08042018 - Education in free fall! •Sector gets paltry N3.9 trillion out of N55.19 trillion in 10 years

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PAGE 2 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 — PAGE 3

PAGE 4, SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018, PAGE 5 

From right: Engr. Chime Benjamin, HOD Works; Engr.Ndanenu Kingsley, 

SA, Technical Matters; Hon. Oshilonya Vincent, Political Adviser; Barr. 

Cynthia Opute, Secretary to Ndokwa East LGA; Hon Juan Governor, 

Chairman, Ndokwa East LGA; Chief Humphrey Oseji, Manager, Community, 

Security, Public and Government Affairs, Pillar Oil Ltd; Mr Moses Akpe, 

CLO, Pillar Oil Ltd; Mr. Shittu Toyin, Security Co-ordinator, Pillar Oil Ltd 

and Mr Chukwuka Nwanegbu, Igbuku Community Rep, when Pillar Oil Ltd 

paid a courtesy visit to the chairman of Ndokwa East LGA in Delta 

Northern CAN, Christian elders disown Arewa pastors 

•’They constitute a danger to Nigeria’ 

By Sam Eyoboka 

In what can be described 

as a double whammy, 

the Christian 

Association of Nigeria, CAN, 

in the 19 northern states and 

Abuja, as well as members of 

the National Christian 

Elders’ Forum, NCEF, over the 

weekend, disowned some 

pastors who made a solidarity 

visit to President 

Muhammadu Buhari at the 

Aso Rock Presidential Villa last 

week. 

Presenting themselves as 

members of Arewa Pastors’ 

Non-Denominational 

Initiative for Peace in Nigeria, 

and led by Bishop John Abu 

Richards, the group had paid 

a courtesy visit to President 

Buhari, urging him to continue 

his good works and not be 

distracted by nay sayers. 

The President thanked 

members of the delegation and 

also used the opportunity to 

debunk accusations in some 

quarters that he is biased 

against Christianity. 

But in a swift reaction, both 

CAN and NCEF came out 

strongly to lampoon the Arewa 

Pastors in two separate 

statements. 

According to a statement 

signed by Reverend John 

Hayap, CAN’s publicity 

secretary, “these folks who 

described themselves as 

Arewa Pastors are unknown to 

us,” insisting that the body is 

not known to the Christian 

Association of Nigeria in the 

North and cannot be said to be 

representing Christians in the 

North. 

“We have searched through 

all our chapters in the 19 

Northern states and Abuja and 

we found out that the leader of 

the delegation and most of 

them reside in Port-Hacourt, 

Rivers State,” the CAN PRO 

stated. He alleged that the 

leader of the group is from 

Benue State, according to 

findings with most of them 

from the South-South states. 

Rev. Hayap wondered why 

the Christian leaders did not 

seize the opportunity of being 

with the president to draw 

attention to Leah Sharibu’s 

plight. 

“Boko Haram was said to 

have retained Sharibu, the only 

Christian among more than 

100 kidnapped girls who were 

freed recently, prompting the 

Northern CAN to call on 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari to obtain her release. 

Boko Haram refused to release 

Leah Nathan Sharibu, 15, 

because she would not 

renounce her faith and convert 

to Islam. The Northern 

Christian leaders are all busy 

praying for the safe return of 

Leah Sharibu, and would not 

engage in politics. We love the 

president and we pray for him 

daily,” he concluded 

On its part, the NCEF, in a 

statement signed by the 

chairman, Elder Solomon 

Asemota, said “President 

Buhari made a veiled reference 

to NCEF in his speech when 

a group of persons purporting 

to be Arewa Pastors’ Non- 

Denominational Initiative for 

Peace in Nigeria led by one 

Bishop John Abu Richards 

visited him”. 

According to NCEF, “this 

group portends danger to all 

Christians in Nigeria, 

especially when these 

impostors want the President 

to link them with the security 

agencies. One newspaper 

quoted them as saying: ‘we 

demand His Excellency, 1. That 

you support our 5,009 Arewa 

Pastors Peace and Unity 

National Delegate Prayer 

Congress at the Eagle Square 

on Thursday, April 26, 2018. 

We will want His Excellency to 

link us with the relevant 

security agencies in our crusade 

for peace and fight against 

hate speeches and those dark 

walls that separate us as we will 

network with our counterparts 

from the East and West to hand 

over those of our colleagues 

being used by the enemies of 

our togetherness to inject 

confusion and false stories into 

the public space resulting to 

the destabilization of peaceful 

co-existence we were enjoying 

Enugu State Executive 

Council (EXCO) has 

approved N2,572,686,367 

for the construction of new 

classroom blocks and 

renovation of dilapidated 

structures in primary and 

junior secondary schools in 

the state under the 

Universal Basic Education 

Board (ENSUBEB). 

Part of the approval, 

aimed at improving the 

standard of education and 

creating a conducive 

learning environment in the 

state, according to the state 

Commissioner for 

Education, Prof. Uche Eze, 

who briefed newsmen after 

the meeting of the council, 

was the procurement of 

classroom plastic chairs 

and desks, white boards 

in the country’”. 

“This request,” NCEF 

pointed out in its statement, 

“shows clearly that these 

people are not Christians much 

less pastors. When a child of 15 

years, Leah Sharibu, can defy 

death, they are asking for 

security protection”. 

On the issue of Islamisation 

raised by the Arewa Pastors, 

NCEF pooh-poohed their 

position, saying “this 

statement portrays ignorance 

of the meaning of jihad. 

Muslims killed in jihads are 

martyrs while Christians and 

By Michael Eboh 

The Federal Government 

has given approval to 

Green Energy International 

Limited to commence the 

construction of the 12 million 

standard cubic feet per day, 

MMSCFD, capacity Liquefied 

Petroleum Gas, LPG, extraction 

plant at Ikuru Town, in Rivers 

State. 

The Approval To Construct, 

ATC, license of the 

12MMSCFD capacity plant, 

was issued by the Department 

of Petroleum Resources, DPR, 

to Green Energy, operator of the 

Otakikpo marginal field in Oil 

Mining Lease, OML, 11, 

sequel to the company’s 

successful submission of the 

detailed engineering design, 

DED. 

The company was, in 2017, 

issued with a Licence to 

From left: Ondo State governor, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN); Minister 

of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi; his wife, Erelu Bisi 

Fayemi; and Secretary to Ondo State Government, Hon Ifedayo 

Abegunde; during the burial ceremony of the late Madam Ibilola Oni 

Awoseye, in Ilara Mokin, Ondo State yesterday. 

non-Islamists including 

traditional worshippers are the 

victims of conventional 

jihads. It is stealth jihad by 

Islamists(fundamentalists) in 

the establishment who have 

assembled impostors posing 

as Christian pastors to 

promote political Islam by 

discrediting responsible 

Nigerians in their defense of 

Democracy and Rule of Law. 

“This explains why no 

Christian should speak in 

defense of Islamism or political 

Islamism because of extreme 

ignorance on the subject. It is 

clear that this body of 

impostors of Christianity 

wants protection in their 

crusade against democracy in 

the promotion of Sharia in 

Nigeria. The same security that 

did not protect Leah Sharibu, 

now must protect them 

against Sharibu’s religion. In 

the face of the above fact, CAN 

is being gradually replaced by 

impostors before the present 

administration,” NCEF 

chairman stated. 

The Arewa Pastors, during 

their visit, had pledged loyalty 

to President Buhari: “Your 

Excellency, we the 19 Northern 

States pastors under the New 

platform called the Arewa 

Pastors Non-Denominational 

Initiative for Peace in Nigeria 

believe in your leadership and 

we are here to let you know that 

we are fully standing by you 

and your government to 

ensure that you succeed and 

peace is restored to every and 

corners of the country. 

“And to counter those 

deceiving and poisoning 

Nigerians with fake news to 

destroy your good intentions 

for the country especially 

those giving the impression 

that you are against 

Christians and some ethnic 

groups in Nigeria which is a 

big lie for instance: Some 

Pastors using places of 

worship to preach hate. 

People using Church to 

preach violence”. 

FG approves construction of cooking gas extraction 

plant in Rivers 

and sporting equipment. 

Uche also disclosed that 

the council in keeping with 

the four-point agenda of 

Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s 

administration as it 

concerns quality 

education and welfare of 

workers, approved N271 

million as bailout fund to 

Enugu State University of 

Science and Technology 

(ESUT) to enable the 

institution offset the 

remaining 7 months 

monetization arrears 

owed its workers. 

The education 

commissioner explained 

that prior to the inception 

of the present 

administration, ESUT 

workers were owed 14 

months arrears of their 

Establish, LTE, the plant by 

the DPR, which is the first in the 

series of licences to be obtained 

by companies for such project. 

In a statement in Abuja, 

weekend, Green Energy said the 

engineering design was 

produced under supervision of 

the indigenous operator by its 

contractors, PCC-LAMBDA 

Consortium, formed between 

Nigeria Indigenous companies 

and a Chinese company - 

Peiyang Chemical Equipment 

Company Limited, PCC, who is 

the original equipment 

manufacturer, OEM, and would 

By Peter Duru, 

Makurdi 

TNational he Independent 

Electoral 

Commission, INEC, has 

Enugu approves N2.5 billion for construction, 

renovation of classroom blocks, others 

monetization, recalling 

that the state government 

three months ago had 

approved an equivalent 

amount for the institution, 

which was used to pay the 

first phase of 7 months 

arrears, accordingly. 

“These arrears of 

monetization owed the 

staff of ESUT dated back 

as far as 2006. This is the 

money owed by previous 

administrations. But His 

Excellency in his 

magnanimity and concern 

for the welfare of staff of 

the state has made this 

fund available to make 

these workers happy and 

motivate them to put in 

more efforts to ensure that 

educational delivery is 

improved” he said. 

also be responsible for 

manufacturing and design 

activities associated with the 

project. 

The company, which began 

production in February 2017, 

said the LPG plant would be 

completed within 12 months, 

adding that it was determined 

to ensure full utilization of the 

gas produced from the field for 

LPG and power generation 

amongst other projects. 

Commenting on the project, 

Director of Legal and Corporate 

services, Green Energy, Mr 

Olusegun Ilori, explained that 

the gas utilization plant involves 

the use of the lean gas to power 

donated relief materials to 

victims of herdsmen crisis 

in parts of Benue state and 

also simultaneously 

commenced the training of 

women displaced by the 

crisis in various arts and 

craft. 

Making the donation at 

the Internally Displaced 

Persons, IDPs, camp in 

Daudu, Guma local 

government area, the 

INEC Resident Electoral 

Commissioner for Benue 

State, Dr. Netawe 

Yilwatda, said the gesture 

was the commissioner’s 

little way of lending a hand 

to the needy. 

Yilwatda said, “It is a 

known fact that these 

displaced persons are in 

dire need of all the help 

they can get, that is why 

we have decided to bring 

our little support to 

encourage them. 

“We are also training the 

women in various arts and 

craft so that their stay in the 

camp can be put to good 

use and when they 

eventually return home 

the 12 megawatts, MW, gas 

generator at Otakikpo field out 

of which 5MW would be 

dedicated to the host 

communities in line with its 

MOU with the government, 

while the LPG & propane would 

be bottled and sold. 

He said, “Part of the LPG shall 

be for domestic use within 

Otakikpo communities in order 

to support small scale industries 

to stimulate the economy of the 

Niger Delta. 

He said the company recently 

delivered six megawatts gas 

generator to the community 

while the other batches would 

arrive within the year. 

INEC donates relief materials to victims of Benue 

crisis, trains female IDPs in arts and craft 

they can start businesses of 

the own. 

“Recall that we had 

earlier distributed learning 

materials to the children to 

also help them study while 

in the camp. All these are 

intended to encourage 

everyone to be useful to 

him or herself. 

Receiving the materials, 

the Chairman of Guma 

local government area, Mr. 

Anthony Shawon, who 

lauded INEC for 

identifying with the victims 

of the crisis in the state, 

enjoined other wellmeaning 

organisations to 

emulate the electoral 

body. 

Representative of the 

State Emergency 

Management Agency, 

SEMA, Angela 

Omerigbe, commended 

INEC for initiating the 

arts and craft programme 

and donations stressing 

that it all came timely. 

Among items donated 

to the IDPs were bags of 

corn, rice, garri, salt, 

beverages and some 

non-food items.

PAGE 6— SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018 

OFFA BANK ROBBERY 

Seven suspects arrested 

•Gov. Ahmed announces N5m bounty 

By Demola Akinyemi 

Kwara State Police 

Commissioner,Mr 

Lawan Ado, said, yesterday, 

that seven suspects have been 

arrested in connection with 

the Thursday bloody bank 

robbery attack in Offa. 

Some police officers and 

residents had been killed by 

armed bandits in the 

coordinated attack while over 

N50m were said to have been 

carted away from affected 

banks. 

Governor Abdulfatah 

Ahmed also announced N5 

million for information that 

could lead to the arrest of the 

armed robbers. 

Senate President Bukola 

Saraki , who paid a 

condolence visit to Offa, 

yesterday, called for the 

overhaul of the nation’s 

infrastructure in order to 

solve the problem of 

insecurity. 

Ado, the CP, spoke at a press 

conference held at the police 

headquarters. 

“ Seven suspects have been 

arrested, one at Igosun Road 

and six others at different 

locations in Offa. They are 

helping us in our 

investigation,” he said. 

“The number of injured 

victims is yet to be ascertained 

as they are receiving 

treatment in different 

hospitals. “ 

The CP regretted that the 

robbers had killed 17 persons 

comprising nine policemen/ 

women in the police station 

in Offa and eight residents in 

the streets /banks. 

He added:” Five banks and 

one finance house were 

attacked. 

“As callous and as 

unfortunate as the attack 

was,the casualty figure in the 

incident was 17 and not 30 

as erroneously reported by 

some media platforms. 

“The Inspector General of 

Police has ordered a full 

investigation and has directed 

his Intelligence Response 

Team and others to assist in 

getting all the hoodlums 

arrested”. 

Enugu police nab herdsman with AK47 

By Dennis Agbo 

A 

gun-totting 

herdsman has been 

arrested by Enugu State 

Police Command. 

The command’s public 

relations officer, DSP 

Ebere Amaraizu disclosed 

this 

in 

statement yesterday. 

Amaraizu said the arrest 

followed prompt 

response to a distress call 

and intelligence 

information “which led to 

the arrest of a suspected 

herder and the recovery of 

one Ak47 riffle with 7.62 

ammunition.” 

He further disclosed that 

By Henry Umoru 

STRONG indications 

have emerged that the 

Federal Government is in a 

dilemma over the amnesty 

that is being considered for 

repentant Boko Haram 

members. 

According to a source, the 

confusion on whether to 

jettison the idea of amnesty 

or not came up following 

the appearance in a video 

by one of Boko Haram 

commanders swapped for 

the 82 Chibok girls less 

than three days after the 

release of the girls in 

which he threatened 

government. 

It was also gathered that 

government is disturbed 

on the issue of amnesty 

because of the claim that 

the said commander, 

identified as Shuaibu 

Moni, led the Easter Day 

attacks on some 

communities in the suburb 

of Maiduguri, Borno State 

capital. 

There are reports that a 

splinter group of the 

insurgents, led by Moni, 

was responsible for the 

the arrest was made at a 

farmland located at 

Isigwe-Ugbawka, in 

Nkanu East Local 

Government Area of Enugu 

State. 

“The suspected herder is 

now helping the police 

operatives in their full scale 

investigations. 

“Following the arrest and 

recovery, the state Police 

Commissioner, 

Danmallam Mohammed, 

visited the farmland and 

the community in 

company of his officers and 

notable indigene of the 

area, Comrade Fidelis 

Edeh, and a local 

government councillor in 

Easter Day attacks on Bale 

Kura, Bale Shuwarin, 

Jamine and Alikaramti in 

Jere local government near 

Maiduguri, in which no 

fewer than 20 persons lost 

their lives and 83 others 

wounded. 

Intelligence available to 

the administration, it was 

learnt, indicated that 

following the Jere attack, 

the swapped commander 

appeared to have opened 

the third splinter group in 

Boko Haram, thus making 

the proposed amnesty 

programme a tough task. 

It was also gathered that 

the growing number of 

wings of insurgents has 

led to what is described as 

“end-game” activities of 

kidnapping and suicide 

bombing against 

Nigerians. 

While government was 

said to have kept its side 

of the bargain as stated by 

the Director General of the 

Department of State 

Services, Lawal Daura, 

that the insurgents’ only 

condition was a cessation 

of hostilities and 

temporary ceasefire, to 

pave the way for the return 

the area, Peter Edeh,” 

Amaraizu said. 

He said the 

commissioner of police 

commended the effort of 

the community, with their 

timely and useful 

information which led to 

the arrest of the herder and 

the recovery. 

The police stated that 

the command must 

continue to partner with 

communities under 

community safety 

partnership of the 

community policing 

policy, to ensure that the 

communities continue to 

remain safe and secured. 

FG in dilemma over Boko o Haram amnesty 

of the Dapchi girls, it was 

learnt that further attacks 

by the insurgents since 

then have been threatening 

the amnesty plan. 

Following the release of 

the recently captured 

Dapchi girls by Boko 

Haram, President 

Muhammadu Buhari had 

announced the intention 

of his administration to 

put the issue of 

insurgency-influenced 

kidnappings and violence 

Gov. Abdulfatah Ahmed (r); Permanent Secretary, Kwara State Government 

House, Mr Adefila Olaitan (2nd l); a victim of the Offa bank robbing, (l) and relatives 

of the victim, during the Governor’s visit to victims at the General Hospital, 

Ilorin, yesterday. 

President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, with the Olofa of 

Offa, Oba Muftau Gbadamosi Esuwoye II, yesterday, during Saraki’s visit to Offa 

to commiserate with victims and bereaved families following the bank robbery in 

the town on Thursday. Photo from the Office of the President of the Senate. 

to rest by offering amnesty 

to repentant Boko Haram 

members. 

Sources however said 

that the unfolding cracks 

in the Boko Haram system 

and pressure from the 

Western countries, who do 

not buy the idea of 

alleged payment of 

ransom for the release of 

captives, are combining to 

create the dilemma within 

government. 

For instance, a number 

of newspapers in the 

Western countries, 

including the Daily 

Telegraph of London and a 

Canada-based online 

outfit, have criticised the 

alleged payment of ransom 

for kidnappings in Nigeria, 

just as some diplomats and 

local advisers might have 

intimated government with 

the need for caution in the 

bid to make concessions to 

insurgents. 

The Daily Telegraph of 

C 

London had reported 

recently that behind the 

scenes, some diplomats 

and influential advisers 

have “bitterly opposed the 

decision to make 

concessions.” 

Some of those 

knowledgeable about 

global insurgency were 

also said to have 

questioned the role of the 

Swiss government which 

was said to have 

“influenced Buhari” 

because they wanted to 

take glory for the release 

of the hostages. 

Maritime University: Aginighan, Ex-NDDC 

boss, hails Buhari 

The directive of 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari on the take-off of the 

Nigeria Maritime 

University, Okerenkoko has 

received commendation 

from a former Acting 

Managing Director of the 

Niger Delta Development 

Commission, Pastor Power 

ZiakedeAginighan. 

In statement in Warri, Delta 

State, yesterday, Aginighan, 

who is a member of the State 

Caucus of the ruling All 

Progressives Congress (APC), 

stated: ‘When then Acting 

President Professor Yemi 

Osinbajo assured the Niger 

Delta leaders during his 

historic visit to Delta State in 

January 2017, that the takeoff 

of the Maritime University 

was a done deal, many cynics 

dismissed it as mere politics. 

The recent inauguration of 

the University Governing 

Council by Mr President, 

coming up after the release 

of the take-off funds for the 

institution, has shown that the 

presentFederal Government 

means well for the Niger Delta 

region.’ 

Aginighan congratulated 

Chief Timipre Sylva on his 

appointment as the Pro- 

Chancellor/Chairman of the 

Governing Council of the 

university and prayed God to 

grant the Council the courage 

to provide purposeful 

leadership to enable the 

university deliver on its 

mission and vision. He also 

The planned visit of 

former Abia State 

governor, Dr. Orji Uzor 

Kalu, to Ekiti State has 

been rejected by the state 

government, telling the 

former governor to “take 

his advocacy for peace to 

other parts of the country 

where security of lives and 

property is under threat, 

not Ekiti State that even 

the police adjudged as the 

most peaceful State in the 

country.” 

Kalu, who is acting as 

the Chairman, Advisory 

Board for the National 

Movement for Re-election 

of President Muhammadu 

commended the pioneer Vice 

Chancellor of the University 

Professor Maureen 

EngoibiEtebu and the 

University Management for 

their sacrifices, hardwork and 

resilence in bringing the 

dream of the University to a 

reality. 

While thanking the both 

Buhari, has embarked on 

tour of the South-West 

purportedly to advocate for 

peace, fairness and unity of 

the country with a view to 

rallying support for the 

President’s second term bid 

in 2019. 

However, Ekiti State 

government said in a 

statement yesterday by the 

Special Assistant to the 

governor on Public 

Communications and New 

Media, 

Lere 

Olayinka:”There is no 

threat to peace and unity of 

Nigeria from Ekiti State for 

anyone, including Orji 

Kalu, to address. Therefore, 

chambers of the National 

Assembly for the patriotic 

steps taken so far on 

providing the enabling law 

for the university, Aginighan 

appealed to the legislature to 

fast-track any further action 

required to enable Mr 

President give his assent. 

Ekiti rejects Orji Kalu’s ‘peace advocacy’ visit 

he should not expect to be 

welcomed to any palace in 

Ekiti State.” 

The government urged 

traditional rulers in the 

state to ignore the former 

Abia State governor, 

saying: “It is an insult on 

the collective sensibilities 

of Ekiti people, whose 

only benefit from the 

government of President 

Buhari is hardship 

occasioned by the 

government’s cluelessness 

for anyone to hide under 

advocacy for peace to 

canvass support for the 

President.”


From left: Special Apostle George Ogunleye, District General Secretary, Cherubim 

and Seraphim Movement Church (AYI NI O); Special Apostle Prophet Sunday 

Korode, Chairman/General Leader; his wife, SP Apostle Margaret Korode; Special 

Apostle J Toriola, Elder of the church; SMI Tolu Akande and Most Senior Apostle 

Oluwatoyin Akande during the 2018 Choir Day, held under the theme, 'He :Leadeth 

me’, " held at the church district headquarters, Sanya Bus Stop, Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, 

Lagos yesterday. Photos by Lamidi Bamidele 

TENSION IN EDO 

Herdsmen kill pastor 

or, , one other 

*My father was killed like a pig - Son of deceased 

By SIMON EBEGBULEM 

BENIN CITY - THERE 

is palpable tension in 

Odighi community, Ovia 

North-East Local Government 

Area of Edo State, after 

suspected herdsmen killed 

two persons including Pius 

Eromosele, a pastor attached 

to the Church of God Mission, 

in Benin City, the Edo 

State capital. 

The pastor was said to have 

been allegedly killed by the 

herdsmen after a demand 

for the sum of N4million 

from him was not met, while 

another yet-to-be-identidied 

body was found in a shallow 

grave, in the farm. 

The decomposing body, 

suspected to be that of a 

farmer, was discovered when 

hunters and vigilante members 

went into the bush in 

search of the pastor. 

Eldest son of late Pastor 

Eromosele, Dr. Richard Eromosele, 

said his father was 

abducted on Thursday, 

March 29, and was found already 

decomposing in the 

bush on Tuesday, April 3rd. 

According to him, ¨I almost 

fainted when i saw how 

they brutally murdered my father¨ 

adding that the killers 

cut through his father´s skull 

after they shot him at close 

range. 

He stated that he reported 

the incident to the police and 

was referred to the anti-kidnapping 

unit but the police 

did not do anything to rescue 

his father. 

He further disclosed that 

two of his father’s workers, 

Kingsley and Akpan, who 

managed to escape from the 

herdsmen, narrated what 

happened before his father 

was killed. 

“Last (penultimate) Thursday, 

my mother called that she 

had been calling my father 

and that he was not picking. 

She later called that my father 

later picked and told her 

that he has been kidnapped 

by herdsmen at his farm. 

“The herdsmen did not use 

Some members of the choir performing during the 2018 Choir Day of Ayo Ni O. 

their phones. They were using 

my father’s phone and a 

phone of one of his workers. 

They demanded for N4m but 

we begged them that it was a 

holiday and could not raise 

such money. 

“I went to the police and 

they told me that I should call 

them whenever the herdsmen 

called for ransom payment. 

I did that but there was 

no response from the police. 

“The two workers that escaped 

told us that the herdsmen 

told my father that he 

was one of those killing their 

cows. 

“It was on Tuesday after the 

police failed to find my father 

that I begged hunters and vigilante 

to help me. It was during 

the search that we found 

my father. His skull was cut 

out with a cutlass, while his 

hands were also cut. 

“We want security agencies 

to protect farmers in Odighi. 

My father has farmed in that 

place for many years. How 

could I go into farming when 

my father was killed like a 

pig”, he lamented. 

2015 Delta State APC governorship candidate, Olorogun 

O’tega Emerhor (right), and the Executive Director, 

Projects, EDP, on the board of the Niger Delta Development 

Commission, NDDC, when the latter was 

awarded doctorate degree in engineering by the Federal 

University of Technology, Owerri, FUTO, yesterday. 

Photo: Festus Ahon 

Buhari didn’t consult NASS before approving $1bn for arms purchase — Saraki 

By Henry Umoru 

SENATE President 

Bukola Saraki said, 

yesterday, that President 

Muhammadu Buhari did 

not consult with the leadership 

of the National Assembly before 

the executive approved 

the release of $1 billion for the 

purchase of arms to fight insecurity 

in the country. 

Minister of Defence, Mansur 

Dan Ali, had, last week, 

said, Buhari gave approval for 

the purchase of equipment for 

the military worth $1 billion. 

Saraki also said that the 

leadership of the National Assembly 

was not aware of the 

plan by the executive to get 

N4.2 billion bonds until the 

President wrote to the Senate 

and the House of Representatives 

seeking approval for the 

issuance of promissory note to 

offset inherited local debts. 

Buhari had, in the letters, 

said that his administration 

inherited by debt, just as he 

said that the decision to seek 

the approval of the National 

Assembly by the Federal Executive 

Council, FEC, was in 

line with the provisions of the 

Fiscal Responsibility Act. 

The Senate President however, 

attributed the delay in 

the process of budget passage 

and addressing issues of security 

challenges in the country 

as well as other national 

issues to what he described as 

avoidable friction between the 

executive and legislative arms 

of government. 

Declaring open, yesterday, 

in Jos, Senate Press Corps Retreat, 

the Senate President 

who warned that the executive 

could not do it alone, said that 

if Nigeria truly wants democracy, 

it was imperative that 

the legislative arm must be 

strengthened at all levels of 

government. 

Saraki noted that institutions 

are not built on individuals 

but on institutions, just 

We will tap from our rich African traditional religion to end human 

traf 

affic 

icking in Edo — Oba Ewuare II 

By Simon Ebegbulem 

Oba Ewuare II of Be 

nin has told the Eu 

ropean Union (EU) 

that the people of the kingdom 

will tap from the rich 

African traditional religion to 

solve human trafficking and 

other social vices in Edo 

State. 

The Benin monarch spoke 

when he received a delegation 

from the European Parliament 

Sub-committee on 

Human Rights who paid the 

Omo N’Oba a courtesy visit. 

Oba Ewuare II, who addressed 

the delegation, noted 

that the people of Edo and the 

state government were troubled 

about the activities of 

human traffickers which he 

described as a form of modern 

day slavery. He commended 

the state and federal 

governments for taking 

steps to bring back stranded 

Nigerians in Libya just as he 

expressed joy over the concern 

shown by the European 

union in curbing what he described 

as the wicked act of 

some individuals against fellow 

Nigerians. 

¨ That is why parents must 

look inwards for the opportunities 

we have here rather 

than encouraging their children 

to go abroad illegally. 

We are not saying that our 

people should not travel but 

they should do it the right 

way so they will not run into 

trouble”, he added. 

CBN, banks to disburse se N60bn facility to vulnerable 

“I can assure you all that in the 

sector 

ors s - Emefiele 

By Babajide Komolafe 

The Central Bank of Nigeria 

(CBN) and commercial 

banks are set to commence 

disbursement of N60 billion 

loan facility to vulnerable 

sectors of the economy. 

Governor of the CBN, Mr. 

Godwin Emefiele, disclosed 

this in Lagos, yesterday, in his 

keynote address at the Guardian 

Newspaper’s presentation of 

special report on financing the 

economy. 

He said: “In 2016, banks came 

up with an initiative where they 

all agreed that they would 

contribute five per cent of their 

profit after tax to support the 

development initiatives of 

governments in Nigeria. By the 

middle of this year, the banks 

would have contributed N60 

billion into the fund. 

next few days, the CBN together 

with the banks would be 

unfolding the disbursement to 

the vulnerable sectors in 

Nigeria”. 

Outlining the benefits of the 

development finance activities 

initiated by the CBN to facilitate 

critical sectors of the economy, 

Emefiele said: “I must mention 

that of all our efforts, the most 

relevant to today’s theme is our 

development finance strategy. 

Aimed at diversifying the 

economy away from overdependence 

on oil revenues and 

consistent with its development 

agenda, the CBN initiated a 

number of development finance 

activities. These schemes are 

broad-based and spread across 

various sectors as follows: 

“The intervention schemes in the 

agriculture sector (including the 

ACGSF, CACS, NIRSAL, ABP 

etc.) aim to improve domestic 

supply of these commodities and 

eventually moderate pressure on 

foreign reserves. 

“Due to our strategic 

development finance initiatives 

supported by the dogged 

implementation of our foreign 

exchange restriction on certain 

items, we have recorded 

spectacular improvements in 

domestic production of most of 

these items. As a result, many 

local manufacturers are reporting 

major boosts to their revenue and 

profit. To give some examples, 

Psaltry International Limited 

(PIL), an agro-allied 

manufacturing company based 

in Oyo, produces starch. Before 

the policy, it had few customers 

and plenty of backlogged 

inventories. Today, PIL boasts 

over 50 multinational clients 

including Nestle and Unilever. 

The company has saved 

Nigeria $7 million in foreign 

exchange drawdown over the 

two years of the policy.” 

as he stressed that until such a 

psyche was was removed in 

our environment, the nation’s 

democracy will continue to be 

threatened. 

“Just few days ago, there 

was the issue of providing 

funding for the purchase of 

security equipment. In a good 

environment, such an issue 

needed to have been discussed 

with lawmakers. Already, 

some senators are angry. 

They said they were not 

consulted by the executive 

before such a decision was taken. 

These are the issues we are 

talking about.” 

Arguing that the friction between 

the two arms of government 

goes beyond party affiliations 

the Senate President 

said: “Even during the last 

administration of President 

Goodluck Jonathan, when PDP 

was in charge of the executive 

and the legislature, there were 

frictions. It means it is not 

about the party. It is not about 

any individual. It is about the 

system.” 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Page 8—SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8 , 2018 

PROLOGUE 

Education 

in free fall! 

•Sector gets paltry N3.9 trillion out of N55.19 

trillion in 10 years 

•FG to declare emergency 

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE 

AS recent as the mid-1990s, Nigerian 

universities, especially the first generation 

ones, attracted students from Cameroun, 

South-Africa, Kenya and Ghana, among 

others, as well as foreign lecturers. 

Today, the reverse is the case. Apart from lecturers, in large 

numbers, leaving Nigeria for greener pastures in what has 

come to be referred as ‘brain drain,’ thousands of students 

are also leaving the country to study abroad even in 

neighbouring countries like Ghana and Benin Republic. 

The Director, Centre for Open, Distance and e-Learning, 

Federal University of Technology, Minna, Musa Aibinu, 

said, recently, that about 23,000 lecturers leave Africa every 

year with Nigeria accounting for the bulk of the number. 

Poor funding has been identified as the major reason for 

the rot and challenges in the education sector, especially 

tertiary education, which has led to frequent strikes by 

teaching and non-teaching staff since the early 1990s. 

Indeed, the Federal Government’s allocation to the 

education in the last 10 years has been miserly. Out of a 

budget of N55.19 trillion, only N3.90 trillion or 7.07 per 

cent (see table) was allocated to the sector. 

In 2009, the Federal Government allocated N221.19 

billion (7.25 per cent) of its N3.049 trillion budget to 

education. The figure was reduced to 4.83 per cent in 2010 

when education got N249.09 billion of the hefty N5.16 

trillion appropriation. 

There was a marginal improvement in 2011 when 

education got N306.3 billion (6.16 per cent) of the N4.972 

trillion budget. The marginal improvements continued in 

2012 (8.20 per cent), 2013 (8.55 per cent), and 2014 (9.94 

per cent) until 2015 (7.74 per cent) when a significant drop 

in allocation to education was recorded. 

In 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari’s first full year 

in office, the sector had its second-worst allocation in 10 

years when, of the N6.061 trillion budget, only N369.6 

billion (6.10 per cent) was appropriated for education. 

However, there was a slight rise in 2017 (7.38 per cent) 

and if the 2018 proposed N8.612 trillion is approved, 

education will get N605.8 billion or 7.03 per cent. 

Poor conditions of service 

For many years, teaching and nonteaching 

unions in tertiary institutions 

have been complaining about poor 

funding, poor conditions of service and 

welfare, over which they have embarked 

on industrial actions on several occasions 

almost on a yearly basis. 

Recurring strikes 

Between 1992 and 2017, university 

lecturers went on strike 20 times, with the 

attendant adverse effects on education at 

the tertiary level in the country. The 

industrial actions were embarked on 

following the failure of government to 

implement agreements reached with the 

academic union. 

Between 1992 and 1999, there were 

seven strikes by the lecturers, including 

industrial strikes, trade dispute, internal 

strikes, and nationwide strikes, and 

between 2010 and last year, there were 13 

The situation was so 

bad in 2013 such 

that, at a stage, 

lecturers at the three 

main levels of tertiary 

education – 

universities, 

polytechnics and 

colleges of education 

- were on strike for 

over six months 

strikes. 

There were several agreements signed between the Federal 

Government and the lecturers’ umbrella body, Academic 

Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), in 1981/82, 1992, 1999, 

2001, 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2013 which were not faithfully 

implemented by government. 

In his article: ‘The Significance of ASUU 2009 Strike’, 

Dr. Femi Aborisade, an activist, noted that the 1981/82 

Agreement between FG and ASUU contained, among 

others, the establishment and acceptance of the principle 

of collective bargaining as the main mode by which terms 

and conditions of work of academics would be determined. 

The 1992 Agreement was on university autonomy and 

academic freedom, and the 1999 Agreement dealt with 

academic allowances and other terms and conditions of 

work. The aim was to address the twin problem of the rot in 

the Nigerian education system and brain drain. 

The 2001 Agreement focused on three items: Salaries and 

conditions of work, funding, university autonomy and 

academic freedom. It contained a clause that the Agreement 

would be reviewed every three years. This meant that it was 

due for review in 2004. Despite many reminders and 

pressures by ASUU to get government to review the 2001 

Agreement in 2004, government refused to provide an 

avenue for re-negotiation, which prompted another round 

of strike leading to the 2005 Agreement where the 

government gave an undertaking to constitute its 

Negotiating Team by May 3, 2005, to review the main 

agreement of 2001. This was never done until 2006. More 

negotiations and re-negotiations were done in 2007, 2009 

and 2013 all “directed towards ensuring that there is a 

viable university system with one rather than multiple sets 

of academic standards.” 

The situation was so bad in 2013 such that, at a stage, 

lecturers at the three main levels of tertiary education – 

universities, polytechnics and colleges of education - were 

on strike for over six months. 

ASUU President, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, said the 

union was forced to embark on its last 

strike because the Federal Government 

failed to implement the 2009 Agreement 

and 2013 Memorandum of 

Understanding (MoU) and that after 

series of meetings with the Minister of 

Education and the National Assembly on 

the need to respect the Agreement and the 

MoU, it got no tangible results on key 

issues. 

Expectedly, lack of tangible results on 

key issues over the years had adverse 

effects on the standard of education in the 

country. 

No Nigerian varsity among top 

1000 universities 

Currently, Nigeria has 146 universities 

(36 federal, 44 states and 66 private); 83 

polytechnics (21 federal, 38 states and 24 

private); and 82 colleges of education (22 

Continues on page 9

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8 , 2018, Page 9 

Continued from page 8 

federal, 46 states and 14 private). 

Unfortunately, none of the country’s 

universities is ranked among the first 1, 000 

universities in the world, according to 

Webometrics Openness ranking, in the first 

half of 2018. Only the University of Nigeria 

Nsukka, UNN, (1433) and University of 

Ibadan, UI, (1613) are among the first 2, 

000 universities. 

Less than 50 Nigerian universities were 

ranked of which nine – University of Ilorin, 

UNILORIN (2114); Covenant University, 

CU, (2161), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, 

NAU, (2173); University of Port Harcourt 

(2190); University of Lagos, UNILAG, 

(2243); University of Calabar, UNICAL, 

(2333); Federal University of Agriculture 

Abeokuta, FUNAAB, (2364), Ahmadu Bello 

University, ABU, (2372) and Obafemi 

Awolowo University, OAU, (2473) were among 

the first 2, 500. 

The Openness ranking is based on research 

output or volume of research articles 

published. It refers to the total number of pdf 

files of a university according to Google. It 

relies on information (statistics) of web 

publications of a university for a specific 

period of time available on Google scholar. 

Nigerians spend $2bn on school fees 

abroad 

Faced with recurring strikes, irregular 

academic programmes, among others, many 

Nigerians are trooping out of the country to 

seek further education to the detriment of the 

country’s economy. 

An online media, InfoguideNigeria.com, 

outlined seven reasons Nigerians troop 

abroad for tertiary studies. They include low 

quality of Nigerian higher institutions due to 

poor funding; incessant strikes; preference for 

foreign certificates; better job opportunities; 

advanced teaching methods; and 

opportunities to combine study with a job. 

As of February 2016, the Chairman Senate 

Committee on Tertiary Institution and Tertiary 

Education Trust Fund, TETFund, Senator 

Binta Masi, said Nigeria was spending over 

$2 billion (about N720 billion) annually as 

capital flight on education abroad. 

Speaking in Abuja during the 

commissioning of Federal University of Lafia, 

FUL, Nigeria Research and Education 

Network, NgREN, Masi, who frowned on 

Nigerians travelling to other African countries 

to get educated, said Nigeria was getting it 

right on the initiative of the research and 

education network. 

Nigerians in Ghana, American, UK, 

Indian, others universities 

As of August last year, there were 1, 202 

Nigerians studying various academic 

programmes in Indian universities, according 

to the Association of Indian Universities, 

which, in a report, ranked Nigeria as fifth in 

the biggest sources of international students 

in the country’s academic institutions behind 

Nepal (5,480). 

US Consul-General, John 

Bray, said, on September 29, 

2017, that no fewer than 10, 

000 Nigerian students were 

among over one million 

international students 

admitted into United States’ 

universities in 2017. “This year, 

the number of international 

students in the United States 

climbed to over one million 

globally. More than 10 ,000 of 

these students are from 

Nigeria. That is more than the 

year before but there could be 

more,’’ he said. 

In 2016, Nigeria ranked 

among countries with highest 

number of students in Canada, 

according to the Canadian 

High Commissioner to 

Nigeria, Perry Calderwood, 

who said that no fewer than 9, 

000 students were studying in 

Canada. 

Calderwood, who spoke at 

the opening of the 12th 

Canadian Education Fair in 

Abuja, said: “Figures from 

Canada’s immigration 

authorities show that in 2014, 

over 8,600 Nigerians were 

studying in Canada. These 

numbers have grown rapidly 

Unfortunately, 

none of the 

country’s 

universities is 

ranked among 

the first 1, 000 

universities in 

the world, 

according to 

Webometrics 

Openness 

ranking, in the 

first half of 2018 

Education gets paltry N3.9 

trillion out of N55.19 trillion 

*Students look into the future with uncertainty 

•Education Minister, Malam 

Adamu Adamu 

from just 800 in 2002. Nigeria represents the 

8th largest source of foreign students and their 

presence enriches Canadian educational 

institutions and society.’’ 

Nearer home, 

Nigerians schooling in 

Ghanaian higher 

institutions are 

estimated to be 75,000, 

with a former Minister 

of Youth Development, 

who is now the National 

Publicity Secretary of 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, 

Mallam Bolaji 

Abdullahi, saying that 

Nigerians spend N300 

billion annually in 

Ghana and an 

estimated N162 billion 

annually in the United 

Kingdom on foreign 

tertiary education. He 

estimated Nigerian 

students in the UK to be 

over 19,000. 

Emergency on 

education 

Responding to the rot 

in the education sector, 

Minister of Education, 

Professor Adamu 

Adamu, said recently 

that the Federal 

Government will 

•President Buhari 

declare a state of emergency in the education 

sector, this month. 

“By the end of April, we are 

proposing there will be a declaration 

of a state of emergency in the 

education sector all over the country. 

We request all the state governors to 

do same in their states and we hope 

that, once this is done, our educational 

sector will improve. 

“I will also meet with the governors 

to appeal to them to give special 

emphasis to address the problem of the 

low standard of education especially 

at primary level,” he said while 

receiving the Niger State Governor 

Abubakar Sani-Bello and some 

members of his executive at the 

Federal Ministry of Education 

Headquarters in Abuja. 

Timeline of ASUU Strikes 

1999 – Five months 

2001 – Three months 

2002 – Two weeks 

2003/2004 – Six months 

2005 – Three days 

2006 – Seven days 

2007 – Three Months 


2009 – Four months 

2010 – Five months, seven days 

2011/2012 – Three months 

2013 – Six months 


2017 – One month, six days 

Poor funding of education hurts 

development – Prof. Okebukola 

By Dayo Adesulu 

TO save the education sector and drive 

development, President, Global 

University Network for Innovation 

(GUNi-Africa), Professor Peter 

Okebukola, has stressed the need for 

adequate funding of the sector by all tiers 

of government. 

Okebukola, who is also Chairman of 

Council, Crawford University, and 

Chairman, Board of Trustees, Caleb 

University, lamented the education 

funding deficit and urged that 15 per cent 

of the budget should be allocated to 

education. 

Reacting to the Sunday Vanguard 

report on Federal Government’s poor 

allocation to education in the last 10 

years, he said: ‘’I must commend the 

Vanguard team for the research data 

provided. By the way, I am the President 

of the UNESCO-established Global 

University Network for Innovation 

(GUNI) in Africa and working with the 

Association of African Universities, we 

recently concluded a study on sustainable 

models of funding education in Africa. 

‘’A straightforward answer to your 

question is that education in Nigeria has 

huge funding deficits. This is why the 

communiqué of the Presidential Retreat 

on Education held on Monday, November 

13, 2017, attended by Mr. President, Vice- 

President and all the Ministers, implored 

the Federal Government to henceforth 

commit not less than 15% of the budget 

to education and encourage other levels 

of government to do so. Besides, funding 

interventions from agencies like the 

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 

Petroleum Trust Development Fund 

(PTDF) and Tertiary Education Trust Fund 

(TETFund), among others, should be 

accurately captured and included in a 

coherent framework of educational 

funding. 

‘’The communiqué further cautioned on 

one-size-fits-all funding model and urged 

that funding should be made context 

specific. All stakeholders especially the 

private sector and industry should be part 

of this funding model, especially for 

research. The statistics the Vanguard 

research team provided is only one side 

of the story and does not give the full 

picture of budgetary allocation to 

education in Nigeria. The Vanguard data 

is only the federal government side. Since 

education is on the concurrent legislative 

list, the 36 states and the FCT also 

provide budgetary allocations to 

education. We can only see the full funding 

picture if we have the aggregate from the 

federal end and those of the states and 

FCT. We should note that the load which 

requires funding which the federal 

government is carrying in education, 

relative to the states is low. The federal 

government does not own a single 

primary school. The states have over 

75,000. The federal government has 

only 102 secondary schools; states 

have 14,000. The federal government 

has 41 universities; states have 46. 

The foregoing regardless, the federal 

is underfunding the education sector 

which is the fulcrum and propellant 

for development. Over 90% of the 

states are also not paying sufficient 

funding attention to education. 

Overall, both the federal government 

and the states need to do better in 

terms of funding the sector. 

‘’It is important to stress that the 

26% ascribed to UNESCO as the 

minimum budgetary level for 

education is a myth. It is only 

Nigerians that quote this percentage 

which does not exist anywhere else 

in the world, even disowned by 

UNESCO. What government should 

do is to significantly improve funding 

to education if the goal is to leverage 

on education for rapid socio-economic 

development. In improving funding, 

we should install a robust anticorruption 

mechanism into the 

education system so as not to expand 

the horizon for ‘chop’ when the 

budget is increased”.

PAGE 10 — SUNDAY Vanguard,APRIL 8, 2018

SUNDAY Vanguard,APRIL 8, 2018 — PAGE 11

PAGE 12 — SUNDAY Vanguard,APRIL 8, 2018

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018, PAGE 13

PAGE 14—SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018 

By Emmanuel Una, Calabar 

Mr Eyo Ekpo was 

Attorney General 

and Commissioner 

for Justice in Cross River State 

during Governor Donald Duke’s 

administration. Ekpo drafted the 

law that created new Bakassi out 

of the three Ikang wards of 

Akpabuyo. In this interview, he 

speaks on the Supreme Court 

ruling of February 26, 2018 on 

the delineation of boundary by 

the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, in 

the area 

The judgment of February 26 

on the case between Bakassi/ 

Akpabuyo and INEC has seen 

both sides claiming victory. 

What do you think about the 

judgment? 

To get a clear perspective on 

that judgment by the Supreme 

Court requires a bit of 

background history. The 

decision by the Supreme Court 

was based on Law No 7 of 2007 

that was passed in the dying days 

of the Duke administration. That 

law essentially reset the 

boundary of Akpabuyo Local 

Government Area to 

accommodate the people of 

Bakassi that left Cameroon as a 

result of the ruling of the 

International Court of Justice, 

ICJ, at the Hague. The ICJ case 

started in 1994. It was 

Cameroon that took Nigeria to 

the court and we submitted to 

the jurisdiction and one thing 

with the ICJ is that you don’t have 

to submit yourself to its 

jurisdiction but once you do, you 

are bound to accept its ruling 

because it is a United Nations 

court. The case was about 

recreating the boundary between 

Nigeria and Cameroon. What 

people do not know is that we 

had a good chunk of that 

judgment in our favour but what 

we did not get was the part that 

affects us here in Cross River 

State: The area called Bakasssi 

Peninsula that was excised and 

given to Cameroon. The 

boundary delineation started 

from Borno through Adamawa 

to Taraba, down to the Bakassi 

and part of that area was cut off 

and given to Cameroon and that 

was the Bakassi Local 

Government Area. The people 

that lived there were given the 

choice of remaining in 

Cameroon or coming back to 

Nigeria; of course most of them 

opted to come home to Nigeria 

and to ameliorate their 

suffering, Cross River State 

government, that had the 

constitutional power to readjust 

boundaries of local 

governments, passed Law 7 of 

2007 which readjusted Akpabuyo 

Local Government Area to 

excise three wards of Ikang and 

named them Bakassi. 

So what is the crux of the 

matter now between INEC and 

the people who took the agency 

to court? 

Now, the law being passed and 

the area becoming Bakassi, we 

have to remember that there 

exists the federal constituency 

called Akpabuyo/Calabar South/ 

Bakassi with a member in the 

National Assembly representing 

those three local government 

areas. Because of the Bakassi 

decision, the boundary of that 

constituency was affected but 

the state government does not 

have the power to adjust federal 

constituency, that is an 

Independent Electoral 

Commission’s responsibility and 

they have not done that. So three 

clan heads of Bakassi took INEC 

to court insisting that the 

•Eyo 

Ekpo 

B-A-K-A-S-S-I 

Our people lost their 

ancestral land to Cameroon, 

now they may lose their right 

to political representation 

– Ekpo, Ex-Attorney General 

• On M T Mbu’s claim: Obasanjo had no reason not to hand over peninsula 

Having lost 

their source of 

livelihood 

should not, at 

the same time, 

mean loss of 

their right to 

political 

representation 

delineation of boundary 

automatically was also 

delineation of federal 

constituency. The case went from 

the High Court to the Supreme 

Court and the Supreme Court, 

in its ruling, said the delineation 

of boundary by the Cross River 

State House of Assembly was 

right and proper under Sections 

4 and 7 of the Constitution. It said, 

however, that, that does not 

automatically mean that the 

federal constituency boundary 

lines have been redrawn for the 

purpose of election on which 

INEC should depend. The ruling 

said that, going by Sections 112, 

113, and 114 of the Constitution, 

that power is resident in INEC. 

However, what is important is 

that the court also counselled 

INEC, as a matter of urgency, 

to activate its power under 

Sections 112, 113, 114 of the 

Constitution to do the needful 

by delineating the Bakassi and 

Akpabuyo boundary based on the 

2007 law bearing in mind 

that the people of Bakassi have 

lost their land and are now 

refugees in their own country. 

Having lost their source of 

livelihood should not, at the same 

time, mean loss of their right to 

political representation. This 

could be their consolation. There 

should be no grandstanding. This 

clarion call on INEC could not 

have been more timely than now 

when the country is gearing for the 

2019 elections. 

The court’s ruling did not 

compel INEC to delineate the 

boundary; the order is advisory. 

What if INEC fails to do it? 

The court’s call on INEC “to as 

a matter of urgency “delineate the 

boundary between Akpabuyo and 

Bakassi is advisory but INEC 

should obey. The Supreme 

Court’s verdict is based on 

whether or not the people of 

Bakassi need political 

representation but when you read 

the judgement, you will see that 

the people of Bakassi do not have 

representation because INEC has 

not delineated their boundary 

which they should. Technically, 

the Bakassi area that was in 

Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar South 

federal constituency is now in 

Cameroon and INEC cannot go to 

that area to conduct election for 

the people of Bakassi. Like the 

court said, if you conduct the 2019 

elections without delineating the 

boundary, the people of Bakasssi 

will not be part of the elections. 

The point made by the judgment 

is that if the 2019 elections are 

conducted without INEC 

delineating the boundary 

between Bakassi and Akpabuyo, 

the Bakassi people will all be 

disenfranchised because INEC 

cannot go to Cameroon to conduct 

election for the Bakassi Local 

Government Area which has been 

excised into Cameroon. 

What role is the state 

government expected to play at 

this point? 

It is regrettable that the state 

government allowed this case to 

go that far. The state government 

with the redrawing of the 

boundary should have made 

representation to INEC to explain 

what has happened. Now the 

Supreme Court says ‘do the 

needful, redraw the boundary of 

this federal constituency so that 

you can conduct elections for the 

people who have been displaced 

from their ancestral home by the 

ICJ judgement’. He who knows 

where the shoe pinches should be 

one to take measures to redress it. 

I urge the Attorney General of the 

state to advise the governor 

properly so that the people can 

vote. With this Supreme Court 

ruling, the member in the House 

of Assembly representing Bakassi 

is in jeopardy unless INEC acts. 

The court has given advice where 

necessary. Let political leaders 

including the Speaker of the 

House act on it and convince 

INEC to do the needful. It will 

show the focus and passion by 

those who advise the governor. 

Can INEC do this within the 

short time for them to conduct 

credible 2019 elections? 

Will an election be credible if an 

entire local government is 

disenfranchised? Let all the 

agencies, Boundary Commission, 

INEC, act on the issue now. 

The late Chief M T Mbu, in his 

book published posthumously, 

said former President Obasanjo 

gave out Bakassi to win Nobel 

Peace Prize. What do you think? 

The case started in 1994 but the 

judgement came during 

Obasanjo’s time. What personal 

interest did Obasanjo have by 

obeying the court’s ruling? 

Nigeria did not have to submit to 

the jurisdiction of the ICJ but it 

did and, when the judgment came, 

Obasanjo had to obey. If he had 

not, the UN would have excluded 

the country from every of her 

organs. So there was a cost. China 

has never submitted to the 

jurisdiction of the ICJ but Nigeria 

did and had to obey the judgment. 

Obasanjo and Paul Biya went to 

one small park in New York called 

Green Tree to discuss the 

protocol to implement the ICJ 

judgment; he did not hand over 

the Bakassi to Cameroon. He did 

not cause the problem; so 

blaming him is not necessary.

We caught fetish pastor in 

broad daylight – Primate 

Ademisokunun-Tur 

urton 

•Says Cherubim and Seraphim Church 

members have the gift to see tomorrow 

BY DAYO JOHNSON, 

Regional Editor, South-West 

P 

rimate (Dr) Ade 

Ademisokun-Turton, aka “ 

Onibode”, is the President 

of Ondo State Unification of 

Leaders of Cherubim and Seraphim 

Church and founder of Success Gate 

C&S Christ’s Church International with 

headquarters in Akure. 

He speaks, in this piece, on the church 

convention and 34 th anniversary, the 

unification of C&S, leadership 

challenges, among others. 

The church is planning a 

special annual convention. 

What is the essence of the 

convention.? 

The convention is in fulfilment of what 

can be described as pass-over because 

convention started in Egypt before 

Israelites stated their journey to Israel. 

It was an ordinance and it was supposed 

to be an annual festival. For years, we’ve 

been having that convention and God 

is showing his power and faithfulness. 

How long has this church been 

in existence and what do you 

hope to achieve in this 

anniversary? 

The church is 34 years and much has 

been achieved in terms of spread which 

can be attributed to the efficacy of 

BY SCHRIS ONUOHA 

edi Cosmetics Limited has 

concluded plans to host the 

maiden edition of Lagos Beauty 

Summit at the Landmark Event Center, 

Victoria Island, Lagos. 

The event, holding under the theme, 

“The Power of More”, will be attended 

by about 250 beauty enthusiasts, 

international and local beauty experts, 

cosmetic manufacturers and celebrities 

in the music and movie industry in July. 

Chief Executive Officer of Seddy 

Cosmetics, Temitope Sedi, speaking on 

the event, said: “The summit among 

other things will address the prevailing 

challenges facing consumers, retail and 

brand forces that are profoundly and 

permanently changing the industry. It 

prayers. The impact of the prayer is 

manifesting in the lives of people 

changing to Christ and, not just 

changing but also accepting Jesus as 

their Lord and Savior. That is our main 

calling and, since then, we’ve been able 

to have schools,hospitals and 

television programmes. We are 

currently in the United States, 

United Kingdom, across Europe, 

South Africa and we are spreading 

across Nigeria. 

There is this perception that 

Cherubim and Seraphim 

Church is fetish. 

Yes, I have heard about it . There is 

no doubt about that fact , that the 

perception exist. But the truth of the 

matter is that people may pretend not 

to know the truth. People know that 

Cherubim and Seraphim Church is 

from and of God. Hardly will you 

any family in the South-West that has 

not had members in Cherubim and 

Seraphim Church at one time or 

another. But because there was no 

central control for the church, every 

Tom, Dick and Harry started 

founding the church. Then you have 

the church usher becoming a founder 

. That’s where we missed it. But the 

spirit of God is still in the church 

.One of the reasons we have the issue 

of proliferation is the fulfilment of 

the Bible itself. If Cherubim and 

Lagos hosts Beauty Summit in July 

appears that we don’t appreciate our 

beauticians. While the entertainment 

celebrities receives awards, nobody has 

accorded such recognition to our 

beauticians that make the celebrities look 

beautiful. 

This is to create awareness about the 

opportunities and potentials in this multibillion 

dollar industry. It will also nurture 

the culture of buying more of made-in- 

Nigeria beauty products while creating 

a movement of beauty enthusiast that will 

do more for the sustainability of the 

industry. More than 20 speakers will 

share their perspective on how consumer 

dynamics of wanting more is resetting 

business strategy; the power of 

collaboration and how retailers are 

reinventing the shopping experience”. 

Seraphim Church is not a genuine 

church, it will not be spreading across 

the globe, but people recognize it as 

genuine way to really seek the face of 

God, get solution to their problems 

because we are gifted to see tomorrow. 

People want to solve their problems 

and they want to know what is ahead 

of them, that is one of the reasons we 

have impostors and charlatans within 

the C&S. We are genuine Christians 

because we are original. The church 

is the first pentecostal church in Africa. 

So, you will only counterfeit what is 

worthwhile. 

What are doing as the 

President of the unification of 

the church to control charlatans 

that you mentioned? 

We are doing streamlining and it is 

yielding result. Not too long ago, we 

closed down about four churches 

because we don’t want them to keep 

tarnishing the image of C&S. We 

caught one of the boys who was fetish 

in broad day light ,everything he 

relied upon was burnt publicly and 

in his presence. The fear of our 

unification is the beginning of wisdom 

in the Cherubim and Seraphim now. 

In fact, they too are fighting back, they 

are trying to blackmail us, they are 

saying evil of us and even 

orchestrating what can smear our 

Delta Community Commends Lawmaker Over Transformer 

The people of Adeje in Okpe Local 

Government Area of Delta State 

have commended Delta Central 

senatorial aspirant and member 

representing Okpe, Sapele, Uvwie 

Constituency in the House of 

Representatives, Hon. Evelyn 

Omavowan Oboro, for provideing 

500KVA transformer to the community. 

Mr. Moses Opuoru, President General 

of Adeje; Hon. David Agbaminor, 

The people of Ukhomuyio 

Community in Okpella Clan, 

Etsako East Local Government Area 

of Edo State are to institute an annual 

award programme to honour good 

behaviour and commendable service. 

Mr.Sam S.O Afemikhe, the new 

National President of the community, 

who made this known in his acceptance 

speech immediately after the election 

and inauguration of a new executive 

committee for the community on Easter 

Sunday in Okpella, told the mammoth 

crowd of all sons and daughters of the 

community from far and near and the 

village heads and chiefs gathered at 

the Erame Primary School, 

Ukhomuyio, Okpella, for the election 

and enthronement of the new leaders 

that good behaviour and 

councilor representing Okpe Local 

Government Area Ward 15; Comrade 

Lucky Otareko; and Youth Leader of 

Adeje, Comrade Lucky Oghenetega 

Otareko, who made the commendation 

on behalf of the people during the 10th 

Annual Conference/Launching of N10 

million development fund of Adeje, 

thanked the lawmaker for always 

coming to their aid. 

The trio described Oboro as a 

commendable service to the 

community will be rewarded through 

an annual award programme. 

“It has become common for a few 

people to resort to criminality and 

violence to resolve issues. While we 

plead for dialogue and fraternal 

resolution of issues rather than 

resorting to criminality, we will ensure 

that criminals are punished as set out 

by the law of the land. 

“Good behaviour and 

commendable service to the 

community will also be rewarded 

through an Annual Award 

Programme,” the Lagos-based 

renowned accountant said. 

Afemikhe hinted that to bring back 

sustainable peace, unity and progress 

in the community, the existing 

structures would be reviewed and 

•Primate (Dr) Ade 

Ademisokun-Turton 

lawmaker that stands by her words, 

adding that few days before the 

conference, they received a call from her 

that the Adeje transformer was one of 

her numerous constituency projects, and 

that she will come to explain in details of 

how she influenced the project to the 

community. 

They promised on behalf of Adeje to 

vote for the lawmaker as Delta Central 

senator come 2019. 

Earlier, Oboro promised to do her best 

to ensure that Adeje gets its own fair share 

from her numerous constituency and 


name ,but we are not bothered; we 

are going ahead because we have an 

assignment that must be 

accomplished and God has been 

supporting us. Another thing we are 

doing is to do the census of the church. 

We want to know how many C&S we 

have around and we are investigating 

the origin of their founders because 

we discovered that there are some 

people who have never been 

to C&S before, but are now 

founders. Even now that we 

have the unification that is 

so strong and powerful 

,we still have a group of 

charlatans. We call them 

Cherubim and 

Seraphim Boko - 

Haram. We are still 

talking to them. We don’t 

want to go to war with them . 

Repentance is what is required. We 

are talking to them, that this will not 

last: Extorting and exploiting people, 

deceiving people in the name of 

church and smearing the name of 

genuine anointed men of God .Many 

of them are changing but some of 

them are still adamant . We’ve warned 

them but if they continue tarnishing 

the image of the church, we will 

have no option than to prosecute them 

according to our law and statutes. 

Now we’ve been able to address our 

dressing system . In the past some 

people will dress like a masquerade 

and the time of our service is refined 

now. We don’t want to disown them 

and that is why we opened a special 

Bible class for them. So, if any of them 

want to do the work of God, there 

are vacancies in the house of God 

but they need to be trained. Then, 

those who are not called should stay 

away from deceiving people and 

should tell us that what they are 

interested in. We need volunteers, 

who will help to bring these fake 

pastors to the minimum, fake 

pastors are all over the place now, 

both in the professions and 

churches, including the police and 

the army because there is poverty in 

the land. 

influenced projects. 

She noted, “In my first term I brought 

health centre to Adeje community, while 

in this my second term, I, in conjunction 

with the Supervisor for Environment, 

Okpe Local Government Area, Mr. Lucky 

Ofominyor built the water project in 

between the community town hall and 

the market, so that traders can easily 

access portable water”. 

The lawmaker further said, 

“Senator Omo-Agege can be enjoying 

the mandate of the PDP because the 

man PDP voted for went to sleep. As 

for me nobody can steal my mandate 

or transformer. I will soon commission 

all my projects here in Adeje”. 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State receiving a copy of 

the speech presented by the Abigborodo Community Trust 

Chairman, Comr. Monday Agbeyi., during the governor's 

commissioning of Alema Morden College, Abigborodo. 

Ukhomuyio, Okpella to Honour Good Behaviour - Afemikhe 

revamped and at the same time tipped 

them off on the expectations of his 

administration: “It is my firm belief 

that Ukhomunyio will move forward 

with efficient and effective systems 

based on focus, accountability, 

transparency, fairness, equity, probity, 

justice and progress for all its sons and 

daughters. We will work without any 

iota of discrimination”. 

The community under his watch, he 

added, shall carry out an audit of its 

mineral resources, harness them 

efficiently and effectively and create a 

revenue sharing formula that would 

adequately reward the village heads, 

titled chiefs, youths and ensure the 

development of the community in 

terms of school repairs, engagement 

of quality teachers to support teaching 

and learning in the schools, support 

for students, provision of basic 

healthcare facilities and bore holes, 

among others. 

He charged the people to see him as 

National President to all Ukhomunyio 

sons and daughters and not to a section 

or select few, appealing that they whole 

heartedly work with his executive not 

only to put Ukhomuyio on the 

map for positive things and not 

criminality but to make it a pace 

setter in Edo State and the country 

as a whole. 

Other members of the 

Ukhomwunyio Executive 

Committee are Hon. Charles A. 

Ikhumesomi, 1st National Vice 

President, Hon. Luke Obalo, 2nd 

National Vice President, Pastor 

Expedite action on 

Festac Link Bridge, 

lawmaker tells 

contractor 

BY TONY NWANKWO 

Member, representing Amuwo- 

Odofin Federal 

Constituency, Lagos State, at the 

House of Representatives, Hon. 

Oghene Emma Egoh has called on 

the CCECC, the Chinese contractor 

handling the Festac Link Bridge, 

declared unfit for vehicular traffic, 

last year, to expedite action in order 

to save Festac residents the agony of 

the traffic jam caused by the ongoing 

repairs. 

Speaking when he visited the site, 

Hon. Egoh said his office had been 

inundated with enquiries from 

members of his constituency, on why 

the repair was going on snail speed, 

even when the link bridge was the 

only access route outside Festac Town 

to Apple Junction, Apapa - Oshodi- 

Expressway and adjoining areas. 

While thanking the workers on site, 

Egoh asked the contractor to 

accelerate the level of work on the 

bridge as the slow pace was causing 

untold hardship and suffering on the 

residents, who are now forced to use 

a single lane for those exiting and 

others entering the sprawling 

community. 

“This link bridge is the life-wire of 

vehicular traffic to and from Festac 

Town, it is regrettable that the repair 

work had been on a very low pace”, 

Oghene said, adding, “It is hoped the 

CCECC will accelerate their work 

and ensure that the repairs are 

concluded in good time”. 

It will be recalled that the link 

bridge was declared unfit for 

vehicular traffic following the 

collapse of a loaded petrol tanker, 

which ignited a large inferno on the 

bridge, destroying properties worth 

millions of Naira. The authorities 

then had said the burning tanker 

damaged the structural works of the 

bridge itself. 

Warri coalition 

endorses Mulade 

Apolitical pressure group in 

Warri South-West Local 

Government Area, Delta State, Warri 

South-West Political Coalition 

Movement, WSWPCM, has declared 

that Comrade Sheriff Mulade, an 

aspirant for Warri South-West 

Constituency, Delta State House of 

Assembly for 2019, will sustain the 

peace being enjoyed in the area, 

attract development as well as foster 

unity among the various ethnic 

groups in the area. 

WSWPCM group which had 

earlier endorsed Mulade, reemphasized 

their position saying that 

the aspirant will be the voice of the 

voiceless, make the constituency 

proud and attract development to 

Delta State and Nigeria at large. 

Spokesman of , WSWPCM, Mr 

Ogugu Ebisinde in a statement, 

appealed to political leaders in the 

local government area and in the 

state to give Mulade the much 

needed support to emerge as the local 

government area candidate, saying 

he is their choice and beacon of hope 

to represent the area in 2019. 

Sam 

Afemikhe 

Eshioramhe M.O. Eshioguemhe, 

National Secretary, Comrade Jimoh 

I. Goodluck, 1st Assistant National 

Secretary, and Mr. Rato F.I. Inabefo, 

2nd Assistant National Secretary. Others 

are Engr. Mathew Okun, Financial 

Secretary, Mr. Victor.I, Balogun, Treasurer, 

and Emmanuel Kolawole Okhakhu, 

Public Relations Officer.

PAGE 16 —SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018 

Attah returns with new insights 

on resource control -- 1 

“Lives of great men remind 

us that we can make our lives 

sublime; and, departing, leave 

behind us footprints on the 

sands of time”—HW. 

Longfellow, 1807-1882. 

NOTE: Three former 

governors of the 

South South geopolitical 

zone fought for the 

thirteen per cent derivation 

which has made it possible for 

almost rural state capitals like 

Uyo, Yenagoa and Asaba to 

now rival or even surpass long 

established capitals like 

Bauchi, Yola and Abeokuta 

today. Every Governor, 

Speaker, Commissioner and 

Local Government Council 

Chairman, as well as major 

contractors, not to talk of the 

people of oil producing states 

owes the three an everlasting 

debt of gratitude. Now, the 

leader of the group, Obong 

Victor Attah, the acclaimed 

Father of Modern Akwa 

Ibom State, is back again with 

fresh insights, ably supported 

by Chief James Ibori, as the 

nation embarks on the 

negotiation 

for 

RESTRUCTURING. Come 

and listen. April 25, 2018 is 

the date. Lagos is the place. 

Read on. 

Stuck against my will at 

Abuja airport, on March 29, 

2018 for nine hours, because 

Buhari was visiting the Centre 

of Excellence, I was forced to 

buy six papers. The 

GUARDIAN was the last and 

most of the news reports in it 

had been covered by some of 

the other newspapers. But, 

GUARDIAN had a unique 

column which to me is worth 

the cover charge all by itself. 

Dare Babarinsa, a veteran 

journalist and one of the best 

anywhere, anytime was 

writing on that day about three 

immortals of Nigerian 

journalism – Segun Osoba, 

Felix Adenaike and Peter Ajayi 

- known as the Three 

Musketeers. It will require at 

least three columns to explain 

to kids under fifty who the 

Three Musketeers were. Only 

those from the “Lost 

Generation”, as Professor 

Soyinka called us, would 

recollect them vaguely – if 

dementia had not set in. 

But, even those born ten 

years ago can easily subscribe 

to the principles the three 

friends – called Three 

Musketeers – stood for. It was 

“all for one and one for all”. 

They were inseparable when 

fighting for the principles, 

invariably social justice and 

great journalism, to which 

they were committed. 

Of the three great 

journalists, Peter Ajayi was the 

only stranger to me. Without 

my brother Felix Adenaike, 

the VANGUARD BOOK OF 

QUOTATION, which kept me 

from ending up in the poor 

house, would not have seen 

the light of day. Aremo Segun 

Osoba made his own 

contribution to another effort 

which kept me for more years 

from sleeping under the 

bridge. I was away in the USA 

when they were making their 

reputations as journalists in 

Nigeria, but, Babarinsa is a 

contemporary giant. So, if he 

says they were great; then they 

must be. What I can testify to 

is the fact that they are two of 

the dozen or so Nigerians, 

outside my family, for whom 

I have the highest esteem and 

owe un-payable debts of 

gratitude as long as life 

endures. 

However, there was another 

group of three people, whose 

work together in 1999 to 2004/ 

5 would entitle them to being 

called THE THREE 

MUSKETEERS OF 

RESOURCE CONTROL. The 

three former Governors of 

states in the South South Zone 

– Obong Victor Attah, Chief 

James Ibori and late AVM 

(rtd) 

Diepreye 

Alamieyeseigha (Alams), 

with Attah leading - were the 

gladiators, who fought 

gloriously and won for all oilproducing 

states the right to 

13 per cent derivation – 

without onshore/offshore 

dichotomy. Before going into 

the financial gains resulting 

for the entire Niger Delta 

region from their collective 

efforts, let me make some 

pertinent observations. 

Nine states constitute the 

Niger Delta – Abia, Akwa 

Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, 

Delta, Edo, Imo, Ondo and 

Rivers. But, only the three 

former Governors 

championed the cause for 

RESOURCE CONTROL. The 

others were either indifferent 

or, as in the case of two (names 

withheld for now), they were 

actually hostile to the 

struggle. All the governors of 

the Niger Delta, in the Class 

of 1999 to 2007, were aware 

that President Obasanjo, a 

military man to the core, 

wanted the oil producing states 

to continue receiving one per 

cent derivation in order that 

more revenue might flow to 

Abuja. Obasanjo was the 

greatest enemy of RESOURCE 

CONTROL who the “Three 

Musketeers” had to fight. Left 

to OBJ, the Niger Delta States 

would have been poorer than 

they are now. One then wonders 

why some of them still 

welcome with open arms a man 

who never wished them well. 

Wait and read the book. 

The fighters for justice also 

had to fight the enemies within 

To Jonathan, I 

openly apologise. 

To Nigerians, I 

prostrate full 

length. I fully 

subscribe to OBJ’s 

dictum. I will not 

reinforce failure. 

Never 

the zone. These were two 

Governors who, hoping to 

succeed Obasanjo in 2007, 

were too eager to betray the 

people of the region for their 

inordinate ambitions. They 

actively sided with OBJ in his 

bid to keep the people down. 

Consequently, Alams, Ibori and 

Attah - leaders of the quest for 

justice - were targeted for 

destruction at all costs. This is 

not the time to go into details. 

But, we know what happened 

to Alams and Ibori. That was 

partly their punishment for 

daring to force the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria to transfer 

to the oil-producing states only 

a fraction of what under true 

federalism belongs to them. 

By any measure known to 

mankind, Attah, Ibori and 

Alams were victorious; even 

though two of them paid 

terrible prices for their 

courage and doggedness. 

Every state and everybody in 

the Niger Delta owes then 

debts of gratitude that can 

never be repaid. Without 

them, the oil producing 

states would have been a lot 

poorer now. Both Akwa 

Ibom and Rivers states 

received over N1.3 trillion 

from 2007 to 2011, that is, 4 

years – which was about two 

times the same states 

collected from 1999 to 2007 

(8 years) on account of 

sharply increased derivation. 

“An invasion of armies can 

be resisted, but not an idea 

whose time has come.” 

Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, in 

Histoire d’un crime (1852). 

Fourteen years after the 

bar was raised from one per 

cent to thirteen the nation 

now agrees the three men 

were right all along and their 

adversaries belong in the 

dust bin of history. 

Restructuring is now an idea 

whose time has come. What 

ever else might be added, at 

the heart of restructuring is 

RESOURCE CONTROL. 

That was the title of a book 

published in 2004. The topic 

has been revisited and the 

book revised because 

fourteen years have provided 

sufficient evidence to prove 

that the struggle was just. The 

rest of us also now know, as 

a matter of fact, that thirteen 

per cent did not go far 

enough. But, with hostility 

from President Obasanjo, the 

oil producing states almost 

got nothing more than one 

per cent. On Wednesday, 

April 25, 2018, at the 

Nigerian Institute of 

International Affairs, a 

revised and updated version 

of RESOURCE CONTROL 

will be launched. Attah and 

Ibori will be there. Only 

about 400 guests can be 

accommodated at this 

historic event. But everybody 

can join the struggle. 

This is only the first notice… 

FAILURE-IN-CHIEF OF 

THE ARMED FORCES? 

“What we have now is 

failure. Never you reinforce 

failure. Let failure be failure. 

…The truth is this: when you 

have an ineffective and 

incompetent government, we 

are all victims. And don’t let 

anybody deceive you.” 

Former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo, speaking at his 

controversial presidential 

Library in Abeokuta. 

Nobody will receive a prize 

for guessing who the 

Failure—In-Chief of the 

Armed Forces is. Baba Iyabo 

has simply increased to 

tempo and thunder attack 

against a government and its 

leader who have spent almost 

three years in office whining 

about challenges they met 

and pointing fingers of blame 

against the previous 

government as if this is the first 

government to inherit 

problems. 

Seldom do I find myself in 

agreement with Obasanjo. 

But, he is right on the button 

on this one. Lucky is the 

manager who is called upon 

to help clean up a mess. Every 

little improvement he makes 

writes his/her name into the 

golden books of history. In 

2015, my Fellow Nigerians 

and I thought we had such a 

leader. We supported him with 

everything at our disposal. I 

recall an article written to 

demolish Jonathan which 

almost brought the roof down 

on me. So passionate was I 

about the now Failure-In- 

Chief. 

To Jonathan, I openly 

apologise. To Nigerians, I 

prostrate full length. I fully 

subscribe to OBJ’s dictum. I 

will not reinforce failure. 

Never. 

Legacy 

‘Peace cannot be kept by 

force; it can only be achieved 

by understanding.” ~ Martin 

Luther King, Jr. 

Shikamo! Ma Winnie 

Madikizela- Mandela! 

The world woke to news 

of the death of Winnie 

Madikizela 

Mandela at the age of 81. Her 

passing for a certain 

generation including mine is 

very seismic and she 

represented the power behind 

the struggle. For many of us, 

who caught the glimpse of 

apartheid in books like Alan 

Paton’s Cry, the beloved 

country, the death of Steve 

Biko and the Sharpeville 

massacre in 1960-all gave an 

insight of what majority 

indigenous black South 

Africans had to endure during 

the pernicious apartheid 

regime of minority whites in 

South Africa. Winnie was 

instrumental and she was the 

face of the struggle. She was 

defiant and a phenomenal 

woman who refused to cower 

despite every threat and 

obstacle put in her way. She 

was determined to fight and 

kept the fight in the 

consciousness of the world, 

when her husband, Nelson 

Mandela was in prison in 

Robben Island for 26 years. 

Nigeria was a strong ally and 

a strong comrade, who 

supported in cash and in kind. 

It took this charismatic 

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela 

to take on the fight against 

apartheid when young men 

and boys were rounded up 

and, tortured, imprisoned and 

murdered. Women were the 

backbone of the struggle, - 

“The overwhelming majority 

of women accept patriarchy 

unquestioningly and even 

protect it, working out the 

resultant frustrations not 

against men but against 

themselves in their 

competition for men as sons, 

lovers and husbands. 

Traditionally the violated wife 

bides her time and off-loads 

her built-in aggression on her 

daughter-in-law. So men 

dominate women through the 

agency of women 

themselves.” 

Her contribution was key 

and no matter what the 

mainstream Western media 

have chosen to rewrite as the 

narrative; by playing down 

her role in dismantling her 

role in the struggle, we must 

not forget, Winnie was a titan, 

a warrior and a tireless 

campaigner. She was also a 

product of her time and she 

represented what life was like 

under apartheid. So they 

chose to paint her as a 

controversial figure but for 

many that know what Winnie 

did, she was key to the 

eventual embargo and the 

dismantling of the apartheid 

system and segregation of 

black majority and alienation 

of basic human rights in the 

country of their birth by 

minority whites, who denied 

and perpetuated the 

oppressive system and power 

over blacks in South Africa. 

Winnie was in all sense of the 

word at the forefront, a leader 

of the struggle and of the 

liberation of her people and 

those who suffered similar 

struggle around the world. 

She was a tower of strength 

and defiant. During the 

struggle she chose not to run 

away, she fought hard and 

stayed with her people in the 

township and she endured 

years of daily surveillance, 

threats, harassment, arrest 

and imprisonment. She faced 

491 days in solitary 

confinement and eight years 

in exile. What many did not 

know was, the South African 

apartheid government used 

many methods of torture 

against her, for instance, while 

in confinement they routinely, 

denied her sanitary products 

so that she was found, in 

detention, covered in her own 

menstrual blood. They 

humiliated and degraded her 

in every way possible but she 

remained unbowed. She 

chose to stand and fight and 

was in the forefront leading 

the fight and struggle with her 

people and agitating for 

change. Winnie Mandela’s 

approach to apartheid was 

unlike her ex-husband, 

Nelson, who espoused nonviolence 

as a means to 

dismantle the regime 

especially when he was released 

from prison. He called for a 

rainbow nation, reconcilation 

and co-existence and 

forgiveness after his release 

from prison. 

Nelson and Winnie Mandela 

were the most celebrated 

political couple in South 

Africa. Hailed as the “mother 

of the nation”, she kept the 

name of her husband alive 

during his 27years in prison. 

Winnie was instrumental 

and she was the face of 

the struggle. She was 

defiant and a phenomenal 

woman who refused to 

cower despite every threat 

and obstacle put in her 

way 

She was a young social worker 

when she married Mr 

Mandela, then already a 

prominent ANC leader, in 

1958. He was sentenced to life 

in prison in 1961 for his role in 

fighting apartheid. 

Winnie was seen as loose 

cannon, an embarrassment to 

the new sanitised South Africa, 

they tried but failed to air brush 

her from the history of the 

struggle. Winnie was the 

fearless struggle in every sense 

of the word-she was a 

contradiction-she was a 

woman, married to a man who 

spent more years in prison than 

the marriage, she was beautiful, 

well spoken, very educated, a 

mother and black woman. She 

was a triple threat and they did 

not know what to do with her – 

”I am a product of the masses 

of my country. I am the product 

of my enemy.” 

We must not forget she was 

the mother of the struggle, 

she lost personally and 

psychologically for the 

struggle, she sacrificed so 

much. She was made of 

steely material and this lady 

was not going to go quietly. 

She was derided and sidelined 

by the ANC party, 

denied a stake in her late 

husband’s will, a place in her 

husband’s resting place. 

Winnie does not need these 

material things, she fought 

gallantly and she will 

continue to have a place in 

the hearts of many. She is the 

people’s champion and a 

warrior by every means 

possible. They cannot 

rewrite history and her role 

in the struggle-” I believe 

something is very wrong 

with the history of our 

country, and how we have 

messed up the African 

National Congress.” 

50 years and Martin 

Luther King Jr’s legacy 

This week marks the 50th 

anniversary of the death of 

the civil rights leader, 

Martin Luther King Jr. by a 

white supremacist. He was 

39 years old. He left behind 

a wife and four children. In 

his 39 years, King achieved 

so much and his legacy lives 

on and serves as an 

inspiration to younger 

generations and those facing 

oppressive regimes the world 

over. He was the recipient 

and at the time, the youngest 

to have received the Nobel 

peace prize. He was an 

author of five books of 

famous sermons, quotations 

and lectures. He was a 

Baptist minister like his 

father, King Senior. He 

came to prominence for his 

non-violent peace 

demonstrations. He led the 

bus boycott that segregated 

black people. Black people in 

America then had to sit at the 

back of the bus and white 

people sat at the front. The 

boycott of buses by black 

people started the eventual 

desegregation of the 

American policies and laws 

and the U.S. Supreme Court 

ruled that bus segregation laws 

are unconstitutional. As a civil 

rights leader, King was 

arrested many times, tortured, 

humiliated and hounded by 

the secret services and the 

Police. His home was burnt 

down, his mother and his 

brother were killed. He led the 

million man March and gave 

his “I Have a Dream” speech 

on the steps of the Lincoln 

Memorial that was attended 

by over 250,000 strong 

audience . In April 4, 1968, 

Martin Luther King Jr. was 

assassinated in Memphis, 

Tennessee. 

Below are some of Martin 

Luther King Jr.’s quotes; 

“I Have A Dream Quotes”. I 

have a dream that my four little 

children will one day live in a 

nation where they will not be 

judged by the colour of their 

skin, but by the content of their 

character”. Martin Luther 

King, Jr. 

“Darkness cannot drive out 

darkness; only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate; only 

love can do that”. 

“Free at last, Free at last, 

Thank God Almighty we are 

free at last. 

If you can’t fly then run, if you 

can’t run then walk, if you can’t 

walk then crawl, but whatever 

you do you have to keep moving 

forward.” 

Martin Luther King Jr. 

would have been 88 years.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018, PAGE 17 

I value love 

more than 

sex, money 

—Toby Grey 

By ROTIMI AGBANA 

I’m giving you all 

Fast rising female singer, Adeyemi 

Tobiloba Mariam, better known as 

Toby Grey, is one out of many girls who 

values love over good sex or money in a 

of me, says 

relationship 

ys 

In an exclusive chat, Toby who once 

revealed that she can marry a poor man 

told Showtime she values love more than 

money or sex in a relationship. 

Moet Abebe 

“It depends; if the partners are not in it 

for a long term, then the goal is a bit 

dicey. If it’s not for the long term, many 

people will choose sex and money 

By IYABO AINA 

because it’s temporal. But if it’s for the 

long haul and you are planning to get 

married to this person, then love is the 

On-Air-Personality, Moet Abebe, knows 

most important thing because at the end 

a thing or two about arresting 

of the day, when everything fades, the 

attention and she did it to near 

only thing you will have left is the love 

perfection during the Easter celebrations 

and the friendship you started with. I 

with a number of sensual photos to mark the 

learnt that from my parents”, she said. 

special day. The photos that were posted on 

She added that true friendship is even of 

Easter Monday saw the sexy Moet flashing 

more value than love because love fades 

her tits in a cleavage-baring wet shirt. 

with time. 

“At the end of the day love fades but 

In one of the photos she posted, the AOP 

friendship remains. I even think you are 

accompanied it with a teaser to tell us all 

missing something; it should be love, 

she was about, was just rediscovering herself 

•Toby 

friendship, sex or money. Friendship is 

and she aptly tagged it “The Rebirth of Moet 

•Moet 

Grey 

the most important thing to me. If there 

Abebe”. 

Abebe 

is something he or she is doing or not 

“Through it all, here I am giving you all of 

doing, iron it out and try to understand 

me. The rebirth of Moet Abebe. Thank you 

each other”, she concluded. 

to my entire team for coming ,” she wrote. 

The photos have since attracted all sorts of 

comments, both negative and positive. One 

follower named Monicaruth was particularly Gifty Powers raises hell among fans over 

effusive in her comment. “Are you going into 

porn? Or what’s the rebirth about? No 

semi nude photos 

offense Ma'am, I’m a big fan too,” she 

commented. 

T 

one Unclegeeonline commented. 

his is really the season of “Gifty dearie, you're getting deep in the world 

raunchy photos among of power and fame just like you always want 

celebrities and former Big it,” another follower, Janelle Nifemi countered 

Brother Naija reality show “Hit the nail on the head if you love her. A 

contestant, Gifty, is not left out as decent mother would support this, right? Some 

she recently went topless in a new of us men are jerks as you know, when the balls 

photo shoot. 

control the brains. Let a lady post her picture 

As expected, many of her fans during graduation with 3 master's degrees or 

praised her for the boldness she Ph.D and see how many comments she gets,” 

exhibited but much to the chagrin another comment queried. 

of others who saw the shoot as To which another follower, Akuaugusta 

unacceptable. The disagreement replied “ I asked if her mum has seen 

among her followers soon this and she said yes and her mum is 

became offensive war of words. her number one fan and totally in 

“This is the kind of children you support. So who am I", she asked? 

•Gifty 

have when you marry a stripper, 

Powers 

Singer Tiwa 

Sex should be had with 

Savage rocks 

self respect – African 

Gidi Fest in 

Dutchess 

denim bum 

perception that people have about intimacy. “I love 

sex, guys, don’t get me wrong, as a matter of fact, I 

shorts 

have huge appetite for it, but the way the society now 

sees sex as something you can buy on OLX is not 

looking normal anymore.” 

By IYABO AINA 

“Yeah one night stand can be normal for a lady that 

doesn’t want to get emotionally attached to anyone 

Nigerian singer and mother of 

due to some past emotional trauma but all the same 

one, Tiwa Savage is 

there should be self respect, class and dignity,” she 

said. 

unarguably one of the sexiest 

She expressed her distaste at the alarming rate at 

celebrities in the country. 

which sex is sold on social media. “Social media lately 

The music diva during the week 

took to her Instagram page to share 

•African 

has been terrible with the way it has painted sex as a 

photos of herself flaunting her 

Dutchess 

normal thing. It is not a normal thing, it is something 

you should have with self respect, don’t let all these 

derriere in a lacy lingerie top and 

reality shows and American lifestyle get to you. If you 

cut-off denim shorts. 

meet this one knack am, meet that one knack am, before 

She rocked that ravishing look at 

you go knack father and son with uncle you won’t know, 

the Gidi Festival event which took By ADETUTU ADESOJI and Karma will slap you right in the face. 

place in Lagos recently. 

“Lately, people say there is no big deal having sex 

P 

Meanwhile Tiwa Savage seems lus-size 

Nigerian on TV, my dear, it is a big deal. If you want to be a 

porn star, be a porn star but you can’t go on national 

to have given up on her failed 

blogger and reality TV star, 

African Dutchess has a word for TV to exhibit it and later come out to become a brand 

union with husband of four years, 

ambassador and think that’s the goal. What about the 

•Tiwa 

those who consider sex a commodity 

Teebillz as their divorce is at the that can be sold and bought. goal for the future, the record and legacy you want to 

Savage 

verge of getting settled. 

The model in an interview with keep? Let’s be careful about our sex life, let’s do it 

60MINUTES.com corrects the wrong with respect and dignity,” she said. 

C 

M 

YK

PAGE 18 — SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 

Edited By AYO ONIKOYI 

08052201215 

onikoyi68@gmail.com 

•Omotara 

Gold 

•Ayoteerocks 

•Lioness 

Simi 

•Sharonsmity 

•Ada 

Bonca 

•Ruth 

Sirius 

•Dessy 

Coco 

•Valerie 

Mia 

•Mary 

Umeh 

•Thurston 

Pamela 

•Ada La 

Pinky 

C 

M 

Y 

K

UNICEF WARNING: 

Your drinking water from borehole 

can be contaminated with 10 

million viruses from faeces 

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 , PAGE 19 

healthy living 

of WASH services in the country, said the fact 

that less than 10 per cent of Nigerians have 

access to safe water, calls for serious budgeting 

allocation to WASH. 

According to him, if Nigeria should triple its 

investment to a minimum of 1.7 per cent from 

the current 0.6 per cent GDP, it would meet the 

SDG by 2030. 

Quoting World Bank estimation, he said Nigeria 

will only attain the SDG target by making an 

investment of $8 billion annually until 2030. 

“Sanitation and water has a big impact on health, 

economy, and children and to everything that 

influences lives”. 

Jurji’s words: “The country will only beat the 

target by making an investment of $8 billion 

annually until 2030. Sanitation and water has a 

big impact on health, economy, and children and 

to everything that influences lives.” 

He explained that 88 per cent of diarrhoea cases 

worldwide are linked to unsafe water, a scourge 

which remains the second killer of children, adding 

that $1 dollar investment in water and sanitation 

will bring back $25 dollar benefits. 

The UNICEF official disclosed that MICs 

2016/207 showed that 25 per cent of Nigerians 

also defecate in the open; a situation, he said, was 

more than Canada population. 

“Water is essential for the survival and 

development of all children. Without water, 

children simply cannot stay alive or thrive in a 

healthy environment. Water resources, and the 

range of services they provide, strengthen poverty 

reduction, economic growth and environmental 

sustainability”. 

By Chioma Obinna 

Growing demand for 

water, coupled with poor water 

management, has increased water stress in 

many parts of the world. For instance, 2017 

global water assessment by World Health 

Organisation, WHO, and United Nations 

Children’s Fund, UNICEF, showed that many 

people, particularly in the rural areas, lack 

access to water. 

It further revealed that 2.1 billion people, 

worldwide, lack access to safe, readily 

available water at home and 4.5 billion people 

lack safely managed sanitation. Climate 

change is adding to the pressure. 

However, with demand for fresh water 

projected to grow by more than 40 per cent by 

the middle of the century, the UN Secretary- 

General, António Guterres, says water scarcity 

has become an enormous concern. According 

to him, the world cannot afford to take water 

crisis for granted because water is a matter of 

life and death and many of the most serious 

diseases in the developing world are directly 

related to unsafe drinking water, poor 

sanitation and insufficient hygiene practices. 

Guterres also noted that, by 2050, at least 1 

in 4 people will live in a country where the 

lack of fresh water will be chronic or recurrent. 

Unfortunately, while the Sustainable 

Development Goal, SDG, 6, focuses on safe 

water and adequate sanitation for all by 2030, 

over 96 per cent of Nigerians still consume 

contaminated water, according to the 2016/ 

2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, 

MICS. 

Inside toilet facilities 

Right inside one of the toilet 

facilities built by the 

European Union and 

UNICEF for pupils of Bangai 

LEA Primary School in Riyom 

Local Government Area of 

Plateau State were Blessing, 

7, and Yakubu Silas, 12, 

washing their hands. It was 

glaring they were excited 

practicing one of the simple 

but most neglected acts of 

preventing under 5 diseases 

such as cholera and 

diarrhoea. They were excited 

because they are now enjoying 

the benefits of having a 

functional borehole and toilet 

facilities in their school. “I am 

happy we now have water in 

my school”, Silas told Sunday 

Vanguard, smiling. 

But how many of their peers 

have such opportunity in their 

states across Nigeria? 

Findings by UNICEF showed that only 34 

of 167 schools in two local government areas 

in Plateau have improved Water, Sanitation 

and Hygiene (WASH) facilities. 

In the Bangai school, before the EU/ 

UNICEF intervention, Open Defecation, OD, 

was the order of the day. The situation was so 

bad that one of the school management staff 

described it as an ‘eye sore’. 

Many of the pupils were said to have 

dropped out of school as they could not bear 

staying in school for hours without water and 

toilet facilities. Sadly, diseases such as 

cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid were common 

place among the pupils. 

But, today, with the facilities available in 

the school, the number of pupils participating 

in school activities has increased and there is 

reduction in diseases. 

“In fact, our roll call has increased from 

over 100 to 255 within this short period. Now, 

we are finding it difficult handling the children 

because we have limited classrooms. Most of 

the structures here are bad,” the Head Teacher, 

Mrs. Victoria Gyang, said. 

However, the case of Bangai Primary School 

is just an aspect of the many benefits of 

improved WASH facilities to individuals, 

communities, countries and the world at large. 

SDG 6 targets 

Safe water and adequate sanitation, 

according to experts, not only strengthens 

poverty reduction, economic growth and 

healthy ecosystems, but also contributes to 

social well-being, inclusive 

growth and sustainable 

livelihoods. 

Also, SDG-6, by 2030, 

expects countries to achieve 

universal and equitable 

access to safe and 

affordable drinking water 

Today, 

overwhelming 

majority of 96.3 per 

cent of households 

in Nigeria drink 

water contaminated 

by faeces and other 

polluted substances 

such as Escherichia 

coli (E.coli) 

for all. With one in three 

households in Nigeria 

consuming contaminated 

water, according to 2016/ 

2017 MICS report, health 

watchers are of the opinion 

that Nigeria may not meet 

the SDG targets with its 

current investment in 

WASH. 

To many Nigerians, 

reversing water situation in 

Nigeria is non- negotiable 

as the UN Secretary- 

General, Guterres, 

explained that more than 

90 per cent of disasters are 

water-related and that 

more than two billion 

people globally 

lack access to safe 

water while 4.5 

billion people lack 

a d e q u a t e 

sanitation services. 

According to 

Guterres, these 

numbers mean a 

harsh daily reality 

for people in rural 

communities and 

urban slums in all 

regions of the 

world. 

“We cannot continue to take water for 

granted and expect to achieve the Sustainable 

Development Goals. It is time to change 

how we value and manage water”, he said. 

But how ready is Nigeria to achieve the 2030 

SDG 6 target? This is a one million dollar 

question begging for an answer. In Nigeria, 

today, only 64.1 per cent households had 

access to improved water sources in 2016, a 

decline from 2015. Also, 35.9 per cent used 

improved sanitation in 2016 compared to 58.5 

per cent in 2015 and 31 per cent in 2011. With 

these findings, health watchers are of the view 

that Nigeria may not achieve the target, if 

nothing urgently is done. 

Today, overwhelming majority of 96.3 per 

cent of households in Nigeria drink water 

contaminated by faeces and other polluted 

substances such as Escherichia coli (E.coli). 

The latest MICS report also showed that 

about one in three households in Nigeria 

consume contaminated water. 

According to UNICEF, estimated population 

using safely managed drinking water sources 

were put at 65.50 per cent in 2012, 67.60 per 

cent in 2014 and 68.50 per cent in 2015. 

In the 2016/2017 survey, North-East topped 

the list of zones with poor access to improved 

water with 52.4 per cent, while the South-West 

led with 87.3 per cent. North-West had 58.6, 

North-Central 58.7, South-South 75.5 and 

South-East 80.1 per cent. 

The survey according to states showed that 

Imo topped the chart with 92.2 of residents 

having improved drinking water. 

The report also revealed that E.coli was a 

major substance found in water consumed by 

Nigerians without access to safely-managed 

drinking water. 

E.coli refers to some bacteria that live in 

intestines; although most types are harmless, 

some types can make people sick and cause 

diarrhoea. The worst type causes bloody 

diarrhoea and can cause kidney failure and 

even death. 

Reacting to the situation of water in Nigeria, 

Chief of UNICEF’s WASH, Nigeria, Mr. Zaid 

Jurji, who expressed worry on the current state 

The fly 

UNICEF WASH Specialist, Drissa Yeo, who 

also explained the implication of diseases such 

as E.coli, said: “You can easily get your food 

and drinking water contaminated even though 

it is coming from a borehole. This is where 

E.coli comes in. 

“One will say ‘I have defecated there; it is not 

close to my house’ but when the wind blows, 

there is no border. One of the 

biggest transporters is the fly. The 

fly can land on it and bring it back 

to the household. When the fly 

perches on it, automatically, it is 

either shitting or pissing. 

Whatever it has transported it will 

deposit it there. The health 

implication is that you can easily 

get your food or water 

contaminated. 

“A gram of faeces it is 

transporting means it has left 

behind him about 10 million 

viruses. You can imagine if you 

swallow one of the viruses, you 

are already contaminated. In those viruses also, 

the same gram will contain one million of 

bacteria. The bacteria if they get into your 

stomach you can get easily infested, that is one 

of the main big issues with open defecation.” 

Regretting that people are yet to understand 

where typhoid is coming from, Yeo said such 

contamination would lead to diarrhoea and 

typhoid, “ An individual could also get Hepatitis E 

and A. There is a big health implication when it 

comes to open defecation. 

“Diarrhoea is one of the main-killers in the world, 

today if you get contaminated with cholera, and 

you did not receive the appropriate treatment in 

the next 24 to 48 hours, you can pass on. Dysentery 

can give you some time to take care of yourself but 

not cholera”. 

Purifying water 

He explained that whether a community has 

borehole or not, with open defecation, handmade 

wells are not protected because they are prone to 

external contamination and therefore do not 

qualify as drinking water. 

“For a community like that, there is need for 

people to perform filtration or try as much as 

possible to boil it. You can use chemical 

products like water guard, water purification 

tablets to disinfect the drinking water. You can 

use chlorine tablet but it depends on the water. 

Chlorine tablet works 100 per cent for water 

from borehole. But for muddy waters, if you 

use chlorine tablet, there will be first chemical 

reaction which will reduce the effectiveness of 

that chlorine tablet. The water needs to be clean. 

If the water looks muddy and you use chlorine 

tablet, it will not work 100 per cent”, he said. 

Achieving SDGs 

Yeo, who acknowledged that government had 

put on the table some efforts to ensure that WASH 

services are delivered to the people, urged state 

governments to adopt the Federal Government’s 

expanded WASH programme as part of the efforts 

to deliver WASH services in the communities. 

He urged government to make policies that 

would facilitate access to improved water sources 

and sanitation, which will, in turn, help to reduce 

preventable diseases.

PAGE 20 — SUNDAY Vanguard,APRIL 8, 2018 

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 

08056180152, SMS only 

Mothers who have toxic relationship with their daughters 

WHILE arguments 

between mothers 

and daughters are 

normal, especially during the 

teenage years, most mothers 

are eager to understand and 

meet their child’s needs. 

However, in 20 per cent of cases, 

something very different 

happens. Most ‘Mother’s Day’, 

daughters are eager not only to 

buy ‘To the best mum ever’ 

cards, they plaster their wa1ls 

on socia1 media with how 

wonderful their mothers are. 

“But spare a thought for those 

women who will have struggled 

to buy a card bearing any 

endearing messages for their 

mums,” says Abigail sadly. 

She gave a heart-wrenching 

account of having a mother who 

was cruel and indifferent 

towards her. She recalled how 

her mother often said she 

wished she’d ca1led her ‘Devil’ 

because she’d never given her 

a ‘moment of pleasure.’ 

According to her: “As a child, 

my mother banned me from 

reading the books I loved. One 

day, without warning, she gave 

away my beloved puppy given 

to me by a cousin because the 

poor thing was fouling up the 

house. She criticised my friends 

and boyfriend, and when I 

became pregnant, she said she 

hoped the baby would be like 

me so I would understand what 

she’d had to put up with. 

“My mother was never 

violent, but she would 

occasiona1ly dispense ‘welldeserved’ 

spankings across my 

legs and I a1so remember the 

pain when she yanked my 

tightly plaited hair hard - she 

could be cutting, cruel and 

relentlessly critica1. Over the 

years, in the course of my 

profession as a psychologist, 

many of my clients have 

described how a toxic 

relationship with their mother 

had permeated through their 

lives. Many of them were 

children of mothers who rea1ly 

didn’t see themselves as having 

a choice in the matter. A 

generation or two ago, it was 

assumed that a woman would 

marry and have children. To 

choose not to was seen as 

peculiar, condemning those 

mavericks to a life of suspicion 

where society viewed them as 

something of an oddity. 

Continues Abigail: “I know 

only too well that the impact of 

growing up with a woman like 

my mum - what 1 term a ‘difficult’ 

mother - lasts beyond childhood. 

My mother’s violent and 

unpredictable outbursts 

continued until her death from 

cancer when 1 was in my early 

20s. I was terrified that we’d be 

estranged when she died; and 

rang her every day during her 

last illness. Despite this filial 

devotion I never did feel that I 

had managed to please her. My 

legacy was a long shadow of 

self-suspicion, what some might 

call low self-esteem. I can be 

sensitive to criticism, don’t 

expect people to find me likeable 

and feel it’s my role to placate 

others. 

“However, it’s thanks to my 

mother that I began my career 

as a psychologist, a subject I 

pursued because I wanted to 

understand why people behave 

the way they do. And after 

decades of observing family 

dynamics, I estimate about one 

in five mothers has a toxic 

relationship with her daughter.” 

She then identified five types of 

difficult mothers: Controlling, 

angry, narcissistic, envious 

and emotionally unavailable - 

though most difficult mothers 

may display all traits to a 

greater or lesser degree. 

“The controlling mother’s 

need to control a child is more 

important than a child’s need 

to discover its own preferences 

and thoughts. The underlying 

message is that a child’s 

choices and desires are bad, 

defective or dangerous. For 

instance, one of my clients 

recalled how her mother 

wanted control over her social 

life. “My mother never wanted 

me to go anywhere without 

her or have friends of my 

own.” She said “Any friend 

was a ‘bad’ influence and 

wasn’t allowed to the house. 

She always told me that no one 

would want to marry me as 

apparently I was sulky and not 

good looking. If I put on makeup, 

she would say: ‘Who do 

you think is going to look at 

you?’ 

“The narcissist mother is 

totally self-involved. 

Narcissism is often used to 

describe a big ego, but in 

psychological terms, a 

narcissist has a very fragile ego 

and needs constant 

reassurance. This mother 

demands adoration and 

compliance. This was certainly 

my experience. My mother was 

an ambitions and successful 

chartered accountant - yet very 

insecure. Eventually I learned 

the secret to handling her was 

to constantly remind her how 

brilliant and accomplished she 

was, that her outstanding 

talents weren’t being 

recognised by others. My 

older sister refused to play this 

game and they were 

enstranged when my mother 

died. 

“An envious mother resents 

her child’s positive 

development. She betrays the 

most basic terms of the parentchild 

emotional contract, 

which is to take pleasure in 

seeing her child thrive. Since 

envy is one of the most 

unpleasant feelings in the 

human register of emotions, 

both for the person who envies 

and for the person who is 

envied, an envious mother is 

almost always unaware of her 

envy. She disguises it from 

herself with a range of other 

explanations for her 

displeasure: ‘You think too 

much of yourself,’ she accused 

or ‘Your hopes are too high: 

you’re headed for 

disappointment.’ 

“It’s confusing to a child 

when she offers her 

achievements as a gift to her 

mother, and then finds that 

these threaten or offend her. 

If I talked about having done 

well in tests at school, my 

mother told me I was boasting, 

and if I produced any artwork 

at home, I was told not to show 

off. Nothing of mine was kept 

or displayed. Later, when I 

began to take an interest in my 

appearance, she would ask 

me: ‘Who do you think is going 

to look at you?’ Any 

blossoming self-confidence 

was always firmly squashed.” 

The million-dollar question 

is; why are some mothers like 

this? According to Abigail: 

“Psychologists used to think 

that mothers were innately 

jealous of their daughters’ 

youth and beauty, a constant 

reminder of their own fading 

bloom, but this theory has 

been debunked. For some, the 

reasons will be circumstantial. 

Many of the mothers were 

born in the Forties and Fifties. 

Their mothers had endured 

the stress and privations of the 

war years. Some had made 

hasty marriages. It was also a 

time when women were 

expected to focus their lives 

on the home, to set aside 

personal ambitions to bring up 

families - though this was not 

the case for my mother, who 

was able to make success of 

her career. 

One of the fears of growing 

up with a difficult mother is 

that you will be one yourself. 

Only I discovered parenthood 

to be about wanting the very 

best for your children, which 

was so different from my 

mother’s attitude. And having 

the insight to acknowledge 

what your mother is like is 

often enough to break the cycle. 

It can make you a particularly 

responsive and loving parent.” 

Colours of Your Love 

Y 

OUR column to express your loving 

thoughts in words to your sweetheart. Don’t 

be shy. Let it flow and let him or her know how 

dearly you feel. Write now in not more than 75 words 

to: The Editor, Sunday Vanguard, P.M.B. 1007, 

Apapa, Lagos. E.mail: sundaylovenotes@yahoo.com 

Please mark your envelope: “LOVE NOTES" 

I relish the rainbow 

In the bare sky more 

By peering down 

On your glossy visage. 

Your chromatic smile 

Is the path that leads 

To your lovehead, 

Then all the way to the rainbow. 

I see the rainbow in your smile, 

I see your smile in your lovehead, 

I see your lovehead in the rainbow. 

Kingsley Alumona 

kingsley.alumona@yahoo.com 

08030872649 

Don't be tired of her 

While it takes time to study her, you 

should not feel discouraged. Make sure 

you are tired of her. There is a way 

capture her fancy by showing her love 

which would give her some hope that 

you trully love and care about her. Keep 

letting her know that you are in love with 

her and that she will be your one and only 

love. 

Michael Adedotun Oke 

maof2020@gmail.com 

08027142077


KOGI: KILLINGS 

LIKE NEVER BEFORE 

Our children, 

women, elders 

were butchered 

like rams 

– Survivor 

•Heart-breaking story: Schoolboy 

clubbed to death after telling 

suspected herdsmen he wanted to 

become a doctor 

•Monarch murdered, queen 

saved by ‘fingers of God’ 

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO, 

LOKOJA 

It is close to one month since the 

people of Oganenigwu, 

Agbenema and Ojuwo- 

Ajomayegbi in Kogi East fled 

their communities following 

attacks by suspected herdsmen which 

left no fewer than 50 dead. 

When the people would return home 

despite government’s deployment of 

special forces to the communities 

remains uncertain. The victims, who 

make a living from farm produce, are 

gripped by fear of hunger occasioned 

by their inability to harvest 

their crops, most of which 

are believed to have been 

destroyed by herders who 

have taken over their 

farmlands. 

When Sunday Vanguard 

visited Oganenigwu in 

Dekina local government 

area of the state and 

Ojuwo-Ajomaigbi in Bassa 

local government area, 

they had virtually become 

ghost communities. 

The residents were said to 

have fled to neighbouring 

Anyigba, Etutekpe and 

Ikpakpala and Ologba in 

Dekina local government 

area and Ikende in Bassa 

local government. The 

survivors still think they 

are in a dream and praying 

they wake up soon. 

Of the attacks on the 

communities, that of 

Oganenigwu was 

overwhelming. It was there 

a family of seven was 

wiped out in the morning. While the 

community thought that was the end 

of the massacre, the assailants 

returned to launch another attack in 

the night. A total of seventeen persons 

were dead. 

The attackers, said to be numbering 

over 500, had arrived in boats that 

morning of Wednesday at Oganenigwu 

and opened fire on the people. The 

attackers later set fire to the residents’ 

homes. A resident said the attack 

might not be unconnected with a 2015 

disagreement that led to the death of 

four herdsmen and unspecified 

number of cows. 

He narrated how 

the herdsmen used to 

undermine the 

natives by feeding 

their animals with 

their farm produce. 

There were even 

allegations that the 

The dead could 

not be buried 

until three days 

after the attack 

even as four 

bodies were 

said to have 

been buried in 

one grave due 

to lack of 

energy to dig 

separate graves 

herders were fond of 

harvesting the 

villagers’ cashew 

nuts, which they 

took to market for 

sale, until the 

natives started 

asking how they 

came about the nuts 

when they didn’t own 

any plantation. 

It was gathered 

that this was what 

caused the crisis in 

2015, leading to the 

death of four 

herdsmen in 

Oganenigwu. The 

fear of a reprisal 

attack in the areas 

affected the 2015 

governorship 

*Above: Salifu, nephew of murdered monarch. Below: One of the 

communities after the attacks 

election, as people in some wards did 

not come out to vote. 

This was one of the reasons given for 

the supplementary election in the 2015 

governorship election that created the 

opportunity for the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, to ‘impose’ Governor 

Yahaya Bello on Kogi after the death 

of its standard bearer, Prince 

Abubakar Audu. 

Gory stories 

The survivors told Sunday Vanguard 

gory stories. Aside the slaughtering of 

those that could not be killed with gun, 

the invaders, some recounted, looted 

the community and carted away not 

fewer than 47 motorcycles belonging 

to residents, foodstuff, while 

destroying farms, especially cashew 

plantations. And because of the 

incident, women and children had to 

be moved to safe locations. 

The dead could not be buried until 

three days after the attack even as 

four bodies were said to have been 

buried in one grave due to lack of 

energy to dig separate graves. 

Ojuwo – Ajomayegbi, on its part, is a 

remote community located on a hill, 

with undulating topography and 

alluring vegetation. It is a fertile land 

suitable for crop farming which may 

have been the attraction for 

settlement. It has an estimated 

population of 1, 000 inhabitants. It is 

about ten kilometres to Oganenigu. 

The main means of transportation is 

by motorcycle - which is not readily 

available. 

Ojuwo-Ajomayeigbe had been in 

conflict for many years with 

herdsmen. 




As early as 7am on March 10, 

suspected murderous herdsmen, in 

their hundreds, stormed the village. 

With their small population, and most 

men gone to farm, leaving mostly 

children and women at home, the task 

of stopping the invaders was a 

herculean task. The herders, armed 

with sophisticated weapons such as 

AK47, pump action guns, cudgel and 

machetes, among others opened fire 

on the villagers, and burnt their 

houses. 

The gory tale of a little boy was 

narrated by one of the survivors. 

According to her, the boy pathetically 

knelt down, begging the suspected 

herdsmen to spare his life to realise 

his dream of becoming a medical 

doctor but the plea fell on deaf ears as 

they stripped him of his school 

uniform and clubbed him to death. 

Another survivor, who narrated that 

his escape was divine, Ismaila Maji, 

recounted the ordeal, “We were taken 

by surprise. The attackers were so 

many and they were armed with 

sophisticated weapons. Residents tried 

to fight them but had no weapons. Our 

children, women, seniors were 

butchered like rams; motorcycles were 

carted away; even food stuff were 

evacuated from our homes. In fact, we 

counted up to 25 corpses while six 

persons were killed in Agbakaka. We 

had to give them mass burial. Those 

who sustained gunshot and machete 

wounds are receiving treatment in 

hospital. 

“It may be difficult for survivors to 

return home, as our houses were 

completely burnt. We appeal to 

government and well-meaning 

individuals to help us rebuild our 

settlement to enable us return to our 

ancestral homes”. 

On Saturday, March 

14, Governor Yahaya 

Bello visited the 

attacked villages to see 

for himself the extent of 

the carnage. He 

promised to institute a 

judicial commission of 

inquiry to unravel the 

remote and immediate 

causes of the mayhem 

and promised to fish out 

perpetrators and bring 

them to justice while 

assuring the people of 

adequate security. 

While addressing the 

men of the Nigerian 

Army from 913 

Battalion drafted to the 

communities, Bello said 

he would not fold his 

arms and allow “armed 

bandits to wipe out our 

people”. He added, “As a 

government, we will, as 

much as possible, 

provide comfort for 

affected families, Igala Kingdom and 

the entire Kogi State. It is most 

unfortunate”. 

Killers strike again 

Meanwhile, as Bello was assuring 

the Oganenigu residents of adequate 

security, some people were busy 

gathering weapons to launch deadly 

attack on Omala villages. Two days 

after the governor’s visit, suspected 

herdsmen, around 11am on Monday, 

March 16, struck at Ajichekpa, Opada 

and Agbenema, killing the traditional 

ruler, Chief Musa Edibo, and burning 

37 houses. Nine other houses were 

vandalised. 

Nephew of the late traditional ruler 

who escaped narrowly, Chief Peter 

Salifu, 35, narrated his story, “We had 

premonition of the attack, what we 

didn’t know was the exact date it 

would happen. The assailants came 

around 11am and started setting 

houses ablaze. Those who ran out 

were shot at. We tried frantically to 

repel them but we were overpowered. 

We had earlier moved our wives and 

children out of the villages because we 

anticipated the attack and that 

accounted for the low casualty. 

'Schoolboy clubbed to death after telling 

suspected herdsmen he wanted to 

become a doctor' 

“We put a distress call 

to our neighbors, 

especially men from 

Abejukolo, but they 

could not gain 

immediate access 

because some security 

personnel prevented 

them from entering the 

village. When they 

eventually arrived, 

grievous damage had 

been wreaked on our 

village. My uncle, the 

Onuh Agbenema, was 

clubbed to death. We 

initially thought the 

wife, Kasuwa, was 

killed with him, 

because they were 

sitting together in the 

parlour when the 

assailants came; but 

the wife, Kasuwa Edibo, 

was saved by fingers of 

God. 

We put a 

distress call to 

our neighbors, 

especially men 

from Abejukolo, 

but they could 

not gain 

immediate 

access because 

some security 

personnel 

prevented them 

from entering 

the village 

*Scenes from the attacks 

“I manage a viewing centre. They set 

our houses ablaze including the ‘Keke 

Napep’ I use for my business. We have 

lost all our life savings. Please tell 

government to come to the aid of the 

communities in rebuilding their lives. 

We are now refugees in our father 

land.” He wept. 

Sunday Vanguard gathered that 

some of those who escaped fell into 

the hands of suspected herdsmen 

dressed in military uniform. The 

escaping villagers must have thought 

they were nearing safety until the 

suspected herdsmen fired at them 

sending them to their early graves. 

The story was the same in Iyade and 

Ogabifo who played host to the 

invaders. 

Members representing Omala, 

Dekina/ Okura and Bassa 

constituencies in Kogi State House of 

Assembly, Aliyu Akuh, Moses Ododo 

and Sunday Shigaba, respectively, on 

Wednesday, March 23, moved a 

motion of urgent importance to draw 

the attention of President 

Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Bello 

and security agencies to the killings. 

Akuh, while presenting the motion, 

asked government to adopt proactive 

measures to protect lives and property 

as the state was drifting towards a 

failed state. He urged the government 

of Yahaya Bello to ensure that the 

perpetrators were brought to justice 

and to reassure the people of security 

to enable them return home to pick up 

the pieces of their lives while calling 

on the National Emergency 

Management Agency, NEMA, to send 

relief materials to the displaced 

persons. 

He called on security agencies to be 

professional in the handling of the 

crisis of such magnitude to avert 

wanton loss of lives and property. 

The killings have generated 

controversy with some persons 

faulting Governor Bello over the panel 

of inquiry he promised to raise on the 

attacks. They asked whether he 

expected the attackers suspected to be 

herdsmen or their victims in their 

graves to appear before the panel. 

They put the blame for the killings at 

the governor’s doorsteps especially 

since he threw open the borders for 

herders to come into Kogi. 

They expressed disappointment that, 

despite Operation Cat Dance in Kogi 

and other North Central states, 

killings had continued as suspected 

herdsmen operate with no efforts to 

stop them, particularly in Kogi. 

The Audu/Faleke Political 

Organisation particularly condemned 

the killings at Oganenigwu and Aloko. 

A statement by Hon. James Abiodun 

Faleke described the killings of over 

25 people in the two communities and 

destruction of houses as the height of 

wickedness. “The news came to us as a 

shock. Can we ever equate cows with 

human lives? How did we come to this 

sorry pass as a people?” the statement 

said. 

The state chapter of the Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP), on its part, 

said Bello’s open invitation to 

herdsmen and the setting up of cattle 

colonies without adequate security 

measures brought about the killings. 

In a statement, Achadu Dickson, 

Director of Research and 

Documentation of the party in Kogi, 

said the governor should explain his 

role in the killings, following his 

invitation to herdsmen and the ceding 

of land in the state for the 

establishment of cattle colonies, even 

though the people were against it.


08112662589 

Men are far more vulnerable to damage than women 

“ 

It is common place 

nowadays to decry the 

men as male-chauvinist 

pigs who go round hurting 

girls, creating havoc and 

irresponsibility by leaving a 

trail of broken hearts behind 

them,” so wrote Abbey, a 

thoroughly bitter man in his 

mid-forties and, according to 

him, “still hurting”. He 

continues: “This picture has 

always irked me. Some 

women simply do not think of 

men as people who can get 

hurt and be damaged by life 

just like themselves. True, men 

don’t get pregnant, but in 

some ways, men are far more 

vulnerable to damage than 

women - the irony being that 

this vulnerability is often 

dismissed in the phrase, ‘the 

fragile male ego’ as if it were 

something rather pathetic, 

not worthy of sympathetic 

consideration. Because men 

are not expected to get hurt, 

or at least not supposed to 

start crying about it, many 

women can be infinitely more 

cruel than any man. Maybe 

there is some tiny mitigation 

in the fact that they may 

genuinely not understand the 

damage they have done 

precisely as a result of all the 

cliches of the situation. 

“Which brings, me to my 

case. Many years ago, in my 

first year in the university, I 

underwent a set-back which 

effects are still with me. I had 

the misfortune to fall for a girl 

a few years older than myself; 

we call her Bukky. She was 

plump, nubile, engaged to a 

man back home, but fond of 

entertaining herself with extra 

talents closer at hand, finding 

a three-month separation from 

her man something of a bore 

and frustration. I was slim and 

good-looking and she 

evidently felt that I merited her 

attention. She led me on 

eagerly, something I did not 

object to. I was young and 

romantic, exceptionally 

innocent and thought that love 

was something spiritual and 

poetic. Perhaps, that in itself 

seemed precious, but it was a 

classic piece of female 

chauvinism to find such 

qualities touching and 

attractive in a girl 1 but a little 

comic in a man. 

“The result was that I 

courted her very slowly by 

standard. Finding me to be 

unsatisfactory, she jilted me 

rather quickly, and found 

someone preferable. I cannot 

really object to this, though I 

have to reflect tht in the same 

situation, a man would be 

expected to be patient and 

understanding. She had led 

me to love her, then ditched 

me when she got bored - an 

ordinary scenario I do accept, 

and it would be tedious to 

keep whining about it. 

“If it had stopped there, I 

would, no doubt, have had 

very little to complain about 

... Unfortunately, that was not 

the line she took. I realise now, 

as I did not realise then, that 

her attitude was a classic 

case of sour grapes. She 

certainly did not love me, but 

it evidently irritated her that 

1 was so inexperienced that I 

had failed to provide what she 

wanted at a plain earthy level, 

even after a few weeks of 

courtship. 

“Her method was very 

simple. Over a period of nearly 

two years, she sought to 

humiliate me with her jokes, 

innuendoes, hints and nudges 

to the benefit of her associate. 

The remarks she made were 

innocent enough in isolation. 

‘Abbey leads women on and 

then disappoints them,’ she 

said. ‘It’s all platonic between 

Abbey and myself,’ she said. 

‘(as if poor Abbey was capable 

of ... ). ‘Abbey would, if he 

could, but he can’t.’ 

“To cap it all, an acquaintance 

of mine made a suitably casual 

remark implying that he took it 

for granted that I was sexually 

impotent. I was gutted. If only 

women have the remotest 

conception of the immense 

humiliation it is for a man to 

be seen to be sexually 

deficient. 

“After 1 left the university, I 

fell in love with another girl, 

who’s beautiful, sweet, 

everything I could have wished 

in a girl. We got engaged, but I 

was still haunted by the past 

insinuations. What happened 

next might be regarded as a joke 

by some people with a certain 

sense of humour, 

though I suffered the torment 

of being unable to satisfy the 

girl sexually. She was kind, 

sympathetic, and said, ‘it 

doesn’t matter, darling’, three 

months after, she jilted me, 

having found some-one else. 

“Shortly after this massive 

blow to my sexual life, I ran into 

Bukky at a wedding reception. 

This was some five years after 

we left the niversity. She looked 

different and was with her 

husband. She was wearing a 

rnore glamourous hair-style 

and had lost weight – wearing 

one of these gears that do 

wonders for a woman’s 

cleavage. 

“I wanted the ground to 

open and swallow me up. I 

was on my own but she 

completely ignored me, even 

when she stood next to me at 

the drinks corner. I was 

shocked by the look of 

contempt on her face and was 

too shaken to approach her. I 

was really upset that she could 

ignore me like that that as we 

had obviouslybeen close once. 

I didn’t want to cause a scene, 

so I left. 

“Since that little episode, I 

have resigned to being 

impotent and remaining so. I 

realise that a lot of people 

reading this will be inclined 

to snigger in just the same way, 

and for the same reasons that 

others have. There is no point 

at all in denying that 

impotence is funny; 

deliciously funny, to all but 

the victim himself ... “ 

08052201867(Text Only) 

The Spread Eagle Pose 

O 

VERWEIGHT 

may not be 

your problem, but, 

then, that’s not the only reason 

for exercising. 

On account, life can rather 

be hectic, we all need to have 

a little bit more energy than 

we already possess. Practising 

relaxation techniques 

help us relieve stress 

brought on by everyday 

living. That way, we get 

quick results from exercise 

characterised by great energy 

and wonderful well-being. 

Of course, it won't do to do 

all the right exercises and 

ignore to eat properly. 

Quality aside, we must be 

modest in the quantity of food 

we eat. Eating great quantities 

of food means almost all 

of our energies go to digesting 

the food leaving us 

feeling lethargic. One of the 

good things about exercise is 

the fact that we tend to eat 

less. The less active we become, 

the more food we tend 

to put away. Now, this is why: 

With exercise or increased 

physical load, you call forth 

reserves of sugars from your 

liver and muscles for a dip in 

blood sugar levels. When you 

don’t exercise, you tend only 

* The Spread Eagle 

to experience a high in blood 

sugar with meals. And, as 

soon as the energy from the 

food is stored by the help of 

the hormone insulin produced 

by the pancreases, 

yawning and malaise takes 

over - there’s a false alarm 

of hunger. In such a case, all 

you need do is whip up a bit 

of sweat,’ a bit of a work out 

and presto, your fallen blood 

sugar levels stabilise, doing 

away with your false hunger 

and all. 

It’s now an established fact 

that flexibility exercise which 

can be practised daily are 

best suited for relieving 

physical stress. 

Let’s consider one of the 

flexibility postures and a relaxation 

technique. 

THE SPREAD EAGLE 

Technique: Sit down and 

spread out the legs as wide 

apart as possible. Bend down 

the trunk and with the left 

hand hold the left foot from 

the inside with the left elbow 

touching the floor. Bring the 

right hand over the side of 

the head and hold the left 

foot from the outside. Keep 

your breathing normal. Retain 

the position for 10-15 

seconds and repeat on the 

other side. 

Benefits: 

The Spread Eagle stretches 

both hamstrings and inner 

thigh muscles. The flanks get 

a good workout leading to fat 

reduction about the 

waistline. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


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COMMON SEXUAL AL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVEL 

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HERDSMEN KILLINGS 

Miyetti Allah bows, 

‘accepts cattle ranching’ 

•We will see how anti-open grazing law can wear human face – Ortom 

•Gov. on Danjuma’s self-defence call: Seven gunmen attacked me with 

AK47 rifles. I disarmed them without carrying arms 

By Johnbosco Agbakwuru, Abuja 

Governor Samuel Ortom has 

not been a happy man since 

herdsmen started attacking 

the people of Benue State, leaving 

deaths on their trail. The governor 

accuses some heads of security 

agencies of looking the other way 

while the herdsmen strike. In this 

interview, he maintains that ranching 

is the best way to stop the attacks. He 

also speaks on how he disarmed AK47 

rifles wielding gunmen who attacked 

him and his driver. 

You are at the Presidential Villa to 

see Mr President. What message did 

you come with? 

I am here, first of all, to thank Mr 

President for his condolence visit to 

Benue State and to also intimate him 

on where we are now. I also came to 

remind him about the request of Benue 

people to him when he paid that visit 

and to assure him that Benue remains 

committed to a united Nigeria and to 

working with him and also to ensure 

that we will collaborate with the 

Federal Government to provide 

security for lives and property. It is 

equally necessary to intimate Mr 

President with the plight of over 

175,000 IDPs that we have in eight 

camps who have expressed their 

desire to go back home. And Mr 

President is very passionate about 

their plight and has assured me that 

government will swing into action to 

ensure that rehabilitation is done to 

those homes that were destroyed. 

Because, if they go back home, where 

would live when their houses have 

been destroyed? That assurance has 

been given and he will also look at 

the other issues that we brought before 

him. It is quite assuring that it will be 

well and, once again, I want to use 

this medium to thank him for the 

support he has shown. I know that this 

crisis did not just start, it precedes his 

tenure. When I was serving as 

minister, my ancestral home was 

destroyed, 53 people were killed and 

this was in 2013 when Mr President 

was not yet here. But I think what is 

important is the NEC sub-committee 

headed by the Vice President is doing 

the needful and I believe that the 

meeting we held and the subsequent 

ones that we are going to hold will 

proffer a solution to this perennial 

problem. But we remain committed to 

our people and our ranching law and 

I believe that that is the way forward. 

Like I keep saying, if people have 

better options, let them bring it to the 

table. For us in Benue, ranching 

remains the global best practice and 

Nigeria cannot be an exception 

especially when land is decreasing 

and population is increasing. 

The 20 million cattle in Nigeria 

cannot cope with open grazing. There 

is no doubt about that and a solution 

has to be worked out just as it is done 

I think that, in 

Benue, we are 

winning because 

Miyetti Allah and 

MACABAN have 

accepted that 

ranching remains the 

best option to rear 

cattle. And we 

commend them and 

we will work with 

them to see how our 

law can wear human 

face to ensure that we 

have a win-win for all 

in India with over 300 million herds 

of cattle, in Brazil with about 250 

million herds of cattle and in America 

with more than 300 million herds and 

there have not been clashes like the 

ones we have in Nigeria with just 20 

million cattle. So, we must adopt 

global best practices and modern ways 

of animal husbandry. This will go a 

long way in helping us. And I think 

that, in Benue, we are winning 

because Miyetti Allah and 

MACABAN have accepted that 

ranching remains the best option to 

rear cattle. And we commend them 

and we will work with them to see how 

our law can wear human face to 

ensure that we have a win-win for all. 

And you will recall that the issue of 

cattle rustling is a major problem in 

Nigeria. Ranching will minimize cattle 

rustling and attacks on farms and 

encroachment. 

What has changed in Benue since 

the President’s visit? 

Well, there have some killings in 

flash points by these militia groups but 

security men are doing their best and 

some arrests have been made by 

them. I believe we will overcome at 

the end of the day. If not for the 

presence of security men, the situation 

would have really been worse than 

what we have today. We are 

collaborating with security agencies 

and we are not leaving any stone 

unturned to ensure that we overcome 

this crisis. 

A former Minister of Defence, Gen. 

Theophilus Danjuma, suggested that 

people should protect themselves 

from herdsmen 

I am not sure that if you listened to 

him very well. It is a misrepresentation 

of what the former minister said. He 

did not tell anybody to take up arms. 

He only said that people should 

defend themselves. Of course, you 

know that self-preservation is the first 

law of nature. You can’t just wait in 

your house and allow someone to come 

and kill you. You can resist the person, 

but you don’t necessarily need to have 

arms and I think that that was what 

the former army chief and defence 

minister was saying, that there is need 

for people to rise to defend themselves 

but not necessarily using weapons that 

are banned. You can use a stick to 

disarm someone. Some years ago, I 

was able to disarm armed robbers 

carrying seven AK 47 rifles without 

anything. I think that is the kind of 

thing he was trying to say. Nigerians 

should rise up to do this. Security 

matters should not be left in the hands 

of security men, it requires every one 

of us to put heads together and be 

courageous to be able to surmount it. 

Do we assume that there is a new 

relationship between you and the 

Federal Government? 

I am an APC governor and the 

Federal Government is led by the APC. 

We have always been meeting and I 

have said very positive things about 

this government before and I have not 

retracted what I said. The fact is that I 

have a challenge at hand and needed 

to stay with my people to be able to 

surmount this because they are the 

people that elected me. To me, Benue 

people are first before any other thing. 

I have not had sour relationship with 

the Federal Government. I had strained 

relationship with some security 

agencies’ heads, not even with security 

agencies and that was the point I was 

making. All I was saying was trying to 

add value to the security of the nation 

by bringing my suggestions as a 

former local government chairman, 

•Gov Samuel Ortom 

former minister and now governor. I 

think I can add to the security 

architecture of this country. There is 

always room for improvement in the 

society because nobody has monopoly 

of knowledge. We must synergize, we 

must corperate with one another and 

so, when you neglect this, and you 

have tragedy like the one you have in 

Benue State, it is not good enough. 

And people must accept opinions 

especially superior ones. 

When Mr President inaugurated 

the National Food Security 

Committee, many people expected 

that you should be a member but you 

are not. Are you surprised? 

I am not surprised because I know 

that six geopolitical zones are 

represented on the committee. If you 

talk about governors, the governor of 

Plateau State is representing North 

Central. So I can always send my 

opinion that can add value to the 

development of food security in 

Nigeria. I know that there are several 

committees set up by the Federal 

Government that I am a member of 

and my colleague in Plateau is not 

there. So it is a matter of rotating it 

and making sure that everybody is 

involved. 

How did you disarm the gunmen 

who attacked you? 

Oh, it was divine which I cannot 

even comprehend. They came, 

snatched my driver with my car and 

left with him. So I said ‘if I serve God, 

I will go after them and disarm them’ 

and I left. I was able to arrest the ring 

leader who brought his colleagues in 

his car and, once I was able to disarm 

him, I took him to the police station. 

They could not leave town until 

security men were alerted and they 

went after him, three of them fled into 

the bush but the ring leader couldn’t 

flee and my car was recovered and my 

driver was also recovered. This 

happened in 2009 in Makurdi.


DAPCHI GIRL: AGONY OF A FATHER 

Nobody has told 

me anything about 

Leah's whereabouts 

•Leah 

By Sam Eyoboka 

CITIZEN 

Nathaniel 

Sharibu hails from 

Hong Local Government Area of 

Adamawa State. He is a member of 

Evangelical Church Winning All, ECWA on 

posting to Yobe State. After serving his intial 

time in Dapchi, headquarters of Bursari Local 

Government Area of Yobe, the father of three 

was further posted to Taraba State. 

Not wanting to obstruct his children's 

academic calendar, the Police officer decided 

to relocate to Taraba alone leaving his family 

behind in Dapchi. 

Once in a while he visits Dapchi to fellowship 

with his family before returning to Taraba, 

his place of primary assignment until 

Monday, February 19, when Boko Haram 

insurgents invaded Government Science and 

Technical College, Dapchi abducting over 110 

schoolgirls including his 15-year old daughter, 

Leah Sharibu. 

Speaking to our reporter on 

telephone, Mr. Sharibu who's 

been receiving phone calls from 

across the globe, has only one 

wish: To behold his highly 

esteemed curtain raising 

daughter, 15-year Leah join the 

rest of the family to mark this 

year’s Easter at the ECWA in 

Dapchi where prayers are daily 

being offered for her safe return. 

Citizen Nath, a Police Officer 

serving the nation in 

neighboring Taraba State, has 

since March 21, 2018 when 

Boko Haram insurgents 

reunited 104 schoolgirls except 

Leah, who was said to have 

refused to renounce her 

Christian faith; has 

understandably been downcast 

though hopeful as prayers are 

being offered across the globe 

for the safe return of the heroine 

of faith. 

He told our reporter that he had 

nothing to tell any more 

because “Till now I have not 

heard anything and no 

•Mr. Sharibu 

authority has told me anything about the 

whereabouts of Leah. 

"Loved ones were calling to congratulate me 

that my daughter is on her way home. But 

uptil now I have not seen anything yet,” adding 

“it’s very sad; if we are going to celebrate the 

death and resurrection of Jesus Christ without 

Leah.” 

Fighting tears, he narrated how the rest of the 

family has been coping without Leah. 

According to him, Leah who hopes to be a 

medical doctor in future has remained the 

lone captive of the Islamic insurgents who have 

unsuccessfully insisted that she renounce her 

Christian faith and convert to Islam. 

The father of three said his "wife fainted and 

was rushed to a hospital when Leah's 104 

school mates were returned to Dapchi after 

one month in captivity." 

While thanking all those praying fervently 

across the globe for his daughter’s safe rescue, 

he appealed to the 

Federal Government and 

the abductors who are still 

holding back their 

daughter, to please let go 

Leah to rejoin the family 

ahead of the Easter 

I am begging 

because this thing 

is no longer a 

Sharibu’s problem, 

it’s no longer a 

Yobe State CAN 

problem, it’s no 

longer just a 

Nigerian problem; 

the international 

community is 

looking at what we 

make out of this 

celebration. 

“I really have nothing 

much to say now except 

that Leah is not yet back 

to join the rest of the 

family. The trauma within 

the Family can only be 

imagined, especially as 

her school mates have 

been released to rejoin 

their families," he appealed. 

The Evangelical Church 

Winning All (ECWA), has 

hailed the courage, 

doggedness and faith of 

Leah Sharibu, who was 

abducted along other 109 

other schoolgirls by Boko 

Haram insurgents in 

Dapchi, but still remains 

in captivity because of her inability to recite 

the Quran. 

Public Relations Officer of ECWA, Rev. 

Romanus Ebebwokodi, in a recent statement, 

said: “We, in ECWA, are thankful that the 

Federal Government negotiated the release 

of all the abductees, includ-ing Leah. We are 

so happy that 104 of the girls, plus two other 

victims, have been releas-ed as at Wednesday, 

March 21, and are in safe hands. 

“However, we are very surprised and sad 

that the Boko Haram abductors have 

refused to release Leah Sharibu, simply 

because she is a Christian and would not 

give up her Christian faith for her release. 

Leah is a member of ECWA in Dapchi. We 

call on the Federal Government and all 

its agencies to ensure the immediate 

release of Leah without any conditions. 

She is a law abiding Nigerian, who is at 

liberty to practise her Christian profession 

to the fullest. 

“We condemn in strong terms, any attempt 

to forcefully convert anyone from one religion 

to another. As a church, we continue to pray 

for her release and those of all abducted 

Nigerians,” the ECWA statement added. 

In his own response, Rev. Bright Ogbansiegbe, 

act-ing Chairman of Christian Association of 

Nigeria, CAN, Yobe State branch said there 

was so much confusion when word filtered 

into the commu-nity that the girl has been 

released and she's on her way, but when he 

called the girl’s father he said he was yet to see 

his daughter. 

“I spoke with the office of the DSS, when I 

told them that as far as I'm concerned, 

whatever measure was used for the release of 

the 104, should be used for the remaining one 

because keeping her three kilometers away, if 

anything happens before she gets to her house, 

it’s going to be a very serious breakdown of 

law. The Commissioner of Police called us to 

his office. I spoke with him, maybe he was 

trying to know our mind as CAN. He said he 

heard that there were underground plans that 

Christians want to protest. 

“But I told him no! We don’t want to protest 

because our concern in Yobe is not to cause 

more problem that will spill over to other parts 

of the country. But then the right thing should 

be done because the negotiation was done on 

behalf of all the abducted girls. So why is Leah 

an exception? 

"What is the problem with Leah? Because as 

far as I'm concerned, she's an equal citizen of 

this country. So she also has the same right 

the other children have,” Rev. Ogbansiegbe 

who also doubles as CAN Secret-ary said. 

According to him, “religion is not compulsory, 

there's no compulsion in religion. We can 

choose to be whatever we want to be and 

besides Niger-ia is a secular state and not a 

religious state and it should be respected. As I 

speak to you now, even from the National Youth 

CAN leader also went to Dapchi and I spoke 

with him, up till now, the girl has not still be 

released. She has not gotten to her family. 

“I can’t tell you how many times the mother of 

the girl fainted. Let’s forget about what the 

man says on television, the truth is, in the inside 

of these people, they are in serious trauma. 

Secondly, my other part of concern is that the 

trauma would be less when they were 110, but 

now that it’s only Leah with that same number 

of armed men around her, I now look at how 

deep this trauma is. 

“I'm still pleading and appealing with the 

government, I don’t want to know what was 

the arrangement for their release, what I care 

about is that we don’t create a serious problem 

out of this thing. Because if we Christians in 

Yobe are tolerant, what about those in Jos 

where there has been this recurrent religious 

crisis? What about areas like Taraba, Kaduna? 

I've been very careful. 

“People call me from left and right. The 

#BringBackOurGirls forum and so many 

other platforms call me on this issue. I'm very 

careful on what I say not to trigger any part of 

the nation into violence. As a priest, I'm called 

to preach peace and I will maintain it till when 

I'm no longer able because there's an extent I 

can go. But I want to tell you that the family of 

this girl are in a serious dilemma, in a serious 

problem, in a serious trauma now. They are 

not finding it funny at all in all sincerity. 

“The way politicians are talking about the 

thing, the IGP said he’s coming, the next thing 

they said the press misquoted him. I don’t 

understand. That’s human life. They are 

playing with this thing but what it will result 

to is unimaginable. As far as I'm concerned, if 

anything happens now, it won’t just be a soul. 

I don’t want to know whatever narrative given 

to the whole incident, as far as I'm concerned, 

this lady should be released,” the CAN acting 

Chairman further stated. 

Continuing, the cleric said he wondered why 

the insurgents handed over the 104 girls to the 

youths in Dapchi and preached for some 20 

minutes, shaking hands, snapping 

photographs as they accompanied the girls 

out of the vehicles. 

”One of them said he was able to converse 

with the insurgents, and the person was telling 

him that he thought that the Dapchi girls were 

Christians and that was why they came, only 

for them to realize that they are Muslims. Now 

looking at what this guy said and what is 

playing out, there is no argument than 

the fact that this is just an attack on the 

Church. 

“As far as I'm concerned, God is trying to 

expose something in this country. What 

I'm concerned about is that they should 

not allow a strand of hair on Leah’s head 

to break because it will bring a serious 

breakdown of law and order. If they are 

bringing her, they should bring her the 

same way they brought the other girls, 

not keeping her in a distance and the news 

will say that she has been released just to 

cause confusion. 

“As far as I'm concerned, human lives 

should be respected. If she had died with 

the five, it’s a different thing. We can live 

with that. But since she is alive, I am 

begging the whole world because this 

thing is no longer a Sharibu’s problem, 

it’s no longer a Yobe State CAN problem, 

it’s no longer just a Nigerian problem; 

the international community is looking 

at what we make out of this. So I'm really 

concerned about the kind of trauma the 

family of the girl and Leah herself,”the 

Meth-odist Church minister stated. 

According to Rev. Ogbansiegbe if the lady 

still in captivity was a Muslim, “our 

churches and houses would have been on 

fire by now. I can say this anywhere. 

“Everybody in the state is looking at me 

because the CAN chairman is on transfer. 

By UN standard, Nigerian Christians are 

the most persecuted in any part of the 

world. Go and check statistics,” he 

challenged anybody who is in doubt.

life 


I acted my way out 

of British prison 

– Michael Balogun 

By Jon Kelly 

H 

and-a half years for possession of heroin 

with intent to supply - jail felt like a rite of 

passage. But he still found the experience 

deeply traumatic. 

“That first night, when the door closes 

behind you and you realise that you’re just 

in a room, you’re going to be here until you 

finish your sentence - that’s when reality 

kicks in.” Prison was “a university for 

crime”. He was jailed again soon after his 

release. 

After he was freed a second time, Balogun 

decided to try going straight. He applied 

for a job with a High Street bank and, at 

his interview, he boasted that he was a great 

salesman who could sell any product - not 

mentioning, of course, where he’d acquired 

his sales experience. 

Impressed by his confidence, the panel 

offered him a job. He worked on a cashier’s 

till selling mortgages and packaged 

accounts. And, true to his word, he was good 

at it. “This was before the credit crunch 

where if you went into a bank, they’d offer 

you all this stuff,” he says. Thanks to 

Balogun’s efforts, the branch shot up the 

company’s sales league table. “I was 

succeeding. I was making that branch 

where I was working the number one 

branch in that area.” 

His aptitude didn’t go unnoticed and he 

was offered a promotion at another 

branch. Then, one day, Michael was taken 

aside. “They called me in: ‘What were you 

doing between this time and this time?’ 

Those were the times I’d been in prison. 

They’d found out.” Balogun had never 

admitted to his employers that he’d served 

time in jail. He was dismissed. 

His sacking shattered his confidence in 

his ability to hold down a “straight” job. “I 

just decided to do what I knew best, which 

was selling drugs, and crime.” 

Soon after, he was in a nightclub with a 

group of friends when he got into an 

altercation with another group. “Some guy 

pulled out a gun, and because I had a gun 

on me it all got a bit hectic and it ended up 

being a shootout. I ended up trying to shoot 

someone.” 

Today, at the age of 34, Balogun says he 

can’t believe he could do such a thing. 

“Obviously at the time I knew what I was 

doing was wrong,” he says. 

“But I always justified it because I was 

like, ‘This is the life I’ve lived. This is the 

background I’ve come from. This is what 

we do.’ 

“But looking back now I realise that what 

I did was stupid and reckless and 

disgusting. It’s a big regret.” 

Balogun was caught and sentenced to 

nine years in prison for his part in the 

incident. 

Back inside, at HMP Blantyre House, 

Kent, Balogun resolved to turn his life 

around. He decided he wanted to be a chef 

- “I used to watch Gordon Ramsay’s 

Kitchen Nightmares religiously every 

week” - and a friendly prison officer 

suggested he apply for a training place at 

The Clink, a charity-run restaurant inside 

HMP High Down, Surrey (it now operates 

three more restaurants at prisons around 

England and Wales). 

Balogun earned a catering NVQ there, 

and became eligible for day-release work 

towards the end of his sentence. He was 

told a job had been found for him in a place 

e spent his early life in and out of jail - 

then Michael Balogun decided he 

wanted to study to become an actor at 

one of the world’s most prestigious drama schools. 

Could this seemingly impossible ambition be the 

catalyst he needed to turn his life around? 

As he sat alone in his prison cell, thinking about 

all the chances he’d messed up, Michael Balogun 

made a decision: if he couldn’t work out what to 

do with his life that night, he would hang himself. 

Balogun closed his eyes and began 

remembering scenes from his life. The father who 

abandoned the family. The mother who was sent 

to prison for dealing drugs. The day he was taken 

into care and his first forays into street crime. His 

own jail sentences. The opportunities to go 

straight he had squandered. 

And then a thought flashed into his mind. 

Acting... He could try acting. 

To anyone who had never met Balogun, it would 

have seemed a wildly incongruous ambition. But 

it’s one he eventually realised. Last year he 

graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic 

Art (RADA), one of the world’s most prestigious 

drama schools. 

And when he took his place on stage for the first 

time at the National Theatre’s new production of 

Macbeth alongside such celebrated actors as Rory 

Kinnear and Anne-Marie Duff, he marvelled at 

how far he had come. “I would never have 

imagined myself here,” he thought to himself. 

Balogun grew up in Kennington, south London, 

in an unusual home. “My dad wasn’t around, my 

mum was going on holiday a lot, travelling a lot, 

and it was me and my sisters in the house, alone,” 

he says. There were always people coming in and 

out. One of his early memories was watching his 

mother argue with two men. As they left, Balogun 

saw one of them put a gun in his waistband. 

The most traumatic period of his childhood 

began when he was aged about seven or eight, 

with his mother’s arrest. “No-one can look after a 

child better than their own mother,” he says. “It 

was like the end of the world for me.” 

She was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but 

somehow the authorities didn’t realise that 

Michael and his two sisters had been left alone in 

the house to fend for themselves. The three of them 

were used to it, he says. His older sister took care 

of the housework and sorting out the family’s 

benefits. “We kind of just kept it how it was 

whenever mum went on holiday.” 

________________________________________ 

One day, a year or two later, Balogun fell ill at 

school. “I remember the teachers saying, ‘Oh, 

we’re going to call your mum,’ and I remember 

being like, ‘Nah, nah, don’t worry, it’s fine.’” 

Eventually they worked out his mother was in 

prison. Social services were alerted. Balogun and 

his sisters were taken into care and then went to 

live with an aunt. 

After this, he started to go off the rails. 

His criminal career began in Sainsbury’s, 

where he went to steal doughnuts - “I didn’t really 

have much money and I just needed to eat 

sometimes,” he says. By the time he started 

secondary school, he’d fallen in with a crowd of 

other south London teenagers with difficult 

backgrounds. 

“I started off stealing, then I started robbing 

people on the street - handbags and all that stuff. 

Mugging people.” From there he progressed to 

selling cannabis at school, and by the time he was 

16 or 17 he was dealing in heroin and crack 

cocaine on the streets of Kentish Town, north 

London and Portsmouth. 

When he received his first prison sentence - threehe’d 

never heard of before - at Rada, in the drama 

school’s canteen. Balogun was delighted - this 

would be a chance to hone his skills and earn 

some money. Plus, “I thought there’s probably 

going to be some attractive women floating 

around, if I’m honest,” he says. “Obviously, 

having been in prison a few years, you know?” 

He was nervous when he arrived at Rada, and 

his time there didn’t go well at first. Balogun 

was told that his vegetable-chopping was too 

slow and he was relegated to serving drinks at 

the bar. “I was a bit moody because I was like, ‘I 

didn’t come her to work on a bar, I came here to 

learn to cook,’” he says. “I wanted to be a chef 

and had all these ideas and ambitions about 

opening up a restaurant.” 

Then one day the manager asked if he wanted 

to watch one of the plays performed by Rada’s 

students. Balogun, who had never been inside a 

theatre except on a trip to watch Starlight 

Express when he was at primary school, jumped 

at the opportunity. 

He was ushered into the auditorium. The play 

was Measure For Measure. “Whenever I 

thought of Shakespeare, I just thought of, like… 

these guys running around in old clothes,” he 

says. But this was a modern-dress staging, set in 

present-day America. “I was like: ‘Oh, they’re 

doing New York accents and it’s set in New York 

and people are acting quite contemporary and 

normal.’” 

Another revelation was a production of 

Mercury Fur, Philip Ridley’s controversial play 

about a post-apocalyptic London. Balogun was 

mesmerised. “It’s one of those things where you 

“I started off stealing, then I 

started robbing people on the street 

- handbags and all that stuff. 

Mugging people.” From there he 

progressed to selling cannabis at 

school, and by the time he was 16 

or 17 he was dealing in heroin and 

crack cocaine on the streets of 

Kentish Town, north London and 

Portsmouth. 

watch a play and you forget about life. You are 

just there and inside this thing, watching 

everything happen, and it just takes you.” 

When he went back to prison that night, 

Balogun raved about what he’d seen. He took 

his friend and fellow inmate Marvin through 

the plot, acting out scenes and impersonating 

the characters. 

What struck Marvin, however, was the vivid 

manner in which Balogun had recounted the 

play. Marvin told him: “I reckon you could be 

an actor, you know, bruv. Because you’re very 

dramatic, the way you tell stories. You get into 

it, you lose yourself.” 

Balogun wasn’t convinced. Surely being an 

actor wasn’t for the likes of him? 

He pushed all this to the back of his mind. 

And anyway, Balogun was about to squander 

his chances for redemption again. 

Taking a mobile phone into prison was 

strictly forbidden. But, says Balogun, “I was 

being a bit greedy and I wanted to talk to a 

couple of friends.” As he returned from Rada 

one day he tried to sneak a phone into his 

locker. A prison officer spotted it and, straight 

away, all his privileges were revoked. 

No more day release, no more Rada. No 

more open prison, category-D status - instead, 

a transfer to closed conditions at HMP Elmley, 

Kent. 

“I think there’s something in me, this selfdestruction,” 

he says. “This has happened to 

me a lot in my life. Messing things up, 

constantly.” 

To cope with the culture shock of returning 

to a closed prison, Balogun was smoking the 

synthetic cannabinoid, Spice. “It messes up 

your head a lot,” he says. “I was having 

psychotic episodes.” 

It was at this low ebb that Balogun gave 

himself a night to decide how to make 

something of his life, or kill himself. As he 

closed his eyes and went over memories in his 

head, he suddenly made the connections 

between what those around him had been 

saying. 

Marvin, his former fellow inmate, wasn’t 

the first person who had suggested he might 

have an aptitude for the stage. He’d befriended 

some of the drama students, some of whom 

had asked him to practise their lines with 

them, and one had suggested he was good 

enough to do it professionally. At school, he 

recalled, his teachers told him he was a 

natural performer. Before he’d been exposed 

as an ex-convict, his superiors at the bank had 

praised his energy and charisma. 

It all made sense to him now - acting was 

his best chance of redemption. “As soon as 

that thought came in my head, I just felt like 

something had been lifted off,” he says. “And I 

knew - instinctively, inside of me - knew that 

was the right thing to do.” 

The next day, a psychologist came to see 

him in his cell about his psychosis. “I’m fine 

now,” he said to her. He told her about his 

plans to become an actor - and, by 

coincidence, it turned out the psychologist was 

a part-time drama teacher. She began 

bringing him plays each week to read - Noel 

Coward, Shakespeare. He didn’t understand 

King Lear the first time he read it, but he was 

determined to learn. 

And as he started to make sense of what he 

was reading, he felt validated - that he could 

really do this. And what better place to do it 

than Rada? He was still in contact with 

students there, who told him how tough it was 

to get in. Each year 5,000 would apply and 

only 28 would be admitted. 

After his release, his determination to get 

into Rada hadn’t diminished. But even in the 

unlikely event that he got in, how could he 

raise the £28,000 course fees? He’d never 

heard of student loans. He thought: “I’ll go 

back to what I know best - which is drugdealing 

- for a bit, save up some money.” 

So he was selling drugs again - except this 

time, alongside his illicit business activities, 

Balogun was taking Shakespeare classes run 

by a homeless charity. But once again, the 

police caught up with him, and he ended up 

back in prison. It was the final wake-up call 

he needed that he had to quit crime for good. 

Six months later, Balogun was released 

again, and he began applying straight away 

to drama schools. 

For his Rada audition, Balogun chose the 

St Crispin’s Day speech from Henry V. “When 

he was younger, he was a bit of a rogue. And 

then he has to become king, so he has to step 

up to the plate. This is an emotional, rousing 

speech. I remember reading it and thinking, 

‘I can do this one.’” 

He performed it as though he was talking 

to his mates in prison. 

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me 

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile, 

This day shall gentle his condition. 

Sometime after the audition, his phone 

rang. A withheld number. Rada calling to let 

him know how he’d done. 

His heart began beating faster. “We’d like 

to offer you a place on the BA in acting,” a 

voice down the line told him. 

He lay on the floor of his mum’s kitchen 

and cried. 

This month, as he walked out in front of an 

audience at National Theatre for the first time, 

and saw Duff and Kinnear on stage alongside 

him, Balogun thought about the epiphany in 

the prison cell that brought him there. 

“Obviously circumstances do affect you, and 

events that happen in your life - but there 

comes a time in life where you need to take 

responsibility,” he says. 

“I strongly believe that your imagination is 

powerful, and that’s where the magic is. If 

you have an idea, a motivation to do 

something - just do it, because you’ll be 

surprised what you can do.” 

•Source: bbc.com


What Senator Mantu 

is yet to say 

One story that has been 

in the news for some 

time now and is 

refusing to get away from 

public discourse is the open 

confession of former Deputy 

Senate President, Ibrahim 

Mantu about how he rigged 

elections when his party; the 

Peoples Democratic Party PDP 

was in power. Mantu said 

many things but none of it is 

new. As a matter of fact, a 

more detailed analysis of how 

elections are rigged in 

Nigeria rendered by Donald 

Duke, a former governor of 

Cross River state is more 

instructive. Besides, Mantu is 

not the only politician that 

has confessed to electoral 

malpractices During the 

Federal Government’s ‘Good 

Governance Tour’ organized 

by Labaran Maku, a former 

Information Minister, former 

Akwa Ibom Governor 

Godswill Akpabio reportedly 

told the Maku-led team in 

Uyo that he falsified a 

senatorial election result and 

personally replaced the 

Demystification of President 

Muhammadu Buhari (2) 

Considering the case 

being built about 

President Buhari and 

Boko Haram and the former 

castigation of former 

President Jonathan’s attacks 

on the terrorist latter, let us 

consider the Chibok and 

Dapchi abductions, in which 

hundreds of secondary school 

girls were kidnapped by Boko 

Haram, the release of 

majority whom had attracted 

praises for the President 

mostly from his lackeys and 

APC stalwarts. A lot has been 

said and written on this 

intriguing subject, and some 

interesting conjectures have 

gained ground due to what 

some say is the stagemanaged 

character of the 

events in question. In my 

opinion, the staggered release 

of the kidnapped Chibok 

girls, most of whom looked 

better fed and clothed than 

ordinary suffering Nigerians, 

indicate that throughout the 

period they were in captivity 

the girls could not have been 

in Sambisa forest where Boko 

Haram elements were 

reported to be under constant 

bombardment by the 

Nigerian army and air force. 

Instead, it is very likely that 

they were kept in a safe house 

by those who abducted them 

pending when it would be 

auspicious for the victims to 

be released batch by batch for 

maximum leverage in 

negotiations with government 

and also convince critics of 

Mr. President that the APC 

administration has achieved 

what the immediate past 

administration could not 

accomplish. Concerning the 

Dapchi girls, the arangee 

character of that kidnap was 

winner with his preferred 

candidate, Aloysius Etok. Of 

course, many still remember 

the great expose ofTemitope 

Aluko, former Secretary of 

Ekiti PDP who told the nation 

how the 2014 governorship 

election in Ekiti state was 

systematically rigged in 

favour of Ayodele Fayose, the 

then PDP governorship 

candidate. 

PhD,Department of 

Philosophy, 

University of Lagos 

08116759758 

opuruiche2000@yahoo.com 

suggested election offences 

tribunal. Having established 

earlier that he was neither the 

first to make such confession 

nor did he say anything new, it 

is submitted that Mantu’s 

confession is not about 

courage. Also, the issue of an 

election offences tribunal is 

hardly strong against the 

backdrop of many reports of 

One would therefore 

expect our new 

generation of 

politicians to be wary of 

what Mantu has said so 

far and to show more 

interest in what he is 

yet to say 

Painfully, those who have 

refused to overlook the Mantu 

confession do not appear to 

have examined the rationale 

for the confession. Instead, 

they have allowed Mantu to 

set an agenda for the nation 

which seems to have arrested 

the attention of many. While 

some have praised the former 

Deputy Senate President for 

his courage in coming out at 

this point to expose a major 

national defect, others think 

that Mantu’s confession 

should be the most 

appropriate point of 

departure for the nation to 

implement the oftenjustice 

for sale in political 

matters in the country. In other 

words, dedicating certain 

courts to election offences is 

not likely to alter our justice 

delivery system without a 

change of attitude by the 

principal actors. This is 

because politicians who 

compromise our courts can 

do same to election offences 

tribunal. Based on this line of 

thought therefore, it is hard to 

call Mantu a hero 

But as stated earlier, the 

former Deputy Senate 

indulgent triumphalist progovernment 

rhetoric on this 

issue by sycophants such as 

Festus Keyamo, Orji Uzor 

Kalu, Lai Mohammed, 

Garba Shehu and others, 

there is no doubt in my mind 

that the kidnap of girls 

receiving western education 

in the north has become an 

instrument of power politics 

for those Chinweizu called 

caliphate colonialists – the 

Chibok kidnap to push Dr. 

Jonathan out of office while 

its Dapchi version was meant 

to bolster Buhari’s sagging 

messianic reputation and 

enhance his electability in 

2019. Even the increasing 

wave of audacious attacks by 

so-called Fulani herdsmen in 

different parts of the country 

may not be unconnected with 

their conviction that they 

would be protected because a 

President who has over the 

years shown himself to be a 

defender of Fulani interests is 

now in charge. Meanwhile, 

other manifestations of 

insecurity such as armed 

robbery, ritual killings and 

ethno-religious conflicts have 

actually gained traction since 

Buhari became President. 

It is really disturbing that 

prominent members of the 

APC from the south-east have 

not challenged President 

Buhari’s northernisation of the 

governing security 

architecture of the country, a 

situation made worse by his 

total neglect of the 

geopolitical zone in the 

process. In a multiply plural 

country such as ours, 

occluding any zone or ethnic 

group from the highest 

decision-making levels of 

governance, particularly on 

matters concerning security, 

is inimical to national 

security and unity. Clearly, 

because of the President’s 

lopsided appointments, 

anytime a meeting is called 

to discuss national security at 

the highest level, the southeast 

would not be represented: 

no wonder, then, that the army 

carried out Operation Python 

Dance with ruthless efficiency 

and brutality without due 

President has succeeded in 

getting our politicians to 

throw banters at each other 

on the subject. The man said 

he rigged elections for his 

party, he didn’t say he was 

mandated by the PDP to rig 

elections for her. It was thus 

unnecessary for the latter to 

disown Mantu simply 

because he has claimed to be 

the real ‘Mr. Fix it’. At the time 

the man was Deputy Senate 

President and also a member 

of the PDP Board of Trustees, 

many of his colleagues 

(riggers or saints) that are now 

in the ruling All Progress 

Congress APC were in the PDP. 

It is not unreasonable to 

imagine that they may have 

taken along with them, the 

rigging prowess of the PDP to 

the APC. This is not hard to 

appreciate because just 

before the 2015 Presidential 

election the PDP-led federal 

government introduced a 

new rigging strategy known 

as postponement of voting for 

security reasons. The APC 

promptly adopted the same 

strategy at the first 

opportunity- the Edo state 

governorship election in 2016 

which was postponed without 

the knowledge of the 

electoral body. One would 

therefore expect our new 

generation of politicians to be 

wary of what Mantu has said 

so far and to show more 

interest in what he is yet to 

say. 

In earnest, those who are 

prepared to fault the official 

reason for Mantu’s 

confession are not without 

blown wide open after 

Amnesty International 

announced that the military 

was forewarned about Boko 

Haram’s plan to strike again, 

but the army withdrew from 

Dapchi less than a week or so 

before the kidnap actually 

happened. When the 

abducted girls were released 

a month later, they were 

carrying bags, as if the 

kidnappers went shopping 

with them! In my view, the 

logistics of moving hundreds 

of girls across many 

kilometers in a volatile area 

supposedly under heavy 

security without any 

intervention by law 

enforcement agencies, 

including the army, reinforces 

the belief that the abductions 

were stage-managed to 

achieve certain objectives 

depending on who was 

involved. Thus, for Boko 

Haram kidnapping school 

girls in the educationally 

backward northern Nigeria 

has become a lucrative 

business which also furthers 

its primitive agenda of 

abolishing western education 

amongst muslims. For 

President Buhari and the APC, 

it provides another 

opportunity to lampoon the 

immediate 

past 

administration. Interestingly, 

my position is corroborated 

by Shehu Sani, the maverick 

senator from Kaduna state, 

who claimed that members of 

the northern ruling elite 

cannot openly criticise 

President Buhari’s handling 

of Boko Haram because they 

do not want to be seen by 

fellow northerners as being 

against one of their own. That 

said, in spite of the selfregard 

for the feelings of Igbo 

people. In this connection, it 

would be mission impossible 

for anyone to convince 

Ndigbo that Buhari is 

sensitive to their concerns as 

a people the way he is to the 

interests of his Fulani 

kinsmen, notwithstanding the 

Buhari-is-a-friend-of-the- 

Igbo shibboleths from 

Rochas Okorocha, Loretta 

Onochie and Osita 

Okechukwu. Let us be clear 

about one thing: despite my 

misgivings regarding the 

ambivalent attitude of 

President Buhari and key 

members of the northern 

establishment towards Boko 

Haram, the fact that the group 

has lost areas it controlled 

Overall, Buhari’s 

economic team, if 

there was anything 

like that at the time, 

lacked creativity 

and technical 

knowledge needed 

to pull Nigeria out 

of economic black 

hole 

before the present 

administration came to 

power is commendable. But 

the sect has not been 

“technically defeated,” 

“routed,” or “completely 

degraded.” So, the purported 

advantage of having a retired 

military head of state as 

President to take charge of 

national security is yet to be 

noticed by most Nigerians. 

Boko Haram is alive and 

kicking, armed robbers, 

kidnappers and ritual 

murderers are still terrorising 

our people with impunity. 

Considering all this, one must 

admit that the mystique of 

Buhari as a terror to “the bad 

guys” has almost completely 

strong arguments. First, 

Senator Mantu has to explain 

why his rigging expertise did 

not keep him beyond 2007 in 

the senate which has no term 

limitation. Even his bornagain 

justification is suspect 

because he employed it 

without success in the last 

national chairmanship 

contest of the PDP. Last 

September, he reportedly 

urged leaders of his party to 

elect Tunde Adeniran as the 

National Chairman because 

he “fasted for 30 days and 

nights” asking God to show 

him who would lead the party, 

and God showed him 

Adeniran. The result of the 

vision he saw, should make us 

look beyond the current 

confession. Could it be that 

there are other ills, the 

guardian spirit of the bornagain 

wants Mantu to reveal? 

What for instance was his role 

in the famous 3 rd term agenda? 

What he confesses with respect 

to this may help Nigeria to 

stabilize as it can bequeath to 

posterity the positive features 

of democracy. There is in fact, 

so much that old politicians 

can do to restore Nigeria to 

the path of progress. Beyond 

helping to stop election 

rigging, the nation is in dire 

need of a sanitized legislature 

that does not seek to 

expropriate a huge chunk of 

the nation’s budget. We also 

need law makers whose 

interest in law making should 

be more than materialistic 

oversight functions and other 

vices that the old breed 

originated. 

evaporated. 

The next issue is the 

economy. Buharimaniacs 

hypnotised or befuddled by the 

cult-like following of the 

President tend to portray him 

as a disciplined and frugal 

man bereft of the destructive 

primitive bulimic tendencies 

characteristic of our leaders 

since independence. But the 

question is: based on a 

dispassionate assessment of 

President Buhari’s track 

record as military head of 

state and former chairman of 

the Petroleum (Special) Trust 

Fund (PTF), is that portraiture 

justified? Is there any good 

reason for hope that the 

country’s economy will 

improve under the leadership 

of this President? For millions 

of Nigerians (including this 

columnist) whose economic 

fortunes have been going 

down since May 29, 2015, the 

answer to both questions is a 

resounding “No”! Remember, 

in 1984, Maj. Gen. Buhari 

implemented a centralised 

command-and-control 

economic paradigm which 

stifled growth in the real sector, 

discouraged capital inflow 

from both local and foreign 

investors, and created 

turbulent disequilibrium in the 

macroeconomic variables 

that serve as engine room for 

the economy. His attempt to 

restructure the economy by 

placing strict limits on 

government expenditure, 

scrapping of external 

borrowing, counter-trade, 

pegging of the exchange rate 

at one naira to a dollar and 

fifty cents, and changing the 

colours of different 

denominations of the naira 

among others did not achieve 

the desired results for the 

simple reason that they were 

the wrong medicine for 

Nigeria’s ailing economy at 

the time. Buhari rejected the 

economic measures proposed 

by the International Monetary 

Fund (IMF) and, instead, 

implemented a radioactive 

cocktail of austerity measures 

that led to massive 

retrenchment of workers and 

spiraling inflation. Many 

Now to the big one. In 

October 2003, Mallam Nasir 

el-Rufai, now governor of 

Kaduna state who was then a 

ministerial nominee, 

appeared before the senate for 

confirmation. During the 

process, Nasir openly alleged 

that some senators demanded 

from him a whooping 

N54million to facilitate the 

confirmation. When further 

pressed to name those who 

made the demand, el Rufai 

shocked the nation by naming 

two senators which included 

the then Deputy Senate 

President, Ibrahim Mantu. To 

calm the political tempo 

which the subject triggered, 

the senate immediately set up 

a panel which hurriedly 

cleared the accused of any 

wrong doing as if anxious to 

protect their own. 

Interestingly, the senate still 

cleared el Rufai, the supposed 

false alarmist. This made 

many analysts to doubt the 

authenticity of the senate 

investigation. The PDP which 

was the ruling party at the 

time explained that the matter 

was resolved the family way. 

Those of us that didn’t belong 

to that political family queried 

in vain the wisdom of using a 

family platform to resolve a 

criminal offence. This left 

different people to hold 

divergent opinions till today. 

Thus, it does not appear out of 

place to classify the subject as 

qualified for confession! It 

does not have to be Mantu 

only, more confessions are 

welcome please 

industries closed down 

because they could not access 

foreign exchange to import 

essential raw materials and 

equipment, while price 

controls imposed on essential 

commodities led to severe 

scarcity of those products in 

the market. According to 

experts in economic 

management, what Nigeria 

needed was an expansionist 

economic blueprint that 

would reflate the economy, 

boost investors’ confidence, 

create jobs for the teeming 

population of unemployed 

youths and enhance the 

purchasing power of 

Nigerians. Overall, Buhari’s 

economic team, if there was 

anything like that at the time, 

lacked creativity and technical 

knowledge needed to pull 

Nigeria out of economic 

black hole because it seemed 

not to understand that the 

complex mechanisms which 

determine the economic 

fortunes of countries are not 

subject to the ad hoc jackboot 

methods of military 

regimentation. 

What about Buhari’s 

performance in PTF? Now, if 

Buhari’s management of PTF 

from 1994 to 1999 when it was 

disbanded is anything to go 

by, then Nigerians are in 

serious trouble. Perhaps, the 

main reason late Gen. Sani 

Abacha dredged up Buhari 

from retirement and asked 

him to manage the fund was 

his reputation as a strict 

disciplinarian who would 

ensure prudent and efficient 

management of funds that 

accrue to the body. 

Unfortunately, the high 

expectations on Buhari were 

sorely disappointed: not only 

was there lopsided execution 

of PTF’s projects in favour of 

the north, elephantine 

corruption unearthed by the 

interim committee mandated 

by former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo to probe the trust 

fund puts a big question mark 

on the capacity to manage 

efficiently and productively a 

complex non-military project 

or institution. 

To be continued.


By Josephine Agbonkhese 

Her name might ring no 

bell, but Ezim Anne 

Giwa-Amu is the widow 

of the first Attorney General of the 

defunct Midwestern Region, Sir 

Steven Idowu Ohiole Giwa-Amu. 

Her grandfather too, a Scottish, 

was the Agent General (Head) of 

the defunct Royal Niger Company, 

a firm instrumental to the 

formation of Colonial Nigeria. 

Those ties are however not what 

makes Giwa-Amu, who turned 75 

in March, an interesting personality. 

A die-hard follower of the late 

Archbishop Bishop Benson 

Idahosa until she relocated to the 

US where she was, years later, ordained 

a reverend by Archbishop 

Margaret Idahosa, she reveals, in 

this interview, among other 

things, how God entrusted in her 

hands the spiritual welfare of 

Nigeria; and how she has since 

then executed several prophetic 

projects on behalf of the country. 

What was growing up like? 

We say some people are born 

with silver spoon; I happen to be 

one of such. But my mother 

passed on when I was 13 and I 

had my siblings to take care of. 

That’s why, today, they don’t 

look at me as a sister but as their 

mother. I think the experiences 

of my mother’s death pushed me 

into early marriage. At 19, I was 

already married to my late husband, 

Steven Idowu Ohiole 

Giwa-Amu, and was pregnant. I 

remember how I cried frequently 

over the phone to my grandmother 

each time I was overwhelmed 

by my inexperience in 

caring for a new-born. We were 

in Benin-City back then; where I 

also grew up. I remember she 

would say, ‘You know I am old 

and cannot do anything or come. 

But whenever you have problems, 

call me on the phone’. I remember 

the time my first child 

fell inside the bath from my 

hands. I had six children in all 

and we grew together in age 

(laughs). This is the tenth year 

since my husband’s demise. 

That marriage was quite 

early; were you pregnant or 

was it that you both were dating? 

It wasn’t a mistake. Like I said, 

my mother’s death threw a lot of 

responsibilities on me. My 

grandmother was old and I had 

to be a mother to my siblings. 

So, I just had to get married. As 

for dating, no; I didn’t have the 

privilege of dating like you people 

do now. My husband just 

came and said he wanted to 

marry me. 

What was it like to be married 

to the first Attorney General 

of the Midwestern Region? 

I want to tell you something I 

admired so much about him; he 

took his job as his job. My husband 

never allowed his official 

car to come home to take anybody 

anywhere. He had his car, 

I had my own car and that was 

it. I didn’t ever have to go to his 

office; what will I be looking for 

there? His official closing time 

was 4pm and, thereafter, he 

would come straight home. So, 

I was a normal wife like any 

other housewife. Nobody ever 

addressed me as Wife of the Attorney 

General and I did not expect 

it anyway. So, his official 

duties were his official duty and 

they ended at the office. 

Feed us with more memories 

of him. 

He was such a loving husband 

and father to our six children. 

After school, he would insist all 

the children sleep for at least one 

hour. He was a teacher and role 

model to his children and many 

My husband 

denied us 

the use of 

his official 

cars for 

family needs 

— Anne Giwa-Amu, 

widow of defunct 

Midwestern Region’s 

first Attorney General 

The late Steven Idowu Ohiole 

Giwa-Amu, Attorney General, 

defunct Midwestern Region 

others who grew up in our house 

because my house was like a 

boarding house. 

You said he drew a line between 

official and personal 

properties; but what we see 

these days are cases of public 

office holders retiring home 

with government properties… 

When my husband resigned as 

the Attorney General, he didn’t 

come home with anything apart 

from the file he carried daily to 

his office. In fact, he declared his 

assets; he had 31 pounds in his 

account. My children went to 

public schools like every other 

child. My father-in-law, Michael 

Giwa-Amu, was the first Inspector 

General of Nigeria; we 

called him so being the first Nigerian 

to rise from recruit to Inspector 

of Police and that was the 

highest at that time. So you can 

see the nature of family my husband 

came from; not the sort of 

police officer to that would ask 

“Oga, wetin you come give us?” 

So, my husband and his siblings 

lived like their father; holding 

integrity in high esteem. 

Let us talk about transparency 

and accountability in public 

service today; legislators for 

example go home with millions 

monthly and are not accountable 

to anyone. How can we 

begin to hold our leaders accountable? 

I will use the United States of 

America as an example. Since 

My father-in-law, 

Michael Giwa-Amu, 

was the first 

Inspector General 

of Nigeria; we 

called him so being 

the first Nigerian to 

rise from recruit to 

Inspector of Police 

and that was the 

highest at that time 

the day about 17 children and 

two teachers were shot in a 

school, the children have continued 

to protest. The protest is increasing 

by the day and everybody 

now is advocating for gun 

control because the children are 

standing up and protesting heavily. 

What (President) Trump 

brought up as remedy was to arm 

teachers but the children would 

have none of that. Since the beginning 

of the year, there have 

been 19 shootings and the children 

are now saying they have 

had enough. Nigerians too 

should rise up. I am not saying 

fight or kill; just open your 

mouths and speak up—demonstrate. 

Somebody has to speak 

up. The day we say we have had 

enough, then we've had enough. 

The slavery in this country is 

enough. 

You mentioned before we began 

this interview that God told 

you decades ago to stand in the 

gap for Nigeria spiritually; tell 

us about that… 

While still in Nigeria and working 

for the Lord— ever before 

leaving for the US where I resided 

for many years—the Lord 

told me he needed somebody to 

trust; somebody to commit the 

spiritual aspect of this nation Nigeria 

to. He asked me, “Would 

you be my eyes there?” and I accepted. 

So, I had a lot of pastors 

that He made me call together; 

we started praying for this country 

and still maintain that even 

up till today. We’ve had a lot of 

prophetic projects across the 

country and wherever or whosoever 

He sends us to, we go. God 

has manifested Himself through 

that ministry in a big way even 

though we do not have a name. 

My associate pastors however 

call the group ‘New Dawn’. New 

Dawn has taken us to quite a 

number of places; as well as 

many other African countries. 

I was actually a Deaconess in 

the Church of God Mission in 

Benin-City before relocating to 

Lagos and thereafter to the 

United States. I bagged a degree 

from the Oral Roberts University 

College of Theology and 

Ministry in 1972 and have since 

continued to work for God. I was 

ordained a reverend in the US 

by Archbishop Margaret 

Idahosa. 

How do you measure the impact 

of the assignment given 

you by God, vis-à-vis the prevailing 

unrest in the country? 

The people get what they want. 

God will not give you what you 

do not clamour for. A time came 

when the Israelites said they 

needed a king like other nations 

surrounding them. They said 

they were not satisfied with the 

prophets administering their affairs. 

God gave them Saul. Saul 

became arrogant and was gloating 

everywhere. God quietly dethroned 

him and sent a prophet 

to go anoint a child in the house 

of Jesse; David. David didn’t 

come out immediately as a king 

but God was working wonders 

through Him. The last time we 

prayed, God told me, “Do not 

worry. I am doing something that 

the eyes cannot see; except those 

that I opened their eyes to see. I 

have anointed a young man who 

will take over this country when 

the time comes.” 

For how long should we wait 

for that young man; is it when 

Nigeria disintegrates? 

Nigeria will not disintegrate. 

When one of the Presidents, a 

Christian, was there, the Lord 

told us (my New Dawn prayer 

team) to carry out a prophetic 

action; which we did with the 

support of the President as instructed 

by God. The Lord asked 

us to collect the sand (earth) of 

each state and bring them together 

at our prayer point in 

Abuja, mix together. When we 

were done, He asked us, “Do you 

know where each of these sands 

came from?”, and we said “No”, 

and He said that was what He 

wanted to do with Nigeria. The 

Lord instructed that each time 

he (the then sitting President) got 

afraid about the country, he 

should stand on the sand and 

make a decree and He (God) will 

intervene. I keep reminding that 

former President to never forget 

the work of God committed into 

his hand. Even when he celebrated 

his birthday recently, I 

still reminded him of this task. I 

dare not do what God did not 

ask me to do; hence, I did everything 

concerning that prophetic 

assignment according to God’s 

direction. 

Herdsmen attack on communities 

is now a trend; do you see 

these people overrunning this 

country? 

Overrun? Do you not know or 

has it not occurred to you that 

the God who made the heavens 

and earth is in charge of this 

country? And He still lives. He is 

not dead. I tell you, nobody can 

overrun this country. I have that 

confidence because God said it; 

I’m not relying on what you journalists 

write but what the journalist 

of heaven said. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


HORRORS OF JUNGLE JUSTICE 

As mobsters look for 

petrol to burn him alive... 

*Suspected serial garri thief dramatically removes tyre hung 

on his neck, flees 

*Ator after the 'death sentence' 

By Emmanuel Unah 

Mob killings are 

commonplace in Cross 

River State, particularly in 

Calabar, the state capital, 

notwithstanding that the state lays 

claim to the appellation, Come And 

Live And Be At Rest. 

Victims are accused of theft, armed 

robbery, kidnapping and even adultery 

and are killed by mobs burning them 

alive with disused tyres tied around 

their necks, sprinkled with petrol and 

lighted with matches. 

During Easter celebrations, three 

persons were roasted by mobs in 

Calabar. One of the victims met his 

fate for allegedly stealing N4, 000 from 

a shop, the second for phone snatching 

and the third for robbing a lady of her 

handbag. 

Another victim, alleged to have been 

caught stealing garri from Marian 

Market in the metropolis, escaped by 

the whiskers when he dramatically 

removed the car tyre hung on his neck 

by the mob while some of them went 

to look for fuel to burn him and dashed 

into the nearby bush. 

Incidentally, many of those who 

indulge in jungle justice in the state 

Incidentally, 

many of those 

who indulge in 

jungle justice in 

the state are 

themselves 

people believed 

to be of 

questionable 

character 

are themselves people 

believed to be of questionable 

character and, no sooner than 

they championed the case of 

killing suspected criminals, 

that they are themselves 

caught somewhere stealing or 

robbing and the same 

treatment is meted out to 

them. 

Killed for 

stealing 4k 

For instance, during the 

Saturday before Easter, a 

young man, said to be a 

Bakassi returnee, had gone to 

a shop at Ikang, the 

headquarters of Bakassi, to 

buy alcoholic beverage and 

Indian hemp when he 

removed the N4, 000 the shop 

owner had placed on the 

table and took to his heels. 

The shop attendant, a lady, 

immediately raised the alarm 

and a mob went after him and 

caught him as he raced 

towards the Bakassi IDP 

camp. Instantly a ‘death 

sentence’ was passed on him 

and he was sprayed with 

petrol and matches struck. 

When the fire refused to burn, 

one of the mobsters was said 

to have rendered some 

incantations after which petrol 

was again poured on the 

suspect and set on fire with 

matches. He was burnt to 

ashes. 

One of the incidents 

recorded at Easter happened 

on Good Friday when three 

young men were allegedly 

found in a compound around 

Yellow Duke Lane in Calabar 

South trying to rob tenants in 

one of the buildings. One of 

the tenants was said to have 

raised the alarm which 

attracted a mob which 

instantly went after them and 

one was caught. The machete 

found on the suspect, 

according to an eye witness, 

was used to slaughter him and 

the body spayed with petrol 

and set on fire. So also was 

the young man allegedly 

caught robbing a lady of her 

handbag at ‘8 Miles’. Without 

much ado, he was butchered 

and set alight. 

The most interesting of the 

jungle justice incidents was 

that of 25-year-old John Ator 

allegedly caught stealing two 

basins of garri at the Marian 

Market. A car tyre was 

immediately hung on his neck 

and he was about to be set 

alight when he dramatically 

escaped while the mob went 

looking for petrol. 

‘Sentenced 

to death’ 

Ator, said to have formed the 

habit of stealing garri from the 

market, was unlucky on that 

day as he was caught in the 

act after the traders decided 

to lay ambush for him. 

“Every day is for the thief 

while one day is for the owner. 

That was the situation with 

this young man, John Ator, 

who was caught as a garri 

thief who had been a thorn in 

the flesh of traders”, an eye 

witness told Sunday 

Vanguard. 

After the angry traders had 

descended on him, he was 

stripped naked and a disused 

tyre hung around his neck in 

readiness to roast him alive 

but the absence of petrol 

stalled the action. It was 

while waiting for fuel that the 

thief used the opportunity to 

escape 

A search party was raised to 

comb the neighbourhood to 

track him but they could not 

locate him. 

Gory scene 

In another incident, three 

young men, suspected to have 

robbed some traders in the 

popular Okuku Market in Yala 

Local Government Area of the 

state, were set ablaze by a 

mob, some weeks ago, amidst 

wailing by some women who 

witnessed the gory scene. 

The men, said to be 

comprising of two natives and 

the third from Ebonyi State, 

were alleged to have attacked 

the traders from Akwa Ibom 

State, who visit the market 

every five days to buy food 

stuff, at a nearby motor park 

and robbed them of their 

money. 

“It was Okuku Market’s eve 

and many traders from Cross 

River, Akwa Ibom and Rivers 

usually come here on the eve 

of the market so that they 

could buy yam and garri early 

before everything is bought 

by others since Calabar is far 

and the road bad and they 

usually sleep in the market 

park to wait for the next day. 

The young men attacked them 

in the night and robbed them. 

A search was conducted and 

they were caught in the 

morning while hiding in the 

forest”, Maria Ipuole, one of 

the eye witnesses said. 

According to her, the killing 

of one of the traders in the 

process of the robbery 

angered the youths of the area 

who ensured that they too 

were killed right in the 

presence of the police which 

she said stood some distance 

away, saying the mob was 

assisting them (police) to do 

their job. 

Cross River State Police 

Commissioner, Mr Hafiz 

Inua, has, meanwhile, been 

making radio and television 

announcements, warning of 

drastic consequences if 

anyone is caught “taking the 

law into his or her hands by 

carrying out instant justice on 

anyone suspected of 

committing crime”. 

The announcements 

notwithstanding, horrifying 

killings have continued and 

nobody arrested in connection 

with mob action.


BY CHARLES KUMOLU, 

Deputy Features Editor 

The demise of the late anti-apartheid 

heroine, Winnie Mandela is not just the 

passage of a historical icon. 

It comes with sweeping significance for the 

21st century African woman, especially the 

Nigerian woman. 

So relevant is the event that treating it as just 

the passage of an amazon, would only but 

deny women some critical ingredients that 

could promote their cause. 

Her passage is indeed an auspicious event 

to interrogate the 21st century role of Nigerian 

women in nation building. 

The status of women is currently a far cry 

from what it was in the pre-colonial, colonial 

and early post independent Nigeria when they 

challenged the status quo to bring about social 

change. 

Alteration of social order 

Today, women in the country are believed to 

have lost the traction that made them pivotal 

to the alteration of the social order in the times 

past. 

Even with the successes, a lean percentage 

have recorded in the private sector, Sunday 

Vanguard observed that the 21 century 

Nigerian woman seems to have lost her voice 

in a society in dire need of social justice. It is 

indeed an irony that such is obtainable in the 

age of feminism. Interestingly, local and 

international statistics exist to justify the 

observation about the declining role of women 

in nation building. 

For instance, writing in Gender and 

Development: Challenges to Women 

Involvement in Nigeria’s Development, 

Fapohunda Tinuke, observed thus: “Though 

there has been considerable progress in 

developing the capabilities of women, their 

participation in economic and political 

decision making remains very limited. 

Women’s inequitable gender relations, their 

poverty and powerlessness in the society are 

interconnected.” 

Similarly, the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, recently 

lamented that in the 2015 general election, 

only 44 percent of female voters came out for 

accreditation compared to 56 percent of male 

voters. It however considered the situation 

worrisome given that the participation of 

women in governance and decision making 

process is a major goal in the Global 

Development Agenda as embodied in the 

Sustainable Development Goals ,SDGs. 

New social order 

These are indeed painful facts considering 

how women had dared cultural elements, 

especially patriarchy in the past, to enthrone a 

new social order in Nigeria. 

Sunday Vanguard recalls that the country 

had produced women who challenged 

stereotypes, held lamp for others, built legacy 

for women’s rights, and changed how women 

see themselves. But that is not the case now 

despite the laudable efforts of the likes of Dr. 

Joe Okei-Odumakin, Ankio Briggs, and Chief 

Rita Lori-Ogbebor, Aisha Yusufu, among 

others. 

But how could that have happened in a 

country/society that produced the likes of 

Queen Amina, Queen Idia, Moremi of lfe, 

Emotan of Benin, Omu Okwei of Ossomari, 

Aba Women, Alimotu Pelewura, Margaret 

Ekpo, Fumilayo Ransome-Kuti, Hajia Gambo 

Sawaba, and Kudirat Abiola? 

Another common question is: why is the 

resilience that made these women the stars of 

the struggles and triumphs of their times, 

absent today? 

Sunday Vanguard found this failure to 

build on the template created by these 

transformational figures connected to 

patriarchy, non-inclusive policies, absence of 

courage and resilience, and sheer lack of trust 

in the system. 

Ironically, the triumph over the 

aforementioned factors under one of the most 

vicious polities ever, made Winnie Mandela a 

reference point today. That is why she matters 

to Nigerian women. 

Strength, style, resilience, optimism 

Like the historical figures earlier mentioned, 

she combined beauty, with strength, style, 

resilience, optimism and consistency to emerge 

the most transformational woman in the 20th 

and 21st century África. 

The late wife of Nelson Mandela identified 

and echoed the aspirations, fears and 

frustrations of the ordinary man and woman 

on the streets in the face of danger. 

Sunday Vanguard found her role in African 

Why Winnie 

Mandela matters 

to Nigerian women 

•Odumakin, Afolabi, others speak 

*Winnie was a winner! 

politics and social work to have had an 

enormous effect on gender roles and politics. 

The observation was re-echoed by Gracha 

Machel in her tribute. 

Machel said: “You loved our people 

unconditionally and sacrificed so much for 

our freedom. It is my prayer that as befitting 

tributes are paid to you both at home and 

abroad, all of us will internalise the values 

you helped to mould and birth into existence. 

As a nation, I hope we will stand tall and 

proud, and as uncompromising as you were 

in the defence and protection of our rights. As 

one of our brightest stars, continue to be the 

lioness that protects your children and your 

grandchildren. Warm their hearts 

so that while your transition may 

shake them, it does not break their 

spirit. The extraordinary life you 

led is an example of resilient 

fortitude and inextinguishable 

passion that is a source of 

inspiration to us all of how to 

courageously confront challenges 

with unwavering strength and 

determination. Thank you for your 

brilliant wisdom, your fierce 

defiance and your stylish beauty. 

Fortunately, stars shine brightest 

during the darkest of hours. I know 

you will continue to illuminate our 

sky, even through the storms and 

clouds. Your legacy will be an 

uplifting beacon from which we 

can continue to draw guidance 

and strength during difficult 

times.” 

Commitment to social justice 

Indeed, those, who spoke to 

Sunday Vanguard also agreed 

that Winnie Mandela’s “legacy 

will be an uplifting beacon.” They 

described her commitment to 

social justice as not just a model 

for Nigerian women but the world. 

Executive Director, Women Advocates 

Research and Documentation, Dr. Abiola 

Akiyode-Afolabi, described her as a source of 

inspiration but added that her environment 

contributed in making her the brand she was. 

She said: “She was an activist, a mother, a 

good wife and grassroots politician. She was 

an epitome of a woman who could combine 

all these attributes to have a voice in the 

society. She was not just anybody in the history 

of South Africa. She was a nationalist, who 

was able to make a difference. She was 

consistent for the 27 years that Mandela was 

imprisoned. Without Winnie there may have 

been no Mandela 

because if she had 

compromised, 

Mandela would have 

been compromised. 

While her 

husband served 

a life sentence‚ 

Winnie kept safe 

and morally 

uncontaminated‚ 

Winnie Mandela 

fought on the 

front line and 

underground. 

This should be a 

great lesson to 

us all 

Nigerian women 

should see Winnie as the 

knight of the nation. 

There are a lot of 

lessons to learn for 

everyone especially in 

politics. Politics should 

be driven by ideology. 

Politics should not be 

played the way women 

play it in Nigeria. 

Nigerian women 

should follow her steps 

because she was not 

given her role in politics. 

She earned it because of 

her consistency and 

radical disposition”. 

Patriarchy and 

poverty 

On the issue of 

patriarchy and poverty, 

she maintained that 

“there are a lot of issues 

responsible for the decline in the role of women 

in nation building. Countries are different. 

During the apartheid era a lot of South African 

women were affected in large numbers. That 

made the average South African woman an 

activist. Our history is different. Where they 

are coming from is different from ours. In 

Nigeria, we are still battling with patriarchy 

and poverty which are very endemic. South 

Africa is still battling with poverty but ours is 

in a different way. Nigerian women can stop 

the decline in their involvement in nation 

building with the determination to rewrite our 

narrative. Our women in politics should see 

politics from a different perspective by being 

the transformative change within the 

system. 

“A lot of women are interested in politics 

but they are constrained by the lack of 

coordination. There is need for a women 

political movement for us to be able to adresse 

the decline. The voices of women in politics 

are very low and there is need to increase the 

volume. There is need for education. Women 

need to change their strategy. That is why I 

talked about philosophy. If women are going 

into politics by being corrupt, they will not 

make the needed difference. We need to 

concentrate on that. Women cannot 

participate in politics without knowing why 

they are going into politics. 

“The history of women in politics between 

2007 and 2015 has not been impressive. There 

are a lot of corruption allegations which has 

not helped the discussions on affirmative 

action.We need to deal with godfatherism, 

issues of law, patriarchy, politics of money, 

and social orientation. In South Africa, 

Thambo Mbeki, resigned, another President 

also did the same thing because there is is 

accountability in their society unlike in ours. 

We must push politics to a level where there is 

accountability.” 

Violation of rights 

On her part, Oke-Odumakin said:”There 

are several valuable lessons Nigerian women 

could learn from the late South African icon, 

Winnie Mandela. 

“Winnie was an incurable optimist, who 

believed that the fight against apartheid was 

a must win fight. Winnie’s fierce fight against 

apartheid could be a lesson for Nigerian 

women to also stand up and fight for a right 

cause instead of keeping mute in the face of 

gross violation of their rights by men and those 

in position of authority. 

“One of the greatest lessons is that human 

and socialist principles are the most important 

foundations for any society. And these are 

founding principles needed endlessly to 

defend the rights of Nigerian people. 

“Another lesson is the care of peoples’ basic 

needs. Nigerian women should arise to 

demand and set as priority for the nation, the 

care and well being of all Nigerians. 

“Winnie Mandela was a die-hard advocate 

of equitable distribution of the South African 

resources. Sharing the resources of the nation 

as equitably as possible and taking care of 

education‚ health and housing for all‚ are 

priorities for all nations. Nigerian women 

should be able to learn from Winnie that if 

they organise and work together, they can 

defeat all negative tendencies that hinder 

Nigeria’s quest for equity and justice. 

“Nigerian Women should also learn from 

Winnie that they need to keep up the 

struggle for a better Nigeria, and make 

the best they can. They need to stick together. 

“While her husband served a life sentence‚ 

Winnie kept safe and morally 

uncontaminated‚ Winnie Mandela fought on 

the front line and underground. This should 

be a great lesson to us all.” 

State-sponsored tyranny 

Also speaking, founder of Gender 

Affirmative Summit, Mrs. Gloria 

Umemezie, urged Nigerian women to 

emulate Winnie Mandela’s defiance in 

the face of state-ponsored tyranny. 

“Nigerian women are great and 

exceptional but they lack the courage of 

Winnie Mandela. Even our men don’t 

have the attributes that earned this 

woman global fame. The inequality in 

this dispensation is enough to create many 

Winnie Mandela in this country but our 

people are not courageous. Our women 

should emulatate her defiant spirit which 

she used in challenging the status quo. 

Winnie was not a feminist but a social 

crusader and politician whose statements 

were crucial to the making of a 

democratic South Africa.”


C 

M 

YK 

BY JIDE AJANI 

Ayo Adebanjo could be 

described as a strange 

man. Eight years ago, in 

December, 2010, when he was 82, 

the most constant thing in this man’s 

life was that he, on a daily basis, 

engaged in an hour of road walk. In 

fact, that first week of December, 

2010, when Sunday Vanguard 

went after him in his Ijebu-Ogbo area 

of Ogun State, he was away on road 

walk. In his Lekki area of Lagos 

where he resides, Adebanjo once 

took this writer on a road walk - we 

had agreed to meet at his residence 

as early as 6:45am. We set out 

that day at about 7:15 am. 

Dressed in a sport gear, we walked 

from his residence, off Admiralty 

Way, to the entrance gate of Lekki 

Phase One. We could have 

continued but the old man, sensing 

that I was becoming uncomfortable 

(but not tired), jokingly said: “Ajani, 

are you tired?” 

“No sir?” I replied. 

“O je sooto (You better tell the 

truth). Eyin omo isiyin (You 

children of nowadays)”. 

“I’m okay sir. I’m just wondering 

how you do this regularly sir.” 

“I do this every day. Even when I 

travel abroad, I must do it. Except 

maybe if I’m indisposed and that 

has not been too frequent. I must 

do this every day”. 

As we walked at a slow pace, 

Adebanjo told stories of his 

relationship with Pa Obafemi 

Awolowo, June 12, National 

Democratic Coalition (NADECO), 

the Obasanjo years, Alliance for 

Democracy, AD; and some other 

political issues. After about 80 

minutes, we were back at his 

residence. While I headed for the 

main building, papa said he was 

going to the back of the building to 

do some exercises, so I followed him 

again. And for another 15minutes, 

he did some aerobics after which 

we then went inside. 

“That is the way I do it every 

morning; and I’ve been doing this 

for as long as I can remember”, he 

told me. This was sometime in 

June, 2012. 

Always looking like a sixtysomething 

year old, one thing you 

concede to Pa Adebanjo is his 

unflinching belief in and avowed 

commitment to the ideals of 

Awolowo. He is seen largely as an 

old horse of the Awolowo political 

leaning and an Afenifere leader. 

My first meeting with papa in 1991 

was at his then Surulere residence. 

This was long before the June 12, 

1993 presidential election. His 

views then and after the election and 

annulment remain the same. 

Brutally frank, and could be very 

jovial, Adebanjo once asked me if I 

liked eating chin-chin (a 

confectionary). I said yes. He 

then told me how his wife makes 

chin-chin for him regularly and how 

he has come to enjoy eating chinchin 

for the over 60 years of his 

marriage. So, whenever I visit him, 

I always request from some to take 

away. 

For Adebanjo, who is 90 this week, 

papa’s views of and on politics and 

life are captured in this script in a 

manner that his just published 

autobiography may not have. A 

man you have known since 1991 (27 

years and still counting), Adebanjo 

tells it as it is and has never flinched 

when it comes to his political belief. 

During an interview session with 

him, this question was meant to be 

asked and I found a way to ask it, 

though respectfully. In fact, before 

the interview began, I’d requested 

of him that I would ask him an 

embarrassing question, one which 

I’d discussed with my boss, Gbenga 

Adefaye, who was then the Editor of 

Vanguard. The Editor had quipped: 

“Ask him o, let him attack the 

question, some people say he’s a 

thug”, to which I responded, “How 

do I ask him such a question?” 

“That is your problem. You are the 

one going to do the interview. Just 

ask him”. 

PA AYO ADEBANJO 

MARCHING ON AT 90 

My life, my politics! 

• Encounters with a man who likes TELLING IT AS IT IS 

• And the question nobody wanted to ask him 

•ADEBANJO 

I’m not a thug. I’m 

a lawyer! Is that 

the question you 

wanted to ask 

since and you’ve 

been dancing 

round? 

So, before the interview (for the 

umpteenth time), after that road 

walk in 2012, I told papa “I have a 

very serious question coming that I 

would want to ask” to which he said, 

“Ajani, ask me any question you 

want”. During the interview, this 

ensued: 

Sir, some people say you were 

more of an enforcer for Papa 

Awolowo? 

What do you mean? 

That you were capable of making 

trouble because of Papa Awolowo? 

If you believe in somebody’s 

ideals; you see the person standing 

firm on that principle; and you 

decide to go all the way with him, 

how does that make you an 

enforcer? 

Don’t mind people. They 

always want to just say 

something. Some even say you 

were a thug? 

I’m not a thug. I’m a lawyer! Is 

that the question you wanted to ask 

since and you’ve been dancing 

round? 

Okay o, I’m not a thug 

Last week, Pa Adebanjo said he was 

too busy to grant any interview but 

still had the time to engage Sunday 

Vanguard in a chat over why he would 

not release a free copy of his new book, 

‘TELLING IT IS AS IT IS’. 

Firstly, how do we get a copy 

of his book? 

Ajani, you just have to buy this book. 

Papa, I’m your son and I 

expect you to give me a copy 

duly signed ‘TO MY DEAR 

SON’”, by you sir. 

Ajani, I agree with what you have 

said but do you know how many sons 

I have in Vanguard? I have sons in 

ThisDay; I have sons in Tribune. 

Should I continue? 

I understand you sir. 

No, you don’t. If I give you a copy 

of the book free, my conscience would 

have to carry the burden. So why 

not give my other ‘sons’ and that would 

be setting a bad precedent. That, I 

do not want to do. 

Okay Papa, now I 

understand. How much sir? 

The soft copy is N5, 000 while the 

hard copy is N7, 000. 

Do I give it to Dapo Akinrefon who 

is here or would you come to Ijebu- 

Ogbo to collect it, or wait till I return 

to Lagos? 

We want the copy sir so we can 

publish some excerpts to 

illustrate the piece I’m writing. 

No! Ajani you cannot do that. You 

cannot publish part of the book. Not 

now. Not yet. Part of the deal with 

the publisher is that you cannot 

reproduce parts of the book without a 

special arrangement with the 

publishers. In any case, you know 

almost everything. 

Yes sir I but I still want the book. 

(Laughing) I know you will write 

about all our encounters. I know 

you will write about the road walk 

too (continues laughing). Okay I will 

sign the book and give it to Dapo. But 

you must promise me you will pay 

when I return to Lagos. 

I will pay sir. 

Ajani, you must pay o. 

Yes sir I will; and I will also 

write about this exchange too; 

about how you insisted that I 

should buy a copy of the book. 

Yes (laughing)! I know you will 

write it. 

Funny as this exchange is, Pa 

Adebanjo is a man who likes 

TELLING IT AS IT IS - that’s the title 

of his autobiography. Though just 

about a book, Adebanjo is a man who 

sticks to his gun. Not one given to 

the familiar shenanigans of today’s 

politicians, there are many instances 

in Pa Adebanjo’s life that gives 

credence to this fact - as would be seen 

in his views on many issues below: 

On why he remains an 

avowed Awoist 

No, it is not like that. People are 

missing the point. The mistake people 

are making is that they are confusing 

issues. The rigidity that pays off is a 

rigidity that is worth dying for. What 

is rigidity in Awolowo’s philosophy? 

What is rigidity in having free 

education? Are we having free 

education today in the West? Even in 

Lagos, do we have it? Those who see 

these people mid- way can be carried 

away but we who know what is 

happening can never be fooled. It 

is not enough. Why should we reduce 

ourselves to a situation when we 

accept less as more and we say, ‘at 

least, we thank God’. That much is 

less than the standard expected of an 

Awolowo man. I am strict on principle 

and ideology: Is it on true federalism? 

Is it on our socio-economic 

programme? People know Awolowo 

for what he represented. Free 

education and federalism are 

synonymous with Awolowo. I would 

rather go to my grave with my name 

intact and referred to as rigid Awolowo 

man than join bad company. You must 

stand for something. Look at the 

people they are collaborating with, 

just to side-line the elders. Go and ask 

them why they disagreed with us. 

Was it based on principles or on 

policies? Some people just got blinded 

by ambition and we are watching 

where it will all lead. 

On June 12 

The message June 12 

presidential election sent out is that 

Nigerians were ready to bury their 

differences as a people and support 

whatever they considered good and 

which they felt would make their 

country move forward. But the 

election was annulled; and that is 

where I have a problem. I have told 

people that my problem with the 

annulment has nothing to do with (the 

winner) MKO Abiola as an 

individual. My problem with that 

annulment also has nothing to do 

with the fact that Abiola is a Yoruba 

man. Even if the annulment had been 

against a Chukwuemeka or a Dan 

Fulani or an Essien Udom or Isokrari 

James, I would still have opposed it 

the way I have always opposed it. 

Look, 14 million Nigerians voted. 

Why should one man, just one man, 

decide that he would annul that 

election? What right does one man 

have to say that he is annulling an 

election? In a country where people 

voted, just one man annulled the 

election, why? You know the statement 

from Aso Rock Presidential Villa 

annulling that election was not 

signed? No! That statement was not 

signed. That is the irony. In fact when 

I asked Duro Onabule, he said it is 

not possible. He said Babangida’s 

first house was built for him by MKO 

Abiola and the Babangida he knows 

cannot annul an MKO election. We 

were supporting Abiola during the 

crisis. I remember during my 

detention days when people asked me 

what was my connection with him, I 

said Abiola is not my cup of tea. I told 

them that I am here because 

14million Nigerians voted for this 

man and that is the democracy Chief 

Awolowo taught me. 

How Alliance for Democracy, 

AD, state governors lost the 

2003 elections to Obasanjo 

At that time, our flag-bearers 

misconceived the idea of working with 

Olusegun Obasanjo as President. 

This was because they didn’t like to 

take directives from us and they 

believed they wanted to take their own 

destiny in their hands; they claimed 

we were tormenting them because we 

put them in office. They, therefore, 

sought an alliance with Obasanjo; 

that they would vote for him for the 

presidency in return for their staying 

in office and leave South-West for 

them. There was an agreement 

between the governors and Obasanjo, 

to which we, the elders, were not privy. 

I will never agree to have anything to 

do with Obasanjo politically, because 

I don’t see any virtue in him, nothing 

credible in him, particularly as far as 

the interests of the Yoruba people are 

concerned. Obasanjo is not a Yoruba 

man, he doesn’t want what the Yoruba 

people want and I’ve always said so. 

What Yoruba people want? 

We want autonomy. We want to be 

part of Nigeria as an independent 

entity, self-sustained but not 

subservient to any part in a true 

federation. 

On Obasanjo’s National 

Conference 

Obasanjo knew what he wanted all 

along? He drew AD leaders out and 

swindled them knowing that 

restructuring had become a bait. 

Obasanjo claimed that he wanted 

to bring all the parties together to 

produce a peoples’ constitution and 

our argument then was that if we did 

not take part, we would not push our 

case and they would label us critics. 

I took part as one of the five party 

leaders nominated. Our 

membership of that committee was 

able to open the eyes of our colleagues 

from the other parties that Afenifere 

was not talking about secession but 

about true federation. What 

Obasanjo said was that if we believed 

so much in SNC, we should go and 

persuade the other people of the other 

zones to buy into it so that when he 

eventually convenes it, he would not 

be accused of doing the bidding of 

Afenifere. If a man who had fought 

against something now shifts and 

even advises on how to mobilise 

support for the cause, is that not 

progress. It gave us an opportunity 

to explain to the other people that 

the Sovereign National Conference 

we were asking for was an 

alternative to bloodshed and that we 

must agree to live together based 

on terms and conditions agreeable 

to all. We just wanted true 

federalism. If you recollect, 

Obasanjo’s first presidential media 

chat, I was there and we thrashed 

out the issue of SNC because 

Obasanjo’s fake argument was that 

there cannot be two sovereignties 

but we made him understand that 

whatever that conference 

recommended should not be 

reviewed by any other committee; 

that was our position.


Why Danjuma 

attacked the 

military 

– Gen. Ikponmwen, ex- 

Army Provost Marshal 

•Says comment by ex-Defence Minister is a serious 

indictment of Obasanjo and others since 1999 

•‘How outburst may affect 2019 polls’ 

• Calls for law to allow mature citizens to acquire 

small arms for self-defence 

BY SIMON EBEGBULEM, BENIN CITY 

Brig.Gen. Idada Ikponmwen (ret.), a former Provost Marshal of the 

Nigerian Army, was elected Edo State Chairman of the Pan Niger 

Delta Forum (PANDEF) last weekend. In this interview, Ikponmwen 

dismisses the insinuation of a conspiracy against President Muhammadu 

Buhari following separate statements by retired Generals Olusegun 

Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and T.Y. Danjuma critical of the current 

federal administration. He also speaks on the controversial sequence of 

elections among other issues. Excerpts: 

It seems Generals IBB and 

Obasanjo and recently Danjuma are 

at war with their colleague, President 

Muhammadu Buhari. As a retired 

general yourself, do you see that as 

a conspiracy to stop the President 

from going for second term? 

I will not say there is a conspiracy 

because when you talk about security, 

these are the people who appreciate 

it most when there are security 

challenges. Though we have civilians 

who are security experts and 

strategists, ordinarily these people 

who are involved in 

security are likely to take 

more interest and more 

appropriately analyse the 

situation. What they are 

saying has merit. When 

you discuss this type of 

matter, the message is 

more important than the 

messenger. So, obviously, a 

lot has to be done to 

improve the situation. This 

is not talking about Buhari, 

we are talking about the 

entire system. There is no 

one who does not know that 

the security situation in the 

country is still very bad 

despite the efforts made by 

the President. How does the 

ordinary man see the 

economy, the availability of 

food, necessary 

infrastructure? So a lot needs to be 

done to take this country out of 

squalor and government should take 

into consideration all these issues. 

Do you think the comments by IBB, 

Danjuma and Obasanjo can stop 

Buhari in the event he decides to seek 

re-election? 

They certainly will have effect 

because this particular one by 

Danjuma shows the man believes that 

we have no government to protect us, 

and if that is the way people see it, it 

will definitely affect the trend of 

voting especially 

among the 

Danjuma´s 

comment is a very 

serious indictment 

of successive 

governments of 

this country, 

especially since 

our return to civil 

democracy 

enlightened and 

analytical minds. 

S u c c e s s i v e 

governments have 

not been able to give 

us security and it just 

shows that matters 

have reached the 

peak. On the letters 

from Obasanjo and 

IBB, some people are 

quarrelling about the 

message while some 

about the messenger 

but, at the end of the 

day, if you have to 

make a choice 

between the 

messenger and the 

message, the effect of 

the message will prevail over the issue 

of the messenger. The issue will affect 

voting and political alignments here 

and there. Danjuma´s comment is a 

very serious indictment of successive 

governments of this country, especially 

since our return to civil democracy 

(Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan and 

Buhari administrations). It is a big 

indictment coming from the man who 

has been Minister of Defence and who, 

before then, was Chief of Army Staff. 

His utterance connotes so many things. 

It brings into question the way we are 

governed or the way we have been 

governed over the years. It brings into 

question our use of the military 

especially for internal security 

operations. It raises the question of 

whether or not we are using the 

military properly in terms of the 

provisions of the constitution. It also 

raises the question of the 

understanding of the military with 

regards to their constitutional role. It 

raises the question as to whether we 

are embarking on internal wars without 

declaring war as prescribed in the 

constitution. The reaction of the 

military, as represented by the 

Minister of Defence, is only to be 

expected because the military is a 

service under the executive arm of 

government, answerable only to the 

commander-in-chief whose 

responsibilities include determining 

•Brig.Gen. Idada 

Ikponmwen (ret.) 

when to bring in the military during 

civil disturbance in line with the law. 

Danjuma’s statement represents the 

concern of a man who feels that the 

military is not being used in the proper 

manner. We must say that the problem 

with a very visible army in the civil 

democracy, especially when it is seen 

to be carrying out responsibilities that 

ordinarily belong to the civil security 

organizations like the police, is bound 

to incur the wrath of some people and 

the applause of others. So this is all 

the more reason that extreme care 

ought to be exercised in the 

deployment of military forces for civil 

crisis. In the past, I was one of the 

most vocal voices in expressing the 

requirement for deploying the military 

only when crisis has reached a level 

equivalent to domestic war, but 

government did not listen. And that 

is why we got to this stage where a 

very senior member of the society can 

now come out to denounce the military. 

It is like him saying this is not the 

army that I knew. As a senior member 

of the society, he could have reached 

the President directly and would have 

been able to draw his attention to the 

lapses he observed. Therefore, this 

open declaration would have been 

better justified if efforts to reach the 

President did not work. On the whole, 

I want to reiterate my concern that 

Continues on page 34 

C 

M 

Y 

K

PAGE 34–SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018 


successive governments of this 

country since 1999 have been 

embarking on internal wars without 

properly declaring war, thereby 

rendering themselves vulnerable or 

susceptible to attacks or opposition 

from different sectors of the society. I 

think Danjuma´s declaration is food 

for thought for the present 

government, to reposition itself in 

addressing the various problems of 

this country particularly in the area of 

security. To avoid the problem of selfhelp 

following the perceived misuse 

of military power, government must 

follow the law. 

The right of everybody to acquire 

arms for self-defence will lead to 

serious security problem. I will rather 

say that, given the security situation 

in this country now, government must 

consider liberalisation of the laws 

governing acquisition of small arms 

to mature citizens in the society. If a 

kidnapper knows that his victim may 

be armed, he will be more careful in 

embarking on such journey. 

But how do you think this 

government can tackle the problem 

of insecurity? 

I think we have passed the stage 

where we can say that all is well with 

us. And that is why you see security 

experts complaining. A lot of people 

say that we have never had it so bad 

with problems like IPOB, militancy in 

the Niger Delta, herdsmen, 

kidnapping, killings among others. 

But that does not really change the 

fact that government has always come 

up to say ‘security is our top priority, 

we are addressing it’. It is inevitable 

to say that so many people believe that 

insecurity in this place is not in check. 

That is not to say that the military or 

the civil security agencies are not 

doing anything. What they are saying 

is that the problem is still there 

despite all they are doing. But you 

will recall that before now Boko Haram 

was in control of some local 

governments in the North-East. We 

can say that, to a very large extent, 

the military has done a lot to address 

the Boko Haram issue but for the issue 

of herdsmen, the general feeling is 

that enough has not 

been done. The recent 

Dapchi incident was 

sad but thank God the 

girls have been 

rescued. But I was 

shocked that the 

President ordered the 

Inspector General of 

Police to relocate to 

Benue State to address 

the insecurity problem 

there and we also 

heard that the IGP 

disobeyed the 

President. So Nigerians 

are wondering, if the 

IGP disobeyed the 

President, the 

commander-in-chief, 

what is he still doing in 

office? Why has nothing 

been done to bring the 

man to book for 

disobeying the order of 

the President? The 

President owes 

Nigerians a duty to 

explain why the man is 

still in office after disobeying the order 

given to him by the President. The 

answer to how to provide more 

effective security in Nigeria lies in 

No matter how 

good your 

security agencies, 

the truth remains 

that unless there 

is proper synergy 

with the civil 

populace, it will 

be wishful 

thinking to expect 

that there will be 

desirable level of 

security 

many areas. To mention a few, the 

security organizations need to be reorganized 

in such a way that they will 

achieve maximum security. Second, 

the populace needs to be encouraged 

to see themselves as inevitable 

stakeholders in achieving best society 

level in this country. 

No matter how good your security 

agencies, the truth remains that unless 

there is proper synergy with the civil 

populace, it will be wishful thinking 

to expect that there 

will be desirable 

level of security. You 

will agree with me 

that even the welfare 

of security agents 

needs to be improved 

by way of 

allowances, postservice 

enumeration. 

If the welfare of 

security agents is not 

adequately catered 

for, I do not expect 

how we can see those 

men to lay down their 

lives without 

assurance that if they 

die, their families will 

not suffer. I think also 

that we need to 

actually come out 

with proper 

measures that will 

ensure that those 

who commit crime are 

actually punished in 

a way that will scare 

potential offenders. 

Also those who achieved good result 

in the performance of their duty must 

be compensated. 

•Ikponmwen 

'Comment by Danjuma 

is a serious indictment 

of Obasanjo and others' 

How do you feel being elected as 

PANDEF Chairman in Edo State? 

I thank God for the confidence my 

people have reposed in me by electing 

me by consensus. Our duty in 

PANDEF is to improve the lot of our 

people in the Niger Delta in the 

scheme of things in Nigeria. At the 

same time having at the back of our 

minds the need for Nigeria to grow 

from strength to strength. PANDEF is 

not out for disintegration, it is not out 

to show that we are a selfish people 

in the Niger Delta, it is not out to show 

that we have no regard for the feeling 

of others. 

We recognize that Nigeria as a 

nation was brought into existence to 

ensure that the various component 

parts are happy, retain their identities 

and, at the same time, promote a 

nation that will be among the leading 

ones in the world. But the way things 

have been in the country, the idea of 

a central government taking the 

responsibilities that are common to all 

and constituent states unable to stand 

on their own and form their own 

policies appears to be fading out 

because of our recent historical 

developments. Military intervention 

for over thirty years affected our system 

and a lot of things have remained 

unchanged. Most of the states of the 

federation, including those of the 

Niger Delta, have been unable to 

sustain themselves. 

The quarrel of the Niger Delta 

people, over the years, has been that 

we are the source of the wealth of the 

nation, yet we are suffering. No jobs, 

no roads, no water, farming has been 

our major source of livelihood but it is 

no more because of the effect of oil 

exploration which affected our 

ecosystem, affected our agriculture. 

So, what is central government doing 

about replenishing the dwindling 

environment? Are they doing it? If 

they are not doing it, we are going to 

advise the government on what to do 

for our people. Government has been 

trying to address some of the problems 

but the people are saying that the 

speed at which they are addressing it 

is slow. So we have a lot to do. 

What cooperation is PANDEF 

getting from the Niger Delta 

governors? 

There are obvious signs of hard work 

among our governors. There is no 

governor who will not want to work 

for his people. But having said that, 

the truth remains that the resources 

available to some of these states are 

nothing to write home about. What is 

available to them is not enough to 

execute projects and most of them are 

in debt. That is why they go cap in 

hand to Abuja to get money to pay 

salaries. At least twice in the life of 

this present regime, the Federal 

Government had to come to their 

rescue. It is this state of affairs where 

states are going to Abuja to look for 

funds that is not desirable for our 

states. This practice is not in 

consonance with the federal system 

that we are running. Many of the 

governors in the Niger Delta don’t 

belong to the ruling party. Only Edo 

is in the ruling party; that is the more 

reason we must have expected that if 

the governors properly identify the 

problems of their people, they will be 

more vocal in advocating changes. It 

is a little intriguing that does not 

appear to be the case. The governors 

are not championing the struggle for 

a thorough and holistic change that 

this country needs to move forward. 

Again, it is not because of party 

allegiance, maybe the governors feel 

so comfortable that they do not want 

to be instrument of change; they do 

not consider so seriously the plight of 

their own people. It is against that 

background that organizations like 

PANDEF, which is a non-partisan 

pressure group, are able to detach 

themselves from whatever may be the 

position of governments in their areas. 

We must identify the real problems of 

the zone and bring them to the 

attention of those who need to act on 

them. It is not only the President but 

all the arms of government and 

leadership at all levels. 

There is this brewing crisis between 

the executive and the National 

Assembly over attempt by the latter 

to re-order the sequence of elections. 

As a lawyer, what is your take? 

The conduct of elections, who fixes 

the dates and order, is clearly the 

responsibility of INEC. And since we 

are running a presidential federalism, 

it means that what is in the constitution 

must prevail over executive or 

legislative action. Clearly, this job is 

vested in INEC; therefore it is illegal, 

unconstitutional and improper for the 

National Assembly to want to impose 

the schedule of elections on INEC just 

the same way the executive cannot 

impose the same thing on INEC. The 

constitution we are running is very 

clear that, in a presidential system, the 

constitution is supreme and superior 

to every legislative action and to any 

executive action. 

Flowing from that, the judiciary has 

the responsibility in ensuring that the 

provisions of the constitution are 

upheld. So if there is any conflict 

between what the legislature is saying 

and what the executive wants, the 

court must look at the constitution to 

look into who has the responsibility 

for the job.


Using African 

Gas for Africa 

First 

Aprivate sector initiative called 

LNG2Africa is addressing one of the 

continent’s biggest lost opportunities, 

turning LNG into an African asset 

2018 is turning out to be a bold new year. We 

are witnessing changes to the African energy 

market that are both welcome and long-awaited 

for. 

We spoke before of the great progress Nigeria 

is making in harnessing its long-neglectedtreasure 

that is natural gas. The fight against 

gas flaring is long, but one that is progressively 

being conquered. 

However, for the most part, Africans have 

failed to enjoy the benefits of this cheaper and 

cleaner source of power. Across the continent, 

nations, including crude oil producers, remain 

chronically dependent on expensive imports 

of refined fuel, as nearly none have the necessary 

refining capacity to supply Africa’s internal 

market. This has represented a major lost 

opportunity for Africa for decades, one we can 

no longer afford to dismiss. 

Some initiatives have tried to address this 

issue with considerable success, particularly, 

LNG2Africa, an intra-Africa LNG deal-brokering 

private sector initiative which is creating 

opportunities for the development of this 

industry across the continent and has already 

scored many landmarks in less than a year of 

existence. Initiative’s like this are paramount 

if we wish for an energy independent Africa, 

where Africans have access to electricity and 

where we can foster the creation of jobs and 

spur industrial development. 

A changing paradigm 

Africa holds hundreds of trillions of cubic 

feet of natural gas under its soil, enough to 

power itself for decades, not to mention hundreds 

of billions of dollars in exports to power 

hungry nations across the globe. The collapse 

in the price of oil over the last few years, for all 

the pain it has caused to the continent’s economies, 

has forced political leaders to make 

better use of other resources that had remained 

underexplored. 

Until now, high costs related to exploration 

and production combined with low prices, 

limited the economic feasibility of many natural 

gas projects. Fortunately, new technological 

developments through offshore floating 

liquefaction infrastructure have made the exploitation 

and transport of those resources 

much cheaper and quicker to implement. 

Recent major discoveries in Cameroon, 

Gabon, Mauritania, the Congo and Senegal, 

added to the major reserves held by Nigeria, 

Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Tanzania and 

Mozambique have made it even more evident 

that it is not a resource to be ignored. 

As these developments take place, the global 

export market seems to be headed to a 

situation of oversupply. The shale gas boom 

in the United States represented not only the 

loss of a considerable consumer for African 

natural gas but also the emergence of a competing 

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporter. 

In the Middle East, Iran’s ramping up of 

production added more pressure into the 

market, and Australia’s major LNG export investments 

will further increase competition 

by 2020. Historically, 

African natural gas production has been 

almost exclusively directed at exports to the 

United States and Europe, markets where it is 

becoming ever harder to compete, all the 

while being ignored as the potential seed of 

Africa’s industrial growth. 

A look within 

Within this scenario it becomes evident that 

African nations must look within to make the 

best of the scenario in front of them. Instead of 

trying to compete with the likes of Australia 

and Qatar for contracts with India, Japan and 

China, they need to look to Africa’s own market 

and promote the development of a natural 

gas-based market that could be the cornerstone 

of Africa’s economic growth. Why 

would a country in West Africa choose to import 

expensive diesel from refineries in Texas 

for its power stations, when it could use its 

own cheaper resources, or those of a gas producing 

neighbour, to power its economy? 

The utilization of natural gas can profoundly 

transform the continent and the lives of its 

citizens. Beyond that, a focus on intra-African 

energy trading can spur a new age of political 

and economic relations between African countries 

and create a strong internal market for 

our industries, businesses and people. 

Across the continent, people and industries 

still suffer with lack of access to electricity or 

poor and unreliable connections, despite the 

vast amount of resources we have. Gas-topower 

projects could come a long way in addressing 

much of the continent’s electricity 

shortfalls, but it will also fulfil the fundamental 

roll of environmental protection, as it is a 

much cleaner source of power than diesel. 

Beyond that, the use of natural gas would 

allow nations to cut down on the extremely 

expensive effort of importing refined oil products 

from other parts of the world. This means 

that people will be better serviced for a lesser 

cost. This means that industries will spend less 

on power, making them more competitive and 

profitable and that African nations will be less 

dependent on the price of diesel to power its 

economies. 

A company that does not have to stop production 

due to power outages or endure high 

costs to access electric power is a more efficient 

and productive company, with greater 

capacity to expand, grow, be profitable and 

contribute to economic and social development. 

Natural gas can be used for household 

heating, cooking, producing fertilizers or be 

used to produce Compressed Natural Gas, a 

much cheaper and cleaner vehicle fuel replacement 

for gasoline or diesel. 

A shift in the paradigm of power generation 

and gas utilization across the continent could 

spur extensive economic development and 

create hundreds of thousands of jobs. 

Signs of change 

Finally, in recent years, we started to see 

some signs of change. The investment in natural 

gas fired power plants and transport infrastructure 

witnessed in the last few years has 

made the internal market for natural gas consumption 

grow significantly within the African 

domestic market. Countries like Egypt, 

Morocco, South Africa or Ivory Coast are 

growing increasingly dependent on natural 

gas to fuel its expansive gas-to-power programs. 

Also, offshore reserves that had, for 

decades, been deemed too expensive to extract, 

are progressively being made feasible. 

New technologies are making the development 

of natural gas transport infrastructure 

more economical. Diesel ran engines can easily 

be transformed into multi-fuel generators, 

which can also run on natural gas. 

In January 2018, Mozambican authorities 

confirmed that a consortium of banks is investing 

USD$8 billion in a floating LNG 

(FLNG) development in the country’s Coral 

gas field. That corresponds to a bit over 70% 

of Mozambique’s 2016 gross domestic product, 

which stood at USD$11 billion. The impact 

of the development of this industry cannot 

be overstated. The reserves from the Coral 

field can be used to fulfil Mozambique’s energy 

needs and that of its neighbours, create 

jobs and spur the growth of industries. Equatorial 

Guinea’s success with the Fortuna 

FLNG development is another resounding 

example of the impact of these 

new technological solutions 

across the continent. Cameroon’s 

newly designed FLNG 

offshore platform, introduces 

technological improvements 

that could further reduce the cost 

of production and make natural 

gas even more competitive 

for power generation. All of 

these examples are coming together 

to push the continent into 

a new era. 

LNG2Africa 

This represents a major opportunity 

for African nations. In the 

attempts to try to diversify from 

the crude oil industry and to give 

access to power to the millions 

of Africans that remain isolated 

from industrial development, 

political leaders and private actors 

have the chance to develop 

an internal natural gas-based industry 

that can be competitive, 

in a time where the global market 

is slowing down. This is the 

premise and the argument behind 

the value of the LNG2Africa 

initiative. This private sector movement is 

striving to strike inter-African long-term Sales 

and Purchase agreements between African 

nations. It is aiming at fostering cooperation 

and knowledge exchange amongst the continent’s 

natural gas producing and consuming 

nations in order to facilitate infrastructural 

development. 

A company that 

does not have to 

stop production due 

to power outages or 

endure high costs to 

access electric 

power is a more 

efficient and 

productive company, 

with greater capacity 

to expand, grow, be 

profitable and 

contribute to 

economic and social 

development 

With the strong endorsement of the government 

of Equatorial Guinea, one of the continent’s 

biggest LNG exporters, the LNG2Africa 

initiative has helped to strike a memorandum 

of understanding (MOU) between the Equatorial 

Guinean government and Ghana to 

kick-start negotiations on a LNG sales agreement 

between the two nations, in June. Three 

months later, a similar success was achieved 

between 

Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso, with 

the signing of a 3-year long MOU for the negotiation 

of LNG supply and the construction 

of transport infrastructure. 

Feasibility studies for the development 

of regasification 

and LNG storage terminals 

leaders. 

•Ayuk 

are undergoing. In just a few 

months since its launch, 

LNG2Africa has already accomplished 

significant steps 

for the development of inter- 

African trade, inter-African 

power generation independence, 

as well as inter-African 

knowledge exchange and cooperation. 

Further, the initiative 

is joining both official authorities 

and private energy 

trading companies that can 

provide financing and transport 

solutions for the resources. 

These are very positive developments 

that have the potential 

to spur a new golden 

age for the African natural gas 

industry. Above all, it represents 

a strong move towards 

using African resources for the 

development of African nations 

and its citizens, all being 

promoted by African energy 

•NJ Ayuk JD/MBA is a leading energy lawyer 

and a strong advocate for African entrepreneurs, 

recognised as a Global Shaper 

with the World Economic Forum and one of 

Forbes’ Top 10 Most Influential Men in Africa 

in 2015.


rexmarinus@hotmail.com 

Winnie Mandela, Mama 

Africa: And so it goes… 

She was beautiful in 

that ethereal and ex 

quisitely African 

way: fierce, plump, straightbacked, 

and unbent by adversity 

or struggle. There 

was both fire and love in her 

eyes. You could see that in 

all her pictures. The bold lioness. 

The daring twinkle. 

The changing cloud of her 

face that could either gather 

with the rain, or open with 

the sun. Prickly and hot. 

Calm and seductive. 

She was the fire in that 

burning spear that was 

hauled against apartheid, 

and her voice traveled far, 

like a javelin and pierced the 

armor of the most powerful 

white supremacist regime 

ever established anywhere 

in the world. No shield was 

proof against her. She was 

the cornerstone of the struggle 

for the liberation of the 

land, which people like me 

grew up to call “Azania” – 

South Africa. At the end of 

the struggle she became 

that stone which the builders 

of the new South Africa 

rejected, but which remains 

the capstone of its temple to 

all intents and purposes because 

history may be unkind 

in one generation, but does 

not forget. The great heroes 

of today, might become in 

the passage of time, the villains 

of tomorrow. In the 

fullness of time, a true measure 

of her life will be rendered, 

but today, Winnie 

Madikizela Mandela passes 

on. Two women from 

South Africa embodied the 

image, for my generation, 

of the dimensions of the 

South African struggle: 

Miriam Makeba – whose 

musical genius spawned of 

the Shebeens of Soweto 

gave idiom to the South African 

struggle much like the 

mournful and insouciant 

jazz of her former spouse, 

the now equally late Hugh 

Maskela. 

When Makeba sang 

“Pata-Pata,” you heard the 

calming balm on the spirits 

of men and women who 

have gone to battle; when 

she sang, “Aluta Continua,” 

you heard the thundering 

feet of the revolutionaries in 

Africa gathering in the 

street, defiant, and proud 

and sworn to liberty: 

My people, my people 

open your eyes 

And answer the call of the 

drums 

Frelimo, Frelimo – 

Samora Machel has 

come – 

Maputo, Maputo, home 

of the brave, 

Our nation soon shall be 

one. 

Frelimo, Frelimo – 

Samora Machel has won. 

In Mozambique – 

Aluta continua, Aluta 

continua, continua… 

It was a song which like 

Bob Marley’s “Zimbabwe” 

written for that moment, 

and the powerful, almost 

elegiac song, “Babylon System,” 

with its defiant refrain, 

“We’ve been trodding 

on the wine press for much 

too long…rebel” broke 

walls, and the backs of 

apartheid and colonialism. 

But it was Winnie Mandela 

who embodied these songs, 

and the spirit of the land, 

and her struggles. The 

heave of protests which had 

swollen from when her husband, 

the much eulogized 

Nelson Mandela stood trial, 

and defiantly refused to 

denounce or reject armed 

struggle as an alternative to 

the negotiations for the full 

rights of Africans in South 

Africa held under the thrall 

of settler colonialism and 

apartheid. 

Nelson Mandela was 

jailed with his comrades, 

condemned to death following 

the Rivonia trials. Let 

me point here as an aside, 

that it took the back channel 

diplomacy of Dr. Nnamdi 

Azikiwe, pressuring the 

British and the Americans, 

to force South-Africa to 

commute the death sentence 

on Mandela and his cohorts. 

Indeed, the decision 

to return to South Africa 

from Lagos, through London, 

and make the Mandela 

trial a political and international 

issue was taken 

in Lagos, where Mandela 

had fled, under the protection 

of Azikiwe and the 

NCNC was made, I understand, 

in Lagos in 1962 between 

Zik, his principal secretary 

Adisa K. Disu, Jaja 

Wachukwu and Mandela. 

Mbazulike Amechi with 

whom he lived in Yaba had 

given just a hint of this and 

the partnership between the 

NCNC and the ANC in an 

interview with me in 1996 

published in the Sunday 

Vanguard, but not much has 

been known publicly yet of 

the efforts by Dr. Jaja 

Wachukwu, Nigeria’s first 

republic Foreign Minister 

and Dr. Azikiwe in internationalizing 

the Mandela 

situation, in the years when 

Nigeria mattered in the 

world and carried weight in 

When people saw 

Winnie Mandela they 

saw Nelson Mandela. 

Winnie bore the brunt 

of his long absence; 

she was already a 

widow for the struggle; 

and like all passionate 

humans, she sought 

consolation in the arms 

of passionate men, in 

the absence of her 

husband 

international affairs before 

she became a laughing stock 

of the world. I hope that soon, 

someday, the vast papers of 

Dr. Wachukwu kept in his 

Mbawsi Home could be acquired, 

indexed, and preserved 

by the National Archives 

in Enugu, or by the 

Special Collections Section 

of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Library 

at the University of Nigeria 

Nsukka, or the proposed 

Archive of Igbo Life 

and Letters in Owerri when it 

is fully established and operational. 

But the flame had been lit, 

that will light the path of the 

anti-apartheid struggle: it was 

in the voice and soul of Mandela’s 

young wife. Nelson 

Mandela’s wife was much 

younger than he. Winnie was 

his second wife. From the moment 

in 1962, when her husband 

was taken to the Roben 

Islands, Winnie Mandela 

took on the role of the voice 

of the struggle. Many fled 

South Africa. But she stood, 

unflinching, and fearless. She 

led marches on the streets. 

She campaigned vigorously 

and relentlessly. She was beaten 

and tortured. She was banished 

and confined to solitary 

house arrest in rural Banfort. 

But she kept the “Free Mandela 

movement” alive and active. 

Her power-salute thrown 

defiantly in the air became 

the symbol of that defiance, 

not only of the African, but of 

that species of the Black woman 

– mother, lover, wife, and 

image of the goddess of the 

land. Great men like Oliver 

Tambo left for exile, and kept 

the international pressure on 

apartheid alive in their lives 

of restless exile. 

Oliver Thambo in a sense 

was like Moses of the Jews. 

He led the ANC and South 

Africa through the Forty-year 

wilderness, saw the glimpse 

of the Promised Land, but died 

just on the eve of the postapartheid 

elections that 

would have symbolized the 

culmination of his struggles. 

Tambo was blamed for the 

Church Street massacres, 

during the Truth and Reconciliation 

tribunals. Winnie 

Mandela stayed on in South 

Africa and kept the ANC 

struggle at home fierce and 

resolute. 

There would have been no 

Mandela without Winnie 

Mandela, because she it was 

who stoked his legend; turned 

his from an ordinary man of 

the struggle, to the spirit of the 

struggle. When people saw 

Winnie Mandela they saw 

Nelson Mandela. Winnie 

bore the brunt of his long absence; 

she was already a widow 

for the struggle; and like 

all passionate humans, she 

sought consolation in the 

arms of passionate men, in the 

absence of her husband. It 

was not what broke their 

marriage. It was that time 

and the cruelty of that separation 

had sundered their relationship. 

Nelson Mandela 

returned from prison an old, 

sagely man. Winnie, still at 

the height of her power 

longed for familiar consolations, 

the kind which Mr. 

Mandela could no longer 

provide. She too had been 

shaped by the contradictions 

of the struggle. She was accused 

of being an accessory 

after the fact of murder in the 

now legendary Stompie case. 

She was later acquitted. She 

was accused of corruption as 

a government minister. It was 

later overturned by a judge 

who established that the 

transactions involving Winnie 

Mandela were not conducted 

for “personal gain.” 

Her divorce from Nelson 

Mandela must be counted as 

one of the most obvious 

blights in what should have 

been a symbolic and model 

union. It has been said that 

Winnie Mandela’s “infidelity” 

was the primary cause of 

the divorce. But it is clear that 

Winnie Mandela was one of 

the sacrifices Nelson Mandela 

had to offer to the gods of 

“reconciliation,” if he had to 

ascend to power in South Africa. 

Winnie’s abrasive involvement 

in the struggle; the 

threat of her personality 

and popularity; and the 

pan-African vision that animated 

her, threatened the 

balance of forces in the 

“new South Africa.” She 

had to be sacrificed. But she 

remained popular among 

ordinary folk. She criticized 

her ex-husband’s postapartheid 

stances, particularly 

in her defence of the 

ordinary folk, who have 

never benefited from the 

struggle to end apartheid. 

Mama Africa: her soul 

marches on. 

Good Night, My Blood, 

My Brother 

other, , Yemm 

emmy 

There is no comfort for 

the heart when it is 

broken. There is no 

comfort for the eyes when the 

tears come in torrents. And 

there is never a comfort for 

tomorrow when today looks 

like the end of the road. Where 

is the comfort when all 

around you there are sorrowful 

faces that demand answers 

to sad questions on their 

minds? 

Where is the comfort when 

the world is upside down, and 

you have to pick existence out 

of the rubbles? Where is the 

comfort when at every step 

you take it feels as if you are 

treading on your own heart 

and the pain is unbearable? 

How do you seek comfort 

when the heart is “knocking” 

wildly and threatening to 

burst out? 

You cannot give up. In this 

state, there are people who 

are clinging on to you for direction, 

for a new beginning 

and purpose. You are as lost 

and directionless as anyone 

could get. The pain becomes 

unbearable when you are 

asked the way forward when 

Diaspora Matters, with 

Morak Babajide-Alabi 

http://www.babajidealabi.com 

all you want to do is walk 

back into the past. Sadness 

overwhelms you, but you cannot 

say this. You are clueless, 

yet you have to pretend you 

are in control. 

People with heavy hearts 

gather around you, yet you 

cannot offer any comfort because 

you are struggling to 

hide your own grief. You advise 

people not to cry anymore, 

yet at every opportunity, 

you lock yourself up in the 

closet to cry your heart out. 

You can not do it in public, 

because you will break people 

you should be a tower for. 

This is life! It is a misery 

which no one has been able 

to explain. This past week I 

asked many questions in my 

bid to understand life’s mysteries. 

All to no avail. I gave 

up because I realised that no 

matter how hard the wisest of 

human beings try, no one can 

crack it. You may think you 

understand it right now but 

turn around in a second and 

you will be confused what it 

is all about. The mysteries belong 

to God, the Almighty. 

In my reflection, I realise 

that in life, one minute your 

laughter might be the loudest 

in a hall, and in a twinkle 

of an eye your pain may become 

the “deepest”. Sometimes 

it takes just a phone call, 

or the door to open inwards 

and life brings a new meaning. 

Who can explain this? 

For me, for us, the laughter 

boomed and boomed, the 

hearts were merry, songs of 

joy, until that moment when 

all changed. It was a dream 

that we prayed we should 

When we said 

goodbye a few 

days ago, it was 

not to be last. 

When we hugged 

as he set out for 

London the 

thought that it 

could be the last 

never crossed my 

mind 

wake up from on time. So as 

we rang each other up, there 

was a consensus that we were 

networking in our various 

dreams and when we wake 

up we would all heave sighs 

of relief and pick up the 

laughter where we left off. 

Dreams do become reality. 

While reality also sometimes 

sends us into trances. 

Last week was the longest 

of my life. It was the most tor- 

•Yemmy 

tuous week of my adult existence 

and definitely will take 

a while for the inflicted wound 

to heal. The week typified the 

scenario I painted above, 

from the highest height of joy 

to the lowest depth of pain and 

sadness. 

Ironically yesterday was my 

birthday, incidentally, a week 

after the resurrection of our 

Lord Jesus Christ. It was a 

week I had to repeatedly say 

the words - “we lost him” - to 

closest relations, while to 

some I could not even bear 

the courage to say anything. 

I had to let the sobs and tears 

convey the message. 

How do you explain the 

mystery? I lost Yemmy a few 

months to his 50th birthday. 

It sounds so unreal. Is this 

how death play the game? 

Dirty! A man full of life, hopes, 

plans and dreams and had to 

go just like that. Death is indeed 

shameless. If it is not, 

why will it take Yemmy when 

all he wanted to do was go 

and visit his family in Abuja? 

He loved his wife, his children 

and anyone that ever came 

in contact with him will testify 

of his large heart. 

Death, where is thy sting? 

You waited for Yemmy where 

we least expected. He walked 

into Heathrow Airport, 

checked in his luggage, got 

his boarding passes, and with 

a smile waved goodbye to his 

good friend, Simon, who had 

accompanied him to the airport, 

as he walked through the 

security barrier. Yemmy was 

a few metres from boarding 

his flight to see his family before 

he slumped and was 

rushed to the Harefield Hospital 

where he passed on a day 

after. 

When we said goodbye a 

few days ago, it was not to be 

last. When we hugged as he 

set out for London the thought 

that it could be the last never 

crossed my mind. I would 

have held tightly to him, and 

pushed my heart into his. As 

we chatted on the way to the 

airport on this fateful day, if I 

had an inkling, I would have 

told him how much fun he 

brought into my life these past 

three months. But he never 

gave any clue that he was nearing 

the end of his journey. 

As I spent some time with 

him at the Chapel of Rest, 

Harefield Hospital, a while 

after passing on, he looked so 

peaceful like someone at 

sleep. This was my first reality 

of death. I was lost for words 

as I starred through teary eyes 

at a brother I admired so 

much. Yemmy was gone. His 

lips were curled as if to say: 

“Jide, it’s okay. Stop crying, I 

have done my bit. Be strong 

for Bukky, the children and 

sisters.” 

As I walked into the outer 

room the words of God hit me 

like fresh air. Revelations 4:11 

- “Worthy are You, our Lord 

and our God, to receive glory 

and honour and power; for 

You created all things, and because 

of Your will they existed 

and were created.” And I realised 

Yemmy had gone to a 

better place. 

This is not a tribute. I will 

write one later. But I must say 

Yemmy was a gentleman, 

good husband, father, friend, 

brother, colleague, etc anyone 

could have wished for. 

He was above all, a Christian. 

His kindness will live 

forever in the hearts of all he 

came in contact with. He 

loved life and he made it a 

duty to put smiles on people’s 

faces. With Yemmy, there was 

never a downtime. His laughter 

was infectious as it always 

came from his heart, and with 

him, you knew where you 

stood. 

Yemmy was a pioneer, a 

brilliant individual who excelled 

in all he laid his hands 

on. He was a First Class graduate 

of Surveying and Geomatics 

from University of 

Lagos and a British Chevening 

Scholar of the University 

of Edinburgh with distinction 

in Masters in Geographical 

Information Sciences. 

He consulted for many UK 

local councils and shared his 

expertise with many individuals 

and businesses. Perhaps 

he knew his time was short 

that was why he did all these 

fast. 

It is still incomprehensible 

but we have accepted the sovereignty 

of God. I am so happy 

you chose to spend your 

last three months on earth 

with me and my family. We 

miss you. Your nephews and 

niece still knock on the door 

to your room, as a habit, before 

they leave for college. It 

will take a long while for us 

to adjust. 

Good night, Yemmy, my 

blood, my brother.

How prepared are you to rise 

above challenges? 

Today’s edition is still 

about the essence of 

Easter and today’s 

Christian. 

Our evidence that Christ is 

risen is not in doubt. Our 

authority is found in Matthew 

28 vs. 5 & 6, which tells us what 

happened when Mary 

Magdalene and the other 

Mary went to the tomb of 

Jesus. 

“ And the angel answered 

and said unto the women, 

Fear not ye: for I know that ye 

seek Jesus, which was 

crucified. He is not here: for 

he is risen, as he said. Come, 

see the place where the Lord 

lay”. 

Christ rose that we might 

have eternal life. 

For a moment let’s look at 

the behavior of some of the 

people around our Lord Jesus 

at the peak of his trial and 

crucifixion and how this may 

be crucial to our 

breakthrough. 

The character being 

considered here is Pontius 

Pilate. Luke 23 vs. 1-6 but for 

this purpose we’ll quote only 

verse 4 “ Then said Pilate to 

the chief priests and to the 

people, I find no fault in this 

man”. Note- That Pilate was 

The art of giving a gift shows 

your ability to be generous 

appreciative and kind. It 

takes more than just going to 

buy or acquire a gift for 

someone. There are different 

reasons for giving gifts all year 

round, depending on a festive 

occasion or a personal one. 

Gifts are usually a delight to 

receive, the joy, excitement and 

surprise one experiences when 

it comes to opening the gift is 

great. However today 

receiving gifts comes with a 

lot of caution, at times there 

are legal implications bound 

by giving and receiving gifts. 

It is important to be 

knowledgeable about the 

protocol of giving and 

receiving gifts as it applies to 

varying geographical 

locations. 

I have a few etiquette 

strategies you may want to 

consider as you are buying a 

gift for someone in the near 

future. 

Gift Giving Taboo. 

Professional Vs Private 

Buying a gift for a friend is 

quite different from buying for 

a colleague, team mate or 

sure Jesus wasn’t guilty of any 

of these accusations, not even 

one. 

Matthew 27 vs. 17-20. Let’s 

see what happened when 

Pilate asked the protesters 

who he should release, Jesus 

or Barabbas? 

Verses 19 &20 is our 

reference here “ When he ( 

Pilate) set down on the 

judgment seat, his wife sent 

unto him, saying, Have thou 

nothing to do with that just 

man: for I have suffered many 

things this day in a dream 

because of him. But the chief 

priests and elders persuaded 

the multitude that they should 

ask Barabbas and destroy 

Jesus”. 

Note the Divine revelation 

to the wife of Pilate. 

How do you respond to 

Divine revelation given to you 

directly or to a friend and he/ 

she comes to tell you? Do you 

act prayerfully on it or just 

dismiss it? . 

From our Biblical studies, 

we find that these two reasons 

might be the reason Pilate 

symbolically washed his 

hands off the case of Jesus. 

Was that the best he could 

do? 

Matthew 27 vs. 24 “ When 

Gift Giving Taboos 

supervisor not to mention your 

boss. If your gift is within the 

office space it is official, either 

to mark a national 

celebration or an internal 

personal celebration, your gift 

should have no hidden or 

underlying message that 

suggests anything unethical. 

In the office setting, gifts are 

better presented jointly as a 

team, department or group. 

Private gifts in the office may 

connote a negative message 

or implication. It is wrong to 

give a gift that appears 

personal, fancy or exorbitant 

in price, avoid breaching the 

office policy by recognizing 

what is acceptable or not. 

In receiving a professional 

gift it is sensible to recognize 

who and where it is from. If it 

comes from an organization 

that has just put in a bid or a 

business transaction of 

interest and the gift is likely 

given to influence your 

decision, such a gift should be 

refused and returned, this is 

considered unethical work 

practice. 

Sensitivity 

Pilate saw that he could 

prevail nothing, but that 

rather a tumult was made, he 

took water, and washed his 

hands before the multitude, 

saying, I am innocent of the 

blood of this just person: see 

ye to it”. 

Before this, act of Pilate, let’s 

see another action of Pilate. 

According to Holy Bible, 

Luke 23 vs. 7 “ And as soon as 

he knew that he belonged unto 

Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent 

him to Herod, who himself 

also was at Jerusalem at that 

time”. 

Note what happened in 

verse 12 of Luke 23 “ And the 

same day Pilate and Herod 

were made friends together: 

for before they were at enmity 

between themselves”. 

Brethren, did you get the 

message. Two men who used 

to be enemies suddenly 

became friends, because they 

found a common threat in 

Jesus who must be dealt with. 

In the light of this, can one 

really say that Pilate was 

sincere when he washed his 

hands off the case of Jesus? 

Or did he decide to wash his 

hands off the case because of 

the dream his wife had? 

The issue here is, can you 

and I stand for the truth in the 

midst of pressure? 

Will you as a sister in law 

stand for the truth in a family 

meeting where your brother’s 

wife is being accused of 

unfriendly attitude, pride and 

all sorts of accusations? 

Have you not been attending 

family meetings where people 

are planning to use whatever 

means to force your brother’s 

wife out of her matrimonial 

Proper thought needs to be 

applied when deciding what 

to buy as a gift for anyone. 

Group consultation is advised 

when going for professional 

gifts while for personal gift it 

is safer to buy what will be of 

value to the user. Sensitive 

gifts should be avoided, they 

are considered gifts like 

underwear, perfume from a 

superior to a subordinate, or 

sharp items like knifes cutters 

or glass items. Gifts that have 

no relevance to the receiver is 

considered blindly insensitive. 

They may appear to be 

awkward to the receiver, at 

times quite embarrassing. 

The implication is that he 

gifts will be abandoned and 

unused, forfeiting the gift 

objective altogether. 

Culture 

As much as gift are common 

worldwide, culture plays a big 

part in choosing what to buy. 

There are many cultures that 

are color specific, certain 

colors do not go down well 

home because she is yet to 

have a child? 

Are you not plotting to put 

your colleague in the office in 

trouble because you want to 

take his post? Yet you claim to 

be a Christian? 

After all that Pilate did, he 

could not escape the pressure 

of his conscience. 

According to John 19 vs. 19 

“ And Pilate wrote a title, and 

What do we say to a 

Christian girl who for 

the love of money 

abandoned her faith to 

become a second wife 

to a married man of 

another religion? 

put it on the cross. And the 

writing was, JESUS OF 

NAZARETH THE KING OF 

THE JEWS”. 

Still troubled by his 

conscience, let’s see another 

action of Pilate as recorded 

in John 19 vs. 38 “ And after 

this Joseph of Arimathaea, 

being a disciple of Jesus, but 

secretly for fear of the Jews, 

besought Pilate that he might 

take away the body of Jesus: 

and Pilate gave him leave. He 

came therefore, and took the 

body of Jesus”. 

Brethren, you could see that 

Pilate was never free from his 

conscience but was not bold 

enough to set Jesus free. Did I 

hear you say, his action was 

to fulfill what has been written 

about our Lord Jesus? 

What about you? You know 

with them. Purple flowers in 

Brazil are a sign of bad luck, 

black and dark colors in 

Indian is a NO NO when 

buying a gift. Some cultures 

do not allow you to buy a gift 

for a woman who is not your 

wife. Some cultures insist you 

buy a gift for the host of an 

event regardless of the size, 

just something to appreciate 

the invitation gesture. A gift 

in Asia should be well 

wrapped with care. It is 

expected that at times the gift 

be refused a couple of times 

before finally being accepted, 

this is normal cultural 

behavior. It is also not out of 

place to open a gift in the 

presence of the giver in some 

countires, it is not the size but 

the kind gesture that matters. 

Religion & Beliefs 

Yes. it is a must that you be 

religion sensitive when 

buying a gift whether it is for 

professional or personal 

reasons. Many religions are 

against certain practices that 


what is true but you are not 

bold enough to stand up for 

it? You know that as a 

Christian, you have no 

business with cultism, visiting 

herbalists or sorcerers but you 

still do . All because someone 

has told you that it is taking 

too long for God to answer 

your prayers. Therefore as a 

single lady, you take all steps 

to force yourself on a married 

man just to have a child. 

You may not realize what 

you have done but within a 

short time, you will find that 

your so-called short cut to that 

challenge is the fast track to 

everlasting pain. 

God remains a miracle 

worker and not a magician. 

Or are you like Joseph of 

Arimathaea, as a rich man, 

you must not been seen 

reading your Bible. You don’t 

even want to seen dancing too 

much in the church. Or you 

don’t even have time to attend 

church services. Your attitude 

is, whenever the church asks 

for donation, I will send it. 

Brethren, donations, 

offerings are not the keys to 

the salvation of souls. Christ 

expects more from us. 

Do you in anyway identify 

with Christ? 

I’ll share with you, the story 

told by a Reverend at Anglican 

Church, Ikosi. 

He said a Christian young 

man went to another part of 

the country for the 

introduction and 

engagement ceremony for his 

fiancée. The lady’s family 

produced a list that included 

alcoholic drinks. The groom 

insisted he would not use his 

money to buy such drinks. The 

can be reflected in some gifts. 

Smoking and alcohol 

consumption are common 

religious objections. A bottle 

of drink is also a favoured gift 

but act with caution. Some 

clothing items may not be 

appropriate among certain 

people due to their style, 

exposure and nature of 

acceptability. There is no 

point in buying a skirt or dress 

for someone who is bound by 

religion to covering fully from 

head to toe. In receiving gifts 

too there are some beliefs that 

say collecting your gift with 

your left hand is bad, it is a 

superstition and considered 

quite rude. Follow the general 

practice to avoid being In 

breach of protocol. 

There is also a belief in the 

African continent that it is 

better to gift physical cash 

that is money instead of the 

physical item. Money they feel 

is more valuable and has its 

own versatile usages. Be 

mindful though as the amount 

you gift may tell or read 

meaning into the value you 

have of that person you are 

gifting. The larger the amount 

the valuable or worth of your 

giving. 

Symbolization 

It is not uncommon that 

certain objects have different 

symbolized meanings in 

different cultures and 

countries. There are gifts that 

symbolize life, death, 

goodluck, badluck, wealth, 

lady’s family insisted he must 

buy the drinks. After about 

two days of deadlock, the 

groom told the lady’s family 

that he would rather call off 

the ceremony. He stood his 

ground. When the family saw 

that he was ready to leave, they 

then asked him to convert 

every bottle of hot drink to two 

cartoons of malt drink. The 

groom agreed and the 

ceremony eventually took 

place. 

Brethren, do you and I have 

the courage to uphold our 

Christian values at all times? 

Do we not quickly give in to 

pressure in the name of 

culture even when we know 

that such an action could have 

serious implications for our 

Christian life? 

What do we say to a 

Christian girl who for the love 

of money abandoned her faith 

to become a second wife to a 

married man of another 

religion? 

Initially, she seemed to be 

enjoying every bit of it but 

today as I write, the man is 

languishing in jail for 

defrauding his company and 

our former Christian lady and 

her children are experiencing 

the worst form of poverty. 

Our prayer is that she 

retraces her steps back to 

Christ who is ready to save 

every sinner. 

However, the issue is how 

prepared are you to rise above 

challenges? Do you believe 

that with Christ you will be 

victorious? 

Hold on firmly to Jesus and 

your break thorough will 

surprise even you. 

Shalom! 

happiness and more. Try to 

recognize if there are any 

hidden meanings behind 

certain gifts. Also tie your gift 

to the religion, culture and 

ideology of where the gift is 

coming from, the country you 

are in and the hidden 

messages they may hold. 

Cost 

The cost of the gift is 

sensitive and subjective. How 

affordable it is to the giver 

plays am important role. 

However, if the gift is 

expensive there could be an 

underlying ulterior motive 

behind it. Some people weigh 

the level of relationship based 

on the cost of the gift. Some 

people also look down the gift 

just because it appears cheap. 

Alternatively some people 

react to an expensive gift 

because it may imply that the 

return of an equally expensive 

gift. The personality, 

character, style and status 

makes all the difference when 

choosing a gift for anyone. It 

is wrong to leave the price tag 

on a gift just to be recognized 

or validated. Ensure the price 

tag is removed especially 

before wrapping. 

Regifting 

it is poor conduct regifting 

a gift that you receive from 

someone else. Never regift a 

gift that is outdated, expired, 

old, tattered or obsolete. 

Good luck as you buy your 

next gift 

janetadetu@gmail.com 

Gov Okowa assures Delta HOSTCOM of support 

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

of Delta State,a has 

reassured the state chapter of 

Host Communities of Nigeria 

( HOSTCOM) of adequate 

support to ensure lasting 

peace and development to the 

oil producing communities 

and areas in the state. 

Governor Okowa, who was 

represented by the Chief of 

Staff, Hon. Tam Brisibe, at the 

inauguration of Delta State 

Executives of HOSTCOM, at 

PTI, Effurun, Delta State, also 

charged HOSTCOM to 

ensure implementation of the 

Local Content Act by 

multinationals operating in 

the communities to engage 

indigenes profitably. 

Also, the immediate past 

Delta State Chairman of 

HOSTCOM, Dr. Peter Kelly 

Edegegbe, called on 

HOSTCOM and Deltans to 

support the re-election of 

Governor Okowa in 2019, 

saying the Governor has 

contributed immensely to the 

growth and welfare of 

HOSTCOM in the state. 

Meanwhile, the new state 

chairman of HOSTCOM, 

Evang. Gabriel Isibeluo, in his 

speech after the inauguration 

of the executives assured Delta 

State government, traditional 

rulers, leaders of host 

communities, that 

HOSTCOM will continue to 

provide enabling 

environment for increased oil 

production. 

Isibeluo was sworn in with 

other 31-man state executive 

of HOSTCOM by the acting 

national chairman of 

HOSTCOM, High Chief 

Benjamin Style Tamaranebi. 

By Festus Ahon 

A 

chieftain of the 

People's Democratic 

Party, PDP, in Delta 

State, Chief Emmanuel 

Okumagba, has told 

politicians, especially those 

seeking for elective positions 

not to see politics as a do-ordie, 

insisting that only God 

gives power. 

Okumagba who stated this 

when Mr George Eburu, an 

aspirant for Delta State House 

of Assembly in Warri South 

constituency II, paid him a 

consultative visit, told them to 

go about their electoral 

campaigns peacefully. 

2019: Politics is not do-or-die affair, 

Okumagba tells aspirants 

He said "politics of 

bitterness promotes acrimony 

and creates hatred and 

disunity". 

Chief Okumagba charged 

Mr Eburu to go about his 

campaigns peacefully and 

"leave the rest for God; there 

is time for everyone to 

occupy the position God has 

destined for him or her". 

Speaking earlier, Eburu 

who was accompanied by his 

supporters' group, Grassroot 

Mobilization, told Chief 

Emmanuel Okumagba that 

he was in the House of 

Assembly race to impact 

positively on his people. 

He said he was inspired to 

contest for the position to 

enable his people get the 

dividends of democracy in all 

ramifications, adding that "I 

am ready to put smiles on the 

faces of my people". 

To this end, Eburu called on 

the people to support him, 

promising not disappoint 

them when elected.


Living with 

Eternity in view (5) 

By Pastor William F. Kumuyi 

JOHN 5:28-29 "Marvel 

not at this: for the hour 

is coming, in the which 

all that are in the graves 

shall hear his voice, And 

shall come forth; they that 

have done good, unto the 

resurrection of life; and 

they that have done evil, 

unto the resurrection of 

damnation." 

•Kumuyi 

This means that everybody will be resurrected. Whether 

you are a saint or a sinner death does not stop your 

existence. In fact, after the resurrection, both saints 

and sinners will enter a new phase of existence by 

living the forever life. While saints will have the resurrection 

of life; sinners will participate in the resurrection 

of damnation. Let us work on a supposition 

that you rejected the universal provision of God's salvation 

for mankind when it was readily available. What 

then will be your fate? 

Mark 9:43-44 "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it 

is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having 

two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall 

be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire 

is not quenched." 

If you should die as a sinner, let me put it so bluntly as 

it is, you will be in the burning lake of fire forever and 

ever. You will keep burning in that horrible eternal chimney 

that you will never get burnt up. You will feel your 

body being consumed within the terrible scorching hit 

of forever flaming fire, but it will never completely consume 

your body. It will be so painful that you will long 

for death, yet death will not come to rescue you from 

the eternal Divine decree for sinners. 

"It is appointed unto men once to die." You cannot die 

twice. That is, after you might have undergone the resurrection 

from the dead life you lived on earth, you 

cannot die again while facing eternal punitive measure 

for the crimes you committed against God in your previous 

life. This means that after your resurrection you 

will live forever. You cannot commit suicide. Neither 

can Satan kill you nor the flames of eternal fire. But 

you will live forever and ever in that God forsaken 

place. 

Mark 9:45-46 "And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it 

is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having 

two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never 

shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and 

the fire is not quenched." 

Hell is a place where the cells of your body will not be 

destroyed despite the astronomical heatwave that will 

engulf your human body. Mark 9:47-48 "And if thine 

eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to 

enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having 

two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm 

dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 

What does it mean to live with eternity in view? What it 

means is this. If you have a close confidant who is 

alw-ays in the habit of influencing you to indulge in sin, 

thereby becoming an eternal offender of God's word 

and a potential handicap of eternal damnation; and 

you have eternity in view, it then means that you will 

do all that you can to end such a relationship. This is 

because it will be far better for you to cut off that 

wealthy man or that beautiful seductress, so that you 

can preserve your eternal life and remain safe, than to 

sink in eternal destruction. 

Do not let eternity teach you an eternal lesson you will 

ever live to regret. That is why you need to cut off 

every thing that will smear your image even if it will 

lead to the scandal of the day. 

Talking about scandal, David the king had a national 

scandal when he committed adultery, murdered the 

husband of his partner and took her in as his wife. It 

was a terrible deed that inflamed wagging tongues, 

but he did not let the shame of it hinder his relationship 

with God, but came out clean seeking God's mercy. 

Today, David has gone to meet the LORD in heaven, 

but the earthly shame and scar did not join the flight 

to heaven. You may have gotten pregnant out of 

wedlock. Do not tell a lie to cover it up. Though it will 

be shameful; it will only last for few weeks. Repent 

and make right your life. Matthew 25:41-43 "Then shall 

he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from 

me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the 

devil and his angels: 

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was 

thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and 

ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, 

and in prison, and ye visited me not." 

The lives of many people around the world is lived in 

selfishness. They never give any part of their 

substance, food, money, clothing, time or talent for 

the benefit of other people. And Jesus says that on 

the last day He will reject and cast them to everlasting 

fire. You are here and you possess a lot of talents 

and gifts. Do you ever give it out for the benefit of 

other people? You have the message of salvation, do 

you ever give it out for the benefit of those who are 

not saved? You have the knowledge of the Bible, but 

do you ever give it out for the knowledge of those 

who are ignorant? You have the message of 

deliverance, but do you ever give it out for those who 

are imprisoned and in captivity? If not, on the last day 

you will hear the voice of the Lord, saying, depart from 

me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the 

devil and his angels. *To be continued 

DR. FRANCIS 

AKIN-JOHN 

Church Growth Consultant, 6/8, 

Mukadaq Close, Off Palace Way, 

Iyana-Odo, B/Stop, Isheri-LASU Road, 

Lagos. 

08023000714. akingrow@yahoo.com 

THEY recognize the 

reality of the 

spiritual war. They 

respect the enemy’s 

power without ever forgetting 

they’re following 

the Conqueror. 

3. They practicalize the 

Word. Just listen to them 

talk. They sprinkle the 

Word throughout their 

conversations, without 

drawing attention to 

themselves. It’s just 

natural to them. 

4. They fight sin in their 

personal lives and in the 

lives of their congregations. 

They know that 

God hates and loathes 

sins with passion. They 

take courageous actions 

to do away with besetting 

REVEREND FATHER 

John Damian 

ADIZIE, OCD 

Director of Int'l Youth Empowerment 

& Rehabilitation Centre (IYERC) 

Tel: 08076635886 

Email: 

johndamianocd@yahoo.co.uk 

Health for all @ World Health Day 

NOTHING in this 

world is as valuable 

as good health. A 

healthy world is indeed a 

wealthy world. No wonder, 

Good Health and Wellbeing 

is among the 17 Sustainable 

Development 

Goals. Incidentally, April 7 

happens to be World 

Health Day. The theme of 

this year's WHD is "Universal 

Health Coverage: 

Everyone, Everywhere." 

This theme must have 

been inspired by the ideology 

of people like Plato 

who declares, that “The 

part can never be well unless 

the whole is well.” 

Universal Health Coverage 

is therefore a means of 

Strategies to overcoming marriage challenges 

By Pastor Okokon Ating 

CATEGORICALLY, as 

an advice to 

couples who are 

facing these challenges, 

they should first of all do 

the following: Seek from 

God to know the purpose 

of the delay in pregnancy; 

Go through medical observation 

and check up to 

ascertain the reason(s) 

conception is being delayed; 

After adopting the first 

two advices, they should 

exercise patience to see 

what the outcome of the 

findings will be. 

*Keep on loving themselves 

and fulfill marital 

responsibilities to one 

another as it is stipulated 

in the Word of God; Refuse 

to listen to negative 

suggestions from friends 

and relatives; shun provocative 

slangs from the adversaries 

who will, from time 

to time provoke their 

hearts. 

*Adopt Hannah’s method 

of enquiry to receive their 

heart desire (1 Samuel 1:1- 

18); Believe God that he 

shall bring to pass all their 

petitions. 

sins in their lives and that 

of their churches. 

5. They know they could 

always fall. They are 

never so arrogant as to 

think failure could not 

happen to them. Even the 

possibility of bringing 

shame to Christ keeps 

them on their face before 

Him. 

6. They study the stories 

of other spiritual leaders. 

Usually, they do this 

through reading biographies 

and autobiographies. 

They allow even 

those who preceded 

them to teach them via 

print. 

7. They drip of humility. 

They could easily fall into 

pride, but they continually 

ensuring that everyone, 

everywhere can have 

access to quality health 

services without any financial 

or political hindrance. 

Jesus Christ did not just 

declare Healing for all or 

what we may call universal 

health coverage, he actually 

demonstrated it in his 

healing ministry. His healing 

ministry was not just 

limited to specific people. 

Everyone, the rich and the 

poor, benefitted from his 

healing ministry. The gospel 

of Matthew 12:15 declares, 

"Great multitudes 

followed Him, and He healed 

them all." All the sick, 

without exception, received 

their healing! 

*Pastor Okokon Ating 

INTIMACY 

The Oxford Advanced 

Learners’ Dictionary defines 

intimacy as “the state 

of having a close personal 

relationship with…” This 

close personal could be 

between friends, parents 

and the children, brothers, 

sisters, business partners, 

a husband and wife. 

In marriage institution, 

there are many things 

which stand as sources of 

power or pivot wheel on 

which a husband and the 

wife get united in life. 

Here are some of them to 

consider: There are some 

individuals who are united 

to their spouse due to genuine 

love within them; 

Some may be because of 

the beautiful or the handsomeness 

of the spouse, 

12 marks of truly 

Spiritual leaders? 

fight hard 

against that 

tendency. They 

always deflect 

any praise sent 

their way. 

8. They have 

their own mentors. These 

leaders never lead alone; 

they have others who 

help them guard their 

heart, push them to 

continue grow-ing, and 

challenge them to lead 

better. 

9. They make decisions 

and move on. They pray, 

seek God through His 

Word, talk to other trusted 

believers, and press 

on. Seldom do they get 

bogged down with 

second-guessing their 

decisions. 

10. They invest in others. 

That is, they recognize 

their responsibility to 

raise up another generation 

of spiritual leaders. 

Their ministry does- 

Reflecting on 

this year's World 

Health Day 

I kept wondering 

if Nigeria is 

among the UN 

countries that 

promotes universal 

Health 

coverage. If 

yes, why then 

do we have to 

fly our politicians 

and even 

their children 

to London and other parts 

of the world for medical 

treatment? whereas poor 

citizens are dying due to 

poor medical facilities. 

Will Nigeria ever have a reliable 

medical facilities 

that can take care of its 

citizens irrespective of 

their status or political 

affiliation? 

Politicians are not the only 

ones that have failed in 

medical care. Most Religious 

Leaders are taking health 

care ministry for granted. 

Whereas few healing 

ministers are using it as an 

avenue to make money. 

Missionary hospitals are 

so expensive! People pay 

through their noise to ac- 

or the sexual satisfaction 

derived from each other; 

Some may be due to their 

financial and educational 

status; While others may 

be due to their cultural 

background; Some ties 

may be due to their religious 

beliefs. 

Whatever may be the yardstick 

that intimately joined 

the couple together; we 

are much concerned with 

the lasting components of 

intimacy which make marriages 

endure till the end 

of their lives on earth. In a 

typical African setting, we 

have some cultural school 

of thoughts in which whenever 

there is a good intimacy 

between husband 

and wife, they quickly 

concluded that something 

is wrong. A typical African 

person would like to say 

that such a man is a fool 

for giving his wife total 

attention. Some will even 

address the husband with 

such slang as being a 

“woman wrapper". 

There are some cultures 

that view women as children 

and may not like to 

n’t end with them. 

11. They live with 

intentionality. It seems like 

every step they take has 

a clear purpose. Nothing—from 

their personal 

walk to their public 

ministry—ever seems 

haphazard. 

12. They seek the infilling 

and power of the Holy 

Spirit always. Sound spiritual 

leaders know they 

cannot do anything without 

the presence and 

power of the blessed Holy 

Spirit in their lives. They 

therefore seek His leading 

and guidance in all they 

do. 

E - M a i l : 

akingrow@yahoo.com 

*International Church 

Growth Ministry holds 

two major conferences a 

year, one in second week 

of every February and 

the other in every first 

week in September.” 

quire olive oil and 'anointed 

water at healing centers. 

Whereas our Lord Jesus 

Christ told his disciples, 

"Cure the sick, raise 

the dead, cleanse the 

lepers, cast out demons. 

You received without payment; 

give without payment" 

(Matthew 10:8). Health 

care ministry is among 

the signs of a true disciple 

(Mark 16:17-18). If the government 

fails in providing 

health care for the people 

the Church should not fail! 

The Holy Father declares 

“Health care ministry will 

always be a necessary and 

fundamental task, to be 

carried out with renewed 

enthusiasm by all, from 

parish communities to the 

largest healthcare institutions...Doctors 

and nurses, 

priests, consecrated men 

and women, volunteers, 

families and all those who 

care for the sick, take part 

in this ecclesial mission.” 

(Pope Francis). Indeed, all 

hands must be on deck! 

Provision of adequate and 

affordable healthcare 

facilities for all is the only 

way forward. Happy World 

Health Day to you all! 

interact together with 

them, even at their own 

convenience or leisure 

time. Some family like 

posing unnecessary interference 

just to disturb 

the peace of the couple 

and some do not take 

intimacy as part of marriage 

at all. For some, the 

only area of their intimacy 

is when it comes to sex 

matters for procreation. 

When it comes to caring, 

the matter comes to a 

close. 

Some cultures welcome 

intimacy because the woman 

has become the mother 

of children and the 

attention will only be for 

the children while the husband 

may check out for a 

new brand lady outside 

for enjoyment. Some cultures 

too exhibit lack of intimacy 

due to barrenness. 

*For enquiries contact: 

Pastorating@gmail.com 

Apostolic Church, 3, 

Tree Power Avenue, 

Itire, Lag-os. Or call: 

Pastor Okokon Ating 

on: 

0 8 0 5 4 1 2 1 3 5 5 , 

08179072635

SUNDAY VANGUARD, APRIL 8, 2018 PAGE 39 

An old friend invited me to a 

special service at Victory Christian 

Church, Lagos. The preacher 

was the late Bishop Harford 

Anayo Iloputaife, and he 

preached about Adam and Eve. 

I could not even understand what 

he was talking about. But at the 

end of his message, he asked 

those who wanted to “give their 

life to Jesus Christ” to come forward. 

I honestly don’t remember exactly 

what happened. I just know 

something came over me and 

completely took control of me. 

Some supernatural force, literally 

carried me to the altar. It 

was all the more remarkable 

that my left leg was encased in 

plaster and I had to walk with 

crutches. But I suddenly found 

myself hobbling speedily down 

the aisle of the church as if my 

life depended on it. 

I now know that, indeed, my life 

depended on it. I went to the 

front of the church and asked 

Jesus to be my Lord and Saviour. 

But by that time, he was already 

my Lord and Saviour. Jesus 

saved me physically from armed 

robbers in order that he might 

save me spiritually. He saved me 

physically that I might finally 

recognise him as “the Shepherd 

and Overseer” of my soul. (1 Peter 

2:25). 

Confirmation 

A few days thereafter, I woke 

up one morning only to discover 

I was singing a new song. I had 

never sung this song before, but 

had apparently been singing it 

while asleep and now while 

awake. 

I decided to consult a Pentecostal 

praise book. I found the song 

there. It says: “When the Spirit 

of the Lord is upon my soul, I will 

dance like David danced.” 

I was flabbergasted. So God 

can teach a man a new song 

word-for-word? I spent the entire 

morning singing it; dancing 

ANSWERING THE CALL (2) 

all over the house. From the 

shower, to my dressing-room, to 

breakfast: I sang and hummed 

and danced. I was a complete 

nuisance. 

My wife and son stared at me 

and looked at one another knowingly. 

It was a Sunday morning, 

so we were going to church. At 

the time, our preferred church 

was some thirty minutes away. 

So I continued singing in the car 

at the top of my voice. I left no 

one in doubt that the Spirit of 

the Lord was indeed upon my 

soul. 

When we got to the church, 

something strange happened. 

My young son was the first to go 

in. What he saw was so amazing, 

he immediately rushed out 

to tell us. “Daddy, Daddy,” he 

shouted, a smile of incredulity 

on his lips: “They are singing the 

same song.” 

We walked into the church to 

find it in something of a Holy 

Ghost uproar. People were jumping 

up and down. Some were 

clapping their hands with great 

fervour. Others had turned the 

church into a big discotheque 

and were dancing aggressively. 

Everyone was singing the same 

song that the Lord had just 

taught me: “When the Spirit of 

the Lord is upon my soul, I will 

dance like David danced.” 

That was a divine confirmation 

that the Holy Spirit had arrived 

to take up residence in my heart. 

God's covenant of peace, blessing (2) 

BELOVED, of a truth Easter 

has come and gone but I 

want to let you understand 

that our repentance is absolutely 

necessary in order to 

receive salvation and be partakers 

of the peace and blessing 

embedded in the covenant 

made available by the death, 

burial and resurrection of our 

Lord Jesus Christ. Your reluctance 

or failure to receive salvation 

is an invitation for crises 

of the world and to hell fire at 

last. 

John 16:33 says: “These things 

I have spoken unto you, that in 

me ye might have peace. In the 

world ye shall have tribulation: 

but be of good cheer; I have 

overcome the world” 

The only sure foundation of peace 

and blessing for anybody 

in this world depends entirely 

upon the acknowledgment of 

the victory of Christ, for in Him 

you will be thoroughly quieted 

physically, spiritually and financially. 

The above spiritual counselling 

is the conclusion of our 

Learn to do things well 

By Pastor Oloruntimilehin Joshua Daramola 

IF someone does a thing continuously without 

success, then two things are possible. One, that 

person is probably not doing that particular 

thing well. The other possibility is that that 

endeavour is most likely not the portion of the 

one who had been labouring on it without success. 

This is why it is imperative to draw our attention 

on the need for people to learn how to do things 

properly. They should know how to do things 

correctly to avoid the risk of becoming a failure. 

Those who get things done the right way are the 

ones that succeed in life. If one is a singer in the 

church, for instance, that person must know how 

to sing very well no matter the pitch he or she is 

using. The bottom line is for the song to be 

melodious. If he or she does not know how to 

sing very well, he/she will be regarded as someone 

who knows nothing about singing well. 

Similarly, an auto mechanic who is not skillful won’t 

•Daramola 

Born again 

There was also a second confirmation. 

After I answered the 

altar call at Victory Church, a 

church-worker took us outside 

and informed us it is the privilege 

of “born again” Christians 

to speak in unknown tongues. 

He mumbled a short prayer and 

told us to start speaking. 

Suddenly, some people started 

making funny noises. I was convinced 

the church had planted 

these “jokers” among us. I said 

to myself: “Who do these people 

think they are fooling?” 

A few weeks later, Pat Utomi 

invited me to a Full Gospel Businessmen’s 

Fellowship dinner. 

The preacher also asked new believers 

to come forward and 

prayed for them to receive the 

gift of tongues. Although I did 

not answer the altar-call again, 

I suddenly started speaking in 

tongues in my seat. 

I did not like the sound of my 

new tongue. I was afraid it was 

demonic and refused to use it. I 

even sought the counsel of “deliverance 

ministers” on the matter. 

They all insisted the gift was 

get patronage and may not be 

able to take care of his family. 

Some people do not learn their 

profession very well; all they 

are after is money. Also some 

people succeed in their chosen 

vocations because they 

My entire body 

became buttery-soft; 

suffused with the love 

of God. It is the most 

amazing feeling I have 

ever experienced 

of God. Nevertheless, I remained 

highly sceptical. 

One day, the Lord woke me up 

early in the morning and said: 

“Femi, pray in tongues and don’t 

be afraid.” So I got up and started 

praying in my new tongue. I 

was surprised to find that no demon 

jumped at me or out of me. 

The more I prayed, the more I 

realised I had been deceived. 

Someone had given me the false 

impression that my new tongue 

was demonic. 

Then I went further. If the devil 

did not want me to pray in 

tongues, it could only mean it is 

a potent weapon of spiritual warfare. 

So I went from one extreme 

to the other. I would pray in 

tongues at every possible opportunity. 

I would wake up at night, 

go to a window in my livingroom 

and pray vigorously in 

tongues towards the sky, convinced 

that in so doing I was scattering 

the kingdom of darkness. 

Open vision 

Then one morning, I decided 

to switch gears and go even further. 

I told the Lord naively: “I 

am going to kill off all the demons 

in this flat with my tongue.” 

I sat on my bed and prayed nonstop. 

By the third hour, the Lord 

opened my eyes and I started seeing 

demons. They were all 

dressed in the medieval uniform 

of Roman gladiators. They had 

swords and shields and body armour. 

And wait for it; there were 

Saviour’s farewell sermon to the 

people of the world who want 

to save their life. Christ has by 

His death, burial and resurrection 

defeated death and crises 

in the world but we must know 

that the victory is only for those 

that have repented and accepted 

the renewed and refreshed 

covenant. Our God is the covenant 

keeping God and will never 

disappoint whoever that entered 

into covenant with Him by 

accepting Him as his personal 

Saviour. So if you are reading 

this message you should make 

up your mind to seek God in 

true righteousness and holiness 

for Him to appear in glory 

and shower you with blessing. 

The covenant of peace and 

blessing could only be experienced 

better in a state of holiness 

and righteousness. 

When it looks like your relationship 

with God is broken through 

sin, unfaithfulness or isolation 

from Him, you must not hesitate 

to seek to enter again into covenant 

with Him in order to rebuild 

your relationship with Him. 

When it seems there is no peace 

and progress or the enemies 

and his human agents are having 

advantage over you, you 

must make haste to seek God 

and renew your covenant. This 

is because no evil comes upon 

individuals or nations without 

the permission of God and He 

is able and ready, when you are 

duly humbled, to remove the 

problems and manifest towards 

you new tokens of His 

favour as enshrined in the covenant. 

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 says: “If I 

shut up heaven that there be 

no rain, or if I command the locusts 

to devour the land, or if I 

send pestilence among my people; 

If my people, which are called 

by my name, shall humble 

themselves, and pray, and seek 

my face, and turn from their 

wicked ways; then will I hear 

from heaven, and will forgive 

their sin, and will heal their land. 

have the idea and skill; they are honest, 

do not disappoint or cheat on their 

customers. Therefore, this kind of 

people will always get work to do. Some 

people have abandoned their work to 

do other things because of money and 

lack of in-depth knowledge of the work. 

A woman who does not know that she 

is a wife, will always encounter problems 

with her children, husband and in-laws. 

No matter what, she must know the duties 

and responsibilities of a wife and ensure 

they are carried out properly. In the 

same vein, a man should know he is a 

husband. He must always exhibit the qualities 

of good husband and be in control 

of his home so that he can be obeyed 

and respected by his wife, children and 

in-laws. A good husband must prove his 

superiority in the house. If he borrows 

money from his wife, he must ensure 

that he repays the money to her. Let 

your words and deeds portray that you 

literally hundreds and hundreds 

of them. 

“This is what was spoken by the 

prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come 

to pass in the last days, says God, 

that I will pour out of my Spirit 

on all flesh; your sons and your 

daughters shall prophesy, your 

young men shall see visions’” 

(Acts 2:16-17). 

One by one, the demons came 

out, marched towards me, collapsed 

into the ground and disappeared. 

I kept on praying for 

another two hours. After exactly 

five hours in total, they stopped 

coming out and I stopped praying. 

A heavenly experience 

Once I stopped praying, I noticed 

something astonishing. I 

lost virtually all previous sense 

of feeling. I could feel absolutely 

nothing in my body but love. 

My entire body became butterysoft; 

suffused with the love of 

God. It is the most amazing feeling 

I have ever experienced. 

Simply indescribable! 

Just then, the door opened and 

my wife walked in. I told her 

how much I love her. I waxed 

lyrical about how smitten I was 

when I first met her in Rome, Italy 

at the age of sixteen. Karen 

stood staring at me. She could 

not understand what prompted 

me to tell her that, but sensed 

something strange was going on. 

However, the more I spoke, the 

more I regressed. It was as if I 

was going back into my own 

skin. It would appear the demons 

were regrouping, gradually 

coming back again. My “normal” 

feelings were coming back, 

until I was back again where I 

started. 

I did not stop loving my wife. 

However, the overwhelming experience 

of feeling nothing but 

the love of God was no longer 

there. 

CONTINUED 

Now mine eyes shall be open, 

and mine ears attent unto the 

prayer that is made in this 

place.” 

It is expected that as many 

that dishonoured God by action 

of deeds and thoughts must be 

reasonable enough to humble 

themselves and turn from their 

wicked ways, and return to the 

God from whom they have 

revolted in order to appeal to 

His mercy. And it is only on this 

premise that they will be 

brought into the covenant of 

peace and blessing availed to 

us by Christ victory. 

2 Chronicles 15:1-2 says: “And 

the Spirit of God came upon 

Azariah the son of Oded: And 

he went out to meet Asa, and 

said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, 

and all Judah and Benjamin; The 

LORD is with you, while ye be 

with him; and if ye seek him, he 

will be found of you; but if ye 

forsake him, he will forsake 

you.” 

are a good husband. For the children, 

they must know their parents, obey and 

respect them. Deuteronomy 21:18-21 

says: “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious 

who does not obey his father and 

mother and will not listen to them when 

they discipline him, his father and mother 

shall take hold of him and bring 

him to the elders at the gate of his own 

town. They shall say to the elders, this 

son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. 

He will not obey us. He is a profligate 

and a drunkard, then all the men of his 

town shall stone him to death....” 

*For further enquiries contact The 

Omnipotence Mission of God, 2 

Oloruntimilehin St, Pipeline, Mosan 

off Ipaja road, Lagos or call 

08023020108; 08058110288. 

*For further enquiries call: 

08023020108, 08058110288. 

w w w . f a c e b o o k . c o m / 

pastoroloruntimilehin.


SENATOR BEN OBI BAGS HONORARY DOCTORATE AWARD 

Sen. Ben Obi (left) receiving the certificate of honorary doctorate degree from the Chancellor 

of UniZIK, Dr. Jacob Buba Gyang, while the Vice Chancellor, Professor Joseph Ahaneku 

(FAS), looks on. 

Sen. Ben Obi, flanked by the President-General of Awka Development Union, 

Chief Tony Okechukwu, and some Awka king-makers, after receiving the award. 

Sen Ben Obi with Professor Osita Ogbu at the occasion. 

Sen. Ben Obi being congratulated by Professor A B C Nwosu (left), Chief James Ibori (2nd 

left), Chief Lucky Igbinedion (3rd left) and Chief Peter Obi. 

From left: Sen. Ben Obi, Rear Admiral Joe Aikhomu and Dr. Okey Anueyiagu. 

BABCOCK UNIVERSITY'S 21ST INAUGURAL LECTURE 

President/Vice Chancellor, Prof Ademola Tayo (left), congratulates the inaugural 

lecturer, Prof Sunday Owolabi, after delivering his lecture at the Babcock University's 

21st inaugural lecture held in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State. 

L-R: Prof Rufus Akintoye, HOD, Accounting, Prof Iheanyichukwu, Okoro, Deputy 

Vice Chancellor, Academics, Prof Sunday Owolabi, inaugural lecturer, Prof Ademola 

Tayo, President/Vice Chancellor and Prof Patrick Enyi, Dean, School of Management 

Science. 

L-R: The inaugural lecturer, 

Prof Sunday Owolabi, 

ICAN President, Mr. 

Isma'ila M. Zakari ,and 

President/Vice Chancellor, 

Prof Ademola Tayo. 

President, the Institute 

of Chartered Accountants 

of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. 

Isma'ila M. Zakari (left), 

presents a cheque of one 

million naira in support of 

the inaugural lecturer, 

Prof Sunday Owolabi.

What is fuelling your aspiration for 

the Senate? 

There are two interests if you nurse a 

Senate ambition. First is the interest of the 

Nigerian state while the second is the 

interest of your own people (district). At the 

national level, there is urgent need for 

people with experience in the legislative 

chambers to guide the process of transition. 

Without the legislature, there is no democracy; 

because it is usually the first casualty any time 

there is change of government. So we need 

experienced hands to initiate constructive 

engagement with the executive arm of 

government. We need people with the requisite 

experience to address the Igbo question. What 

are the specific interests of the Igbo man? The 

average Igbo man does not really care who 

the president is. He cares about that person 

who will create an enabling environment for 

him to carry on with his trade, his politics and 

his social activities. This is because we are 

upwardly mobile nation. Then there is the 

problem of lack of development in the South- 

East. So, we need legislators who will engage 

deeply with the leadership of the National 

Assembly and the leadership of the executive; 

to be able to do key life-enhancing projects in 

the zone. We talk about power stations, major 

railway trunks, major highways and, above 

all, river transportation. Take where I come 

from, Ihiala-the Ose-Akwa in Ihiala, and Ose- 

Moto in Odekpe in Ogbaru are the deepest 

natural harbors in Nigeria and lie only 28 

nautical miles to the Atlantic Ocean. Yet it is 

not dredged. So, you need to have a vision to 

open up the Urashi basin and link it up to the 

Atlantic Ocean; and open a new vista of trade 

and development in the area 

Is not surprising that 

neither the local/state 

government nor any of the 

several persons who had 

been representing these 

areas had drawn any 

attention to these gaping 

realities? 

Well, it depends on the 

strategic vision. It depends on 

those who seek to represent us. 

Because if you are committed to 

service, if you have the need and drive to serve 

your people, you will look for those areas 

where your people have comparative 

advantage. And be able to present it in the 

various fora to the executive and the National 

Assembly for them to see the need to invest in 

these sectors. It is really nobody’s fault if your 

legislator do not project and highlight those 

areas of your need. And beyond that, you must 

have a vision on how to solve these problems. 

That includes -how do I attract the federal 

government’s attention and the need to invest 

huge money to build up our rice fields, 

irrigation projects and the dredging of the 

Niger. 

Dredging of the Niger has remained 

topical for years; every federal 

administration has spoken about it. 

Ironically nothing serious appears to 

have been done to open up the river to 

trades, transportation and other 

maritime activities. 

I will certainly make it a priority area when 

Nigeria 

unjustly denies 

Igbo of 80 local 

governments 

– Hon. Nzeribe 

By Olalekan Bilesanmi 

Atwo-term member of the House of Representatives representing Ihiala Federal constituency, 

Chuma Nzeribe is eyeing the Senate to represent Anambra South. In this 

interview,Nzeribetalks about his plans for his senatorial district and the nation if elected. 

OSHIOMHOLE: 

THE ANATOMY OF 

A STATESMAN 

BY 

I 

OSAGIE EDOSOMWAN 

n the 2007 gubernatorial election in 

Edo State, the people needed a leader 

who is bold, courageous, serious and 

determined to unearth the roots of the 

profound problems of structure that faced 

them. Then came the quintessential, brief in 

stature, intellectually robust and extremely 

popular labour leader, Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole who decided that he would cut 

off the toes of the powerful and offend the 

poor in order to bring about a 

transformation in Edo State by seeking to 

restore the Edo State master plan. In doing 

this, he dismantled the apparatuses of 

privilege replacing it with a dynamic social 

organization that was designed to provide 

the channels of opportunity for those who 

desired to engage in genuine enterprise and 

in so doing create an atmosphere of equal 

worth and a sense of pride in all the streams 

of the ethnic origins of Edo people. The 

people saw in a very short time how one 

man could completely change the character 

of a state and the industry of its people. In 

the past, Edo people had leaders who lacked 

the political will, the inclination, and the 

confidence to tackle very simple problems 

in the state and they were genuinely amazed 

that there were indeed solutions to their 

Somebody has to 

constantly 

supervise and 

strengthen the 

institutions that 

have the 

responsibility to 

*Oshiomhole 

I get elected into the next Senate. 

In other climes, active 

lawmakers are encouraged 

to stay on in the Senate or 

the House of 

Representative because it 

encourages being ranked. 

How and when do we begin 

to see it like that? 

I was in the government of 

Anambra and also a two-time 

member of the House of 

Representatives. So I see myself 

as experienced enough to go to the Senate. 

More so, if you look at the politics of the 

South-East, it’s not actually dominated by 

career politicians as such. But you see a lot of 

people with vast experience in industry and 

commerce coming to make huge impact in 

the nomination of their friends and cronies as 

candidates. That seems to impact negatively 

on the quality of those who aspire to the 

National Assembly because these rich big men 

stay four years, and even insist that their wives, 

friends, cousins and other relatives be 

nominated for elective offices. This is unlike 

the North where you see career civil servants 

being encouraged to move up to represent 

their people. And you hardly see businessmen 

aspiring for political offices. Look at the likes 

of Dangotes, you don’t hear of them fielding 

their brothers, wives, cousins or in-laws as 

members of any of the legislative houses or 

even governor. But it is virtually the norm in 

the South-East. But I believe that with time, we 

would overcome the norm. 

problems. Adams Oshiomhole often stated 

that the worst thing about poverty was its 

cyclical nature in which the children of the 

poor frequently inherited their parent’s lack 

of opportunities in life and so were 

themselves practically condemned to a life 

of poverty. His postulation which caught the 

fancy of the people was that this cycle of 

poverty would go on with the talent of 

millions of people going to waste with an 

endless continuation of the suffering that 

poverty brings leading to the establishment 

of a dynasty of the poor with products of the 

dynasty usually found in motor parks as 


Nigeria has been under the APC for 

three years; can you say it’s been so 

far so good, compared to PDP’s first 

three years? 

Given the circumstances, I believe Mr 

President has given his best to the office. But in 

our peculiar circumstances, his best is not 

good enough because the core issues of 

governance like the economy and security 

need careful attention. From the 

circumstances of the rising insurgency, 

militancy agitations and the likes of Boko 

Haram/herdsmen menace, Nigerians are not 

happy that they have not been given adequate 

attention. Bill Gates the other day told us we 

need more investment in human capital. You 

need to develop your educational sector, as 

much as the infrastructure. So, it is for the 

government to really sit down and look at our 

frameworks for drawing up the budget to see 

whether they are addressing the needs of the 

nation. And in this area, I am going to make 

very visible contribution in the Senate. 

Fight against corruption is one of 

the key promises on which the APC 

rode to power in 2015. Are you 

happy so far with the achievement of 

that fight? 

Corruption is like cancer. It has eaten real 

deep into the fabric of this nation. It tends to 

diminish the quality of life, as well as the 

improvements we made in our national 

economy over the years. It sucks away a lot 

of economic energy from the system by 

transferring substantial public resources to 

private hands. You cannot build capital; you 

cannot talk of going to bank for loan if the 

rate of savings and investments in your 

economy is very low because stolen funds 

have been taken out of the country. So the 

government has experienced a lot of 

challenges in this regard which I believe the 

next administration would have to put in 

sharper focus. Let us deal with corruption 

and poverty and see the nexus between the 

two instead of always shouting ‘anticorruption’, 

‘anti-corruption’. Because the 

word anti-corruption in this regard is a 

misnomer, hence the need to make a clear 

distinction between that. The attention the 

present government is giving to these issues 

is not adequate. It’s probably not that they 

are unable to fight corruption. But that we 

need greater attention. Somebody has to 

constantly supervise and strengthen the 

institutions that have the responsibility to 

fight corruption. 

Some days ago, the PDP dared the 

government to name the alleged 

looters of the national treasury after 

the party apologized for its missteps 

when it was in power. Consequently 

the names of some PDP leaders and 

even non-members were released. 

This has ignited another round of 

controversy. 

The list drawn up by the APC-led Federal 

Government and read out by the Minister of 

Information is misguided. None of those on 

that list has been convicted for corruption. 

And if government continues to label mere 

suspects or people who were called in for 

one interrogation or the other as being 

corrupt, that will jeopardize the judicial 

process. Government is making 

unnecessary intervention in matters that are 

clearly in court. 

Boko Haram and herdsmen 

problems appear recurring and 

Continues on page 42 

touts and ready thugs for use during 

elections. He attempted to break this cycle 

of poverty with various youth empowerment 

schemes and the creation of a conducive 

environment for private enterprises to thrive. 

In the eight years that he served governor 

of Edo State, the people were relieved of the 

recklessness and arbitrariness that 

characterized previous administrations in 

the state. There was a better tolerance of 

political opposition and the expression of 

alternative political viewpoints. In the 

process it was certainly not an easy task to 

clean up the state which suffered from 

decades of neglect and misgovernance. 

The achievements recorded by the 

Comrade governor in the state did not come 

as a surprise to many people considering his 

eight year tenure as the number one labour 

leader in Nigeria, a period which was 

characterized by purposeful leadership, an 

insistence on good governance and a 

reinvigoration of the Nigerian workforce to 

a level never witnessed in recent history. As 

president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, 

he demonstrated a thorough understanding 

of the collective yearlings of the Nigerian 



2019: You have failed 

us, group tells Delta 

lawmaker 

*’My achievements are 

verifiable’ 

From left: Assistant Director, Science and Technology Development, 

Lagos State Ministry of Education, Aberuagba Olufemi; Head of Channel 

Marketing, PZ Cussons, Ayodeji Adewale; Brand Manager, Anaekwe 

Aishat; Director, Science and Technology Department, Lagos State 

Ministry of Education, Ibiyeye Adebayo, and the Activation Manager – 

Lagos, PZ Cussons, Olatunji Fisayo, First Stage, Examination of 5 th 

Edition of PZ Cussoms Chemistry Challenge in Lagos. 

I dreamt of building the tallest building in Africa 

—Ogundele, MD/CEO, Sujimoto 

BY DESTINY ESEAGA 

Mr Sijibomi Ogundele, the 

Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer, Sujimoto, in this 

piece, says he dreamt of building the 

tallest residential building in Africa. 

Years 2016 and 2017 were 

probably the most difficult period 

of my life. 

I had dreamt and developed the 

biggest project in my life – the tallest 

residential building in Sub- 

Saharan Africa estimated to cost 90 

million dollars. I invested all my 

money, time and passion into 

something I believed in. 

Unfortunately for me, the 

economy was very bad and things 

became very rough. I had to let go 

the best people around me. 

There’s a way life tries to snatch 

your dream away and suddenly 

everything you are doing looks 

•Sijibomi Ogundele 

impossible. 

Some people told me that real 

intractable. True? 

No. I do not believe so. We have had 

challenges of insurgency before and it 

was curtailed. We have had occasions 

where herdsmen quarrelled with 

villagers, and such were curtailed. But 

then, these things are on the rise because 

nobody is paying due attention to them. 

My advice is that the Federal 

Government should appoint a 

responsible and responsive Deputy 

National Security Adviser to deal with 

these internal crises rather than leaving 

it to the multi-agency platforms 

currently being used to tackle them. I 

intend to be part of the search for 

solutions for optimal security attention 

to some of these issues when I get to the 

Senate. 

From left: Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and 

Industry (LCCI), Mr Muda Yusuf, Vice President. Ukrainian 

Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Valery Aleksandeuk, 

President, LCCI, Mr Babatunde Paul Ruwase, FCA, Deputy 

Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, 

NataliaMykolska and Ambassador of Ukraine to Nigeria, Sergi 

Skystil, during the Ukrainian Chamber Delegation to LCCI. 

estate is a difficult sector, so it would 

be best for me to leave my passion 

and do something else. I visited my 

old-time friend’s water factory in 

Abeokuta and thought about 

venturing into the ‘pure-water’ 

business. 

I even went back to Ijebu Igbo and 

visited some farms because it 

seemed agriculture and farming 

had become the new ‘oil’. Some 

people began convincing me to 

leave everything and deviate into 

something I knew nothing about 

(agriculture & farming). 

Even the guy (my supposed best 

friend) whom I borrowed almost 

two million dollars was always 

coming up with stories. I tried to 

sell everything I owned to move to 

NYC (New York City). I had spoken 

to a successful Nigerian actor who 

had moved to Atlanta because of the 

steep recession. He said life was 

easier there, things were stable and 

I could access credit through a 

flexible banking system. 

I was confused and devastated, but 

I kept the words of Napoléon Hills 

book on replay in my head. I 

remembered that my present 

situation should not determine my 

destination.. 

But I knew in my heart that 

running away wasn’t the definition 

of the Motomatics Philosophy I had 

created, the Sujimoto I know and 

advocated wasn’t a runaway loser, 

neither was it lack of focus kind of 

personality or company... 

I developed courage and 

refocused my life. I revisited my 

options and created Guilliano, the 

son of Lorenzo, the Grandson of 

Cosimo the Medici. I 

conceptualised, planned and 

executed the project, even though I 

didn’t have all the money. In less 

than six months, though I am still 

not where I want to be, but I am 

thankful to the almighty that I am 

not where I used to be. 

It’s been the most inspiring, most 

difficult and most challenging time 

for me. But now, I am thankful I 

didn’t give up, runoff or lose hope. 

OSHIOMHOLE: THE ANATOMY OF A STATESMAN 


workers apart from the fact that 

he was not associated with any 

godfather when he decided to 

plunge into the murky waters of 

Nigerian politics. Indeed he fought 

godfatherism to a standstill in Edo 

State and he had to quickly disband 

the rainbow coalition he put 

together after the titanic legal battle 

to retrieve his mandate when it became 

clear that those who made the previous 

government fail in the state were 

determined to undermine his resolve to 

transform the state and take it to new 

heights. 

In Nigeria, we have a legacy of 

dysfunctional political process marked 

by executive dominance and political 

corruption. This has created a 

“godfather” political culture that sees 

government mainly as an instrument 

of personal power and accumulation 

of private wealth. This was the situation 

in Edo State before Oshiomhole’s 

ascension to power. The “godfathers” 

were intolerably powerful and were 

unimpeded by law. Their hold on power 

made them acquire more wealth and, 

therefore, more power to the detriment 

of the poor suffering masses of Edo 

State. This obviously made the transfer 

of power in an orderly manner difficult 

in 2007 leading to many months of legal 

battle after the massively rigged 

gubernatorial election. Some few 

months to the inevitable end of Adams 

Oshiomhole’s tenure as governor of Edo 

State, the polity was heated up because 

of political realignments. Comrade 

Oshiomhole was however helped on 

this matter by the fact that the majority 

of Edo people perceived the defections 

of some former APC members to the 

PDP then as an elite contestation for 

power with nothing to do with the 

interest of the common people and the 

“fight” being merely a planned return 

to the “elite” or “oligarchic” 

arrangement of the pre-Oshiomhole 

involvement in Edo politics. Edo people 

were scared of the recurrence of old 

patterns in their political life in the state. 

During the period, Oshiomhole 

continued to maintain his position on 

the need to consolidate on the 

monumental infrastructural revolution 

he started in Edo state in the face of 

suggestions that he planned to foist a 

political lilliputian on the state after his 

tenure. Before the 2015 general 

elections therefore, there were ominous 

signs of a simmering political tension 

in the state over who to succeed 

Oshiomhole. This continued till the 

twilight of his administration. 

In coming around the ensuing 

political conundrum in Edo State, the 

Comrade governor realized that 

making progress was about making 

politics work because politics 

determines the choices we make. Politics 

determines what kind of society we wish 

to live in and create and hand on to the 

next generation and it is politics that 

will make poverty history. It is also 

politics that helped him to 

institutionalize his monumental 

infrastructural developmental strides in 

the state. There is widespread 

recognition that politics is fundamental 

in shaping development choices, 

strategies, trajectories and outcomes. It 

thus involves change that must 

inevitably challenge established 

interests, and prevailing structures of 

power that has always held sway in the 

state. Oshiomhole realized that politics 

consisted of two fundamental levels. 

The first concerns the rules of the game, 

that is the procedures and processes 

which underpin and structure political 

life, which distributes power and 

authorizes it’s use in particular ways. 

The second concerns the games within 

the rules, that is the normal 

contestations over policy and power. 

Since in Nigeria, the fundamental rules 

of the game are not well established, it 

was incumbent on him to balance his 

desire to get a dependable ally to 

succeed him after his meritorious tenure 

with the delicate politics of the state 

taking into consideration ethnic and 

other considerations. Oshiomhole 

performed outstandingly as governor. 

It is not easy anywhere in the world to 

be a harbinger of change as even the 

people for whom change is intended 

often resist the change. 

Institutionalizing change and 

development in Edo State was done with 

the election of a successor who was part 

of Oshiomhole’s success story from the 

very beginning as Edo people could not 

accept a throwback to the dark ages. A 

shipwreck at that point would have been 

catastrophic for the Edo people. 

Nigeria unjustly denies Igbo of 80 local governments 


The IPOB, MASSOB and other pro- 

Biafra groups and the issue of Biafra 

question, what is your view? 

The agitations in Igboland take their 

roots from the issue of marginalization. 

What you see here is a deliberate attempt 

to deny access to the South-East of 

benefits of governance, of development 

and of representation in some sensitive 

and strategic areas and positions of 

national discourse. This is structurally 

embedded in the constitution. While 

some zones have seven states, like the 

North-West, others have six. Only the 

South-East has five. The deficiency of 

two states is a huge revenue loss. Just 

check how much that accrues to each 

state every month. My estimation is that 

we are being denied of about 80 local 

governments that should accrue from 

two states that ought to be created from 

the South-East. 

Look at the revenue streams to the 

states and local governments and the 

monthly Federation Allocation 

Account Committee and you will then 

see the quantum of losses being suffered 

by the South-East. Then you go to the 

issues of national politics. While zones 

with seven states have times three 

senators making up twenty- one 

senators, like the North-West; the South- 

East has only fifteen. Also, the 

Constitution says that each state should 

have a Minister. Therefore in the South- 

East we have five Ministers, while the 

North-West has seven Ministers. 

Likewise we have forty-three members 

of House of Representatives while the 

North-West has ninety-three. We must 

look for a legislative solution to the issue. 

Since the National Constituent 

Assembly (Confab) recommended for 

BY AFESTUS AHON 

HEAD of the 2019 general 

elections, the people of 

Isoko North Local Government 

Area, under the auspices of Isoko 

For Development, have said the 

member representing the area in 

Delta State House of Assembly, Mr 

Tim Owhefere, has failed them, urging 

him not to run for fourth term. 

The people, from across all the 13 

wards in the local government area, 

cited 13 reasons Owhefere should not 

seek re-election, saying he should look 

for employment in Lagos. 

In his reaction, the lawmaker 

described the group as faceless, 

adding that they were bent on heating 

up the polity. 

He said their inflammatory 

statements were capable of pitching 

the people against one another, saying 

the “allegations against my person in 

the said publication can elicit negative 

reactions from my teeming 

supporters and the good people of 

Isoko North Constituency, whom I 

represent”. 

The group, in a statement by the 

President, Comrade Iruoghene Ufi, 

listed the 13 reasons to include that 

“for the three consecutive terms that 

Owhefere has been elected into the 

House, he has not fulfilled any 

campaign promise to any 

constituent that laboured for him 

and the party during the elections”. 

BOOK LAUNCH 

The launching of a book titled: 

“The Foolishness Of God” comes up 

on Sunday 15 th April 2018 at St Paul 

Anglican Church, Kirikiri Industrial 

Estate, Kirikiri, Lagos. The book authored 

by Ven. Levi E. Opara, the first 

Igbo archdeacon in the entire Lagos 

Anglican Communion, has set aside 

50% of the proceed of the launch for 

youth rehabilitation scheme. 

The occasion will be chaired by 

High Chief Olabode George. 

Those who lost out in the scrabble for 

political power and influence have 

made it a pastime these days to 

denigrate Adams Oshiomhole by 

engaging in character assassination, 

odious insults and throwing political 

innuendos and brickbats against him 

in the press and especially in the social 

media. This has only made the man 

more popular. He remains an issue in 

Edo politics more than a year after 

handing power to Mr. Godwin 

Obaseki, a very compassionate and 

versatile team player who has all 

the attributes to continue the 

developmental initiatives of Adams 

Oshiomhole. Since his successful 

handover of power, the Comrade 

Governor, as he is still fondly called 

has been involved in several 

speaking engagements and helping 

to build bridges of cooperation 

among the various ethnic and 

religious groups and communities 

in Nigeria. 

– Hon. Nzeribe 

the creation of at least one more state in 

the South-East, the leadership of the 

South-East caucus should sponsor a bill 

on the floor of the National Assembly 

seeking for the creation of additional 

state in the zone. You must not continue 

to wait for the executive or constitutional 

amendment periods to do that. You have 

to sponsor a Bill; let’s move it up and see 

how far we can go to realize the real 

friends and the real enemies of the 

people. That way you start addressing 

the Igbo question. The Igbo question is 

not the issue of Igbo presidency. Igbo 

question is lack of representation, 

inferiority of states, inferiority of local 

governments, denials of revenues 

accruing to the South-East. That is what 

I call the marginalization of the South- 

East. It should therefore be addressed 

in the larger context of the Igbo question.

Viewpoint 

By Edwin C. Nnadozie 

VIEWPOINT IN BRIEF 

Not where things go as 

assumed 

ALMOST every pay-television 

subscriber I run into attempt, 

not often successfully, to speak with 

authority on how pay-television 

business works. Pay-television 

operations and business tend to be 

put in the same category as sex in 

which everybody thinks he/she is 

knowledgeable, an expert even. 

The widely assumed familiarity 

with the pay television ecosystem 

feeds the almost-religious belief that 

pay television services should be 

cheap and that providers are 

ripping subscribers off. Even 

without actually saying it, I suspect, 

many subscribers believe that paytelevision 

services should be treated 

like public utilities in the country, 

amenities we think should be used 

free of charge but expect to function 

optimally. Having worked in the 

television industry for over a decade, 

I can, at the risk of sounding 

conceited, claim to know a thing or 

two about how the business works. 

Before proceeding, it is important 

to state that there is no intention to 

slate anybody for not being familiar 

with the business of pay-television. 

By Niyi Anibaba 


Dividends of democracy 

ON Easter Monday, Lago 

sians woke up to behold 

Governor Mr Akinwunmi Ambode 

move from one place to another 

with a crowd of loyalists, 

government officials and thousands 

of enthusiastic residents. 

The governor was performing 

the historic commissioning of a 

large network of 19 roads and 

two bridges in Alimosho local 

council. With a combined stretch 

of 27.4 kilometers, the streets are 

sited in the inner suburbs, far removed 

from the familiar Lagos - 

Abeokuta highway. 

Until that Monday, this overworked 

human and vehicular 

route used to be the economic 

and business hub of the people 

of Alimosho-OkeOdo-Agbado 

area, the largest federal constituency 

in Nigeria. But a visionary 

and compassionate governor 

mulled the choking hardship 

ensuing from this arrangement 

as well as its effect on Africa’s 

fifth largest economy which Lagos 

has become and decided to 

change the narrative. 

He came to the conclusion that 

governance is a failed enterprise 

if it doesn’t come close to the 

people via government projects, 

if it doesn’t shorten the distance 

between their abode and the centre 

of business through a good 

How Pay-Television Business Works 

It is no civic obligation, after all. 

Having assumptions is part of our 

make-up as humans. Some 

assumptions, of course, are 

reasonably well founded; others, not 

so much. 

First and very crucially, it is 

important to understand that paytelevision 

companies usually do not 

own the enchanting content they 

broadcast. They are often just 

vendors or brokers for content 

creators and owners. Content 

creators and owners sell to paytelevision 

companies for re-sale to 

the latter’s respective subscribers. 

There can be no prizes for guessing 

which party is dominant one in the 

pay television ecosystem. While 

providers own the customer 

relationship and make their money 

from rent on the delivery of content, 

pricing power belongs to the 

content owners. 

Most often, content owners, often 

large companies, charge affiliate 

fees-their primary source of 

revenue-for funding content 

production. Affiliate fees are 

carriage fees paid per month per 

subscriber by pay television 

companies or multichannel video 

programming distributors to 


By Sufuyan Ojeifo 


Celebrating an influential 

politician 

“Paint my picture truly like me,” 

Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) told 

the artist about to paint his portrait, 

“pimples, warts, and everything as 

you Dsee me.” 

avid Alechenu Bonaventure 

Mark, retired brigadier general, 

former senate president and 

longest serving senator of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria, presents 

avant-garde views or perspectives 

to writers who indulge in the enterprise 

of questioning and contextualizing 

the essence or quintessence 

of grandees. In such an enterprise, 

the subject matter becomes 

a captive in the fertile imagination 

of the writer who is at liberty to either 

build or dismantle primordial 

prejudices; or deconstruct or 

even reconstruct the persona of the 

subject on the writ large platform 

of conscionable journalistic interrogation. 

Perceptions and perspectives assume 

free reins. That is the tragedy, 

so to speak, of heroes. They are 

subjected to the vagaries of characterisations 

that most times encapsulate 

both the sublime and the 

ridiculous; the garish and the outlandish; 

the profound and the jejune; 

the profane and the celestial. 

Inevitably, Mark, who is now 70 

(April 8, 2018), is one of the latest 

captives of this obligatory ritual 

which many crave and many others 

loathe. There is always the existential 

fear about the doubleedged 

nature of good and bad that 

media hype breeds. The fear of the 

occasional collateral damage, yes, 

of the unintended consequences, is 

real and grisly. 

Yet, it could be salutary, somewhat, 

to introspective self-assessment 

of how well one has fared 

whether rightly or wrongly in the 

domain of public perception, especially 

for those in public offices, 

who must be taken through the critical 

appraisal index. It is in this 

context that the essential David 

Mark cannot escape essential consideration. 

Mark, without a doubt, means 

different things to different people. 

To some, he remains a gentleman 

officer even in retirement; to others, 

he is an astute politician and 

strategist with rare legerdemain; 

some more see him as a philanthropist 

with capacity for cornucopian 

eleemosynary while some 

perceive him as a passionate golfer 

Ṫhese are not all to the variegated 

perspectives: some see him as a 

budding religious aficionado of 

the catholic hue while others see 

him as traditional for his receptiveness 

of the traditional title of 

Okpokpowulu K’Idoma (the leader 

of war or the bulldozer of Idoma) 

from his Royal Majesty, Agabaidu 

Elias Ikoyi Obekpa, the 

Och’Idoma IV of Idomaland, in 

2009 or thereabout in recognition 

of his numerous contributions to 

the development of Idoma land. 

But my preoccupation herein is 

to illuminate the philosophical underpinning 

of the activities, the life 

and times of a man whose entirety 

evokes, at once, multiple perspectives 

by admirers and traducers 

alike. I could have adapted the oneliner 

summation of the French philosopher, 

Rene Descartes’ “cogito 

ergo sum” meaning “I think therefore 

I am” when he was asked who 

a man is, to answer the question as 

to who David Mark is. 

Who is David Mark? And what 

Ambode: Between projects and merit votes 

road network. 

And so the Ambode administration 

refused to toe the line of 

elitist concentration of infrastructure 

in and around the expressway. 

He moved from there 

and headed for the underdeveloped 

outskirts to bring government 

to the doorstep of the people. 

Town planners call his action 

centrifugal country development. 

It breaks the monopoly of 

government presence in the metropolis. 

It restores the traditional 

concept of government as the 

father of all, both the rural 

dwellers and city folks, not that 

of the latter, even if government 

is in the city. 

Also, this practice 

inevitably causes 

subscription price 

hikes and subscriber 

displeasure, which pay 

television companies 

have to deal with 

exclusively. 

content owners. While the affiliate 

model benefits both content owners 

and vendors (the former is able to 

extend its reach and generate new 

sales; the vendor or affiliate makes 

commissions), the senior partnerby 

miles-is the content owner. 

Premium content, including live 

coverage of iconic sports events and 

recent Hollywood movie releases, 

determine where subscribers go. 

Competition for this category of 

content is as fierce and bruising as 

a prize fight, which naturally drives 

up the cost of acquisition. The 

subsisting broadcast rights to the 

Premier League, which lapses next 

The essential David Mark @70 

Both flanks, that of 

Alimosho and of Epe, 

form a grand vision 

of an economic integration 

of all the 

southwest states, 

starting with Ogun 

state the closest 

In line with the mood of the 

moment that marked the holiest 

ceremony in the Christian 

calendar, Ambode spoke of the 

commissioning as a metaphor 

for the economic reawakening 

of Alimosho. Jesus’ Resurrection 

at Easter was a restoration of 

lost hope and a return to life. The 

roads he launched on Easter 

Monday were figuratively as it 

were, a new page in the continuous 

delivery of the dividends of 

good governance after a long 

period of deathlike denial. 

“This is what is called dividend 

of democracy,” Ambode 

told an ecstatic and jubilant 

crowd. “’We are making this Alimosho 

axis economically viable 

and livable. By opening up 

the whole network stretching 

27.4 km we have brought economy 

back to this place. With the 

walkways and street lights, these 

communities are becoming safer 

and there is more to do. By 

expanding the infrastructure 

around this axis, you can travel 

as far as Ojo or Badagry without 

necessarily passing through 

the express road. That is what 

you voted for, and that’s why we 

are returning here to say we have 

kept all our promises.” 

The governor also opened up 

on how to spare the land routes 

of needless stress. His govern- 

year, cost UK’s Sky and BT a 

staggering 5billion pounds. This 

amounts to a 70 per cent increase 

over what was paid the last time. 

Even for content produced locally, 

costs are not static, as producers are 

not insulated from local and 

international economic indices, 

which impose upward cost reviews 

when new content agreements are 

being entered into. Just as with 

foreign content, local content is 

denominated in dollars, the 

international currency of doing 

business, because most paytelevision 

platforms operate across 

borders. Some pay-television 

companies, such as DStv, are known 

to develop sports and entertainment 

content, which costs astronomical 

sums. 

As with everything in life, profile 

almost always determines what you 

get. Thus, a small-time content 

owner is very unlikely to attract a 

sizeable affiliate fee for its content. 

But the behemoths such as Sky 

Sports, Viacom or Disney are well 

placed to negotiate and attract 

much fatter sums per subscriber per 

month because they offer 

compelling content, without which 

any pay-television package 

ment, he promised, will dredge 

the Illo River and rehabilitate 

roads in the area- Adekoya, Makinde, 

Suberu Oje, Old Ota, IshefunIjan 

which will be converted 

to a jetty through which residents 

can ride a boat to connect Marina 

on Lagos in less than half an 

hour. If you’re already getting the 

picture of a governor thinking 

beyond service delivery to the 

metropolitan people only, then 

you’re just close to Ambode’s 

long-haul race. For he says that 

a BRT corridor is coming in tow 

on the scene of the just-commissioned 

roads. Still more: something 

similar is in the offing between 

Epe and Ijebu Ode to 

make way for Lagos to access the 

Ijebu Ode- Ore Expressway in 

Ogun. 

Both flanks, that of Alimosho 

and of Epe, form a grand vision 

of an economic integration of all 

the southwest states, starting with 

Ogun state the closest. Ambode 

says: ‘’That is what economic integration 

means, that is how to 

expand commerce, that’s how to 

create jobs for our people and by 

this project people in the community 

will benefit from the jobs 

and also benefit from the commerce 

and that is what inclusive 

governance is all about.” 

The lesson from this Epe-born 

governor is that you can adroitly 

marketed stands at a debilitating 

disadvantage. 

Pay-television service providers 

remain in business because 

subscribers want access to popular 

content such as the Premier League, 

Spanish La Liga, documentaries, 

movies or kids’ entertainment. The 

bid to remain in business leaves 

them at the mercy of content owners 

who, on account of the hot 

properties they own, could keep 

charging higher sums as affiliate 

fees. Pay-television companies suffer 

further disadvantage when contentowning 

giants decide (and it is often) 

to band channels together and 

compel them to pay affiliate fees 

for all their channels whether 

popular or not. This often results in 

dispute between both parties. Also, 

this practice inevitably causes 

subscription price hikes and 

subscriber displeasure, which pay 

television companies have to deal 

with exclusively. 

Another plank of the business is 

the cost of satellites used for 

transmission. There are five major 

components involved in direct to 

home (DTH) or direct broadcasting 

(DBS) satellite system: the 

programming source, broadcast 

centre, satellite, satellite dish and 

the receiver. 

*Nnadozie, studio engineer, is 

resident in Enugu 

are his essences? I could settle for 

one of the perspectives supra in a 

quick riposte and go ahead to adumbrate 

his essences within the 

narrow confine of just a perspective. 

But on the unique occasion of 

his 70th birthday, I cannot be unfair 

to him with a one-dimensional 

or one-liner appreciation. 

Therefore, Mark is a fitting summation 

of all the perspectives and 

for a man to deserve this kind of 

approximation makes him a phenomenon. 

I take the opportunity 

of his 70thbirthday to celebrate 

a friend and mentor who chose, at 

a critical intersection in my coverage 

of the Senate as THISDAY politics 

editor in Abuja, to let me into 

his life by force of appreciation of 

my intellectual capital. 

My reportage of the politicking 

of the race for the senate presidency 

in 2007 had been misconstrued 

as opposition to Mark’s senate 

presidency and that disposition 

had preponderated reportorial interactions 

until 2009 when Mark 

turned 61. 

*Ojeifo wrote via 

ojwonderngr@yahoo.com 

deploy endogenous initiatives to 

attract exogenous wealth and 

prosperity for your people. He 

went thousands of kilometers to 

Kebbi state to strike a deal for 

the now famous Lake Rice. Now 

he’s heading close by, westwards 

to his people to clinch the goal 

of an old dream cherished by 

Yoruba leaders of the 50s and 

60s. 

Isn’t it instructive that just recently 

the other states of the 

southwest- Ogun, Osun, Oyo, 

Ondo and Ekiti- completed the 

process of readmitting Lagos 

into the Odua Investment conglomerate 

with 115 million 

shares, thus kick starting what 

is being hailed as ‘’the real economic 

integration of the region”? 

When he met newsmen shortly 

after the road commissioning, 

an elated Senator Olamilekan 

Adeola said Ambode has ‘’surpassed 

expectations of Lagosians”. 

He added somewhat jubilantly: 

‘’…many residents who 

relocated from the area years 

ago, have been returning to the 

axis due to the massive infrastructural 

by the Akinwunmi 

(Ambode)-led administration.” 

The federal lawmaker then addressed 

Ambode: ‘’Your Excellency, 

we are assuring you of giving 

you one million votes in the 

coming election (in 2019) in Alimosho 

alone.” 

*Anibaba, a journalist, lives 

in Ikorodu.


Viewpoint 

By Funsho Ayoola 


The VP’s simple message 

‘And ye shall know the truth and 

the truth shall set you free’ – John 

8:32 

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo 

means different things to different 

people. As a student, he 

showed brilliance at every level of 

education he passed through. At 

University of Lagos (UNILAG) 

where he obtained a degree in law, 

he distinguished himself, bagging 

second class upper on graduation. 

That set the stage for a robust 

teaching career for Osinbajo at his 

alma mater where his outstanding 

character got him noticed by 

then Attorney General of the Federation 

and Minister of Justice, 

Prince Bola Ajibola, who took him 

in as his Special Assistant. That 

marked his foray into governance. 

Even if that was under a military 

dispensation, he must have learnt 

some rudiments of politics. 

His second foray into politics 

came in 1999 when, still based on 

his brilliant credentials in law, 

Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu invited him 

to join his cabinet as Commissioner 

for Justice and Attorney General 

of Lagos State and he did not 

disappoint. The bulk of the law 

By Chuks Okocha 


Controversy over emoluments 

By Akintola Benson-Oke 


A lean operational model 

LAGOS State Civil Service has 

come a long way in reducing 

waste while increasing productivity. 

This is partly the result of the extensive 

investments in knowledge and skills 

by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi 

Ambode. For these investments, 

the state Civil Service remains 

grateful. 

The importance of eliminating 

waste cannot be over-emphasised. 

Countless studies have shown that, 

with good and sound processes relating 

to management of time and resources, 

one finds that meagre resources 

can be extended to produce outstanding 

results. In other words, organisations 

and individuals can 

achieve more with less. 

Indeed, it would be a great achievement 

if the Lagos State Civil Service 

is able to import the principles of lean 

operations from the private sector and 

apply them, mutatis mutandis, to the 

operations of the public sector. 

Osinbajo’s anti-corruption formula 

But those who do not 

want to continue to hear 

the truth about how 

corruption of the 

Jonathan administration 

brought the economy to 

a point that it nearly 

collapsed, expectedly, 

have joined issues with 

the VP because they 

don’t want to be reminded 

of their ugly past 

reforms that endure today in the 

state were initiated under that administration. 

The flawless delivery 

of the Lagos cabinet job and 

his deep commitment to the All 

Progressives Congress (APC) as a 

platform to lift the nation out of 

the morass of the past must have 

recommended the professor of 

law, among other factors, for his 

latest 

assignment in Aso Rock where 

he is Vice President of the Federal 

Republic of Nigeria. For instance, 

after the formation of the 

APC in 2013, Osinbajo was 

tasked, with other notable Nigerians, 

to design and produce a 

manifesto for the new political 

party. This culminated in the presentation 

of the ‘Roadmap to a 

New Nigeria’, a document published 

by APC as its manifesto if 

elected to power. The highlights 

of the Roadmap included a free 

school meal plan, a conditional 

cash transfer to the 25 million 

poorest Nigerians if they enrol 

their children in school and immunise 

them. There were also a 

number of programs designed to 

create economic opportunities 

for Nigeria’s massive youth population. 

With the involvement of 

the VP in the design and production 

of the APC, the Buhari administration 

has, in its wisdom, 

allowed the implementation of 

some of the key components to 

fall under the supervision of the 

VP. For instance, the school 

meal and conditional cash transfer 

components of the APC government 

manifesto are aggressively 

being pursued under the 

Office of the VP with evidence 

from across the 36 states showing 

that both programmes are a huge 

success. There is obviously no better 

way to describe the situation 

other than the fact that Osinbajo 

has acquitted himself very well. 

The implementation of the anticorruption 

crusade of the administration 

is also being carried by 

relevant MDAs in collaboration 

with the Office of the VP. This is 

not a surprise given that Osinbajo 

has carved a niche for himself 

as a professor of law. The successes 

the administration has made on 

its anti-corruption drive, which is 

one of the three key electioneering 

promises of the APC government 

(the two others being security 

and economic growth), cannot 

be celebrated without mentioning 

the contribution of the VP who has 

stood solidly behind the Acting 

Chairman of the Economic and 

Financial Crimes Commission 

(EFCC) against those who want 

him out on the grounds of his 

non-compromising stance to recover 

huge public funds stolen by 

past government officials, especially 

those of the immediate past 

administration. Meanwhile, the 

VP is a pastor of one of the fastest 

growing churches in the coun- 

Much Ado About Running Cost 

WITH the declaration by the 

Revenue Mobilisation Allocation 

and Fiscal Commission 

(RMAFC) that the monthly salary 

of each senator is N1.06 million, the 

dust raised in the polity over reports 

that members of the upper house receive 

N13.5 million as salary is gradually 

being laid to rest. What should 

now agitate the minds of all Nigerians 

is what is ‘running cost’? 

Should a senator or indeed any 

other government official use his 

monthly salary to run and maintain 

his office? Is that the standard procedure 

or the best practice in other 

climes? Should a Senator or a member 

of the House of Representative 

use his monthly salary to run his office? 

Is that what is obtained in other 

government agencies or other 

arms of government? 

Salaries are defined as money 

paid to workers be tbey members 

of the Federal Executive Council 

(FEC), Heads of Government Agencies 

or any one for the work done at 

a given period. . It is expected of any 

man or woman who does a job to be 

paid as at when due brcause it is often 

said that a labourer deserves 

his or her wages. 

What is not clear is whether the 

worker. be it a Minister, Senator, 

Director General or any other person 

should use his or her salary to 

maintain the office. A salary is not 

expected to be retired or accounted 

for, insofar as the person goes to 

work as stated in his or her letter of 

employment. What is not included 

in the monthly salary is the running 

cost. An unavoidable question here 

is : should a worker no matter the 

category be expected to use his salary 

to maintain his office?. A specific 

amount is always budgeted or set 

aside to be used for the day to day 

running of any office. 

A little knowledge of office management 

shows that there are basic 

issues that are needed to keep an 

office running and such money are 

usually accounted for or retired as 

at when due with all the relevant receipts. 

A Minister of the Federal Republic 

of Nigeria or any other government 

official for that matter 

usually has some money budgeted 

for the day to day running of the 

office. Much as no mischief is intended, 

a running cost for a senator 

shall include but not limited 

to the cost of photocopying documents, 

purchase of inks, air tickets, 

medical bills as well as payment 

for various consultants who research 

into the various bills, motions 

and other legislative duties that usually 

enhance the work of the parliamentarians. 

It also include payment of rents to 

Lagos Civil Service: Doing more with less 

It has been rightly noted that the 

lean management and production 

techniques have their roots in the 

manufacturing sector. Specifically, 

the car manufacturer, Toyota, has 

been singled out as demonstrating 

the profitability of the techniques over 

the years. This is why, according to 

McKinsey & Company, many “businesses 

have followed Toyota’s lead 

and undergone a lean transformation. 

A major European telecommunications 

company, for example, successfully 

applied lean techniques to 

a problem that was leading many of 

its customers to switch to competitors: 

the repair of faulty telephone 

lines. The company found that its call 

center operators, diagnostics experts, 

and repair technicians operated as 

though they actually worked for rival 

employers. As a result, it took an 

average of 19 hours to repair a line. 

Using lean principles, the company 

realigned its organization and invested 

in the development of team leaders. 

In the first few months of its pilot 

project, productivity increased by 40 

percent and recurring failures fell by 

constituency offices, payment of staff 

in such offices, fuelling of the vehicles 

of the parliamentarians when 

they go on oversight duties. A lawmaker 

on an oversight duty is not 

expected to ask his host to provide 

for his or her transport or even accommodation 

for himself or herself 

including supporting staff. The parliamentarian 

who receives money 

for running cost is expected to retire 

such funds with due receipts. The 

problem here should be when such 

funds are not accounted for or retired. 

This again is not limited to lawmakers, 

as other government officials 

on such approved journeys do 

retire such funds whenever they embark 

on such tours. Basically, the 

duties of a parliamentarian is not a 

‘sit down in office work’. A parliamentarian 

engages in journeys and 

research so to enrich the bills and 

motions that would be passed for 

the day to day and promotion of 

good governance In the country. 

So, what is the hullabaloo or fixation 

of minds on running costs gor 

members of the National Assembly? 

What is so special about this running 

cost? This is not unusual, it 

is what is obtained in every democracy. 

The legislature, the executive 

and indeed the judiciary, all of 

them have running cost. If no blackmail 

is intended, let Nigerians, all 

If no blackmail is intended, 

let Nigerians, 

all civil society groups 

ask for the running cost 

of all government 

official, from the office 

of the President, Vice 

President, Ministers, 

special advisers and all 

other categories of 

government officials. 

civil society groups ask for the running 

cost of all government official, 

from the office of the President, Vice 

President, Ministers, special advisers 

and all other categories of government 

officials. Let’s know if they 

maintain their offices from their salaries. 

What is the motive behind the hue 

and cry of the salaries and running 

cost of members of the National Assembly? 

In the entire gamut of the 

national budget, less than two 

percent is spent on both the Senate 

and the House of Representatives. In 

2017, out of over six trillion naira, 

the budget of the National Assembly 

50 percent. The programme was then 

rolled out across the company’s national 

network, where it achieved similar 

success.1Likewise, a major European 

bank used lean techniques to reduce the 

processing time for mortgage applications 

to 5 days, from 35 days. Because 

fewer applicants dropped out of the process, 

the bank’s revenues grew by 5 percent 

even as processing costs fell by 35 

percent.” 

The question, of course, is whether 

any of this is relevant to the public sector? 

As noted, it is not surprising that the 

concept and language of lean, rooted as 

they are in manufacturing, spark cynicism 

among many civil servants. Some 

feel that their priority should be matters 

of policy, not operations; others resent 

the notion that they are somehow part of 

a production line. Moreover, without the 

incentive of the profit motive, these government 

managers may believe they 

have neither a reason nor the levers to 

pursue a lean approach. 

Yet practical experience suggests that 

they can. A study has shown that in a UK 

government office processing large volumes 

of standard documents, lean techniques 

achieved double-digit productivity 

gains in the number of documents 

processed per hour and improved 

customer service by slashing 

lead times to fewer than 12 days, from 

about 40, thus eliminating backlogs. 

The proportion of documents processed 

correctly the first time increased 

by roughly 30 percent; lead 

times to process incoming mail decreased 

to 2 days, from 15 days; and 

the staff occasionally attains the nirvana 

of an unprecedented zero backlog. 

Now, I will be the first to acknowledge 

that, as has been well documented, 

persuading people to embark on 

the lean journey, where the last stop 

may be their own removal or reassignment, 

is not easy. To succeed, 

public-sector organizations must 

find a way to align their growth strategy—providing 

new and better services 

at limited cost—with a regard 

for the interests of their workers. Although 

lean programmes may cut 

the number of public-sector jobs over 

time, the goal is to make the remaining 

ones more rewarding. Incentives 

try, the Redeemed Christian Church 

of God. And it was on that premise 

that Osinbajo spoke truth to those 

who will rather that the nation stops 

talking about the large scale corruption 

perpetrated by the immediate 

past administration and 

which everyone agrees virtually 

killed the economy. The VP spoke 

alongside Tinubu at the colloquim 

to mark the 66th birthday of the 

APC national leader. 

Osinbajo, who described corruption 

as an existential problem for 

Nigeria, had said, “The corruption 

of the previous five years destroyed 

the economy.” “They say don’t talk 

about it. What should we talk 

about? If we are not talking about 

it, what then is the lesson to Nigerians?” 

Tinubu said. 

He said that the former ruling 

Peoples Democratic Party wasted 

the nation’s resources when production 

was at maximum. 

But those who do not want to continue 

to hear the truth about how 

corruption of the Jonathan administration 

brought the economy to a 

point that it nearly collapsed, expectedly, 

have joined issues with the 

VP because they don’t want to be 

reminded of their ugly past and, by 

so doing, amend their ways. 

*Ayoola is a public affairs analyst 

based in Lagos. 

was just N150 Billion. This is happening 

in a country where in less 

than 34 months, a minister has collected 

over $800,000 as estacode. Yet 

no one has condemned the ministers 

for what they earn. What is good 

for the goose is equally good for the 

gander. That is why there is the need 

for all agencies of government at all 

levels to disclose what it takes to 

maintain their offices. 

A former Senior Special Assistant 

to President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. 

Doyin Okupe, in his response to Itse 

Sagay’s position on the salary and 

running cost of senators, said, “I find 

the threat by Professor Sagay on allowances 

and running cost of the 

leadership of the National Assembly 

very interesting. It will aid our 

fight for transparency in public affairs. 

However, he should not be selective. 

For us to take him seriously, 

he should include the details of the 

running costs of the office of the President, 

Vice President, Ministers, Special 

Advisers, heads of government 

agencies, parastatals and even himself. 

After all, the salaries, allowances 

and running costs come from the 

same public coffers. 

“He should tell the world how 

much he is paid, how much he spends 

on his numerous junketing abroad, 

his allowances, honoraria and others, 

including the ones paid for by 

international donor agencies”. 

*Okocha is Special Assistant to the 

Senate President. 

come from the prospect of more 

meaningful work, potentially with 

room for greater autonomy or a 

chance to develop new skills. 

If the Lagos State Civil Service is 

able to perfect the art of lean management 

and operations, the service 

will become able to eliminate the socalled 

“Three Sources of Loss,” which 

are waste, variability, and inflexibility. 

A lean operational system will 

also ensure that the Lagos State Civil 

Service creates and maintains the 

beneficial ability to improve itself 

constantly by bringing problems to 

the surface and resolving them. In 

this area, the public sector often finds 

itself in a weaker starting position 

when compared to private sector entities, 

with gaps in skills and entrenched 

mind-sets. The adoption of 

a lean operational system will help 

the Lagos State Civil Service adopt 

a performance culture. This is because, 

“when improving long-term 

performance is the goal, changing 

the process or the operating system 

will not suffice. The organization’s 

culture must also change.” 

*Benson Oke, Honourable Commissioner, 

Lagos State Ministry of Establishments, 

Training and Pensions


Newcastle 

not yet safe, 

says Benitez 

RAFA Benitez has in 

sisted his team deserved 

all three points 

against Leicester City 

despite being pushed all 

the way during the 2-1 

win at the King Power 

Stadium. 

The Foxes set up a 

nervous finish after 

Jamie Vardy’s late goal 

made things uncomfortable 

for United on a day 

in which the home side 

felt they should have 

had two penalties. 

Vardy was upended by 

Mo Diame while Paul 

Dummett’s tackle on Riyad 

Mahrez proved to be 

a close call. 

After the game, Benitez 

refused to declare his 

side were safe from relegation 

but said they 

were full value for the 

three points. 

He said: “Closer yes, 

but we are only nearly 

there. 

“We want to make sure 

we have the 40 points.” 

Newcastle’s win was 

their first one on the road 

since January 1, but they 

showed resolve and unlike 

the trip to AFC 

Bournemouth they did 

not throw away a twogoal 

lead. 

Benitez said: “It was 

important for us to work 

really hard. 

“It was a great performance 

and we deserved 

to win.” 

Super Falcons players lament 8-0 bashing by 

French women 

SUPER Falcons play 

ers were shell 

shocked by the 8-0 drubbing 

handed them by the 

French women couterparts 

in Friday night’s international 

friendly in Le 

Mans. 

It was the first major 

game for the African 

Champions and the first 

outing for new coach Thomas 

Dennerby with the 

senior team after he took 

the B side to the WAFU 

tournament in Cote d’ 

Ivoire. This was the third 

time the Falcons will be 

suffering a heavy defeat 

in the hands of European 

teams. They lost with the 

same margin to Norway 

in 1995 and Germany in 

2010. 

According to striker Desire 

Oparanozie the team 

was ill-prepared for the 

POWER POINT... Paul Pogba heads in United back into the game. The first 

of his two goals against City. 

United rub salt on City’s injury 

Manchester United 

rallied from two 

goals down to win a pulsating 

derby 3-2 and 

deny Manchester City 

the chance to claim the 

Premier League title 

against their local rivals. 

This defeat for City is 

coming after their 3-0 

thumping by Liverpool 

in the first leg quarterfinal 

of the Champions 

League tie at Anfield. 

In the first half City 

looked on course to be 

crowned PL champions 

after racing into a twogoal 

lead courtesy of Vincent 

Kompany and Ilkay 

Gundogan. 

But Paul Pogba’s double 

early in the second 

half turned the match on 

its head before Chris 

Smalling headed in the 

winner. 

Kompany headed in 

from Leroy Sane’s corner 

on 25 minutes, before 

Gundogan turned on 

Raheem Sterling’s pass 

and prodded in the second. 

Pogba pulled a goal 

back on 53 minutes from 

Ander Herrera’s chested 

pass, before heading in 

his second from United’s 

next attack. 

Smalling nodded in 

game. 

“To be honest, I think we 

didn’t have adequate 

preparation going into 

this game, taking into 

consideration the fact that 

we were inactive for as 

long as we were - 16 

months,” France-based 

Nigeria striker Desire 

Oparanozie told BBC 

Sport. “We are the champions 

of Africa and we can 

all say it was rightly deserving. 

However, we 

can’t deny the fact that 

while we were out, our 

opposition have been 

busy getting stronger. 

“I admit it might not be 

a good enough reason for 

the scoreline but France 

were bound to put in a 

better showing than us,” 

Oparanozie added. Also 

speaking was goalkeeper, 

Alaba Jonathan who 

missed the game. “The 

team is training together 

for the first time after we 

played in Cameroon. The 

players need more time 

to work together.” 

The Falcons will now 

focus on qualifying for the 

2018 Africa Women Cup 

of Nations in Ghana as 

Sanchez’s free-kick, a 

second assist for the 

Chilean, and David De 

Gea denied Sergio 

Aguero a leveller with a 

brilliant save. 

City remain 13 points 

clear of second-placed 

United with five matches 

remaining. 

“We are not a bad team 

as people think we are. 

I’m not a bad manager 

as people think we are. 

We have just proved that 

we are the second best 

team in the League,” 

United manager, Jose 

Mourinho said after the 

match. 

they aim to retain their 

continental title. 

This year’s Women’s 

Nations Cup will take on 

extra significance as it will 

also decide the continent’s 

teams for the 2019 

Women’s World Cup - in 

what could be Nigeria’s 

eighth record appearance 

at the tournament. 

Falcons'll bounce back, 

Pinnick assures 

NIGERIA Football 

Federation president 

Amaju Pinnick has 

made excuses for Falcons’ 

humiliating 8-0 

loss to France in a 

friendly on Friday 

evening, saying the Federation 

put all of their efforts 

on the Super Eagles. 

In a statement released 

this afternoon, Pinnick 

pointed out that the Super 

Falcons are still the 

best team in Africa and 

fans should not gloat 

over the result as it was 

a friendly that the 

coaches will use to correct 

the deficiencies in 

the team. 

What’s clear is that 

defense shambles cost 

the Super Falcons 

against the French national 

team after they 

conceded eight goals 

from inside the box, 

which could have been 

prevented if they were 

more organized. 

‘’Our Super Falcons 

team is the best female 

team in Africa. Our pride 

in them will never 

waver. As with any 

friendly match, the game 

against France was more 

for the technical team to 

look at the players now 

and see who and what 

will fit,’’ Pinnick stated. 

‘’The result, though 

very lopsided just shows 

how much work is in front 

of us. We concentrated a 

lot of our efforts on our 

Super Eagles, but it was 

unintentional. 

‘’Hopefully, we will do 

them proud as well. So, 

I would like to just tell 

Nigerians that I, the Executive 

Committee and 

Management of the 

NFF, are all very proud 

of our Super Falcons 

and we know they will 

make us proud as they 

usually do. 

‘’One bad experimental 

result does not 

change a priceless asset; 

our dear Super Falcons.’ 

Dalung optimistic despite poor start 

THE Minister of Youth and Sports Barrister Solo 

mon Dalung is confident that Nigeria will surpass 

its past record at the ongoing Commonwealth 

Games. Barrister gave the assurance despite the country’s 

poor start at the Games in Gold Coast which enters 

Day 3 on Saturday. “The Games have just started 

and our team has prepared very well. Although the 

early start has not been quite impressive as we expected, 

that does not suggest that that’s what we are 

expecting. We are quite hopeful that we will surpass 

our records in this Games. We should not be discouraged 

by the poor start. The team is in high spirit and 

the officials are dutifully working round the clock. Our 

aim is to make the country proud.” 

In boxing on Friday, Millicent Agboegbulem defeated 

Salte Huni of Tonga 5-0 in the Women’s 75kg 

Round of 16. The Minister was accompanied by the 

President, Nigeria Olympic Committee Engr Habu 

Gumel, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Mr 

Olusade Adesola and the Director Planning, Monitoring 

and Implementation Mrs Hauwa Kulu Akinyemi 

to cheer the boxer. 

D'Tigers lose 67-82 to Canada 

THE Canadian national basketball team on Saturday 

defeated the Nigerian national male basketball 

team, D’Tigers, 82-67 points at the ongoing 

Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. 

The Nigerians had lost their first preliminary qualification 

game against the Tall Blacks of New Zealand 

on Friday and have now all but crashed out of the 

tournament. 

Canada were favourites going into the game, and 

in the game’s first quarter Canada took a 23-16 points 

lead, while D’Tigers took a narrow lead of 21-20 in 

the second period. D’Tigers also rallied to take another 

slim lead in the third quarter, pipping Canada by 

15-14 points, with both leads doing little to peg the 

North Americans back. 

It was in the final period, however, that Canada extended 

their domination, taking 25 points against 

D’Tigers’ 15. The Nigerian basketball team are now 

in the bottom of Pool A, having played two matches 

and lost both. Pool toppers New Zealand and secondplaced 

Australia played their group’s other game later 

in the day. 

Gold Coast is a 'Ghost Town' as 

business struggle to make money 

THE Commonwealth Games has failed to de 

liver on an expected economic boom, frustrating 

business owners who are struggling amid dwindling 

sales as the Gold Coast becomes a ‘ghost town’. Compounding 

the anger is mayor Tom Tate, who said businesses 

needed to ‘get out there and market’, adding 

that he ‘never sat still when I ran my business’. Retailers 

and owners are furious at the mayor’s comments, 

saying they were ‘pissed off’ at the assumption 

they weren’t working hard during the Games. 

Southport coffee shop’s sales have reportedly been 

slashed from an average of 200 coffees a day to just 

ten. 

Commonwealth Games bosses have admitted they 

frightened visitors off with their overly-negative preview 

of the event. Queensland Premier Annastacia 

Palaszcuk is disappointed in plans which scared people 

off with fears of traffic chaos, and Gold Coast Commonwealth 

Games Corporation chairman Peter Beattie 

has admitted it has been a failure. ‘We were worried 

about the traffic, of course we were. I think we probably 

did [go too far] and I accept responsibility for 

that. That’s not the government, that’s me,’ he told 

the Courier Mail. 

Ghana women set Hockey 

dreams high 

GHANA women were dealt Trans-Tasman baptism 

of fire to mark global tournament debut, but have 

hearts to match. 

“We are here to give the people of Ghana hope and 

to leave a great mark on the world,” women’s captain 

Nafisatu Umaru declared before their Commonwealth 

adventure began on Friday. And even after a 12-0 drubbing 

by New Zealand there remained hope. Yes, short 

in stature against the muscled shoulders of the Kiwis, 

but big in heart. The African media outlet which called 

the result “humiliating” clearly weren’t present. “I’m 

proud to play with this team,” Elizabeth Opoku then 

revealed after their debut on the global stage. “The 

quickness and movement and the skill level was far 

ahead of us. They played a continual game. “We don’t 

give up easily. We play to our game and we still have 

to fight.”

PAGE 46, SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 

Madrid derby: Zidane targets 

Atletico whitewash 

REAL Madrid coach 

Zinedine Zidane 

insists his side will be 

going all out for victory 

in the Madrid derby 

against Atletico at the 

Bernabeu. 

Real are currently four 

points adrift of their city 

rivals in LaLiga but have 

enjoyed a strong run 

Ronaldo and Zidane talking strategy. 

against Atletico, drawing 

two and winning two 

of their last four matches 

and have only lost 

one of the last eight encounters. 

Zidane told reporters 

after Real’s training session 

on Saturday morning: 

“We’ll be going out 

to win the game. We 

can’t sit back or consider 

approaching it in any 

other way. 

“We’re up against a 

very good side, both defensively 

and in attacking 

terms. It’ll be a good 

game and our intensity 

levels will be key. We 

want to keep our good 

run going against Atletico.” 

Atletico Madrid 

coach Diego Simeone 

said his team face a big 

challenge against “the 

strongest squad in the 

world.” 

“We are who we are, 

and we will look for hard 

work as our base to play 

a big game,” Simeone 

said. “Madrid have, if 

not the best team in the 

world, the best squad in 

the world. They have 

done great to put together 

a squad better than 

Paris Saint-Germain, 

Manchester City or Barcelona. 

That is their 

strength. So whoever we 

play against we will 

know very clearly what 

we must do.” 

Ronaldo scores another bicycle kick 

WHEN Cristiano 

Ronaldo propelled 

himself into the 

air to thrash a bicycle kick 

past the helpless Gianluigi 

Buffon on Tuesday, 

the footballing world allowed 

a collective gasp 

to escape their lips. 

The Real Madrid forward 

scored his side’s 

second goal in their 3-0 

Confederation Cup: Enyimba coach 

happy with draw in S/Africa 

ENYIMBA of Aba 

are within reach of 

the CAF Confederation 

Cup group stage for the 

first time,after achieving 

impressive results on Friday 

against Bidvest Wits 

in Johannesburg. 

Enyimba recovered 

from a shock secondminute 

goal to level with 

Wits of South Africa in 

the first leg of a play-off. 

A dramatic start in 

South Africa saw veteran 

Daine Klate give Wits 

a second-minute lead 

only for Mustapha Ibrahim 

equalise three minutes 

later. 

Former African champions 

Enyimba looked 

dangerous during the 

opening half, but resorted 

to time wasting under 

pressure in the closing 

*Aigbogun 

stages and two Nigerians 

were yellow-carded. 

Ghana-born Enyimba 

goalkeeper Fatau Dauda 

made a string of fine 

saves to keep Wits at bay. 

“I think the main thing 

is that you don’t lose,” 

said Enyimba coach Paul 

Aigbogun. “When you 

go away, the important 

thing: don’t lose, and 

score a goal. Getting the 

goal is very important.” 

DANIEL Amokachi’s 

wonder goal 

against Greece did not 

make it to the next round 

in the voting for the favorite 

ever goal scored in 

a World Cup tournament. 

The former Everton 

striker would have faced 

Dutchman Giovanni van 

Bronckhorst in the last 

sixteen but was knocked 

out by ex-England ace 

Michael Owen’s sublime 

solo effort against Argentina 

in France 1998. 

Of the 32 goals initially 

shortlisted for the accolade, 

Amokachi was the 

only player nominated 

from Africa. 

Only eight strikes from 

van Bronckhorst, Ronaldinho, 

éder Aleixo de Assis, 

Edmílson, Manuel 

Negrete, Dennis Bergkamp, 

James Rodríguez 

Champions League victory, 

and was even given 

a standing ovation by 

the home fans. 

And the 33-year-old 

proved it was no fluke in 

training on Saturday, 

wowing teammates and 

coaches alike with another 

bicycle kick. 

Zinedine Zidane’s men 

are preparing for a huge 

Madrid derby on Sunday 

evening, with Ronaldo 

proving he is more 

than up for the challenge. 

Exactly the same duo 

combined once again as 

on Tuesday at the Juventus 

Stadium, with Dani 

Carvajal setting up Ronaldo 

once again to finish. 

*Salah 

Klopp prays for Salah’s 

return ahead of City clash 

JURGEN Klopp re 

mains hopeful that 

star man Mohamed Salah 

will return for Liverpool’s 

Champions League quarter-final 

second leg with 

Manchester City on Tuesday. 

Salah limped out of 

the first leg against City 

after 52 minutes, the 

Egypt international having 

set the Reds on their 

way to a stunning 3-0 victory 

at Anfield. 

A groin problem forced 

the 25-year-old’s early 

exit and the 38-goal talisman 

was sat out of Saturday’s 

Merseyside derby 

goalless draw against 

Bayern wrap up sixth 

straight Bundesliga title 

BAYERN Munich 

secured a recordbreaking 

sixth straight 

Bundesliga title in style 

with a comfortable 4-1 

victory over Augsburg. 

Most likely with an eye 

to the second leg of their 

Champions League 

quarter-final against Sevilla, 

Jupp Heynckes 

rested a glut of Bayern’s 

stars at the WWK Arena. 

That decision looked to 

have backfired as Niklas 

Sule’s 18th-minute own 

goal gave Augsburg the 

lead, but two goals in 

quick succession swung 

the game in Bayern’s favour. 

Corentin Tolisso’s 

header restored parity 

after 32 minutes, and 

Bayern took control 

when James Rodriguez 

slotted in following excellent 

build-up play 

from Joshua Kimmich 

and Juan Bernat. 

Augsburg failed to 

match their early intensity 

following the second-half 

restart – Arjen 

World Cup Wonder Goals: Amokachi’s strike 

relegated 

and Teófilo Cubillas are 

still in the running for 

the FIFA World Cup 

greatest goal. 

Five of the eight players 

played for South 

American countries at the 

World Cup, van Bronckhorst 

and Bergkamp are 

flying Europe’s flag and 

Negrete CONCACAF. 

The players that qualified 

for the semifinals 

will be announced today, 

April 7th while the two 

finalists will be revealed 

on Sunday. 

Amokachi represented 

Nigeria at two World 

Cups, USA 1994 and 

France 1998, racking up 

five appearances in both 

competitions and scoring 

two goals against 

Bulgaria and Greece. 

Along with Emmanuel 

Amunike, Kalu Uche and 

Ahmed Musa, he is Nigeria’s 

top scorer in the 

World Cup. Fans can 

vote for the greatest goal 

scored in World Cup history 

on the official FIFA 

World Cup Facebook 

page. 

Amokachi 

Robben extending Bayern’s 

lead just after the 

hour and Sandro Wagner 

adding further gloss 

to the victory late on. 

SPORTING Lisbon 

are left with six 

players for today’s 

match against Pacos de 

Ferreira after president 

Bruno de Carvalho suspended 

19 of the club’s 

players following a Facebook 

spat with the majority 

of the first team. 

De Carvalho instigated 

the spat by criticising 

some of his players for 

their “stupid” performance 

in their 2-0 Europa 

League defeat to Atlético 

Madrid. Defenders 

Sebastián Coates and 

Jérémy Mathieu were 

singled out for extra criticism. 

In response to the comments, 

19 of the club’s 

players released a joint 

statement across their 

social media accounts 

expressing “our disgust 

with the president’s public 

statements … he is 

Everton. “We didn’t think 

about [playing] him, why 

should I,” said Klopp after 

the goalless draw. 

“I don’t get a ticker every 

five minutes of how he 

feels.” But the German 

confirmed there is a hope 

within the club that he will 

be cleared to return 

against City. “That’s what 

everybody thinks, but we 

will see,” added Klopp. 

Without star man Salah, 

the Reds struggled to 

break down a dogged 

Everton defence and 

were hanging on at the 

end as the Toffees twice 

went close to a late winner. 

“Absolutely [I am happy 

with the result],” he told 

Sky Sports. 

“[It’s a] very important 

result so let’s carry on, 

another point away, not 

long to drive home, so 

now we prepare for the 

next game [the second leg 

against City].” 

Sporting Lisbon suspend 19 

first-team players 

supposed to be our leader”. 

“We always fight for our 

club, for our supporters 

and ourselves,” said the 

statement. “For this reason, 

we express in this 

message our displeasure 

at the public comments 

of our president 

after a game in which we 

did not get the result we 

wanted. No matter what 

the situation, all such 

matters should be resolved 

within the 

group.” The Sporting 

president was unhappy 

with this rebellion, retaliating 

by suspending 

those involved: 

“I’m fed up with spoilt 

children who don’t represent 

anything or anyone,” 

he said. “This time, 

my patience has run out 

for those who think they 

are above the club and 

any sort of criticism.” 

Tyavkase targets fifth NPFL 

title with Lobi 

LOBI Stars forward, 

David Tyavkase is 

hoping to become the first 

Nigerian player to win the 

Nigeria Professional Football 

League for a fifth time, 

if Lobi Stars clinch the title 

this season, 

Lobi Stars are in frame 

to win the 2018 with 27 

points after 15 rounds of 

matches. The Benue team, 

last won the league in 

1999 and they had a not 

too successful CAF champions 

league. 

“We are happy to get a 

point here. It was a difficult 

game but leaving here 

with a point is worth the 

effort”, Tyavkase told 

SCORENigeria 

“Our desire is to win the 

league. It is still a long 

way to go, but we are taking 

it one game at a time.” 

If Lobi win the title it 

take Tyavkase title haul to 

five, having won with 

Enyimba in 2003, 2005, 

2007 and 2010. 

“I had a good time during 

my days at Enyimba 

and I look forward to replicating 

same here at Lobi 

Stars,” he said. 

In all, Tyavkase, 33, has 

lifted 14 trophies in his 

illustrious career so far, 

both on home and internationally.

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 — PAGE 47 

C 

M 

Y 

K

SUNDAY Vanguard, APRIL 8, 2018 

See solution on page 6 

ACROSS 

1 Sharia state? (7) 

5 Dwindle (5) 

8 Freedom (Swahili) (5) 

9 Below (5) 

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14 Curves (4)a 

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19 Ornamental head-dress 

(5) 

20 Pa-Abacha’s govt. 

Victim (6) 

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(ISSN 0794-652X) Editor: JIDE AJANI. 08111813023 All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

08042018 - Education in free fall! •Sector gets paltry N3.9 trillion out of N55.19 trillion in 10 years

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