrespecting or minding your informed andauthoritative position. Being uncouth and

disrespectful, using foul and abusive language doesnot and will never be a substitute for a superior lineof argument.

Take the match against Uruguay as an example.While some believe we played well and should haveat least benefitted a draw, there are those who saywe did not do well, that we were stereotyped andnot lethal in front of goal. Also embrace those whosay no matter how well or how badly you play, ifyou do not score, do not win, then you cannot layclaim to any credit.

Last Friday was a bit better because very fewNigerians were expecting anything from a coachwho wasted a whole tournament experimenting withnew players when he should have used the sametournament to fortify his team.

Predictably, by the end of the first half, the FlyingEagles were two goals down. Those who put offtheir sets and went to sleep were surprised to hearthe next day that the match ended 3-2. Those of uswho were condemned to watch till the end werefalsely made to believe there was hope with anunbelievable equalizer….then Kaput. Back to statusquo.

EnoughI have decided to Port, look for another sport to

support and follow, but which? Last week end, theAthletics Federation of Nigeria held its yearly trialsin Calabar yet its activities were swallowed by thefootball crazy press. Maybe that is where I shouldgo, face reality and promote substance. As I amwriting this column, newspapers stare me in theface all of them screaming HOPE….How Spain isbeatable, how Flying Eagles will BOUNCE back,luring me to another bout of psychological trauma.At the end of the day, if we flounder and fail,(Godforbid) they will scream GALLANT EAGLES. No Imust Port. I should Port

See you next week.

Wimbledon: Murray, Federer, Nadal drawnin same half

ANDY Murray wasnot complaining

about his Wimbledondraw on Friday andthere were others leftworse off — he could,after all, have been Ra-fael Nadal or Roger Fe-derer.

Nadal being seededfive was likely to havethe effect of dropping apaving slab into a pond,and he duly disturbedthe water by beingscheduled to meet thedefending champion ina titanic quarter-final.

Given that he has lostthree times out of threeat Wimbledon to the re-surgent French Openchampion, Murraymight have preferred tobe in the opposite sideof the draw. That muchdid not work out, but hewill not face Nadal untilthe semis, if at all.

Murray did not want tolook beyond the openinground after hearing hisfirst obstacle is a Ger-man called Becker; but

•British No 1 faces potential semi-final against Federer or Nadal

this is world No 95 Ben-jamin, whom he beat lastweek at Queen’s Club.

‘We had a decentmatch then,’ said Mur-ray. ‘He played well inthe second set, he serveswell and is a good grass-court player, but I will beready for it.’

He described Nadal vFederer as ‘a long way

away, let’s worry about itif they get there’.

Murray could meetDavis Cup colleagueJames Ward in the sec-ond round and it is acommentary on the Brit-ish game that it would bethe first time he hasplayed a compatriot atmain tour level sinceTim Henman retired.

Sharapova hits out at Williams•Serena

MARIA Sharapovahas launched a

stinging attack on rivalSerena Williams aheadof Wimbledon.

Defending championWilliams was forcedinto an apology aftercontroversial commentsmade in Rolling Stonemagazine about a rapecase in Ohio.

The American alsoappeared to criticiseSharapova in the arti-cle, while the Russianalso spoke about a re-ported relationship be-

•Sharapova

tween Williams and herFrench coach PatrickMouratoglou.

“I was sad to hearwhat she had to sayabout the whole case,”Sharapova said.

“I just think sheshould be talking abouther accomplishments,her achievements, rath-er than everything elsethat’s just getting atten-tion and controversy.

“If she wants to talkabout something per-sonal, maybe sheshould talk about her

relationship and herboyfriend that was mar-ried and is getting a di-vorce and has kids.

“She has so much inher life, many positives,and I think that’s whatit should be about.”

Sharapova insists sheprefers to keep privatematters to herself andonly discusses her ca-reer with the media.

“I obviously havemany opinions aboutdifferent things in life,”she added." •Murray •Nadal

Vanguard, MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013 — 63

Barca must be beaming about Neymar— Scolari

LUIZ Felipe Scolarihas told Barcelona

fans that they should beexcited about the pros-pect of Neymar repre-senting their club nextterm.

”Neymar is an idol forall Brazilians,” the 64-year-old trainer told apress conference.”To Neymar, and to eve-ryone - even to Barce-lona, who bought himand are now probablywatching him, they’reprobably beaming.”It’s good, because heget to collect certain ex-periences of certainthings that people wereexpecting from him, andwrongly so, because hehas been playing verywell, even when hewasn’t scoring. Todayhe scored.”

Neymar’s goal againstthe Azzurri was his 23rdgoal in 37 caps and Sco-lari was quick to under-line the quality he hasshown for his country,with the free kick hescored on Saturday butone example.

”He had lots of mo-ments of quality, butwhat decided the gamewas the free kick,” theformer Chelsea bosscontinued.

”He noticed [Gianlui-gi] Buffon had taken a

•Neymar

step to the side and putthe ball on the otherside. Only players whohave that kind of no-tion, that we can callgenius, are the oneswho make the differ-ence. And he makes thedifference.

”Maybe you weren’tseeing it before, but theother players were. He’sa team player, and as ateam player he is phe-nomenal.

”I hope to see thewhole team improving.Neymar has been play-

ing well and he’s add-ing virtues to the teamthat we always knew hehad, but that he coulddevelop further.

”But the team needs togrow as a whole, and indoing so Neymar willgrow with us.”

Adam’s stinging attack on ArsenalTONY ADAMS has

launched a scath-ing attack on Arsenal— and offered to jointhe board to help findArsene Wenger ’s re-placement.

The Gunners legendfears the c lub are“miles away ” f romwinning the title.

He also insists theyare ill-prepared to re-place boss Wengershould he decide toleave at the end ofnext season.

Adams blasted: “It’stime that Arsenal wonsomething again, eventhe FA Cup or LeagueCup. But I can’t see it,

•Wenger

to be honest.“They are st i l l not

good enough in cer-tain areas of the team.And they are miles offthe title.”

Adams, 46, revealedhe offered to join theArsenal board but nev-er received a re-sponse.

And he was stunnedwhen the club named73-year-old ChipsKeswick as chairmanlast week, saying theappointment lackedimagination.

The former Gunnerscaptain added: “Chipsis a great guy but nota very imaginat ive

choice by the owner.And he is 73.

“If they just wanteda f igurehead, theyshould have gone forme. I t would havebeen a better visionarydecision than Chips.”

Wenger, who has notwon a trophy in eightyears, is being tippedfor the Paris Saint-Ger-main hotseat when hiscontract expires nextsummer.

Adams added: “Theyshould be l ining upthe new manager.Chief executive IvanGazidis is in a trickysituation and could dowith some help.”

MANCHESTERCITY could

launch a surprise£35million bid for Liver-pool’s want-away strik-er Luis Suarez

Not prepared to meetthe £53m escape clausefor Napoli’s EdinsonCavani, new Etihad bossManuel Pellegrini islooking to switch his at-tention to his Uruguay-an teammate.

And Liverpool, nowreluctantly resigned tolosing the former Ajaxstar, would welcome abidding war as they lookfor a big profit on their£23m outlay for the strik-

Pellegrini eyes Suarezer.

Suarez is keen to joinReal Madrid, who havemade noises about sign-ing the 26-year-old overthe past month.

The player has usedhis time in the Confed-erations Cup in Brazil topress home the view thathe is being driven out ofEngland through mediacriticism.

But Liverpool, whohave supported himthrough a number ofcontroversies, feel letdown and an auctionwould give them the fi-nal decision on whereSuarez goes.

•Suarez

Obuhpaign here.“It was a keenly con-

tested game but unfortu-nately we lost, this wasnot what we had hopedfor,” Obuh said.

“We have to take thedefeat in good faith so asto face the next gamebecause we have toqualify to the nextround.”

Continued from BP

YOUTH SportsFederation of

Nigeria (YSFON) hashailed the performance ofFlying Eagles Captain,Abduljaleel Ajagun at theon- going FIFA U-20 worldYouth championshipholding in Turkey.

In a statement by theFederation, signed by itsNational President. Dr.

YSFON Congratulates AjagunNasiru Gawuna, theFederation noted thatalthough Ajagun’s bracein the match betweenNigeria and Portugalcould not save theFlying Eagles fromgoing down 2-3, but hisperformance has shownthat he has characterand will perform well atthe championship.

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e-mail: rowolove@yahoo.co.ukHow 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 24, 2013

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

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDACROSS3 Lampoon (5)9 Horn (6)10 Courage (6)11 Bet (5)12 Pip (4)15 Cheat (4)17 Beat (7)20 Frenzied (3)21 Upright (5)23 Fight (4)25 Slender (4)26 Entice (5)28 Consumed (3)30 Lachrymose (7)33 Impression (4)35 Animal (4)36 Holy (5)38 Kowtow (6)39 Child’s toy (6)40 Passage (5)

DOWN1 Card game (5)2 Cowboy show (5)3 Stitch (3)4 Skip (6)5 Kiln (4)6 Distant (3)7 Deputy (5)8 avarice (5)13 Learned (7)14 Quilt (5)16 Hurting (7)18 Break out (5)19 Deed (3)22 Heat unit (5)24 Allow (3)27 Lease (6)28 Proverb (5)29 Relish (5)31 Loud (5)32 Prise (5)34 Occupy (4)36 Vegetable (3)37 Speak (3)

ACROSS: 1, Unmask 5, Bridge 9, Canoe10, Kidnap 11, Animus 12, Roast 14, Nous17, Kit 18, Mail 20, Dummy 22, Bonny 23,Earshot 24, Cream 26, Wiped 29, Hear 30,Tip 32, Fate 33, Super 35, Retain 36,Riddle 37, Gelid 38, Beyond 39, Legend.

DOWN: 1, Unkind 2, Medium 3, Scar 4,Kapok 5, Boast 6, Rent 7, Demean 8, Easily13, Airship 15, Outre 16, Smear 18, Motif 19,Inset 21, Yam 22, Bow 24, Cherub 25, Earthy27, Paddle 28, Defend 30, Tuned 31, Peril 33,Sign 34, Ride

COACH John Obuhhas assured that the

Flying Eagles were go-ing to qualify for thenext round of the FIFAU-20 World Cup holdingin Turkey.

The Flying Eagles con-front Cuba today in theirsecond Group B match,needing a win to keeptheir hopes of progress-ing to the first knockoutstage alive. They losttheir first match 2-3 toPortugal and know thatanother defeat or a drawwould end their cam

Flying Eagles will qualify— Obuh

•Obuh

I’ll make yousmile, Okagbaretells Uduaghan

BY ONOCHIEANIBEZE

BLESSING Okagbare has remained

among the top ten ath-letes in the world formore than two years now.

After winning a LongJump bronze medal at theBeijing Olympics, she fo-cused more in the 100mat the London Olympics,a development whichtechnocrats faulted andblamed it on her manag-ers on the grounds that she had greater potentialto do better in the LongJump if she was betterguided.

And with the WorldChampionships takingplace this August in RusContinues on Page 61

Continues on Page 63

IT'S A GOAL: Spain's defender Jordi Alba(L ) celebrates after scoring against Nigeriaduring their FIFA Confederations Cupmatch, at the Castelao Stadium in Fortalezalast night. Spain won 3-0. PHOTO : AFP.

Emenike'sback

FIT-AGAIN Niger-ia striker Em-

manuel Emenike is tar-geting a return to theSuper Eagles’ side in

Continues on Page 61

Wasteful Eagles crash out!SPAIN yesterday

sent the Super Ea-gles out of the FIFA Con-federations Cup with 3-0spanking in Fortaleza. Itwas the second defeatsuffered by the African

champions, who endedthe competition with threepoints.

The first goal, whichcame in the third minute,was a vintage Spanishgoal, created in the mid-

field, with some typicalone-touch stuff, Cesc Fa-bregas and Andres Inies-ta involved, before theball was laid off to JordiAlba on the left.

Spain doubled their lead

through Fernando Torres.It was really great headerfrom the Chelsea forward.Alba made it 3-0 for Spainin what appeared an easymatch for Spain.

Tahiti 0 Uruguay 8