13112018 - PLANE SEARCH : Buhari, Atiku at each other's throats

Buhari to Diaspora 

2 

Nigerians: You 

won’t vote in 2019 

ALLEGED $12M FRAUD: 

EFCC recovers 

N871 Bn looted 

4 

funds, 407 

mansions in 3 years 

Implications of continued slide in oil price —FSDH Research 

Why we released 

Uzodinma 

—PRESIDENCY 

5 

20 

** 

VOL. 26: NO. 63679 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

PLANE SEARCH: 

Buhari, Atiku at each 

other's throats 

I'm for 

state 

police, 

stronger 

states, 

41 

says 

Osinbajo 

39 

Fuel 

subsidy 

must go 

—Ezekwesili 

TOWN HALL... 

Obasanjo blasts 

state govs for 

‘stealing' LG funds 

INEC: 

PDP allays fears 

over omission of 

Tambuwal’s name 

Progress Report... 

Minister of 

Power,Works and 

Housing, Mr 

Babatunde Fashola, 

SAN (left) and 

Permanent Secretary, 

Works and Housing in 

the Ministry, Mr 

Mohammed Bukar, 

during the Third Year 

in Office Progress 

Report Press Briefing 

of the minister at 

Mabushi, Abuja, 

yesterday. 

See 

COLUMNISTS ODUMAKIN 17 TENIOLA 18 MAILAFIA 31 

Inside 

SEE STORY 

PAGE 41 

•Buhari ordered the search — ATIKU 

•You are whipping up sentiments — BUHARI 

9 

4 

From Left: Deputy 

Governor of Jigawa 

State, Mr. Ibrahim 

Hassan; Minister of 

Information and 

Culture, Alhaji Lai 

Mohammed and the 

Governor of Jigawa 

State, Alhaji Badaru 

Abubakar, at a Special 

Town Hall Meeting on 

Agriculture in Dutse, 

Jigawa State, yesterday. 

Why 2nd 

Nigeria 

Bridge is 

delayed 

— FASHOLA 

Mr & Mrs 

12

2—Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

40m Nigerians suffer 

mental disorders— FG 

By Luminous 

Jannamike 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Government said, 

yesterday, that an 

estimated 40 million 

Nigerians were believed to 

be suffering from mental 

disorders. 


Ministry of Health, 

Abdulaziz Abdullahi, 

stated this at the ongoing 

mental health action 

committee and 

stakeholders workshop in 

Abuja. 

Abdullahi, who 

attributed the country’s 

high burden of mental 

disorders to inadequate 

attention to mental 

illnesses, misconceptions 

and lack of awareness on 

the part of the public, said 

more people would be 

disabled by psychological 

challenges than 

complications arising from 

HIV/AIDS, heart disease, 

accidents and wars 

combined by the year 

2020. 

He identified ways of 

addressing the country’s 

mental health burden to 

include fast-tracking the 

enactment of the Mental 

Health Act as well as the 

resuscitation of the 

national mental health 

By Chris Ochayi 

MINISTER of Works, 

Power and 

Housing, Mr. Babatunde 

Fashola, yesterday, 

disclosed that the Federal 

Government has 

succeeded in increasing 

power generation, 

transmission and 

distribution in the country 

over the past three years. 

Briefing journalists in 

Lagos on the activities of 

his ministry, Fashola said: 

“With regard to power, we 

have improved on what we 

met, by increasing 

generation from 4000MW 

to 7000MW, transmission 

from 5000MW to 7000MW 

and distribution from 

2690MW to 5,222MW. 

“Our work is clearly not 

finished and we are still 

in the process of 

delivering additional 

generation from Kaduna 

215MW; Afam IV, 

240MW; Kashimbilla, 

40MW; Gurara 30MW, 

and Dadinkowa, 29MW; 

power for nine 

universities, 15 markets 

and two big hydro-power 

action committee for the 

coordination of 

stakeholders’ activities on 

mental health and psychosocial 

supports in the 

country. 

He said: “In Nigeria, an 

estimated 20 to 30 percent 

of our populations are 

believed to suffer from 

mental disorders. This is 

a very significant number 

considering Nigeria has 

an estimated population of 

over 200 million.” 

Also speaking, Director 

of Public Health in the 

ministry, Dr. Evelyn 

Ngige, described 

Nigeria’s statistics on 

mental health disorders as 

damning, considering the 

current economic 

hardships in the country. 

In his remarks, Dr. Rex 

Mpaazange, WHO Lead 

on Communicable and 

Non-Communicable 

Diseases Intervention, 

lamented Nigeria’s high 

burden of such cases, 

noting that “people with 

severe mental disorders— 

moderate to severe 

depression, bipolar 

disorder and 

schizophrenia and other 

psychotic disorders— 

generally have a life 

expectancy 10 to 20 years 

shorter than the general 

population.” 

We’ve increased power 

generation, transmission, 

distribution—Fashola 

plants of 700MW in 

Zungeru and 3,050MW in 

Mambilla. 

“We have transmission 

from 90 projects 

nationwide with Apo, 

Mayo Belwa, Damaturu, 

Maiduguri, Odogunyan 

and Ejigbo being recently 

completed ones. 

“Distribution is through 

over 100 injection substations 

and a distribution 

expansion programme to 

be funded by the Federal 

Government now in an 

advanced state of 

procurement. 

“Although there are still 

people we have not 

reached, although there 

are still disruptions from 

time to time, and although 

there are still people who 

also need metres, and we 

are working to reach them, 

it is indisputable that we 

have delivered on 

incremental power. 

“The evidence of our 

progress is captured in the 

last quarter of the National 

Bureau of Statistics, NBS, 

Report for Q2 of 2018, 

which shows a growth of 

7.5 percent.” 

Buhari to Diaspora Nigerians: 

You won't vote in 2019 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

yesterday, in Paris, France, 

told Nigerians outside the 

shores of the country that 

they will not participate in 

the 2019 general elections. 

The President also 

heaped the dwindling 

fortune of the education 

sector at the doorpost of 

Nigerian elites, accusing 

them of tolerating the fall 

in standards and structures 

of education institutions, 

despite oil windfalls in the 

past that would have made 

all the difference. 

Speaking during an 

interactive session with the 

Nigerian community in 

Paris, on the sideline of the 

Paris Peace Forum, 

President Buhari said about 

five percent allocation to the 

education sector was 

inadequate to propel the 

desired growth for the 

economy, pointing that 

United Nations target of 

26 percent remained 

ideal. 

On the participation of 

Nigerians in Diaspora in 

the forthcoming elections, 

the President said the 

population of Nigerian 

citizens in various 

countries across the world 

already necessitate their 

inclusion to elect leaders, 

noting that it might not 

happen in the 2019 

elections as the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, had been more 

focused on strengthening 

and consolidating on its 

achievements of 

conducting credible 

elections within the country. 

He said: “I am doing my 

best now to utilise our 

resources to develop the 

country. We are already 

getting results on road, rail 

and power. My frustration 

is that some people still 

have plenty stolen monies 

stashed in Europe, US and 

other countries.” 

He said it could happen 

in future, the President said 

the Constitution had taken 

into cognizance the need 

for representation in the 

political structures to ensure 

harmony, urging more 

people to pick interest in 

By Henry 

Umoru, Emman 

Ovuakporie 

& Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

NSTEAD of blaming 

Ilawmakers for delaying 

passage of budgets, 

thereby delaying execution 

of projects, some members 

of the National Assembly 

have advised President 

Muhammadu Buhari and 

the executive arm of 

government to follow due 

process and present 

budget proposals on time. 

In chats with Vanguard, 

many lawmakers from the 

Senate and House 

Representatives, picked 

holes in President Buhari’s 

comment that the legislators’ 

delay of the passage 

of budget was hampering 

completion of many projects 

across the country. 

Senator Urhoghide 

Chairman, Committee on 

Public Accounts, Senator 

Matthew Urhoghide(PDP, 

Edo South), said President 

Buhari does not 

understand the procedures 

for passage of budget. 

Urging the President not 

to trust or believe all that 

his subordinates in the 

executive arm tell him, 

Urhogide said: “A situation 

governance and quality 

representation. 

...tasks elites on 

standard of education 

President Buhari 

enjoined Nigerian elites, 

both at home and in the 

Diaspora, to do more to 

contribute to the education 

sector of the country, 

expressing surprise that the 

elites tolerated the fall in 

Delayed projects execution: 

BRANDPOWER 

AWARD: 

From left—Publisher/ 

Editor-in-Chief, 

BrandPower Magazine, 

Nnanke Willie; CEO, 

MultiChoice Nigeria, 

John Ugbe/ winner of 

the Youth Empowerment 

Through Access to 


Thought Leader Par 

Excellence Awards; and 

Partner, Alatta Nzewi 

Oyeka & Co, Ralph 

Okorocha, during the 

2018 BrandPower 

Golden Icon Awards in 

Lagos. 

standards and structures of 

educational institutions, 

despite oil windfalls. 

In her remarks, Nigerian 

Ambassador to France, Dr. 

Modupe Irele, said the 

Nigerian community had 

demonstrated a high sense 

of responsibility, adding 

that professionals have 

been encouraged to also 

contribute to the country’s 

development. 

Hold Buhari responsible— Legislators 

where budget proposal 

comes before MTEF and 

FSP is putting the cart 

before the horse. This was 

what happened in the 2018 

budget.” 

Deputy Senate Minority 

Leader, Senator Emmanuel 

Bwacha, and Chairman, 

South-East Senate Caucus, 

Senator Enyinnaya 

Abaribe (PDP, Abia South) 

also disagreed with the 

President. 

While Bwacha simply 

said “that is not a true 

reflection of the situation,” 

Abaribe said there is 

“nothing new in President 

Buhari’s accusation. He 

always blames someone 

else for his actions.” 

However, Senator Omo- 

Agege(APC, Delta 

Central), concurred with 

Buhari’s comments, saying: 

“The motivation is clear: 

Frustrate Mr President’s 

budget to deprive him of 

additional infrastructure 

development projects to 

campaign with. 

Reps disagree 

Some members of the 

House of Representatives 

also picked holes in 

Buhari’s allegation, which 

they described as uncalled 

for, adding that if the 

president’s appointees 

meet up with deadlines 

there won’t be any delay in 

budget passage. 

Deputy Chairman House 

of Representatives 

Committee on FCT, 

Sergius Ogun, said: “What 

effort did the President and 

his appointees put to ensure 

that the MDAs come to 

defend their submissions? 

“When you submit a new 

budget, you are required to 

come before the parliament 

to defend how the funds 

released for the previous 

budget were utilised and to 

justify the new request.” 

Chinda, Nwokocha 

To Kingsley Chinda, 

Chairman House 

Committee on Public 

Accounts, the President 

appears to lack a proper 

understanding of how the 

budget processes work. 

Also, Darlington 

Nwokocha, who represents 

Isiala Ngwa North/Isiala 

Ngwa South Federal 

constituency of Abia State, 

said:“The executive has 

started the blame games to 

save face. 

“It is unfortunate that the 

executive always fails to 

present the budget early 

enough and when they 

bring it they expect a waiver 

of the statutory processes, 

which is wrong and 

unhealthy to a nation.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 — 3

4—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

INEC: PDP allays fears over 

Tambuwal’s omission 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA—THE Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

yesterday said there was no 

cause for alarm, following 

the omission of Governor 

Aminu Tambuwal on the 

list of governorship 

candidates submitted to the 



INEC, for the 2019 

elections. 

In a chat with Vanguard 

on the issue, an informed 

source at the party’s 

national secretariat said the 

needful would be done at 

the appropriate time, even 

as he explained the 

circumstances surrounding 

the development. 

Governor Tambuwal, it 

would be recalled, 

contested the Presidential 

ticket of the PDP but lost to 

former Vice President, 

Atiku Abubakar, who polled 

a total of 1,532 to emerge 

the flag bearer. 

As a result, the 52-year 

old governor did not 

participate in the 

governorship primaries but 

he is eligible to seek a 

second term via the 

window of substitution. 

“There is no cause for 

alarm; we are doing the 

needful and do not forget 

that as a presidential 

aspirant, he couldn’t have 

participated in the 

governorship primaries. 

But there is room for 

substitution. So, his name 

will be submitted 

eventually,” the source 

said. 

Asked when this would 

be done, he added: “We are 

following INEC timetable 

and directive. Once we get 

the greenlight, the party 

will do the needful. 

‘’ We want to assure 

Nigerians in general and 

the good people of Sokoto 

State in particular that 

Governor Tambuwal is 

coming back to continue the 

good works he has started.” 

He called on Nigerians 

to continue to support the 

PDP, noting that having 

experienced life under the 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC; 2019 provides ample 

opportunity for the 

electorate to make an 

informed decision that will 

determine the fate of the 

nation. 

Tricycle owners appeal to 

govt, NURTW, RTEAN to obey 

court order 

By Victor 

Arjiromanus 

TRICYCLE Owners 

Association of Nigeria, 

TOAN, has appealed to the 

Lagos State Government, 

the National Union of Road 

Transport Workers, 

NURTW, and its affiliate, 

Road Transport 

Employment Association of 

Nigeria, RTEAN, to obey 

court order that recognised 

it as the main body 

responsible for collecting 

dues and regulating tricycle 

operators. 

The association made the 

appeal in a statement read 

by its General Secretary, 

Comrade Pius 

Gbangbedu, at its Annual 

General Meeting in Lagos, 

weekend. 

The union expressed its 

grievance over the 

continuous delay by the 

Lagos State government, 

RTEAN and NURTW, to 

grant it recognition letter to 

operate as the legal body 

that handles the affairs of 

tricycle operators. 

According to the union, 

Lagos State government is 

using its veto power to 

disrupt its registration. 

They should honor the 

judgment of the court which 

says that our association is 

the recognized body to 

handle the affairs of tricycle 

operators. 

“TOAN has won the case 

for about four months now, 

nothing was done, and 

they only tell us to be 

patient. We have been 

patient enough. At least, it 

is our job. We are the trade 

union registered to control 

organized tricycles in 

Nigeria. It is not a karma 

association. The karma 

associations have no right, 

they don’t have that right 

under the law, and it was 

the law that empowered us 

to organize all activities of 

tricycles in Nigeria. So, we 

want the Lagos State 

government to hear our cry, 

give us recognition letter, 

so that it will take us to our 

job. It is those people that 

do not have the right that 

are doing the job.” 

A member of TOAN, 

Fabian Idoko said: ‘The 

NURTW and its affiliates 

have made it impossible for 

TOAN to work in Lagos 

State since our registration 

by the Ministry of Trade 

Union because of their 

selfish interest. They want 

to remain there, and what 

we are saying is that those 

who are working now are 

not recognized by law to 

work. 

“This is because those 

that are working under 

NURTW are karma bodies 

and the law says a Karma 

registered body has no 

right to make profit. TOAN 

is the only body recognized 

by the law to do this by its 

registration with the 

registry of trade unions.” 

EFCC recovers N871bn looted funds, 407 

mansions in 3 years —Magu 

•Explains why agency wants Diezani back for trial 

By Soni Daniel, 

Northern Region 

Editor 

A BUJA—ACTING 

Chairman of 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, 

boasted yesterday that he 

had set a new record in 

asset recovery and 

conviction of corrupt 

elements in the country in 

the last three years of his 

outing. 

Diezani 

The EFCC boss also 

revealed that the former 

Petroleum Minister, 

Diezani Alison-Madueke, 

was not being tried in the 

United Kingdom as 

speculated, explaining that 

no corruption case had 

been filed against the 

former minister in the UK 

and that Nigeria was 

desirous of extraditing her 

to face trial at home. 

“She is not currently 

being tried for anything in 

the UK. There is no 

prosecution of Diezani 

going on in the UK. We 

cannot wait indefinitely for 

the UK. That is why we 

want to initiate her 

extradition and trial in 

Nigeria,” Magu told 

journalists in his office. 

Magu, who flaunted the 

achievements of his threeyear 

stewardship before 

journalists in his imposing 

Buhari signs extradition law, 

N371.5bn FCT budget 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A BUJA—PRESIDENT 

Muhammadu Buhari 

has signed into law an 

extradition bill to prevent 

persons who have 

submitted to Nigeria in-line 

with the treaty, which 

protects people from 

double judicial trials. 

Senior Special Assistant 

to the President on 

National Assembly Matters 

(Senate), Senator Ita 

Enang, who disclosed this 

yesterday, said President 

Buhari also signed into law 

the 2018 appropriation for 

the Federal Capital 

Territory, FCT. 

He said the Extradition 

(Amendment) Act, 2018, 

vested jurisdiction on 

extradition proceedings 

now on the Federal High 

Court and not Magistrates 

Court or Magistrates 

anymore. 

Enang said: “The 

amendment further 

introduces a new section 

15(2) preventing double 

jeopardy as protected by 

Section 36(9) of the 

Constitution which 

prevents a person, who 

surrendered to Nigeria in 

accordance with extradition 

treaty; obligation from being 

arrested, detained 

,extradited or otherwise 

dealt with in Nigeria or any 

other country within the 

Commonwealth or any 

other country having same 

agreement with Nigeria. 

“If the proceedings 

relates to an offence for 

which he has been 

previously convicted or 

acquitted in the requesting 

country for which 

extradition is sought by the 

Nigerian authorities.” 

On the FCT 2018 budget 

of N371.532 billion, the 

office in Abuja, announced 

that EFCC under his watch 

recovered N794 billion, 

$261 million (about N77.8 

billion), £1.1 million and 

407 mansions from looters. 

He also said that the 

commission convicted no 

fewer than 703 corrupt 

persons and institutions 

within the period under 

review. 

...secures 703 

convictions 

“In the three years that I 

have been in charge of 

EFCC, we have secured 

703 convictions. The 

breakdown is as follows: 

103 convictions in 2015, 194 

convictions in 2016; 189 in 

2017 and 217 from January 

TRAINING: From left—Mr. Babatunde Williams, SSA to Lagos State 

Gov on Industrial Relations; Mrs. Rhoda Ayinde, Perm Sec, Ministry 

of Establishment, Training & Pension; Dr. Akintola Benson One, 

Commissioner for Establishment, Training & Pension; and AbdulRasak 

Falade, Chairman, Joint Negotiations Council, JNC, during a 4-day 

training on leadership development and organisational effectiveness 

for labour leaders in Lagos, Yesterday. Photo: Bunmi Azeez. 

Presidential aide said: 

“The Act allows aggregate 

capital and recurrent 

expenditure of N371, 

532,518,887 up to the 

financial year ending 

December 31, 2018,” 

Other bills signed into law 

by the President is the 

National Environmental 

Standard and Regulations 

Enforcement Agency 

(Establishment) 

(Amendment) Act, 2018. 

On the Act, Enang 

explained: “This Act is an 

amendment to the 2007 Act 

and more succinctly defines 

matters of appointment to 

the council, empowers the 

agency or appropriate 

person to cause immediate 

abatement of imminent 

environmental pollution 

while appropriate warrant 

or court order is sought to 

ensure public safety, among 

others.” 

2018 till date,” Magu revealed. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, 

in the past three years, we 

have set recovery records 

to the envy of virtually all 

law enforcement agencies 

in Africa. 

“It is on record that about 

90 per cent of all recoveries 

in Nigeria is through the 

EFCC. 

“Following court orders 

which granted our prayers 

for interim and final 

forfeiture of looted funds, 

the recoveries under my 

watch between November 

2015 and today are as 

follows: 

“Over N794billion 

recovered. Over $261 

million has been recovered. 

The Pounds Sterling 

recovered stands at 1, 115, 

930.47 Pounds. The Euros 

recovered in the period is: 

8,168, 871. 13 Euros. There 

is also the sum of 86,500 

CFA 

“Hundreds of properties 

such as filling stations, 

petroleum products, land, 

jewellery, automobiles, real 

estate, vessels, hospitals, 

company shares and heavy 

machinery and broadcast 

equipment have been 

seized from corrupt 

elements between 2015 and 

2018. 

126 mansions 

forfeited 

“From 2015 to 2018, 407 

mansions were seized, 126 

have been forfeited finally 

and 281 are under interim 

forfeiture. Nine filling 

stations were seized and 

placed under interim 

forfeiture. 

“Plots of land seized sums 

up to 98 of which 56 are 

under interim forfeiture, 

while 42 have been forfeited 

finally to the Federal 

Government. 

“Two hundred and fifty 

nine automobiles have 

been seized, 35 are under 

interim forfeiture while 224 

have been forfeited finally. 

“A hospital, St. Solomon 

Health Care Centre located 

at No. 24, Adeniyi Jones 

Street, Ikeja, Lagos, has 

also been forfeited finally. 

In 2016, 1500 metric tonnes 

of AGO and 3,035 Metric 

tonnes of LPFO were 

forfeited finally." 

On the OML 245 scam, 

otherwise known as 

Malabu Oil, Magu 

disclosed that in an effort 

to nail the perpetrators of 

the scam, some Italian 

prosecutors would be 

arriving Nigeria very soon 

to compare notes with the 

EFCC on the matter, 

adding that the high 

profiled suspects in the 

controversial fraud would 

face the law. 

Magu said: “We are 

working assiduously to get 

Malabu trial to a 

conclusion. For this reason, 

Italian prosecutors are 

being awaited next week.”

Vanguard, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 — 5 

POCKET CARTOON 

Buhari in France—President Muhammadu Buhari (3rd left), with from left: Ekiti State Governor, 

Kayode Fayemi; Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano; Ambassador of Nigeria to France, Dr Modupe 

Irele; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami as he 

meets with the Nigerian community in France, yesterday. State House photo. 

ALLEGED $12M FRAUD: 


Uzodinma 

•We are not deterred – APC assures Imo people 

•Okorocha out to destroy APC - Senator Uzodinma 

•He failed to execute contract – Imo APC 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri, Omeiza 

Ajayi & Chinonso 

Alozie 

ABUJA —The 

Special Presi 

dential Investigation 

Panel for Recovery 

of Public Property, 

SPIPRPP, yesterday, said 

it granted administrative 

bail to the governorship 

candidate of the All Progressives 

Congress, 

APC, in Imo State, Senator 

Hope Uzodinma, after 

he developed high 

blood pressure in detention. 

In a chat with Vanguard, 

Chairman of the 

—PRESIDENCY 

SPIPRPP, Chief Okoi 

Obono-Obla, who confirmed 

Uzodinma’s temporary 

release on bail, 

said the lawmaker, who 

was accused of complicity 

in alleged $12 million 

contract fraud, pleaded to 

be allowed to return for 

questioning today. 

However, the senator, 

yesterday, denied that 

he was arrested and accused 

Governor Rochas 

Okorocha of planting the 

story as one of his attempts 

to destroy him 

and Imo APC, having 

lost the APC governorship 

ticket to the senator. 

The Okorocha faction of 

Imo APC countered immediately, 

saying that its 

investigations showed 

that Uzodinma did not 

execute the $12 million 

contract. 

Meanwhile, the APC, 

yesterday, assured Imo 

people that it was not deterred 

by what its governorship 

standard bearer 

was going through in the 

hands of the SPIPRPP. 

The party said, though it 

was yet to get details of 

the incident, it however 

remained unfazed ahead 

of the general elections. 

National Publicity Secretary 

of the party, Mallam 

Lanre Issa-Onilu in 

a chat with Vanguard 

said: “I do not have the 

details yet. I read the report 

like every other person. 

It is when we have 

the details that we can 

react appropriately. 

However, we want to assure 

the peace loving 

people of Imo State and 

our supporters there that 

we are on course. There 

is no cause for any apprehension. 

They can 

trust the party they voted 

into power to do the 

right thing at anytime.’’ 

Why we 

released 

Uzodinma – 

Obono—Obla 

Obono-Obla said 

Uzodinma was released 

from detention around 12 

midnight on Sunday. 

He said: “We granted 

him bail to report back today 

and this morning he 

was supposed to return 

by 10 am but he requested 

for us to adjourn the 

matter till tomorrow that 

his blood pressure went 

up. We don’t want him to 

die, so we have granted 

him an extension till tomorrow 

(today) to report 

to us. We will wait for 

him, if he doesn’t come 

as we agreed, we will 

know what to do.” 

On Uzodinma’s alleged 

denial that he was 

never arrested by 

SPIPRPP operatives 

upon his arrival in Abuja 

from Lagos, aboard an 

Air Peace, Obono-Obla 

said: “Well, you know 

that no one will say that 

his mother’s soup is not 

sweet. The man was arrested. 

If not, why is he 

begging for extension 

till tomorrow (today)? He 

was arrested, yesterday, 

(Sunday) at the airport 

about 8:30pm by our operatives 

and he was kept 

there till about 12 mid- 

Continues on Page 40 

By Ebun Sessou, Yinka Latona, 

Tade Oluwapelumi, Miriam Elibe & 

Chisom Nwangwu 

N3.5m monthly feeding expenses for detained Shi’ite leader (2) 

IT sounds like a lie. It 

makes no sense to continue 

making that kind of 

expenses when Nigerians 

are living in abject poverty 

İnstead of obeying the order 

given by a court to release 

the man, they refused. 

They are telling us 

that they are using millions 

of naira to feed him. 

The action implies that the 

government does care 

about the welfare of Nigerians. 

The statement has 

exposed how they have 

been spending our money 

Mrs. Topson John 

Teacher 

WHAT kind of food 

are they feeding 

the man? Are they 

feeding him with gold or 

diamond? 

I don’t know why this 

kind thing was allowed to 

happen in the administration 

of President Muhammadu 

Buhari, who claims 

to be fighting corruption. 

If the government is not 

going to release him, why 

feeding him with N3.5 

million monthly when 

there are citizens, who 

are hungry. 

Mrs.Adesola Funmilola 

Caterer 

THE government of 

Nigeria cannot 

cease to amaze me. They 

detained the Shi’ite leader 

for a long time and they 

are now claiming he is 

being held in a protective 

custody. Apart from that, 

we are now being told 

that the government 

spends N3.5 million to 

feed him monthly. What 

is the essence of spending 

the money? What the 

government claimed it is 

doing is uncalled for. 

Miss Janet Okereke 

Student 

OUR leaders need to 

get their priorities 

straight when it comes to 

the sharing of resources. 

How can the government 

use N3.5m for the feeding 

one man monthly? This is 

a man, who is not working 

for the government. 

He is enjoying, while 

workers have not been 

paid their salaries. They 

are still working without 

pay while a detainee is 

being fed with N3.5 million 

monthly. 

Mr. Obi John, Tailor 

OUR major problem 

in this country is 

that we don’t know how to 

manage our resources. If 

you compare our country 

to other countries when it 

comes to having resources, 

you will know that Nigeria 

is endowed with plenty 

of resources. It is shameful 

that a government that 

refuses to pay N30, 000 as 

minimum wage is spending 

N3.5 million on a detainee 

it refused to release. 

Miss Chinwe Mba 

Banker 

WHAT kind of 

country is this? 

Our leaders spend N 

3.5m monthly on the detained 

leader of Shi’ites. 

Why is the government 

spending such a huge 

amount? Some government 

workers cannot 

even earn N3.5 million 

in their entire career. 

Some Nigerians citizens 

are now homeless because 

they cannot afford 

the money needed to 

rent apartments. 

Miss Chinenye Eze 

Student


Court remands 

Togolese cook 

in prison 

custody over 

murder of 

Bademosi 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—AN Igbosere 

Magistrates’ Court in 

Lagos, yesterday, remanded 

the 22-year-old Togolese cook, 

Sunday Adefonou Anani, in 

prison custody over alleged 

murder of his boss, Opeyemi 

Bademosi, Chairman of Credit 

Switch Technology. 

The Chief Magistrate, Mrs 

O. O. Oshin, ordered that he 

should be remanded in prison, 

pending the legal advice from 

the office of the Directorate of 

Public Prosecution DPP. 

The suspect, who was 

charged on one count of 

murder, allegedly committed 

the offence on October 31, at 

the deceased’s 3b, Onikoyi 

Lane, Parkview Estate Ikoyi 

Lagos, residence. 

The charge stated that 

Anani, in order to rob, stabbed 

the deceased to death with a 

kitchen knife. 

According to the charge, the 

offence committed is contrary 

to section 222 and Punishable 

Under section 223 of the 

Criminal laws of Lagos State 

2015. 

The Police prosecutor, Mr. J. 

I. Eboseremene, told the court 

that he had an application to 

remand the suspect in prison 

custody under section 115 of 

the administration of criminal 

justice law and 264 of 

administration of criminal 

justice law 2015. 

“We pray the court that the 

defendant should be 

remanded in prison custody, 

for the first instance of 30 

days,” Eboseremene said. 

In his reply, the defendant’s 

counsel, Jamiu Alapo, who 

said he was not objecting to 

the remand of the suspect, told 

the court that the suspect 

doesn’t understand English 

Language, but understands 

Pidgin English. 

Magistrate Oshin, in her 

ruling, held that there was 

nothing to reply on the 

remand application. 

She said: “In view of the 

remand application, the 

defendant is remanded in 

prison custody in the first 

instance of 30 days under 

sections 115 and 264 of the 

administration of criminal 

justice law 2015, pending the 

legal advice from the office of 

the Directorate of Public 

Prosecution, DPP.” 

The case was adjourned till 

December 18, for DPP’s 

advice. 

However, after the court 

sitting Anani, who was 

handcuffed, was crying while 

his counsel was speaking with 

him. 


Father of 11 commits suicide over 

missing N600,000 church money in Delta 

By Paul Olayemi 

SAPELE—A 59-year-old 

man, identified as Julius 

Numa, reportedly committed 

suicide over stolen N600,000 

harvest fund kept with him. 

It was gathered that he had 

sent out a text message to his 

friends and relatives 

demanding for financial 

assistance or he would kill 

himself before hanging himself 

in his room in Oton area of 

Sapele, Delta State, on Sunday. 

A family source, who craved 

AN Ogudu Magistrate’s 

Court in Lagos, yesterday, 

remanded a 28-year-old man, 

Sunday Young, who allegedly 

conspired with three others to 

rape a teenager. 

Young, who resides on Dele 

Akingboye Street, Ifako, 

Gbagada, Lagos, was arraigned 

on a five-count charge of 

conspiracy, rape, sexual 

harassment, sexual assault and 

abduction. 

The Magistrate, Mrs E. 

Kubeinje, ordered that Young 

should be kept in prison custody 

pending advice of the state 

Directorate of Public 

Prosecutions, as the court could 

not take the accused’s plea. 

She adjourned the case until 

December 5 for the advice. 

Earlier, the prosecutor, 

Inspector Lucky Ihiehie, said that 

Young and three others, still at 

large, raped a 19-year-old lady 

at 4p.m. on November 1, on 

Yetunde Brown Street, Ifako. 

He said that the victim reported 

the crime with tears at the Ifako 

Police Station. 

“Three young men and a girl 

forced her to their room at the 

above-mentioned address and 

drugged her. She woke up and 

found herself naked on the bed 

with semen on her body. 

“The complainant said she 

anonymity, disclosed that the 

dangling body of the father of 

11 children was found in his 

room by his daughter, who had 

gone to check on him in the 

evening. 

“We suspected he must have 

killed himself over a harvest 

fund of N600,000 that was 

stolen from him weeks back. 

“He was in charge of the 

harvest fund in the church 

and a few weeks back he was 

robbed by some boys at the 

Oton area of Sapele where 

the church is located, and 

By Abdulwahab 

Abdulah 

Aprince of Kweme Land of 

Badagry, Lagos, Semasa 

James, was yesterday rearraigned 

before an Ikeja 

Special Offences Court for 

defrauding the estate of his late 

father Oba Afolabi James, 

leasing the property to a bank. 

Semasa was initially 

arraigned on April 10 on a twocount 

charge of stealing and 

forgery. 

He had denied the charges 

and trial had commenced with 

two witnesses testifying for the 

prosecution. 

However, during the day’s 

proceedings, Semasa was rearraigned 

alongside Afolabi 

Kazeem, whom the Special 

Fraud Unit (SFU) of the 

Nigerian Police Force, alleges 

is an accomplice to the crimes 

In the fresh charge, Semasa 

is charged with stealing, 

since then he has been 

acting strange,” the source 

said. 

Numa was said to have 

sent a text message to 

some of his friends and 

relatives on Wednesday, 

threatening to kill himself 

if they did not help him 

with finance to offset some 

of his debt. 

“Some of the children 

even promised to help out 

this week, only for us to hear 

that he had killed himself” 

the source added. 

Relief materials by Amnesty Cares meant for communities affected by flood in the Niger Delta region. 

doesn’t know the two men and 

the girl but she knows the 

accused who had approached 

her for an intimate relationship 

but she refused. 

“According to the complainant, 

the accused had tried to force 

her to have sex with him and 

they were struggling with her 

clothes which the accused was 

forcefully removing before 

they were interrupted by a 

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A source at the Sapele Police 

Station confirmed the story to 

Vanguard, saying “one Numa 

Julius of Okpe Road was 

reported to have committed 

suicide, when we visited the 

scene, we saw the body 

dangling. 

“We were not able to bring him 

down yesterday, but we learned 

he has been buried this 

afternoon (yesterday).” 

He said the case was being 

investigated to ascertain the 

circumstances surrounding the 

incident. 

28-yr-old charged with drugging, raping teenager 

Badagry prince arraigned over alleged 

N500m fraud against late Oba’s estate 

forging of company 

resolution, fraudulent 

disposing of trust property 

and forgery. 

Kazeem and the prince are 

jointly charged with 

conspiracy to defraud and 

cheating. 

The duo, however, 

pleaded not guilty to the 

seven-count charge. 

According to Mr O. O 

Olabisi, the prosecutor for 

the SFU, the prince 

fraudulently converted 

N500million property 

belonging to the late king 

between 2000 and 2017 in 

Lagos. 

“The defendant had 2011, 

forged the resolution of a 

company called CAJ 

Industrial Enterprises dated 

Nov. 28, 2011. 

“He had purported that 

the resolution was signed by 

his father, who was one of 

the directors of the company 

knock on the door,” the prosecutor 

said. 

He said that the offences 

contravened Sections 260, 263, 

264, 269, 411 of the Criminal 

Law of Lagos State, 2015. 

meanwhile his father had died 

nine years earlier on Jan. 30, 

2002. 

“The defendant had forged the 

resolution with the intent that it 

will be acted upon as genuine 

to the prejudice of any person,” 

he said. 

The prosecutor noted that 

Semasa had fraudulently sold 

a property belonging to his late 

father’s estate to a private 

individual and illegally leased 

another property to Ecobank 

Plc., 

The offences contravene 

sections 383(1), 383(2) (f), 

390(9), 421,434, 465 and 467 of 

the Criminal Code, Laws of the 

Federation of Nigeria 2004. 

Following their plea, Justice 

Oluwatoyin Taiwo ordered that 

Semasa continues his previous 

administrative bail. 

She, however, ordered that 

Kazeem be released to the 

custody of Mr Martin Oyigbo, 

his defence counsel, who must

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018—7 

Suspected vandal found dead 

inside NNPC pipeline in Ogun 

THE Nigerian Security and 

Civil Defence Corps, 

NSCDC, Ogun Command, on 

Sunday, said it recovered the 

body of a 45-year-old man in the 

middle of NNPC’s Petroleum 

Motor Spirit, PMS, pipeline at 

Gbaga Axis, Ogijo, Ogun. 

The man was suspected to be 

an oil thief. 

The command made this 

known in Abeokuta in a 

statement by its Public 

Relations Officer, Dyke 

Ogbonnaya. 

Ogbonnaya stated that the 

command has reported the 

incident to Nigerian National 

Petroleum Corporation, 

By Esther Onyegbula 

IT is still a mystery how the 

bodies of two children and a 

dog found their ways into a 

refrigerator at 2, Christian Onoja 

Street, Igbogbo, Ikorodu Area of 

Lagos state on Sunday. 

It was gathered that the 

children, Emma Ede 6, and 

Darasimi Ede 4 years observed 

their siesta with their father, 

Michel Ede, that fateful 

afternoon with the doors to their 

apartment securely locked. 

A family source said “On 

Sunday afternoon, we were 

alerted by their father who 

emerged from within the house 

asking about the whereabouts of 

his children. 

“We were surprised because 

their father is always at home 

with the kids when their mother 

goes about her trading. 

“So, when their father came 

asking us (neighbours) where 

his children were, we all began 

to search the neighbourhood for 

them, but could not find them,” 

the source said. 

The source added that when 

initial efforts to locate the 

children proved abortive, a call 

was put through to the mother 

of the kids, who came running 

down to their residence. 

“Their mother was visibly 

disturbed upon arrival and 

immediately began to search for 

them, this time, in the house. 

AChief Magistrates’ Court 

sitting in Ilupeju-Ekiti, Oye 

Local Government Area of Ekiti, 

yesterday, sentenced one 

Adeleye Ajayi to two years 

imprisonment for stealing 600 

tubers of yam. 

Chief Magistrate Joseph 

Ayodele found Ajayi guilty on 

the two-count charge of 

conspiracy and stealing against 

him. 

Delivering judgment, Ayodele 

stated: “The prosecution has 

proven its case of conspiracy and 

NNPC, and further briefed it on 

the exploits of die-hard vandals, 

a euphemism for oil thieves, in 

the state. 

He said that the command’s 

anti-vandal team has pledged 

to work harder to combat 

vandalism. 

According to him, “earlier 

Sunday morning around 

5:55a.m., during our regular 

routine patrol along the 

Nigerian National Petroleum 

Corporation, NNPC’s Right of 

Way/ Pipeline at Gbaga axis of 

Ogijo, a lone deceased vandal, 

by name Musa Oladipupo, 45, 

was found in the middle of 

Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS, 

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2 siblings found dead inside 

refrigerator in Lagos 

“After a while, she came wailing 

that she discovered the lifeless 

body of her children and their 

dog inside the freezer,” the source 

added. 

It was learned that the children 

were found in perfect frozen 

condition, as it was clear that they 

had been there for some time. All 

efforts to revive them proved 

abortive, as they were confirmed 

dead by doctors at Briggston 

Hospital in Selewu, Igbogbo, 

where they were taken to. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

remains of the children were later 

taken to Ikorodu general hospital 

stealing against the defendant 

beyond reasonable doubt. 

“ On count one bordering on 

conspiracy, the defendant is 

hereby sentenced to one year in 

prison with an option of N20, 

000 fine. 

“On count two bordering on 

stealing, the defendant is 

hereby sentenced to one year in 

prison with an option of N20, 

000.’’ 

Earlier, the Prosecutor, 

Sergeant Adeniyi Famodimu 

had told the court that Ajayi and 

deep down in the pipeline. 

“The anti-vandal team on 

regular routine patrol 

recovered an empty 30-litre 

keg and a funnel from the 

deceased vandal. 

“The State Commandant, 

Everestus Obiyo, who earlier 

this week had read the riot 

act on vandalism, warned 

that youths should desist 

from all acts capable of 

putting their lives at risk and 

all forms of crime. 

“He also charged parents 

to be more responsible in 

their core duty of proper 

parenting to avoid acts that 

tarnish one’s family name.” 

mortuary. 

Confirming the report the 

spokesperson Lagos state 

police command, CSP Chike 

Oti, said that about 8 pm 

Michel Ede came to the police 

station at Igbogbo, to report 

that he found his two kids 

dead inside the freezer. 

The Commissioner of Police 

had been informed about the 

incident and he has directed 

that the father of the deceased 

be brought to know his ulterior 

motive or whether it’s an act 

of negligence,” he added. 

Affected victims and their Amnesty Cares-relief materials. 

Man bags 2 years jail term for stealing 600 tubers of yam 

three other convicts earlier 

sentenced as well as one 

person at large between 

August and September 2017, 

conspired to steal the tubers 

of yam valued at N150, 000. 

The crime was committed at 

Igbomole Oke Farm Area of 

Ilupeju-Ekiti. 

The prosecutor said the 

offences committed 

contravened Sections 516 and 

390(9) of the Criminal Code 

Vol. 1 Cap C16, Laws of Ekiti 

State, 2012. 

It's a doggy affair 

... with Emma'nKen (08163121378) 

You're both dunces, doesn't you? 

Teacher no teach nonsense

8 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018


Obasanjo blasts governors for 

stealing LG funds 

By Daud Olatunji 

A BEOKUTA— 

F O R M E R 

President, Chief Olusegun 

Obasanjo, yesterday, 

lampooned state 

governors opposed to local 

government autonomy, 

accusing them of 

incapacitating the councils 

financially. 

The former President said 

this while playing host to 

members of a Non- 

Governmental 

Organisation, Friends of 

Democracy, at his 

residence inside Olusegun 

Obasanjo Presidential 

Library, OOPL, Oke- 

Mosan in Abeokuta, Ogun 

State. 

His words: “When in 

1976, we brought in local 

government reforms, it was 

meant to be third tier of the 

government and not meant 

to be subjected to whims 

and caprices of any other 

government. It was just the 

same way that the state 

government is autonomous 

from the Federal 

Government. 

“The local government is 

meant to be autonomous 

from the state 

government. 

“But from what we know, 

by design, most states have 

incapacitated the local 

government. They have 

virtually stolen the Local 

Governments’ money in 

what they called joint 

account. They were to 

contribute 10 percent but 

they never contributed 

anything. 

“So, what we have across 

the country are local 

government areas that 

have functions, but cannot 

perform the functions. 

They have staff but most of 

them cannot pay the staff, 

and we keep getting 

excuses upon excuses. 

“I see no reason if the 

Federal Government 

allows the states to enjoy 

their autonomy except in 

UNVEILING OF DANGOTE CEMENT BLOCMASTER: From left; Route to 

Market Director, Dangote Cement Plc, Funmi Sanni; Standards Organisation of 

Nigeria (SON) Director/Coordinator, Edo State, Akogun Ojo Ilesanmi; National 

Sales and Distribution Director (NSDD), Dangote Cement Plc, Adeyemi Fajobi 

and Chairman, Edo State Block Makers Association of Nigeria, Wilfred Osadiaye 

at the unveiling of the Dangote Cement BlocMaster in Benin, Edo State. 

BlocMaster affordable, best value for money 

— DANGOTE 

B ENIN-CITY— 

Management of 

Dangote Cement, over the 

weekend, assured blockmakers 

and other 

stakeholders in the 

construction business of the 

durability and the extra 

power its new product: 

“BlocMaster” possesses. 

The new product is 

described as the best 

quality cement in the 

country for now. The 

company also said the new 

product is available 

everywhere and very 

affordable. 

Managing Director and 

Chief Executive of the 

company, Joe Makoju, who 

was represented by the 

company’s National Sales 

Director, Adeyemi Fajobi 

spoke to newsmen after the 

product’s unveiling in 

the case of state of 

emergency. 

“The Bill passed by the 

National Assembly, which 

requires 24 State Houses of 

Assembly and I'm told, only 

nine states have signed it. 

“I am proud of those 

states because they are 

what you will call 

progressive states that 

really believe in democracy. 

“My own state (Ogun) is 

one of them. I will say 

kudos to Ogun State. In the 

By Chioma Obinna 

LFoundation, 

AGOS—BUDGIT 

yesterday, decried the cut 

in Nigeria’s health and 

education sector budgetary 

allocation to fund the 2019 

elections. 

They alleged that recent 

information from the 

National Assembly 

Benin and Asaba 

respectively said: “Our 

customers, and key 

distributors are happy 

because of the strength and 

quality of this product. It is 

also very affordable and it 

gives them far more yields 

than all other cements in the 

market… it is currently the 

highest grade of cement in 

Nigeria. It is by far the 

strongest cement, bagged 

in the Nigerian 

market…this cement is 50 

per cent stronger after one 

day and up to 15 per cent 

stronger after 28 days when 

the cement finally sets, so 

that explains the excitement 

of our retailers and key 

distributors across the 

country.” 

Noting that there are other 

brands of cement, even 

from the company, the 

Director, Route to the 

Market, Funmi Sanni, said 

South-South, only Bayelsa 

and Cross River States 

have signed. I give kudos 

to those two states. In the 

North-East, it is only 

Bauchi. In the North-West, 

it is only Sokoto. In the 

North-Central, we have 

four states, Kwara, Niger, 

Plateau and Benue. I will 

say kudos to the executives 

and the legislature of those 

states. 

“But we must say those 

state executives and the 

legislatures that have 

prevented the bill from 

being passed must be 

BudgIT laments cut in health, 

education sectors' budget 

suggests that the 2018 

budget was undergoing 

virement that will re-allocate 

the meagre resources 

meant to improve the 

condition of health and 

education sectors for the 

conduct of the 2019 

elections. 

In a statement by its 

Human Resources 

Manager, Mr. Niyi Soleye 

the BlocMaster quality had 

been certified as the best by 

regulatory agencies in the 

country including the 

Standards Organisation of 

Nigeria (SON). 

She said: “It is the king of 

cement because it is the best 

quality cement in Nigeria 

today, based on the 

laboratory research which 

shows it is of high quality 

in terms of value for money. 

Enjoining builders and 

block boulders to patronise 

the new product, Sanni said 

the product dries fast after 

moulding into bricks. 

“When you mould blocks 

with BlocMaster and it is 

raining, you don’t have 

anything to worry about,” 

She further explained that 

the cement could be used 

to build houses without 

painting, as it comes out 

in good dark colour and 

is weather-friendly.'' 

taken as the enemy of the 

people and they should 

be treated as such. Because 

if you enjoy autonomy from 

the Federal Government 

why don’t you want local 

government to enjoy 

autonomy? 

“Again, I will say the 

leadership of NLC and 

NULGE, who have always 

fought for the interest of the 

people, should know that 

the interest of the people at 

the local government will 

be best served if the LG has 

autonomy which is meant 

that they should have.” 

and signed by the 

Communications Lead, 

BudgIT, said: “The 

consensus is that Nigeria 

is underfunding the health 

sector- and the immediate 

goal of government was to 

raise budgetary allocation 

to 15 percent of total budget 

size. Rather, the virement 

hopes to take away N8.05 

billion from the health 

sector. It is disheartening 

that political actors will 

ignore the growing 

numbers of people losing 

lives due to the poor state 

of Nigeria’s health sector. 

“The cut in the education 

sector allocation is also a 

case in point. Policies, 

strategies, and effective 

budgeting practices 

needed to meet the needs 

of students, attract 

qualified teachers, and 

develop industry-centric 

curriculum especially in the 

public education system are 

critical at this time.” 

Reacting to the situation, 

the BudgIT’s Lead 

Principal, Gabriel Okeowo 

said: the continuous 

apathetic attitude of 

government towards key 

sectors that impact most on 

human development and 

especially the rights of 

children was gradually 

ravaging the future of the 


“Almost everyone in 

government and out of 

government agrees that 

Nigeria’s education sector 

is poorly funded.'' 

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 — 9 


L ruling AGOS—THE 

on a motion, 

seeking final forfeiture to 

the Federal Government, of 

the sum of N2.2 billion 

recovered from a former 

Chief of Air Staff, Air 

Marshal Adesola Amosu, 

was, yesterday, reserved till 

December 3, by a Federal 

High Court sitting in Lagos. 

Justice Mojisola 

Olatoregun fixed the date 

for ruling, after listening to 

arguments from counsel to 

parties in the motion on 

notice 

The court had on June 14, 

issued an interim order of 

forfeiture of the sum, 

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Court to rule on ex-Air Chief’s 

N2.2bn final forfeiture Dec 3 

following an exparte 

motion filed by the 



EFCC. 

Other respondents in the 

suit are Amosu, and a 

company, Solomon 

Enterprises Ltd. 

The Commission had 

submitted that the sums 

were reasonably suspected 

to be proceeds of unlawful 

activities. 

Justice Olatoregun had 

also issued an interim order 

for a temporary forfeiture of 

N190 million recovered 

from a former Air Force 

Director of Finance and 

Budget, Air Commodore 

Olugbenga Gbadebo. 

Buhari, Gambian President, 

Edgal, Vanguard’s Asst Crime 

Editor bag awards in Gambia 

By Evelyn Usman 

P Muhammadu 

RESIDENT 

Buhari, his Gambian 

counterpart, Adama 

Barrow; Commissioner of 

Police, Lagos State Police 

Command, CP Imohimi 

Edgal and Vanguard’s 

Assistant Crime Editor, 

Mrs. Evelyn Usman, are 

among Africans, drawn 

from the security and other 

sectors in the continent, to 

be honoured at the 15th 

edition of the Africa 

Security Watch Awards, 

Conference and Exhibition 

in Banjul, Gambia. 

This edition themed: 

‘Effective Leadership and 

Good Governance: 

Panacea To Extremism and 

Insecurity in Africa’, begins 

on Tuesday 13, 2018, at the 

Labaran Coral Beach 

Resort and SPA, Banjul, 

Gambia, with a South 

African University lecturer, 

Prof. Jacob Mofokeng and 

Nigeria’s Chief of Army 

Staff, Lt. General Tukur 

Buratai as lead lecturers. 

N650M FRAUD: Court dismisses 

Akinjide, others' application 

seeking case transfer to Ibadan 


LHassan AGOS—JUSTICE 

Sule, of a 

Federal High Court, sitting 

in Lagos, yesterday, 

dismissed an application 

filed by Senator Ayo 

Ademola Adeseun and 

Chief Olanrewaju Otiti, 

seeking transfer of criminal 

charge against them to 

Ibadan, Oyo State capital, 

for lack of merit. 

Adeseun and 

Olanrewaju are standing 

trial on alleged N650 

ONDO APC PRIMARIES: Oshiomhole 

asks court to trash suit by 100 

aspirants 

By Dayo Johnson 

A KURE—THE 

National Chairman 

of the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Adams 

Oshiomhole yesterday, 

asked the court to dismiss 

the suit by 100 aspirants of 

the party in Ondo State, 

who alleged there was no 

primary election in any part 

of the state. 

Oshiomhole and some 

aspirants of both the House 

of Representatives and the 

State House of Assembly 

had disagreed over the 

conduct of the primaries to 

million fraud, alongside a 

former Minister Federal 

Capital Authority, Oloye 

Jumoke Akinjide, by the 


Crimes Commission. 

The three defendants are 

chieftains of Oyo State 

Chapter of Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP). 

Justice Sule, after going 

through the applications 

and the counter-affidavit 

filed by EFCC, held that the 

applications lacks merit 

and dismissed same 

accordingly. 

elect candidates for the 

2019 general elections. 

The aspirants had 

dragged Oshiomhole, 

APC, National Legal 

Adviser, Mr. Babatunde 

Ogala and the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, to 

court over the outcome of 

the party’s primaries in the 

state. 

During yesterday’s 

hearing, Oshiomhole asked 

the court to dismiss the 

application in its entirety as 

the prayers being sought 

have been overtaken by 

event as the list had been 

submitted to INEC.



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Congo visits Kogi to study YESSO, SIP 

By Boluwaji Obahopo 

LOKOJA—A delegation 

from the Democratic 

Republic of Congo, 

yesterday, arrived Kogi 

State on a three-day 

working visit to study Youth 

Employment and Social 

Support Operation, 

YESSO, and the Federal 

Government’s Social 

Intervention Programme, 

SIP, in the state with a view 

to replicate same in their 

country. 

DRC was directed to the 

state by the World Bank, 

which named Kogi as one 

of the most successful in 

implementing the Federal 

Government's SIP projects. 

The team, led by the 

country’s Minister for 

Social Inclusion, Professor 

Mughahaba John, said the 

issues of poverty called for 

a collaborative efforts which 

necessitated their visit to 


The state government 

said aside the SIP success 

story, it had signed a 

Memorandum of 

Understanding, MoU, that 

would enable 5,000 youths 

across the 21 Local 

Government areas receive 

skills acquisition training at 

the Korea Training Institute, 

KOICA. 

Speaking, Governor 

Yahaya Bello, who was 

represented by the 

Secretary to the State 

Government, Dr. 

Folashade Ayoade, said his 

administration places 

emphasis on poverty 

reduction as a collective 

desire towards achieving 

good governance. 

VISIT: From left— Member, Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Board, Majekodunmi Akin; 1st Vice 

President, NFF, Seyi Akinwunmi; Group Managing Director, GTI Capital Limited, Abubakar Lawal; 

President, NFF, Amaju Pinnick, and Managing Diretor, GTI Asset Management and Trust Limited, Amos 

Aledare, during NFF management's visit to GTI Capital in Lagos. 

CNPP issues ultimatum to EFCC 

over allegations against Ganduje 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi 

CONFERENCE 

of 

Nigeria Political 

Parties, CNPP, has issued 

a 14-day ultimatum to the 



EFCC, to begin 

investigation of Governor 

Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano 

State over $5 million bribery 

allegations. 

The umbrella 

organisation of all 

registered political parties 

and political associations in 

a statement in Abuja, 

yesterday, by its Secretary 

General, Chief Willy 

Ezugwu, chided the 

judiciary for stopping the 

governor’s investigation by 

the Kano State House of 

Assembly, accusing it of 

covering corrupt practices 

involving highly-placed 

individuals. 

Arguing that “the burden 

of proof that the President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

government is covering 

corrupt members of his 

party is heavier now with 

the Federal Government’s 

continued silence over the 

allegations against the 

governor. 

“We are amazed that 

EFCC has been looking the 

other way, while the 

allegations against the 

Kano State governor 

lingers but is quick to freeze 

the accounts of opposition 

parties’ states at the least 

suspicion of graft. 

“We are totally behind the 

position of the state House 

of Assembly that the courts 

cannot stop it from carrying 

By Bashir Bello 

K ATSINA—THERE 

was drama,yesterday, 

at the Katsina State High 

Court as Lawal Rufai, one 

of the defendant alongside 

a former governor, Ibrahim 

Shema, told the court that 

statement tendered before 

the court as evidence 

against Shema by the 



EFCC, were obtained from 

him under duress. 

Rufai, a former Permanent 

Secretary, Ministry of local 

Government and 

Chieftaincy Affairs, made 

this known through his 

counsel, Aliyu Ahmed. 

EFCC had, in the last 

court sitting, tendered some 

bank documents as 

evidence against Shema to 

further prove its case and 

the prosecuting counsel, 

led by Chief Lateef 

Fagbemi(SAN), had 

out its legislative duties and 

urge the lawmakers to 

conclude the investigation 

without fear or favour. 

“It is shocking that instead 

of taking advantage of the 

fair hearing offered the 

governor by the state 

Assembly, Governor 

wanted the court to admit 

the statements as evidence. 

At yesterday’s court 

sitting, an EFCC operative, 

Abubakar Buba, told the 

court that Rufai willingly 

volunteered and signed 

the various statements 

obtained from him in 2016. 

Ahmed countered the 

EFCC operative when he 

said “my client, who is the 

fourth witness, has told me 

that the statements 

tendered by EFCC before 

this court were made 

involuntarily. In short, my 

client said he made the 

statements under duress. 

“I will, therefore, seek the 

indulgence of this court to 

opt for trial within trial.” 

The presiding judge, 

Justice Ibrahim Bako, 

adjourned the sitting to 

November 28 for the trial 

within trial.” 

Shema, alongside three 

others—former 

Commissioner for Local 

Ganduje chose to approach 

the court to stop the probe. 

“We, therefore, demand 

i m m e d i a t e 

commencement of full 

investigation into the 

allegations by the EFCC 

within 14 days or be 

legally compelled to do so.” 

N11bn suit: EFCC obtained evidence against 

Shema from me under duress— Defendant 

Government Affairs, Sani 

Makana; ex-ALGON 

Chairman, Lawal Dankaba 

and Rufai— are standing 

trial before the court over a 

24-count charge of alleged 

misappropriation of about 

N11 billion of local 

government funds. 

By Peter Duru 

M AKURDI—A 

Makurdi High 

Court presided over by the 

Chief Judge of Benue 

State, Justice Aondover 

Kaka’an, yesterday, vacated 

the interim order 

restraining the Speaker of 

the Benue State House of 

Assembly, Titus Uba, and 

21 other lawmakers from 

holding sittings at the 

Assembly complex. 

Justice Kaka’an vacated 

the order while ruling on a 

motion on notice brought 

AD in position to 

claim Lagos, says Salis 

By Agbonkhese Oboh 

LAGOS 

State 

governorship 

candidate for Alliance for 

Democracy, AD, Chief 

Owolabi Salis, has said 

victory is certain for his 

party, ruling out the 

chances of Mr. Babajide 

Sanwo-Olu, the candidate 

of All Progressive 

Congress, APC, who he 

described as “a product of 

imposition.” 

Chief Salis made this 

statement in reaction to the 

just-released list of 41 

successful candidates for 

the 2019 governorship 

election in the state. 

While commending the 

effort of the National 

Assembly on election 

transparency and 

APC, PDP bicker over 

Kwara by-election 

By Demola 

Akinyemi, with 

agency report 

ALL 

Progressives 

Congress, APC, and 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP, in Kwara State, 

yesterday traded words 

over alleged plans to rig 

the forthcoming byelection 

in some wards 

across the affected Local 

Government areas. 

APC claimed it had 

uncovered plans by PDP 

to rig in some wards, PDP 

accused APC of plans to 

import thugs and 

ammunition from Lagos 

and Osun states from 

today to win the House of 

Representatives byelection 

at all cost. 

APC, speaking through 

Mr. Femi David, media 

aide to Mr. Raheem 

Olawuyi, APC candidate 

for the by-election, in 

Omu-Aran, Irepodun 

council, alleged that there 

was an underground plan 

by PDP to rig the election 

in Ajase Wards 1 and 2 in 

the council and other flash 

before his court by counsel 

to the Speaker, led by Mr. 

Sebastine Hon and 

Edward Ashiekaa, who 

prayed the court to set 

aside its earlier interim 

order of August 13. 

The said interim order 

was issued by Justice 

Thereza Igoche after being 

approached by Mr. Mike 

Usman on behalf of the 

former Speaker of the 

Assembly, Terkimbi 

Ikyange, and seven others. 

Justice Kaka’an stated 

that “the judiciary cannot 

restrain the Benue State 

discouraging vote buying, 

Salis said: “The fears of 

most small political 

parties are election 

rigging and vote buying, 

which AD is 

campaigning against. 

“In Lagos, the principal 

contestants are AD, APC, 

ADC and PDC. The APC 

candidate has no vision 

because he is a product 

of imposition. His loyalty, 

therefore, is not to the 

people, but to an 

individual. 

“Lagosians are not 

happy with the fact that 

their commonwealth is in 

the hands of one person.” 

Salis said he is not just 

the candidate for AD, but 

a candidate for all 

grassroots members of both 

APC and PDP. 

points. 

On its part, PDP faulted 

plans by the Federal 

Government to “deploy no 

fewer than 20,000 

policemen and soldiers for 

the Saturday’s by-election 

that only involves four local 

government areas.” 

PDP state Chairman, 

Engr. Kola Shittu, said: 

“This heavy deployment 

of security officers is a ploy 

by the APC-led Federal 

Government to create fears 

in the mind of the voters.” 

The Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, had 

scheduled a by-election in 

respect of four local 

governments making up 

Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke- 

Ero Federal constituency of 

Kwara for November 17. 

This development 

followed the death of 

Funke Adedoyin, the last 

occupant of the 

constituency slot and the 

subsequent declaration of 

her seat vacant by the 

Speaker of the House of 

Representatives, Yakubu 

Dogara. 

Court vacates order against Benue Assembly 

House of Assembly from 

performing its legislative 

functions. 

“The role of the judiciary 

is not to overheat the polity 

with orders capable of 

destabilising same.” 

The Chief Judge, who 

described the argument 

against his order by counsel 

to the former Speaker and 

seven others, Mr. Sunday 

Okpale, as an academic 

exercise, transferred the 

substantive case to Justice 

Augustine Ityonyiman for 

commencement of hearing 

on November 26.


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

1,801 killed, 50,212 displaced in recent 

Plateau attacks — COMMITTEE 

By Marie-Therese 

Nanlong, with Agency 

Reports 

JOS—THE Committee 

on Resettlement of 

Internally Displaced 

Persons, IDPs, set up by the 

Plateau Government, has 

said 1,801 persons were 

killed in the recent attacks 

on the state. 

AVM Bala Danbaba 

(retd), Chairman of the 

committee, while 

presenting its report to 

Governor Simon Lalong, 

yesterday in Jos, revealed 

that 50,212 persons were 

displaced from their 

ancestral homes. 

Danbaba said the 

committee identified 115 

communities cutting across 

Jos North, Jos South, 

Bassa, Riyom, Barkin 

Ladi and Bokkos Local 

Government Areas, that 

were affected by the crisis. 

He said the committee, 

whose one month mandate 

was later increased to two 

months, received 55 

memoranda and visited 27 

camps where the IDPs 

were quartered, noting 

“The only IDPs camp we 

did not visit was the one at 

Lere, in the Dorowa area of 

Barkin Ladi Local 

Government. We could not 

go there because of security 

reasons. The committee 

also visited all the affected 

communities for an on-thespot 

assessment.” 

He said the committee 

recommended that the 

IDPs be returned to their 

ancestral homes, saying the 

exercise should be carried 

out in four phases. 

“The committee also 

emphasised the provision 

of adequate security in the 

affected areas,” saying the 

Man climbs mast to protest encroachment 

by Atiku’s varsity 

A BUJA—MUSA 

Wakatu, a resident 

of Abuja, has climbed a 

telecommunication mast 

over an alleged land 

encroachment by the 

American University of 

Nigeria (AUN). 

The elderly man climbed 

the mast at Nicon Junction 

in Maitama area of the 

Federal Capital Territory 

(FCT) yesterday morning. 

The university is owned 

by Atiku Abubakar, 

presidential candidate of 

the Peoples Democratic 

Party (PDP). 

Wakatu, who threw 

leaflets from the mast to the 

crowd who had thronged 

the area, alleged that 

Abubakar, through his 

university, had encroached 

and fenced his landed 

property at Bajabure in 

Girei Local Government 

Area in Yola, Adamawa 

State, and built structures 

inside. 

He said he protested on 

the same matter on March 

14, 2012 when he climbed 

a mast at Federal High 

Court in Abuja but nothing 

was done. 

“I wrote a complaint letter 

to the former IG Mr. Hafiz 

Ringim and delivered to 

force headquarters on 5th 

December 2011 with visitor 

tag No.054 without any 

positive result,” the leaflet 

read. 

He said he was lured to 

collect money as 

compensation from AUN 

which he rejected but was 

later locked up in the cell. 

Wakatu said a policeman 

identified as Ibrahim Iro 

detained him in Yola. 

He said he sold a house 

he inherited from his father 

to pursue the case in the 

court without any result. 

IDPs were willing and 

anxious to return to their 

homes, if security was 

guaranteed. 

Danbaba suggested that 

a victim support 

programme be initiated to 

reduce their sufferings. 

The committee also called 

for the establishment of 

temporary camps within 

the victims’ communities, 

for them to live in, while 

their houses were being 

reconstructed. 

Lalong, who received the 

report, commended the 

committee for a good job, 

and announced that the 7- 

man committee would be 

responsible for its 

implementation. 

Lalong reaffirmed his 

administration’s 

commitment to securing 

lives and properties and 

condemned insinuations 

that the state and Federal 

Government were doing 

nothing to end the crisis. 

According to him: 

“Things might be slow, but 

in the spirit of “slowly, but 

surely”, as well as patience, 

we have been able to make 

some phenomenal 

achievements in ensuring 

that peace returns and is 

sustained. As some of our 

strategic initiatives in 

engendering peace and 

security in the state, this 

administration attracted 

the establishment of the 

205 Combat and Rescue 

Units in Kerang.'' 

SECURITY CHALENGES: FG tasks 

Foreign Defence Advisers, 

Attachés on ‘timely, accurate 

intelligence 

By Kingsley Omonobi 

ABUJA—THE Federal 

Government has said 

availability of timely and 

accurate intelligence from 

Defence Advisers and 

Attachés in the country will 

aid security agencies to 

tackle the myriad of 

security challenges in the 

country.. 

Chief of Defence 

Intelligence, Air Vice 

Marshal Mohammed Sani 

Usman, who spoke 

yesterday at the opening 

ceremony of the 2018 

Defence Adviser, Attachés 

conference in Abuja, said: 

“Invaluable intelligence 

means accurate, timely, 

reliable and usable 

intelligence to drive the 

decision making 

processes in our national 

security and defence 

realm which is the very 

essence of the Defence 

Intelligence Agency. It is 

no longer a new 

phenomenon that the 

security paradigm has 

shifted and we no longer 

face conventional 

threats, due largely to 

globalization which has 

affected all areas of the 

world and threats have 

now taken a new form. 

“In order to confront 

them, all elements of 

national power must be 

maximized and 

coordinated to work in 

tandem and with unity of 

effort. This is more so when 

we understand that no 

agency can manage 

today’s threats on its own. 

All parties must strive to 

understand one another’s 

cultures and how best to 

work together to achieve the 

desired outcome that will 

secure our national 

objectives. This is in line 

with President 

Muhammadu Buhari’s 

administration's vision for 

Nigeria, which is to address 

insecurity, corruption as 

well as ensure economic 

growth and democratic 

development.” 

Present at the ceremony 

were the Permanent 

Secretary, Ministry of 

Defence, Hajia Nuratu 

Batagarawa, Chief of 

Defence Staff, General 

Abayomi Olonisakin, DG 

NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah- 

Donli, former CDIs, Vice 

Admiral Joseph Ajayi, retd, 

Major General AM Halidu- 

Giw, retd, Major General 

SY Audu, retd, Brigadier 

General Halilu Akilu, retd, 

Rear Admiral Goddy Okoi, 

retd, Major General 

Sadauna Davies, retd, 

and Air Vice Marshal 

Monday Morgan, retd. 

EDO STATE 2018 ALAGHODARO SUMMIT. PHOTOS BY BARNABAS UZOSIKE 

From left: Prof. Hameed Booie, Governor Godwin Obaseki, his wife and Minister of 

Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole trading banters during the commencement of the 2018 

Alaghodaro Summit to mark Governor Obaseki’s second year anniversary. 

From left; Governor Godwin Obaseki, his wife, Prof. Isaac Adewole 

and the Iyase of Benin Kingdom, Chief Sam Igbe. 

(LEFT): Mr. 

Philip Shaibu, 

Deputy governor 

of Edo State and 

his wife. 

(RIGHT): 

Participants at 

the event.



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CONVOCATION: From left: Prof. Otete Okobiah, Vice-Chancellor; 

Obong Victor Attah, Chancellor; Chief James Ibori, Visitor and Governor 

Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, at Western Delta University, Oghara, Delta 

State, Combined 3rd-7th Convocation. Photos: Nath Onojake. 

Amnesty Office donates relief materials 

to Delta, Bayelsa flood victims 

By Esther Onyegbula 

THE 

Presidential 

A m n e s t y 

Programme has donated 

foodstuff and other 

household items to 

ameliorate the plight of 

inhabitants of some 

communities ravaged by 

flood in Delta and Beyalsa 

states. 

The exercise which 

commenced on November 

10, is scheduled to last for 

one week. 

Special Adviser to the 

President on Niger Delta 

and Coordinator, Amnesty 

Programme, Prof. Charles 

Dokubo, said while 

flagging off the distribution 

of relief materials at 

Bomadi, headquarters of 

Bomadi Local Government 

Area in Delta State, the 

gesture was to provide 

succour for inhabitants of 

the affected communities 

who had lived in terrible 

conditions. 

"The Amnesty 

Programme is meant for the 

people of Niger Delta and 

whatever affects 

communities in the region 

affects us directly or 

indirectly. President 

Muhammadu Buhari was 

moved by reports on your 

plight and we are here to 

identify with you in your 

period of need. We are here 

to alleviate your pains,” 

Dokubo said. 

Represented by his 

Special Assistant on Media 

and Communications, Mr. 

Murphy Ganagana, 

Dokubo said: “ So far, we 

have spent N90 million on 

purchase of the relief 

materials which we are 

distributing to the various 

communities." 

Self-sufficiency: Don’t expect 

support from food exporting 

countries —Minister 

MINISTER 

of 


Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, 

has warned Nigerians 

not to expect support 

from any food exporting 

country. 

The Minister issued the 

warning at a Special Town 

Hall Meeting on Agriculture 

in Dutse, Jigawa 

State, yesterday. 

He cited a recent report 

which said Nigeria imported 

400,000 Metric 

Tonnes of rice this year, 

even though the country 

has reduced rice importation 

by 90 percent, as the 

handiwork of detractors 

who are bent on dampening 

the resolve of the government 

to exit food importation. 

“Please permit me to 

alert Nigerians to the reality 

out there. In pursuing 

our agricultural 

revolution, which will ultimately 

lead to self sufficiency 

in the national 

staples, we should not 

expect accolades and 

support from outside, 

especially from countries 

that have hitherto 

been the main exporters 

of food items such as rice 

to Nigeria. 

“Every nation pursues 

its national interest, and 

it is not in their interest 

for Nigeria to produce 

what it consumes, because 

it means you will 

no longer import from 

such countries." 

2019: Buhari’s failure makes Atiku’s victory 

easier —Jonathan’s ex-Housing Minister 

By Soni Daniel 

P RESIDENTIAL 

candidate of the 


PDP, Alhaji Atiku 

Abubakar, would defeat 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari easily because of 

his perceived failure to 

meet the yearning and 

aspirations of Nigerians, 

former Lands and 

Housing Minister, Chief 

Nduese Essien, has said. 

At the same time, 

Essien, who represented 

Eket Federal 

Constituency in the 

House of Representatives 

between 1999 and 2007, 

also dismissed as 

daydreamers those 

saying the All 

Progressives Congress 

would win the 

governorship position in 

Akwa Ibom State 

following the defection of 

Sen Godswill Akpabio. 

Essien, who addressed 

journalists in Abuja, said 

rather than lose Akwa 

Ibom in 2019, the PDP 

would even perform better 

By Favour 

Nnabugwu 

THE Minister of 

Power, Works and 

Housing, Babatunde 

Fashola, yesterday 

attributed the delay in 

completion of the N206 

billion 2nd Niger Bride 

to depth of water. 

Fashola, who spoke at 

a briefing to mark his 

three years in office as 

minister, said the depth 

of water in the river was 

not what the contractor 

Cross section of Oghara chiefs and other dignitaries. 

than it did in 2015. 

His words: “Whoever 

says that APC will win in 

Akwa Ibom in 2019 

because of Akpabio’s 

entry into the ruling party, 

is merely daydreaming 

because we know that the 

defection of the former 

governor to APC has 

actually exacerbated the 

crisis in APC. 

“Akwa Ibom is a state 

that will always vote PDP 

and there is nothing the 

APC can do to change 

that. As a matter of fact, 

Akpabio’s exit from the 

PDP has made the party 

stronger in the state and 

freed governor 

Emmanuel Udom to 

perform better. It has 

made Udom more 

independent. He is now 

free from the shackles of 

a distracting godfather, 

who wanted to be 

worshipped and adored 

as a god. 

“Our candid advice to 

the APC is to concede 

defeat and prepare for 

2023 rather than engage 

in endless propaganda of 

winning Akwa Ibom and 

how the governor has not 

performed in their own 

imagination. 

“It is on record that 

Udom has delivered on 

most of the promises he 

made to the people of the 

state despite the 

distraction by Akpabio 

and the huge debts he left 

behind for the governor. 

“Atiku will win the 2019 

presidential race easily 

because most Nigerians 

do not want Buhari to 

continue having failed 

woefully to meet their 

basic expectations.’’ 

Edo saves one percent of allocations 

for health devt —Obaseki 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN—EDO State 

governor, Mr. 

Godwin Obaseki, 

yesterday, said his 

administration has been 

saving one percent of its 

monthly allocation strictly 

for the health sector, 

saying that all the 18 local 

government areas are also 

Why 2nd Niger Bridge is delayed, by Fashola 

could contain, adding 

that the water level 

cannot be above 15 feet 

deep for them to work. 

“During peak rainy 

season, it slows down 

their work because you 

need divers to go under. 

This is what it takes to 

build a bridge. 

‘’So at the height of the 

rainy season when there 

is flooding, work will 

slow down. 

‘’They can work only at 

about 15 meters depth of 

the River Niger Bridge. 

doing the same thing to 

strengthen primary 

healthcare delivery in the 


The governor said this 

at the second Alaghodaro 

2018 Edo Summit to mark 

his second year as 

governor of the state. 

The event was graced by 

politicians, captains of 

industry, and clerics 

With the massive 

flooding that we have 

now, it must be about 30 

meters. So if you are 

doing 30 meters of water 

that is the height of a 10- 

storey building so they 

need to wait for it to 

come down. 

“As the rainy season 

ends, you will see more 

activities there. 

Construction is not 

subject only to money, 

materials, and 

transportation, it is also 

subject to weather.” 

among others. 

The governor said 

health centres were being 

built and rehabilitated 

across the 18 local 

government areas to take 

care of the health needs 

of the people. 

He said: “To sustain this 

reform and in addition to 

the support from the 

Federal Government, we 

now save one percent of 

our allocation every 

month so that we can 

invest in our healthcare 

system. 

“Our philosophy and 

view are that the first point 

of contact with the 

healthcare scheme cannot 

be the specialist hospital, 

but the general hospital. 

“We have done all the 

inventory in the Central 

Hospital. We are 

purchasing the 

equipment that are not 

there yet and we are 

having a conversation 

with some private sector 

partners on how to open 

that hospital and manage 

it on a sustainable basis.’’



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RELIEF: Officials of Amnesty Cares presenting relief materials to some affected flood communities 

in the Niger Delta region. 

OGONI: Clean-up not just about degradation 

—Abe 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

PORT 

HAR- 

COURT—THE 

lawmaker representing 

Rivers East Senatorial 

District, Senator Magnus 

Abe, has said the cleanup 

of Ogoniland is not just 

about the exercise but a 

move at ensuring that the 

$170 million paid into 

Ogoni Trust Fund is not 

hijacked by power 

brokers. 

Abe said this yesterday 

in Bori, Khana Local 

Government Area, where 

the local branch of the 

Nigerian Bar Association, 

NBA, hosted stakeholders 

to the first memorial 

lecture in honour of the 

first Ogoni lawyer, Sen 

Cyrus Nunieh. 

He said: “Ogoni 

cleanup can no longer be 

viewed as mere rhetorics 

because as we speak, over 

Ex-militants to oil firms: Leave A-Ibom or 

risk attack 

Be law abiding, Army urges Uvwie, Warri 

youths 

...As men of Operation Crocodile Smile III clean up 

Effurun Market 

By Jimitota 

Onoyume 

W ARRI—THE 

Nigerian Army 

has enjoined youths of 

Warri, Uvwie, and environs 

to promote peace always by 

being law abiding. 

Commander, Sector I, 

Operation Delta Safe, 

Colonel Alhassan Grema, 

made the appeal during a 

sanitation exercise at the 

popular Effurun Market by 

the army as part of the 

programmes lined up for 

Operation Crocodile Smile 

$170 million has been 

released and paid into 

Ogoni Trust Fund. 

“In this entire nation, no 

trust fund contains that 

amount of money, except 

the Ogoni Trust Fund. We 

must, however, be 

vigilant to ensure this 

money is not filtered 

By Chioma Onuegbu 

U 

Y O — T H E 

Coalition of 

Niger Delta Agitators, 

CNDA, has urged 

multinational oil companies 

in Akwa Ibom State to 

move out of the area or risk 

attack on their facilities, 

citing years of alleged 

neglect by the companies 

as being responsible for the 

order. 

III in the Niger Delta 

region. 

He said the army will 

continue to build a peaceful 

civil-military relationship, 

adding that the exercise 

was part of the foregoing. 

Chairman of Uvwie Local 

Government Council, Mr. 

Ramson Onoyake, 

expressed gratitude to the 

army, saying the action 

would further endear the 

people to the army . 

He said: “I.am 

overwhelmed. This is the 

first time this is happening. 

When they came down 

away. We must be 

determined to achieve 

good results. 

“The rhetorics will now 

come in the sense of how 

we actually handle these 

issues moving forward so 

that the impact of the 

cleanup will be felt not 

just by those who have 

A statement by the 

Spokesperson of the group, 

self-styled General John 

Duku, of Niger Delta 

Watchdogs and made 

available to newsmen 

yesterday in Uyo, 

lamented what was 

described as hardship in 

the oil-producing 

communities. 

The statement reads: “The 

Coalition of Niger Delta 

Agitators, hereby, vows to 

from their vehicle, people 

were asking what was 

happening until the 

soldiers started cleaning the 

market. 

I encourage our youths to 

see the soldiers as friends. 

Our youths are peace 

loving and would continue 

to support peace in the local 

government and the state.” 

President-General Uvwie 

kingdom, Chief Ukugbere 

also lauded the army. 

“When soldiers appear 

people disappeared in the 

past. But we can see that it 

is not so now." 

power, but every Ogoni 

indigene. 

“Our society lacks 

honour, integrity, and 

truth. These were the core 

values of Nunieh’s 

generation. How do we 

rebuild our society? 

Without these values, a lot 

of efforts we make will end 

up as a smokescreen.’’ 

do everything possible to 

ensure the total liberation 

of Akwa Ibom people until 

total justice is achieved for 

the vulnerable and 

downtrodden people. 

"We shall immediately 

commence mobilisation of 

all the key actors in this 

struggle, including all the 

militant groups, to Akwa 

Ibom State. We shall also 

ensure total shut down of 

all flow-stations. All the oil 

vessels will be attacked. 

This is Operation Deliver 

Akwa Ibom Campaign. 

‘’All these multinational 

oil and gas companies do 

not have even a liaison office 

in the state. Ninety percent 

of their workers are not 

indigenes of the state and 

the remaining 10 percent 

picked from Akwa Ibom are 

placed under contract with 

meager payment, without 

any entitlement. Their 

representatives don’t deem 

it necessary to visit their 

host communities. 

‘’We promise that very 

soon we shall release the 

video of our findings for the 

whole world to see the level 

of injustice to which these 

multinational oil companies 

have subjected their host 

communities." 

Bayelsa traditional rulers meet 

over insecurity 

By Emem Idio 

Y ENAGOA—TRA- 

DITIONAL rulers 

and chiefs from various 

communities of Bayelsa 

State are set to meet 

today over rising cases of 

cult attacks and violent 

crimes in some parts of 


The meeting, which is 

being organised by the 

Institute for Niger Delta 

Studies in collaboration 

with the Association of 

Rural Chiefs Peace and 

Development Initiative, 

is expected to deliberate 

on increase in sale of 

illicit drugs to 

underaged youths, 

misuse of illicit drugs, 

human rights abuses, 

and hiring of youths for 

violence during elections 

in the state. 

The meeting is tagged 

One Day Stakeholders 

Dialogue on Peace, 

Security and Election 

Matters in Bayelsa. 

Sheathe your swords, Delta 

APC reconciliation c'ttee tells 

aggrieved members 

By Festus Ahon 

A 

S A B A — 

CHAIRMAN of 

Delta State All Progressives 

Congress, APC, 

Reconciliation Committee, 

Mr. Richard Odibo, has 

urged all aggrieved 

members of the party to 

sheathe their swords, 

assuring that the committee 

would reconcile 

grievances. 

Odibo, who spoke to 

newsmen in Asaba, said 

Embrace IVF, Ajayi tells women 

with infertility problems 

By Festus Ahon 

A 

S A B A — 

MANAGING 

Director, Nordica Fertility 

Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, 

has advised those battling 

with infertility to embrace 

In-Vitro Fertilization, IVF. 

Abayomi, a guest speaker 

during a one-day 

sensitisation seminar held 

by the Fertility Awareness 

Advocacy Initiative, FAAI, 

in Asaba, Delta State, noted 

that over 2,000 babies have 

so far been born through 

IVF across the country. 

Warning against the 

patronage of quack fertility 

institutions to avoid 

compounding the 

challenge of infertility, he 

disclosed that FAAI 

comprised persons who 

have had successful fertility 

experiences with a view to 

sensitising members of the 

public on how to overcome 

infertility. 

He explained that the 

seminar with the theme: 

Why IVF Circles Fail, was 

organised to enlighten 

people against acts that 

could cause failure, 

blaming the basic problem 

in fertility services on the 

patronage of quack 

institutions. 

Nosak Group plans multi-billion 

naira investment in Edo 

CHAIRMAN 

of 

Nosak Group, Dr. 

Toni Ogunbor, has 

expressed the company’s 

willingness to invest in Edo 

State, create more jobs and 

grow the state’s economy, 

promising to replicate his 

Lagos investments in Edo 

State. 

Ogunbor, who spoke 

when he received a 

delegation of Edo State 

government led by the 

Secretary to the State 

Government, Mr. 

Osarodion Ogie, in Lagos, 

said: “Nosak Group has 

the committee would do 

everything within its power 

to deliver on its mandate. 

He also solicited the 

support of all stakeholders 

to facilitate the work of the 

committee. 

While admitting that 

there were challenges, he 

said the 21-man committee 

was carefully selected to 

bring aggrieved members 

together and forge a way 

forward for the party to 

achieve victory in the 2019 

general election. 

negotiated with three 

communities for land leases 

and crop compensation at 

mutually agreed terms. 

They are Obagie 

community, for 10,000 

hecters, Igieduma 

community, 7,000 hecters 

and Evbueghae in 

Orhionmwon Local 

Government Area for 5,000 

hecters.” 

Ogunbor noted that the 

group has a total direct 

investment of about N30 

billion, mostly in Lagos and 

partly in Edo State.

14 — Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

ONDO IMPEACHMENT SAGA: Our signatures 

•As S’West PDP flays 

were forged — LAWMAKERS invasion by drivers’ union 

By Dayo Johnson 

AKURE—TWO of the 

18 members of the 

Ondo State House of 

Assembly, who signed the 

impeachment notice served 

on the embattled Speaker, 

Bamidele Oleyelogun and 

his Deputy Ogundeji Iroju, 

yesterday, alleged that their 

signatures were forged. 

Addressing newsmen in 

Akure, the lawmakers, 

Messrs Sunday Olajide, 

representing Akure South 

Constituency 2 and 

Olusola Oluyede, 

representing Ose 

constituency said they 

were not in the state when 

the said impeachment was 

effected. 

This is as the state 

chairman of the All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, Mr. Ade Adetimehin, 

yesterday, said that the 

party had begun peace 

moves to resolve the 

impasse in the assembly, 

saying nothing has 

changed in the leadership 

of the Chambers. 

Adetimehin said 

happenings in the 

assembly “are a normal 

phenomenon within the 

legislature. They will have 

cause to disagree amongst 

themselves but it is the duty 

of the party to see to the 

amicable resolution of the 

dispute. 

“The problem is within 

the control of the party and 

the party is already looking 

into it and we will resolve 

it amicably.” 

On their part, Messrs 

Olajide and Oluyede said: 

“It is criminal for anyone to 

forge our signatures 

without our consent. We are 

not part of the meeting to 

impeach the speaker and 

his d eputy in fact we are 

shocked to find our 

names and signatures on 

the notice.” 

Impeachment null and 

BRIEFING: From left: Mr. Isidore Ogunjiofor, MD, Oriflame Cosmetics 

Nigeria; Mr. Amir Mortazavi, VP/Head of Africa and Iberia, Oriflame Sweden; 

Amb. Inger Ultvedt, Sweden Ambassador to Nigeria; Mr. Robert Af Jochnick, 

co-founder, Oriflame Sweden and Mrs. Gunilla Af Jochnick, wife of co-founder, 

Oriflame Sweden during the press briefing by the co-founder on his visit to 

Nigeria in Ikeja, Lagos yesterday. Photo: Joe Akintola, Photo Editor. 

void—Assembly 

Meanwhile, the 

leadership of the assembly 

has declared that the 

purported impeachment 

carried out by the 

“disgruntled members was 

null and void.” 

The embattled Speaker 

Oloyelogun said: “The 

purported impeachment 

did not satisfy the 

constitutional requirement 

of the House as signatures 

collated were not up to 18 

which represents the twothird 

requirement for the 

impeachment of both 

Speaker and Deputy 

Speaker of the House. 

“They claimed to have 

formed two-third as a 

condition to impeach the 

Speaker and the Deputy 

Speaker, whereas they 

were less in number as 

Messrs Sunday Olajide 

and Olusola Oluyede were 

not part of the attempted 

impeachment. 

“The essential authorities 

of the House such as the 

“Original mace or gavel, 

standing order, book of oath 

and proceedings were not 

honoured and follow in the 

purported impeachment. 

“It has been observed 

and confirmed that the letter 

written to the clerk of the 

House of Assembly on the 

9th of November, 2018 was 

doctored. 

“Among other 

irregularities on the 

doctored letter were they 

intended to impeach the 

Deputy speaker and not the 

speaker but failed again. 

You can check the 

conclusion of their letter. 

“The clerk of the House 

of Assembly was made to 

serve them unofficially 

under duress. Also the 

attempted impeachment 

which was already foiled 

still has Hon. Olamide 

George parading himself as 

the speaker of the Ondo 

State House of Assembly, 

which is impersonation.'' 

S’West PDP flays 

invasion of Ondo 

Assembly by drivers’ 

union 

Meanwhile, the Peoples 


PDP, in the South West, 

yesterday, flayed the 

occupation of the Ondo 

Assembly by members of 

the drivers union in the 


A statement in Akure, by 

the Zonal Publicity 

Secretary of the party, 

Ayo Fadaka reads: “We 

are of the view that the 

House of Assembly is an 

organ of government that 

must discharge its 

functions without the 

undue interloping actions 

of the drivers union in the 

management of the 

parliament. 

“The drivers’ union, as a 

pressure group must know 

its limitations and not 

overstep its bounds under 

any circumstance. 

“We, therefore, call on 

the Police Commissioner 

in Ondo State to take his 

brief serious and give 

great attention to 

maintaining law and 

order seriously.” 

CLASH: Ekiti govt to proscribe drivers’ union 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

AEkiti 

DO-EKITI—THE 

State 

government, yesterday, 

threatened to proscribe the 

National Union of Road 

Transport Workers, NURTW, 

and Road Transport 

Employers Association of 

•As NURTW, RETEAN sign peace accord 

Nigeria, RTEAN, over 

recurring violent clashes 

and rivalries. 

The Deputy Governor, 

Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, 

gave the warning at the 

signing of peace accord by 

the leadership of the two 

drivers unions. 

In a statement by the 

Special Assistant, Media, to 

the Deputy Governor, 

Odunayo Ogunmola, the 

two unions expressed 

satisfactions with the term 

of the peace deal brokered 

by the state government. 

The NURTW Chairman, 

Your uniform not licence to commit crime, 

NYSC warns corps members 

O National 

SOGBO—THE 

Youth 

Service Corps, NYSC, 

yesterday, warned corps 

members serving in Osun 

State not to see their 

uniform as immunity to 

commit crime or get 

involved in social vices. 

The Osun State 

Coordinator of NYSC, Mr 

Emmanuel Attah gave this 

warning at the closing 

ceremony of the 2018 Batch 

C Stream I at the Osun 

NYSC Permanent 

Orientation Camp in Ede. 

Attah said: “My dear 

corps members, I urge you 

all to be good ambassadors 

of the NYSC wherever you 

find yourselves and put in 

your best and be security 

conscious at all times. 

“May I sound a note of 

warning that your uniform 

is not immunity for you to 

commit crime or be 

involved in social vices, if 

you do so, the long arms of 

the law will take its due 

course. 

“Also be reminded not to 

embark on frivolous 

journeys, you owe 

yourselves a duty to stay 

alive during the service 

year.” 

In his remarks, Governor 

Rauf Aregbesola of Osun 

State, who was represented 

by the state Commissioner 

for Social Protection, Sports 

and Special Needs, Biyi 

Odunlade, said: “God is the 

ultimate security but 

humans should live right 

and stay out of harm’s way 

as much as possible.” 

Mr. Oso Farotimi and his 

RTEAN counterpart, Chief 

Rotimi Olanbiwonnu led 

other officials of the unionS 

to sign the agreement. 

The peace accord was 

sequel to a meeting held by 

the Deputy Governor with 

the representatives of the 

two unions on 6th 

November to find a lasting 

solution to violent clashes 

among their members. 

Egbeyemi said the full 

weight of the law will be 

visited on any union 

member who unleashes 

mayhem in the name of 

inter-union rivalry saying 

the peace of the state 

remains paramount to the 

Kayode Fayemi 

administration. 

The two unions, in 

accepting the terms of the 

agreement, pledged to 

abide with all the conditions 

stated above. 

The unions pledged, in 

the agreement, that any 

union that causes 

disturbances/riots in Ekiti 

State should be banned. 

N4.7BN FRAUD: Ladoja, aide 

to open defence Nov 20 


L AGOS—FORMER 

governor of Oyo State, 

Senator Rashidi Ladoja 

and one of his aides, 

Waheed Akanbi, will on 

November 20, open their 

defence in N4.7billion 

fraud charged preferred 

against them by the 



EFCC, before a Federal 

High Court sitting in 

Lagos. 

They are to open their 

defence following the 

dismissal of their no case 

submissions by Justice 

Mohammed Idris. 

In his ruling, Justice Idris 

said with the 

preponderance of evidence 

put forward by the anti-graft 

agency, the defendants 

have some explanations to 

make. 

Justice Idris said: “I have 

refused to consider the 

issue of whether or not I will 

believe the evidence. I have 

also refused to consider the 

question of credibility of 

witnesses at this stage. 

“In the light of all the 

evidences tendered by the 

prosecution and in my 

respective opinion, the 

defendants might have to 

explain the contents of 

some of those exhibits.” 

However, Ladoja’s 

lawyer, Bolaji Onilenla, 

sought an adjournment till 

next week Tuesday to 

enable his client open his 

defence. 

Other defence counsels, 

A. Olumide-Fusika, SAN, 

and the EFCC’s lawyer, 

Olabisi Oluwafemi, were 

also in agreement with 

Onilenla’s request. 

The matter was 

subsequently adjourned 

by Justice Idris to 

November, 20, 2018 for 

the defendants to open 

their case. 

Mgt of UI Int'l school 

down tools over hijab 

By Ola Ajayi 

I BADAN—FRESH 

trouble is brewing at 

the International School 

Ibadan situated within the 

University of Ibadan 

following a sudden 

agitation by some Muslim 

parents that willing female 

Muslim students of the 

school should be allowed to 

wear hijab on their school 

uniforms. 

The incident led to the 

closure of the school by the 

management. 

Some parents, under the 

aegis of International 

School Ibadan Muslim 

Parents’ Forum, in a letter 

to the principal of the 

school, Mrs. Phebean 

Olowe, said: “Hijab 

wearing for young Muslim 

girls, apart from the fact 

that it is part of their 

religious belief, is part of 

their fundamental human 

rights.” 

The statement was signed 

by the chairman of the 

group, 

Alhaji 

Abdurrahman Balogun 

and the Secretary, Mrs. 

Bilikis Badiru. 

The statement reads: “The 

use of hijab, for Muslim 

girls, is now a global 

phenomenon irrespective of 

personal or professional 

callings; student, lawyer, 

nurse, doctor, security 

personnel, teacher among 

others, who willingly adorn 

it. 

The Body of Benchers in 

Nigeria recently endorsed 

the use of mini-hijab not 

only at the call to the bar 

ceremony but also at the 

Nigeria Law School and 

indeed in the legal 

practice.” 

Reacting to the issue, 

the Deputy Vice 

Chancellor, Academic, 

Professor Abideen 

Aderinto, who doubles as 

the Chairman Court of 

Governors of the school, 

said: “I am the Chairman 

of the Court of Governors 

and I am a proud Muslim. 

ISI is a private school. UI 

does not fund it. It is funded 

by the fees collected. It is 

unfortunate that this is 

coming up now. Even the 

Parents Teacher 

Association is not aware 

of the idea by this group. 

Indeed some other 

Muslim parents expressed 

shock when they heard 

about this.'' 

OGUN 2019: Farmers, Hausa 

community pledge support for 

ANRP gov candidate 

Agovernorship 

BEOKUTA—THE 

ambition of the candidate 

of the Abundant Nigeria 

Redemption Party, 

ANRP, in Ogun State, 

Mr. Adewale Omoniyi, 

received a boost, over 

the weekend, as the 

leadership of the Farmers’ 

Association and the Hausa 

community in the state, 

pledged their support for 

him ahead of the 2019 

general elections. 

The leaders gave their 

support when Adewale’s 

campaign council visited 

the farmers and Hausa 

community for 

consultations ahead of the 

general elections. 

At Imeko-Afon local 

government where the 

ANRP team met with the 

farmers association in the 

local government, the 

team unveiled its strategic 

programme to the 

association, vowing that the 

ANRP government, if voted 

to power, will give priority 

to agriculture in the state 

and upgrade the various 

working tools of the farmers 

for more efficiency.

S-East govts begin implementation of OGP 

By Vincent 

Ujumadu 

AWKA—THE five South 

East governments of 

Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, 

Enugu and Imo have 

begun the implementation 

of Open Government 

Partnership, OGP, reform 

programme aimed at 

making the various 

governments more 

inclusive, responsive and 

accountable. 

At a two –day capacity 

building workshop for the 

desk officers under the 

programme in Awka, the 

director general of the South 

East Governor’s Forum, 

Professor Simon Ortuanya 

expressed delight that 

states in the zone promptly 

embraced the programme, 

which would be 

implemented in 

partnership with the 

renowned Department for 

International Development, 

DFID, and the Partnership 

to Engage, Reform and 

Learn, PERL. 

According to him, the 

promptness with which the 

South East governments 

embraced the initiative 

underscored the 

importance and value the 

governors attached to 

issues of transparent and 

accountable governance. 

Ortuanya said: “Over the 

past eight months, the 

South East Governors 

Forum has been providing 

peer-learning support and 

guidance to enable states 

in the region understand 

and effectively navigate the 

OGP process. 

“It is therefore gratifying 

for me to see that states have 

recorded significant 

milestones in their OGP 

journeys. We are happy 

that the states have 

developed action plans 

and set up steering 

committees that are fully 

compliant with the cocreation 

principle of the 

OGP initiative. 

“We are now at a point 

where we need to start 

implementing the 

commitments contained in 

our various action plans and 

as desk officers in your 

various ministries, 

departments and agencies, 

MDAs, you have to drive 

the programme. 

The director general 

further explained that the 

training was organized to 

deepen the desk officers’ 

understanding of the OGP 

initiative, provide an 

overview of their 

responsibilities and to help 

them identify specific 

activities needed to ensure 

that MDAs implemented 

successfully relevant 

commitments in their states’ 

action plan. 

In her address, the reform 

manager of DFID/ PERL 

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018—15 

for the South East 

Governors’ Forum, Mrs. 

Ucheoma Egwuatu 

explained that the 

programme was already 

operational in Kano and 

Jigawa states and 

commended the South East 

geopolitical zone for 

embracing it. 

She also lauded the South 

East governors for 

facilitating the training 

programme within short 

period of their existence, 

assuring that the envisaged 

reforms would definitely 

yield better results with a 

view to ensuring good 

governance. 

Anglican Church sues Anambra over Bishop 

Crowther School property 

THE 

Anglican 

Communion, Diocese 

on the Niger, Onitsha, 

Anambra State, has 

dragged the Anambra 

State government to court 

in its bid to recover Bishop 

Crowther Memorial 

Primary School, Onitsha 

which it said belongs to the 

mission. 

According to the 

chancellor of the diocese 

and a Senior Advocate of 

Nigeria, SAN, Kpajie 

Nnamdi Ibegbu, the church 

had filed three different 

suits against the Anambra 

State government in 

connection with the 

disputed Bishop Crowther 

Memorial Primary School. 

Ibegbu, who did not give 

details of the suit, 

expressed confidence that 

the pendulum of victory 

would swing in the 

direction of the church at 

the court. 

According to him, “with 

all the documents we have 

and the facts we have, no 

reasonable tribunal will 

enter judgment against 

us.” 

He traced the origin of the 

school to 1927 when one 


PRESENTATION: Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (left) presenting the Staff 

of Office to the newly elected Traditional Ruler of Nguru Nsukka Autonomous 

Community, Nsukka Local Government Area, HRH Igwe Linus Obayi at Nsukka, 

yesterday. With him on his left is Senator Chukwuka Utazi, representing Enugu 

North. 

Lady Anesthesia Modebe 

leased the land located at 

the Nkisi road to Church 

Missionary Society, CMS, 

now Niger Diocese. He said 

a school named after Bishop 

Crowther was much 

later built on the land but 

the local authority 

equivalent of local 

government area wanted a 

school they would aid. 

His words: “The church 

granted them the school 

but in 1970, the East 

Central State 

administration under 

Ukpabi Asika took over the 

control, management and 

administration of all the 

schools in the defunct East 

Central State. However, in 

2012, Mr. Peter Obi as the 

governor of Anambra state 

due to the disputes and 

false claims of ownership of 

some schools set up a 

committee on the resolution 

of disputes, over takeover 

of schools by the then East 

Central State. 

“The report which was 

submitted to Obi in Page 43 

no 43 clearly stated that the 

school belongs to the 

Niger Diocese”. 

In the report, the 

committee headed by a 

former chief judge of the 

state, Justice G. U. U, 

Ononiba with Pastor 

Azubuike Nkalagu, a 

deputy director, administra 

tion as secretary said, 

“evidence of the inquiry 

showed that Bishop 

Crowther Memorial 

Primary School is an 

Anglican Primary School 

built in 1956. It should be 

given to them”. 

Disengaged workers threaten to sue Ikpeazu 

By Ugochukwu 

Alaribe 

ABA—Members of the 

Abia state Disengaged 

Non Indigene Workers 

have threatened to drag 

Abia state government to 

court if their 

disengagement from 

service was not reversed or 

their entitlements paid. 

In a letter to Governor 

Okezie Ikpeazu through 

the Secretary to the State 

Government, SSG, titled 

“Pre-action notice with 

respect to the transfer of 

non Indigenes in the Abia 

state public service”, 

counsel to the disengaged 

workers, C.C Okere noted 

that Abia State 

Government has despite 

promises, refused to recall 

the workers or pay their 

entitlements after years of 

service. 

The letter sought for the 

reinstatement of those 

unlawfully transferred to be 

placed back to their 

respective positions and 

promote those due for 

promotion. 

“The executive directive 

which ordered the transfer 

of all non-indigenes 

working in the Public 

Service of Abia State 

(except those in the tertiary 

institutions) to their States 

of origin with effect from 

15 October 2011, or 

howsoever such a policy is 

intended to be effected is 

in violation of section 42 of 

the 1999 Constitution (as 

amended) and therefore 

unconstitutional." 

Ohanaeze stakeholders to 

meet on 2019 

•Stay out of politics, Abia groups tell 

Ohanaeze 

By Chioma 

Gabriel 

THE highest decision 

making body of 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, 'Imeobi' 

will meet in the near future 

to decide on the political 

trajectory of Ndigbo in 2019. 


Spokesman of the apex 

Igbo organisation, Chuks 

Ibegbu, “the group and 

stakeholders of Ohanaeze 

after the meeting will now 

inform Ndigbo their 

political projection and 

direction come 2019. For 

now and until then, nobody 

should use the name of the 

hallowed Igbo body to make 

any 

political 

pronouncement without 

clearance from the National 

Headquarters of the body.” 

The group also took a 

swipe on the search 

conducted on the 

presidential candidate of 


PDP, Atiku Abubakar by the 

security agencies saying 

that searching the Aircraft 

of Atiku Abubakar is 

worrisome. “Due process 

has to be followed in such 

searches, even though 

nobody is above the 

law.Politicians should also 

learn to find solutions to 

Nigeria’s problems within 

our shores and not outside 

the country. We have many 

places for political retreats 

like Obudu cattle ranch, 

Nike lake hotel, Yankari 

games reserve among 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

others.” 

Stay out of partisan 

politics, Abia groups 

tell Ohanaeze 

Meantime, a coalition of 

Abia Interest Groups, an 

umbrella body of major 

pressure groups in Abia 

State has expressed dismay 

over the move by the Abia 

State Ohanaeze Ndigbo to 

endorse the re-election bid 

of the governor of the state, 

Okezie Ikpeazu. 

The coalition made up of 

Abia Youth Vanguard, 

Abia Rescue Mission, Abia 

Divine Group, Abia 

Women Congress, 

Coalition of Abia Xtain 

Organisations, Abia 

Students Association and 

Abia Civil Society Coalition, 

among others said 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo is a 

none partisan Igbo apex 

body and should not 

endorse political 

candidates. 

“It is glaring that a few 

individuals within the 

leadership of Abia State 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo are 

behind 

this 

unconstitutional act for their 

selfish reasons and buoyed 

by the Abia State 

Government. 

“Let the acts, works and 

actions of Okezie Ikpeazu 

speak for him in 2019 and 

not Ohanaeze Ndigbo 

which should be a shield 

for all Igbo sons 

irrespecitve of political 

party." 

Jonathan, Mustapha, Lai 

Mohammed, others eulogise 

late Justice Uche 

FORMER President 

Goodluck Jonathan; 

Information and Culture 

Minister, Lai Mohammed; 

and Secretary to 

Government of the 

Federation, Boss 

Mustapha were among the 

dignitaries who extolled the 

virtues of the late Justice, 

Ijeoma Uche in Abuja on 

Sunday. 

Uche, who died at the 

age of 83, was the first 

female judge in the old Imo 

State and a pioneer judge 

of Abia State judiciary. 

Others present at the 

Night of Tributes at the 

International Conference 

Centre, Abuja, were a 

former Chief Justice of 

Nigeria, Aloma Mariam 

Mukhtar; a former 

governor of Rivers, Peter 

Odili and Idris Wada, a 

former governor of Kogi. 

Also in attendance were 

former Imo governor, 

Achike Udenwa; as well as 

Bala Mohammed, Emeka 

Wogu, Ihechukwu 

Madubuike, former 

ministers of FCT, Labour 

and Education, 

respectively, among others. 

News Agency of Nigeria, 

NAN, reports that 

prominent personalities in 

the legal profession also 

graced the Nights of 

Tribute. 

Jonathan in his tribute 

said Uche was "worthy to 

be celebrated as she lived 

an exemplary life." 

The former president also 

said she was "a humble 

person and inculcated the 

quality in her children by 

bringing them up in a good 

family way." 

Mustapha said that in 

some cultures, death was 

regarded as a transition 

with individuals having 

conquered the other side of 

life. He said that the late 

jurist "played her role as a 

mother and legal luminary 

very well." 

Mustapha urged her 

family to take solace in the 

fact that their mother lived 

a good life. 

Also, Mohammed said 

the late judge was a 

“woman of integrity and 

focus, who did not see her 

husband as a competitor 

and performed her 

domestic duties effectively."


Risk of South Africa blackouts 

persists with Eskom Coal shortage 

Stocks of coal remain low at Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s 

15 base load stations, presenting a risk of power cuts at 

any time in South Africa just as it makes efforts to regain 

investment. 

The state-owned utility that provides about 90 percent of the 

nation’s electricity is looking to procure the fuel immediately, 

spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said.The state-owned utility that provides 

about 90 percent of the nation’s electricity is looking to 

procure the fuel immediately, spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said. 

“Eskom is pursuing urgent coal purchasing from current suppliers 

and those suppliers that are currently not contracted,” he 

said. “The risk of load shedding is always there, the difference is 

how we manage it,” he said, using the local term for controlled 

blackouts. 

AWARD: From left— Mr. Bola Onadele Koko, MD/CEO, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, FMDQ; 

Mr. Jibril Aku, Vice Chairman, FMDQ; Mr. Godwin Emefiele, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN; Mr. Okwu Joseph Nnanna, Chairman, Board of Directors, FMDQ & Deputy Governor, Financial 

System Stability, CBN, during the presentation of the FMDQ Game-Changer award to the CBN governor 

at the FMDQ Gold awards in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau. 

APC: Internal challenges mar reconciliation 

By Omezia Ajayi 

ABUJA—HOPES of 

reconciliation of 

chieftains of the ruling All 


APC, going into the 2019 

general election as a united 

body are being dogged by 

the failure to establish a 

reconciliation committee as 

promised to drive the 

process. 

The National Chairman 

of the party, Comrade 

Adams Oshiomhole recently 

promised to constitute 

a reconciliation committee 

to heal the acrimony 

that has divided the party 

since the conduct of the recent 

party primaries. 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari had earlier in the 

year appointed a national 

leader of the party, Asiwaju 

Bola Ahmed Tinubu to lead 

reconciliation efforts, but 

party officials said the 

committee died on arrival 

even as its existence has 

been overtaken by events. 

In spite of Tinubu’s committee, 

Comrade 

Oshiomhole had days ago 

hinted of a possible resolve 

of the party to kickstart a 

fresh round of reconciliation 

ahead of the elections. 

Oshiomhole had said; 

“we are setting up various 

panels, groups of eminent 

leaders drawn from within 

the APC and we have a 

body of statesmen and 

women within our party 

who we believe can help us 

talk to those who are 

aggrieved so that we can 

sort out all grievances and 

approach the next elections 

as a functioning party and 

by the special grace of God.” 

However, party officials 

told Vanguard Monday in 

Abuja that the committee 

had not been constituted for 

two reasons. 

They cited the face-off 

between the party chairman and 

some stakeholders of the party as 

one of the reasons for the delay. 

“Oshiomhole is an interested 

party. Is there any possibility that 

his reconciliation committee 

would not pander to his whims? 

The president should lead 

reconciliation efforts, but again 

when he tried to do that earlier in 

the year, he ended up appointing 

ING-Nigeria tasks politicians on issuebased 

campaigns, national integration 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN 

CITY—AS 

Nigerian politicians 

prepare for 2019 general 

elections, the Integration 

Group Nigeria, INGN, a 

socio-political and economic 

interest group galvanizing 

support across the country 

for a better Nigeria yesterday 

called on politicians to 

base their campaigns on is- 

sues and not hate 

speeches that would heat 

up the polity. 

Convener of the summit, 

Dr Chris Ekiyor, stated this 

in Benin City, Edo State 

capital at a press briefing 

heralding the 

organisation’s 6thannual 

get together and its 

Senate’s live session. 

He said the essence of 

the INGN is to re-orientate 

the minds of Nigerians to 

seek the path of “peace, 

unity and peaceful coexistence” 

irrespective of 

ethnic, religious and 

cultural beliefs. 

Ekiyo said the 

organization is poitical as 

its members come from all 

political parties in Nigeria. 

“We have a robust membership 

in the 774 local 

governments that make up 

Nigeria, I can tell you that 

in every local government 

area, we have a member, 

we are established in the 

six geo-political zones, we 

are focused on national 

integration, we are filling 

gaps that the National 

Orientatiom Agency, 

a man (Tinubu) who was 

then the ‘aggrieved chief’ to 

lead such efforts. That was 

how everything died from the 

outset”, he said. 

Another party official who 

said he was not authorized 

to speak on the matter said 

many of those that could have 

led the reconciliation efforts 

are themselves aggrieved as 

a result of the conduct and 

outcome of the last primaries 

of the party, and because they 

had not been carried along 

before now and only considered 

when there are troubleshooting 

issues. 

He said; “Some of these 

people are themselves, aggrieved 

because they didn’t 

have their way in the last congresses 

and primaries. They 

are also aggrieved because 

the party has not been involving 

them in some operations. 

Their angst is that some 

people who are benefitting 

heavily from the party would 

go and cause problems somewhere, 

and they 

(stakeholders) would now be 

called upon to come and clear 

the mess”. 

The party has been seriously 

divided over the conduct 

of its primaries with a 

number of governors who are 

strategic influencers turning 

against the national chairman 

of the party. The acrimony led 

to the interrogation of 

Oshiomhole penultimate 

Sunday by the Department of 

State Services, DSS. 

The crisis has crystallised in 

the failure of the party to field 

candidates in Zamfara State. 

The party is also faced with 

hundreds of court cases from 

aggrieved party aspirants. 

NOA, is not able to fill. We 

have members across 

NYSC, we are about 

launching it in tertiary institutions, 

our focus is to 

invigorate the issues of Nigerian 

dream. 

“For the political 

gladiators, it is our clarion 

call and we are going to 

continue to simmer in the 

fact that we will not 

encourage them to use hate 

speeches against one 

another, we will continue to 

champion a cause that improve 

national discourse 

and debate in terms of superior 

logical arguments for 

the purpose of winning 

elections. We are not supporting 

the opposition or 

the ruling party we belong 

to all the political parties in 

the country. We call on those 

campaigning to allow their 

campaigns be driven by issues.” 

Ekiyor also called on 

anti-graft agencies to live 

up to expectation of going 

after corrupt Nigerians 

irrespective of political 

affiliation. 

W/Africa crude-brisk spot trade 

on strong diesel margins 

S 

ome 

spot cargoes changed hands at the 

weekend as strong diesel margins buoyed 

demand that had been weighed down by high 

freight rates and weaker Asian buying. 

Eni sold cargoes of Angolan Olombendo loading 

Dec. 7-8, traders said, to 

Vitol was said to have sold a cargo of Erha loading 

Dec. 5-6. ExxonMobil sold a cargo of Bonga 

loading Dec. 9-10, traders said. 

About eight Angolan cargoes and 35 Nigerian were 

left from the December programmes. 

Oando was still offering a cargo of Bonny Light, 

and ExxonMobil a cargo of Qua Iboe. The last 

levels were said to be dated Brent plus $1.75 a 

barrel. 

Vitol was said to have won Uruguyan ANCAP’s 

latest tender with a cargo of Qua Iboe. Indonesia’s 

Pertamina re-issued a tender to buy Dec. 1-15 

loading West African crude. The tender is valid 

until Nov. 12. India’s IOC has a tender running 

for Jan. 1-15 loading crude. The tender remains 

valid until Nov. 13.Turkey’s Tupras closed a tender 

to buy West African crude for Dec. 25 to Jan. 10 

delivery. 

Cash runs out in Khartoum as Sudan 

tries to halt economic crisis 

Many cash machines in the Sudanese capital have run 

out of banknotes as the government scrambles to 

prevent economic collapse with a sharp devaluation and 

emergency austerity measures. 

Rising demand for cash due to inflation, lack of trust in 

the banking system and the central bank’s policy of restricting 

the money supply to protect the Sudanese pound have all 

contributed to a liquidity crunch that has worsened in the 

past 10 days pending new banknote deliveries. 

The banknote shortage comes one month after authorities 

let the value of the pound slide from 29 pounds to the dollar 

to 47.5 pounds and announced measures to tighten spending. 

“I move from place to place until I find a money changer 

with funds because a large number of the cash machines 

are empty,” said Ahmed Abdullah, a 42-year-old government 

employee. 

Sudan has suffered from a lack of foreign currency since 

losing three-quarters of its output of oil when the south of 

the country seceded in 2011. The lifting of two decades 

of U.S. sanctions in October 2017 did not bring a 

hoped for reprieve. 

U.S. stocks drop on Apple IPhone 

demand worry 

U 

.S. stock indexes dropped as Apple Inc. 

tumbled on signs of weak iPhone demand and 

General Electric Co. fell as much as 10 percent. The 

dollar rose, oil halted a 10-day sell-off and the pound 

slid as the U.K.’s premier fought to save her Brexit 

divorce plan. 

The S&P 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average 

both stumbled Monday, while the Nasdaq 100 dropped 

for the third day and the Russell 2000 small-cap 

benchmark erased its gains for the year. GE extended a 

rout after its chief executive officer’s attempt to reassure 

investors fell flat. Major suppliers for Apple fell as 

investors fretted about one of the most important product 

lines in the technology sector, and U.S. chip stocks 

followed suit.

Day HID asked: "God still exists?" 

IT'S been three years 

since Papa Awolowo's 

"Jewel of inestimable 

value",Mama HID Awolowo 

joined the Saints Triumphant 

on the eve of her centenary 

and now we are a few 

days away from the anniversary 

of the interment of what 

was mortal of her. 

It is a good time to recall 

the last encounter with 

Mama a few months to her 

exit at the living room of the 

Awolowos in Ikenne in company 

of Dr. Tokunbo 

Awolowo-Dosumu and Pastor 

Tunde Bakare and his 

lovely wife. It is an unforgettable 

meet for which I am 

beginning to gain understanding 

as I write this. 

My good friend and brother, 

Prof. Wale Adebanwi, first 

Black African Rhodes Professor 

at St Antony's College, 

Oxford; has done extensive 

work on the post-humous 

career of Awo but yet to give 

us insight into the re-union 

of Awo and his sweet 100. 

He has an assignment if he 

reads this ! 

While waiting for the guy 

with one of the most gifted 

pens in my generation,let 

me hazard that contrary to 

the rude and insensate jabbering 

of an attack-dog columnist 

that Awo would have 

filed post-humus divorce 

against his wife if he returned 

to Ikenne when she 

was alive,the sage would 

have headed straight to some 

terrestrial altar upon seeing 

the love of his life who stood 

by him throughout his turbulent 

political career on 

earth and kept the flag flying 

years after his departure 

before handing over the baton 

to their seed. 

The June 2011 acerbic attack 

was a frontal challenge 

to the Awo establishment in 

an attempt to rubbish the 

measuring rod in Yorubaland 

and foist an aberration 

as the new standard in the 

order of the declaration by 

the Publisher of The Nation 

that published the sacrilegious 

attack that "I can only 

tread the path of Awolowo, 

without his shoes. I don’t 

know his size, I can’t step 

into his shoes because they 

are either bigger or smaller..." 

It was one offensive that 

went awry as it turned out 

the Awolowo family will always 

have an Awo. Mama's 

response was exactly the 

way Papa would have done 

it . Read excerpts : 

"Ordinarily, I do not join 

issues with uninformed individuals 

nor do I comment on 

articles written in uncouth 

and downright vile and violent 

language. Hypocrites 

that claim to be more catholic 

than the Pope or more 

Awoist than his family when 

they in fact hobnob with socalled 

pariahs when it suits 

them and their pockets certainly 

do not engage my attention, 

usually. 

However, this piece, the latest 

in a long campaign of calumny 

against my person 

and family and which, if reports 

are to be believed, is 

the opening salvo of a fresh 

campaign apparently aimed 

at destroying and demystifying 

the Awolowo family, deserves 

an appropriate response, 

particularly since, 

we are informed, such campaign 

has been adopted as 

the preferred policy and strategy 

by a particular political 

party to consolidate its hold 

on its newly acquired political 

power base. 

At 95, I have lived long 

Mama's 

physical eyes 

remained shut 

during that 

memorable 

encounter but 

her inner eyes 

saw clearly the 

fate that 

awaited an 

uncritical 

nation. She 

saw a badly 

divided polity 

ahead 

enough to expect common 

civility from younger ones, 

assuming that they received 

and imbibed proper home 

training. Having just lost my 

daughter less than two 

months ago, I also expect 

that normal people would 

spare me the kind of vitriolic 

attack that was unleashed 

on my person and my family, 

particularly as such an 

attack was entirely unprovoked. 

It is pertinent to mention 

here that, for all their protestations 

as the true children 

of Awo, the top hierarchy of 

the leadership of the ACN 

has not deemed it fit to offer 

me their condolences on the 

bereavement either by telephone, 

letter, or personal visit, 

up till now. 

I should certainly not expect 

anyone in their right 

mind to, in the same article, 

rake up the old wounds of 

the previous tragic loss of my 

first son and then proceed to 

question and, indeed, dismiss 

the notion that he could 

possibly have been fit to carry 

his illustrious father’s mantle. 

All in a bid to situate the 

author’s ‘piper’ as the 

anointed heir of a heritage 

that can never be purchased. 

For the avoidance of 

doubt, my son Olusegun 

was a graduate of Cambridge 

University and he was 

called to the bar in the UK 

after a stint at the Inner Temple, 

where his father also 

studied. These are facts that 

are open for verification by 

anyone who wishes to do so. 

Our expectations of Segun 

were tragically cut short and 

it is a cruel irony that a socalled 

Awoist has chosen to 

taunt me with this. With 

friends like this, who needs 

an enemy? 

The writer claims that, ‘in 

all his tribulations, the family 

(Awo) had was not his 

flesh and blood’. One of the 

basic tenets of journalism is 

that facts are sacred but 

comments are free. Perhaps, 

it should not be surprising 

that the writer failed even 

in this. I would like to refer 

him to the dedication contained 

in Awo’s last book, 

first published in 1987, The 

Travails of Democracy and 

the Rule of Law. I quote: 

‘To my children, Omotola, 

Oluwole, Ayodele, Olatokunbo. 

They also bravely 

weathered the fierce and 

howling storm from sixtytwo 

to sixty-six; they suffered 

mental agony in silence; 

they provided besides sources 

of cheer for Papa and 

Mama, in the four-year— 

long journey through the 

dark and dreary tunnel’. 

As for my personal role in 

my husband’s life before, 

during and after the crisis, I 

commend to the writer most 

of his publications, particularly 

AWO, My March 

Through Prison, and The Travails 

of Democracy and the 

Rule of Law. 

It is surely to the utter 

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 —17 

It became clear that 

Mama was not doubting the 

existence of God but bewildered 

how God would deal 

with the immediate future of 

Nigeria that was being 

painted on the canvas of her 

heart and troubling her inner 

eyes.The deep was calling 

to the deepest. It must 

have been a serious troubling 

of soul moment for this 

great woman to need reassurance 

that God was still 

up there. 

She had faced challenging 

times in her lifetime and the 

farthest he went was asking 

the love of her life "why". On 

pages 246-7 of My March 

shame of a so-called avowed 

Awoist that he has exposed 

his absolute lack of any 

knowledge of Awo’s life. I 

would not be surprised if the 

writer was unaware, as 

many of his cohorts also appear 

to be, that I was the first 

person to use the broom as a 

party symbol when I led the 

party’s campaign for the 

Federal elections that were 

held during my husband’s 

incarceration." 

The abject insult that was 

heaped on my person by the 

writer, for daring to rise 

above partisanship and pursue 

the common good has 

caused me the kind of pain 

that can only be dealt with 

by offering it to God, whose 

wheel of justice may grind 

slowly but is guaranteed to 

grind exceedingly fine." 

This was the woman we visited 

at 99 a few months to 

her death and days to the inauguration 

of the present 

administration . 

Before what transpired that 

afternoon, there was an incident 

on January 14, 2015. 

The APC campaign entourage 

led by General Muhammadu 

Buhari was in Ikenne 

to pay courtesy visit to 

Mama and possibly seek her 

endorsement with her sonin-law, 

Prof. Yemi Osinbajo 

on the ticket as Vice -Presidential 

candidate. The Matriarch 

was however measured 

in all she said to the 

team: 

"I am happy to see all of 

you this evening; thank God 

He has brought you all safely. 

“As a mother of the nation, 

you all know that I do not 

belong to any political party; 

I have long retired from 

partisan politics after the 

death of my husband, Chief 

Obafemi Awolowo. 

“I can only pray for you for 

God’s guidance and protection 

as you tour the country 

to campaign for votes. I pray 

that God will grant you your 

heart's desires. It is also my 

sincere prayer that God will 

grant us a peaceful general 

election in Jesus’ name.” 

Our Ikenne visit a few days 

to the inauguration of this 

administration was to see Dr. 

Awolowo-Dosunmu and we 

ordinarily would have seen 

her at her apartment .But by 

some design she asked us to 

join her at the main house 

where Mama was resplendently 

seated though with all 

the physical attributes of old 

age.Her head was bowed 

and eyes dim. But her voice 

was very clear as we seated 

and she asked for Pastor 

Bakare's hand after exchange 

of greetings. Having a firm 

grip of the hand of the Cleric, 

the Leader of Remo faithful 

women asked in Yoruba 

"Olorun si wa ndan "(God 

still exist?). The same question 

three times.The Pastor 

assured her God is still up 

there and rules in the affairs 

of men. With her head still 

bowed she followed up 

"Awon to nbo yi ni"(It is 

these people coming ). 

Through Prison,Oloye 

Obafemi Awolowo had this 

testimony about his wife: 

"Throughout the crisis, my 

wife, who is a heroine in her 

own right,wept in my presence 

on three occasions. The 

first occasion was when we 

entered our car to travel 

from Ikenne to Epe, en route 

to Lekki where I went on 

further restriction. The second 

was on January 1,1963. 

For the first time, I saw her 

wear dark glasses. On seeing 

me she wept without inhibition. 

'Why,why,why,?She 

sobbed. "Why are they so 

cruel ? "She disclosed to me 

later that she had cried all 

night, and all morning.The 

third occasion was when we 

met for the first time in August 

after the death of our 

late son. Again, she wore 

dark glasses; and,on seeing 

me, she broke down and 

wept."Why has this happened 

to us?,she asked in a very 

moving tone. 

Her sight and her utterance 

stirred indescribable 

emotions within me and for 

a minute or so could not 

speak. And so,in answer to 

her query I said slowly,"I 

don't know, you don't know 

and we will never know. But 

God knows. And our faith in 

the merciful wisdom of God 

who knows why Segun died 

should be enough consolation 

for us as Christians". 

Mama's physical eyes remained 

shut during that 

memorable encounter but 

her inner eyes saw clearly the 

fate that awaited an uncritical 

nation. She saw a badly 

divided polity ahead. She 

could see that human blood 

would become the cheapest 

commodity in our land. She 

visualised the global secretariat 

of poverty under construction 

in Nigeria. She 

couldn't do anything about 

Nigerians jumping into the 

Lagoon to end miserable 

lives 

As she cried 

inwardly,those tears of hers 

dropped for those who deluded 

themselves in beer 

parlours that $1 would sell 

for N1 and that they would 

soon buy a litre of petrol for 

N40. 

By September 19,2015, 

Mama decided she already 

had enough and there was 

no point celebrating her centenary 

in the midst of all 

these. She boarded the last 

flight ! 

C 

M 

Y 

K


IN June this year the Federal 

Government announced its 

intention to introduce the “Trader 

Moni” scheme as part of its Social 

Investment Project (SIP). The 

scheme, which was activated on 

September 6, 2018, advances 

interest- and collateral-free loans 

of N10,000 to the lowest level of pyramid for direct financial 

market traders (particularly market stimulus aimed at creating wealth 

women and artisans) with a view within the informal sector of the 

to upgrading those who pay back economy. Previous regimes had 

up to N50,000. 

targeted mostly big economic 

The Federal Government says the players, as in Corporate Nigeria 

scheme has already been launched and the middle class during the 

in 33 states, with two million Olusegun Obasanjo regime. The 

people targeted nationwide. Vice Goodluck Jonathan regime 

President Osinbajo has been benefited graduates and young 

touring the states to inaugurate aspiring entrepreneurs through its 

the scheme or check how it is being You Win and Sure P programmes. 

implemented. He has also been Trader Moni is a laudable 

meeting with the traders and development because every sector 

artisans and encouraging them to of the economy needs the support 

get involved. 

and assistance of government to 

This is the first time the Federal grow. 

Government is involving the very However, the excitement that this 

bottom of Nigeria’s economic programme elicited has been 

Depoliticising the “Trader Moni” scheme 

clouded by allegations that certain 

elements within the All 

Progressives Congress (APC) 

Federal Government are 

capitalising on it to score cheap 

political yardage. 

For instance, the Vice President 

chose to launch the scheme in 

Osun State on September 7, 2018, 

barely two weeks to the 

governorship election of Saturday, 

September 22, 2018, while the 

campaigns were on. The VP was 

seen flashing the victory sign 

among the traders. The opposition 

People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 

accused him of using the scheme 

for alleged “vote buying”. 

Only recently, a Senator from Ekiti 

State, Biodun Olujimi, called on 

the Senate to investigate the 

Trader Moni disbursements. She 

said she had evidence to show that 

traders were asked to provide 

details of their Permanent Voters 

Cards (PVC), Bank Verification 

Number (BVN), and made to fill 

forms with “I Stand With Buhari” 

printed on them. She even alleged 

that some of the traders were 

defrauded and paid N8,000 

instead of N10,000”. 

Though the Media Office of the VP 

has debunked the claims of asking 

applicants to supply their PVC and 

BVN details, we support the call 

for an unbiased probe of these 

allegations. The money being 

disbursed to the traders belongs 

to the Nigeria people and should 

not be used to promote the 

interests of any political party or 

candidate. 

A thorough probe will reveal the 

truth, and the public has the right 

to know indeed it is being abused. 

ON October 15, IKU 

BABAYEYE IGBAKEJI 

ORISA, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola 

Adeyemi III, the Alaafin of Oyo was 

80. He is the Emperor of a lost 

Empire which in the 18th century 

occupied the whole of south west, 

part of north central and stretched 

to parts of the Republic of Benin and 

Togo. Many people including 

President Muhammadu Buhari 

have sent birthday greetings to the 

monarch. Hopefully on November 

18, 2020, he will mark his 50years 

on the throne like the late Sultan of 

Sokoto, Sir Sidiq Abubakar III 

(1903-1988), the late Ooni of Ife, Sir 

Adesoji Tadeniawo Aderemi II (1889- 

1980), the late Lamido of Adamawa, 

Alhaji Barkindo Mustapha, the late 

Elekole of Egbeoba, Oba Adetula 

Adeleye, the late Owa of Idanre, Oba 

Adegbule Aroloye Arugbuefin III, 

the late Deji of Oyemekun, Oba 

Afunbiowo Adesida, the late Attah 

of Igala, Dr. Aliyu Obaje, the late Obi 

Of Onitsha, Alphonsus Okechukwu 

Okagbue, the late Emir of Kano, 

Alhaji Ado Bayero, the late Jaja 

Amanyanbo of Opobo, Chief 

Douglas Jaja (1915-1980) and the 

Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Sikiru 

Kayode Adetona, Ogbagba II (84). 

During Oba Adeyemi’s reign, 20 

governors served. They are Brigadier 

Robert Adeyinka Adebayo, Brigadier 

Christopher Oluwole Rotimi, Rear 

Admiral Olatunde Akinyoye Aduwo, 

Colonel David Medayeise 

Jemibewon, Colonel Paul Tarfa, 

Chief Bola Ige, Dr. Victor Omololu 

Olunloyo, Lt. Col. Oladayo Popoola, 

Col. Adetunji Idowu Olurin, Col. 

Sasaenia Oresanya, Col. 

Abdulkareem Adisa, Chief Kolapo 

Olawuyi Ishola, Navy Capt. Adetoye 

Oyetola Sode, Col. Chinyere Ike 

Nwosu, Col. Ahmed Usman, Comm. 

Pol. Amen Adore Oyakhire, Dr. Lam 

OPINION 

Alaafin of Oyo: Coping with a 

disintegrated empire 

Adesina, Rashidi Adewolu Ladoja, 

Christopher Alao-Akala and Abiola 

Ajimobi. 

The Oyo Empire was one of the 

great empires in Africa. By the 

second half of the 18th century, the 

empire began to experience a 

decline. By the middle of the 19th 

century, the empire had disintegrated 

and from its ashes rose Ibadan, 

Osun, Egba, Ijaiye, Owo, Igbomina, 

Ondo, Ijesha, Osogbo, Kabba, 

Akoko, Offa, Ilaje, Ikale, Idanre, 

Oyemekun, Ijebu, Yewa, Awori, 

Omu-Aran, Remo, Ekiti, Eko, Ilorin 

Afonja, Ife, Ogbomoso and other 

towns. 

The collapse of the Oyo Empire in 

the 19th century was brought about 

by several factors—some internal 

and others external. One of the 

internal factors was an inherent 

weakness arising from the size and 

nature of the empire. Like the 

Sudanese empires of Mali, Songhai 

and Kanem-Bornu, the Oyo Empire 

was quite extensive and this made 

central control of the provinces 

difficult. One of the reason for this 

was that Oyo the capital was situated 

on the northern fringes of the empire 

and this made it difficult for her to 

control effectively the provinces most 

of which lay to the south of the 

empire. Again the system of 

administering the provinces through 

the Ilaris or resident provincial 

governors began to prove ineffective 

from the late 18th and early19th 

centuries. These governors were not 

strictly supervised from the centre 

and consequently they became 

oppressive, corrupt and arrogant, 

and by their actions drove the subject 

peoples of the provinces to rebel 

against them and the Alaafin whom 

they represented. But the major factor 

for the decline and eventual collapse 

The major problem facing 

Oba Adeyemi today is the 

same problem facing his 

three other colleagues 

of the Oyo Empire was the weakness 

and resultant breakdown of the 

central government. 

Though the Oyo Empire finally 

collapsed in the first half of the 19th 

century, we should not fail to 

recognise the significant 

achievements of the great Empire. 

In the first place, Oyo rose from a 

small and insignificant Yoruba town 

on the northern borders of Yoruba 

land to a great empire. By the middle 

of the 18th century, this empire 

stretched from Benin in the east to 

the western frontiers of Togo in the 

west and from Nupe in the north to 

the mangrove swamps to the south. 

It was the largest of the forest states 

of West Africa. The empire achieved 

a high degree of efficient imperial 

administration based upon wellfashioned 

political institutions. With 

the collapse of the empire, these 

institutions were inherited as a legacy 

by the Yoruba successor states. 

Secondly, the Oyo Empire 

achieved a high standard of military 

efficiency. She owed her rise to a 

great empire, no doubt, to her wellorganised 

army which was her 

effective instrument for expansion 

and suppression of internal revolts. 

Thirdly, the Oyo Empire achieved a 

sound economy based on very 

productive agriculture, trade with 

Sudan, lucrative industries and 

wealth from taxes and tribute. This 

sound economy enabled the Alaafins 

to maintain the elaborate imperial 

administration and also to maintain 

and equip its large army. Fourthly, 

the Oyo Empire achieved social and 

cultural unity for Yorubaland by 

promoting a feeling of kinship based 

on common language (Yoruba) and 

common religion. The Oyo Empire 

encouraged the Yoruba values which 

is commonly referred to as 

omoluwabi values. It is very difficult 

to explain the omoluwabi values 

except you are a Yoruba. They are a 

set of unwritten commandments 

and once you disregard those values, 

you are immediately found guilty no 

matter your power, influence, 

position or wealth. For example, 

Yorubas do not hold regular 

meetings before those values are 

enforced and it is the omoluwabi 

values that have sustained the Yoruba 

civilisation. It is these values that 

have brought about relative peace 

in Yorubaland today. Though the 

Oyo empire is no more, the idea of 

the Yoruba unity which it engendered 

is as strong today as in the days of 

the empire—in spite of today’s 

headlines. To its credit, the Oyo 

Empire achieved remarkable 

longevity from 15th to 19th century. 

The major problem facing Oba 

Adeyemi today is the same problem 

facing his three other colleagues — 

coping with a disintegrated empire 

in the modern day world. 

His three other colleagues are, 

Alhaji Muhammadu Saa’d 

Abubakar III (62), Sultan of the old 

Sokoto Empire, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn 

Umar Garuba (61), the Shehu of the 

Old El-Kanemi Empire—an Empire 

never conquered by the Fulanis and 

Omo N’Oba N’Edo, Uku Akpolo 

Kpolo, Ewuare II, (65), the Oba of 

the Old Benin Empire. 

Oba Adeyemi was brought up in 

the palace of the late Alake of 

Egbaland, Sir Oladipo Samuel 

Ademola (1827-1962) when his 

father, late Oba Adeniran Adeyemi 

II was deposed and exiled in 1954 

for sympathising with the opposition 

party, NCNC in the western region 

and his conflict with deputy leader 

of the action group, late Bode 

Thomas. He also had a sojourn in 

the Ikoyi residence of Sir 

Kofoworola Adekunle Abayomi 

(1896-1979) and his wife, Lady 

Oyinkan Abayomi (1897-1990). He 

is a product of St. Gregory College, 

Lagos and it is from that school he 

was taught the tenets of Christianity, 

although he is a Muslim. Since he 

succeeded Alaafin Gbadegesin 

Ladigbolu II, Kabiyesi Adeyemi III 

has faced a number of crises, the 

beautiful thing is that he has 

survived.


Low capacity forces multinationals, high 

networth individuals to double-insure 

…As industry boss digs in on tier-based capitalization 

By Rosemary Onuoha 

Multinationals and high 

networth individuals are now 

engaging in double insurance by 

insuring same asset locally as well as 

offshore due to inadequate capacity 

of Nigerian insurance industry. 

Vanguard findings show that these 

set of people and corporates are 

compelled by the local content policy 

to insure locally, otherwise, they would 

totally ignore the local insurance 

market. 

Commissioner for Insurance, Alhaji 

Mohammed Kari, who disclosed this 

to Vanguard, noted that they pay for 

double cover because they don’t thrust 

local operators’ capacity. 

Kari stated: “A lot of the big clients 

in Nigeria still do double insurance. 

First they insure to meet the 

requirement of the local content. 

However, they still insure abroad 

independent of their local insurers. 

So, they prefer to pay insurance twice 

because they don’t trust local 

operators’ capacity.” 

According to Kari, the current capital 

level of insurance companies was 

introduced thirteen years ago which 

is contrary to what is obtainable in 

other financial sectors. 

He said, “The current capital of 

insurance companies was increased 

thirteen years ago. Which financial 

sector leaves capital stagnant for 

thirteen years? In the last ten years, 

microfinance banks license have been 

reviewed five times. That is how a 

financial sector operates and to a large 

extent a responsible operator should 

do these things without regulatory 

prompting. 

“We are the weakest link in the 

Nigerian economy and now we are 

going to be less capitalized than 

mortgage guarantee banks with N6 

billion and less capitalized than 

microfinance banks with N5 billion. 

How can an insurance company that 

insures the aviation sector have capital 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

SDR 

DANISH 

RAND 

$112.45 -1.40 

2,229.00 -21.00 

$12.86 -0.13 

$70.89 0.71 

$60.42 0.23 

305.65 306.15 306.65 

398.2008 398.8522 399.5036 

346.9739 347.5415 348.1091 

303.7968 304.2938 304.7908 

2.6842 2.6886 2.693 

0.5132 0.5232 0.5332 

423.6115 424.3044 424.9974 

43.987 44.0594 44.1318 

81.4806 81.6139 81.7472 

424.2422 424.9362 425.6302 

46.5058 46.5819 46.6579 

21.4044 21.4394 21.4744 

CBN Exchange rate as at 12/11/2018 

less than that of microfinance banks? 

We should wake up. 

“Some insurance operators argue 

that capital is not important. If capital 

has no function, how come banks 

bought over insurance companies that 

used to be owned by insurance 

companies? “Insurance anywhere in 

the world is the mobilizer of funds and 

provider of security. You cannot 

provide security if you don’t have 

capital. How can you approach a 

microfinance bank of N5 billion and 

tell them you want to give them 

protection. What is your capital? “The 

claim you pay and the liability you 

hold is a function of your financial 

ability. Check any jurisdiction in the 

world, insurance companies are more 

capitalized than banks. 

“Insurance companies own virtually 

all the financial sector in the world. 

They fund infrastructure because they 

have long term funds to fund long 

term business. If the insurance industry 

don’t need capital, why are they the 

weakest link in the financial sector? 

“We have had three regulators in 

Africa who had come to understudy 

the Tier Based Minimum Solvency 

Capital, TBMSC, structure because 

they loved it and they are thinking of 

introducing it in their market.” 

Kari noted that the TBMSC policy 

is just a document with a name because 

the regulator has always been 

implementing it directly in the past. 

From left: MD/CE of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Umaru Ibrahim; 

Head Information Technology Department, NDIC, Mr. Imade Uhunmwagho and National 

Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) Director Infrastructure and Technical 

Support Service, Dr Abdullahi Gambo as NDIC receives award of “Best MDA Compliance to 

IT Clearance Regulations” during the 2018 eNigeria Conference Digital Promotion Awards. 

Mobile money operators exempted in SANEF 

programme — AMMAN 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

THE Association of Mobile 

Money Agents in Nigeria 

(AMMAN) has said that its 

members and other stakeholders 

are being left out from the Shared 

Agent Network 

Expansion Facility 

(SANEF) programme 

powered by the Central 

Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 

Deposit Money Banks 

(DMBs) and Nigerian 

Inter-bank Settlement 

System (NIBSS). 

The project is aimed 

at accelerating financial 

inclusion in the country 

by on-boarding 40 

million low income and 

unserved Nigerians 

unto the financial 

system by 2020. 

The president, 

AMMAN, Olojo Victor, 

disclosed this at the 

third annual conference 

of the association held 

in Lagos last week. 

Speaking to 

Journalists on the 

sidelines of the 

conference, Olojo said, 

“Specifically we can say 

AMMAN and other industry 

stakeholders who are pushing 

and dragging financial inclusion 

are not carried along in the 

SANEF programme 

“We believe that if AMMAN is 

brought into the system, we will 

be able to share real time 

experiences, challenges on how 

this objective can be achieved. 

“We believe that there is a fund 

aspect attached to SANEF. There 

is money involvement and we 

have told the core stakeholders 

that we the association know the 

agents who are doing well. We in 

the association know agents who 

can bring in the volume and 

transaction, so they must ensure 

they carry us along without that 

there would continue to be 

problem in the industry”. 

Meanwhile, stakeholders in the 

Mobile Money Industry have 

listed effective strategies to 

mitigate fraud. 

NAICOM to commence SIP from next year 

By Rosemary Onuoha 

THE National Insurance 

Commission, NAICOM, said 

that it will commence 

implementation of the State 

Insurance Producer, SIP, from 

January next year. 

Disclosing this at the education 

seminar of the Chartered Insurance 

Institute of Nigeria, CIIN, with the 

theme ‘Increasing Insurance 

Penetration through Value 

Creation’, last weekend in Ibadan, 

Oyo State, NAICOM said that the 

initiative is an alternative channel 

for insurance distribution. 

Commissioner for Insurance, 

Mohammed Kari, who stated this, 

noted that the SIP will be an agency 

of state governments licensed by 

NAICOM to provide intermediary 

services as defined by the guideline 

issued by the Commission and also 

remunerated by the provisions of 

the operational guideline. 

Kari stated: “The key 

responsibilities of the SIP includes: 

facilitating the sale of the 

compulsory classes of insurance 

within the state jurisdiction and all 

classes for its principal’s insurances 

(State Government); exercising on 

defaulters the power to penalise 

ASHON seeks 

tech 

governance for 

board members 

of stockbroking 

firms 

By Peter Egwuatu 

THE Association of 

Stockbroking Houses of 

Nigeria, ASHON has begun 

moves to enthrone global 

best practices in technology 

governance and oversight 

for board members of 

stockbroking firms. 

Consequently, the 

association said it has 

commenced talks with a 

leading Mauritius based 


Communications 

Technology (ICT) Company, 

Acoyvis Limited. 

Acovyis is said to have 

proposed a comprehensive 

training programme for 

board members of 

stockbroking firms and back 

office staff in line with the 

global best practices in 

technology governance and 

oversight functions. 

In the meeting with 

ASHON, Acoyvi’s Chief 

Executive Officer, Susanne 

Alfs, stressed the essence of 

continuous training of board 

members and back office 

staff to upscale their skills 

in view of frequent 

challenges in ICT 

architecture. She explained 

that disruptive trends in the 

ICT world have brought into 

fore the imperative of 

acquisition of latest skills in 

technology. 

Confirming the 

development, ASHON’s 

Chairman, Chief Patrick 

Ezeagu, described the 

Acoyvi’s boss assertion as a 

management change that 

every board must embrace. 

Ezeagu noted that the 

meeting with Acoyvi has reopened 

the on-going 

discussion on the fourth 

revolution and the need for 

every professional to be 

prepared for a change. 

them according to the laws of the 

states; maintaining proper records 

of individuals and organisations 

bound by the requirements of the 

compulsory classes of insurance 

and monitoring the compliance. 

“Once licensed to operate by the 

Commission, the SIP shall 

enter into a Memorandum of 

Understanding as may be 

sanctioned by NAICOM, 

with approved insurance 

companies in its jurisdiction 

for purposes of placement 

and management of 

insurance business within the 

state”.

20 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

Udo Udoma, Minister of Budget and 

National Planning 

Implications of continued slide in oil price — FSDH Research 

By Emeka Anaeto, Business Editor 

WITH concerns over a five-week long 

steady decline in crude oil price, 

economists at FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, 

yesterday posted what may be the 

likely impact on Nigeria’s economy in the 

short-to-medium term perspective. 

According to data obtained from the US 

Energy Information Administration (EIA) 

Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) in its 

report for November 2018, crude oil prices 

declined in October at a faster rate than 

in any month since July 2016. 

Brent spot crude oil price declined by 

U$10 per barrel (p/b) in October to close 

at U$75 p/b. 

Similarly, Bonny Light crude oil price 

declined by 16.01% in October to close at 

US$73.34 p/b. The price of Bonny Light 

crude oil dropped further to US$71.31 per 

barrel as at 7th November 2018. This represents 

a drop of US$16.35 p/b from the 

highest price of US$87.66 recorded in 

October 2018. 

The decline in oil prices is attributed to 

two major factors: the indication of a global 

economic slowdown, and the higherthan 

expected global crude oil supply. The 

International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised 

its global economic growth rate forecasts 

for 2018 and 2019 down by 0.2%; 

this revised forecast was published in the 

IMF’s October edition of the World Economic 

Outlook (WEO). 

Additionally, the expected drop in the 

global crude oil supply due to US sanctions 

on Iranian crude oil may not materialise, 

as a number of other countries are 

making arrangements to buy the Iranian 

crude oil. 

Crude oil is important to the Nigerian 

economy as the major source of revenue 

for the Government and the largest supplier 

of foreign exchange to the country. 

A significant drop in either the price of 

crude oil or production will directly have 

a negative impact on the fiscal position of 

the country. 

It will also cause major macroeconomic 

instability, particularly in the exchange 

rate and inflation rate. 

Presenting the implication, the economists 

at FSDH stated: “FSDH Research 

analysis of the First Half Year 2018 

(HY1’18) Foreign Trade Statistics released 

by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) 

shows that crude oil exports accounted for 

80% of total exports. This follows a historical 

trend as, on average, crude oil exports 

between 2015 and 2017 accounted 

for 78% of total exports. 

“Oil revenue represents a significant 

proportion of Nigeria’s revenue. Lower 

revenue will mean the government may 

not be able to undertake necessary capital 

expenditure and will hinder economic 

growth. 

“It may also lead to a devaluation of the 

currency because of a drop in the foreign 

exchange supply. A rising inflation rate 

Ibe Kachikwu, Minister of State for 

Petroleum Resources 

will be associated with currency devaluation; 

and naturally, the monetary policy 

response to a rising inflation rate is to increase 

interest rates. 

“These likely scenarios will lead to an 

increase in finance costs for both companies 

and government. An economic recession 

is not far from these developments. 

These were the events that happened in 

Nigeria from 2014 through to 2017. 

“FSDH Research notes that the crude 

oil market developments in 2018 and 2019 

appear better than in 2017. The average 

price of Bonny Light crude oil in 2017 stood 

at US$55p/b, the average year till date in 

2018 is US$74.37p/b. “The EIA’s forecast 

price of Brent crude oil indicates that Bonny 

Light crude oil should trade above 

US$70p/b in 2019. Despite these fairly 

positive developments, we are aware that 

the crude oil market is very volatile, therefore 

it is crucial to learn from the events 

that happened in 2014 through to 2017 in 

order to take proactive measures against 

unwarranted economic crisis in Nigeria. 

“Government at all levels must intensify 

efforts to implement policies that will grow 

the non-oil sectors of the economy”. 

Excess crude account decreases by 18% in November 

By Prince Okafor 

ACCRETION to Nigeria’s excess 

crude account, ECA, may have suffered 

an 18 percent decline in the past 

five weeks as a result of steady decline 

in crude oil prices in the international 

market. Last week’s average price stood 

at $71 per barrel against the peak price 

of $85 recorded last month. 

According to the calculations of the 

OPEC Secretariat, there are also indications 

that the decline may be sustained 

as the price of OPEC basket of 

fifteen crudes stood at $68.89 per barrel 

last Friday, compared with $70.68 the 

previous day. 

“The drop in oil prices in just over a 

month due to the sudden realisation by 

investors that the crude oil market had 

been excessively oversupplied had 

clearly worried the OPEC, as they met 

in Abu Dhabi over the weekend”, said 

Fawad Razaqzada, technical analyst at 

Forex.com, an oil watch firm. 

Nigeria’s 2018 budget crude oil 

benchmark remains $50.5 per barrel. 

Before now, Nigeria’s excess crude 

account income had risen by 14 percent 

in the first two weeks of November 2018 

to $75 million daily, compared to $64 

million daily in the corresponding period 

of the previous month. 

According to the calculations of the 

OPEC Secretariat, the price of OPEC’s 

basket of 14 crudes stood at an average 

of $71.27 a barrel in the first two weeks 

of November, compared with $83 during 

the corresponding period of October 

2018. 

The OPEC Reference Basket of Crudes 

(ORB) is made up of the following: Saharan 

Blend (Algeria), Girassol (Angola), 

Oriente (Ecuador), Zafiro (Equatorial 

Guinea), Rabi Light (Gabon), Iran 

Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra 

Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), 

Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), 

Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light 

(Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and 

Merey (Venezuela). 

A breakdown of the development 

shows that, at the current price of Brent 

in the international market, the nation 

generated $27.77 per barrel in October 

and $32.5 in November 2018 respective- 

Ben-Akabueze, Director General, 

Budget office 

ly, in excess of the $50.5 per barrel reference 

price of the 2018 budget crude 

oil benchmark. 

This amounts to an excess revenue of 

$75 million daily in the first two weeks 

of November, compared to $64 million 

in the corresponding period of the previous 

month. Crude oil production 

was benchmarked at 2.3 million barrels 

per day with an exchange rate of N305 

to one dollar. 

Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance 

N11.58trn or $82.26bn 

unaccounted for after 11 years 

Meanwhile, a report obtained from the 

Ministry of Finance showed that between 

2007 and 2017, 49 percent of the 

expected inflow were not unaccounted 

for. 

A breakdown shows that, during this 

period, the expected inflow to the ECA, 

stood at $167.50 billion. $82.92 billion 

was withdrawn as Federal Accounts 

Allocations Committee, FAAC distribution, 

Sure-P along with the Nigerian Independent 

Power Projects, NIPP investment. 

The expected net balance as at 

December 2017 was $84.58 billion. 

The actual balance in the ECA as of 

December 2017 according to the Ministry 

of Finance stood at $2.32bn, while 

the total unaccounted amount remained 

$82.26 billion. 

Speaking on the issue, an analyst at 

BL and C Limited, Mr. Bode Longe, 

stated that there is need to collapse the 

excess crude account into the stabilization 

account of the Sovereign Wealth 

Fund. He said, “Many conversations 

have happened in the past and a growing 

consensus is to collapse the ECA 

and 0.5 percent stabilization account 

into the stabilization account of the Sovereign 

Wealth Fund managed by the 

Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority 

(NSIA). 

“The NSIA was set up by the NSIA 

Act signed into law in May 2011. This 

Act empowers NSIA to manage and invest 

funds in medium and long-term 

assets on behalf of the Federal, State 

and Local Governments. 

“The objective is to prepare the country 

for sustained development after imminent 

depletion of its hydrocarbon resources. 

To this effect, the NSIA established 

three main funds, the Stabilization 

Fund, the Future Generations Fund, 

and the Nigeria Infrastructure Fund. It 

is suggested that the ECA should be 

collapsed in the Stabilization Fund for 

judicious investment. 

“However, pending the implementation 

of the above recommendation, some 

other recurring suggestions with regard 

to improving the ECA management in 

the immediate term are that “Government 

should ensure that the methodology 

is transparent for computing how 

income accrues into the ECA, as well 

as ensure that withdrawals from the 

ECA are appropriated through the 

FAAC. 

“Disbursement of funds from stabilization 

accounts for non-budgetary support 

should be absolutely discouraged. 

It should be ensured that all tiers of government 

meet their financial obligations 

to the sovereign wealth fund account. 

“Overall, there is the need for political 

consensus to reform our natural resource 

governance especially with the 

volatility of oil revenues by promoting 

savings in the short and medium term 

to ensure sustained development despite 

oil boom and burst cycles,” he added.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 — 21


Stories by Kingsley 

Adegboye 

FOR several years, resi 

dents, business owners, 

workers, transporters 

and commuters in the Apapa 

axis of the Lagos metropolis, 

have been subjected 

to excruciating pains 

due to the endless traffic 

gridlock in the area. That is 

apart from the situation 

negatively affecting business 

ventures within the 

axis. 

The traffic gridlock, 

caused by decades of neglect 

of the Apapa/Oshodi 

Expressway, the gateway to 

the nation’s economic 

nerve centre, is getting 

worse by the day. This is on 

account of promises by successive 

administrations, 

both at the federal and state 

levels to find a lasting solution 

to the nagging problem, 

remaining largely 

empty as no real action has 

been taken to resolve the 

problem. 

Consequently, the number 

of trailers, tankers and 

trucks coming to evacuate 

goods and petroleum products 

at the Apapa ports has 

continued to increase, 

thereby making it very difficult 

to do business. 

The situation has led to 

business owners and residents 

in Apapa relocating 

to other parts of the city with 

easy access, leaving behind 

empty commercial 

premises and homes. They 

complained that safety and 

comfortable living are no 

longer guaranteed in Apapa. 

Hence, night and day 

security guards have be- 

The General Manager 

of West African 

Ceramics Ltd, foremost 

manufacturer of tiles, 

grouts, tile adhesives, 

marbles, and allied 

products in Nigeria, Mr. 

Bhaskar Rao, has 

disclosed that the efforts 

by stakeholders to 

achieve affordable 

housing would to a large 

extent meet its desired 

result when affordability 

is made top most priority 

of the entire industry 

value chain. 

Rao made the assertion 

during an interview at the 

inauguration of the Royal 

Exclusive Showroom in 

Makurdi, Benue state 

recently. The mega 

showroom complex, an 

edifice in central 

Makurdi, has in display 

tiles, sanitary wares and 

allied building materials 

bearing the ROYAL brand 

in various sizes, types, 

and prices. 

According to Rao, the 

cost of sourcing raw 

materials and the 

transformational process 

as well as requirements to 

produce the desired 

building material affect 

affordability in the long 

run aside other factors 

such as consumer 

•Empty apartment in Apapa 

How gridlock undermines 

property business in Apapa 

• Property market records 60% vacancy rate, over 

N1 million drop in rentals 

• As property market becomes buyers’ market 

come landlords in the empty 

apartments in Apapa 

community. 

A walk through the major 

connecting roads, including 

Liverpool, Creek 

Road, Wharf Road, Point 

Road, Child Avenue, North 

Avenue and others, easily 

confirms this as virtually all 

the buildings have estate 

agents’ boards for let and 

sale. This means people’s 

investments, made with 

hard-earned money, are 

now in ruins while businesses 

are not any better. 

According to Mr. Joe 

Akhigbe, an estate surveyor 

and valuer: “Most of the 

houses in Apapa are empty. 

We have seen about 60 

per cent vacancy rate in that 

part of Lagos. People are 

dropping rents to attract 

tenants, yet nobody is taking 

up residence there. 

There are residential buildings 

where landlords/ 

agents are dropping as 

much as N1 million and 

N1.5 million, but no tenants 

are coming forth." 

Lamenting the free fall in 

value of property, whether 

rental or sale in Apapa as a 

result of the hectic traffic situation, 

Mr. James Garuba, 

Managing Partner, James 

Garuba & Co, a firm of estate 

surveyors and valuers, 

said property business in 

Apapa has now become a 

buyers’ market, as property 

owners and agents are now 

at their mercy. 

Pointing out that access is 

key to real estate business, 

Garuba said property business 

thrives where there is 

easy access in and out of a 

Thinking affordability in the value system is key to 

achieving affordable housing - Expert 

•From L-R: Mr. Bhaskar Rao, General Manager, West 

African Ceramics Ltd, showing off Royal Marble Slabs on 

display to HRH Igwe Patrick Okenyi, Ahabueze 1 of 

Umuoma and other guests during the inauguration of the 

Royal Exclusive Showroom in Makurdi, Benue State. 

sophistication and crave 

for imported foreign 

goods, and the 

uncoordinated efforts of 

multilateral agencies and 

private sector participants 

in terms of housing 

finance, formulating 

actionable regulatory 

frameworks and 

government policies. 

“While the issue of 

affordable housing has 

been a dominant 

discourse for a long time 

and all stakeholders have 

done well in paying due 

diligence to it as a topical 

concern across several 

conferences, meetings, 

and symposiums, it is 

imperative that we at the 

private sector begin to 

rethink our effort. 

“In the value chain, we 

must work with a deep 

understanding and 

insight of the social 

economic classifications 

and segmentation of the 

Nigerian workforce 

populace, and trends to 

streamline processes that 

achieve cost reduction 

without compromising 

quality yet delivering 

output that meets 

standards with high 

quality at affordable price. 

If we play our role this 

way, we would have taken 

a significant step to the 

overall integral effort by 

all stakeholders to achieve 

affordable housing.” Rao 

asserted. 

Speaking further, he 

stated that the “Royal 

Exclusive Showroom 

initiative was born out of 

the 'Think Affordability' 

consideration in our value 

chain, pointing out that 

the Royal Exclusive 

Showroom is a dealerpartnership 

drive aimed 

at ensuring the effective 

distribution of quality, 

reliable and affordable 

tiles, marbles and allied 

products bearing the 

Royal tag to consumers in 

the various social strata 

with the economic 

capacity to afford a 

house”. 

He added that the mega 

showroom is a one-stop 

shop designed to 

enlighten customers 

about the applications of 

various designs and types 

of tiles and marbles in a 

building project and to 

create an unprecedented 

buying experience for 

customers. 

place, adding that value of 

property, whether rental or 

sale in Apapa, has drastically 

fallen because of the 

nightmarish traffic situation 

in Apapa. 

Garuba who disclosed 

that he has been trying to 

market two apartments in 

Apapa in the last eight 

months without success, revealed 

that with the drop in 

value of property in the 

area, it is difficult to market 

the apartments, insisting 

that buyers now determine 

property market in the axis 

and not the sellers. “As a result 

of this unfortunate situation, 

property value in 

Apapa has dropped by as 

much as 50 per cent,” he 

noted. 

In a report, Mr. Chudi 

Ubosi, Principal Partner, 

Ubosi Eleh & Co, a firm of 

estate surveyors and valuers, 

while commenting on 

the situation, noted that in 

By Ebun Sessou 

The Executive Director, 

Policy and Strategy at the 

Nigerian Mortgage 

Refinancing Company 

NMRC, Mr. Chii Akporji, has 

said that the major constrain 

mitigating against the robust 

growth of the housing sector 

in Nigeria is due to the 

challenging macro-economic 

environment with highinterest 

rates and inflation. 

Akporji also disclosed that 

the cumbersome process of 

land titling and property 

registration procedures 

coupled with lack of a 

foreclosure mechanism, as 

well as the dearth of longterm 

finance for the 

mortgage origination 

business, dearth of 

affordable housing stock and 

poor mortgage literacy levels 

are responsible for housing 

challenge in the country. 

The Executive Director 

who noted that although the 

NMRC is in business to 

mitigate aforementioned risk, 

added that the organisation 

is driving several ongoing 

efforts to redeem the sector 

through collaboration with 

key housing sector 

stakeholders such as the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, State Governments, 

Mortgage Banking 

Association of 

Nigeria,MBAN, Federal 

Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, 

FMBN, Family Homes Fund 

FHF, and major developers. 

According to him, the 

continent’s largest economy, 

international development 

experts, innovators and 

founders increasingly 

believe that Nigeria is 

positioned to provide a 

market-driven solution to 

one of the continent’s most 

significant challenges and 

opportunities which is 

affordable housing. 

“While Nigeria’s size, 

ability to scale and 

recalibrate post-recession 

economy provides the 

its good days, Apapa property 

market was ranked 

alongside Ikeja GRA, but 

that is no more the case. 

According to him: “Because 

of the present situation, 

where a parcel of land 

sells for N200 million in Ikeja 

GRA, same size of land in 

Apapa will struggle to sell 

for N100 million." 

Of greater concern arising 

from the diminishing 

property value and rising 

vacancy rate in Apapa is 

also the impact of all these 

on other locations in Lagos 

such as Ikeja GRA, Ikoyi 

and Victoria Island which 

are the next destinations for 

businesses and home seekers 

leaving Apapa. The implication 

is that what is lost 

in Apapa will be gained in 

these other locations. Apart 

from piling pressure on the 

grossly inadequate infrastructure 

there, house rents 

and prices will go up. 

Why macro-economic 

environment is mitigating 

against robust housing in Nigeria 

- NMRC Executive Director 

ammunition for such a task, 

the scale of the endeavour 

requires the participation of 

multiple public and private 

sector participants to 

collaborate and make it a 

reality”, he said. 

Akporji explained that 

NMRC is a private sectordriven 

mortgage refinance 

company with the public 

purpose of developing the 

primary and secondary 

mortgage markets through 

raising long-term funds from 

the capital market, and 

leverage this to refinance 

qualifying mortgage 

portfolios of mortgage 

lending institutions, thereby 

promoting affordable home 

ownership through 

mortgages. 

“In recognition of these 

efforts, the 4th annual West 

Africa Property Investment 

Summit taking place on 

November 15 and 16 in 

Lagos, will dedicate the 

region’s most prime real 

estate event to driving the 

conversation forward. 

Featuring multiple sessions 

and panel discussions, this 

year’s summit will fortify the 

foundation for affordable 

housing as a driver of 

economic growth. 

“While affordable home 

ownership enabled through 

cost-effective and accessible 

mortgages is a long-term 

objective for the NMRC, it 

believes that its work is 

beginning to gain traction by 

utilising platforms for 

dialogues like the West Africa 

Property Investment 

Summit. 

“WAPI is a convening 

platform for all stakeholders 

along the housing value 

chain, on a sub-regional 

level. By virtue of its reach, it 

remains the go to event for 

networking and knowledge 

sharing on trends and 

development in the real 

estate and construction 

industry on the continent”, 

the Executive Director stated.


Emotan Gardens will redefine Edo 

housing skyline - Lawrence 

Mr. Korede Lawrence is the 

Head, Business 

Development and Sales at Mixta 

Nigeria, the Nigerian subsidiary 

of Mixta Africa, one of Africa’s 

leading players in the real estate 

sector. In this interview, he 

explains the existing housing 

gap which the ongoing 1400-unit 

Emotan Gardens Estate will assist 

to bridge in Edo State, and gives 

insight into the partnership 

between Mixta Nigeria and the 

Edo state government through 

the Edo Property and 

Development Agency EDPA. 

What does MIXTA Nigeria 

do, and what is your role in the 

company? 

We are a real estate 

development company focused 

on providing quality real estate 

products. We have operations 

across the entire market 

spectrum, with focus is on 

affordable housing provision. 

According to our slogan, we 

build communities across Africa. 

Just as your fingers are not equal, 

the communities we build, 

everybody is represented. So, we 

offer different housing types to 

everybody within these 

communities. 

As Head of Sales, I am incharge 

of making sure that all our 

projects across Nigeria get the 

requisite visibility for the value we 

create in order to get to the right 

people seeking that value. For us, 

that means giving real estate 

value to different market 

segments in Nigeria. 

Specifically, what is yor 

mission in Edo State? 

We are in Edo State to develop 

Emotan Gardens which is located 

on approximately 70.1 hectares 

of land on Upper Sokponba 

Road, in Benin City. The plan is 

to offer, affordable and quality 

housing to every stakeholder in 

the State. To achieve this, we have 

partnered with the Edo State 

Government through the Edo 

Development and Property 

Agency (EDPA) to make sure this 

is a success. 

How affordable are these 

housing types? 

The thing about the word 

‘affordable’ is that it is a relative 

term. We are however sensitive to 

the economic realities and have 

priced our offerings to cater to 

this. With as low as 5.7million 

Naira, you can move into your 

own home in a fully serviced 

estate- Emotan Gardens. 

We also have medium-high 

priced homes in the same estate 

to cater to those in these 

categories. There really is a 

house for everyone within 

By Fortune Eromosele 

Real estate firm, Triple T 

Premium Estate, has vowed 

to contribute its quota towards 

addressing the housing challenges 

in Nigeria by providing affordable 

housing solutions for individuals 

of all classes. 

Briefing newsmen in Abuja, 

Brand Consultant for Premium 

Estate, Mr. Rodney Omeokachie, 

stated that the company would 

help address the housing shortfall 

by giving out houses every 30 days 

to individuals through a lottery 

process. 

Emotan Gardens. 

But the bigger question is 

really about access to funding. 

So, that probably is one of the 

hindrances. With us, even though 

we are real estate developers that 

are into the business for financial 

gain, we are primarily into the 

business of creating real estate 

value. 

MIXTA Africa is wholly 

owned by Asset & Resource 

Management Holding 

Company Limited. From our 

investment background 

spanning well over 20 years, we 

have sought to add value to 

people’s lives, from the cradle to 

even the legacies our customers 

leave after they exit this world. 

With a huge portfolio of 

products that allow you to take 

care of children, and parents, the 

emphasis on the quality of life for 

individuals remains paramount 

throughout our offerings. 

We are in real estate business 

with the same ethos, which is 

about value creation and that is 

what we brought to building 

houses and building commercial 

spaces for Nigerians. 

How much value in monetary 

term is MIXTA Nigeria investing 

in Edo State? 

Really our coming to Edo 

State is through a Joint venture 

partnership. The Edo State 

Government has taken it upon 

herself to offer value to Edo 

people. 

First of all, to build an estate 

you need different people to 

participate. You will need 

labourers, technicians, engineers, 

you will need agents to sell the 

houses and what the state 

government has done is to create 

an avenue where all of these 

economic opportunities are open 

to the indigenes and residents of 


The investment Mixta Nigeria 

is bringing is substantial and I 

would not like to put a figure on 

that currently because it is still 

evolving. The thing about 

investment terrains is that you 

might have foreseen that you 

would do a particular amount, but 

as you come into the terrain and 

you engage with the people, you 

may see that you may want to do 

a little more. 

Generally, it is still an evolving 

relationship. But our investment 

is significant. Besides, we have 

different house types within the 

estate and we are executing the 

project in phases, and as such the 

contribution for every phase is 

different. 

So, even though we are doing 

two and three-bedroom housing 

units first, which really are the 

lower priced products, our first 

release is somewhere around 400 

units. A good number of them are 

two-bedroom units while others 

are of other types. That is to get 

people through the barriers of 

buying. The 2- and 3-bedrooms 

types are well-priced. The 

government has looked at how it 

would add value by subsidising 

some of the house types for civil 

servants and people that do their 

jobs adequately, as a way of 

rewarding people. So, that is also 

in the mix. 

When you say subsidising, do 

you mean if the house value is 

about 10 million, the state 

government will bring say N2 

million as subsidy? 

Today, we are selling for about 

N5.7 million. These houses cost 

more than that in the market, but 

the prices have to come down to 

a level which everybody can 

partake. We have gone a step 

further in the relationship with 

government by making sure that 

people can make payment in 

instalments. So, you won’t pay 

N5.7 million at once. 

The payment plan depends 

on the individual. The thing with 

Mixta Nigeria is that we are big 

on the journey. Buying real 

estate generally is a journey for 

us; it is not a sprint. We try to 

Triple T Premium Estate assures on affordable housing 

According to him, Premium 

Estate had chosen this unique 

approach in real estate as way of 

giving back to the society, and as 

a means of being part of the 

housing solution in Nigeria. 

Specifically, Omeokachie stated 

that there are nine two-bedroom 

bungalows that would be given to 

registered individuals who buy 

tickets for N2,000 only, pointing 

out that such individuals stand a 

chance to own a house. 

He said, “Once the house has 

been won, it belongs to that 

individual, which includes the 

individual doing as he pleases to 

•Korede Lawrence 

We are in real estate 

business with the 

same ethos, which is 

about value creation 

and that is what we 

brought to building 

houses and building 

commercial spaces for 

Nigerians 

the house. It may include selling, 

loan, or renting. And most 

importantly the houses are 

equipped with the basic 

amenities.” 

According to him, the Triple T 

Premium estate programme is 

geared towards people who have 

housing challenges, explaining 

that the company had already 

secured the approval of the 

National Lottery Regulatory 

Commission and the Consumer 

Protection Council, whose duties 

it was to ensure that the necessary 

steps and procedures are followed. 

Omeokachie added that Triple 

T Premium Estate plans to 

expand its housing solution 

programme beyond Abuja, and 

was considering moving to 

Lagos and Port Harcourt for the 

continuation and sustainability 

of the programme. 

“With the funds that we 

generate we intend to use them 

to build more property and 

those funds are gotten from 

majorly the Triple T Premium 

Estate to ensure continuity 

also. Our ultimate goal is to 

remain the leading home 

winning promotion in the 

country”, he noted. 

understand the individual that is 

buying, so that we tailor their 

needs to whatever we are doing, 

regarding the payment options in 

acquiring these houses. One size 

doesn’t really fit all here. It is a 

conversation between 

individuals, with them deciding 

what they want to do and how 

they want to do it. With that, we 

will move the product forward. 

What attracted Mixta Nigeria 

to the Governor Obaseki ledadministration? 

Why did you 

choose to come to Edo State now? 

There are a range of things 

that attracted us to Edo. I will 

touch on a few. For investment to 

come to Edo State, it is important 

to create a fertile, viable platform 

for such investment. First of all, the 

people must believe that the 

government of the day is 

upstanding. When they say 

something, they would as much 

as possible keep to their word on 

transactions with you, which is 

why you will go into a 

relationship with the government 

on a long term. We intend to be 

here for a few years. We are here 

for a few years because we believe 

that the government of the day 

has said they would do something 

and put things in place for the 

people and we have seen the 

commitment. 

We see the way they are going 

about their activities and that 

gives us the confidence to come 

here. When the government of the 

day asks us to take a particular 

parcel of land with the Certificate 

of Occupancy (C-of-O), assuring 

that we will develop it together 

and that they would participate in 

one way or the other, we are ready 

to work with them. 

We understand that it has been 

well over 16 years since the last 

estate was built by government. 

So, this is a big thing. We looked 

at a number of things. 

Benin is not the first place we 

are building an estate. We know 

that the number of people who 

have uncles, aunts, brothers, 

sisters in the diaspora is huge. The 

remittance at some point last year 

was somewhere around N96 

billion per month into the state. 

If we are to follow these 

numbers, verified or not, that 

alone offers a huge possibility and 

potential for anybody to invest in 

a state like this. So the time is right. 

The government of the day is 

responsive, responsible. We 

believe that they have the 

intention of the people at heart 

and they have created a viable 

environment for us to come in, 

take root and offer not only 

housing, but jobs to the indigenes 

of the state. That alone offers us a 

lot of confidence. In fact, what we 

see here since we have been here, 

is an increase in the number of 

people looking inwards. The 

government of the day has not 

stopped adding value. The more 

we stay, the more we are 

emboldened to stay and do a lot 

more here. 

What does your relationship 

with the host community tell you 

about Edo State? 

Who doesn’t want growth? 

Today, a client walked into the site 

and said that we are bringing 

Lagos to Edo. He is an elderly 

gentleman who travels to Lagos 

to see his son regularly. During 

the conversation, he said we are 

bringing Lagos down here. Who 

does not want growth? Everybody 

wants it. At the end of the day, 

regardless of how you see it, many 

indigenes are ready for the urban 

regeneration and potential 

prosperity that comes with this 

project. Everybody is aspirational; 

we always want more. Edo State 

wants more for itself; it deserves 

and through this Government is 

demanding more for itself. We see 

it with the way things are going.

24— Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

Nigeria’s average electricity tarif 

ariff f drops by y 48% in 4 yrs 

By Prince Okafor 

NIGERIA’s 

average 

electricity tariff drops by 48 

percent in four years to 8.10 cent 

per kilowatts hours, kWh, from 

15.67 per cent recorded in 2014. 

In its latest report obtained by 

Vanguard, the World Bank stated: 

“Between 2009 and 2014, rapid 

movement towards cost reflexivity 

were made such that by 2014, the 

average end-user tariff in Nigeria 

was close to the median for other 

West African countries. 

“However, between 2015 and 

2018, Nigeria’s tariff collapsed 

and its average end –user tariff fell 

back to less than 40 percent of the 

median for West African region.” 

It stated that despite best 

intentions by the Federal 

Government ‘to bridge the gap 

through privatisation and other 

measures, insolvency crisis 

continue to hit the operations of 

stakeholders, including the 

Electricity Distribution 

Companies, DISCOs, to 

Transmission Company of 

Nigeria, TCN, to Electricity 

Generation Companies, 

GENCOs, to gas production and 

transportation entities. 

In an interview with Vanguard, 

the Executive Secretary, 

Association of Power Generation 

Companies (APGC), Dr Joy 

Ogaji, stated that, despite 

privatization, debts in the sector 

keeps mounting on daily basis due 

to several irregularities. 

She said: “Lack of adherence to 

contracts running the market is a 

major impediment to the growth 

of the sector. There is no 

sanctioning of defaulters. There is 

need for regulatory agencies to 

ensure that all sector players are 

adhering to terms and conditions 

of contracts. 

“Poor revenue collection by the 

DISCOs is a major concern to the 

sector, thus, making it difficult for 

GENCOs invoices to be settled 

accordingly. Also, the inability of 

the transmission and distribution 

networks to take power to the 

consumers is a challenge. This has 

resulted in frequent system 

collapse and load shedding as the 

grid cannot conveniently take over 

4,500 megawatts, MW, without 

dropping load.” 

Impact 

Meanwhile, Vanguard gathered 

that the lack of tariff adjustment 

severely impacted the power 

sector and resulted in a shortfall 

of N458 billion due for Distribution 

Companies, DISCOs, from 

electricity consumers between 

2015 and 2016 alone. 

For instance, in 2010, when the 

federal government published the 

Roadmap for Power Sector 

Reform, it openly acknowledged 

that the country’s regulated 

electricity tariffs were less than 40 

percent of the minimum level 

required for cost-reflectivity. 

The Sector Lead, Distribution 

Power, Advisory Power Team, 

Office of the Vice President, 

Morakinyo Beckley, said: “In 

Naira terms, the average levelized 

end user tariff at the time was 

N8.5kWh (equivalent to just 5.7 

US cents/kWh). As shown in the 

table below, tariff in Nigeria was 

also far below the tariff applicable 

in all other West African countries. 

“At the time, the FGN 

recognised that an increase in 

tariff would not be popular with 

customers. But they also 

recognised that the sustainability 

of the entire sector could not be 

sustained without a transition to 

cost reflectivity and that the longer 

this transition was delayed, the 

more painful it would be. 

“Accordingly, by 2014 FGN had 

succeeded in nearly tripling the 

average and levelised tariff from 

just N8.5/kWh (5.7 cents/kWh) to 

N29/kWh (15.7 cents/kWh) and 

Nigeria’s electricity sector was on 

a promising trajectory towards full 

value chain solvency. 

“Thus, by the beginning of 2015, 

payments by DISCOs (of their 

wholesale bills) had risen to an 

average of more than 80 percent 

and the general perception in the 

industry was that this should soon 

rise to 100 percent.” 

Falling oil prices 

Beckley stated that the transition 

to sector sustainability was 

reversed between 2015 and 2018 

when falling oil prices triggered 

a sharp decline in revenues, 

leading to rapid weakening of the 

value of the Naira while electricity 

tariff, in Naira terms, remained 

essentially unchanged. 

She said: “The impact on the 

sector was disastrous and for 

predictable reasons, especially as 

the electricity sector has a lot of 

foreign components. For instance, 

turbines, generators, transformers, 

transmission lines, fuel gas and 

long-term service agreements are 

purchased or negotiated in foreign 

currency. 

“On a conservative estimate, at 

least 80 percent of all the costs in 

THE average price 

of Organisation of 

Petroleum Exporting 

countries, OPEC’s basket 

of fourteen crudes in the 

past one week averaged 

$70.51 compared with 

$74.16 recorded the 

previous week. 

According to OPEC’s 

calculation, the highest 

price of crude was 

recorded on November 

05, 2018, which averaged 

$71.45 per barrel, while 

the lowest price for the 

period under review 

averaged $68.89 

Source: World Bank 

the sector are pegged to foreign 

currency movements.” 

Backward movement 

According to Beckley, “The 

reluctance or inability to adjust 

electricity tariff has wiped out all 

the gains achieved between 2010 

and 2014, thus returning the sector 

to a state of insolvency. 

“The other unfortunate 

consequence of this collapse in the 

foreign currency value of the tariff 

was that, it constituted a violation 

of the promise made by the 

Federal Government when it 

privatised the DISCOs in 

November 2013.” 

She stated: “The government 

then promised to apply the rules 

set out in the MYTO which 

mandated adjustments every six 

months (minor reviews) and every 

five years (major reviews) to take 

account of movements in currency 

exchange rates and inflation. 

Illegal refineries constitute economic sabotage, 

environmental hazards --- Eroton 

By Udeme Akpan 

EROTON Exploration and 

Production Company 

Limited, has restated its 

commitment to environmental 

protection, community 

development and other issues in 

Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. 

Apparently referring to the story 

- Eroton keeps mute over oil theft 

as illegal refining booms in 

Buguma, Bille, others - the 

company stated in an email to 

Vanguard that: “It is imperative 

to set the records straight and 

disabuse the reader’s mind of the 

wrong impression the report 

might have created. Eroton 

understands that the operation 

of illegal refineries constitutes 

both economic sabotage and 

environmental hazards to the 

people of Rivers State and 

environs; what is legally required 

of the company is to report such 

incidents to the relevant 

regulatory bodies when such 

activities come to our notice. It 

does not matter if these activities 

affect us or otherwise. 

“The insinuation that Eroton 

responds to vandalism only when 

it affects its asset is also 

disingenuous, as security is 

major in the ecosystem in which 

we operate. We have continued 

to make our host communities 

central in our quest to ensure 

environmental safety through a 

very robust corporate social 

responsibility policy that instils 

confidence and encourages 

stability; thus our increased 

outputs.” 

It added: “To date, there are over 

11 developed fields comprising 

the following; Alakiri, Akaso, 

Asaritoru, Buguma, Bille, 

“By avoiding mandated 

adjustments to retail tariff as at 

when due in accordance to the 

agreements signed with the 

DISCOs, the FGN through NERC 

effectively broke this contractual 

obligation. In the process, it 

therefore deprived itself of any 

meaningful ability to hold the 

DISCOs to account.” 

She stated: “It became clear that 

the federal government was not 

willing to increase tariff and meet 

other commitments such as the 

N200bn tariff support over a fiveyear 

period, payments from the 

DISCOs to Nigerian Bulk 

Electricity Trading Company fell 

from over 80 percent to less than 

33 percent (and, in some months, 

considerably less than this).” 

Crazy billing 

Investigation showed that the 

poor financial position in the sector 

has affected the ability of operators, 

especially the DISCOs, to provide 

efficient services to consumers. 

For instance, the DISCOs have 

not been able to provide meters to 

consumers, thus resulting in their 

continued exploitation through 

highly estimated bills. 

However, the Nigerian 

Electricity Regulatory 

Commission, NERC, has not yet 

been able to assist consumers, 

despite its promise to ensure prepaid 

meters were supplied to all 

as far back as 2016. 

In fact, in a statement obtained 

by Vanguard, the commission had 

stated: “NERC has said that its 

directives to DISCOs to meter their 

maximum demand customers not 

later than November 30, 2016 was 

without prejudice to provide 

meters to all classes of electricity 

customers in line with their 

performance agreement.” 

Cawthorne Channel, Orubiri, 

Krakama, Ibibio, Tema, and 

Awoba. Our moderate feats have 

been made possible because we 

have consistently engaged and 

work closely with communities 

since we started and contributed 

immensely to the development 

of the community. 

“Our corporate communications 

team is always accessible to avail 

members of the media with 

information. It becomes a 

concern when media houses go 

public with information without 

first obtaining a balanced view, 

as this may lead to unconfirmed 

and misleading information likely 

to impugn on the integrity of 

publishing organisation. We 

therefore demand your utmost 

understanding to refrain from 

misleading publication without 

first verifying the accuracy of such 

facts from Eroton.” 

“Eroton Exploration and 

Production (Eroton E&P) 

Company Limited, is a leading 

Nigerian indigenous energy 

company, incorporated in August 

2013, and began full operations 

in 2015. We won the bid for the 

45 percent total interest in OML 

18, previously held by the Shell 

Petroleum Development 

C 

M 

Y 

K


We'll push for policies to support power sector devt ---- Senate committee 

By Ediri Ejoh 

THE Senate has pledged 

it's support to assiduously 

push for policies that would 

help shore up the needed 

development in the power 

sector against current realities. 

The Chairman of the 

Committee on Power, Steel 

Development and Metallurgy, 

Mr Enyinnaya Abaribe and 

others made this known in 

Lagos during a visit to Eko 

Electricity Distribution 

Company, EKEDC over the 

weekend. 

Abaribe, who lamented great 

challenges bedevilling the 

power companies and value 

chain, called for a collective 

collaboration to solving crisis. 

According to him, "one of the 

objectives of the visit was to 

seek clarification of the issues 

in the nation’s power sector 

after the handover of the 

successor companies carved 

out of the defunct Power 

Holding Company of Nigeria, 

PHCN, to private investors in 

November 2013. 

“It is also going to help us 

in policy formulation because 

we are also going to interact 

with the Ministry of Power, 

Works and Housing, the 

Nigerian Electricity 

Regulatory Commission and 

with other relevant agencies. 

Clarification of issues is very 

necessary for us to understand 

exactly what is going on,” he 

added. 

The senator said there had 

been a narrative that 

“privatisation is a failure”, 

with suggestions from some 

persons that the government 

should take over the assets. 

“Now, why we are here is 

to be sure; if it (privatisation) 

is not working, why is it not 

working? Who is at fault? 

What are the things that are 

supposed to be done, and those 

are the answers that we have come 

to seek, and, of course, Nigerians 

will get everything that will help 

them in making a good decision 

about whether it was a very good 

decision or not. 

"We are tired of talking as the 

situation has thus changed a little. 

However, we are ready to work 

with the operators in the sector to 

champion the necessary 

development to the power sector 

that is if they can be very much 

engaging with both the House of 

Assembly and Senate." 

He said the committee was 

interacting with the power 

providers to ensure the resolution 

of the problems, including 

electricity theft, facing them in the 

interest of the Nigerian public. 

He stated, “We are quite satisfied 

with what we have heard; we 

know that they are operating under 

tremendous difficulties. It is a 

regulated industry, which means 

How innovative Chevron strategy boosts Local Content in Nigeria's oil, gas industry 

--- BGI boss 

THE development of Local Content has become a reality in Nigeria, even 

though some challenges abound. In this interview with Udeme Akpan, the Managing director 

of B G I Energy Services Ltd, Mr. Edmund Tiemo, currently one of the successful indigenous 

companies, comment on a wide range of issues, including the roles of Chevron Nigeria Limited in 

boosting local content in the country. 

Can you comment on your 

role in Egbema & Gbaramatu 

Communities Development 

Foundation, (EGCDF)? 

I was a founding member and 

pioneer General Secretary of a 

Grass-root Community 

Development Organisation 

known as Egbema & Gbaramatu 

Communities Development 

Foundation, (EGCDF). While my 

good friend and colleague, Dr. I. 

C. Tolar, was the first Chairman 

of the Organisation from October 

2005 to April 2009. I was elected 

Chairman of the Foundation from 

April 2009 to April 2012, when I 

handed over the chairmanship to 

my successor. It is pertinent to 

mention that the EGCDF is a 

tripartite organisation established 

in October 2005 by: Egbema & 

Gbaramatu Communities in Warri 

North and Warri South West Local 

Government Areas, Government 

of Delta State and Chevron 

Nigeria Limited. The 

Organisation is being funded by 

Chevron with an annual cash 

donation plus the provision of 

Capacity Building resources for 

the development of the 

Communities by the 

Communities themselves within 

the framework of a Global 

Memorandum of Understanding 

(GMoU). Presently, I manage my 

own family business outfit, known 

as BGI Energy Services Limited 

(Formerly Broad Global 

Investment Limited). 

Would you tell us more 

about your company, BGI 

Energy Services Ltd and the 

kind of services you 

provide? 

BGI Energy Services Limited 

was incorporated in 1991 as 

Broad Global Investment 

Limited. BGI Energy Services 

Limited provides Services to the 

Oil and Gas Industry with 

Chevron as our main client. Our 

core business areas include; 

Electrical & Instrumentation 

(installation & Control) and 

Maintenance. We also provide 

Technical Support Services for 

the industry and we have been 

consistently recognized by our 

clients for our quality 

performance. BGI has since 

diversified into many areas. 

How do you interact with 

Chevron Nigeria Limited 

(CNL) in your business and 

how has this affected your 

firm's activities? 

The usual means companies 

in other industries interact with 

their clients. I am talking about 

emails, phone calls, letters, 

meetings, forums and the likes. 

Good communication ensures a 

clear understanding of issues, 

placing all parties on the same 

page. It clears 

misunderstandings, 

misrepresentations and helps to 

facilitate quality service delivery 

and customer satisfaction. If you 

have any doubts on any issue, it 

is better to seek clarification from 

the other party. This has helped 

us tremendously and improved 

our relationship with our client. 

How do you assess 

Chevron that prides itself 

as a pioneer in consistently 

supporting the growth and 

human 

capacity 

development of small and 

medium scale businesses, 

especially the communitybased 

enterprises? 

Initially, Chevron use to deal 

with the Regional Development 

Committees within its areas of 

operation on an individual 

contact basis. It transpired that 

that system was not fruitful, both 

to the Communities and the 

Company. Most often, that 

system resulted in failed 

promises, bad blood, a hostile 

and an unconducive environment 

for the Company to operate and 

realise its core business objectives. 

However, following the Company's 

re-entry program after the Warri 

crisis, Chevron came up with an 

innovative community engagement 

initiative by grouping the 

Communities within its areas of 

operation into Regional 

Development Councils (RDCs) and 

encourages the Communities to own 

their own development process 

under a GMoU. The RDCs became 

a platform for interaction between 

the Company & Communities using 

continuous and constructive 

engagement as a tool for achieving 

peace and development of the 

Communities. There is no doubt 

whatsoever that Chevron did a lot 

to encourage Local Community 

Contractors to incorporate business 

outfits and develop their capacity to 

manage businesses of their own and 

compete fairly even in the open 

market for jobs. When the 

construction started on the EGTL 

Plant in Escravos, it was believed 

that the environment was unfriendly 

to large scale investment such as the 

EGTL Project. 

However, Chevron overcame this 

constraint by having the buy-in and 

the commitment of the local 

communities to the project to be an 

integral part of the project execution. 

Over 300 Local Community 

Contractors were engaged to work 

in the EGTL project. BGI was one 

of those LCCs that were nurtured 

by Chevron under its Local 

Community Contractors Program. 

While some of these companies may 

have fallen by the way side, a lot of 

LCCs that were part of the EGTL 

Construction project have since 

graduated into companies that today 

can stand on their own. 

It is important to mention here that 

the LCCs had no expertise, no 

experience, no access to funding 

from any bank, but Chevron 

demonstrated utmost faith in the 

ability of these rag-tag contractors 

to perform. It was an unprecedented 

that you cannot charge more 

than what the government says 

you should charge. And so, if 

the government is selling to you 

at N100 and then tells you to 

charge at N50, you are already 

at a loss. 

“That is what we want to let 

Nigerians know; that there are 

some things that are in this 

regulated industry, which we 

need to resolve and it is the 

resolution that has brought us 

here.” 

The Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer, EKEDC, Mr 

Adeoye Fadeyibi, said the 

DISCOs would continue to work 

towards improving power 

supply to customers. 

He said: “We are in this 

together, and we must solve the 

issues because there are 

contractual obligations to fulfil 

by the government and the 

private investors. 

For Eko Disco, we are 

encouraged with the fact that the 

Mr. Edmund Tiemo 

demonstration of commitment. For 

example, the local contractors were 

contracted to procure heavy duty 

equipment from vendors abroad 

and also engage skilled & unskilled 

labour for the execution of their 

scope of the project. Because of the 

background of these Community 

Contractors, no bank was ready to 

touch us with a long pole. It is on 

record that Chevron trusted the 

Local Community Contractors and 

released to them large sums of 

money running into billions of 

naira as advance payment to 

mobilize them, procure equipment 

and pay the salaries of their 

workers without any form of 

security whatsoever. 

At the end of the day, the project 

was successfully completed and till 

date some of us are still with the 

project. None of the LCCs 

absconded with the advance 

payments released to them by 

Chevron. So a solid basis for trust 

and good relationship had been 

built between Chevron and its 

Community Contractors, a 

relationship that thrives on 

dialogue and constructive 

engagement to the mutual benefit 

of both parties. Of course, the 

ground work for this wonderful 

achievement on the part of 

Chevron and the Communities 

was laid with the formation of the 

RDCs, which acted as a platform 

for interaction between the 

company and the communities. 

chairman of the Senate 

committee commended us 

for the improvement that 

he saw.” 

He said: “And in doing 

that, I think what the 

people should expect is 

that, as we always say, 

safety is number one for us 

but right after that is to 

ensure we do improve 

power supply and 

customer communication is 

critical. 

“For us, it is to ensure 

that we continue pursuing 

the goal of 24/7 power 

supply. So, in doing 

reliable supply, we want to 

ensure that energy theft 

issue continues to go 

down, and we will 

continue to provide meters 

and enumerate our 

customers, while hoping 

that the government, on its 

side, continue to work with 

us.” 

What is your 

evaluation of CNL's 

contribution to Local 

Community Content 

and Nigerian Content 

development? 

As I have mentioned 

earlier, Chevron is doing 

wonderfully well in terms of 

empowerment and capacity 

building of Local 

Communities. Of course, 

CNL would know that there 

are opportunities for 

improvement and we 

continue to encourage them 

to do so, and that other all 

major operators in the Oil & 

Gas industry should follow 

in the footsteps of Chevron. 

What is your view on the 

implementation of the 

Nigerian Content Act 

generally by the IOCs? 

Let me attempt to explain 

that from perspectives. First, 

it is important to remember 

where we are coming from 

even as we focus on our 

desired destination. Some 

years back, the Oil and Gas 

service sector was inundated 

with foreign companies that 

were providing services that 

Local Community 

Contractors could supply. 

Participation of Nigerian 

companies was abysmally 

low. Today, IOCs have 

engaged many Nigerian 

companies to provide 

various services to support 

their operations. 

/


VISIT: From Left, Chief Executive Officer, Ikeja Electric, Dr. Anthony Youdeowei; 

Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, Sen. Enyinnaya 

Abaribe and Committee Member, Sen. Adamu Aliero during the oversight visit of the Senate 

Committee to Ikeja Electric Headquarters in Lagos on Thursday, 8 November, 2018. PHOTO by 

Akeem Salau. 

Energy Storage is a $1.2trn Investment Opportunity 

to 2040 - - --Report 

By Sebastine Obasi 

THE global energy storage 

market will grow to a 

cumulative 942GW/2, 857GWh 

by 2040, attracting $1.2 trillion 

in investment over the next 22 

years, Bloomberg stated in its 

Long Term Energy Storage 

Outlook just released. 

Cheap batteries mean that wind 

and solar will increasingly be 

able to run when the wind isn’t 

blowing and the sun isn’t 

shining, it stated. 

The latest Long-Term Energy 

Storage Outlook sees the capital 

cost of a utility-scale lithium-ion 

battery storage system sliding 

another 52 percent between 

2018 and 2030, on top of the 

steep declines seen earlier this 

decade. 

This will transform the economic 

case for batteries in both the 

vehicle and the electricity 

sector. Yayoi Sekine, energy 

storage analyst for Bloomberg 

and co-author of the report, said: 

“We have become much more 

bullish about storage 

deployments since our last 

forecast a year ago. This is partly 

due to faster-than-expected falls 

in storage system costs, and 

partly to a greater focus on two 

emerging applications for the 

technology – electric vehicle 

charging, and energy access in 

remote regions.” 

Logan Goldie-Scot, head of 

energy storage, added: “We see 

energy storage growing to a 

point where it is equivalent to 7 

percent of the total installed 

power capacity globally in 2040. 

The majority of storage capacity 

will be utility-scale until the 

mid-2030s, when behind the 

meter applications overtake.” 

Behind-the-meter, or BTM, 

installations will be sited at 

business and industrial 

premises, and at millions of 

residential properties. For their 

owners, they will perform a 

variety of tasks, including 

shifting grid demand in order 

to reduce electricity costs, 

storing excess rooftop solar 

output, improving power 

quality and reliability, and 

earning fees for helping to 

smooth voltage on the grid. 

China, the United States, India, 

Japan, Germany, France, 

Australia, South Korea and the 

United Kingdom will be the 

leading countries. These nine 

markets will represent two 

thirds of the installed capacity 

by 2040. 

In the near-term, South Korea 

will dominate the market; the 

U.S. will take over in the early 

2020s, but will be overtaken by 

AfDB laments poor energy delivery 

despite huge capital injection 

Stories by Ediri Ejoh 

THE African Development 

Bank (AfDB), has 

identified some failures in the 

ongoing energy reforms in 

Nigeria, noting that despite 

huge capital injection, the 

development of the power 

sector was still very slow. 

President of the Bank, 

Akinwumi Adesina, while 

speaking at the just concluded 

Africa Investment Forum (AIF) 

in Cape Town, South Africa, 

said he was not impressed by 

the huge volume of both 

government and private 

investments, including its 

$200m into the Nigerian power 

sector without results. 

China in the 2020s. China will 

then lead throughout to 2040, 

the report stated. 

Adesina, said that it was 

unacceptable for Nigeria to be 

delivering 4,500 megawatts of 

electricity to a population of 

over 190 million people after 

over three years of huge 

investments both by 

government and AfDB. 

“My own perspective in 

everything that I do is that my 

philosophy of development is 

simple; if I am not ashamed of 

something I don’t change it. 

But if I am ashamed of 

something, I’d change it,” he 

told CNBC Africa. 

“I don’t think it’s acceptable 

that Nigeria is hovering in 

4,500 megawatts space. No. 

Nigeria ought to be in 40,000 

megawatts space.” 

AOS Orwell Safety Day: Stakeholders harp 

on employee mental, physical wellbeing 

By Egufe Yafugborhi & Nwosu Jessica 

EMPLOYERS have been charged 

to ensure that employees function under sustained physical and mental 

wellbeing as a demonstration of best health, safety and environment, HSE, 

practices in the workplace. 

This was among the focus when industry players, mainly from oil and gas, 

converged to share HSE experiences in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, for the 

annual AOS Orwell Safety Day on the theme, "Safety Promotes Service Quality" 

Mathias Ikhidero, Manager, Well Engineering at Shell, said, "If a company 

keeps a clean environment, meets all the global HSE standards and 

certifications without adequate commitment to meeting health challenges of 

workers who keep the standards,we can't say have got it right. 

"There is no justification to have different healthcare schemes for direct, contractor 

and casual staffs in the work place. Health challenges are same in impact and 

cost of treatment. I lost a close friend in an avoidable circumstance recently to 

an infection he got. 

"The company he works withdrew responsibility for his treatment after the 

hospital they use updated that cost of treatment had reached N40,000. I got to 

know and gave a personal N100,000 support to the family. 

"But my support and those from others could not save the situation because 

between stopping treatment and taking him to another hospital, the infection 

had spread and developed resistance. He died and they returned my money. 

This should not be happening if we are committed to HSE" 

The Shell well engineer also cautioned against employers overstretching 

workers with choking duties, recalling instances where people have slumped 

and died in the office or in their cars returning home from work because of 

stressed triggered by overwhelming workload. 

Femi Omotayo, Group Managing Director, AOS Orwell, an oil service provider, 

said, "To ensure physical wellbeing of our workforce in our genuine care for 

people, we have developed events that brings the spouse and children of staff 

to interact with the workplace. 

"The idea is for rest of the family to see tasks their spouses, be they father or 

mother, go through at work, so they would know how best to welcome and 

treat them each day they return home. We are also taking our HSE culture to 

our respective homes because safety must be everywhere" 

Chris Onwudinjo, in a keynote address on behalf of Chidube Nnene-Anochie, 

HSE Manager, Shell Nigeria, commended AOS Orwell for having "scored 

many firsts over the years in your contribution to the growth of the oil and gas 

industry, but remember, the overriding first you must score is sustained incidents 

free HSE culture." 

Fuel Supply: NNPC set to control 

more than 14% market share 

By Sebastine Obasi 

THE Group Managing 

Director of the Nigerian 

National Petroleum Corporation 

(NNPC), Dr. Maikanti Baru, 

said the Corporation is set to 

control more than 14 per cent 

local market share of fuel supply 

in Nigeria. 

Speaking during the NNPC 

Day at the ongoing International 

Trade Fair in Lagos, Baru stated 

that the NNPC currently holds 

14 per cent market share of the 

downstream sector and has 

expanded its retail outlets to 

achieve its objectives. 

"To aid in achieving this target, 

we have expanded our retail 

outlets, notable examples are, 

indeed, located here in the 

South-West. For example, we 

have the newly constructed ultramodern 

mega station along the 

Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. 

"The corporation is leaving no 

stone unturned to ensure that 

Nigerian Pipeline and Storage 

Company (NPSC) already 

existing infrastructure are 

rehabilitated and new ones 

added as necessary steps to 

guaranteeing efficient storage 

and distribution of petroleum 

products across the nation, 

thereby ensuring supply 

reliability and energy security," 

he said. 

He also explained that NNPC 

has recently completed the 

rehabilitation and restoration of 

the vandalized 36” and 42” QIT 

and 48” Forcados Oil Terminal 

(FOT) Export pipelines leading 

to resumption of production 

operations. 

"The corporation has also 

completed the repair of the 

vandalized 20” ELPS-A 

pipeline, thereby ensuring gas 

supply to gas-fired power plants 

and also supply into the West 

African Gas Pipeline. 

"We have also awarded the 

contract for the construction of 

the Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano 

(AKK) line gas infrastructure 

projects. Currently, NNPC is 

expanding and integrating our 

gas pipeline network system to 

meet the unprecedented 

domestic gas demand. We have 

recorded significant progress in 

the execution of key on-going 

gas pipeline infrastructure 

projects (ELPS II, OB3). 

He assured that the ongoing 

transformation is not limited to 

the downstream sector of our 

operations. 

"In fact, we have already kickstarted 

the process of 

rebranding some critical 

midstream entities (NGC, 

NGMC, NGPTC, GPIC and 

NOFS), and as with the 

downstream, we are not only 

creating new logos for these 

companies, we are repositioning 

them all for global 

competitiveness in line with the 

12 Business Focus Areas of our 

administration. 

"All these activities, we 

strongly believe, will invariably 

impact positively on the 

Nigerian economy in view of the 

role of the Oil and Gas Industry 

as the number one foreign 

exchange earner for the country 

and given the position of our 

corporation as managers of 

government interests in the 

sector. 

GPPS showcases Nigerian indigenous 

capability as it unveils base 

WITH local private involvement in the oil and gas sector 

of the national economy on the rise, Global Process and 

Pipeline Services (GPPS) Limited, wholly Nigerian Management 

owned company, is set to unveil its new office complex and 

operations base in Port Harcourt as it broadens its reputation as a 

frontline oil services company, showcasing Nigerian indigenous 

capability on land, swamp and offshore terrains. 

The new office complex and operations base due for commissioning 

on the 30th November 2018 in Port Harcourt Rivers State South- 

South Nigeria according to Engr. Obi Uzu, the company Managing 

Director, will further enhance GPPS operational efficiency for a 

superior service quality delivery in line with the highest industry 

standards and best practices and in accordance with the tenets of 

ISO 9001:2015 with attestations pouring in for the young and 

dynamic company from such giants like Exxonmobil; Total, NLNG, 

Shell Companies in Nigeria just to mention a few. 

“GPPS uses the best of equipment to offer services such as pipeline 

cleaning, de-oiling, hydro-testing, pipeline de-watering, drying and 

nitrogen services to the oil, gas and power industry. She is also 

involved in pressure pumping, nitrogen pumping, fluid pump 

support, lube oil flushing and high pressure water jetting and 

blasting services”, said Obi Uzu, who has more than 26 years oil 

field experience in drilling operation (Sedco Forex), production 

technology (SPDC) and process and pipeline services (BJ Services) 

and supervised many successfully projects in Nigeria, America 

and UK. 

“Our new office complex and operations base will further enhance 

our partnership with our clients to develop and maintain longterm 

relationships that adds value to their projects. Our dedicated 

teams are experts in our line of business with a track record of 

safely and efficiency in executing complex projects in challenging 

environments. Change is constant and that is why we are sensitive 

and flexible in responding to our clients’ demand; leveraging on 

the full strength of our brand, differentiated new equipment fleet 

and technical know-how”, Uzu added. 

GPPS is the only Nigerian company focused solely on process 

and pipeline services with major projects completed in the deepwater 

applications in her product service line and has attracted 

the best hands in the industry from the multinationals to work for 

her with an expansion plan into other West Africa and Sub-Saharan 

Africa countries.

Vanguard, TUESDAY, November 13, 2018—27 

Boshoro takes over at RenMoney as CEO 

R 

ENMONEY 

Microfinance 

Bank has appointed 

Oluwatobi Boshoro as its 

new Chief Executive 

Officer(CEO). 

Following her appointment 

as RenMoney’s 

new CEO, Boshoro expressed 

her excitement 

over the opportunity to 

significantly empower 

under-banked individuals. 

She stated: “I am 

thrilled to be part of an 

organisation which is passionate 

about leveraging 

data and technology to 

enable individuals to 

achieve their dreams. 

“There is a synergy between 

the values I espouse 

and what 

Renmoney represents as 

an organisation. Our customers 

will continue to be 

the core of our focus as we 

work hard to build even 

more convenient solutions 

to help them achieve their 

goals.” 

Speaking on Boshoro’s 

appointment, Kieran 

Donnelly, Chairman, 

Renmoney Board of Directors 

said Boshoro’s experience 

in driving innovation 

and excellent service 

delivery will be critical to 

the company’s success. 

Donnelly added that 

he’s more confident than 

ever that the company will 

deliver outstanding digital 

service experiences to 

even more customers in 

Nigeria under Boshoro’s 

leadership. 

Boshoro’s Profile 

Boshoro is an innovative 

and transformational 

leader with broad-based 

expertise in business 

strategy, digital payments/strategy, 

marketing, 

brand management 

and business development 

with over 15 years 

of experience. 

She has explored her 

proven ability to analyse 

key business drivers, deliver 

key business insights 

and develop strategies 

to deliver bottomline 

growth, business 

expansion and market 

share growth in highly 

competitive markets and 

high turnaround environments. 

VISA: Diarra takes charge as Senior VP, Sub-Saharan 

Africa Group 

VISA Incorporated has 

announced Aida 

Diarra as the company Senior 

Vice President and 

Group Country Manager 

for Visa SSA, effective 1 November 

2018. Diarra will 

oversee all Visa operations 

in forty-eight markets 

across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

She will report to Visa’s 

Regional President of 

CEMEA, Andrew Torre, 

and join Visa’s Central and 

Eastern Europe, Middle 

East and Africa (CEMEA) 

regional management 

team. 

Diarra is a highly experienced 

executive in the financial 

services and digital 

financial industry and is 

well versed in growing 

business and operations 

across the African continent. 

Her twenty-five-year career 

includes strategy development 

and implementation, 

business development and 

operational management. 

Aida joins Visa from Western 

Union, where she was 

the Regional Vice President 

for Africa & Managing Director 

for more than four 

years. Prior to this, she held 

a number of progressive 

leadership positions at the 

global money transfer business, 

developing her experience 

in marketing, sales, 

account management, 

strategy & planning and 

country / regional leadership 

positions. Coupled 

with her passion for financial 

technology, she is a 

champion for diversity and 

Africa’s overall contribution 

to the industry and serves 

as a leading voice in these 

two areas through her nonexecutive 

work. 

“Aida joins at a pivotal 

moment for our business,” 

said Andrew Torre, Regional 

President, CEMEA, 

for Visa. “Sub-Saharan Africa 

is a region of incredible 

opportunity – there will 

be more than [1]500 million 

mobile subscribers by 

2020, but many countries 

lack payments acceptance 

and infrastructure. Within 

the next several years an 

additional 55 million 

people in this region will 

be new to the banking system, 

and so continuing to 

invest in partnerships that 

connect these new consumers 

and merchants to great 

connected-commerce experiences, 

is critical for sustained 

and inclusive economic 

growth. Aida’s strong 

record of building great 

teams and strategic leadership 

will help us in that 

mission.” 

“I am excited to join 

Visa as it celebrates its 

60th anniversary. Visa is 

uniquely positioned to 

help reshape consumer 

experiences, lead the future 

of commerce, grow 

economies and transform 

lives across the continent,” 

said Aida Diarra. 

“[2]With just six percent 

of consumer payments in 

digital forms, this region 

presents an enormous 

and exciting opportunity 

for us to digitize cash, 

drive wider digital acceptance 

and support financial 

inclusion. I look forward 

to increasing the 

role we’re playing in making 

a difference to the diverse 

markets we support 

and serve.” 

Murray now International Breweries Non-ED 

THE Board of Interna 

tional Breweries (IB) 

Plc has appointed Mr. Andrew 

Scott Murray as a 

Non-Executive Director of 

the Company. 

Murray is currently the 

Vice-President, Finance 

for ABInBev Africa, leading 

the finance function 

across the AB Inbev Africa 

operations, based in 

Johannesburg, South Africa. 

He was the Global Director 

AB Inbev M&A 

based in New York with 

exceptional track record of 

handling transactions and 

Corporate disposals of different 

and magnitude. 

He was also part of 

the ABInbev’s focused 

group on Budgeting and 

Business Performance 

Optimization. 

Prior to joining 

ABInBev in 2013, Andrew 

worked at Bain & 

Company, a global management 

consulting firm 

for approximately 7 

years. He holds a BA in 

Mathematics and Economics 

from Williams 

College and an MBA 

from The Kellogg School 

of Management (Northwestern 

University). The 

Board is pleased to have 

Mr. Murray’s experience 

come to bear on the 

Company. 

LAWUNION appoints Adeduro as MD designate 

LAW Union and Rock 

Insurance PLC wishes 

to notify the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange and the investing 

public of the appointment 

of Mr Ademayowa 

Adeduro, as the 

Company’s Managing Director/Chief 

Executive Officer 

Designate, subject to 

the National Insurance 

Commission’s approval. 

The appointment was 

approved at the meeting of 

the Company’s Board directors 

held on October 24, 

•Boshoro 

2018. This is sequel to the 

expiration of the contract of 

appointment of its MD/ 

CEO, Mr Akinjide 

Orimolade on October 20, 

2018, having led the 

Company’s management 

successfully for four years. 

Mr Adeduro is a core 

insurance practitioner with 

a Bachelor’s degree in Insurance 

from the University 

of Lagos and Master’s degree 

in Marketing from the 

Obafemi Awolowo University, 

Ile Ife, Osun State. A 

Diarra 

Murray 

Adeduro 

Fellow of the Institute of 

Chartered Accountants of 

Nigeria (ICAN), Mr 

Adeduro is also an Associate 

Member of the Chartered 

Insurance Institute 

of Nigeria (CHM and the 

Nigerian Institute of Management 

(JIM). 

With experience spanning 

over two decades in 

the financial industry of 

Nigeria, the MD Designate 

possesses core competencies 

in areas such as 

clients/ relationship management, 

Non-life re/insurance 

underwriting. 

Prof Inyang appointed US 

Ambassador’s distinguished 

scholar to Ethiopia 

PROF. Hilary I. Inyang, 

African Academy of 

Science Member, former 

Duke Energy Distinguished 

Professor of Environmental 

Engineering and Science 

and Director of the Global 

Institute of Energy and environmental 

Systems of the 

North Carolina Charlotte, 

USA, was recently appointed 

to the role of “US 

Ambassador’s Distinguished 

Scholar to Ethiopia”. 

Ethiopia is currently 

devising and implementing 

many socio-economic initiatives 

to improve national productivity 

to generate benefits 

for its citizens. With an 

estimated population of 107 

million people, it is the second 

most populous country 

in Africa. The country is currently 

implementing its 

Growth and Transformation 

Plan // (GTP-11) 2015/16- 

2019/20 under the visionary 

leadership of the new 

Prime Minister Dr.Abiy 

Ahmed. 

Prof. Inyang who has previously 

served in key intellectual 

and institutional 

leadership positions including, 

DuPont Professorship 

at the University of 

Massachussetts Lowell, 

USA; Chairmanship of the 

US Environmental Protection 

Agency’s Science 

Board (Engineering Committee) 

in Washington DC, 

USA for two terms; Presidency 

of the Africa University 

and Science Technology 

(AUST), Abuja, Nigeria, and 

Vice Chancellorship of the 

•Inyang 

Botswana International 

University of Science and 

Technology (BIUST), 

Palapye, Botswana, will 

provide advice through a 

series of seminars; engage 

in research framing in 

many areas such as energy 

systems, climate change, 

natural disasters analyses 

and mitigation, and environmental 

systems; and 

provide assistance on the 

creation of research centers 

and knowledge integration 

into sustainable development 

initiatives. He 

will be based at the University 

of Gondar, the seat 

of past Ethiopian Emperors 

and former capital of 

the country. 

Prof. Inyang has led/performed 

research expeditions 

to several regions 

worldwide, including 

Jiangsu Province of China 

on mining subsidence and 

erosion; Khanty-Mansyst 

Region of Siberia, Russia on 

oil spills; Slovenia on underground 

mining; Niger Delta 

of Nigeria on oil spills and 

solid waste management; 

Minas Gerais Region of 

Brazil on laterite soil dusting; 

and Alaskan northern 

areas (USA) on permafrost 

degradation due to global 

climate change. 

UAC: Ezinwa now Group HR 

Director 

THE Board of UAC of 

Nigeria PLC (UAC) 

has announced the appointment 

of Dr. Vitus 

Chidiebere Ezinwa as the 

Group Human Resources 

Director. 

Dr. Ezinwa is a seasoned 

business manager and 

human resource professional 

with experience 

gained in leading multinational 

corporations. He 

holds a Bachelor’s degree 

in Sociology/Anthropology 

from the University of 

Nigeria Nsukka, MBA in 

Management from Lagos 

Business School, a Masters 

in Applied Business 

Research and a Doctorate 

in Business Administration, 

both from Swiss 

Business School, Zurich, 

Switzerland. 

He worked as Group 

Human Resources Director 

for Promasidor Africa; 

Human Resources Director, 

Coca-Cola Nigeria & 

Equatorial Africa with responsibility 

for 10 countries 

and Human Resources 

Director for Brit- 

•Ezinwa 

ish American Tobacco, 

West & Central Africa covering 

Ghana, Benin, 

Niger & Togo. He was also 

the Group Human Resources 

Director for Tropical 

General Investments 

(TGI) Group. 

Dr. Ezinwa is a member 

of the Advisory Board of 

Afterschool Graduate Development 

Centre and the 

Institute of Directors as 

well as a Fellow of the 

Chartered Institute of Personnel 

and Development 

(CIPD) UK. He is a cofounder 

and Director of 

HR Network Africa and 

was until 2014, a member 

of the Lagos Business 

School’s Advisory Board.

28— Niger-Delta Voice, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

VOL. 1: NO. 178 

78 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

RISING CRIMINALITY IN DELTA: 

Concerned policemen expose how 

corrupt officers aid gangsters 

• CP Muhammad Mustafa 

*Say they obstruct lawful attempts by Comm. Mustafa to tackle criminals 

DELTA... THE BIG 

HEART OF THE NATION 

By Emma Amaize, 

Editor, NDV 

ASABA- SOME 

apprehensive policemen 

in Delta State Command 

have pulled the plug on how some 

unscrupulous police officers ruin 

genuine efforts of the Commissioner 

of Police, Mr. Muhammad Mustafa, 

to put kidnappers and other 

criminals out of action in the state. 

The policemen, who confided in 

NDV, disclosed that incompetent 

officers have commercialized the 

operations of various units in the 

Command making it difficult for 

Mustafa, an honest and knowledgeable 

police officer, who met 

the irritating state of affairs on resumption 

of duty, to professionally 

deal with hoodlums. 

They also disclosed that many 

policemen were recognizably poor 

in weapons handling and shooting, 

maintaining it was the reason 

criminals have rampantly been attacking, 

killing and disarming law 

enforcement officers in the state, 

lately. 

A number of policemen had been 

callously murdered and their AK- 

47 rifles snatched by hooligans in 

the last few months in the state. 

The Command has found it thorny 

to recover the weapons though 

some suspects were said to have 

been arrested. 

Money-making policing 

One of the aggrieved policemen 

asserted: “Policing in the state 

have long been commercialized by 

top police officers of some departments 

due to their corrupt tendencies 

long before Mustafa, who is 

upright and hard working was 

deployed to the state.” 

“In fact, more than 70 percent of 

the total police personnel in Delta 

are providing illegal services as 

private guards and escort to rich 

individuals at the expense of the 

general public. 

“Large numbers of these policemen 

are posted to guard hotels, 

private schools, petrol stations, supermarkets, 

beer parlous, eateries, 

brothels, private clinics, furniture, 

cold rooms and aluminum sales 

outlets. 

“The rent of policemen on payment 

basis has greatly depleted 

the operational workforce of the 

•Masked policemen 

command, thereby leaving some 

vulnerable areas and the roads 

unmanned for hoodlums to operate 

freely,” he said. 

Notorious sections 

Another troubled policeman lamented: 

“Late, last year, armed 

robbers successfully robbed a UBA 

bullion van at Koka junction and 

the sum of $2 m being escorted 

from Onitsha to Asaba Airport was 

snatched as there was no police 

visibility from Bridge Head, Asaba 

to Koka junction, where the robbers 

operated freely without challenge.” 

Mustafa was yet to be 

drafted to the state then.” 

“Notorious in the commercialization 

of the policing in Delta state is 

the Quick Response Squad, Warri. 

The squad is a concept of former 

governor of the state, Chief James 

Ibori in 2002. It was established as 

an elite unit to deal decisively with 

serious crimes like armed robbery 

and hostage taking. 

“It was well equipped with gadgets, 

arms and vehicles with its 

base as defunct NRC secretariat, 

but today, they have turned the 

once glorious unit into a commercial 

venture. Over 300 mobile policemen 

sent on special duties from 

outside Delta Command together 

with above 200 policemen in the 

unit are deployed and posted to 

private individuals and companies 

on payment basis,” he alleged. 

He bemoaned: “Unknown to the 

Delta state government, the police 

unit it is funding is being used for 

purposes other than maintaining 

visibility and patrols in volatile 

towns, communities and flashpoints 

within the state.” 

Commissioner forced to 

device new means of intelligence 

gathering 

An indignant policeman 

challenged NDV: “Go and find 

out, the Commissioner has devised 

various means of gathering 

intelligence due to the colossal 

failures of the State Intelligence 

Bureau, SIB. The 

supposed SPY unit is not complementing 

the efforts of the 

Operational and Anti-Crime 

Units. They are supposed to 

spy for the command and give 

it information, but its men do 

not do their private businesses.” 

“It is another unit that has no 

contribution to the crime fighting 

mechanism of Delta Command. 

The largely discredited 

unit has failed woefully in its 

core mandate of intelligence 

gathering on the activities of 

criminals, their identities, hideouts, 

sponsors and operational 

methodology. 

“The women serving in the 

unit are hiding under the unit 

to trade during official period 

and some of their men are idle 

wearing expensive suits and 

gallivanting about the state 

without doing any work. They 

are mostly seen at government 

offices, big companies and Petroleum 

Product and Marketing 

Company, PPMC, Warri, 

scrambling for lucrative beats 

with Operation department of 

the Command,” he said. 

No intelligence on 

linchpins 

The security operative told NDV: 

“Under the unit’s watchful eyes as 

spies for the police, an Area Commander 

was killed in Ughelli, Commander 

of SARS, Emmanuel German 

was kidnapped and killed, the Divisional 

Police Officer, DPO, “C” Division, 

Asaba was also killed and the 

King of Ubuluku was kidnapped and 

killed.” 

“Various crimes such as kidnapping 

and robbery have been going on in 

most towns and cities in the state and 

the SIB unit is not doing anything to 

identify the perpetrators and killers,” 

he said. 

He also expressed reservations 

about the Operations Department, 

saying: “We are upset by the increase 

in kidnapping and other criminal activities 

in the state and the nonchalant 

attitude of the police officers, who 

are supposed to help the commissioner 

to tackle the menace.” 

Impudent escapades 

Findings by NDV showed that in 

just one month, kidnappers in particular, 

have carried out hair-raising 

operations in the state, while in some 

instances in the past three months, 

policemen fled on the sight of armed 

robbers, who effortlessly disarmed 

them. 

On October 14, marauding kidnappers 

abducted the second-in command, 

“A” Police Division, Asaba, Delta 

State, Superintendent Ayogu Florence, 

on her way to work and used 

her phone to call and demand for ransom. 

While bewildered residents of the 

state were trying to figure out the 

strange development, gunmen, 

October 15, kidnapped a nursing 

mother, Victoria Esika, and her two 

children at Afisere community, 

Ughelli, Ughelli North local government 

area. The children were 

later abandoned at Isiokolo in Ethiope 

East local government council. 

Five Catholics, among them 

nuns of the Order of the Missionary 

of Martha and Mary, MMM, 

Agbor, Ika South local government 

area, Issele-Uku Diocese in the 

state were returning from a burial 

ceremony in the eastern part of the 

country when they were hijacked 

at Railway Line, near Agbor, on 

October 25. 

Some profit-making kidnappers 

struck barely four days after, October 

29, along the Sapele –Warri 

road, abducting a Navy seaman, 

Kola Omoniyi, undergoing a 

course at the Naval Engineering 

College, Sapele. He was driving 

in his Corolla car when the hoodlums 

commandeered him. They 

later called on phone, demanding 

a ransom of N4 million. 

Suspected herdsmen add four 

priests to list 

A week ago, suspected Fulani 

herdsmen took hostage four Reverend 

Fathers at Urhonigbe, a border 

community on the Abraka-Agbor 

road, between Delta and Edo 

states.Last Thursday, Mustafa told 

reporters at Ughelli that detectives 

were on the trail of the kidnappers 

of four priests. 

The police boss said, last Thursday: 

“We are on it. We have already 

picked some people around 

those areas and the hoodlums have 

opened up line of communication 

but we are encouraging people not 

to pay ransom for kidnap. We are 

tracking them and definitely, in the 

next few days or hours, we would 

be able to rescue them.” 

Priests released but … 

True to his words, the priests 

were released Friday evening, but 

the next day, Saturday, bandits 

armed with gun and machetes 

attacked policemen on “stop and 

search” duty around the popular 

Konwea Plaza, along Nnebisi 

Road, Asaba, the state capital, allegedly 

killing a policeman and seizing 

two AK 47 rifles and one service 

pistol. 

NDV hints Commissioner 

NDV sought audience with 

Continues on page 29

• Rice nursery at Ikot Esen, Akwa-Ibom State 

THE TEAM 

Emma Amaize - Editor 

Samuel Oyadongha - Yenagoa 

Jimitota Onoyume- Warri 

Gabriel Enogholase -Benin City 

Festus Ahon- Asaba 

Egufe Yafugborhi- Port Harcourt 

Emmanuel Una- Calabar 

Akpokona Omafuaire- Warri 

Godwin Oghre- Sapele 

Harri-Okon Emmanuel- Uyo 

Chioma Onuegbu-Uyo 

Ike Uchechukwu- Calabar 

Davies Iheamnachor- Port Harcourt 

Emem Idio- Yenagoa 

Brisibe Perez- Ughelli 

Theresa Ugbobu- Agbor 

Ochuko Akuopha- Oleh 

Chancel Bomadi Sunday - Bomadi 

Alemma-Ozioruva Aliu- Benin City 

Nath Onajoke, Asaba 

Chijioke Nwankpa, Port- Harcourt 

Niger-Delta Voice, , TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, , 2018 — 29 

A’Ibom rice farmers lament FG's refusal to release funds 

AKWA-IBOM… 

LAND OF PROMISE 

By Chioma Onuegbu 

UYO- OVER 3,000 rice 

farmers in Akwa Ibom 

State under the Federal Government 

Rice Farmers Association 

of Nigeria, RIFAN, scheme, are 

enraged that government had 

not provided funds to enable 

them clear their rice fields and 

transplant seeds from the nurseries. 

Some of the rice farmers, who 

spoke to NDV, last week, said 

they were elated when the federal 

government through 

RIFAN in Abuja brought the 

scheme, promising to assist 

them with inputs and empower 

them financially to transplant 

from nurseries to their rice fields 

according to clusters. 

NDV gathered that over 3000 

farmers from across Akwa Ibom 

state collected fertilizer, chemicals, 

rice seeds and other inputs 

provided RIFAN in Abuja, but 

were disappointed that federal 

government has redeemed its 

pledge of giving them money 

for cultivation. 

Our rice seeds would 

waste if …—Usua 

At Ikot Esen cluster in Ibiono 

Ibom local government, a rice 

farmer and member, RIFAN 

project monitoring team in the 

state, Mr. Emmanuel Usua, bemoaned: 

“This nursery we have 

prepared since last month can 

cover up to 500 hectares when 

cultivated. But you can see that 

it is going to be wasted if we do 

not transplant them very soon.” 

“They have given us the inputs 

but refused to release the 

money they promised to help us 

plant. If we do not plant this rice 

seeds we would be wasting over 

1.5million tons of rice. That will 

not be encouraging to our farmers 

in Akwa Ibom. 

“They promised to give us 

money for clearing and planting 

because due to our terrain, 

ploughing and harrowing are 

done manually unlike in the 

North. Here you can see the 

heavy grass/weeds. That is why 

we were happy when we were 

told that we would be given the 

Concerned 

policemen 

expose how... 

C’River village head, 11 others feared killed in multiple 

inter-communal clashes 

•Residents flee as gunmen raze healthcare centre, school 

By Ike Uchechukwu 

CALABAR- THE Village Head of 

Ediong, Eki Clan, Odukpani 

Local Government Area, Cross 

River State, Chief Okon Essien and 

about 11 other villagers have been brutally 

murdered in inter-communal conflicts 

that snowballed to no fewer six 

communities, weekend. 

Property worth millions of naira, including 

a Primary Health Care Centre and 

residence of the immediate past chairman 

of the local government, Hon Bassey 

Eyo, Presbyterian Church and primary 

school were razed. 

Among the affected communities were 

Mbiabo, Ediong, Anwa Ibok, Idim 

Ndom, Obometiat and Ebebit, which 

have been embroiled in reprisal and 

counter reprisal within the past two 

weeks 

How the crisis erupted 

NDV learned that trouble started when 

some youths of Mbiabo community made 

money for us to clear and till the 

soil, unfortunately we have not 

been given the money till now”, 

he added 

We can’t repay loan if we 

don’t plant —Ekanem 

Another rice farmer, Mr. 

Ubong Ekanem of Heritage 

Builders, Itukho Multi Purpose 

Cooperative, told NDV: “We 

are worried because the inputs 

we were given are not free. We 

are expected to refund the federal 

government after harvesting. 

So if we do not plant, how 

are we going to pay back the 

loan? 

“This is our main concern. We 

embraced the scheme but if we 

do not get the money to cultivate, 

then the scheme would 

not have been fair to us,” he 

explained. 

A’Ibom RIFAN chair in 

dilemma 

Contacted, state chairman of 

RIFAN, Prof Etim Ituen said, 

“We have severally written to the 

national president of RIFAN 

and during the flag off of the 

programme in the state, Unity 

Bank, the anchor was there and 

they said that they were going 

to open account for the farmers 

because they promised they 

were going to give the farmers 

money for cultivation and the 

farmers were happy.” 

“But when approached, the 

Unity Bank said it later got a 

letter from its headquarters that 

they should not release any 

money to the farmers. And 

when I called the national secretary, 

he said that they do not 

give money to farmers and that 

they should continue to plant. 

This money is included in the 

economy of production. EOP. 

“We are saying since farmers 

here do not plough and harrow, 

the money should be given to 

them for transplanting”, he 

said. 

their way into Ediong forest to harvest timber 

and were intercepted by their Ediong 

counterparts, who seized their sawing machines 

and other items. 

Irked by the development, the people of 

Mbiabo spoiled for vengeance, but the 

timely intervention of the elders of both 

communities stopped the bloodbath and 

the seized items were returned to the owners. 

Killing of village head 

Unknown to them, they only postponed 

the evil day, as some obstinate Mbiabo 

youths reportedly dissatisfied with the 

truce brokered by the elders of both communities, 

stole behind to kill the Ediong 

village head and one other villager. 

Spread to three more communities 

An informant, who simply identified himself 

as Asuquo, told NDV: “While Mbiabo 

and Ediong were busy fighting, unidentified 

persons stormed Anwa Ibok village, 

burning down buildings and rendering 

hundreds of people homeless” 

“After Anwa Ibok village was burnt down, 

Continued from page 28 

Commissioner Mustafa on the 

complaints. He noted down the 

schemes, but kept his next plan to 

himself. 

Way out 

The leader of the concerned policemen 

suggested: “The Inspector 

General of Police and Commissioner 

of Police should immediately 

and effectively address the dynamics, 

which have given rise to and 

sustained organized crimes and 

ensure total overhaul and reorganization 

of the QRS and the largely 

discredited SIB of Delta State 

Command.” 

He added: “We would have gone 

to the Commissioner, but the kind 

of system we operate, we cannot 

even go to him and the senior officers 

affected will single us out for 

punishment later. That is why 

some of us decided to confide in 

you (Vanguard) because we know 

that you will make our concerns 

known to the authorities and protect 

our identities.” 

Range practice 

Meanwhile, Commissioner 

Mustafa had ordered a training 

programme for policemen in the 

state on weapons handling and 

shooting. A three-day training on 

range practice commenced with a 

detachment of policemen, last 

Thursday, November 8 at 31 Police 

Mobile Force, PMF, improvised 

shooting range, along Ogwashi-Uku-Kwale 

Road, Ogwashi-Uku. 

Police Public Relations Officer, 

PPRO, Delta, and DSP Andrew 

Aniamaka, in a statement, last 

week, advised members of the 

public, especially those living within 

Ogwashi Uku and environs 

“not to panic at the sound of gun 

shots/other related sounds and to 

stay away from the range site.” 

CROSS RIVER… 

THE PEOPLE’S PARADISE 

other communities pointed fingers 

at Idim Ndom community 

resulting in another clash 

that claimed six lives. 

“The fight further escalated 

to Obometiat, the home town 

of the immediate past chairman 

of Odukpani, Hon Eyo, 

where some persons were 

killed, healthcare centre, primary 

school and Presbyterian 

Church set ablaze. 

Villagers take flight 

NDV gathered that large 

number of villagers fled to Efe 

Edem and Ekpen Eki respectively 

for refuge. 

When contacted, the Police 

Public Relations Officer, Cross 

River Command, DSP Irene 

Ugbo, said she was unaware 

of the killings, but promised 

to keep us posted.

30— VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

BAYELSA: Game of ‘musical 

chairs’ with Police commissioners 

BY EMMA NNADOZIE 

Crime Editor 

THE tragic comedy playing out 

in the posting of Commissioners 

of Police to oil-rich Bayelsa State 

should serve as a veritable 

pointer to events that will herald the 

2019 elections in the country. In the 

recent past, the opposition and notable 

Nigerians have voiced out their 

resentment and suspicion over the 

neutrality or otherwise of security 

agencies in conducting peaceful 

elections in the country. They 

particularly pointed accusing fingers at 

the Police and DSS as institutions that 

may be used to truncate the process. 

Unfortunately, what is playing out 

today in Bayelsa State seems to give 

credence to their suspicion. This is 

because in the past six months, no fewer 

than eight Commissioners of Police have 

been posted to the state and removed 

unceremoniously. Some spent just few 

hours while others spent few weeks 

before being replaced without cogent 

reasons by Police authorities in Abuja. 

Precisely on October 10th 2018, a new 

Commissioner of Police, Ebere 

Onyeagoro who was in-charge of 

Interpol at FCID, Alagbon, Lagos was 

posted to the state. His posting came 

after about five other commissioners 

were posted and removed within six 

months. CP Onyeagoro’s posting came 

as a relief to the people and government 

of the state for the fact that he had spent 

considerable time in the past as an Area 

Commander in Yenagoa where he 

reportedly engaged cultists and other 

criminal elements fiercely and 

succeeded in curtailing their nefarious 

activities. 

However, barely three weeks after he 

assumed duties in the state, a signal 

came from Police authorities in Abuja 

replacing him with another 

Commissioner of Police, Joseph Muka. 

Inside sources said CP Onyeagoro was 

removed after a former three-time 

senator in the state allegedly rushed to 

Abuja to whisper that he was in the good 

books of Bayelsa State Government. 

Conversely, the new CP, Joseph Muka 

seems not to be in the good books of 

stakeholders in the state hence his 

posting elicited anger and disgust, 

prompting open threats to 

demonstrate against his stay in the 

office. Sources said stakeholders' 

resentment emanated from CP 

Muka’s activities while serving as 

a Deputy Commissioner of Police incharge 

of Administration in the state 

earlier. There was alleged 

disagreement between him 

and the state government 

over N10 million 

required for the 

replacement of a 

Police SUV 

which was tabled 

before the 

government but 

the government 

picked holes in 

the request and 

rejected it. He 

w a s 

subsequently 

posted to 

Adamawa State 

•IGP Idris 

•CP Austin Iwah •CP Ebere Onyeagoro •CP Asuquo Amba 

but he reportedly came back few months 

later as the substantive Commissioner 

of Police in the state. That 

notwithstanding, he was removed within 

three months. His removal came on the 

heels of unceremonious replacement of 

other commissioners of police in the 

state. At the last count, 

Commissioners of Police 

affected by this scourge of 

unceremonious removal 

include A.A Amba, Don 

Anwunah, Ahmed Bello, 

Abdulrahman Amah and 

Austin Iwah, who retired 

after serving 35 years and 

as Assistant Inspector- 

General of Police, AIG, CP 

Onyeagoro, who came as 

the 7th commissioner 

posted to the state within a 

period of six months. Yet 

the intrigues, power play 

and manoeuvring continue 

unabated. Reports reveal 

that just few hours after CP 

Onyeagoro assumed 

duties late October, Police 

authorities also 

posted 

another 

CP, Bashir Makama, a 

tested operational 

wizard and former CP 

in Anambra and Benue 

states, to take over from 

him. He was, however, 

replaced few hours 

after the signal came 

out with the same CP 

Onyeagoro whom 

the people seem 

to be at home with. 

Strangely, just few hours after CP 

Onyeagoro assumed duties, embattled 

CP Joseph Muka was brought back 

again to the state. Interestingly, as CP 

Muka was trying to adjust to the 

demands of the office, another signal 

brought CP Tai-Saleh 

Unfortunately, 

what is playing 

out today in 

Bayelsa State 

seems to give 

credence to their 

suspicion. This is 

because in the 

past six months, 

no fewer than 

eight 

commissioners of 

police have been 

posted to the state 

and removed 

unceremoniously 

from Murtala 

Muhammed Airport in 

Lagos to Bayelsa State. 

The musical chairs game 

was taking place just as 

sources said that both 

the Bayelsa State 

Government and House 

of Assembly vowed to 

stage a protest over the 

incessant removal and 

posting 

of 

Commissioners of Police 

to the state, a situation 

they perceive to have 

turned the state into a 

rudderless ship, security 

wise. People were irked 

about the rate of cult 

killings and crime wave 

generally in the state. 

Tempers flared last 

weekend after the 

gruesome killing of a 16- year-old 100 

level student of the state-owned Niger 

Delta University, NDU, Siefa Fred, by 

suspected cultists while she was running 

an errand for her mother in the state 

capital, Yenegoa. She was close to her 

residence when the hoodlums opened 

fire on her in a bid to snatch 

her phone. Her brutal 

killing triggered 

spontaneous protests 

a n d 

condemnation in 

and around the 

state with strident 

calls on police 

authorities to restore 

sanity in the state. The 

protesters described 

Bayelsa State as a lawless 

state, alleging that 

cultists are 

everywhere 

with arms; 

•Gov Dickson 

killing 

a n d 

•CP Muka Joe 

•CP Don Anwunah 

maiming people, just to snatch their 

valuables, especially phones. The 

sickening drama is playing within the 

state while commissioners of police 

serving in adjoining states like Rivers, 

Enugu, Anambra etc have served up to 

two years and above. For now, nobody 

knows where and when the pendulum 

will swing in the days ahead but what 

stakeholders allege is that there are 

attempts to have a stronghold over the 

security architecture of the state in 

preparation for 2019 elections. Who 

knows when the next posting and 

replacement will take place?

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 -- 31 

Allison Ayida and the Argonauts 

of Nigeria’s Golden Age 

QUINTESSENTIAL civil 

servant and technocrat 

Allison Ayida passed away quietly in 

a Lagos hospital on Friday October 

12, age 88. One of the privileges one 

had as a young researcher at the 

National Institute for Policy and 

Strategic Studies, Kuru, in the 

eighties was that it availed one 

opportunity to meet some of the 

greatest Nigerians across different 

walks of life. Allison Ayida was one 

of them. A brilliant mind and highly 

accomplished civil servant, he was 

often invited to the National Institute 

to give a lecture or to participate in 

one policy workshop or the other. He 

was an oracle of economics; a 

walking encyclopaedia of 

development — a genius in the 

analytics of public policy. 

What I remember about him the 

most was his gentle and soft-spoken 

mien. He spoke in measured tones 

as if words should be carefully 

counted like money. 

Allison Akene Ayida was born on 

June 16, 1930 in Gbelebu-Siliko in 

present-day Edo State, although 

both parents hailed from Ugbege in 

Delta State. He was the first and only 

son of his parents. His father, Jones 

Allison, was a schoolteacher who 

became a prosperous timber 

merchant, although the business 

later fell on hard times. 

He attended local schools before 

moving to the prestigious Kings 

College Lagos from 1946 to 1952. 

He was evidently a bright pupil, 

having achieved the rare feat of being 

given a double promotion to class 

IV in 1946. He caught up with the 

likes of Philip Asiodu who was to 

become a colleague and life-long 

friend. The principal of Kings at the 

time, according to my senior friend, 

J. K. Randle, was an Englishman by 

the name of J. R. Bunting. He it was 

who arranged for both Asiodu and 

Ayida to study Politics, Philosophy 

and Economics (PPE) at his own 

alma mater of Queen’s College 

Oxford on full scholarship from 

1953 to 1956. He subsequently did 

post-graduate work at the London 

School of Economics and Political 

Science during 1956-1957. 

Allison Ayida was among the first 

crop of civil servants recruited into 

the British Colonial Administration 

in the years leading up to 

independence. Among those 

pioneers were the likes of Philip 

Asiodu, Pius Okigbo and Solomon 

Akenzua, who was to become 

Omon’Oba n’Edo Uku Akpolokpolo 

Erediauwa I of Benin Kingdom. 

He was appointed a federal 

permanent secretary at the 

uncommon age of 33. He acquitted 

himself with distinction. He was that 

type of rare civil servant who was at 

home in an academic seminar room 

as he was in council chambers and 

the corporate boardroom. As one of 

the principal architects of Nigeria’s 

first three economic development 

plans, he worked closely with 

colleagues at the University of 

Ibadan and at the Nigerian Institute 

for Social and Economic Research, 

NISER. He was later promoted to 

the exalted position of Secretary to 

the Federal Government and Head 

of the Civil Service (the office was to 

be split into two separate positions 

in later years). He took over from 

Abdulazeez Attah, another eminent 

Oxford PPE graduate, who had 

passed on suddenly, following a 

cardiac arrest. Ayida held the 

position from 1975 to 1977 before 

retiring from the civil service. 

Allison Ayida was no doubt one of 

the builders of modern Nigeria. He 

served during the decades when our 

civil service was acclaimed to be 

He was a strong 

believer in the principle 

of self-determination 

for ethnic minorities 

throughout the 

Nigerian federation. He 

would have approved of 

our current 

commitment to 

restructuring for more 

effective nation 

building 

among the best in the 

Commonwealth of Nations. I speak 

on the authority of none other than 

Wolfgang Stolper, the eminent 

American economist who served as 

adviser to the Federal Government 

on the design of our First Economic 

Development Plan 1962-1968. In his 

posthumous memoirs, Stolper 

waxed lyrical about some of the great 

Nigerians he met: Simeon Adebo, 

Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Ojetunji 

Aboyade, Pius Okigbo, Ali Akilu, 

Philip Asiodu and Allison Ayida; 

royal princes who could hold their 

own in any court or chancellery in 

the world. 

When young Yakubu Gowon, age 

31, was addressing his first cabinet 

meeting, he referred to Abdulazeez 

Attah as “my secretary”. Whether it 

was a slip of tongue or a deliberate 

put-down, we would probably never 

know. Suffice it to say that the Okene 

prince firmly corrected the Head of 

State: “No, I’m not your secretary; 

I’m the Secretary to the Federal 

Government of Nigeria.” Gone are 

the days! 

Unlike us Lilliputians, they were 

bereft of ethnic or religious bigotry. 

His friend and colleague Ahmed 

Joda once wrote: “On my way to the 

Kaduna airport to fly to Lagos to take 

over as Permanent Secretary, Federal 

Ministry of Information, on 12 July 

1967….Ali Akilu, Secretary to the 

Military Government of Northern 

Nigeria…drew me aside and advised 

me to as soon as possible after 

arriving in Lagos…call on two men 

– Allison Ayida and Philip Asiodu, 

both Permanent Secretaries….He 

advised that I should work closely 

with both men. They, he said, were 

good and loyal Nigerians and very 

intelligent.” 

Ayida belonged to a generation that 

were wrongly referred to by 

journalists and even academics as 

“Super-Permanent Secretaries”. 

Others were Philip Asiodu, Ibrahim 

Damchida, Ime Ebong and Ahmed 

Joda. They were so-called because 

they exerted an influence in 

government that was beyond what 

was expected of any civil servant. But 

it was not entirely their fault. They 

were gifted young men with the best 

education anyone could hope for, 

then as now. They were trained by 

the British, with their exacting 

standards and easy patrician selfconfidence. 

Many of their political 

masters — civilian and military — 

were not in their league, if truth be 

told. But what stood them out was 

their sense of national mission and 

destiny. They were patriots to the core. 

Following the revenge coup by 

Northern officers in July 1967, 

Yakubu Gowon gave a national 

broadcast in which he declared that 

there was no longer a basis for the 

continued existence of the Nigerian 

federation. Many northern civil 

servants and officers were getting 

ready to evacuate Lagos. It was 

Super-Permanent Secretaries like 

Asiodu who risked their lives by 

braving it into Dodan Barracks to 

prevail on Gowon to retract his 

disastrous announcement. 

And following the Aburi Accord of 

August 1967 in which Gowon had 

literally acquiesced to Ojukwu’s 

demand for confederation, it was 

again the Super-Permanent 

Secretaries, aided by British 

Petroleum and Prime Minister 

Harold Wilson, who dissuaded him 

from that misguided course. Prince 

Solomon Akenzua, who had 

accompanied Gowon to the 

conference, did not sleep upon return 

to Lagos. He spent the entire night 

writing a memo to persuade the 

Head of State to renege on an 

agreement that could have destroyed 

our federation. Those who blame 

Gowon for reneging on Aburi are 

ignorant of international law which 

prescribes that treaties could only be 

binding after ratification by the 

parties concerned. Aburi was never 

ratified and so could never be 

regarded as a legally binding 

agreement under international law. 

In his long years in retirement 

Ayida spent his time in charitable 

works and in supporting cultural 

groups such as his beloved Itsekiri 

people. He was a strong believer in 

the principle of self-determination 

for ethnic minorities throughout the 

Nigerian federation. He would have 

approved of our current 

commitment to restructuring for 

more effective nation building. 

Unlike many of our plutocrats, he 

was more financially successful in 

private life than he was in 

government. He had wide ranging 

business interests from finance to oil 

and gas and real estate. He chaired 

the boards of several companies, 

among them Security, Printing and 

Minting Company Ltd, CFAO, 

Centre-Point Securities Ltd, Credit 

Lyonnais, and Berger Paints. He was 

awarded an honorary LLD by the 

University of Benin and another LLD 

by Bayero University, Kano. 

Like many of his generation of 

Nigeria’s golden years, he was 

saddened by the turn of events. At a 

Convocation Lecture at the 

University of Jos in January 1987, 

he lamented: “I stand before this 

audience as a sad Nigerian. I feel 

sad because of the sense of doom 

around the shadow of doubt hanging 

over us. There is too much human 

misery around”. This was as far back 

as 1987. It is no surprise that he took 

his exit in the dark night of a 

monstrous regime that has 

superintended such mindless killings 

and our descent into the status of the 

world capital of poverty. 

He was among the last of the civil 

service titans. De profundis. 

By Akintola Benson-Oke 

IN choosing this topic, regard has been had 

to the important work that labour leaders 

do in organising and coordinating the affairs 

of the unions in a manner that delicately 

balances the competing interests inherent in 

any such endeavour. Without any iota of doubt, 

leadership training, when properly executed 

and repeatedly administered, will go a long 

way in ensuring that labour unions are 

effectively organised and administered and 

such effective organisation and administration 

will translate into smart decisions devoid of 

unnecessary sentiments. I will emphasise 

certain fundamental elements of leadership 

development . 

My first point relates to the dismantling of 

the myth that leadership is innate and not 

subject to systematic and intentional 

cultivation.The following excerpt from an 

article by Lori Fairfeld is instructive in pointing 

out the foundational structure for leadership 

development programmes. The article noted 

that, “Warren G. Bennis, the founding chairman 

of The Leadership Institute at the University of 

Southern California, said, “The most 

dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are 

born—that there is a genetic factor to 

leadership. This myth asserts that people 

simply either have certain charismatic 

qualities or not. That’s nonsense; in fact, the 

opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than 

born.” Although research doesn’t prove the 

effectiveness of specific programmes, many 

organisations do have leadership development 

strategies.” 

The author of the article then posed the 

following question to organisational leaders: 

“If leaders are truly made rather than born, 

how are you creating new leaders in your 

organisation?” Indeed. That is a relevant 

question that every organisation-and, in this 

case, every labour union-must answer in order 

to be assured of orderly succession and 

continuity of smart decision-making. It is thus 

observable that, every “organisation 

Labour, leadership and organisational effectiveness 

understands the value of leadership, and any 

employee being led can tell you whether or not 

their company has effective leadership. The 

most important thing to understand about 

great leadership development is that it is not a 

programme. Great leadership development is 

a strategy and culture.” 

And that is exactly the second and perhaps 

the most important point to note here: The 

need for labour leaders not to regard leadership 

development as a programme to be staged on 

an ad hoc basis but as a strategy to be instituted 

and stitched into the fabric of the organisation. 

A leadership development strategy defines the 

Where leaders do not possess 

the attitude, aptitude and 

skills that are relevant for the 

times, they become 

fundamentally flawed in any 

attempt to craft a beneficial 

and compelling vision 

goals and expectations for leaders in the 

organisation. It also defines the key 

capabilities, competencies, and experiences of 

a successful leader in your organisation. Those 

definitions drive leadership selection, rewards, 

and the various supporting development 

programmes. Managed in this strategic way, 

leadership development becomes more than 

simple lip service for the organisation. 

Third, I address the ‘ethos’ of leadership. Mr. 

Peter Reily, the notable organisational 

productivity consultant and the author of “In 

the Garden of Hearts” noted in his book as 

follows: “Regardless of what title you hold or 

role you play in your organisation, there is 

something in you that knows that no matter 

what good ideas or strategies the experts 

generate . . . those ideas go nowhere without 

leadership.” 

Mr. Reily then further shared from his rich 

career experience as follows: “Over my career 

I have facilitated the development of some 

excellent strategic plans. A few were 

successfully implemented; most were not. The 

plans did not succeed or fail based on the 

strength of the ideas and strategies that were 

contained within them. No, the key element in 

whether they succeeded. or not, was directly 

related to the effectiveness of the leaders who 

were charged with making them reality.” 

Indeed, experience teaches that leadership 

is not only about our ideas, our strategies, and 

our vision. While these elements reflect the 

mind of a leader, it is not the essence of 

leadership itself. Also, it is not about our title 

or our authority or having a great personality, 

or being a moving speaker; although people 

sometimes mistake these elements for 

leadership. On the substance of the matter, the 

great philosophical thinker, Aristotle spoke of 

‘ethos’ as a type of leadership in which the leader 

influences others to change their values and 

thus their performance. ‘Ethos’ is not what a 

person says or promises, but it is their way of 

being in the world, their presence and 

comportment that affects how others follow 

them and whether they are open to their ideas. 

In essence, Aristotle is exhorting us that 

leadership that matters is the leadership that 

results in productivity and positive change. 

Fourth, I address the criticality of a clearly 

defined vision to any credible pursuit of 

leadership development. One of the foremost 

business strategy thinkers in modern times, is 

credited as profoundly observing that 

“leadership is the most influential and critical 

element of all businesses. Effective leaders have 

the necessary tools and skills to inspire and 

impact their teams allowing firms to run 

competently and smoothly. As a good leader, 

you should understand the mission statements, 

objectives, actions, plans, and goals of the 

company to be able to lead your workforce 

into realizing them.” 

I fully agree. Only strong and trained leaders 

can envision the right and appropriate future 

for organisations. Where leaders do not possess 

the attitude, aptitude and skills that are relevant 

for the times, they become fundamentally 

flawed in any attempt to craft a beneficial and 

compelling vision for their organizations. And, 

as we all know, in the absence of vision, the 

people perish as the institutions become 

rudderless and their journey becomes one 

without a map. 

Trained, visionary and, therefore, strong 

leaders will also beneficially impact their 

organisations by being able to inspire the 

people in the organisation to enthusiastically 

buy into the vision crafted by the leadership. 

There is no effective leadership without a 

mobilised and enthused followership. Thus, the 

Lagos State Public Service and the organised 

labour and trade unions operating within it 

will benefit from the work and example of 

labour leaders who can inspire their followers 

to supporting beneficial policies. Indeed, a 

strong leader who resolutely believes in the 

vision of the organisation will magnetically 

attract followers who will join the movement 

to fulfill the mission and realise the vision. 

Fifth, I address the need for excellent 

communications and relational skills to form 

part of the fabric of any leadership 

development strategy. Of course, the promotion 

and propagation of an organisation’s vision 

and mission calls for the presence of excellent 

communications and relational skills in the 

leaders of organisations. I am glad to note 

that one of the stated objectives of this training 

is the inculcation of strong communication 

skills in the participants. These skills will stand 

you in good stead in your commitment to 

ensure the effectiveness of your organisations. 

Continues Online @www. vanguardngr.com 

Dr. Benson Oke, is Lagos State commissioner 

fro Establishment Training & Pensions.. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

ARIES; It’s true you’re willing to work harder but you just have to 

drop both aggression and mental arrogance to allow things to roll 

accordingly. Then, you’re accident prone within your working arena. 

Respect the law and its agents today. 

TAURUS; Serious thought may be giving to matters of the heart but 

it’s better you tarry a while. Joint ventures of short duration today may 

be an invitation to avoidable trouble 

GEMINI; If you back your financial plans with concrete and positive 

actions things’ll go according to your desire. If you fail to realise importance 

of your spouse you would work your way into avoidable trouble; 

aren’t you tired of crisis?. 

CANCER; Your intelligence, competence and level of concentration 

may today bring you envy, which you don’t deserve within your 

working arena in a negative form but, you’ll succeed.. Entertain no 

fear, and take advantage of your sex-appeal for love. 

LEO;. Placement of the Moon highlights your Solar second house of 

money which is good but, if you try to buy true love with money, you’ll 

be disappointed 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually 

listening to what another has to say.” Bryant 

H. McGill - 

Listen to another without interrupting. The next time 

someone’s talking to you and unburdening themselves, 

try really listening to them, without thinking of what to 

say next. Look at people in the eye when you talk to 

them. Give them your undivided attention. Make them 

feel worthy. -- Ella Randle 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

It’s those ugly 

caterpillars 

that turn into 

beautiful 

butterflies 

after seasons. 

~African 

Proverb 

By Kola Fayemi 

VIRGO; The. Moon in your Star sign’ll gives you new confidence and 

with new supports from the powers-that-be, it’s like you are now unstop-able. 

But be cautious, especially with the veterans within your 

base of operation 

LIBRA; It is your day. But you will need to do away with nonproductive 

argument and/or agreement. Try to be more diplomatic 

now. 

SCORPIO; If what you’re doing today’ll depend on tomorrow’s 

event it’s better you’re more careful now. Even things may not go 

according to your personal plans today. Yet it’s important you plan 

both your immediate and far future carefully now 

SAGITTARIUS; If you take to aggression, your ego would be deflated 

by your superior colleagues, but your being co-operative in a 

civilised way’ll prevent trouble. 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O. OLAIDE 

CAPRICORN; Those willing to put you to shame one way or the 

other’ll be disappointed with the turn of things today. It’s good to 

secure support of your spouse. 

AQUARIUS; You’ve had enough of fun in the recent times and it’s 

now time you settle down for hard work in order to prevent avoidable 

trouble. Be patient please. 

PISCES; Your concentration level and determination are the pillars of 

your success today. Yet you=ll need to respect your senior colleagues 

and protect your image. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

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

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, 7, Apapa, Lagos 

What about me? 

Dear Joshua, 

You have done many people’s horoscope; what about 

me? I want you to kindly analyse my star and tell me 

everything about my self. Please take note that I value 

my health and career than any other thing. 

Tony, Lagos. 

Dear Tony, 

What space can take will be given to you here-under. 

Star Signs that hosted both your natal sun and moon 

are members of very strong star signs-health wise. 

Scorpio, in particular, has unusual survival ability. 

That is to say, even when health related challenges 

come, your survival endowment will always see you 

through. 

Your major challenge is from your constant worries 

about too many things, especially on career related 

issues. Business miscalculation can be another source 

of health related challenge. You will agree with the 

fact that both constant worries and business miscalculation 

can affect one’s circulatory system. 

Other things to watch-out for include: Urine-genitalorgans, 

minor accident (fire), bones dislocations, a few 

other times, skin infections and, of-course, fever. Always 

take care of the stomach. Please take note that 

all these are mere warnings as there is nothing fatalistic 

about them; a good guard, though. 

Oil related Neptune was the closet heavenly body to 

the sun when you were born at positive angle to Pluto 

in Leo. Thus, having things to do with oil along your 

career/business lines is not by accident. 

Then preponderance of water element and fixed quality 

in the distribution of the planets when you were 

born are favourable to commercial involvement with 

anything liquid. 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa



NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

CELEBRATION OF BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS: From left: Mr. Dapo Abe, CEO, 

Morgan Omoitan and Abe Engineering Company/Trustee of COPE; Ebunola Anozie, CEO, COPE; 

Segun Opeke, Directorate Head, Lagos Business/representative of Tokunbo Abiru, GMD/CEO, Polaris 

Bank and Dr. Bola Fajemirokun, CEO, Development Initiative Network and COPE Trustee, during the 

2018 celebration of Breast Cancer Survivors event at Sheraton, Ikeja, Lagos. 

Develop our society with creative works, 

Uduaghan charges authors 

By Jimitota 

Onoyume 

W ARRI—FORMER 

governor of Delta 

State, Dr. Emmanuel 

Uduaghan, has called on 

writers to continue to see 

themselves as the 

conscience of society, 

stressing that they 

should always add value 

to society by being 

creative. 

Uduaghan, who spoke 

in Warri, Delta State, at 

the public presentation of 

a book, What a 

Tradition, written by Mr. 

Ughara Oti Gabriel, said 

he was impressed with 

the creative power of the 

author, adding that he 

would always support 

the growth of creative 

writing in the state. 

Uduaghan, who is the 

Delta South senatorial 

candidate of All 


By Harris 

Emmanuel 

U YO—APPA- 

RENTLY aimed at 

easing accommodation 

problem in Akwa Ibom 

State University, Ikot 

Akpaden, in Mkpat Enin 

Local Government Area of 

the state, Niger Delta 

Development Commission, 

NDDC, has concluded 

plans to construct a hostel 

for the students. 

Managing Director of the 

commission, Obong Nsima 

APC was represented by 

his wife, Deaconess Roli 

Uduaghan. 

He further called on 

youths to develop a 

passion for reading. 

Earlier, Chairman of 

the event, Chief Ayiri 

Emami, the Ologbotsere 

of Warri kingdom also 

lauded the author of the 

book for being creative. 

Represented by Chief 

Edo communities dump APC over 

herdsmen attacks 

B 

E 

By Gabriel 

Enogholase 

N I N — 

RESIDENTS of 

Odighi and Odiguete 

communities in Ovia 

North East Local 

Government Area of Edo 

State,weekend, said they 

were defecting from All 

Progressives Congress 

Robinson Ariyo, Emami 

said he was thrilled by 

the story with Itsekiri 

setting, calling for more 

creative work to promote 

the rich culture of Itsekiri 


Pa Macaulay Eyeoyibo, 

and Mr. Amorighoye 

Mene hailed the author 

for the initiative. 

Professor Okwechime 

Oracle, reviewed the 

,APC, to the Peoples 

Democratic Party ,PDP, 

because the APC failed 

to protect them from 

rapists and herdsmen 

who have taken over 

their farmlands. 

Spokesperson of 

Odighi community, who 

pleaded anonymity 

said:”Our people can no 

longer go to their farms. 

NDDC to construct hostel in A-Ibom 

varsity —Ekere 

Ekere, said this during a 

reception rally held in his 

honour by the people of 

Mkpat Enin. 

He said the 

interventionist agency has 

also completed emergency 

repairs of two roads, 

adding that it would soon 

award the contract for the 

construction of five more 

roads in Mkpat Enin. 

The roads include 

Ekparakwa – Ekpene Ukpa 

Road, which passes 

through Mkpat Enin, and 

Ibekwe Akpanya – Ikot 

Akpaden Road. 

His words: “Today, 

change has come to Mkpat 

Enin. What is happening 

in Mkpat Enin today is the 

same thing happening all 

over Akwa Ibom State. It 

means that the people of 

Akwa Ibom State have 

abandoned the present 

PDP government because 

they have not done well. 

"There is no other state in 

Nigeria where you find 

members of the political 

class and the people 

massively leaving the party 

of the governor to another 

party.” 

book, describing it as a 

credible testament to 

tradition. 

“The writer presented 

the book in 

transliteration, meaning 

it is, as it is said in the 

original language. It is a 

commendable piece, ‘’ he 

stated. 

Dr. Roland Edjedegba 

unveiled the book, 

recommending it as a 

must read for all. 

Our women are being 

raped and our people are 

being killed because of 

the activities of 

herdsmen. 

“We can no longer 

remain in a party that 

cannot protect us. The 

party that brought the 

herdsmen must go “ 

Also speaking in 

Odiguete, a legal 

practitioner, Mr. Julius 

Edobor, said the people 

of Uhiere Ward have lost 

faith in the APC. 

Meanwhile, Edo State 

Chairman of the Peoples 


Chief Dan Orbih has 

appealed to the 

electorate to verify if their 

names appeared in the 

voters’ register recently 

released by the 



INEC. 

Orbih made the appeal 

while receiving defectors 

from Ikpoba Okha, and 

Oredo 

Local 

Government Areas. 

41 orphanages, adopted families 

get succour from 05 Initiative 

By Emma Amaize 

ASABA—A 

nongovernmental 

organisation, 05 Initiative, 

founded by the wife of the 

governor of Delta State, 

Dame Edith Okowa, 

yesterday, in Asaba, 

provided food items and 

money worth millions of 

naira to 41 orphanages and 

adopted families in the state 

to celebrate the 2018 World 

Orphans Day. 

Dame Okowa, an 

evangelist, who was joined 

by top government officials 

and ministers of the gospel, 

said she was commissioned 

by God to feed the hungry 

and provide for the lessprivileged 

some years ago. 

Pere of Tuomo Kingdom gets 

staff of office 

By Perez Brisibe 

THE 

Ebenanaowie 

of Tuomo Kingdom, 

HRM Francis Tabai, Pere 

Esuku I, has received his 

staff of office from Delta 

State governor, Ifeanyi 

Okowa. 

The governor, 

represented by his deputy, 

Kingsley Otuaro, made the 

presentation at Tuomo 

community, an occasion 

that also witnessed the 

emergence of High Chief 

Mike Loyibo as the 

Tonkepa (Prime Minister) 

of Tuomo Kingdom, 

alongside five others who 

were awarded various 

chieftaincy titles by the 

monarch. 

The Pere, in his address 

read by the Burutu council 

chairman, Godknows 

Angele, described 

Governor Okowa as a man 

in a hurry to reposition 

Among the food items 

donated were bags of rice, 

tubers of yam and palm oil, 

sourced from funds 

contributed by members of 

the group and support from 

some financial institutions, 

especially.Zenith and 

Sterling banks. 

She said: “For the past 

three years, O5 Initiative 

has taken the issue of 38 

registered orphanages and 

three adopted families 

seriously by providing their 

basic needs, especially 

food. This is part of our 

mission to feed the hungry 

and provide shelter for the 

homeless. This year’s 

celebration will not be 

different, as we have food 

items for orphanages.” 

Delta State. 

He said: “Our only plea 

is that Deltans should be 

patient with him and give 

him the needed support so 

that he will take us to the 

promised land.” 

On his part, Okowa 

congratulated the monarch 

on his ascension to the 

throne and commended 

stakeholders of the 

kingdom for the peaceful 

process that led to the 

emergence of the monarch. 

He said: “As a retired 

judge, he would have a lot 

to offer the Ijaw nation, 

Delta State and the country 

at large.” 

Also speaking, Chief 

Loyibo, said: “ HRM Esuku 

I has a very rich curriculum 

vitae, which would be of 

immense benefit to the 

people of Tuomo kingdom, 

the Ijaw nation and Nigeria. 

We pledge our loyalty to 

him.” 

FG urged to enforce right of 

worship 

By Elizabeth 

Uwandu 

AN Edo State 

indigene, Mr Lucky 

Akhagbemeh, has called 

on the Federal 

Government to redouble 

efforts towards enforcing 

the rights of Nigerians to 

worship whatever they 

chose to worship. 

Akhagbemeh who made 

the call in Asaba while 

narrating how his family 

members and community 

tried to force one of his 

cousins, Pastor Bright 

Ikpea, to be initiated as the 

chief priest of their 

community's shrine, said 

his cousin had to flee to 

Libya when the pressure 

became too much, leaving 

his wife and two daughters 

behind. 

According to him, “They 

said the consequence of his 

refusal was death so he 

decided to do it because of 

his parents. When he got 

there he was asked to 

perform some rituals. 

“He was also asked to 

bring the circumcised part 

of the daughters to the 

shrine for dedication. My 

cousin, since that time, fled 

the country before he could 

take over the spiritual staff, 

the symbol of authority.”

34—VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

Imo PDP primary: Court 

slams N.3m on Anyanwu 

By Chidi 

Nkwopara 

OWERRI—A Federal 

High Court sitting in 

Owerri, has ordered 

Senator Samuel 

Nnaemeka Anyanwu to 

pay N.3 million to the 


PDP, and the party’s 2019 

gubernatorial candidate, 

Chief Emeka Ihedioha. 

Anyanwu dragged the 

PDP, Ihedioha and the 



INEC, to court vide FHC/ 

OW/CS/121/2018, to 

challenge the outcome of 

the party's primary that 

produced Ihedioha as the 

gubernatorial candidate. 

When the matter came up 

before Justice M.T. Salihu, 

the plaintiff’s counsel, 

Prince Ike Udeozor,who 

held the brief of Chief Paul 

Erokoro, SAN, said he had 

two applications before the 

court. 

“My Lord, we have two 

applications before the 

court. One is dated October, 

17, 2018, but filed on 

October 18 2018 and 

another was dated 

November 2 2018 and filed 

on November 7, 2018. They 

are all praying for 

amendment of the 

plaintiff’s process. 

“My Lord, I apply to 

withdraw the initial 

application for amendment 

dated October 17 and filed 

on October 18, 2018”, 

Udeozor said. 

Although the PDP 

counsel, Mr. Ndukwe 

Nnawuchi, SAN, and 

We don’t need war in Enugu during 

election —APC factional chair 

By Onyedi 

Ofulue 

F ACTIONAL 

chairman of All 


APC, in Enugu state, 

Deacon Okey Ogbodo, 

yesterday, condemned 

reports credited to a former 

governor of the state to the 

effect that 2019 polls will be 

war in the state, stating that 

it was a resort by political 

actors to heat up the polity. 

Deacon Ogbodo who said 

that the statement was a 

‘dangerous rhetoric’ 

lamented that instead of 

working hard to project the 

manifesto and rightful 

candidate of the party to the 

people so that they can win 

election, certain political 

actors are busy predicting 

doom. According to him, 

one should be particularly 

miffed that a former 

governor of this state was 

recently widely reported to 

have threatened that “2019 

polls will be war in Enugu. 

Why threaten people with 

war, instead of working 

hard to project the party’s 

manifesto and rightful 

candidates to our people so 

we can win fair and 

Ihedioha’s counsel, Prince 

C. O. Njemanze, SAN, did 

not oppose the plaintiff’s 

application, they however 

asked for costs. 

While Nnawuchi asked 

for N1 million, Njemanze 

prayed the court to award 

his client N2 million “for 

coming to the court twice 

for the same motion”. 

The plaintiff’s counsel 

opposed the amount, 

arguing that “the 

intendment of an 

amendment is to ensure 

that all issues of controversy 

are placed before the court 

and as such should not be 

used punitively against 

litigants”. 

He then prayed the court 

to exercise it’s discretion in 

determining the cost to be 

awarded. 

In his ruling, Justice 

Salihu awarded the sum of 

N100.000 and N200.000 in 

favour of the PDP and Chief 

Ihedioha respectively, to be 

paid by the plaintiff. 

With the issue of cost was 

settled, Udeozor applied to 

withdraw the October 17 

application to enable the 

latter application for 

amendment go in, “since 

the two motions are 

virtually seeking the same 

thing”. 

The Judge granted the 

application and struck out 

the application for 

amendment dated October 

17, as prayed by the counsel 

for Senator Anyanwu. 

Hearing on the fresh 

application could not go on 

because the defendants 

have seven days within 

which to reply. 

square?" 

He continued: “I should 

think that instead of this 

dangerous and 

unwarranted rhetoric, these 

people who are supposed 

to be major stakeholders of 

APC ought to concern 

themselves with the 

challenge of solving the 

protracted leadership crisis 

in APC in the State which 

they clandestinely foisted 

on all of us for their-self 

serving insatiable greed for 

power and influence. 

“I dare submit that the 

good people of Enugu do 

not need any form of this 

so-called “war” but peace, 

tranquillity and good 

governance. 

"The team I lead does 

not and will not subscribe 

to any form of “war” 

against our dear people. 

The mandate party folks 

gave to us was one to 

change our destiny for the 

better, not wage of war. 

Loose, unguarded 

utterances like the one 

ascribed to the former 

governor is irresponsible 

and clearly unwarranted 

and must not be repeated 

or emulated." 

Court revokes Orji Kalu’s bail, orders his arrest 

•Abia elders applaud court's decision, seek Kalu's immediate arrest, trial 

By Joseph Erunke 

AFederal high court in 

Ikoyi has revoked the 

bail it granted a former 

Governor of Abia State, Orji 

Uzor Kalu, in an alleged 

N7.5 billion fraud trial he 

is currently facing. 

The Presiding Judge, 

Mohammed Idris retracted 

the bail conditions granted 

to Kalu in 2007 and 

ordered that the EFCC 

should effect his arrest if he 

fails to submit himself to the 

anti-graft agency on arrival 

into the country. 

The Judge said; “I have 

perused the proceedings 

from court records and I 

discovered that one of the 

conditions for granting bail 

to the 1st defendant, who 

happens to be Orji Uzor 

Kalu, is that he should 

deposit his international 

passport with the court and 

the permission must be 

granted before he can 

travel outside the country 

for whatever reason. 

“It is clear that the 1st 

defendant has flouted this 

order. No one, high or low, 

rich or poor can disobey a 

valid order of court and 

expect such court to show 

mercy. 

“Consequently, the bail 

granted to the 1st 

defendant is hereby 

revoked. It’s hereby ordered 

that the first defendant 

upon his return to Nigeria 

must submit himself to the 



EFCC, with all his travel 

documents. EFCC should 

effect his arrest if he fails to 

submit himself.” 

The judge, however, 

accommodated the doctor’s 

report that claimed the 

embattled former governor 

should be admitted on bed 

rest for ten to twelve 

months. 

“In line with the 

LAUNCHING: From left: Representative of the Minister of Health 

and Chief Medical Director of National Hospital, Abuja, Dr. Jaf 

Momoh; Emeritus Professor of Surgery of Nnamdi Azikiwe University 

Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, Prof. Okechukwu Mbonu; and Consultant 

Urologist of Kelina Hospital, Dr. Celsus Indie, during the Kelina 

Hospital launching of its Laser Surgical Equipment in Abuja 

Urban Renewal: Enugu govt awards over 

N1.4bn projects 

By Chinedu 

Adonu 

E NUGU—THE 

administration of 

Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of 

Enugu State has awarded 

contracts for another set of 

development projects that 

are critical to its urban 

renewal strategy, totaling 

over N1.4 billion. 

Briefing newsmen on the 

outcome of the meeting of 

the State Executive 

Council, EXCO, the 

Commissioner for Works 

and Infrastructure, Engr. 

Greg Nnaji, explained that 

the bulk of the contracts 

awarded were for the 

construction of ten units of 

Executive Guest House at 

the old Governor’s Lodge, 

G.R.A, Enugu, for routine 

guests of the state 

government. 

Engr. Nnaji, who stated 

that the council was 

concerned that Enugu 

State Government has 

never had a guest house for 

its visitors in spite of its 

status as the historic capital 

of Eastern Region, old 

Anambra State, old Enugu 

State and the capital of 

present Enugu State, 

described the ten units’ 

guest house as “a legacy 

project”. 

The commissioner 

disclosed that the council 

gave the approval to save 

money for the government 

in line with its adherence 

to prudent management of 

resources, adding that it 

“will put to rest the 

speculations on what the 

state government intended 

to do with that property”, 

which served as the 

headquarters of the Post 

Primary Schools 

Management Board, 

PPSMB, before it was 

relocated to Independence 

Layout, Enugu. 

He further explained that 

the state-of-the-art housing 

project which was captured 

in 2018 budget, includes 

duplexes, “made up of four 

bedrooms, on the first floor, 

all in suites and the ground 

floor that occupies the main 

doors, the dinning, the 

kitchen and one other 

room”, stressing that they 

are “considered as one of 

the best modern day guest 

houses in our present 

times” 

Nnaji said his ministry 

had carried out clearing 

work at the site preparatory 

to the immediate 

commencement of 

construction works. 

Also approved by the 

EXCO, according to the 

works commissioner, were 

the rehabilitation/ 

construction of some road 

projects in the state, at the 

cost of over N945 million 

“to ease transportation and 

mobility of our people”. 

Nnaji, who pointed out 

that “the roads are so 

important to our people”, 

listed them to include, 

Ebonyi Paint Road, 

Awkunanaw, Enugu South 

LGA; Owerre Ezukala 

Close, Independence 

Layout, Enugu, Enugu 

North LGA; rural roads in 

the state - Abor Road and 

St. Mary Ngwo, Nsude 

Road under RAMP II; and 

the access road and 

internal roads in the Police 

Mobile Force Squadron 3, 

Gariki, Awkunanaw, 

Enugu South LGA. 

neurosurgeon’s advice 

from Germany which stated 

that the 1st defendant 

should be on hospital bed 

rest between ten to twelve 

months, this case is 

adjourned to January 23rd, 

2019 for trial,” the judge 

ruled. 

In September 2018, 

EFCC had urged the court 

to revoke the bail granted 

to the embattled governor. 

EFCC’s counsel, Rotimi 

Jacobs (SAN), said the 

former governor travelled 

out of the country without 

seeking permission from 

the court. 

Abia elders applaud 

court's decision, 

seek Kalu's 

immediate 

arrest, trial 

Meantime, a group of 

elders from Abia State has 

commended the Federal 

High Court sitting in Lagos 

for revoking its earlier bail 

for former governor of Abia 

State,Orji Uzor Kalu in the 

N7.6 billion suit instituted 

against him by the 


Crimes Commission 

,EFCC. 

The group, Concerned 

Abia Leaders, reacting to 

the court action, through a 

press statement yesterday 

in Abuja,signed by its 

leader,Chief Ogbuagu 

Amadi, tasked the 


Crimes Commission 

,EFCC,to immediately 

arrest the former governor 

and arraign him in court. 

Besides, they said the 

circumstances that led to 

Kalu travelling outside the 

country in spite of his name 

being among those listed 

by the Presidency not to 

seek foreign trips, be 

thoroughly investigated. 

The statement claimed 

Kalu’s action was a clear 

indication that his aim of 

traveling abroad was not on 

medical attention as he had 

allegedly made the court to 

believe. 

“As we commend the 

Federal High Court Lagos 

for its landmark decision in 

revocating its earlier bail on 

our former governor, Chief 

Orji Uzor Kalu,we call on 

the EFCC to immediately 

effect his arrest and 

subsequently arraign him 

in court to face trial. 

“The Concerned Abia 

Leaders wishes to reinstate 

its earlier call on the 

presidency to launch a fullscale 

investigation into how 

Chief Kalu left the country 

despite being in the list of 

those placed travel band on 

by the presidency,”the 

statement said. 

Amadi in the statement 

said the group was a non 

partisan one as its members 

cut across all political 

parties in the country, 

saying it was only 

canvassing for good


Edited by Emeka Aginam 

CAN vows: Bad leader will not be elected 

as our President in 2019 

Ekwuoma Idumute Umuugbede 

Waste of time! USA, Ghana, 

Germany, China, South 

Africa, Japan, France were 

not developed or progressed 

by God. The politicians in 

those countries made sure 

their countries have constant 

electricity, infrastructures 

plus good life. God did not 

do it for them. Religious 

people in Nigeria should stop 

wasting their time. God dont 

progress modern country. 

The leaders plus citizens do. 

Mystic mallam 

No CAN, to usher-in an era 

Ikechukwu6 

Mr. Obi, if there is any 

person you should not join 

issues in your quest by God’s 

grace to become the Vice 

President of Nigeria is El 

refai 

Pawa2 ike 

There is no need to jump to 

partisan conclusions. El Rufai 

is not someone I am fond of, 

and I don’t know what he 

said about Peter Obi, but 

most of what Obi is saying 

here may be defensive and 

not necessarily based on 

being more sensible than El 

Rufai. 

I don’t see any reason why 

any state governor from 

another state will not be able 

to go around freely on 

of peace, unity, safety and 

prosperity in Nigeria, as in 

every other country of the 

world, is not a function of any 

number of hours of prayer 

and song that we may 

embark upon. No, it’s not. 

Peace, unity, safety, and 

prosperity for all, are a result 

of deliberate choices of 

vision, mission, policy, 

actions, sweat and sacrifice, 

that we - citizens and leaders 

alike - have or have not made 

GOVU Jo Elue 

Religion has always been 

about politics and has nothing 

to do with worship of God. It’s 

Election Day in another state, 

as long as he is not 

campaigning or breaking 

other electoral rules 

okwuchukwu Pawa2 

Peter Obi then was APGA 

Governor of his state. The 

DSS was controlled then by 

PDP. What has Mr Obi got to 

do with his arrest? 

besincere Pawa2 

So as educated as el rufai is 

he doesn’t know that on 

Election Day, you have no 

right to be moving around 

except to go and vote in your 

polling unit? What will the 

governor of another state be 

going around doing in 

another state on an election 

day? Is he an INEC staff or 

Security officer? Even as a 

governor, you don’t have the 

right to be going around on 

Election Day. 

Pawa2 besincere 

If all you are saying is true 

why did Peter Obi not just 

say El Rufai could not walk 

only the vision of divine 

essence that satisfies human 

curiosity about eternity. 

WJasper 

Church and politics must 

be separated.Church and 

government must however 

collaborate. 

The church must maintain 

sermons of holiness, honesty, 

integrity, Salvation and 

healing 

NigerArea WJasper 

The church must not close 

its eyes and allow 

instruments of cabals to 

destroy the country. 

How does the circumstance 

El Rufai referred to relate to 

bigotry ? — Peter Obi 

about in Anambra State on 

election day because nobody 

was allowed to? Why did he 

say Anambra was not 

Katsina State (a northern 

Hausa/Fulani state)? That 

could be a prove that his 

actions and comments had 

ethnic/sectional 

connotations. 

Garry O. NewFace 

What was he doing in 

faraway Anambra state on 

Election Day? Is his polling 

booth/unit sited in Anambra 

state? Are politicians allowed 

to campaign on Election 

Day? 

NewFace Garry O. 

The constitution 

guarantees free movement. 

Was he accused of 

campaigning on Election 

Day? The court did not find 

anything wrong with his 

being in Anambra but found 

everything wrong with his 

being confined to his hotel 

room and awarded damages 

accordingly. 

Stop sermonizing, answer your 

N33bn corruption allegation, 

PDP tells Osinbajo 

Femi keys 

Sir, House of Rep has not 

provided any fact. That’s 

mere allegation. If they are 

not satisfied with his 

explanation, let them take 

appropriate steps as 

contained in our 

constitution. 

Ada di ora mma 

Nigeria is structurally 

defective. The foundation 

upon which every nation of 

the world is built is the 

constitution. When the 

foundation of a house is 

faulty, the house is bound to 

collapse. Nigeria will 

collapse in our very eyes if 

Nigerians do not take their 

destiny in their hands and 

tell our corrupt leaders that 

they will participate in the 

2019 elections unless 

Nigeria is restructured into 

regions or independent 

states. Power belongs to the 

people, but in Nigeria it 

belongs to tribe and 

religion. 

North/West Allies 

Nigeria is the home of 

extreme poverty in the 

planet, there’s hunger in 

the land. Look at IDP 

camps everywhere still the 

government in power will 

pretend that everything is 

alright. They took more 

loans than PDP, oil price is 

$80 for the past two months, 

according to them Customs 

and NIRS are generating 

more revenues but my 

humble question is where 

all these money is? 

Ada di ora mma North/ 

West Allies 

Let us keep tribal 

sentiments apart, unite and 

form a solid force against 

our looters, the politicians. 

Stop the Igbo, Yoruba 

tantrums and accept a 

common purpose. Even 

enemies do have common 

interest and work solely for 

that interest. 

John 

If PDP claim is true, why 

did they wait till now, after 

over 1 year before they 

cried out if not that they are 

false accusers wanting to 

distract others from their 16 

year corruption ridden 

reign. 

North/West Allies John 

My friend do you know 

what it takes to investigate 

these kind of issue? It takes 

time to investigate, get your 

facts, and consult attorneys 

before making it public. 

Pete Mako North/West 

Allies 

Your response made my 

day. You made a valid point. 

Where are all the money 

made by the government 

disappearing to? Oil price 

has been 80$ for sometimes 

now. I think we need new 

people in government. 

Pete Mako WJasper 

Is the accusation true or 

false? Let us put politics 

aside. 

WJasper Pete Mako 

There was an emergency. 

The acting President 

approved funds in line with 

his constitutional powers. 

Deliveries were made to 

victims and we saw it on 

display. No infractions of 

any kind. 

You play politics with 

emergency issues. Look at 

the recent victims of floor 

across Nigeria. What do you 

think the government will 

do. 

You have to evacuate, 

provide food, provide 

houses for them, and 

provide emergence schools 

for children, health care and 

other thing. Do we have 

those details in the budget? 

Have we set aside sufficient 

money? The answer is No 

Atiku Abubakar@atiku 

I am committed to building a Nigeria where no 

citizen is intimidated by agents of state who are 

paid to protect them. 

Ben Murray-Bruce@benmurraybruce 

What are these accusations from the APC? Is 

their campaign based on accusations? Let them 

talk about their achievements. Atiku is not in 

power, yet he talks of achievements. Atiku isn’t in 

office, yet he pays above the proposed ¦ 30k new 

minimum wage. Imagine if he were President 

Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai@elrufai 

Any person that doesn’t recognize the human 

right of every citizen to move freely, live and 

TRENDING ON THE TWITTER 

work in any part of Nigeria, but implies 

that though foreigners can observe 

elections in his state, other Nigerians may 

only do so in their states of origin is not fit 

to be VP of Nigeria! 

Bukola Saraki@bukolasaraki 

In order to address the security issues 

across the nation and to guarantee the 

professionalism of our security agencies, 

today at the Senate, we resolved to fasttrack 

the passage of the Police Reform Bill. 

Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump 

There is no reason for these massive, 

deadly and costly forest fires in California 

except that forest management is so poor. 

Billions of dollars are given each year, with so 

many lives lost, all because of gross 

mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or 

no more Fed payments! 

Collins Onuegbu@collinsonuegbu 

There must be a correlation between the state 

of the the Lagos International Airport and the 

behaviour of passengers that pass through it. 

The airport brings out the worst in all of us. Or 

perhaps it’s terrible state is a reflection of the 

way we are.

36 — VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

HUBMART AWOOF PROMO: From left: Cheng Fuller, Assistant Vice 

President, Marketing and Corporate Sale, Hubmaert Stores Limited; Murat 

Bektaslar, CEO, Hubmart Stores Limited; Onyeka Onwenu, Special Guest of Honour 

and Joy Okuna, Assistant Director, Lagos National Lottery Regulatory Commission 

at the raffle draw of the Hubmart Awoof promo in Lagos. Photo: Akeem Salau 

METHODIST GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL OLD GIRLS: From left; : Mrs. Oyinkan 

Badejo-Okusanya, President, Old Girls Methodist Girls (OGMG) 78-83 set; Mrs. 

Ibukun Awosika, Founder SOKOA Chair Centre & Chairman First Bank of 

Nigeria Plc; Ms. Lade Olugbemi, Convener, The Nous Organization; Mr. Yomi 

Badejo-Okusanya, GMD, CMC Connect/Secretary General Igbobi College Old 

Boys' Associations(ICOBA); Mrs. Abimbola Ali, Vice Principal MGHS, during 

the Methodist Girls’ High School Old Girls’ Association (78-83 set) 35 years of 

leaving school celebration themed ‘Girls Giving Back’ in Lagos. 

TOUR: From left; Thomas Oloriegbe, Group Chief Operating Officer, Nosak 

Group; Oluwole Iyamu, SAN, Solicitor General and Permanent Secretary, 

Ministry of Justice; Osarodion Ogie, Esq, Secretary to Edo State Government; 

Mrs. Uyi Oduwa-Malaka, Principal Private Secretary to Edo State Governor; 

Dr. Toni Ogunbor, Chairman, Nosak Group; and Arch. Frank Evbuomwan, 

Managing Director, Edo State Geographic Information Service, EDOGIS, at 

the tour of Nosak Group’s facilities in Apapa and Amuwo Odofin in Lagos. 

AWARD: Delta State 

Commissioner for 

Information, Ogbueshi 

Patrick Ukah, represented 

by his Media Assistant, 

Mr. Sam Ijeh (right), 

receiving an Award of 

Excellence in Strategic 

Communication and 

Media Management from 

the Delta Online 

Publishers Forum. The 

award was presented by 

Prof. Abigail Ogwezzy- 

Ndisika of the 

Department of Mass 

Communication, 

University of Lagos.


Chibuike Amaechi: Adding immense value to President 

Buhari’s change agenda in Nigerian Maritime Industry 

By Edet Okpo 

MAYBE I should begin 

this piece by postulating 

that if a name really has 

anything to do with the person 

who bears it, the Honourable 

Minister of Transportation, 

Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi 

Amaechi CON, is a paragon 

of the most positive. When 

translated into English, his 

first and last names mean, 

“God is strength and power” 

and “Who knows tomorrow” . 

Incidentally, the providential 

utility of these names have 

clearly manifested in the life 

and exploits of this great Ikwerre 

son and Nigerian 

icon. “Therefore, when on 

October, 25, 2017, friends, supporters, 

loyalists, admirers, 

family members and the generality 

of fans trouped to the 

streets of Port Harcourt in their 

numbers and colours to commemorate 

the 10th Anniversary 

of the Supreme Court landmark 

judgment that restored 

the stolen mandate of His Excellency, 

Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike 

Amaechi, as Governor of 

Rivers State, the essence of the 

day was beyond that celebration. 

Fond memories and indelible 

marks 

It captured the personality 

behind it and the history that 

trailed the persona. “Recalled 

that on October 25, 2007, the 

Supreme Court of Nigeria had 

ruled that Rt. Hon. Chibuike 

Rotimi Amaechi, immediate 

past Speaker of Rivers State 

House of Assembly, was the 

rightful candidate of the PDP 

and therefore winner of the 

April, 2007 Rivers State Gubernatorial 

election; although his 

name was illegally substituted 

by some power brokers in 

favour of Celestine Omehia. 

Mr. Rotimi Amaechi then became 

the Governor of Rivers 

State on October 26, 2007 - one 

historic day in his political life 

and triumph of justice in Democracy. 

“That the people have chosen 

to keep the day in perpetuity, 

always mopping up resources 

within themselves to 

observe it, neither on the express 

request or contrivance of 

their former Governor, clearly 

attests to the fond memories 

and indelible marks their superhero 

leader must have left 

on the physical canvas of Rivers 

State and on appreciative 

minds of the populace, further 

reminding us of historian H.G 

Wells’ pontification that, “A 

man’s greatness is measured 

by what he leaves to grow, 

and whether he started others 

to think along fresh lines with 

vigor that persisted after 

him”.“Born on 27 May, 1965 

in Ikwerre Local Government 

Area of Rivers State,Rotimi 

Amaechi’s public leadership 

role and emancipatory politics 

may have begun in his under- 

Hon. Chibuike Rotimi 

Amaechi, Minister of Transportation 

graduate days at the University 

of Port Harcourt, where he 

served as President, National 

Union of Rivers State Students 

(NURSS). 

He then would progressively 

rise to serve as Secretary to 

two political parties at different 

times, the NRC in Ikwerre 

Local Government and that of 

Democratic Party of Nigeria. 

Having been so honed, he rose 

with rapidity to become Special 

Assistant to Governor Peter 

Odili, a platform of experience 

upon which he sprang meteorically 

to become Member and 

Speaker of Rivers State House 

of Assembly, and later, the 

State’s two-term Governor from 

2007-2015. “Chibuike Amaechi 

is till today a household 

name in Rivers State for his unprecedented 

achievements in 

urban renewal and upgrade of 

rural communities to metropolitan 

status through infrastructure 

development, modernization 

of transport services, remodelled 

education standard, 

generation of employment, capacity-building 

and inspiration 

for self-reliance, etc. “Gov. 

Amaechi’s tenure was distinguished 

as the era of road dualization 

in Rivers State. Available 

record shows that as governor, 

he constructed more 

number of roads than any administration 

before and after 

him, amounting to 900km, prima 

facie. 

Score card of roads constructed 

That may mean that successive 

administrations shall have 

but little to do in that connection. 

Prominent amongst 

these include construction of 

Eleme Flyover; dualization of 

Airport-Isiokpo-Omerechi 

Road; dualization of Ada 

George phases 1&2; dualization 

of Rumuola-Rumuokuta 

Road; dualization of First 

Bank-Rumuomasi Road; dualization 

of Slaughter-Trans 

Amadi- Rumuobiakini Road; 

shore protection and land reclamation. 

He holds the record 

of being the first governor of 

the State to have initiated a 

mono-rail to ease traffic in the 

metropolis and also launched 

a campaign for remodelling of 

antiquated primary and secondary 

schools in the state to 

meet modern taste and conveniences. 

Commodore Duja Emma 

Effedu, Rector, Maritime Academy 

of Nigeria 

“Hon. Rotimi Amaechi’s meritorious 

appointment by President 

Muhammadu Buhari as 

the Honourable Minister of 

Transportation on November 

11, 2015 could therefore not 

have only been for reason of 

politics, but on account of his 

towering and unblemished service 

record as former Speaker 

and Governor of Rivers State. 

Also, having demonstrated extraordinary 

commitment and 

capacity in 2015 as Director- 

General of the Buhari/Osibanjo 

Campaign Organization 

It is to the credit 

of the Honourable 

Minister that 

it is during his regime 

at the Transportation 

Ministry 

that the Maritime 

University of Nigeria, 

Okerenkoko, 

Delta State has 

been established 

that would triumphantly herald 

President Buhari’s election, 

the President saw in him 

excellence, loyalty, patriotism, 

innovation and zeal to add 

value to the emerging 

leadership.“And, in fairness to 

evidence, he has done just 

that. 

As a master strategist, Chibuike 

Amaechi stepped into 

office as Transportation Minister 

with peculiarities and innovative 

model he anchored 

on the 2015 National Master 

Plan for the sector, 

driven by 

Rehabilitation, 

Restoration 

and Procurement, 

aimed at 

achieving sustainability 

through robust 

engagement 

with government 

and 

stakeholders 

on the development 

of the 

transport 

sector. “Like a 

soothing but 

curative balm to 

an old wound, 

the Honourable 

Minister has 

assiduously applied this model 

in the transformation of the 

nation’s dynamic transport sector, 

which comprises Nigeria 

Ports Authority, Nigerian Maritime 

Administration and Safety 

Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian 

Airport Authority, Nigeria 

Railway Corporation, Nigeria 

Shippers Council, National Inland 

Waterways Authority, Nigeria 

Institute of Transport 

Technology, Council for Regulation 

of Freight Forwarding in 

Nigeria, and with subsisting 

tertiary institutions like the 

Maritime Academy of Nigeria, 

Oron, Akwa Ibom State, University 

of Maritime Studies, 

Okerenkoko, Delta State, 

etc. “In all of these, Chibuike 

Amaechi firmly stamped its 

footprint in the way he has set 

new records. 

The summary is that there has 

been incremental growth in the 

composite segments of the sector. 

According to the Central 

Bank of Nigeria 2018 Data, 

GDP from the sector hit an alltime 

high of 253325.52 in the 

fourth quarter of 2017, at a 

growth rate of about 3 per cent, 

when compared to previous 

years. “By extrapolation, work 

has either commenced on some 

rail projects or abandoned rail 

networks resuscitated in certain 

parts of the country, with the 

Nigerian Railway Corporation 

having procured 2 locomotives 

and 10 coaches for the Abuja- 

Kaduna Railway and 17 for 

Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri route. 

Massive reforms in NI- 

MASA 

There have also been massive 

reforms in NIMASA and 

sister agencies, one of which 

has to do with prompt response 

to obligations to affiliate institutions 

under their purview. 

The Minister has also set up a 

Monthly Steering Committee 

charged with the responsibility 

to assess performance and 

ensure compliance with schedules 

of work and targets in the 

Ministry. 

As a man of practical proofs, 

the honourable Minister not too 

long ago personally embarked 

on a two-hour ride aboard a 

train form Lagos to Papalanto 

community in Ogun State.“It is 

to the credit of the Honourable 

Minister that it is during his 

regime at the Transportation 

Ministry that the Maritime University 

of Nigeria, Okerenkoko, 

Delta State has been established. 

It is also to the excellent 

record of the Minister that, 

he is the one who has turned 

things around at the Maritime 

Academy of Nigeria, Oron, 

Akwa Ibom State, after many 

years of rot. His formation of a 

Ministerial Committee, constitution 

of an Interim Management 

Committee, composition 

of a Governing Council, and 

ultimate appointment of a seasoned 

naval professional, Commodore 

Duja Emmanuel Effedua 

as substantive Rector of the 

Academy – all were stop-gap 

and silver bullet mechanisms 

for the repositioning and restructuring 

of the 41 year-old 

premier maritime training institution. 

On November 2, 

2018, the Academy held its 

2018 Passing-Out-Parade, after 

six silent years. The graduation 

ceremony showcased excellence, 

restoration of the lost 

glorious days, the effectiveness 

and achievements of the Commodore 

Effedua-led administration. 

Magic solution and therapy 

“For providing the magic solution 

and therapy to the contagious 

epidemic that once inflicted 

the Academy, Commodore 

Effedua has clearly proven 

to be a fixer of loose bolts 

who believes in action than 

words. He thus has vindicated 

the discretion of the Presidency 

through the Hon. Minister 

of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike 

Amechi to superintend 

over the Academy against all 

manner of sponsored media attacks 

and inconsequential 

protests.“The showers of positive 

commendation poured by 

Stakeholders on the Rector of 

the academy for his overall superlative 

performance vindicated 

the Minister's discretion on 

his appointment. “With Commodore 

Emmanuel Effedua’s 

unwavering commitment to repositioning 

the Maritime Academy 

of Nigeria, in line with global 

best demands through the 

support of the Honourable 

Minister of Transportation, Rt. 

Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Ameachi, 

it is hoped that Nigeria will 

reclaim her category C position 

in the International Maritime 

Organization (IMO) white 

list.“ 

•Edet Okpo is an Uyo-based 

Journalist, Maritime Commentator 

and Public Affairs 

Analyst.

38 — Vanguard, TUESDAY , NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

editor@yahoo.com 

2019 presidential elec- 

tion 

I prayed Atiku wins middle/ belt, 

south/ west, south east, south/ south 

because he has promised to restructure 

Nigeria! Restructuring means 

de- Islamic. President Buhari would 

run a pro- Islamic campaign that is 

not business- friendly, just imagine 

what MTN, Skye bank, Diamond 

bank etc are going through right now. 

President Buhari should knows by 

now that the Islamic republic of Pakistan 

and the Islamic Kingdom of 

Morocco cannot help Nigeria on the 

economic front because they both depend 

on the United States of America. 

Anonymous 08064687977 

President Buhari’s comments 

on Plateau attack 

President Buhari’s statements in 

Plateau state during his condolence 

visit over the genocidal attack in some 

communities stating that justice must 

take its cause , the statement is not 

explicit as to who shall be the beneficiary. 

His justice state favoured the 

perpetrators who accordingly to the 

chairman of Miyetti Allah, Mr, Ciroma 

said that the attack was in retaliation 

over the missing 300 cows unarguably 

by cattle rustled, the revenge 

mission was justifiable. security 

agents has been very inefficient 

as they have continued to act unnecessary 

dramas, displaying their hardwares 

that will not serve any purpose. 

The killings in the country are 

becoming too much and it portends 

danger to the so called peace and unity 

our nation’s motto stand for. 

Solo Aloba 07052624455 

Boko Haram’s activities in 

Nigeria 

Sometimes we need to verify certain 

facts from those kidnapped victims. 

It was alleged that some military 

personnel and politicians are 

linked to the activities of the Boko 

Harams. It was also alleged that 

some of the girls are making comments 

that they were not immediately 

taken to the forest from the 

schools! The question is where were 

they taken to and why has the government 

refused to make the interview 

of the girls public? Secondly, 

why is it that crimes committed by 

some persons are not made public? 

It was alleged that military wares and 

arms are been diverted to Boko 

Haram, Nigerians should rise to this 

occasion and stop terrorism and stop 

protecting the criminal minded persons 

among us. 

Martins Ezonfade 08130865126 

Killings of farmer 

armers by Fu- 

lani herdsmen 

Recently, it was alleged that the 

Chairman of Miyetti Allah, Mr. Ciroma 

said that the attack and revenge 

mission in Benue state was in retaliation 

over the missing of 300 cows 

unarguably by cattle rustlers, the 

other time the groups held press conferences 

and threatened to unleash 

terror on Benue people and yet no 

arrest was made. It is now clear that 

those fomenting crisis, including the 

bloody crisis in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, 

Nassarawa, Kogi, Edo, and other 

parts of Nigeria have a political 

backers who now want to channeled 

them to achieve their selfish interest. 

The Federal Government should put 

a stop to all of these killings going on 

across the country. 

Muhammad 08060782035 

President Buhari accuses 

late Ghadaffi’s hit men over 

killings in Nigeria 

I disagreed with President Buhari 

over alleged statements from him that 

is late Ghadaffi’s hit men were responsible 

for the killings gong on across 

parts of Nigeria. The hit men could 

not have successfully moved from the 

far Northern states to those near 

Southern parts.like Benue, Plateau 

and Taraba to carry their heinous act 

without being noticed. The Federal 

Government should take blames and 

act to protect innocent citizens from 

these ethnic cleansing. 

Frank writes in from Benue state 

SAYINGS OF OUR ELDERS 

If a child shoots an arrow that reaches 

the top of a tall palm tree, then it must 

be that an elderly person carved the 

arrow for him. 

- Igbo proverb 

Send us your Sayings of Our Elders. 

They must be African sayings or 

proverbs. Biblical or English proverbs 

are unacceptable. Address your 

sayings to: wwwsimade@yahoo.co.uk


Teleology finally takes over 9mobile, 

appoints new directors 

By Prince 

Osuagwu, Hi-Tech 

Editor 

LAGOS—AFTER about 

eight months when it 

made the initial $50 million 

non refundable deposit to 

acquire 9mobile, Teleology 

holdings has been given 

final approval of no 

objection by the Board of 

the 

Nigerian 


Commission (NCC) to own 

the telecommunications 

company 

The company also 

immediately, constituted a 

new board of directors to 

manage the affairs of the 

company following the 

disbandment of the interim 

board which held forth 

while the bid process and 

payment negotiations 

lasted. 

The new board members 

included Nasiru Ado 

Bayero, Chairman; Asega 

Aliga, Non Executive 

Director; Adrian Wood, 

Non Executive Director; 

Mohammed Edewor, Non 

Executive Director; 

Winston Ndubueze Udeh, 

Non Executive Director; 

Abdulrahman Ado 

Executive Director and. 

Stephane Beuvelet who is 

the acting Managing 

Director. 

According to Teleology, 

issuance of final approval 

of no objection by the NCC, 

means that the technical 

and financial bids Teleology 

submitted for 9mobile met 

and satisfied all the 

regulatory requirements. 

One of the new board 

members, Mr Mohammed 

Edewor, said Teleology is 

pleased with all out-going 

members of the Board for 

helping to shepherd 

9mobile through the critical 

transition phase it has 

passed through since July 

2017. 

He said: “For us, the 

composition of the new 

Board of Directors is another 

significant milestone, and 

this follows the issuance of 

final approval of no 

objection by the Board of 

the 

Nigerian 


Commission (NCC) to the 

effect that the technical 

and financial bids Teleology 

submitted for 9mobile 

met and satisfied all the 

regulatory requirements. 

This is indeed the dawn of 

a new era in the evolution 

of the 9mobile brand in the 

Nigerian market. 

The new Chairman of the 

Board, Alhaji Nasiru Ado 

Bayero also said: “As we 

begin this new epochal 

phase, we wish to thank all 

the employees who built 

this viable business. Our 

debt of gratitude also goes 

to our subscribers even as 

we assure them to get 

ready for real best-in-class 

additional value for their 

relationship with the 

9mobile brand” 

Teleology had on March 

21, 2018 paid the initial $50 

million non-refundable 

deposit as a demonstration 

of its commitment to 

acquire 9mobile and was 

given a 90-day timeline to 

pay the balance having 

emerged the preferred 

bidder following the 

evaluation of the technical 

and financial bids for the 

telecom company. 

Fuel subsidy must go —Ezekwesili 

OBY Ezekwesili, the 

presidential 

candidate of the Allied 

Congress Party of Nigeria, 

ACPN, said yesterday that 

if elected President, she 

would let go of fuel subsidy. 

The former vice-president 

of the World Bank, said this 

while unveiling her 

roadmap for 2019 in Lagos 

yesterday. 

She said Muhammadu 

Buhari’s government has 

renamed oil subsidy and 

under-recovery and had 

spent N1.3 trillion on fuel 

subsidies. 

Noting that the 

government allocated N1.3 

trillion to capital projects for 

an entire budget year, 

Ezekwesili said she was 

committed to 

implementing difficult 

reforms, including the oil 

sector reform. 

She said: “When I read 

somewhere that the 

minister of state for 

petroleum resources 

disclosed that the federal 

government spends 

N1.3trillion on underrecovery, 

which is the new 

name that this government 

has given to fuel subsidy, I 

was shaken. 

“N1.3 trillion, as in 1.3 

trillion? Let me put that 

figure in perspective for 

you. The former minister of 

finance told us a few 

months ago that the total 

amount that the federal 

government released for 

capital expenditure is N1.3 

trillion. 

“The total amount of 

money that this 

government spends on 

subsidising fuel is about the 

same amount that it spends 

on the construction of roads 

and stocking our hospitals 

with medicine, funding 

our universities, and 

working on power as well 

as other types of 

infrastructure. 

“It is the same fuel that 

ends up in neighbouring 

countries, the same fuel that 

the poorest among us in 

several states across the 

country pay substantially 

more for? 

“Some people are 

feeding fat and buying 

private jets on our 

commonwealth. That is why 

this unwholesome fuel 

subsidy must go." 

Nominations: A'Court adjourns 

PDP's case against Dayo-led exco 

THE Court of Appeal 

sitting in Ibadan, 

yesterday, adjourned the 

suit filed by the Peoples 


against the party’s 

executive led by Chief 

Adebayo Dayo till 

November 20, 2018, after 

striking out the motion for 

extension of time within 

which to appeal which he 

filed on the grounds of 

mixed law and facts. 

The court struck out the 

application for time 

extension based on the 

objection of the lead 

counsel to Dayo-led 

executives, Dr. Alex 

Izinyon (SAN), who 

argued that the ruling 

sought to be appealed 

against was not attached to 

the Motion on Notice. 

The Dayo-led Exco is 

backed by the lawmaker 

representing Ogun East 

Senatorial District, Senator 

Buruji Kashamu. 

Recall that a Federal High 

Court sitting in Abeokuta, 

the Ogun State capital, had 

weeks back ordered the 



INEC and the Uche 

Secondus-led national 

leadership of the PDP to 

accept and process the list 

of candidates and 

delegates submitted to 

them by the Adebayo 

Dayo-led Ogun State 

Executive Committee of the 

PDP for the purpose of the 

2019 general election. 

The court had given the 

order while ruling on a 

motion for interlocutory 

injunction after listening to 

arguments canvassed by 

the counsel to the Ogun 

State PDP Executive, Mr. 

Ricky Tarfa (SAN), who 

noted that the court had on 

September 28, 2018 ordered 

that the defendants should 

be put on notice and 

adjourned till October 2, 

2018, for definite hearing of 

the motion for interlocutory 

injunction. 

The Federal High Court 

sitting in Abeokuta, the 

Ogun State capital, had 

penultimate week 

reiterated its order directing 

the PDP and INEC to 

accept and process only the 

list of delegates and 

candidates submitted by the 

Engr. Adebayo Dayo-led 

Ogun State Executive 

Committee of the PDP in 

respect of the 2018 National 

Convention of the party and 

the 2019 general election.

40—Vanguard, TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2018 


Uzodinma 

—PRESIDENCY 

Continues from Page 5 

night before he pleaded 

that he should be allowed 

to go and we conceded 

because we don’t 

have detention facility. 

“We don’t detain people 

as a matter of policy 

in our panel. But we 

asked him to report back 

by 10am today (yesterday). 

When we did not 

see him by that time, we 

went to his house and 

laid siege there. It was 

then he started pleading 

that he was not feeling 

well and that he will report 

to us tomorrow (today). 

“So we granted him that 

respect. If he fails to report 

tomorrow (today), 

then we will take it up. 

We have already filed 

charges against him for 

refusing to declare his 

assets. This matter has 

been lingering for the 

past two years. 

“He has tried to play 

some politics but we are 

not politicians and we 

have nothing to do with 

the politics of Imo State. 

But this matter has been 

lingering since 2017 that 

we started looking for 

him. He refused to answer 

our invitation. 

“We sent about two invitations 

to the Clerk of 

the National Assembly 

but he did not come. So 

we went to his house and 

pasted our assets declaration 

form. That is the 

first step in our investigation. 

He refused to fill 

that form within 30 days 

as prescribed by the law 

establishing our panel. 

We now charged him before 

the Federal High 

Court. That one is pending. 

So if he said we 

didn’t arrest him, then it 

is up to him. But nobody 

will say that his mother’s 

soup is not sweet.” 

Other charges 

Naira down to N363.89/$ in 

I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The Naira, yesterday, depreciated to N363.89 

per dollar in the Investors and Exporters 

(I&E) window due to a 53 percent decline in 

the volume of dollars traded. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative exchange 

rate for the window rose to N363.89 per 

dollar yesterday from N363.6 per dollar last week 

Friday, translating to 29 kobo depreciation of the 

naira. 

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded yesterday 

in the window dropped by 53 percent to $89.23 

million from $188.43 million last week Friday. 

Similarly, the naira yesterday depreciated by 50 

kobo in the parallel market. 

According to naijabdcs.com, the live exchange rate 

platform of the Association of Bureaux De Change 

Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), the parallel market 

exchange rose to N361 per dollar from N360.5 

per dollar last week Friday, indicating 50 kobo depreciation 

of the naira. 

EDO SUMMIT —From left: Prof. Hameed Booie, Comrade Philip Shaibu, Governor Godwin Obaseki 

of Edo State with his wife, Betsy, and Prof. Isaac Adewole, during the Edo Summit 2018, yesterday. 

Photo: Barnabas Uzosike. 

The Presidential Panel 

chairman also said that 

Uzodinma was facing investigation 

for allegedly 

engaging in economic 

sabotage, due to alleged 

failure of his company to 

execute a contract of 

$12m the Nigerian Ports 

Authority, NPA, awarded 

to him for the dredging 

of Calabar channel. 

It will be recalled that 

the SPIPRPP had earlier 

preferred two-count 

criminal charge of nondisclosure 

of assets 

against Uzodinma before 

the Abuja Division of the 

Federal High Court. 

The charge, which 

had been assigned to 

trial Justice Babatunde 

Quadri, read: “That 

you, Senator Hope 

Uzodinma (Male) on or 

about March 5, 2018, 

being a public officer 

with the National Assembly, 

Abuja, within 

the jurisdiction of this 

honourable court, committed 

an offence to wit: 

refused to declare your 

assets without reasonable 

excuse and upon 

notice to declare your 

assets before the Special 

Presidential Investigation 

Panel for the 

Recovery of Public Property, 

Abuja, contrary to 

and punishable under 

Section 3 (3) (1) (a) of 

the Recovery of Public 

Property (Special Provision) 

Act 2004. 

“That you Senator 

Hope Uzodinma (Male) 

on or about March 5, 

2018, being a public officer 

at the National Assembly 

Abuja, within 

the jurisdiction of this 

honourable court, committed 

an offence to wit: 

neglected to declare 

your assets without reasonable 

excuse and 

upon notice to declare 

your assets before the 

Special Presidential Investigation 

Panel for 

the Recovery of Public 

Property, Abuja, contrary 

to and punishable 

under Section 3 (3) (1) 

(a) of the Recovery of 

Public Property (Special 

Provision) Act 2004.” 

Okorocha out to 

destroy APC — 

Uzodimma 

Reacting to his reported 

arrest over alleged 

breach of contract, 

Uzodinma, in a statement 

by his Director of 

Media and Special Duties, 

Declan Emelumba, 

said the story was false. 

The statement read: 

“There is absolutely no 

iota of truth in the story 

trending online that the 

APC governorship candidate, 

Senator Hope 

Uzodinma was arrested 

yesterday (Sunday) by 

the Special Presidential 

Investigation Panel for 

Recovery of Public Property. 

“The story was planted 

by Governor Rochas 

Okorocha and his cohorts 

out of their daredevil 

desperation to 

damage the image of the 

distinguished senator 

before Imo electorate, 

who are poised to vote 

for him in 2019. 

“The arrest news is 

fake, baseless, unfounded 

and absolutely false, 

without any iota of truth. 

Okorocha has refused to 

come to grips with the 

reality that his son-inlaw 

will not succeed him 

as governor and is going 

all out to damage APC 

and its governorship 

candidate in next year’s 

election just to see if he 

can substantiate his false 

claim that there can be 

no APC in Imo State 

without him. 

“We wondered when it 

became the duty of the 

chairman of the panel, 

Chief Obono-Obala, to 

send messages to correspondents 

directly. If 

there was any arrest is it 

not the press department 

of the panel that will issue 

such a statement to 

the entire media? 

“It is very obvious that 

Okorocha and his people 

are behind this evil 

story. They have 

planned so much 

against the APC governorship 

candidate, from 

the phoney dud-cheque 

issue to a non-existent 

non assets declaration 

charge. 

“Their latest plot is 

this Calabar dredging 

contract. However, they 

should know that the 

company handling the 

Calabar dredging contract 

is Calabar Channels 

Management Company 

in which Nigerian 

Ports Authority, NPA, 

has 60% equity shares. 

“So if there is anybody 

to be arrested for anything, 

then it is the Managing 

Director of NPA 

and not a minority partner, 

Niger Global, in 

which Senator Uzodinma 

is a shareholder. 

“There is clear evidence 

that this is a failed 

plot by the governor and 

his men. The fact that simultaneously 

as they 

planted the story, their 

own so called state publicity 

secretary of APC 

Imo State, Onwuasonya 

Jones, issued a press release 

celebrating the 

false arrest and even 

said in the statement 

that it was from their investigation 

that they 

found out about the “arrest” 

of the senator, 

shows clearly that they 

are behind the whole 

plot.” 

Uzodinma did 

not execute contract 

—Imo APC 

Countering, the Publicity 

Secretary of Imo 

State chapter of APC, 

Onwuasoanya Jones, 

insisted that its investigation 

revealed that 

Senator Uzodimma did 

not execute the contract 

for which he was allegedly 

arrested. 

Onwuasoanya said: 

“The Imo State chapter 

of the All Progressives 

Congress is aware of 

reports that Senator 

Hope Uzodinma, one of 

the governorship aspirants 

on our party’s platform 

has been apprehended 

by law enforcement 

agencies at Abuja 

Airport. Our investigations 

show that the senator 

representing Imo 

West Senatorial District 

was arrested over his 

failure to execute a $12 

million contract awarded 

to him by the Federal 

Government of Nigeria. 

“This allegation, if 

proven true, is weighty 

enough and embarrassing 

for an individual 

purporting to be a chieftain 

of our party. Our 

party does not provide 

any form of shield to any 

individual who has 

questions to answer, 

especially on issues of 

corruption and economic 

sabotage. 

“We urge the senator 

to cooperate with law 

enforcement agents on 

their investigation, and 

also take appropriate 

steps to clean his image 

of the various scandals, 

especially as they concern 

his alleged involvement 

in bribery, 

issuance of dud 

cheques, diversion of 

funds and sundry embarrassing 

allegations. 

‘’As a party, we are 

ashamed that an individual 

with such controversies 

is associated 

with us. We put the general 

public on notice 

that Senator Hope 

Uzodimma does not 

have the support of our 

party at this time and at 

any other time, especially 

when it has to do 

with issues of corruption. 

‘’We consider the senator’s 

actions a betrayal 

to our party and an 

affront on President 

Muhammadu Buhari.”


Plane search: Buhari, Atiku at each other's throats 

By Emmanuel 

Azike, Political 

Editor, Favour 

Nnabugwu & 

Dirisu Yakubu 

ABUJA — The 

Peoples Demo 

cratic Party, PDP 

presidential candidate, 

Atiku Abubakar, yesterday 

alleged that the search on 

his plane was a premeditated 

action directly ordered 

by President Muhammadu 

Buhari as commander-in-chief. 

Atiku’s assertion was 

immediately rebuffed by 

Buhari who accused his 

PDP challenger of lacking 

ideas to campaign on and 

wanting to sustain the 

culture of impunity by 

privileged Nigerians. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry 

of Aviation yesterday 

reiterated that the search 

on the plane that conveyed 

Atiku was normal 

aviation regulation across 

the world. 

Controversy enveloped 

the impending presidential 

campaign on Sunday 

when Atiku in a tweet alleged 

that he was violently 

searched on return 

from Dubai. 

Buhari ordered 

plane search — 

Atiku Campaign 

Responding to the development 

yesterday, the 

Atiku Campaign in a 

statement alleged that the 

deployment of security 

men was directly ordered 

by the President in his 

capacity as Commanderin-Chief, 

being the only 

one so authorised to do so. 

The campaign also observed 

that the search of 

the aircraft had been canvassed 

in a statement issued 

by the All Progressives 

Congress, APC a 

week ago, yesterday. 

The Atiku Campaign 

said: “On November 5, 

2018, exactly a week ago 

today, the All Progressives 

Congress released 

an official statement accusing 

former Vice President 

Atiku Abubakar of 

having strategy meetings 

for the purpose of moving 

“illicit cash” into Nigeria 

and they asked the security 

services to investigate 

HE Atiku Abubakar and 

his plane. 

“To quote from the APC’s 

statement, the ruling party 

said “Our intelligence, 

anti-graft and security 

agencies must be awake 

to their responsibility of 

investigating the Dubai 

meeting. Cash-and-carry 

politicians must be prevented 

from moving illicit 

cash around to induce 

voters and sponsor election 

violence and rigging. 


•Buhari ordered the search — ATIKU 

•You are whipping up sentiments — BUHARI 

•It's ICAO regulation, says Aviation Minister 

Again, relevant agencies 

must check suspicious 

movement of cash both 

locally and internationally 

by politically exposed 

persons under the guise 

of a “Dubai meeting” or 

any clandestine meeting”. 

“They thereafter asked 

the security services to 

search aircraft belonging 

to members of Peoples 

Democratic Party. 

“That statement evinced 

an obvious premeditated 

intention by the APC and 

its Federal Government to 

deliberately embarrass 

the former Vice President 

by invading his plane 

with security personnel 

and possibly to set him up 

for the crimes they had already 

officially accused 

him of in their statement. 

“The official denial by 

the All Progressives Congress 

and the Presidency 

of any hand in the ordeal 

of the former Vice President 

is put to lie when you 

examine their statement of 

last week which was 

clearly what was implemented 

against the former 

Vice President. It also 

shows that both parties 

have no credibility and 

will do or say anything to 

further their interests. 

“The statement by the 

aviation ministry that the 

search of Atiku 

Abubakar’s plane is “routine” 

is an afterthought 

that does not hold water 

for the simple reason that 

the PDP Presidential candidate 

has been flying in 

and out of Nigeria without 

ever receiving such a 

treatment until the APC 

released its statement. 

“This event raises grave 

concerns about using government 

services for 

purely political purposes 

and what this portends for 

the conduct of free and fair 

elections in February 

2019, and shows as hollow 

President Buhari’s 

promise to superintendent 

over credible polls. 

“The Atiku Presidential 

Campaign Organisation 

wishes to remind Nigerians 

and the international 

community that by Nigeria’s 

constitution, only the 

President can order the 

deployment of military 

and paramilitary personnel 

as Commander-in- 

Chief. That, combined 

with the statement released 

last week, is proof 

beyond reasonable doubt 

that what happened to 

Atiku Abubakar was not a 

routine exercise, but a 

deliberate attempt to intimidate 

him by those who 

have seen the political 

handwriting on the wall.” 

Atiku bereft of 

ideas 

—Buhari 

Campaign 

Responding to the assertions 

yesterday, the 

Buhari Campaign accused 

Atiku of whipping 

up public sentiments in 

the face of what it alleged 

as the imminent defeat of 

the PDP presidential candidate. 

“Atiku is bereft of ideas, 

bereft of issues he wants 

to campaign on. After 

spending one month in 

Dubai to come back with 

this poorly-crafted strategy 

to whip up public sentiment 

is a great tragedy 

for their campaign. 

LAGOS — Vice Pres 

ident Yemi Osinbajo 

has restated that he is an 

advocate of fiscal federalism, 

stronger state governments 

and state police. 

Mr Osinbajo made this 

submission while delivering 

the 40th Anniversary 

Lecture of the Association 

of Friends on Monday in 

Lagos. 

The theme of the lecture 

is “Restructuring and the 

Nigerian Federation.” 

He reiterated his stance 

that good governance was 

what Nigeria needed 

“It signals the beginning 

of the end of that campaign. 

It signals the beginning 

of the end of his 

bid for the Presidency. He 

realises that he has 

reached the end of the 

road and all he wants to 

do now is to go out of the 

race in February in a 

blaze of public sympathy 

and that is what he wants 

to do. 

‘’We wish him well, let 

him continue in this shadow-chasing 

and we shall 

continue to address issues. 

“As a final word, let him 

realise that Al Gore, 

former vice-president of 

the United States, was 

subjected to rigorous 

checks at the airport 

sometime ago in the United 

States and nobody 

made noise about it. He 

rather than geographical 

restructuring. 

“I have been an advocate, 

both in court and 

outside, of fiscal federalism 

and stronger state 

governments. I have argued 

in favour of state 

police, for the simple reason 

that policing is a local 

function. 

“You simply cannot effectively 

police Nigeria 

from Abuja. Only recently, 

I made a point that 

stronger, more autonomous 

states would effectively 

eradicate poverty.” 

did not complain, rather 

he was proud of the fact 

that the American system 

was working. 

“The kind of system that 

does not work is what 

Atiku wants to reintroduce 

into Nigeria, a system 

where big men are big 

men and small men are 

small men. That is what 

he wants to reintroduce 

into Nigeria and Nigerians 

have seen through his 

hollowness and that he 

wants to ride through the 

wave of public sympathy. 

I am sorry he has been 

brutally exposed.” 

No politics, it's 

ICAO rules — 

Aviation Minister 

Meanwhile, the Minister 

of State for Aviation, 

Sen. Hadi Sirika, yesterday 

said the check con- 

TRADER MONI: Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (right); Lagos 

State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode (middle) and the All 

Progressives Congress Governorship Candidate in Lagos State, 

Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during the TradeMoni for petty traders, 

at Ikotun Market yesterday. 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

ducted on the aircraft belonging 

to the former Vice 

President, Alhaji Atiku 

Abubakar at the Nnamdi 

Azikiwe International Airport, 

Abuja was not politically 

motivated. 

“Sirika in a statement by 

the Deputy Director, 

Press, Mr James Odaudu, 

said the check at the airport, 

was not driven by 

any political consideration, 

as being wrongly 

interpreted by a section of 

Nigerians, but by professional 

and industry practice 

as regulated by the 

International Civil Aviation 

Organization 

(ICAO). 

“The Minister noted that 

such checks as carried out 

on the former Vice President’s 

aircraft were mandatory 

and routine, and 

that no one was exempted, 

except the President, 

Vice President and visiting 

Presidents. 

“Exemption from the 

primary inspection and 

screening process at the 

airport central screening 

points are extended to the 

following persons when 

travelling on official business: 

(a.) Visiting Head of 

State and entourage (b.) 

the President and entourage, 

and (c.) the Vice 

President and entourage. 

“The ICAO security 

programme also requires 

that ministers and senior 

government officials are 

screened in the same 

manner as other passengers 

as they are expected 

to set examples for the 

travelling public and to 

the aviation security officials 

responsible for 

screening passengers. 

“It is a routine practice 

that all incoming aircraft 

and passengers on international 

flights must go 

through customs, immigration, 

health, security 

and money laundering 

checks.” 

Sirika appealed to the 

public that the Ministry 

and its agencies would 

always accord the desired 

respect to the nation’s 

leaders, just as they were 

committed to ensuring the 

entrenchment of safety 

and security at the nation’s 

airports without political 

considerations.” 

I'm for state police, stronger states, says Osinbajo 

Prof. Osinbajo’s stance 

on stronger states and 

state police is at variance 

with that of President 

Muhammadu Buhari who 

has publicly opposed 

state police. 

President Buhari’s noncommitment 

to state police 

and stronger states, components 

of a restructuring 

of the federation demanded 

by many Nigerians, is 

believed to have influenced 

the lack of action by 

the ruling party, APC, on 

the matter. 

Although a committee 

set up by the APC, following 

public outcry, submitted 

its report, the ruling 

party has failed to act on 

it 

Ḋespite the inaction of 

the presidency and the 

ruling party on restructuring 

Nigeria, Prof. Osinbajo 

has, however, continued 

to restate his support 

for major aspects of restructuring. 

He recently 

engaged in a public debate 

with former vice 

president, Atiku Abubakar 

on the latter’s commitment 

to restructuring.


Amputee's agony: 

‘How I lost my leg to diabetes’ 

By Chioma Obinna & Arinola Kolade 

DIABETES is a silent disease that does not often 

present with symptoms until serious complications 

set in. Diabetes occurs when the body can no longer 

control the amount of sugar in the blood because of 

problems linked to the hormone insulin. High levels of 

blood sugar can cause damage to the heart and blood 

vessels, nerves, kidneys, eyes and feet, among other 

things and medical experts advise that the best way to 

diagnose and confirm diabetes accordingly is through a 

blood screening test. 

In 2017, according to the International Diabetes 

Federation, IDF, an estimated 15.5 million adults aged 

20-79 years were living with diabetes in Africa. The 

continent reportedly has the highest proportion of people 

with undiagnosed diabetes, with over two-thirds (69.2 

percent) adults currently living with diabetes but are 

unaware of their condition. 

Specifically, in Nigeria, an estimated 3.9 million people 

are living with diabetes while about 846,000 people have 

diabetes but are not aware they have it. Findings by 

endocrinologists showed that most of them will likely 

get to know only when complications set in. Such was 

the story of Mr. Tunde Famoye who has been living with 

diabetes in the last five years. 

"It took the grace of God 

for me to survive diabetes," 

he told Good Health 

Weekly recently, recalling 

that it all began as a simple 

cold six years ago. 

Tunde was not bothered 

initially by the cold because 

he regarded himself a 

healthy young man and 

the thought of battling such 

serious condition never 

crossed his mind. But it 

was a rude shock when in 

2013 he was diagnosed 

with diabetes. 

"I had a serious cold 

while on night duty. I was 

shivering so much I was 

excused for a day," he said. 

The next day at the 

hospital, Tunde was treated 

for malaria and he went 

back to work. But on the 

third day, he felt a tingling 

sensation on the sole of his 

right foot. 

"On examination, a tiny 

piece of glass was found 

and removed. It was a bad 

sore already oozing pus. I 

returned to the hospital and 

By Juliet Umeh 

WORRIED about the 

ailing health system 

across Africa, a group of 

medical equipment 

manufacturers in 

collaboration with its 

counterparts from China 

last week unfolded plans 

to curb medical waste as 

well as reduce medical 

tourism through its newly 

launched health 

exhibition, AfricaMed. 

The maiden exhibition of 

the initiative, AfricaMed 

which held in Lagos 

hosted over 50 top brands 

of medical equipment 

manufacturers from 

the doctor ordered a blood 

glucose check. Lo and 

behold the reading was 

490." Tunde had 

hyperglycemia - a 

dangerous condition that 

is typified by an 

abnormally high level of 

sugar in the blood. 

Experts say normal 

blood sugar levels are less 

than 100 mg/dL after not 

eating (fasting) for at least 

eight hours. And less than 

140 mg/dL two hours after 

eating. For most people 

without diabetes, blood 

sugar levels before meals 

hover around 70 to 80. 

Doctors later explained 

that the nerves in the 

lower limbs had been 

extensively damaged and 

even when he sustained 

an injury and developed 

sores, he couldn't feel any 

pain. The wound got 

badly infected and before 

long, a condition known 

as gangrene set in. 

He learned a hard 

lesson. What had started 

China.“The health 

exhibition was aimed at 

bringing the attention of 

the Federal government 

and other Nigerians to 

improve the healthcare in 

Africa and minimize what 

they described as ‘the 

waste of medical tourism’. 

Addressing journalists at 

the event, AfricaMed 

Manager, Human 

Resource and 

Administration, Mrs Juliet 

Chukwuma-Ijei, said that 

AfricanMed is made up of 

Nigeria and Chinese 

companies in the medical 

equipment field. 

Chukwuma-Ijei who 

*Mr Tunde Famoye. 

off as a harmless cold 

turned out to be disabling 

diabetes. "I started 

treatment but three weeks 

later, it got very bad and I 

was referred to a general 

hospital where I was 

admitted and at the end of 

the day I had above the 

knee amputation. 

Since then life has not 

been easy. I thought it was 

Most people 

living with 

diabetes will 

only get to 

know when 

complications 

such as 

blindness, 

stroke, foot 

ulcer that 

could result in 

amputation 

etc, set in 

How AfricaMed will curb medical wastes in Africa 

described the organisation 

as vibrant claimed they are 

committed to finding 

lasting solutions to the 

healthcare problems in 

Africa. 

She regretted that many 

Africans are embarking on 

medical tourism due to 

lack of up-to-date medical 

equipment. “She posited 

that if these equipment is 

readily available it will go 

a long way in saving more 

lives.“ “We decided to start 

from Nigeria because of 

our size and the perennial 

problem of our healthcare 

system. What AfricanMed 

is trying to do is to build a 

a spiritual attack but when 

I saw pictures online I 

believed it was real," he 


Tunde who identified the 

cost of treatment as a big 

challenge for people living 

with diabetes said the 

death of a patient he met 

while in the hospital who 

couldn't afford to buy drugs 

forced him to discipline 

himself by taking his own 

drugs regularly. 


President of the Endocrine 

and Metabolism Society of 

Nigeria, Prof. Olufemi 

Fasanmade Nigeria on the 

average loses about N92 

billion yearly to the 

scourge of diabetes. 

"I was on insulin for two 

years, when I went back to 

the hospital they 

discovered I was having 

low blood sugar and the 

doctor asked me to stop the 

insulin and I have been on 

other drugs until now," he 

bridge between Nigeria 

and China especially to 

help bring the best of 

medical services through 

equipment, training, 

academic communication 

and after sales services to 

Nigeria and Africa in 

general at a very 

affordable price. 

“So we are cooperating 

with over 50 for now but we 

are looking at 500 of top 

brand companies in the 

healthcare to help bring 

their products here and 

also to help them see what 

market there is in Nigeria 

and Africa,” she said. She 

appealed to the 

said Tunde has since lost 

his job. Like many other 

Nigerians living with 

diabetes who pay for 

treatment out of pocket, the 

financial burden forced him 

and his wife is also jobless 

to pull their children out of 

school. 

"It isn't a palatable 

situation at all. I went 

through a lot, but I'm 

thankful that I have my 

family members around 

even though it took a lot to 

make them understand the 

situation, to know it was not 

my fault." 

Tunde was being blamed 

for his own predicament 

until two and half years 

later when his mother- inlaw 

went into a diabetic 

coma and died. 

"Only then did everyone 

realise what happened 

and everybody has been 

cautious. That was what 

saved me because my 

family initially believed it 

was my lifestyle that caused 

the problem. but I let them 

understand that it is 

hereditary." 

Tunde recalled how he 

was unable to purchase his 

drugs for four months 

because he had no money. 

Findings show that a 

patient who has 

complication may be 

indebted to the tune of 

N500, 000 to N1millon. 

He said the government 

should help people living 

with diabetes by providing 

social welfare packages. 

Diabetes is a disease 

commonly ignored by 

many patients. 

Endocrinologists say most 

of the people living with 

diabetes will only get to 

know when complications 

such as blindness, stroke, 

foot ulcer that could result 

in amputation, among 

several other conditions, 

set in. Findings by Good 

government and the 

private sector to partner 

with them, with a view to 

reducing the cost of 

Medicare and making the 

healthcare accessible to all. 

On her part, 

Representative of one of 

the Chinese top brands, 

Deputy Manager of 

David, Mrs Rachel Shen 

who said she was glad to 

be in Nigeria, said: “We 

are the top manufacturers 

in infant incubators.We are 

specialized in the 

paediatric field. We are 

going to do our best to 

support Nigerian 

healthcare system,” 

Health Weekly show that 

about 90 percent of people 

with diabetes have type 2 

diabetes, which is linked to 

lifestyle factors such as 

obesity and inactivity. Type 

1 diabetes, once called 

juvenile diabetes, 

commonly develops among 

children. 

An endocrinologist, Dr 

Afoke Isiavwe explained 

that everybody is at risk of 

diabetes hence the need for 

access to life-saving 

medication. 

Isiavwe who is the 

Medical Director, Rainbow 

Specialist Hospital, Lekki, 

Lagos, while speaking 

during a media roundtable 

to mark this year's World 

Diabetes Day with the 

theme: "Diabetes and The 

Family", urged the 

government to waive 

import duties for diabetes 

medication, glucometers 

and all the consumables 

and equipment required in 

managing the condition. 

Isiavwe harped on the 

need to teach children to 

eat well, have balanced 

meals and drink water 

regularly but worried that 

half the number of persons 

living with diabetes do not 

usually present with 

symptoms. 

"There are what we call 

the modifiable and nonmodifiable 

risk factors. The 

non-modifiable risk factors 

are the things we really 

cannot do anything about, 

for instance, ethnicity. 

Isiavwe said diabetes 

impacts the quality of life 

once a family member is 

down with diabetes, hence, 

the need for all hands to be 

on deck to recognize, 

prevent and manage the 

condition. 

The Head of Roche 

Diabetes Care, Sub -Sahara 

Africa, Susie Snell, urged 

the Federal government to 

get involved by focusing on 

making the medication 

easy and affordable for the 

society to access. 

In her presentation titled: 

"Structured Testing of Blood 

Glucose in the 

Management of Diabetes", 

she said Roche has been 

involved in diabetes patient 

care for 30 years by 

providing the Accu-Chek 

blood sugar measurement 

which they could use at 

home or anywhere. 

She highlighted the 

importance of structured 

testing of blood glucose as 

a necessary measure a 

patient must take to 

achieve control of the 

disease. 

Snell described the Accu- 

Chek device as a "tailormade 

diabetes selfmanagement 

solutions" 

designed to help people 

with diabetes to manage 

their condition and also 

enhance their quality of life.


*L-R: Mr. Clem Ugorji, Director, Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola West 

Africa Business Unit; Dr. Bala Yusuf, Technical Director, Office of the Senior Special 

Assistant to the President on SDGs; Prof. Chinyere Ezeaka, Professor of Paediatrics, 

Lagos University Teaching Hospital Idi-Araba; Dr Adedamola Dada, Chief Medical 

Director, Federal Medical Centre, Ebute-Metta; and Mrs. Amaka Onyemelukwe, Head, 

Public Affairs and Communications, Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, during the Coca- 

Cola Stakeholders Parley on 'Enabling Safe Births in Nigeria' 


SCIENTISTS have 

warned that that food 

crisis may be imminent in 

Nigeria if the country fails 

to deploy innovation and 

technology into its food 

industry to boost 

productivity and 

sufficiency. 

The food safety experts 

who raised the alarm listed 

the country’s rising 

population amidst huge 

technology gaps, lack of 

enabling environment for 

researchers, inadequate 

funding for research, high 

processing losses and lack 

of sustainable policy as 

factors that could 

negatively impact on the 

lives of the people, if 

nothing is done urgently. 

They argued that with 

continuous increase in 

Nigeria’s population 

without innovation and 

technology in the food 

industry amongst others 

would certainly lead to 

food crisis. 

The food scientists, 

under the auspices of 

Nigerian Institute of Food 

Science and Technology, 

NIFST, gave the warning 

during the just-concluded 

42nd Conference and 

Annual General Meeting, 

AGM, of the institute, 

held recently in Abeokuta, 

Ogun State. 

Speaking on the theme 

of the conference, 

titled:“Innovations in 

Food Science and 

Technology for 

Sustainable Economic 

Growth”, Director, 

Department of 

Bioresources 

Engineering, McGill 

University, Montreal, 

Canada, Prof. Michael 

Ngadi said Nigeria must 

be adequately prepared 

against any possible 

outbreak of food crisis 

through innovative and 

creative ideas. 

Ngadi, who was 

represented by Prof. 

Akindele Alonge of the 

Department of Agriculture 

and Food Engineering, 

University of Uyo, said 

innovations and creativity 

were needed to achieve 

zero hunger in the country 

and also address the severe 

food insecurity looming in 

Africa. 

Calling for robust 

investment in research, the 

keynote speaker revealed 

that many children would 

die of starvation if not 

addressed, adding that it 

would be extremely difficult 

to feed children by 2050. 

“It has been projected 

that by 2050, the world’s 

population will be 9.6 

billion people and Nigeria 

will be the third largest 

country in the world after 

India and China. And there 

are three basic issues that 

will affect the world if care 

is not taken and solutions 

not proffered. These issues 

are food, energy and water. 

Now, food comes first 

among the three issues 

especially in Nigeria and 

some other African 

countries. So, there is need 

for us to be active in terms 

of innovative ideas and 

technologies that can help 

boost food production and 

sufficiency in the country. 

Otherwise, we would have 

serious problem on our 

hands,” he said. 

Declaring the conference 

open, Vice Chancellor, 

Federal University of 

Agriculture, Abeokuta 

(FUNAAB), Ogun State, 

Prof. Felix Salako, said 

agriculture is now about 

technology and value 

addition, and no longer 

about hoe and cutlass. 

Citing the robust 

researches carried out in 

cassava by Nigerian 

scientists and their 

potential benefits to the food 

industry, Salako noted that 

It has been 

projected 

that by 2050, 

the world’s 

population 

will be 9.6 

billion and 

Nigeria will 

be the third 

largest 

country after 

India and 

China 

Experts raise concern over control of 

diabetes among Nigerians 

By Arinola Kolade 

MEDICAL experts 

who gathered at the 

2018 One- Day Diabetic 

Summit organized by 

Sanofi Aventis have raised 

concern over the care and 

control of diabetes in 

Nigerians already living 

with the condition. 

With the theme: 

"Personalizing Diabetes 

Care" the consensus 

among the experts from 

Nigeria, USA, Egypt, 

Cameroun is that 

Nigerians living with 

diabetes, like other 

Food crisis imminent in Nigeria without innovation 

— Scientists 

scientists in the country 

have a lot to offer if given 

the right and enabling 

environment to operate. 

The 42nd conference 

which witnessed various 

paper presentations on 

new discoveries in food 

production, processing and 

packaging, produced Mr. 

Toye Oluwole as the 22nd 

National President of 

NIFST, who promised to 

bring innovation into the 

food industry and also 

move the institute forward 

during his tenure. 

In his acceptance speech, 

Oluwole said: “We will 

develop programmes to 

tackle the gap between the 

food industry and the 

academia..” 

Africans, are not achieving 

treatment control in line 

with international 

standards. Complications 

such as foot amputation are 

reportedly on the increase 

in the country. 

In a paper "Management 

of 

Mealtime 

Hyperglycaemia" a 

professor of medicine and 

endocrinology, from the 

Faculty of Medicine and 

Biomedical Sciences, 

University of Yaounde, 

Yaounde, Cameroon, Jean 

Claude Mbanya, told the 

Summit that only few 

people living with diabetes 

are achieving treatment 

clinical goals in Africa. 

Citing data collected in 

2016 from some African 

countries, Mbanya 

disclosed that less than 5 

percent of people with 

either Type 1 or Type 2 

Diabetes Mellitus are 

achieving glycaemic target 

of HbA1c


Polaris Bank, COPE boosts support for 

breast cancer survivors 


FOR over 50 breast 

cancer survivors, the 

month of November will 

remain a memorable one, 

as Polaris Bank and Care 

Organisation Public 

Enlightenment, C.O.PE 

played host to them at an 

interesting annual end-ofyear 

get together. 

The event with the theme: 

'Celebrating our Pink 

Heroes', which held at the 

Sheraton Hotel Ikeja, 

Lagos was filled with fun, 

music, networking and 

learning in a relaxed 

setting. The annual get-totogether 

was designed to 

afford them the opportunity 

to publicly share their 

experience; educate more 

Nigerians about breast 

cancer; encourage women 

living with breast cancer to 

see the positive side of life, 

and to demystify the stigma 

associated with breast 

cancer. 

Over the last 10 years, the 

bank in partnership with 

C.O.PE has covered four 

key milestones namely 

prevention, detection, 

treatment and advocacy. 

These include the 

provision of free screening 

opportunities for over 

15,000 women including 

female staff members of the 

bank, and the donation of 

two ultra-modern breast 

cancer screening machines 

(LogiQ C2 and Mind Ray 

Ultra-Sound System) to 

enhance quality diagnosis 

and clinical practices. 

They have also 

sponsored treatment of 

over 30 indigent cancer 

patients, and the 10-km 

walk at two different 

locations within Lagos 

metropolis with over 2,500 

participants to draw public 

attention to cancer scourge. 

Speaking, the Group 

Managing Director/CEO of 

Polaris Bank, Tokunbo 

Abiru, said love and care 

demonstrated to breast 

cancer patients and 

survivors have an 

enormously positive 

influence on their physical 

and mental wellbeing. 

Stating that safety and 

healthcare is one of the 

pillars of Polaris Bank's 

Corporate Social 

Responsibility (CSR), Abiru 

affirmed that the bank in 

partnership with C.O.PE 

would continue to ensure 

reduction of breast cancer 

scourge in the country 

through increased 

awareness, advocacy and 

support for both patients 

and survivors. 

Represented by the 

Bank's Directorate Head, 

Lagos Business, Segun 

Opeke, he said " By coming 

out publicly to talk about 

their experience, our 

survivors and heroes have 

offered an enduring 

therapy to all persons 

currently battling the 

disease and a re-orientation 

COMMON SEXUAL PROBLEMS AND THEIR NOVELTY BASED SOLUTIONS (ADVERTORIAL) 

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to those who think it's a 

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cancer. I daresay that the 

stigma of death on account 

of secrecy is indeed worse." 

Speaking, President/ 

CEO of C.O.PE, Mrs 

Ebunola Anozie, said the 

get-together was a platform 

to thank God for the life of 

the survivors and to 

appreciate Polaris Bank for 

its support to breast cancer 

patients in Nigeria. 

"This year we decided to 

bring it here to say thank 

God and to exchange gifts 

as well. I also appreciate 

our sponsors, Polaris Bank; 

they have been with us for 

nearly 20 years now. For 

some time, we had difficulty 

getting the required 

support for the women; 

some of our women used 

handkerchiefs, some used 

tissues to fill up their bras. 

But we thank God for the 

support of Polaris Bank. 

They were able to donate 

prosthesis that ensured they 

lived better lives." 

A breast cancer survivor, 

Nnenna Obasi, in her 

testimonial disclosed that 

she was diagnosed with 

breast cancer in 2013, and 

by seeking immediate 

medical attention and with 

the support of family and 

organisations like C.O.PE 

and Polaris Bank, she 

overcame the scourge. 

She stressed the need for 

early detection and 

immediate medical 

attention. 

am able to have sex and maintain my erections for 

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*From left: CEO, COPE; Mrs Ebunola Anozie, Directorate Head, Lagos Business, 

Segun Opeke representative of GMD/CEO, Polaris Bank, presenting award to 

Chioma Obinna Senior Health Correspondent, Vanguard Newspapers for her 

contribution to the fight against cancer in Nigeria; CEO, Morgan Omoitan & Abe 

Engineering Company/Trustee of COPE; Engr. Dapo Abe and CEO, Development 

Initiative Network & COPE Trustee, Dr Bola Fajemirokun during the 2018 celebration 

of Breast Cancer Survivors event in Lagos last week. 

Safety practitioners advocate qualitative 

safety services 

By Bose Adelaja 

P ROFESSIONALS 

in the safety 

business have called for 

qualitative, efficient 

and professionalism in 

safety services calling on 

practitioners to have a 

change of mind set while 

rendering the services. 

The Chief Executive of 

Safety Engineering and 

Fire Consultant Limited 

EvaristusUzamere and the 

Managing Consultant/ 

Chief Executive Officer of 

Hybrid Group 

DapoOmolade jointly 

called for sincerity, 

objectivity and creativity in 

safety business. 

The professionals spoke 

in Lagos over the weekend, 

at the commissioning of a 

world class facility by 

Hybrid Group in Opebi 

area of Lagos. Hybrid 

Group a one stop shop for 

safety services offers 

trainings, consultancy and 

certification in safety related 

areas. Uzamere said safety 

business is not only about 

making financial gain but 

resuscitating lives. He said, 

‘’Safety profession means 

service to humanity. It must 

be borne of inner desire to 

help others and there 

should be technical capacity 

to help others in a 

professional manner,’’ 

He urged practitioners to 

upgrade the standard of the 

profession, ‘’we should play 

according to the rules 

being guided by the code 

of conduct. Our core 

business is the 

development of 

professionals and 

regulation of our 

profession. It is flattering 

that many non-safety 

professionals gravitate 

towards safety profession. 

The attraction should not 

only be for foinancial gain 

but for pure love of the 

profession,’’

Khashoggi: Canada listens to murder 

recordings 

•As French remarks on affair prompt Turkish anger 

CANADIAN intelli 

gence has heard an 

audio recording of the 

killing of the Saudi journalist 

Jamal Khashoggi, 

Prime Minister Justin 

Trudeau has confirmed. 

“Canada has been fully 

briefed up on what 

Turkey had to share,” he 

said. 

Mr Trudeau is the first 

Western leader to confirm 

his country has listened 

to the purported 

tape of the murder at the 

Saudi consulate in Istanbul. 

Turkey’s president said 

on Saturday that he had 

given copies to the US, 

UK, Germany, France 

and Saudi Arabia. 

“We gave them the 

tapes,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan 

told reporters before 

flying to Paris for a 

gathering of world leaders 

commemorating the 

100th anniversary of the 

end of World War One. 

“They’ve also listened to 

the conversations, they 

know it.” 

However, the US has 

not said whether it has 

received a tape and 

France’s foreign minister 

has said it is not in possession 

of one as far as 

he is aware. 

The Saudi government 

has admitted a team of 

agents murdered 

Khashoggi, a prominent 

critic who was living in 

self-imposed exile in the 

US and writing for the 

Washington Post, and it 

has arrested 18 people 

allegedly involved. 

Stan Lee, co-Creator of Spider Man and Avengers, who died yesterday, 

greets cast member Chadwick Boseman at the premiere of “Black Panther” 

in Los Angeles, California, January 29, 2018. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni 

Trump urges end to Florida recount, 

Democrats seek extension 

U 

.S. President 

Donald Trump on 

Monday urged Florida 

election officials to abandon 

recount efforts and 

declare his fellow Republicans 

the winners of 

disputed races there at 

last week’s midterm 

elections, while Democrats 

filed a lawsuit to 

challenge the state’s 

deadline on mail-in ballots. 

As Florida officials 

scrambled to review 

more than eight million 

ballots by Thursday, 

Trump, without providing 

evidence, cast doubt 

on the recount process 

required by state law in 

close elections. 

Leads by the Republican 

candidates in the 

races for a seat in the 

U.S. Senate and for the 

governor’s office shrank 

as more ballots were tallied 

following last Tuesday’s 

election. 

Trump called for an 

end to the recount even 

though state rules allow 

election officials to wait 

10 days for absentee ballots 

submitted by registered 

voters living outside 

the United States, 

including active-duty 

At a news conference 

in Paris on Monday, Mr 

Trudeau said Canadian 

intelligence agencies 

had been working very 

closely with Turkey on 

the murder investigation. 

“I had a conversation 

with Erdogan a couple of 

weeks ago over the 

phone. Here in Paris we 

had brief exchanges and 

I thanked him for his 

strength in responding 

to the Khashoggi situation,” 

he added. 

When asked whether 

Canada had heard the 

purported audio recordings, 

Mr Trudeau said 

“yes”. But he added that 

he had not listened to 

them personally. 

But the prime minister 

sidestepped a question 

about whether such evidence 

would have consequences 

for Canada’s 

relationship with Saudi 

Arabia. 

“We are in discussions 

military personnel. 

A machine recount began 

over the weekend in 

the race between outgoing 

Republican Florida 

Governor Rick Scott and 

Democratic U.S. Senator 

Bill Nelson, with anoth- 

VANGUARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 — 45 

with our like-minded allies 

as to the next steps 

with regard Saudi Arabia,” 

he said. 

Mr Trudeau has faced 

calls to cancel a $13bn 

(£10bn) arms deal with 

Saudi Arabia for tanks 

and armoured fighting 

vehicles built by an Ontario-based 

unit of the US 

firm General Dynamics. 

Relations between the 

two countries are already 

strained. In August, Saudi 

Arabia accused Cana 

Iran honouring nuclear deal as new 

sanctions hit, IAEA report shows 

IRAN has continued to 

implement the main 

nuclear restrictions set by 

its 2015 deal with major powers 

even as the United 

States reimposed sanctions 

against Tehran, a U.N. 

atomic watchdog report 

showed on Monday. 

Iran has kept its stock of 

low-enriched uranium as 

well as the level to which it 

refines uranium within the 

limits set by the landmark 

deal, according to the International 

Atomic Energy 

Agency report to IAEA 

member states, obtained by 

Reuters. 

Several of the main items 

curbed under the deal, designed 

to lengthen the time 

Iran would need to build a 

nuclear bomb if it ever chose 

to do so, were verified shortly 

before U.S. sanctions 

were reimposed on Nov. 5 

as a follow-up to Washington’s 

withdrawal from the 

nuclear accord announced 

in May. 

A senior diplomat, however, 

later said that there 

was no sign Iranian behaviour 

had changed since that 

date. 

“There is nothing that indicates 

that Iranian cooperation 

or the Iranian attitude 

has changed since the 5th 

er recount underway for 

the Florida gubernatorial 

race between Republican 

Ron DeSantis and 

Democrat Andrew Gillum. 

Republicans are eager 

to cement victories in a 

of November.” 

Iran’s reserve of low-enriched 

uranium remained 

well below the deal’s 202.8 

kg limit at 149.4 kg, the 

quarterly report by the Vienna-based 

IAEA showed. 

Its stock of heavy water - 

a less sensitive material that 

can be used as a moderator 

in nuclear reactors but is still 

restricted under the deal - 

was roughly unchanged at 

122.8 tonnes. 

Iran continued production 

but 1.7 tonnes were shipped 

abroad while 1.5 tonnes 

were used to make medical 

compounds, the report said. 

Amnesty International 

strips Myanmar’s Suu Kyi 

of Conscience Award 

AMNESTY Interna 

tional has withdrawn 

its most prestigious 

human rights prize from 

Aung San Suu Kyi, accusing 

the Myanmar leader 

of perpetuating human 

rights abuses by not 

speaking out about violence 

against the Rohingya 

Muslim minority. 

Once hailed as a champion 

in the fight for democracy, 

Suu Kyi has 

been stripped of a series 

of international honours 

over a Rohingya exodus 

that began in August 2017. 

More than 700,000 

members of the mostly 

stateless group fled across 

Myanmar’s western border 

into Bangladesh after 

the Myanmar military 

launched a crackdown in 

response to Rohingya insurgent 

attacks on the security 

forces. 

U.N.-mandated investigators 

have accused the 

military of unleashing a 

campaign of killings, rape 

and arson with “genocidal 

intent”. 

Suu Kyi’s administration 

rejected the findings 

as one-sided, and said the 

military action was engaged 

in a legitimate 

counterinsurgency operation. 

The international human 

rights group named 

Suu Kyi as its 2009 Ambassador 

of Conscience 

Award recipient when she 

was still under house arrest 

for her opposition to 

Myanmar’s oppressive 

military junta. 

In the eight years since 

she was released, Suu Kyi 

led her party to election 

victory in 2015 and set up 

a government the following 

year, but she has to 

share power with generals 

and has no oversight over 

the security forces. 

Amnesty International 

said in a statement on Tuesday 

she had failed to speak 

out and had “shielded the 

security forces from accountability” 

for the violence 

against the Rohingya, 

calling it a “shameful betrayal 

of the values she 

once stood for”. 

The global advocacy organisation’s 

secretary general, 

Kumi Naidoo, wrote 

to Suu Kyi on Sunday saying 

the group was withdrawing 

the award because 

it was “profoundly dismayed 

that you no longer 

represent a symbol of hope, 

courage, and the undying 

defence of human rights”. 

Zaw Htay, the Myanmar 

government’s main spokesman, 

did not pick up Reuters 

calls seeking comment 

on Monday. 

In March, the U.S. Holocaust 

Memorial Museum 

rescinded its top award 

from Suu Kyi and she has 

had other honours withdrawn, 

including the freedom 

of the cities of Dublin 

and Oxford, England, over 

the Rohingya crisis. 

In September, Canada’s 

parliament voted to strip 

Suu Kyi of her honorary citizenship. 

Spider Man, Avengers 

co-creator dies 

STAN Lee, the color 

ful Marvel Comics 

patriarch who helped 

usher in a new era of superhero 

storytelling and 

saw his creations become 

a giant influence in the 

movie business has 

died. 

He was 95. 

Kirk Schneck, an attorney 

for Lee’s daughter, 

tells CNN the comic giant 

died was taken by 

ambulance from his home 

on Monday morning to 

Cedar’s Sinai Medical 

Center, where he later 

died. The cause of death 

is not yet known, according 

to Schneck. 

Lee began his career at 

what was then Timely 

Comics in 1939. Over the 

years he was a writer, 

editor and occasional illustrator. 

But, bored with 

the output, he was preparing 

to leave the company 

when history took 

a sudden turn. 

For many years, the 

business had been dominated 

by DC (then National) 

Comics, creators 

of Superman, Batman, 

Wonder Woman and the 

Green Lantern. 

In the late ’50s, DC 

started reimagining its 

heroes,kicking off what 

comics historians call the 

“Silver Age” of the 

business but those 

figures were still, largely, 

otherworldly and twodimensional, 

living in 

made-up places such as 

Metropolis and Gotham 

City. 

Rise Up trains 20 Civil Society 

groups on leadership skills 

By Juliet Umeh 

No fewer than 20 leaders 

of Civil Society Organisations, 

CSOs, working 

in the areas of social 

justice, women empowerment 

and girls’ education 

across Nigeria are currently 

receiving intensive 

capacity building in Lagos. 

The seven week-long intensive 

advocacy and 

leadership accelerator 

workshop which kicked off 

yesterday is being organised 

by an international 

organisation, Rise Up in 

collaboration with Cummins 

West Africa. 

Addressing participants 

at the opening ceremony, 

Country Director, Rise Up, 

Mrs. Theresa Effa, explained 

that the workshop 

was aimed at building a 

global movement of visionary 

leaders dedicated 

to advancing gender equity.


AFCON Qualifier: Eagles won’t get their 

revenge, Bafana Bafana coach vows 

South Africa coach Stuart 

Baxter, said though 

Nigeria Super Eagles are 

undefeated after their World 

Cup 2018 experience, Bafana 

Bafana will not be intimidated 

when they clash on Saturday 

in the Africa Cup of Nations 

qualifiers. 

The Super Eagles top the 

group E pairings and are 

looking to cement their 

qualification for the 2019 

AFCON in Cameroon. The 

team is also eager to pay back 

Bafana Bafana the 2-0 hiding 

they hand the Super Eagles 

in Uyo when the qualification 

series kicked off in June 2017. 

“Everybody knows what I 

said in the first press 

conference (a week ago) that 

despite that (the injuries) I 

want to speak about the 

players that we do have 

because even though we 

respect Nigeria we do not 

fear them. 

“I think we have still 

enough talent‚ enough 

desire and if we can structure 

a game plan in the next three 

or four days‚ I think by the 

time we run out onto the 

FNB Stadium we would be 

confident‚ we would not be 

complacent‚ because Nigeria 

Super Falcons of 

Nigeria are a team 

to beat at the Africa Women 

Cup of Nations that begins 

on Saturday in Ghana, but 

according to striker, Barbara 

Banda Zambia will give the 

defending champions a 

fight. 

Zambia, South Africa, 

Equatorial Guinea and 

Nigeria are in group B. 

While Zambia play 

Equatorial Guinea on 

Sunday, while South Africa 

take on Nigeria. 

“We want to qualify to the 

World Cup. We are not 

going to Ghana as mere 

participants,” Banda told the 

*Kelechi Iheanacho ready for South Africa 

have just come from a 

(2018) World Cup (in 

Russia). 

“They are undefeated 

since we beat them the last 

time (in the first qualifier 

in June last year) and 

they will certainly want to 

wreak their revenge. 

“So‚ we will be ready 

AWCON 2018: Super Falcons 

don’t scare us, says Zambia 

striker Zambia Football 

Association. 

“The teams look tough 

on paper but we won’t 

look at names. 

“Whether it’s Nigeria or 

South Africa we are 

focused and we shall 

conquer,” Banda added. 

Banda will be under 

pressure to deliver after 

joining a top tier league 

in Spain where Zambia 

have no representation 

in the men’s La Liga. 

She made her debut for 

her club Logrono almost 

a week ago and scored, 

becoming the first 

Zambian to play in the 

Spanish women’s La 

Liga. 

Loya school swimming ends in Lagos 

THE Lagos edition of the Loya Milk Secondary 

School Swimming Competition season three ended last 

weekend. Officials described it as a pointer to the enormous 

potential of Nigeria in the sport and a boost to the sponsors - 

Loya Milk, a premium brand of Promasidor Nigeria Limited. 

All the participants in the six-event competition, hosted by 

Children’s International School, Lekki, completed the events 

without the assistance of lifeguards. 

Ten schools competed for a total of 18 medals in 25 metres 

freestyle for boys and girls, 50 metres freestyle for boys and 

girls and 100 metres relay for boys and girls. 

British International won two gold, one silver and two 

bronze medals; while Children’s International won two gold 

and two silver medals.Edgewood, Greenspring, Grange, 

Chrisland, American International and Meadow Hall also 

featured on the medal chart. 

and I still believe that we 

have a very good chance 

of getting the result that 

we need.” Baxter revealed 

that Bafana had injury 

scares to Holland-based 

midfielder Thulani Serero 

and SuperSport United 

goalkeeper Ronwen 

Williams.'' 

*Ordega... Super Falcons striker 

Confederation 

of 

Africa Football 

has made a inspection 

mission to gauge 

Cameroon’s 2019 Afcon 

hosting preparedness. 

Inspection of stadiums 

and other facilities in 

Yaounde, Garoua, 

Bafoussam and Douala is 

currently underway before 

the Confederation of 

African Football (Caf) 

passes its conclusive 

position on whether 

hosting rights would stay 

Nigeria’s 

leading 

brewing company, 

Nigerian Breweries Plc has 

urged the Super Eagles to 

extract their pound of flesh 

from the Bafana Bafana of 

South Africa when the two 

sides meet on Saturday in a 

2019 Africa Cup of Nations 

match day five game at the 

FNB stadium in 

Johannesburg, South Africa. 

This motivational 

message was contained in 

a Press release issued by 

Emmanuel Oriakhi, the 

Marketing Director of 

Nigerian Breweries Plc on 

the AFCON qualifying 

game coming up this 

weekend in South Africa. 

It would be recalled that 

South Africa defeated 

Nigeria 2-0 at the Godswill 

Akpabio stadium in Uyo, 

Akwa Ibom state in the 

opening group E game of 

the qualifiers in June 2017, 

but Emmanuel Oriakhi,the 

Marketing Director of 

Nigerian Breweries Plc 

believes coach Gernot Rohr 

and his Eagles are motivated 

to avenge that loss and 

confirm their ticket to the 

biennial African football 

fiesta in Cameroun next 

year. 

“As an official partner of the 

Nigeria Football Federation, 

Nigerian Breweries Plc is 

solidly behind the Super 

NB Plc Charges Eagles 

To Beat South Africa 

— As team begins training today 

in Asaba. 

Eagles to deliver the goals 

and the points to seal the 

very important ticket that 

will guarantee Nigeria’s 

return to the Africa Cup of 

Nations after failing to 

qualify for the last two 

editions in 2015 in 

Equatorial Guinea and 

2017 in Gabon,” Oriakhi 


The Super Eagles are 

expected to start arriving 

the team’s camp in Asaba, 

AS the date for the 

commencement 

of the 19th National Sports 

Festival draws nearer, the 

Federal Ministry of Youth 

and Sports Development 

has announced the closure 

of Abuja National Stadium 

for any activities as from the 

end of this week to allow 

for proper cleaning and 

maintenance in readiness 

for the Sporting fiesta. 

Speaking in Abuja, 


Federal Ministry of Youth 

and Sports development, 

Adesola Olusade said the 

closure became necessary 

to pave way for clearing of 

the bushes both within the 

Delta state from Monday, 

November 12 to begin 

preparations for the game 

scheduled for the 94,000- 

capacity FNB stadium in 

Johannesburg and 

Nigerian Breweries Plc, 

whose brands,Star Lager 

beer and Amstel Malta are 

the Official Beer and 

Official Malt drinks of the 

Super Eagles respectively 

has assured NFF and the 

team of its support all the 

way to South Africa. 

NSF: Abuja national stadium 

shuts down for cleaning 

Reigning champions, 

Dorcas Adesokan 

and Anu Opeyori has vowed 

to defend their title at the 

Mutual Benefits Badminton 

championship which begins 

today (Tuesday) at the Mutual 

Benefits/Police Badminton 

Hall, Police College, Ikeja, 

Lagos. 

Adesokan said that she is 

expecting to repeat her last 

year’s gold-winning 

performance despite 

challenges from her rivals. “My 

2019 AFCON: Cameroon’s preparedness still worry CAF 

with Cameroon or handed 

to another country. 

The final assessment 

began on Sunday and will 

be closed on Thursday, with 

Caf deputy secretary general 

and inspection head Antony 

Baffoe already saying a lot 

of progress has been made 

in Cameroon. 

“We are the soldiers of the 

President of Caf, operating 

on the ground,” Baffoe told 

Cafonline. 

“We came to see the 

progress of construction and 

stadium and its 

surrounding 

Olusade who is also the 

chairman, main organising 

committee for the 19th festival 

said the stadium will be used 

for opening and closing 

ceremony in addition to other 

events that will take place in 

the edifice. 

“We have restored light and 

water to the stadium and we 

are trying to embark on proper 

cleaning of all the rooms both 

at the package A and B. This 

cleaning will not only be for 

Abuja National Stadium 

alone, we will carry out proper 

maintenance and cleaning in 

all facilities that we are going 

to use for the festival” 

Mutual Benefits Badminton: 

Adesokan, Adeyori vow to 

defend titles 

rehabilitation of 

infrastructure. Through 

media and social networks 

we know that the work 

has advanced 

considerably.” The 

inspection team includes 

Fifa and Lagardere 

representatives. There 

had been concerns about 

Cameroon’s capacity to 

host an expanded 24- 

team Afcon after they were 

initially handed rights to 

organize a tournament 

with 16 teams. 

desire is to win the title again 

this year. I am sure a lot of 

players would be at the 

tournament to upstage me but 

Deborah Uke and Ruth Ebere 

are major contenders to the 

title.” 

She also commended the 

sponsors, Mutual Benefit 

Assurance PLC for the 

sponsorship urging them to stay 

with badminton for a long haul. 

“The sponsorship, which is in 

its second year, is a good one 

for badminton. 

The players will always look 

out for the competition and I 

will encourage the sponsors to 

stay with us because their effort 

will give the game a big boost.” 

She also commended the 

Badminton Federation of 

Nigeria (BFN) for the exposure 

it is giving the game in the 

country. For Adeyori, the 

training he has undergone 

would propel him to the top spot 

again. The top seed said that 

retaining the title would be a 

dream come true. 

“My expectation at the 

championship is to retain the 

title. I have trained hard and I 

hope to winning the title 

again,” he added.


Liverpool won’t worry about City’s 

progress — van Dijk 

Virgil van Dijk insists 

Liverpool cannot 

afford to do anything but 

focus on themselves as they 

bid to keep pace with 

Manchester City at the top 

of the Premier League. 

But the Dutchman is 

convinced that Pep 

Guardiola’s reigning 

champions won’t continue 

•van Dijk 

Lionel Messi said La 

Liga is “more 

competitive than ever” 

and he hopes it stays 

that way as he collected 

the Trofeo Di Stefano for 

the division’s best player 

in 2017-18. 

The Barcelona 

superstar received the 

award from Spanish 

sports newspaper Marca 

on Monday, while also 

being presented with the 

Trofeo Pichichi for his 

34-goal haul last 

season. 

Messi took his La Liga 

tally for 2018-19 to nine 

with a double in Barca’s 

surprise 4-3 loss at 

home to Real Betis on 

Sunday, a result that 

saw their advantage at 

the summit cut to just 

one point. 

“It’s good that the 

to pick up easy wins on a 

weekly basis as a long 

season progresses. 

The Reds moved to the 

summit of the English topflight 

by beating Fulham 2- 

0 on Sunday but were 

quickly relegated back to 

second place by City’s 3-1 

win over rivals Manchester 

United later in the day. 

Asked if Jurgen Klopp’s 

side can continue to keep 

up with the leaders, Van 

Dijk replied: “That is 

something we still need to 

see. 

“They are the champions 

and the best team in the 

league but we will try 

everything to be as good 

as we can. 

“We don’t have to look at 

others, we want to look at 

the games we have and the 

next challenge we have as 

Liverpool is Watford away, 

which is going to be tough. 

“For us the challenge is 

to win or try to win every 

game that is ahead of us. 

The season is very long. 

“They are not going to 

win every game 5-0 and 

are going to have tough 

games like everyone else. 

“We need to look at what 

we have ahead of us and 

that is more important 

than looking at someone 

else. It is the only way 

forward.” 

La Liga “more competitive”, Messi reveals 

Interim Real Madrid 

manager Santiago 

Solari was appointed 

permanent coach on 

Monday after overseeing a 

startling upturn in the 

European champions’ 

fortunes since he stepped in 

to replace Julen Lopetegui. 

“Everything is in order. 

Real Madrid have worked 

out his contract and there 

are no problems,” the 

Spanish football federation 


Solari has led Real to four 

wins out of four since being 

installed on a caretaker 

basis following Lopetegui’s 

league is like this,” 

Messi said. 

“It’s more competitive 

than ever, anyone beats 

anybody, it’s good for the 

spectators. 

“I hope it stays that 

way for a long time.” 

The 31-year-old felt no 

adverse effects after 

making his return to 

first-team action 

•Messi 

following an arm 

fracture sustained 

against Sevilla on 

October 20. 

“At the beginning, I 

was a bit scared, 

because I had not had 

much contact,” admitted 

Messi. 

“I let go a little more 

as the game went on 

and I was fine.” 

Real Madrid rewards Solari with contract 

abrupt sacking last month. 

And with 15 goals scored 

and only two conceded he 

has established the best ever 

start for a Real manager. 

After thrashing Melilla in 

the Copa del Rey, they won 

5-0 away to Viktoria Plzen 

in the Champions League, 

between victories over Real 

Valladolid and Celta Vigo in 

La Liga. 

The upturn has left 

Madrid only four points 

adrift of league leaders 

Barcelona and on the brink 

of qualification for the last 

16 in Europe. 

Solari, who spent five 

years playing for Real, was 

promoted from his role in 

charge of Castilla, the 

club´s B team. 

PEP Guardiola has 

been asked to 

explain his comments 

about referee Anthony 

Taylor ahead of Sunday’s 

Manchester derby. 

The Wythenshawe 

official’s appointment for 

the clash at the Etihad 

prompted uproar from 

Manchester City fans. 

•Iwobi 

Chukwueze happy with La 

Liga exploits with Villarreal 

Former Golden Eaglets 

star, Samuel 

Chukwueze has 

described his outing with 

Villarreal against Rayo 

Vallecano in last 

Sunday’s La Liga match 

as a career turning point. 

Chukwueze,19, scored 

in his maiden 

appearance for Villarreal 

to become the fourth 

youngest goalscorer in 

La Liga this season. He 

joined Villarreal in 2017 

from Diamond Academy 

in Nigeria. 

“This is an 

unforgettable moment for 

my career and I thank 

everyone for the 

opportunity and 

support,” he said. 

Chukwueze’s top form 

in his breakthrough 

season earned him a call 

up to this weekend’s 

Africa Cup of Nations 

Franck 

Ribery 

reportedly slapped 

a French TV reporter three 

times during an altercation 

after Bayern Munich’s 

defeat to Borussia 

Dortmund last weekend. 

Dortmund came from 

behind twice to win the 

FA wants Guardiola to explain 

comments on ref 

qualifier against South 

Africa in Johannesburg. 

Chukwueze, who 

helped Nigeria win a 

fifth Under-17 World 

Cup in 2015, has now 

scored twice in six 

appearances for the 

Yellow Submarines - 

after opening his 

account against Rapid 

Vienna in this season’s 

Europa League. 

Ribery slaps TV reporter after 

Bayern defeat 

Guardiola dismissed any 

concerns about Taylor 

officiating the match, despite 

him hailing from a suburb of 

Manchester considered a 

United stronghold. 

But the Football 

Association has still asked 

City’s manager for his 

observations about his 

comments, giving him until 

6pm on Thursday to respond. 

•Chukwueze 

game 3-2 and open up a 

seven-point gap between 

them and their rivals at the 

top of the Bundesliga 

table. Ribery was doing 

post-match interviews 

after the game when 

Patrick Guillou put it to the 

Frenchman he was 

responsible for two goals. 

Reports in Germany 

claim Ribery was enraged 

by the suggestion and 

shoved and slapped 

Guillou. Bayern confirmed 

on Monday an 

‘altercation’ had occurred 

and the matter would now 

be resolved internally. 

‘Franck Ribery has 

informed us that he had 

an altercation with his 

compatriot Patrick 

Guillou, whom he has 

known well for many 

years,’ Bayern said in a 

statement. 

Emery 

explains 

Iwobi’s 

half-time 

replacement 

Arsenal boss Unai 

Emery, said he 

took out Alex Iwobi at 

half-time in their game 

against Wolves for 

tactical reasons. 

Iwobi was among the 

substitutes as Arsenal 

drew with Liverpool last 

weekend but the 22- 

year-old was picked over 

Henrikh Mkhitaryan in 

Emery’s starting XI 

against Nuno Espirito 

Santo’s side at the 

Emirates. However, 

Iwobi was only on the 

field for 45 minutes as 

Emery replaced Iwobi 

with youngster Matteo 

Guendouzi for the 

second half. 

The match ended in a 

draw as Mkhitaryan 

found a late equaliser 

for the Gunners and 

Emery explained his 

decision to substitute 

Iwobi after the final 

whistle. 

“Tactically it was a 

change. I was thinking 

of having more 

possession inside,’ the 

Spaniard said. Matteo 

Guendouzi came on to 

replace Alex Iwobi. 

“We did sometimes 

good in this situation 

and we creed chances to 

score. But they worked 

well defensively.’ Unai 

Emery praised his 

players for their 

performance after the 

break 

Emery was impressed 

with the reaction of his 

players in the second 

half after going behind 

to an early Wolves goal. 

He explained: ‘We 

spoke about how it was 

difficult to break their 

lines defensively and 

their transition was very 

good. ‘We didn’t want 

the second goal but our 

idea changed a little 

because we needed to 

take more risks. 

•Ribery

Vanguard, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

THURSDAY’S SOLUTION 

ACROSS 

1 Find by searching or 

examining (6) 

4 Refuge (6) 

8 Hooded snake (5) 

9 Without assistance (7) 

10 Extend (7) 

11 Squeeze (5) 

12 Heavy waterproof 

cover (9) 

17 Early birds (5) 

19 Showing no expression (7) 

21 Discard (4,3) 

22 Early part of life (5) 

23 Cloth used with polish (6) 

24 Go up (6) 

DOWN 

1 Destructive migratory 

insect (6) 

2 Floor-show (7) 

3 Distinguishing feature (5) 

5 Surgical knife (7) 

6 Gatehouse (5) 

7 Unostentatious (6) 

9 Previously unknown (7-2) 

13 Give back (7) 

14 Roman sea god (7) 

15 Serene, unruffled (6) 

16 Without shoes (6) 

18 Takes a break (5) 

20 Bottomless gulf (5) 

How to Play Sudoku 

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

of the same number). 

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

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

blocks) contains number from 1 through 9. This means that no 

number can appear twice in any block, column or row. 

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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13112018 - PLANE SEARCH : Buhari, Atiku at each other's throats

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