14122017 - IKOYI CASH: Whistleblower gets N421m, jets out of Nigeria

What 

politicians can 

learn from 

44 

military, by 

Nwachukwu (2) 

Vanguard's 

Chioma 

Obinna 

wins 

NMMA 

Award 10 

Nigeria loses 

N7.6trn to faulty 

agreements with 

IOCs— Kachikwu 

9 

** ** 

VOL. 25: NO. 63442 THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

I'm not after 

Osinbajo's 

job 

— TINUBU 

11 

Senate grills NSIA 

boss over $27.9bn 

interest-free loan 

9 

TANKER FIRE IN LAGOS 

IKOYI CASH: 

Whistleblower gets 

N421m, jets out of 

Nigeria 

By Charles Kumolu 

LAGOS — The Federal 

Government, yesterday, paid 

N421 million to the Ikoyi whistle 

blower, who provided information 

leading to the discovery of $43.5 

million, £27,800 and N23.2 million 

at No. 16 Osborne Road, Ikoyi, 

Lagos. 

Vanguard exclusively gathered that 

Continues on Page 5 

Mr & Mrs 

A fuel tanker laden with PMS, or petrol, fell by Apple Junction, off Festac Town and caught fire, burning some properties in 

Lagos, yesterday. PHOTOS: K ehinde Gbadamosi. SEE STORY ON PAGE 6. 

East-West 

Road designed 

to fail — FG 

12 

Many Libya returnees 

have psychiatric 

issues — IOM 

AMAECHI 43 ADAMU 17 

COLUMNISTS OCHEREOME 31 

8 

Ambode 

commissions 

Johnson, Tinubu 

park 

10

2 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017—3


Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

FEC MEETING—From left: Minister of Communications, Alhaji Adebayo Shittu; Minister of 

State, Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; Minister of Solid Minerals, Kayode Fayemi and Minister of 

Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, discussing before the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, 

yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. 

Whistleblower gets 

N421m, jets out of Nigeria 

Continues from Page 1 

the money was paid to the 

beneficiary by officials of 

the Ministry of Finance 

after which he left Nigeria 

for an undisclosed 

country. 

It was further learned 

that the eventual recipient 

of the reward money was 

the person who had 

earlier been taken to Yaba 

Psychiatric Hospital, 

Lagos, by the Economic 

and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, on 

the suspicion that he could 

be mad. 

However, what 

government paid in line 

with the Whistle-blower 

Policy which 

recommended 2-5 per 

cent of any amount 

recovered for a whistle 

blower, was not the total 

amount due the Ikoyi 

whistle-blower. 

When the next tranche 

would be paid could not 

be confirmed by 

Vanguard. 

My client’s been 

paid — Lawyer 

The whistle-blower’s 

lawyer, Mr. Yakubu 

Galadima, had in 

November, dismissed 

reports that his client 

would receive N350 

million reward, saying 

the actual figure was 

N850 million. 

Galadima, however, told 

Vanguard yesterday that 

payment of the reward to 

his client had confirmed 

his insistence that he was 

the true whistle-blower, 

adding that the 

development is expected 

to put an end to any doubt 

over who actually blew 

the whistle. 

His words: “My client 

has been paid. He was 

paid yesterday and has 

since left the country. As 

we are speaking, he is not 

in Nigeria. However, the 

money was paid directly 

to him. 

“The government said 

they were going to pay 

the money directly to him 

and that was what they 

did. The person that was 

paid was the same guy 

they claimed had a 

psychiatric problem. 

“What has happened 

confirmed my client, who 

has all along been known 

as the principal whistleblower 

as the real whistleblower.’’ 

ON LIFE AND LIVING 

"A friend is a person with whom I may be 

sincere. Before him I may think aloud. I am 

arrived at last in the presence of a man so 

real and equal, that I may drop even those 

undermost garments of dissimulation, 

courtesy, and second thought, which men 

never put off, and may deal with him with 

the simplicity and wholeness with which one 

chemical atom meets another." 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson 

SAYINGS OF OUR PEOPLE 

If you can’t resolve your problems in peace, you 

can’t solve them with war. — Somali proverb 

Controversy 

Vanguard recalls that the 

issue had been enmeshed 

in controversy over the 

treatment meted out to the 

principal whistle-blower 

by the EFCC. 

The Whistle-blower was 

forced to cry out, following 

claims by the EFCC 

Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim 

Magu, at the 7th session 

of the Conference of State 

Parties to the United 

Nations Convention 

against Corruption that he 

had become a millionaire. 

On the heels of that 

were claims by two other 

men that they were 

instrumental to the 

discovery of the money. 

A legal firm which 

claimed to be 

representing the Whistleblower, 

and two others, 

Abdulmumin Musa and 

Bala Usman, had 

petitioned Attorney- 

General of the 

Federation, AGF, 

Abubakar Malami, to pay 

the money to the three 

men. 

In the peak of the 

controversy, the whistleblower, 

narrated 

exclusively to Vanguard 

how he made the 

NAIRA WATCH 

discovery. 

While these lasted, the 

government insisted that 

it would only reward the 

person who provided 

information that led to the 

discovery of the fund at 

the end of last month. 

The government had in 

2016, approved a policy 

on whistle-blowing that 

aimed at encouraging 

Nigerians to report 

financial crimes. 

Minister of Finance, 

Kemi Adeosun, who 

announced the policy, 

said anyone who 

provided information 

leading to the recovery of 

fund, would be entitled to 

not more than five per cent 

of the recovered sum. 

Reps order Intels to remit multi-million 

dollar dues owe NPA within 24hrs 

By Emman 

Ovuakporie 

ABUJA — THE 

House of 

Representatives 

yesterday ordered 

management of Intels to 

remit the multi-million 

dollar revenue accrued 

from pilotage service 

contract into the Treasury 

Single Account, TSA, 

within 24 hours. 

The lawmakers also 

asked the management to 

include in the remittance 

interests accrued on the 

fund since November 

2016 without further 

delay. 

Chairman of the Ad-hoc 

committee on the need to 

ascertain the proceeds of 

the TSA, Abubakar 

Danburam, issued the 

directive during the 

investigative public 

hearing. 

Damburam also 

mandated Intels to 

provide full details of the 

amount owed Federal 

Government within 24 

hours, just as he 

threatened to enforce the 

committee’s statutory 

powers, if the company 

failed to comply with 

Federal Government 

policy on TSA. 

The committee also 

resolved to summon 

Dakuku Peterside, 

Director-General of 

Nigerian Maritime and 

Safety Administration, 

NIMASA, as well as 

Yusuf Makashi, 

Managing Director of 

Nigerian Petroleum 

Development Company, 

NPDC, for failing to 

honour invitations 

extended to them. 

According to Silvano 

Bellinato, Intels 

Executive Director and 

Mba Onum, Intels Legal 

Adviser, the company 

collects 28% of the 

revenue generated on 

behalf of Nigerian Ports 

Authority, NPA. 

Bellinato said that NPA 

and Intels have 

commenced reconciliation 

of accounts, adding that 

the company is awaiting 

CBN to provide 

guidelines for the 

company to commence 

payment into the TSA. 

On his part, Onum 

disclosed that NPA’s 

indebtedness which rose 

from $700 million to 

$848,910,988, had left the 

company in a dilemma. 

He added that NPA’s 

revenue, which rose from 

$6.5 million to $8.5 

million before Intels 

entered into the 

agreement with NPA, 

currently rose to $210 

million as at October 

2017. 

He explained that the 

company’s resentment 

was spurred by the TSA 

policy which mandated 

the company to remit all 

the revenue and 

commission, thereby 

conflicting with the 

agreement signed 

between Intels and NPA. 

According to him, Intels 

was given the directive to 

pay the balance into TSA 

after deduction of the 28% 

commission at source, an 

agreement approved by 

Federal Executive 

Council, FEC. 

In a bid to address the 

challenges, Onum 

emphasized the need for 

NPA to approach FEC for 

redress by granting 

necessary waiver for the 

company to payback loan 

facility obtained from its 

bankers. 

He alleged that the TSA 

dynamic does not permit 

NPA to pay, and that the 

NPA management made 

it clear to the company 

that it could only give 

assurance that the money 

will be paid. 

On his part, ‘Deremi 

Atunda, who spoke on 

behalf of SystemSpecs, 

disclosed that over 400 

microfinance banks and 

domestic banks, all 

Ministries, Departments 

and Agencies, MDAs, as 

well as private 

organizations could easily 

use the REMITA 

platform. 

He noted that the single 

platform could 

accommodate the most 

straight and complex 

transactions, adding that 

the platform was 

designed to address all 

complexities and were 

Naira appreciates to 

N360.41 in I&E 

By Babajide Komolafe 

The naira yesterday depreciated by four kobo to 

N360.41 per dollar in the Investor and Exporter 

(I&E) window, while the volume of dollars traded 

fell sharply by 80 percent. 

Data from the Financial Market Dealers Quote 

(FMDQ) showed that the indicative exchange rate 

for the I & E window, known as Nigerian 

Autonomous Foreign Exchange, NAFEX, rose to 

N360.41 per dollar, yesterday, from N360.37 per 

dollar on Tuesday. 

On the other hand, the volume of dollars traded 

fell sharply by 80 percent to $59.6 million from 

N301.21 million on Tuesday. 

The naira however remained stable at N363 per 

dollar in the parallel market for the eight consecutive 

business day.

6—Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

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

13 suspected 

illegal Naira 

vendors 

nabbed, N2m 

recovered 

21 vehicles, motorbikes razed 

as fuel tanker explodes in Lagos 

By Egufe 

Yafugborhi & Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT HARCOURT— 

THIRTEEN women 

allegedly selling the 

country’s currency were 

arrested by the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and 

the Rivers State Police 

Command in a joint sting 

operation in Port Harcourt, 

the state capital. 

It was disclosed that over 

N2 million was recovered 

from them by the Police in 

the operation carried out at 

Garrison, Rumuokoro, 

Waterlines and Eleme 

areas. 

The CBN, in a drive to 

forestall illicit sale of the 

Naira notes, had partnered 

with the operatives of the 

state Police Command and 

Department of the State 

Services, DSS, to clamp 

down on illegal Naira 

vendors in the state. 

The Command disclosed 

this yesterday, while 

briefing newsmen on the 

recent clamp down on 

individuals who engage in 

unlawful business on the 

country’s currency. 

The Police Public 

Relations Officer of the 

Command, Mr. Nnamdi 

Omoni, who addressed the 

press on behalf of the 

Commissioner of Police, 

Ahmed Zaki, said the 

operation was in line with 

the CBN’s Act, Sections 20 

and 21, which makes it an 

offence punishable by 

imprisonment for any 

person to falsify, hawk, sell 

or trade, make or 

counterfeit any bank note 

or coin, which is a legal 

tender in the country. 

Omoni said: “In the 

operation, 13 suspects, all 

women, were arrested in 

different parts of Port 

Harcourt and are currently 

held in State CID, Port 

Harcourt, helping the 

Police in investigation. At 

the end, those found 

culpable will face justice. 

“On the whole, a total of 

N2,937,430, consisting of 

various denominations, 

were recovered from the 

suspects. As already 

mentioned, investigation is 

on to ascertain the source 

of the new notes.” 

Omoni, however, stated 

that the clamp down will be 

a continuous operation, 

warning that the act of 

spraying Naira notes at 

events, soiling and 

writing on them were 

serious offences against 

the legal tender. 

By Evelyn Usman & 

Suliat Elemosho 

LAGOS—A tanker, loaded 

with 33,000 litres of diesel, 

exploded yesterday at Festac 

Link Bridge in Amuwo Odofin 

Local Government Area of 

Lagos, with 21 vehicles and five 

motorcycles burnt in the 

resultant inferno. 

A man identified simply as 

Ifeanyi, who attempted to 

contain the spread of the fire 

before the arrival of fire service 

men, escaped death by the 

whiskers, while motorists and 

passers-by sustained minor 

injuries in the ensuing melee. 

The truck driver, whose 

identity could not be 

immediately ascertained, was 

on his way to off- load the 

content at a filling station in 

Festac Town, when the truck 

fell while ascending the bridge, 

spilling its contents, prompting 

other vehicles behind it to stop 

abruptly. 

It was gathered that 

concerned motorists, who came 

out of their vehicles to proffer 

an immediate solution that 

would prevent an outbreak of 

fire, were taken aback by an 

explosion. 

Motorists hurriedly made U- 

turns, but some were forced to 

abandon their vehicles. 

An eyewitness, who simply 

gave his name as Ifeanyi, 

disclosed that the fire started 

when a commercial bus that 

was behind the tanker started 

his vehicle engine. 

‘How I escaped death’ 

Ifeanyi narrated his neardeath 

experience: “When the 

tanker fell, there was no fire 

immediately. Everyone was 

trying to make way for the 

tanker and so a commercial bus 

driver started his vehicle and 

the exhaust sparked up a fire, 

which ignited the spilled 

content. 

“Even at that point, I tried to 

put out the fire and at the same 

time, tried to call on the street 

boys to join me. The first fire 

men that came brought only one 

Images of the scene and the tanker (above). 

PHOTOS: Suliat Elemosho. 

tank of water. 

“In the bid to stop the fire from 

spreading, a fire extinguisher 

was directed at me. It choked 

me and I passed out, only to 

wake up in the hospital where 

I was dumped. 

“As I made to leave, I was 

asked to pay for the treatment. 

I had to part with the only 

N3,000 on me. I approached 

government officials at the 

scene and was told to go to the 

local government. Only God 

knows what would have 

happened if I had died?” 

Loss 

The fire, which spread to a 

car mart by the bridge, razed 

several vehicles that were 

displayed for sale. Although 

eyewitnesses said over 30 

vehicles were affected, Lagos 

State Emergency Management 

Agency, LASEMA, said 21 

vehicles, comprising 18 cars 

and three commercial buses, 

were burnt. 

The agency added that five 

commercial motorcycles were 

also affected. 

Another eyewitness, Lekan 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI—AN officer of 

Ekiti State Police Command 

has killed a yet-to-be identified 

commercial bus driver at a 

checkpoint in Oye community, 

headquarters of Oye Local 

Government Area of the state, 

over the driver’s refusal to part 

with some money. 

Eyewitnesses alleged that the 

driver got to the checkpoint late 

Durosimi, told Vanguard that 

the number would have been 

more had some owners of cars 

displayed for sale not driven 

them away. 

According to Durosimi, 

“immediately the truck fell, 

owners of some Tokubo cars 

around hurriedly moved 

them away to avoid any likely 

disaster. 

“As I speak, no one can 

identify the driver of the truck 

and we don’t even know the 

number plates because it was 

burnt beyond recognition. 

“Some Okada riders also 

abandoned their bikes. One 

of them was carrying a 

pregnant woman when the 

incident happened. The 

pregnant woman hurriedly 

came down and advised the 

okada man to roll his bike 

back, but he did not listen to 

the advice until the fire 

started.” 

Fire fighting 

It took the combined efforts 

of rescue operators from the 

Lagos and Federal Fire 

Service, LASEMA, Lagos 

Tuesday night, on his way from 

Ikare in Ondo State and that 

when he was stopped by the 

Police, he refused to part with 

money, which infuriated one of 

the policemen that shot at the 

vehicle while it was speeding 

away. 

The witness claimed: “When 

the driver was hit by the bullet, 

he lost control of the bus and it 

somersaulted. 

“He was lying dead at the 

State Ambulance Service, 

LASAMBUS and policemen 

from Area ‘E’ Command to put 

out the raging fire, after battling 

with it for hours. 

The General Manager of 

LASEMA, Mr. Adesina 

Tiamiyu, explained that “a 

distress call was passed to the 

LASEMA Response Team today 

(yesterday) concerning a tanker 

on fire at Festac Link Bridge. 

“On arrival at the scene at 

about 12:45p.m., it was revealed 

that a tanker loaded with 33,000 

litres diesel, detached from its 

truck, fell and later exploded 

due to the ignition of a 

commuter bus. 

“However, no life was lost, but 

one adult male sustained minor 

injury. 

“The combined effort of the 

emergency responders was able 

to put the fire out at 2:20p.m. 

The inferno affected 21 cars and 

five motor bikes. 

“The agency’s rescue/recovery 

equipment is on ground to 

ensure the burnt vehicles are 

taken off the road and to restore 

normalcy. Investigations will be 

conducted on the incident.” 

Policeman kills commercial driver at Ekiti checkpoint 

scene, while in the confusion 

every other person was crawling 

out of the crashed vehicle, seeking 

help.” 

The witness also added that the 

victim hailed from Ikare in Ondo 

State, claiming that “the Olukare 

was said to have spoken with the 

Federal Road Safety Corps, 

FRSC, Ekiti State Command, to 

ascertain his identity.” 

Speaking on the accident, the 

FRSC, through Mr. Mohammed



NGO BILL PROTEST: Members of Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre protesting 

the planned Non-Governmental Organisation, NGO, Bill at the National Assembly in Abuja, 

yesterday. PHOTO: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

3-yr-old’s cry for father exposes 

kidnapper in Lagos 

By Evelyn Usman 

AN attempt by a mother of two 

to kidnap a three-year-old 

child from a mosque, Tuesday 

night, in Lagos, was thwarted 

by the child’s cry. 

The Rivers State-born suspect, 

Juliet Ajagun, as gathered, 

stood in front of a mosque on 

Muyi Opaleye Street, Ijegun, 

when the child came out of the 

mosque to take water from a 

tank to drink. 

She reportedly handed a 

packet of biscuits to the 

unsuspecting child and, 

thereafter, held him by the hand 

and led out of the mosque’s 

premises. 

However, on the way, the male 

child started crying, calling 

‘Daddy mi, Daddy mi,’ (my 

daddy, my daddy), which drew 

the attention of a curious man, 

Abdulrahman Yusuf, who also 

went to the mosque to pray. 

Yusuf told Vanguard that “on 

closer observation, I discovered 

that the crying child was my 

friend’s. When I asked the 

woman where he was taking him 

to, she did not answer me. 

Rather, she was dragging the 

child with me. 

“At the same time, she turned 

her face away and was chanting 

an incantation. I had to raise the 

alarm, which attracted people, 

including the father of the boy, 

who was at that moment inside 

the mosque.” 

The woman would have been 

lynched but for the intervention 

of some residents, who 

suggested that she be handed 

Olowo, quoted witnesses as saying 

that only the driver of the bus, 

allegedly shot by a policeman, 

died in the incident. 

The Police Public Relations 

Officer of the state Command, Mr. 

Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the 

incident. 

Adeyemi said the suspect has 

been arrested and is “already 

facing departmental orderly room 

trial. 

“When the trial is concluded, he 

would be dismissed after which 

he would be charged to court.” 

The suspect 

over to the Police. 

Father's thanksgiving 

The shocked father of the child, 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—TWO clergymen 

have been arrested in 

Akure, the Ondo State capital, 

for sexually assaulting their 

church members and 

defrauding them using 

diabolical and fetish means. 

The arrest of the two 

clergymen was effected by 

officials of the state command 

of Nigerian Security and Civil 

Defence Corps, NSCDC. 

Vanguard was informed that 

the suspects, using diabolic 

means, defrauded and sexually 

abused worshippers in their 

respective churches. 

One of the suspects’ church 

is located in Ilorin, Kwara State, 

while the other is in Idanre area 

of the state. 

Reports had it that the two 

clergymen always lure 

desperate ladies looking for 

suitors and married women in 

search of children by promising 

•I'm not a kidnapper; children 

like following me—Suspect 

Abdulhammid Abioye, told 

Vanguard that his son only left 

him inside the mosque to 

drink water outside. 

Expressing his gratitude to 

God for the botched kidnap 

attempt, Abioye explained: “I 

went in the company of my 

son to the mosque to pray at 

about 7p.m., after which I 

decided to wait to continue 

with the 8p.m. prayer, instead 

of going home and returning 

later. 

“During the wait, my son 

said he was thirsty and I told 

him to go and drink water from 

the tap outside, which he had 

been doing himself, only to be 

alerted of a move to kidnap 

him.” 

Suspect’s story 

Amidst the beating, the 

suspect, as gathered, insisted 

that her intention was not to 

kidnap the child but that the 

child decided to follow her on 

to cast out evil spirits 

obstructing their desires. 

They would, in the process, 

use diabolic means to abuse 

them sexually and defraud 

them by asking them for a 

certain amount of money to 

prepare concoctions for 

them. 

Exposed by members 

Vanguard gathered that 

some members of their 

churches, who were not 

comfortable with the 

development in the 

churches, tipped off NSCDC 

men, who later set a trap for 

them. 

Parading one of the 

suspects, the State 

Commandant of NSCDC, 

Pedro Idebo, said an 

investigation was still on as 

regards the other suspect, 

who is yet to be paraded. 

Idebo said some fetish 

items used in swindling the 

Suspect trying to 

escape shot dead in court 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—THE 24-year-old 

man, Chizoba Okoye, 

standing trial on a count 

charge of false information on 

the whereabouts of the six 

children of Igbonla Model 

School, who were kidnapped 

in March, was, yesterday, 

killed by an Ikoyi Prison 

warden at an Ebute-Meta 

Chief Magistrate’s Court, 

Lagos. 

It was gathered that the 

defendant, who was brought 

from the prison to attend court 

his own. Asked if she knew 

the child or his parents, she 

shook her head, “no.” 

The 38-year-old woman, 

who said she was a widow, 

told Vanguard: “I live at 

Ilemeta Agboke, in Ijegemo 

area, but I always come to 

Alhaja’s place in Ijegun to 

drink ogogoro. 

“I love children and 

wherever I go, they always 

follow me, even if I chase 

them away. Yes, I bought 

biscuits for this particular 

child and he decided to follow 

me on his own. 

“I am not a kidnapper; I 

have two children of ages 14 

and seven, who are with my 

relatives in the village 

because my husband just 

died.” 


policemen from Isheri- 

Oshun, who went to the scene 

to prevent the woman from 

being lynched, took her away. 

How Ondo clergymen sexually assaulted, defrauded 

spinsters searching for husband, housewives 

victims were recovered from 

the two suspects. 

His words: “The criminal 

activities of the culprits, 

mostly in using fetish 

means, forced some church 

members to report the duo 

to the NSCDC office in 

Akure. 

“They also obtained 

various sums running into 

millions of Naira from 

members of their 

congregations under false 

pretences. 

“We use this opportunity to 

warn the fake clergymen and 

women to urgently relocate 

from the state or face the law 

of the land.” 

Idebo vowed to run 

fraudsters out of the state, 

adding that the command will 

team up with sister agencies 

in the state in ensuring 

criminals are not only 

apprehended, but equally 

prosecuted in a law court. 

proceedings, had allegedly 

decided to escape after his case 

was heard and was being led 

by the prison warden out of the 

courtroom. 

A source said after the 

defendant’s case was heard, he 

was being led by the warden to 

the court cell when he took to 

his heels and attempt by the 

warden to stop him failed. 

The source added that the 

warden shot into the air to scare 

him from escaping, but that also 

did yield any result. As the 

defendant made an attempt to 

climb the fence, the warden 

shot him on his back and 

he died instantly. 

According to the source, 

the warden was aiming for 

the defendant’s leg. 

The body of the suspect 

was later removed from 

the court premises by the 

Ikoyi Prison ambulance. 

Okoye was first 

arraigned on August 3 

before Magistrate O. I. 

Adelaja. 

He was charged with a 

count charge of false 

representation, preferred 

against him by the Police. 

The prosecutor, 

Inspector Chinalu 

Uwadione, had told the 

court on August 8, when 

the deceased was 

arraigned on June 11 at 

about 8p.m., at Igbonla 

Moriden Epe Area of 

Lagos, that the deceased 

falsely represented 

himself as a member of 

the kidnapping syndicate 

that kidnapped the six 

children of Igbonla Model 

School Igbonla via Epe. 

He said Okoye called 

the principal of the school 

and demanded a ransom 

of N2 million for the 

release of the students, 

claiming to know their 

whereabouts. 

According to the 

prosecutor, the offence 

committed is contrary to 

and punishable under 

Section 6 (iii) of the Lagos 

State Anti-kidnapping 

Laws, 2017. 

However, Okoye 

pleaded not guilty to the 

charge and was granted 

bail in the sum of N1 

million, with two sureties 

in like sum and the case 

was adjourned to October 

26 for a mention. 

The case was later 

adjourned to December 

13 (yesterday). 

At the resumed hearing 

yesterday, the magistrate 

further adjourned till 

January 17, since the 

deceased was still unable 

to perfect his bail 

conditions. 

It was while being led 

out of the court, yesterday, 

that he tried to escape and 

was shot dead by the 

prison warden.


Atiku in early consultations with 

governors, stakeholders, others 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

A BUJA—FORMER 

Vice President, Atiku 

Abubakar, has intensified 

consultations among 

governors and stakeholders 

of the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, ahead of the 

2019 polls. 

The consultations, 

according to findings, are 

aimed at making the party 

stronger preparatory to his 

declaration of interest in the 

2019 Presidential elections 

on the platform of the PDP. 

Atiku, it was learnt, met 

with at least seven of the 

11 PDP governors, 

including one Northern 

governor that is suspected 

to also have presidential 

aspirations. 


Atiku who a fortnight ago 

announced his return to the 

PDP, used the window 

offered by the recently held 

elective national 

convention of the party to 

meet with governors 

elected on the platform of 

the party. 

Apart from governors, the 

former Vice President also 

met with some former and 

serving members of the 

National Assembly, ex- 


Ministers and other 

stakeholders of the party. 

Although details of the 

meetings remain sketchy, 

they may not be 

unconnected with his 

reported 2019 Presidential 

ambition, a source told this 

medium. 

A member of the National 

PDP Professional and 

Business Group, NPPBG, 

the professional and 

business wing of the party, 

told Vanguard that the 

Waziri Adamawa is “going 

about his ambition in a very 

decent manner,” adding 

that at the appropriate time, 

Nigerians will hear from 

him. 

“Politicians meet all the 

time and so, what 

happened (the meetings) 

was no different. But one 

thing you cannot take away 

from Waziri is his political 

maturity 

and 

understanding of the game. 

“You saw him during the 

convention and how he 

stayed put until winners 

were announced. This goes 

to show his level of passion 

for the party and his belief 

in the ability of the party to 

regain power in 2019,” he 

said. 

Suit challenging powers of 

Police, DSS, to search Wike’s 

home suffers setback 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

High Court in Abuja, 

on Wednesday, deferred 

hearing on a suit 

challenging powers of the 

Nigerian Police Force, the 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, or the Department 

of State Service, DSS, to 

search the Abuja residence 

of Governor Nyesom Wike 

of Rivers State, till 

January 22, 2018. 

Wike had in an 

Originating Summons he 

filed through his team of 

lawyers led by Mr. Sylva 

Ogwemoh, SAN, prayed 

the court to abort any 

attempt by the defendants 

to execute any search 

warrant at his residence in 

Abuja or any other part of 

the country. 

Insisting that he has not 

committed any criminal 

offence to warrant a raid at 

any of his residences, Wike, 

in a 24-paragraphed 

affidavit that was deposed 

to by the Attorney General 

of Rivers State, Mr. 

Emmanuel Aguma, SAN, 

contended that allowing the 

defendants to proceed with 

such plan would amount to 

a gross violation of his 

constitutional immunity. 

Specifically, Aguma, 

SAN, told the court that the 

security agencies were 

planning to raid and 

search Wike’s residence 

situated at Ortega Close, 

off Hassan Usman Katsina 

Street, Asokoro Extension 

in Abuja. 

“I know as a fact that a 

search warrant is a process 

of court. I also know that the 

plaintiff or his privy is 

obligated to be present 

during the conduct of the 

search at his premises. 

“I further know as a fact 

that the owner of a building 

is obligated to give 

unhindered access to his 

premises to the defendants 

while the defendants are 

executing a search 

warrant. 

“If not restrained by an 

order of the honourable 

court, the defendants shall 

proceed to execute the said 

search warrant. The 

plaintiff at the place and 

time hereinbefore informed 

me and I do believe him 

that (a) he has not 

committed any criminal 

offence (b) He is vested 

with constitutional 

immunity (c) The actions of 

the defendant shall violate 

his constitutional immunity, 

(4) The defendants are 

witch hunting him to 

silence him and tarnish his 

hard-earned reputation”, 

the Rivers Attorney General 

averred. 

Restructuring: Northern senators fail to 

reach consensus 

•Accuse Southern political elites 

of intimidating them 

By Bashir Bello 

K ATSINA— 

NORTHERN 

Senators Forum yesterday 

concluded its two-day 

retreat without reaching a 

consensus on the position 

of the region on 

restructuring. 

A communique by 

Chairman of the forum, 

Senator Abdullahi Adamu, 

which was read to 

newsmen by Senator Sabi 

Abdullahi from Niger State, 

at the end of the retreat 

held in Katsina, 

maintained that the North 

shall take a well 

articulated, firm and 

common position on the 

issue. 

Senator Abdullahi 

accused political elites from 

the South of intimidating 

the North with the term 

restructuring, saying they 

painted the region as a 

weak link, parasitic and 

unproductive region that 

brings nothing to the table. 

He said the North was 

not afraid of restructuring, 

provided it guaranteed 

justice, equity, fairness and 

the unity of all Nigerians. 

“The North as a region, 

is not afraid of any sensible 

and meaningful 

arrangement, provided it 

guarantees justice, equity, 

fairness and the unity of all 

Nigerians, irrespective of 

religion, region, age and 

sex as enshrined in the 1999 

constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria (as 

amended). 

“The North shall take a 

well articulated, firm and 

From left—Past President/Patron, Nigerian British Chamber of 

Commerce, NBCC, Mrs. Margaret Adeleke OON; NBCC President, 

Mr. Akin Olawore; his wife, Elizabeth; Past President/Patron NBCC, 

Prince Dapo Adelegan; Past President/Patron, NBCC; Arc T.C Awagu 

and President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chief Dr. 

Mrs. Nike Akande at the Presidential Dinner and Inauguration of 

Mr. Akin Olawore as President of NBCC, in Lagos. 

common position on the 

issue of restructuring. 

Northern members of the 

National Assembly should 

be an integral part of 

achieving that common 

platform that should also 

include devolution of 

power to states and local 

government. 

“There is the need for the 

North to stand united, 

irrespective of political, 

ethnic or religious 

differences,” they said. 

The senators resolved 

that the leadership in the 

region should demonstrate 

the political will to serve as 

growth driver by 

strengthening governance 

and formulating plans that 

could develop the critical 

value chain of the activities 

of the region in which it has 

comparative and 

competitive advantages. 

On agriculture, the 

senators resolved: “The 

agricultural, industrial and 

manufacturing sectors 

should be revived and 

transformed so that the 

teaming youths from the 

region could be actively 

engaged and empowered 

in order to keep them away 

from crimes.” 

On Education, they 

resolved to amend Section 

4 of the 1999 Constitution 

of the Federal Republic of 

Nigeria (as amended) to 

ensure primary education 

was compulsory, while also 

noting that efforts would be 

made to establish, staff and 

equip more learning 

institutions and promote 

girl-child education. 

Many Libya returnees have psychiatric issues—IOM 

•Says 20,000 potential migrants Stranded along the Mediterranean 

A BUJA—THE 

International 

Organisation for 

Migration, IOM, said 

yesterday that many 

returnees from Libya have 

psychiatric issues. 

The UN agency also 

disclosed how it assisted in 

the voluntary return and 

reintegration of about 4, 500 

irregular Nigerian migrants 

from Libya between 

January and November 

this year, but expressed 

fears that except all 

stakeholders extend 

support to the returnees, 

they could soon be on their 

way back to Libya. 

IOM Chief of Mission in 

Nigeria, Enira Krdzalic, 

who said this in her 

welcome address at the 

opening of a three-day 

National Planning 

Workshop on the 

Implementation of the 

National Policy on Labour 

Migration Action Plan in 

Akwanga, Nasarawa State, 

said the agency had been 

able to counsel the 

returnees, especially those 

with psychiatric problems. 

Krdzalic, who was 

represented by the National 

Programme Officer, Mr 

Sunday Omoyeni, said: 

“For the nearly 5, 000 

returnees, we have not 

started their full 

reintegration. We have 

only done initial 

reintegration which is 

counselling. 

‘’Many of them are ill, 

many have psychiatric 

issues and we have referred 

them to psychiatric 

institutions. After that, we 

will help them with training 

or to set up a business but 

it is not sustainable. 

‘’What the international 

donors are bringing is not 

enough. What happens 

when we end this project? 

The Nigerian government 

has to step in to help. 

“When you see these 

people returning, what 

comes to your mind is that 

Nigeria is sitting on a keg 

of gunpowder because 

these are agile or ablebodied 

youths with nothing 

to do.’’ 

Speaking further, 

Krdzalic said: “Between, 

January and November, 

2017, IOM has assisted in 

the return and reintegration 

of over 4,489 stranded 

Nigerian migrants. The 

increasing number of 

migrants returning to 

Nigeria from North Africa, 

as well as increased 

number of irregular 

migrants arriving in Italy 

from Nigeria, suggests an 

increasing trend of 

irregular migration from 

Nigeria and call for urgent 

actions to address the 

situation. 

“The number of deaths 

and those suffering 

exploitation and abuse 

along the Central 

Mediterranean migration 

route are at an alarming 

rate. 

“Crossing the 

Mediterranean is by far the 

deadliest route, with one 

death recorded for 35 

arrivals. European statistics 

show that the amount of 

migrants from West Africa 

in migration flows to 

Europe have continued to 

increase, despite the 

perilous conditions of 

making the journey 

irregularly. 

‘’Thousands of Nigerians 

are stranded in Libya, 

living in a terrible 

condition, with many 

desirous of the opportunity 

to return home.’’ 

"As a way of stemming the 

tide, IOM said within the 

framework of the 10th 

European Development 

Fund project, it has assisted 

the federal government to 

develop several initiatives 

to address the challenges 

of migration governance in 

Nigeria."

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 — 9 

Senate grills NSIA boss over 

$27.9bn interest-free loan 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA—THE Senate 

has begun a probe into 

alleged diversion of $350 

million from the Nigerian 

Sovereign Investment 

Authority, NSIA, spent on 

Afam Fast Power project 

initiated by the Ministry of 

Power without any 

appropriation or feasibility 

studies. 

It also grilled the 

Executive Director of 

Nigerian Sovereign 

Investment Authority, 

NSIA, Mrs Stella Ojekwe- 

Onyejeli, over a $27.9 

billion interest-free loan on 

AFAM Fast Power Project 

Speaking yesterday when 

the Permanent Secretary, 

Ministry of Power, Engr. 

Loius Edozien, the 

Executive Director, NSIA, 

Mrs Ojekwe Onyejeli and 

the Nigeria Bulk Electricity 

Trading Company, NBET, 

appeared before the Senate 

Committee on Public 

Accounts, chairman of the 

committee, Senator 

Matthew Urhoghide, PDP, 

Edo South, gave the 

ministry and other agencies 

on or before next Monday 

to submit to the committee 

all the documents. 

According to him, the 

documents should include 

the proposal reached at 

between the Federal 

government and General 

Electric where it was 

agreed that the company 

would put in 85per cent 

while the Federal 

Government would have 

an investment profile of 15 


per cent. 

The committee also 

requested for details of the 

agreement, copy of letter 

authorising payment of 

N13.5m from NBET, and 

DMO should also provide 

the Eurobond agreement. 

Earlier in her response, 

the NSIA boss said: “The 

$350 million funds in 

question, which were given 

to NBET by Federal 

Government is in the 

custody of NSIA. We have 

an investment agreement 

between ourselves and 

NBET which spells out 

how we manage those 

funds on their behalf. 

“These funds were not 

meant for use in trading, it 

was meant, via instruction 

from FG, to be handed over 

to the NSIA to invest on 

their behalf. I can give an 

estimation of the amount. 

We were given $350 million 

in 2013 to manage and till 

date, there is a balance of 

about $380 million principal 

plus accrued interest. 

‘’Last year, there was a 

drawing of 13.5 for 

payment of interest for the 

Eurobond. There was a 

request fron NBET which 

we honoured and which 

they handed over to the 

DMO to pay the Eurobond. 

The money is currently still 

invested in various entities 

we have invested. 

“The Eurobond will 

mature in 2018. The 

agreement we have 

stipulates that its tenure to 

end just before the 

Eurobond matures." 

Sheriff tackles Shettima on 

Chibok girls' abduction 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

A BUJA—FORMER 

governor of Borno 

State, Sen. Ali Modu 

Sheriff, has weighed in on 

the recent allegations by his 

successor, Kashim 

Shettima, on the 

mishandling of abduction 

of the Chibok girls by 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan’s administration. 

In a statement issued 

yesterday in Abuja by his 

Special Adviser on Media, 

Adams Kolo, the former 

national chairman of 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, advised Governor 

Shettima to concentrate on 

governance and desist from 

all attempts to pull him 

down. 

He said: “In Maiduguri, 

Governor Shettima cannot 

walk free on the streets, 

while Sheriff walks freely 

every day. 

‘’In Maiduguri, the 

citizens know that Shettima 

is the Boko Haram boss 

and the keeper of Chibok 

girls.’’ 

Shettima had recently 

taken a swipe at ex- 

President President for 

surrounding himself with 

religious bigots and tribal 

warlords who made him 

believe that the Chibok 

girls’ abduction was a hoax. 

He had said: “When the 

Chibok girls saga started, 

they made the President to 

believe that there was no 

abduction; that the Chibok 

girls were kidnapped by the 

governor of Borno State, 

ostensibly to embarrass the 

Jonathan administration 

and he believed that line 

of story. 

‘’I was in Chibok, my wife 

was in Chibok and there 

was a global outcry on the 

issue but Jonathan was in 

a world of his own, created 

by the clowns and also the 

misfits around him. I wasn’t 

invited to Abuja until 

nearly three weeks later 

and even when I was 

invited to Abuja, I was quiet 

thrilled that at last I was 

getting the attention of my 

leader. 

‘’I was asked to come 

along with Commissioner 

of Police, the Divisional 

Police Officer in Chibok, the 

Commissioner of 

Education, the Military 

Commander in Chibok and 

the Director of DSS in 

Borno." 

Nigeria loses N7.6tr to faulty 

agreements with IOCs —Kachikwu 

...As FEC seeks amendment of Production Sharing Contract Act 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA—THE Minister 

of Petroleum 

Resources, Dr. Ibe 

Kachikwu, yesterday stated 

that Nigeria lost about $21 

billion (N7.6 trillion) to 

International Oil 

Companies, IOCs, 

operating in the country 

due to non-implementation 

of the Production Sharing 

Contract, PSC, Act of 1993, 

otherwise known as the 

Deep Shore Act. 

Consequently, the 

Federal Executive Council, 

FEC, at the weekly meeting 

REPORT: Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu (left), receives the official Report of 

the European Union Election Follow-up Mission to Nigeria from the 

EU's Ambassador to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr Ketil Karlsen, when 

the latter visited the Commission's headquarters yesterday. 

Magu's security aide killed as gunmen break 

into EFCC boss' house Commission, Ibrahim 

•Magu won’t bow—EFCC vows 

By Soni Daniel 

ABUJA—A 

police 

sergeant attached to 

acting Chairman of the 

Economic and Financial 


EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, was 

reportedly killed on 

Tuesday night after some 

gunmen broke into his 

house in Abuja. 

The attackers were said to 

have stormed the house 

located in Karshi area of 

the Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT, at about 

10pm, opening fire on the 

policemen stationed there. 

Confirming the attack on 

his farmhouse yesterday, 

Magu vowed that he would 

presided over by the Vice 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, at the Council 

Chamber, approved an 

amendment of the Act, 

especially Section 15, by 

the Ministries of Petroleum, 

and Justice for subsequent 

passage by the National 

Assembly. 

This is as the Minister of 

Transportation, Rotimi 

Amaechi, said that award 

of contract for railway 

project in the South East 

was predicated on when 

the government will secure 

loans, noting that the zone 

would not be left behind in 

the rail projects 

not bow to the antics of his 

detractors in the 

prosecution of the anticorruption 

war in Nigeria. 

Magu said he would do 

all within his powers to rid 

Nigeria of corruption, 

despite the spate of 

physical and verbal 

assaults by those opposed 

to the war. 

The EFCC boss, who 

spoke through spokesman 

of the agency, Mr. Wilson 

Uwujaren, said the 

commission would not 

speculate on the motive for 

the attack. 

“EFCC can confirm an 

attack on the property of the 

acting Chairman of the 

Briefing State House 

correspondents after the 

FEC meeting, the Minister 

of State for Petroleum 

Resources stated: “Once 

the price of crude oil 

exceeds $20 per barrel, the 

government will take steps 

to ensure that the premium 

element is then distributed 

at an agreed premium 

level for the nation so that 

we get more from our oil. 

“But over the last 20 years, 

nothing really was done. 

From 1993 till now 

cumulatively, we have lost 

$21 billion because 

government did not act, we 

did not exercise it. In 2013, 

Magu, which 

unfortunately resulted in 

the death of a security 

official. 

“The property, a 

farmhouse located in 

Karshi, a suburb of Abuja, 

was attacked by unknown 

gunmen at about 10pm 

on December 12, 2017 . 

“The unidentified men 

murdered a police sergeant 

on duty. The incident was 

the second such attack on 

the same farmhouse. 

‘’While the commission 

will not speculate on the 

motives for the attack or the 

sponsors, it wishes to 

state that the EFCC under 

the leadership of Ibrahim 

Magu will not be deterred 

in its mission of ridding 

Nigeria of corruption,” he 

said. 

there was a notice to oil 

companies that we are 

going to do this but we 

didn’t go through in terms 

of going to Council to get 

approval. 

“So, one of the things we 

have done in the last one 

year is that we have 

worked very hard to get that 

amendment because once 

we do, the net effect for us 

is close to $2 billion extra 

revenue for the 

Federation.” 

On whether the problem 

could be immediately 

tackled or the monies 

recovered, Kachikwu said: 

“I doubt it for the simple 

reason that the provisions 

of the Joint Operating 

Agreement, JOA, on 

Section 15 is that 

government would need to 

do something, which is 

what we have just done 

today. 

“If it is not done, then the 

oil companies are operating 

within the realms of what 

the law is. So that’s going 

to be difficult. But I love not 

to talk too much about that 

because I will be giving out 

what my strategies would 

be on national TV. 

“Let me just say that 

however we do it, we 

would definitely try to see 

whether a possibility exists 

for some claw back 

advantages.” 

The PSC of 1993 was in 

response to the funding 

problem faced by the old 

Joint Venture arrangement 

as well as the desire of the 

Nigerian government to 

open up the sector for 

more foreign participation. 

It will be recalled that 

gunmen, yet to be 

identified had in August 

this year, descended on the 

office of the agency in Zone 

Seven in the FCT, 

destroying the building, but 

the motive of the attack is 

yet to be ascertained. 

During the invasion, the 

gunmen, who attacked the 

office around 05.00 hours, 

riddled buildings in the 

premises with bullets and 

damaged many 

operational vehicles parked 

there. 

However, the attack was 

repelled by guards on duty 

forcing the hoodlums to 

escape in a getaway 

vehicle, but not without 

leaving a death threat for 

one of its main 

investigators, 

Sharu. 

Ishaku

10 — VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 


Vanguard shines at NMMA 

Award, wins Most Innovative 

Reporter of the Year 

•Nominated in 6 other categories 

L 

A G O S — 

VANGUARD 

Newspapers had a brilliant 

outing at the 2017 Nigeria 

Media Merit Award, 

NMMA, as its Senior 

Health Correspondent, 

Mrs. Chioma Obinna won 

9mobile Most Innovative 

Reporter of the Year Award. 

At the event, which was 

held yesterday in Lagos, 

Administrative hiccups stop EFCC 

from arraigning Justice Yinusa 

By Abdulwahab 

Abdulah & Jane 

Echewedo 

EFFORTS by the 

Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, to 

arraign a Federal High 

Court Judge, Justice 

Mohammed Yunusa before 

the Lagos State High Court, 

due to administrative 

hiccups at the court. 

The EFCC had filed five 

corruption charges against 

the judge which included 

allegation of engaging in 

constant private and 

c o n f i d e n t i a l 

communications with a 

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, 

Mr. Rickey Tarfa, who was 

handling three lawsuits 

marked FHC/L/CS/714/ 

2015, FHC/L/CS/715/2015 

and FHC/L/CS/716/2015 

before him. 

The anti-crime agency also 

accused the judge of 

collecting N1.5 m from the 

SAN for the purpose of 

giving favourable 

judgments to the SAN’s law 

firm. 

Before yesterday 

scheduled arraignment, the 

Lagos State High Court had 

served hearing notices on 

the prosecution and the 

defence to appear before 

Justice Mojisola Dada, for 

the hearing of the case, 

however, on getting to the 

court, it was discovered that 

Nigerian firm sues British company 

over N24bn money laundering 


LAGOS—A Federal 

High Court, sitting in 

Lagos, yesterday granted a 

Nigerian company, 

Nadabo Energy Limited, 

leave to serve court 

processes on a British 

company, Trafigura Beheer 

B.V, out of jurisdiction, and 

five Nigerian companies 

that were alleged to have 

laundered N24 billion. 

In a bid to recover 

N24billion alleged to have 

been laundered by a British 

company, Trafigura Beeher 

B.V, a limited liability 

company in Nigeria, 

Nadabo Energy Limited, 

dragged the said London 

Vanguard was also 

nominated in six other 

categories, including the 

Editor of the Year Award. 

She clinched the award 

with her entry entitled: 

National Hospital Where 

Death is Cheap. 

She is a leading 

Health Correspondent, 

who had won several 

awards in the past. 

the case was not listed for 

hearing yesterday. 

The Registrars informed 

the parties that the case file 

had been returned to the 

administrative judge and 

advised the parties to follow 

up at the main court’s 

registry. 

Consequently, Justice 

Yunusa, who was in court left 

with his lawyer. 

It was learned that the case 

had first been assigned to 

Justice Oluwatoyin Ipaye, of 

the same court before the 

case file was withdrawn and 

later transferred to Justice 

Dada. 

In the charges, Justice 

Yunusa, who has been 

suspended by the National 

Judicial Council, NJC, was 

accused of attempting to 

pervert the course of justice, 

contrary to Section 97(3) of 

the Criminal Law of Lagos 

State, No. 11, 2011. 

Expected to be arraigned 

with Justice Yunusa was one 

Esther Agbo, who works in 

the law firm of Rickey Tarfa 

& Co. 

The EFCC claimed that 

Agbo on May 14, 2015 paid 

N1.5m into Justice Yunusa’s 

UBA account number 

1005055617. 

The judge was also 

accused of receiving 

financial benefits in the sum 

of N750, 000 from Mr. 

Joseph Nwobike between 

March and September 2015. 

The EFCC claimed that the 

based company before a 

Federal High Court in 

Lagos. 

Joined as co-defendants, 

in the suit are five Nigerian 

companies: Mettle Energy 

&Gas Limited, Renbrant 

Limited, Jill Engineering 

and oil Services Limited, 

Q&Q Control Services 

Nigeria limited, General 

Marine, and Oil Services 

Limited. 

In an argument before the 

court, the plaintiff’s lawyer 

Chief Emefo Etudo, told the 

court that all the parties had 

been served, but that there 

was need for the court to 

order all parties to maintain 

status quo and be served 

with the court order. 

Ambode opens Johnson, Jakande, Tinubu 

park in Alausa 

L 

A G O S — 

GOVERNOR 

Akinwunmi Ambode of 

Lagos State, yesterday 

officially unveiled an ultra 

modern recreational park 

in Alausa, Ikeja, in 

honour of three former 

Governors of the State, 

Brigadier Mobolaji 

Johnson Rtd, Alhaji 

Lateef Jakande and 

Senator Bola Ahmed 

Tinubu. 

Governor Ambode, who 

spoke at a ceremony to 

unveil the park known as 

Johnson, Jakande, 

Tinubu Park (JJT Park), 

located in front of the State 

House of Assembly and a 

few metres away from 

Lagos House, said it was 

part of efforts by his 

administration to 

immortalise heroes who 

worked hard for the 

emergence of Lagos as 

not only the Centre of 

Excellence, but also one 

of the most prominent 

City States in Africa. 

He said the three 

former Governors were 

outstanding in their 

contributions to the 

development of the State 

and wrote their names in 

the sands of time, 

especially during their 

time in office. 

Governor Ambode said: 

“One of the hallmarks of 

any progressive society is 

to always recognise and 

reward the efforts of 

heroes who contribute to 

the growth of that society. 

In the case of Lagos State, 

we have so many heroes 

who toiled and laid a solid 

foundation for the Lagos 

we enjoy today. 

“Today, we are here to 

celebrate and honour 

three past governors of 

our dear state who were 

outstanding in their 

contributions to the 

development of Lagos State. 

These eminent Lagosians are 

some of the very few brave 

men that stood to be counted 

on the side of justice and 

even by their performances 

while in office have written 

their name in gold for future 

generations. 

“The roles played by 

Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson 

Rtd., the First Governor and 

Military Administrator of the 

State; Alhaji Lateef Jakande, 

the First Civilian Governor of 

Lagos State; and Asiwaju 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, 

Governor and Architect of 

modern Lagos; can never be 

forgotten. They are the true 

legends of our State, and 

architects of the Lagos we are 

proud of today.” 

Governor Ambode recalled 

that Brigadier Johnson, laid 

the foundation as the pioneer 

Governor of the newly 

created Lagos State in 1967 

and constructed the 60.7- 

kilometre Lagos–Badagry 

Expressway linking Nigeria 

with countries in the West 

African sub region, the 

Itoikin Bridge linking Epe 

and Ikorodu; the Eko 

Bridge and a network of 

roads and bridges that 

opened up the new Lagos. 

He said Alhaji Jakande, 

the first elected Civilian 

Governor of Lagos State, 

who held office for four 

years, introduced massesoriented 

programmes 

particularly in the 

education, housing and 

health sectors. 

Governor Ambode noted 

that apart from the 

successful implementation 

of the Free Education 

Programme, Alhaji 

Jakande’s administration 

also established new 

neighbourhood Primary 

and Secondary schools, 

and also constructed over 

30,000 housing units 

indifferent parts of the State 

for the benefit of low income 

earners. “His tenure also 

witnessed the completion of 

the General Hospitals in 

Gbagada and Ikorodu as 

well as the establishment of 

about 20 health centres 

Workers in food, beverage sector suspend strike as Labour 

Ministry wades in 

By Victor Ahiuma- 

Young 

STRIKING workers 

in the Food and 

Beverage sector of the 

nation’s economy, 

yesterday suspended their 

three day old nationwide 

strike following 

intervention by the Lagos 

office of the Federal 

Ministry of Labour and 

Employment. 

The workers on the aegis 

of Food, Beverage and 

Tobacco Senior Staff 

Association, FOBTOB, 

had on Monday, December 

11, began a nationwide 

strike over a breakdown of 

negotiation between 

FOBTOB and the 

employers’ federation; 

Asssociation of Food, 

Beverage and Tobacco 

Employers, AFBTE, on a 

new collective agreement 

within the State. Alhaji 

Lateef Jakande conceived 

and initiated the Metro line 

transit system that would 

have provided a solution to 

the challenge being 

experienced in the 

transportation sector today,” 

he said. 

The Governor while 

describing Asiwaju Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu, as the 

architect of modern Lagos, 

said his tenure witnessed 

the development of a blue 

print for the future 

development of the State 

and which successive 

administrations have 

continued to build upon 

and actualize today. 

“One of the remarkable 

achievements of Asiwaju 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s 

administration was the 

reform of the State Tax 

administration system 

which resulted in the State 

attaining the status of the 

most viable and self 

sustaining State in Nigeria. 

He also made huge 

investments in education 

and initiated new road 

constructions.'' 

MEETING: Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle); French 

Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Denys Gauer (2nd left); Managing Director, Bollore Nigeria 

Limited, Mr. Jean-Baptiste Rambaud (left); Vice President, Bollore & Head of Delegation, 

MEDEF, Mr. Philippe Labonne (2nd right) and member of the delegation, Mr. Jean 

Lestrade (right) during the Governor’s meeting with the French Business Delegation 

(MEDEF) at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Wednesday, December 13, 2017. 

to among others review 

upward their salaries and 

other fringe benefits. 

But a statement by the 

General Secretary of 

FOBTOB, Solomon Iji, 

announcing the 

suspension of the strike, 

said: “This is to inform 

you that our indefinite 

strike which commenced 

on Monday 11th 

December, 2017 at 12:00 

am is with immediate effect 

suspended. This is to allow 

both FOBTOB and AFBTE 

to go back and negotiate in 

good faith after the 

conciliatory meeting held 

under the auspices of the 

Federal Ministry of Labour 

and Employment. 

It was agreed between 

FOBTOB and AFBTE that 

no employee shall be 

victimised for participating 

in the strike action. 

The principle of “no 

work no pay” will not be 

applied against the 

employees. That 

negotiations should 

conclude between 14th - 17th 

December, 2017. Failure to 

agree would result in 

POBTOB and AFBTE 

returning to the Federal 


Employment by Monday 

December 18, 2017.” 

JUSTICE NGANJIWA: A'Court judgment, lubricant 

to rule of law in Nigeria — Ozekhome 

By Bartholomew 

Madukwe 

C ONSTITUTIONAL 

lawyer and human 

rights activist, Chief Mike 

Ozekhome, SAN, yesterday 

said the judgment of the 

Court of Appeal, Lagos 

Division, that quashed the 

14 count charge against 

Justice Hyeladzira 

Nganjiwa, had lubricated 

the wheels of the rule 

of law in Nigeria. 

He described the 

judgment as one that 

would give the judiciary 

true autonomy and 

independence, noting that 

it had asserted its heavily 

assaulted independence. 

The Economic and Financial 


EFCC, had arraigned 

Justice Nganjiwa, 

who is attached to 

Bayelsa Division of the 

Federal High Court, 

before the Lagos State 

High Court in Igbosere, 

for alleged unlawful 

enrichment.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 — 11 


2019: I’m not after Osinbajo’s job – TINUBU 

By Emmanuel Aziken 

LLeader AGOS—NATIONAL 

of the All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu 

has described as fake news 

a newspaper report that he 

is to pair President 

Muhammadu Buhari in the 

2019 presidential ticket of 

the party. 

Tinubu, in a statement 

yesterday, said the report 

which envisaged that Vice- 

President Yemi Osinbajo 

was returning to full-time 

pastoral work was without 

empirical or logical basis. 

Affirming that he had full 

confidence in the pair of 

Buhari and Osinbajo 

continuing through 2019, 

Tinubu, in the statement 

issued by his media office, 

said the present 

administration was making 

progress despite challenges 

supposedly accumulated 

during what he called the 

years of the locust when the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, held sway in 

government. 

The statement reads: 

“There is no empirical or 

logical basis for this 

mischievously speculative 

story. Is it even conceivable, 

as the story recklessly 

insinuates, that Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo 

would be considering 

returning to full church 

work rather than run with 

his boss, President Buhari 

for a second term if the latter 

so decides without as much 

as discussing such a 

sensitive issue with his party 

and with Asiwaju Tinubu? 

In any case, is this story not 

entirely unwarranted and 

indefensible as the Buhari/ 

Osinbajo ticket has an 

electoral mandate of four 

years out of which it has 

spent only over two years 

and a half years? 

“This is clearly an attempt 

to distract the APC Federal 

Government from the 

yeoman’s job it has been 

doing in rescuing the 

country from the deeprooted 

socio-economic, 

political, security and moral 

mess inherited from the 

PDP’s 16 years misrule of 

Nigeria, instigate crisis 

within the party, stoke 

dangerous embers of 

religious disaffection within 

the party and the country 

generally and stem the 

remarkable progress being 

made in the reinvention and 

revitalization of Nigeria. 

“There is greater sanity, 

accountability and 

FORUM: From left— Director-General, Budget Office of the Federation, Mr 

Ben Akabueze, Senior Partner of McKinsey Group/Author of No Ordinary 

Disruption, Mr. Richard Dobbs , Managing Director Avon Healthcare Limited, 

Ms. Adesimbo Ukiri and Managing Director Vodacom Business Nigeria, Mr 

Lanre Kolade at the recently held Businessday CEO Forum, in Lagos. 

transparency in the 

management of the 

country’s finances. The 

Boko Haram insurgency 

has been substantially 

contained. We should not 

allow ourselves to be 

derailed from the job we are 

effectively undertaking in 

fulfilling our campaign 

promises anchored on the 

tripod of containing 

insecurity, taming the 

scourge of corruption and 

resuscitating the economy. 

I’ll not distract Buhari, 

Osinbajo 

“The Buhari and 

Osinbajo-led Federal 

Government are deftly 

steering the country out of 

an economic recession that 

was the result of the 

ineptness of the PDP years 

of the locusts. Asiwaju 

Tinubu will never support 

any attempt to distract 

Buhari and Osinbajo from 

the job they are passionately 

doing through the kind of 

false report carried by the 

The Sun. In particular, this 

story does great injustice to 

Vice President Osinbajo. 

Here is a man of the 

highest integrity, moral 

rectitude, amazing 

humility, high intellect 

and unimpeachable 

credibility. Here is a man 

of fierce loyalty and 

absolute trustworthiness 

who will never do anything 

in word, thought or deed 

to undermine his boss. 

''His unquestionable 

dependability and 

indisputable fidelity to his 

oath of office were 

demonstrated beyond 

question by his 

honourable conduct 

during the President’s 

medical vacation. 

“Asiwaju Tinubu and the 

people of the South West 

have absolute confidence 

and are exceedingly 

proud of the excellent 

job Professor Osinbajo is 

doing as Vice President 

of Nigeria.'' 

ALLEGED KILLER CUSTOMS OFFICER: 

Fayose, Ekiti police boss in war of words 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI — EKITI 

State Governor, 

Ayodele Fayose has 

accused the state 

Commissioner of Police, 

Abdullahi Chafe of 

shielding an alleged killer 

customs officer. 

But the CP, in a swift 

reaction, denied the 

allegations. 

It was gathered that the 

unidentified customs officer 

rammed his car into a shop 

in Ayetoro Ekiti in Ido-Osi 

local government area and 

killed two people on the 

spot while a few others 

were injured. 

Those who lost their lives 

in the accident were 

Emmanuel Owaremi and 

Mrs. Titilayo Omotoso, 

while another victim, 

Bukola Aboko, lost her five 

months pregnancy in the 

accident and also sustained 

bodily injury. 

It was also gathered that 

the police after rescuing the 

man and another female 

occupant of the car from the 

scene of the accident, 

released them without 

charging them to court. 

Unhappy at the action of 

the police, aggrieved 

residents of the community 

stormed the police station to 

demand the re-arrest and 

prosecution of the killer 

driver. 

Some of the family 

members of the victims were 

subsequently arrested and 

charged to court for 

breaching public peace and 

for attacking the police 

station. 

A spokesperson for the two 

families, Adeola Abiodun 

said “We were made to write 

the letter under duress and 

we had no choice because 

we were constantly 

harassed by the police.” 

Fayose, who spoke with 

journalists after the protest, 

said he was saddened by 

the weighty allegations 

against the police. 

He lamented that the 

Commissioner of Police 

could not give a satisfactory 

answer when he was 

confronted with the facts of 

the case. 

He said: “I am saddened 

by this development. Those 

who are supposed to be 

protecting us shouldn’t be 

oppressing us. When 

people face this kind of 

trauma, this kind of sad 

experience, the killing of 

their breadwinner, husbands 

and for any reason, a rightthinking 

person should not 

cover it up. We must stand 

up against this. These 

people must get justice." 

Ekiti CP reacts 

In his reaction, the CP 

denied the allegations 

saying: “no one can prove 

yet that the Customs officer 

was drunk. The car that hit 

the deceased could just be 

an accident and we had to 

rescue the customs officer 

from being lynched by the 

angry mob. The mob 

attacked our police station 

and beat up police officers 

so that made me withdraw 

the policemen there as their 

lives were no longer safe. 

We had to grant the man 

bail because that was legal.'' 

PDP RECONCILIATION: Dickson's 

c'ttee relocates to S'West 

By Emmanuel Aziken 

THE 

Governor 

Seriake Dickson-led 

committee on postconvention 

reconciliation in 

the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP is relocating to 

Lagos to meet with 

stakeholders in the region, 

Vanguard has learnt. 

Meanwhile, the 

committee yesterday met 

with Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, 

one of the chairmanship 

candidates at the last 

convention during which 

the media mogul reasserted 

his commitment to the PDP, 

saying his major motif 

remains the sacking of the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC from power in 2019. 

Dokpesi recalled his pre 

convention position that the 

outcome of the convention 

would accepted since bring 

Chairman was not a do or 

die affair.The team, 

Vanguard gathered is 

expected to meet with the 

quartet of Chief Bode 

George, Mr. Jimi Agbaje 

and two former governors 

from the region, Otunba 

Gbenga Daniel and 

Senator Rasheed Ladoja 

who were chairmanship 

candidates at the recent 

national convention of the 

party. 

The move to the 

Southwest, Vanguard learnt 

yesterday follows 

preliminary consultations 

with some of the 

stakeholders in Abuja 

where the committee was 

constituted. 

The brief of the committee 

is to soothe tensions 

following grievances by 

Southwest stakeholders that 

the PDP opened up the 

contest for national 

chairman to all parts of the 

South against expectations 

from the Southwest that the 

office of national chairman 

should have been microzoned 

to the region which 

is the only section of the 

country not to have held the 

office in substantive or 

acting capacity. 

Meanwhile, Dickson in 

his meeting with Dokpesi 

urged party leaders and 

members to put priority on 

winning the 2019 elections 

above every other 

consideration. 

In his meeting with the 

Dickson committee 

yesterday, Dokpesi assured 

Dickson and the members 

of the committee of his 

determination to sustain 

continuous support for PDP. 

Ikeja Electric rewards 25 loyal customers 

By Ediri Ejoh 

IN a bid to give back to 

its customers, the 

management of Ikeja 

Electric (IE) yesterday 

rewarded 24 customers on 

its network with a free 4,000 

monthly units recharge for 

a period of one year. 

Making this known at its 

head office after the-just 

concluded Energy 4 Life 

Customer Loyalty Reward 

Draws, Head, Corporate 

...As Dokpesi vows to remain in party 

Maiden G-57 strategy holds 

in Lagos 

L AGOS—THE 

maiden edition of 

the G-57 strategy, with the 

theme: Designing the 

Nigeria We Deserve was 

held in Lagos. 

The event that took place 

between December 6 and 

7, at the WheatBaker, Ikoyi, 

attracted delegates from 

across Nigeria as well as 

the USA, Europe and 

Canada, 30% youth with 

rich gender diversity. 

Presenting the keynote 

address, Chairman of the 

Governing Board, Prince 

Tom Iseghohi, explained 

that the G-57 is a nonpartisan 

and non-political 

economic organization 

which represents Nigeria’s 

57 years of Independence, 

and this was significant in 

her launch on the 1st 

October, 2017. 

The group has grown in 

Communications, IE, Felix 

Ofulue, explained that the 

gesture was in a bid to give 

back to its loyal customers 

and encourage them to 

support the system by 

paying its bills as at when 

due. 

“We are out to serve our 

customers better and to 

appreciate their efforts 

towards bill payment. This 

is the first of its kind in the 

power sector and we 

rewarded 25 customers with 

three months from 57 

founding members to 

almost 250,000 followers 

across the country. 

The group G-57 was 

founded by 57 Nigerian 

executives who each 

represent one year of 

Nigeria’s existence. 

The group believes that 

by representing each year 

by one successful life, it can 

inject a sense of urgency 

into our collective psyche 

about the value of one year 

in the life of a country. 

The G-57 consists of 

professionals and 

entrepreneurs who have 

shown significant 

capability and success in 

their various fields, and 

who came together on the 

premise of making a 

positive impact on Nigeria. 

The question prominent 

on their minds; what has 

Nigeria achieved in her 57 

years of independence? 

free 4000 unit recharge for a 

year and a star price of the 

same unit but for four years 

was also issued to a 

customer,” he said. 

Reacting to the reward, a 

retiree, Mrs. Ajibua Beatrice, 

at Olutola street, Ojodu who 

won the price for a year 

lauded the company’s effort, 

saying “I am very excited 

with the reward and I 

want to advise the 

company to continue with 

its good work.”



JOHESU, others give FG ultimatum 

over unpaid promotion arrears 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

C ALABAR—THE 

Joint Health Sector 

Unions, JOHESU and 

Assembly of Health Care 

Professionals, AHPA, of 

the Federal Neuro 

Psychiatric Hospital, 

FNPH, Branch, Calabar, 

Cross River State, have 

given the Federal 

Government an 

ultimatum to pay the 

promotion arrears of their 

members from 2014 till 

date. 

They gave the 

ultimatum which will 

expire on December 31, in 

a communiqué at the end 

of their joint congress held 

yesterday in Calabar. 

Briefing newsmen after 

the meeting, Mr. Ken 

Bassey, Secretary of 

JOHESU/Chairman, 

Senior Staff Association, 

FNHP, Calabar, said that 

the attention of the office 

of the Accountant General 

of the Federation had 

been drawn to the unpaid 

promotion arrears of its 

member from 2014 till 

date. 

The unions also called 

on the Federal 

Government to 

immediately and 

unconditionally pay their 

members to enable them 

celebrate this festive 

period with their kiths and 

kin. 

His words: “Many 

workers are indebted, 

many have even 

mortgaged their salaries 

because they borrow 

money upfront to pay their 

children's school fees, 

house rent and other 

utilities and this is why we 

are giving the Federal 

Government till December 

31, to pay our arrears from 

2014 till date." 

Oba of Benin moves against 

human trafficking 

THE 

Benin 

monarch, Oba 

Ewuare II, has thrown his 

weight and that of the Edo 

State Traditional Council, 

behind the fight against 

illegal migration and 

human trafficking, which 

have claimed the lives of 

thousands of Edo youths. 

Oba Ewuare II, who 

spoke, yesterday, at the 

inauguration of the Edo 

State Council of 

Traditional Rulers and 

Chiefs by Governor 

Godwin Obaseki, 

condemned the act and 

e x p r e s s e d 

disappointment in the 

Nigerian Embassy in 

Libya and the Libyan 

government for their 

inability to tackle the 

crisis. 

He said it was 

particularly frustrating 

that it had to take a news 

report by the Cable News 

Network, CNN, for the 

government and other 

stakeholders to respond to 

the crisis. 

The Benin monarch said 

that the crisis could have 

been better managed if 

the relevant authorities 

lived up to their roles, 

instead of allowing it to 

fester. 

He commended the 

state governor for his 

efforts at resettling and 

reintegrating the Libyan 

returnees through various 

skills acquisition 

programmes. 

Wike, Ibori storm Asaba, 

commission projects 

By Festus Ahon 

A 

S A B A — 

GOVERNOR 

Nyesom Wike of Rivers 

State and former 

Governor James Ibori of 

Delta State, yesterday, 

commissioned and 

inspected some projects 

executed by Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa in Asaba 

Delta State. 

Some of the projects 

inspected and 

commissioned include, 

the storm drainage project 

which will channel flood 

waters from the Direct 

Labour Road, Jesus Saves 

Road and others to the 

River Niger, the Cable 

Point dual carriage way 

and Madonna School/ 

Joseph Ebolo Roads in 

Okpanam, Oshimili 

North Local Government 

Area of the state. 

Wike, Ibori and other top 

politicians were taken 

round the projects by 

Governor Okowa. 

Speaking during the 

commissioning and 

inspection ceremony, 

Wike described Governor 

Okowa as a performer, a 

promise keeper and 

dependable personality. 

He said, “I identify 

myself with people who 

have something to show. 

I want to thank Governor 

Okowa who invited me to 

commission this project. I 

know Governor Okowa is 

doing very well, when you 

make a promise, fulfil it, 

Okowa has fulfilled his 

promises to Deltans." 

East-West Road designed to fail —FG 

•Says N300bn spent on project without progress 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru & 

Davies 

Iheamnachor 

A BUJA—THE 

F e d e r a l 

Government, yesterday, 

said that the East-West 

Road which was 

conceived by the 

administration of 

President Olusegun 

Obasanjo in 2006 at the 

cost of N211 billion, was 

billed to fail from its 

conception. 

It will be realled that the 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan administration 

increased the contract 

sum of the road project to 

N762 billion. 

The Minister of Niger 

Delta Affairs, Pastor 

Uguru Usani, said 

yesterday, that despite the 

huge sum of about N300 

billion sunk into the 

project, the level of work 

so far done was not 

encouraging. 

This came as the 

Federal Executive 

Council, FEC, has 

approved N16 billion for 

the construction of the 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, 

headquarters to stop the 

rent the commission has 

been paying which 

amounted to N2 billion in 

the past 10 years. 

Meanwhile, the House 

of Representatives 

Committee on NDDC has 

urged the Federal 

Government to clear all 

outstanding debts owed 

the commission. 

The Committee made 

the appeal yesterday, 

during a courtesy call on 

the Managing Director of 

NDDC, Mr Nsima Ekere, 

at the commission’s 

headquarters in Port 

Harcourt, Rivers State. 

Speaking, the Chairman 

of the Committee, Mr 

Nicholas Mutu, said that 

the call was to give more 

strength to the 

development drives of the 

commission, adding that 

the visit was part of its 

oversight function to 

inspect project sites. 

Mutu promised that the 

committee will support 

the NDDC through 

regular engagements to 

enhance its performance, 

expressing displeasure 

with the debts owed the 

NDDC by the Federal 

Government and other 

agencies that contribute to 

its funding. 

Meanwhile, briefing 

State 

House 

correspondents after the 

weekly FEC meeting in 

Abuja, Niger Delta Affairs 

Minister said already his 

ministry was compiling 

names of contractors 

involved in the shoddy 

work, adding that about 

30 contractors will soon be 

taken to the Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, for 

prosecution. 

He said: “I have said 

that East-West road was 

designed to fail and we 

are doing everything to 

correct that concept. We 

have spent N300 billion 

on the East-West road and 

yet the project has not 

made much progress. 

“I am doing a review of 

the entire contract of the 

East-West road because 

without that nothing will 

ever happen on that road 

talkless of completion. If 

you have spent N300 

billion and you are where 

you are, then the design, 

negotiations, contract 

everything was wrong." 

MEETING: From left: Delta State APC Chairman, Prophet Jones Erue, 

governorship aspirant in the state, Mr. Sunny Ofehe and Delta State APC 

leader, Olorogun O'tega Emerhor, after a meeting in Port Harcourt, Rivers 

State.


:Vanguard News 

:@vanguardnews 

Nigerians must speak on 

restructuring —Environmentalist 

By Gabriel Enogholase 

BENIN—AN environmentalist 

and 

human rights crusader, 

Dr. Godwin Ojo, has said 

that Nigerians must be 

allowed to speak now on 

the issue of restructuring 

and how the different 

ethnic nationalities in the 

country can live with one 

another in peace and 

unity. 

Dr. Ojo, Executive 

Director, Environmental 

Rights Action/Friends of 

the Earth, ERA/FoN, 

while declaring open the 

National Environment 

Conference in Benin City, 

Edo State, yesterday, said: 

“Nigerians should 

engage more on national 

issues. Whether the call 

for restructuring is 

superfluous or genuine, 

let us engage. Whether 

there is nothing wrong 

with the structure of the 

Nigerian state or it is the 

Nigerian mindset and 

attitude that requires 

restructuring, let us 

engage. 

“I do not subscribe to 

the belief that Nigerians 

talk too much and take no 

action. The reality is that 

we talk too little, hardly 

enough to sustain a 

discourse and bring it to 

a satisfactory logical 

conclusion. I, therefore, 

hope that the debate on 

restructuring will not 

fizzle away or remain 

inclusive. 

Haulage companies sue firm over 

non-payment for services rendered 

By Innocent Anaba 

THREE 

haulage 

services companies, 

Kobbs Global Services 

Nigeria Limited, BJA 

Global Solutions Limited 

and Minmax Universal 

Concept Limited, have 

filed three different suits 

against Murphy Express 

Logistics Limited before a 

Rivers State High Court 

sitting in Port Harcourt, 

claiming various sums of 

money as payment for 

services rendered for 

which they have not been 

paid. 

Kobbs Global Services 

Nigeria Limited is 

claiming N18.174 million, 

being the total sum owed 

by the defendant to the 

claimant by virtue of 

trucking services 

rendered to the defendant 

at the instance of the 

defendant and 10 percent 

post-judgment interest 

“For ERA/FoN-led CSO 

coalitions and allies, we 

believe that any process 

for the restructuring of 

Nigeria must have at its 

core some basic elements. 

First, there is the need to 

institute the twin ideas of 

post extractivism and a 

pragmatic synergy 

transition process as a 

defining principle of state 

policy.” 

He insisted that on the 

form of economic 

Edo pensioners get 

N244m 


TEACHERS in Edo 

State got 

N1,108,476,358.72 for 

their October salaries 

from the N2, 391,150,633 

allocation accrued to the 

Local Government Areas 

from the Federation 

Account, while N244 

million was used to pay 

pensioners, the Joint 

Account and Allocation 

Committee, JAAC, has 

said. 

Meanwhile, Edo State 

Government has outlined 

strategies to engage the 

Benin Electricity 

Distribution Company, 

BEDC, to ensure stable 

electricity supply to 

residents in the state. 

Head, Local 

G o v e r n m e n t 

Administration, 

sums representing 10 

percent interest on the 

judgment sum until it is 

paid up 

BJA Global Solutions 

Limited is claiming 

N11.179 million being the 

total sum owed by the 

defendant to the claimant 

by virtue of trucking 

services rendered to the 

defendant and 10 percent 

post-judgment interest 

sums representing 10 

percent interest on the 

judgment sum until it is 

paid up. 

Minmax Universal 

Concept Limited is 

claiming N18.126 million 

being the total sum owed 

by the defendant to the 

claimant by virtue of 

trucking services 

rendered to the defendant 

and 10 percent postjudgment 

interest sums 

representing 10 percent 

interest on the judgment 

restructuring, issues such 

as deficit of governance at 

all tiers of government, 

infrastructure deficit, 

dysfunctional health and 

education sectors, near 

absence of public 

transportation and the 

ecological crimes that 

now litter and define the 

once lush Niger Delta 

environment, 

desertification in the 

North should be 

discussed. 

Uhunmwode Local 

Government Area, Edo 

State, Mr. Anthony 

Eboigbodin, disclosed 

this at the end of JAAC 

meeting held at 

Government House, in 

Benin City and presided 

over by Governor Godwin 

Obaseki. 

Eboigbodin said the 

N2.4 billion allocation 

accrued to the 18 local 

government areas in the 

state from the Federation 

Account for the month of 

October, 2017. 

According to him, of 

N2,391,150,633 total 

allocation to the councils, 

N1,108,476,358 was set 

aside for the payment of 

teachers’ salaries while 

N244,087,081.04 was 

used for payment of 

pension. 

sum until it is paid up. 

Meanwhile, Murphy 

Express Logistics Limited 

is yet to file its defence to 

the suits. 

At the hearing in the 


Limited N11.179m suit, 

yesterday, the court 

adjourned to January 17, 

2018 for judgment. 

The Kobbs Global 

Services Nigeria Limited 

N18.174m suit is coming 

up tomorrow, while the 

Minmax Universal 

Concept Limited 

N18.126m suit is slated for 

January. 


Limited in an affidavit in 

support of the suit by its 

Managing Director, Mr 

Bamidele Adekoya, 

averred that his company 

had rendered haulage 

services to the 

defendant’s Port Harcourt 

office at its instance for 

value.



Senate rejects NNRA 

2018 budget proposal 

•Blasts DG for spending N367m 

without approval 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA—THE Senate 

yesterday berated 

the Nigeria Nuclear Regulatory 

Authority, NNRA 

for generating an estimated 

N490million and 

spending N367million 

without recourse to the 

National Assembly for approval, 

describing the action 

as a breach of the law. 

The Senate, also rejected 

the 2018 budget proposals 

of NNRA, citing some 

inconsistencies noticed in 

the documents as presented 

by the Agency. 

Speaking yesterday in 

Abuja when the Director 

General, Nigeria Nuclear 

Regulatory Authority, Professor 

Dim Lawrence, appeared 

before the Senate 

committee on Petroleum, 

Upstream, to present the 

Agency’s 2018 budget estimate, 

Chairman of the 

Committee, Senator Omotayo 

Alasoadura, APC, 

Ondo Central, said in reviewing 

the performance of 

the Agency’s 2017 budget, 

it was discovered that the 

Agency had been in the 

habit of generating money 

and spending same without 

recourse to National 

Assembly for approval. 


Committee also 

discovered some discrepancies 

in the figures presented, 

warning that any 

Edgal bags award, says police 

partnering LASG on community 

policing 

By Yinka Ajayi 

THE Lagos State Po 

lice Command, 

through its community police 

initiative restated plans 

to partner the Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode-led administration 

to protect lives 

and properties of residents. 

Speaking at the Transparency 

Nigeria Awards 

aimed at celebrating Nigerians 

that distinguished 

themselves in their fields of 

endeavours, the State Commissioner 

of Police, Mr Imohimi 

Edgar, who spoke 

after receiving an award 

said: “The need to curtail 

insecurity and crime in Lagos 

state cannot be overemphasized 

because the 

recent estimation of Lagos 

State population is about 22 

million people, with about 

13 police area commands, 

107 police divisions making 

Lagos the biggest police 

command in Nigeria. The 

state economic and political 

importance attracts all 

sorts of people into Lagos, 

bringing with it a great deal 

of security challenges.” 

At the award, where Governor 

Ambode also bagged 

the Most Transparent Gov- 

MDAs that appeared before 

the committee on budget 

defence without the 

comparative analysis 

would not be allowed to 

present. 

The Chairman said: “So 

Director, you have to take 

this 2018 budget proposal 

back and do the comparative 

analysis before bringing 

it back to us for consideration. 

The figures are 

there and any budget that 

has no comparative analysis 

would be difficult to consider. 

Without this essential 

component of the budget 

how do we move forward. 

Look at the salary 

you showed us. The salary 

last year was too much. You 

had a shortfall. You gave 

us a figure this year how 

do we compare it with what 

we had last year and there 

was a shortfall of over 

N400million. Do we have 

to go back to this one before 

we can refer it with this 

one with 2018.So please 

come back on Friday by 

12noon with all the requirement 

for the 2018 

budget.” 

On NNRA 2017 budget, 

Senator Clifford Ordia, 

PDP, Edo Central said: “I 

want to believe that you 

deliberately did what you 

did because you didn’t 

want to be transparent. 

This is not the first time 

you are presenting a 

budget and you know 

what it entails.” 

ernor of the Year award, 

the police boss said: “Lagos 

being transformed into 

a mega city prompted me 

to make security a point of 

priority. As we speak, car 

theft and armed robbery 

has reduced drastically. 

This did not come as a surprise. 

The move to set up a 

security trust fund as a 

means of containing insecurity 

in the state through 

capacity building has 

yielded cogent fruits and 

has drastically reduced 

crime in the state. 

‘’All Divisional Police Officers, 

DPOs and all area 

commanders have been 

given specific target to ensure 

that there is no crime 

in their area command. 

Our philosophy in Lagos 

is community policing and 

community safety partnership. 

That is, policing the 

community by the community. 

Meanwhile, the organizer 

of the awards, Timothy 

Okojie said: ”The aim of 

the award is to promote accountability, 

integrity, best 

practices and excellence for 

well behaved individuals 

and corporate bodies, while 

harnessing the goodwill 

and noble virtues in order 

to re-engineer our society.’’ 

90% of private rehab centres in Nigeria are torture, 

rape camps — GROUP 

By Joseph Erunke 

ABUJA—A Non-Gov 

ernmental Organisation 

under the aegis of 

YouthRISE Nigeria, has alleged 

that over 90 percent 

of private rehabilitation centres 

in the country were 

mere torture and rape 

camps. 

It did not spare the government 

either as it alleged 

that people were being 

locked up in law enforcement 

detention centers 

without access to proper 

healthcare. 

The group also alleged 

LAUNCH: From left; Timothy Nubi, director, Center for Housing Sustainable 

Development, UNILAG; Michel Puchecos, country chief executive 

officer/managing director, Lafarge Africa Plc; Folashade Ambrose- 

Medebem, Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainable Development, 

director, Lafarge Africa Plc, and Chris Ogbechie, professor strategic management, 

Lagos Business School (LBS), at the launch of Lafarge Africa 

sustainability report in Lagos, yesterday. Photo by Akeem Salau. 

How we plan to end fuel 

scarcity — NNPC, PPMC 

•Seeks close monitoring of centres by govt 

•Increases fuel supply to 1,300 trucks daily 

•Adopts 24-hour operations 

By Michael Eboh 

ABUJA—THE Nige 

rian National Petroleum 

Corporation, NNPC, 

and its downstream subsidiary, 

the Petroleum Products 

Marketing Company, 

PPMC, yesterday, said a 

number of measures had 

been introduced to end the 

current fuel crisis across 

the country and ensure 

steady supply for the remaining 

part of the year. 

This came as normalcy 

returned to the Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, as 

the long queues recorded 

at the beginning of the 

week thinned out, with 

most petrol stations dispensing 

products to motorists. 

Speaking during the 

monitoring of petrol stations 

in Abuja, Managing 

Director of the PPMC, Mr. 

Umar Ajiya, said NNPC 

and the PPMC had increased 

the daily truck out 

of fuel to petrol stations 

across the country to over 

1,300 trucks and was taking 

delivery of a minimum 

of one vessel load of fuel 

on a daily basis. 

According to him, “We 

have a robust supply plan; 

every blessed day, we 

have a minimum of one 

ship arriving Nigeria. Today 

(yesterday), we received 

two ships, tomorrow 

we will receive a ship; 

day after tomorrow, we 

have two ships coming. 

That is the trajectory going 

forward, until the end 

of the year. One ship is an 

average of 50 million liters 

and the average consumption 

in Nigeria is about 35 

million liters. In addition 

to that, we have massively 

increased our truck out. We 

cover 1,300 trucks a day.” 

Ajiya attributed the improvement 

in the fuel supply 

situation to hard work 

and the collaborative efforts 

among NNPC, 

PPMC, and their sister 

agencies, such as the Department 

of Petroleum Resources, 

DPR, Petroleum 

Products Pricing Regulatory 

Agency, PPPRA, oil 

majors, as well as the security 

agencies. 

“By rising up to the challenge, 

we have moved our 

operations to 24 hours in 

all our depots, we have 

moved our products ourselves 

to all our affiliate stations 

on a 24 hours basis,” 

he explained. In collaboration 

with the DPR, PPPRA 

and security agencies, 

Ajiya noted that surveillance 

and monitoring had 

been beefed up across the 

country and a directive had 

been issued that any depot 

or filling station found selling 

above the pump price 

and also hoarding products, 

would see their products 

dispensed to motorists 

free of charge. 

Also speaking, Chief 

Operating Officer, NNPC 

Ventures, Mr. Babatunde 

Adeniran, said, “Our hands 

are still on deck and we are 

looking at everything as it 

comes every day, so that the 

situation like this, where 

there is steady fuel supply, 

can continue in Lagos, Abuja 

and all over the country.” 

that operators of the centres 

labelled as “rehabilitation 

centres” were subjecting 

young people in 

their care to physical and 

emotional torture, rape, 

abuses as well as other dehumanizing 

conditions. 

It appealed to the federal 

government through the 

National Drug Law Enforcement 

Agency, 

NDLEA, and other regulatory 

bodies to closely 

monitor the centres. 

The organization working 

to protect the human 

rights of young people in 

Nigeria, at a briefing yesterday 

in Abuja, through its 

project coordinator, Adeolu 

Ogunrombi, claimed its 

position followed the research 

it conducted on experiences 

of young people 

in some of the centres 

across the country, some of 

which are owned by the 

government and private 

establishments. 

The research, according to 

him, was undertaken 

against the backdrop of celebration 

of the 2017 Human 

Rights Day “by focusing attention 

on young people 

within closed settings.” 

“The organization conducted 

a research into the 

experience of young people 

who are in some of 

these centers across the 

country, some of which are 

owned by the government 

and private establishments. 

The findings showed that 

there are many centers 

with lots of human rights 

abuses going on in these 

closed settings. Some of 

their experiences include 

torture, poor quality healthcare, 

being kept in prisonlike 

and dehumanizing 

condition with some having 

chains around their 

legs. All these are done in 

an attempt to make them 

drug-free. Unfortunately, 

the society is not aware 

about the operations of 

these centers and they are 

rarely monitored.” 

Two Nigerians 

nominated for 

2018 global 

teacher prize 

TWO 

Nigerian 

teachers have been 

nominated for the 2018 global 

teacher prize. 

The prize, put together 

by Varkey Foundation, 

comes with a monetary 

award of $1 million. 

Ayodele Odeogbola 

teaches at Abeokuta Grammar 

School, Ogun State 

while Itodo Anthony works 

at Gateway Excel College 

Otukpa, Benue State. 

Both are among 50 shortlisted 

teachers from across 

the world. 

Conceived in 2013, the 

prize was set up “to recognize 

one exceptional teacher 

who has made an outstanding 

contribution to the 

profession as well as to 

shine a spotlight on the 

important role teachers 

play in society.” 

The top 50 were shortlisted 

from over 30,000 nominations 

and applications 

from 173 countries from 

around the world. 

Varkey Foundation will 

announce the winner at 

the Global Education and 

Skills Forum in Dubai on 

March 18, 2018. 

The two Nigerians are on 

the 27 and 28 of the top 50 

teachers shortlisted. 

Some of them are : 

GermánAlberto Soto, Escuela 

Técnica Fray Luis 

Beltrán, Argentina; 

2. Silvana Andrea Carnicero 

Sanguinetti, Escuela 

Técnica Nº 33, Argentina; 

3. Sarah Mathews, Brisbane 

Bayside State College, 

Australia; 

4. Eddie Woo, Cherrybrook 

Technology High 

School, Australia; 

5. Wilbur Klein, Tjuntjuntjara 

Remote Community 

School, Australia 

6. Koen Timmers, CVO 

De Verdieping, – 

Zelfstudie.be online school, 

Belgium; and others.

VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017—15 


Kanu’s lawyer writes FG, seeks pardon 

for detained IPOB members 

•Says Buhari pardoned, gave cash gifts to over 500 inmates in Kano 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—COUNSEL to 

the ‘missing’ leader of 

the proscribed Indigenous 

People of Biafra, IPOB, Mr. 

Nnamdi Kanu, has asked 

the Federal Government to 

grant state pardon to youths 

of Igbo extraction he said 

were arrested and locked 

up in various prisons for 

exercising their 

constitutional guaranteed 

rights to self determination. 

Kanu’s lawyer, Mr. 

Ifeanyi Ejiofor, in the letter 

he wrote to the Attorney 

General of the Federation, 

AGF and Minister of 

Justice, Mr. Abubakar 

Malami, SAN, stated that 

“hundreds of innocent and 

defenseless IPOB 

members who are mostly 

youths”, are languishing in 

different prisons in the 

South East states and Kuje 

Prison in Abuja, based on 

“phantom, frivolous and 

cooked-up allegations”. 

He further drew attention 

of the AGF to the fact that 

one of the alleged pro- 

Biafra agitators, Mr. Bright 

Chimezie, has been in 

custody of the Department 

of State Services, DSS, 

without trial, despite a 

judgment of the Federal 

High Court in Uyo which 

ordered his release and 

also awarded him N5 

million damages for the 

violation of his 

fundamental human 

rights. 

Ejiofor noted that 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari had barely a week 

ago, granted a state pardon 

to over 500 prison inmates 

detained on various violent 

offences in Kano Maximum 

Security Prison. 

He said the freed 

inmates were equally 

treated with cash gifts 

containing unspecified 

sums of money. 

“While commending the 

Commander in Chief for 

such a patriotic act, we 

respectfully wish to implore 

the President to extend the 

same gesture to hundreds 

of innocent and 

defenceless members of the 

Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, largely made 

up of youths of Igbo 

extraction, held across the 

various prisons in the 

South East states and Kuje 

Prison in the Federal 

Capital Territory, on 

accounts of phantom 

charges, frivolous and 

cooked-up allegations, for 

merely exercising their 

constitutional guaranteed 

rights to self determination 

including our client who 

has been held in the custody 

of the DSS for over 14 

months without trial. 

“What is good for the 

goose is also good for the 

gander! If the President is 

a true nationalist, he should 

do the needful in this 

regard, without further 

prompting. One sided 

justice will amount to 

injustice,” Ejiofor stated in 

his letter. 

He said the DSS had 

since been served with a 

copy of the high court order 

dated May 24, 2017, which 

directed it to immediately 

release Chimezie from 

detention. 

Cows led by Fulani herdsmen destroy cassava farm in Umuahia 

By Anayo Okoli 

U MUAHIA— 

SCORES of cows 

belonging to herdsmen 

invaded and destroyed a 

cassava farm at Olokoro, 

Umuahia South Council of 

Abia State, valued at 

hundreds of thousands of 

Naira. 

The cassava farm located 

on two plots of land at 

Power Word Estate belongs 

to Deacon Steve Oko who 

was almost in tears while 

speaking with journalists in 

Umuahia, yesterday. 

WORKSHOP: From left—Commissioner 11, Mrs Folake Onobolu; 

Chairman, Mr. Waliu Onibon; Commissioner lV, Mrs Joko Ojoshipe- 

Ogundimu, and Commissioner lll, Mr. Biodun Akihgbe, all of Lagos 

State Audit Service Commission, at a workshop organised by the 

Commission in Lagos. 

NMA laments neglect in Imo health sector 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

OWERRI—THE Imo 

State, chairman of 

Nigeria Medical 

Association, NMA, Mr. 

Darlington Akukwu, said, 

yesterday, that the health 

sector in the state, has been 

mismanaged and doctors 

neglected. 

Darlington made this 

known to newsmen in 

Owerri, while speaking on 

the quality of health 

services in the state. 


need has come to look into 

“The entire farmland now 

looks like a football field”, 

Oko lamented, saying that 

his decision to embrace 

farming early this year as 

part of strategies to survive 

the biting economic 

hardship in the country and 

also to enhance his 

economic base, has turned 

to sad story because of the 

activities of herdsmen. 

According to him, he had 

planned to embark on 

some capital projects with 

proceeds from the sale of 

the crops by next year, but 

the welfare of doctors in the 

state, as such would 

encourage them to give 

quality services. 

While commending 

Okorocha for appointing a 

professional as a health 

commissioner, Angela 

Uwakwem, he argued that 

the condition of health 

services in the state, had 

gone so bad during the 

time, Ngozi Njoku, was a 

health commissioner, for 

two years. 

He said: “We want to say 

here that the Governor has 

done well in appointing a 

professional to head the 

with the destruction of his 

crops, such hope had been 

dashed. 

“Early this year when it 

became obvious that I could 

no longer depend on 

irregular salary for my everincreasing 

financial needs, 

I decided to suppress my 

ego and go into farming. 

“Part of the reasons I also 

embraced farming was 

because the cost of garri 

was almost unaffordable by 

the beginning of this year 

thus making cassava 

farming a very lucrative 

ministry of health. 

“This is not to tell you that 

during the time Ngozi 

Njoku, was a commissioner 

of health, her two years in 

office was hell, based on 

her inexperience in the 

health profession. The 

reason was that she could 

not differentiate between a 

profession and politics.” 

He further said: “The 

welfare of my doctors is very 

significant and we want the 

government to look into this 

area holistically. The time 

has come to have a welfare 

package for doctors in the 

state.” 

venture. 

“Apart from my heavy 

investments in the farm, I 

was personally involved in 

the farming activities. I was 

drenched by the June/ July 

rains while working on the 

farm. My motivation was 

the promising bumper 

harvest of a blossoming 

farm. 

“But my hope is now 

shattered. My calculation 

was to embark on one major 

project very dear to me by 

2018 with proceeds from the 

farm," he lamented. 

Nigeria’s unemployment at 

crisis level—DG SMEDAN 

By Vincent 

Ujumadu 

AWKA—THE Director- 

General of Small and 

Medium Enterprises 

Development Agency of 

Nigeria, SMEDAN, Dr 

Umaru Radda has raised 

an alarm, saying that the 

unemployment situation in 

the country had reached a 

crisis level. 

Speaking during the flag 

off of empowerment of 

young business owners in 

Anambra State, Radda said 

one way of addressing the 

situation was sustenance of 

young businesses in the 

country. 

While urging youths to 

make the best use of the 

window of opportunity 

created by SMEDAN, the 

DG, who was represented 

by the Southeast Zonal 

Coordinator of the Agency, 

Mr. Levi Anyikwa, said the 

sustenance of the initiative 

was imperative if the 

country must come out of 

the problem. 

According to him, 80 

beneficiaries from each state 

had been selected for a pilot 

project under the initiative, 

adding that the exercise 

would cover all the states 

of the federation in the next 

few years. 

He said: “The target 

beneficiaries of the 

programme are young 

people between the ages of 

20-45 years. The goal is to 

create new opportunities 

for enterprise growth for 

start-ups and for 

employment. 

“Selection criteria for 

beneficiaries include: 

technical capacities of the 

promoters, available raw 

materials, markets, 

available skills, access to 

appropriate technologies, 

among others 

“Needs assessment was 

conducted which formed 

the basis for the design of 

the empowerment package. 

“Furthermore, the 

delivery of a tailored 

Business Development 

Services package would 

include mentoring, 

linkages to markets and 

sources of equipment; and 

provision of workspace." 

NCC debunks claims of mobile 

phones posing health risks 

By Peter Okutu 

A BAKALIKI—THE 

N i g e r i a n 

Communications 

Commission, NCC, 

yesterday debunked the 

claim in some quarters 

especially from 

telecommunication 

consumers/subscribers that 

the use of mobile phones 

poses a serious health risk 

in the country. 

South East zonal 

Controller of the 

Commission, Emilia 

Nwokoro made the 

clarification in Abakaliki 

during the Consumer 

Conversation Forum, CCF, 

held at the secretariat of 

Abakaliki local government 

area of the State. 

ENUGU—IN the spirit 

of Christmas, Governor 

Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of 

Enugu State has offered 

free transportation for 

indigenes of the state 

residing in other parts of 

Nigeria, who intend to 

return home to celebrate the 

festive season with their 

loved ones. 

Announcing the welfare 

package, the Managing 

Director, Enugu State 

Transport Company, 

ENTRACO, Mr. Bob Itanyi, 

stated that the gesture was 

borne out of Gov. 

Ugwuanyi’s magnanimity 

and enduring resolve to 

According to her, it was 

necessary for telecom 

consumers to be educated 

on their basic rights, quality 

service and safety and how 

to seek redress when their 

rights are abused as NCC 

places premium on 

consumers. 

She said:”The NCC is an 

independent national 

regulatory authority for the 

telecommunications 

industry in Nigeria. In line 

with the 8-point agenda of 

the Commission, this year 

2017 has been declared 

“NCC Year of the Telecom 

Consumers.” The aim is to 

ensure that the 

telecommunication 

consumers are carried 

along in their regulatory 

function." 

Christmas: Ugwuanyi offers free 

transport for Enugu indigenes 

ameliorate the sufferings of 

the people of the state as 

well as give them a sense 

of belonging as the true 

heroes of democracy. 

Mr. Itanyi explained that 

the free transportation 

exercise, which 

commences on Tuesday, 

December 19 and ends on 

Saturday, December 23, 

will be carried out in states 

of the federation that are far 

from the state, such as, 

Abuja, Lagos, Jos, Ibadan, 

Kaduna, Kano, Minna, 

Gombe, Ilorin, Sokoto, 

Jalingo, Bauchi, Nasarawa, 

Port Harcourt, among 

others.


NIGERIA/INDONESIA: From left— Ambassador of Indonesia, Harry Purwanto; President/ 

Director, PT TIMAH Indonesia, Mr. Mochtar Tabrani; Chairman, Topwide Ventures, Senator Annie 

Okonkwo; Chairman, Solid Minerals Development Fund, Alhaji Uba Malami; former Deputy Senate 

President, Senator Ibrahim Mantu, and MD/CEO, Topside Ventures, Mr. Tony Okonkwo, at an event on 

New Curve of Development Partnership between Indonesia and Nigeria, in Abuja. 

ECOBANK: From left— Company Secretary /Chief Legal Counsel, Denike Laoye; Managing 

Director, Charles Kie, both of Ecobank Nigeria; Chairman, Lagos State Health Service Commission, 

Dr. Bayo Aderiye, representing the Commissioner for Health; and Medical Director, General Hospital, 

Ikorodu, Dr. Olufunmilayo Bankole, at the commissioning of a building renovated and furnished by 

Ecobank at the Agbala Paediatric Centre. 

MED-VIEW IN DUBAI: Country Manager, Med-View Airline, Dubai, United Arab Emirate, Mr. 

Ndukodon Bongi (left); Director of Aviation Business Management, Commercial and Communication Group, 

Dubai Airports, Mr. Khalil Lamrabet (4th left); MD/CEO, Med-View Airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole (2nd 

right), with other management team of Dubai Airports, at a reception organised to usher in Med-View 

Airline to Dubai International Airport and its inaugural flight to Dubai. PHOTO: Lamidi Bamidele. 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

AGbenga 

BUJA—SENATOR 

Ashafa, 

NEWS HOTLINES: 

08052867023, 08052867058 

Budget defence: Ashafa tasks 

Minister on rail operation 

Chairman, Senate 

Committee on Land 

Transport has urged the 

Federal Ministry of 

Transport to ensure 

delivery of standard gauge 

rail lines and other vital rail 

infrastructure to Nigerians 

before 2019. 

Ashafa made this call 

yesterday, while leading 

the budget defence session 

organised by the 

Committee in respect of 

Ministry of Transportation 

at the National Assembly. 

He said: “I call on the 

Minister for Transportation 

, Rotimi Amaechi to remain 

conscious of the fact that the 

2018 appropriation cycle is 

the most important in the 

life of this administration. 

It is on its back that we 

expect most of the projects 

that we commenced since 

2015 to be delivered to the 

Insecurity: Luxury bus owners 

charge operators on security 

By Fredrick 

Okopie 

LAGOS—AHEAD of the 

Christmas and New 

Year celebrations, and 

based on the security alert 

by the United States 

Embassy and the UK the 

Luxury Bus Owners 

Association of Nigeria has 

advised the bus operators 

to maintain high level of 

security consciousness 

during and after the 

yuletide, especially in the 

Federal Capital Abuja and 

other states. 

In a press statement by 

the President of the 

association, Prince (Hon.) 

Emeka Mamah, the 

association also advised bus 

passengers to remain 

vigilant and cooperate with 

the various bus companies 

towards ensuring the safety 

of lives and properties at the 

various motor parks. The 

teeming population of 

Nigerians who voted the 

Buhari administration into 

government. We must 

therefore hit the ground 

running to ensure the 

delivery of as many critical 

infrastructure needed to 

ease the transportation of all 

Nigerians across the 

country as soon as 

possible.” 

Ashafa also called for 

synergy between the 

committee and the Ministry 

to ensure a speedy passage 

of the 2018 budget, in line 

with the sense of urgency 

demonstrated by the early 

submission of the 2018 

Budget estimates to the 

National Assembly by 


Buhari. 

He said: “This meeting 

makes it the 2nd time that 

our Committee would meet 

with the Honourable 

Minister and his team in 

respect of budget defence 

in 2017." 

association advised bus 

passengers to report any 

suspicious movements or 

characters to the law 

enforcement agencies. 

He said that the 

association will liaise with 

the Nigerian Police and 

various security agencies to 

ensure the protection of 

lives and properties, and 

reassured all bus travellers 

that their comfort and safety 

remained the association’s 

top priority. 

The association appealed 

to the Lagos state 

government to revisit the 

policy of relocating luxury 

bus companies from their 

loading points. According 

to the association, the 

affected companies had built 

their Jibowu loading points from 

bank loans, and the policy of 

clustering them in a particular 

place will not only hurt their 

businesses but jeopardise the 

repayment of the bank loans. 

NTA seeks NCC's support on 

sports devt 

By Emmanuel 

Elebeke 

ABUJA—THE NTA TV 

Enterprises is seeking 

the support of the Nigerian 


Commission, NCC in 

development of sports in 

the country. 

The Managing Director, NTA 

TV Enterprises, Mazxwell Loko, 

made the appeal yesterday when 

he led a delegation of the 

Enterprise to the Commission’s 

headquarters in Abuja. 

Loko, who extolled the effort of 

NCC investing so much in 

support of sports development in 

Nigeria said the visit was aimed 

at intimating and seeking the 

support of the Commission for 

their impending book launch 

which is called the Nigerian 

Sports Book of Recordin January 

2018. 

The book, he said was put 

together to celebrate our sports 

men and women, who had made 

us proud over the years by 

winning laurels for the country. 

‘‘There have never been such 

publications in our Archives and 

we felt NCC's support for sports 

will help facilitate the launch of 

this book. After the book launch, 

other activities that surrounds 

sports can also be organized, for 

instance NCC is only 

government agency that have 

monthly staff exercise to make 

them fit for work. Therefore, so 

many things can happen beyond 

the book launch. 

Responding, the Executive 

Vice Chairman of the 

Commission, Prof. Umar 

Danbatta, who was represented 

by the Head Media 

Management at NCC, Mr. Sonny 

Aragba-Akpore, said though, the 

core mandate of the Commission 

is not sports nor supporting sports 

but it decided to go into sports 

promotion to satisfy the 

yearnings and aspiration of 

young Nigerians.

IT is a fact of religious history 

that all three Middle Eastern 

religions –Judaism, Christianity 

and Islam- consider Jerusalem a 

holy city. It is also true that 

Jerusalem contains sites that are 

sacred to all of these essentially 

monotheistic faiths. 

Sacred Jerusalem 

The Jews whose religious 

interests in Jerusalem preceded 

those of the Christians and 

Muslims, had the holiest of the 

Hebrew shrines, ‘King Solomon’s 

Temple’, which was destroyed at 

various times by invaders; and 

then the ‘Wailing Wall’ where 

Jews are said to gather on the eve 

of Sabbath to express grief at the 

destruction of the Temple. The 

Christians, whose religious 

interests preceded only those of 

the Muslims, have the ‘Church 

of the Holy Sepulcher’ –the 

holiest shrine to Christian 

pilgrims- built by the Roman 

Emperor Constantine in 

remembrance of the crucifixion of 

Jesus Christ, and then the 

‘Garden of Gethsemane’ where 

the betrayal of Jesus was said to 

have taken place. The Muslims 

whose religious interests in 

Jerusalem succeeded both the 

Jews’ and the Christians’, have 

the Silver-Domed ‘Al-Aqsa 

Mosque’ or ‘Masjid Al-Aqsa’, 

built in the year 1034 by the 

Fatimid Caliph Al-Zahir on the 

site of the old ‘Temple of 

Solomon’; and then the ‘Dome of 

the Rock Mosque’ built in the 7th 

Century (by the Caliph, Abdul 

Malik) over a rock from which the 

Prophet of Islam, Muhammad 

was said to have made his Miiraj 

(ascension) to heaven. 

Who's Jerusalem? 

Almost every narrative that 

supports America’s President, 

Donald Trump’s recognition of 

Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, 

has this one-stop historical 

justification that ‘three thousand 

years ago’ –precisely 1000 years 

before Christ was born- the Jews 

under King David had made 

Jerusalem their Capital. And by 

that fact alone, they believe, even 

contemporary European 

claimants to Judaistic descent 

today, are justified to claim rightful 

ownership -in perpetuity- of 

Jerusalem. And this is especially 

so considering that it is a fact of 

recorded religious history also that 

none of the other two Abrahamic 

faiths, namely Christianity and 

Islam, which at various times had 

also occupied Jerusalem, ever 

made it their capital. Why then, 

the question is asked, should they 

be ‘heirs to’ or ‘trustees of ’, 

‘assigns’ or ‘beneficial owners’ of 

the whole or any part of today’s 

Jerusalem? 

Emphasis on the fact that only 

the Jews –and not any of their 

monotheistic cousins- had ever 

made Jerusalem their Capital, has 

continued to be made with such 

righteous indignation as though 

having once made Jerusalem 

Capital alone is the qualifying 

criterion that entitles the Jews to 

the undisputed, undisturbed 

enjoyment of a possessory right 

or of the assertion of ownership 

over Jerusalem. None of these so 

called pro-Israel narratives have 

bothered to be honest enough to 

discuss the true status of 

Jerusalem before the Jews first 

came into its occupation ‘three 

Who's Jerusalem? (1) 

thousand years ago’ or before 

1000 B C when they declared it 

their Capital. 

And so the questions arise: who 

were the original inhabitants of 

Jerusalem before three thousand 

years ago or by 1000 BC when 

the Jews presumably first came 

into its occupation and then 

subsequent declaration of it as 

their Capital? If the Jews were the 

original owners of Jerusalem, at 

what point previously did they 

come into such ownership before 

that material time we are told they 

proclaimed it their Capital? And 

if they were not the original 

owners or inhabitants of 

The Palestinians 

had always been 

where they are –the 

aboriginals of 

Canaan long before 

Israel, Judea or 

even Arabia were 

born. And so the 

question is asked: 

‘who is taking the 

land from who 

today?’ Is it the one 

who had come 

much later in time 

or the who had 

been there right 

from time? 

Jerusalem, did they take (or 

inherit) it from a pre-existing non- 

Israelite, non-Judean people and 

made it theirs? And if they took it 

from others and made it their own, 

who were those others, when and 

how did they take it? Was it 

peacefully by sale or voluntarily 

by cession? Was it by 

unchallenged occupation or by 

violent conquest -like the 

Christians and Muslims 

allegedly did? 

Because we see also that many 

of the pro-Israel narratives 

supporting Trump’s recognition of 

Jerusalem as Capital of the 

Jewish State, appear also 

hypocritically always to allege 

that all the other historically 

recorded occupations of Jerusalem 

by the Christians and the 

Muslims, other than when the 

Jews first occupied it 3000 years 

ago, were not legitimate; either 

because the occupations by 

Christians and Muslims 

technically came ‘later’ in time 

than that by the Jews, or that 

because they were effected 

through violence, as if the Jews 

had effected their own occupation 

of Jerusalem peacefully by sale, 

by cession or by unchallenged 

occupation. 

Jerusalem or Urusalim? 

Of the numerous historical 

sources on the subject of the 

origin and status of Jerusalem the 

Encarta Encyclopedia indicate 

that some “early records referring 

to Jerusalem as ‘Urusalim’ had 

appeared on Egyptian tablets 

dating from about 1400 BC” -or 

four hundred years before the 

Jews occupied and or 

subsequently declared it the 

Jewish Capital. Thus the 

existence, physically, of the City 

of Jerusalem and the fact of its 

original baptismal too, which was 

traced to its Egyptian source as 

‘Urusalim’, both predated its 

occupation and its subsequent 

declaration by the Jews as their 

Capital. And which therefore 

makes the name ‘Jerusalem’ most 

likely a corruption of its original 

Egyptian, ‘Urusalim’ –indicating 

a non-Judean, non-Israelite 

origin. 

The place called Urusalim was 

historically a terra-cognita 

somewhere in the pre-Abrahamic 

territory called Canaan which the 

Encarta Encyclopedia says was 

“the region to the west of the 

Jordan River later known as 

Palestine”. Some of the proof of 

this was in the request made by 

England’s King Richard in a 

letter to the Muslim General 

Salahuddin (Saladin) during the 

third Crusade’s failed attempt to 

take Jerusalem: “As for the land” 

Richard pleaded with 

Salahuddin “give us back to the 

further side of Jordan.” The 

present day ‘Jerusalem’ was 

originally part of a pre-existing, 

non-Abrahamic, and therefore 

definitely non-Israelite and non- 

Judean territory identified only by 

its relationship with the ‘Jordan 

river’. Meaning that present day 

Palestine itself had existed 

previously as a community of the 

‘Jordan river’ side long before it 

came to be known as Palestine. 

And so identifying ‘Palestine’ 

today as a post-Abrahamic, post- 

Israelite or post-Judean creation, 

is both anachronistic and 

historically fallacious because the 

‘Palestinians’ as a people before 

they were to be called 

‘Palestinians’, had been there at 

Canaan as people of the ‘Jordan 

River’ long before Abraham 

arrived from what the Bible says 

was Ur of the Chaldea (or present 

day Iraq), some 1500 years before 

Christ was born. When he arrived 

Canaan –or the part of it, Haran- 

Abraham had met these people 

of the ‘Jordan river’ (the future 

Palestinians) and had to settle 

down amongst them thereafter to 

father Isaac who the Bible tells 

us sired Jacob, who would be 

called ‘Israel’ and who was 

therefore to begin the lineage of 

a God’s own people, namely the 

Israelites; down the line to the 

birth of Judah, who would be the 

progenitor of the Jewish tribe, the 

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 —17 

17 

precursor of the Jewish religion, descended from Ishmael… and 

and the father of the Judean from their tribe Muhammad 

nation. Meaning that the people ultimately arose” (see also 

of the ‘Jordan river’ (or the Genesis 25:13). 

Canaanites who would be the It is thus wrong historically to 

future Palestinians), and the cities suggest that the present day 

and towns of that community of Palestinians originally came to the 

the ‘Jordan river’ –of which place called Palestine as some 

‘Urusalim’ was one- had all kind of post-Israelite or postexisted 

long before the birth Judean Arabs settled in the land 

either of Israel or of the Israelites, of the Jews and of the Christians; 

the Jews or Judaism, or of Judea. and that that migration was as 

But it also means that at the recently as after the departure of 

material time in religious history the Prophet of Islam. In truth, the 

-before the arrival of Abraham to present day Palestinians 

Canaan, or before the birth of technically were some of the 

Ishmael and Isaac, the Arabs too, aboriginal Canaanites west of the 

like their brethren the Jews and ‘Jordan river’ who were first 

the Israelites, were equally not Arabised at some point in religious 

in existence anywhere. Because history and who -at various times 

Ishmael had to be born first, by during the spread of Christianity 

Hagaar, before the Arabs could and Islam- were also either 

descend from his loins to found Christianised or Islamised to their 

the land of Kedar whence Arabia present day standing. The 

itself was to be born. The Palestinians had always been 

International Standard Bible where they are –the aboriginals 

Encyclopedia quotes the of Canaan long before Israel, 

American Roman Catholic Judea or even Arabia were born. 

Archbishop A. S. Fulton as saying: And so the question is asked: 

“It is through Kedar (Arab, ‘who is taking the land from who 

Keidar) that Muslim today?’ Is it the one who had come 

genealogists trace the descent of much later in time or the who had 

Muhammad from Ishmael.” Also been there right from time? 

the Davis Dictionary of the Bible, 

1980 describes ‘Kedar’ as “A tribe To be continued 

Feedback 

Re: On Atiku's ambition 

Online:- “By sheer coincidence, former Vice President Atiku 

Abubakar has dominated the attention of our columnists today 

such as Mohammed Adamu and Dr. Jideofor Adibe. I have 

already noticed that some guys are unhappy with Mohammed 

Adamu, but it is impossible to please everyone all the time as 

long as you are writing sincerely and objectively. None of you - 

Mohammed Adamu’s critics- on this post has energetically, 

frequently and sincerely defended the PMB administration to 

the incredible degree he did. And so because he chose to write 

on a subject you don’t like, he is no longer objective. Many 

people are so consumed by their own bias blind spot that they 

won't even notice it. Today Mohammed Adamu and Dr. Jideofor 

Adibe, look beyond popular sentiment and clinically examines 

the issue of perceived ‘over ambition’ and its public perception as 

a ‘sin’” –Na-Allah Mohammed Zagga 

Online:- “There is nothing in one being ambitious. In fact, it is 

what distinguishes the great from the fickle-minded. One thing I 

give Atiku is his entrepreneurial background which will be an 

asset if properly utilised because this Nigerian mentality of quota 

system has to just go. Let people compete, then the country will 

truly discover her truest potential. I have always believed that 

people who have never created wealth should not get close to 

power, because all their lives the only thing they understand is 

the mentality of sharing and not creating.” –Kelly Abraham 

Online:- “I tend to concur… ambition begets greatness and 

greatness begets more ambition for greater greatness.” –Sunny 

Ume. 

Online:- “You wrote for Atiku clumsily and made it appear like 

the way many are seeing his ambition to a wingless project that 

can never fly”. –Aare Olayiwola Saheed-Lekan Raji 

Online:- “Atiku dumps APC, Bindow dumps Atiku. But if Buhari 

can be President, not just Atiku, BUT anybody can be President. 

We should just let 2019 take care of itself jare!” –Kesto Love 

Still on Atiku's ambition 

Online:- “Those saying Atiku is the next President of Nigeria 

are lawless just like Atiku. In line with the Constitution of PDP, 

Atiku needs to wait in the new Party for one year before contesting. 

He cannot contest in PDP now, talkless of winning”. –Rafiu Olaniyi 

Popoola. 

Online:- “PDP will make a huge mistake if Atiku should be 

their 2019 presidential candidate.” –Patrick Ibn Yargurum 

Online:- “Bring a younger person, NOT the recycling approach 

of leaders” 

Online:- “What a piece! More hurdles for Atiku to cross.” – 

Sani Mohammed Barade 

Online:- “Yes, you have said it all. This is the most 

comprehensive reminder I have read in a long time. THANKS” – 

Balarabe Nazeephy 

C 

M 

Y 

K

18 — Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

THE ongoing combined security 

sweep of Boko Haram terrorists 

who have infiltrated the nation’s 

capital, Abuja, should not only 

continue until the last vestige of them 

is removed from the law-abiding 

populace, it should also be a regular 

exercise. We should no longer wait 

until Western missions in Nigeria 

issue warnings which are primarily Force, Nigerian Security and Civil 

aimed at safeguarding their citizens Defence Corps (NSCDC), Nigerian 

and other vital interests in Nigeria. Drug Law Enforcement Agency 

The United States and United (NDLEA), Immigrations and 

Kingdom missions in Nigeria had Customs. 

recently issued alerts that the Islamic Their activities have so far yielded 

terrorists were plotting massive over 250 arrests (including 40 foreign 

attacks on vital institutions and soft nationals from Chad and Niger 

targets (large gatherings of people Republic) especially in the denselypopulated 

suburbs. According to 

in places like markets, shopping 

malls, leisure spots, places of reports, large numbers of dangerous 

worship, among others) during the arms and ammunitions were 

Yuletide. Happily, the Federal recovered, which confirmed the 

Government took this warning existence of sinister plots to spill the 

seriously and unleashed a massive blood of innocent citizens after about 

500-man security task force three years of relative peace. 

involving the Police, State Security Shockingly, it was discovered that 

Services (SSS), Army, Navy, Air the technological security 

Swooping on Boko Haram escapees 

instruments that helped in ensuring the 

peace – anti Improvised Explosive Devices 

(IEDs) – which had been deployed at the 

various entry points into the city, had 

reportedly been withdrawn. The devices 

were able to identify vehicles and 

individuals carrying explosives and 

banned incendiary materials about 1,000 

meters to the various checkpoints. This 

made it possible for security officials to 

intercept and neutralise such plots before 

any damage could be done. 

Reports indicate that such devices 

are now only deployed to protect 

government buildings and venues 

where the ruling class and the “high 

and mighty” congregate. 

This is a scandalous development 

which must be comprehensively probed. 

We demand that the National Assembly 

summons officials in charge of the 

security architecture in the Federal Capital 

Territory (FCT) to explain if, and why such 

should happen. If found to be true, then 

we fear that there could still be remnants 

of Boko Haram sympathisers and 

collaborators operating at sensitive 

heights of our government and 

security agencies. 

We want to know if it is true that 

less security concern is being 

shown to areas where large 

numbers of ordinary Nigerians 

gather. Whoever is responsible for 

the perceived deterioration in our 

security alertness in the FCT and 

other parts of the country must be 

severely sanctioned. 

We call on the security agencies 

to leave no stone unturned in 

securing the lives and property of 

our people throughout the Christmas 

and New Year seasons and even 

beyond. 

By William Bozimo 

IT has been brewing underground and just 

recently in far- away Abidjan Cote D Voire, 

he dropped the hint he might contest future 

elections soon. It is the clearest indication from 

President Buhari that he would have another 

shot at the Presidency in 2019. 

In his first coming, he moved to Chatam 

House London to address the world in a major 

Press conference where he unfolded his plans 

to contest the Presidenital elections after three 

unsuccessful attempts. 

And in self same manner, during his recent 

trip to Abidjan where he participated in the 

African Uion, AU, and European Union, EU 

summit in Abidjan, he the cat out of the bag 

that he might soon contest an election, and 

surely that of 2019 is in the air. 

As a determined long distant political runner, 

the President is entitled to do a second term in 

2019. What watchers of the Nigerian polity seem 

persuaded is after his 104 days medical tourism 

in London , are members of his party sure he 

will be fit and proper to do another round of 

campaigns around the country without doing 

incalculable damage to his health? If he is 

satisfied fit for another shot at the presidency, 

so be it. 

The onus is now on the other parties, 

particularly, the PDP which had promised 

Nigerians it would rule for 60 years, collapsed 

into a pitiable defeat during the 2015 election 

after just sixteen years of being in power at the 

centre. 

Since after President Buhari’s hospitalisation, 

many are worried if he could withstand the 

rigours of nationwide campaigns in 2019. 

The Fulanis, by their nature and character 

are long distance trekkers with their hordes of 

cows and Malus searching for grazing lands 

for their animals. 

This is perhaps, what had instilled in Mr. 

President the survival instincts to push ahead 

OPINION 

Buhari’s second term dream 

to complete a second term that he is 

constitutionally guaranteed to take advantage 

of. 

Coming on the heels of the sudden 

decampment from the ruling APC by Alhaji 

Atiku Abubakar who joined them in 2013, to 

the PDP in which he was a Vice President to 

another military General in Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo, OBJ, from 1999 to 2003, the dynamics 

It will be instructive to know 

if the six PDP governors of 

the South South have given 

their blessing to Atiku’s 

emergence? 

of this decampment speaks volumes of the 

battle lines being drawn for real. 

Can Atiku’s return to the PDP mean a 

veritable battle for 2019 when two Fulanis will 

lock horns with each other and produce a 

balanced rivalry for the two parties? 

Some pundits have dubbed the 2019 

presidential encounter as a fitting display of 

equally matched politicians who are like 

brothers in ‘Muslimity’, so to speak. 

Looking back to 2013 when Atiku was at the 

height of his political brinksmanship, he almost 

single handedly mobilised over 14 PDP serving 

governors to want to destroy his former boss, 

Chief Obasanjo’s second term bid. That was 

the root cause of the disharmony between 

former President Obasanjo and Atiku Abubakar. 

Political star gazers seem persuaded that the 

OBJ bundle of anger may just be a ruse and 

could not affect Atiku’s president bid on the 

platform of the PDP which he had abandoned 

some four years ago in a dramatic public display 

where he tore his PDP membership card in 

Abeokuta. 

Some facebook commentstors have described 

OBJ as a principality of great influence when 

matters of a new president comes into the 

open for public discourse . 

The magical wand applied by President 

Buhari was that he succeeded in winning some 

five serving PDP governors who jumped from 

the PDP and joined APC and virtually funded 

the new party with monies from the decamping 

PDP governors who bankrolled Buhari into 

power. 

How much charisma has Atiku got to move 

some APC governors and even Senators to his 

side for this titanic 2019 battle for supremacy 

between two Fulanis for the most prized job in 

Nigeria. 

As a contender operating from outside the 

four walls of power, it is not too clear what magic 

Atiku could apply to carry along serving 

Senators and even governors to team up with 

him. 

Some reports say even the Adamawa state 

Governor had said he would not team up with 

Atiku after he had gone to Aso Villa to pledge 

his support for Muhammadu Buhari. These 

two, are interesting characters to watch for 2019. 

Atiku’s spectacular trait of not wanting to 

walk under a former dictator must have 

prompted him to abandon the APC platform 

for the PDP where he started off his political 

career as a Vice President. Most of the former 

PDP governors who had dined and wined with 

him in earlier years are closely watching the 

scenario before jumping out of their closets to 

fraternise with him. 

How much of close relationships had Atiku 

made with other contenders for the 2019 

Presidency like former governor Sule Lamido 

whose had openly shown his desire to contest 

the presidential election come 2019? One was 

once told of a former governor of Kano state 

Alhaji Shekerau a former contender from the 

North. 

It will be instructive to know if the six PDP 

governors of the South South have given their 

blessing to Atiku’s emergence? 

With Titi Abubakarbeen first lady from the 

Western zone of the country, how much of his 

in laws are ready to join his bandwagon to 

wrestle power from President Buhari? 

It is difficult to place the Yorubas as a people. 

Would they be ready to trade the vice 

presidential slot in Prof. Yemi Osibanjo where 

they have good advantage for an Atiku’s 

presidency? 

The intricacies of the 2019 presidential 

elections are such that if we considered that an 

incumbent President was dethroned by a 

challenger in 2015, can Atiku the new 

challenger pull the carpet from under Buhari’s 

feet? 

For the northerners, anywhere the victory 

goes is OK by them. If one Fulani cow herdsman 

dethrones another Cow Fulani in 2019, nothing 

spoil. It will be seen as a game of musical chairs 

for Fulani Presidential contenders. 

The next question is who are the likjely vice 

presidential contenders for Atiku in 2019? 

Already a self- proclaimed Presidential PDP 

contender in Ekiti state Ayodele Fayose could 

make a possible surprise for his outspoken 

attacks on the APC and President Buhari in the 

last two years. Or are we likely to see the Rivers 

state Governor Nyesom Nwike being touted as 

a vice Presidential contender in recent months 

a possibility. 

It is so fluid these days as more surprises are 

expected in the coming months in 2018 hoping 

more decampments could occur to bolster 

ATIKU’s ambition against the pole- like stature 

of Muhammdu Buhari of the APC. 

*Mr. Bozimo, a public affairs commentator, 

wrote from Asaba, Delta State.

FG rakes in N17bn from Tax Amnesty scheme 

By Adaeze Okechukwu 

THE federal government 

has received N17 billion 

from the Voluntary Assets and 

Income Declaration Scheme, 

VAIDS, that commenced July 

2017. 

Executive Chairman, 

Federal Inland Revenue 

Service, FIRS, Mr Babatunde 

Fowler, who disclosed this at 

VAIDS media workshop in 

Lagos, yesterday, said the 

rising inflow was because 

many organizations have 

embraced the scheme. 

He stated: ‘’So far, in terms 

of collection from the corporate 

side, we have received about 

N17 billion. We currently have 

an organization that has 

agreed to come under VAIDS 

and will pay N6 billion. Some 

of the corporations are 

undergoing audit. If they still 

want to apply under VAIDS, 

the 10 percent penalty will be 

waived.’’ 

Fowler, however, said after 

the audit has been completed 

and the report shows that the 

companies have not properly 

declared assets and income, 

they will not be able to utilize 

the VAIDS. 

He further stated: ‘’With 

respect to payments, 

individuals can engage 

consultants, state agencies or 

FIRS for advisory. You can 

commence the process online 

and we can guide you through 

the process. 

‘’The repayment period has 

to be agreed upon with the tax 

authority. It is important to 

note that tax administrators are 

sensitive to the performance 

the businesses. A business 

that is almost dead is of no 

value to the tax authorities. 

‘’Our aim is not to kill 

businesses but to keep them 

going. If a business is at the 

$120.85 0.00 

$1,872.00 0.00 

$13. 89 0.12 

$63.40 0. 00 

57.68 +0.54 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 305. 3 305.8 306.3 

POUNDS 407.6671 408.3347 409.0024 

EURO 359.5823 360.1712 360.7601 

FRANC 308.0727 308.5772 309.0817 

YEN 2. 6908 2.6952 2.6996 

CFA 0.53 0.54 0.55 

WAUA 430.4716 431.1766 431.8816 

RENMINBI 46.1357 46. 2118 46. 2878 

RIYAL 81.4047 81.538 81.6713 

SDR 431.0836 431.7896 432.4956 

RAND 22. 3857 22. 4223 22.459 

CBN Exchange rate as at 13/12/2017 

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 — 19 

L-R: Directorate Head, Lagos & South West, Olubowale A. Ogunrinde, MD/CEO, Unity 

Bank Plc, Mrs. Tomi Somefun, Governor of Lagos State, HE, Akinwunmi Ambode and 

Executive Director, South Bank, Temisan Tuedor during the courtesy visit of UNITY BANK 

PLC to the Governor at Lagos House, Ikeja, yesterday. 

verge of bankruptcy and got 

a loan to revive the business, 

we will just collect the current 

taxes and give the business 

enough time to pay in 

installments.’’ 

He noted that Nigeria’s tax 

to GDP ratio stands at just 6.0 

percent while that of Ghana, and 

South Africa is 16 percent and 

23 percent, respectively. 

Commenting on the level of 

tax compliance, he said that the 

level of tax compliance in 

E-payment transactions drop to 

N19.33trn in Q3, 2017 

•As banks’ credit rises marginally 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE National Bureau of 

Statistics, NBS, has said 

that the value of e-payment 

transactions recorded by 

banks in third quarter (Q3), 

2017 declined to N19.33 trillion 

from N19.78 trillion in the 

second quarter (Q2) of the 

year, representing 2.3 percent 

decrease. 

In its report, “Selected 

Banking Sector 

Data,” released yesterday, 

the NBS did 

not explain factors responsible 

for the de- 

Nigeria has made it 

fundamentally difficult for 

the government to meet 

recurrent expenditure. It has 

been the proceeds from the 

petroleum industry that has 

been used for this purpose. 

cline but said the amount was 

recorded in 213.69 million transactions. 

It also noted that the Nigeria 

Inter-Bank Settlement System, 

NIBSS, Instant Payment (NIP) 

transactions dominated the volume 

of transactions during the 

period recording a volume of 

97.53 million transactions valued 

at N13.963 trillion. In the 

Q2, 2017 ATM transactions dominated 

the space. 

The data revealed that a total 

of N15.8 trillion worth of credit 

was allocated by the banks to 

private sectors in Q3 2017, indicating 

a marginal increase of 

0.8 percent when compared 

to the N15.7 trillion allocated 

to the sector in Q2, 2017. 

According to the data, oil & 

gas and manufacturing sectors 

got credit allocation of 

N3.5 trillion and N2.3 trillion 

respectively to record the 

highest credit allocation in 

the period under review. 

The data further showed that 

the total number of banks’ 

staffs in Q3, 2017 increased 

by 9.16 percent to 82,531 in 

Q2’17 from 75,607 during the 

review period. 

American businesses in Nigeria raise concerns over 

operating environment 

THE American Business Council, 

ABC, has raised four critical issues 

that impact the business operations of 

leading USA companies in Nigeria as 

security, foreign currency access, general 

policy inconsistency and policy implementation 

uncertainty. 

Speaking to the media on the activities 

of the Council, the President, Lazarus 

Angbazo, said all these are key issues, 

adding that the Council is already 

engaging with the government and also 

non-government stakeholders to improve 

the ability to do business in the 

country. 

He disclosed that the Council has already 

held strategic dialogue with the 

Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, Godwin Emefiele, the Minister of 

Trade and Investment, Okechukwu Enelama, 

and Minister of Budget and Planning, 

Udo Udoma. 

He said all the dialogues have sought 

ABC feedback and contribution on major 

policy decisions including the Economic 

Growth and Recovery Plan and improve 

the ease of doing business in Nigeria. 

He stated further: “The Council has also 

mobilised multi stakeholders groups to 

engage regulatory agencies to resolve critical 

challenges for member companies including 

significant hikes in the NAFDAC 

Be realistic in 

oil and gas 

industry 

reforms, OPS 

tells FG 

By Ediri Ejoh 

THE Organised Private Sec 

tor, OPS, has called on the 

federal government to take a 

more realistic path in the ongoing 

efforts to restructure the 

country’s oil and gas industry. 

In a statement by Segun Ajayi- 

Kadir, Director General of the 

Manufacturers Association of 

Nigeria, MAN, the group regretted 

failure of the 7th National 

Assembly to pass the Petroleum 

Industry Bill, PIB, even when 

additional efforts were made to 

pass the 2012 version of the Bill 

as well as similar failed attempts 

at prior parliamentary sessions. 

“We have observed over the 

past 10 years the inability of 

Nigeria to drive reform in the oil 

and gas industry that will position 

our country as the preferred 

destination for investment in 

that sector of the economy. 

“One of the reasons for this development 

is, of course, the failure 

of successive governments 

to articulate the appropriate legal 

framework that will underpin 

this reform. At some point 

in time, all efforts at achieving 

that descended into confusion as 

we had countless number of versions 

of the Petroleum Industry 

Bill (PIB) before the National 

Assembly, with no one in particular 

in the know of which version 

of the bills the National Assembly 

was deliberating on”, he 

observed. 

He noted that it was a refreshing 

relief when this dispensation 

of the National Assembly 

came up with the Petroleum Industry 

Governance Bill (PIGB), 

which is the only bill before the 

National Assembly to jump-start 

the long needed reform in the 

Oil and Gas Sector. 

The group therefore commended 

the National Assembly 

for bringing sanity to an otherwise 

confused of reform initiative. 

While it commended certain 

aspects of the Bill, it however, 

disagreed with the proposed 

establishment of a single regulator 

in the industry. 

“We do not share the views of 

the National Assembly on creation 

of a behemoth regulator for 

a sector that is not necessarily 

homogenous in its activities and 

deliverables” they noted. 

registration fees.” 

Meanwhile, the Council has said the 48 

member companies captured in its recent 

survey had net revenue of one trillion Naira 

in 2016, which represented 18 percent of Nigeria’s 

real Gross Domestic Products, GDP 

in 2016. 

They also said the total tax contribution of 

the companies operating in Nigeria was over 

N 4 billion in 2016. 

Giving these figures, a member of the ABC 

executives, Darrel McGraw, who is also a Partner 

at PriceWaterhouseCoopers stated: “If we 

look at the percentage of tax collected within 

the tax net, it is 25% of the tax collected in 

2016. We believed it is a significant contribution 

to the Nigerian Government.”


Microentrepreneurs blame govt, banks for operational hardship 

•Demands Ministry of Small Businesses 

By Providence 

Emmanuel 

Micro and Small en 

trepreneurs under 

the umbrella of the Association 

of Micro Entrepreneurs 

of Nigeria, AMEN, have 

blamed the government and 

banks for the unfriendly 

business environment, 

which they alleged, has led 

to the closure of their businesses. 

Speaking at a Business 

Forum in Lagos, President 

AMEN, Prince Saviour 

Iche, said epileptic power 

supply has also contributed 

to crippling activities of the 

MSMEs, stating that while 

the distribution companies, 

DISCOs, are making billions, 

local enterprises are shutting 

down as a result of the 

inability to compete globally 

due to the poor power supply. 

"We are treated as orphans 

when we are supposed to be 

every government's pride 

with the kind of products we 

produce in this country. In 

the last seven years, we keep 

complaining about the same 

thing, because of the kind of 

government we have, it 

shows how unserious they 

are. I spend N9, 000 daily 

on diesel and gas for 

26days. 

"The year was tough especially 

for entrepreneurs, 

the recession made things 

worse for us. It is not a good 

thing that we lost so many entrepreneurs 

in the course of 

a hard time. A lot of industries 

closed down, six of our 

members who have laboured 

to get their product registered, 

had to lay off because 

there was no money to continue 

in business. If it can affect 

people of that calibre who 

have been established with 

about three products each 

registered with NAFDAC 

and they decided to close 

down their company, it is not 

a good thing because of job 

losses. 

"It is high time we have a 

ministry of small business that 

can take care of the small 

entrepreneurs, the same 

policy they are using for 

multinational manufacturers 

is the same thing they are 

using for micro-entrepreneurs, 

and there should be 

alternatives. 

Microentrepreneurs 

shouldn't meet same funding 

condition with Dangote.’’ 

the sense that it provides 

a platform for the 

MSMEs to interact with 

the government and its 

agencies.’’ 

He, however, adviced: 

"What is happening at 

the MSMEs Business 

Clinic should not be a 

continued on page 21 

•From left: MD,NIRSAL, Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed; MD,NAIC,Mrs Folasade Joseph; Wife of the 

Vice President,Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo; Chairman,Kunoch Ltd, Mr Pascal Dozie; National President, 

NACCIMA, Iyalode Alaba Lawson and MD, Morbod Fisheries Ltd, Barrister Mrs Margaret Orakwusi, 

during the 1st NACCIMA-NIRSAL Agribusiness and Policy Linkage Conference held in Abuja. 

NASSI, ASBON appraise FG's MSMEs 

Clinic drive 

By Franklin Alli 

Small and Medium 

Enterprises 

(SMEs) bodies in the 

country have given kudos 

to the Federal Government 

for its nationwide 

Micro Small and 

Medium Enterprise 

Clinic (MSMEs Business 

Clinic initiative). 

Recall that the initiative 

was launched in July this 

year by the Federal Government 

and is being implemented 

through the 

supervision of the Office 

of the Vice President, 

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, 

in collaboration with the 

Federal Capital Territory 

Administration (FCTA) 

with the support of the 

Federal Ministry of Industry, 

Trade and Investment 

and Abuja Enterprise 

Agency to address 

the challenges of 

MSMEs in Nigeria. 

Since its introduction, 

the MSMEs Clinic had 

been launched in 

Abeokuta, Ogun State; 

Ilorin, Kwara State, 

Osogbo, Osun State, and 

it would soon be 

launched in Lagos State 

before the end of this 

month. 

However, in their appraisal 

of the initiative, 

thought leaders in some 

of the SMEs organizations, 

including Nigerian 

Association of Small- 

Scale Industrialists, 

NASSI, and the Association 

of Small Business 

Owners, ASBON, said 

that the initiative was a 

good one that is capable 

of moving the sector forward. 

Mr Kuti George, President, 

Lagos State Chapter 

of NASSI, said: "It is 

a worthy adventure because 

of what we called 

a gap-power distance, 

and that is the gap between 

the rulers and the 

ruled. People that act in 

the middle they don't 

It is high time 

we have a ministry 

of small business 

that can take 

care of the small 

entrepreneurs. 

The same policy 

they are using for 

multinational 

manufacturers is 

the same thing 

they are using for 

micro-entrepreneurs, 

and there 

should be alternatives. 

give the government the 

right feedback. People 

that act as the go-between 

the ruled and the 

rulers, they don't give the 

rulers the right feedback 

and that is why governments 

don't take the 

right decisions and policies 

and embrace the 

right approach to issues; 

that gap is being bridged 

now.’’ 

He added: "At the 

MSMEs Clinic, the government 

will be able to 

get the right information 

from the source, for example, 

they want to 

know the problems of 

MSMEs by listening to 

the operators. In doing 

this, they go with their 

agencies. At the Clinic, 

if somebody raises an issue 

about NAFDAC, the 

VP might ask NAFDAC, 

did you hear that? Okay, 

respond to that. So, the 

government knows what 

to do.’’ 

Femi Egbesola, National 

President of 

ASBON, also lauded the 

initiative, saying: ‘‘It is a 

good one, a good one in 

Getting business loans 

from the banks (2) 

Stanbic IBTC 

Last week we started this series on windows 

for Small & Medium Enterprises, SMEs, 

access to business loans in commercial banks, 

and we took-off with focus on Stanbic IBTC 

Bank. We noted that this series would only serve 

the purpose of basic information about SME loan 

in the focused banks adding that you may need 

to visit the banks for more information. 

For Stanbic IBTC we also noted that one of 

the key offers to SMEs is what they call, SME 

Overdraft, designed to help SMEs make payments 

from their business current account even 

when the amount they needed exceeds the available 

cash balance in their account. Details are 

in our last week’s edition and also online. 

But today we conclude this opening part of 

the series with basic requirements for Stanbic 

IBTC SME Overdraft. 

First you need to know that you should be 

maintaining a current account in the bank in 

your company name. 

Some basic requirements for this loan includes, 

the full names and official positions of 

those signing the loan deal, usually owners in 

the position of managing director, Chief Executive, 

Chief Financial Officer (may be the head 

of accounts or chief accountatnt). 

They should supply their curriculum vitae as 

well as those of other management team. 

You should also state the reason you need the 

overdraft, usually captured as business plan on 

how the loan would be utilised. 

These should be accompanied with your companies' 

financial statements, including an income 

statement, balance sheet and cash flow 

statements. 

There should also be a personal statements of 

assets and liabilities of all the partners, members 

or directors of your company. 

Finally, you should provide a 12-month cash 

flow estimate of your business. 

It is advisable to use financial experts for most 

of these requirements, but the bank can also 

help you out.







Int'l Human Rights Day: We must stand up for 

our rights—CSOs 

By Abdulwahab Abdulah 

T 

he need for citizens of 

the world to rise up in 

defence of their fundamental 

human rights, was the trust 

of this year’s commemoration 

of the Universal Declaration 

of Human Rights, UDHR. 

The United Nations 

General Assembly, 69 years 

ago adopted the UDHR as 

Resolution 217 at the Palais 

de Chaillot in Paris, France 

on December 10, 1948. 

Already, the United Nations 

has kicked off a year-long 

campaign to mark the 

u p c o m i n g 70th 

anniversary of the Universal 

Declaration of Human 

Rights. The world body has 

started a campaign with hash 

tag 

#Stand Up 4HumanRights. 

According to the United 

Nations, UN, the UDHR is a 

document that proclaimed the 

inalienable rights which 

everyone is entitled to as a 

human being-regardless of 

race, colour, religion, sex, 

language, political or other 

opinion, national or social 

origin, property, birth or 

other status. 

Already, the document has 

been translated into more 

than 500 languages across 

the world. 

The document which was 

drafted by representatives of 

diverse legal and cultural 

backgrounds from all regions 

of the world, sets out 

universal values and a 

common standard of 

achievement for all people 

and nations. It establishes 

the equal dignity and worth 

of every person. 

The principles enshrined in 

the Declaration are as 

relevant today as they were 

in 1948. The campaign by the 

world body is that everyone 

needs “to stand up for our 

own rights and those of 

others.” 

The questions that still 

agitate citizens of the world, 

particularly Nigerians as he 

world mark the Day remains: 

“ Has the dignity of the 

people been uplifted and the 

foundation for a more just 

world been built?” 

The struggle for a just 

society and anticipation for a 

better living has become one 

of the major issues bordering 

the minds of every reasonable 

Nigerians. Vanguard Law 

and Human Rights got 

reactions of Nigerians and 

some civil society groups on 

this issue. Let government 

implement socio-economic 

rights —NHRC Lagos zone 

Mr. Lucas Koyejo, Zonal 

Coordinator, Lagos zone 

National Human Rights 

Commission, NHRC said the 

body held a sensitization 

programme with pupils and 

students with the theme: “Our 

Rights, Our Freedom Always. 

“We should stand up for our 

rights all the time. Our focus 

is for the Federal Government 

to step up actions on the 

National Action Plan on 

Human Rights in ensuring 

that human rights of the 

citizenry are realised. 

“The rights are specifically 

based on social economic 

rights of the people. There is 

need for more action by the 

government to ensure that 

Nigerians enjoy the benefit of 

democracy by ensuring that 

the provisions in Chapter 2 of 

the 1999 are realisable, that is 

that the economic and social 

rights of Nigerians are 

achievable. 

“The message is that every 

person, especially, the youths 

should be made to know the 

provision of the UDHR. 

"The commemoration of the 

UDHR, established on 

December 10, 1948, is an 

event worthy of celebration 

every year. My advise is that 

every Nigerian should be 

active in the protection of his 

or her fundamental rights by 

holding the government and 

political office holders 

accountable for upholding the 

human rights of the citizenry.” 

Another rights group, 

Access to Justice, AJ in a 

statement by its Deputy 

Director, Dr. Adenike 

Aiyedun, said: “As the United 

Nations has said on several 

occasions, human rights are 

inalienable rights and every 

state is under an obligation to 

respect, promote, defend and 

protect the rule of law. The 

rule of law requires respect for 

the principles of supremacy of 

the law, equality before the 

law, accountability to the law, 

fairness in the application of 

the law, separation of powers, 

public participation in 

decision-making, legal 

certainty, avoidance of 

arbitrariness and procedural 

and legal transparency by all 

arms of government. 

Some of these precepts 

have, however, not been duly 

observed by the government 

of the day. 

“With the present state of 

affairs in the country, 

unfortunately, the significance 

of “human rights day” for 

Nigerians will be a pale one. 

Practical evidence shows that 

the Nigerian government 

regards the rule of law and 

My advise is that 

every Nigerian 

should be active 

in the protection of 

his or her 

fundamental 

rights by holding 

the government 

and political office 

holders 

accountable for 

upholding the 

human rights of 

the citizenry 

human rights as expendable 

obligations and rights and 

will readily sacrifice these 

values for any cause of action 

it chooses to take, without due 

regard for the protection of the 

rights of its citizens. 

“With the recent activities of 


Buhari’s government, he has 

managed to re-create an era 

of imperial Presidency, where 

no one is able to hold off the 

powers of the State and no 

court can compel the State to 

respect its decisions. 

"The present administration 

has exhibited and continues 

to exhibit no regard for court 

orders, by willfully 

disobeying and flouting 

various court orders and 

rulings, thereby undermining 

the role of the judiciary. 

“Furthermore, some State 

security officers have 

exhibited excessive forms of 

brutality and on some 

occasions leading to death. 

Under President Buhari’s 

government, thousands of 

Nigerians have lost their lives 

to State violence perpetrated 

by forces of the State. 

“We hereby urges President 

Buhari to repair the huge 

damage done to the security 

and enjoyment of human 

rights of Nigerians, as well as, 

the rule of law in the country. 

In order to do this, we ask the 

President to lead by example 

and show more accountable 

leadership whenever there 

are human rights violations. 

We also implore him to 

respect the authority of courts, 

urgently reform the 

institutions of law 

enforcement and security, and 

bring to justice all those who 

have gravely violated the 

rights of others.” 

Also, Legal Defence and 

Assistance Project, LEDAP in 

a statement by its Executive 

Programmes Director, Adaobi 

Egboka, on the state of human 

rights in the country at 

present, said “LEDAP 

observes that Nigeria is at a 

critical stage where the 

questions of human rights 

and its priority in our national 

existence must be seriously 

regarded by the Nigerian 

Government. 

“LEDAP is greatly 

concerned over the frequent 

coercive interaction of law 

enforcement agencies, the 

military and other security 

agencies with civilians which 

brings to the fore the need for 

more to be done by the current 

President Buhari led 

administration in the area of 

human rights protection. 

“The recent end SARS 

campaign, the move by the 

federal legislators to regulate 

the NGOs, the widely 

reported cases of inhuman 

treatment of civilians by the 

soldiers in different forms of 

“dances” are but a few human 

rights questions in our recent 

past. 

“It is worrisome that despite 

Nigeria’s adoption of major 

International human rights 

instruments and the 

incorporation of human rights 

in the constitution, human 

rights protection in Nigeria 

remains appalling. 

“LEDAP recommends that 

proper training of law 

enforcement agencies on the 

imperative duty to respect 

human rights is necessary to 

reduce the unlawful infraction 

of human rights. 

“We also recommends 

legislative action and strongly 

advocates for the 

decriminalization of “petty 

offences” under Nigerian 

penal statutes as their 

criminalization has not served 

the end of justice or 

rehabilitation but have rather 

being a tool for wrongful 

arrests, increased criminality, 

illegal detention without 

proper trial, bribery and 

Human rights violations. 

“LEDAP therefore, calls on 

the government to uphold 

international legal obligations 

and incorporate constitutional 

and institutional reforms at all 

levels with the overall 

objective of advancing the 

cause of human rights.” 

Similarly, Human Rights 

Monitoring Agenda, 

HURMA’s Convener/ 

Executive Director, Mr Buna 

Isiak, on the need for 

Nigerians to be mindful of 

their rights, attributed the 

frustration in the country to 

the breaches in the 

fundamental rights of many 

Nigerians. 

At a seminar to mark the 

day, he said “Today is an 

opportunity for us to know 

where we are in term of 

human rights. We see people 

leaving the country everyday, 

this is as a result of breaches 

in fundamental human rights. 

That is why HURMA is 

enlightening people about 

what constitutes their rights 

and we are encouraging them 

to fight for these rights.” 

A Lagos-based lawyer, Dr. 

Muiz Banire, SAN, attributed 

human rights breaches in the 

country, to the ignorance of 

Nigerians to their rights, 

which he said contributed to 

the suffering of many in the 

country. 

The lawyer urged Nigerians 

“To go and learn more about 

their rights because there is 

too much ignorance about 

their rights, that is why the 

suffering in the land will 

continue.”


How I 

became a 

real estate 

guru under 

30 

— Founder/ 

President, EMR 

Marketing Group 

Omonike Fowowe 

belongs to the rare 

breed of young 

entrepreneurs who can turn 

stones to diamonds. The 

light skinned 27 year old 

damsel is the founder cum 

president of Express Multi 

Concept Resources (EMR) 

Group Ltd which was 

founded and established in 

2011. 

In this interview, the 

young entrepreneur talks 

about her passion for 

running businesses, 

venturing into real estate, 

women empowerment 

among other issues 

Can you share with us 

how you started out in 

business? 

EMR started from 

Blackberry messenger 

(BBM), marketing, social 

media marketing and direct 

marketing for friends and 

loved ones. From that point 

we delved into running it as 

a business which eventually 

led to the birth of EMR 

Marketing. 

Then we decided to grow 

bigger and we decided to 

look for a bigger space in 

Lekki phase 1, we came to 

Lekki and we couldn’t get 

what we were looking for and 

I decided to create what we 

wanted by creating a niche for 

myself. 

We started by having a 

building with our office 

downstairs and we discovered 

that the people needed luxury 

affordable spaces in smaller 

quantities, not having to take 

a full duplex because they 

Tears of Joy as Sogunro children get life jackets 

•I can cross the river anytime without fear of getting drowned 

•How Vanguard’s published Sogunro’ story moved me to tears – Mr Omolu 

Emotions ran high for residents of 

Sogunro community, Iwaya, 

Yaba suburb of Lagos, when Mr 

Sunday Omolu of Olise Omolu 

Foundation’s little kind gesture to 

give life jackets to pupils who access 

education on boats, drew the attention 

of the Lagos State Waterways 

Authority, LASWA, to not only visit the 

community for the first time, but also 

make additional donations of life 

jackets. 

Recall that on June 8 this year, 

Vanguard had published an exclusive 

story of Sogunro , a community where 

pupils accessed education on boat 

without life jackets, and where there 

existed no visible government 

presence. 

The presentation of life jackets to 

couldn’t afford it. 

For young and upwardly 

mobile that reside on the 

mainland but work on the 

island, the challenge of being 

able to afford apartments on 

the island as a result of the cost 

became a problem. Therefore 

our company decided to 

bridge the gap by offering 

luxury affordable apartments 

and office spaces for young 

•Children going to 

school in the life jackets 

given to them 

entrepreneurs. So far we are 

on our 9th building with a 

minimum of seven tenants in 

each of the buildings. EMR 

properties was created in 

2016. I never discovered my 

strengths in interior 

decoration until I ventured 

into real estate. 

The second arm of our real 

estate business is called Theos 

pupils of the only three primary schools; 

Sunset International Nursery and 

Primary School; Climax Nursery and 

Luxury Apartments. We were 

inspired to launch Theos 

luxury in May 2017 because 

we felt the need to create 

buildings that will enable 

clients have value for their 

money just like our luxury 

spaces in Lekki phase 1 

What are the challenges of 

running your business? 

Continues on page 28 

Primary School and Living Rock 

International School by Mr Sunday 

Continues on page 28


Tears of Joy as Sogunro children 

get life jackets 

•Children going to school in the life 

jackets given to them 

Continues from page 27 

Omolu founder of Omolu foundation, 

in company of his wife; and Mr 

Emmanuel Oluwadamilola, 

Managing Director, LASWA who was 

represented by Mr Ibrahim 

Famuyiwa, Operations Officer, 

LASWA, were received by Bale 

Johnson Agojete one of the Bales’ of 

the community; proprietors of the 

schools, Mr Emmanuel Oke; Mr. 

Kola Zachariah Olufemi, and Mr John 

Phinehas, head teacher, Living 

Rock International School; Mr Paul 

Dandotoho, Parents Teachers 

Association, PTA Chairman ; and Rev. 

Olusegun Wusu among others. 

Expressing delight, 12 year old Basic 

two pupil Kotundame Dami of 

Climax Nursery and Primary School 

who came from Sogunro Waterside 

daily, said that the fear of tide of the 

river during rainy season most times 

made her abscond from school as 

there were no life jackets to protect 

her and her school mates from the 

torrents of rain and scorch from the 

sun. 

The Basic two pupil added that the 

harsh living conditions of residents in 

her community were reasons why 

most of them stay so long in primary 

school. 

Her words,“ I am very happy today 

for this life jacket given to me. Before 

now, anytime, the river rises, I stay 

at home so that the boat does not 

capsize. But now I can come to school 

anytime without fear of being 

drowned; 

Asked why at her age she was still 

in Basic two, 12 years Dami has this 

to say, “Another thing that makes us 

miss or stop school is the inability of 

our parents to pay the N100 daily fees. 

And since, we do not have a free 

public school; we stay at home 

whenever our parents do not give us 

our daily school fees. “expressed 

Dami. 

Speaking at the reason behind the 

donation, Mr Omolu said his reading 

of Vanguard’s story on Sogunro gave 

him sleepless night, which eventually 

led him to sought help from his friends 

for the provision of life jackets for 

children who desired great future but 

may be hampered by circumstances. 

“When I came about the Sogunro 

story on Vanguard, I cried at the 

height of suffering the pupils go 

through for them to become 

somebody in future. With the help of 

my wife and my friends, and Mr 

Japheth Alakam of Vanguard, we 

bought these life jackets for pupils 

here. 

“However, this is the beginning of 

•Officials of Omolu Foundation with 

the Sogunro children 

great things to come for these 

children as my foundation with 

assistance from my friends will also 

provide other amenities for these 

leaders of tomorrow. As there is no 

justification for any child to be 

deprive basic education,” added Mr 

Omolu. 

On his part, Mr Oludamilola , MD 

LASWA who spoke through Mr 

Famuyiwa said Lagos was poised to 

reduce instances of sea accidents 

which in recent times have claimed 

many lives. 

MD LASWA who commended Mr 

Omolu for carrying Lagos state along 

in his noble gesture and Vanguard 

for discovering the Sogunro said 

continuous efforts will be put in place 

to see that members of the 

community strictly use the life jackets 

when crossing the river. 

His words, “ I am highly impressed 

that Mr Omolu foundation and for 

Vanguard write up which brought 

light to this place. However, we not 

only bring life jackets for the pupils 

but for adults so as to protect lives 

and reduce the mishap of sea 

transport.” Said MD LASWA. 

Mr Oludamilola who added that the 

presentation of the life jackets was 

sponsored by Total oil company called 

on the community leaders that the 

jackets should be judiciously utilised 

for the good of everyone and not 

necessarily as a private property. His 

words, " These jackets should be used 

always whenever you want to cross 

the river to land. And it should 

never be converted to personal 

property rather, it should serve as a 

means to secure the lives of 

everyone. This is because, Lagos 

State government will henceforth 

pay regular unscheduled visits to 

you. " added the lagos state official. 

Bale Agboteje in gratitude who 

spoke through Uncle Obed Itodo has 

this remark, “ All our life in this 

community, this is the first time an 

NGO made a promise and fulfilled 

it. I am happy for this gesture. But 

still plead that government should 

look into our community as we lack 

basic social amenities.” Noted the 

Bale 

In the same, Mr Oke, one of the 

proprietors who could not control his 

emotions said that divine help has 

come to Sogunro through the effort 

of Vanguard. His words, " Today, we 

have witnessed a new thing as our 

pupils that most time ran away from 

school due to the harzard of the sea 

can proudly attend classes 

unhindered. And I want to thank 

you Vanguard for telling the story of 

Sogunro. " praised the teacher. 

By Sinmisola Sode 

Women in Successful Careers, 

WISCAR, which was established to 

help women to excel in their various careers 

while balancing the home, recently held their 

10th year anniversary celebration at the Muson 

Centre in Lagos. 

Aminat Oyagbola, founder of WISCAR, in her 

address stated that the establishment of the 

organization was conceived out of the fact that 

at a point in her career, she had no one to turn 

to as a mentor to share the joys of 

accomplishment or the pains of failure and seek 

direction in times of confusion. Then she 

realized that there are other women out there 

facing this same challenge and then the idea 

was conceived and eventually established. “Our 

dream is to do more in our mentoring”. 

Her excellency, the deputy governor of Lagos 

State, Mrs. Idiat Adebule representing the 

Governor of Lagos State, Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode also said it is heartwarming that 

women have continued to support each other 

in the growth and building of a better individual 

and a nation as a whole as the role of women in 

nation building cannot be emphasized enough. 

Adebule addressing an audience with majority 

of women comprising of dignitaries, achievers 

and role models from various careers and 

students stated that the Lagos state government 

appreciates what WISCAR is doing assuring 

that the government will through policies ensure 

that gender based abuse will be eradicated. She 

says the government will continue to partner 

with establishments like WISCAR to empower 

women for nation building. 

Dr. Omobola Johnson, Chairperson, AAI & 

former Minister of Communication Technology, 

gave the keynote speech. “We live in a very 

unequal world, inequality in income, inequality 

in promotion at places of work, etc.” Going 

further, she said gender violence is still very 

rampant even though there has been great 

awareness against the gender imbalance in the 

last few years. She explained that although she 

grew up confident about her gender as her 

parents were not gender biased, including 

being lucky to have worked in organizations 

that were not discriminative, she came to realize 

much later that she was among the gender 

minority. And this discovery made her set out 

to do something similar to WISCAR. “Women 

have been marginalized in the developing 

world. To fight this battle then we have to identify 

the battle.” She concluded. 

Speaking on the theme: developing the 

woman for nation building Dr. Johnson 

highlights how technology can be women 

inclusive, which is making women understand 

that it is not gender based and then encourage 

them to embrace it and go for it. This will serve 

as a platform that they can prioritize for the 

leverage of other women. 

Concluding her address, she encouraged 

Adebule, Okonjo, 

10th 0th year annivers 

•Adesua Dozie 

•Omobola Johnson 

women to be their sister’s keepers. 

“Women stand up for each other, 

then they will grow stronger to stop 

every marginalization against them”. 

More light was shed on this theme 

with panelists ; Bisi Fayemi, cofounder 

AWDF; Udo Okonjo, CEO 

Fine& Country; Deputy governor of 

How I became a real estate guru under 

— Founder/President, EMR Marketing G 

Continues from page 27 

The number one challenge is that of 

managing people. One thing one has to accept 

is that you cannot please everybody. 

Managing our clients is a major challenge, 

but we strive to give them at least 70 percent 

of what they want. Secondly, managing of 

artisans is another challenge. At times, they 

exhibit lackadaisical attitude towards work. 

Over time, I have learnt to manage them well 

because they make the magic 

happen. Being a woman in this male 

dominated industry is not a challenge for me, 

because I have learnt to work like a man, even 

as a woman in this competitive 

industry. 

What will be your advice to 

women who desire to go into 

business? 

Women are quick to judge 

their men when they are not 

doing something with their 

lives, either running a 

business or being employed. 

The moment you know what 

it takes to make money, you 

will appreciate money, when 

someone gives it to you. Truth 

is that as a woman, you are 

an asset to your society and to 

your family. It’s sad when you

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 — 29 

Dozie, others s parley as WISCAR marks 

ks 

ary 

•Oluranti Adebule 

•Udo Okonjo 

Lagos State, Idiat Adebule, chaired by the Amina Oyagbola, founder, 

WISCAR. Contributing to the topic, Udo Okonjo said, women 

are naturally blessed with the power of intuition and 

multitasking and the male counterparts should be made to 

understand that women are equal to them. They should 

understand that if women are left out, there is less productivity. 

Her excellency, Idiat Adebule added that women should take 

the change into their hands starting 

with their homes by stopping gender 

bias in the home. “Teach your children 

equally with same responsibilities, 

male and female.” she said. Bisi Fayemi 

said “the most important thing for us to 

do as women is to teach the girls child 

to the extent that she’s confident in 

herself and her gender and doesn’t feel 

inferior to the male counterpart. The girl 

child also should take her stand and 

not accept what the society throws at 

you. It is important and imperative to 

continually develop yourself so that 

nobody would dictate to you.” While Dr 

Johnson added that CEOs should take 

it upon themselves and ensure nondiscrimination 

against the female 

gender in their work places. 

The event also had two plenary 

sessions discussing topics like breaking 

the barriers to getting top jobs and 

staying there and does equal 

opportunity drive economic success and 

profitability? With panelists like Peju 

Adebanjo, Hon. Commissioner of 

Agriculture, Ogun state; Kemi 

Onabanjo, Mckinsey& company; 

Adesua Dozie, general counsel GE; 

Oluseun Abimbola, Attorney General, 

Oyo state; Osagie Okunbor, MD shell; 

‘Laoye Jaiyeola, DG, NESG; Clare 

Omatsaye, Director JNCI; Nglan 

Most, HRD Schlumberger; Nozipho 

January-Bardill, Senior adviser for UN 

women in South Africa and Doyin 

Salami, member, CBN’s monetary 

policy committee. These sessions made 

us understand that not all women want 

to be CEOs, some just want to nurture 

and grow their families which is fine. 

Another thing learnt is that you as a 

woman should partner(marry) with a 

man who can help you achieve what 

you want to and sees things from your 

perspective so he can help in building 

you to be the woman you want to be. 

Highlight of the event was the 

presentation of the Distinguished 

WISCAR Award 2017 to Dr Omobola 

Johnson for “upholding the good face 

of the womanhood and being a role 

model for others to follow”. 

The event ended with remarks by 

Mrs Tope, CEO DKK, right after the 

valediction of this year’s mentees and 

the launch of the WISCAR Alumni 

project. 

Proprietress advocates 

focus on girl-child education 

…says potentials yet to be tapped, 

harnessed 

By Gabriel Ewepu organizations and 

ABUJA- AS the debate of 

girl-child education 

continues the proprietress of 

L’Amour De Dieu 

International School, 

Kabusa, Abuja, Mrs Tina 

Sunmonu, have advocated 

more focus on girl-child 

education following the 

potential inherent in them for 

national development. 

Sunmonu made the 

assertion during the 

Christmas Carol organised 

by the school to herald 

Christmas as they celebrates 

the birth of Jesus Christ and 

end of year, where the pupils 

and teachers expressed 

themselves after a busy 

academic period with variety 

of games as they embark on 

holiday. 

She said: “We are very 

grateful to God for today 

because without God we 

cannot achieve what we have 

achieved as management, 

teachers, parents and pupils 

of this noble citadel of 

knowledge. 

“It is imperative to mention 

that our school has been 

focused and we will continue 

to depend on God to help us 

in making more impact in the 

lives of these young ones. 

“The boys and girls in our 

school compete head-to-head 

academically. It has made us 

to discover the high and 

promising potential of the 

girl-child anywhere and 

anytime to do their best to 

emerge tops and best, which 

is also evident across the 

world because it is all about 

focus and equal opportunity 

given to both sexes to prove 

their worth. 

“This is also a pointer that 

the girl-child in Nigeria 

needs more focus by the 

government, 

development 

donors, 

parents, 

partners, 

religious 

traditional rulers and 

society because they are 

going to be the engine of 

growth and development 

of our national life." 

However, she said 

government and society 

are yet to really tap into 

the enormous potential of 

the girl-child, which she 

said has been slowed 

down over many decades 

due to religious, cultural, 

social and political 

barriers. 

“I want to mention that 

the girl-child has 

enormous potential that 

are rare and could make 

meaningful impact on 

national life; starting from 

the home, their own 

families, place of work and 

both national and 

international 

development. 

“These enormous 

potentials should not be 

underestimated and let 

me plead with our leaders 

at home, place of work, 

religions and traditional 

institutions including 

individuals not to 

discriminate the girl-child 

and stop all forms of 

abuses women and girls 

suffer in our country and 

abroad”, she stated. 

She also promised to 

support the girl-child 

development in all 

ramifications, and also 

called on well spirited 

Nigerians, organizations 

to continue support and 

protection of the girl-child, 

and added that there 

should be special fund 

dedicated to the indigent 

girl-child in the country, 

and those who are 

returning from Libya 

should be properly catered 

for in order to rehabilitate 

and give them a sense of 

belonging. 

30 

roup 

are trying to give a woman a job 

and she asks you: ‘How much do 

you want to pay me? ‘And you tell 

her its #25,000’. It’s appalling 

when she rejects the job because 

she has several boyfriends who 

can cater for her needs. I do 

whatever I can to support women. 

We even go as far as giving them 

discounts in order to support 

them. It is important for you to be 

empowered as a woman. You 

cannot give what you don’t have. 

What drives you? 

My drive is to be successful. My 

drive is by the time I am 30, I want 

to be able to travel the whole world 

and still have my business 

running. My drive is for EMR to 

be an industry leader in all the 

sectors we do business in. You are 

a success as a woman when the 

The moment 

you know 

what it takes 

to make 

money, you 

will 

appreciate 

money, when 

someone 

gives it to 

you. 

home-front and your career/ 

business is successful and 

thriving. You have to be a 360 

degrees woman , this means 

everything that pertains to 

you is thriving. 

How does your mum 

inspire you? 

She singlehandedly 

raised three children. My 

mum was a force to reckon 

with when she was still in 

active service. She broke 

barriers in her industry. 

Asides from my mum, there 

are also other inspiring 

women. When ROK TV was 

launched I thought it was 

hype till I fell in love with 

the channel. Mary Njoku is 

doing a good job. 

•Mrs Tina Sunmonu 

Woman’s Own 13-12-2017


Labour demands review of Power Sector 

privatization process 

Stories by Victor 

Ahiuma-Young 

FOUR years after 

privatization of the 

Power sector, every 

passing day, Nigeria 

seems farther away from the 

promise of privatization, as 

not only has private 

monopoly replaced public 

monopoly of power general 

and distribution, it is 

arguable if power supply 

during pre-privatisation era 

was not better than postprivatisation. 

This has prompted several 

groups and concerned to 

either call for total reversal 

of the privatization process, 

or its review. 

Organised Labour in the 

Power sector which before 

the privatization, warned 

Nigerians against the 

consequences, has 

demanded for the review of 

the entire Power Sector 

privatization process done 

by the immediate past 

leaders of this country. 

On the aegis of the 

National Union of 

Electricity Employees, 

NUEE, Labour, at its 

National Executive 

Council, NEC, meeting in 

Lagos, insisted that such X- 

ray would reveal the 

various hidden clauses 

directly responsible for the 

abysmal failure of the 

reform and the poor 

working conditions, poor 

electricity supply and the 

terrible welfare packages for 

workers in the Sector. 

A communiqué issued at 

the end of the NEC 

meeting said among 

others, that NEC-in- 

Session decries the 

L-R: Didi Adodo, General Secretary United Labour Congress of Nigeria, 

ULC, Martins Uzoegwu, President National Union of Electricity Employees, 

NUEE and Joe Ajaero, General Secretary, NUEE, at the Union's NEC meeting 

in Lagos. 

continuous and unexplainable 

involvement of Government 

in the financing/ 

funding of projects and the 

day-to-day running of DIS- 

COS, GENCOS while the 

welfare of the various staff 

has never been given any 

attention. The NEC-in-session 

condemns and resolves 

that such should be 

discouraged in its the entirety. 

The NEC-in-Session 

frowns seriously at the recent 

pronouncement by 

Vice President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, on the proposed 

tariff increase in electricity 

in the face of poor service 

I NTERNATIONAL 

Labour Organisation, 

ILO, has called for 

collaborative efforts to 

delivery by most DISCOS. 

Particularly, the NEC-in- 

Session opines that a 

highly placed and duly 

elected government official 

like Vice President 

Osinbajo should not be the 

mouth-piece of DISCOS, 

especially as the entire 

power sector privatization 

is nothing but a scam and 

a sham because of its apparent 

failure. 

"The obvious lack of 

monitoring of DISCOS and 

GENCOS activities and 

operations since 2013 was 

totally condemned by the 

NEC-in-Session. This, the 

NEC-in-Session opines is 

responsible for the high 

handedness of the 

management(s) of some of 

the DISCOS/GENCOS 

particularly their refusal to 

allow Union activities and 

the promotion of other antilabour 

tendencies by the 

companies. 


vows to strive to ensure 

harmonious working environment 

for improved productivity 

and other better 

welfare packages for her 

members in particular and 

workers in general. The 

NEC-in-Session calls on 

ILO urges collaborative efforts to develop social protection system 

By Victor Ahiuma-Young 

& Johnbosco Agbakwuru 

urgently develop Social 

Protection System in Africa. 

Mrs Cynthia Samuel- 

Olonjuwon, ILO Assistant 

Director General and 

Regional Director for Africa, 

made the call in Abuja at 

the launch of “World Social 

Protection Report (2017- 

2019).” 

According to her, Social 

Protection System needs 

concerted efforts to advance 

ILO work with countries in 

Africa. 

She noted that “in spite 

of significant progress in the 

extension of social 

protection coverage in 

Africa, only 17. 8 per cent 

of the population receives 

at least one form of social 

protection. There are 

glaring findings that the 

right to health is not yet a 

reality in many parts of the 

world. 

“This is especially so in 

rural areas where 56 per 

cent of the population lacks 

health coverage, compared 

with 22 per cent in urban 

areas. Also, there is stark 

reality that Africa still has 

huge deficit, as an 

estimated 10 million health 

workers are needed to 

achieve universal health 

coverage and ensure 

the Federal Government to 

carry out the review of the 

entire Power Sector privatization 

process that was 

concocted by the immediate 

past leaders of this 

country. The NEC-in-Session 

resolves that such an 

X-ray will reveal the various 

hidden clauses that are 

directly responsible for the 

abysmal failure of the reform 

and the poor working 

conditions, poor electricity 

supply and the terrible 

welfare packages for 

workers in the sector." 

According to 

communiqué, the NECin-Session 

called on the 

Federal Government to 

play its role towards releasing 

the 10% Equity Share 

Holding for workers in the 

Electricity Sector, saying 

the NEC-in-Session calls 

on the Federal Government 

to release the Consumer 

Assistance Fund 

created in the Electricity 

Power Sector Reform Act, 

EPSR, 2005 to assist the 

poor masses pay the massive 

electricity bills before 

contemplating any further 

increase in tariff. 


frowns at the continuous 

funding of Private 

Companies in the Power 

Sector in form of grants, 

gas, loans etc by the 


which contradicts its 

earlier stand that the 

private Sector has the 

financial capacity to 

manage the privatized 

entities. 

human security. The 

shortfall of seven million 

skilled health workers in 

rural areas, as well as high 

deficits in per capita health 

spending adds to these 

rural inequalities.” 

She noted that access to 

health care remains one of 

the most pressing 

challenges for social 

protection in Africa. 

The ILO Regional 

Director said there were 

about 1.3 billion children 

globally that were not 

covered by the social 

protection system in Africa 

and in Asia. 

She stressed the need for 

urgent extension of social 

protection schemes to 

children and families in the 

two continents. 

Samuel-Olonjuwon said 

it was evident that much 

still needs to be done in 

Africa to improve access to 

social protection and ILO 

was committed to working 

with governments to 

design and implement 

effective systems. 

We need 

industrial peace 

to address 

economic 

challenges—FG 

THE FEDERAL 

Government through 

Federal Ministry of 

Labour and Employment, 

has said its efforts at 

addressing the economic 

challenges facing the nation 

will require sustainable 

industrial peace and 

harmony to succeed. 

The Government spoke 

through Permanent 

Secretary, Mr. Bolaji 

Adebiyi, while declaring 

open a one-day seminar 

organized by the 

Association of Senior Civil 

Servants of Nigeria, 


Employment with the theme 

"Effective Labour- 

Management Relations a 

Panacea for Industrial Peace 

and Harmony in the world 

of work." 

According to him: "The 

recession that we 

experienced recently was as 

a result of a number of 

economic challenges. The 

present administration in 

addressing these 

challenges will require 

adequate industrial 

harmony to thrive. It, 

therefore, behoves us as 

individuals and an organized 

labour union to imbibe 

social dialogue and collective 

bargaining principles as 

a strategy for resolving industrial 

disputes. 

"The current administration 

has strived to reposition 

the nation's industrial sector 

with minimal work disruption, 

and improved 

workers welfare as evident 

in the inauguration of the 

new National Minimum 

Wage Committee and payment 

of outstanding promotion 

arrears to the Federal 

Civil Servants amongst others." 

Earlier, Chairman, Federal 

Ministry of Labour 

and Employment Unit of 

ASCSN, Tommy Etim, expressed 

the Association's 

resolve to engage management 

in social dialogue 

on issues that affect 

workers welfare. 

In his goodwill message, 

Secretary General 

of ASCSN, Bashiru 

Lawal described the 

workshop as timely and 

apt, coming at a time 

when Unions were being 

confronted with a lot of 

unfair industrial relations 

practices in the world of 

works.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017- 31 

Send Opinions & Letters to: 

opinions1234@yahoo.com 

Change begins with PDP 

THE All Progressives 

Congress, APC 

campaigned in 2015 with 

“Change” as its slogan. The party 

did not really ideologically 

elucidate what “change” meant. 

Instead, it crowded 81 campaign 

promises into its proposed 

governance agenda. APC 

supporters also placed a lot of 

premium on the supposed 

“integrity” of the presidential 

flag-bearer of their party, retired 

Major General Muhammadu 

Buhari, and his promise to “fight 

corruption”. 

When Buhari assumed power, 

we waited for him to address the 

nation on the cardinal principles 

of his “change” agenda. None 

came. We waited for over one 

year. Rather than show us what 

“change” was all about, the APC 

Federal Government and the 

APC as a political party went 

about governance blaming past 

governments and yet copying 

almost everything they saw on 

ground. The anti-graft war was a 

poor photocopy of former 

President Olusegun Obasanjo’s 

template: grab your political 

enemies. The only difference was 

that Obasanjo sometimes even 

hit out at his associates and 

servants. Buhari only raids the 

camp of the government of 

former President Goodluck 

Jonathan. 

Around September 2016 the 

Minister of Information, Lai 

Mohammed, launched what he 

called: “Change Begins With 

Me”. According to him: “Change 

begins with me is a national 

campaign that has no coloration 

whatsoever (IMAGINE 

THAT!)…the campaign principle 

is simple; each of us must live the 

change we want to see in our 

society”. Wow. 

I thought the usual thing would 

be for a political party that just 

assumed power to proceed to 

fulfill its campaign promises as 

the United States President, the 

much maligned Donald J Trump, 

is doing to my utmost 

admiration. But Buhari is telling 

me to implement the change he 

promised! I thought leadership 

was about leading by example 

for the citizens to follow. Or at 

least, as the Great Zik, Dr. 

Nnamdi Azikiwe would have it: 

“showing the light for the people 

to find their way”. Asking me to 

live the change I would want to 

see is abdicating responsibility 

and betraying campaign 

promise. It was only in the past 

one year that they settled down 

and started addressing a 

semblance of governance. 

Meanwhile, President 

Muhammadu Buhari and his 

Anyone who 

intends to usurp 

the people’s 

mandate is 

worse than a 

treasury looter. 

Whoever loots 

the people’s 

mandate will 

loot anything 

people were having a field day. 

He has thoroughly enjoyed his 

old age as President. The terrible 

experience of ill-health was a 

great spoiler, but since he came 

out of it, the enjoyment has 

resumed in full spate. The kind 

of suffering that majority of 

Nigerians, from the ordinary 

people through the middle class 

to sections of the upper class, 

have gone through in the past 30 

months never reflected in the 

lifestyle of the current tenants of 

Aso Rock have lived. 

Given the rumoured “Spartan” 

background and reputation that 

Buhari had been cloaked with 

before he became President, it is 

obvious that the opulence of 

public life we see from this 

distance, is that “change” began 

with him and his charmed circle 

of family, friends and “longsuffering” 

disciples. Some 

Nigerians on this side of 

“change” could not bear the 

hardship and committed suicide 

or wandered into slavery and 

death in the Sahara Desert. 

As the governing political 

party, the APC has enjoyed 30 

months of free ride with little 

opposition. When the former 

National Publicity Secretary of 

the dethroned People’s 

Democratic Party, PDP, Olisa 

Metuh, opened his mouth too 

wide, he found himself behind 

bars and in the dock. Since he 

came out on bail to face his 

corruption charges, Metuh has 

gone mute. The only blazing guns 

have been coming from the 

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Peter 

Fayose; his incendiary korofo, 

Lere Olayinka, and of course, 

Femi Fani-Kayode who refused 

to be cowed with arrests and 

dockings for corruption. 

Sometimes, we also get tepid 

interjections from Jonathan’s 

mouthpiece, Reno Omokri, who 

has surprisingly gone 

unmolested. 

In the last 30 months, PDP, as 

the biggest opposition party and 

rival of the APC, lost its voice 

because of factionalisation. They 

fought an epic legal battle which 

was eventually settled by the 

Supreme Court. Elements in the 

party suspected to be working for 

the APC eventually lost the battle 

to hold down the PDP to allow 

the Buhari government and his 

political party to consolidate. 

President Buhari expressed 

shock that PDP leaders could still 

summon “the guts” to boast that 

they would return to power in 

2019. He went to Kano and 

declared: “Looters won’t return 

to power in 2019". Let somebody 

close to Buhari remind him that 

as a player in the political field 

he is in no position to determine 

who a looter is. That is the job of 

the courts. He is in no position to 

determine who will win the 2019 

or any other election. That is the 

job of the electorate. Anyone who 

intends to usurp the people’s 

mandate is worse than a treasury 

looter. Whoever loots the people’s 

mandate will loot anything. 

In any case, when Chibuike 

Amaechi was the Governor of 

Rivers State, he boasted he would 

not hand over to “looters”. Well, 

we know how the Rivers State 

electorate decided the matter. 

That person has not been born 

who will stand in the way of an 

electorate determined to have its 

way. Our electorate have tasted 

the people’s power. It is very 

delicious, and they will use it 

again against bad leaders and 

poor performers. No amount of 

lies, propaganda, deceits, false 

promises, vote-buying and the 

use of state instruments of 

coercion will come between the 

people and their choice. 

Now that the PDP has 

recovered its full manhood, it is 

game on. The APC and its Federal 

Government have two choices 

before them. It is either they work 

harder to justify their four-year 

mandate or live in a fool’s 

paradise that deceit and the 

power of incumbency will secure 

it for them. 

The APC must give us the 

change they promised, to our 

satisfaction. If they do, we will 

renew their mandate. Otherwise, 

the door. 

Welcome from Tripoli 

WILLIAM Wilberforce (1759- 

1833), profound politician and 

philanthropist, should have been alive 

today to see that more than two centuries 

down the line, the struggle he started in 

1787 – to abolish slave trade and slavery 

itself – has not come to any finality. Not 

much has changed. 

Surely, the intensity may have been 

reduced and the anguish associated with 

the trade may have been scaled down 

drastically, particularly in proportion to 

the explosion in world population, but the 

trade in human cargo – by the modern 

name, human trafficking – persists till 

date. 

The modus operandi of the modern 

slave traders may be different because the 

ancient traders have long passed on and 

their strings of successors may have 

moved to more lucrative areas of 

commerce. Indeed, if you could lift oil for 

good dollars, why would you want to 

remain in the hazardous business of 

lifting human elements? 

Today’s slave trader and his articles of 

trade are mainly domiciled within the 

indigenous population. At all times, the 

motivation in slave trade has been purely 

economic – the simple lucre for blood 

money. 

Wittingly or unwittingly, it is not unusual 

to find people today recruiting themselves 

into slavery in the name of seeking the 

greener pastures, so-called. 

It has always been this way. At a point in 

the life of a youth, he wants to go and 

experience what is happening in another 

place. Distance lends enchantment to the 

view. Suddenly, a man would leave his wife 

and children in this all-year-round 

beautiful weather where in a simple 

singlet, he would feel fine; and move into 

a “Deep Freezer” where with ten layers of 

sweaters, his nose would still be dripping 

– a new place where his God’s given rights 

would be totally curtailed! 

When the youth wants to move, he wants 

to move – not always because he is 

unemployed here as is generally assumed. 

Early 1973, Mr. ‘A’ was already a 

This is the time to 

continuously drum in 

our children that truly, 

there is always light at 

the end of the tunnel; 

but some of those lights 

could be those of 

oncoming trains 

Supervisor with the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN. He quit that job and came 

to join us in Munich, Germany. In three 

months, his visiting visa had expired and 

he fell into the category of an illegal alien. 

We were yet helping him to look for where 

he could do dishes or wash cars to earn 

some Deutche Mark and reduce his 

dependence on us. 

On that fateful Monday morning, the 

weather was terrible, oscillating around 

zero degree. Mr. ‘A’ said he wasn’t going 

anywhere that day. He went back to bed; 

and we left to “pull gburu”. Behold, when 

we returned, he was no longer around. We 

met a note on his bed that around noon, 

there was a knock on the door. When he 

opened, the polizei were there. Because he 

had a return ticket, they just dumped him 

in the next available plane back to Nigeria. 

Illegal migration has always been a most 

hazardous business where some are 

luckier than others. If the full facts were 

known, it would 

be found that 

some of the most 

successful 

people, past and 

present, in both 

government, 

commerce and 

industry, were at 

one time or 

another, illegal aliens. 

The recent resurgence of human 

trafficking and slavery in Nigeria points 

only in one direction – Government is 

always at the receiving end of the blames 

resulting from the illegal migration and 

the subsequent trade in human Cargo 

among involved Nigerians. But come to 

think of it, Government may not be as 

culpable as it seems. In good and in bad 

times, youths want to go out. Sometimes 

they succeed; and other times, they hit a 

rock. When they hit a rock, we blame them 

but when they succeed, we applaud them, 

particularly when they remit money back 

home to help boost our Gross Domestic 

Product, GDP. 

As for heaving all blames on 

Government, Ralph Emerson (1803-1882) 

is instructive, “Can anyone remember 

when times were not hard and money not 

scarce?” Youth restiveness is a fact of life. 

When it comes, it comes. You would be 

marveled at how many people want to 

come to Nigeria from other parts of the 

world, even in a depression! 

The exodus of our youths to foreign lands 

has many dimensions to it. There is a 

particular trend that is currently gaining 

grounds, which, with time, would insult 

our collective sensibilities as a people – 

harvesting the living! Our Omniscience 

God had reasons for giving us double, and 

sometimes multiple, shares of some vital 

organs of the body-two ears, two eyes, two 

kidneys, two scrotums and even millions 

of some body cells. 

There is nothing wrong in donating 

some of these organs to our dear and loved 

ones who might be in dire need of them to 

stay alive. But there is everything wrong 

in going abroad to engage in commercial 

adventurism on the sale of these vital 

organs. Eventually, these adventurers 

return home as chaffs and walking 

corpses, useless to themselves, their 

families and their society – having been 

totally harvested. 

In all this, our approach can only be 

persuasive and advisory. After all, those 

involved are engaged in voluntary 

commerce between two consenting adults 

– a willing seller and a willing buyer. 

We commend the Federal and State 

Governments on their humane handling 

of the recent Libya returnees. For the first 

time, we saw a well-coordinated effort, 

with the welfare and rehabilitation of the 

returnees in full focus. 

As they say in the colloquial, “Edo no 

dey carry last”. This is amply 

demonstrated in the human trafficking 

saga where Edo has consistently 

dominated the medals table. This is as it 

should be. After all, Edo is a macrocosm 

of the Nigerian State, representing the 

good, the bad and the ugly. 

This is the time to continuously drum in 

our children that truly, there is always light 

at the end of the tunnel; but some of those 

lights could be those of oncoming trains. 

They must be watchful, lest they could be 

crushed. Such is life. 

C 

M 

Y 

K




Confusion in NIFOR as two persons emerge Executive 

Director 

By Simon Ebegbulem 

BENIN—THERE is 

confusion at the 

Nigeria Institute For Oil 

Palm Research, NIFOR, in 

Benin City, Edo State, after 

the Federal Government, 

through the Minister of 

Agriculture and Natural 

Resources, Chief Audu 

Ogbe, gave appointment 

Host Communities boss vows to expose 

oil thieves, pipeline vandals 

By Gabriel Enogholase 

B 

E N I N — 

NATIONAL 

Chairman of Host 

Communities of Nigeria, 

HOSTCOM, Bishop Mike 

Emuh, has threatened to 

expose those he claims are 

behind oil and pipelines 

vandalism as well as 

operation of illegal 

refineries in the Niger Delta 

region. 

He also disclosed that 

the Federal Government 

votes about N60 billion 

annually to fight the ugly 

menace without much 

success. 

Bishop Emuh spoke in 

Benin City, Edo State, 

yesterday, during the 

passing-out ceremony of 

420 cadets and four 

principal officers after a twoweek 

training on 

intelligence gathering who 

will in turn train those that 

will protect pipelines and 

check illegal bunkering. 

He advised the newly 

trained officers to abide by 

the rules and regulations 

that were taught them 

letters to two persons as 

substantive Executive 

Director of the research 

institution. 

In a letter dated 

November 9, 2017, signed 

by Mrs A.C. Bawa in the 

Ministry of Agriculture and 

Natural Resources, the 


appointed Dr Osasuyi 

Aisuehi as the substantive 

Executive Director of the 

institution only for it to write 

a few days later to say that 

the appointment was in 

error and somebody else 

had been appointed. 

Following the tension and 

confusion which the 

incident generated, the 

Benin National Congress, 

BNC, a socio-cultural 

organisation in Edo State, 

has petitioned President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

warning that the Bini will 

rise up against the All 


APC, if their son, Dr 

Aisuehi, who already had 

been announced as the 

substantive Executive 

Director of NIFOR, was 

removed unjustly. 

WORKSHOP: From left: Ms Njide Ndili, Country Director, PharmAccess Foundation; Mr Fisayo 

Okunsanya, Business Development Director, Medical Credit Fund and Mrs. Nneka Okekearu, Director, 

Enterprise Development Centre, PAN Atlantic University, Lekki, Lagos, during the Healthcare 

Management Programme Course organised by PharmAccess Foundation and Enterprise Development 

Centre, PAN Atlantic University, at university's Lekki Campus in Lagos. 

during the training and 

respect constituted 

authority, as he assured 

them that they will be 

posted to various areas in 

Nigeria to carry out their 

assignments. 

He disclosed that the 

decision to train 10,000 

youths for pipeline 

surveillance duties by 

HOSTCOM was an 

initiative of the Federal 

Government. 

He said: “One of the 

problems in the Niger Delta 

is that of oil theft, pipeline 

vandalism and illegal 

refineries by oil cartels. 

Every year, the Federal 

Government votes close to 

N60 billion to check this 

scourge, but it has not been 

stopped. 

“I want to say that the 

Host Communities in 

Nigeria are of great 

support to the development 

of the country and the voice 

of Niger Delta. They are the 

umbrella of oil producing 

states in Nigeria. We are 

putting an end to pipeline 

vandalism and illegal 

bunkering. 

“The exercise is to let 

Nigerians and the world 

know that we are peace 

loving people, but we are 

neglected and our youths 

that graduated from schools 

are unemployed. People of 

the Niger Delta, this is the 

time to take the bull by the 

horns." 

NUJ, CLO condemn DSS attack on journalists at A-Ibom 

Govt House 

By Emmanuel 

Ayungbe & 

Chioma Onuegbu 

U YO—CONDE- 

MNATIONS have 

continued to trail Tuesday's 

attack on five journalists 

from the Correspondents’ 

Chapel of Akwa Ibom State 

Council of the Nigeria 

Union of Journalists, NUJ, 

at Government House, 

Uyo, by an operative of the 

Department of State 

Service, DSS. 

Chairman, Civil Liberties 

Organisation, CLO, Mr. 

Clfford Thomas, 

condemned the action, 

describing same as “a threat 

to the freedom of 

information.” 

Narrating their ordeal, 

Chairman and Secretary of 

the Correspondents’ 

Chapel, Iniobong Ekponta 

and Anthony Bassey, in a 

statement, said: “The 

executive and other leaders 

of the chapel had visited 

the Government House to 

keep a scheduled 

appointment with Mr. 

Ekerete Udoh, the Chief 

Press Secretary, CPS, to 

Governor Udom 

Emmanuel, but were 

manhandled by a DSS 

operative manning the 

gate.” 

The DSS officer assaulted 

the reporters, including the 

former Chairman of the 

Chapel, Inemesit 

Akpansoh of the Guardian 

newspapers, Emeka 

Samuel of National Pilot 

and others. 

C-River workers give govt 

seven days to implement MoU 

By Emma Una 

C ALABAR— 

S T A T E 

Executive Committee, 

SEC, of the Nigeria 

Labour Congress, NLC, 

in Cross River State has 

given the state 

government seven days 

ultimatum to implement 

the Memorandum of 

Understanding, MoU, 

signed between the 

government and the 

workers body in July, 

2017, or face an indefinite 

strike. 

Mr John Ushie, NLC 

Chairman in the state, 

told Vanguard, 

yesterday, after a meeting 

of the State Executive 

Committee, that six 

months after the NLC 

signed an MoU with the 

state government for the 

payment of the gratuities 

to retired workers, pay 

arrears of pensions and 

harmonise the payroll of 

all workers in the state, 

the government has 

Ultimatum: We're waiting for you, 

Bini dare ljaw Freedom Fighters 

By Patrick 

Omorodion 

BINI youths, under the 

umbrella of Benin 

Fundamental 

Movement, have 

warned Ijaw Freedom 

Fighters to desist from 

their sacrilegious threat 

to the traditional 

institution of Benin 

Kingdom, Edo State, 

saying that it was a joke 

of the 21st Century. 

A statement by Mr 

Edosa Idada, Convener, 

Benin Fundamental 

Movement, said it was 

instructive to note that the 

Bini are proudly the most 

hospitable and receptive 

socio-ethnic group in 

Sub-Sahara Africa and so 

have continued to 

accommodate the Ijaw 

particularly as customary 

tenants. 

He, however, noted that 

the hurried and illegal 

creation of a so-called 

Olodiama Kingdom with 

a coronation of a Pere, the 

21-day ultimatum 

slammed on the Oba of 

Benin and the Edo State 

Government, the threat 

to lay siege to the Palace 

of the Omo n’Oba and 

the Edo State 

Government House, 

were steps taken too far, 

condemnable and must 

be visited with 

commensurate 

punishment and stiff 

resistance. 

Reminding the Ijaw of 

their criminal activities of 

failed to implement the 

agreement. 

He said: “We are 

disappointed that Cross 

River State Government 

has not kept to the 

agreement with workers to 

pay gratuity to workers 

who retired in 2013, 2014, 

2015, 2016, and now 2017 

is getting to a close and 

nothing has been done 

even after the state 

received the Paris Club 

Refund twice which the 


specifically directed 

should be used for the 

payment of salary arrears, 

pensions and gratuity to 

workers.” 

The NLC chairman 

stated that the government 

has failed the workers, 

adding: "SEC is giving 

the state government 

seven days beginning 

from December 13 to 

implement the July 2, 2017 

MOU. Failure to do so, the 

workers will resume the 

strike.” 

kidnapping of prominent 

Bini persons, Idada said 

it was unfortunate that 

persons who were given 

opportunity to occupy an 

area for work and business 

now claim ownership of 

same, adding that the Ijaw 

in Benin are customary 

tenants and must remain 

as such or relocate to their 

land. 

He said: “We wish to 

send a very strong warning 

to the Ijaw to desist from 

this war and calamitous 

situation they are about to 

bring upon themselves. 

They do not have the 

monopoly of violence. 

“Our attention has been 

drawn to a Vanguard 

newspaper publication of 

December 8, 2017, 

purportedly signed by socalled 

“Commanders” 

Keme Boudiwei and 

Seimokoromor Anthony, at 

an emergency meeting 

held in Rivers State, 

demanding an unreserved 

apology from the Edo 

State Government and the 

highly revered Oba of 

Benin, over their nonrecognition 

of a so-called 

Olodiama Kingdom with a 

pseudo King Pere of 

Olodiama. 

“The Oba of Benin and 

the Edo State Government 

are principal custodians of 

Benin City and Edo State, 

the land and people, any 

other kingdom within 

Benin with a declared king 

is non-existent, illegal, 

fallacious and persona non 

grata."



Okorocha presents budget of N190.9bn 

for 2018 

•Tags it ‘budget of consolidation & continuity 111' 

•Vows to complete on-going projects 

O WERRI— 

GOVERNOR 

Rochas Okorocha 

yesterday presented a 

budget of N190, 921, 464, 

290 (One hundred and 

Ninety Billion, Nine 

Hundred And Twenty-One 

Million, four Hundred and 

Sixty-Four Thousand, Two 

hundred and Ninety 

Naira) to the State House 

of Assembly for the 2018 

Fiscal Year. 

The 2018 budget which is 

higher than that of 2017 of 

N131, 143, 144, 277, by 

N59, 778, 320, 013 

representing 45.58% is 

tagged “Budget of 

Consolidation and 

Continuity III”, and out of 

the 2018 budget, N132.98 

billion is for capital 

expenditure representing 

69.70% of the total budget 

while N57.943 billion is for 

recurrent expenditure 

which represents 30.30% of 

the total budget. 

Presenting the budget at 

the Chambers of the Imo 

State House of Assembly, 

Governor Okorocha said 

“The 2018 budget will not 

only consolidate our 

developmental efforts but 

will ensure prudence and 

efficiency in our 

e x p e n d i t u r e 

programmes.” 

He added: “This 

administration intends to 

use the limited resources at 

our disposal to achieve 

maximum impact. We 

intend to achieve synergy 

through collaboration and 

integration of programmes 

and projects at all levels in 

order to realize our vision 

of making Imo better. All 

relevant agencies of 

government will be 

strengthened to meet up 

with their constitutional 

responsibilities to ensure 

that all programmes and 

projects are being 

monitored at all times.” 

In the breakdown of the 

budget, Works and 

Transport has the bulk 

allocation with 

N39,811,300,000 and 

followed by Education with 

N13,500,000,000. 

Agriculture and 

Environment has 

N7,622,990,049, while the 

least is Culture with 

N440,244,096. 

Reviewing the period 

before his administration in 

2011, Governor Okorocha 

said: “The state was 

characterized by excessive 

traffic congestion in 

Owerri, Orlu, and 

Okigwe. Insecurity 

particularly in the areas 

of kidnapping and 

armed robbery were 

highly prevalent across the 

27 Local Government Areas 

of the State. 

“All these constituted part 

of the major challenges the 

administration faced when 

it came on board in 2011. 

However, these problems 

have been progressively 

addressed and drastically 

reduced. 

“A quick review of our 

journey since the creation 

of Imo State 41 years ago 

will reveal that the 

achievements so far 

recorded in Imo State 

since this government 

assumed office in 2011 

have been remarkable. I 

give glory to Almighty God 

for this. It is part of the 

hallmarks of democracy 

to unmask the potentials 

of the citizens and 

properly channel 

resources towards 

economic growth.” 

He explained that “the 

government shall 

consolidate on the gains 

already made in areas 

such as security and 

safety of every citizen, free 

education at all levels of 

learning, completion of all 

on-going projects, massive 

road construction to reach 

the rural areas, provision of 

health care facilities, 

develop the tourism 

industry, ensure food 

security, and so on.” 

IPOB blasts Nwodo for hosting 

crucial meeting in Lagos 

By Chinedu Adonu 

E 

N U G U — 

INDIGENOUS 

People of Biafra, IPOB, has 

condemned the decision of 

Candidates, INEC flex muscles 

over Anambra Central Rerun 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

SOME candidates for 

the rescheduled 

Anambra Central senatorial 

election rerun are still flexing Ambassador 

muscles, even after the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, had insisted that 

nothing would stop it from 

conducting the exercise on 

January 13, 2018. 

The candidates at a 

meeting in Awka urged 

INEC to have a rethink over 

the rerun election in view of 

what they described as 

various litigations still 

PRESENTATION: From left: Mrs. Eniye Alile, Group Head, Human Resources, 

CWG Plc; Mr. Dickson Onuoha, Zonal Director, ITF; Daniel Uti, Human Resources 

Analyst, CWG Plc and Mrs. Anthonia Ehanmo, Group Head, Brand and Marketing 

Communications, CWG Plc after the award presentation for “Best in Accepting and 

Training Students on SIWES for the Year 2016" at the ITF interactive forum in Lagos. 

pending over the matter. 

The statement dated 

December 11, 2017, was 

signed by Comrade Anayo 

Nweke as convener and 

Samuel 

Anidike as co-convener, 

both candidates for the 

Anambra Central election. 


candidates, the worrying 

aspect of the whole saga was 

that INEC was a party to the 

pending law suits, adding 

that the alleged plan by 

INEC to conduct the 

election on the said date 

would result in a situation 

of helplessness in the court. 

Igbo leader, Chief John 

Nnia Nwodo to host a debate 

on restructuring at the 

practice pitch of National 

Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. 

In a statement signed and 

issued to pressmen in 

Enugu by the Media and 

Publicity secretary of IPOB, 

Emma Powerful, the group 

asked, “why must 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo move 

their activities outside 

Igboland to Lagos? It shows 

they are not proud of their 

land or people. 

“Having lost credibility all 

over Igboland for his serial 

betrayal and blood stained 

hands, Chief John Nnia 

Nwodo has ran to Lagos, the 

practice pitch of the National 

Stadium Surulere Lagos to 

relaunch his tattered 

image as Igbo leader. If he 

was indeed the leader of 

Igbos, what is he doing 

convening a crucial 

meeting about Ndigbo in 

Lagos? Lagos is Yoruba land 

not Igbo land. 

“Afenifere never 

organised any serious 

gathering outside Yoruba 

land, so why must Chief 

Nwodo run to Yoruba 

territory to conduct his 

restructuring debate? 

''Is it because Igbo people 

are firmly behind IPOB 

quest for total Biafra 

independence, not his 

failed restructuring 

agenda? Or is it because 

he knows nobody will 

attend his hypocritical 

sham gathering of 

traitors anywhere on Igbo 

soil? We are urging all 

Biafrans, especially those of 

Igbo extraction to boycott 

this Aso Rock-sponsored 

gathering in Lagos.'' 

The group advised that all 

issues concerning Igbo 

should be conducted in 

Igbo land, pointing out that 

Arewa Consultative Forum 

holds all their activities in 

Northern Nigeria and 

Afenifere conducts their 

activities in Yoruba land. 

Court orders Saraki to swear 

in Okonkwo as Senator 

for Anambra Central 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

A BUJA—THE 

Federal High 

Court in Abuja, yesterday, 

ordered the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, to 

forthwith, issue certificate of 

return to Dr. Obiora 

Okonkwo of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, as 

the validly elected 

representative for Anambra 

Central Senatorial District. 

The court, in a judgment 

that was delivered by 

Justice John Tsoho, further 

ordered the Senate 

President, Dr. Bukola 

Saraki to immediately 

swear-in the plaintiff to 

occupy the Senatorial seat 

which has been vacant 

since 2015. 

The verdict followed a suit 

marked FHC/Abj/CS/1092/ 

14, which Okonkwo filed 

against the PDP, its former 

AHIARA MBAISE SAGA: 

Bishop replies CBCN 

Enugu Deputy gov's mom 

for burial tomorrow 

THE remains of Mrs. 

Monica Nwabugwu 

Eneze, nee Agu, the late 

mother of the Deputy 

Governor of Enugu State, 

Mrs. Cecilia Ezeilo will 

be laid to rest tomorrow at 

her hometown in 

Umuokpala Obiagu, 

Ibuzor, Amokwe 

community in Udi Local 

Government Area. 

According to the burial 

programme released by the 

national chairman, Alhaji 

Adamu Muazu, INEC and 

Mrs. Uche Ekwunife. 

The plaintiff had in the suit 

he filed in 2014, told the 

court that he contested and 

won the primary election 

PDP conducted for the 

district held on December 

7, 2014, at Ekwueme 

Square in Awka by scoring 

the highest number of votes 

cast at the said primary. 

He said the primary was 

conducted by the National 

Executive Committee of the 

party. 

However, the plaintiff told 

the court that the chairman 

of the electoral panel that 

was sent to Anambra state 

to conduct the exercise, 

refused to sign and forward 

the Result Sheet of the 

primary poll and insisted 

that Abuja had directed 

them on whom they should 

return whether the plaintiff 

scored the highest number 

of votes or not. 

•Insists on dialogue with local church 

By Sam Eyoboka 

CATHOLIC Bishop of 

Kafanchan, Most 

Rev. Joseph Danlami 

Bagobiri yesterday 

responded to the Catholic 

Bishops Conference of 

Nigeria, CBCN, which 

directed him to apologize 

for recommending 

dialogue with Ahiara 

Mbaise priests and laity 

over the five year crisis that 

has rocked the Ahiara 

Mbaise Diocese over 

appointment of Bishop 

Peter Okpalaeke to succeed 

late Bishop Victor Chikwe. 

The CBCN in a letter 

dated December 5, 2017 

and signed by the 

president, Archbishop 

Ignatius Kaigama and his 

deputy, Most Rev. 

Augustine Akubeze faulted 

Bishop Bagobori’s letter, 

describing it as ill-timed 

and capable of aggravating 

the Ahiara Mbaise crisis 

and therefore urged the 

Bishop to immediately 

“issue another statement 

through the public media 

withdrawing in its entirety 

the earlier statement and 

apologise to the Pontiff as 

well as CBCN, Bishop 

Peter Okpalaeke and the 

people of Ahiara for the 

damage your statement is 

already doing.” 

In another letter 

yesterday and personally 

signed by him, the 

Kafanchan Bishop said he 

had consulted with the 

Apostolic Nuncio and Papal 

Legate to Nigeria, Most 

Rev. Antonio Guido 

Filippazzi with whom he 

had fruitful discussion over 

the matter, apologising only 

for certain aspects of his 

letter which may have 

offended the Holy Father. 

Bishop Bagobiri insisted 

that the only viable solution 

to the protracted Ahiara 

Mbaise saga is to open a 

channel of discussion with 

the indigenes of the place 

rather than imposing a 

leader on them. 

family, there will be a service 

of songs and wake-keep 

today at her Ibuzur - 

Amokwe residence from 

4pm. 

A funeral mass will hold 

tomorrrow at St. Paul’s 

Catholic Church, Ibuzor, 

Amokwe, Udi L.G.A, 

Enugu State by 11am. 

Her interment will follow 

immediately after the mass, 

while reception will hold at 

the church’s premises.



Adamawa inaugurates commission 

of inquiry on farmers/herder crises 

By Umar Yusuf 

Y OLA—ADAMAWA 

State government has 

inaugurated a six-man 

administrative commission 

of inquiry to look into the 

recent Demsa and Numan 

herdsmen/farmers’ 

clashes. 

Inaugurating the 

commission yesterday, 

Governor Mohammed 

Jibrilla reiterated 

By Suzan Edeh 

WIFE of Bauchi State 

governor, Hajiya 

Hadiza Abubakar, has 

flagged off the second 

phase of the distribution of 

delivery kits for 800 

government’s desire to end 

the crisis. 

The governor was 

represented by his deputy, 

Mr. Martins Babale, at the 

inauguration. 

The terms of reference of 

the commission, which is to 

submit its reports within six 

weeks from the day of first 

sitting, include to 

investigate the immediate 

and remote causes of the 

conflict, and ascertain the 

AWARD: From left— District 9110 Governor, Rotary International, 

Dr. Adewale Ogunbadejo; wife of Chairman, Tolaram Group, Mrs Kavita 

Vaswani; her husband, Mr. Mohan Vaswani; Dr. Ogunbadejo's wife, Funmi; 

President, Rotary Club of Lagos Island, Mr. Sanjeev Tandon; his wife, 

Geetika, and Director of Services of the club, Dr. Anil Grover, at the 

conferment of Rotary International Honorary membership award on Mr. 

Vaswani by the District 9110 Governor, at the inauguration of free artifical 

limbs ISHK Project by the Club in conjunction with the Rotary Club of 

Singapore and Tolaram Foundation, in Victoria Island, Lagos. 

Bauchi gov's wife gives delivery kits to women 

pregnant women and 

nutritional meals for 600 

children under five. 

Each delivery kits 

contains surgical blades, 

sanitary pads, treated 

mosquito nets, multivitamin 

capsules, surgical gloves, 

extent of damages to lives 

and properties lost during 

the crisis; 

Proffer lasting solutions 

that would sustain peace 

and harmony in the state; 

and advise government on 

how to curtail future 

occurrences and measures 

on rehabilitation and 

settlement of those affected 

by the crisis. 

In his acceptance speech, 

Chairman of the 

bleach, bathing soap, 

among others. 

Mrs. Abubakar, who 

launched the maternal and 

infant health intervention 

programme, yesterday, in 

Ningi Local Government 

Area, said quality 

healthcare intervention is 

key to reversing the poor 

health indices in the state, 

particularly among women 

and children. 

Abubakar, who is also the 

Founder of Bauchi 

Sustainable Women 

Economic Empowerment 

and Peace Initiative, B- 

SWEEP, said ignorance 

and financial stress had 

compromised the health 

system. 

Commission, a retired 

Justice of the Federal High 

Court, Adamu Hobong, 

assured that the 

commission will be fair in 

the discharge of its duty. 

Other members of the 

commission are Professor 

Fati Abubakar, Pastor 

Dimian Dati, Alhaji Aliyu 

Chiroma and Pius 

Raymond. Mr. Pius Alih of 

the SSG’s office is to serve 

as Secretary. 

Kwara APC urges calm over Appeal Court ruling on Saraki 

By Demola 

Akinyemi 

ILORIN—AGAINST the 

backdrop of Tuesday’s 

Appeal Court ruling on 

Senate President, Bukola 

Saraki’s Code of Conduct 

Tribunal, CCT, trial, All 


APC, in Kwara State has 

asked its members to 

remain calm. 

Recall that the appellate 

court had dismissed 15 of 

the 18 counts of false assets 

declaration instituted 

against Saraki, but asked 

him to return to CCT for a 

retrospect on the remaining 

three counts. 

According to the party in 

a statement by its state 

Publicity Secretary, 

Sulyman Buhari in Ilorin 

yesterday, “we do not 

agree with the section of the 

judgment which ordered 

the retrial of the Senate 

President on three of the 

counts at the Code of 

Conduct Tribunal. 

“However, the party is 

convinced that the three 

charges, which the 

appellate court sustained, 

will not survive legal 

scrutiny at the Supreme 

Court. 

“We urge all members of 

our party and supporters of 

the Senate President to go 

about their daily activities 

and routines without 

worries and anxieties as 

there is no cause for alarm. 

“It bears repeating that 

our belief remains 

unshaken. We strongly 

believe the Senate 

President will emerge 

victorious at the end of the 

legal journey.” 

Some states can't meet RAMP deadline, says Coordinator 

By Wole 

Mosadomi 

MINNA—WITH a few 

days to the end of the 

year, some states may not 

meet the deadline for the 

completion of the 

rehabilitation of rural roads 

under the Rural Assess and 

Mobilisation Project, 

RAMP. 

Queen of Emerald 

raises cancer awareness 

QUEEN of Emerald 

Nigeria Organisation 

is set for the 2018 Queen of 

Emerald Nigeria pageant 

competition Season 3, 

tagged The Classique 

Edition. 

Built as a platform to raise 

beauty queens who will 

lead cervical cancer 

awareness campaign in 

partnership with cancer 

organisations, participants 

will be selected through 

a process that will not just 

enable them freely 

express their talents, but 

also bring out the best in 

them while competing for 

the crown. 

The agreement, entered 

into by the Federal 

Government and the 

World Bank, was that the 

completion of the various 

projects, especially the 

ones funded by the World 

Bank, should be end of 

year. 

National Coordinator of 

the programme, Mr. 

Ubandoma Ularamu, who 

disclosed this at the 

launching of Community- 

Based Rural Roads 

Maintenance scheme in 

Minna, Niger State, 

yesterday, did not, 

however, mention the 

states affected. 

He, however, said steps 

were being taken by 

Federal Government to 

seek an extension to 

enable the affected states 

complete the projects. 

Governor Abubakar 

Bello, while flagging off 

the project, said 76 

kilometres of rural roads 

would be rehabilitated 

under the programme in 

the state, adding that 

cooperative groups had 

been picked across the 

state and their members 

trained to ensure the 

Tecno backs West/A 

superbike, motor racing 

By Emeka Aginam 

S MARTPHONE 

maker, Tecno 

Mobile, has thrown its 

weight behind the justconcluded 

first West 

Africa Superbike and 

Motor Racing 

Championship in Benin, 

the Edo State capital, last 

week. 

With the sponsorship, 

Tecno set new standards 

for the competition as 

part of its corporate social 

responsibility. 

The race, a solo time 

trial race over a 33- 

UN, WARDC advocate more laws 

against gender-based violence 

By Josephine 

Agbonkhese 

UNITED Nations, 

UN, and Women 

Advocates Research and 

Documentation Centre, 

WARDC, have said 


need more laws to 

sufficiently reduce 

gender-based violence, 

GBV. 

According to WARDC’s 

Founding Director, Dr. 

Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, 

“we need more laws in 

the country, and more 

states to cooperate, to end 

gender-based violence. 

Women are killing their 

husbands and vice versa 

is affecting us as a nation 

and government must 

take this as a priority.” 

United Nations Women 

Country Representative, 

GIGM.com (God is 

Good Motors) has 

pioneered a new way of 

transport with the launch 

of a bus travel application 

to help commuters have 

access to advance or realtime 

information on 

journey times, details, 

prices, delays and 

disruption. 

A regular customer of 

GIGM told journalists: 

“If you are a frequent 

traveller, you look for the 

most convenient and 

hassle-free way to travel. 

The end point is the 

journey itself, but 

everything that removes 

any form of stress is 

definitely a plus. 

“The GIGM.com App 

takes away a large 

percentage of the travel 

stress, as it conveniently 

allows me pay for my 

tickets and do all I want 

to do online, saving me 

the stress of joining long 

queues at the parks and 

haggling with the touts 

around.” 

kilometre distance through 

the supporting villages of 

Urhonigbe, Uromehe, 

Evbonogbon, Obazagbon, 

Umughun, Ogba, Ugo, 

Egbokor and Ugbokirima 

in Orhiomwon Local 

Government Area, was 

covered and captured 

using the latest 

smartphone flagship— 

Tecno Phantom 8. 

Winners at the 

championship were 

rewarded with exciting gift 

items, including Phantom 

8, a high-end smartphone 

with exceptional camera 

specifications and design. 

Comfort Lamptey, on her 

part, said GBV is a critical 

agenda for all, adding that 

Nigerian men must join 

the campaign to promote 

women empowerment 

and gender equality to 

address the plague. 

Her words: “GBV is a 

problem that is very much 

present in Nigeria and the 

UN is committed to 

working and supporting 

the government of Nigeria, 

civil society organisations 

and the media to raise 

awareness about the 

problem.” 

They made the calls in 

Lagos during an event to 

symbolically kick-out GBV 

in commemoration of this 

year’s 16 Days of Activism 

Against Violence, with 

over 500 men and women 

kicking a ball each at the 

same time. 

GIGM launches new app 

Another user said: “I 

even have real time 

conversations with 

customer service 

personnel.” 

To use the App, which is 

available on Google Play 

Store for android devices 

and app store for IOS 

devices, commuters must 

download and register an 

account to create a profile. 

Transition 

DAVID Makanjuola, an 

arch-elder in the 

Christ Apostolic Church, 

Latona, Osogbo, Osun 

State, aged 93, is dead. He 

died November 27. He is 

survived by children, 

grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. 

Burial 

arrangements will be 

announced later.


SEMINAR: From left— Executive Vice-Chairman, Ibadan School of 

Government and Public Policy, ISGPP, Dr. Tunji Olaopa; Google Policy Lead, 

Sub-Saharan Africa, Titi Akinsanmi, and Senior Policy Manager, World Wide 

Web Foundation, Nnennan Nwakanma, at a seminar/colloquium of the African 

Academic Network on Internet Policy on Data Privacy and Protection in Africa, 

at IITA, Ibadan. 

CAROL: Students CMS Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos, dispaying during 

the annual Christmas Carol Service and Nine Lessons organised by Lagos 

Anglican Schools Management Board. 

DEDICATION: From left— Chairman, Dedication Planning 

Committee, Sir Kene Ekwunife; Bishop of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, 

Rt. Rev. Dr. James Odedeji; his wife, Lydia; Vicar, St. Bartholomew’s Anglican 

Church, Satellite Town, Lagos, Ven. Dr. Chudi Obi, and his wife, Ebelechukwu, 

during the dedication of the Church. 

VISIT: Convener, Mr. Tokunbo Temenu (left); his wife and Convener/ 

Director, Primacy Edge Consulting, Olufunke; Management Consultant and 

CEO, FifthGear Plus, Mr. Niyi Adesanya(2nd right); Tunji Babajide (3rd right); 

Mr. Kunle Olomofe (right), all speaker, and other members, during the 

Speakers Lounge Team workshop in Ikeja, Lagos.


38—VANGUARD, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

NGO Bill breeds different strokes among activists 

By Charles Kumolu 

THE divergent dispositions 

to the bill for an 

Act to provide for the 

establishment of Non- 

Governmental 

Organisations,NGOs, 

Regulatory Commission, 

surprisingly took a 

different dimension 

yesterday in the human 

rights community as 

leading activists took 

opposing positions. 

The development which 

happened on a day the 

public hearing on the 

matter commenced, was 

such that was capable of 

reducing the momentum of 

public opposition to the 

bill. 

Considering that most 

arguments against the bill 

had been marshaled by the 

Civil Society, having two 

key leaders on different 

sides was the least 

expected. 

Notwithstanding, their 

stances resonated key 

issues regarding what the 

bill stands for. 

The two leaders, who 

differed over the matter 

yesterday, were a human 

rights activist, Mr. Femi 

Falana, SAN, and Mr. 

Kayode Ajulo. 

While Falana considered 

the bill a threat to a free and 

•Falana, Ajulo disagree on import of bill 

•Falana 

independent civil society, 

Ajulo said a regulated civil 

society would help deepen 

democracy. 

In demanding that the 

bill be dropped, Falana 

threatened to challenge it 

in court on the grounds that 

it was incompatibile with 

Nigeria’s international and 

regional human rights 

obligations. 

He explained his 

argument thus:” The bill is 

for an act to provide for the 

establishment of nongovernmental 

organisations regulatory 

commission for the 

supervision, coordination, 

•Ajulo 

and monitoring of nongovernmental 

organisations, and civil 

society organisations 

among others in Nigeria 

and for related matters. 

“This is perhaps the 

worst piece of legislation in 

Nigeria’s history. Under the 

bill, any civil society group 

advocating for human 

rights, basic freedoms and 

good governance can be 

shut down and 

criminalized. The bill if 

passed will ultimately have 

a disastrous impact on 

Nigerian citizens’ 

democratic participation in 

furthering the development 

of their own country. 

“The bill allows 

government authorities to 

de-register local and 

international associations 

and NGOs if they consider 

them as not working in line 

with “national interest.” 

Government can similarly 

deny registration on the 

vague grounds that the 

purpose and goal of the 

associations or NGOs are 

inconsistent with the 

programmes of 

government. Associations 

and NGOs operating 

without registration in 

Nigeria will face criminal 

liability.” 

Consequently, he urged 

the Speaker of the House 

of Representatives, Mr. 

Yakubi Dogara to, “reject 

entirely the bill as it falls 

significantly short of 

international human rights 

norms governing the rights 

to freedom of association 

and peaceful assembly, in 

particular Section 40 of the 

Constitution of Nigeria 1999 

(as amended) and Articles 

21 and 22 of the 

International Covenant on 

Civil and Political Rights 

and Articles 10 and 11 of the 

African Charter on Human 

and Peoples’ Rights to 

which Nigeria is a state 

party. 

“Should the bill be 

passed into law, I will 

vigorously challenge it in 

court on the grounds of its 

unconstitutionality and 

incompatibility with 

Nigeria’s international and 

regional human rights 

obligations and 

commitments.” 

Expounding his reasons 

for supporting the bill unlike 

other members of his 

constituency, Ajulo said the 

establishment of a 

regulatory body will ensure 

that NGOs are driven by 

passion and not by financial 

inducement. 

He said: “The 

establishment of a 

regulatory body will ensure 

that NGOs are driven by 

passion and not by financial 

inducement which has 

been the major reasons 

many Nigerians have now 

become emergency NGO 

founders. 

‘’Today in Nigeria, we 

have shylock businessmen, 

traffickers, and dubious 

individuals whose sole aim 

is to exploit the public 

masquerading as owners of 

NGOs and labeling 

themselves as activists 

thereby using this medium 

to confuse, mislead and 

defraud unsuspecting 

members of the public. This 

ugly trend must be checked 

and that is why I agree with 

this bill which seeks to 

separate the wheat from the 

chaffs.” 

“It is imperative to state 

that the Non-Governmental 

Organizations play an 

increasingly important role 

in the development 

cooperation. They can 

bridge the gap between 

government and the 

community. Communitybased 

organisations are 

essential in organising poor 

people, taking collective 

action, fighting for their 

rights, and representing the 

interests of their members 

in dialogue with NGOs and 

government. 

“NGOs, on the other 

hand, are better at 

facilitating the supply of 

inputs into the 

management process, 

mediating between people 

and the wider political party, 

networking, information 

dissemination and policy 

reform. 

“By creating an enabling 

framework of laws, 

economic and political 

conditions, the State can 

play a fundamental role in 

helping NGOs and CBOs 

to play their roles more 

effectively and as a result 

increase the access to 

infrastructure services for 

the urban poor. Partnerships 

between all groups should 

be achieved without 

ignoring each other’s 

strengths but make use of 

each other’s comparative 

advantage. 

‘’The strength of NGOs, 

particularly those operating 

at the field level, is their 

ability to form close linkages 

to local communities and to 

engender community 

ownership and 

participation in 

development efforts. NGOs 

often can respond quickly 

to new circumstances and 

can experiment with 

innovative approaches. 

NGOs can identify 

emerging issues, and 

through their consultative 

and participatory 

approaches can identify 

and express beneficiary 

views that otherwise might 

not be heard.”




42 --- Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

By Dayo Adesulu, Elizabeth Uwandu & 

Kelechukwu Iruoma 

It is rather appalling 

to note that while 

schools are expected to 

proceed on vacation 

tomorrow, several pupils 

seeking admission into 

Lagos public schools did 

not start the term with 

their mates, because 

according to them, the 

State Government failed 

to release their names 

for admission in the past 

three months. As a result, 

many of the pupils were 

seen either running 

errands at home for their 

parents, loitering the 

streets or visiting 

recreation centres. 

The scenario led 

Vanguard Learning to 

make enquiries from 

some affected students. 

Parents and students 

who spoke with 

Vanguard Learning 

accused many public 

schools in Lagos State of 

collecting between 

N10,000 and N20,000 to 

admit students into their 

schools, adding that after 

payment three months 

ago, their wards are still 

at home without 

admission. 

Apart from parents 

accusing head teachers 

of collecting N10,000 to 

admit their wards in 

their schools, one 

gullible parent among 

them also claimed that 

she gave a proprietor of 

a private school N20,000 

with a promise of fixing 

her child in a Lagos 

public school. 

Ordinarily, parents 

seeking admission for 

their children in Lagos 

public schools ought to 

have gone through the 

State Universal Basic 

Education Board and pay 

N1,000 into a designated 

account. 

However, while some of 

the parents described the 

registration process as 

cumbersome, others said 

the inability of the Lagos 

State Government to 

release their names 

made their children stay 

at home or engage in 

various activities. 

For Mrs Bimbo Amuda, 

her 11-year-old Daniel 

Amuda who ought to be 

in Junior Secondary 

School One (JSS1), has 

continued to stay with 

her in her shop. 

According to her, this 

has made her a laughing 

stock as some neighbours 

accused her of abusing 

her son’s right to 

education. 

She lamented that 

despite paying a sum of 

N10,000 to the 

headmaster of her son’s 

primary school, (Peculiar 

Private School at Old 

Ojo Road) and her son 

sitting for the Common 

Entrance examination, 

three months after, her 

son’s name is yet to be 

released. 

She said: “I have been 

called all sorts of names 

because of my son, 

Daniel who I have to 

bring along to my shop 

while his mates are in 

school studying, to avoid 

him getting into trouble 

at home. 

“I paid N10,000 to 

Daniel’s primary school 

proprietor who promised 

to work his posting into 

a public secondary 

school. 

Even after Uncle Seun, 

as popularly called, 

*Mathematician, Mr. Abel Moses(right) explaining a point to some parents with the Principal of Excel 

College, Ejigbo, Lagos, Lady K.O. Oke (3rd from right) during the inauguration of the Mathematics 

Laboratory. 

Admission racketeering: We paid N10,000 

without admission, pupils cry out 

fixed my son into 

Ceclear Nursery and 

Primary School for the 

Common Entrance 

examination, his name is 

yet to be released after 

three months.’’ 

On their part, the trio 

of Pelumi David of 

Favour Nursery and 

Primary School; Daniel 

Obikwe of Asarudeen 

Primary School and 

MukailaTaiwo said they 

daily went to the 

Stadium to skate due to 

delay in their admission. 

“We are friends about to 

enter JSS One .We come 

here every day to skate 

or do other things like 

run errand for the adults 

here who give us little 

change to enjoy 

ourselves. This is 

because our names have 

not be released,”said 

Favour. 

Narrating her travails, 

Mrs Bright Ufot said: “It 

is a pity that my child 

who was staying with my 

late elder sister in 

Ogudu after attending a 

private school had to stay 

at home doing nothing 

based on the fact that an 

official in Eric Moore 

Junior High School 

demanded for N20,000 to 

include his name in the 

admission list of the state 

government. 

‘’This is not registration 

fee. However, I was told 

that my son’s name may 

take six months to come 

•Be wary of fake govt officials, SUBEB warns 

out or might not even 

come out eventually. 

‘’So, why charge such 

money when he was not 

even sure his name will 

come out? Do you think 

if I had N20,000 I will 

allow him go to public 

school? Joel will 

continue to stay at home 

till I raise the money to 

I have been 

called all sorts 

of names 

because of my 

son, Daniel who 

I have to bring 

along to my 

shop while his 

mates are in 

school studying, 

to avoid him 

getting into 

trouble at home 

put him in one of these 

small private secondary 

schools.’’ 

Moreover, a Senior 

Secondary student, 

Israel Tijani said his 

name has not been 

released after registering 

in August. He said after 

waiting for weeks, his 

mother decided to enrol 

him in another school 

because their contact 

person could not enrol 

him into a government 

school. 

He said: “While I was 

waiting for my name to 

be out, my uncle said he 

knew someone who 

could assist in putting 

me in State High School, 

Iyana Ipaja. The woman 

did her best but couldn’t 

help out in the transfer. 

"She said the possibility 

of my name coming out 

is very slim as she was 

also trying to enrol three 

of her children into the 

same school.” 

Israel who couldn’t 

state how much his uncle 

gave to the contact 

woman, said after 

waiting for five weeks 

and the woman couldn’t 

do anything, my mother 

had to enrol me in a 

private school in 

November. 

He said: “It wasn’t a 

thing of joy staying at 

home without learning 

for weeks. Many times, 

when everybody had 

gone out of the house, I 

would remain at home, 

reading my books 

without being tutored.” 

Reacting to the claim 

that some pupils' names 

were not yet released 

after three months of 

resumption, the Lagos 

State Universal Basic 

Education Board, 

SUBEB, Public Relations 

Officer, Mr Seyi Akitoye 

said that names of 

students who took the 

Common Entrance 

examination in June had 

been released since 

August. 

He explained that 

even those from private 

schools who wanted 

transfer into public 

secondary schools had 

since been released in 

August. 

Akitoye, however 

warned the public to be 

wary of those who claim 

that the government or 

its officials demanded for 

money to transfer or buy 

one form or the other. He 

said:”I can tell you that 

the Lagos State SUBEB 

which is basically 

concerned with basic 

education up to basic six 

will never demand or 

collect any money for 

transfer from anyone. 

“What is applicable is 

that those who sought to 

do transfer that run 

between August 1 st to 

Sept 1 st are told to pay a 

token of N1,000 for 

public primary school to 

another public school or 

N2000 for private school 

to public primary school. 

While N5,000 and 

N10,000 for state and 

international transfers.

Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 --- 43 

Corona Secondary celebrates silver jubilee 

By Ebele Orakpo 

Amidst calls to declare 

a state of emergency 

in the Education sector, the 

Principal, Corona 

Secondary School (CSS), 

Agbara, Mrs. Chinedum 

Oluwadamilola has called 

for cleansing of the sector 

as was done in the banking 

sector. She regretted that 

education inspectors are 

almost always behind the 

time. “One of my dreams is 

that one day, there will be a 

thorough cleansing of the 

education sector just like the 

banking sector by Prof. 

Soludo." 

She made the call during 

the school's 25th anniversary 

on November 19th and 

20th. Speaking on the role 

of education inspectors in 

improving teacher quality, 

she said:“ They ask 

questions about things that 

no longer exist so we try and 

explain what we are doing. 

You can’t be inspecting 

people with the aim of 

raising and maintaining 

standards and you are like 

two decades behind. They 

come but for a school like 

Corona, they make no 

difference. They feel 

intimidated so they don’t 

have anything to ask. 

“Inspectors should get upto-date 

education, but they 

are battling with so many 

things and that may not 

happen until the 

government takes a strong 

grip on education." 

The event which took place 

at the school premises kicked 

off with the 2016/2017 

Speech and Prize-Giving 

Day, during which students 

and members of staff were 

*Senior Secondary 

School Overall Best 

Winner, Miss 

Shalom Emeka 

(middle) flanked by 

the wife of Oba 

Alagbara of Agbara 

Kingdom, Olute 

III, Olori Olabisi 

Agunbiade and her 

parents at the 

school’s 2016/2017 

Academic year 

Speech and Prizegiving 

day to mark 

its 25th anniversary, 

held in Agbara, 

Lagos…recently 

recognised and celebrated 

for their excellence, 

achievements and good 

conduct through the 

academic year. 

The second day witnessed 

the official commissioning of 

CSS, Agbara as a Pasch- 

Schule (partner school) of the 

Goethe-Institut, the second 

in Nigeria. 

Speaking at the event 

which had in attendance the 

Consul-General, German 

Consulate, Lagos, Mr. Ingo 

Herbert and Director, 

Goethe-Institut, Mrs. 

Friederike Möschel, Mrs. 

Oluwadamilola said the 

partnership will support the 

study of German Language 

in the school; noting that the 

move was borne out of the 

need to give the students 

more opportunities for higher 

education and scholarships. 

Ahiara Diocese and the tyranny of Nigerian 

Bishops 

By Ikechukwu Amaechi 

LET me say from the onset that I am very 

distraught over the treatment meted out to the 

Catholic faithful in Ahiara Diocese by Nigerian bishops. 

I am troubled because I am involved. The situation 

in the diocese is the classical tinderbox in wait 

for a match. Why would Nigerian bishops be the 

ones willing to spark the light? 

I have resisted joining the fray, at least not publicly, 

all these years because of two main reasons. 

First, I am aware that in most faith-based issues, 

reason is a casualty and the Ahiara Bishopric saga 

is no exception. Second, when it comes to Catholicism, 

I am old-fashioned, having been brought up 

to believe that the clergy are God’s direct representatives 

on earth who are beyond reproach. All 

things considered, that is illogical but as Karl Marx 

would say, religion is an opium. 

I am one of those Ahiara Catholic faithful who 

Most Rev. Joseph Bagobiri, Bishop of Kafanchan, 

described as “the most respectful religious group 

in Catholicism who view insults to the ordained 

and consecrated as insult directed to God himself.” 

I am distraught because I am involved. Ahiara is 

my diocese. I was born into Catholicism, initiated 

through the sacrament of baptism 22 days after birth, 

received First Holy Communion ten years later, was 

confirmed on February 26, 1984 and wedded in the 

church. I was an “Altar Boy” while growing up. I 

will die a Catholic. 

I also know most of the clergy involved in this 

crisis. 

Most Rev. Anthony Obinna, Archbishop of Owerri 

Metropolitan See, was my lecturer just as Rev. Fr. 

Austin Bernadine Ekechukwu, who has been mischievously 

labelled chief rebel, was my secondary 

school teacher. So strong was the bond of relationship 

Fr. Ekechukwu and I forged while he was our 

parish priest in the 1980s and thereafter that he cut 

short his vacation in the U.S. in 2002 in order to 

officiate at my wedding. 

I am distraught because some of these Men of 

God, devoted messengers in the vineyard, are being 

demonised just for raising their voice against 

injustice in the Nigerian Catholic family. 

The story of the Ahiara Bishopric saga is fairly 

known and needs no further chronicling. Suffice it 

to say that the crisis ensued with the appointment of 

Bishop Peter Okpalaeke as the second bishop of 

I am distraught because 

some of these Men of God, 

devoted messengers in 

the vineyard, are being 

demonised just for raising 

their voice against injustice 

in the Nigerian 

Catholic family 

Ahiara to succeed late Bishop Victor Chikwe. Unfortunately, 

five years after his appointment, 

Okpalaeke has not been able to take canonical possession 

of the diocese because the people believe 

that the process that threw him up was rigged and 

did not follow due process. 

And for five years, the Catholic faithful in the diocese, 

as punishment, have been denied every Episcopal 

service. 

In seeking a solution to this needless crisis, Nigerian 

bishops have not denied that the process was 

rigged but even when they acknowledge that the 

people were shortchanged, they insist on “obedience.” 

In doing so, they have been so high-handed 

with some hinting at the suppression of the local 

church as the ultimate punishment. 

For five years, the Nigerian bishops were united 

in the pursuit of this vendetta, or so it seemed, until 

Bishop Bagobiri publicly broke ranks with his colleagues 

in a public statement on Friday, December 

1, 2017. 

Titled, “Give Ahiara a bishop close to or who understands 

them: Exploring a home grown response 

to the Ahiara saga,” the Kafanchan Bishop wrote: 

“The crisis that ensued with the appointment of 

Bishop Peter Okpalaeke as the second bishop of 

the diocese of Ahiara to succeed late Bishop Victor 

Chikwe has lingered on for about five years. All this 

could have been avoided or resolved long ago if the 

CBCN had been courageous enough to follow the 

path of truth and justice, by listening to the aggrieved 

party and presenting their case positively or in an 

empathetic manner as a united force to Rome.” 

“When we were one year into this crisis, to be 

precise, at the second plenary assemble that took 

place at Oturkpo, it was advised that insisting on 

the option of commanding obedience from the 

Mbaise faithful of Ahiara diocese as against seeking 

to constructively engage them in dialogue with 

a view to striking some fair and reasonable compromises 

as was the case with Warri Diocese will 

not solve this problem.” 

Bishop Bagobiri then went ahead to tell his colleagues 

some home truths, challenging some of the 

noxious orthodoxy upon which they claim to have 

predicated their actions. 

Priests are trained to question whatever is done 

wrongly and not according to due canonical process, 

rather than submitting to blind obedience in 

the face of perceived breach of the normative and 

standard manner of doing things, he reminded his 

colleagues. 

“The people of Ahiara feel shortchanged by a 

process of selecting a bishop for their diocese that 

excluded or denied them their right to exercise a 

consultative vote on the discernment process … 

Questioning an anomaly of this nature does not 

make them rebels or a disobedient lot.” 

He called for an end to the wilful demonization of 

the people insisting that they are “the most respectful 

religious group in Catholicism who view insults 

to the ordained and consecrated as insult directed 

to God himself.” 

On the issue of not finding one priest from the 

diocese worthy of being a bishop, Bagobiri said it 

was a heresy, literally. 

“To say that out of a vibrant presbyterium of over 

500 priests you are unable to find one good priest to 

be appointed Chief Shepherd, is not only an insult 

but a strong indictment on the formation given in 

our seminaries.” 

Rather than address the issues raised by Bishop 

Bagobiri, the CBCN in a letter dated December 5, 

2017 and signed by Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, 

Archbishop of Jos and CBCN President, and Most 

Rev. Augustine Obiora Akubueze, Archbishop of 

Benin City and Vice President, Nigerian bishops 

accused their colleague of disobedience to Pope 

Francis, who they claimed “had taken a definitive 

position on the matter” months ago. 

And just as they have been blackmailing Mbaise 

clergy for insisting that the right thing be done, they 

threw Bagobiri under the bus. 

“We demand, in the name of the CBCN, that you 

immediately issue another statement through the 

public media withdrawing in its entirety your earlier 

statement and apologising to the Holy Father, 

the CBCN, Bishop Peter Okpaleke, and the People 

of God in Ahiara Diocese for the damage your statement 

is already doing.” 

The Kafanchan bishop has massaged their ego. 

In another letter on Tuesday, December 12, he humoured 

them by apologising. 

“As regards the letter signed by Archbishops 

Kaigama and Akubeze asking for apology on behalf 

of the CBCN, we must know what I am being 

asked to apologize for. If my simple request for a 

review of strategy since the one adopted four years 

ago has not yielded the desired result amounts to 

disobedience to the Holy Father, then I am sorry 

and deeply regret this.” 

But he insisted on his demand. “We should change 

strategy from one that demands unquestionable 

obedience from a people who feel shortchanged in 

the process of appointing their Chief Shepherd, to 

that of constructive engagement.” 

The questions that are concentrating the minds 

of many discerning Catholics are legion; why are 

Nigerian bishops against dialogue in resolving this 

matter that is taking unbearable toll on the people? 

Why would a group vehemently oppose a suggestion 

by anybody that a five-year-old dispute be resolved 

“through a dialogue that will allow for a giveand-take 

spirit?” 

Is there more to this crisis than meets the eye? 

Why all the anger and bitterness? Why are Nigerian 

bishops punishing the Mbaise Catholic faithful 

unduely? Why are they portraying victims of their 

highhandedness as villains? 

What informs their hubris? Should arrogance be 

an attribute of Princes of the Church? 

Yes, Nigeria is in a bad shape. Might is right. 

Leaders have no regards for the led. But shouldn’t 

the Church of God be different? Surely, a higher 

standard of conduct is expected of the shepherds of 

God’s flock. This tyranny of the Catholic Bishops 

Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) is ill-advised. It is 

self-defeatist. It is time to change course. 

Ikechukwu Amaechi is the Managing 

Director/Editor-in-Chief, TheNiche 

on Sunday newspaper, Ikeja, Lagos.

44 — Vanguard,THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

What politicians 

can learn from 

the Army on 

restructuring (2) 

— Ike Nwachukwu 

*How to safeguard Nigeria's unity 

Continued from yesterday 

At this point, may I, 

congratulate the 

Commander- in- Chief, of the 

Armed Forces of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria, President 

Mohammed Buhari, officers and 

troops of the Armed Forces and 

other security agencies for 

degrading insurgency, terrorism 

and kidnappings in the country. 

What we expect from 

modern Nigerian Army 

The role of the Nigerian Military 

in a democracy has become an everrelevant 

concern to many people 

for quite some time. 

The principle of political control 

of the Armed Forces as we know it 

today is rooted in the concept of a 

representative democracy. It refers 

to the supremacy of civilian 

institutions based on its sovereignty, 

over the defence and security 

policy-making apparatus, including 

the Military leadership. 

Democratic control should always 

be a two-way process between 

society and the Armed Forces. In a 

democracy, firm constitutional 

guarantees should protect the state 

including the Armed Forces from 

two types of potential dangers 

namely; from politicians, who 

desire to use the Military for their 

own ambitions and from the 

Military with political ambitions. 

When internal conflict or mass 

unrest arises in the country, the 

Military professionalism should 

override any religious or other 

sentiments in the discharge of its 

duties. This should be the mantra 

for safeguarding the unity and 

sovereignty of Nigeria. 

Let us share the following 

principles which have been used 

to ensure the superiority, direction 

and control of the people, exercised 

through the elected government, 

over its Armed Forces, in this case 

the Nigerian Army, in a democracy. 

They are essentially as follows: 

a.The existence of a clear legal 

and 

constitutional 

framework,defining the basic 

relationship between the State and 

the Armed Forces. 

b.A significant role of National 

Assembly in legislating on defence 

and security matters; influencing 

the formulation of national strategy: 

injecting transparency to decisions 

concerning defence and security 

policy, and in giving budget 

approval and controlling spending 

using the power of the purse in 

issues related to the power of the 

sword. 

c.The hierarchical responsibility 

of the Military to the government 

through a civilian organ of public 

administration, the Ministry of 

Defence, that is charged as a 

general rule, with the direction and 

supervision of its activities. 

d. The presence of a well trained 

and experienced Military corps that 

is respected and funded by a 

civilian authority which 

acknowledges the principle of 

civilian control, including the 

principle of political neutrality and 

non-partisanship of the Armed 

Forces. 

e. The existence of a developed 

civil society, with a clear 

understanding of democratic 

institutions and values, as a part of 

the political culture, with 

nationwide consensus on the role 

and mission of the Military. 

f. The presence of a reasonable 

non-governmental component 

within the Defence community 

capable of participating in public 

debate on Defence and security 

policy, presenting alternative views 

and programs. 

The above points, are considered, 

solid and comprehensive yard stick 

for evaluating and determining the 

role of the Armed Forces in a 

democracy and their political 

control. The adoption of distinct 

codes and practices could be of 

immense importance to the Army 

and could go a long way in 

safeguarding our democracy and 

sovereignty. 

Equally imperative is for the 

modern Nigerian Army to review 

its system of recruitment, promotion, 

and appointment, to reflect our 

multi-ethnic and multi -faith 

diversity. More importantly, to 

maintain force cohesion, it must 

have mechanisms that will allow it 

to manage these diversities 

effectively. An apparent display of 

this ability will help maintain 

harmony in the polity and, 

accordingly, attract the support of 

the population. 

In the area of intelligence 

gathering and the rampant 

kidnappings and killings in the 

North- East and other parts of 

Nigeria, we need better 

coordination among various 

intelligence agencies in the 

country. There is also the 

requirement for policy change for 

every Nigerian to understand and 

accept the fact that, we all should 

be part of our country's total defence 

and intelligence community. It is 

imperative, also, for our citizens to 

feed into the intelligence gathering 

system of Nigeria, so that we can 

together defend Nigeria from 

insurgency, terrorism as well as 

Senator Ike Nwachukwu 

other security problems facing us. 

I must, however, warn that this 

must not translate the country into 

a Police State. I am herein 

advocating for a total national 

defence consciousness where 

Nigerians and all our institutions 

accept their responsibilities as 

belonging to the National Defence 

Infrastructure (NDI). 

Safeguarding Nigeria's 

unity, sovereignty 

As stated earlier, it is the 

responsibility of the Nigeria Army 

as per the Constitution and the 

Nigeria Army Act to safeguard 

Nigeria's territorial integrity and to 

that extent defend our unity and 

sovereignty when under threat 

from within or without. In doing 

so, it must perform its duties under 

the command of the President, 

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed 

Forces. It must act strictly in 

accordance with the rules of 

engagement and the Laws of the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria. It 

should not act on its own volition 

or independent of the directive of 

the President, Commander- in- 

The Military 

experiments in 

building a united 

country by 

introducing a 

unitary-type of 

democratic 

governance, in a 

multi-ethnic and 

multi-religious 

country as ours 

appear not to be 

our best option 

Chief. 

For clarity, the Chief of Army Staff 

cannot of his own deploy the 

Nigerian Army in defence of our 

National Interest without the 

authorisation of the civil authority 

and in accordance with the 

provision of the Constitution, under 

which, it must operate. For 

emphasis, that the Nigeria military 

is said to be the bed rock of our 

national unity should not suggest 

in any way, that it should act 

independent of the elected 

representatives of the people and 

the Constitution of Nigeria. 

Under no circumstances should 

any officer or solider spend one day 

longer in uniform who has the 

tendency of bias for politics, 

religion, ethnicity or sexism in the 

discharge of their duties or in 

dealing with men and women 

under their command. 

Professionalism in terms of 

effectiveness, confidence, stability, 

diligence, loyalty must be the yard 

stick for promotion and 

appointments. An Army that basis 

her functionalities on the above 

mentioned should naturally 

command respect of the citizens 

and the country whose duty it is to 

defend. 

Why we must heed 

clamour for restructuring 

Speaking of nation building, let 

me acknowledge that the Military 

experiments in building a united 

country by introducing a unitarytype 

of democratic governance, in 

a multi-ethnic and multi-religious 

country as ours appear not to be 

our best option as it had not worked 

well in the post Military Era. 

Therefore, we cannot but heed the 

clamour, by citizens of Nigeria for 

negotiations to commence for 

restructuring Nigeria and to 

produce a new Federal 

Constitution to be subjected to a 

referendum; and, when approved 

become the “People’s Constitution 

of Nigeria’’. 

Indeed, our Founding Fathers 

had the wisdom and maturity in 

adopting a proper Federal structure 

guaranteed by the 1960/63 Federal 

Constitutions. There are some 

eminent Nigerians that have 

supported the present restructuring 

debate. They include: 

? General Yakubu Gowon, the 

Head of the Military Government 

(1966-75) who created 12 states 

from the original four regions. 

? General Ibrahim Badamasi 

Babangida, Military President of 

Nigeria (1985-93) who took the 

number of states in Nigeria to 19. 

? Dr. Alex Ekwueme former Vice- 

President. 

? Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former 

Commonwealth Secretary- 

General, and member of Project 

Nigeria. 

? Chief Edwin Clark, Chief Ayo 

Adebanjo, Prof Ango Abudulahi 

etc. 

? The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji 

Saad Abubakar II, Obi of Onitsha, 

Igwe Emeka Achebe and Oni of 

Ife, Enitan Ogunwusi Adeyeye, 

Ojaja II 

? Frontline politicians like, Alhaji 

Atiku Abubakar, former Vice 

President of Nigeria as well as 

Asiwaju Bola A. Tinubu. 

? Governors from the South East, 

South West and the South- South 

geo-political zones. 

? The Northern State Governors 

and stakeholders from the North. 

? Northern Elders Forum. 

? Southern Elders Forum. 

? Recently, in a retreat about three 

weeks ago, at the Calabar, Cross- 

River State of Nigeria, Southern 

Senators called for the restructuring 

of the Nigeria. 

For good measure, we must 

admit that democracy thrives most 

when there is justice, equity, 

transparency, accountability and 

rule of law. Governance is all about 

the citizens' welfare and their 

aspirations. Governments should 

encourage and promote the 

interdependence of all its citizens 

regardless of ethnicity, religious 

beliefs, gender as well as political 

affiliations. 

What is being discussed is not 

new to the Nigerian Army, for 

restructuring exercise is an ongoing 

process in the Army. When I was 

in the Army, we had four (4) 

Divisions, one in Ibadan, one in 

Jos, one in Kaduna and, one in 

Enugu. I had the privilege of 

commanding One Division in 

Kaduna prior to my retirement. 

Since then, the Army had reorganised 

or restructured itself into 

eight (8) Divisions spread across 

the country - one in Lagos, one in 

Ibadan, one in Port-Harcourt, one 

in Enugu, one in Kaduna, one in 

Jos, one in Maiduguri and the 

Eighth Division going to Sokoto. 

The Army had done these for its 

effective command and control and 

efficiency. And, to be able to deal 

decisively with the threats 

pertaining to safeguarding 

Nigeria’s unity and territorial 

integrity. Whereas, the Army had 

gone ahead to restructure in order 

to meet its operational demands, 

politicians have one or two lessons 

to learn from it in the present quest 

to restructure Nigeria and position 

it for utmost unity, harmony, optimal 

efficiency and development. 

Continues tomorrow.



FIFA sanction: NFF moves to probe Yellow 

Card gaffe •Sets up 4-man committee 

NFF’s 1st Vice 

President, 

Barrister Seyi 

Akinwunmi, has been 

named head of a 4-man 

panel to unravel the 

issues behind the slip 

that led to Nigeria 

forfeiting the 2018 FIFA 

World Cup qualifying 

match against Algeria in 

Constantine on 10th 

November 2017. 

The concluding match 

of Group B of the African 

series for Russia 2018 

ended in a 1-1 draw, but 

FIFA on Tuesday 

awarded all three points 

to Algeria following 

Nigeria’s use of ineligible 

defender Abdullahi 

Shehu in the encounter. 

NFF Executive 

Committee members 

Ibrahim Gusau and Felix 

Anyansi-Agwu are other 

members of the panel, 

with Mohammed Nasir 

Saidu, Chairman of 

Sokoto State Football 

Association, to serve as 

member/secretary. 

“The Committee has 

two weeks to submit its 

report. It will have the 

responsibility of 

thoroughly investigating 

how the slip came about 

N 

i 

•Shehu 

Abdullahi 

and those who were 

responsible, recommend 

appropriate sanctions 

and also make other 

recommendations that 

will forestall this kind of 

error in the future,” NFF 

President Amaju Pinnick 

announced at an early 

morning meeting with 

NFF Management and 

Staff in Abuja on 

Wednesday. 

Pinnick also charged 

the Legal Department of 

the Federation to 

By Jacob Ajom 

Contrary to claims 

making the 

rounds that there will no 

longer be elections into 

the board of the NBBF, 

the Federation of 

International Basketball 

Association, FIBA, has 

cleared the air on the 

matter, insisting that it 

has “not given 

recognition to either of 

the elections that were 

held in June 2017 in the 

name of the Nigerian 

Basketball Federation.” 

henceforth work closely 

with the Legal Committee 

to ensure the enforcement 

of the Code of Conduct 

enshrined in the contract 

of all Coaches, and 

directed that a separate 

document be developed 

to be signed by the Head 

Coach and Team 

Administrator of every 

National Team embarking 

on any assignment. He 

added that henceforth the 

NFF would visit any 

violation of the code with 

In a reply to an enquiry 

made by Sports 

Vanguard, FIBA 


Coordinator, Simon 

Wilkinson confirmed the 

extension of the deadline 

for the internal resolution 

of the crisis but added 

that a fact-finding team 

has been set up to visit 

Nigeria early next year. 

Wilkinson’s reply 

reads: 

“In response to queries 

sent to us, we provided 

them with information 

that we are now sharing 

NFF in talks for Egypt friendly 

The 

Nigerian 

Federation 

Federation, NFF is 

holding talks with its 

Egyptian counterparts 

over the possibility of 

playing a pre-World Cup 

friendly in Abuja before 

the Super Eagles travel to 

Russia for the World Cup. 

Secretary General of 

the NFF, Mohammed 

Sanusi, said one of the 

countries Nigeria would 

face is Egypt but no 

decision has been 

finalized yet. 

‘’We’re looking at three 

countries. We want to play 

in Abuja. We haven’t 

finalized, but Egypt is 

one of them, ‘’ Sanusi, 

who spoke at NFF’s 2018 

budget defence with the 

stiff sanctions as 

enshrined in the code 

and the Coaches’ 

respective contracts. 

“People will as from 

now take responsibility for 

their actions, inactions, 

misconduct, negligence 

and downright 

ineptitudeness. We 

cannot continue to go on 

this way. What happened 

was a major gaffe and we 

will no longer condone 

this level of indolence and 

unseriousness." 

NBBF crisis: FIBA extends deadline 

•Denies recognition to any of the factions 

CAF Champions League: Plateau Utd, 

MFM, get opponents 

g e r i a ’ s 

representatives 

in the CAF Champions 

League, Plateau United 

and Mountain of Fire 

Miracles FC have been 

handed opponents for the 

continental soccer contest 

which begins February 

2018. 

Nigeria Professional 

Football League 

champions Plateau Utd 

will play Eding Sport of 

Cameroon, while MFM 

are up against Real 

Bamako of Mali in the 

first round of the 

Champions League. The 

two Nigerian clubs sides 

are making their debute 

in the Champions 

League. 

Defending champions 

Wydad Casablanca of 

Morocco, Ahly of Egypt, 

TP Mazembe of Congo 

DR, Mamelodi 

Sundowns and Etoile du 

Sahel were given a bye 

to the second round. 

The 16 winners of the 

second round ties will 

advance to the group 

stage of the tournament. 

The 2018 Champions 

League will begin on the 

weekend of 9-11 

February with the two-leg 

final set for November. 

A change in the 

calendar for the 

Confederation of African 

Football means that the 

next Champions Leagues 

will begin in December 

2018 and run through to 

May 2019. 

After the 2019 final the 

competition will be held 

from August or 

September through to 

May of the next year. 

In the CAF 

Confederations Cup, 

Enyimba drew bye to the 

second round, while 

Akwa United will face 

Hawks of Gambia in the 

first round. 

with you: 

“FIBA had granted the 

Nigerian Basketball 

Federation (NBBF) a 

deadline of November 30, 

2017, to internally resolve 

the situation which it 

faces. 

“At its meeting on 

December 9, the Central 

Board exceptionally 

granted an extension 

until the end of February 

2018 to find a solution. 

A FIBA delegation will 

visit Nigeria in the early 

part of 2018 and prepare 

a report which it will 

submit to FIBA’s 

Executive Committee for 

its consideration at its 

next meeting.” 

“To be clear, FIBA has 

not given recognition to 

either of the elections that 

were held in June 2017 

in the name of the 

Nigerian Basketball 

Federation. 

“However, while the 

issue is pending, FIBA is 

solely communicating 

with the NBBF through 

the following persons: Mr 

Ahmadu Musa Kida, Mr 

Babatunde Ogunade and 

Chimezie Asiegbu. 

Queries about any 

organisational matters 

regarding national 

leagues and national 

teams should be directed 

to the people above.” 

House of Representatives 

Committee on Sports, 

was quoted as saying. 

NFF supremo Amaju 

Pinnick confirmed that 

the Super Eagles will 

trade tackles with an 

unnamed team on May 

27 as part of their 

preparations for the 

World Cup. 

The Polish Federation 

Congo Democratic 

Republic's 

former international, 

Cyril Mubiala lead the 

park of the first batch of 

Africa legends, who 

arrived the ancient city of 

Kano yesterday ahead of 

today's charity match to 

raise funds for the 

internally displaced 

persons across the 

country. 

The other early birds 

were Daniel Amokachi, 

Garba Lawal and Tijjani 

Babangida. 


Coordinator of the 

legends, South Africa 

based Moo Mohammed 

have announced that 

their national team would 

play a friendly with 

Nigeria on March 23, the 

42,000 capacity 

Municipal Stadium is 

likely to host the game. 

Nigeria lost 1-0 to 

Egypt in an African 

Nations Cup qualifier 

held at El Arab Stadium 

on March 29, 2016. 

Amokachi, Lawal, Babangida 

storm Kano for Match-4-IDPs 

Mustapha, the others 

which include, Benjamin 

Nwaruwari, Fabian 

McCarthy, Aaron 

Mokoena, Nwankwo 

Kanu, Mutiu Adepoju 

and Samson Siasia were 

also expected to have 

arrived for the match 

against former Nigeria 

league champion, Kano 

Pillars football club. 

Meanwhile, the chief 

initiator and General 

Coordinator for Match-4- 

IDPs, Abi Goodman has 

revealed that all 

arrangements for the 

successful hosting of the 

match have been put in 

place. 

Ronaldo tells lawyers to 

negotiate Real exit 

Cristiano Ronaldo has 

tasked his 

lawyers with negotiating 

his exit from Real Madrid, 

according to new reports 

in Spain. 

The Los Blancos star 

has apparently been left 

unhappy since winning 

his fifth Ballon d’Or last 

week. 

While at the ceremony 

in Paris, Real president 

Florentino Perez was 

asked about whether 

Neymar could follow in 

the number seven’s 

footsteps. 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has 

reopened his 

war of words with Pep 

Guardiola as he branded 

the Manchester City boss 

“immature” after the 

club’s derby antics. 

Ibrahimovic played 

under Guardiola for one 

season at Barcelona, but 

the pair had a huge 

falling out after the 

Manchester United 

striker was aggrieved at 

the latter’s desire to build 

his team around Lionel 

Messi at the time. 

The ex-Sweden 

international hasn’t seen 

eye to eye with the 

Spaniard since, and was 

quoted by Sky Sports 

about Guardiola’s manmanagement 

skills in the 

wake of City’s 2-1 

triumph over their city 

rivals on Sunday. 

“The first six months 

were perfect, then the 

manager changed 

system, tactics and it 

didn’t work for me. I went 

to talk to him. I’m here to 

“Being in Madrid 

would make it easier to 

win the Ballon d’Or,” 

Perez confessed. 

“Real Madrid is a club 

which gives all you need 

as a big player, everyone 

knows that I already 

wanted to sign him at one 

point.” 

In the television report, 

Edu Aguirre reveals: 

“Well, the situation 

between Real Madrid 

and Ronaldo has not only 

failed to improve, it is 

worse than ever. 

Ibrahimovic attacks Guardiola 

talk, if you think it’s for 

another reason then we 

can’t talk. 

“I said: ‘I believe that 

you are sacrificing some 

players for one player, 

Messi’. He said: ‘I don’t 

think this is the case but 

I understand what you 

say. I will take care of it, 

no problem, I will solve 

everything’. I thought it 

would be OK. 

“The following game I 

was on the bench. I don’t 

say anything, I work. 

Second match bench 

again. I thought he 

solved it well and he was 

not talking to me or 

explaining. Third match 

bench. Then the fourth 

match comes and bench 

again. 

“I think something is 

strange. From that 

moment he stopped 

talking to me, looking at 

me. I go into a room and 

he walks out of it. He was 

not a bad person, but the 

most immature I’ve had 

because a man solves his 

problems.”


Vanguard, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2017 

Sudoku 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’SOLUTION 

How to Play Sudoku 

ACROSS 

1 Hoodwink (4) 

3 Helicopters, 

colloquially (8) 

9 Endurance (7) 

10 Bognor (5) 

11 Precipitous (5) 

12 Make sorrowful (6) 

14 Natural tooth covering 

(6) 

16 Haphazard (6) 

19 In-crowd (6) 

21 Call upon (5) 

24 Male honey-bee (5) 

25 Assassinated US 

president (7) 

26 Imperil (8) 

27 Conspiracy (4) 

DOWN 

1 Catastrophe (8) 

2 Situation (5) 

4 Ashore (anag.) (6) 

5 Trimmed, peeled (5) 

6 Intellectual (7) 

7 Cummerbund (4) 

8 Uncomplicated (6) 

13 Violet gemstone (8) 

15 Taking everything into 

account (3,4) 

17 Period before 

Christmas (6) 

18 Harass a speaker (6) 

20 Female ruler (5) 

22 Take unlawfully (5) 

23 Tool used to cut and shape 

wood (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.

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