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SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013 — PAGE 5

SOLUTION

Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun (right); OgunState ACN Chairman and father of the groom, Alhaji TajudeenBello (left); his wife, Alhaja Surajat Titilayo Bello (2nd left); thegroom, Mr Taofeek Bello; and bride, Miss Sekinat Bello; dur-ing the Nikai ceremony in Lagos on Saturday

THREE weeks after itcalled-off what it de-

scribed as planned attacks onmosques and related institu-tions over the bombings andkilling of southerners in theNorth by Boko Haram insur-gents, the Movement forEmancipation of the Niger-Delta, MEND, claimed itstruck in the early hours ofyesterday in the Federal Cap-ital Territory, FCT, Abuja.

The militant group said itsecretly attached portable mil-itary limpet explosives on twoarticulated petrol tanker vehi-cles outside the NNPC depotin Abaji, Abuja, at about 5.00am and detonated the devic-es. Sunday Vanguard couldnot verify the claim at presstime while the Police and themedia manager of Pipelinesand Products Marketing Com-pany (PPMC), a subsidy ofthe NNPC, Nasir Imodagbe,denied the bombing claim.

MEND, in an electronic mailstatement by its spokesperson,Jomo Gbomo, stated that itsfield operatives carried out the

purported Abuja explosion ontwo oil tankers, demanding,among other things, the re-lease of its leader, HenryOkah, and his brother,Charles, both of whom, theyalleged, were set up as scape-goats by the Federal Govern-ment on the October 1, 2010bombings in Abuja.

According to the group,“Hurricane Exodus’ resumedat about 00:05hrs on Saturday,June 15, 2013, when field op-eratives from the Movementfor the Emancipation of theNiger Delta (M.E.N.D)stealthily attached portablemilitary limpet explosivesmagnetically to two (2) articu-lated tanker vehicles ladenwith petrol in a queue outsidethe NNPC depot in Abaji, theFederal Capital Territory, Abu-ja.”

MEND continued: “The de-vices were timed to detonatesimultaneously several sec-onds later. The outcome waspredictable..

“This segment of Exoduscodenamed, ‘Operation Touchand Go’, is targeted at the softunderbelly (downstream sec-tor) of the oil industry in Ni-geria.

“From today (yesterday),every tanker vehicle we finddistributing petroleum prod-ucts, including propane gas,has become a legitimate tar-get in our war against injus-tice, corruption, despotismand oppression.

“Drivers of tanker vehiclescontinue to drive them at theirown risk.”

WarningThe militant group warned,

“The public is hereby advisedto maintain a safe distancefrom such vehicles as they canexplode anytime and any-where. Harassment on thesetanker vehicles would be sus-tained until the following de-mands are met:

Henry Okah, his brother,Charles, and other innocentpersons set up as scapegoatsand held over the October 01,2010 twin car bombings inAbuja be released uncondi-tionally.

That an unreserved apolo-gy be tendered by the Nigeri-an government to MEND forpresenting a forged email let-ter threatening the South Af-rican government purported tohave originated from us andused as evidence in the shamtrial and conviction of HenryOkah.”The Police Commissioner ofFederal Capital Territory, Mr.Femi Ogunbayode, yesterdaydismised claims by the MENDthat it bombed two fuel tankersat Abaji in the Federal Capital.According to him policeofficrrs were detail to Absji snfthey did not ser any suchscene. His words, when theissue was brought to ournotice, I sent my officers whocombed everywhere in Ababji.They did not see any explotionat any facility nor burnttankers. Abaji residents whoalso spoke to our reporterssaid there was nothibg of suchin the area. Sent from Yahoo!Mail on Android

We exploded two fueltankers in FCT—MEND

CONTROVERSY OVER ALLEGED BOMBING IN ABUJA

*It didn’t happen — NNPC, POLICEBY EMMA AMAIZE EMMA

UJAH & NOEL ONOJA

Alhaji Ado Bayero, the emir ofKano, says he has no cause

to harbour grudges againstanyone.“I have forgiven all,” themonarch declared yesterday at adurbar to mark the golden jubileeof his ascension to the throne.Hewas turbanned as the 13th emir ofKano at the age of 33 while serv-ing as the Nigerian ambassadorto Senegal.Bayero escape deathlast year when his convoy was at-tacked by gunmen in the ancientcity. Thousands of horses took part

in the special durbar to mark theemir’s golden jubilee. The colour-ful ceremony, conducted amidsttight security, saw major roadsleading to Bayero’s palace cor-doned off by security while onlyaccredited personalities were al-lowed into the arena.Bayero, 83,entered the arena to flag-off thedurbar amidst chants of AllahuAkbar (God is great). Addressingthe audience, Bayero declared thathe holds no grudges against anyone and has forgiven all those whomust have offended him one wayor the other.

The octogenarian monarchstressed: “Today marks a specialday in my life for attaining uniqueyears of 50 on the throne. It is in-deed a day of great happiness forme. I want to use this unique op-portunity to seek for forgivenessfrom all and sundry whom I mayhave offended directly or indirect-ly. I have forgiven all”..

Bayero called on his subjects tobe God-fearing and abide by reli-gious injunctions in all their activ-ities. In an address delivered at theoccasion, President GoodluckJonathan tasked Nigerians, irre-spective of political or religiousinclination, to avoid acts capableof causing violence in the country.Jonathan, represented by Vice Pres-ident Namadi Sambo, noted thatthe call was necessary because itwas only in the atmosphere ofpeace and harmony that any soci-ety could achieve economicgrowth and development.

Jonathan stressed: ‘’Let me at thisjuncture enjoin each and every oneof us to promote peace and peace-ful co-existence and eschew anyact that can destroy peace and har-mony.

“We must also respect the rule oflaw in whichever situation we findourselves as it is the only platformfor achieving meaningful develop-ment”.

The president, who described theemir as “an embodiment of peaceand peaceful co-existence”, prayedGod to grant him good health toenable him serve his people.

In his remark, Kano State gov-ernor, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso,urged the people of the state tocontinue to pray for long life forBayero to enable them to continueto tap from his wealth of experi-ence. The ceremony was witnessedby General Muhammadu Buhari,General Abdulsami Abubakar,former Vice President AtikuAbubakar, Speaker of the Houseof Representatives, Hon. AminuWaziri Tambuwal, Sultan of Dam-agaram from Niger Republic, gov-ernors of Kaduna, Sokoto andBauchi States, among others.

Meanwhile, Ekiti State Gover-nor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has con-gratulated Bayero, on the 50th an-niversary of his ascension to thethrone. The governor, in a state-ment by his Chief Press Secretary,Mr. Olayinka Oyebode, describedthe emir as a bridge builder and acommitted figure to the unity ofthe Nigerian federation.

I have forgiven all– Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano

BY ABDUL SALAMMUHAMMED

Traffic chaos inPort-Harcourt… as Dame attends anti-Amaechi lawmakerswedding

WIFE of the president, DamePatience Jonathan, has as-

sured that she would continue topromote peaceful co-existenceamong the people of Rivers State.

Speaking yesterday in Port Har-court at the wedding reception ofa member of the state House ofAssembly, Hon Evans BapakayeBipialaka, Mrs Jonathan said thedivisive coinage of upland andRiverine people no longer existed.The visit by the Nigerian FirstLady caused traffic chaos in theRivers State capital. While com-mending the Minister of State forEducation, Mr Nyesom Wike, MrsJonathan noted that he made hercome to the state. She further com-mended the Minister for the rous-ing reception accorded her, add-ing that this was the first time shewas so honored. The groom, HonBipialaka, who is one of the fiveanti-Governor Chibuike Amaechilawmakers in the state House ofAssembly, was reportedly a formeraide to Mrs Jonathan.

Rivers State government wasrepresented at the occasion by thedeputy governor, Engr Tele Ikiru.

Meantime, the visit of DameJonathan caused heavy traffic inthe state capital as several roadsleading to the venue of the wed-ding reception and the church ser-vice were blocked by security op-eratives.

Motorists were stranded as mostof them residing around the areaof the events were forced to aban-don their vehicles and trekkedhome.

BY JIMITOTA ONOYUME& BRIGHT OGUNKILIDE

Gas leakagein BayelsaThe riverside Ogboinbiri

community in SouthernIjaw local government area ofBayelsa State was Friday throwninto panic following a gas leak-age from an oil facility owned bythe Nigerian Agip Oil CompanyNAOC. Ogboinbiri is host to anAgip flow station and the oil ma-jor operates several oil wells with-in the environ. Sunday Vanguardlearnt that the incident occurredat about midnight at a facilityidentified as Integrity Rig in whenthe natives had retired to bed.

Why North should wait until 2027, by OgbemudiaContinued from page 1

would have completed eight years,and the South-east taken its turnof eight years. He acknowledgedthat South-west set the precedentwhen former President OlusegunObasanjo, from the zone, did eightyears at Aso Rock PresidentialVilla. The Professor AngoAbdullahi-led Northern EldersForum (NEF) has been at the fore-front of the agitation for power toreturn to the North in 2015 on thegrounds that the region was short-changed when President Umaru

Musa Yar’Adua, who assumedoffice in 2007, died midway intohis tenure, and PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, his deputyfrom the South-south, succeededhim.Jonathan not only completedYar’Adua’s tenure as president butalso secured re-election in 2011.The bone of contention now iswhether he should proceed onsecond term in 2015 or powershould revert to the North.Governor Babangida Aliyu ofNiger State claimed there was agentleman’s agreement with the

North that Jonathan will serve oneterm only to enable the regionreturn to power in 2015. “TheSouth-west came in, in 1999 andserved for eight years. The South-south should also do eight years.And the truth is that the South-eastis also entitled to the presidencywhen the South-south must havefinished its eight years,”Ogbemudia contended.The former governor and leaderof the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) spoke in an interview withSunday Vanguard.Interview at pages 26 -27.

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Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, middle, flanked by Virgy Etiaba(right), former Deputy Governor of Anambra State and her son, EchezonaEtiaba (left), during the Governor's visit to her school, Bennett Etiaba Me-morial School, , where he presented a cheque of N1million to the school .

BY BOSE ADELAJA

Stampede on 3rd Mainland Bridge

THERE was panic,yesterday, in some

parts of Lagos State,following the claim that acommercial bus and aprivate car plunged intothe lagoon after beinginvolved in an accident.The news filtered in around8am, making somecommuters and motoriststo abandon the ThirdMainland Bridge whilethere was stampede on thebridge as those plying it atthe time of incidentscampered for safety.People made distress calls

to relatives, mediaorganisations, lawenforcement agencies andemergency bodies as thenews spread for hours untilthe intervention ofrelevant agencies restored

normalcy. Emergencyagencies like NationalEmergency ManagementAuthority, NEMA, state andfederal fire servicesmobilised to the bridgeonly to discover the storywas untrue.

Rights group seeks succour forBoko Haram victims

AN appeal has gone tothe Federal

Government to providesuccor to Nigerians whohave been forced to fleeabroad following theviolence unleashed on

them in the North by BokoHaram insurgents.

A human rights group,Human Rights Imitative,made the appeal throughits President, BarristerPhilip Emetulu, who saidNigerians, who were forcedto flee to other West Africancountries as well as Europeand America, are facingdifficult times in theirattempts to start a new life.Emetulu said the FederalGovernment should liaisewith other West Africancountries on bilateral andmultilateral basis to findsolution to the plight ofthese Nigerians.

He cited the ordeal of thefamily of ChukwunyemUwajeh from Delta Statewhich fled from Kano Statewhere they resided afterthey were attacked andalmost wiped out when theBaptist Church and hisproperty and residenceincluding his wife’s shopwere razed.

NDDC contractors abandon project

THE 23km Agbarhointernal roads project

in Ughelli North LocalGovernment Area of DeltaState, awarded by Niger-Delta DevelopmentCommission, NDDC, havebeen abandoned by thecontractors.

For close to four months,the contractors, it waslearnt, have been awayfrom site leaving behindone heavy duty equipment(roller machine) under thepretense that work is going

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

Edo ACN carpets PDP over Ize-Iyamu

THE Action Congressof Nigeria (ACN) in

Edo State, yesterday,carpeted the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)over its comment that theSouth Vice Chairman ofthe ACN, Pastor OsagieIze-Iyamu, who was theSecretary to the Edo StateGovernment during theadministration ofGovernor LuckyIgbinedion, misled thegovernment.

The party, in a statement

by its Publicity Secretary,Elder Dan Owegie, insistedthat Ize-Iyamu was rightwhen he declared thatgodfatherism destroyed thePDP in Edo during theIgbinedion administrationwhich eventually led to thepoor performance of thatadministration. Owegieadded that state chairmanof the PDP, Chief DanOrbih, and PublicitySecretary, MatthewUrhoghide, were notmembers of the PDP then,and, therefore, notqualified to counter Ize-Iyamu’s account on thatg o v e r n m e n t .

Crisis brews in Delta College

THE Mosogar EliteForum has advised

Delta State government tocall the Council of the stateCollege of PhysicalEducation, Mosogar toorder over alleged attemptto impose officers on thecollege now that thecollege has its indigenes atthe helm of affairs. “Whilewe are not against othersoccupying rankingpositions in the college, wedetest any state-managed

scheme to relegate ourindigenes.The Councilonce manipulated aMosogar indigene out ofcontention in the Bursar’sinterview. They are on thesame path”, the group said.

Monday Odaka,president of the group, andLucky Okorugbo,secretary, noted that thecommunity loves peacefulco-existence but wouldresist being shortchanged.

GE breaks ground for $250m manufacturing andassembly plant in CalabarFOLLOWING its

announcement lastyear that it intends to invest$1 billion in Nigeria,General Electric (GE) hasscheduled thegroundbreaking for its $250million manufacturing andassembly plant for Tuesdayin Calabar.

The ceremony will beperformed by Vice PresidentNamadi Sambo.

When completed in thenext three years, the facilitywill be the biggest in Africaand will have an additionaloperating expenditure ofabout $1 billion in the next

ten years.Besides, it intends to make

Calabar the hub of itsmanufacturing activities insub-Saharan Africa.

Expectedly, Calabar isagog with various activitiesjust as economists have beenlisting the impacts GE’sarrival will have on theeconomy of Cross RiverState in particular andNigeria as a whole.

Prof. Ndem Ayara, theEconomic Adviser to CrossRiver State Governor,Senator Liyel Imoke, said,“The biggest infrastructuregap we have is in the energy

sub-sector. The expectationis that they are coming toclose that gap betweenenergy that is available andthe energy we need. They aregoing to provide energy thatwill support other sectors ofthe economy.” Ayara saidapart from creatingemployment opportunitiesby stimulating investmentsin other sectors of theeconomy, thus creating amultiplier effect, Cross Riveras the host state will becomethe cashment area orprimary beneficiary ofdirect employment from GE.

“Cross River as the hub,

will have the advantage ofbeing the immediatemarket. Indigenes of thestate will benefit fromemployment, especially ifwhat GE seeks is skilledlabour.”

Speaking in a similar vein,the head of Cross RiverState Investment Bureau,Mr. Gerald Ada said “theinvestment by GE will addapproximately 2500 skilledjobs and several unskilledjobs in the supply anddistribution chain.

“There will be variousopportunities triggeredfrom this investment as GEsuppliers will follow suit.”

Tinubu’s mother, Abibatu Mogaji, is deadP R E S I D E N T -

G E N E R A L ,Association of NigerianMarket Women and Menand mother of formerGovernor Bola Tinubu ofLagos State, AlhajaAbibatu Mogaji, is dead.

She passed on, yesterdayevening, in her home inIkeja, Lagos. She was 96years. Family sources saidshe will be buried today atVaults and Garden, Ikoyi,Lagos at 11am.

The burial will bepreceded by prayers atLagos Central Mosque, at10.a.m.

Governors BabatundeFashola of Lagos State,Kayode Fayemi of EkitiState and Senator Ibikun-le Amosun of Ogun Statepaid glowing tributes to thedeceased, describing the

passage as a “great nation-al and personal loss.”

A former governor of Eki-ti State, Mr. Segun Oni,also commiserated withTinubu, praying God togive the family thefortitude to bear “theirreparable loss.”

In a condolencestatement signed by hisSpecial Adviser on Media,Mr. Hakeem Bello,Fashola said the mother ofhis predecessor in officeand the national leader ofthe Action Congress ofNigeria, Tinubu,“throughout her life time,was a forthright defenderof the people and theirright to economicempowerment” addingthat “this trait has beenimbibed by anyone, whohas had the opportunity or

privilege to fall within theambit of her influence”.

According to thegovernor, this peculiartrait is evident in thepersonality of Tinubu, “aleader with the love of thepeople at heart”.

He said Mogaji was afrontliner in thecommercial developmentof Lagos State,particularly Lagos Island,which was formerlydominated by theLebanese and Greekmerchants.

“She was one of thepioneer traders, whoventured into the capitalintensive and riskybusiness venture ofimportation of consumergoods, thereby breakingthe monopoly previouslyenjoyed by the foreign

tradesmen and herbusiness acumen attractedthe attention of Multi-National Enterprisesoperating in Nigeria then,who had no option but toregister her as a businesspartner and distributor oftheir consumer goods inNigeria, Fashola said.”

Describing the lateIyaloja-General as a greatmatriarch, the governorsaid she did not limit herbusiness and socialnetworking to the confinesof Lagos State alone, as shewas always seeking for thewelfare of market men andwomen as well as ways ofopening up more businessopportunities for them.

“This attribute of hersmust have informed theunanimous decision of all

commercial traders re-gardless of ethnic, reli-gious or political persua-sion to select her as the pi-oneer Iyaloja/President-General of Nigerian Mar-ket Men & Women. A posi-tion she has handled withutmost responsibility anddiligence”, he said.

Fashola said thedeceased would be sorelymissed, noting that hewould personally miss themotherly guidance andaffectionate of thedeported matriarch of theMogaji Family.

on.Residents in Agbarho

fear that the damagedroads turned into ditch insome streets may posedanger to children plyingthe roads to school duringthe raining season.

A community leader,Chief Samson Ogugu, saidhe did not know muchabout the road project butthe story was that theproject had beenabandoned.

SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013 JUNE 16, 2013 JUNE 16, 2013 JUNE 16, 2013 JUNE 16, 2013 — PAGE 7— PAGE 7— PAGE 7— PAGE 7— PAGE 7

Emmanuel O Ehimika (Preacherman), President, Fruits Integrated andPresident, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Pastor Ayo Oritsejaforafter a successful discussion about the Most Unifying Christian Experiencesince Pentecost – THE JESUS DREAM (TJD) 2013 holding June 30, 2013 allover the world.

Jang dares Amaechi,summons NGF meeting

THE Governor JonahJang-led faction of

the Nigeria GovernorsForum (NGF) appearsundeterred by the legalmoves against it as it hasscheduled a meeting fortomorrow in Abuja.

The meeting will dis-cuss issues surroundingthe Federation Accountand Excess Crude Ac-count, according to a let-ter of invitation by Jang,the governor of PlateauState.

A member of the NGFand governor of LagosState, Mr Babatunde RajiFashola, had draggedJang to court to compelhim from parading him-self as the NGF Chair-man.

The Governors Forumhad broken into two fac-tions one led by Jang andthe other by GovernorRotimi Amaechi of RiversState – after a controver-sial election which sawAmaechi emerging win-ner by 19-16 votes.

Fashola belongs to theAmaechi group.

Confirming the Jangfaction’s meeting to Sun-day Vanguard, yesterday,the sole administrator,Osaro Osaro-Onaiwu,

The meeting, describedas emergency, it waslearnt, would enable thegovernors loyal to Jangstrategize and come upwith a position that willbe presented to the Com-mittee headed by the Sec-retary to the Governmentof the Federation, SGF,Senator Anyim PiusAnyim.

Anyim’s Committeewas set up by PresidentGoodluck Jonathan to,among other things, sug-gest how to stem the cri-ses rocking the PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDPwhich culminated in thesuspension of Amaechiand his Sokoto Statecounterpart, Aliyu, fromthe party.

Fashola, who filed hissuit at the Federal Capi-tal Territory High Court,in his capacity as a mem-ber of the NGF, asked thecourt to declare that Jangwas not competent to becalled the elected chair-man of the Forum.

Apart from the Plateaugovernor, other defen-dants in the suit are theDirector-General of theNGF, Asishana Okauru;the sole administratorappointed by Jang,

Osaro Onaiwu; and theRegistered Trustees ofthe NGF vested with thepower to administer andmanage the trusts of theNGF.

In the writ of summonsfiled by a former LagosAttorney General, Prof.Yemi Osinbajo (SAN),and former President,West African Bar Asso-ciation, Mr Femi Falana(SAN), Fashola main-tained that 35 governorsparticipated in the elec-tion that returnedAmaechi as the NGFchairman.

Conciliatory moves

Attendance attomorrow’s meeting, ac-cording to analysts, lastnight, will signpost howwell the reconciliatorymoves which Jang toldjournalists on Friday hehad initiated have gone.

The Plateau governor,at a session with journal-ists, said he was doingeverything to bring everygovernor to his side.

Said he: “I never knewthat the NGF was of

much importance untilthe last controversyamong the governors. Inever knew I will be thechairman of the forum;the NGF forum is thesame thing obtainable inAmerica, we operate thesame system, and we allagreed that at thechairman’s expiration af-ter two years, the deputychairman takes over.

”Amaechi himself wasselected by Bukola Sarakiin Ilorin; it was a thingof consensus candidate,so Ameachi rising up tore-contest was not part ofthe agreement. At theelection they said 16 gov-ernors voted for me, butthe next day I held ameeting and 18 gover-nors were in attendance.

”The fact remains that,in NGF we go by con-sensus candidate and asthe ruling party the PDPpicked me as their can-didate and presented meto the NGF that I havebeen selected. Amaechiis a son to me, so whyshould we be en-shrouded in misunder-standing with him?”

PDP governors may defect to APC

BY HENRY UMORU

BY HENRY UMORU

STRONG indicationshave emerged that

some governors of thePeoples Democratic Party,PDP, plan to take over theyet-to-be registered All Pro-gressive Congress, APC.

The governors are said tobe planning to use the cri-ses rocking the PDP tomove to the APC, just asthe leadership of the coali-tion of opposition politicalparties was expecting 23governors as its members.

It was gathered that theplanned defection wouldbe actualised once the In-dependent National Elec-toral Commission, INEC,registers APC as a politicalparty ahead of the 2015elections, just as this wouldconstitute a new challengefor the APC against thebackdrop that a new powerbase in the new party willemerge.

A source at the APC, whospoke on the condition ofanonymity, however, ex-pressed the fear thatshould the plan scalethrough, the defecting gov-ernors would outnumberthe founding governors ofthe APC leading to theiroverbearing influence inthe running of the party’s

affairs. According to thesource, there was the like-lihood that the PDP gover-nors share same feelingsand that will in turn lead

them to think in the sameway which may be differ-ent from the feelings of theoriginal members of theAPC. “That is why we be-

Wahab Dosunmu’s body arrives, tobe buried today

BY BASHIRADEFAKA

EIGHT days after hisdeath in an Ameri-

can hospital, Dr. Abdul-Wahab OlasehindeDosunmu’s remains,which departed Americaabroad a Virgin AtlanticAirline’s plane at noon,yesterday, were expect-ed to arrive at the Mur-tala Muhammed Airport,Ikeja in the early hours

of today.Dosunmu, a Second

Republic Minister of Sci-ence and Technology,Minister of the Environ-ment and one-timeChairman, Board of Ni-gerian Institute of Inter-national Affairs (NIIA),would lie-in-state at EkoClub, Surulere, theDosunmu family com-pound on 21 OshodiStreet Epetedo Area ofLagos Island and the

Yoruba Tennis Club, On-ikan before being takento his Ado town, Ajahresidence where he wasexpected to be committedto mother earth at 4 pmtoday.

Governor of LagosState, Mr. BabatundeRaji Fashola, SAN;former Inspector Gener-al of Police, Mr MusiliuSmith, and former Min-ister of Communications,Major-General TajudeenOlanrewaju, are amongeminent Nigerians ex-pected to grace the buri-al.

Scrapping govt agencies will worsenunemployment — Owie

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, BeninCity

FORMER Senate Chiefwhip, Senator Rowland

Owie, yesterday, appealedto President GoodluckJonathan not to scrap gov-ernments agencies as re-portedly proposed, warningthat the action could deep-en unemployment in thecountry.

While commending thepresident for the effort toresuscitate the AjaokutaSteel Company, Owiewarned Jonathan to be waryof those who may be work-ing for the opposition in-side his government, pos-iting that it would be eviland anti-people if peoplearound the president aresuggesting policies thatwould further impoverishthe masses of the country,which, according to him,will be an advantage for theopposition.

“ I wish to appeal to ourson and brother, PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, not tolisten to those agents ofdoom that are pushing forthe scrapping of over 200government organizationsby his government. The ar-gument of these agents ofIMF and World Bank is thatyou must scrap these orga-nizations to free resourcesfrom recurrent expenditurein favour of capital expen-diture. What an evil argu-ment?

“A Bini parable says ̀ It isthe balance of feeding mon-ey that is used to build ahouse’. The first priority ofgood government all overis the welfare of the indi-vidual human being, creat-ed in the image and like-ness of God. The develop-ment of infrastructurecomes after food has beenput on the table of Nigeri-ans. As at today, hundredsof Nigerians that were staffof NITEL, Nigeria Airways,Aladja Steel, Itakpe, Alu-

minium Smelting, OkoIbokun and Iwopin PaperMills, Bacita Sugar Indus-try, Ajaokuta Steel, etc tomention a few, have beendying daily because of thebad policies of former Pres-ident Obasanjo.

“Your government of com-passion can’t afford to takeNigerians through the sameroad. The same agents of for-eign institutions that gaveSAP poison to a benevolentgovernment of IBB arearound. Pushing also for atotal deregulation of the pe-troleum industry, Mr Presi-dent must resist them. Don’tbe lured to scrap the blueprint of the yet to be bornAPC.

“Supporting budget defi-cit and these fifth columnistsaround you are asking forscrapping of organs withover 300,000 Nigerianworkers. I wish to congrat-ulate you for reclaimingAjaokuta Steel Company forNigeria and see what youcan do to revive the place”.

lieve that great care mustbe taken in accepting thePDP governors whose mis-sion is yet to be clearly de-fined.,’ he added.

NURTW wadesinto Ondochapter’s crisis

BY DAYO JOHNSONAkure

THE National Secretariat of the National

Union of Road TransportWorkers (NURTW) haswaded into the crisis in theOndo State chapter sayingthe tenure of the current ex-ecutive will expire in 2015and not this year.

A faction of the union inthe state had accused theexecutive, led by ChiefObayoriade Oladutele, ofrefusing to step down de-spite the expiration of theirtenure in April 19 this year.

Ir in a statement by May-owa Olofinniyi, secretary ofthe Peace Movement inAkure, written to the na-tional secretariat of theunion to dissolve the exec-utive and Governor Oluse-gun Mimiko to intervene toavoid blood letting.

But General Secretary ofthe Union Comrade, Clem-ent Wetkur, who spoke withnewsmen in Akure, dis-owned the peace move-ment faction and said thetenure of the executive willexpire in 2015.

,

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PAGE 8—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

The sin of presumption

ASSUMPTION isthe basis for every presumption.

It is taking a positionbased on information thatis not altogether backedby facts. We assume thatA is B because its beenproven in the past or it isan idea supported bypersonal taste or reli-gious or cultural bias.Assumption presupposesthat a stand is taken af-ter which actions and re-actions begin. Our in-stincts are responsible fora lot of the things we as-sume. Most people tendto lean towards the fa-miliar. They think its re-liable and its safe. We'vebeen taught about goodand evil and our moralcompass causes us tomake a lot of assump-tions. It comes as no sur-prise to find peopleheartbroken and shellshocked when kindnessbegets wickedness andpeople repay our goodwith evil. At one point orthe other all of us areguilty of the crime or sin

of presumption; motivat-ed by goodwill or evensentiments we get on thewrong side of God andthe law. The consequenc-es are no less dire thanany other crime or sinand from a religious per-spective, I have conclud-ed that while God is allgood, not all (seeming-ly) good is Godly.

This same month 18years ago, my mother losther battle with cancerand I will never forget theworld of regret I saw inher eyes as she mourn-fully but quietly warnedme about presumptuoussins! She said she haddone good but was paidback with wickednessand death. I proddedand begged her to tellme more but she said Ididn't have the maturityor even sense to be told!"I am already dead; if Itell you and you getkilled as well, I wouldhave died twice". I wasinconsolable when shepassed and looking backshe was right; I would

have gone barging intodanger to make anyonepay if I thought they wereculpable in her death. Ididn't have the sense orconviction to recognisethat revenge in itself ispresumptuous. I had al-ways assumed her bigheart and open arms puther in that position. Inthat regard I am nothinglike her, I don't open myhome to everyone and Iguard my privacy jeal-ously. I have lost countof the house helps thatshe adopted and trained;I still get calls from allover from these siblings.She just really loved peo-ple and her presumptionwas that they all lovedher.

It turns out that beinga hermit of sorts is nosafeguard from evil, noone is immune from it.My natural instinct is tohelp people in troubleespecially if I care forthem. I have found thatmy heart is just as largeas my mother's and I willjump to the defence of

loved ones and even an-yone getting a raw deal.I have always believed itis the human calling tobe of help to one anoth-er. If you asked me lastweek, I would tell youthat love is my expres-sion and kindness mylanguage. This week Iwould amend that to loveis my expression but wis-dom my guide. Being aChristian, I assumed do-ing good works gets onea free pass but that'smissing the wisdom part.

In everyday life, evenwhen you take religionout of it, any act donewithout full access tofacts devoid of senti-ments can actually makeone culpable for a crimeor a grievous sin. Imag-ine lending a stranger aknife who then sticks itinto someone's heart orworse still yours!

The moral and spiritu-al conundrum I am

prayerfully navigating ishow to balance goodnesswith Godliness. Walkingthe narrow road to one'ssalvation is not withoutits challenges. The truthis never fully exposedand I have found thatpeople will take advan-tage of love and kind-ness again and again. Afew years back, I had giv-en a sizeable amount ofjewellery to a friend whohad been robbed. Sheclaimed she had lost eve-rything and since I didn't

really wear that much Ihad shared mine withher. My opinion of herchanged when I startedseeing the pieces sheclaimed robbers tookyears later. I felt I hadbeen taken advantage of.I felt so foolish. Years lat-er I find myself in a sim-ilar position and thistime the stakes are a lothigher. I can't say I havenot been warned but loy-

alty, no matter how mis-guided, is an attribute ofmine and I am remindedof my mother. Dead at 48,full of regrets and suffer-ing from the wickednessthat was the dividend ofpresumptuous kindness.

It's been a difficultweek, I miss my momstill. Time has not healedthis wound but I soakmyself in prayer. Mostlyasking for forgivenessand mercy. By my ownwords and confession Iam guilty of presumptu-ous sins. Being a newcreature should havemeant I asked God forwisdom and direction inany and everything. Justlike a little child who in-sists on petting everydog, I have been bittenseverally but only be-cause I kept God in a boxand still did things by myown leading; same mis-take that caused kingSaul in the Bible histhrone. I want to be bet-ter, to do better, to livebetter and submit all tothe Most High. I am Hisvehicle, so I let Jesus takethe wheel. I end with aprayer that has soberedme up this past week. Ithas new meaning now; Ifinally get it. Psalm 19:13

Keep back your serv-ant also from presumptu-ous sins; let them nothave dominion over me!

Then I shall be blame-less, and innocent ofgreat transgression.

Walking the narrow road toone's salvation is not withoutits challenges. The truth isnever fully exposed and Ihave found that people willtake advantage of love andkindness again and again

Tinubu, Adeyemi and the Dubai drama

Ordinarily it was awedding ceremony,

but it was also a gather-ing of the Nigerian polit-ical heavyweights in faraway Dubai, United ArabEmirates (UAE).Ambassador Azeez Musawas giving the hand of hisdaughter, Faisat, out inmarriage to the son of oilmogul, Chief JideOmokore, Tosin.No fewer than 20 senatorsstormed the ceremonyheld at A.W. Marriot Ho-tel, Dubai to underscorethe high profile of the cou-ple’s parents. The creamof Lagos was led to theoccasion by former gover-nor, Ashiwaju AhmedBola Tinubu, the Oba ofLagos, Rilwanu Akiolu,and some red cap chiefs.A former FCT minister,Mallam Nasir el-Rufai,and erstwhile Lagos Statecommissioner for infor-mation, Mr Dele Alake,were also in attendance.Governors present in-clude Chief Godswill Ak-pabio of Akwa Ibom Stateand his wife, as well asCaptain Idris Wada(Kogi). Also, there were aformer military governorof Oyo State, GeneralDavid Jemibewon; aformer Chairman of thePeoples Democratic Party

(PDP), Senator AhmaduAli; a former governor ofKogi State, Alhaji IbrahimIdris; and Minister ofTrade and Investment, Dr.Segun Aganga.There were about 15 bankmanaging directors andtheir chairmen; chairmenof companies; top civilservants, including per-

broadcaster, reeled outthe long list of the highand the mighty in attend-ance.He started by recognizingTinubu as the landlord ofOmokore in Lagos. Ac-cording to him, the formerLagos governor and na-tional leader of the A C Nhad shown himself as a

democratic elements?’The hall went into deepsilence. Many of the dig-nitaries who had app-landed as Adeyemireeled out Tinubu’s cre-dentials must have beenshocked at the twist.But the Kogi senator wenton, “Tinubu should beseen as leading thechange towards democra-tization of the countryrather than promotingthose who have truncat-ed democratic growth ofthe nation in the past”.This statement was in ap-parent reference to Tinu-bu’s A C N’s romancewith Major General Mu-hammadu Buhari’s CPCto form the mega party,APC.Adeyemi said that sinceTinubu should be seen asthe Ashiwaju of the Yoru-ba race, he is inherentlya democrat because Yoru-bas are democrats. Headded, however, “As ademocrat, you cannot beseen to be aligned with adictator.“I admire Senator BolaAhmed Tinubu. He is thelandlord of the groom’sfather in Lagos. A goodlandlord he is and he hashonoured his tenant heretoday. I looked at his ac-complishments in politicsand his political anteced-

ents and I say that thisman should not just be theAshiwaju of Lagos butthe Ashiwaju of the entireKaaro oojiire(the Yorubarace).“Senator Tinubu sir, I amhowever shocked thatsomeone of your pedigreewill be devoting his polit-ical acumen for the serv-ice of a non-democrat.Someone who truncateddemocracy in the past….

I want to assure you Ashiwaju that there is a

president in Nigeria,Goodluck Jonathan, whohas fought more battlesthan any other Nigerianleader in the name of ter-rorism.“In 2012, the budget forsecurity is N900 billion,that money is enough todualise all major roads inNigeria; it is enough toequip our universities. Ifthat money had enteredsome African countries, itwould cripple the econo-my but it was committedto security because of ter-rorism.“Goodluck Jonathan canbe likened to a pilot, whotook off and suddenly en-tered into turbulence.With patience and perse-verance, he weathered thestorm. Today, he hasreached the cruising lev-

el and he is cruising to-wards 2015. I believe youshould be with this presi-dent as a democrat andnot with a dictator.The hall momentarilywent into pin-drop si-lence; then erupted in ahuge applause for theKogi senator.The senator moved a mo-tion and put the questionas it is done in the Sen-ate. He put the questionsaying “those in favour ofthe solemnization of Tosinand Faisal here today say‘aye’…… the ayes haveit.”It was not the first timeAdeyemi was lashing outat those he blamed fortruncating Nigeria’s de-mocracy in the past.During a debate on theremunerations for pastpresidents and heads ofstate, he rose on the Sen-ate floor to announce thatNigeria should place aban on anyone who hadtruncated democracy inthe past. He insisted thatanyone who had beenseen to act negativelyagainst the growth of Ni-gerian democracy in thepast should not be al-lowed as partakers in thecurrent politics addingthat punishment for suchpersons should be lifeban from partisan politics.

By Lekan Bilesanmi

manent secretaries, am-bassadors, members of thediplomatic community,and players in the oil andgas industry at the occa-sion.Overall, no fewer than1,000 top Nigerians werepresent at the wedding.A drama played out as thewedding got underway. Itall started when theChairman of the SenateCommittee on the Feder-al Capital Territory (FCT),Senator Smart Adeyemi,mounted the dais to wel-come the dignitaries onbehalf of the groom’s fam-ily. The senator, a former

good landlord and thathe was proud of his polit-ical prowess. He statedthat looking at Tinubu’sattainments, he shouldnot be seen as the Ashi-waju of Lagos but theAshiwaju Kaaro o ojiire(Yorubaland). Tinubumust have been elatedseeing a key oppositionpolitician eulogising himto high heavens.But after reeling out theACN’s leaders accom-plishments, the senatorput the question, ‘Whywould Tinubu be deploy-ing his democratic cre-dentials in service of un-

,

,It was not the first time Adeye-mi was lashing out at those heblamed for truncating Niger-ia’s democracy in the past

Dear Sir,

All letters bearing writers' names and full addresses should be typed and forwarded to: TheEditor, Sunday Vanguard, Kirikiri Canal, P. M. B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E-mail:sunvanguardmail@yahoo.com

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 9

Why talent is not enough

ONE of the ways to succeed inlife is to be talented. If youare talented, it will open doors

of opportunities before you, therebymaking you succeed faster. But you willagree with me that to succeed in life,you need more than talent. If talent isall you need, then why have all thetalented people not succeeded? Wehave talented and educated derelictswho have not been able to use theirtalent and education to better their lot.We have so many talented peopleroaming the streets and who have notbeen able to achieve anything forthemselves.

Can a talented person who is notpassionate about his talent achieveanything with such talent? Have youever seen a lazy talented personsucceed just because he is talentedwithout working hard to accomplishsuch talent? Success is achieved notmerely through talent but through adint of hardwork. If you've got talentwithout hardwork then you've gotnothing. If you've got talent withoutan optimistic mindset andperseverance, then you've got nothing.The fact is that you need a combinationof all these to succeed in life and notjust talent.

Then comes the big one: courage!With courage you can do anything toaccomplish your dreams. With courageyou will achieve success faster thanyou can ever imagine. A courageousman can move a mountain with hiscourage! It is not for the feeble-mindedbut for those who have the heart todare and to dream big. All great menyou hear their names today have at one

time exhibited acts of courage thathelped them accomplish their dreams.

Born on July 18,1918, NelsonMandela grew up to behold thesegregationist Apartheid regime inSouth Africa where the white rulersheld sway against the blacks who werenot only perpetually politicallyoppressed but were also haunted,brutalized and relegated into secondclass-citizens in their own country. Thepolitical landscape in South Africa wastense for decades and it seemed as ifnobody could successfully challengethese white oppressive rulers to theirgame until the advent of various BlackActivist Movements one of which wasspearheaded by Nelson Mandela.Having lost his father at a tender ageof 9, he was entrusted unto a distant

relative who ensured he got the rightleadership training which heharnessed in later years. He was socourageous and fearless in everythinghe did because he knew from the onsetthat talent alone could not see himthrough. He fought the South Africangovernment to a standstill and in 1963,he was arrested alongside otheractivists and charged for treason.Despite having been tried and initiallyjailed for five years, he was laterretried and sentenced to lifeimprisonment.

While in prison he did not give up.Several overtures were made to himby the government that he would bereleased from prison on the conditionthat he renounced armed struggle buthe blatantly refused and stuck to his

THE large turn out that greetedDr. Ifeanyi Ubah, akaEbubechukwu Uzo Nnewi, a

governorship aspirant in AnambraState's visit to Ogbunike, the hometown of former Senate President, lateDr. Chuba Okadigbo, is seen bypolitical watchers as a sign of betterthings to come for the people of of theState.

He was actually mobbed by well-wishers as more than 5,000 peoplefollowed his motorcade and convergedat Committee of Fathers' Clubheadquarters, Ogbunike to give hima tumultuous welcome. For ten minutesthe crowd at the club stood and

screamed his adulation.When Dr. Ubah mounted the rostrum

to address the people, he told theaudience that as soon as he is electedin the state, kidnapping would be athing of the past, armed robbery wouldbe eliminated. He promised to payminimum wage to civil servants andpromised to beautify the cities andvillages and to clean up the megamesses that abound everywhere in thestate. Chief Ubah further promised tolook into the plight of the homeless bylooking into their housing needs, byassisting them to move from shacks,shelters to permanent houses.

The lesson, I would want ourpoliticians to learn from this visit, isthat they should learn to base their

Ubah's memorable visit to Ogbunike town in Anambra StateDear Sir, campaigns on issues rather than

attacking individuals or politicalopponents. Throughout his speech, henever attacked anybody but promisedto better the lot of the state. That ishow politics should be played.

With the calibre of dignataries suchas Chief Dan Ulasi, one timegovernorship candidate for Anambra,Chief Gabriel Chukwuma, theChairman, Gabros Football Club ofNigeria, some lawmakers, andmembers of civil societies that were inhis campaign train, one could read in-betwwen the lines that Ubah isaccepted by Anambra people.

Mr. C.C. Okereke,a political commentator writes in from Anambra State.

guns. That is courage! He was laterreleased from prison on February 11,1990 after having spent 27 yearsbehind bars!

In 1993, he won the Nobel PeacePrize and in 1994 at the age of 76, hebecame the first black President ofSouth Africa being the first time in over300 years a black man rose to power inSouth Africa. If this feat is merelyachieved by being talented then everytalented person out there would haveachieved it. Talent alone cannot do themagic. You must harness all otherelements to drive the talent in order toachieve your dreams.

Tayo Demola,Public affairs analyst sent this from Lagos.E-mail: tayodemola@gmail.com

,"Democracy is not

something you put awayfor ten years, and thenin the 11th year youwake up and start prac-ticing again. We have tobegin to learn to rule our-selves again"-ChinuaAchebe

W EDNESDAY12, June 2013marks the

20th anniversary of a freeand fair election to haveever taken place on Nigeri-an Soil. That day, ChiefMoshood KashimawoAbiola was the anticipatedwinner of the presidentialelection as figures comingin showed that he was inoverall lead in fourteenstates. The world waswatching and the Nigerianpopulace was eagerlyawaiting a real change totake place in Nigeria. TheMilitary regime under thecommand of IBB put anabrupt stop to that and itcited "manipulation ofelections" of the primary

,

,result by the presidentialcandidates. Internationaland national electionmonitors confirmed thecontrary that it was themost free and fair electionin the country's history.

The public outrage wasintense and it immediatelycreated mass unrest acrossthe southern part of Niger-ia. Of course, Chief MKOAbiola was equally andrightfully indignant that theelection was transparentand fair so there was no rea-son to have annulled theelection. He was convincedthat common sense wouldprevail and that in time, hewould be handed the man-date. Instead, he was arrest-ed, detained, charged andwith treason against thestate.

Injustice anywhere is athreat to justice everywhere.We are caught in an ines-capable network of mutual-ity, tied in a single garmentof destiny. Whatever affectsone directly, affects all in-

Kudirat, campaigned tire-lessly and bravely for the re-lease of her husband and forthat, she was assassinated.

MKO Abiola was placedin prison by Sani Abacha,who succeeded Babangida.So, for four years in deten-tion, MKO was resolute andhad faith that justice wouldprevail and he would be vin-dicated; he believed thatNigeria was worth fightingfor and that was what he didto the very end.

He was poisoned a day be-fore he was to have been re-leased. His children losttheir father, siblings lost

their brother, friends lost afriend and the country, well,we will never know, weweren't given the chance to.

"They have not alwayselected the best leaders,particularly after a longperiod in which they havenot used this facility of freeelection. You tend to lose thehabit."- Chinua Achebe

directly. - MLK.The powers that be made

him a deal that theythought, he wouldn't refuse;to accept the annulmentand stop stoking the flamethat he was robbed of themandate. As a wrongedEgba man, he refused andso he stayed in detention.During that time, his wife,

Democracy, in the truesense, died that day, 20years ago. Not only was thevictor robbed, imprisonedand died but, millions ofNigerians were robbed bythe government.

As at present, Nigeria isstill living with the dire con-sequences and enmeshedwith crisis worse than it hasever been in the history ofthe nation. And we do notseem to be about to start.Rather, we are pilling allundemocratic things like;injustice, riggings, assassi-nations, corruptions andother unsavoury crimes to

hold on to power and greed.What we have, is a veneer

in guise of a democracy, allyou need to scratch the sur-face and the rot is deep andin need of restructuringright down to its founda-tion. Nigeria needs to mendand desperately in need ofrestorative justice.

And gradually they're be-ginning to recognize the factthat there's nothing moresecure than a democratic,accountable, and participa-tory form of government. Butit's sunk in only theoretical-ly; it has not yet sunk in com-pletely in practical terms. -Wole Soyinka

Very heartening that Ni-gerians in the Diaspora aredemanding that the nationshould retrace its politicalcredibility by declaring of-ficially and posthumouslythat Chief Moshood Kash-imawo Abiola won themuch celebrated June 12,1993, election.

And Lagos State Gover-nor Fashola and the StateHouse of Assembly havemaintained that they willcommemorate June 12every year as DemocracyDay for Nigeria.

"Find out just what anypeople will quietly submitto and you have the exactmeasure of the injustice andwrong which will be im-posed on them." - FrederickDouglass

So this yearly commem-

We can stand together

PAGE 10—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

oration of the annulment ofthe 1993 presidential elec-tion should be more than apiece meal, it should be atime to reflect on justice andnationhood. We seem to befar away from being trans-parent and democratic. Thegovernment still doll outpositions like they are allo-cating cement. Nepotisticattitude is de rigeur; in fact,we oil the national machineby it. More so the pity. Whenare we going to get out ofthe doldrums and actuallyensure and recognise thatChief MoshoodKashimawo OlawaleAbiola, was wrongfullydenied and abysmallytreated? About time thatMKO, is accorded a longoverdue state apology andrestitution to his family.

"It takes a jaundiced viewof the much-vaunted glori-ous past of Africa. And Isuppose since then I've beendoing nothing but the densemacabre in this politicaljungle of ours"- Wole Soyin-ka

Those in the know, can at-test albeit privately, thatmost of these criminals re-main at large without ashred of remorse and theyremain free to go abouttheir pointless lives, stillcreating terror, civilmayhem in a seemingly,endless greed fest thesepower mad leaders.

,When are we going to get outof the doldrums and actuallyensure and recognise thatChief Moshood KashimawoOlawale Abiola was wrongfullydenied and abysmally treated?

With deepest gratitude – forsupport and lesson learnt

“I hate ingratitude more ina man than lying, vainnessbabbling drunkenness…”William Shakespeare,1564-1616.

MAY 2013 will remaina particularly

blessed month for the entireSobowale family and,especially, for me. On May8, one daughter and Icelebrated our birthday asusual. I was 69. Two otherdaughters followed on May9 and 17. And, to cap it all,the May 8 girl got marriedon May 11 giving the twoof us a befitting birthdaypresent. It was also thetwenty-third year I wouldbecome the Head of Familyin a family in which nomale child had reached 60until now. Like Bolt, I amleft to break my own recordin terms of longevity. The23 years before 1990 weredisastrous for our family. Inthose 23 years, eightbrothers passed away,before 60, leaving me as theonly survivor of ourgeneration. I had no hopeof making 60. But, in thelast 23 years, we lost onlyone male child. Now wehave more male Sobowalesracing towards 60, 70 ….

My thanks go, first, to myentire family, especially,Professor B.K.Ogunmodede, who, whentold about the hastilyplanned wedding,instinctively knew that Ineeded financial support.He willingly gave memoney. Then, our Mummyin the family, Mrs VictoriaOlayinka Sobowale, asister-in-law who became aworthy Mother to me and

the entire Sobowale flock –who took over thearrangements leaving me alot of time to go “beggingand borrowing”. After God,those two remain the onlybeings on earth to who Igive the highest regard. Ialso owe a great debt ofgratitude to ChiefOlusegun Osunkeye, CFR,who has been a benefactorand role model in manyrespects. I cannot forget myin-laws Ambassador DapoFafowora and HonourableDele Obadina, who arealways there when needed.Members of WAKA CLUB1945, particularly, ourChairman, ProfessorAbisogun Leigh, OFR; theAgbe-Davies Family, aswell as one specialbenefactor who does notwish to be mentioned. Imust not forget all thosewell-wishers who calledand sent goodwill messagesand prayers. We appreciateyou all.

Then there is Uncle Sam,who, inadvertently, forcedme to learn a lesson inresolving ethical dilemma,at this late age. In lateMarch, I had gone to seeUncle Sam to tell himabout a consultancycontract involving anational issue and fromwhich I stood to makemillions. Uncle Samsimply said to me: “Dele,don’t work for them”. And Ireplied: “O.K Sir”. In twosentences, we had disposedof an assignment fromwhich I would make a lotof money. But, withoutrealizing it, temptation wason the way to test my

resolve.Two weeks after my

discussion with thePublisher, my daughterbrought her fiancée andthey asked to be marriedurgently on account ofplans I cannot disclose. Ihad five weeks to organizea wedding. Time was short;

cash was even shorter. So, Ibegged and borrowed. Thetemptation to “steal” cametwo weeks after. Myprospective clients calledagain. They had assumedthat the offer they made wasnot good enough; so theywere prepared to add moremillions. The ethicaldilemma was here. Mydaughter deserved the bestwedding possible from meand here was moneybegging to be taken. But,outside my own family,Uncle Sam had been mygreatest benefactor onearth by opening the pagesof his paper to me weeklyand opening doors foropportunities as well.Accepting the offer wouldprovide enough money fora bigger wedding and aluxury car with change tospare. But, it would all havecome from betraying UncleSam – even if he was not

aware of the betrayal. In theend, I turned down the offerand went on depending onfriends to provide themoney needed.

As it turned out UncleSam spent most of thatrainy and beastly day withus at the ceremony. OnlyGod knows how remorsefuland ashamed I would havefelt if we had a biggerceremony and if it wasmade possible on accountof disloyalty to my greatbenefactor. I write thisbecause about three yearsago, a young man had sentme a text message, after Iwrote on ethical dilemma,asking me how muchmoney it would require forme to do the wrong thing. Isent back a message saying

I had been tempted beforebut not enough; so I had noanswer then. I hope he isstill reading SUNDAYVANGUARD because I wastempted enough this time.Now I have an answer andthis is it. No amount; atclose to 70, and at death’sdoor, I am free of thattemptation. So my secondto the last appreciationgoes to Uncle Sam. I learnta lesson about myself that Imight not have learnt if myOga was not involved in thematter. Now I know nobodycan tempt me with moneyanymore.

Finally, I thank God. Hehas made it possible for meto be the first male child tobe within sight of 70 in myfamily. For most families,reaching 70 is taken forgranted; for us in ourfamily, it will be a minormiracle - if I make it. Myfamily would have broken

the jinx forever. To God bethe glory.

STOP BLAMINGJONATHAN FOR GOD'sSAKE.

“It requires wisdom tounderstand wisdom; themusic is nothing if theaudience is deaf”. WalterLippmann, 1889-1974.American politicalcommentator.

Lippmann’s column andarticles were among my“must read” pieces duringmy ten years living in theUnited States. He, alongwith James Reston andMike Royko, wrote politicalcommentaries that were soinsightful and predictivethat it was my wish to belike them. But, at the time,I was racing towardscollecting myundergraduate degree andmy MBA with the objectiveof working for a largeconsulting firm in New YorkCity. The last thought onmy mind was a career in themedia. God knew better.Last month, PresidentJonathan completed twoyears of the four duringwhich he promised totransform the nation and tobring in a breath of freshair – whatever thosejargons mean. I didn’t votefor GEJ and I “shouted” onthe pages of this newspaperthat nobody should vote forhim and the PDP. I wasignored by the majority ofvoters. Jonathan won by alandslide – even in Lagos,Oyo, Edo, Ogun and Imo;not to talk of Kano, Sokotoand Rivers. My reasons forrejecting PresidentJonathan were clearlystated at that time. Any onewho did not have enoughhands-on experience in anexecutive capacity shouldnot be expected to deliver –as is the case now.Furthermore – and allNigerians know this - eachtime he got the job, it hadalways been because themen, Alamieyeseigha andYar ’Adua, he served asnumber two, fell - the firstto EFCC and the second to

the Grim Reaper i.e death.I also wait for anyone toargue that PresidentJonathan could have beenelected President in 2007 –if he ran on his own.Nigeria as a nation is toocomplex for any individualno matter how intelligent,experienced or honest thatperson is. Needless toexpect miracles in thiscircumstance as we are.

What my FellowCountrymen did, in 2011,conformed to Peter ’sPrinciple; we promoted aman, to the highest officein the land.... Why blamehim now instead ofourselves? After allPresident Jonathan did notfollow us into the pollingbooths and forced us to votefor him. It was his goodluck that he had Nigerians,as the electorate.Incidentally, one of hissharpest critics, these days,is Obasanjo, who asChairman of the PDP Boardof Trustees, BOT, did notallow Yar’Adua to be laidto rest before bellowing“Jonathan, you must run;don’t tell me you won’t runnext year ”. The follyentailed in thatannouncement should havebeen sufficient to silenceOBJ for life.

The second reason waspart of the series of“Adventures In Prophecy”.I had written in 2009,shortly after Yar’Adua tookhis second and final trip fortreatment abroad, that, twonames should not be on theballot in 2011 – Yar’Aduaand Jonathan. Yar’Adua, Iwas certain, would not lastthe distance. I even said hewould be returned toNigeria “in a box”. The restis history. As for PresidentJonathan, the reason wassimple. I wrote that if heused the power ofincumbency to remainPresident, beyond 2011, “adisaster will follow”. Weare still witnessing eventsas they unfold - just wait.

V i s i t :www.Delesobowale.com

Nigeria as a nation is too complexfor any individual no matter howintelligent, experienced or honestthat person is. Needless to expectmiracles in this circumstance aswe are

,

,

,

Criticism and the growth ofdemocracy in Nigeria (3)

,

Corruption in Nigeria isnot restricted to the execu-tive branch alone; its de-structive tentacles reach allinstitutions of government.For instance, the legislatureis a very important arm ofdemocratic governancesaddled with the responsi-bilities of making goodlaws for national develop-ment and oversight on theexecutive.

Our shamelessly parasit-ic National Assembly is aMecca of legislative rascal-ity and corruption, to the ex-tent that Nigerians no long-er expect it to function as aneffective check againstabuse of power by the Pres-ident and his cabinet. Infact, both the executive andthe legislature are workingtogether to despoil Nigeri-ans. The judiciary is alsopart of the decay in the sys-tem: the number of cash-and-carry magistrates andjudges has risen tremen-dously in recent years.

One does not need to be alawyer to know that Nigeri-an laws and their judicial in-terpretation unabashedlyfavour the rich and power-ful. From the foregoing, itis fair to conclude that Ni-geria's democracy is stand-ing on a rickety institution-al tripod that will not standthe test of time. To repeat,Nigeria has not mademeaningful progress sincethe restoration of civilianrule in 1999. We have al-

ready alluded to the recur-rent problems of epilepticelectricity and senselesscorruption. One of the ba-sic functions of governmentis to provide security for thecitizens and foreignerswithin its borders. The se-curity situation in Nigeriahas deteriorated especiallysince 2010.

Boko Haram insurgencyis the greatest security chal-lenge facing the federalgovernment right now. Inaddition, armed robbery,kidnapping and other vio-lent crimes are on the rise -some pessimists liken thesituation to the hypotheti-cal Hobbesian state of na-ture. As already indicated,Jonathan inherited most ofthese problems, but Nige-rians are concerned wheth-er his government has effec-tive strategies to neutraliseBoko Haram and reduce vi-olent crime in all its rami-fications to the barest min-imum. I believe that the re-newed onslaught againstBoko Haram is commend-able and should be support-ed by everyone, for it willbe a gross act of irresponsi-bility for government to ap-pear weak while a group offanatics unleash violenceon the people. Northernleaders critical of Jonath-an for confronting the ter-rorists more decisively thistime around are enemiesnot just of the President butalso of peace-loving Nige-

rians generally. How canany reasonable person crit-icise President Jonathan forworking to liquidate an or-ganisation that has causeddeath and destruction for nogood reason? However, be-yond stepping up measuresto end the Boko Haram ter-rorism, government mustprovide enabling environ-ment for job creation andbroaden opportunities forboth academic and voca-tional training. The majorcauses of insanity disguisedas devotion to a noblecause, aside from religiousfundamentalism, are igno-rance, poverty, and unem-ployment.

Poverty and ignorance aretwo of the greatest handi-caps confronting ordinaryNigerians, particularly inthe north. It is dishearten-ing that, although north-erners have dominated thehighest political office inthe country the north re-mains relatively poorerand vastly more education-ally underdeveloped thanthe south. Therefore, collec-tively northern leaders area complete disgrace to thepeople there, because theyused their privileged posi-tions for self-enrichment,

leaving the vast majority inthe slough of despond, so tospeak. It is now time for theyouths from northern Ni-geria to make their voicesheard by taking measures toend the continued oppres-sion and marginalisation ofthe underprivileged. Sec-tions 39 and 40 of the 1999Constitution, when inter-preted holistically, guaran-tees all Nigerian citizens theright to protest. Educatednorthern youths should leadthe fight for the intellectualand economic emancipa-tion of the masses. Goingback to our appraisal ofJonathan's administration,it is ironic that the Presidentand his lieutenants gavethemselves high marks fortheir handling of the coun-try. This is hardly surprising,considering that, as the Igbowould say, no one would saythat the soup prepared byhis mother is not delicious.

cerely believe that our econ-omy is in good standingwhen electricity supply hasplummeted, when the realsector is contracting due tovery harsh operating envi-ronment, and when unem-ployment and inflation areincreasing rapidly? It is badenough that the governmentis underperforming; it iswicked to cook up fictitiousfigures to deceive peoplethat "it is well with our econ-omy".

Millions of Nigerians, in-cluding myself, are workingso hard to earn legitimateincome. Unfortunately, it ishard to make ends meet be-cause of persistent hyperin-flation. Of course, for high-ly placed politicians, busi-ness tycoons, top tradition-al rulers and extremelywealthy benefactors ofJonathan and others, theeconomy is doing well. Mil-lions, and in some cases bil-lions in both local and for-eign currencies, are rollinginto their bank accounts:they are also acquiring ex-pensive properties in differ-ent parts of Nigeria andabroad. Hence, PresidentJonathan and his cohortsare right, the governmenthas done well because richpeople are actually benefit-ing from our democracy ofthe rich, by the rich, and forthe rich. What we have saidthus far about the federalgovernment is equally ap-plicable in the states andlocal governments. Even incomparatively rich stateswhere there is a semblanceof infrastructural develop-ment, such as Akwa Ibomand Delta, the governorsand legislators would haveachieved more by eliminat-ing unnecessary extrava-gant and frivolous spend-ing. Judging by the finan-cial recklessness of our lead-ers, it is fair to conclude that

PhD, Department of Philosophy, University of Lagos,

they are genetically incapa-ble of financial disciplineand prudent managementof public funds.

Any venture managed theway Nigeria has been gov-erned since 1999 wouldcollapse quickly. Similarly,most countries would haveexperienced serious socialupheaval given the depress-ing state of affairs in ourcountry. We have managedto avoid bankruptcy be-cause of increases in theprice of crude oil, and com-plete breakdown of socialorder due to the amazingcapacity of Nigerians toendure suffering with stoicequanimity.

Nonetheless, it would befoolish for Jonathan andother members of the rul-ing elite to remain compla-cent and pachydermatousto the anguish of sufferingNigerians, especially thosewho cannot afford the ba-sic necessities of life suchas food, shelter, clothes andjobs. Democracy, like theJewish Sabbath, is for peo-ple, not people for democ-racy, as has been the casein our experiment with de-mocracy. Thus, Nigeriansmust begin speak out morevigorously and engage innon-violent activism toforce government to taketheir welfare seriously. Wemust wake up from the the-ological delusion of believ-ing there is a big brothersomewhere in fictitiousheaven that will miracu-lously solve our manmadeproblems. The way I see it,government does not real-ly care about us. Life isdamn too short for any sen-sible person to wait for su-pernatural or divine inter-vention. Together we havewhat it takes to force a pos-itive change in the way peo-ple in power handle our af-fairs. CONCLUDED.

Is military rule over in Nigeria?

IN far away Prague,Czech Republic, David Mark, President of

the Nigerian Senate and aretired Brigadier Generalin the Nigerian Army af-firmed a few days back thatMilitary rule in Nigeriawas gone forever. The af-firmation appears heart-warming especially if it isbinding on Mark’s succes-sors in the military. If how-ever, our Senate Presidentwas suggesting that Niger-ia is now a democracy, notmany would agree withhim. Although those in gov-ernment today do not wearmilitary uniforms, democ-racy should never be iden-tified by the dress code ofits practitioners. In Niger-ia, there are many non-uni-formed political leaderswho through their acts andutterances are quite distantfrom the attributes of de-mocracy. We can only praythat anti-democratic forc-es particularly those out-side the military would al-low Nigeria’s democracyto grow.

‘Government of the peo-ple by the people and for thepeople’ – a phrase creditedto former American Presi-dent Abraham Lincoln- has

become perhaps the mostpopular understanding ofthe word, democracy. It ishowever a word that hasbeen thoroughly subjectedto misuse as totalitarianregimes and dictatorshipsalike are known to seekpopular support by pinningdemocratic labels uponthemselves. But the truth isthat democracy is not amatter for claim. Rather, itis a set of ideas and princi-ples with a set of practicesand procedures designed to

institutionalize freedom. Inshort, democracy entailsthe sovereignty of the peo-ple where the governmentis based on the consent ofthe governed through free

and fair elections.Democracy is about ma-

jority rule but it guaranteesminority rights. It neitheraccommodates arbitrari-ness nor does it provideroom for militancy and sec-toral threats as we have inNigeria where activists indifferent parts of the nationthreaten to bring the nationto a halt if their preferenc-es do not prevail. Democ-racy is premised on the freewill of the people withoutwhich it lacks legitimacy.

As Professor Pat Utomiopined at a public lecturelast week, unless Nigeriamoves to a situation wherepeople speak through theballot box, we cannot have

the kind of legitimacy weneed. Utomi was talkingabout the absence of freeand fair elections- a subjecteveryone inwardly knows tobe true but which only a fewopenly admit.

In our elections, manypeople are disenfranchised;some are dissuaded by theoverwhelming presence ofarmed security operativesin voting centres just as thecentres are deliberately lo-cated near people’s housesto make malpractices easi-er notwithstanding thatpublic schools are oppositeor adjacent to such centres.At the end, some candidatesscore high votes in low turn-out elections. Through elec-tion petitions many judgesnow find their reward closeto their courts leaving theauthorities to handle drydisciplinary cases relatingto their conduct

Every election in Nigeri-an is now fun. In OndoState for instance, there arefears now that law and or-der would break downshortly. This is because, afaction of the National Un-ion of Road TransportWorkers (NURTW) in theState is threatening severeconsequences if their elec-tion of a new executive isfurther delayed. It has senta letter to the state gover-nor Dr Olusegun Mimikowho is not their member toact fast. What the governorwould do is hard to predictin view of the standard setby Governors in their recentchairmanship election.Will he caution that no oneshould imitate Governorsas the Deputy Speaker ofRivers State House of As-

sembly, Mr. Leyii Kwanee,did last week? Kwanee hadtold a delegation of NigerDelta Students Union Gov-ernment, which visited him,that he was disturbed byhow the younger genera-tion would perceive democ-racy, judging by the out-come of the Governors fo-rum’s recent election.

So, who are those cele-brating our democracy? Iwas almost tempted to saySenators considering thestrong speech their Presi-dent made in far awayPrague until I ran into aninterview by Senator AliNdume, Chairman, SenateCommittee on MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDG)where he claimed to be un-able to find anything to cel-ebrate. If democracy is ourpromised land, it seems weare far away from it be-cause the Catholic Arch-bishop of Lagos, AlfredAdewale Martins also sug-gests that “all we have beenreceiving over the yearshave been more of promis-es than action. The resultcan be seen in the largenumber of jobless youths,dwindling basic infrastruc-tures of inadequate powersupply, insecurity and gen-eral ineptitude in the sys-tem” Put differently, manypeople are yet to see the div-idends of democracy in ourclime. Prof Abubakar Mo-moh underscored this lastweek when he asked LagosState which is generallybelieved to be working toborrow a leaf from LateefJakande and build housesthat the people can afford.

Those who rule must nev-er oppress or fool the peo-

ple. Thus, if legislators arethe people’s representative,it appears strange that afrontline lawyer is nowasking the Judiciary tocompel the National As-sembly to tell the same peo-ple they purport to repre-sent how much legislatorsearn as salaries. The exec-utive branch is also expect-ed to follow not only the let-ter but the spirit of the lawsof the land as well; becausedemocracy is premised onthe rule of law. No oneshould remain in officewhen he is ill and unable todischarge his duties. The si-lent murmurs which fol-lowed the absence forawhile of Governor Imokefrom his desk in Calabarbecame much louder whenGovernor Chime of Enuguwas away for a much long-er period. Now that Danba-ba Suntai of Taraba willsoon celebrate one year ofbeing away from his officein Jalingo, what is the na-ture of Nigeria’s democra-cy and its rule on the tenureof political offices and suc-cession? This is a questionthat 16 persons, led by Sen-ator Saleh Usman Danboyi,are now asking the Judici-ary to answer because thesupposed democrats inTaraba State who are em-powered by the constitutionto do so are still under mil-itary rule. Those who maynot accept this view shouldjust take a look at anywherea security operative is seenstanding behind a leader inany gathering; what theywould find is that the VIPconcerned is a Nigerian‘democrat’.

We have already noted thatthe situation is actuallyworsening in the areas ofelectricity supply, corrup-tion and insecurity. More-over, the fundamentals ofthe country's economy,namely, the petroleum andmanufacturing sectors, in-frastructure, and agricul-ture are shambolic. Yet ma-gicians in government con-jured figures purporting toshow that our economy isgrowing. It is easy to ma-nipulate to prove almostanything.

Still, how can anyone sin-

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 11

Democracy is about majorityrule but it guarantees minorityrights. It neither accommodatesarbitrariness nor does itprovide room for militancy andsectoral threats as we have inNigeria

The major causes of insanitydisguised as devotion to a noblecause, aside from religiousfundamentalism, are ignorance,poverty, and unemployment

PAGE 12 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

THIS piece is in keepingwith our commitment tohelping compliance to

the standard professionalpractice of brandsmanagement and advertising,by bringing to notice, thosebasic and functional elementsmore commonly underminedin the face of present dayquick-fix approach and systemcompromise due to impatienceand inadequate training. Wemust also quickly add here,that more and more,professional training andproper and induction arelacking in the advertisingindustry. Consequently,quality of service delivery isdropping with time. It hasbecome alarming.

On the one side of the dividein this case, are thepractitioners on the client’sside, and on the other are theprofessionals on the agencyside. We must also state herethat practitioners on both sidesare equally tasked on theprovision of world standardprofessional service delivery.

It is to that extent ofexpectation and responsibilitythat we have always made thecase forappropriate humanresource considerationthrough an unbiased selectionprocess, when there is theneed to engage people forbrands management andadvertising functions. It alsoapplies in the process ofengaging advertising agencyfor a brand.

The consequence ofcompromising this process ofhuman resource engagementis simply too costly to beundermined. But because theconsequence of mediocrity inbrands management andadvertising build up ratherslowly, most systems wish itaway. But unfortunately, ittells on the brand, itscompetitiveness, marketperformance and the value ofits equity in the long run. Maywe also state here, that in mostcases, the benefits ofprofessional brandmanagement are notmeasured in sales figures?Suffice, therefore, that a brandmay still be enjoying goodlevel of consumer engagementand shelf off-take but losingout on consumer perception inso many ways. The danger ina case like this is that ownersof such brand will assume allis well since the sales figuresremain good, not knowing thatpotential competitors arewaiting to take advantage ofthe negative marketperception of that brand toattack. It is that simple.

One of those critical pointsin the process of developingeffective brand communicationcommonly undermined todayis writing the advertising

,

,

brief. The importance of agood advertising brief issimply enormous and cannotbe narrated simply. To start, letus appreciate the importanceof THE BRIEF from the stand-point of the fact thatadvertising is all about tellinga brand’s story. Simple! Now,this story could be towardspersuasion, enlightenment,reward, developing orconsolidating friendship(relationship), forming anopinion or simply planting anidea - in someone’s mind.Again, that is why advertisingis about the human mind.Decision taken on account ofan advert message is resultantand in fact consequent uponthe impact the given advertmessage had on the mind ofthe target recipient of theadvert message. If we closelyfollow with another fact thatthere is no good story withoutpieces of information and aplot, we can then begin toappreciate the importance ofbackground information,properly gathered andarranged, set in a plot for agood and impactful brandstory.

That sets the tone forappreciating the importanceof an advertising brief.

The advertising brief helpsin determining the scope andextent of strategic and creativework, creates and shapes theplot, guides the creativeprocess and helps in profilingthe target audience. Inaddition, the brief helps inrevealing the brand’scompetitors, guides theagency towards properlyinvestigating the possiblethreat areas including thecompeting brands, investigateown-brand for proper andappropriate protection from

Writing the Advertising Brief: How and Why

(if they still do so now). Wayback when I worked in theteam that introduced VicksLemon Plus and Euro-Pampers brand into thismarket, P&G system requiredthat all those chosen to workon their brands from theAgency side go through aperiod of orientation withintheir system. The aim was toadequately intimate theagency with the globalpractice standard and methodof handling the P&G brand.Their system is so thorough

term projection for the brand,in terms of marketperformance, perception/image and market position.

Of course, and that is whatmakes it all the moreinteresting, the brief from thisteam is extensively supportedby current figures. The figuresthey supply are open toindependent verification. Infact the agency is expected toconsider informationcontained in the brief ashypothetical until verifiedthrough independent marketstudy. It was quite engagingand exciting because by thetradition of the practiceenvironment then (which isthe tradition with my teamnow), the next step afterreading a client’s brief, isconducting a research.Agencies’ research helps ineither confirming orsubstituting client’sinformation or claim based onempirical studies. Such extrawork on the agency’s parthelps the strategic planningand creative process which inturn ensures a effective end-product in form of advertisingcampaign.

A good advertising briefassures all of the above.

The challenge, however, isthat a good brief can onlycome from a properly trainedperson/professionally maturedpersonality. Writing a goodadvertising brief requiresintelligence, commitment,dedication, professionalism,attention to details,knowledge and hard work. Allof these are considered tooproblematic by over 75% ofbrand managers on theclient’s side in today ’senvironment – not to mention“corporate affairs managers”and “corporatecommunications” managers oftoday (mostly journalists andPR people by training).Improper job description andpersonnel engagement,therefore, have added to theconfusion. By and large, wemust put the importance ofwriting an advertising brief inits true perspective. Therecannot be a good and effectiveadvertising or campaign withpotentials to optimize returnson advertising spends withouta good brief. So, it is importantthat clients engageprofessional brand managersin their system and thesepersons are constantly trainedand retrained for optimalefficiency – starting withability to write a goodadvertising brief.

…as captured above!

everybody on the brand knowwhat to do for the brand.

Not to mention theadvertising brief from then on;a brief from P&G clearly spellsout the given brand’spersonality, value-essence, itstarget market, a history of itsmarket performance up till thetime of briefing, itschallenges, strength andweaknesses in the face ofmarket expectation versuscompetition, the marketingobjective in volume and valueterms, the immediate and long

harm, and channels the use ofscarce resources.

In effect, therefore, a brand’scommunication or advertisingcampaign is only as good,effective and impactful as thebrief that originated the entireprocess. That explains whyprofessionally managedbrands pay utmost attention toadvertising briefdevelopment. I still find theProcter & Gamble outstanding

the intellectual and mentalability of all those put forwardby the agency were ratedduring this process. At the endof the interaction processparticipants are scored on thebases of alertness,appreciation andinternalization of the P&Gprocess. It is when they aresatisfied at this point that onthe job interaction begins.Then, it is assumed that

A brand’s communicationor advertising campaignis only as good, effectiveand impactful as the briefthat originated the entireprocess.

SUNDSUNDSUNDSUNDSUNDAAAAAY Y Y Y Y VVVVVanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, , , , , JUNE 16, 2013, P P P P PAAAAAGE 13GE 13GE 13GE 13GE 13

By JIDE AJANI

Apart from crudeoil, Nigeria alsoexports ridicule!

The type of image we portrayof ourselves can be very dam-aging.As we complain about thecommon streetwise fraud-sters, so do we also complainabout the crass ineptitude ofour leaders!Nigerians know how to followa leader – for good or for ill.To understand how crude andindisciplined a people can be,check their driving culture.On almost all Nigerian roads,you are seconds away fromwitnessing a traffic infraction.Once a motorist attempts driv-ing against traffic, in no timehe has a team of co-violatorsdriving behind him. Lead-

ers: that is what Nigeriansare looking for in whatevercircumstance.It runs rampant in almost allthings Nigerian. Includingpolitics and political culture!The world acknowledges thatdemocracy is good for a peo-ple.But are Nigerians good fordemocracy? Think about thatfor a while!20 years after the annulmentof an election that was con-sidered the freest and fairest,a good segment of the coun-try’s leadership insists that itis a watershed event but thatthe country has moved on. It was one fraud that sent thewrong signal about who weare as a people. Yes! The country has movedon.But it has moved on in the

wrong direction, doing thewrong things and relishingthem.Shall we begin to dwell onwhat happened?It might be helpful but not tooimportant. So, on the past we must dwellin some ways if only it wouldcreate an inner awareness tolearn useful lessons.Therefore, what is the past? What constitutes the past? Isthe past just the mere sumtotal of all that happened yes-terday or in yester-years? Ofcourse yes! Mind you, the past could alsobe any semblance of yester-day’s failings or successes.If we agree on that, then thepast is already here with us.The past pokes fun at us, re-minding us of how we thinkwe can escape it.

The past makes a mockery ofNigerians especially its lead-ers, .So, we ask: Why would a peo-ple feel comfortable in the verycold embrace of folly?Why would a people accept adestiny, one concocted andthat is at best unproductiveand at worst short, poor, brut-ish, nasty and mean?Why would a people cringe inutter helplessness in the faceof deliberate injustice?It is because we are Nigeri-ans, a resilient people and ourleaders take advantage ofthat.So, 20years ago, defying theelements, Nigerians went tothe polls to elect a presidentof Muslim religion extraction,not minding that his running-mate, a northerner, is also ofthe same religious faith. But

the leaders of the time con-jured some reasons to annulthat election. Nigeria has notrecovered since then. Worse,still the reasons adduced forthat annulment now peter intoinsignificance in the face ofwhat Nigerian politicians doto win elections today.Yes, we have civil rule. Butis it the same as democracy,where vote, real votes count;where there is transparencyin the nomination processand where the might of theincumbent does not determinewho controls what?Like a sub-standard gauge,Nigeria has been practisingshadow democracy since thenation lost that golden oppor-tunity to build on the gains ofJune 12, foreign interference,compromise of the process, etal

Nigeria’s Shadow DemocracyJUNE 12JUNE 12JUNE 12JUNE 12JUNE 12

PROLOGUE

JUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENT

Accross the landAcross the country, 15 events

such as lectures, symposium,democracy walks, rallies andconferences were held. The ac-tivities include:

* President Jonathan acknowl-edging June 12 while inaugurat-ing the chairman and membersof the re-constituted Police Ser-vice Commission, PSC, in Abu-ja. He described June 12 as aunique day that changed the po-litical history of the nation, say-ing that though the Federal Gov-ernment was yet to recognize theday as a public holiday, somestate governments had done so.“We appreciate what happenedon this day; that you are beinginaugurated on this date, I thinkis a unique date,” he told the PSCmembers.

The Niger Delta PeoplesSalvation Front (NDPSF) rallyin Warri, Delta State with AlhajiMujahid Asari-Dokubo callingfor the convocation of a Sover-eign National Conference andprosecution of past leaders of thecountry who masterminded theannulment of June 12.The Committee for the De-

fence of Human Rights (CDHR)rally in Ota, Ogun State.Lagos State chapter of the

Nigeria Union of Journalists fo-rum at Airport Hotel, Ikejawhere participants called onNigerians to stop reducing everyanniversary of the annulment ofJune 12 presidential election toa day of lamentation.The National Association of

Nigerian Students NANS rally.Oodua Peoples Congress

(OPC) event at Excellence Ho-tel, Ogba, Lagos.Ogun State Government De-

mocracy Day walk in Abeokuta,which terminated at Abiola’sOja-Agbo family house, wherethe head of the family, Mubash-iru Abiola, exonerated formerMilitary President, General Ibra-him Badamasi Babangida, fromcomplicity that led to the deathof Abiola in government’s custo-dy. He said since Abiola’s death,Babangida had been a pillar to

the family. He called on govern-ment to immortalize Abiola andpay the debts it owed the late pol-itician.Lagos State Government in

collaboration with the June 12Coalition symposium at the BlueRoof Hall of LTV 8, Agidingbi,LagosOsun State Government sym-

posium at Freedom Square,Osogbo, where Governor RaufAregbesola asked the FederalGovernment to explain to Nige-rians what led to Abiola’s death.At the same event, former Unit-ed States Ambassador to Nige-ria, Walter Carrington, said theannulment of the June 12 elec-tion cost Nigeria an opportuni-ty to be a big player in globalpolitics.Ekiti State Government sym-

posium at Oluyemi Kayode Sta-dium, Ado-Ekiti.June 12 Movement with lead-

ing activists and politicians in-cluding Chief Ayo Adebanjo,Governor Godswill Akpabio

event at Abiola’s Toyin Street,Ikeja residence, where they alsolaid wreaths on his gravesideand that of his wife, Kudirat.Ondo State Government

symposium in Akure, whereGovernor Olusegun Mimikocalled on the Federal Govern-ment to elevate June 12 to a pan-Nigerian eventSave Nigeria Group Democ-

racy Audit at Sheraton Hotel,Ikeja, Lagos

At the various events, partici-pants, among others, urged gov-ernment to immortalize Abiolaby doing any or combination ofthese: Naming Aso Rock afterhim, naming Abuja Stadium af-ter him, declaring Abiola as post-humous president of Nigeriaand hanging his portrait besidethose of past presidents andheads of state.

Prominent Nigerians, who ho-noured the late politician Abio-la and urged government to pur-sue policies that would provide

basic amenities and eradicatepoverty, were former Governorof Lagos State, Asiwaju BolaAhmed Tinubu; Governors Ba-batunde Fashola (Lagos), Akpa-bio (Akwa Ibom), Mimiko(Ondo); former Abia State Gov-ernor, Orji Uzor Kalu; founderof the Oodua Peoples Congress,OPC, Dr Frederick Fasehun;former Governor of Ogun State,Chief Olusegun Osoba; Conven-er of Save Nigeria Group (SNG),Dr Tunde Bakare; Chief FrankKokori and Femi Falana (SAN).

Others include Chief Ayo Ade-banjo; Chief Ayo Opadokun;Prof Fagbohun; Prince DayoAdeyeye; President of NigeriaGuild of Editors, Femi Adesina;Mr. Abdul Oroh; Abiola’s firstson, Kola; Dr Joe Okei-Odu-makin; Ms Ann Kio-Briggs; MrJimi Agbaje; Mrs. ModupeAdelaja and Hon Dino Melaye.

Nigeria worse in 2013 than1993 – Bakare

At the Democracy Audit orga-nized by the SNG at SheratonHotel, Lagos, participants la-mented that little or no improve-ment in the welfare of Nigerianshad been achieved since 1993,adding that poverty among thecitizenry had worsened.

Convener of the group, Bakare,said since the historic election,Nigeria had remained impover-ished and the problems Abiolapromised to tackle remain un-solved.

He spoke as Information Min-ister, Maku, at the event, coun-

SINCE the annulment ofthe June 12, 1993 presidential election won by

the late business mogul, ChiefMoshood Kashimawo OlawaleAbiola, never has the historic pollbeen commemorated like the2013 version.

Between 1994 (the first anni-versary) and 1998, June 12 wasmainly marked in Lagos whilethe remaining five South-weststates joined in 1999.

At previous anniversaries, lead-ing politicians and activistsgathered at various locations toreminisce and commemoratethe poll adjudged the freest andfairest in the annals of electionsin the country. They also show-ered tributes on the heroes andheroines of June 12, especiallyAbiola, who died in governmentdetention while struggling to re-claim his annulled mandate.

Different celebrationHowever, the 2013 anniversa-

ry of June 12 was a departurefrom the past, with activities heldin other parts of the countryapart from the South-west whereAbiola hailed from. Indeed, forthe first time, the Federal Gov-ernment took part in June 12 ac-tivities.

President Goodluck Jonathan,in a way, celebrated the day inAso Rock, Abuja while the Min-ister of Information, LabaranMaku, participated fully in a‘Democracy Audit’ organised bythe Save Nigeria Group (SNG)at Sheraton Hotel and Towers,Ikeja, Lagos, to mark June 12.

Maku’s participation made the2013 edition different from pastevents where pro-June 12 activ-ists had a one-way traffic lam-basting the Federal Governmentfor not honouring Abiola andfailing to develop the countrywithout a response from the lat-ter.

In 2013, complaints of lack ofdevelopment, prevalence offlawed elections, and call forAbiola to be immortalized dom-inated proceedings but govern-ment concurred, for the firsttime, and promised to honourAbiola, the revered symbol ofdemocracy in the country.

June 12 @20

How far hasdemocracytaken Nigeria?

,

,President Goodluck Jonathan, in away, celebrated the day in Aso Rock,Abuja while the Minister ofInformation, Labaran Maku,participated fully in a ‘DemocracyAudit’ organised by the Save NigeriaGroup (SNG) at Sheraton Hotel andTowers, Ikeja, Lagos, to mark June 12.

By CLIFFORD NDUJIHE, Deputy Political Editor

It has been two decades since June 12, 1993 pres-idential election which has been described as thecountry’s freest and fairest poll, and which appar-ently ushered in the present dispensation of de-mocracy in Nigeria.On the anniversary of the epochal election, a per-tinent question takes the front burner: How far hasdemocracy taken Nigeria?

•Late Chief MKO Abiola

Continues on page 16

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013 — PAGE 15

AMBASSADOR Susan Rice was upuntil recently the American Ambassador to the United Nations.

Her long-standing aspiration of becom-ing the Secretary of State for her countrywas dashed when the Republicans in theSenate started sharpening their knives inanticipation of her formal nomination forthat position by President Barak Obama.

Sensing that her nomination would notscale through the Senate and that shewould not be confirmed as Secretary ofState due to the role she played in the cov-er up of the Benghazi affair in which theAmerican Ambassador to Libya, Christo-pher Stevens, and three other Americancitizens were murdered by a group of is-lamist terrorists, her nomination was with-drawn.

Instead of Secretary of State, PresidentObama has now nominated her for theposition of National Security Advisorwhich is a job that does not require Sen-ate approval or confirmation. I wish Sus-an Rice well in her new assignment but Iam constrained to ask the following ques-tions and the people of Nigeria would liketo have the answers. What was put in thetea that was served to Chief MKO Abiolaon July 8th 1998 just before he died? Shewas one of the last people that saw himalive, Abiola coughed violently, collapsedright in front of her and her team and onehour later he was dead. What was in thetea? Was it Abuja ''green tea'', Darjeeling,Earl Grey, Lipton or some other moreexotic brand?

Abiola was the winner of Nigeria's fre-est and fairest elections. That election tookplace on June 12th 1993. The followingday it was annuled by General IbrahimBabangida. Shortly after that, as aconsequence of the sheer outrage that wasgenerated by the annulement, Babangidawas compelled to ''step aside'' and handover power to Chief Ernest Shonekan. Inwhat was clearly a strategic manouver heleft General Sani Abacha (his own Chiefof Army Staff) behind to be the Ministerof Defence for the incoming administra-tion.

A few months later Abacha toppled theInterim National Government of ChiefErnest Shonekan which he had served andseized power for himself. Abiola was ar-rested and detained. He was never grant-ed his freedom again. Four years laterAbacha himself was murdered by forcesthat are yet to be identified and GeneralAbdulsalami Abubakar took power. Exact-ly 30 days after Abacha was killed, thosesame forces that killed him murdered Abi-ola as well in an attempt to ''balance theequation''.

These are the facts and sequence ofevents. One thing is self-evident and can-not be denied no matter which side of thedivide one may have been on in the June12th saga- certain questions must be an-swered. And some of those questions areas follows. Who killed MKO Abiola? Whokilled Sani Abacha? Who sent the respect-ed Chief Emeka Anyaoku (the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth at the time)and Mr. Kofi Annan (the Secretary Gen-eral of the United Nations at the time) tomeet with Abiola and ask him to relin-quish and renounce his mandate if hewanted to be released? What was their re-sponse when Abiola refused to do so? Whatrole, if any, did officials of the Abubakaradministration play in the murder of bothAbacha and Abiola? What role did the CIAplay and exactly what transpired in theroom when Assistant Secretary of StateSusan Rice (as she then was), Ambassa-dor Thomas Pickering and two other face-less and nameless officials from the Amer-ican Embassy met with Abiola on that fate-ful day. For how long did AmbassadorPickering give him mouth to mouth re-suscitation after he collapsed? Sadly in-stead of being revived and released thatday Abiola died in what can only be de-scribed as mysterious and questionablecircumstances.

This is all the more so because Abiola'ssecurity officer and the man that wascharged with looking after him and pro-

MKO Abiola, the missing onehour and a deadly cup of tea

BY FEMI FANI-KAYODE

tecting him throughout the time that hewas incarcerated (an honest, upstandingand courageous police officer by thename of ASP Zadok) told the Oputa pan-el in 2002 that Abiola was ''hale andhearty'' and in ''very high spirits'' just be-fore going into the meeting with the Amer-icans.

He went further by telling the panel thatas he was about to enter Aguda House (thepremises where the meeting was sched-uled to be held) with Abiola he was askedto leave his principal, to step out of thepremises and to go and pick up anothercar from somewhere else by one of Gen-eral Abdulsalami's security officers. Hepromptly obeyed the order but half anhour later when he came back he foundAbiola in a terrible condition, coughingviolently, writhing all over the floor in painand breathing his last breath. Thirty min-utes later he gave up the ghost.

Another question that needs to be an-swered is the one that the respected col-umnist Mr. Gbolabo Ogunsanwo hasdubbed as ''the question of the missing onehour''. Permit me to explain. According tothe testimony that was given to the Oputa

Panel by Major Hamza Al Mustapha, whowas General Abacha's Chief Security Of-ficer, from the first day that Abiola wasarrested right up until the day that he wasmurdered he (Al Mustapha) was in chargeof his (Abiola's) security. Each time Abio-la was moved from one safe house to an-other he had to sign for it. Each time Abi-ola ate his food or drank anything, hismen tasted and drank it before-hand. Hewent as far as to say that each time Abiolawent to the toilet he was made aware of itand that nothing happened around Abio-la or to him without his direct permissionand the involvement of his most loyal men.After Abacha was murdered and Abdul-salami Abubakar became Head of State,Al Mustapha was still in charge of Abio-la's security and he still maintained directresponsibility for his life, his well-beingand his welfare right up until the minutethat he was murdered.

When Mustapha appeared before theOputa Panel he exposed the fact

that in the entire period of four years thathe and his team watched over Abiola itwas only in the one hour that he was killedthat they had no knowledge or control ofwhat was happening to or around him.According to him, Abiola was removedfrom the guest house that he had been stay-ing without his (Al Mustapha's) signatureor knowledge and without anyone seek-ing his permission. Simply put he was keptin the dark about the whole thing. Secretorders were given to keep him out of theloop, to take Abiola to a destination whichhe knew nothing about and to ensure thatnone of the usual trusted food tasters andminders were with him.

The only person that accompaniedAbiola from the old guard of those thathad watched over him for the previous fouryears was ASP Zadok and when theyarrived at Aguda House (the venue of themeeting) he was conveniently sent on ameaningless errand by General Abdulsal-ami Abubakar's Chief Security Officerand told to leave. Hence for the first timein four years Abiola was left completelyon his own and he was surrounded by acoterie of strange faces and professionalspooks who had no genuine affection orempathy for him. He was with them forone hour and during that hour not one ofthose that had watched over him, that had

secured his safety and that he had grownfamiliar with over the entire four yearperiod of his incarceration was with him.It was during that ''missing hour'', whenhe was all alone and very vulnerable, thathe was poisoned.

Sadly by the time Zadok, who was un-doubtedly loyal to him, returned to thescene Abiola was already dying. The ques-tion is who gave the order for Abiola to bebrought to that meeting? Why did they keepAl Mustapha in the dark about it? Whywas Zadok sent to bring another vehiclethat was obviously not needed? That onehour, and what transpired during it'scourse, holds the key to everything. It ap-pears that Abiola was lured into a trap bya group of smiling strangers who did notwish him well and who had sinister plansfor him. It was like leading a lamb to theslaughter.

The other issue that has generated considerable controversy was the issue

of the autopsy. Two autopsies tookplace. The first consisted of a panel ofinternational and foreign pathologistswho were flown to Nigeria to conductthe exercise under the auspices of theFederal Government and some foreigngovernments. They returned a verdictof ''death by natural causes'' occas-sioned by a ''heart attack''. The resultwas predictable given the fact that thepanel was made up of five foreign doc-tors without one Nigerian making anyinput or being on the team. The familysmelt a rat and they rejected the resultson the grounds that they were not rep-resented in the panel of pathologiststhat had conducted the exercise andbecause no Nigerian doctorparticipated. They felt that they wereentitled to make an input and to haveeither their own doctor on the panelor at least one or two Nigerian doctorson the team.

As a consequence of their concernsa second autopsy was conducted whichalso returned a verdict of ''death bynatural causes'' and which also con-cluded that Abiola died from a ''heartattack". Ordinarily this would have broughtclosure to the whole matter until one con-siders the fact that it was the Federal Gov-ernment itself that organised the second au-topsy as well and that the team of doctorsthat carried it out was led by General Ab-dulsalami Abubakar's personal physicianwhilst the British and the Americans sentone doctor each to ''assist the process'' andto ''protect their own interest''. The questionis whether these people could have beentrusted and who were they really workingfor? Dr. Ore Falomo, who was Abiola'spersonal physician, was also present at thesecond autopsy but he was only there as an''observer'' and not a participant. The ques-tion is why this was so and why would anyoneexpect a team of pathologists that were as-sembled and chosen by the prime suspectsin a murder case to do an autopsy on theremains of their victim and come outwith any verdict other than one of''death by natural causes?''

To confirm our suspicions Falomotold Sunday Punch in an interview onJune 9th 2013 that he believed that ''theUnited States of America killed Abiola''and that

MKO Abiola and Susan Rice were friends before the former diedmysteriously when the latter came calling

The many unanswered questions on the death of the winner ofthe annulled June 12, 1993 presidential poll

Sani Abacha: Also died undermysterious circumstances

JUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENT

Continues on page 15

tered that some improvement,even though little, had beenmade, saying government wasmaking progress in the areas ofpower supply by commencingthe building of 10 power plants,stopped fertilizer racketeering toboost agriculture, delivered 32roads in 2012, saved N118 bil-lion from ghost workers amongothers and urged the citizenry tosupport the government in theeffort to develop the country.

Maku said the military de-signed June 12 to fail ab-initio,adding that history had alreadyplaced Abiola in a position ofhonour.

Asked if FG had any plan togive M.K.O a post-humous ho-nour, the Minister disclosed thatgovernment was interested inimmortalizing him. He said:“History will continue to immor-talize Abiola, because he diedfighting the cause for true de-mocracy, which we are all enjoy-ing today. I can say that the factthat I’m here today, representinggovernment, shows that we arestill looking at better ways toimmortalize him, even though,there was public outcry whenPresident Jonathan renamed theUniversity of Lagos after him.

In a speech entitled: “FromHope ’93 to 2013: How Far HasDemocracy Brought Nigeria?”,Bakare said though some gainslike freedom of speech had beenrecorded, they were not enoughas the problems of poverty andflawed elections among otherspersist.

His words: “The 1993 MKOAbiola vs. Bashir Tofa election,conducted exactly 20 years agotoday, is popularly termed thefreest and fairest in the historyof Nigeria. It was Nigeria’s first

taste of a renascent democracyafter so many years of militaryrule, coups and counter-coups. Itwas an election whose callousannulment shook the nation.Since then, the country has wit-nessed a lot of changes - for bet-ter, and for worse. However, noneof those occurrences have left thecountry exactly the same…

“One other feature of Hope ’93we are not likely to easily forgetis the campaign song. The‘MKO-is-our-man’ jingle. Thatcatchy tune was a song of lam-entation from a figure that sym-bolized the aspirations of manyNigerians, and we shall call him/her Citizen X for the purpose ofthis piece.

In mathematics, X stands forthe unknown and will here rep-resent millions of faceless Nige-rians who remain impoverishedunder the deteriorating Nigeri-an structure. In that jingle, Citi-zen X aptly articulated the man-ifestations of the many problemsbedeviling Nigerian in a way thatfacts, figures and data graphi-

cally represented on endless barcharts and pie charts would nev-er appropriately convey. CitizenX’s lamentation captured the ag-onizing conditions of Nigeriausing the best rubric - humanindices - in a way that all of uscould - and still can - relate tohis angst.

“He sings: ‘no work, no food,no house, no light, no potablewater, no viable means of trans-portation’. He laments that thereare neither functioning schoolsnor resources in our hospitals.The entire country, in short, wasdysfunctional. This jingle,though a campaign message fora candidate who was seeking thehighest office in the land, spokefactually to the Nigerian situa-tion of 1993. Now, let us fast for-ward to the year 2013 and ask

sion. For example, we have free-dom of speech far better than wedid in the past. There is also amuch freer press than we had inthe past. The recent case of Lead-ership Newspapers vs. FederalGovernment shows us how far wehave come. Some 20 years ago,that would have been a totallydifferent story and a totally dif-ferently outcome from what wehave now. To an extent, too, thereis a judiciary that still managesto serve as the last hope of thecommon man.

Once in a while, a public offi-cial even manages to get sent tojail for economic crimes. Theseare the gains of democracy inNigeria and though they mightappear insignificant or inade-quate, they still constitute a stepforward compared to where Ni-geria traveled from to arrivehere. We have even progressedenough to have the Freedom ofInformation Bill signed into law.The relative freedom Nigeriacurrently enjoys is worth itsweight in gold. Despite all thatNigeria has been unable toachieve, we can comfortablygather here today to talk of June12 because we have a semblanceof democracy. For that, weshould be grateful to those whosowed their blood for this free-dom.

“Despite these gains, there is astill a lot missing in our gover-nance. We still haven’t come suf-ficiently close to free and fairelections; a lot of people are dis-enfranchised by poverty and il-literacy; we are largely exclud-ed from the governance of ourown country; and, very critical-ly, we lack good governance. Ni-geria is far behind in almost ev-ery index that signifies progressand only takes the lead in theones that signal retrogression.”

,

,

Do we now havebetter employmentindices? Is there foodsecurity through thelength and breadth ofNigeria? Is ourhousing problem athing of the past? Dowe have potable waterin our cities and ruralareas? Is there regularand uninterruptedelectricity supply?

JUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENTJUNE 12 ANNULMENT

How far has democracy taken Nigeria?how things are different.

Are we better off as a nation? Ifso, how far have we traveledfrom the point of Citizen X’s lam-entation? Do we now have betteremployment indices? Is therefood security through the lengthand breadth of Nigeria? Is ourhousing problem a thing of thepast? Do we have potable waterin our cities and rural areas? Isthere regular and uninterruptedelectricity supply? Do we haveimproved transportation facili-ties? What of education? Do wehave more and better schools?Are our hospitals any better?

“The country remains impov-erished by many indications…Inthe 20 years between June12, 1993 election and today,Nigeria has earned enough mon-ey to create a Dubai in each ofthe six geo-political zones andmake our citizens some of themost prosperous people on earth,but what we have instead is col-lapse of infrastructure, deepen-ing poverty (70% rate from 45%in 1999), social dislocations,high unemployment rate and vi-olent crimes.”

According to the SNG Con-vener, Nigeria’s democracy hasnot been without its gains. Hesaid, “For a moment, I will lookat the bright side and expresssome gratitude that the strangle-hold placed on the nation by var-ious jackboots is no longer there.What strangles us these days ispoor leadership.

There are certain gains thatdemocratic rule in Nigeria hasafforded us and they must beacknowledged despite all theshortcomings of Nigeria’s ver-

Continued from page

•Late Chief Abiola

Unanswered questions on Abiola’s death

he believed that AmbassadorPickering was ''a CIA agent thathad questions to answer''. Healso made the interesting pointthat there are certain drugs thatcan be administered to an indi-vidual that would simply causethat individual's heart to stopbeating and that this would leadto death in a matter of minutes.He argued that such drugswould not leave any traces ofpoison. He went on to say thathe believed that it was

one of such drugs that was ad-ministered to Abiola and that ithad been placed in the flask withwhich they had used to pour himtea at that fateful meeting. Fa-lomo, who is obviously a deeplycourageous man, is right and theveracity of his assertions cannotbe denied.

It is generally accepted thatwhen the more sophisticated in-telligence agencies such as theCIA, MOSSAD, M16, MI5, FSB,FIS and others are involved insuch ''wet operations'' in whichthey use poison to eliminate atarget, the type of lethal sub-stances that they employ and ad-minister are untraceable andundetectable. A good example ofthis is a substance known as so-dium fluoroacetate which, whenadministered, causes an instan-taneous heart attack but whichis very difficult to trace and,more often than not, cannot be

traced at all. No autopsy will beable to detect such a substanceand neither will any trace of itremain in the blood of the vic-tim or in his body parts.

No intelligence agency worthits salt, including the CIA, leavesany trace or evidence of foulplay when they choose to killsomebody of significant impor-tance. I believe that the poisonthat was used to exterminateAbiola was the same type thatwas used to take out YasserArafat (the former leader of thePalestinian Liberation Organi-sation) in November 2004, Rob-in Cooke MP (the former BritishMinister for Foreign Affairs andLeader of the House of Com-mons) in August 2005 and BorisBerezovsky (the Russian billion-aire and oligarch) in March2013. The first was killed byMOSSAD because he had be-come an unbearable thorn in theflesh to the State of Israel, thesecond was killed by M15 be-cause he was about to reveal thetruth about the murder of Prin-cess Diana and the third waskilled by FIS (the Russian for-eign intelligence service) be-cause of his consistent criticismsand opposition to Putin's govern-ment. In all three cases the au-topsies revealed nothing suspi-cious and returned a verdict of''death by natural causes'' occas-sioned by a ''heart attack'', andin the case of Arafat, by ''a mas-sive brain haemmorhage''. Howconvenient this was. Who is fool-

ing who?Given these circumstances I

have no doubt that Abiola's deathwas a case of premeditated mur-der but the question is whosecall was it and why did it have tohappen? What was the motive?Was it done just to ''balance theequation'' as some said at thetime or was it done in an attemptto pave the way for an ObasanjoPresidency one year later? CouldGeneral Olusegun Obasanjohave been released from jail andelected President if Abiola hadlived and if he had insisted onclaiming his mandate? The Ni-gerian people have a right toknow the truth and it is abouttime that those that have wield-ed power in this country for thelast few decades told them.

The powers that be must appreciate the fact that they

cannot sweep things under thecarpet forever and that one day,no matter how long it takes, theywill be held accountable by Godand the Nigerian people for themorbid, secret and oftentimeshomicidal choices and decisionsthat they made.

Yet the truth is that the mili-tary operates like a cult and wemay never get an honest answerfrom any of them about what re-ally happened. This is becausethere are very few Col. AbubakarDangiwa Umar's in the Nigeri-an military. Very few of them areprepared to break ranks with theleadership and break the ''omer-

ta'' code of silence like AbubakarUmar did over the June 12thelection. Very few of them areprepared to call a spade a spade,speak the truth, expose the lieand damn the consequences.Most of them continue to spinthe yarn and tell the lie thatAbacha and Abiola's deaths wereboth from natural causes andthat it was just a coincidence thatone dropped dead on June 8th1998, just 4 days before the 5thanniversary of June 12th, andthe other droped dead exactlyone month later on July 8th1998. As they say ''the secrets areembedded in the sequence ofevents, the numbers and thedates'' and, in this case, the se-quence of events, the numbersand the dates really do tell aninteresting and revealing story.

Yet no matter how hard theytry to cover her up and silenceher, truth is stubborn and shecannot be drowned. She is like apack of straws that are held to-gether and pinned down by anall-powerful hand at the bottomof a river. As long as she is heldat the bottom of that river shecannot be seen or heard. Yet oneday, in the fullness of time, thatall-powerful hand that seeks tosupress her forever will get tiredand let go and at that point LadyTruth will happily float to the topof the water where she will beseen and heard by all. It is in thesame way that one day, in the full-ness of time, the pernicious andperfidious verdict of "death by

natural causes" or "act of God"that the powers that be haveclaimed are the causes of Abio-la and Abacha's deaths respec-tively will be exposed for whatthey are.

The fact of the matter is thatuntil these questions are an-swered and justice is done Nige-ria will not know lasting peaceand she cannot possibly achieveher fulll potentials. It is a spiri-tual thing. Abiola gave his lifethat we may have a better tomor-row yet we refuse to acknowledgeit or to bring his killers to jus-tice. We are repaying his goodwith evil and the consequencesof that are set out in the Word ofGod. Whatever anyone may havethought of him as a person, thefact remains that had it not beenfor Abiola's sheer resilience,courage, steadfastness, sacrificeand gallant refusal to bow be-fore the Nigerian military andgive up his 1993 Presidentialmandate we would not have de-mocracy in Nigeria today. Hewas faithful to his cause to thevery last. In return for that theleast we could do is to ask therelevant questions, demand theappropiate answers and exposethe bitter truth. We owe MKOAbiola, his wife Kudirat (whowas also murdered) and all theother June 12th and NADECOfootsoldiers and martyrs thatmuch.*Fani-Kayode is a former ministerof aviation

Continued from page 15

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‘Prof. Onwuliri … found intact with hisscapular, rosary, crucifix but without life’

Just like the winds,time has passed butit is still like a dream, the

passing away of Prof. Celes-tine Onyemobi Onwuliri, whodied in the ill- fated Dana Air-line crash of June 3, 2012.He was one of the passengerson board the Dana Flight0992 with 152 others on board,that crashed into a residen-tial building at Ilu-Isaga, La-gos State last year, and it isnow a year after his exit. It stillpains, his sudden exit but thisis just one of the mysteries oflife. Prof., as he was popular-ly called, “came, saw and con-quered”, He will be remem-bered for many things.He was an all-round student,renowned scholar with brainsand integrity that left a re-markable record of distinction;the number. 1 Knight of St.John (KSJ) in Nigeria, theSupreme Subordinate Presi-dent.Onwuliri distinguished himselfin many spheres: a Fellow ofthe Nigerian Academy of Sci-ence (FAS); Fellow, Parasito-logical and Public Health So-ciety of Nigeria (FNSP); Fellow,Biotechnology Society of Nige-ria (FBSN); Fellow, Civil Insti-tute of Democratic Administra-tion (FCIDA); Fellow, SolarEnergy Society Of Nigeria (FS-ESN); and Fellow, African Sci-entific Institute (ASIF).He served as consultant to sev-eral national and internationalagencies including the WorldHealth Organization (WHO),Japanese International Coop-eration Agency (JICA), CarterCenter/Global 2000, African

Programme for OnchocerciasisControl (APOC) and the Fed-eral Ministry Of Health(FMOH) is gone.One year after his exit, thememories of a man so dear tothe hearts of many is still freshlike flowers that blossom in agarden.Prof. Onwuliri lived well andwill be remembered for manythings too numerous to men-tion. First, faith. When desper-ately, helplessly, fervently andanxiously, his wife, family andfriends prayed, hoped andprayed for his safety on thenews of the crash, the follow-

at Community GrammarSchool, Amuzi Ahiara where heserved as senior prefect 1970/71.He proceeded to the Universi-ty of Nigeria, Nsukka where heearned his first and doctoratedegrees with distinction win-ning the Vice Chancellor ’sprize as the best overall grad-uating postgraduate studentand the first student to receivehonors from the university.

For a man who had his firstdegree in 1975, and PHD

in 1980, Onwuliri had overmore than three decades of ex-

ities. He was not only a mem-ber of the Knight of St John (KSJ) but the Number One KSJin Nigeria, the Supreme Sub-ordinate President. He trainedpriests, sisters and builtchurches.After his passage,Most Rev Ignatious Kaigama,Catholic Arch Bishop of Jos,described him as a personalfriend, a committed Catholicwho put so much time and en-ergy to the service of the Lordespecially the Catholic Archdi-ocese of Jos.”For his wife, Prof. Viola AdakuOnwuliri, Nigeria’s Ministerfor State Foreign Affairs 1,whom he was married to for 33years, the loss is still a shock.She said she would not forgetin a hurry his supportive rolein her life coupled with men-toring, advising, friendshipand bond, which they shared,which is responsible for her suc-cess in life.“He had humble and modestbeginnings, shattered everypossible records on his path togreatness, garnering immea-surable acclaims and respectfrom superiors, peers, direct re-ports and all that came in con-tact with him directly or indi-rectly”, she said in a tribute.“It feels like eternity and eeri-ly hollow, through thick andthin of building our careers,family and contributing to ourcommunity and society, nevera day went by we did not talk…Ihave started to miss those per-sistent phone calls from youthat vibrate often while I am inthe middle of a meetings, pre-sentations, or events, momentsthat I can at least afford distrac-tions, in your effort to ensurethat I have the most brilliant

new ideas, and plans to per-fect my contributions, input oroutput….If I had known, thelast hug would have been tight-er, kisses more passionate andmore than three, touch moreloving and hands held muchlonger to make you miss yourflight….Your accomplishmentsare what legends are madeof…”His family members say theywill remember him for his fam-ily daily rosary prayers. Apartfrom being a prayerful, caring,a disciplinarian father, his firstdaughter and only girl amongfive children, Dr. Mrs IjeomaDozie, remembers her father asa man that demanded and gaveexcellence.“ He was a voracious reader,our home was full of books; AnEnglish Maestro who lovedcorrecting any piece you gavehim with his red pen; a prayer-ful man, Marian Catholic; Pho-tographer, loved to take pic-tures of special moments likebirthdays, developmental mile-stones; a domesticated man,used to cook meals for us; a con-noisseur of food and goodlooks, would always tell youwhether your clothing wasgood or not; loved giving nick-names; and a man who lovedgiving people second chancesor more no matter their wrongbecause of his belief in peoplescapacity to change for the bet-ter even when some of them de-served to be arrested” she stat-ed.A special remembrance masswas held in his remembranceon June 2, 2013 at St. Jude’sCatholic Church Amuzi,Mbaise and University of JosChaplaincy on June 9.

DANA CRASH:

By PALANG KASMI

ing day, he was found intactwith his scapular, crucifix androsary, unfortunately withouthis life.He was a rare breed, a success-ful, God-fearing, motivating,humble and humane personwho has played his own partin the journey of life. Prof. On-wuliri was a scholar, an admin-istrator, a deeply religious man,a rare gem, and worthy knight.Born on February 17 1952, atUmuokazi Amuzi town, Ahiara,Ahiazu-Mbaise Local Govern-ment of Imo State, the profes-sor of zoology was first son andsecond child of Mr. AdolphusElihe and Mrs RosannaIhemegbulem Onwuliri. Hestarted his educational career

perience in teaching, research,administration, and communi-ty service in six Nigerian uni-versities and many othersabroad.At some point, he gave himselfto serve in the public serviceas Imo State Commissioner forInformation, Culture, Youthsand Sports ( 1997-1999); Com-missioner for Agriculture andNatural Resources; Chairman,NYSC Board of Directors;Chairman, Imo State Broad-casting Corporation and Chair-man, Imo Sports Council dur-ing which he hosted the 11thI-mo Sports Festival tagged Imo98.In the church, Onwuliri ren-dered services in many capac-

For his wife, Prof. Viola AdakuOnwuliri, Nigeria’s Minister forState Foreign Affairs 1, whom hewas married to for 33 years, theloss is still a shock

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Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk (07036819426)

CMYK

In this country of ourswhere, sadly, manyimportant things are

handled shoddily, or, totallyignored, it’s heart-warmingwhen you read or hear ofsomething that actualizesyour own thoughts.

When I saw the headline‘Ogba commends coachOsagie’ on the Sports page ofthe Vanguard, I was curiousand got drawn to reading thepiece. Who was Ogba andwho was Osagie, the coachwho was commended? Acoach being commended inNigeria? Strange! Usually,we throw verbal bricks at ourcoaches at the leastopportunity.

It turned out that Mr.Solomon Ogba is thepresident of the AthleticsFederation of Nigeria, whileIsaac Osagie was listed agrassroots athletics coach.

‘President of the AFN,Solomon Ogba, hascommended grassrootsathletics coach Isaac Osagie,who has been fishing outbudding talents from primaryand secondary schools, totrain. Coach Osagie and hiswife, Edem, a former NigerianInternational, were spotted atKermbo Schools annual inter-house sports competitionwhere they stayed the entireduration of the event. At theend of the event, they saidthey picked three athletes.Ogba said he wasencouraged by efforts bypeople like Osagie who, ontheir own have initiatedsimilar programmes. “Withefforts like this, the sky willbe the limit for Athletics inNigeria,” Ogba said.’

Well, like I always say in thiscolumn, we are never foundwanting when it comes to theauthorities saying the rightthings and signing the rightdocuments relating tonational and internationalissues.

Our problem is ‘doing and

doing well’ the right things.After our dismal outing at

last year’s Olympics, I wrotea piece suggesting that weshould emulate the Chinesegovernment who is always ona serious hunt for promisingathletes.. They like to catchthem early, so, they scout forthem all over the country.

SPORTS:SPORTS:SPORTS:SPORTS:SPORTS: Encouraging Encouraging Encouraging Encouraging Encouraginghunthunthunthunthuntererererers of talentss of talentss of talentss of talentss of talents

,

,

What can be done to help these coachesso that they can travel far and wide in thecountry in search of promising athletes?Will there be adequate funds andfacilities provided by the government forthe training of those found by both thecoaches and the AFN worthy ofgrooming for future sporting events

When thosewith prospectsare found, theg o v e r n m e n tputs them inhostels andtakes over theireducation andtraining. Ididn’t knowthat there arei n d i v i d u a lcoaches herewho, on their own, go tosporting events at grassrootslevel on talent-hunting. Thisis good news for thoseNigerians who want oursports men and women tobring home lots of worthymedals from internationalsporting events; especiallythe Olympics and theCommonwealth games. It isvery important that we start

early, and the primary andsecondary schools are goodsearch grounds. Parents orguardians of promisingathletes, and the heads oftheir schools, should be toldabout their ability, and theirpermission got beforecoaching begins. Theirregular education should be

taken into consideration, sothat their studies are notneglected. Proper legalagreement should be drawnup to protect all the partiesconcerned.

I suggest we shouldn’t limitour search to educationalinstitutions. What about thoseyoung men whose dash to sellwares in traffic must be fasterthan that of Usain Bolt? What

about wrestlers in the villagesquares across the country?And the fast swimmers anddivers, and the canoe peoplein the riverine areas? Theirprowess is awesome! All theyneed is good nutrition andintense training by experts sothat they can performaccording to laid-down rules

in theses p o r t i n gactivities.

You’d bes u r p r i s e dabout theheight towhich theycan rise.

That said,now that thehead of theAFN is aware

that there are talent-huntersat grassroots level, and he’simpressed by their activities,which is the way forward inour quest to have qualityathletes who will do us proud?What can be done to helpthese coaches so that they cantravel far and wide in thecountry in the search ofpromising athletes? Willthere be adequate funds and

facilities provided by thegovernment for the training ofthose found by both thecoaches and the AFN worthyof grooming for futuresporting events? What abouttheir education? Do we havegovernment scholarships, likethey do in the United Statesof America, for promisingsports people to go to theappropriate Colleges? If wedon’t, I think we’reenthusiastic about Sportingactivities enough to establishthis. This is the 21st centuryand we live in a competitiveworld. We must move alongwith the rest of the world,according to our means. Wemay not realize it, but insporting activities, our countrymatters on the internationalscene, especially in football.Nigerian footballers areplaying for notable clubs inAsia and Europe.

The government seems tofocus more on football than onother sporting events. It’s likeour concentrating mainly onoil as our major source ofrevenue; a thing financialanalysts say is unhealthy forthe country. I thinkgovernment should pay muchattention to Athletics too, andfund it well.

We need to changeour fire brigadeapproach to the

Olympic games; ofinadequate preparations ofthe participants, and thenmaking last minute decisionof who to appear for whatevent, and also the delay inreleasing funds at theappropriate time. We themasses are onlookers from theoutside, but these arecomplaints we read about inthe papers. If there aremisrepresentations of facts,the public has a right to knowthe truth. After all, thedisgrace of our troupereturning from the Olympicgames without even a bronzemedal, is disgrace for allNigerians. So, when thereare complaints, thegovernment officials shouldtell us their own side of thestory, and it should be thetruth. We need to be carriedalong.

Personally, I think Nigeriansare too tolerant, and don’tshow enough interest in theway the country is run. Manyof us would rather pay moreattention to how to make it onour own in life, than insist onthe government doing theirappointed duty of serving thecitizens well and honestly.This our attitude encouragesthe half-truths and lack ofaccountability that we’ve beengetting from our rulers overthe years.

View-Point

Helen OvbiageleWoman Editor

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk (07036819426)

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 19

HOW does it feel to beseventy? You lookyounger than that to

me..I feel the same on the inside

of me. Although I cannot jump,dance and move like I used to, Iknow all of that come with age.One thing I know has been thesecret of my peace is the fact thatI do not hold grudges againstanyone. When you offend me, Iopen up to you and forgive you.You see, forgiveness is not lossof memory but memory withoutwant of vengeance, and that’swhat I have on the inside of mebecause I’m preparing myselffor heaven. I’ve been through alot in this life and cannot affordto miss heaven.

Fifteen years ago, your beinghanded the mantle ofleadership of your husband’schurch attracted a lot ofcriticisms from all sides; howhave you managed since then?

One thing my husband taught

She looks so much younger!‘A rare gem flying herhusband’s flag even after hisdeath’, that’s the descriptionthat best suits her. Fifteenyears after the death ofArchbishop Benson Idahosa,Margaret Benson-Idahosa,the Archbishop of theChurch of GodInternational, has remaineda symbol of grace and herstrides have remained aproof of the power of faith.In this interview, ArchbishopMargaret Idahosa who wasin Lagos for her annualChristian WomenFellowship International-CWFI meeting with women,shares memories of herhusband and childhoodamongst sundry issues. Sheturns 70 on July 29.     

me to understand is that people willalways talk about anybody as long thatperson has the breath of God in his or hernostrils. But he always told me: “If youtalk back to them, it means you’re on thesame level.” So, whatever anyone says, Icommit to God because He put me in thisposition. When my husband died, I hadmy own agenda. I have four biologicalchildren and three others whom I adopted.I understood I was living in a man’s world,so, I began planning how I would managemy life after my husband’s funeral. My firstplan was to go spend three months withmy son in the UK, spend three months withmy first daughter and then with my thirdchild before returning to Nigeria becausemy fourth child was still schooling at home.My plan was to travel round to mychildren’s places and maybe come toNigeria once a year to see my mother andothers. The ministry was not in my agenda.So, when I was put in this position, I criedto God about how timid I was and howmale dominated the world was, but Goddid not answer until I had made up mymind. He said to me: “Margaret, I’m notmoved by tears or your needs, but by faith.If your faith says yes, I God will not sayno”. I therefore began building my faithby reading books, praying, acting and all.One day, He spoke to me again, saying,“If I made the appointment, I will releasein you the ability to perform and excel”.That he has actually done all this while. Ifyou look at the Church of God Mission,you’ll find that I’m not the best preacher.There are some that are fire-brands andwhose sermons could make the heaven kissthe earth. But God has been gracious to

their fees. Two days after, I was toldhe passed-on! It was a big shock!Early in that year however,sometimes in January, he told me:“Margaret, I now live for posterity,not prosperity, because I have all Ineed. Now, I live for people andwhat I can be remembered for.” I wasdazed and advised him to go onvacation for a rest. In February whichwas his 40th year into the ministry,he called me and said: “Margaret, Ithink I have finished everythingGod asked me to do”. I argued withhim that one does not finish the workof God, but later in February, herepeated it again, and I became moreworried because I believed Godpromised old age. He was supposedto be 60 in September that year andI didn’t want to agree that he wasgoing to leave at that age. Hepassed on March 12. It was when Icame to terms with the news of his

me.At this point, do you feel fulfilled?I feel fulfilled in the sense that I’m

doing what God asked me to do. I feelfulfilled because I’m not copyinganybody. I feel fulfilled because mychildren are all in the ministry. I haveseen some pastors praying for their childto come to God, but I look at my childrenand glorify God because they discoveredGod on their own; not because of whomtheir father was or what I have done.They discovered God by themselves,and that’s the most precious thing Godcan do for a preacher; for the childrento discover the God of their fathers andstand firmly to defend that God. I’mconfident that even when I’m no longerhere, they can stand until Jesus comes.

What went through your mind whenyour husband passed-on; didn’t youfeel like suspecting anyone because ofthe suddenness?

We both went to the United States buton our way back, he told me to go visitthe children in the UK and take care of

At 70, men still run after me— Most Revd Margaret Idahosa

‘I feel fulfilled because mychildren are serving the Godof their father’Narrates how husband diedafter returning from crusade

BY ALEX KOLAFOLORUNSO &JOSEPHINE IGBINOVIA ,,

I took him as a brotherbecause I had none. Ieven went as far astrying to choose a wifefor him amongst myfriends...

Most Revd Margaret Idahosa....I feel fulfilled because I’m not copyinganybody.

Continues on page 20

death that I remembered he had saidit earlier.

What do you miss about him?Everything; his care, concern, love,

messages, standing for people and thenation. I miss everything about him.

What attracted you to him?I’m an only child and I was always

fighting in the streets and at school.My mother made new uniforms for mealmost every month because myuniforms always got torn after everyfight. I actually stuttered and becauseI could not express myself, I got usedto using my hands(fighting). Myhusband was living in theneighbourhood and would alwayscome to settle my fights and counselme against fighting. But as time wenton, I took him as a brother because Ihad none. I even went as far as tryingto choose a wife for him amongst myfriends; but he told me he didn’t wanta wife. I actually didn’t see anythingin him; he had only a bicycle and wasliving in a rented room and parlourapartment. But I just liked himbecause he stood by me as a brother(Iactually referred to him as bro),especially whenever I entered intotrouble on the streets. He came eightyears after to say he wanted to marryme, and when I finally accepted, wesettled down. At that time he was adeacon.

You were relatively young when hepassed on .What effect did it have onyou?

My husband departed this worldwhen I was 55 years old. Today I am70 years. God has helped me since myhusband passed on; I have never lustafter any man. I had my husband andenjoyed him. It is now time to focuson God’s assignment than re-marrying.There have been men who wanted myhand in marriage, but I declined.Some would say, ‘Mama, you arelooking good’. I always tell them,‘thank you’, and that the way they seeme has been through the backing ofthe Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit thatrejuvenates me. If you believe in theHoly Spirit, He will rejuvenate you.

You are the Chancellor of BensonIdahosa University. How have youbeen able to successfully run the uni-versity and manage church affairs

Running a university is not an easytask. When my husband died, the uni-versity was not fully accredited then.We had to work on our programme. Wewere able to comply with rules, regu-lations and policy of the National Uni-versity Commission.The universitywas approved by the Federal Govern-ment in 2002. For a state to even runa university, it is not an easy task, notto talk of an individual. We thank Godthat the foundation of our universityis based on God .When God gives avision, he will also make the provision.We want to thank God that the foun-dation of our university is based onGod.

Is it Biblical for women to lead achurch the same way men do?

God is not mad at men and womenaccording to Gen.1:28-29,men andwomen were created by God ,God gaveboth of them authority; not the manalone, to go and dominate and

multiply. You can multiply by the Wordof God or biologically. It is religion andtradition that relegated the woman. Themind of God is that men and womenwork together amicably.

Before God ,there is no difference but,traditionally, we have difference. Ifa man can fulfill the gift in him from

What informed the establishment ofWord of Faith Group of Schools? Howdo you react to the opinion on theestablishment of schools by churchesas an avenue to make money?

It is true that Word of Faith Group ofSchools is owned by us and it is a factthat money is coming in from it now.But don’t forget that before weestablished it, funds were injected intoit. We spent money to build the school,paid teachers and provided incentivesto the management in one way or theother. We laboured to put the school inshape. It is just now that money iscoming. But the purpose ofestablishing the school is not to makemoney but to train children from thecradle.

Benin was not what it is today. At thattime, it was called the City of Laws. Ifa native doctor told you to fulfill anappointment by 2pm, you had to bethere. When the real gospel came, welet men and women know that God isnot a killer. God wants you to give yourheart to Him and He will protect youand your children. We have seen a lotof changes. Then, I looked at ourchildren and told myself that, in 20years time, our children should be ableto contribute their quota to thedevelopment of the nation. Thisinformed my vision to establish Wordof Faith Group of Schools. I think it isbetter that we have the spread ofschools than spreading the gospels ofSango, Ogun, Orunmila. When a childis developed mentally, he or she canbecome anything in life. So, our schoolis Christian-based. Whatever comesfrom the school is invested in theministry.

One can see you functioning as afull-time minister of the gospel and amother at home, two poles apart.How have you been able to copeespecially as a widow?

I am able to function because I workwith a team of men and women whobelieve in the vision that God has givento us. As you said, we have churches,schools, a university, a Bible school, ahospital and international leadershipinstitutes. By the grace of God, anymoment from now, the churches willhave different bishops. I have one ofthe bishops seated with me here. Heis in charge of our finance and budget.So, I don’t have to disturb myself on

that. He is specially trained for thatpurpose.

The bishop in charge ofadministration is also here. He directsthe affairs of the church. We havedifferent bishoprics; so I don’t havemuch to do. It is once every two, threemonths that we come together to rubminds on our strengths andweaknesses and how to improve andmove to the next stage. I believestrongly in team work. Everything wehave today is as a result of team work.

I have an office in the church. I domy work; when it is time to go home, Igo and do domestic things. Forexample, I have a baby who is myseventh grand child. When I wasready to come to office for this interview,the mother, my daughter, came andsaid she brought the three-month-oldgrand child to play with me. I told herI was going to office for an appointmentwith journalists. That is why I came alittle bit late. And soon as I am throughhere, I am going back home to attendto the grand child. So, you can nowsee that when I am home I am a motherand grandmother. I don’t allow thework of the ministry to bog me downas a mother at home.

What do you cherish most asbirthday gift?

Last month, we had a Council of over300 pastors meeting. I overheard themmaking big plans for me but I toldthem I would be 70 years. Number one,I don’t need a husband. I had one, Ienjoyed him. Two, I don’t needbiological children again. God gave meseven children. I don’t need a housebecause I live in a palace. To maintainthe house per month costs more than50,000 naira.

One thing I want as birthday gift ishow to move Benson IdahosaUniversity from the temporary site tothe permanent site and I believe withthe support of all of you this will beachieved.

There is a saying that women are tobe seen and not to be heard. What isyour opinion and what reallyequipped you as a successful femaleminister?

Women to be seen but not to be heardis an old adage. We let women knowthat they must be seen and they mustbe heard. However, I am not askingwomen to usurp authority of menbecause God made the man the headof the home, if the head of the home isacting in terms of the provision, caring,educating, etc, there is no need for thewoman to usurp his authority. But thatwhich God has embedded in you isimportant. God put you there for yourhome the and others around you inthe community to enjoy you. Don’t diewith the gift which God has given you.Do your bit at home, do what yourhusband loves you doing. But do notdie with the gift which God has givenyou.

Myler Monroe said there is a placeon this planet earth that is very richwhich is the cemetery, retains gift thatwere buried and songs that werenever sung.

The source of my success is God, theHoly Spirit. The first thing I do everymoning is to sing love songs to God.He rejuvenates me. It is not that I don’thave challenges but I don’t allow thechallenges to weigh me down. So Ipreach to women, don’t let problemsoverwhelm you, dominate problems.

Most Revd Margaret Idahosa

'At 70, men still run after me'

Email: woman.vista@yahoo.co.uk (07036819426)

the foundation, why can’t a woman aswell? God has called the man and thewoman. So, God is not mad at the manpreaching and the woman alsopreaching.

The Restoration Center ,which is theChristian Women FellowshipInternational, was ordained by God. IfGod gives you a vision, He will bringpeople around to provide for thevision. God has been very faithful.When He gave us the name, He didnot tell us the ups and downs onthe way. Everyday when we cometogether as a body to worship, Godopens a little more about the vision.We have trained many women andempowered them.

Continued from page 19

,,Womento bes e e nbut notto be

heard is an oldadage. We let womenknow that they must beseen and they must beheard. However, I amnot asking women tousurp authority of menbecause God made theman the head of thehome

PPPPPAAAAAGE 20, SUNDGE 20, SUNDGE 20, SUNDGE 20, SUNDGE 20, SUNDAAAAAY VY VY VY VY Vanguard,anguard,anguard,anguard,anguard, JUNE 16 JUNE 16 JUNE 16 JUNE 16 JUNE 16, 2013, 2013, 2013, 2013, 2013

CMYK

•All letters for publication on this page should be sent to: DearRebecca, Vanguard Media Ltd, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B 1007,Apapa, Lagos, Nigeria. E-mail: dearrebecca2@yahoo.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 21

REPLREPLREPLREPLREPLYYYYYDear Rebecca

He fondles me to test if I can be aroused!

REPLREPLREPLREPLREPLYYYYY

Obstacles to our cyber-datingDear Rebecca

I AM a 24-year-oldguy, in love with agirl of 18 who I met

through the internetearly this year. Ever sincewe met, I have discov-ered that she alwayswants things done herown way.

During one of our chatson internet, I told her tosend me a mail and herpersonal picture since wehave not met before. Butshe refused and de-manded that I shouldsend mine first. This I didbefore she sent hers. Withwhat I saw on the photo-graph, I knew she pos-sessed all that I need ina woman. She is a beau-tiful girl and since then,I have made up my mindto marry her.

The first time I calledher on phone, it was hermother that picked it andlater gave it to her. Thesecond time I called, themother also picked it butwarned me to stop call-ing her daughter. In or-der to avoid trouble be-tween my girl friend andher parents, I decided tostop calling her on

been dreaming of. Theway she talks, walks oreven smells may put youoff. So also may be hermode of dressing, or heroutlook on life.

On the other hand, shemay meet up to your ex-pectations. There’s noway of knowing withoutyour meeting her. As forher asking you to sendyour photo first when youasked for her’s, it’s nor-mal for girls to expect themen to take the lead in arelationship. I don’tthink that means she’sstubborn. Besides, there’ssome growing up to do.Since she’s just 18, ifyou can conveniently goto Lagos to meet her, doso. You’ll know what todo further about the re-lationship after you’vemet.

HOWEVER, REMEM-BER THE CYNTHIACASE WHICH BROKE INJULY! She was 26, apostgraduate student/boutique owner whostruck up a relationshipwith a man through theinternet. She camedown to Lagos from herNasarawa base on abusiness trip and also to

meet her internet boy-friend for the first time. She was met at the air-port by him and hiscousin and they took herto a hotel in Festac. Theydrugged her so theycould collect her money. When they found that hehad no money in her pos-session, they went wild. They raped and thenkilled her. They van-ished, and the boyfriendlater phoned the hotel totell them there was acorpse in their hotel. Luckily, the police tracedand found them and theyconfessed the detailsabove. The boyfriendsaid he sent an airticketto her to come down toLagos, and a fight brokeout about money and shedied. The chemist boyswho sold the drug theyput in her Ribena drinkwere also arrested, Atpresent, we don’t knowwhat the fate of theseyoung people will be. You already know thisstory, I’m sure, andyou’re laughing and

THE internet hasopened up a newworld for human

beings but I don’t con-sider it the ideal way ofdating and getting amarital partner, espe-cially when distance andfunds are barriers to yourmeeting face to face fre-quently. I’ve met a cou-ple who got acquaintedthrough the internet andthey are now husband

saying you’re a guy andthis can never happen toyou. But beware! Beautiful girls have beenused to lure men intobeing kidnapped, robbedand killed. This is acommon occurrence allover the world. However,if you must come meether in Lagos, make ar-rangement for a friend orrelation to meet you atthe motorpark or airport. Arrange your own ac-commodation. Meet thegirl at an eatery, or anyopen place, and havesomeone with you. Re-member that many en-tertainment points in bigcities in the country haveCCTV these days; youcan be traced throughyour calls and theinternet you use, etc. So, mind your steps inLagos. Don’t go to herhouse since her motherdisapproves of you. Ifyou do, they could raisean alarm that you’re ar o b b e r !I suggest you leave thisgirl alone.

phone.Since I have not seen

her before, she wantedme to come to Lagoswhere she lives so that wecan see face to face. But Idon’t know how to goabout it because I live inport Harcourt. Now weare having this barriers ofdistance and also hermother’s warning that Ishould leave her daugh-ter alone. These are pre-venting us from knowingeach other. Should I con-tinue or call it quits withher? Please, tell me whatto do. I am confused andworried.

Christopher.Port Harcourt.

and wife, but these aremiddle -aged profes-sional people who hadbeen too busy to meet,date and marry peopleof their choice. So, theyused a dating agency onthe internet; giving de-tails of themselves andwhat they want in apartner. The internetthen matched them up.They met, liked eachother and then the realcourtship began, lead-ing them to the altar. So,physical interaction isvery important. You havebeen communicatingwith this girl by internet,and then on telephone.How do you know it wasreally her picture thatwas sent to you, and itwas her mother who toldyou to leave her daugh-ter alone, and not afriend of hers who shecalled in to join thegame? I wouldn’t advisethat you fall in love witha picture on the internetand voice on telephone.Wait until you see herand interact with her be-fore declaring yourself inlove. What you see whenyou meet may be differ-ent from what you’ve

I am a lady of 28. When I was 18, Iwas raped by my

boyfriend, and I sworenot have sex with anyman until I am married.I was approached by achristian young man inmy compound recently.He is caring and I’mbeginning to like him.However, he touches myprivate part with hispenis and asks me tofondle him through histrousers.

He says it’s becausehe wants to find out if Ican have sexual feel-ings, and to prove thatI am not frigid. I don’tlike this at all eventhough I like his inter-est in me. I tell him thatit hurts me and heapologizes. Though Ilove this guy, the issueof sex hurts me.

Since he began toshow interest in me, mylife has improved be-cause he encourages meand tells me that I canmake it in life. Heshows me love eventhough I’m not brilliant.Please, what do I do?

A Lady, Lagos.

I’M sorry about therape that took placein your teenage

years. Try to put it behindyou and allow responsi-ble men into your life. Allmen are not like that boy-friend who raped you.Even though most menwould demand sex fromtheir girlfriends, manywould not force them tohave it.

Rape is a terrible thingwhich can damaged agirl psychologically forlife, for apart from the vio-lence and pain involved,there is the violation ofher body. Some girls whowere raped hate intimacyall their lives eventhough they may get mar-ried and have children inorder to satisfy what oursociety expects of them. Afew, in order to conquerthe fear of sex,, may in-dulge in indiscriminatesex with men who ap-proach them.. I’m gladyou didn’t react this way.However, you shouldn’thave cut off dating mentotally, as dating doesn’thave to include sexualintercourse. Since it is

your desire to marry, al-low friendship with sev-eral members of the op-posite sex, so that youcan interact with themand understand themwell.

Ordinary friendshipwith men takes care ofromantic longing whichmany people (male andfemale) have. You chat,you laugh together, ex-change novels,etc. Andyou feel that these peo-ple like you, and you toohave the opportunity tolike people. None of

them may actually be-come your boyfriend, butthat interaction makesyou feel good and youbegin to appeal to someother man who may wanta romantic relationshipwith you. Avoiding menwould discourage thosewho would have liked tocome closer. I know youfeel grateful that yourneighbour is interestedin your welfare, but thatdoesn’t mean that youhave to repay with yourbody. His fingers canbring infection to your

private part, and whiletrying to rub his organ onyour private part to ‘findout’ if you are alivethere, he might ‘acciden-tally’ push it in! Bingo!Intercourse has takenplace, and you wouldnow be fretting aboutvenereal diseases, un-wanted pregnancy,likely abortion, singlemotherhood, etc.; thingsthat could mess up yourlife. The most cherishedthing a girl has shouldbe her body, and a manwho claims to love you

should respect your body.He should not touch itanyhow unless you givehim the permission.

Even if you thinkyou’re the dullest andugliest person on earth,I don’t think you should make your private part a‘play play’ thing for anyman who speaks kindlyto you. His words of ad-vice and encouragementare not worth the pricehe’s subtly demandingfrom you. Don’t let peo-ple take advantage ofyou. Frankly, I think he’sa slippery fellow. I thinkthe love you think youhave for him, is gratitudethat he’s showing inter-est in you. You didn’t saythat he said he lovesyou. So, switch that ‘Ilove him’ to ‘we arefriends’, and removeyour private part fromthe friendship. You saidhe’s a Christian? If that’sso, his lust for your bodymakes him a disgrace tothe church of God. He’snot worshipping God. At28, you must believe inyour ability to do well inlife, by the grace of God. I hope you’re gainfullyemployed about your means of livelihood.

CMYK

Is your man due for the services of a sexual surrogate?

WITH many ofour men complaining of dif-

ferent types of ‘accidents’in the bedroom, it is nosurprise that the help ofwhat is now termed a‘sexual surrogate’ couldcome in handy. The av-erage ‘sexual surrogate’is not a prostitute but atrained psychotherapistwho acts as a surrogatefor men suffering from avariety of sexual prob-lems which are hamper-ing their ability to have anormal physical relation-ship. Padma Deva is cur-rently a highly success-ful surrogate based in theUK. She said she’s neverhad a negative experi-ence with a client, and farfrom feeling in any waydegraded by her work,she finds it emotionallyfulfilling.

According to her: “It iswonderful to witness thetransformation my clientsundergo, and knowing Ihave played a part in thatis rewarding. During aninitial consultation with anew client, I recommenda client sees their doctorto rule out physicalcauses for their sexualproblems such as diabe-tes or high blood pres-sure.” If surrogacy isdeemed appropriate, sheasks her client to take asexually transmitted dis-ease test before hand.Only then can the surro-gacy work begin. To start

with, both client’ andsurrogate may remainfully clothed, focusing onexercises such as touch-ing each other’s hands,arms,shoulders and face.As the therapy ad-vances, the client andthe surrogate may buildup to removing theirclothes, engaging ingenital contact and, ifnecessary and appropri-ate, full sexual inter-course.

According to Padma,almost all of the clientsshe has seen for prema-ture ejaculation issueshave been able to im-prove the duration oftheir love-making from atypical 30-60 secondsinitially, up to and be-yond the male average offive to ten minutes. Simi-larly, she says 90 percent of her erectile dys-

function clients havelearned how to gain anerection without relyingon medication such asviagra. ‘Every client I’veworked with has left theprogramme with new-found confidence,” shesaid. One of such clientsis Alan, a 28-year-oldclerical worker, who de-cided to see her becausehe was a virgin with noconfidence aroundwomen. He says his lifewas miserable because ofhis lack of sexual expe-rience, which he thinksresults from shyness.

“It also made me thinkof myself as worthless,”he explains. “I oncedated and fell in lovewith a lovely girl whoseemed to be attracted tome. I remember her writ-ing to me to make thefirst move sexually, but I

didn’t have a clue whatto do, so I made up someweak excuse and wenthome. I once read aboutthe Mughal era in India,where they would sendyoung boys to specialisedprostitutes who wouldeducate them in the artof love-making. I re-member wishing some-thing like that had beenavailable to me.” To date,Alan’s had three sessionswith Padma. She hastalked to him about rela-tionships and femaleanatomy, and introducedsensual touching intotheir meetings.

“A session usually startswith Padma explainingthe theory behind theexercise,” he says, “thenwe move on to the physi-cal acts. In one session,we covered the nakedbody, hugs and sensual

PAGE 22—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

08052201867(Text Only)

Yoga classes at 32 Adetokunbo Ademola,Victoria Island, Lagos, 9.10am on Saturdays

Get going on the exercise path

YOU’VE come tounderstand thatthe lack of a fit-

ness programme in yourlife has not done you anygood. You have decidedto reverse the trend ofthings. Good.

Well, once you get go-ing try not to give upalong the way. Read upabout the successes ofothers on the exercisepath.

That should keep youretnthusiasm burning.The truth is that it wouldbe long when you’ll be-gin to look forward toexercising upon risingevery morning.

Let’s go into the follow-ing breathing exercisesand postures.

Press-Up BreathingTechinque: Lying flat on

your belly arrange yourpalms next to your shoul-ders. Take in a deepbreath and raise the bodyhorizontally. This position

should find you on yourpalms and toes.

Duration: Stay in thisposture between 5 and10 seconds. Return to theoriginal position of lyingflat down, rest awhileand repeat twice or thricemore.

Benefits: This exerciseexpands and aims thelungs.

Tree PoseTechnique: Stand with

feet together. Now,place the sole of yourright foot up against yourinner thigh with the helpof your right hand. Now,proceed to place yourplams together. Try to beas still as can be. If yousway a little, don’t worry.After all trees sway!Breathe normally.

Duration: Stay in thisposture between 10 and13 seconds. Repeat withthe left foot up againstthe right inner thigh.

leftward.Duration: Stay in this

position for a slow countto 15 and expect on the

touching of the back. Ihad a breakthrough mo-ment during the mas-sage exercise, when atfirst I went into panicmode, worried about myperformance. Westopped and did somegrounding breathing ex-ercises then tried again,and I enjoyed it.” Alansays his confidance hasgrown immeasurably andhe is now so optimisticabout the future that hehas signed up to a dat-ing website - somethinghe would previouslyhave been too nervous todo.

As to be expected, somegoody-two-shoes areturning up their nose atsexual surrogacy despitethe veneer of clinical re-spectability. They see itas a deeply controversialpractice. Critics, perhapsunderstanding, have dis-missed it as morally rep-rehensible, degrading,and, at the very least, ofdubious therapeutic ben-efit. Some have evenquestioned its legality,although there are nolaws specifically prohib-iting it.

Sexual surrogacy maysound a bit suspect but itis based on the clinicalwork carried out in thefifties by sex researchersWilliam H. Master andVirginia E. Johnson, whoembarked on an 11-yearstudy involving 510 mar-ried couples, 54 single

men and three singlewomen. They recruited54 carefully - screenedwomen volunteers towork as surrogate part-ners with the singles.Before then, sexual prob-lems were treated by psy-chotherapy or psychoa-nalysis, with low successrates. But Masters andJohnson developed atwo-week treatment pro-gramme they claimedwas 80 per cent effective.The success rate for thesingle men who workedwith surrogates was 75per cent.

In this neck of thewoods, a lot of you guyshave confessed youwould for ever be grate-ful to older women inyour village, most ofwhom were second orfifth wives, who put youthrough your paceswhen they deemed youripe for the picking. A lotof you have nostalgictales to tell of how suchwomen, your dads’ na-tive wives inclusive, blewyour brains out with rawsexual encounters. Nowthat sexual surrogacy isa possibility,both partnerscould benefit immenselywith no guilt feelings.“To the sceptics”, saysPadma who’s made a tidysum from her ‘consul-tancy’, “I would say thatit is giving me a chanceto have a life I could onlydream of - and what’swrong with that?”

* Half Plough Pose

other side.Benefits: This posture

gives lateral flexibility tothe spine. The kidneys

Benefits: This exerciseinstills a some of calm-ness and improves ashoopy posture.

Half-PloughTechnique: Place a

chair at the head of yourpractice mat. Place yourhead halfwayunderneaththe chair.Now swing both legs andplace them atop the backrest of the chair.

Duration: Stay in theplough pose for about 10seconds. To return to theoriginal position, firstbend the knees and gen-tly roll down flat back ontothe gastric fire is im-proved and constipationdealth with.

The Seated twistTechnique: Sit upright

with feet close thogetherclutch the left thigh withthe right hand while theleft hand holds the topleft corner of the chair. Sitright and turn the trunk

are favourably affectedand the inmards are alsomassaged. This pose alsoaids elimination.

08056180152, SMS only bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

YOUR column to express your loving thoughts inwords to your sweetheart. Don’t be shy. Let itflow and let him or her know how dearly you feel.

Write now in not more than 75 words to: The Editor,Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, Apapa, Lagos. E.mail:sunlovenotes@yahoo.com Please mark your envelope:“LOVE NOTES"

My BabyYour beauty overwhelms me

As I wrap my arms around youI press your softness tightGreat passion fills my inner beingCent Obamacentobama@gmail.com+2348061379003

Unhappy without youThere is no where too far to hide from

you. Although, most times I may soundand look so happy, inside me, I'm to-tally unhappy without you.

In your smile I find true happiness,

M USTAPHAand Adunhad been

married over for 15 yearsand had four childrenwhen Adun said she be-gan to notice personalitychanges in her husband.Mustapha, a seasonedbanker, got a plum gen-eral manager’s job in arelatively new merchantbank some few years agoand since then, moneyproblems became a thingof the past. “The rent onthe house we lived in,was paid for by the bankso were things like do-mestic helps and the fur-niture. Life became morebearable and interestingfor a while. Then thingschanged,” recalledAdun. “Mustaphastarted to come home lateand when I asked himabout it, he claimed tohave been working latein the office. This wasunderstandable becauseof his new responsibili-ties at work. On some oc-casions, I got a phonecall from the principal ofthe school our two oldestchildren attended, askingme to come and collectthe kids as their dadhadn’t come for them.This really upset me asMustapha never used tojoke about the welfare ofhis children. He alwayslooked guilty about thechildren and that gaveme the strange impres-sion that his mind was nolonger in his family’s af-fairs. All these went onfor a while until the catwas let out of the bag,albeit inadvertently, byone of my husband's staff.He was at anotherfriend’s house and wastalking about a graduatereceptionist they hadwho had the GM underher thumb. He then men-tioned my husband’s

name. I went really coldand my friend looked em-barrassed. The guest hadno clue who I was. It wasthen I had to admit tohaving this strange im-pression that lately hewas there in body andnot in spirit whenever hewas with us at home.

“At that juncture, itwould have seemed ob-vious to most wives thata husband behaving likethat must be having anaffair. Maybe I suspectedbut was scared

to face a confirmation.I was now pushed to thewall and knew I had toconfront my husbandabout his new mistress.Ifhe denied, I resolved,I was really going to tearinto him. But he didn’teven bother to deny any-thing. He was in lovewith the receptionist,Angela her name wasand might even marryher, he said. I stared atmy husband in total dis-belief: unable to take inthe implication of what hehad just said. The nextsix months were a night-mare. Now that I knew,Mustapha thought heshould be open about hisaffair. He spent nightswith her and they wentto functions together. Iwas at a family friend’sparty when he arrived, abit later than me. I wasabout to go to him whenI saw to my honour thatAngela was in the carwith him! Seeing themtogether made me wantto attack her physicallyand I refused to stay atthe same party with himand Angela. He left withher.

“A few weeks after thisincident. I had a heart-to-heart talk with my hus-band. I spoke as if my lifedepended on it. I toldhim I was not going to let

him go; that he was myhusband and the father ofmy children and that mymarriage meant more tome than my pain over hisaffairs. Surely, he couldgive Angela up to saveour marriage? He prom-ised to think about all Isaid and simply carried onseeing her. Out of des-peration I did what noself-respecting wifeshould do. I went to seeAngela at the office whenI knew Mustapha was outof town. She looked a .bitflustered to see me butwhen we finally settleddown to our little “talk”she told me flippantly thatI should be talking to myhusband, not to her as shedidn’t make a play for him.He did the running.Angela must have toldMustapha about my visitbecause a few days later,he brought her to our mat-rimonial home. It was aSunday and the kids wereout with their friends. Assoon as they came in,Mustapha wore a seriouslook and told me Angelahad something to say. I

was mad with anger, Icould have struck heracross the face andbeaten her to theground for daring totake my husband andstill have the cheek tostand there and try totalk to me, but some in-stinct warned I shouldhear her out.

“She said she’s talkedwith Mustapha andcome to a decision. Shewas going back to herboyfriend who wouldsoon be home fromabroad. I was greatlyrelieved. I was also an-gry and resentful butlike I reasoned, maybeit was going to be allright after all, ̀ my chil-dren were not going tolose their father and Ihad won my husbandback’. How naive canyou get? Our sex life, Isoon found out, was notwhat it used to be andit later got to a stagewhere I didn’t care ifMustapha made Angelaa second wife. I knew hewas still seeing her de-spite her hollow prom-

When the mistress is more than a bit-on-the-side!

SUNDSUNDSUNDSUNDSUNDAAAAAYYYYY VVVVVanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, 2013, , 2013, , 2013, , 2013, , 2013, PPPPPAAAAAGE 23GE 23GE 23GE 23GE 23

in your love I found life. So, tell me, what is mylife without you? I love you.

Omorville UmoruOmorville@gmail.com, 08062486549You are my treasureI do not mind at all whatever the population of

women is in Nigeria. I chose you as my soulmatebecause you parade a credential which illus-trates in fine strokes your journey in the worldof love.

Orator Etavwiare Ejovwoke,Agbarho, Delta State.ogas2010@gmail.com08026750330

ise and I gave up caring.I threw myself into mywork and widened myown circle of friends. Ispent more on clothesthan on buying thingsfor the house, then I dis-covered that I was flat-tered when men admiredthe new me. I startedhaving social outings tooand was actually enjoy-ing them.

‘Mustapha was a bit re-lieved at first that I wasno longer hounding himto return to his family.Then he had the nerveto tell me to stay homemore because of the chil-dren. I simplyignore1him. Who was heto give advice? - I heardAngela’s man was intown but her affair withmy husband still contin-ued. I marvelled at howan affair can turn a hus-band you thought youknew into a stranger.What happened to hissense of responsibility tohis family? I had doneeverything I could to re-pair my marriage. Eventhe children sensed the

tension and were bewil-dered. Then fate steppedinto the whole mess. Un-known to Mustapha,Angela had beenprocessing her travellingpapers with her visitingfiancee. They both had asecret wedding in theirhome town so thatAngela could get a visaas a wife. She left with-out letting my husbandknow.

“1 just noticed that, allof a sudden, he startedstaying home more. 1made discreet inquiriesfrom my “mole” in his of-fice and learnt the truth.1 was very jubilantMustapha was reallyhurting. He no longertook that much notice ofwhat he wore, he ate lessand was helpful aroundthe house. In a patheticway, 1 almost felt sorry forhim. But this was a manwho’d caused me somuch anguish in thepast. Let him stew in hisown juice. He was onlysorry because he was un-ceremoniously dumped.

Family’s wonder cure?(Humour)

BRENDA and Stevetake their six-year-oldson to the doctor. Withsome hesitation, they ex-plain that although theirlittle angel appears to bein good health, they’reconcerned about hisrather small penis. Thedoctor examines thechild. “Just feed himpancakes. That shouldsolve the problem,” hedeclares confidently.

The next morning whenthe boy arrives at break-fast, there’s a large stackof warm pancakes in themiddle of the table.“Wow, Mum!” he ex-claims. “Are they all forme?” ‘\Just take two’,Brenda replies. “The restof them are for your fa-ther.”

PAGE 24—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

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Continues on page 25

Political Engagement: A New Approach

AS philosophers teach, everythingchanges. So we don’t need apolitical philosopher to spell out

that there is dynamism in our politics. Ourpolitics is an interpretation of who we are,what we are and the things we stand for.The presently unclear phase of ourpolitical disharmony is the issue we mustreflect on today—and that we must dotogether. The dynamism of modernpolitics is one further excited by the realityof the internet and a consequent increasedparticipation of the youth in political andcivic matters. But the place of the youth inour democratic space is jeopardised whenthe elite in our State decide to model ourgovernment after a gerontocracy—agovernment by the old and for the elderly.Ours is a system in which new and modernideas are denied a chance to grow andmature. The tragedy of our democracy isthat it is one in which the yearnings of theyouth are stamped down in order toperpetuate a tyranny of interests. Tyrannyit is when a certain slim range of peopleimpose their private interests on themajority; tyranny it is when the agents ofchange are left on the cliffs ofunemployment, poverty, insecurity,substandard education and, worse still,policies destroyed by our heritageof corruption.

It is, however, understandable that ouryouth have lost hope in the leadership ofthis nation; a sane society is known by theopportunities it provides for the youth.But I must offer that the youth should notallow themselves to be drawninto any campaign that attempts tocolour the internal borders of our country.We are doomed as a nation the momentthe youth get hoodwinked by thebickering of bitter politicians who ride torelevance on sentiments that only inspiredistrust among citizens. My experienceso far in politics has taught me thatage does not guarantee maturity toresponsibly play the role of a patriot in anatmosphere of tensed politicalantagonisms. Thankfully, this is the Ageof the Internet; borderless interactions inand out of cyberspace have opened a newdoor of social and political influences forthe youth and the oppressed. This age ofinformation has revealed that no peoplecan ever be entirely wrong at the sametime; the evil among us are so because ofcertain disorders in their superficialorientations, education or evenmental state. That Boko Haraminsurgency was launched in the north doesnot incriminate the entire northerners orMuslims; neither is kidnapping and thepreviously ill-famed militancy in the southcrimes of the entire people of Niger-Delta.Similarly, the recent massacre of oursecurity officers by certain elements of thelargely good-natured Eggon people ofNasarawa State must not be adopted ininterpreting the ethnic identities of thesepeople. There is no man on this earth whosmiles at the injuries on his body. Andthese militants, kidnappers,e x t r e m i s t s a n d o t h e r a g e n t s o fexclusion among us are injuries onthe collective body of the nation.These events only call out loudly for

BY MALLAM NUHU RIBADU

Extracts from a public lecture atAhmadu Bello University (ABU) Zariaunder the theme, “Youth: The Fulcrumof Every Society”

careful and people-centeredleadership. This is our call, and wemust be fair to our history.

Who we are… in democracyThe biggest illusion we have lived in as

a people is believing the cry from variouscorners that Nigeria is an unnatural entitycoerced together—a sortof Frankenstein state. I have no doubtthat this is a very, very inaccuratejudgment. The truth is far simpler—thereis not a single region in what is nowNigeria that was home to just a singleethnic group living all by themselvesbefore the coming of the colonialists.

Exclusive ethnic identities are inventionsof our political advocacies andrelevancies. Nigeria was a stretch of landhosting many city-states and cosmopolites,where in the south-west the Ijebu and theEgba people didn’t consider themselvesas one, talk less of as Yoruba. In the south-east, it was a taboo to infer that the peopleof, say, Arochukwu and Onitsha wereone—none accepted identification as Igbo.The Hausaland too was not monotonousas today’s Hausamen from Kano andKatsina would rather identify with theircity-states than with any corporateethnicity. But while they each had theirdistinct identities, they also welcomed

anyone who could come and contribute tothe city or state, they welcomed anyonewho desired to be a citizen. So why theseunnatural and suddenly insurmountablewalls of ethnic exclusivities? We live in thesaddest form of self-deceit, that this or thatregion of Nigeria favoured by someone orthe other would remain one if we allowedthe secessionists and ethnic irredentists gettheir cartographers working against ourcountry’s map.

There is no country in this world whoseborders simply surrounded a people of thesame identities, wishes and desires. Ourability, in spite of the divides, to come to aconsensus or sacrifice a cause orcompromise a stance, is what makes us anation. But we have chosen to play thepolitics of exclusion where the trust of thepeople is first for their kinsmen or religionbefore alignment with the nation. Thisdangerous departure from patriotism,which saw to rise in ethnic advocacy,nepotism, bigotry and militancy, has beenused by enemies of change to subdue anddestroy any quest for the Nigeria of ourdreams—a Nigeria where we abandon ourbloodline in our service to the nation.

Who we are in a democracy is notambiguous; it is a single identity vestedwith the same rights for all, rights of equalcitizenship! We are citizens, just citizens,not Hausa-Fulani, not Igbo, not Yoruba,not Jukun, not Ijaw, not northerners, notsoutherners, and no matter our protests,no matter our influence and affluence, weall must have just a single vote in aparticipatory democracy.

What we are… in democracyWhat are we? We are Change! We are

the scattered, and mostly unfamiliar andunrelated citizens, in who lie the samepurpose, in who lie the hunger for afunctional society, in who lie the dream ofa new Nigeria. Change, in this time ofpolitical anarchy, is the wisdom to seethrough the propagandas designed todestabilise the country. Change, in thistrying time, is the strength to standtogether despite the blowups of bombs-per-meter-square in our land. Change, inthis time of distrust, is the maturity todisregard the theories of stereotype artistswho heap the failure of a nation to aparticular region or people, to an “other”,a “someone else” who is not “one of us”.Change, in this era of internet evolutionand revolution, is the maximisation of theprivileges offered by the internet in whichevery man with a laptop or tablet ormobile phone has a valid voice that mustbe heard.

The debate has always been that onlinerepresentations of Nigeria in cyberspacedo not capture our social realities in theactual world. While I agree that cyber-Nigeria is not our absolute portrait sinceour non-literate fellow countrymen intheir teeming millions have been left outof its political exchanges and interactions,we must recognise the power and influenceof the internet users on the psycheand struggle of the nation. Globalisationis not just a word, and as slow as it is inThird World Nigeria, it has interposedunimagined twists of events we have onlybeen reading in foreign tabloids inNigeria. Globalisation is a teacher of thegood and the bad, and today the influencesare no longer passed just through theprivileged bourgeoisie. The increase ininternet access enhances the speedof dispersion of ideas. It happened inTunisia. It happened in Egypt. It’shappening here… But, we must be devoutapostles of change to realise our dream ofChange!

Nuhu Ribadu...Our youths have lost hope

The biggest illusion wehave lived in as a peopleis believing the cry fromvarious corners thatNigeria is an unnaturalentity coerced together—asort of Frankenstein state

RIBADU’S SPEECH THAT ANGERED ASO ROCK

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 25

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Continued from page 24

What we stand for… in democracyDemocracy loses its allure when it is

perceived as a forte of the rich—througholigarchic eyes. With such a mindset, thepeople themselves make democracyexpensive and destroy it. The moment youtask your candidates with paying to earnyour votes, you lose your moral right toquestion his excesses. I agree with theAustralian political theorist, ProfessorJohn Dryzek, when he explains the essenceof democracy, thus: ”Democratization…is not the spread of liberal democracy toever more corners of the world, but ratherextensions along any one of threedimensions… The first is franchise,expansion of the number of people capableof participating effectively in collectivedecision. The second is scope, bringingmore issues and areas of life potentiallyunder democratic control… The third is theauthenticity of the control…: to be realrather than symbolic, involving theeffective participation of autonomous andcompetent actors”.

To democratise Nigeria, we mustunderstand the powers we refuse toexplore. The “tyrants” in democracy areactually individuals from amongst thepeople, but when they become agents ofelectoral malpractices and politicaldishonesty, the dice turns up against thepeople from which they have come. WhenI say “people”, I don’t mean just the voters.The electoral officers who comply to rig afair election abuse their chance at creatinga saner nation while damaging the trustand hopes of an oppressed people of whomthey are members. Politics is not magic;it’s a calculation of the good and thewrongs we do in the quest of power.

Here is where we need to come togetherto make our democracy work; let us dropany form of identity that introduces us assomething other than “citizens”, and letus drop any citizenship that asks foranything other than “Change” for thebetter. Let us destroy any institution thatpreaches divisions and exclusions. Unlesswe put our patriotism away from greedand any undemocratic advocacy, ourcollective struggle to install a populargovernment will remain a missionimpossible.

Approaching the modern democracyTraditional political engagements were,

until the coming of the internetrevolutions, carried out largely by the civilsocieties and opposition political groups.But the internet has introduced a mediumnot only for instant dissemination ofinformation and broader basedinteraction, but one that has also offeredus a new space for the gestation of politicalideologies, mobilisations and revolts.

The trigger of this internet-basedpolitical revolution is, perhaps, the suicideof Tunisia’s Mohamed Bouazizi, a youngvendor whose singular act to protestrepeated harassment by the local policepunctured the overstayed dictatorship ofthat North African country. Bouazizi’sdeath would not have been noticed withoutthe internet, and social networking sitesfrom where cell phone photograph of thedead vendor stirred up the anger of fellowcitizens. The defeat ofBen Ali by theprotestors sent a message to othersimilarly oppressed people, a messagethat went beyond the North Africaterritories.

What has this got to do with Nigeria,you ask? The Bouazizi Effect is not onlyan instigator of Arab Spring, it taughtdisgruntled citizens worldwide a way totake their anger beyond cyberspace. Ittaught the loudest way to condemn anti-people policies. It taught Bahrainis todemand for a freer political clime… Ittaught the Egyptians to demand for a newpresident… It taught the Libyans to takeup arms against their president whom theynot only overthrew but killed… It taughtthe Yemenis to oust their president. And,welcome back home, it inspired Nigeriansto take to the street in their revolt againstthe removal of fuel subsidy in January2012.

While the decision to challenge

unpopular policies is laudable, absoluteorderliness is not expected from angryyoung men on the streets. This is where wemust rub minds, like family, to find a wayout of this mess; how do we end this reignof corruption and insensitivity to the plightof the common man without subjectingany of us to the bullets of those asked tosend us back to our houses in which wefind miseries and hopelessness? How dowe tell our political leaders that a thing ismissing without getting shot? I use “we”because I’m just as passionate andconcerned as you and YOU! I use “we”because if we allow ourselves to be dividedinto “Us” and “Them”, the possibility ofwinning this war is null. The exclusionistswho invented “them” to stop us fromforming a formidable political “we” arethe people we must fight, and there is justone way to achieve this: CitizenEngagement!

Political engagementMy commonsense understanding of

engagement in a democratic polity is therealisation of one’s rights, having studiedand understood the deficiencies inherentin a system from which expectations ofsatisfaction have been unsatisfied.Political engagement is inspired orjustified by one’s decision to discharge hisor her constitutional responsibilities in anattempt to either react to an unpopularreform or policy or merely embark on apersonal quest to contribute one’s quotato a government found wanting.

In our response to the dynamism ofpresent politics, the traditionalengagement that tasked the civil societiesand opposition parties with engagingincumbent governments and their reformsor policies, we must pander to the non-

violent form of citizenship mobilisationpopularised by Bouazizi Effect. Mind you,I do not mean setting oneself ablaze toregister a grievance. I mean exploring thepower of our numbers, from the internetto the physical landscape, to investigateand challenge a political injustice; Imean defying attempts byexclusionists to tear us apart in ourcampaign for an ideal candidate; Imean understanding that for achievingimpact, an engagement in cyberspaceis not enough until it is propoundedand taken to the actual world. Hereagain, we have a task before us:Citizenship Mobilisation.

Nigeria: Engaging the modernpolitics

In 1999, we welcomed democracywith a hope of building a civiliangovernment in which every citizen isan active participant. A decade later,our democracy was led into chaoswhere the “Who” and the “What” ofour identifications are colourfully wornto pronounce our differences anddivides. This is a masterfullyorchestrated bang that opened thePandora box we have tightly securedsince the unfortunate events of theNigerian Civil War—in fact, sincebefore then! We have existed as anation struggling to forgive itself of the

cannot do so on grounds of theirindividual reputation or records. Thiscareless stratagem is a pathway to self-destruction begging for our collective,and very immediate, effort at snatchingour future from the hands of those whoride on such ethnic and religious andregional sentiments towards self-enrichment.

The challenge ahead is enormous.The challenge is for us to form networksthat will engage and destroy the evilmissions of the exclusionists andagents of anarchy among us. In a timeof anarchy, everybody is a politician.This is a time of anarchy. In a timelike this, we should have no identitiesother than ordinary Citizen. We arecitizens of a world challenged, a peopleconfused and abused, a nation whoseresources is misused by leaderswhose major worry is the amount ofdollars in their bank accounts. Thesituation is one of psychological abuse,existential abuse. My antidote for thismonstrous reality is also psychological:

First, while it has become reallydifficult to set aside our ethnicidentities in discharging our civicresponsibilities, we must know that ina democratic space, our only identityespecially when we gather aroundballot boxes and in the serviceof the nation is our cit izenship:

“Nigerian”. We must be conscious ofthis identity, it defines a patriot.

Second, always have in mind thatpolitics is not magic. And that people areresponsible for the governments thathappen to them. If the electorates weartheir patriotism to vote in a popularcandidate, the electoral officers too mustknow that their manipulation of figures isa betrayal of trust and their fellowsawaiting them at home. No candidate canrig an election without complicity of thepeople.

Third, offline and online politicalengagements are compulsory ventures ofevery citizen of a troubled country.Though, I have always maintained thatNigeria is a Third World country and, forthis, we must not be carried away on thesocial media. A percentage of Nigerianswho have no internet access is important.In every decision, and agenda, we aspireto pursue, they must be in the know.

Fourth, membership of social andpolitical groups and networks includingcommunity volunteerism is the surest wayof fixing our weakened bonds and salvingour rivalries. The more we meet to discusspersonal and public issues withoutpandering to the designs of theexclusionists, the more we understand andforestall propagandas fashioned againstus. The new Nigerian, irrespective of hisorigin, must be a part of any network thatanalyses and tries to influence publicpolicies or government.

Lastly, let us have in mind that we arenow in a sinking ship in which we aloneunderstand, and can reestablish, thehydraulics of our statecraft. Let us have inmind that we are all politicians in thisstorm.

ConclusionThe reality of modern Nigeria is one

that challenges us to drop any otheridentity aside from that of Citizen in oureffort to rescue the ship of state from thisstormy sea of chaos. All the destructionsin the guise of inter-ethnic, inter-religiousand inter-regional clash are traced topolitics and this supports my earlierdeclarations that every citizen of atroubled country must become apolitician. A politician is a consciouscitizen of a country, a politician is firstknown by his citizenship, a politician isyoung and old, a politician is poor andrich, a politician is a thinker andvolunteer, a politician is employed andjobless, a politician is a humanist andpatriot, a politician is a teacherand student, a politician is you and I.

*Ribadu was the presidential candidateof the A C N in the 2011 polls and a formerChairman of the EFCC.

Political Engagement: A New Approach

mistakes of yesterdays, but while westruggled with this, our democracy hasbecome modelled into an avenuewhere sentiments are highlighted bypro-exclusion politicians to corner thevotes of their kinsmen because they

Nuhu Ribadu...We must be apostles of change

This is a time of anarchy. In atime like this, we should have noidentities other than ordinarycitizen. We are citizens of a worldchallenged, a people confusedand abused, a nation whoseresources is misused by leaderswhose major worry is the amountof dollars in their bank accounts

CMYK

PAGE 26—SUNDAY PAGE 26—SUNDAY PAGE 26—SUNDAY PAGE 26—SUNDAY PAGE 26—SUNDAY VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013

Continues on page 19

Says Jonathan has power to resolve governors’ impasse’Oshiomhole shunned our plea to join PDP’

*SAMUEL OGBEMUDIA

PRESIDENCYWhy North should waittill 2027, by Ogbemudia

SIMON EBEGBULEM, Benin City

Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, a member of thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board ofTrustees, is an old war horse in politics. The

time- two former governor of the old Bendel State hasbeen abroad for medical check-up and broke hissilence on political issues to Sunday Vanguard lastWednesday. While declaring the support of the leadersof the South-south for second term for PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, the former military tacticianexplained why the North is not entitled to thepresidency until 2027.

And contrary to the statement by the PDP thatGovernor Adams Oshiomhole begged to join the partyprior to the 2007 and 2012 governorship election inEdo State, Ogbemudia disclosed how he led somePDP leaders to appeal to Oshiomhole to join the party,

but the plea was turned down by the former labour leader.He spoke on other national issues.

Excerpts:

While you were away, Nigeria celebratedDemocracy Day. How do you assess ourdemocracy so far?

The assessment one can give is that ithas been smooth, in the sense that everyonein Nigeria today appreciates democracy.Democracy means freedom, but freedomhas its own obligations. I am enjoyingdemocracy. We have made tremendousprogress.

But Nigerians are worried that despiteour resources, government is unable togive us steady power supply andemployment opportunities for the youthsamong other basic things?

,

,If we talk, four

years will not do anyharm to anybody;the matter can beresolved

CMYK

Continued from page 18

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard, JUNE 16, 2013,, JUNE 16, 2013,, JUNE 16, 2013,, JUNE 16, 2013,, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 27 PAGE 27 PAGE 27 PAGE 27 PAGE 27

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Yes, those who are worried are peoplewho do not know the problemsgovernment faces. To lay one line thatwill carry eleven KVA from Delta toSokoto or Maiduguri costs fortunes,and it is more than anything a statecan produce. So one must first of allappreciate the enormity of the problemsfacing the Federal Government andthen try to encourage it to do more. Iknow that the purpose of opposition isto pressurize the government to domore, but sometimes they get it wrong.Once in a while, they should say, ’Yes,the President is trying in some areasbut can do more’; that will encouragehim.

Nigeria Governors Forum crisisThe Governors Forum, according to

experts, is not in the Constitution, but,as far as I am concerned, whether it isin the Constitution or not, it has cometo stay. When five people come togetherto form a group, it may not be in theConstitution but they feel it is the rightthing. The governors are the custodiansof the democratic votes, they are theones running the states, they aresupposed to be the chief securityofficers of their states. So if you wanttheir cooperation, you implore them tohelp you, talk to them like brothers,talk to them like friends, talk in a waythat will encourage them to help youthe more. But if anybody has succeededin intimidating someone to do what helikes, I don’t think the GovernorsForum is the one that can beintimidated to do what game they wantthem to play. So it is throughnegotiation, Nigeria has developed alanguage called dialogue, so theyshould dialogue. The Presidentshould be the arbiter, he should notsupport any one. He should call thetwo warring factions together and settlethe problem. I expect the President to

settle the issues so that the governorsdon’t break into factions, otherwise the2015 elections will not be smooth.

What is your position on Chief TonyAnenih’s call for automatic ticket to PDPgovernors and the President?

Well Tony Anenih has spoken his mind.It is left for the electorate in each state todecide whether the governor hasperformed to deserve a return ticket. Youcannot come from Edo State to tell theman in Kaura Namoda that his governorhas done well. He will not believe you ifhe has not performed well.

State of emergency in three statesI think the logical conclusion is that the

state of emergency is necessary. But mypersonal view is that if the governors havebeen allowed to perform their functionsas chief security officers, there would nothave been need for the state ofemergency. They don’t have theapparatus available to the FederalGovernment, if the Federal Governmenthad allowed the governors to do their jobsand given them all the facilities theyneeded, this emergency would have beenunnecessary. So I expect the Federal

Government to allow the governorsto function effectively as the chiefsecurity officers of their state after theemergency. The governors should getall the powers that accompany beingtheir respective states chief securityofficers.

But some people attribute theinsurgency to the tussle for the 2015presidency between the North andthe South.

My view is that we in the South-south want Jonathan to continue inpower beyond 2015. The North isequally interested in the presidency.We should sit down and talk. If wetalk, four years will not do any harmto anybody; the matter can beresolved. The South-west came in1999 and served for eight years. TheSouth-south should also do eightyears. And the truth is that the South-east is also entitled to the presidencywhen the South-south must havefinished its eight years.

Does that mean North should notthink about power returning to themuntil sometime around 2027?

Absolutely

Message to NigeriansWe have come a long way from 1914

to 2013; during those years, wepassed through thick and thin andthe lesson that we ought to havelearnt is that we needed to worktogether as a team with all hands ondeck to achieve our ultimate goal. Itis still not late, the people shouldcooperate with the government of theday, four years in the life of a nationis nothing, but, in the life of a person,it means a lot. For this nation tosurvive, we all need to put all handson deck and we should all supportthe government of the day.

Back to Edo, you have beenpassionate about a Benin manbecoming the governor afterOshiomhole. Is that where youstill stand?

I belong to the group thatstrongly supports the Beninagenda, I also belong to thegroup that wants the candidatepicked on merit to serve atOsadebey Avenue, to continuethe good job Oshiomhole hasdone. So if a Benin man is theone that will do it, so be it. Butall Binis are interested and wanta Benin man to be the nextgovernor because they think theyare not receiving their due share,they are being marginalized andI hold the same opinion and weshould meet and again talk at around table, there will be nohidden agenda.

Your party, the PDP, has beenin trouble in the hands of theAdams Oshiomhole- led ACN inthe state. What is the wayforward for the party?

The PDP requires no advicenow because they already knowthat united they stand, dividedthey remain where they are. Sothey are working towardsbringing everybody on board.That is why I led a delegation ofSenator Oyofo, Dr WillieOgbeide and three others topersuade Oshiomhole to come toPDP and he told us that if hejoined PDP, his friends in themedia will kill him.

I was therefore embarrassedwhen I heard that the PDP saidhe came to them and theyrejected him. The answer to thePDP challenge in Edo lies in theleaders coming together,embrace internal democracy andre-organize their management ofvictory.

Why North should wait till 2027, by Ogbemudia

The governorsare the custodiansof the democraticvotes, they are theones running thestates, they aresupposed to be thechief securityofficers of theirstates

*SAMUEL OGBEMUDIA

CMYK

PAGE 28—SUNDAY, Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

Legend people in DubaiLegend people in DubaiLegend people in DubaiLegend people in DubaiLegend people in Dubai

Tom Madaki, Wilson Prince Osah, Folashade Omoleye,SunnyOdomoke, Okotie Oritsuwa, Ozioko Bethran Ikechukwu,Emuejevoke Oputu, winners, with Emmanuel Agu, MarketingManager, Gulder, Legend & Life, NB Plc., James Nweke, Aghedo CyrilSadiq Ehinoria and Ishalaiye Ayodele, other lucky winners, at theDeira Shopping Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The winners surrounded by officials of theDeira Shopping Mall, after shopping

The Legend Consumers at the DubaiMuseum

The lucky Legend consumers while on tour

L-R:: Folashade Omoleye, Ozioko BethranIkechukwu, James Nweke, Tom Madaki,Okotie Oritsuwa, Emuejevoke Oputu,Aghedo Cyril Sadiq Ehinoria, SunnyOdomoke, Wilson Prince Osah andIshalaiye Ayodele

On Friday, May 31,2013, the second

batch of consumers whoemerged winners in theon-going Legend RealDeal National ConsumerPromotion, were flownto Dubai in the UnitedArab Emirates.The 10 luckyconsumers, during their3-day stay, were takenon a tour of excitingsites and landscapes inDubai. They also got toshop for items worth N1million at the DeiraShopping Centre, Dubai.They returned to Lagoson Monday, June 4,2013.

L- R : Prof. Anya O. Anya , the Author Dr. Agwu Ukiwe Okali, Brig. Gen. Ike Nwachukwu, Chairman of Occasion and Mr. Jean Ping.

L- R: Mrs Dame Carol Nwazojie and Prof.Bola Akinterinwa , DG. NIIA

L- R: Prof. Oguba Oche and Prof. JohnA m o d a

L- R:Prof. George Obiozor, Former, DG, NIIAand Senator Felix Ibru .

Thoughts on AfricaThoughts on AfricaThoughts on AfricaThoughts on AfricaThoughts on Africa

It was a gathering of African leaders of thoughtat the Nigerian Institute of InternationalAffairs, NIIA, Victoria Island, on Thursday

when Okali Seminal Ideas Foundation for Africa,OSIFA, was inaugurated. Also at the top of highlights of events was the publicpresentation of a book titled “‘Of Black Servitudewithout Slavery, the Unspoken Politics ofLanguage’, written by Dr. Agwu Ukiwe Okali.Speakers at the event posited that Africa hasremained under-developed because of lack of beliefin the ideas of its people, amongst other reasons.Taking similar stand,Founder/Chairman of thefoundation, Dr. Okali, also said he regretted thatAfricans do not receive corresponding respect fortheir intellectual competence and abilities, despitethe fact that they can hold their own in any taskanywhere.The book “Of Black Servitude without Slavery: theUnspoken Politics of Language” is the first volumeof OSIFA’s Africa Seminal Ideas Series. Photos byDiran Oshe

CMYK

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013 —29

L-R: Hon. Temidayo Adeyemi, formerSecretary, Agege Local Government,Hon.Lateef Ibirogba, Commissioner forInformation and Strategy, representingLagos State Governor, Mrs Zainab OlagunjuFatai, window and Jamiu Olagunju, son.

L-R: Apple Spinners, Ayo Balogun, President, AJUMN, Chief Segun Adewale, Mr FollyPeperempe and Admiral Dele Abiodun.

L-R: Omas Lance Perry, PMAN, KingWaleman, PMAN, Hon. Hajia OluremiAmina Dangaji, PMAN and Sir KareemAyinde Olomide

L-R:Ebenezer Obey with Hon. Jubreel AbdulKareem, Chairman, Agege LocalGovernment and Mrs Olagunju, wife of thedeceased.

R-L Rev. Father Charles Okeke, Dr (Mrs)Rukevwe Ugwumba, celebrant, Barr. AndyOdum and Mr. Napoleon Okwelum

Dr (Mrs) Nwokocha, presenting award to Dr.Rukevwe Ugwumba, on behalf of Her Excel-lency, Mrs Roli Uduaghan Flanked byDr.Ejiro Umueri (R) and Dr. Modupe Abiola(L)

The 43rd Birthday party for Dr (Mrs) RukevweUgwumba, Special Adviser, Health Monitoring To Delta State Governor held in Asaba last

Weekend. Even after the merriment the beautifullady continued her call of duty as she received anaward on behalf of the First Lady of Delta State. Pho-tos by Nath Onojake

Rukevwe @ 43Rukevwe @ 43Rukevwe @ 43Rukevwe @ 43Rukevwe @ 43

Professor and Mrs Akpotor flanked by Sirand Lady Okeya Mr. and Mrs Shola Olabintan

L-R:Mr Bright Gain, Mrs Sarah Boulos,President, Society for the performing Artsin Nigeria, Mr Ayoola Sadare, and AmbMokgethi Monaisa,Consul General of SouthAfrica

AAAAAdieu, Fdieu, Fdieu, Fdieu, Fdieu, Fatai Ratai Ratai Ratai Ratai RollingollingollingollingollingDollarDollarDollarDollarDollar

It was a glorious final moment for the deceasedHighlife maestro, Fatai Olayiwola Olagunjua.k.a. Fatai Rolling Dollar as his colleagues,

eminent personalities and members of the publicgathered at his Militon Estate, Oko-Oba residence,Agege for a Fidau Muslim prayer for peaceful reposeof his soul.His remains were later laid to rest at his Ikoroduresidence site. Final burial ceremony announcedby the family is slated for Thursday, June 20th.Photos by Akeem Salau

Album `In The Name OfAlbum `In The Name OfAlbum `In The Name OfAlbum `In The Name OfAlbum `In The Name OfJesus’Jesus’Jesus’Jesus’Jesus’ BRIGHT GAIN , bass player, jazz composer andgospel artiste launched his latest album “In TheName of Jesus” at the pool side of Eko Hotel andSuites on Thursday. Photo Biodun Ogunleye

Eyareko Osiemu goesEyareko Osiemu goesEyareko Osiemu goesEyareko Osiemu goesEyareko Osiemu goeshomehomehomehomehomeBURIAL ceremony for Madam Eyareko held atEkrerhavwen-Agbarho. Many importantdignitaries graced the occasion.

FAMILIES of Chief Jubril Aminat of Oto Aworiand Chief Olabintan of Ipokia LGA, Lagos rolledout the red carpet for their children, Mr. SholaOlabintan and his bride, former Miss Aminat whotied the knot at Chief Jubril Aminat’s residence,Ijanikin, Lagos

WWWWWedding bells fedding bells fedding bells fedding bells fedding bells for Aminator Aminator Aminator Aminator Aminatand Sholaand Sholaand Sholaand Sholaand Shola

PAGE 30—SUNDAY VANGUARD,JUNE 16, 2013

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SUNDAY VANGUARD,JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 31

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BY SIMON EBEGBULEM,Benin-City

Francisca Nkemcho, a widowfrom Ota Orhionmwon local

government council of Edo State, isnot a happy woman. Reason: Thealleged extra-judicial killing of her25-year- old son, ChukwudimediNkemcho, by some soldiers in Agbor,Delta State, penultimate Wednesday.The deceased was said to have beenparaded as an armed robber by thesoldiers and shot dead hours later.The body was taken to the policestation in Agbor but, when the familyrushed to identify the corpse, theywere told it had been buried in anunknown grave. Madam Francisca,who spoke to Sunday Vanguard onher sick bed, insisted that her sonwas never a criminal or a cultist. Shecried for justice, saying that as awidow and sick, she had not beenable to petition relevant agencies onthe issue. The widow, from Og-washu Uku in Delta State but mar-ried to an Edo man who died in2007, said it would be unfair if shewas not able to get justice. This isthe second time allegations of extra-judicial killing are being levelledagainst security agents in the South-south. Mid last month, a DPO in EdoState was accused of killing aninnocent student of University ofBenin. The case is under investiga-tion by the police. The widow in thelatest incident narrated her story toSunday Vanguard.“The incident happened on Wednes-day, 8 of May, 2013 in Agbor. Myson went out between 2pm and 3pm.Before that day, he had not beenable to leave the house because hewas ill. I still have the drugs he wastaking with me. So I was happy thathe was able to go out that day. Hedid not come back at about 6pm andwe called his number but it wasswitched off”, the bereaved mothersaid. She continued: “So I called hissiblings and told them to go andsearch for him. But they all assumedthat he might be charging his phonesomewhere. When at about 9pm hewas still not back, I went to bedbecause I was not feeling fine. Earlythe following day, I sent people outto look for him. I was really down soI could not go with them. So myother son and others took Okada tolook for him. But on getting close tothe army base in Agbor, my son saidhe noticed people running towardsthe place and he tried to find outwhat was happening. Somebody nowtold him that soldiers were parating

and others who were there, they saidthe soldiers ordered my son and theother boy to run and they were shotfrom the back in the presence of thecrowd. My son said he wanted toshout but because of fear that he mayalso be arrested, he ran away andwent somewhere to call us. He couldnot even speak on phone, so hedecided to take Okada to run backhome. Some persons who were theresaw my son; so they started callingus. They took the pictures and sentto us. We were told that after theyshot them, they took the bodies to thepolice station. At about 5pm, we wentthere but could not find the bodies.The soldiers said they were criminalswhile the police branded themunknown cultists. My son is not arobber or a cultist; we have beenmanaging together since the death ofhis father and he never stole. He wasmy first son out of the four children Ihave”.While demanding for justice, MrsNkemcho stated: “They have no rightto murder my son like that. All theallegations were untrue. Let thepublic know that my son was mur-dered by the soldiers innocently. Iam even afraid to come out because I

The soldiers asked my son to run...thenshot him dead on the back — Widow

don’t know if it is a plot to wipe outmy family. My son was ill and fortwo days he never went out until thatday. He graduated from a computerschool and our prayer was that whenwe had money he would attend ahigher institution. After the death ofhis father, I enrolled him in thecomputer school. And since hecompleted the computer programme,he had been going out to work as abricklayer, assisting builders. He wasa very obedient son and was never athief or a cultist. I am appealing toNigerians to help me demand forjustice.

The soldiers cannot kill my sonand go scot free because we are

poor. His spirit will haunt them andGod Almighty will never forgivethem. Look at me, a widow, how do Ifight this cause? People should helpme. After killing my son, the policewent to bury him in an unknowngrave, they did not even give us theopportunity to see him for the lasttime before they buried him. This isinjustice, this is wicked. I am appeal-ing to Governor Emmanuel Udu-aghan, the governor of Delta State,to help me ask the soldiers whathappened to my son. The IG ofPolice, President Jonathan, pleasegive me justice”.

When contacted, the DPO at Agborpolice declined to comment but a toppolice officer there explained: “Thepolice have no hand in the killing.What happened was that somesoldiers brought two corpses to thestation and asked that we shouldbury them but the DPO insisted thathe must know the cause of death.The soldiers said they were killedduring exchange of fire with robbersand that they were found with an AK47 rifle”. The DPO was said to haveasked the soldiers to produce thegun before accepting the corpses, butthey declined, saying `Soldiers don’tsurrender guns to the police; that thegun was in their custody”. Thepolice officer further told SundayVanguard: “It was after the argu-ment that the DPO now said theymust give him a report on the causeof death, so the officer that led thesoldiers wrote a short report andthey left. So people should not dragthe police into this. Only the asol-diers what happened”. Meanwhile alawyer, R.O Okpiavbe Esq., onbehalf of the family. In a petition tothe Inspector General of Police, thefamily accused the army of extrajudicial murder and called forthorough investigation.

some armed robbers. He rushed tothe place but the crowd was toomuch and because of the crowd hecould not get closer. But from wherehe was, he was able to see hisbrother and two others whom theysaid were armed robbers. But thesoldiers later asked one of them toleave, my son and one other boyremained. “To the surprise of my son

ANOTHER TALE OF ALLEGED EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING

’My other child watched in horror as they executed his brother’

Mrs Nkencho and her deceased son Chukwudimedi

The soldierssaid they were

criminals while thepolice branded themunknown cultists. Myson is not a robber or acultist; we have beenmanaging togethersince the death of hisfather and he neverstole

PAGE 32—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

Amnesty Phase Three: ‘Ex-militants should take case to Jonathan’

General’ KingsleyMuturu is theChairman of the

Amnesty Phase Two in DeltaState. In this interview, hespeaks on the implementa-tion of the amnesty pro-gramme, President GoodluckJonathan’s administrationand other burning issues.

Excerpts:How would you assess the

implementation of theamnesty programme since itwas put in place by latePresident Umaru MusaYar’Adua?

The amnesty programme isgoing on very well. TimiAlaibe was the first amnestyChairman before he handedover to Kingsley Kuku whohav been in the system. Hehas been working closelywith us one on one and weare satisfied with what ishappening. I know therehave been pockets of criti-cism from some disgruntledelements over his handlingof some issues concerningthe programme. But it is notout of place for those occupy-ing political offices to becriticized by those who thinkthings are not going their

BY FESTUS AHON

own way. Criticisms bring the best out ofanybody, but, by and large, I thinkKingsley Kuku is doing a fantastic jobwith the amnesty programme.

Most the people criticizing Kuku arenot members or beneficiaries of theamnesty programme. It is those of uswho are part of the programme that arein the best position to complain aboutany problem arising from the implemen-tation and give advice on areas thatshould be improved upon.

Who specifically do you mean bypeople outside the amnesty pro-gramme?

The people outside the programme

that are opposing him are his politicalenemies, some of his old friends who, atany little opportunity, mobilize andbegin to protest.

In the amnesty programme, we havePhases One, Two and Three. We gath-ered that the implementation of PhaseThree has not been as effective as oneand two. Ex-militants in Phase III,particularly those from Urhobo andItsekiri, say they are marginalized.What is your take on this?

The problem with the Phase Three isthat the slots approved for it are notenough. Ex-militants in Phase Three arefar more than those in Phases One andTwo and only about 3,000 or so slotswere approved for them by the FederalGovernment. The slots are not evenenough for Phase Three ex-militants inDelta State let alone other states in theNiger Delta region.

There is this erroneous impressionamong the Phase Three ex-militants thatit is Kingsley Kuku that is holding backthe slots that they feel was due to them,hence they are directing all accusationsand blames at him. Those aggrieved ex-militants who are not included in PhaseThree should direct their protest to theFederal Government and not KingsleyKuku because he was not the one thatmade the approval. They should appealto President Goodluck Jonathan to lookinto the matter.

President Goodluck Jonathan is fromthe Niger Delta. How would youdescribe his attitude towards the amnes-ty programme?

We are satisfied with what he isdoing. Since Phase Two was ap-proved in December 2010, we havebeen receiving our monthly salariesregularly. As I am speaking, wepreparing to go for training and Iam the one compiling the list thatwould be submitted at the AmnestyOffice.

Obviously there is a time framefor the amnesty programme. Whenit finally ends, do you think theyouths would have been empow-ered enough such that they will notgo back to the creeks again?

The amnesty is coming to an endin 2015, but if it ends withoutempowering the youths adequately,the crisis that will come up will bemore terrible than the one that camebefore. So I will advise the govern-ment to package them well beforethat time. Some persons have beenwriting petitions against the Amnes-ty Board headed by Kingsley Kuku,that the man is not doing well, thathe is using the programme to favourthe Ijaws mostly, that other ethnicgroups are being neglected; evensome Ijaw youths are also complain-ing that they are not being carriedalong. How do you react?

I am the Phase Two chairman ofthe Amnesty Programme in DeltaState and I know how many Urhoboyouths that are benefiting. I knowhow many Isoko youths, Itsekiriyouths that are benefiting.

BLACK SUNDAY IN INYIMA5 dead, 300 houses razed, 5,000 displaced

BY EMMA UNA

Cross River State annually experiences natural

disaster portfolios such asflood, wind storm, acid rainand hail stones which causedevastation. But what wreaks more havoc are conflictsamong communities in thestate.

One can, on the fingers ofone hand, count the numberof communities in the statethat have not engaged in oneform of intra or inter-commu-nal conflict at one time of theother with consequent loss oflives and destruction ofproperty.

These conflicts aresparked by trivial misunder-standing or squabble for landfor agricultural activity particularly during theplanting season, January toJune.

Though the state is blessedwith, large expanse of fertileland, this is hardly considered enough as communities

seek to acquire more byencroaching on that of neigh-bours and this often leads toconfrontation and then “war”.

To stem the high frequencyof conflicts, Governor LiyelImoke sometimes wields the

big stick against traditionalrulers and political leaders bysanctioning or suspendingthem from office.

In one of such recurringconflicts in the CentralSenatorial District of the state,on Sunday, 2 June, five

persons were reportedlykilled, 300 homes set ablazeand about 5,000 peoplerendered homeless.

The attack was said to havebeen masterminded byaggrieved youth from Adun village who alleged that aman, Akani Azugo, fromInyima community, stolecassava tubers from a farmbelonging to an Adun manand was arrested by thepolice, but the youth were notsatisfied and felt that theInyima people had under-mined their “superiority” anddared them by stealing theircassava..

The attack left Inyima,located about 200km fromCalabar, in ruins as virtual-ly every building was eitherburnt or demolished.

The assailants did not sparethe newly constructed andfully equipped primary healthcentre built by the Cross RiverState Government in thecommunity as it was de-stroyed along with its

facilities including beds,drugs and solar panel.

House hold property wasburnt and domestic animalssuch as goats, fowls, dogswere killed. The animalscarcasses littered the village.

Public institutions likeschools and churches inneighbouring villages havebeen turned into refugeecamps with majority of themat Assiga Old and NewTowns, Igbo-Imabana, Nkoand Assiga Beach. Theatmosphere in the village wasone of gloom. A few menwere seen in the villagewhen Sunday Vanguardvisitedwhile women andchildren trickled-in to salvagewhatever property was leftwhich they could take to therefugee camps.

The Cross River DeputyGovernor, Efiok Cobham, who visited Inyima twodays after the conflict to seethings for himself describedthe destruction as barbaric

Continues on page 34

Muturu

A village in ruins

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013—PAGE 33

The day of the ‘tablet ofknowledge’ in Osun

non-academic life-enriching subjectssuch as History of The Yoruba, Sexuali-ty Education, Civic Education, Ifa onethics and morals, enterprise educa-tion, hints and tips on passing SSCEand ‘How to live a Healthy and Happylife’.”He also noted that, in the integratedtest zone of the device, there are morethan 40,000 JAMB and WAEC practicequestions and answers dating back toabout 20 years, adding that the tabletalso contains mock tests in more than51 subject areas, which approximatesto 1,220 chapters, with roughly 29,000questions referencing about 825images. Nobel Laureate, ProfessorWole Soyinka, in his goodwill mes-sage, described the Opon Imo as agrand-breaking initiative worthy ofemulation. Soyinka said with this newe-learning device, students in Osunhave all the reasons to be proud andcelebrate the digitalisation era thegovernment has just exposed them to.The UNESCO Director General, whowas represented by the CountryDirector, Professor Hassana Alidou,said the world education and culturalorganisation is ready to partner withany government like Osun, which putseducation on the front burner.

allow students to learn at their ownpace, wherever and whenever theychoose, saying that it provides robustand uniform learning content for them,offering a feedback mechanism formonitoring of their performance.According to him, “this little device willgreatly facilitate our free educationpolicy by saving the state a lot of moneythat would have had to go into procur-ing text books on annual basis. Indeed,the saving is humongous.”Were the state to engage in the physi-cal purchase of hard-copies of textbooksfor the 17 subjects taught in our publicschools, hard-copies of 51 audio tutori-als, hard-copies of JAMB and WAECpast questions and answers for allsubjects for a period of 10 years, itwould cost a whopping sum ofN50.25billion.Very much like other suchcomputer devices, Opon-Imo containsboth hardware and software compo-nents,” Aregbesola said. The governorpointed out that the tablet providesthree major content categories viz: e-library, virtual classroom, and anintegrated test zone.”The virtual classroom category con-tains 63 e-books covering 17 academicsubjects for examinations conducted byWAEC, NECO and JAMB as well as

*Opon Imo ... new dawn for pupils

BY GBENGAOLARINOYE, OSOGBO

Osun Stategovernor,OgbeniRauf Aregbesola, on

Monday, recorded anotherfirst with the launch of themuch awaited innovative e-learning device tagged OponImo, tablet of knowledge,amidst showers of praises forthe ingenuity of the Aregbe-sola-led administration asthe state government isexpected to save N8.4 billionfrom the purchase of textbooks for senior secondarypublic schools in the state.

It was the creme-de la-creme in Nigeria that un-veiled the device at theZainabab Half Moon Resort,Ilesa. Dignitaries whograced the occasion includeformer Vice President, AlhajiAtiku Abubakar; Speaker ofHouse of Representatives,Rt. Hon Aminu Tambuwal;Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; aformer FCT Minister, Mal-lam Nasir el- Rufai; retiredGeneral Alani Akinrinade;Oyo State Governor, SenatorAbiola Ajimobi; the Ooni ofIfe, Oba Okunade Sijuwade;Alaafin of Oyo, Oba LamidiAdeyemi; and Owa Obokunof Ijesaland, Oba GabrielAromolaran.

In his address, Aregbesolasaid Africans would nolonger accept the tag of acontinent without hope orfuture, insisting that with thelaunch of Opon Imo, Nigeriaand indeed the entire blackcontinent has sent a signal ofits arrival on the world stageof development.

In the speech entitled:“Opon-Imo Enters theStage,” the governor saidthere could be little argu-ment that Opon-Imo is averitable tablet of knowledgethat levels the learningplaying field for all studentsfrom different social back-grounds.He added that the tablet will

and a slap on civilization. “Itis pathetic that the stategovernment’s lofty pro-grammes of providing socialamenities such as roads,hospitals and schools are being derailed by dastardlybehavior such as this”, Efioklamented.

He promised that the matterwould be investigated andculprits brought to book andurged the victims to volunteerinformation to enable theauthorities apprehend theassailants.

The Director-General CrossRiver State EmergencyManagement Agency, SEMA,Mr. Vincent Aquah, who alsovisited the displaced people

in their camps, assured them of government help.

A victim, Mr David Agbo(51), told Sunday Vanguardthat the villagers wereroused from their sleep thatSunday morning by theattackers who invaded thevillage in “large numbers armed with sophisticatedweapons and shootingsporadically, burning anddemolishing houses withexplosives”.

He said the attack came as asurprise and caused so muchpanic that the villagers fledin different directions mostlythrough bush paths to neigh-bouring communities.

Agbo narrated that somedays before the attack, an

Inyima man, believed to beinsane, was alleged to havebeen spotted harvestingcassava belonging to an Adunperson and was arrested anddetained by the police.

He said that, on Friday,which was their market day,women, who went to theirfarm to harvest cassava forsale in the local market, camerunning back to complain thatthe Adun people armed withdangerous weapons drovethem from their farms and thatthey were matching towardsthe village.

Another victim, Mrs. Caroline Solomon (38), whosat mournfully by her demol-ished building, said she wasin the company of other

women in the farm whensuddenly the assailants camefrom the bush and drove themaway.

“I saw one of our boys whowas with us in the bushcaught up and surrounded bythe assailants attacking himwith machetes. He must havebeen killed”, she stated.

Meanwhile, HonourableMoses Abeng Onor, theleader of the Cross River StateHouse of Assembly andmember representing Obubra2 in the Assembly, along withfour other Adun communityleaders were arrested anddetained by the police at thepolice headquarters inDiamond Hill allegedly inconnection with the incident.

Continued from page 33

5 dead, 300 houses razed, 5,000 displaced

Labour, journalistsawards for Gov Shema

Citing purposeful leadership in Katsi-na State, the Nigerian Union of Journal-ists, NUJ, Zamfara State Chapter ho-noured Governor Ibrahim Shehu Shema,last week, with an award. About an hourlater, Nigeria Labour Congress, KatsinaChapter, came calling and Shema got an-other award. The NLC at the national levelearlier honoured him as the “most labourfriendly governor in the state”. The Zam-fara NUJ says the infrastructural devel-opment he brought to Katsina could onlybe compared to what is happening in La-gos State. Shema, while accepting thehonour,thanked both bodies for recogniz-ing his modest contributions to the statebut more importantly adding value to thestate civil service.

A cry of help fororphanages

By Gabriel Ewepu

The General Manager, GM, of Big Events,Ms. Esther Okugo, wants public-spirited peo-ple to support orphanages to give inmates asense of belonging.

She spoke at the Divine Wounds of JesusChrist Orphanage, Kubwa, Abuja, where chil-dren from three orphanages were assembledfor the Children’s Day celebrations.

“Children in orphanages need the love, careand support of the society. I urge all well-meaning members of the society to assist themby providing their needs and given shoulderson which to lean,” she said. The other twochildren’s homes that participated in the eventwere: Ark of Refuge Orphanage and the Kub-wa Divine Orphanage.

The GM said that the her company , an out-fit with business concerns in events manage-ment and party handling, especially for thechildren, organized the celebrations as partof its social responsibility. “Our works of mer-cy and concern for the poor and weak demon-strate our organization’s social responsibili-ty for the larger society to ensure a betterworld”, Okugo added. The Coordinator ofFirst Choice Foundation, a non-governmen-tal organisation, NGO, Chief Austin Arah, saidhis organization was at the function as a dem-onstration of the ways it reaches out to chil-dren, especially orphans and the helpless.

Care-givers of the various homes at the eventexpressed gratitude for being remembered byFirst Choice Foundation and Big Events Man-agers.

One of the victims ofIniyima/Adun crisis

PAGE 34—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

Short sightedness is killing the economy– Rasheed Gbadamosi, ex-National Planning Minister

Mr. Rasheed Abiodun Gbada-mosi is an economist. His creden-tials include being minister, Na-tional Planning, Chairman, Na-tional Committee on IndustrialDevelopment for the IndustrialMaster Plan project, Chairman,Petroleum Products PricingRegulatory Agency (PPPRA),Chairman, Governing Council,Nigerian Institute of Social andEconomic Research (NISER) andmember, Nigeria’s External DebtRescheduling team. He speaks, inthis interview, on the state of theeconomy in the last 14 years, theinitiative by the Central Bank ofNigeria (CBN) to make cashlessmonetary policy a universal phe-nomenon, privatisation of PowerHolding Company of Nigeria(PHCN) and the need for govern-ment to harness the resources po-tentials in agriculture.

NIGERIA has just celebrated 14 years of uninterrupted democracy.

How has democracy impactedon the economy?

To start with, I do not like thisexultation about democracy. Itdoes not mean that if we do nothave democracy we won’t haverelative prosperity. Economic in-dices were positive even in non-democratic governments. Theremay be some methodological ex-trapolation of cost and economicgrowth.

14years of uninterrupted de-mocracy, the economy is not tooglorifying, considering the num-ber of people queuing up and beg-ging for alms. You can see thephenomenal rate of beggars onthe streets. Millions of youths arelooking for jobs and they can’tget. They have hope of being gain-fully employed but their prospectis not realised. If there is tangibleeconomic prosperity, there shouldhave been reduction in the rate ofunemployment and abject pover-ty in the country. The statistics oneconomic growth may be high onpaper, as we have seven per centeconomic growth rate currently.Does it impact positively on thestandard of living of the people?May be I am prejudiced becauseI am not getting any younger.

Data from National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS) shows that over20million youths are currentlyunemployed. Can you tell us whyour economy is growing at sev-en percent without creating jobs?

Well, call it jobless growth if youlike. The truth is that we can haveeconomic growth without devel-opment. For instance, we can havegrowth in the oil and gas sectorbut we face the issue of exploita-tion, which causes anger amongthe public. If we have oil boomand increasing exploration ofmineral resources for example,there could be few good roads, butwe need improvement in electric-ity in order to move away fromover dependent on crude oil toharness the enormous resourcesin agriculture and improve oureconomy. Small and MediumEnterprises (SMEs) can spring upin various places across the coun-try if power is not an issue. Run-ning businesses on generatorsimpact highly on the cost of pro-

duction. Also, our borders areopened and there is influx of thesame goods manufactured local-ly in Nigeria flooding our mar-kets from other countries.

Beyond that, development is notabout happenings in the urbancentres. Realistically speaking,since independence in 1960, thereis lopsidedness in the economyand events in the urban centres aspeople are still looking for devel-opment. For example, during theregime of the late Sani Abacha,some youths were brought to Abu-ja . When they saw how the Feder-al Capital Territory (FCT) hadbeen transformed with the mon-ey realised from the natural re-sources in their region, militancybegan in the Niger Delta region.So, you can see the lopsidednessin the type of federalism we prac-tice in Nigeria . Until we practicetrue federalism, we are still go-ing to face enormous challengesin achieving wealth creation andtangible economic development.

Some financial experts saidrecently that the recent move bythe Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) to reverse the monetarypolicy on polymer naira notes isa clear case of policy inconsis-tency. Do you share that opinion?

Of course it is policy sommer-sault because they are trying tochange their minds on what theysaid initially was the best. The costof printing the note is so high.Aside from that, paper notes areexpensive because there is a bigcompetition for paper money glo-bally. Another thing is the needfor protection from being easilyforged, which may pose somechallenges. In this case, monetarypolicy designers have a role ofcoming together to view the sys-tem to fashion out the way for-ward. We are more concernedabout the value, which gives ef-fect for money as a medium ofexchange. Also, it is common inNigeria to see people abuse thenaira by throwing the money onthe ground during parties. Sometraders also rough handle the cur-rency during transaction.

Considering the fact that mostplaces, particularly rural areasin the country, are un-banked, doyou think the initiative by theCBN to extend cashless mone-tary policy to other states in Ni-geria will yield positive results?

The policy on cashless econo-my is very good and I must givethe CBN kudos for this insight. Itmeans we can do business with-out carrying large amounts ofcash about. It has also reducedthe rate of armed robbery attackson people travelling for business-es with so much cash. This is agood policy, which shows that eco-nomic development is not aboutthe quantum of cash in transac-tions. Also, there are some chal-lenges, while small mediumtransactions can’t be done as ben-eficiaries can’t access it, withtime, we will get it right.

The cashless regime has legiti-macy though small transactionsare suffering but we will get useto it. Once the economy is grow-ing and needs increase in invest-ments, we have to be innovativelike the advanced economies.Since the incidence of robbery hasreduced with the cashless regime,making it a universal phenome-non is a laudable initiative but

BY UDEME CLEMENT

requires time for smooth imple-mentation. The policy will helpthe banking sector and the econ-omy at large when it is universa-lised.

Are you in support of the pri-vatisation of the Power HoldingCompany of Nigeria (PHCN)?

The Federal Government mustopen up the economy. This issomething we cannot run awayfrom, because we don’t have suf-ficient resources to pay for thesethings to happen. I saw great ef-forts in repairing Ikorodu Roadand it is costing us much money.Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is a

vestment in education is a verita-ble tool for development. Effi-cient medical care and educationare as important as buildingroads and bridges around thecountry. Enlightenment of themasses is about fostering aspira-tions of people on what they canachieve in life.

So, aside from transacting busi-nesses and domestic consump-tion, we need electricity for theagricultural sector to produce thedesired result. For instance, Ni-geria is the largest growing cas-sava country in the world. FromLagos up to Taraba, the country

energy consumption.What is molasses?Molasses is a thick brown liq-

uid product obtained from rawsugar cane and sugar can be madeout of it. Molasses can be refinedto get concentrated liquor for pro-ducing gin and wine. The Chinesewere willing to sell the technolo-gy to us because they were look-ing at getting this product for apopulation of about 1.2billion.

You can see that erratic powersupply has always been the majorfactor militating against econom-ic development in Nigeria . Atpresent, South Africa is produc-ing about 50,000mega watts(MW) of electricity, while Nige-ria is producing just between4,000 and 5,000mw. What wehave in Nigeria is not even suffi-cient for a village. We are jokers.There ought to be incrementalinflow of foreign investments forpower project because it is capi-tal intensive. Government shouldprivatise the sector if such actionwill foster inflow of investments,which is the only solution.

What are those things neededthat make power sector so capi-tal intensive?

There are three segments in theelectricity generation, such asgeneration, transmission and dis-tribution. These segments needhuge sums of money to light upthe rural areas. If we do it right,people will even get money thanwhat obtains now. But few indi-viduals are just sitting on the lim-ited capacity to impede the pro-cess. The reality is that we do nothave the technical man-power toeven run the generation and dis-tribution to move the sector for-ward. The people needed to runthe process are not there becausefew people sat on the wholeproject. We are killing the econo-my with short sightedness.

Is Vision 20:2020 still realis-able with the high level of pov-erty and unemployment in thecountry?

The concept of Vision 20:2020was borrowed from the Malay-sian model to give long-term per-spective planning for the econo-my to enhance production. Thereason being that, we have to in-vest, gather the resources andbring modern technology toachieve the Vision. For instance,the issue of electricity I men-tioned earlier requires massiveinvestments. A dam alone cantake five years before going intoactual production. It takes a longconstruction period because youhave to look at the people, thegeography of the area where thedam is sited and the agro-techni-cal imperatives. It is such a bigproject. In doing it, World Bankcan be involved and other coun-tries experienced in building adam. You must also look at themanpower in terms of trainingpeople to divert water from thedam. This type of project is notabout one government. It can takeabout three succeeding govern-ments.

2020 is just few years from2013. So far, are we on track?

To be on track, we must keepthe Vision that we want to achievein a given period.

,

,nightmare. Nigeria is not just aninvestment destination, we havecoastline from Lagos to Calabar.So, if privatisation will solvesome of these problems, then gov-ernment must not hesitate to em-bark on it.

Infrastructure is also about en-hancing development, building afunctional railway system, mov-ing people and goods to open upthe economy for greater produc-tivity. Promoting developmentimplies that the waterways mustbe developed to foster inter-state,inter-communal wealth creation.Government should prove to peo-ple that they can move around tomake wealth for the economy tothrive. In doing this, the healthsector must be in good shape be-cause health is important to de-velopment. The citizens needgood and affordable medicalservices to ensure sound health.Education of the populace mustalso be of paramount concern. In-

can grow cassava to serve as feedsfor cattle in China and othercountries that will import theproduct. Cassava chips have nu-trients that human and cattle caneat. We have enormous potentialsin Nigeria , but we are not har-nessing and utilising the resourc-es adequately. For example, theChinese begged Nigeria on theissue of cassava but we could notgrow enough to make chips fromthe outer layers, even if we want-ed to use the inside for garri. Doyou know that cassava layers canbe fermented for spirit drinks?They are just waiting for us to lightit up, but without constant elec-tricity, these things cannot workand we cannot achieve muchgrowth and development. Do youknow that we searched for maizeto make products to be ferment-ed for molasses because the Chi-nese were willing to sell the tech-nology to us but we could notguarantee them power supply?The project requires high level of

Mr. Rasheed Abiodun Gbadamosi

The Federal Government mustopen up the economy. This issomething we cannot run awayfrom, because we don’t havesufficient resources to pay forthese things to happen

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 35

The gains of SURE-P, byUduaghan, Wogu, Gulag

THE event was a Sensitizationand Appraisal visit to Delta Stateon Community Service, Women

and Youth Employment, CSWYE, aproject of the Subsidy Reinvestmentand Empowerment Programme, SURE-P, of the Federal Government.

While the venue was Asaba, the statecapital, a rendezvous for stakeholdersfrom the South-South geopolitical zoneon CSWYE, the Minister of Labour andProductivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, ledother top government officials to themeeting.

Those who accompanied Woguduring the special programme were:the Minister of Information, Mr.Labaran Maku; the Special Adviser tothe President on Political Affairs, AlhajiAhmed Ali Gulak; the Director General,National Directorate of EmploymentMallam Abubakar Mohammed;Permanent Secretary, Ministry ofLabour and Productivity, Clement Illoh;and a former Deputy Governor of EdoState, Emmanuel Imasuan.Others were Project Director, CSWYE,Dr. Martina Nwordu; and Director,Productivity and Measurement in theMinistry of Labour and Productivity,Teresa Braimoh.

Also in attendance were over 20traditional rulers, led by the OvieofUvwie Kingdom, Abe I, EmmanuelSideso, and the Akugbeneof MeinoKingdom, S. P. Luke Kalanama.

The visit started with a meeting withGovernor Emmanuel Uduaghan andhis team before a town hall meetingwith the traditional rulers, thebeneficiaries of the programme and,later inspection of work sites.Participants commended PresidentGoodluck Jonathan for the SURE-Pprojects and vowed to support his re-election in 2015.They acknowledgedthe positive effect of the SURE-P,especially CSWYE, anchored by theMinistry of Labour.

Speakers recalled last year ’s fuelsubsidy removal and the protest thattrailed it; the argument that the moneythat would accrue from the policywould not be deployed for the benefitof Nigerian masses and concluded thatthe president had fulfilled hispromises.

Meeting with UduaghanMeeting with Uduaghan, Wogu

stressed the importance of theprogramme and his sensitization andappraisal visit to the South-South,saying the visit was the first step inthe series of activities planned for hisofficial working tour of the zone.“The purpose of my visit is to sensitizethe general public on what we havedone and are still doing to fulfill thepromises of Goodluck Ebele Jonathanto Nigerians when he promised to usepart of the savings from oil subsidy toalleviate the impact of the partial oilsubsidy removal on the vulnerablemembers of our Society. The Presidentpromised to deliver these benefitsthrough the Subsidy Reinvestment andEmpowerment Programme (SURE-P),which as you know has many sub-programmes, including the CommunityService, Women and Youth Employment(CSWYE) Project, one of the projectcomponents under the Social SafetyNet Programme (SSNP). As the nameof this project implies, it aims at

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

,

,

communities are now gainfullyemployed. Today, what we arewitnessing is a testimony of Mr.President’s promise. Presently, we havemore than 3,000 beneficiaries in eachstate of the federation with more tocome.

“Today, Lagos-Kano railway isfunctioning, we have seen the East-West road, and we have interventionand improvement in power supply. Wehave seen clearly that Mr. President issincere, committed and hungry fordevelopment. God willing he will takethis country to the next level ofdevelopment. Should Mr. Presidentdeclare he wants to run for secondterm, he has not told us, he has notsaid so, he says in 2014 he will makehis intention known. But should hemake his intention known that he wantsto go for second term, what is wrongwith that? He has the constitutionalright; he has the right to contest. Whyshould the Niger-Delta be shortchanged, why shouldn’t he be allowedto serve out his second-term like others?What crime has the Niger-Deltacommitted to be short-changed? We willnot agree.”

”The office will not change a man whois truthful, that an office will not blur aman’s vision who is sincere andtruthful, his humility knows no bound,his commitment and sincerity knows nobound. Mr. President and his team areso committed and if you give them theopportunity you will see changes inNigeria. I am from the northern part ofthe country, and, to be specific, theNorth-East geo-political zone wherethe insecurity problem is morepronounced. But Mr. President hastaken the bull by the horn, he hasdeclared state of emergency and theemergency rule is yielding positiveresults. I tell you here today that in thenext three, four months, this will be athing of the past.

EndorsementOn behalf of the monarchs, the

Ovieof Uvwie Kingdom, EmmanuelSideso, and the Akugbene MeinoKingdom, S. P. Luke Kalanama, saidthe traditional institution was notinvolved previously in the programmebecause they were not carried along.

They expressed support for theSURE-P programme. While expressingsupport for Jonathan, they, however,demanded that the traditional rulers beintegrated into the programme in theirvarious communities, advising thatmore funds should be made availableto sustain it.

Among the SURE-P beneficiarieswho spoke were Kasikoro Ebin fromHomone Local Government Area,Keene Odili from Delta North, GraceEverest from Akwa Ibom, Vincent Ogasfrom Rivers State, Dickson Game fromDelta Centre and Otono. I. from EdoState. They lauded the programme, theMinister of Labour and Jonathan forgiving them a means of likelihood.”We appreciate what PresidentJonathan did for the less privilegedpeople, we shall continue to pray forhim,” Keene Odili said, while to GraceEverest, “President Jonathan is thefather of the fatherless, he has donewhat my father cannot do.”Ogas said: “Rivers State people arehappy for this programme. We areHappy with the President and theMinister of labour. For staying at homeand getting our alert as at when due,even though we are working, weappreciate it, and this is despite thepolitical problems in Rivers State.”

And to Otono, “We appreciate thePresident of Nigeria for what he hasdone in Edo State. Widows, disablesand other youths have benefittedimmensely from the SURE-P projects.”

providing stop-gap employmentopportunities to women, youths andpeople with disabilities in their variouscommunities,” the Minister stated.”He said the project was designed withunique features that ensure directimpact of the benefits on vulnerablemembers of the society who form themajority of the core poor, unskilled andunemployed Nigerians, noting: “Theproject is designed to transfer partof the wealth saved from the oil subsidydirectly to them seamlessly, therebyempowering them economically. InDelta State, for example, 426beneficiaries were recruited under thepilot scale and 3000 under the first

DialogueAt the meeting with traditional rulers

and the beneficiaries at the EventCentre, Asaba, the team listed thedetails of CSWYEP, its importance andall government had achieved underSURE-P.

According to Gulak, Nigerians werenot opposed to the removal of fuelsubsidy but were concerned with whatwould happen to the money after theremoval.

The presidential adviser said:“President Goodluck Jonathan isdifferent; he means what he says andsays what he means. He did promiseNigerians that he will come up withprogrammes that will alleviatewhatever will be the fall out of thepartial removal of subsidy and one ofthe programmes is the CommunityServices Women and YouthEmpowerment Project. Women, youthand the disabled persons in our various

Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu addressing thestakeholders at the town hall meeting on SURE-P CSWYE in Asaba during hissensitization and appraisal tour of the projects in South-South

Ramp-up phase, making a total of 3426Deltans. This is made up of 1,610 males,1,816 females and 256 disabledpersons, who have been deployed to256 project sites, spread across thethree senatorial districts and 25 localgovernment areas in the state.”Wogu explained that the sum of N82,656,750.00 had so far been utilizedfrom the oil subsidy savings, from theFederal Government’s own allocation,covering monthly stipends tobeneficiaries, basic hand-tools, andother minor project managementrequirements.

According to him, other states ofBayelsa, Cross River, Edo, Akwa Ibom,and Rivers, in the South-South hadeach engaged 3,000 beneficiaries,while the annual target was to recruit5,000 beneficiaries per state.

The minister added that collectively,the geo-political zone had benefittedto the tune of N337, 937,650.00 from

the CSWYE alone and solicited for thestate support and partnership with theFederal Government.Responding,Uduaghan said theprogrammes of the SURE-P were wellthought out to alleviate the effects ofthe partial subsidy removal.

He said: “So far, we have seen that alot is being done from the savingsaccrued as a result of the partialsubsidy removal and CommunityServices Women and YouthEmployment Programme (CSWYEP) isjust one of the very many programmes,of the very many things that are beingdone by the Federal Government withthe savings.”

Nigerians were not opposed tothe removal of fuel subsidy butwere concerned about whatwould happen to the money af-ter the removal

PAGE 36—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

,Nexim Sealink Project and intra-ECOWAS trade

,

THE Economic Community ofWest African States (ECOWAS)was established on May 28, 1975

as a regional trade organizationcomprising countries in the West Africansub-region. The aim of setting up theCommunity was manifested in its originaltreaty. According to provisions set out inthe Treaty of Lagos, and later, the revisedtreaty in 1993, the objectives were topromote co-operation in economic, socialand cultural activities towards a desirableestablishment of an economic andmonetary union through the totalintegration of the national economies ofmember-states. Inherent in the letter andspirit of the Treaty were the ideals to raisethe living standards of the ‘ECO-citizen,’maintain and enhance economic stability,foster relations among member-states andcontribute to the progress and developmentof the African continent in line with theprincipal provisions of the AfricanEconomic Community (AEC) Treaty underthe African Union.

Within four years of theoperationalization of the treaty, it becameclear that as laudable as it sounded, thegoal of achieving total integration ofnational economies of the constituentcountries would require more concertedeffort and commitment. Hence, the 1979Protocol relating to free movement ofpersons, goods, services and right ofestablishment was conceived as aninstrument to enable free movement ofECOWAS citizens within the sub-region.Loaded into the protocol were the goals ofinstitutionalizing a single regionalsocioeconomic space, providing ECOcitizens with opportunities in member-states, including the utilization of arableland by indigenous agriculturists, accessto coastal areas by landlocked memberstates, employment of English and Frenchlanguage experts and, most significantly,unfettered access to natural resources bymember-states. In a nutshell, the Protocolwas intended to create a ‘Borderless WestAfrica.’

Leveraging Nigeria’s CommitmentNo other economy within the sub-region

has been weighed down more than Nigeriafrom a disconnected West African market.Given the huge size of its population andGDP, the various Administrations inNigeria had demonstrated ample politicalwill to ensure the Community thrives.Indeed, the country has been the galvaniserof the ‘ECOWAS dream’ and has doggedlydeployed human and material resourcesto keep the trade bloc together in the faceof recurring political, economic, socio-cultural upheavals since the days ofECOMOG till the current intervention ofits military in the Malian crisis.

What is lacking, according tointernational relations experts, is forNigeria to lead the process towardsrealistically breaking down the trade wallsunder the Free Movement Protocol andunleashing the potential of free exchangesof goods and services as have beenwitnessed in similar trade regime underAssociation of South East Asian Nations(ASEAN) or the trilateral North AmericanFree Trade Agreement (NAFTA).Understandably, the implementation ofmost of these agreements is beingspearheaded by the various export creditagencies of the constituent countries.

Hence, it behoved Nigerian Export-Import Bank, (NEXIM Bank) - the tradepolicy bank of the Federal Government ofNigeria - to facilitate the process for theestablishment of a dedicated sea linkwithin the ECOWAS region. This is borneout of concerns by the current executiveteam of NEXIM Bank led by the MD/CEO,Mr. Roberts Orya on the partial

BY CHINEDU MOGHALU

realization of ECOWAS’ intra-regionaltrade facilitation and operationalobjectives, high intra-regional freight costsand shipment delays, which make cargodelivery within the sub-region to take anaverage of 45 - 60 days.

At the recent sensitization and pre-investors’ forum on the Sealink project onWednesday March 27th, 2013 in Lagos, forthe entire council and executive of theNigerian Association of Chambers ofCommerce, Industry, Mines andAgriculture, (NACCIMA), Mr. Oryaprovided an update on the initiative andinvited its membership to invest andpartner with the Bank and otherstakeholders in the SPV and RegionalMaritime Company. He stated the Bank isfacilitating the establishment of adedicated Regional Sealink project as ameans of overcoming the challenge ofroad infrastructure as well as absence ofrail links within the region which hasperpetually bedeviled intra-regional trade.The appeal for a sea link is furtherstrengthened by the comparative lowbudgetary cost and short implementationtimeline for a sea link-project vis-à-viseither a regional road or rail project.

equipment, office space and otherinfrastructure and $24 million for workingcapital to cover general and administrativecosts to be raised through equity and debtfinancing respectively.

Beyond making business sense, theproject has some inherent accruablenational benefits that further justify itsimplementation. These include unlockingopportunities in the maritime sectorthrough effective indigenous participation,thereby stimulating maritime-relatedemployment as well as localizing some ofthe maritime freight payments of anaverage of $5 billion annually from import/ export tonnages.

It will also facilitate the realization ofthe various Maritime-related laws like theCabotage and MIMASA Acts and theimplementation of the National ShippingPolicy; stimulate and attract private sectorfunding for the development of keymaritime infrastructure with the nationalbenefit of improving the level of intra-regional formal trade, thereby enhancingcontribution of trade/exports to GDP.

Also, it will assist in palliating thedisastrous effects of road/railinfrastructural deficit challenges that

it will facilitate growth of hinterlandhaulage business as the market segment isnot yet targeted by major shipping lines,thereby offering a huge opportunity to theproposed Sealink Project.

The Transformation AgendaThe Sealink project is in line with the

Transformation Agenda of the Governmentwhich projects investments in roads,railways, inland waterways, ports andairports development in collaboration withvarious stakeholders to evolve amultimodal, integrated and sustainabletransport system, with emphasis on rail andwaterways, through an effective Public-Private Partnership arrangement. Thisaims to create synergy and ensure an evenand nation-wide distribution of gains fromthe Administration’s investments in the keysectors, termed ‘main growth drivers’ suchas the manufacturing, agriculture, solidminerals, manufacturing, services, tradeand commerce, etc. Affirmatively, theSealink Project will take the gains of theTransformation Agenda beyond the shoresof the country. It will immediately open upour shores and immensely contribute toNigeria’s march to become the premiereconomy in Africa through creating aseamless export platform for movement ofNigeria’s manufactured/semi-processedgoods, services, and personnel with acertainty to boost competitiveness andproductivity across these sectors.Specifically, it will spur more private sectorinitiative and innovation, enhance thedevelopment of the key sectors’ value chain,create/sustain more Nigerian jobs as theECOWAS Markets become one andNigeria’s products and services arebrought to the world.

Sponsorships/CollaborationsThe project has been endorsed by the

Government of Nigeria. It has also beenadopted and is being sponsored by theFederation of West African Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FEWACCI) withother endorsements/collaborations by theECOWAS Commission, the ECOWASParliament, various multi/bilateralinstitutions including the MaritimeOrganization of West and Central Africa(MOWCA), strong private sector supportthrough various trade associations andheightened expression of interest bypotential investors (locally andinternationally).

In his remarks, the National President ofNACCIMA, Dr. H.A.B. Ajayi lauded Mr.Orya for the patriotic zeal which movedNEXIM Bank to come up with the RegionalSealink Project and the vigour with whichhe is pursuing its realisation.

He also concurred that the ECOWASmarket is huge and has not been fullytapped as a result of logistical challengesbeing faced in movement of goods andpersons, especially due to the absence of adirect shipping line for the West and CentralAfrican corridor. In this regard,NACCIMA, as a member of the FEWACCI,will like to join forces with NEXIM Bankand other progressive entities inactualizing the project. According to him,“…as the apex business association inNigeria, NACCIMA is supporting thesetting up of the shipping company as wedid during the establishment of ECOBANKTransnational which has become ahousehold name in all the West AfricanStates and beyond. We would like toalso stress the need for chieftains ofindustry here present to take ampleopportunity by participating in theraising of the $36 million that wouldform the equity capital for the settingup of the transnational shippingcompany.”

*Moghalu is Head, CorporateCommunication, Nigerian Export –Import Bank

According to Mr. Orya, the availabilityof a maritime vessel will significantlyreduce the high transportation costs andexcessive transit time which make intra-regional trade non-competitive, with Westand Central African transport and logisticscosts identified as one of the highest in theWorld. According to available statistics,these have resulted in low level intra-regional trade at less than 12% and 10%for African and ECOWAS traderespectively, compared to other regionalblocs such as European Union (EU) andASEAN whose intra-regional trade flowsare respectively at 50%, 40% and 25%.

Why Embrace the Sealink Project?Inviting the NACCIMA to invest in the

project, Orya stated that the fundingrequirement for the regional sealinkproject is $60 million out of which $36million will be required to purchase vessels,

affect regional integration and a majorcause of the muted growth witnessed overthe years in intra-African and ECOWAStrade levels.

Most importantly, it will enhancecompetitiveness of Nigerian exports,thereby improving the contribution ofmanufactured exports from the currentlevel of under 6%, and enhancing localindustrial capacity utilisation andattracting new investments.

Additionally, the project will enhanceNigeria’s status as a maritime hub for Westand Central Africa with attendant benefitsof facilitating Atlantic short-sea trade anddevelopment of pool of talent / manpowerfor the industry.

Furthermore, it has the immensepotential to stimulate multimodaltransport development to cater for non-littoral regional member countries; hence

No other economy within the sub-region hasbeen weighed down more than Nigeria froma disconnected West African market. Giventhe huge size of its population and GDP, thevarious administrations in Nigeria had dem-onstrated ample political will to ensure thecommunity thrives

,

,

Mr. Roberts Orya

Beyond makingbusiness sense,the project hassome inherentaccruablenational benefitsthat furtherjustify itsimplementation

SUNDAY VANGUARD,JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 37

BENIN, once known as Igodomigodo, was the kingdom of rulerswho regarded themselves as sky-

kings, those whose divine rule is derivedfrom the sky – Ogiso. At the eclipse of thisdynasty, there was still no authentic heirto the throne, Owodo; the last of the Ogi-sos was desperate for a successor. His onlyheir, Ekaladerhan, being the son of an un-favoured queen (Arukho), had little or noprospect of succeeding his father as hewas entrapped in a web of palace in-trigues with the sole aim of depriving himsucceed his father.

A plot purported to be the wish of thegods was eventually hatched to eliminateh i m .The executioners, sensing intrigue andbetrayal, spared his life. He secretly so-journed westward into a community theBinis called Uhe (Ife). At Uhe (Ife), heassumed the title of Oduduwa (I havesought my path of prosperity).Back home, the last of the Ogisos diedwithout producing a heir to his throne.During the period of interregnum, a re-publican called Evian as administratorof the kingdom was succeeded byOgiamien who became overzealous andambitious. He wanted to perpetuate Evi-ans hegemony inBenin. In order to sustain the age old tra-dition of primogeniture, the elders re-solved to set up a search party to trace thewhereabouts of Ekaladerhan, the only sur-viving heir of Ogiso Owodo.

The elders, headed by Oliha, who wereopposed to the overbearing nature of

Ogiamien, were resolute to invite Ekalad-erhan home to take over his rightful posi-tion as heir apparent. It became evidentthat the system of succession (father to son)had been the culture of the Binis since in-ception. It is therefore obvious there wasan existing kingdom under the rule of theOgisos before the establishment of EwekaI dynasty.

It is also beyond doubt that this practicehad been with the Binis before the estab-lishment of the present dynasty of whichErediauwa is the 38th Oba in an unbro-ken succession since Eweka I in 900AD.A delegation of nobilities, under the lead-ership of Oliha, eventually arrived at Ile-Ife and implored Ekaladerhan to returnto Benin. At the time the emissaries

This affair resulted in the birth of Eweka1 .Femi Fani Kayode’s write up in SundayVanguard of May 26, 2013 at pages 20-21 entitled, ‘Who are the Yoruba People?,’was quite interesting.

But while discussing the Ife-Benin rela-tionship, like some others before him, hetoo fell into a similar error by referring toold Benin Empire as one of the kingdomsestablished by Oduduwa’s progeny. Healso wondered how the name Yoruba cameabout. Mr. Femi Fani Kayode, a lawyerand former minister, is probably influ-enced by a vengeful clique of revisionisttheorists and courtjesters commissioned to deliberately re-write the history of the Yoruba vis-à-visIfe/Benin relationship to assuage the hurtego of some monarchs in search of con-temporary political relevance. History hastoday, therefore, become an intellectualpawn in the pen and armour of ethnocen-trics as forerunners of empire builders andirredentist adventurers.

I would, therefore, proceed by avoidinghistorical pitfalls which has become thelot of some bubbling Afrocentrics whoseize every opportunity to re-invent mythsas favourable facts of history.YORUBA is not originally a Yoruba word.Rather, it is a corruption of Iyoya rruoba (Ihave gone to pay my homage to the Oba).It is a Bini word corrupted into Yorubawhich Fani Kayode queried. He wrote “yetthe fact of the matter is that the word ‘Yoru-ba’ has no meaning in ourlanguage or any other language that isknown to man.… For all we know it couldeven be a deep and ancient insult….”Ife sources are founded on a mythology of

ders’ invitation could be subject to manyinterpretations. Firstly, he must have be-come so old that he felt it unreasonableto move to Benin. Secondly, he had adapt-ed himself to the culture of his new envi-ronment that he would prefer to remain.

He was, in fact, the leader of the com-munity as a result of his ingenuity andprowess in all aspects of community en-terprise.

Thirdly, he probably wanted to abide bythe pledge he made that he would not sethis foot on the Benin soil again.However, Ekaladerhan entrusted his son,Oranmiyan, into the care of Oliha whohad promised to ensure his protection.Oranmiyan’s reign in Benin was short-lived. His departure from Benin was dic-

reached him, he yelled in excitement,‘Ewore ka,’ meaning the nucleus or thesource, heart or soul of the flow will nevergo dry. He was assured of his safety andthe hope of making him the ruler of thekingdom. The aged prince refused the in-vitation and promised that he would rath-er delegate power to one of his sons.Ekaladerhan’s refusal to honour the el-

tated by two factors. One, he was greatlyembarrassed by the opposition ofOgiamien and his adherents.Two, Oranmiyan’s cultural backgroundwas in conflict with the custom and tradi-tion of Binis.On his way back to Ile-Ife, Oranmiyan hada short stay at Ego where he impregnatedErhinmwinde, the daughter of the Enogie.

Benin, kingdom of the sky-kingsThis piece is in response to Femi Fani-Kayode’s article,’ Who Are The Yoruba?’

By AMBROSE OSAWE

Nevertheless, Yoruba influence in Benin ismore in areas of worship of deities: Shan-go, Ogun, Sonpona, Orunmila which filteredinto Benin over the years including Ogbonicult which is still very vibrant in Benin.

Continues on page 39

PAGE 38— SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

how Oduduwa descended by the use of achain from the sky and, dispatched his sev-en sons to found the various Yoruba king-doms including that of Benin but they arenot able to prove whether they are talkingabout Orunmila or Oduduwa(Ekaladerhan).Benin was never a king-dom created by Oduduwa; rather, thekingdom had existed long before the com-ing of Oranmiyan who impregnatedERINMWINDE, the daughter of Enogieof Egor, and gave birth to Eweka 1, thefounder of the present dynasty in Benin.On Erediauwa, Professor Jacob Olupo-na, in his book, ‘Ile-Ife: City of 201 gods’,launched on Wednesday, December 12,2012, at the Institute of International Af-fairs, Lagos, wrote, in part: “The story es-tablished the sacred origin of Benin king-ship …a kingship relationship betweenBenin and Ife kingdoms”. Benin later tookon a more radical form of a sacred king-ship than that which exists in Ile-Ife. Be-nin became an obsolete monarchy, withthe first son of the reigning Oba named asthe heir apparent.This was not a later development, it wasfor this purpose a search party went tolook for Oduduwa. Benin does not owe itsorigin to Oranmiyan.Benin (Beny) is a Portuguese name afterwhich was named the Bight of Benin inview of its political, economic influenceand value by the Portuguese on trade mis-sions.

“Ile-ibinu, the land of anger,” that Prof.Olupona claimed had become Benin’s per-manent name is in no way applicable.

Oranmiyan was not taken to Benin tochange any of the existing traditions. Hewas in no position by any stretch of imag-ination to change the name of the king-dom from Igodomigodo to Ile-Ibinu.However, no parent would abandon a dan-gerous and turbulent project and requesthis son to take over.A transplanted Bini/Yoruba origin in tran-sit, whose grip on the social/cultural lifeof the people was fragile, could not sud-denly assume the position of a magnifi-cent ‘patron saint’ whose imprecate pro-fanity becomes an insignia for a rootedkingdom that flourished centuries before.And what is the existing anthropologicalsupport for adaptation of a foreign namefor an unconquered people of a differentculture who speak a different language?The same concept is applicable in thechoice of name by Oranmiyan’s son wholater assumed the title of Eweka. Eweka Iwas now a product of Benin socio-cultur-al environment which means he was ableto speak in his mother tongue. He wasnever brought up in the Yoruba environ-ment. It was more likely his utterance wasin Benin language, EWOREKA, which hisfather chose for him instead of a foreignword, Owo mika, adulterated as Ewekathat is more relevant in meaning to thecircumstances of his choice as Oba.Nevertheless, the Yoruba influence in Be-nin is more in the areas of worship of dei-ties, Shango, Ogun, Sonpona, Orunmilawhich filtered into Benin over the yearsincluding Ogboni cult which is still veryvibrant in Benin. Binis culturally practiceANCESTRAL worship. Worship of deitieswas borrowed from the Yoruba. Ancestorsare the gods they serve.During the reign of Ewuare the Great inthe 13th century, the city was renamedEdo. The Portuguese, during the reign ofEsigie in the 15th century, called the cityBeny (Benin) (Papiva da Beny) which inPortuguese meant broad road of the cityof Benin.

Papiva was corrupted to Akpakpava, theroad that once housed the Catholic Ca-thedral established in the 15th century,now known as Aruosa Church where theOba occasionally worships.Professor Olupona raised a pertinent is-sue when he asserted that “…the institu-tion of sacred kingship ….is part of theroyal cult of Benin mysticisms, indeedmore than any other kingship system in

Nigeria. Benin rituals, art and ideologyof kingship demonstrate the importanceof sacred power for the preservation ofkingship.” He continued “…part of Benin’scontinuing enigma is that the city’s centrecannot be unfolded, especially by outsid-ers, a dilemma that caused Oranmiyan(an outsider) to vacate the throne and re-place himself with a son born ofa Benin woman (an insider). The inher-ent tension in the “insider-outsider” con-flict remains partof Benin’s identity today”.

The professor’s remark merely confirmsthe fact that at no time did the Binis makethe mistake of transplanting an outsiderfor such an important assignment after along history of the practice of primogeni-ture (of a son succeeding his father). Inactual fact, it was in sustenance of thistradition that a search team was dis-patched in search of Ekaladerhan wholater assumed the title of Oduduwa.Still, on the Ife/Benin relationship, theAmerican-based professor of history wrote“…… a kingship relationship between Ifeand Benin, although Benin later took on amore radical form of sacred kingship thanthat which exists in Ile-Ife. … Benin be-came an absolute monarchy with the sonas the heir apparent whereas in Ile-Ife thekingship rotates among its ruling lineag-es…”

If in Ile-Ife the kingship rotates amongits ruling lineages, it means it is still pass-ing through the traditional crucible to at-tain a later, more acceptable monarchi-cal system where the throne passes fromfather to son as practiced in Benin andparts of Europe like Britain, Netherlands,Spain etc., as relics of absolute monar-chy.

Every system has its checks and balanc-es. Benin system, for example, allows theheir apparent to be one of the seven king-makers, while the Ezomo is third in thehierarchy after the Oba, and the Iyase, withhis kingdom at Uzebu, doubles as the gen-eral officer commanding the Benin forc-es at Obadan. This was a form of a diar-chy which Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’sfirst president, was proposing in 1974 asa system to curb military incursion intopolitical power. In my rejoinder to Zik’sproposal for which he was grateful, I re-minded him that diarchy had been in ourtraditional system as far back as the 13thcentury during the reign of Ewuare andthat it was not an innovation. I also re-minded him that military incursion hadbeen in our traditional system of gover-nance. I told him of how at the death ofAtiba, Alafin of Oyo, in 1859 and was suc-ceeded, contrary to custom, by his son Ade-lu, the crown prince, the powerful AreOnakankanfo of Ijaye, in defence of thetradition and constitution, rose to defendthe constitution as a war general.In the true sense of it, this was the firstattempted military coup in Africa and itwas in Yoruba land. The powerful Are ofIjaye refused to recognize Adelu as Alafinfor he ought to have committed suicide onthe death of his father in accordance withtradition.

This eventually compounded the Yorubawars similar to the 30 years of the war ofEurope of the 17th century.Africa, indeed the black race, has its his-tory of origin, empires, kingdoms and na-tion-building before the coming of thewhite men.

Recently, Professor Wole Soyinka was atthe palace of the Oba of Benin in pursuit

of his project : The meeting of two empires(powers): Benin and Portugal, in the early15th century when the pope, by the Papalbull of demarcation, divided the world be-tween Spain and Portugal, the then twoworld powers. This act enabled them dis-cover other empires and founded new set-tlements in their imperial and mercantilequest to conquer the world of the astrono-mers.

Benin, which fell within the axis of thePortuguese, was the first place within whatis now Nigeria, in Africa to be visited byany European in 1478. UkuakpolokpoloErediauwa the Oba of Benin in his book:‘I remain, Sir, Your Obedient Servant’,wrote in chapter 36, at page 205: “…Be-fore the advent of Oranmiyan, the ‘kings’that ruled the people who became knownas Edo or Benin were called ‘Ogiso’ de-rived from the description Ogie n’ oriso(meaning king in heaven). This is to con-firm that the old Benin Empire had longflourished ever before the recall of Ekalad-erhan. This was the situation that led tothe relationship between Ife and Benin inwhich Oduduwa a Benin prince onceknown as Ekaladerhan had to send his lastson Oranmiyan as his successor to the Be-nin throne, having established fully hisroots and tentacles in Ile-Ife … Ife peopletoday perform a ritual festival that re-en-acts the events that caused the originalsettlers including their village head to fleefrom Ife when Ekaladerhan (or Odudu-wa) became the head of the community”.In 1897, the British conquered Benin, de-throned the monarch and exiled him toCalabar. The monarch, Ovonramwen, lat-er settled into normal life.He had additional children partly of Efikdescent. If back home there was probablyno resilient traditional institution to re-capture the past when he died in 1914 anda team was dispatched to search for hischildren, though of Efik cultural back-ground, would it be correct or proper torecord that the Binis had asked the Obongof Calabar to send them a prince to ruleover them? This analogy would draw aparallel in Ife/Benin relationship and as-sist contemporary historians of ethnocen-tric bias a more acceptable view of theorigin of the Benin monarchy.When Femi traced the Yoruba route of mi-gration from Egypt/Saudi Arabia throughBornu to the present day Western Regionof Nigeria, the abode of the Yoruba, littleperhaps did he know about the recent dis-covery of Igbale Aiye. This community,located in Akpotoku Ketu (commune deketou), Republic of Benin, is said to be450,000 years old.It is also projected in significance to hostthe first inhabitants of the planet earth“where the builders of the pyramid ofEgypt came from”.The success of this project, sooner or later,will reverse all existing Eurocentric viewsabout Africa as the “Black continent”.The kingdom of the sky-kings was Ig-odomigodo. During the era of the warriorkings, it became Edo and later Benin Em-pire expanding as far as Republic of Be-nin, Lagos to the west and across the Ni-ger to Onitsha in the east. The Oba of Be-nin starting from Ogiso dynasty was knownas Ukuakpolokpolo Omo n’ Ogie, i.e., theanointed, processed and purified.The subsidiary kings were known simplyas Ogie … of this or that.After the amalgamation and the creationof provinces, the traditional rulers of West-ern Region generally were referred to asObas for the administrative convenienceof the colonial masters. Bight of Benin wasdescriptive of Benin’s political and eco-nomic influence in pre-colonial Africa.The Oba is still referred to as Omo. Beninpre-historic events are on display everyyear at the Oba’s yearly Ugie festivals. Sinceit is a yearly traditional ritual, it is a liv-ing history to which all are always invit-ed.*Osawe, a journalist and historian, wasa member of the House of Representa-tives in the botched Third Republic.

The kingdom of the sky-kings was Igodomi-godo. During the era of the warrior kings, itbecame Edo and later Benin Empire expand-ing as far as Republic of Benin, Lagos to thewest and across the Niger to Onitsha in theeast

Benin, kingdomof the sky-kings

Oba Erediauwa

Continued from page 38

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 39

FROM Monday toWednesday, SenatePresident David Mark

and his team were guests ofthe government of CzechRepublic especially the Senateof the country to share ideason how to improve on therelationship between bothcountries as well as build onNigeria’s legislative system.The visit was also designed toromance the Czech Republicknowing its strategic role in theEuropean Union where it helpsto champion the cause of Afri-ca continent and, to a verylarge extent, that of Nigeria.

Mark and his team were ex-posed to the old city where thepreservation of the peoples his-torical life and structure re-mained cherished by the gov-ernment and people of CzechRepublic. With the SenatePresident on the visit wereSenate Leader Victor Ndoma-Egba, PDP, Cross River Cen-tral; Vice Chairman, SenateCommittee on the Federal Cap-ital Territory, Senator DomingoObende, ACN, Edo North;Chairman, Senate Committeeon Navy, Senator Chris Anyan-wu, APGA, Imo East; andChairman, Senate Committeeon Inter- Parliamentary Affairs,Senator Abdulaziz Usman,PDP, Jigawa North-East.

On ground to receive theteam was the Ambassador Ex-traordinary and Plenipotentia-ry of Nigeria to Czech Repub-lic, Ms Catherine Okoh.

The first meeting after theteam was received at the air-port was with the President ofthe Senate of the Parliament ofthe Czech Republic, Mr. Mi-lan Stech, and other principalsenators of the legislaturewhere Mark told his host thatNigeria would work to sustainher democracy.The Senate President, whomarked Nigeria high in demo-cratic values, also told hisCzech Republic counterpartthat the Nigerian governmentwas working hard to end thenation’s security challenge,especially with the declarationof state of emergency in Ad-amawa, Borno and Yobe states.Mark said, “The operation isbeing handled well and, soon-er than later, terrorism will bepart of our history.”We are conscious that fightingterror is difficult because of fac-tors that dwell on human rightsand collateral damage. But theoperators of emergency thathas been introduced in the areawill bring it to its end.

”We appreciate the commen-dation of the international com-munity on the 2011 elections asfree and fair. We will continueto build on our democratic in-stitutions and, with the successrecorded and democracy inplace, military rule has goneforever in Nigeria.”

While inviting the govern-ment and people of Czech Re-public to come and invest inNigeria, the Senate Presidentnoted that Nigeria had playedthe role of ensuring stability inAfrica and still playing samerole.

He said, “This trend Boko

the Senate of the Parliament ofthe Czech Republic, Stech,who sympathized with theNigerian government overBoko Haram, promised that hiscountry will partner with Nige-ria in the areas of education,economy and culture as well assecurity.

Premysl Sobotka; Nigeria Am-bassador to the Czech Repub-lic, Ms Catherine Uyok Okonand Nigerians living in CzechRepublic.

One event Mark and histeam will not forget in a

hurry was the visit to Wallen-stein Palace, the seat of theSenate of the Parliament of theCzech Republic. There , thepeople showed the need topreserve history through struc-tures, documentation, pictures,signatures, handwritings, sou-venirs, among others.

The palace was built by No-bleman Albercht WenceslausEusebius Wallenstein in theyears 1623 to 1634. The palace,which has museum, gardens,pictures as well as paintings,is adorned with sculptures likeHercules with Centaur;Neptum, Horse with Snake;Bacchus; Hercules fightingwith Dragon; Appolo; Adonisand Venus; Nymph fightingSatyr; Laokoon and his sons;Venus with Amor, among oth-ers.

Moved by what he saw,the spirit of having a

Museum for the National As-sembly where the past will bereproduced for today and to-morrow, the Senate Presidentpromised that the project will

Haram terrorism became esca-lated by the situation in Mali,Niger, Libya and Chad but theFederal Government tried tocurtail this through appeal andcarrot approaches but this didnot quite succeed until the in-troduction of emergency rule.”

He told the Czech parliamen-tarians that the National As-sembly will continue to createlegislative instruments that willdeepen Nigeria’s democracy.In his remark, the President of

Mark and his team also hadtalks with the Chairwoman ofthe Inter Parliamentary Friend-ship group for Sub- SaharanAfrican Countries, Ms DanaVahalova; Speaker of theChamber of Deputies of theParliament of the Czech Repub-lic, Ms Miroslava Nemcova;first Deputy Prime Minister ofthe Czech Republic, Mr. KarelSchwaizenberg; Vice Presidentof the Senate of the Parliamentof the Czech Republic, Mr.

soon come on board.According to him, plans were

on by the Senate to reclaim Taf-awa Balewa Square, Lagos andturn it into a museum for theNational Assembly.

Ndoma- Egba, Obende, An-yanwu and Usman expressedsome concerns on the need forNigeria to preserve its yester-day and ensure the spirit ofmaintenance culture.

Mark, who said Senate Lead-er Ndoma –Egba heads thecommittee on immortalizationof senators, stressed:‘’Luckilythe Senate Leader is here, thechairman of the committee onimmortalization of senators andthey have worked very hard,visited a number of places,they have been to India and,seeing this place today, I thinkthat heightened the desire tomake that committee come outwith its recommendations asquickly as possible. We areeven going well beyond whatwe are seeing now to look if wewill be able to technically re-produce the voices of the vari-ous past leaders of the Nation-al Assembly.”

On reclaiming Tafawa Bale-wa Square, he said, ‘’We havewritten a letter asking the Pres-ident to let us take our parlia-ment house in Lagos where theNational Assembly used to sit,it is in a poor condition. Wewill gradually repair it andbring it to what it used to be.Luckily we have a number ofChairmen and Presidents of theSenate and Speakers who arestill alive. We will be able tobenefit from them and getsome of the things we will putinto the museum.”

Speaking on the lessons fromthe visit, the Senator Presidentsaid, ‘’You know that they alsopassed through a process whenthe defunct Soviet Unionstayed longer than they wereexpected and they had difficul-ty entering the current demo-cratic system. Their democracyreally took off in 1996 and oursstarted in 1999, so we are nottoo far apart.

‘’To have seen them at thislevel, there are lots we canlearn from them.

‘’I think one of the lessonsfrom this visit is that people whoare determined, they can pre-serve things and keep them,most of the buildings here arevery old buildings, but goinginto them, you will see howthey have managed them andkept them.

‘’If we also develop the sameattitude of maintenance andpreservation and very simplerespect for rule law, a lot ofthings will improve. You cansee that it is a small city in termsof space, but you see how veryorderly the whole place is; peo-ple move on the path designat-ed for movement on foot andthose who drive cars on road,nobody is driving and mean-dering through the difficultplaces.

Lessons for Nigeria fromPrague, by David Mark

‘’You know that they alsopassed through a processwhen the defunct SovietUnion stayed longer than they

were expected and they had difficultyengaging the current democratic system

PAGE 40—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

’How Mali, Niger, Libya troubles fuel terror in our nation’

BY HENRY UMORU

Mr. Milan Stech (left) with SenatorMark

SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD,SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 41PAGE 41PAGE 41PAGE 41PAGE 41

DELTA Intelligenceand Transparency

Group, yesterdaycongratulated Engr. PaulObelley, ManagingDirector, Warri Refineryand Petrochemicals,WRPC, on his birthday.

The group in a state-ment by its Secretary,Mr. Clement Umukoro,said: “We join Nigeriansand the people of NigerDelta to celebrate adynamic leader, Engr.Obelley, who hascontributed immensely tohuman development inNigeria”.

It also commendedEngr. Obelley for theongoing reform in theWarri Refinery, pointingout that Warri Refinerypresently beingmanaged by Engr. Obel-ley is now working effec-tively.

GroupcongratulatesWRPC MD

Nigerian Prof. makes history in US, heads Ivy League schoolBY JOSEPH OMOREMI

IT was encomiumgalore whenProvost Ilesanmi

Adesida was honored atthe Urban-Champaigncampus of the Universityof Illinois, United Stateswhere Nigerian-Americans gathered tocelebrate his elevation asthe first African to headan Ivy League school inthe country.

Speakers at theoccasion urged him touse the position andknowledge to effectchanges in thedeveloping world.

“You’ve served withgreat integrity andbrilliance in all thepositions you’ve held in

the United States for thepast 26 years,” Dr.Abiola Akanbi saidwhile urging him todirect his energy,knowledge and hiscurrent unique positionto effect dramatic butpositive changes inNigeria and thedeveloping world.

Friends listedAdesida’s trailblazingexploits in the US toinclude, among otherthings, assistingHoward University tobuild its nano-technology center, leftindelible foot prints atCornel University wherehe taught briefly, openeddoors of opportunities formany Africans acrossAmerica and turned theengineering departmentat the Urbana Campus ofUniversity of Illinois toone of the best in theworld.

His arrival at Urbana-Champaign more than26 years ago turnedthings around for blacksin the university asAfricans foray, once

limited to theDepartment of AfricanStudies, expanded toengineering and otherstudies including thenano-technology centerwhich he used to launchthe university as one ofthe leading nano-technology learningcenters in the world.

“He became a rolemodel for all of us. Hemade us better teacherand parents and assistedin whatever way hecould help us attaingreatness in our fields,”said Eyambe Bokamba, aprofessor of AfricanStudies at the Urbana-Champaign campus.

Dr. Tayo Akinwande, aprofessor of electricalengineering att h e M a s s a c h u s e t t s

Institute of Technology,said most people takehim to be Adesidabecause of the thingsthey have in common inmany ways whichearned him a breakbecause of his trailblazing attainments inelectrical engineeringand leadership.

Chief RotimiO g u n m o d e d e ,Adesida’s classmate atImade College, whocame for the ceremonyfrom Nigeria, describedhim as a star right fromhigh school.

Adesida wasoverwhelmed andspeechless as theaccolades.poured in.Instead of responding,he walked round the

Civic Center, venue ofthe celebration, anddanced with his wife of35 years, Dr. PatienceAdesida.

Professor Adesida beatRuth Watkins, the Deanof the College of LiberalArts and Sciences, tobecome the new provost.

Phyllis Wise, theChancellor of the Urbanacampus and a universityvice president, said theschool is counting onAdesida’s globalexperience, expertise ininnovation, andleadership in public andprivate partnerships tomove the school to thenext level.

Prof. Ilesanmi Adesida

A chieftain of the ActionCongress of Nigeria,

ACN, Mr. Ojie Ogwuyesterday, at Aboh,headquarter of NdokwaEast Local GovernmentArea of Delta State beratedthe Delta StateGovernment for allegedlyhijacking the Subsidy Re-investment Programme inthe state.Ogwu who said that theSURE-P programme ispeople orientedprogramme and notmainly for PDP, expressedshock how the transitioncommittee chairman ofNdokwa LocalGovernment Area hashijacked the programmemeant for the entire state.

Condemning the act,Ogwu said the SURE-Pprogramme has no partycolouration, adding that itis programme for allDeltans and should beevenly shared for all andsundry in respective ofparty affiliations.“The SURE-P is not PDPaffairs but for all thepeople who are sufferingfrom this subsidyremover”.

SURE-P: ACNchieftainberates DeltaPDP

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sameyoboka@yahoo.com 08023145567 (sms only)

PAGE 44—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

BARRING last-minute changes inplan, the body of late TimothyObadare, a renowned evange-

list and founder of the World Soul Win-ning Evangelical Mission, WOSEM,who died on March 21 after battlingan undisclosed ailment, will be in-terred in a $25,000 gold casket.

Obadare, the blind Akure-basedevangelist, the second officially recog-nized Apostle by the Christ ApostolicChurch, CAC, after Apostle JosephAyo Babalola noted for his monthlyKoseunti Crusade, until his death de-voted most of his time teaching the Bi-ble and winning souls for the King-dom of God. He was in ministry forabout six decades, eagerly committedto soul winning.

Addressing newsmen in Lagos dur-ing the week, the son of the late evan-gelist and the general overseer ofWOSEM in America and Europe, Pas-tor Paul Obadare, the WOSEMfounder will buried in his hometown,Ilesha, Osun State on August 17 in a14-karat gold plated coffin like the oneused for the burial late popstar,Michael Jackson and Whitney Hou-ston.

According to the son who had relo-cated to Nigeria to rebuild the father'sministry "we want the world to knowthat the best is given to the one whohas done his best for the gospel. If theworld can celebrate a carnal man, theworld should be able to celebrate aspiritual man better," adding that"these people have planted seeds intopeople's lives and touched lives posi-tively. Not just ordinary lives, but peo-ple from the top to the bottom.

"Why can’t the whole world, our na-tion Nigeria, put all their resourcestogether and say he (Prophet Oba-dare) is our own, we are going to givehim the best?" he asked.

The gold casket used for the burialof late Michael Jackson was manufac-tured by the Batesville Casket Com-pany of Indiana and it was the samemodel used for the funeral of Jackson's

Obadare may beburied in $25,000casket

hero, James Brown. It was said to havecost $25,000 while that of WhitneyHouston was put at between $10,000and $20,000. As the world's largest cas-ket maker, Batesville's products havebeen used in many celebrity funerals,including those for Farrah Fawcett,Bob Hope, Wilt Chamberlain and FredAstaire.

Giving details of the burial plan madeby the several committees set up byWOSEM, CAC and the sons of theprophet, Pastor Obadare said the cer-emonies would commence on August15 with a service of songs in Ilesha,Akure, Ibadan and Lagos as well as alying-in-state at Ilesha and an inter-denominational wake keep service onAugust 17 preceding the interment ata mausoleum currently under construc-tion at WOSEM Conference groundalong Ilesha-Ife Expressway in Ilesha.

He therefore appealed to Christians,governments, public-spirited individu-als, church leaders and believers to joinhands with the children to give thefallen evangelist a befitting burial.

He acknowledged that the OsunState governor, Ruaf Aregbeshola hadpromised to accord him a state burialand had actually begun the construc-tion of the road leading to BabaObadare's home in Ilesha.

Speaking on his recollection of thefallen Prophet Obadare, the youngerObadare said: "Baba would always sayto you, I live my life to save some. Hecould not save the whole world, he wasnot perfect. But he reached out to asmany as he could. That was his pas-sion. He doesn’t care about life likethat. Building houses, to him was noth-ing, having flashy things to him wasnothing. He said to us that I don’t haveinheritance here; I’m not giving youone. But I have inheritance there, ifyou can enter into that kingdom, youhave made it.'"

According to him, the late prophetalso desired to see the whole Churchof God to be one. "You will never seeBaba criticizing any minister. He wouldsay they may make mistakes but prayfor them and don’t allow anybody toknow that they are weak. He wanted

e s p e c i a l l yChristian lead-ers to come to-gether. He be-lieved thatachieving spir-itual goals inlife cannot bedone individu-ally."

To this end,Pastor PaulObadare isalso committedto the reunifi-cation of CACand promisedto work assi-dously to en-sure the mani-festation of

some young men would be sent to as-sist him in ministry. This was the be-ginning of a cherished relationshipand I spent many weeks in his Akurehome by invitation mostly filled withfasting, prayers and instructions. Af-ter a few little errands things movedon in life but I kept his strange instruc-tions in my heart.

"I finally met his eldest son, PastorPaul Obadare at a convention in theUkraine in 2009 and we exchangedtestimonies about life with his Dad. Idid not know that it was all by divinearrangement because the situation thathis father had briefed me about almost30 years before unfolded rapidly. Theinstructions now made sense after 30years and I moved swiftly to renderthe assistance required.

"It involved a trip to the USA where Iwas hosted by Pastor Obadare andushered into the Prophet's presencethe very next day. I spoke with Babaas he is fondly called and concludedeverything needed to execute histhrifty year old instruction. I spentonly four days in the USA and returnedto Nigeria to execute the mandate onthe prophet’s behalf in a very sensi-tive issue.

"It is still amazing whenever I con-sider the ministration that transpiredto serve on a mission with a 30-yearold instruction. My closeness to thefamily is based on this prophetic en-counter and I have since discoveredthat there are others like me who werebonded to the prophet by divine in-structions. There is still a residue ofsuch prophetic dealings that the mod-ern church hardly understands butexperience has taught us how accu-rate spiritual dealings can be.

"The prophet was larger than life instature and reach of his ministry con-tinues to amaze me. I believe he wasthe last of the titans that served underthe revival started in the early 1900swith Joseph Babalola and others. Thefact that his handicap was no obstacleto his success is also mind-blowingwhen you consider the African setting,"he stated.

By SAM EYOBOKA andOLAYINKA LATONA

that dream."I foresee it coming with a lot of prize

to be paid. Meaning that the presentleadership on both sides will have togive way. So the old people will giveway to the young ones;" just as he as-sured that the his late father stood forwill kept alive.

"We have been told even before hedemise, that we should deviate fromthe calling, or else ewe want to gounder, 'but if you don’t, you will ex-cel.' We don’t want to go under, wewant to go up and the only way wecan do that is to get ourselves awayfrom all the teething problems and facethe real call of the ministry," Obadarestated.

Also speaking at the occasion,founder of Living Waters Ministry,Rev. Ladi Thompson outlined some ofthe hidden legacies of the late prophet,saying that about "30 years ago I wasan enthusiastic but extremely waryChristian and I was extremely skepticalabout spiritual communications espe-cially the issue of dreams because Ihad seen many good Christians de-stroyed by demonic dreams becausethey were not cautious to differentiatebetween the genuine and the counter-feit.

"You could imagine my surprise whenI began to have a persistent recurringdream centered on a pastel blueMercedes (flat booth). The details ofthe car were so clear and the voice kepttelling me it was my car! I kept ignor-ing this recurrent dream until I drovemy Peugeot 305 to Surulere one dayand saw the same car live! Out of cu-riosity, I went to inspect it and was toldby the mechanic that it was for sale. Iobserved a strong unction coming fromthe car and began to question my san-ity until I discovered it belonged toProphet Timothy Oba-dare!

"By the time I called him by phoneto make an offer the prophet told methe car was no longer for sale, how-ever, he threw some unnerving ques-tions at me and mentioned a newchurch in the UK. He concluded by tell-ing me that the Lord had told him that

*Late ProphetTimothy Obadare

L-R: Pastor Paul Obadare, vice chancellor, Litoral University, Prof. ReubenGabriel Akindele and Pastor Ladi Thompson during the media parley.

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 45

WHEN you lose your faithyour allowance to gothrough rituals becomes an

unnecessary ticket to join in commu-nal time wasting.

What’s heaven going to be like? Don’tsay it can’t be imagined because that’sjust being silly. We can imagine any-thing, why we have a mind. So let ustry and visualize individuals first. Willold people be young looking? Peoplewho died very old who used to look atphotos of their younger self may notprefer to spend eternity sporting deepwrinkles.

Little children who lost their lives willbe what teens? Disabled people will behealed? What about a person who wascared for till they died---learning dif-ficulty, autism or down syndrome forexample---will they become clever asbrain surgeons in heaven? Most couldnot make decisions when they were onearth, perhaps will now probably begreat chess players.

Will there be plenty of virgins for Is-lamic terrorists and murderers in thename of Allah, if so where are theycoming from?

When you confront a believer withthat question they say God can do any-thing. So yes, you’ll have your quotaof pale skin, big bosomed belly dancerblonde and brunettes once you get thestamp of approval. But wait, isn’t thatidea just what a Middle Eastern manwould consider heaven? He lives in thenear desert arid region and the mostpleasant position he’d wish to find

himself would be just that. What abouta person who’s idea of eternal blisswould be something else? Sayan an-cient South America Indian who’dthought heaven was just like the jun-gle he’d lived all his life only this timethe animals would be easier to catchand there’d be no nasty parts to dis-pose of before preparing it for a meal?Would clergy still have to shout in mi-crophones in front of audiences to talkabout God? That would really bestrange because they’d have been sit-ting next to you now in the congrega-tion. Will they feel superior? Would youstill have to go through them to chatto God? Would the angels take overthis role?

Please don’t tell me not to questionthis. I am a thinking man. I wasequipped with a brain that’s neverending in its questioning. It cannot behelped. If God created me with thatbrain then he must expect me to beinquisitive. Would it be reasonable tocondemn me for asking?

I think not. So back in the secondcentury there was a general picture ofheaven---Glory Glory Halleluiah,trumpets long robes white wings, tem-ple---like monuments bright little baby

angels carrying harps, airy cathedralswith glittering stain glasses? Theseimages are just reflections of what theGreek and Italian painters put on wallsand ceilings and some of them fromHollywood movies.

These days, however, some people’sviews of what constitute heavenly stateare different. We now have a heavenwith high powered home or outdoorentertainment---like structural mas-sive speakers, 3D holographic equip-ment. High definition broadcastingand viewing have been installed tokeep the heavenly population continu-ally mesmerized by God's glory forever.

So in the next 150 years when uglypeople can afford to get facial surgeryon the cheap, there’ll be pills to re-store age-related hair loss, we canwear glasses that’ll deliver CNN andMTV to our inner vision due to chipsin our retinas. In short when techno-logical advancement has gone beyondwhat we can postulate now, then wecan expect that heaven would prob-ably take on a definition with whichwe cannot recognize today.

Visions of meeting up with long deadindividuals in heaven for many in-clude these people wearing clothes.Cotton material may hold out betterand survive death as opposed toleather. It is worth thinking about.

Then there’re those who claim therewould be no such thing. Everyonewould be in spirit form. They will beone with God and be able to see hisface. Souls will be able to drift in spaceand float to the ends of the universejust by wishing so. Galaxies and solar

systems would be the playground ofspirits that used to be bound to earthby flesh. Whoever seriously considersthis to be the eternal activity of his soulas reward for a life of piousness is aperson who probably never does anyserious thinking. This contrast withthose who say it would be just anotherearth only much more improved. Someeven say it exists in layers or levels.That can only be reasoned in terms ofthe grade between the very rural resi-dential areas up to the most urban.

There is no heaven. It cannot be im-agined even by the most fertile mind.I have this sneaky feeling that everyadult who can open his/her mouth todescribe heaven knows that they’retalking nonsense. They’re just play-ing the game everyone else is play-ing.

Heaven is a man-made construct sta-tioned in the realms of imagination. Aplace that helps many people dealdevastating proposition that life some-times comes to an abrupt end for eve-ryone. It is comforting to be told thatthe precious life just appears to stophere---it in fact continues elsewhere---in heaven.

This poorly thought out fictional eter-nal life will rub you of purpose. So whynot make the most of it while you stillhave it. You know it is very fleetingindeed.

I find the draconian faith-based re-gimes that hold men in imaginary forthe duration of their lives very sad in-deed.

*Mr. Ogunyade wrote in from La-gos. <moraktade@yahoo.co.uk>

BY MORAK OGUNTADE

Where is God?

There is noheaven...it cannotbe imagined evenby the most fertile

mind

SEE Inspirations Magazinerepackages

L-R: Mr. Sam Ogrih, Mrs. Lawretta Sam-Ogrih, Richard and Tonye Ntan atthe occasion.

SEE InspirationsMagazine, anon-denomina-

tional magazine, dedi-cated to the encourage-ment of those strugglingwith addictions, bond-age and negative habits,the brainchild of an edu-cationist who had writtenseveral inspirationalbooks for all ages, Mrs.Lawretta Sam-Ogrih isrepackaging with thecommencement of a sixbi-monthly publicationper year, reports SAMEYOBOKA.

Addressing newsmenat a recent Inspire TheWorld Benefit Dinner or-ganised by See Inspira-tions Magazine at theSEE Centre in Lekki,Lagos, the visionary/chief editor, Mrs.Lawretta Sam-Ogrih saidSEE Inspirations Maga-zines which had startedtwo years ago as a softsell publication is trans-iting to become a not-for-sale magazine.

Mrs. Sam-Ogrih who

said she was inspired bythe testimonies of othersand was motivated intowriting her own testi-mony in a book titledTreasures from the dark,noted that the vision isactually to inspire theworld as the magazine isstrictly an evangelistictool.

Asked how she intendsto sponsor the distribu-tion of the magazinefree, she said: “God whohas brought us thus farwill sustain us,” addingthat partners and advertpatronage powered byGod will see the publi-cation through, notingthat it has recordedamazing testimonies ofChristians across di-vides over the years.

Mrs. Sam-Ogrih ex-plained further: “We arejust in God’s hands.From the word go, Hewas the one that ordain-ed this publication. Webelieve He will bring tes-tifiers, adverts, supportand all resources we

“When you sow thistestimony into some-one’s life and that per-son gets born again, youare part of that founda-tion testimony and youare sowing treasure inheavenly account. Peo-ple don’t know that it isbeyond them just adver-tising their businesses,they are actually adver-tising God.”

The dinner featuredlive performances byAsu Ekiye, AITY Dennis-Inyang as well as somehilarious jokes by somecomedians of the Fed-eral Republic as distin-

guished guests dancedexcitedly in the Lord’spresence to commemo-rate the second anniver-sary of the magazine,which has become aleading voice in theChristian community.

Testifying to the impactof the two-year-old mag-azine, Mrs. ComfortUkpong described it asthe “Bible of our time,”pointing out that read-ing the stories of ordi-nary people whose livesGod transformed hasimbued her with vigourand inspiration to pursueher dreams.

need as at when due. Weare not worried but set-tled knowing He is incharge.”

Asked to speak on themajor challenges shehad faced in the last twoyears, she said funding,adding “in this part ofthe world, we have a lotof things that comecheap. It doesn’t comecheap to get that kind ofmagazine; we need a lotof financial assistance.We’ve been doing it inour own little way. Wehave to go into the mar-ket place like other mag-azines.”

According to her, themagazine is one of akind, since it featuresstunning testimonies ofex-robbers, ex-cultistsand all that, pointing outthat “beyond advertisingyour business, you areusing one stone to killtwo birds. You are sow-ing treasure in heavenlyaccount when you helpto encourage the maga-zine.

AITY, an accomplishedgospel minister, de-scribed the magazine asa must-read for thosewho believe in the won-drous acts of God, say-ing it is not just a publi-cation but one thatstands out among thecrowd.

The G.O. of Householdof Love Church, Lekki,Lagos, Rev. Yinka Yusuf,who preached the shortsermon at the occasion,solicited support for thepublication, maintainingthat an investment in itis tantamount to invest-ing in God’s kingdom.

JESUS warns hisdisciples: "Beware of these

Pharisees and the waythey pretend to be goodwhen they aren't. Butsuch hypocrisy cannot behidden forever." (Luke12:1). This warning cer-tainly applies to Paul.Paul declares: “I am aPharisee, the son of aPharisee.” (Acts 23:6).Moreover, his hypocrisy,hidden in his days, isnow evident to all in thebible.

Paul is double-tong-ued in his epistles. Hesays one thing here andanother thing there. Hedoes the exact oppositeof the righteousness heproclaims. The discrep-ancies between hiswords and his actionsbelie his highfalutin pre-tensions to lofty Chris-tian morality and values.

Double-standards

Paul warns the Gala-tians: "If you become cir-cumcised, Christ willprofit you nothing." (Ga-latians 5:2). And yet,Paul himself personallycircumcised Timothy.Luke reports that: “Paulwanted to take him alongon the journey, so he cir-cumcised him because ofthe Jews who lived inthat area, for they allknew that his father wasa Greek.” (Acts 16:3).

Paul counsels the Ro-mans: "Do not be wise inyour own opinion." (Ro-mans 12:16). Then he

says opinionatedly to theGalatians: "I have confi-dence in the Lord thatyou will take no otherview than mine." (Gala-tians 5:10). He declaresin Galatia: “There is nei-ther Jew nor Greek, slavenor free, male nor female,for you are all one inChrist Jesus.” (Gala-tians 3:28). Then he con-tradicts himself in Cor-inth by proclaiming dis-crimination between menand women: “Let yourwomen keep silent in thechurches, for they are notpermitted to speak.” (ICorinthians 14:34).

Paul asked: “When oneof you has a grievanceagainst a brother, doeshe dare go to law beforethe unrighteous insteadof the saints?” (I Corin-thians 6:1). But then,confronted by Christianantagonists, Paul choseto go to law before “theunrighteous:” “If there isnothing in their chargesagainst me, no one cangive me up to them. Iappeal to Caesar.” (Acts25:11). He says: “no onespeaking by the Spirit ofGod calls Jesus accurs-ed.” (I Corinthians 12:3).Then he himself declaresthat Jesus was accursed:“Christ redeemed usfrom the curse of the law

that he is superior to the12 apostles: “They saythey serve Christ? I knowI sound like a madman,but I have served him farmore! I have workedharder.” (II Corinthians11:23). He says: “Christis the end of the law.”(Romans 10:4). Never-theless, he performedNazarite sacrifices ac-cording to the law evenafter Jesus’ resurrection.(Acts 21:26).

Congenital liar

Paul says to the Colos-sians: “Do not lie to oneanother.” (Colossians3:9). And yet, Paul him-self is not committed totruth. Instead, he justi-fies telling lies to thePhilippians: “The impor-tant thing is that in eve-ry way, whether fromfalse motives or true,Christ is preached.”(Philippians 1:18). Paulclaims his lies promotethe gospel: “My dishon-esty brought (God) glo-ry by pointing up hishonesty in contrast to mylies.” (Romans 3:7). Heeven openly boasts of be-ing a deceiver to the Cor-inthians: “Crafty fellowthat I am, I caught youby trickery!” (II Corinthi-ans 12:16).

Paul is so unabashedlyduplicitous, he admits tobeing guided by theshady principle of tellingpeople whatever theywant to hear: “I have be-come all things to all menso that by all possible

No Christian genuinelyseeking the righteousness of

God should imitate a manlike Paul

PAUL: THE HYPOCRITICAL PHARISEE

PAGE 46—SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

means I might savesome.” (I Corinthians9:22). Accusations thathe was a liar trailed himeverywhere, ensuringthat he often resorted toswearing in self-defen-ce: “The God and Fatherof our Lord Jesus Christ,who is blessed forever,knows that I am not ly-ing.” (II Corinthians 11:31). But Jesus expresslycautions against this:“Do not swear at all: ei-ther by heaven, for it isGod's throne; or by theearth, for it is his foot-stool. Simply let your'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your'No,' 'No'; anything be-yond this comes from theevil one.” (Matthew5:34/37).

Mean-spirited

Paul is so malicious; hewishes those who perse-cute him would castratethemselves. (Galatians5:12). Responding to hiscritics, he insists their“mouths must be stop-ped.” (Titus 1:11). Jesusdelivers sinners fromSatan (Luke 4:18); butPaul delivers them toSatan. He says: “Amongthem are Hymenaeusand Alexander, whom Ihave handed over to Sa-tan to be taught not toblaspheme.” (I Timothy1:20). And yet, this samePaul moralises to theGalatians: “Brethren, ifa man is overtaken inany trespass, you whoare spiritual restore sucha one in a spirit of gen-tleness.” (Galatians6:1).

He counsels the Ro-mans: "Repay no oneevil for evil." (Romans 12:17). But instead of for-giving those who of-fended him, he askedGod to punish them: “Al-exander the copper-smith has done memuch harm. The Lordwill punish him.” (II

Timothy 4:14). While Je-sus advocates non-retal-iation in Christian con-duct: “that you may besons of your Father inheaven” (Matthew 5:45);Paul preaches it for ma-levolent reasons: “for inso doing you will heapcoals of fire on his head.”(Romans 12: 20).

Paul says: “Each man'swork will become mani-fest; for the day will dis-close it, because it will berevealed with fire.” (ICorinthians 3:13). The“fire” Paul lit led to theburning of innocents atthe stake. (I Corinthians5:5). He was the fatherof the Inquisition, whe-reby hundreds of thou-sands were hanged, be-headed and stoned todeath. His tenets wereused to validate slavery(Ephesians 6:5-6); dis-criminate against wom-en (I Corinthians 14:34-36); as well as providebiblical authority for anti-Semitism and the Nazimassacre of six millionJews. (I Thessalonians2:14-16).

Jesus expressly warnsus not to be hypocritical-ly pharisaic like Paul:“The teachers of the lawand the Pharisees sit inMoses' seat. So you mustobey them and do eve-rything they tell you.But do not do what theydo, for they do not prac-tice what they preach.”(Matthew 23:2-3). ButPaul contradicts Jesus byasking Christians to behypocrites just like him:“I urge you to imitateme.” (I Corinthians 4:16).

However, no Christiangenuinely seeking therighteousness of Godshould imitate a man likePaul. Paul’s spirit is amonstrous imposition onthe Spirit of Jesus, andhis word should never bemistaken for the word ofGod.

by becoming a curse forus.” (Galatians 3:13).

Paul writes to the Ro-mans: "Bless those whopersecute you; bless anddo not curse." (Romans12:14). But he then goeson to curse his oppo-nents, even includingangels from heaven: “Ifwe, or an angel fromheaven, preach any oth-er gospel to you thanwhat we have preachedto you, let him be ac-cursed.” (Galatians 1:8).When the high priestordered someone to slaphim, Paul replied angri-ly with a curse: “Godshall slap you, you whit-ewashed pigpen.” (Acts23:2-3).

Paul insists Christiansshould not boast: “What,then, can we boastabout? Nothing!” (Rom-ans 3:27). “What do youhave that you did notreceive? And if you didreceive it, why do youboast as though you didnot?” (I Corinthians4:7). But he then boastsrepeatedly; claiming heprays more, laboursmore, and suffers morethan everybody else. (IICorinthians 11:22-27).He says it is unwise tocompare oneself withothers. (II Corinthians10:12). Then he declares

GENERAL Superintendent of Assemblies of God

Church, Prof. Paul Emekadescribed the NationalPresident of Christian As-sociation of Nigeria, CAN,Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor as anastute defender of the faith,adding that his fearless dis-position has saved the Ni-gerian Church several em-barrassment.

Preaching a sermon at thegrand finale of this year'sMen Alive convention atthe Word of Life BibleChurch, Warri, Delta State,Prof. Emeka who doublesas Enugu State CAN chair-man, said members of thechurch describe the clericas their pastor, "but weknow him as the defender

Oritsejafor is a defender of faith, says Prof Emekaof our faith.

"When people attempt toshot his mouth, he speakslouder. When people sayhe should keep quiet hehas a way opening up themore. That is why we callhim the Lion of Africa, be-cause some of the privi-leges the Church is enjoy-ing today can be traced tohis boldness to address is-sues affecting the Churchin Nigeria," the clericstated.

Continuing, PastorEmeka said most Christianleaders in the country areparticularly grateful to hischarismatic leadership ofCAN, arguing that be-cause of the unique lead-ership qualities of PastorOritsejafor, he recentlybroke the jinx of a singletenure of CAN when he

was re-elected president ofthe august body.

The cleric argued thatcontrary of popular beliefamong enemies of the

Church, Pastor Oritsejaforbold and fearless disposi-tion about things concern-ing Christians in the coun-try may have informed by

certain decisions by thePresidency.

"It is obvious that he isthe single voice dreaded bythe Islamic fundamental-

Movement in the countrybut appealed to all Nigeri-ans to be patient with theMovement which, he ar-gued, is the latest move ofGod across the world.

The former PFN presi-dent acknowledged that"there is some madness outthere", but he assured Ni-gerians to appreciate thefact that the movement isyoung in this part of theworld compared to earlierChristian movements.

While congratulating theleadership of Men AliveFellowship for organisinga most successful conven-tion, the CAN presidentmaintained that with timeall the teething problemsmilitating against themovement will fizzle awayjust as it happened withthe earlier moves of God.

By SAM EYOBOKA

ists in thec o u n t r y, "E m e k astated, urg-ing all Nige-rian Chris-tians to prayfor him at alltimes forGod's guid-ance and pro-tection.

On hispart, PastorOritsejaforadmitted thatthere aresome short-c o m i n g swithin thePentecostal

*General Superintendent of Assemblies of God Church andguest speaker at the just concluded Men Alive Conference ofWord of Life Bible Church, Warri, Professor Paul Emeka shar-ing some thought with National President, CAN, Pastor AyoOritsejafor at the occasion.

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 47

PAGE 48 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

Contribution of not more than 1,200 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

VIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTS

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEFThe son of Nigeria’s late

prime minister and his Yorubaconnection

BY SESAN AKINOLA

Afe Babalola, Balewa and Ekiti lawyers

IT was on the fifth day ofthe programme designedto honour our own

illustrious and highlyesteemed Aare Afe Babalolathat this gentle and self-effecing Nigerian arrived themagnificent multi-purposehall of Afe BabalolaUniversity, Ado-Ekiti todeliver his spell-bindinglecture.

On the eve of the historiclecture and while we wererounding-off the programmefor the fourth day which wasthe Bench/Bar Forum, anexciting interactive forum forjudges and lawyers to freelyexchange ideas in arelaxedatmosphere this man lookinglike a mullato in his strikinghandsomeness was usheredin by some members of theplanning committee of the lawWeek and, when someone

whisppered to me as he wasbeing introduced by theChairman of the Nigerian BarAssociation that he was amedical doctor, my immediatereaction was, is this personcompetent to address and dojustice to thevery topicalquestion of insecuritythreatening to tear our countryapart and already shaking our

articulated lecture for which hereceived a standing ovation atthe end.

Before he began hispresentation, I spared a fewminutes to persue what theplanning committee of theNBA described in theprogramme brochure as he“abridged citation”; it coveredtwo full pages. I went through

accomplishments would theyhave inundated us with if itwere not an abridged citation?!Among his string of degreesare an MBBS from UniversityCollege London in 1979; MSC(Encymology) University ofNew York at Buffalo 1980 andPH.D (Nuclear Chemistry)University New York Buffalo1982.

That he did justice to thetopic of the lecture is anunderstatement. He delyedextensively into the historicalperspective of the topic withthe quiet eradition anduncanny thoroughness of aprofessor of African historywith ...Nigerian pre and post-colonial history. He made veryprofound and brilliantsuggestions not only to helpmove Nigeria forward but toalso arrest the degeneratingand very pinearous securitychallenges confronting ournation.

By the time he resumed hisseat after a thunderingovation, I asked myself howcome this genius went and hidhimself in a foreign country allthose years thereby denyingus his countrymen of thebenefit of his wisdom andprofound intellectual

country to the very founda-tion?

It did not take time before Iwas proved wrong. Thefollowing day, this “son of thesoil” as we later learnt hismother is Yoruba, tookpractically all the quests andnour colleagues by surprise,pleasantly ambushing us inthe process by delivering awell-researched and

it and had nothing but re-proach for the cynicism of thepreivious right when I dis-missed him that he might beincompetent to do justice tothe topic. The self-evidenttruth is that this fellow is deep,very deep such that myimmediate reaction to whatthey said was an abridgedcitation was how many pagesof his academic and scholarly

accomplishments? My admi-ration for him soared when itwas revealed by Aare Afe Ba-balola that he speaks aboutfive languages fluently and,when he himself disclosed inhis introductory remarks at thelecture that his mother is Yoru-ba from Ibadan and was infactinerspersing his lecture withYoruba proverbs and wise-craks, I was intoxicated withjoy as I enthused, thank God,he is a ‘son of the soil’.

An advice for Dr. JhalilBalewa, the Dan Ma TafawaBalewa , you have hadenough of foreign sojourn!Please stay here and don’t letanything entice you away fromus anymore. We have drunkout of your deep well ofwisdom and erudition and,like Oliver Twist, we shallalways ask for more if youmust leave this country for anyreason, do not leave for twolong so that we can continuealong with other patrioticNigerians to assiduously seeksolutions to the multifariousproblems bedeviling us as anation.

*Akinola is a legalpractitioner and lives in Ado-Ekiti

,

,

VIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTSVIEWPOINTS

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEFThe need to encourage the

Delta governor to do more

BY JAMES EDOREH

Uduaghan, party man delivering on mandate

DEMOCRACY is funwhen your representa-

tive is getting it right. Thegreatest beauty of democracyis that you have access to yourrepresentative. In Nigeria, de-mocracy is celebrated in dif-ferent forms. Two years to an-other general elections, peo-ple are coming together toform political parties, some aremerging while some are justbent on engaging in destruc-tive, inciting criticism. But,that is the greatest joy of hav-ing a government where youcan freely express yourself inplace.

In Delta State, since the in-ception of this democratic dis-pensation, the message hasbeen very clear and loud,there is only the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP). The situ-

ation is even made more chal-lenging for other political par-ties to penetrate because thegovernment has always per-formed beyond the expecta-tions of the people in terms ofmaking them to be part of gov-ernance and deliveringprojects that will make mean-ing to their lives.

Also, it is only the PDP thatcan be consistent as a politi-cal party. Most politicians maynot remember that the ActionCongress of Nigeria (ACN ),which is seeking to merge withother political parties andhave APC as its new name,was once AD, AC before be-coming ACN. Such changesdo not show seriousness andmost voters may be confusedwith the regular change ofnames and acronyms whichwill make them to vote for thePDP that has been consistent.

Delta State has become acase study and reference pointfor those seeking to knowwhere government is meetingup with the aspirations of thepeople.

Chairman, Board of Trusteesof the PDP, Chief Tony

Anenih, stated this muchwhen he paid a courtesy callon Governor Emmanuel Udu-aghan recently in Asaba. Dur-ing that visit, Anenih observedthat Uduaghan is a politicianwho has done so much interms of delivering democrat-ic dividends without blowing

Also, the National ViceChairman of the Peoples Dem-ocratic Party (PDP), Dr SamSam Jaja, described the devel-opmental strides of Udua-ghan’s administration as aclear manifestation of the suc-cesses recorded by PDP gov-ernors across the country.

ernor Uduaghan has class andthis is a window of what otherPDP Governors are doing indifferent states of the country,”Jaja said.

To us in Delta State, are weencouraging Uduaghan to domore? All that he deserves isappreciation and doing thingsthe right way. Despite the com-mendations, Uduaghan seeswhat he is doing as normal.Speaking during the Democ-racy Day celebration in Asa-ba, the governor said he doesnot lay emphasis in the com-missioning of projects but ex-ecuting projects for people touse.

Uduaghan’s case is that ofone who believes that he waselected to serve the people notfor people to sing his praises.His administration hastouched a lot of lives positive-ly, especially in Delta. That iswhy his party, the leadershipof the PDP are relaxed that thegovernor, as a performing PDPman has made Delta a smoothsail for them ahead of 2015.

James Edoreh lives in Oleh,Delta State

his trumpets.The respected politician, who

marvelled at the quality ofwork done at the new Govern-ment House which the gov-ernment moved into in Janu-ary, noted too that the airportsand network of roads con-structed by Uduaghan’s ad-ministration were working.

Jaja, who led zonal, state andthe federal capital territoryPDP secretaries to Delta for atwo-day retreat on a facilitytour of projects, stated thatfrom what the governor hasdone in Delta State, “PDP gov-ernors cannot be matched inthe area of project execution.”

“The airport shows that Gov-

,

,Most politicians may not rememberthat the Action Congress of Nigeria(ACN ), which is seeking to mergewith other political parties and haveAPC as its new name, was once AD,AC before becoming ACN. Suchchanges do not show seriousness

The self-evident truth is that this fellow isdeep, very deep such that my immediatereaction to what they said was an abridgedcitation was how many pages of his academicand scholarly accomplishments would theyhave inundated us with if it were not anabridged citation?!

Contribution of not more than 1,200 words should be sent to sundayvanguard@yahoo.com

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 49

VIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINT

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEFDraining integrity from the

public service

,

,

TRIBTRIBTRIBTRIBTRIBUTEUTEUTEUTEUTE

TRIBUTE IN BRIEFPhilanthropy and youth em-

powerment to stem crime

BY EMMA FEJOKWU

Azuya, Ibusa and Delta

HIS apostolic zeal onthe delivery of tasksboth for government,

individuals and corporate or-ganizations has no doubt lift-ed him up to the level of aneconomic missioner and com-munity developer.

Chief Tony Azuya hails fromNkpanyala Quarter of Ibusa inOshimili-North Local Govern-ment Area of Delta State. Heis the C.E.O of TechnocrimeSecurities, a fire-brand secu-rity outfit.

Azuya is not necessarily theregular Nigerian, rather, he isan unusual Nigerian interest-ed in sustaining the age-old

perception of the citizen asbeing representative of all.

The man who made hiswealth through hardwork andhonesty brought his vocationto bear on his national callingas he made his name popularnot only as a philanthropist, butalso as a personality whobraved all odds and has con-tinued to contribute towardsthe overall development of hishome town, lbusa, other areasin the state and the nation.

Some of these include theemployment of many Nigeri-ans in his establishments, em-powerment of youths, women,including widows, men andextension of his philanthropicgestures to traditional rulersand various communities aswell as award of scholarshipto over N5,000 students acrossthe country.

Azuya’s feat followed hisexemplary records while inschool and while he served inthe Nigeria Police.

He inspires work ethicsthrough leadership by exam-ple. This is visible in his Tech-no Crime Securities headquar-ters in Lagos.

A politician of note, his trackrecord has given cause for theclarion call by a section of the

people of the area and, in fact,Deltans, urging him to contesta political position as it is be-lieved that will further spurhim to bring more dividendsof democracy to the people.

Azuya recently purchased an11-5 transformer and step-down to be delivered to thePower Holding Company ofNigeria (PHCN) for Ibusa

where residents have over theyears suffered from poor pow-er supply.

It was jubilation galore asindigenes both within and inDiaspora and visitors aliketrooped to the community tosee things for themselves.

Azuya, in an interview, saidhe acquired the transformerfor use by Ibusa people out ofhis burning desire to ensureconstant supply of electricityto the town and sustainedbusinesses affected by epilep-tic power supply..

Those who spoke, includingcommunity leaders in the areaon the new transformer andstep down worth millions ofnaira, stated that it was the firsttime in the history of the com-munity such a gesture wasbeing witnessed and nick-named Azuya as the Omekok-wu of the community.

*Fejokwu, a media consult-ant, lives in Asaba, DeltaState.

Chief Tony Azuya

,

,

Watching the mighty fall: A Nigerian phenomenon

BY DELE OLOWU

THE continuing shrinkageof viable business models,along with the fragility of

Nigeria’s private sector, meansthat the only safe havens in theland are public offices. In truthhowever, even public offices donot guarantee eternal bliss! Yes,these offices have huge discre-tions and often contain signifi-cant windows for offering patron-age. But the competition for pub-lic offices is heartless, and thewinner of the prize is often ex-pected to cope with the animosi-ties of fallen opponents, until theincumbent himself falls fromgrace.

The public office environmentin Nigeria is therefore a universeof agony. Not surprisingly, agreat amount of public officecareers often end in controversy,litigation, humiliation and out-right disgrace. This trend is be-ginning to establish itself as a tra-dition and the Nigerian publicappears to have developed a ro-bust appetite for feeding off theflesh of disgraced officials. Thegreatest challenge faced by pub-lic officials in Nigeria is that ofcorruption, and allegationsaround this theme have often pro-vided a basis for bringing theircareers to grief. In many instanc-es, the corruption smear tends tohold and several incumbentshave been tragically underminedby them.

One unflattering consequenceof all this, is that public offices inNigeria have become a bywordfor corruption. This itself cloaksa lot of the idealism and integri-ty, which the Nigerian service re-tains. And equally important is

the reflection that, in spite of ourresidual goodness, opportunisticallegations of corruption aresometimes invoked in damagingotherwise sterling careers.

Most narratives about corrup-tion in Nigeria often create theimpression that the worst formsof this phenomenon became ex-tant only in modern times. Andyet sleaze in public offices has afairly long history in our country.Perhaps the volume and intensityof our current experience of thissocial ulcer encourage the beliefthat it did not exist before now.Indeed sometimes it creates theextreme determination that thepast was a golden age, in whichpublic servants operated in a sin-less world.

Nothing can be further from thetruth. Any attempt to romanticizethe past will collapse under scru-tiny. The First Republic, in spiteof all the hopes and optimism itinspired, had its own blemishes.Corruption and it’s travelingcompanion called nepotism werean important feature of the FirstRepublic. And frequently theyprovoked public outrage. The re-gions made steady progress, andcompeted and sought to outpaceeach other in the provision of so-cial infrastructure. There wereLiberty Stadium, the AhmaduBello Stadium, the Niger Dam,the Niger Bridge and others. Thisnotwithstanding, society was driv-en by clamor and dissension. Asense of crisis was pervasive and,between 1964 and the first coupin 1966, there were over 200strike actions. But on top of allthis was a growing sense of out-rage produced by corruption andpublic sleaze.

One of the very instances wasthe case which involved the pur-chase of equity by Zik’s firm in abank, the African ContinentalBank. In 1962 also, Adegoke Ad-elabu was forced to resign asCouncil Head over charges of in-clement conduct, while Chief

Obafemi Awolowo seemed tohave been indicted by the CokerCommission. These were impor-tant failures but the stridency ofthe anti-corruption vanguard of-ten gave the impression that thephenomenon was more corrosivethan it actually was. We may nothave a similarity between the cur-rent outcry and the outrage ex-pressed during the First Repub-

lic. I once discussed corruptionwith Peter Enahoro, an influen-tial writer, who, at 26, edited thereputable Daily Times in the 60s.He remarked that Lagos and Ni-geria were at one time scandal-ized by the news that our PrimeMinister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa,had built a palatial house in hishometown, Bauchi. Everybodywas sure that government mon-ey had been siphoned to producethis piece of vanity. Not until Pe-ter Enahoro himself visitedBauchi was he humbled by thefact that the palatial house wasa simple home. In many ways,talk of corruption, though not al-ways idle is often overstated. Andit’s invocation is an importantfeature in the armory of opposi-tion parties or coup makers. Not

surprisingly Major Nzeogwu’scoup speech dwelt on the corrup-tion theme.’The aim of the RevolutionaryCouncil’, he said, ‘Is to establisha strong united nation free fromC O R R U P T I O N ’ .The need to wipe out corruptionhas remained an enduring dreamnot only for coup vendors butalso for settled governmentswhich truly wish to endear them-selves to their citizens. So allthrough our history, most of ourgovernments have sought to chal-lenge this cankerworm with var-ying amounts of success.

This Republic has had it’s fairshare of public scandals andthere has been no shortage of ef-forts to fight the evil of corrup-tion. As always, the anti-corrup-tion vanguard is on overdriveand the EFCC and ICPC havetheir hands full. Whatever ouranxieties, we must admit that theprocess for apprehending publicoffice offenders is firing on allcylinders. At the last count, over50 public officers are facing le-gal action because of infractionscommitted when they served.They include Ayo Fayose, aformer governor, Ekiti State;Joshua Dariye, a former gover-nor, Plateau State; Saminu Tu-raki, a former governor, JigawaState, Orji Uzor Kalu; a formergovernor, Abia State; JollyNyame, a former governor, Tara-ba State and Farouk Lawan ofthe National Assembly.

Corruption is a huge problemin Nigeria and it’s impact mayaccount for a huge part of ourdevelopment. It is important thatgovernment continues to takedecisive action against thosewho abuse public trust. The proc-ess requires to be properly vettedso as to avoid legal malingering.It seems that many of the casesthat have been taken to court areallowed to fester with no prospectof a rapid determination. Niger-ia may well be populated by sev-

eral self-servers. But there mustbe some people who are capableof expressing idealism throughtheir conduct and public service.

One of the tragic consequencesof the attack on public service inNigeria is the evolving dearth ofidealism and the ruse of cyni-cism. Public service is now mixedinterchangeably with corruptionand corrupt conduct. And no-where in our calculation do wecreate any room for men andwomen of service. So as moreand more accused are docked bythe conveyor belt of the anti-cor-ruption agencies, the public haslearnt to applaud in accustomedglee. Yet in a more service-drivenenvironment, people are boundto express dismay at the ease withwhich people in high offices soiltheir hands.

And is it not entirely the casethat some of these anti-corrup-tion agencies, rush to prosecute,merely to feed the public appe-tite for gore?A few of us must be somewhatchallenged by the antecedents ofsome of those who have beenhounded out or docked so far. Iwill raise here, only two exam-ples, both of them from the Ni-geria Police, arguably our coun-try’s most maligned institutionof state. Nuhu Ribadu becamefamous when he was posted tohead the EFCC. He brought pas-sion and an unusual amount ofstrident advocacy to his charge.The harvest was bountiful. Heprocured several high profileconvictions including that of aserving Inspector General and ExGovernor Ibori. Even thoughRibadu attracted criticism for hisselective prosecution and filibus-ter, the abiding verdict on histerm was that he was cyber effec-tive.

Watching the big man fall fromhigh office has come close to be-ing a spectator sport in Nigeria.

*Olowu is a public affairsanalyst.

Azuya is notnecessarily theregular Nigerian,rather, he is anunusual Nigerianinterested insustaining the age-old perception of thecitizen as beingrepresentative of all

This Republic hashad it’s fair share ofpublic scandals andthere has been noshortage of effortsto fight the evil ofcorruption

PAGE 50 — SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

Nigeria has the means todefeat terror —Albert Horsfall

BOKO HARAM:

,

,BY ADEOLA ADENUGA

Chief Albert Korubo Horsfall, anIjaw leader, spent most part of hiscareer in the security services of thepublic sector. He was a pioneer mem-ber of the National Security Organi-sation (NSO); the first Director-Gen-eral of the National IntelligenceAgency (NIA) and DG of what is nowknown as the Department of StateServices, DSS. Horsfall shares his per-spectives, in this interview, on the se-curity and political situation of thecountry. Excerpts:

WHAT'S YOUR GENERALASSESSMENT OF THESTATE OF THE NATION?

Nigeria is going through a periodof severe political and security stress.Clearly, not many people realize thatthe apparent ambition of the BokoHaramists, for instance, is to mount aterritorial claim on Nigerian sover-eignty and integrity. From all indica-tions, the terrorists intend to stay inthis country, establish themselves andthen pursue a political agenda. In thepast, we have dealt with such terror-ist elements like Maitatsine. The am-bition of the earlier groups appearslimited compared to the present BokoHaram insurgency.

The Boko Haramists have clearlybeen heavily infiltrated by outsideforces and external terrorist groupswhose objective is to take over partsof Nigeria as they seem to have donein Mali before French forces flushedthem out. No country worth it sover-eignty will allow a terrorist gang tooccupy its territory and thereby dimin-ish the sovereignty and territorial au-thority.

I did say in a lecture to CatholicMen’s Organization in October, 2011that Gaddafi’s guns from Libya willextend radical and extremist insurgen-cy to West Africa including Nigeria.

The current development in parts ofnorthern Nigeria is clearly the mani-festation of such threats. The terroristcells and organizations ousted fromdifferent parts of the Middle East andNorth Africa, in particular includingSudan, Somalia, Libya, Mali, Mauri-tania, etc., are all now busy lookingfor places and territories to occupy andcarry out their nefarious activities. Itis, therefore, important for all con-cerned to realize the magnitude of thethreats which the country faces fromthose terrorist armies and co-operateto defeat the terrorists and not playpolitics with these truly dangerousevents.

STATE OF EMERGENCYThe declaration of the state of emer-

gency by President GoodluckJonathan did not come soon enough.But thank God Mr. President has nowdecided to take the bull by the horn.The declaration had indeed becomeinevitable. Either the commander-in-chief did so now or allow the terror-ists to settle down and the issue of

terrorism would have become endem-ic in Nigeria. We pray not. Havingtaken the bull by the horn, the correctand wise thing for Mr. President todo is to chase the terrorists out of wher-ever they may infiltrate into, in partsof this country. We must not allowthem any breathing space nor respite.Any such lack of relentless pursuit willallow them to find a foothold some-where else in this country and con-tinue to threaten national security, in-tegrity and sovereignty.

The state of emergency must be pur-sued fully and relentlessly. Thereforethis is a time for all Nigerians to rallyround the leadership of the Presidentand ensure that our country is rid ofthis threat to the national sovereign-ty. We must equally rally round ourarmed forces, the police and the se-curity services.

NATIONAL SECURITYThe threat of insurgency has become

a major factor in our national politics.Let us take those of the Niger Deltawhich ended a couple of years ago.Apart from the few truly nationalistelements among those militants, a lotof criminal and self-seeking elementstook advantage of the genuine de-mands of the Niger Delta militants anddestroyed human and material prop-erties. Such is the consequence ofthese acts of insurgency and terror-ism once started. Sometimes, the con-sequences which flow from such actsare based on political, ideological orreligious differences as we have seen.We have also seen that many timessuch security threats are started bypolitical agitation and encouragementand pronouncement of a few vocalself-seeking elements within societybut once the fire of insurgency has

been lit, these elements who ab initiostarted the agitation find themselvesincapable of putting out the fire. Suchis the case in parts of the country atpresent as was the case of the NigerDelta militancy. Therefore, whilst ad-dressing the cases of Bornu, Yobe andAdamawa, government should equallyand quickly look into the disturbanc-es in Nassarawa, Taraba, Benue andparticularly Plateau which has lin-gered for too long. The defence andsecurity forces should also be direct-ed thereto as soon as their present taskis done to flush out the seeminglyendemic disturbances in those states.

POLITICAL CRISISSide by side with the security threat

raging in parts of the country, we have

to contend with the number of politi-cal issues which have kept the polityin high gear. Yes, politics is about ar-gument, discussions and sometimesquarrel but some of these like the onebetween the Presidency and the Ni-gerian Governors Forum (NGF) areclearly avoidable. They are avoidablebecause the NGF is not a constitution-al organ and having started by doingsome good jobs they seem to havenow constituted themselves – withpermanent secretariat and Director-General – into a parallel politicalgroup which tends to rival or check-mate the Federal Government on na-tional issues. The truth of the matteris that each of the 36 states governorshas a territory to administer within hisconstitutional authority. They are notindependent states; therefore theirlimits are clearly defined by the con-stitution and the law. For them to con-stitute themselves into a parallel na-tional political organ to check-matethe Federal Government and to makepronouncements especially such thatgo against the Federal Government’sauthority, subvert the constitution andcreate avoidable friction within thepolity. Such situations are uncalledfor. State governments are to operatewithin their constitutional boundariesand the Federal Government shouldsimilarly stay within its constitutionalauthority. It will be wrong for one orthe other to encroach or cross theseboundaries. It is my firm opinion thatthe problem between the Federal Gov-ernment and the Nigerian GovernorsForum (NGF) is as a result of this clearencroachment by the NGF into feder-al territories.

CAN THE JUDICIARY DO MORETO RID THE COUNTRY OF COR-RUPTION AND TERRORISM?

The problem with us in this countryis that we enjoy sensationalism andhyperbolism. Almost every issue thatthreatens security at present had beentackled and highlighted in my previ-ous lectures and interviews.

But the responsible persons and in-stitutions do not appear to pay heed.The main reason is that I am not oneof those hyperbolic presenters of is-sues and narratives. Rather, I am anexpert and I present the issues in theirtrue perspectives.

There are already a number of BokoHaramists and other insurgents heldin our prison custody awaiting trial.One or two of them are taken to courtfrom time to time and for one techni-cal reason or another are returned tothe cell, their cases having been fur-ther adjourned! When will these cas-es be dispensed with and justicedone? What about consideration forthe morale of the officers and men wholabour tirelessly, and risk their livesday-in and day-out in an attempt tobring these alleged culprits to book?

All that the judiciary needs to do isto designate special courts or judgesto fast-tract and deal with these casesand those of fraud and corruption ex-peditiously and punish the guilty andfree the innocent! Why can’t our ju-diciary produce such innovation if wecan smuggle plea bargain into our lawto favour the rich and the privileged?We must plead with our judiciary toaddress this issue of special courts for

Continues on page 51

Chief Albert Horsfall...The problem with us in this country is that we enjoysensationalism and hyperbolism.

All that the judiciary needs todo is to designate specialcourts or judges to fast-trackand deal with these casesand those of fraud andcorruption expeditiously andpunish the guilty and free theinnocent! Why can’t ourjudiciary produce suchinnovation if we can smuggleplea bargain into our law

BY DENNIS SAMI

SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013, PAGE 51

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,

this brand of serious crimesand criminality which havecome to threaten our nationalsovereignty and integrity.

THE NGF, STATE GOV-ERNMENTS, AND THEREST OF US

The posture of the NigerianGovernors Forum (NGF) onmatters of national securityand governance is sometimerather shocking. On 14 May,2013, the NGF released acommuniqué after one of itsregular/emergency meetingsadvising or rather warning theFederal Government not toissue a state of emergency inany of the North-East stateswhere Boko Haram was op-erating. Later that night, theFederal Government broad-cast the state of emergencystatement. Did members ofthe NGF have prior hint of theimpending Federal Govern-ment’s pronouncement ormerely anticipated it? If it wasthe former – that they had pri-or hint – then they could beaccused of divulging officialsecret which they are swornto protect! If it was the latter– then they might have beenexpected to send their advicethrough official channels tothe Federal Government orexpose themselves to consti-

tuting the NGF into a hostilepressure group by offeringsuch negative and contraryadvice on a matter touchingthe territorial integrity andsovereignty of the nation. Itmust be observed that each ofthe governors is responsiblewithin his constitutional lim-it, for a chunk of Nigerian ter-ritory. But the Federal Gov-ernment is responsible forprotecting the entire territori-al expanse of Nigeria. TheNGF is not a constitutionalbody. It is sadly promoting itsaffairs and activities as if it isan organ of government cre-ated by the constitution. Wereit not for its negative posture,the face-off between Gov.Amaechi and the Presidencyneeds not, to have happenedin the first place. PresidentJonathan is Gov. Amaechi’spolitical leader. All I thinkJonathan needs to do is toinvite Amaechi to a chat andtalk him out of the NGF con-frontational stance or, if thatfailed, use the Party Whip tocall the governor and the restof the PDP governors in theNGF to order or ask the partyto withdraw the PDP gover-nors from the NGF using theParty Whip.

IN THIS POLITICAL ANDNATIONAL SECURITY DE-BATE, ON WHOSE SIDE

ARE YOU? AMAECHI’S ORJONATHAN’S?

Amaechi and Jonathan aremy ‘sons and brothers’.Jonathan is my Ijaw brotherand Amaechi is my Ikwerrebrother! I am not taking sides.I am rather on the side of thenation and treating the issues

rity and unity of this country.I recall that under the leader-ship of Alhaji M. D. Yusufu, Iestablished all the securitystations and establishments ofwhat is today ’s Rivers andBayelsa states and the neigh-bouring states. Thereafter, Imade major contributions inbuilding Nigeria’s first secu-rity service, the NSO. I sin-gle-handedly set up the na-tion’s Intelligence Service fol-lowing its establishment bylaw; after which I was re-turned to the internal securi-ty organ, the SSS, when it fellunder severe stress to revampit into the solid service it is atpresent. I therefore feel notonly qualified, but duty boundto speak up not only for my-self as an elder statesman andnon-partisan politician, butperhaps also speak the mindsof other elder statesmen whohave contributed to the re-building of this country fol-lowing the civil war. I have toaddress issues frankly in themanner that will ensure thecontinued unity and indivisi-bility of the country and notto take sides with either partyin this matter. After all Gov.Amaechi has done some mar-velous job in stemming thetide of insecurity in RiversState and in terms of devel-

oping infrastructure in thestate which is a big boost forhis party the PDP.

WHAT ABOUT THE CBNWARNING TO THE FGNABOUT NOT SPENDINGTOO MUCH MONEY ONTHE EMERGENCY OPERA-TIONS?

National security is not amatter of theory or simple eco-nomic argument or academ-ics. It is the duty of the de-fence and security services toprotect and preserve the ter-ritorial integrity of the nationand I believe this requirementshould assume priority, sideby side with the welfare of thepeople. The soldiers, policeand security officers, fightingto protect the sovereignty ofthe country are equally Nige-rians and need to be properlyequipped and welfare to dothe job! These two necessitiesmust be fully taken into ac-count in any economic argu-ment. In this context let mesay that good as the reportedpresidential order that sus-pects recently arrested underthe emergency should be re-leased may sound, care mustbe taken of the need for prop-er screening and re-orienta-tion by the appropriate Islam-ic religious authorities in ef-fecting such release.

involved as an elder states-man who should speak forth-rightly and truthfully in na-tional interest. As a young SBofficer of twenty-five years, Ifought to maintain the secu-

Continued from page 50

Nigeria has the means to defeat terror

Anambra 2014: Between Uba and other contenders

THE advantage SenatorEmmanuel Nnamdi Uba,also called Andy Uba, has

over other contenders for the An-ambra 2014 gubernatorial elec-tion appears to be widening asthe countdown to the crucialpoll continues.

The Chairman of the SenateCommittee on the IndependentNational Electoral Commission,INEC, was sworn-in as Anambragovernor after the 2007 election,but removed days later througha court order which faultedINEC for conducting the poll inthe state when incumbent Gov-ernor Peter Obi’s tenure was stillrunning. The tenure expires nextyear.

And by what is likely to becomean Obi-to-Uba; Obi-to-Ubarace, the senator from AnambraSouth constituency seems tohave everything going for himright now. He is not deterred bythe setback of 2007.

Only recently, while makingknown his ambition to run forthe coveted office inside EnuguSports Club, Uba was quick toput the matter straight to thedoubting Thomases. He told re-porters: “In 2007 when I ran forgovernor, I had a vision for An-ambra State. Within the few daysI stayed in power, people got aninsight into my plans, my visionwas to change the face of Anam-bra. I was pushing for a plan totransform Anambra; unfortu-nately, it didn’t work”.

Almost immediately after,

youths, under the aegis ofOmambala Youth Forum, an-nounced their resolve to supportthe governorship ambition ofUba. They did so at a meeting inOtuocha. The Forum, compris-ing youths from four council ar-eas of the state namely, Anam-bra East, Anambra West, Ayame-lum and Oyi, said their decisionto support the aspirant followedhis record achievements in pub-lic office.

According to the Forum chair-man, Innocent Offordile (EseluAguleri), who presided at themeeting, though Uba represent-ed Anambra South in the Sen-ate, youths in the four local gov-ernment areas in AnambraNorth would always rememberhim for his assistance duringlast year’s flood disaster.

Said he: “We have declaredsupport for Senator Uba be-cause he has told us officiallyabout his governorship ambi-tion. He has done it before andwe believe he can do it again,even better. Of all the people jos-tling for the state’s top job, theyouth of Omambala believe thathe is the only one with the rightcredentials to move this state for-ward.”

Also, in a write-up, vibrantcommentator, Emeka Oraetoka,recalled the saga that heraldedthe sacking of Uba from officein 2007 vis-à-vis Governor Obi’sposition on zoning, preferringhis successor to emerge fromAnambra North.

“Specifically, the plethora ofsolidarity and support comingUba’s way arising from the good-

will he has purchased via PeterObi’s blunder on zoning wouldnot have been if Anambrarianshave not been offered the oppor-tunity of juxtaposing Peter Obi’sposition with the injustice doneto Andy Uba in 2007. Possibly,Nigerians may have now real-ized that opposition to AndyUba’s quest for justice after hisremoval from office was, infact,borne out of sentiment and infe-rior argument in the first place.Events after 2007 in Nigeriahave made people to concludethat injustice was actually doneto Andy Uba”, Oraetoka said.

“On the issue of governorshipelection in 2014, the questionsthe people of Anambra State areasking Peter Obi are: As he wantsthe governorship election in2014 zoned to Anambra Northbased on his interpretation ofequity, what happens to the fel-low that was asked to vacate of-fice 17 days after swearing-in, foran offence he did not commit?

Has justice been done to the zoneor possibly the local governmentarea where Andy Uba hails from?Which out of equity and justiceranks higher in order of priori-ty? From the point of view of pol-itics, what constitutes equity? IsPeter Obi implying that all reg-istered political parties in Nige-ria must cede their governorshipposition to Anambra North come2014? Is he as well saying thatAnambra North has no electable

make up his senatorial districtto explain his activities in theSenate.

“I believe that the peopleyou represent at whatever lev-el must come first in what youdo because it is not by acci-dent that they entrust theirmandate in your care. Themandate one holds in trust forthe people is sacred and theproduct of a collective convic-tion that he is worthy both incharacter and ability to rep-resent their interests,” thesenator said, adding that noleader worth his salt shouldtake the people he leads forg r a n t e d .The senator said that apartfrom sponsoring four bills andco-sponsoring 12 motions, hehad attracted not less thanN16million projects to thearea. According to him, all theprojects were executed underthe 2012 budget.

Ahead 2014The 2014 race in Anambra

has thrown up several aspir-ants apart from Uba. They in-clude Comrade Tony Nwoye,Paul Odenigbo, ChukwumaSoludo, Nicholas Ukachukwuand Emmanuel Anosike, Dr.Obiogbolu, Mr. Obidigbo, allfrom PDP fold as Uba.

Those from other parties in-clude Senator Chris Ngige,ACN; Senator AnnieOkonkwo, APC: Ifeanyi Uba,Labour; and Hon. Uche Ek-wunife, APGA.

The list is sure to be longeras the countdown continues.

Andy Uba

candidate[s]? Or is the governorsaying that the people of thezone are weak in all ramifica-tions and therefore cannot com-pete politically in the state?”

Uba, recently, organised a townhall meeting for the constituentsin the seven council areas that

And by what is likelyto become an Obi-to-Uba; Obi-to-Ubarace, the senatorfrom Anambra Southconstituency seemsto have everythinggoing for him rightnow

National security isnot a matter oftheory or simpleeconomic argumentor academics. It isthe duty of thedefence and securityservices to protectand preserve theterritorial integrity ofthe nation

,

,

,

,

APGA: INEC’s recognition of Umeh is a nullity — Nwobu AlorBY MOSES NOSIKE

Chief Sylvester Nwobu Alor isthe National Coordinator APGANational Stakeholders Forum. Inthis interview, he speaks on theconflicting judgments andissuance of restraining orders bythe courts, saying the situationtends to create confusion andlack of confidence in thejudiciary. Excerpts:

APGA has been facingchallenges which affectits activities. Having

been on ground for over 30years in Anambra politics andas one of the founding fathersof the party, how can the twofactions of the party bereconciled?

Every political party in Nigeriahas its own challenges exceptthat, in most cases, suchchallenges border on tussle overleadership. But in the case ofAPGA , the struggle is about partyrestructuring, consequent upongross management deficiency.Naturally in a situation of thisnature, there is going to be thosefor and those against - this iswhat you call “faction”. Therewill be no arbitration toreconcile the factions. As soonas you complete therestructuring and there isstability and cohesion in theparty, the opposition will

inevitably return to the fold andI can assure you they will beaccommodated.

With the attitude of thefactions, do you think the partycan know peace?

The primary purpose of ourrestructuring programme is toensure peace, transparency,internal democracy and justicein the party. Once theseconditions are put in place,peace shall automatically returnto the party.

Two courts delivered differentjudgments on the same matter.Has the judiciary helped infinding lasting solution to thecrisis?

I agree that conflictingjudgments and unnecessaryrestraining orders or injunctionsdo not make for sound justicedelivery. Rather it tends to createconfusion and lack ofconfidence in the judicial system.

We asked the then NationalChairman of APGA, Chief VictorUmeh, to vacate the seatbecause his tenure expired in2010. He refused claiming histenure will expire in 2015. Wetherefore took him to court forlegal interpretation. The courtagreed with us and he wassacked. Umeh went to court onappeal and, in addition, askedthe Appeal Court to grant him a

“stay of execution” of thejudgment of the Enugu HighCourt. As his request was notgranted at that time, we wentahead and conducted ward,local government and stateparty congresses and nationalconvention strictly inaccordance with the provisionsof the constitution. Thereafter,the Appeal Court granted a“stay”, that is after the judgmentof the Enugu High Court hadbeen executed.

The contending issue is thejudgment of the Enugu HighCourt removing him from office.So far, no court has delivered acontrary judgment. He thereforestands removed until it is

otherwise decided by the AppealCourt or Supreme Court. Thereis therefore no conflictingjudgment over the issue.

With the crisis, what are thechances of the party come 2014/2015?

By divine grace and based onavailable political indices,coupled with the ongoingrestructuring, the APGA as aparty shall win in Anambra Statein 2014 and in Imo, Ebonyi,Enugu and Abia in 2015.

How do you see the future ofAnambra politics?

Politics in Anambra State is notin any way different from politicsin other states of Nigeria.Nigerian politics is full of

intrigues deceit, name calling,fraud and dishonesty. However,APGA is doing everything tomake the difference. APGA is nothere just to win elections. We arehere to change the ills of societyat the political arena and toimbibe the tenets of democracy,justice and transparency.

INEC says they recognizeVictor Umeh as nationalchairman of APGA based onthe stay of execution judgmentof the Appeal Court.

INEC’s recognition of VictorUmeh as national chairman ofAPGA based on the stay ofexecution judgment of theAppeal Court is wrong,inconsistent and a travesty ofjustice. INEC witnessed andsupervised the authentic conductof relevant congresses andconvention of APGA before theemergence of the so-called “stayof execution”. Surely, APGA hadcompleted the execution beingstayed before the order to stay. A“stay” cannot affect an actionthat has been completed. To thecontrary, INEC ought to haverecognized MAXI OKWU as thenational chairman being aproduct of legitimately andlegally conducted convention.Fortunately this will not meetequity requirements of theSupreme Court.

The primary purposeof our restructuringprogramme is toensure peace,transparency, internaldemocracy and justicein the party

Chief Sylvester Nwobu Alor

My problem with ghost workers, by Kogi council bossBY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO

Olorunfemi Otu Funsho isone of the chairmen electedon May 4, 2013, to pilot theaffairs of Kabba/Bunu LocalGovernment Area of KogiState. In this encounter onDemocracy Day in his office,the chairman bared his mindon local governement admin-istration in the country.

ProgrammesI want to key into the trans-

formation agenda of both thefederal and state govern-ments in the area of infra-structure, education, agricul-ture and mostly in tackling thelevel of poverty in our area. Ihave just informed widowsand women to go and form acooperative through which Iwill reach out to them becauseI have a programme for them.

FinanceI held a meeting with the

management team towardslooking at the screening re-port done before I becamechairman. Because of inade-quate resources to the LGwhile I was Liaison Officer, Icould not pay staff salary andthey used that to campaignagainst me. So I have set upa committee to look at theIGR. The local governmentrelies extensively on the fed-eral revenue and this is notgood enough. We muost makesure that we improve on ourIGR. If we improve on ourIGR, it will complement whatwe get from the Federal Gov-ernment.

The committee will be head-

ed by the treasurer and an-other technical committee willbe set up to fine tune the areato look at the administrationof the money generated.

ScreeningThe wage bill of the LG is

actually on the high sidewhich necessitated a screen-ing before I came on board,and the state government hasalso set up a committee to lookinto the adaptation of the re-port. The problem of the localgovernment is because we arenot sincere to ourselves. Theyare only shouting that govern-ment did not pay them theirmoney, or paying only 50%but most of these workers arenot genuine, they have also

over – blown the salary. Howmany staff are genuine? Mostof the staff are not here, yettheir names are in the vouch-er. That is why I addressedthe staff an asked them to betruthful. They know them-selves and know those whoare genuine workers. Many ofthem have no schedule. TheLG has turned to a centerwhere national cake is beingshared. They are not here towork but they believe in justcoming at the end of themonth to come and take theirshare of the national cake.Here, you will see the father,the mother, children andgrand children on the payroll. Many of them who haveno schedule will be the onemaking noise that salary hasnot been paid. So, we arewaiting for the outcome of thecommittee set up by the stategovernment.

Autonomy

second class citizens; thatwas why the then FederalGovernment decided to floatthe National Universal BasicEducation Commission,NUBEC, later change toUBEC, Universal Basic Edu-cation Commission, with eachstate having its own SUBEB,State Universal Basic Educa-tion Board. They now deductthis money from source to thestate to pay teachers. Theproblem now is if the LG be-come autonomous, teachersare afraid what will be theirfate. NULGE feels if teach-ers are under the LG, they willbe able to know where theirmoney is being diverted to.Even though teachers are staffof the LG, they want to knowexactly what accrues to them,not in this form that it is de-ducted and put in the stateaccount. There is variance, so,the issue of autonomy mayaffect teachers. That is one ofthe reason I cannot make a

categorical statement con-cerning LG autonomy.

Agriculture and securityI want to appreciate Gover-

nor Idris Wada, especially onrice farming by this adminis-tration. I enjoin every body tosupport this project. The gov-ernor is trying to encourageentrepreneur through the pro-vision of abundant food. Therate at which we are goingnow, the state will soon beexporting rice. Kabba is aswampy area, the only cropthat we will key in is cassava.And the cassava processingzone is located in Agbadu,which is in this LG. There isalso the 500-hectare of landreserved for cassava produc-tion located in Ayanga, Obete,Okebukun and Agbadu. So,everybody will soon be busyunless you don’t want to work.They say an idle man is thedevil’s workshop. By the timethese companies finally cometo stay, I can tell you it willreduce criminal activities inthe state. Also, the commis-sioner of police is workinghard, and he has provided aspecial squad to monitor thetwo major routes to the LG;will support the squad. I alsowant to appeal to the publicto give information to securi-ty agencies. It’s these youngboys and girls that are in-volved in criminal acts. That’swhy we thank the FederalGovernment for establishingthe cassava grazing zonewhich will help to take themaway from the streets.

Local governmentautonomy is a sensi-tive issue. The prob-lem of the LG is notautonomy. Thiscountry has goodpolicies but bad im-plementation. Therewas a period whenthe LG was autono-mous, taking moneydirectly from source,what happenedthen? What hap-pened to teacherssalaries? The teach-ers were reduced to

,

,Olorunfemi Otu Funsho

I want to key into thetransformationagenda of both thefederal and stategovernments in theareas ofinfrastructure,education,agriculture andmostly in tacklingthe level of povertyin our area

PAGE 52—SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

CMYK

SUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAY VanguardVanguardVanguardVanguardVanguard, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, JUNE 16, 2013, , 2013, , 2013, , 2013, , 2013, PPPPPAGE 53AGE 53AGE 53AGE 53AGE 53

chimeena@yahoo.com 08056180157

PAGE 54 — SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013

By JAPHET ALAKAM

VISUAL

WHAT do you knowabout Julius Agwu?

Agwu, though a famed come-dian, actor and musician haswritten an autobiography togive the public even more in-sight into his life. RainbowBook Club (RBC), through itsbook-of-the-month series, ishighlighting his book: JokesApart – How Did I Get Here?for the month of June. Thepublic is invited to buy thebook, available for purchaseat the Rainbow Book Cluboffice, and to attend a discus-sion of it at Le Meridien,Ogeyi Place, at 11am on Fri-day, June 28th, 2013.

Having made his living inthe entertainment circuit for

Soundspiration: Balogun’s visual lookat sound and musical performances

The Joker behind the Book...reviewing Julius Agwu

well over a decade, hostingcomedy shows, acting, mak-ing comedy albums, etc.,Julius Agwu celebrated his40th birthday on April 7,2013 with a launch of JokesApart, which documentshis life as a child, his com-ing of age, and his realiza-tion of a major gift he has:the ability to make peoplelaugh.

The book, edited byaward-winning poet andwriter Toni Kan, is jam-packed with funny seg-ments in tandem with so-bering parts. Readers thushave a chance to look be-hind the scenes to betteracquaint themselves with

Porharcourt Theatre Arts stu-dent is married with adaughter. Mr. Agwu is oneof the guests expected at thisyear’s Port Harcourt BookFestival (formerly known asGarden City Literary Festi-val) that will take place onthe 21st to the 26th of Octo-ber. The Port Harcourt BookFestival draws hundreds ofliterary enthusiasts to theGarden City yearly to partici-pate in this event which com-prises a book fair, writersworkshops, diverse literaryforums, a symposium, dramaperformances and other cul-tural displays.

the acclaimed funnyman.The former University of

,

,AFTER series of events inthe first quarter of the

year, the famous Omenka gal-lery opened its exhibition forthe year with a solo exhibitionby one of the most excitingsculptors in Nigeria and a lec-turer at Yaba College of Tech-nology, Mr Adeola Balogun.

The exhibition taggedSoundspiration, an exhibitionof sculptures and sound instal-lations which was held re-cently offered the artist anotheropportunity to examine thewide variety of media whichhe manipulates.

Balogun who belongs to anexceptional generation of art-ists firmly establishing them-selves on the Lagos exhibitioncircuit with their embrace ofunconventional media andtechniques, and their interro-gation of the larger society inthis exhibition, looked at hu-man forms in musical perform-ances. In it, Balogun’s exploittakes the built sculpture to anintriguing level, which in-volves a fusion of casting, con-struction, assemblage as wellas repurposing of found ob-jects. He also devised newways of using traditional ma-terials and techniques to givethe viewer aesthetic and emo-tional experiences.

The body of works featuredlargely contorted forms of mu-sicians and dancers who han-dle real musical instrumentssuch as the violin, saxophoneand talking-drums in (simu-lated) performance, underscor-ing the artist’s enchantmentover the years with music as

the vehicle of thoughtfulreflection.

It also featured hangingsculptures in relief, embel-lished with paint that blursthe boundaries betweenpainting and sculpture be-traying the artist’s masteryof both genres. The showwhich featured about 32works can be described asa visual interpretation to themusical instruments andmusicians.

Going through the works

displayed at the gallery, one willbe captivated by the various mu-sical instruments, the musicians,dancers and others that takes oneback to the good old days whenmusic comes from the peoplethat matters and heals the soul.Apart from creating forms, hisexploits with musical instru-ments in this show highlight thebeauty in good sound sound aswell as draw attention to thedangers in sound or noise pol-lution. Also of special interestis the creative ingenuity of the

many series as the greatest.The first series deals with themusical instruments while thesecond deals with the per-formers and its impact on hu-man form. “Just look at musicon the ground or the type ofmusic we listen to in our soci-ety today before the lyrics

have moral values but now itis just sounds with out anymessage.”

Continuing, he stated that “itis just about being consciousof the sound, we just allow themusic to penetrate into ourmind and through that mostof us are influenced by whatwe hear. Some are very inspir-ing while some are not. Thedecibel level and arrangementof a sound will define it asnoisy or musical. Deafeningsound is continuously gener-ated in our environment,which inflicts serious healthhazards on people. It is im-perative and pertinent to re-duce noise in whatever guisefor a saner society,” he added.

Apart from creating forms, hisexploits with musical instrumentsin this show highlight the beautyin good sound as well as drawingattention to the dangers in soundor noise pollution

Sculptor Adeola Balogun working in his studio

artist, his ability to usethe various discardedmaterials to come outwith something mean-ingful, thereby helpingto keep the environ-ment clean.

Each separate compo-nent - the tyre, musical

instrument and sound,contributes layers ofmeanings to establishseveral possibilities ininterpreting the works,which on first impres-sion seem almost folk-loric. Some of theworks include: Roses forthem; Inner Sanctum1&2; I want to know;Self Healing; Evergreen Re-mixed; Diva;

Vestiges of Dad’sgramaphone; Without Wingsand others.

Speaking about the works,Balogun who disclosed thatthe project started since 1995when he came across a bro-ken trumpet horn and decidedto look on it said that it is aboutsound and what sound can do.Sound according to him is Godbecause the world was cre-ated with sound and is thegreatest of all the senseshence he tries to present it in THE nomination for the

2013 Delta PersonalityAwards have begun withDeltans expected to nominatecandidates who have contrib-uted massively to the devel-opment of the state.

This was made known tonewsmen by Mr. KennedyOdubu, Event Director at theunveiling of the Delta Person-ality Awards in Warri.

According to him, “nomina-tion is on for the 2013 edition,we want nominations for fewdeserving Deltans who havecontributed massively to thegrowth of the state.”

He explained that the awardis meant to spur Deltans todoing greater works, aimed attaking the state to a new level.

”If we want to achieve theDelta of our dreams, then allhands must be on deck to con-tribute our quota and peopleshould be encouraged,”Odubu stated.

He added that nomination ofworthy personalities shouldbe based on positive contribu-tion to development, and noton sentiments.

2013 PersonalityAwards: Nominationbegins

SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 16, 2013 — PAGE 55

Guinness brings Confederations Cup live to NigeriansAS the FIFA

Confedera-tionsCup begins, sponsor ofthe Super Eagles,Guinness Foreign ExtraStout, has concludedbroadcast sponsorshiparrangements to bringmatches from the matchvenue in Brazil, live toNigerians throughoutthe duration of thetournament.

The leading stoutbrand recently signed apartnership agreementwith Optima SportsM a n a g e m e n tInternational (OSMI) toensure Nigerians do notmiss out on any of theaction from thetournament whichkicked off yesterday.

Announcing thepartnership, theManaging Director /

Chief ExecutiveGuinness Nigeria Plc,Mr. Seni Adetu said thepartnership typifiesGuinness commitment toproviding unforgettablefootball experiences forfans of the Super Eaglesand African football. Hefurther said thispartnership with OSMIwill bring theConfederations cupaction to Nigerians onthe following channels,Silverbird Television(STV), African Indepen-dent Television (AIT)and the NigerianTelevision Authority(NTA).

Explaining further,Adetu said "When welaunched the Fly withthe Eagles Campaign,we promised ouresteemed consumers

and fans of the SuperEagles, our continuoussupport for Nigerianfootball, particularly the

Cyclefest: 250 cyclists jostle for N1m prizeBY JACOB AJOM

Super Eagles. We arebringing these matcheslive to Nigerians tofurther reiterate our

commitment in thisregard. We are reallyproud of this partn-ership. We wish the fans

happy viewing and hopethe Super Eagles get tothe finals, probablywinning the Cup.

THERE has neverbeen anything like

what we are planning tostage in Lagos thisS u n d a y ( t o d a y ) , • hInyang Effiong, TeamPrincipal CycleShoptold Sports Vanguardteam about the CyclefestRace holding today inLagos. N1 million hasbeen set aside as prizemoney.

No fewer than 250cyclists drawn from 16states of the federationand some private clubswill be jostling forhonours at the eventwhich will see thecyclists cover 270kilometers within Lagosmetropolis.

There will be fourcategories of competi-tion: the menprofessional and womenprofessional categoriesand men amateur andwomen amateurcategories. The eventhas been sanctioned bythe Nigeria CyclingFederation and theLagos State CyclingAssociation.

According to Effiong,•gthe course starts fromthe National Stadiumand will go through theIsland and end up at theNational Stadiumcovering over 110km forthe professional men,

70km for the women andRecreational Men Cycl-ists, while RecreationalWomen Cyclists will rideover 30kmh.

Not surprisingly, thecorporate communityhas jumped at theopportunity ofassociating with theevent. Lucozade Sport,the world leading sportdrink has teamed upwith Cycleshop Limited.Benola, a cerebral palsyinitiative has alsoidentified with theprogramme which isexpected to produceNigeria’s flag bearers in

the forthcoming AfricanCycling championshipin Egypt and the WestAfrican Cycling Tour inDakar, Senegal later inthe year.

That is the motivation,Effiong said, hopingthat the thought ofrepresenting Nigeriainternationally couldspur the cyclists toreturning good times.

He further disclosedthat not all the cycliststhat will be competingare Nigerians. •gSomeof them are foreigners,so this will give theevent a global outlook,

he reiterated. TheNigeria CyclingFederation and theLagos State CyclingAssociation arepartnering theorganisers with theprovision of technicalaid. Officials from bothorganisations willofficate during therace,•h he said, addingthat LASTMA, FRSCand the Nigeria Policehave all pledged theirreadiness to controltraffic in order to safethe cyclists from runninginto moving vehicles andhuman traffic.

•Edward Osim, National Sports Festival sprint champion, one of thoseexpected at the race.

Owerri Mayoral Games get December dateBY EDDIE AKALONU

PLANS have beenconcluded to give

school children in theOwerri zone of Imo Statean opportunity ofparticipating inorganised sportscompetition, starting thisDecember.

Known as the 1stOwerrri Mayoral Games,it will involve pupils ofprimary schools andthose of Junior secondaryschools. Mayor ofOwerri, Dr. KachiNworga who disclosedthis in an exclusiveinterview with SaturdayVanguard sports, said,•git is billed to be asports festival for childrenin primary schools and,if possible, JuniorSecondary Schools in thewhole of Owerri zone. Itis an avenue to make itpossible for a child tospecialise in one game orthe other. Activity chart

for the Games shows thatthe pupils are to competefrom December throughthe whole school calendarto the 2014 long vacationperiod when it isexpected to be concluded.

The Mayor who said thatathletics, 5-Aside football,

table tennis and handballfor this maiden edtionadded that, like toencourage pupils to taketo any of the track andfield events, table tennisand any team sport ofchoice, including footballand handball.

Dr. Nworga added that

with the coming of theMayoral Games in thezone, we will be pushingfor sports to be madecompulsory in schools notonly in Owerri but also inthe whole of the stategiven overall benefitsthere are for children.

NBB of C orders Abe to defend his titleBY JACOB AJOM

THE Nigeria BoxingBoard of Control has

threatened to strip thereigning nationalheavyweight champion,Adewale Abe of the titlewhich he last defendedon 17th November,2006.

In a terse letter signedby the President, DrGodwin Kanu andGeneral Secretary,Aboderin Remi, theboard of control noted,Please do be notifiedthat your defense of thistitle is long overdue, andit is pertinent you

defend this title againstyour challengerOnoriede Ehiwareme inJuly.

But facts emergingfrom the boxing board ofcontrol have it that thechampion has beenevasive and has refusedto put up his belt fordefense without awarm-up match.

The NBB of C hasalready agreed to thechampion’s term and inthe said letter, proposedthat Abe should agree toa challenge. Ifaccording to yourstatement you do notwant a title fight, the

board has appealed tothe promoter to make ita 10-round challengeagainst the sameopponent so as to giveyou the warm up matchyou are clamouring for.

The board, however,made it clear to thepugilist that he would bestripped of the title if hefails to take any of theoptions. •gYour failure totake any of the twooptions will leave theNigeria Boxing Board ofControl with no choicethan to strip you of thetitle and allow otherinterested boxerscompete for the title.

Warri Relays/CAA Grand prix:

Records tumble, Nigerian4x400m men pickMoscow 2013 ticket

BY BEN EFE

TWO national recordswere shattered at the

Warri Relays and CAAGrand prix Friday at theWarri Township Stadiumin Delta State, just as theNigerian men 4x400mput up a spectacular per-formance to grab a quali-fication ticket for the IAAFWorld ChampionshipsAugust in Moscow, Rus-sia.

Women hammer throw-er, Queen Obisesanheaved 62.98m to eraseFunke Adeoye’s mark of61.75 set in 2006.Obisean who has beentraining in Germany waschallenged by AthleticsFederation of Nigeriatechnical director, NavyCommodore OmatseyeNesiama to justify hertrip to Germany andObisesan worked at it inthe AFN Golden League,and finally nailed it inonFriday. In the men’s stee-ple chase, Sudi Hamajamthrashed ZachariaFwangfur ’s life long8.58.56 seconds, when hecoasted home at 8.55.78.seconds.

However, the thrill ofthe evening was whenNoah Akwu anchored theNigerian 4x400m to a re-spectable 3.04.26 to beatthe 3.05.00 world cham-pionships qualificationstandard. They calmedthe nerves of athletics of-ficials who had watchedthe men 4x100 fall shortof the qualification time of

39.20 seconds. They ran39.25 seconds.

“They could have beat-en the time. But therewasn’t a strong enoughopposition to push themto do it.

“Certainly they haveshown what they can doand I am sure at the AllNigeria/Cross RiverChampionships they willrun it,” said former sprint-er Uchenna Emedolu.

That notwithstanding,home boy Ogho OgheneEgwero ran his seasonbest a 10.16. It was a frac-tion of second shy of the10.15 world standard.Junior athlete HarryChukwudike took the sec-ond the position with his10.47sec while US Mat-thew Pritchest returned10.50secs.

In the 100m women,US based Gloria Asumnu(11.34secs) beat juniorathlete Peace Ukoh(11.41secs) while Mari-am Bassey (11.60 secs) to

•Akwu

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SUNDAY Vanguard, JUNE 16, 2013

CROSS WORD PUZZLE

SOLUTION on page 5

HOT CHASE.. Super Eagles defender, Efe Ambrose in a hot chase for the ball during a match. Hesays the Eagles will not take minnows, Tahiti for granted when they meet tomorrow in Brazil

We won’t take Tahiti forgranted– Efe AmbroseSUPER Eagles de

fender, Efe Ambrosehas said they would notwant to take any chanceagainst Oceania champi-ons, Tahiti considered theweakest team in theirgroup at the ConfederationsCup in Brazil and therforewill concentrate fullywhen both sides meet inthe secoud match of thegroup in Belo Horizontetomorrow.

“It is a match we knowwe need to win and, to dothat, we need to be fullyconcentrated. We cannotafford to take any chanc-es. Big shocks have hap-pened before in these kindof tournaments and wedon’t want to be the vic-tims this time,”Ambrosetold fifa.com.

The encounter is comingbehind that of world cham-pions, Spain who tackledUruguay late last night inthe group’s first game.

Sixty three years ago, theBrazilian city was the lo-cation for one of the big-gest upsets in footballinghistory, USA’s win overEngland during the 1950FIFA World Cu. ShouldTahiti emulate that result,shockwaves will be feltacross world football.

Eddy Etaeta’s Tahiti havebeen in Brazil since June7, a clear five days beforethe Eagles took on Namib-ia in 2014 World Cupqualifier in Windhoek.

The Eagles however wereheld down while protest-ing a slash in their bonusand touched down eightdays later. But will the ex-tra preparation time bene-fit the islanders? Only 90minutes on the pitch willjudge.

Nigeria will be looking totake an early lead at the topof Group B by giving theirgoal difference a signifi-cant boost against a teamwho are 107 places belowthem in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. WithUruguay and Spain lyingin wait, Stephen Keshi’sside will be looking to puttheir part-time opponentsto the sword. Tahiti mean-while are daring to dream.

This is the pair ’s firstmeeting at internationallevel, although they didsquare up at the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2009 inEgypt. Nigeria prevailed5-0 on that occasion, a first-round match held in Cairowhen Obiora Nwankwo,Ibok Edet, Kehinde Fatai,Nurudeen Orelesi andDaniel Adejo were on tar-get.

Nigeria are one of twoundefeated sides in theFIFA Confederations Cup,the other being Denmark.The then under thetutelage of Shaibu Amodu,went unbeaten in theirprevious participation in1995, earning one win, twodraws and losing only onpenalties to Mexico in thematch for third place.

•Mikel

C O N F E D E R A T I O N S C U P :

Mexico v Italy 4 p.mSpain v Uruguay 11 p.m.

Nigeria v Tahiti 8 p.m.

TOMORROW’S MATCHES

TODAY’S MATCHES

1 2 3 4 5

6

7 8

9

01 11

21

31 41 51 61 71 81 91

02

12 22 32 42 52 62

72

82 92

03

13 23 33

43

53 63

ACROSS1. Nigeria’s neighbour (8)4. Nigerian tribe (4)6. Bird of prey (5)7. Geometrical shape (8)8. Shaft (4)9. Tidy (4)10. Turncoat (8)11. One (4)12. Within (2)13. Boxes in training (5)15. Tub (4)18. Looked at (4)21. Nigerian state (4)23. Notion (4)25. Sports field (5)27. Above (2)28. Image (4)29. Lowers (8)30. Emblem (4)31. Hausa boy’s name (4)32. Dared (8)34. Barrier (5)35. Friend (4)

36. Gently (8)DOWN1.Bed (3)2. Enugu soccer team (7)3. Maiden name (3)4. Planet (7)5. Chosen by vote (7)9. After this (4)10. Knock (3)14. Nigerian GrammyLaureate (3)16. Hatchet (3)17. Hello (2)19. Still (3)20. Mathematical constant(2)21. Anambra city (7)22. Cancel (7)24. Extinct flightless bird (4)25. Sowed (7)26. Lettuce (3)32. Animal doctor (3)33. Twelve hours (3)

Eagles land in Belo HorizonteNIGERIA’s Super Ea

gles are expected toarrive Belo Horinzonte,the venue of their open-ing game in the 2013 FIFAConfederations’ Cup thismorning after theytouched down in Sao Pao-lo, Brazil yesterday night.

The Eagles traveling

plans were thwarted onThursday, after the playersembarked on a striker todemanding for the pay-ment of outstanding matchbonuses. FIFA spokesman,Pekka Odriozola confirmedthat Eagles arrived late onSaturday in Sao Paolo andthey were immediatelyflown to Belo Horizonte,north of Rio, ahead of Mon-day’s match against Tahiti.

It was gathered that theSports Minister, Bolaji Ab-dulahi intervened in thecrisis.

“We are most grateful tothe (sports) minister for hisintervention in the matter,which means the team cannow travel to Brazil on Sat-urday and arrive in BeloHorizonte before the first

match against Tahiti onMonday,” said NigeriaFootball Federation (NFF)general secretary MusaAmadu.

RESULTS

World Cup qualifiers

Cape Verde 1 S/Leone 0Zambia 1 Sudan 1Congo 0 Burkina Faso 1Gabon 4 Niger 1Uganda 2 Angola 1