ANAMBRA: APGA claims victory

...towards a better life for the people

N150VOL. 25: NO. 62016

ONLINE | www.vanguardngr.com

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013**

Mr & Mrs

APGA claims victory

COLUMNIST:

•P.17

Continues on Page 5

•P.46

•Ngige, Nwoye, Uba call for cancellation•Seek Jega's immediate resignation•APGA won convincingly — Umeh

ANAMBRA:

PROTESTS—Above left: From left: L-R: Labour Party candidate, Dr.Ifeanyi Ubah, All Progressives Congress candidate,Dr Chris Ngige and Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Comrade Tony Nwoye at a joint press conference in Awka, yesterday.Below: Some market women protesting at INEC office, Awka, yesterday.

BY TONY EDIKE,VINCENT UJUMADU,

HENRY UMORU,CHARLES KUMOLU &

ENYIM ENYIM

AWKA—THE AllP r o g r e s s i v e s

Grand Alliance, APGAyesterday claimed vic-tory in last Saturday’sAnambra gubernatorialelection just as the ma-jor opposition politicalparties in the contestkicked, alleging widescale irregularities.

The Chairman of theIndependent NationalElectoral Commission,INEC, Prof. AttahiruJega, however, allegedsabotage on the part ofsome staff of the commis-

Banks threaten toshut down overdetention of officers

9

90-yr-old mother ofOndo PDP chieftainkidnapped 6

Corruption, bane of Nigeria's growth — CBNP.10

PROTESTS IN ANAMBRA

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2—Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

CMYK

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 3

CMYK


CMYK

POCKET CARTOONVanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013—5

ANAMBRA: APGA claims victory

TAKE HEARTBY ELLA RANDLE

Continues from page 1

THE way to gain a good reputation is to endeavour to be what you desire to appear

— Socrates

I recall a scene from a movie called Fighting Temp-tation; in this scene, the substitute pianist sup-posedly sees himself as this honest, simple hearted,God loving individual, who attended service regu-larly and also thought the other fellows in the choirwere as dedicated as himself, when he discoversthat others have what he feels are inappropriateamorous feelings, some were still drinkers andeven liars and haters. He made this remark withindignation: “And I thought you people were holyand sanctified”. This is really funny because ear-lier in the movie he too has shown some lapses inhis behaviour.

The point of the story is that, I have silentlyexpressed such feelings about others and wonderedwhat kind of people I am fellowshipping with, someare constantly gossiping, and bickering like chil-dren, getting into other people’s businesses, so muchenvy and tall tales, and some will even try to en-sure you do not partake of activities because some-how your light will out shine theirs, as if that iseven possible, and will try to discredit others. Butknow that there are always and even more lovingpeople reflecting the good works of truth and di-vine love. And it dawned on me, why should I ex-pect mastership behaviour and perfection fromsomeone who is here to learn about life like me, weare all learning; some do well in some lessons thanothers, but all striving toward excellence and con-trary to the cliché ascribed to this word, FightingTemptation, which I will like to call OvercomingLimitations, the story is more about finding our truehumanity, through our virtues in our everyday liv-ing with each other, in a way you might want tocall it seeing the face of God or divine love. Continues on page 42

From Left: Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo being received by the Crown Prince ofthe State of Kuwait, Sheikh Nawaf Aljaber Alsabah at the Amir Terminal of Kuwait InternationalAirport, yesterday.

sion who he claimedderailed the commis-sion’s plans for smoothdelivery of election ma-terials to some sectionsof Anambra CentralSenatorial district.

Meanwhile, the na-tional leadership of thePeoples DemocraticParty, PDP and its can-didate in the election,Comrade Tony Nwoyewere divided yesterdayover the conduct of thepoll. While the PDPpraised the poll for be-

ing well conducted,Nwoye at a press confer-ence in Awka de-nounced the poll asrigged.

The muttering of theopposition parties none-theless, the NationalChairman of APGA,Chief Victor Umehclaimed that the victoryof the party in the gu-bernatorial election waswell deserved.

He dismissed allega-tions by the candidatesof PDP, APC and LP thatthe election was rigged

as a non-issue sayingAPGA won convincinglybecause the people haveabsolute confidence inthe party and its candi-date.

Umeh addressed anews conference in Awkain reaction to the com-plaints by the three ma-jor contestants that theelection was rigged byGovernor Peter Obi withthe support of some cor-rupt INEC officials whodeleted names of theirsupporters from the vot-ers register among otherallegations.

Umeh told newsmenthat he was surprised bythe three parties’ claimsthat they were cheatedin the election, sayingtheir claims were un-true.

He said that unlike theprevious elections in thestate, there was no inci-dence of ballot boxsnatching, violence orother irregularities towarrant anybody fault-ing the exercise.

“As far as I am con-cerned the election isfree and fair, those peo-ple crying blue murderhave inordinate ambi-tion. By tomorrow whenthe result will be out Iwill face them. I chal-lenge anybody whocares to analyze the re-sults carefully and theywill realize that APGAwon in those councilswhere it had won otherelections in past polls.There is no need what-soever for any of the can-didates to fault the ex-ercise,” Umeh said.

He said that APGA “isnot scared of theirthreats to go to court be-cause APGA had been incourt since its inceptionand cannot be afraid of

litigation.“What Ngige is doing

now is his stock in tradesince he has become aserial gubernatorial con-testant and as I speak toyou now he is still incourt over the 2010 elec-tion.

“For Tony Nwoye, hewas not even in the race.This is a man whom theSupreme Court revali-dated his candidacy inless than a week to theelection. He only cam-paigned for four days inthe whole of Anambrastate and can not claimto have been rigged outof an election he was notactively involved,” theAPGA Chairman who isthe party ’s StateCollatting Officer, said.

Before his address, thethree major candidates,Tony Nwoye, PDP;Ifeanyi Ubah, Labourand Chris Ngige, APC;had at separate pressconferences denouncedthe conduct of the polland called for its cancel-lation.

Oppositioncandidates injoint conference

The trio subsequentlylast night addressed ajoint press conferencewhere they made a jointcall for the cancellationof the polls. They al-leged that they wouldnot accept any resultfrom the election as con-ducted last weekend.

Ubah faulted the out-come of the election,saying that having wonconvincingly at hisNnewi North local gov-ernment, which is thestronghold of APGA (thehome of Ojukwus), he

was confident that hewould have won in theentire state had APGAnot rigged the poll.

He alleged that APGAbought votes at N10,000each within Nnewi andthe money was distrib-uted to willing voters bya principal officer of theState House of Assem-bly.

Rejecting the outcomeof the election yester-day, Nwoye told a newsconference in Awka thatthe “the election is farbelow average and can-not be said to be freeand fair” adding that “itwas heavily manipu-lated by INEC in collu-sion with security agentsin favour of GovernorPeter Obi’s preferredcandidate, WillieObiano.”

I've never seenthis kind ofrigging — Nwoye

Nwoye said: “I havebeen involved in manyelections in this countrysince my secondaryschools days and par-ticularly in 1993 presi-dential election whereMoshood Abiolaemerged, I have neverseen this type of rigging.I have never seen anelection where the mili-tary men and policewere harassing and in-timidating voters, assist-ing the INEC and APGAagents to chase away thePDP members at the col-lation centres to writeresults.”

Nwoye was, however,countered by his party’snational secretariatwhich praised the con-duct of the election.

A statement releasedby the National Public-ity Secretary, Chief OlisaMetuh whilecommending INEC forthe good conduct of theelection said: “The Peo-ples Democratic Party(PDP) herebycommends PresidentGoodluck Jonathan forproviding adequate se-

curity and the enablingenvironment for the con-duct of credible, free andfair governorship elec-tion in Anambra statelast Saturday in spite ofany perceived hitch(es).

“In the same vein wecommend the entire peo-ple of Anambra state andall stakeholders whoplayed key roles in en-suring peaceful and or-derly conduct of theprocess.

“While we now awaitthe official result, wewish to express our sat-isfaction that the electionwas conducted withoutdisturbances, despitethe massive importationof political thugs by theAll Progressives Con-gress (APC) as well astheir heinous plots to in-troduce violence to dis-rupt and rig the poll hav-ing discovered that theyhave been rejected bythe people.

“We also commend thecandidate of our greatparty, Comrade TonyNwoye for his resilience,grassroots appeal andcredible outing whichbrought him to the fore-front in the race despitehaving only two weeksto campaign. This is evi-dent in the results so farreleased in which heroundly defeated thecandidate of the APCwho has been cam-paigning for fourmonths before our can-didate. The PDP is in-deed happy with Com-rade Tony Nwoye’s per-formance so far.

“While we charge allour members to continueto remain calm and fo-cused, we wish to statethat our final position onthe election will bemade known when theoverall result is declaredby INEC."

The APC meanwhile,in a reaction to the de-velopment called for to-tal cancellation of theelection result sayingthat delivery of materi-als to strongholds of theAPC was sabotaged.

In its reaction articu-lated by the party’s In-terim National PublicitySecretary, Alhaji LaiMohammed, the party


BY DAYO JOHNSON

13 monthsafter,kidnappersabandonFrenchman

VISIT: Students of Government Girls Arabic College, Alkaleri Local Government Area, Bauchi State, during GovernorIsa Yuguda's visit, yesterday. NAN PHOTO.

KADUNA— AFrenchman, Mr.

Francis Collon,abducted 13 months agoin Rimi, Katsina State,has been abandoned byhis captors.

According to reports,Collon, an engineer,was working with thefirm handling theKatsina Wind MillPower project, when hewas abducted at hisresidence in October2012.

Two people, a securityguard and his friend,were shot dead duringthe abduction, while theDivisional Police Officein Rimi was set ablazeby the kidnappers.

Kaduna StateCommissioner ofPolice, Mr. OlufemiAdenaike, saidyesterday that the 63-year-old Frenchmanwas released by hisabductors in Zaria onSaturday, after hisincarceration in Katsinaand Kano.

According to him, thekidnappers did notdemand for any ransomsince the man waskidnapped about a yearago.

He said Collon wasdumped by the roadsideat Dan Magaji in Zaria,from where he took acommercial motorcycleto the Dan MagajiPolice Station.

Collon, in thecompany of Frenchembassy officials, didnot comment on theincident.

The commissionersaid the man would bedeparting Nigeria forFrance immediately toreunite with his family.

Mr. Francis Collon.

90-yr-old mother of OndoPDP chieftain kidnapped

THE 90-year-old mother ofRotimi Ibidapo, a former

House of Representativesaspirant in Ondo State, MadamAyiwobu, has been kidnappedfrom her residence in Owoarea of the state.

Vanguard gathered that fourhoodlums stormed her Oworesidence, located at IkareJunction and abducted her.

Rotimi Ibidapo was anaspirant under PeoplesDemocratic Party, PDP, in the2011 elections in the state.

Report had it that thehoodlums drove to theresidence of the victim in aNissan car with Rivers Statenumber plate at 2p.m.

An eyewitness said thatwhen the abductors arrived,they started shooting spora-dically into the air to scarepeople away from the scene.

In the midst of theconfusion and stampede, thehoodlums drove off towardsIfon-Benin Expressway withthe old woman.

N50m ransomInvestigation revealed that

the hoodlums have openeddiscussion with the family ofthe victim.

An unconfirmed reportsaid they were asking for N50million as ransom before theold woman could be released.

Police image-maker, WoleOgodo, confirmed theincident. Ogodo said that ateam of crack detectives haveswung into action to trackdown the hoodlums.

He assured that those behind

the kidnap would be made toface the law whenapprehended.

He said: “We would soonsecure the release of the oldwoman unharmed and ensurethat the family does not pay anyransom.”

However, a reliable family

member confided in Vanguardthat the kidnappers havestarted negotiation with theformer House ofRepresentatives aspirant.

According to the source,“the kidnappers are askingfor N50 million. The familyis negotiating downwards,

but they are still adamant.”Vanguard was told that the

kidnappers said they won’t golower than half of what theywere asking for.

Efforts to speak with RotimiIbidapo proved abortive as hedid not answer calls to hismobile phone.

5 arrested over suspectedritual murder of 11-yr-old girl

ATM robbers kill 2 policemen, 4 arrested

JOS— FIVE suspects havebeen arrested by the Police

in Plateau State in connectionwith the ritual killing of an 11-year-old girl, whose eyes andtongue had been removedwhen her corpse was found.

Four of those arrested werebelieved to be the actual killersof the girl, who was on anerrand for her grandmotherwith whom she lived in Fillin-

Sukwa area of Jos.The fifth suspect, identified

as a dealer in shoes, allegedlycontracted the other suspectsto get him the human parts forN300,000.

A relative quoted thegrandmother as saying shesent her granddaughter to buyMasa (a local rice snack)around 7.30a.m., but that shenever returned.

After waiting for a while, thegrandmother went to the Masa

seller, who told her that the girlcame, but was sent on anerrand by one of the suspects.

Subsequent efforts to tracethe girl failed only for her corp-se to be discovered in an un-completed building, days later.

A neighbour confirmed thatthe girl’s corpse was found lastFriday.

Police Public RelationsOfficer, DSP Felicia Anslemconfirmed the arrests, sayinginvestigations were on.

BY TAYE OBATERU

TWO policemen were, in theearly hours of yesterday,

killed during an encounter witha six-man robbery gang thatattacked a second generationbank's Automated TellerMachine, ATM, at Ipaja areaof Lagos State.

Vanguard gathered that thetwo officers met their untimelydeath when a team of

policemen responded to adistress call from the bank.

The robbers attempted tobreak open the ATM, when thepolicemen from Ayobo PoliceDivision arrived on the sceneand the robbers opened fireon them, killing the teamleader, Longus Amuzie, anAssistant Superintendent ofPolice and one other.

The other policemen weresaid to have called for

backup.The officer in charge of the

Special Anti-Robbery Squad,Abba Kyari, swiftly deployeda team of operatives to thearea and four members of thegang were arrested.

Police Public RelationsOfficer, Ngozi Braide, whileconfirming the report, saidthe robbery was foiled, addingthat no money was stolenfrom the ATM.

BY IFEANYI OKOLIE

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013—7

ABUJA— THE AbubakarBaraje-led splinter group

of Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, has challenged theFederal Government to, as amatter of urgency, account forthe $5 billion which hasallegedly disappeared fromthe nation’s Excess CrudeAccount, ECA, warning thatthe revelation must not beswept under the carpet.

According to the group, “thecurrent administration isrunning for a price award ofthe most corrupt admini-stration in the annals of gover-nance in Nigeria,” urgingNigerians to rise against thelevel of corruption in thecountry.

The Baraje-led PDP has in itsfold the former Vice President,Atiku Abubakar; GovernorSule Lamido of Jigawa State;Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed

of Kwara State; GovernorAliyu Babangida of NigerState; Governor Aliyu Wama-kko of Sokoto State; GovernorRotimi Amaechi of RiversState; Governor MusaKwankwaso of Kano State andGovernor Murtala Nyako ofAdamawa State.

Others are formergovernors Danjuma Goje ofGombe State; Bukola Saraki,Kwara; Adamu Aliero, Kebbi;Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola,Osun, and Abdullahi Adamu,Nasarawa.

They said: “We urgeNigerians to heed the adviceof the Nigeria Governors’Forum, NGF, and stop beingdocile in the face of monumen-tal impunity in the country.This, in reality, is the only wayto rescue Nigeria from thepath of doom.”

nPDP statementA statement by the National

Publicity Secretary of thegroup read: “The New PeoplesDemocratic Party, nPDP, haschallenged the FederalGovernment to account for the$5 billion, which has allegedlydisappeared from the nation’sExcess Crude Account, ECA.

“This is after a careful studyof the disclosure made by theChairman of NGF, GovernorRotimi Amaechi, whiledeclaring open the secondannual retreat of the NGF onNovember 15 in Sokoto.

“According to GovernorAmaechi, the Excess CrudeAccount stood at $9 billionlast January, but has shrunkto only $4 billion today.

“We consider thisdevelopment too weighty tobe swept under the carpet inview of the stature of theperson making the allegationand the realities on ground.For all in-tents and purposes,Governor Amaechi is not a

frivolous person and is notknown for making frivolousclaims.

“Nigeria’s broke”“We told Nigerians about the

poor handling of ourcommon patrimony by thisadministration and sadlynobody took it seriously. Buttoday the unmistakableevidence is that Nigeria isbroke as the FederalGovernment now finds itdifficult to meet itsobligations to states, localgovernments and contractors.

“We wish to commend theNGF Chairman for bringingthis matter to the open andhereby challenge the FederalGovernment to tell Nigerianswhat it did with the money.

“We also, hereby, challengethe anti-graft agencies to provetheir relevance by unearthingthe whereabouts of this hugesum of money.”

Account for ‘missing’ $5bn excesscrude money, nPDP challenges FG

BY HENRY UMORU

WEDDING: From left— Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State; former Military President, General IbrahimBabangida (rtd.); former Finance Minister, Alhaji Ahmed Muye and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar(rtd.), at the Jumat prayer at Lafiagi Central Mosque in Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State, during the wedding ofAbdulsalam's son to Senator Muhammad Lafiagi's daughter last Friday.

FG to raise $100m Diaspora bond

THE Debt ManagementOffice, DMO, weekend,

disclosed that in a new moveto seek long term financingfor government spending, itwould be diversifying the debtinstruments available in theNigerian long to medium termmarket and investor-base,through the issuance ofDiaspora bond instrument thatwill target Nigerians abroad.

This, along with FederalGovernment of Nigeria, FGN,

bonds will be offered in GlobalDepository Notes, GDN,format.

DMO's Director-General, Dr.Abraham Nwankwo, said:“Arrangements are beingfinalised to raise US$100million for Diaspora Bondtargeted at infrastructure by2014.

“There are plans for theinstallation of an automatedinformation technologyplatform for the FGN DebtSecurities Market, which isexpected to further enhancemarket efficiency in the

domestic debt market.”He stated that the focus of

public debt engagement inNigeria will remain tomaximise benefits from thedomestic market andInternational Capital Market,ICM, to motivate the privatesector to mobilise stable capitalfor funding of real sector andinfrastructure projects.

He said that the FederalGovernment would no longerrely on ways and means tofund its deficits budget, whichwas an inefficient means ofmanaging the nation’s debt

profile.The government, through

ways and means, can borrownot more than five per cent ofits annual budget from theCentral Bank of Nigeria,CBN, to finance annualbudget. Federal Governmentraised sovereign bond worthN544.06 billion to fund the2013 budget deficit.

Nwankwo, who spoke at theopening of a two-dayworkshop in Badagry, LagosState, said that N744.44 billionwas used to fund fiscal deficitin 2012, while N852 billion was

also raised in 2011 for the samepurpose against N1.36 trillionin 2010.

The Director-General furthersaid that before theresuscitation of the sovereignbond market, governmentborrowing from the domesticmarket was mainly in the formof 91-day treasury bills.

Four Nigerian banks,according to him, tookadvantage of the sovereignbenchmarks, established in theInternational Capital Market,ICM, to raise $1.85 billion(N290.45 billion).

BY PETER EGWUATU &NKIRU NNOROM

ABUJA— THE ChiefEconomic Adviser to

the President, Dr.Nwanze Okidegbe hassaid that the statementcredited to the WorldBank Country Directorfor Nigeria, Marie-Francoise Marie-Nelly,that 100 million Nigeriansare living in destitution orextreme poverty was a‘spurious claim’ that is‘easily disprovable.’

In a statement in Abuja,the Presidential aidenoted that the position ofthe country director wasa sharp contrast to whatthe World Bank had saidabout the level of povertyin Nigeria.

According to thestatement, “first, it clear-ly contradicts the posi-tion of the World Bankon the level of poverty inNigeria.

“During the visit of thebank’s Vice President forAfrica, Makhtar Diop, inMay, he declared thatpoverty has fallen underthis administration from48 per cent to 46 percent.

“Given our currentpopulation of about 170million, the CountryDirector ’s imagery of100 million Nigeriandestitutes seems to bebased on a much higherpoverty rate than that ofher boss.

“The question thatarises from thisabsurdity therefore is:who is right?”

Presidentialaide faultsWorld BankonNigeria'spovertylevel

BY BEN AGANDE

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18 2013—8

NNPC must stop operating in the dark—RIBADU

FG warnsMDAs overconstituencyprojects

BY SONI DANIEL, REGIONALEDITOR, NORTH

Falana wants alleged killers of citizenOgundare prosecuted

BY HUGO ODIOGOR &,SAM EYOBOKA

BY OKEY NDIRIBE

ABUJA—THE FederalGovernment has

warned all heads of itsministries, departmentsand agencies that noexcuse would be acceptedfor non-implementation ofconstituency projectscontained in the 2013budget.

This was disclosed,weekend, by the Minister ofSpecial Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, AlhajiTanimu Turaki, SAN, whileflagging off monitoring andevaluation of 2013constituency projects acrossthe country at the site of thenewly completed NYSCroad in Kubwa.

He further stated thatPresident GoodluckJonathan was particularlycommitted to theimplementation of capitalaspects of the 2013 budget“because such projects touchdirectly on the lives of thepeople”.

His words: “You may wishto know that these projectsare very dear to PresidentJonathan. All efforts need tobe deployed to ensure theiractualisation and thusimplementation of Mr.President’s goal of bringingdevelopment to thegrassroots.”

He further stated that themonitoring and evaluationexercise was expected tocover not only the 2,399constituency projectscontained in the 2013budget, but also otherconstituency projects ofprevious years adding thatthe exercise would be carriedout in phases.

S O K O T O — F O R M E REconomic and Financial

Crimes Commission, EFCC,Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, hasasked Nigerians to rise up andinsist on the Nigerian NationalPetroleum Corporation operatingtransparently and in the overallinterest of the nation and itspeople.

Ribadu, who spoke at a retreatorganised by the NigeriaGovernors’ Forum in Sokoto State,weekend, decried the penchant bythe corporation to conduct itsoperation in an opaque manner,thereby preventing Nigeriansfrom knowing what happens inthe national oil outfit.

Secret transactions

The former police boss said thatNigeria was one of the fewcountries in the world where theactivities of its oil company werelargely transacted in secrecy andglobal best practices that guidesuch operations around the worldthrown overboard.

Ribadu said it was also wrongfor the Federal Government tohandle the NNPC as a personalestate leaving out states and localgovernments from its operations.

He said: “Today, the NNPC is aproducer, an importer, a marketerand a regulator paying to theFederal Government what it likesat any time and treating the statesand local governments in Nigeriaas if they have no stake in theestablishment.

“Let me say that states are veryimportant because of the essentialroles they play in the developmentof the communities and the livesof Nigerians. They shouldtherefore, be allowed to have a sayin what goes on in the NNPC.”

Nyako demands measures against impunity

Nyako on democracy

Adamawa State Governor,Murtala Nyako, who spoke onmeans of deepening democracyand good governance inNigeria, noted that it wouldamount to a waste of time andenergy if government did notmeet the basic needs of theelectorate in Nigeria.

Nyako blamed the rising waveof insecurity in the land onfrustration arising fromjoblessness and poverty coupled

with soaring impunity that hadnot been punished by relevantagencies over time.

The governor said: “We haveto work towards engenderinga sound justice system thatpunishes those that act withimpunity and do away with thecurrent regime whereeverybody gets away withcrime due to the corruptnature of the society.

Setting targets forPolice

“Policemen and other securityagencies must be given targetsin crime prevention. Poorinvestigation, prosecution andconviction of criminals give riseto impunity and weakendemocracy and goodgovernance.

No fewer than 15 governorsconverged on Sokotobrainstorm on measures andpolicies that could deependemocracy and goodgovernance in Nigeria.

LAGOS—LAGOS lawyerand human rights

activists, Mr. Femi Falana,has called on the Ekiti Stategovernor, Mr. KayodeFayemi, to ensure that thoseresponsible for the killing ofone Mr. Foluso Ogundare ata political rally in EmureEkiti, on November 4, werebrought to book.

He called on the governorto declare zero tolerance forextra-judicial killings,political violence, andthuggery in the state.

Falana in a statement,yesterday, said “OnNovember 4, 2013 a peacefulpolitical rally in Emure Ekitiwas violently attacked bysome armed thugs. In themayhem visited on theunarmed people at the rally,one Mr. Foluso Ogundarewas attacked and severelywounded.

“He was rushed to thehospital, where he gave up

the ghost. Two days later, Isent a petition to theInspector-General of Police,Mr. Mohammed Abubakarto demand for theimmediate arrest andprosecution of all thecowards, who snuffed lifeout of Mr. Ogundare. Sincethere are eye witnesses, whowere present at the scenewhere the dastardly act wasexecuted in broad daylight,the Police should quicklyconclude investigation intothe incident and charge thesuspects to court for thecriminal offences ofconspiracy and murder.

“As I did say in my afore-mentioned petition to theInspector-General of Police, “Tostem the tide of politicalviolence in Ekiti State, I amcompelled to request you todirect the Ekiti State policecommand to prosecute all thesuspects, as well as thecriminals who recentlyunleashed violence on lawabiding citizens at a burial

ceremony at Iyin-Ekiti and at apolitical meeting at Ado-Ekiti. Thethugs and their mastermindsshould not be given the impressionthat they have immunity fromprosecution for unleashingviolence on innocent people.

“It is sad to note that since 2003,successive governments in EkitiState have treated indictedmurderers like sacred cows.Hence, criminals whose hands aresoaked in blood have held Ekitipeople hostage. From theinformation at my disposal, all thesuspects responsible for thepolitically motivated killings inEkiti State for the past 10 yearshave been identified by the Policeand the Department of SecurityServices. Indeed majority of thesuspects were charged to the stateHigh Court in Ado Ekiti. But thecases were deliberatelyprogrammed to fail leading to therelease of the suspectedmurderers, including those whohad admitted their role andinvolvement in such heinouscrimes.

Babalakin mourns Iyayi

LAGOS—A former chairmanof Committee of Pro-

Chancellors and chairman ofBiCourtney Group, Dr. WaleBabalakin, SAN, has expressedshock at the tragic manner inwhich the former President ofAcademic Staff Union ofUniversities, ASUU, ProfessorFestus Iyayi, who died on Tuesdayin Lokoja, Kogi State, while on hisway to Kano for a meeting of theNational Executive Committee,NEC, of the union.

Babalakin, who was thechairman of the ImplementationMonitoring Committee of theFederal Government of Nigeria/University-based UnionsAgreement 2009, expressedregret that Iyayi’s death was a saddevelopment and a set-back to thecurrent effort to halt theprolonged industrial action byASUU.

The respected lawyer, however,said Prof. Iyayi’s death, as sad andregrettable as it was, should serveas a nudge to the whole nationon areas of our national life thatrequire urgent and sincereattention.

In a statement, yesterday, Dr.Babalakin commiserated with theleadership and members of ASUUas well as the immediate familymembers and friends of theprofessor, on the tragic death.

He said: ‘’I knew Prof. Iyayi asa brilliant and committed scholarand an exemplary leader whowanted the very best for theNigerian universities and theeducational system in general.

He added that the best wayto honour the departedacademic would be to pay truerespect to educational values,the type that Prof. Iyayi foughtfor all his life.

VISIT: From left: Kudo Eresia-Eke, GM, External Relations, NLNG, Chima Isilebo, GM,Production, NLNG, Basheer Koko, Deputy Managing Director, NLNG, Dr. Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Babs Omotowa, MD, NLNG, during the minister’s visit tothe NLNG Plant at Bonny, Rivers State.


Alaafin, others thank Ajimobi forappointing their children commissioners

BY OLA AJAYI

IBADAN — THE Alaafinof Oyo , Oba Lamidi

Adeyemi and some other

prominent traditional rulersin the state, week-end,visited Governor AbiolaAjimobi to thank him forappointing their children as

commissioners.Oba Adeyemi who led

other traditional rulers,commended the gesture ofGovernor Ajimobi, saying he

was following the footsteps ofthe late sage, Chief ObafemiAwolowo.

The traditional rulers werefrom different zones of thestate.

Among other rulers thatvisited the governor wereAseyin of Iseyin, Eleruwa ofEruwa and Onpetu

According to Alaafin, thegovernor was giving thesame reverence andexemplary deference to theinstitution of traditionalrulership like it was done inthe then Western Region ofNigeria by Chief Awolowo in1956.

Besides, Oba Adeyemi alsorecalled that the idea ofministerial appointment toObas as a means of creatingrapport between theexecutive arm of governmentand traditional rulership upto cabinet level, initiated byChief Awolowo was also

borrowed by theSecond RepublicGovernor of OyoState, the lateChief Bola Igewith theappointment ofthe then Ataoja ofOsogbo andEleruwa ofEruwa into hiscabinet ascommissionerswithout portfolio.

The monarchsaid: “I am of thestrong opinionthat the factorsthat made thee x p e r i e n c esucceed beforewill also bearound to ensureits success duringyour own timetoo.”

R e s p o n d i n g ,G o v e r n o rAjimobi, claimedfull responsibilityfor theappointment ofthe children ofthe traditionalrulers ascommissioners,saying that noneof their fatherssolicited for them.

Rather, he saidhe picked themout of his ownvolition based ontheir individualc o m p e t e n c e ,qualification andpedigree whichqualified them fort h e i rappointments.

Right revenue formula’ll fix half Nigeria’sproblems — RMAFC

Teach children dignity oflabour —Cleric

THE REVENUE Mobilisation,Allocation and Fiscal Commission,RMAFC, has said producing the rightrevenue sharing formula will help solve50 per cent of the problems currentlyexperienced in Nigeria.

Its Chairman, Mr. Elias Mbam, madethe disclosure in an interview with theNews Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Abuja

MADAM ELIZABETH Ifijeh (nee Obadan), motherof The Nation Newspapers’ Managing Director/

Editor-in-chief Mr. Victor Ifijeh is dead.She died on November 4 in Benin, Edo State. She was

aged 82.She is survived by many children, grandchildren and

great grand children.

The Nation MD loses mum

FUNERAL: From left, Mrs. Modupe Babarinsa and her husband, son of the deceased, Mr.Dare Babarinsa, and Editor-in-Chief and General Manager, Publications, VanguardNewspapers, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye, at the funeral service of late Chief Sarah Babarinsa, atSaint Michael's Anglican Church, Okemesi-Ekiti. Photo: Shola Oyelese

OUR ERROR

OUR SUNDAY Vanguard edition ofNovember 16, published a reader’s reaction

to the House of Representatives’ report on itsinvestigation into the purchase of two BMW cars byNCAA. In error we published Joe Obi as the writer.

The piece was sent in by Ugo Onuoha as reflectedin the footnote to the piece.

We are sorry for whatever inconvenience this mayhave caused Mr. Obi.

— Editor, Sunday Vanguard

yesterday.Mbam said if the commission came out

with the new revenue sharing formula,which it had been working on, it wouldcomplement the efforts of the NationalDialogue.

“If we produce a formula that mostNigerians are happy with, over 50 per centof what the National Dialogue aims to

achieve is done.“Because it is all about

how to share politicalpower and the nation’srevenue. These are the twomajor contending issueswe have in the country. So,if we are able to settle oneaspect, they can use whatwe have devised as aninput in what they aredoing,” he said.

Mbam said the revenuesharing formula wasalmost ready and wouldmeet the December

deadline, with most aspectof the work alreadyaccomplished.

“We have finishedliterature review, touring,public hearing,sensitisation and collectedall our memoranda.

“The next is to analysewhat we have and that willbe done during the retreat.The commission will go ona retreat on 28th of themonth and the retreat willnot take more than twoweeks.

“At the retreat, we willproduce a draft, this willthen be confirmed by theplenary committee of thecommission, after which wewill print and forwardaccordingly to Mr.President,” he said.

LAGOS — REV. Fr.Gasper Olanrewaju,

the parish priest, SaintJoachim and AnneCatholic Church, Ijegun,Lagos, weekend, advisedparents to inculcate thevirtues of dignity of labour

in their children.“We need to teach our

children that only hardwork will produce successin life; there is no food fora lazy man,” he said onSunday in a sermon.

Detention ofofficers:Banks toshut down

I N D I C AT I O N SE M E R G E D ,

weekend, that banksoperating in the countrymay shut down operationsnation wide in protest overthe continued detention ofkey officers of about 18banks by the Departmentof State Services overallegation of moneylaundery.

The arrest and detentionof the officers wasgenerating panic and furorin banking quartersfollowing over two weeksarrest and detentionwithout charges broughtagainst the concernedbankers.

Senior personnel of 18Nigerian banks have beenlanguishing in detention inthe holding facility of theDepartment of StateServices for almost twoweeks over allegations ofterrorist financing andmoney laundering allegedby governmentfunctionaries to have beenperpetrated by AminuSuleiman Lamido, son ofJigawa State Governor,Alhaji Sule Lamido.

Aminu and his brother,Mustapha Lamido werearrested by Economic andfinancial CrimesCommission, EFCC, overan alleged N10 billionfraud.

They were arrested inKano and flown to Abujaand have since been underinterrogation at theC o m m i s s i o n ’ sheadquarters.

The banks whose staffhave been picked up areFidelity Bank Plc, First CityMonument Bank Plc,FCMB, Wema Bank Plc,Access Bank Plc, SkyeBank Plc, First BankNigeria Limited, FBN,Sterling Bank Plc, DiamondBank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc,Unity Bank Plc, EcobankPlc, Guaranty Trust BankPlc, GTBank, andCitibank. The DSS, it waslearnt, which has been onthe trail of Aminu Lamido,had sought an ex partemotion from the FederalHigh Court, Abuja, tofreeze the accounts, in 13banks, of AdoldEngineering CompanyLimited, believed to beowned by the governor’sson.

The ex parte motion wasgranted by Justice A.F.AAdemola on November 6,2013.

The fear of the banks, itwas gathered, was thatthe DSS had no capacityto analyse informationsent daily to CBN andEFCC related to money

10 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Why Nigeria has not developed — CBN

PDPchairman iskilling us inEkiti—Vice-Chairman

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — THE Cen-tral Bank of Nigeria, CBN,

has said high level corruption,inadequate infrastructure and ris-ing unemployment, among oth-ers, in the country have been thebane of development.

The CBN also stated that inspite of the impressive macro-economic performance, it hasfailed to translate to develop-ment.

The Deputy- Governor (Oper-ation), Mr. Tunde Lemo statedthis in his speech presented,weekend, at Egba EconomicSummit in Abeokuta, the OgunState capital.

According to Lemo, the CBNhad intervened in the challeng-es by providing N300 billion pow-er and airline intervention fundand another N200 billion com-mercial agriculture creditscheme with a view to boostingthe economy.

He, however, lamented thatdespite the efforts to improve theeconomy the statistics of unem-ployment was alarming, saying,"four million Nigerians enter la-bour market annually.

“In spite of the impressive mac-ro economic performance, it didnot translate into development asunemployment is still huge.

“The challenges are that Nige-ria's development is over-depen-

dent on oil, with high inflation,huge import bills, and high levelcorruption.

“National unemployment sta-tistics shows that the populationsize is 164 million and peoplebetween 15 and 35 years are 60per cent while youth unemploy-ment of Nigeria workforce is 30per cent.

“Unemployment in rural areasis 23 per cent and unemploymentin urban areas is 17 per cent,unemployment growth rate perannum is 16 per cent.”

Meantime, the CBN has saidthe Ogun State revenue profilestood at N200 billion, saying thestate got 67 per cent as statutory

allocation from the Federal Gov-ernment while the InternallyGenerated Revenue contributes33 per cent.

It stated that Ogun State is the16th most populous state and ran100 per cent non-oil economy.

According to the Deputy Gov-ernor of the CBN, Ogun Stateranked 9th in terms of GrossDomestic Product in the countryand 5th in South West in termsof the number of states with mac-ro small medium enterprises.

“In spite of the rich endow-ments, the state has, however,not attained the desired level ofeconomic development,” he said.

BY GBENGA ARIYIBI

in one crisis or the other sinceOgundipe took over as thechairman about three yearsago

Olatunde, who is the ViceChairman of the party in theNorth Senatorial District of thestate said in Ado Ekiti,weekend, that Ogundipe hadnot deemed it fit to conveneState Executive Council SECmeeting since he took over asthe chairman of the party sothat there won't be opportunityto criticise him

He accused Ogundipe ofstalling all moves to hold SECmeeting since theinauguration of the presentstate officials, the action whichhe said ran contrary to theprovisions of the party'sconstitution.

VCs want unionism refined in Nigerianvarsities

BY DAYO JOHNSON

AKURE — THE Association of ViceChancellors of Nigerian Universities,

AVCNU, weekend, said there was need toput unionism in the right perspective to beresponsive and responsible to nation build-ing.

This was contained in a communique is-sued at the end of their 28th annual confer-ence at the Federal University of TechnologyAkure, FUTA.

Over 60 Vice Chancellors and 70 other of-ficers attended the conference with the theme,'The Nigerian University System and theChallenges and Prospects of Globalisation.'

They equally lamentedthat proliferation of univer-sities without increasedfunding posed challengesto the public universities.

Part of the communiqueread: “There is a need toseek innovative and work-able solutions to instabilityin the university occa-sioned by student and staffunion issues.

"Funding from the privatesector is inadequate be-cause Nigerians do not

Customs uncovers new smuggling routeBY GODWIN ORITSE

THE Customs Area Controller, West-ern Marine Command; Zakka Audu,

weekend, said it had identified Kese, acoastal community in Badagry Local Gov-ernment Area of Lagos State, as the new-est route for smugglers into Ogun State.

Audu disclosed that the command in twodays seized goods worth N12 million inthe area.

According to him, the first seizure on No-vember 9 consisted of 1,225 cartons of fro-zen poultry products and 55 bags of rice.

"The duty paid value of the seized poul-try products was N7.9 million, while ricewas N614,000," he explained.

He said that 200 cartons of frozen poul-try products and 200 bags of rice valued atN1.3 million and N2.2 million respective-ly were seized on November 10.

know how to give to wor-thy causes.

“Philanthropy should beencouraged in order tohave more advancement inuniversity system while dif-ferentiating between gen-uine advancement and'Cash and Carry Advance-ments' which compromise

Oguneducationpolicy indanger— Principals

BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA — THEAll Nigeria Confed-

eration of Principals of Sec-ondary Schools, ANCOP-SS, in Ogun State haswarned that the free edu-cation policy of the Ibikun-le Amosun-led administra-tion may not be realised ifthe state government failsto address some serious is-sues concerning their wel-fare.

Rising from its 33rd An-nual Congress at The BellsUniversity of Technology,Ota, in Ado - Odo /Ota Lo-cal Government Area of thestate, weekend, the princi-pals demanded that thestate government shouldconsider for immediate pay-ment of outstanding of theExamination Administra-tion Grants to secondaryschools to forestal furthermass failure of students notonly in terminal but also inthe internal examinations.

ANCOPSS claimed thatmany of its members hadbeen assaulted by suppli-ers over their inability to payup debts incurred in run-ning costs of the secondaryschools in the state.

our integrity.“Teaching/learning and

research take place inresource-poor contexts,therefore making it nearimpossible for Nigerian uni-versities to measure up inan increasingly competi-tive global knowledgeeconomy."

ADO EKITI — THE crisisrocking the Peoples DemocraticParty, PDP, in Ekiti State hasdeepened, as one of the ViceChairmen of the party in thestate, Mr. Olatunde Olatundehas raised an alarm that the ac-tivities of the state chairman ofthe party, Mr. MakanjuolaOgundipe may jeopadise theparty's chances of winning nextyear's governorship election.

The party has been engulfed

VISIT: From left, Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi; wife of late former Chief of General Staff, Admiral MikeAkhigbe, and his daughter, Ochuwa Akhigbe-Ogionwo, during a condolence visit to the Lagos home of the Akhigbes.


Asaba Airporthandles6,331 flights,192,651passengers—Delta govt

Youths threaten Shell’s operationsin Bayelsa

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

BY SAMUELOYADONGHA

Yenagoa fly-over: Owners of buildingsearmarked for demolition to receive N500m

Delta laudsNDDC oncontributionsto education

BY FESTUS AHON

Oke passes on

Y E N A G O A —BAYELSA State

governor, Mr. SeriakeDickson, has ordered theimmediate disburse-ment of N500 million ascompensation to ownersof buildings earmarkedfor demolition to makeway for the second flyo-ver bridge to be con-structed in the state cap-ital at the Tombia/Etegwe axis of Yenagoa.

Dickson, who gave thedirective, weekend,when he undertook anon the spot assessment

of the project site, saidhe decided to personal-ly visit and assess theextent of the project aswell as the number ofstructures earmarked fordemolition before thecommencement of work.

He urged those whoseproperty would be affect-ed to bear with govern-ment and see it as a nec-essary sacrifice for theon-going infrastructuraldevelopment of thestate, noting that thedemolition exercisewould take place inthree weeks time.

He added that govern-

ment was not under anyobligation to pay themarket value of proper-ty to be demolished butrather was obliged bylaw to pay what is fair,adequate and prompt interms of compensation.

“I have asked theagencies of governmentto begin the disburse-ment of N500 million ascompensation that willbe paid. And, I want tourge all those who willbe affected to cooperatewith the agencies thatwill handle that processfrom next week,” hesaid.

YENAGOA—ANGEREDby the deplorable state

of Imiringi-Edepie Road, theyouths of Kolo Creek, in Og-bia Local Government Area ofBayelsa State, weekend,threatened to disrupt the op-erations of Shell PetroleumDevelopment Company in thearea.

The youths noted with sad-ness that though the oil com-pany had been in operationin the area for over 40 years,it had neglected the nativesof the community andwatched the road turn intodeath trap over the years.

The youths, led by the youthPresident of Kolo Creek Com-munity, Mr. Victor Otobo, ata town hall meeting organised

by the state Public Informa-tion Management Commit-tee, said the youths and wom-en in the community had con-cluded plans to stage apeaceful protest to registertheir displeasure over whatthey described as the neglectof the community.

Otobo said that the protestwas to send a clear messageto the state government andShell that the community hadbeen plunged into darknessin the last three months andhad no road.

Earlier in his presentation,the Chairman of the PublicInformation ManagementCommittee and Special Ad-viser to the Governor on So-cial Media, Mr. Boma Spe-ro-Jack, in his presentation ti-tled Using Official Channelsof Communication To Pro-mote Good Governance in

Bayelsa State, described Og-bia council as a fortunate landwhere the first oil well was dis-covered in large quantity atOloibiri, in 1956.

He assured the youths thatthe outcome of the interactivesession would be presented toGovernor Dickson, addingthat the state government wasworking tirelessly to revampthe ailing state Plastic Indus-try and Oil Palm Industry.

DELTA State Gov-ernment, yester-

day, said that the AsabaAirport, since it com-menced commercialflight operations on July13, 2011, had handled6,331 flights and 192,651passengers as at the endof October 2013.

This is aside from the 18flights and 63 passengershandled before commer-cial flights began bring-ing the total operationalresults to 6,349 flightsand 192,714 passengers.

According to the stateInformation Commission-er, Mr Chike Ogeah,“with an average of 260flights and 6,880 passen-gers recorded monthly,Asaba Airport has becomeone of the busiest andmost viable airports in thecountry. The month ofApril 2011 when the Del-ta State capital hosted theSecond South-South Eco-nomic Summit recordedthe highest flight of 401while its 9,588 passen-gers was second to the9,778 recorded in August2013.”

Ogeah in a statement byhis Special Assistant, MrPius Mordi, said that thereturn was unprecedent-ed for a new airport.

UGHELLI—DELTAState Government

has commended the Ni-ger Delta DevelopmentCommission, NDDC, forwhat it described as ex-ceptional contributions ofthe commission to en-hance effective teachingand learning in its clientstates.

The state Commission-er for Basic and Second-ary Education, ProfessorPatrick Muoboghare,made the commendationin a goodwill messageduring the handing overof instructional educationitems donated to the Com-prehensive High School,Igbodo, Ika North-EastLocal Government Areaof the state, by the com-mission.

The items donated tothe school by NDDC in-clude 20 desktop comput-ers, 20 computer tables,20 computer chairs, 20uninterrupted power sup-ply, UPS, gadgets and aprinter.

The handing over cer-emony was witnessed bythe traditional ruler of Ig-bodo Kingdom, HRMObi Ikechukwu OsedumeI, members of the Obi-in-council, parents andteachers.

MR. Joseph Oke,a senior lecturer

at Yaba College of Tech-nology, Lagos, is dead,aged 55.

A wake-keep will holdon November 20, at thecollege chapel, YabaCollege of Technology,followed next day by afuneral mass at ReginaMundi Catholic Church,Mushin. Interment fol-lows thereafter at AtanCemetery, Yaba.

He was survived by hiswidow, Oluwatoyin,brothers, sisters and twochildren.

Late Mr. Joseph Oke

JUBILEE CELEBRATION: Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State (right); Pastor Ayo Orit-sejafor (left) and his wife Helen, during the jubilee celebration of the existence of Word of Life BibleChurch held at the church premises in Warri, weekend. Photo: Henry Unini.


FERMA inaugurates c’ttee to checkroad abuse

BY GABRIELENOGHOLASE

‘Only genuinestudents’llbenefit fromDeltabursary’

It’s unfair to blame Iyayi’s death on FG,says Presidential aide

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM

BENIN—WORRIED bywhat it termed “unac-

ceptable and preventable badattitudes” on highways by Ni-gerian drivers, which it saidendangers lives and proper-ty, the Federal Roads Main-tenance Agency, FERMA,weekend, inaugurated theSouth-South Zone II chapterof Federal Roads Committeeon Surveillance and ActionAgainst Roads Abuse, FERC-SARA, in Benin, Edo State.

The committee’s mandate isto proffer solutions that wouldcheck road abuse, as well asarrest and prosecute thosefound to be involved in suchabuses.

The committee, which hasthe acting Zonal CoordinatorSouth-South Zone II of Fed-eral FERMA, Engr. RichardOrhre as chairman, also hasmembers drawn from theArmy, Police, FRSC, NigeriaSecurity and Civil DefenceCorps, NSCDC, and Nation-al Union of Road Transport

Workers, NURTW.Inaugurating the commit-

tee, Air Commodore Idonge-sit Nkanga, (rtd), who repre-sented FERMA board chair-man, said that the agency hadobserved with dismay, themenace of road abuses, whichhas constituted a challenge to

the task of effective roadmaintenance.

He listed some of the roadabuses to include indiscrimi-nate cutting of roads by indi-viduals and corporate bodieswithout permission from FER-MA, overloading of vehiclesabove admissible axle load,indiscriminate parking ofheavy duty vehicles on shoul-

ders and turning such placesinto trailer parks, and indis-criminate pasting and hoist-ing of advertisements, posters/bill on strategic parts of theroads especially kilometerposts, road signs and streetlight poles thereby, destroyingthe original intention andservices they are made to per-form.

BENIN—THE SENIORSpecial Assistant to Pres-

ident Goodluck Jonathan onYouths and Student Affairs, Mr.Jude Imagwe, weekend, de-scribed as unfair and untrue,allegations that the FederalGovernment killed the lateformer President of the Academ-ic Staff Union of Universities,ASUU, Prof. Festus Iyayi.

Imagwu, shortly after he paida condolence visit to the Iyayifamily, said there was no doubtthat Nigerians were shocked by

U G H E L L I —CHAIRMAN of

Delta State Bursary andScholarship Board,Monsignor Buchi Ani-nye, has said that onlyqualified and genuinestudents of the state ori-gin would benefit fromits bursary programmes.

Aninye, during a sen-sitisation programme or-ganised by the board fortertiary students of thestate origin, said planswere on to fish out in-truders, who were ben-efiting from its bursaryprogrammes.

Applauding theboard’s plan to fish outthe fraudsters, he de-cried that some non-in-digenes of the statewere benefiting from thestate’s bursaries.

BY FESTUS AHON

the accident which resulted inIyayi’s death, but that drag-ging the Federal Governmentinto it “is quite unfortunatebecause President Jonathanhas been doing his best to en-sure that this ASUU strike wassuspended.

“When you say governmentis to blame, it is like sayinggovernment has a right to takesomeone’s life. It is God thatgives life and knows the ap-pointed time to take life whichis inevitable. And to also saythat government is paying lipservice to education is not cor-rect either. That we have not

got to where we need to get toin the educational sector, I willagree with you.

“Government is makingprogress gradually. Where wewere yesterday is quite differ-ent from where we are today.The current administration isgiving all it can and will con-tinue to ensure that the educa-tional sector is strengthened.”

He recalled the role playedby Prof. Iyayi when he (Imag-we) was NANS President in re-solving disputes, which bor-dered on students’ welfare oncampuses, noting that Iyayi’sfatherly counsel would bemissed.


CMYK


SURE-P: SERAP asks ICPC to probe missing N500bn

BY ABDULWAHABABDULAH

L A G O S — S O C I O -ECONOMIC Rights and

Accountability Project, SERAP, haspetitioned the IndependentCorrupt Practices and OtherRelated Offences Commission,ICPC, urging them to investigatealleged shortfall in the remittanceof accrued funds for the SubsidyReinvestment and EmpowermentProgramme, SURE-P, projects

Poll blameschild labouron poverty

M A K U R D I —GOVERNOR Gabriel

Suswam has described theagitation for state police in thecountry as untimely,unreasonable and premature,warning that such a force willbe a tool for politicaloppression, intimidation andharassment of innocentNigerians.

Suswam who spoke inMakurdi, weekend,maintained that “thoseagitating for a law allowing thevarious states to create theirown state police must have arethink because it is aninvitation to anarchy.

“The truth is that we are notyet ripe for state police. Wecertainly cannot afford toentrust state Governors withthe responsibility of runninga police force. Doing that willcertainly amount to aninvitation to anarchy.

“A ready example is allowingNasarawa and Benue states tohave their separate policeoutfits in the face of thelingering Fulani herdersincursion into parts of Benueterritory from Nasarawa State,maybe by now, we would haveused our separate policeoutfits to launch attacks oneach other.

“Moreover, we must tell each

LAGOS—FREE andcompulsory basic

education as well asmore job opportunitiesamong others aresolutions to eradicatingchild and slave labourin Nigeria, a nationalpoll conducted byNOIPolls Limited hassaid.

The poll released,weekend, in Lagos,lamented the alarmingrate of child and slavelabour in Nigeriacaused by abjectpoverty.

According to the poll,poverty eradicationprogrammes and youthempowerment schemeswould also improve thelivelihood of Nigerianswhich would in turnreduce the reliance onchild labour for survival.

NOIPolls argued thatdespite several measuresto combat child labour, itremained of great concernin Nigeria and notedamong others that theInternational LabourOrganisation, ILO,“estimates that about 25per cent of Nigeria’s 80million children under theage of 14 are involved inchild labour.

Also, recently the CNNworld’s child labour indexfeatured Nigeria amongthe top ten worst countriesfor child labour. “Againstthis background, NOIPollsconducted its specialedition poll on childlabour/slavery in Nigeriato explore the views ofNigerians on theprevalence of the issue, aswell as identify the causesand remedies that canhelp curb the situation.”

BY PETER DURU

State Police, invitation to anarchy—GOV SUSWAM

other the truth. Creating statepolice would be another wayof legalising the torture,harassment and intimidationof perceived politicalenemies in our respectivestates.

“If you put the control of aforce in the hands of stategovernors, you can be rest

assured that as politicianswe will use the force toachieve our selfish intereststo the detriment of theinterest of the tax payers andthe ordinary citizens.”

Stressing further,Governor Suswam said:“How many state governorscan afford the wage bill thatgoes with running a state

police. It is an expensiveventure that state governmentscannot afford to undertake forwhatever reason.

“My opinion therefore is forgovernment to ensure theproper equipping and fundingof the Nigeria Police Force, andwhen that is done, the force willbe better positioned to carry outits responsibilities toNigerians.”

BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

Abia govt’s new employment policy, allinclusive, says Orji’s aide

U M U A H I A — T H Epromulgation of a new law

by the Abia State Government,giving non-indigenes jobopportunities in the state has beendescribed as a practicaldemonstration that GovernorTheodore Orji is not victimisingnon-Abia indigenes in the state.

Mr. Ben Onyechere, the SpecialAdviser to the governor on PublicCommunication who stated this inUmuahia, yesterday, said: “Thisaction by the governor which isself explanatory is an expositoryof a new vista in the elasticity of

the political space in Abia. Whenthe civil service of the state wasdown-sized recently, some saw itas an opportunity to castaspersions on the image ofgovernance. But in spite of that,the governor who rather thanallow the ship under his watch tosink was determined to shedsome load for a greater future forthe indigenes and their folks fromother states.

“This move by the governorreiterates our explanation that theload shedding was as result of asuffocating economy, and as an

aide to the governor for morethan three years, and more so,an indigene of lmo State, I canproudly attest to the sincerity ofpurpose of this governor whoseactions are not ordinary, havingobserved him from a closerange.

“The assemblage of theachievement of thisadministration can not becataloged in a hurry, because itis the re-writing of the history ofnot only Abia State, but a casestudy for book-makers which canstand the test of time.”

amounting to over N500 billionfrom January 2012 to September2013.

In a petition by SERAPthrough its Executive Director,Mr. Tokunbo Mumuni, the groupalso requested the anti graftcommission to bring to justice theperpetrator of the act.

The group stated: “SERAP isseriously concerned that thefailure to account for the shortfallof about N500 billion out of the

over N800bn which ought tohave accrued for the SURE-Pprojects is a flagrant denial ofthe social and economicdevelopment of millions ofNigerians. The inability ofgovernment officials to accountfor huge amount of resourcesmapped out for theimprovement of the country isa serious impediment andsetback to the goals ofdevelopment for which theSURE-P funds have been setaside to achieve in the firstplace. The denial of the rightsof millions of Nigerians hascontributed hugely to extremepoverty and civil strife.”

It requested the ICPC to carryout a comprehensive andtransparent investigation ofallegations of shortfall in theremittance of accrued SURE-Pfunds in the petroleum sectorand to make public its findings,arguing that the investigationwould serve as a necessaryprecursor to strengtheningtransparency andaccountability and reducing theincidence of corruption in thesector.

SERAP also requested for aplatform to engage policymakers and political leaders indeveloping an anti-corruption

strategy such as establishing anindependent audit group for thepurposes of ensuring andrecovering the outstandingremittance recovered for theexecution of SURE-P projects.

According to the group, “Theproblem is compounded by thecontinuing failure of thegovernment to effectively ensuretransparency and a genuinesystem of accountability as well asits failure to investigate andprosecute those high rankingpublic officials suspected to beinvolved in corruption. Werecall the heightenedagitations which followedshortly after the announcementon the removal of oil subsidyin early 2012. The partialremoval of oil subsidy targeteda list of developmentaldemands which the SURE-Pfunds was set up to meet.

“The challenges created inthe shortfall of funds accruingto the SURE-P and the shortfallin remittance to the SURE-Pmanagement team, as well asthe failure to account for suchshortfall is already an outrightfailure of government to allaythe fears of millions of Nigeriaagainst even a partial removalof oil subsidy.”

CONFERENCE: From left: Major General M.D. Isa (rtd), chairman of the occasion,Director, Department of State Services, Kaduna State, Mr. Abayomi Samba, guest speaker,and Comrade Issaa Aremu, National Vice President, Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, atthe NUJ Correspondents’ Chapel, Kaduna State conference and award ceremony in Kaduna.Photo: Olu Ajayi.

CMYK


CMYK

OPINION

16 — Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

BY DANIEL IWORISO-MARKSON

Iyayi and recklessness ofIyayi and recklessness ofIyayi and recklessness ofIyayi and recklessness ofIyayi and recklessness ofgovernor’s convoygovernor’s convoygovernor’s convoygovernor’s convoygovernor’s convoy

Dickson's infrastructure revolutonAT inauguration, Governor Seriake

Dickson clearly spelt out the strategicvalue of the Restoration Agenda of hisadministration. His swift proclamation ofthis template of renewal definitely wasn’t acheap move to join the bandwagon ofpolitical sloganeering. Rather theRestoration Agenda was in response to thepeople’s cry for urgent development andprogress.

The Governor actually had a personal ex-perience of the deplorable situation duringhis campaigns. Everywhere he went,he hadto deal with emotional calls for the buildingand upgrading of infrastructure, meanderedthrough bad roads and saw other dilapidatedinfrastructure in need of urgentrehabilitation.

Understandably, accelerated developmentof infrastructure was made the core of theRestoration Agenda. And quickly GovernorDickson rallied his team to action,underscoring the sense of urgency to changethe state of infrastructure throughoutBayelsa and in particular the state capital,Yenagoa.

He tasked members of his team toappreciate that for the state government toactualise the lofty goal of diversifying thestate’s economy through tourism, agricultureand industrialisation, the construction ofnew infrastructure, including a good net-work of roads and the expansion of otherexisting infrastructure must be a priority.

At different forums, the Governor empha-sized the importance of opening up the state

for easy accessibility across the three sena-torial districts as it would go a long way inpromoting trade and industry. He alsonoted the implication for investors who willbe able to navigate the entire state and open-ing businesses wherever suitable withoutworrying about basic infrastructure. With agood road network in Bayelsa, farmers andagro-allied businesses will easily transporttheir products to markets just astourists could move around to locate andenjoy the natural beaches and visit the nu-merous tourist attractions in the state.

To the joy and relief of Bayelsans, Gover-nor Dickson hasn’t only been talking. Manywill agree and rationally, too, that his ac-tions on infrastructural development in thelast two years speak louder than words. It isakin to a revolution by any serious evalua-tion. Despite the marshy nature of BayeslaState which makes infrastructural develop-ment relatively costly and cumbersome, theadministration has a lot to show for its shortperiod in office.

So far, over 350 kilometres of roadsacross the state have been completed.Government has also constructed 15bridges, over 50 public buildings and twoflyovers. Dualisation of 18 roads and twoouter ring roads are in progress, while thesecretariat for the Traditional Rulers CouncilinYenagoa has been completed. The roadlinking the old and new campuses of thestate-owned Niger Delta University at Amas-

soma is also completed.Government is set to award contracts for

the construction of 15 internal roadsin Yenagoa which will also be replicated inall the eight local government headquartersin the first phase of total rehabilitation andtransformation of roads in the state for easyaccessibility.

The expansion and upgrading of manyof the roads, particularly in Yenagoa would,however, inevitably lead to demolition ofsome houses, not because they offended anytown planning regulation but as necessaryprice to pay for the greater good of a moderncity. The expansion of Opolo-Imiringi road,for instance, has necessitated the demolitionof Governor Dickson’s personal house whichis a demonstration of commitment to thiscause.

Yet the ambitious new Yenagoa city iscoming on stream soon, to further open upthe state to investors, which when completedis targeted to be the new Dubai in Africa,especially in terms of facilities and businessopportunities.

Among other on-going projects is theconstruction of the state archive, museum,language centre, new secretariat annexes,governor and deputy governors’ office com-plexes, modern police mess, rehabilitationof the Gloryland Cultural Centre and con-struction of the Government House Clinic,now close to completion. And of course, workis ongoing at the pharmaceutical storage

and distribution centre, which when com-pleted will be the first of its kind in Africa.

Allied to the provision of roads are the stra-tegically located bridges in the three sena-torial districts in addition to the equally stra-tegic construction of an airport and theAgge Deep Seaport. In the estimation ofGovernor Dickson, the successfulcompletion of these two projects will speedup the quest for a diversified and vibranteconomy, thereby making oil just one of thesources of income for the state.

The Governor’s dream is that the Bayel-sa airport will, among other benefits, createa direct link to Yenagoa, thereby consign-ing to the past the two- kilometre drive fromPort Harcourt airport. The seaport will alsojumpstart the state economy so much interms of massive job creation, boom in trade,leading to a huge leap in income for thestate and of course a greater lease of life forthe people.

The people of Bayelsa, visitors and expertsalike have noted with satisfactionthe quality of the jobs undertaken as theywere awarded to reputable constructionfirms, including Julius Berger, Setraco andCCECC. The unusual volume ofconstruction has also created freshopportunities for a legion of youths as wellas qualified engineers, architects andquantity surveyors in the state.

*Iworiso-Markson is the Chief PressSecretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State.

DR. Festus Iyayi, author, academic and activist of extraordinary endowments lost his

life in a ghastly auto crash along Abuja-Lokojahighway on Tuesday, November 12, 2013, tobring to a climax an odyssey of struggle, com-mitment and dedication to social justice in hisfatherland.The author of epochal novel: Violence and He-roes and other seminal works died at a time thestruggle for excellence in the academia was ata crucial stage in the hands of officials of theNigerian state that has since become a Levia-than.Dr. Iyayi and other senior executives of Aca-demic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) weretravelling to Kano for a crucial meeting onwhether or not ASUU should call off the fourmonth old strike embarked upon by lecturersin the country.The strike had paralysed the university system.As a past leader of ASUU and key labour activ-ist, Dr. Iyayi’s presence and contributions werecrucial.The unfortunate encounter with the convoy ofthe Governor of Kogi State Alhaji Idris Wada,at Banda village on the Abuja-Lokoja highway,terminated the journey and his sojourn hereon earth. Accidents are products of several fac-tors ranging from recklessness, negligence, me-chanical faults, misjudgements, as the case may

be. But the accident that took the life of Iyayiwas a product of exhibition of power and influ-ence by elected public officeholders, a class ofpeople who sought and obtained the mandateof the people. They ride in jets and armouredvehicles, they terrorise people on the roads withconvoys of cars driven by men who have no re-spect for other road users.When soldiers were in power, Nigerians toler-

ated the nuisance of sirens by military overlordsand their cronies because in the first place, theywere usurpers of the positions they occupied.Secondly, they were not accountable to anyperson or institutions.The military rulers were barefaced dictators

whose actions and inaction were laced withimpunity.With the advent of democratic governance, Ni-

gerians have in the past 14 years yearned to

see an end to vestiges of militarism in publicoffice. We have lost so many lives through therecklessness of convoys of government officials.Yet, these have not moved these demi-gods tochange their way.The Governor of Kogi State, whose convoykilled Iyayi, the academic giants has a reputa-tion of being accident prone. The last crash wasthe latest in a list of mishaps involving his con-voy.Roads in Nigeria have suddenly become kill-ing fields as countless numbers of lives are lostdaily to auto crashes and armed robbers but tothink that we have lost a patriot, a champion ofthe oppressed and a sophisticated human capi-tal like Dr Festus Iyayi through an avoidableaccident is nothing but a sign of retrogression.We have come to the point where Nigeriansshould explore legal assistance to check some actsof recklessness or criminal negligence arisingfrom the misconducts of the state and its agents.We cannot close our eyes to actions that willful-ly take the lives of other Nigerians and plungetheir families and dependents into misery and dep-rivation.We mourn his sudden demise and condole withhis family which like many others in the pasthave become victims of an act of executive law-lessness which elected public office holdersinherited from discredited military dictatorship.

CMYK


CMYK


ANAMBRA: APGA claims victory

From left, Mrs Ronke Osunsan, CEO, Simbabe Balloons and Accessories; MrBanji Adesanmi, chief executive officer, PTV Phones and Mr Uzoma Okoye,managing creative director, Etuodi Communications at the unveiling of a newcorporate identity for PTV phones at Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos yesterday. Photo byJoe Akintola, photo editor

Two female undergraduates strippedfor robbery in Calabar

CALABAR—TWOf e m a l e

undergraduate robberysuspects and their malepartner in crime werebattered and strippednaked in Calabar, Fridayafternoon, for attempting torob a businesswoman ofN1.5 million.

The three suspectsoperating in a Golf car wereaccosted by a taxi driver atabout 4pm along theMurtala MuhammedHighway by the CrossRiver State new secretariat,while their driver and oneother suspect escaped.

The gang reportedlyambushed thebusinesswoman who hadgone to withdraw the N1.5million at a bank alongCalabar Road, near the Wattmarket, where theyapproached her to join theircab and the woman whoappeared eager to arrivehome because of themoney she had withdrawnimmediately accepted andboarded the taxi.

Trouble started as she gotto her destination anddiscovered that the taxidriver became unwilling toallow her alight from thevehicle. The robberysuspects were said to havebrought out guns and

asked her to cooperate withthem if she did not want toget hurt.

The victim toldVanguard, “The suspectstold me to cooperate withthem and quietly hand overthe N1.5 million or I wouldbe killed.” She said shesuddenly became “angry inthe spirit because thismoney is contributionmoney and my memberswho want to share themoney on Sunday so theycould get their Christmasthings early would notbelieve me. So I was readyto die and began to raisealarm in the vehicle andcalling for help”.

She said her shoutsattracted the attention of ataxi driver who decided togive the Golf car a hot chaseuntil he overtook andblocked the vehicle atAtekong Drive”.

The driver of the five-mangang and another suspectescaped by quicklyalighting from the car andrunning across thehighway and then jumpingthe perimeter fence of thenew secretariat. She added,“These two ladies wereapprehended by the peoplewho came to see what wasthe trouble between the twotaxis. They began to beatthem when they heard

By EMMANUEL UNAwhat they had done to me.”

The suspects who werethoroughly beaten andstripped were later handedover to police who came tothe scene. Vanguard learntthat the ladies confessedthat they were students ofEbonyi State University andmembers of a syndicatewhich left Abakaliki inEbonyi State to Aba in AbiaState.

When contacted, thePolice Public Relationsofficer of the State PoliceCommand, Mr. HogganBassey confirmed that thethree suspects were inpolice custody, saying theywould soon be charged tocourt.

His words, “nemesis hascaught up with them. Theyare being investigated andso far they have confessedthat they used to hangaround bank premises withtheir car, shouting onechance, one chance andwaiting for people comingout of the bank with money.

“The Cross River Statepolice commissioner SholaShodipo has promisedarmed robbers, kidnappersand other criminals a rawdeal this Christmas season.Cross River State is themost peaceful state inNigeria and we are not pre-pared to compromise thecrime free status of thestate.”

Continues from page 5

said:“After consultations

with our agents as wellas with local and foreignobservers, we have dis-covered that what weearlier complained aboutwas a child’s play, com-pared to the widespreaddisenfranchisement thatwas orchestrated by thesame body given the re-sponsibility of ensuringa free, fair and creditableelection on Saturday.”

Jega meanwhile yes-terday alleged sabotageon the part of its officersduring the election.

Speaking on AIT yes-terday, the electoral chiefsaid that a particular of-ficer who mastermindedthe derailment of the dis-tribution of election ma-terials to Idemili NorthLocal Government Areaof the state has beenidentified and would beprosecuted.

He said:“We made all the

preparations and decen-tralised the process ofdistribution of materialsin order to ensure thatthey get to the pollingunits in time for the com-mencement of the elec-tion. That was before Sat-urday.

“Unfortunately and re-grettably – we are hu-mans. We can do all thepreparations, but if peo-ple are determined tosubvert the process, oneway or the other they willsubvert it.

“So, they used our staff.I think we should bevery careful when wehave a staff of about12,000 in INEC, whenone person has commit-ted an offence and thenyou use it to generaliseor condemn everybody inINEC.

“Our Electoral Officerin charge of IdemiliNorth Local Govern-ment, for inexplicablereasons, messed up thedistribution of ballot boxpapers and result sheets.That was the cause of thedelay in the distributionof materials in Idemili.

“All materials were tohave been distributed byFriday evening, but forsome odd reasons, theymade sure that they heldonto some of the resultsheets, and they alsogave wrong result sheetsto different polling units.

“For Anambra election,as we did in Edo andOndo, every polling unithas a unique resultsheet. So, you cannottake one result sheet toa different place, becauseit will not work.

“I assured thestakeholders when wemet in Awka that materi-

als must get to the poll-ing units before com-mencement of election.

“So, when we discov-ered at about 1am thatthere was this mix-up,and we tried to reach theElectoral Officer and thesupervisor and there wasconfusion, and we knewsomething was fishy, wesaid there would be nodeployment until wesorted out the problem.

“As I speak, we havehanded over the Elec-toral Officer to the policebecause clearly what hedid is a sabotage of theelectoral process, includ-ing the Local Govern-ment supervisor.

“It took us until about1pm to be able to sort outwhat they had jumbledup. We communicatedwith the community as at1pm that we were readyto distribute to all theother wards, and materi-als were distributed.”

The three oppositioncandidates of PDP, APCand LP, at a joint pressconference vowed to re-ject whatever result thatwould be announced byINEC from the electionsin Anambra State.

The three candidateshad earlier in the dayexpressed their dissatis-faction with the outcomeof the election which isyet to be announced byINEC as at press timelast night.

Ngige who was flankedby the other two andspoke on behalf of thetrio said: ”Our stand isthat Saturday electionwas characterized by fraud, malpractices and massive irregulari-ties and we call on INECto put in place anotherprocess to conduct afresh election to enablethe people of Anambraelect their governor thatwill take over from thepresent governor onMarch 17 next year.

“The irregularitiesclearly noticed includedthe omission of thenames of many voters inthe registers presentedfor the election in the over 4,000 pollingunits.

We were assured thatthe process will be freeand fair during the stakeholder ’s meeting withthe INEC Chairman, ProfAttahiru Jega, but littledid we know that theyhad planned to disen-franchise many of oursupporters by deletingtheir names from the reg-ister everywhere in the local government areas.It was so massive and wehereby reject the votersregisters used for thiselection.

“We were assured bythe INEC chairman thatthe electoral process

would be transparent butwe experienced was tothe contrary.

“Thirdly we discoveredthat result sheets weretranslocated other thanthe purpose for whichthey were meant. For in-stance some result sheetsmeant for some pollingbooths in Idemili weretaken to another areaeven when they werecoded.

“There were massive.harassment and intimi-dation of voters and ourparty agents. The partyagents’ accreditationcards were described asfake and they werehounded out hence wehad no agents at mostpoling booths.

“There was massivedeployment of money byAPGA through its serv-ing commissioners, partychieftains, contractorsand some other individu-als who were deployedto pay each voter asmuch as N10,000 to votefor APGA.

“Having noticed thevarious flaws ...we havecome to inevitable con-clusion that this commis-sion is determined to goback to its old ways andthat the much gainsmade in 2011 election isbeing reversed.

“We, therefore, urgethe INEC to cancel thecharade called electionconducted in Anambraand deploy transparentofficials including a newResident Electoral Com-missioner, REC to con-duct a fresh election inthe state.

“No election resultshould be announced asthe elections have notbeen concluded. Whatthey are doing now is anexercise in futility.

“We are peace-lovingpeople in Anambra stateand they should not pro-voke the people to vio-lence. A word is enoughfor the wise.”

Both Ubah and Nwoyesaid they all agreed totake a common positionon the issue, insistingthat the election shouldbe cancelled.

TMG faults callsfor cancellation

The Transition Moni-toring Group (TMG) saidyesterday that it wouldnot subscribe to total can-cellation of the AnambraGovernorship Election.

The TMG is one of theobserver groups thatmonitored the electionheld on Saturday acrossthe state.

The TMG Chairman,Malam ZikirulahiIbrahim, who was react-ing to the problem in

Idemili North where theelection did not hold onSaturday and was re-scheduled for Sunday.

In a telephone Inter-

view, Ibrahim said that inspite of the problem,INEC performed well insome other areas whereelections held.

“From our observation,we know the commissiontried, but we also knowareas where electionsneed to be repeated."


CMYK


CMYK


THE kerosene subsidyscam written by Ijeoma

Nwogwugwu of Thisday isnothing but sensational newsaimed at misleading the public.The kerosene which ispredominantly used byNigerians is sold at N50 up tilldate. It is a known fact that thePPPRA, NNPC and otherrelevant agencies are overseeing this sector throughmonitoring and supervisionunder the Goodlucktransformation Agenda and weare bold to say that they aredoing a good job under verydifficult circumstances.

The present administration ofPresident Goodluck Jonathanshould be commended becausein a little more than two yearshe has piloted the affairs of thisnation and moved the countryforward through histransformation agenda eventhough he inherited adilapidated and nonprogressive economy. In barelytwo years of the Jonathanadministration we have seen

kerosene with a view ofbringing it to the door-step ofthe common man just like whathe did in bringing the scarcityof fuel and long queues infilling station to a permanenthalt.

Unprecedented andundisputed progress has beenrecorded in the oil sector and aclear attestation is that todayyou can drive into any fillingstation and buy fuel in recordtime. For a long time now theusual queue we experiencefrom the past government,where plastic jerry cans liter thefilling station and road sidedare all a thing of the past.

Contrary to some sponsoredreports this administration hasseen a constant supply anddistribution of kerosene whichhas been available at N50 perliter in all NNPC controlledstation and NNPC Megastations, and it is readilyavailable in large quantity,

We challenge this writer toinform us of a relevantgovernment authority wherekerosene is being sold for N120per litre. I want to also use this

BY AMINU A. WISDOM

Kerosine subsidy

,How many of you remember that we used to

dance nwa otam in Bonny or Opobo or whenwe couldn’t go to either place we would go toIloabuchi Street to watch the dancers

,

The story ofPort Harcourt city (2)

This is the concluding part of the paper delivered byRivers State governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi at thesymposium on the Port Harcourt centenarycelebrations

Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi

YOU could leave your doorsopen to visit a friend in another street

and return to still find your belongingsintact. We would walk from Diobu toBorokiri. We used to climb trees to watchfootball at the temporary stadium.

How many of you remember that we usedto dance nwa otam in Bonny or Opobo orwhen we couldn’t go to either place wewould go to Iloabuchi Street to watch thedancers. Those of you from places like

strongly desire that the city return to itsoriginal status.

An assessment of the crux of the matterwould show that at the root of most of thecrisis was poverty, although in some casesgreed as well. This explains why the presentadministration from 2007 till date has madeand implemented clear urban renewalpolicies to return the city of Port Harcourt tothe garden city it used to be.

I know that we may have forgotten thedemolition exercises undertaken by thisadministration in our first tenure and eventill now. This was not done to witch huntanybody for whatever reasons, even thoughsome persons perceived it as such. It isimportant to note that the Port Harcourt thatwe are going to leave behind will be far betterthan the Port Harcourt that we met in 2007.

Sportsfacilities

Besides our removal of illegal structureson the right of way, the State governmenthas done so much in terms of roadconstruction; this job is still on-going as wecan see in parts of Port Harcourt. The oldPort Harcourt Township is wearing a new lookin terms of roads and drainages as well asthe construction of several sports facilitiesin the area.

As we speak the State government isreconstructing all roads and drainages in D/Line. My honest assurance to the residentsof Diobu is that these efforts will be replicatedin the area. Government has alsoconstructed several bridges within the city

of Port Harcourt to ease movement andreduce traffic congestion. The end advantageof all of these efforts is a boost to the economyof our State, which we are alreadywitnessing.

I do not intend to bore you with theachievements of this government. The factis that is why you elected us. To govern andto deliver to you infrastructure that isfunctional. We have pledged to serve youwith humility and render transparent andaccountable stewardship even as we striveto better the lives of our present and futuregenerations. On behalf of the presentadministration, I wish to firmly promise thatPort Harcourt will surely be better by the closeof this administration to the glory of God andthe well being of our people and those whocometo Port Harcourt to do business. Ourdream will be a global destination fortourism, investment both local andinternational business. I, therefore, urge usto sustain our sense of hospitality andfriendship.

confident and assured that you would getfood to eat. Nobody was afraid. Nobodyworried. Our Port Harcourt was a citybubbling with life, where to be called a PortHarcourt boy didn’t only mean that you hadswag, like our youth will say today, butmeant that you were responsible,responsive, respectable, intelligent,sociable and found dignity in any careerpath that your choose.

Residents of Port Harcourt were admiredeven when they went out of the statebecause they were hard working and hadpride in their culture and of course we hadall the oil companies around, doing theirbusinesses without any iota of securitychallenge. But one day we woke up andour city had changed. Some peoplemasquerading as Niger Delta militantsbegan to maim and kill with the support ofpoliticians. The Port Harcourt we used toknow gradually changed from its graceand position of honour to a gory situation.There is no well-meaning resident of theold city of Port Harcourt who does not

Ikwerre wouldremember ourregular “wakek e e p i n g s ”d u r i n gb u r i a l s . Youcould go fromwake to wake

Concluded

transportation in all sectors ofthe economy. For example theRailways are back on track.Aviation sector has had aremarkable facelift for both localand international users. Workis progressing on all federalroads, with some atcommissioning stage and someare at about 80 per cent ofcompletion. The dredging ofthe river Niger is completed.The agricultural sector isproducing rice and creatingmarket for cassava farmers, andin two years you can seefertilizer getting to the farmersdirectly.

Greatmilestone

A great milestone has beenrecorded in the power sectorfrom when the Jonathanadministration came on boardbetween 2011 and 2013.Nigeria now generates about4,400mw and with NNIPproject, 10,000mw will be readyby the end of 2014 to make it14,400mw.

Even with all of thesemilestones the saboteurs of theJonathan administration areengulfed in ensuring that thisadministration is criticized,blackmailed at the expense oftheir selfish interest. Even atthat the president have onceassured Nigerians that in hisadministration things will getbetter, he has personally followthe incident of scarcity of

medium to assure Nigeriansthat if this kerosene is soldabove N50 per litre, it is thehandwork of greedy saboteursof this country.

President Goodluck Jonathanis the only president in thehistory of this great country thathas ever moved a step forwardby taking it upon itself tomonitor the sales anddistribution of kerosene or anyother commodity what so ever.The civil society group is a veryreputable body and they cannotcome to the street to organizerallies when it is not necessary.

Moreover they are aware ofthe effort and the impact of thisadministration on the supply,distribution and pricing ofkerosene. It appears we asNigerians are very forgetful ofour very recent plight of majorscarcity with endless queueand a resultant spike in theprice of commodity and basicliving.

It is worthy of note that wheregenuine and well meaningrallies are organized, it is boththe elite and the common manthat go to the streets becausethey gather to show a commonfront.

We in particular as an actiongroup do not believe in goingto the street when it is notnecessary, since we have donethe due diligence andinvestigated the positive effortthat President is making inmoving.

We challenge this writer to inform us of arelevant government authority wherekerosene is being sold for N120 per litre. Iwant to also use this medium to assureNigerians that if this kerosene is soldabove N50 per litre, it is the handwork ofgreedy saboteurs of this country ,

,


OPINION

,,

Away with population terrorism

When will Gen. Buhari change his ways?I was with the All Progressives Congress

train that went to Kano GovernmentHouse to invite Governor Musa Kwankwasoto join the league of progressives in the coun-try, determined to bring about the change weneed. I joined the train courtesy of a friend ofmine who was with one of the APC governorspresent in Kano. I joined the delegation fromthe airport, at the instance of my friend whoinsisted I shifted my flight due for Lagos thatafternoon. I felt elated that I was being part ofunfolding history. Indeed I still feel happy thatI was there, especially after the fraternity I saw,the sign of hope for those looking for changeas exhibited that day by the reception accord-ed the delegation by Governor Kwankwaso.Various members of the delegation spoke verywell about the importance of joining handstogether to remove the incompetent PDP gov-ernment.

Alas, the star attraction at the event, formermilitary head of state, General MuhammaduBuhari (rtd), delivered something that was ev-ery inch a sectional and even shallow. Address-ing the crowd at the packed GovernmentHouse hall, Buhari spoke of “strategic plan”to destroy the North, in reference to the BokoHaram insurgency. He took larger part of hisshort speech to whip up sentiments on why

Boko Haram is “political strategy to destroyus”. Who then are “us”? This politics of dichot-omy coming from a man of his standing was,to say the least, unfortunate. It sent shivers ofshock down my spine as I looked over my shoul-ders, to a largely Hausa Muslim audience thatwere really captivated by these remarks com-ing from someone who should know. To Gen.Buhari, the excessive bloodshed perpetratedby the insensitive Boko Haram killing squadwas not about religion, it was a political weap-on. For real? So all the church bombings, allthe claims by the sect that it was waging areligious war were not enough for Buhari torealise the dimension of this danger? Howwould he want the families of those hundredsof people blown away by accursed suicidebombers to react to this? To put it in anotherway, Buhari was saying that “OUR youths arebeing USED to kill in the name of politics todestroy OUR region”. This re-echoes what Pres-ident Goodluck Jonathan said after the 2010Independence Day bombing in Abuja: “Mypeople cannot do this”. For that commentaryon Boko Haram, Buhari has fallen in the samecategory as President Jonathan.

With what had happened to him in the threeconsecutive elections he stood, many political

observers, like this writer, thought that Gen.Buhari will change his ways by recanting hisslanted views on national issues. The Katsina-born General was roundly rejected by peopleoutside his Hausa-Fulani-Muslim enclave inthe elections he contested under various um-brellas in 2003, 2007 and 2011. The reason isnot far-fetched. For a man who fought to keepNigeria united and later come to head the coun-try as military head of state, Buhari’s latter .daycomments fall below the lines of a nationalist,more so one who aspires to lead a country ascomplex and heterogenous as Nigeria. At theheat of the Sharia debate, a time when self-serving politicians moved to cover up their messby invoking religion to divide people and winover hapless masses, General Buhari came outto join that charade. His words to the effectthat Muslims should vote only for fellow Mus-lims, came not only as a shocker but erodedthe respect many Nigerians have for GeneralBuhari as someone with impeccable personalintegrity. That actually set tongues wagging.

However, the perplexing thing is, just as youthink the man has abandoned his old ways, hewould come with yet another myopic statementthat would scare everybody around. And, the

reality is no one can help him better than him-self. A situation where one offends the sensibil-ities of people directly touched by such a car-nage, there is no one else to remedy the situa-tion. After all, the man is not new to such un-calculated utterances that often lead to need-less controversy which also erode public confi-dence in him.

Since the escalation of the Boko Haram car-nage, Buhari has never come out to condemnthe actions as being perpetrated by indigenousyouths. Instead, he uses almost every avenue totry to find excuses for what has been happen-ing. The General is so much clung to his theoryof conspiracy and the ultimate direction of theconspirators is people from the South or theFederal Government which is being “con-trolled” by people from the South. Does theformer head of state mean Christian, who arein the minority in the North, are the ones throw-ing bombs amidst chants of “Allahu Akbar”?Or, does he mean the hundreds of familieswhose breadwinners and other members werekilled by the insurgents sacrificed their lovedones to “destroy our region”? No stranger cango to the forests and deserts of Maiduguri toset up training camps and no government, nomatter how heartless can start something thatwould threaten its sovereignty.

*Gov Idris Wada

When there are no more rewardsattached to claims of superiorpopulation, each region or zone will beforced to apply modern techniques ofpopulation control and management

*Mr Olaniyi, a chartered accountantwrote, from Ibadan

BY WOLE OLANIYI

MY attitude to any notion of aconstitutional conference is that it

should be used as an instrument forachieving a peaceful revolution. By that Imean, total system change throughdialogue and negotiations, rather theviolent, bloody revolutions that oftenproduce unforeseen outcomes (such as theMajor Chukwuma Nzeogwu first militarycoup in Nigeria on January 15, 1966).

In my series on this matter, I haveadvocated for the dissolution of the statesand local governments and theirreplacement with two tiers of government:the centre and six regions coterminous withthe six geopolitical zones. The zones willthen be empowered to create what localgovernments or more preferably, divisionsand county councils that may accord withthe wishes of the peoples of the regions.Thereafter, federal allocation will be sharedon the basis of equality of the geopoliticalregions. I have also advocated that ethnicnationalities should not be used as the basisfor selecting the delegates to theconference. They are not only unviable dueto the number and complexity of tribes,ethnicity has also been conclusively provedto be a factor that divides rather than unitesus. I therefore called for election ofdelegates based on character, proven trackrecords and commitment to the people’swelfare. Now I want to address the issueof population. It is another factor that has

done more harm than good. I call it“population terrorism” because it has beenused to advance group interest to thedetriment of national interest. The politicsof population in Nigeria was a critical factorthat led to the fall of the First Republic andthe nation’s slide into a civil war. No censushas ever been accepted by Nigerians. MostSoutherners believe that the notion ofNorthern majority is bogus andunfounded. They see it as part of the old“conspiracy” between the former Britishcolonialists and the Sokoto Caliphate tosubjugate and plunder the South.

In the same vein, the three major ethnicgroups – Hausa/Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba– have been at daggers-drawn, each

refusing to accept the tag of second or third.Even the concept of “Hausa/Fulani” isheavily political, because it ignores the factthat there are also Fulani/Yoruba in Ilorin;Igbo/Ijaw in Rivers State, Yoruba/Bini inEdo State, and other such pairings all overthe country. But Hausa/Fulani has beenused to assert a questionable majoritystatus based on which more states, localgovernments and federal constituencies(and therefore greater share of politicalpower and federal revenue) have beenpiled in the favour of the North.

When the civil war ended, the Yorubawere rewarded with more population,number of states, local councils and federalconstituencies (and therefore more federalallocation and greater political stake at thecentre) than the Igbo, who dared to

seem to have successfully gotten awaywith the unsubstantiated claim that theyare the fourth largest ethnic group inNigeria, even when the Ibibios/Efiks andthe Edo groups are much easier to comeby anywhere in the country and the worldat large. At a television programme, anofficial of the Afenifere Renewal Group,Yinka Odumakin, claimed the Yorubaswere 50 million in population. He spoketoo soon, because if he had heard an AkaIkenga official ascribing 70 million to theIgbos, he would probably have upped hisown figure at least 80 million to keep hisgroup ahead in the population rat-race.

The Nigerian state which still runs on atemplate defined by the Northern political

establishment, has obstinately refused toallow population censuses to deploydetailed enumeration of Nigerians toascertain their ethnic groups, states oforigin and religions. Perhaps it is just aswell, because it could set the nation onfire, due to the instrument of terror againstNigeria which population has become. Yet,Igbos and Christians believe they are atthe receiving end of this omission.

Nigeria is probably the only modernnation on earth where population mattersare configured to freeload and parasite onthe nation, rather than reinforce thecolumns of her political and economicvirility. All this push by everyone to be seento be bigger than their nearest rival ismeant to grab more money and politicalpower from the National Cake by the elite.And yet, when the money and power come,they are not used to service the supposedpopulation. Rather, they are cornered bythe local elite, leaving the masses in thelurch. This trend is more so in the Norththan elsewhere in the entire country. Somegroups in the North have even servednotice that they will go to the conference

to canvass for “one man, four wives”, quiteobviously with a view to furtheringpopulation terrorism, after fatheringchildren and letting them loose on thestreets as al majiris.

The question, therefore is: How do webegin to handle population matters so thatthey can no longer be used to terrorise thenation? The answer is simple. Abolish thestates; convert the six geopolitical zonesinto regional political centres. Let eachregion retain all revenues from their homezones up to 60 per cent, paying 40 percent to the centre. It is then redistributedbased on equality of the regions.Centralisation of economic and politicalpower fuels population terrorism or thestruggle by each group to out-claim itsrivals as having a higher population.

With this policy, it will no longer matterto the man from the South West if the NorthWest claims to have 100 million peoplebecause it will not be used to gyp him ofhis economic and political rights. Whenthere are no more rewards attached toclaims of superior population, each regionor zone will be forced to apply moderntechniques of population control andmanagement to emphasise quality ofpopulation rather than quantity.

A high quality population is welleducated and skilled. It can support arapidly developing economy. But a poorquality population is riddled with a largenumber of illiterate and destituteindividuals with a tiny super-privilegedupper class. It will be up to the variousregions to choose which model best suitsthe aspirations of their people, subject tonational minimum standards.

Wada’s murderous convoysCAPTAIN Idris Wada, Governor of

Kogi State, has set an unenviable newrecord. In December 2012, his convoykilled his security aide, injured anotherand broke His Excellency’s leg. His officialslater noisily celebrated his decision not totreat himself abroad, though he did so inAbuja, not Kogi.

With the killing of eminent academic andunionist, Professor Festus Iyayi, Wada hasachieved a “feat” no other governor’sconvoy has yet done: killing more thanonce. This man is a danger to road usersand a terrible example. But what can wedo? He has immunity!

challenge the powerequation the Britishbestowed on Nigeria atindependence. Today,every group freelyascribes fancifulpopulation size to itself.For instance, the Ijaws

Vanguard, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013—————4747474747

,

CMYK

,

,

,

*Mr Ikhioya, a commentator on nationalissues, wrote from Lagos

THE world witnessed a playing styleexhibited by our own U-17 boys team

at the recently concluded FIFA event thathas not been seen since the inception ofthe competition at that level.

They were compact, free flowing, attack-ing and defending as one unit. The teamwas flawless and a marvel to everyone thatwatched them including the FIFA officials.

How can such a beautiful product comefrom Nigeria? A country that has beenknown not to get anything right becauseof pervasive corruption, ethnicity and crassdisdain for the national patrimony. Howcome the boys were so disciplined, organ-ised and goal oriented. For once, the na-tion got it right: from the conception, plan-ning and execution, everything was doneproperly.

Our understanding was that from the be-ginning, it was made clear that there willbe no short cut route. Only those withinthe approved age bracket were allowed topass through the screening. More notice-able was the fact that, no player that hasfeatured in our professional league com-petition was allowed to take part. Major-ity of them were picked from academiesand schools sport competitions.Principally - and this we must note- theplayers were picked based on their indi-vidual performance: no quota system wasinvolved in the selections. If you are good,you are in. So we find a mixture ofChristians, Muslims and traditionalists.Southerners and Northerners, all properlybonded in love towards the common goal.There was an uncommon determinationby every individual to make his own con-tribution to the whole. Where or when onemakes a mistake, another puts himself onthe way to salvage the situation. Such wasthe bonding that, they all looked like chil-dren of the same parents, it is indeed wor-thy of commendation.

Our soaring Eaglets — What next?

BY SUNNY IKHIOYAWe must appreciate everyone respon-

sible for bringing this to pass. The offi-cials of all kinds: coaches, NFA and im-portantly, the government of Cross- Riverstate which provided an enabling environ-ment and facilities for their training andcamping.

What is the over all implication of theEaglets victory? It is basically that, thereis no height we cannot attain as Nigeriansif we are ready to allow merit to reign inour selection of representatives. We mustalso note the calibre of coaches on theEaglets bench, such ex-internationals likeManu Garba, Nduka Ugbade and Em-manuel Amuneke who have distinguishedthemselves in past age grade competitions.So let us allow professionalism to thrivein our national endeavours and it won’ttake time for the world to take notice ofthis country.

Nigeria is a sleeping giant, it requiresthe right calibre of leadership and profes-sionals to stir it from its sleeping position.Our roads can be made to be smooth andfree flowing if our FERMA officials as-signed to road supervision will do theirjob properly by using budgeted funds tofix road patches instead of conniving withcontractors or diverting monies into pri-vate pockets.

Power will flow when the present ownerschose to do the job professionally, by first,treating the consumers as their custom-ers. Modern marketing management re-quires that the consumer or customer isfactored first in all the planning of thecorporation, so if they choose to add cor-rect value that will be in line with con-sumers demands, the people will respondby paying their bills promptly, even if theconsumption cost goes up. It is thereforeimperative for the new owners of the de-funct PHCN to first think of how they canprovide efficient services to the consum-ers. They should not be in a hurry to jerkup prices, at least, in the next six months.

How wonderful will it be if our politi-cians will for once, allow true democracyto take place in line with the people's wish,if all the political parties- I mean all - willallow true representations in all stages oftheir structure, the unnecessary bickeringand heating of the polity will become athing of the past. Let the people's voice beheard through their legitimate represen-tatives.

The lessons of our Eaglets victory areinnumerable and can be extended to al-most all aspects of our national life:discipline,co-operation, hard work, meritand goal attainment. If only the countrycan truly unite as one, with each regionbringing in its own area of comparative

advantage to the centre without any formof animosity. If only we can appoint peo-ple - competent graduates employmentwithout recourse to their state of origin,religion or tribe. It is possible - the Eagletsvictory has proved that - It is now left forthose in positions of authority to put prop-er structures in place.

And talking about structures, I meanstructures of merit. The officials of the teamhave laid foundation for the next genera-tion to build upon. It is a matter of repli-cating the paths used by their predeces-sors. Let merit determine selection in allaspect of our national life.

This brings us to the question of whathappens to the all conquering Eaglets?Some have said that they should be keptintact and be made to graduate togetherto the senior levels. This will not be possi-ble as some of them will soon be pursuingtheir individual interests. Some will optto further their education instead of a pro-fession in soccer, others may lose form and

not be able to keep pace up to the seniorlevel. I tend to agree with the position ofmy brother and friend here, RichardOkotie, that no successful under-agedteam has succeeded in taking all itsmembers to the senior level wholesale allover the world- whether in Brazil,Germany, Spain, et al. Along the line,some of them do not measure up tostandard at the senior level.

So what is to be done? When a methodhas been tried and tested with good result,it is important that we master and retainit. The Spanish, German and Brazilianshave done it consistently through the years.Let merit be our basic guideline for selec-tion and also, the sports authorities must

be ready to provide all the support for suchendeavours to thrive at all times. Do thisfor all categories of our national teams,including the ladies and we shall be re-cording repeated successes.

Next is to identify those amongst themwith the potentials to go further in theirfootballing pursuit. Give them the neces-sary follow-up support, like a thoroughscrutiny of their contract papers with clubsand linkages to coaches and institutionsthat will properly supervise their blossom-ing.

In all, the growth of the players in theprofession should be paramount and notthe selfish interest or greed of agents whoabound everywhere, always on the prowl to take advantage. Identify such playersin the group now and begin to groom themfor future successes. That is how it is donein the advanced world.

*Mr Ojo, a public affairs ana-lyst, wrote from Lagos.

BY KAYODE OJO

Jonathan’s power sector reformbeckons economic renaissance

IT is an unfortunate realityof our times that many

Nigerians have become expertsat disapproving. Indeed, they arelacking in the simple yet humaneact of giving credit where it is due. A major case in point is the oftenunreasonable denigration ofPresident Goodluck EbeleJonathan, GEJ, by bitter men andwomen of yesterday who havenothing positive to offer thenation today. They are so blind-ed by pettiness that even whenthe President takes a giant stride,such as the unprecedentedemancipation of the power sectorthrough privatisation, theycannot accept what even the deaf,the blind and the dumb wouldreadily acknowledge is amilestone towards solvingNigeria’s major problems.

For the avoidance of doubt, letit be stated clearly that the majorproblems of our country arisedirectly from economichardships. The man in Jigawa,like the woman in Ekiti, as wellas the youth in Cross River, allsuffer from not being able toachieve their full economicpotential. It has been widely

acknowledged that poverty andlack of opportunities for economicself-development do not knowtribe, state, region, or religion. It has also been widelyacknowledged that the majorityof Nigerians are willing and ableto work hard for their livelihood;and that they need onlyinfrastructure and an enablingenvironment from thegovernment.

In the light of the foregoing, itcan be said that the recentprivatisation of the power sectorby the Jonathan-led FederalGovernment is a giant leap in thequest to create the rightinfrastructure base and enablingenvironment for Nigerians to takethe reins of their economicdestinies in their own hands. Tobreak this point down to thesimplest level, whether you are awelder in Sokoto, a hairdresserin Lagos, or a tailor in Ebonyi,what the privatisation of powermeans is that in the nearest futureyou are entirely responsible formeeting your customers’ needsand making the profits you desire.

This is because, once thecommerce-driven benefits of thepower sector privatisation kick in,

telling your customer, “Oh, sorry,I couldn’t finish that job becauseof no light,” will no longer arise. In the near future, there will beelectric power, 24/7 across theentire country, and this will beguaranteed by the economicimperative to provide service orlose customers.

Lest we forget, before theadvent of Global Systems forMobile, GSM, communication,official statistics placed thenumber of telephone lines inNigeria at just about 500,000.Today, every achaba man in Keffi,Nasarawa State; Keke NAPEP rid-er in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State; andall the market women in Ilaro,Ogun State are connected to theGSM network of their choice. They can talk to their familymembers, friends, and customersin their locations and other places,be it Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt,London, Washington, or evenBeijing, China. The economic

benefits of this freedom tocommunicate with whomeverpeople in this country wish tocommunicate with, wheneverthey wish, are innumerable innaira and kobo.

Without mincing words, it is aforeseeable vision that theprivatisation of the power sectorwill engender even greatereconomic growth for virtually allNigerians. This is because, oncestability of power is achieved, thenatural creativity andindustriousness of Nigerians willtranslate into unquantifiablemultiplier effects that willtransform Nigeria into aneconomic powerhouse. And as aneconomic powerhouse, Nigeriawill not struggle to reduce oreradicate many issues such aspoverty, crime, and terrorism. After all, no prosperous youth,for example, would allow himselfto be recruited to fight a senseless,unprofitable battle against hisown country and fellow citizens.

As such, it is only fair to say toPresident Jonathan, “on thispower sector privatisation, welldone, Presido!” And for thosewho may argue that he is onlydoing what he was elected to do,the simple fact is, a well-deservedword of praise should not be de-nied GEJ just because he has ex-hibited exemplary leadershipand foresight in office. After all,others sat where he is now sittingand presided over the rot and

decay that was the power sectorwhich he has today revitalised.And if it is acceptable to excoriatethe President even over theflimsiest issue, it should beacceptable to honour him over thismajor issue.

For the naysayers out there,know that there will be a periodof teething problems that mayseem as if there has been noimprovement in the powersituation. This is expected falloutof a transitioning system, whichhas had its ineffective way foryears, without giving Nigeriansthe services they needed. Somediehard reactionaries—whonever see anything good in thepolicies of the Jonathan-ledFederal Government—will evenfight a rearguard action,attempting in effect to hold backthe hands of time. But no amountof puerile abuse or irrelevantsophistry can undo what is anoutstanding achievement of theGEJ administration: unbundlingand privatising the power sectorfor the benefit and economicgrowth of all Nigerians,regardless of their tribes andtongues. Moreover, once thedynamics of competitiveeconomics between and amongthe new power companies comeinto play, the Nigerian economicrenaissance will be unstoppable.

Once the dynamicsof competitive eco-nomics among thenew power compa-nies come into play,the Nigerian eco-nomic renaissancewill be unstoppable

The lessons of our Eaglets victory are innumer-able and can be extended to almost all aspects ofour national life: discipline,co-operation, hardwork, merit

48—VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

The intrigues, thrills and frills

And there is a friend that sticketh closerthan a brother: Proverbs 18:24. By forsak-ing their own for their friend, the PDP’stop hierarchy have put future collectiveinterests above sentiments of today

BY EMMANUEL AZIKEN, Political Editor

THE National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh wasecstatic yesterday afternoon when asked for his reac-tion to the preliminary results of the weekend guber-natorial election in Anambra State that showed thathis party had lost.

”The election was free and fair, we are impressedwith INEC. We went for an election and we lost anelection, we have tried because we had less than twoweeks to run for the election.”

”The president delivered on his promise on free andfair polls in Anambra and we are happy with him andthe party entirely will confirm what I am telling youand I think our candidate is still recovering from the

sands across the state and along with that was thethree day lockdown of the state. From 6 p.m. on Fri-day before the election till 6 p.m. on Sunday move-ment was restricted throughout the state.

However, the assurances of the presidency and theelectoral commission came under serious suspicionmidway into the election last Saturday as oppositionparty candidates in the state began moaned that theelection was being programmed to fail.

First sign of troubleThe first signs of trouble was the failure of INEC to

Opposition pooh-pooh repeat poll in 65 units“The obosi election is a fluke and a ruse. They only

want to declare Obiano winner this evening (yester-day),” Nwoye said in the post election press confer-ence where he demanded for an outright cancellationof the whole exercise.

The different perspectives of Nwoye and Metuh tothe election is reflective of the political differences ofthe state PDP and the national party.

Nwoye it emerged could not find his name on thevoters register and so could not vote for himself andneither could many of his supporters in his Nsugbeward in Anambra East Local Government Area of thestate.

In his press conference where he denounced theresult and alleged collaboration between APGA andINEC to foist the APGA candidate on the electorate,Nwoye, was, however, careful to spare the presiden-cy of involvement in the plot to return Obiano.

However, many others are, however, not that mind-ful as several have alleged a collaboration betweenGovernor Obi and President Jonathan to return theAPGA candidate.

It is alleged that the presidency considered the 2013gubernatorial election as a pay back time for Gover-

THE quick endorsement of the outcome of avictory for the All Progressives Grand

Alliance, APGA by senior officials of the PDPeven before the election result was declaredunderpinned one fact: The PDP as a party iswilling to concede the victory when the smallpies are in contention.

By conceding victory to APGA, the PDP it isargued, would be preparing itself to defraysuggestions of rigging in 2015 when the partyseeks to retain its flag in the presidential villa.

Before Anambra, the PDP had proved itself as aparty willing to concede victory to oppositionelements in states including Ondo where it camesecond to Labour Party, and before then in EdoState where the then Action Congress of Nigeria,ACN prevailed.

•Obi: Payback time for loyalty•Nwoye: On his own

•Prof. Jega

“If the PDP through the instrumentality of thesame process has conceded victory to oppositionparties, why should anyone doubt when the sameprocess throws up the PDP as the winner of the2015 presidential election,” one political commen-tator observed yesterday.

The seeming determination of the PDP toacknowledge the APGA victory was also a reflec-tion of the PDP to deflate whatever plans theopposition APC had made to use the Anambraelection as its entry point into the Southeast inthe prelude to the 2015 presidential election.

The APC had envisaged that the Anambra pollswould be a stepping step for the party to enterinto the Southeast, a region where the party’spresence is relatively seen as not too widespread.

What Anambra 2013 means for PDP, others in 2015

on Saturday resolved to repeat the exercise in 65 poll-ing units in Obosi, Idemili North Local GovernmentArea where election materials did not arrive on time.

By press time yesterday that make-do election wasunder way, but the major opposition political parties,notably the PDP and APC had withdrawn from it,describing it as a farce.

,

,It is alleged that the presidencyconsidered the 2013 gubernatori-al election as a pay back time forGovernor Obi

deploy election materialsas at when due to manyareas and notably, thestrongholds of some ofthe opposition candi-dates.

On account of that fail-ure, the commission late

programmed to favour the candidate of the All Pro-gressives Grand Alliance, APGA, Chief Willie Obi-ano.

According to unconfirm reports, Obiano topped thepolls followed by Nwoye who came second and thepre-contest favourite, Senator Chris Ngige who wasthird. Nwoye like the other candidates of the opposi-tion in the state, Senator Chris Ngige of the All Pro-gressives Congress, APC and Chief Ifeanyi Ubah ofLabour Party, LP were aghast at what they alleged tobe the collaboration of APGA and the IndependentNational Electoral Commission, INEC to tilt the elec-tion results in favour of APGA.

INEC's best eleven on paradeThe Anambra gubernatorial election, however, had

been promoted by INEC to be the best ever in recentNigerian history. Towards that end it was not surpris-ing that the commission deployed what commissioninsiders consider as the best of its electoral officers toconduct the election.

The commission Vanguard learnt deployed the 349electoral and returning officers for the election fromCross River State, a state that has recently won acco-lades for the high integrity of its electoral processes.

Besides that, was the assurance from PresidentGoodluck Jonathan that the election would be freeand fair. To give vent to the president’s assurance,the security agencies deployed their men in their thou-

shock of the election.”The PDP candidate,

Comrade Tony Nwoyewas, however, not shar-ing the same spirit ofcomradeship telling apress conference yester-day that the election was

VANGUARD, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 49

nor Obi.Since the advent of President Jonathan, Governor

Obi has gone through thick and thin to express hissupport for the president.

In the run up to the 2011 presidential election, Gov-ernor Obi caused APGA to make a public declarationof supporting President Jonathan for the election andthe party did not field its own presidential candidate.The governor followed that up by trudging along insupport of the presidency in the crisis that divided theNigerian Governors Forum, NGF.

Obi who was the vice-chairman of the NGF did notmind abandoning the mainstream forum led by Gov-ernor Chibuke Amaechi to follow the faction led byGovernor Jonah Jang that was supported by the pres-idency.

The impression given of Governor Obi is that he isAPGA in the day in Anambra, but PDP in the nightand in Abuja.

The success of the APGA candidate was, however,not underpinned only by the alleged support receivedfrom the presidency. Beyond that perceived supportis the inroad Governor Obi made in delivering de-mocracy dividends to the people of Anambra State.

Governor Obi was able to show to all that he is notthe political amateur that many people have taken himto be. He has demonstrated this by demystifying manypolitical strongmen that until recently carved the An-ambra political landscape among themselves.

The outgoing governor first against all odds re-

claimed his mandate from Dr. Chris Ngige in 2006and even when he was removed from office after spend-ing less than a year in office, he proved to be a hardnut who bounced back to reclaim his mandate afterOlusegun Obasanjo left office in 2007. In the electionof 2010, he demystified Senator Andy Uba when hebeat him and former governor of the Central Bank ofNigeria, CBN, Prof. Chukwumah Soludo to return tooffice.

The intrigues, thrills and frills

DR. Chris Ngige proved to be the cat withmany lives when as governor of the state

between 2003 and 2006 he fought within the PDPagainst the establishment as dictated by former

birthday which incidentally was November 16.

PersonalityThe APC candidate was despite his fame as a grass-

roots man is known to have fallen out with manyopinion leaders in the state. The candidate is de-scribed by some to be cantankerous especially tothe elites many of whom ganged up against him.

His FriendsThe friends that came to help Ngige may not have

in the end not have helped him. Prominent amongthem are Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun Stateand Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.

Governor Aregbesola has recently won to himselfthe label of a Muslim fundamentalist through hisongoing policy of school reclassification upon whichhas inflamed the Christian community in that state.

Mallam El-Rufai, the former minister of the Fed-eral Capital Territory who is now a chieftain of theAPC was in Anambra State to lend support to the

The factors against Ngige

•Senator Ngige

,

,•Ubah •Obiano

The APC had envisaged that the An-ambra polls would be a stepping stepfor the party to enter into the South-east, a region where the party’s pres-ence is relatively seen as not too wide-spread

The pains and pleasuresof an election

BY JUDE NJOKU

THE closure of all roads leading into and out of Anambrastate for three days, has taken a heavy toll on the economy

of the South-South and South Eastern states. Mama JoyceChikwe who hails from Mbaise in Imo State, was billed totravel back to the village last Saturday. But the journey wasaborted when her daughter got a call from the Pastor of herChurch who informed her about the risk of the old womanembarking on the trip. The pastor hinged his pessimism onthe decision of the Inspector-General of Police to close allroads leading into and out of Anambra State, ostensibly toprevent persons of dubious character from coming in to causemayhem during the elections.

While Mama Joyce escaped the trauma associated withtravelling last weekend, others who didn’t hear about theclosure, were not that lucky as they were trapped for threedays and had to sleep on the highway, for no fault of theirs.Some motorists who got wind of the closure, still proceededwith their trips, but had to make a detour to use the longerand dreaded Patani -Warri Road. This increased the travel-ling time and in some cases, the transport fares as some ofthose who embarked on the journey through the dilapidatedroad, did not arrive their destinations until the next day.

Apart from the huge costs incurred by the transporters, thepassengers suffered untold hardships along the tortuous jour-ney. However, a source told Vanguard that movement in therural communities of Anambra State were not seriously af-fected by the restriction order as people went about theirnormal activities, including visiting their farms. The only dif-ference was that most markets remained under lock and key.The source who said the election was highly monetised, ex-plained that people had good time as some on the leadingcontenders mobilised financially to vote. In Orumba NorthLGA, a leading party was said to have offered N1,000 to theelectorate to vote for its candidate, while another party offeredN500 for the same purpose. This was like an unexpectedbonanza for the villagers and so, many of them had a goodtime in beer parlours and pepper soup joints.

Onitsha and Nnewi, the two commercial hubs of theAnambra state where billions of Naira exchange hands on adaily basis, remained shut for those three days with the atten-dant loss of revenue. The multiplier effect spilled over toneighbouring states of Imo, Abia, Enugu, Ebonyi and Deltabecause businessmen who transport their goods by roads tothese eastern states could not do so for the period that therestriction order lasted.

President Olusegun Obasanjo. As gover-nor, Ngige was humiliated and houndedout of the PDP, but there was no other partythat took him in and he remained like a po-litical orphan until he was finally removedfrom office by the courts in March 2006.

Though Ngige came into the contest withthe perception of a strong presence on theground, he was, however, to be underem-ined by serious factors, some of his makingand some external to him.

The PlatformIt is claimed that if Ngige had used any other plat-

form apart from APC, he would have put in a morechallenging battle in the election. APC in the opin-ion of some Ibos is a Yoruba cum Hausa party with aculture that is alien to Ndigbo. It was thus no sur-prise that in the run up to the election that someAPGA partisans went on internet blogs to paint theAPC as a Muslim party with many giving a break-down of senior officials of the party all being Mus-lims.

Many Igbo irredentists were also quick to recallthat the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe after winning elec-tion in the Southwest in colonial Nigeria was de-nied opportunity of service and wondered why a“Yoruba” party should be so honoured on Azikiwe’s

APC candidate. But his presence would only haveinflamed the emotion of many Igbos when it is re-called that Ndigbo were the worst losers from El-Rufai’s demolition policy as Minister of FCT.

Anambra Geopolitical BalanceThe outgoing governor, Mr. Peter Obi is from An-

ambra Central senatorial zone, the same zone whereSenator Ngige comes from. When Obi came to powerin 2006, Anambra Central through Ngige had spentthree years in office as governor. Hence it was con-sidered in some quarters in Anambra that with acombined span of 11 years, that it would be illogi-cal to allow Anambra Central to again retain thegovernorship and hence the momentum for Anam-bra North where the winner, Obiano comes from.

50 — V50 — V50 — V50 — V50 — Vanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013

France vows to defend Israel’s in nuclear talks

FRANCE’s presidentyesterday promised to

take a hard line inupcoming nuclear talkswith Iran this week,pleasing Israeli officialswho warmly welcomed himto the Jewish state for athree-day visit.

Francois Hollande’s

message was welcomed byhis Israeli hosts, who havevoiced concerns that anemerging deal with globalpowers gives Iran toomuch without gettingenough in return.

“France will not makeconcessions on nuclearproliferation,” Hollande

said at a welcomeceremony at Israel’sinternational airport.“France will maintain allits measures and sanctionsuntil we are certain thatIran has renouncednuclear weapons.”

Iran’s suspect nuclearprogram will be high onthe agenda of Hollande’svisit. France is a memberof the six global powersconducting negotiationswith Iran.

...Iran expects tough talks

IRAN said yesterday thatnuclear talks with world

powers this week will be“difficult,” as Israel boostedits campaign against a pos-sible deal that would bringTehran some sanctions re-lief..

Negotiations betweenIran and the so-called P5+1— Britain, France, the Unit-ed States, Russia and Chi-na plus Germany — restartin Geneva on Wednesdayafter the last round failed toseal a deal.

Top diplomats insistedthey were closing in on aninterim agreement thatwould see Iran curb or freezeparts of its nuclear pro-gramme for some relief fromcrippling sanctions.

But senior Iranian negoti-ator Abbas Araqchi, who isalso deputy foreign minis-ter, said “the next round ofnuclear talks will be difficult,”according to remarks carriedby the official IRNA newsagency.

“No agreement will bereached without securing therights of the Iranian nation”on its nuclear programmeand uranium enrichment, headded.

Israel and the West suspectIran is pursuing a nuclearweapons capability along-side its uranium enrichmentprogramme, which Tehraninsists is entirely peaceful.

Winnie says Mandela is “quite ill”SOUTH Africa’s former

president, NelsonMandela, remains “quiteill” and unable to speakbecause of tubes that arekeeping his lungs clear offluid, though he is relaxed,his former wife told a SouthAfrican newspaper.”Heremains very sensitive toany germs, so he has to bekept literally sterile. Thebedroom there (in hissuburban Johannesburghome) is like an ICUward,” WinnieMadikizela-Mandela toldthe Sunday Independent.“He is 95 years old and itis difficult for him, becauseof all the tubes that are inhis mouth to clear the (fluidfrom his) lungs, andprevent an infectionrecurring.” Because ofthose tubes, she said, hecommunicates through hisface.

Plane crashes in Russia,kills 50

A Russian passengerairliner crashed

yesterday night whiletrying to land at theairport in the city ofKazan, killing all 50people aboard, officialssaid.

The Boeing 737belonging to TatarstanAirlines crashed about7:20 p.m. local time(1520 GMT; 10:20 a.m.EST). There were noimmediate indications ofthe cause.

Reports said the planeappeared to lose altitudeas it was making asecond landing attempt,

crashing and catchingfire.

Kazan, a city of about1.1 million and thecapital of the Tatarstanrepublic, is about 720kilometers (450 miles)east of Moscow, wherethe flight originated.Weather in Kazan wasreported to be lightprecipitation and windsof about 8 meters persecond (18 mph).

A spokeswoman for theEmergencies Ministry,Irina Rossius, said therewere 44 passengers andsix crew members aboardand all had been killed.

Obamas,Clintons tovisit JFKgravesite

PRESIDENT BarackObama will visit John

F. Kennedy’s gravesiteand honor two ofKennedy’s lastinginitiatives as the nationobserves the 50thanniversary of hisassassination in the comingweek. Obama and his wife,Michelle, will beaccompanied by formerPresident Bill Clinton andhis wife, Hillary, at a wreath-laying ceremony atArlington NationalCemetery on Wednesdayafternoon. Also that day,Obama will be joined byscores of prominentAmericans who havereceived the PresidentialMedal of Freedom inpaying tribute toKennedy’s legacy.

Kennedy established themodern version of themedal, the highest awardthe U.S. bestows oncivilians, in the monthsbefore his death. He waskilled two weeks before heplanned to honor theinaugural group ofrecipients, and it fell toPresident Lyndon Johnsonto preside over theceremony at the WhiteHouse on the dayKennedy’s family wasmoving out.

•Winnie Mandela

•Rouhani

“But the doctors havetold us they hope he will

be able to recover hisvoice,” she said, addingthat he is being treated by22 doctors at his home.

Mandela’s former wifeshot down reports that theformer anti-apartheidleader and Nobel Peaceprize winner was on lifesupport.

“I have heard thisnonsense that he is on lifesupport. He is not,” shetold the newspaper. When

asked if he was peaceful,she said, “Very. When heis very relaxed, he is fine,”adding that it helps he isat his home, anenvironment that herecognizes.

Mandela has been inintensive medical care athis Johannesburg homesince being discharged onSept. 1 after nearly threemonths in a hospital for arecurring lung infection.

New York Mayor with Blackwife breaks racial barriers

ANOTHER milestoneis passing in

America’s racial journey:The next mayor of NewYork City is a white manwith a black wife.

Even in a nation with abiracial president, whereinterracial marriage ismore accepted andcommon than ever, Bill

de Blasio’s marriage toChirlane McCray isremarkable: He isapparently the first whitepolitician in U.S. historyelected to a major officewith a black spouse byhis side.

This simple fact isstriking a deep chord inmany people as de Blasioprepares to take office onJan. 1, with McCrayplaying a major role inhis administration.

“It reflects theAmerican values ofembracing differentraces, ethnicity, religions.I think it’s just a greatsymbol,” said WilliamCohen, the former Mainesenator and Secretary ofDefense, who is marriedto a black woman.

Cohen was already asenator when he starteddating Janet Langhart, ablack televisionjournalist. He proposedseveral times, but shefeared that her racewould hurt Cohen’spolitical future.

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Take a bow Nigerians...Pop Champagnes...Klink Glasses

For those of you who are in-terested in the footballmatch, Nigeria is leading 2-0, but the match is not yet over

THE Ethiopian Airlines flight that was to take meto Algiers via Addis Ababa took off from Lagos

by 1.30pm on Saturday, few hours to the kick off ourWorld Cup qualifying match.

What this meant was that I was going to fly for oversix hours anxious to know the result of the match.Nothing to worry about, I said to myself. There wasno way Ethiopia was going to come to Calabar anddeny us a world Cup ticket. No way. We had done somuch in Addis that even a one goal victory for theEthiopians will not stop us from going to Brazil.

Four hours into the journey, there was an announce-ment. “ This is your captain speaking. For those ofyou who are interested in the football match, Nigeriais leading 2-0, but the match is not yet over…….”YES…I screamed. YES….Brazil here we come.

I started imagining the carnival atmosphere that wasCalabar, the historic city that has so much to cele-brate, midwife of our U-17 foundation and World cupqualification triumph.

Congratulations Nigerians, it has been one week ofjoy, laughter and back slapping. Suddenly our psycheas a nation, dimmed by myriads of economic and po-litical problems, has been given a lift. Let me startfrom the Presidency, the Oga himself, a man whoseinterest in our sports especially football has yieldedso much dividends. GOOD LUCK all the way.

The Senate and House of representatives should becommended. President Mark’s interest in sports hasalways been manifested. I served as a Youth Corperin Niger when he was Military Governor and can at-test to his interest and love for sports.

Then comes the Sports Minister, Alhaji BolajiAbdullahi………let history record and properly too thatthe arrival of the youthful minister signaled the endof bitter rancor in the Nations football house and thebeginning of progress untold. On assumption of of-fice the first thing the Minister did was to ensurepeace in the football family by calling all the aggrievedparties to a roundtable where their differences wereresolved. This happened in December 2011 after hewas appointed the Supervising Minister of Sports.Peace has brought progress.

After a hiatus of 19 years, Nigeria won the presti-gious Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa in Febru-ary 2013.

Similarly, our Under 17 side, the Golden Eagletsjust won the FIFA Under 17 World Cup in the UnitedArab Emirates.

Minister Bolaji will tell you that under his leader-ship there has been a repositioning of sports in thecountry.

In athletics, just like in football and weightlifting,

Nigeria has become the number one nation in Africa.Never in the history of African athletics has one na-tion been winner of the Senior, Junior and Youth Cham-pionships at the same. Nigeria has won the wholethree in the last two years! First we won the SeniorAthletics Championship in Port Novo (June 27–July1,2012), followed by the inaugural Youth Champion-ship in Warri, Delta State (March 2013) and recently,we won the Junior Championship in Mauritius (Au-gust- September 2013).

After a 14 years’ absence on the medals table of theIAAF World Championships, Blessing Okagbare wontwo medals for Nigeria in the last IAAF World Cham-pionship, which took place in Russia in August 2013. She won a silver medal in long jump and a bronzemedal in the 200meter race. The last time Nigeriawon any medal was at the Seville’99 IAAF WorldChampionship in Seville, Spain, where Gloria Alozieand Francis Obikwelu won a silver medal in the 100mhurdles and a bronze medal in the 200m respectively.

And to think that the NSC has been reinforced bythe appointment of the experienced Hon Gbenga Eleg-beleye as Director General! Even the sky cannot be

our limit.Of course Governor Liyel Imoke and the people of

Cross River State we cannot thank enough. Take abow Sir.

Step out Alhaji Aminu Maigari for recognition andcommendation.

This board lays claim to being the most successfulin the history of the sport in this country. I rememberthat after two failed attempts at even qualifying at U17 level in Africa, this regime put together a team thatwill guarantee the future of our football if well han-dled.

What about the winning of the Nations Cup and thequalification for the World Cup? All those who oneway or the other are related to the Maigari regimeshould henceforth walk with their heads held high.Just as I wrote about the coaching crew of the U-17last week, what else can I say about the record break-er called The Big Boss and his colleagues? What aboutthis current crop of Super Eagles who have the op-portunity of writing their names in gold if they excelin Brazil, go a step further than their country men inprevious world cups?

Am I expecting another round of largesse for theseplayers after the Nation’s Cup rewards? Why not?Winning the Nations Cup and qualifying for the WorldCup are two very different achievements.

Talking about rewards I have been quick to defendthe monetary incentives given to the U.17. I do agreethat international sports norms frown at such a prac-tice, preferring instead scholarships and other incen-tives in kind.

Unfortunately our environment has it that the onlyschools some of those boys attend are soccer acade-mies! Also, most of them are bread winners in theirfamilies and the monetary reward really comes inhandy.

State Governments and corporate organizations lin-ing up to honour and reward the boys should desistfrom the tendency of picking only those from theirstates. You cannot single out players for honour in ateam sport where they competed under the unifyingumbrella called NIGERIA.

Before I forget, the amounts doled out to the backroom staff of the U.17 by Mr President was nothing towrite home about. Five hundred thousand naira tothe team doctor? Three hundred thousand to the TeamMedia Officer? They deserve more.

Let the celebration not stop, please until I come backfrom my FIFA assignment in Algiers to join in themerriment.

CONGRATULATIONS NIGERIA.See you next week

THE NNPC/ShellJunior Tennis

Championship ended inLagos weekend with

Michael Michael fromKaduna and MaryloveEdwards from Lagoswinning the mostoutstanding player(MOP) award for theboys and girlsrespectively.

The tournamentorganized by theInternational TennisAcademy (ITA) with thetheme - attract, identifyand develop - had youngstudents from Lagos fillup the 2500 capacityLagos Lawn Tennis Clubcentre court to watcheight final matches in theboys and girls 10, 12, 14,and 16.

Michael who did notlose a single match in theround robin series andthe knockout stages beat

Michael, Marylove are MOPs

Godgift Timibra from PortHarcourt 9-4 to win theboys 16. Edwards 10,Nigeria’s emergingtennis whizkid,demolished all oppositionin the Girl’s 12 includinga 9-0 whitewash of KasaraAdegboyega from Ibadanin the final match. Shealso reached the final ofthe Girls 14, falling to thesuperior firepower ofFortune Aniso from PortHarcourt.

Other winners wereChris Itodo from Kadunawho beat Chris Bulus

NNPC/Shell Junior Tennis Championship:

from Lagos to win theBoys 14: Gabriel Friday,also from Kaduna, beatBright Maxwell to winthe Boys 12 and RichardPyagbara from PortHarcourt proved toostrong for SolomonOpaogun from OgunState in the Boys 10.

Bunmi Are from Kwarabeat team mate KadijatSalami 9-2 to win theGirls 16 while TimipreMaxwell from PortHarcourt won the Girls10. But the match whichattracted a lot of attentionwas the playoff for secondplace between ChidinmaEzeh from Onitsha andIye Onoja the youngestplayer in the tournamentfrom the NNPC Kaduna.Trailing 2-5 and then 3-6, the seven year old whowon the MOP for girls inKaduna a month ago,fought back to level andwin the decisive tie break.

7-year-old Iye Onoja

Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013 — 51

PRESIDENT of theNigeria Olympic

Committee, NOC, Engr.Sani M. Ndanusa has con-gratulated the NigeriaFootball Federation, theSuper Eagles and indeedNigerians for being the firstAfrican country to hoist itsflag in Brazil for the WorldCup next year.

The Super Eagles shotthe Walya Antelope’s ofEthiopia twice on Saturdayin Calabar to become the

NOC President hails Eagles!first African country toberth in Brazil and fol-lowed by Cote d Ivoire andCameroun.

‘’It goes to show that Ni-geria is the number onecountry in Africa. It goesto show that as Nigerians,we should walk with ournoses in front. It shows thatwith good management,we can excel. I congratu-late President Goodluck

Ebele Jonathan, whosetenure has brought abouta turn-around of our sports.I congratulate the Minis-ter, Mallam Bolaji Abudul-lahi and the President ofNFF, Alhaji Sani Maigarifor the cocktail of good for-tunes for Nigerian foot-ball’’, Ndanusa said.

The President of theNOC also showered enco-miums on Coach StephenKeshi for being the secondNigerian to qualify Nige-ria for the world cup afterAmodu Shuaibu in2002(Keshi was Amodu’sassistant). ‘’I plead that theNFF allows Keshi to leadthe Eagles to Brazil and forKeshi to also fortify histeam as the opposition atthe world stage would beenormous’’. He alsotasked the NFF and theSuper Eagles to go beyondthe quarter final stage thathas become the cross barof African countries in theWorld Cup while pledgingthat Team Nigeria wouldexcel at the forth-comingGlasgow CommonwealthGames.

FORMER Chairman ofBendel State Football

Association, Pa John Oji-doh has saluted the SuperEagle for being the first Af-rican side to qualify for the2014 World Cup finals inBrazil. The Eagles bookedtheir ticket to Brazil 2014 atthe weekend with a 4-1 ag-gregate win over Ethiopiaat the U.J Esuene Stadium,Calabar.

And writing from hiswheel-chair yesterday, therespected sports Octoge-narian said that by reach-ing the soccer showpiecethat the Eagles have re-

Ojidoh salutes Brazil-bound Eaglesstored the pride and ho-nour of Nigerian football,which he admitted almostwent oblivion until thechange of guards at theNigeria Football Federa-tion..

“From my wheel chair, Ijoin fellow Nigerians to cel-ebrate your emphatic andrelieving qualification. Isalute Keshi’s technicalcrew, our heroic team andresult-oriented NFF, whohave restored our pride ofhonour that nearly went intooblivion. Hearty congratu-lations to all Nigerians”,wrote Pa. Ojidoh.

52 — Vanguard, MONDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Continues from BP

while Italy will look tocover for Andrea Barza-gli after both playerswere injured and pulledoff in their team’s respec-tive matches this pastweekend.

The Super Eagles wereunbeaten in all eightmatches of their WorldCup qualifying cam-paign. They toppedGroup F to set up a con-test against Ethiopia inthe mandatory playoffs.

The men from west Af-rica won with a 4-1 ag-gregate score, after beat-ing Ethiopia 2-1 away inthe first leg and 2-0 in thereturn leg played on

Eagleshome-soil on Saturday.Goals by Victor Mosesand Victor Obinna ce-mented their place in theshowpiece.

While Nigeria playedtheir CAF play-off, theAzzurri tested them-selves against Germanyat the San Siro.

AC Milan right-backIgnazio Abate cancelledMats Hummels’ goal tosecure a 1-1 draw andmaintain Italy’s record ofhaving not lost to the Ger-mans since 1995.

Cesare Prandelli’scharges were convincingin their qualifying cam-paign, also going unbeat-en to top Group B fourpoints ahead of Den-mark.

Cameroon

qualify.“I had to calm them

down and make sure theirstate of mind is intact, butI knew it was going to bea little difficult for themto focus.

“I remember the samething happened to us inAlgeria in 1993 with play-ers not being able to eatbecause they were anx-ious.

“But we had to try to

Keshi

Continues from BP

than five minutes to makean impact, pulling a goalback, but Jean Makoun’sdouble sealed the Indomi-table Lions’ place in Brazil.

The opener came justthree minutes in when Webodispossessed defender Ka-rim Haggui and produceda neat low left-footed finishacross keeper Moez BenCherifia and in off the farpost

Cameroon dominated theearly stages and Benoit As-sou-Ekotto’s long-rangeshot took a deflection andan awkward bounce in frontof Ben Cherifia, but he dealtwith the ball.

But Moukandjo made it2-0 in the 31st minute whenhe dribbled through threeTunisian defenders andfired low inside the nearpost. His exuberant celebra-tions brought him a yellowcard but the goal took hisside a big step closer to Bra-zil.

Samuel Eto’o failed toshape a curling effort insidethe far post but Tunisiathreatened when Syam BenYoussouf headed wide froma dangerous set-piece.

And Akaichi cut the defi-cit when he raced past de-fender Aurelien Chedjou onto a bouncing through-balland lashed a first-time left-footed shot past keeperCharles Itandje.

He almost made an un-wanted contribution at theother end as Makoun’sheader from a corner de-flected off him and just overthe crossbar.

But another set-piece tookCameroon clear as Assou-Ekotto’s corner was head-ed home at the near post bythe unmarked Makoun.

Moukandjo missed a glo-rious chance to kill the tieoff once and for all when,one on one with Ben Cher-ifia, he first side-footedstraight at the keeper andthen casually skied the re-bound over the bar.

The same player’s clum-sy touch ended a classyCameroon break from a Tu-nisian corner and Makounfailed to play in Eric Chou-po-Moting.

But Makoun netted hissecond, and Cameroon’sfourth, when he tapped intoan empty net after Choupo-Moting’s low shot cameback off the post.

make sure we got them tocalm down a bit.”

And to help with that,Keshi said the playerswere instructed to go easyafter the first goal. “Tacti-cally, we are there.

“After the first goal wetold them to take it easy,slow down and allowthem to come out.

“But their coach wassmart, they refused tocome out.

“But whatever came outtoday, as long as we qual-ify, and our flag is flyingin Brazil, I will take it.”

Continues from BP

ETHIOPIA coachSewnet Bishaw con-

ceded that his side lost to asuperior team but stillblamed the referee for de-nying them two penaltiesagainst Nigeria.

The Walias were beaten2-0 in Calabar on Saturday, and 4-1 on aggregate in aWorld Cup qualifying play-off battle.

Victor Moses converted apenalty and substituteObinna Nsofor curled in afree-kick as the Super Ea-gles became the first Afri-can team to qualify for Bra-zil 2014. Bishaw admittedit had been tough for hischarges.

“Today’s match was noteasy. We played very nice.Nigeria also played verynice. But they scored twogoals and we didn’t scorea single goal,” he said af-ter the game.

“The reason for this is,when you compare the Ni-gerian players and ourplayers, the difference islike the earth and the sky.Because we have only gotyoung players who areplaying locally.

“The Nigerian playersare playing abroad andthey know what profession-alism is.”

But he declared that withbetter refereeing, his teamwould have got somethingout of the game.

“We also got chanceshere, but the referee deniedus two penalties. We hadtwo goalscoring opportuni-ties.

“We know that Nigeriansare better than us, theyhave better experiencethan us, but the refereedenied us.”

Bishaw however pointedout that Ethiopia are not farfrom the elite teams andwas gracious enough tocongratulate Nigeria.

Bishaw hails Eagles*Rues refereeing

CHASE.....Eagles winger Ahmed Musa chases theball with Ethiopia’s Girma Alula during their matchin Calabar. Nigeria won 2-0. Photo: AFP

Photo shows From left: Bike A Thon Chairman,physician and author Dr Tunji Funsho, chief launch-er Muyiwa Osho and launch chairman ProfessorAlaba Akinshete at the formal launch of Dr Fun-sho’ book, Let Go &Let God. All proceeds go tofighting polio in Nigeria

GHANA coach Kwesi Appiah has sent

a congratulatory mes-sage to Stephen Keshifor qualifying Nigeria tonext year’s FIFA WorldCup finals.

The Super Eagles beatEthiopia 2-0 in Calabaron Saturday to seal a 4-1aggregate win in theplayoffs.

Nigeria became thefirst African country toconfirm their ticket forBrazil 2014.

Keshi has become thefirst African coach to

Ghana coachapplauds Keshisend two countries to theFIFA World Cup finalsafter mastermindingTogo’s historic qualifica-tion in 2006.

”Congratulations tothem[Nigeria]. Theyhave done well,” Appiahsaid.

”He’s my friend,[Stephen] Keshi. Wehave always been in

touch and I am reallyhappy for them. We havebecome very close friendsand we talk on so manyissues.”

Appiah will be seekingto emulate Keshi’s featwhen he leads the BlackStars to face Egypt onTuesday in Cairo with a6-1 win from the firstleg.

GHANA coachAkwasi Appiah

insists he will be settingout his team to secureanother famous win overEgypt in the second-legof the World Cup playoffdespite boasting ahealthy cushioning.

The Black Stars go intothe game on Tuesday witha massive 6-1 advantage.

Ghana must now atleast avoid a 5-0 defeatagainst Egypt in Cairo toseal its place as one of thefive African sides goingto next year’s event in

Ghana go for the kill against EgyptBrazil.

This seemingly easiertask, coupled with theexpectation of an attack-ing surge from the Pha-raohs has seen many pre-dict a defensive tactic be-ing adopted by the BlackStars on Tuesday.

But coach Appiah sayshis team will not be go-ing into the game with adefensive mindset butrather with the thought ofscoring more goals to re-deem an imaginary defi-cit.

“I said in Ghana thatwe’ve played the firsthalf of the competitionand we are now going toplay the second half,” he

said.“I have made the play-

ers aware that we shouldget on that Egyptian pitchwith the mind that we areeven down by a goal ortwo and we are going toredeem those two goals.

“For that reason, we aregoing out there to play allout and try and win.”

Ghana will become thefinal team to qualify fromthe African region oncethe required result is se-cured on Tuesday.

The Black Stars arechasing a third succes-sive appearance at theWorlod Cup followingprogressive stints in 2006and 2010 in Germany andSouth Africa respectively.THE Director Gener-

al of the NationalSports Commission Ho-nourable Gbenga Elegbe-leye has commended theSuper Eagles team forqualifying for next year’sWorld Cup slated for Bra-zil.

He also charged theChief Coach of the teamStephen Keshi to do ev-erything humanly possi-ble to make the team aworld beater like he didin South Africa this Feb-ruary when he led theteam to win the 2013 Af-

Elegbeleye showers encomiums on Eagles

rica Cup of Nations.Elegbeleye who

watched the match live inCalabar on Saturday alsothanked Governor LiyelImoke of Cross River forhosting the Eagles dur-

ing their camping exer-cise in the state till thelast qualifying match theteam played against Ethi-opia and won 2-0 yester-day but booked the WorldCup ticket on 4-1 goalsaggregate.


CMYK


CMYK


CMYK

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How to Play Sudoku

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

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

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

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

Sudoku

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTIONS

VVVVVanguardanguardanguardanguardanguard,,,,, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013 MONDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Across1 Safe (6)5 Hop (4)8 Bowl (5)9 Possess (3)10 Polluted (4)11 Departed (4)12 Meagre (5)13 Grabbed (6)16 Brook (4)18 Conflict (4)20 Seam (3)22 Ocean (3)23 Still (3)24 Demigod (4)25 Speed (4)28 Disinter (6)32 Fashionable (4)33 Assistant (4)34 Fuss (3)35 Philander (5)36 Ritual (4)37 Wait on (6)

Down1 Partner (6)2 Contemplate (8)3 Beam (6)4 Compute (9)5 Mean (7)6 Tie (4)7 Lyricist (4)8 Coach (3)14 Ignore (9)15 Rug (3)17 Meadow (3)19 Moderate (8)20 Chop (3)21 Eye-glass (7)26 Scope (6)27 See (6)29 Blemish (4)30 Gap (4)31 Strike (3)

QUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORDQUICK CROSSWORD

Across: 3, Aside 9, Report 10, Anchor 11,Crowd 12, Omit 15, Lawn 17, Disrupt 20,Lid 21, Erect 23, Ulna 25, Thin 26, Knock28, Rep 30, Earnest 33, Edit 35, Gash 36,Final 38, Rookie 39, Teller 40, Breed.

Down: 1, Brood 2, Aphis 3, Arc 4, Stripe5, Dawn 6, End 7, Phial 8, Brand 13, Mis-used 14, Trunk 16, Witness 18, Trice 19,Act 22, Thong 24, Ant 27, Karate 28, Pearl29, Pivot 31, Early 32, Therm 34, Tier 36,Tib 37, Led.

Continues on Page 52

Kick

-off:

8.45

p.m

.

Eagles test Azzuri’smight tonight

AFRICA championsNigeria are set to

close out a phenomenal2013 with a clash againstItaly today at Craven Cot-tage.

Both sides have se-cured their place at nextyear’s FIFA World Cup,with this match offeringthem an opportunity toset the tone for next year.

The respective mangerswill be free will to tinkerwith their line-ups inLondon as they beginpreparations for Brazil.

Nigeria will have toconsider a replacementfor Godfrey Oboabona,

Cameroon qualify for 7th World CupCAMEROON pro

duced an emphaticdisplay to beat Tunisia 4-1 in their play-off secondleg and qualify for nextsummer’s World Cup. It’sthe seventh time they will

be reaching the WorldCup, a record feat by anyAfrican team.

Pierre Webo, whose ex-traordinary point-blankmiss was chiefly respon-sible for the first leg end-

ing goalless, scored ear-ly on this time and Ben-jamin Moukandjo addeda second before the break.

Half-time substituteAhmed Akaichi took lessContinues on Page 52

SUPER Eagles coachStephen Keshi says

anxiety to do well andseal the 2014 World Cupticket accounted for someof the disjointed play byhis players.

Nigeria won 2-0against Ethiopia withgoals from Victor Mosesand Obinna Nsofor, butthe performance was lessthan convincing andKeshi says it is not acause for concern.

“The first thing was to

Why Eagles lookeddisjointed — Keshi

make sure we qualified,”Keshi said.

“In today’s game I don’tmind that we played bad-ly as long as we qualified.We have other gameswere we can play beauti-ful football.

“There was a lot of anx-iety around the players.Because it’s the lastgame, they wanted to

Continues on Page 52

Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica,Germany,Japan, Russia, Australia, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire,Honduras, South Korea, Spain, Belgium, Chile,Ecuador, Iran, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Colombia, England, Italy, USA

Qualified Countries

RUNNING TO BRAZIL — Emmanuel Emenikeoutruns an Ethiopian player in their 2-0 win inCalabar.

*Balotelli

CMYK

Documents

ANAMBRA: APGA claims victory