14082018 - POPULATION GROWTH : Danger looms for Nigeria

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2 — SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018

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SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 — 3

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Population growth: Danger 

looms for Nigeria — Panelists 

By Our Reporters 

THE 2nd Vanguard 

Economic Discourse 

held yesterday 

lived up to the expected 

billing with consensus 

on the urgent need 

for pragmatic policy reforms 

in order to avert 

the dangers of uncontrolled 

population 

growth looming over 

the Nigeria. 

With the theme, Economy 

in Recession: Pitfalls, 

Trajectories and 

Resetting, the Discourse 

zeroed in on the frightening 

dimension of the 

country’s huge population 

size, projected to 

hit 550 million by year 

2070, and its implication 

for government finances, 

provision of socio 

infrastructure 

amenities as well as 

choice of macroeconomic 

policies to influence 

economic growth. 

Attended by an array 

of chief executives, captions 

of industry and 

economic analysts from 

various segment of the 

economy, including 

President, Lagos Chamber 

of Commerce and 

Industry, Chief Mrs. 

Nike Akande, and Managing 

Director/Chief 

Executive, Cowry Asset 

Management Limited, 

Mr. Johnson Chukwu 

The Discourse was 

chaired by Mr. Bukar 

Kyari, Chairman, Nigeria 

Economic Summit 

Group, NESG, while discussions 

were kickstarted 

by Mr. Olabode 

Auguto, Chief Executive 

Officer of Augusto and 

Co, who delivered a 

comprehensively packaged 

keynote address 

which was dissected by 

a panel comprising: Patience 

Oniha, Director- 

General, Debt Management 

Office, DMO; Muda 

Yusuf, Director-General, 

Lagos Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry, 

LCCI, Comrade Issa 

Aremu, Vice President 

Global Union, African 

Region; Opeyemi Agbaje, 

Chief Executive Officer, 

RTC Advisory Services; 

and Tony Okpanachi, 

Managing Director, 

Development Bank of 

Nigeria, DBN. 

Danger of uncontrolled 

population 

growth-Augusto 

Speaking on the frightening 

dimension of the 

nation’s population 

growth, which he asserted 

is the biggest 

problem, Augusto 

averred its time the 

country embraced population 

control measures. 

He said: “It is a myth 

to say that our population 

is strength. I believe 

that our population is 

only strength if it is well 

educated, if it is healthy, 

if the economy in which 

they reside has the capacity 

to provide them 

with jobs and the people 

living in the households 

earn good income and 

are able to afford the 

goods and services provided 

by businesses. 

In my opinion, the 

biggest problem we 

have in Nigeria is our 

population - uncontrolled 

population 

growth. That’s my own 

personal view and I will 

explain why by putting 

things into context. 

“When we got independence 

in 1960, the 

population of Nigeria 

was 46 million, the UK 

of Great Britain and 

Northern Ireland was 

52 million – 6 million 

people more than us. By 

ber of tubers of yam 

produced) divided by 

the number of people 

going to eat yam. Today, 

we are growing the 

number of people going 

to eat yam faster than we 

are producing tubers of 

yam. The distribution of 

these tubers of yam 

(wealth) is also heavily 

skewed in favour of the 

rich. On the way out, 

Agusto asserted that the 

nation’s political agenda 

must of necessity incorporate 

population control. 

“Population control 

must enter our political 

agenda irrespective of 

religious beliefs. Before 

we enact policies, we 

should study what China, 

India and Singapore 

2015, the UK moved 

from 52 million to 62 

million, Nigeria moved 

from 46 million to 185 

million. That’s not the 

end of the story. In another 

55 years, by 2070, 

the UK will be 80 million 

while Nigeria will be 550 

million. This projection 

is by Population Pyramid, 

these are not my 

numbers. My younger 

brother who is a mathematician 

said it is possible, 

because it is 2.2 percent 

compounded, and 

we are already doing 2.5 

percent. 

This means demand for 

primary schools would 

be much bigger, the 

number of teachers we 

have to pay would be 

more, the number of 

schools and classrooms 

we need to build will increase, 

the number of 

vaccines we need to buy 

to inoculate these children 

will be more. We 

need to send them to secondary 

schools, keep 

them healthy and after 

they finish school, we 

need to find work for 

them. Otherwise, they’ll 

become non-earning assets 

and because we will 

feed them and clothe 

them, they are liabilities 

to the nation. 

At the end of the day, 

the wealth of a nation is 

measured by the output 

of the nation (e.g. numhave 

done in this respect 

and tweak to reflect 

the realities of our 

environment. The least 

we must do is to encourage 

families to just replace 

themselves by 

having a maximum of 

two children. There 

must also be incentives 

to encourage people to 

comply and penalties 

for those who fail to 

comply,” stated. 

Turning population 

growth to national 

asset 

In their comments, 

Muda Yusuf, Issa 

Aremu and Tony Okpanchi 

opined that the 

real issue is what the 

country does with its 

huge population, stressing 

this will determine 

whether the huge population 

becomes a liability 

or an asset. 

According to Muda 

Yusuf, “The population 

may be very fierce, but 

we need to worry more 

about investment in human 

capital, because if 

you look at the biggest 

economies of the world 

today, most of them 

have big population. 

Look at the United 

States of America, China, 

Brazil, and in Africa, 

Ethiopia and all of that. 

We need to worry about 

the quality of the population, 

which has to do 

with investment in human 

capital. That, we 

need to underscore.” 

Linking the mandate 

of the Development 

Bank of Nigeria to efforts 

to address the nation’s 

population growth challenge, 

Tony Okpanachi 

said: “I join the other 

speakers to say that 

population could be an 

asset or a liability. 

“I think the prescription 

to population control 

is just being simplistic 

because we are already 

in there. So if you 

talk just replacing yourself 

no matter the way 

you look at it the population 

is still going to 

grow. 

“We are already in it, 

what are we going to do 

or where do we go from 

here? That is the perspective 

I am going to 

look at it. So if you look 

at the demography and 

the composition of the 

population, you we will 

*Cross section of the participants at the Vanguard Ecoomic Discourse. 

discover that most of 

them are youths. 

“So, if you want to talk 

about increase in government 

revenues, increasing 

taxes to be able 

to fund some of these 

projects, you also have 

to make them productive 

in such a way that 

they are able to contribute 

in their own way to 

be able to pay their taxes. 

“That is why I think 

we should be able to 

look at which areas of 

the economy will able 

to create employment 

more and that where the 

Micro and Small scale 

enterprises come to 

bear. 

“If you look at it, almost 

over 60 percent of 

the employment was 

created by that sector. 

So an institution like the 

Development Bank of 

Nigeria, DBN, is set up 

to focus strictly on that 

segment of the economy. 

That is a decision in 

the right direction.” 

According to Issa 

Aremu, “Nigeria’s 

population can be an 

asset if government 

pays workers adequate 

and proper remuneration. 

If government 

channels its spending 

properly Nigeria’s population 

could be an advantage.” 

*More stories on Sunday 

and Monday 

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 — 5 

Who said what! 

Bode Agust 

gusto, 

speaker 

er 

THERE are five key sec 

tors that make up the 

economy. 

One is the central government 

that has the power to 

print money and tax citizens. 

Two is the external 

sector, which covers transactions 

between a country 

(Nigeria) and the rest of the 

world. It covers trade, 

capital flows and exchange 

rate policy. 

Three is the financial sector, 

largely the banking 

sector, whose principal 

role is to take deposits and 

lend these to businesses to 

grow output and to households 

so that they can become 

home owners. 

Fourth are businesses, 

which invest in new machinery 

and inventories 

and employ people to grow 

their output and make 

profits. And fifth are households, 

who buy the goods 

and services produced by 

businesses and decide how 

much to spend on these 

goods and services and 

how much to save. 

The finances of the central 

government are, of 

course, managed by the 

Federal Government. The 

central bank regulates the 

banking sector and usually 

determines the exchange 

rate policy. 

The Federal Government 

and the central bank manage 

trade and investment 

policies. The first three sectors 

should help businesses 

and households to 

thrive. When they do this 

well the output of the nation 

grows. 

Key prices 

There are also three key 

prices in every economy 

namely inflation rate, interest 

rate and the exchange 

rate. 

In my opinion, the rate 

of inflation is the most important 

amongst the three 

because it drives both interest 

rates and exchange 

rates. The annual rate of inflation 

is the rate at which 

o, Keyno 

ynote 

Bode Agusto 

the local currency loses 

purchasing power every 

year. Margaret Thatcher 

called inflation “the unseen 

robber of those who 

have saved.” Knowledgeable 

investors always take 

expected inflation into account 

when making investments 

– they always 

want their return on investment 

to beat expected 

inflation otherwise 

they will lose purchasing 

power. 

The long-term rate of inflation 

is linked irreversibly 

to exchange rates. 

For example, between the 

year 2000 and 2015, the 

average annual inflation of 

the Swiss Francs (SWF) 

was 0.1% while that of the 

USD was 1.8%. 

In fact, in each of those 

years except one, US inflation 

was higher than the 

Swiss inflation. This 

means that, during this 

period, the USD lost purchasing 

power faster than 

the SWF. The USD was 

thus the weaker of the two 

currencies. 

What happened to exchange 

rates? At the end 

of 2000, you needed 62 

US cents to buy one Swiss 

Franc (SWF) but by the 

end of 2015 you needed 

US1.00. 

The same principle applies 

to the Nigerian Naira 

vis-à-vis the USD. During 

the same period, average 

annual inflation in Nigeria 

was 11.2% while US inflation 

was 1.8% and the Nigerian 

Naira of course depreciated 

against the USD. 

A key takeaway is that 

anyone who promises stable 

exchange rates without 

explaining how he/ 

she will deal with the difference 

in inflation cannot 

deliver on this promise in 

the long term. 

Nigeria is an oil exporting 

nation; therefore, we 

shall add a fourth key 

price to these three – the 

price of crude oil. 

Continues on Page 14

6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 

Muslims all over the country arrive Abuja for the annual Sheikh Usman Dahiru Bauchi Lecture and 

the celebration of Maulid Festival starting today (Saturday) at the National Stadium, Abuja. Photo: 

Abayomi Adeshida 

Edo CAN places curses on Past 

astor 

ors aiding, 

abetting human traffic 

icker 

ers 

By Simon Ebegbulem 

THE 

Christian 

Association of Nigeria 

(CAN) in Edo State led by its 

chairman, Rev. Oriname 

Kure, President of the 

Pentecostal Fellowship of 

Nigeria (PFN), Dr Felix 

Omobude and Bishop 

Margaret Benson Idahosa, 

yesterday placed a curse on 

Pastors offering prayers to 

human traffickers, asserting that 

such Pastors will not live to 

enjoy the fruit of their labour. 

The Oba of Benin, Oba 

Ewuare 11 had in a similar 

manner placed a curse on 

human traffickers and warned 

native doctors who assist the 

traffickers in administering oath 

on the victims to desist from it 

or face the wrath of the gods. 

However, the men of God 

who also urged all churches in 

the state to dedicate the 28th of 

April 2018 for prayers against 

human trafficking in the state, 

described the trend as an 

embarrassment to the church 

just as they commend 

Governor Godwin Obaseki and 

the Benin monarch, Oba 

Ewuare 11 for their efforts in 

eradicating the evil trade in the 

state. 

Addressing journalists in 

Benin City yesterday, PFN 

President, Rev.Omobude, who 

described the activities of 

human traffickers as an 

embarrassment to the church 

declared, ¨ Let us not attempt 

to hold brief for these pastors 

who do evil. We must take our 

stand as a church that what is 

wrong is wrong. 

¨We must not condescend to 

these evil people. And I will like 

to say that church leaders must 

stand strong. Some of us went 

to farm to tap rubber, I sold 

newspaper in this town so 

nobody has any excuse to sell 

human beings for prostitution. 

¨We should try as much as 

possible to get government and 

other institutions to provide jobs 

but no situation should make 

us to force our children to go 

into prostitution. In this place 

we have resolved that any 

Pastor or prophet who support 

or aid or abet illegal migration, 

you pray for them we are 

praying that such a Pastor 

wherever he is or whoever he 

is should be sanctioned and 

be publicly disowned. 

¨Such pastors who bring 

disgrace to us will not live to 

enjoy the fruit of their labour. 

We have resolved, let´s go 

back to the basis. We were 

raised up to believe that Jesus 

is coming back. In the name of 

Jesus of Nazareth, we all 

agreed that we must rise 

against the evil of illegal 

migration. 

¨We all agreed that none of 

us, no Pastor should see these 

people and give them false 

hope or a prayer cover," he 

asserted. 

On his part, 

Rev.Oyonnude Kure, said” 

any pastor involved in this 

inhuman and nefarious 

wicked activity must repent 

completely and stop this evil 

act now. Any one who 

refuses to stop and is caught 

the Church of Jesus Christ 

in Edo State and Nigeria 

Will deny the person and 

ensure that the authorities 

arrest, prosecute and punish 

the person “ 

Offa bank robbery: Police arrest 12 more 

suspects 

By Joseph Erunke 

THE Nigeria Police 

have arrested 

additional 12 suspects in 

connection with last 

week’s banks raid by 

armed robbers in Offa, 

Kwara State. 

The suspects were 

arrested by the highpowered 

Police Investigation 

Team, Armoured Personnel 

Carrier (APC), three units of 

Police Mobile Force (PMF) 

and Anti-Robbery equipment 

which were deployed to 

Kwara State by the Inspector 

General of Police, Ibrahim 

Idris, to carry out discreet 

investigation into the banks 

robbery. 

The Force Headquarters’ 

spokesman, Jimoh 

Moshood, who briefed the 

media on the update of 

investigation into the 

development, said sensitive 

materials handsets, ipads 

and telephone SIM cards 

belonging to victims of the 

robbery were also recovered 

from the suspects. 

He said the suspects were 

arrested in Lagos, Ibadan, 

Illorin and Offa respectively, 

with dangerous weapons 

such as Beretta pistols and 

lives ammunition. 

He said the suspects 

confessed during discreet 

interrogation of their active 

engagement in the crime. 

He listed the suspects as 

Adegoke Shogo, 29, arrested 

in Offa; Kayode Opadokun 

35, arrested in Offa; Kazeem 

Abdulrasheed, 36, arrested in 

Offa; Azeez Abdullahi 27, 

arrested in Offa and 

Alexander Reuben, 39, 

arrested in Lagos. 

Also were Jimoh Isa, 28, 

arrrested in Lagos; Azeez 

Salawudeen, 20, arrested in 

Offa and victim’s phone and 

sim cards recovered from 

him; Adewale Popoola, 22 

years old arrested in Offa and 

victim’s phone and sim cards 

recovered from him; 

Adetoyese Murtaugh, 23, 

arrested in Ibadan, Oyo 

State; Aminu Ibrahim 18, 

arrested in Ilorin; Richard 

Buba Terry, 23, also 

arrested in Ilorin and Peter 

Jaba, 25, arrested in Ilorin. 

“The Police team 

engaged in massive raids 

of identified criminal 

spots/flashpoints, stop and 

search operations, 

visibility and confidence 

building patrols, intelligence 

gathering which led to the 

arrest of the suspects. Some of 

the arrests also involved 

serious exchange of gun fire 

between the Police and the 

suspects in their various 

hideouts. 

World Autism Day: Experts assure 

of healthy living for patients 

EXPERTS in the management of victims with autism 

disorder have assured parents and guardians of autistic 

children of chances of living normal lives and realizing 

their full potentials and talents like every other child. 

In a lecture delivered by Dr Anthony Enebe, Dr (Mrs) Ehi 

Isa and Mr Nwokolo Chijioke at the David Ofoeyono School 

for Special Children in DSC, Ovwian/Aladja in Udu local 

government area of Delta State, they emphasized that autism 

was not a death sentence, and if properly managed with the 

right education and attention like every other child in the 

society, they have chances of developing and realizing their 

full potentials. They charged parents who have autistic children 

not to lock them up in their homes, because of shame 

and anticipated stigmatization, and called on government at 

all levels to invest in the education of children with autism. 

They also warned women to be mindful of what they eat 

during pregnancy and stay away from drug abuse, advising 

parents to pay special attention to the upbringing of their 

children. 

Women are society builders 

— Obiano 

By Nwafor Sunday 

GOVERNOR Willie Obiano of Anambra state has 

described women as the bedrock of every home saying 

without women, the society would be a boxing ring and 

hell zone for men. 

Governor Obiano said this while celebrating Mothering 

Sunday with the Catholic Women Organisation, CWO, 

Anambra east at St Joseph Catholic church Aguleri. 

The governor, who also used the occasion to shower 

encomiums on Mrs Mary Odili on her 86th birthday 

celebration urged women to continue to live up to their 

expectations as home builders and bequeath moral values 

on their children. 

The governor said “Mrs Mary Odili is a hardworking 

mother who did her best to give her children good training. 

It is good to sow good seed, so that the person will yield 

good fruit”. He advised Catholic Women Organisation of St 

Joseph Catholic church and other worshippers to form a 

cooperative society to enable them benefit from government 

Agricultural loan grants which were always available to 

farmers. On his part, His Royal Majesty Eze C.N idigo 

(Ogalagidi), the traditional ruler of Aguleri, described Mrs 

Mary Odili as a unique mother who ensured that her 

children got the best training in life. 

Rivers Govt inaugurates c’ttee 

to resolve boundary disputes 

By Davies Iheamnachor 

The Rivers State Government has inaugurated 

Technical Committee on Obete /Seme-Lueku 

Boundary dispute . 

Inaugurating the committee yesterday in Government 

House, Port Harcourt, the Deputy Governor, Dr. (Mrs) 

Ipalibo Banigo noted that the state government was 

committed to peace and development. 

According to Dr Banigo Government has decided to wade 

into the matter to forestall breakdown of law and order. 

She said: “This matter was handled by the previous 

Administration inconclusively, and it has led to a lot of 

rancour between the communities, so the Wike led 

Government decided to look into this matter once and for 

all in the interest of lasting peace and harmony because we 

know that without peace there cannot be any development 

whatsoever”, she stressed. 

China Chamber of Commerce 

donates to NOTN 

IN furtherance of its commitment to the economic de 

velopment of Nigeria, six Chinese firms under the 

auspices of China Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria 

(CCCN), recently, donated office equipment such as 

Desktop and Laptop Computers, Printers, Projectors and 

Projector Screens to the Nigerian Office for Trade Negotiations 

(NOTN). 

Speaking while presenting the equipment to the Director 

General, NOTN, Ambassador Chiedu Osakwe, the 

Chamber’s President, Mr Ye Shuijin noted that the 

chamber’s main objective was to make their products available 

for Nigerians to experience and create jobs in Nigeria. 

Shuijin commended the Nigerian Government for 

providing enabling investment environment for Chinese 

firms operating in the country, adding that the firms had 

benefited greatly from the Nigeria and China trade relationships 

for many years. 

He stated that most Chinese firms in Nigeria had operated 

for over 10 years while some had successfully operated 

for over 30 years.

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Vanguard Economic Discourse 

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018— 7 

Photos By Joe Akintola;Lamide Bamidele; Bunmi Azeez; 

Akeem Salau; and Oscar Ochiogu 

From Left: Chief Mrs Nike Akande, former President LCCI; Kyari Abba 

Bukar, Chairman NESG; and Mr Opeyemi Agbaje,CEO,RTC Advisory service, 

at the Vanguard Economic Discourse with the Theme 'Economy in Rebound: 

Pitfalls, Trajectories and Resetting', held at Civic Centre, Victoria Island, 

Lagos, yesterday. 

From left: Gbenga Adefaye, GM/Editor in Chief Vanguard 

Newspapers, Mr. Kayode Komolafe, Deputy 

Managing Director, This day Newspapers and Dr. 

Chidi Amuta, Chairman, Wilsion and Weizmann Ltd. 

From left: Patience Oniha, DG, Debt Management Office; Mr Tony Okpanachi, MD, 

Development Bank and Mr Sam Amuka at the event yesterday. 

From left: Mr. Ray Ekpu, Mr. Femi Falana, Com. Ayodele Adewale, and Tajudeen Ahmed 

Mr Opeyemi Agbaje,CEO,RTC Advisory Services (left) and Comrade Issa 

Aremu,General Secreatry NUTGTWN at the event. 

From Left:Comrade Emeka Nkwoala Jp;Comrade Medinat Balogun;Comrade Sylvester 

Chimezie and Comrade Janet Oyedele at the event. 

From left: Razak Jaiyeola, Olu Tikolo, Jide Allo and Titi Ogungbesan. 

From Left: Mr Kunle Adekoya,Deputy Editor; Mr Jide Ajani,Sunday Editor; 

Mr Gbenga Adefaye,GM/Editor-in-Chief and Mr Eze Anaba, Editor, all of 

Vanguard newspaper at the event.


From left: DG NACA, Dr. Sani Aliyu, Chairman; Senate committee on health Senator Olanrewaju Tejuoso, wife of the Senate 

president Mrs. Toyin Saraki, first Lady Hajia Aisha Buhari; Wife of the Speaker House of Representatives, Mrs. Gimbiya 

Dogara during the advocacy meeting of Stakeholders for the Future Assured Project of the Wife of the President at the State 

House Conference Centre, Abuja. Photo by Abayomi Adeshida 

Abia: Gov Ikpeazu wins, S-Court awards 

N4m cost against appellant 

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri 

The Supreme Court, on Friday, 

dismissed a suit that sought the 

removal of Governor Okezie 

Ikpeazu of Abia State from office 

over his alleged complicity in tax 

fraud. 

The apex court, in a unanimous 

decision by a five-man panel of 

Justices, threw out the appeal that 

was filed by a chieftain of the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and 

governorship aspirant in the state, 

Sir Friday Nwosu. 

In the lead judgment that was 

prepared by Justice Amina Augie 

but read by Justice Sidi Bage, the 

Supreme Court, held that 

Nwosu’s appeal was frivolous and 

grossly lacked in merit. 

As a punitive measure, the apex 

court awarded N4million cost 

against the appellant who it said 

should pay N1m to each of the four 

defendants in the appeal marked 

SC/693/2017. 

Aside governor Ikpeazu, other 

Respondents in the appeal were 

the Independent National 

Electoral Commission, INEC, the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

and Dr. Samson Ogah. 

The apex court upheld the earlier 

verdict of the Court of Appeal 

which also refused to sack 

governor Ikpeazu from office over 

his alleged submission of irregular 

tax papers to INEC prior to the 

2015 governorship election in 

Abia State. 

It will be recalled that Justice 

Okon Abang of the Federal High 

Court in Abuja had on June 27, 

2016, sacked governor Ikpeazu 

from office over the alleged tax 

fraud. 

Justice Abang further directed 

INEC to issue fresh Certificate of 

Return to Ogah who came second 

in the primary election that 

produced Ikpeazu as 

gubernatorial flag-bearer of the 

PDP for the 2015 poll. 

However, Nwosu went to court, 

contending that based on the high 

court judgment, he should be the 

one to take over from Ikpeazu as 

the governor of Abia State. 

Nwosu told the court that Ogah 

not only refused to sign result of 

the PDP primary election, but 

equally condemned the entire 

exercise as being fraudulent. 

He argued that Ogah who came 

second at the primaries, having 

failed to sign or accept the 

outcome of the PDP gubernatorial 

primary election, ought not to 

benefit from it. 

The appellant maintained that 

he was the only qualified 

candidate to assume the 

governorship seat having scored 

the third highest number of votes 

at the primaries and also signed 

the result sheet. 

His argument was however 

dismissed on Friday by the 

Supreme Court panel led by 

Justice Olabode Rhodes Vivour. 

A five-man panel of Justices of 

the appellate court led by Justice 

Morenike Ogunwumiju had on 

August 18, 2016, nullified the high 

court verdict that sacked Ikpeazu 

and recognised Mr. Ogah as duly 

elected governor of Abia State. 

While setting-aside the high 

court verdict, the appellate court, 

knocked Justice Abang who it said 

“stood the law on its head”, as well 

as adopted a “hostile proceeding” 

against Ikpeazu and the PDP. 

The appellate court noted that 

allegation of forgery and tax 

evasion levelled against Ikpeazu 

were “very contentious”, saying 

Justice Abang was wrong to have 

determined the case on the basis 

of an Originating Process instead 

of Writ of Summons. 

It concluded that Ikpeazu was 

denied fair hearing by the high 

court. 

Soldiers coerced me to implicate Shehu Sani in 

murder case — Suspect 

By AbdulSalam Muhammad 

A 

principal suspect in the al 

leged murder of one Lawan 

Maiduna of Kaduna state, Garba 

Isa, weekend painted a gruesome 

picture of how the military 

tortured him to implicate a Senator 

representing Kaduna Central 

at upper chamber, Senator 

Shehu Sani in a murder case. 

46-year-old Isa, a resident of 

Kabalan Doki told Vanguard that 

“I saw hell in the hands of the 

military and police over their desperate 

attempt to implicate senator 

Sani”. 

He said “I am a professional 

painter and also a member of vigilante, 

I swear to God that Shehu 

Sani never knew me. Even if he 

passes here now, I believe he 

would not know me at all but they 

insisted I must implicate him but 

I refused’. Isa said he was tortured 

to “accept the fact that Senator 

Sani gave one Bashir Hamdada 

money to kill Maiduna”. 

He told Saturday Vanguard 

that the military took him to 

Ahmed Aruwa’s Farm located 

along Kaduna- Abuja road where 

they threatened to kill him if he 

did not accept to implicate Senator 

Sani as the man that hired him 

to kill Lawan Maiduna. 

Isa explained that, “I never 

knew Bashir Hamdada, let alone 

his illegal activities, but I was tortured 

and forced to make a statement 

that could implicate the senator 

over the alleged murder.” 

Speaking further on his experience 

at the military detention 

centres, Isa said,”I spent two 

weeks facing series of torture 

while I was with the military before 

I was handed over to Kaduna 

state CID”. 

He said, “it all began when 

the military invited me to identify 

some persons arrested in connection 

with alleged murder of 

the said person.” 

“Immediately we came to the 

place where the arrested persons 

were tortured, soldiers began to 

torture me and insisted that I 

must mention Sani’s name to be 

the one behind the murder”. 

‘At the CID office in Kaduna, 

the CID, I spent a month before I 

was taken to prison on awaiting 

trial, but I was quickly granted 

bail to go and seek medical attention 

over wounds sustained 

while in detention that arose from 

right violation”. He lamented that 

“I was accused without any 

physical evidence to support their 

charges”. 

FUTA 200 level el student killed 

by hit and run driver 

Dayo Johnson, Akure 

A 

200 level student of the 

Federal University of 

Technology Akure, FUTA Ondo 

state, Deborah Olajide has been 

killed by a hit and run driver on 

her way from vigil. 

The deceased who was a first 

class student of the department 

of Food Science Technology FST 

was said to have been knocked 

down by the driver of a vehicle. 

Her lifeless body was 

discovered early in the morning 

around AKAD area, Akure 

metropolis along the Expressway 

by her colleague who live off 

campus. 

Report had it that the deceased 

who left the vigil for her 

residence was knocked down 

by the driver who was coming 

on a top speed and in an 

attempt to avoid the speed 

breakers in front of the 

institution rammed into the 

deceased. 

It could not be confirmed if 

she was the only one that left 

the vigil before daybreak. 

Her corpse has been 

deposited at the Mortuary of 

the state Specialist hospital in 

Akure. 

Consequently, the students 

blocked the expressway to 

show their grievances. 

Church of 

Nigeria 

crowns 

Uzodinma 

Ambassador 

of Christ 

THE church of Nigeria 

Anglican Communion of 

Orlu diocese has crowned Sen. 

Hope Uzodinma the Ambassador 

of Christ of the diocese for his long 

standing tenacious commitment to 

the service of God and the growth of 

the church. 

Uzodinma a devout catholic who 

represents Imo West (Orlu 

Senatorial district) in the red 

chambers of the National 

Assembly was the guest speaker at 

the 17th mothers union conference 

of the diocese at St. Andrews 

Anglican Church during the 

weekend in Orlu where he spoke 

on “The Remedy to the continuous 

marginalization of the South East 

in project Nigeria”, and concluded 

that a Nigerian President of Igbo 

extraction in 2023, Restructuring 

and Technological advancement 

by the Igbos, were the remedies. 

The unique Ambassador of 

Christ award was conferred on 

him in a colorful ceremony by the 

Arch Bishop of the diocese which 

covers the 12 local governments 

in Imo West. His Lordship, the most 

Rev. B.C Okoro. 

The President of the women 

ministry of the diocese, Mrs D.A 

Okoro (Nneoma) who was assisted 

by other women to decorate the 

Senator with the award said the 

honour was bestowed on him by 

the women of the diocese because 

they have observed his activities for 

many years, “and arrived at the 

unassailable conclusion that his 

senator is sincerely devoted and 

committed to the service of God 

and the growth of the church”. 

“We have followed with keen 

interest Senator Uzodinma’s 

uncommon devotion to the 

Service of God and the growth 

of the church and we are satisfied 

that he deserves this award which 

should encourage him to do 

more work for Christ not just in 

Orlu diocese but in Imo State 

and Nigeria” Mrs Okoro 

declared. 

Uzodimma who is the Senate 

Committee Chairman on 

Customs, excise and tariffs and 

Chairman Southern Senators 

Forum, thanked the Church for the 

rare honour and assured that he 

will do his best to live up to their 

expectations. 

Earlier in his speech, the Senator 

said there was abundant evidence 

that the South East has indeed been 

continuously marginalized. He 

recalled that Ndigbo had a 

competitive edge over other 

nationalities in the country before 

the outbreak of the civil war and 

traced the root of the 

marginalization to the Coups and 

Counter Coups of 1966, the civil 

war and the post civil war policies 

of the government. 

According to the Senator, one 

way to remedy the scourge was for 

the Igbos to produce Nigeria’s 

President in 2023 so that they can 

be reassured of accommodation 

by the rest of Nigeria and also 

restore their battered post war 

psyche and sense of dignity. He 

argued that to achieve this, 

Ndigbo should support a 

Northern Presidential Candidate 

in 2019 who will not seek re-election, 

but only after extracting an 

agreement from him that he will 

support the South-East for the 

presidency in 2023.

Patience Jonathan: Court strikes out EFCC’s 

forfeiture application of $8.4m, N9.1bn 

By Innocent Anaba 

A 

Federal High Court 

sitting in Lagos, 

yesterday, struck out a 

forfeiture application by the 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, EFCC, 

for the sum of $8. 

435,789.84 million and 

N9.185, 327, 362 billion, 

allegedly linked to the 

former First Lady, Mrs 

Patience Jonathan and six 

others. 

The monies were said to 

be lodged in Skye Bank 

Plc, Diamond Bank Plc, 

Stabic-IBTC and First Bank 

Plc. 

Respondents in the suit 

are Mrs. Jonathan, Globus 

Integrated Service Limited, 

Finchley Top Homes 

Limited, AM-PM Global 

Network Limited, Pagmat 

Oil and Gas Limited, and 

Magel Resort Limited and 

Esther Oba. 

Trial judge, Justice 

Majisola Olatoregun, struck 

out the application, for being 

an abuse of court processes. 

The court had earlier 

granted an exparte 

application by the EFCC, 

temporary forfeiting the said 

amount, after it ordered the 

Commission to file an 

affidavit showing that the 

said sums were not subject 

of litigation before another 

court. 

Striking out this suit, 

yesterday, Justice 

Olatoregun stated that the 

anti-granft agency had not 

shown enough evidence to 

indicate that matter before 

her court was not subject of 

litigation before any other 

court. 

The judge also berated 

EFCC for being in the habit 

of carrying out media trial 

against suspects rather than 

do justice to accused persons 

and the society. 

She also criticised EFCC’s 

act of forum shopping, 

running from one court to 

another, in order to 

denigrate and malign 

suspects without putting 

their facts together. 

The judge held that it was 

an abuse of court process to 

file similar cases such as the 

one before her in different 

divisions of the Federal 

High Court as the EFCC 

did before Justice Nyako, 

herself and Justice Tsoho of 

Saraki urges reforms of Int’l Criminal Court 

PRESIDENT of the 

Senate, Dr. Abubakar 

Bukola Saraki has called on 

the new President of the 

International Criminal 

Court (ICC), Justice Chile 

Eboe-Osuji, to among 

others, embark on urgent 

reforms in the court in order 

to reassure some African 

leaders who accused the 

ICC of discrimination. 

Saraki who gave the 

charge when Justice Eboe- 

Osuji visited him at the 

From left: Deputy Governor of Delta State, Barr. Kingsley Otuaro(celebrant), 

his wife, Engr. (Mrs) Ebierin Otuaro; Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, 

the immediate past governor of Delta State, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan; Prof. 

Sam Oyovbaire and his wife during the Public Lecture/Book Presentation marking 

the 50th birthday ceremony of the Deputy Governor held in Warri yesterday. 

Photo: Henry Unini. 

Abuja and Lagos Divisions 

of the same Federal High 

Court. 

The court held that 

fighting corruption does not 

equate to not respecting 

rights of citizens. 

She consequently, struck 

out the EFCC’s application 

for being abuse of court 

processes. 

Before the court’s ruling, 

Mrs. Jonathan, through her 

lawyers, Mr. Ifedayo 

National Assembly, also 

urged the international 

jurist to use his tenure at the 

Court to restore confidence 

in the ICC. 

The President of the 

Senate, according to a 

statement by his Special 

Assistant on Print Media, 

Chuks Okocha, said: “You 

have come at a very 

challenging time because 

as you know there are 

brother African countries 

that have different views 

Adedipe and Mr. Mike 

Ozekhomeh, both Senior 

Advocates of Nigeria, 

SANs, had urged the court 

to dismiss the EFCC’s 

application against their 

clients, for being abuse of 

court processes. 

At one of the days of the 

hearing of the matter, the 

two senior lawyers told the 

court that the EFCC had 

filed similar application 

before a Federal High Court, 

about the ICC at this 

particular time and Nigeria 

will continue to play the role 

to stand firm to be able to 

be a kind of arbiter between 

different countries. 

“I think having you as the 

President is well thought 

out. It is very important to 

have someone like you 

heading the place. I think 

there’s need to look at 

reforms in order to give 

everybody a sense of 

belonging and fulfil the 

goals and objectives of the 

Abuja, which was yet to be 

determined, before the 

application on the same 

subject matter was filed 

before another the court. 

However, the EFCC 

through its lawyer, Mr. 

Rotimi Oyedepo had told the 

court that his employer, 

EFCC,had filed a notice on 

discontinuation on the case 

before Justice Binta 

Nyanko. 

Blame our past leaders for Nigeria’s 

problems, Ekweremadu 

By Henry Umoru 

DEPUTY Senate 

President, Senator 

Ike Ekweremadu said 

yesterday that Nigeria’s 

leaders over the years 

should be blamed and 

held responsible for the 

nation’s many problems 

associated with the nation’s 

diversity. 

Ekweremadu has however 

faulted the notion 

that Nigeria’s diversity 

was the cause of her internal 

divisiveness and 

wrangling, just as he 

blamed the military incursion 

into politics for 

the seeds of discord and 

distortion of Nigeria’s federal 

structure, which he 

said had now left Nigeria 

a Federal Republic in 

name, but a Unitary Republic 

in practice. 

Speaking yesterday in 

Abuja at the first Isawa 

Elaigwu Foundation Annual 

Distinguished Lecture 

with the theme: 

“Federalism, Diversity, 

and Nation-Building: 

Tackling the Challenges 

of integration in Nigeria,” 

the deputy Senate 

President lamented that 

decades after Nigeria’s 

independence and the 

civil war, “the crisis of 

identity, ethno-religious 

squabbles, debilitating 

nepotism, pampering 

and promotion of mediocrity, 

sectional segregation, 

and other factors that 

were responsible for the 

war have persisted.” 

Ekweremadu argued 

that, “the results of all the 

military adventures were 

structural imbalance, resource 

capture through 

the destruction of the 

principle of fiscal federalism, 

centralisation of 

the police system, and 

inequity in the distribution 

of opportunities.” 

The deputy Senate 

President urged Nigeria 

to learn from the United 

States of America, which, 

according to her former 

Vice President, Joe 

Biden, took a vast continent 

and diverse people 

and moulded them into a 

united representative of 

democracy, where people 

see themselves as Americans 

first. 

ICC. I think that there will 

be need to always do that 

which is right to give all 

countries a sense of 

belonging.” 

He also assured Justice 

Eboe-Osuji of the National 

Assembly’s support saying, 

“What I can assure you, is 

that here in the National 

Assembly, we will support 

you and ensure that you 

make your mark and be a 

shinning star among us and 

other countries. 


2019: I’m running to better 

lives of Deltans — Odokpo 

By Festus Ahon, ASABA 

DELTA State Governorship aspirant under the 

platform of All Progressives Congress, APC, Dr 

Ikechukwu Odikpo has said he joined the race to make 

life better for all Deltans. Odikpo who stated this when he 

paid a consultation visit to the leadership of the party in 

Aniocha North Local Government Area of the state, said 

he had the requisite experience to govern the state. 

The Governorship aspirant who had also visited Ward 4 

(Onicha Olona) Executives, said: “I know the pains of the 

people; we shall address their needs if elected,” adding 

that the APC was better “positioned more than ever before 

to win the Delta governorship election. 

“The story of APC Delta State is one that I know very 

well, right from its inception. I know the story of its formation 

and the battles we fought before the present prominence 

the party enjoys. For those of you who can remember how it 

has been in this party, you will understand that it was not 

easy at all. “I believe that I can lead the charge to take over 

Delta State in 2019. I have a desire to make lives better for 

Deltans. I did not make money from government, I have 

been a private businessman and haven’t stolen from 

anywhere and any man,’’ he said. 

Leaders need training to attain 

global citizenship — Ogudoro 

By Simeon Ndaji 

PUBLIC and private sector leaders in Nigeria 

can have access to high quality professional training 

in business management, entrepreneurship and attain 

global citizenship and contribute optimally to the 

building of a viable nation. 

A UK-based Educationists and Development Communication 

Consultant, Dr Peter Ogudoro made this statement 

in Ikeja,Lagos on Thursday in respect of a special 

accelerated training programme scheduled to last for 

seven intensive learning days starting from April 21- 

29,2018 at Ikeja. 

The training will prepare the participants for professional 

Business Management and Public Relations practice 

and put them on a global network that will accelerate 

their careers considerably. Speaking to Saturday 

Vanguard,Dr Ogudoro said, “This is a special project 

meant to help the next generation of public and private 

sector leaders and scholars in Nigeria access high quality 

professional training in business management, entrepreneurship 

and secure a world class employability 

and business credentials in 2018 through a special scholarship 

scheme for young scholars. This will help beneficiaries 

flourish and forge ahead of their peers in an increasingly 

challenging economic climate.” 

He stated that talented graduates and undergraduates, 

as well as hardworking higher education aspirants 

with relevant aptitudes will get 72% scholarship to enable 

them participate and acquire the 21st century skills 

that will distinguish them from the crowd for guaranteed 

employment,entrepreneurship opportunities, and scholarship 

for post graduate studies both within and outside 

Nigeria. 

Suspension: Omo-Agege 

appeals for calm 

FOLLOWING his suspension by the Senate on 

Thursday, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege representing 

Delta Central Senatorial District in the red chamber has 

appealed to his constituents to remain calm, saying that 

there was no insurmountable challenge before him as he 

has adequate capacity to address the widely reported 

“suspension” matter. 

Omo-Agege who spoke through his aide, Prince Efe 

Duku, said it was a well-known fact the issues acted upon 

by the Senate are pending before a court of competent 

jurisdiction and therefore subjudice. 

He said, “it is the Senate’s view that the issues be 

withdrawn from court for an amicable resolution to hold. 

Until a resolution is reached, it is better to respect the 

court processes by not commenting on them. 

“We note that as part of the resolution of the issues, the 

Senate President, ruled that the Parliamentary Support 

Group in the Senate for President Muhammadu Buhari 

should be disbanded. This should be a matter for the over 

50 members of the PSG to decide, possibly with President 

Buhari on whose behalf they openly work as 

Distinguished Senators of the Federal Republic,” he 

added. 

He reiterated, “we appeal for calm and assure that as a 

fervent believer in the rule of law, our Senator is in positive 

spirit. He deeply respects the institution of the Senate 

and his good friends in the Senate. He will never 

undermine them. He remains an ardent supporter of Mr. 

President’s agenda for a better nation for all and will 

continue to work assiduously for his re-election.”

10—SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, , 2018 

2019: We have 

8 million 

PVCs awaiting 

collection – INEC 

•Say some Nigerians tell us they are not interested 

•Maps out measures to avoid 2015 mistakes 

•FG can’t ensure credible polls – Ann Kio-Briggs 

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE 

& OMEIZA AJAYI 

TO avoid a repeat of 

some of the mistakes 

and flaws that 

hallmarked the 2015 general 

elections, the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, has 

embarked on moves to ensure 

credible polls, next year. It has 

also urged the electorate to do 

their part of the duties by 

getting registered as voters, 

collecting their Permanent 

Voter’s Card, PVC, and 

coming out to vote during the 

It is now an 

issue of the 

collection. ‘’So, 

we are putting 

in place 

measures to 

assist those 

that are willing 

to collect their 

cards 

elections. 

Lamenting that some 

Nigerians are already 

hurting the electoral 

process, the INEC told 

Saturday Vanguard that 

many people are 

unwilling to collect their 

PVCs, lamenting that it 

now has over eight million 

of such uncollected cards 

in its kitty. 

INEC’s Director incharge 

of Voter Education, 

Publicity, Gender and 

Civil Society Liaison, Mr 

Oluwole Osaze Uzi, in an 

interview with Saturday 

Vanguard, added that while the 

commission in some cases had tried to 

reach out to some Nigerians to come 

and claim their cards, many of them said 

they were not interested or that they had 

relocated from were they were 

registered. 

His words: “You know we do not 

distribute PVCs. They are collected. The 

onus is on those collecting. There are 

quite a few cases where the cards have 

not been printed but that is not the main 

issue. The issue is the collection. We 

have over eight million cards lying down 

in our offices, uncollected, and we have 

distributed them to our distribution 

points. It is now an issue of the 

collection. ‘’So, we are putting in place 

measures to assist those that are willing 

to collect their cards. We are simplifying 

the process, ensuring maximum 

publicity so that people will know the 

importance because, automatically, they 

are disenfranchising themselves when 

they do not pick up their cards. We are 

trying to persuade people. Some are not 

interested. 

‘’Sometimes, we even try to call them. 

In Oyo State, I know that they even had 

to call people on phone but those that 

•Mahmud Yakubu, 

INEC boss 

they were able to reach said they were 

not interested in the cards. Some said 

that they had relocated. So, we are 

making efforts. In some states, they have 

sent text messages too for collection.” 

2015 election mistakes 

Non-distribution/collection of PVCs 

was one of the problems that plagued 

the 2015 election. While the INEC 

insisted on individual collection in some 

parts of the country, it allowed monarchs 

or district heads to collect and distribute 

the cards in other parts of the country. 

Other problems included: 

malfunctioning card readers; inability 

of Direct Data Capturing Machine, 

DDCM, to capture fingerprints of voters 

in many locations; some states had 

surplus DDCMs and accessories while 

others had few; people dislocated by 

violence vote in some locations but could 

not vote in some parts of the country; 

and poor handling of the voters register 

in which 82,206 men were captured as 

housewives (due to input error during 

voter enrolment) among others. 

According to the INEC’s ‘’Smart Card 

Reader Accreditation Backend 

Continues on pg 11

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, , 2018—11 

State-by-state accreditation for 2015 presidential and National Assembly election Source: INEC 

Continues from pg 10 

Transmission System’’ of the 2015 

Presidential and National Assembly 

Elections, only 10,266,139 (43 per cent) 

of the 23,643,479 voters accredited had 

full-biometric authentication while 

13,377,340 (57 per cent) failed 

biometric authentication and were 

allowed to vote if they showed their 

PVC. 

Going further, there were 23,643,479 

accreditations but the total votes cast 

(declared result) was 29,432,083 and 

percentage of voters accredited with 

smart card readers, CSRs, was put at 

80. 

A breakdown of the accreditation 

showed that while the INEC enforced 

full-biometric accreditation in many 

parts of the South the measure was 

relaxed in most parts of the North. 

For instance, states where most of the 

voters voted without full-biometric 

accreditation include: Kano (82.5%), 

Nasarawa (78.6%), Sokoto (77.1 %), 

Zamfara (75%), Taraba (75 %), Kwara 

(73.4%), Katsina (72.4%), 

Borno (69.6%), Yobe (68.6 

per cent), Kebbi (66.8 %), 

Jigawa (66%), Bauchi 

(61.3%), Niger (57.2%), 

Kaduna (54%), and Plateau 

(52.6%). 

Southern states where 

most voters voted without 

full-biometric accreditation 

were Bayelsa (77%), Imo 

(64.1%), Ebonyi (59.4%), 

Anambra (57.1%), Akwa 

Ibom (55.2%), Enugu 

(52.9%, and Ekiti (50.5%). 

States where the INEC 

strictly ensured fullbiometric 

accreditation until 

later in the day had a lower 

percentage of people voting 

with only PVC 

accreditation. Most of such 

states are in the South. 

They include: Lagos 

(24.6%), Abia (31.9%), FCT 

(36.5%), Osun (38.9%), 

Delta (39.8%), Oyo (41.2%), 

Kogi (42.2%), Edo (43.7%), 

Ogun (44.4%), Cross River 

However, the 

INEC insists 

that it has put 

measures in 

place to 

ensure 

credible polls 

in 2019 

Some Nigerians 

tell us they are 

not interested 

(45.5%), Ondo (46.3%), Gombe (47%), 

Benue (48.5%), and Adamawa (48.9%) 

(see table). 

FG can’t ensure credible polls – Ann Kio- 

Briggs 

Looking at the scenario and the state of the 

nation, Environmental Rights Activist and 

Convener of Niger-Delta Self-Determination 

Movement, NDSDM, Madam Ann Kio- 

Briggs, feared that the government would not 

ensure credible elections, next 

year. 

She said: ‘’This government 

lacks the capacity to conduct a 

free and fair election in a country 

like Nigeria where the 

government wants to grant 

amnesty to terrorists. The result 

of the election will not be a true 

reflection of the people’s will. 

‘’There are many foreigners in 

the country. Now, if you registered 

in Kano, you can vote in Port 

Harcourt. Now, the foreigners 

are moving into different parts 

of the country. There are massive 

and sinister movements into the 

Niger-Delta with the game plan 

of voting in 2019. If you look at 

those moving into the Niger 

Delta, the economic activities or 

menial jobs they do cannot 

sustain them.’’ 

2019 will be free and fair – 

INEC 

However, the INEC insists that 

it has put measures in place to 

ensure credible polls in 2019. One 

of the measures is to ensure that 

no one is disenfranchised, hence 

it has embarked on continuous voters 

registration across the country, distribution 

of PVCs and provision for those who had 

relocated from where they registered in 2015 

to transfer their votes to the new location. 

Indeed, on concerns about the functionality 

of the Smart Card Readers for the 2019 

general elections, Osaze Uzi said: “If there 

was a widespread malfunction of card readers 

in 2015, how come many people are now 

requesting for card readers? Those are just 

assumptions because if they so malfunctioned, 

Nigerians will not be clamouring for card 

readers, they will not be introducing a law to 

back the use of card readers. So, I disagree 

with that and I think most Nigerians disagree 

that there was a widespread malfunctioning 

of card readers in 2015. Yes, there were 

challenges but it was not as widespread as 

being suggested. 

‘’We are optimizing the card readers to make 

sure that they work optimally and we are 

partnering with the Nigeria Communications 

Commission NCC and Nigeria 

Communications Satellite NigComSat to, 

apart from using the readers for accreditation, 

to also use them for other voting activities”. 

On what the commission is doing to ensure 

error-free voter register, he said: “We have just 

finished what we call claims and objections 

and the whole essence of the claims is for 

people to come and verify their details and 

ask that errors be corrected if any. We have 

just finished that and they will still have another 

opportunity of doing that again and once that 

is done, the details are corrected. We also try 

to use what we call business process rules, that 

is, the back-end of physically trying to go 

through the whole process to see what we have 

got. Of course, we encourage people to get 

involved in these claims and objections. That 

is the ideal time for them to tell us what is 

wrong in the details and have us correct 

same.” 

How INEC is correcting 2015 mistakes 

* INEC embarks on continuous voters 

registration, CVR, transfer of voters and PVC 

distribution across the country since April 

27, 2017 

* Approved the redistribution of DDCMs 

and accessories for CVR kick-off 

* Each registration team has two DDCMs 

and a laptop to host national voters register 

in searchable pdf format. 

* Preliminary Register of Voters, PRV, to be 

displayed at registration centre for seven 

days for claims and objections before printing 

of PVC. 

How to transfer your voter’s card 

If you had changed location since the last 

voters’ registration, below are six steps you 

can take to ensure that you vote in your new 

location: 

1 Apply to the Resident Electoral 

Commissioner through the Electoral Officer 

of your current Local Government of 

residence indicating your current address. 

2 Collect ECTF form (application for 

transfer of a registered voter) from 

Registration Area Officer IV (RAO IV) 

3 REC approves application 

4 Application forwarded to HOD 

(ICT/VR) to effect transfer on server 

5 Collect your PVC next quarter 

6 Distribution Officer authenticates 

PVC using Smart Card Reader, SCR 

•Ann Kio-Briggs

12—SATURDAY Vanguard, , APRIL 14, 2018 

How Governor is boosting 

skill acquisition in Taraba 

By Hassan Mijinyawa 

The Proramme of skills acquisition 

under the administration of Arc 

Darius Dickson Ishaku is of strategic 

significance, considering the mounting 

challenges of unemployment in our time. 

Coupled with social ills such as criminality 

and prostitution among women and youths, 

it is inevitable to give skills acquisition great 

primacy. Moreover, the restiveness of youths 

has given every serious government cause to 

tackle the vermin headlong. 

This is not by happenstance, but Governor 

Ishaku has planned it carefully right from the 

outset and it formed part of the Rescue 

Agenda of his administration. Indeed, upon 

coming into office in less than two weeks 

precisely on the 10 June 2015, Governor 

Ishaku initialled a memorandum of 

understanding (MoU) with Bank of Industries 

(BOI) for N700 Million, with the bank 

providing N350 Million, while the Taraba 

State Government provided half of the amount 

under the Micro, Small and Medium 

Enterprises (MSE). On 4 April, 2016, 

government disbursed the money to 

beneficiaries of cooperative societies. It was 

an indication that the administration was 

preparing for a greater programme that 

would further impact women and youth to 

reduce unemployment in the Taraba 

landscape. 

The administration moved swiftly by setting 

up institutional structures known as the 

Grassroots Team and the Rescue Team Watch 

to combine with relevant Ministries like the 

Rescue Team Watch to combine with relevant 

Ministries like Cooperative and Poverty 

Alleviation and Education to give impetus to 

the actualization of the programme. The 

Grassroots Matters Team comprises of a 

Special Adviser and two Senior Special 

Assistants coordinated by the Special Adviser 

(Manifesto Implementation) who collates and 

•Arc Darius Dickson Ishaku 

consolidates monthly reports for submission 

to the Executive Governor. Because it is an 

effective representative of government at the 

grassroots, it conducts a monthly Town Hall 

Meeting, organized in one electoral ward to 

another of the 168 wards of the 16 local 

governments and Yangtu and Ngada Special 

Development Areas of the State. 

Driven by the desire to reposition the State, 

Governor Ishaku in addressing the people of 

Taraba said, “This administration will strive 

to create and maintain an enabling 

environment conducive for the optimal 

participation and sustainable engagement of 

key stakeholders and partners. It will develop 

a sensitive and responsible political class, a 

vibrant and purpose-driven bureaucracy, a 

veritable resource base, and a robust broadbased 

economy. “In line with this promise, the 

empowerment of Women and Youth assumed 

a centre stage. Scanning through the 168 

wards, it chose in its first phase 336 youths to 

train in tailoring, shoemaking, soap making 

and woodcraft. Other training areas are 

carpentry, weaving, welding, hairdressing and 

computer studies. The philosophy behind this, 

the governor explained, was “our resolve 

through the Rescue Agenda to embark on 

aggressive and deliberate measures to reduce 

the rate of unemployment among our teeming 

youths.” Government voted enough money for 

trainers and trainees as well as securing starter 

packs to give beneficiaries a head start in the 

market by enabling them to be instant 

employers of labour. 

During the graduation of the 1 st Batch of 

the Skills Acquisition and the inauguration of 

the 2 nd batch trainees under the post 

Secondary Schools Youths Empowerment 

Programme of the Peter Akintola Youth Centre 

for Industrial Training, Abeokuta, Ogun State, 

Governor Ishaku was full of excitement. 

“When we came on board on the 29 May, 

2015,” he said, “we did promise the people of 

Taraba State of our resolve to reduce 

unemployment. “We made it clear that we will 

achieve that through the provision of skills 

acquisition training programmes for the youth 

because of our strong belief that it is better to 

teach people how to catch fish and make them 

self-reliant than to be giving them fish always.” 

Governor Ishaku then proceeded to explain 

that the set of trainees, who were 51, received 

training in Information Communication 

Technology, Fashion and Design, Electrical, 

Catering and Tourism, Tiling and concreting 

as well as Metal Fabrication. He said his 

administration expended the sum of 

N265,000 on each of the trainee, which 

covered the cost of feeding, accommodation 

and hospital bills for the eight months the 

training lasted and that each received N5,000 

monthly for pocket money. It was a 

remarkable investment as the beneficiaries 

earned Trade Test 3, 2 and one certificates of 

the National Board for Technical education, 

NABTEB, London City of Guild and the 

German Cooperative certificates. It was a 

commitment of the trainees, which made 

Governor Ishaku proud as most of the 

certificates have recognition 

internationally in the job market. The State 

Government provided Starter packs valued 

at millions of naira to enable them to have 

a head start in the job market. Perceiving 

the significance of the gesture, 

Commissioner of Education, Johanness 

Jigem pointedly warned, “At this juncture I 

want to sound a note of warning to the 

trainees, who are beneficiaries of 

Government magnanimity of this kind. Do 

not be personae non grata by selling off 

these packs given to you at ridiculous prices 

for quick gain and personal gratification and 

self-aggrandizement. My dear beneficiaries 

the only way you can show your gratitude to 

the government and the good people of 

Taraba, is to create at least ten jobs in the next 

three years. By so doing, you are making 

government to incest more in this direction”. 

Although this sounded like a tall order, Jigem 

was frank as he was upbeat by lauding the 

efforts of Taraba State Government under the 

able leadership of Arc Darius Ishaku, Captain 

of the rescue mission, “for the giant rescue 

stride in the educational sector and youth 

empowerment, which has culminated in the 

distribution of this starter packs today”. 

Also, during the graduation of the 1 st and 

2 nd Batches and the flag off of the 3 rd Batch 

of youths and women empowerment skills 

acquisition programmes, the Commissioner 

of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Poverty 

Alleviation, Abba Akawu Zagha said his 

Ministry collaborated with the Rescue Watch 

Team in September, 2017. 

Through the approval of Governor Ishaku 

they organized, trained and graduated 335 

people in various skills. Giving a breakdown, 

he said the beneficiaries came from across 

the state and received training in nine different 

trades, adding that most of them are 

performing creditably well. Zagha said the 

2 nd batch had 448 youths and women 

trained in 16 different trades, while the 3 rd 

batch is to train 600 youths and women drawn 

equally from all parts of the stat, again in 16 

trades. Taraba State government has voted 

enough funds for this programme to succeed. 

This gesture is unprecedented in the annals 

of any administration in Taraba State. The 

Darius Ishaku Administration has given the 

people of Taraba State a cause to be proud, 

responsible and responsive citizens. 

However, tribe and religion may differ, in 

peace and unity we must resolve to remain to 

help the Rescue Captain Governor Ishaku to 

make Taraba State remarkably great. 

Mijinyawa is the Chief Press Secretary to 

the Governor 

Imo: Sam Daddy’s Curious 

Governorship Declaration 

BY UCHENNA OBASI 

Senator Samuel Anyanwu, 

popularly known as Sam Daddy 

is a very lucky man. And he has 

been exceptionally lucky in politics. As a 

man who served Chief Emmanuel 

Iwuanyanwu faithfully in politics, his 

rewards have been bountiful. From a 

local government chairman, he 

became a member of the Imo State 

House of Assembly and finally rose to 

the dizzying height of a senator. Some 

said his becoming a senator was an 

accident that may not happen twice. 

But he also got lucky when as a rookie 

Senator, he was appointed chairman 

of a committee, a very powerful one 

at that. To his credit, the man has been 

visible in the Senate, and the people 

of Imo East (Owerri Zone) should be 

proud of him. 

After chalking up these positions, it 

was not surprising that Sam Daddy 

should aim higher – the coveted seat 

of Imo governorship. The right 

question is: what is wrong in that? He 

is qualified. He may have the 

resources. Some may question his 

pedigree. Some may compare him 

with the current governor, Rochas 

Okorocha and fear for Imo since they 

emerged from the same background. 

But after everything, he is 

constitutionally entitled to seek that 

office, his glaring limitations 

notwithstanding. 

When it was still on the realm 

of speculations that Senator 

Anyanwu will contest the 

governorship, his god father, 

Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu 

offered his support. But other 

notable Owerri Zone 

indigenes differed, saying 

that Sam Daddy is hardly 

the man that will win the 

governorship for them. In 

fact a long time ally of 

Iwuanyanwu, Chief J.C. 

Odunna threatened to 

proceed on exile should Sam 

Daddy be lucky this time again 

to be governor. But that is what 

politics is all about, support here, 

disagreement there and rejection 

somewhere. 

However, what is curious is that 

Senator ANyanwu declared his 

ambition on Holy Thursday among 

PDP faithful from local government 

party executives to the state exco 

without the symbol of the party, the 

umbrella being present. More than 

curious? From the brochure used in 

the declaration to his posters, the party’s 

symbol and logo were conspicuously 

missing. The natural question to ask is 

Senator Samuel 

Anyanwu 

this: Is Sam Daddy 

actually contesting 

for the governorship 

under PDP? If he is, 

does it mean he is 

ashamed of the party? 

If he is not, why treat 

the symbol of the party 

with such disdain? 

One thing that 

also stood out 

was that no 

member 

of the 

party’s 

e x c o 

raised 

t h e 

issue. 

Were 

they in 

collusion 

with 

t h e 

Senator 

or was 

it a sheer 

dereliction 

of duty 

aided by 

impending perks? Or is there something 

they know which other members of PDP 

are not privy to? This abdication of 

responsibility by the top PDP officials has 

raised questions as to where their loyalty 

lies especially since after the Sheriff/ 

Makarfi imbroglio. 

Indeed, not a few have raised the issue 

that during those days when men were 

expected to take a stand and declare 

where they stood, Sam Daddy stood on 

the fence. He was neither cold nor warm. 

Now that the battle has been fought and 

won, he wants to be a beneficiary, to deny 

those who sowed during the planting 

season, the joy of reaping the fruits of their 

labour. Although, in politics, morals 

become the first casualty, what is fair in 

this case? Does it not smack of 

opportunism for such a man to ride at the 

back of those who fought for the victory 

of PDP to attempt to win the Imo 

governorship? 

But again, that is if Sam Daddy is 

actually still a loyal member of PDP. 

Given his past relationship with Gov. 

Okorocha, given his relationship with the 

Senate President, could it be that this 

Senator is bidding his time before moving 

on? This theory is tenable for those who 

swore that Sam Daddy’s declaration for 

governorship is a mere attempt to 

instigate crisis in the party so as to help 

the opposition gain upper hand in 2019 

elections. While none of these can be 

proved, can the Senator tell Imo PDP why 

he chose to abandon the PDP’s logo in all 

his posters and the brochure he used for 

the declarations? 

Most times, those who have gone ahead to 

move against the PDP have been those who 

benefited most from the party. Bukola Saraki, 

Rotimi Amaechi, Kwankwaso, Wammako 

and almost all those who defected to APC after 

the crisis in PDP benefited from the party 

substantially before driving the knife deep at 

its back. President Obasanjo also slapped the 

party with betrayal after being president 

without winning his ward. Could it be that 

these are Sam Daddy’s role models? Only time 

will tell. 

But before then, it is germane for the Senator 

to come clean and tell PDP why its logo was 

missing at the declaration brochure and his 

posters. A timely explanation will help douse 

the curiosity pervading the political 

atmosphere. Sam Daddy should not make 

himself a political bat that is neither an 

animal nor a bird. We are watching and 

waiting! 

C 

M 

Y 

K

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, , 2018—13 

IBORI, UDUAGHAN, OKOWA, 

MANAGER, NWAOBOSHI: 

The 5 musketeers 

of Delta politics 

•How they surfaced, their style and divergences 

•Fruitless attempts to cage the power brokers 

By Emma Amaize, 

Regional Editor, South-South 

HOW they managed to pull the act is not the 

focus of this report. But the reality is that less 

than eight years after the creation of Delta State in 

1991, they were able to tactically position 

themselves and have continued to call the shots in 

the state 19 years after they captured power. 

Practically, virtually nothing happens in the state 

without their inputs and efforts, over the years. Ploys 

by other opinionated leaders to break their iron 

grip have proved abortive. They have so far 

produced three governors of the state in a row, 

numerous Senators, House of Representatives and 

state House of Assembly members, local 

government chairmen, councilors and lots more. 

Depending on which side of the divide in the 

convoluted political game in the state, you can call 

them any name, but former governor of the state, 

Chief James Onanefe Ibori, another ex-governor, 

Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, serving governor, 

Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, Senator James Manager 

and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi are undeniably the 

power brokers of Delta politics. Ibori is from the 

Central senatorial district, Uduaghan and 

Manager are from the South senatorial district, 

while Governor Okowa and Nwaoboshi hail from 

the North senatorial district of the state. 

As already recognized, Ibori is the leader of the 

Delta musketeers. Elder statesman and National 

Leader of the Pan Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, 

Senator Edwin Clark, saw the plan when it was 

unfolding, especially when Uduaghan become 

known as Ibori’s favorite to succeed him, but his 

inflexible moves to abort the process were truncated. 

He later resolved with Uduaghan and today, 

Clark is at home with Governor Okowa. 

What is not clear is whether he has forgiven Ibori. 

Also, consecutive governorship candidate, Chief 

Great Ogboru, a political force in his own right 

joined forces with other politicians to stop Ibori’s 

grip on power. Rather than shrink in strength, Ibori 

waxed stronger. 

How the commandos emerged 

The five musketeers are all 

members of the burgeoning grouping 

known as the Ibori political family with 

the Odidigborigbo as the commanderin-chief. 

Available facts indicate that 

prior to the 1999 election, which he 

won; Ibori had brought the defunct 

Grassroots Democratic Movement, 

GDM, to the state through which he 

mobilized young breeds into politics. 

Okowa at the time was the Delta 

North coordinator of GDM and 

Uduaghan, a founder and executive 

member of GDM. Senators 

Manager and Nwaoboshi were all 

leaders of the group. Governor 

Okowa confirmed to this reporter in 

an interview that it was in GDM that 

he met Ibori in 1996. (GDM was 

one of the five parties sanctioned by 

the late General Sani Abacha in his 

time, but when he wanted to transmute 

to civilian president before he gave up 

the ghost,his first choice was the United 

Nigeria Congress Party, UNCP) 

According to Okowa: “That was 

quite a long time. There was 

Grassroots Democratic Movement, 

GDM, though a small party then 

during the Abacha time; then UNCP 

was where we had the moneybags and 

big politicians. But somehow, some of 

us, the younger ones felt that we needed to create 

a new politics. That was in 1996 and we found 

ourselves joining the Grassroots Democratic 

Movement. Why, because the national chair then 

was also very young, so he was able to recruit some 

of us, who were young into the place and nobody 

actually believed in us. Therefore, it was in the 

Grassroots Democratic Movement, what we called 

the GDM that I actually met Chief James Ibori in 

1996.” 

“We struggled hard, we were able to win five 

local governments out of the 25 in Delta state and 

people put us off, but we played good politics then 

even when we were quite young. I had been council 

chair before, so I understood what politics was. 

He (Ibori) also had made an attempt to run 

before, people like Senators James Manager, 

Ighoyota Amori; it was a young crop of persons; 

all of us below 40 then that actually populated the 

place. 

“However, when the new political era was to 

start after the Abacha time, immediately we 

realized then that UNCP was going to be a major 

problem to us, we quickly teamed up with DPN, 

the Democratic Party of Nigeria and that gave us 

strength because they also had four local 

government areas and we had five, which made it 

nine. So we had improved on our strength, the 

combination actually gave us a very good strength, 

we formed what we called the Delta National 

Congress in Warri and that was the tool with which 

we went to link up with the G34 and then eventually 

joined the PDP. The rest is now history because we 

surprisingly took Delta state at that time,” he 

disclosed. 

Evidently, from Okowa’s sequence of events, Ibori 

had a political formation on ground before the 

PDP was formed in 1999 and those who thought 

they were on the same traction with him as cofounders 

of PDP discovered when he smoothly 

picked the governorship ticket of the party at the 

primaries that he was far ahead of them. 

We struggled 

hard, we were 

able to win five 

local 

governments 

out of the 25 in 

Delta state and 

people put us 

off, but we 

played good 

politics then 

even when we 

were quite 

young 

What do they want? 

Ibori, the leader of the group is 

not contemplating any political 

office at the moment. He seems 

satisfied with playing the role of 

political kingmaker in the state 

and those seeking political office 

come to him for endorsement. 

He is the rallying point of 

politicians in the state, both those 

in the ruling PDP and opposition 

parties. He was away when his 

daughter, Hon Erihitake Ibori, 

was conscripted and made a 

member of the state House of 

Assembly. One of the musketeers, 

Senator Nwaoboshi did not hide 

the fact that Ibori made him a 

Senator. 

Uduaghan, who also served 

eight years as governor like Ibori 

wants to go to the Senate in 2019. 

He tried to move to the National 

Assembly straight from his 

governorship seat in 2015, but a 

combination of factors truncated 

his ambition, leaving the coast 

for the incumbent, Senator 

Manager. 

Senator Okowa from the 

North district also intends to run 

for a second term after the 

expiration of his first stint, next 

year, and had received the 

guarantee of Ibori to the effect. 

•Ibori 

•Okowa 

Senator Manager, who is from the same South 

senatorial district with Uduaghan has held the 

position for a record four terms, that is 16 years by 

next year and he still wants a fifth tenure. While 

Uduaghan is Itsekiri, Manager is Ijaw. Also, Senator 

Nwaoboshi, popularly known as Oracle and 

Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta, is 

eying a second term. 

Clash of interests 

The political gladiators have always handled 

their interests despite the differences as political 

animals. That is the reason Okowa still 

materialized as governor in 2015 despite the 

drawbacks. 

Nevertheless the proposition by Senator 

Manager to hold on to his position after four terms 

is something Ibori has to dexterously deal with to 

save the musketeers from themselves. Uduaghan 

is strongly opposed to the idea. He explained in 

2015 that he reneged on his ambition because he 

wanted peace to reign in the state, but it appears he 

is not prepared to stomach the humiliation he 

suffered back then this time around. There was 

also a cloaked attempt to use a member of the state 

House of Assembly, Hon Michael Diden, also an 

Itsekiri, to scuttle Uduaghan’s 2019 senatorial bid. 

It is not known whether Senator Manager will 

buckle, but sources said he had asked to be 

compensated with another good political office if 

he is to back out. “He reportedly requested to be 

made Okowa’s running mate, but Governor Okowa 

had since announced that he was going to run with 

his deputy, Mr. Kingsley Otuaro and I do not think 

Ibori is going to stop him. So Senator Manager’s 

case is dicey,” an apostle of Ibori political dynasty 

confided in this reporter, during the week, in Asaba. 

There are other disagreements among the Ibori 

disciples in the present political dispensation. 

Ibori mends cracks 

Indeed, if Ibori had not returned from London 

the time he did, last year, something scary would 

have happened to his political family, as the 

handwriting was on the wall. Conversely his return 

has also changed the political dynamics in the state. 

Expectedly, he had mended whatever perceived 

differences between Uduaghan and Okowa. 

Governor Okowa now refers to Uduaghan as his 

boss and Uduaghan is proclaiming Okowa for 

second term everywhere he goes. 

One of the key apostles and strategists of the 

Ibori political dynasty, a former Commissioner 

and Chief of Staff in the Uduaghan government, 

Chief Paul Akpeki, left PDP and pitched tent with 

APC shortly after Okowa assumed power due to 

his dissatisfaction with developments. The 

opposition celebrated his exit while PDP rued. He 

vowed that Deltans would change Okowa in 2019. 

But when Ibori returned, he reached out to Akpeki 

and invited Okowa to iron out the differences, after 

which he asked Akpeki to return to the PDP. Today, 

Akpeki is back to the fold and operating as Chief 

Strategist to Governor Okowa. 

There is also the case of another apostle, Chief 

Ighoyota Amori, who emerged as Senator for Delta 

Central senatorial district in 2015, but dethroned 

later by another Ibori disciple supposed to be his 

subordinate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, who had 

switched to the opposition. Amori, who has stood 

•Nwaoboshi 

•Uduaghan 

•Manager 

with Ibori all the years since the GDM days is 

certainly not pleased with the happenings in the 

Ibori family. 

The impudence of it is that Senator Omo-Agege, 

currently a chieftain of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, snatched power from him on the 

platform of another party, Labour Party, LP, with 

Ogboru, the man the Ibori family love to hate and 

who also loathes the Ibori dynasty. 

Ibori, according to an insider, is concerned about 

Amori’s catch-22, a political tactician he respects 

and is looking at some options in 2019 to make up 

for the troubles. The former governor is also 

attending to several other matters affecting the 

political family. 

The Ibori political family comprising the five 

key leaders, apostles and disciples is enveloping 

and it is deep-rooted in the state, the reason it is the 

most powerful political machinery behind the 

Peoples Democratic Party in the state. People like 

Chief Benjamin Elue, Prof Amos Utuama, both 

former deputy governors of the state, former 

Secretary to the State Government, SSG, 

Comrade Ovuozorie Macaulay and the 

incumbent, Mr. Festus Agas are all Ibori disciples. 

Similarly, Senator Omo-Agege and Chief Ayiri 

Emami, a top-ranking Itsekiri chief and business 

mogul, both APC chieftains in the state are Ibori 

disciples. 

Plots To outmaneuver Ibori and PDP 

To cause the downfall of the Ibori political empire 

and PDP in the state, the opposition symbolized by 

APC must do a much bigger work than it is doing 

now. It will, however, remain an uphill task. Former 

governorship candidate and leader of APC in the 

state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, governorship 

aspirants, Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, Chief Great 

Ogboru, Rt Hon Victor Ochei, Prof Patrick Utomi 

and other leaders of the party also have to sink 

their differences and build a stronger party to outwit 

Ibori and his team. They must also undertake to 

support whoever wins the party’s governorship 

ticket at the primaries to be able to put up a 

formidable battle against the PDP. 

The APC and other parties had variously in the 

past accused the PDP of rigging itself to power. 

Though the PDP never agreed that it rigged election 

in the state, it is also obvious that unless the APC 

has devised a better rigging plan, it may not be 

able to rig out PDP in the state.


Continues from page 5 

Muda Yusuf, Director-General, 

Lagos Chamber of Commerce and 

Industries, LCCI 

WE are an oil critical 

country. Without oil, 

there is still not much we 

can do. 

However, we need to worry 

about the non-oil sector 

of the economy. The population 

may be very huge, but 

we need to worry more 

about investment in human 

capital, because if you look 

at the biggest economies of 

the world today, most of 

them have big population. 

Look at the United States 

of America, China, Brazil, 

and in Africa, Ethiopia and 

all of that. We need to worry 

about the quality of the 

population, which has to do 

with investment in human 

capital. That, we need to 

underscore. 

On taxation, I do not 

agree with the speaker that 

we are not paying taxes. 

We need to redefine it to 

know who is paying and 

who is not paying. We need 

to look at it from the context 

of the structure of the 

economy. This economy is 

a dual economy. When I 

say dual, it is principally 

the formal sector of the 

economy and informal sector 

of the economy. The formal 

sector of the economy 

is over taxed. When you 

talk of taxation, it is not just 

about the conventional tax, 

company tax, etc. Businesses 

pay a lot of levies 

Muda Yusuf 

and fees annually. These 

things put a lot of burden 

on businesses. We have a 

situation where we have 

almost 50 percent of the informal 

sector who are not 

captured in the taxation 

policy or in the tax length. 

We have a few informal sector 

percentage providing 

tax revenue to support the 

economy. The issue therefore 

is about broadening the 

tax length and making sure 

Who said what! 

that we get the other segment 

of the economy to also 

be on board. 

Then we also need to 

worry about our institutions. 

Institutions are very 

critical for the quality of 

policies that are formulated. 

They are very critical for 

the quality of policies that 

are being implemented. 

When these things are interfaced 

with the public sector, 

it can be enlightening. 

Opeyemi Agbaje, CEO, RTC Advisory 

Services 

SPEAKING on the 

population control 

as earlier cited, I believe 

population control will 

not happen because we 

are in Nigeria, and also 

because it is built as an 

instrument of political 

control, and an instrument 

of large illiterate, 

unemployed idle army, 

that can be used to terrorize 

Nigerians. 

Basically, there are 

three principal structures 

needed to move the 

country’s economy forward. 

The number one 

imperative is hinged on 

political and constitutional 

reforms. Without 

these reforms, we would 

continue to spend 70 percent 

of our resources on 

recurrent expenditure; 

have dysfunctional state 

governments who have 

responsibilities but no 

powers as well as the 

Federal Government 

Opeyemi Agbaje 

wasting a large part of its 

resources on secondary 

schools and universities’ 

development. 

The second imperative 

is on social policy to improve 

education, skills, 

healthcare and to generate 

employment for Nigerians, 

in fact to turn 

our population into an 

asset rather than the liability 

that it threatens to 

be. 

Right now, it is structured 

in a way that you 

become the governor or 

legislator and then collects 

the revenue and 

resources of the state. 

That system will not provide 

the needed development 

for the country. 

The final imperative 

and I think that has been 

the core of our discourse 

today, is economic policy 

to restore private capital 

as the basis of our 

economic development to 

promote economic competitiveness 

especially 

for exports, so we can 

change the structure of 

our external sector to increase 

government revenue. 

If we don’t change the 

structure of our taxation 

system in Nigeria, and 

turn this country into a 

country whose revenues 

are generated through 

the strides of its citizens, 

we are not going to get 

things right.” 

Tony Okpanachi, Managing 

Director, Development Bank 

of Nigeria 

I 

think the prescrip 

tion to population control 

is just being simplistic 

because we are already in 

there. No matter the way you 

look at it the population is 

still going to grow. 

We are already in it, what 

are we going to do or where 

do we go from here? That is 

the perspective I am going 

to look at it. So if you look at 

the demography and the 

composition of the population, 

you will discover that 

most of them are youths. 

So, if you want to talk about 

increase in government revenues, 

increasing taxes to be 

able to fund some of the 

projects, you also have to 

make them productive in 

such a way that they are able 

to contribute in their own 

way, to be able to pay their 

taxes. 

That is why I think we 

should be able to look at 

which areas of the economy 

will be able to create employment 

more and where 

the Micro and Small scale 

enterprises come to bear. 

If you look at it, almost over 

60 percent of the employment 

was created by that 

sector. So an institution like 

the Development Bank of Nigeria, 

DBN, which is set up 

to focus strictly on that segment 

of the economy is a decision 

in the right director. 

Ms Patience Oniha, Director General, Debt 

Management Office 

SINCE December last 

year, in terms of releasing 

capital into the economy, 

we had redeemed about 

N400 billion of government 

securities and those monies 

are in the system. What 

should bother us is, with 

more money available in the 

system, with interest rates on 

government securities down 

from 18 percent to 14 percent 

at most, what is constraining 

lending to the private 

sector? Is it that the 

banks are not willing to take 

the risk? We have released 

money and the interest rates 

have come down, then what 

is it that is constraining the 

flow of capital at lower rates? 

Rates have dropped and to 

the real sector that is where 

production will come from 

and I can assure you that is 

one of our objectives. 

Ms Patience Oniha 

On government securities 

being tax free, we actually 

pushed for bonds issued by 

corporates to be tax exempt 

and they are actually tax 

exempt. So the issue is, why 

is all of that money, despite 

the benefits of government 

reducing its borrowing in 

Tony Okpanachi 

the domestic market, not getting 

to the real sector to create 

jobs and stimulate 

growth? 

Bode Agusto talked about 

the role of inflation in economic 

growth with the point that 

in some countries low inflation 

led to growth with reference 

to Singapore. I think that 

with the economic theory and 

the examples we have seen, 

sometimes you need inflation 

to fuel growth and that has 

worked in some countries like 

China and some other countries. 

So, sometimes inflation 

can be a good thing. 

In terms of bringing interest 

rates very low, considering 

the short term, to attract 

investors you need to have a 

rate that compensates for inflation. 

I think that is a bit of a 

journey. I say that broadly in 

terms of some of the macro 

issues. 

Issa Aremu, General Secretary, NUTGTWN 

I 

am excited with the pre 

sentation of Olabode 

Agusto on a number of issues, 

and I am happy he 

demystified the notion that 

Nigeria is not an oil rich 

country, that is very important. 

However, I was checking 

some figures here. Saudi 

Arabia has 32million people, 

also an oil rich country with 

external reserve of $450billion. 

Libya with a population 

of 6.2million, has an 

external reserve of $70billion. 

We know oil rich countries 

like Kuwait, Oman,UAE. 

Check their numbers on 

their reserve, they are in the 

three digits. So we cannot be 

compared to them, but the 

problem with Agusto’s presentation 

is that when Agusto 

keeps referring to we, that 

we also includes us . 

Muda Yusuf said much 

that we are not paying tax. I 

said you should speak for 

yourself. 

Nigerian workers pay taxes 

at source, it is automatic, 

we pay as you earn, PAYE. 

We have first class, second 

class and there are low class 

and secondly when you say 

we are all not rich the numbers 

do not add up. 

For those who can pay 

$2million for three bedroom 

apartments in Banana Island 

and they can also pay in 

Euro about £80,000 for maintenance, 

for them Nigeria is 

oil rich, this is also factual, 

there is nothing personal. 

In 2010 when General 

Theophilus Danjuma disclosed 

and I want to quote 

him here: “That I retired from 

service at age 41, because I 

got to the top early. I started 

shipping business and became 

reasonably rich. Twelve 

(12) years ago I was allocated 

an oil block by the late 

Head of state, General Sanni 

Abacha, near Sao Tome 

and Nigeria. We discovered 

Issa Aremu 

a lot of oil and because of the 

prevailing oil price, we made 

over $1billion. I paid my taxes 

and ended up with 

$500million. I have the problem 

of what to do with this 

Money.” Now, to the general, 

Nigeria is oil rich , oil 

block was allocated to him, 

so you need to be clear about 

that. 

More stories on Sunday 

and Monday

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018—15 

OVIE AGAS: 

Firing the Engine 

of Governance 

BY JULIUS OWEH 

The chief aim of government 

remains the security and welfare 

of the citizens and this fact is 

brought home in a representative 

government where those in power draw 

their mandate from the electorate. 

Governance is about policy formulation 

and implementation and one key critical 

office is the office of the secretary to the 

government, be it at the federal or state 

level. Within the week, in line with the 

Okowa administration trademark of 

rendering stewardship to the people, a 

ministerial press briefing began on 

Monday, with the secretary to the state 

government, Honourable Festus Ovie 

Agas flagging off the event. 

Agas is a trained journalist from the 

prestigious University of Lagos, and a 

lawyer to boot. He was once a legislator in 

the State House of Assembly and a polished 

politician. During the thicket of the 

governorship primaries of the PDP in the state, 

he stood behind Senator Ifeanyi Okowa and 

this uncommon loyalty was rewarded with 

the post of secretary to the state government. 

The ministerial press briefing is packaged 

by the Ministry of Information under the 

captainship of Honourable Patrick Ukah, the 

Information Commissioner. Agas told the 

press that the fundamental policy thrust of the 

Delta State government was anchored on the 

legacy of wealth creation and Prosperity for 

all Deltans and is captured in the 5 points 

always known as SMART AGENDA. He said 

that his office was more of coordinating the 

administration and implementation of 

government policies and programmes. 

The secretary to the state government 

explains the philosophical underpin of the 

office :‘Customarily, the office of the secretary 

to the state government plays the vital role of 

assisting, guiding and supervising the activities 

of government ministries, departments and 

agencies (MDAs), as well as ensuring that 

policies and programmes of government are 

effectively implemented for the overall benefit 

of Deltans. In playing the role as the engine 

room of the state government, my office has 

ensured that the vision of the administration 

of His Excellency, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa 

as well as policies and programmes are not 

only clearly understood, but are also 

implemented as intended‘. 

Agas rolled out the achievements of the 

government in peace building and security, 

wealth and job creation, technical and 

vocational education, Delta State contributory 

health scheme, regular and prompt payment 

of salaries, pensions, biometric verification 

of staff, widows‘ support scheme, provision of 

soft loans for market women, CBN anchor 

borrowers programme, infrastructure 

development, upgrade of Asaba airport, Town 

Hall meetings/grassroots and outreach 

programme. A reading through the listed 

achievements of the Okowa administration 

is like a summary of the activities of all 

government ministries and departments, 

bringing to the fore that indeed and in truth, 

the office of the secretary to the state 

government is firing the engine of government 

activities and development. 

On peace building and security, Agas 

said that various efforts were initiated by the 

government to achieve peace bearing in mind 

the time honoured saying that without peace, 

there cannot be any meaningful development. 

He mentioned the 41-member peace building 

and advisory council that has been modified 

to include settlement of disputes among 

communities. He speaks further on the council: 

‘The work of the council has greatly 

strengthened the peace building activities of 

government. Moreover, with respect of the 

widening conflict between herdsmen and 

farmers, His Excellency has constituted a 

security interventionist committee headed by 

the local government council chairmen, and 

which also includes traditional rulers, security 

agencies, presidents-general and other 

relevant stakeholders to engage the Miyetti 

Allah Cattle Breeder Association and ensure 

that the attacks were 

prevented‘. 

In the areas of wealth and 

job creation which is part of 

the ‘prosperity for all Deltans‘ 

catchphrase, Agas disclosed 

that many young Deltans‘ 

lives have been affected and 

these people were 

contributing to the growth 

and development of the state. 

This is how the secretary to 

the government explains the 

impact of the programme: ‘ 

Despite the lean purse of the 

administration, it has 

redoubled efforts in engaging 

Deltans especially the youths 

in meaningful ventures 

through various skill 

acquisition programmes 

such as Youth Agricultural 

Entrepreneur Programme 

and Skills Training and 

Agricultural Programme. 

Through these schemes, over 

two thousand and five 

hundred hitherto 

unemployed youths have been 

transformed into owners of 

businesses and even, 

employers of labour. The state 

government established a 

department of monitoring 

and mentoring under the 

Governor‘s office to properly 

monitor the implementation 

of these programmes and 

mentor the beneficiaries. The 

•Agas 

In the areas of 

wealth and job 

creation which is 

part of the 

‘prosperity for all 

Deltans‘ 

catchphrase, 

Agas disclosed 

that many young 

Deltans‘ lives 

have been 

affected and 

these people 

were contributing 

to the growth and 

development of 

the state 

success of the schemes have attracted 

commendations and support of many national 

and international institutions, including the 

World Bank which became a co-sponsor for 

the third cycle of the programme‘. 

According to Agas, his principal is a medical 

doctor and that informed the floating of the 

state contributory health scheme for 

workers. The purpose of this scheme is to 

improve the availability and access to 

quality healthcare services for all Deltans. 

He explains more of the benefit of the 

scheme: ‘This scheme is central to the 

administration`s vision of universal 

health coverage in the 

state. While most public 

officers have enrolled 

into the scheme, the 

informal and private 

sectors are being 

mobilized to enrol. 

Annual premium is 

about seven thousand 

Naira only which may be 

paid installmentally. The 

state government is 

bearing the premium of 

pregnant women, 

children under 5 years 

and widows. Before the 

year runs out, physically 

and mentally 

challenged persons as 

well as the elderly above 

65 years of age will be 

enrolled on a freepremium 

basis. 

Moreover, the 62 

general hospitals, 107 

primary health care 

centres, 10 private 

hospitals and the 

Federal Medical Centre, 

Asaba, have been 

accredited for the 

programme with due care 

taken to ensure fair 

distribution of the facilities 

across the state.` 

The issue of pensions for 

senior citizens who spent 

their salad years in the 

service of the state was also 

touched by the secretary to the state 

government. He said that workers who retired 

under the old pension scheme are being paid 

up to date. He concurred that there were 

challenges in the payment of pensions for those 

who retired under the contributory pension 

scheme. Agas, however, disclosed that the state 

government has been releasing N300 million 

monthly towards defraying the commitments 

to them while the re-computation of the 

actuarial value of their past services were done 

in line with the current salary scale. He opened 

on the challenges of paying pensions regularly 

:‘I will also like to observe that government 

has been regular in releasing its 10 per cent 

counterpart contribution towards the claims 

of serving workers which amounts to 

approximately N322 million monthly while 

also ensuring the release of the workers 7 1/ 

2% contribution into their retirement savings 

accounts. To my knowledge, Delta and Lagos 

States are the only two states in the country to 

have achieved this level of commitment. In 

all states, the payment of the accrued claims 

from the old pension scheme into the new 

scheme has been a challenge because of the 

huge outlay of funds required......I therefore 

appeal to the retirees involved with this claim 

to bear with us as we work towards resolving 

the actuarial valuation shortly and thereafter, 

find a way forward towards defraying it. ‘ 

Another important aspect of the press briefing 

by Agas was government passion to help the 

plight of widows in the state. He maintained 

that this very important programme was dear 

to the heart of the governor and as part of 

prosperity for Deltans‘ project. He explained 

what the government has done to put smiles 

on the faces of the widows :‘By this 

programme, the state government has created 

a pool of twenty (20) per ward, evenly spread 

out throughout the two hundred and seventy 

(270) wards in the state bringing the total 

beneficiaries to five thousand and four 

hundred (5,400). Each of the beneficiaries 

receives a payout of five thousand Naira 

(N5,000) monthly to ameliorate their dire 

conditions‘. 

After listening to the press address of the 

secretary to the state government, one begins 

to think aloud what the commissioners would 

say in their own stewardship. The press 

briefing aptly captured ‘the activities and 

achievements of Delta State government‘ was 

indeed a summary of Okowa administration 

achievements in three years. Maybe the 

commissioners would give detail 

implementation of government programmes 

and policies. 

As it is customary press conference, reporters 

were given opportunities to take the SSG 

to task and as a professional journalist 

and a lawyer; the questions were 

answered to the satisfaction of journalists. 

A reporter asked the SSG about the new 

secretariat building and that Agas was 

one of the contractors, and the rumour 

mill was agog about impending visit of 

EFCC to him. He defended himself: ‘ I 

am not a part of the new secretariat 

building. I do not have the privilege of 

such petitions. I do not place premium 

on gossip. I am yet to get any invitation 

from EFCC. This government is anchored 

on openness, transparency and 

accountability. Ours is an open book and 

you can read it. Please do not cry for me 

about any EFCC arrest. We follow due 

process. ‘ 

Agas also clarified the position of the 

government about the closure of the 

Asaba airport for five weeks beginning 

from April 9th, 2018, saying that after the 

work, the Airport shall become Asaba 

International Airport. That the airport 

was undergoing a major upgrade 

especially, the resurfacing of its runway 

and the provision of some technical 

facilities such as the Voice 

Communication System(VCS), the 

Automatic Weather Observation 

System(AWOS) and Low Level 

Windshear Alert System (LLWAS). 

On a lighter note, a reporter 

commended the State Information 

Commissioner for the new look of the 

conference hall of the Ministry and hoped 

that such dividends of democracy shall 

also impact on reporters. Both the 

Commissioner and the SGG quaked with 

laughter. At the end of the briefing, many 

reporters agreed that the SGG did justice 

to the matter at hand.

16—SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 

2019: Why Buhari 

should not be voted 

again - PDP chieftains 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

The recent declaration of interest to vie for the highest elective office 

in the land by President Muhammadu Buhari is generating heat in the 

polity. With the President away in the United Kingdom, Nigerians back 

home are locked in an endless debate on whether the President has 

done well enough to warrant another shot at the Holy Grail. 

No issue in the past couple of weeks 

has dominated discourse as 

much as this week’s declaration 

of intent to contest the 2019 election by 

President Muhammadu Buhari. The 

declaration as it were, elicited excitement 

in the camp of the President, with its 

argument that a second term in office 

would culminate in the manifestation of 

a glorious harvest from the seeds being 

sowed today by the current 

administration. 

In the past few days, not a few 

supporters of the President have, in the 

traditional media (print and electronic) 

and online tabloids, attempted to justify the 

rationale for a continuity, with the 

argument rife that the mismanagement of 

the economy in years past, informed the 

failure of the nation to rise proportionally 

to her rich endowments in human and 

material resources. However, this 

narrative has not gone down well with the 

largest opposition party in the land, the 

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

Speaking a few days after Buhari made 

known his intention to give the plum seat 

another shot, PDP National Publicity 

Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan appeared 

on a live Channels television programme 

(Sunrise Daily) to advance reasons 

Nigerians should ditch Buhari and by 

extension, the All Progressives Congress 

(APC) in 2019 for a ‘rebranded’ PDP. 

According to the publicity scribe, last 

week’s mega rally of the PDP in President 

Buhari’s home state of Katsina was what 

prompted the Commander-in-Chief to 

declare for a second term in office. 

His words: “It was the 

PDP outing in Katsina that 

drove President Buhari to 

declare to run in 2019. This 

is the first time in the 

political history of Nigeria 

that an incumbent 

President would declare 

his intentions one clear 

year to the polls. We are not 

against his declaration but 

normally, one would have 

expected him to consult 

widely before taking that 

decision.” 

Pressed on to elaborate 

on his claim that the first 

citizen may not have 

concluded a nationwide 

consultation before 

making his 2019 intentions 

public, Ologbondiyan 

faulted the manner of the 

announcement, which in 

his words, left participants 

at the APC National 

Executive Committee 

(NEC) meeting lost for 

words for a few minutes. 

“The President and 

Commander-in-Chief just 

walked into the NEC 

meeting of his party and 

declared his interest to run 

again in 2019. That is 

desperation,” 

Ologbondiyan stressed. 

Highlighting 

reasons 

Nigerians 

should not 

contemplate 

another four 

years for Buhari 

as President, 

the PDP 

through its 

image maker 

said “There’s 

absolutely 

nothing to 

show for his 

three years in 

office 

Highlighting reasons Nigerians should 

not contemplate another four years for 

Buhari as President, the PDP through its 

image maker said “There’s absolutely 

nothing to show for his three years in 

office. He came to power on the 

significant plank of change but have you 

seen any change since he assumed 

power?” 

Ologbondiyan would thereafter liken 

Buhari’s declaration to Alele Yoruba 

mythology, following his decision to jet 

out of the nation’s shores for the United 

Kingdom (UK), leaving the nation and 

her people to feed on the conundrum his 

re-election bid is generating. 

Ologbondiyan, a Yoruba from Okun 

axis in Kogi State elucidated further 

this way: “Alele mythology is 

akin to a farmer who left a 

talisman in his farm as a form 

of protection for his crops. 

Anyone unfortunate to go 

therein to steal is trapped 

and would be assigned 

chores to deal with until 

the return of the farmer, 

who would now be at 

liberty to set the thief 

free or arrest him as 

it were. The President 

has dropped a hint 

of his intention to 

run and Nigerians 

are left to chew it 

pending his return from the UK,” he 

explained. 

These are not the only reasons the PDP 

thinks Buhari is a misfit for the office of 

the President beyond 2019. 

The fight against 

corruption, in the 

reckoning of the once 

dominant party has been 

everything but holistic. 

Accusing the Presidency of 

shielding some of its 

members alleged to have 

corruptly enriched 

themselves with public 

funds, Ologbondiyan 

said members of the 

PDP accused of 

graft were 

handed over to 

a n t i - 

corruption 

agencies 

while the 

party was in 

power. 

“While 

we were in power, members 

of our party accused of one 

malfeasance or the other 

had their days in courts. 

This is unlike the APC 

which provides Presidential 

cover for its members 

accused of corruption,” he 

added. 

Speaking on the same 

subject matter on Thursday, 

Wahab Olatoye, a chieftain 

of the PDP attributed some 

of the ills plaguing the 

•Lamido: Presidential 

aspirant 

•Atiku: Presidential 

aspirant 

Nigerian state today to the truncation of 

the nation’s democracy in 1983 by the 

then General Muhammadu Buhari. For 

him, the three years of the APC presidency 

have not in any way translated to good 

fortunes for Nigerians saying, “After 

spending almost three years in office, the 

country is pauperized, there is a high 

sense of insecurity. All we have seen is 

blame game but when Obasanjo inherited 

power from General Abdulsalami 

Abubakar, he didn’t blame anybody. He 

concentrated on the job at hand.” 

While describing the President as a nice 

• Secondus: 

PDP chairman 

man, Olatoye lamented the fact that those 

he chose to surround himself with have 

succeeded in alienating him from 

millions of Nigerians who trooped out to 

elect him in 2015. 

“When he came into power in 1983, he 

was not in control. He was shackled 

by people who turned him into a 

parochial leader,” he stated even 

as he counselled incumbent 

administration to learn from 

the PDP which gave jobs to 

technocrats who had no 

affiliations to it prior to 

their engagements by the 

party while it was in 

power. 

“When we came into 

power, Charles 

Soludo (ex-governor 

of the Central Bank 

of Nigeria, (CBN) 

and Ngozi Okonjo- 

Iweala (erstwhile 

Minister of 

Finance) were not members of the PDP. 

We didn’t make our appointments 

parochially like the APC is doing today. 

We looked for Nigerians who could man 

the post.” Olatoye stated, urging 

Nigerians not to forget that under the 

stewardship of President Buhari, “Court 

orders and judgments are not being 

obeyed,” a veiled reference to the 

continued detention of former National 

Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki 

(retd), and leader of the Islamic 

Movement in Nigeria (IMN), 

Sheik Ibrahim El-ZakZaky. 

That said, Olatoye fired 

what appeared a warning 

salvo in the direction of 

the ruling party and the 

Commander-in-Chief 

when he argued that 

“anybody who wants to 

lead this nation should 

be knowledgeable in the 

management of the 

economy. If your 

policies cannot put food on the table, 

nobody will support you.” 

As the two sides of the opposing camps 

continue to trade tackles in a bid to 

convince Nigerians to pitch tent with 

them, it is left to be seen which side carries 

the day. But regardless of the rationality 

or otherwise of the electorate’s choice, 

Nigeria has yet another opportunity to 

make or break history in 2019. Dateline 

is less than a year away, if the timetable 

released by the Independent National 

Electoral Commission (INEC) is anything 

to go by.


Why I’ll vote Buhari 

again and again 

By FEMI ADESINA 

The greatest talking point in our 

country this week has been the 

declaration by President Muhammadu 

Buhari that he would seek a second term 

in office next year. And naturally so. 

Desire by any President, whether positive 

or negative, should elicit great interest 

in the citizenry. The President that should 

be pitied is the one that says something, 

and the people just shrug, unconcernedly. 

He is of all men the most miserable. 

As to be expected, the notice given by 

President Buhari has engendered diverse 

emotions and reactions. The joy kiln has 

been kindled in the hearts of many 

millions. They are exultant and ecstatic. 

I am in that number. 

While millions are like Romeos 

beholding their Juliets, others on the flipside, 

however, are like King Leah at his 

worst. It was as if they got blows to the 

solar plexus. Ouch! And they are wailing, 

kicking and screaming. Mournfully so. 

The days of their rustication from power 

will be extended, and they can’t bear it. 

Doomsday is elongated, doors to freebies 

shut again. They are quite vocal, but 

much smaller in number, and the 

elections next year will so prove. There’s 

still plenty where the bloody nose of 2015 

came from. 

Now, despite the challenges in the 

country (and very many of them), from 

Enugu to Borno, Benue to Zamfara, Oke 

Ogun farmlands in Oyo to Mambilla 

in Taraba, Plateau to Edo/Delta, virtually 

everywhere, why is President Buhari still 

the man to beat? That is the purpose of 

this piece. 

Some of the challenges in the country 

are genuine. Some others are 

orchestrated by those the President 

would say are playing “irresponsible 

politics.” For such people, they would 

first urinate inside the well they want to 

draw drinking water from. They would 

gladly step into power, treading on skulls 

and crossbones, and on the flowing 

blood of innumerable countrymen. 

Ogres! But Nigerians are wiser. They 

know those who are serving them, and 

who wish to serve more for altruistic 

reasons. They also know those who just 

want to grab power, so that the country 

can return to business as usual, and their 

snouts can be dipped in the honeypot 

once again. 

I’ll vote for President Buhari over and 

over, again and again, because he can 

be trusted. You can trust him with the 

resources of the country. He won’t filch 

them. You can trust him with power. He 

won’t misuse it. You can trust him with 

the well being of the land, he cares. I 

remember one night, I had gone to the 

residence to see the President. It was 

about 8 p.m, and there were just two of 

us in the waiting room. The other elderly 

fellow has held power at very senior levels 

in the country. He had even aspired for 

the highest office in the land. So, he 

knows what he’s talking about. 

He told me: “Look at this sprawling 

place. Just two of us waiting to see the 

President. It didn’t use to be like this. Up 

to 3 a.m daily, the place used to be like a 

market, filled with men, women from 

within and outside the country. They 

would come to seal all kinds of deals on 

petroleum, power, transport, iron and 

steel, and all others. And of course, the 

President and his household would 

always have a cut. The wheeler-dealers 

would also have their cut. Who dares 

approach this President with such 

proposals? That is why you see so much 

sanity here.” 

A President who won’t sell our 

collective patrimony while the rest of the 

country is sleeping. That’s the one I want. 

And we all know that man. 

Accountability is another reason. 

Under some presidents, the rich gets 

richer, while the poor gets prison. Not 

under Buhari. The resources of the 

country are for the people of the country. 

Greatest good to the greatest number of 

people. The last administration (we 

won’t and can’t stop talking about them, 

never!) sat over resources in billions of 

dollars. Oil prices hit $140 dollars per 

barrel under their watch, and stabilized 

at about $100-110 for a number of years. 

They met our foreign reserves at $62 

billion. When they left, it was just $29.6, 

yet oil prices had hit the rooftops. What 

happened? Thievery. Today, with oil 

prices having dropped to about $30 per 

barrel in 2015, and now oscillating 

between 60 and 70 dollars per barrel, 

our reserves have hit $47 billion, and 

still growing. Prudence. Transparency. 

Resourcefulness. Accountability. Will I 

then exchange this type of government 

for another? That would mean willful 

blindness, after our sights had been 

amazingly restored. That would mean 

willful backsliding into perdition, after 

we had been wonderfully saved. 

Still talking of accountability, you 

must have heard of the billions and 

trillions of naira that accrued to 

government from agencies like Customs, 

Federal Inland Revenue Service, 

NIMASA, JAMB, and many others in 

recent times. These agencies are not 

newly created. So, what happened to 

revenues they made in the past? Your 

guess is as good as mine. Will I then 

leave terra firma for terra incognita? God 

forbid! Because an accountable man is 

in the driver’s seat, the virtue is now 

flowing downwards. 

Elections are coming. And there’s no 

need to fear. Why? Because the will of 

Nigerians will not be subverted. Never! 

A President once told us in this country 

that the coming polls would be do or 

die. Not with President Buhari. Fair is 

fair. No foul play. Under his watch, his 

political party, the All Progressives 

That would 

mean willful 

blindness, after 

our sights had 

been 

amazingly 

restored. That 

would mean 

willful 

backsliding 

into perdition, 

after we had 

been 

wonderfully 

saved 

•Femi Adesina 

Congress (APC) has lost gubernatorial 

elections in Bayelsa and Anambra states. 

At the last Council of States meeting, 

Gov Willie Obiano publicly registered 

his appreciation to President Buhari, for 

the level playing ground he made 

available during the election in his state. 

With do or die apostles, and a certain 

political party in power, such would 

never happen. Not with their garrison 

mentality. All states are territories that 

must be conquered, willy-nilly. 

APC has won gubernatorial positions 

under Buhari in Kogi, Ondo and Edo 

states. The victories were fair and square. 

The party lost in Bayelsa and Anambra. 

This President would never manipulate 

victory for anyone, not even his own 

party. And you ask me not to trust him? I 

will, and no mistake. 

Global respect. That is what Nigeria 

has today. I’ve accompanied President 

Buhari to over 30 countries in about three 

years. And he has been resetting the 

buttons, relaying the foundation of 

relationships with those countries. And 

how the leaders respect him. And they 

say it. Barrack Obama, the then 

American President said the Nigerian 

leader came to his job with a “reputation 

of integrity.” At another time, while 

introducing our President to the 

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin 

Trudeau, he said:”Meet the Nigerian 

President, who is doing a very good job.” 

And the latter concurred. 

In Britain, when David Cameron was 

Prime Minister, he had made a faux pas 

when he named Nigeria and some other 

countries as being “fantastically 

corrupt.” And who rose in defence of the 

Nigerian leader? The Archbishop of 

Canterbury, His Grace Justin Welby, who 

said; “but this particular President is not 

corrupt.” And you ask me to throw away 

such President when he still wants 

another term? I’ll vote for him again and 

again, no matter what naysayers claim. 

What of the personal virtues? I sit with 

him, speak with him, and I know. 

Discipline. Simplicity. Love of country. 

Lack of greed. A heart for the poor and 

downtrodden. A realization of the 

ephemeralness of power, and of life itself. 

These are things that resonate in his 

speeches. They don’t make them like this 

anymore. And then, I should prematurely 

jettison the one I have? Even the 

Heavens will hold a people who take 

such decision in derision. 

Some people ask; where are the 

achievements? Well, if they are of such 

mindset, unfortunately they can’t be 

helped. We don’t have the authority to 

mix spittle with clay, put on their eyes, 

and direct them to go to Siloam pool, 

wash, and come back seeing. Once 

anybody decides to be willfully blind, no 

matter what you push in front of his eyes, 

he wouldn’t see. If he decides to be 

willfully deaf, even if there are thunder 

peals by his ears, he won’t hear. Those of 

us that manage the media of the 

President put all the activities and 

achievements in the public domain. They 

claim not to know. Good luck to them. 

Those who know, really know. And they 

are the millions who will stand by the 

President any day. Strides in security, 

agriculture, anti-corruption, 

infrastructure, and many others are 

evident. When they drive on Enugu- 

Onitsha Expressway, Enugu-Port 

Harcourt Expressway, Aba Port 

Harcourt Expressway, and hear that 

early works on the Second Niger Bridge 

have reached about 45% completion, 

and still refuse to believe, what then can 

anybody still do? But thankfully, those 

who believe far outnumber the 

inveterate cynics. 

They talk of the economy, and make it 

appear as if the heavens were falling 

upon them. But the economy, according 

to pundits, began to slow down in 2012. 

By 2014, it was poised for recession. 

Before the last administration left, 

Nigeria was already borrowing to pay 

salaries, as confirmed by Dr Ngozi 

Okonjo-Iweala. And that was in spite of 

trillions earned from oil. By 2016, 

recession was inevitable. But for how 

long did it last? Just one year. Due to deft 

footworks, sound economic policies, 

transparency and accountability, we 

were soon out. Today, inflation rate has 

fallen for the 13th month running. The 

auguries are good for the economy, but 

all they want to wail about is hunger, to 

deceive and beguile. But Nigerians know. 

They know where food self-sufficiency is 

coming from. They know where their 

future and those of their children will be 

guaranteed. The polls would prove it 

next year. 

When we were awash with money, 

what happened to infrastructure? Simply 

nothing. Power, roads, rail, bridges. 

Nothing! Now, when we are earning 

about 60% less than what we used to 

earn, those things are coming. Power was 

inherited at about 3,000 megawatts, with 

a large chunk of it not distributable. 

Today, power generation stands at over 

7,000 megawatts, and over 5,000 MW 

is distributed. Rail projects will cover the 

national landscape within the next one 

year. Abandoned projects are being 

resuscitated nationwide. Recently, the 

N8.5 billion water project in Otuoke, 

Bayelsa State, came on stream. It was 

not achieved when a native of the area 

was President. The Lagos-Otta- 

Abeokuta road has been awarded. It was 

•Buhari 

not done when a son of the area was in 

power. The dredging of Warri port for 

N13 billion has been awarded. Was it 

awarded when a native of the region 

was in office for six years? Nigeria is 

making tremendous progress, and things 

can only get better. 

For the first time in the history of the 

country, stealing has become corruption. 

It didn’t use to be so, particularly in the 

last epoch. No wonder the Excess Crude 

Account was looted dry. Foreign reserves 

drawn down. Federation Account, 

emptied. And the economy was set on 

an irreversible path to recession. And 

they say; don’t talk about it. Focus on the 

present and the future only. How we miss 

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti. He would have 

said: “I go shout o, I go shout plenty o.” 

If we don’t focus on the past, we are then 

liable to make the same mistakes. 

“Those who cannot learn from history 

are doomed to repeat it.” (George 

Santayana). 

Stolen monies are being recovered in 

billions of naira and dollars, and being 

appropriated and spent on 

infrastructure. Properties acquired with 

laundered funds are being seized. 

President Buhari has promised to sell 

them, and return the funds into public 

treasury. No wonder some people are 

running scared, and had tried earnestly 

to dissuade the man from going for a 

second term in office. But the die is cast. 

Let each mother warn her child. Days of 

reckoning will come. 

A party left the country in ruins after 

16 years. It is now crying that the edifice 

has not been rebuilt in three years. Is it 

not easier to destroy than to rebuild? The 

rebuilding of Nigeria is proceeding 

apace. Another term for President Buhari 

will take the job very far. Consolidation 

of the good works is good prospect, not 

only for us, but also our children. Things 

may be tough for Nigerians now, but 

they are like birth pangs, which begin to 

fade at a point. And they are fading. A 

woman brings forth only with pains, 

tears and groaning. But when she 

beholds her baby, all those pale into 

insignificance. A new dawn, new 

visitation is coming our way. We can see 

the Promised Land. Nothing should stop 

us from stepping into it. 

Archbishop Justin Welby, Head of 

the Anglican Communion Worldwide, 

told President Buhari in London this 

week: “Great statesmen are those who 

run for the good of their country.” Spoton. 

The 2019 race is not for self, but for 

the good of the country. Discerning 

Nigerians did it in 2015. In greater 

numbers, they are poised to do it again 

in 2019. 

.Adesina is Special Adviser to 

President Buhari on Media and 

Publicity. 

C 

M 

YK


Purported Delta 

APGA crisis, storm 

in a teacup 

—Enemokwu, state chairman 

•Senator fingered in plot to 

destroy APGA, LP 

BY EMMA AMAIZE, 


CHAIRMAN of the All 

Progressives Grand Alliance, 

APGA, Delta State, Hon 

Afamefune Enemokwu, has described the 

alleged crisis rocking the party as nonexistent, 

saying the whole thing was an evil 

machination of some few persons, who are 

now on the run, following a manhunt for them 

by the police for falsifying documents to 

destroy the party. 

Enemokwu, who spoke to Saturday 

Vanguard, said the claim by some persons 

that he had been suspended from office was a 

fallacy, revealing that a serving Senator was 

behind the crisis to destabilize APGA and 

Labour Party, LP, in the state. 

Last month (March), a factional group 

in the party caused a stir in the state when it 

claimed that members of the state executive 

met at Isoko North area and slammed a 

suspension on the state chairman. The 

factional group announced the Deputy 

Chairman, Emmanuel Ibordor, as acting 

chairman, 

saying that it 

had passed a 

vote of no 

confidence 

on the 

state 

chairman for failing to summon meeting for 

over 10 months. 

But Enemokwu, accompanied by the vice 

chairman and secretary of the party, Rev P. G 

Nwachukwu and Comrade Okproma Joseph 

respectively declared: “There is no crisis in 

APGA; the state executive is very much intact. 

All we are seeing is a group of people, about 

two members of the state executive, who have 

been bought over by some external forces to 

cause confusion in the party. The state 

executive has met several times and we are 

still meeting over the matter.” 

Impersonators 

On the allegation that a governorship 

aspirant on the party’s platform was behind 

the uproar in the party, Enemokwu asserted: 

“I am the state chairman of APGA; nobody 

has indicated interest as at now among APGA 

members that he or she is gunning 

for governorship. But somebody is 

using a leader inside the party to 

cause this problem. We read in the 

newspaper that they said they met 

in Isoko…to do what? We never 

called any meeting in Isoko and we 

saw fictitious names and signatures, 

impersonators signing documents 

against the state executive that was 

elected and have their names 

with the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, 

INEC.” 

Police gun for 

impostors 

The people who 

signed documents 

are unknown to us 

and INEC. We are 

surprised, hence 

we have sent a 

•Afamefune petition to the 

Police and police 

Enemokwu 

are doing their 

investigations. 

Some people have 

been invited; they 

disappeared till 

now because it is a case of forgery. 

National leadership orders clampdown on 

impersonators 

We have contacted our national body, they 

are fully aware of what is happening, we met 

with national body and they told us exactly 

what to do and that is what we are doing. We 

want to go into this matter and unmask the 

impersonators and possibly suspend or expel 

those who have soiled their hands and want to 

destroy APGA in Delta state. 

Labour Party in the state is facing a similar 

threat like APGA, is this coming from the same 

direction? 

Obviously yes, I discussed with the Labour 

chairman in the state, Chief Ezeagu recently 

and we were comparing notes. We are fully 

aware that the same person that is causing 

problem in Labour is the one causing problem 

Okowa not t shortc 

tchanging oil communities, Chief 

Favour Izoukumor 

umor, , DESOPADEC Commissioner 

By Emma Amaize, 


THE Commissioner representing Ijaw 

ethnic nationality on the Board of Delta 

State Oil Producing Areas Development 

Commission, DESOPADEC, Chief Favour 

Izoukumor, has described as fallacious the 

pervasive contention that Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa was ripping off oil communities in 

the state on mandatory allocation to the 

development agency. 

Chief Izoukumor, who spoke to Saturday 

Vanguard, also cleared the air on the notion 

that the commission was on its last legs since 

Okowa came on board, saying that contrarily, 

DESOPADEC has been repositioned for 

greater efficiency. 

He, however, noted that “depletion in oil 

revenue and production output also slowed 

down the activities of the commission during 

the economic recession.” 

Referring to the fleecing charge, he said: 

“This is absolutely not true; the governor 

usually releases the 50 percent to the 

commission based on his receipt of the 13 per 

cent derivation fund, which was abysmally 

low in the recession regime, which also 

affected the revenue allocation to the 

commission.” 

“However, as oil production and price 

appreciated, more funds were also allocated 

to the commission which eventually resulted 

to the paying of DESOPADEC contractors on 

monthly basis which has drastically reduced 

DESOPADEC debt profile. 

“More so, the current board is doing 

everything possible to fulfill her mandate 

through transparency and accountability, so 

no issue of siphoning of funds associated with 

this current board,” he said. 

Not moribund 

Izoukumor asserted: “For your 

information and the interest of the public, 

DESOPADEC is not moribund nor is it 

•Chief Favour 

Izoukumor 

existing in name only, rather it is much more 

active in fulfilling its interventionist roles to 

the oil producing communities in Delta State. 

Some People may only feel so probably 

because less number of projects are now 

being sited to communities and awarded 

to few contractors compared to what it was 

in the past due to paucity of fund caused by 

the economic recession witnessed in the 

country.” 

“This is premised on the fact that the current 

DESOPADEC board is geared towards keying 

into the Governor Okowa’s Smart agenda by 

ensuring that all ongoing projects inherited by 

the current board should be completed rather 

than awarding new projects that might likely 

suffer completion as well. 

Why projects were not awarded for 2 years 

“As a result of this, the commission for over 

two years refused to award new projects but 

rather deployed all available resources for the 

completion of ongoing projects in the various 

oil producing communities and this has 

eventually led to the completion and 

commissioning of several projects appeared to 

have been uncompleted in the past,:” he added. 

On the claim that the commission was infested 

with financial malpractices, the commissioner 

said: “To the best of my knowledge, I am not 

aware that in the past, the commission’s financial 

transactions did not follow laid-down financial 

regulations.” 

He, however, stated: “Our amiable governor 

is very much concerned with the activities of 

DESOPADEC with a view to ensuring better 

performance in its interventionist role. Hence, 

immediately when he was sworn-in as governor, 

he proposed a bill to the Delta State House of 

Assembly to restructure the composition of the 

board to promote transparency, accountability 

and prudent financial management in the cause 

of delivering its statutory responsibilities to 

the mandate areas of the commission, which 

the DTHA passed into law that is operational 

till date.” 

Okowa’s interest in DESOPADEC 

“Consequently, before any dime is spent, the 

management team proposes cash budgeting to 

the board for deliberation and scrutiny before 

approval and then the management team will 

still forward it to the governor for further scrutiny 

before final approval. The governor also takes 

it as a point of responsibility to carefully and 

meticulously dissect the appropriation bill of 

the commission before assenting. Also, he takes 

special interest to see that the budgets of the 

commission are implemented accordingly,” he 

said. 

My report card 

Izoukumor, who gave himself a pass 

mark, told Saturday Vanguard: “No doubt, 

more value as been added to the oil producing 

communities in my mandate areas in terms 

of projects execution and completion as well 

as youths and women empowerment. For 

instance, apart from budgetary projects, 

projects such as renovation of primary schools 

at Kokodiagbene, Lagos Junction and Ijansa 

primary schools, donation of two 300 KVA 

in APGA. He is the sole financier of his 

purported crisis. 

Vice chairman, secretary corroborate 

Enemokwu 

Vice Chairman, APGA, Rev Nwachukwu and 

Secretary, Comrade Okproma, who also 

spoke to Saturday Vanguard on the issue, 

substantiated the claim of the chairman that 

the there was no crisis in the party, pointing 

out that some persons were being used to 

destabilize the party by outside forces. 

Party fights back 

Few days after the Isoko breach, the State 

Working Committee at an emergency meeting 

in Asaba, March 30, suspended seven 

leaders and members of the party, including 

the deputy state chairman, Emmanuel 

Ibordor and four party chairmen in Bomadi, 

Patani, Isoko South and Okpe local 

government areas of the state for anti-party 

activities. 

The party inaugurated a seven-man 

disciplinary committee headed by Comrade 

Okproma to investigate their actions of the 

suspended members and report back within 

two weeks. 

In a communiqué jointly signed by Hon 

Enemokwu and others, the party said: 

“Recalcitrant executive members who 

willfully and willingly continue in anti-party 

activities are hereby suspended.” 

“A Disciplinary Committee made up of 

seven-members is hereby set up to invite them, 

hear them and make appropriate 

recommendations to this House within two 

weeks,” it said. 

It added: “The purported suspension of our 

state chairman, Hon Afam Enemokwu on the 

pages of newspapers never took place because 

we, the members of the SWC, which is the 

highest ruling body of the party in the state, 

are not aware of the purported suspension.” 

Meanwhile, Oshimili North local 

government chairman of the party, Bishop Uba 

and six other SWC members have dissociated 

themselves from an allegedly contrived letter 

by the suspended officials given the state 

chairman a 21-day ultimatum to summon an 

emergency meeting. 

transformers to Ogbe-Ijoh town, construction 

of concrete walkway linking Ogbudugbudu 

and Ogbinbiri communities, construction of 

concrete walkway at Ogonoama Zion, 

Polobubor in Warri South West and Warri 

North Local Government Areas respectively 

were embarked upon and completed as part 

of community relations fund to my mandate 

area.” 

He added: “Also, three major projects such 

as sand-filling/reclamation at Ijansa, five 

units of four bedroom bungalows at 

Okerenkoko and construction of concrete 

footbridge and construction of concrete 

walkway at Tsekelewu were embarked upon 

and completed under the centralized 

budget of DESOPADEC, which have never 

been the case in time past. All these are 

not part of the various projects sited and 

awarded recently to Ijaw oil and gas 

producing communities and contractors 

that cut across Burutu, Patani, Bomadi, Warri 

South West and Warri North local 

government areas. 

The projects, according to him, include 

supply of speed boats to Ijaw communities, 

supply of medical equipment to Forcados 

and Torugbene towns , supply of school desk 

to Ijaw communities, construction of hostel 

at Kokodiagbene(ongoing), construction 

of hostel at Isaba Grammer School 

(ongoing),construction of Ajuju concrete 

jetty(completed), construction of Eniebogbene 

jetty (phase 1)completed, construction of 

Naifor jetty (phase 1)completed, construction 

of Ogbe-Ijoh slipway (ongoing), 

construction of shore-wall at salvation city 

(completed), construction of twins two 

bedrooms bungalow at Eweregbene 

(ongoing), construction of solar water at 

Buloama community (completed), Diebiri- 

Batan electrification(phase 1) completed, 

Renovation of Igade primary school, Batan 

(ongoing) and renovation of Ekpebide 

primary, Ogulagha (ongoing). 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Personality of The Year: The burden of making nominations 

IT happened again between 

October and December last 

year. With no no-go areas, you 

would expect the arguments 

and debates by members of 

Vanguard Board of Editors to be 

very straight forward. But, as in 

everything about life, nothing 

is ever straight forward. 

In fact, the ghost of the events 

of October 2016, which cast a 

pall of indecisiveness on the 

sessions to choose Vanguard’s 

PROLOGUE 

By Jide Ajani 


Personality of the Year for that 

period, refused to be exorcised. 

Worse, in the light of a 

manifest drop in the value, content 

and context of 

leadership construct in Nigeria, 

the ghost loomed large, 

thereby, once again, bringing 

forth the relevance of the premonition 

of 1927 by Time editors, 

“whether sufficiently prominent 

people could be found in 

subsequent years to warrant 

the designation, MAN OF THE 

YEAR”. 

Therefore, the task to locate 

that ‘sufficiently prominent individual’ 

who touched the lives 

of Nigerians, whether for good 

or for ill, in ways that were so 

profound as to be voted PER- 

SONALITY OF THE YEAR, confronted 

the editors once again. 

Interestingly, this had become 

an annual ritual and, therefore, 

would have been expected 

to be more like a walk in the 

park. Perish the thought, as 

Dan 

Agbese 

of Newswatch had written. 

The sessions of the debate to 

choose the primus, the PER- 

SONALITY OF THE YEAR, is 

always enervating and comes 

with tantalising nominations, 

just as it also tolerates some 

names of personalities that cannot, 

by any stretch of the imagination, 

be considered awe-inspiring. 

The editors have always 

been guided by a set of 

values that signposts predictors 

that engender success. 

And talking about predictors 

that correlate strongly with competence 

at the top, Harvard 

Business Review (November/ 

Continues on page 20 

Aisha Buhari, President’s wife with 

commitment to lift people out of poverty 

By Ochereome Nnanna 

Chairman, Editorial Board 

LURKING in the shadow of 

every Nigerian leader 

(President or Head of State) has 

been a wife who was officially 

addressed as First Lady or Wife 

of the President (or Head of 

State). Before the coming of 

Military President Ibrahim 

Babangida, these ladies were 

mostly in the background, 

manning the “home front” and 

occasionally accompanying 

their husbands on official visits 

to important events at home 

and abroad. 

It was during Babangida’s 

regime (1985 to 1993) that our 

First Ladies assumed more 

visible, quasi-official roles. They 

became more dominant within 

the ruling circles. They started 

wielding enormous influences, 

not only through the 

gravitational pull they exerted 

on their husbands but also 

through the “pet projects” they 

initiated and prosecuted, mostly 

with public funds which were 

not accounted for. 

With our return to democracy 

in 1999, these women also 

became integrated into their 

husbands’ political structures 

and unabashedly engaged in 

the electioneering campaigns. 

Hajiya Turai Yar’ Adua and 

Dame Patience Jonathan, for 

instance, wielded very strong 

influences in their husbands’ 

governments. In fact, Turai 

even was reported to have 

coordinated the “cabal” of her 

husband’s government when 

President Umaru Yar’ Adua 

became too sick to rule Nigeria, 

to the point of allegedly 

sidelining the then Vice 

President, Dr. Goodluck 

Jonathan, until her husband 

died. 

Hajiya Aisha Buhari, whose 

husband prefers the title of 

“Wife of the President” for her, 

had initially preferred to hold 

the home front while her 

husband as the presidential 

candidate of the APC worked 

the campaign trail and the 

soapbox with the rest of the 

political gang. It was not until 

January 13, 2015 that she 

joined her husband’s campaign 

during the Abeokuta rally after 

Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, one of 

the frontline leaders of the All 

Progressives Congress (APC), 

persuaded her to join the fray. 

Since she made that decision to 

come out, she has brought 

something fresh, unique and 

people-friendly to an office 

whose former occupants were 

contented with manipulating 

the elite, government 

machinery and political class for 

personal aggrandisement. 

Progressive 

ideals 

She has strongly established 

herself as the number one 

advocate for the people, 

pricking the conscience of the 

APC Federal Government and 

fighting almost a lone battle to 

ensure that the Party delivers its 

campaign promises to the 

people. 

Shortly after assuming power, 

some officials of the Party and 

the Buhari government had 

started distancing the President 

from some of the APC’s 

campaign promises. Indeed, 

some APC senators in 

November 2015, had disowned 

the N5,000 the Party promised 

to pay 25 million poor 

Nigerians, but Aisha Buhari 

would have none of that. 

She directed her media office 

to issue a public statement 

calling on the APC not to 

renege on its promises to the 

people, especially the 

payments to the most 

vulnerable. Eventually, the 

Federal Government put Mrs. 

Maryam Uwais, one of Buhari’s 

Special Advisers, in the charge 

of the Social Intervention Fund 

and voted N500 billion in the 

2016 budget for the programme, 

though the exact level of its 

coverage and implementation 

•Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari 

remains something of a 

mystery. 

Aisha Buhari has stood firm 

as a purist of the APC’s touted 

progressive ideals. She is a 

strong advocate of the anti-graft 

war of the Buhari government. 

It is no longer news that Aisha 

has been locked in several 

battles with the inner core of 

the Buhari government, which 

is made up of very close, highlyplaced 

members of the Buhari 

family, friends and old 

associates. Widely referred to as 

“the cabal”, elements of this 

Continues on page 20


Aisha Buhari, President’s wife 

with commitment to lift people out of poverty 


group have openly sabotaged Buhari’s 

anti-graft war while some of them have 

corrupted efforts being made to care for the 

displaced persons of the Boko Haram 

insurgency. 

Perhaps the greatest evidence that Aisha 

Buhari is a fearless fighter always on the 

side of the Nigerian people was the 

bombshell revelation by her in an interview 

she granted the BBC on October 14, 2016. 

She said her husband’s government had 

been hijacked by “the cabal” of people who 

did not play any role in the processes that 

brought him and the APC to power. 

Husband’s health 

challenges 

She was worried that those who worked 

for the party to win in 2015, including those 

who knew what the party promised 

Nigerians, had been sidelined by the 

“cabal” which had not only taken control 

of managing her husband’s health 

challenges but also taken over the reins of 

power in his absence. A visibly angry Aisha 

told the BBC: “He is yet to tell me, but I 

have decided as his wife, that if things 

continue like this up to 2019, I will not go 

out and campaign again and ask any 

woman to vote like I did before. 

"I will never do it again…I may not back 

him at the next election unless he shakes 

up his government…the President does not 

know 45 out of 50, for example of the people 

he appointed, and I don’t know them 

despite being his wife for 27 years”. 

Of course, her husband has not 

conducted any shake-up of his 

government. In fact he heavily footdragged 

before bowing to massive public 

pressure to sack former Secretary to the 

Government of the Federation, David 

Babachir Lawal, who was seen as a prominent 

member of the Buhari cabal. The President 

reacted to his wife’s BCC interview with a 

remarkable sound bite that immediately went 

viral in the social media: 

“I don’t know which party my wife belongs 

to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my 

living room and the other room.” 

The “shootouts” between the President’s 

wife and the “cabal” has mostly been carried 

out in the public arena. Saharareporters once 

quoted some elements of the “cabal”, in an 

alleged leaked phone call, as referring to 

the President’s wife as “the suicide bomber 

from Yola” (she originally hails from Yola in 

Adamawa State). Aisha returned the 

“compliment” by making reference to 

“jackals and hyenas”. 

While announcing the imminent return of 

her husband from his protracted medical 

vacation she airily tweeted on July 7, 2017: 

“Now the hyenas and the jackals are 

scheming and talking to each other in 

whispers; still doubting whether the Lion 

King will be back or not. Now the Lion king 

is asleep and no other dare to confirm if he 

will wake up or not. 

Professional 

beautician 

It’s the wish of the hyenas that the Lion 

King never wakes or come back so that they 

can be kings. It’s the prayers of the weaker 

animals that the Lion King comes back to 

save the kingdom from the hyenas, the 

wolves, and other predators.” 

Hajiya Aisha Buhari is seen as a woman 

who would not condone evil or keep quiet 

when the wrong things are being done by 

people in her husband’s ruling circles, no 

matter who it involves. It has never happened 

before, at least here in Nigeria. In more ways 

than one, the wife of the President is 

something of a surprise package. As a 

professional beautician, she is highly 

fashionable. 

She expertly blends the Islamic and 

Western motifs in her approach to dressing 

up. And she is not shy to put on very 

expensive attires, such as the raiment and 

wristwatch she wore to her husband’s 

inauguration on May 29, 2015 which caused 

some stampede in the social media. 

Another eye-popping surprise came when 

she donated N135 million to internallydisplaced 

persons in Yola camps on February 

12, 2015 as the wife of the presidential 

candidate of the APC, General Muhammadu 

Buhari. 

Yet, Buhari had on October 12, 2014, 

disclosed that he took a bank loan to pay for 

the N27.5 million APC presidential form. It 

left quite a few Nigerians baffled as to the 

real status of the Buhari family whose 

patriarch was famously reputed to dwell 

solely on his pension as a retired general 

and former head of state before he got elected 

as President. 

Born on February 17, 1971, Aisha, whose 

grandfather, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, 

was Nigeria’s first indigenous Minister of 

Defence, got married to Buhari on December 

2,1989 at the age of 18. She completed her 

education in her husband’s house and now 

holds a Master’s degree in International 

Affairs and Strategic Studies, with a couple 

of post-graduate diplomas in cosmetology. 

Nigerians have in Aisha Buhari a fearless 

fighter for the common good; a woman who 

speaks the truth to power even if it means 

goring her own ox, provided the right things 

are done. Vanguard Editors had very little 

problem in overwhelmingly giving her 

nomination their majority votes as the 

Newspaper’s PERSONALITY OF THE 

YEAR, 2017. 

Personality of The Year: The burden of making nominations 


December, 2017), gives us five items: motivations, 

curiosity, insight, engagement and 

determination. These, while not captured 

in the same manner, represent the fulcrum 

of what Vanguard editors look out for when 

debating and making arguments for or 

against nominees. 

What motivates an individual to do good 

and great things? What’s the level of curiosity 

and insight available to ensure a 

determined engagement? In the polity, 

business, religion and sciences, many 

things happen and steal the limelight. 

However, a deeper interrogation of the 

thinking behind and the forces propelling 

such actions sometimes reveal motives that 

are at once plebeian and devoid of altruistic 

intentions. 

Therefore, how do you begin to nominate 

individuals with a profundity of immense 

relevance to the objective of meeting the 

set criteria for PERSONALITY OF THE 

YEAR? Even when you nominate 

such personalities, how do you get the buyin 

of colleagues around the table, some, 

with their interests. Indeed, the interest of 

some editors was just to shoot down nominees 

made by others. Such is the nature of 

mere mortal man. For a few others, a 

tunnel vision was all that motivated their 

support for or antagonism against a 

nominee. Yet, for some, the mere mention 

of some names evoked a nostalgic feeling. 

However, because there was a job to be done 

- and done well - names were put forward, 

names were dropped, names were added; 

more names were again dropped and a few 

other names were re-added. These 

exercises, which commenced on Monday, 

October 30, 2017, did not conclude until 

Monday, December 11, 2017 - all of six 

weeks. Such is the rigour that goes into the 

debate. 

For one, members of the Vanguard Board 

of Editors are always conscious of the need 

to elect nominees and vote accordingly with 

some things in mind: Would the eventual 

winners pass the integrity test? Would 

members of the public, while not in total 

agreement, be substantially convinced about 

the choice made? 

Can any member of the Board go into the 

open and be able to convince fellow 

countrymen about the personality(ies) that 

have been so chosen to be honoured? 

Does the name of any of the winners come 

with the dangerous effluvium of public opprobrium? 

Once these issues are settled, 

then the voting. 

And so, after over six weeks, First Lady, 

Aisha Buhari, was voted as 

Vanguard’s PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR 

for 2017. 

In making the argument, members were 

conscious of the novelty of the choice for 

2017. But the facts in support of her eventual 

and ultimate choice swayed the majority. 

No matter. With the choice of winners, the 

ghost was driven out of the conference room. 

But because the motivation to again be 

rigourous in nominating, debating and 

voting for the prospective winner of the 2018 

PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR, there is every 

possibility that the ghost would again cast 

its apparition on the wall of the conference 

room - and the editors would do whatever it 

takes to drive it out, but never able to 

exorcise it. 

Below is a list of the categories and winners: 

Personality of the Year 

•Wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari 

Governors of the Year 

•Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia 

•Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa 

•Darius Ishaku, Taraba 

•Mohammed Abubakar, Bauchi 

•Umar Ganduje, Kano 

Lifetime Achievers 

•General Abdulsalami Abubakar 

•Professor Grace Alele-Williams 

•Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas 

•Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe 

•Chief Sunny Ade 

•Chief Ade Ojo 

•Oba Otudeko 

Businessman of the year 

•Muhammadu Indimi 

Banker of the Year 

•Emeka Emuwa, Union Bank MD/CEO 

On the following pages are facts and 

strong points which swayed the decision of 

the editors in favour of these winners.

•General Abdulsalami Abubakar...stabilising figure 

Abdulsalami: General 

who douses tensions 

By Dapo Akinrefon 

THERE is no gainsaying the fact that 

the name of General Abdulsalami 

Abubakar (retd) will not be forgotten, in a 

hurry, when Nigeria’s history is written. 

What comes to mind when Abubakar’s name 

is mentioned is his ability to calm frayed 

nerves when it was thought the nation may 

not return to democratic rule. 

The demise of former military Head of 

State, late Sani Abacha afforded Abubakar 

the opportunity to write his name in gold. 

He became a stabilising figure when the 

nation’s socio-political atmosphere was 

gloomy. 

Indeed, when his colleagues chose him 

to pilot the affairs of the state, it was call to 

duty at a time of national distress. 

Also, upon Abacha’s death, many had 

thought he would perpetuate himself in 

office as is customary with the military 

junta. 

Stabilising 

figure 

But he let doomsayers down because a 

few days after assuming office, Abubakar 

promised to conduct elections within a year 

and transfer power to an elected president. 

As a means of actualising this feat, the 

former general established the 

Independent National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, and thereafter 

appointed former Supre me Court Justice 

Ephraim Akpata as chairman. 

Sensing the herculean task before it, the 

Akpata-led INEC held series of elections 

first for Local Government Areas in 

December 1998. Thereafter, it conducted 

State Assemblies and Governors, National 

Assemblies and finally Presidential 

elections on February 27, 1999. At the end 

of the day, Abubakar kept his word and 

transferred power to Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo, who was elected president on 

May 29, 1999. 

Having left power in 1999, he has played 

prominent 

roles at the 

U n i t e d 

Nations and 

the African 

Union as he 

was a wellsought 

trouble 

shooter. 

Instructively, 

Abubakar 

helped in the 

Liberian 

p e a c e 

movement as 

he presided 

over the 2003 

peace talks 

between 

Charles 

Taylor and the 

opposing 

rebels. His 

role in the 

2 0 1 5 

Presidential 

elections will 

When 

his 

colleagues 

chose him 

to pilot 

the affairs 

of the 

state, it 

was call 

to duty at 

a time of 

national 

distress 

not be 

forgotten in a 

hurry. 

As chairman of the Peace Accord 

Committee, his choice was, however, 

primarily fitting. He, alongside other 

committee members, helped douse tension 

that almost saw the country on the brink of 

war. The former military head of state, who 


will be honoured with the 

Vanguard Lifetime 

Achievement Award was 

born on June 13, 1942, to 

Abubakar Jibrin and 

Fatikande Mohammed in 

Minna, Niger State. 

Between 1950 and 1956, 

he attended Minna Native 

Authority Primary school 

and from 1957-1962, he had 

his secondary school 

education at Government 

College, Bida, Niger State. 

From January to October 

1963, he studied at Kaduna 

Technical College. Having 

left the college, he felt the 

urge to join the armed forces 

and in doing this, he joined 

the Airforce. 

It is apt to state here that 

not many people are aware 

that Abubakar is a member 

of the pioneering sets of 

officer cadets, who enlisted 

in the Nigerian Air force on 

October 3, 1963. He was, 

however, flown to Uetersen 

in Germany with a team of 

officer cadets, for Basic and 

Advanced Military Training 

between 1964 and 1966. 

Upon his return to Nigeria 

in 1966, he was seconded to 

the Nigeria Army where he 

steadily rose through the 

ranks. After joining the army 

in 1966 as an officer cadet, 

the young Abubakar 

attended the emergency 

combatant short service 

course two. In October 1967, 

Abubakar was commissioned 

second lieutenant, infantry 

division of the Nigerian 

Army. 

From 1967-1968, Abubakar 

was general staff officer two, 

Second Garrison, and 

Commanding Officer, 92 

Infantry Battalion from 1969- 

1974. Between 1974 and 1975, he was made 

brigade major, 7th Infantry Brigade. In 

1975 he served as commanding officer, 84 

Infantry Battalion. In 1978-1979, Abubakar 

was commanding officer of the 145 Infantry 

Battalion (NIBATT II), United Nations 

Interim Force, Lebanon. 

In 1979, he was made assistant adjutant 

general 3rd Infantry Division, Nigeria. 

From 1980-1982, Abubakar was a chief 

instructor at the Nigerian Defence 

Academy. He was, however, appointed as 

the colonel of administration and 

quartering, 1st Mechanised Division in 

1982, a position he held up until 1984. 

Military 

secretary 

From 1985-1986, the former army general 

was in charge of the 3rd Mechanised 

Brigade. Having served as commander of 

the Brigade, he was appointed the military 

secretary of the army from 1986 to 1988. 

Also, between 1990 and 1991, he was made 

General Officer Commanding, GOC, 1st 

Mechanised Division. Again, from 1991- 

1993, he was the Principal Staff Officer at 

the army Chief of Plan and Policy, Defence 

Headquarters. 

When the late Sani Abacha took over the 

reins of power in 1993, Abubakar was 

appointed as the Chief of Defence Staff, 

Defence Headquarters a position he held 

till June 8, 1998. Upon Abacha’s death, he 

took power as the country’s military head 

of state and commander-in-chief of the 

Armed Forces on June 9, 1998. Having 

handed over to a democratically elected 

president, the four-star general retired from 

the army and remains a quintessential 

general.


Ukiwe: A courageous nation builder 

By Charles Kumolu 

WRITING in one of his 

numerous works, the 

late American author, E.E 

Cummings said: “It takes 

courage to grow up and 

become who you really are.” 

This quote finds full 

expression in the story of 

Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe, 

(retd.) 

His life is a journey that 

commenced in 1940 with 

royalty and has so far been 

powered by courage. With 

educational qualifications 

from Presbyterian School, 

Abriba; Duke Town School, 

Calabar and Emida College, 

the son of the then 

traditional ruler of Abriba, 

the late Chief Ebitu Ukiwe, 

armed himself for the future 

of his dreams. 

To create the future he 

desired, Ukiwe got enlisted 

in the Nigerian Navy in 1960 

and was commissioned in 

1964 after his training at 

Royal Naval College, 

England. 

He was also at Britannia 

Royal Navy College where 

he aquired certificates in 

Ocean Navigation Watch 

Keeping. 

Ukiwe’s career, was, 

however, punctuated three 

years after by the Nigerian 

Civil War, which saw him 

retreating to the defunct 

region to fight for Biafra. Despite playing 

an active role on the frontlines in the war, 

Ukiwe would later describe that phase 

thus: “We had to fight each other, 

especially in a war that people have now 

realised was unnecessary.” 

Proverbial 

golden fish 

Unlike some who didn’t return to their 

pre-war professions, his belief in the 

Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, and 

Reabsorption, RRR, policy of the Gowon 

administration influenced his return to the 

Navy. 

His reabsorption came with personal 

losses as he was denied promotions, but 

Ukiwe exhibited strength in the face of 

pains. It was a phase that saw his juniors 

wearing superior ranks. 

Ukiwe, who was a member of the 

Supreme Military Council, SMC, in the 

Obasanjo regime, soldiered on with 

exemplary displays of professionalism. 

For instance, he held command positions 

as a Captain, when those postings were 

meant for Rear Admirals. 

His reputation as an officer with 

distinguishing professional skills, saw 

him being appointed the military governor 

of Niger and Lagos states in 1977 and 

1978 respectively. 

Ukiwe, who later headed the Western 

Naval Command, was appointed the 

pioneer Director of Naval Faculty, Jaji. 

Like the proverbial golden fish with no 

hiding place, his sterling qualities earned 

him the position of Chief of General Staff 

(Vice President under the military) in the 

regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd). 

However, he only lasted for a year and 

two months as the number two man in that 

administration given his unceremonious 

exit from government. 

The same display of bravery that is 

•Commodore Ebitu Ukiwe (retd)...still striving for a better Nigeria 

known as his trademark was responsible 

for what was regarded as his premature 

retirement at a time his services mattered 

most. 

He would later describe the incident 

Even as he 

inches 

towards the 

octogenarian 

club, he is 

still relentless 

in his desire 

for a better 

Nigeria 

where there 

are peace and 

progress 

thus: "It is nothing personal with 

Babangida. We had our disagreements, 

and these were expected since he was not 

working with a buffoon. It would be 

impossible for people to agree on 

everything. 

“There were major policy disagreements. 

One of them was over the OIC - the 

Organisation of Islamic Countries. I 

thought it was wrong as the number two 

man in the administration for me not to be 

told about such a major decision. 

"I still maintain that Nigeria, as a country, 

should not be a member of a religious 

organisation. Individual organisations can 

take up the membership of religious 

organisations, but not the country.” 

In retirement, he continued his 

contributions to nation-building as he 

played critical roles during the struggle for 

the actualization of June 12 election. In fact, 

he was reported to have been the one that 

convinced the late Chief MKO Abiola to 

return and fight for his mandate in 1993. 

Nationalistic 

interventions 

The National Democratic Coalition, 

NADECO, which was the vehicle used by 

democratic forces to campaign for an end 

to military rule, metamorphosed from the 

Council for Unity and Understanding, 

CUU, which he founded alongside other 

like minds. He aspired to the presidency 

in 2007 on the platform of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP. 

Apart from his nationalistic interventions, 

Ukiwe, who holds the traditional title of 

Ochiagha excelled in business as the 

chairman of companies such as Bitu 

Properties, Kobimat, Bitu Promar and 

Rudocons. He was adviser and consultant 

to an offshore company, Statoil for nearly a 

decade. 

Even as he inches towards the 

octogenarian club, he is still relentless in 

his desire for a better Nigeria where there 

are peace and progress.


•Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko...highly successful investor and entrepreneur 

Oba Otudeko: Corporate titan 

with philanthropic touch 

By Babajide Komolafe 

HE started as a clerk in the defunct 

Cooperative Bank. With hard work, he 

progressed to become an accountant and a 

banker, rising to the position of General 

Manager and later acting Managing Director 

of the bank. Today, he is an accomplished 

entrepreneur and investor who uplifts 

humanity with his philanthropic touch. He is 

Dr. Ayoola Obafoluke Otudeko, the widely 

celebrated Chairman of Honeywell Group of 

Companies. 

Born August 18, 1943, Dr. Otudeko is an 

astute and highly successful investor and 

entrepreneur. He is renowned for being in the 

Forbe’s list of Africa’s 50 richest people, 

ranking at 33 with a net worth of $575 million 

as of November 2013. He is married to Mrs. 

Adebisi Aderonke Otudeko. They have three 

children, a boy and two girls: Foluke, Moyo 

and Obafemi. 

Education and 

professional qualification 

Oba Otudeko studied Accountancy at the 

Leeds College of Commerce, Yorkshire, United 

Kingdom. He is a chartered banker, chartered 

accountant and chartered corporate secretary. 

He has also attended executive management 

training programmes at International Institute 

for Management Development (IMD), 

Lausanne, Switzerland; Harvard Business 

School, Boston, U.S.A; and then Arthur D. 

Little School of Management, U.S.A 

Entrepreneurship prowess: To give life to 

the entrepreneurship gene yearning for 

expression in his blood, Oba Otudeko in 1972, 

established the Honeywell Group. His aim was 

to use the company to sweeten human life, 

hence the name Honeywell. The company had 

a humble beginning and operated as a trading 

concern, importing and marketing 

commodities such as baking yeast, stock fish, 

glass and steel rods, among others. 

The Group has evolved into a diversified 

enterprise with businesses in foods and agroallied; 

real estate, infrastructure, energy and 

services. Through additional portfolio 

investments, it is also a significant provider of 

capital to other sectors of Nigeria’s economy 

including financial services, 

telecommunications and security management. 

The Honeywell Group today operates ten 

companies namely Honeywell Flours Plc, 

HOGL Energy Limited, Pivot Engineering 

Limited, Uraga Estate, Anchorage Leisures 

Services, and Pavilion Technology Limited. 

Others are Broadview, Hogson, Uraga Power 

Solutions and Honeywell Energy Resources 

International Limited. 

Through these companies, the Honeywell 

Group employs over 5000 Nigerians, and 

contributes to human and social capacity 

development in Nigeria through diverse 

platforms. These include the Honeywell 

Excellence Programme, which provides a 

Otudeko is an 

astute and 

highly 

successful 

investor and 

entrepreneur 

and renowned 

for being in the 

Forbe’s list of 

Africa’s 50 

richest people, 

ranking at 33 

with a net 

worth of $575 

million as of 

November 

2013 

platform for 

y o u n g , 

intelligent 

Nigerian 

graduates of 

tertiary 

institutions to 

hone their 

business 

management 

skills by 

providing them 

with a 

comprehensive 

and robust 

training in 

business 

management 

principles, over 

a-12 month 

period. 

Giving Back 

to Society: In 

his quest to 

give back to the 

society and 

contribute to 

human capacity 

development in 

the country, Dr. 

Otudeko in 

2 0 0 3 

established the Oba Otudeko Foundation. 

Notable contributions of the Foundation include 

institution of a Central Administration Building 

for the Olabisi Onabanjo University; donation 

of an Administrative Block to All Saints’ 

College, Edun Village, Ibadan; donation of 

a Students’ Cafeteria to Bells University of 

Technology, Ota, Ogun State; endowment of 

the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies of the 

Olabisi Onabanjo 

University, Ago-Iwoye, 

Ogun State 

A corporate titan: In 

addition the Honeywell 

Group, Oba Otudeko has 

used his entrepreneurship 

skills to contribute to the 

growth of many corporate 

organisations where he 

has served as chairman 

or director. These include 

First Bank of Nigeria Plc, 

where he recently retired 

after 12 meritorious years 

on the Board of the bank. 

He was, at various times, 

chairman, First Bank of 

Nigeria, FBN Bank (UK) 

Limited; Airtel Nigeria and 

Fan Milk of Nigeria Plc. 

between September 2006 

and August 2009, he was 

the 16th President and 

Chairman of Council of 

the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange. From 1990 to 

1997 Otudeko served on 

the board of Central Bank 

of Nigeria; Guinness 

Nigeria Plc, from 1999 to 

2003; British American 

Tobacco Ltd, from 2001 to 

2004 and Ecobank 

Transnational 

Incorporated, 

headquartered in Lome, 

Togo from 2002 to 2010. 

Oba Otudeko also served as chairman of the 

Nigerian-South African Chamber of Commerce 

(NSACC) and aimed to facilitate investment 

flows into Nigeria. During his tenure as the 

NSACC Chairman, the volume of Nigeria- 

South Africa bilateral trade grew significantly 

from $16.5 million in 1999 to $2.9 billion in 

2010. He was also on the Board of the NEPAD 

Business Group – Nigeria. He was Chairman 

of the Business Support Group (BSG) for 

delivery of the National Integrated 

Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP). 

Bilateral 

trade 

In 2013, he was also appointed the chairman 

of the Digital Africa Conference Exhibition in 

Abuja, Nigeria. 

Recognitions: In recognition of his 

achievements as an entrepreneur and corporate 

leader, Oba Otudeko has received several 

national and international awards. In 2016, he 

emerged winner of the African Chief Executive 

Officer, CEO, of the Year award. The previous 

year, 2015, Otudeko was voted Leadership 

Newspaper Business Person of the Year. Earlier 

in 2009, Otudeko was conferred with 

Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay 

Awards, while Silverbird Television conferred 

on his the Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement 

Award. 

Furthermore, in recognition of his 

contributions to the nation’s economic growth, 

Otudeko was awarded the following national 

honours: Commander of the Federal Republic 

in 2011, Officer of the Order of the Federal 

Republic in 2002 and the Member of the Order 

of the Federal Republic. 

Other awards include Honorary Doctor of 

Science (D.Sc.) from Olabisi Onabanjo 

University, Ago-Iwoye. Honorary Doctor of 

Science in Banking and Finance from Crescent 

University, Abeokuta, Ogun State; Honorary 

Doctor of Science Degree (D.Sc.) from Ajayi 

Crowther University, Oyo Town, Oyo State; 

Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the ThisDay 

Awards in 2009. Ernst & Young Lifetime 

Achievement Award; Leadership Newspaper 

Business Person of the Year 2015; Silverbird 

Extraordinary Lifetime Achievement Award and 

recently, the 2016 Africa CEO Forum’s Africa 

CEO of the Year Award.

24 — Vanguard, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018

Vanguard, SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018—73


•King Sunny Ade... most decorated Nigerian musician ever 

King Sunny Ade: Nigeria's most 

decorated musician 

AS Henry Longfellow once said “Lives 

of great men all remind us, we can make 

our lives sublime, and, departing, leave behind 

us, footprints on the sands of time”. These 

words aptly encapsulate what King Sunny Ade, 

born Sunday Adeniyi, 71 years ago, in Ondo 

State, means to the music world, not only in 

Nigeria but all over the world. 

According to the Wikipaedia, he is described 

as “a Nigerian musician, singer-songwriter, 

multi-instrumentalist, and a pioneer of modern 

world music. He has been classed as one of 

the most influential musicians of all time.” 

‘King' Sunny Ade enjoyed noble status not 

only through birth into the Yoruba royalty of 

southwestern Nigeria but also through 

popular acclaim as the “King of Juju” since 

the late 1970s. In his youth Sunny played 

highlife, a type of urban dance music that was 

popular in the late 19th century and blended 

elements of church music, military brass-band 

music, sea shanties, and various local African 

traditions. In the mid-1960s Sunny abandoned 

highlife for juju, a related musical genre that 

was ruling the Nigerian music space since 

1920s among urban Yoruba working class. He 

assembled his own juju band, the Green Spots, 

which he later renamed the African Beats, 

reflecting the re-Africanization of the genre 

that had been occurring since the early 1950s 

in conjunction with a growing sense of 

nationalism. 

Sunny Ade’s early albums with the African 

Beats include Sound Vibration in 1977 and 

Royal Sound in 1979 and they were hugely 

successful, prompting the press to declare him 

the King of Juju music in 1977. The title has 

since become integral to his professional 

persona. In the early 1980s Sunny signed with 

Island Record and the release of Juju Music, 

1982, propelled him and juju into the 

international limelight. His next album, 

Synchro System in 1983, was equally 

successful and earned him his first Grammy 

award nomination in the ethnic/traditional folk 

recording category, hence making him the first 

Nigerian Grammy award nominee ever. 

After separation from Island Records, Sunny 

formed a partnership with Mesa Records, a 

division of Paradise Group in America, which 

resulted in release of another three albums. 

One of these albums was 1988’s Odu, for which 

he was nominated for the second Grammy 

award and thus making him the first African 

to be nominated twice for a Grammy. 

Sunny has collaborated with major artists 

such as Manu Dibango, Stevie Wonder, 

Onyeka Onwenu, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma and 

most recently, 

Wizkid, among 

others. Sunny 

Adé’s brief 

recordings with 

Island Records 

opened the 

floodgates for 

other world 

music artists like 

Senegalese 

Youssou N’Dour, 

Salif Keita and 

many others. 

In spite of the 

domination of the 

Nigerian music 

space by hip hop 

music and the 

y o u n g e r 

generation of 

singers, King 

Sunny Ade 

continues to be 

relevant and his 

music influence 

In spite of the 

domination of the 

Nigerian music 

space by hip hop 

music and the 

younger 

generation of 

singers, King 

Sunny Ade 

continues to be 

relevant 

has found 

disciples among 

many of them. 

This is most evident during the celebration 

of his 70th birthday in 2016 where there was a 

pantheon of new generation of singers on call 

to honour the music icon. 

In 2008, his contributions to world music was 

recognised; as he was given an award for his 

outstanding contribution to world music at the 

drama side he asked me to go to 

the drama group in order to see to the music 

side of it. 

"So, I was in charge of music for his drama 

sector. Along the line I started playing Konga, 

Shekere and other instruments. After a while 

he transferred me back to the band. It was 

through Baba Sala and his friend, Chief Tunde 

Amuwo that I became a band leader.” 

He founded the King Sunny Ade Foundation, 

an organization that includes a performing arts 

centre, a state of the art recording studio, and 

housing for young musicians. He is a visiting 

lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile- 

Ife and recipient of the national honour of 

Member of the Order of the Federal Republic. 

When he celebrated his 70 th birthday in 2016 it 

was officially his fifty years on stage as a 

musician. 

Awards and 

recognitions 

International Reggae and World 

Music Awards held at the 

Appollo Theatre in Harlem, New 

York. 

Background: King Sunny Adé 

was born in Osogbo to an Ondo 

royal family. His father was a 

church organist, while his mother 

was a trader from Akure. Sunny 

Ade left a secondary school in 

Ondo under the guise of going 

to the University of Lagos. There, 

in Lagos, his mercurial musical 

career started. 

Sunny Adé’s musical sound has 

evolved from the early days. His 

career began with Moses Olaiya, 

popularly known as Baba Sala 

under Federal Rhythm Dandies, 

a highlife band. He left to form a 

new band, The Green Spots, in 

1967. Over the years, for various 

reasons ranging from changes in 

his music to business concerns, 

Sunny Adé’s band changed its 

name several times, first to African 

Beats and then to Golden 

Mercury. 

King Sunny Ade reminisced 

about how Baba Sala charted the 

course of his musical journey in 

a recent popular interview with 

Vanguard newspaper thus: “Let 

me say that Baba Sala is my boss 

and he will continue to be my boss 

for life. I never planned to be a 

band leader but he gave me the 

opportunity for the talent to 

develop. 

"I was a little boy, playing 

percussion in his band. He was a 

musician, playing guitar, Iya Ilu 

(talking drum) and accordion. At 

that time, we were playing I.K. 

Dairo kind of music and I was the 

youngest. When he formed the 

King Sunny Ade is arguably the most 

decorated Nigerian musician ever. His two 

Grammy award nominations and the King of 

World Music award by International Reggae 

and World Music Award stands him out as first 

among equals. 

In July of 2009 King Sunny Adé was inducted 

into the Afro pop Hall of Fame, at the Brooklyn 

African Festival in the United States where he 

dedicated the award to the late Michael Jackson. 

In the same year was appointed a visiting 

professor of music at the Obafemi Awolowo 

University, Ile-Ife. In November 2016 he became 

a recipient of the AFRIMA award. In December 

2016 he was inducted into Hard Rock Cafe hall 

of fame. 

In December of 2016 as part of activities 

marking his 70th birthday, KSA’s famous guitars 

masterfully painted by award-winning artist, 

Victor Ehikhamenor were auctioned for N52 

million within 15 minutes. In March 2017, he 

was appointed as the “Change Begins With Me” 

campaign ambassador by the Nigerian minister 

of Information Lai Mohammed.

Chief Ade Ojo: Industrialist with 

passion for hardwork 


By Theodore Opara 

FOR more than four decades, Chief 

Michael Ade Ojo has bestrode the 

Nigerian automotive sector like a collosus. 

He began with the sale of various auto 

brands such as Peugeot, Volkswagen, etc, 

before finally settling for Toyota, a product 

he turned to a household name in the 

country. 

Ade Ojo was not born with a golden spoon, 

he worked hard to achieve success. It would 

indeed be difficult to discuss the automotive 

industry, insurance and education in the 

country without a mention of his 

contributions in these areas. 

Though he will be 80 later this year, he 

has not slowed down on his busy schedule. 

He moves from one management and board 

meeting to another without any sign of 

weakness. To his credit are several thriving 

organisations, among which is a new 

generation tertiary educational institution, 

Elizade University, in his country home, 

Ilara Mokin (Ondo State). 

Born on June 14, 1938 to the family of 

Chief Solomon Ojo of the Lamilohun Lisa 

Chieftaincy House and Chief (Mrs) Beatrice 

Ademolawe Ojo at Ilara-Mokin in Ondo 

State, Ade Ojo had his primary education 

at St. Michael’s Anglican School, Ilara- 

Mokin, after which he proceeded to Imade 

College, Owo under the headship of the late 

Pa Adekunle Ajasin in 1954. 

He thereafter undertook an 18-month 

course at the School of Agriculture, Akure 

after which he had a stint as a laboratory 

technician in the Ministry of Agriculture, 

Moore Plantation, Ibadan before proceeding 

to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, 

in September 1961. At the university, he 

studied Business Administration and 

graduated with a Second Class Upper 

Division in June 1965. 

Uncertainty of 

private enterprise 

After his graduation in 1965, Ade Ojo 

worked with CFAO (which had sponsored 

him during his last two years at the 

university) and later moved to the Federal 

Inland Revenue Department. He was at 

British Petroleum Nigeria Limited between 

July 1967 and July 1971 where he 

distinguished himself as the company’s best 

sales representative. 

He also attended various management 

development courses including the Chief 

Executive’s Programme of the Lagos 

Business School (CEP-7) now Pan-Atlantic 

University and the IESE/LBS Seminar on 

Competitive Strategy and Value Creation in 

Barcelona, Spain. 

In fulfilment of his resolve to establish his 

organization within 10 years of graduation, 

he abandoned the certainty of a plum 

colonial job for the uncertainty of private 

enterprise. 

The result was the establishment of Elizade 

Independent Agencies; a family business cofounded 

with his late wife, Chief (Mrs.) 

Elizabeth Wuraola Ojo in 1971. The 

company was later incorporated as Elizade 

Nigeria Limited in 1973 to deal in Toyota 

motor vehicle sales, spare parts and 

service. This business has remained 

success story in Nigeria’s automobile 

industry to date, thus corroborating John 

Scully’s famous statement that “the future 

belongs to those who see possibilities before 

they become obvious”. 

Today, the company which Ade Ojo started 

with just one support staff in 1971 has 

become a conglomerate with several 

subsidiaries 

including Toyota 

Nigeria Limited, 

M i k e a d e 

Investment Co. 

Ltd, Mikeade 

Property Dev. Co. 

Ltd, Classic 

Motors Ltd, 

Elizade Autoland 

Nigeria, Okin 

Travels Ltd, 

Oodua Creations 

Ltd, among 

others. 

His love for the 

e c o n o m i c 

development in 

Nigeria led him to 

his building of a 

vehicle assembly 

plant which was 

completed in 

November 2015 for 

the assembly of 

Toyota and JAC 

vehicles. He has 

invested about 

$50m in the plant 

which is capable of 

assembling 40,000 

units of cars, light 

trucks and mini 

buses per year. His 

group of 

companies 

contributed about N200billion to the 

economy of Nigeria between 2005 to 2015 

in terms of Customs duties, VAT, company 

income tax, education tax excluding the 

personal income taxes of the management 

and staff. Ade Ojo is gradually transforming 

his native town Ilara-Mokin from a village 

to an economically vibrant town through his 

He has 

invested about 

$50m in the 

vehicle 

assembly plant 

which is 

capable of 

assembling 

40,000 units of 

Toyota cars, 

JAC light trucks 

and mini buses 

per year 

various 

community 

development 

projects. 

These include 

t h e 

construction 

of 8.5km Ilara- 

M o k i n 

township 

roads with 

side shoulders 

and drains at 

a cost of N205 

million in 

2005 as well 

as his 

financing of 

the Shield 

M i c r o 

Finance Bank 

Limited. He 

has also 

assisted a 

number of 

indigenes 

through his 

economic and 

financial 

empowerment 

programmes. 

Little wonder 

he was 

awarded the 

prestigious chieftaincy title of “Aare Ataiyese 

of Ilara-Mokin” by his people in 1992 and 

in 2007 was awarded the Asiwaju of Imesi- 

Ile, the home town of his late wife, Chief 

(Mrs) Elizabeth Wuraola Ojo. In January 

2010 he was conferred with yet another 

•Chief Ade Ojo...distinguished entrepreneur 

prestigious chieftaincy title of Baaloro of the 

Source, Ile-Ife by the late Ooni of Ife, Oba 

Okunade Sijuade. 

A disciplinarian and stickler for details, 

Ade Ojo never takes ‘No’ for an answer. 

He insists that every problem has a solution 

and holds tenaciously to his unchanging 

principles of hard work, honesty and 

integrity, which have seen him through 

turbulent times. A patriot and a lover of 

culture, Ade Ojo has continued to 

demonstrate his love for the country at all 

times. 

His passion for the sustenance of Yoruba 

culture motivated him to establish Oodua 

Creations Limited, a garment manufacturing 

outfit which specializes in traditional and 

corporate wears with the use of Nigerian 

Fabrics. This has won international awards 

at various times. 

He is also an ardent lover and supporter 

of education. Apart from donations to 

various educational projects, he set up the 

Ade Ojo Scholarship Scheme in 1991 from 

which more than one hundred and twenty 

students have benefited. 

In realization of the dearth of skilled 

technicians and artisans in the country, he 

and his late wife decided to arrest the 

situation by proposing to establish Elizade 

Polytechnic, which was conceived as a skill 

acquisition centre where technical and 

entrepreneurial skills could be imparted to 

youths from all parts of Nigeria and beyond. 

The need to move with the contemporary 

trend, occasioned by the Federal 

Government’s policy change on polytechnic 

education coupled with the desire to 

provide, at the highest level, quality 

education to the teaming population of 

Nigerian youths, led to the commencement 

of Elizade University in January 2013. 

Elizade University was set up to be a 

student-centred university, with great 

emphasis on best practices in the delivery 

of teaching, research and community 

services. The university had her maiden 

convocation in April 2017.


•Emeka Emuwa... catapulting Union Bank to front-line positions 

Emuwa: Banker with focus on 

customer satisfaction 

By Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor 

THE Managing Director/Chief 

Executive, Union Bank of Nigeria 

Plc, Mr. Emeka Emuwa, has emerged The 

Vanguard Editors’ pick for Banker of the 

Year, 2017, after a painstaking evaluation 

of outstanding performance track records 

of four other bank chiefs. 

The board of editors had considered the 

institutional performance track records and 

peculiar circumstances under which the 

bank chiefs operated while also looking at 

the strategic positioning of the institutions 

into the medium to long term. The board 

also weighed public perception and 

opinion on the brand equity of the 

institutions. 

Absolute figures in the most recent and 

the five year financial statements were not 

of primary consideration as much as the 

relative growth rates and consistency in 

key performance indicators. The banks 

were considered and compared to their 

peers rather than general industry 

benchmarks. 

Union Bank 

5 years to date 

Union Bank had seen uncommon 

repositioning and industry relevance as 

the fortune of the bank began a new turn 

to brighter prospects shortly after 

assumption of office by the new team led 

by Emuwa in 2012. 

As the team concluded its first five years 

last November, not only has the figures 

indicated a quantum leap in market share 

but a strategic foundation for ranking-up 

the industry leadership chart has been laid 

with its recent capital raise, about the most 

impressive in recent years in the Nigerian 

stock market. 

It is believed that many banks would 

soon follow this lead step in 2018. The 

capital raise is expected to catapult the 

bank to front-line positions amongst the 

tier-2 banks. Most importantly, the success 

of the exercise also indicated huge 

confidence in a new Union Bank and an 

endorsement of the bank’s reconstruction 

efforts in the past five years. 

This coupled with the ever increasing 

depositors’ confidence further confirmed in 

its third quarter 2017 financial results, at a 

time many banks, including tier-1 banks, 

were reporting decrease in deposit base. 

Union Bank 

had seen 

uncommon 

repositioning 

and industry 

relevance as the 

fortune of the 

bank began a 

new turn to 

brighter 

prospects 

shortly after 

assumption of 

office by the 

new team led by 

Emuwa in 2012 

The bank 

h a d 

continued to 

record 

steady 

growth in 

k e y 

performance 

indicators in 

the past five 

years, and 

2 0 1 7 

strategic 

positioning 

is expected 

to put the 

figures in 

stellar 

positions 

against 

competition. 

The bank 

is expected 

to announce 

a further 

boost in 

regulatory 

capital 

requirement 

and with an 

increased 

working 

capital it is set to grow in strategic areas 

that correspond to emerging opportunities 

in Nigerian economy. With the capital 

raise, the bank said it would remain 

focused on its strategic priorities and 

expect this new capital to deliver the 

momentum needed to accelerate 

the pace of its business growth. 

The new Union Bank has been 

noted in the public opinion box 

for enhanced technological 

platforms having made some 

strategic investments in 

technology and digitalization in 

the past five years. But the bank 

is not yet done with pushing the 

frontiers in digital banking as, 

according to its capital issue 

prospectus, it still intends to invest 

more in this area in 2018 to ensure 

competitive advantage, in the 

medium to long term. 

Also, many observers in touch 

with Vanguard Editors believe the 

new Union Bank has optimized 

customer experience with 

investments in customer touch 

points. Increased deposits is said 

to be driven by a revamped digital 

platform and a customer-centric 

product suite, as the bank’s area 

of focus remains retail, trade and 

transaction banking. 

The bank’s omni-channel 

network is also said to be 

delivering rapid digital 

penetration. Some industry 

sources say Union Bank now has 

the fastest growing mobile 

banking platform in the industry. 

As the bank continues the 

optimization of its sales and 

service centres around the 

country, it hopes to sustain this 

lead in the new year and beyond. 

Highlights of most recent 

financials: In the nine-months to 

September 2017, Union Bank’s 

gross earnings went up by 16 per 

cent to N109.5 billion against the 

N94.8 billion recorded in the 

corresponding period of 2016, 

fuelled mostly by 22 per cent increase in 

interest income. 

Profit before tax, however, went down 

slightly by two per cent to N13 billion as 

against N13.3billion in 2016. Net Income 

went up seven per cent, while interest 

income went up 22 per cent to N88.5 billion 

from N72.3 billion, driven mostly by 23 per 

cent growth in average gross loans from 

N412billion in 9M’16 to N507billion in 

9M’17. 

Prudent 

provisioning 

Net interest income after impairment also 

went up 16 per cent to N40.9 billion as 

against N35.2 billion recorded in 9M’16. 

There was a huge drop in impairment, 

down 53 per cent to N6.0billion, from 

N12.9billion in 9M’16, and coverage ratio 

has strengthened to 203 per cent as at 

September 30, 2017, from 182 per cent as 

at December 2016. 

Speaking on the bank’s 2017 

performance the Chief Financial Officer, 

Oyinkan Adewale stated: "With our 

continued focus on early problem 

recognition and prudent provisioning, our 

coverage ratio has strengthened to 203 per 

cent as at September 30, 2017, from 182 

per cent as at December 2016. 

"The impact of naira devaluation, coupled 

with the inflationary environment, has 

pressured our cost-to-income ratio, 

especially as we continue to make 

investments in technology critical to our 

long-term business strategy. We are 

confident that these investments will 

deliver the expected cost benefits in the 

medium term. We also expect improved 

capital adequacy and higher revenues, 

fuelled by N50 billion of new capital." 

For these and many other soft issues of 

brand visibility, Vanguard Editors voted for 

Mr. Emeka Emuwa, MD/CEO, Union 

Bank, as the Banker of the Year, 2017.

Dr Indimi: Businessman with 

tenacity and perseverance 


By Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor 

THE Vanguard Businessman of the 

Year is conferred, not just on any rich 

man, but specifically, on one with impact and 

imprint on the industry he/ she operates in, 

as well as creating diversified value in the 

industry value chain and the society at large. 

In 2017, Alhaji (Dr.) Muhammadu Indimi 

(OFR) met the several measures employed 

by Vanguard Editors in selecting one out of 

the so many qualified Nigerians. 

Born into business: Alhaji Muhammadu 

Indimi was born on August 12, 1947 in 

Maiduguri, Borno State, to a trading family. 

His father, Alhaji Mamman Kurundu, was a 

renowned trader in hides and skins in his 

time. Like most children in Northern Nigeria, 

Dr. Indimi was not fortunate to pursue formal 

education - partly because the number of 

schools were limited at the time, with the 

result that majority of children were deprived 

of what is known as Western education. 

Given this situation, parents who were 

unable to place their children in the few 

available Government schools, ended up 

sending their children to attend Quranic 

schools. 

Dr. Indimi’s business acumen and 

achievements are significant proof that he 

has been a very good student of his father 

who had introduced him to commercial 

transactions at a very early age of 10. At the 

young age of 16 years, the young Indimi 

launched his first business venture by 

establishing a bicycle rental outfit. When his 

father saw the early enterprising qualities in 

him, he gave him capital to help him start 

his own business. 

Business interests: Amongst many other 

entrepreneurship landmarks, he is the 

founder and chairman of Oriental Energy 

Resources, Limited, one of the leading 

indigenous oil and gas companies in the 

upstream sector. He is the Chairman of M & 

W Pump Nigeria Ltd, which had partnered 

with MWI Corp of Deerfield, Florida, USA. 

He founded many successful indigenous 

companies and sits on the Boards of Arab 

Contractors O.A.O. Nigeria Ltd; Jaiz Bank 

Plc and International University of Africa, 

Khartoum, Sudan. 

Strategic 

positioning 

The key value for us is Indimi’s model and 

approach to the hydra-headed issues in the 

oil sector, the rare rigour, perseverance and 

strategic positioning employed to get 

Oriental Energy to where it has become a 

force to reckon with in the industry both locally 

and internationally. His is not a flight-bynight 

success story. 

Dr. Indimi has over 24 years experience in 

the Nigerian upstream oil and gas sector. 

Founded in 1990, Indimi’s Oriental Energy 

had to endure the huge challenges of making 

an impact in the industry dominated by big 

multinationals with vast resources and global 

reach. Yet within a reasonable time Oriental 

Energy had expanded its activities with 

assets in offshore Nigeria. These assets 

include the Ebok Field (OML 67), Okwok 

Field (OML 67, and OML 115). 

The privately held Nigerian oil exploration 

and production company had passed through 

the rosy and the rough paths of the industry 

in Nigeria including youth restiveness in the 

Niger Delta region which he had managed 

skillfully to the mutual benefits of the 

company and the community. 

Indeed the company, Oriental Energy, is a 

story of tenacity and perseverance. Starting 

from a modest Block OPL224 offshore Nigeria 

granted it 27 years ago, it converted OPL224 

•Dr. Muhammadu Indimi...empowers local host communities 

into OML 115 and have added both the 

Okwok and Ebok assets to their portfolio. 

Through aggressive exploration and drilling 

programmes, the Ebok Field began production 

in the second quarter of 2011 which initiated 

the largest development programme for an 

indigenous Nigerian oil company to date. 

Thereafter the Okwok Field began production 

in 2015. Oriental has also developed an 

offshore production hub centered on the 

Oriental Energy is 

presently engaging 

other operators in 

Akwa Ibom to 

create a sustained 

funding programme 

of sponsorship for 

UNIUYO's 

Department of 

Chemical and 

Petroleum 

Engineering into 

one of the top 10 

departments of this 

discipline in the 

world 

established 

Ebok Terminal 

which is used 

for the storage 

and offloading 

of crude oil. 

His social 

investments: 

Vanguard 

Editors also 

reckoned with 

the impact of 

Dr. Indimi’s 

wealth on the 

s o c i e t y 

especially the 

immediate 

community 

where the 

wealth is 

created. He 

and his 

company are 

considerable 

contributors to 

t h e 

empowerment 

of local host 

communities. 

Dr. Indimi is a humanitarian and a 

philanthropist and has received numerous 

awards as well as honorary doctorate degrees 

from notable universities in Nigeria, Ireland 

and the United States. 

Dr. Indimi’s philanthropic activities cut across 

education, health and social welfare, housing 

and critical aid provision. Recently, his 

company, Oriental Energy, launched a N700 

million modern residential estate of 100 units 

in Enwang, headquarters of Mbo Local 

Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. The 

estate named, Oriental Village, Mbo; when 

completed will have a solar-powered 

electrification system, a school, clinic and a 

shopping centre. It will be given out free to the 

beneficiaries. The project is funded by Oriental 

Energy and the Muhammadu Indimi 

Foundation as a legacy project for Oriental 

Energy’s host communities. 

Since 2009, Dr. Indimi, through Oriental 

Energy Resources, has awarded over 470 

scholarships in Akwa Ibom State, created a 

sponsorship program for the University of Uyo’s 

Department of Petroleum and Chemical 

Engineering as well as trained and awarded 

start-up funds to over 270 youths from the State 

at seven Skill Acquisition Centres in Uyo, Oron, 

Eket and Enwang in Akwa Ibom State, all of 

whom received starter packs. 

In addition, Dr. Indimi has trained 500 women, 

200 of whom were awarded seed funding to start 

new business. In the University of Uyo between 

2011 and 2013, Dr. Indimi, through his company, 

had invested almost $2 million in the upgrade 

of laboratories and library in the Department of 

Chemical and Petroleum Engineering to secure 

the department full accreditation by the National 

Universities Commission, NUC, and the Council 

for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria, 

COREN. 

Oriental Energy is presently engaging other 

operators in Akwa Ibom State to create a 

sustained funding programme of sponsorship 

for the Department of Chemical and Petroleum 

Engineering into one of the top 10 departments 

of this discipline in the world. In 2010, Indimi 

invested over $5.6 million in social investment 

project programmes to impact over 11,000 

persons. 

His company has constructed three science 

laboratories for Physics, Chemistry and Biology 

for secondary schools in Ebughu, Akwa Ibom 

State. The company equally constructed 14 ensuite 

rooms with teachers’ quarters to encourage 

teachers retention in Effiat host community as 

well as a health centre and doctor’s quarters also 

in Effiat, and empowered over 50 fishermen in 

Mbo with complete fishing gears of five fibre 

boats fishing nets and sundry items. 

In his home state, Borno State, Oriental Energy 

has provided support of food, machines, and 

clothing to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) 

Camp, a 100-unit N600 million housing estate 

as well as a school and clinic.


•Alabo Tonye Graham Douglas...committed to worthy causes 

Tonye Graham-Douglas: Creative leader 

who strives for worthy causes 

PERHAPS, if the Federal Government 

he served four times as minister had 

listened to him and taken his proposals as 

road-map for the development of the Niger- 

Delta region, and indeed, other parts of 

the country, maybe much of the pain the 

nation experienced, and is still 

experiencing could have been avoided. 

That was not to be; the entire nation, 

especially its leaders could not see gold 

elsewhere, except in crude oil. Today, a 

costly clean-up of Ogoniland is in the 

works, and is estimated to cost a whopping 

US$1 billion. 

As far back as year 2000, long before 

militancy became a multi-billion naira 

industry, he had noted in his capacity as 

Culture & Tourism Minister that 

“ecotourism conserves the natural 

environments and sustains the well-being 

of local people,”adding that “the economic 

benefits to be gained from tourism linked 

to natural areas, have long been 

recognized as significant for conservation 

at several levels.” 

Ecotourism and 

natural environments 

Before then, however, Alabo Tonye 

Graham-Douglas had always been 

interested in projects and ideas that could 

engage masses of youths and keep them 

gainfully occupied for the benefit of the 

society. In 1986, after he was appointed 

Commissioner for Youths, Sports and 

Culture in Rivers State, and it was during 

his tenure that a government event centre 

was completed and named after the first 

military governor of the state, Alfred Diette- 

Spiff. 

Diette-Spiff is now a traditional ruler, the 

Amanyannabo of Twon-Brass. On the heels 

of this, our person initiated, nurtured and 

gave life to the first carnival in Rivers State, 

called Carnival ’88, with the theme, Unity 

in Cultural Diversity. 

In 1989 the military government of 

President Ibrahim Babangida appointed 

him Minister of Social Development, 

Youths and Sports. Later, a re-organization 

of the federal apparatus saw the creation 

of a new ministry, the Ministry of Women 

Affairs, and he was moved to the Ministry 

of Aviation where he oversaw the 

deregulation of the aviation industry. 

This Kalabari chief from Abonnema, a 

four-time cabinet minister, was, from 1989- 

1990 the Minister of Social Development, 

Youths and Sports, Minister of Aviation 

from 1990 to 1992, Minister of 

Employment, Labour & Productivity from 

Alabo 

Graham 

Douglas has 

taken more 

interest in 

issues affecting 

the Niger Delta 

region and has 

been very 

instrumental in 

helping 

government 

manage 

agitations in 

the Niger Delta 

Region 

July 1999 to to July 2000, and Minister of 

Culture and Tourism from July 2000 to 

January 2001. Ahead of his ministerial 

appointments from 1999, he aspired to rule 

the country as a presidential aspirantbeen 

chairman of the Southern Minorities 

Movement, one of the disparate entities that 

eventually merged to form the PDP. In the 

party’s primaries, he lost to General 

Olusegun Obasanjo, who went on to 

become president. 

His recognition quotient on the national 

landscape is not in doubt when his 

antecedents are taken into account, 

especially when it is recalled that his 

brother was the nation’s first indigenous 

Attorney-General, the late Dr. Nabo 

Graham-Douglas. 

Alabo Tonye Graham-Douglas, an Ijaw 

man, was born on May 8, 1939 in 

Abonnema, Akuku-Toru Local Government 

Area of Rivers State. He attended schools 

in Lagos and Port Harcourt. He also 

studied at Acton Technical School, London, 

from 1963 to 1965 and later at the 

University of Lagos, graduating in 1969 

with honours degree in Botany and 

Zoology. 

He worked with the Nigerian Petroleum 

Refinery Company, Port Harcourt, and 

later became managing director of 

Togiscani Nigeria, a construction company 

from 1978–1985. He was also CEO of Road 

Haulage Company and Magroad 

Enterprises and was also chairman of the 

Binterteco Nigeria, Pabod Finance and 

Investment and Waterglass Boat Yard. 

As he progressed in age, he took more 

interest in issues affecting the Niger Delta 

region, and his ethnic nationality, Ijaw, 

working in tandem with known and 

revered personalities like Ijaw national 

leader, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, and 

has been very instrumental in helping 

government manage agitations in the 

Niger Delta Region. 

A former secretary to the Government of 

Bayelsa State, Professor Steve Azaiki 

describes Alabo Graham-Douglas thus: 

“Alabo Graham-Douglas remains a 

phenomenon that will continue to define 

himself with his style and commitment to 

worthy causes. He is a stickler for proper 

dressing and conduct both in public and 

private life. He lives by example, which 

makes him an exemplary leader.” 

We cannot agree with him less; this and 

more are what qualifies Alabo Tonye 

Graham-Douglas for the Vanguard 2017 

Lifetime Achievement Award. of the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. He had

Grace Alele-Williams: Mathematician who 

dealt with cultism at UNIBEN 


ACCOMPLISHED as she was, it was 

during a dark period for Nigeria’s 

higher education that Professor Grace Awani 

Alele-Williams was to come into national 

reckoning. The scourge of secret cults, 

confraternities and societies had spread 

within Nigerian universities. Universities in 

the South were particularly affected and the 

University of Benin one of the worst hit. 

It was to this scenario that Professor Grace 

was appointed as vice chancellor in 1985. 

But being appointed the first female vice 

chancellor of a Nigerian or an African 

university was barely the issue for Alele- 

Williams. A task had been set before her at 

which many other men had failed, and it 

was on this that she was focused. It was 

with a combination of courage, ingenuity 

and strategy that the growing tide of cultism 

was eventually stemmed in the university, 

sending ripples of change across institutions 

of higher learning all over the country. 

Born Grace Awani Alele on December 16, 

1932 in Warri, now Delta State, Alele- 

Williams was educated at Queens College, 

Lagos, University College, Ibadan and the 

universities of Vermont and Chicago in the 

United States. She first began to teach at 

Queens’ School, Ede but was to be, in 1963, 

the first Nigerian woman to be awarded a 

doctorate degree anywhere. 

Her interest in mathematics education was 

originally sparked by her stay in the US, 

which coincided with the Sputnik 

phenomenon. Working with the African 

Mathematics Programme in Newton, 

Massachusetts, under the leadership of MIT 

professor, Ted Martins, she participated in 

mathematics workshops held in various 

African cities from 1963 to 1975. 

Mathematics 

workshops 

By Morenike Taire 

She returned to Nigeria from Chicago, for 

postdoctoral work at the University of Ibadan 

before joining the faculty of the University 

of Lagos in 1965, where she worked and 

served in various capacities until 1985. 

As Professor of Mathematics Education at 

the University of Lagos, among her honours 

are those of Fellow of the Mathematical 

Association of 

Nigeria and of 

the Nigerian 

Academy of 

Education; Merit 

Award Winner of 

Bendel State in 

view to 

developing and 

improving 

educational 

Nigeria. She 

remained vicechancellor 

in 

Benin until 1991. 

Beyond the 

University of 

Lagos, Alele- 

Williams served 

on a global level 

in a variety of 

capacities, with a 

standards in 

Africa. Alele- 

Williams was a 

member of 

Alele- 

Williams has 

always 

demonstrated 

concern for 

the access of 

female 

African 

students to 

scientific and 

technological 

subjects 

governing 

council at the United Nations Educational, 

Scientific and Cultural Organization, 

UNESCO; Institute of Education, and a 

consultant to UNESCO and Institute of 

International Education Planning. For a 

decade (1963–73) she was a member of the 

•Prof. Grace Alele-Williams...dealt with the cult crisis at UNIBEN 

African Mathematics Programme, located 

in Newton, Massachusetts, United States. 

She was also vice-president of the World 

Organisation for Early Childhood 

Education and later president of the 

Nigerian chapter. 

She has published a book titled Modern 

Mathematics Handbook for Teachers, and 

has also served as a member of the African 

Mathematical Union Commission on 

Women in Mathematics in Africa, and as 

Vice-President of the Third World 

Organization for Women in Science. After 

serving as the vice-chancellor of the 

University of Benin, she joined the board 

of directors of Chevron-Texaco Nigeria. She 

is also on the board of HIP, an Asset 

Management Company in Lagos, Nigeria. 

Alele-Williams occupies a most unique 

position not only as an academic, intellectual 

and leader of thought; but also as an activist 

in spheres including, but not limited to, 

gender. 

Upon the conclusion of her assignment 

as vice chancellor, Professor Alele-Williams 

told newsmen: “The excitement I felt on 

receiving the news from Professor Jubril 

Aminu (Minister of Education) had more 

to do with seeing it in terms of opening up 

the field for women than anything else. I 

saw it as an opportunity to show that women 

too could rise up to the occasion. Also, I 

knew what the weight of the expectations 

of the women was. They were eager to see 

how things would go and I was not going 

to let them down. Mind you, those who 

appointed me felt I was qualified for it; so it 

was not just a case of wanting to satisfy the 

yearnings of the womenfolk. It wasn’t that 

simplistic.” 

Nevertheless, Professor Grace never hid 

the fact that she had a special interest in 

women’s education. While spending a 

decade directing the Institute of Education, 

she introduced innovative non degree 

programmes, allowing older women 

working as elementary school teachers to 

receive certificates. Alele-Williams has 

always demonstrated concern for the access 

of female African students to scientific and 

technological subjects. 

Yet in a 2004 talk on Gender Dignity at 

Lagos State University, she was quoted as 

saying: “As long as we are celebrating a 

woman vice chancellor because she is the 

first or a woman chief judge because she is 

the first, then we have not arrived. We look 

forward to the time when we will have many 

women in such positions and we will be 

celebrating so many of them.” 

Speaking about Alele-Williams recently at 

her birthday celebration, foremost 

broadcaster, Soni Irabor, recalls that she was 

“a woman that gave Soni Irabor Live (then 

on AIT) one of the greatest boosts in public 

acceptance and credibility. I remember asking 

her how she handled cultists in UNIBEN. 

Her reply was a firm, curt “I dealt with it!” 

That statement resonated for weeks in the 

minds of TV audiences across the country. I 

also remember how patient she was 

throughout the three hour drive to AIT 

Alagbado in Lagos, in the most chaotic traffic 

experience ever encountered”. 

Chaotic traffic 

experience 

On Saturday, November 25, 2017, Alele 

Williams was conferred with an honorary 

doctorate degree at the University of Benin; 

an honour for the service she rendered about 

25 years ago when she put the University of 

Benin on the map as the first university in 

Nigeria to have a female vice chancellor at a 

time when female professors were few and 

far between. 

By serving in various committees and 

boards, Alele-Williams had made useful 

contributions in the development of education 

in Nigeria. She was chairman of the 

curriculum review committee, former Bendel 

State in 1973-1979, and from 1979-1985, she 

served as chairman of the Lagos State 

Curriculum Review Committee and Lagos 

State Examinations Boards. In 1987 she 

received the Order of the Niger, and in 1994 

gave the Distinguished Annual Lecture at 

the National Institute for Policy and Strategic 

Studies, Kuru. 

At every opportunity and even now, Alele- 

Williams lends herself to counseling women 

on navigating the institution of marriage. 

She was herself married with five children 

to late Babatunde Williams, also a professor. 

She is a devoted grandmother.


Ikpeazu: Servant leader on 

transformation mission 

By Clifford Ndujihe, Deputy 

Political Editor 

DR. Okezie Ikpeazu 

mounted the saddle of 

leadership in Abia State on May 

29, 2015, on a promising note amid 

huge expectations. 

He had the onerous task of 

assuaging some aggrieved sections 

of the state, especially Ukwa/Ngwa 

and Aba, the commercial and 

industry nerve centre of the state 

that has been christened God’s 

Own State. 

Since 1925, the people of the old 

Aba Province, populated by the 

Ukwa/Ngwa have always sought 

for political power. It was a 

protracted struggle that took many 

dimensions through time. Apart 

from being marginalised in terms 

of appointments, Aba was also 

neglected in terms of infrastructural 

maintenance. 

Abia political elite, stakeholders 

and leaders found a solution to the 

Ukwa/Ngwa and Aba Question in 

2015 through the Abia Charter of 

Equity spear-headed by the 

immediate past governor, Senator 

Theodore Orji of the Peoples •Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia State governor...elevating Aba to become Nigeria's SME capital 

Democratic Party, PDP. The charter 

zoned the governorship to Abia 

South where Dr. Ikpeazu hails from because narrative. The time is ripe to use the over College of Education Arochukwu; reactivated 

Abia North and Abia Central had taken their 110,000 shoemakers and 50,000 garment Aba glass factory; attracted Federal Government 

turns in 1999-2007 and 2007-2015 respectively. makers as a launching pad to enable Abia to support for MSMEs at Aba; facilitated 

In spite of the charter, the Aba electorate was truly become the undisputed SME capital of thousands of orders from Navy and others for 

so aggrieved and peeved with the PDP that Nigeria." 

Aba made shoes and uniforms valued at over 

they gave Dr. Ikpeazu the least number of votes To actualise these lofty objectives, Ikpeazu N2b; and partnered with Ford Foundation to 

on his way to emergence as governor, which had on May 29, 2015, while assuming power, launch international promotion campaigns for 

is consistent with provisions of the Charter. anchored his developmental agenda on the Made In Aba brands at zero cost the state. 

Thus, on assumption of power, Ikpeazu had five pillars of agriculture, education, Born on October 18, 1964, to the family of late 

the option of continuing the ‘abandonment’ of infrastructure, trade, and commerce as well Pa Ishmael and Deaconess Bessie Ikpeazu of 

Aba and ‘taking care’ of areas that voted for as oil and gas. 

Umuebere in Umuobiakwa village, Isialaukwu 

him. 

Two and a half years after, has he achieved Mbato Autonomous Community in Obingwa 

However, such thinking is light years away this agenda? Is he on the way to achieving it? Local Government Area of Abia State, the 

from his ideology and plans for Abia State. Answers to these questions can be got from renowned biochemist, teacher, and administrator 

His vision/mission is to transform Abia State the numerous projects he has executed in all is the fourth democratically elected governor of 

into a functional 

parts of the state in spite of legal distractions Abia State. 

private sectorled 

economy The time is Since he got to the office, Ikpeazu has only Renowned 

from those he trounced at the poll. 

creating 

had seven months of peace having spent about 

opportunities for ripe to use the 

biochemist 

24 months in court to affirm his mandate. After 

citizens, over 110,000 the Election Tribunal affirmed his election, the 

improving the 

Dr. Ikpeazu attended Amaise Central Primary 

Appeal Court annulled it on August 11, 2016. 

quality of lives shoemakers 

School, Umuobiakwa. In 1973, while in primary 

He appealed and did not have a reprieve until 

and shaping the 

five, he gained admission into Eziama High 

and 50,000 the Supreme Court affirmed his election on 

state into a 

School, Aba and later moved to Ihie High 

May 12, 2017. 

regional garment 

School, Isiala Ngwa, where he took his School 

In spite of the distractions, Dr. Ikpeazu has 

entrepreneurship 

Certificate Examination in 1979. In 1980, at the 

makers as a executed numerous people-oriented projects, 

hub through 

age of 16, he gained admission into the 

a reason he is one of Vanguard’s governors 

g o o d launching pad 

University of Maiduguri, UNIMAID, to study 

of the year. He has so unified the state such 

governance, 

Clinical Biochemistry and graduated with a 

that when the appeal court annulled his, 

appropriate 

to enable Abia 

B.Sc. (Hons.) Second Class Upper Division in 

stakeholders from the three zones of Abia 

developmental 

August 1984. 

to truly become kicked and pledged their support for him. To 

a n d 

From August 1984 to August 1985, Dr. Ikpeazu 

boost infrastructure, he embarked on 

environmentally the undisputed 

served as a clinical biochemist in the medical 

construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation 

sustainable 

laboratory of the Rivers State University of 

SME capital of of over 70 roads of which about 50 have been 

policies. 

Science and Technology, RSUST, Port Harcourt, 

completed, and he commenced construction 

He wants to Nigeria 

for his national youth service. He returned to 

of the first ever Abia interchange (flyover) at 

turn the fortunes 

the University of Maiduguri for an M.Sc degree 

Aba. 

of the state 

in Biochemical Toxicology and graduated in 

Apart from roads, Dr. Ikpeazu, who is the 

around using 

1990, and in 1994, at the age of 30, he obtained 

ambassador and chief promoter of Made-in- 

Aba as the launch pad. In doing that, he must 

a doctorate degree, Ph.D., in Biochemical 

Aba products, recorded achievements in other 

also ensure that no section of Abia is neglected 

Pharmacology from the University of Calabar. 

sectors. They include: construction of 165,000 

so as not to create another crowd of aggrieved 

Dr. Ikpeazu served as a Graduate-Assistant 

capacity poultry processing plant at Umuosu 

citizenry. 

in the Department of Science Laboratory 

and commenced additional two units for Abia 

Ikpeazu said in a recent interview: "Our story 

Technology, University of Maiduguri, from 1986 

North and South; 300 young Abia farmers 

as a people is one of entrepreneurship, 

to 1987 while studying for his M.Sc degree. 

benefited from N2.5m per person grant as part 

resourcefulness, and diligence. This is our 

He also taught at the Calabar Polytechnic from 

of Farmpreneur project of world bank 

pride. We have astounded the world with our 

1990 to 1992 during his Ph.D. programme. In 

(FADAMA); Abia State maintained first 

home-grown technical skills, especially during 

1998, Dr. Ikpeazu joined the services of Enugu 

position in WAEC and NECO examinations 

a period of pervasive adversity, and followed 

State University of Science and Technology, 

for three consecutive years; renovated 32 

it up with our trade and commercial prowess 

ESUT as Lecturer in the Department of Applied 

schools across the three geopolitical zones; 

elevating one of our cities, Aba, into a prominent 

Biochemistry, and rose to Head of Department 

constructed 15 new water boreholes for schools 

commercial hub within the West African region. 

in 2001. 

reduced school fees at ABSU, Abiapoly and 

This historic renown is to become our future


•Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, Kano State Governor ...stands tall in Kano 

Ganduje: Unassuming 

governor with vision 

for youth employment 

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region 

Editor 

HE remains one of the most 

unassuming governors in Nigeria, 

yet very active in the provision of strong, 

dynamic and benevolent leadership to the 

government and people of Kano State. 

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who 

was sworn in as the governor of Kano State 

on May 29, 2015, can rightly be described 

as a right and fitting leader, who had long 

been prepared for the onerous task of 

leading Kano, one of the most challenging 

states in Nigeria given the labyrinth of its 

political, religious and social matrix and a 

large population that requires special and 

delicate attention. 

Highly educated in terms of academic 

attainment and well experienced in public 

service, Ganduje came into governance 

with a humane, unassuming and calm 

disposition to deliver service to his people. 

And, given his background as a two-time 

deputy governor of the state and a man, 

who has held numerous state and national 

appointments before taking up his current 

position, Ganduje is armed with a wealth 

of experience that has given him an edge 

over his first term contemporaries in the 

management of state affairs. 

Tremendous 

achievements 

The resultant effect of his cognate 

experience in public service has made it 

possible for the governor to record 

tremendous achievements within the 

period of 30 months at a time most of his 

contemporaries are trying to learn the ropes 

of governance and set out their priorities. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that within 

the short period, Governor Ganduje has 

made positive impact in virtually all sectors 

of the state as captured in his 12-Point 

Agenda, which he set out on the day he 

was inaugurated as governor. 

Like a proud mother, who has groomed 

and delivered a beautiful bride for the 

groom, Governor Ganduje, is a happy man 

today, having made impact in the areas 

of: Free and compulsory education, reinvigoration 

of the civil service, review of 

Kano Master Plan, housing, regional 

water scheme, agriculture, local 

government, health services and war 

against drug abuse, internally generated 

Governor 

Ganduje 

means well for 

the 

government 

and people of 

Kano and the 

people know it, 

and are 

equally happy 

with him 

revenue, 

security, 

establishment 

of due process 

bureau and 

r e - 

invigoration 

of the public 

complaints 

and anticorruption 

fight. 

Above all 

else, the 

governor has 

touched the 

lives of the 

majority of the 

people by 

deliberately 

creating jobs 

particularly 

for the youths 

and women, 

thereby taking 

many jobless persons off the streets of 

Kano and giving them a steady means of 

livelihood in the process. 

To achieve that feat, the governor has 

already approved the selection of 2000 

youth in the state for training in the federal 

government recognized Peace Corps with 

the anticipation that they will, at a later 

time, be employed and absorbed as full 

time staff by the Ministry of Interior. The 

state government shoulders all expenses 

for their training, feeding, accommodation, 

uniforms and other logistics. 

Similarly, the governor has also entered 

into a partnership for the employment of 

5000 youth to serve as 

agents and sub-agents 

for the marketing of 

MTN and Diamond 

Bank products as another 

initiative towards 

reducing unemployment 

and facilitating selfreliance 

and job creation 

among youth. 

Other job creation 

initiatives being 

undertaken by the 

governor to bail the 

youths out of the 

unemployment market 

include, the training of 

630 youth on various 

vocational skills at the 

Sani Abacha Vocational 

Training Centre, Fagge 

while arrangement is ongoing 

for their 

empowerment and the 

training of over 2445 

young people on various 

apprenticeship 

programme in 

partnership with DFID’s 

MAFITA, (a UK aid 

funded programme that 

runs for six years in the 

North West) which was 

flagged off in Kano in 

March 2016. The figure 

is expected to rise to 10, 

000 by the year 2018. 

Like a man in a hurry 

to transform the state, 

Governor Ganduje, has 

spared no effort in taking 

bold initiatives to add 

value to the facilities he 

met on the ground and 

initiating new ones to 

expand the frontiers of projects and 

services to his people. Understandably, he 

knows where such services are most 

needed and he has not spared any amount 

in putting such in place. 

He has also awarded a major contract for 

the construction of Modern Light Rail 

Transit project along four major routes in 

Kano Metropolis to a Chinese Company. 

Similar feat has also been recorded by the 

governor in the areas of health, agriculture, 

information, water resources and 

development and investments. 

Agent of 

transformation 

It is clear from all of this that Governor 

Ganduje, came to serve and to serve his 

people well. As a result, he is well loved 

by the people, who see him as an agent of 

transformation and good governance 

without ever dabbling into any 

controversial issue either at the local or 

national scene like some other governors, 

who have dissipated most of their energies 

on frivolities than serving the people. 

Governor Ganduje stands tall as a 

colossus among his peers and is quietly 

breaking new grounds where others are yet 

to dare, winning the applause and hearts 

of the electorate in the process. 

Since coming to power about three years 

ago, Governor Ganduje has through actions 

and utterances, proved that he came into 

government to advance the cause of his 

people, add value to their lives and lift the 

state beyond where he met it by adding to 

the quantity and quality of projects and 

services, thereby expanding the frontiers 

of development. 

Like Confucius has said, “If the desire 

of the leader is for good, the people will be 

good”. Governor Ganduje means well for 

the government and people of Kano and 

the people know it, and are equally happy 

with him. That is why we choose him as 

the Vanguard Governor of the Year.


Ishaku: Prudent manager of 

resources in Taraba 

By Soni Daniel, Northern Region 

Editor 

HE came into governance at a time 

the fortunes of the state had 

seriously ebbed and the people embroiled 

in a gruelling conflict threatening to engulf 

everyone and everywhere. But Arc. Darius 

Dickson Ishaku quickly deployed his vast 

wealth of experience as a successful private 

sector player to quell the riotous state of 

affairs in Taraba and set a new tone for 

peace and development in the state. 

He also got cognate experience in public 

sector management when he held sway as 

Minister of Niger Delta Affairs and went 

on to combine Power and Environment 

minister under the administration of 

President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011. 

Perhaps, it could be inferred that this rich 

private and public sector experience is the 

reason for his very productive two and a 

half years in the saddle as Governor of 

Taraba State. 

Despite the fact that Taraba State belongs 

to the group of low income earners among 

states of the federation, it has nonetheless 

emerged under the governorship of Arc. 

Ishaku as one of the fastest developing with 

many projects completed and 

commissioned within a short span of less 

than three years. The secret of this 

outstanding performance is evident in the 

prudent management of resources which 

he brought into office from his private 

sector background. He also came into office 

with a well defined mission which was 

clearly outlined in his famous Green Book. 

The book is a kind of “a-must-do” list of 

activities 

intended to 

rescue Taraba 

State from the 

claws of 

communal 

crises and the 

decay of 

infrastructure. 

Without 

mincing 

w o r d s , 

Governor 

I s h a k u 

inherited a 

state that was 

torn apart by 

crises. At the 

time he took 

over, every 

senatorial 

zone in the 

state had its 

peculiar case 

of communal 

crises. There 

was also 

m u t u a l 

suspicion and 

m a n y 

communities 

that had lived 

The ‘Green 

House' project 

which is today 

the biggest and 

the best in 

Nigeria, is a 

model farm that 

employs about 

500 people and 

produces various 

and special 

varieties of 

vegetables that 

are sold in many 

department 

stores in Lagos, 

Abuja and Port 

Harcourt 

together as 

good and mutually dependent neighbours 

became estranged. As a result, farming 

which is the major engagement of the 

people, became jeopardised. Similarly, the 

educational system collapsed as schools 

were forced to shut down. Consequently, 

all forms of economic activities collapsed. 

The first task the government of Governor 

Ishaku faced was to build bridges across 

these many inter-ethnic, religious and 

communal divides to achieve peace and end 

the frightening state of anarchy. This led to 

his now famous mantra of “Give me peace 

and I will give you development.” He 

physically took the olive branch to all nooks 

•Darius Dickson Ishaku, Taraba State Governor ...leads in agricultural technology transfer 

and corners of the state, met with community 

and traditional leaders and preached peace 

and the need for people to live together and 

be good neighbours. 

The success of this peace mission set the 

stage for the rapid development of the state 

that the Ishaku administration is today being 

credited for. In education, damaged schools 

were quickly rehabilitated and the school 

system revived. This recovery has been so 

rapid and successful that the state has 

recorded outstanding and unprecedented 

performances in the West African 

Examination Council, WAEC, it never did 

in its 26 years of existence. For example, in 

2016, the state scored 67.3 percent in WAEC 

examination. 

Instructional 

materials 

Before then, the state never exceeded 28 

percent in that examination. In 2017, the 

state took the eighth position in the same 

examination. That performance was the best 

in the entire 19 Northern states. To keep 

the record alive, the governor is still 

rebuilding and rehabilitating more and more 

schools. 

Poverty alleviation through skills 

acquisition and empowerment of women 

and youths is a critical part of the Rescue 

Agenda of the Ishaku administration. This 

programme has rescued more than a 

thousand idle young men and women from 

the poverty bracket. They were trained in 

various areas and through the skills 

acquired, they have become not only selfemployed 

but also employers of labour. In 

addition to the skills they acquired through 

government-sponsored training 

programmes, they were also given free 

start-up equipment to enable them set up 

their own business quickly and properly. 

Agriculture is a major emphasis for the 

Ishaku administration. It has promoted very 

vigorously wet and dry season farming for 

various crops, but most especially rice. It 

has supported farmers through agricultural 

loans, high yielding seedlings and fertilizer 

at affordable costs. These very generous 

farmers support programmes have 

encouraged farmers to invest more in 

farming and the results are showing in 

terms of high and qualitative yields. This 

has put a lot of money in the pockets of 

farmers in the state. 

The administration also established its 

signature project in agriculture, the “Green 

House” project which is today the biggest 

and the best in Nigeria. It is a model farm 

that employs about 500 people and produces 

various and special varieties of vegetables 

that are sold in many department stores in 

Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. This has 

reduced dependence of the country on the 

importation of these products. It was 

commissioned earlier in the year by Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo who described it as 

the best effort in agricultural technology 

transfer in the country. 

Water is another major area of achievement 

for the administration of Governor Ishaku. 

His huge investments in the development of 

water supply facilities have ended perennial 

water shortage in Jalingo, the state capital. 

Perennial 

water shortage 

Water dispensing machines have been 

introduced in the state which has made water 

supply not only regular but the cheapest in 

the country. 

The government is at the moment executing 

a huge water project that will serve the needs 

of the state capital for the 30 years no matter 

the rate of its population growth. The rural 

areas have also benefitted tremendously from 

the water supply programmes of the 

administration. In its first year, the 

administration provided 100 boreholes in 100 

communities which have drastically reduced 

water scarcity in these communities. These 

communities had previously relied on streams 

and ponds for water just like their cows and 

other animals. Another set of 150 boreholes 

in 150 communities are currently being 

drilled to further solve water problem. There 

are many other bigger water supply projects 

completed or being executed in all the 

senatorial zones in the state. 

Governor Ishaku’s administration inherited 

26 government companies that were 

moribund. It has successfully rehabilitated 

six of them which are not only functioning 

but making profits. The Highland Tea 

produced in Kakara in the Mambilla area of 

the state is an example.


•Seriake Dickson, Bayelsa State Governor ...liberalises political space 

Dickson: Countryman governor 

who tamed militancy 

By Gbenga Oke 

SERIAKE Dickson came into office as 

Governor of Bayelsa State in 2012 when 

the state was facing tumultous times. The state 

was then bedridden with militancy and 

operated a decadent educational system both 

at the primary and secondary school levels. 

Dickson's first decision was to declare a state 

of emergency on the Education sector. His 

position was that education was critical to 

ending militancy in the state. 

According to the governor, introduction of a 

compulsory and solid educational system in 

the state was bound to eradicate the activities 

of militants. This informed his decision to 

embark on an elaborate programme of 

scholarship awards both at home and abroad 

while also given adequate attention to the 

decadent primary and secondary education 

sector. 

Turmoil-free political 

landscape 

To many of his admirers, Dickson is not an 

everyday politician especially given the 

manner he has handled the state of affairs in 

Bayelsa. For instance, he is the first governor 

to regularly render an account of monies 

accruing to the State from the Federation 

account. He followed this up with an executive 

Bill, which was passed into law by the Bayelsa 

State House of Assembly. 

The law stipulates that the governor of the 

State must always render an account of all 

monies accruing to the State, including the 

Federation account to the people. 

Dickson believes that a turmoil-free political 

landscape could guarantee the speedy growth 

and development of Bayelsa State. As a result, 

he liberalized the political space which made 

it possible for opposition politicians to thrive. 

Even when members of the opposition party 

criticized him, he simply laughed over it. That 

was how he virtually eliminated political 

violence, which was the rule in the state before 

he came to power. 

The height of that political tolerance was seen 

in the build-up to the 2015 general elections 

when he made available to the All Progressives 

Congress (APC) in the state and President 

Muhammadu Buhari, the state-owned Samson 

Siasia Stadium for their campaign at great cost 

to his political career. 

Attesting to 

his political 

sagacity, 

former 

President 

Goodluck 

Jonathan 

said of 

Dickson 

“When I was 

dreaming of 

becoming 

governor, 

Dickson was 

among the 

few in the 

meetings we 

w e r e 

holding. He 

was not in 

the Peoples 

Democratic 

Party (PDP), 

but he 

agreed to 

Dickson 

believes that a 

turmoil-free 

political 

landscape could 

guarantee the 

speedy growth 

and 

development of 

Bayelsa State 

help. He 

didn’t want 

to join the 

PDP, but I 

virtually forced him. When I became governor, 

I appointed Dickson attorney-general and 

commissioner for justice and that was how he 

became a PDP member and later became a 

member of the House of Representatives." 

He went further, “If Bayelsa is compared to 

other states in the country in terms of the level 

of physical infrastructure coupled with the 

degree of indebtedness in terms of bank loans 

and capital market, Governor Dickson deserved 

to be praised. 

“I am not expecting the 

governor to score 100 per 

cent. There are three key 

parameters I would like to 

score Governor Dickson. 

These are payment of 

salaries, physical 

infrastructure and low 

indebtedness of the state in 

terms of bank loans and in 

the capital markets. If you 

compare what has 

happened in other parts of 

the country, you will praise 

the governor. People 

should think more of about 

the way the state is being 

run and prepared for our 

future generations.” 

Governor Seriake Henry 

Dickson was born on 

January 28, 1966, to the 

family of Mr. and Mrs. 

Nanaye Dickson of Toru-Orua and a 

descendant of the famous King Kpadia Royal 

House of Tarakiri Kingdom, Sagbama Local 

Government Area of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. 

He had his primary education at Kolobiriowei 

Primary School, Toru-Orua from 1972 to 1978 

and after his primary education, proceeded to 

Government Secondary School, Toru-Ebeni, 

Bayelsa State between 1978 and 1983. 

Political 

sagacity 

He joined the Nigerian Police Force, NPF, 

in 1988. It was while serving in the Nigerian 

Police that he got an admission to study Law 

at the Rivers State University of Technology, 

Port-Harcourt. The Countryman Governor as 

he is fondly called earned his Bachelors in Law 

LL.B in 1992 and was called to the Nigerian 

Bar in 1993. 

Having completed his Law degree and called 

to the Bar, Dickson was elevated to the rank of 

a Cadet Assistant Superintendent of Police in 

1994 and thereafter, he left the Police to practice 

as a Lawyer in a private law firm. He joined 

the Law Firm of Serena David Dokubo and Co 

as an associate and worked at the firm between 

1994 and 1995. 

From there, he proceeded to another law firm, 

Aluko & Oyebode in Lagos as an associate. 

He, however, opened his own law firm called 

Seriake Dickson & Co in Port-Harcourt in 

Rivers State. Dickson ventured into politics and 

was made the State Chairman of Alliance for 

Democracy, AD, in Bayelsa between 1990 and 

2000. He also held the position of the National 

Legal Adviser to the party. 

Afterwards, he became the Attorney General 

and Commissioner for Justice in Bayelsa State 

in 2006, a position he held until 2007 during 

the administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan 

in Bayelsa State. In 2007, Dickson decided to 

go to a higher office and he threw his hat into 

the ring to represent his people at the National 

Assembly in Abuja.


Abubakar: Restoring sanity to 

governance in Bauchi 

By Emmanuel Aziken, Political 

Editor 

HAVING risen through 

the ranks of the Bauchi 

State civil service to the 

position of director before 

venturing into politics, 

Mohammed Abubakar had a 

clear view of the situation in 

Bauchi State before his 

inauguration in May 2015. It 

was that clear perspective that 

granted him the insight to 

soothe the felt needs of the 

people of the state. 

The bequest of the preceding 

regime was in any case, a 

challenge that would have 

daunted any other less 

courageous politician. The 

governor was welcomed to 

office by a disgruntled civil 

service which had issued a 

strike threat following monthslong 

arrears of unpaid salaries. 

That situation was not helped 

by nearly N100 billion of debts 

accumulated by the preceding 

regime that the new 

administration had to shoulder. 

That was besides the challenge 

that came from the insurgency in the 

Northeast given that the southern edges 

of the Sambisa Forest, the base of the Boko 

Haram insurgents, extends to Bauchi 

State. 

In addressing the restiveness that was 

the hallmark of the civil service that 

preceded his advent, the governor 

summoned the courage to tackle the 

horrendous hold of ghost workers on the 

state bureaucracy. The fight against the 

ghosts has caused the state to have net 

savings of N1 billion monthly from its 

recurrent expenditure. 

Obligations to the 

civil servants 

Governor Abubakar’s immediate 

response to the apathy he saw everywhere 

was to, through tact, bring down the 

tension in the civil service by settling the 

obligations to the civil servants. Calming 

the civil servants and bringing sanity to 

the bureaucracy was important given the 

pivotal role that it was to play in the 

delivery of the governor’s promises to the 

citizenry. 

That trajectory proved helpful as the 

governor has through the Bauchi State 

Planning Commission articulated annual 

market calendars that have now proved 

as useful guides to potential investors 

wishing to invest in the state. 

The effort to boost the capacity of the 

private sector in the state has also been 

helped by the active synergy between the 

state administration and some 

international bodies including UNICEF, 

World Bank, USAID, Bill and Melinda 

Gates Foundation. 

Governor Abubakar’s effort in extending 

the efforts of the government to the 

populace saw the establishment of a 

programme directed at the youths, termed 

YESSO- Youth Employment and Social 

Support Operation, a programme directed 

at boosting the entrepreneurial capacities 

of the youths. Given that Bauchi State is 

mostly a rural state, the Governor 

Abubakar administration has directed its 

efforts towards boosting agriculture in the 

state through the empowerment of the 

•Governor Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State 

farmers. 

The Abubakar administration lent its 

support to the capturing of the biometric 

data of farmers in the state, which itself is 

part of a scheme that allows small-scale 

farmers access farm inputs directly from 

suppliers at subsidised prices under the 

National Agricultural Payment Initiative, 

NAPI. 

At least 800,000 small-scale farmers in the 

state have been enrolled into the scheme 

which is itself a modification of the Growth 

Enhancement Support Scheme, GESS 

practiced in some other states. The 

Governor Mohammed Abubakar led 

administration has also caused farmers in 

the state to participate in the Federal 

Government 

A n c h o r 

Borrowers 

programme 

for rice, 

wheat, and 

m a i z e 

production. 

The state 

government 

expended 

N 1 9 4 . 6 

million in 

purchasing 

equipment 

and other 

logistics for 

8,000 farmers 

in the state 

who have 

been enrolled 

into the 

scheme. 

These are 

His fight 

against the 

ghost 

workers 

has caused 

the state to 

have net 

savings of 

N1 billion 

monthly from 

its recurrent 

expenditure 

besides other 

supports 

given to 

farmers including tractor hire at subsidized 

rates, and expenditure of N2 billion in the 

purchase of assorted fertilizer distributed 

to farmers in the 2015-16 farming season. 

The projects which covered such sectors 

as health, water, and environmental 

schemes, were carried out under the 2015 

Conditional Grant Scheme (CGS) of the 

Bauchi State Office of Sustainable 

Development Goals (SDGs) 

SDGs Office has also constructed 19 

primary health centres, staff quarters and 

VIP toilets were constructed in various 

locations across the state during the 

period. In an effort towards making a 

better life for the rural people in Bauchi, 

the Governor Abubakar led administration 

has also drilled 33 solar-powered 

boreholes, 57 hand-pumped boreholes, 

supplied six ambulances and equipped 

the 19 newly constructed primary health 

centres. 

The Bauchi State SDGs Office also in 

conjunction with a private concern also 

trained 2,340 unemployed youths in 

digital applications with the expectation 

that the trainees would establish their own 

businesses in digital applications. 

The impactful efforts of the Mohammed 

Abubakar administration in the lives of the 

citizenry have been mostly helped by the 

enhanced security that the people of 

Bauchi State have witnessed since the 

advent of the administration. The 

administration has through deliberate 

supports to security agencies and through 

programmes and policies helped to 

dissuade the citizenry from the message 

of the Boko Haram insurgents leading to 

enhanced security in the state. 

For his efforts in strategic planning and 

mobilizing the resources to impact the 

majority of the people of Bauchi State, 

Barrister Mohammed Abubakar is 

Vanguard’s Man of the Year, 2017.

Adebayo Shittu is the summary of our 

degenerate politics. He was elected into 

the Oyo house of Assembly at 26. He must 

have been such a promising prospect. He had 

two brief stints as commissioner in Oyo state. 

He was even the state Attorney General. Many 

must have had real hopes and perhaps 

confidence in him. That state, like the nation, 

had been starved of seasoned, morally erect 

and insightful politicians. So no one could 

be blamed if anything that glittered , 

anywhere in the nations political field, was 

mistaken for gold. So much was given to 

Adebayo Shittu. Adebayo shittu is 65 now. He 

is the minister of communications. He seems 

a thoroughly failed project. 

He mistakes success for the positions he has 

held. So he seems perpetually self conceited. 

There is never a mention of any notable 

achievements. Okay, he has written some 

religious books. If he had any gift of 

introspection he would have been alarmed 

by his untamed moral sensibility. He would 

have spent some time reflecting on his 

fascination with mundane accomplishments. 

When he was made Communications 

minister by President Buhari many were 

certain he was a bent round peg in a square 

hole. Opponents pointed at ministers like 

Adebayo Shittu and wondered whether Buhari 

wasted six months dreaming or actually 

looking for a ministerial dream team. Shittu 

didn’t disappoint his mockers. Nothing 

remarkable has happened in his ministry. 

Shittu was seen occasionally in official 

pictures. As 2019 approached, Shittu became 

more visible. Rumours started sprouting. He 

had Oyo governorship in his sights. That is a 

lofty ambition. But Shittu didn’t have to leave 

the ugly impression that he was suddenly 

desperate to be in the news. A solid 

performance in the communications ministry 

would have been his argument for his desired 

position. Shittu is very street-smart. He had 

not much to show in ministerial performance. 

He contrived a substitute. 

One bright Wednesday morning he hopped 

into the Federal Executive Council chambers 

Abuja with a grin and big bags. The bags 

Adebayo Shittu:Minister of 

Communications, Sycophancy and 

Pomposity 

contained caps and vests promoting 

President Buhari’s re-election. Buhari 

hadn’t indicated interest to run in the 

2019 elections then. But Shittu had 

realized that since his performance had 

been nondescript, his loyalty had to be 

extravagant. He began distributing the 

campaign materials. Other ministers 

cringed at his sycophancy which was 

well within the realm of buffoonery. The 

Secretary to the Government of the 

Federation rose and saved Buhari and 

the government further 

embarrassments. The bag was taken 

from him and his enterprise was 

contained the way any nauseous 

obsequiousness should be contained. 

If Shittu were unschooled, we could 

have had a simple explanation. We 

could have blamed it on illiteracy. That 

was what we said about Adedibu and 

his methods. But Shittu is a lawyer. That 

day at the federal executive council he 

was flagrantly breaking the law on 

electioneering and campaigns. Why are 

even our educated politicians so 

refractory to the acquisition of finer 

moral sensibilities? Why do they fawn 

without restraints, without regards for 

their children and public decency? 

Shittu is inexplicable. There is a part of 

Adedibu that is very visible in Shittu. 

That unpretentious cockiness. 

If one Razaq Olubodun, Shittu’s 

former aide, is credible then Shittu 

doesn’t have Adedibu’s invaluable 

generosity. Late Adedibu took good 

care of his ‘boys’ and protected them 

with jealousy. Razaq Olubodun has 

been everywhere telling tales of woes. 

He has described penny pinching 

selfishness. He branded Shittu a ‘chop 

alone.’ Shittu, who takes and gives 

without compunction, responded and 

branded his renegade aide a ‘kobo 

kobo’ traitor. We know that in Nigeria 

people can be hired and poached. And 

such political dramas can be staged 

for vendetta. Opponents can recruit 

casts from the kitchens of the rivals for 

great effects and believability. But 

Shittu hasn’t helped himself. 

At a radio programme recently, he 

took off his dress and revealed himself. 

What came to the fore in his exchanges 

with Sowore, the publisher of Sahara 

Reporters, at that station, was uncouth 

arrogance and total disregard for 

bounds of propriety. Listeners were 

grated by the vulgar presumptuousness 

of the minister. When he was not 

reveling in self congratulations on his 

precocious rise to ‘significance,’ he was 

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL14, 2018—85 

denigrating online journalism. When he 

wasn’t sneering at poverty and an online 

publisher seeking the presidency, he was 

intoxicated about having occupied the 

office of a minister for three years. 

There, was a communications minister 

who disparaged an online newspaper the 

way a motor park tout would. If a 

communications minister was so out of 

touch that he was not conversant with the 

trajectory of 2018 journalism, he could have 

saved himself by being contrite. But Shittu 

was loud and effusively ignorant. He 

wouldn’t let go of conceitedness, so he 

couldn’t be freed from his ignorance. 

Every modern politician pretends to 

some civility in public. But it was in public 

that Adebayo Shittu contemptuously 

dismissed a 47 year old man as being too 

young to run for president on account of 

age. If this is the mindset of a lawyer who 

became a state legislator 30 years ago and 

who is the minister of communications, 

then our salvation may still be afar off. 

Our politicians spend many years in 

politics and learn nothing. We have no 

political culture. If there is any grooming, 

it is done by wily hands and unscrupulous 

minds. The system teaches only perversion. 

They see the suffering in the land first hand 

but they are pre occupied with self 

aggrandizement and the winning of 

elections. They hold many important 

positions but they acquire no positive 

experience. What they become are masters 

in the art of personal survival. They have 

seen the ephemerality of power firsthand 

but they do not lend their minds to any 

moral reformations. Their excitable souls 

are impervious to the lessons of history. 

They are carefree with history. They have 

seen the rich and powerful come to sudden 

death, come to timely deaths. But they are 

not moved by the futility of wanton 

acquisition of wealth in all circumstances. 

They have seen flowers bloom and puff 

today, and go limp tomorrow. 

Yet they puff, puff puff and attend to their 

fantasies with a sense of personal 

immortality.... 

Sometime ago, in company of my wife, I 

visited a family. I met a very beautiful 

lady in her mid 30s, a relative of the madam 

of the house. Out of curiosity I asked my 

friend when he was escorting me to my 

vehicle about her marital status because I 

did not see a wedding ring. He said she 

was married, but her husband was abroad. 

She had been trying to join him to no avail, 

he explained. Why did they not sort that out 

before tying the nuptial knot, I pressed 

further. “Well they are not actually married 

yet, they are just engaged,” he responded. 

“It still does not matter, they should have 

sorted out her visa or resident permit issues 

before the engagement and the fiancé’s 

relocation abroad. Horse before the cart and 

not vice versa,” I insisted. 

Then, he threw the bombshell: they have 

not met physically; they met on Facebook. 

The guy actually left Nigeria over 10 years 

ago and has not set his foot on Nigerian soil 

since then. “So how was the introduction 

done,” I asked. “His family did it on his 

behalf,” he responded. As we drove out, I 

could not get it off my mind. I wanted to 

write about it then, but decided not to 

because I felt the cases of internet and social 

media marriages in Nigeria were isolated; 

no need crying wolf where none existed. I 

have heard a lot about internet dating via 

social media, but not marriages. 

But when a highly respected and 

influential personality as Pastor Enoch 

Adeboye, the General Overseer of the 

Redeemed Christian Church of God, warns 

against getting spouses on social media, you 

know there is fire on the mountain. He 

admonished members and all who cared to 

listen at the monthly Holy Ghost Service and 

Vigil of the church last weekend —which 

makes the matter even more serious— 

against social media marriages. As he 

rightly observed, it is wrong to get married 

to someone whose background you do not 

know. This is not just about Christianity; as 

Pastor said, in those days, parents 

investigated the families their children were 

to marry from or marry into before 

sanctioning the union. This tradition has 

endured to this day even with globalization 

and interracial and interethnic marriages. 

Sometimes you wonder whether the marital 

institution that some of these youngsters are 

Marriage via social media 

preparing to get into is the same one 

you know. Long before Christianity 

berthed in Africa, family units were 

responsible for the stability of African 

societies. A family starts with marriage 

which unites man and woman, so 

stable families and marriages are the 

bedrocks of a stable society. These 

In those days, parents 

investigated the families 

their children were to 

marry from or marry into 

before sanctioning the 

union. This tradition has 

endured to this day 

days, churches, and even the secular 

world, place much emphasis on 

courtship, the period both parties get 

to know each other more and decide 

whether or not the relationship should 

transit to a marriage. In making that 

crucial decision, they ought to answer 

some fundamental questions. 

Am I ready to spend the rest of my 

life with this person? Can I tolerate 

his shortcomings for the rest of my life? 

Do we share common core values? Are 

there meeting points where our values 

and views are divergent? Does he/she 

fall within my latitude of acceptance? 

Does he/she have any health 

challenges or dark side or past I ought 

to be aware of? What is his/her 

genotype? Some of these questions 

cannot be answered adequately in 

relationships conducted via Skype, 

video calls, emails and whatsapp. You 

need some level of physical 

interactions. 

Many “arrangee” marriages of old 

between and among our grandparents 

worked, so some people now feel that 

marriage without courtship can also 

work. Yes, nothing is impossible, but 

you increase the chances of the success 

of your marriage when you know your 

spouse reasonably well before 

marriage. In the African society of old, 

the husband was supreme, he was lord 

and master. There was only one voice 

in the house, the man’s. In fact, in some 

cultures, the wife was no different from 

her children. The man could tell her to 

kneel down or even flog her, like her 

children, as punishment. Sometimes, 

the husband punished her for the 

misdemeanor of her children on the 

ground that she failed in her parenting 

responsibilities. But these are out of the 

question in today’s modern African 

society. 

In modern marriages, the voices are 

two, no longer one. Sometimes the 

woman’s voice is dominant, especially 

where she is the breadwinner. The 

traditional African setting was tilted 

against women. Now, in trying to 

redress it, some feminists have pushed 

their agitations beyond boundaries. 

The relationship between husband and 

wife is no longer universal, firm and 

uniform as in time past. Now, each 

couple adopts what works for the union. 

If you copy couple A’s arrangement 

hook line and sinker, your marriage 

would go up in smoke. Mr. A runs his 

family strictly like a typical African 

man; but he is also the breadwinner. 

The same might not work for Mr. B, 

who is unemployed. 

But while couples must come up with 

a formula that works for them, the 

foundation of the formula should be 

laid during courtship, then ensure the 

goal post is not unilaterally shifted by 

either party after the match (marriage) 

has started. That is partly why 

courtship is very important. But the 

foundation must be laid on mutual love 

and respect. It is very unAfrican for an 

African woman to disrespect her 

husband, while the husband should 

reciprocate with showers of love. My 

firm belief in the indissolubility of 

marriage, notwithstanding, I do not 

understand marriage without love and 

respect. What is salt without its 

saltiness? 

Families of youngsters dating should 

differentiate between courtship and 

marriage. Once people get married, 

families should leave them alone to sort 

out themselves, except there is threat 

to life. But families should be involved 

in their children’s courtships, but 

totally for the children’s benefit not for 

selfish motives, so that they can be 

saved from themselves when they do 

dumb things like social media-only 

dating. Many youngsters in courtships 

need assistance; they are not fully in 

charge of their faculties. If nothing 

else, family members with good 

intentions should ensure that their 

wards know what they are doing. If 

you refrain from getting involved 

during courtships, you may be 

dragged into marital issues that you 

ought not to be involved in after the 

marriage.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

86 —SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018

C 

M 

Y 

K 

Our President has now officially 

declared his intention to run for 

a second term. I don’t think it was a 

decision that took anybody by surprise 

except perhaps those who tried to hold 

a politician to his elusive words, or 

those who deluded themselves in 

wishing for the Mandela option. 

Mandela is, well, Mandela; a unique 

human being in many ways. I can’t 

think of any other leader whether black 

or white, in Africa or Europe who will 

not eagerly take up their constitutional 

right to run for a second term. If 

anything, many will stay in power for 

as long as they can. The recent 

examples of Putin of Russia and Xi of 

China are more of the norm than the 

exception in terms of human desire. 

As far as I know, Muhammadu Buhari 

does not have Mandela in any of his 

declared names and nothing in his 

recent words, actions and body 

language indicated he was going to 

give up his rights. 

The most prominent among those 

‘advising’ him not to run for a second 

term are ex-Presidents Obasanjo and 

Babangida. They were, ironically, the 

country’s two longest serving 

presidents. Both stayed in power for 

as long as they could. Both almost 

divided the country before they were 

forced out. Both ‘deliberately’ handed 

over to incompetent successors. Both 

had the opportunities to right the 

wrongs in the country and did not. Both 

could have set worthy examples in 

leadership and governance. They did 

not. Like Buhari, both had their 

achievements and failures. Neither 

stayed on because the people wanted 

it or because their lofty achievements 

recommended it. So their advice to 

Buhari smacks of hypocrisy. A case of: 

‘Do as I say and not as I have done.’ 

Many countries in their wisdom make 

an allowance for two terms because it 

is not easy to make meaningful 

changes or to complete comprehensive 

reforms in a four- year term, a fact 

attested to by ex-President Jonathan 

himself. However, in case the 

incumbent’s reforms are hurting, or the 

country is stagnating or even 

retrogressing, power is given to the 

Is the Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, crying wolf with its recent 

lamentations of democracy being 

endangered in Nigeria? A party which 

was not too long ago castigated for 

lacking internal democracy has lately 

been parroting threats to the country’s 

democratic culture. 

Last Thursday, the party took its cries 

to a new decibel when it appealed to 

the international community to prevail 

on the All Progressives Congress, APC 

administration not to compromise the 

culture of transparency, democratic 

liberty, and fairness which it 

supposedly inherited from the PDP 

administration in 2015. 

The exclamation of the PDP came in 

the wake of allegations of intimidation, 

witch-hunts and the use of state 

apparatus against the PDP. 

“We want to bring to the notice of the 

European Union and the international 

community that it seems to us that the 

APC government wants to truncate 

democracy by harassment and 

intimidation, the PDP national 

chairman, Prince Uche Secondus said 

when he received an European Union 

delegation last Thursday. 

“We can see the government of the 

day and all security agencies are 

operating as arms of the APC,” he 

added. 

The day before that, that is on 

Wednesday, the PDP spokesman, Mr. 

Kola Ologbondinyan had issued a 

statement where he accused the APC 

government of conducting a witchhunt 

against prominent members of 

the party. 

“You are aware of the numerous 

Now that it is official 

people through the ballot box to ease 

an under-performing leader out. So, it 

is for Buhari to exercise his right by 

expressing his intention. It is for the 

people to endorse that intention. In 

deciding to endorse or reject his 

intention, people are going to examine 

his campaign promises and how many 

of them he fulfilled. They are going to 

look at the state of the nation before and 

during his current term. They are going 

Buhari’s solutions to 

Nigeria’s problem are 

dated and tainted by 

age-old prejudices 

to look at conflicts that came up and how 

he addressed them. And because 

human beings are inherently selfish, 

they are going to look at how they fared 

individually before and during his 

administration. It always boils down to 

the economics of the pocket. Of self. 

Make no mistake, there is a bit of the 

stomach infrastructure in everyone. A 

few enlightened voters will look beyond 

stomach infrastructure into the future 

and the direction it is taking and 

compare it with the direction they want 

it to take. Finally, people are going to 

look at other contestants; their 

antecedents, their strengths, 

weaknesses and abilities including the 

people they surround themselves with. 

exposed plots by the APC and its 

Federal Government to frame up and 

humiliate the Deputy Senate President, 

Senator Ike Ekweremmadu, as well as 

PDP governors, particularly, Rivers State 

Governor, Nyesom Wike and his Ekiti 

State counterpart, Governor Ayo 

Fayose,” Ologbondinyan, had deposed. 

Ekweremadu had lately been on the 

radar of with an asset forfeiture case 

levelled against him by a Special 

Investigation Panel allegedly put 

together at the instance of APC officials 

of the government. 

Senator Ekweremadu’s media 

Of course, it would be to the 

interest of the APC to show 

the world that the PDP is truly 

a party of thieves and the APC 

is a congregation of saints 

SATURDAY Vanguard, , APRIL 14, 2018—87 

changes have been made to address 

the rot in the system. And for all its 

noise, few have been made to address 

the root cause of corruption. 

Now to the campaign promises. 

Buhari promised to secure the nation. 

His administration inherited Boko 

Haram, the excesses of which it 

curtailed. The excesses of divisive 

Biafra were also curtailed—some 

would say with a sledge hammer. It 

however nurtured the Fulani 

Herdsmen into a more brutal and 

murderous gang of terrorists. Many 

would say the Herdsmen have defiled 

curtailment because they have been 

handled with kid gloves. Buhari 

promised to frontally attack corruption 

wherever it is found. It is a joke that it 

is only found in PDP and Jonathan’s 

government. The system that breeds 

corruption is still being aerated rather 

than asphyxiated. He promised to 

move the nation away from oil. One of 

the first things he did was to direct 

NNPC to prospect for oil in the chad 

basin. 

To his credit however, after a wobbly 

start, we now have a stable currency 

and inflation is on a downward path. 

The foreign reserve has also doubled 

despite earning less from oil—an 

indication of a greater fiscal discipline. 

We now import less and grow more. 

The electricity problem is also being 

seriously addressed. All told, Buhari 

has not done worse than his 

predecessors—we probably expected 

too much from the old man. My candid 

opinion though, is that his age and 

health limitations will make the rigours 

of running a complex country like 

Nigeria increasing more taxing for him. 

But my greater worry is his mental 

limitation. As Clinton once said of 

Bush Snr, ‘it is not just his age that 

bothers me. It is the age of his ideas.’ 

(We saw a bit of an antiquated and rigid 

stance in Buhari’s initial reluctance to 

devalue the Naira thereby plunging 

the currency into a free fall.) Buhari’s 

solutions to Nigeria’s problem are 

dated and tainted by age-old 

prejudices. It is time to move the 

nation from analogue to digital. And 

to fresher ideas. 

All of these will determine whether 

the devil they know is better than the 

angel promising them a bed of roses. 

Now that the President’s wish for a 

second term is official, it is time for 

different score cards to come out, 

unfortunately depending largely on 

political and ethnic leanings. My own 

score card doesn’t rate his 

administration too high. But I don’t 

subscribe to those who claim it 

achieved nothing. That’s too 

sweeping. Or that his government is 

the worst we have ever had. Only 

those who were not around during 

the famous June 12 and its aftermath 

would dare say that. That inglorious 

era belonged to Abacha and 

Babangida’s governments. 

Jonathan’s government is also an 

example of how not to run a 

government. It lacked discipline— 

financial, political and religious. 

Having said that, we voted Buhari to 

correct the short comings of Jonathan. 

We’ve got to look at how much he 

succeeded in that respect. 

It was said that four women were 

the powers behind the throne in 

Jonathan’s government. Three of 

them have been indicted of 

corruption. Buhari replaced them 

with nephews and cousins. Time will 

tell how much havoc his own ‘cabal’ 

wrecked. Meanwhile, the Presidency 

and the Legislature are still as bloated 

as they were under Jonathan with 

recurrent expenditures accounting for 

about 70% of our budget. The Civil 

Service is still lazy and inefficient. 

The parastatals are still drain pipes. 

Appointments are not on merit. In 

other words, very few structural 

Can the PDP cry y wolf? 

assistant, Uche Anichukwu, had in a 

statement last Wednesday argued 

that it was against natural justice for 

lawyers of APC extraction to 

constitute themselves into a panel to 

try members of the opposition, relying 

on Decree 3 of 1984, now known as 

the Recovery of Public Property 

(Special Provisions) Act. 

The panel headed by Okoi Obono- 

Obla, a presidential assistant who is 

apparently a member of the APC, 

according to Anichukwu, is on 

vengeance mission borne out of the 

fact that his boss became the deputy 

president of the Senate against the 

desires of the APC. 

“Should proper investigation 

devoid of bias and witch-hunt not 

require that Ekweremadu is invited 

to respond to the petition, assuming 

the panel had the constitutional 

powers to dabble into matters relating 

to assets declaration,” Anichukwu 

asked in his statement. 

The SIP supposedly populated by 

APC chieftains and with Festus 

Keyamo, SAN, an APC member as 

counsel, Anichukwu fumed, had taken 

over the duty of the Code of Conduct 

Bureau in targeting his boss. 

The matter of Ekweremadu being a 

target of the APC government has been 

especially latched upon by some 

democracy stakeholders on the point 

that he is the highest office holder in 

the PDP. 

In October 2016, and after much 

expenditure of government resources, 

the administration withdrew a forgery 

case against Ekweremadu and the 

President of the Senate, Senator 

Bukola Saraki. The withdrawal of the 

case followed allusions to a lack of 

material evidence against the duo over 

the claim that the Senate Standing 

Rules upon which they were elected 

was forged. Remarkably, the two men 

were not questioned in the 

investigations leading to their 

arraignment. 

It is about the same shoddy process 

in the assets forfeiture case being 

levelled against Ekweremadu. His aide 

claims he has not been asked whether 

he owns the properties mentioned or 

whether some of them exist. 

Many have also drawn inferences to 

the famed looters’ list revealed by the 

administration, all of them belonging 

to the PDP. 

Of course, it would be to the interest 

of the APC to show the world that the 

PDP is truly a party of thieves and the 

APC is a congregation of saints. 

However, in doing so, the APC 

administration would need to show 

competence, creativity, and a little 

craftiness in proving it. But it has not.


Between Danjuma and Umaru Dikko 

Dead men do not see, that 

explains why Alhaji Umaru 

Abdurrahman Dikko is apparently 

unaware of happenings in the country 

today especially one big inexplicable 

mind game between two men who 

were fingered in his abduction 34 

years ago. 

Dikko was kidnapped in London by 

operatives of the Israeli secret service, 

MOSSAD, backed by the government 

of Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari 

who was Nigeria’s military ruler at the 

time. It took the wits of a young British 

Customs officer, Charles David 

Morrow, to foil the move. 

As minister of Transport under the 

Shehu Shagari government, Dikko, 

had stepped on many big toes. Former 

Army Chief, Gen. Yakubu Danjuma, 

was affected in the Niger Delta. When 

the President moved Dikko to the 

Special Duties Ministry, he seemed 

to have become even more powerful. 

According to him, the problem with 

Danjuma began when the ban on 

politics was lifted by General 

Olusegun Obasanjo and of the six 

parties registered, Dikko, joined the 

National Party of Nigeria[NPN]. 

Danjuma was alleged to have told the 

politician that the NPN would not win 

the presidential elections. Of course, 

the party did. 

There was the impression that 

Dikko’s problem with Buhari could 

have started in the Second Republic 

when the former worked for the 

creation of another state from Kaduna 

State, which meant excising Katsina 

from the old state. That did not go 

down well with the latter. 

Dikko, was smart from cradle. With 

a First Class degree in Mathematics 

from Birkbeck College, University of 

London, he veered into journalism 

working with the British 

Broadcasting Service[BBC]. Buhari 

was also in the United Kingdom but 

chose the military through Mons 

Officers Cadet School, Aldershot. 

When Gen. Yakubu Gowon 

balkanized the nation into 12 states, 

Buhari and Umaru Dikko found 

themselves in North Central State, 

Danjuma is not happy 

with President Buhari, 

because herdsmen are 

killing Jukun villagers. 

Dikko made up with 

Danjuma before death 

governed by Maj. Abba Kyari, a 

Kanuri Artillery officer. Dikko was 

from Wamba, near Zaria, Buhari’s 

hometown is Daura, both men, 

Fulani. 

Kyari picked Dikko, 31, as 

Commissioner for Finance in 

1967.Lt. Buhari,24, was gearing up 

for the Civil War and his first posting 

was in the frontlines around Enugu- 

Nsukka under the First Infantry 

Division, commanded by Lt.Col. 

Mohammed Shuwa, another Kanuri 

man. 

Dikko and Buhari are Fulani, 

Danjuma is Jukun, from Takum. Infact, 

Dikko boasted that he was not just an 

ordinary Fulani but a descendant of 

Sheik Uthman Dan Fodio, the jihadist. 

Many thought the mathematician was so 

full of himself. When political power was 

added to the swashbuckling nature, 

probably a few individuals wanted to 

check him. 

Those who finally sacked President 

Shagari were majorly his Fulani 

kinsmen. They included such young 

officers as Majors Mustapha Haruna 

Jokolo, Sambo Dasuki, Abdul Mumini 

Aminu, Abubakar Dangiwa Umar and 

Lawan Gwadabe. And who was to benefit 

from the coup? 

Maj. Gen. Buhari, the one who irked 

Dikko by not listening to the 

Commander-in-Chief as he marched to 

Ndjamena, the Chadian capital in the 

bid to teach that country an evergreen 

military lesson for invading Nigeria in 

1983. Buhari was in Jos as General 

Officer Commanding, Third division, 

when he was chosen as a Head of State. 

It was ironical. The night they struck, 

December 31, 1983, was Dikko’s 47th 

birthday. It is difficult to believe that 

Buhari chose that date because he was 

not part of the plot, in the first place. 

Buhari and Dikko are December 

children. The general was born on 

December 17. 

Dikko was not comfortable. He 

disappeared to the UK, through the now 

famous NADECO route, Benin Republic, 

along with his Private Secretary 

Elizabeth Hayes. They journeyed to Togo 

and took a flight from Lome. Hayes 

would later save his life. She would also 

become Mrs Dikko. 

The Buhari government was not 

comfortable with the flight to London. 

Dikko did not keep his mouth shut either. 

He mounted a strong campaign against 

the Beret Boys. Minister of Information, 

Group Captain Emeka Omeruah, told the 

media that the former Transport minister 

stole in billions, without mentioning the 

currency. The official charge was one 

billion dollars. 

Many years after the failed kidnap, 

Jokolo told the world that the plot had 

the hand of Danjuma and the seal of 

Buhari. He could have been in the 

know because, Jokolo, who was later 

to become the Emir of Gwandu, ended 

up as Buhari’s Aide de Camp after the 

December 31, 1983 coup. 

It was strange that although there 

were no diplomatic ties with Israel, the 

Nigerian government involved 

MOSSAD. Jokolo gave it to Danjuma, 

who would later deny this in 2001, at 

the Justice Chukwudifu Oputa led 

Human Rights Violation 

Investigations Commission. 

Perfectly executed, it was. Ex- 

MOSSAD officer, Alexander Barak, 

was picked for the job. He got in touch 

with Dr. Lev-Arie Shapiro in Jerusalem 

and Felix Abitbol. A Nigerian retired 

Military Intelligence agent, 

Maj.Mohammed Yusuf was involved. 

He drove a van to Dikko’s 48 

Porchester crib, in Bayswater, London. 

Dikko was abducted and whisked 

away. They tranquillized him, moved 

and shackled him to a crate with 

Shapiro as his ‘room mate’, just to 

make sure he did not give up and 

drove him straight to Stansted Airport, 

64 Kilometres North of London. Not 

Gatwick, not Heathrow. 

Another crate contained the other 

kidnappers. Both crates were tagged 

as Diplomatic bags. The import was 

that they would not go through 

thorough customs check. Miss Hayes 

had alerted the Police and they swung 

into action. Morrow saved the day, for 

Dikko was almost gone. 

The Nigeria High Commission 

headed by Maj. Gen. Anthony Haladu 

Hananiya, played a huge role. Two 

diplomats, Okon Edet and Peter 

Ayodele, were active participants. A 

Nigeria Airways Boeing 707 flight was 

ready at the cargo terminal. Group 

Captain Bernard Banfa made sure of 

that. All four who tried to abduct Dikko 

were arrested and jailed. 

Dikko died in 2014.Today, Danjuma 

is not happy with President Buhari, 

because herdsmen are killing Jukun 

villagers. Dikko made up with 

Danjuma before death. I wonder how 

the dead feels in his grave. If only he 

could see. 

When Bill Gates some weeks 

back, told Nigerian political 

elites that the country is one of the 

most dangerous places on earth to give 

birth, not many would have thought 

of the drama that played out in Akure, 

the Ondo State capital, the other week. 

Pregnant women were reported to 

have paralyzed activities in the State 

Specialist Hospital while protesting 

against outrageous medical fees 

introduced by the state government. 

Numbering about 200, the women 

with their bulging stomachs, blocked 

the main entrance to the hospital for 

hours, demanding that government 

reverses the new N25,000 charges for 

normal deliveries and over N50, 000 

for complicated deliveries. This 

amounted to about 300 per cent 

increase. 

Gates, who is co-chair of the Bill and 

Melinda Gates Foundation, had, 

during an expanded national 

economic council meeting, also 

affirmed that Nigeria has the fourth 

worst maternal mortality rate in the 

world, ahead of only Sierra Leone, 

Central African Republic, and Chad. 

Worst still is that one in every three 

Nigerian children is chronically 

malnourished, he had told the 

gathering. 

A UNICEF report on maternal and 

child health in Nigeria also indicates 

that the country loses about 2,300 

under-five year olds and 145 women 

of childbearing age, every day. This 

development, unfortunately, places 

her as second largest contributor to the 

under–five and maternal mortality rate 

Cost of having a baby in Ondo 

in the world. 

Put differently, a woman’s chance 

of dying from pregnancy and 

childbirth in Nigeria is one in 13. 

While many of these deaths are 

preventable, coverage and quality of 

health care services in the country 

mostly fail the women and children. 

But if as has been established, a 

close relationship exists between the 

well being of the mother and the 

child, there’s therefore, every need 

to integrate maternal, newborn and 

child health interventions in our 

health policies. 

The Ondo example, it appears, 

would only work to the contrary, for if 

a poor, village and possibly illiterate 

woman is slapped with a 300 per cent 

increase in cost of delivering her baby 

at a hospital, it is very unlikely she 

would afford to pay for the service. 

Next thing will be a resort to local 

and, possibly, crude ways of 

delivering her baby, which sometimes 

result in permanent disabilities or 

even death. 

More pathetic is that this is 

happening in an environment where 

those in authorities mostly send their 

wives abroad to have their babies with 

looted funds. 

It is also very sad that at a very 

difficult time like we are in, when 

many people are losing jobs and new 

ones hardly created, governments at 

all levels would be churning out 

policies that further diminishes 

human existence. 

According to the National Bureau of 

Statistics, the number of people within 

the labour force, who are unemployed 

or underemployed, increased from 13.6 

million and 17.7 million, respectively in 

second quarter of 2017 to 15.9 million 

and 18.0 million in third quarter of 2017. 

And the downward trend seems to be 

the order of the day, even right into the 

first quarter of 2018. 

The situation is so bad, to the extent 

It is also very sad that at a 

very difficult time like we are 

in, when many people are 

losing jobs and new ones 

hardly created, governments 

at all levels would be churning 

out policies that further 

diminishes human existence 

that preventable or treatable infectious 

diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, 

diarrhea, measles, HIV/AIDS etc, now 

account for more than 70 per cent of the 

estimated one million under-five deaths 

in Nigeria, simply because most parents 

cannot afford the needed healthcare 

services and medicines. 

The Ondo 300 per cent increase in 

charges for deliveries is not just 

outrageous but smirks of government’s 

insensitivity to a people, whose plight 

is mostly as a result of greed on the 

part of those in authority, who 

wantonly steal from what was meant 

to take care of all. 

Unfortunately, in the same Ondo 

state, students of Adekunle Ajasin 

University have been protesting 

government’s increase in school fees 

by over 500 per cent, a development 

they described as unacceptable as their 

parents would not be able to pay? 

It is worthy to note, however, that 

most of the policies devoid of human 

face are not peculiar to Ondo state. In 

many states of the federation, the 

masses are heavily taxed... and made 

to pay for the reckless and extravagant 

life styles of the governors, their 

families and associates which have left 

almost all the states broke. 

So, if per adventure the Ondo State 

Governor, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), 

and indeed, all state governors that 

constantly come up with unrealistic 

charges that pauperize their people 

did not get the Gates’ message clearly 

as regards the nation’s economic 

recovery and growth plan, it is 

necessary to refresh their memory thus: 

“When you invest in the health, 

education, and opportunities of the 

people, you are laying the foundation 

for sustained prosperity. 

When you fail to do the above, there 

is asharp limit on how much the 

society can grow. 

By introducing very harsh economic 

policies, like the unrealistic increase 

in costs of healthcare and education, 

will mostly ensure reduction in the 

quality of life of the people, which 

right now is even at its lowest.

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ALLEGED MURDER OF NIGERIAN 

ARTIST, DAUGHTER BY DANISH MAN : 

Subtle move to whisk suspect 

to Denmark uncovered 

•Peter Nielsen is innocent, we have our proof- Lawyer 

•Late Petra Nielsen 

she would attend to her. 

By the time I woke up around 7am, I 

saw the bodies in the kitchen with a 

strong smell of gas” , he stated. 

But 13- year-old Gift’s statement 

countered Nielsen’s, as she claimed that 

her sister was killed during a fight with 

her husband that fateful day. 

According to her “The incident 

happened over night, after my late sister 

had finished preparing food for her 

husband. The housemaid went to her 

own room to sleep after cooking and I 

was the last person to leave the kitchen. 

After a while, there was a fight between 

my sister and her husband in the 

bedroom. I heard her shouting ‘help,’ 

‘help.’ I woke my younger sister up and 

asked her if she also heard the shout 

for help. 

“ I saw the man(Nielsen) hitting my 

sister’s head on the floor. I tried to rush 

outside to call neighbours to come to 

my sister’s rescue but discovered that 

the doors were all locked. By the time 

we got there later in the morning she 

was dead.” 

Police investigation into the matter 

showed marks of violence on the bodies 

. Speaking on the outcome of the 

investigation, the Lagos State Police 

Police Relations Officer, Chike Oti, a 

Superintendent of Police, said : “ 

Preliminary investigation conducted at 

the scene revealed that the violence that 

consumed the deceased persons 

started in the couple’s bedroom. But 

the bodies were dragged to the 

kitchen. 

“On closer examination, visible 

marks of violence were seen on the 

bodies. The corpses were 

photographed and evacuated to Lagos 

Island General Hospital for autopsy. 

Meanwhile, letters have been sent to 

the Embassy of Denmark, intimating 

it that Lagos State Police Command is 

investigating Mr. Peter Nielsen, a 

citizen of Denmark, for an alleged case 

of murder.” 

BY EVELYN USMAN 

•Late Zainab Nielsen 

Indications have emerged that there 

were subtle moves by some 

prominent Nigerians to whisk out 

of Nigeria the 53-year-old Danish man, 

Peter Nielsen, who was alleged to have 

murdered his 37-year-old wife, Zainab 

Nielsen and their four-year old 

daughter, Petra, at their Banana Island 

, Ikoyi residence in Lagos, last 

Thursday. 

This is because Nielsen as reliably 

gathered, is connected with some 

acclaimed high and mighty . Among 

them are serving governors, ministers 

and other public office holders. 

The citizen of Denmark, is a Chemical 

Engineer who also has a Bachelor of 

Science in Commerce. He has worked 

in the field of Processing Agricultural 

products for 15 years. 

Information at Vanguard’s disposal 

showed that Nielsen was sent to Nigeria 

in 2011 by his company – CARGIL, to 

work with one of the ministers, on an 

agricultural project. He is also working 

for a governor in the northern part of 

the country on a similar project. 

Further findings revealed that the 

Danish established a large cassava firm 

of 650 hectares in the Niger-Delta 

region and has also signed a letter with 

some international partners operating 

in Nigeria, to invest in agricultural 

projects. As at the time of his arrest , he 

was working for one of the South South 

states on an agricultural project. 

Vanguard reliably gathered that when 

news of his alleged involvement in his 

wife and daughter’s killing filtered 

round, moves were made to down play 

the incident, by preventing it from 

appearing public. But the moves 

were thwarted by media hype and 

continuous follow -up until the 

suspect was charged to court on 

Wednesday. 

There was also untold story of 

what happened when mother and 

child were discovered dead in their 

flat 17, block 4 apartment at 

Bellasta Towers. Vanguard 

learned that when the alarm was 

raised by the deceased’s younger 

sister, Madaki Gift and people 

gathered the suspect was beaten 

to a pulp before the arrival of 

policemen from Ikoyi division , who 

rescued him. As at the time he was 

taken to the station, he reportedly 

had blood shot eyes and an injury 

in one of his fingers. 

From Ikoyi division, he was 

transferred to the State Criminal 

Investigation and Intelligence 

Department, SCIID Yaba, where 

further investigations which 

included an autopsy report to ascertain 

the exact cause of death and a visit to 

the scene of crime were carried out. 

Thereafter, he was charged to the Yaba 

Magistrate court 2 on Wednesday , on 

a two count charge bothering on murder 

and remanded in the Ikoyi prison till 

May 8 2018. 

Who killed Alizee and Petra 

The poser at the moment , remains who 

killed Alizee and her innocent and 

harmless daughter Petra? The man at 

the center of controversy, Nielsen, has 

continued to maintain that he knew 

nothing about the murder, insisting 

•Peter Nielsen and late wife 

rather that he woke up that fateful day 

to see the corpses in their kitchen, with 

a strong emission of gas , suggesting 

that they could have been suffocated by 

gas. 

Narrating his last moment with is 

family, Nielsen said : “ My late wife 

and I stayed awake late into the night. 

We watched a football match between 

Real Madrid and Liverpool. We were 

together until 3am when our daughter 

came out of her room, calling for 

attention. My wife told me to go and 

sleep because I have been with our 

daughter the previous night and that 

Nielsen is innocent-lawyer 

However, on his part, Nielsen’s 

lawyer, Frank Udoka, stated that 

his client was innocent of the offense. 

He said :” It is important for us to note 

that the right guaranteed under chapter 

four of our constitution is called Human 

right, not Nigerian right. And every 

human is entitled to it. So, there is a 

presumption of innocence until the court 

decides otherwise. 

Our job as lawyers is not just to defend 

but also to help with the administration 

of justice. It is important to know that 

Mr Nielsen is also a victim in this 

matter because he has lost a wife and 

daughter. 

“We are trying to find out exactly 

what happened and we have 

cooperated with the Nigeria Police in 

their investigation. And we believe that 

they will look at all angles. They 

should look at the CCTV cameras 

installed in estate where this 

incident happened. It is their job to look 

at them and we have every reason to 

prove that what the CCTV cameras 

are saying is consistent with what our 

client said. There are a lot of dimensions 

to the investigation and in the 

interest of fairness and justice, it is 

proper that we look at all sides.” 

At the moment, the Police tend to have 

concluded their investigation, even 

though the results of the autopsy carried 

out on the victims and the DNA test were 

not made public. As the case continues 

in court, we gathered that there were 

moves by some prominent Nigerians to 

secretly whisk the Danish engineer back 

to his country. It is expected that that 

perpetrator/s of this dastardly act will 

not only be be exposed but also made 

to face the wrath of the law no matter 

how highly placed they are.

C 

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C 

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C 

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Nigeria paying for lack 

of planning — Rufai 

By Jacob Ajom 

Former Super Eagles cap 

tain, Peter Rufai is confi 

dent the Nigeria Football 

Federation's World Cup programme 

could yield the desired 

result if the execution is carried 

out to the letter. In an interview 

with our correspondent, Rufai 

said he is happy with the team's 

preparation so far. 

“Personally, I feel the team is 

doing what it ought to, in terms 

of the friendly matches they are 

playing. I think their preparations 

for the World Cup have 

been going on well as we are 

aware the NFF has mapped out 

friendly matches with teams 

from different parts of the world 

and help the coaches plug all 

the holes in the team before the 

World Cup.” 

He said Rohr's vision and vast 

experience in football management 

was a big factor that will 

work in favour of the Eagles. “I 

believe they are on the right 

track and in very good hands.” 

Rufai is not worried that former 

Nigeria number one goalkeeper, 

Vincent Enyeama is not coming 

back even as he admitted 

that the decision gave him 

sleepless nights, time past. 

“Yes, I must confess, I was worried. 

But since Enyeama himself 

has maintained he is not 

coming back, I have resigned to 

fate. Now we have Francis Uzoho, 

Daniel Akpeyi and Ikechukwu 

Ezenwa. We have them there 

and all of them are good. 

“The number one is still open. 

It is just the normal heat before 

Why Chrisland Schools appointed 

ex-internationals ernationals as Sports 

Ambassadors — Adeyemi 

Former Nigeria internationals Peter Rufai, Falilat 

Ogunkoya and Olumide Oyedeji were named 

Sports Ambassadors of Chrisland Schools during the •Oyedeji 

week, preparatory to the commencement of a weeklong 

clinic organised by the school management for its 

students and open to those within the age bracket from 

other schools as well. 

According to the Managing Director of Chrisland 

Schools, Mrs Ibironke Adeyemi, the will be all-encompassing 

as, apart from football, the participants will also 

be taken on basketball, athletics and leadership skills. 

The clinic will hold from April 15 – 20 at the Chrisland 

Schools High Performance Centre at Idimu. 

“We want to produce champions out of these 

kids,”she said. “Champions that can compete 

among the best in the world. That is 

why we are bringing some of Nigeria's 

best as represented by these ex-internationals 

who will act as not only role models 

but also mentor them.” 

On his part, former Super Eagles captain 

and first choice goalkeeper, Peter Rufai said, 

“this is the type of opportunity I have been looking for. 

When I retired from active football, I decided to go back to 

the grassroots so I can give back to the society that made me who I 

am today.” 

Can Tott 

ottenham emulate e Liverpool? 

Will Tottenham emulate Liverpool's 

success over Manchester City when 

they host Pep Guardiola's side on Saturday? 

We check the stats... 

City have now lost half of their previous 

10 games in all competitions - including 

two defeats in the Premier League. 

That's some derailment from their Invincible-chasing 

league status three months 

ago - which ended with a 4-3 defeat to 

•Rufai 

a major tournament. The question: 

who is going to be number 

one will continue to linger on 

the lips of fans until the tournament 

begins in Russia. 

“But the problem of not knowing 

who is our number one now 

is as a result of our failure to 

plan. We did not plan to properly 

sustain that number one 

shirt. We are paying for poor 

planning.It is a tough decision 

by the technical crew to select 

just one out of the three goalkeepers 

at their disposal to be 

number.” 

When asked whether it was not 

dangerous for a country not to 

know who the number one goalkeeper 

is, few months to the 

tournament.Rufai said, “There is 

no danger. Like I said, it is a 

normal scenario. It 

could still be unknown 

to the 

general public 

but truth is, 

Coach Gernot 

Rohr knows his 

number 

one.” 

Liverpool in January. 

While defeats to Wigan in the EFL Cup 

and Basel in Europe could have been 

blamed on disrupted selections, their three 

successive defeats to date can not. 

Liverpool blasted City aside to progress into 

the Champions League semi-finals with a 3-0 

home win and 2-1 victory at the Etihad - either 

side of Manchester United delaying City's 

Premier League coronation party last week. 

•Kane 

Commonwealth games: 

Nigeria moves to 8th 

position 

Nigeria last night swept to 

an unprecedented four 

gold medals and took a giant 

move to number 8 on the medals 

table ahead of such big countries 

like Jamaica, Malaysia, Kenya, 

and Botswana. South Africa remains 

the only African country 

ahead of Nigeria on the table as 

they maintained their 5th position 

with 13 Gold, 10 Silver and 

12 bronze medals. 

Nigeria has 8 Gold, 5 Silver 

and 5 Bronze medals. 

Blessing Oborodudu started a 

night to remember for Nigeria 

with a stunning victory in the 68 

kg freestyle against Daniella 

Lappage of Canada winning 3 – 

1 to add to the haul of Nigeria’s 

precious gold. 

When Odunayo Adekuroye 

stepped to the mat, the hall exploded 

with sporadic applause 

against her Indian opponent, 

Pooja Dhunda. 

As they tried themselves for size, 

tension soared as Odunayo was 

warned and a point deducted 

from her. She did not look perturbed. 

When she finally got a real hold 

on her, she pinned her to the mat, 

GOtv Boxing Night 14: 

4: 

Boxer 

ers s in war ar mood, talk tough 

Ahead of GOtv Boxing 

Night 14 holding at the Indoor 

Sports Hall of the National 

Staidum, Lagos, on Saturday, participating 

boxers have been 

threatening to reduce their respective 

opponents to pulp. 

Djossou “Agoy” Basile, the Beninois 

boxer scheduled to fight 

Nigeria’s Rilwan “Baby Face” 

Babatunde for the West African 

Boxing Union (WABU) welterweight 

title, arrived Nigeria yesterday, 

vowing to win the title and 

N1million cash prize for the best 

boxer at GOtv Boxing Night 14 

holding on Saturday. 

The chairman of Anambra 

State Cricket Association, 

Barrister Chuma Anosike is 

confident that the South East 

Zone will soon measure up to 

states like Lagos, Ogun and Kaduna, 

where the standard of the 

game is a bit more advanced in 

Nigeria. 

Speaking at a press conference 

in which he reviewed the just concluded 

Chuma Anosike South 

East Cricket tournament, the 

former Vice President of the Nigeria 

Cricket Federation said, "the 

tournament was an eye opener 

where some exciting talents were 

discovered,” he said, adding that 

another first in the tournament was 

the participation of female teams. 

“A few years ago, when it be- 

turned and twisted like a Crocodile 

overwhelming its prey. The 

Nigerian garnered 5 points. As 

they continued with victory moving 

towards Nigeria, the Indian 

in a flash produced a stunning 

move that saw her amassing 5 

points. 

Odunayo, however, took victory 

beyond her and ended the glorious 

night on a victorious note 

beating her 7 – 5 to take the gold. 

An overwhelmed coach swept 

her off her feet and hauled her on 

his head to celebrate the gold. 

Odunayo had other ideas. Decked 

with a Nigerian flag, she danced 

to what has become a signature 

dance and the crowd roared in 

appreciation. 

Oluwatobilola Amusan also 

won gold in the 100m Women 

hurdle to keep Nigeria’s flag flying. 

The gold rush was not over as 

Suwaibidu Galadima, a Para 

athlete, capped the night with yet 

another gold medal in the T47 

100 m final. 

Galadima led the field from beginning 

to finish 11:04secs. 

The 4 x 100 m Relay men got a 

bronze medal with a time 

38:52secs. 

Amos Daniel also won a bronze 

in the Men’s 65 kg Freestyle. 

The title clash is one of the three 

scheduled for the event. Basile, 

who is highly rated around the 

West African sun-region, disclosed 

that he has seen Baby 

Face’s fights and knows what to 

do to take the title to his country. 

“I have seen him fight and I can 

tell you that he is just a boy in 

boxing terms. He has been fighting 

boys all along. But this time, 

he will fight a man, a real man. 

There is no hiding place for him. 

I will win the title and the 

N1million cash prize the sponsors 

are giving to the best boxer,” 

he said through an interpreter. 

Cricket: South East making 

steady progress – Anosike 

came obvious that the game 

was not growing at the national 

level, I decided that a “bottom 

up” approach was necessary 

to develop the game.” 

Anosike, who played cricket at 

all levels initiated a developmental 

programme which encouraged 

schools to play cricket, with Bishop 

Crowther Seminary, Awka as 

the focal point. 

He took another step and initiated 

the annual South East Cricket 

Tournament for the Chuma 

Anosike Cup. He said, “I am 

delighted that we have achieved 

some measure of success.” 

He said very soon, the zone will 

start challenging the likes of Lagos 

and Kaduna for top honours 

because of the abundant talent in 

the zone.

Chelsea want 

three points at 

Southampton 

Both clubs are in desperate 

need of a lift for very 

different reasons. While 

Chelsea look to lift spirits 

ahead of an FA Cup semi-final 

against Southampton, Mark 

Hughes' team quite simply need to 

take something from the match with games 

running out for them to stay in the Premier 

League. 

"Whilst the new Saints boss was more 

encouraged with the display in the defeat at 

Arsenal, it is all about points now for a team 

that have won only once in 19 league matches 

- against bottom club West Brom. 

"The reigning champions, who've had to deal 

again with rumours of Antonio Conte's immediate 

future again this week, need to show some cohesion 

and confidence, having registered just 12 points in 

2018. 

Southampton will hope the Blues' clinical streak 

doesn't return this weekend. 

Chelsea have won their last four league games 

against Southampton - they've 

never won five in a row against 

them. 

Southampton have claimed 

one victory in their nine Premier 

League games against the Blues 

at St Mary's Stadium (D2, L6), 

winning 2-1 in March 2013 

thanks to goals from Jay 

Rodriguez and Rickie Lambert. 

Chelsea have won seven times in all competitions 

at the St Mary's Stadium. The only visiting side with 

a better record are Manchester United, with 10 

victories. 


Buffon should have punched the ref - Tacconi 

Gianluigi Buffon’s restraint 

after being shown a red card 

by Michael Oliver has been 

hailed by Stefano Tacconi, with 

the Juventus legend admitting 

that he would have “punched his 

face in”. 

Gianluigi Buffon’s restraint 

after being shown a red card by 

Michael Oliver has been hailed 

by Stefano Tacconi, with the 

Juventus legend admitting that 

he would have “punched his face 

in”. 

An iconic goalkeeper of the 

modern was dismissed in 

controversial fashion as the 

closing stages of the 

Bianconeri’s Champions League 

quarter-final clash with Real 

Madrid descended into chaos. 

After seeing Medhi Benatia 

P 

pulled up for a stoppage-time 

aris Saint-Germain have made contact with 

push on Lucas Vazquez, Buffon 

Paul Pogba's representatives as they plot a bigmoney 

move for the Manchester United 

was sent off for contesting 

Oliver’s decision – with the 

midfielder, according to Paris United . 

English official later accused of 

The PSG hierarchy are unhappy with the Ligue 

having “a garbage bin instead of 

1 leaders' last-16 elimination from the Champions 

a heart”. 

League and are planning a big summer of 

It could be that a memorable 

spending. 

European career is now over, with 

The club's France internationals were recently 

a 40-year-old performer 

instructed to speak to Pogba regarding a move to 

seemingly heading for 

Parc des Princes during the last international 

window. 

retirement, 

and Tacconi 

Score A Trip to Russia Promo: NBC, Coca-Cola admits that 

he would 

present W/Cup tickets to winners 

T 

have acted 

he Nigerian Bottling Company, NBC and differently 

Coca-Cola Nigeria have presented World Cup tickets to 2 lucky had he been 

winners in the ongoing “Score A Trip to Russia.” Promotion. The winners in Buffon’s 

presented with the ticket at NBC head office, Iddo, Lagos were Fashola boots at 

Moruf Adeyinka and Benjamin Muo. 

Santiago 

The ‘Score A Trip to Russia’ campaign is an ongoing promotion put Bernabeu. 

together by NBC/Coca-Cola, to reward esteemed consumers with an A man who 

all-expense paid trip to Russia 2018 to watch the FIFA World Cup matches made over 

which begin in June. 

2 0 0 

Speaking at the presentation of tickets to the winners, the Managing appearances 

Director of Nigerian Bottling Company, George Polymenakos for Juve in his 

described the promotion as an initiative to reward consumers who are 

playing 

days, told 

desirous of experiencing the excitement of watching the 2018 FIFA 

RMC Sport: 

World Cup live in Russia. 

“Knowing I 

Polymenakos noted that in addition to the trip to Russia, the winners of was going to 

the promotion would have the unique privilege to enjoy numerous special stop, I’d have 

experiences including a hangout with the Super Eagles, a 7-day boat punched 

trip experience from Stockholm to Russia and back to Stockholm as [Oliver’s] 

well as a glorious opportunity to hold the Nigerian flag when the Super face in. 

Eagles team confront Croatia in their first encounter at the tournament. 

PSG open talks with Pogba 

The long awaited 2018 

Commonwealth Games is now in 

full sway, and it’s been a delight 

watching the Athletics event 

unfold at the Carrara Stadium in 

Gold Coast, Australia. 

It must be said that it hasn’t been 

a smooth sailing tournament for 

Nigeria. However, there was some 

cheering development in the 

men’s Shot put where 

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi won 

the country’s first medal in 

Athletics, taking Silver behind 

World Indoor and Outdoor 

Champion, Tomas Walsh of New 

Zealand. 

The men and women’s 100m 

finals have already been 

concluded, and South Africa’s 

Akani Simbine stunned 

tournament favourite and former 

World Champion, Jamaica’s 

Yohan Blake, to win the men’s 

100m title in 10.03secs, while 

Blake finished 3rd. What makes 

Simbine’s victory even more 

remarkable is the fact that he 

inspired a 1-2 for South Africa, 

with teammate Henricho 

Bruintjies winning Silver with 

10.17secs. 

It was a painful moment for 

Nigeria as Seye Ogunlewe 

narrowly missed out on a medal 

as he finished 4th despite clocking 

the same time of 10.19secs as 

Blake who took Bronze. Of course 

the development has sparked a lot 

of debates, but that will be the 

subject for another day. The last 

time Nigeria won a 

Commonwealth Games medal in 

the men’s 100m was in 2006 when 

Olusoji Fasuba took Silver behind 

Jamaica’s Asafa Powell. 

South Africa’s dominance in the 

men’s 100m in Gold Coast 

definitely underlines their status 

as a world power in the sprints and 

jumps, with reigning World 

Champion Luvo Manyonga 

Overcoming the ‘Jack of all trades’ 

syndrome in Nigerian Athletics 

winning the men’s Long Jump title 

at the Games, while teammate 

Ruswahl Samaai settled for 

Bronze. 

Usually, every country is known 

for something, and back in the 

day, Nigeria used to be regarded 

as a powerhouse in the sprints and 

the jumps. These days though, it’s 

becoming more difficult to 

identify where we really belong. 

At the ongoing Games in Gold 

Coast, different countries have 

been making emphatic statements 

in their strong areas, and 

considering our vast human 

resources as a nation, it would be 

good to return to the days when 

we were known for something. 

South Africa wasn’t the only 

country that displayed its 

dominance in specific events. 

Jamaica currently has the best 

male sprint hurdler in the world – 

Omar McLeod, who is the 

reigning Olympic and World 

Champion at only 23 years. So 

good is McLeod that he didn’t 

make himself available for 

selection for the Commonwealth 

Games, giving room for his 

compatriots to take his place at 

the Games. And so Jamaica had 

three finalists in the 110m 

Hurdles in Australia - Hansle 

Parchment, Ronald Levy and 

reigning World U-18 Champion - 

Dejour Russell. At the end of the 

day, Levy and Parchment took 

Gold and Silver respectively in 

spite of McLeod’s absence. 

It was another 1-2 for Jamaica 

in the women’s Triple Jump, as 

Kimberly Williams set a Personal 

Best of 14.64m in her final jump 

to take the Gold, while fellow 

Jamaican Shanieka Rickets took 

the Silver with a Season’s Best of 

14.52m. 

One country that has 

demonstrated that you do not have 

to be a jack of all trades to excel in 

Athletics is Botswana. The South 

African nation has an estimated 

population of 2.25 million (as at 

2016), but have now become a 

force to be reckoned with in the 

400m (men and women). The 

country put up an impressive 

display in the men’s 400m at the 

ongoing Games, and produced a 

1-2 finish, with Isaac Makwala 

racing to a much deserved Gold 

medal with a scorching 44.35secs, 

while his compatriot, the much 

younger Baboloki Thebe, claimed 

Silver in an impressive 45.09secs. 

It was a similar story for 

Botswana in the women’s 400m 

final as Amantle Montsho, who 

won the Commonwealth Games 

title eight years ago in Delhi, 

staged a comeback in Gold Coast 

to win GOLD ahead of defending 

champion Stephenie McPherson 

of Jamaica. What a comeback 

from 34-year old Montsho who is 

approaching the twilight of her 

career. 

It is instructive that Botswana’s 

revolution in Athletics was 

triggered by Montsho’s 

dominance on the continent from 

the mid to the late 2000s. Having 

won three consecutive African 

titles (2008, 2010 and 2012), and 

with her PB of 49.33secs, she is the 

one athlete who has come closest 

to breaking Falilat Ogunkoya’s 

African Record of 49.10secs set in 

1996. Montsho also emerged 

World Champion in 2011, and 

won Silver two years later. 

This is what Athletics enthusiast 

and publisher of Athletics Sports 

Monthly, Leslie Koroma had to 

say about Botswana’s imperious 

performance in Gold Coast: 

“Congrats to the nation of 

Botswana who have come a long 

way from a non-factor to this 

point. It took one standout athlete, 

Amantle Montsho, to inspire 

others and her nation to change 

their way of doing business. Today 

Botswana can boast of a stable of 

world class athletes, and a Nike 

sponsorship for their Athletics 

Association. 

“The athletes who are carrying 

the flag for Botswana today 

should not relax, neither should 

they drift away from their sport 

after retirement as they now have 

a God-given duty to help 

Botswana continue this legacy of 

outstanding performances into 

the far future. This is the mistake 

most athletes from other countries 

in Africa made, by drifting away 

from their sport whose solid 

legacy they had built and today, 

because of the wrong people in the 

wrong places, those countries are 

suffering immense sub-par 

performances and shaming their 

nations on the global stage.” 

A word is enough for the wise!

C 

M 

Y 

K 

SATURDAY Vanguard, APRIL 14, 2018 

Nigeria paying 

for lack of 

planning 

— Rufai 

TOD 

ODAY'S FIXTURES 

EPL 

Southampton vs Chelsea 12.30 pm 

Burnley vs Leicester 3 pm 

Crystal Palace vs Brighton 3 pm 

Huddersfield vs Watford 3 pm 

Swansea City vs Everton 3 pm 

Liverpool vs Bournemouth 5.30 pm 

Tottenham vs Man City 7.45 pm 

SERIE A 

Cagliari vs Udinese 2 pm 

Chievo vs Torino 5 pm 

Genoa vs Crotone 5 pm 

Atalanta vs Inter 7.45 pm 

LA LIGA 

Sevilla vs Villarreal 12 pm 

Barcelona vs Valencia 3.15 pm 

Las Palmas vs R/Sociedad 5.30 pm 

Leganes vs Celta Vigo 5.30 pm 

Ath Bilbao vs Deportivo 7.45 pm 

Buffon 

should 

have 

punched 

the ref 

Commonwealth Games: Nigeria 

moves to 8th position 

— Tacconi 

GOLD COAST 2018 MEDAL TABLE 

Country Gold Silver Bronze Total 

AUS 65 49 54 168 

ENG 31 34 34 99 

IND 17 11 14 42 

CAN 14 34 26 74 

RSA 13 10 12 35 

NZL 10 14 12 36 

SCO 9 13 19 41 

NGR 8 5 5 18 

CYP 8 1 5 14 

WAL 7 10 12 29 

PSG open 

talks with 

Pogba 

BUNDESLIGA 

Hertha vs Koln 2.30 pm 

Bayer vs Eintracht 2.30 pm 

Hoffenheim vs Hamburger 2.30 pm 

Stuttgart vs Hannover 2.30 pm 

Bayern vs M’gladbach 5.30 pm 

NPFL (SUNDAY 15, APRIL) 

Go Round vs Tornadoes 4 pm 

Sunshine vs Wikki 4 pm 

Enyimba vs IfeanyiUba 4 pm 

Plateau vs Lobi 4 pm 

Pillars vs Akwa United 4 pm 

El Kanemi vs Heartland 4 pm 

Abia Warriors vs Katsina Utd 4 pm 

Yobe vs MFM 4 pm 

Rangers vs Kwara 4 pm 

Rivers vs Nasarawa 4 pm 

ACROSS 

1)Puerto-Rican Municipality (5,6) 

8)Beard of Barley (3) 

9)State in Nigeria known as “The Big Heart of 

the Nation”? (3) 

11)Container (3) 

12)Indian Currency Unit (5) 

13)Former Argentine National Coach, 

Edgardo – (5) 

15)Renowned Hollywood Actress, Gabrielle 

– (5) 

17)Venomous Snake (3) 

19)President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce 

& Industry (LCCI), Mr. Babatunde – (6) 

20)Former Cameroon Ïndomitable 

Lions”Goalkeeper, Carlos – (6) 

21)Fasten (3) 

23)Belgium “Ligue One”Club-Side (5) 

26)Cross River State Attorney-General & 

Commissioner of Justice, Mr Joseph – (5) 

28)The First Prime Minister of Palestine, Mr. 

Mahmoud – (5) 

29)Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs 

Service (NCS), Rtd. Colonel Hammed 

Ibrahim – (3) 

30)Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman 

DETAILS 

INSIDE 

Chelsea want 

three points at 

Southampton 

– (5) 

32)South Korean Currency (3) 

33)Burkina-Faso’s Capital City (11) 

DOWN 

CROSS WORD PUZZLE 

2)Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Shinzo – (3) 

3)L.G.A in Lagos State (5) 

4)Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Professor 

Bankole – (6) 

5)Romanian City (5) 

6)Enyimba FC Chairman, Felix – (7,4) 

9)Senior Special Adviser to the Presidency on 

Diaspora Affairs, Hon. Abike – (6,5) 

10)L.G.A in Taraba State (3) 

14)South Africa “Bafana Bafanas” Midfielder, 

Themba – (5) 

16)African Desert (4) 

17)Wager (3) 

18)Netherlands Öranges” Full-Back & AFC 

Bournemouth Defender, Nathan – (3) 

22)France “Less Bleus”Midfielder, Giannelli – (6) 

24)Musical Instrument (5) 

25)Nigerian Currency (5) 

26)Igbo World for Ëight”? (5) 

27)Former Turkish Interior Minister, Mr. Efkan – (3) 

31)L.G.A in Akwa-Ibom State (3) 

Can Tottenham 

emulate Liverpool? 

Gotv Boxing Night 14: 

Boxers in 

war mood, 

talk tough 

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE ON PAGE6 

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

Advert Dept Hotline: 01-4544821. Abuja Advert Hotline: 09-2921024. E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, news@vanguardngr.com, letters@vanguardngr.com. Advert:advertproduction@yahoo.com 

Website: www.vanguardngr.com (ISSN 0794-652X). EDITOR: ONOCHIE ANIBEZE. Phone: 01-7742861, All correspondence to P.M.B. 1007, Apapa Lagos.

14082018 - POPULATION GROWTH : Danger looms for Nigeria

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