Fagge

Vol. 3 N0. 744 Monday, December 16, 2013 N150

UDEME AKPAN

The Federal Govern-ment will engage the services of four consultants to evaluate the

nations four refineries for privatisation in 2014.

This is to enable the gov-ernment ascertain the val-ue of the plants located in Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Warri in Delta State and

Kaduna in Kaduna State with a combined refining capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.

An authoritative source in the Ministry of Petro-

Doctors declare fi ve-day warning strike

Free inside

FG to carry outsweeping investmentreforms, crash cement price P.2

P.52

P.11

NSE calls for paradigmshift in agriculture

President under pressure to move against Obasanjo...PDP blasts party Call treasonable offence Presidency

Impeach Jonathan now, APC tells NAssembly

Consultants to evaluate refi neries ahead of privatisation

BUSINESSTHE SECTION

ree insiinsidedede

ntPartial resumption likely as ASUU may end strike

P.A7

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Osun apppeals judgement in monarch's rape case P.8

World leaders witness interment in Qunu

Mandela buried in a blaze of glory

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The late Nelson Mandelas former wife, Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela; widow Graca Machel and others, during the funeral service in Qunu, South Africa, yesterday. More photos on page 6.

Alison-Madueke Chukwu

ROTIMI FADEYI, GEORGE OJI, SEBASTINE EBHUOMHAN AND MURITALA AYINLA

The All Progressives Congress, APC, yes-terday asked the Na-tional Assembly to begin impeachment process of President Goodluck Jona-than for alleged gross mis-conduct.

The party urged the law-makers to rise beyond par-

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L-R: First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan and Malawian President Joyce Banda at the Church wedding service of Dr. Kambe, President Banda's daughter in Lilongwe, Malawi, on Saturday.

Impeach Jonathan now, APC tells NAssembly

Mandela buried in a blaze of glory

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PAUL AREWHEWITH AGENY REPORT

South African former president and anti-apartheid champion, Nelson Mandela, was buried in his home village, Qunu, yesterday in a blaze of glory after a funeral that mixed ancient tribal rituals with a celebrated display of the modern.

Military officers, both black and white, rolled Mandelas flag-draped coffin to the family burial plot in his village.

Formations of planes and military helicopters, South African flags flapping from the bellies, flew over the green hills where thousands

of mourners had gathered.Unlike a public memorial

service on Tuesday at a stadium that was rife with problems, the funeral and burial broadcast on many TV channels went smoothly, although behind schedule.

The ceremonies mixed solemnity with joy at Mandelas accomplishments lasted all morning and into the afternoon and were fit for African royalty.

Mandela, South Africa's first black president is descended from royalty.

Several thousands gathered in a huge white tent at the Mandela family compound for the state funeral that preceded

a private service at the gravesite.

Songs, speeches and the boom of artillery rang across the fields and a tribal chief draped in animal skin declared: A great tree has fallen.

Mandela spent 27 years in jail as a prisoner of the apartheid white government and emerged to lead a transition to a multiracial democracy.

He died on December 5 at the age of 95 after a protracted illness.

His portrait looked over the assembly in the tent from behind a bank of 95 candles representing each year of his remarkable life. His casket, transported to

the tent on a gun carriage, rested on a carpet of cow skins below a lectern where speakers delivered eulogies.

Ahmed Kathrada, an anti-apartheid activist who was jailed on Robben Island with Mandela, remembered his old friend's "abundant reserves" of love, patience and tolerance.

He said it was painful when he saw Mandela for the last time, months ago in his hospital bed. Some listeners wiped away tears as Kathrada spoke.

"He tightly held my hand, it was profoundly heartbreaking," Kathrada said, his voice quavering with emotion. "How I wish I never had to confront what I saw.

I first met him 67 years ago and I recall the tall, healthy strong man, the boxer, the prisoner who easily wielded the pick and shovel when we couldn't do so."

The songs and speeches in the tent ceremony were broadcast on big screens in the area, including at one spot on a hill overlooking Mandela's property. Several hundreds gathered there, some wearing colours of the African National Congress, ANC the liberation movement-turned political party that Mandela used to lead and occasionally breaking into songs.

"A great tree has fallen, he is now going home to rest with his forefathers," said Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, a representative of Mandela's family. "We thank them for lending us such an icon."

Mandela's widow, Grace Machel, and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, were dressed in black and sat on either side of South African President Jacob Zuma.

Guests included veterans of the military wing of the ANC, the liberation movement that became the dominant political force after the end of apartheid, as well as US Ambassador Patrick Gaspard and other foreign envoys. Britain's Prince Charles, Monaco's Prince Albert II, US television

personality Oprah Winfrey, billionaire businessman Richard Branson and former Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai were also there.

After the ceremony in the tent, a smaller group of guests walked to a family grave site.

Bayanda Nyengule, head of the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha and Qunu, was one of the eyewitnesses to the private burial.

"I realised that the old man is no more, no more with us you know," Nyengule said. "The moment when the coffin went down into the ground I felt too emotional."

Mandela was co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize along with F.W. de Klerk, the last president of the apartheid government, for his efforts at bringing about a peaceful transition in South Africa.

He had emerged from prison in 1990 advocating forgiveness and reconciliation, and became president after South Africa's first all-race elections, in 1994. He served one five-year term.

The burial ended 10 days of mourning ceremonies that included a massive stadium memorial in Johannesburg and three days during which Mandela's body lay in state in the capital, Pretoria.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net2 Monday, December 16, 2013News

tisanship and save Nigeria from imminent collapse by immediately kick-starting the impeachment process, saying that was the only way to protect the nation's democracy and unity.

APC also accused Presi-dent Jonathan of embrac-ing corruption and pro-viding succour to corrupt public officials.

It said such actions threatened the country's unity through divisive poli-cies and politics.

The party also alleged that Jonathan's administra-tion was frittering away the nation's resources through unprecedented cronyism and clannishness.

It will be recalled that a letter written by for-mer President Olusegun Obasanjo last week also accused Jonathan of con-

doning corruption and en-gaging in acts capable of destroying the country.

In a statement issued by its Interim National Pub-licity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, in Lagos, the party said it was issuing the call with a high sense of re-sponsibility and the strong belief that the impeach-ment of the President is a legitimate constitutional option available to the Na-tional Assembly to protect the nation's democracy.

The statement reads in part: Our country is drifting dangerously and our people are divided now perhaps more than at any other point in our history, with the excep-tion of the civil war period.

There is a total failure of leadership, even as inse-curity, unprecedented cor-ruption, palpable impunity, massive unemployment and hunger stalk the land.

Since the raison dtre of any government is the security and welfare of the citizenry, and the present administration has failed to live up to the justification of its existence, there can be no other definition of gross misconduct than that.

Therefore, the time has come for the head of that government, on whose desk the buck stops, to be removed through the provi-sions stipulated in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is the patriotic thing to do.

If the National Assembly fails to act and do so very fast, it will share with the clue-less and feckless Jonathan administration, the eternal blame for bringing to naught the hard work of the nation's heroes past and for crashing and dashing the hopes of mil-lions of Nigerians, especially the youth who are the leaders

of tomorrow.The party said anyone

that says that the call for the removal was outlandish to remember that all it takes to torpedo this democracy is for this increasingly-par-anoid government to get a pliant judge to put a judicial stamp on just one of its lita-ny of illegalities.

The party added while Nigerians were very much aware of the failings of this government in all sectors, it was important to remind them that the government had not been up to scratch in fighting corruption, which could bring the nation to its knees.

It said that insecurity had worsened so much that even those saddled with the secu-rity of protecting the nation were being attacked and killed at will.

APC also cited impunity, best exemplified in Rivers

State where a Commissioner of Police no longer takes orders from the Inspector-General.

The party said the gov-ernment had also failed to provide jobs for Nige-rian youths, even as it daily reeled out phantom figures of economic growth that only served to keep the so-called Ivy League-trained officials in charge of the economy on their jobs.

It also said that electricity generation has so plummet-ed that many will celebrate the forthcoming Yuletide in darkness.

The talk out there now is that Nigeria has never had it so bad. But the government may not know because it has distanced itself from the people. Therefore, for em-bracing corruption so much and providing succour to corrupt public officials; for threatening the country's fragile unity through divi-

sive policies and politics, for frittering away the na-tion's resources through unprecedented cronyism and clannishness, and for a total failure of leadership, this President deserves to be slammed with the cudgel of impeachment, the party said.

Reacting to the APC call, the Presidency warned that the party should be ready to face treason charges.

It also challenged those accusing Jonathan of train-ing 1,000 snipers to provide the evidence or keep quiet.

Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, in a statement said that APC or any persons who make themselves tools for the breach of public order and safety would be made to face the full sanctions of the law.

The Presidency de-

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 3Monday, Decemeber 16, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net4 Monday, December 16, 2013 Photo News

SOLA ADEBAYOWARRI

Indications have emerged that Presi-dent Goodluck Jona-than was under pressure by his Ijaw kinsmen in the Niger Delta to com-pel the anti-graft agen-cies to initiate corrup-tion charges against former President Oluse-gun Obasanjo.

It was learnt that the Ijaw leaders were of the opinion that the former president was becoming over-bearing and asked President Jonathan to tame him and other lead-ers of the opposition groups ahead of the 2015 general elections.

Findings showed that Jonathan was being prompted to probe the Obasanjo administra-tion from 1999 to 2007 in order to whittle down the influence of the for-mer head of state.

It was learnt that President Jonathan was asked to refrain from engaging in any verbal war with Obasanjo, but

should direct the anti-graft agencies to dust up some reports on his administration and ini-tiate his trial for corrupt practices while in office.

The action, according to Jonathans kinsmen, should be designed o dis-credit the former presi-dent and dissuade him from galvanising the op-position towards Jona-thans re-election.

Investigation further revealed that Jonathan was also advised to de-vise means of taming the leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC), especially former Head of State, Gen. Mo-hammed Buhari (rtd.) and former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Already, it was learnt yesterday that this posi-tion had been communi-cated to the President by a prominent Ijaw leader (name withheld).

Findings by National Mirror also showed that the Ijaw leader told the

President that the posi-tion represented the ag-gregate of opinions of the Ijaw ethnic national-ity.

It was also learnt that the position of Jona-thans kinsmen stemmed from the interim review of the 18-page letter written to him by the for-mer president, in which the former head of state reviewed the state of the nation.

Obasanjo, in the letter tittled; Before it is too late, offered a damning criticism of Jonathans administration and ad-vised the President to honour the controversial agreement barring him from seeking re-election in 2015.

Investigations re-vealed that Jonathans kinsmen were not com-fortable with the content of the letter, which they considered as damag-ing.

The Ijaw leaders viewed the letter as part of a grand design to scut-

Jonathan under pressure to slam corruption charges on Obasanjo

L-R: Manager, VAS Proposition,Promotions, Marketing and Strategy Division, MTN Communi-cations, Mrs. Omotayo George; Chief Executive Officer, Co-Creation Hub Nigeria Limited Mr. Bosun Tijani; representative of Star Prize Winner, Mr. Azuka Ofili and Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Mr. Larry Annetts, at the closing ceremony of MTN Developer App Challenge Competition in Lagos, at the weekend. PHOTO: BAYOOR EWUOSO

L-R: Executive Director, Market Operations and Technology, Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Ade Bajomo; Group Managing Director, GTI Capital Group, Mr. Abubakar Lawal; Chief Executive Officer, NSE, Mr Oscar Onyema; Managing Director, Trust Yields Securities, Alhaji Rasheed Yussuf and Managing Director, GTI Securities Limited, Mr. Tunde Oyekunle, during the visit of the management of NSE to Nigerias first private trading floor built by GTI Securities in Lagos, at the weekend.

L-R: Rev. Fr. Pius Abiodun Odekunle; Rev. Fr. Anthony Olayinka Ayoola; Senator Babajide Omo-worare of Osun East Senatorial District; Arch Bishop-elect of Ibadan Arch Diocese, Most Rev. Gabriel Abegunrin; Rev Fr. Joseph Ochonogor and Bishop of Oyo Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Emmanuel Badejo, at the ordination of the reverend fathers at St. Benedict Catholic Church, Osogbo, at the weekend.

L-R: Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Minister of State, Dr Samuel Ortom and Deputy President, Nigerian Guild of Editors, Mr Steve Ayorinde, at the close of the third Annual Seminar for Trade and Investment Correspondents and Editors in Abuja, at the weekend. PHOTO:NAN

National News

Ijaw leaders ask President to tame Obasanjo, Buhari, Tinubutle the legitimate aspira-tion of their kinsman to renew his mandate in 2015.

To this end, it was learnt that series of meetings of the various Ijaw groups had been slated for this week to formally dissect the let-ter and respond appro-priately.

Consequently, reliable information available to National Mirror yes-terday said the meeting of the umbrella body of the Ijaw ethnic nation-ality, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) has been slated for this week to discuss the controversial letter.

Similarly, it was gathered that other Ijaw groups, especially Izon-Ikemi and Oporo-za House, founded and funded by two prominent ex-militant command-ers, Chief Tom Ateke and Chief Government Ekpemukpolo, alias Tompolo, respectively, are scheduled to meet

this week to deliber-ate on the content of

Obasanjos letter.One of our sources

told National Mirror that the Ijaw leaders had advised Jonathan to be pro-active, decisive and take on his opponents frontally ahead of 2015.

The source said; The Ijaw kinsmen of Mr. President (Jonathan) viewed the letter writ-ten by former President Olusegun Obasanjo very strongly. The let-ter, to say the least, is very damaging and was designed to scuttle the re-election of President Jonathan in 2015.

Ijaw leaders have therefore advised the President to take on his political enemies fron-tally if he actually de-sires to seek re-election. His kinsmen are not comfortable that he (Jon-athan), is too docile and they have asked him to sit up.

Specifically, Mr. Pres-ident has been advised to dust up the probe of the

Obasanjos administra-tion in order to put an end to the holier than thou posture of the for-mer President.

We have reached out to him to devise means of taming Obsanjo and other leaders of the op-position, especially for-mer Head of State, Mu-hammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu, the stupen-dously wealthy former governor of Lagos State.

We expect the Presi-dent to compel the anti-graft agencies to initi-ate corruption charges against these characters and prosecute them. Mr. President should just find ways to tame them and one of our leaders has communicated this position to him (Jona-than) and he has to be de-cisive, like in the words of Obasanjo, before it is too late.

Various Ijaw groups are still meeting this week to get definite reactions to the damaging letter, added the source, who did not want his name mentioned.

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 5Monday, December 16, 2013 News

leum Resources told our correspondents at the week-end that local and foreign consultants with experi-ence and competent person-nel would be considered.

He said: It is the inten-sion of the Federal Gov-ernment to privatise the refineries next year. But it cannot do so without ascer-taining the current value of the plants. This explains why it is mandatory to eval-uate them early next year.

The official, who did not want his name mentioned, added: Certainly, we in-tend to go for the best con-sulting firms, especially those that have experience in evaluating major assets in Nigeria and other parts of the world.

The project would be made public so that inter-ested consultants can indi-cate interest in accordance with the transparency ap-proach of the government.

The Acting Group Gen-eral Manager of the Nige-rian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Omar Farouk, said it was

the intention of the govern-ment to privatise the refin-eries to further improve on their operations.

He said the NNPC would provide adequate informa-tion to the public at the right time to enable them understand the situation.

Investigations, however, showed that some compa-nies, including Arthur An-derson, now Accenture and Peak Marwick, now KPMG were involved in the evalu-ation of the plants in the 1990s when the government made efforts to lease them to private investors.

The plan to lease the re-fineries did not work out then following the shift in government policy, which also considered manage-ment contract and later pri-vatisation.

It was however unclear whether the companies would still indicate interest to participate in the exer-cise.

The plan to privatise the plants was recently con-firmed by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke,

in London.She had said: We would

like to see major infra-structural entities such as refineries moving out of government. Government does not want to be in the business of running ma-jor infrastructure entities and we havent done a very good job at it over all these years.

The minister explained that a presidential audit of the facilities last year rec-

ommended their sale due to inadequate government funding and suboptimal performance.

She said that the refin-eries should be privatised within 18 months, accord-ing to the report submitted to President Goodluck Jon-athan in November 2012.

Alison-Madueke, howev-er, added that efforts were being made to maintain the plants prior to the planned privatisation.

We are right now under-going a major turnaround maintenance programme of the refineries, Alison- Madueke had said.

The NNPC stated that improvement to the two-unit 210,000 barrels per day Port Harcourt refinery, the countrys biggest, would be completed by the end of the year to be followed by enhancements at the Warri and Kaduna in 2014.

The corporation added

that Warri had a daily pro-cessing capacity of 125,000 and Kaduna 110,000 barrels.

Despite these and other efforts to improve the refin-eries, the nation continues to import massive amounts of petrol and other petroleum products from the global market to make up for local refining capacity shortfalls.

The massive importa-tion has been subjected to abuse and corruption, espe-cially in the past few years.

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Impeach Jonathan now, APC tells NAssembly

Consultants to evaluate refineries ahead of privatisation

R-L: Akwa Ibom State Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, wife of the Commander of the Presidential Air Fleet, Mrs. Ebong; Air Vice-Marshal Uko Ebong, Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Bade and his wife at a thanksgiving service in honour of Ebong at the United Evangelical Church (QIC) in Abuja yesterday.

scribed the APC statement as undisguised threat to foster public insurrection against the Federal Govern-ment if pending legal cases go against it.

It urged Nigerians to take special note of this boastful indication of an intention to resort to lawlessness.

The statement said: We have noted with utter disdain, the reckless and irresponsi-ble call by the APC on Sunday for the National Assembly to commence impeachment proceedings against Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan.

Ordinarily, we would not have dignified Alhaji Lai Mohammeds latest vituper-ations in the service of his paymasters with a response, but we thought it necessary to warn that the Federal Government will not stand-by idly and let the nation be plunged into unnecessary crises and political instabil-ity because of the despera-tion and apparent readiness of the APC spokesman and his gang of power-seeking desperadoes to sacrifice the well-being of the country on the altar of their selfish per-sonal ambitions.

The Presidency totally

condemns the decision by Alhaji Mohammed and his party to move further be-yond the bounds of honour-able and acceptable political conduct with the senseless call for the impeachment of a President who continues to sincerely devote himself to the discharge of the sa-cred mandate freely given to him by Nigerians.

The APC, which re-mains a minority party with doubtful credentials in the National Assembly, knows full well that its attempt to hector and blackmail a Par-liament dominated by loyal members of the Presidents party, the PDP, into an im-peachment process, will come to nothing.

But it has cavalierly em-barked on this outrageous gambit, with scant regard for peace, order, security and political stability in the country, in furtherance of its dastardly and heinous strategy of over-heating the polity and working to cause public disaffection against the Jonathan Presidency with lies, false accusations and unjustifiable indict-ments ahead of the 2015 gen-eral elections.

The emptiness and hol-lowness of the APCs call

for President Jonathans im-peachment will be obvious to all objective and discerning Nigerians who read through the statement issued by Al-haji Mohammed today.

It was long on self-serving rhetoric and falsehoods, but lacked a single clearly defined charge on the basis of which any plausible impeachment proceedings against the Pres-ident can be initiated"

All that the APC could offer in justification of its absurd and hare-brained impeachment call was a rehash of its well-worn litany of baseless accusa-tions against the President, including some for which culpability should be laid squarely at the doorsteps of its own leaders and some of their new friends.

The Presidency also con-siders it utterly deplorable that the APC has, in its Ma-chiavellian desperation to seize control of the Federal Government, recklessly as-sailed the integrity and hon-our of the Nigerian Judi-ciary in a callous attempt to pre-empt the outcome of the case legitimately brought against it and some of its new friends by the PDP.

Alhaji Mohammeds un-scrupulous effort to drag the

nations judiciary into its murky political warfare and his readiness to intimidate and blackmail members of the bench so as to secure a favourable outcome for his party in the pending case clearly shows that nothing is beyond the pale for him and the APC in pursuit of their quest for power.

The Jonathan Admin-istration does not need Lai Mohammed or the APC to remind it of its constitu-tional responsibility for the security and well-being of Nigerians. The President will continue to do his ut-most best to achieve positive national transformation in all areas in spite of efforts by the opposition to thwart or disparage the work of his administration.

In this regard, we have noted the undisguised threat by the APC to foster public insurrection against the Federal Government if pending legal cases go against it. We urge Nigeri-ans to take special note of this boastful indication of an intention to resort to law-lessness.

The Presidency warns that the APC and any per-sons who make themselves its willing tools for the

breach of public order and safety will be made to face the full sanctions of the law. Those who are threatening fire and brimstone should be ready for consequences of treasonable action.

The APC's false copy-cat allegation that 1, 000 snip-ers are being trained by the Jonathan administration clearly shows that they are now in cahoots with some other elements who are bent on discrediting this admin-istration and inciting the public against it.

President Jonathan is running a people's govern-ment. He does not need any snipers. His legitimacy comes from the people. Those who are alleging the existence of snipers should step forward and provide the evidence or shut up forever and go down in history as spineless cowards, driven by sheer greed and indecency.

We dismiss the APCs call for the Presidents im-peachment as opportunistic, partisan and ill-motivated/

We call on patriots to make the necessary distinc-tion between such reckless violations of civic duty and the urgent need to protect the integrity of the Nige-rian nation against those

who for selfish reasons have declared their readiness to stop at nothing.

Apparently referring to former President Obasanjo, Abati challenged those mak-ing the allegation that 1, 000 snipers are being trained by the present administration to provide the evidence or shut up forever and go down in history as spineless cow-ards, driven by sheer greed and indecency.

The PDP also described the call by APC as irrespon-sible, immature, self seek-ing and part of their larger agenda to truncate democ-racy in Nigeria.

The party said this in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh.

Upon their realisation that they will not win in the 2015 general elections fol-lowing the failure of their plans to break the ranks and strength of the PDP, they now seek to use all means to cause confusion in the land.

The APC knows the im-plication of the call, which is to cause massive turmoil and destroy the unity of our dear nation. Nevertheless, the PDP is ready, willing and able to stop them in their tracks, the party said.

Anti-apartheid activist and close friend of late Nelson Mandela arrives at the funeral service Members of the African National Congress sing at the final funeral ceremony in Qunu

Late Nelson Mandela grandson, Mandla at the funeral.

Nelson Mandelas widow, Graca Machel sits in-belween South African President Jacob Zuma and his wife Bongi Ngema at the funeral service.

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net6 Monday, December 16, 2013Photo News

L-R: Stedman Graham, Oprah Winfrey and Richard Branson at the the funeral ceremony.

A 21-gun salute is fired as the funeral procession carrying the casket of Mandela moves through Qunu. South African Air Force planes fly past during the funeral

Family members and guests at the service.

Nelson Mandelas funeral in Qunu

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 7Monday, Decemeber 16, 2013

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net8 Monday, December 16, 2013 News

Nigeria may record $1.832bn yearly loss in grants to GDP

Partial resumption likely as ASUU may end strike this week

Kukah to politicians: Seek power through election, not coup

TOLA AKINMUTIMI ABUJA

The Financial De-rivatives Company Limited (FDC), a leading financial consult-ing consultancy, has pro-jected that the conclusion of the ongoing National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) re-basing exercise may translate to huge losses in international grants and aid for Nigeria.

This is a result of the recent re-classification of the country from the category of lower middle-income economies to me-dium income economies.

The company also ex-pressed its concern about the non-feasibility of the Mid-December target set by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) for the completion of the exercise which seeks to use a more recent base year of 2010 from 1990 prices to calcu-late the growth in output of the nations economy.

Nigerias net Official Development Assistance (ODA) and aid, according to the World Bank, from official agencies of the members of the Develop-ment Assistance Commit-tee (DAC), by multilateral institutions, and by non-

MARCUS FATUNMOLE ABUJA

The nearly six-month-old strike embarked upon by Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) may continue in some state uni-versities as the national body of the association is likely to call off the strike this week.

It will be recalled that the Federal Government and ASUU signed an agreement recently to facilitate end to the industrial action that has paralysed the nations public universities.

In an interview with journalists after signing the agreement in Abuja, ASUU President, Nasir Fagge, said the association would make its position over the agree-ment known to the govern-ment within one week.

It is customary for ASUU to take such agreements to its highest decision-making body

for ratification, but on rare oc-casion would the body refuse what had been agreed with government.

However, a senior lec-turer in the Department of Mass Communication, Benue State University, Makurdi, Dr Samson Sam-be, said the strike could continue in some state uni-versities. Sambe disclosed this to National Mirror in a telephone interview when asked how he was preparing for ASUUs much-anticipat-ed resumption on campuses.

He said: It depends on individual state universi-ties. For us in the state uni-versity, even though the strike is called off, there are issues, local issues which have to be addressed.

These are issues of pay-ment of salaries and so on. So, though the strike is called at the national, there are states which have issues that bother on the payment of their sala-

ries. We are not so enthusi-

astic yet. But, we just hope that, maybe, the various state governments will also be able to deal with such issues, believing that the right thing has to be done.

Unresolved issues be-tween states and ASUU, as said by Sambe, might dash the hope of students who are looking towards receiving positive pro-nouncement from the union to enable them re-sume school.

One of the students, who spoke with National Mirror on their antici-pated resumption, was Goodness Adaoyiche, a fi-nal year student of Benue State University.

She said: I am passion-ately looking towards get-ting to that campus. For now, the Yuletide season is not as important to me as being on campus. I am

tired at home after five months.

Nigerian public univer-sities have been shut down for five months as a result of industrial action embarked upon by ASUU, which, until last Wednesday, had been at war with the government over the latters failure to implement an agreement it reached with ASUU in 2009.

Angered by seeming unful-filled promises from govern-ment, the teachers refused to work since July 1 this year.

Within the period the ran-cour lasted, there were accu-sations and counter accusa-tions, name calling, bickering, molestation and mudslinging between the parties. Govern-ment on many occasions ac-cused opposition parties of fanning the embers of the crisis, while ASUU on its part insisted the time had come that nations public university system receive the attention it deserved from the gov-ernment.

AZA MSUE KADUNA

The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. Mathew Hassan Kukah, yester-day warned against any attempt to remove Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan through a coup detat.

Kukah, speaking while delivering a sermon dur-ing the one year memorial church service in honour of former governor of Kaduna State, Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa, told poli-ticians that the only way they could get to power is through election.

Bishop Kukah said Ni-geria should as a matter of urgency to take her rightful position as Nelson Mande-la, who transformed South Africa, had being buried.

He said: We have ban-dits and all kinds of people who want only the key. We must continue to pray for Nigeria because we are re-scinding and has forgotten what our overall objective should be. Mandela is dead and Nigeria had better ad-just itself very quickly to take her rightful position. There are rules to every game. You want to be Presi-dent, there is a date. You dont want somebody to be President, there is a pro-cess. There is no other way of accessing power except through election.

For me, what lies be-fore us is not about Presi-dent Goodluck Jonathan because even if he stays for 20 year, he will go one day. But really, we should wake up. The very idea that somebody moves from this party to that party or going and coming from Abuja, all of us who are fooling ourselves will soon be left stranded when the matter is settled. Somehow, people

are imagining that you can fall in love and fall out of love.

But if people think that the rest of us will join a political party or come out because somebody say so, we should purse and begin to think not about ourselves or interest, but about our nation. We should not be where we are in Nigeria, but I think we should come to a point in Nigeria when we should not be repeat-ing mistakes even if that is the only legacy we can take from what Yakowa has done.

I said in my sermon that President Goodluck Jona-than has done for us what Fredrick De-Clark did for the people of South Africa and that Yakowa has done for us in his own little way what Mandela did for South Africa. One of my critics responded saying what nonsense, how can you com-pare Yakowa with Mandela. Interestingly, you can see that today, we are observ-ing Mass for Yakowa while Mandela is being buried.

Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State has demonstrated to us in Nige-ria that things can change. Is it very convenient for a husband who is Muslim to sit back and send his wife to go and attend this function? One day at a wedding in La-gos, Fashola was there and he sat throughout the wed-ding. When it was time for thanksgiving, he came out and when I sprinkled holy water on him, he said Bish-op, more holy water because it helps us stay away from trouble in Lagos. I made this point because we are in a country that is still growing in fraction. We are speaking great things about Mandela, but these families are telling us what we must do to make this country great.

L-R: Group Managing Director/CEO, Access Bank Plc., Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; his wife, Mrs. Aig-Imoukhuede; Asoju Oba of Lagos, Chief OmoladeOkoya- Thomas and Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, during the Christmas party and send forth ceremony for the Access Banks Managing Director in Lagos, at the weekend.

DAC countries from 2009-2011 stood at about $5.496 billion.

Making the foreign grants and aid loss pro-jections in its Economic Monthly Report for this month, the company lik-ened the countrys at-tempt to rebase the GDP as playing with mirrors.

Specifically, FDC while describing the exercise as desirable given the aspira-tions of the Federal Gov-ernment for Nigeria to become one of the top 20 economies by 2020, how-ever predicted that the conclusion of the project would cost the country

substantial loss of grants and aids as the its nomi-nal GDP could rise from the current $283bn in 2013 by about 40 per cent to about $400bn. This, the company noted, would place Nigeria among the leading economies.

According to the lead-ing economic consulting firm, even as desirable as the exercise appeared to be for Nigerias global eco-nomic rating, there is the need to really take a holis-tic assessment of the state of the real economy in view of the implications of the rebasing project for the economy.

Noting that Nigeria re-mains a low income but richly endowed country in terms of her resources with a five-year average annual growth rate of 7 per cent and a per capital annual income of $1,624, the company reported that rebasing could cause a major decline in the na-tions GDP growth rate, down from the present rate to about 5 per cent.

The FDC reports: Just like a child attempts to

wear high heels to appear taller, the same way Nige-ria will appear larger with a rebased GDP. Accord-ing to some estimates, Nigeria may record an approximate 40 per cent leap in nominal GDP to about $400bn, putting it ahead of the giant of Af-rica: South Africa (with a nominal GDP of $384bn). How-ever, the real rate of growth may decline to an average of 5 per cent from 7 per cent

National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net Monday, Decemeber 16, 2013 9

National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net10 Monday, December 16, 2013Souh West

Village heads assault Ogun monarch over chieftaincy dispute

Distractions hampering my effi ciency FAAN MD

Board explains delay in Ekiti bursary disbursement

L-R: One of beneficiaries of the Oyo State councils empowerment programme and skills acquisition, Pa Bashir Adeyemo, Gov-ernor Abiola Ajimobi and Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North Local Government, Mr. Idris Lapade, at a graduation ceremony for participants at the councils empowerment programme and skills acquisition held at Yemetu, Ibadan, at the weekend.

FEMI OYEWESO ABEOKUTA

The ancient Yewa city of Ayetoro in Yewa North Local Government Area of Ogun State was thrown into con-fusion at the weekend as 10 village heads (baales) allegedly descended on the monarch of the town, the Alaye of Ayetoro, Oba Azeez Adelakun, over chieftaincy dispute.

National Mirror gath-ered that trouble started when the baales refused to pay homage to Oba Ad-elakun as demanded by tradition during a meeting at the monarchs palace.

The Ekiti State Gov-ernment has ex-plained why it has not disbursed the bursary and scholarships to ben-eficiaries for the 2012/2013 academic session.

It blamed the delay on the five-month-old indus-trial dispute between the Federal Government and members of the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU).

Explaining at the week-end through its Scholar-ship Board, the govern-ment, however, said it had concluded arrangements to share N18 million to Law students who are of the state origin within the next two weeks.

The 121 beneficiaries, according to Board Chair-man, Chief Deji Adeg-bite, were not affected by the Federal Government/ASUU imbroglio.

He added that the status of the bonafide students pursuing law programmes had been confirmed by the management at the five campuses of the Nigerian Law School.

Adegbite said the ongo-ing strike by the varsity teachers delayed students response to the call-for-ap-plication for bursary and scholarships advertorial placed by the board locally and internationally on the internet.

According to him, all indigenes of Ekiti State in tertiary institutions across the country and those pur-suing post-graduate stud-ies abroad have the right to

partake in the scheme.The scholarship board

chairman said the appli-cations of students for the 2012/2013 awards, now be-ing downloaded from the internet and collating by officials, would be pains-takingly screened.

Besides the institutions certification of applicants as their genuine students, Adegbite also informed that the authorities of lo-cal government areas and monarchs have to attest to the claims of applicants to further ensure that funds are not misapplied.

Adegbite, who said the 121 law students have been notified, said the identi-ties of other beneficiaries would be made public of the completion of the on-going verification of claims by applicants.

He said the state has a special oversea scholar-ship programme for its students pursuing spe-cialized studies in avia-tion, maritime, sports and technology, noting that the physically challenged en-joy automatic scholarship awards once they furnish the board with their ad-mission letters.

Adegbite informed that no fewer than 11, 075 (com-prising bursary awards, law school bursary and special awards), shared N377 million during the 2011/2013 academic ses-sion.

He said the funds were sourced on 50-50 ratio by the state and local govern-ments.

OLUSEGUN KOIKI

Managing Director of the Federal Airports Author-ity of Nigeria (FAAN), Mr. George Uriesi, said yester-day that the recurring cri-sis in the aviation industry in recent times is hamper-ing him to do his best.

Speaking at a meeting of FAANs regional man-agers in Lagos, Uriesi said: I dont normally regret anything, but I do have one regret and that is, in my es-timation, I am really able to give about 10 per cent of my capacity to FAAN and that is the truth, the remaining 90 per cent is distractions and if I had the opportu-nity to give even 50 per cent of my capacity, a lot of things would have been dif-ferent, I keep fighting to get more capacity allocated to FAAN. So, in general, what-ever is happening is 10 per cent of my capacity, which is the truth.

The FAAN boss ex-plained that the regional meeting of the airport managers was useful and had served as a source of feed back to him.

He said: I always feel happy when I am being briefed by regional general managers, get feedback from the regional meetings, you will find out that this is very useful in the near fu-ture as we begin to realise the resources of the organ-isation and make it better.

Uriesi said that the or-ganisation was working to improve workers welfare in order to boost productiv-ity.

Meanwhile, FAAN has forecasted that the volume of passengers expected to pass through the nations airports would increase from its present 7.1 million annually to 9.7 million by 2017.

Giving out the statistics yesterday at the Murtala Mohammed International

Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, FAAN outgoing Regional Manager, South-West, Mr. Edward Olarerin, said that the data was important so that the organisation would be able to plan ahead.

Olarerin also predicted that the number of aircraft movements would grow to 139,636 yearly in 2017 while cargo volumes would rise from 170 million kilo-grammes in 2012 to 188 mil-lion kilos by 2017.

He also revealed that MMIA had processed a to-tal of 7,186,669 passengers in 2012 compared with 5,117,034 passengers in 2008, while aircraft move-ment rose from 84,198 flights yearly in 2008 to 105,334 in 2012.

Besides, the same trend was replicated in cargo as the traffic grew from 164 million kilos in 2008 to 170 million kilos in 2012.

He said that MMA was expected to be a hub based on the ongoing reconstruc-

village head of Ago-Imala, Chief Olayiwola Ajibola.

The village heads were said to have canvassed for a merger of village heads in Ago-Imala and Saala into one which the mon-arch objected to.

An eye witness told journalists yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, that Oba Adelakun was humiliated that he scampered for safe-ty before the arrival of the police.

One of the village heads, the Baale Ayobo-Ayetoro, Ezekiel Ogun-dele, who witnessed the

scene, said that the Baales had vowed to disgrace Oba Adelakun.

Ogundele said: They said Kabiyesi disgraced them in Abeokuta and they would retaliate by removing him as the Oba of the town. The bone of contention is that the rebel baales want Alaye to put one Baale over the other, but the Kabiyesi said he would not do this since he installed both of them and issued them certificates.

This did not go down well with the aggrieved baales who vowed to deal with the Kabiyesi by re-

moving him as Oba.On arrival of the Kabi-

yesi into the venue of the meeting which held at his palace, the baales refused to pay homage to Oba Ad-elakun as demanded by the tradition of our people.

They refused to re-move their caps as well as their shoes as the cul-ture stipulates. They were about 10. Baale Keesan, Bashiru Adegbola, was the one that removed Oba Adelakuns cap as well as his traditional beads and later beat him to a state of stupor before the arriv-al of the police.

He added that the ag-grieved baale had through a letter invited the Kabi-yesi to a meeting which would have held today (Monday) before the week-ends commotion.

The Police Public Rela-tions Officer (PPRO) in Ogun State, Muyiwa Ad-ejobi, confirmed the inci-dent, adding that 19 of the baales were involved in the sacrilege.

Adejobi said the youths reacted after Baale Keesan assaulted the monarch be-fore the police moved in to bring the situation under control.

Law students to share N18m

Oba Adelakun, howev-er, lost his beads and cap in the melee that followed the alleged desecration of the tradition by the ag-grieved village heads be-fore he was rescued by the police.

The humiliation also stirred up protest from the scores of youths of the town who protested what they described as an as-sault on Ayetoro as they made bonfires across the town.

National Mirror gath-ered that there had been a no love lost relation-ship between the village heads and Oba Adelakun over the installation of a

tion of transit facilities which would come on stream within the next five years, adding that the num-ber of airlines were expect-ed to increase as a result of improved infrastructure, as well as capacity expan-sion resulting from the ongoing transformation in the aviation sub-sector un-der the supervision of the Minister of Aviation, Prin-cess Stella Oduah.

Olarerin said MMA has maintained healthy rela-tionship with stakeholders in a bid to foster industrial relationship.

Mr. Uriesi

11South WestMonday, December 16, 2013 National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net

ADEOLU ADEYEMOOSOGBO

Indications emerged at the weekend that the rape case against the Alowa of Ilowa Ijesha in Obokun Local Govern-ment Area of Osun State, Oba Adebukola Alli, would soon be resusci-tated by the state govern-ment.

The states Attorney-General and Commission-er for Justice, Hon. Wale Afolabi, has affirmed that the state government would pursue the case to

a logical conclusion at an Appeal Court.

Afolabi, who spoke in Oshogbo, said already his office had filed an appeal against the judgement at the court of Appeal, Akure, Ondo State.

Osun State govern-ment as a believer in the rule of law and a respecter of womens rights is ready to pursue the case to its

logical conclusion. The state government

is very displeased with the judgement and has direct-ed the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice to appeal against the judgment and explore all lawful means to see to it that justice is done in the case.

It will be recalled that a former corps member,

Miss Helen Okpara, was alleged to have been raped by the monarch at his resi-dence in Osogbo, the state capital and the case was in the magistrate court be-fore being transferred to the high court for lack of jurisdiction.

At the high court after several hearings and ad-journments for almost three years, the monarch was dis-

charged and acquitted on October 8, by Justice Oyejide Falola of the Ikirun division of the state high court.

However, the commis-sioner in a statement is-sued by the Information Officer of the ministry, Mr. Bello Opeyemi said; The ministry has filed an appeal against the judge-ment at the Court of Ap-peal, Akure, Ondo State

and the state government was prepared to pursue the case to a logical con-clusion.

The states Ministry of Justice had on December 12, filed an appeal against the judgment of the high court and the ministry has concluded all arrange-ments for the prosecution of the case at the Appeal Court, he added.

Monarchs rape case: Osun govt appeals against judgement

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has assured local government workers in the state of the security of their jobs.

The governor, who gave the assurance on Friday during an interactive ses-sions with council work-ers in five local govern-ment areas of the state, also revealed that their leave bonuses have been paid to their respective council areas.

He also told the workers that his administration gives the local councils what is due to them from the Federation Account and has never tampered with their allocations from the federal purse.

Governor Fayemi also assured the local govern-ment staff that the pay-ment of arrears of their minimum wage and pro-motions will commence this month, adding that he has directed that the ar-rears be cleared and that a committee responsible for the task will be mandated to speed up the process.

The governor held in-teractive sessions with local government work-ers under the auspices of the state chapter of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) from Ikere, Ise/Orun and Ekiti South-West in Ikere-Ekiti and those from Ado and Ire-podun/Ifelodun in Ado-Ekiti.

Expressing surprise at the claim by the council workers that they were yet to be paid their leave bonuses, the governor said the bonus had been released to the council ar-eas. He told the workers that his administration will consider the direct lodgment of their leave bonus through the e-pay-ment system to eliminate the problem of delay in payment of leave bonus.

Governor Fayemi said, We are not owing any local government leave bonus at all, I want to reit-erate that there is no local government in the state that we are owing leave bonus.

If your local govern-ment has not paid you, the issue is in the hands of

those at the helm in your respective local govern-ments, but we will ensure that the system investi-gates why some local gov-ernment workers have not received their leave bonus.

Quote me, since I be-came governor, we have not owed leave bonus. In fact, leave bonus has been paid up to October 2013 and if you have not re-ceived your leave bonus, I deserve to know. We have given them your money in your local government and if they have not given you, we will investigate.

Refuting speculations that there is a list on his table containing names of redundant local govern-ment workers whose ap-pointment will be termi-nated, Governor Fayemi described the insinuation as an arrant nonsense.

That is arrant and total nonsense, it is not true. I dont have any list of council workers on my table whose appointment will be terminated.

Why will I want to ter-minate the appointment of somebody who is prop-erly employed? In fact, ter-minating appointment of

any council worker is an additional burden on me because you have depen-dants.

If you live in Lagos and you collect salaries in Ado or Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government, then NULGE should be inter-ested in that.

Responding to ques-tions on paucity of funds in the council, the gover-nor said the issue is a gen-eral one and not peculiar to the councils alone, but also to state governments in the country.

He said allocations due to states and local govern-ments are dwindling from the Federation Account saying; It is only Abuja that can explain why.

Governor Fayemi promised to consider the inclusion of NULGE rep-resentatives on the Joint Accounts Allocation Com-mittee (JAAC).

Meanwhile, workers in the state have been assured that priority at-tention to their welfare, promotion and sundry is-sues will be restored by a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state next year.

Fayemi assures LG workers of job security

ADEOLU ADEYEMOOSOGBO

Osun State governor, Rauf Aregbesola, at the weekend, charged polytechnic stu-dents in the country to try and develop themselves in technical and techno-logical training, saying that it would assist them to be major players in the unfolding future of high technology.

Aregbesola, who made the appeal at the fourth combined convocation cer-emony of the State Poly-technic, Iree, said a poly-technic education is more inclined towards the voca-tional development of the students, pointing out that; Here at Iree Polytechnic, technical and technologi-cal training are the main areas of emphasis.

The governor stressed further that; In our coun-

try today, this is an im-portant area of education that we greatly need for filling the middle-level de-velopment skills gaps in the countrys economy.

Ours is an economy that requires develop-ment, but is lacking in in-novative technical skills that can help produce great thinkers and build-ers of society.

You must not therefore trivialise the importance of the type of education you are getting from here, because it is of great rel-evance out there. All over the world today, skills and innovation are in great need and demand, espe-cially in the area of tech-nology.

Creativity in technol-ogy is not just a driving force in todays world; it will be a determining fac-tor in the world of the fu-ture.

Aregbesola tasks poly students on technological training

ABIODUN NEJOADO EKITI

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Ekiti State has said that it will take advantage of the internal crisis rocking the ruling All Progressives Con-gress and the opposition Peo-ples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state in its bid to win the 2015 governorship.

To this end, the party said it has zoned the gover-norship seat of the party to southern part of the state.

State SDP Chairman, Engr. Ayo Adekola said: The inability of the PDP to put its house in order and provide veritable op-position to the ruling par-ty is a bonus for the SDP.

We are as well ready to

exploit the crack within the APC that has forced majority of its members to follow House of Repre-sentatives member, Hon. Opeyemi Bamidele, out of the ruling party, he said.

Adekola, who spoke in Ado Ekiti at the weekend during the inauguration of the State Executive Council (SEC) of the party, said the party has zoned the gover-norship seat to the South Senatorial District.

He said: SDP is a party of equity, justice and fair-ness. Our party has decided to pick its governorship can-didate from the south, be-cause the zone has not pro-duced any governor since Ekiti State was created. We are going to be fair to every zone. Nobody will lose out.

Ekiti 2014: SDP zones governorship seat to south

L-R: Senior Special Assistant to the Osun State Governor on Research, Planning and Policy Implementation, Prince Olusegun Bada; Engr. Abdulkareem Ojutikun; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Special Adviser on Federal Matters, Hon. Idiat Babalola; Mr. S. J. Samuel and Personal Assistant to the state Governor on Political Matters, Alhaji Bisi Oyoosun, at the unveiling of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo statue at Osun Lodge, Abuja, at the weekend.

12 Monday, December 16, 2013 National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netSouth East

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

Former governor of Imo State and a staunch member of the defunct Action Con-gress of Nigeria (ACN), Chief Achike Udenwa, was at weekend absent from the South-East zonal meeting

of the All Progressives Con-gress (APC) in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

Reports said the ab-sence of Chief Udenwa at the meeting may be in-dicative of a crack in the party in the state.

The meeting, which was held at Lamonde Guest House, Owerri, confirmed

the speculation of a rift be-tween Governor Okorocha and Udenwas groups over who are the authentic mem-bers of the party in the state.

While Udenwas group insisted that under the pro-visions of the Electoral Act on merger of political par-ties, only the members of the merged parties (ACN,

CPC and ANPP) are the legal and automatic mem-bers of APC for now, the other group described as APGA Rebel or conces-sional members, believed that they are in control and should determine the di-rection the party would go.

In the midst of this disagreement, Gover-

Crack in APC: Udenwa, others shun meeting in Imo

The body of Mr. Simeon Obodo, the 35-year-old Nige-rian killed in Goa, India, on October 31, arrived in Nigeria at the weekend and has been deposited in a mortuary in Port Har-court.

A representative of the family, Mr. Ejike Esink-onye, confirmed the arriv-al of the corpse in a tele-phone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja.

He said the corpse ar-rived at the Port Harcourt International Airport 7.00pm on Saturday via an Air France commercial flight.

Esinkoye said some family members travelled to India to accompany the corpse home.

The family representa-tive said about N6.5 mil-lion was spent to fly the body to Nigeria, including funeral home and mortu-ary costs in India.

He said the family and the community members felt abandoned by the In-dian and Nigerian govern-ment, claiming they had received no financial as-sistance till date.

Esinkoye was part of a delegation of the Ohaji

Egbema community in Imo State that met with the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prof. Vi-ola Onwuliri, after Obodo was killed.

He appealed to the Fed-eral Government to im-press it on the Indian gov-ernment to respond to the familys demands.

Our brother is sur-vived by an aged mother, wife and kids; who will take care of these respon-sibilities? he queried.

He said the burial of Obodo had tentatively been fixed for December 28, in his community in Imo State.

NAN recalls that on No-vember 25, Onwuliri had announced that the Fed-eral Government would dispatch a high-level del-egation to India to sign three agreements with the Indian government on the safety of all Nigerians in that country.

The agreements in-clude the Mutual Legal Assistance, Extradition Treaty and Transfer of Convicted Persons.

However, NAN learnt that both governments were still negotiating different clauses in the agreements.

Body of Nigerian killed in India arrives home

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

Undeterred by for-mer President Olusegun Obasan-jos opposition against President Goodluck Jona-thans ambition to contest the 2015 presidential elec-tion, associates of the Pres-ident have continued to put pressure on him to contest.

To this end, reports said some of the associates have commenced cam-paign on how to actualise the dream of the President in the next two years.

Head of Media and Pub-lic Affairs, Chief Perry

Opara, who disclosed this to reporters after a one-day crucial meeting of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders in Ow-erri, Imo State, said his office is also working on strategies for the party to regain the governorship seat in Imo State.

According to him; Al-though, the President is yet to declare his interest in the 2015 presidential election, the masses are convinced that he had so far done well in all sectors of the economy and is gender-friendly, hence their resolution to back him for the nations number one seat in 2015.

Opara, who hails from the Ezinihitte Mbaise Lo-cal Government Area of Imo State, noted that Pres-ident Jonathan had taken steps to strengthen the education and power sec-tors just as he had ensure massive road construction in all parts of the country.

For this, we are en-couraging him to do more and we are going to work with the masses. We will down play the big wigs in the society and work with the artisans, traders, stu-dents, among others.

The presidential aide assured that credible can-didates will emerge at the

PDP national level and that the party will field credible candidates for all elective positions.

Reacting to questions, Opara argued that the President should without further delay declare his intention to run, because the people are yearning for him on account of his enviable stewardship such as the SURE-P Programme and Educational reforms.

For now, there should be no quest for a President of Igbo extraction until 2019 and the President should hasten to declare his inter-est and we will collectively support him in 2015.

2015: Pressure mounts on Jonathan to contest

CHRIS NJOKUOWERRI

The Imo State police command has warned against the decisions some banks in the state to unlawfully shut their doors against customers, thereby denying them access to their funds.

The command said all efforts by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mohammed Musa Katsina,

to meet with the officials of the banks to ascertain the reasons for their action proved abortive.

The state government had last Wednesday shut eight commercial banks following a court order to the state Board of Internal Revenue to confiscate the property of the eight banks operating in the state for non-payment of withholding tax

Irked by the state

governments action, the other banks not included in the list, also shut their doors against their customers, a situation described by the police commissioner as regrettable.

Addressing journalists at the weekend in Owerri, Katsina through the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Elvis Abanga, expressed regret that some other banks not affected

by the said order could deny law abiding citizens and credible customers, access to their money without considering the obvious consequences.

Intelligence report at our disposal indicates that the customers and clients of the concerned banks are aggrieved by the closure and if action is not taken, the concerned banks may suffer some consequences, he said.

Police warn banks over unlawful closure of business

L-R: Anambra State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Uju Okeke; Governor Peter Obi and Archbishop Valerian Okeke, at the presentation of N20 million cheque for the continued rehabilitation of Fr. Joseph Secondary School, Agulueri, recently.

nor Okorocha, who was unanimously elected as the chairman of APC Governors Forum, while moderating at the meet-ing selected his own state interim officers against a nine-member interim state officers previously inaugurated by Udenwas group in a meeting held on October 31, 2013, in Owerri, where Mazi Nati Iwuagwu emerged as in-terim chairman.

Speaking at the rowdy meeting, the governor said the interim officers would work towards orga-nising a congress slated for February 5, 2014.

He said there would be no rigging as experienced in the past in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), adding that the people, without automatic tick-ets, would elect all APC senatorial candidates and legislators who would be participating in the 2015 general elections.

There will be no rig-ging as all executives will be elected by the people, other-

wise we will make the same mistake the PDP made that killed them, he emphasised.

Reacting yesterday, APC interim state Women Lead-er, Mrs. Vivian Echeruo, told National Mirror that the authentic interim state officers is the one led by Mazi Iwuagwu.

She said as it stands now, not even the state gov-ernor is a member of the party in the state as the party has not started the registration of members.

The only authentic APC members in the state are the members from ACN, CPC and ANPP; others who want to come in must wait until we commence registration of members, she stated.

Those who were at the APC meeting include for-mer governor of Abia State, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Senator Chris Ngige, Senator Osita Izunaso, Ochiagha Ibeku, Prince Benjamin B. Agugo and National Vice Chairman of the APC in the South-East, Chief Nyere Anyim, among others.

Oyo State governor, Senator Abiola Aji-mobi, has urged those factionalising the All Progressive Congress, APC, in the state to unite, stating that the conser-vatives whom the party flushed away from power in 2011, like blood-sucking foxes, were waiting by the sideline to capitalise on disagreements within the ruling party to come back to power.

He made this known at the weekend at the gradua-tion of trainees of a skills acquisition centre orga-nized by the Ibadan North Local Government.

Ajimobi said that he is aware that many members of the party were grouping themselves into factions which they named SENACO, Lamists and many more,

OLAJIDE OMOJOLOMOJU

As part of the deliv-ery of the dividends of democracy to his constituents, the Sena-tor representing Kogi Cen-tral Senatorial District in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Nuru-deen Abatemi-Usman, has disclosed that the contract for the water treatment scheme in Ogori/Mangogo Local Government Area of the state has already been awarded.

Abatemi-Usman made the disclosure while receiv-ing members of the legis-lative arm of the council, which is one of the five lo-cal councils in his constitu-ency believed to have been abandoned by previous senators from the zone due to their minority status in the senatorial district.

Led by the Deputy Leader of the council, Hon. Abdul-malik Yusuf, the councilors came to pay a solidarity visit to the senator in his office at

L-R: Senator Osita, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, Senator Chris Ngige and Prince B. B. Apugo during a meeting of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

Opposition waits on us like foxes, Ajimobi tells APC factions

Ogori/Mangogo water scheme contract awarded Abatemi-Usman

LIVINUS MENEDIYOLA

Loyalists of the Ad-amawa State gover-nor, Murtala Nyako, seem to have abandoned the governor as they have re-grouped and retraced their steps back to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, fol-lowing their fall out with the governor over his defection to the opposition All Pro-gressives Congress, APC.

The loyalists, under the aegis of Adamawa 21 at the weekend in Yola, publicly declared their loyalty to the PDP, saying that they were a political pressure group working to promote the principles and practice of internal democracy within the party.

Led by Kashim Njidda, the group paid a solidarity visit to the state secretariat of the PDP, where they were received by the state chair-man, Chief Joel Madaki,

the Madaki-led leadership in the state, adding that things were already falling apart before the emergence of the Madaki-led state working committee.

Kashim explained that candidates who bought forms for elections into vari-ous offices at various levels were forcefully denied the contest or rigged out by hav-ing some of the elections conducted outside their constituencies, contrary to what the laws demand. Re-

the National Assembly.A statement signed by

Mr. Michael Jegede, the Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Abatemi-Usman, indicated that the senator stressed the impor-tance of water to human life, which he said, prompt-ed him to push for the pro-vision of money in the bud-get for Ogori/Managogo water scheme project and the Ekuku Dam in Okene.

The senator said: In line with my promise to my people that I will work hard to find lasting solution to the perennial problem of water in my constituency, as soon as I assumed office I com-menced talk with the Min-istry of Water Resources. As we speak, the contract for the Ogori/Mangogo water scheme has just been award-ed. The Ekuku Dam project has since been captured in the budget while we are also making spirited effort for a substantial amount of money to be provided for the commencement of work on Osara Dam.

free for all among the two contending camps, but the day was saved by the secu-rity agents.

Some of the former Vice President loyalists sighted by National Mirror during the melee were John Elias and Lawan Gitonan who were denied entry to the venue over accusations that both men were allegedly hobnobbing with the newly registered Peoples Demo-cratic Movement, PDM, linked to Abubakar.

sults were falsified. People won elections and their certificates of return were denied even after the results were announced.

Meanwhile commotion and uproar also greeted the solidarity visit by some PDP stalwart to the Adamawa State secretariat of the par-ty when some PDP faithful tried to deny some alleged loyalist of the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar entry into the secretariat.

The situation led to a

the members of the group drawn from all the 21 local government areas of the state publicly declared their allegiance, support and loy-alty to the PDP.

Among staunch Nyako loyalists and PDP faithful who joined in the Saturday solidarity visit were: Chief Felix Tangwami, Nyakos Campaign Director general in the last election; Kwamoti Laori, the deputy speaker of the Adamawa State House of Assembly, Crowther Seth, a former commissioner, La-wan Getona, Salihu Girei, Inna Bassey, and Solomon Obadiah.

Others were all former local government chairmen who served under the Nya-ko administration, former state legislators, retired permanent secretaries and technocrats who served in the Nyako administration.

Governor Nyako who has been embroiled in a game of wits to control the

APC, now has to contend with his plummeting politi-cal base, seriously under-cut by his loyalists who are daily leaving him to pitch their political tent with the PDP since his move to the opposition APC.

While pledging their loy-alty to the Bamanga Tukur-led leadership of the PDP, Kashim chided Nyakos leadership of the PDP for non-adherence to the tenets of internal democracy, un-til the coming on board of

urging them to abandon fac-tions and empower the party.

Stressing that the foxes in the opposition parties wanted to capitalise on the attempts being made by some party members to fac-tionalise the party to come back to power through the back door, Ajimobi told APC faithful that it was only a united party that could sus-tain the APC in power.

His words: I am not gov-ernor of a faction of the par-ty but governor of all. When you are united, you can pose a formidable threat against the opposition. The change that our party has brought to Oyo State and governance in general is not enough; we need the unity of our party members to forge ahead. That is why we need to rec-oncile aggrieved members so that our party can be the

formidable party it has al-ways been.

Reminding the people that the former governor of the state, late Alhaji Lam Adesina, in his life time, de-sired that the party would unite to confront the oppo-sition, the governor urged all members of the party to honour the memory of the late leader of the party by coming together.

Be united so that we can continue to be in power as progressives. In-fighting among us can retard prog-ress. Great Alhaji Lam Adesina, when we were all scrambling for nomination of the ACN, always told me not to mind the scram-blers; that I was his choice. So who can be more of a Lamist than me? Why then would anyone who claims to be a supporter of Alhaji

Lam not support his son whom he fought tooth and nail to ensure that he is in office? he asked.

Earlier, the governor had commended the Caretaker Chairman of Ibadan North council, Mr. Idris Lapade, for his empowerment pro-gramme through the train-ing of about 2,000 jobless people, stating that it was the kernel of his adminis-tration to train people in the acquisition of skills.

Ajimobi said: Oyo State boasts of a great number of people who are artisans and engage in skilled jobs. Rather than give them fish on a daily basis, thereby making them continually subservient and dependent on tokens, once you give them the net with which to fish, you have provided the people a life line.

Nyakos loyalists shift allegiance to PDP

PoliticsNational Mirror

www.nationalmirroronline.net 13Monday, December 16, 2013

Im happy I left PDP before now Ladoja

14

THERE ARE MORE BAD PEOPLE IN THE PARTY THAN GOOD PEOPLE. TUKUR IS A GOOD MAN BUT THERE ARE MANY

BAD PEOPLE AROUND HIM. IT WAS MY IMPEACHMENT AS OYO

STATE GOVERNOR AND THAT OF AYODELE FAYOSE IN EKITI THAT DESTROYED PDP IN THE

SOUTH-WEST

Im happy I left PDP before now Ladoja

him? So, people may opt out but time will answer all these technical questions.

In 1999, Alliance for Democracy and All Peoples Party formed alliance to fight PDP in the general elections but they lost. I call it a gang-up and not necessarily a coali-tion of like minds. Any alliance that is not holy will fail. The only reason they are coming together now is to win election. What we should also consider is that if I voted for ACN in the last election, I may not vote for APC in the next election even though they are presumed the same. If ACN got 30 per cent in 2011 and ANPP got 30 per cent too, it is not a straight mathematics that the two parties will get 60 per cent when they form alliance. Politicians take people for granted in Nigeria because they dont respect their conscience.

Look at what is happening in the party already in the South-West. The kind of government we have in Oyo State is different from what they have in Ogun, Lagos and Ekiti states. The only thing that binds them together is the name of the party and the fact that they have common masters. If not so, we will not have wide range gap in the prices of contracts executed by the state governments under the same party. Why are they not doing things in uniformity? The other question to ask is: Can Tinubu and Buhari work together? Let us pray that the people will have the benefit of governance in those states.

Identifying the gatekeepers in any community is a key to peaceful control of the people. With Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State appointing children of prominent persons and monarchs as commissioners and special

You will be 70 in 2014. Dont you think you should have retired and engage yourself more in traditional duties as a High Chief of Ibadan land?

As long as Nigeria still has many problems to solve, I will not be tired of looking for ways of helping the nation. God has given me the strength to serve His people and I will not stop doing so. Age offers experience useful in help-ing others. I am 69 years and I think I am wiser than how I was last year. I am also a traditional leader and king-in-waiting in Ibadan land but I have no problem combining traditional duties with politicking. I consider political role a bigger call than being the Olubadan, which I might not achieve because only God knows how long a man will live.

You were a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. Why didnt you stay in the party to fight the forces that were against you instead of joining Accord Party?

In some cases, it is futile to try to fight evil forces when you have other choices. Some of the people in politics look after themselves and look after what they will get from the political parties they belong to. PDP has been in gov-ernment since 1999 so they knew where they were going. I do not believe in the politics of deceit because I am a realist. When the party does something wrong, people will say that it is all about politics. But that is not a good assessment.

We tried as much as possible to stay in the party. I at-tended the Alex Ekwueme Commission in 2007 and many commissions set up by the party to reconcile members. I was invited to Abuja many times also, but the party did not ratify any of the communiqus reached. I cannot wait to be rubbished by people who came after we formed the party, so I decided to put my popularity to the test.

After the election in 2007, elders of the party came back to me and tried to talk me into returning to the party. I was open to discussion but the problem was that some people wanted to use me to achieve their own objectives and not to help the masses. There were congresses held but some-one paid N30 million to ensure that the results of the con-gresses were changed. So when Bamanga Tukur came in as the chairman, he met doctored reports and could not help solve many problems, including the one we had in Oyo State. I was then convinced that there are more bad people in the party than good people. Tukur is a good man but there are many bad people around him. It was my im-peachment as Oyo State governor and that of Ayodele Fay-ose in Ekiti that destroyed PDP in the South-West.

Governor Rotimi Amaechi is no longer governing Riv-ers State because what he is doing now is to fight for politi-cal survival. His own party has waged war against him. I am happy that I left the party before now.

With the spate of defection rocking the PDP, coupled with the internal wrangling in the ruling party, do you see the All Progressives Congress, APC, of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Muhammadu Buhari, with many other prominent lead-ers, as capable of saving Nigeria from her multi-various poblems?

Only time will tell if they are capable. The APC is equivalent to the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria in the South-West. In Borno and Yobe, APC to the people there is equivalent to the defunct All Nigeria People Party. In Nasarawa, it is equivalent to the defunct Congress for Progressive Change. Rochas Okorocha could not bring All Progressives Grand Alliance into the amalgamation and that is where the problem is. Will the leaders of the par-ties be able to convince their people to move? If a leader is joining another party, will all his followers move with

Former governor of Oyo State and national leader of the Accord Party, Rashidi Ladoja still dreams of returning to the saddle in Oyo State in 2015. In this interview, he bares his mind on the alliance between Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu, why he wants to govern Oyo State again, and the crises in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, among other national issues, saying that he was happy to have left the ruling party when he did. Excerpts:

advisers, dont you think this is a magic wand to winning the 2015 elections in a landslide manner?

Everyone has a vote, no matter which section of the society they belong to. Accord is not a party of elite, but for everybody. If Ajimobi decides to run the government of the elite for the elite and by the elite, so be it. The elite do not need government so that their children can attend public schools. They send their children abroad anyway. But that is not the target of our own party. Our target is the people, who need government to survive, including the rich, who have something to contribute.

We are not sure if the monarchs and other prominent people were contacted before offering their children those positions in Ajimobis government. Moreover, those chil-dren are adults and they could be party members. If they are able to deliver, I will be happy. But that will not affect the chances of another party to win the next election. The monarchs do not belong to any political party and Aare Arisekola Alao does not belong to a political party also be-cause he is a respected religious leader.

You want your party, Accord, to win the next election in Oyo State. Does your party wish to realise that alone or there is plan to form alliance with another party soon or later?

We are winning not only in Oyo but in many other states also. We are not forming an alliance with any other party at least for now. We are not in talk with anyone. What we are doing right now is to assemble people of like minds to form a formidable party in the South-West and Nigeria as a whole.

How do you feel about the government of your cousin, Ajimobi, in Oyo State?

I do not like commenting on how a governor is running a state; rather, my role is to be objective and help any admin-istration deliver good governance to the people. Ajimobi is my cousin and he is working to the best of his ability. My criticism does not matter but that of the electorate. People whose stalls were demolished will be in a better position to judge the governor. Those who have children in the public schools can tell how good or bad they are. He has executed some policies but those who are directly affected will have a clearer view of Ajimobis government. But in our own camp, we are concerned with how we can assist the people to live quality life and enjoy good governance.

Are you still contesting the governorship in 2015 on the platform of Accord or planning to support a younger candidate?

We have taken a decision in our party that everyone should keep his or her position until sometime in 2014. It will be wrong to violate that decision. When the time comes, the party will blow the whistle and those who want to contest would be asked to come out. But if the party de-cides that I should come forward and contest a position, I will have to decide on what I want for myself. But as a member of the party, it will be hard to go against the deci-sion of our people.

You were governor in Oyo State between 2003 and 2007 in spite of the hiccups of the impeachment on you. What were your achievements during your tenure?

Any good education policy will have direct impact on the people in the short and long term. We tried our best to tackle education and were rewarded. The state was rated second in Nigeria and Ladoke Akintola University of Technology was rated the best state university in Ni-geria in 2004/2005. We succeeded in all the priorities we set at the time and that is what is expected of Accord. So, that area of education is just one of the sectors where we impacted very positively on the lives of Oyo State people.

Culled from freedomonline.com.ng

Ladoja

Politics National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.netMonday, December 16, 201314

WE MUST BEGIN A RE-EVALUATION OF

THE DIMENSIONS OF THE NIGERIAN

NATIONAL CULTURE THAT ARE SEEN AS

CONDONING NEPOTISM AND CELEBRATING

CORRUPTION

A FUJI MUSICIAN CAN CONVENIENTLY

ADAPT HIP HOP, BUT WHICH HIP HOP ARTISTE CAN SING

FUJI IN ITS RAW FORM?

Sikiru Ayinde Barrister: Three years

korewarith@yahoo.com, 08090585723 (SMS only)

ABDUL-WAREES SOLANKE

A

Mirror of the moment

Refl ection on our leadership recruitment process National Mirrorwww.nationalmirroronline.net 15Monday December 16, 2013 Views

Send your views by mail or sms to PMB 10001, Ikoyi, or our Email: mail@nationalmirroronline.net mirrorlagos@yahoo.com or 08164966858 (SMS only). The Editor reserves the right to edit and reject views or photographs. Pseudonyms may be used but must be clearly marked as such.

The incumbent president of the Ni-gerian Guild of Editors, Femi Ad-esina and one of the best activist legal practitioners in Nigeria, Mr Femi Falana, were special guests at a special lecture of the 2012 Annual Week of the Lagos Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). Fascinated by the theme of that lecture, which centred on leadership challenges in Nigeria, I found time to attend the event. It was a stimu-lating session. The lead speaker, Femi Falana, practically dissected the political economy of Nigeria, blaming her woes on the quality of leadership in the coun-try.

But I remembered posing a question to Mr. Falana on the best leadership recruit-ment process in Nigeria. His answer to that question placed a huge responsibility on the press to help in identifying the lead-ers that would serve the nations interest. I have also read some of the reports of pro-ceedings of seminars organized by the Af-rica Leadership Forum, a baby of our for-mer president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

From the presentations at such gatherings and readings on public management in sub-Saharan Africa, I came to appreciate the enormity of leadership crisis, particularly in Nigeria.

Often, the greatest attention is paid to the failure of the political class in most discussions on leadership challenges in Af-rica as if the wiping out of the present gen-eration of politicians would automatically translate to the emergence of quality lead-ership on the continent. Good leadership in my estimation emerges not in isolation of the cultural environment of any nation. This is why we must begin a re-evaluation of the dimensions of the Nigerian national culture that are seen as condoning nepo-tism and celebrating corruption. After all, it is within the cultural environment that people are educated or given leadership ori-entation.

We are again confronted with a set of di-lemmas of the quality and content of edu-cation in the country. Who designs our edu-cational curricula? What is the relevance of the curricula to our developmental needs? What is the motivation for education and what are the incentives for education? These questions lead to another set of ques-tions on the application or demonstration of acquired learning. In a nation where even the best of education does not find space for demonstration or application, two things are likely to happen. The first is the deployment of such education to negative pursuits and purposes, while the second is the marketing of the education to other societies with better appreciation. These scenarios are illustrated in the number of brilliant Africans engaging in criminality at home or in other continents, and of those swept away by the tide of brain drain lash-ing at the continent ferociously.

This is not the last. The economic chal-lenges of the day and the inability of the many African countries to think through a home-grown solution to many of these chal-lenges lead them to the adoption of donor reform templates. The public sector work-ers are the worst hit. Apart from poor pay, many are stagnated and if unlucky, face job cuts veiled as right-sizing. This could lead to festering of corruption in the public sec-tor. Worse still, the socio-cultural and po-litical environment impose a heavy stress on the leadership recruitment process ei-ther through stage-managed elections or the jaundiced selection processes that have

come to be associated with the choice of oc-cupants for public offices.

While I agree with Mr. Falana that the media have a pivotal role to play in inves-tigating the backgrounds of those who of-fered themselves or are offered for public offices, we must also be conscious that such media mediation or interrogation is just a flower trimming or window-dressing exercise in a polity in which the mass me-dia, as the fourth estate of the Realm, ar