23032018 - FG let us down — MUM OF DAPCHI GIRL STILL CAPTIVE

Nigeria, one of 

the most 

dangerous 

places to give 

birth — BILL GATES 

3 

How Buhari’s 

medical, financial 

records were 

hacked ahead of 

2015 polls 

— REPORT 

9 

Senate 

confirms 

five CBN 

nominees, 

rejects one 

9 

Benedict Peters: 

EFCC lacks 

power to 

arbitrarily 

declare anyone 

wanted — Court 

3 

** 

VOL. 26: NO. 63512 FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

FG let us down 

By Henry Umoru, 

— MUM OF DAPCHI GIRL STILL CAPTIVE 

•Pleads with govt, Boko Haram to ensure her release 

•Senate, MURIC, CAN react as Buhari pledges to secure her release 

•PDP plumbs the depths of infamy — LAI MOHAMMED 

•Dapchi girls' abduction, release, height of serial deceit, hoax— OHANAEZE 

SPECIAL NEC 

Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru, Peter 

Okutu & Marie- 

Therese Lalong 

LAGOS —The parents 

of the Christian girl, 

Leah Sharibu, who is still 

being held by Boko Haram 

because of her refusal to 

renounce her faith, said 

yesterday that they had 

been let down by the 

Federal Government who 

failed to negotiate her 

release alongside her 

school mates. 

Mother of the girl, 

Rebecca Sharibu, pleaded 

with the government and 

Boko Haram to release her 

daughter, saying that her 

daughter cannot be forced 

to embrace a religion 

unknown to her. 

This came as the Muslim 

Continues on Page 5 

Naira 

appreciates to 

N360.12/$; 

reserves up by 

1bn 41 

Mr & Mrs 

From left: Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammad Sanusi II; President, Dangote Foundation, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; Co-Chair, Bill & 

Melinda Gates Foundation, Mr. Bill Gates; Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun and the Obi of 

Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, after the expanded National Economic Council meeting on Human Capital Investment at the State 

House Conference Centre, Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Abayomi Adeshida. 

Protesters burn 

down church, police 

post in Kaduna 

6 

Steer clear of our 

legislative business, 

Dogara cautions 

judiciary 

COLUMNISTS: OWEI 31 AZU 36 DONU 17 GWANGWAZO 31 

28 

9 

9Mobile to 

increase staff by 

50% after 

Teleology takeover 

3

2 —Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018—3 

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

Nigeria, one of most dangerous 

places to give birth—Bill Gates 

•Says ERGP doesn’t reflect people’s need 

•Spends $1.6bn in Nigeria 

•We’re investing in people through ERGP—Osinbajo 

•To compete globally, we must prioritize investments 

—Dangote 

•Nothing wrong with ERGP—El-Rufai 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

ABUJA — 

CHAIRMAN, Bill and 

Melinda Foundation, Bill 

Gates, yesterday in Abuja, 

faulted the Federal 

Government’s Economic 

Recovery and Growth Plan, 

ERGP, saying though the 

government identified 

investing in the people as 

one of its three strategic 

objectives, its execution 

priorities did not reflect 

people’s needs. 

He also said Nigeria is 

one of the most dangerous 

places in the world to give 

birth with the fourth worst 

maternal mortality rate in the 

world, ahead of only Sierra 

Leone, Central African 

Republic and Chad. 

Gates, who stated this at 

expanded National 

Economic Council, NEC, 

presided over by Vice 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, said Nigeria’s fiscal 

situation was at a low 

equilibrium, adding that in 

return for low levels of service, 

people pay low levels of tax. 

The philanthropist disclosed 

that his foundation’s biggest 

office in Africa was Nigeria, 

where he had committed 

over $1.6 billion so far, with 

the intention of increasing his 

commitment in the country. 

He said Nigeria had 

unmatched economic 

potential but that what became 

of the potential depended on 

the choices its leaders make. 

Gates said: “The most 

important choice you can 

make is to maximize your 

greatest resource, the 

Nigerian people. Nigeria will 

thrive when every Nigerian 

is able to thrive. 

“If you invest in their health, 

education and opportunities, 

the human capital, we are 

talking about today, then they 

will lay the foundation for 

sustained prosperity. If you 

don’t, however, then it is very 

important to recognise that 

there will be a sharp limit on 

how much the country can 

grow. 

Nigeria one of most 

dangerous places to 

give birth 

“Nigeria is one of the most 

dangerous places in the 

world to give birth, with the 

fourth worst maternal 

mortality rate in the world 

ahead of only Sierra Leone, 

Central African Republic and 

Chad. One in three Nigerian 

children is chronically 

malnourished. 

“I urge you to apply this 

thinking to all your 

investments in your people. 

The Nigerian government’s 

Economic Recovery and 

Growth Plan identifies 

‘investing in our people as 

one of three strategic 

objectives.’ But the 'execution 

priorities' don’t fully reflect 

people’s needs, prioritizing 

physical capital over human 

capital. 

“To anchor the economy 

over the long term, 

investments in 

infrastructure and 

competitiveness must go 

hand in hand with 

investments in people. 

People without roads, ports, 

and factories can’t flourish. 

And roads, ports and 

factories without skilled 

workers to build and 

manage them can’t sustain 

an economy. 

“Right now, Nigeria’s 

fiscal situation is at what you 

might call a low 

equilibrium. In return for 

low levels of service, people 

pay low levels of tax. We 

hope to help you reach a 

higher equilibrium rooted in 

effective and transparent 

investments in people. This 

equilibrium would trigger a 

virtuous cycle.” 

Buhari’s 

administration 

determined to 

rewrite 

Nigerian story 

In his remarks at the 

expanded NEC attended by 

the business class, academia, 

traditional rulers and some 

world bodies, Vice President 

Osinbajo said high oil prices 

and economic growth of 

previous years had failed to 

translate into a better life for 

most Nigerians. 

According to him, instead, 

grand corruption prevented 

investments in healthcare 

and education and 

infrastructure, and 

shamelessly robbed 

government policies of most, 

if not all of their intended 

impact. 

Osinbajo, however, 

assured that the 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

administration was 

determined to rewrite the 

Nigerian story for the better. 

We’re investing in 

people through ERGP— 

Osinbajo 

“It is this realisation that has 

helped ensure that one of the 

primary planks of the ERGP 

is ‘Investing in our people.’ 

And it is for this reason that 

we are expanding the reach 

and quality of our healthcare 

through the National Health 

LECTURE: From 

left, Head of 

Service, Anambra 

State and 

representative of 

the state governor, 

Mr Harry Udo; Vice 

Chancellor, Nnamdi 

Azikiwe University, 

Prof. Joseph 

Ahaneku; Minister 

of Transportation, 

Mr Chibuike 

Amaechi; the Obi of 

Onitsha, HRM 

Nnaemeka Alfred 

Achebe, and 

President-General, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

World-Wide, Chief 

John Nnia Nwodo, 

during the cutting 

of cake to mark the 

12th Nnamdi 

Azikiwe University 

Lecture, in Awka, 

Anambra State, 

Wednesday. 

Insurance Scheme, NHIS; 

and working to guarantee 

basic education for all 

persons, while also 

upgrading and modernising 

the quality of secondary and 

post-secondary education. 

To compete globally, 

we must prioritise 

investments 

—Dangote 

In his remarks, Chairman 

of Dangote Group, Aliko 

Dangote, told those in 

government should lead in 

human capital development, 

stressing that when that was 

done, there would be 

committed Nigerians. 

He said: “For Nigeria to 

truly compete globally, we 

must prioritize investments 

in the health, education and 

opportunity of our people, 

alongside other critical areas 

as infrastructure. Together, 

these are the inputs that will 

make Nigeria richer. 

“You, my friends in 

government, must lead. But 

when you do, you will have 

committed Nigerians like 

myself joining in the effort. 

“In Nigeria, we have 

largely achieved growth by 

extracting natural resources 

and are now building on that 

through our physical 

infrastructure. But we must 

also remember that it is our 

young people that will drive 

our future success." 

Nothing wrong with 

ERGP—El-Rufai 

In an interview with State 

House correspondents, 

Governor Nasir el-Rufai of of 

Kaduna State insisted that it 

was not the question of 

adjusting the ERGP but the 

budgeting system with 

priorities set out clearly to 

address human capital 

development issues. 

He explained that what 

Bill Gates and Dangote told 

NEC members was that 

government at all levels also 

needed to do more. 

EFCC lacks power to 

arbitrarily declare 

anyone wanted —Court 

•Quashes EFCC’s declaration of 

Aiteo boss as a fugitive 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—AN Abuja 

High Court sitting at 

Bwari, yesterday, held that 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, was bereft of the 

powers to declare any 

person wanted without first 

securing the leave of a court 

of competent jurisdiction. 

Consequently, the court, 

in a judgment delivered by 

Justice Othman Musa, 

quashed and invalidated 

the declaration of the 

Chairman of Aiteo Group, 

Mr. Benedict Peters, as a 

wanted man by the EFCC. 

The court faulted the antigraft 

agency for publishing 

on its website that Peters 

was a wanted fugitive, 

when it had yet to secure a 

court order to that effect. 

Justice Musa held that a 

fundamental right 

enforcement suit the 

applicant filed before the 

court was well founded, 

saying EFCC’s declaration 

that he was wanted 

deserved to be set-aside 

since it was made without 

recourse to the rule of law. 

He said the action of the 

agency was in gross 

violation of Sections 34, 35 

and 36 of the 1999 

constitution, as well as 

sections 41 and 42 of the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Act 2015. 

Nevertheless, the court 

said its decision did not 

amount to a blanket 

declaration that EFCC 

could not declare anyone 

wanted when it is armed 

with a valid court order after 

fulfilling all the condition 

precedents. 

According to the court, “it 

is hereby declared that the 

act of declaring the 

applicant wanted on the 

website of the 1st 

respondent, EFCC, 

without firstly securing 

leave of court is 

unconstitutional, illegal, 

wrongful and same is 

hereby set-aside,” 

It, however, declined to 

grant a prayer that sought 

to compel EFCC to tender 

an apology to the applicant 

in two national dailies. 

The Aiteo boss had 

through his lawyer, Chief 

Mike Ozekhome, SAN, 

challenged the powers of 

EFCC to declare him 

wanted when he has not 

been charged with any 

criminal offence before any 

court or jumped bail. 

9mobile to get additional 

50% workforce after 

Teleology takeover 

By Prince 

Osuagwu, Hi-Tech 

Editor 

NIGERIA’S 4th telecom 

services provider, 

9mobile, is set to have 

additional 50 percent 

workforce after new 

owners,Teleology, beat 

yesterday’s deadline to pay 

the non-refundable $50 

million completion deposit, 

Wednesday afternoon, to the 

trustee of the bank syndicate 

currently holding ownership 

of 9Mobile. 

The company also 

unveiled ambitious action 

plans to overhaul the 

network and all other aspects 

of the telco’s operations, 

including ringing Nigeria 

round with 4G broadband 

access beginning with the 

774 local governments in the 

country. 

The company is also 

reinforcing 9mobile 

workforce with at least 50 

percent addition to ensure 

the overhaul plans are not 

undermined by shortage of 

manpower. 

The payment gave rise to 

the signing of the Share 

Purchase Agreement, SPA, 

and other contractual 

documents pertaining to the 

acquisition. 

Teleology says the payment 

underscores its financial 

capability and readiness to 

revive the organization. 

Teleology’s Managing 

Director, Mr Adrian Wood, 

immediately after the 

payment, said: “9mobile is 

transiting into a new phase 

that will be defined by 

optimal value delivery to 

employees, customers and to 

local communities.” 

He added that Teleology 

had set out a 10-point plan 

that aggregates its mission 

and how it intends to turn 

the 9mobile organization 

around. 

He said the new 

organisation to emerge 

would be “engineering led 

and brand driven.” 

In delivering service, “we 

will strive to ensure that 

9mobile operations deliver 

fulfilment to our customers, 

empowerment to local 

communities, protection to 

the vulnerable and excellent 

rewards not only to our 

shareholders but to all 

stakeholders."

4 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018

Vanguard, FRIDAY, 

MARCH 23, 2018—5 

POCKET CARTOON 

BUHARI IN ZAMFARA—President Muhammadu Buhari (left) alongside 

Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari (2nd left) as he receives compliments 

from Emir of Dansadau, HRH Alhaji Husani Umar and other traditional 

leaders, during his sympathy visit to Zamfara State in continuation of his 

tour of troubled states, yesterday. 

FG let us down, says mum of 

Dapchi girl still in captivity 

Continues from Page 1 

Rights Concern, MURIC, 

Christian Association of 

Nigeria, CAN, and the 

Senate yesterday called on 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari to ensure the 

immediate release of the 

only Dapchi school girl as 

well as Chibok girls still 

being held by Boko Haram. 

The only Christian 

student among the 

abducted Dapchi girls, 

Miss Leah Sharibu is still 

being held by the 

insurgents because of her 

faith and refusal to convert 

to Islam. 

Of the 110 students 

abducted from Government 

Girls Techncal Science 

College, Dapchi, 104 had 

been released, five were 

said to have died in the 

process, while the 

insurgents are holding on 

to just one, Leah Sharibu. 

This call came on a day 

the Federal Government 

asked the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, to 

bury its head in shame for 

saying the Dapchi girls’ 

abduction and release were 

stage-managed. 

Parents of Christian girl 

held by Boko Haram 

speak 

Mrs Sharibu said her 

daughter's colleagues have 

shared with her how the 15- 

year-old Leah was stopped 

at the last minute from 

regaining her freedom. 

“But my heart was broken 

on Wednesday morning 

when I searched through 

the released girls and could 

not set my eyes on my dear 

daughter, Leah,” Mrs. 

Sharibu said as tears 

streamed down her face. 

Mrs. Sharibu just 

returned from hospital, 

having fainted after 

receiving the news that 

Leah, her first child and 

only daughter, was not 

among those released. 

She sat within her 

compound — a small home 

fenced with clay and thatch 

sheets in a corner of Dapchi 

— with two cooking pots 

steaming next to her on 

charcoal stoves. 

She said: “If Leah is 

home, she and her little 

brother would attend to 

everything in this 

compound, she would not 

let me do anything. 

“What her school mates 

that returned told me was 

that my daughter (was told 

she) must recite the Kalima 

Shahada (the Islamic 

profession of faith in one 

God), and she does not 

know how to recite it. 

“So they told her that if 

she didn’t know how to 

recite it, then she should 

come down from the 

vehicle. She had already 

boarded the vehicle 

alongside others that were 

ready to come home. So she 

was asked to go down and 

join some three other 

females that they said they 

met where they were kept. 

“They said my daughter 

would only be brought back 

home the day she knows 

how to recite Kalima 

shahada. 

“She insisted that she 

does not know how to recite 

and that she was not 

brought up as a Muslim. 

That was why she was held 

back. She was asked to go 

and stay with those three 

women who were also 

captives there. 

“She then pleaded with 

her friends that if they 

eventually made it home 

successfully, they should 

inform us, her parents, to 

continue to help her pray 

for God to protect her and 

bring her home safely as 

well, that whether she 

survived or not, she still 

need prayers. 

“My concern and 

question to the government 

is that since we were told 

that the negotiation was 

done for all the schoolgirls, 

why did government accept 

that only my daughter be 

left behind when others’ 

were freed and even 

brought home? 

“So I am begging the 

federal government of 

Nigeria, if the negotiation 

was because they loved all 

the girls as their own, they 

should do everything to 

help release my own girl. 

“To the Boko Haram 

members, I have nothing to 

say other than that they 

should have pity on my 

only daughter and release 

her. It was not her fault that 

she is a Christian, I know 

that in this world, everyone 

choose the path of faith he 

or she has chosen in 

worshipping God. There is 

no way one could be forced 

to do what he or she does 

not know. It is not possible." 

Also speaking, Leah’s 

father, Mr. Sharibu, said he 

was away in his home state, 

Adamawa, when he 

received good news on 

Wednesday morning that 

his little girl and her 

colleagues were on their 

way back home. 

He said: “Half way on 

my return journey home, I 

received a call that the girls 

had arrived and only my 

daughter was left behind 

because she refused to 

convert to Islam. I became 

sad. To make matters 

worse, I was called again 

to be informed that the 

mother was unconscious 

and was in the hospital." 

He said he would not be 

happy until his daughter 

was rescued and brought 

home like her mates. 

“Nigeria must do all 

within its powers to bring 

back my daughter, the 

same way they did to 

others. I really thank and 

appreciate the people of 

Dapchi community, 

especially how they rallied 

round us at this time of 

great sorrow. 

“I am from Hong in 

Adamawa State, I got 

married here in Dapchi 

and all my children were 

born here,” he said. 

He said he does not 

believe in the existence of 

Boko Haram, adding that 

the group, especially the 

ones that abducted his 

daughters, appeared to 

him like agents of 

politicians. 

“I don’t know Boko 

Haram; I have never seen 

Boko Haram and I don’t 

believe there is anything 

like Boko Haram in this 

Continues on Page 41 

By Bose Adelaja & 

Frederick Okopie 

DAPCHI GIRLS: Real or arranged? 

THE manner of their 

release is none of 

our business. 

I watched their return 

on the television and my 

submission is that the 

government should be 

commended for rescuing 

the girls. Before their 

release, we were all clamouring 

for their return. I 

don’t think those who 

entered into the terms 

and condition to get them 

released are fools. 

Comrade Tijani Saheed, 

Technical Instructor 

Ihope politicians are 

not trying to insult 

our intelligence? If truly 

the Dapchi girls were 

dropped by Boko Haram 

and government claimed 

no ransom was paid, we 

are in for uncertain days. 

Truly, the situation is dicey 

and confusing. How they 

were returned gives me 

the feeling that there are 

questions to be answered 

and the government 

knows better. 

Atitebi Ayodeji, Music 

Director 

This is a scam and 

some people could be 

behind it. Our leaders 

are deceiving us, if not, 

how can they tell us that 

no ransom was paid? I 

don’t understand this 

country again. It was 

just an avenue to extort 

money from the government. 

Mr. Orioye Akinsolu, 

Fisherman 

WHATEVER made 

Boko Haram to 

release the Dapchi girls 

would have made them 

release the remaining 

Chibok girls as well. But 

to my surprise, the Boko 

Haram members were 

neither apprehended 

nor arrested. The Senate 

should commence an 

investigation and unravel 

certain secrets regarding 

this incident. We 

want to know more. 

Mr. Andrew Edeki, 

Contractor 

FROM day one of the 

abduction, Nigerians 

were not informed 

what really happened. 

There are many missing 

links in the story of 

their release. I am very 

sure that time will reveal 

the truth so that we will 

know what went wrong 

and those behind the 

hide and seek game. 

Miss Abeh Orumeka, 

Undergraduate 

LET the Federal Gov 

ernment set up a 

competent investigative 

panel to look into the issue. 

I am suspecting a 

foul play. Can a terrorist 

group kidnap and return 

their victims just like 

that? The girls were so 

relaxed in the pictures 

released on the internet. 

After Boko Haram 

brought in the girls, why 

did military and police 

not arrest them? 

Miss Blessing Ilembia, 

Business Woman

6—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 


Vigilante 

leader shot 

dead in Delta 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

O LEH—CHAIRMAN 

of the vigilante team 

at Umusam quarters, 

Kwale, Ndokwa West Local 

Government Area, Delta 

State Mr. Peter Johnson, 

has been shot dead by 

unknown gunmen. 

Though details of the 

incident were sketchy at 

press time, sources said the 

54 years old deceased was 

killed at about 6 pm on 

Tuesday while riding on a 

motorcycle. 

Confirming the incident 

yesterday, Delta State 

Police Public Relations 

Officer , Mr. Andrew 

Aniamaka, said the 

deceased was shot on his 

right rib along Izugbe Road 

in the community. 

Aniamaka added that the 

identities of the gunmen 

were unknown, adding that 

the deceased “was not on 

duty when he was shot.” 

He said the police had 

commenced investigation 

into the matter. 

Herdsmen kill 

2 in Guma, 

raze houses 

By Peter Duru 

M AKURDI—TWO 

persons were 

reportedly killed in their 

farms yesterday morning as 

suspected herdsmen 

stormed Umenger, in 

Guma local government 

area of Benue State 

shooting sporadically in the 

besieged village. 

A source told Vanguard 

that the invaders, who 

stormed the community in 

their numbers, also burnt 

down adjoining Tse- 

Semaka community where 

several houses, huts, 

farmland and food barns 

were destroyed. 

The attack came despite 

the ongoing Exercise Ayem 

A’ Kpatuma or Cat Race, a 

Nigerian military spike drill 

to end herdsmen 

incursions in Benue state. 

The attacked 

communities, which are 

few kilometres from the 

operational base of the 

Exercise Ayem A’ Kpatuma 

in Guma Local 

Government Area, had in 

the past come under severe 

attacks by herdsmen. 

According to the source, 

“the well armed 

herdsmen, who came in 

large numbers around 

8a.m., attacked and burnt 

Umenger and also razed 

down Tse-Semaka after 

killing two young men. 

Abuja hospital saved my son—Aisha Buhari 

By Dirisu Yakubu & 

Luminous Jannamike 

BUJA—WIFE of the 

APresident, Hajiya Aisha 

Buhari, has attributed the 

survival and recovery of her 

son, Yusuf from a ghastly 

motorbike accident to the 

professional competence and 

skills of medical personnel at 

Cedarcrest Hospital, Abuja. 

Mrs. Buhari, who stated this 

By Peter Okutu 

ABAKALIKI—A four-yearold 

girl, Uloma Igwe, was 

reportedly sold to a widow, 

Nwali Josephine, for N100 in 

Abakaliki, Ebonyi State. 

According to investigation, 

the girl’s mother, Veronica 

Igwe allegedly owed Nwali 

Josephine N100 during 

transaction at Abakaliki Rice 

Mill. 

It was gathered from a 

source that when the widow 

at the commissioning of 

Cedarcrest Hospital, Apo, 

Abuja, where she represented 


Buhari, lauded its founder, Dr. 

Felix Ogedegbe for putting 

together a team of highly 

professional medics, adding 

that the hospital has become 

one of the best not only in 

Nigeria but throughout the 

world. 

”Cedarcrest Hospital has 

state-of-the-art facilities 

compared to any hospital in 

the world. 

“As you are all aware, I talk 

objectively and when I talked 

about the Aso Clinic, I told 

them to equip it very well in 

case something happens to 

anyone of us. 

“At the end, it happened to 

my son; we almost lost him. 

”This hospital saved his life. 

Even after he was flown 

Woman pays N100 debt with 

4-yr-old daughter 

insisted on being paid, the 

girl’s mother decided to use 

one of her children as 

collateral pending when she 

will pay back. 

The source added that the 

widow, Nwali, accepted the 

offer and took Uloma to her 

house at the College of 

Agricultural Sciences, CAS, 

campus of Ebonyi State 

University, Abakaliki, where 

she has been for the past nine 

months. 

The Desk Officer in charge 

of Child Abuse at the State 

Ministry of Women Affairs, 

Mrs. Elom Cecilia, who 

confirmed the incident, said: 

“It is child abuse and 

exploitation because the 

poor girl did not transact 

any business with her. This 

is serious child abuse. 

“We received a call that a 

woman called Nwali 

Josephine was maltreating 

children, we immediately 

went to the scene and saw 

the children. One of them 

is four years old. 

“Her biological mother, 

Veronica Igwe, said she met 

the woman at a rice mill in 

abroad for medical attention, 

they did not do anything for 

him. 

“They asked where the 

accident happened and we said, 

Nigeria. Where did the surgery 

take place? We said Nigeria and 

they said, excellent. And so 

many doctors gave the same 

comments.” 

She also called on wealthy 

individuals in the country to 

avail themselves of the medical 

Abakaliki and bought 

something on credit from the 

woman. 

“She said she could not pay 

the woman the N100 that was 

remaining and suggested to 

the woman to take her child if 

she cannot wait for her to pay 

the money and the woman 

accepted to take the child. 

“We invited Mrs. Veronica to 

our office and she honoured 

our invitation. 

“After interviewing her, we 

handed her over to the Police 

for further investigation. The 

child has not been united with 

her parents because she is 

sick.” 

Protesters burn Kaduna church, Police post over man's death 

By Ben Agande 

THERE was pandemonium 

in Narayi community of 

Kaduna State yesterday morning 

when protesters burnt down 

Celestial Church of Christ, 

Narayi, and a Police outpost in 

the area. 

The protesters were reportedly 

angry over the death of 21 years 

old Sylvester Friday, who was 

working in the church before his 

death as they accused the pastor 

of the church, 78 years old Steven 

Shitu, of being responsible for the 

death. 

The death occurred on 

Wednesday but police quickly put 

the pastor in protective custody 

because the protesters tried to 

lynch him. They alleged that the 

victim was used for ritual by the 

church pastor. 

However, yesterday morning, 

the protesters gathered again, 

setting the church and the police 

station ablaze. 

The police had already taken 

the pastor away from there and 

there were no casualties from the 

violence, it was gathered. 

Confirming the incident, the 

Kaduna State Police Command 

Public Relations Officer, Aliyu 

Muktar, said five people were 

arrested in connection with the 

incident. 

He said: “Yes it is true that some 

miscreants set ablaze a Celestial 

church and a police outpost in 

Narayi. The church was 

completely burnt but the police 

outpost was not burnt completely. 

“The youths were angry that 

police gave the church pastor, 78 

old Steven Babatunde Shitu, 

protective custody. 

“They demanded for his 

release so as to lynch him. But 

our personnel refused to hand 

him over to them so they decided 

to take laws into their hands. 

“Our men dispersed them on 

Wednesday but they regrouped 

around 4 a.m. yesterday to attack 

the church and the outpost. So 

far, five people have been 

arrested.” 

Mr. Muktar said normalcy 

has since returned to the area. 

He said the police will ensure 

all those involved are arrested 

and prosecuted. 

Governor el-Rufai reacts 

In a statement, spokesman of 

Governor Nasir el-Rufai, 

Samuel Aruwan, said: “It is 

wrong and illegal for anyone 

or group to take the law into their 

hands.” 

The governor also ordered an 

investigation into the labourer’s 

death, which allegedly prompted 

the riotous conduct, as well as the 

apprehension of all those who 

partook in or enabled the acts of 

arson. 

He said: “The pastor of the 

church, 

one 

Babatunde Shittu, was protected 

from being lynched by the mob by 

Police and some residents of the 

community.” 

Samuel Aruwan said the 

governor commiserated with the 

family of the deceased, but added 

that everyone who had concerns 

about the circumstances of his 

death will allow the law 

enforcement agencies to handle 

the matter. 

He said Kaduna State 

Government will not tolerate 

attacks on places of worship 

and public property such as the 

Police post.

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018—7 

:Vanguard News :@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews 

facilities at Cedarcrest rather 

than flying abroad in search of 

remedies to their health 

challenges, saying “I believe in 

making Nigeria a better place 

to be and I don’t believe in 

spending our resources abroad. 

“After all, we have all the 

professionals and we have all it 

takes to have a hospital like thisfrom 

manpower to personnel 

and all that. 

“So, I will like to salute you for 

your courage, resilience and 

perseverance in making sure 

that we have something like 

this that is now saving the lives 

of Nigerians.” 

Mrs. Buhari pleaded with the 

management of the hospital to 

think of ways to subside the cost 

of medical services for the 

average Nigerians. 

“Please, make the services of 

this hospital affordable to 

Nigerians by exploring a system 

like an insurance scheme,” she 

added. 

Shortly after the 

commissioning, the Cedarcrest 

GAIUS Foundation was 

launched with a thematic focus 

on raising awareness about 

the need for proper surgical 

care as well as to offer support 

to less-privileged and 

indigent members in the 

society who cannot afford 

surgical treatment. 

Roll call 

Wife of the Vice President, 

Dolapo Osinbajo, exgovernors 

of Ondo and Kogi 

States, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko 

and Idris Wada, respectively, 

were among the dignitaries 

that graced the event. 

Who made the list? 

WORLD WATER DAY: From left— Civil rights coalition led by Environment Rights 

Action/Friends of Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, and Africa Women Waters Sanitation and Hygien 

Network, AWASH Net, protesting water privatisation at the Lagos State Governor's Office, 

Alausa, Ikeja, yesterday, to m ark World Water Day. PHOTO: Akeem Salau. 

Man kills son over cashew nuts in Enugu 

By Chinenyeh Ozor 

AN argument between a father 

and his son over the 

ownership of cashew nuts at 

Obinetiti Isikwe Achi in Oji 

River Local Government Area of 

Enugu State, on Wednesday, 

has reportedly led to the death 

of the young man. 

A source revealed that the 60- 

old-man, identified as Hyacinth 

Ilo, in the course of arguing with 

his son, Izuchukwu Ilo, over who 

owns cashew nuts, allegedly hit 

him with a stick behind his head, 

and that the son slumped and 

died instantly. 

The source revealed that the 

man hurriedly dug a shallow 

grave and buried the boy. 

Confirming the incident 

yesterday, Enugu State Police 

Command’s spokesman, Ebere 

Amaraizu, said Hyacinth 

allegedly had an argument with 

his son, Izuchukwu Ilo, over 

cashew nuts ownership, and 

in the process hit his son with 

a stick at the back head. 

He added: “On noticing that 

he has died, the father went 

further to bury him in a 

shallow grave. 

“Investigations have 

commenced into the incident 

as the suspect, who has been 

nabbed, is helping the 

Police.” 

14-yr-old girl gives birth to father’s baby 

•I was drunk when I slept with her—Suspect 

By Esther Onyegbula 

LAGOS—RESIDENTS of 

Abaranje area of Ikotun, 

Lagos, were reportedly taken 

aback as a 14-year-old girl 

(names withheld) disclosed that 

her biological father is the father 

of her newborn. 

The Junior Secondary School 

3 student told the bewildered 

residents that after 

impregnating her last year, her 

father hid her in a herbal home 

till she delivered. 

It was gathered that her father, 

Johnson, a 40-year-old 

commercial motorcyclist, did the 

deed sometime in May 20 17. 

Vanguard learned that the 

victim didn’t tell anyone that her 

father was responsible for her 

pregnancy till she gave birth. 

However, trouble started after 

she confided in her aunt last 

week. 

Obviously annoyed by the 

revelation, her aunt reported to 

the officers at Ikotun Police 

Division, leading to the arrest of 

the suspect. 

Her story 

According to the teenage girl, 

“I am in JSS 3; my mother is 

late. I have been living with my 

father and my siblings since my 

mother died. 

“My father is an Okadaman. I 

was schooling before the incident. 

That night was the first time my 

father slept with me. When I 

discovered I was pregnant, I told 

him. I was afraid to let anyone 

know that my father is responsible 

for my pregnancy at that time. 

“Obviously, my father was 

ashamed. He took me to Iya alagbo 

(local herb sellers), throughout the 

duration of my pregnancy. He 

didn’t want anyone to know. 

“It was later I told my aunt that it 

was my father that got me pregnant, 

when she kept asking me who was 

responsible. She was shocked.” 

Her father’s account 

Lamenting, the suspect, Johnson, 

said it was a one-time thing. 

His words: “I was drunk and 

wasn’t in control of my senses 

and actions. I didn’t know what 

I was doing when I slept with 

my daughter. 

“My wife is late and I have 

been the one taking care of my 

three children, including her. I 

am not happy that it happened. 

“When she told me that she 

was pregnant, I took her to a 

herbalist, because she is very 

young. 

“I wanted them to take proper 

care of her, so she would deliver 

safely. I didn’t want anything 

to happen to her.” 

Police report 

Confirming the report, 

spokesperson for Lagos State 

Police Command, Chike Oti, 

said the case was reported 

initially at Ikotun Police 

Division, before it was 

transferred to the Gender Unit, 

where detailed investigation 

was carried out. 

The case has been charged 

to court and the suspect 

reprimanded in prison. 

Okadaman, do you know Olowora inside? 

WHEN Jim Iyke put this up on 

his Instagram page, his fans had 

their say: 

ddjabocs: You’re under 

arrest: No seatbelt, no spare 

tyre, no fire extinguisher and, 

above all, rider’s licence. 

wtrimnell: Jim jim, you are 

too fresh for okada. I won’t 

allow my babe to board your 

bike. I will seat in the middle. 

ellocomotive: Okadaman, 

I’m going to Surulere. How 

much? 

dennis_de_grazia: What is 

the title of the 

movie @jim.iyke? 

bobbyvincento: Akpoooooo! 

This is the kind of thing that 

makes Emu in The Johnson’s go Akpoooooo! 

okonkwo7427: Jim, which movie is this? 

bassey_ekpo_bassey: Look at you, bros. You look good even in 

a broken mirror, if you know what I mean. 

Someone disrespected egbon

8 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018



2015: How Buhari’s medical history, 

financial records were hacked— Report 

A 

RICH supporter of 

former President 

Goodluck Jonathan 

reportedly hired SCL, a data 

analytics company, to paint 


Buhari bad in the buildup to 

the 2015 elections, according 

to a report by UK Guardian. 

Fresh information reveals 

that fixers hired by a 

billionaire in support of the 

Jonathan campaign hacked 

into Buhari’s personal data. 

SCL is the parent company 

of Cambridge Analytical, a 

data marketing firm, which 

harvests data from different 

sources and creates micro 

targets, with the ultimate goal 

of changing audience 

behaviour. It is reputed as one 

of the factors responsible for 

the outcome of the US 

presidential election and the 

Brexit vote of 2016. 

Cambridge Analytica was 

accused of improperly using 

data on behalf of political 

clients. Reports say the 

company may have used 

data improperly obtained 

from roughly 50 million 

Facebook users to try to sway 

elections. 

According to UK Guardian, 

a Nigeria billionaire whose 

identity was not revealed 

committed a large amount of 

money to the bid to stop 

Buhari. 

The reports also revealed 

that the fixers for the Jonathan 

campaign hacked into 

Buhari’s medical and 

financial records, in a bid to 

sway the decision of the 

electorate on regarding the 

historic election. 

“It was the kind of 

campaign that was our bread 

and butter. We were 

employed by a billionaire 

who’s panicking at the idea 

of a change of government 

and who wants to spend big 

to make sure that doesn’t 

happen,” the newspaper 

quoted an ex-employee of 

SCL to have said. 

Guardian said the company 

had established a reputation 

of weaponising information 

to harm an opponent. 

“It was a methodology 

honed and developed in the 

company’s defence and 

military work – the fifth 

dimension of warfare, 

defined by the US military as 

‘information operations’,” the 

report read. 

It said: “What was new, or 

at least new to those 

employees who have now 

spoken out, was bringing 

these techniques to the 

company’s election work. 

“Seven individuals with 

close knowledge of the 

Nigeria campaign have 

described how Cambridge 

Analytica worked with people 

they believed were Israeli 

computer hackers. 

“The sources – who spoke 

to the Observer over many 

months – said the company 

was looking for “kompromat” 

on Muhammadu Buhari – at 

the time, leader of the 

opposition. 

“They said the hackers 

offered Cambridge Analytica 

access to private information 

about Buhari.” 

Their testimony paints an 

extraordinary picture of how 

far a western company would 

contemplate going in an effort 

to undermine the democratic 

process in Africa’s most 

populous nation. 

However, Cambridge 

Analytica has insisted it did 

not take possession of or use 

any personal information for 

any purpose and did not use 

any “hacked or stolen data”. 

The company confirmed, 

however, that it had been 

hired to provide advertising 

and marketing services in 

support of the campaign of 

Jonathan. 

That work seems to have 

come about through Brittany 

Kaiser, a senior director at 

Cambridge Analytica, and a 

senior strategist on the 

campaign team of President 

Donald Trump. 

NEC MEETING: From left, Governors Ibrahim Dankwambo 

(Gombe); Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Badaru Abubakar (Jigawa) 

at National Economic Council NEC, meeting in Abuja, yesterday. 

Senate confirms 5 CBN 

nominees, rejects one 

By Henry Umoru 

ABUJA— THE Senate 

has approved five 

nominees for Central Bank 

of Nigeria, CBN, 

including two for deputy 

governors position, but 

rejected one. 

Aisha Ahmad and 

Edward Lametek were 

confirmed by the 

lawmakers as deputy 

governors of the apex 

bank, while Adeola 

Adenikinju, Aliyu Sanusi 

and Robert Asogwa were 

confirmed as members of 

the Monetary Policy 

Committee, MPC, of the 

bank. 

Asheikh Maidugu was 

rejected because the 

senators who screened 

him, said they were 

dissatisfied with his 

responses to their 

questions. 

The confirmation follows 

recommendation of the 

committee on Banking, 

Insurance and other 

Financial Institutions. 

Chairman of the 

committee, Rafiu Adebayo, 

presented the report 

making 

the 

recommendation, noting 

that the nominees had been 

cleared by the police, Code 

of Conduct Bureau and 

Department of State 

Services, DSS. 

“Having been satisfied 

with their academic, 

professional qualification 

and competence, work 

experience and character of 

these two nominees, the 

committee hereby 

recommend that the Senate 

do confirm Mrs. Aisha 

Ahmad and Mr. Edward 

Lametek as Deputy 

Governors of the Central 

Bank of Nigeria,” he said. 

Explaining the 

committee’s reason for 

rejecting Maidugu as a 

member of the MPC, he 

said: “The nominee was 

interviewed by the 

committee and he 

responded to the questions 

but the committee was 

dissatisfied with his 

response and concerned 

that he may not be 

independent and reach 

crucial decisions of the 

MPC that affects directly the 

whole economy.” 

The lawmakers 

unanimously approved the 

recommendation after a 

voice vote. 

The Senate President, 

Bukola Saraki, commended 

his colleagues for the 

expeditious confirmation of 

the two deputy governors 

and MPC members 

He urged the nominees 

to work to grow the 

economy and stabilise the 

country’s 

exchange. 

foreign 

Steer clear of our 

legislative business, 

Dogara cautions Judiciary 

By Emman 

Ovuakporie 

ABUJA—SPEAKER of 

the House of 

Representatives, Mr Yakubu 

Dogara, said yesterday, at 

plenary that some persons 

were intimidating the 

nation’s judiciary to gag the 

National Assembly but failed 

to mention names of those 

involved. 

He spoke on a motion 

raised by Razak Atunwa from 

Kwara State on the recent 

court judgement restraining 

the House from holding 

public hearing on the hijab 

controversy. 

There has been a dispute 

between the Nigerian Law 

School and Amasa Firdaus, 

a law graduate, who was not 

called to bar on the grounds 

that she wore a hijab to the 

call to bar ceremony. 

The matter was taken to the 

House of Representatives, 

after which a public hearing 

was fixed for it. 

A coalition of lawyers, 

however, filed a suit asking 

the Federal High Court in 

Abuja to stop the House from 

conducting the hearing, a 

prayer the court granted. 

At the plenary, the 

lawmakers accused the 

judiciary of “crossing the 

line” regarding its 

constitutional role. 

Dogara, on his part, said 

the court judgement 

infringed on the powers of the 

House and will not be 

tolerated. 

He said: “We know that 

Nigeria is not Banana 

Republic and operates on 

basic principles such as rule 

of law and separation of 

power, which states that none 

of the arms of government 

should gag the other. 

“Just as we cannot gag the 

judiciary, we also expect same 

from them. We make laws and 

the constitution only 

empower them to interpret 

the laws. 

“But for us to sit here and 

the judiciary tells us what we 

should consider and not 

consider and when to seat, 

then we are no longer 

practising democracy,’’ he 

said. 

Investors stake 

N142.8bn for FGN bond 

By Emma Ujah, 

Abuja Bureau 

Chief 

ABUJA— INVESTORS 

have continued to 

demonstrate a high appetite 

for Federal Government 

bond, staking N142.81 

billion for the March 2018 

series. 

Debt Management 

Office, DMO, conducted 

the third in the series of 

FGN bond auctions for the 

year on March 21, 2018 to 

raise funds for the 

implementation of the 2018 

budget. 

Bonds were offered in 

three tenors – 5, 7 and 10 

years, to meet the needs of 

the various investor 

categories. 

The DMO said the 

auction 

was 

oversubscribed, just like the 

January and February 

Auctions. 

The total subscription of 

N142.81 billion 

represented about 204 per 

cent of the amount offered. 

The subscription rates for 

the 5, 7 and 10 year bonds 

were 189per cent, 84 per 

cent and 329 per cent 

respectively, showing the 

preference of investors for 

the 10-year Bond. 

Based on the bids 

received, a total of N64.06 

billion was allotted and the 

rates were 13.40% for the 

5-year, 13.53% for the 7- 

year and 13.60% for the 10- 

year Bond. 

Fight corruption, leave 

Ekweremadu alone, PDP 

tells FG 

By Dirisu 

Yakubu 

A BUJA—Peoples 

Democratic Party, 

PDP, has tasked the Federal 

Government to fight 

corruption and stop 

hounding members of the 

opposition parties, 

especially its members. 

The party specifically 

expressed dismay at the 

motion exparte filed by 

Special Presidential 

Investigation Panel for the 

Recovery of Public Property, 

seeking the forfeiture of 

assets allegedly not 

declared by the Deputy 

President of the Senate, 

Senator Ike Ekweremadu. 

In a statement by its 

National Publicity Secretary, 

Kola Ologbondiyan, 

yesterday, the party said 

"while the PDP was in full 

support of any genuine 

anti-graft war, All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC-led administration’s 

obsession with 

Ekweremadu was another 

clear indication that it was 

not ready to fight 

corruption, but rather out to 

scandalize, persecute, and 

bring down its perceived 

opponents.

10 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 


LAND USE CHARGE: Lagos 

Peoples’ Assembly tackles 

NBA, lauds Ambode 

LAGOS—THE Lagos 

Peoples’ Assembly 

has faulted the Nigerian 

Bar Association, NBA, for 

opposing the Land Use 

Charge even as it 

commended Governor 

Akinwunmi Ambode of 

Lagos State for making the 

state a preferred 

destination point for 

investment and tourism. 

In a statement by its 

Convener and Clerk, Femi 

Lawson and Mallam 

Okwechime Abdul 

respectively, the assembly 

said: “For the avoidance of 

doubt, we fully identify with 

the aspirations of the 

Governor for holistic 

development of the state. 

We note that an unwary 

observer of governance in 

the state would have 

jumped into the conclusion 

that the state is for the 

development of areas 

where the upper middle 

class reside like Victoria 

Gardens City, Victoria 

Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, Ikeja 

By Sam Eyoboka 

CATHOLIC faithful 

in Nigeria will 

Sunday join their 

counterparts across the 

globe to celebrate Palm 

Sunday. 

According to a release 

by the Director of Social 

Communications, Msgr. 

Gabriel Osu, 

Palm Sunday marks 

the triumphant entry of 

Jesus into Jerusalem. 

It also signifies the 

commencement of the Holy 

Week which begins with 

the sixth Sunday in Lent. 

According to the 

statement: “This 

Sunday observes the 

triumphal entry of Jesus 

into Jerusalem that was 

marked by the crowd in 

Jerusalem for Passover 

waving palm branches and 

proclaiming him as the 

etc. in terms of provision of 

basic infrastructural 

facilities. 

“However, the strides of 

this administration in the 

near slum areas of the state 

is worthy of 

commendation. We totally 

share the underlying 

philosophy of the state as 

encapsulated in the 

recently amended Land 

Use Charge Law 2018. It is 

an equitable social justice 

practiced globally to tax in 

progressive ratio the more 

privileged, affluent and 

wealthy sections of society 

in order to provide basic 

social amenities for the 

poorer sections. This is not 

just a social re-engineering 

mechanism but a veritable 

tool for holistic socioeconomic 

growth, social 

stability and security. It is 

trite to emphasize that the 

rich can sleep better when 

the poor are not hungry and 

can live in habitat suitable 

for human beings and not 

in zoological environment.'' 

Christians set for Palm 

Sunday, Holy Week 

messianic king. 

''The Gospels tell us that 

Jesus rode into the city on 

a donkey, enacting the 

prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, 

and in so doing 

emphasized the humility 

that was to characterize the 

Kingdom he proclaimed.” 

On the significant of the 

Holy Week, Msgr Osu 

revealed that “it is the last 

week of Lent, the week 

immediately preceding 

Easter 

or 

Resurrection Sunday. For 

us Catholics, it is observed 

as a time to commemorate 

and enact the suffering 

(Passion) and death of 

Jesus through various 

observances and Masses. 

It comes to a climax on 

Good Friday with the 

crucifixion of Jesus and his 

eventual resurrection on 

Easter Sunday, which falls 

on April 1 this year.” 

‘Youths wants ultimatum 

on sack of coordinator’ 

NIGER Delta Youth 

Peace Initiative 

Movement, NDYPIM, has 

called on Ijaw youths to 

withdraw an ultimatum 

given to the Federal 

Government for the sack of 

the newly-appointed 

Coordinator of Presidential 

Amnesty Programme, Prof 

Charles Dokubo. 

A statement by the 

President and Secretary of 

the group, Messrs. Edon 

Ebikabowei and Donald 

Etietes hailed the 

appointment. 

“Prof. Charles Dokubo is 

from the Niger Delta 

region, Rivers State 

precisely. He is highly 

informed having studied 

Peace and Strategic 

Matters. Therefore, we 

believe that he can take the 

office to greater heights by 

normalising all the 

anomalies that were going 

on in the Amnesty Office,” 

the statement read in part. 

TEF 2018 – SELECTION ANNOUNCEMENT : From left; Director of Partnerships, Tony Elumelu Foundation, 

Mrs Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu; Member, Board of Trustees, Tony Elumelu Foundation(TEF), Mr. Alex Trotter; Founder, 

TEF, Mr. Tony Elumelu; CEO, TEF, Parminder Vir; and member, Board of Trustees and wife of the founder, Dr 

Awele Elumelu, during the selection announcement of 1250 entrepreneurs in the 4th cycle of the Tony Elumelu 

Foundation’s 10-year, $100 million TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, held in Lagos yesterday. 

Court dismisses Evans’ application to quash 

charges 

evidence must sufficiently 

By Onozure Dania 

L AGOS—JUSTICE 

Adedayo Akintoye of 

an Igbosere High Court, 

Lagos, yesterday dismissed 

the application by the 

suspected billionaire kidnap 

kingpin, Chukwudumeme 

Onwuamadike also known 

as Evans, seeking to quash 

charges against him, saying 

they were not defective and 

not an abuse of court 

processes. 

Evans had asked the court 

to quash the two separate 

charges filed against him by 

the Lagos State 

Government. 

The Lagos State 

Government had brought a 

fresh five-count charge of 

Media, technology hold key to change Nigeria’s 

narrative — EXPERTS 

By Princewill 

Ekwujuru 

Lyesterday, AGOS—EXPERTS 

at the 7th 

Innovation series organised 

by Verdant Zeal Group, 

said the media and 

technology remained key to 

changing the African 

narrative, calling on 

government to provide 

enabling environment to 

change the Nigerian 

narrative. 

Leading the didcussion, 

Executive Vice Chairman of 

the Group, Dr. Tunji 

Olugodi at the programme, 

with theme “Building 

Africa’s Reputation through 

Media” said: “About two 

decades ago, Africa had an 

ignoble past as a continent 

ridden with corruption and 

was renowned for poverty, 

human rights violations 

amongst others.” 

He, however, said the 

narrative had started to 

change as Africa was 

currently credited with many 

global creative works, being 

amplified through media 

exposure and the internet. 

conspiracy to kidnap, 

kidnapping and attempted 

murder against Evans and 

three others. 

Evans is charged 

alongside Joseph Emeka, 

Ugochukwu Nwachukwu 

and Victor Aduba. 

In the second charge, 

Evans is being tried 

alongside Joseph Emeka, 

Linus Okpara and Victor 

Aduba. 

At the resumed hearing, 

yesterday, Justice Akintoye 

said based on the proof of 

evidence before the court, 

issue for determination was 

whether a prima facie case 

had been established 

against the defendants. 

She, however, held that a 

prima facie case had been 

established as there were 

grounds for proceedings, 

noting that the proof of 

According to him: “This 

evolution has changed the 

ecosystem within the 

industry and has brought 

fortune to youngsters; 

offsetting monopolies and 

creating a new distribution 

model. As it is said 

‘Content is King’ in this 

dispensation. With this 

development, we all have 

to migrate into the new era 

and one of the ways is by 

By Bose Adelaja 

L AGOS—TRADERS 

in Ajah Ultra 

Modern Market, in 

Etiosa Local Council 

Development Area, 

LCDA, of Lagos State, 

have protested blockage 

of two access roads to the 

market at Ajah 

Rounabout. 

The aggrieved traders, 

who however commended 

the state government for 

ongoing construction of 

link the defendant to the 

offence allegedly 

committed, saying “Looking 

closely to the proof of 

evidence attached to the 

information in this case, a 

prima facie case has clearly 

been disclosed against the 

defendant/applicant.” 

The judge said the victim 

in the instant case, Uche 

Okereafor’s wife was the 

person who paid the 

ransom, noting that the 

statement of the first 

defendant (Evans) itself 

alleged that the first 

defendant was the master 

mind and gang leader. 

According to the judge 

“Other defendants 

participated in several 

kidnappings and shared 

the ransom collected from 

their victims. The third 

learning from the colossus.” 

Quoting a 2014 statistics 

released by the Nigerian 

government, he said, 

“Nollywood was valued as 

a $3.3 billion sector, with 

1844 movies produced in 

2013 alone. In the last four 

years, that figure would 

have increased 

tremendously with 

productions like Saro the 

Musical, Wakaa, The 

Wedding Party franchise, 

Web Series, Love like a 

perimeter fence and 

Pedestrians’ Bridge at Ajah 

roundabout, lamented that 

the projects had obstructed 

the access roads to the 

market, thereby crippling 

their businesses. 

They appealed to 

Governor Mr Akinwunmi 

Ambode to open the access 

roads and the pedestrians’ 

bridge in the area. 

According to the market 

leaders, the traders had 

written series of letters to 

the appropriate authorities 

defendant (Ugochukwu 

Nwachukwu) in his own 

statement and proof of 

evidence showed that he is 

a member of the gang and 

shared in the ransom 

collected from victims. I 

hold, therefore, that the 

proof of evidence disclosed 

a prima facie case against 

the first and third 

defendant” 

He also said the charges 

filed against the defendants 

were not defective based on 

the provisions of Section 

152 and 153 of the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Law (ACJL) of 

Lagos State, 2015, 

informing that : “It is my 

view that the prosecution 

has complied with 

provisions of this section in 

view that every offence shall 

be charged separately.'' 

movie, Science Student, 

Skinny Girl in Transit, and 

of course, Wakanda, Africa 

is clearly taking the lead in 

telling its stories.” 

“There are many 

observers who believe that 

the global reach of African 

content could take off, led by 

video on demand, powered 

by the internet and strong 

distribution networks. This 

is driven by the popularity 

of Nigerian content in Africa 

and the diaspora.” 

Traders in Ajah Ultra Modern Market protest 

blockage of access roads 

in the state concerning their 

plight to no avail, 

threatening to continue the 

protest until government 

addressed their concerns. 

One of the traders, who 

identified himself as 

Nwachukwu Richard, said 

he had been at the Ultra 

Modern Market for the 

past 15 years, said the 

present situation was 

negatively affecting his 

business and that of others. 

He said, ‘’My wife and 

four children rely on this

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 — 11 

VERDANT ZEAL 7TH INNOVENTION 

SERIES 

Renowned comedian, Atoyota Akpobome, AKA Alibaba, Darey Art Alade and Ramsey Nouah were all Panelists at 

the 7th Verdant Zeal Innovention Series held at Civic Centre, VI, Lagos yesterday. PHOTOS BY LAMIDI BAMIDELE. 

From left, Yahaya Makori, Founding Partner, Law Allianz; Bisoye Fagade, CEO, Sodium Brand Solutions; 

Alibaba Akpobome, founder, Alibaba Hicuppuray 3rd; Darey Art Alade, Creative Director, Livespot Group and 

Moderator; Bolanle Austen Peters, Founder/CEO, Terra Culture; Ramsey Nouah, CEO, Ramsey Films and Ade 

Adefeko, Vice President, Corporate and Government Relations, OLAM Nigeria, all Panelists at the event. Mr Sam Amuka, Publisher, Vanguard Newspapers 

(right) presenting a gift to Ali Baba. 

From left; Dr Tunji Olugbodi, Vice Chairman, Verdant Zeal Group; Rev. Tunde Kajogbola 

and Mr Ademola Oyinlola, former Executive Director, Tell Magazine at the event. 

Mr Gbenga Adefaye, General Manager/Editor in Chief, 

Vanguard Newspapers (left) and Mrs Nkechi Ali-Balogun, 

a foremost public relations practitioner. 

(RIGHT): Dr. 

Ibilola Amao, 

Chairperson, 7th 

Verdant Zeal Innovention 

Series 

(left) receiving a 

plaque from Prince 

Femi Oyewole, 

Chairman, Verdant 

Zeal Board. 

From left Mr Ayodeji Ayopo, MD, Shortlist Public Relation; Mr Kola Olugbodi, MD, Background 

Check International and Mr Seun Olugbodi, Chief Operating Officer, Verdant Zeal. 

(RIGHT): Mr Eze Anaba, 

Editor, Vanguard Newspaper 

(left) and Mr Emeka 

Ugwu-Oju, founder, Nigeria 

Entrepreneurship Summit 

and Honors at the event. 

(LEFT): Cross 

section of guests at 

the event.

12—VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

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

Community rejects EIA report by firm 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

B ELDERS ENIN-CITY— 

and leaders 

of five quarters in Ukwu – 

Nzu community in Aniocha 

North local Government 

Area of Delta State have 

rejected the Environmental 

Impact Assessment, EIA, 

report conducted on a 

proposed project in the area 

by Mosra Enerji Limited, 

describing it as fraudulent. 

In an open letter to the 

Minister of Environment 

through their counsel, 

Olayiwola Afolabi, the 

community also called on 

the Minister to put on hold 

the process of certification 

of Mosra Enerji Limited 

pending the determination 

of its suit against the 

company. 

The community asked the 

Minister to compel the 

company to make a copy of 

their draft report to it for 

consideration or 

alternatively it should carry 

out a review of the report 

pursuant to the prevision of 

the Act just as they want it 

to set in motion the process 

of mediation as provided 

under Section 29 and 35 of 

the Environmental Impact 

Assessment Act. 

The community told the 

Minister that the indigenes 

were rejecting the EIA 

conducted by Mosra Enerji 

Limited on the following 

grounds: “By the notice 

pasted, a copy of which is 

hereby attached, the draft 

of the EIA as prepared by 

Mosra Enerji Limited 

ought to be made public for 

vetting and thereupon 

comments will be 

appropriately made. 

“However, till date, no 

copy of such report has 

been given to the 

community or made 

available at the designated 

locations and every 

stakeholder is in the dark 

as to the content and 

bearings of the said draft 

report. 

“It must be noted that 

Mosra Enerji Limited 

entered our client’s lands 

sometime in 2016 and 

without due consultation of 

the individual owners, 

occupants and aborigines of 

the said land, immediately 

began preliminary work on 

a total expanse of land 

separately measuring 

approximately." 

Ijaw PDP leaders task indigenes on 

development 

By Onozure Dania 

CHIEF 

Emman 

Amgbaduba, 

Chairman Delta South 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP and Chief Frank 

Omare, former 

Commissioner for 

Environment, Delta State 

have called on sons and 

daughters of Ijaw nation 

to strive and attract 

development to their 

communities. 

Amgbaduba and Omare, 

spoke when they and 15 

others were conferred with 

chieftaincy titles by HRM, 

Stanley Luke ,Kalanama 

Viii, Pere of Akugbene- 

Mein Kingdom. 

Speaking to journalists 

shortly after the ceremony, 

Chief Amgbaduba who 

bagged the “Mientonghan 

of Akugbene Kingdom,” 

said the title will further 

propel him to attract the 

desired development to his 

people. 

Chief Omare who is the 

Adodokuro of “Akugbene- 

Mein Kingdom” on his part 

thanked HRM Luke and 

the people of Akugbene - 

Mein Kingdom for the 

honour done him and his 

wife, pledging to 

continuously work to 

promote the culture of the 

people. 

Earlier, the monarch 

while conferring the 

chieftaincy title said that 

the Akugbene-Mein 

Kingdom found them 

worthy in community 

development, social life 

and in their work place for 

the honour. 

He urged them not to 

deviate in their characters 

but continually be role 

models in their various 

fields of endeavour. 

UBTH board chair task mgt 

on research, training 

By Simon 

Ebegbulem 

B CHAIRMAN, ENIN-CITY— 

Board 

of Management, 

University of Benin 

Teaching Hospital, UBTH, 

Dr Bashorun Adewolu has 

tasked the management of 

the hospital on the need to 

embark on research and 

training with a view to 

addressing the challenges 

in the health sector. 

Adewolu who spoke 

shortly after the 

inauguration of the UBTH 

Board in Benin City, urged 

the authorities of University 

of Benin, UNIBEN, to 

continue to partner the 

hospital in the areas of 

research and training so as 

to have credible manpower 

in the health sector. 

Stressing the need for the 

authorities of both 

institutions to sustain the 

legacies of former governor 

of old Bendel State, Dr 

Samuel Ogbemudia who 

established UNIBEN, he 

pointed out that no 

teaching hospital will be 

able to function properly 

without a university. 

“We have to keep 

improving every day to get 

the best for our hospital and 

that is why we are 

emphasising on research 

and training," he said. 

Safety: C'ttee gets 6 months 

to build fire station 

WARRI—A 10-man 

committee saddled 

with the responsibility of 

acquiring suitable location, 

producing architectural/ 

structural design, sourcing 

for finance and constructing 

a modern fire station around 

the Ubeji-Ifie axis in Warri 

South Local Government 

Area, Delta State, within six 

months has been 

inaugurated. 

The committee, which 

has Secretary to Warri South 

council, Mr. Oribioye 

Uwale as Chairman, 

comprises the Head of 

Delta State Fire Service, 

Warri, Mr. Francis Tamigbe, 

the councillor representing 

Ubeji Ward in Warri South 

council Legislative Arm, 

Ogbitse Victor, Warri South 

Council Supervisor for 

Environment, Patricia 

Edun, representatives of 

Ifie community, Pinnacle 

and Shafa Oil and Gas and 

the Head, Safety and 

Environment, Matrix 

Energy, Mr. Fredrick 

Olomuro, who will serve as 

secretary of the committee.



Ex-militants threaten showdown over 

alleged denial of scholarship benefits 

By Gab Ejuwa 

AJOINT committee of 

Itsekiri groups under 

the aegis of United 

Revolutionary Movement, 

has given a 14-day 

ultimatum to the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme Office to correct 

the alleged sinister move by 

some officials in the office 

to deny and neglect those 

in the third phase of the 

amnesty programme of 

their scholarship benefits 

else they will resume 

destruction of oil facilities in 

the Niger Delta region. 

In a statement by Mr. 

Sylvester Jakpa, the group 

appealed to the Federal 

Government to call to order 

some officials of the 

Amnesty Office, who were 

allegedly involved in the 

move to deny them their 

scholarship benefits. 

Jakpa said: “We were 

shocked to know that upon 

resumption of duty of 

Professor Charles Dokubo, 

the newly appointed 

Special Adviser to the 

President on Niger Delta 

Affairs/Coordinator of the 

Presidential Amnesty 

Programme, the new 

beneficiaries were deployed 

to schools while those in 

the scheme since 2012, who 

were recently deployed, 

were withdrawn. 

“While we are not against 

the said deployment of the 

new beneficiaries, we totally 

condemn the sinister move 

by some officials of the 

office to deny and neglect 

those in the third phase of 

the amnesty programme 

since 2012. 

“Apart from the recent 

denial of old beneficiaries 

for new ones, the Itsekiri 

nation has been 

shortchanged in the 

composition of staff and 

appointment into the office 

and this we had brought to 

the attention of the previous 

administrations of Mr. 

Kingsley Kuku and 

Brigadier-General Paul 

Boroh (retd). 

“It is against this 

background, therefore, that 

we, the Joint Committee of 

Itsekiri Groups, under the 

auspices of United 

Revolutionary Movement, 

issue a 14-day ultimatum to 

Amnesty Office to address 

these devilish and satanic 

acts or face total shutdown.” 

BRIEFING: Chairman, Our Women Now, Mrs Ngozi Uche-Oji; 

Founder, Mrs Saidat Odofin- Benjamin; and National Co-ordinator, 

North Central, Juliana Shan, during a press briefing to encourage 

women to participate in politics, in Ikeja, Lagos. 

Dapchi: FG economical with the 

truth— Onuesoke, Ukweni 

By Festus Ahon 

& Ike 

Uchechukwu 

THE release of the 

abducted Dapchi 

schoolgirls has been 

described as a scam by 

former Delta State 

governorship aspirant, 

Chief Sunny Onuesoke, 

saying: “It is an attempt to 

hoodwink Nigerians.” 

Also, Mba Ekpezu 

Ukweni, SAN, has alleged 

that Federal Government 

paid heavy ransom before 

the abducted schoolgirls 

were released. 

Speaking with Vanguard, 

yesterday in Calabar, Cross 

River State, Ukweni 

regretted that the Federal 

Government was being 

economical with the truth 

over the release of the 

abducted girls. 

He alleged that the 

Federal Government and 

Boko Haram were using 

abductions to siphone 

money to fund terrorism. 

He said: "Money was 

paid as ransom and it is this 

money they use in buying 

more arms and kidnap 

more people and 

terrorising other parts of the 

Stop illegal sale of state assets, 

PDP tells Edo govt 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

BENIN— EDO State 

chapter of Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, has 

called on the state 

government to stop illegal 

sale and acquisitions of 

government assets and 

property and condemned 

the plan in its entirety. 

The party in a statement 

in Benin City, yesterday, by 

the state Publicity Secretary, 

Mr Chris Nehikhare, 

faulted the alleged 

fraudulent planned sale of 

government property, just 

as the party alleged that the 

state government procured 

the services of four media 

executives sometime ago to 

produce a report to justify 

the sale, or concession of 

two public enterprises, 

Bendel Newspapers Ltd, 

and Edo Broadcasting 

Service. 

He said: “We implore 

them to put in place a well 

motivated management 

team, invest just 50 percent 

of three months of the 

illegally collected security 

votes of N600 million and 

Edo State Government will 

achieve a world class 

media company. 

“True to type, the panel 

produced a report to suit the 

pre-arranged position of 

the governor and his 

business interest. Presently, 

the governor has allegedly 

selected a preferred 

'investor' who happened to 

be the consultant to his 

campaign organisation. 

“The said investor 

manages a small radio 

station in Delta State and 

has great difficulty breaking 

even. The plan is to quietly 

divest Edo State interest 

from both companies, hand 

them over to the man, who 

is acting as a front, as a 

trade off for the role he 

played during the last 

governorship campaigns 

in the state. 

“This format is similar to 

the immediate former 

governor, who used a firm 

as the preferred partner for 

Edo University Iyamoh. In 

Iyamoh, the firm was used 

as a “holding.” This is the 

role that want the investor 

to play in the present case.” 

country in the name of 

hrdsmen." 

On his part, Onuesoke, 

who spoke to newsmen, 

yesterday, at the Abuja 

International Airport on the 

release of Dapchi girls by 

Boko Haram sect, said: “It 

is unfortunate that under 

this administration, matter 

of national security is being 

treated with so much 

triviality. 

“Judging from the 

charades that characterised 

the abduction and release 

of the Dapchi schoolgirls, 

one can only conclude that 

it is a scam, a cheap 

propaganda and an 

attempt by All Progressives 

Congress, APC/Buhari-led 

government to hoodwink 

Nigerians. Obviously, it is 

a stage managed abduction 

and release. 

"It is interesting to note 

that before the abduction of 

the 110 school girls on 

February 19, 2018 at 

5:30p.m., security check 

points were withdrawn and 

the security forces refused 

to act despite advance 

warnings. 

“It is, therefore, not out 

of place to say that those 

who removed the military 

checkpoints and allowed 

the Dapchi girls to be 

kidnapped have released 

them after making millions 

of dollars as ransom. Boko 

Haram is now a very 

lucrative business under 

this APC/Buhari-led 

Federal Government." 

Support Secondus to oust 

APC, Dickson tells PDP 

leaders 

By Providence 

Emmanuel 

GOVERNOR Seriake 

Dickson of Bayelsa 

State has called on leaders 

of Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, to support 

Prince Uche Secondus-led 

National Working 

Committee, NWC, saying 

without the needed 

support, the leadership 

cannot deliver on its goals. 

The governor said it was 

by so doing that the PDP 

will be able to effectively 

lead a coalition to challenge 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, in 2019 general 

election. 

The governor in a 

statement by his Chief 

Press Secretary, Francis 

Agbo, vowed to intensify 

consultations with party 

leaders across board, 

including those who had 

defected from the party with 

the view to bringing them 

back. 

Dickson, who is also the 

Chairman of the PDP 

Standing Committee on 

Reconciliation, said: "Now 

that a new leadership has 

been put in place, what 

PDP stakeholders and 

leaders owe the NWC is 

their unflinching support, 

for without that, the PDP 

cannot regain its lost glory. 

‘’The PDP is not owned 

by any individual, it 

belongs to all Nigerians, so 

all of us should remain 

united under the umbrella. 

Let me reiterate my call on 

those who has left the party 

to return to the fold, for 

PDP remains home to all." 

FG rolls out free medical 

outreach for N-Delta 

communities 

By Chris Ochayi 

A KAMKPA—Federal 

Government said 

yesterday, that it had put in 

place appropriate 

mechanisms to achieve set 

goals in education and 

health for the people of 

Niger Delta region. 

Minister of State for 

Niger Delta Affairs, 

Professor Claudius 

Daramola, disclosed this at 

the peace and security 

enlightenment and 

community health outreach 

programme with key 

stakeholders in the region, 

held in Akamkpa Local 

Government Area of Cross 

River State. 

The minister added at the 

event, which featured a 

flag-off of a free medical 

outreach organised by the 

ministry in collaboration 

with New Horizon Aid 

Development Initiative, 

said: “This involves the 

process of creating 

opportunities for the people 

of the region to make 

choices through access to 

quality education, health 

and well-being. 

“Our development 

strategy is designed to 

capture the needs and 

aspirations of our people to 

equip them by way of 

enhancing their choices 

and exercising freedom on 

matters that affects their 

lives." 

Itsekiri group to hold 

conference March 31 

W 

A R R I — 

FOREMOST 

Itsekiri socio-cultural 

organisation, Warri 

Progressive Society, has 

finalised arrangement to 

hold its 29th Biennial 

Conference on March 31, 

2018 at the Otonloye town 

hall, Ugbori, Warri, Delta 

State. 

According to Planning 

Committee Chairman, Mr 

Adeyemi Agbude, the 

conference will commence 

on March 30 with 

delegates from London, 

Lagos, Ibadan, Benin City, 

Koko, Sapele, Abigborodo, 

Orere, Asaba, Jakpa, 

Ologbo/Ajoki converging 

on the Federal 

Government College, 

Ogunu, from where all 

delegates will proceed to 

the palace of His Majesty, 

Ogiame Ikenwoli, the Olu 

of Warri, to pay a royal 

homage to the natural ruler. 

According to a statement, 

a lecture with the theme: 

Itsekiri Yesterday, Today 

and Tomorrow, will be 

delivered on Saturday, 

March 31 by Prof. Lucky 

Akaruese of University of 

Port Harcourt under the 

chairmanship of Chairman 

of Warri South LGA, Mr. 

Michael Tidi. 

The conference will come 

to an end on April 1, 2018 

with a Special thanksgiving 

service to be held at the 

African Church, Odion 

Road, Warri. Thereafter, a 

new national executive to 

run the affairs of the 

organisation for the next 

two years will be 

inaugurated.



STATE OF THE NATION: I may write 

another letter — OBASANJO 

•Says CNM membership now 3 million 

By Daud Olatunji 

L AGOS—FORMER 

President Olusegun 

Obasanjo, yesterday, 

disclosed the possibility of 

him writing another open 

letter on burning national 

issues. 

He also revealed that his 

Coalition for Nigeria 

Movement, CNM, is 

making progress in 

mobilising Nigerians 

ahead of 2019, saying, over 

three million people, 

including himself, have so 

far registered as members. 

Obasanjo, who disclosed 

of plans to write another 

letter, said: “After my last 

letter, it will take some time 

before I write another one.” 

The former president, 

who spoke on ‘Press for 

Progress: Women, Politics 

and Nation Building’, in 

Lagos, said that women 

were not doing enough for 

themselves. 

On the CMN drive, 

Obasanjo said: “I am 

giving 

them 

encouragement; I have 

registered and I believe 

that, as at today, we have 

registered more than three 

million people. My belief 

is that we need a grassroots 

movement that can bring 

the change that this country 

needs. We need the 

platform and we need the 

FOOD SECURITY: Gani Adams urges S’West govs to set up 

agric commission 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

LAGOS—THE Aare 

Onakakanfo of 

Yorubaland, Aare Gani 

Adams, has called on state 

governors from the South 

system.” 

On the need for women 

to get involved in politics, 

he said: “Human beings 

are the same, men and 

women. We need fair 

treatment of women. 

Gender inequality has cost 

Africa so much. Negotiate 

as 2019 election is coming, 

but the table has turned 

against you. In the 2019 

elections, women must 

have a place of honour. 

“You should all say 

enough is enough. 

Women, as the majority, 

must be reckoned with in 

the overriding interest of the 

general good of our 

people. 

“The society must correct 

the impression that it is only 

women who have nothing 

to do or have been failing 

other endeavours that go 

into politics. 

“A way to do this is to 

ensure that successful 

women, who occupy top 

cadres in the society, should 

join politics so as to give 

stiffer competition to the 

male counterpart. 

‘We must discriminate 

AWARD: Mr. Isiaq Ajibola, a co-founder and pioneer GM/MD of Trust newspaper 

(left) receiving an award of excellence from Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, Chairman 

Emeritus of PUNCH during the paper's 20th anniversay celebrations yesterday. 

West geo-political zone to 

establish the Southwest 

Agric Commission, SWAC, 

to leverage on the 

agricultural potentials in 

the region. 

Speaking at the grand 

finale of the Eledumare 

festival held at the National 

Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, 

Adams restated the need for 

the Yoruba to celebrate God 

by organizing a festival 

solely for the Supreme 

Being. 

He said the 8th edition of 

APC flays Fayose for disrespecting monarch 

By Rotimi 

Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI—THE All 

Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Ekiti 

State, yesterday, 

lampooned Governor 

Ayodele Fayose over 

alleged humiliation and 

disrespectful conduct to the 

Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba 

Rufus Aladesanmi. 

P Muhammadu 

RESIDENT 

Buhari is expected to lead 

several eminent Nigerians 

to Lagos next Thursday as 

he chairs the 10th Bola 

Tinubu Colloquium to 

commemorate the 

66th birthday of the 

national leader of the All 


APC, Asiwaju Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu. 

The monarch was chided 

by Governor over his 

complaint on house 

demolition that has 

rendered hundreds of 

people homeless in Ado- 

Ekiti. 

The APC warned the 

governor to stop 

desecrating the palace, 

noting that royal fathers 

represented the spiritual 

Buhari to chair 10th Bola Tinubu 

colloquium 

In a statement by the 

Secretary to the Lagos State 

Government, Mr Tunji 

Bello said this year’s event 

entitled: ‘Investing in 

People’, holds at the Eko 

Convention Centre, 

Victoria Island in Lagos. 

Bello said the event is 

expected to bring together 

stakeholders including 

policy makers, academics 

and members of the civil 

society groups. 

authority of the people in 

their communities for peace 

and development. 

In his reaction, the Chief 

Press Secretary to the 

Governor, Idowu Adelusi, 

described the relationship 

between the Governor and 

the Ewi as “very cordial.” 

Fayose had ordered 

demolition of several houses 

to give way to road 

construction and New Oja 

Oba Market in the state 

capital with many residents 

losing their homes and 

personal effects to 

demolition without notice 

and compensation. 

In a statement by APC’s 

Publicity Secretary, Mr. 

Taiwo Olatunbosun berated 

Fayose for his alleged 

“uncouth language” in 

addressing the monarch, 

noting that this was not the 

first time that the governor 

would treat traditional rulers 

in manner that does not befit 

their office. 

positively in favour of 

women, and women 

themselves must know how 

to use other women for 

their good in politics. 

“The reason for the 

positive discrimination is 

not because women are 

inferior, but while they have 

what it takes to succeed in 

politics, the men folk have 

continued to hold them 

back. And so, the positive 

discrimination will solve 

such problem.” 

In her remarks, the 

Executive Council 

Chairperson of WIMBIZ, 

Mrs Olubunmi Talabi, said 

that the government must 

implement the affirmative 

action on women inclusion 

in nation-building. 

the festival began 21 days 

ago, with a series of 

activities. 

He said: “God is worthy 

of worship and praise is the 

only key that opens all 

doors. Our organisation, the 

Oodua People’s Congress, 

OPC, the Olokun Festival 

Foundation, OFF, is the only 

group that celebrates 

Eledumare Festival and I 

am indeed very grateful to 

God that we are all alive to 

witness this glorious day. 

Considering the 

tremendous growth in our 

group, most especially, on 

the strength of our group in 

the Diaspora, the Oodua 

Progressive Union, OPU, in 

79 countries in the world, I 

am pleased to tell you that 

our best is yet to come,” he 

stated. 

While tasking the 

southwest governors to 

promote sports and 

agriculture, by establishing 

what he named Southwest 

Agric Commission, SWAC, 

he said: “By this, we can 

leverage on the agricultural 

potentials in the west. I have 

it on good authority that 

Lagos state alone 

consumes between 13,000 

and 15,000 cows daily, 

totalling about N3 billion, 

while other states in the 

southwest also consume 

about 10,000 cows totalling 

N2 billion daily.” 

Ajibola, ex-MD/co-founder 

of Trust receives award 

for excellence 

AS part of its 20th 

anniversary 

celebrations, Trust Media 

Limited, publisher of Trust 

newspapers, yesterday 

honoured some pioneer 

directors, staff of the 

company and partners. 

Among them, a cofounder 

and pioneer 

General Manager and 

Managing Director, Mr. 

Isiaq Ajibola, received an 

award for excellence. 

He served the company 

as General Manager and 

Managing Director at 

different times, for 18 years. 

Ajibola, who is currently 

the Chairman/CEO of CBD 

Media 

Edge 

Communications Limited, 

is also the author of 

Journalism and Business: 

My Odyssey, an 

autobiography of his times 

at Trust and how the 

company became a media 

success story. 

Nollywood film showcase 

kicks off today 

THE 

inaugural 

Nollywood in 

Hollywood event will kick 

off today at the Egyptian 

Theatre in Hollywood. 

The event will start with 

a red-carpet opening 

night that will feature the 

screening of 93 Days, a 

question and answer series 

moderated by the chairman 

of the African-American 

wing of the Directors Guild 

of America and an open air, 

post-screening Nigerian 

party on the historic 

Hollywood Boulevard. 

The event, co-presented 

by the School of Cinematic 

Arts at the University of 

Southern California and 

The Grauman Egyptian 

Theatre, will screen films 

such as The Bridge by 

Kunle Afolayan and Isoken 

by Jade Osiberu. 

In a statement, operations 

director for the event, 

Maceo Willis said: “It is a 

miracle as miracles go. No 

CBN grants Cellulant PSSP 

approval 

THE Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, has 

issued an approval in 

principle to Cellulant 

Nigeria Limited to operate 

as a Payment Solution 

Service Provider, PSSP, in 

Nigeria having satisfied the 

necessary requirements. 

The approval makes 

Cellulant one of the PSSP 

in Nigeria. PSSPs are the 

companies that make up the 

underlying e-Payment 

infrastructure in Nigeria. 

Cellulant is the provider of 

the Tingg Payment Service 

and AgriKore Customer 

Relationship Management, 

CRM, service that is used 

by governments, private 

GIHN appoints Adewumi as 

national PRO 

THE Global Initiative 

for Harmony in 

Nigeria, GIHN, has 

appointed its Ogun State 

co-ordinator, Bishop 

Solomon Rotimi Adewumi 

as the new National Public 

Relations Officer. 

In a statement by GIHN, 

Adewumi’s appointment 

was made by the General 

Co-ordinator, Ambassador 

one would have thought 

USC and The Egyptian 

would be interested in 

putting Nollywood on 

showcase. Ose made a 

strong case and he had the 

pedigree to back it up. 

“My biggest shock was 

that the Nigerian cultural 

ministry and embassy 

didn’t see the importance 

of backing an event that is 

the biggest showcase in 

African cinema history 

despite months of talking 

to them. Nations beg for this 

opportunity that can 

transform a country’s film 

and tourism industries and 

Nigeria almost missed out 

on it. Thankfully, Air France 

stepped in and flew in the 

actors and filmmakers. 

Hopefully, this is the 

beginning of great things 

for Nollywood in 

Hollywood.” 

Afolayan, Steve Gukas of 

93 DAYS and Dakore 

Akande of ISOKEN will be 

the ambassadors of 

Nollywood. 

sector companies, farmers, 

merchants in Nigeria and 

the rest of Africa, Asia to 

ensure end-to-end 

electronic payments in 

agriculture and other 

consumer facing value 

chains. 

The Chief Executive 

Officer of Cellulant Nigeria, 

Bolaji Akinboro said: 

“Cellulant is a critical 

component of Nigeria 

payments system and a key 

actor in delivering the 

payments systems Vision 

2020, especially as it 

pertains to digitising 

payments within 

agriculture and adjacent 

payment verticals such as 

transport and logistics.'' 

Elizabeth Omini on the 

sidelines of the ongoing 

2018 National Political 

Summit holding in Abuja. 

In acceptance of the 

responsibility, Adewumi 

expressed appreciation to 

the General Co-ordinator 

for the new responsibility 

bestowed upon him and 

called for prayers from 

GIHN members to enable 

him perform to the 

satisfaction of the members.



EVENT: From left—All executive board members, International Association of Students in 

Economics and Managemen, AIESEC, Alumni Nigeria and Africa, Olubunmi Abejirin, Marcel 

Mba, Brenda Nwagwu, Jerry Oche, Tochukwu Obunogu, Chief Kola Akosile, Idris Yakubu, 

Ourmar Sylla, Sola Oyetayo, and Dr. Dahiru Sani at a recent AIESEC event. 

Foreign sponsors gave N1.5m to 

Kanu’s co-defendant for widows of 

IPOB members—Witness 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

ABUJA—The Federal 

Government, on 

Thursday, opened its case 

against four pro-Biafra 

agitators,-Bright Chimezie, 

Chidiebere Onwudiwe, 

Benjamin Madubugwu 

and David Nwawuisi- who 

hitherto faced trial 

alongside the ‘missing’ 

leader of the proscribed 

Indigenous People of 

Biafra, IPOB, Mr. Nnamdi 

Kanu. 

At the hearing, a witness 

whose identity was 

shielded and code named 

Mr AB, told the court that 

the first defendant, Bright 

Chimezie had received 

N1.5 million from sponsors 

of IPOB for the welfare of 

widows of dead IPOB 

members. 

FG narrated how it 

uncovered and seized a 

Radio Transmitter the IPOB 

leader imported into the 

country with the intention 

of using same to broadcast 

preparations for states in 

the South-East and South- 

South zones and other 

communities in Kogi and 

Benue States to secede 

from the Federal Republic 

of Nigeria. 

The first prosecution 

witness, PW-1, who is an 

operative of the 

Department of State 

Service, DSS, was simply 

identified by the court as 

Mr. AB, as he gave his 

evidence behind a screen. 

He told the court that the 

said Radio transmitter 

known as TRAM 50L, was 

imported into the country 

by Kanu and concealed in 

a container that was 

declared as used 

household items. 

The PW-1 said 

investigations by DSS 

revealed that it was the 1st 

defendant, Chimezie that 

took delivery of the 

container in Lagos and on 

Kanu’s instructions, moved 

it to the residence of the 3rd 

defendant, Madubugwu, 

at Ubuluisiuzor in Ihiala 

Local Government Area of 

Anambra State. 

He said the DSS 

discovered that both 

Chimezie and 

Madubugwu were key 

members of the IPOB. 

The witness told the court 

that further investigation 

revealed that Chimezie had 

before his arrest, acted as 

the welfare officer of the 

IPOB, adding that he had 

on several occasions, 

received money from 

sponsors of the sessionist 

group abroad, for the 

welfare of widows of dead 

IPOB members. 

The PW-1 who said he 

had been an investigator 

with the DSS for over six 

years, told the court that 

the 1st defendant had in a 

statement he made upon 

his arrest, admitted that he 

had between July and 

August 2016, received over 

N1.5million from IPOB 

sponsors outside the 

country, through an account 

domiciled with Skye Bank 

Plc at Apapa Area in Lagos, 

adding that he accordingly 

disbursed the fund to the 

beneficiaries. 

While being crossexamined 

by Chimezie’s 

lawyer, Mr. Chukwudi 

Igwe, the witness said he 

had no idea that the 

defendant made statement 

at one DSS office in Uyo 

Akwa Ibom state, where he 

was arrested. 

The witness said he did 

not visit Uyo for further 

investigation after the 

defendant made his 

statement at the DSS 

headquarter, saying he did 

not also extend 

investigation to the Wharf 

in Lagos where the said 

container allegedly landed. 

He said “My lord, I did 

not extend my investigation 

to the Wharf where the 

container he took delivery 

of landed, so, I wouldn’t 

know whether the 

container was cleared in the 

wharf or smuggled in. 

“I did not also investigate 

whether the 1st defendant’s 

name was in the Bill of 

lading.” 

Igwe persuaded the court 

to compel the witness to 

read the statement his client 

made before the DSS in 

Uyo. 

According to the 

statement, the defendant 

was arrested on 14 

September, 2016, where he 

went to take up a job in 

Uyo. 

The statement read that 

the defendant did not know 

the content of the container 

until Kanu came back to the 

country from the United 

Kingdom and the container 

was opened. 

Meantime, trial Justice 

Binta Nyako adjourned the 

case to March 28 to hear 

the 1st defendant’s bail 

application, and May 21 

for continuation of the trial. 

It will be recalled that 

Chimezie’s name was 

added to the charge after it 

was amended by Federal 

Government after a Federal 

High Court in Uyo ordered 

his immediate release from 

detention and ordered DSS 

to pay him N5 million as 

damages for detaining him 

illegally. 

Dapchi Girls: Buhari has shown 

strong leadership—Okorocha 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

OWERRI —IMO 

State governor, 

Rochas Okorocha, 

yesterday, described the 

release of over 100 

abducted Dapchi school 

girls in Yobe State by Boko 

Haram as a sign of strong 

leadership under President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

Okorocha in a statement 

to newsmen in Owerri by 

his Chief Press Secretary, 

Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, 

said it should be a reason 

why Nigerians ought to 

support Buhari. 

The release said: “With 

the return of 104 Dapchi 

school girls by their 

abductors barely 30 days 

after that ugly incident took 

place, President 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

displayed strong political 

will because, how a leader 

responds to situations or 

developments goes a long 

way to show the weakness 

or the strength of such a 

leader.” 

It went further to say: 

“There is no other way to 

describe the quick return 

of the Dapchi school girls 

than to say that it was a 

demonstration of high level 

of political will and 

dedicated leadership, 

because if the reverse had 

been the case, the story 

would have been different.” 

NDIC moves to protect 

poor, uninformed depositors 

By Dennis Agbo 

E NUGU--THE 

Nigeria Deposit 

Insurance Corporation, 

NDIC, has stepped up its 

efforts on protection of the 

poor and uninformed bank 

depositors. 

The corporation also said 

it is aggressively working 

towards reducing the 

percentage of adult 

Nigerians that do not have 

access to financial services. 

Speaking at the ongoing 

29th Enugu International 

Trade fair, NDIC 

Managing Director, Umaru 

Ibrahim said the efforts are 

response to changing 

financial climate. 

Represented by NDIC 

Director Strategy 

Development Department, 

Mr. Festus Ekechi, Ibrahim 

announced its raise of 

maximum Deposit 

Insurance Coverage from 

N50,000 to N500,000 per 

bank depositor. 

Ibrahim said the 

corporation has enhanced 

efforts in its role as a 

financial safety net 

participant by providing an 

enabling regulatory and 

supervisory environment 

that ensures that the hard 

earned savings of small 

savers are protected. 

“This is vital to financial 

inclusion because poor and 

uninformed depositors 

need assurance that the 

services of the licensed 

deposit-taking institutions 

are safe and that they have 

access to their money 

whenever they need it,” 

Ibrahim said. 

It restated it’s warning on 

Nigerians not to patronize 

“wonder banks, Ponzi 

schemes and other illegal 

fund managers with 

disastrous consequences." 

President of Enugu 

Chamber of Commerce, 

Industries, Mines and 

Agriculture, ECCIMA, the 

organizers of the trade fair, 

Sir Emeka Udeze pleaded 

with the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, CBN, to help make 

NDIC job easier by 

ensuring that chances of 

bank failure is reduced to 

barest minimum. 

Ugwuanyi, trusted leader 

—Bishop Onaga 

By Chinedu 

Adonu 

ENUGU—The Catholic 

Bishop of Enugu 

Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr.) 

Calistus Onaga, has 

commended the 

developmental projects 

launched across Enugu 

State by Governor Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi since his 

inauguration, describing 

him as “a good man and a 

man to be reckoned with”. 

Bishop Onaga, who 

made the remark during 

the inauguration of the 

main entrance dual 

carriageway to St. Patrick’s 

College, Emene, Enugu, 

rehabilitated by the school 

authorities, said the college 

has benefited immensely 

from the governor’s “kind 

gesture”. 

The cleric noted that prior 

to the intervention, the 

college’s roads were 

riddled with potholes and 

other infrastructural 

deficits, appreciating Gov. 

Ugwuanyi for his giant 

development strides across 

the state, including the 

Airport-Orie Emene- 

Obinagu road that leads to 

the school. 

“Gov. Ugwuanyi is a 

good man and a man to be 

reckoned with. We are 

proud of him because he is 

not a sectional leader. We 

are praying that God will 

continue to protect him to 

enable him to complete the 

myriads of projects he is 

embarking upon in Enugu 

State. 

“The governor has 

asphalted many roads including 

the one leading to 

the school from the airport. 

He also handed over 

schools to missionaries 

thereby providing us the 

opportunity to support the 

government in giving 

succour to our schools. He 

has also been assisting us 

financially and morally and 

this school is not the only 

beneficiary of such gesture. 

C.I.C. Enugu, St. 

Theresa’s, Abor, among 

others are now wearing a 

new look”, Bishop Onaga 

said. 

Also speaking, a 

prominent old boy of the 

school and former minister 

of power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, 

described the governor as 

a gentleman that has 

proved his mettle in all 

areas of governance since 

his accession to office. 

Prof. Nnaji stated that 

road construction was the 

bedrock of all 

developments, adding that 

the governor is “doing 

marvelously well in this 

area despite the lean 

resources of the state and 

has provided security, pays 

salaries, among others." 

According to Governor 

Ugwuanyi who was 

represented by the 

commissioner for works 

and infrastructure, Engr. 

Greg Nnaji, the current 

infrastructural 

development in the state is 

consistent with his 

administration’s resolve to 

create more urban centres 

and decongest the capital 

city.

16—Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018 


Glo-powered CNN African Voices hosts star athletes 

G LOBACOMsponsored 

CNN African Voices will 

this week receive three star 

athletes whose dedication 

to their chosen careers has 

propelled them to break 

records. 

The programme will be on 

air at 9.30a.m. on 

Friday, while repeat 

editions will be broadcast at 

3.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. on 

Saturday and 11.30a.m. 

and 6.30p.m. on Sunday, 

with added repeats at 10.30 

a.m. on Monday and 

4.30a.m. on Tuesday. 

One of the star athletes is 

Gift Ngoepe, 28-year-old 

South African professional 

baseball player, who is the 

second baseman for the 

Toronto Blue Jays in the 

Major League Baseball. 

Rasta-haired and lanky, 

Ngoepe will take viewers 

on a journey on how he 

made history as the first 

African born player in the 

Major League as well as 

what drives his passion for 

the energetic commitment. 

The second guest on 

the show, Saad Abid from 

Morocco, is an 

a d v e n t u r e r , 

environmentalist, 

inspirational speaker and 

successful surfer whose 

passion for the outdoors 

evolved into a desire to 

preserve and protect the 

environment. 

Lastly on the 

programme is popular 

trail runner from Cape 

Town, South Africa, Ryan 

Nicholas Sanders. Fondly 

called Hedgie, he was 

the first competitor to come 

tops in all the four desert 

races. 

He will be telling 

viewers how he 

successfully won each 

race including a 6/7 day, 

250 kilometre selfsupported 

footrace 

through the Atacama 

Desert in Chile, the Gobi 

Desert in China, the Sahara 

Desert in Egypt and the 

Antartica in the South Pole. 

INFINIX: From left— General Marketing, Slot Nigeria, Jonathan Uzomba; Marketing Manager, 

Amanda Zhang; Country Manager, Jay liu; Marketing Communication Manager, Olamide Amosu, all 

of Infinix, and General Manager, Procurement, Slot Nigeria, Nwachukwu Emmanuel, at the media 

launch of Infinix S3 in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO: Akeem Salau. 

World Water Day: 69m Nigerians don't 

have access to safe water—UNICEF 

•… as rights groups storm Ambode's office over water privatisation 

By Oboh 

Agbonkhese & 

Suzan Edeh 

BAUCHI—NO fewer 

than 69 million 

Nigerians do not have 

access to safe drinking 

water especially in rural 

areas, the United Nation 

Children Fund, UNICEF, 

has said. 

Meanwhile, in 

commemoration of the 

World Water Day yesterday 

in Lagos State, rights 

activists converged on 

Governor Ambode’s office, 

demanding an end to 

plans by the state 

government to privatise 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region 

Editor 

THE 

Independent 

Corrupt Practices and 

Other Related Offences 

Commission, ICPC, has 

voiced out the frustration it 

has been going through in 

its bid to bring the former 

Plateau State Governor, 

Senator Jonah Jang, to 

account for N5.6 billion he 

allegedly took from the state 

coffers two months before 

water distribution in the 

state. 

Displaying placards with 

inscriptions such as “PPP: 

picking the pockets of the 

poor,” “Keep public water 

in public hands,” “Oga 

Ambode, water is for the 

people and not for profit” 

among others, the 

protesters refused to talk 

with security personnel sent 

to dialogue with them, until 

the Senior Special Assistant 

to the Governor on 

Community Mobilisation, 

Mr. Abdulakeem Ola- 

Sheu, arrived and said the 

governor was out of the 

country. 

Ola-Sheu vowed that 

vacating office as governor 

of the state in 2015. 

The commission said in a 

statement yesterday that 

the former governor, now a 

Senator, had allegedly 

rebuffed every move by 

ICPC to bring him to 

book, including ignoring 

series of its invitations. 

In the statement by its 

Spokesperson, Mrs. 

Rasheedat A. Okoduwa, 

ICPC threatened to 

declare Senator Jang 

wanted since the 

“your petition will get to the 

governor and I assure you 

that it shall be acted on and 

the signatories contacted for 

engagement.” 

UNICEF 

A statement by the 

UNICEF Chief of Water, 

Sanitation and Hygiene, 

Zaid Jurji in 

commemoration of the 

International World Water 

Day, said access to safe 

drinking water remained a 

challenge, noting that the 

recent Multiple Indicator 

Survey, MICS, conducted 

by the government of 

Nigeria in 2016/17, 

indicated that about 40 

ICPC threatens to declare Jang wanted 

commission had reached 

a point that it could no 

longer tolerate the 

intransigence of the 

former governor. 

The commission said: 

“ICPC may declare the 

former governor of 

Plateau State, Mr. Jonah 

Jang, wanted for failing to 

report to answer 

questions on allegations 

of embezzling N5.6 billion 

belonging to the state. 

“ICPC has been on his 

trail since October 2017.” 

percent of households and 

19 million people in rural 

areas walked long 

distances to source unsafe 

water from lakes, streams 

and river. 

The statement said: 

“Children without access 

to safe water are more 

likely to die in infancy and 

throughout childhood 

from waterborne diseases. 

Diarrhea remains the 

leading cause of death 

among children under 

five years of age in 

Nigeria.” 

...in Lagos 

In the letter, the 

activists, led by Akinbode 

Oluwafemi, Deputy 

Executive Director, 

Environmental Rights 

Action/Friends of the 

Earth, Nigeria, ERA/ 

FoEN, said: “Take-backwater 

from private 

companies have spread 

from Buenos Aires to 

Berlin, Ghana, Gabon, 

Jakarta, Mozambique, 

Paris, Tanzania and, 

lately, Cameroon. 

“Therefore, halt 

concession of Lagos water 

inftartructure with 

transnational corporations 

such as Veolia, Metito and 

Abengoa.” 

Buhari arrives Zamfara 

By John Gabriel 

G 

U S A U — 

PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

yesterday in Gusau, 

Zamfara, presided over a 

town hall meeting in 

continuation of his tour of 

troubled areas across the 

country. 

The President in 

company of his aides 

arrived at the Gusau 

helipad at about 

10.40a.m after taking off 

from Umaru Musa 

Yar’Adua international 

By Ndahi 

Marama 

M AIDUGURI— 

NATIONAL 

Association of Women 

Journalists, NAWOJ, and 

Coalition of Women 

Activists in Borno State 

have condemned rising 

kidnap, rape cases and 

acid bath on innocent 

women as they board 

tricycles, besides attacks 

by miscreants in the state. 

They cited the instance 

of 26-year-old Fatima 

Usman, a final year 

student of Department of 

Nursing, University of 

Maiduguri, now battling 

for her life after being 

bathed with acid by two 

unknown Keke Napep 

operators in Maiduguri 

Metropolis last Friday, 

and the other person who 

was also bathed with acid 

yesterday. 

Speaking at the Nigeria 

Tanzanian teacher wins 

Sahara Group’s photo contest 

By Dave Oso 

THE winner and first 

runner-up of Sahara 

G r o u p ’ s 

#TheGreenestLoveofAll# 

Instagram-based mobile 

photo contest have 

emerged amid fresh 

commitment by the 

leading African energy 

and infrastructure 

conglomerate to sustain 

conversations around 

environmental 

protection. 

The winner, Irene 

Ishengoma, a Tanzanian 

teacher submitted a 

piece about communityled 

re-forestation, aptly 

titled: “Together we can 

overcome environmental 

destruction.” 

Temitope Otubusin, a 

resident of Lagos, Nigeria 

came second with an 

emotive submission 

entitled “The butterfly & 

airport Katsina. 

The governors of Sokoto 

and Kebbi states, Alhaji 

Aminu Tambuwal and 

Atiku Bagudu 

respectively, some cabinet 

ministers, traditional and 

religious leaders, top 

government officials were 

among those that received 

the president. 

He is scheduled to 

address traditional rulers 

and other stakeholders 

during the visit, and 

condole with families and 

communities that suffered 

various forms of violence. 

NAWOJ, activists cry out 

over rape, acid attacks 

Union of Journalists, NUJ, 

Press Centre in 

Maiduguri, yesterday, 

Chairperson of NAWOJ, 

Hajiya Hadiza Bukar, who 

led other women groups, 

condemned these 

renewed attacks targeted 

at vulnerable women. 

According to her, “in 

view of recent 

happenings, Keke Napep 

which is the means of 

accessible transportation to 

our people, especially 

women, have now become 

a death trap. 

“We want to call on the 

relevant authorities to 

please re-organise the 

Keke Napep operations for 

better and purposeful 

services to the people. 

“We are compelled to 

register our feelings as 

mothers. We should also be 

motherly enough to check 

the behaviours of our 

children for a better 

society.” 

The eco-system.” 

During a telephone 

interview, Ishengoma, 

who teaches at St Anne 

Marie Academy in Dar-Es- 

Salaam, enthused: “I am 

so excited. I really want to 

thank the Sahara Group 

for giving me this creative 

experience. 

“I feel more connected 

to matters concerning my 

natural environment than 

I have before. I’m also 

looking forward to using 

my brand new phone to 

keep the conversation on 

climate action alive.” 

Bethel Obioma, Sahara’s 

Head of Corporate 

Communications said: “We 

could never have 

anticipated the level of 

enthusiasm that greeted 

the competition. 

“We received entries 

from different countries 

and the assessors commended 

their qualities.”

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 —17 

POWER outages are the 

bane of our lives in Nigeria. 

The average citizen suffers 

countless hours of darkness. 

Food rots as fridges are 

rendered useless. Entire 

urban and rural areas 

routinely go through days on 

end without any power at all. 

Even those who can afford 

generators that guarantee 

nonstop electrical coverage 

have to tolerate the earsplitting 

noise and noxious 

pollution they generate. And 

let’s not forget the vast sums 

that are spent on diesel. Alhaji 

Abdullahi Gachi, an engineer 

friend of mine, sent me his 

views about the status quo; 

and I thought I should share 

them with Vanguard readers: 

’M always struck by how 

‘I much money Nigeria 

has invested in the power 

sector without anything really 

changing. The government 

always promises there will be 

light, but we are still being left 

in the dark. Now we hear 

there is palaver. Firstly, the 

private sector generating 

companies, Gencos, are 

complaining that their 

invoices are not being paid by 

the Nigeria Bulk Electricity 

Trading Company, NBET, on 

time or at all. 

Secondly, the solar power 

plants already agreed with 

NBET with the potential to be 

operational in the North next 

year being built are stalled as 

NBET seems to be trying to get 

out of an agreement and tariff 

it has made. So what is going 

on, I wonder? 

The long and the short of it: 

The government is not paying 

its bills. NBET has been 

paying as little as 20 per cent 

of the Gencos’ invoices. So it’s 

buying a sachet of pure water 

for 10 naira, drinking it and 

then offering the seller two 

Naira. But, hang on, didn’t 

the pure water sellers have to 

borrow money to buy the pure 

water to sell? Meaning, the 

Gencos are not able to service 

their debts with the banks, 

pushing them deeper and 

deeper into debt. And 

potentially taking the banks 

•Power installation in Nigeria 

The problem with power? 

down with them because loans 

are not being paid. 

So when a brand new power 

plant called Azura started 

generating power in 

December 2017 and was paid 

100 per cent of its invoice, the 

older Gencos snapped and 

took the Federal Government 

to court. “Why are you paying 

him 10 Naira and me only two 

Naira?” We now have an ugly 

Government is 

not paying its 

bills; NBET has 

been paying as 

little as 20 per 

cent of the 

Gencos’ 

invoices 

situation where the older 

Gencos are not getting paid in 

full, but the new kid on the 

block is getting paid in full. 

And NBET has even gone one 

step further: It is stopping the 

solar power plants from being 

built in order not to have to 

pay them in full, too. 

Why the difference in 

treatment? Well, the problem 

is that Azura has a 

Put Call Option 

Agreement, PCOA, 

signed with 

government and a 

World Bank Partial 

Risk Guarantee, 

PRG. The World 

Bank’s PRG means 

that if NBET does 

not pay Azura’s 

invoice, Azura just 

knocks on the 

World Bank’s door 

and collects. Azura 

is currently the 

only generating 

company with such 

a guarantee. And 

NBET is doing its best to 

prevent the solar power plants 

getting the same. The older 

Gencos do not have such an 

instrument, and are rightly 

miffed. 

NBET could manage all of 

this a lot better. Simply pay all 

the invoices and then the 

guarantee becomes 

unnecessary. The money is 

there. 

After all, the Federal 

Government has approved 

over N700 billion to make sure 

these companies are paid. 

Does NBET not realise that the 

consequences of not paying 

Azura’s invoice could affect 

the price of rice and garri? If 

NBET does not pay, and Azura 

calls on the guarantee, NBET 

either has to repay the 

guarantor or the Federal 

Government has to indemnify 

the World Bank for having 

picked up the tab. 

Any failure by government to 

do so would be a sovereign 

default. And as the Minister 

of Finance’s Special Adviser, 

•Power minister, Babatunde Fashola 

Media recently said: “A 

sovereign default has the 

consequent effect of 

increasing Nigeria’s credit 

risk and cost of borrowing in 

the International Capital 

Markets, ICMs”. Meaning 

that if we don’t pay our debts, 

we can’t borrow money. 

In fact, the lenders who have 

lent us money will want their 

money back before we can 

even pay. We will go broke. 

And there will be no prospect 

of borrowing money 

anywhere, let alone attract 

foreign investors – such as 

those who are willing to put 

$2 billion into the solar power 

plants. We can then simply 

rename Nigeria, Argentina. 

After all, some of Argentina’s 

creditors are in court trying to 

seize the country’s assets, 

such as money held in Western 

banks. 

If that were not enough, 

there is even trouble inside 

NBET. Some sections of senior 

staff are locked in a bitter feud 

with management so toxic that 

staff are apparently secretly 

recording what other staff 

members are doing. So sayeth 

none other than the 

Permanent Secretary to the 

Ministry of Power, Louis 

Edozien, who cautioned the 

Managing Director of NBET, 

Dr. Marilyn Amobi, in a memo 

published this week. 

Interestingly, the Permanent 

Secretary may have 

unintentionally contributed to 

setting all this upset in motion 

with the appointment of Dr. 

Amobi in the absence of an 

NBET Board of Directors. 

Unlike many other Federal 

Government agencies, NBET 

currently has no such board, 

meaning no one is keeping an 

eye on what management 

does. Let alone protect NBET 

management (who technically 

come under the Ministry of 

Finance not the Ministry of 

Power), from political 

interference. 

Political 

interference 

It was, therefore, hardly 

surprising that the Minister of 

Finance was quick to deny 

that she was responsible for 

preventing the 14 solar power 

plants, which are 

predominantly destined to 

bring light and jobs to 

Northern Nigeria, from going 

ahead. The time would seem 

to be ripe for government to 

consider appointing such an 

NBET board to rekindle 

confidence in the power sector. 

As I said, the long and the 

short of it is, despite all the 

money going into the power 

sector, this situation is taking 

a turn for the worse and looks 

set to spill over into the 

banking sector. 

I hope not as I, for one, don’t 

want to always face 

permanently empty ATMs. If 

only because government is 

failing to pay those critical 

stakeholders making and 

bringing power. Let us all 

hope that the wise men and 

women in power provide us 

with power - to lift us out of 

poverty rather than pushing 

us over the edge. 

Fix NBET and payments and 

you take a step to fixing the 

problems in the sector. To 

paraphrase an old saying: “A 

switch in time will save nine.” 

Responses to: 

donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk 

or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811 

675 9752 (texts only). 

PLEASE KINDLY NOTE 

THAT UNLESS YOU 

REQUEST ANONYMITY, 

YOUR COMMENTS MAY BE 

PUBLISHED, WITH YOUR 

NAMES AND CONTACT 

DETAILS ATTACHED. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


UNBELIEVABLE! That was the 

reactions of most Nigerians when 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta 

State recently told the Assistant 

Inspector-General of Police for 

Zone 5, Mr. Rasheed Akintunde, 

that owners of farmlands in 

Uwheru, Ughelli North Local 

Government Area, now pay 

“protection fees” to armed 

herdsmen before they can enter 

their farms. 

No one ever believed that the time 

would come when strangerelements 

alien to Nigeria would 

forcefully seize the farmlands of 

indigenous peoples and subject 

them to slaves in their own 

ancestral communities while the 

Police and security agencies 

charged with the protection of lives 

and property pretend not to notice. 

The atrocities of armed herdsmen 

across the nation are welldocumented 

daily affairs, but the 

situation in Delta State stands out 

As herdsmen turn “landlords” in Delta State 

in its own way. It was in Ubulu-Uku 

in Aniocha South Local 

Government Area that a traditional 

ruler, Obi Edward Akaeze Ofulue 

III, was kidnapped and killed in 

December 2016. Despite various 

efforts by Governor Okowa to 

promote peaceful coexistence, 

these armed herders have seized the 

farmlands and highways of the 

state, killing, maiming, kidnapping, 

raping, robbing and now extorting 

money from helpless farmers. 

It is becoming abundantly clear 

that there is more to the mission of 

these herdsmen than what we have 

known pastoralists for down the 

ages. Those who accuse the armed 

militias masquerading as 

“herdsmen” of nursing territorial 

ambitions can easily find 

justification in the seizure of 

peoples’ ancestral lands by these 

invaders who now extort helpless 

citizens before they can eke out a 

living on their own lands. 

It is very pathetic and indeed 

shameful to watch Governors who 

are designated by the Constitution 

as the “Chief Security Officers” of 

their states weeping for their people 

and wringing their hands helplessly 

while genuine help is never 

forthcoming from the Federal 

Government which exclusively 

controls the instruments and 

agencies of law enforcement. 

We are afraid that this horrible 

situation is reaching a breaking 

point where communities will be 

left to choose between abandoning 

their ancestral lands to these alien 

invaders or take their destinies fully 

into their hands. This is a recipe for 

disaster and does not bode well for 

the unity and continued existence 

of this country. 

Once again, we call on President 

Muhammadu Buhari to move 

decisively and restore order across 

Nigeria. No drive for food security 

can succeed with armed bandits 

running riot across indigenous 

communities terrorising the farmers 

and villagers who feed the rest of 

us. 

Above all, this gross violation of 

the rights and liberties of the 

ordinary, peace-loving Nigerians 

has to stop. 

Enough is enough! 

By Henry Okolo 

N 

“ IGERIA’S cattle management, meat 

processing and supply chain logistics are 

primitive and cannot support the quality health 

and safety requirements of an international 

meat burger franchise company. However, with 

its large youthful population and affinity for 

modern consumption, Nigeria holds the largest 

promise for an international meat burger 

franchise in Africa. Modernisation is inevitable 

but would require investments, time and 

commitment of stakeholders (government and 

investors).” 

The comments above were the verdict 

passed after a presentation made to a leading 

beef burger franchise company whilst 

declining a franchise for the Nigerian market. 

These were made in 2004 and up till date (14 

years later), the company is yet to approve 

Nigeria for its franchise. Only three countries 

in Africa (South Africa, Egypt and Morocco) 

then were judged to meet the requirement of 

the particular franchise company. This 

company has over 35,000 restaurants/ 

franchises in more than 120 countries, 

including developing countries with lower 

population and GDP than Nigeria. It 

established that Nigeria can eventually 

support the consumption of over one million 

hamburgers a day, with over N200 billion per 

annum business opportunity. 

It is this primitive nature of the cattle 

management and meat processing facility that 

is at the core of the problems with cattle rearing 

and the conflicts between owners of cattle and 

owners of land and crops. This problem can 

only get worse with time unless specific steps 

are taken by various stakeholders to transit to 

a modern cattle economy and business. Cattle 

management is an economic and business 

activity. Unfortunately, all challenges 

associated with this business have been seen 

through the lenses of ethnicity, religion and 

sectionalism with no attention paid to the 

economic and business realities. We need a 

cross sectoral approach involving the 

ministries of Agriculture, Industries, Finance, 

Central Bank, etc, to create an economic and 

business solution. 

OPINION 

Economics and business of cattle 

Following the feedback made in the quest 

for the burger franchise, we undertook 

comprehensive study of cattle and modern 

meat processing facility in 2004. A group of 

Nigerian veterinary doctors and agricultural 

economists and experts from South Africa were 

commissioned to establish the cattle 

population, distribution, ownership and 

management structure in Nigeria. Then in 

2004, the cattle population was estimated at 

about 14 million. Recent publication from the 

Ministry of Agriculture indicates that the cattle 

population is now in excess of 20 million cows 

which at an average unit price (conservative) 

of N100,000 would translate to N2 trillion or 

The transition from a free 

infrastructure and free feed 

to paid infrastructure and 

feed is inevitable 

approximately $6 billion. This is a significant 

asset value and it is to the benefit of Nigeria’s 

economy that this and other similar assets are 

developed and protected. 

The study established that the majority (over 

60 per cent) of the cattle population were held 

or in transit in the North-Eastern states, 

particularly Borno and Yobe states with regular 

inflows from Northern Cameroun, Chad and 

Niger. In 2004, the Boko Haram crisis had not 

started. With the inception of Boko Haram 

crisis in the North-East, more than 50 per cent 

of Nigeria’s cattle population had to move out 

of the Borno-Yobe axis to other parts of Nigeria 

and outside Nigeria (Cameroun and Gabon). 

Borno and Yobe states have substantial land 

mass more than the entire South East and 

South-South. With the displacement of cattle 

from these areas, the natural consequence is 

immediate pressure in the other parts of the 

country. The incidents in Taraba, Benue, Kogi, 

Kwara, Enugu, etc, derive from this fact. 

In addition to the loss of Borno State as the 

major cattle holding/transit and grazing area, 

there has been increase in human population 

requiring increased agricultural activity, 

particularly crops. This competition for space 

and food is the cause of the herdsmen/ farmers’ 

crisis. Today, majority of the cattle are 

effectively free range animals with the owners 

not used to making any investment in 

infrastructure: land and animal feed (grass, 

water, etc). 

The current economics of traditional cattle 

rearing is therefore predicated on free land 

and free feed. This is at the core of the herdsmen 

community crisis and governments at the 

federal and state levels, and cattle owners must 

engage and invest in transitional 

arrangements. Free land and free feed for cattle 

is unsustainable. Land, including farm lands, 

are owned by individuals, indigenous 

communities or state governments. Most 

farmers either own or lease lands from 

indigenous communities and invest in their 

crops. Appropriating these land and crops by 

force is a recipe for WAR which could erupt on 

a large scale if not urgently addressed. 

While most of the cattle populations are 

owned by small holders (2-10), there are also 

sizeable populations of cattle owners with 

animal population well in excess of 100 and 

in some cases as much as 100,000 or more. 

These owners of larger holdings essentially 

invest in their animals and subcontract 

herding through a network of herdsmen and 

herdsmen managers. When you see a herd of 

100 to 200, the herdsmen are paid workers 

and do not necessarily own the cattle. The real 

owners of the cattle are mostly affected by the 

struggle for access to land and feed for the 

cattle. By implication, they must be involved 

in the ongoing crises. 

In addition to the work in understanding the 

cattle population ownership and trading 

system, studies were carried out on the 

establishment of meat processing plant 

logistics and infrastructure capable of 

slaughtering and processing 1,000 cattle per 

day with cattle conditioning/fattening facility 

to hold at least 100-day stock i.e 100,000 

animals. The objective then was to build a 

facility to support the processing of one million 

hamburgers per day and process international 

standard meat cuts (Sirloin, Rib Eye, T-bone, 

Steaks, etc). We established that the Nigerian 

cattle stock conditioned and fattened over a 

period of 100 days with world class animal 

health care will produce the appropriate meat 

quality. Dedicated ranches and controlled 

grazing areas will deliver this quality. A viable 

blueprint for establishing ranches and cattle 

fattening facilities was also developed. 

We established that with improved cattle 

management, the average live weight of 

Nigeria’s cattle currently 250-400kg could be 

improved by more than 50% i.e. above 400kg. 

Nigeria could indeed become a genuine 

exporter of quality beef products and offer 

traceability for its meat products. Creating the 

infrastructure for fattening and holding 

100,000 animals and 1000 cattle per day 

slaughter/process facility would require 

investments in the region of $100 million, with 

excellent returns on investment. 

Cattle rearing is an agricultural activity like 

other branches of animal and plant agriculture. 

Current cattle management practices are 

predicated on free infrastructure and free 

animal feed. However, as land and farms are 

owned by private individuals and states, the 

struggle and protection of owned land and 

farms will continue to generate conflict. The 

transition from a free infrastructure and free 

feed to paid infrastructure and feed is inevitable 

and will need to be managed. 

There will be major implications for 

investors and participants in the cattle value 

chain. Properly managed, this will create a 

new agro-industrial business opportunity for 

owners of cattle and meat processing plants. 

Cattle rearing and meat processing is an 

economic and business activity and not an 

ethnic or religious issue. The transition to 

modern animal management is inevitable but 

needs to be carefully managed with a sense of 

urgency by all stakeholders. 

*Mr. Okolo, a public affairs commentator, 

wrote from Lagos.

Investors stake N142. 8bn on FGN bond 

By Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau 

Chief 

INVESTORS have continued 

to demonstrate high 

appetite for Federal 

Government of Nigeria (FGN) 

bond, staking N142.81 billion 

so far in the March 2018 

series. 

The Debt Management 

Office (DMO) conducted the 

third in the series of FGN 

Bond Auctions for the year on 

March 21, 2018 to raise funds 

for the implementation of the 

2018 budget. 

Bonds were offered in three 

tenors of 5, 7 and 10 years, to 

meet the needs of the various 

investor categories. 

The debt office said that the 

auction was oversubscribed, 

just like the January and 

February auctions. 

The total subscription of 

N142.81 billion represented 

about 204 percent of the 

amount offered. 

The subscription rates for the 

5, 7 and 10 year bonds were 

189 percent, 84 percent and 

329 percent, respectively, 

showing the preference of 

investors for the 10-year bond. 

Based on the bids received, 

a total of N64.06 billion was 

allotted and the rates were 

13.40 percent for the 5-year, 

13.53 percent for the 7-year 

and 13.60 percent for the 10- 

year bond. 

The exercise also indicated 

a gradual reduction of rates 

which used to be in the region 

of 15 per cent. 

Recall that DMO Director- 

General, Ms. Patience Oniha, 

recently said that driving 

down rates at the capital 

market was one of the key 

objectives of the current debt 

strategy of the federal 

government. 

NSE moves to forestall price 

decline in newly listed entities 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

THE Nigerian Stock 

Exchange, NSE, has 

commenced moves to curtail the 

usual free fall in the share prices 

of newly listed companies. 

This is coming months ahead 

of the listing of MTN Nigeria on 

the Exchange and other listings 

expected this year. 

It has been observed that prices 

of most companies newly 

admitted on the Official List of 

Exchange usually begin a 

downward movement 

immediately after their listing, 

resulting in significant loss to 

investors who bought the shares 

from the primary market prior to 

their listing or at the point of 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

SDR 

DANISH 

RAND 

$118.85 0.00 

$2,529.00 5.00 

$12.73 0.06 

$69.65 0.18 

$64.45 -0.72 

304.7 305.2 305.7 

428.073 428.7755 429.4779 

374.1411 374.7551 375.369 

319.4255 319.9497 320.4738 

2.8672 2.8719 2.866 

0.5512 0.5612 0.5712 

441.3631 442.0873 442.8116 

48.1167 48.1961 48.2755 

81.249 81.3823 81.5157 

442.0588 442.7842 443.5096 

50.2175 50.3 50.3824 

25.3811 25.4227 25.4644 

CBN Exchange rate as at 22/03/2018 

listing. 

Consequently, NSE, in a notice 

to the dealing members on 

Wednesday, said it is developing 

a set of rules that would 

henceforth stabilise share prices 

post-listing and also facilitate 

their distribution to the public. 

The Exchange explained that 

the proposed rule is aimed at 

supporting and maintaining the 

price of listed securities for a 

limited period after the listing or 

offer, thus establishing an orderly 

market for securities in the 

immediate secondary market after 

an offer. 

The rules, according to the 

Exchange, would cover 

requirements for price 

stabilisation, price and period, 

permitted price 

stabilisation and 

permitted stabilising 

activities, criteria for 

stabilisation 

m a n a g e r s , 

responsibilities of the 

stabilisation manager, 

disclosure and 

reporting obligations 

of the stabilisation 

manager, amongst 

others. 

It further stated that 

the rule would define 

the circumstances and 

manner in which price 

stabilisation will be 

permitted by the 

Exchange, in 

accordance with the 

provisions of the 

Investments and 

Securities Act (ISA), 

Consolidated Rules 

and Regulations of the 

Securities and 

From left: President George Weah of Liberia with President 

of Council, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Abimbola 

Ogunbanjo, after a closed door meeting to discuss Nigeria’s 

private sector investment opportunities in Liberia. 

Exchange Commission, SEC 

Rules 2013 and the Rulebook of 

the Exchange. 

“Given that transparency is a 

prerequisite for the prevention of 

market abuse, it is important to 

ensure that adequate information 

is disclosed or reported prior to, 

during, and after any trading 

effected for the stabilisation of 

securities in order to avoid market 

abuse and illegal market 

practices. 

“In addition, market integrity 

requires adequate public 

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 — 19 

disclosure of stabilisation 

measures. Reporting of the 

stabilisation transactions is also 

necessary to allow competent 

authorities to supervise 

stabilisation measures. The 

proposed rules address the 

parameters of substantive price 

support in securities offerings. In 

addition, they serve as a defence 

to the necessary extent against 

prohibited trading practices, such 

as market manipulation, and 

breach of market abuse rules,” the 

Exchange stated in the notice. 

Shippers’ Council board holds inaugural meeting 

•Pledges improved shipping business 

By Godwin Oritse 

CHAIRMAN, Governing 

Board of the Nigerian 

Shippers’ Council (NSC), Hon. 

Mai Mala Buni, has pledged that 

the board would improve 

shipping business in the country 

with the cooperation of the 

management of the Council. 

Buni made the pledge at the 

inaugural meeting of the board 

held at the Council’s 

headquarters in Lagos on 

Wednesday. 

He expressed appreciation to 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

for the opportunity to serve on the 

board of the Shippers’ Council 

while soliciting the cooperation of 

the Council to enable the board 

achieve its mandate. 

He stated: “The board under 

my watch will cooperate with the 

management of the Council to 

improve shipping business.” 

Earlier in his remarks, 

Executive Secretary, NSC, 

Hassan Bello, called on the board 

to partner with management to 

realize the objectives of the 

federal government in the 

transportation sector. He said that 

Nigeria’s transportation sector is 

Ogun Cargo 

Airport: Amosun 

commended for 

compensating 

landowners 

OGUN State Governor, 

Senator Ibikunle Amosun, 

has been commended for 

compensating land owners in 

the areas earmarked for the 

proposed Ogun Cargo Airport. 

A frontline leader in Wasinmi, 

Ewekoro Local Government 

Area of the State, Mr. Bolaji 

Akinola, gave the 

commendation, yesterday, in 

Wasinmi. 

He noted that the proposed 

cargo airport will make 

significant contribution to the 

economic development of the 

state and Nigeria as several 

businesses will spring up from 

it. 

Akinola, who is a maritime 

expert, said: “There are 

different modes of 

transportation, and each mode 

has its own benefits and 

drawbacks. Airfreight is often 

used for high value and low 

volume shipments. Cargo 

airports provide fast and highly 

reliable means of moving high 

value cargoes quickly and 

reliably across the world. It is 

also a highly reliable means of 

transportation. The proximity 

of Ogun State to Lagos and the 

rapid transformation of Ogun 

into an industrial hub make the 

proposed cargo airport 

imperative, desirable and 

worthwhile.” 

He said the construction 

phase and eventual operation 

of the airport will provide more 

than 100,000 jobs to indigenes 

of the state. 

Akinola also commended the 

State government for the 

successful hosting of the 2018 

Ogun Investors’ Forum. The 

forum, which was held on 

March 20 and 21 in Abeokuta, 

was attended by Vice President 

Yemi Osinbajo, Minister of 

Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, 

and other top government 

functionaries and captains of 

industries from various parts of 

the world. 

Speaking on the sidelines of 

the event, Akinola said the 

forum, which is in its fourth 

edition, will consolidate the 

investment drive of the Amosun 

administration. 

capable of driving the Nigerian 

economy, hence the need for the 

board to be in tandem with the 

management of the Council to 

achieve the overall goal of the 

federal government. 

Bello stated: “The country now 

wants to take advantage of the 

transport industry as far as 

infrastructure is concerned and 

realizing the objectives of the 

federal government in 

employment, inclusiveness and 

opportunities. We believe that the 

transport industry should drive 

the economy and I am sure that 

the board will be in tandem with 

the overall goal of the federal 

government.


By Theodore Opara 

Auto sector key to nation’s economic revival — BKG boss 

WORRIED by the slow 

development in the 

Nigeria’s auto sector, Managing 

Director of BKG Exhibitions, 

Mr. Ifeanyi Agwu has 

charged the Federal Government 

to pay more attention to 

reviving the nation’s auto sector, 

saying it is the remedy to 

the development of the country’s 

economy. 

Mr. Agwu who spoke to the 

Motoring press in his office 

stated that there is no way the 

Federal Government can revive 

the economy without reviving 

the auto sector. 

Said he: “the automotive sector 

is very key to the development 

of the nation’s economy 

and cannot be allowed to suffer 

as it is presently. 

“We need to get the mechany 

right and policies too. If 

the policy is not right, we will 

be moving in a circle and not 

forward”he said. 

Agwu regreted that despite 

our huge resources and population 

in the continent, we 

are yet to develop at the right 

pace. 

“Nigeria is a major market, 

yet there are more vehicles imported 

into Niger and Benin 

Republic which later end up 

in Nigeria, through illegal 

means. 

The Nigerian government is 

the loser because it is creating 

business opportunities 

and revenues for neighbouring 

countries and the ‘underworld 

market’ to its detriment.’’ 

The virtually angry BKB boss 

lamented that the country is 

fast losing employments that 

would have come from the 

auto sector and urged the government 

to seriously look into 

the sector. 

“The whole world knows 

that Nigerians love cars. If we 

leave the tax and duties at 70 

percent as it is presently, the 

cars will continue to come 

through illegal means and the 

*Ifeanyi Agwu, MD, BKG Exhibitions 

country will continue to lose 

huge revenue annually.” 

To this end, he urged the 

Human factor responsible for 85% of road accidents 

— FRSC 

Federal Government to slash 

the tariff on automobiles to be 

at par with what Benin and 

ROAD users, bad attitude cou 

pled with low level of safety 

education and awareness has been 

blamed for many road accidents 

across the country. The Lagos sector 

commander of Federal Road 

Safety Corps, Mr. Hyginus Omeje 

stated this at the kick off 2018 

Guinness Nigeria, Transport Safety 

week, in Lagos. 

According to the sector commander, 

studies had shown that 

the causes of road traffic crashes 

were road, vehicle, and human 

factors, with human factor recording 

85 per cent. 

“The Guinness many people see 

are the trucks. Whatever is being 

done with the trucks is the way 

the brand is perceived. Not everyone 

may know where Guinness 

head office is located, or where the 

factories are. Hence why it is very 

important for the drivers to be well 

trained on the ethics of driving and 

staying safe on the roads,” Omeje 

said. 

In line with its avowed commitment 

to promote road safety and 

sustainable transport systems in 

the country, Guinness Nigeria Plc, 

Head of Governance, Guinness Nigeria, Hamilton Iyogbon; Sustainable Development & 

Alcohol in Society Manager, Guinness Nigeria,Titilola Alabi,Corp Commander, Federal Road 

Safety Corp (FRSC) Lagos State Command, Mr Hyginus Omeje; Customer Service and 

Logistics Associate Director, Akoji Amedu; Site Director, Guinness Ogba Brewery, Kingsely 

Imade and Logistics Safety Manager, Guinness Nigeria, Adebayo Oluwafemi at the Guinness 

Transport and Safety Week 2018, held in Lagos recently. 

Niger Republic are charging. 

He said this has become the 

only way forward since we cannot 

build walls at the border 

to adequately check the influx 

of vehicles from neighbouring 

countries. 

Agwu called for the reverse 

of the nation’s auto’s policy to 

enable the country achieve the 

goals of developing the sector. 

According to him “my idea is 

the reverse. Lets the already 

built auto plants start with 

spare parts production adding 

as it presently, it will be very 

expensive to produce cars in 

Nigeria for now because every 

single part is sourced from 

outside. 

As it is, Agwu noted that the 

grey market controls the nations 

auto sector which 

shouldn’t be the case but 

pointed out that if the Federal 

Government gives the right attention 

to the auto sector Nigerian 

will see the difference 

in four years. 

He also made case for the 

setting up technical schools to 

address the manpower problem 

and issue of quacking in 

the auto sector. 

‘’If we tow the line, the country 

will develop in four years 

but we must address the issue 

a subsidiary of Diageo Plc, has 

held its Transport and Safety Week, 

to reiterate the importance of safety 

both on and off the road. 

With the theme, “Be safe”, Nigeria’s 

only total beverage alcohol 

company advised its employees, 

particularly drivers, to imbibe the 

core values of being Smart, Alert, 

Focused and Educated at all times. 

Speaking at the event, Customer 

Service and Logistics Associate 

Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Mr. 

Akoji Amedu, stated that the Safety 

Week programme was put together 

to engage, educate and 

remind Guinness employees, particularly 

transporters of the importance 

of staying safe while at work 

of manpower by ensuring the 

setting up of technical schools 

like in Ghana, Benin Republic 

and even Germany,” he 

stated. 

On the forthcoming motor 

show organised by his company, 

Agwu said: “We need to do 

something. Last year was very 

bad. We want to do it better 

than we have done before. We 

want to raise the standard in 

terms of outlook. We are working 

seriously to make it a better 

event, especially the motor 

fair. The auto part is getting 

good participation. We have 

participation from across the 

globe. China, India, Turkey 

etc. We are working seriously 

to give it the best attention it 

deserves. The response is 

good. Coscharis, GAC, PAN, 

Toyota. It is already looking 

good. We want to step up the 

tempo. 

It is a very important event 

for Nigeria. It wish to showcase 

us us to the world. I don’t 

know why the CEOs can’t 

come to see what is happening. 

Most companies spend 

much on vehicles yet they 

don’t show up at the event. 

Apart from raw materials, state 

government’s spend much on 

automobiles too. 

and while driving on the roads. 

“Safety is a way of life, the way we 

work, the activities we engage in. 

Safety should be our overriding 

focus. When our employees come 

to work, they should be able to return 

home safe, “Amedu noted. 

He said: “We believe that a single 

death caused by drinking and 

driving is one too many and can 

and must be prevented. We are encouraged 

that over the last few 

years, the number of alcohol related 

fatalities has fallen significantly 

across the country. However, 

there is more to do and we are committed 

to playing our role in eradicating 

harm caused by drink driving 

in Nigeria” 

All new Kia K900 set to challenge 

luxury class 

KIA Motors has revealed 

the design of the all-new 

K900 luxury sedan in a series 

of exterior and interior images. 

The all-new K900 has been 

created in close collaboration 

between Kia’s global design 

headquarters in Namyang, 

Korea and the brand’s U.S. 

design studio in Irvine, California. 

The new model will 

make its world debut at the 

New York International Auto 

Show later next week. 

Combining a beautifully balanced 

design with elegant, 

flowing lines and geometric 

details, the K900 introduces a 

modern air of elegance and 

gravitas to the large sedan 

segment. Kia’s designers 

were inspired by the ‘Gravity 

of Prestige’ design concept, 

which exudes strength 

through rich detail and solid 

surfaces. Based conceptually 

on the the changing shape 

of condensed energy, a new 

‘Quadric pattern’ signature 

grilleis the focal point of the 

K900. Embodying the K900’s 

design concept, the grille contains 

176 jewel-like ‘cells’, 

suggestive of released energy 

accelerating away from its 

center. 

Lines in the high-strength 

steel bodywork flow naturally 

from the grille, rising over the 

hood and, in profile, sweeping 

through to the rear flanks 

before meeting at the back. 

Geometric design details 

add an element of modernity 

and technology. Evoking the 

trajectory of light, the design 

Continues on page

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 201820 —21 

Self-driving valet takes pain out of parking 

JAGUAR Land Rover’s 

self-driving cars can 

find spaces by themselves 

and park without any driver 

input. 

The self-driving valet 

demonstration is a step 

towards making selfdriving 

cars an everyday 

reality, with technology that 

removes stress from urban 

driving. It took place on 

open public roads in 

Milton Keynes as part of 

Jaguar Land Rover’s work 

with UK Autodrive, a consortium 

testing self-driving 

vehicles and connected car 

technologies. 

Joerg Schlinkheider, 

Jaguar Land Rover Chief 

Engineer, Automated 

Driving, said: 

“We’re investing heavily 

in automated technologies 

to make our customers’ 

lives safer and more convenient. 

Reducing the everyday 

stresses of driving 

– like squeezing into a tight 

parking place – means that 

we can all focus on the 

more enjoyable aspects of 

our cars.” 

Jaguar Land Rover has 

also developed connected 

technology to help speed 

up the integration of 

automated driving features. 

The tech allows cars 

to ‘talk’ to each other and 

the surrounding environment, 

giving drivers the 

right information when 

they need it and helping 

the car react more quickly. 

The company has tested 

two features in Milton 

Keynes: Emergency Vehicle 

Warning and Electron- 

Lagos govt commences enforcement 

to unlock Apapa traffic gridlock 

•39,798 vehicles fail road worthiness 

By Olasunkanmi 

Akoni 

RELIEF seems to be on 

t h e 

way for motorists and 

residents of Apapa and 

environs as Lagos State 

Government commenced 

fresh moves to unlock traffic 

gridlock in the area of the 

state. 

To this effect, determined 

to find solution to the 

perennial traffic gridlock in 

Apapa, Lagos State 

Governor, Akinwunmi 

Ambode led administration 

said it’s set to implement 

the Federal and State’s 

Government strategic intervention 

plan for the axis. 

Five million Kia Sportage sold in 25 years 

KIA Motors is 

celebrating five million 

cumulative sales of its global 

best-selling Kia Sportage 

compact SUV. The Sportage 

is one of the most popular 

compact SUV across globe. 

Launched in 1993, and 

spanning four generations 

since, the Kia Sportage has 

achieved this milestone on the 

year of its 25th anniversary. 

The latest model, launched in 

2016, is more popular than 

ever, with average global sales 

of 38,000 units per month in 

2017. 

“We are extremely proud 

to have achieved this milestone 

production figure for our 

global best-seller. The continued 

and accelerating popularity 

of the Sportage demonstrates 

the breadth of the car’s 

abilities and the strength of 

its appeal to buyers in markets 

all around the world,” 

said Ho Sung Song, Executive 

Vice President of Global 

Operations Divison, “Since 

1993, the Sportage has become 

a benchmark car in the 

compact SUV segment, and 

its success has also led to the 

creation of a diverse and comprehensive 

range of SUVs 

and crossovers from Kia – with 

other new models to follow in 

future.” 

According to Aombode, 

the strategic intervention to 

increase travel time within 

Apapa was borne out from 

the fact that the ports had 

given more than it had 

received since its 

establishment. 

The governor’s new strategic 

plan for the axis came 

six years after Federal/State 

Governments Technical 

Committee report on 

Apapa Regeneration Plan 

was apparently 

abandoned. 

He stated that while 

waiting for the Federal 

Government to actualize its 

project for Apapa, the State 

Government would intensify 

its strategic intervention 

plan for the axis, to end the 

suffering often experienced 

by residents and 

motorists daily. 

While reeling out the 

government plans for 

Apapa at a stakeholders’ 

forum, he said: “Aside that 

stakeholders are meeting 

to address traffic congestion 

in Apapa once and for 

all, we have already 

started repairing inner 

roads and we will continue 

with that.” 

Also, the governor 

stressed that the major 

reason for gridlock within 

the axis was due to lack of 

parking lot for trucks especially 

those from other 

states. 

According to him, “The 

challenge keeps recurring 

because there is no parking 

lot in Lagos ports again. We 

are working on how to address 

this traffic challenge 

so that trailers, tankers and 

Porsche paves way 

for future with 

substantial 

investments 

PORSCHE AG set 

new records for 

deliveries, revenue and 

operating results in the 2017 

financial year, delivering a 

total of 246,375 vehicles (+4 

per cent) and increasing its 

revenue by five per cent – to 

23.5 billion euro. Its operating 

profit rose by seven per 

cent to 4.1 billion euro (2016: 

3.9 billion euro). As a result, 

its operating return on 

sales increased from 17.4 

per cent in the previous 

year to 17.6 per cent. At the 

end of 2017, Porsche employed 

29,777 people, representing 

an increase of 

eight per cent compared to 

the previous year. 

“This successful financial 

statement confirms our 

strategy. We are using our 

high earnings level to 

support an unprecedented 

future development plan,” 

explained Oliver Blume, 

Chairman of the Executive 

Board of Porsche AG, at the 

annual press conference. 

In addition to making sizeable 

investments in its core 

sports car business, Porsche 

is also doubling its expenditure 

on trends for the 

future, with a commitment 

to invest over six billion 

euro in electromobility by 

2022. The money will be 

spent on derivatives of the 

Mission E, hybridisation 

and electrification of the 

current model range, as 

well as on developing a 

charging infrastructure and 

smart mobility. 

“We have succeeded in 

boosting our operating 

result by over 50 per cent 

within the last three years,” 

emphasised Lutz Meschke, 

Deputy Chairman of the 

Executive Board and 

Member of the Executive 

Board for Finance and IT. 

“With a profit margin of 

17.6 per cent, Porsche continues 

to be among the 

most profitable automobile 

manufacturers in the world. 

This is down to continuous 

improvements in productivity, 

our stringent cost 

management strategy as 

well as our outstanding 

product range,” continued 

Meschke. Digitisation, 

electrification and connectivity 

are major challenges 

that require substantial investment. 

“Nevertheless, 

we are sticking to our strategic 

return target of at least 

15 per cent. We must and 

we will generate growth 

potential alongside the 

actual vehicle business. In 

the medium term, we want 

to generate a double-digit 

percentage of sales through 

digital services.” 

Meschke is optimistic in 

his outlook: “Our aim for 

2018 is to stabilise revenue 

and deliveries at this high 

level.” Porsche expects the 

next boost in sales to come 

when the Mission E, the 

first purely electric vehicle, 

hits the market. 

Plans for derivatives of the 

Mission E are also under 

way: Just last week, Porsche 

presented a productionready 

concept study of the 

Mission E Cross Turismo at 

the Geneva Motor Show. 

The purely electrically driven 

Cross-Utility Vehicle 

(CUV) has a system power 

of over 600 hp (440 kW), a 

range of more than 500 kilometres 

and accelerates from 

0 to 100 km/h in under 3.5 

seconds. The charging time 

is four minutes for a range of 

approximately 100 kilometres. 

For the next ten years, 

Porsche intends to continue 

with a three-pronged approach, 

incorporating 

optimised combustion 

engines, plug-in hybrid 

models and purely electric 

sports cars – all in typical 

Porsche style of course. “The 

regions of the world are 

developing at different rates. 

We are therefore gearing 

ourselves up as flexibly as 

possible for the transitional 

period,” said Blume. 

Porsche also unveiled the 

911 GT3 RS in Geneva. “The 

GT3 RS features the most 

powerful naturally aspirated 

engine Porsche has to offer,” 

said Oliver Blume, Porsche 

CEO. The new highperformance 

sports cars 

delivers 383 kW (520 hp) 

from a four-litre 

displacement, accelerates 

from 0 to 100 km/h in just 3.2 

seconds and boasts a top 

speed of 312 km/h. Following 

the launch of the 911 GT3 

and the 911 GT2 RS, this 

latest release saw Porsche 

present its third GT roadapproved 

sports car within a 

year.


Cambridge Analytica: I am responsible for what 

happened, says Zuckerberg 

Stories by 

Prince Osuagwu 

(Hi-Tech Editor) 

FACEBOOK founder 

Mark Zuckerberg has 

come out with a detailed 

response to the crisis rocking his 

platform over the manner a political 

data firm Cambridge Analytica 

squeezed out users information 

and allegedly used same to 

influence the outcome of the US 

presidential elections in 2016. 

Zuckerberg in a post on Facebook, 

admitted responsibility for 

what Data Analytica used his platform 

to do, adding that the primary 

responsibility of the social 

media platform ordinarily ought 

to be to protect users’ data. 

He also admitted, that where 

that did not happen is a fault on 

his part and promised to work 

hard to correct the mistakes and 

lead a strong platform that infiltrators 

may not have access to. 

Zuckerberg however said that 

the company has taken several 

measures against what happened 

but that having found out they 

were not enough, he will ensure 

stricter measures are deployed 

soonest even without making it 

difficult for users to have fluid, 

robust and friendly access to the 

platform. 

On his Facebook page, Zuckerberg 

said: 

“I want to share an update on 

the Cambridge Analytica situation 

— including the steps we’ve 

already taken and our next steps 

to address this important issue. 

“We have a responsibility to 

protect your data, and if we can’t 

then we don’t deserve to serve 

you. I’ve been working to understand 

exactly what happened and 

how to make sure this doesn’t 

happen again. The good news is 

that the most important actions 

to prevent this from happening 

again today we have already taken 

years ago. But we also made 

mistakes, there’s more to do, and 

we need to step up and do it”. 

He released a timeline of the 

events preceding the Cambridge 

Analytica access to users data, an 

incident that has now turned a 

scandal for the social media platform 

housing billions of users all 

over the world. 

According to him: “In 2007, we 

launched the Facebook Platform 

with the vision that more apps 

should be social. Your calendar 

should be able to show your 

friends’ birthdays, your maps 

should show where your friends 

live, and your address book 

should show their pictures. To do 

this, we enabled people to log into 

apps and share who their friends 

were and some information about 

them. 

“In 2013, a Cambridge University 

researcher named Aleksandr 

Kogan created a personality 

quiz app. It was installed by 

around 300,000 people who 

shared their data as well as some 

of their friends’ data. Given the 

way our platform worked at the 

time this meant Kogan was able 

to access tens of millions of their 

friends’ data. 

“In 2014, to prevent abusive 

apps, we announced that we were 

changing the entire platform to 

dramatically limit the data apps 

could access. 

“ Most importantly, apps like 

Kogan’s could no longer ask for 

data about a person’s friends unless 

their friends had also authorized 

the app. We also required 

developers to get approval from 

us before they could request any 

sensitive data from people. These 

actions would prevent any app 

like Kogan’s from being able to 

access so much data today. 

“In 2015, we learned from journalists 

at The Guardian that 

Kogan had shared data from his 

app with Cambridge Analytica. It 

is against our policies for developers 

to share data without people’s 

consent, so we immediately 

banned Kogan’s app from our 

platform, and demanded that 

Kogan and Cambridge Analytica 

formally certify that they had deleted 

all improperly acquired 

data. They provided these certifications. 

“Last week, we learned from 

The Guardian, The New York 

Times and Channel 4 that Cambridge 

Analytica may not have 

deleted the data as they had certified. 

We immediately banned 

them from using any of our services. 

Cambridge Analytica claims 

they have already deleted the 

data and has agreed to a forensic 

audit by a firm we hired to confirm 

this. We’re also working with 

regulators as they investigate what 

happened. 

“This was a breach of trust between 

Kogan, Cambridge Analytica 

and Facebook. But it was also 

a breach of trust between Facebook 

and the people who share 

their data with us and expect us 

to protect it. We need to fix that” 

he admitted. 

However, Zuckerberg said 

his company has taken 

some steps against what happened 

and was prepared to take 

more. 

“In this case, we already took 

the most important steps a few 

years ago in 2014 to prevent bad 

actors from accessing people’s 

information in this way. But there’s 

more we need to do and I’ll outline 

those steps here: 

“First, we will investigate all 

apps that had access to large 

amounts of information before we 

changed our platform to dramatically 

reduce data access in 2014, 

and we will conduct a full audit 

of any app with suspicious activity. 

We will ban any developer 

from our platform that does not 

agree to a thorough audit. And if 

we find developers that misused 

personally identifiable information, 

we will ban them and tell everyone 

affected by those apps. 

That includes people whose data 

Kogan misused here as well. 

“Second, we will restrict developers’ 

data access even further to 

prevent other kinds of abuse. For 

example, we will remove developers’ 

access to your data if you 

haven’t used their app in 3 

Mark Zuckerberg 

months. We will reduce the data 

you give an app when you sign 

in — to only your name, profile 

photo, and email address. We’ll 

require developers to not only get 

approval but also sign a contract 

in order to ask anyone for access 

to their posts or other private data. 

And we’ll have more changes to 

share in the next few days. 

“Third, we want to make sure 

you understand which apps 

you’ve allowed to access your 

data. In the next month, we will 

show everyone a tool at the top of 

your News Feed with the apps 

you’ve used and an easy way to 

revoke those apps’ permissions to 

your data. We already have a tool 

to do this in your privacy settings, 

and now we will put this tool at 

the top of your News Feed to make 

sure everyone sees it. 

“Beyond the steps we had already 

taken in 2014, I believe 

Edited by 

Prince Osuagwu 

08050498513 

princeosuagwu@gmail.com 

these are the next steps we must 

take to continue to secure our platform. 

“I started Facebook, and at the 

end of the day I’m responsible for 

what happens on our platform. 

I’m serious about doing what it 

takes to protect our community. 

While this specific issue involving 

Cambridge Analytica should 

no longer happen with new apps 

today, that doesn’t change what 

happened in the past. We will 

learn from this experience to secure 

our platform further and 

make our community safer for everyone 

going forward. 

“I want to thank all of you who 

continue to believe in our mission 

and work to build this community 

together. I know it takes longer 

to fix all these issues than we’d 

like, but I promise you we’ll work 

through this and build a better 

service over the long term”. 

Six things facebook plans to do 

against data breach 

1.Review our platform. We will investigate all apps that had 

access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform 

in 2014 to reduce data access, and we will conduct a full audit 

of any app with suspicious activity. If we find developers that misused 

personally identifiable information, we will ban them from our 

platform. 

2.Tell people about data misuse. We will tell people affected by 

apps that have misused their data. This includes building a way for 

people to know if their data might have been accessed via “thisisyourdigitallife.” 

Moving forward, if we remove an app for misusing 

data, we will tell everyone who used it. 

3.Turn off access for unused apps. If someone hasn’t used an 

app within the last three months, we will turn off the app’s access to 

their information. 

4.Restrict Facebook Login data. We are changing Login, so 

that in the next version, we will reduce the data that an app can 

request without app review to include only name, profile photo and 

email address. Requesting any other data will require our approval. 

5.Encourage people to manage the apps they use. We already 

show people what apps their accounts are connected to and control 

what data they’ve permitted those apps to use. Going forward, 

we’re going to make these choices more prominent and easier to 

manage. 

6.Reward people who find vulnerabilities. In the coming weeks 

we will expand Facebook’s bug bounty program so that people 

can also report to us if they find misuses of data by app developers. 

Zuckerberg on 

CNN says 

Facebook can 

be regulated 

MARK Zuckerberg yester 

day granted interview to 

Cable News Network, CNN to explain 

his company’s involvement 

in the data scandal involving a 

data firm Cambridge Analytica 

accessing information from 50 

million Facebook users without 

their knowledge for the purpose 

of helping the Trump Campaign 

Team influence the 2016 presidential 

election. 

The interview, conducted by 

CNN’s Laurie Segall saw Zuckerberg 

apologising for not handling 

the data privacy of face 

book users very well in this case. 

Most importantly, he agreed for 

the fisrt time that Facebook and 

the likes can be regulated. 

Zuckerberg said: “It was a major 

breach of trust and I’m really 

sorry that this happened. You 

know we have a basic responsibility 

to protect people’s data and 

if we can’t do that then we don’t 

deserve to have the opportunity 

to serve people. So our responsibility 

now is to make sure that this 

doesn’t happen again. There are 

a few basic things that I think we 

need to do to ensure that” 

He said that Facebook will 

make sure that developers like 

Aleksandr Kogan, who got access 

to a lot of information and then 

improperly used it, no longer get 

access to as much information 

going forward. 

Zuckerberg also pointed out 

that the social media outfit has concluded 

plans to review thousands 

of apps, but sought the patience 

of the public because the process 

was going to take a while considering 

the volume of apps to review. 

Although the company is not 

considering legal action at the 

moment, he said Facebook may 

resort to that if it goes in and find 

that Cambridge Analytica still has 

access to the data in question. 

On several calls for him to appear 

before Congress or the UK 

house of Commons, Zuckerberg 

said: “The short answer is I’m 

happy to, if it’s the right thing to 

do. Facebook testifies in Congress 

regularly on a number of topics, 

some high profile and some not. 

And our objective is always to provide 

Congress, who does an extremely 

important job, to have the 

most information that they can. 

He also took a shot at different 

calls for Facebook to be regulated: 

“I am actually not sure we 

shouldn’t be regulated. I think in 

general, technology is an increasingly 

important trend in the world 

and I actually think the question 

is more, what is the right regulation 

rather than “Yes or no, should 

it be regulated?” 

“I think there are some big intellectual 

debates. On the basic 

side, I think there are things like 

ads transparency regulation that 

I would love to see. If you look at 

how much regulation there is 

around advertising on TV and 

print, it’s just not clear why there 

should be less on the internet. We 

should have the same level of 

transparency required. And I 

don’t know if the bill is going to 

pass. I know a couple of senators 

are working really hard on this, 

but “We’re committed and we’ve 

actually already started rolling out 

ad transparency tools that accomplish 

most of the things that are 

in all the bills that people are talking 

about today because this is an 

important thing" he added.


AWARD: Chief Executive Officer, Maritime Media Ltd, Elder Asu 

Beks (left) presenting Most Outstanding Customs Officer award to 

Comptroller Jibrin Musa, Area Controller, Apapa Command, Nigeria 

Customs Service, in Lagos. 

MATRICULATION — From left (front row): Mr. Gbenga Ariba, 

Lecturer; Bankole Awosika, Member, Board of Trustees; Dr. M. O. Alabi, 

Acting Dean, College of Natural and Applied Sciences, CNAS; Dr. Akin 

Sofolowe, Acting Dean, College of Management, Arts and Social Sciences, 

CMAS; Prof. Oladapo Walker, former World Health Organisation 

representative and Guest Speaker; Dr. Winifred Awosika, Chancellor; 

Prof. Chinedum Peace Babalola, Vice-Chancellor; Mr E. A. Lawale, 

Registrar; Mrs. Comfort Ogunseinde, member, Governing Council and 

Mr Victor Awosika, member, BoT, all of Chrisland University, Abeokuta, 

at the 3rd matriculation ceremony of the institution, in Abeokuta, Ogun 

State. 

FREE DENTAL CLINIC: From left, Omolola Adenuga, 

Corporate Communication Manager, P&G; Temitope Adisa, Assistant 

Brand Manager, Oral B; Tolulope Pogoson, Brand Manager, Oral B, 

and Roqeeb Ariwoola, Brand Operations Manager, P&G during a 

free dental clinic organised by Oral B, in commemoration of World 

Oral Health Day, in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos. 

INTERHOUSE SPORTS: Students of Herbert Macaulay House 

during the march past display at British Spring College interhouse 

sports, in Awka, Anambra State.

24 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

Senate e mulls excising “Culture and Tourism’’ 

T 

from om Information Ministry 

The Senate during the week 

urged the Federal 

Government to consider 

excising culture and tourism 

from the Federal Ministry of 

Information to ensure the 

harnessing of tourism 

potential in the country. 

The Senate also mandated 

its Committee on Information 

and Culture to consider 

summoning the Minister of 

Information and Culture to 

brief the members on the 

performance of culture and 

tourism sector. 

The resolutions followed 

adoption of a motion at plenary 

by Sen. Fatimat Raji-Rasak 

(Ekiti), who said that there 

was a need for the country to 

formulate and adopt policies 

that would develop tourism in 

a sustainable manner. 

Noting that tourism was a 

wealth creator, the lawmaker 

said, “it has become absolutely 

necessary for the Senate to 

intervene in a manner that will 

ensure that tourism is given 

priority in our development 

agenda. 

“This is because of its 

globally recognised potential 

in contributing to the growth 

of local economies. 

“Over the last decade, 

tourism has emerged as one 

of the largest economic sectors 

accounting for nine per cent 

of the world’s GDP and over 

200 million jobs. 

“Tourism offers millions of 

direct and indirect entry point 

into the workforce, particularly 

for youths and women and 

ensures diversity of 

investment opportunities for 

young entrepreneurial 

•Tourists at Olumo Rock, Abeokuta. Senators want the government to formulate and adopt 

policies that would develop tourism in a sustainable manner. 

talents.’’ 

In his contribution, Sen. 

Mao Ohuabunwa (Abia-PDP) 

said that Nigeria must 

develop its tourism potential 

in efforts to diversify the 

FTAN re-ignites es old memories at 20th anniver 

ersar 

sary 

It was a night of nostalgia as 

the Federation of Tourism 

Association of Nigeria, FTAN, 

honoured its pioneer members 

and past leaders when it 

celebrated its 20 years of 

existence. 

Those who fought to give life to 

tourism business and 

administration present at the 

Tour operator 

ors take AGM 

to Plateau 

In an effort to retain its position as the Home of Peace and 

Tourism, Plateau is to host the 2018 Annual General 

Meeting, AGM, of the Association of Tour Operators, NATOP. 

The NATOP President, Mr Nkereuwem Onung, who disclosed 

this in Lagos during the week, said that Plateau had been a 

leading tourism destination though challenged by insecurity. 

Onung said that the association chose Plateau for the AGM 

to demonstrate that the state was safe for tourism. 

He said that the state needed to strongly showcase its 

tourism potential, adding that the association would need 

to discover and expose new locations in the state to tour 

professionals. 

“Nigeria is blessed; Plateau is so rich in tourism potential 

that we should start to re-position the state as a way of 

growing tourism in Nigeria,” he said. 

According to Onung, the AGM scheduled for next week in 

Jos will have the theme: Security Challenges and Promotion 

of Tourism in Nigeria. 

“This is the first time the association will hold its AGM in the 

northern part of Nigeria. 

“We held the last AGM in Lagos; it held in Calabar the year 

before. It is a pleasure that the first event outside Southern 

Nigeria will hold in Plateau State. 

“As part of this year’s plan, there will be a one-day tour of 

Jos and its environs. 

“It is a ground-breaking event which will celebrate the 

speedy growth of tourism and its efforts in nation-building,” 

he said. 

economy. 

According to him, Nigeria 

is endowed but "we have not 

been able to develop what we 

have. 

“This is important now that 

award held at Eko Hotel, Lagos 

recently were seen hugging and 

recounting those early days of 

travelling around the country 

preaching the gospel of tourism. 

Among those who were on 

ground to receive the awards 

were Chief Mike Amachree, 

Mr. Goodie Ibru, Dr. Franklin 

Adejuwon, Alhaji Munzali 

Dantata, Chief Josephine 

Anenih, Chief Margaret Fabiyi 

(Webisco), Alhaji Inuwa Wada, 

Mr. Charles Ukomadu, Mr. 

Charles Abel, Mr. Tope 

Ogbeni-Awe, Chief Samuel 

Alabi, BOT Chairman, FTAN, 

Jemi Alade among others. 

Mr. Rabo Saleh, the 

president of FTAN, said that the 

event marked another 

milestone in the history of the 

association which started 20 

years ago. 

Saleh said that the idea 

behind the celebration was to 

appreciate and honour men and 

women of proven integrity who 

the country is diversifying its 

economy; we need to make our 

tourist sites beautiful and 

ensure they are well 

maintained to attract tourists. 

“It is obvious that the 

have laboured so hard for the 

growth of the industry. 

“Today, I can proudly say 

that the fruits and labour of 

these distinguished people 

have not been in vain. That is 

why we are celebrating them. 

“We are also remembering 

those that are not here today 

with us because they had 

answered the Lord’s call by 

giving them posthumous 

awards. 

“We are also assuring their 

family members that we 

appreciate their contributions to 

the development of the tourism 

sector, “he said. 

He said that FTAN had 

remained the driver of tourism 

sector development in other 

countries. 

He then appealed to the 

Federal Government to partner 

FTAN and others in the 

organised private sector for 

accelerated national 

development. 

•From left: Chief Mike Amachree, Dr Franklin Adejuwon, 

Otunba Segun Runsewe and Jemi Alade at the FTAN 20 th 

anniversary held at Eko Hotel, Lagos recently. 

discovery of oil made us leave 

our tourism potential 

underdeveloped,’’ Ohabunwa 

said. 

On his part, Sen. Barau 

Jubrin called for the review of 

the country’s tourism policy 

with a view to having a 

workable one. 

“The problem is that there 

is lack of workable tourism 

policy and to have a robust 

economy, there is need to have 

a sound tourism sector,’’ 

Jubrin said. 

Similarly, Sen. Adokwe 

Suleiman said: “Nigeria has 

beautiful milestones but this is 

undermined by neglect and 

insurgency. 

“Tourism has continued to 

be more of lip service; we need 

to demerge the ministry in 

order to give more focus on the 

development of tourism.’’ 

Stressing the need for the 

country’s tourist sites to be 

protected, Sen. Ben Bruce 

urged government at all tiers 

to make active efforts to 

promote tourism. 

He also called for increased 

private sector participation in 

order to facilitate rapid 

development of the sector. 

One of the awardees, Dr 

Franklin Adejuwon, who 

commended the present 

executive for deeming it fit to 

honour those who formed the 

association, urged them to keep 

the flag flying. 

Another awardee, Mr 

Ganiyu Balogun, the President, 

Association of Tourist Boat 

Operators and Water 

Transporters of Nigeria, 

ATBOWATN, said that he 

encountered several challenges 

in the industry in the past. 

“I survived it because I did 

not relent. When it was difficult, 

I endured. 

“Today, I am happy to be 

recognised for my 

contributions, endurance, 

perseverance and contributions 

to the development of the 

industry,’’ he said. 

Balogun, FTAN’s first vicepresident, 

said he was 

delighted to see the association 

growing by leaps and bounds. 

“It means the efforts of the 

pioneer members that included 

me are not in vain,’’ he said. 

Balogun appealed to the 

government to improve the 

security of lives and property on 

the waterways and also provide 

necessary 

tourism 

infrastructure. 

Also, Mrs Margaret Fabiyi, 

President, Webisco 

International Federation of 

Women Entrepreneurs and 

Tourism of Nigeria, expressed 

her joy over the award. 

Fabiyi, also a founding 

member said that the 

association since its inception, 

has been promoting the 

industry.



APC NEC members reaffirm tenure 

extension for party excos 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

ABUJA— DESPITE 

isolated pockets of 

resistance to its decision 

granting a one-year tenure 

extension to National 

Working Committee, NWC, 

states and local 

governments party 

executives, National 

Executive Committee, 

NEC, of ruling All 


APC, has again reaffirmed 

its earlier position. 

The forum of non-NWC 

NEC members, which 

reaffirmed the stance at a 

meeting,Wednesday 

night, in Abuja, also urged 

the party to take 

disciplinary action against 

party members, who took 

the party to court without 

exhausting internal 

mechanisms, in line with 

the party’s constitution. 

In a communiqué issued 

at the end of the meeting, 

which had Alhaji Nasiru 

Danu and 17 other 

signatories, the forum said: 

“The Non-NWC members 

forum of the ruling party, 

APC, at her meeting today, 

the 21st March 2018 

passed the following 

resolutions: 

“Re-affirmed its position 

taken by NEC at the last 

NEC meeting of February 

27, 2018 principally on the 

tenure extension to its party 

officers at all levels. 

“Urged the NWC of the 

party to take necessary 

disciplinary action in 

consonance with the party 

constitution in respect of 

those who sued the party 

without exhausting the 

party internal mechanisms 

in respect of their 

complaints or grievances as 

contained in our party 

constitution.” 

Recall that at the end of 

the 5th meeting of APC 

NEC, it was generally 

agreed by members to 

extend the tenure of all 

elected and appointed 

officers of the party in the 

36 states, the Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, and 

at the national level. 

The current tenure will 

end on June 30, 2018, but 

by this decision, all affected 

officers will continue in 

acting capacity for another 

period of 12 months after 

the expiration of their 

current terms. 

Group berates Ogboru, 

Delta APC over zoning 

APRESSURE group in 

Delta State, Voice of 

Freedom Network, VFN, 

has berated Chief Great 

Ogboru, and his party, the 

opposition All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Delta 

State over what it described 

as “highly suspicious 

positions they have 

assumed on zoning the 

gubernatorial ticket of their 

party in the state.” 

In a statement in Ughelli, 

the group, through its 

Convener, Comrade Victor 

Adaka, described APC in 

the state “as a cacophonous 

and talkative rabble of failed 

politicians and 

desperados” and took 

exception to comments 

recently credited to Ogboru 

on the raging issue of the 

zoning of the party’s 

governorship ticket for the 

2019 elections. 

According to the group, 

“Ogboru is the last person 

to complain about ethnic 

politics in Delta because, 

unlike Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa, who has always 

adopted a pan-Deltan 

approach to politicking and 

governance, Ogboru, on 

the other hand, has always 

ended up creating the 

impression that only 

members of his tribe are 

born to rule while others 

play second fiddle. 

“Come 2019, the only 

workable way forward in 

Delta that will ensure an 

equitable outcome for all 

stakeholders across the 

state is for Governor Okowa 

to complete the turn of Delta 

North and hand over to an 

Urhobo from Delta Central 

come 2023.” 

Sports fuel 

academic, 

intellectual 

success 

—Ujubuonu 

By Tare 

Youdeowei 

M ANAGING 

Director, Brande 

Aristotle Ltd, Mr. Odili 

Ujubuonu, has said sports 

help students excel in 

academics and be 

intellectually sound. 

He made this known at 

6th annual inter-house 

sports competition of British 

Spring College, Awka, 

Anambra State, sponsored 

by Chikki Instant Noodles, 

where Ujubuonu was the 

chairman of the event and 

Herbert Macaulay House 

emerged winner of the 

competition. 

“I commend the 

management for putting 

up a colourful event 

because the inter-house 

sports competition is an 

important component for 

proper growth in academics 

and intellectual vocations, 

as such it must be 

encouraged,” Ujubuonu 

said. 

Herbert Macaulay, 

Green House, topped the 

table with a total of 330 

points, followed by 

Nnamdi Azikiwe, Blue 

House, with a total of 250 

points. Lord Lugard, 

Yellow House, took the third 

position with a total of 200 

points leaving Mary 

Slessor House in fourth 

position with a total of 180 

points.


Rajab 5, 1439 A.H. 

Challenges before ore 2018 8 Hajj 

With such high fares 

which demand that 

pilgrims dip deeper 

into their pockets to 

pay for the Hajj, 

more than ever before 

is the need for 

NAHCON to put 

more effective 

mechanism to 

ensure that pilgrims 

are not shortchanged 

by their 

agencies 

metric data capturing and the 

introduction of 2,000 Saudi Riyals 

for Hajj and Umrah second 

timers, amongst others. 

Also, the Emir of Lafia, Dr. Isa 

Mustapha-Agwai, wants NAH- 

CON to reduce the fares for the 

2018 Hajj. He believes that the 

astronomical fares deprive 

Muslims in the country from 

performing a very important 

religious obligation. He wants 

NAHCON to engage the Presidency 

and Saudi authorities to 

reduce the fares to enable more 

Muslims partake in the holy pilgrimage. 

The biometric data capturing 

is another thing of great inter- 

By Muhammad Ajah 

ONE of the greatest chal 

lenges regarding the 

forthcoming Hajj is how to meet 

the March 31 deadline for all 

payments for onward 

remittance to service providers 

in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

Saudi Arabia recognizes only 

NAHCON which represents the 

Nigerian government in Hajj operations 

and transactions. With 

the aggressive sensitization programmes 

so far conducted by 

the commission over the 2018 

Hajj, not up to one third of the 

Hajj slots have been paid for. It 

is really worrisome and a great 

challenge to the exercise. 

However, some civil society 

groups and prominent Muslims 

have asked NAHCON to shift the 

deadline. Independent Hajj Reporters 

in a statement by its 

Chairman, Ibrahim Muhammad, 

said that for Nigeria to 

maximally utilise her 95, 000 

slots for the year, the deadline 

had to be reviewed. Its findings 

showed that less than a month 

to the deadline, states pilgrims’ 

boards were yet to register 40 

percent of the allocations given 

to Nigeria by the Saudi Arabian 

Government. 

The early announcement of 

the Hajj fares is another challenge 

that will determine the response 

of pilgrims to quick registration 

across the country. In 

the past, late announcement of 

the fares contributed to late registration. 

Last year’s fares which 

stood at about N1.5million 

caused trepidation amongst the 

Nigerian pilgrims who had waited 

for intervention by the parliamentarians 

but to no avail. 

NAHCON, on its part and considering 

its deadline, should liaise 

with the relevant government 

organs to compute and announce 

the fares. All government 

interest groups should 

avail the Commission of all possible 

support to do the needful 

in this regard. 

Closely following announcement 

of the Hajj fares is the pivot 

of Hajj operations. It is the 

official exchange rate of naira to 

US dollar and its effects on Hajj 

fares. It was difficult to believe 

that last year’s Hajj fares were 

less than that of 2016 Hajj. It was 

difficult to convince the pilgrims 

that the assumption that the 

2017 Hajj cost was high was misplaced 

because the official 

exchange rate of the US dollar 

astronomically went up from 

N197 in 2016 to N305 in 2017. 

All explanations by NAHCON 

received little commendation 

from the pilgrims. Except for financial 

experts, NAHCON being 

the Hajj regulator in Nigeria, was 

criticized badly, irrespective of 

the fact that almost all payments 

for services made by the pilgrims 

in naira have to be converted 

to the US dollars. The 

money is transferred to the 

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 

US dollars and reconverted to 

the Saudi Arabian Riyals for onward 

payments to service providers 

in the Kingdoms. For 

now, it is not possible to source 

Riyals directly from the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN). 

With the above analysis, the 

possibility of the 2018 Hajj 

fares being less than 2017 Hajj 

is definitely slim except if the 

official exchange rate is reduced. 

In consideration of the 

official exchange rate of N360 

to a US$1, the Hajj fares would 

be above N2million. On that, a 

non-governmental organization, 

Media Awareness Initiative 

for Hajj (MAI-HAJJ), has 

urged the Nigerian Government 

to assist the country’s intending 

pilgrims with low concessionary 

exchange rate for 

pilgrimage in order to have a 

hitch free 2018 Hajj exercise. 

The association’s national 

Chairman, Malam Garba Ubale 

Dambatta and Publicity Secretary, 

Muhammad Kabiru Yusuf, 

in a statement said that the 

government’s action will help 

reduce the cost of the pilgrimage 

as well as enable the pilgrims 

participate in the religious 

exercise with ease, especially 

considering new policies 

the Saudi Arabian government 

introduced for 2018 Hajj. 

The Saudi Arabia new policies, 

it noted, include 5% VAT 

on all services, increased cost 

of electricity supply by almost 

thrice the 2017 price, increased 

cost of petrol almost 

by 200%, the new accommodation 

policy which allows only 

four pilgrims in a room, bioest 

to the commission. There are 

only three centers situated in 

Abuja, Lagos and Kano. Umrah 

pilgrims are already telling different 

stories of woe in the exercise. 

Due to NAHCON’s official protest 

to the new policy, the Saudi government 

has agreed to increase 

the centers to ten. How the ten 

centers will be distributed among 

the 30 states of the federation is 

going to be a herculean exercise. 

Muslims in Nigeria are not comfortable 

with this new policy and 

they have appealed to the president 

to officially solicit the Saudi 

Arabian Government to shelve 

this policy. 

With such high fares which demand 

that pilgrims dip deeper 

into their pockets to pay for the 

Hajj, more than ever before is the 

need for NAHCON to put more 

effective mechanism to ensure 

that pilgrims are not shortchanged 

by their agencies. Instances 

of tour operators collecting 

less amounts but without provision 

of facilities for their pilgrims 

in Saudi Arabia should be 

checked. If it is possible to prevent 

such practices, the Commission 

should do so because “prevention 

is better than cure”. After 

Hajj, some very dedicated 

and faithful pilgrims do not report 

such cases to NAHCON but 

would prefer to leave any illtreatment 

done to them to God, 

thus granting opportunities to 

such fraudsters to continue 

business. Assuredly, NAHCON 

has sanctioned many operators 

and state boards for sharp 

practices in Hajj. That should be 

continued and intensified. Other 

sharp practices at board and 

agency levels must be checked. 

Likewise, the collection of the 

cost of Hadaya and remittance of 

such to Jaiz Bank as the sole 

collector appointed by NAH- 

CON, administrative charges by 

individual state board and local 

arrangements for pilgrims by 

states must be checked. 

BARKA JUMAH 

Doing good as liberating force 

You cannot be a sincere spiritual seeker if you fail 

to do good and virtuous deeds or if you even mildly 

ignore the weak. 

We must learn and display humility and charity as 

the realities of life that must be preserved as inherent 

virtues. 

The highest faith is in the demonstrable practice of 

the doing of good as the liberating force that entrance 

us to Allah's mercy and a life that He rewards. 

Do good always and lend help to the weak. As you 

extend yourself to humanity, so may Allah increase 

your wisdom, balm you with tranquil peace and 

enlarge the provisions that prop the balance of your 

life's journey through His joyous path. Happy Jumat. 

—Dr. Adewale Adeeyo, OON 

Dapchi Girls’ Release: Biggest relief 

of the moment — MSSN 

THE Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria has expressed delight 

over the release of schoolgirls earlier abducted at a school in 

Dapchi, Yobe State, describing it as the biggest relief of the moment. 

The students’ body in a press statement by the president of MSSN 

in Lagos State, Dr. Saheed Ashafa, congratulated the parents of 

the released girls and sympathised with those whose daughters 

still in captivity. 

The Federal Government has announced the release of the girls 

abducted by the insurgents at Government Science and Technical 

School, Dapchi on February 19. 

The insurgents transported the girls back to Dapchi in the early 

hours of Wednesday. 

While expressing optimism that the remaining girls would be 

released, Ashafa urged that adequate security measures should 

be put in place to prevent a similar occurrence. 

He appealed that security should be tightened in all schools 

across the country, adding that attention should be paid to the 

medical and mental state of the released girls. 

He said, “We hail the return of the Dapchi Schoolgirls and rejoice 

with their parents for the biggest relief of the moment. We appeal 

that Nigerian girls should never again be abducted from their 

schools. This is because when incidences like this happen, 

government and organisations’ efforts to get more children in 

school is defeated. 

“It sends a negative signal about education and parents/ 

guardians will be scared that schools are insecure places for girls. 

The provision of a safe environment for education is very crucial 

and germane to the nation’s progress.” 

Ashafa, who condemned perpetrators of the abduction, 

demanded that more resources should be deployed to the security 

of schools. 

Pilgrims’ enlightenment on all aspects of the holy trip: Hajj rites, 

facilities in Saudi Arabia, health and hygiene, security tips and 

manners expected from pilgrims is even a greater challenge. Every 

year, over 80 percent of Nigerian pilgrims are first timers. This 

means that they have to be undergoing trainings for an accepted 

Hajj. State boards, in collaboration with NAHCON, are doing well 

in this direction. Besides all these, how the commission is going to 

implement its resolution that all intending Hajj pilgrims get their 

National Identity Number (NIN) as part of their clearance for the 

2018 pilgrimage is still hanging. 

Muhammad Ajah is an advocate of humanity, peace and good 

governance in Abuja. E-mail mobahawwah@yahoo.co.uk. 

L-R: The participants, Sadr, Majlis Ansarullah Nigeria, Engr. Abdul Waheed 

Adeoye,former Sadr, Alhaji Mikail Odukoya; facilitator and Alhaji Toye Azeez, 

during the practical session True Islam Nigeria, IT/Social Media workshop at 

Ahmadiyya Headquarters, Ojokoro, Lagos, recently.


Sermon from Baitul Futuh 

Rajab 5, 1439 A.H. 

Dapchi Girls’ Release: 

Don’t Relent, Al-mu’minaat urges Buhari 

THE Social Advocacy 

Project (SAP) of Al- 

Mu’minaat, (The Believing Women) 

urged President Muhammadu 

Buhari-led government not to relent 

on the war on terror especially 

activities of the Boko Haram and 

the herdsmen. 

Rejoicing over the release of the 

Dapchi Girls, The Believing 

Women in a statment signed by 

Sherifah Yusuf-Ajibade, the 

Coordinator, SAP, said their hearts 

were gladdened by the news of the 

release of the abducted Dapchi 

Girls adding that Security of lives 

and property of Nigerians were the 

primary responsibility of any 

Government, hence the Buhariled-government 

must not relax. 

“Security of lives and property 

of Nigerians is the primary 

responsibility of any Government, 

Ahmadiyya set to preach Islam on social media 

•Trains over 800 members on IT/Social Media skills 

OVER eight hundred 

Muslims have benefited 

from a special training organised 

by Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at 

Nigeria (AMJN) to horn their 

skills in the propagation of 

Islam. 

The training tagged: IT/Social 

Media Workshop which was held 

at its headquarters, Ojokoro, 

Lagos last weekend will herald 

the new concept of Islamic 

preaching on the social media. 

Speaking at the the just 

concluded training, the Amir 

Sahib (National President) 

AMJN, Dr Mashu’ud Fashola, 

said the essence of the workshop 

was to familiarize members with 

the positive use of social media 

tools to propagate Islam. 

Dr. Fashola explained that 

negative impacts of social media 

have caused to the world some 

pains especially in the area of 

religion. According to him, 

“some people use social media 

the PMB-led government 

cannot afford to relax. We are 

using this medium to call for the 

release of the remaining Chibok 

and Dapchi girls’. The 

intelligence that led to the release 

should be kept and not breached 

so that the remaining girls can 

come back alive and safe. 

Commenting on the 

conclusion of some of the girls 

that they would not return to 

school again, Al Muminaat said: 

“ Once beaten twice shy. No one 

can blame parents or even girls 

who concluded that school isn’t 

safe for them. Experience have 

taught them, and nothing better 

that experience. 

“This is one of the very 

important reasons why our 

government cannot afford to 

relent on ensuring security for 

to cause chaos, promote 

terrorism, persecution, thereby 

sending the wrong ideas about 

Islam. So we need to counter this 

and we need to enlighten our 

members against this funny prey 

to this negative use of social 

media”, Fashola noted. 

“Again, we also want our 

members to contribute to 

positive application of social 

media, to use it to promote 

harmony, development 

through the teachings of Islam. 

“The job of true teachings of 

Islam is enormous, so 

everybody has to participate, 

we can’t leave it for leaders or 

missionaries, all hands must be 

on deck so as to check those 

who are using it to spread false 

teachings of Islam. 

In the same vein, IT specialist 

who is also member of the 

Jama’at, Missionary Abdul 

Azim Ahmad said the idea of 

organizing social media training 

schools. 

“Girl-Child education and women 

empowerment is at stake. If this 

apathy isn’t addressed by ensuring 

safety of lives of the girls who 

choose to attend school then the 

future of women, family may be 

affected negatively. 

“Adequate and impenetrable 

security be provided to all schools 

with special attention given to girls’ 

schools in the areas where the 

insurgents still operate in the Northeast, 

while efforts should be geared 

towards changing the perception of 

insecurity in schools in the area. 

The group also called for 

adequate compensation to the 

Parents of the deceased girls’, 

adding that “although no amount 

of money can bring back the dead 

girls, it will however ameliorate 

their pains. 

for members was to use the tools 

to reach out to the world “we want 

to use social media to reach out to 

the world, as we all know Islam is 

not a conservative religion, Islam 

goes with modern trends. Modern 

man can learn what is relevance 

of Islam to him”, Ahmad stated. 

According to Ahmad, he 

enjoined members of the Jama’at 

to be of good conduct in the use of 

social media, such as free from 

prejudice, anti-party, coercion, 

imposing own thoughts on people 

“yours is to give them message and 

leave the rest for people to decide 

whether is right or wrong. We 

believe you can only teach 

through peaceful mean, so we 

want to use the social media to 

reach the masses with peaceful 

approach that’s what have taught 

them today. 

The Jama’at used the event to 

unveil its web page and social 

media hash tag trueislam.ng; 

#trueIslam; #messiahhascome. 

R-L: Facilitator, Mualiam Qasim Oyekola; The Amir, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at 

Nigeria, Dr. Mash’hud Adenrele Fashola; Chairman, Nigerian Union of 

Journalist, Lagos State Council, Dr. Qasim Akinreti and Naib Amir Special 

Duties, Engr. Ahmed Al-Hassan, during the True Islam Nigeria, IT/Social Media 

workshop at Ahmadiyya Headquarters Ojokoro Lagos, recenly. 

Men of Excellence 

While mentioning the status of the Companions (ra), the Promised Messiah 

(as) stated at one occasion that, "The revered Companions, may Allah be 

pleased with all of them, are a clear proof of the character of the Holy 

Prophet (sa…Thus, only that person can truly respect the Holy Prophet 

(sa), who respects his revered companions. One who does not esteem the 

revered Companions, he can never ever truly esteem the Holy Prophet 

(sa).' Now, I will narrate some accounts of some of the Companions. 

Abu Dujana Ansari was a Companion. He accepted Islam, before the 

migration of the Holy Prophet (sa) to Medina. He was a resident of Medina. 

He also had the honour of participating in the Battle of Badr along with the 

Holy Prophet (sa) and he exhibited the virtue of most excellent bravery. 

Likewise, he also had the opportunity to participate the in Battle of Uhud. 

After the turning point during the battle – that is, when the Muslims were 

first gaining a victory and then the battle took a turn, because the disbelievers 

attacked again due to the designated place being abandoned and thus the 

battle turned against the Muslims – among those Companions, who 

remained the closest to the Holy Prophet (sa) at that time was also Hazrat 

Abu Dujana (ra). And he sustained many wounds, while defending the 

Holy Prophet (sa). However, he did not retreat despite those wounds. 

When the Holy Prophet (sa), at one occasion, raised his sword and asked, 

"Who will put this sword to its rightful use, today?" It was Hazrat Abu Dujana 

Ansari, who came forward upon hearing this. He said that I promise to fulfill 

the right of this sword. The Holy Prophet (sa), seeing his passion, handed his 

sword over to him. Then, he gathered the courage once again and asked, "O 

Messenger of Allah (sa)! How shall the right of this sword be fulfilled?" The 

Holy Prophet (sa) replied that this sword shall not cause the bloodshed of 

any Muslim, secondly, the enemy from among the disbeliever shall not 

escape from it and it is only to be used against those enemies from among 

the disbelievers who seek to wage war against the Muslims. Hazrat Abu 

Dujana (ra) was martyred whilst fighting Musayilimah Kazzab during the 

battle of Yamama. Once when he was ill, he said to his companion that 

perhaps Allah the Exalted will accept two deeds of mine. Firstly, that I do 

not indulge in any vain discourse, nor speak behind anyone's back. Secondly, 

I do not hold any grudge or malice in my heart against another Muslim. 

Then, we find the mention of Hazrat Muhammad Maslamah (ra). 

Muhammad bin Maslamah (ra) also took part in the battle of Uhud and 

remained by the side of the Holy Prophet (sa) with great resolve and 

steadfastness. One of his distinctions was that a prophecy of the Holy Prophet 

(sa) was fulfilled in his person. On one occasion, whilst handing him his 

sword, the Holy Prophet (sa) said that as long as you fight the idolaters, you 

should continue to fight them with this sword. However, when the time 

comes when Muslims start fighting with one another, you should break this 

sword and stay at home until someone attacks your or death overcomes 

you. He acted in accordance with this guidance and he did so following the 

martyrdom of Hazrat 'Uthman, may Allah be pleased with him. In order to 

safeguard himself from the disorder at that time, he went into isolation and 

used to say that until the disorder is not resolved, I intend to spend my life 

in isolation. 

Today, we observe that the internal disputes between Muslims have 

exceeded all bounds. Furthermore, another prophecy of the Holy Prophet 

(sa) has been fulfilled that following an era of darkness, when the time of light 

approaches, when the time of the Promised Messiah dawns, you should 

accept the Promised Messiah and join his community, as all blessings lie in 

this. 

One of the very early companions was Hazrat Abu Ayyub Ansari (ra). He 

was fortunate to have received the honour of hosting and receiving the 

Holy Prophet (sa) during the initial days of his time in Medina. The house 

had two floors. Abu Ayyub Ansari (ra) stayed in the upper floor and the 

lower floor was presented to the Holy Prophet (sa). Abu Ayyub Ansari (ra) 

was on the upper floor one night, when a vessel or pot of water broke. Abu 

Ayyub Ansari (ra)and his wife spent the entire night drying it with their 

covers. The following day, he related the incident that transpired the previous 

night to the Holy Prophet (sa) and requested the Holy Prophet (sa) to stay 

on the upper floor. The Holy Prophet (sa) accepted his requested and 

stayed with him for approximately six or seven months. He tried his level 

best to fulfil his duties and responsibilities of hospitality. Hazrat Abu Ayyub 

Ansari (ra) participated in all the battles in which the Holy Prophet (sa) was 

also present. During the Battle of Khaibar the Jewish leader was killed. 

When his daughter, Hazrat Safiyya was married to Holy Prophet (sa), the 

morning after, when the Holy Prophet (sa) came outside to lead the prayers 

he saw Abu Ayyub Ansari (ra) stood watching guard. The Holy Prophet 

(sa) then prayed for him in the following manner, "O Lord! Keep Abu Ayyub 

always under Your protection just as he readily stayed the whole night 

protecting me!" Hazrat Abu Ayyub Ansari (ra)also participated in the battle 

of Rome despite his old age. He only participated in order to witness (the 

fulfilment of) the prophecy of the Holy Prophet (sa) regarding Constantinople. 

Nevertheless he also fell ill in that duration. When he was asked as to what 

his final wishes were his reply was to convey his greetings to every Muslim 

and for his grave to be as far as possible within the land of the enemy. 

Henceforth, after his demise during the night his coffin was taken to the 

furthest possible point in the land of the enemy where he was buried. Even 

today his grave is present in Turkey and it is said that whatever one prays 

for at his grave, those prayers are accepted. 

Read further online on www.vanguardngr.com


OLUBADAN VERSUS NEW KINGS: 

When kings fight dirty in Ibadan 

By Ola Ajayi 

DESPITE a court 

intervention in the face-off 

between the Olubadan of 

Ibadanland, Oba Saliu Adetunji 

and his Obas-in-Council over 

the elevation of the latter to the 

status of beaded crown kings, 

it appears there is no end in 

sight to the ripples generated 

by the imbroglio. 

With the dimension the issue 

is assuming, it may not be out 

of place to conclude that the 

peace, which had hitherto 

characterised the ascendancy to 

the throne of the Olubadan of 

Ibadan, may have bidden 

farewell to the city. 

All the parties in the crisis 

have maintained a no-goingback 

posture. 

No longer at ease 

A former Oyo State Governor, 

Senator Rashidi Ladoja, the 

monarch and some mogajis 

have resolved to pull the string 

to the limit with Governor 

Abiola Ajimobi and the new 

kings led by Oba Lekan 

Balogun, the Otun 

Olubadan, His royal majesty, 

Oba Olakulehin Owolabi, and 

Oba Tajudeen Ajibola, Osi 

Balogun of Ibadanland. 

As some elders, led by 

the Central Council of Elders, 

CCE, took steps to settle the 

logjam in the traditional way, 

the state High Court presided 

over by Justice Olajumoke Aiki 

delivered a judgment nullifying 

the constitution of a judicial 

panel of inquiry by the state 

government. 

This appeared to have 

rekindled the fire. While the 

camp of the monarch, Ladoja 

and few mogajis are still 

relishing in the perceived legal 

victory, the state government 

bared its fangs by ensuring it 

stopped the judge from 

delivering the second 

judgment. 

It withdrew the case before 

the judge saying her decision 

on the second case could be 

pre-empted. 

Equally, the new kings, 

though appealed the judgment, 

are not willing to accept it. 

In a recent meeting held at 

the former palace of the 

Olubadan, Oja Oba, the kings, 

numbering 16, insisted that the 

judgment did not affect their 

crowns in any way. 

While faulting Justice Aiki’s 

judgment, Oba Tajudeen 

Ajibola said: “There is no order 

There is no order 

that set aside our 

enthronement; the 

judgment was 

tainted with bias. 

As far as we are 

concerned, there is 

no judgment, there 

is nothing to 

enforce 

that set aside our enthronement. 

The judgment was tainted with 

bias. As far as we are concerned, 

there is no judgment. There is 

nothing to enforce. All we have 

done just for record purpose, is 

that we have appealed against 

the judgment. It is wrong for 

Ladoja to be saying we should 

not wear crowns again because 

there is no judgment barring me 

from using my crown.” 

Olubadan should 

recognise our status —- 

Ajibola 

On reconciliation of both 

parties, he said: “We have told 

the elders who made the move 

that the matter is beyond them. 

We told them that if they want 

the crisis to end, it lies with the 

Olubadan. If he decides to end 

the imbroglio today, he has the 

power to do so. What do we 

want? All we want from him is 

to recognise our status as kings. 

At the council of obas, we all 

recognised him and did 

obeisance to him. Since then, 

the Olubadan has not thought 

it wise to invite us for 

reconciliation as an elder. If he 

calls us tomorrow and 

recognises us as kings, we will 

answer him. But, if he describes 

us as chiefs, we won’t answer 

him. We have been made kings 

and nothing on earth can 

upturn this.” 

Chairman, Obas’ 

council gives solution to 

crisis 

Chairman of the Obas-incouncil, 

Oba Lekan Balogun 

said the only antidote to the 

logjam is for the Olubadan to 

recognise their new status as 

kings and accord them their 

deserved respect. 

Balogun said: “I don’t know 

what he is quarrelling about 

quite honestly. The new 

structure is such that 

recognises him as the imperial 

majesty. There is no contest, no 

quarrel. There is only one 

imperial majesty in the whole 

of Ibadanland, others are royal 

majesties and highnesses. The 

issue of beaded crown is all 

about fashion. It is the imperial 

majesty that I have a piece of 

advice for. He should let bygone 

be bygone. He should accept us 

and let us come together as one 

family of the people. It doesn’t 

cost him anything. I see no 

justification for quarrelling.” 

Nobody can stop us 

from wearing beaded 

crowns 

In his remarks, the Osi 

Balogun of Ibadanland, Oba 

Amidu Ajibade maintained that 

no one can prevent them from 

wearing their crowns. 

Oba Ajibade said: 

“Throughout Yorubaland, all 

towns and cities have numerous 

kings. Look at Iwo, it can boast 

of many kings. What has Ibadan 

done that the same thing could 

not happen? In Ibadanland, we 

have 11 kings. The crown on 

the lion, nobody can remove it. 

Even if thousands of people go 

to the Olubadan, they cannot 

remove our crowns. When 

Ladoja was there, why did he 

not implement it? You have 

seen it in a national daily that 

he published it. What our 

brother, the Osi Olubadan is 

saying is immaterial. God has 

done well. The governor has 

crowned us; it is the governor 

that crowns kings. He is the one 

who crowned Oba Saliu 

Adetunji. Ladoja should join 

hands with us to make Ibadan 

a progressive city.” 

Their comments, 

contempt of court — 

Ladoja 

When Vanguard contacted 

Senator Ladoja for his 

comments on the issues raised 

by the other monarchs, he 

described their comments as 

contempt of court. 

Senator Rashidi Ladoja, who 

is the Osi Olubadan, said he 

would contact his lawyer to sue 

the new kings for contempt of 

court. 

Reacting through his media 

aide, Alhaji Lanre Latinwo, 

Ladoja said he would inform his 

lawyer that the new kings did 

not comply with the declarative 

judgment. 

“It now behoves the court 

whether to continue to allow 

them to flout court orders just 

like that,” he said. 

They’re still chiefs —- 

Olubadan 

Reacting to the claims of 

recognition by the monarchs, 

the Olubadan, through his 

Director of Media and Public 

Affairs, Mr. Deola Oloko who 

noted that the monarch is a lawabiding 

king said: “What we 

have done by referring to them 

as chiefs is to follow the law. As 

far as we are concerned, the law 

recognises them as high chiefs 

and that is the stance we 

maintain as for now.” 

C 

M 

Y 

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OYO STATE 

ONDO APC CRISIS: When Akeredolu, 

Boroffice flex muscles 

By Dayo Johnson 

The centre may no longer 

hold in the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in Ondo State. 

This is because for two years, 

attempts have been made to 

manage the internal crisis 

rocking the party, which has 

been discussed in hushed 

tones by those involved and 

their lieutenants. 

But last week, one of the 

combatants, Senator Robert 

Ajayi Boroffice, who represents 

the Northern Senatorial 

District, threw his hat into the 

ring, rolled up his sleeves and 

threw some punches at the state 

governor, Mr. Rotimi 

Akeredolu. 

Lawmaker tackles 

governor 

Casting aspersion at the 

governor for allegedly 

alienating a critical mass of the 

party leadership, the Professor 

of Zoology cum politician, said: 

“Today, the attitude of the 

governor to other party leaders 

in Ondo State, who do not see 

issues from his perspective, has 

unfortunately polarized the 

Ondo State chapter of 

the party and alienated 

a critical mass of the party 

leadership and supporters as 

well.” 

According to him, “all is not 

well with the All Progressives 

Congress in the Sunshine 

State. Rather than embrace the 

challenges of leadership and 

reach out to every leader of the 

party in Ondo State, the 

governor preferred to run the 

government of Ondo State and 

the party with his trifling 

followership. He continues to 

erroneously lay claim to the 

ownership of the party. 

“He continues to threaten 

other party leaders 

with expulsion from the party." 

Instructively, the governor 

and Boroffice have been 

avoiding each other since his 

emergence as the candidate of 

the party in 2016 for obvious 

reasons. 

Akeredolu believes Boroffice 

did not support him after the 

contentious party primaries in 

2016. 

Also, Akeredolu’s camp is 

said not to be comfortable with 

the perceived rising profile of 

Boroffice and has continued to 

THE TEAM 

EDITOR: Dayo Johnson 

DEPUTY EDITOR: Dapo Akinrefon 

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CORRESPONDENTS: 

Ola Ajayi 

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Adeola Badru 

•Gov. Akeredolu 

drum it into the ears of the 

governor. 

The governor’s camp holds 

the view that Boroffice joined 

his perceived enemies and 

worked against him during the 

election. 

However, Boroffice denied 

engaging in anti-party 

activities during the election 

and has decided to stay aloof 

and watch events from the 

sidelines until the governor 

threw some mud at him. 

The lawmaker, who was 

conspicuously absent at the 

governor’s swearing-in on 

February 24, 2017, expressed 

displeasure by the way the 

national secretariat handled 

their petitions as regards the 

delegate list alleged to have 

been doctored to favour the 

governor. 

In fact, it has been observed 

that Boroffice has not attended 

any government function in the 

state in the last one year. 

The last time they were seen 

together publicly was during 

the party’s governorship 

primaries in 2016. 

Interestingly, the lawmaker 

and the governor are from the 

same senatorial district. 

Boroffice replies 

Akeredolu 

Boroffice, in his reply to the 

governor’s attack, in a 

statement issued by his Media 

Ibadan 

Osogbo 

(Photo) 

Abeokuta 

Ekiti 

Lagos 

Ibadan 

•Sen. Ajayi 

Assistant, Kayode Fakuyi said 

he refrained from joining 

issues with the governor on the 

pages of newspaper to avoid 

further heating up of the 

polity. The statement reads: 

“However, the referenced press 

statement clarifying the 

position of governor vis-àvis 

the earlier vitriolic 

utterances of the governor 

where the governor reportedly 

condemned Senator 

Boroffice for anti-party 

activities raises the need to 

separate facts from fictions. 

“The insinuation and 

innuendoes contained in the 

EDMARK unveils multi-billion naira centre 

against obesity in Lagos 

EDMARK International, a 

multinational health and 

lifestyle firm with 

headquarters in Kuala 

Lumpur, Malaysia, recently 

unveiled a state-of-the-art 

international centre aimed at 

combating the menace of 

obesity in Nigeria. 

The firm also presented a 

new product named Edge2 

which helps to burn fat in the 

body, to the public. 

The event, which took place 

at the event hall, domiciled at 

the international centre 

located at Aromire Avenue, off 

Allen, Ikeja, Lagos, was 

attended by many of the 

company’s top management 

executives from across the 

world. Speaking at the official 

opening of the centre, the 

Chairman/Founder of Edmark 

International Group of 

Companies, Mr. Sam Low 

expressed delight over the 

feats his organisation had 

achieved within nine years of 

starting businesses Nigeria 

despite the initial hurdles he 

encountered. 

press statement suggested that 

the senator has not been 

working for the progress and 

development of Ondo State in 

general and Ondo North 

senatorial District in particular. 

Given the several 

developmental strides that 

have been spurred by the 

eventful tenure of the 

distinguished senator, such 

suggestion of non-performance 

is wholly incorrect. It is a 

cherry-picked attempt to taint 

the senator with bad name in 

order to hang him. Nothing can 

be further from the truth. 

“Setting the records straight, 

His words: “After making up 

my mind to invest in Nigeria, 

we were faced with some 

challenges but we were not 

deterred, we learned and restrategised 

and for this, I want 

to say, I am grateful to my team 

who believed in our dream. 

“Though our operations 

started in Ghana, as a result of 

the initial challenges we faced 

when we attempted to set up our 

businesses in Nigeria; however, 

after a year, we moved into 

Nigeria after crossing the 

hurdles with the regulatory 

authorities. 

“With this centre, which is 

humanitarian in approach, I 

strongly believe this will 

enhance more businesses, 

enhance opportunities, change 

the face of business and help 

boost the economy of Nigeria 

and other African countries.” 

Speaking on the philosophy of 

his firm, Low said: “Edmark 

International is a multinational 

firm in the health and lifestyle 

industry that is committed to 

people's wellbeing; we want 

citizens of Africa to live well and 

that is why our healthy 

supplement products help to 

the governor has sent two 

private communications to the 

Senate since his inauguration 

as Governor of Ondo State on 

the 24th of February, 2017, in 

respect of confirmation of 

appointments from Ondo 

State. In the consideration of 

the governor’s requests, 

Senator Boroffice, despite the 

underlying differences, rallied 

his colleagues to support 

Governor Akeredolu’s position 

in the interest of the good 

people of Ondo 

State. Therefore, the 

suggestion that Senator 

Boroffice is not working for the 

upliftment of Ondo State is false 

and misleading.” 

He, however, called on the 

national leadership of “our 

great 

party to 

urgently intervene in the crisis 

plaguing the Ondo State 

chapter of the party. We cannot 

afford to sweep under the 

carpet issues polarizing the 

APC in Ondo State as we move 

into another round of 

congresses and general 

elections. 

“It is for this reason that His 

Excellency, President 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

called for reconciliation of 

leaders and resolutions of 

disputed issues. This is the wise 

road to travel and we cannot 

dissent. Therefore, Senator 

Boroffice wishes to express full 

confidence in the Asiwaju Bola 

Ahmed Tinubu-led 

presidential committee. We 

fully support our National 

Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed 

Tinubu on this course.” 

Boroffice Lied—APC 

Replying on behalf of the 

governor, the party, in a 

statement, entitled: ‘Boroffice 

Lied-APC’, denied the 

allegation that the governor 

had polarised the party. 

tackle obesity. This is just the 

beginning and I want to thank 

the architect and other 

wonderful people who helped 

make this project come to 

reality. I am excited that we can 

do this.” 

In his opening remarks, the 

company’s General Manager 

in Nigeria, Mr. Maurice Etim 

stated that Edmark 

International came into Nigeria 

at a trying period when 

recession was at its peak in the 

country. 

“Today, Edmark International 

is not only a success in Nigeria 

but a huge success in West 

Africa. Edmark International 

has helped combat obesity in 

Nigeria as well as empowered 

many Nigerians and other 

African citizens. 

“I must also say that the 

success would not have been 

possible without our 

hardworking team and 

distributors. Today, we can see 

that Edmark International is a 

big success in Nigeria and the 

evidence is why we are in this 

multi-billion naira state-of-theart 

edifice in the heart of 

Lagos,” Etim said. 

C 

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Ohanaeze laments poor FG's 

presence in Igboland 

By Chioma 

Gabriel 

LAGOS—APEX Igbo 

socio-cultural 

organisation, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo yesterday 

lamented the poor federal 

industrial presence in Igbo 

land in general and the 

South East in particular. 

The group noted that there 

is virtually no federal 

establshment to provide 

jobs for the teeming youths 

of the zone. 

"The only federal 

presence in the zone are 

prisons and abandoned 

grain silos," the group 

lamented. 

"Though there is ongoing 

work in some federal roads 

in the zone , the pace is 

very slow," the group 

complained. 

The National Deputy 

Publicity Secretary of 

Ohanaeze, Chuks Ibegbu 

therefore urged the federal 

government to build 

refineries, dams , heavy 

duty industries and inland 

ports in the zone. 

He also urged the federal 

government to build an 

airport in Arochukwu or 

Afikpo to open up the Cross 

River region of Igbo land. 

On the quest for more 

states in Igbo land and the 

restructuring of Nigeria, 

Ibegbu maintained the 

position of Barr Nnia 

Nwodo , the President 

General of the body that 

"Nigeria will not move 

forward until it's 

restructured." 

He also called for "the 

immediate creation of an 

additional state in the South 

East to bring it at par with 

other zones of the country 

before further states are 

created in Nigeria." 

Ibegbu re-iterated the 

position of the President 

General of Ohanaeze, 

Chief Nnia Nwodo that 

"Nigeria must operate on 

the principle of true fiscal 

and physical federalism if 

it wants to make a head 

way. The AU must also 

expedite work on the trans 

African High way across 

the Sahara desert to tame 

desertification , the 

shrinking of Lake Chad 

that bring about massive 

shift of herdsmen to the 

South . 

"If Israel did it in the 

Negev Desert and China 

in the Gobi Desert, African 

leaders can do it here and 

help tame the constant 

challenges of wave of 

deadly migrations of our 

people to Europe ," Ibegbu 

noted. 

He also lauded the 

renewed construction work 

going on in Aba , the 

commercial nerve centre of 

Abia state. 

Ibegbu who spoke at a 

reception held by Aba 

Young professionals for 

some of their pioneer 

members in Aba recently, 

commended Governor 

Okezie Ikpeazu for the 

surge in construction work 

in the town and effort to 

open up the Port Harcourt 

Road and the roads to 

Ariaria International 

Market. 

He noted with nostalgia 

the time traders from West 

and Central Africa used to 

besiege Aba for business 

purposes and hoped that 

era will be restored with the 

current pace of work in the 

city. 

Ibegbu also commended 

Governor Ikpeazu for the 

effort to revive the shoe 

industry in Aba by sending 

some shoe makers from 

the town overseas for 

training . 

He called on all Abians 

to rally round the governor 

and the give the state its 

rightful position in Nigeria. 

The President of Aba 

Young Professionals, 

Chimdi Ngwakwe thanked 

the Ohanaeze Spokesman 

for finding time to honor the 

event and assured Ndi Aba 

that the group will continue 

to develop ideas and 

template that will restore the 

glory of the town. 

GROUND BREAKING: From Left—Hon Simon Lalong, Plateau State 

Governor; Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, Inspector General of Police; and 

others, during the grounding breaking of the Establishment of the 66 

Nigeria Police Moble Squadron in Shendam, Jos, yesterday. 

Election reordering: Udeogaranya 

wants NASS to overide Buhari 

By Ebun Sessou 

A 

chieftain of the All 

Progressives 

Congress, APC, and a 

presidential aspirant of the 

party, Chief Charles Udo 

Udeogaranya, has 

appealed to members of the 

National Assembly to 

urgently proceed with all 

procedures required by law 

to bring the amended 

electoral bill into a 

functional act by overriding 

the presidency. 

In a release he sent to 

Anambra assembly raises alarm over 

Kogi armed men attack 

By Enyim Enyim 

O NITSHA— 

ANAMBRA State 

House of Assembly has 

raised alarm over alleged 

renewed attack on the 

people of Eziaguluotu, 

Aguleri and Enuguotu by 

suspected Kogi armed men 

that claimed the lives of 

about 17 men and women. 

This followed a motion of 

urgent public importance 

moved on the floor of the 

House by the lawmaker 

representing Anambra 

East Contituency, Hon. 

Obinna Emenaka. 

He said there had been a 

boundary dispute between 

Vanguard from California, 

United States, 

Udeogaranya said: “I am 

mindful that if it was the 

grazing bill, the presidency 

will not hesitate to sign into 

law despite its 

overwhelming national 

rejection, but the amended 

electoral bill has in-fact 

promoted our democracy 

from affairs of few to affairs 

of many, particularly in the 

re-ordering of the election 

sequence. 

“I also appeal to 

members of our great 

Kogi and Anambra States 

on that axis for which the 

Kogi people who were 

supposed to participate in 

the identification of the 

boundary refused to turn 

up. 

Emenaka appealed to 


Buhari, the governors of 

Kogi and Anambra States, 

Yahaya Bello and Chief 

Willie Obiano respectively, 

to as a matter of urgency 

wade into the matter before 

it escalates. 

“I call on the National 

Boundary Adjustment 

Committee to come and 

identify the boundary 

between the two states to 

party, the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, who are 

genuine democrats and 

Nigerians, in general, to 

support and commend 

members of the National 

Assembly on this singular 

act of the electoral act 

amendment. 

“The National Assembly 

remains the people’s 

assembly and Nigerian 

electorate that elected 

them from their various 

constituencies are in full 

majority support of this 

amended electoral act. 

put a stop to the killings and 

maiming of our people”. 

Also speaking, the 

member representing 

Onitsha North I 

Constituency, Mr. Chugbo 

Enwezor while 

condemning the dastardly 

act, called on government 

at all levels and security 

agencies to rise up to the 

challenge of protecting not 

only the people of the area 

but the country in general. 

The majority leader of the 

House, Mr. Victor Okoye 

representing Anambra 

West Constituency equally 

condemned the killings 

and appealed to President 

Buhari to deploy soldiers to 

the area to forestall peace. 

2019: Other guber aspirants 

move to endorse Nwosu 

O 

W 

By Chinonso 

Alozie 

E R R I — 

INDICATIONS 

have emerged that other 

governorship aspirants in 

Imo State gubernatorial poll 

under the platform of All 


APC, are ready to endorse 

Okorocha's son-in-law, Mr 

Uche Nwosu. 

Vanguard gathered that 

Nwosu is currently 

gathering momentum, after 

donating N53 million to 

APC during its fund raising 

programme yesterday, as 

against the N20 million 

donated by his arch-rival, 

Senator Ifeanyi Ararume. 

Reactions and counter 

reactions, yesterday, 

continued to greet the fund 

raising event. 

This is coming as tension 

gathers in Imo APC, with 

the report that scores of 

gubernatorial aspirants in 

the party have agreed to 

endorse Nwosu. 

Nwosu's N53 million 

donation, which took place 

at the party’s secretariat, 

before the state chairman, 

Mr Hilary Eke, came days 

after Senator Araraume, 

Ma Nnaji is dead 

HE family of Mazi 

TObiaoma Nnaji has 

announced the death of 

their mother, Madam Erina 

Nwanyiocha Nnaji, aged 

80. She will be buried on 

April 28, 2018 at her home 

town Amajaukwu 

community, Amiyi Ahaba 

Imenyi in Isuikwuato LGA, 

Abia State. 

She is survived by five 

children among them is 

Mazi Dan Nnaji. 

• Ma Nnaji 

through his media aide, 

Mr. Ik Ogbonna, boasted 

that his donation dwarfed 

those of others 

gubernatorial hopefuls. 

He said: “The N20 

million given by 

Araraume, not only 

dwarfed the contributions 

of others present at the 

event but is also in 

continuation of my desire 

to uplift the fortunes of APC 

since I joined the party.” 

It was learnt that other 

gubernatorial aspirants in 

the party decided to drop 

their interest to support 

Nwosu in order to save the 

party from dipping into 

crisis and possible 

icollapse. 

Most of the aspirants are 

said to be members of 

Governor Okorocha's 

Rescue Mission Team, who 

were not allowed to run for 

the governorship position 

in 2019 but to work and 

deliver Okorocha’s choice 

during the primaries. 

Vanguard was told that 

the plan to endorse 

Nwosu would take place 

before the APC primaries. 

Nekede Poly rector urges students, 

staff to improve legacies of founding 

fathers 

By Chidi 

Nkwopara 

OWERRI—STAFF and 

students of the Federal 

Polytechnic, Nekede, 

Owerri, have been urged 

to “work relentlessly to 

improve the legacies of the 

institution’s founding 

fathers." 

The institution’s Rector, 

Dr. Mrs. Cele Ugochi 

Njoku, gave the charge 

yesterday, while flagging 

off the Polytechnic’s 40th 

Anniversary and Founders 

Day celebration/carnival. 

“Our founding fathers 

obviously had reasoned 

that this institution should 

not only raise self reliant 

graduates, but also 

employers of labour. We 

must therefore work 

relentlessly to improve on 

the legacies of the 

institution’s founding 

fathers,” Njoku said. 

She reasoned that “this 

year’s celebration is very 

unique and important 

because it coincides with 

the 40th anniversary of the 

institution”. 

Light dims for Pa 

Unuavworho 

•Pa Unuavworho 

THE death has occurred 

of Pa Young 

Unuavworho at the age of 

87. He will be buried on 

Saturday 24th March 2018. 

He is survived by wife, 

children and grand 

children.


Carlos: For the Palestinian 

cause, he remains in jail 

THE 69-year-old Venezuelan 

internationalist, Ilich Ramirez 

Sanchez, rechristened ‘Carlos the 

Jackal’ by the media, was in the 

French courts last week to challenge 

his conviction for life. The case he 

appealed against was a 1974 one in 

which a grenade tossed in Paris’s 

Saint-Germain-des-Pres, (Champs 

Elysee Avenue) killed two persons 

at the Drugstore Publicis while 36 

were injured. His conviction on this 

charge, is lacking in hard evidence 

including fingerprints and DNA. 

Rather, it is driven more by 

circumstantial evidence and 

supposition. 

Carlos does not think his appeal 

will yield any tangible results. In any 

case, he has two other life sentences 

hanging on his neck. One for the 

1975 killing of an informant and two 

French security agents, and the other 

for attacks on a railway station and 

a Paris street in which 11 were killed 

and 150 injured. 

In all probability, Carlos, whose 

primary goal is the defence of 

Palestinian rights across the globe, 

will die in jail because the Palestinian 

cause for which he fought has few 

backers in Europe. He confounded 

Western intelligence, even taunting 

them, and was seen as a symbol of 

the Cold War politics. 

The Zionists who founded modern 

Israel felt they had the right to 

assassinate all those they considered 

enemies of the Jews. So for decades, 

they went after Germans they 

considered complicit in the Second 

World War pogrom against the Jews. 

When they thought the British 

colonialists who ruled Palestine were 

obstacles to their realisation of the 

State of Israel, they attacked them. 

The most infamous of these was the 

Monday, July 22, 1946 bombing of 

the King David Hotel, the British 

administrative headquarters by the 

Zionist organisation, the Irgun. 

Ninety-one persons from various 

countries were killed with 46 injured. 

In the 1950s, Israelis assassinated 

some Egyptians through letter 

bombs. One of their most infamous 

assassinations was that of (West) 

German rocket scientist, Hein 

Schillerstrans who was accused of 

doing some work for Egypt. His body 

was never found, however, the 

Germans apprehended the Israeli 

assassins when they went after 

another German scientist. 

Carlos was so appalled by the 

Israeli treatment of the Palestinians 

that at 21, he left Moscow, where he 

had just been expelled from the then 

Patrice Lumumba Friendship 

University, to join the Palestinian 

struggle. 

Carlos' father, José Altagracia 

Ramírez Navas was a radical 

Venezuelan lawyer who named his 

first son, Ilyich, in honour of the 

Russian revolutionary, Vladimir 

Ilyich Lenin. He named his two 

younger children Lenin and 

Vladimir. 

When Carlos arrived Beirut in July, 

1970, he joined the Popular Front 

for the Liberation of Palestine, PFLP, 

and was coded-named, Carlos. His 

arrival coincided with the decision 

of King Hussein to militarily expel 

the Palestinians. This led to the 

September 1970 Jordanian Civil 

War. The slaughter of the Palestinians 

in that conflict became known as 

2019 re-election bait and related issues 

SINCE the return of General 

Buhari in good health last 

year the political atmosphere 

has been revving up ahead of the 

mother of all battles in 2019. 

Though the President has not yet 

confirmed he is contesting a second 

term, his usual “body language” 

when elections are around the corner 

suggests he has already thrown his 

hat into the ring. 

I am of the group who still believe 

our same old GMB is the best option 

yet on the scene. But sadly, his “body 

language” is used to lure him into 

many ill-advised political decisions 

and engagements. On elongation of 

the party executives' tenure the 

suggestion is that it was done in the 

General’s interest, that it was the 

safest option for him to reclaim the 

ticket of the APC for 2019. This is 

not minding the many inadequacies 

of the exco at all levels; of which 

GMB, his handlers and state 

governors are the principal 

architects. 

On their retention, albeit 

unconstitutionally, GMB ended up 

spiting a broad swathe of his own 

supporters, especially that the 

extension of tenure affected all levels, 

down to LGs and wards. This 

discounts the many aggrieved APC 

activists and stalwarts in the North 

locked out of government and party 

since 2015. 

The elongation rubbished the 

powerful Tinubu Reconciliation 

Committee, a committee in which 

hope had been invested by most 

aggrieved party men and women, 

despite the lack of clarity of its 

membership. Even as a one-man 

committee, Tinubu had given hope 

that there would be a fair ear given 

for a genuine politically-rooted 

reconciliation. He has received 

numerous solicited and unsolicited 

advise over the few weeks he had 

been on the turf as chief arbiter of 

APC’s many troubles. 

Yet, another major ill-chewed 

decision that Mr. President has been 

lured into is the rejection of the 

National Assembly proposal on 

reordering of the election sequence. 

There is no compelling reason for 

the Presidency to spike the Bill. He 

should best let the system work and 

correct itself; that is where there are 

mistakes to correct. INEC has been 

pulled into this, working itself into a 

frenzy to interpret words of the 

constitution that are not explicit. 

Only God knows what the judiciary 

is expected to do when the matter is 

escalated to it. 

On the order of elections, in 1979, 

the sequence had the President as last 

on the queue. It was the desperation 

of an unpopular NPN Shagari 

government that reordered it, 

making Presidential first for the 

“bandwagon” rigging needed to 

return the NPN. That was an 

unpopular civilian government that 

lasted only three months. It 

unfortunately led to the putsch by 

GMB and his co-coupists in 1983. 

In IBB’s 3rd Republic, first were 

LG elections, then state polls. 

Presidential was kept for last before 

The APC problem 

here is not only 

about Kwankwaso 

or Ganduje or even 

PDP, even when 

both Kwankwaso 

and Ganduje are all 

PDP Graduates of 

APC. 

In all probability, 

Carlos, whose 

primary goal is the 

defence of Palestinian 

rights across the 

globe, will die in jail 

because the 

Palestinian cause for 

which he fought has 

few backers in 

Europe, he 

confounded Western 

intelligence, even 

taunting them, and 

was seen as a symbol 

of the Cold war 

politics 

IBB stepped aside. 

Next is this 4th Republic. Elections 

began with LGs, then states. Atiku 

Abubakar as PDP Governor-elect of 

Adamawa was promoted Vice 

President to General Obasanjo, 

leaving the state to Deputy, Bonnie 

Haruna. 

In 2003 the PDP had to reorder the 

sequence for fear of massively 

popular GMB riding the crest of the 

pro-Shariah movement in the North. 

The Presidential election and its 

weird bandwagon reminiscent of the 

unpopular NPN days was again 

invoked. The first set of polls in 2003 

thus had President and National 

Assembly on the same day. 

Governors had their day later. 

It is common knowledge 

Governors lured GMB into an illadvised 

muscle flexing on the 

election sequence with the bait of his 

own election. By doing so, they are 

tacitly saying the General is now 

afraid of the mass base he has, that 

he needs governors to “bandwagon” 

victory for him. The reality is that it 

is governors and other aspirants that 

are neither here nor there who still 

need the cover of the GMB SAK 

bandwagon The fear though is they 

may be thinking the unthinkable: 

rigging, with all its consequences. 

And it will have consequences, no 

doubt. 

The apparent rebuff of the Tinubu 

Committee by the tenure elongation 

is another area where GMB has been 

so lured by the bait of re-election. 

What is more, there are all kinds of 

suppositions and analyses on what 

is actually on ground with regards 

to the politics of APC states and their 

tonnes of crises. Most of the analyses 

on the APC crises so far focus on areas 

that have received the most media 

hype, even when the facts are not 

always as sold on the media. 

‘The Black September’ Massacre. It 

was in that war that Carlos, for the 

first time, fought on the side of the 

Palestinians. 

Mohamed Boudia, an Algerian 

and a veteran of his country’s bloody 

anti-colonial war against France, 

was a playwright who ran a theatre 

in Paris and identified with the 

Palestinian cause. The Israelis in 

what was called Operation Wrath of 

God, bombed him out of existence. 

On December 30, 1973 Carlos 

retaliated by carrying out an 

assassination attempt in England on 

Joseph Sieff, the Vice-President of the 

British Zionist Federation who was 

shot in the attack. 

Carlos' most audacious strike for 

the Palestinian cause was the 

December 21, 1975 movie-like raid 

on the headquarters of the 

Organisation of Petroleum 

Exporting Countries, OPEC, in 

Vienna, Austria during the body’s 

meeting. About seventy hostages 

were taken including the famous 

Saudi Arabian Oil Minister, Ahmed 

Zaki Yamani. Three persons were 

killed; an Iraqi OPEC employee, an 

Austrian policeman and a member 

of the Libyan delegation. He forced 

the Austrian Government to 

broadcast on radio and television, a 

communique on the plight of the 

Palestinians every 15 minutes. He 

then got the Austrians to provide an 

aircraft to fly out his six-person 

commando team and 42 hostages, 

first to Algiers and then Tripoli where 

the hostages were freed. 

On 16 February 1982, Carlos' wife 

Magdalena Kopp and a comrade, 

Bruno Breguet were arrested in 

France. What followed were a series 

of attacks which were blamed on 

Carlos. 

He lived in Yugoslavia, Yemen, 

Hungary, Syria and finally Sudan. 

France and America enticed the 

Sudanese Government to abduct 

Carlos. He was drugged and 

One that I read on an online post 

this week pointed to some 14 fluid 

states that APC may lose. That post 

appears generally plausible, even if 

the suggestion that wherever APC 

loses, PDP will be the beneficiary is a 

fatuous assumption with little 

scientific basis. 

A more rational assessment 

though should identify other parties 

in the states likely to benefit from 

APC’s loss, especially if Tinubu, the 

APC Chief Reconciler is made to fail. 

Tinubu is no doubt the key to 

resolution of the APC crises. 

After he finishes his assignment, 

Tinubu should be made Chairman 

of the GMB 2019 Presidential 

Campaign. Kwankwaso should be 

made Vice-Chairman to pull in the 

areas he has made inroads into in 

the North, while Amaechi remains 

DG of the Campaign. Tinubu as Vice 

President will ensure Yorubaland 

votes to make up for likely losses in 

the North. And there will be losses 

whether the reconciliation works or 

not. APC will not get votes of most 

Christians in the North. This is 

obvious with the ongoing 

manipulation of the security 

situation in the Middle Belt. 

With this, the electoral value of 

Osinbajo is, to say the least, weak. 

After all, like General Buhari said in 

his 2018 New Year Address, Yorubas 

are more conscious of their ethnic 

identity rather than the religious 

consideration of other ethnic groups. 

kidnapped by the Sudanese 

Government which on August 14, 

1994, transferred him to French 

intelligence who smuggled him to 

Paris where he has since been in 

prison. He was put in solitary 

confinement for years despite the 

fact that prisoners have a right to be 

treated as human beings with 

dignity. 

While the Israelis who for seven 

decades have carried out 

assassinations across the globe 

against perceived enemies and are 

celebrated, people like Carlos who 

fought for the Palestinian cause are 

locked away. It can be said that 

Carlos was a terrorist, but so also 

are the Israelis. 

There is no doubt that he was 

involved in violence. During his trial, 

he said: "When one wages war for 

30 years, there is a lot of blood 

spilled—mine and others. But we 

never killed anyone for money, but 

for a cause—the liberation of 

Palestine." 

The primary difference between 

Israeli agents who continue to kill 

the Palestinians, and 

internationalists like Carlos who 

rose to the Palestinians' defence is 

that the former have an independent 

country, backed by rich and 

powerful individuals and countries. 

In contrast, the Palestinians are 

colonised, their lands seized, their 

homes sometimes destroyed and 

many of their patriots are in Israeli 

jails or exile. They do not have 

powerful countries to stand up for 

them; at least militarily. 

Carlos, like Nelson Mandela, 

Walter Sisulu and Joe Slovo of South 

Africa and Kay Rala Xanana 

Gusmão of East Timor were 

regarded as terrorists. But those for 

whom they sacrificed, saw them as 

liberation fighters. It is a case of one 

man’s terrorist, being another man’s 

freedom fighter. 

The 2019 poll will surely be hardfought. 

Many voters overly 

enthusiastic in 2015 may not 

participate unless more work is done 

on them. APC voters in the core North 

who trooped out in 2015 did so to 

save themselves from the threat of 

BH let loose by a loose, or worse, 

complicit PDP central government 

may not feel the same urge in 2019. 

In Kano and Bauchi, incumbents 

at all levels are at serious risk of 

losing, though not necessarily to PDP. 

Teams of core Buharists sidelined in 

states and at the centre will surely 

work with other alienated APC 

members and those who lose out in 

PDP to form the next governments of 

Bauchi and Kano, and in many other 

crises-infested states too. 

On voter demographics in Kano, 

the Buhari group is made up of 

believers in good governance. The 

Sharia-inclined mass base of the 

Talakawa political vision of NEPU 

and PRP of Malam Aminu Kano is 

what Buhari inherited in Kano and 

all states of the North. This mass base 

of disenchanted Buharists have been 

onlookers in the government and 

APC. That is also what obtains in 

many of the 2019 fluid states. Such 

activists will determine what 

happens in Kano. For sure, like most 

analysts suggest, Kano in 2019 is 

certainly fluid. But the APC problem 

here is not only about Kwankwaso 

or Ganduje or even PDP, even when 

both Kwankwaso and Ganduje are 

all PDP Graduates of APC.


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

PISCES; Continue to be more careful about 

proposals having to do with joint ventures. Yet that 

is not to say you can not take good advice. Prepare 

to work harder. 

ARIES; You stand good chance to extend 

favourable events of yesterday both at work and on 

matters-of-the-heart. Watch what you sign before 

5.36pm. 

TAURUS; Young-at-heart will be willing to give 

priority attention to sentimental related issues 

probably because of yesterday’s success. 

GEMINI; Refuse to become mentally arrogant or 

else you would be working against your own interest. 

Your love life will continue to enjoy favourable 

aspects. 

CANCER; Financial success is within your reach, 

especially if you back your old plans early in the 

day. The more family minded you are the better for 

you. 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART —ELLA RANDLE 

“If you want to be happy, do not dwell in the past, do 

not worry about the future, focus on living fully in the 

present.”- Roy Bennett- 

Most of the things we worry about will never come true, and 

some are completely out of one’s control. As you unload yourself 

of these worries you begin to recharge your mind and 

Soul! If there are things you are worried about that you can 

control, stop worrying and start taking action. Taking action 

will create more energy and relieve the energy drain caused 

by the worry. – Ella Randle- 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

A fight between 

grasshoppers 

is a 

joy to the 

crow. ~ 

Lesotho proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

LEO; It is important you don’t allow others to mislead 

you in the name of giving you good advice before 

5.36pm. Those travelling or moving around in search 

of love may be in for both an exciting and pleasurable 

day. 

VIRGO; You will be in better position to consolidate 

on progress made yesterday. And it is wrong to take 

people for granted today. 

LIBRA; Many people may be disappointed because 

of broken promises, therefore you will need to prepare 

your mind accordingly and refuse to take others for 

granted 

SCORPIO ;You can make it a good day as both 

career advancement and financial success are closer 

to you. Secret lovers are in for an exciting day. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O. OLAIDE 

SAGITARIUS; Although there will be challenges 

here is a day when things will eventually go according 

to your plans. Don’t take friends for granted. 

CAPRICORN; From now until next few days you 

will need to be as practical as possible along your 

career line; this is the wrong time to experiment 

with new ideas. 

AQUARIUS; You may not be in total control of 

your mind till around 5.36pm. That is to say you 

will need practical approach in all you do today. Be 

more careful. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

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

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, 7, Apapa, Lagos 

What I should expected 

Dear Joshua, 

I want comprehensive Astrological analysis of my 

life, especially my love life and what I should expect 

from social activities around me. 

Jude, Lagos, 

Dear Jude, 

What space can take will be given here-under. You 

were given handsome and magnetic body. Many 

planetary placement in Leo particularly the 

conjunction of magnetic Uranus, sexual Mars and 

romantic Venus are pointer to very active love life. 

Certainly romantic fun with beautiful women can 

not elude you, but you must always be careful. 

Major challenge of your love life is coming from 

difficult aspect from Jupiter in death related Scorpio 

to the conjunction of Mars, Uranus and Venus in 

child bearing Leo, if this is not well managed it can 

cause avoidable death either of a spouse or a child. 

But your being spiritual can take good care of this 

tough challenge of your love life. 

Here is an incurable LOVER OF TOTAL 

FREEDOM. But fortunately on one hand Saturn 

made it very difficult and rough at the initial stage 

and instilled discipline into your inner-self, but 

unfortunately on the other hand the same difficult 

Saturn killed some of rascally useful traits in you 

capable of making you a big time freedom fighter. 

Let me say this here, the truth is as much as some 

of wicked witches and wizards would like to harm 

your FAME your natal affiliation to them through 

your Neptune in Scorpio at positive angle to your 

natal Sun in homely Cancer will not allow them; 

then that does not mean you should leave your 

defence open unnecessarily. 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa

Vanguard, THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 2018—33 


VISIT: From left— Mr. Sadiq Adegbite; Mr. Soren Nortoft, Stones Consult Group; Engr. Imo Ekpo; 

Mr. Bamidele Falako, both members of member, Board of Trustees of Tunnelling Association of Nigeria; 

President, International Tunnelling Association, Professor Tarcisio Celestino; behind him, Dr. Nikolia 

Bobylev; Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Gbenga Ashafa; President, Tunnelling 

Association of Nigeria, Mr. Abidemi Agwor; Vice Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, 

Ovie Omo-Agege; Mr. Haruna Ladan; Mr. Olivier Vion; Ole Pederseen, and Senior Legislative Aide to 

Senator Ashafa, Mr. Temitope Atiba, during a visit to the Senate Committee by the executives of the 

association at the National Assembly, Abuja. 

PANDEF to NASS: Attempt to usurp 

INEC's powers spells doom for our 

constitution 

By Simon 

Ebegbulem 

BENIN—EDO State 

Chairman of Pan Niger 

Delta Forum, PANDEF, 

and former Provost Marshal 

of Nigerian Army, Brig. 

Gen. Idada Ikponmwen 

(retd), yesterday, warned 

that attempt by the National 

Assembly to veto President 

Muhammadu Buhari's 

refusal to assent the new 

amendment of the Electoral 

Act, which seeks to re-order 

the sequence of the 2019 

general election will spell 

doom for the nation’s 

constitution. 

Ikpomnwen, a lawyer, 

noted that the constitution 

vested the powers to 

conduct elections and 

election sequence on the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC and not the 

executive or the National 

By Jimitota 

Onoyume 

WARRI—IJAW Youth 

Council, IYC, has 

accused Chevron Nigeria 

limited, CNL, of allegedly 

shortchanging its host 

communities in the region 

in its employment 

programmes, noting that 

they were being 

discriminated against. 

President Ijaw Youth 

Council, Mr. Eric Omare 

spoke to Vanguard 

yesterday in Warri, Delta 

State, accusing the oil giant 

of reserving low cadre jobs 

for youths of the company’s 

Assembly. 

He said that any attempt 

by the National Assembly 

to veto the decision of 

President Buhari on the 

matter will be flouting the 

constitution which the 

“lawmakers have vowed to 

protect.” 

Citing some sections of 

the constitution to buttress 

his point, he quoted section 

76(1) which says, “Election 

to each House of the 

National Assembly shall be 

held on a date to be 

appointed by INEC; 

Section 116(1) “Election to 

IYC accuses Chevron of 

discriminating in employment 

host communities in the 

region while choice 

positions were allegedly 

given to relatives of top 

management staff of the 

company. 

His words: “Chevron 

adopts two sets of 

employment policies for 

their workers: one for the 

host communities, another 

is for those from outside the 

host communities and 

family members of its top 

management staff. 

“Those from host 

communities are employed 

as technicians, whereas 

those from outside the host 

communities are employed 

a House of Assembly shall 

be held on date to be 

appointed by INEC. 

“Section 132(1) “An 

election to the office of the 

President shall be held on 

a date to be appointed by 

INEC; Section 178(1) “An 

election to the office of 

Governor of a State shall be 

held on a date to be 

appointed by INEC. 

“For proper evaluation of 

the attempt of the National 

Assembly to make a new 

law, the Supremacy Clause 

of the Constitution is 

relevant. 

“Section 1(3): If any other 

law is inconsistent with the 

Wike hints on cabinet shake-up, 

swears in new commissioners 

By Egufe 

Yafugborhi 

PORT HARCOURT— 

GOVERNOR Nyesom 

Wike of Rivers State, 

yesterday, swore in four 

new commissioners, 

hinting of an imminent 

cabinet shake-up in the 

state. 

The governor gave the 

as engineers. 

“Only last year, an 

aptitude test was done for 

those from outside the host 

communities in Abuja, 

where several engineers 

were employed, but host 

communities were left out. 

“The implication of this 

discriminatory employment 

policy is that though the 

community technicians are 

the ones doing the actual 

works in the field with 

requisite qualification, they 

cannot grow or be 

promoted on the employment 

to the level of the 

engineers employed from 

outside host communities.” 

provision of this 

constitution, this 

constitution shall prevail 

and that other Law shall, 

to the extent of the 

inconsistency be void” 

“The legal position is that 

since the constitution which 

is the supreme law of 

Nigeria had vested the 

power to fix date for all 

elections and organise 

same in the INEC, it 

means that the attempt by 

the National Assembly to 

arrogate to themselves the 

power to fix date for 

elections in Nigeria is 

inconsistent with the 

Constitution.” 

hint at the Government 

House, Port Harcourt after 

he swore in the new 

commissioners, which 

according to him is to 

further strengthen the 

machinery of government. 

Wike who also swore-in 

Chief Boma Dappa as the 

Caretaker Committee 

Chairman of Degema Local 

Government Area of the 

state, said there will be a 

minor cabinet reshuffle. 

In his charge to the new 

commissioners, Wike, said, 

“These appointments are 

not opportunities for 

appointees to enrich 

themselves. 

“If you attempt to enrich 

yourselves, there will be 

consequences. Anyone 

who attempts to derail our 

vision, we will not notify the 

person before he is shown 

the way out. We are 

determined to move the 

state to the next level. 

“I demand total loyalty. If 

you divide your loyalty, you 

will not be in my cabinet.” 

NUC accredits Law, 

Engineering, Health Science 

faculties at DELSU 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—NATIONAL 

University 

Commission, NUC, has 

accredited the faculties of 

Engineering, Law and 

College Health Sciences 

of the Delta State 

University, Abraka. 

The 

state 

Commissioner for 

Information, Mr. Patrick 

Ukah, who disclosed this 

while speaking with 

newsmen after the State 

Executive Council 

meeting, said with the 

accreditation, “students 

in the affected faculties 

have nothing to fear 

anymore since all 

processes relating to the 

By Ochuko 

Akuopha 

OLEH—AHEAD of 

the 2019 general 

election, business 

mogul, Engr. Daniel 

Omoyibo, has urged the 

Isoko political class in 

Delta State to brace up 

for the process of 

searching for a credible 

candidate to contest for 

the Delta South 

senatorial district seat at 

the National Assembly, 

noting that the race was 

not only open to the Ijaw 

and Itsekiri ethnic 

nationalities in the 

district. 

Speaking at Oleh, 

Isoko South Local 

Government Area of the 

state, during a thankyou 

meeting organised 

Osanebi fulfills 

promise to councillors 

By Etop Ekanem 

IN a bid to enhance 

effective legislation at 

the local government 

level, Deputy Speaker, 

Delta State House of 

Assembly, Mr. Friday 

Osanebi, yesterday, 

delivered a set of 

furniture to the legislative 

arm of Ndokwa East LGA 

in fulfillment of his earlier 

promise. 

Osanebi who made the 

promise last week when 

he paid a surprise visit to 

the council, during his 

tour of facilities and 

departments wasn’t 

pleased with what he 

saw and said he will 

furnish the legislative 

complex before the next 

seating day, adding “You 

need a conducive 

exercise had been 

completed with NUC 

giving its nod.” 

He noted that the state 

Commissioner for Higher 

Education, Mr. Jude 

Sinebe, on behalf of the 

ministry, council and 

management of the 

institution, thanked 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

for his support in seeing 

the exercise through. 

Ukah added: “The state 

government has approved 

the installation of new 

extended streetlights 

using 200 watts led 

fittings from Amukpe/ 

NTA roundabout to Total 

Filling Station at 

Okrighwre Junction in 

Sapele metropolis.” 

Omoyibo tasks Isoko on 

credible senatorial candidate 

by the Isoko 

Development Union, 

IDU, for media 

practitioners and orators 

in the Isoko axis, 

Omoyibo lamented that 

the Isoko nation was not 

getting its fair share in 

the political scheme of 

things in the senatorial 

district. 

He said: “In 2019, 

politics in Isoko must 

change because we are 

relegated to the 

background. Isoko has 

gone backwards today in 

politics and hardship is 

on the rise in Isoko land. 

“We must not fold our 

hands and make the race 

for the senatorial seat for 

Delta South look like 

something that is meant 

for only the Ijaw and 

Itsekiri people.” 

environment to make good 

laws.” 

He added that the 

“lawmaking arm of any 

government must be 

suitable for the purpose it 

serves and that some 

infrastructure in the local 

governments are in a 

pitiable situation.” 

He urged well-meaning 

“Nigerians come out to 

support governments’ 

transformation process as 

government cannot do it 

alone.” 

Receiving the sets of 

furniture on behalf of the 

Chairman, the House 

leader, Justice Uwa 

Chukwuji said: “We have 

not seen this kind of gesture 

before in Ndokwaland and 

Delta State at large. 

“We are proud of him; he 

is leading by example.”

34 — Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018

Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 —35


IT’S like a tale from fishwifery 

told by moonlight: 

how Boko Haram entered a 

Nigerian town as villains, 

kidnapped dozens of 

schoolgirls, and 32 days later 

returned them to the same 

town as heroes with flags 

waving and crowds 

cheering and not a single 

Nigerian soldier in sight. 

Amend the last part. The 

soldiers who were in sight 

were present to stop 

journalists but to ensure the 

safe passage of Abu Mus'ab 

Al-Barnawi's men. 

If it were a movie, it would 

have been titled: "From 

Shekau to Al-Barnawi: The 

Making Of Another Monster". 

Are these fellows still wanted? 

I’m bereft. 

One month ago, we woke up 

to the news that Boko Haram 

had kidnapped 110 girls from 

their dormitory in the 

Government Girls Science 

Technical College, Dapchi. 

From all accounts, the 

incident happened under very 

bizarre circumstances. Even 

though the region remains the 

epicenter of Boko Haram 

activities, the army was 

withdrawn from the town and 

two weeks later, the terrorists 

struck. 

To say they struck, is to 

dramatise the incident. They 

came in Nigerian Army 

uniforms as if they had come 

to their playground. They 

came in nine trucks over miles 

of open, largely flat ground, 

released a few random shots 

in the air and within an hour 

rounded up 110 girls, while a 

few managed to escape. 

The cries for help fell on deaf 

ears. The police station in 

Dapchi was conveniently 

empty and multiple sources 

reported that the phone 

numbers of the Divisional 

Police Officer were switched 

off. 

God knows we’re glad to 

have the girls back, and we 

should do all we can to help 

them recover from the trauma. 

We’re deeply saddened about 

any of them who may have 

been lost or left behind, and 

we remember again the 

remaining Chibok girls. 

But there’s a lot that the 

Dapchi: Dangerous example of how 

to help Boko Haram 

One of the released girls with her father (2nd left) in Dapchi town. 

government needs to account 

for. We can’t say Shekau and 

the ascendant outlaw, Abu 

Mus’ab Al-Barnaw, are 

wanted men and yet continue 

to deal with them like the 

fellows next door. 

The only way for Dapchi not 

to happen again, for this 

whole thing not to become 

another criminal enterprise, is 

for the government to tell us 

exactly what happened and to 

adopt a different approach to 

this problem, instead of 

feeding the monsters. 

I have a sickening feeling 

that we might be heading 

down a slippery slope with the 

lives of innocent children and 

sending a dangerous signal 

that parts of Nigeria are safer 

under the control of terrorists. 

When are we going to be able 

to tell the terrorists that our 

children’s lives will not be 

toyed with? 

Parents are forever 

My children grew up 

staying mostly with me. They 

did not go to boarding school; 

and even when they went away 

on holiday, I cannot recall 

them spending two or three 

weeks away at a stretch. 

At about 18 when the eldest 

moved into the hostel after her 

admission to the University in 

Lagos, there was hardly any 

weekend when I did not find 

an excuse to visit, often under 

the pretext of taking some 

needed provision to her. 

I’ve found out that I’m not 

alone. If we can help it, we, 

parents, want our children to 

be near, until it becomes 

inevitable to free them from the 

nest. 

After the kidnap of the 

Dapchi girls, I’ve been 

thinking about that day when 

I left my daughter all by 

herself in her new school 

outside the country. For the 

first time in both of our lives, 

she was going to be on her 

own, not knowing what was 

going to happen to her after 

my departure. 

If I could be so deeply 

confused and saddened by the 

prospects of her safety in a 

largely secure place, then I 

wonder how the parents of the 

Dapchi 110 must have felt 

losing the apples of their eyes 

to murderous strangers with 

no idea where they were or 

what was happening to them. 

And I can imagine what joy 

it must be to have them back. 

Buhari came close to this 

experience in a public way, 

lately. In December, his son, 

Yusuf – his only son – was 

involved in a bike accident that 

nearly claimed his life. 

To say they struck, 

is to dramatise the 

incident. They came 

in Nigerian Army 

uniforms as if they 

had come to their 

playground. They 

came in nine trucks 

over miles of open, 

largely flat ground, 

released a few 

random shots in the 

air and within an 

hour rounded up 

110 girls, while a few 

managed to escape 

The country rallied round 

him and the First Family – 

which is as it should be. I still 

remember those pictures from 

the early days of the accident, 

when the poor chap’s life was 

hanging by a thread at 

Cedacrest Hospitals, Abuja. 

Buhari and his wife, Aisha, 

visited the hospital a couple 

of times. On no occasion was 

the red carpet laid out for them 

like it happened during the 

President’s visit to Dapchi. 

Red carpet in Dapchi 

When I saw photographs 

from that Dapchi visit, the first 

thing that struck me was the 

red carpet and Buhari’s light 

blue three-piece agbada and 

a matching cap. 

I’m not saying his heart was 

not heavy with grief or that he 

should have faked his concern 

by appearing in rags. But for 

God’s sake, it was a somber 

visit, in some way reminiscent 

of his visits to Yusuf after the 

chap’s bike accident. 

It was a visit to a crime scene 

strewn with the broken 

emotions of a community that 

is half-dead, as one resident 

described it. If it didn’t occur 

to Buhari’s chaperons not 

spread the red carpet and 

deck the place like a set for 

the Oscars, didn’t the 

President himself think that 

his appearance was 

insensitive? 

It may seem an irrelevant 

point now, after the girls were 

rescued on Wednesday. Yet 

symbols, especially genuine 

and moderate symbols, can 

help any community going 

through difficult and 

distressing times. 

It didn’t help matters that 

Buhari was comparing his 

response with that of former 

President Goodluck Jonathan 

in Chibok. He ought to know 

that no two miseries are ever 

alike; yet each demands our 

fullest empathy and nothing 

less. 

A failed template 

Is Dapchi the emerging 

template for dealing with Boko 

Haram? It worked for the 

release of over 101 Chibok 

girls, but even in that case, we 

did not see the terrorists in a 

triumphant procession on the 

streets of Chibok. 

Something has changed. Al- 

Barnawi and his men have 

become emboldened to the 

frighteningly alarming point 

where they can march 

confidently down the streets of 

Dapchi with crowds waving 

the same Boko Haram flags 

that gallant soldiers laid down 

lives to remove in many parts 

of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa 

in the last three years. 

This dangerous sign can 

only be viewed with pleasure 

by Al-Barnawi, other Boko 

Haram franchises and their 

accomplices for whom we’re 

opening yet another door. 

It’s true that Buhari said 

almost three years ago, that he 

was willing to negotiate to free 

the Chibok girls. But now, the 

handshake has reached the 

elbow and Dapchi may have 

signaled the end of our 

sovereignty. 

Ishiekwene is the 

Managing Director/Editor- 

In-Chief of The Interview and 

member of the board of the 

Global Editors Network.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 — 37


ABDULMALIK 

I, formerly known and 

addressed as Miss 

Aishat Onyijimoh 

Abdulmalik, now wish 

to be known and 

addressed as Mrs. 

Aishat Onyijimoh Sule. 

All former documents 

remain valid. General 

public please take note. 

ETENG 



Gladys Lucy Eteng, 

now wish to be known 

and addressed as Mrs. 

Gladys Lucy Atti. All 

former documents 



OKEKE 



Okeke Chidera Jane, 



Ifeacho Chidera Jane. 




AMADI 


addressed as Amadi 

Marvelous Nwabueze, 


and addressed as 

Uzoho Marvelous 

Nwabueze. All former 

documents remain 

valid. General public 

please take note. 

ODEHU 

Correction of Name 

My name was 

wrongly written as 

Odehu Joy, instead of 

Odelu Joy. My correct 

name is Odelu Joy. All 



public please take 

note. 

ODIEGWU 


addressed as Tomzine 

Stephen Odiegwu, 



Tomzine Stephen 

Edonkumoh. All 




EGBO-EGBO 

Confirmation of Name 

This is to confirm that 

Ann Egbo-Egbo and 

Ann Emmanuel Egbo- 

Egbo refer to one and 

the same person, now 

wish to be known and 

addressed as Ann 

Emmanuel Egbo-Egbo. 




OLAREWAJU 



Olanrewaju Victoria 

Olarewaju, now wish to 

be known and 


Olanrewaju Victoria 

Jamolaya. All former 




ROBERT 


addressed as Robert 

Eriakhuemen Ehiamen, 



Robert Esene Ehiamen. 



Public please take note. 

NWEBELE 



Nwebele Nonyelum 

Ejikeme, now wish to 

be known and 


Ebele Nonyelum 

Enwegbara. All former 




AKPANIKA 

ANIKA 



Esther Bassey 

Akpanika, now wish to 

be known and 


Esther Asuquo Usah. 




IMOAFOJIE 


addressed as Imoafojie 

Joy Obofoni, now wish 



Orhionmwonbor Joy 

Obofoni. All former 




UKOH 



Ukoh Chizaram 

Margaret, now wish to 

be known and 


Adedayo Chizaram 

Margaret. All former 


valid. FCMB, Access 

Bank and general 

public take note. 

OKU 


addressed as Oku 

Inyang Okon, now 


addressed as Iseza 

Inyang Finbarr. All 




ODANGLA 



Agbenu Dorcas 

Odangla, now wish to 

be known and 


Agbenu Dorcas Ejeh. 




EGBETA 



Elohor Gladys Egbeta, 



Elohor Gladys Efe 

Erero. All former 




OPARAJI 



Oparaji Chinasa 

Lilian, now wish to be 

known and addressed 

as Mrs. Onwukwe 

Chinasa Lilian. All 




note. 

URUGBEZI 



U r u g b e z i 

Oghenenakeno 

Princess, now wish to 

be known and 


Peterson Oghenekeno 

Princess. All former 




SOLOMON 


addressed as Solomon 

Gift and Solomon Gift 

Ketas Otadisco, now 


addressed as Gift 

Ketas. All former 




WHISKY 


addressed as Whisky 

Onoriode, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Mrs 

Onoriode Aruna. All 




OGUNKAYODE 

ODE 


addressed as 

Ogunkayode Nafisatu, 



Unachukwu Nafisatu. 




AYIWE 



Kesiena Blessing 

Ayiwe, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Kesiena 

Blessing Uti. All former 




LAWRENCE 



Lawrence Destiny 

Oluchi, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Nwosu 

Destiny Oluchi. All 




OKOTETE 



Okotete Rita, now wish 



Obodo Rita. All former 




IJIEFUAMEN 


addressed as Kenneth 

Ijiefuamen Edenojie 



Kenneth Akhere 

Edenojie. All former 


valid. Zenith Bank Plc 

and the general public 


SENBANJO 


the names Senbanjo 

Ajoke Oluwabunmi and 

Idowu Ajoke 

Oluwabunmi refer to 

one and the same 

person, but now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Idowu 

Oluwabunmi Ajoke. All 




ODEJAYI 


the names Oyenuga 

Oluwafunmilola 

Omobolanle and 

O d e j a y i 

Oluwafunmilola Agnes 

refer to one and the 

same person, but now 


addressed as Oyenuga 

Oluwafunmilola 

Omobolanle. All former 




UGOCHUKWU 



Ugochukwu Esther 

Loveth, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Ebuka Kelechi 

Loveth. All former 




OKAFOR 


addressed as Okafor 

Njideka Chigozie, now 



Nwaolisa Njideka 

Chigozie. All former 




IWEBEMA 

I,Macgregor 

Chukwujindu Iwebema 

wish to be add 

Thompson to my name 

and be known and 

addressed as 

M a c g r e g o r 

Chukwujindu Iwebema 

Thompson. All former 




SUCCESS 


addressed as Otegwu 

Nkemjika Success, now 


addressed as Otegwu 

Nkemjika Elizabeth. All 


remain valid. GTB Plc. 



AKPOSIEGBE 


addressed as Rapheal 

Akposiegbe, now wish 


addressed as Rapheal 

Ajeyekovie Akposiegbe. 


remain valid. Fidelity 

Bank Plc. and the 

General public please 

take note. 

MAKA 


addressed as Joan 

Maka Toritsemugbone, 



Omohwo Joan 

Toritsemugbone. All 




AGWUNOBI 



Precious Chidimma 

Agwunobi, now wish to 

be known and 


Precious Chidimma 

Ezeh. All former 




CHIMA 



Chima Tracy Chioma, 



Uwhotu Tracy Chioma. 




OGOCHUKWU 



Ofoma Ijeoma 

Ogochukwu, now wish 



Ekezie Ijeoma 

Ogochukwu Ofoma. 



public please take note.

OPARA 



Opara Jesse Isabella, 



Ovueyeran Isabella. 




ABERE 

EPIDI 

MABO FOUYOWEI 

IDOLLOR OKWU 


addressed as Sunny 

Mabo, now wish to be 


as Sunny Diamabo. All 


remain valid. Diamond 

bank and the general 


OGHENEKARO 



Surely Aruoriwoghene 

Oghenekaro, now wish 



Surely Aruoriwoghene 

Blessed Ebruphio. All 




CHUKWUDI 



Chukwudi Loveth 

Uche, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Chukwuma 

Loveth Uche. All former 




DUMEBI 



Dumebi Sarah Nonso, 



Martins Sarah Nonso. 




CHUKELU 


addressed as Chukelu 

Cordelia Benedicth, 



Chukwuemeka 

Cordelia Nwanneka. All 




OKARO 


addressed as 

Efemijogho Festus 

Okaro, now wish to be 


as Efemijogho Festus 

Oghenekaro. All former 






Miebaka Abere, now 



Miebaka Aaron- 

George. All former 


valid. University of Port 

Harcourt Teaching 

Hospital and the 

general public please 

take note. 


addressed as Henry 

Fouyowei, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Henry 

Ebiowor Ogbomah. All 


remain valid. IBTC 

Pension Managers Ltd, 

Bayelsa State and the 


take note. 

EZA 


addressed as Miss Eza 

Eloho Sheen, now wish 


addressed as Mrs. Etu- 

Efeotor Eloho Sheen. 




OGUNSEIJU 



Ogunseiju Julianah 

Ope, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Adediji 

Julianah Ope. All 




ROBERTS 


addressed as Roberts 

Grace Arurewo, now 



Okwegbe Grace 

Aruoriwo. All former 

documents remain valid. 


take note. 

BIKE 

This is to confirm that the 

names Yakubu Duniya 

Bike and Yakubu Duniya 

Katau refer to one and the 

same person. I now wish 


addressed as Yakubu 

Duniya Katau. All former 


General public please take 

note. 

ADULUGBA 



Maria Adulugba, now 



Maria Benjamin 

Atidoga. All former 



take note. 

IDUMABO 

OJINE 

CHANGE OF NAME 


addressed as Pamela 

Idumabo Dambo, now 


addressed as Pamela 

Idubamo Dambo. All 






Idollor Praise 

Oghenerobo, now wish 


addressed as Mrs. Veta 

Praise Oghenerobo. All 




UJIRO 


addressed as Ujiro 

Jesusemen, now wish 


addressed as Edo 

Christabel Jesusemen. 






Ojine Theresa Isi-D, 



Okolie Theresa 

Onyebuchi. All former 




CHIKA 


addressed as Ugwueze 

Chika Vivian, now 


addressed as Ugwueze 

Chikaodi Gorraty. All 




UGAH 



Ugah Peace 

Oghenekevwe, now 



Ihoabhie Godspower 

Peace Oghenekevwe. 





addressed as Miss Lois 

Etemoere Epidi, now 


addressed as Mrs. Lois 

Etemoere Minabowan. 





addressed as Miss Rita 

Ogute Okwu, now wish 


addressed as Mrs. Rita 

Agu Ogute. All former 




OZIEGBE 



Oziegbe Scholastica, 



Orieka Efe Scholastica. 




ISICHEI 



Isichei Mercy 

Nkeonye, now wish to 

be known and 


Onyeagwu Mercy 

Nkeonye. All former 




ODOE 


addressed as Odoe 

Onyebuchi Victoria, 


and addressed as Ijeh 

Onyebuchi Victoria. All 




OSHOBUGHIE 


the name Odioh 

Divine-Favour Martins 

Oshobughie, Odioh 


and Odioh Divine 

Oshobughie refer to 

one and the same 

person, now wish to be 

known as Odioh 


Oshobughie. All former 




38—Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018—39 

OGHOGHO 


addressed as 

Happiness Augustine 

Oghogho, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Osoh 

Happiness Augustine. 


remain valid. UBA Plc. 



OTTI 


addressed as Miss Otii 

Oghoadena Tina, now 



Efetobor Oghoadena 

Tina. All former 




SAMPOU 

EMUMEJAKPO ATARIE 

ARIE 



Beatrice Emumejakpo, 



Beatrice Onobeke. All 




IKEJI 



Ikeji Hope, now wish 



Simeon Hope 

Onyekachukwu. All 




MOHAMMED 


addressed as 

Mohammed Abayomi 

Michael, now wish to 

be known and 

addressed as Barnabas 

Abayomi Michael. All 




HAMMES 


addressed as Hammes 

Macaulay McDonald, 


and addressed as Rume 

Macaulay. All former 





addressed as Sampou 

Preye Beatrice, now 


addressed as Zuofa 

Preye Beatrice. All 




UMARU 


addressed as Ovakpor 

Umaru Peter’s, now 


addressed as Favour 

Ovakpor Umukperou. 





addressed as Atarie 

Oghale Anthony, now 


addressed as 

Ogborokpa Atarie 

Oghale Anthony. All 




OSHODI 



Oshodi Kehinde 

Foluke, now wish to be 


as Mrs. Asaolu 

Kehinde Foluke. All 


remain valid. Doregos 

Private Academy and 


take note. 

CHUKS 


addressed as Alizor 

Kevin Chuks, now wish 


addressed as Alizor 

Kevin Chukwuekwu. 




TOR 

ORUBEINGHA 

I, formerly known as 

Miss Torubeingha 

Amietimi Rachael and Dio 

Amietimi Rachael, now 


addressed as Mrs. Dio- 

Henry Amietimi Rachael. 


remain valid. Delta State 

Local Government 

Service Commission, 

Bomadi Local 

Government Area and the 


take note. 

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STREET, VICTORIA ISLAND LAGOS


Put the shame 

aside and come 

back to life, 

actress Liz Da 

Silva advices 

deportee, 

Lola 

Margaret 

By Benjamin Njoku 

Nollywood actress, Liz 

Da Silva has advised 

her disgraced 

colleague, actress Lola Margret 

who is currently maintaining 

low profile after she was 

deported from the United States 

following alleged fraudulent 

activity to put the shame behind 

her and move on with her life. 

Lola who celebrated her 

birthday yesterday reportedly 

has relocated to Ibadan from 

Lagos, as result of the 

deportation. The actress also, 

has since deleted her 

Instagram account after the 

incidence. 

In her birthday message to 

Lola, which she posted on her 

Instagram page, Liz Da Silva 

advised the actress to put the 

shame behind her and move on 

with her life irrespective of what 

people would say about her. 

Liz said her shoulders are 

available for her to lean in case 

Lola needs to cry. She wrote, 

“Pls darling, you need to put 

somethings behind you and 

take the next step... come back 

to life as our ever smiling Lola 

Margaret. NOTE.... those who 

say bullshit about you got 

nothing to offer, so keep you 

head upright and move on 

By Rotimi Agbana 

The nation’s entertainment 

sector recently received a 

boost, as the management of 

Mainland Records, a record 

•Orit 

honey. And if truly you're 

around my shoulders are 

available okay, I love and miss 

you my darling friend 

Apart from Liz, many other 

colleagues of the actress also 

sent her birthday messages as 

a show of solidarity. 

Simi tours SA media 

After a breath-taking 

performance at 

the eviction night of 

the ongoing Big 

Brother Naija reality 

show last Sunday, 

talented singer, 

Simi, is currently 

touring notable 

media houses 

in South 

Africa. 

The media 

tour which 

started on 

Monday, 

March 

19 would 

end on 

March 23. Some of 

the media houses Simi is 

expected to visit in South 

Africa include MTV Base, 

Soweto TV, Trans Africa 

Radio, Massiv Metro FM, 

Touch HD, Cliff Central, 

Unisa Radio/ETV and Y 

FM/Alex FM. 

At the moment, her SA 

fans are still in awe of the 

singer who thrilled them 

and even the viewers with 

her performance at the 

BBNaija show. 

Though he is a seasoned 

Nigerian film maker with 

popular movies including 

Shina Rambo, Adam’s Desire, 

Margret Thatcher, amongst 

others, to his credit, Prince 

Iyke Olisa is poised to stop at 

nothing to add more feathers 

to his pedigree as a makebelief 

expert of repute. 

With his latest movie titled, 

Aguiyi Ironsi, featuring 

Kanayo. O. Kanayo, Sam 

Dede and others, set to hit the 

Nigerian market in April, 

Prince Iyke, in an exclusive 

chat with HVP, refuted the 

accusation that Nigerian film 

makers encourage piracy. 

“I disagree with you; 

Simi performed her hit 

singles, Joromi and Owanbe 

and she used the opportunity 

to show her dexterity on stage. 

Meanwhile, the hyperactive 

singer is all set for a Meet and 

Greet session with Opera Mini 

on Saturday in Lagos. Simi’s 

latest video 'Complete Me' , is 

still enjoying massive airplay. 

The song is one of the songs 

off her album, Simisola. 

No true friendship in Nollywood, says film maker, Iyke Olisa 

•Iyke Olisa 

•Victor Fasuyi’s 

•Liz Da Silva 

By Rotimi Agbana 

Victor Fasuyi’s dreams come true 

label company, commissioned a 

new state- of- the- art recording 

studio in the Ikeja area of Lagos 

State. 

Speaking at the 

commissioning of the multimillion 

naira studio, Chief 

Executive Officer of Mainland 

Records, Mr. Victor Fasuyi, 

described the studio as a dream 

come true, after two years of its 

conception. The South African 

trained sound engineer and 

music producer, explained 

that the studio, which is open 

to all artistes, irrespective of 

their music genre, is designed 

to further give the nation’s 

entertainment sector a boost, by 

availing artistes, in this part of 

the globe, the opportunity of a 

quality music recording at very 

affordable costs, without having 

to travel abroad. 

“The idea of the studio was 

conceived about two years ago, 

and it was informed by the need 

to provide a platform, where 

artistes across all genres, 

irrespective of their social 

status, can stroll in and do their 

recordings. “Though it is a 

business outfit, but the idea of 

the studio goes far 

beyond that. It is designed 

to ensure that our clients get 

maximum value for every kobo 

spent here, by ensuring that 

we deliver to them innovative 

and quality service,” he stated. 

He believes his experiences 

in South Africa and his 

background, as a trained 

sound engineer and music 

producer would go a long way 

in pushing further the 

boundary of service delivery, 

especially for artistes coming 

in to patronize the studio. 

•Simi 

encouraging piracy would be 

like establishing a business 

and then bringing what will 

ruin it into it by yourself. 

Piracy has been a long 

standing problem in 

Nollywood but to a large 

extent we have been able to 

nip it in the bud. I’m not 

saying it has been totally 

eradicated but it is not as 

pronounced as before when 

after spending a fortune to 

shoot your movie, pay the 

cast and crew, then you end 

up losing all your 

investments to piracy”, he 

retorted. 

His yet to be released 

movie, ‘Aguiyi Ironsi’ brings 

to mind former Nigerian 

Head of State, but 

interestingly has nothing to 

do with him. According to 

Prince Iyke, the movie is 

partly a true life story while 

most of it is fictional, with 

interesting plot twists and 

turns to spice it up. 

“The movie, Aguiyi Ironsi, 

is partially based on a true 

life story but with spices to 

make it commercial. The 

story actually revolves 

around a wicked uncle and 

his nephew”, he revealed. 

Asked his take on 

friendship in the Nigerian 

movie industry, he said; 

“Friends in Nollywood are 

not mutual or real because 

business is business. There 

is really no friend in the 

entertainment industry. 

Therefore it is quite 

impossible to relate your 

friendship on business level. 

Doing so will be at your own 

risk”, he said.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 —41 

NNPC IN ENUGU—Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State 

(middle) with the Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigeria National 

Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru (3rd right) and other top 

management officials of the Corporation, during a courtesy visit to the 

governor at the Government House, Enugu, yesterday. 

FG let us down, says mum of 

Dapchi girl still in captivity 

Continues from Page 5 

country. What I see and feel 

about them is they are 

politicians or group used by 

politicians to threaten lives 

and endanger the lives of 

our children. 

“To me, there is nothing 

like Boko Haram. If truly 

they are Boko Haram, they 

wouldn’t have come here 

and abduct our girls and on 

their own, return these girls 

in broad daylight and no 

one was there to confront 

them," Sharibu lamented. 

Ensure her release — 

MURIC, CAN 

However, President 

Buhari, apparently 

heeding the call of 

MURIC, CAN and the 

Senate, assured yesterday 

that he would not relent in 

his effort to ensure the 

release of the Leah 

NAIRA WATCH 

Sharibu. 

MURIC in a statement 

signed by the Director, 

Ishaq Akintola, said the 

basis for holding Sharibu 

back was “faulty and 

unIslamic.” 

Akintola said the decision 

of the sect to keep Sharibu 

captive was a move to 

divide Nigeria along 

religious lines. 

The statement read: “We 

reject Boko Haram as an 

Islamic group. We urge the 

leadership and members of 

the group to re-examine its 

ideological base. 

“Leah Sharibu must be set 

free because the basis for 

holding her after setting 

her schoolmates free is 

faulty and unIslamic. We 

charge (FG) to go back to 

the negotiation table in 

order to secure the release 

of the only Christian girl 

among the Dapchi girls 

who is being held back by 

Naira appreciates to 

N360.12/$; reserves up 

by 1bn 

By Adaeze Okechukwu 

The naira yesterday recorded the highest daily 

gain of 17 kobo appreciating to N360.12 per dollar 

in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the 

foreign exchange market, even as the external 

reserves increased by $1.03 billion in one week. 

Data from the Financial Market Dealers Quote 

(FMDQ) showed that the indicative exchange rate 

for the window dropped to N360.13 per dollar, 

yesterday, from N360.37 per dollar on Wednesday, 

translating to 24 kobo appreciation for the naira. 

This for the fourth consecutive day this week was 

in spite of 55 percent decline in the transactions 

recorded in the I&E window. $155.96 million was 

traded in the window yesterday, down from $348.64 

million on Wednesday 

Vanguard analysis of the data from the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN showed that the external 

reserves rose to $45.36 billion on Wednesday from 

$44.33 billion recorded during the corresponding 

day last week, indicating a $1.03 billion increase in 

foreign reserves week-on-week. 

Vanguard investigation revealed that naira 

remained stable at N363 per dollar in the parallel 

market since Monday this week. 

the insurgents. 

“FG should note that 

Boko Haram is not as daft 

as many people think. By 

withholding the Christian 

girl, they seek to divide 

Nigerians once again 

along religious lines. 

“We commend Sharibu’s 

courage for refusing to bow 

to pressure in violation of 

her fundamental human 

rights. Our hearts are 

heavy with grief over her 

plight. We salute her 

courage. Shame on Boko 

Haram for oppressing a 

lone, vulnerable and 

helpless girl. Shame on all 

those who suppress 

freedom of worship." 

On its part, the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, 

CAN, in the 19 Northern 

States and the FCT, also 

urged the Federal 

Government to ensure the 

immediate release of Miss 

Sharibu. 

CAN Chairman, Rev 

Yakubu Pam in a press 

statement issued in Jos 

yesterday, said the Federal 

Government should be 

commended for ensuring 

the release of most of the 

abducted girls, warning, 

however, that the case of 

Leah should not be swept 

under the carpet but her 

immediate unconditional 

release ensured. 

Pam said Northern 

Christian leaders and 

Christian faithful shared in 

the joy of parents of the 

freed Dapchi school girls 

and appealed to parents 

of the deceased ones to take 

heart to bear the irreparable 

loss of their daughters. 

Don’t relent, Senate 

urges FG 

Reacting in a similar vein, 

the Senate asked the 

Federal Government not to 

rest on its oars until it 

ensured that the remaining 

students of both 

Government Girls Science 

and Technical College, 

Dapchi, Yobe State and 

Government Girls 

Secondary School, Chibok, 

Borno State, who are still 

in the custody of Boko 

Haram insurgents were 

rescued and released to 

their parents. 

It, however, hailed 


Buhari, Yobe State 

governor, Alhaji Ibrahim 

Geidam, and the country’s 

security agencies for the 

various roles they played 

that led to the release of 

Dapchi students on 

Wednesday. 

The Senate urged 

government to learn from 

the abduction of the girls by 

protecting schools in the 

North-East geo-political 

zone and other parts of the 

country to stave off a repeat 

of 2014 Chibok and 2018 

Dapchi girls saga. 

Resolutions of the Senate 

were sequel to a point of 

order by Senate Leader, 

Ahmad Lawan (APC, Yobe 

North). 

Senator Lawan, who 

came under Order 43 of the 

Senate Standing Order 

2015 as amended, said: 

“Mr. President, I want to 

take this opportunity to 

formally thank you and the 

Senate for the support, and 

to commend the Federal 

Government and the Yobe 

State Government for 

remaining focused. 

“President Muhammadu 

Buhari visited our state 

about a week after the 

abduction and he promised 

that the Federal 

Government would leave 

no stone unturned in the 

effort to bring back our 

Dapchi girls. 

“After commending 

everyone, we still have one 

more student of Dapchi 

that has not returned home. 

We still have 112 of Chibok 

girls that have not been 

returned. 

“I want to take this 

opportunity to urge the 

Federal Government to 

expedite action and leave 

no stone unturned in the 

effort to recover the 

remaining girl from Dapchi 

and 112 from Chibok”. 

In his remarks, Senate 

President, Dr. Bukola 

Saraki, commended the 

Federal and the Yobe State 

governments, security 

agencies as well as 

lawmakers for their 

concerted efforts in 

ensuring the release of the 

abducted school girls. 

Saraki said: “I commend 

and thank all our 

colleagues for their efforts 

from this chamber and for 

standing with the people of 

Yobe State. We commend 

the government, the 

President and the people of 

Yobe State for the efforts 

they put in the rescue of the 

girls. 

“But there is one more 

girl from Dapchi, which all 

the security agencies must 

do their best to see that, 

immediately, is brought 

back as well as the 112 

Chibok girls.” 

I won’t relent, Buhari 

assures 

As though he was 

heeding the call, President 

Buhari assured that he 

would not relent in his effort 

to ensure the release of the 

lone abducted Dapchi girl, 

Leah Sharibu, yet to be 

released. 

Presidential Buhari in a 

statement by his Senior 

Special Assistant on Media 

and Publicity, Malam 

Garba Shehu yesterday in 

Abuja, said he was as 

committed to the freedom of 

the only Dapchi schoolgirl 

still in captivity as he was 

to the girls’ freedom when 

all 110 were in the captivity 

of Boko Haram terrorists. 

He said: “The Buhari 

administration will not 

relent in efforts to bring 

Leah Sharibu safely back 

home to her parents as it 

has done for the other girls 

after she was held back by 

the terrorists over her 

decision, as reported, not to 

convert from Christianity to 

Islam. 

“President Buhari is fully 

conscious of his duty under 

the constitution to protect all 

Nigerians, irrespective of 

faith, ethnic background or 

geopolitical location and 

will not shirk in this 

responsibility. 

“The President is equally 

mindful of the fact that true 

followers of Islam all over 

the world respect the 

injunction that there is no 

compulsion in religion. To 

this effect, no one or group 

can impose its religion on 

another. 

“His heart goes out to the 

isolated parents who must 

watch others rejoice while 

their own daughter is still 

away. The lone Dapchi 

Girl, Leah, will not be 

abandoned. 

“President Buhari 

assures the Sharibu family 

that he will continue to do 

all he can to ensure that they 

also have cause to rejoice 

with their daughter soon.” 

PDP plumbing depths 

of infamy — Lai 

Mohammed 

Meanwhile, reacting to 

PDP’s statement 

Wednesday that the 

abduction and release of the 

girls were stage-managed, 

The Federal Government 

has accused the opposition 

party of plumbing the 

depths of infamy. 

In a statement issued in 

Abuja yesterday, the 

Minister of Information and 

Culture, Alhaji Lai 

Mohammed, said such 

postulation portrayed the 

PDP as an inhuman, 

insensitive, unpatriotic and 

unworthy party. 

He said since the release 

of the Dapchi girls were 

negotiated by friendly 

countries and reputable 

international organizations, 

it would have taken a 

conspiracy of global 

proportions to have stagemanaged 

the adoption and 

release of the girls. 

Alhaji Mohammed said 

the reaction of the PDP 

amounted to sour grapes, 

especially because the party 

failed woefully - when it 

was in power - to quickly 

resolve a similar abduction 

of schoolgirls. 

"As we have said many 

times since the abduction of 

the Dapchi schoolgirls, no 

government is exempted 

from its own share of 

tragedies. What makes the 

difference is the way such 

tragedies are managed. 

‘’Whereas it took the PDP 

all of 18 days to even 

acknowledge the abduction 

of the Chibok girls in 2014, 

the APC-led Federal 

Government acted 

promptly and responsively 

when the Dapchi 

schoolgirls were abducted 

on February 19, 2018, 

hence their quick release," 

he said. 

The Minister said it was 

unfortunate that the PDP 

that failed woefully as a 

ruling party has also failed 

grievously as an opposition 

party, going by its 

insensitive and crude 

response to the release of 

the Dapchi schoolgirls - a 

development that calls for 

non-partisan celebration. 

He said: "In its 16 years 

in power, the PDP 

redefined governance as 

cluelessness, massive 

looting of the public 

treasury and crude 

exhibition of power. In its 

over three years in 

opposition, the PDP has 

again shown it does not 

understand the role of the 

opposition in a democracy." 

Abduction, release of 

Dapchi girls a hoax 

— OHANAEZE 

In its reaction to the 

school girls’ release 

yesterday, the apex Igbo 

organization, Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo, described the 

alleged abduction and 

release of the Dapchi girls 

by agents of the federal 

government as the height of 

serial, inglorious 

pathological deceit and hoax 

the country had ever 

witnessed in its history. 

In a statement issued in 

Abakaliki, the National 

Publicity Secretary of the 

organization, Prince Barr 

Uche Achi-Okpaga, who 

further noted that the incident 

was a “good plan” marred by 

poor execution, asked to know 

which paradise on earth the 

girls were kept so neat for 

three 

unfriendly weeks. 

The statement read: “The 

latest drama of the Dapchi 

school girls release is the 

height of serial and 

inglorious pathological 

deceit and hoax. In their bid 

to make unfounded and 

unthinkable comparisons 

(with the regime of Gooduck 

Jonathan) President Buhari 

and his hegemonic Fulani 

cabal become antithetic as 

they are contradictory. 

“Apparently, in a hurried 

orchestra to display their high 

dexterity of quick response to 

the manipulated abduction 

(as against the snail speed 

approach of the then 

Jonathan’s regime) the “good 

plan” was marred by poor 

execution, over one hundred 

girls appearing in new and 

neat dresses with their big 

bags of different makes. 

‘’The thought provoking 

questions are “Did all the girls 

dress for a religious or social 

outing shortly before their 

abduction? Were they allowed 

to bring their new clothes on 

abduction or were they taken 

to a boutique for their fine 

‘uniforms’ before they 

were brought back? 

“For the first time in 

history, instead of dropping 

them in an undisclosed 

point, the abductors 

brought back their captives 

amid cheers and jubilation 

from observers and even 

security operatives who 

were said to have been on 

their trail for three weeks 

now."

42 — VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

New cry for restructuring from the Niger-Delta 

By Samuel Oyadongha 

THE twisting theme of 

tomorrow's rally aptly reflects 

the desperation and 

expectation of of South-South 

political leaders. 

The rally has as theme, Fellow 

Nigerians, let’s restructure 

now, tomorrow may be too 

late. A restructured Nigeria 

will guarantee unity, fairness, 

peace and progress for all, 

irrespective of religion, creed, 

region and state." 

The rally is scheduled to 

hold at the Grand Pavilion 

and Boat Club, Oxbow Lake, 

which overlooks the alluring 

Ikole Creek, in the Swali 

suburb of the state capital. 

The rally being championed 

by the Pan Niger-Delta 

Forum, PANDEF, under the 

leadership of Chief Edwin 

Clark, is expected to attract all 

the South-South governors, 

political big wigs, youths, 

women groups and captains 

of industry from the 

geopolitical zone. It will afford 

the leaders the opportunity to 

take stock of the geopolitical 

zone’s sojourn in the 

Nigerian state and to chart a 

roadmap for its development. 

The decision to organise the 

mega rally in 

Yenagoa, the 

epicentre of 

the Niger- 

D e l t a 

agitation for 

equity and 

justice within 

a united 

Nigerian 

federation, 

was taken at 

the last 

consultative 

meeting of the 

group at 

Kiagbodo, 

Delta State, 

residence of 

e l d e r 

statesman and 

Though 

several 

palliative 

measures had 

been put in 

place by past 

administrations 

in the country 

to assuage the 

plight of the 

people, but 

not much has 

been achieved 

leader of 

PANDEF, 

Chief Edwin 

Clark. 

The rally, Vanguard learnt, 

which promises to deliver a 

major message from the 

Niger-Delta, is expected not 

only to awaken old passions 

and pains but also ignite fresh 

hopes for a region whose 

resources had over the years 

been the driving force of the 

national economy. 

It is expected to highlight 

issues bordering on crude oil 

exploration and exploitation 

as it affects the blighted 

region and its excluded 

population, an issue that has 

been on the front burner in 

recent times. 

The theme of the rally, 

Restructuring the Nigerian 

Federation, is apt as it is 

believed to be the panacea to 

•Dickson 

South-South leaders and elders under the aegis of Pan Niger- 

Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF, will converge on Yenagoa, 

Bayelsa State, “the Jerusalem of Ijaw nation” for a mega rally 

to chorus their campaign for the restructuring of the polity. 

the causes of 

the crisis in the 

once peaceful 

environment, 

which is today 

described as a 

volatile region. 

The gathering 

will also 

attempt, to not 

only enlighten 

the people 

about the 

historical 

factors (the 

plight of the 

vulnerable 

populations of 

the backwaters 

of Nigeria) but 

on the 

continuous 

struggle of the 

people to live beyond the 

fringes of subsistence and its 

attendant socio-economic 

implication for the country as 

expressed in youth militancy. 

Though several palliative 

measures had been put in 

place by past administrations 

in the country to assuage the 

plight of the people, but not 

much has been achieved, a 

development that is 

responsible for the renewed 

agitation for restructuring of 

the country along the line of 

true federalism with a view to 

allowing the region have a 

degree of control over the 

resources of the region as 

practised in other countries 

that operate a federal system. 

PANDEF which is still 

expecting the Federal 

Government to match words 

with action on its 16-point 

demand, will want the 


Buhari-led Federal 

Government to, as a 

deliberate policy, get the 

Niger-Delta people actively 

involved in defining their own 

development, which is 

perhaps the only way it could 

guarantee sustainable 

stability in the South-South 

region. 

The group which has since 

its formation adopted a dovish 

stance in its approach to 

extracting commitment from 

the central government in 

tackling the developmental 

challenges facing the region 

as opposed to violence being 

espoused by the radicalised 

youth groups in the region, 

may be running out of 

patience due to pressures 

from the latter. 

According to Senibo Dauebi, 

an elder from the zone, “This, 

indeed, is the way to go, 

because dialogue, as opposed 

to violence, remains the most 

enduring way of resolving 

whatever differences. No 

reason can justify the violence 

in the Niger-Delta where 

innocent people and national 

infrastructure have become 

victims of mindless attacks.” 

PANDEF will also use the 

rally to re-echo and commend 

various groups in the country, 

who have continued to bring 

up the question of 

restructuring to the centre 

stage in national discourse as 

well as reaffirmed the position 

that restructuring of the 

country is all about the 

survival of the Nigerian 

nation. 

A source who spoke on 

condition of anonymity said 

“the rally will no doubt bring 

to the fore the legitimate 

demand of the zone for the 

restructuring of the Nigerian 

federation, as well as review 

how far the government had 

gone ahead with the 

fulfilment of the PANDEF 16- 

point agenda raised during 

Vice- President Yemi 

Osinbajo's tour of the region. 

“The elders have done 

their best to rein in the 

agitated youths by calling for 

patience. The government, on 

its part, should hurry up with 

its promise to fast-track all 

ongoing projects in the zone 

such as the completion of the 

East-West road that straddled 

the zone. The take-off of the 

Maritime University, 

Okerenkoko and other things 

the government has promised. 

Our people are getting 

worried and tired and 

therefore wants to see positive 

actions on all the items 

promised,” he said. 

He, however, noted with 

concern the continued refusal 

of the oil multinationals to 

relocate their headquarters to 

the Niger-Delta region and 

urged PANDEF to see this as 

a slap in the face of the region. 

•E. K. Clark 

The issue, he said, must be 

addressed. 

“We had expected that the 

oil majors would relocate their 

headquarters to the region 

according to the Vice- 

President's pronouncement, 

but the reverse appears to be 

the case. Enforcing 

compliance is in the best 

interest of the region as the 

companies, and the country 

will accelerate development 

in the region, create job 

opportunities for the army of 

jobless youths.” He, 

therefore, urged PANDEF to 

remind the Federal 

Government on this. 

Though the rally is an 

important step in actualising 

the dream, the road towards 

peace in the zone is long and 

vague. 

It, however, remains to be seen 

whether the Federal 

Government will bow to 

pressure to restructure the 

country along the line of true 

federalism where every region 

will have control over their 

resources and pay agreed tax 

to the central government. 

Personalities expected at the 

mega rally are Governor Seriake 

Dickson of Bayelsa State, 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta 

State; Governor Emmanuel 

Udom, Akwa Ibom; Governor 

Ayade, Cross River; Nyesom 

Wike, Rivers State and 

Governor Obaseki, Edo State. 

Others include HRM King 

Alfred Diete-Spiff, the 

Amayanabo of Twon Brass and 

one-time military governor of 

old Rivers State; Obong Victor 

Attah, former Governor of Akwa 

Ibom State, Alabo Graham 

Douglas, former ministers, 

members of the National 

Assembly and a host of others.

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 — 43 

Reorder of election sequence 

is tyranny of majority — Rep 

Olowookere 

Rep. Afe Olowookere, Akure North/Akure South Federal 

Constituency in this interview speaks on a number of national 

issues including the delay in the passage of the 2018 appropriation 

bill, local government autonomy and reordering of the election by 

the National Assembly. Excerpts: 

By Dayo Johnson 

THIS is the third month in the 

year and the Federal 

Government budget is yet to be 

passed, so when would it be 

implemented? 

Don’t forget that the appropriation 

law has a life circle of twelve months. 

It does not matter if we start the 

implementation of the law in either 

May or June. We feel that if the budget 

was passed in December or January 

that would be an end to the 2017 

budget. But we want the executive, 

within the confines of the law, to 

execute the projects in the 2017 

budget to a certain level. And by the 

grace of God now, we are aware that 

at least 70 percent of the funds have 

been released to the MDAs. By 

January 50 percent was released 

across board. This February, 20 percent 

was released. We believe that by the 

time we pass the 2018 appropriation 

bill, the government would have 

achieved 80 or 90 percent in the 

implementation of the 2017 budget. 

What’s your take on local 

government autonomy? 

My position is coming from my own 

political background as a councillor at 

the local government level between 

1991 and 1993, the period that can be 

referred to as the golden era of the 

local governments, I believe that there 

is nothing that is better than for the 

local governments to be autonomous. 

Now, there are two things that the state 

governments are using to hold down 

local governments; one is the issue of 

state/local governments’ joint account, 

two is State Independent Electoral 

Commission. I sponsored bills on the 

abrogation of the two when we were 

considering the review of the 

constitution. 

But Governor Rotimi Akeredolu 

recently said that local government 

autonomy is not constitutional? 

Yes, as it is, the Ondo State governor 

is correct by saying that it is not 

constitutional. But I disagree that it is 

not practicable. 

It is practicable. But as at today, the 

Constitution does not back it. Until we 

amend those two provisions in our 

constitution, we will not have local 

governments that will be autonomous 

because the state governors will 

continue to use that instrument 

(SIECs) to determine the party that 

will win council elections. You are 

aware that there has never been any 

state in the country where opposition 

parties won council elections. 

Are there similarities between being 

a legislator at the local, state and 

national levels?. 

l was a legislator at the local 

government level. And that has helped 

me a lot. In fact the experience I 

gathered while in the council gave me 

an edge over and above my 

colleagues when I was a member of 

the Ondo State House of Assembly to 

•Afe Olowookere 

outshine them. Also, the experience at 

the local government and the State 

Assembly gave me an edge over others 

first timers like me in the House of 

Representatives. 

Even if you are a professor, if you 

get to the legislative house, there some 

things that require technicalities that 

your professorship will not enable you 

to do. It may take you two or three 

years to understand what’s going on 

there. There are technical ways of 

writing bills and motions. And by the 

grace of God, the 16 motions that I have 

moved so far in the National Assembly 

were written by me. I also prepared 

the six bills that I have sponsored by 

myself. 

What’s your stand on the reordering 

of the election timetable by 

the National Assembly? 

The National Assembly has the 

constitutional power to reorder election 

since it passes the Electoral Act and 

the arrangement of the election is part 

of the electoral law and the act is the 

prerogative of the legislative arm of the 

government. The Electoral Act is 

determined, designed and written by 

the legislative arm. The National 

Assembly has the constitutional right 

and duty to do that. 

Are you in support of this 

because you are an APC legislator? 

Re-ordering in itself; let me say this 

that there is a concept that is called 

majority tyranny. It means even at 

times majority of the legislators may 

be wrong but since they are the 

majority, their decision may prevail. 

The reordering may be an idea of 

some members and they brought it as 

a bill and it was discussed. But there 

are some of us who are not in support 

and argued that the reordering would 

even cost us more money because 

instead of having the election twice, it 

will now be thrice. But since the 

majority opinion favoured it, then, it 

is binding on all of us. We have to take 

responsibility for it. 

Trump imposes $60bn tariffs on 

Chinese imports 

THE US plans to im 

pose tariffs on about 

$50bn in Chinese goods 

and limit the country’s investment 

activity in the US 

as payback for what it alleges 

is years of intellectual 

property theft. 

The White House said the 

actions are a necessary step 

to counter unfair competition 

from China’s state-led 

economy. 

It said years of talks about 

the issue failed to produce 

change. 

China said it was ready 

to retaliate with “necessary 

measures”. 

The back-and-forth, following 

other trade penalties 

the Trump administration 

has imposed on foreign 

goods such as steel and aluminium, 

has raised the 

spectre of a trade war. 

US stock markets sank 

ahead of the announcement 

on Thursday, but 

pared losses as the president 

seemed to indicate his 

willingness to negotiate. 

US President Donald 

Trump said he is looking for 

“reciprocal” trade terms for 

American companies. 

“We’ve spoken to China 

and we’re in the midst of a 

very large negotiation,” he 

said at the White House as 

he signed a memo regarding 

the activities. “We’ll see 

where it takes us.” 

Facebook Inc Chief Executive 

Mark Zuckerberg’s 

apology for how his company 

handled 50 million 

users’ data did little on 

Thursday to ease investor 

worries about the cost to fix 

mistakes and lawmakers’ 

dismay that his response 

did not go far enough. 

Investors, lawmakers, advertisers 

pressure Facebook over data 

GERMANY’s secondlargest 

bank 

Commerzbank AG has suspended 

advertising on 

Facebook until further notice, 

Handelsblatt newspaper 

reported on Thursday, 

following in the steps of 

Mozilla, which runs the 

Firefox web browser. 

Allegations that political 

consultancy Cambridge 

Analytica improperly 

accessed data to build profiles 

on American voters 

and influence the 2016 

presidential election has 

knocked more than $50 billion 

of Facebook’s market 

value this week. 

Five days after the scandal 

broke, Zuckerberg 

apologized on Wednesday 

that mistakes were made 

and promised to restrict developers’ 

access to user information 

as part of a plan 

to improve privacy protection. 

On Thursday, Facebook 

executives were still saying 

sorry. “It was a mistake”, 

Campbell Brown, head of 

news partnerships at 

Facebook, said at The Financial 

Times FT Future of 

News Conference in New 

York City. 

Zuckerberg’s apology 

and promises were not 

enough to ease political 

pressure on the world’s 

largest social media company. 

“It shouldn’t be for a company 

to decide what is the 

appropriate balance between 

privacy and innovation 

and use of data. Those 

rules should be set by society 

as a whole and so by 

parliament,” British minister 

for Digital, Culture, Media 

and Sport, Matt 

Hancock, told BBC Radio. 

“The big tech companies 

need to abide by the law 

and we’re strengthening 

the law.” 

Trump’s lead lawyer in Russia probe 

resigns 

PRESIDENT Donald 

Trump’s lead lawyer, 

John Dowd, has resigned 

from the President’s personal 

legal team handling the response 

to the Russia investigation. 

“I love the President 

and wish him well,” Dowd 

said in a statement to 

CNN. 

Dowd, who has urged 

the President to cooperate 

with special counsel 

Robert Mueller’s probe 

and resist attacking him 

publicly, resigned as his 

disagreements with 

Trump intensified and the 

President stepped up his 

attacks on the special 

counsel. His departure 

raises questions about the 

direction of Trump’s legal 

strategy and could signal 

a more aggressive posture 

on Trump’s 

Just days before his resignation, 

Dowd said in a 

statement the investigation 

should end, initially 

claiming he was speaking 

for the President before 

saying he was only speaking 

for himself. Two 

sources familiar with the 

matter said Trump had 

encouraged Dowd to 

speak out. But the statement 

only drew unwanted 

headlines and stoked turmoil 

within the President’s 

legal team, according 

to multiple sources. 

One source familiar with 

the decision described 

•Trump 

Dowd’s resignation as a 

“mutual decision.” 

Despite public claims 

that he was happy with 

him, Trump complained 

privately in recent days 

that he thought Dowd was 

falling short of his duties, 

a source familiar with his 

thinking said. He questioned 

whether he had the 

energy or capacity to continue 

on in his role as the 

lead lawyer for the special 

counsel’s investigation.It 

was not immediately clear 

who would take over as 

the President’s lead personal 

attorney, but Trump 

earlier this week hired another 

veteran Washington 

attorney, Joseph 

diGenova, to join his legal 

team. DiGenova was 

expected to play a forwardfacing 

role on the legal 

team, filling what Trump 

felt was a lack of voices 

publicly defending him 

and challenging the special 

counsel. 

UTRUCKIT wins first international 

award for Utruckit Application 

TRUCKIT, an indig 

enous company that 

provides a technology 

platform facilitating cost 

effective and secured 

transportation of goods 

and cargos with real time 

monitoring for individuals 

and companies has been 

awarded with a prestigious 

international innovative 

award for its application, 

UTRUCKIT. 

The award ceremony 

held yesterday in Vienna, 

Austria. 

TRUCKIT launched its 

application in July 2017 

and it stands out on the 

strength of its innovation 

within the digital space. 

The Smart Settlements & 

Urbanization category of 

the World Summit Awards 

was initiated in 2003 in the 

framework of the United 

Nations World Summit on 

the Information 

Society,UN WSIS. 

The firm was selected by 

the by a grand jury as one 

of the 40 winners in 2017. 

The World Summit 

Awards is a highly diverse 

and democratic award system 

that selects and promotes 

the world’s best in 

digital content and innovative 

applications with 

impact on the society.

44— VANGUARD, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 


Apapa/Oshodi expressway on lock down 

•As trucks return 

By Kingsley Adegboye, Victor 

Ahiuma-Young, Evelyn Usman 

& Olasunkanmi Akoni 

IN a brazen display of disre 

gard for constituted authority, 

truck and tanker drivers , 

took over the entire Oshodi/ 

Apapa express way, denying 

other motorists access. 

The gridlock on the route 

which seemed to have abated 

for about a week, owing to the 

directive by the Navy for trucks 

to vacate all bridges in state, 

returned yesterday, thereby 

throwing motorists into another 

round of horrific experience. 

Both sides of the major express-way 

were over taken by 

the articulated vehicles. The 

service lanes were not also 

spared. Motorists whose offices 

are located along the axis 

were forced to park their vehicles, 

after spending over four 

hours at a spot. Motorbikes on 

the other hand, were the only 

alternative of transportation. 

However, management staff of 

some of the companies along 

the route, who could not take 

motorbikes, trekked from Coker 

bus-stop to their respective 

offices. However, those who 

were stuck in between trucks 

resigned themselves to fate. 

Vanguard staff were not 

spared either , most of them 

were trapped in traffic for several 

hours. It took two hours to 

travel from Second Rainbow 

bus stop to Berger yard, from 

where they would divert to Vanguard’s 

corporate office. . 

Lamenting the situation, a 

motorist, Mr Chimezie Nwoke 

, told Vanguard that he spent 

spent over two hours from 

Coker Bust stop, to otto Wharf 

, a journey that would ordinarily 

should have tajken less 

than five minuites. 

Wondering why the defiant 

truck drivers should call the 

Navy’s directive bluff, he said 

“ the situation has led to breakdown 

of law and order as motorists, 

particularly, commercial 

buses, popularly called, 

“Danfo” have resorted to driving 

against traffic. Even at that 

, they have to turn at second 

rainbow when they discovered 

that the road was blocked.” 

This apparent disregard to 

traffic order, came irrespective 

of Lagos State Governor, 

Akinwunmi Ambode’s directive 

to Joint Security Task Force to 

ensure free flow of traffic in 

Apapa and environs. 

As part of pragmatic step to 

restore total breakdown of law 

and order due to activities of 

tankers and operators of containerized 

trucks, Governor 

Ambode, had early this year, 

directed heads of security formations 

in the State to immediately 

deploy adequate personnel 

to tackle the Apapa 

gridlock and other security 

threats in the axis. 

The governor, ordered the 

reconstitution of the Joint Security 

Taskforce established to 

resolve and manage the chaotic 

traffic situation in the area. 

The task force which is made 

up of: Police, military, officials 

of Lagos State Traffic Management 

Authority, LASTMA and 

the Federal Road Safety Corps, 

FRSC, apparently, seemed to 

be overwhelmed as they 

watched drivers drove dangerously 

on the road. 

Ambode had often said the 

only permanent solution to the 

gridlock is seamless port operations. 

While responding to concerns 

raised by the business 

community on the negative effects 

the chaotic situation in 

Apapa was having on their 

businesses at forum, the Governor 

said call-up system for 

tankers and containerized 

trucks must be structured to 

eliminate the present chaos, 

while issuance of licenses for 

more tank farms in the axis 

must be put on hold. 

However, when the Commander, 

Nigerian Navy Ship , 

NNS Beecroft, Commodore 

Okon Eyo was contacted, he 

expressed surprise at the information, 

disclosing that he 

•Gridlock on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. 

LAGOS Zonal Chairman of 

Nigeria Union of Petroleum 

and Natural Gas Workers, 

NUPENG, Comrade Tayo 

Aboyeji, said Tanker Drivers 

seen on Lagos roads especially 

on traffic or gridlock, did not 

park, but trapped on their ways 

to lift products from tank farms. 

According to him, “Most fuel 

depots outside Lagos are in 

full operations so tanker drivers 

have no reason to come to 

Lagos. Those that are loading 

in Lagos and its environs, if 

you go to Ogere along Ibadan 

•Gridlock on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway. 

was at the Iganmu end , monitoring 

the enforcement of 

Navy directive to truck drivers 

to vacate Lagos bridges. 

He revealed that trucks that 

were turned back from the 

Iganmu and Ojuelegba ends, 

were the ones flooding the 

Oshodi express-way, in a bid 

to access the port. 

According to him: “ The 

project has not failed. Rather, 

it has improved. We have been 

making huge progress everyday. 

Right now, we don’t allow 

trucks which do not have 

any business with the port to 

be on the queue, we send them 

back. But in the drivers desperation, 

they detour and take 

through Oshodi . We don’t 

really have enough man power 

to take care of that 

area(Oshodi-Apapa expressway) 

but we are trying to address 

the situation from Liver 

pool end. 

“We held a meeting with 

management of the Nigerian 

Ports Authority ,NPA 

yesterday.They(NPA) are 

working on measures to fast 

track the way trailers come into 

the ports. We are also talking 

with owners of tank farms to 

take in trucks coming to their 

tank farms, from where they 

will be loaded and leave thereafter. 

NPA is also making arrangement 

with shipping agencies 

to make holding bays available 

to tankers. That is in the pipeline 

,and from there, we can 

begin to work on a plan to release 

tankers to come into the 

ports. By the time this is done, 

it will reflect everywhere. 

Tanker drivers seen on gridlock trapped, says NUPENG 

Expressway in Ogun State, you 

will see them park there waiting 

for calls for them to come 

and load. However, the problem 

is that as they get to Lagos, 

on their way to the tank 

The problem can 

only be solved if 

the ports in Lagos 

are de-congested. 

farms, they are trapped because 

of the activities of articulated 

trucks going to the ports. 

Our members are just victims 

of the congestion on the roads 

to the tank farms. 

“The problem can only be 

solved if the ports in Lagos are 

de-congested. It is not about 

bad roads, it is purely about the 

volume of traffic going and 

coming out of the ports. If and 

when the roads are fixed, and 

the ports are not decongested, 

the gridlock will continue. 

Government should ensure 

that other ports in the country 

such as Calabar, Onne, Port 

Harcourt and Warri are patronized 

by diverting ships to 

them. If government does not 

address the volume of traffic to 

Lagos ports, the gridlock will 

remain irrespective of ad-hoc 

and other fire brigade approaches. 

So, nobody should 

blame the tanker drivers. They 

are not the cause of the 

gridlock. Like I said, those you 

see on the traffic or gridlock are 

simply trapped on their way to 

the tank farms to lift products.”



•Onazi 

Asaba 2018: Top African 

athletics stars ready to run 

•Stephen Keshi stadium ready in June 

By Ben Efe 

TOP African athletics stars 

have always shied away 

from the senior African 

Championships, but the 2018 

edition billed for Asaba, Delta State 

in August is set to be a difference. 

Local Organising Committee 

chairman and former Athletics 

Federation of Nigeria president, 

Solomon Ogba disclosed in Lagos 

yesterday, that the Asaba 2018 

Championships will serve as the 

qualifiers for the Athletics World 

Cup and the 2019 World 

Championships. He stated that 

there is a new IAAF procedure, 

which requires athletes to pick 

qualification from regional 

championships. 

“With this, we are expecting that 

all African athletes currently 

making waves in the world will be 

coming to Asaba. 

“They need to qualify for the 

World Cup and the World 

Championships,” said Ogba. 

He added the Stephen Keshi 

Stadium, venue of the African 

Championships, will be ready for 

use in June, as only minor fittings 

remain to be done. 

“As we are talking work on the 

stadium is almost complete. All the 

required equipment have been paid 

for and ready for delivery, between 

now and June the last set of work 

will be completed.” 

He submitted that the stadium 

tracks is one of its kind in Africa 

with nine lanes, sprints finishing 

lines in both ways, to guard against 

excessive winds as the case 

might be. 

Lagos was originally billed to 

host the event, but they showed 

little interest in pursuing 

preparations. Delta had to step 

in and, according to Ogba, 

Asaba will be ready to host one 

of the most memorable African 

Championships. 

Nigeria vs Poland: Onazi confident Eagles 

can cope without Mikel 

SUPER Eagles midfielder, 

Ogenyi Onazi believes that 

the team will be stable with the 

absence of captain John Obi 

Mikel. 

Mikel whose experience is 

vital to the balance of the Super 

Eagles, will miss the match due 

to issues concerning his work 

permit in China. But Onazi 

assured that things will be okay. 

“Yes, we are doing well and 

everyone is happy to be back 

again to represent our dear 

country and the spirit here is 

very high. The training has 

been going on well and come 

Friday night we will be ready 

to take to the pitch. 

“We all know our captain 

will be missing from the 

game, but I’m confident the 

rest of us here can hold our 

own and give Poland a good 

SUPER Eagles striker, 

Odion Ighalo is optimistic 

of a good outing for the 

national team, when they 

clash in a pre-World Cup 

friendly against Poland today. 

The Eagles are 3-1 odds to 

beat the Poles at home, but 

Ighalo stated that with the 

calibre of players and the 

game. Hopefully, we will win 

for him,” Onazi concluded. 

The Trabzonspor midfielder 

is expected to captain Nigeria 

in the absence of skipper 

Mikel Obi when they file out 

against Poland tonight. 

Ighalo: Eagles can upset Poland 

Olisadebe predicts tough duel for Eagles 

NIGERIAN-BORN former 

Poland striker Emmanuel 

Olisadebe said today’s 

friendly game between Poland 

and Nigeria will be a test for 

both countries. 

Poland and Nigeria are 

using the game in Wroclaw, 

300 kilometres from the capital 

city of Warsaw, to prepare for 

the World Cup in Russia in 

June. 

Olisadebe was born in 

Nigeria, but will go on to 

score 11 goals in 25 

appearances for adopted 

country Poland and also 

featured at the 2002 World 

Cup. 

“This will be a good test for 

both teams before the World 

Cup and the result does not 

really matter,” Olisadebe told 

SCORENigeria 

“Poland will face Senegal at 

the World Cup and so Nigeria 

will be a good African test for 

them. 

“Nigeria, on the other hand, 

will from this game know their 

level of readiness for the 

World Cup. 

Commonwealth Games: 

Why we dropped Oshonaike, Edem 

— Sports Ministry 

The Ministry of Youth and 

Sports has dismissed 

allegations of exclusion, 

marginalisation and gender 

inequality leveled against it by 

parliamentarian Ayo Omidiran. 

The House Committee on 

Sports member accused the 

Ministry of excluding veteran 

tennis players Funke Oshnaike 

and Offiong Edem from the 

Commonwealth Games bound 

team threatening to carry 

placards in protest of their 

exclusion. 

However, the Ministry of 

Youth and Sports reaffirmed its 

decision to select players based 

on performance and 

comparative advantage and not 

based on qualification as alleged 

by Omidiran because there 

were no trials. 

According to the Director, 

Federation of Elite Athletes 

Department, FEAD, Mrs Tayo 

Oreweme, the National Sports 

Federations nominated athletes for 

the games and not the Ministry. “ 

The President of the Nigeria Table 

Tennis Federation, NTTF, Engr 

Tikon Ishiaku however, threw more 

light on how the federation decided 

on their representation at the games. 

“Going to the Commonwealth 

Games is not by qualification. It is 

the Federations that will select the 

teams that will give them medals. 

“We decided that if we will go with 

4 male players, we will be able to 

compete in the singles, doubles and 

team events but if we take 2 male 

and 2 female, we will only take part 

in the singles and that will be that.” 

“We have looked at the profile of 

all our players both at home and 

abroad. Aruna Quadri, Segun 

Toriola, Jide Omotayo and Bode 

Abiodun are all doing very well and 

they are all training in Europe. If 

we look at the present status of our 

women, Funke is number 5. We just 

came back from the top 16 in Nairobi 

and we just don’t want to compete 

in the Singles event and come back.” 

“I believe the better team 

on the day will win.” 

Poland have now shot to 

sixth place in the latest FIFA 

rankings and Olisadebe 

said he has not been 

surprised by the resurgence 

of the ‘White and Reds’. 

“They have some very 

good players, who play for 

good teams in good leagues 

around Europe,” he said. 

“They deserve their rating 

because they have won 

some important games.” 

The Nigeria defence is 

expected to be tested by 

Bayern Munich star striker 

Robert Lewandowski inside 

a sold-out 42,000-capacity 

Municipal Stadium in 

Wroclaw. 

“He is their best player by 

many miles, he scores goals 

and he plays for a top club 

like Bayern Munich,” 

Olisadebe remarked. 

“The Nigerian defenders 

also play in Europe, but it 

is not often that they come 

up against such a top striker 

like him.” 

winning mindset of the team, 

they can shock the Poles. 

“I am fully ready for the 

game and I’m sure other guys 

here are also in top shape for 

the match,” Ighalo told 

AOIFootball.com 

“We know it won’t be an easy 

one but these are the kind of 

games we need if we must 

perform well at the World Cup 

in Russia. 

“They will definitely not be 

a pushover team, but we have 

the players that can upset 

them right in front of their own 

fans,” Ighalo stated. 

Aguero out of Argentina, Italy clash 

ARGENTINA boss Jorge 

Sampaoli has 

confirmed Sergio Aguero will 

not be fit enough to face Italy 

at the Etihad today. 

Aguero injured his knee in 

training with Manchester City 

earlier this month and 

subsequently missed the 2-0 

win away at Stoke. 

However, after undergoing 

intensive treatment in Abu 

Dhabi on the club’s recent 

warm-weather training camp, 

Aguero had made progress in 

his rehabilitation and could be 

fit to face Spain in Madrid on 

Tuesday. 

“We have been talking to 

team doctors at Manchester 

City and evaluating the 

situation to see if there is any 

possibility he can play any 

part in the two games,” 

Sampaoli said. 

“It looks like he will be 

sitting out the first one and we 

will see for the second one.” 

Bale breaks Wales scoring record 

WALES’ star man Gareth 

Bale yesterday broke an 

international record, during his 

country’s friendly clash with 

China. 

The two countries went head to 

head in the semi-final of the minitournament 

‘the China Cup’, with 

the other semi-final between 

Uruguay and the Czech Republic 

played earlier. 

And Wales, who were playing 

•Olisadebe 

their first game under new 

manager Ryan Giggs, made short 

work of their Asian opponents, 

netting 4 first-half goals on their 

way to a 6-goal victory. 

The star of the show was 

undoubtedly Gareth Bale, who 

opened the scoring for the Welsh 

in the 3rd-minute, before adding 

his second 20 minutes later, and 

rounding out his side’s scoring just 

past the hour-mark.


Vanguard, FRIDAY, MARCH 23, 2018 

Sudoku 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

YESTERDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

YESTERDAY’SOLUTION 

ACROSS 

1 Picture painted on damp 

plaster (6) 

4 Shame or social disgrace 

(6) 

8 Colloquial saying (5) 

9 Person of no fixed abode 

(7) 

10 Haven (7) 

11 Spells of bowling (5) 

12 Carnivore (4-5) 

17 Abate (3,2) 

19 Let it again (7) 

21 Visualise (7) 

22 Tropical fruit often 

made into jelly (5) 

23 Cloth used with 

polish (6) 

24 Vanquished (6) 

DOWN 

1 Journey by air (6) 

2 Witty saying (7) 

3 Carved brooch (5) 

5 Towing vessel (7) 

6 Forest clearing (5) 

7 Monet, for example (6) 

9 Bones of the spinal column (9) 

13 Inform (7) 

14 Surviving fragment (7) 

15 In league (6) 

16 Exert to the utmost (6) 

18 Russian emperors (5 

20 Corner (5) 

How to Play Sudoku 

Place a number (1-9) in each blank cell. (No line can have 

two of the same number). 

Each row (nine lines from left to right), column, (also nine 

lines from top to bottom) and 3 X 3 block within a bold block 

(nine blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means 

that no number can appear twice in any block, column or 

row. 

No mathematics is involved – no adding, subtraction, division or 

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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

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

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