17022018 - REVEALED: APC lawmakers behind change in election time table

2—SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 — 3


President Buhari with Governor of Kogi H.E. Yahaya Bello, Governor of Niger H.E. Abubakar Sani 

Bello and Governor of Borno H.E. Kashim Shettima amongst others shortly after receiving in audience 

APC Governors in his Daura Katsina home on 16th Feb 2018 

Buhari rejects Nigerian Peace 

Corps Bill 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region Editor 

& Emman Ovuakporie 

AS the Nigerian Peace 

Corps battles the 

Nigeria Police to vacate its 

national secretariat, the 

legality of the organisation 

might have run into 

trouble as the President 

has not assented to its 

establishment bill, which 

was transmitted to him last 

year. 

Saturday Vanguard 

learnt from competent 

sources that President 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

apparently bowing to 

security advice, has not 

appended his signature to 

the NPC Establishment 

Bill, which was officially 

sent to him by the Clerk of 

the National Assembly, 

Mr. Sani Omolori, in the 

last week of December 

2017. 

Findings by Saturday 

Vanguard indicated that 

the 30-day window under, 

which the president 

should sign a bill duly 

transmitted to him elapsed 

on January 31, 2018, 

leaving the National 

Assembly with the only 

option of mobilising two 

thirds of its members to 

veto the president’s 

rejection of the bill. 

By implication, the 

Presidency has thrown out 

the NPC bill and the piece 

of legislation okayed by 

the two chambers of the 

NASS can therefore not be 

cited as a law in Nigeria 

and the outfit does not 

have the legal backbone to 

continue to operate as a 

legal entity unless the 

NASS mobilises two thirds 

of its members to override 

the president. 

A top Presidency official 

conversant with the matter, 

confirmed to our 

correspondent last night 

that the President could not 

have assented to the NPC 

bill because there was no 

need for such an outfit 

under the Nigerian 

security architecture. 

The source said, “By 

implication the bill has 

been rejected by Mr. 

President since he did not 

sign it into law within the 

stipulated 30 working 

days. 

“By law, the Nigerian 

Peace Corps Bill will not 

fly in Nigeria as the 

President has not 

appended his signature to 

it within the period 

prescribed by law,” the 

official explained. 

Asked what could be 

done given the fact that the 

courts had ruled that the 

embattled security outfit 

had the right to operate as 

a voluntary organisation in 

Nigeria, the presidency 

official said that the 

organisation must first 

derive its legality from the 

law of Nigeria before 

functioning as an entity of 

the law. 

But reacting to the 

development, the 

Spokesman for the House 

of Representatives, 

Abdulrazaq Namdas, said 

the members would wait 

patiently for President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

write the NASS on why he 

would not append his 

signature to the bill before 

deciding on what next 

step. 

Namdas told one of our 

correspondents that the 

lawmakers were aware 

that the president was in 

the habit of giving reasons 

whenever he rejects a bill 

sent to him by the NASS. 

“But if we wait up to a 

certain time and the usual 

excuses we expect of him 

does not come then the 

House may take a further 

action to override the 

president. 

“If you remember just 

last week he returned 

three bills stating the 

reasons he refused to sign 

them into law,” Namdas 

said. 

It will be recalled that the 

NPC has been having a 

running battle with the 

Nigeria Police since it 

came out as a security outfit 

but not yet licensed by the 

Federal Government, 

culminating in the sealing 

of its national 

headquarters in Jabi and 

the arrest and detention of 

its leaders by the NPF. 

The running battle 

between the NPC and the 

NPF has also resulted in a 

lingering legal tussle 

between the two groups, 

with the court asking the 

police to pay the NPC 

N12.5 million as 

compensation, an order 

the police are yet to comply 

with. 

The police have also 

refused to quit the 

headquarters of the NPC 

despite repeated court 

orders. 

While the Senate passed 

the bill on November 25, 

2016, a conference 

committee of both 

chambers was 

inaugurated on December 

8, 2016, to harmonise the 

bill. 

The House of 

Representatives laid and 

adopted its conference 

report on January 19, 

2017, while the Senate 

adopted its report on July 

25, 2017. 

But on February 17, 2017 

the police stormed the 

National Office of the NPC 

and arrested the head of 

the organisation, Dickson 

Akoh, and about 49 other 

members. 

The police accused Mr. 

Akoh of using the Peace 

Corps, which was registered 

as a non-governmental 

organisation, but operating as 

a para-military agency, to 

fleece innocent young job 

seekers. 

Mr. Akoh has however 

denied all the allegations 

and has since been granted 

bail by the court. 

M e a n w h i l e , 

CHAIRMAN, Senate 

Committee on Media and 

Public Affairs, Senator Sabi 

Abdullahi, APC, Niger 

North has said that the 

Senate will do what the 

Constitution specifies in case 

Mr. President refuses to 

assent the Peace Corps Bill. 

He said that the 

constitution of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria provides 

for what should be done if a 

bill passed by the National 

Assembly, transmuted to the 

President for assent did not 

receive the assent of the 

President. 

“For me personally I see it 

as a very good thing; it is not 

new to Nigeria but it is 

happening in many other 

countries so that was why in 

the first instance, the 

National 

supported it. 

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 — 5 

Assembly 

We only met Buhari to condole 

with him, not about 2019 

— APC governors 

STATE Governors of the All Progressives Congress 

(APC) on Friday said their mission to Daura, 

Katsina State, was merely to condole with President 

Muhammadu Buhari over the loss of two members of his 

extended family. 

The Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum, Gov. Rochas 

Okorocha of Imo, stated this when he fielded questions from 

newsmen after a closed door meeting with President Buhari 

at his private residence in Daura,yesterday. 

He dismissed media reports that their mission to Daura 

was aimed at convincing the President to seek re-election in 

the forthcoming presidential election in 2019. 

He said the governors also used the opportunity to 

commend the president for appointing Asiwaju Bola 

Tinubu as APC Chief Mediator. 

The president had last week appointed Tinubu to 

reconcile aggrieved members of the party. 

“We are yet to discuss that. That would be in the next 

meeting where we will discuss whether we want to support 

him to run or not. 

“But for now we came on the issue of the death of his two 

relatives and to commend him for action taken on Tinubu as 

a conciliator,” he said. 

Also speaking on the outcome of the meeting, Gov. Tanko 

Al-Makura of Nasarawa, said they were in Daura to also 

sympathise with the president over the involvement of his 

son, Yusuf, in a ghastly auto-accident and the death of his 

two relatives. 

He described the appointment of Tinubu as APC chief 

mediator as a wonderful initiative by the President. 

“After the condolences, we had some very intimate 

discussions that further bound our relationships and 

affinity together and I believe this is a continuation of our 

closed association and support, loyalty and commitment to 

Mr President’s cause and Nigeria’s cause,” he said. 

World Bank approves $486m 

electricity facility for Nigeria 

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief 

THE World Bank has approved $486 million for 

the rehabilitation and upgrading of electricity 

transmission substations and lines, in Nigeria. 

According to the bank’s country office in Nigeria, 

the facility is an International Development Association 

(IDA) Credit which means it is concessionary, 

attracting low to zero interest. 

The bank said in a statement, “The investments under 

the Nigeria Electricity Transmission Project will 

increase the power transfer capacity of the transmission 

network and enable distribution companies supply 

consumers with additional power. 

“Together with other investments and policy 

measures, the project will contribute to ensuring 

adequate and reliable electricity supply that is 

necessary for Nigeria’s continued economic 

development. It will also support private sector 

participation, capacity development and better 

governance in Transmission Company of Nigeria and 

sector institutions.” 

This project is part of the Power Sector Recovery 

Program (PSRP) by the Federal Government, which 

is a comprehensive package of policy, legal, regulatory, 

operational and financial interventions that will restore 

the financial viability of power sector. 

Auctioning of vehicles not 

political — Uduaghan 

By Jeremiah Urowayino 

THE Delta State Commissioner for Transport, Mr. 

Vincent Uduaghan, has frowned at what he described 

as misconception attributed to the auctioning of 

unserviceable vehicles by the state government, noting that 

adequate information concerning the vehicles were made 

public. 

Uduaghan, made this known in an interview with 

journalists yesterday in Asaba. 

According to him, auctioning of unserviceable vehicles is 

constitutional, adding that all procedures required by law 

were considered before such auctioning was determined. 

He also emphasised on the essence of privatisation of 

Delta Line company, noting that the government in its desire 

to strengthen the operations of Delta Line took the bold 

step to divest 60% of her ownership in the company. 

His words:”Due process was followed by placing 

advertisement in national and state owned newspaper, 

calling on interested bidders or investors to indicate interest. 

The process was religiously followed to the letter, with the 

privatization process still on –going.

6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 

I’m excited about transformation 

in Bayelsa, says Obasanjo 

*Pays tribute to Akunyili, says others should emulate Governor Dickson 

FORMER President 

of Nigeria, Chief 

Olusegun Obasanjo and 

Governor of Bayelsa 

State, Hon. Seriake 

Dickson on Friday paid 

tributes to late Prof. Dora 

Akunyili, for her contributions 

towards the fight 

against counterfeit drugs 

in the country. 

Obasanjo spoke on Friday 

in Yenagoa during 

the commissioning of the 

Bayelsa State Drug Distribution 

Centre and other 

state -of-the-art health 

facilities in Yenagoa. 

While commending Governor 

Dickson for investing 

in the health sector , 

Obasanjo said the vision 

of the Governor was worthy 

of emulation. The 

former president also enrolled 

in the Bayelsa State 

ALL is set for the foundation 

laying ceremony 

of Azikel Refinery 

Project by former President, 

Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo in Yenagoa, 

Bayelsa State today. 

The licence for the refinery 

was approved in 2015 

by President Muhammadu 

Buhari shortly after 

assuming office, it was 

gathered. 

According to a statement 

issued by Corporate Affairs 

Services Department of 

Azikel Group and signed 

by its spokesperson, Mr. 

Austin Ebipade, the privately 

owned refinery 

which is 65% completed is 

expected to take off by 2019 

and would be the first of 

its kind in the country. 

The Azikel Refinery is 

managed by Azikel Petroleum 

Limited, a subsidiary 

of the Azikel Group, which 

is also in the business of 

Health Insurance 

Scheme, making him an 

honorary member. 

In a statement signed 

by the Chief Press Secretary 

to the Governor, 

Mr. Francis Ottah Agbo, 

said the former President 

commissioned the Bayelsa 

State Specialist Hospital, 

Drug Distribution 

Center and the World- 

Class Diagnostic Centre. 

Other projects commissioned 

include, the Gloryland 

Drive road at Igbogene, 

renamed as 

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo 

Drive as well as unveiling 

of the Government 

House Heliport, which is 

now known as King AP 

Diete Spiff Heliport. 

Chief Obasanjo who 

took a facility tour of the 

health projects, said he 

Dredging, Aviation and 

Power. On work done so 

far, the statement noted 

that the volume of accomplished 

task in the Phase I 

task referred to as the Outside 

Battery Limit (OSBL) 

and the Inside Battery Limit 

(ISBL) is about 65% completed. 

The refinery is situated 

on a 19.9 hectares 

of virgin swamp forest, that 

is waterlogged and below 

sea level. The swamp land 

had been sand filled and 

work has commenced. 

According to the President 

of the Group, Dr. Azibapu 

ERUANI, the refinery 

when completed would 

address the issue of persistent 

scarcity of refined 

products with the production 

of petrol, aviation fuel, 

kerosene and diesel. 

He said his belief in the 

role of the private sector in 

boosting the nation’s economic 

growth informed his 

was highly impressed by 

the level of commitment 

demonstrated by the 

Governor in providing 

world class health facilities 

and services to the 

citizenry. 

He also commended 

Governor Dickson for 

keying into the vision of 

the late Director General 

of NAFDAC, Prof Akunyili 

in the establishment 

of the Drug Mart and Distribution 

Center, noting 

that the facility would 

assist in curbing the menace 

of fake drugs and 

drug abuse. 

In his remarks, Governor 

Dickson said, as part 

of his administration’s 

revolutionary intervention 

in the health sector, 

government decided to 

expand quality health 

...launches Azikel Refinery Project 

decision to embark on the 

venture which is projected 

to create hundreds of jobs 

in and outside the Niger 

Delta region. Prominent 

Nigerians including foreign 

investors are already 

in Yenagoa for the event 

which is slated to start by 

11 am today. 

services to accommodate 

the average Bayelsan. 

Acknowledging the 

contributions of late Prof 

Akunyili, Governor Dickson 

assured that, he 

would continue to identify 

with any worthy cause 

aimed at promoting the 

health of the people. 

According to him, the 

state government decided 

to name one of the 

halls of the Drug Mart 

and Distribution Center 

after Prof. Akunyili as part 

of efforts at immortalising 

her. 

In their separate remarks, 

the Commissioner 

for Health, Prof. Ebitimitula 

Etebu and Managing 

Director of the 

Bayelsa Diagnostic Centre, 

Prof. Ifiemu Nwariaku, 

noted that the facilities 

have started providing 

world-class services 

before their inauguration. 

According to them, the 

Governor’s vision of turning 

Bayelsa to a health 

hub through medical 

tourism is being achieved 

as people from within 

and outside the state now 

patronise the facilities, 

which boast of cardiovascular, 

renal and stroke 

centres. 

Customer slaps female 

bank official for illegal 

deduction 

Dayo Johnson Akure 

FOR alleged illegal deduction from his account, 

a middle aged man yesterday stormed a commercial 

bank in Akure, the Ondo state capital and 

slapped a female banker. Not done, he reportedly 

snatched no fewer than five computers and counting 

machine in the banking hall. Business activities in 

the branch of the old generation bank were disrupted 

for almost one hour before police detectives arrived 

the scene. 

He was said to have stormed the bank at about 1pm 

and went straight to the customer care where he 

slapped the bank female official for the illegal deductions 

from his account with the bank. 

The female bank official was assaulted for not giving 

him the needed attention when he complained of 

the illegal deduction from his account. The drama 

instantly halted business transactions in the banking 

hall according to eyewitness account. 

Saturday Vanguard gathered that he complained 

loudly after assaulting the banker of constantly receiving 

debit alert on his account without any explanation 

from the bank. 

He was said to have ordered all the workers to vacate 

the bank before he caused more havoc. It was 

gathered that he shouted on top of his voice in the 

banking hall that “l will bring down this bank. Everybody 

should leave now. I am a citizen of the country, 

why will they deduct my money without explanation.. 

He reportedly brandished his international passport 

while complaining to all those present in the banking 

hall. Both the bank workers and customers fled to different 

direction as the customer went wild. Many of 

the bank workers and customers thought that he was 

acting a script that would prelude into a robbery operation. 

He reportedly attacked the bank’s security personnel 

who confronted him during the drama 

Sources said that a soldier who was in the banking 

hall while the drama was playing out approached him 

and pleaded with him to direct his grievances to the 

bank’s management but he reportedly shunned him. 

Zamfara massacre of 41: HURIWA lampoons Presidency, 

security forces 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

A 

Non-Governmental 

Organization, Human 

Rights Writers Association 

of Nigeria (HU- 

RIWA) has condemned 

the inability of all the nation’s 

security forces to 

put an end to the incessant 

mass genocide of villagers 

by freelance armed 

hoodlums in Zamfara 

State. 

The Rights group ac- 

cused the federal government 

of pursuing political 

correctness in tackling 

the persistent mass 

slaughter of innocent civilians 

in Zamfara State, 

adding that the President 

should have ordered the 

surgical and comprehensive 

law enforcement efforts 

to crush the growing 

number of well-armed 

militias operating in the 

State. In a statement 

made available to Saturday 

Vanguard, yesterday 

HURIWA insisted that 

there is already a comprehensive 

report of the cases 

of killings in Zamfara 

State put together by 

Committees set up by 

past administrations and 

whose reports made recommendations 

on the 

best way and far reaching 

mechanisms to bring 

to an end these senseless 

targeted killings of innocent 

Nigerians. 

HURIWA condemned 

the federal government 

for only decisively showing 

interest in launching 

intensive manhunt for 

the armed hoodlums only 

when cases of cattle rustling 

are involved and 

wondered why the special 

forces put together 

and inaugurated by the 

military camouflaged 

wearing President Muhammadu 

Buhari has 

failed to protect human 

lives first and foremost 

since the fundamental 

human rights to life is 

sacrosanct and inviolable.

Why I’m supporting Buhari — El-Rufai 

Ben Agande, Kaduna. 

THE governor of Kaduna 

state, Mallam Nasir 

El Rufai has said that his 

decision to support the reelection 

of President 

Muhammadu Buhari for a 

second term was not 

because he wanted to 

feather his political nest but 

because Buhari remained 

the best candidate at the 

moment. 

In an exclusive interview 

with Weekend Vanguard in 

Kaduna, governor El Rufai 

said majority of Nigerians 

were ready to re-elect him, 

adding that those who were 

opposed to President Buhari’s 

second term bid were 

either afraid of his anti corruption 

fight or saw him as 

a stumbling block to the realization 

of their own political 

ambitions. 

Mallam El Rufai’s position 

was conveyed by his spokesman, 

Samuel Aruwan. 

According to him, Nigerians 

generally are satisfied 

with the performance of the 

president and would give 

him their votes overwhelmingly 

when he seeks re-election 

in 2019. 

“I do not think it is right to 

say people are dissatisfied 

with Buhari. You can categorize 

people that are dissatisfied 

with Buhari into 

three or four categories: 

those in opposition, those 

who believe the president 

should not play their game, 

those who are corrupt and 

others who feel that Buhari 

is a stumbling block to the 

realization of their presidential 

ambition. 

“In 2010, El Rufai left Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

for the Congress for Progressive 

Change, CPC and 

when he joined CPC, his 

ambition was to support Buhari. 

He believed that Buhari 

had all that it took to 

move Nigeria forward. He 

believes in Buhari and as far 

as we are concerned, for 

now, Buhari remains the 

best candidate. It is not a 

cause we are pursuing to 

realize our ambition. It is 

about our confidence in Buhari. 

“Before Buhari lost the 

presidential election in 

2011, he made it clear that, 

that was likely going to be 

the last election that he 

would contest. It was El 

Rufai and others that mounted 

pressure on Buhari to 

reconsider his position. Buhari 

himself confirmed this 

publicly and he also said 

that he was the one that 

asked El Rufai to contest for 

VANGUARD, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 — 7 

the governorship election in 

2015. “El Rufai’s support 

has nothing to do with his 

personal interest. He feels 

that Buhari is the best bet 

for now” he said. 

Asked what Buhari could 

say were his achievements 

upon which he would anchor 

his 2019 campaign he 

said the president has tackled 

the security challenges 

in the country and has frontally 

tackled the issue of corruption. 

“Look at the issue 

of security. Everybody 

knows what the security situation 

was in the country 

before Buhari came on 

board. We have made tremendous 

success in the 

fight against terrorism and 

other insecurity challenges. 

“Then when you look at 

the anti corruption fight, 

despite the fact that a lot of 

people criticize the anti corruption 

fight, you cannot 

take away the fact that this 

government under the leadership 

of Buhari has done 

well. These are things that 

Nigerians are very proud 

and happy about” he said. 

On the letter from OBJ 

and IBB, said both the government 

and the APC hav 

replied to that and the responses 

from the two were 

sufficient 

No clear policies in award of 

oil, gas licenses — NNRC 

...Fiscal framework complex, 

unattractive to investors 

By Michael Eboh 

THE Nigerian Natural 

Resource Charter, 

NNRC, has disclosed that 

there were no clear policies 

in the award of oil and gas 

licenses in the Nigerian petroleum 

industry, stating 

that the decisions to award 

or deny licenses were determined 

by the prevailing socio-political 

environment. 

NNRC, in its 2017 Benchmarking 

Exercise Report, 

presented in Abuja, stated 

that bidders were only required 

to meet certain criteria 

before they progress to 

different stages of the licensing 

rounds, showing elements 

of pre-qualification. 

The report noted that 

though there is a commitment 

by the Federal Government 

to conducting 

open, transparent and competitive 

bidding for licenses, 

the minister of petroleum 

resources possesses 

and still uses discretion. 

It said, “Licensing processes 

are delayed and 

oversight institutions are 

relatively weak and ineffective. 

There are frameworks 

for monitoring of operations 

but these are not effective.” 

The report also lamented 

that the fiscal framework for 

the oil and gas sector remained 

complex and limits 

government ability to collect 

all the revenue due to her. 

According to the report, 

the fiscal terms are contained 

in legislations but several 

are negotiated separately 

into contracts with incentives 

that is a deviation from the 

overriding legislations 

It said, “The fiscal regime 

is not simple. It is characterized 

by self-assessment, 

upfront declaration, varied 

tax rates depending on the 

status of the company, depth 

of operations and terms that 

are not uniform. The tax 

administrators have capacity 

but are limited in number 

and not well resourced considering 

the complexity of 

the fiscal regime and the 

need to carry out tax audit 

after tax return filings. 

“The country has exited 

the JVAs due to the funding 

challenge making the 

payment of cash calls difficult. 

The stalemate relating 

to the 1993 MOUs still persists 

and government is not 

able to collect taxes commensurate 

to the increase 

and in the MOU having exceeded 

the 15-year mark.” 

Amosun has transformed health 

sector — APC chairman 

By Daud Olatunji, Abeokuta 

THE Ogun State Chairman of the All Progressives Con 

gress, Tajudeen Lemboye, has commended the State 

Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun over what he called 

the radical transformation in the state’s health sector . 

Lemboye said the development was as a result of the 

commitment and conviction of the Governor that a healthy 

society is a wealthy society. 

He said this at Maun, Ipokia local government area of 

the state during the commissioning of an ultra modern 

Maternity Centre, built by a former lawmaker, Abiodun 

Akinlade. The APC Chairman who led other members of 

the state executive to the commissioning said quality and 

affordable healthcare was a major tenet in the ruling party’s 

manifesto. 

According to him, the Mother-Child mortality rate has 

greatly reduced in the state, adding that hospitals in the 

state were being renovated and provisions for drugs and 

other amenities have greatly increased. 

Commending Akinlade, who is a leading governorship 

aspirant on the platform of APC, the party chairman said 

Akinlade was walking in the footsteps of Amosun by personally 

establishing a maternity centre for the people. 

In his speech, Akinlade who represented Yewa South/ 

Ipokia federal constituency in the National Assembly, said 

he decided to build the maternity centre in Fanju, Maun, to 

ensure the immediate and quick access to healthcare. 

Iyase of Benin tasks FG, Govs to 

build more skill acquisition centres 

By SIMON EBEGBULEM 

THE Iyase of Benin kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe has 

called on the Federal and state governments and 

wealthy Nigerians to make the building of skill acquisition 

centers a priority so as to check the rising rate of 

unemployment in Nigeria. 

Chief Igbe who is the traditional Prime Minister of 

Benin Kingdom, made the appeal during a press conference 

to herald the graduation of some students from 

a skill acquisition center operated by an NGO, Centre 

for Edo-Delta Development Initiative in Benin City. 

He described as alarming the national Bureau of statistics 

report that about 7.5 million Nigerians lost their 

employment between January 2016 and December 30, 

2017, adding that the trend was a threat to the continual 

existence of the nation. 

Chief Igbe a retired Commissioner of police said with 

the support of the Board of Grand Beacons under his 

leadership such as the former Minister of state for works 

Engr. Chris Ogiemwonyi, Chief Joe Asien Ogbebor and 

Architect Nosasu Omoregbee Edign the ¨centre has been 

able to respond to the falling standard of education by 

creating three skill acquisition centers in Benin City for 

barbing, tailoring, catering and event management, hairdressing, 

and 3d interior decoration which is training 

Nigerians free of charge. 

¨So Government at all levels must build more of skill 

acquisition centers to check unemployment rate, where 

young people can acquire meaningful skills to take advantage 

of the so called local content initiative of the 

federal government¨. 

2019 Presidency: Group stages 

rally in Warri for Okorocha 

*Vows to take campaign to other states 

A 

S the political intrigues develop ahead of the 

2019 presidential election, a new group, Intelligent 

Movement Forum for Rochas, IMFR, which 

has over 5,000 members, recently staged a rally 

across major streets in the oil city of Warri, Delta 

State, calling on the Imo State Governor, Owelle 

Rochas Okorocha, to run for the 2019 Presidency. 

Members of IMFR, led by its President, Olodia 

Orevaoghene marched round major streets of Warri 

such as Odibo, Deco, Hausa Quarters, Warri 

Sapele Road, Okere Road, Ginuwa and Ometan, 

singing as well as dancing in solidarity for the Imo 

State Governor who has publicly declared that only 

President Buhari’s return bid in 2019 could delay 

his presidential ambition. 

President of IMFR for Rochas, Orevaoghene who 

addressed newsmen shortly after the two-hour rally, 

vowed that the campaign will be extended to 

other parts of the country, starting from neighbouring 

Edo, Bayelsa and Anambra states. 

While stressing that the group will extend its 

dragnet to co-opt more members, Orevaoghene 

noted that his vision for Rochas’ presidency was 

nurtured a couple of years ago as a result of the 

vibrancy, intelligence and young age of the twotime 

Imo State Governor.


We’ll stage 10m man protest march 

against FG – PDP Youth Vanguard 

IT was another joyful 

day for members and 

friends of Inri Evangelical 

Spiritual Church, 

Oke-Afa, Lagos, as the 

General Overseer, Primate 

Elijah Babatunde 

Ayodele, dazzled them 

with gifts and mouth-watering 

auction sales. 

On Wednesday, February 

14, in the spirit of Valentine’s 

day, gift items 

worth over N10million 

such as Toyota SUV, Honda 

car among other items 

were given away in a 

Bazaar sales held at the 

church premises, Oke- 

Afa, Lagos. 

A church member got as 

much as N250,000 just as 

the Toyota SUV and Hon- 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

ONE of the sundry 

groups drumming 

support for the Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP), 

the PDP Youth Vanguard 

has said that the groupwould 

organise a ten-million 

man march nationwide 

to protest against 

the mindless killings recorded 

in some parts of 

the country a few weeks 

ago, amongst sundry ills 

plaguing the Nigerian 

state. 

The group argued that 

the ruling All Progressives 

Congress (APC) 

rode on the wings of anticorruption 

to power, but 

regrettably engaged in a 

selective anti-graft war 

involving members of the 

PDP like former Jigawa 

State Governor, Sule Lamido, 

ex-Federal Capital 

Territory Minister, Bala 

Mohammed and Chief 

Raymond Dokpesi . 

At a press conference at 

the party’s national secretariat 

in Abuja, national 

coordinator of the 

group, Ibrahim Bala Aboki, 

called on government 

to accord the party some 

respect even as it condemned 

the handling of 

the trial of its immediate 

past National Publicity 

Secretary, Olisa Metuh. 

He said that Dr. Goodluck 

Jonathan deserved 

huge respect for ensuring 

smooth transition in 

2015. “Every right thinking 

Nigerian and members 

of the international 

community have applauded 

the modest disposition 

of the former 

President for conceding 

defeat to the APC even 

before the last count of the 

election results. 

“The PDP National 

Youth Vanguard in collaboration 

with all PDPfriendly 

NGOs and Civil 

Society Organizations 

have scheduled to hold a 

10-million man march to 

protest the lackadaisical 

attitude of the APC government 

to the killings 

across the country, nepotism, 

hunger and starvation, 

resurgence of long 

queues in our filling stations 

and the obvious persecution 

of opposition 

leaders/political parties 

by the APC government 

in the name of fighting 

corruption,” Aboki said. 

“We are astonished to 

watch the so called fight 

against corruption by the 

ruling APC. While many 

leaders and members of 

the PDP are in different 

courts on account of several 

frivolous charges of 

corruption, President Buhari 

is cohabiting and 

pardoning all members of 

his cabinet that are involved 

in illegalities. 

“The case of the former 

Secretary to the Government 

of the Federation 

(SGF), Mr. Babachir Lawal 

is still very fresh in 

our memory. He was indicted 

by Senate Committee 

on two occasions 

but President Buhari in a 

letter signed by him, 

cleared Babachir of all 

charges without allowing 

the Security Agencies to 

investigate and prosecute 

him in line with the constitution 

of Nigeria. 

“The same President 

Buhari after several 

showdowns from the Senate 

reluctantly set up a 

commission of inquiry, 

chaired by the Vice President, 

Yemi Osinbajo, to 

investigate Babachir and 

the money found at Osborne 

Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. 

The committee sat, investigated 

and came up with 

recommendations, but it 

took the President more 

than three months to comply 

with the recommendations 

of this Committee,” 

it added. 

From right: Senator Shehu Sani, Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima, Sen. Adamu Aliero, 

Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki and Leader of the Senate, Sen. Ahmad Lawan 

during a condolence visit by the Senate President to the family of a former Secretary 

to the Government of the Federation (SGF), late Alhaji Gidado Idris, in Abuja on 

Thursday. 

Primate Ayodele dazzles members, friends in 

special bazaar sales 

da car were given out for 

N20,000 and N6,000 respectively. 

While some police officers 

were rewarded with 

cash gifts for their commitment 

to security of 

lives and property in the 

area, other beneficiaries 

including the Editor and 

publisher of City People, 

Mr Seye Kehinde were 

also given some items at 

the occasion. 

Speaking to journalists 

after the event, Primate 

Ayodele said it was done 

in the spirit of love and 

care for members of the 

society. 

In his national spiritual 

message at the occasion, 

Primate Ayodele 

said that the Lord has revealed 

to him that Nigerians 

will sing if President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

gets back to office for a 

second term but urged 

the President to step 

down for younger politicians 

such as the Senate 

President Bukola Saraki. 

Explaining why he mentioned 

Saraki, he stated 

that the Senate President 

would give Nigeria a big 

surprise and consolidate 

on the achievements of 

the President if he becomes 

the President of 

Nigeria. 

He reiterated his position 

on Buhari’s government 

having a tough dispensation 

in his fight 

against corruption. 

“I had said earlier that 

fighting corruption is a 

very difficult task, yet it 

is something we must do 

to get the nation properly 

on its feet. But in doing 

that, corruption will 

fight back and the way it 

is fighting back presently 

is different. It is not 

fighting back because it 

knows it has the right to 

exist in the life of Nigeria; 

but it is fighting back 

because it just does not 

like the face of the man 

fighting him. This is the 

only President in 33 years 

of our history to fight corruption 

with resilience,” 

he stated. 

One dead as tricycle 

crashes into truck in Aba 

By UGOCHUKWU ALARIBE 

TRAGEDY struck at Ogbor Hill, Aba, yesterday 

when a tricycle crashed into a truck on Umuola 

road, killing one person. 

Eyewitnesses told Saturday Vanguard that the 

truck with number plate, XD 229 GDD, broke down 

at the Ikonne street junction, Umuola road, at about 

10pm when the tricycle rider, who was speeding 

without lamp, crashed into it. Two persons sustained 

severe injuries while another died on the way to 

the hospital. 

A resident of the area, James Chibueze , said the 

tricycle rider switched off his lights to escape arrest 

from Policemen on patrol enforcing the directive by 

the State government to tricycle riders to stop 

operation by 7pm. 

IDPs relief materials 

diverted for commercial 

purposes in Bauchi 

By Suzan Edeh 

NINE people have been arrested by the Bau 

chi State Police Command in connection with 

diverting and re-baging grains meant for distribution 

to the various IDPs camps in the State. 

The State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP 

Kamal Datti Abubakar, who confirmed the arrest, 

also disclosed that 50Kg of 600 bags of millet were 

equally recovered from the suspects, who are currently 

being interrogated to determine the levels of 

their involvement in the criminal act. 

Kamal Abubakar assured that as soon as all investigations 

were completed, all those found culpable 

would be prosecuted according to the laws of 

the land, describing the act as nothing but sabotage. 

Investigations revealed that the grains were discovered 

in a store house somewhere in Tirwun village 

being re-bagged for sale to unsuspecting members 

of the public. 

Imo police shoot teargas 

at protesters, Journalists 

SCORES of protesters, journalists, yesterday, 

took cover, after they were fired with teargas 

by Imo police officers. The protesters, youths of 

Umuchima in Ihiagwa community in Owerri west 

local government area of the state, blocked the gate 

of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, 

FUTO. Among those who ran away to save their 

lives were Journalists, who came for a coverage of 

the demonstration. It all started when the police 

were trying to disperse the protesters who were at 

the FUTO’s gate, protesting alleged take over of 

their land by the institution. 

According the Youth Chairman, who led the protesters, 

Mr. Iheanacho Amanze, he said: “We are 

protesting because FUTO, management took over 

our remaining land called water front. There was 

never a time they acquired this land. The most painful 

part of this story is that they have about five 

dredging machines on that land. They are now 

dredging sand from that our land. “They asked us 

to vacate from that land given to us by our forefathers, 

so that they will continue the business of 

dredging of sand.” 

Enugu Miracle Convention 2018: 

Uma Ukpai, Emma Isong, Zilly 

Aggrey, others to Minister 

THE President of Uma Ukpai Evangelistic As 

sociation Incorporated, Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai 

alongside Bishop Emmah Gospel Isong, Rev. Ntia 

I. Ntia, Apostle Prince Zilly Aggrey, Rev. Amb. Pastor 

(Mrs.) Chimaobi Aninwene and Rev. Amb. Don 

Odunze will minister at the 2018, Enugu Miracle 

Convention. 

The Enugu Miracle Convention with the theme, 

‘Overtaking the World with the Word’ will begin from 

the 4th of March to the 11th of March 2018 at the 

Newspring Christian Redemption Church Worldwide, 

Headquarters. This will hold at 8 Moses Ogbodo 

Street, Topland Amechi Road, Enugu in Enugu 

State. 

According to the General Overseer and Senior 

Pastor, Rev. Amb. Chimaobi Aninwene, the theme 

was informed by the need to stir up a revival in the 

body of Christ and in our nation Nigeria. He added 

that the speakers lined up for the miracle convention 

were carefully chosen because of the grace of 

God upon them and also to bring about the revival 

in the church and a revolution in our nation Nigeria.


10—SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 

VOTERS REGISTRATION: 

Anger, frustrations 

trail exercise 

•Prof Yakubu, INEC 

Since the commencement of the 

Voters Registration Exercise, it 

has been complaints galore across 

the country. In some parts of the 

country, the exercise has been 

smooth with enough registration machines 

and adequate manpower to ensure seamless 

registration. But in other areas there were 

allegations of deliberate acts to 

disenfranchise some sections of the country 

with inadequate deployment of staff and 

registration machines. The Independent 

National Electoral Commission staff who 

have been deployed to registration centres 

also have their issues with the exercise. 

Saturday Vanguard went to town to feel 

the pulse of the prospective voters on how 

the registration exercise has been so far. 

ANAMBRA: 

Poor turnout despite huge publicity 

By Vincent Ujumadu 

The Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, commenced the 

continuous voters registration (CVR) at 

INEC offices in all the 21 local government 

areas and other designated centres in 

Anambra State on Monday, but the 

response has not been encouraging. 

A visit to some of the designated places for 

the exercise showed that even though the 

materials were available, there were 

hardly people to attend to. Some of the INEC 

staff told Saturday Vanguard that they 

were not happy at the turnout despite the 

publicity given to the exercise. 

However, indications emerged mid week 

that some politicians with eye on elective 

positions in 2019, have started mobilizing 

people in the various communities, 

especially those who have attained the age 

of 18 years, to participate in the ongoing 

exercise. 

The head of voter education and INEC 

media and publicity secretary in Anambra 

State, Mr. Leo Ikedife said the exercise would 

last from Monday to Friday between 9am- 

3pm. 

According to him, eligible voters who had 

not registered during the previous 

registration exercises and those who just 

attained the age of 18 years should avail 

themselves the opportunity and get 

registered. 

Also targeted were those who had lost their 

permanent voters cards and those whose 

cards were defaced and spoiled or those with 

incorrect spellings and particulars to use 

the opportunity to correct such anomalies. 

Similarly, Ikedife said, people who were 

transferred from where they registered 

before should visit the registration centers 

and have their data transferred to their new 

places of residence or work. 

NIGER: 

Turnout of eligible voters 

encouraging 

By Wole Mosadomi 

The turnout for voters 

registration by eligible voters 

in Niger state had been very 

encouraging as evident by the 

total number of people 

already registered across the 

state. 

So far, a total number of 

95,434 eligible voters have 

been captured while their 

Permanent Voters Card, 

(PVC) were being processed. 

A breakdown of the 

registration showed that out 

of the total numbers 

registered, 61,687 were 

males while 33,747 were 

females. 

When our Correspondent 

visited the different 

Registration Centres 

including those located at the 

Eastern bypass, Tunga and 

Low cost area of Minna, the 

state capital, more eligible 

Voters were seen trooping out 

to register without stress as INEC officials 

were on hand carrying out their official 

duties with utmost efficiency as the 

materials for the exercise were readily 

available. 

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, 

Professor Sam Egwu in an interview said 

the turnout by eligible 

voters had been very 

encouraging but lamented 

the inability of some of those 

already registered to come 

back and collect their PVC. 

According to him, “many 

people have come out to 

register but they have failed 

to come back and collect their 

Permanent Voters Card, 

(PVC). 

This set of people should 

realise that their civic 

responsibility does not end on 

mere registration but 

collecting the PVC and 

voting which is the most 

important and they should 

therefore come back to 

collect their cards 

immediately to qualify 

them to vote.” 

One of the prospective 

voters who registered, 

Amina Abdullahi in an 

interview said,”I am 

convinced that the only weapon I have is 

my voters card and that is why I have 

decided to come out for the registration as a 

first step to vote and I am satisfied with the 

exercise.” 

Continues on pg 11

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018—11 

By Umar Yusuf 

The continuous voters registration 

exercise commenced in Adamawa State on 

the 8th of January 2018 in all the Local 

Governments, except in Madagali and 

Michika where insurgency has prevented 

the commencement of the exercise. The 

Resident Electoral Commissioner, REC in 

the state, Barrister Kassim Geidam had at 

a stakeholders meeting in Yola expressed 

regret that failure to collect Permanent 

Voters Card PVC had been one of the major 

problems confronting the Commission. 

According to him, about 127,380 PVC 

which were printed before the 2015 general 

Elections had not been collected, even as he 

announced that the Commission registered 

132,123 voters last year, and 22,668 as at 

January this year. Most of the INEC offices 

in the state capital were always besieged by 

prospective voters who wanted to register. 

Some of the prospective voters who spoke to 

Vanguard said although the exercise was a 

little bit strenuous, they had been 

registering to vote. 

Continues from pg 12 

Another eligible voter at the Eastern 

bypass registration Centre, Peter Nwankwo 

said,”I am fulfilled with the registration and 

I will surely vote next year especially if I am 

still in Minna and I have also directed my 

wife to come and register too and she has 

done that. 

NASARAWA: 

Prospective voters lament 

insufficient machines, registration 

centres, staff 

By David Odama 

Prospective voters in Nasarawa state have 

decried insufficient registration machines, 

registration centers and INEC staff to attend 

to them. 

Speaking to weekend vanguard on the 

state of the ongoing voters registration in 

the state, some stakeholders expressed 

apprehension over the exercise saying 

qualified voters would be disenfranchised 

in the 2019 general election if proactive 

measures were not deployed by INEC to 

address the challenges being faced in the 

state. 

The state chairman of the major 

opposition party in the state, Barrister 

Francis Orogu maintained that inadequate 

deployment of machines, insufficient 

registration centers and the attitude of INEC 

staff were the major factors impeding the 

exercise in state. 

According to him, more centers, machines 

and manpower should be deployed to the 

state so as to contend with the huge turn 

out of voters for the exercise. 

Also speaking, some residents in the state 

alleged that prospective voters trooped out 

as early as 4am to queue to be registered for 

days with out succeeding. 

According to pastor Godwin Ngaji and a 

retired civil servant, Jerry Peleng, INEC 

should create more centers as well as deploy 

more machines and manpower to reduce 

the hardship being encountered by the 

people. 

Reacting, the INEC administrative 

secretary in the state, Opaleke shola 

Otolorin disclosed that a total of 29 data 

capturing machines have been deployed to 

the state with 7 allocated to Karu and Lafia 

in view of its dense population. According to 

him, over 1.15m voters have been 

registered since the commencement of the 

exercise in the state. He said that two 

machines have been deployed to each local 

government and were being used on 

rotational basis to fast track the exercise and 

to meet the urgent need of the voters in the 

state. While admitting the challenges of 

meeting the expectations of the people, 

Otolorin explained that a total of 100,762 

voters were captured last year while 11,170 

persons have been registered between 

January 1 and 19th 2018. 

Otolorin who urged the prospective voters 

to avail themselves of the commission’s 

commitment at ensuring that Nigerians 

were given the opportunity to chose their 

leaders in 2019, assured that more 

proactive measures were being put in place 

to ensure a hitch free registration exercises 

in the state. 

ONDO: 

Inadequate manpower to cope with 

Voters Registration: 

Anger, frustrations 

trail exercise 

turnout 

By Dayo Johnson 

The on going INEC voters’ registration 

exercise across Ondo state was without 

hitch. Findings showed that the turn out 

was impressive. The commission’s staff 

were at their duty posts attending to the 

people who trooped to the centres. 

On the availability of materials, the staff 

said they had more than enough to work 

with. However the staff were inadequate in 

some registration points visited. Some of 

those spoken with requested that more 

hands should be employed to join the 

commission’s staff to quicken the exercise. 

The staff equally said that the number of 

prospective voters who were trooping to the 

centres for registration were more than 

what they expected. 

OYO: 

Lack of publicity on registration 

centres 

By Ola Ajayi 

Eligible voters in Oyo 

State have lamented 

inadequate publicity about 

registration points in the 

ongoing registration of 

voters for the 2019 general 

elections. Most of the voters 

who were willing to register 

wandered from one place to 

the other in search of where 

registration points are 

located in Ibadan metropolis. 

According to Adegboye 

Elegbeleye, a computer 

scientist, apart from 

educated ones who know 

they can go to INEC office to 

find out, most people were 

at a loss on where they were 

to register. 

Sunday Ajayi, a 

professional photographer 

said several eligible voters 

were yet to register in Oyo 

because they could not 

locate registration centres. 

Speaking on the issue, the 

INEC Head of Public Affairs, 

Mr Ayodele Folami said since 

April 2017 to date about 

170,601 eligible voters 

have been registered. 

He said that 18 local 

governments in the state 

have two registration units 

each, while the remaining 

councils have one each. 

For the 18 councils that 

Eligible voters in 

Oyo State have 

lamented 

inadequate 

publicity about 

registration points 

in the ongoing 

registration of 

voters for the 

2019 general 

elections. Most of 

the voters who 

were willing to 

register wandered 

from one place to 

the other in 

search of where 

registration points 

are located in 

Ibadan metropolis 

have two units each, he said, there was one 

permanent registration unit at INEC office 

in the councils while the other one moved 

about to register voters. 

As for the remaining councils which have 

one registration unit each, he explained 

that since it was only one, the unit had to be 

moved from one place to the other. 

OGUN: 

Anger, frustration greet voters 

registration 

By Daud Olatunji 

In Ogun state, many residents who were 

unable to collect their Permanent Voters 

Cards after they had been registered have 

expressed anger accusing INEC officials of 

frustrating their efforts. Those who were 

yet to register frowned at the nonchalant 

attitude of officials of the commission for 

keeping them waiting for long hours 

without being registered. 

A resident, Akorede Adewale said “I am 

not happy at all, in fact, I 

don’t know what is wrong 

with the INEC officials 

here. I have stayed here 

for over four hours and 

they did not attend to us. 

The INEC officials here 

are lazy and are not ready 

to do the job given to 

them. I am appealing to 

the government to find a 

solution to this, because 

this is the third time I will 

be coming here and I have 

not been able to register 

for my voter’s card. 

Also recounting his 

ordeals, Rilwan Ogunlade 

said “I have been coming 

here for five days now and 

these people have not 

attended to me, they are 

only registering the 

people they know 

regardless of those they 

met on ground. Because 

we do not know anybody, 

we were left in the sun, 

while INEC officials were 

attending to their 

relatives and friends, 

honestly, 

the 

government should look 

into this registration 

anomaly”. 

ADAMAWA: 

INEC decries failure 

to collect printed PVCs 

ZAMFARA: 

Prospective voters spend 

days at centres 

By John Gabriel 

Since the commencement of voters’ 

registration in Zamfara state, the turn out 

by the eligible voters was very impressive 

as both the old and young who have turned 

18 years and above have continued to troop 

into the registration centres across the state 

in order to be registered in preparation for 

the 2019 elections. 

However, at the initial commencement 

of voters’ registration in the state sometimes 

last year, people were faced with inadequate 

registration machines to cater for the 

teaming growing population in the state. 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission ( INEC) immediately swung 

into action, provided additional six 

registration machines leading to the 

establishment of six new voters’ registration 

centres across the 14 local government 

areas in the state. Interestingly, during 

vanguard’s visit to some voters’ registration 

centres, the electorates trooped out en mass 

to be registered, but there were still 

complaints of inadequate registration 

machines. 

In Bardoki in Gummi local government 

for example, over 100 persons were on 

queue awaiting registration which started 

as early as 8.00am. Some prospective 

voters who were interviewed said most of 

them came to the centre as early as 4.00am 

in order to be attended to early when the 

INEC officials would resume at 8.00am. 

According to Mallam Shuaibu Ademu, the 

INEC voters’ registration centre in the area 

had only one registration machine which 

was not enough for majority of voters who 

were eager to be registered. As a result, some 

voters kept coming to the centre for days 

before they could be registered. 

He said, “This centre attracts so many 

people because of the large number of people 

in the area. The only registration machine 

cannot capture all voters same day. Some 

people sleep or go back to their houses only 

to return the following day but could not be 

registered. This has created a lot of 

difficulties for the people in the area. You 

come to the registration centre with the hope 

that you will register and go back to your 

place of business only to spend a whole day 

without being registered. 

A female prospective voter, Hadiza Salisu 

said she spent N500 for transportation to 

the registration centre only to get 

disappointed, due to inadequate machine. 

She said some people who came for 

registration last week and could not be 

attended to, had accident the following day 

when they made similar attempt to come 

early to the centre at 4.00am only to run 

into some kidnappers who blocked the road 

and in attempt to reverse, their car collided 

with another vehicle leading to the death of 

all occupants in the vehicle. She told 

vanguard that besides inadequate 

registration machines in the area, they were 

also faced with shortage of INEC staff to 

attend to the people. She said the few INEC 

officials were insufficient to register voters 

as they quickly got tired and once it’s official 

closing hour, they would lock their office. 

In Mada Gusau local government voters’ 

registration centre, Mohammed Yunisa 




who said he came to meet some people at 

the centre at 4.30 am in the morning, 

told Saturday Vanguard that sometimes, 

the registration machine would break 

down and once that happened, all 

prospective voters would either wait or go 

home to come back the following day 

because only one machine was available 

at each centre. “Some of us have spent quite 

some days here. We are determined to be 

registered in order to be qualified to vote in 

the coming elections. That is why we left 

all we need to do to ensure that we first 

register. INEC officials are attending to us, 

but again, they don’t work beyond official 

hour.,” Yunisa said. 

There were also complaints from the 

commission’s staff. Those who spoke to 

Saturday Vanguard on condition of 

anonymity said in addition to being 

overstressed, they had not been paid any 

allowance since the beginning of the 

registration exercise even as they spent a 

lot of money on transportation. 

He said the illiteracy level of many 

prospective voters was also a problem to 

the staff. According to him, “most of these 

voters coming for registration don’t 

understand English. We have to explain 

to them, teach them and monitor the 

entire process to avoid making error that 

could lead to invalidation of cards. 

Sometimes, the impatient ones tried to 

create atmosphere for unnecessary 

disturbance. When such was observed, we 

would leave everything we were doing in 

order to calm the situation.” 

BENUE: 

Youths attack INEC officials 

By Peter Duru 

The ongoing continuous voters’ 

registration in the Wadata area of Makurdi 

town has been halted by the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, INEC, 

following the harassment of registration 

officials by the youths of the area. 

This was made known on Thursday by 

the INEC Head of Voter Education and 

Publicity, Mr. Emmanuel Okpe at the 

Commission’s headquarters in Makurdi. 

Okpe said security operatives had been 

alerted on the development while efforts 

were ongoing to address the matter to allow 

for the smooth conduct of the exercise in 

the area. 

According to Okpe, “we do not know why 

they resorted to harassing our officials but 

for their safety we have stopped the 

exercise in the area. At the moment we 

are planing to hold a stakeholders meeting 

to have the matter addressed before the 

exercise will continue in the area. 

Despite that development, the exercise 

has been going on 

smoothly in all the 

centres across the 23 local 

government areas of the 

state. 

“There is however 

pressure on our workers 

because of the massive 

turn out which was a 

function of the aggressive 

enlightenment 

campaign we undertook 

before 

the 

commencement of the 

exercise. 

“In Makurdi we have 

two centres in Wadata 

and Wurukum and 

another mobile centre 

while in other local 

government areas the 

number of centres is 

determined by the size of 

the area. 

“All our officials are on 

ground in all the local 

government areas and so 

far we do not have 

problems except the issue 

at Wadata that I 

mentioned earlier. 

“Another problem we 

have in Makurdi is that 

some persons who had 

voters cards are still 

coming out to register 

thinking that the cards 

they had were being 

phased out but we have 

taken time to inform 

The illiteracy level 

of many 

prospective voters 

was also a 

problem to the 

staff. According to 

him, “most of 

these voters 

coming for 

registration don’t 

understand 

English. We have 

to explain to them, 

teach them and 

monitor the entire 

process to avoid 

making error that 

could lead to 

invalidation of 

cards 

Voters Registration: Anger, 

frustrations trail exercise 

them that the exercise is not for those with 

valid voters cards.” Okpe added. 

On the figure of newly registered voters, 

Okpe said the figure was not readily 

available assuring that it would be made 

public in no distant time. When Vanguard 

visited the resignation point at the LGEA 

Primary School Wurukum, Makurdi, large 

number of prospective registrants were seen 

making efforts to register. 

ENUGU: 

Voters’ registration encouraging 

By Dennis Agbo 

Since the Continuous Voters Registration, 

CVR, commenced last year, there have been 

continuous sensitisation and mobilisation of 

residents in Enugu state on the need for 

participation in the exercise. 

The mobilisation was a joint efforts by the 

INEC, the state and local government 

councils, the civil 

society groups and 

political pressure 

groups. 

Some councils, it was 

learnt, were 

considering helping 

INEC to move the 

registration round the 

communities in the 

hinterlands. 

Expectedly, all the 

efforts have paid off as 

INEC said that Enugu 

state is ranked fourth in 

PVC registration in the 

country. 

The state Resident 

E l e c t o r a l 

Commissioner, REC, 

Mr. Emeka 

Ononamadu said the 

result of the 

registration was 

encouraging in Enugu 

state, adding however 

that more people 

should be encouraged 

to come out and collect 

their PVCs still in the 

custody of the 

Commission. 

Ononamadu said 

“We recorded 

increased collection of 

PVC during the period, 

although I do not have 

the actual number 

collected on my table; 

but it was quite substantial compared to the 

collection rate before then. The commission 

also received a lot of request on relocation/ 

transfer of PVC voting-point from one 

location outside and within the state to the 

rural communities. Again, INEC staff were 

able to answer most questions bothering the 

minds of the rural people on the electoral 

process.” 

PLATEAU: 

Strategy adopted to cope with large 

turnout 

By Marie-Therese Nanlong 

The Continuous Voters’ Registration 

exercise in Plateau State in all the 34 Centres 

across the 17 Local Government Areas of 

the State recorded an impressive turn out. 

In order to cope with the development, 

the Head of Department, Voters Education 

and Publicity, Osaretin Imahiyereobo told 

Saturday Vanguard that the Commission 

had to adopt a strategy to ensure the work 

was done. 

He said, “a rotation arrangement was put 

in place with our staff moving from one 

Registration Area to the other to ensure the 

process is seamless. However, the 

Commission’s staff are always on duty from 

9 am to 3pm Monday through Friday except 

on public holidays and the process involves 

registering new registrants, inter and intra 

transfers, PVC distribution, PVC incidents 

whether defaced, lost, omission or 

correction. The Commission, Imahiyereobo 

said could not give the exact number of the 

people who have been registered so far as 

there were cases of multiple registrations 

which need to be addressed. 

ABIA: 

INEC embarks on aggressive 

enlightenment 

By Anayo Okoli. 

In Abia State the continuous voters 

registration exercise has witnessed an 

encouraging turnout of eligible voters in 

many of the centres. Also, the State INEC 

has been on aggressive enlightenment 

campaign involving town hall meetings 

where the Resident Electoral Commissioner, 

Dr. Joseph usually addressed the 

stakeholders of the various communities 

stressing the need for their people to be 

encouraged to register. 

Besides, the State INEC has taken air time 

in the state radio station where its staff 

further enlightened the people on the need 

to be part of the ongoing exercise. 

Again, the State government has 

mandated its officers to always mobilize their 

people and encourage them to go and register. 

The Government is also sponsoring various 

jingles on its radio station to encourage 

eligible voters to go regi ster. 

BORNO: 

73,000 PVCs unclaimed 

due to insurgency 

By Ndahi Marama 

In Borno state, it was the same story of 

enthusiasm on the part of prospective voters 

who turned out to register. At INEC 

Maiduguri Office situated along Maiduguri- 

Damboa- Bih road, it was observed that 

many people mostly students, women and 

youths were on queue and shunting to get 

registered, while the INEC staff including ad 

hoc ones were busy attending to them. Same 

thing happened in some of the IDP camps 

and host communities where INEC staff had 

to move from ward to ward attending to those 

who couldn’t register. 

In an interview with Member representing 

Hawul Local Government Area at the Borno 

State House of Assembly, Hon. Ayuba 

Wakawa, he expressed satisfaction with the 

large turn-out of eligible voters in the 

ongoing Continuous Voters Registration 

(CVR) being conducted by the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, INEC. He 

said the massive turn out and the 

cooperation by the people showed that 

sensitization and enlightenment which was 

carried out before and during the exercise 

have yielded a positive result, as majority of 

people will now be able to vote in the next 

general elections. 

The Administrative Secretary of INEC in 

the state, Abdulhamid Buba said a total of 

20, 042 PVCs were distributed by the 

electoral commission in 2017 with 

additional ones being issued this year. He 

added that “since the flagging off of this voters’ 

registrations exercise in Borno state, the 

electoral commission registered 47, 572 new 

voters, while it replaced 8, 105 PVCs.” 

He said that the commission also 

transferred 731 cases on account of 

relocations from the primary registrations 

in the state. He said last year, a total of 73, 

233 unclaimed PVCs were identified, 

because of deaths or missing persons during 

the eight-year Boko Haram insurgency in 

the state. 

KWARA: 

Low turnout of prospective voters 

By Demola Akinyemi 

In Kwara state, the ongoing Voters 

Registration Exercise has largely been 

greeted with apathy. While some residents 

claimed that they were not aware of the 

exercise, others said they didn’t know the 

registration centres and when they were 

advised to go to their local government, they 

were unwilling because of the distance. 

But the INEC Public Relations Officer in 

Kwara state Barrister Jacob Ayanda was 

surprised about the residents’ claim that 

they were not aware, saying that the 

electoral body has a weekly programme on 

the state owned Kwara TV and other 

privately owned Radio stations in the state 

capital such as Alubarika and Sobi FM Radios 

where campaigns for the exercise were being 

made 

He added that at the local government 

level, INEC has staff who have been 

designated to educate the people at various 

community meetings. 

He said 3,518 people have been newly 

registered across the state as at January 25, 

2018 while those whose PVCS were ready 

had been reluctant to collect same. “3,623 

people have collected their PVCs while we 

still have 238,446 with us, people should 

please come and collect their PVCto enable 

them perform their civic responsibility”, he 

added. 

The INEC spokesman, however seemed not 

to be disturbed about the people’s apathy 

saying that “it’s an exercise that will last till 

December, 2018 so there is enough time”.


2019: Why north 

cannot produce 

consensus 

candidate 

—Junaid Mohammed 

•Says Buhari has failed and should not be voted again 

•Reveals that APC members are behind the revolt against him 

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region Editor 

How time flies. In the build up to the 2015 elections, Dr. 

Junaid Mohammed, a leading northern politician, was 

one of those who campaigned vigorously for the election 

of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s president. Strangely, 

barely three years into Buhari’s presidency, Junaid is now 

leading the pack to stop Buhari from going for a second term, 

accusing him of promoting corruption and nepotism. 

In an interview with Saturday Vanguard, he said Buhari 

should go home and rest instead of thinking of a second term, 

having failed Nigerians woefully during his first term which 

is yet to end 

Excerpts: 

You must have lifted for joy when 

both former presidents Olusegun 

Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida 

wrote statements on why President 

Buhari should not be considered for 

a second term 

To be honest, none of the two letters 

came to me as a surprise. They merely 

reinforced what I have been saying in the 

last two or three years ago. I have been 

shouting to the roof top that the Buhari 

government is full of his family members 

most of who have no qualification to 

occupy such positions. I have been 

shouting but no one was listening that 

the government was promoting 

corruption at the highest level while 

shouting about leading anticorruption 

war. The socalled 

anti-graft war by the 

present government is a 

fraud meant to persecute 

only those in opposition who 

stole money but done in a 

way to protect and defend 

some others to loot the 

treasury and go free. You 

can see that while the 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission is 

pursuing those in the 

opposition who looted the 

treasury before the 2015 

election, some top officials in 

the present government 

who have stolen money are 

either not arrested and 

detained or at best 

investigated. 

Members of the National 

Assembly are doing their 

best in the Senate and in the 

House of Representatives 

and some of the exgovernors 

are doing their 

best to make sure that the 

corruption war is defeated. 

Nobody can deny that; not 

even the president himself. 

In fact, the mere fact that Buhari has 

been unable to come to the assistance of 

the anti-corruption agencies now being 

ridiculed by corrupt persons in his 

administration clearly demonstrates 

that this is not an honest or sincere war. 

It is selectively being fought and the worse 

abusers of the commitment to fight 

against corruption are friends and 

relations of the president himself. 

But that sounds like an irony 

because even Obasanjo 

acknowledged that they have fairly 

done well in the war on corruption 

and insecurity 

Ṫhat was a self-seeking 

assessment by Obasanjo to 

protect another soldier. 

Since he found nothing to 

praise as far as this man’s 

Nigeria has 

gone beyond a 

situation where 

some powerful 

people will just 

sit down and 

hand pick 

someone who 

they know is 

either ill or 

weak and impose 

them on 

Nigerians 

performance in 

government is concerned, 

he had to come up with 

something good to say 

about the man. 

Sentiments are also 

affecting performance of 

the military in the fight 

against insecurity. 

On the fundamental 

issue of the economy; I 

have always described 

Buhari as lacking on 

economic matters. He does 

not know much about the 

economy and we cannot 

continue to pretend that 

he knows anything about 

it. This man does not know 

a thing about economy or 

managing it in order to 

move Nigeria out of the 

doldrums. 

But even the Borno 

state Governor himself 

Kashim Shettima has openly 

praised the generals for working 

hard to thin out the insurgents in 

the Northeast and paving the way 

for displaced persons to return 

home. 

Shettima must have been speaking not 

as the Governor of Borno State, but as a 

politician and a very ambitious politician 

for that matter. Secondly, I believe that 

if the war had been fought professionally 

and without some strings attached to it, 

it would have long been won. 

But how do we place you in this 

country? You criticised former 

President Goodluck Jonathan until 

he left office. You campaigned for the 

election of Buhari but now you are 

asking him to quit. Some people may 

begin to ask what do you really want 

from every government that comes 

to power. 

Simple reason. I have always believed 

in assessing people on the level of their 

performance on ground. I was not 

praising Buhari because I believed 

Buhari was an angel. I never believed in 

angels being in politics anyway. I believed 

that during the unfortunate civil war, 

Buhari exhibited high level of integrity 

when he held sway as the Quarter Master 

General and managed the little money 

that the country had at the time well 

making it possible for Nigeria to win the 

war and return to nationhood. Without 

being an incorruptible man, this would 

not have been possible. 

• Junaid 

Mohammed 

Subsequently he was given command 

appointment, lucrative appointment, 

and petroleum minister and so on, all 

based on his integrity before and after he 

went to the war college in the United 

States of America and came back. But in 

all fairness there was nothing spectacular 

about his performance in all these 

important political appointments. 

Now, when he became Head of States it 

was clear even to the media that it wasn’t 

he who ran the government; it was Tunde 

Idiagbon and other younger officers who 

ran the government for him. 

I suggested the idea of a think tank to 

Buhari and he agreed and he put together 

a think tank with quite a number of 

formidable brains and started meeting in 

2015 until I stopped coming. I suggested 

a number of books for all of us to read and 

those books were procured. One of the 

books I recommended to Buhari 

personally, because it has to do with 

economic matters especially in dealing 

with the World Bank and the IMF group, 

was a book written by a Nobel prize 

laureate in economics, Joseph Stiglitz. 

Buhari took the book and opened it, just 

wrote GMB on it and that was all. Over a 

year later when I came I found that Buhari 

had not read two pages out of that book. 

To me, that is a very dangerous 

leadership position. 

No matter what you say about 

Obasanjo, he is a very hard working man 

and he reads and listens and he goes out 




of his way to get people to come and advise 

him; the same applies to IBB. Both of them 

read. 

I am scared of a leader who does not read 

and who does not look for experts and I 

don’t believe any leader no matter how 

distinguished, who claims and believes 

that only his own people have all the 

knowledge in every subject matter in the 

world; this is a very dangerous attribute 

Buhari has. 

We are moving towards 2019 and 

two days ago precisely on Saturday, 

some northern politicians converged 

on Abuja and one of the decisions 

they took which may give the 

impression that indeed the entire 

north has decided to take a serious 

political decision was that they are 

looking for a consensus presidential 

candidate for next year’s election. Is 

it possible for the north to pick a 

consensus presidential candidate 

and if that happens under which 

party will that be? 

Well, while watching the television, I 

saw some northern names, I saw a couple 

of Kano names and both seemed to be 

speaking on an agenda which they 

claimed to be a northern agenda. I was 

born in Kano, I grew up in Kano and after 

my overseas training I came back to settle 

in Kano. I don’t believe anybody who 

attended the meeting can claim to have 

attended that meeting on behalf of Kano 

people because we have history of making 

our mind and doing our own thing 

politically and that is why we started 

opposition politics in this country from 

1950. The Kano man I knew those days 

as I was growing up is still the Kano man 

I know today. 

I find that gathering fanciful because 

we have had this idea, it was never a 

progressive idea, and it was never a 

mainstream idea of the north. The north 

does not have the prerogative to decide a 

particular presidential candidate come 

2019. In fact, we believe the north should 

work hard as any other part of the 

country if it wants to produce the 

presidency in 2019. Nigeria has gone 

beyond a situation where some powerful 

people will just sit down and hand pick 

someone who they know is either ill or 

weak and impose them on Nigerians.This 

is what Obasanjo did before and we must 

learn to walk away from this form of 

political tragedy now and in the future. 

So, who do the people of the north 

have in mind for 2019 if not Buhari? 

It would be premature for me to give 

you a name because I don’t have a name 

out of my pocket or out of the heart. But I 

also believe that in politics like in 

everything else people should and can 

afford to be rational. The rational thing 

to assess a politician is to assess him on 

the basis of what he says before he came 

into power and on the basis of his 

performance after coming to power. 

If that were one very important 

rational basis in addition to 

others then I can’t see how 

anybody will come and say 

that Buhari should be asked 

to continue because there is 

no basis for that. 

Don’t tell me that maybe I 

don’t know Nigerian politics 

because I have been in this 

game for over 45 years 

having sacrificed my career 

to go into politics. I am not 

like some of these generals for 

whom politics is a retirement 

job. 

But I believe this is a great 

country and it is worth 

sacrificing a career for and I 

don’t believe that I have to 

reach retirement age before 

engaging in political life. 

Buhari came into power 

with strong promise to make 

Nigeria better and add value 

to the people and country. 

We all believed him and had 

hopes and expectations on 

this man. But he has failed 

•Mohammed 

'Buhari has failed 

and should not be 

voted again' 

woefully in every aspect of the polity. The 

worse aspect of his failure is nepotism. 

Why also be indifferent to some people 

accused of corruption? 

This aspect was not evident when he was 

a governor, minister and GOC. We strongly 

believe this aspect did not 

come into light because 

there was no opportunity 

for that. 

People who worked very 

closely with him, like Late 

Chief Sunday Awoniyi, told 

me the kind of character 

profile he presented then. 

Now, we are where we are 

today, we are confronted 

with incontrovertible facts 

that this man has a 

penchant for appointing his 

relations, his friends and 

what have you into key 

positions. And given the 

general disappointment 

that he has caused 

Nigerians and the failure of 

his administration to rein 

in graft, it is not possible 

that Nigerians can 

massively vote for him as 

they did in 2015. I think it 

would be utterly irrational 

for them to vote for him 

again. 

I don’t like the idea of 

saying the north can make or unmake a leader; 

the country does not belong to the north. The 

north is so badly dented, badly divided and 

demoralized to the extent that on their own 

they cannot produce a consensus 

candidate or any leader, and they cannot 

because they need other people before they 

can pass the exam. 

So why are we saying that it is the 

time of the north, which time of the 

north is it? You are now conferring 

validity on people who have no value 

reason to claim to power. If you produce 

a leader who failed and you produced 

another one who died in office, so what 

are we talking about? So, are we saying 

we have to give them the right to 

continue leading and you produce 

somebody who lacks academic 

qualification and then we are going to 

go through four or eight years of 

suffering? God forbid! 

So, have you made any effort to see 

Buhari and perhaps offer him some 

advice lately, given the way things 

have been falling apart in his 

administration? 

No, I have not seen him for some time 

now even though some persons tried to 

arrange a meeting. Let it be known to all 

Nigerians that I am not seeking to see 

Buhari for anything. I must make it clear 

that I don’t need anything from this 

government and I don’t want any post from 

them. 

Now, if you were to see Buhari today 

what would you advise him to do, given 

the things you know about him and 

his government and the feelings of 

Nigerians about him? 

First, I would advise Buhari to retire home 

so as to be able to take care of his health and 

his family. Secondly, I would ask him to 

investigate and ask all those who made 

humongous fortunes out of his 

administration to go and render account 

how they came about such stupendous 

wealth. 

Tell all your relatives and their in-laws 

and what have you, who have gotten to 

important positions in NNPC, ministry of 

finance, ministry of power and steel and 

what have you and those who got huge 

contracts to go and render how they came 

about the contracts because if the contracts 

did not follow due process, they should be 

made to vomit what they swallowed like 

python. 

I would also tell him that economics is a 

subject matter for which he must have the 

aptitude and the knowledge. I would make 

it plain to him that if he does not have 

economists to run the country, he should 

go and bring them from wherever they are, 

whether from the south, from the sea, from 

IMF, World Bank to come and put the 

economy right for the overall interest of all 

Nigerians. Without a sound economy there 

can be no Nigeria. 

Finally, I would tell Buhari that he has 

failed the nation and that he should give 

room for others to come and try. 

Let me say it here and now that the 2019 

election may be very expensive and 

turbulent if Buhari decides to run because 

many Nigerians are fed up with him and 

his administration. He should just go home 

and rest after managing to finish the first 

term. 

There is likely to be a lot of cross 

carpeting, don’t you think that 2019 

may be very expensive? 

It will be very expensive, it may be 

turbulent. A lot will depend on if Buhari is 

running. 

What do you make of the change of 

election order by the National 

Assembly after INEC had announced 

the election timetable? 

Clearly, the National Assembly appears 

to be overreaching itself by going to change 

and re-order the format of elections which 

INEC had released about two months ago as 

part of its constitutional role because the 

constitution says that it is the duty of INEC 

to plan, organise and run election. In my 

understanding as a learned man it is not 

correct. In fact it is a glaring example of 

irresponsible overreach by the Senate and 

the House of Reps. 

Secondly, this breach would not have 

occurred if Buhari had taken control of 

the party as the leader that he is 

supposed to be. But he failed woefully 

by pretending not to be interested in the 

affairs of the party and the result is that 

there has been a hijack by those in the 

NASS. His declaration that he belongs 

to nobody contributed to the current 

mess that you are seeing in the land 

today. Members of his party are also 

the ones leading the revolt against him 

and the APC in the Senate and House of 

Representatives and it will surely hurt 

him as a weak leader. He is the architect of 

his misfortune and the mess that is now 

playing out in the National Assembly. 

And the idea that people who won election 

into the parliament on the same platform 

with the President now behaving as 

opponents of the president and their party 

and behaving as if they in the NASS are 

superior to the president and all Nigerians 

is arrant nonsense and that has happened 

because the system that brought them is 

utterly bankrupt. 

We knew what happened. Of course, 

we knew how the leadership of both the 

Senate and House of Representatives 

emerged.. For the President to assume 

that he is everybody’s head belonging to 

nobody, you can see how naïve and 

dangerous such a claim could be. He 

created the crisis that is now threatening 

to swallow him and his party.



2019: Why Buhari should 

be re-elected — Ngige 

BY JOHNBOSCO AGBAKWURU 

The Minister of Labour and 

Employment, Senator Chris 

Ngige said that President 

Muhammadu Buhari deserved re-election 

in 2019 because of his achievements. 

Senator Ngige told Saturday Vanguard 

in Abuja that the President has been 

successful in the three promises he made in 

the manifesto of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, and that his re-election 

would help to consolidate on the 

achievements. 

Maintaining that Buhari had performed 

superlatively, he said corruption has been 

dealt with by the administration, while job 

creation has also been given adequate 

priority. 

He said: “I want President Buhari 

to contest the 2019 election 

because the President has 

performed well. He has been 

superlative on most of the promises 

in the manifesto of the APC. The 

manifesto is anchored on three 

cardinal areas of security, 

economy and anti-corruption. 

“If we start from security, Boko 

Haram seized up to 14 local 

government areas in Borno, Yobe 

and Adamawa states when President 

Buhari came on board but today they have 

no territory. Today, they have been 

decapitated and so he has done well in the 

area of security. 

“I know some people will refer to the 

herdsmen/farmers issue. These are issues 

that have been age long. The only thing is 

that it has taken new connotations and new 

colouration because of the way arms have 

flown down from Libya into the sub saharan 

area and down into Nigeria. So a lot of people 

have arms and arms should not be in some 

of those areas. 

“On the fight against corruption, you 

have seen what we have done. The 

recoveries are many, they are 

gargantuan. So whether it is the 

enemy that is assessing (the 

government) it is up to the 

person. Yes, there may have 

been one or two perceptions 

here and there, but overall 

President Buhari has done 

well on security. 

“On the economy, we did not 

control the prices of petroleum 

products. It nosedived to $37 per 

barrel but at the same time we went 

into recession and in just one year, 

we are out of recession through 

massive agriculture, through 

Sen Chris Ngige 

incentives in agriculture to farmers and 

farmers have created new jobs. We have 

about seven million new jobs created in that 

area but they are blue collar jobs. People are 

talking about only the air -conditioned white 

collar jobs. Even in that air conditioned 

white collar jobs we have created nearly one 

million jobs. 

“So, I do not see why a man with such 

credentials should not want to go back. I am 

one of those who believe he should go back. 

I am one of those who believe that after his 

tenure, then South East of Nigeria can lay 

claim being the only zone in the South of 

Nigeria that has not gone for the president 

and we have the materials. They abound. 

But no one zone can make produce the 

President without others supporting. So we 

need support from other zones to produce a 

president from South East. 

“And so we are convinced that President 

Buhari has done well and we ask him to do 

another term.” 

When asked if he was not aware of 

complaints of Nigerians passing through 

hardships as cost of living has gone high, he 

said it was expected in a country that 

experienced recession, adding that the 

economic recovery will be gradual. 

He said, “The hardships should be 

expected, if you go into recession, recession 

is a negative growth and a negative growth 

will show in terms of employment, it will 

show in terms of inflation, it will show in 

terms of whatever that is economically 

marked. Part of it is inflation and part of it is 

that you are also not earning enough 

exchange to boost your GDP (Gross Domestic 

Product). Economists will tell you that there 

are pains when you go through recession. 

“So, we hope that with the food security 

we now have, prices of food items have 

fallen, a lot of new jobs are being created . 

We want to diversify and make people 

entrepreneurs . These are the things that 

make for an economic development. 

“And so, it will be uncharitable for 

anybody to say we have not done 

enough. We have done 

infrastructural development and 

injected money into the economy. 

This is the first time a lot of roads are 

being reconstructed in the South 

Eastern States of Nigeria even with 

oil selling at only $50 and $60 per 

barrel. Those roads were not 

reconstructed when oil sold for $120 

per barrel. 

“So, why are we now being hounded as if 

we are the people who brought Nigeria to 

this state? We are the people who are 

bringing Nigeria out of the bad state it found 

itself in.” 

By Emma Amaize, 

Regional Editor, South-South 

THE Ovie (traditional ruler) of Uvwie 

Kingdom, Uvwie Local Government Area 

in Delta State, HRM Emmanuel Sideso, Abe I, 

and his subjects are currently locked in a battle 

with the Nigerian Army over the ownership 

of a large piece of land in the kingdom, which 

the military authorities lay claim to. 

Last year, women of the kingdom, joined by 

youths and others took to the streets, paralyzing 

movement on the Effurun section of the East- 

West Road for hours to drum home their 

grievances against the Army, while the 

community also petitioned the House of 

Representatives over the matter. 

Many communities in the Niger Delta are 

known to be grumbling over the land grabbing 

propensity of some of the security agencies, 

especially after they had been allocated lands 

in their areas for specific purposes. 

There is a case against the Nigerian Navy at 

Oghara, Ethiope West local government area, 

Delta state, where the villagers asked the Navy 

to vacate their land and in Benin City, Edo 

State and Asaba, Delta state, the Nigerian 

Police Force had turned part of the lands 

acquired from the communities to thriving 

commercial enterprises to the chagrin of the 

people. 

At Uvwie, the army had not only turned 

part of the land to commercial enterprises in 

which traders pay rent , portions of the land 

had been sold to non-indigenes, who have built 

palatial mansions, while the original owners, 

deprived of their lands used for farming and 

fishing, roam about jobless. 

Uvwie drags Army to Green Chamber 

Dragging the Army to the House of 

Representatives appears to be a major test case 

by one of the affected communities in Niger 

Delta. 

Counsel to the kingdom, Mr. Victor 

Otomiewo and Company, had in a 

petition brought before the House 

through Hon. Evelyn Oboro 

representing Okpe/ Sapele/Uvwie 

Federal Constituency, Delta State, said 

that the land was illegitimately 

acquired. 

He said: “Our clients are the owners 

in peaceable possession of all the 

portions of land purportedly acquired 

for the Nigerian Army Barracks, 

Effurun in the Uvwie Local 

Government Area of Delta State of 

Delta kingdom confronts 

Army in epic land battle 

•Reps c’ttee to inspect contentious land 

•Orders Uvwie kingdom, Army to stay off 

land until further notice 

Nigeria. 

“Apart from the area being claimed by the 

Army authority as being acquired for the 

supposed army barracks at Effurun, soldiers, 

naval officers, etc are currently forcefully 

occupying acres of land and villages, which 

are not within the said purported 

acquisition and commit criminal acts 

of trespass, assault, etc.,” he stated. 

Poser 

It is indisputable that the 

community gave the Nigerian Army 

over 2,000 hectares of land, part of 

which situates the 3 Battalion, 

Effurun, otherwise known as the 

David Ejoor Barracks, in 1974, to 

establish the Nigerian Defence 

Academy, NDA, regrettably, the 

Academy was moved to Kaduna. 

Five years after the ill-starred NDA 

arrangement, the 3 Battalion Barracks, 

Effurun, was constructed and occupied by the 

military in 1979, and nothing untoward 

happened back then until recent years when 

the people found out that the military was 

given unoccupied part of the land out to 

“strangers” for commercial reason through a 

business enterprise, Nigerian Army Properties 

Limited, floated by the army. 

What is, however, disputable at the moment 

is if the army encroached on portions not given 

to it by the community, as the people have 

strongly suggested. 

A monarch’s grief 

HRM Sideso asserted: “We generously gave 

Nigerian Army over 2,000 hectares in 1974 

with the aim of establishing the Nigerian 

Defence Academy, but unfortunately, the 

academy was moved to Kaduna. We then 

asked that the unoccupied part of the land be 

returned since the Defence Academy is not 

here.” 

The monarch lamented: “My subjects have 

been deprived from even living in the place. 

Three years ago, they marked even the villages 

to be demolished, which were not part of the 

land given to them. They have illegally 

extended the land without our knowledge,” 

he said. 

He stated that all efforts to retrieve the 

untenanted land from the army had been met 

with Spartan resistance from the Army. 

HRM Sideso told Saturday Vanguard that 

for many years, he had been at pains sitting 

and witnessing the fact that his people have no 

land to build new homes, while the Nigerian 

Army was selling the community’s land to 

people and collecting money. 

Nigerian Army Properties Limited! 

A community leader, who corroborated 

him, said: “Rather than release the unused 

portion of the illegally acquired extra land to 

the Uvwie families, the various Commanding 

Officers of the Effurun Barracks, in league with 

some serving and retired Army Generals, have 

been converting the unlawfully acquired extra 

acres into private use. This, they do by leasing, 

assigning and outright sale of the lands to 

private individuals and organizations through 

the instrumentality of the Nigerian Army 

Properties Limited.” 

Parts of the land unoccupied by the military 

are adorned with mansions built by politicians 

and businessmen from different parts of the 

country, who bought land from the army. 

Some of the houses are also owned by retired 

and serving military officers. 

Committee orders parties to produce 

ownership documents 

Sometime, last year, the House of 

Representatives issued a 14- day ultimatum 

to the Nigerian Army to produce documents 

showing its ownership of a contentious 1,363 

hectares of land in Uvwie Kingdom. 

The House Committee on Public Petitions 

headed by Hon. Uzoma Abonta gave the order 

after hearing the community’s petition 

accusing the Nigerian Army of illegally 

converting the land of Uvwie people through 

the Nigerian Army Properties Limited. 

At the hearing, Otomiewo noted that the 

Army took possession of the land in 1975, 

saying that no compensation was paid. 

According to him, the people of the community 

were shocked when the Army issued demolition 

notice by marking houses on the portions of 

the land not occupied.


Tackling Herdsmen 

Menace in Delta State 

By Julius Oweh 

One of the security challenges 

confronting the nation today is the 

menace of rampaging herdsmen 

and the trail of blood and death left behind. 

Today, the federal government seems 

incapable of reining in the excesses of these 

herdsmen and various states across the 

country are devising means of curbing this 

danger. True that the state governors are 

the chief security officers of their states but 

the constitutional provision that places the 

control of the police under the federal 

government made them lame duck in their 

domains. The Ekiti and Benue states 

examples of anti-grazing laws have drawn 

flank and applauds from various sections of 

the country depending on the side of divide 

one stands. While that of Ekiti state has not 

faced any resistance, the case of Benue state 

has not only faced stiff resistance from the 

herdsmen and their supporters ala 

‘accommodate your neighbours‘ but also 

resulted in the death of people at the hands of 

the rampaging herdsmen. This is very 

unfortunate for the peaceful co-existence of 

all stripes of Nigerians 

It is against this tragic backdrop that the 

governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi 

Okowa on the 6th of February held a state 

holders meeting tagged ‘peaceful co-existence 

Amongst Farmers, Herdsmen and Host 

Communities in Delta State‘. It is on record 

that Delta State has its own share of harvest 

of death and disasters at the hands of the 

herdsmen. In Abraka, a state legislator last 

year wrote to world body including the UN 

secretary-general and the American 

president on the menace of herdsmen in his 

constituency. There was also the terrible 

onslaught of herdsmen in the placid and 

rustic community of Ossisa in Ndokwa East 

local government area that attracted the 

attention of the state governor and 

subsequent visit and hostile reactions from 

the people. And recently, in Patani and 

Ughelli, the herdsmen were on loose and 

women had to protest the activities of the 

herdsmen. Only few communities in the 

state, perhaps those in the coastal areas, 

which are spared the dangers of the 

herdsmen. 

In the meeting which saw the presence 

of the state commissioner of police, traditional 

rulers, opinion leaders, the clergy, farmers and 

herdsmen, the state governor spoke truth to the 

federal government, saying in clear terms that 

Delta State has no land for cattle colony, adding 

that his people were even migrating to 

neighbouring Edo state for farming activities. 

The state helmsman also called on the federal 

government to come out with a clear cut policy 

direction on how to tackle the herdsmen 

menace. 

This was how Governor Okowa put it 

:‘The Nigerian constitution does not allow 

anyone to graze on the farm of another 

person. It does not permit you to forcefully 

take over someone’s house but as we co-exist 

as a people, there must be mutual respect for 

one another. Whoever you are, when you 

engage in crime, the law takes it course. Some 

of those who are looking after the cows are so 

young that most of the times, they are not 

able to take decisions concerning the cows. 

As long as they carry arms and ammunition, 

there is a major security issue at stake‘. 

The governor was not happy with a 

situation where people who are not members 

of the security services carry arms including 

AK 47 and urged the police and the security 

agencies not to be compromised in ensuring 

justice for all, saying that they should not 

allow the communities to lose confidence in 

their abilities to check crimes especially those 

committed by the herdsmen. 

The governor in that meeting gave 

directive to the local government council 

chairmen to be up and doing and mint out 

security strategies to tackle the herdsmen 

menace. Governor Okowa said thus: ‘ In the 

next one week, we need to have an 

interventionist committee on security in all 

the local government areas of the state while 

we await a definite policy direction from the 

federal government. Chairmen of local 

government areas must ensure that names 

of the members of the committee gets to the 

secretary to the state government who is the 

chairman of the central coordinating 

committee and ensure that minutes of their 

inaugural meetings are also sent to the 

secretary to the state government‘. 

Traditional rulers, religious leaders and 

farmers spoke on the need for government to 

urgently tackle the issue and lauded the 

government for giving the host communities 

and the cattle breeders’ opportunity to air 

their views. Some of them said that the 

situation has not degenerated into major crisis 

despite the issues of killings, rape of women 

and armed banditry by the herdsmen. A youth 

at the meeting blamed some greedy traditional 

rulers and community leaders for allegedly 

allowing unscrupulous elements among the 

herdsmen to come into communities after 

collecting money from them. 

A representative of the Myetti Allah 

Cattle Breeders Association in the state, 

Mohammadu Okuti said that members of 

his association were very peaceful and those 

involved in killing and raping of women were 

not cattle breeders but terrorists committing 

havoc under the veneer of herding cattle. 

While commending the government for 

hosting the meeting towards finding lasting 

solutions to the issue, he disclosed that 

members of his association do not 

willingly destroy crops of farmers and 

should that happen, the herders are 

made to pay compensate to the farmers. 

He personally said that when his cows 

destroyed some crops in Ughelli, the 

farmers were paid compensation. He 

advised the farmers and people of Delta 

State not to profile every Fulani 

herdsman as those destroying their 

crops or killing innocent people. 

Honourable Reuben Izeze, a 

legislator in the Delta State House of 

Assembly representing Ughelli South 

state constituency argued that the 

proposed cattle colony by the federal 

government violates the Land Use Act. 

According Izeze, the law vested in 

governors of the state, the custody of 

lands on behalf of the people or 

inhabitants. Listen to his argument: 

‘The Land Use Act already made it clear 

that all lands in the state belong to the 

inhabitants of the state and be held in 

trust by the governor on behalf of the 

•Governor 

Okowa 

people. So, which land is the federal government 

seeking to designate as cattle colonies? It is a 

trite Latin principle of law that “nemo dot non 

quod habit“ which implies that “a man cannot 

give out that which he does not possess“. The 

nomadic ways of cattle rearing is obsolete and 

no longer sustainable under the present 

realities. After all, Nigeria does not produce 

more beef than Argentina and we have not 

heard of clashes between cattle owners and 

farmers over there in decades‘. 

On the part of the Delta State Police 

Commissioner, Mr Muhammed Mustapha, 

he assured the people of the state that the 

police will never compromise the security of 

lives and property, adding that the police will 

always promote peaceful co-existence of all 

citizens in the state. 

The ball is in the court of the police 

to match their words with deeds. It 

is a common sight that the 

herdsmen had jettisoned their sticks 

in herding cows for guns and these 

people must be brought within the 

belt of rule. There should not be 

double standard in the 

implementation of the law. 

The one day peace meeting called 

by the governor is a step in the right 

direction. It is only hoped that the 

governor working with the local 

council chairmen and other key 

stakeholders shall make the state 

peaceful for the citizens and 

residents so that they can carry out 

their legitimate business. The 

meeting was simply living up to the 

constitutional responsibilities of 

governance – the security and 

welfare of the people.


UGBORODO: 

Itsekiri communities 

are under Warri 

Kingdom—Eyengho 

BY CHARLES KUMOLU 

SPOKESMAN of Ugborodo 

Community Management 

Committee, UCMC, Comrade 

Alex Eyengho in this interview 

highlights the points of divergence 

between the Itsekiri of Ugborodo 

and Ijaw over the proposed 

Maritime University and the status 

of Ugborodo community in Warri 

Kingdom. 

On Itsekiri people 

I am appealing to my Itsekiri 

brothers to forgive themselves in the 

interest of Itsekiri land. People are 

aggrieved but there should be a limit 

to it. We should not cut our nose to 

spite our face. We should not allow 

certain issues divide us. People 

should not feel unconcerned about 

Itsekiri affairs because of grievances. 

Itsekiri people should come out and 

see the Warri Kingdom as their 

heritage. They should not treat the 

kingdom without love because of past 

events that they may not have 

supported. The Warri Kingdom is 

bigger than the person occupying it. 

This is my appeal to my Itsekiri 

brothers. They should close ranks 

and defend the kingdom in face of 

internal and external aggression as 

currently being witnessed. Olu of 

Warri is the only rallying point in 

Itsekiri nation. 

Maritime University 

If anybody is competent 

to speak on the Maritime 

University, I am the 

person because I am 

paternally Itsekiri and 

Ijaw while maternally I 

am Itsekiri and Yoruba. 

That shows that I am from 

the major ethnic groups 

who are affected by the 

controversy. And I will 

not want my maternal 

side to fight my paternal 

side. On that basis, as a 

critical stakeholder, I am 

calling for equity and fair 

play. I have Urhobo 

blood, Yoruba, Itsekiri, 

and Ijaw blood. If today, 

the Itsekiri are doing 

anything against the Ijaw, 

I will be the first to raise a 

red flag. Going by that, I 

will advise that we stand on the side 

of the law on the Okerenghigho 

matter. If there is a Supreme Court 

judgment on the issue, which ruled 

that the place is Okerenghigho, that 

should be the end of the issue because 

the Supreme Court is the highest 

court in Nigeria. I expect any rightthinking 

person to obey the 

judgment. In this case, the Attorney 

General of the Federation ,AGF, sent 

an advisory memo to the National 

Assembly, NASS, drawing their 

attention to the judgment. He 

advised them to correct the name to 

Okerenghigho in a Bill before the 

NASS which was sponsored by an Ijaw 

man, Sen James Manager. But the 

NASS ignored the memo and 

proceeded to pass that bill. I am 

really taken aback that NASS ignored 

the advisory memo which was 

written based on a petition from the 

Itsekiri. I am aware that they will 

send the Bill to President 

Muhammadu Buhari for 

assent. I want to believe 

that Mr. President, who 

has preached law and 

order, will do the needful 

by considering the 

advisory memo from the 

AGF. I am confident that 

Mr. President will do the 

right thing. 

Ijaw living in 

Okerenghigho 

Itsekiri people have 

never asked the Ijaw 

living in Okerengigho to 

move out of the place. 

They have never said 

that they don’t want the 

maritime university. 

What they have said is 

that the Federal 

Government should 

recognise the owners of 

the land by law. They want the 

government to recognise that the 

community is called Okerengigho 

and it is owned by Omadino 

Community. They want it like that so 

that the owners of the land will enjoy 

future benefits from the government. 

I don’t believe what the Ijaw are 

saying that there is no Itsekiri person 

residing in the community. There are 

Itsekiri people there. My appeal to 

both parties is to come together and 

accept the Supreme Court judgment. 

They have to dialogue through a 

give and take process. I don’t want us 

to have another 

fratricidal war 

which was called 

the Warri Crisis. We 

can’t go back to 

those dark days just 

because of the 

naming of a Federal 

University. The 

Vice-Chancellor of 

that place may not 

even come from the 

state. It is a federal 

institution that 

reflects the 

composition of 

Nigeria. I want my 

Itsekiri and Ijaw 

brothers to put on 

their thinking caps 

and shun anybody 

fanning the embers 

of war. The Olu of 

Warri has said that 

he wants peace with 

our neighbours. He 

has demonstrated 

it by visiting Ijaw 

and Urhobo kings. 

He is barely two 

years on the throne 

and he has visited 

communities in the 

state to restate his 

If there is a 

Supreme Court 

judgment on the 

issue, which 

ruled that the 

place is 

Okerenghigho, 

that should be the 

end of the issue 

because the 

Supreme Court is 

the highest court 

in Nigeria. I 

expect any rightthinking 

person to 

obey the 

judgment 

agenda for peace. An ethnic crisis will 

not solve anything. We are brothers 

and sisters and it will be suicidal for 

us to go to war because of the 

disagreement. 

On the Warri Kingdom 

Some people are trying to have an 

unholy alliance with our Ijaw 

brothers of Gbaramatu. These are 

young people. Members of the public 

must have been seeing some 

publications by some persons 

claiming that Ugborodo is no longer 

part of Warri Kingdom. They 

claimed that it is an 

autonomous 

kingdom, saying 

that they want 

to be 

independent 

of Warri 

Kingdom. 

•Alex 

Eyengho 

It is 

unthinkable 

because 

t h o s e 

behind it 

particularly 

Mr. Benson 

Omadeli, 

who is the 

Olaja Orori 

o f 

Ugborodo 

is the 

number 

two man in 

Ugborodo. 

The number one person, who is the 

administrator, is the Olaraja of 

Ugborodo, Pa Wellington Ojogo. 

Olaja Orori is a juju priest of his family 

in Ugborodo. It implies that only 

members of the Orori family can 

emerge to become Olaja Orori. 

Whereas any Ugborodo person can 

become the Olaraja. In other words, 

the Olaraja stool is for every 

Ugborodo person while the Olaja 

Olori is for the members of that 

family. There is a misconception in 

the public domain that Olarja means 

king in Itsekiri. That is the platform 

which some are using to justify an 

Ugborodo kingdom that never 

existed. As an Ugborodo 

man, I am saying that 

Ugborodo has always been 

an integral part of Warri 

Kingdom. Omadeli and the 

like should denounce their 

statement that Ugborodo 

is not part of Warri 

Kingdom. They should 

also denounce the unholy 

alliance they have with the 

Ijaw of Gbaramatu 

Kingdom which is against 

the Itsekiri. 

It is very important for 

the public to know that 

those perpetuating the 

crisis in Ugborodo are 

criminal elements. 

Ugborodo is an island that 

is very difficult to access 

that is why there is 

lawlessness there. We want 

the army, navy, and police 

to go to Ugborodo and 

flush out the criminal 

elements there. These 

elements are the ones 

trying to divide Warri 

Kingdom. All Itsekiri 

communities are under 

tWarri kingdom and have 

only one king. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

A 

lawyer friend recently expressed 

concern over the increasing number 

of divorce cases in court and the 

increasing number of couples asking for 

annulment of their marriages at a 

particular marriage tribunal. He 

wondered what could be responsible. The 

reasons are legion, but perhaps we can 

reverse the trend by reminding those 

going into marriage of some of the pillars 

that keep marriages standing before they 

say: “I do.” It is not as if the presence of 

these pillars guarantees the survival of 

marriages; their presence only increases 

the probability of the survival of marriages. 

At the end of the day couples have a 

responsibility to work 24/7 towards the 

success of their marriages. 

Companionship: When God created the 

marriage institution, the primary reason 

was companionship (Gen 2:18). What is 

companionship? It is “feeling of fellowship 

or friendship.” Synonyms include, 

“friendship, fellowship, closeness, 

togetherness, amity, intimacy, rapport, 

camaraderie, comradeship, solidarity.” 

Are you any of these with your prospective 

spouse? Young people going into marriage 

must realize and internalize this number 

one reason for marriage. This will guide 

them in their choices of a spouse. It is not 

that simplistic, though, but it is important. 

In Africa, a marriage without children 

is like a vehicle without an engine. Once 

people get married and children do not 

come when expected, they come under 

unnecessary pressure from themselves, 

friends, family and the larger society. 

Children are good, they make couples feel 

more fulfilled and they add warmth to the 

family, but we must remember that the 

primary reason for marriage is 

companionship. Childlessness is one of 

the main reasons why many marriages are 

packing up, but it need not be so. Spouses 

need to be patient with one another, do 

their medicals and due diligence to know 

where the problem is, then they can both 

chart a way forward. Some other pillars of 

marriage might give way along the line, 

but companionship stays with a happy 

marriage till the end, so prioritize it 

properly. 

Sex: Sex is another major pillar of 

Pillars s of marriage 

marriage and serves two main 

purposes: procreation and recreation. 

Marriage is not complete without sex. 

In fact, after couples are joined as 

husband and wife, the union remains 

incomplete, no matter the status of the 

person who conducted the ceremony, 

until the marriage is consummated, that 

is, the couple engages in sexual 

intercourse. Young people, who do not 

want sex or have no capacity to engage 

in sexual intercourse, do not have any 

business going into marriage. It is 

understandable with aged widows/ 

widowers remarrying mainly for 

companionship, but not young people. 

So this trend of young people going 

into marriage with no intention of 

engaging in intercourse is an 

aberration, it is not marriage. 

In marriage, sex must be freely 

given, although spouses are expected 

to show understanding where there is 

temporary incapacity (a sick spouse and 

a wife who just had a baby). However, 

if you are not in the mood, but your 

spouse is, give it to him/her. If you want 

to abstain for a while for religious 

reasons, it must be in one accord with 

your spouse, if not, that abstinence is 

a nullity (1 Cor. 7:5). It is also wrong 

to use sex as a weapon or bargaining 

power in marriage; it must come without 

strings attached. Sex has become one 

of the commonest and cheapest 

commodities around, so spouses toying 

with their spouses’ emotions are 

playing with fire. Do not push your 

spouse into another’s arms with your 

foolishness. 


is tough, but it is a major pillar of marriage 

and has no substitute. 

Love: For our purpose here, love is a 

deep feeling you have for your spouse, 

which surpasses your understanding. It 

enables you to forgive your spouse even 

for grievous transgressions; it makes you 

to be patient with him/her. It is the deep 

feeling that also makes the love undying 

as spouses go through various phases of 

life. Spouses pile on weight as they grow 

older; some men grow pot-bellies, wives 

become shapeless, spouses develop 

debilitating ailments, the husbands suffer 

erectile dysfunction and other challenges, 

but the love remains constant. It conquers 

all. 

Finance: Financial troubles topple many 

marriages. Before marriage, couples need 

to discuss their financial plans and 

expectations. The financial plan is tied to 

many other plans in marriage. It is tied to 

your family plan (size of your family), 

education plan, estate plan, retirement 

plan, etc. How do you earn the money? 

What are your financial goals? What do 

you do, when and why? Who manages 

what? Husbands should work very hard 

to earn a decent income and wives should 

be supportive. But for all the importance 

of money, I still advise that couples 

should not allow their marital lives to 

revolve round money. 

Trust: Some young people in 

relationships have become monitoring 

spirits. They call their fiancé(e) every now 

and then to know who they are with and 

what they are doing. They go through 

their partners’ phones, reading messages 

and call logs. What is that for? Why are 

you torturing yourself? If you cannot trust 

the person you are preparing to get 

married to, there is no basis for 

continuation of the relationship. Trust is 

a major pillar of marriage and will remain 

so for a long while, even though spouses 

occasionally betray the trust of their other 

halves. 

There are many other pillars of marriage, 

including marital communication, conflict 

resolution, patience, etc., which we have 

dealt with in the past, but any couple who 

has the ones mentioned above will go a 

long way. 

Forgiveness: When Peter 

asked Jesus how many times he 

must forgive his brother who 

wrongs him, he could just as well 

have asked how many times he 

should forgive his spouse. 

Spouses get on each others’ 

nerves; they drive each other up 

the wall. Sometimes, it is 

deliberate, at other times, it is 

accidental. Some spouses know 

If you are not in the 

mood, but your spouse 

is, give it to him/her. If 

you want to abstain for 

a while for religious 

reasons, it must be in 

one accord with your 

spouse (1 Cor. 7:5) 

what they are doing is wrong 

and will upset their other half, 

but they still go ahead. 

Sometimes it is just bad habits 

that refused to die. This is what 

married people have to put up 

with all their lives. You never get 

used to some of these irritating 

behavior and habits from your 

spouse, so it is forgiveness 

galore: 77 times 7 everyday. It 

(Text Only) 

Body power: Floor play y postures 

The Locust 

The Locust 

Technique: 

Lie flat on your 

belly,and with hands 

formed into fists,tuck 

them underneat you as 

depicted. 

Breathe in,and with the 

knees locked,raise both 

legs up as high as you 

can. 

Spread 

Eagle 

Technique: 

Sit down and spread 

the legs as far wide 

apart as possible, and 

keeping 

the trunk 

very 

upright,place 

the hands 

on the 

shins and 

breath 

normally 

for 10 to 15 

seconds. 

Rest and 

repeat. 

Spread Eagle 

variation 

Benefits: 

The Eagle instills 

a sense of balance 

and also 

vanishes varicose 

veins. 

The Spread 

Eagle 

stretches 

harmstrings 

and inner tigh 

muscles;and tones 

up the mucsles of the 

abdomen which takes 

care of the pot-belly. 

Benefits: 

This pose strengthens 

the muscles of the 

back,the butocks,legs 

and hands. 

The Spread Eagle 

C 

M 

Y 

K


have mourned and mourned. How 

I has Professor Isaac Adewole carried 

on with a straight face and a closed 

mouth? 

Adewole, Minister of Health, 

suspended the Executive Secretary of 

the National Health Insurance Scheme, 

Professor Yusuf, for three months last 

year. Prof Adewole appeared to be 

committed to draining the swamp in the 

health sector. The allegations against 

Professor Yusuf were monumental 

corruption and brazen disregard for 

due process. With the approval of the 

Acting President, Professor Adewole 

set up a ministerial panel to investigate 

the suspended secretary. The public 

waited with bated breath. The panel 

had DSS and ICPC agents as 

members. The panel turned in a 

damning report. Professor Yusuf, the 

suspended secretary of NHIS was 

described as a loud mouthed conceited 

Pharisee with itchy fingers. The panel 

unearthed bogus training contacts and 

nepotistic tunnels and drainpipes. 

Professor Adewole accepted the 

findings of the panel. He suspended 

the NHIS Secretary indefinitely. The 

public cringed and reeled as details of 

the panels report seeped out. 

Corruption, it appeared, hadn’t lost 

the brazenness of nightmarish 

yesteryears. The minister forwarded 

the report to the president. Anywhere 

else Professor Adewole had passed the 

point of retreat. The suspended 

secretary was handed over to the EFCC 

for investigations and possible 

prosecution. It all seemed fairly 

straightforward. This was Buhari’s 

regime. President Buhari’s aversion 

for corruption was known as far as 

Timbuktu . 

The suspended secretary showed no 

remorse. He mocked the minister and 

his panel. He continued to tout his 

righteousness and role as a social 

crusader determined to step on big 

toes. He announced that corruption 

was fighting back through Professor 

Adewole and his orchestra of 

vendetta. He accused Professor 

Adewole of malice. He accused 

Professor Adewole of drug resistant 

corruption. He said he was being 

punished , silenced , for refusing to do 

the evil bidding of the minister. 

You would think that Professor 

Adewole understood the breadth and 

depth of Professor Yusuf’s 

vituperation. I imagined that Professor 

Adewole would put his foot on the 

In the next four weeks the global 

international finance system would 

witness adjustments as the Chinese 

launch its oil futures contracts in its 

currency, the Yuan. The March 26, date 

fixed by the Chinese authorities would 

signal a prop up of the Yuan, its use as 

global currency, and probably put an 

end to the entrenched practice in paying 

for crude oil in United States dollar. 

A futures contract is a legally binding 

agreement to buy or sell a commodity 

or security at a future date at a price 

that is fixed at the time of the 

agreement. Experts explained that 

consumers fix prices today and use them 

to protect against higher prices at a 

later date while speculators gamble on 

them to determine where prices are 

headed. 

The currency challenge is an attempt 

to gain a foothold and reduce the 

dominance of the dollar in leading 

crude oil benchmarks futures contracts. 

The move is to offer a rival consumption 

of leading crude benchmarks which 

China as the world number one crude 

oil importer felt it deserves a trading 

tool for the already strong members of 

Shanghai International Energy 

Exchange, INE that have completed 

several dry runs in yuan backed oil 

futures contract trading. It would also 

be an opportunity to commence trade 

futures contracts domestically. But how 

can Chinese authorities convince large 

oil producers and consumers globally 

to use the yuan and invest in the 

internationalized Shanghai 

benchmark? 

The Brent is the global benchmark 

traded on the Intercontinental 

Exchange, ICE Futures Europe in 

London while the WTI is the American 

benchmark traded on the New York 

Mercantile Exchange. Will petro Yuan 

Prof 

ofessor Isaac Adewole : A 

brilliant cowar 

ard? 

ground and fight for his integrity. I 

thought any decent man assailed by 

those counter allegations would speak 

up, at least because of his children. 

While EFCC and the ICPC were 

investigating the suspended NHIS 

secretary, new rumors sprouted. 

Professor Yusuf was said to have won 

the sympathy of the almighty cabal. 

His exoneration and perhaps 

reinstatement became, instantly, 

probable. The omnipotence of the 

cabal had been advertised by one 

Abdulrasheed Maina . Before the 

rumors could be thrashed, President 

Buhari restored Yusuf to the position 

Adewole had suspended him from. 

President Buhari has done many 

strange things recently. He has 

scored very many own goals with 

equanimity. Professor Soyinka says 

he believes the president is in a 

trance. Why was the President in 

such a hurry to restore a suspended 

Yusuf? Even if the Minister and the 

panel breached procedural 

guidelines, why wouldn’t the 

president wait for a substantive report 

by the EFCC? And why hasn’t the 

president bothered to be transparent? 

Why hasn’t he engaged the public 

with reasons he took an action that 

has baffled the public and left 

everyone with the impression that he 

The president cannot keep 

Adewole and keep the NHIS 

secretary and pretend to be 

championing any fight 

against corruption 

Dollar oil futures contracts: 

The China challenge 

wrestle pricing dominance from 

petrodollar? The currency that oil is 

traded at present is the dollar. Oil 

price in dollars tend to move inversely 

to the United States currency. An 

appreciated dollar forces the price of 

oil down in the West Texas 

Intermediate (WTI), signaling 

possible down spiral. China it was 

learnt tinkered with domestic crude 

futures in 1993, but abandoned it 

because of market volatility. China 

had its share of slowdown in its 

bigger stock market, the Shanghai 

Composite in 2015. Her Central Bank 

had to approve the purchase of 

US$19.3 billion worth of shares to 

stop the uncontrolled loss and plunge 

of the stock market. 

It was reported that from March 26, 

Dubai crude, Oman crude, Basra 

light oil and China’s Shengli oil will 

be delivered in Yuan. Who is on each 

others’ jugular? Is it a post 1945 Cold 

War of intrigue playing out? There is 

a bleak situation with world’s oil 

producer, Russia, whose falling Ruble 

is making it to lose crude oil revenue 

due to both sanctions and 

plummeting prices, as well as rising 

sovereign debt yields that are Dollar 

denominated. Oil and gas provide 

is shielding corruption? 

How could a president who came 

to strangulate corruption so 

effortlessly overturn the findings of 

a ministerial panel in a huge case 

of corruption? And he has done it 

even before the EFCC could 

complete its investigation. I agree 

with Professor Wole Soyinka. 

President Buhari’s unforced error 

rate is now prodigal. But this isn’t 

about Buhari. It’s about a professor 

who has missed an opportunity to 

teach Buhari a lesson. It’s about 

technocrats and their perennial 

failure to influence the political 

system that is dying of insipidity. 

It is about Professor Adewole. 

Isaac Adewole is a renowned 

Professor of Gynecology. So he is 

not vulnerable, not prone to 

unemployment or irrelevance. He 

would never beg for food. Adewole 

is a former president of National 

Association of Resident Doctors. So 

he must understand rights and 

fights and courage. ‘Aluta’ should 

be flowing in his blood. Adewole 

had been involved on medical 

politics for very many years. He was 

forced on exile during Buhari’s first 

coming in 1984. He stood for 

resident doctors and against that 

military regime . So why has he 

become so timid.? 

Adewole is not one willowy, lily 

livered , chicken-hearted, boneless 

medical doctor. He cant be scared 

of paying a price to prove a point. 

Adewole has gravitas. He was the 

Vice Chancellor of the University of 

Ibadan for many years. So he is not 

trying his hands at disciplining 

another recalcitrant professor. 

Professor Isaac Adewole should and 

must be full of self esteem. 

How has such a man become such 

Russia with about 68 percent of its 

exports. These are signs reminiscent 

of the Cold War politics emerging 

and we may yet see further intrigue 

in the global oil price war. 

Bloomberg Gadfly columnist David 

Fickling was said to have argued 

that China does not have nearly the 

influence in the oil market needed 

to carry out such a coup. On the 

other hand, paying in yuan for oil 

could become part of President Xi 

Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” 

initiative to develop ties across 

Eurasia, including the Middle East. 

Chinese participation in Saudi 

Aramco’s planned initial public 

offering could help sway Saudi 

opinion toward accepting yuan, 

which is used in only about 2 percent 

of global payments. 

Is it a future foretold? In December 

2012, the International Consortium 

of Investigative Journalists credited 

a report to the U.S. Intelligence 

community, entitled “Global Trends 

2030: Alternative Worlds,” that global 

power in that year will be reflected 

by a mix of factors, including the 

state of technology, health, education, 

and governance as well as GDP (the 

size of the national economy), 

It’s about a professor who 

has missed an opportunity 

to teach Buhari a lesson 

a coward? 

How does Adewole sleep? And how 

does Isaac Adewole go to work? After 

being so thoroughly humiliated, what is 

Adewole still doing in that office.? What 

is he doing in an office where the junior 

staff waste emotional resources pitying 

him? Nigerian politicians are a breed of 

inveterate opportunists. But Adeowle is 

bigger than the office he occupies. 

Nigerian politicians never resign. But 

Adewole would not suffer loss of income 

or prestige by resigning. Nigerian 

technocrats moan about our dirty politics. 

They get into political offices and never 

leave any ethical footprints. The system 

swamps them. So Adewole must walk 

away or drown. 

But how is it difficult for Adewole to 

understand that the president has lost 

confidence in him? Adewole should have 

a conscience and an ego. It doesn’t 

matter whether Adewole and the panel 

breached procedural guidelines in 

suspending the secretary. The president 

ought to have shown solidarity with the 

judgment of his minister. He should have 

waited for a comprehensive report by the 

EFCC before contradicting Adewole who 

trued to fight corruption. That report 

would have enabled the president reach 

conclusions on Adewole. Because 

Adewole is either an anti corruption 

crusader or a vindictive and corrupt 

professor. The president cannot keep 

Adewole and keep the NHIS secretary 

and pretend to be championing any fight 

against corruption. 

On his 60th birthday Chief Wole 

Olanipekun, SAN poured encomiums on 

Professor Adewole. He said Adewole was 

a cat with more than nine lives. If 

Adewole survives by licking his vomit 

then he must reflect on the quality rather 

than quantity of lives. Adewole must 

prioritize dignity. 

Professor Isaac Adewole you are a 

child of promise. Please don’t let this 

opportunity slip away. You have to teach 

the president and the political class a 

unique lesson. You are not a coward. 

You must resign now. 

There is a bleak situation with world’s oil 

producer, Russia, whose falling Ruble is 

making it to lose crude oil revenue due to 

both sanctions and plummeting prices, as 

well as rising sovereign debt yields that are 

Dollar denominated 

population size, and military spending. 

By 2030, countries in Asia will have 

surpassed the United States in many of 

these power metrics. “There will not be 

any hegemonic power” in 18 years but 

instead a collection of “networks and 

coalitions” in which Asian nations and 

rising economic powers such as Brazil, 

Colombia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, 

South Africa and Turkey will take part. 

In the recent edition of Fortune Global 

Forum, McKinsey Global Institute, MGI 

reports that digital China is clearly 

leading the world accounting for about 

42 percent of global commerce—more 

than France, Japan, the U.K. and the 

United States combined. The BAT 

companies—Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent 

provide 42 percent of the venture funding 

in China, compared to the 5 percent 

provided in the U.S. by the FANG 

companies—Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, 

Google. The U.S. is far ahead of China 

in venture investment in areas like 

Artificial Intelligence, AI; big data and 

robotics. While China leads the world in 

digitization of commerce, the U.S. still 

leads in digitization of industry. MGI 

finds U.S. industry is 3.7 times more 

digitized than China although that gap 

is down substantially from 4.9 times in 

2013.

One of my oldest friends was born 

on February 14. (Why we didn’t 

nickname him Val given his amorous 

tendencies I’ll never know. I suppose 

it is now too late in the day to give a 

sixty-something year old a new 

appellation). For as long as I can 

remember, every Valentine’s Day 

meets me at his house for drinks, a 

generous dose of ikokore – his native 

Ijebu delicacy which he happens to 

prepare very well— and fellowship. 

But not this year. His darling wife had 

sent a text message inviting us to join 

him at his church instead for Ash 

Wednesday Communion service. She 

rounded the message up with a 

poignant ‘no open house at home 

please.’ Now, I do not know whether 

this is the first time Valentine’s Day 

would coincide with Ash Wednesday, 

but it would not have mattered 15, 20 

years ago. We would still have met at 

his house with or without ashes on our 

fore heads. But it is the sign of the 

times and his advancing years, that he 

chose a sober Ash Wednesday in 

church over a lively Valentine’s Day 

with friends. 

In a normal year, the calendar 

usually allows us to have our 

hedonistic adventures on Val’s Day 

before the purifying rites of passage 

which the Lenten season represents. 

Nowhere is this more obvious than in 

Brazil and Trinidad, the two countries 

that host the world’s most famous 

carnivals. They both end their fleshy, 

hedonistic and sometimes erotic 

carnivals a few days to Lent. The 

change that follows in atmosphere and 

attitude on Ash Wednesday is palpable 

and almost funereal. Usually, the 

calendar allows us ‘this indulgence 

before denial.’ This ‘dirtying before 

cleansing.’ But this year, the church 

and the calendar had forced us—like 

my friend—to make a choice. The 

young, being young, will follow their 

hearts and go for Val while the old will 

likely go spiritual like my friend, and 

opt for the other. 

On the surface, the two seem like 

polar opposites. One is youthful and 

vibrant while the other seems archaic 

and dull. One looks to the present 

while one looks to eternity. One 

represents life in its technicolour while 

the other represents death in its ash 

greyness. But they both, beyond the 

The well oiled political scheme 

unfolding in Imo State aimed at 

transferring power from Governor 

Rochas Okorocha to his daughter, 

Uloma, is unarguably one of the most 

audacious political plots in 

entrenching a hereditary political 

monarchy in the land. 

Uloma Nwosu, Okorocha’s first 

daughter, is married to Mr. Uche 

Nwosu, Okorocha’s chief of staff who 

has become the leading All 

Progressives Congress, APC aspirant 

to succeed his father-in-law in 2019. 

Uloma is also the niece of the state’s 

recently appointed commissioner for 

happiness, Mrs. Ogechi Ololo who 

happens to be the incumbent 

governor’s junior sister. 

Another of Governor Okorocha’s 

daughters, Uju is married to Dr. Uzoma 

Anwukah, first son of the present 

minister of state for education, Prof. 

Anthony Anwukah. The minister had 

before now served as the Secretary to 

the State Government, SSG in the 

governor’s first term. 

When a delegation from Owerri 

Senatorial District came to solicit 

Okorocha’s support for Nwosu’s 

aspiration earlier this week, the 

governor in a seeming show of bravado 

claimed ignorance of Nwosu’s 

aspiration. 

“The Chief of Staff has not told me 

that he wants to run for the 

governorship of the state. But if he 

comes out I will support him,” the 

governor said. 

It is, however, not new. The first 

attempt to transfer power through 

marriage in the Fourth Republic was 

the ill-fated plot to transmit power from 

Governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom 

State in 2007 to his son-in-law, Dr. Bob 

Ekarika. 

A woman needs love just as you do 

surface, represent love. Love of God; 

love of fellow human beings. So, 

whichever way one looks at it, this 

February is still a season of love. It is so 

easy when we think of love to think only 

of the young ones. People, especially 

women in their 60s, are supposed to 

have ‘outgrown’ love. Yet, how wrong 

we are. We all need love in our lives. 

We all need people who care for us. But 

more germane to our well-being, we all 

need people we want to genuinely care 

for. It’s who we are. It’s how we are 

wired. We can transfer this care, this love 

to our children, siblings or even parents. 

But it doesn’t half satisfy the love for a 

spouse or a partner. Man, woman, old 

and young, the glow we have when we 

are truly in love cannot be replicated. A 

woman in love almost advertises it by 

the healthy glow she radiates and it is 

irrespective of age. Yet, we have allowed 

ourselves to be boxed into thinking that 

a woman of a certain age ‘is passed it’ 

when it comes to love and love making. 

In the villages, a man is encouraged to 

have a younger wife once his wife 

becomes menopausal. Or when she 

becomes a grandmother. It is as if we 

While it is true that sexual drive 

could reduce with menopause 

for women and with age across 

the gender, it is presumptuous 

of anybody—male or female— 

to decide the time for their 

partner to stop having sex 

SATURDAY Vanguard, , FEBRUARY 17, 2018—21 

confuse intimacy with reproduction. 

This cultural mind set has now been 

allowed to seep into the cities and 

into the thinking of some of our so 

called educated men. They might not 

marry a younger wife like their 

fathers do in the village, but they 

actively court a younger mistress. And 

once they succeed, all activities in the 

‘other room’ with the wife stop. Some 

even boast that the ‘other room’ has 

been divided into his and hers since 

everybody needs their space. Each 

time I hear narratives around this 

line, I remember the old Ray Parker 

Jnr. Song: ‘A woman needs love just 

like you do. Don’t kid yourself into 

thinking that she don’t. She can fool 

around just like you do unless you 

give her all the loving she wants.’ 

Is it a coincidence that wedding 

parties and most social events are 

populated at a ratio of two to one by 

women? The same thing with 

churches, vigils and crusades? Why 

do women look forward to such 

outings? Are they opportunities for 

them to let their hairs down, escape 

the monotony of house chores which 

womanhood has placed on them? Or 

are they looking for the happiness that 

has eluded them at home however 

they define it? Are they looking for 

something more? Like a fortuitous 

meeting with Mr Adonis? A last 

chance at love and possession? Yet 

our men who must know that 

possibilities at such outings are 

endless seem too complacent to think 

their deprived wives could be prey. 

They reason in their smugness that 

their wives are too sophisticated, too 

financially comfortable, too 

responsible to fall for just any man. 

They forget that if they can fall for a 

Government of friends and family 

That script was particularly interesting 

in that Ekarika came from Akwa Ibom 

Northwest Senatorial Zone which is 

dominated by the Annang who had at 

that time never had the office of 

governor. Governor Attah’s fervent 

campaign for the dominant Ibibio ethnic 

group to transmit power to the Annang 

was welcomed in several quarters—that 

was until some saw the campaign as an 

attempt to cede power to his son-in-law, 

a medical doctor who had been 

sufficiently empowered as commissioner 

for works. 

Hell let lose and President Olusegun 

Obasanjo reportedly sided with those 

who raised fury against Ekarika and saw 

to it that the plot was frustrated leading 

to the emergence after much intrigues 

of Godswill Akpabio as governor in 

2007. 

While Attah was not able, Governor 

James Ibori in Delta State sufficiently 

played out the opposition and helped 

his first cousin, but from another 

senatorial zone, Dr. Emmanuel 

Uduaghan to emerge as his successor. 

However, for his efforts he never had 

respite as many of the state’s leaders 

spearheaded by Senator Edwin Clark 

troubled him to the deepest point of 

sorrow on earth. 

The relationship between Governor 

Jonah Jang and the late Senator 

Gyang Pwjok has elicited much 

controversy. Whether directly related 

as some critics allege, or not, there 

is, however, little dispute that they 

were from the same Borom clan in 

Plateau State. 

Despite Pwjok’s salutary 

qualifications, Governor Jang’s 

attempt to hand over power to him in 

2015 elicited a kind of quiet revolution 

on the plateau that inevitably helped 

the election of a onetime outsider, 

Simon Lalong as governor of the 

state. 

What has made the unfolding script 

Those who look up to 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari to stand up to 

Governor Okorocha in the 

way and manner President 

Obasanjo stood against 

Governor Attah in Akwa Ibom 

in 2007 could be disappointed 

Last month, a friend who 

is a medical doctor but 

retired as a police 

commissioner told me 

startling stories of extra 

marital activities going on 

among 

highly 

professional, middle aged 

women 

woman then their wives can also fall 

for a man. They forget that ‘a woman 

needs love just like you do.’ They don’t 

even believe that their wives have 

needs. Yet anybody who interacts with 

this class of women knows that they 

are not taking their spousal rejection 

lying down and are itching for action. 

They will flirt with men they consider 

attractive at every opportunity. 

Especially if the setting is cosy and 

discrete. 

Last month, a friend who is a medical 

doctor but retired as a police 

commissioner told me startling stories 

of extra marital activities going on 

among highly professional, middle 

aged women. He urged me to write 

about it in the hope that men in our 

age bracket would snap out of their 

complacency and try to reignite the fire 

of love and intimacy in their homes. 

His attempt to alert a friend of his 

whose wife, a medical doctor, was 

actively involved in extra marital sex 

and whom he knew to have young 

female friends himself was met with a 

smug rebuff. He wondered why we 

should flaunt our relationships so 

openly and not expect a reaction 

simply because our wives have become 

grandmothers. 

While it is true that sexual drive could 

reduce with menopause for women and 

with age across the gender, it is 

presumptuous of anybody—male or 

female—to decide the time for their 

partner to stop having sex. As Millie 

Jackson quaintly put it in a song: 

‘Don’t be surprised to have a different 

kind of log in the fire place.’ 

in Imo more interesting is the fact that 

the outgoing governor’s interest is in 

a man from his Orlu Senatorial Zone. 

That is despite the fervent campaign 

by the other senatorial districts, 

notably, Owerri and Okigwe to wrest 

power from Orlu which has produced 

governor of the state for 15 out of the 

last 19 years. 

The Constitution had prescribed the 

principle of federal character as a way 

of ensuring that offices are not 

allocated to one section of the country 

or state. 

Political parties in the country had 

also evolved the principle of zoning 

and power rotation as a way of checking 

office holders who seek to use the 

power of incumbency in foisting their 

offspring or their kinsmen on their 

people. 

Since power rotation was expected to 

be along Senatorial basis, it was not 

expected that a governor and his son 

or daughter could be of different 

senatorial basis. 

If Governor Okorocha had married 

out his daughter to someone from 

another senatorial district, even if still 

provocative, it may well have swayed 

some people. 

What is happening in the APC 

administration in Imo is what some 

party activists also complain is 

happening at the federal level where 

friends and family in the words of Dr. 

Junaid Mohammed form the cabal that 

dictate the pace and pattern of 

government. For a party that promised 

to change the narrative as concerning 

corruption, it is bewildering that it does 

not see nepotism as corruption. 

It is in that vein that those who look 

up to President Muhammadu Buhari 

to stand up to Governor Okorocha in 

the way and manner President 

Obasanjo stood against Governor Attah 

in Akwa Ibom in 2007 could be 

disappointed. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


Border guards for killer herdsmen 

Without taking away anything 

from President Muhammadu 

Buhari, I think what his regime lacks 

is the intellectual capacity to tackle 

some of the issues crippling the 

country. Some of the people around 

him should at best be confined to their 

respective local government areas as 

comfortable pensioners. 

It is disheartening that under a 

general that drove trigger happy 

Chadian forces back to Ndjamena, we 

are experiencing a frightening security 

situation. It baffles me that with a man 

like Gen. Abduraman Dambazau in 

government, things are getting worse. 

Dambazau, I must admit is sound, 

very sound. He holds a PhD and he is 

vastly traveled . There is no security 

challenge beyond him if the former 

Army Chief sincerely works out a 

scholarly solution to the menace of 

killer herdsmen. 

As the minister of Interior, he should 

know that the Nigeria Immigration 

Service, as presently constituted, is 

incapable of policing our borders 

effectively in the face of looming 

invasion from elements who may not 

be Nigerians even if they claim to be 

Fulani. 

President Buhari should as a matter 

of urgency set up a new branch of the 

Armed Forces to be known as Nigeria 

Border Guards[NBG]. This should be 

independent of the Army, Navy and 

Air Force. As the Commander-in- 

Chief, we should throw politics aside 

and fix things with the National 

Assembly. 

The duty of the Border Guards will 

be primarily to man our frontier 

especially, North, West and East. This 

will include monitoring movement of 

persons and material now that we 

seem to have not only unknown 

faces but also weapons of destruction 

all over us. 

The Immigration should restrict 

themselves to their normal duties and 

hands off security matters. Their 

border guards unit should be 

disbanded. Customs should also face 

other statutory roles. 

In the Netherlands, their Border 

Guards, The Royal Marechaussee 

are part of the Armed Forces. It is 

the same in North Korea, Iran, Egypt 

and Vietnam. Even in Italy, the 

Border Police Service, Guardia di 

Finanza, is part of the Italian Army. 

We could do the same here. 

This should be devoid of the usual 

Nigerian disease of nepotism or 

tribalism. Let each of the 36 states 

and Abuja raise 1,000 able bodied 

men and women majorly from the 

millions of unemployed graduates 

and school leavers on our streets. 

President Buhari is Fulani. 

Dambazau is Fulani. The Minister 

of Defence is also Hausa-Fulani. 

Buhari, I know as a strong soldier. 

Dambazau is brainy. I cannot vouch 

for the Defence minister. In all 

honesty, I do not think the retired 

One-Star general has what it takes 

to oversee the Border Guards. 

It is believed that the killer herdsmen 

are Fulani. It may be true because the 

Buhari government has not employed 

the services of experts to look into these 

conflicts. There is more to it than meets 

the eye. 

Senator John Shagaya made a 

revelation before he passed on. He 

traced the present crisis to what the 

Nigerian government did in 1984 by 

sending Ghanaians home as illegal 

aliens. 

Ghana retaliated by sending all Fulani 

pastorals to Nigeria even if they all were 

from different parts of the sub region. 

Benin, Sierra Leone and Togo did the 

same. Nigeria was therefore to absorb a 

new set of immigrants, without 

documentation. 

The migrant Fulani came and to keep 

an eye on them, the new government of 

President Ibrahim Babangida caused 

them to form an Association of Cattle 

breeders. That was how the Miyetti 

Allah Cattle Breeders Association of 

Nigeria [MACBAN] came into being. 

Somehow, many of the neo-Fulani 

dispersed. Some went back to Mali or 

wherever. Some of those who stayed 

behind did not have the same 

characteristics as the local Fulani. This 

led to misunderstanding even within. 

And possibly that is part of what we are 

seeing today. 

Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar Saad, once 

said that the killer herdsmen were not 

Nigerians and should be treated as 

criminals. The Emir of Kano, 

Mohammed Sanusi(11), has urged 

MACBAN to identify the bad eggs 

within. We should come together to stem 

this aggression. 

The problem is that some of the Fulani 

do not have the courtesy to be involved 

in solving this menace through their 

unguarded statements. 

Some Nigerian Fulani could be using 

some of these mercenaries to wage 

personal battles in the name of protecting 

their business. The Fulani we knew were 

not wielding automatic weapons. They 

President Buhari should 

convene a meeting of 

stakeholders, set up the 

Border Guards and do 

away with some of those 

in his cabinet who bring 

him down through words 

and deeds 

had their sticks and kettles. 

Yes, mercenaries because things 

have changed. There are 

fundamentalists in many parts of Sub 

Saharan Africa affiliated to Al-Qaeda 

in the Islamic Maghreb[AQIM].In 

Mali, there is Hamadou Kouffa’s 

Katiba Macina. In Burkina Faso, we 

have Ansarul Islam led by Ibrahim 

Malam Dicko. 

The fall of Muammar Gaddafi led to 

the proliferation of weapons which are 

in the hands of gunmen from Chad to 

Niger down to Nigeria. President Idris 

Deby of Chad, a veteran of conflicts 

with Libya has been hard on terrorists. 

This is what we expect from the 

Federal Government. 

Perhaps the new Border Guards, 

well trained, will be able to change 

the tide of this war against terrorism. 

Many of the killer herdsmen know of 

our porous borders. We should remove 

sentiments and face this challenge 

courageously like we are pushing 

again into Ndjamena .President 

Buhari should convene a meeting of 

stakeholders, set up the Border Guards 

and do away with some of those in his 

cabinet who bring him down through 

words and deeds. A very objective 

Dambazau will be a huge asset. 

ery strange things really do 

Vhappen in Nigeria, and in quick 

succession, too. As the now popular 

saying goes, there’s no dull moment 

in the country. 

In 2008, for instance, the Nigerian 

Communications Satellite 

(NigComSat-1), which was launched 

into orbit amid fanfare, was said to be 

missing. With the development, N40bn 

spent on the project by government, 

apparently also took flight with the 

Communications satellite. 

Few months after the report of the 

disappearance, though, the Federal 

Government would come out to say the 

communications satellite was not lost 

but simply suffering from a flat battery, 

and was therefore parked, just like a 

malfunctioning car. 

Well, since the objectives of the 

project—making Nigeria a 

technological hub, saving broadband 

users and phone users hundreds of 

millions of dollars a year and enabling 

Internet access to remote rural villages, 

have not been realized, till date, it 

would mean that NIGCOMSAT-1 is 

still missing. Or still suffering from flat 

battery…Whatever. 

Sometime in September of 2004, also, 

a Russian tanker laden with 30,000 

barrels of oil was said to have 

mysteriously disappeared without 

trace from the custody of the Nigerian 

Navy. 

The vessel, African Pride, was seized 

in Nigerian territorial waters and its 

crew of 13 Russians detained on 

suspicion of oil smuggling. The vessel 

Now that snakes are swallowing millions 

would later disappear into thin air 

with its cargo and crew in what was 

rightly described as a national 

embarrassment. 

In the same country too, a 

president, after spending over one 

hundred days away from country and 

office, would on his return, be ‘chased 

away’ from his powerful office by 

rodents. 

Some stories, really, can only come out 

of Nigeria. 

And so, while the country battles with 

the menace of marauding, killer 

herdsmen, the mother of all oddities 

was released into the public space last 

weekend. 

In Benue state, which has remained in 

the news following mass killings by 

alleged Fulani herdsmen, a ‘fat’ snake 

reportedly swallowed a whopping N36 

million that ought to be remitted to the 

coffers of the Joint Admissions and 

There is also no arguing the 

point that anywhere a snake 

could creep into a vault of a 

parastal to swallow N36 

million must be a dangerous 

place to live in 

Matriculation Board (JAMB) from sale of 

forms during the era of scratch cards. 

According to the report, the ‘mystery 

snake’ sneaked into the accounts office, did 

not bite nor threaten anyone, but went 

straight into the vault where it swallowed 

the cash. Nothing can be more absurd! 

One Philomena Chieshe, a sales clerk, who 

could not account for the N36 million she 

made from sales of forms previous years 

before abolition of scratch cards, told a 

JAMB team of auditors that her housemaid 

had connived with another JAMB staff she 

gave her name as Joan Asen, to “spiritually” 

steal the money through a mystery snake. 

Now, should we begin to laugh or cry at 

such tales? As laughable as the development 

may appear to some, it should also sound a 

note of serious concern to everyone on how 

low things could get in Nigeria. 

How does a snake swallow millions of 

cash, anywhere? 

With incidents like this, which comes in 

various shapes, sizes and colours in almost 

all sectors and aspects of our human 

endeavours, there is no reason why any 

government should question the ranking, 

by Transparency International (IT), of 

Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countries 

in the world. 

There is also no arguing the point that 

anywhere a snake could creep into a vault 

of a parastal to swallow N36 million must 

be a dangerous place to live in, with 

development far from its lexicon. 

Or where else can a clerk brazenly look a 

system in the face and make such bizarre 

statement just to cover fraudulent acts that 

may have hitherto been a way of life? 

If a JAMB sales clerk can come up with 

a story as stupid as a snake swallowing 

millions of public money in her care, you 

can only imagine the bigger picture that 

may have so emboldened her. 

Yet, the likes of Philomena could be seen 

all over the place screaming to high 

heavens on how corrupt Nigerian 

government is. 

Which puts the question: ‘Who is 

government?’ in proper perspective. 

Should everyone in his/her little corner 

keep stealing public resources entrusted 

in his/her care without check, it will only 

be a matter of time for a total collapse of 

the entire system. 

And like Senator Shehu Sani, who 

represents Kaduna Central in the National 

Assembly, would say when he visited the 

JAMB headquarters with some anti-snake 

venom and snake charmers in apparent 

mockery of the story, if a snake could be 

said to swallow N36 million, it will not be 

surprising to wake up one day to the news 

that a snake had also swallowed Nigeria’s 

foreign reserve. 

How we deal with the Philomenas, the 

grass cutters, Ikoyi money warehouse 

operators, among other thieves in our 

midst, matters a lot in the development of 

Nigeria. 

Good a thing JAMB has described the 

matter as a case of pure criminality and 

fraud, which exactly is what it is. It is hoped 

that adequate sanctions would be meted 

out, not just on Philomena, but on all those 

that must have participated in the 

‘swallowing’ with the snake.


By Juliet Ebirim 

08137897935 (SMS Only). 

Would you swap 

phones with your 

partner/spouse for 

one day? 

•Sapphire Ogodo 

Queeneth Agbor 

E 

veryone 

should trust their significant 

other and not keep anything from them, 

right? But would you trust them with your 

phone, since it is widely believed that the 

mobile phone is a private and personal gadget 

and not meant for another person. As usual, 

we spoke to some celebrities and here are their 

responses; 

•Ajoke Ajadi 

Ijeoma Grace Agu 

•Nkechi 

Emmanuel 

•Lizzy Oraya 

Yes, I can for years if 

need be 

-Nkechi Emmanuel, 

Actress 

Yes I would. The 

nature of our jobs 

have bound us 

together so much that most 

of my phone contacts are 

90% same with his and the 

fact that we hide nothing 

from each other makes it 

easier because we don’t have 

any secret. My husband 

knows my phone password 

and I know his as well, so 

we can even travel differently 

with each other phones for 

years if we want and if need 

be. I’ll ask him to help me 

call anyone from my phone 

and deliver a message to the 

person on my behalf and it’s 

done, but I can’t let the love 

of my life be away from me 

for years NEVER! 

Yes, he’s supposed to 

be my best friend 

- Chesan Nze, Actress 

Yes I will. My partner is 

supposed to be my best 

friend. I believe a 

relationship needs sincerity 

and trust to grow. If my 

partner doesn’t trust me and 

he reads messages from 

strangers and ‘toasters’ on 

my phone we would have 

issues, which will lead to the 

end of the relationship. But 

if we trust each other, I 

wouldn’t have issues 

swapping phones any 

day, any time. 

No, that’s 

impossible 

- Ajoke Ajadi, 

Actress 

Oh no, impossible, 

because it might cause certain 

issues to come up in the 

relationship. These issues may 

ruin the relationship or cause 

unnecessary disagreements 

between us. 

What’s there to hide? 

- Deji Bakare, Model 

Yes I would swap phones with my 

partner/spouse for a day or more. 

What’s there to hide and if I have 

to hide anything I will keep them 

in my email or phone application. 

I will either take out my SIM card 

or else she’ll have to be my PA for 

one day. 

I can only if... 

- Lizzy Oraya, Actress 

I can only swap phone with my 

husband and not a boyfriend, 

because being a married woman 

means I only belong to one man 

so I have nothing to hide, but I 

won’t do that with a boyfriend 

because the truth of the matter is 

I can’t put my eggs in one basket. 

Just in case one misbehaves, I use 

the other one to console myself. In 

order to keep him from knowing 

about my other boyfriend, and 

also, so I don’t know about his 

other girlfriends, it’s better we 

don’t swap phones. 

I would rather go and 

kill a lion 

- Queeneth Agbor, Actress 

I would rather go and kill a lion. 

Exchange of phones between 

partners is the beginning of 

World War X. Personally, I’m not 

scared of exchanging phones 

with him, but how about the 

unending toasters that wouldn’t 

take no for an answer, who keep 

bothering you? 

Yes, he has given me 

everything 

- Sapphire Ogodo, Actress 

Why won’t I? I’m very open 

when it comes to my relationship 

with hubby. What’s there to hide 

from a man who has given me 

everything? I can’t possibly ask 

for more. 

We have free access to 

each other’s phones 

- Ijeoma Grace Agu, Actress 

Yes, I can . What’s there to 

hide? We both have free have 

access to each other’s phones. I 

don’t mind him going through my 

messages, chats or taking my 

calls. 

•Chesan Nze 

•Deji Bakare

24—SATURDAY Vanguard, FABRUARY 17, 2018 

ROTIMI AGBANA 

07054964685 Email: rotimiagbana@gmail.com 

Nicki Minaj is my 

girlfriend— DJ Spinall 

•DJ Spinall 

Why I refused celebrating my 

birthday for twenty years 

—Majek Fashek 

Multiple award-winning DJ, 

Sodamola Oluseye Desmond, 

popularly known as DJ Spinall, 

a.k.a. TheCAP, has joined the league of 

Nigerian male entertainers who cross 

country borders in search of love. 

In an exclusive chat with Showtime, 

DJ Spinall who began his Disc 

Jockey career in a church revealed 

that he is currently dating 

American boobsful female rapper, 

Nicki Minaj. 

When asked, who he is currently 

in a romantic relationship with, 

he said, “I’m dating Nicki 

Minaj right now.” 

What is uncertain is if he is 

building castles in the sky or 

if he is actually living a 

reality, but what Showtime 

can tell you for free is that 

the junk-in-the-trunk rapper 

will bear Spinall’s children if and 

whenever they both decide. 

“Well, that is left to both of us”, he 

said. 

Speaking further, he corrected the 

misconception that he was a bully 

while he was in high school. 

“That is not true, I was the social 

prefect and there is no way a social 

prefect can be a bully; you can’t 

even be a social prefect if you are a 

bully. As a social prefect, part of my 

job was entertaining students, I had 

to be friendly and love people so I 

couldnt have been a bully”, he 

argued. 

Penultimate Wednesday Reggae music maestro, Majek 

Fashek shocked his friends, family and close friends in 

the music industry when he celebrated his birthday after 

twenty years. 

Majek, who has not celebrated his birthday for 

twenty years because he has since been mourning 

his late mother, threw a lavish birthday party which 

attracted the presence of top musicians including 

Ras Kimono, Orits Wiliki, and many more at his 

Lekki residence in Lagos. 

In an exclusive chat, Majek told Showtime 

that memories of his mum cause him unbearable 

pains, a reason he never remembers to celebrate 

his birthday. 

“Since I lost my mum twenty years ago, I’ve not 

celebrated my birthday; losing my mum affected 

me so much that it wiped out birthday memories. The pain has been there and so any time I 

remember her it touches me”, he said. 

He added that he now has good reasons to celebrate which is why he celebrated his birthday 

on Wednesday. 

“I have reasons to celebrate now, life has been full of ups and down; I came out with a new 

album, I have been recovering and things are happening positively so I can now celebrate”, 

he said excitedly. 

•Majek 

Fashek 

Pressure from fans can’t mislead me — Okiemute 

It won’t be much of a surprise for an artiste who is driven by pressure from fans or critics 

to lose focus, but such is not the case with MTN Project Fame Season 9 winner, 

Okiemute Ighorodje. 

Okiemute who locked musical horns with thirteen other brilliant contestants during 

the popular talent hunt, told Showtime in an exclusive chat that unlike some artistes 

who lose focus because of pressure from fans she will never fall a victim just because 

she wants to satisfy her fans. 

“I am not under any pressure to live up to expectation; definitely fans would want you to do 

a lot but you need to know what you want because people could put you under pressure and you’ll 

just do what isn’t really you and at the end it flops. This might sound like I’m bragging, but you can’t 

stop a star that has been shining and still shining, no matter how much you try to .” 

She added that her focus as a fast rising female artiste in a competitive music industry is to make 

good music because she is not the type to meddle in industry pros and cons. 

She said, “As much as everyone has their own kind of music, there is always a trend setter in the 

industry, that’s what keeps people like Jayz, Illbliss and others in the game. For me, I’ve not really had 

that pressure, I just want to make good music that people will relate with and have fun.” 

•Nicki Minaj 

•Okiemute 

•Paul Dairo 

•Poe 

Musicians are self 

centered people 

— Mavin rapper, Poe 

upreme Mavin Dynasty rapper, Ladipo 

SEso, better known by his stage name, ‘Poe’, 

has described musicians as selfish and self 

centered people. 

Recounting his experience since signing on 

to Mavin Records, Poe, who is the only 

rapper signed to the Don Jazzy led label 

told Showtime in a chat that though 

musicians are self centered, his label 

mates are quite different because 

they have been very helpful to him. 

“I’m one of the newest on the 

label and from what I’ve 

observed there is a genuine 

camaraderie here. They 

all want each other to 

succeed and that’s 

important because 

artistes are typically self 

centered people, they 

want their own thing to 

happen. But at Mavin, if 

you’re creating a sound others will give you 

advice, lend a helping hand, link you to 

other people. They believe in the family first 

and I think that’s positive because as a new 

artiste joining the likes of Tiwa Savage, 

Reekado Banks, Dr Sid, it can be 

intimidating”, he said. 

He added that he is not under pressure to 

outshine his label mates because they are top 

rated. 

“The only pressure that comes is internal. I 

put the pressure on myself to do better than 

the last thing I did, it really has nothing to do 

with the artistes and the label, everybody is 

willing to lend a hand and I’m grateful for 

that”, he retorted. 

I never had cancer, 

Paul Dairo cries out 

Highlife and R & B singer, Paul Play 

Dairo, has affirmed that it was not 

a cancer related sickness that kept 

him off the music scene for so long. 

In a one -on-one with Showtime, 

the ‘Angel of my life’ crooner revealed 

that it was a kidney tumour that 

landed him in the hospital. According 

to him, he thought he would never 

recover from the ailment to resume 

his music making craft. 

“I never thought I would recover 

to do music again because it was a 

major operation. It wasn’t cancer 

like the rumour was, it was actually 

a tumour that grew on my kidney 

which overwhelmed it and rendered 

it useless to the point that they had to 

take it out”, he revealed. 

He recounted how he was able to 

finance the medical bills without having to beg the 

public for assistance like some others do. 

“I went through it all myself because it 

happened at a time that I wasn’t broke, so, I 

was able to take care of it myself. 

It was an expensive treatment so 

I had the likes of Dr. Mike 

Adenuga who was there for me 

after the surgery and other friends, so I 

didn’t have to go to the public to ask for money 

for the operation. It can’t be that bad that I won’t 

have friends who can take care of me if I have 

issues. For those who do it I wouldn’t blame them 

because they have to stay alive. You never know, 

the industry is full of assumptions. They believe 

because you’re popular you have money to take 

care of yourself; but when such situation arises 

and the person comes out to solicit for help you 

would know better”, he said. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


Edited By AYO ONIKOYI 

08052201215 

onikoyi68@gmail.com 

•Peggy 

Onah 

•Ferrari 

Okoro 

•Titi 

Joseph 

•Chika Ike 

•Omoni 

Oboli 

•Ayo 

Adesanya 

•Mo 

Abudu 

•Jumoke 

Odetola 

•Tracy and 

Treasure Daniels 

•Pat Ugwu 

•Regina 

Chukwu 

•Fela 

Makafui 

C 

M 

Y 

K


*Aki and Pawpaw 

How late film maker, Kasvid 

discovered us —Aki and Pawpaw 

...as Nollywood pays last respects to him 

Screen twins, Osita Iheme 

a.k.a Pawpaw and 

Chinedu Ikedieze a.k.a 

Aki who took the Nigerian movie 

industry by storm after featuring 

in that debut movie, “Aki na 

Ukwa” looked sober Tuesday 

evening, as they relived memories 

of how the 'Aki and Pawpaw' 

brand was created years back. 

The duo spoke at the 

candlelight/tribute night in 

honour of the man that created 

the Aki and Pawpaw brand, 

Chukwuka Emelionwu, popularly 

known as Kasvid. 

A notable film maker and 

marketer, Kasvid died last month 

in a fatal accident, while on his 

Dickson Iroegbu recounts crashed 

marriage experience in new film 

Almost eight years after his 

marriage to his ex-wife, 

Efe crashed, Nollywood director, 

Dickson Iroegbu has used his 

new film to recount the 

circumstances that surrounded 

the crashing of their marriage. 

The film, “The Good Husband” 

which is in its post-production 

stage chronicles the story of how 

Iroegbu's marriage to his ex-wife 

crashed like a pack of cards. 

Recall that it's almost eight 

years now, since Iroegbu had 

been playing the role of a father 

as well as a mother to his three 

children, after his ex-wife 

walked out of her matrimonial 

home on his birthday while he 

was away in Abuja. 

Iroegbu, who's opening up for 

the first time on his crashed 

marriage, said the movie which 

was shot in Abuja and starred 

the likes of Monalisa Chinda- 

Coker, Francis Duru, Thelma 

Omone O'khaz, Sam Dede 

among other stars, said the 

movie is inspired by his own true 

life experience. 

Intimating HVP, about the 

way to his village in Anambra 

State. He was reputed to have 

produced popular movies such as 

“Mr. Ibu in London”, The last 

Burial”, August Meeting”, 

Isakaba”, 'Aki na Ukwa among 

other movies. He also created 

such movie characters as Mr. Ibu, 

Aki and Pawpaw. 

At the candlelight/tribute night 

which was organized by 

Nollywood stakeholders headed 

by Sir Emma Isikaku, movie stars, 

producers, marketers and friends 

of the industry that graced the 

event took turns to pay glowing 

tributes to the departed film 

maker. While many described 

the late Kasvid “as a very 

upcoming 

movie, the 

former 

Executive 

Assistant, 

Creative 

Entertainment and Tourism, 

under the Senior Special 

Assistant to former 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan on Youth and 

Students Affairs, said; 

“I just produced a new film 

called “ The Good Husband” 

which is a movie inspired by own 

true life and my other stories in 

the public domain.” 

“Marriage is the only 

institution God established on 

earth. When mine crashed, I 

thought it was an assignment. 

Indeed, it was an assignment. 

For that experience alone, I 

probably wouldn't have had the 

privilege of conceiving the 

concept of “The Good husband". 

I am doing the post production 

right now.” Describing “The 

Good Husband” as a very 

important film to him, Iroegbu 

noted that a lot of men are dying 

I went for an 

audition, and he 

saw one-smart 

looking small boy 

and he 

immediately 

developed 

interest in me. 

•Wole Adenuga 

in silence in the name of 

marriage. “There are a lot of men 

who are dying in silence. But in 

this film,I decided to tell the story 

of marriage from the perspective 

of a man. Most of the times, 

when marriage is discussed it is 

usually from the point of view of 

the women, but in this film, it's 

discussed from the men's 

perspective. In marriage, when 

a woman is molested everybody 

gets to hear of it, but when the 

man is molested nobody raises 

any eyebrow. And a lot of men 

are dying in silence and that's 

how important this film is.” That's 

why it is titled 'The Good 

Husband', he asserted. 

*Aki , Mr.Ibu and Pawpaw at the night 

of tribute in honour of late Kasvid 

respectful person who struck gold 

and shared his heart of gold with 

the industry”, others saw him as 

a talent groomer.” But besides the 

glowing tributes paid to the late 

film maker, Aki and Pawpaw's 

tributes moved everyone in the 

gathering to tears. The actors who 

have made names for themselves 

as the most famous actors in 

Nollywood owing to their sizes 

publicly acknowledged the 

inevitable role the late film maker 

played in their acting careers. 

According to Osita Iheme a.k.a 

Pawpaw, Kasvid was his boss 

before he later became his friend. 

“Kasvid was my boss who later 

became my friend. I met him in 

2002, in Eungu. Then I was based 

in Aba, where I was horning my 

acting skills. I decided to relocate 

to Enugu to hustle. While in 

Enugu, Kasvid was shooting a 

film. When he sighted me, he 

developed interest in me. He just 

believed in me immediately he 

sighted me.” Fighting back tears, 

Pawpaw recalled how the late film 

maker created the 'Aki and 

Pawpaw' brand. 

Narrating further, he said “Kavid 

asked me if I would like to go into 

acting. I told him, I have been into 

actng way back in Aba. He then 

asked me again, do you know 

Chinedu Ikedieze who featured in 

the "Last Burial.” I answered him 

in the affirmative. Then I didn't 

know he was the producer of the 

Last Burial. Later, he invited a 

writer to write a script around 

Chinedu and I. That was how the 

movie, “Aki na Ukwa” came about. 

On his own, Aki said, he met the 

late film maker while he was an 

undergraduate at Institute of 

Management Technology, IMT, in 

Enugu. “I went for an audition, and 

he saw one-smart looking small boy 

and he immediately developed 

interest in me. A week after that 

encounter, he visited me in my 

hostel on campus. Kasvid took a 

risk in us. He invested his money 

in us. He saw something in us that 

other producers did not see. He 

made us who we are today,” Aki 

echoed. 

Comic-actor, Charles Inoije 

recalled how the late film maker 

also gave him his first role ever in 

a movie. According to him, while 

he was waiting to proceed to the 

NYSC camp, after his graduation, 

he reached out to Kasvid who 

invited him to Enugu, where he 

was shooting a film.”He invited me 

to a movie location in Enugu and 

that was how my journey into 

Nollywood started, ”Inoije 

recounted. 

Other celebrities that paid 

glowing tributes to the departed 

film maker were Mr Ibu, AGN 

president, Emeka Rollas,Hon 

Desmond Elliot, Lancelot Imasuen, 

Peace Anyiam-Osuigwe to 

mention but a few. 

wapTV 

berths on 

PlayTV 

TV viewers nationwide 

have been having 

additional reasons to 

celebrate since the 14th of 

February 2018, as wapTV 

commenced transmission 

on PlayTV as a special 

Valentine’s Day surprise to 

subscribers of the platform. 

PlayTV is a popular 

Satellite TV Provider with 

coverage across Nigeria 

and several parts of Africa. 

The company, which 

recently signed music 

superstar Olamide as a 

Brand Ambassador, is wellreceived 

due to their wide 

range of over 40 premium 

local and international 

channels. 

According to the 

Managing Director of 

wapTV, Wole Adenuga, 

“We have already started 

receiving positive response 

from PlayTV subscribers 

who have been 

commending our channel’s 

entertaining content and 

HD clarity. Since wapTV 

was launched in 2012, we 

have worked tirelessly to 

improve the quality of four 

programmes as well as 

expand our coverage. This 

partnership with PlayTV is 

one of the many surprises 

we have this year.” 

With millions of viewers 

daily, wapTV is one of the 

most-watched channels 

inNigeria; making it a 

preferred platform for 

Corporate Advertisers, 

Federal and State MDAs, 

Religious Organisations 

and NGOs, as well as 

several Independent 

Producers whose 

programmes are among the 

channel’s widerange of 

content suitable for the 

whole family; including 

Latest and ClassicNigerian 

Movies (various 

languages), Short Comedy 

Skits, TV Dramas, 

MusicVideos, Comedy 

Series among others. 

•Wole Adenuga


By BENJAMIN NJOKU 

08111813022 

Team Salut 

plans Afrobeats 

dominance 

…Collabos with Korede 

Bello, 9ice, Iyanya 

Fresh VDM, Davido 

strike gold yet again 

with new single 

Since commandeering the African 

music scene with the tour de force 

production on Davido’s FIA, Fresh VDM 

has been on a great run delivering chart 

topping records in an astonishing short 

period of time. 

Little wonder why his latest effort, ‘Flora’ 

by Davido has hit a momentous milestone. 

The video of the song, currently number 

one on YouTube in Nigeria has hit 1 million 

views in less than 48 hours of release - a 

repeat of the same feat achieved by FIA in 

November 2017. 

Meanwhile, the Togolese-born Nigerian 

hit maker is set to appear as a guest on 

this week’s edition of the official Naija Top 

Ten countdown on MTV Base where he is 

expected to reveal more about himself and 

his work. Hosted by popular VJ, Ehiz, this 

episode will air this Saturday. 

A graduate of International Relations and 

Diplomacy from the prestigious Lead City 

University, Fresh VDM has garnered an 

impressive production catalogue featuring 

the likes of Davido, Olamide, Burna Boy, 

Mr Eazi, Ycee, Mayorkun, Dremo, 

Dotman, Lola Rae and a host of other top 

Nigerian acts. 

UK-based group, Team Salut are firming up 

their dream to expand their music from 

Europe to Africa and other parts of the 

world by aligning with the Temple 

Management Company,TMC. 

In West Africa and other parts of the continent, the 

three-man music group made up of talented 

producers are known for their 2016 smash hit song 

‘Dance For Me’ with Mr Eazi and Eugy which 

clocked over 50 million online streams. 

During their recent visit to Nigeria, the group 

collaborated with several Nigerian artists including 

Ycee, 9ice, Iyanya, LAX, Korede Bello and Jeff Akoh 

among others. 

Team Salut comprises Mr Wood, GKP and Side 

Chain Manny - three self-taught multiinstrumentalists 

who met in London and fused their 

roots across Africa’s West Coast, from Ghana to 

Sierra Leone and Nigeria. 

While announcing their latest move via social 

media, Team Salut said, “We are pleased to 

announce 

that we 

are now 

officially 

part of 

Temple 

Management and will now kick 

into gear our #SalutSeason world domination. All 

African affairs will be handled by the dons at 

@thetemplecompany.” 

Speaking, Mark Redguard, Head of 

Entertainment, TMC noted that the alignment was 

made possible with a synergy between UK-based 

Talent Management Agency, First Access 

Entertainmentwho manages Team Salut and pan- 

African entertainment powerhouse, Temple 

Management Company. 

“We welcome Team Salut into our vast pool of 

talents and human resources. We look forward to 

helping them realize their dreams via our verticals 

in East, South and West Africa,” said Redguard. 

Femi Kuti premieres ‘Na Their Way y Be That’ 

Afrobeat legend, Femi Kuti has released his latest 

tune titled, ‘Na Their Way Be That.’ The track is 

off his forthcoming 10th LP, One People One World. 

No one can do anything to please these people. They 

will always be dissatisfied people,”Femi sings over 

chants and soulful sax lines. 

The singer is known for using his music to speak 

against corrupt leaders, corruption and selfishness of 

the Government and this new tune is no exception. 

The track is Femi’s second single from One People 

One World LP, which will hit the airwaves on February 

23. 

In a statement, Kuti described the song as “an easy 

explanation as to why some people act in a negative 

way ... It’s just their nature, and it explains why they 

should be ignored.” 

“Na Their Way Be That” is the singer’s second single 

from One People One World, out February 23rd via 

Knitting Factory Records. Last month, Kuti released 

the LP’s title-track and its vibrant video, in which he 

performs onstage at Nigeria venue The Shrine, which 

he built as a memorial to his father. 

Kuti said the album’s optimistic lyrical themes 

underscore the important way music can make politics 

personal and instigate social change. “I’m a father 

and I love my kids, so I want to give the younger 

generation a message of hope,” he said. “Despite all 

our problems, we can create greatness in our lives.” 

Seun Kuti, Femi’s brother and fellow son of Fela, 

will release Black Times, his fourth LP with band Egypt 

80, on March 2nd via Strut Records.


Juliet Ebirim 

08137897935 

juliet.ebirim@gmail.com 

•Seun and Kiki 

Kiki Osinbajo set to marry 

Billionaire Bola Shagaya’s son 

Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo’s daughter, 

Kiki Osinbajo, is set to 

wed the son of billionaire 

businesswoman, Hajia Bola 

Shagaya, Seun. According to 

reports,Oluwadamilola fondly 

known as Kiki who just opened 

her Abuja-based beauty store, 

Glam d’Africa and Shamsideen 

Oluwaseun Bakare have been 

dating for a while. The 

wedding which promises to be 

grand is slated for March 15- 

17, 2018. 

Vice President Osinbajo and 

family have shared a photo 

of the intending couple 

announcing their engagement. 

The vice president announced 

the news on his twitter handle 

on Tuesday, saying; 

“With joy and praise to the 

Lord, Dolly and I announce the 

betrothal of our daughter 

Oludamilola Osinbajo to 

Oluseun Bakare.” 

Kabir, another son of Hajia 

Shagaya, who is the Senior 

Managing Director of e- 

commerce company, Zippy 

Logistics, will also be getting 

married in July. 

•Mobolaji 

Akiode 

Mobolaji Akiode’s 'Hope4Girls' 

About 160 teenage girls with 

leadership and basketball 

skills were part of the justconcluded 

female basketball 

camp in Lagos. The camp 

which was organised by the 

founder of Hope4Girls Africa, 

Mobolaji Akiode, holds 

annually and is aimed at 

mentoring young girls to 

develop and utilise their 

basketball skills in order to tap 

into abundant opportunities the 

game offers. 

Akiode, a former female 

national team player said the 

camp is aimed at providing 

young girls the platform for 

career development and 

education. She added that it 

will also enable the young girls 

compete with their peers 

internationally. 

The girls aged 11 to 15, who 

were selected from schools in 

Borno, Delta, Ogun, Lagos and 

Ghana, among others, were 

hosted at the Indoor Sports 

Hall of the National Stadium 

in Lagos for the four-day camp. 

“My goal is to empower as 

many young girls as possible, 

so that when they grow up, 

they can empower others. The 

game has opened many 

opportunities for me. We need 

to let people know that 

Nigerians are talented in all 

sports, not only in football. I 

have about seven girls that I 

mentored who are currently in 

the United States, studying 

there; they are in the 

universities and secondary 

schools. That’s the most fun part 

for me - working for the girls.” 

Akiode said. 

Various personnel were on 

ground to give inspirational 

talk to the girls on various 

topics to improve their 

knowledge of the game and life 

in general. 

Kokun's heart of gold 

T 

he 

By Oba Michael Soyebo 

name, Adepeju 

Olukokun might not readily 

come to mind in an everyday 

setting but mention Kokun 

Foundation to anyone and you 

will be quickly told that’s one 

foundation reputed for its 

genuine charitable ventures 

across the breadth and length 

of Nigeria. Kokun Foundation 

is the vision of Adepeju 

Olukokun, a likeable 

personality who fought and 

conquered poverty. His story 

was of a man favoured by fate 

and destined for greatness; 

from his humble beginnings he 

has able been to create a 

promising future for himself 

through hard work and 

unusual tenacity. Maybe 

because of his humble 

beginnings, Kokun’s obsession 

for humanity is second to none. 

Through his foundation, Kokun 

•Tolu Omoniyi 

has touched lives of tens of 

thousands less privileged and 

disadvantaged Nigerians with 

provision of life essentials like 

food, clothing and most 

importantly, pure love. 

According to available 

information, Kokun’s obsession 

for humanity was inspired by 

his own struggles through life, 

growing up in a polygamous 

home where every man is for 

himself. He experienced 

hunger first hand and had to 

hawk at a point to survive. 

Hear him “ My daily mission 

is simple; to put food on the 

tables of our hungry 

neighbours and get more 

people out of poverty and 

problems. Giving is not 

determined by how much you 

have but how much your heart 

truly desires to sacrifice. There 

are people who will starve to 

death today. There are people 

who have to eat mud pies daily. 

We don’t truly understand how 

blessed we are to feed the poor 

and help people who are in 

need. Feeding the needy is part 

of serving one another”. 

Tolu Omoniyi excites for Valentine’s 

By Oba Michael Soyebo 

Nigeria’s man of style, Tolu 

Omoniyi of Bobos Clothing 

fame made this year’s 

Valentine’s a memorable one for 

all love birds in Nigeria. The 

store has continued to be a 

blessing to top fashionistas who 

can now get luxury fashion items 

right close to their doorsteps. We 

gathered that since the special 

Season of Love giveaway 

campaign kicked off, Bobos 

outlets has become a beehive 

of activities as patrons trooped 

in to maximize the opportunity 

of upgrading their wardrobes 

at a very pocket friendly prices. 

With outlets scattered all over 

Lagos, Port Harcourt and 

Abuja, Bobos Clothing, for 

many decades has become the 

Pomp, Funfare at Wazobia 

FM ‘SOCA in Naija’ Carnival 

The Wazobia FM carnival held on the 3rd and 4th of February, 

2018 was full of fun and excitement. Hosted by Yaw, Lolo1 

and Igos, the event kicked off with exciting dance competitions. 

The parade led by the SOCA dancers adorned in radiant attires 

and beautiful smiles, started all the way from Etim Inyang 

Crescent down Muri Okunola Park. 

The carnival which created a platform to showcase the rich 

cultural heritage of Lagos to Africa and the world at large was 

graced with the presence of the Lagos State C ommssioner for 

Tourism, Art and Culture Lagos, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, Special 

Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Tourism, Arts and 

Culture Mrs. Adebimpe Akinsola, 

Director of Tourism, Art and Culture 

Mrs. Otunlana Saidat Olaitan. 

The event never ran short of 

beloved fashion store for top 

economic influencers and 

fashion conscious individuals 

who understands the power 

of looking good. 

Tolu Omoniyi, the brain 

behind Bobos clothing 

recently rolled out the drums 

to celebrate his parent’s 

birthday. And it was an 

occasion of class and 

opulence. 

performing acts from music to comedy 

and exhibition of the rich cultural 

heritage of the state. 

The crowd were cracked up by A- 

list comedian Basket Mouth, Funny 

Bone, MC Abbey, Pencil, Ushebe, 

Julius Agwu, Still Ringing Baba 

Kay, among . Phyno, Skales, Small 

Doctor, MC Galaxy, Sound Sultan, 

Korede Bello thrilled the audience to 

a memorable carnival. Also, there was 

a Sports Village with Femi and the 

Gang, bringing live matches from 

premiere league to La Liga and the 

just concluded CHAN. 

C 

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Three Badagry kings get 

staffs s of office 

THREE kings from the Badagry local government 

area received their staffs of office on Sunday 

from Hon. Muslim Folami, Commissioner for 

Local Government and Community Affairs, who 

did the honour on behalf of Governor 

Akinwunmi Ambode. 

The new kings are : Samuel Amosu Owolabani, 

as Aholu Whenton-1, De- Yeyi of Ajara Topa 

Kingdom, Badagry; Koshoedo Ebenezer Ahisu, 

Aholu Tha-Zuno Toyon-1, as Aholu of Ajara 

Vetho Kingdom, Badagry; and Aholu Agano 

Toniyon-1 of Ajara Agamathen Kingdom, 

Badagry. Photos by Bunmi Azeez 

Hon. Muslim Folami, Commissioner for Local 

Govt & Community Affairs, presenting Staff of 

Office to His Royal Highness Koshoedo Ebenezer 

Ahisu, Aholu Tha-Zuno Toyon-1, as Aholu of 

Ajara Vetho Kingdom, and his Olori Christianah 

Hon. Muslim Folami, Commissioner for Local 

Govt & Community Affairs, representing Lagos 

state Gov, presents Staff of Office to His Royal 

Highness Aholu(Oba) Agano Toniyon-1 of Ajara 

Agamathen Kingdom and his Olori 

L-R: Hon. Muslim Folami, Commissioner for Local 

Govt & Community Affairs, presenting Staff of 

Office to His Royal Highness Samuel Amosu 

Owolabani, as Aholu Whenton-1, De- Yeyi of 

Ajara Topa Kingdom, and his Olori Alice, with 

Mr. Yomi Amoye, Director, Chieftancy Affairs and 

Mr. Akeem Suleiman, SA to Gov Ambode. 

Eko Club marks 

Valentine’s Day with 

induction of new 

members 

Premium club of Lagos State, strictly for Lagos 

indigenes, Eko Club celebrated the St 

Valentine’s Day in style by inducting new 

members. The new members were sworn-in in the 

presence of the old and new members of the 

Club on Wednesday, February 14, 2018 at the Eko 

Club Arcade, Surulere, Lagos. Photos by Bunmi 

Azeez 

L-R: Hon. Setonji David, Member, Lagos State, 

House of Assembly; Hon. Onilude Olusegun, 

Chairman, Badagry LG and Hon. Joseph 

Bamgboshe, member, House of Reps, and De 

Wheno Aholu Menu-Toyi I, Akran of Badagry 

L-R: : Prince Rabiu Oluwa, former President of 

the Eko Club and Mr. Babatunde Adele, member, 

lead new member on taking oath of membership. 

L-R: Mr. Akeem Suleiman, S.A. to Governor on 

Community and Communication; Mr. Fola 

Padonu, Perm-Sec, Ministry of Local Govt and 

Community Affairs and Mr. Babatunde Hunpe, 

SA, all of Lagos State. 

Chika hooks Anthony 

The solemnisation of Holy matrimony 

between former Miss Chika Ohaji and Mr 

Anthony Omoh, a veteran Journalist was held 

at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, 

Amuwo Odofin, Lagos last Saturday. Photos by 

Bamidele Lamidi 

L-R: Chief Folami Tajudeen, Chief Kola Kekere- 

Ekun and Sen. Muniru Muse. 

L-R: Mr. Kunle Oyekanmi, Publicity Secretary, 

Lagos Lawn Tennis Club, Prince Lana Adesida, 

Island Club and Chief Tunde Fanimokun, 

President of Eko Club. 

L-R: Chief Emeka Ohaji, bride's father; Mrs Lolo 

Ohaji, bride's mother; Mr and Mrs Tony Omoh, 

the couple; Mrs Kate Omoh, groom”s mother and 

Mr Joel Omoh, groom's father. 

L-R: Prince Hakeem Olaolu Elegushi, Chief Ayuba 

Elegushi and Prince Olanrewaju Bakare. 

R-L: Chief Emmanuel Adegboyega, Onisiwo’s 

Chief, Prince Adetayo Saheed Olisa and Oba Adio 

Yusuf, Oinisiwo of Tomaro and Abagbo. 

L-R: Hon Justice Ibrahim Watila of Federal High 

Court, Abeokuta Division; Captain Ibarahim 

Mshelia and his , wife ,Ann. 

C 

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08116759759 

Newly 

wly-single woman 

hosts divor 

orce party 

ty... 

A 

single woman hosted a divorce 

party in her WEDDING DRESS 

after pals brought their gowns to 

'celebrate' her split. 

Nicole Niesner and her chums 

mimicked a famous episode of US 

TV show Friends by drinking wine 

together in their white dresses. 

Following the end of her 13-year 

marriage, Nicole, 36, suggested she 

should mark her divorce with a 

party after reading about celebrations 

online. 

Her best friend took control of the 

party arrangements, which resulted 

in the girls lounging around 

in their wedding dresses, drinking 

wine and constantly laughing. 

The divorcee is now looking forward 

to her single life and 'turning a negative 

into a positive'. 

Nicole, from Saskatchewan, 

Canada, said: "When I opened the 

door all of my friends had brought 

their wedding dresses, it was so fun. 

"I had no idea that this was the plan 

so I went into my storage room and 

dug my dress out. 

"We all helped each other get 

dressed, danced around, took some 

pictures and reminisced about our 

weddings, children, families and 

friends. 

"Divorce is devastating, no matter 

what the reason is for it – it's a very 

painful process. 

"The party wasn't celebrating the 

divorce necessarily, it was about 

friendship and supporting me starting 

my new chapter." 

Nicole, from Saskatchewan, 

Canada, said: "When I opened the 

door all of my friends had brought 

their wedding dresses, it was so fun. 

"I had no idea that this was the plan 

so I went into my storage room and 

dug my dress out. 

"We all helped each other get 

dressed, danced around, 

took some pictures and 

reminisced about our 

weddings, children, families 

and friends. 

"Divorce is devastating, no 

matter what the reason is 

for it – it's a very painful 

process. 

"The party wasn't celebrating 

the divorce necessarily, 

it was about friendship and supporting 

me starting my new chapter." 

Nicole came up with the idea for 

marking her divorce thanks to similar 

parties she had seen online. 

However as soon as she shared her 

idea with her friends, the party became 

a surprise. 

Nicole said: "I had come across divorce 

parties on the internet and 

thought, hey, why not celebrate! 

"I mentioned it to my friend and she 

took control and planned the party 

with some of my closest friends. 

"These women came together to let 

me know that I am loved and supported 

by many." 

Despite struggling with the divorce 

at first, Nicole claims that the party 

definitely helped her to cope with 

her life change. 

She added: "I felt so happy, I felt loved. 

There is nothing more uplifting 

than being surrounded by close 

friends who support you no matter 

what. 

A SEX-starved ed perver 

ert t who 

raped two chickens 

A 

SEX-starved pervert who raped 

two chickens to death has vowed 

to find a wife. 

Alfred Mutai, 33, reportedly spent 

a night molesting the hens after stealing 

them from a neighbour. 

The vile creep was caught trying to 

sneak off to hide their bodies in the 

morning. Sickened villagers roughed 

him up before publicly humiliating 

him by parading him with the fowl 

in Kapkwen, Kenya. 

They also demanded he compensated 

the birds’ owner. 

Revolting Mutai was said to have 

apologised to the mob. 

He promised to lead a better life and 

get married, reports edaily.co.ke. 

The hens’ owners Richard Kibor said 

he would only forgive Mutai if he paid 

him compensation of 4,000 Kenyan 

shillings - just under £28. 

He said: "I was shocked to wake 

up in the morning only to find that 

this man had raped my hens. 

"I want £16 for each chicken, 

only then will I forgive him. 

"But he will never be allowed to 

step foot in my compound again." 

It is the THIRD animal-sex scandal 

to rock Kenya in a month. 

Mbithi Munyao, 35, is behind 

bars accused of raping his mum’s 

two goats to death. 

He is said to have dragged 

them from a grazing area for a 

revolting two-hour session in a 

thicket in Kinyai, about 50 

miles from the capital Nairobi. 

The terrified, bleating animals 

died of exhaustion as soon as he 

finished the sick attack, said cops. 

Horrified residents handed 

Naftaly Muriithi, 20, over to 

police after he was allegedly 

caught having sex with a donkey 

near a 

church 

i n 

Mutathiini. 

H e 

claimed 

in court 

he was 

too shy to 

chat up 

women. 

Elderly man, 88, takes up 

nude modelling... 

"We get through the good and bad 

together, and after that party I knew 

I'd be okay. 

"Now that I'm single, I'm focusing 

on living my best life – I work out 

regularly, I have taken up painting, 

I'm working on my mental 

health and focusing on my children. 

"I would recommend a positive divorce 

party to everyone – there is 

nothing more satisfying than turning 

a negative into a positive." 

An 88-year-old man has taken up nude modelling - because he 

can't survive on his meagre pension. 

The pensioner says his children disowned him after learning about 

his unusual hobby, which he has now been doing for six years. 

Wang Suzhong took up the unusual career at the age of 82 when his 

monthly pension of 700 RMB (£78.73) proved not enough to support 

him. 

Looking around for sources of income, he found he could earn 70 

RMB (£7.76) per day modelling at an art college in his home city of 

Chengdu, capital of the south-western Chinese province of Sichaun. 

And the fee went up to 100 RMB (£11.25) if he agreed to model 

naked. 

Mr Wang was happy to disrobe for the students' benefit and a video 

shows them sketching him, then waving a friendly goodbye when the 

class is over. 

The elderly model has turned the work into a full-time career, spending 

eight hours every day being drawn (with breaks in between poses). 

Mr Wang says he is not embarrassed to see images of his own 

naked body pinned up around the school, and 

actually enjoys looking at the art. 

He says the pupils and lecturers are friendly 

with him and sometimes buy him food. 

The pieces they produce based on his body 

is tasteful, he says. 

The only downside is that his children have 

not visited him since he took up his new career. 

It was not reported how many children he 

has but one son has said he will not even attend 

Wang's funeral. 

But Mr Wang says he is committed to the job, 

which gives him motivation to stay in shape as 

well as a sense of purpose and some companionship. 

C 

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It is always a joy when years of pregnancy struggles 

are followed by pregnancy and birth that came quite 

easily. This is exactly what happened to Toyin. There is no 

better way to spend the weekend than with a story that 

brings hope, inspiration, and light into our hearts. Toyin’s 

story does just that. Read about her encounter with primary 

infertility and how she coped. 

The last two years have been the most important of my 

life. These two years far exceeded my expectations of what 

motherhood would look like. In the last two years, I have 

been a mother. My daughter, Feranmi, will be two years 

old this month. 

Although it was a struggle before I had her, Feranmi’s 

birth has given my life a positive boost. She weighed over 

3 kg at birth and has been in perfect state of health from 

day 1. 

Feranmi is my world. I worship her. It’s hard to believe 

it’s been two years since I carried her in my belly. I was 39 

when I gave birth and with a 26-inch waist two years down 

the line, I really I do not look my age. I’ve quite a small 

stature, slim, and just a little over five feet tall. As I examine 

my reflection in the full length mirror behind the bathroom 

door, I cannot help marvelling how my tiny belly could 

have produced such a huge baby. 

For as long as I live, I will never forget the joy and 

excitement of feeling her kicking and moving around in 

my womb. The sensation of her foot pressing up against 

my ribs was indescribable. 

It’s been two years of 

changing nappies, 

breastfeeding, babywearing 

and baby 

nursing. Two years of joy 

and laughter, happiness 

and fulfilment. I’ve loved 

every minute of it, but I 

can’t lie, it has also been 

two years of doubt and 

anxiety. 

During these two years, 

I would tell myself that my 

fear is about the need to 

get pregnant again. I 

repeatedly tell myself that 

I need to get pregnant 

today, even right now. I 

think about it constantly 

and so intensely it hurts. 

My situation isn’t terribly bad, I 

know; but it isn’t a bed of roses 

either. Truth is that the road to 

conceiving my Feranmi was not an 

easy one. On the contrary it was 

quite traumatic. 

Ade, my husband and I spent 

the most of our five-year marriage 

and all our life savings trying to 

get to the root of our infertility 

issues. I felt so deeply emotional 

during those months. The 

emotions were many, different and 

very strong. I constantly felt guilty, 

inadequate, disappointed, angry 

and broken. 

I was anxious when I did not get 

pregnant after the first year, 

became desperate after the second 

year and paranoid after the third 

year. We did all sorts of things and 

went extreme lengths to get that 

elusive pregnancy. I ate all kinds 

of things, drank the most horribletasting 

concoctions, tried yoga and 

even acupuncture. 

I changed my diet to vegetarian 

and we consulted every 

imaginable specialist who all 

found nothing wrong with either 

of us physically. Of course, we 

went spiritual on top of it all. We 

prayed consistently and went for 

endless vigils and prayer sessions. 

Sadly, nothing changed much 

and I did not get pregnant as 

expected. After about a year and a 

half of all these, I got really 

frustrated and practically lost 

hope. It got to a stage I totally lost 

interest and stopped trying. Ade 

did not complain as much as I did, 

but I knew the strain was telling 

on him too. One day, I was 

Mother wants 2nd 

child after struggle 

with infertility 

climbing the stairs to our 3rd floor apartment, when I suddenly 

felt like I was fainting. Everything began to spin before my 

eyes, my legs felt so heavy and unsteady I held on to the 

stair rails and barely managed to remain standing. I tried to 

call out to Ade who was home, but my throat was constricted 

and I couldn’t utter more than a weak groan. I just made it to 

the door of our flat before passing out. When I regained 

consciousness, I was lying on 

our bed. The first thing I saw 

was Ade’s concerned face 

looking down at me. He had 

carried my unconscious body 

indoors into the bedroom, 

loosened my blouse and 

turned on the fan. 

I looked into his eyes 

searching for answers. I’m 

sorry Toyin, but you fainted, 

he replied to my unasked 

question. Fainted? I was 

surprised to hear that. I had 

never fainted in my life. Why 

did I faint? Apparently, Ade 

didn’t have all the answers. 

His reply was that he was 

taking me to the hospital right 

away. Although I was now 

Feranmi is my 

world. I worship 

her. It’s hard to 

believe it’s been 

two years since I 

carried her in my 

belly 

fully conscious and the dizziness had gone, I was still feeling 

too weak to stand or walk. The neighbours stared as Ade 

carried me all the way down the stairs to the car and drove 

me to the hospital. 

The doctor asked me to lie down while he carried out a 

brief examination. He checked my pulse, body temperature, 

blood pressure and asked some indistinct questions. He then 

pressed on my lower abdomen and asked if I felt anything. 

Actually I felt a dull pain down there. He checked under my 

eyelids and asked the last time I had my period. 

I was taken aback. What has my period got to do with this? 

Then it suddenly struck me that I was overdue. I did a quick 

mental calculation and realised I was five days late. I had 

been so wrapped up in other matters I didn’t even realise I 

was late. It was my turn to ask questions. Could I be 

pregnant? Was that why I fainted? Was this possible after all 

this time? I had missed my period before and didn’t get 

pregnant, so why should it be different this time? 

The temporary ‘world’ of pregnancy... 

My heart began to thump. God, 

please, let it be true. I was excited 

at the thought of being pregnant. 

The doctor smiled and ordered 

me to go for a pregnancy test. I 

went for the test that same day 

and when the result came, it was 

just what I was expecting. I 

listened as the doctor announced 

that I was a little over two weeks 

pregnant. It was indeed the best 

news I had ever heard in my 

entire life. Ade and I were 

overjoyed and celebrated this 

piece of good news with gutso. 

So, finally, I was pregnant. I 

could not say if it was one of all 

those concoctions or prayers that 

did the magic. Whatever, it didn’t 

matter and I didn’t care as long 

as it worked. As the weeks passed 

and my belly grew bigger and 

bigger, I was absolutely relieved 

and thought “it is over.” 

Feranmi was born, through 

normal delivery, one wet Sunday 

morning after barely four hours 

of labour. I didn’t have any 

complication and the hospital 

staff commended us for the birth 

of such a beautiful and perfectly 

healthy baby. I was satiated and 

vindicated. At last I had arrived 

the destination of motherhood 

and my problems were over. 

How naive I was! I had 

imagined that once I became 

pregnant, or perhaps once I 

became a mother, I wouldn’t have 

those messy emotions anymore. 

I thought my infertility tale would 

be just a story that I would tell 

and occasionally remember. But 

I’ve found that the plain truth is 

that even after the birth of my 

daughter, I have discovered 

my infertility story isn’t over. 

It is continuing and those 

messy emotions have not 

gone away. 

Two years later, those 

strong and messy emotions 

have resurfaced. Those old 

feelings of desperation and 

frustration have since 

returned. I want to have 

another child. It’s not that 

I’m ungrateful for the birth 

of Feranmi, but this is 

something I just need to 

fulfil. I dream about getting 

another positive pregnancy 

test and even have names 

already picked out for the 

yet-to-be conceived baby. But 

my husband does not think 

NOW is the time. 

Currently things are a bit 

hard for the family because 

he is jobless We’ve been 

living off my modest income 

since he was laid off about a 

year after the birth of our 

daughter and he has not 

secured anything permanent 

of significant since then. So 

I perfectly understand his 

point of view, 

I’m not a full-fledged 

career woman, neither I’m I 

a full-time housewife but I 

have had to find a balance 

between being a mother and 

wife on one hand, and 

mother and career woman on 

the other. But my role as a 

mother remains paramount. 

While trying to be 

objective, I’m yet to really 

agree that having a baby 

right now would not be the 

best thing for our family. I 

confess that I love my simple 

life with my daughter. 

There’s such sweetness in 

the time I get to spend with 

her. Nothing equals such 

time when it’s just Feranmi 

and mummy. If I could have 

it any other way, we’d not 

wait another year or two to 

try. But then what guarantees 

do we have we’d get 

pregnant again like the first 

time. We’ve been trying thus 

far anyway and no luck. 

Because of my history with 

infertility, I’m scared of 

waiting. I know there’s a 

very good chance we could 

have another long road to 

conception ahead of us. I 

remember, acutely, the pain 

of each negative pregnancy 

test of those days gone past 

before Feranmi’s birth. And 

if we waited three years to 

start trying, what happens if 

we can’t get pregnant for 

another long stretch of time? 

This is my worry. I think 

many people assume that if 

you’ve struggled with 

infertility, your problems are 

solved once you have a baby 

in your arms. Even I thought 

this was true at one point in 

time. But as I interact with 

more women I realize that 

the pain doesn’t magically 

disappear with a positive 

pregnancy test or a safe 

delivery. 

Even after giving birth, it’s 

hard to trust our bodies 

because they were not 

working normally.

32—SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, , 2018 

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 

Night-crawling in ‘Isale 

Eko’ could be loads of fun! 

MODELE, a forty-some-thing legal secretary midnight. He usually did the round by 

recently landed, Deji, a new boy friend a visiting a couple of friends and taking 

few years after her divorce. He’d already taken them with him for a real down-to-earth 

her for a couple of fancy dinners in posh restaurant treat. We called at an older friend of his 

but he now wanted her to see the real Lagos nightlife. 

According to her: 

Deji had already called him on the 

in the early evening. 

“Once I’d decided to have an open relationship mobile and he was expecting us. Instead 

with Deji and tried to make the most of it; I of taking one of the old cars in his fleet, 

discovered he could be quite an interesting he decided to take the best. “Is this 

companion. My ‘me’ time with him is not only wise?” I asked as I got into the car. “What 

intellectually challenging, we also have silly if it was snatched or vandalized?’’ “Don’t 

spur-of-the moment activities that make one be silly,” he chided. “These are my 

laugh at life instead of taking 

it too seriously. Like a few 

days back when we were 

both at a loose end for what 

to do. It was a Friday and he 

suddenly suggested he 

showed me the night life of 

the real Lagos—the Isale Eko 

area! My eyes widened. I’d 

heard so much about what 

went on in the dead of the 

night in that area to make 

me apprehensive. Even in 

the day time, the few times 

I’d had to venture near the 

area he was suggesting,I did 

with my heart in my throat. 

“Alice, my flamboyant 

friend who always goes 

around as if she were a 

jewellery stand, out-rightly 

refused to come with us even 

though we wanted to buy a 

joint gift for a friend’s 

birthday. “I don’t want some 

riff-rafts scratching at my 

throat because they want to 

snatch my gold necklace,” 

she said snootily. When Deji 

insisted I should give it a go 

since he would be around 

to give me all the 

protection I’d need, I 

agreed to go. It might 

even be an experience I’d 

cherish, he said, with that 

mischievous glint in his 

eyes. According to him, 

the place normally didn’t 

come alive until around 

friends, remember? I grew up 

with them and if I hadn’t had 

the privilege of a good 

education, I would have been 

one of them. They are happy 

people, whatever you have 

against them. Believe me, if 

anything were to happen to me, 

they would protect me with their 

lives! 

The things to avoid when you’re pregnant 

Smoking. Why? It’s harmful 

to the developing baby. It can 

lead to premature birth and 

low birth weight, and it 

increases the risk of cot death. 

Raw or undercooked meat. 

Why? To prevent infection 

with toxoplasmosis, a parasite 

that can be found in meat. In 

some countries, pregnant 

women are also advised to 

avoid cold cured meats such 

as salami, chori^a and 

pepperoni. 

Some drugs, medicines and 

herbal remedies. Why? 

Certain medicines - including 

common pain killers - can 

harm your baby’s health. 

Check with your doctor, 

midwife or pharmacist before 

taking any medicine or herbal 

remedy. 

Some fish. Why? Certain 

fish contain high levels of 

mercury, which can damage 

the baby’s developing nervous 

system. So avoid shark, marliri 

and sword fish altogether, and 

limit tuna to no more than 

two steaks or four mediumsized 

can a week. 

Liver products. Why? 

Liver, liver pate and liver 

sausage may contain a lot 

of vitamin A, and too much 

of this can harm your baby. 

Also avoid fish liver oil 

supplements and other 

supplements containing 

vitamin A. 

Too much caffeine. Why? 

High levels of caffeine can 

result in babies having a low 

birth weight, which may 

increase the risk of health 

problems in later life. Too 

much caffeine can also 

cause miscarriage. Caffeine 

is found in coffee, tea and 

chocolate, and some soft 

drinks and energy drinks. 

Certain cold and flu 

remedies also contain 

caffeine. The advice is to 

limit your intake to ?,00rng 

a day - that is 

approximately two mugs of 

instant coffee, or two cups of 

tea and a 50g bar of chocolate. 

Alcohol. Why? Alcohol 

passes through the placenta 

and can affect a baby’s 

development. During the first 

three months, alcohol may 

increase the risk of 

miscarriage. If you drink 

heavily through pregnancy, 

your baby could be born with a 

group of problems known a 

foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). 

The more you drink, the greater 

the risks. If you choose to drink 

alcohol, official advise is to 

limit your intake to one or two 

units a week. A unit is equal to 

half a pint of lager or cider, a 

single measure of spirits such 

as gin or vodka, and half a 

standard (175ml) glass of wine. 

Raw or partially cooked 

eggs. Why? Uncooked eggs 

and foods made with raw 

eggs—such as home-made 

mayonnaise and chocolate 

mousse - may contain 

salmonella, which can cause 

food poisoning. 

“The friend we first called on 

was older than Deji. ‘Only by 

a couple of years,’ he 

whispered. Well, you could 

have fooled me—with his 

leathery skin and all-white 

hair! He was stripped to the 

waist and busy on a kerosine 

stove. “As soon as I got your 

call that you were on your 

way,” he said proudly, “I 

rushed to the Lagoon to get 

some fresh fish. I got crabs 

too.” As they chatted away 

like the old friends they were, 

I watched fascinated as he 

stirred the stew he was 

making, then expertly 

cleaned the fish and crabs, 

lastly squeezing fresh lime on 

the lot. “Gets rid of the nasty 

smell fish has at times, he 

explained, “and brings out the 

flavour of the fish and crabs.” 

“I usually just boil crabs and 

eat them whenever I feel like 

having some,” I told him, 

“Next time, put in a cube of 

maggi or whatever seasoning 

you favour and add a 

tablespoon of ground 

pepper—very tasty.” As he 

went on cooking, it was 

obvious he did this all of the 

time. Girls, young and old, 

flitted in and out of his neatly 

done one-bed-room, cracked 

jokes about him never 

allowing them to help with 

the cooking, but helping with 

other chores. The fish stew 

was delicious, and between 

mouth-fulls of well-made eba 

and okra, Deji explained that 

Semiu was briefly married, 

had a couple of kids but never 

again gave living with a 

woman on a permanent basis 

a thought. He seemed to like 

his independence! 

“After the meal, two other 

My ‘me’ time with him 

is not only 

intellectually 

challenging, we also 

have silly spur-of-the 

moment activities that 

make one laugh at life 

instead of taking it too 

seriously 

friends arrived bringing girls 

with weird-looking wigs. Deji 

greeted everybody very 

familiarly, cracked a lot of 

rude jokes with them and 

bought them as much drinks 

as they wanted. He looked 

relaxed and happy too. Our 

small group then moved to a 

‘club’ house that looked more 

like an abandoned property. 

Inside though, it was nicely 

made up with a airconditioner. 

We were hardly 

settled when the 

proprietress came to inform 

us that the band was ready 

to play. I didn’t even notice 

any. But sure enough, 

almost by magic, white 

chairs were arranged in 

front of the club-house find 

a group of five of six guys 

were tuning archaic-looking 

instruments. “That’s an 

agidigbo band,” Deji told 

me. Well, I’d seen quite a 

few of them but never sat 

close to one. Almost by 

magic, the band sprang to 

life as soon as they saw Deji 

and his friends. They got on 

to the dance floor and the 

type of dance they did was 

not the typical one you do 

to juju music. The night had 

obviously just started. As if 

by magic, other night spots 

sprang to life selling all sorts 

of delicacies from goat meat 

and fish pepper soup, to 

jumbo snails, peppered 

stockfish to finger foods like 

banana fritters (mosa), fried 

anchovies (yoyo in Yoruba). 

If you wanted a hot meal of 

the “Mama Mukaila” type, 

there were amala, tuwo, and 

pounded yam stalls! The 

buzz of the place was 

electrifying. And a few of the 

people that crawled in later 

in the night had cars more 

impressive-looking than 

Deji’s. Scruffs or gents, they 

called each other by their 

first names and the younger 

ones showed reverence by 

improvising as waiters, after 

hurriedly throwing away the 

funny looking cigarettes 

they were smoking. 

“By six O’clock in the 

morning, the place was still 

bubbling. Deji then took me 

back to his place, explaining 

on the way that visiting a 

place like that once in a 

while not only humbled him, 

it showed him that 

happiness is what you make 

of it rich or poor. It was 

apt that the experience 

should be topped up with a 

dollop of TLC!” 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Vanguard, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2018—33 

Yetunde Arebi 

Twitter: @yetundearebi 

yetty5050@yahoo.co.uk 

08054700825 

Last Wednesday, 16 year old Ndidi 

missed out on the Valentine 

celebration. Not anymore for her, 

the panties, nail polish, ice cream and 

other little gifts from her lover and 

definitely, not those stolen moments of 

ecstasy, when she had thought herself 

in a loving relationship, though secretly. 

Her bubble had been suddenly burst and 

her hopes of being with her lover 

dashed. Her young, inexperienced eyes 

forced open to see the cold, harsh reality 

of what a love gone sour can be. Ndidi, 

like many naive young girls had fallen 

for the sweet, empty promises of love and 

happily ever after of a smooth operator 

who had only been taking advantage of 

her. 

I was surprised when my friend Ada 

told me last weekend that she’d been 

forced to return Ndidi to the village. 

Ndidi was a very respectful, cool headed 

young girl who appeared to know what 

she was doing. Her sewing skills as a 

trainee fashion designer were becoming 

noticeable, and we had concluded that 

she could go places under Ada’s care. So, 

I was shocked and disappointed to hear 

all the sordid stories about her escapade 

with Sunny, Ada’s nephew-in-law who 

also stays with them. Sunny had moved 

down to Lagos from Delta State when he 

gained admission to the University of 

Lagos. Accommodation problems had led 

him to Ada’s door step. And because he 

and his siblings had always been one of 

Ada’s favourite in-laws, she had gladly 

welcomed him into her home. Little did 

she know that she had let in a predator 

who will upset the peaceful and smooth 

running of her home. I had always 

thought of Sunny as a responsible young 

man too and wondered how he could 

stoop that low. He had access to all 

manner of young ladies his age and 

social status, so why pick on Ndidi, a 

timid housemaid from the village? Was 

Sunny really in love with Ndidi or was 

he merely taking advantage of her 

innocence to coerce her into an 

unwholesome relationship? Perhaps, 

had they not been caught, the secret 

affair might have blossomed into 

something beautiful. Now, we will never 

be able to tell. Ndidi celebrated 

Valentine’s Day in the village, wiser but 

full of regret. There is no doubt that not 

a few young ladies will be in Ndidi’s 

shoes by this weekend. For another 

group, theirs will come in another few 

weeks when they discover that they 

have been gifted with the responsibility 

of another life. Yet, there will be others 

afflicted with things better imagined 

than real. To everyone, I say, hope you 

enjoyed Valentine’s Day celebrations. 

But, let me share with you, how Ndidi 

landed in the village as told by her boss. 

“Ndidi is my niece, the daughter of 

an aunty in the village. I brought her to 

Lagos so that she could help me take care 

of the house. I had also promised her 

parents that she would learn a vocation 

as soon as possible. She turned out to be 

a very good and efficient housekeeper 

and everyone loved her, especially my 

husband and the children. Ndidi was 

fourteen years old when she came to 

Lagos, though one might find that 

difficult to believe because of her petit 

stature. 

No one can really tell precisely for how 

long it had been going on. But it was my 

younger sister who caught them at it 

roughly two weeks ago. She had stopped 

by at the house to drop something for 

me. When she got to the house, the 

windows were shut and the curtains 

drawn too. It was quite unusual because 

Ndidi ought to be home at that time. We 

never allow her go off on her own except 

on local errands. And at no time do we 

ever leave our house empty. She said 

she was sure she heard voices which 

sounded like the Radio was on, and 

assumed that Ndidi must have fallen 

asleep. So, she started pressing the bell 

and banging the door and the windows 

hard. 

Finally, Ndidi answered. My sister said 

she listened as she made frantic 

How Ndidi missed 

Valentine’s Day 

celebration 

Little did she 

know that she had 

let in a predator 

who will upset the 

peaceful and 

smooth running 

of her home 

movements around the house before 

coming to open the door. Immediately, 

her intuition told her something was 

amiss. She also saw my nephew-in-law 

sitting quietly in a corner chair in the 

living room. She asked him what he 

was doing in the house at such an odd 

time. He replied that he come home 

to pick something. She asked them if 

that was enough reason to lock 

themselves in the house and why it 

took so long to answer the door. She 

said she kept her cool, but told them 

that she would tell us what transpired 

that afternoon. 

I couldn’t believe it, when my sister 

narrated the story to me that evening. 

Ndidi and Sunny had never exhibited 

any affection of that sort towards 

each other to my knowledge. If such 

a thing was going on, I felt that we 

would have noticed a few careless 

acts. I informed my husband about it 

later that evening and he didn’t 

believe it also. We then decided to call 

Ndidi for questioning. At first, she 

would not tell the truth. 

She kept on denying all 

that my sister had told to 

me, weeping and calling 

God as her witness. But 

after I allowed her calm 

down a little, I told her 

that it was unfortunate 

that she refused to tell me 

the truth because I would 

have to send her back to 

her mother in the village 

as I could not trust her 

anymore. Of course, she 

did not want to go back to 

the village, she was 

already enjoying the 

luxury and other 

advantages attached to 

living in Lagos. So, she 

opened up to us. 

Ndidi said it was true that 

my sister saw them 

together and that she and 

brother Sunny were 

lovers. She said they had 

been dating for some time 

though she could not tell 

for sure how long that had 

been. She described how 

the relationship started. 

How he had come to her 

in the kitchen one evening 

while everyone was in the 

living room. He had told 

her that he really loved 

her and would like to 

marry her when he 

finished from the 

university. She said he 

had been very nice to her 

and was always buying 

her gifts, sweets and icecream. 

She told us that he 

normally comes back 

home when we had gone 

out for the day. 

Actually, it was just the 

four of us at home as the 

children are all away from 

home until the holidays. 

Sunny had started by 

fondling her breasts and then other 

things had followed. I asked her why 

she did not inform us that she had 

already found a husband. She said it 

was brother Sunny’s (as she calls him) 

idea that they should keep it a secret 

until they were ready to get married. 

He told her that we would not like the 

relationship and would try to stop 

them from seeing each other. She 

confessed that she cannot remember 

when they started sleeping together, 

but that it had been quite some time. 

I asked her if she knew the 

repercussions of her actions, 

stressing that she could be pregnant. 

She told us that she was aware of that 

fact, but that brother Sunny had 

assured her that she had nothing to 

fear as he was using something which 

could not make her pregnant. I asked 

her what it was and she couldn’t tell. 

That night, Sunny did not return 

from school. He called to say he was 

having tutorials and would be 

hanging out with his friends. So, my 

husband told him to ensure he comes 

home the next day. But he didn’t show 

up until the weekend, his excuse was 

that he was very busy. We were not 

surprised, Sunny denied everything 

that Ndidi said. Though guilt was 

written all over his face and it was 

very obvious that he was 

uncomfortable. But he put up a bold 

show even as Ndidi kept on telling him 

to his face that he was a liar amid 

tears. All he could say was “me, me, 

Aunty don’t mind her, it is a lie. Ndidi 

is a liar.” When Ndidi could not take it 

anymore, she ran into the room and 

produced some of the gifts that Sunny 

had given to her. They were stupid 

little things like pants, bras, lipstick, 

nail polish and other silly things that 

I had never even seen her use. Still, 

Sunny kept on calling her a liar, an 

ingrate, and a spoiler. He would turn 

to us, asking if we would believe him 

capable of all that she had said. How 

could he, an undergraduate stoop so 

low as to start dating a village girl. 

I probably would have found it hard 

to believe, but for the fact that Ndidi 

had proved her case beyond any 

reasonable doubt. She even went on 

to describe how they used to have sex 

on the couch at the end of the living 

room where the kids normally play 

when they are not in their own room. 

That night, my husband and I decided 

to send Ndidi back go her mother in 

the village before anything serious 

happens. But first, we had to take her 

to the doctor’s so as to be sure that 

she was not pregnant. We bought her 

clothes, shoes, and some other lady’s 

stuff which I felt she might need. We 

sent N20,000 to her parents towards 

her training, with a promise that we 

would continue to send more from 

time to time. We however refused to 

give them any explanations, advising 

that it was better to hear it all from 

their daughter’s mouth. My husband 

and sister had convinced me that it 

was the best thing to do in order to 

avoid trouble. But I am still puzzled 

by the fact that Sunny, a university 

undergraduate, who had access to as 

many girls as he wanted, could stoop 

so low to do what he did. It was a big 

shame, and though he would not admit 

his guilt, we all knew he had done all 

that the girl had said. I couldn’t 

believe that Sunny could do such a 

thing to me when he knew how much 

I loved him and his parents, and the 

likely implication of his actions. To 

me, he had simply taken advantage of 

the girl because of her naivety. And 

this hurt me. I had always been on 

Sunny’s side, taken him as my own 

brother, even when my husband 

accused him of all manner of 

recklessness. Now, I can no longer 

welcome him in my home as I am not 

sure of what he can do to other 

children.” 

Do have a wonderful weekend!!


I taught two 

first ladies 

— Maureen Bakare, Lagos’ 

first Education Director 

BY JOSEPHINE AGBONKHESE 

She taught across the length and breadth of Nigeria. In fact, Mrs. Mariam Babangida and 

Mrs. Victoria Gowon, both former first ladies in Nigeria, were her form one students when 

she was in Kaduna. 

Mrs Maureen Bakare, who holds a degree in English Language & History from the University 

of Ibadan and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education from the University of Leeds in the UK, 

later joined the newly-created Lagos State civil service and rose in her career to become the 

first Director of Education ever appointed in the state. She was thereafter appointed Director- 

General of the state’s Commission for Women in 1989. Although it’s 28 years since she retired 

from the civil service, her commitment to the promotion of sound education wouldn’t let her 

turn a blind eye to the rots that have befallen the education sector. 

A former Chairman of the University of Lagos’ Parents Forum; pioneer board member of 

Christ the Redeemers College and a former Chairman of the Board of Governors of Redeemers 

High School, amongst others, post retirement, she still earned appointments to serve the 

Lagos State government in various capacities. In this interview, Bakare, formerly a Chief 

but now a Pastor, identifies the root causes of education collapse in Nigeria and reels out 

solutions as she turns 80 this February. 

This is a milestone birthday, how 

do you plan to mark it? 

I am moving every ceremony to 

March because of the ongoing 

fasting and prayer in the 

Redeemed Christian Church of 

God. On March 4, I’m organizing 

a health and lifestyle seminar and 

notable TV host, Pastor Tony 

Akinyemi, who teaches about 

health, will be the Guest Lecturer 

at the event. 

But why health? 

I have noticed that the lifestyle 

people live contributes so much 

to ill-health. It is the reason a lot 

of people die before old age. For 

example, you find 

women coming to 

church on Sunday and 

buying puff (snacks) on 

the way. They eat and 

also give to their 

children; but that is not 

the time to eat such a 

thing. That is the time 

to take water and fruits 

before breakfast so that 

the intestine can be 

helped to do its work. 

On March 17,will be 

the birthday 

celebration proper. 

There will be a church 

service at the 

Redeemed Christian 

Church of God 

headquarters and 

thereafter, a reception. 

I will also be going to 

Ladi-lak Primary 

School at Yaba in 

Lagos to commission a 

library which I built, 

equipped and donated 

to the school. 

You don’t reside there; 

why that school? 

When I celebrated my 

70 th birthday, I built 

a library and a 

computer centre, both 

of which I donated to Sanya 

Grammar School here in Lagos. 

Thereafter, I started a library trust 

fund to enable me put up new 

libraries in more schools. I also 

set up a library on Spencer Street 

in Yaba some years ago. 

People hardly read these days, 

so why set up libraries when you 

know they won’t be utilized? 

I am deliberately doing this to 

promote the reading culture both 

amongst students and teachers. I 

have realized that even teachers 

do not read and if one doesn’t read, 

it becomes impossible to develop. 

This is dangerous to education and 

even the society. 

The poor English 

Language usage by 

Nigerians today is 

due to the neglect of 

the library period in 

schools. In the 

former British 

curriculum, there 

was ‘Reading for 

Pleasure” period on 

time-table in the 

primary schools. 

Where there was no 

library, the teacher 

created a Reading 

Corner in the 

classroom. The 

Pupils brought 

storybooks which 

were shared among 

them to read at 

home for discussion 

during the next 

period. This 

improved the 

written and spoken 

English of the pupils 

and enlarged their 

vocabulary for a 

good command and 

confidence in the use 

of the language. It is 

urgently necessary 

to revamp the 

library period in the 

secondary schools and the 

Reading for Pleasure period in the 

primary schools, to destroy the 

cankerworm of poor English 

usage. 

By the way, you do not look 80 in 

any way… 

The secret is in the fact that I 

embraced Christ very early. My 

parents too were staunch 

Anglicans. There is a lot to gain 

from being saved; especially when 

you understand the different types 

of love. All challenges will just 

look very insignificant in your 

eyes. Over the years, I have 

learned that frivolities of life can 

bring one down at anytime. So, I 

have resolved to always be 

temperate. 

What health practices have you 

also imbibed? 

The health practices I have 

imbibed are not outside the word 

of God. When you read the Bible 

carefully, you will see that God has 

I compare the lives 

that I lived, the 

schools I attended 

and what I 

enjoyed to what 

we have today, 

and I would tell 

you everything is 

completely down 

put in place everything we need to 

survive. If we eat according to 

what God has given us and we do 

so properly, our health will be 

sound. There are portions in the 

Bible that advise us to take fruits 

because they help keep the 

intestines healthy; to run away 

from eating or drinking unhealthy 

things, etc. So, the word of God 

directed me to live right. The Bible 

is complete. It also taught me how 

to manage the challenges of life 

without fretting and how to 

manage stress without allowing 

problems to overwhelm me in 

anyway. Now, more people are 

becoming diabetic and 

hypertensive and the Bible has the 

answers to all of these if only we 

could follow its guidelines. Let me 

give you an example. 

This house in which I live got burnt 

in 2014 December. We were all 

away because it was a Sunday. I 

was called and by the time I 

returned, I called people to join 

me in a prayer of thanksgiving 

because I was grateful nobody 

died. On that day, two women gave 

their lives to Christ because they 

were surprise. Shortly after my 

husband, an engineer, started the 

repair of the house, he fell ill and 

eventually died in 2016. That was 

•Mrs 

Maureen 

Bakare 

enough to break anyone but I 

knew God was in control. God was 

with my family throughout and 

did not allow me break down. 

You were an education 

administrator for decades, what’s 

your take on education in the 

country presently and what 

changes would you root for? 

Each day I think about what is 

happening to our children in 

schools and universities, I get so 

sad. I compare the lives that I lived, 

the schools I attended and what I 

enjoyed to what we have today, and 

I would tell you everything is 

completely down. 

During my days as a student at the 

University of Ibadan, every 

student there had a scholarship; 

either from Federal, state or 

private organizations. The Lord 

will continue to bless Chief 

Awolowo, Sardauna and Nnamdi 

Azikiwe. They knew that without 

sound education, there could be 

no progress for Nigeria. So they 

tried to ensure we had the best. 

Dearth of inspectorate 

What is wrong now with education 


Dame Patience, 

EFCC and 2019 

These are really bad times for 

Patience Faka Jonathan, the 

same former first lady of the 

Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Far gone are the ‘umblerra ‘crowds 

and the social media bulldogs ever 

ready to bare ferocious teeth even 

before she was attacked; the ones that 

wrote on her behalf and on behalf of 

the public a most fantastic resume in 

justification of her ‘employment’ as 

Permanent Secretary in her state civil 

service. 

These days, it is one day, one trouble 

for Dame Patience, who appears to 

have rubbed the Economic and 

Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, 

down the wrong way. 

It is not the first time that a first lady 

of Nigeria would come under fire for 

her activities while occupying Aso 

Rock, as distinct from those of her 

husband within the same period. The 

wife of the first president of the Fourth 

Republic, the much beloved Stella, had 

not survived power; but before her 

had been the wife of one of Nigeria’s 

most rabid dictators, Hajiya Maryam 

Abacha, whose predecessor had also 

unfortunately not stuck around for 

long enough to be persecuted. 

And while ‘be3ing persecuted’ might 

not be an accurate turn of phrase, 

Maryam Abacha’s troubles with 

anticorruption activities bordered 

on the ridiculous. It was not about 

the 142 billion naira of the Abacha 

loot which the Swiss government 

eventually returned to Nigeria by 

March 2016, nor the remaining 63 

billion naira which President 

Mohammadu Buhari had proceeded 

to pursue. It was about the incredible 

amount of hatred that the people of 

Nigeria had for her dictator husband 

and which was fully extended to his 

widow. 

In such matters, it is difficult to push 

politics to one side, as it were. This is 

what makes the case of Patience 

Jonathan quite strange. While 

former President Goodluck Ebele 

Jonathan is beloved by most 

Nigerians, that love is not extended 

to his loving wife who, by all accounts 

has played an important role in his 

successes. 

While the Abachas have 

survived- even thrived- their 

political future appears to 

have been truncated. It is 

unlikely that an Abacha would 

step into the national political 

terrain, much less be accepted 

and accommodated. Of 

course the Abacha loot far 

exceeds anything that has 

been traced to Patience 

Jonathan at this time; and 

technology has ensured that 

there is no hiding place for the 

goldfish that looters and 

cheats have become- even on 

the global scale. 

But the most recent 

revelations about monies 

Dame Patience has been 

accused of illegally acquiring 

and spending point to a very 

meticulous investigative 

effort. This strengthens the 

argument of those who have labeled 

the entire thing a witch hunt of a very 

classic sort. 

Of course the EFCC has every right to 

investigate and prosecute- as well as 

seize the assets and properties of 

public individuals who have had 

more than an ordinate access to the 

commonwealth. The anticorruption 

body in addition has a right to inform 

the Nigerian public about the 

particulars of the proceedings of such 

inquests, prosecutions investigations 

and seizures according to its 

discretion in such matters. It is 

therefore extremely difficult, if not 

impossible, for accusations of witch 

hunting to stick. 

Yet it is clear that Dame Patience 

Faka- though no longer in power- is 

the thread that holds together many 

political permutations and 

strongholds with 2019 in view. 


Whether or not her detractors 

agree, Dame Patience is the 

most experienced Nigerian first 

lady, living or dead, with her 

spouse having served as 

Deputy Governor, Governor, 

vice President and President in 

consecutive terms. She is also 

one of the most politically 

aware, with her influence 

straddling two of the most 

important and oil rich states in 

the country. With the fate of 

major political parties 

dependent on her whims, it is 

no wonder that she is still a 

political force to fear, if not 

respect. 

At the end of the day, an out of 

court settlement is not out of 

order. While the appeal of her 

lawyer to EFCC for an out of 

court settlement is seen as an 

admission of guilt and at the 

very least an act of weakness, 

it is most likely a very political move. 

As long as there are no laws in Nigeria 

against awarding massive 

government contracts to your friends 

and family, it would be almost 

impossible to win any court battle 

against Dame Jonathan regarding her 

possessions in Nigeria. Her era is way 

past that of when Nigerians kept their 

unclean monies in banks in 

Switzerland and other super civilized 

countries. At the current pace, court 

actions might not be resolved until 

after next year’s presidential elections 

anyway; by which time all the murky 

waters would have passed under the 

bridge and replaced by fresh, safe 

waters. If anyone understands it, 

Patience Jonathan understands the 

simple and common adage which 

many know but really do not 

understand in principle: He who 

fights and runs away, lives to fight 

another day. 

“I taught two first ladies” 

Continues from page 34 

in Nigeria is the fact that government 

refused to play its part. Teachers cannot 

be better than what government has 

provided. At the time I was teaching, 

there was a virile inspectorate on 

ground. I started teaching at Abeokuta 

Girls Grammar School. Inspectors will 

come from Ibadan, the state capital, 

watch us teach and advise us. By the time 

they leave, you would have been able to 

grade yourself. But gradually, no more 

inspectors coming to schools. I was the 

first Director of Education ever 

appointed in Lagos State, and I set up 

and also headed the Inspectorate. 

Before giving approval to any school 

for establishment, I would go with my 

team and if the school is good, we 

approve on the spot and if it’s not good, 

we tell them to make amends. 

Gradually, government refused to 

provide all those things necessary for 

the proper functioning of the 

inspectorate; transport, equipment, etc. 

Our late former governor, Gbolahan 

Mudashiru, understood the 

importance of the inspectorate and he 

backed us up to be able to do as much. 

But gradually, government refused to 

give even transport to inspectors and 

today, inspectors who are supposed to 

resume with schools at 7.30am will 

arrive 10am and cannot do anything 

reasonable. The next thing is that he 

will collaborate with the school to 

write a good report and then he is given 

an envelope with money inside it. The 

wrath in the system started gradually 

like that and so, the teachers in the 

classrooms started this uncaring 

attitude we now see today. 

Nonchalance! They won’t even be there 

at all; will drop their bags in school in 

the morning, go out to do private 

business and then return to pick them in 

the evening. 

Her Majesty’s Inspectors 

•Maureen 

Bakare 

This gradual neglect of the 

inspectorate, a yardstick 

that is still in use in Britain 

today, led us to where we are 

now. In Britain, these 

inspectors are called Her 

Majesty’s Inspectors. The inspectors 

still go to schools till date to ensure 

they grade the schools and any school 

not up to standard is graded down 

until it improves. They actually 

teach and help such schools to 

improve and these were also the 

things that made Nigerian 

education system what it was. But 

gradually, nobody seemed to care; 

no supervision. 

Secondly, little attention is paid to 

teachers’ education. The teachers 

who taught me in the lower classes 

at St Theresa’s College were Grade 

II teachers but well baked. Is it 

English? The English those 

teachers spoke and wrote can 

never come out of our 

graduates of today. We had 

good teacher training 

colleges. Government had 

teacher training colleges, 

Muslim Missionaries had 

and Christian Missionaries 

also had. They were all very 

good and produced wellbaked 

teachers. The 

European Reverend Sisters 

taught the upper classes 

while indigenous teachers 

taught the lower classes. 

Teaching practice 

Now we have Colleges of 

Education where students 

will not go for teaching 

practice. The teachers’ 

training schools we had in 

the past had 

demonstration schools 

where people went to 

practice. The six weeks 

teaching practice they say 

they do in institutions these days is 

grossly inadequate because in the 

teachers’ training college, the 

classroom practice is the core while 

others are just theories. A teacher in 

training must go to the classroom 

to teach not less than six months in 

a year. That is when you see your 

mistakes and are able to improve 

on them. The six weeks they are 

talking about now is even not 

practiced by most students. They go 

to schools where they are posted, 

bribe the operators and go their 

way without coming to do teaching 

practice. They just want to get the 

certificate and go on to do nonsense. 

A teacher today will be speaking 

bad English and will not even know 

at all. Look at Federal 

Government Colleges. Can you 

imagine what is going on there? It 

is because of this lack of proper 

inspectorate system. 

Chief Rex Akpofure 

When Federal Government 

Colleges were built, we still had a 

good system. We had Chief Rex 

Akpofure as the Head/Director-incharge 

of Inspectorate throughout 

the country. He would even take us 

from Lagos State to go for 

conferences other 

states and during the 

conference, he would 

take us round to see 

what was going on in 

schools. We would 

supervise and teach 

the teachers the right 

things to do. That is no 

more now; it 

practically died with 

Rex Akpofure. And 

then Federal 

Government Colleges 

now turned to the 

property of their 

principals and staff. 

Even admission into 

Kings College and 

Queens College now 

requires money; you 

must bribe someone. 

The results are what 

we see today; wanton 

deaths. Queens 

College was a school 

of integrity and I will 

still say what it has 

become today is the fault of 

government. From the minister 

down, nobody is thinking about 

what can truly be done to put things 

right. Lagos State is trying now with 

the establishment of the Quality 

Assurance Department which 

replaced the name Inspectorate, 

and a woman who seems to know 

her onion oversees it currently. But 

I don’t think she has the 

wherewithal to do that work. I say 

this because unless government 

decides to make provisions for the 

Quality Assurance Department to 

go to schools and genuinely help 

the teachers, things will still 

continue to go bad. Look at what 

happened in Kaduna. 

Are you in support of that? 

Yes, I am. People are talking about 

families of the affected teachers that 

will go hungry but what about 

thousands of children’s lives that 

have been rendered useless by their 

incompetence? Lives that have been 

rendered rotten! Must we 

continue to allow them 

destroy the lives young 

Nigerians? Governor El- 

Rufai did not just dismiss 

them; he gave them 

alternatives and I am quite 

in support of what he did. I 

actually followed that story 

daily. Imagine 

teachers who cannot even 

solve 

simple 

mathematics! 

Things were not like these 

before independence and 

if we do not do something 

about education in 

Nigeria, we will be 

heading for doom. Teacher 

training must be reviewed 

and the inspectorate or 

quality assurance must be 

well-equipped with 

reputable, experienced 

teachers. Unless we do 

these, we will continue to 

grope in the dark.


Making elected officials party leaders is against 

democratic principle — Dogara 

*Says strong political parties key to delivering dividends of democracy 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

SPEAKER of the House 

of Representatives, 

Hon. Yakubu Dogara has 

said that the practice of 

making elected government 

officials especially from the 

executive as leaders of 

political parties in Nigeria 

was against the democratic 

precepts and principles 

He spoke while receiving 

a delegation from the 

International Republican 

Institute, led by its 

President, Mr. Daniel 

Twinning in Abuja. 

He said that the practice 

could prevent parties from 

being truly independent 

and warned of attendant 

consequences on the 

democratic process. 

Speaking on the current 

political developments in 

South Africa where the 

ruling party issued a quit 

notice to former President 

Jacob Zuma, Dogara said 

that the development has 

demonstrated that political 

parties in the country were 

actually independent. 

Court admits evidence in suit seeking 

to sack NBA President 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

AN Abuja High Court 

sitting at Apo, 

yesterday, admitted series of 

documents into evidence, in 

a suit seeking to sack the 

President of the Nigerian Bar 

Association, NBA, Mr. 

Abubakar Mahmoud, SAN, 

from office over an allegation 

that the election that 

produced him in 2016 was 

electronically rigged. 

Among over 30 documents 

the court admitted into 

evidence in the matter, 

included two letters dated 

June 30 and July 11, 2016, 

wherein an erstwhile 

President of the legal body, 

Chief Wole Olanipekun, 

SAN, allegedly queried the 

legibility of the register used 

for the election. 

Olanipekun had in the 

said letters which the court 

admitted as Exhibits P27 and 

P28, complained that his 

name was among those that 

were omitted from the voters’ 

register that was used for the 

NBA poll. 

Justice O. A. Adeniyi 

admitted the exhibits which 

the plaintiff and runner-up 

at the election, Chief Joe- 

Kyari Gadzama, SAN, 

tendered on a day he 

appeared to testify as the 

sixth principal witness, PW- 

6. 

Other documents the court 

entered into evidence were 

series of letters the plaintiff 

exchanged with NBA and 

the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, between July 15 and 

He said: “One problem 

that we must address in this 

country is that elected 

officials, especially those in 

the Executive, are always 

regarded as leaders of the 

political party. That is where 

we have a very serious 

problem in this country and 

if an elected Executive is the 

leader of the political party, 

the situation you find on 

ground is that every political 

actor within the entire party 

architecture must pander to 

the whims and caprices of 

that elected official”. 

The Speaker who called 

for the strengthening of 

political parties in Nigeria to 

make them more 

competitive argued that 

though the electoral process 

was of utmost importance, 

emphasis must also be laid 

on ensuring that credible 

elections translate into good 

governance. 

“The concern before was 

that when you begin to talk 

about democracy, people just 

go straight to the ballot. 

Even though the ballot is 

essential for the growth and 

sustenance of democracy, 

efforts must be made to 

ensure that the will of the 

August 28, 2016, alleging 

irregularities in the election 

process that involved 

electronic voting. 

As well as a copy of 

Guidelines/Timetable for the 

election, which the plaintiff 

insisted was grossly violated. 

Meantime, Justice Adeniyi 

has adjourned the case till 

March 22 for the PW-6 to 

enter his Evidence-in-Chief 

before the court. 

Specifically, the suit 

marked FCT/HC/CV/2364/ 

2016, is among other things, 

seeking for: “A declaration 

that the defendants jointly 

and/or severally, are bound 

by the provisions of the 

Constitution of the Nigerian 

Bar Association amended 

and adopted in August 2015 

and must in all matters 

relating to, connected with 

4 beheaded, another murdered 

in Rivers cult clash 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

ANOTHER 

cult 

violence have left five 

persons dead in Omerelu 

community, Ikwerre Local 

Government Area of 

Rivers State. 


gathered that four persons 

were beheaded Thursday 

and another killed at dawn 

yesterday as rival cults 

clashed in the community. 

Two among the victims 

were simply identified as 

Omereji and Ezekiel, a.k.a. 

Aka Atta-Ohu. A community 

source simply identified as 

people is not supplanted in 

the process of translating 

that will from the choices the 

citizens have made to 

positions in governance. But 

the ballot has also produced 

enemies of democracy and 

democracy has to be 

competitive.” 

“For it to be competitive, 

the political parties must be 

very strong in the sense that 

they can cooperate but at 

least, they must remain 

competitive. If they are not 

competitive at the end of the 

day, it may be one political 

structure mushrooming into 

other political structures. We 

had that kind of situation in 

Nigeria here, where one of 

the late sages in Nigeria 

described the five political 

parties in Nigeria as fingers 

of a leprous hand. 

“The challenge is not just 

organising elections that are 

transparent, competitive 

and meet all the criteria of a 

democratic election, but the 

point is what does that 

election translate into in the 

effective running of the 

government and the 

delivery of what we know 

here locally as dividends of 

democracy?” he said 

the business and or affairs of 

the Association obey and give 

effect to the provisions 

thereof. 

“A declaration that the 2016 

Nigerian Bar Association 

Election as it relates to the 

office/position of the 

President held on 30th and 

31st July, 2016 under the 

supervision of the 8th to 14th 

Defendants (now 2nd to 8th 

Defendants), which 

purportedly produced the 

15th Defendant (now 9th 

Defendant) as President, was 

in total violation and 

disregard of the mandatory 

provisions of the NBA 

Constitution 2015, Election 

guidelines set down for the 

said Election fell short of 

established standards and 

international best practices, 

thereby making the said 

Election null, void and of no 

effect whatsoever. 

Innocent confirmed that “the 

incident has led to the 

closure of daily market, 

church services and other 

social activities in Omerelu 

as we speak”. 

“Security operatives have 

moved into the community, 

but even with their 

presence, frightened 

residents are fleeing 

Omerelu” 

Police Public Relations 

Officer, Rivers Command, 

Nnamdi Omoni, 

acknowledged hint on the 

incident but said he needed 

time for a clear situation 

report. 

The Speaker further 

stressed the need to deepen 

democracy in Nigeria to live 

up to the yearnings and 

expectations of the Nigerian 

people. 

He said: “It may not be the 

best, but the point is, it is the 

best that we know and we 

have to do everything 

possible to ensure that we 

deepen our democratic 

experience and practices in 

such a way that governance 

will meet the expectations 

and yearnings of citizens.”. 

Speaking earlier, the 

President of the 

International Republican 

Institute (IRI), Mr. Daniel 

Twinning stated that the 

work of the organisation was 

focused on helping political 

parties to be more 

competitive, more 

transparent and supporting 

democratic engagement. 

He revealed that a major 

underlying reason for the 

meeting was to get political 

parties to interact more with 

elected officials and stressed 

the importance of following 

manifestos. 

Mr. Twinning also 

emphasized the importance 

of democratic development 

beyond the African 

continent. 

No crack in Rivers APC, we are 

politicking — Stakeholders 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

PRO-RIVERS state All Progressives Congress 

(APC) group, Free Rivers Development Initiative, 

FRDI, has accused the media and detractors of blowing 

raging conflict of interests in the party towards 2019 

out of proportion, saying “there is no division in Rivers 

APC” 

President General of the group, Sampson Ngerebara, 

raised the concern yesterday in Port Harcourt over 

widespread feeling of widening cracks in the Rivers 

APC, following tension generated by Saturday’s FRDI 

gathering at Bori, Ogoniland in honour of Transport 

Minister, Rotimi Amaechi and a separate APC Victory 

Thanksgiving involving Sen. Magnus Abe in Port 

Harcourt same day. 

Ngerebara, former Rivers Commissioner, said, “The 

media particularly must stop blowing this issue out 

proportion. The invitation for Sen. Abe’s Port Harcourt 

event said it was a Thanksgiving by Abe, his family 

and few other members of the APC which was put 

together to appreciate God’s goodness. It was not an 

entirely party affair. 

Brickhall school children 

celebrate Valentine with orphans 

In a practical demonstration of love, children of the Brickhall 

School, Abuja last Wednesday poured out their love offering 

to the less privileged when they visited the Hope for Survival 

Orphanage, Gishiri, Abuja. 

The visit which was planned to mark the celebration of 

Valentine’s Day afforded the Brickhall School children an 

opportunity to present food and other gifts items to the less 

privileged children. The visit was also an avenue to inculcate 

into the children, the virtues of love, care and support to the 

less fortunate. 

During the visit, representatives of the Brickhall School 

children presented food items, toiletries, clothes, toys, books 

and educational materials contributed by them and their 

parents as well as the Management and Staff of the School to 

the orphans. They also presented a musical performance 

and motivational speeches to entertain and encourage the 

children of the orphanage. In response, the Management 

and children of the orphanage home appreciated the pupils, 

Management and Staff of Brickhall School for the kind gesture 

and prayed for God’s reward and blessings on them.


Revealed: APC lawmakers behind 

change in election timetable 

•Fallout of intra-party crisis 

•Mobilising two-thirds majority unrealistic 

•We’ll do what the law says—INEC 

•New timetable will not stand—Igbokwe, APC chieftain 

BY Charles Kumolu 

WHILE supporters of President Muhammadu 

Buhari appear disturbed over the reordering of 

the 2019 election timetable by the National 

Assembly, NASS, an investigation by Saturday 

Vanguard revealed that the development was 

originally conceived by All Progressive Congress, 

APC, members. 

The action which was carried out through the 

passage of a Bill for the amendment of the 

Electoral Act by both chambers of the NASS was 

gathered to be a fall-out of the internal crisis in 

APC, especially its perceived frosty relationship 

with the NASS. 

Specifically, what was described as the absence 

of synergy between the Presidency and APC 

lawmakers was said to have directly informed 

the decision by both arms of the APC-controlled 

NASS. 

Refuse assent to the Bill 

It was also learnt that should the President refuse 

assent to the Bill, getting the required two-thirds 

majority to override it may not be easy for both 

arms of the NASS. 

These findings which were revealed to Saturday 

Vanguard by ranking members of the House of 

Representatives who pleaded anonymity, were 

also corroborated by a Second Republic 

lawmaker, Dr, Junaid Muhammad. 

He said that APC members in the NASS were 

the people behind the development. 

Though Junaid faulted the Senate and the 

House of Representatives for taking the action, 

he said the Presidency was the architect of the 

current turn of events in the NASS. 

He told Saturday Vanguard that the reordering 

of the election order, which he described as a 

breach would not have occurred if President 

Muhammadu Buhari had firm control of party 

affairs by the virtue of his position. 

Two-thirds majority 

Giving further insight, one of the lawmakers 

said: “I like the amendment. Something triggered 

it. We need to look at it dispassionately from two 

BY HENRY UMORU 

perspectives. One is the nationalistic angle which 

is in the interest of the nation so that the victory 

one of individual does not sway the direction of 

all the votes in the nation. 

‘’There is the political angle which has to do 

with the relationship between the Presidency and 

the National Assembly. Unfortunately, it is obvious 

that the presidency is not in synergy with the 

National Assembly. That is why the ruling party 

which is in control of both Houses has not been 

able to influence its members in line with what it 

wants. I strongly believe that this may have come 

up as a result of the internal problems of the APC. 

The acrimonies between them triggered this. That 

the motion was not moved by an APC member 

was just diversionary. 

Acted for APC people 

‘’Someone from the opposition brought it up 

and the person acted for APC people. I think the 

PDP member from Port Harcourt did what he 

was asked to do. On the face value, one can say 

that the NASS is just carrying out its constitutional 

responsibility. Whether there is a political 

undertone to it is another issue that can be decoded 

by those who are deeply into politics. But as a 

member of the NASS, I will say that we are 

carrying out our constitutional responsibility. The 

question now should be on whether the process is 

right. 

“Some people are arguing that ordinarily, it 

should be the responsibility of INEC to reorder 

the timetable, but we are not dabbling into the 

duties of INEC. What we have done is to reorder 

the election timetable in the interest of the nation. 

INEC does not make laws. It works with laws 

that are made by the NASS. Therefore, the best 

thing to do is to work with the law. We are not 

fixing dates. NASS only rearranged the order of 

elections. We had it during Shagari’s time and 

other times. 

Getting two-thirds majority 

‘’One thing some people don’t know is that it 

may be quite difficult for us to get a two-thirds 

majority of the House because the chamber is 

always empty. Most times when the most critical 

aspect of lawmaking which is the consideration 

of Committee jobs is considered most members 

don’t attend. 

‘’When a Bill gets to that point it is very expedient 

that every lawmaker is in the chamber to make 

contributions because that is the last process of a 

bill becoming a law. In most cases, we are less 

than 30 to consider a Bill. 

‘’ If it comes to a situation where the President 

withholds his assent, a two-thirds majority of both 

arms of the National Assembly is required to 

override it. That means that every member will 

be seated. This is just futuristic because the party 

withholding assent is the party in power. 

‘’When it comes to carrying out such a critical 

assignment, everybody is required to be there if 

we must override the President’s veto. It does not 

really require a quorum. All it requires is for 

majority of the members to be present. But when 

it involves plenary to consider bills and motions, 

a quorum is required. The consideration of the 

Bill is what every member should take serious 

but the quorum issue is not there. Consideration 

of Bills comes as the last item of the day, so most 

members often leave before that time. The 

chamber is always very empty at that point 

Bandwagon effect 

“There is a former member of the House of 

HULLABALOO ON ORDER OF ELECTIONS 

WEDNESDAY this week meant different things 

to the Senators; one, the day was Ash Wednesday, 

for others, it was Valentine day, a day to show love 

and affection but for Catholic faithful, it was their 

holy day; the commencement of the Lenten 

Season and love day. 

On the other hand, the day; to many of the 

Senators, it was the ides of March, the day they 

passed the 2019 elections Order bill and for some 

, it was a day of disaffection, logjam, quagmire 

and discord. 

That day in the life of the 8th Senate was when 

the relative peace the lawmakers had enjoyed 

after the coming together of the once antagonistic 

groups, the Like Minds Senators LMS and the 

Senate Unity Forum, SUF, the two groups had 

emerged in the early days of the present Senate. 

Senator Bukola Saraki had emerged as the 

Senate President with its attendant disagreements 

and disaffections. 

This week, however, the unity, brotherhood and 

honey moon was threatened, following a rowdy 

session over a new amendment to the Electoral 

Act, regarding election sequence in the 2019 

general elections. 

The amended bill places the Presidential 

election as the last to be conducted, while that of 

the National Assembly will hold first, followed by 

governorship and State Houses of Assembly 

polls. 

The bill has been passed and concurred by the 

two chambers of the National Assembly and is in 

the process of being forwarded to President Buhari 

for his assent. 

With this arrangement, it is feared in some 

quarters that President Buhari and other 

presidential candidates in the 2019 general 

election may be made to sweat for their elections. 

The House of Representatives had passed the 

bill without hitch 

This followed the consideration of the report 

on a Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act No. 

6, 2010 and Electoral Act (Amendment) Act 2015 

to provide for a time line for submission of list of 

candidates, sequence of elections and political 

party primaries, use of technological devices 

among others. 

Chairman of the Joint Committee on INEC, 

Senator Suleiman Nazif (APC, Bauchi North), 

who presented the conference report on behalf of 

the 12 Senators and House of Representatives 

members, said “the Conference Committee 

recommends that the Senate and the House of 

Representatives do consider and approve the 

conference committee report on a bill for an act 

to amend the electoral Act No. 6, 2010 and 

electoral (Amendment) Act 2015.” 

Other members of Conference Committee are 

Senators Shehu Sani (APC, Kaduna Central); 

Dino Melaye (APC, Kogi West); Peter Nwaoboshi 

(PDP, Delta North); Biodun Olujimi (PDP, Ekiti 

South) and Hope Uzodinma (PDP, Imo West). 

Members from the House of Representatives 

are Pwajok Edward Gyang as Co-chairman; 

Onyenwife Gabriel; Bassey Eko Ewa; 

Mohammed Tahie Monguno; Mohammed 

Soba and Ajayi Adeyinka. 

Nazif said the Electoral Act No 6, 2010 

amendment bill 2017 was passed by the Senate 

on Thursday, March 30, 2017 and by the House 

of Representatives on Thursday, February 1, 2018, 

pointing out that some differences were noticed 

in the two versions of the bill as passed by both 

Chambers. 

“Consequently, a Conference Committee was 

constituted in the Senate on Wednesday, January 

4, 2018 and the House of Representatives on 

Wednesday January 24, 2018 to reconcile areas 

of differences that appeared in the two versions. 

“The Committee met and deliberated on the 

•Buhari 

two versions of the bill. After exhaustive 

deliberations, the Committee noticed seven areas 

of differences in section 36 (3), 49(2), 53(2), 63(4), 

78(4).” He said. 

The Senator explained that in considering the 

House version in sections 25(1) and 8 (9A, a and 

b), dealing with sequence of elections and political 

parties primaries, the Committee “unanimously 

adopted the provisions in its entirety to ensure 

orderliness.” 

The bill is in the process of being sent to 

President Muhammadu Buhari for his assent. 

In his remarks, Senate President Saraki said: 

“As I keep on emphasising, institutions are what 

is important. We as senators, we have to finish our 

time and go, we must continue to strengthen 

institutions and by so doing, we must follow the 

procedures that are also laid down at all times. 

“For conference report, it has been the procedure 

and as such with all due respect, I have to rule you 

out of order. I know, every politics is local. As 

much as it is local, we also have to maintain the 

integrity of these institutions.” He said. 

Angered by what happened during the Plenary, 

the 10 APC Senators stormed the Senate Press 

Corps Centre to address journalists, expressing 

their reservations and vehemently kicked against 

the bill. 

Led by the Chairman of Northern Senators 

Caucus and former Governor of Nasarawa State, 

Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the 10 Senators were 

peeved that their argument against the bill was 

truncated at the Plenary by Senate President 

Saraki and vowed that the amendment would 

not stand. 

According to them, the action was not only trash, 

but a rush, self-serving and targeted at President 

Buhari’s re-election bid, adding that the 

amendment was carried out in bad faith and will 

not stand. 

The protesting Senators, who claimed they were 

Representatives, who was a very vibrant legislator. 

He is from Jigiwa State and headed the House 

Committee on Defence twice. I met him in the 

parliament. That was the young man that Kazaure 

defeated because of the Buhari bandwagon effect. 

I never believed that the young man who is very 

vibrant could be defeated by someone like 

Kazaure. It is important to note that Kazaure 

won the election because he ran on the platform 

of Buhari’s party. Ordinarily, I don’t think Kazaure 

would have defeated him if not for that 

bandwagon effect. That was how the House lost 

many vibrant legislators. Therefore, the 

amendment should be seen as progressive and 

key to the promotion of national interest. It is, 

however, not about Buhari. 

Also speaking, another lawmaker, said:” I can’t 

say that APC members did not contribute to 

making it a reality. Whether it was influenced by 

APC members does not matter. As lawmakers, 

the interest of Nigeria is more important than the 

ambition of an individual or a privileged few. 

The position of the NASS is the outcome of 

deliberations on the future of the country.’’ 

On his part, Junaid Mohammed said: 

“Members of his (Buhari) party are the people 

leading the revolt against him and the APC in the 

Senate and House of Representatives. And it will 

surely hurt him as a weak leader. He is the 

architect of his misfortune and the mess that is 

now playing out in the National Assembly. 

“The idea that people who won election into 

the parliament on the same platform with the 

President are now behaving as opponents of the 

President and their party is arrant nonsense. And 

that has happened because the system that 

brought them is utterly bankrupt. 

We knew what happened. Of course, we knew 

how the leadership of both the Senate and House 

of Representatives emerged. For the President to 

assume that is for everybody and for nobody is a 

naïve and dangerous assumption. He created 

the crisis that is now threatening to swallow him 

and his party.’’ 

Notwithstanding these positions, the 

Independent Election Commission, INEC, 

yesterday in Lagos, said it would abide by the 

action of the NASS when the bill seeking to 

change the order of election becomes law. 

New timetable will not stand—Igbokwe 

Speaking on the subject, APC Publicity 

Secretary in Lagos State, Mr. Joe Igbokwe said 

the new timetable would not stand. 

He said: “They are saying that APC lawmakers 

are behind the move. Whether it is true or not, 

what we know is that the timetable will not stand. 

What the NASS has done is not the last to be 

heard about the matter. They are just afraid 

because they can’t win an election in 2019. The 

election will hold in line with the old timetable. 

They are just desperate people who are angry 

because the President’s re-engineering of the 

country has stopped free money. Buhari is 

working.’’ 

59 in number, said others could not join them 

because they were attending to some official 

matters at different locations. However, request 

by journalists to have a full list of the 59 Senators 

could not be met by the Senators. Each of them 

took his or her turn and picked holes in the bill, 

stressing that it was clearly skewed against the 

President. 

They insisted that the amendment was hasty 

and uncalled for, adding that the bill seeks to 

usurp the constitutional role of INEC, regarding 

the fixing of election dates. The senators also 

faulted the process leading to the amendment, 

saying only 36 of the 360 members of the House 

of Representatives passed the amendment bill. 

The number, they said, failed to form the 

required quorum, just as they alleged that the 

report of the Conference Committee of the Senate 

and House of Representatives on the bill was not 

signed by some of the members, including Senator 

Suleiman Nazif (Bauchi North), who Chaired 

the Committee. Nazif is also the Senate 

committee Chairman on INEC. 

The aggrieved APC Senators included Binta 

Garba (Adamawa); Ali Wakili (Bauchi); Kurfi 

Umaru (Katsina); Andrew Uchendu (Rivers); 

Abdullahi Danbaba (Sokoto); Yahaya Abdullahi 

(Kebbi); Abu Ibrahim (Katsina); Ovie Omo- 

Agege, Delta; and Benjamin Uwajumogu (Imo). 

They described the amendment and process of 

passage as ‘illegal’, vowing that it would not stand, 

with the leader of the dissenting group, Abdullahi 

Adamu, questioning the conduct of the Senate 

President in the process of passage. 

The opposing group had concluded that the 

action will make election very expensive, skewed 

against the President, hasty, uncalled for; designed 

to usurp the powers of the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC and process of 

passage faulty 

However, those in support are of the view that it 

was carried out because of national interest, not 

personal, not whimsical but will help deepen 

democracy and that it went through due process, 

as well as, done in line with prevailing order.


By Juliet Ebirim & Adetutu Adesoji 

President Buhari reinstat 

ates NHIS boss who is currently 

under probe for alleged fraud, Nigerians react 

•Cornell 

This administration 

does not intend to curb 

corruption as promised 

- Cornell Udofia, 

Publicist 

This government really 

does not have any agenda 

to curb corruption as 

earlier promised. The 

decision to re-instate Prof. 

Yusuf shows how deep 

corruption has eaten into 

the fibre of our beloved 

society. It also concurs 

with the saying that “The 

pest that eats the 

vegetable is in the 

vegetable’. In simpler 

argument, we can say 

that every misdeed or 

misappropriation is the 

work of those in high 

places and it flows down. 

The President has 

disappointed many as a 

result of his continuous 

display of outright 

nepotism, ethnocentrism 

and allowing ubiquitous 

malfeasance by some 

people in government. 

•Duke 

This 

is 

s h a m e f u l , 

P r e s i d e n t 

Buhari should 

resign - Duke 

Onwudiwe, 

B u i l d i n g 

Consultant 

This government 

claims to be 

f i g h t i n g 

corruption but 

they are have 

many con-men. 

Reinstating 

someone who is 

under probe sends 

a red flag. I am 

ashamed of the 

present leadership 

and it is not an 

overstatement to 

say that Nigeria 

has gone from 

worse to worst. 

•Benjamin 

There are indeed 

sacred cows... - 

Benjamin Samson, 

Journalist 

For me, it is a big dent 

and a mockery of 

President Buhari’s fight 

against corruption. It 

confirmed the 

allegations in some 

quarters that there are 

indeed sacred cows in 

this administration. If 

not, how can the 

President reinstate a 

man that has been 

indicted by a probe 

panel?. A man that is 

under investigation by 

EFCC. The president’s 

action also undermines 

the minister of health, 

Prof Isaac Odewale who 

initially ordered for his 

suspension and probe. 

Don’t forget that the 

same Yusuf boasted that 

it is only the president 

that can remove him. 

•Eseoghene 

Snake allegedly swallo 

allows N36 million from JAMB 

office vault, Nigerians react 

• Isah 

I think the President 

got it wrong —Ali Isah 

On the reinstatement of 

Professor Usman Yusuf, 

the Executive Secretary of 

the National Health 

Insurance Scheme 

(NHIS), I think the 

President got it wrong. 

Things should be done 

procedurally but it seems 

this has not been done,” 

What is wrong 

is wrong 

—Musa Abba 

Mr. President was voted 

for is his promise to fight 

corruption. So if the NHIS 

boss was suspended for 

corrupt practices, why 

was he brought back 

without informing the 

Minister who suspended 

him in the first place? 

What is wrong is wrong 

and what the President 

did by bringing him back 

is wrong,”. 

The president is up 

to something - 

Eseoghene Ogbisi, 

Entrepreneur 

President Buhari works 

in a peculiar way. I think 

he is doing this to trick 

the NHIS boss in order 

to get him to refund 

looted funds. He has 

done it before and it 

worked, he did the same 

with NPA’s former 

Managing Director who 

eventually refunded 6.6 

million pounds. I think 

this is a way to 

apprehend this man, I 

don’t think the 

president would want 

to surround himself 

with corrupt and 

scandalous people. We 

need to be patient and 

allow the president to 

work. 

•Adenmosun 

It raises questions 

about the anticorruption 

campaign - 

Lanre Adenmosun, 

OAP & Digital 

Marketer 

I think this goes on to 

further raise questions 

and doubts about the 

anti-corruption 

campaign and change 

slogan that this present 

government used in 

buying us over during 

the last elections. More so, 

the talks of tribalism also 

come to the fore. I feel 

terribly sorry for Prof 

Isaac Adewole who made 

an attempt to be upright. 

In Nigeria, they say “if 

you can’t beat them, join 

them”, this saying that 

has become normal will 

end up destroying this 

nation if we don’t stand 

and speak up as a people. 

We know what is right 

but we pray and do 

nothing. 

•Onyenso 

•Tolulope 

This is a huge slap on the faces of 

Nigerians - Caleb Onyenso, Social Media 

Analyst 

It is such a shame that in a country where the 

present administration keeps talking about 

fighting corruption, the same corruption keeps 

coming in different forms. About N36 million 

was allegedly swallowed by a mysterious snake 

which no one saw. My question is how could 

they leave such an amount of money in the office 

in this age of banking? Last year before the 

present JAMB administration, it was reported 

that the board had never remitted more than 

three million naira to the nation’s consolidated 

revenue coffers but then a new administration 

came in and remitted 8 billion naira, so who is 

fooling who? The reasons they give for looting 

are always a joke and a big slap on the faces of 

Nigerians. Today, it’s a snake swallowing money 

and if the issue is swept under the carpet, who 

knows another animal that will swallow money 

in the future? 

We are being taken for 

fools - Tolulope 

Akinrinde, Student 

It is hilarious that a snake 

would swallow N36 

million. How big could the 

snake be for it to swallow 

such a huge amount of 

money? In my opinion it 

is impossible for a snake to 

swallow that amount of 

money except it is a 

human in the guise of a 

snake (with the use of 

sorcery or something, this 

is Nigeria and anything is 

possible 

with 

metaphysical powers). I 

would say Nigerians are 

being taken for fools. The 

masses are regarded as 

people who can be given 

any news to swallow hook, 

line and sinker. 

•Raphael 

Snake could be 

figurative - Raphael 

Onwe, Banker 

Obviously there’s 

something she’s 

concealing. That’s why 

she had to use the 

figurative expression 

(snake). She should be 

thoroughly questioned 

by professionals who 

can make her spill the 

beans. But it’s a sorry 

case we might not have 

such capable hands in 

Nigeria and if she insist 

on not talking, then she 

should be prosecuted. 

Ufuoma Ethor 

If rats can chase the 

President from the 

villa, then it’s 

possible - Ufuoma 

Ethor, Economist 

Nothing seems 

impossible in Nigeria 

anymore. If rats can 

chase President Buhari 

from the villa then a 

snake swallowing N36 

million is possible. But 

it’s all a smoke screen 

and a lie. 

•Olumide 

The official should be 

sacked and jailed - 

Olumide Shokoya, Music 

Producer 

This is an insult to Nigerians. 

What kind of snake would 

swallow such a huge 

amount of money and crawl 

out easily, a python or an 

anaconda? How would a 

snake crawl into where N36 

million is kept without 

anyone noticing? This 

matter should not be 

handled lightly because it is 

a big disgrace for an educated 

person from an educational 

body like JAMB to say that a 

snake swallowed N36 

million. The woman should 

be sacked and jailed and 

EFCC should be invited to 

investigate the matter.


The only work I 

know is how to kill 

—Self-confessed assassin 

•Confesses killing members on the orders of his union leader 

•“It’s a lie, I paid him out of fear——union leader 

BY EVELYN USMAN 

It was a dramatic confrontation 

yesterday at the Lagos State Police 

Command headquarters, Ikeja Lagos 

between a self-confessed assassin and his 

sponsor who allegedly hired him to kill. 

At the Police Command, the hired 

assassin, Adeola Williams popularly 

known as Ade lawyer faced the former 

leader of the National Union of Road 

Transport Worker NURTW in Lagos, 

Alhaji Rafiu Olounwa and asked him to 

deny if he had not killed four persons on 

his orders for which he was paid 

N500,000 as part payment. The former 

union leader however described it as 

blackmail saying he only paid him out of 

fear for his life. 

While the self-confessed assassin, said 

that he was hired by the former NURTW 

leader, , to assassinate the incumbent 

union’s leader at Idumota, Azeez 

Adekunle Lawal , popularly known as 

Kunle Poly, he denied the claim, 

describing it as mere blackmail. 

How it happened 

Members of the Idumota branch of the 

union had converged for a meeting with 

their leader, Kunle Poly at the last floor of 

a three-storey building on John street, off 

Idumota bus-stop, on January 23, 2018. 

Time was 12 midnight. 

After the meeting, Kunle 

Poly, accompanied by his 

Personal Assistant, Ganiyu 

Ayinla, popularly called 

Piero and two policemen, 

approached his vehicle. 

But they were rattled by 

sporadic gunshots from a 

restaurant where some 

hoodlums were drinking. 

At the end of the shooting 

spree, Ayinla died on the 

spot while the two 

policemen managed to 

escape with gunshot 

wounds. But the assailants’ 

target, Kunle Poly, escaped 

by the whiskers. 

Arrest 


gathered that since the 

incident occurred, an initial 

arrest of two persons was 

made. Their confessional 

statement reportedly led to 

the arrest of Williams by operatives of the 

Inspector-General of Police Intelligence 

Response Team, IRT headed by Abba 

Kyari, an Assistant Commissioner of 

Police. 

It was gathered that 39-year-old 

Williams, who hails from Ogun state, was 

arrested in Akure, Ondo state where he 

fled to immediately after the murder. He 

was also discovered to have been on 

Police wanted list for five years, over 

several assassinations within the South 

West. 

During interrogation, he admitted to the 

crime but disclosed that he was hired by 

Chief Rafiu Olohunwa, the former 

NURTW chairman. He further stated that 

the deal was sealed with a fee of N1.5 

million, while a part payment of 

•Williams 

alias Ade 

Lawyer 

N500,000 

made by him 

(Olounwa), 

with a 

promise to 

pay the 

balance after 

t h e 

assassination of Kunle Poly. 

Trouble 

Trouble, according to him, broke out 

following the refusal by Olounwa to pay 

the balance of N1 million after the 

operation. He disclosed that Olounwa 

refused to pay because he claimed that 

the person who was killed was not the 

target. 

According to Williams (Ade lawyer): 

“Chief Olorunwa cannot deny hiring 

me. Ask him what the N500,000 he 

paid me was meant for. Also ask him 

why I was demanding for the balance.” 

Why he hired me to kill Kunle Poly 

Explaining how the operation was 

carried out, Williams, said: “ I am an 

assassin. The only work I know is to kill. 

Suspects ( Williams 

(l) and Olorunwa (r) 

I have been working for Chief Olounwa 

since he was chairman of the union 

between 2008 and 2011. I am one of his 

errand boys and he can’t deny that. 

He called me on a Monday, 

January 21, 2018 and 

informed me that he wanted me 

to assassinate Kunle Poly. He 

said he brought Kunle Poly to 

the union and that he was 

instrumental in his being the 

chairman. He said Kunle Poly 

ought to be paying him an 

amount on monthly basis but 

that he had not been living up 

to expectation. He lamented 

that it was affecting him 

financially. 

“We were supposed to carry 

out the operation the next day 

being Tuesday but it was 

postponed because we had not 

been paid. The following day on 

Wednesday, January 23, 2018, I 

went to meet Olouwa in his car 

that night, where he gave me the 

part payment of N500,000. He 

warned me not to let anyone 

know what I was doing there. And he also 

said that he would want me to do the job 

alone. 

“ I struck when I sighted Kunle Poly 

entering his car. I thought I had 

succeeded until the next day when I 

heard that it was his Personal. Assistant 

who died. 

“When I called Olorunwa on the phone 

to demand the payment of the balance, 

he did not pick. He eventually picked 

my call when I called him with my 

private number, three days later. He 

told me point blank that he had no 

balance to pay since I did not get the 

target.” 

I have killed four persons for him 

“I was left with no option than to seize 

his vehicle, one Hyundai Jeep from his 

driver. I called him to inform him that 

I had collected his car and that I would 

not release it until he paid me my 

balance. I have killed four persons for 

him. One of them was Baba Jide Dosumu 

alias Mados in Ebute Meta Lagos. I have 

also killed for prominent persons in the 

South West “, he said. 

He is a liar - Chief Olurunwa 

But 51-year-old Olounwa described 

the claim as a lie and an attempt to 

blackmail him. 

He said:’ I have never done any 

business with him. I only met him in 

Ekiti state at a burial ceremony.” 

Asked what the N500,000 he gave to 

Williams was meant for, Olounwa replied 

“He told me he was involved in an 

accident and needed some money. When 

I travelled to India, he started calling me 

on the phone, threatening to kill me and 

members of my family if I did not give 

him the money.” 

When he was also asked why Williams 

seized his Jeep and why he did not report 

the threat on his life to the Police, Olounwa 

exclaimed “ Ah! You don’t know this guy. 

He is very deadly. Everyone dreads him 

in Lagos. I gave him the N500,000 out of 

fear. 

Besides, he did not seize my vehicle. The 

following day after I arrived from 

abroad, I was informed that he had seized 

the car from my driver. What I did was to 

look for somebody that he respected to 

beg him to bring back my vehicle. 

“I could not also report to the Police so 

as not to endanger my life. I dread this 

man ( pointing at Williams ). There was a 

day he sprayed bullets on a vehicle in Ajah 

and killed nine passengers. He is also 

responsible for the murder of a former 

chairman, Mados. I did what I did out of 

fear “, he stated. 

Commissioner of Police, Lagos State 

Police Command, Imohimi Edgal, who 

paraded the suspects disclosed that one 

AK47 rifle with registration number 

3501357, two empty magazines and one 

black Hyundai Santafee Jeep with 

registration number EKY 741DL that was 

seized from Olounwa were recovered 

from Williams. 

Armoury 

William’s armoury was also displayed. 

Astonishingly, his arms and ammunition 

were concealed inside a loudspeaker. 

From observation, it was 

discovered that the speaker 

inside was removed and 

replaced with the arms, while 

a side zip was sewn, from 

where the arms could easily 

be brought out. He usually 

carried it whenever he 

went to assassinate victims 

within the South West zone, 

without security operatives 

having an inkling that arms 

were stored inside, even if 

the vehicle was stopped for 

a search 

Instigation according to 

the command boss, was still 

on. Edgal added that the 

command would go all out 

for other members at large


Benue attacks: Can IGP, Defence 

minister check out these dates? 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

WHAT are the immediate and 

remote causes of the unceasing 

killings in Benue? How can the 

flowing rivers of blood in Benue be dammed 

and stopped? 

Answers to these questions are legion and 

varied. And some of the answers have 

generated more problems and questions. 

Following the early January series of 

attacks on some communities in Logo and 

Guma Local councils of the state, which left 

73 people dead, the Inspector General of 

Police, Ibrahim Idris, dismissed it as 

communal clashes and later attributed the 

attacks to the Benue Open Grazing 

(Prohibition) and Establishment of Ranches 

Law, 2017. 

“Obviously, it is communal crisis, 

herdsmen are part of the community. They 

are Nigerians and are part of the 

community, are they not?’’ he said. 

In like manner, the Minister of Defence, 

Col. Mohammed Dan-Alli, retd, said that 

the enactment of the anti-grazing laws by 

some states was the immediate cause of 

violence by herders. 

The minister, who made the claim while 

briefing journalists at the end of a security 

council meeting presided over by President 

Muhammadu Buhari in the State House, 

Abuja, said apart from the anti-open grazing 

law, he also attributed the attacks to the 

unwillingness of the affected communities 

to accommodate their fellow Nigerians and 

blockage of cattle routes which he said were 

available at independence. 

“You see, whenever a crisis happens at 

any time, there are remote and immediate 

causes. Look at this issue (of killings in Benue 

and Taraba), what is the remote cause of 

this farmers’ crisis? Since the nation’s 

independence, we know there used to be 

routes whereby the cattle rearers took 

because they are all over the nation. You go 

to Bayelsa, Ogun, you will see them. If those 

routes are blocked, what do you expect will 

happen? 

“These people are 

Nigerians. It is just like 

going to block the shoreline, 

does that make sense to 

you? These are the remote 

causes of the crisis. But the 

immediate cause is the 

grazing law. These people 

are Nigerians and we must 

learn to live together with 

each other. Communities 

and other people must 

learn how to accept 

foreigners within their 

enclave, “ he reportedly 

said. 

The IGP and Defence 

Minister’s comments have 

attracted condemnation 

from Benue State 

Governor, leaders and 

elders, who said that 

herdsmen attacks 

predated the law, and the 

law was enacted to address 

the attacks. 

Indeed, members of the 

Movement Against Fulani 

Occupation, MAFO, 

presented a bill to the 

Benue State House of 

Assembly in March, 2016 

after the Agatu massacre. 

Members of the Movement 

Against Fulani Occupation 

(MAFO), presented a bill to 

the Benue State House of 

Assembly in March, 2016 

after the Agatu massacre. 

The law was passed by the 

state House of Assembly 14 

months, specifically on 

May 5, 2017. The 

Governor signed it into law 

on May 22, 2017 and it became operational 

on November 1, 2017. 

Reacting to the IGP and Defence minister’s 

comments, Governor Samuel Ortom said: 

‘’I felt so sad when the Minister of Defence 

and the IG of police were acting the script of 

Miyetti Allah instead of doing the jobs for 

which they are collecting tax-payers money 

every month. If not, how can you say that 

the Prohibition of open grazing and 

provision for ranching law of 2017 in Benue 

state brought about those killings? Didn’t 

the killings take place in 2011, 2012, 2013, 

2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017? 

‘’This law is a necessity arising from the 

killings. And for us, we sought to 

bring a permanent solution 

with the perennial problem of 

herdsmen and farmers clashes 

and we did our research and 

globally we adopted global best 

practice which is ranching for 

all types of animals. And so it is 

amazing for anyone to assert 

that it is because of the law. 

‘’In any case, is this law in 

Adamawa state, how many 

people did we hear that were 

killed? And almost everyday 

people are killed. Do we have the law in 

Plateau State, Kaduna State and Nassarawa 

State? We already have more than 10,000 

IDPs from Nassarawa State camping in 

Benue State. Do they have this law in Edo, 

Ondo, Bayelsa and Rivers states? 

‘’So, it is not about the law, it is deliberate 

and we live in a country where people will 

come out in the name of Miyetti Allah and 

issue threat that they are coming to attack, 

that they will mobilise people to invade the 

land and take over the land and even when 

you report to the authorities, no action is 

taken.’’ 

Indeed, the timeline of herdsmen and 

gunmen attacks showed that they have 

been many attacks and killings since 2013. 

Timeline of herdsmen attacks on 

Benue State since 2013 

1. February 2013: – Herdsmen 

attacked Agatu burning Inoli, 

Ologba, Olegeje, Olegogboche, 

Olegede, Adana, Inminy and 

Abugbe communities. Many lives 

lost. 

2. April 23, 2013: – 10 farmers 

were killed in an attack on 

Mbasenge community in Guma 

LGA by suspected herdsmen. 

3. May 7, 2013: – 47 mourners 

gunned down in Agatu while 

burying two policemen killed the 

Tuesday before in Nassarawa. 

4. May 14, 2013: – No fewer 

than 200 herdsmen surrounded 

Ekwo-Okpanchenyi, Agatu LGA 

killing 40 locals. 

5. July 5, 2013: – 20 people 

were killed in a “conflict” between 

Tiv farmers and herdsmen at 

Nzorov, Guma LGA, Benue state. 

6. July 31 2013: – Herdsmen 

invaded two villages in Agatu 

LGA allegedly killing eight 

villagers in retaliation for the 

killing of 112 cows. 

7. November 7, 2013: 

Attackers strike at Ikpele and 

Okpopolo communities killing 

seven and displacing over 6000 

inhabitants. 

8. November 9, 2013: – 36 

locals were killed and seven 

villages sacked in an attack by 

herdsmen in Agatu LGA. 

9. Nov 20, 2013: – Herdsmen 

attack communities in Guma 

LGA, killing 22 locals and 

destroying properties worth 

millions of naira. 

10. January 20, 2014: – 

Gunmen attack Agatu LGA, 

killing five soldiers and seven 

•Ibrahim Idris, 

Inspector General 

of Police 

•Col. Mohammed 

Dan-Alli, retd 

civilians. 

11. January 20, 2014. Herdsmen attack 

Adeke village killing three. 

12. February 20-21, 2014: – Herdsmen 

attack Gwer West LGA killing 35 persons, 

displaced 80,000 persons and sacked six 

Local Councils. 

13. February 24, 2014: – Herdsmen 

attack a Tiv community along Naka road, 

Makurdi, killing eight people. 

14. March 6, 2014: – 30 people were 

killed in Kwande, Katsina/Ala and Logo 

LGAs by attackers dressed in military 

uniform. Six villages were sacked. 

15. March 12, 2014: – Raid on Ukpam 

village of Mbabaai in Guma LGA left 28 

persons dead, yam barns and farms burnt. 

16. March 10, 2014: – Former Governor 

Suswam’s convoy attacked by herdsmen 

at Umenger. He and convoy managed an 

escape. 

17. March 12, 2014: – . Herdsmen attack 

Suswam’s village in Logo LGA, killing 22 

and sacked entire village. 

18. March 23, 2014: – 25 people were 

killed and no fewer than 50 injured by 

herdsmen said to be bearing sophisticated 

weapons in Gbajimba, Guma LGA. 

19. March 25, 2014: – Police recover 

seven corpses following an attack on Agena 

village by herdsmen. 

20. March 29, 2014: – Herdsmen attack 

four villages in Agatu LGA. 19 people were 

killed and, 15 others abducted. 

21. March 29, 2014: – Suspected use of 

chemical weapons on Shengev community 

in Gwer West LGA left 15 people dead. 

22. March 30, 2014: – 19 locals were 

killed and 15 abducted in Agatu LGA. 

23. April 10, 2014: – Herdsmen attacked 

four villages in Ukemberaga/Tswarev ward 

of Logo LG, kileed six people and destroyed 

properties. 

24. April 15, 2014: – Attack on Obagaji, 

Headquarters of Agatu LGA left 12 youths 

dead. 

25. September 10, 2014: – Herdsmen 

attacked five villages in Ogbadibo LGA 

leaving scores dead. 

26. January 27, 2015: – 17 persons were 

killed in attacks on Abugbe, Okoklo, Ogwule 

and Ocholoyan in Agatu LGA by 

herdsmen. 

27. January 30, 2015: – Attackers 

stormed five villages in Logo LGA, 

killing nine persons. 

28. March 15, 2015: – . Egba 

village in Agatu LGA was sacked by 

herdsmen, over 90 locals, including 

women and children were killed. 

29. April 27, 2015: – 28 persons 

were killed by herdsmen in attack on 

three villages at Mbadwem, Guma 

LGA; houses and farmlands were 

razed. 

30. May 11, 2015: – Ikyoawen 

community in Turan Kwande LGA was 

invaded by herdsmen, who killed five 

persons and injured eight. 

31. May 24, 2015: – 100 people were 

killed in an attack by herdsmen in villages 

and refugee camps at Ukura, Gafa, Per and 

Tse-Gusa, Logo LGA. 

32. July 7, 2015: – One local was killed 

and several others injured following an 

attack on mourners at Imande Bebeshi in 

Kwande LGA. 

33. November 5, 2015: – 12 persons were 

killed and 25 others injured in Buruku LGA 

following an attack by suspected herdsmen. 

34. Feb 8, 2016: – 10 people were killed 

and over 300 displaced in a clash between 

herdsmen and farmers at Tor-Anyiin and 

Tor-Ataan in Buruku LGA. 

35. Feb 21-24, 2016: – Over 500 locals 

were killed and 7000 displaced in an attack 

on Agatu LGA by herdsmen. Over seven 

villages razed. 

36. March 9, 2016: – Eight residents 

were killed by herdsmen in attacks on 

Ngorukgan, Tse Chia, Deghkia and 

Nhumbe in Logo LGA. 

37. March 11, 2016; – Attack on Convoy 

of Senator David Mark by suspected 

herdsmen in Agatu LGA. No casualty 

recorded. 

38. March 13, 2016: – Six people 

including an APC youth leader were killed 

by herdsmen in an attack on Tarka LGA. 

39. February 29, 2016: – 11 killed in 

Edugbeho Agatu LG including a police 

inspector. 

40. March 10, 2016: – Two killed in 

attack on Obagaji Agatu. 

41. March 5, 2016: – Houses burnt in 

Agatu. Security forces prevented killings. 

42. January 24, 2017: – 15 persons were 

killed by rampaging herdsmen, who 

attacked farmers in Ipiga village in Ohimini 

Local Government Area of Benue State. 

43. March 2, 2017: – No fewer than 10 

persons were killed in a renewed hostility 

between herdsmen and farmers in 

Mbahimin community, Gwer East Local 

Government Area. 

44. March 11, 2017: – Seven people were 

killed when herdsmen attacked a Tiv 

community, Mkgovur village in Buruku 

local government area. 

45. May 8, 2017: – Three persons were 

confirmed killed by herdsmen in Tse-Akaa 

village, Ugondo Mbamar District of Logo 

Local Government Area of Benue State. 

46. May 13, 2017: – Less than one week 

after many people were killed by herdsmen 

in three communities of Logo Local 

Government Area of Benue State, armed 

herders struck again on May 13 killing eight 

more people


OPINION 

Buhari’s anti-corruption 

conundrum 

By Sufuyan Ojeifo 

There is common sense in the submission 

that the anti-corruption crusade of the 

President Muhammadu Buhari’s 

government has slumped. This is validated 

by the slipshod, ineffectual and selective 

manner the administration has so far 

executed the vaunted crusade. There has been 

so much mismanagement of the process, so 

much misapplication of the momentum, and 

so much floundering of the philosophy 

underpinning the anti-corruption agenda. 

The corollary, thus, is a concomitant 

contention, which will be explicated shortly. 

The Buhari presidency has politicised, 

ethnicised and socialised the fight against 

corruption to such dimensions and in the 

shapes and textures that presently assault our 

collective sensibilities. 

Something creepy must have terribly 

afflicted the administration’s sense of fairness. 

It is sad that the administration has rubbished 

the base metal by which it ascended to power. 

If there was a singular most potent force or 

promise of good that galvanised massive 

support for the candidature of Buhari in the 

2015 presidential election, it was his anticorruption 

posture. Somehow, the anticorruption 

aura around him was so palpable 

and tangible that a Messianic garb or vest 

was placed on him with approbation. 

To be sure, Buhari traversed the 

nation like a saint triumphant and 

presented as a special guardian to a 

vast majority of Nigerians who had 

become dispirited, supposedly, by the 

humongous corruption in the 

management of our commonwealth 

under the immediate past 

administration of Goodluck 

Jonathan. Buhari’s promise to fight 

corruption found anchorage in the 

people’s fancies and expectations. 

Security and the economy were some 

of the other critical promises. The 

belief was that once corruption was 

dealt with, other issues would fall in 

place to produce a bigger and 

complete picture of national rebirth 

evidenced by economic survivalism, 

social renaissance and political revivalism. 

But whatever must have afflicted this 

administration’s sense of fairness and its 

consciousness of the power of good conscience 

to predominate and moderate socio-economic 

and political interactions has certainly dealt 

it the unkindest blow. Excepting so much had 

been wrong all these years with our sense of 

collective perception about Buhari, his 

existential history of public office as federal 

commissioner of petroleum resources, head 

of state and chairman of the defunct 

petroleum trust fund (PTF) without knowing 

it, the national consensus that produced his 

presidency cannot escape essential 

indictment. The consensus has unleashed on 

our nation such cornucopian considerations 

that should not have a place in the 

21stcentury Nigeria, to wit: nepotism, 

tribalism and the impunity that we 

complained about the immediate past 

administration. 

Let me now attempt to explicate the 

contention, which every Nigerian of all shades 

and opinions can sufficiently speak to with 

the benefit of daily experience even if the 

contention has continued to resolve itself in 

favour of Nigerians, except those who believe 

that Buhari is at liberty to do whatever he 

pleases. The Yoruba have an appealing 

catchphrase that succinctly describes one who 

enjoys such liberty: “ase eyi owu u”-meaning 

the person who does what he likes. But 

a veritable idea cannot be driven in that 

writ-large fashion that questions the 

sincerity of the revolutionaries as the 

case is with our president. Buhari 

cannot do what he likes. He is 

president at our pleasure and must rule 

in accordance with the Oath of Office 

that he swore to, among other things, 

do right to all manner of people, 

according to law, without fear or favour, 

affection or ill-will. Can he 

justifiably say he has done right to all 

sections of the country? 

The massive investment of public 

confidence in Buhari that was 

wrapped in an electoral mandate has 

proved, ex-post facto, that our prognosis 

was wrong. This is the conflicted 

•Buhari 

and contentious reality. If this reality had 

been precipitated by just one instance, it would 

certainly have been overlooked as an isolated 

case of leadership imperfection. But in a 

situation where condonation of corrupt acts has 

become a pattern, we should be left with no other 

choice than to question the inclination and 

deprecate it. 

Just recently, the president reinstated the 

Executive Secretary of the National Health 

Insurance Scheme (NIHS), Professor Usman 

Yusuf, who had been suspended and 

subsequently indicted by a ministerial panel 

in connection with the alleged squandering 

of over N997 million of the scheme’s 

intervention fund. Our own Nobel Laureate, 

Professor Wole Soyinka, described that action 

as an unforced error by Buhari. Lovers of 

the game of lawn tennis would understand 

Soyinka. I consider it an own goal for the 

understanding of football lovers. It was that 

bad that the Minister of Information, Alhaji 

Lai Mohammed was so rattled when the 

media asked for his comment and could only 

stutter that the fact that Professor Yusuf was 

reinstated does not stop the Economic and 

Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from 

carrying on with its investigation of his 

alleged malfeasance. 

This development came on the heels of the 

president’s alleged complicity in the absorption 

into the civil service of the suspended former 

Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on 

Pension Reform, Abdulrasheed Maina, who is 

now a fugitive from the law. The president is 

FEMI KEHINDE VISITS EZE NDIGBO 

The AD Gubernatorial aspirant in 

IN ILE-IFE 

Osun state.Hon Femi kehinde, on Saturday, 

February10, 2018, visited the Eze Ndigbo of Ife 

and Osun state.HRM Ezekiel Chinedu 

Onyejekwe (JP), as part of his consultation and 

mobilisation drive,towards the September 2018 

Governorship election,He was well received by 

his high chiefs,Chief Nwezeakor Lawrence,Chief 

Odoemelam Christopher,Chief Keke 

Sylvester,Chief Eke Ajiboye Ukaegwu.Chief 

Onoya Okonkum who offered his best wishes 

and prayers. He was accompanied on the visit by 

High chief Tony Oyewhasie(High Chief of 

Osogbo),Mr Olapade AD state Chairman, Osun state, 

Barrister Olayinka Ojo,Chief Mathew 

Babalola,Squadron leader Olarinoye(Rtd),Director 

of campaign Engineer Apara and some AD Top 

women leaders in Osun state. 

vicariously liable for the odoriferous saga that 

happened under his watch. Maina was, a 

priori, investigated by the EFCC in connection 

with some missing funds allegedly running 

into billions of naira. 

And there are some other instances that 

could be called on to validate this melancholic 

state of affairs. 

On February 9, 2018, Buhari gave approval 

for the compulsory retirement of Justice 

Adeniyi Ademola and the dismissal of Justice 

O.O. Tokode consequent upon the 

recommendations of the National Judicial 

Commission (NJC). Justice Tokode, according 

to a statement by the Senior Special Assistant 

(media and publicity) to the President, Malam 

Garba Shehu, was to refund all salaries and 

allowances earned illegally from December 2, 

2015 when he was sworn-in as a judge of the 

Federal High Court to date. This is 

commendable. But, why can’t the president 

enact this audacity in dealing with perpetrators 

of sleaze in the executive arm under his direct 

watch? 

The other time, it took the state-of-the-nation 

press statement by former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo for the EFCC to summon former 

Secretary to the Federal Government, Mr. 

Babachir Lawal for interrogation in connection 

with the N220 million grass-cutting contract 

that led to his indictment and removal. Instead 

of creating the impression that his 

administration is mollycoddling compromised 

public officers I had expected the president to 

walk his talk by being fair in dealing with 

corrupt public officials. That is the only 

assured way by which he can silence his 

wailing traducers. 

I guess the international community is not 

monitoring the anti-corruption war in Nigeria; 

otherwise, our president might not have 

qualified for his recent pick by his colleagueheads 

of state at their recent 30th Ordinary 

Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and 

Government of the African Union (AU) in Addis 

Ababa, Ethiopia to lead the onslaught against 

corruption on the African continent. 

If, with his obvious shortcomings back home 

and the egregious nepotistic setting within 

which he administers national affairs, which 

Obasanjo publicly attacked before the meeting 

in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the president was 

still ranked as the best for the continent’s anticorruption 

“poster boy”, then what can I say 

other than, may God help the continent! 

Meanwhile, back home, our nerves are daily 

frayed by the melancholic song of a terribly 

bastardized anti-graft war. 

•Mr. Ojeifo, editor-in-chief of The 

Congresswatchcontributed this piece 

from Abuja viaojwonderngr@yahoo.com 

Kano LGA election 

questionable — INEC 

By Bose Adelaja & Gabriel Olawale 

INDEPENDENT National Electoral Commission 

Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu yesterday 

expressed worry over the credibility of the Kano State 

Local Government election even as he pledged that proper 

investigation will be carried out to avail Nigerians with 

facts of the matter. 

Yakubu who spoke at the 2019 Election Project Plan 

Implementation Workshop convened by INEC with 

support of European Centre for Electoral Support in 

Lagos, said that recent report of under-age person voting 

in local government election in Kano State are deeply 

disturbing. 

His words: “It is true that the State Independent 

Electoral Commission requested for INEC voter 

register and soft copy of register was made 

available to the state. 

“The voter register in Kano State was the one 

used for 2015 general election and the same 

register was used for July 2016 State Assembly 

election which has 78,210 register voters spread 

across 126 polling unity. 

“In that election conducted by INEC, no single 

incident of under age voters was recorded. Why 

did it now happened in last LGA election 

conducted by State Independent Electoral 

Commission? Was the voter register actually used 

or not, we wish to assure Nigerians that the 

matter will be fully investigate.


LBS partner 

tners Ford Foundation, 

trains non-profit leaders on 

leadership and management 

L-R: Country Director, Enectus Nigeria, Michael Ajayi; Faculty, Lagos Business School, Dr. Ijeoma 

Nwagwu; Director of Programmes, LEAP Africa, Femi Taiwo; Founder, TomatoJos, Mira Mehta, 

CEO, SackFarm, Abdullah Musa, during the empowerment at LBS, Lagos. 

In order to integrate best practices into 

the nonprofit sector, Lagos Business 

School has collaborated with Ford 

Foundation to run a leadership and 

management programme that will train 

young African leaders in the nonprofit 

sector. The programme will have 4 runs 

over a 24-month period. The target is to 

have 50 participants per run, and at least 

200 participants by the end of the twoyear 

period. 

The programme which combines online 

takes on a highly practical, experiential 

and interactive approach. It focuses on 

developing the core areas of management, 

including funding structures, strategic 

planning, policy and legal issues, 

organisational development, staff and 

volunteer management, risk 

management, among others. 

Speaking on the highlights of the 

programme, Dr. Ijeoma Nwagwu, 

Faculty, Lagos Business School said that 

the programme will cut across various 

aspects of nonprofit management, and 

will strategically examine leadership 

effectiveness, business fundamentals and 

social innovation. 

She said that these focused areas are 

important in building skills that are 

universal and would help any 

organisation thrive. “The certificate 

programme aims to give young nonprofit 

leaders a platform on which to think 

about their work in a professional way 

and develop tangible leadership skills 

and knowledge around governance, 

structures and processes that will enable 

them build global organizations that 

would outlast the founders. In many parts 

Benefit of animal farming in Nigeria 

Animal farming is profitable if an 

interested investor would take the time 

to acquire the necessary skills. Pig, 

grasscutter, wad goat etc. are areas one can 

invest and make more profit. 

Animal farming provides self-employment, 

increases self earning, also contributes to 

economic value. Nigerian climate is an added 

advantage for animal farming and the country 

will benefit enough if attention is paid to it. 

Animal consultant/Managing Director, 

Jovana Farms, Prince Arinze Onnebuna said 

that in animal farming, WAD goat is an 

outstanding milk and prolific goat breed that 

can add real value to goat farming in the 

country. “Our business consist of consulting 

in animal breeding, production and related 

fields, turn-key agricultural projects, goat and 

grasscutter stud, which consists of many 

breeding females. We plan to expand the 

stud, breed it up from his current genetic 

base and buy in genetics from carefully 

selected breeders. My breeding philosophy 

is to breed hardy, adaptable and fertile goat. 

A quality goat isn’t built up overnight. We 

select the best possible breeding animals 

and genetic lines to incorporate in our flock 

even though it takes time”. 

According to him, “due to the meticulous 

selection of breeding animals and careful 

pairing, the goat and grasscutter have 

excelled in bringing more businesses. We are 

serious about animal recording and plan to 

start our own on-farm ear tagging soonest. 

This indicates excellent growth and 

improvement. Top-quality carcasses and a 

slaughtering percentage is as high as 56% 

and that makes it an ideal goat breeding, 

and it also produces chemical free meat. 

Our philosophy is to breed well-muscled 

bucks with the correct conformation. 

Approximately 90% of the stud’s bucks are 

sold to commercial goat and grasscutter 

farmers, most out of hand. The bucks are 

active breeders. WAD goats and grasscutters 

excel in crossbreeding and the weaned kids 

are known for their growth. 

Cross breeding is mating two stocks from 

different breeds thus introducing into the 

progeny, a gene combination that is different 

from that existing in either parents or in the 

breed of either parent. The sole purpose of 

cross breeding is to take advantage of the 

observed improvement in performance of the 

progeny above that of either parents-hybrid 

vigour or heterosis. The kids’ small heads 

and narrow shoulders, coupled with low 

birth weights, virtually eliminate litering 

problems. Kids mature early and are 

market-ready from as early as 12 to 14 

weeks. 

The WAD goat is one of the few goat 

breeds to produce kids that can be 

marketed directly from their mothers. The 

females are 

excellent 

mothers; 

the WAD 

goat’s 

strong 

maternal 

d r i v e 

means that 

w e 

seldom 

encounter 

problems 

w i t h 

breastfeeding. 

F o r 

parasite 

control and 

prevalent 

of the world, social 

enterprises are emerging 

to generate greater impact 

– individuals and groups of 

people are identifying 

social problems and using 

principles and practices of 

business to drive impact 

and achieve results. The 

programme will train 

participants to become 

more effective leaders, 

learn the fundamental of 

running a sustainable 

organisation, and 

understand the dynamics 

of social innovation - the 

new space in which they 

are now creating change”. 

According to Nwagwu, 

the programme kicked off 

with a panel session that 

brought four nonprofit 

leaders together to talk 

about challenges they 

faced in the early stages of 

their organizations, 

lessons learned, and how 

they were able to solve the 

challenges”. Another 

session that excited 

participants was 

facilitated by Dr. Akin 

Oparison, Faculty, Lagos 

Business School which 

focused on Leadership. He 

said that leadership is all 

about influence; it takes 

leadership to motivate and 

stimulate the minds of 

people to share thoughts, 

ideas, and activities that 

translate their intent and 

goals into output.” 

Discussions during the 

session prompted 

participants to think about 

leadership from a 

completely new 

perspective, and left them 

eager to learn more during 

the programme. 

diseases such as blue tongue, 

blue udder and Clostridium 

infection, we follow an 

animal health programme 

developed by our local vet. 

Breeding 

WAD goat is one of the most 

underestimated goat breeds 

in Nigeria, and has the 

potential to add enormous 

value to the breeding 

industry. It has all the 

characteristics needed for 

goat farming under extensive 

and intensive conditions, 

including hardiness, 

adaptability, growth and 

carcass quality”. 

Choose also the nearest 

seminar venue from the 

advert box in this page or 

from our website. 

Association, US Consulate 

task youths on non-violent 

transformation 

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows, in collaboration with 

the Public Affairs Section, US Consulate General, Lagos, 

recently tasked Nigerian youths on non-violent 

transformation in the country, reminding them of late Martin 

Luther King Jr. that led a peaceful protest on racial equality. 

Speaking at the Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day Lecture 

held at Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, President of Hubert 

H. Humphrey Fellows, Mojisola Onifade, said that youths 

should use technology to influence the desired change at every 

level in Nigeria, emulating the character of late Martin Luther 

King Jr. who dared to dream change and had a dogged faith 

in that dream and in his ability to influence change. 

According to her, Nigeria today needs men and women 

who will not sit by and watch injustice go unchallenged. “We 

need a generation of youths who are able to believe that change 

is possible and who strongly believe they have the capacity to 

make that change happen. I believe Caleb University by design 

is the place where such youths are raised and I hope the 

management of this great institution remains committed to 

continue raising them”, she said. 

She said further that the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship 

Alumni Association is committed to motivating a generation 

of socially conscious and responsible young adults. She 

explained that the association does this through its School 

Outreach programme which targets secondary school 

students, the MLK Day Lecture which targets university 

students and a number of other initiatives which are designed 

to inspire and engage young people towards transforming 

Nigeria. 

Onifade thanked the United States government in Nigeria 

for its commitment to developing competencies in Nigerians 

and empowering many to dream change and make it happen. 

She stated that the US Embassy in Nigeria has a number of 

programmes particularly targeting young people in the 18 – 

35 year old age bracket. These include the Young African 

Leaders Initiative, YALI Network and its flagship, the Mandela 

Washington Fellowship; the TechWomen program, targeting 

young women in Science, Technology, Engineering and 

Mathematics (STEM), and many others. She urged young 

people to harness available resources to develop their 

potential, so they can be empowered to transform Nigeria 

On her part, the Public Affairs Officer, United States 

Consulate General, Lagos, Darcy Zotter, said if youths must 

achieve transformation in any setting, they must be 

courageous to work together, assume responsibility to serve, 

take action, speak out and listen to fellow participants. She 

emphasized that in order to be good leaders, young people 

must be bold and responsible followers who are unafraid to 

hold their leaders accountable. She also noted that while not 

everyone can occupy leadership positions, everyone has a 

responsibility to be good followers who actively participate 

in the process of transforming Nigeria. 

The Hubert H. Humphrey (HHH) Fellowship is a Fulbright 

exchange programme funded by the US Department of State 

to provide selected Fellows, ten months of non-degree, 

graduate-level study, leadership development, professional 

affiliations and related opportunities in the United States. 

The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Alumni Association in 

Nigeria is a platform for alumni of the programme to share 

ideas and join efforts to bring social change. 

BUSINESS GUIDE



I didn’t want to 

be a coach 

—YUSUF 

CHAN Eagles coach Salisu 

Yusuf has revealed that 

originally he did not wish to 

be a coach after injury cut 

short a promising 

playing career. 

However, his 

successful stint with 

hometown club 

Nasara FC of Zaria 

would later change 

this position. 

“I was only working out on the 

same pitch with Nasarawa after 

injury ended my career, before I 

later started training the team,” 

recounted Salisu Yusuf, who was 

56 on Wednesday. 

“We went on to win the Kaduna 

State FA Cup and afterwards 

there was no going back for me.” 

Former Ranch Bees and El 

Kanemi Warriors midfielder Yusuf 

has since handled Enyimba, Kano 

Pillars, El Kanemi, Lobi Stars and FC 

Taraba. 

The coach said he believes that 

how much confidence you give your 

players and how well you teach 

them will go a long way in 

determining how successful you 

become by the sidelines. 

Salisu Yusuf, who has a CAF A 

Exit of a Booster 

.A tribute to Austin Mgbolu 

By Fan Ndubuoke 

I 

can’t really remember how our 

paths crossed. Possibly, at the 

National stadium, Surulere, Lagos. In 

the late eighties , I left the Imo 

Broadcasting Service,IBS, Owerri to 

join the Champion Newspapers , 

Lagos as a pioneer staff on the sports 

beat. Austin Mgbolu had also moved 

over to Lagos from Benin as a Sports 

correspondent for Edo state owned 

Observer Newspapers. I can’t recall 

who arrived first. 

But birds of the same feather, it’s said 

, always flock together. Both of us had 

a lot in common and naturally bonded. 

First, we were both coming from poorly 

funded state owned corporations 

where salary was either insignificant 

or irregular. Family background was 

similar. Not with a silver spoon. A pair 

of shoes was a luxury, while some shirts 

were worn more than twice a week. 

Remarkablely, educational 

background was almost the same as 

other parameters. Austin had just a 

diploma from One Journalism Institute 

in Benin while my only qualification 

then was also a diploma in Mass 

Communication from the University of 

Lagos. But we were determined not to 

be deterred from pursuing our dreams 

. We lived closely in the Mainland of 

Lagos, jumping in and out of any 

available bus heading towards the 

National stadium Surulere on daily 

basis. 

Under the tree at the Stadium was a 

common meeting place as we hunted 

for sports stories along with other 

colleagues , most of them clearly ahead 

of us on the beat. As the chairman of 

Imo state chapter of the Sportswriters 

Association of Nigeria, as well as 

member of the National Caretaker 

Committee of the association before 

coming to Lagos, integration was not 

difficult. 

December 1991, I was elected 

national president of the association in 

Kaduna with a lot of support from Austin 

Mgbolu and indeed the entire 

leadership of Lagos SWAN at the time. 

By the provisions of decree 101 of the 

Nigeria Football Association, the 

national president of SWAN was 

•Yusuf 

automatically a board 

member of the football 

governing body. Elder 

Effiong Okon was the 

chairman of the 

board at the time. 

When late Air 

Commodre Emeka Omeruah became 

the first elected chairman of the board 

in 1993,he came with a lot of 

innovations and ideas. Omeruah was 

worried about the negative image NFA 

was always associated with. He tabled 

the issue before the board. Opinions 

were divided whether the presence of 

the national president of the 

Sportswriters on the board wasn’t 

enough to address the issue . My 

position was very clear that Public 

Relations was a Management function. 

I was only a board member. The NFA/ 

NFF has always been in the news for 

the wrong reasons. It didn’t start today. 

There was need for a full time imagemaker. 

Moreover, not every 

sportswriter supported the idea of the 

watchdog being on the board. Don’t 

mind if some of the arguments were 

petty. 

The board approved the employment 

of a full time public relations officer and 

the Secretary-General, Alhaji Sani Toro 

who was fully in support of the idea, 

constituted a panel to engage one 

within the rank and file of SWAN; with 

yours sincerely as the chairman of the 

selection team. 

I can’t remember all the members 

now but I won’t forget the head of Pro- 

League then Steve Olarinoye(now a 

Doctor), as well as Salihu Abubarkar 

were members. The search was 

eventually narrowed down to the then 

Secretary-General of SWAN, Mr 

Domino Johnson of the News Agency 

of Nigeria and our now fallen 

colleague, Austin Mgbolu, the 

‘Booster’. Austin got the job. 

Naturally, Johnson, a complete 

gentleman,felt betrayed by his 

president and comrade. But I had a 

clear mandate; to not only hire one of 

us but one whose presence at Ogulana 

Drive, would help tackle the barrage 

of negative reports about the football 

house. Austin Mgbolu was hugely 

popular among his colleagues. He 

•Sunday 

Oliseh 

licence, has since won the NPFL 

championship with Kano Pillars in 2008, 

the FA Cup with Lobi Stars and 

Enyimba in: 2003 and 2013, 

respectively. 

He qualified Nigeria to CHAN 2018 

and guided the Eagles to the final of the 

2017 WAFU Cup in Ghana, bagged a 

silver in Morocco 2018 CHAN. 

He also assisted Gernot Rohr to 

qualify Nigeria to the 2018 FIFA World 

Cup in Russia 

•Late Mgbolu 

didn’t have many baggage and his 

choice was widely acclaimed. 

Austin grabbed the opportunity 

with both hands. It was a dream job, 

given where he was coming from. 

Without any formal certification 

in the field of public relations, 

he excelled and masterfully 

executed the demands of the 

office for about a decade. What 

he didn’t have in formal training 

at the time, he had in 

aboundance in charisma. Jovial, 

friendly, unassuming and above 

all humble. Austin was not the media officer 

of the national team as some tend to refer to 

him, he was incharge of the image -making 

department of the entire football house. 

Aware that his detractors tormented him 

with his scanty academic box, he enrolled 

with the Lagos State University LASU, 

where he later obtained both First and 

Masters degrees. Even when the football 

house relocated to the Federal Capital 

Territory, Abuja, he refused to give up on 

his academic pursuits. Austin shuttled 

between Lagos and Abuja by air for many 

years. 

However, he exited the office as a result of 

controversial reforms carried out by the 

Ministry of Sports which suspended the entire 

management of NFA and asked affected staff 

to reapply as contract staff. Luckily, Austin 

had regularised his employment with the 

Federal Civil Service Commission which 

posted him to the Ministry of Niger Delta 

Affairs.He remained there until his untimely 

death last week. 

Sincerely speaking, i never knew the origin 

of the nickname ‘Booster’ until his demise. I 

now know is in recognition of his generosity 

and magnanimity, especially to his younger 

colleagues. He had human milk flowing in 

him. I never called him by the nickname 

because the source was not clear to me. I 

can’t agree more with those who described 

him as such. He was a real Booster, not only 

to his younger colleagues but to all who came 

in contact with him. 

Austin had a unique name for all his 

associates. Who will now call me ‘Ndubulife’? 

or “Fannooo”. If he had a fault, it would be 

his passion for his Creator and his immediate 

family. His 85 -year -old mother was only 

laid to rest last year at Ibusa, Delta state . 

Austin has left his calm, quiet, and equally 

unassuming wife Felicia, his three young 

children, two boys and a girl behind. They, 

with his only brother and sisters,will have to 

live without the Booster forever. The young 

family needs our prayers and support to 

remain strong. For all of us he boosted, this 

is pay back time. This is indeed the painful 

exit of a Booster like no other. Adieu Austin. 

Oliseh: 

I don’t want 

to be in jail 

Sunday Oliseh has said 

he would rather lose a 

job than go to jail for 

taking part in “illegal 

activities” as coach of 

Dutch club 

Fortuna Sittard. 

Fortuna 

Sitard 

announced 

Oliseh 

was 

suspended 

allegedly 

over his 

poor relationship with 

both players and officials. 

But Oliseh said he would 

rather walk away along 

with his assistants than be 

jailed for going against the 

law. 

“It is better to part ways 

like this. I won’t want to be 

in jail,” he said in an 

interview on Brila FM 

radio. “My lawyers are 

handling the case now.” 

The former Nigeria 

coach, who only recently 

led the club to a record 

seven straight wins, would 

not wish to disclose the 

crux of the matter, but 

rather hinted on owed 

salaries and wrangling 

within the club. 

“We have to be 

compensated for what we 

are owed, it’s not only in 

Nigeria that they owe 

money,” he said 

“The Turkish owners 

also got the players to say 

they are unhappy with 

me.” 

The former Juventus 

and Ajax Amsterdam 

midfield star also 

maintained that even in 

the event that his 

suspension is overturned, 

he would rather move on. 

“It has been 14 great 

months coaching this 

club, we set records like 

winning seven straight 

games, we are looking at 

the top league, but should 

my suspension be 

rescinded, I won’t go back 

to the club,” he said. 

“We have made a name 

for ourselves, I believe 

there will be job 

opportunities and I pray it 

is something better than 

the last one.” 

Golf: Curtain falls on Okunbo 

@ 60 Pro-Am tourney 

The week-long Captain 

Hosa Okunbo at 60 

Pro-Am invitational golf 

tournament holding at the 

Benin Club golf course, 

Benin City will come to 

end today. 

The golf tournament 

which teed-off Monday 

February 12 th , featured 

about three hundred 

professional and amateur 

golfers who came from 

different clubs across the 

country. The event was put 

together by the Benin 

Club Golf Section in 

honour of the 

philanthropist who is also 

CHAN stars 

boost Rivers 

Utd 

the patron of Benin 

Club. 

The chief host of the 

tournament, Kingsley 

Ehi Okunbo, the MD/ 

CEO of Vision Air 

Products, expressed 

satisfaction with the 

turnout of golfers. 

Meanwhile, part of 

the activities outlined 

for the closing day is the 

amateur men handicap 

0-17 and ladies 

handicap 0-28 follow in 

the same order while the 

professional final match 

day tee-off immediately. 

Ahead of Sunday’s visit 

of Niger Tornadoes, 

Rivers United will be boosted by 

the return of the duo of Emeka 

Ogbugh and Emeka Atuloma 

from International duty with 

the Super Eagles. 

Both players were with 

•Ogbugh 

the Salisu Yusuf led 

Eagles that competed at 

the just concluded 

Championship for 

African Nations (CHAN), in 

Morocco, where the Eagles claimed 

silver medal after losing to the hosts. 

Ogbugh resumed training on 

Tuesday, while 

Atuloma is 

expected to 

be part of 

Wednesday’s training.”I 

am back in 

training and preparing for 

Sunday’s 

match against Tornadoes. It 

is good to mix with the new players,” he stated. 

Speaking on what to expect from him this term, 

Ogbugh said: “I am more experienced now. Working 

under Coach Salisu Yusuf has been a great privilege and 

the exposure I got playing at the CHAN to0.” 

Ogbugh’s presence will help the attack which has 

scored only five goals in eight matches. 

Both players are set to make Stanley Eguma’s match 

day squad against Minna side, Niger Tornadoes, on 

Sunday. 

C 

M 

Y

Ronaldo practised ‘volley’ 

penalty at Man U — Rio 

Real Madrid 

forward Cristiano 

Ronaldo used to 

practise taking 

penalties so that the ball 

moves before he strikes it, 

former Manchester United 

teammate Rio Ferdinand has 

said. 

Ronaldo scored the 

equaliser from the spot as 

Real Madrid beat Paris Saint- 

Germain 3-1 at the Bernabeu 

in a Champions League 

round-of-16 first leg match on 

Wednesday. But the ball 

appeared to pop up on the 

spot fractions of a second 

before the Portugal captain 

fired it past PSG goalkeeper 

Alphonse Areola. 

Slow-motion replays 

showed that, rather than 

touching it with 

his standing foot, 

Ronaldo had 

disturbed the turf 

under the ball, 

making it move 

and effectively 

volleying it at Areola. 

And Ferdinand, speaking in 

his role as a pundit for BT 

Sport, said: “He used to do 

that in training, you know. 

“He used to mess about in 

training and do it but to do it 

in a game. I’m not saying he 

means it but he used to do it, I 

swear to you. 

Had the match officials seen 

the ball move, the rules of the 

game mean they would have 

had to order the penalty to be 

retaken. 

Former Premier League 

2018 8 Winter er Olympics: Nigeria 

begins medal hunt 

.As Travelstart charges team to go for gold 

he Nigeria bobsled 

Tteam will start their 

campaign in Pyeongchang 

today, 4 pm Nigerian time, 

with scheduled training 

heats. The team will 

participate in six training 

heats from today to Feb. 19. 

The goal for the team will 

be to fine-tune their runs 

and clock impressive times 

when the official heats begin 

on Feb. 20. 

Meanwhile, Travelstart 

Nigeria has charged the 

historic Nigeria Bobsled & 

Skeleton team to put up 

their best performances and 

aim for Gold 

According to Philip 

Akesson, Country Manager 

of Travelstart Nigeria, the 

company is proud to be 

associated with the historic 

team and urges all 

Nigerians to support the team 

to enable them excel at the 

competition. 

“As Africa’s largest online 

travel agency, we are excited to 

use our resources and our 

partnership with KLM Royal 

Dutch Airlines to get the 

Nigerian team to their first 

Winter Olympics. The team’s 

resilience, passion, go-getter 

attitude towards achieving 

their goals is admirable, and is 

referee Graham Poll told the 

Daily Mail: “You cannot 

blame the officials for 

missing it, as it would have 

been almost impossible to 

spot in real time. 

“But with the benefit of 

slow-motion replays, we can 

see that the ball bobbled up 

as Ronaldo planted his left 

foot before slamming it 

home with his right.” 

a message that resonates 

deeply with our company 

values.” He said. 

Akesson disclosed that 

Travelstart and KLM partnered 

to fly the team from Murtala 

Muhammed International 

Airport in Lagos through 

Amsterdam to Incheon 

International Airport in Seoul, 

the capital city of South Korea, 

earlier in February. 

•Rodriguez 

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 — 45 

Bayern ‘re Champions League 

favourites – Rodriguez 

J 

ames Rodriguez has told Sport Bild that 

Bayern Munich are favourites to win the 

Champions League this season. 

James, 26, has scored four goals and 

provided six assists in 16 Bundesliga 

appearances this season, as well 

featuring in every Champions League 

game since joining on a two-year loan 

deal from Real Madrid last summer. 

“Bayern is my favourite to win the 

Champions League,” James said. “We 

have a super team with top players. Why 

shouldn’t we win the Champions League?” 

The Colombia playmaker also confirmed that 

he has remained in regular contact with 

Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcelo at his former 

club. 

Bayern exited to the eventual winners at the 

quarterfinal stage last season under Carlo 

Ancelotti, with James appearing as a late 

substitute in Real’s 2-1 win at the Allianz Arena in 

April. 

Lured to Bavaria by Ancelotti last summer, James 

endured a difficult start to his time in Germany. The 

Italian, who signed the Colombia playmaker at Real 

Madrid as well, was dismissed by Bayern in 

September, the day after a 3-0 Champions League 

defeat to Paris Saint-Germain. James was substituted 

at half-time of the loss to PSG. 

Real plan mega 

Pogba swoop 

Real Madrid are planning an 

ambitious move for Paul Pogba 

after speculation that the Manchester 

United midfielder is having regrets over his 

£89 million move from Juventus. 

The France midfielder, whilst picking up two 

trophies last season, has seen the Red 

Devils fail to stay in contention to win the 

Premier League for a second straight 

season, with rivals Manchester City 

coasting toward the title this term. 

The Sun says United would be 

unwilling to sell their talisman after 

just two years and with three years 

left on his five-year contract, 

despite a reportedly mixed 

relationship with manager Jose 

Mourinho of late. 

Real would have to offer in excess of £120m 

to even stand a chance of landing the 24-yearold, 

the report claims, though another season 

in England is almost assured despite Real's 

intentions 

Rebranding the Nigerian 

Athletics League 

In 2009, the former Athletics 

of Nigeria (AFN) board led 

by Solomon Ogba 

introduced a new Athletics 

series called the Golden 

League. The AFN Golden League 

was meant to take the format of 

the IAAF Diamond League where 

a series of meetings are held over 

different cities and continents, 

with points and cash prizes at 

stake in each leg of the series, and 

then a jackpot or star prize to be 

shared in the final leg by few 

athletes who have posted 

consistent wins across all legs of 

the series. 

The AFN Golden League was 

meant to be a replacement of the 

Classics of yesteryears, and was 

expected to breathe a new lease of 

life into Nigerian Athletics and 

trigger development on the 

domestic scene. While the 

initiators of the event may have 

had good intentions, they 

struggled to live up to the terms 

and rules regulating the series 

which usually holds across 

different cities in Nigeria. 

Lack of corporate sponsorship 

saw athletes who qualified for the 

jackpot being owed their prizes, 

while a lot of the meets didn’t meet 

up with the standards initially 

promised, leading to a lack of 

trust on the part of the athletes, 

and marring what was meant to 

bring about development in the 

sport. And even though a new 

board has come into office, the 

AFN Golden Leagueis still being 

retained, albeit without the 

required sponsorship, making a 

caricature of the whole process. 

However, it is my belief that 

forpotential sponsors or investors 

to part with their hard-earned 

money, the product being 

marketed must be packaged in 

such a way that would make it 

appealling to those providing the 

funds. How do Nigerian athletes 

fare when compared with the rest 

of their counterparts from other 

parts of the world? There must 

also be transparency as far as the 

disbursement of these funds is 

concerned in order to gain the 

trust of these sponsors, so that they 

continue to invest in the sport. 

After all, everyone wants to be 

associated with a good brand! 

Blessing Okagbare was named 

First Bank’s ambassador to the 

2012 and 2016 Olympic Games 

based on her personal 

achievements. 

SeyeOgunlewe, Divine 

Oduduru, Regina George 

and Hannah Babalola, a 

para-athlete, were among 

Union Bank’s 

ambassadors to the Rio 

2016 Olympics because 

they had posted inspiring 

performances in the 

course of the season. 

While commendable, 

these are trickles of support that 

do not really change the fortunes 

of the sport as a whole. 

Nigeria’s fortunes are a sharp 

contrast to that of fellow Africans, 

South Africa, who are now one of 

the Top 5 Athletics nations in the 

world. A few weeks ago, Athletics 

South Africa (ASA) revealed that 

current World Champion in the 

men’s 100m, USA’s Justin Gatlin, 

will open his season in South 

Africa while competing in their 

Athletix Grand Prix Series, which 

was unveiled in December 2017. 

The Athletix Grand Prix Series 

organized by ASAin partnership 

with Stillwater Sports, comprises 

of three meetings which will hold 

on different dates in different parts 

of the country. The first meet will 

hold on March 1st in 

Johannesburg; the second one 

which Gatlin, who is the fifth 

fastest man in the history of the 

100m and 200m, will compete in, 

will hold on March 8th at the Tuks 

Stadium, Tshwane. The third and 

final meeting is billed to hold on 

March 22 in Paarl. 

These meetings will help in finetuning 

South Africa’s preparation 

for the Commonwealth Games in 

April, and the season as a 

whole. 

And it is no 

•Blessing Okagbare 

mean feat getting former Olympic 

Champion Gatlin to Africa where 

he will competitively race over the 

150m for the first time in his life, 

giving a massive boost to 

SouthAfrican Athletics. 

Fans are expected to buy tickets 

to watch these meets, with adults 

being charged R 100 each while 

children under 16 years of age will 

pay R 50 each. A total prize 

incentive of R1,365,000 

(US$110,000) will be offered to 

athletes to produce outstanding 

performances in 2018. 

A few days ago, German 

sportswear company 

PUMA,which has the world’s 

fastest man ever, Usain Bolt as its 

ambassador, was unveiled as the 

official footwear and apparel 

partner of the 2018 Athletix 

Grand Prix Series, showing how 

far South Africa has come in the 

world of Athletics. 

South Africa is certainly doing 

something right to be able to 

attract some of the world’s best 

Athletics talent to its series. World 

No. 1 in the 200m and No.4 in the 

400m in 2017, Isaac Makwala of 

Botswana, will compete in the 

series. USA’s 2014 World Junior 

Champion in the 200m and 

4x100m Trentavis Friday, who 

finished ahead of Nigeria’s Divine 

Oduduru in Oregon, is going to 

run in the first leg of the series, 

and will be coming with his 

training partner Justin Walker. 

South Africa has its own array 

of global stars who will headline 

these series. They includereigning 

Olympic Champion and World 

Championships Gold 

medallistCaster Semenya; 

AkaniSimbinewho was No.4 in 

the world in the 100m last year; 

2015 World Championships 

200m Bronze 

medallistAnasoJobodwana; 

World Junior Record holder in the 

300m Clarence Munyai; reigning 

World Youth Champions Breyton 

Poole (High Jump) and 

SokwakhanaZazini(400m 

Hurdles), and a host of others. 

That is the equivalent of having 

Nigeria’s biggest Athletics star at 

the moment, Okagbare, 

competing at the AFNGolden 

League! May Nigerian Athletics 

witness such days.


Continues from last week 

By Jacob Ajom 

Y 

ou were talking about Hussey 

College and how you were 

admitted there ... 

Hussey College was one of the best 

schools in the nation at the time. 

There is something remarkable about what 

this man(the proprietor of the school, Alfred 

Rewane) did, which inspired the paper I 

presented in Delta State last year on Sports 

and Education. The paper focused on what 

sports can do for education. 

Unfortunately, successive 

administrations in our country have 

failed to take a cue from what happens 

in the advanced world. If you don’t give 

sports its due place, it kills the 

educational system. Sports is a 

fantastic motivation that keeps the 

youth happy; a big source of income 

for them. Any government that 

neglects sports is doing a great harm 

•Urhobo 

to the youths of this country. 

As far back as the sixties, Rewane 

keyed into this and was awarding 

scholarships to budding athletes 

from all over the country. You had 

the Popoolas from the west, you had 

myself from the mid-west and 

another from the east. Hussey 

College team went on to win the 

Manuwa Cup. This was a 

competition that involved teams 

from all the zones in the country: 

North, West, Mid-West and East. 

It was a major event and Hussey 

College won it. We were about 

seven of us who represented the 

school. That made the school very 

popular and every child all over the 

country wanted to attend Hussey 

College. So if only the present 

administration understood the 

value of sports they could have 

changed the lives of our youths. 

They could have started 

something new. 

When I finished my 

higher school, I didn’t 

have money for my 

university education. 

Because I was so 

prominent in 

sports, the then 

military 

Governor 

of Mid- 

W e s t 

Region, 

Late Dr 

instructions to 

Samuel 

•Olapade Adeniken younger athletes. The 

Ogbemudia, a great motivator 

knowledge you have 

who gave me a lot of inspiration 

some other coaches 

came to my rescue...I won a lot of 

don’t have. So I was 

laurels for mid west. Of course, I 

employed straight away 

wanted to go to the university, my 

as a coach and was made 

father was late and my brother said 

the chief coach of Midhe 

had no money. I sat for and passed 

West State. I started 

the Ahmadu Bello University entrance. 

understudying and coupled 

I was admitted to study Fine Arts’- I am a 

with the experience I had 

fine artist. It happened that Dr. Ogbemudia 

from my old school, I was able 

came there for the convocation. I walked 

to face the challenge. That is 

to him and wanted to talk to him. He 

why I said what we are 

looked at me and then recognised me. 

experiencing now is a systemic 

He exclaimed, “Toni, what are you doing 

failure. Our Games maser then, 

here?” I told him, “Sir, I have a 

E. A. Awala, was a trained Physical 

problem. They will soon send 

Education instructor from the UK. 

me out of school because I 

Most of the games masters posted to 

don’t have money for my 

Government Colleges in those days 

school fees.” 

were highly grounded. Awala later 

Immediately, he called 

became the Director of Sports at the 

one of the earliest 

University of Ibadan and much later, he 

commissioners of 

became the Director of Sports in the Mid 

Education, Chief E. 

West. 

K.Clark. He 

The training we had at that time, was 

instructed Clark to 

put my name down 

and I was awarded 

scholarship with 

immediate effect. This was in 1969. 

Eventually, I completed my course at 

ABU under the Mid-West scholarship. 

How then did you become an Athletics 

coach? 

I graduated in 1973 and we were the first set 

of Youth Corpers. The first National Sports 

Festival hosted by Lagos State held in 1973. 

The Youth Corps law then stated that you will 

represent any state you are serving in. So, I 

represented Lagos State at the sports festival 

and won a gold medal for Lagos in the Pole 

Vault. During my service, I was a personal 

Assistant to the Late Chief Adeniran 

Ogunsanya. I was going to his house everyday 

and he was a fantastic man. As soon as I 

finished my service Mid West came to me and 

appointed me coach, their chief coach. I told 

them I had never been trained as a coach. But 

the Director of Training, the Late Jimi 

Omagbemi who was recruited by Dr 

Ogbemudia, said to me, “Toni, I have watched 

you train, I have also watched you giving 

KILLING 

SPORTS 

given to us by some of the best coaches who 

were our games maters then. What is 

happening now is that some of the coaches 

don’t have the prerequisite knowledge to 

handle athletes, particularly the upcoming 

ones. Games masters in secondary schools 

around the country have little or no 

background in sports. And so, the result has 

been a degenerating learning process for 

young athletes in the country. Standards 

started dropping after the colonial masters 

left the educational system. It went into the 

hands of local administrators. The facilities 

we had at Government College Ugheli were 

first class. The quality of training we had then 

cannot be compared with the quality of 

training athletes get today. Then, we were 

operating at the same level with our foreign 

counterparts, It’s a systemic failure. That was 

how I became a coach without going into any 

formal training. 

I was chief coach of the Mid West when we 

went to the National Sports Festival in Kaduna 

in 1977 and won all the trophies on offer. When 

we returned, Ogbemudia called me and said, 

young man, name anywhere in the world you 

want to go to for a coaching course. I said US. 

I told him US because America was the 

domineering force in world athletics. I left for 

the US in ’77 and was there for three years. I 

returned ’79 with a diploma in coaching, 

specialised in track and Field. 

You rose to become the President of the 

Athletic Federation of Nigeria, what were 

the problems that made it impossible for you 

to restore some of these things you are telling 

us about the past? 

That is a very important question, which was 

part of the reasons that made me retire 

voluntarily from service. I came back in 1979 

with a very wide view of how to effect change 

in athletics in Nigeria. I had wanted to be a 

world class athlete, but because I was not given 

the opportunity that dream did not 

materialise. America today is called a land of 

opportunities. They 

are great today 

because America has 

gone through terrible 

times. At the end 

America has created a 

tradition where all the 

best men(and women 

too) in all spheres of 

life find it easier to 

excel in their chosen 

fields. Once you are 

good in any area, be it 

science, sports or 

whatever, they attract 

you to their country 

because you have 

something to offer, 

you would add value 

to their system. That is 

why they recruit the 

best athletes and give 

them scholarships. 

That was what my 

mentor, Alfred 

Rewane did in those 

days. 

When I returned 

•Ezenwa Brothers 

from the US, I came back with that 

determination to raise the best athletes. And I 

did raise some of the best Nigerian Athletics 

have ever seen. Some of the athletes who 

passed through my hands include Chioma 

Ajunwa, Fatima Yusuf, Falilat Ogunkoya, 

Olapade Adenikan. the Ezenwa Brothers, just 

to mention but a few. I came back and became 

the national chief coach of Nigeria. It 

coincided with the 1980 Olympics when 

Nigeria returned with so many scandals and 

they removed the head coach. 

The Director of Sports, Late Babayo Shehu 

wanted to appoint me a coach in his state. I 

told him it was not possible because I had just 

come back from a 3-year course on the 

scholarship of Mid West, I could not turn my 

back on Mid-West because of money. But when 

he eventually became the Director of Sports, 

National Sports Commission and coupled 

with the scandals from the Moscow Olympics, 

the national chief coach, Jimi Omagbemi was 

removed. I was then made the chief coach. 

After bringing up world class athletes, we 

were preparing for the 1990 Commonwealth 

Games. The AFN then was under the late A K 

Amu. They prepared a budget for the National 

Sports Commission in respect of the 

Commonwealth Games. They wanted to go 

and camp for about 6 months in Europe from 

there they will go straight to the Games. I 

would have benefited from the trip, but I wasn’t 

privy to the plan and the explanations 

surrounding the budget. 

The DG, Babayo Shehu called me Toni, I 

have a budget here to defend before the 

Supreme Military Council and it is a huge 

amount of money. You think it is appropriate?

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 —47 

NIGERIA’S 

•How it started, those behind 

it and the way forward 

Toni Urhobo goes memory lane on the past, efforts of Ogbemudia 

and officials who inflate sports budget for selfish interests 

Today, we continue the interview with one time national coach and 

President of Athletics Federation of Nigeria, Toni Urhobo. Excerpts: 

Are you aware of this? I 

told him I was not aware 

of it. And God knows I 

wasn’t. It was done by 

the administrators. 

Under normal 

circumstances, the chief 

coach should have been 

in the picture. So it was 

not a desperate attempt 

by me to obstruct whatever plan they had. 

When I was called in I gave a professional 

opinion. I said in the past, our athletes went 

for such camps in Europe and because of the 

cold weather, they remained indoors and 

wouldn’t train. At the end they would come 

back home without training. They lose the 

quality of their training and that is why we 

were not performing. Meanwhile the Games 

were in the summer and we had better 

conditions back home than embarking on 

such a fruitless trip. And the amount of money 

meant for those trips was enough to give our 

athletes the best training they could possibly 

get, give them the right diet. 

So they now called the head of AFN and 

asked, what was going on. “Your head coach 

said he was not privy to this. The answer the 

Director of Sports got from the AFN was 

that, the plan was not the business of the 

head coach. Babayo Shehu then said, I am a 

PE man, how can you tell me that it is not 

the business of the head coach who is going 

to train the team. Amu and co said they were 

Olympic athletes who had represented the 

country before, there was nothing the coach 

would say that they did not know. So 

Babayo said, if you think the head coach is 

not important, then go and defend the plan 

to the Supreme Military Council. My 

administrators were very angry and they 

vowed they were going to teach me a lesson. 

I thought they were not going to go that far. 

That was the year I trained some of the best 

Nigerian athletes. Ogbemudia then called 

me and said, “Toni, I have defended this 

thing for you. Do you think you can train 

Nigerian athletes who can defeat their 

foreign-based counterparts — Chidi Imoh, 

Yusuf Ali and co used to come here and beat 

our athletes anyhow.. I said we can train 

them here and they would do better than the 

foreign based athletes. I said I had been to 

the US and I saw how they train, just give 

them the right atmosphere, right diet, we 

will beat them. He(Ogbemudia) 

asked “are you sure of what you are saying? 

I told him I put my name and reputation at 

stake. He told me he stood against Generals 

in the SMC, defending things like putting 

athletes in first class hotels and so forth. He 

said they asked him why athletes should be 

in hotels and not hostels. I then asked him, 

when athletes go to compete internationally, 

where do they stay? Is it not in hotels? 

Athletes are no longer treated like babies. It 

is their profession, treat them well, give 

them the right conditions and they will 

perform. Added to that, they are well paid. 

They do not run for fun anymore. When 

they run, they win $10,000, $20,000 

American dollars. So when the likes of 

Chidi Imoh and co come, they check 

into hotels like Sheraton, Eko Hotel 

because they already created a 

standard. They won’t come and 

stay in a camp where a 

contractor brings pounded yam 

and the like. 

So I put all the knowledge I had into that 

training and when the foreign legion came, 

that was in 1989, our home based athletes 

floored them. Chidi Imoh was 

beaten in the semi-final and he 

refused to run the final. That was 

the first time a Nigerian boy, 

Davidson Ezenwa ran under 10 

seconds. Our athletes excelled. I 

went to Zaranda Hotel, Babayo 

shook my hand because all of us 

were happy. I went and enjoyed 

myself in a disco. That night, the 

AFN President Amu said they 

held a meeting and I was not 

there. When I returned in the 

early hours of the morning they 

asked me why I was not at the 

meeting. I told them I was not 

aware there was going to be a 

meeting. The next day, they said I 

was indisciplined, and they 

dropped me from the team going 

to the Commonwealth Games, 

Auckland ’90. 

When they came back, they initiated a 

strange policy and said, they no longer 

needed head coaches. Coaches were now to 

go to the grass roots. I was in the National 

Sports Commission on secondment. I 

returned to the Mid-West and put in my 

letter for voluntary retirement. The Mid- 

West Director of Sports then, Dr Arutoye 

Eleaya and some top officials of the sports 

commission were always coming to plead 

with me to drop the idea of retiring. I stood 

my ground. 

I was on my own when my friend Temi 

Ejoor was Military Administrator of Enugu 

State and he made me Team Manager of 

Rangers International FC of Enugu. The 

creation of Edo State coincided with the 

year I retired voluntarily. They again came 

to me to rescind my decision. I told them my 

mind was made about working for 

government, but the only condition I could 

work with government was on contract 

basis. So I was the 

technical adviser to Edo 

state government on a 

consultancy basis. 

Abroad, coaches are not 

given employment on 

permanent basis. It is by 

contract. That is the 

only way a coach would 

always be reminded 

•Chidi Imoh 

that his stay is dependent on his productivity. 

Here, coaches work like civil servants, 

perform or not, pay must come. There is 

nothing like permanent job in sports. Your 

job can only be permanent for as long as 

you continue getting results. 

A lot of things are wrong here. 

Government has no business in the business 

of sports management. It has business in 

putting down the structures. When it comes 

to management take away politics, get 

professionals to manage things. They are 

the only ones who will talk and sponsors 

listen. They can bring in money. 

The state of athletics in Nigeria is 

pathetic. Where did we go wrong? 

A long way back. 1980s and early 1990s 

were Nigeria’s brightest days in sports. Right 

from the time when some of us left, the slide 

began. Top professionals were leaving the 

job because they were not catered for. The 

world was moving towards professionalism. 

Things started going wrong when we 

refused to key into things happening around 

the world. For instance, government 

officials would defend why government 

should continue to manage sports. 

The politics in the AFN, where there are 

a lot of misgivings among stake-holders, 

making claims and counterclaims were all 

not helping athletics. Where can we have a 

meeting point? 

It’s not just sports alone. We are getting to 

a point in this country where persons who 

have been involved in the system over the 

years, are getting worried because they see 

that the systems they created are now 

failing. For those who have ruled us over the 

years, if they are not ready to make that 

sacrifice and wait for the state when the 

youths of this country would become 

impatient, nobody can predict the outcome 

of what is going to happen. It will be 

extremely explosive. There was a time when 

we were less that 50 million people, nobody 

expected that the population would double 

or triple. In the advanced world leaders 

were planning for the future while we 

remained stagnant out of selfishness. The 

world is not going to wait for you. You must 

take that radical action. We pray that God 

gives our leaders the wisdom and the youth 

the patience, if not, it is easy for anyone to 

predict what is going to happen in a few 

years to come; not too long away. 

Records created some twenty-thirty 

years ago still stand today. How do we 

produce athletes that will surpass these 

records 

By the Grace of God I was also part of this 

record breaking era. The former record 

holders were also my athletes. The home, 

like the National Institute of Sports, where 

trainers come from must be looked at. Just 

like when you want to build a 

house. The foundation of a 

two-storey building is 

different from that of a threestorey 

building. You want to 

catch up with the world and 

you are using a foundation of 

a two-storey building. That is 

why we are having building 

collapse. Weak foundation. You know 

the finishing of a product through the 

foundation. We need to train, over-train and 

retrain the trainers. That is the foundation. 

Once we are able to do that then we will 

start bringing back the glory days. Some of 

us are ready but let me put it in plain 

language: You cannot give peanuts if you 

want to produce a world champion. 

Hussain Bolt and other top athletes in the 

US are not cheap products. Go find out how 

much they invested in them. And you ask 

yourself, what is their gratification level? If 

you want Olympic champions you have to 

invest. The Jamaicans did it. Jamaica has 

the same college programme like the US. 

What happened was that a lot of them 

who had taken part in the Olympics and 

trained in the US decided to go back home 

and replicate the same programmes like 

they had in the US. Asafa Powel was the first 

home-based world champion created out of 

this process. 

You cannot give what you don’t have and 

sponsorship is a key factor in raising funds; 

not government because government has so 

much to do to now turn to sports. There are 

credible corporate bodies around the whole 

place that have the financial muscle to 

sponsor sports. But if you put administrative 

executives from government, they will find it 

easier to get funds from government than 

going out to search for funds. That is the 

major problem.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

SATURDAY Vanguard, FEBRUARY 17, 2018 

ACROSS 

1)Former South Africa “Bafana 

Bafanas”Coach, Jomo – (4) 

3)Chad Republic’s President, Mr. 

Muhammadou – (8) 

7)Collection (3) 

8)South Africa “Bafana Bafanas” Midfielder, 

Mondili – (4) 

9)Super Eagles Midfielder, Uche – (4) 

10)Former Minister of State for Agriculture 

& Water Resources, Mrs. Akuabata – (5) 

12)Number (6,3)) 

16)Benue State Governor, Mr. Samuel – (5) 

19)African Desert (5) 

20)Cataputt (5) 

22)Former Senator for Delta Central 

Senatorial District, Hon. Adego Erhiawarie 

– (9) 

25)State in Nigeria (5) 

27)Country in Asia (4) 

28)Fasten (4) 

29)Yoruba Word for “Take”? (3) 

30)General Counsel, Bureau of Public 

CROSS WORD PUZZLE 

Enterprises(BPE), Dr. Terhemen – (8) 

31)Former Secretary-General, Nigeria Labour Congress 

(NLC), Mr. Chris – (4) 

DOWN 

1)Chairman, National Working Committee, Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche – (8) 

2)L.G.A in Kogi State (5) 

3)Country in Europe (5) 

4)Special Assistant to the Presidency on Prosecutions, 

Mr. Okoi – (5,4) 

5)L.G.A in Yobe State (4) 

6)Former Super Falcons Coach, Eucharia – (4) 

11)Place where Animals are kept (3) 

13)Igbo Word for Öne Hundred”?(4) 

14)Citrus Fruit (9) 

15)Ethnic Group in Sierra-Leone (5) 

17)Super Sand Eagles Striker, Victor – (4) 

18)South Sudanese President, Mr. Salva Kiir – (8) 

21)Japanese Sash (3) 

23)Scope (5) 

24)L.G.A in Kaduna State (5) 

25)L.G.A in Abia State (4) 

26)Secretary to the Kwara State Governor, Mr. Isiaka – (4) 

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE ON PAGE 46 

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17022018 - REVEALED: APC lawmakers behind change in election time table

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