05072017 - Magu Osinbajo, Senate in fresh standoff

3 killed as Badoo boys 

attack Ikorodu church 

•Suspected female kidnapper lynched 

•Police orders residents to wear ID cards 

42 

No regret retiring 

politically-exposed military 

officers — Obasanjo 9 

APC sues INEC over 

Melaye's recall 

9 

VOL. 25: NO. 63326 WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Magu: Osinbajo, Senate 

in fresh standoff 

•Senate angry at Acting President’s comment on nominations 

•Asks him to apologise for challenging the Red Chamber's power 

•Vows to stand down all confirmations from the Presidency 

Maitama Sule's burial ... 

By Henry Umoru 

A B U J A - 

Resuming 

from break, 

yesterday, the Senate 

immediately went into a 

standoff with the 

presidency, vowing to 

stand down all requests 

for confirmation into 

executive positions in 

Continues on page 5 

for 

AFE Vanguard 

Powers, 

achievements, and 

failings of 

the Nigeria 

Police: 

Need for 

urgent 

attention(1) 

Aare Afe Babalola 

CON, SAN 

Mr & Mrs 

40 

Late Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule's body arrived in Kano State for burial. It was received by the state governor, Abdullahi Umar 

Ganduje, other dignitaries and mammoth crowd. STORY, ANALYSIS & MORE PHOTOS ON PAGES 10, 12, 23. 

PROF AJIBOLA: From house boy to professorship, boardroom 36 

COLUMNISTS DEAR BUNMI ROTIMI FASAN 31 PRINCEWILL 17 

SEE 

35 

INSIDE

2 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 — 3


Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

From left: Zonal Business Director, Globacom, Lagos State, Mr. Adebola 

Omoboya; Globacom ambassador, Sani Danja; another ambassador, Innocent 

Idibia (Tuface), and Brand Specialist, Miss Ezinne Onyekwere, at the launch 

of two Globacom products, Free Data Day and Welcome Back Offer, yesterday 

in Lagos. 

Magu: Osinbajo, Senate in fresh Standoff 

Continues from page 1 

the Federal Government. 

The Senate stance was 

upon overflow of outrage 

at the challenge from 

Acting President Yemi 

Osinbajo to the Senate’s 

capacity to confirm certain 

nominees of the executive 

into federal bodies. 

Senators across partisan 

lines were particularly 

miffed by the continued 

stay in office of Mr. 

Ibrahim Magu as 

chairman of the Economic 

and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

despite his rejection by 

the Senate on two 

occasions. In their 

resolution, the Senate 

asked the Acting 

President to apologise for 

his challenge of the 

Senate’s power to confirm 

persons into certain 

executive bodies. 

The Senate had at the 

resumption of plenary 

yesterday, entered into a 

closed session which 

lasted almost an hour. A 

source at the meeting said 

senators were not happy 

over what they termed, 

“flagrant refusal by the 

executive to implement 

resolutions passed by the 

Senate.” 

The Acting President 

had last April in an 

interview said: “It is up to 

the Senate to make their 

judgment, and it is up to 

us say what we want to 

do. If our candidate is 

rejected, we can represent 

him. No law says 

we can’t re-present him. 

And again, there is the 

other argument, whether 

or not we need to present 

him for confirmation and 

that’s a compelling 

argument from Femi 

Falana,” he said. 

Yesterday’s resolution 

followed the reading of a 

letter from Osinbajo to the 

Senate requesting it to 

confirm Lanre 

Gbajabiamila as the 

substantive Director- 

General of the National 

Lottery Commission 

(NLC). 

Osinbajo’s letter which 

was dated June 12, 2017, 

was entitled, “ Request for 

confirmation of the 

appointment of Mr. Lanre 

Gbajabiamila as Director- 

General, National Lottery 

Regulatory Commission.” 

The letter read: “In 

compliance with the 

provisions of section 8 

IT'S UP TO YOU 

BY AYO ADIO - 08104802192 

Every problem solving process is triggered by 

asking the right question. Be inquisitive, you 

never might know which answers your questions 

would lead to. It;s up to you. 

ON LIFE AND LIVING 

The peculiar evil of silencing the expression 

of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human 

race; posterity as well as the existing generation; 

those who dissent from the opinion, still more 

than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, 

they are deprived of the opportunity of 

exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, 

what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer 

perception and livelier impression of truth, 

produced by its collision with error. 

— John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859 

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE 

If your only tool is a hammer, you will see 

every problem as a nail. — Gambian proverb 

(1A) of the National 

Lottery Act 2005, I write 

to forward the name of 

Mr. Lanre Gbajabiamila 

as the nominee for the 

position of Director 

General, National Lottery 

Regulatory Commission 

for the consideration and 

appointment of the 

Senate. 

“If confirmed, Lanre 

Gbajabiamila will serve 

for an initial period of four 

years and may be 

reappointed for a further 

term of four years and no 

more. 

“The curriculum vitae of 

Lanre Gbajabiamila is 

attached for your perusal. 

It is, therefore, my hope 

that the Distinguished 

Senate of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria do 

consider and confirm the 

appointment of the 

nominee in the usual 

expeditious manner.” 

Once the letter was read 

by the President of the 

Senate, Senator Bukola 

Saraki, Senator Ahmed 

Sani, APC, Zamfara West, 

upon Order 14 of the 

Senate Standing Rules, 

argued that since the 

Acting President had 

already concluded that 

the Senate lacked the 

powers to confirm 

nominees, there was no 

need to acknowledge any 

letter from the executive 

on issues concerning 

confirmation. 

According to him, the 

issue must be clarified by 

the Senate before going 

ahead with the 

consideration of further 

requests from the 

presidency. 

“I want to draw the 

attention of the Senate to 

a statement credited to the 

Acting President, 

Professor Yemi Osinbajo 

that the Senate does not 

have the powers to 

confirm. I was surprised 

to see the Senate 

President read a letter 

from the same Acting 

President who said the 

Senate does not have the 

powers to confirm a 

nominee from the 

executive. 

“I am raising this point 

of order to draw the 

attention of the Senate to 

this issue and urge that 

we suspend any further 

action on confirmation of 

any nominee until the 

issue is resolved.” 

Supporting him, 

Senator George Sekibo, 

PDP, Rivers East took a 

swipe at the presidency 

over its continued refusal 

to comply with the 

resolutions of the Senate 

as he stressed that it was 

a clear attempt by the 

presidency to usurp the 

powers and roles of the 

apex legislative body. 

Senator Sekibo, who 

quoted relevant sections 

of the constitution to 

buttress his argument, 

said: “What is happening 

shows to Nigerians that 

they (executive) are either 

trying to quiet the 

National Assembly or 

trying to take over our 

responsibilities. From the 

constitution, it is very clear 

that one of the functions 

of the Senate is 

confirmation of 

appointments by the 

President. 

Presidency must 

respect the Law — 

Senators 

Other senators who 

spoke in the same vein, 

included senators Isah 

Hamman Misau, APC, 

Bauchi Central, who 

accused the Acting 

President of using double 

standards on the Senate’s 

confirmation powers; 

Senator Matthew 

Urhoghide, PDP, Edo 

South, who urged the 

executive to approach the 

Supreme Court if it 

wanted to contest the 

powers of the Senate and 

Senator Samuel 

Anyanwu, PDP, Imo East, 

who issued a 48-hour 

ultimatum to Saraki to do 

something about the 

controversial statement by 

the Acting President. 

“We must take a stand. 

If the leadership does not 

do anything about this 

issue within 48 hours, we 

will move against the 

leadership. I want to say 

that anybody who is 

invited by the EFCC 

should not go because 

they are not standing on 

any law.” 

Also contributing, 

Senator Dino Melaye, 

APC, Kogi West said: “It 

is time for the Senate to 

tell the Executive Arm of 

government that they 

must stop approbating 

and reprobating. This 

republic that our fathers 

fought for should not be 

allowed to be completely 

destroyed. Not in our 

time, God forbid. 

“Magu came for a job 

interview and failed, and 

he was rejected. As we 

speak, Magu is still 

parading himself as the 

chairman of EFCC. The 

same executive now 

writes a letter that we 

should confirm someone 

who went to resume office 

without confirmation, and 

he was chased out of 

office. Now that name has 

been brought before us. 

“The integrity of the 

Senate is at stake. This 

Senate cannot be 

disregarded and insulted; 

our authority to confirm 

cannot be eroded. I am 

moving a motion that it 

becomes abominable to 

read any other 

confirmation report in this 

chamber until they act on 

our position. Those who 

have failed should go 

back, Magu is not the last 

Nigerian Angel. He can 

serve this country in 

another capacity.” 

Senate Chief Whip, 

Senator Olusola 

Adeyeye, APC, Osun 

Central, insisted that the 

executive must obey the 

provisions of the 

constitution and 

expressed his 

disappointment, saying 

that though he voted for 

Magu, he had to abide by 

the overriding vote of the 

Senate to reject him. 

“Every public servant is 

bound to obey every law 

of the Republic. Nobody, 

not the President, Vice or 

the Senate President has 

the right to disobey our 

laws. Whoever has 

problems with our laws 

should go to court and 

declare them null and 

void. Until that is done, 

every law of the land must 

be respected. 

“I voted yes for Magu. 

But the Senate of the 

Federal Republic of 

Nigeria voted no. I stand 

with the Nigerian Senate. 

I choose a strong 

institution. We should not 

allow our institutions to be 

weakened.” 

According to Adeyeye, if 

there is any law passed by 

the National Assembly, 

signed by the President and 

gazetted, no one has the 

permission to dance around 

that law, adding, “Whoever 

has a problem with any law 

should go to court, until a 

court declares it null and 

void it remains the law of 

the land. Anyone who does 

not respect it is breaking the 

law of the land.” 

On his part, the Deputy 

Senate President, Senator 

Ike Ekweremadu, who 

noted that the executive 

must obey the contents of 

the Constitution, said: “Let 

me make it clear that this 

has nothing to do with the 

Director-General of Lottery 

Commission or Ibrahim 

Magu, but about our 

constitution. One of the 

features of the Senate is the 

power of confirmation. The 

framers of the Constitution 

gave the power to the 

Senate. 

“If the law says that an 

appointee requires 

confirmation, we must obey 

what the law says. The 

executive must follow the 

provisions of the 

constitution.” 

A move by Senator 

Enyinnaya Abaribe, PDP, 

Abia South to draw attention 

to the absence of the Acting 

President in the country for 

two days running which he 

said had left a power 

vacuum was hushed down 

on the intervention of the 

Senate President. 

For about five minutes, 

from 12.25 to 12.30 

Southwest senators 

clubbing together with 

some Northern senators 

stood against Abaribe’s 

interjection. 

Senator Kabiru Marafa, 

APC, Zamfara Central, 

countered Abaribe and was 

upheld by the Senate 

President. 

Interestingly, of the 11 

senators that spoke 

yesterday, six were of the 

APC, while the other five 

were of the PDP. 

Upholding the point of 

order raised by Senator 

Yerima, the President of the 

Senate warned that the 

Senate must show serious 

action on the matter for once 

and for all and put it behind 

them. 

Senator Saraki said: “This 

is an issue that we have 

once and for all address; we 

cannot pass laws and see 

that the laws are not being 

obeyed. This resolution 

must be obeyed by the 

Acting President otherwise 

we will take appropriate 

actions and resolutions. 

“It is very clear these 

resolutions as passed must 

be acted upon by the Acting 

President, and ensure that 

we continue to respect our 

democracy, our laws, and 

constitution. It is not for 

us to choose which laws 

we obey and which laws 

we don’t obey. That is not 

the way any civilised, 

modern society work. And 

we hope that the Acting 

President will take 

appropriate action in line 

with these resolutions.”

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

In Cross River: 

Kidnappers 

want N70m 

for 

pharmacist's 

son 

By Emma Una 

CALABAR—A 70 

million Naira ransom 

has been placed on 

Pharmacist Uzodinma 

Nwagu, the son of Francis 

Nwagu, owner of a 

popular pharmacy shop in 

Calabar, the Cross River 

State capital. 

He was reportedly 

kidnapped Monday night, 

when he went to collect the 

day’s sales from his father’s 

pharmacy, Karmel 

Pharmacy, located along 

Goldie Street, Calabar. 

According to one of the 

staff at the pharmacy, 

Uzodinma had gone to the 

place at 7.30p.m., with the 

hope of collecting the day’s 

proceeds when the 

hoodlums, who trailed him, 

swooped on him as he 

stepped out of his car and 

bundled him into their 

vehicle before speeding off. 

The source said: “He 

usually comes here every 

day at about 8.30p.m. to 

collect the days sales. But 

following the current 

security situation in 

Calabar, he decided to be 

coming here at 7.30p.m. 

and by 8p.m. we will hand 

him the money and shut 

down. But yesterday 

(Monday) as he came out 

of his car, some people 

forced him into their car and 

drove off.” 

She said those who took 

him away later called his 

father at about midnight to 

announce that he was with 

them and that they will only 

release him after he gives 

them 70 million naira. 

Ms Irene Ugbo, 

spokesman of Cross River 

Police Command, confirmed 

the incident, adding 

that policemen were on the 

hoodlums’ trail. 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

Police arrest 9 over Indian Hemp festival in Kwara 

By Demola Akinyemi 

ILORIN—KWARA State 

Police Command arrested 

nine persons for organising 

Indian hemp (Igbo)festival in 

Ilorin over the weekend. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

suspects, whose names could 

not be ascertained at the press 

time, were of secondary school 

age. 

It was also gathered that the 

suspects had circulated posters 

informing intending members 

about the event and rebuffed 

calls by prominent citizens and 

organisations to call it off. 

Sources at the Adewole 

Divisional Police Station, 

Ilorin, told journalists 

yesterday that the culprits 

were rounded up in Aiyetoro 

and Asa-Dam area of Ilorin. 

Sources added that the 

suspects will soon be charged 

to court as the Police complete 

investigations on their 

involvement in the act. 

Contacted, the state Police 

Public Relations Officer, 

Assistant Superintendent of 

Police Ajayi Okasanmi, 

confirmed the incident. 

Okasanmi said: “I just 

received the report and I 

•Nothing like that happened—Church 

Man who sold 2 boys for N1.3m bags 11 years imprisonment 

By Festus Ahon 

ASABA—A 

chief 

magistrate court sitting in 

Asaba, Delta State, yesterday, 

sentenced one Onyemachi Alor 

to 11 years imprisonment 

without an option of fine for 

conspiracy and child stealing. 

Alor was convicted on a twocount 

charge of conspiracy to 

commit child stealing and child 

stealing, offences punishable 

under Sections 516 and 371 of 

the Criminal Code Law Cap 

C21, Vol.1 Laws of Delta State, 

2006. 

Prosecution witnesses told the 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

WARRI—POLICE in Delta 

State, yesterday, 

confirmed the death of three 

persons in mysterious 

circumstances, weekend, at 

Christ Mercyland Deliverance 

Ministries, Effurun, Uvwie 

Local Government Area, Delta 

State. 

However, the Church’s 

spokesperson, Godday Emiko, 

denied the Police story, saying 

“there is nothing like that.” 

Meanwhile, the Police Public 

Relations Officer, Delta State 

Command, DSP Andrew 

Aniamaka, confirmed that 

court that on May 21, 2014 the 

accused stole two young boys, 

aged five and seven, while 

they were playing in their 

housing estate, while 

pretending that he was taking 

them to have their hair cut. 

Sales 

“Rather than taking the boys, 

who usually referred to him as 

‘uncle’ to the salon, he took 

them to Abia State, where he 

sold them for N700,000 and 

N400,000, respectively, to a 

woman, who kept them locked 

up in a room,” the witness 

added. 

“three people actually died. 

We heard one was through 

drowning. The other two also 

died in the church. 

Investigations are ongoing.” 

The dead, Vanguard 

learned, include 10-year-old 

Emmanuel Odili, who was 

found dead, Saturday, in a 

canal dug around the church 

after being declared missing 

on Friday, when he reportedly 

visited the popular miracle 

church to see his mother, who 

was there for deliverance 

prayers. 

Two others, Mrs. Beatrice 

According to the witnesses, 

the accused person and his 

accomplice (the woman) were 

later arrested and handcuffed 

by two police officers, who 

disguised as potential buyers 

and recovered the boys. 

He disclosed that the 

culprits were afterwards taken 

from Abia State to Delta State 

Police Command where they 

were charged to court. 

Justice 

Sentencing the accused, 

the Presiding Chief 

Magistrate, Okonkwo 

Okanume, held that the 

Nwachukwu from Imo State 

and Mr. Antonio Abba, Kano 

State, reportedly died during 

the deliverance session same 

Saturday. Emmanuel’s body 

has been deposited in a 

morgue. 

It was further gathered that 

there was argument on the 

health status of Emmanuel, 

while the case was being filed 

at the Ebremede Police 

Station, as the church claimed 

he was mentally ill. 

His family said he arrived 

the church sane and healthy, 

until his sudden 

positive, direct and 

equivocal confessional 

statement of the accused 

coupled with evidence of 

witnesses established his 

guilt enough to sustain a 

conviction. 

Okanume sentenced the 

accused person to five and six 

years imprisonment without 

option of fine in counts one 

and two, respectively. 

He lamented that child 

stealing was very prevalent in 

the society, adding that those 

caught in the act should be 

punished to serve as a 

deterrent to others. 

cannot confirm the number of 

those that were arrested. 

“The incident happened 

within the jurisdiction of the “D’ 

Division under Adewole 

Divisional Police Station, 

Ilorin.” 

Okasanmi, however, reiterated 

that the Command will continue 

to ensure crime prevention to 

make the residents live in peace 

and harmony. 

NIGERIA UNION OF TEACHERS: Teachers rally, saying no to local government autonomy with primary 

education funds in Abuja, yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

Boy drowns, 2 others die in Effurun 

miracle church during prayers—Police 

disappearance after stepping 

into the church to visit his 

mother, who was there for 

prayers. 

A Police source added: “While 

the matter of the boy was still 

being sorted out, people ran 

down to the station to report the 

sudden collapse and death of 

Mrs Nwachukwu. Later, some 

others came again to report the 

death of another man from 

Kano, Antonio. 

“The two died at intervals, 

Saturday, during the prayer 

session. They were trying to link 

Mrs Nwachukwu’s death to 

high blood pressure, but her 

husband claimed nothing was 

wrong with his wife before they 

got to the Church.” 

Efforts to reach the Founder 

and General Overseer of the 

Christ Mercyland Deliverance 

Ministries, Prophet Jeremiah 

Omoto-Fufeyin, for comment 

were unsuccessful as his mobile 

phone number could not be 

reached. 

7 die, 12 injured in 

By Dennis Agbo 

ENUGU—NO fewer than 

seven persons were 

confirmed dead in multiple 

accidents that occurred along 

Enugu-Makurdi Expressway by



Pirates kill mother, son in Delta 

By Perez Brisibe 

A YAKOROMO— 

SUSPECTED pirates, 

Monday night, shot dead a 

woman and her son at a fishing 

camp along Ekologbene creek of 

Ayakoromo community, Burutu 

Local Government Area of Delta 

State. 

The remains of the victims 

identified as Mrs. Anetorofa 

Morkor and her son, Doutimi 

Asaba, were brought to the 

community in a speed boat. 

Sources at the community told 

Vanguard that the hoodlums 

invaded the camp in an attempt 

to rob the fishermen and 

women, but ended up killing the 

victims following brawl with one 

of them. 

Giving details of the incident, 

one of those fishing at the camp 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

THE body of a 33-year-old 

commercial motorcyclist, 

Ajeniyi Victor, killed Monday 

evening by flood that followed 

a two-hour downpour in Ado- 

Ekiti, was found along Elemi’s 

River bank in the town, 

yesterday. 

Eyewitnesses told journalists 

that the deceased was swept 

away by flood along with his 

motorbike, while trying to cross 

a bridge built on Elemi River 

at Ayemi, along Iworoko Road 

in Ekiti, the state’s capital. 

The source said the 

Okadaman, who was 

conveying two passengers, 

reportedly got to a flooded 

point at the bridge after the 

heavy rainfall and decided to 

cross. 

Enugu multiple auto crashes 

Egede in Udi Local Government 

Area of Enugu State. 

Enugu State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, 

who made the confirmation, also 

said that 12 persons sustained 

various degrees of injuries. 

stated that the hoodlums 

sneaked into the camp and 

pointed a gun on her head, 

while barking on her to give 

them her cash and other items. 

She said: “While I was being 

frisked, others went to an 

adjourning house where the 

victims were sleeping. Angered 

by the way his mother was being 

manhandled, the son engaged 

the hoodlums in a brawl, which 

resulted to both of them being 

shot.” 

On how the remains of the 

victims were discovered, an 

indigene of the community, 

Lokiri Preye, said: “When the 

news filtered into the community 

that hoodlums were attacking a 

fishing camp, the community 

mobilised to the camp only to 

discover the remains of both 

victims.” 

He ignored the entreaties 

and admonitions by motorists 

and other commercial 

motorcyclists, who had earlier 

failed in their attempt to cross 

the channel. 

An eyewitness said: “But 

while trying to cross, he lost 

control at the Elemi channel 

close to the Ayewa area of 

Adebayo. He had two 

passengers, but the passengers 

chose not to go with him. 

The accident, which occurred at 

about 8a.m., Monday morning, 

involved a Mercedes Benz truck 

with number plates AA 365 ARD, 

a MAN truck with number plates 

XA 828 PKN and a Toyota bus with 

number plates YD 282. 

The victims; every time. 

Efforts to speak with the 

state's Police Public Relations 

“When he lost control and 

his bike was being swept 

away, he tried to rescue the 

bike. It was in the process that 

he fell and the onlookers were 

helpless; they watched from 

afar as he was overwhelmed 

by the flood.” 

The Public Relations 

Officer of the Ekiti State 

Police Command, Mr. 

Alberto Adeyemi, who 

confirmed the incident, 

Amaraizu said that full scale 

investigation has commenced 

on the cause of the accident, 

while the injured persons were 

taken to a nearby hospital. 

“The deceased have been 

deposited at the mortuary of the 

Eastern Nigeria Medical 

Centre,” Amaraizu added. 

Officer, DSP Andrew 

Aniamaka, were fruitless. 

How flood swept off Okadaman while trying to 

rescue his bike in Ekiti 

By Abdulwahab 

Abdulah & Jane 

Echewodo 

FOUR middle-aged men, 

Adeyemi Oluwaseun, 

Suleiman Yusuf Obhakume, 

•It was avoidable—Police 

Yusuf Imran Adekunle and 

Hakuna Issah have been 

remanded in Ikoyi Prisons’ 

custody after they were 

charged for stealing 

$500,000 belonging to First 

Marina Trust Limited. 

disclosed that the Police 

joined in searching for the 

deceased’s corpse. 

He said: “It was an 

unfortunate incident 

because it could have been 

averted if he had taken 

precaution. 

“We have been able to 

identify him and his body 

taken to the morgue at Ekiti 

State University Teaching 

Hospital in Ado-Ekiti.” 

Court remands four over $500,000 theft 

NIGERIA UNION OF TEACHERS: Edo State Wing protesting, calling on the 

Federal Government not to leave the funding and management of primary education in the 

hand of local government council. PHOTO: Barnabas Uzosike. 

The accused persons, who 

were arraigned before 

Justice Josephine Oyefeso, 

pleaded not guilty to a twocount 

charge bordering on 

conspiracy to steal pressed 

against them. 

The prosecution counsel, 

Zainab Ettu, told the court 

that the defendants 

committed the offence on 

September 16, 2016. 

Ettu also informed the 

court that the offence is 

contrary to Sections 409 and 

285(1) of the Criminal Law 

of Lagos State, 2011. 

Counsel to the third and 

fourth defendants, Mr. 

Abass E., had pleaded to the 

court that the defendants 

should be remanded in Ikoyi 

Prisons, while asking for 

short adjournment to argue 

their bail applications. 

Counsel to first defendant, 

Mr. O. Awonuga, also 

applied for short 

adjournment to file a written 

address to argue the bail 

application. 

Justice Oyefeso, in a short 

ruling ordered that the 

defendants be remanded in 

Ikoyi Prisons pending the 

hearing and adjourned the 

matter till July 11 for hearing 

of all the pending 

applications. 

‘My husband 

has 3 secret 

wives, 

children’ 

Ahousewife, Adedoyin 

Babatunde, yesterday, 

told an Ikole-Ekiti 

customary court that her 

love for her husband 

ceased when she 

discovered he had three 

other wives and children. 

The 35-year-old mother 

of three said she did not 

know she would be a fourth 

wife. 

The estranged wife also 

said that she confessed to 

him too that she too had a 

child already. 

The plaintiff said that she 

discovered in 2015 that her 

husband, a commercial 

driver, already had three 

other women, who bore 

him four children. 

Her words: “I was 

carrying my second 

pregnancy in 2015 when I 

discovered that my 

husband already had four 

children from three other 

women. My love for him 

vanished immediately. 

“But because I did not 

want to start bearing 

children for different 

fathers, I endured his 

beatings, public assault and 

lack of care, hoping that he 

would change. 

“Since my husband had 

failed to change from his 

bad attitude in spite of 

several interventions by 

family members, I want the 

court to separate us.” 

The estranged wife 

claimed free dissolution of 

her seven-year-old 

association in addition to 

custody of her three 

children. 

She, however, said that 

her husband should be 

responsible for the care of 

the children and should be 

restrained from further 

disturbing her in her 

house. 

The plaintiff said her 

claim to free dissolution was 

on the ground that no 

dowry was paid on her. 

However, the respondent 

denied the accusations, 

adding that she could quit 

the union if she so wanted. 

He, however, prayed for 

the custody of his children. 

The President of the 

three-man panel, Mrs 

Yemisi Ojo, warned both 

parties to consider the 

matter seriously. 

She said that this was 

because if the case was 

struck out a second time, 

the court might not 

entertain the petition again. 

A similar suit instituted by 

the plaintiff suffered a 

setback due to lack of 

diligent prosecution. 

Ojo adjourned the case 

till July 10.

8—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 


Osinbajo, eminent Nigerians canvass new 

policing system at Arase’s book launch 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

ABUJA— ACTING 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, yesterday, 

agreed with many eminent 

Nigerians that it was time 

to change the country’s 

policing system. 

Osinbajo, who was 

special guest of honour at 

the launch of a book written 

by former Inspector 

General of Police, IGP, Dr. 

Solomon Arase, at the 

Congress Hall of Transcorp 

Hilton Hotel, Abuja, agreed 

with the chairman of the 

occasion and former 

governor of Cross River 

State, Mr Donald Duke, 

that Nigeria will not move 

forward with the present 

system. 

But, while Duke and other 

personalities at the event 

canvassed the establishment 

of state police, Osinbajo said 

the government was looking 

at community policing. 

“There’s no way we can 

move on with the way we are 

policing now. We are looking 

very carefully at the issue of 

community policing, and 

very soon, we will come out 

with a policy on that,” said 


represented by the Senior 

Special Adviser to the 

President on Political Affairs, 

Mr Babafemi Ojudu. 

On his part, Duke said: 

“The decentralization of 

policing and presence is the 

greatest deterrent to crime 

and allows for better 

monitoring and intelligence 

gathering. 

“Policing is local and local 

knowledge is absolute. A 

fellow from Sokoto posted to 

a command in Ekiti could 

require at least 6-12 months 

to understand his 

environment and then off he 

goes again on another 

posting.” 

Duke disagreed with 

Arase, who has reservations 

about state Police in his book 

entitled: “Law on Prevention 

and Detection of Crimes by 

the Police in Nigeria.” 

He said: “I must say, 

however, that I disagree with 

the author’s position that 

state policing, though 

theoretically ideal, will be 

abused and that states, 

indeed, are too financially 

handicapped from 

embarking on this. 

“I posit instead that we 

must always strive for the 

ideal without losing sight of 

reality; this reality being that 

we are severely 

underpoliced." 

On his part, Governor 

Godwin Obaseki of Edo 

State said: “We must think 

of how to break down 

policing. We need state 

police. You can’t do it all from 

Abuja. It’s an issue we can’t 

delay further.” 

Former Interior Minister, 

Gen. Godwin Abbe (retd), 

said: “For any government 

to succeed, you need an 

efficient police. It’s the key 

element. We cannot afford to 

continue to manage the 

police the way we manage 

it now.” 

Five former Inspectors 

General of Police were at the 

book launch. Arase had 

served four of them as 

Personal Staff Officer. 

They are Mr Aliyu Atta, Mr 

Tafa Balogun, Mr Sunday 

Ehindero, Mr Mike Okiro, 

and Mr Ogbonna Onovo. 

Balogun, who spoke for 

them, expressed admiration 

for the language of delivery 

and quality of mind of the 

author, which he described 

as excellent. 

Arase also got 

commendations from Oba 

Ewuare II of Benin, Oba 

Akiolu of Lagos, and the 

Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Police 

Affairs, Sen. Abu Ibrahim. 

In his speech, Arase 

called for a knowledgedriven 

policing system, as 

he announced that 

proceeds of the book would 

go towards extending 

scholarship opportunities to 

children of policemen that 

have demonstrated 

commendable urge for 

intellectualism in line with 

the underlying motivation 

of the publication. 

BOOK LAUNCH: From left, former Head of State, General Yakubu 

Gowon (retd); chief launcher, Hassan Aminu Dantata; Col. Abubakar 

Maimalari and author of the book, Hassan Yahaya Puloma, displaying the 

book on life and time of late Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari during the 

launching in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

Comments on 2017 budget: Reps 

summon Fashola 

•Set up 14-man c'ttee to probe him 

•Observe one minute silence for late Maitama Sule 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

ABUJA — THE House 

of Representatives, 

yesterday, summoned 

Minister of Power, Works 

and Housing, Mr. 

Babatunde Fashola, to 

answer to the allegations 

that it messed up with his 

ministry’s 2017 budget and 

slashed appropriations for 

critical infrastructure 

projects. 

Consequently, the 

Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, 

set up a 14-man committee 

headed by Aliyu Madaki 

from Kano State to handle 

the investigation. 

It will be recalled that 

there had been running 

verbal war between the 

minister and the National 

Assembly over the budget, 

which had been assented 

to by Acting President, Prof. 

Yemi Osinbajo. 

Coming under matters of 

urgent public importance at 

plenary, Ibrahim Sadiq 

from Adamawa State 

recalled that in the passing 

weeks, the media had been 

awashed with unsavory 

comments by Fashola 

against the legislators. 

He regretted that the 

minister abandoned the 

official channels of 

communication and took to 

the street to square up 

against them. 

He said: “The Minister of 

Works has been talking 

about the issues that have 

been rested. The minister 

is not a spokesperson of the 

judiciary, therefore, he has 

no powers to speak on an 

already assented budget. 

“The minister has 

abandoned official 

channels of communication 

to the legislature. This 

budget has been signed by 

the Acting President and it 

has become a law. I pray 

that this House will 

summon the Honorable 

Minister to appear before 

a committee of this House 

and answer for the bridge 

and inciting Nigerians.” 

Also speaking, the Chief 

Whip of the House, Ado 

Doguwa, said the integrity 

of the legislative institution 

had been greatly injured by 

the minister. 

According to him, 

Fashola has by his action, 

incited the people against 

the federal lawmakers who 

had dutifully executed their 

constitutional mandate on 

their budget. 

He, therefore, called for 

sanctions against the 

minister. 

Meanwhile, the House 

earlier noted the death of 

formal Minister of Mines 

and Power, Alhaji Maitama 

Sule, and observed one 

minute silence in his 

honour. 

On another plank, the 

House was urged to fashion 

out measures to de-congest 

Nigerian prisons. 

The advocacy was made 

by the Majority Leader of 

the House, Femi 

Gbajagbiamila, on Matters 

of Personal Explanation. 

Speaking to journalists, 

Aliyu Madaki (APC Kano 

State) said Alhaji Sule 

would be greatly missed by 

Nigerians for the unifying 

roles he played. 

He also supported the 

call for a new set of 

measures to de-congest the 

prisons. 

One of the ways the 

lawmaker suggested, was 

to subject inmates to 

community service where 

they would be made to 

sweep the streets and desilt 

drainages. 

Reps order Perm Sec to 

refund N3.935m to govt 

coffers within 48 hrs 

By Emman 

Ovuakporie 

ABUJA — HOUSE of 

Representatives 

Committee on Public 

Account, yesterday, gave 

the Permanent Secretary in 

the Ministry of 

Transportation, Mr. Sabiu 

Zakari, 48 hours to pay 

N3.935 million into 

government coffers or face 

the wrath of Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC. 

This development was 

sequel to deliberation on a 

query raised by the office 

of the Auditor-General of 

the Federation asking for 

explanation on identified 

extra budgetary spending 

by three agencies under the 

ministry to the tune of 

N1.195 billion in 2015. 

The committee, led by 

Kingsley Chinda (PDP, 

Obio Akpor Fed 

Constituency, Rivers), also 

directed the Permanent 

Secretary to show evidence 

of such payment on the 

next adjourned date, to 

enable final decision to be 

taken on the substantive 

query. 

The current ruling was a 

deviation from a previous 

one, which directed that the 

Permanent Secretary be 

remanded in security 

custody, pending the 

payment of of the said sum. 

But after a passionate 

plea by the Permanent 

Secretary, the committee 

soft-pedaled. 

Committee members had 

grilled the Permanent 

Secretary for close to an 

hour, demanding to know 

why their directive of June 

2016 was not implemented. 

Zaphaniah Jisalo (PDP, 

FCT), had moved that the 

Ministry of Transport 

(Aviation) be made to 

account for N1.195 billion 

said to have been given to 

staff to make supplies in a 

non-contractual 

arrangement. 

The Permanent Secretary, 

Sabiu Zakari, in his 

defence, explained that the 

funds were disbursed to the 

staff to make arrangements 

for Nigeria at 50 

anniversary celebration in 

October 2015. 

Zakari explained further 

that “when certain projects 

come up, there maybe need 

to approve money for the 

agencies, even though the 

money must have been 

provided for in the budget. 

“The reason is to beat 

time lag and actualise the 

projects based on timelines, 

which was why the said 

amount was approved for 

the agencies to carry out 

their activities in the 

Nigeria at 50 project." 

NNPC saves $2bn, N40bn from 

upstream contracts, DSDP 

By Michael Eboh 

A BUJA—THE 

Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, 

NNPC, yesterday, said it 

saved $2 billion over the 

last one year from 

discounts secured from 

the renegotiation of 

upstream contracts 

executed by its various 

service providers. 

The NNPC also stated 

that its recently 

introduced Direct Supply 

Direct Purchase, DSDP, 

scheme had saved the 

country about N40 billion 

in 2017. 

Group Managing 

Director of the NNPC, Mr. 

Maikanti Baru, stated this 

in a podcast to the 

corporation’s staff to mark 

the first anniversary of his 

appointment into office. 

Baru disclosed that the 

NNPC had lowered 

operating costs of 

production from $27 per 

barrel to $22 per barrel, 

adding that for the 

upstream, cost reduction 

and efficiency are key 

features that it had paid 

attention to. 

He also said the NNPC 

was bent on attaining a 

six-month contracting 

cycle, while he urged the 

staff to identify focal 

points for efficiency in 

each of the Corporation’s 

Autonomous Business 

Units, ABUs, and 

Corporate Services Units, 

CSUs, to ensure the 

realisation of the key 

performance indicators 

enshrined in the 2017 

budget. 

GENCOS rejecting 

gas supply 

Baru, however, lamented 

that despite its efforts at 

growing domestic gas 

supply over the last few 

months, to boost electricity, 

power generating 

companies are rejecting gas 

due to the inability of the 

Transmission Company of 

Nigeria, TCN, to wheel-out 

the power generated. 

According to him, during 

the period, domestic gas 

supply had increased from 

an average of 700 million 

standard cubic feet per day 

(mmscfd) in July 2016 to an 

average of 1.22 billion scfd 

currently, with about 75 per 

cent of the volume supplied 

to thermal power plants.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017—9 


No regret retiring politically-exposed 

military officers — Obasanjo 

the truth. 

•Says his action was to prevent coup 

•Osinbajo blames removal of History subject on faulty leadership 

•Military not trained to take over power — Gowon 

By Joseph Erunke, 

Dirisu Yakubu & 

Blessing Aina 

ABUJA— FORMER 

President,Chief 

Olusegun Obasanjo, 

yesterday, explained that he 

fired military officers 

exposed to politics when he 

held sway as President in 

order to prevent coup in the 

country. 

Therefore, the ex- 

President said he had no 

apology to offer to anyone 

for his action, saying it was 

in the nation’s interest. 

This came as former 

Military Head of State, 

General Yakubu Gowon, 

said the military was not 

trained to take over 

constitutional power, 

describing the incursion of 

the military into power 

through the January 

15,1966 coup as the greatest 

tragedy of the country. 

Also, Acting President, 

Prof.Yemi Osinbajo, blamed 

the removal of History 

subject from the nation’s 

school curriculum on faulty 

leadership, saying the 

development impacted 

negatively on students as it 

denied them the 

opportunity to know their 

past, present and future. 

The trio spoke in Abuja at 

a public presentation of a 

book written in honour of 

the country’s first Nigerian 

Army Regular Combatant, 

late Brigadier Zakariya 

Maimalari. 

Serving and retired 

military officers as well as 

eminent Nigerians 

gathered at the launch of the 

book, The First Regular 

Combatant, Brigadier 

Zakariya Maimalari, the 

Borno-born former military 

instructor killed in the 

January 15, 1966 coup, led 

by Major Chukwuma 

Kaduna Nzeogu. 

Obasanjo, after special 

recognition to the son, Lt. 

Colonel Mai Maimalari 

(retd), who is former military 

administrator of Jigawa 

State, insisted that the 

decision to retire politicallyexposed 

military officers was 

largely informed by the need 

to prevent a recurrence of the 

incident that led to the death 

of Brigadier Maimalari and 

others. 

He said: “I have no 

apology but I have an 

explanation. It is because it’s 

necessary to stop the sort of 

things that took the life of 

your father prematurely, so I 

had to take this decision. All 

those that had tasted power 

as soldiers should never 

have done so. 

"We eased them out so that 

we can have an army that 

will be completely free from 

political aberration. And 

since 1999, I think we seem 

to have got it right. Let us 

hope that we will continue 

to get it right and learn the 

right lessons that Nigeria has 

had enough bloodshed. 

"Nigeria has had enough 

sacrifices that those victims 

and Nigeria deserve peace, 

unity and progress and may 

the sacrifices of the likes of 

Brigadier Zakariya 

Maimalari be sufficient to 

give this country peace 

development, unity and 

progress,” he said. 

Osinbajo blames 

removal of History 

subject on faulty 

leadership 

In his speech , Acting 

President,Prof.Yemi 

Osinbajo, while paying 

glowing tribute to the fallen 

hero, said the late Maimalari 

was a rare product the 

country had ever produced. 

He said: “Brigadier 

Maimalari’s significance 

extends beyond the manner 

of his death, for he was a 

professional of great worth 

and integrity; attributes 

uncommon in these days. 

“It is these qualities that 

ensured he stood head and 

shoulder above his time. 

Brigadier Maimalari is an 

icon and a national hero, who 

deserves to be widely and 

more commonly 

acknowledged.” 

Regretting that Maimalari 

was killed at just 34 years of 

age, the Acting President 

said: “Yet, considering the 

place in history he had forged 

for himself, he seems to be 

living for eternity. Every few 

years, the subject of 

Maimalari and his times 

come to the fore of public 

discourse in Nigeria and 

beyond." 


represented by Minister of 

Water Resources, Alhaji 

Suleiman Adamu, spoke 

further: “History as a subject 

in our schools has become 

fairly infamous, with 

students often feeling that 

the subject has no practical 

value. 

“Yet, without a grounding 

in history, how do we know 

who we are? Where we come 

from? and more importantly, 

as people, where we are 

going to? 

“We have been concerned, 

as a government, with the 

decline in the creation and 

study of history and this has 

seen us recover History from 

the place where it has been 

ignored for far too long and 

placed it back firmly in the 

school curriculum. 

“Often, the Nigerian 

landscape has been 

disfigured by appalling 

examples of poor leadership 

and bad governance. 

"So dominant has been that 

our youths can be misled into 

feeling that there is no total 

absence of idealism and 

heroism in our society. Yet, 

nothing can be further from 

NABBED: 

Ogun State 

Commissioner 

of Police, 

Ahmed 

Iliyasu, 

parading 

some 

suspected 

Badoo 

cultists at 

the state 

police 

command 

headquarters, 

Eleweran, 

Abeokuta, 

yesterday. 

Photo: Daud 

Olatunji. 

Military not trained to 

take over power 

— Gowon 

Chairman of the occasion 

and former Military Head of 

State, General Yakubu 

Gowon (retd), described the 

late Brigadier Zakariya 

Maimalari as a loyal, 

patriotic, efficient and 

inspirational officer, who put 

his best in the service of the 

nation. 

Speaking on the coup that 

saw the death of Maimalari, 

Gowon said: “For some and 

many of us, the greatest 

tragedy of that gruesome 

night was not only that it took 

the lives of so many political 

military leadership, innocent 

Nigerians including that of 

Brigadier Maimalari. But it 

also took the lives of 

unambitious political and 

apolitical military officers. 

“We are not supposed to 

stage coups and take over 

government, that is not 

hitherto our training.” 

Why we intervened in 

Etisalat saga — NCC 

•Ex-Celtel DMD is new CEO of 

Etisalat Nigeria 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke, with 

agency reports 

ABUJA—THE Nigerian 

Communications 

Commission, NCC, said 

yesterday, that its intervention 

in the ongoing N541.8 billion 

Etisalat debt saga was 

informed by the desire to 

sustain the industry’s 

significant contribution to 

national GDP, employment 

creation and infrastructure 

roll-out. 

This came on a day 

indications emerged that 

Deputy Managing Director 

of Celtel Nigeria (now Airtel 

Nigeria), Boye Olusanya, 

will be the Chief Executive 

Officer of Etisalat Nigeria 

during the transition period, 

as Matthew Willsher stepped 

down as CEO on Monday, 

along with the Chief 

Financial Officer, Olawole 

Obasunloye. 

Similarly, Matthew 

Willsher, it was learned, will 

stay on as special adviser to 

the new CEO, Olusanya, as 

part of the “seamless 

transition” arrangement 

brokered by the NCC and the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, to keep the mobile 

network on the path to 

management stability. 

The NCC in a statement 

signed by Director, Public 

Affairs, Tony Ojobo, noted that 

Etisalat and its creditors have 

successfully reached an 

amicable resolution of key 

issues pertaining to its 

indebtedness, and that a 

smooth transitional process 

was currently ongoing on 

mutually agreed terms. 

It said: “NCC is mindful of 

APC sues INEC, moves to stop 

Melaye’s recall 

•You’re wasting your time, Senate tells INEC 

By Henry Umoru & 

Ikechukwu Nnochiri 

ABUJA—KOGI State 

Chapter of the All 

Progressive Congress, APC, 

yesterday, approached the 

Federal High Court in 

Abuja, asking it to stop the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, from activating 

process for the recall of 

Senator Dino Melaye. 

Aside APC, other plaintiffs 

behind the suit marked FHC/ 

ABJ/CS/601/2017, are Alhaji 

Haddy Ametuo, Hon. Shaibu 

Osune, S.T Adejo, Comrade 

Yahaya Ade Ismail, Chief 

Gbenga Ashagun, Ahovi S. 

Ibrahim, Ghali ND Usman, 

Isa Abubakar, I. Molemodile, 

Abubakr M. Adamu and 

Daniel Sekpe. 

INEC had announced that 

it would kick-start the recall 

process on July 10, having 

earlier received petition and 

signatures were collated by 

Melaye’s constituents. 

Melaye had in a bid to save 

his seat equally lodged a suit 

before the court, contending 

that the petition presented to 

INEC for his recall was 

illegal, unlawful, wrongful, 

unconstitutional, invalid, null 

and void and of no effect in 

law. 

Similarly, in the instant suit, 

the plaintiffs, through their 

counsel, Mr. Solomon T. 

Ologunorisa, SAN, want the 

court to also declare that the 

petition presented to INEC 

Chairman for Melaye to be 

recalled, is illegal, unlawful, 

wrongful and of no effect 

whatsoever. 

No date has been fixed for 

hearing of the suit which is 

yet to be assigned to any 

judge. 

the need to sustain the 

industry’s significant 

contribution to national GDP, 

employment and 

infrastructure roll-out at all 

times. 

“The commission is 

confident that the amicable 

resolutions reached by the 

parties will further 

strengthen Etisalat’s capacity 

to continue to provide 

services to its over 20 million 

customers and to fulfil its 

obligations to its other 

stakeholders as a going 

concern, regardless of any 

changes that the parties have 

agreed to Etisalat’s 

ownership, its board and/or 

its executive management. 

“We further wish to assure 

that as empowered by the 

Nigerian Communications 

Act 2003, the commission will 

continue to work assiduously 

with all industry stakeholders 

to ensure that the Nigerian 

telecommunications industry 

remains capable of playing 

its critical role as a key driver 

of national socio-economic 

development." 

Ex-Celtel DMD is new 

CEO of Etisalat Nigeria 

Meanwhile, indications 

emerged yesterday that 

Boye Olusanya, former 

Deputy Managing Director 

of Celtel Nigeria (now Airtel 

Nigeria), will be the chief 

executive officer of Etisalat 

Nigeria during the transition 

period. 

A Deputy Governor of 

CBN, Joseph Nnana, will be 

the chairman of the board, 

taking over from Keem Belo- 

Osagie, who resigned as part 

of the agreement reached for 

a seamless transition. 

You’re wasting your 

time, Senate tells 

INEC 

Meanwhile, Senate, 

yesterday, described the 

recall moves of Melaye as 

an exercise in futility that 

would become a waste of 

time and resources of the 

state. 

According to the Senate, 

INEC is aware of relevant 

sections of the constitution that 

the cumbersome process of 

recall must follow. 

It also noted that the 

various stages passed so far 

in the move, as facilitated by 

the electoral umpire, were not 

in line with laid down 

constitutional procedures 

and guidelines. 

Resolutions of the Senate 

were sequel to a point of 

order raised against the recall 

move by Senator Dino 

Melaye himself.


THE BURIAL OF ALHAJI YUSUF MAITAMA SULE IN KANO 

A cross section of Emirs at the event. 

LEFT: From left—Chief of Staff to the President, 

Abba Kyari; Governor Umar Ganduje of Kano State; 

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki; Minister of 

State for Transport (Aviation), Hadi Sirika; Minister 

of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali; Governor Kassim 

Shettima of Borno State; Governor Abubakar 

Badaru of Jigawa State; Governor Aminu Tambuwal 

of Sokoto State, and other government officials 

waiting to receive the remains of late elder 

statesman, the Dan Masamin Kano, Alhaji Yusuf 

Maitama Sule, at the Air Force Base, Kano, 

yesterday. 

Crowd 

Some dignitaries 


Our grouse with Igbo— Ango Abdullahi 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke 

A BUJA—CHAIRMAN, 

Northern Elders 

Forum, NEF, Professor 

Ango Abdullahi, yesterday, 

gave reason why the 

Forum supported the quit 

notice handed down to Igbo 

resident in the North. 

This came as he said NEF 

would work with the Oil 

and Solid Mineral 

Producing Communities 

Landlord Association of 

Nigeria, OMPALAN, to 

build bridges across the 

country and strengthen 

corporate governance. 

Professor Abdullahi 

spoke during a meeting 

with OMPALAN’s 

leadership led by the 

Chairman of the board of 

Trustees, Bishop Udo 

Azogu, in Zaria. 

The meeting, convened 

by OMPALAN, was aimed 

at dousing the rising 

tension in the country and 

to foster a cordial 

relationship among ethnic 

nationalities and pursue 

good corporate governance 

in the country. 

Professor Abdullahi, who 

was a former Vice 

Chancellor of Amadu Bello 

University, Zaria, while 

welcoming the OMPALAN 

proposal on peace, said his 

decision to support the 

Arewa youths on the quit 

notice issued to Igbo in the 

North, was borne out of 

perceived betrayal of the 

South Easterners and 

particularly their political 

leaders, for allegedly 

failing to caution Nnamdi 

Kanu, and other Biafra 

agitators, but instead gave 

them full support in their 

struggle. 

According to him, ‘‘I am 

particularly worried that 

notable political leaders in 

the South-East like Dr. Elex 

Ekwueme, Emeka 

Anyaoku, Jim Nwobodo 

and Mbazulike Amaechi, 

among others failed to 

speak out when the ovation 

was highest, but kept mute 

while the new Biafra 

agitation spread like 

wildfire and raged on. 

“I was baffled when 

people started condemning 

me for coming out to 

support the Arewa Youths, 

unlike other leaders who 

pretended about it. The 

Northern and Eastern 

Nigeria have come a long 

way in terms of building 

political bridges, starting 

from the First Republic, 

when Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe 

conceded the position of 

Prime Minister to Tafawa 

Balewa. 

“In Second Republic, Dr. 

Alex Ekwueme was 

supported by the North to 

become Vice President to 

Shehu Shagari. This is the 

kind of relationship the 

North have always wanted 

to resuscitate despite the 

setbacks it suffered from the 

three years civil war. 

“We felt that Zik made the 

first political sacrifice in this 

country by conceding the 

position of Prime Minister 

to Tafawa Balewa. He 

fought for independence, 

floated the Pilot Newspaper 

to fight the British and was 

well experienced and 

qualified to be the Prime 

Minister. But he sacrificed 

for a united Nigeria. 

“We thought the North 

and South-East will sustain 

that relationship, but that 

did not happen. We had 

expected the political 

leadership in the South- 

East to come out to 

denounce this secessionist 

movement, but that did not 

happen. 

“So we felt the Igbo elders 

were behind the Igbo 

youths. When Kanu was 

released, a convoy of Igbo 

political class accompanied 

him. 

During the Civil War... 

“Part of our grouse 

against the Igbos was their 

failure to appreciate the 

love shown to them by the 

North after the Civil War by 

returning all their 

abandoned properties to 

them in addition to rents 

collected on their behalf by 

various caretakers assigned 

to supervise the affected 

properties. 

“This is a favour they 

(Igbo) could not get from 

their South-South 

neighbours, who 

confiscated their 

abandoned properties in 

Port Harcourt and other 

Southern cities. The Igbo 

should reciprocate the 

gesture of the North by 

supporting them politically 

rather than turning their 

back against them when 

they need them.” 

He cited two instances 

where Igbo allegedly 

showed total rejection of 

the North when President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

chose late Dr. Chuba 

Okadigbo and Edwin 

Umezeoke as running 

mates, but were rejected by 

the Igbo, which led them 

to switch over to South- 

West in 2015. 

He added that “Buhari 

chose late Chuba 

Okadigbo and Umezeoke 

NDLEA nabs 412 drug 

suspects in Katsina 

By Bashir Bello 

KATSINA 

State 

Command of the 

National Drug Law and 

Enforcement Agency, 

NDLEA, yesterday, said 

it had arrested 412 drugs 

suspects and convicted 

34 of the suspects, 

including students, in 

the last six months. 

The Command also 

said the arrest, which was 

between January and 

June, busted notorious 

drug syndicates that are 

based in Karofi, Dustinma 

Local Government 

Community sends SOS 

to Obiano over roads 

E GBEANI-Ezeawulu, 

an agrarian 

community in Nibo town, 

Anambra State, has 

decried the poor state of 

its road networks, 

blaming it for the 

economic and sociopolitical 

backwardness of 

the area. 

Indigenes of the 

community said the 

administration of 

Governor Willie Obiano 

has been unfair to them. 

Speaking to Vanguard 

on behalf of the 

Area of the state among 

others, with drugs 

weighing 206.2241 

kilogramme. 

The NDLEA State 

Commander, Maryam 

Sani, who disclosed this 

during an event to 

commemorate the United 

Nations Day Against Drug 

Abuse and Illicit 

Trafficking, also vowed that 

the days of inglorious trade 

in hard drugs was almost 

over in the state as some 

of its personnel had been 

trained in new strategy 

and technology to arrest 

drug lords. 

community, a youth leader, 

Mr. Onyeka Egbe, said: “It 

is as if this area is not part 

of the governor’s 

constituency given the 

ordeal and untold 

hardship we are exposed 

to on a daily basis due to 

little or no government 

presence. 

“Ours is a privileged 

community, being the 

governor’s neighbour. 

But it is disheartening 

that he does not want to 

know how his neighbours 

are faring.”

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017—11

12 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 


BURIAL: Special Muslim prayer for Late Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule in Kano, yesterday. 

Tears, tributes as elder statesman, 

Maitama Sule, goes home 

By Clifford 

Ndujihe, Victor 

Ahiuma-Young, 

Anayo Okoli, 

AbdulSalam 

Muhammad & 

Boluwaji Obahopo 

THE flood of tears 

and tributes for elder 

statesman and Nigeria’s 

former Permanent 

Representative to the 

United Nations, Alhaji 

Maitama Sule, continued to 

flow, yesterday, as his 

remains were committed to 

mother earth. 

A host of eminent 

Nigerians and leaders 

stormed the ancient city of 

Kano to pay their last 

respects and witness the 

interment of the erudite 

politician, who died in 

Cairo, Egypt, aged 87, on 

Monday. 

Chief of Staff to the 

President, Abba Kyari, and 

Senate President, Bukola 

Saraki, led the Federal 

Government delegation. 

Alhaji Maitama Sule’s 

internment started with 

funeral prayers led by 

Chief Imam of Kano State, 

Professor Sani Zahradeen, 

at the Emir’s Palace at 

6:08pm, with Gov. 

Abdullahi Ganduje, his 

Deputy, Prof. Hafiz 

Abubakar and the Emir of 

Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu 

Sanusi II, in attendance. 

Other dignitaries include 

Minister of Interior, Lt- 

Gen. Abdurrahman 

Danbazau (retd) and the 

Minister of Mines and 

Steel Development, Dr 

Kayode Fayemi. 

There were also Minister 

of Water Resources, 

Sulaiman Adamu; Minister 

of Defence, Brig-Gen. 

Mansur Dan’ali (retired); 

Accountant-General of the 

Federation, Alhaji Ahmed 

Idris; governors of Jigawa, 

Bauchi, Sokoto and Borno 

states among others. 

Members of the Northern 

Elders Forum, NEF, such 

as Professor Ango 

Abdullahi, Galadiman 

Katsina and District Head 

of Malumfashi, Justice 

Mamman Nasir and 

business moguls, Alhaji 

Aliko Dangote, Alhaji 

Dahiru Mangal and Alhaji 

Samaila Funtua, former 

Inspector- General of Police, 

Ibrahim Coomasie, and 

Aviation Minister, Hadi 

Sirika, former Secretary to 

the Federal Government, 

Yayale Ahmed, Nigerian 

former Ambassador to 

China, Aminu Wali, and 

Professor Atahiru Jega, 

among others, also 

witnessed the funeral. 

NLC mourns, 

condoles Kano State 

The Nigerian Labour 

Congress, NLC, in a 

condolence letter by its 

President, Mr. Ayuba 

Wabba, to Governor 

Abdullahi Umar Ganduje 

of Kano State, described 

the frontline nationalist as 

a worker, a politician, a 

diplomat and a national 

icon who opened his doors 

to all Nigerians irrespective 

of their creed. 

“It is with a profound 

sense of loss and yet 

gratitude to God whose will 

in our lives we cannot 

question, that I, on behalf 

of the Nigeria Labour 

Congress, write to condole 

with the Government and 

people of Kano State on the 

death of our elder 

statesman and 

Danmasanin Kano, Alhaji 

Maitama Sule. 

“A man of personable 

character, intense 

knowledge, good humor 

and inimitable oratorial 

skill, Alhaji Maitama Sule 

was a nationalist and one 

of the last symbols of the 

golden era of Nigeria,’’ the 

letter read in part. 

Gov Bello urges FG to 

immortalise him 

Governor Yahaya Bello of 

Kogi State has called on the 

Federal Government to 

immortalise the late 

politician because he was a 

“sterling example of a 

nationalist who was 

committed to the unity and 

progress of Nigeria” and his 

life was a lesson in unity 

and integrity." 

Bello, who stated this 

through his Director 

General, Media and 

Publicity, Kingsley Fanwo, 

said Maitama Sule’s 

demise represents a 

“reflective period for a 

nation whose unity is facing 

challenges”. 

Bello said: “Maitama 

Sule was irrevocably 

dedicated to the service of 

his fatherland from birth to 

death. It is instructive for 

our leaders to learn from the 

life of our great father, a 

great nationalist and 

believer in a greater 

Nigeria. His demise at this 

critical time of our national 

life will be difficult to deal 

with as he represented a 

united, prosperous and 

great Nigeria.’’ 

I have lost a father – Gov 

Bindow 

Governor Muhammadu 

Umar Bindow of Adamawa 

State saw the death of 

Maitama Sule as a 

personal and irreparable 

loss. 

In a statement by his 

Special Assistant (Press 

and Media Affairs), Mr 

Martins Dickson, the 

governor said: “On behalf 

of myself, my family and 

the good people of 

Adamawa State, I wish to 

condole with the family of 

Dan Masanin Kano, the 

government and people of 

Kano, President Buhari 

and Nigeria as a whole. 

“He was a father to me, 

mentor and adviser. His 

counsel and guidance 

have helped shaped my 

vision for governance. He 

was truly a man of honour 

with good and exemplary 

patriotic qualities. I have 

lost a father and a big 

influence in my life.’’ 

He was a stabilising 

influence in Nigeria – 

Ikpeazu 

Abia State Governor, Dr. 

Okezie Ikpeazu, while 

consoling the Government 

and people of Kano State 

over the death of Alhaji 

Maitama Sule, described 

him as a stabilizing 

influence. 

Ikpeazu, in condolence 

message by his Chief Press 

Secretary, Enyinnaya 

Appolos, said: “Alhaji Sule 

was a major stabilizing 

influence in Nigeria. We 

will surely miss him at this 

time but we give God 

thanks for allowing us 

share same space with him 

for 87 years. On behalf of 

myself and the good 

people of Abia State, I pray 

that God will grant the 

bereaved family the 

fortitude to bear the loss.” 

He laid the foundation 

for development of arts 

and culture – Runsewe 

The Director-General of 

National Council for Arts 

and Culture (NCAC), 

Otunba Segun Runsewe, 

has joined other wellmeaning 

Nigerians in 

commiserating with the 

family of Alhaji Yusuf 

Maitama Sule on the death 

of the great Nigerian Icon. 

In a release at Abuja, 

Otunba Runsewe said that 

Maitama Sule will be 

remembered for the many 

contributions he made 

towards the development of 

Nigeria, especially in the 

area of arts and culture. 

He said that as the 

pioneer Chairman of 

NCAC Board in 1975, 

Maitama Sule laid a solid 

foundation for the 

development of the arts and 

culture sector of the nation, 

adding that he was at the 

forefront of the promotion 

of Nigeria’s cultural values. 

We have lost a forthright 

leader – Fayemi 

Minister of Solid 

Minerals Development, Dr 

Kayode Fayemi, in a 

statement by Olayinka 

Oyebode, his Special 

Assistant on Media, said ‘’a 

good man, forthright 

leader, last of the titans is 

gone.’’ 

Fayemi said Ambassador 

Maitama Sule’s death has 

robbed the country of a true 

patriot, nationalist and 

peace maker. 

Describing the late 

Ambassador as a 

distinguished leader, 

political thinker, strategist, 

foremost diplomat, 

courageous politician and 

elder statesman who 

brought a touch of courage 

and candour to whatever he 

did, Dr Fayemi recalled his 

relationship with the late 

leader, whom he also 

described as a man who 

possessed a great depth of 

wisdom and wit and a 

leader with a huge sense 

of history. He added that 

every encounter with the 

late politician revealed his 

good nature, his oratorical 

prowess, as well as his 

passion for the unity and 

greatness of Nigeria.



Casualty figure in C-River communal conflict 

rises 

By Emma Una 

C ALABAR—THE 

casualty figure in the 

recent communal conflict 

between the people of 

Wanikade and Wanihem in 

northern part of Cross River 

State may have risen to 150. 

This came as Mr John 

Inaku, Director General of 

the Cross River State 

Emergency Management 

Agency, SEMA, who 

earlier told NAN that the 

casualty figure was 150, 

said he was yet to visit the 

crisis areas, adding that the 

figure was an exaggeration. 

Mr Inaku who said he 

was yet to personally visit 

the place said from reports 

he got not more than 20 

persons died in the conflict, 

while the 150 casualty 

figure given earlier was 

exaggerated and out of 

context. 

“From the reports I got, 

not more than 20 people 

died and about a 150 

houses razed. The 150 

casualty figure earlier 

given is exaggerated and 

out of context,” Inaku said 

According to Inaku, he 

only went to Oju in Benue 

State, where about 1,000 

people displaced from the 

crisis are taking refuge to 

deliver some relief 

materials for the upkeep 

of the children and the 

aged, while arrangement is 

being made for complete 

cessation of hostilities in 

the affected areas. 

“We have taken relief 

materials to those displaced 

in the conflict who are in 

Oju, Benue State and 

about 1,000 people are in 

the camp we visited,” Inaku 

stated. 

Meanwhile, the Cross 

River State Police 

Command Public Relations 

Edo pry school teachers want 

salaries on FG's first-line charge 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN—EDO State 

chapter of the 

Nigeria Union of Teachers, 

NUT, has joined its 

counterparts nationwide to 

demand that payment of 

primary school teachers’ 

salaries should be on firstline 

charge of the Federal 

Government. 

The position of the 

teachers is coming on the 

Recession: Why Delta can move 

against tide —Otuaro 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—ACTING 

Governor of Delta 

State, Mr. Kingsley 

Otuaro, yesterday said 

that the state was able to 

move against the tide of 

recession through fiscal 

discipline and prudent 

management of resources. 

Speaking when he 

played host to the 

President and members of 

the Association of 

National Accountants of 

Nigeria, ANAN, in his 

office, Otuaro noted that 

militancy and pipeline 

vandalism reared their 

ugly heads at the 

inception of the current 

Officer, Ms Irene Ugbo 

said less than 10 persons 

died and about a 100 

houses razed in the 

communal crisis. 

“What is being published 

in the media as the number 

of people who died in the 

conflict is untrue because 

our men, who have been 

on ground since the conflict 

administration. 

Lamenting that the acts 

crumbled oil production 

and exploration in the 

Niger Delta, particularly 

in Delta State, he said that 

the quick intervention of 

the government and 

relevant stakeholders 

helped in addressing the 

challenges. 

According to Otuaro, 

the state government's 

SMART agenda has 

helped the government to 

set its priorities right 

despite the economic 

downturn, noting that the 

state government has 

recorded success in 

education, health, 

agriculture and physical 

started confirmed that only 

seven people died.” 

She said the conflict had 

been brought under control 

and those internally 

displaced are being put in 

camps. 

One of the victims, 

Ogana Ebiale from Oyoba 

village in Wanikade told 

Vanguard that his farm and 

heels of renewed agitation 

for local government 

autonomy, which the 

teachers insisted will leave 

the payment of the salaries 

of teachers in the hands of 

local government councils 

and pose danger in the 

handling of primary 

education in the country. 

The demand of the 

teachers is contained in a 

statement by the state 

Chairman and acting 

infrastructure, human 

capital development and 

other sectors. 

Earlier in his remarks, 

ANAN President , Alhaji 

Ladan, told the acting 

governor that they were in 

the state for the third 

session of their 

Mandatory Continuing 

Professional 

Development, MCPD. 

Noting that the 

programme was aimed at 

retraining their members 

to be in tune with changes 

in the accountancy 

profession, Ladan said 

ANAN’s mode of training 

was collegiate in nature. 

He urged the state 

government to upgrade 

their members in the 

state's public service who 

are still below Grade level 

10 to Grade Level 10 

house were razed and the 

relief materials sent by the 

state government only went 

to some victims without 

taking into account that two 

sides were involved in the 

crisis. 

“I lost everything to the 

conflict. Both my house and 

farm were destroyed and 

am now sleeping out." 

MEETING: L-R: Head, Development Finance, CBN, Yenagoa, Mr. Abariowei 

Ifidi; Branch Controller, CBN, Yenagoa, Elder Godswill Obiora; Bayelsa State 

Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah (retd); Deputy 

Director, Development Finance, CBN, Mr. Osita Nwanisobi, and the Assistant 

Manager, Development Finance,CBN, Jennifer Agboli, during a meeting by 

the deputy governor with members of the Micro Small Medium Enterprises 

Development Fund (MSMEDF) Technical Committee of Central Bank of 

Nigeria (CBN), shortly after a courtesy call, at the Government House, 

Yenagoa. 

Secretary of the union, 

Loggle Iyalomhe and Mike 

Itua, in Benin City, 

yesterday, during the 

teachers’ protest march 

along major streets to Edo 

State House of Assembly 

and Government House. 

According to the teachers, 

“Primary education 

received its best attention 

during the operation of firstline 

charge policy by the 

Federal Government when 

the emoluments of primary 

school teachers were 

deducted from the 

Federation Account and 

given to NPEC for payment 

of the teachers' salaries, 

beginning from 1992 – 

2002. 

“If this system can be reintroduced, 

the teachers 

will have no cause to worry 

over the autonomy of local 

governments and the 

retention or non- retention 

of state Joint Local 

Government Accounts. 

“The concern of the NUT 

is not the issue of local 

government autonomy. We 

believe that the provisions 

of the 1999 Constitution as 

amended, which vests the 

onus of funding and 

management of primary 

education on the states 

while the local 

governments participate as 

interpreted by the Supreme 

Court should be upheld. 

Gelegele EPZ: Bini group warns 

Ijaw against war threats 

By Simon 

Ebegbulem 

B ENIN—THE 

Benin Unity 

League, BUL, a sociocultural 

organisation in Edo 

State comprising Benin 

intellectuals and 

professionals, has warned 

Ijaw in the state to stop 

beating drums of war and 

allow the government to 

commence work on the 

multi-billion naira Gelegele 

Export Processing Zone, 

EPZ, saying that the claim 

of ownership of Gelegele 

land by the Ijaw was not 

only criminal but clear 

mischief. 

The group was reacting 

to the statement by the Ijaw 

Peoples Development 

Initiative, IPDI, which 

insisted that the Gelegele 

Rivers PDP chair wades into 

Amaechi, Abe face-off 

By Emmanuel 

Aziken, Political 

Editor 

CHAIRMAN of the 

Rivers State chapter 

of the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, Mr. Felix Obuah 

yesterday waded into the 

reported faceoff between 

Senator Magnus Abe and 

the Minister of 

Transportation, Mr. 

Chibuike Amaechi, with an 

offer to reconcile the two 

men. 

Obuah in a statement 

yesterday gave the two 

men a July 30 date to avail 

themselves in his palace for 

the reconciliation between 

the two men he said were 

once his friends. 

In the statement issued 

Alumni of MAN Oron calls for 

institution's upgrade 

By Godwin Oritse 

THE Alumni of 

Maritime Academy 

of Nigeria, Oron, 

AMANO, Akwa Ibom 

State, has called on the 


upgrade the academy to a 

degree awarding 

institution. 

AMANO urged the 

government to strengthen 

the academy by providing 

adequate training facilities, 

functional simulators and 

access to training vessels for 

cadets. 

In a statement by its 

President, Austin Ume 

Zurike and General 

Secretary, Emmanuel 

Maiguwa, AMANO said 

that upgrading the 

academy will raise the 

quality and standard of its 

training and equip cadets 

with the necessary 

qualifications to meet the 

land belongs to Ijaw, 

contrary to the Supreme 

Court ruling on the matter 

on August 19, 1983, which 

held that the Ijaw in 

Gelegele were tenants of 

His Majesty, Oba Akenzua 

II, the Oba of Benin. 

The BUL statement by 

Prof. Denis Agbonlahor, 

Prof. O.G. Oshodin and 34 

others, noted that Ijaw 

settlers as well as Itsekiri 

and Urhobo at Gelegele 

were welcomed over 100 

years ago as tenants and 

some as war refugees due 

to the accommodating 

nature of the Bini. 

It said: “We have relied 

on the facts of history and 

the finality of the courts of 

law, in our insistence on the 

rule of law, in peacefully 

accommodating our 

tenants and settlers." 

on his behalf by his 

spokesman, Mr. Jerry 

Needam, Bro. Obuah, 

however, expressed 

concern that Abe and 

Amaechi had allowed 

pride and strong 

headedness tear their party. 

Noting that the problem 

between the two men was 

not salutary, he said that it 

had become “too 

embarrassing for the two 

uncompromising APC 

leaders to be insulting 

themselves both on air and 

in print and by extension, 

the Rivers people.” 

Obuah was quoted as 

regretting that “his two 

friends have started 

exhibiting same ego that 

pitched them against other 

progressive politicians in 

the state." 

industry requirements for 

international 

competitiveness. 

According to the 

association, the Academy is 

the only institution in 

Nigeria that provides full 

range professional 

education and training in 

line with requirements of 

the International Maritime 

Organisation, IMO. 

“The Alumni of the 

Maritime Academy of 

Nigeria, as a unified body, 

believes it is time for the 


upgrade the academy, as it 

did in 1988, to a degree 

awarding institution. The 

Alumni is of the view that 

the academy should retain 

its premier standing as the 

foremost specialist maritime 

training institution, training 

and educating core 

maritime professionals for 

both seagoing and onshore 

careers," it said.


PRESENTATION OF EX-IGP ARASE'S LAW ON PREVENTION OF CRIME BY POLICE IN NIGERIA 

A book authored by former Inspector General of Police, Dr. Solomon Arase, titled: LAW ON PREVENTION OF CRIMES BY THE POLICE IN 

NIGERIA, was presented to the public at the Congress Hall, Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, yesterday. Photos by Abayomi Adeshida 

From left, Representative of the Oba of Benin, the Iyase of Benin, Chief Sam Igbe; Chairman 

of the event, former Cross River State Governor, Donald Duke; the author, Dr. Solomon 

Arase; his wife, Agharase; Representative of the Acting President, Senator Babafemi Ojudu 

and former Inspector General of Police, Tafa Balogun displaying copies of the book. 

Dr. Arase autographing a copy of the book for former Governor Isa 

Yuguda of Bauchi State while Alhaji Isa Abdullahi Gusau (behind) watched. 

Former Head of Service to the Federation, 

The Special Guest, Captain Hosa Okunbo officially Mr. Steve Oronsaye (left) and former Delta 

The Iyase of Benin; Chief Sam Igbe presenting a message 

launching the book. 

State Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama. 

from the Oba of Benin to Dr. Solomon Arase. 

From left; Maj. Gen. Godwin Abbey (retd); the Isekhure of Benin Kingdom, 

Chief Nosakhare Isekhure and Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State. 

From left, Former Minister for Labour, Chief Emeka Wogu; Former Edo State 

Governor, Prof. Oserhiemen Osunbor; ex-Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mike 

Okiro; former NIA boss, Amb. Emmanuel Imohe; ex-Police IGP, Mr. Ogbonnaya 

Onovo and another former Inspector General of Police, Mr. Sunday Ehindero. 

(RIGHT) 

Former 

Inspectors- 

General of 

Police, Tafa 

Balogun (left) 

and Aliyu 

Attah 

discussing 

during the 

event. 

Chairman, Bi-Courtney Ltd., Wale Babalakin (left); Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Police Affairs, Senator Abu Ibrahim (right) and others.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 — 15 

ENUGU APC CRISIS: SEC 

expels Deputy chair, 

investigates 9 officials 

By Dennis Agbo 

E NUGU—CRISIS 

has hit the All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, in Enugu State, 

leading to expulsion of 

the Deputy chairman of 

the party in the state, Mr. 

Adolphus Udeh. 

Other nine members of 

the State Executive 

Council of the party were 

also penciled down for 

disciplinary measure 

after investigation. 

Udeh and the nine 

officials had on 

Monday announced the 

suspension of the state 

chairman, Dr. Ben 

Nwoye, citing various 

allegations of 

misconduct. 

But in an enlarged 

meeting of officials of the 

party, yesterday, 

involving 49 officials, 

both SEC and NWC 

members, the party 

passed a vote of 

confidence on the state 

chairman, Nwoye and the 

expulsion of his former 

deputy, Udeh. 

Udeh and other SEC 

members now under 

investigation were 

alleged to have forcefully 

broken into the party 

secretariat, catered away 

vital documents and 

announced the 

suspension of Nwoye. 

The party also fingered 

the 2015 Deputy 

governorship candidate 

of the party, Mrs. Juliet 

Ibekaku as being 

responsible for the crisis 

in the leadership of the 

party. 

The party said that Mrs 

Ibekaku, who presently 

is a Presidential 


Assistant will equally 

face investigation for 

possible disciplinary 

action. 

She however failed to 

respond to inquiry by 

Vanguard on the 

allegation against her. 

The party said they 

remained peaceful and 

united, adding that the 

state chapter remains 

loyal to President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

and the national leadership 

of APC led by Chief John 

Odigie Oyegun. 

Mixed reactions trail solidarity rally for 

Buhari, Okorocha in Imo •As PDP, INC react 

By Chinonso Alozie 

O WERRI— 

THOUSANDS of 

youths, yesterday, held 

solidarity rally for President 

Muhammadu Buhari and 

Governor Rochas Okorocha 

of Imo State, for the fight 

against corruption in the 

country and youth 

empowerment, just as 

some others said the youths 

were misled. 

The youths marched from 

Dan Anyiam Stadium to 

Government House, 

Owerri, causing heavy 

vehicular and human traffic, 

Ilomuanya no longer our chairman 

— S’EAST MONARCHS 

By Anayo Okoli 

U MUAHIA—THE 

South East Council 

of Traditional Rulers 

yesterday called on the 

general public to desist from 

transacting any business 

with Eze Cletus Ilomuanya 

as the chairman of the 

council and to desist from 

addressing him as such, 

saying that he has since 

ceased to be the chairman 

of the South East Traditional 

Rulers council. 

The council said that Eze 

Ilomuanya’s tenure has 

since expired and he has 

relinquished the seat of the 

chairman of the council. 

A statement by the 

administrative secretary of 

the council, Eze Uche O 

Elekwa (JP), a lawyer, said 

that Eze Cletus Ilomuanya 

is neither the chairman nor 

a member of the South East 

Council of Traditional 

Rulers. 

According to him, anyone 

transacting business with 

him as the chairman does 

so at his own peril, 

explaining that HRM Eze 

Eberechi Dick is the 

incumbent chairman of the 

South East Council of 

Traditional Rulers. 

“The attention of the 

South East Council of 

Traditional Rulers has 

been drawn to the front 

page publication of a 

national newspaper of 

Saturday, July 1, 2017 titled 

“Igbos won’t leave North' in 

which Eze Cletus 

Ilomuanya was credited to 

have spoken as chairman, 

South East council of 

Traditional Rulers in Owerri, 

Imo State at two different 

events on June 30, 2017 

while receiving Ohaneze 

Ndigbo Youth Council 

(OYC), Imo State branch 

and Association for Media 

Communication 

Development which 

conferred on him 

“Distinguished Royal 

Father Award” for exemplary 

conduct and leadership.'' 

which lasted for hours. 

Some of the groups 

included: the Imo State 

Nigeria Union of Road 

Transport Workers, NURTW, 

led by Mr. Izuchukwu 

Okebaram; Niger Delta 

Freedom Fighters; Imo 

Youth Council 

Amalgamation; Imo 

Community Watch, ICW, 

led by Frank Onwumere,, 

among others. 

The youths, who were 

received by Governor 

Okorocha said the solidarity 

march was in appreciation 

of what his administration 

did in the past six years 

which the PDP governments 

in the state could not do for 

many years while in power. 

Responding, Okorocha 

said: “PDP must obey 

Rochas Okorocha. You can 

imagine if governments 

have been happening the 

way I am doing it. Imo State 

would have been better than 

what it is now. What you are 

seeing now happened 

within six years and many 

more are coming. 

“We are building 

international cargo airport. 

Very soon, planes will be 

flying directly from America 

and other parts of the world 

to Imo State. This is my 

vision for the state. 

“Recently, we gave N305 

million to 305 Imo youths to 

start their businesses. After 

this set, we are not stopping 

at that.” 

According to one of the 

youth leaders, Jeff Nwaoha: 

“Every good thing deserves 

award and sometimes, you 

don’t show reward by 

giving material things. 

Sometimes, you appreciate 

people by thanking God. 

“Imo State youths have 

come out in solidarity rally 

to say thank you to 

President Muhammadu 

PEOPLE SPEAK 

Buhari for his steadfastness 

in the fight against 

corruption in the country 

and the unprecedented 

development we have 

witnessed under Governor 

Rochas Okorocha, in just six 

years. 

“The governor has done 

excellently in the area of 

infrastructure development, 

health, where 27 general 

hospitals have been built 

and free education, unlike 

what we used to have. So, 

Okorocha has surpassed 

achievements of other 

administrations in the state.” 

On his part, the Director 

General of New Media, Imo 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, Aic Akwarandu said: 

“The youths will be 

On purpor 

ported removal of CRK from SSCE 

disappointed because they 

have not asked Governor 

Okorocha how much have 

been allocated to the 27 

local governments in the 

past six years. They will 

shed tears. I only see 

ignorance marching in 

solidarity.'' 

Speaking also, the 

President of Igbo National 

Council, INC, Chilos 

Godsent said: “The Rochas 

Okorocha health care 

programme is a mess. Not 

a single one of the 27 

hospitals he claimed to have 

built is functioning. The 

state-owned specialist 

general hospital at 

Umuguma is in a comatose 

state. Education in Imo State 

is pathetic.'' 

‘Stop politicising tenure 

of Service Chiefs’ 

THE 

National 

Committee of Yoruba 

Youth (NCYY) and the 

Coalition of Civil Society 

Groups against Terrorism 

have warned against any 

attempt to politicise 

Nigeria’s security, nothing 

that the interest of some 

individuals in the tenure of 

Service Chiefs is 

worrisome. 

Briefing newsmen 

yesterday in Lagos, 

President of NCYY, Mr 

Oladimeji Odeyemi and 

Secretary of the group, Mr. 

John Atani, said the 

incumbent service chiefs 

should not be distracted 

from the efforts of keeping 

Nigerian safe and 

sustaining the victory over 

the defeated and armed 

groups in the country 

The statement reads in 

part: “Since the inception 

of the current 

administration of President 

Muhammadu Buhari, it is 

on record that our military 

under the leadership of the 

various service chiefs, have 

worked tirelessly, to 

guarantee the integrity of 

our sovereign territory, 

reclaimed our once lost 

territories and have 

seriously decimated the 

once dreaded Boko Haram 

sect, and have curtailed all 

form of internal and 

external aggression, against 

the Nigerian state and her 

people. 

“What these highly 

distinguished Nigerians 

deserve are accolades, and 

not mudslinging or partisan 

speculations target at their 

carriers and tenure. The 

motives of these 

campaigners, we know, are 

meant, to distract them from 

the noble efforts of keeping 

Nigerian safe and 

sustaining the victory over 

the defeated, armed groups, 

in the country.'' 

By Bartholomew 

Madukwe (08051019450) 

nwamad@yahoo.com 

It will strengthen fear 

of Islamisation as being 

nursed by those Christians 

who propagate it. It 

infringes on the principle 

of secularity as enshrined 

in the 1999 Constitution, as 

amended, vide sections 10 

and 38 thereof. Chief 

Morah Ekwunoh, Human 

Rights lawyer 

It will deprive pupils of 

moral trainings which 

CRK offers them. CRK is 

not only knowledge imparted, 

but one’s own 

position is also clarified 

and deepened in the dialogue 

between the religion. 

Therefore, CRK 

should stay. Miss Jenifer 

Okoli, Student 

Ithink our curriculum 

should bring back History, 

with emphasis on Nigeria’s 

and Africa’s history, 

and do away with both 

Christian and Islamic studies. 

They are not helpful. 

Countriesmaking progress 

have little or nothing to do 

with religion. Mr Okey 

Nwanguma, Activist 

Those talking about the 

plot to Islamize Nigeria 

will have something to 

hold unto because of this 

change that looks lopsided. 

In the secondary 

school, both CRK and Islamic 

Arabic studies are to 

be made compulsory subjects. 

Mr Benjamin 

Obioha, Lecturer 

Freedom of religion is 

apparently being eroded, 

where knowledge of a 

particular religion is out 

rightly removed from the 

school curriculum and the 

other is craftily enshrined 

in the same curriculum 

though couched as option 

to French. Mr Akingbola 

George, Lawyer 

Their is freedom of reli 

gion and that of worship 

enshrined in Nigerian 

constitution, why then the 

removal of CRK from secondary 

school curriculum? 

The dreaded economic 

recession is adding 

salt to the several injuries 

of Nigerians. Mr Ofodile 

Obiajulu, Lecturer


NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058 

LASU: From left— Chairman, Association of Nigerian University 

Professional Administrations, Lagos State University, Chapter, Mr. Emmanuel 

Fanu; Secretary to Lagos State Government and Guest Lecturer, Mr. Tunji Bello, 

receiving Distinguished Award; Special Adviser on Education, Mr. Obafela Bank- 

Olemoh, and Vice Chancellor, Lagos State University, Professor Olanrewaju 

Fagbohun, during the Association's 4th Annual Distinguished Lecture and Award, 

tagged LASU Administration: The Challenge of Town and Gown, at the institution's 

premises in Ojo, Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Bunmi Azeez. 

NITEC 2017: From left— Chief Marketing Officer, Systemspecs, Mr. 

David Okeme; MD, Rack Centre, Mr. Tunde Coker, and Country General Manager, 

IBM, Mr. Dipo Faulkner, at the International Technology Exhibition and 

Conference, NITEC, 2017 in Lagos, yesterday. 

36bn fraud allegation: EFCC arrests 

ex-Jigawa gov, Turaki, at book launch 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region 

Editor 

OPERATIVES of the 

Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

yesterday, arrested the 

former Jigawa State 

Governor, Alhaji 

Saminu Turaki, over 

a l l e g e d 

mismanagement of N36 

billion from the state 

coffers while in office. 

A source in the antigraft 

agency confirmed 

to Vanguard that Turaki 

was arrested at the 

venue of the public 

presentation of a book 

on Brigadier Zakariya 

Maimalari, the first 

regular combatant 

officer in the Nigerian 

Army, in Abuja. 

The arrest of the 

former governor was 

seen by EFCC as a 

breakthrough on a man 

they had declared 

wanted since December 

3, 2014 for failing to 

present himself for trial 

since 2011 on a 36-count 

charge before the 

Federal High Court, 

Dutse. 

The court, according to 

the agency, had issued 

a warrant directing the 

Inspector General of 

Police or his officers, 

and EFCC to arrest 

Turaki and bring him 

before it to answer to his 

alleged offences, but he 

could not be arrested at 

the time. 

Court order 

Justice S. Yahuza gave 

the order after Turaki 

had consistently failed to 

attend trial, while 

several attempts to 

execute the warrant on 

the former governor also 

failed as he reportedly 

remained elusive. 

The source familiar 

with the matter recalled 

that on May 19, 2016, 

when the operatives of 

the commission, acting 

on a tip-off, stormed 

Turaki’s home on 16 

Denis Osadebey Street, 

Asokoro, he managed to 

Attah, ex-CPS to Abacha, 

Abdulsalami dies at 71 

By Peter Duru 

M AKURDI—THE 

former Chief Press 

Secretary to late General 

Sani Abacha and General 

Abdulsalami Abubakar 

(retd.), Chief David Attah, 

is dead. 

Chief Attah, 71, died 

Tuesday at about 6:45a.m. 

at a private hospital in Jos, 

the Plateau State capital. 

The death of the 

renowned journalist was 

confirmed to Vanguard by 

his younger brother and 

slip off their hands. 

Turaki faces multiple 

charges bordering on 

criminal conspiracy, 

stealing and money 

laundering. 

3 years ago 

EFCC’s Head of 

Media and Publicity, 

Wilson Uwujaren, had, 

over three years ago, 

said: “The public is 

hereby notified that 

Ibrahim Saminu Turaki, 

the former governor of 

Jigawa State, is wanted 

by EFCC in connection 

with a case of criminal 

conspiracy, stealing, 

money laundering and 

misappropriation of funds 

to the tune of N36 

billion.” 

Permanent Secretary in the 

Benue State Ministry of 

Information, Mr. Elvis 

Attah. 

Until his death, Chief 

Attah held the traditional 

titles of Ondoma K’Idoma, 

Enyioma of Ibeku and 

Oyame of Igumale. 

When Vanguard visited 

the Makurdi home of the 

late septuagenarian, 

sympathisers were seen 

trooping to his residence to 

condole with members of 

his family. 

ICSAN'S AGM: From left— Registrar/Chief Executive, Mrs. Nkechi 

Onyenso; past President, Dr. Suleyman Abdu Ndanusa; President/ Chairman of 

Council, Professor Nat Ofo; Vice President, Mr. Samuel Kolawole, all of Institute 

of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators of Nigeria, ICSAN; and Director, 

Corporate Secretariat, Central Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Yunusa Sanusi, during 

the Annual General Meeting of ICSAN, in Abuja, yesterday. 

MCVITIES: From left— Associate Director, All Season Zenith, Mr. Agidi 

Raphael; Marketing Director, Mcvities, Toyin Nnodi, and Managing Director, 

Mcvities, Mr. Kwame Wiafe, at the Mcvities Digestive 125th Anniversary promo 

in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor.

EVERY so often in 

Nigeria, there comes 

along a trending topic used to 

divide and distract from the 

main issue keeping our people 

poor and the country as a 

whole vastly underdeveloped. 

This issue, simply put, is 

corruption. Nigeria has no 

business being a poor country. 

We are neither landlocked, nor 

poor in resources. We might 

not be tired of preaching about 

our potential, our young 

people’s capacity for 

innovation, entrepreneurship, 

etc., but some external 

observers grow weary of our 

inability to actualise said 

potential. 

Nothing stops Nigeria from 

becoming the next India or 

China except for bad 

leadership, unimaginative 

governors, senators, etc., who 

use state resources for their 

personal needs rather than 

designing impactful policies 

through which, ironically, 

their own wealth could be 

multiplied if basic systems and 

structures existed that also 

carried the majority along with 

them. The European Union, 

EU, recognises that we are the 

architects of our own 

misfortunes: we keep scoring 

own goals and patting 

ourselves on the back for 

doing so which is why the EU 

announced last week that it 

would be cutting the aid 

released to Nigeria. 

Given our inability to 

properly utilise money 

provided by foreign donors, 

this decision isn’t surprising 

(most of the money ends up 

in private pockets rather than 

serving to build infrastructure 

and social services for the 

majority). In fact, if the EU 

decides to channel those 

resources into countries where 

an impact cannot only be seen 

but measured. Only a fool 

might be surprised by this 

action which is only the logical 

conclusion of our own 

unserious behaviour over the 

years. 

Like I said in my article last 

week, rather than coming 

together to speak truth to 

power and demand 

accountability from our elected 

IBB 

FORMER Head of 

State, General Ibrahim 

Babangida, was quite vocal on 

the subject of restructuring, 

which is moral relativism, 

revisionism in fact, at its best. 

The media unfortunately 

treats all political speeches the 

same way - unquestioningly. 

The Babangida years were 

the beginning of Nigeria’s 

downward spiral. In fact, it is 

most ironic that he talks about 

ethno-religious strife when it 

is a known fact that the 

annulment of June 12 

precipitated much of the 

distrust which exists today. 

Christians voted for a 

Muslim-Muslim ticket, a 

Southerner defeated a 

Northerner in his home state. 

Babangida single-handedly 

Restructuring is for the 

rich, not the poor 

representatives, particularly 

those in the Senate who have 

fought the EFCC and Ibrahim 

Magu to a standstill, we 

continue to lie and pretend, 

encouraging moral relativism, 

plural truths and dishonesty to 

prevail. 

Another such way 

dishonesty and half-truths 

prevail is epitomised by the 

debate over restructuring 

Nigeria. Restructuring will not 

better the Nigerian economy, 

at least, not in ways which will 

be beneficial to the poor and 

the middle classes. It won’t put 

more food on the table for 

those who are struggling or as 

of now unable to guarantee 

one meal a day for themselves 

and their children. 

Restructuring is an elite 

debate of concern only to the 

•Gen. Ibrahim Babangida 

truncated democracy: what 

lessons can he still give? 

rich and to those social 

commentators who are paid to 

support it and lead the 

undiscerning astray. 

It is only of interest to those 

vying for public office in 2019 

and seeking public relevance 

for much the same reason. 

Who will lead the restructured 

units if not the same morally 

dubious, tainted, corrupt 

individuals who currently run 

the system as presently 

constituted? What would 

honestly prompt them to run 

the system with more 

creativity, diligence or honesty 

if all we really mean when we 

Femi Okunnu, SAN 

THE former Federal 

Commissioner for Works 

and Housing recently made 

some comments on Nigeria’s 

obsession with ethno-religious 

politics. He simply asked, like 

I have done many times in this 

column, what has stopped the 

different ethnic groups in 

Nigeria from developing their 

regions using the funds at their 

disposal? 

He also stated that the parties 

which have governed Nigeria 

at the federal level have 

members from all faiths and 

ethnic groups who operate in 

all the states, local governments 

of the Federation. Therefore, 

how can the South-East, for 

example, claim marginalisation 

when it has been governed by 

members of the PDP, the same 

party which was also in power 

at the centre? 

If the President and the state 

governor are of the same party, 

what better arrangement can 

there be to guarantee the state 

governor has the ear of the 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 —17 

talk about restructuring, are 

cosmetic changes with no real 

impact for the majority of 

Nigerians? 

Let’s not allow anyone to fool 

us, the crux of the 

restructuring agitation is 

resource control. But one must 

ask, what have the so-called 

marginalised regions done 

with the funds they had? 

Where is the money now? The 

Niger Delta isn’t poor, neither 

is the East; they simply have 

not had the privilege of good 

leadership. State governors 

have not utilised their budgets 

to benefit the masses. Instead, 

many have built mansions in 

Abuja and bought properties 

abroad using state funds. 

Restructuring will 

not better the 

Nigerian economy, 

at least not in ways 

which will be 

beneficial to the 

poor and he middle 

classes; it won’t put 

more food on the 

table for those who 

are struggling 

To put things very simply, if 

you gave a member of your 

staff (make no mistake, 

governors, senators, etc., work 

for the people or are supposed 

to, in saner climes) N5000 to 

buy you some things from the 

market and he or she was 

unable to provide you with 

goods worth that amount, 

would you entrust this same 

ineffectual person with 

N10,000 and simply hope that 

by some miracle he or she 

would magically manage your 

Presidency and the relevant 

arms of the federal executive to 

partner with and execute 

meaningful projects? 

If not for egos, greed and a 

total lack of imagination, the 16 

years the PDP was in power in 

at least 26 to 30 states should 

have seen huge progress as all 

arms of government should 

have co-operated (the President 

was a PDP member, the Senate 

President, the Speaker, the 

Governors, the state houses 

were led by PDP members, etc.). 

Corruption is our common 

enemy, it is the reason the 

common man feels 

marginalised. I’ve always said 

ethnicity becomes irrelevant if 

you remove corruption. 

To quote Femi Okunnu: 

“Federal roads were abandoned 

all over the country, most of 

them since I built them as a 

federal commissioner. In my 

time, I started the construction 

of most of the roads. Most of the 

roads constructed 40 years ago 

have not been reconstructed, 

money better? What the elite 

are thinking of when it comes 

to restructuring isn’t how to 

make governance cheaper by 

merging states, etc., but new 

ways to allocate overbloated 

contracts and create more 

opportunities for looting. In 

fact, with the marginalisation 

phenomenon being 

encouraged rather than 

curtailed, every sub-group in 

Nigeria now believes it should 

have its own state rather than 

owning up to the fact that poor 

leadership rather than state 

creation is the issue. 

Many of the so-called “social 

questions” in Nigeria are 

simply symptoms of 

corruption. I have said many 

times in this column that 

Federal character has been a 

disastrous policy which has 

done more harm than good, 

making us slaves to ethnicity 

and religion rather than 

upholding talent, merit and 

competence as the standard by 

which one is judged. 

Politicians fund agitation 

based on their own 

marginalisation: they aren’t 

talking about development for 

the poor but rather opportunities 

for themselves to join 

government and partake in 

whatever looting they can. We 

must be every wary of those 

pushing for marginalisation 

and interrogate their agenda, 

more often than not, it isn’t for 

our benefit but theirs. 

When we have adequately 

tackled corruption and 

therefore made sure that 

households have basic 

amenities such as running 

water, good roads and 

education, then we can face the 

lofty question of restructuring. 

The poor in Nigeria need real 

impact in their lives, not stillborn 

ideas from the 

unproductive imaginations of 

bandits and their accomplices 

in both the media and the legal 

arena who terrorise Nigerians 

with senseless excuses for 

wrongdoing. 

•Femi Okunnu 

repaired or rehabilitated.” 

This has nothing to do with 

marginalisation but everything 

to do with inefficiency. 

Tabia Princewill is a 

strategic communications 

consultant and public policy 

analyst. She is also the cohost 

and executive producer 

of a talk show, WALK THE 

TALK which airs on 

Channels TV.

18 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Benue State Governor, Samuel 

Ortom, on 30 th June 2017, issued 

a quit notice to herdsmen opposed 

to the recently-passed Anti-Open 

Grazing Law in the state saying: 

“When the deadline expires, it’s 

either you ranch your livestock 

peacefully and continue to do 

business here in Benue State or you 

quit”. 

However, a Fulani socio-cultural 

association, Miyetti Allah Kautal 

Hore, had described the law as a 

recipe for anarchy. They averred 

that the Land Grazing Law of 1960 

still subsists, while ominously 

reminding Governor Ortom of the 

“mistake” supposedly made by a 

former Plateau State Governor, 

Jonah Jang, who was said to have 

“tried futilely for eight years to 

subdue” Fulani people. 

The Governor retorted: “We 

challenge anyone with a superior 

formula that will provide peace for 

Benue to come out with it. We have 

heard and seen the threat by 

Miyetti Allah to Benue State and 

they are even going beyond grazing 

War drums in Benue over 

Anti-Open Grazing Law 

to talk about struggle for natural 

resources in Benue State; that they 

were here before we came. 

“We want to send this message to 

them that we will not accept that 

kind of threat. 

The Security Council had to be 

convened and we have decided that 

the Federal Government and the 

Acting President must know about 

this threat and action should be 

taken by security agencies to arrest 

and prosecute these people for 

these inciting statements”. 

We note with grave concern that 

herdsmen also rose against a similar 

law recently passed by the Taraba 

State House of Assembly. They 

protested at the Assembly grounds, 

fully armed. There already are 

reports of attacks against Fulani 

settlements on the Mambilla 

Plateau by a yet-to-be-ascertained 

militia. The situation in Benue 

seems a perfect setting for a major 

armed confrontation between the 

herdsmen and indigenous 

communities over a 

constitutionally-enacted law meant 

to confine animal husbandry 

businesses to ranches to stop the 

blood-letting between herdsmen 

and farmers. 

We call on those in the cattle 

business to drop the 

confrontational approach and 

conduct their businesses 

peacefully and according to the 

laws of any state they find 

themselves in. If they have any 

issues against any law, they should 

pursue them peacefully through 

dialogue, working together with 

their host communities and state 

governments. Where necessary, 

they should approach the courts for 

redress. 

Making territorial claims at this 

stage of our history is a recipe for 

conflict, which is already ravaging 

many parts of the country. The 

Federal Government must step in 

and tackle this issue without bias, 

fear or favour. 

War does not yield good dividends, 

there is no substitute for peaceful 

and lawful approach to socioeconomic 

problems. 

The war drums in Benue must be 

silenced before they develop into 

a chorus across the country. 

By Abimbola Johnson 

IT is time again for Nigerians living abroad 

to think home. In the age of globalisation, 

Nigerians in the Diaspora do not have to return 

home to contribute to the development of their 

country. They can do so through several means 

and ways. And one of these is to subscribe to the 

Diaspora Bond issued by Nigeria’s Debt 

Management Office, DMO. 

The Federal Government of Nigeria FGN, 

on June 13, 2017, through the DMO, 

commenced road shows in the United States, 

United Kingdom and Switzerland, for the 

country’s first Diaspora Bond of 300 million 

dollars. 

The Director-General of the DMO, Dr. 

Abraham Nwankwo is leading the FGN 

delegation comprising representatives from the 

Central bank of Nigeria, Ministry of Finance 

to the roadshow. The Minister of Finance, Mrs. 

Kemi Adeosun is currently engaged with 

working details of the newly signed 2017 

budget – hence her inability to lead the 

roadshow. 

The nation’s debt office, DMO has already 

filed a registration statement for the bonds with 

the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Documents sighted on the Diaspora Bond 

indicate that application would be made for 

the bonds to be admitted to the official list of 

the UK Listing Authority and the London Stock 

Exchange to ensure that the bonds were 

admitted to trading on the London Stock 

Exchange’s regulated market. 

The document added that there would be a 

series of investors meetings in the UK, the U. S. 

OPINION 

DMO: Tapping diaspora resources for national development 

and Switzerland from June 13. It further noted 

that pricing was expected to occur following 

the investor meetings and subject to market 

conditions. The bonds will be direct general 

obligations of Nigeria and will be denominated 

in U.S. dollars. The international Joint Lead 

Managers are Bank of America Merrill Lynch 

Nigeria tops the top ten 

remittance recipients in Africa 

with $20.77bn 

and The Standard Bank of South Africa 

Limited, while the Nigerian Joint Lead 

Managers are First Bank of Nigeria Limited 

and United Bank for Africa Plc. 

So what are Diaspora Bonds? They are 

simply bonds issued by a country to its own 

citizens’ abroad (Diaspora) to tap in their 

wealth in the adopted developed countries. 

They are essentially a form of government debt 

that targets members of the national 

community abroad. Sale of the bond can be 

restricted solely to members of a particular 

nationality or opened to all buyers, with 

nationals receiving a preferential rate. 

The bond represents an opportunity for cashstrapped 

developing countries to gain access 

to the financial resources of their citizens 

abroad, something that has been tried and 

tested by two countries with famously large 

and industrious diaspora populations- Israel 

and India. For governments that have large 

diaspora populations, the bonds provide an 

opportunity to tap into a capital market beyond 

international investors, foreign direct 

investment, or loans. It is an attractive source 

of funding for governments that have 

experienced difficulties raising money on the 

international market or attracting investment. 

While Nigeria is not among countries unable 

to raise funds from the international markets 

or attract foreign investments, her citizens are 

among the largest, and perhaps the richest 

diaspora populations in the world. There are 

over 17 million Nigerians in The Diaspora who 

send money home annually for various reasons. 

The total remittances by such Nigerians ranks 

second to the proceeds from petroleum as 

foreign exchange earners. United Kingdom 

and United States of America are said to have 

over two million Nigerians each. 

According to the World Bank’s Migration 

and Remittances Fact book 2016, remittances 

from Nigerians living abroad hit $20.77 billion 

in 2015, making Nigeria the sixth largest 

recipient of remittances in the world. 

The report says remittances to Nigeria rose 

every year over the last decade from $16.93 

billion in 2006 to $20.83 billion in 2014. And 

in 2016, remittances by Nigerians abroad were 

over $35 billion. This was the highest in Africa 

and the third largest in the world. 

The top two sources for Nigerian diaspora 

remittances in 2015 were the United States 

($5.7 billion) and the United Kingdom ($3.7 

billion). 

Between 2011 and 2014, Nigerians in the 

Diaspora had remitted $63.17billion 

(N10.35trillion) into the country. Analysis of 

remittances showed that $11billion 

(N1.8trillion) was remitted in 2011, $21billion 

(N3.44trillion) in 2012, $20.77billion 

(N3.40trillion) in 2013 and $10.40billion 

(N1.7trillion) in the first half of 2014. The global 

top ten remittance recipients this year were 

India ($72.2bn), China ($63.9bn), the 

Philippines ($29.7bn), Mexico ($25.7bn), 

France ($24.6bn), Nigeria ($20.77bn), the Arab 

Republic of Egypt ($20.4bn), Pakistan 

($20.1bn), Germany ($17.5bn), and 

Bangladesh ($15.8bn). 

Nigeria tops the top ten remittance recipients 

in Africa with $20.77bn, followed by Ghana 

($2.0bn), Senegal ($1.6bn), Kenya ($1.6bn), 

South Africa ($1.0bn), Uganda ($0.9bn), Mali 

($0.9bn), Ethiopia ($0.6bn), Liberia ($0.5bn), 

and Sudan ($0.5bn). 

This is a huge potential source of funding for 

Nigeria which has battled deficits in the 

national budgets in recent years. The DMO 

under Dr. Abraham Nwankwo has hit another 

first-initiative with a potential to be a game 

changer. He is leading Nigeria to become the 

first African country to experiment with the 

Diaspora Bond. 

It speaks to the synergy within the President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet that all are 

working together to realise the economic vision 

of the government. 

*Mrs. Johnson , a public affairs commentator, 

wrote from Abuja.

W/Africa Crude: Nigeria’s July surplus gets smaller 

Prince Okafor with Agency 

report 

ASURPLUS of Nigerian cargo 

for July loading is getting 

smaller after a drop in differentials 

boosted demand, traders said on 

Tuesday. According to Reuters, there 

were six to seven cargo of Nigerian 

crude for July loading, down from 

Monday’s estimate of 10-15. 

The agency indicated that the 

number of August shipments remain 

steady at more than 40. “Qua Iboe, 

the largest export stream was valued 

at dated Brent plus 35 cents, 

the lowest since December 2015. 

Sellers are targeting higher numbers 

and August cargo are being 

offered at dated Brent plus 90 cents. 

“Angolan crude has been selling 

more quickly after Chinese buying 

re-emerged. About six August-loading 

cargoes are still for sale - including 

shipments of Dalia, Mondo, 

Pazflor and Hungo. Differentials for 

some grades have risen due to increased 

demand and sellers were 

targeting strong numbers relative to 

the last reported levels. Hungo was 

offered at dated Brent minus 25 

cents, up 15 cents from an offer reported 

on June 1. Dalia was offered 

at dated minus 60 cents, up about 

50 cents from an offer reported on 

June 7.” Meanwhile, the price of 

some crudes rose marginally while 

others crashed in the market, yesterday. 

For instance, the price of 

Brent crashed from $49.68 to $49.61, 

while that of WTI rose from $47.07 

to $ 47.08 per barrel respectively. The 

Organisation of Petroleum Exporting 

Countries, OPEC, stated that: 

“The price of OPEC basket of fourteen 

crudes stood at $46.89 a barrel 

on Monday, compared with $45.63 

the previous day, according to 

OPEC Secretariat calculations. 

“The OPEC Reference Basket of 

Crudes (ORB) is made up of the 

following: Saharan Blend (Algeria), 

Girassol (Angola), Oriente (Ecuador), 

Zafiro (Equatorial Guinea), 

Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran Heavy (Islamic 

Republic of Iran), Basra Light 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

SDR 

$124.05 +0.00 

$1,929.00 +26.00 

$13. 95 +0.14 

$49.89 +0.21 

$47.31 +0.24 

304.95 305.45 305.95 

394.9103 395.5578 396.2053 

346.6367 347.205 347.7734 

316.6996 317.2188 317.7381 

2.6987 2.7031 2.7075 

0.5114 0.5214 0.5314 

423.3102 424.0042 424.6983 

44.8816 44. 9358 45.0099 

81.3135 81.4468 81.5801 

424. 2769 424. 9726 425.6682 

RAND 23. 1228 23. 1607 23.1986 

CBN Exchange rate as at 04/07/2017 

From left, Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Services, Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Alhaji Gambo Ahmed; Director-General of 

NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside; General Manager, INTELS Nigeria Limited, Mr. Silvano 

Bellinato; and Assistant General Manager, INTELS Nigeria Limited, Mr. Chibuike Oyebuike; 

at the Onne Oil and Gas Free Zone, Onne, Rivers State. 

(Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es 

Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), 

Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab 

Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban 

(UAE) and Merey (Venezuela).” 

The managing director/chief executive 

officer of Cowry asset Management 

Limited, Mr. Johnson 

Chukwu, indicated in a telephone 

interview that the market situation 

was fuelled by the decision of the 

United States not to be part of the 

Paris Club on climate change. He 

said that this gives impression that 

the United States would flood the 

market with commercial shale oil, 

thus worsening the present state of 


the market. 

Chairman of International Energy 

Services Limited, Dr. Diran Fawibe, 

a close watcher of the volatile market 

had said in a telephone interview 

that the development constituted 

fresh threat to foreign exchange 

generation and budget implementation. 

Firms consider FG tax collection aggressive — KPMG Survey 

By Ediri Ejoh 

CHIEF Financial Officers, 

Heads of Finance and Tax 

Managers in some of the leading 

organisations across major industry 

groups in Nigeria have described 

the style of Federal Inland 

Revenue Service, FIRS, in assessment 

of additional tax liabilities 

as aggressive. 

This was the summary of a study 

carried out by KPMG Nigeria, 

which was launched at a stakeholders 

meeting tagged: 

‘Transfer Pricing Audit- 

Global Perspective and 

Nigeria’s Experience’. 

The study reported that 

only 18 percent considered 

them friendly while 46 percent 

considered them aggressive 

and 36 percent see them as very 

aggressive. It further stated: “In 

the case of disputes in the course 

of transfer pricing, 73 percent of 

the respondent preferred resolving 

it with FIRS through the decision 

review panel, while 18 percent 

consider it challenging additional 

tax assessments in court, 

and 19 percent indicate willingness 

to pay assessed liability.” 

Reacting to the outcome of the 

survey, Partner & Head, Transfer 

Pricing Unit of KPMG in Nigeria, 

Mr. Tayo Ogungbenro, 

pointed out the need for companies 

to think from the perspective 

of FIRS and be more proactive. 

“If you are well prepared with 

nothing to hide and you know the 

kind of document you have and 

with a good consultant you will 

address their aggressiveness” he 

added. Ogungbenro advised that 

with the recent wave of transfer 

pricing audits, adequate care 

must be taken by companies to 

ensure that safeguards are in 

place to avoid costly errors during 

audit process. Corroborating 

his view, Partner & Head, Global 

Transfer Pricing Service, KPMG 

in US, Sean Foley called on government 

to promote fairness and 

make sure that the appropriate tax 

is collected.” 

NAP-60: SMEs to save N2.6bn annually in registration cost 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

MINISTER of Industry, Trade and In 

vestment, Mr. Okechukwu Enelamah, 

has said that the National Action Plan, NAP- 

60 Plan, which major objective is to promote 

the ease of doing business in the country would 

save Small and Medium Enterprises, SMEs, 

in the country about N2.6 billion in registration 

cost annually. Enelamah, who spoke at the 

Citibank Nigeria Limited special clients event 

tagged, ‘Citi China Day’, and themed, “Chinese 

Investment in Nigeria: A win-win Partnership”, 

hosted in Lagos, said that the NAP- 

60 has also led to 130 per cent increase in access 

to credit by Micro Small and Medium 

Enterprises, MSMEs, as well as 60 per cent 

reduction in property registration time. Represented 

by his Special Adviser, Olubunmi 

Adeboye, Enelamah said that as a result of 

the conclusion of NAP-60, the Corporate 

Affairs Commission, CAC, has moved the 

entire business registration process online, 

thereby reducing time required to register 

a business from 10 to two days, while the 

Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, now coordinates 

physical examination of cargo, resulting 

in reduction in touch points between 

importers and government agencies to one. 

Other remarkable successes recorded by 

the initiative, according to him, include enhancement 

by the Nigeria Immigration Service, 

NIS, of its online functionality including 

e-submission of Visa-on-arrival application 

as well as implementation of extensive 

reforms at Abuja Airport by the Federal 

Foreign firms 

task FG on 

improvement of 

business 

environment 

By Vera Anyagafu & Prisca 

Sam-Duru 

FOREIGN companies oper 

ating in Nigeria, yesterday, 

tasked the federal government to improve 

the business environment, 

stressing that business cannot thrive 

in a hostile environment. 

The Austrian, German and Switzerland 

(AGS) Business Outlook for 

2017, described the business environment 

in the country as negative 

noting, however, that they are 

optimistic the situation will improve 

by 2018. 

The AGS survey was conducted 

by WFO Rodl and Partner Advisor 

Limited while the report was presented 

at the AGS 2017 Business 

Outlook in Lagos by Olanrewaju 

Yusuf, Associate Director, Advisory 

Services, WFO Rodl & Partner Advisor 

Limited. The report also noted 

that, poor electricity supply is the 

major challenge undermining the 

businesses in Nigeria while foreign 

exchange, security, corruption, oil 

price and transportation remain 

additional challenges to doing business. 

Consul General of Switzerland in 

Lagos, Yves Nicolet, said the challenges 

Swiss companies faced in 

Nigeria were similar to those faced 

by Austria and German companies. 

He said, “It is really important to 

know how Swiss see the future of 

economy in Nigeria and through 

this survey we received a lot of information 

which can help us try to 

improve our businesses and also 

counsel new companies that would 

like to penetrate the Nigerian market. 

I’m very happy that Swiss companies 

participated in this survey. 

Switzerland has over 45 companies 

in Nigeria and most of them registered 

in Lagos, in many sectors. I 

thank Swiss companies who informed 

us about their conditions in 

their host country and their efforts 

in trying to improve Nigeria and 

Swiss relationship in the economic 

sector. We are also helping Nigerians 

who are trying to establish companies 

in my country.” 

Also, Consul General of the Federal 

Republic of Germany, Lagos, 

Mr. Ingo Herbert stated that despite 

the challenges the companies are 

cautiously optimistic about the future 

of Nigeria’s economy through 

mid-2018. 

Airport Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, with 

plan to replicate same in Lagos Airport 

among others. Presenting a paper titled “Positioning 

for Economic Recovery”, he said 

that the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan, 

ERGP, of the federal government is set to 

address the rising domestic debt profile, 

which currently stands at N11.91 trillion, 

the exchange rate tension as well as structural 

weakness, mono-product economy 

and import dependency. 

In her opening remark, Mrs. Nneka 

Enwereji, Executive Director and Head of 

Global Subsidiaries Group, Citi Nigeria, 

noted that the bank provides its Chinese 

partners with valuable content and share 

best practices that would help them navigate 

the business environment .


•Broadband 

•Shittu 

By Prince Osuagwu (Hi- 

Tech Editor) 

WHEN the 2017 edition of 

the annual global 

International Telecom Union, 

ITU, World conference opens in 

South Korea, come September 

28, Nigeria, will be telling the 

world how it plans to deepen the 

growing broadband segment of 

the bourgeoning telecom market. 

The two people the country 

expects to deliver this message 

flawlessly are the Minister of 

Communications Technology, 

Adebayo Shittu and his 

colleague, in the regulatory 

commission, the Executive Vice 

Chairman of the Nigerian 

Communications Commission, 

Prof. Umar Danbatta. 

Aggregate 

developments 

Danbatta and Shittu have been 

tasked to aggregate 

development in all sub sectors 

of the ICT industry with the hope 

of using them as a point of 

reference to how the broadband 

economy will blossom to attract 

more foreign direct investments 

into the sector. 

In fact the message is clear: 

“Nigeria’s participation this year 

should focus on deepening the 

growing broadband segment of 

the market in the country.” And 

it appears the duo are not 

making any mistakes in 

understanding government’s 

position. As a result, they have 

put together a high level 

delegation comprising industry 

stakeholders, operators, 

technology advocacy groups and 

ITU WORLD 2017: 

FG tasks Ministry, NCC 

on more FDI in 

broadband sector 

media professionals for the event 

due to hold in Busan, South 

Korea, from September 25-28, 

2017 

The ITU Telecom World 2017 is 

a global platform for major 

industry players, Small and 

It is an event for 


visibility of 

innovative 

information and 

communications 

technology 

products and 

services, as well 

as solutions 

from around the 

world 

Medium Enterprises (SMEs), 

Countries and Organisations to 

network and share ideas about 

new developments and 

technologies that would lead to 

better connected societies. It is an 

event for international visibility 

of innovative information and 

communications technology 

products and services, as well as 

solutions from around the world. 

In general terms, it would 

involve high level debates on the 

core issues affecting ICT 

industry, knowledge sharing 

•Danbatta 

and working for sustainable 

development. Although Nigeria 

has had a very robust 

telecommunications sector with 

active connected subscribers in 

LOCAL CONTENT POLICY: 

the region of 150million and about 

110percent teledensity, the NCC 

believes that more efforts should 

be deployed to deepen 

broadband penetration. 

By the National Broadband 

Plan, NBP (2013 – 2018) the 

country is expected to attain 30% 

broadband penetration by 2018, 

which currently stands at 21%. 

Nigeria will host an investment 

forum at ITU Telecom World 2017 

with Nigeria as the focus of 

discussions. 

IT professionals advocate full 

implementation of executive order 

By Emeka Aginam & 

Emmanuel Elebeke 

Computer Professionals Registration Council 

of Nigeria, CPN, has reiterated its support 

for the executive orders recently signed into 

law by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo. 

The council made its stand known during 

its Annual General Assembly in Abuja 

recently. 

The two day event attended by over 6,000 

CPN members, saw renowned IT experts and 

captains of industry assessed the level of IT 

adoption in Nigeria and offered solutions to 

improve the culture of utilisation, 

especially in public organizations. 

The Council which was 

emphatic on Executive 

Order 003, said its 

support for the order 

was in accordance with 

the Local Content 

policy of the nation. 

In his address, the 

outgoing President and 

Chairman of Council, Prof. Vincent Asor, said 

the Executive Order recently signed into law 

by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, 

came at the time the nation needed it most to 

reposition the economy. 

"All IT practitioners in Nigeria should 

support the new policy to ensure the country 

leverages on IT to resuscitate and relaunch 

the economy. 

"CPN has been at the fore front of 

canvassing increase in the utilization of local 

Continues on pg 24

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 — 21 

Etisalat describes Osagie’s 

resignation as great sacrifice 

Stories by Prince 

Osuagwu (Hi-Tech 

Editor) 

ETISALAT Nigeria, has 

described the resignation of its 

Chairman, Hakeem Bello- 

Osagie, as a great sacrifice. The 

telecom company said the 

chairman’s action has proven 

that he is an astute business man 

who wants nothing but the 

survival of any business he has 

interest in. 

Osagie resigned his 

appointment following the 

approval of a restructuring plan 

for the telecommunications firm. 

A close source at Etisalat said 

Bello wanted to step down 

immediately the restructuring 

plan was approved but had to 

restrain the urge to ensure that 

a smooth transition is achieved. 

The source said: “Although the 

chairman had planned to leave 

immediately the banks made the 

take-over move, he opted to tarry 

until a road map for the company 

was finalised. The timing of the 

resignation was strategically 

delayed till now that 

stakeholders have agreed on a 

plan. This comes more than a 

week after Mubadala 

Development Company 

directors tendered their 

resignation. 

“The development also reflects 

Mr. Bello-Osagie’s deep 

commitment to protecting the 

The telecom 

company secured 

a N541 billion loan 

from a consortium of 

local and foreign 

based banks to 

upgrade its network 

and expand its 

services in the 

country 

interest of all stakeholders. It is 

now expected that Etisalat 

Nigeria, under its new 

shareholding structure, will 

navigate through its current loan 

repayment challenge with 

minimum impact. 

“Over the last several months, 

the chairman worked extensively 

with critical stakeholders to 

prepare clearly articulated 

strategies and robust road maps 

that will mitigate the impact of 

the new shareholding 

restructuring and realignment on 

the operations and management 

of the company. There can be no 

sacrifice bigger than that. All of 

us should emulate his humility 

and his spirit of ensuring that 

every business he has interest in, 

survives.” 

Meanwhile, a new Etisalat 

Nigeria appears to be in the 

offing as the Chief Executive 

Officer of the company, Mathew 

Wilsher, and Chief Financial 

Officer, Olawole Obasunloye, 

have also joined Bello to step 

down. This appears to be in 

fulfilment of a “seamless 

transition” to an interim 

management which the company 

promised last week, following an 

agreement with the consortium 

of its creditors. 

The telecom company secured 

a N541 billion loan from a 

consortium of local and foreign 

based banks to upgrade its 

network and expand its services 

in the country but recession and 

stringent forex policy limited its 

ability to consistently service the 

•Osagie 

loan. This led to a torrent of 

negative effects including a near 

take-over attempt before the 

telecom regulator, the Nigerian 

Communications Commission, 

NCC, and its banking sector 

counterpart, Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN stepped in. 

It also led to investors, Emirates 

Telecommunications Services 

and their United Arab 

counterparts, Mubadala Group 

pulling out of the marriage. The 

last leg of the effects of the saga 

is the resignation of the current 

board chairman and key 

management officers of the 

company. Although no 

replacements have been 

announced for these resigned 

officials, sources at the company 

said a new management team 

was being formalised and would 

be made public soonest. 

However, there are indications 

that UK based Orange Telecom 

and Vodafone are in frame to fill 

the void left by Emirates telecom 

and Mubadala. 

Although many other 

companies are reported to be in 

the battle to cut the Etisalat pie, 

inside sources at Etisalat hinted 

that Orange and Vodafone 

Group are in strong positions to 

buy 65 per cent of Etisalat Nigeria 

following the exit of Mubadala 

and ETS. 

MTN to digitalise listing on Stock Exchange 

MTN Nigeria has said that 

its listing on the Nigeria 

Stock Exchange, NSE, will bring 

a digital era into activities of the 

exchange. The operator said this 

after dropping a hint that it may 

apply to be fully listed on the NSE 

before the end of the year, but that 

the application processes would be 

in a digitalised way with minimal 

utilisation of paper. 

General Manager of the 

company, Mr. Nikiwe Tsaagane, 

revealed that MTN was partnering 

with the NSE and relevant 

stakeholders in the telecom sector, 

including the regulator, the 

Nigerian Communications 

Commission, NCC, to develop an 

app that would allow potential 

shareholders to subscribe to its 

shares digitally instead of the 

usually manual process involving 

a lot of paper works. 

He added that with such 

initiatives Nigeria 

would get 

properly digitized even as the 

economy gets bolstered. Tsaagane 

who also paid a courtesy visit to 

the Minister of Science and 

Technology, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, 

weekend, said: “we are working 

with the Nigeria Stock Exchange 

to develop application platform to 

make our customers to be able to 

apply online. Nigeria will be first 

place of doing such digital 

application. 

“It is going to offer important 

role in capital market as it will be 

one of the largest transactions in 

Africa. This will showcase Nigeria 

in the global economy if we can 

achieve it. The transaction is 

structured by ensuring that it's data 

based and inclusive as we ensure 

that our Nigerian customers are 

able to participate.” 

According to him, MTN already 

has 62 million subscribers in 

Nigeria which represents a 

significant Nigerian population, so 

the effort would help to fast-track 

improvement in Nigerian 

economy. 

He stated that Nigerian 

Communication Commission and 

Nigeria Stock Exchange among 

others were fully in support of the 

programme to realise the plan. 

Tsaagane told Onu that MTN 

would like to partner with his 

ministry to enjoy its know-how and 

leadership, adding, “We will 

ensure that all the stakeholders in 

different sectors will be 

incorporated and it is important to 

obtain your input, support and 

guidance.” 

Responding, Onu said the 

ministry would collaborate with 

MTN in line with its policy 

supporting any brilliant idea 

capable of growing the nation. “We 

commend MTN for its contribution 

to our economy. We will support 

you, study your proposal and make 

our own view,” Onu said. 

IT professionals advocate full implementation 

of executive order 


IT practitioners, firms and goods and services 

by government agencies," Asor said. 

The executive order, according to him, 

mandates all ministries, departments and 

agencies of the Federal Government to give 

preference to locally manufactured goods and 

services in their procurement of information 

technology services. 

Asor declared that the CPN Act makes it 

mandatory for all persons and organizations 

engaged or seeking to engage in the sale and 

use of computing facilities, provision of 

professional services, computer training and 

related services in Nigeria, should be registered 

and licensed by the body to carry out such 

activities. 

"The Council is mandating all its members 

that are yet to acquire their current practicing 

licence to obtain them from the secretariat, in 

preparation for full enforcement of compliance 

to the Executive Order in support of local 

content in public procurement by government 

agencies. 

"Only registered CPN members with valid 

licence would be allowed to bid for IT contracts 

in all government agencies in compliance with 

the Executive Order 003." 

Asor further disclosed that the Council had 

commenced the implementation of the 

Executive Order 001, which bothers on 

promotion of transparency and efficiency in 

business environment, adding that "the 

Council has since started to achieve results 

as members can now complete the 

registration of their companies and are issued 

the licence to practice same day, once the 

relevant documents are made available to the 

secretariat online or offline." 

As part of its efforts to implement the 

approval of the inclusion of the Computer 

Professional Examination (CPE) into the 

scheme of service as agreed during the 33rd 

meeting of the National Council of 

Establishment, NCE, held in Jos in October, 

2008. He said the Council had written to 

remind both the minister of education and 

Head of Service of the Federation to fully 

implement the recommendation by the 

Federal Executive Council. 

The successful implementation of this 

recommendation he said would positively 

impact on members of the IT Profession 

because they will be accorded professional 

status in the public service and formal 

educational institutions as applicable to 

holders of ICAN profession.


Our TCCF certification, pride to Nigeria, 

Africa — Coker 

Talking to the Managing Director of Rack Centre, Mr. Ayotunde Coker, on any 

issue relating to technology, particularly on data centre, is more or less pushing 

him to his comfort zone. At the end of the day, it will turn out to be a lecture 

offered free of charge. The reason is not far-fetched. Coker is a highly accomplished, 

commercially astute technology executive with over 25 years experience 

at company, board and executive committee levels. 

He has international experience across Europe, USA, Asia and Africa with 

global blue chip organisations, such as GSK, ABN Amro, UBS, JP Morgan, 

Merrill Lynch and The Prudential. He has held the position of Global Applications 

Director at BP the global oil and gas company, and prior to returning to 

Nigeria, was Chief Technology Officer for the United Kingdom Criminal Justice 

System. So technology is home turf for him. 

In this interview, Coker expressed so much excitement that a Nigerian firm 

achieved the prestigious TCCF certification which has never been awarded to any 

African company. Enjoy the excerpts: 

By Prince Osuagwu (Hi- 

Tech Editor) 

RECENTLY Rack Centre got 

the Tier Certification for 

Constructed Facility, TCCF certificate. 

What is it all about? 

It’s simply an assessment required 

to obtain the certification 

that your fundamental is built as 

designed to be able to deliver 

99.99 per cent of uptime. It is a 

rigorous assessment to validate 

that every inch of an acclaimed 

design is built on approved standards. 

Although, since launch, 

Rack Centre has operated 100 per 

cent uptime, because we operated 

as a Tier III facility, constructed 

as designed. 

What does it mean to Rack 

Centre? 

First, authenticity is important 

to us at Rack Centre. We want to 

always do what we say and say 

what we do; do things right 

through the right means. So, having 

TCCF for Tier III has confirmed 

how eligible this facility is 

to perform the functions we allude 

to. 

Global 

profile 

There is no smoke screens like 

‘oh, we are Tier III’ data centre, 

but all ends at design; some even 

cut corners and some sorts. These 

guys will actually find you out 

when you go ahead to construct 

your data centre cutting corners. 

They are so detailed- a forensic 

analysis of the facility. Secondly, 

it fully demonstrated to our customers, 

indisputably, we are at 

that level of quality. Thirdly, this 

is a data centre in Africa that says 

it is Tier III. Now, it has global 

profile, but is it the profile that we 

just go by? We can beat our chest 

and say this Tier III certificated 

facility in Nigeria meets the standard 

in any part of the world as 

certified by highly distinguished 

body- Uptime Institute. 

So, our customers know they 

are coming to high quality facility. 

Secondly, the world is changing: 

we keep talking about Big 

Data. If you look at the number of 

Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, 

Twitter, Amazon users, in Nigeria, 

it is significantly growing. It 

gives international players- banks 

and other companies that serve African 

market, such comfort that the 

footprint/facility they are going to 

in Africa is certified. 

So, with Rack Centre, there is 

no reason people should host 

data abroad? 

If you are still hosting abroad 

you have to transverse through the 

connectivity to someone else’s 

space and you will have issues 

around latency. But, if you are 

here, the services are totally seamless. 

We now host cloud services 

in Nigeria via cloud-on-ground 

sub-brand. It’s a heterogeneous 

marketplace, a cloud exchange 

with different cloud providers 

available. So, with TCCF these 

providers are at rest with the qual- 

Companies have 

realized they have 

to invest at the 

right point in time 

instead of deploying 

resources to 

build a data centre, 

you could colocate 

in a standard 

facility 

•Ayotunde Coker 

ity of the facility to deliver their 

services within Africa to Africans. 

Rack Centre is the most connected 

Tier III data centre in Africa; 

constructed facility. 

We have all the telcos and most 

of the carriers of note and ISPs. 

This allows our customers have 

universal connectivity. We also 

have other wholesale carriers that 

deliver services across Africa. If 

you are a hosting company, 

Bank, then, host your services 

here for low latency while connecting 

to your offices in other 

African countries, at the highest 

quality. So, these are some of the 

edges the certification has accorded 

us. 

How does this add value to local 

content? 

First, in terms of investment, the 

facility is sited in Nigeria. We 

have sophisticated facilities because 

we want to attract international 

investors to the country. All 

our technical staff are Nigerians. 

There are parts of the technology 

we had to source experts from the 

United States, South Africa, but 

we always make sure there is technical-knowledge 

transfer as 

means to build our capabilities. 

You have said so much about a 

proudly Nigerian data centre 

with global standard. Is the country’s 

business climate favourable 

to you? 

One of the things we have done 

is building to meet local needs 

while complying with the global 

standards. We have such environment 

that at times not too conducive 

for a data centre. The humidity 

around March period could be 90- 

95 per cent, sometimes 97 per 

cent. The temperature can be at 

37 degree centigrade; that is very 

high. We are seemingly a power 

company because we generate 

our power. Of recent, we entered 

into discussions with Ikeja Electric 

for a dedicated line. We are 

working with them as engineers, 

not a hook and switch-on sort of, 

because we need industrial power. 

We are creating Power Utilization 

Effectiveness (PUE) in West 

Africa. We have built something 

that is conducive to the Nigerian 

environment. Nowhere is better 

than home. 

Considering what you have invested, 

would you be open to colocation? 

We will be delighted to co-locate 

telcos. We can expand the capacity 

to co-locate with them as 

certified Tier III constructed facility. 

We are carriers’ neutral, therefore, 

any telco can come here 

knowing they are not in the competitor’s 

environment. Already, 

we have some of them here; rather 

than building data centre, expanding 

same, they can just worry 

about the quality of their facility 

or switching, customer management, 

and scale up their service 

delivery at the front-end. We 

can provide the shared facility that 

will allow telcos expand. 

Has Rack center experienced 

challenges of economic recession? 

Inadequate online presence, bane 

of start-ups – Rustagi 

By Tare Youdeowei 

RESEARCH has shown 

that only about three percent 

of businesses scale past the 

fifth year due to non-accessibility 

and inadequate online persence. 

In this light, entrepreneurs 

have said that the application 

of digital technology will 

successfully drive businesses 

and make positive impact on return 

on investments. 

They made this known at the 

June edition of CFA’s Startups 

Hangout, which saw Deepankar 

Rustagi, Co-Founder of 

VConnect declare, “There are 

tonnes of softwares and digital 

tools you can use to simplify 

your business operations. With 

digital tools it would be easy for 

businesses to track and measure 

their marketing goals, while 

achieving results. 

“We live in an age where technology 

thrives and for businesses 

to cope with that pressure, 

they must start using digital 

tools. As it stands, 97 percent of 

businesses do not exceed the 

fifth year in operations and that’s 

cause for concern,” Rustagi 

said. 

Charging entrepreneurs to 

We saw a slow down last year, 

just like every other company. No 

doubt, we will continue to grow, 

but it wasn’t at the level we expected. 

It only required circumspective 

actions in spending; in 

the contest of the shift in the economy. 

However, we are tuning into 

the easy of doing business 

through our facility. Government 

is doing a lot too, which is reliant 

on e-Government and e-Governance. 

There are efforts to get the situation 

improved by latest end of 

the year, which speaks volumes 

to the international community. 

So, strategically, for us and what 

we have seen in Government, 

things will shift in the right direction. 

However, companies have 

realized they have to invest at the 

right point in time. Instead of deploying 

resources to build a data 

centre, you could co-locate in a 

standard facility. Then, you can 

focus on the growth of your business. 

There are things we say about 

small and medium enterprises 

(SMEs); there are 20 million of 

them. They are going to power 

the economy. 20 million SMEs exceed 

the population of Belgiumadult, 

children, young people put 

together. What we are bringing 

to Nigeria through Cloud-On- 

Ground is a high quality environment 

that accords these small 

businesses the opportunity to lower 

the threshold on the entry point 

to technology as means to break 

even in their businesses; even 

with small financial capacity. You 

pay as you grow/pay as you go. 

What we have built is key in the 

automation of the SMEs and will 

impact the economy. 

have accessible online presence 

and build a realistic digital strategy, 

Rustagi added; “When you 

build strong visibility and make 

your business accessible, you 

are making it easy for new customers 

to patronise you. You 

need to make your product or 

service positively different from 

what is conventionally available. 

There should always be a 

reason for a customer to patronise 

any business.” 

Co-Founder, Telnet, Dr. 

Nadu Denloye, said the current 

technology disruption has 

changed business model and 

those keeping up with the pace 

by adopting digital technology 

will be afloat. 

”Individuals or people are 

critical factors to running a successful 

business. When you 

have people around you, discuss 

and be open to ideas from 

them, they are the ones to help 

you move your business forward. 

I wasn’t a creative person 

in my early days of running 

business; I understood my 

weaknesses and strength. 

When you discover yourself it 

becomes easier for you in business,” 

Denloye advised.

Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule: The 

envisaged Nigeria he did not live to see 

NEWS ANALYSIS 

By Mike Ebonugwo 

HE was fondly called the 

Golden Voice from the 

North by reason of his oratorical 

prowess which he used to 

maximum effect to dazzle his 

listeners. Even in advanced old 

age that voice continued to 

resonate, impressing and even 

mystifying any time he opened 

his mouth to speak. But Sunday 

night that voice went silent as 

Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule 

succumbed to the cold hands of 

death shortly after he took ill and 

was flown to a hospital in Cairo, 

Egypt for treatment. 

The death of the highly 

respected nationalist, politician, 

intellectual, acclaimed orator, 

diplomat and the Dan Masanin 

of Kano, is coming at a time the 

reality of his professed dream of 

Nigeria overcoming her 

numerous challenges is still being 

eagerly awaited. It would be 

recalled that the late elder 

statesman had at a public event 

in 2012 more or less prophesied 

that all the problems currently 

afflicting Nigeria, the root which 

he traced to tribalism and 

religion, would soon, by the grace 

of God, come to an end. As usual 

he was his vintage self as he 

deployed his gift of the garb and 

easy, unassuming flamboyance to 

dazzle his audience while 

effectively passing his message 

across. 

Prosperous 

country 

According to him: “As we 

overcame all the crisis in the First 

Republic, so shall we overcome 

the crisis in the present Nigeria”. 

He did not stop there. “Therefore, 

I have a dream that Nigeria will 

soon be great; I have a dream that 

Nigeria will be a united country, 

a prosperous country that will 

take her proper place in the comity 

of nations and will lead the rest 

of Africa, inspire Africans all over 

the world. I have a dream that 

we will come to love one another 

because the problem in Nigeria 

is lack of love, our problem is 

tribalism and religion. Islam and 

Christian faith teach the same 

moral values,” he posited. 

In a television interview, the 

Danmasanin Kano blamed the 

country's many developmental 

woes on the shortcomings and 

excesses of current political and 

other leaders who he enjoined to 

turn a new leaf and emulate the 

leadership virtues of the Premier 

of the defunct Northern Region 

and Sardauna of Sokoto, the late 

Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, adding that 

they should see themselves as 

leaders and not rulers who 

should endeavour to steer 

Nigeria's ship of state in the right 

direction. He said, more 

importantly, they should work 

towards demonstrating greater 

commitment towards the 

fulfillment of the dreams 

of the nation's founding 

fathers. 

It was a sentiment 

Maitama Sule 

passionately espoused in 

many other public 

gatherings. And at every 

moment he obviously 

spoke with the benefit of 

his experience as a 

notable and indeed a 

highly accomplished 

political leader, one who 

at 20 years became the first Vice 

President of the Northern Peoples 

Congress when it was formed in 

1949. It was an experience that 

served him well when he formally 

joined politics in 1954 and was 

subsequently elected into the 

House of Representatives as the 

youngest member of parliament. 

This afforded him the opportunity 

of climbing Nigeria's political 

ladder in a confident and 

surefooted manner that took him 

to the top in record time. 

Though considered still 

relatively young, he was 

nevertheless made the Minister 

of Mines and Power in 1954 at 

the age of 29. It was in this 

Minister of Mines 

and Power in 1954 at 

the age of 29. It was 

in this capacity that he 

represented Nigeria 

in all the deals and 

contracts signed with 

Shell for oil 

prospecting and 

exploration in the 

country 

capacity that he represented 

Nigeria in all the deals and 

contracts signed with Shell for oil 

prospecting and exploration in 

the country. 

Particularly remarkable is the 

fact that he was to become one of 

the longest serving ministers in 

the aborted First Republic and 

was known to be a close ally of 

the Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa 

Balewa. And but for that highwire, 

mystifying intrigue that has 

come to define politics, he 

probably would have emerged 

Nigeria's elected president in the 

Second Republic. 

After a keenly contested 

primary of the defunct National 

Party of Nigeria, NPN, in 1979, 

he lost narrowly to Alhaji Shehu 

Shagari who was subsequently 

elected President of the Federal 

Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Sule 

Republic of Nigeria. Maitama 

Sule was later appointed 

ambassador by Mr. Shagari and 

posted to the United Nations. 

While at the UN, he chaired the 

United Nations Standing 

Committee Against Apartheid 

then ravaging South Africa. 

Anti-corruption credential: 

Maitama Sule's rapid rise from a 

humble background to a highly 

accomplished political stalwart 

and statesman was essentially 

aided by his perception by the 

political elite as an urbane 

personality possessing high level 

of integrity. This possibly explains 

why he had at different times been 

regarded as the right candidate 

for appointments requiring 

transparency and integrity. 

For instance, as head of the 

Public Complaints Commission 

which was created in 1975, he 

was said to have discharged his 

duties with dispatch, without fear 

or favour as a result of which 

corruption among public officers 

was effectively stemmed at the 

time. He was also invited to serve 

in a similar capacity in 1983, as 

the head of an ethical reorientation 

charged with tackling 

corruption. Unfortunately, the 

initiative became still-born due to 

military intervention. 

Maitama Sule was born in 1929 

at Ungwar Yola in present day 

Kano city. He started formal 

education at the primary school 

level by enrolling at Shahuci 

Elementary School in 1937. And 

on completion he proceeded to 

the Kano Middle School and 

Kaduna College (now Barewa 

College) in 1943. 

Though very popular and well 

loved across the country, many 

Nigerians still find it difficult 

coming to terms with a statement 

credited to him about the 

characters and endowments of 

individuals from Nigeria's major 

ethnic tribes. According to him: 

“Everyone has a gift from God. 

The Northerners are endowed by 

God with leadership qualities. 

The Yoruba man knows how to 

earn a living and has diplomatic 

qualities. The Igbo man is gifted 

in trade, commerce, and 

technological innovation. God so 

created us equally with purpose 

and different gifts.” 

It is a statement that has 

continued to attract geo-political 

interrogations years after he made 

it. It is not likely his death will 

put a stop to it. 


Yoruba elders, are you 

dozing or asleep? 

By Prince Bayo Osiyemi 

IAM a very proud 

Nigerian and I have 

been doing my bit to project 

the image of the nation in 

positive light anywhere I 

have the opportunity to 

speak out or to operate, 

around the continents of the 

world, as a citizen of this 

uncommonly blessed 

country. 

But I am first and foremost 

a Yorubaman who believes 

very much in the Omoluabi 

philosophy. The philosophy 

that recognises when you 

know when to talk and when 

to maintain studied silence; 

the time to act like a lamb 

and the time to behave like 

a free-born. 

Before the advent of the 

white man and their 

colonising antics, Yorubas 

knew how to resolve the most 

knotty of disputes, 

sustaining the scale of justice 

in fair manners that you 

could hardly fault the 

rightness of their 

pronouncements. You guess 

right if you say they were 

endowed with Solomonic 

wisdom. The Omoluabi 

blood is still flowing in the 

Yoruba veins, the only pity 

is that we are unwittingly 

permitting alien cultures to 

pollute, if not erode, our 

values. 

Paralysing 

puzzles 

Too many instruments are 

available to help the Yoruba 

maintain unimpeachable 

fairness and correctness in 

solving seemingly 

paralysing puzzles. But the 

two most potent ones are the 

talking drum and proverbs. 

When the talking drummer 

counsels with his drum that 

" ma se b'oti to, to ba se boti 

to, okiki a kan", it is pleading 

for restraint in our conduct 

and behaviour; nothing 

more. Or, when Yoruba say 

"opa agbeleka, tehin loju", it 

is another way of cautioning 

of dire consequences of 

misdemeanour on the 

aberrant youth or elder. 

Yorubas also say "omode 

bu'roko, o n boju w'ehin, se 

o ro pe ojo kan ni iroko nwo 

pa enia". 

There are occasions when 

elders deliberately gain 

unfair advantage over the 

younger ones; or people do 

deliberate wrong over 

others. The temptation is 

high to seek instant 

retaliation or plan revenge 

on a more vicious level but 

Yorubas are quick to advise 

victims to "fija f'Olorun ja, 

ko fi owo l'eran". 

Those who are wise 

enough to heed this advice 

always have cause to 

glorify God in the end but 

the stubborn or recalcitrant 

ones take a plunge to 

avenge a wrong done them 

and most times end up 

worst by the outcome of 

their brashness or 

impatience. In such 

situations, people ask: " se 

enia ti o ni olufisun" or is 

their case that of "aja ti o 

sonu, ti ki gbo fere ode". 

Current happenings in 

our Yorubaland make me 

ask the poignant question 

where are the Yoruba elders 

in trying times like this. 

Some may say, it's a mere 

storm in a tea cup or a little 

irritation that will shortly 

pass, but my not-too-little 

understanding of life and 

its many dramas tells me we 

are inexorably rewinding 

the tape to the best 

forgotten era when chummy 

pals are being split apart by 

supposedly serious issues 

that turn to be non-issues 

at the end of the day; and 

when brothers turn against 

themselves or husbands 

and wives pursue what is 

drawing them apart and 

not again what first bound 

them together. 

I plead for the second 

time for our elders to rise 

up to the situations in the 

land and put in their 

Omoluabi garments to 

equip them to help douse 

the fire I see on the 

mountain, before darkness 

envelops the land in an 

orgy of blind fury. The 

youths must feel concerned 

about what is going on and 

not lend themselves to be 

used as cannon-fodders in 

the raging storm. May the 

elders of 

Yorubaland 

find the 

courage to 

restore sanity 

to the system. 

Respect for 

elders must 

r e m a i n 

sacrosanct 

while the right 

of youths to 

dignity and 

regard must 

also be 

preserved. 

- This piece 

was written by 

Prince Bayo 

Osiyemi.


Keeping your cooker clean, helps 

stimulate appetite 

AS Homemakers, serving 

the best delicacies for you 

and your families should not 

only be what matters the most 

to you. Where the food is 

prepared should also count as 

this can determine the appetite 

for the food. Yes, some homes 

have professional cooks and 

what matters is the taste of what 

it is served. But if you dare 

check the place the meal is 

prepared, the meal may be 

delicious and tasty but it may 

not be healthy in any way. 

As homemakers, you may 

have already noticed that when 

the cooker or the stove looks like 

a dunghill and all the burners 

have started bringing out red 

flames, the sight puts you off 

and makes cooking rather 

uninteresting, unless the family 

has cultivated the attitude of 'it 

doesn't matter'. 

Importance of 

maintenance 

Homemakers should take it 

as responsibility to keep the 

cooker cleaned all the times. 

Health is wealth and 

everything that must enter the 

mouth must come out from a 

clean environment. If you use 

your cooker frequently for 

cooking, you must know about 

the importance of maintenance 

and how to keep it safe and 

working for a long time. 

The good news is that, it is 

not difficult to do if you want to 

and also not difficult to 

supervise and ensure that 

where your meal is coming out 

from is clean. It is just a matter 

of making it a habit to clean the 

cooker before going to bed if it 

will disturb the urge to eat 

immediately after cooking. 

Uncleaned burners can get 

dangerously clogged and gunk 

can build up so much that it 

causes small fires and rust 

which can take over your once 

beautiful cooking machine. 

Cleaning your cooker 

without stress 

(1)Turn off all your gas 

burners and allow the stove or 

the gas cooker to cool down 

completely before cleaning. 

Cleaning a stove while it is hot 

can result in injury. 

(2) Once the burners are cool, 

lift them away from the stove. 

Place them in the sink or in a 

large bucket or wash basin if a 

sink is not available. 

(3) Completely submerge the 

burners in hot water. Add a 

drizzle of dish soap to the water 

while it is running to create 

•Brushes for cleaning 

suds. Allow the burners to soak 

while you clean the stove. 

(4) With a cleaning brush or 

paper towel, brush away any 

loose debris. Don’t worry too 

much about scraping caked on 

food and grime. 

(5) Clean the top of the stove 

using a stove top cleaner or 

soapy water. With a clean rag 

or sponge, scrub the surface. 

Pay close attention to caked on 

food and grime. Don’t forget to 

scrub the knobs and face. Then, 

spray some cleaner on tough 

spots and let it soak for five 

minutes before scrubbing. This 

will help to loosen the grime. 

(6) Use a toothbrush to get 

into the crooks where the 

burners and caps sit. These 

areas can be tough to reach 

with a rag. Then wipe the area 

clean with a rag 

(7) Use a clean cloth or paper 

towel to dry the surface. This 

will prevent streaking and 

make your surface shine. 

(8)Using a toothbrush or 

sponge, wash the burner grates 

that were soaking in the sink. 

Most of the grime will wipe 

away fairly easy since they 

have been soaked for several 

minutes. Set the clean burners 

off to the side. Use the same 

toothbrush or sponge, 

wash the burner caps. 

Set them off to the side 

with the burners 

(9) With fresh, warm 

water, thoroughly rinse the 

burner grates and caps of 

the soapy residue. After, dry 

them with a clean cloth. 

Once the parts are 

completely dry, place them 

back in their proper 

positions. Your stove or gas 

cooker is now ready for use 

once again. 

Wow! Are these the steps to 

be taken every night or after 

every cooking exercise? 

No. Maintaining good 

hygiene by simply wiping the 

left overs is key but thorough 

washing must be done at least 

every weekend. 

Homemade Cleaners Easy 

To Use 

*Mixture of vinegar and 

water. Spray your cooker with 

it generously and wipe down 

with a clean rag or paper towel. 

The vinegar spray will easily 

remove spills and splashes, but 

if it's been a while since you've 

cleaned your range and have 

any sort of grease buildup you 

will need to attack it with soap 

*Table salt, baking soda and 

water 

NOTE 

Avoid spraying a hot cooker 

because a cold liquid on a hot 

stove can cause damage 

especially to the gas cooker. 

CONSUMER WATCH A place that makes you plan ahead 

Items 

Prices 

Basket of Tomatoes N15,500 - N25,000 

A bag of Pepper (Rodo) N 10,000 - N18,000 

A bag of Long pepper N6, 500 – N7000 

A bag Onion (white) N18, 000 – N20, 000 

A bag of Onion (Red) N15, 000- N18, 000 

50kg of long grain Rice N16,500 

A derica of long grain Rice N350 

50kg of short grain Rice. N15,500 - N15,700 

A derica of short grain Rice N300 

A crate of egg N1,100 - 1,200 

A bag of Olotu beans N35,000- N33,000 

A bag of Oloyin N42,000 

A bag of Yam Flour (Elubo) N45, 000- N65,000 

A bag of Gari (Yellow) N14,000 

A paint bucket N1,000 

Items 

Prices 

A bag of Ijebu Gari N12,000 

A paint bucket 

N700 

25 Litres of Vegetable Oil N30, 500 

10Litres N6, 500-N 7000 

25 Litres of Palm Oil N11, 000 - N12,200 

5Litres of Palm Oil N2,200 

Salt 

N80-N150 

Noodles- 70g 

N1500- N1800 

Spaghetti (1packet) 

N190-N200 

Macaroni(1packet) 

N120 

Semovita (10kg) N2,800- N2,900 

Pampers (cartons of 8) N3, 400 

Seasonings 

N110 – N500 

Tomatoe paste (2,200g) N1200-N1500 

Tomatoe paste (Medium) N550-N700 

Items 

Prices 

Tomatoe paste(small) 

N150-N350 

Tomatoe sachet (a roll) N250 –N300 

Pack of toilet roll (48pieces) N1800-N2, 300 

A Satchet of milk 

N30-N50 

A Sachet of beverage 

N45-N50 

Toothpaste 

N250-N270 

5 Litres of Kerosine N1,200 

12.5kg. Cooking gas N4, 500 

Yam (1 tuber). 

N400- N800 

Ugwu Leaf (a bundle) N3, 500 – N4, 000 

A dozen of tied Ugwu Leaf N1,800, 

Moin-Moin Leaf (a dozen) N800, 1 pack- N100 

Carton Titus ice Fish N19,000 

1 Carton of Kote ice fish N16,200 

1 Carton of Sawa iced Fish N10, 000, 1Kg-N600


Fisherman Soup 

By Ebun Sessou 

FISHERMAN soup is one of the 

soups in the São Tomé and 

Príncipe, an African island nation close 

to the equator. Interestingly, fisherman 

soup has become a favourite among 

Nigerians. It is currently a delicacy that 

can be enjoyed in Uyo and other towns 

in Akwa Ibom State. 

A visit to some of the hotels by a friend 

on Lagos Island revealed how fisherman 

soup was rated best of all the African 

delicacies. Chef Samson, who narrated 

his experience told her that, the soup is 

best cooked with lots of fresh seafood 

including shrimps and crabs. Adding 

that the major ingredients are okra, 

vegetables, shrimps and crabs, fish”, he 

said. 

Ingredients 

Fresh fish 

Fresh crabs 

Dried fish or 

smoked fish (or 

both) 

Stockfish 

(optional) 

Shrimps 

Dried crayfish 

Pepper 

Fresh spinach 

or pumpkin 

leaves (ugwu) 

Fresh basil 

leaves 

Onions 

Palm oil 

Salt to taste. 

Okro 

Preparations 

Chop the onions into large chunks, 

chop the peppers and fresh basil. Add 

in the fresh fish, shrimps, crabs, boiled 

dry fish, along with the chopped onions 

and peppers and dried crayfish and 

allow to cook for five minutes 

Add sliced Okro (optioal) and cook the 

soup for another 5-7 minutes until the 

okro is cooked. 

Add palm oil and cook for another five 

minutes. Wash and chop the fresh 

spinach or pumpkin leaves and add 

these to the soup, add the salt to taste 

and allow to cook for another 5-7 

minutes. 

Remove from the heat and serve the 

soup while hot. An accompanying starch 

(garri or pounded yam is optional 

Cucumber wonders is beyond 

improving men's libido 

IREMEMBER that about eight to ten 

years ago in the office, cucumber and 

groundnut snack was the favourite of many 

men. I often wondered why almost all the 

men in the Newsroom took to that menu. 

On asking, I was told that it had been 

discovered that the combo worked magic 

for men's libido. As usual for Nigerians, it 

was embraced but after a few months, it 

faded out. Only a few still follow the menu. 

Today, research has moved cucumber 

beyond men's libido to many other health 

benefits. You are probably familiar with the 

phrase “cool as a cucumber”, which 

speaks directly to the soothing and cooling 

nature that cucumbers have when eaten. 

Cucumbers are extremely beneficial for 

overall health, especially during the dry 

season since they are mostly made up of 

water and important nutrients that are 

essential for the human body. 

According to research, the flesh of 

cucumbers is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, 

and folic acid while the hard skin of 

cucumbers is rich in fiber and a range of 

minerals including magnesium, 

molybdenum, and potassium. 

Additionally, cucumber contains silica, a 

trace mineral that contributes greatly to 

strengthening our connective tissues. 

Cucumbers are known to heal many skin 

problems, under eye swelling and 

sunburn. Cucumbers also contain ascorbic 

and caffeic acids which prevent water loss, 

therefore cucumber is frequently applied 

topically to burns and dermatitis. 

Cucumbers originated in India almost 

10,000 years ago, but are now cultivated 

in many different countries and continents 

and it is found in abundance all year long. 

Cucumber benefits range from preventing 

acidity to keeping skin well toned. 

Cucumber has high alkaline levels, thus 

regulating the body’s blood pH and 

neutralizing acidity. 

Patients with gastric issues should 

consume cucumbers frequently. It 

regulates blood pressure and contributes 

to the proper 

structure of 

connective 

tissues in our 

body, including those 

in the muscles, bones, ligaments, 

cartilage, and tendons. 

During the summer, cucumbers help to 

normalize body temperature. Cucumber 

juice is diuretic, so it is able to prevent 

kidney stones. Cucumbers also counter 

the effects of uric acid, which prevents 

inflammations and conditions like arthritis, 

asthma, and gout. You will be quite 

surprised to know that this squash also 

promotes healthy hair growth and can treat 

skin ailments like psoriasis, eczema, and 

acne.

26 -- Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Herbal tea, health choices grow tea 

market 

Unilever leads market share with 32% 

Market to grow by 4% CAGR 

Stories by Princewill 

Ekwujuru 

There are indications that 

non-regular tea is now 

driving growth ahead of 

the regular tea in the industry 

as more consumers put 

health considerations in their 

choices. 

The tea industry is divided 

into four segments, the 

herbal, green and organic 

teas are the non-regular 

category while black tea is 

the regular category. Before 

now, the most popular among 

them is the black tea. 

Hitherto, the rise in white 

colar job had created stable 

growth for the regular tea 

market. 

Market makers have also 

identified slimming tea (part 

of organic tea family) as a 

major contributor to the 

growth of the sector, due to 

increased number of 

consumers interested in 

products that offer weight 

loss and or offer health 

benefits. 

Consequently, leading 

manufacturers of the 

products, both local and 

international companies are 

diversifying their focus into 

the non-regular brands. 

International brands that 

are now taking increased 

market shares in Nigeria 

without manufacturing 

affiliates in the herbal tea 

segment are Tazo Beverage 

Industry and Associated 

British Foods, ABF. Others 

are organic teas like Tulsi, 

Rose hip and Turmeric. 

The only known Nigerian 

producer is Mambilla 

Beverage Company, Taraba, 

Taraba State. 

Multinationals with 

affiliates in Nigeria are Tata 

Global Beverages, 

Promasidor Nigeria Limited, 

PNL and Unilever Nigeria 

Plc. 

Since the tea revolution 

began in Nigeria occasioned 

by increased number of 

consumers interested in 

products that offer weight 

loss and health benefits, tea 

drinking has taken a new 

order, brands like Tazo, 

Twinings, Tulsi, Rose hip, 

Turmeric etc emerged to 

add to the growth of the 

market, categorizing 

consumers’ choices. 

Lipton from the stable of 

Unilever Nigeria Plc 

overtime had controlled the 

market before the coming of 

Top tea lemon variant 

produced by Promasidor 

which propelled it to the 

second position in the market 

and eroded the market share 

of Lipton for a while, today, 

all is not the same with the 

brand. 

After local and international 

tea companies discovered the 

gap in the industry they 

flooded the market with herbal 

tea brands like Tazo 

produced by Tazo Beverages 

Industry, Twinings by ABF. 

From the number of 

respondents interviewed by 

Vanguard Companies and 

Markets (C&M), Unilever 

leads the regular tea market, 

a position it will be occupying 

for a very long time, a 

marketing communications 

expert, Jude Igbani of Orlick 

Communications, said. 

A consumer, Emmanuel 

Ejinkoye, said herbal/ 

traditional medicinal teas 

that offer a range of 

preventative and curative 

benefits – such as those made 

from the popular Moringa 

herb, have gained acceptance 

in the market. 

On slimming or health teas, 

Ebube Nwandike, a tea 

dealer at Allen in Ikeja, 

said: “Each of these teas for 

weight loss have their own 

individual, magic properties, 

from dimming your hunger 

hormones to upping your 

calorie burn to, literally, 

melting the fat that’s stored 

in your fat cells. They can 

also help reduce your risk of 

heart disease and diabetes, 

too. Stick to three to four 

cups or tea bags of these tea 

per day, and choose brewed 

varieties over bottled drinks 

to avoid extra calories and 

sweeteners.” 

Another consumer, Adigun 

Adewokun, said, “tea 

consumption has seen a rich 

growth. This growth is as a 

result of being a staple food, 

particularly in the mornings. 

Check the roadsides in the 

morning, business people, 

civil servants, transport 

operators all manner of 

persons gather at bus-stops, 

corners to have a sip before 

moving to their various 

destinations. The trend is 

more among bachelors.” 

A tea merchant, Bertrand 

Ugbaja, said: “The 

availability of a wide range of 

tea types is expected to offer 

novelty and variety for 

consumers, with growing 

health consciousness and 

desire for weight loss leading 

to greater demand for green 

tea and fruit/herbal tea, 

including herbal/traditional 

medicinal teas and slimming 

teas. Overall growth, 

though, will be driven by 

black tea, which is expected 

to benefit from growth in the 

formal working culture.” 

According to him, “tea sales 

are expected to see a total 

volume compound annual 

growth rate, CAGR, of four 

percent over the year 

supported by growth in the 

urban population.” 

According to C&M 

findings, commercial 

activities increased in most 

cities across the country, 

people are getting used to 

new ways of doing things, 

including how they take their 

breakfasts and suppers, 

which has expanded the fast 

By Amaka Abayomi 

The General Manager of 

C-WAY Food and 

Beverages Nigeria 

Company Limited, Mr. Figo 

Zheng, has pegged the 

success of the company to 

the favourable government 

policies it is enjoying from 

both Lagos and Ogun states. 

Zheng, who disclosed this 

at a press briefing to outline 

activities lined up to 

celebrate Nutri-Milk at 10, 

equally appreciated its 

business partners who have 

stood by them through the 

thick and thin of the 

business. 

food sector. Fast food shops 

are found at street corners 

and also serve a variety of 

food drinks like tea and 

beverages. 

Among these food shops is 

the tea seller, generally 

referred to as ‘Mai Shai,’ 

brewer of tea in Hausa. 

Most of them operate in 

makeshift shops by the 

roadside, where their 

customers could easily see 

them early morning or in the 

evening. 

Though, they may appear 

insignificant, some people 

have made it a habit to visit 

tea shops as their first port 

of call in the morning, before 

reporting to work and the 

last place to visit at night. 

Apart from the ubiquitous 

‘Mai Shai’, there is also 

another group of men and 

women that move around the 

city vending cold tea, hot or 

cold. 

Alhaji Ahmed Aliru, a ‘Mai 

Shai’ based in Ajegunle, 

said tea business has 

changed from what it used to 

be “when I first ventured into 

it in 1990 in Sokoto State.” 

Tea business has given him 

Leading 

manufacturers 

of the products, 

both local and 


companies are 

diversifying 

their focus into 

the nonregular 

brands 

money no other business could 

have given him. 

While some sell their tea 

hot or warm, Adebisi 

Adeleke has taken the 

business to another level, 

providing same product to 

customers who want theirs 

cold. She takes her wares in 

transparent plastic container 

around markets and busy bus 

stops. 

According to her, not all 

people like their tea hot or 

warm, so we have provided 

for that segment of tea 

market. 

Explaining that the demand 

is almost as high as the 

normal hot tea segment, 

Adeleke disclosed that she 

sells three plastic containers 

of cold tea a day and hopes 

to increase it. 

During hot days, she 

disclosed, “demand is 

usually high and on such 

occasions, I sell two to three 

big containers of cold tea. I 

make enough money to 

maintain myself, as a single 

mother, pay my bills and 

send my two children to 

private schools.” 

Revealing that the market 

is large and that she cannot 

cover it alone, Adebisi noted 

that she puts in little to get 

much. 

Unilever tea leads 

Reacting to their 

leadership position, a source 

in Unilever, who pleaded 

anonimity said the Lipton 

brand remains an 

undisputed market leader in 

the Nigerian tea category, 

with an intense passion of 

ensuring the brand delivers 

a great cup of tea bursting 

with flavours and freshness 

to every Nigerian consumer. 

“We keep our consumers at 

the heart of what we do and 

ensure all innovations on the 

brand and how we bring 

Lipton to life in the media 

space & marketplace are 

centered around what the 

consumers need. Our 

ongoing Big Idea promo 

was borne out of the urgent 

need to make the lives of 

Nigerians easier through the 

recession period." 

CWay heaps success story on favourable govt policy 

He said “The favourable 

government policy enjoyed, 

from both Lagos and Ogun 

states, at that time 

supported the foundational 

conception of this brand. 

Also, the existing market 

share potential indices 

available then at 

establishment was 

motivational and attractive. 

So also the tremendous 

market trials acceptance 

rates of Nutri-Milk which 

assisted the start up growth 

of the brand. 

“CWAY management’s 

support in providing 

sustainable trade policies, 

high quality raw materials, 

the right technology (the 

non carbonated/hot filling 

technology) and contracting 

expatriates who transferred 

skills in training to 

Nigerians who took over 

productions today.” 

Speaking on activities 

lined up for the tenth 

anniversary celebration, the 

Deputy Director, CWAY 

Nigeria, Mr. Tony 

Ojumoola, said part of the 

celebration includes C-WAY 

staff soccer challenge, 

novelty football match, staff 

happy hour, donations to 

support host communities.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 -- 27 

Stories by Princewill 

Ekwujuru 

Stakeholders in the fruit 

juice products may stir a 

new wave of crisis if 

information obtained in the 

market place and from some 

consumers is anything to go 

by. 

The consumer complaints 

may have led to nutrition 

experts’ call for reduction in 

consumption of the products. 

The development may also 

force government and its 

regulatory agencies to begin 

to beam searchlight on the 

activities of fruit juice 

manufacturers. 

Consumers’ worries are 

centered on excessive sugar 

content in most of the fruit 

drinks. 

But despite the complaints 

the manufacturers have 

continued to roll-out new 

product variants, repackaging, 

re-branding and 

re-positioning existing 

brands to gain more market 

share. 

The major players in the 

market are Coca Cola 

Nigeria, Chi Limited, Scoa 

Nigeria Plc, UAC Foods, Fan 

Milk, Vital Products 

Limited, CWay Food and 

Beverages and LaCasera 

Nigeria Limited, as well as 

some other small 

manufacturers like HDA and 

Dean Fruit Drinks Nigeria 

Limited etc. 

The leading contenders in 

the race for the market share 

also include some foreign 

brands that took advantage 

of the huge potential 

inherent in the Nigeria fruit 

juice market. The brands are 

Tropicana, V8 Fusion, Del 

monte, Tampico among 

others. 

Multinationals like Coca 

Cola’s 5Alive controlled 

the market, before securing 

franchise to make the drink 

in Nigeria, later others like 

CHI, makers of Chivita 

and happy Hour, Vital 

Product, producers of 

Vitavite, C-Way, makers of 

Vittop, Scoa Nigeria Plc, 

makers ofTropic Ice, UAC, 

makers of Delite berries, 

and LaCasera makers of 

LaCasera fruit, took over the 

market with Chivita in the 

lead. 

Consumers’ complaints 

Vanguard Companies and 

Markets (C&M) had chats 

with some of the consumers. 

A mother, Josephine 

Uwaise, based in Lagos said: 

“In my children’s school the 

authorities have long 

stopped parents from adding 

fruit juice of any form to their 

children’s launch box. 

Parents have been asked to 

add only natural fruits 

instead.” 

Mrs. Juliana Uwaezuoke, a 

mother of two, said with what 

Fruit juice manufacturers under heat 

from consumers over high sugar 

Nutritionists call for reduced consumption 

she has heard about fruit 

juices, 

government 

and 

i t s 

agencies 

should 

look 

into 

t h e 

sugar 

level in the juice 

drinks. 

Another parent, who 

simply gave her name as 

Mrs Akudo, stated: “I 

noticed that my son always 

stools immediately after 

meal. It became a habit until 

I discovered that it was the 

juice drink he takes to 

school. Immediately I 

stopped putting juice in his 

launch box the habit stopped. 

I guessed the sugar in the 

drinks were not good for him. 

I would request government 

and its agencies to check the 

juices manufacturers.” 

Experts speak 

A nutritionist, Mrs. 

Abidemi Ayoola, said that 

babies under a year old 

should not drink juice at all, 

while older kids should drink 

very little of it. 

Kids aged four to six years 

of age, she said, should have 

no more than 200mililiters, 

while older kids should have 

no more than 250mililiters a 

day. 

“Parents may perceive fruit 

juice as healthy, but it is not 

a good substitute for fresh 

fruit and just packs of more 

sugar and calories. The 

reason is that natural fruits 

contain fiber that is good for 

the children, because it 

helps keep blood sugar in 

check, reduces cholesterol 

and cleans your colon,” said 

Ngozika Ehirim, a Chef and 

Managing Director of 

Rocking wheel Cafeteria. 

Reacting to some of these 

issues, Deputy Director, 

CWay Food, Tony Ojumoola, 

said the company’s 

nutritional content is 

moderate than others in the 

market. “Our sweetener is 

moderate, particularly our 

nutritional content. 

Nutritional support groups 

are cautious of what we do 

since it has to do with the 

age of children. We have 

decided to do things 

differently. Our milk product 

is good for the children, 

because they need it for 

growth, we have taken 

caution to reduce sweetener 

in our milk products, verify 

from the parents.” 

Corroborating C&M 

findings, Amanjo Olewike of 

Jamz Enterprises, a 

distribution company in 

Okokomaiko, said cheaper 

drinks – such as juice drinks 

– are doing well through 

innovation such as 5 Alive 

Pulpy Orange (orange juice 

drink including orange 

pulp),which has attracted 

strong sales due to its novelty 

and also affordable price. 

Despite criticism by 

DeeKay 

Group, 

manufacturers of 

Nexus set of home 

appliances, said the 

The Managing 

Director 

of 

Tranos Contracting, Jude 

Abalaka, says locally 

sourced raw materials 

formed 90 percent of its 

production input. 

The 

company 

manufactures power 

generation, distribution, 

control and enclosures 

which he claimed are 

diversified technology 

products. 

Abalaka who at the 

familiarisation tour of the 

company in Lagos by media 

men, said bulk of the 

materials used by the 

company are sheet metals 

which are supplied by an 

indigenous company, and 

which accounts for about 70 

percent of its working 

material while 10 percent of 

the materials are 

accessories sourced outside 

the country. 

The Managing Director 

who said that the sector is 

consumers as a result of its 

sugar content, Euromonitor 

report show that the sector 

has continued to grow by 3.0 

percent in volume in the 

second half of 2016. It said the 

growth was slower than what 

it recorded in the previous 

year, when the compound 

annual growth rate, CAGR, 

was 8 percent due to the 

negative impact of the poor 

economy. 

"We encourage government 

to take appropriate measures 

economic situation facing 

Nigeria will not make it 

compromise on the quality of 

its products. 

We source 90% of our production 

materials locally, Tranos MD 

not without challenges, 

stated: “There are 

challenges quite alright, 

and we look at it that the 

major challenge will be the 

demand for what we 

produce , because at the 

end of the day, if you don’t 

have demand for your 

product, it will be trouble, 

because you will not grow 

if you do not sell.” 

According to him, “we 

have some demand at the 

moment, we are not by any 

chance producing at 100 

percent capacity. We have a 

lot of room to fill, with 

regards to capacity and how 

do we manage that , but 

trying to get people to know 

what we are doing.” 

Continuing, he stated, 

“we are always thinking, 

trying to develop new 

products, even as we speak, 

we have a number of 

products that are at various 

stages of development.” 

to review and 

promote full 

compliance 

with food 

quality and 

s a f e t y 

regulations, 

including 

sugar and 

o t h e r 

ingredient 

standards, by 

all fruit juice 

manufacturers in the country. 

This should be done along 

with all key stakeholders in 

the Food chain to ensure 

balance and ease of 

enforcement. 

Sugar sweetened 

beverages, including 

packaged fruit juice, can be 

part of a healthy diet for all 

consumers and, like any 

other food and beverage 

products, should be 

consumed in moderation," 

said a source in Coca cola. 

Deekay expresses commitment to product 

quality despite economic downturn 

The 

Business 

Development Manager of 

the company, Sachin Gupta, 

made this clarification at the 

press briefing to herald a 

new consumer engagement 

campaign tagged, ‘The 

Nexus Kitchen Cook Out 

with Uriel’ a cooking 

competition which is 

scheduled to visit five key 

cities – Lagos, Abuja, Port 

Harcourt, Ibadan and 

Enugu. 

Gupta said that despite 

the economic situation in 

the country, the company 

would not compromise the 

quality of its product, 

adding that “Nexus is 

synonymous with durability, 

style and value for money.” 

He said also that the new 

consumer engagement 

initiative is aimed at 

bringing consumers closer 

to the Nexus brand during 

the tour. 

Speaking on the 

introduction of a new 

website for the brand, the 

Brand and Marketing 

Manager, Mrs. Margaret 

Mary Okwudarue, said in 

an era of recession where 

consumers’ purchasing 

power had gone down, the 

firm deemed it fit to embark 

on offering quality products 

on home appliances and 

kitchen appliances at an 

affordable price to create 

value for money.

28 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

VOL. 2 NO 5 

How Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu dominated 

Igbo leaders’ discussion in Enugu 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

•And pro-Biafra groups anoint Kanu overall leader 

•Kanu and leaders of the groups 

rightly that each and every zone position as the chairman of South 

By Anayo Okoli & Dennis 

Agbo 

in the country is challenged by East Governors Forum also 

one form of youth restiveness or reflected on the dying Igbo 

E NUGU-THOUGH the other, we are particularly traditions and culture and urged 

the resolution of Igbo concerned because of the crude Igbo leaders of repute to thinker 

leaders meeting in Enugu, made dimensions that things are towards restoring the fading Igbo 

public on Sunday, failed to veering. We will continue to seek values. Those in attendance at 

mention names such as the avenues of positive resolution in 

leader of Indigenous People of order to avert bringing pointless 

Biafra, IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu or doom upon our great land.” 

Biafra agitation, South East Umahi expressed gratitude to 

Voice can authoritatively report governors of the zone, the 

that the issue of separatist leadership of Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

agitation among Igbo youths and other distinguished Igbo 

We call on the 

dominated much of the icons who worked both openly federal government 

discussion that lasted from and behind the scene to secure 

and all Nigerian 

Saturday night to early Sunday the release of Nnamdi Kanu. 

morning. 

leaders to commence 

Some participants in the closed Separatist 

a process of dialogue 

door meeting, who preferred agitations 

anonymity, revealed that the 

among Nigerians on 

issue of the separatist agitation, “However, part of the central modalities of 

particularly Nnamdi Kanu, was issues we must consider today is 

discussed extensively. Lending the manner in which the group 

achieving this 

credence to the discussion of led by Nnamdi Kanu has gone pressing question 

Biafra agitation, Chairman of the about its agitation. It’s an agenda 

South East Governors Forum, 

within a reasonable 

point which I believe will dovetail 

Chief David Umahi, in his into the equally sizzling topic of time frame 

preamble address at the meeting the moment-restructuring... one 

noted that the issue of Nnamdi of the vexing questions we must 

Kanu and separatist agitation begin to tackle with urgency is 

would form a major point of the matter of separatist agitations. 

discussion at the meeting. It is my humble submission that 

Governor Umahi in the address we must tonight set up a the meeting included the five 

admitted that the current sociopolitical 

trauma convulsing the remit to engage our restive all members of the National 

committee with a wide-ranging governors of South East States, 

landscape, particularly the youths and make a Assembly from the zone led by 

separatist agitations of some Igbo recommendation to Ndigbo that the Deputy Senate President, Ike 

youths was something that has will form basis of a resolution of Ekweremadu, and the Chairman 

been exercising the minds of the crisis,” said Governor Umahi. of South East Caucus of the 

South East Governors. Umahi The Ebonyi governor who members of the National 

said “Whilst we recognise quite chaired the meeting based on his 

C 

Assembly, Senator Enyinnaya 

Abaribe. 

Others were President General 

of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief 

Nnia Nwodo, former Senate 

President, Ken Nnamani, former 

Governor of the Central Bank, 

Prof Chukwuma Soludo, Senator 

Sam Egwu, Chief Chekwas 

Okorie, Prof Barth Nnaji, 

Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, former 

Inspector General of Police, 

Ogbonnaya Onovo, Mrs. 

Josephine Anenih, and Senator 

Gill Nnaji. The list also included 

the Catholic Bishop of Nsukka 

Diocese, Prof Godfrey Onah, the 

Enugu Archbishop of Anglican 

Communion, Dr. Emmanuel 

Chukwuma, the Obi of Onitsha, 

Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, 

Chairman of South East 

Traditional Rulers Council. 

However, at the end of the 

meeting, the resolution fell short 

of addressing the issue of the 

separatist agitations but dwelled 

on the need to quickly 

restructure Nigeria and 

implement the 2014 National 

Conference report. Addressing 

newsmen at the end of the 

meeting, Governor Umahi who 

read out the communiqué said: 

“This is a communiqué arising 

from a meeting of South East 

Governors, members of National 

Assembly, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 

our traditional fathers, our 

spiritual fathers and some 

selected Igbo leaders of Thought 

on the state of the nation. It held 

today, July 1, 2017 at Nike Lake 

Resort Enugu. 

“We deliberated on a number 

of issues and we arrived at the 

followings-Ndigbo are in full 

support of a united Nigeria, 

where peace, love, fairness, 

justice, equity and equality of 

opportunities are paramount, 

regardless of creed, ethnicity, 

gender or political affiliation. We 

condemn all hate speeches and 

misconducts from any segment 

of the country. That Igbo leaders 

lend their full support to the 

restructuring of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria on the 

platform of fairness and equity. 

We, therefore, call on the federal 

government and all Nigerian 

leaders to commence a process 

of dialogue among Nigerians on 

modalities of achieving this 

pressing question within a 

reasonable time frame. 

Reasonable 

time frame 

“That Ndigbo supports the 

report of the National Conference 

of 2014 and we urge the federal 

government to set up structures 

that will enable the 

implementation of the same 

within a reasonable time. That the 

South East Governors, members 

of the National Assembly, 

leadership from the south east 

and the leadership of Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo shall henceforth 

constitute the official organs that 

shall speak on behalf of Ndigbo. 

“That South East leaders in 

consultation with other parts of 

the country, will set up a 

committee to engage the federal 

government on all issues that 

concern Ndigbo. The South East 

leaders are taking steps to ensure 

the safety of the lives and 

property of our people in all parts 

of Nigeria, just as we guarantee 

the safety of lives and property 

of all other Nigerians that are 

living within our domain, that is 

south east.” 

And pro-Biafra groups anoint 

Kanu Biafra leader: Meantime, 

in Umuahia, the crowd was 

unprecedented. Virtually all the 

available space on Akanu Ibiam 

road, Factory road, Michael 

Okpara Avenue close to 

Government House and other 

adjoining streets around 

Afaraukwu area were taken over 

by vehicles that conveyed 

members of Pro-Biafra groups 

from across the South East and 

beyond, who converged in 

Umuahia. 

There was a heavy traffic buildup 

prompting members of the 

groups to control it. There was 

no violence though. They 

peacefully directed traffic. Their 

destination: the compact palace 

of His Royal Highness, Eze 

Israel Kanu, father of the leader 

of the Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi 

Kanu, who also lives in the 

palace which conspicuously 

hosts two flags, the Biafran and 

Israeli flags. From the junction 

leading to the palace, the over 

5000 pro-Biafra members joined 

their hands together and formed 

two walls leaving the centre open 

for their leader, Kanu to pass 

Continues on page 29

How Nzekwu, author of Eze Goes To School, 

was buried in grand style 

•as bereaved wife relocates to paternal home to allow Agbalanze society bury him 

By Nwabueze Okonkwo 

ONITSHA – Literary 

icon and co-author 

of Eze Goes to School, late 

Odinigwe Onuora Joseph 

Nzekwu has been buried 

in Onitsha, Anambra State, 

by members of his 

Agbalanze Society, in a 

haze of glory. Nzekwu, 

pioneer general manager 

of the News Agency of 

Nigeria, NAN, was 

committed to mother earth 

amidst tight security, 

following the temporary 

relocation of his wife, Mrs 

Justina Nzekwu, to her 

paternal home, before the 

arrival of her husband’s 

corpse from the mortuary 

for interment, declining to 

make public, the major 

reason for her relocation. 

However, her third 

female child, Mrs. Laura 

Adiorah, attributed her 

mother’s relocation from 

her matrimonial home to 

her paternal home, to the 

lingering traditional 

dispute in Onitsha and 

expressed satisfaction that 

her father was buried 

according to Onitsha 

custom 

and 

tradition. Other family 

sources also said that Mrs. 

Nzekwu’s troubles arose 

because, her elder brother, 

Chief Arthur Mbanefo was 

currently embroiled in a 

legal battle with the Obi of 

Onitsha-in Council in a bid 

to retrieve his Oduship 

title. 

Mbanefo was de-robed, 

ostracized and his title 

transferred to one of his 

cousins, some years ago by 

the Obi-in-Council, hence 

Mrs. Nzekwu, was asked 

to relocate in order to allow 

the Onitsha people and 

members of Agbalanze 

THE TEAM 

society to which her late 

husband belonged to 

perform his burial. 

According to Onitsha 

tradition, the widow had 

two options of either 

staying put in her 

matrimonial home and 

prevent the Agbalanze 

members from burying her 

husband because of her 

blood relationship with 

Mbanefo or relocate to her 

paternal home and allow 

them to bury her husband 

as tradition and culture 

demanded. 

Mrs. Nzekwu declined 

comments on her reason 

for relocating from her 

matrimonial home to her 

paternal home, shortly after 

members of the Agbalanze 

society had performed her 

late husband’s burial rites, 

in line with Onitsha 

custom and tradition, 

saying that it was purely a 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos (08052201257) 

EDITOR: 

Emeka Mamah, Enugu email: 

emekemamah@yahoo.com 

Anayo Okoli, Umuahia 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, Onitsha 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Enyim Enyim, Onitsha 

Chinoso Alozie, Owerri 

Chinenye Ozor, Nsukka 

Eric Ugbor, Aba 

Agbalanze society marching to perform the traditional burial ritual of their member, Late 

Nzekwu 

family affair. She, 

however, noted that she 

missed her lovely husband 

who she said had never 

raised his hand on her 

throughout his lifetime, 

adding that they only had 

arguments on issues and 

settled them amicably soon 

after. 

“I took very good care of 


through when he came out 

to greet them. Various pro- 

Biafra songs were coming 

from various sections of the 

group. It was for them a 

carnival of sort. 

The crowd was so huge 

that some of them climbed 

trees nearby to be able to 

see what went on inside the 

palace. Inside the 

compound was a 

delegation of the United 

Nations, led by Prof. 

Nwaimo Emma, a 

professor of religious 

studies. Some youths who 

designed certain things like 

Keke, aircraft, houses, 

vehicles, painted in Biafra 

colour brought them to the 

house for Kanu to see what 

Biafra could afford if 

allowed. 

Right inside the house, 

the IPOB leader, Nnamdi 

Kanu was involved in 

series of meetings with 

different groups of people 

who visited him, including 

leaders of the pro-Biafra 

groups who had come to 

make him officially the 

leader of Biafra and the 

arrowhead of the agitation. 

At about 2.30pm, 

Nnamdi Kanu emerged 

from the palace to go round 

him during his life time and 

he acknowledged and 

appreciated it. So, I had no 

quarrel with him but my 

reason for relocating to my 

paternal home today being 

his burial date was as a 

result of family reasons,” 

to greet his visitors. On 

sighting him those inside 

the compound rose up in 

happiness to receive him 

while their celebration sent 

signal to the huge crowd 

outside who went wild 

with jubilation. It was like 

demi-god has emerged. 

Men around him struggled 

to shield him and guarded 

him to his father’s openroof 

Siena car which took 

him through the length 

lined up by his visitors to 

welcome them to his 

home. It took him well over 

two hours to go round and 

return to the palace where 

the main event, installing 

him as leader of Biafra took 

place. 

After another round of 

meeting with the leaders of 

the groups, Comrade 

Uchenna Madu, leader of 

MASSOB read out their 

resolution. The pro-Biafra 

groups, were the 

Movement for the 

Sovereign State of Biafra, 

MASSOB, Biafran 

Revolutionary 

Organization, BRO, 

Eastern Peoples Congress, 

EPC, Joint Revolutionary 

Council of Biafra, JRCB, 

Biafra Liberation 

Crusaders, BLC, and 


culminated in the creation 

of six additional states in 

the country, including 

Ebonyi and Bayelsa and 

his younger brother, Engr. 

Charles Mbanefo, a onetime 

national president of 

Nigerian Society of 

Engineers, NSE, in their 

reactions, said the burial 

ceremony had never given 

them time to sit down and 

ask their sister the reasons 

why she returned home 

early that burial day, 

adding that they took it to 

be in line with tradition and 

custom of Onitsha people. 

The Mbanefos described 

the late Nzekwu as a lovely 

brother, friend, neighbour 

and in-law who lived an 

exemplary life worthy of 

emulation. Mrs. Kate 

Popoola, Head of Lagos 

Operations, NAN who 

represented the NAN 

management at the 

ceremony, described the 

late Nzekwu as an 

intellectual, having worked 

under him before his 

retirement, adding that 

during his days at NAN, 

he usually paid salaries of 

outstation staff first before 

paying himself and his 

management staff; an 

indication that he 

maintained the philosophy 

of “others before I.” 

Late Nzekwu’s only male 

she further said. 

child, Olisa, said his father 

Chief Arthur Mbanefo, a brought all of his children 

one-time chairman of state (himself and five 

and local government daughters) up in a unique 

creation committee during way, pointing out that all 

the late Gen. Sani Abacha’s of them were comfortable 

military regime that in their various homes. 

How Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu dominated Igbo leaders’ 

discussion in Enugu 

Salvation People of Biafra, 

all of who agreed to work 

indiscriminately with the 

Nnamdi Kanu led IPOB to 

pursue the actualization of 

Republic Biafra. 

Central 

leader 

Rising from the meeting 

with Kanu, Comrade 

Madu said the decision 

was to work together and 

speak with one voice under 

a central leader. However, 

according to him, all the 

groups still exist 

independently but would 

be speaking with one voice 

more so as the quest for 

referendum hits up. 

“Distinguished members 

and great people of Biafra 

and supporters of divine 

mission of emancipation of 

the land of Biafra from the 

oppressing Nigeria State, 

we salute you. Today as we 

stand in this holy land of 

Biafra in unique and 

brotherly gathering to 

honour our own brother 

who distinguished himself 

in the self determination 

struggle for Biafra 

actualization and 

restoration. 

“Today in honour of our 

supreme leader, Chukwu 

Okike Abiama and in 

remembrance of Dim 

Chukwuemeka 

Odumegwu Ojukwu, we 

the people of Biafra under 

the representation of all the 

pro-Biafra groups hereby 

adopt and declare our 

brother, Mazi Nnamdi 

Kanu as the new leader of 

Biafra Nation, who under 

his leadership, through the 

grace of Chukwu Okike 

Abiama shall the people of 

Biafra rest. Mazi Nnamdi 

Kanu’s leadership shall 

bring unity, peace, 

progress and brotherly 

love among the esteemed 

people of Biafra through 

the instrumentality of 

mutual and intimate 

understanding among the 

pro-Biafra groups”, the 

resolution stated. 

The IPOB leader in his 

reaction accepted the 

decision and said that he 

was humbled by the action 

of the various groups and 

assured them that he 

would not let them down. 

“I am humbled by this 

decision of the groups, we 

started together and we 

have all ended up together 

because we are sincere 

and purposeful."


Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 --- 31 

On cost of maintaining the 

president in the UK 

TODAY, the 5th day of July, 

2017 makes it exactly 60 days, 

two full months to the day since 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

embarked on his latest medical 

trip to the United Kingdom. It is 

remarkable that since the 

President started making the 

rounds of medical visits to the UK 

last year, Nigerians have no clue 

as to the exact nature of his 

ailment. This has left much room 

for all kinds of unsavoury 

speculations and rumour 

mongering, the latest being the 

claim by Ayodele Fayose and 

Femi Fani-Kayode that the 

president’s condition has gone 

from bad to worse and that the 

president might indeed be on life 

support. 

While one is inclined to 

disregard the report by the 

cantankerous duo as both 

irresponsible and grossly 

exaggerated, there is otherwise too 

little known about the president’s 

health status to justify any 

dismissive response. Given the 

eventually outcome of former 

President Umar Yar’Adua’s long 

stay in hospital in spite of 

assurances by his minders that all 

was well, it would be foolish to 

ignore doubts about official 

accounts of the president’s health. 

For all you care, Fayose, Fani- 

Kayode and others like them, may 

be doing us all a world of good 

even if that was not their 

intention. 

Having gone on for many 

months without any meaningful 

or respectful official response to 

their questions on the president’s 

health, Nigerians have shifted 

attention to the cost to the tax 

payer of maintaining the 

president in a foreign hospital. 

In fact, Nigerians have hinged 

their demand on full disclosure 

of the president’s health status on 

the fact that the cost of keeping 

him in hospital is being borne by 

them. They reserve the right, they 

are clearly saying, to know what 

ails the president if they must pick 

up the bill of restoring him to 

good health. This seems a fair and 

reasonable demand to all but those 

in the immediate circle of the 

president. Yet that demand to know 

or make sense of the whole saga of 

the president’s health took a new 

twist with the response of Garba 

Shehu, a senior spokesperson of 

the president’s, to the demand by 

Nigerians that the presidential jet 

No to Edo Nomadic Grazing Bill 

By Dan Owegie 

LAST week, the Office of the Governor of 

Edo State issued a statement endorsed 

by the Secretary to the Government, 

Osarodion Ogie, disowning the Normadic 

Grazing Bill which has scaled second reading 

in the Edo State House of Assembly 

purportedly being sponsored by a private 

member. The governor bemoaned the 

inundation of his office with various public 

comments, criticisms regarding the Bill. 

The executive arm of government led by Mr. 

Godwin Obaseki said it “has absolutely no 

knowledge of or participation in the said bill 

particularly as same is certainly not an 

Executive Bill and did not emanate from 

Government House”. Well-meaning people of 

Edo State are currently deeply concerned 

about an aspect of the message that: “Whilst 

the Executive arm fully respects and recognises 

the vital role of the Legislature in the law 

making process, government is concerned at 

the fact that no prior consultation or 

engagement was initiated with other arms of 

Government regarding such a sensitive issue.” 

It is important to emphasise a fact that Edo 

people love current members of the State 

House of Assembly, particularly as they have 

been working harmoniously with the executive 

arm of government since the coming on board 

of Mr. Obaseki. But many Edo people are 

seriously disturbed that if the executive 

governor of the State, who by virtue of the Land 

Use Act, is vested with the authority to manage 

all land on behalf of Edo people was not 

consulted for a bill that seeks to allocate 

grazing areas to nomadic cattle herdsmen for 

grazing in the 18 local government areas of 

the State. What does the promoters of such bill 

want to achieve and how do they think it can 

fly? 

It is little wonder, therefore, that the bill has 

generated so much furore for the very obvious 

reasons and tempers are rising. My anger is 

that promoters of the bill have given 

opportunity for the Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, led by Dan Orbih to begin to throw 

tantrums at a performing governor. The PDP 

must now look elsewhere now that Governor 

Obaseki does not know anything about the 

bill. 

Many citizens of Edo State believe that the 

Nomadic grazing should 

be out rightly banned in 

Edo State and the State 

House of Assembly should 

discard that private 

member grazing bill 

Obaseki administration has been doing very 

well since coming on board and must not be 

distracted by such a very sensitive issue as 

grazing bill. If anything, the Edo State House 

of Assembly should ban open grazing in Edo 

State and turn the bill to “Ban of Open Grazing 

and establishment of Edo State Ranching 

Commission and Other related Matters Bill 

2017." It is my opinion that any person or 

group who wants to rear cattle in Edo State 

must do so in a ranch. The Benue State 

Government has set the example recently. The 

House prepared the bill prohibiting open 

grazing and provided for ranching only. The 

Benue State governor last week signed the bill 

into law but graciously gave three months 

amnesty to anybody practicing open grazing 

in the state to move away from Benue. He 

warned that from October, Benue Government 

would begin clampdown of nomadic 

herdsmen in the state. His action is aimed at 

safeguarding the farmers and harmless citizens 

be returned to Nigeria after safely 

delivering the president in the UK. 

The cost of maintaining the jet 

with its full complement of 

presidential crew, including 

Airforce personnel, is what led to 

the social media debate that 

prompted the response from 

Garba Shehu. Nigerians couldn’t 

understand why the jet that 

What type of 

example of probity 

or transparency 

does this 

government 

pretend to when it 

engages in this 

kind of profligacy? 

conveyed Buhari to London has to 

remain in the UK even after it had 

completed its task. It amounted, 

in their view, to a colossal waste of 

funds that this should continue to 

be so and they rightly asked 

questions. This again is not too 

much to ask by a people picking 

the president’s medical bill. As one 

of two key spokespersons of the 

president’s, the other being Femi 

Adesina, Mallam Garba Shehu 

would appear to be speaking the 

mind of the president. But 

considering how little and how far 

from the president’s inner circle his 

spokespersons appear to be (for 

instance they know too little of the 

president’s activities since he took 

ill except what they are told by ‘the 

cabal’), Mallam Shehu might well 

be speaking without authorisation. 

Which means his response should 

be taken with caution. 

But what exactly did he say about 

the retention of the presidential 

aircraft in London and what are we 

to make of this? According to him, 

the aircraft is being kept at tax 

payers’ cost (no more than a 

princely 1000 pounds a day) in the 

UK in order to accord the 

president the full honours of his 

office. As Commander-in-Chief, 

the president, for Shehu, must 

retain the paraphernalia of his 

office in a manner that accords 

with the dignity, prestige and high 

status of that office. He must have 

easy and immediate access to a 

means of conveyance while 

abroad. Anything else would 

amount to abandonment of the 

president in a foreign land. 

Mallam Shehu, in his explanation, 

wanted Nigerians to understand 

that President Buhari would not be 

the first person to do this. 

In offering his explanation, 

Mallam Shehu spoke with a 

military mindset and from the 

perspective of a military strategist 

even though he is himself a civilian. 

He gave the impression that the 

president was abroad as a military 

commander, a general that must 

be flanked by his men. This all 

sounds so sweet and patriotic. But 

do we need to tell Mallam Shehu 

that for the time he remains ill the 

president has, in a sense, been 

rendered hors de combat much 

like a soldier injured in battle? 

Nobody disputes the fact that the 

president would need people (and 

he appears to have quite a few with 

him) to attend to him while he 

regains his health but what would 

be the sense of keeping his aircraft 

on a foreign tarmac for all the time 

he is abroad? For what reason 

really- an emergency that may 

require the president being rushed 

back home? 

There is something odd about 

Mallam Shehu’s explanation, 

who are daily being raped and killed by these 

obnoxious herdsmen. 

Last year, the grazing bill was roundly 

rejected by both houses of the National 

Assembly and even traditional groups, 

religious bodies vehemently opposed the Bill. 

The national body of the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, CAN, rejected the 

proposed bill on grazing reserve in the country, 

describing it as a private business that should 

not be allowed to see the light of the day. The 

association made its stance known at the 

Government House, Enugu, during a peaceful 

protest to condemn and register their 

grievances over the unfortunate incidents of 

killing, maiming, raping and destruction of 

properties of innocent people of the state by 

suspected herdsmen, especially the attack on 

Nimbo, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area. 

Even the Pan-Yoruba socio-political group, 

Afenifere, equally rejected the Grazing 

Commission Bill proposed by the National 

Assembly to address the burning issue of 

farmers and Fulani herdsmen clashes erupting 

in different parts of the country. 

Afenifere described the bill as “anti-people.” 

As it were, the ill-fated bill proposed the 

establishment of the National Grazing 

Commission which will preserve and control 

the national grazing reserves and livestock 

routes and other matters related to it. The 

myriads of opposition also reasoned that the 

bill would violate the subsisting Land Use Act 

and traditional means of land holding if 

enacted. One equally recalls that legislators 

of the South East and South South Houses of 

Assembly also rejected the controversial 

Grazing Bill last year, saying that the bill should 

not be considered in any of the Houses of 

Assembly in the two regions. 

Sadly, Edo State belongs to this region that 

took the decision and one wonders why the 

State House of Assembly, which was party to 

the decision would want to now be the black 

sheep of them all. Our people are now 

wondering: why Edo? Already, the CAN in Edo 

especially as he seems in one 

breath to praise the Buhari 

administration for saving, and 

stemming the profligate 

tendencies of the Jonathan 

administration, while at the same 

time asserting the right of the 

present administration to spend 

what was saved from the past. 

Admitting that the Buhari 

government made savings from 

the past, does that give it the right 

to engage in wasteful spending? 

How can Mallam Shehu justify 

such profligacy at a time the 

country tries desperately to keep 

the naira afloat by an artificial 

injection of foreign currency into 

the economy? Is Nigeria that rich 

to afford the kind of prestige 

Shehu dreams up for the office of 

the president? What is the sense of 

this additional wastage of forex by 

a presidency already guilty of 

wasting much fund on the 

maintenance of a presidential fleet 

of 11 aircraft in a country without 

a functional airline, private or 

otherwise? 

Isn’t it ironic that the same 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

who shortly before his 

inauguration was praised for 

flying not just commercial but in 

the economy class (?)- is it not 

remarkable that it’s the name of 

that same man that is now being 

invoked to justify a frittering away 

of the country’s foreign reserve in 

the guise of a nebulous and 

meaningless sense of national 

pride? Who in the world cares 

about a butterfly that pretends to 

be a bird, a desperately 

impoverished country that 

pretends to the wealth of the 

United States of America or any of 

the prosperous nations of Europe 

or America? What type of example 

of probity or transparency does this 

government pretend to when it 

engages in this kind of profligacy? 

State has strongly opposed the Grazing Bill 

before the Edo House of Assembly. The 

nomadic cattle herdsmen have consistently 

attacked farmers and owners of land in almost 

all parts of Edo State. Crops worth billions of 

Naira have been destroyed and many people’s 

livelihoods destroyed by the rampaging 

herdsmen. Women have been raped and 

beheaded in Ekpoma, Ewu, Etsako West, Ovia 

and many other parts of Edo State which must 

not be allowed to continue. Besides, herdsmen 

have been involved in all sorts of inhuman 

activities, including kidnapping, high way 

robbery and they are ruthless in their 

operations. Nomadic cattle herdsmen have 

also been involved in the murder of prominent 

citizens of Nigeria, even in Edo State. 

The Edo State Police Commissioner, Mr. 

Haliru Gwandu, at a recent interactive 

session with security stakeholders in 

Benin, said the Police, vigilante and local 

hunters in Edo have commenced tactical 

surveillance of forest suspected to be hideouts 

of notorious herdsmen and other criminals in 

the state. The exercise is reportedly aimed at 

smoking out all manner of criminals from the 

urban and rural communities in the state. One 

therefore wonders why the Edo State House of 

Assembly is interested in promoting this 

vexatious bill. 

Nomadic grazing is old-fashioned and 

outdated. Edo Assembly should focus on 

creating an enabling environment for the 

development of ranches by cattle farmers. In 

which case you can capture them very well in 

your business directory and tax net. That is 

what obtains in civilised and industrialised 

societies which we are copying. 

Nomadic grazing should be out rightly 

banned in Edo State and the State House of 

Assembly should therefore discard that private 

member grazing bill offending the sensibility 

of all Edo people. 

•Mr. Owegie is a chieftain of the Edo State 

All Progressives Congress, APC, Edo State. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

32 -- Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

GEMINI; If you allow minor domestic challenge to go 

out of hands you would be the loser to the detriment of 

your cause. Make sure temper don’t over-shoot acceptable 

limit, especially around 8.48pm till mid-night. 

CANCER; As the day progresses you will encounter challenges 

you will need to handle with maturity. But here is a 

day when element of good luck will see you through. 

LEO; Although there will be challenges they will serve as 

the needed tonic to make head-way; certainly success indicated 

for you. Be cautious from 8.48pm till mid-night 

VIRGO; You are likely to over do things to the resentment 

of people within your base of operation. It is important 

you respect your superiors. Be family minded. 

LIBRA; If you don’t accord the law and it’s agents needed 

respects you may walk your way into avoidable trouble. 

Deception is around; be warned. 

SCORPIO; You may find yourself between some difficult 

people who want you to do their different biddings. Let 

reason be your guard so that you are not used painfully. 

SAGITTARIUS; If care is not taken you may be deceived 

just to pick cashew nuts from burning fire for others the 

way you can get your fingers burnt. Watch carefully from 

8.48pm. 

CAPRICORN; Those of you working late this evening 

will need to be on your guard, especially between 8.48pm 

till mid-night as minor but costly mistake is possible. All 

of you should think of the law and say no to whatever cant 

be placed above board. 

L E I S U R E 

THOUGHT FOR TODAY 

The quickest way to cure any negative mood is by the therapy of 

Thanksgiving. There is healing power in praise.” — Steve Pease 

“It’s your outlook on life that counts. If you take yourself lightly 

and don’t take yourself too seriously, pretty soon you can find the 

humor in our everyday lives. And sometimes it can be a lifesaver.” 

— Betty White 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

By Kola Fayemi 

AQUARIUS; Friends may unconsciously disappoint you 

today; that is to say it is better you don’t expect too much 

from promises made to you especially from 8.48pm. 

KAPTAIN AFRIKA in “Pretty Lunatic’ By Andy Akman 

PISCES; Those of you who have been rigid of recent may 

be paid back in your own coins. Try your best to pacify 

your spouse and/or other important partners of yours. 

ARIES; This is the wrong time to fan embers of discord, 

especially within your working arena. Getting things done 

properly will earn you success. Be loving. 

TAURUS; Deception is in the air today. Unless you are 

very cautious those who thought they are more clever 

would take undue advantage of you to the detriment of 

your finances. Do away with gambling with matters-ofthe-heart. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

Send your date e and place of birth th to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, 7, Apapa, Lagos 

Can colour help? 

Dear Joshua, 

I have it nice in some areas of my life while other side 

can not be said to be Ok Why? Somebody tells me that 

combination of good colours can assist; is it true? Anyway 

what are my colours, love life, socials, luck and the 

future? 

Titilayo. Abuja. 

Dear Titilayo, 

Yes good colours can enhance good prospects and mitigate 

some hard aspect if applied at the right time rightly. 

Here is where a few challenges are indicated. Although 

you are the disciplined type, because of closeness between 

Venus (love) and difficult Saturn (tough challenges/delay) 

you just can not totally escape frustration here. But as 

Saturn will not put one on trial without adequate reward 

you will eventually be rewarded and be happy. Yet have it 

at the back of your mind that you must not expect too 

much here. Luckily for you as Lucky Jupiter will soon be 

at a positive angle to your natal planets very soon, things 

will soon improve very rapidly. 

Yours is an active and happy social life. But then if POLI- 

TICS comes your way do not say no. It is important you 

don’t give in to negative spiritual side of life. 

Your POWERFUL MIND, both YOUR PERSONAL and 

OTHER PEOPLES= INFLUENCES are many times 

sources of your SUCCESS. Then eleventh hour help assistance 

and or help always come your way some times 

when hopes are almost lost. You are meant to achieve 

GREATNESS. YELLOW/GOLDEN and black are your 

favourable colours. 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa



N-Delta youths protest IOCs' refusal to relocate 

By Chris Ochayi 

A BUJA—YOUTHS 

in the Niger Delta 

region have protested the 

continued refusal of 

International Oil 

Companies, IOCs, to 

relocate their corporate 

headquarters to areas of 

their operations. 

The youths said that the 

action of the multinational 

corporations was 

in defiance of the 

presidential directive 

issued to them by acting 

President Yemi Osibanjo 

during his peace tour of 

the Niger Delta region. 

Operating under the 

aegis of Pan Niger Youth 

Leadership Forum, 

PANDYLF, the youths, 

who accused the multinational 

corporations of 

arrogance, argued that 

their actions amounted to 

disregard of the highest 

constituted authority, the 

presidency, which issued 

the relocation order. 

Addressing newsmen, 

yesterday, in Abuja, 

National President of 

PANDYLF, Mr. Famous 

Daunemigha, expressed 

concern over the 

development, which he 

described 

as 

“unacceptable.” 

Daunemigha, while 

demanding the 

immediate relocation of 

the corporate 

headquarters of the oil 

companies to the Niger 

Delta, said: “Enough of 

this show of arrogance by 

oil producing companies. 

They cannot continue to 

have their head offices 

located outside where 

their operations are 

taking place. This is 

unacceptable to us the 

youths in the region.” 

He said that the issue of 

youth restiveness in the 

region should not be the 

yardstick or excuse for the 

oil companies not to 

relocate to the region, 

arguing that the issue of 

restiveness was 

something that just 

started in the region and 

would be nipped in the 

bud. 

He said: “I want to still 

remind Nigerians that 

when the Vice President 

came to the Niger Delta, 

he didn’t come in the 

capacity of the Vice 

President, he came as the 

President of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria. 

“He was the acting 

President and if the 

President has made a 

pronouncement to the 

IOCs to relocate their 

headquarters, I think that 

the pronouncement 

should be respected by all 

the operating companies 

in the Niger Delta. 

“And even our 

constitution also made a 

provision that the oil 

companies should have 

their headquarters 

VISIT: Delta State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah (left), 

presenting copies of Veracity Magazine to the Head of News Operations, 

African Independent Television, AIT, Mr. Odion Bello, during a visit to the 

corporate headquarters of the media house, in Abuja, yesterday. 

Govt’s quit notice unsettles Rivers 

community 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT 

HAR- 

C O U R T — 

RESIDENTS of 

Ahiamakara, in 

Ogbunabali Community, 

Port Harcourt City Local 

Government Area, Rivers 

State, have been thrown 

into pandemonium 

following a quit notice 

served on them by the state 

government. 

It will be recalled that the 

state government, through 

its Ministry of Lands and 

Survey, has been on 

massive land reclamation 

and in the course had 

demolished several houses, 

including Unity Estate in 

Eneka and the waterfronts 

in the city. 

In an eviction letter 

served on the residents of 

Ahiamakara, by the 

Permanent Secretary of the 

Ministry of Lands and 

Survey, D. W Jack, which 

was sighted by our reporter, 

the government notified 

occupants and lessees of 

property in the area to 

vacate the area within 

A-Ibom Internal Revenue Service partners 

FRSC on highway safety 

By Dennis Udoma 

UYO—AKWA Ibom 

State Internal 

Revenue Service has 

expressed its readiness 

to work with the Federal 

Road 

Safety 

Commission, FRSC, to 

enhance highway safety 

in the state. 

Chairman of the Board, 

Mr. Okon Okon, made 

this known when the 

new Sector Commander 

of the Federal Road 

Safety Commission, 

Akwa Ibom State, Mr. 

Sunday Oghenekaro, 

paid him a courtesy visit, 

yesterday. 

He said that the state 

government was striving 

to provide roads in the 

state. He urged motorists 

to imbibe safety 

standards in order to 

reduce carnage on the 

highways. 

He appreciated FRSC 

for the existing 

collaboration between 

the state government and 

the commission, adding 

that more can be 

achieved in the area of 

internally generated 

revenue if the 

relationship 

maintained. 

was 

Okon commended the 

FRSC’s safety 

techniques through the 

establishment of Road 

Safety Clubs in 

secondary schools across 

the state to entrench 

road safety culture 

among youths. 

Earlier, the Sector 

Commander of FRSC, 

Akwa Ibom State 

Command, Mr. 

Oghenekaro lauded the 

state government’s 

development effort in 

road infrastructure, 

cleanliness and peaceful 

co-existence in the state. 

operating around the 

areas they are operating 

in and I think that is also 

very important.” 

On security, Mr. 

Daunemigha, who was 

also a former Deputy 

President of Ijaw Youths 

Council, IYC, said the 

youths would not only 

support, but provide 

necessary security for the 

IOCs relocating their 

headquarters to the 

region. 

seven days. 

The notice stated that the 

ultimatum would elapse on 

July 7 and warned that 

anyone who acts contrary 

to the order or mutilates the 

notice is liable to be 

arrested and prosecuted. 

It further noted that 

evacuation in the area 

would give way to 

reclamation and 

construction work by the 

state government to 

commence. 

But the notice, when 

received, caused anxiety in 

the community as the 

residents who were agitated 

called on the state 

government to act on their 

initial agreement by 

paying them compensation 

before evicting them. 

Speaking, yesterday, in 

Port Harcourt, a resident of 

the area, Mr. Kakor 

Macson, described the 

move by the government to 

demolish the area without 

following the actual process 

as an act of injustice. 

Macson, who is a 

landlord in the area, 

advised the state 

government to compensate 

the affected residents 

before evicting them, 

noting that they do not have 

anywhere else to go to if the 

government carries out its 

threat of evicting them 

without compensation. 

Judiciary reporters hold 

workshop tomorrow 

PRESIDING Judge 

of the Court of 

Appeal, Lagos Division, 

Justice Mohammed Garba 

and the pioneer Chairman 

of the Nigeria Copyright 

Commission, NCC, Prof. 

Egerton Uvieghara, are 

among dignitaries 

expected to grace the 2017 

annual lecture of the 

National Association of 

Judiciary Correspondents, 

NAJUC, Lagos chapter, 

which comes up tomorrow 

at Muson Centre, Lagos. 

The event with the theme: 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Act 2015: 

Innovations, Challenges 

and the Way Forward, will 

have in attendance the 

Lagos State Attorney 

General 

and 

Commissioner for Justice, 

Mr. Adeniji Kazeem and 

Chief Felix Fagbohungbe, 

Ndokwa nation in Lagos 

lauds Delta Dep Speaker 

By Onuzure Dania 

MR 

Friday 

Osanebi, Deputy 

Speaker, Delta State House 

of Assembly, was received 

by the leadership of 

Ndosumili Development 

Union, NDU and Ukwuani 

Foundation Union, UFU, 

in conjunction with NNU 

President-General Chief 

Johnson Opone in Lagos, 

yesterday. 

UFU President, Chief 

Joseph Olise, who 

welcomed the Deputy 

Speaker on behalf of NDU 

and UFU, thanked Osanebi 

for honouring their 

invitation to a meeting to 

chart a way forward for 

better Ndokwa nation. 

Briefing the house on the 

Burial 

THE mother of Mr. 

Ikechukwu Ani, 

Head, Press and Public 

Relations Unit of the 

Police Service 

Commission, Mrs 

Beatrice Ani, nee Enwu, 

is dead, aged 70. 

She was a successful 

teacher as she rose to 

Headmistress Special 

Class before her 

retirement. 

Funeral arraignment 

will be announced later. 

Late Mrs Beatrice Ani 

SAN, as the Special Guests 

of Honour. 

Justice Garba, who will 

deliver the main lecture will 

review the Administration 

of Criminal Justice Act, 

ACJA, 2015, two years after 

it was signed into law. 

A statement by Chairman 

and Secretary of NAJUC, 

Peter Fowoyo and 

Olugbenga Soyele, noted 

that ACJA is a 

revolutionary intervention 

in the country’s justice 

sector delivery system that 

was ostensibly formulated 

to impact on the quality of 

justice and avoid delays in 

the adjudicatory process. 

He said: “Nigeria as a 

democratic country, has a 

duty to ensure that people, 

both rich and poor, can 

easily use the institutions 

and processes of law to 

resolve their disputes." 

achievements of the current 

government in the state, 

Osanebi described 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

as a listening governor, 

who means well for 

Ndokwa nation. 

Burial 

PRINCESS 

Anire 

Gbenebichie is dead, 

aged 51. 

Service of songs holds 

Friday, at Winners Chapel, 

Ugbeyiyi Road, Sepele, 

Delta State. Funeral service 

and interment come up 

Saturday, at Aziza Lane, 

Ugbeyiyi. 

Burial 

Late Anire Gbenebichie 

D EACONESS 

I b u k u n 

Fatimehin, of Oke-Ila, 

Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State is 

dead, aged 74. Christian 

wake keep holds at L36, 

Afatilo Street, Oke Ila, 

Ado-Ekiti, on July 7, while 

internment comes up 

July 8. 

Late Madam Fatimehin



MATRICULATION: From left, Provost, Imo State College of Health and Management Sciences, 

Amaigbo, Dr Canice Duru; former Minister of Information and Culture, Prof Walter Ofonagoro; and 

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Owerri, Mr Augustine Iheka, who represented Governor 

Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, at the 15th matriculation ceremony of the college. 

Ndigbo want equal number of states, 

fiscal federalism —Ohanaeze, Ezeife 

•One Nigeria unattainable without restructuring 

•We need to allow states develop at their pace — Udeogaranya 

•You're on your own,BIM blasts S/East govs, leaders 

By Chioma 

Gabriel, Editor 

Special Features & 

Chinedu Adonu 

FOLLOWING persistent 

ethnic agitations across 

the country, the Igbo apex 

organisation, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, has reiterated its 

position for the restructuring 

of Nigeria to benefit every 

tribe and geo-political zone. 

This is even as former 

Anambra State Governor, Dr 

Chukwuemeka Ezeife, 

asserted that one indivisible 

Nigeria is unattainable 

without restructuring. 

Speaking through its 

Deputy National Publicity 

Secretary, Chukwudi 

Ibegbu, Ohanaeze said a 

situation where other geopolitical 

zones have six states 

while South East has only 

five and 95 local government 

areas is not palatable. 

“A state like Kano alone 

has 44 local governments 

while the entire South-East 

has 95 despite the huge 

population of Ndigbo in 

Nigeria,” he said. 

Ohanaeze lamented that 

there has not been credible 

census in Nigeria since the 

1963 headcount. 

His words: "Igbo are the 

second in population in 

Nigeria. Igbo are 

everywhere. Nigeria needs 

a credible census that will 

factor in religion and 

ethnicity for proper and 

equitable distribution of 

resources. There has not 

been any credible census in 

Nigeria. The South-East has 

only five states and many 

have said that is equivalent 

to its population but we 

know that is not true. 

“We want fiscal and 

structural restructuring. We 

want implementation of the 

2014 confab reports and more 

states and more local 

government areas in the 

South-East. We want equity, 

justice and fair-play. We 

want issues that lead to 

agitation to be addressed. 

We want the killing of our 

people in the North to be 

stopped.” 

One Nigeria 

unattainable without 

restructuring —Ezeife 

Speaking from Abuja, 

yesterday, Dr Ezeife said: 

“We must go back to the 

'agreed Nigeria,’ that is, the 

structure of Nigeria, as 

agreed by the founding 

fathers— our heroes past. 

That 'agreed Nigeria’ was a 

federal structure, with 

regions as federating units. 

"Initially, there were three 

regions: Eastern, Western 

and Northern. Midwestern 

region was created later, 

making four regions: three 

in the South, one in the 

North. Each region had its 

own constitution and 

operated fairly 

autonomously. The Federal 

Government handled issues 

universally agreed to be 

federal responsibilities, 

issues like external relations, 

currency, weights and 

measures, etc. 

“There was fiscal 

federalism as the resources 

for running the Federal 

Government came, basically, 

from the federating units. 

Each region controlled its 

resources and grew at its own 

pace. 

"The people owned their 

regions in the sense that 

people in the regions were, 

particularly, concerned about 

how their regions were run. 

That was mainly because the 

money spent in the regions 

was basically internally 

generated—contributed by 

the people of the regions, 

through taxation, other 

payments, etc. 

" The main problem is that 

as the country is currently 

structured and run, the 

country is growing 

backwards, indeed, taking 

giant steps backward." 

We need to allow 

states develop at their 

pace — Udeogaranya 

For Udoka Udeogaranya, 

who is aspiring for the 

presidency in 2019 on the 

banner of the APC, “At the 

inception of this 

administration that was 

beleaguered with economic 

challenge arising from the 

crash of crude oil prices at 

the international market, 

clamour for the devaluation 

of Naira began to rise and 

then now, the clamour for the 

restructuring of Nigeria. 

“I warned the agitators that 

direct devaluation of our 

currency will not yield any 

solution but compound it the 

more. Today, our 

government is doing 

everything within its powers, 

including plunging our 

critically needed funds into 

forex market, all in an effort 

to reverse their mistake of 

direct fixation and 

devaluation of our currency. 

"Now, almost everyone is 

shouting restructuring and 

when you ask why, the 

answer usually falls within 

the ambit of a constitutional 

amendment. 

“Let me state 

unequivocally before it is too 

late that Nigeria does not 

need anything else but these 

three: constitution 

amendment, good 

leadership with a human 

face, enthronement of 

meritocracy and 

reorientation of our citizenry. 

I am particularly against big 

governments and the idea of 

states/local councils being 

funded from the centre. 

"A constitution 

amendment that will allow 

states to fend for themselves, 

develop at their own pace or 

be proscribed is the solution." 

You're on your own, 

BIM blasts S/East 

govs, leaders 

Meantime, National 

Director of Information, 

Biafra Independence 

Movement, BIM, Sunday 

Okereafor, has declared that 

South-East governors, 

National Assembly 

members, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo and other leaders 

that met in Enugu on 

Sunday to declare their 

support for restructuring are 

on their own. 

Okereafor disclosed this in 

an interview with newsmen, 

saying the decision to back 

restructuring by top 

politicians from the zone was 

not in the interest of Ndigbo, 

that have for long been 

clamouring for Biafra. 

According to him, “the 

problem of the zone is 

mainly insensitivity on the 

part of political leaders who 

take decisions without 

feeling the pulse of the 

larger populace." 

Okereafor then attacked 

the leaders on why the 

people were not properly 

consulted before declaring 

their support for 

restructuring. 

He said: “What are you 

restructuring in a country that 

is almost turning to shreds? 

Why will you impose your 

decision without 

consultation, which is 

against the desire of the 

majority? 

“BIM is saying that 

restructuring is not in the 

interest of Igbo nation. All we 

are saying is that the Federal 

Government should give 

room for the conduct of a 

referendum, then we will 

know if our political leaders 

were right in their support 

for restructuring or the 

people's demand for Biafra 

is more popular." 

Stop celebrating criminality, 

mediocrity, Obi tells students 

A WKA—FORMER 

Governor of Anambra 

State, Mr. Peter Obi, has 

advised students of Nnamdi 

Azikiwe University, Awka to 

stop celebrating criminality 

and mediocrity. 

He said this during a 

special service organised by 

the proprietors and students 

of Holy Family Centre to 

appreciate the former 

governor for his positive 

services to humanity, 

especially his contributions 

to the advancement of 

education. 

Speaking to students after 

the mass, Obi, who frowned 

that in Nigeria, goodness, 

merit, and excellence are 

despised, while idiots and 

mediocre are elevated, 

advised students not to be 

part of what he called 

"misplacement of values." 

He said for students to 

make it in life, they should 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

O 

W E R R I — 

GOVERNOR 

Rochas Okorocha of Imo 

State, yesterday, asked for 

the particulars of Igbo 

indigenes in foreign prisons, 

saying “some of them being 

unjustly imprisoned could 

not be ruled out.” 

Okorocha was quoted to 

have made this statement 

when he received Defence 

Advisers and Attaches from 

various countries serving in 

Nigeria, at Government 

House, Owerri led by 

Director Foreign Liaison at 

Defence Intelligence 

Agency, Brigadier-General 

Augustine Agundu. 

According to the release by 

the governor’s Chief Press 

Secretary, Mr Sam 

Onwuemeodo, “most of the 

Igbo sons and daughters are 

languishing in various 

prisons of the world with 

some for obvious reasons and 

some unlawfully 

imprisoned. 

“I beg as a governor of the 

state that if you go home, 

especially those from China, 

always look for those with 

sterling character as role 

models. 

He encouraged students 

to always learn to live 

decently and take their 

academics seriously. He 

called on them to always 

bear in mind that the world 

is today driven by 

knowledge economy over 

other things. 

“The bearers of this 

knowledge economy are 

those who can midwife their 

ideas into workable 

realities”, he said. 

The man in charge of the 

community, Rev. Fr. Dominic 

Obielosi thanked Obi for his 

continued contributions to 

the growth of education not 

just in Anambra, but in 

Nigeria. He advised him not 

to relent and to remain a role 

model to the youth in fact and 

in name. 

Igbo unjustly imprisoned in 

foreign countries—Okorocha 

Korea, Turkey and USA, and 

you facilitate their release, I 

will be ready to come over 

and pick them and 

reintegrate them in our 

society. 

“Imo is where you have 

the brain box of the nation, 

literacy rate is very high here, 

we are very industrious 

people. We control the 

commerce of this nation; you 

have come to the right place 

for the cultural interaction 

and exchange and you will 

meet the right people". 

The release also quoted 

the leader, Director Foreign 

Liaison at Defence 

Intelligence Agency, 

Brigadier-General 

Augustine Agundu, as 

saying: “We came in 

company of the foreign 

defence attachees in 

Nigeria, on three days 

cultural tour to the state with 

their families to see the 

beauty and cultural diversity 

of the state. 

“Terrorism and insurgency 

have no border, which called 

for world leaders to come 

together to fight the scourge 

to ensure peace and security 

globally.” 

Abia lawmaker urges FG to 

rehabilitate Aba-Ikot Ekpene Rd 

By Ugochukwu 

Alaribe 

ABA— 

DEPUTY 

Majority Leader of 

Abia State House of 

Assembly, Chief Solomon 

Akpulonu, has urged the 

Federal Government to fix 

the dilapidated Aba-Ikot 

Ekpene highway to end 

the suffering of road users 

in the area. 

Addressing a town hall 

meeting, Akpulonu, who 

represents Obingwa East 

State Constituency, stated 

that the people of the area 

have been cut off from Aba 

town as well as the 

neighbouring council 

areas in Akwa Ibom State 

and called on the Federal 

Government to urgently 

address the situation. 

He lamented that 

community roads across 

the five wards of the 

constituency have been 

destroyed by heavy duty 

trucks who now use them 

to cut off the dilapidated 

portions of the highway.


Could he be cheating? 

Not being able to have sex is frustrating 

Dear Bunmi, 

I'm 29 and single and I 

have no luck with men. I 

recently met someone who 

came on relief duty to the 

head office of the company I 

work with and there was an 

instant attraction. We saw 

each other every day and 

became very close. 

Unfortunately, no matter 

how hard we tried to make 

love, we were unable to. 

It doesn’t matter how many 

times I try, I can’t do it. This 

is so frustrating for me and 

the men I meet. 

This man has now gone 

back to his old office without 

saying goodbye, which has 

made me feel depressed. I 

am off men for now because I 

don’t want to disappoint 

them. What can I do to solve 

this problem? 

Tiwa, by e-mail. 

Dear Tiwa, 

Sex should be a pleasure - 

never an ordeal. Instead of 

plunging into a sexual 

relationship with a man, first 

get to know him as a friend. 

This will allow your trust in 

him to grow. As your 

relationship deepens and 

No longer cares whether hubby stays or not 

DearBunmi, 

Last year, my husband left 

for his home town to visit his 

aged mum. At least, that was 

what he told me, not 

knowing he was holed up in 

his lover’s flat for the whole 

period! 

It broke my heart when I 

discovered that, as we’d 

been married for 19 years 

and have four lovely 

children. 

Since this incident, he’s 

had lots more affairs and 

whenever he’s found out, he 

is always apologetic. 

Things have got to a stage 

that I’m much happier when 

he’s not around. I still care 

for him in my own way and 

there are the children to 

consider. I’m quite 

comfortable and can provide 

a good home for us all 

without him. 

Joyce, by e-mail. 

Dear Joyce, 

It’s obvious that you’ve 

come to terms with being 

without the company of 

your husband, and you’re 

enjoying the stability of 

being alone. If this is true, 

think: carefully before you 

make a decision about your 

you both feel ready to have 

sex for the first time, confide 

in him that you’re a virgin 

and that until now sex has 

not been possible. Simply 

admitting your frustration to 

a man, and sensing his 

acceptance and his desire 

to please you, will help you 

to relax. 

future with your husband. 

After so much 

unfaithfulness, you need 

some guarantee before you 

run the risk of being hurt 

again. The fact is he’s 

She's harassing me because 

I dumped her 

DearBunmi, 

I met this girl at a party 

and she was all over me. 

She gladly came to the flat 

with me and we had sex all 

night. The following day, 

she took my phone number 

and promised to call. But I 

really didn’t fancy more 

romps with her. In the 

daylight, she looked a bit 

like a hustler, so I didn’t 

pick her call when she 

phoned. 

Now she sends me nasty 

texts and has used public 

phone booths to make 

threatening phone calls, 

saying she’ll make me 

regret the day I met her. 

How do I handle this? 

Kingsley, by e-mail. 

Dear Kingsley, 

Sex should be a 

pleasure - never an 

ordeal. Instead of 

plunging into a sexual 

relationship with a 

man, first get to know 

him as a friend. This 

will allow your trust in 

him to grow 

You have found this a 

problem because your 

muscles have tensed to 

block an intrusion. When 

you sense that a man will 

be patient and not reject 

you, love- making will seem 

easier and less threatening. 

The joy of sex will soon be 

yours. 

broken the contract he 

made with you over and 

over again, so it’s up to you 

now what happens next. 

Whatever you decide, 

think of yourself and the 

happiness of the children 

first. 

She’s right isn’t she? 

You’re regretting the day 

you met her already! Not to 

worry though, the woman 

making this threat is the 

one with the problem, not 

you. 

People who are bullied 

can feel guilt and shame 

but that’s just part of the 

bully’s 

tactics and you need to 

ignore her. Change your 

phone number if this will 

help get her off your back. If 

she still gets through to you, 

tell her firmly she should 

move on with her life - just 

as you’ve done. Next time a 

free lay rears its head, think 

twice. Like the saying 

goes, if it’s too good to be 

true, it probably is! 

Dear Bunmi, 

When I met my boyfriend 

a year ago, the attraction 

was instant and our sex life 

was great. 

Recently though, it has 

gone down-hill since he got 

promoted at work and 

started working long hours. 

I’ve tried everything to get 

him interested again, but 

now I’m scared he’s 

cheating on me. 

Nnena by e-mail 

Dear Nnenna, 

You’re totally overreacting. 

Every couple’s sex 

life has slow times when 

one or the other just doesn’t 

feel like doing it. And while 

you shouldn’t simply sit 

I live in fear my past could catch 

up with me 

Dear Bunmi, 

I have been married for 

close to 30 years. Eighteen 

years ago, my husband and 

I went through a rough 

patch when his 

philandering took an 

alarming turn. Out of 

frustration, I did 

something I regret by 

starting an affair with a man 

from my office. 

He was single then but in 

serious relationship with a 

lady he eventually married. 

Neither my lover nor 

his friend knew my 

husband at the time. 

A couple of years ago, I 

found out that my husband 

and these two men were 

members of the same club. 

I have this belief that one of 

them has told a few more of 

their circle, including a 

man who is close to my 

husband. This man brings 

up my 

former lover’s name in my 

company. I have a feeling 

he may be testing my 

reaction. 

Or do you think this is just 

my guilt coming out? I live 

in fear that my husband will 

find out. He’d never 

forgive me. I don’t want to 

carry on like this with my 

marriage 

in jeopardy from 

back and let things slide, 

rushing into panic mode will 

just make the situation 

worse. 

The fact you’ve desperately 

tried to get your boyfriend 

interested is probably 

making him feel really 

pressure. And you panicking 

that he might be cheating on 

you is only alienating him 

even more. No wonder he 

doesn’t feel like sex. 

Instead, start being 

supportive and sympathetic 

about his work problems and 

accept that for a little 

while, sex will be on the 

back burner. That approach 

is much more likely to get 

your sex life going again. 

something that took place 

ages ago. 

Boma, by e-mail. 

Dear Boma, 

The scariest secret a 

woman can keep is that on 

infidelity. All of us have 

skeletons in the cupboard 

but yours has been rattling 

around and haunting you for 

far too long! Almost two 

decades ago, when you felt 

in need of affection, you 

momentarily lost control and 

had an affair. Your husband 

had his share of affairs too. 

But what makes you think 

this lover of yours who is 

now married with his own 

children, will want to upset 

the apple cart now after all 

these years? He has as much 

to loose as you. 

If your worst nightmare 

were to come true, it would 

be your word against his. 

And what explanation 

would he give to his wife for 

bragging about a stale affair? 

Do you know how many 

affairs this man’s had after 

yours? I would put the whole 

incident at the back of my 

mind if I were you. Both you 

and your husband are in 

your middle years - you 

have more constructive plans 

to grapple with. 

The scariest secret a 

woman can keep is that on 

infidelity. All of us have 

skeletons in the cupboard 

but yours has been rattling 

around and haunting you 

for far too long! 

Share your problems and release your 

burden. Write now to Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B 1007, 

Apapa, Lagos, or bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk


WITH CHARLES KUMOLU 

midweekpersonality@gmail.com 

08052140865 (sms only) 

JUST like some successful Nigerians today, 

whose ascendency to the top was marked by 

harrowing experiences occasioned by the 

circumstances of their birth, Prof. Joseph 

Ajibola was not born into greatness. The 

President of the Chartered Institute of 

Bankers of Nigeria, CIBN, defied the 

deprivations of his background to achieve 

greatness. With experiences from his 

polygamous home and the lessons he learnt 

as a house boy, the Ekiti State-born Ajibola 

rose to the peak of his banking and 

academic careers. While others would have 

opted not to work again after retirement, he 

returned to the academia where he currently 

heads the Economics, Banking and Finance 

Department of Babcock University. Certainly 

his story as a house boy, First Class Degree 

holder, Professor and Banking guru leaves 

inspirations in its trail. 

ON growing up, defining experiences 

Life experiences have been that of struggle 

for survival from infancy to adulthood because of 

my peculiar background of growing up as a village 

boy and having to survive in a very tough 

polygamous setting. I am grateful to Almighty God 

for seeing me through primary 

school and secondary school. I 

went to a modern school and that 

was after some years of being a 

houseboy after primary school. 

From modern school, I 

proceeded to a technical school 

in my home town Ekiti after 

which I moved to Catholic 

Technical College in Ile-Ife. 

Eventually, I was admitted into 

the university of Ife. All this 

while, I was leading the class 

and eventually came out with a 

first class degree in Economics 

from the University of Ife now 

Obafemi Awolowo University. 

As a First Class degree holder 

what inspired you to abandon 

the academia for the banking 

sector where you had a 

distinguished career? 

My career has been a blessing. 

Hard work and being ethical in 

every journey along the line, 

helped me to rise from the lowest 

level of the ladder to the top of 

the various careers that I’ve 

succeeded in. In everything one 

does there is an element of Voluntary 

ethics. It is not only in the retirement 

banking sector or even in 

academia. Even in the civil 

service, there are ethics issues 

that come up from time to time. 

In the academia you hear people 

that compromise integrity 

because they may not have 

applied ethics. 

I began my career at the 

University of Ife, Ile-Ife, as a 

Graduate Assistant/Assistant 

Lecturer 1985-1986. I later joined 

the services of Financial 

Institutions Training Centre 

(FITC) as a Lecturer/Training 

Officer in 1986. In 1989, I 

transferred my services to 

Nigerian-American Merchant 

Bank Limited as a Deputy 

Officer and rose to the position 

of a Senior Manager in 1996. In 

the same year I moved to First 

City Merchant Bank Limited 

(now First City Monument Bank 

Plc) where I held the post of an 

PROF AJIBOLA 

From house boy to 

professorship, 

boardroom 

Assistant Vice President & Head 

of Credit until 1999. 

I later joined the services of First 

Bank of Nigeria Plc as Principal 

Manager in 1999 and was made 

the assistant general manager in 

2000 and deputy general 

manager in charge of commercial 

banking in 2002 before crossing 

over to Intercontinental Bank Plc 

in 2004. 

At Intercontinental (now Access 

Bank Plc), I held positions such 

as general manager and 

divisional head, 2004-2005; 

executive director and regional 

chief executive, 2005-2009 and 

managing director designate, 

Intercontinental Bank Plc East 

African Franchise, 2009. I retired 

voluntarily from this position in 

September 2009. 

Your progression in the 

academia and banking to the 

point of retirement appears very 

smooth, was it really that smooth 

the way it seems? 

Thank God I have not had any 

major instances where I 

encountered situations that left 

me with professional regrets. 

.Ordinarily I would have loved 

to remain in academia after 

getting into that career right from 

my NYSC year. Economics and 

pecuniary reasons prevented 

that from happening so I veered 

into banking. I thank God that I 

rose to the pinnacle in the 

banking industry. Again, upon 

reflection one could still say why 

did I join this or that bank at this 

or that point in time? But nothing 

significant in all the career 

decisions could be labeled as 

regrettable. 

You have made a name in the 

academia, how did you get this 

far? 

Being in the academia was a 

calling, not for money making. 

But it is always a thing of joy to 

belong to a group that moulds 

lives, generates and contributes 

to the body of knowledge. I 

believe I have the calling and it 

is good I am back to that primary 

constituency of mine. It is also a 

career one can pursue from the 

cradle unlike most other careers. 

These were my attractions to the 

academia and I thank God it is 

working out. 

Considering your humble 

beginning and where you are 

today, what lessons do you think 

people, especially youths can 

draw from you? 

It is for them to believe that 

nothing comes cheap and it 

doesn’t pay to cut corners. In 

everything one does there 

should be ethics in it. Not only 

in the bank where I rose to the 

top. 

Even in academics and civil 

service, there are ethical issues. 

In the academics you hear 

people that compromise integrity 

through inducement, settlement 

and sexual harassment among 

others. It must also be shown to 

them that it is better to look at 

those who do what they talk and 

not those who just talk, organise 

talk shops and do the opposite. 

The youths should know that 

diligence, dedication, 

commitment, integrity, 

righteousness are the ultimate. 

These are the things that can take 

anybody to the top. It is also 

important for them to know that 

the fear of God is the beginning 

of wisdom, so if they can combine 

all these virtues, then heaven is 

even the beginning not the end. 

Some Nigerians have 

embraced crytocurrency as a 

way of making money and the 

CIBN sometime stated that 

cryptocurrency will have an 

impact on the traditional existing 

banking system. What advice do 

you have for those, who have 

embraced it? 

Cryptocurrency is redefining 

and reshaping settlement system 

the world over. Visual currency 

would definitely reshape global 

PERSONALITY ETHICS 

• Nothing comes cheap 

• It doesn’t pay to cut corners 

*One should apply ethics in anything he does 

•Diligence, dedication, commitment and integrity can take 

anyone to the top 

economic order and will give the 

traditional mode of payment a 

good run. As a medium of 

exchange, it is capable of 

affecting the use of traditional 

instruments globally.However, it 

comes with its risks through 

cyber-crimes, and internet frauds 

among others. For it to become 

widely acceptable, the global 

environment must devise means 

of dealing with these inherent 

risks. These were the issues 

considered when CIBN 

organized a breakfast session on 

cryptocurrency some months 

back. 

On Global Education Standard 

Board 

The Global Education Standard 

Board was launched in Nigeria 

when we hosted the World 

Conference of Bankers in Lagos 

in April this year. The mandate 

of the board is to standardize 

banking education globally. The 

whole essence is to ensure that 

academic and professional 

curricula on banking are 

streamlined globally. 

The benefit of this is to make 

banking professional and 

academic qualifications in 

different countries are universally 

recognized and accepted. CIBN 

has played a critical role in 

bringing this initiative to fruition. 

On life style: What is putting 

pressure on the dollar is a 

function of demand and supply. 

Our demand is so heavy because 

we import virtually everything 

even goods that are not of 

primary benefit to us. 

Primary 

benefit 

Things that we can do away 

with, we import all of them. So 

our propensity to consume 

imported items is so high so that 

is why we are exposed. We are 

vulnerable because of our life 

styles, because of our orientation, 

because of our belief in imported 

items even though some of them 

may not be superior to what we 

can produce locally, then we don't 

generate much apart from petrodollar, 

we don’t have other 

sources of money making and we 

have not taken pragmatic steps 

to develop those other sources. 

That is why every one of us is 

a contributor to the fall of the 

dollar. That is why we are more 

or less directly and indirectly 

contributors to the problem we 

have in the foreign exchange. I 

said that because what is putting 

pressure on the dollar is function 

of demand and supply. Our 

demand is so heavy because we 

import virtually everything even 

goods that are not of primary 

importance to us, things that are 

produced locally. 

Things that we can do away 

with , we import all of them. So 

our propensity to consume 

imported items is so high and 

that exposes us. We are 

vulnerable because of our life 

styles.

When Mike Adenuga’s 

daughter, Bella added another 

feather to her cap 

Stories by Tony Ndukwe 

WHEN William Shakespeare said in one of his famous plays, Twelfth 

Night, that “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some 

have greatness thrust upon them,” the playwright of all time was indirectly 

referring to Bella Adenuga-Disu, the beautiful daughter of Globacom 

chairman, Dr. Mike Adenuga. Indeed, Bella was not only born great but 

she also has greatness thrust upon her. 

The beautiful daughter of Globacom chairman recently showed the traits 

of a daughter eager to tread in her father’s footsteps. 

Having navigated the tumultuous shores of Nigeria’s 

business sector with the tenacity and intimidating 

credentials, Bella Adenuga-Disu alongside Gladys 

Olubusola Talabi, both Globacom top directors, have 

been appointed to the Board of Julius Berger as Non- 

Executive Directors with effect from June 30, 2017. 

Bella as fondly called, obtained her first degree in 

Political Science and International Relations from 

the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA 

in 2004. She’s presently pursing a 

Master’s degree in Leadership with 

concentration in Project Management 

from the Northeastern University also 

in Boston, USA. 

She started her career at Globacom 

Limited and held the position of Sales 

Executive, Lagos Zone from 2004 to 

2006. She was later made the Shop 

Manager of the same telecom firm 

from 2006 to 2007, before she was 

promoted to become Head of Gloword 

in December 2007, a position she 

held till July 2009. 

Her new appointment is a clear 

confirmation that she has greatness 

thrust upon her. 

•Onyema 

Adaorah Soars! 

•Bella, 

Adenuga’s 

Daughter 


By Benjamin Njoku 

societyvanguard@yahoo.com 

Onyema acquires aircraft No 13 

IN his resolve to make a huge difference in the Nigerian aviation 

industry, chairman/chief executive officer of Air Peace, Mr. Allen 

Onyema, has taken delivery of a new aircraft he acquired to increase 

the airline’s fleet to 22. 

The new aircraft, a Boeing 737-300, which touched down at the 

Murtala Muhammed Airport last week, is the thirteenth so far acquired 

in less than three years of its commercial flight operations. 

It was gathered that the carrier is finalising arrangements for 

bringing in other aircraft, including B737, B777 and Embraer 145 

jets, it recently acquired to increase its fleet to 22. While the B777 

aircraft would be deployed to service the airline’s international 

routes, including South Africa, London, Guangzhou- 

China, Dubai, Mumbai 

and Atlanta, the B737s would 

strengthen the carrier’s expansion to more 

destinations in the 

West Coast of Africa, 

including Lome, 

Abidjan, Douala, Dakar 

and Niamey. 

Air Peace currently operates daily 

flights from its 

Lagos hub into and out 

of Accra-Ghana. 

Adorah 

It’s a boy for IK 

Ogbonna 

DISTINGUISHED Ikechukwu Ogbonna is in a 

happy mood. His pretty wife was delivered of a bouncing 

baby boy and Ogbonna’s joy knew no bounds. He’s been 

entertaining well wishers and friends since the arrival of the 

new addition to his lovely family. 

IK for short, who is the current Special Assistant to Governor 

Rochas Okorocha on Information, ICT a distinguished Public 

Relations practitioner and Journalist of note was among the 

very few aides to the Governor, who were asked to continue 

on their duty posts for Okorocha’s second term. 

DESIRABLE, well-dressed, pretty entrepreneur, Adaorah Obi 

is one lady who is steadily making her mark with her online 

retail shop, House of Dorah. 

Workaholic but meticulous, Obi whose product is on demand, 

deals on top of the range fashion products of big names like 

Charleskeiths, Gucci, among others. Her company supplies 

quality, classy shoes, accessories, bags, dresses, stylish items 

etc. 

She was recently spotted in Lekki, Lagos, where she 

spent hours on the telephone, perhaps discussing 

business with her numerous 

customers. 

•IK 

Ogbonna 

•Uche Nwosu 

Uche Nwosu 

embroiled in 

succession rumour 

INCUMBENT Chief of Staff to Governor 

Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, 

Ugwumba Uche Nwosu is currently embroiled in a 

succession rumour. Some busy bodies are saying 

that his principal is working hard to impose him as 

his successor. And adding flesh to this rumour is 

the fact that there’s hardly a week that Nwosu is 

not performing one state function or the other to the 

surprise of anyone. It’s either he’s busy 

commissioning one project or he’s attending special 

events organized in his honour by the various youth 

groups in the state,who are planning to endorse 

him as the next governor of the state. 

While it’s a rare privilege in some states to behold 

a Chief of Staff, dominating the political space, but 

in the case of Nwosu, the reverse is the case. He’s 

virtually everywhere, giving bite to the speculation 

that his boss, who eventually is his father-in-law, 

is plotting to impose him as his successor. In 

case, you don’t know, Nwosu is married to 

Okorocha’s daughter and hails from the same Orlu 

Zone with Governor Okorocha.

38— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Lacazette undergoes 

medical at Arsenal 

C 

M 

Y 

K 

• Onazi 

Onazi quits 

Trabzonspor 

Super Eagles midfielder 

Ogenyi Onazi has 

terminated his contract with 

Turkish club Trabzonspor over 

unpaid wages. 

The 24-year-old played the 

final two months of last season 

without pay. 

His agent and former 

Nigeria international Ayodele 

Stephen Makinwa says they 

have written to the club with 

their decision. 

“Now we are looking for a 

quick solution with regards his 

next destination,” Makinwa 

told BBC Sport. 

“We have an agreement with 

the club which strictly states 

that the player has a right to 

terminate his contract if the 

club failed to pay him for two 

months or more. 

“We’ve taken a decision 

based on the violation of this 

agreement as Onazi is being 

owed for more than the 

stipulated period.” 

Onazi only joined 

Trabzonspor on a four-year 

deal from Italian side Lazio 

last August. 

The Turkish club refused to 

comment on the situation 

when contacted by BBC Sport. 

Algeria’s Carl Medjani and 

Ghana striker Majeed Waris 

both recently quit the Turkish 

club following a dispute over 

unpaid wages. 

France striker Lacazette has 

agreed personal terms and is 

undergoing a medical at the 

club’s London Colney HQ. 

The announcement is likely within the 

next 24 hours as Arsenal close in on 

their first big summer deal with 

Lacazette poised to sign a five year deal. 

Lacazette could go on the club’s tour 

of Australia and China depending on 

his fitness levels. 

Arsenal are still in the market for 

more players with Monaco’s Thomas 

Lemar their first choice but they could 

go for Riyad Mahrez if that falls down. 

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been 

confident for some time of completing 

the move that will surpass - exclusive 

of bonuses - the £42.5million spent to 

land Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid in 

2013. 

Lacazette could make his Arsenal 

debut in Sydney as early as next week. 

The Gunners take on Sydney FC on 

July 13 at the ANZ Stadium. 

Arsene Wenger’s squad were back in 

pre-season training on Monday with the 

likes of Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and 

Theo Walcott in action. 

Zenith Basketball: Sunshine 

Angels target final 8 

Players of the Ondo State 

female basketball team 

Sunshine Angels who are 

headed for Ibadan for the 4th 

phase of the Zenith Bank 

Women Basketball League 

have put behind them the not 

so good outing in Asaba and 

are now focused on the final 

phase. 

The team which finished 

third in the first and second 

phases in Abuja and in 

Kaduna were unable to repeat 

same feat in Asaba, finishing 

among the bottom teams. 

Reacting to the performance 

of the team in Asaba, 

chairman of Ondo State 

Basketball Association, Segun 

Ikuesan said several factors 

were responsible for the 

team’s poor outing despite the 

hard work put in by the 

coaching crew led by coach 

Sola Aluko. 

Some of the challenges 

identified by Ikuesan include 

non-payment of match 

bonuses and poor feeding 

among others. 

Meanwhile the team have 

shoved aside the poor outing 

and are ready to shine in 

Ibadan to get one of the eight 

slots for the final phase. 

Part of the steps taking to 

prevent re-occurrence of the 

Asaba outing is improved 

players and coaches welfare 

Mr Ikuesan however, 

appealed to stakeholders, 

philanthropists to support 

sports in Ondo State. 

The 4th phase of the Zenith 

Bank Women’s Premier 

League holds in Ibadan from 

July 6 to 16 inside the Indoor 

Hall of the Lekan Salami 

Stadium. 

By Gabriel Olawale 

In demonstration of their 

resolve to win the 2017 

edition of Nigerian 

Communications Commission 

Tennis Cup, Team VGC Lions 

of Lagos have employed a 

foreign coach. 

The Team which will 

participate in the tournament 

for the first time since 

inception three years ago want 

to claim the league title with 

inputs from local and foreign 

coaches. 

Announcing its readiness to 

win the N7 million top prize, 

Team Manager, Temituoyo 

Nzewi said that coach, Jose 

Velasco from Spain will work 

together with the local coach, 

•Lacazette 

Wimbledon: Federer through 

Roger Federer was waved 

through into the second round 

of Wimbledon when his Ukrainian 

opponent Alexandr Dolgopolov 

surrendered on Centre Court. 

To gasps of astonishment and 

disappointment, the 84th ranked 

player in the world came to the net 

and shook hands with the seventime 

champion. All over. The joke 

lasted 42 minutes. 

Federer was leading 6-3, 3-0 and 

30-30 when the farce came to a close. 

The Swiss was in charge 

throughout the brief exchanges, and 

now has a record 85 grand slam 

NCC tennis cup: Team VGC Lions 

get foreign coach 

Benson Isicheli to achieve 

their target. 

Nzewi explained that the 

whole idea was to prepare the 

players not only for the NCC 

league but to enable them 

perform at a global arena. 

“Basically, we decided to bring 

Coach Jose Velasco because 

the Spanish way of teaching 

tennis is quite different as you 

can see from the success of 

people like Feliciano López 

and Rafael Nadal. 

“We want our players to 

benefit from such exposure. 

This summer we have put 

together a kind of interesting 

formation of coaches that will 

be visiting to develop our 

team and he is the first of the 

coaches we would be having 

throughout the summer. 

match wins – if you could call the 

latest of these anything as satisfactory 

as a win– leaving Jimmy Connors 

behind on 84. 

Federer was met by huge applause 

on his entrance – itself early as a 

result of the previous match being cut 

short by yet another abject 

withdrawal. 

On this slender evidence, Federer’s 

game was in good condition, his 

decision to miss parts of the season 

to husband his resources at 35 years 

of age apparently justified. 

At least his body made it to the 

abbreviated end. 

“NCC has approved a sum of 

N23 million for this year’s 

tournament and our team is 

committed to going all the way 

to title. The number of 

participating teams have also 

increased from 10 last year to 

12.” 

Coach Jose Velasco who 

commended Nigerians for their 

passion towards tennis said that 

he has seen a lot of improvement 

in the country compared to his 

first visit two years ago. 

“I will try as much as possible 

to answer some of the question 

bordering the mind of coaches, 

players and their parents about 

new development in tennis. The 

paramount aspect of it is 

commitment, tennis required 

commitment.”


•Guardiola 

City 10 yrs behind 

rivals — Guardiola 

Pep Guardiola says it could take up to 10 

years for Manchester City to be on the 

same level as Europe’s biggest clubs. 

Guardiola failed to reach the semifinals of the 

Champions League for the first time in his 

managerial career last season when City were 

knocked out in the round of 16 by Monaco. 

But the club are spending heavily this 

summer and Guardiola is excited by his future 

at the Etihad Stadium as he builds a young 

squad. 

“This year we weren’t there but you must 

realise that even Barcelona haven’t made it to 

semifinals each year,” he told Catalan 

newspaper L’Esportiu. 

“City are a great club, they have played in the 

Champions League for five straight years, they 

are the only Premier League club to have done 

that. But to reach the level of Barca, Real Madrid, 

Bayern [Munich], Juventus, that is very 

complicated. You need time — a decade.” 

Guardiola has already added playmaker 

Bernardo Silva and goalkeeper Ederson Moraes 

to his squad, with director of football Txiki 

Begiristain closing in on deals for full-backs Dani 

Alves, Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker. 

“Now with Txiki, we are trying to make the 

changes that are necessary to reinforce the squad. 

It was one of the oldest on average in the Premier 

League,” Guardiola added. “It was a club which 

had seen much success, but had grown old.” 

National sports federation elections 

re-run for July 12 

A re-run of elections into four 

pending National Sports 

Federations’ boards will now hold 

on Wednesday July 12, 2017. 

The Federations are Athletics, 

Gymnastics, Wrestling and 

Taekwondo. 

The Chairman of the National 

Sports Federations Electoral 

Appeals Committee, Alhaji 

Abdulrazak Salau said in a 

statement, that the influx of 

petitions which followed the June 

13, 2017 elections at the Abuja 

National Stadium were 

overwhelming and needed more 

time to attend to. 

“We have had a beehive of 

activities since the Appeals 

Committee gave its verdict on 

June 30, 2017. The Committee has 

been bombarded with petitions 

and complaints from these 

Federations including Rugby. It 

became necessary for us to shift 

the election re-run date by 5 days 

to enable the monitoring bodies 

including the Election 

Committees to conclude 

screening and verification of 

candidates to ensure that what 

happened in the first election 

does not repeat itself. 

“We are very careful to also 

ensure that candidates comply 

with the guidelines and present 

the right documents for 

verification. Thereafter, the 

master list will be published for 

all to see before the bye elections” 

Salau said. 

Bellerin tells Arsenal he 

wants to quit 

HECTOR Bellerin has told Arsenal he wants to 

leave as he tries to force through a move back 

to Barcelona. 

The Spanish star has grown frustrated at the 

Emirates after a disastrous attempt at winning 

the Premier League last season. 

The 22-year-old told Gunners chiefs he wants 

to quit this summer, with old club Barca aiming 

to lure him back in a £35m-plus deal. 

But Arsene Wenger immediately rejected his 

pleas, and is trying to persuade him to stay in 

North London. 

The Catalans have made the right-back their 

top target this summer as they attempt to fill 

the void left by Dani Alves. 

Bellerin only signed a new six-and-a-half-year 

deal worth a hefty £200,000-a-week with Arsenal 

last November after joining in 2011. 

But his family, including his mum and dad, 

have returned to Spain this summer and he 

wants to join them back in Barcelona. 

He has won two FA Cups with Arsenal but 

wants to progress his career and fight for the 

Champions League and league titles. 

Wenger also faces the tough task of trying to 

persuade Alexis Sanchez to stay this summer 

as he eyes a move away. 

The Chilean star is in the same mind-set as 

Bellerin and wants to compete for trophies as 

his career approaches its later stages. 

Manchester City are keen to bring him to the 

club and are set to table a £50m offer to tempt 

the Gunners into selling. 

•Mbappe 

Ministry will support Aruna — Dalung 

Minister of Youth and 

Sports, Barrister 

Solomon Dalung has 

congratulated Nigeria’s 

number one Table Tennis 

player, Aruna Quadri for 

booking a ticket as Africa’s 

sole representative to the 

ITTF World Cup in France. 

The Minister described the 

feat as a confirmation of the 

Oyo state born ping pong 

star’s superiority in Africa and 

also his emergence as a force 

to reckon with at the global 

level. 

“This victory has once again 

demonstrated the superiority 

of Quadri in Africa. This is 

good news to us in the 

Ministry and also all sports 

loving Nigerians who have 

been following his career.” 

Dalung described Aruna 

who recorded a hard fought 

4-3 victory over his 

continental rival, Omar Assar 

in the finals of the 2017 ITTF 

Africa as a “true patriot and 

consummate professional.” 

“This is a master class act 

from a true patriot and 

consummate professional who 

against all odds overcame all 

obstacles to emerge as the 

King of Table Tennis in 

Africa.” 

The Minister promised that 

the ministry will play its part 

in ensuring a good World Cup 

outing for Africa’s sole flag 

bearer he described it as an 

“African Project.” 

“The federation must not 

wait till the 11th hour before 

they approach the Ministry 

for assistance. The earlier 

they reach out, the better 

for all parties involved” 

He advised that the 

Nigeria Table Tennis 

federation should put 

machinery in motion to 

ensure that Aruna is 

given the needed 

preparation ahead of the 

tournament in France. 

“For an event of this 

magnitude, the NTTF 

must explore all avenues 

to source for funds to 

give Quadri the deserved 

training. The new board 

needs to shift its attention 

to the private sector who 

are willing to associate 

with this growing brand 

in the global circle.” 

PARIS Saint-Germain have 

taken a major step in the race 

to sign Kylian Mbappe after 

they met with the 18-year-old 

and his father, according to 

reports. 

The Monaco hotshot is one 

of the most sought-after 

footballers on the planet in 

this summer’s transfer 

window. 

Real Madrid and Arsenal 

are both in the hunt for the 

France international. 

But, L’Equipe report that 

PSG president Nasser Al- 

Khelaifi and new sporting 

director Antero Henrique met 

Mbappe and his father to 

discuss a potential move. 

•Bellerin 

PSG meet Mbappe, father 

The Gunners are reported to be 

preparing a world-record 

£125million bid for the forward. 

However, he is known to be 

“obsessed” with the Champions 

League — and Arsenal only 

qualified for the Europa League 

after a fifth-place finish last 

season. 

Real Madrid boss Zinedine 

Zidane is alleged to have told 

him he would even be willing to 

get rid of one of Cristiano 

Ronaldo, Karim Benzema or 

Gareth Bale to accommodate him. 

Mbappe is considered one of 

the hottest prospects for a 

generation and Monaco boss 

Leonardo Jardim admits he is 

preparing for the worst. 

CORPORATE MEN . . . L-R;Corporate Promotion and Sponsorship 

Officer, Diamond Bank Plc. Mr. Uchenna Nwobi; Team Lead, New Media, 

Udoka Oguamanam; Interim CEO, Central Securities and Clearings 

System CSCS, Mr. Bola Adeeko; Media Relations Officer, Diamond Bank 

Plc. Mr. Eze Anyanwu; and Digital Media Officer, Mr. Chiwuzie Anabuike, 

at the 2017 Nigerian Stock Exchange Corporate Challenge Sponsor by 

Diamond Bank Plc. in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau


“A search warrant is not 

lawful if it is general and does 

not specify the name and 

description of the premises 

and person to be searched”. 

HAVE you ever received 

condemnation or 

criticism for not carrying out 

your duties, only to receive the 

same degree of condemnation 

or criticism when you do carry 

them out? 

If you have, there is a strong 

probability that you belong to 

the law enforcement 

community and particularly, 

that you are, within the 

Nigerian context, a member of 

the Nigerian Police Force! 

Have you ever complained 

about the seeming ease with 

which criminals move about 

unchecked and yet fetl 

inconvenienced or irritated 

when your vehicle was 

stopped for a search at a road 

block set up by the Police on 

the highway? 

If you have, you probably 

belong to the group of those 

Nigerians who daily place 

members of the Police, 

perhaps not unfairly on some 

occasions, in a situation they 

surely must find exasperating. 

That this is so can hardly be 

subject to debate. No branch 

of the Nigerian public service 

receives so much public 

scrutiny like the Nigerian 

Police Force. 

Enforcement and 

crime prevention 

This is obviously due to the 

very important duties of law 

enforcement and crime 

prevention and detection 

which the Constitution 

imposes on the Police and the 

fact that Nigerians on a daily 

basis have reason to come into 

contact with Policemen. Such 

is the importance of this role 

that every citizen in the 

country, rich or poor, learned 

or uneducated, governed or 

public office holder are all 

bound to be affected, 

admittedly in varying degrees, 

by the ability or inability of the 

Police to effectively carry out 

their duties. 

Indeed Nigeria presents a 

very good case study on the 

highs that could be recorded 

by excellent policing and the 

fails that could also be the 

order of the day where basic 

tenets of policing are either not 

adhered to or where the Police 

lack the necessary training or 

equipment to do their jobs. 

In recent times, the 

celebrated capture of the 

Kidnap Kingpin Evans and 

arrest of some other violent 

criminals represent the former 

while a string of unresolved 

crimes including the 

assassination of a serving 

Attorney General and Minister 

of the Federation still serve as 

a reminder of the failings of 

the Police. 

However while it is easy to 

blame the police for every of 

its failings, and this is a route 

Powers, achievements, and failings of the 

Nigeria Police: Need for urgent attention (1) 

that many including the Press 

have elected to take, I am 

convinced that a more effective 

way of approaching whatever 

shortcomings are evident in 

its operations would be to 

undertake a holistic 

examination of every aspect of 

its set up including statutory 

provisions, organisational and 

operational make up and even 

the attitude of successive 

governments over the years to 

the funding needs of the 

Police. This is why I will in 

the coming weeks examine not 

only the duties and current 

challenges being encountered 

by the Police, but also will 

proffer means by which 

improvements could be made 

The first encounter 

of a lawful citizen 

with the police often 

begins when he 

stops his car at the 

flashing torchlight 

that suddenly leaps 

into his path on a 

dark and lonely 

road. Inevitable 

questions follow as 

to his identity, his 

destination and 

what he is carrying 

to their operations to the 

overall benefit of society. 

POLICE DUTIES UNDER 

THE LAW 

The powers and duties of the 

Nigeria Police Force are 

contained principally in the 

Police Act Cap 359 Laws of the 

Federation of Nigeria, 1990 

while some incidental powers 

are conferred by the common 

law and a variety of other 

statutes including the 

Criminal Procedure Code/ Act 

Ibrahim Idris, IGP 

and the Penal Code. The 

general duties are defined in 

Section 4 of the Police Act to 

be: 

“...the prevention and 

detection of crime, the 

apprehension of offenders, the 

preservation of law and order, 

the protection of property and 

the due enforcement of all 

laws and regulations with 

which they are directly 

charged”. 

The first encounter of a 

lawful citizen with the police 

often begins when he stops 

his car at the flashing 

torchlight that suddenly leaps 

into his path on a dark and 

lonely road. Inevitable 

questions follow as to his 

identity, his destination and 

“what he is carrying”. A 

search of his boot may follow 

and then his vehicle 

particulars including his 

driving license are inspected. 

If he is lucky he is then 

allowed to leave, 

inconvenienced perhaps 

humiliated and desperately 

trying to remember that he is 

heir to the charter of human 

rights (known as Chapter IV 

of the Constitution of the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria 

1999) which guarantees him 

the right to dignity of his 

person, section 34; the right to 

personal liberty, section 35, the 

right to privacy, Section 37 the 

right to freedom of movement, 

section 44, the right to 

freedom from discrimination 

on grounds of community, 

ethnic group, place of origin, 

sex, religion, political opinion, 

section 42. 

What powers 

do the police 

have, he 

wonders and 

what right to 

disturb his 

peace and 

obstruct his 

progress in this 

way? 

POWER TO 

STOP AND 

SEARCH ON 

T H E 

HIGHWAY 

Section 25 of 

the Police Act 

empowers the 

police to detain 

and search person without 

arresting them and it is this 

power that the purport 

exercise in mounting road 

blocks. Yet, however laudable 

their intentions, that power 

comes with the significant and 

often forgotten restriction that 

any person so detained and 

searched must be a person 

reasonably suspected of 

having in his possession or 

conveying in any manner, 

anything which the policeman 

has reason to believe to have 

been stolen or otherwise 

unlawfully obtained. The 

suspicion must be reasonable, 

that is, there must be facts 

available to the officer or 

perceived by him, which raise 

a suspicion that would arouse 

a reasonable man. A 

reasonable man is one of some 

education, character and 

courage, a person clearly well 

above the average man. In the 

case of Onuorah v. C.O.P 

(1960) W.N.L.R 10, it was held 

that the policeman must not 

only inform the subject that he 

is suspected, he must also 

inform him of the grounds of 

the suspicion precedent to the 

search. Further, the suspicion 

must precede the detention. 

This is the simple logic which 

will be stoutly denied by the 

policeman who believe that he 

had to stop to see if there was 

reason to suspect. 

Clearly therefore, if there is 

no reason to suspect and the 

search is illegal, not only 

according to Chapter IV of the 

Constitution but also 

according to the Police Act 

itself. However, events in the 

recent past, particularly with 

the setting up of the various 

security outfits across the 

states have clearly revealed 

the abuse of Section 25 of the 

Police Act by the Nigerian 

Policemen. Arrest and 

detention of persons at the 

numerous checkpoints is no 

longer based on reasonable 

suspicion of having in one’s 

possession stolen or 

unlawfully obtained object but 

on failure to pay a bribe. Infact 

the usual checking of vehicle 

particulars especially the 

commercial vehicles will only 

be necessary if the driver 

refuses to “cooperate”. He will 

then be told in a very harsh 

tone to “park well” and 

“produce” his vehicle papers 

for inspection as a way of 

humiliating him to submission. 

All this, it is submitted are 

contrary to the spirit and intent 

of both the Nigerian 

Constitution and the Police 

Act. 

Duty of police to 

protect property 

The constitution also 

guarantees the privacy of 

home and property. And so the 

police as an essential 

governmental organ has a 

primary duty under the 

general provisions of the 

Police Act to ensure that the 

law abiding citizen of this 

country are not deprived of 

their properties but also that 

their properties and the 

privacy of their home are not 

unduly invaded or interfered 

with except by due invitation. 

However, the above position 

of the law is in practice obeyed 

in breach rather than 

compliance by the Nigerian 

Police. The police under the 

guise of search of premises 

upon the slightest suspicion 

and sometimes on a wrong 

information will not only 

invade ones premises but will 

cart away all the unfortunate 

victim’s moveables, thereby 

depriving the citizens of their 

properties. 

The normal way that police 

gain entry into premises is by 

invitation, express or implied. 

Without any invitation, they 

must point to lawful authority 

to enter. Unlawful entry may 

be met by reasonable force and 

constitute the basis for an 

action for damages. Police 

have authority to search 

premises under authority of a 

search warrant issued by a 

Magistrate who must have 

satisfied himself of the facts 

basin it on the relevance and 

strength of these facts. A 

search warrant is not lawful if 

it is general and does not 

specify the name and 

description of the premises 

and person to be searched. 

To be continued. 

You can send your 

comments and suggestions 

to: aareafe@gmail.com or 

president@abuad.edu.ng. 

and visit website: 

www.abuad.edu.ng


By Evelyn Usman 

D ISAPPOINTED 

parents of the six 

abducted Senior 

Secondary School 

students of Lagos Model 

College, Igbonla Epe, 

have again lamented that 

they have been 

abandoned by the Lagos 

state government and the 

Police, in the effort to 


LAGOS SCHOOL KIDNAP DAY 42: 

Govt, Police have abandoned 

us— Parents 

rescue their children. 

“Today is the 41st day 

that the students were 

abducted. Though there 

had been promises from 

the Lagos state 

government and the 

Police, on their quick 

rescue, sadly, there has 

not been any sign of that 

possibility,’’ the parents 

said. 

They (parents ) have 

therefore resorted to 

prayers, stating that only 

God , would save their 

children from the 

kidnappers’ den. 

When contacted, one of 

the parents said; “ It is 

obvious that we have 

been abandoned, or how 

else can one express this 

long silence? This is 

indeed a trying time for 

us and this is when we 

need the assistance of 

government and Police 

most. We have decided to 

EXHIBITION: From left— Charter President, Rotary Club of Lagos 

Island, Vinod Garg; trainee, Okpu Philipson; Technician Services Manager, Engr. 

Bukola Adebisi, and Marketing Director, Vipul Agrawal, both of Lafarge Africa 

Plc, at Lafarge Africa's Building, Mansonry and Concrete Skills Development 

Course in partnership with the Club in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Akeem Salau. 

Osun by-election: Court adjourns 

Hussain’s eligibility suit 

By Gbenga 

Olarinoye 

OSOGBO—A Federal 

High Court, sitting 

in Osogbo, yesterday 

fixed October 3rd, 2017 for 

the hearing on the matter 

instituted by the chairman 

of All Progressive grand 

Alliance, APGA, in Osun, 

Pastor Olatunji Popoola, 

assistant state auditor of 

All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Mr 

Tajudeen Adekunbi and 

another member of APC, 

Mr Basiru Abidoye 

Adigun against Senator 

Mudashiru Hussain, the 

All Progressives Congress 

APC candidate in the 

Saturday bye election. 

The plaintiffs had on 

Friday filed an 

application before the 

court to disqualify 

Hussain, who is the 

candidate of the APC in 

this Saturday’s by election 

for Osun West Senatorial 

District. 

Similarly, a member of 

the PDP, Mr Morufu 

Ayanlowo from Ward 8, 

Irewole Local 

Government of Osun 

State, has approached a 

Federal High Court in 

Osogbo, seeking the 

disqualification of the 

party’s candidate for 

Osun West Senatorial byelection, 

Mr Ademola 

Adeleke. 

In the suit registered 

FHC/OS/C8/35/2017 filed 

at the court on Monday, 

Ayanlowo claimed that 

Adeleke was not a 

member of the PDP as at 

the time he participated in 

the primary election of the 

party on June 14, against 

Section 8 of the party’s 

constitution. 

Meantime, the governor 

of Osun state, Mr Rauf 

Aregbesola yesterday 

stated that the Peoples 

Democratic Partyý PDP 

has lost its relevance in 

the South-Western part of 

Nigeria with the turning 

into shreds of the party’s 

membership card by the 

former President, 

Olusegun Obasanjo who 

brought the party to the 

seek solace in God, who 

is able to do all things.” 

Meanwhile, Vanguard 

gathered that parents of 

other school children in 

Ikorodu and other areas 

of the state have joined in 

the spiritual warfare, as 

some of them were said to 

have declared a week fast 

which began Monday, for 

the safe return of the 

abducted children. 

At the Government 

Senior Model College, 

Owutu , for instance, a 

prayer session for the 

abducted students was 

reportedly held during a 

parents forum for their 

counterparts’ wards, on 

Sunday . 

Secretary of the forum, 

Mr Frank Osanugo , told 

Vanguard that : “ During 

the meeting, we held a 

general prayer for the 

release of the abducted 

students . We also prayed 

for the spiritual 

fortification of all 

government schools, to 

avoid a repeat of this”. 

Vanguard also gathered 

that the state government 

has started reinforcing its 

colleges in the state by 

raising their fences, as 

well as ensuring 24-hour 

patrol. 

This could not be 

unconnected with a fresh 

threat by kidnappers to 

storm other colleges. 

Meanwhile, the 

Nigerian Navy yesterday, 

stated that it would focus 

more attention on riverine 

areas in Lagos state , with 

the aim of nipping 

activities of kidnapers in 

the bud. 

The new Flag Officer 

Commanding, FOC 

Western Naval 

Command, Rear Adm. 

Sylvanus Abba who stated 

this while taking over 

from his predecessor, Rear 

Adm. Ferguson Bobai, 

stated that the command 

would no longer tolerate 

any act of kidnapping in 

schools close to river. 

Lekki building collapse: Court 

rejects defendant’s bail documents 

Tunji Bello challenges LASU 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

THE Secretary to the 

Lagos State 

Government, SSG, Mr 

Tunji Bello, has charged 

administrators of Lagos 

State University, LASU, 

to transform various 

challenges in the state 

into opportunities for the 

benefits of residents. 

Bello gave the charge 

in his address yesterday, 

at the 4th Annual 

Distinguished Lecture 

and Awards of 

Association of Nigerian 

University Professional 

IT was another 

episode of thrilling 

performances, disappointment 

and elation as 

the third episode of Airtel 

The Voice Nigeria aired 

last Sunday, on Africa 

Magic Showcase (DStv 

151) and Africa Magic 

Urban (DStv 153). At the 

end of episode three, the 

coaches had each added 

two talents to their respective 

teams. 

The night’s episode 

ended with #TeamTimi 

signing up Blessed Eke 

and Godwin while Obichi 

Marshall and Arewa 

By Dave Oso 

charges, following the are Lekki Gardens Estate Finance, Mr. Akinyemi 

AGOS State 

LCommissioner for 

By Onozure Dania 

collapse of a six-storey Ltd., Get Too Rich Ashade, has said that 

A 

Lagos High Court building at Lekki on Investment Ltd., and HC the state government is 

sitting at Igbosere March 8 last year. Insight Solutions Ltd. committed to reducing 

yesterday, rejected the Five people reportedly They are facing a sixcount 

poverty and 

bail documents presented died in the incident. 

charge bordering unemployment in the 

by sureties to the second Other defendants are on failure to obtain state through the 

defendant, Sola Olumofe, the Managing Director of building permits, newly-established Ibile 

in the suit against Lekki 

Gardens Estate. 

Lekki Gardens, Richard 

Nyong, Henry Odofin, 

building approvals and 

i n v o l u n t a r y 

Microfinance Bank. 

Ashade made the 

The defendants are Molabake Mortune and manslaughter. The assurance during the 

being tried for alleged Omotilewa Joseph. defendants were unveiling ceremony of 

negligence and other The companies involved arraigned on July 3. the bank at its head 

Administrators (ANUPA- 

LASU) with the theme; 

“The challenge of town 

and gown partnership in 

Lagos” held at LASU main 

auditorium, Ojo, Lagos. 

He listed some of the 

challenges to include the 

pattern of infrastructural 

development; particularly 

roads and the aggressive 

provision of electricity to 

the communities which has 

singled out the Badagry 

and the Ibeju Lekki/ Epe 

axes of the state 

respectively for 

transformation into centres 

of dynamic socio-economic 

activities. 

More thrills on episode 3 of 

Airtel’s The Voice Nigeria 

F students OURTEEN 

of Afe 

Babalola University, Ado- 

Ekiti (ABUAD), have 

travelled to China on a 

three-week scholarship to 

sharpen their proficiency 

in Chinese language and 

culture. The students were 

accompanied by the 

Chinese Language 

Coordinator in ABUAD, 

Mr. Charles Ejemezu. 

ABUAD students and 

staff were considered 

worthy of making the list 

of institutions selected all 

over the world because of 

ABUAD’s cordial 

relationship with China 

and a Memorandum of 

Understanding between 

Comfort, who got all four 

coaches turning, joined 

#TeamWaje. Joy Ebiem 

and Torisheju “Tori” Ogbe 

teamed up with 

#TeamYemiAlade and finally, 

Emmanuel Okafor 

and Tama Nisa joined 

#TeamPatoranking. 

#TeamYemiAlade currently 

leads the pack with 

seven talents, while 

#TeamTimi and 

#TeamPatoranking have 

six talents each. 

#TeamWaje comes in with 

five contestants and this 

means all four teams have 

collectively filled about half 

their slots. 

14 ABUAD students leave for China 

ABUAD and China since 

2011. 

In 2011, barely a year 

after ABUAD commenced 

academic work on January 

4, 2010, the university 

introduced the 

compulsory study of 

Chinese or French 

languages to its students 

as part of its efforts to 

institutionalize quality 

and functional education 

and prepare its students 

for the competitive global 

employment market. 

Since the introduction of 

Chinese language to the 

curriculum of the 

university, ABUAD 

students have benefitted 

from the programme. 

Lagos unveils MFB to boost SMEs 

office at Obafemi 

Awolowo Way in Ikeja, 

where he stressed that 

the establishment of the 

bank is in line with 

Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode’s commitment to 

his election promise of 

making life better for 

residents of the state. 

He said: Ibile MFB will 

galvanise activities in the 

MSME sector asmore 

people to go into 

businesses which will 

ultimately reduce 

unemployment.”


By Bose Adelaja, 

Ebun Sessou & Daud 

Olatunji 

LAGOS—MEMBERS of 

the deadly ritual cult, 

Badoo, yesterday, struck 

again, killing three people 

in a church at Owode- 

Ajegunle area along 

Ikorodu Road, Lagos. 

The cultists were said to 

have attacked Crystal 

Church of Christ (C&S) 

Aladura, at 4, Victoria 

Anibaba Street, Owode 

Weighbridge, along 

Ikorodu Road. 

They were said to have 

attacked the wife of founder 

of the church, Mrs. Ajidara, 

her two-year-old daughter 

and another woman, who 

lived in the church with her 

daughter. 

An eyewitness said one 

woman and the two girls 

were killed during the 

attack. 

The menace of Badoo cult 

group in Ikorodu area of 

Lagos has forced residents 

to adopt ‘jungle-justice’ 

method. 

Three suspected Badoo 

members were lynched in 

Ikorodu two days ago by 

angry residents who felt the 

police were not doing 

enough to secure their 

lives. 

On Sunday, the police 

claimed it arrested over 100 

suspected Badoo members 

in raids in several areas of 

Ikorodu in conjunction 

with the Oodua Peoples 

Congress, OPC. 

Threat to 

communities 

A new twist was, 

however, added to the 

Badoo boys menace, 

yesterday, as two Ikorodu 

communities – Gbaga and 

Omitoro— were allegedly 

written to by members of the 

cult to prepare for imminent 

attacks. 

But residents took the 

development with a pinch 

of salt since almost all 

previous attacks had 

element of surprise 

Latest church attack 

Before yesterday’s attack, 

it was learned that the head 

of the church, simply called 

Prophet Ajidara, had an 

outside engagement on 

Monday, leaving the 

church activities to his 

members, but the 

unfortunate incident 

reportedly occurred after 

the night vigil when all 

present had retired to bed. 

Vanguard learned that 

the male members, who 

were 

mainly 

instrumentalists, reportedly 

retired to one of the rooms, 

which is about 10 metres 

from the church auditorium, 

leaving two children and 

two female adults inside the 

church. 

Nobody could ascertain 

the cause and actual time 

of the incident but 


3 killed as Badoo boys attack Ikorodu church 

neighbours claimed the 

vigil lasted till 3 a.m. and 

no unusual noise was 

heard in the premises until 

the arrival of the prophet at 

about 5 a.m. 

He was said to have 

arrived the scene at about 

5 am, shouting for help on 

sighting the gory sight of 

murdered people. 

Sympathizers were said 

to have rushed to the scene 

only to find the lifeless 

body of one of the children, 

while the other child and 

two female adults were 

unconscious and were 

rushed to the hospital for 

medical attention where 

two of them later died. 

The victims were said to 

be under the church 

protection (Abe-Abo) before 

the incident. 

At the scene of the crime, 

there were characteristic 

symbols of blood stained 

grinding stone and engine 

oil on the floor, indicating 

that the dreaded Badoo 

cultists were the 

perpetrators. This caused 

palpable fear and 

apprehension in the area 

such that residents were 

scared to talk to the press. 

However, an insider, who 

pleaded anonymity, said 

she was led at about 3 am 

to check on the 

worshippers, who were 

busy with the vigil but at 

about 5 am, the prophet’s 

distress call woke her up 

before neighbours and 

sympathizers rushed to the 

scene. 

Interestingly, the fenced 

bungalow is with an iron 

gate at the entrance and 

relics of a bonfire was 

sighted in the 

neighbourhood, an 

indication that the residents 

were alert all through the 

night. 

Many residents were 

scared to discuss the 

development but some of 

them claimed the area is 

well secured, that no 

stranger could have easily 

accessed it without 

encountering the security. 

During the visit to the 

church, it was discovered 

that a bed spread and some 

other clothings had blood 

stains and engine oil stains 

but no grinding stone was 

found. 

Also, the church was 

intact but the prophet could 

not be reached at press 

time. 

At Owode-Ajegunle 

Police Division, a senior 

Police officer, who did not 

want his name in print, 

showed Vanguard a blood 

stained grinding stone, 

claiming it was retrieved 

from the scene of the 

incident. He said some 

exhibits were removed for 

proper investigations as it 

could not be ascertained if 

the assailants were cultists. 

Residents were divided 

•Allegedly write two communities to expect them 

•Suspected female kidnapper lynched in Ikorodu 

•Police order residents to wear identification cards 

•Whistles, machetes now household necessities in Ikorodu 

over the development as 

some were of the opinion 

that the incident was 

carried out by Badoo 

members while others 

disagreed, saying it was an 

insider’s job and the 

perpetrators just left Badoo 

symbols to deceive 

residents. 

Suspected female 

kidnapper lynched in 

Ikorodu 

Meantime, a suspected 

female kidnapper was 

yesterday, burnt to death in 

Ikorodu, Lagos. 

The incident occurred at 

Etunrenren, near Benson 

bus-stop, at about 3.45pm. 

According to eye 

witnesses’ account, some 

youths from Ladega 

suspected the woman’s 

movement at about 2 p.m. 

while she was in possession 

of a hand bag and forcefully 

dragging a child. Also, she 

was said to have feigned 

insanity as the child wept 

consistently. 

Without wasting time, the 

youths approached her but 

she tried to outsmart them 

claiming she resides at 

Etunrenren. 

Not satisfied, the 

inquisitive youths followed 

her to Etunrenren for 

clarification and that was 

where her claim was 

disproved. 

As this was ongoing, a 

woman was wailing and 

crying over her missing 

child and she was led to the 

scene where the child 

jumped at her. 

Immediately, the mob 

decided to search the 

suspect’s hand bag and a 

document was allegedly 

found stating the ages and 

sex of children with 

corresponding price list. 

However, Policemen from 

Ikorodu Division were said 

to have got wind of the 

situation and arrived the 

scene to rescue the woman 

but they were resisted and 

the suspect was burnt to 

death at exactly 3.45pm. 

Ogun CP parades 

five Badoo suspects 

Following the revelation 

by one of the suspected 

members of Badoo cult 

group that they have 10 

new camps in Ogun 

State,the state Police 

command said it would 

write Lagos Police 

command to have access to 

the suspected Badoo 

member that made the 

claim. 

The state command, 

however, denied the claim 

on the existence of 10 

37 suspects, including five suspected Badoo members, being paraded by 

Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, at the state police 

command headquarters, Eleweran, Abeokuta, yesterday. Photo: Daud 

Olatunji. 

badoo hideouts in the state, 

saying, there is no hiding 

place for the gang. 

Commissioner of Police 

in the state, Ahmed Iliyasu, 

stated this, yesterday, 

while parading 37 

suspects, including five 

suspected Badoo cultists, at 

the state headquarters, 

Eleweran, Abeokuta. 

The CP said the Ogun 

Command, reinforced with 

community policing, had 

made tactical deployment 

and improved on its 

intelligence network 

towards taming criminal 

activities in the state. 

While reacting to 

Vanguard’s story on the 

Badoo new camps in the 

state, the Commissioner of 

Police said he has ordered 

that a letter of request be 

written to the Lagos 

command to have access to 

the Badoo suspect that has 

the information with a view 

to clamping down on the 

fleeing dreaded cult 

members. 

He said the command 

has arrested five members 

of the gang and on the trail 

of others that might want 

to make the state their 

refuge .He said: “It is a 

matter of nomenclature. 

Crime is crime. Crime is 

dynamic. Crime has no 

map. Whether Yahoo, 

Badoo or any other 

mythology you come, we 

are going to demystify you. 

We will get you and we 

have been getting them." 

Whistles, machetes 

now household 

necessities in 

Ikorodu 

In another development, 

residents of Ikorodu now 

sleep with machetes and 

whistles as survival 

strategies against the 

dreaded Badoo cult 

terrorising the area. 

An investigation by the 

News Agency of Nigeria in 

the area, yesterday, 

revealed that virtually every 

household in Ikorodu now 

has whistles and machetes 

and other implements for 

self-defence. 

A resident in distress is 

expected to blow the whistle 

many times to signal the 

presence of Badoo cultists. 

Mr Kazeem Yusuf, 

Chairman of the Egba- 

Otun Community 

Development Association, 

CDA, in Itaolowu, Ikorodu, 

said that residents had 

resorted to self-help. He 

said able bodied-people in 

families are being drafted 

by the CDA to participate 

in vigilance-keeping 

during the night. 

He said: “It is the 

government that asked 

every CDA in Ikorodu to 

sensitise its members on the 

need to have whistles and 

machetes ready at hand, 

especially at nights. The 

whistle when blown for 

long will indicate the 

presence of those 

terrorising us. 

“It will urge close 

residents to come to the aid 

of the whistle blower so that 

the bad people can be overpowered.” 

According to Mrs Yemisi 

Tolulope, the Vice-Chair of 

Ereko-Central CDA at 

Muti, Ikorodu, residents 

are now united in their 

battle against the Badoo 

group. 

She commended the 

government of Lagos and 

Ogun States for working 

assiduously with the CDA 

to combat the menace of the 

group. 

“The CDA structure is the 

best way to get the people 

involved in their safety and 

survival,” she said. 

Police orders 

residents to wear 

identification cards 

Also, the Lagos State 

Police Command has 

ordered all legitimate 

residents of Ikorodu and its 

environs to, as a matter of 

urgency, possess valid 

forms of identification to 

enable them move freely in 

the area. The order took 

effect from yesterday. 

A statement by the Police 

Public Relations Officer, 

Lagos State Police 

Command, ASP Olarinde 

Famous-Cole, stated that 

all residents, including 

students and workers 

moving around that part of 

the state, should always 

have on them a valid form 

of identification. 

Famous-Cole noted that 

this has become important 

and necessary because of 

the series of police 

operations lined up in the 

area by the state police 

command led by Deputy 

Commissioner of Police in 

charge of operations. 

“The Lagos State Police 

Command is deeply 

concerned about the 

criminal activities in the 

area, which is not only 

unlawful but also affecting 

the integrity of the state. 

“The planned police 

operations demands 

residents to carry on them 

a valid form of 

identification which will be 

verified, in order not to be 

restricted or face 

apprehension as adequate 

security arrangements 

have been put in place for 

the safety of every Nigerian 

throughout the state by the 

police and other security 

agencies.


E-mail: vanguardpolitics@gmail.com 

We're not running APC 

agenda — LASIEC 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

THE Chairman, Lagos 

State Independent Electoral 

Commission, LASIEC, Justice 

Ayotunde Phillips, has promised 

that the commission will not rig 

the poll in favour of a major 

political party in the state as is 

being alleged in some circles. 

Justice Phillips, who gave the 

assurance during a media parley, 

weekend, stressed that the 

commission would not rob any 

candidate of his or her people’sgiven 

mandate and give it to 

another person in the July 22, 

2017 Local Government elections 

in the state. As a demonstration 

of her commitment, she said that 

results would be announced in 

the respective constituencies and 

not centralised as was done in 

the past. 

The chairman described 

allegations accusing the 

commission of conniving with 

some leaders of a particular 

political party to manipulate the 

primaries of some parties and 

selection of candidates for the 

election as published in some 

media, as the handiwork of some 

disgruntled politicians whose 

desire was to discredit the 

Commission and the on-going 

electoral process. 

She added that the 

responsibility of selecting 

candidates rest solely with 

political parties, while the 

commission is bound by law to 

accept the lists presented to it by 

the parties. 

“The Commission under my 

leadership strongly believes in 

the rule of law and due process 

and would not, therefore, under 

any guise, interfere in the 

internal affairs of any of the 

political parties. The Commission 

is irrevocably committed to the 

entrenchment of democratic 

norms and ideals in the electoral 

process at the council level. The 

Commission will make all efforts 

that would ensure mass 

participation in the July 22, 2017 

elections. 

To announce results at each 

councils 

She further disclosed that 

contrary to previous style, the 

results of chairman and 

councillorship will be announced 

at designated areas in each 

council. According to her, “The 

results will be announced at the 

collation centre of each council 

that is where the result will be 

announced. The only reason we 

can change the venue for 

announcement of winners is 

when there is no guarantee to 

safety of life from the security at 

the collation centre.” 

PDP'll benefit from Lagos APC's intra-party crisis 

— Adewale 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

MR. Segun Adewale, 

chairman of the Modu 

Sheriff-led PDP in Lagos State 

has boasted that the crisis rocking 

the APC in Lagos State will be 

beneficial to the PDP adding that 

the party remains the only hope 

of the masses in Lagos State. 

He said: The crisis in APC 

which emanated as a result of 

imposition in the party will be in 

favour of our party. Lagos West 

is our strong areas as we were 

able to win six House of Reps seat 

in same area in 2015. We will 

record landslide victory in Lagos 

West. We will also record good 

victory Lagos Central and East. 

We are also aware that Chief 

Bode George has moved some 

of our members to APDA, Labour 

and AD. This will give us some 

tough moments but it will still not 

affect our chances of winning 

some of the LCDA and LGAs. 

"People are apparently tired of 

imposition and manoeuvering in 

Lagos State and they are willing 

to vote enmass against the APC 

govt that promised them change 

and yet brought suffering and 

Ori-Ade APC: Scribe defends emergence 

of female candidate 

By Monsuru Olowoopejo 

SECRETARY of the APC in 

Ori-Ade Local Council 

Development Areas, LCDAs, Mr. 

Ambrose Hamed has said that 

chairmanship candidate that 

emerged from the council, 

Alhaja, Ramatalai Akinola was 

not imposed but by popular 

choice. 

Hamed stated this in reaction 

to allegation by a group called, 

“Ori-Ade Progressive Group,” 

saying there was nothing called 

imposition of chairmanship 

candidate in Ori-Ade. 

According to him, “It is the 

decision of the party and people 

of Ori-Ade to allow Ramatalai to 

serve them at local government 

level because we believe she is a 

grassroots person who has 

served us well before in the 

House of Assembly between 2011 

and 2015,” he said as he noted 

that all tendencies in the party 

including youths and women 

groups were supportive of her. 

Meantime, the chairmanship 

candidate, Ramatalai, while 

extending hands of fellowship to 

other aspirants, said, “Am using 

this medium again to call on 

aggrieved spirants and all the 

people of Ori-Ade to support me 

and our great party for a greater 

result because I can’t do it alone.” 

•Phillips: LASIEC boss 

hunger on them. PDP has come 

to stay in Lagos and we remain 

focus and resolute in our quest 

to ensure the domination of APC 

is Lagos is decimated to enable 

us provide vibrant opposition. 

PDP remains the only hope of the 

masses and voice of the voiceless 

in Lagos.” 

On the party’s preparedness, 

he said: "We have had our 

primaries which were keenly 

contested by all aspirants in a 

democratic way. No form of 

imposition was allowed as all 

aspirants contested in a fair 

contest and winners emerged. 

Also, our campaign has been 

flagged off in virtually all the LGs 

and our aspirants are doing quite 

greatly.” 

'My mission is to take Ifako-Ijaiye 

to the next level' 

By Olasunkanmi Akoni 

APC 

chairmanship 

candidate in Ifako-Ijaiye 

Local Government Area, Apostle 

Oloruntoba Oke, has promised 

to reposition the council if elected 

as the next Chairman of the LGA. 

Oke, who was the council boss 

in Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government 

between 2011 and 2014, in a 

chat with newsmen, said he is 

on a mission to actualize 

developmental projects which he 

could not finish in his last term. 

“One of the reasons why I am 

re-contesting is because I noticed 

that some of the projects I left 

behind almost three years ago 

were not touched and are still at 

the level I left them. 

“If I am re-elected as chairman, 

I will create more job 

opportunities and employment, 

markets will be transformed, and 

motor parks will be constructed 

to cater for the populace and 

decongest the gridlock in and 

around the council.” 

He added that Ifako-Ijaiye 

Tuntun Community would be 

given special priority because of 

the need to address the 

challenges facing the area in 

terms of roads. 

He maintained that some of the 

roads in the community would 

not be constructed by the council 

but would draw the state 

government’s attention to the 

area adding that his experience 

would count if re-elected. “What 

I’m bringing to the table now is 

my experience. There are some 

things I did not have then which 

I have now. So, I can do it in a 

better way that is why we called 

it continuity. It is generally 

agreed that no government can 

perform 100 percent but if we are 

able to achieve between 70 to 80 

percent, I think that will be okay,” 

the APC candidate said. 

APC peace 

plan derailing 

in Onigbongbo 

LCDA 

By Charles Kumolu 

APLAN to broker peace in 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Onigbongbo 

Local Council Development 

Area, LCDA, is unravelling 

following complaints by some 

interested politicians of being 

short-changed. 

It was learnt that following the 

directive from state party leaders 

that the LCDA was one of the 18 

areas where chairmanship 

candidates had been preselected, 

that it was agreed that 

aspirants, who bought 

chairmanship forms would be 

compensated with other 

positions in the council. 

However, sources said the 

agreement to compensate the 

former chairmanship aspirants 

was not long after jettisoned as 

the party leadership in the LCDA 

allegedly apportioned the 

positions. It was further gathered 

that the chairmanship aspirants 

petitioned the party leadership 

on the matter, but the action did 

not yield the response they 

desired. 

A source, who spoke to 

Vanguard said: “The person that 

was given the ticket in our LCDA 

is among those that were 

promised automatic tickets. That 

action ended the aspirations of 

other aspirants in our LCDA, who 

had purchased the chairmanship 

forms. Our people protested but 

there was an agreement that 

other positions in the LCDA 

would be given to aspirants as 

compensation. But that was not 

done. What happened was that 

the leaders shared the positions 

among themselves. 

“For instance, the present Sole 

Administrator of the LCDA has 

been pencilled down as 

Secretary to the Local 

Government while her mother is 

the party’s candidate in the 

election." 

Epe legislators say APC'll sweep polls 

By Ebun Sessou 

TWO members of the Lagos 

State House of Assembly, 

Abiodun Tobun and Segun 

Olulade, have expressed the 

determination that the APC will 

sweep the forthcoming local 

government area polls. 

Tobun representing Epe 

constituency 1, said the party has 

set internal mechanism in place 

to ensure that all flag-bearers are 

supported. “We are hopeful that 

with the monumental 

development that is going on in 

the state, the party will stand out 

victorious in the elections. Our 

party is sure of victory all round”, 

he said. 

Olulade representing Epe 

constituency 11, said: “I am 

extremely hopeful that our party 

will produce the winners at all 

the polls. With the performance 

of the state government both at 

executive and legislative levels. 

I have an assurance that the 

people of Lagos will go en-mass 

next month to vote for our party. 

“We have delivered on our 

manifesto and there are 

progressive reports in Lagos. The 

local government elections will 

only avail us the opportunity to 

be appreciated by Lagosians by 

voting for us. The state 

government led by Governor 

Akinwunmi Ambode will ensure 

free and fair election and at the 

end, the party will be victorious.”

44 --- VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Russia, China say N/Korea must stop nuclear 

programme 

RUSSIA and China 

have urged North 

Korea to "freeze" its missile 

and nuclear programmes 

after it claimed to have 

successfully tested its first 

intercontinental ballistic 

missile. 

Both countries also called 

for a simultaneous 

suspension of US-South 

Korea large-scale military 

exercises. 

North Korea said its 

missile could hit anywhere 

in the world. 

But while Pyongyang 

appears to have made 

•As country claims test of intercontinental missile 

•US considers options for response 

progress, experts believe 

the device cannot 

accurately hit a target. 

Despite the North Korean 

claim, both the US and 

Russia said the missile 

presented no threat to 

either country. 

Calling the launch 

"unacceptable", Russia and 

China, which share a land 

border with North Korea, 

also urged the US to not 

deploy the Thaad missile 

system - which aims to 

intercept attacks from 

Pyongyang - in South 

Korea. 

Chinese President Xi 

Jinping was in Moscow, 

where he held talks with 

Russian President 

Vladimir Putin. 

North Korea said it 

successfully tested its first 

intercontinental ballistic 

missile (ICBM) under the 

supervision of leader Kim 

Jong-un, and that it was 

capable of hitting anywhere 

in the world. 

The Hwasong-14 missile 

reached an altitude of 

2,802km and hit its target 

precisely after flying for 39 

minutes, the North's state 

television said. 

Kim Jong Un reacts during the test-fire of intercontinental ballistic missile 

Hwasong-14. 

CATALONIA will de 

clare independence 

from Spain within 48 

hours if voters back secession 

in an October referendum, 

according to a 

draft bill proposed by secessionist 

parties on Tuesday, 

though it remains 

unclear whether the vote 

will go ahead. 

Spain's Constitutional 

Court and the conservative 

government in 

Madrid have blocked previous 

secessionist challenges 

and the government 

has said it will block 

any further attempt to hold 

a referendum. 

According to the bill, 

written jointly by the parties 

which favor secession, 

the referendum will pose 

a binary question asking 

voters whether they want 

Catalonia, a wealthy region 

in northeastern 

Spain, to become an independent 

nation. 

If "Yes" wins, the regional 

government plans to declare 

independence within 

48 hours. If "No" wins, 

an early election would be 

called to form a new regional 

government. 

The bill establishes no 

minimum participation for 

the referendum's outcome 

to be valid. 

In 2014, Catalonia held 

a non-binding election on 

whether the region should 

be independent despite 

pressure from Madrid. 

While more than 80 percent 

agreed, turnout was low, at 

The missile was launched 

from country's western 

region into the sea off its 

east coast on Tuesday, 

according to officials 

in South Korea and Japan. 

The "unidentified ballistic 

missile" was fired at 

around 00:40 GMT from a 

site near Banghyon in 

North Pyongan province 

and flew about 930 

kilometres, coming down in 

the Sea of Japan, South 

Korea's military said in a 

statement. 

President Moon Jae-in 

said the military was 

analysing the launch with 

the possibility that it may 

have been an ICBM. 

Japan's Chief Cabinet 

Secretary Yoshihide Suga 

told reporters the missile 

flew for 40 minutes - an 

unusually long flight time. 

"This launch of a ballistic 

missile can never be 

tolerated, and Japan 

strongly protested to North 

Korea and condemned it," 

he told a briefing. 

The US military's Pacific 

Command said in a 

statement that North Korea 

had launched a landbased 

intermediate range 

ballistic missile. "The North 

American Aerospace 

Defense Command 

(NORAD) assessed that 

the missile launch from 

North Korea did not pose a 

threat to North America," it 

said in a statement. 

Qatar shows mettle, offers compromise as Gulf states meet 

QATAR announced 

plans for a steep rise 

in Liquefied Natural Gas 

(LNG) production capacity 

that suggested it was ready 

for a protracted dispute with 

Gulf neighbours, but Doha 

said it was doing all it could 

to reach agreement. 

Saudi Arabia, the United 

Arab Emirates, Egypt and 

Bahrain were due to meet 

on Wednesday to decide 

whether to continue 

sanctions they imposed on 

Qatar on accusations it was 

aiding terrorism and courting 

regional rival Iran. 

Doha denies the charges 

and has submitted to 

mediator Kuwait replies to 

13 demands that the 

gathering will consider. 

"What Qatar has given in 

goodwill and good 

initiative for a constructive 

solution, based on dialogue, 

we believe should be 

sufficient (to show) we have 

carried out our duties from 

our side," Qatari Foreign 

Minister Sheikh 

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman 

al-Thani told a news 

conference in Doha. 

"There is a lot of progress 

that has been made on that 

front (countering terrorism 

financing)... but of course 

there is always room for 

improvement," he said, 

describing the sanctions as 

illegal steps under the 

pretext of fighting 

terrorism. 

The three Gulf states and 

Egypt have severed 

diplomatic and transport 

ties with Doha in a dispute 

that has raised concern 

across the Middle East and 

beyond. Western states fear 

a lengthy dispute, besides 

threatening political 

instability, could upset 

supply chains in a region 

vital for energy supplies. 

German Foreign Minister 

Sigmar Gabriel told the 

same Doha news 

conference he felt Qatar had 

shown restraint in the row 

which began on June 5 

when the Gulf states 

severed diplomatic and 

transport ties. 

"We hope others will 

respond in a similar spirit. 

Catalonia to split from Spain within 48 hours of secession vote 

around 2.2 million out of 

5.4 million potential voters. 

Catalonia's regional government 

has said that 

while details of the bill will 

be debated in the coming 

weeks, a formal draft will 

not be sent to the Catalan 

legislature until August in 

an effort to forestall the 

Constitutional Court blocking 

the legislation. 

The bill's announcement 

comes at a difficult time for 

the regional government 

led by Carles Puigdemont. 

Tanzania orders arrest of opposition 

MP for insulting President 

TANZANIAN authorities ordered the detention of 

an opposition lawmaker on Tuesday for insulting 

President John Magufuli, days after the president ordered 

officials to take action against 'incitement'. 

The opposition has accused Magufuli, nicknamed "the 

Bulldozer" for his blunt leadership style, of presiding over 

an increasingly authoritarian government. 

Kinondoni District Commissioner Ali Hapi ordered 

police to detain Halima Mdee, a lawmaker from the main 

opposition CHADEMA party, in the commercial capital 

Dar es Salaam and keep her for 48 hours pending criminal 

charges. "She should be questioned and sent to court 

to explain the insults she made against our president," 

Hapi told journalists. He did not say what the insults 

were. 

Tanzania's laws allow regional and district 

commissioners to detain for 48 hours anyone who may 

"disturb public tranquillity." 

Magufuli warned opposition leaders on Sunday against 

"reckless" remarks and ordered authorities to take action 

against any opposition leader who incites violence. 

More than 10 people, including university students 

and a lecturer, have been charged in court over the past 

few months with insulting the president via social 

networking platform like WhatsApp. Insulting the 

president was made a criminal offence under a cyber 

crimes law passed in 2015 before Magufuli came into 

office. It is punishable by up to three years in jail, a fine of 

around $3,000 or both. Magufuli ordered the 

immediate release of a popular local musician in March, 

a day after he was arrested for allegedly mocking the 

government in a song. Tanzanian authorities banned a 

newspaper for two years in June over articles it published 

linking two former presidents to alleged improprieties in 

mining deals signed in the 1990s and early 2000s. 

Activists and opposition leaders have accused the 

government of cracking down on press freedom. 

US denies visa to Gambian robotics 

team 

FIVE teenage pupils from The Gambia who built a robot 

for a prestigious international competition in the United 

States will not be able to accompany their invention to the 

event after being denied a visa. 

The Gambian pupils become the second team of students 

refused entry to the US to attend the FIRST Global robotics 

event in Washington, DC, on July 16-18. On Saturday, it 

was reported that an all-girls team from Afghanistan were 

also denied a visa to travel to the US to showcase their creation 

at the same competition. 

Moktar Darboe, director of The Gambia's ministry of higher 

education, research, science and technology, told Al Jazeera 

that the team, made up of high school pupils aged 17-18, 

were "very disappointed." 

"They put in so much effort into building this, and now, after 

all the sacrifice and energy they put in, they have been left 

disheartened," Darboe, who is also the team's mentor, said on 

Monday. 

The robot, a ball sorting machine, will be shipped off in the 

next day or two, he added. 

The Gambian American Association will represent the team 

at the event and the students in The Gambia's capital, Banjul, 

will watch it over Skype. 

18 die as bus, truck collide in S/ 

Africa 

AT least 18 people have been killed in a collision 

between a bus and a truck in northeast South Africa, 

according to paramedics. “Rescuers found the bus lying 

on its side, while the truck had come to a stop outside 

Machadodorp in Mpumalanga province, east of 

Johannesburg, the news agency ANA reported on 

Tuesday. “Sixteen people died at the site of the accident 

and two at hospital, emergency service ER24 spokesman 

Russel Meiring said. “The death toll had initially been 

given as 11. “At least 12 people were injured. “Rescuers 

extracted several injured people and bodies from inside 

and underneath the bus, Meiring told the dpa news 

agency. “He was unable to say how many people were 

on the bus and if any of those on board were unhurt.“ 

Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident. 

Canada to apologise, pay ex- 

Guatanmo prisoner 

THE Canadian government is reportedly going to 

apologise and give compensation to Omar Khadr, 

a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner. 

Khadr, 30, pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a US soldier 

in Afghanistan when he was 15, but Canada's Supreme 

Court later ruled that officials had interrogated him under 

"oppressive circumstances" such as sleep deprivation. 

An official familiar with the deal told the Associated 

Press news agency on Tuesday that Toronto-born Khadr 

will receive $8m.

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017—45



Lille sack Enyeama, 10 others by sms 

Former Super Eagles 

goalkeeper 

Vincent Enyeama is one 

of 11 players who have 

been told they are no 

longer required by new 

Lille coach Marcelo 

Bielsa. 

The French club’s new 

Argentine boss has also 

sent messages to 

Zambia’s Stoppila 

Sunzu, Tunisia’s Naim 

Sliti and Ivory Coast’s 

Junior Tallo saying they 

are not part of his plans. 

Enyeama, who played 

101 times for the Super 

Eagles, only signed a 

new deal last season 

and could choose to 

follow the lead of Tallo. 

“As for me, I’m under 

contract. I will respect 

the two years I have left. 

Salami gets 

6-match ban 

in Finland 

The Finland FA has 

handed a sixmatch 

ban to Nigerian 

striker Gbolahan Salami. 

Salami was handed a 

straight red card deep into 

injury time of his side 

KuPS’s 2-1 loss at home to 

Mariehamn on June 4. 

The Nigerian 

vehemently protested a 

disallowed goal, directing 

his anger at referee Jani 

Laakosen. 

Though initially given a 

mandatory two-match ban 

for the red card, a 

Disciplinary Committee of 

the FA has since extended 

the sanction to six matches. 

This was after Salami 

admitted his guilt in a 

hearing into the incident. 

As a result, the Nigerian 

(who has already sat out 

two matches) will now miss 

KuPS’s upcoming fixtures 

against Ilves, PS Kemi, 

HIFK and Lahti. 

The news is a blow to 

KuPS, as Salami is one of 

their leading goal scorers 

with four strikes in the 

Veikkausliiga this season. 

EVEN though Nigeria did not 

qualify for the just concluded FIFA 

Confederations Cup which the World Cup 

holders, Germany won as Coach Joachim 

Low took the team to a glorifying 152 

outings and 102 wins, the competition still 

harbours for the Super Eagles, fond 

memories. 

With just two participations in 1995 in 

Saudi Arabia and 2013 in Brazil, the Super 

Eagles remain the African team with the 

highest number of goals in the FIFA 

Confederations Cup. 

Despite the Super Eagles being 

absentees in the FIFA Confederation Cup 

in Russia, investigation has revealed that 

the Super Eagles of Nigeria remain 

Africa’s goal king of the competition of 

Champion. 

The Super Eagles scored 11 goals 

spread over two competitions and six 

matches. But the African team with best 

performance remains Nigeria’s 

neighbours, Cameroon which played the 

final match of the 2003 competition but 

I’m in no hurry,” the 

Ivorian told French 

Newspaper L’Equipe. 

“I want to establish 

myself at Lille. 

“It’s the club that 

wants me to leave. We’ll 

see if they find a solution 

between now and the 

end of the transfer 

window. I’m calm. It’s a 

bit bizarre, but I’m 

handling it OK. 

“I was informed like 

the others, by text. We’re 

under contract, the club 

A 

RUSSIAN journalist 

has filed a 

formal complaint against 

football idol Diego 

Maradona accusing him 

of forcibly removing her 

dress during an 

interview, it’s been 

reported. 

The 56-year-old 

Argentine legend denies 

the claim and his aides 

allege the reporter 

“started undressing 

herself” prompting 

HIM to call hotel 

security in St 

Petersburg. 

E k a t e r i n a 

Nadolskaya, 30, said she 

had been in the lobby 

bar of his hotel when 

they started talking. 

“I asked him for an 

interview. He invited me 

to his room,” she said. 

A female friend 

accompanied her but 

soon left, according to 

her account in a 

complaint to the Russian 

Investigative 

Committee, seen as an 

equivalent of the FBI. 

“Maradona shut the 

door, and first starting 

answering my questions 

and then began 

harassing me,” she said. 

He forced off her dress 

and she “managed to 

stop the harassment 

does what it wants. 

“We would have liked 

to have had a 

discussion. But it’s a 

business choice made by 

the bosses. 

The club has already 

made some summer 

signings including 

Burkina Faso 


goalkeeper Herve Koffi 

following Lille’s 

disappointing 11th place 

finish in Ligue 1 last 

season. 

HANDS-OFF-GOD Maradona 

accused of sexually harassing 

Russian journalist 

only when she was in 

her underwear,” 

reported newspaper 

Komsomolskaya 

Pravda. 

Maradona “even tried 

to take her dress off, and 

actually managed to do 

so.” 

She told SM News – 

for which she works – “I 

got scared and 

threatened him I would 

call the police. In turn, 

he called the hotel 

security service. 

“Three people carried 

me to the corridor. My 

belongings were left in 

the room. My phone 

was taken and not 

returned till three hours 

later.” 

She claimed that 

Maradona’s assistant 

later came and threw 

500 dollars at her. 

The journalist 

complained she was 

forced to sit for three 

hours in only her 

underwear in the lobby 

of the five star hotel 

before her clothing was 

returned. 

“Employees of the 

hotel tried to kick her 

out but she insisted she 

would leave only with 

police,” reports 

Komsomolskaya 

Pravda. 

Eagles remain Africa’s FIFA Confed Cup goal kings 

lost to hosts, France. 

Russia 2017 was Cameroon’s third 

outing. Cumulatively, the current 

African champions have scored seven 

goals spread across nine matches in 

2001, 2003 and 2017. 

Apart from goal scoring, Nigeria made 

other marks in the Confederations Cup. 

Until the 2017 opening match which 

paired hosts, Russia, with New Zealand, 

Nigeria’s former national coach, the late 

Amodu Shaibu was the youngest coach 

to lead a team to the ‘Festival of 

Champions’.The late Nigerian coach 

was 36 years and 263 days old when 

he led the Super Eagles to beat Japan 

3-0 on January 6, 1995. 

That record held until June 17 this 

year when Anthony Hudson led New 

Zealand to face Russia. He was 36 years 

and 96 days old. But since Hudson’s 

team lost the encounter with Russia, 

Nigeria’s Amodu therefore remains the 

youngest coach to have led a team to 

win a FIFA Confederations Cup match.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 2017 

Lille 

sack 

Enyeama, 

10 others by SMS 

WIMBLEDON: 

Federer through 

Salami gets 6-match ban in Finland 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

HANDS OFF GOD: 

Diego Maradona accused 

of sexually harassing 

Russian journalist 

DETAILS 

INSIDE 

Onazi quits 

Trabzonspor 

Ministr 

try y will 

support t Quadri 

—Dalung 

Proud dad 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 

Cristiano 

Ronaldo 

sits with 

son 

Cristiano 

Ronaldo 

Jr and 

his 

newborn 

twins 

>38 

>39 

How to Play Sudoku 

ACROSS 

1 Festival (4) 

3 Seasickness (3,2,3,) 

9 Marine plant (7) 

10 Hours of darkness (5) 

11 Incompetent (5) 

12 Calling (6) 

14 Silly laugh (6) 

16 Comfortable (2,4) 

19 Capital of the Czech Republic (6) 

21 Pattern (5) 

24 Long-necked woolly animal (5) 

25 Square-rigged sailing-ship (7) 

26 Imperil (8) 

27 Probabilities (4) 

DOWN 

1 Young geese (8) 

2 Permission to do something (5) 

4 Helping (6) 

5 Hard-wearing material (5) 

6 Reddish-purple (7) 

7 Duty list (4) 

8 Concerning teeth (6) 

13 Emotions (8) 

15 Floral wreath (7) 

17 Place of worship (6) 

18 skimpy (6) 

22 Great fear (5) 

23 Run away (4) 

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. 

(No line can have two of the same 

number). 

Each row (nine lines from left to right), 

column, (also nine lines from top to bottom) 

and 3 X 3 block within a bold block (nine 

blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. 

This means that no number can appear 

twice in any block, column or row. 

No mathematics is involved – no adding, 

subtraction, division or multiplication, just plain logic 

and your imagination. 

Printed and Published by VANGUARD MEDIA LIMITED, Vanguard Avenue, Kirikiri Canal, P.M.B.1007, Apapa. Phone: Newsroom: 018773962. Deputy Editor: 01-4548355. Advert Dept Hotline: 

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Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: EZE ANABA. Phone: 01—4548355, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

05072017 - Magu Osinbajo, Senate in fresh standoff

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