14112018 - We're vetting Ganduje's bribe videos — BUHARI

Time for FG to 

re-establish Education 

Bank; provide loans 

for students at low 

rate (3) 

40 

Dasuki refuses to 

appear in court, alleges 

‘partisan rule of law’ 

•Accuses Buhari of high-handedness 

Q$'18: Rising inflation threatens equities outlook 

8 

IMO GUBER: 

Okorocha, 

Uzodinma in war 

of words over 

‘immunity’ 15 

20 

VOL. 26: NO. 63680 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

APC, PDP 

bicker 

over 

Atiku’s 

campaign 

finances 

41 

Civil Joint Task Force inauguration 

We're vetting Ganduje's 

bribe videos — BUHARI 

•Adds: We’ll take action if gov is found guilty 

•Kano House ‘bows to pressure’, suspends probe 

P RESIDENT 

Muhammadu 

Buhari has finally broken 

his silence on the bribery 

allegations against Kano 

State governor, Abdullahi 

Ganduje. 

President Buhari, who 

spoke on the matter for the 

first time during an 

interactive session with 

Nigerians in France, said 

videos depicting the 

bribery had been given to 

security men for vetting. 

In the videos widely 

circulated on social media, 

the governor was seen 

Continues on Page 5 

IDPs children... 

Some children of the Internally Displaced Persons 

(IDPs) queue for food at their camp in Jos, 

yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

Visiting UN delegation denied landing at 

Makurdi airport — ORTOM 35 

ASUU wants FG to 

negotiate with union 

to end strike 9 

COLUMNISTS 

DEAR BUNMI 

Court orders forfeiture 

of N397m pension 

fund in 2 banks 

8 

44 

PRINCEWILL 

Members of the Civil Joint Task Force recruited by Zamfara State 

Government, during their inauguration by the Emir of Zurmi, Alhaji 

Abubakar Atiku, at the Emir's Palace in Zamfara, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

17 

STATE OF THE NATION: Olu Fasan 

debuts tomorrow. Get your copy! 

NEMA probe: 

Osinbajo has 

questions to 

answer, 

Reps insist 

OHUABUNWA 29 FASAN 29 

9 

It’ll be bad to stop 

minimum wage 

implementation, 

Labour warns 14 

SEE 

INSIDE 

Naira 

appreciates to 

N363.71/$ in 

I&E window 

41 

Mr & Mrs 

C 

M 

Y 

K

2 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—3

4 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—5 

NEWS HOTLINES POCKET CARTOON 

018773962, 

@vanguardnews 08052867058 

SOLIDARITY VISIT— Nasarawa State Governor, Tanko Al-Makura (left) with APC National Chairman, 

Comrade Adams Oshiomhole (right) during his solidarity visit to the party chairman, while member of 

National Working Committee/National Vice Chairman, North-Central, Alhaji Suleiman Umar Wambai 

(middle) looks on in Abuja, yesterday. Photo: Gbemiga Olamikan. 

We're vetting Ganduje's bribe 

videos — BUHARI 

Continues from Page 5 

allegedly receiving 

kickbacks from contractors 

to the tune of $5 million. 

During the interactive 

session, a Kano State 

student on scholarship in 

France, had showered 

praises on the governor, 

asking the President to 

emulate him. 

But President Buhari was 

said to have snapped, 

asking the student if he had 

seen the videos of Governor 

Ganduje allegedly 

receiving bribe in dollars. 

“Haven’t you watched the 

videos of the governor 

stuffing dollars under his 

gown?” one of the 

participants reportedly 

quoted the President as 

asking, 

while 

demonstrating how the 

governor was stuffing the 

bundles of dollars inside 

his pocket. 

“We gave the videos to 

security agencies for 

vetting. And we will surely 

take action on the matter if 

he is found guilty,’’ 

President Buhari was 

quoted to have said. 

But the president’s 

response was said not to 

have gone well with a 

lawmaker and a 

presidential aide who 

reportedly pleaded with 

journalists to remove the 

portion from their reports. 

An online publication, 

Daily Nigerian, published 

by Mr. Jafaar Jaafar, had 

uploaded the videos which 

showed the governor 

allegedly receiving $5 

million bribe, dressed in 

white Kaftan. 

The publisher explained 

that the aggrieved 

contractors, who allegedly 

paid between 15% and 25% 

of the worth of contracts to 

the governor, accepted to do 

the video recording 

whenever they went to pay 

the alleged kickback to the 

governor. 

Jaafar was challenged to 

produce the videos by 

various interested sections 

of the society, and this 

prompted him to release the 

first video on October 14, 

2018. 

The video was challenged 

by some groups, some of 

whom even tried to link it 

to the former governor of 

the state, Rabiu 

Kwankwaso, because Jaafar 

had worked with the 

governor as a media 

assistant. 

But the allegation was 

debunked by Kwankwaso’s 

spokesperson, Hajiya 

Binta Spikin. 

Although the governor 

dismissed the allegation 

and threatened to sue the 

publisher for defamation, 

Jaafar to further establish 

the authenticity of his claim 

as a whistle blower, 

released another video clip 

allegedly showing the 

governor, this time without 

a cap on his head, dressed 

in Kaftan, collecting and 

stashing wraps of dollars 

in his pocket on October 

15. 

The publisher then 

announced that his life 

was being threatened 

and went into hiding with 

his family. 

He also insisted that he 

had 15 video clips of the 

alleged bribe episode with 

nine showing the face of 

the governor, while six only 

showed parts of his body. 

Consequently, Kano State 

House of Assembly set up 

an adhoc panel to probe 

the allegation against the 

governor, while the state 

government suspended its 

plan of going to court to 

allow for the investigation 

of the lawmakers. 

The publisher, Jaafar 

Jaafar, appeared before the 

committee on October 25 

and was grilled on the 

authenticity of the clips. 

He told the committee 

that he would not reveal 

the source of the clips, 

adding that he was ready 

to swear by the Holy Quran 

that it was the governor in 

the clips collecting kickback 

from contractors. 

Although the governor 

was invited by the adhoc 

panel to state his own side 

of the story, he did not show 

up but sent his Information 

Commissioner, Malam 

Muhammad Garba to 

represent him. 

The commissioner simply 

told the panel that his 

principal denied receiving 

bribe, adding that the 

governor had never 

collected a bribe before and 

will never collect. 

Governor Ganduje 

eventually approached the 

court to stop further 

investigation by the House 

of Assembly, which vowed 

to continue the probe. 

The development 

generated reactions from 

stakeholders in the 

Nigerian project, including 

the Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, which asked the 

federal government to 

investigate the allegation 

against the governor. 

Kano House 

Meanwhile, Kano State 

House of Assembly has 

stopped the investigation of 

the allegation against the 

governor, citing a court 

order. 

A group known as 

Lawyers For Sustainable 

Democracy in Nigeria, had 

asked the court to compel 

the assembly to halt the 

probe. 

Ruling on an ex parte 

application filed by one 

Muhammad Zubair, 

National Coordinator of the 

group, Justice A.T 

Badamasi had asked the 

lawmakers to suspend the 

probe. 

But the assembly vowed 

not to comply with the order. 

Baffa Dan-Agundi, 

Chairman of the committee 

investigating the issue, had 

said the court order did not 

stop the panel from 

continuing with the 

investigation. 

By Ebun Sessou, Yinka Latona, 

Tade Oluwapelumi, Miriam Elibe & 

Chisom Nwangwu 

N3.5m monthly feeding expenses for detained Shi’ite leader (3) 

IT is not possible. 

What type of food is 

the Federal Government 

giving to the man? Is 

he eating one cow daily? 

Does he reside in the 

moon or sky? 

N3.5million is a huge 

amount of money. 

They should stop fooling 

Nigerians. It cannot 

be true. It seems 

some people are spending 

the money under the 

guise of feeding the 

Shi’itte leader. 

Mrs. Augustina Nweka, 

Businesswoman 

Ithink some people just 

love to cause problems 

in this country. Why is the 

government claiming to 

be using N3.5 million to 

feed one person when majority 

of Nigerians are 

poor and hungry. 

I did not believe that any 

Nigerian can spend N3.5 

million monthly on feeding. 

Even if the person has 

health challenges, it is not 

possible to spend N3.5 

million on his feeding. 

That amount is outrageous. 

Mr. Adesina Oladayo, 

Civil servant 

It is very disheartening 

hearing that the Federal 

Government is using N3.5 

million to feed one person 

when we have millions of 

unemployed youths, widows 

and aged people, who 

are suffering in the midst 

of plenty. 

I wish such amount of 

money could be used to 

assist the youths. It would 

go a long way in curbing 

the rate of unemployment 

and crime in our country. 

Miss. Temitope Mustapha 

Cosmetologist 

Iwas amazed hearing 

that the Federal Government 

is using N3.5 million 

to feed just one person 

when we are having a serious 

economic crisis. The 

poverty rate is even high. 

It is this same government 

that said it cannot afford 

to pay Nigerian workers 

N30,000 minimum wage 

but it can use millions of 

naira to feed one person in 

a month. I want President 

Muhammadu Buhari to 

order an investigation into 

the matter. 

Mr. Afolabi Abiola, 

Worker 

I don’t know where we 

are heading to in this 

country. There are people 

who cannot afford one 

meal in a day. Some are 

having medical challenges 

and cannot afford 

their medical bills. But 

the government is using 

N3.5 million to feed one 

person. Is that not 

outrageous?Most of our 

health institutions are in 

shambles, leading to the 

untimely death of most 

Nigerians. Mrs. Durojaye 

Sekinat, Nurse 

W 

HAT is he eating 

that gulps N 3.5m 

monthly? The Federal 

Government claims to 

spend that amount but 

we want Zakzaky to confirm 

if what the government 

said is true. We 

need to know the truth 

because we have tolerated 

much since this administration 

came on 

board. However, I know 

that it is not true. They 

must be joking. 

Miss Amanda Nwankwo, 

Brand Influencer

6—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

Troops arrest 

teenage female 

suicide bomber 

in Borno 

THE Nigeria Army, 

yesterday, said its troops 

arrested a teenage female 

would-be suicide bomber 

while attempting to infiltrate 

Maiduguri, the Borno State 

capital. 

The Army said in a Twitter 

post that the girl, identified as 

Shaidatu Adamu, confessed 

that she was on a suicide 

mission in Maiduguri. 

The Army said: “Troops of 

251 Task Force Battalion 

Maiduguri have arrested a 

female suicide bomber who 

attempted to infiltrate into 

Maiduguri, to detonate her 

suicide vest and inflict 

maximum casualty on 

innocent Nigerians. 

“Upon interrogation, she 

said her name is Shaidatu 

Adamu, 19-years old from 

Gwoza in Borno State. 

“She was sent on a lone 

mission. She confessed that 

she has been in Sambisa 

Forest for the about 3 years”. 

The army disclosed that 

troops of 47 Explosive 

Ordinance Device Battalion 

were deployed to defuse the 

explosives. 

It added that the girl has 

been transferred to the 7 

Division, Military Intelligence 

Brigade Maiduguri, for 

further investigations. 

Hisbah Board 

confiscates 2 

trailer-loads of 

beer in Kano 

TWO trailers loaded with 

cartons of beer have been 

confiscated by officials of the 

Kano State Hisbah Board 

Malam Adamu Yahaya, the 

Board’s Public Relations Officer, 

yesterday, said in Kano that the 

truck carrying the beer was 

apprehended around Zaria road 

on Monday morning during a 

special patrol. 

He said: “We received 

information through our 

intelligence unit that two trailers 

entering Kano were carrying 

cartons of beer. 

“Our men on duty 

apprehended the drivers and 

motor boys. We screened and 

took them to the Magistrates’ 

Court for prosecution under 

Kano State Law No 4 of 2004 

which bans the manufacture and 

use of intoxicants in the state.” 

Yahaya also said that the board 

has received 477 cases on 

marriage dispute, debt, drug 

abuse, disputes between 

neighbours, immorality, 

intimidation, lost and found items 

and breastfeeding, among others. 

Yahaya also advised the 

general public to shun any form 

of immorality and be each other 

‘s keeper and live in peace and 

unity. 

vanguardnews @vanguardnews @vanguardnews 

Police arrest father of 2 children found dead in freezer 

By Esther Onyegbula 

POLICE 

detectives, 

yesterday, interrogated 

the father of the two children 

found dead inside a deep 

freezer, Sunday night, in 

Igbogbo, Ikorodu area of 

Lagos. 

The man, Michael Edeh, has 

been transferred to the 

Homicide Section of the State 

Criminal Intelligence and 

Investigation Department, 

SCIID, Panti, Yaba. 

Lagos State Police Public 

Relations Officer, Chike Oti, 

LAGOS—FIVE guns hidden 

in an unoccupied building 

at Road 1, Block 1, Plot 7, 

Victory Park Estate, Osapa 

London, Ilasan, have been 

recovered by operatives of the 

Lagos State Police Command’s 

task force attached to Area J. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

recovered guns are three 

European-made pump action 

rifles numbers L926547, 

R268751 and P987707; one 

locally-made double-barrelled 

rifle and one locally-made 

single-barrelled rifle. 

The guns were recovered 

during targeted raids of 

uncompleted, unoccupied 

houses and plots of land at the 

estate. 

Also, a Berretta and two locallymade 

pistols were recovered at 

Elemoro, during a similar search 

by Police detectives in the area, 

leading to the arrest of 11 armed 

robbery suspects. 

Confirming the recovery of 

guns and arrest of suspects, the 

spokesman of Lagos State 

Police Command, CSP Chike 

By Davies Iheamnachor 

who confirmed 

the arrest, 

s a i d 

parents 

o w e 

their 

Michael Edeh 

children a duty of care under 

the law, adding that it was the 

children’s father that 

reported the matter to the 

Police. 

According to Oti, “one 

Michael Ede came to the 

station to report that 

around midnight on 

Sunday, November 11, he 

and his two children, 

Emma Ede, 6, and 

Darasimi Ede, 4, slept in 

his bedroom with all the 

apartment’s doors 

securely locked. 

“But unfortunately, 

when he woke up to 

urinate in the middle of the 

night, he could not find his 

children; that after searching 

for them, he found them dead 

inside the freezer. 

“The corpses have been 

evacuated to the General 

Hospital. We are investigating 

the matter and we have 

arrested the kids’ father for 

questioning.” 

Oti said under the law parents 

are held liable if their child falls 

from a three-storey building and 

die, and that such a parent 

would be arrested to explain 

why he abdicated his 

responsibility as guardian of the 

child. 

Police find 5 guns in uncompleted 

building, arrest 11 suspects 

By Esther Onyegbula 

PORT HARCOURT—The 

discovery of two human heads 

at a junction in Choba 

community, Obio/Akpor Local 

Government Area of Rivers 

State, yesterday, created panic 

among residents. 

A source told Vanguard that 

residents of the area woke up 

yesterday morning to see two 

male heads displayed at a 

popular SDA Junction in 

Choba. 

The state Police Command 

said the killing is unrelated to 

supremacy fight among two cult 

groups in the area, as residents 

had raised the alarm over 

increased killings and other 

criminal activities recently. 

It was gathered that the 

bodies of the men, who are yet 

to be identified, were found 

around Ogor Street along 

The guns 

Oti, said the Commissioner of 

Police, Imohinmi Edgal, has 

Igbogo Road, while their heads 

were discovered at SDA 

Junction. 

The youth Chairman of Choba 

community, Francis Ihunda, 

said: “Choba people woke up 

this morning (yesterday) to 

discover two heads at SDA 

Junction. It was difficult 

identifying the victims since their 

heads were removed from their 

bodies.” 

Ihunda disclosed that Police 

have picked the heads and the 

bodies for further investigation, 

even as he called on the security 

operatives to redouble efforts to 

put an end to senseless killings 

in the community. 

Meanwhile, the paramount 

ruler of Choba, His Royal 

Highness, Eze Raymond 

Wokocha, has condemned the 

development, calling for 

improved security in the 

community. 

directed the ballistic arm of 

the SCIID Panti, Yaba, to 

2 beheaded in Rivers community 

Wokocha said the 

community had vigilante, but 

that cultists started operating 

freely when they were 

disbanded by the state 

government, calling on the 

relevant authorities to allow 

Choba operate its own 

vigilante body to end cult 

killings. 

He also called on the state 

government to deploy 

Neighbourhood Watch 

officials to the community. 

They were cultists—Police 

Meanwhile, the Public 

Relations Officer of the state 

command, Nnamdi Omoni, 

said the Police have 

identified the victims as 

members of the Deygbam 

cult. 

Omoni said an 

investigation into the 

incident and hunt for the 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

commence an investigation into 

the case. 

killers have commenced, 

adding that no arrest has been 

made, but that normalcy has 

returned to the area. 

Omoni said: “This morning 

(yesterday) the Command was 

greeted with the news that two 

bodies were beheaded in Choba. 

When men of the Choba Division 

got to the scene of the incident, 

they saw the two heads and 

information from the locals there 

led us to where we recovered the 

bodies. 

“Immediately, our men took the 

bodies to the mortuary. As we 

speak, we have been able to 

identify one of the corpses. 

“Information on the ground has 

it that members of the Icelander 

attacked members of Deygbam 

cult and killed them. 

“Those ones that were killed 

were also members of a secret 

cult. Their fight for supremacy led 

to the two deaths recorded.”

Vanguard, WEDESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—7 

By Ugochukwu Alaribe 

ABA—TWO persons were 

reportedly killed in Aba, Abia 

State, yesterday, as the tricycle 

they were in was rammed into by 

a bus, when some Aba South 

Council revenue touts were 

struggling for control of the bus 

with the driver. 

An eyewitness, Ifeanyi Offor, 

vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

2 dead as revenue touts 

struggle with bus driver in Aba 

A 

middle-aged man Jibril 

Idrisa was yesterday 

sentenced to death by hanging for 

killing his aged father over 

N56,000, being proceeds from the 

sale of guinea corn. 

Delivering judgment, Justice 

Habib Abima of the Jos Court of 

Appeal overturned the judgment 

of the lower court that acquitted 

Idrisa. 

Abima ruled: “The court sets 

aside the judgment delivered by 

the lower Court discharging and 

acquitting Jibril Idris. 

“He is found guilty of the offence 

of culpable homicide punishable 

with death contrary to section 211 

of the penal code law of Bauchi 

State. 

“The court hereby sentences 

him, Jibril Idris, to death by 

hanging.” 

The appellate court held that 

the lower court erred in its 

judgment. 

Family members of the 

deceased, through their 

counsel, Mr. Ishaq Magaji, 

prayed the appellate court to set 

aside the Jan. 26, judgment of 

Justice M.A. Sambo of the state 

High Court, Bauchi. 

Magaji said that the convict 

agreed that he killed his father 

and buried him in a shallow 

A 

mild drama ensued, 

yesterday, in a Mapo 

Customary Court in Ibadan, 

when a housewife and mother 

of two, Mrs Beauty Odinye, 

prayed the court to disregard 

her prayer for divorce and also 

a testimony in which she 

alleged that her husband, 

Nathaniel, was impotent. 

Beauty had earlier in July, 

while testifying in a divorce suit 

before the court, requested the 

dissolution of her 12-year-old 

marriage to Nathaniel over 

alleged impotence and lack of 

care. 

Beauty had told the court that 

the two children she had were 

products extra-marital affairs 

and that the father of her 

children was one Adedeji 

Ishola. 

Nathaniel, a businessman had 

denied that he was impotent. 

said: “The speed was too much. 

While the Keke was about driving 

off after picking some passengers, 

the haulage bus crashed into it, 

killing two passengers. 

“Other passengers were severely 

wounded and we feared that the 

number of deaths might increase, 

because they were compressed in 

the Keke as a result of the accident. 

“Realising what they did, the 

Not swayed by Beauty’s 

evidence, the court had ordered 

her to produce the alleged father 

of her two children on the next 

date of adjournment. 

After the case had suffered 

series of adjournments due to 

Beauty’s inability to produce her 

secret lover in court, Nathaniel 

sought the order of the court for 

custody of the children. 

At the resumed hearing 

yesterday, Beauty dramatically 

knelt down and clung to 

Nathaniel’s legs, pleading for 

forgiveness. 

She said: “I want to use this 

opportunity to plead with this 

honourable court to disregard 

all the statements that I earlier 

made. I lied when I said that 

my husband was not the father 

of my two children. 

“I do not know what came 

over me when I said those 

touts jumped into the Waterside 

River, but people chased after 

them and got one of them who 

was beaten blue, black and 

purple.” 

A cross section of 

sympathisers urged the Abia 

State government to stem the 

activities of revenue touts in Aba 

and environs to save lives and 

properties. 

Man to die by hanging for killing 

father over guinea corn 

grave beside a river in Tafawa 

Balewa, after an argument over 

15-yr-old boy killed by 

palace guard in Osogbo 

By Jimitota Onoyume & 

Gbenga Olarinoye 

OSOGBO—THERE is uneasy 

calm within Osogbo, the Osun 

State capital, as a palace guard 

reportedly shot at and killed a 15- 

year-old boy at the palace of the 

Ataoja of Osogbo, Monday night. 

The detail of what prompted the 

shooting of the teenager by the 

palace guard, identified as 

Abubakar Suleiman, could not be 

ascertained yesterday. 

The victim, who was simply 

identified as Imole, was reportedly 

rushed to a nearby hospital by the 

Osun State Ambulance Service 

paramedics where he was 

confirmed dead. 

A resident, who craved 

anonymity, disclosed that women 

and children that witnessed the 

incident cried profusely as the boy 

was being rushed to the hospital. 

When our correspondent visited 

the palace yesterday, the palace 

was completely deserted as the 

Paramount ruler of the town, the 

proceeds from the sale of some 

bags of guinea corn. 

Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Jimoh 

Olanipekun, Larooye 1 

sympathized with the family of 

the deceased. 

The State Commissioner of 

Police, Mr. Fimihan Adeoye, 

who confirmed the incident, 

said that the palace guard who 

shot the boy has been arrested. 

...ritualists kill in Delta 

Meanwhile, a young man 

was allegedly beheaded, 

yesterday, by suspected 

ritualists with his private parts 

taken away at the Scot area of 

Oghara community, Ethiope 

West Local Government Area, 

Delta State. 

State Police Commissioner, 

Mr. Muhammed Mustafa, 

confirmed the development, 

saying the Police have swung 

into action to unmask the killers. 

He said: “We are working 

with vigilante and other 

community security outfits to 

unravel what really happened 

and arrest the culprits.” 

Woman makes U-turn on divorce, begs for 

mercy after saying husband is impotent 

things.” 

However, Nathaniel 

vehemently rejected his 

wife’s plea for mercy, adding 

that she had done an 

irreparable damage to his 

name and reputation. 

His words: “My lord, Beauty 

has ruined my heart and 

dented my name in public 

and in the news. I cannot 

accept her plea; not this time. 

It is too late; she has brought 

so much shame to me.” 

Beauty’s father, who had all 

along supported Nathaniel, 

joined his daughter to plead 

with his son in-law for 

forgiveness. 

The court’s President, 

Chief Ademola Odunade, 

subsequently invited the 

parties and their relatives to 

his chamber for out of court 

settlement. 

... with Emma'nKen (08163121378) 

Praise God. Say no more 

Such as the lady below

C 

M 

Y 

K 



NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Court orders forfeiture of 

N397m pension fund in 2 banks 

By Soni Daniel 

ABUJA—AN Abuja 

Federal High Court 

presided over by Justice 

Ijeoma Ojukwu has 

ordered the interim 

forfeiture to the Federal 

Government of N397.6 

million suspected to be 

pension funds illegally 

hidden in two commercial 

banks. 

The two banks hold the 

huge cash in both local 

and foreign currencies, but 

the owners have remained 

unknown despite 

repeated efforts by 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, to unravel them. 

The cash is 

N357,206,311.15, 

$ 9 1 , 9 5 5 . 3 8 

(N33,411,987.32) and 

£15,050 (N7,040, 841.5). 

Frustrated by the 

inability of the two holding 

banks to name the owners 

of the cash and make them 

come forward and claim 

the money, EFCC 

approached the court and 

sought the forfeiture of the 

money to the Federal 

Government in line with 

By Henry Umoru 

A BUJA—SENATE 

President, Dr. Bukola 

Saraki, has reiterated the 

commitment of the Senate 

to fast track passage of the 

Nigerian Police Reform 

Bill. 

In a statement yesterday 

in Abuja by his Special 

Assistant on New Media, 

Olu Onemola, Dr. Saraki 

emphasised that given the 

security challenges the 

nation is facing, the 

passage of the bill would 

help to create a more 

responsive and efficient 

Police institution for 

its mandate. 

The judge, on October 

26, issued the order of 

interim forfeiture for the 

monies, following an ex 

parte summons by EFCC 

dated October 3 and filed 

on October 5. 

EFCC had in the course 

of investigating a pension 

fraud case, traced the 

monies to the accounts of 

a firm known as Tahir 

Yusuf and Bitmas 

Enterprises. 

In preparation for a final 

forfeiture, the judge has 

directed EFCC to publish 

the notice of the interim 

forfeiture order in any 

national daily and on the 

commission’s website. 

Justice Ojukwu held 

that “any such persons or 

bodies, who may be 

affected by this order is at 

liberty to, within 14 days 

of the said publication, 

apply for a Motion on 

Notice to the court on such 

justifiable grounds, to 

show cause why a final 

order of forfeiture should 

not be made.” 

The matter has been 

fixed for November 28 for 

hearing. 

Senate’ll fast track Police 

Reform Bill—Saraki 

P RESIDENT 

Muhammadu 

Buhari has signed into 

law the bill establishing 

the Nigeria Centre for 

Disease Control, NCDC. 

The agency, which has 

been in charge of disease 

surveillance, preparedness 

and control in 

Nigeria, was established 

in 2011 and has been in 

existence without any 

legislative backing until 

yesterday when the 

President appended his 

signature to the bill and 

empowered the agency to 

carry out its mandate in 

disease control. 

Executive Director of the 

Nigerians. 

The Senate President 

explained that the Bill 

amended the existing 

framework between the 

Police Service 

Commission and the 

Police, created community 

Police fora at the state level 

to ensure closer oversight 

and participatory policing 

by the public, and 

Divisional and State Police 

Boards, which shall be 

responsible for 

maintaining partnerships, 

promoting communication 

and building cooperation 

between communities and 

the Police. 

… as Buhari signs disease 

control centre bill 

Centre, Chikwe 

Ihekweazu, in a statement 

yesterday, said the new 

Act, which will establish 

NCDC as a full-fledged 

parastatal, would also 

ensure that its valuable 

work was sustained and 

supported. 

While expressing 

appreciation to the 

President, Ihekweazu 

said: “We are also grateful 

to the Minister and 

Minister of State for 

Health for their support 

and the Senate Committee 

on Primary Health Care 

and Communicable 

Diseases led by Senator 

Mao Ohuabunwa.” 

Only 20 senators attend plenary 


ABUJA—THE Senate, 

yesterday, adjourned 

plenary for lack of quorum, 

as only 20 senators were 

present, and fixed the next 

legislative day for Tuesday, 

November 20. 

The adjournment came 

barely three minutes into 

the session that began at 

about 10.55a.m., as the 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

A BUJA—FORMER 

National Security 

Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo 

Dasuki(retd), yesterday, 

refused to appear before 

the Abuja Division of the 

Federal High Court for 

continuation of his trial, 

though he transmitted a 

letter to the court, accusing 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari of highhandedness. 

Dasuki, in a letter to the 

court, said it had got to a 

point where there must be 

an end to what he 

described as hypocrisy, 

lopsided and partisan rule 

of law by the Federal 

Government. 

He chronicled how 

government spurned court 

orders, including the 

judgment of the ECOWAS 

Court of Justice, which 

okayed his release on bail, 

pending the determination 

of charges against him. 

The former NSA, who had 

been in detention since 

2015, said he became 

apprehensive after 

President Buhari, in his 

maiden presidential media 

chat, insisted that the 

“weight of crimes” he 

allegedly committed were 

Minority Whip, Senator 

Philip Aduda(PDP FCT), 

rose through Order 10(3) of 

the Standing Orders, 2015, 

as amended, to draw the 

attention of the senators to 

lack of quorum and the 

need for the adjournment. 

While reading the part in 

the order paper, Senator 

Aduda stated that “a 

session of the Senate can 

only be held when the 

such that if allowed to enjoy 

any form of freedom, he 

would likely jump bail. 

Dasuki, in the letter dated 

November 12, addressed to 

Registrar of the court, said 

he has suffered persecution 

in the hands of the 


Buhari-led administration, 

noting that “prevailing 

circumstances have 

prompted me to write this 

letter to the court. 

“It seems the current 

administration has so much 

interfered with the judicial 

system, such that it has 

become impossible for the 

court to maintain her 

independence. 

“The resolve to continue 

detaining me against the 

several orders of court and 

in brazen violation of the 

Constitution, is wrongful 

and arbitrary,” the letter 

read in part. 

Judge rejects letter 

Meanwhile, trial Justice 

Ahmed Mohammed said 

he would not take 

cognizance of Dasuki’s 

letter since it was forwarded 

directly to his court by the 

ex-NSA who personally 

signed it. 

Justice Mohammed said 

required quorum of 37 

members out of 109 is 

formed” saying “we are 

less than 10” and that the 

Senate should adjourn the 

sitting till next legislative 

day, November 20. 

The Deputy Senate 

President, Senator Ike 

Ekweremadu, who 

seconded the motion, said: 

“I rise to second the 

motion ably moved by 

Senator Aduda. But let 

me add that we are more 

than 10, but certainly not 

up to 38. 

“We are somewhere 

between 15 and 20. Just for 

the record, we are not less 

than 10, but less than 20.” 

Accordingly, the Senate 

President, Bukola Saraki, 

put the matter to voice votes 

and the 20 senators 

adopted it. 

FARIN WATER PROJECT: From left—Permanent Secretary, Dr. Musa Ibrahim; Minister, Mr. 

Sulneiman Adamu, both of Ministry of Water Resources; Governor Umaru Tanko-Almakura of Nassarawa 

and Secretary to the Government of Nassarawa, Muhammed Abdullahi, at the signing of a memorandum of 

understanding on the Federal Government take over of Farin Ruwa Water project from Nasarrawa State 

government, in Abuja. NAN PHOTO. 

Dasuki refuses to appear in court, 

alleges partisan rule of law 

•...accuses Buhari of high-handedness 

it was wrong for any party 

in a criminal matter to 

directly exchange 

correspondences with the 

trial court. 

The judge said he 

directed the court clerk to 

return the letter to whoever 

brought it. 

Earlier, when the matter 

was called for continuation 

of trial, the prosecution 

counsel, Mr. Oladipupo 

Okpeseyi(SAN), told the 

court that Dasuki refused to 

be brought to court. 

Okpeseyi said he was not 

aware of the ex-NSA’s letter 

or the fact that he would 

refuse to attend his trial as 

scheduled until around 

9a.m. Yesterday. 

According to Okpeseyi, 

“it was this morning that he 

said ‘No! I have written to 

the court that I am not 

coming’.” 

The Federal 

Government’s lawyer 

accused Dasuki of 

deliberately challenging 

the authority of the court 

since the case was 

specifically adjourned for 

continuation of trial. 

He argued that Dasuki’s 

continued detention had no 

nexus with the instant case, 

saying he was duly granted 

bail by the court. 

Consequently, Okpeseyi 

applied for government to 

be allowed to try Dasuki in 

absentia, in line with 

Section 352(4) of the 

Administration of Criminal 

Justice Act, 2015. 

The application was 

vehemently opposed by 

Dasuki’s lawyer, Mr. Victor 

Okwudiri, who called for a 

short adjournment. 

Ruling 

Ruling, Justice 

Mohammed said he had on 

April 10, when a similar 

incident happened, asked 

government to approach 

the court with an affidavit 

any day Dasuki abstained 

from his trial. 

“As at this 

morning(yesterday), I do 

not have any affidavit from 

the prosecution for trial of 

the defendant to continue 

in his absence, otherwise I 

would have made the 

order,” Justice Mohammed 

held. 

He, therefore, adjourned 

the matter till November 19 

to enable government 

comply with the ruling 

requesting it to file an 

affidavit to try the ex-NSA 

in absentia.

NEMA Probe: Osinbajo has questions 

to answer, Reps insist 

...say VP approved N5.8bn while acting as president; 

no evidence of monies spent 

By Emman 

Ovuakporie 

ABUJA—THE House of 

Representatives 

insisted yesterday that Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo, as 

chairman of the governing 

board of the National 

Emergency Management 

Agency, NEMA, has a case 

to answer. 

This is, however contrary, 

to a rebuttal from Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo 

that he did no wrong doing 

in the approval of N5.8 

billiom for intervention in 

the North East region of the 

country. 

The House also denied 

any interference with its 

activities by Speaker 

Yakubu Dogara, or any 

principal officer in the 

parliament. 

The Vice President had 

through his spokesman, 

Laolu Akande, last week, 

denied that he indulged in 

any untoward actions but 

explained that the funds 

were released to prevent a 

looming disaster as a result 

of severe food shortages 

throughout the North East. 

However, chairman of the 

investigative committee, Ali 

Isa, PDP, Gombe, submitted 

that being the chairman of 

the governing board of 

NEMA and approving 

authority at the time, Prof. 

Osinbajo might have 

questions to answer. 

“There is nowhere in my 

report where I mentioned 

the Vice President or Prof. 

Yemi Osinbajo but he may 

have questions to answer 

as the chairman of the 

governing board,” he 

explained. 

He stated further that the 

vice president, as acting 

president, approved and 

directed the Minister of 

Finance and the 

Accountant-General of the 

Federation to release the 

sum of N5.8 billion in June 

2017. 

He explained that the 

approval for the N5.8bn 

contravened the National 

Assembly’s power of 

approval, as the money 

was removed from the 

Eurobond without the 

consent of the parliament. 

“There was no 

procurement, there was no 

due process, no contract, 

yet the money was released 

and expended,” he stated. 

The lawmaker said his 

committee had 

documentary evidence to 

back up the violations, 

explaining further that 

before arriving at its 

recommendations, 

stakeholders were invited 

and given ample 

opportunity to tell their side 


of the story. 

“We invited various state 

governments and the 

governors 

or 

representatives of the 

various governors who told 

us that no bag of grain was 

delivered to their states. So, 

we gathered our facts from 

the presentations from 

various states and 

stakeholders,” Ali noted. 

It would be recalled that 

the House had last 

Thursday, endorsed the 

report of the committee that 

investigated over N33 

billion fraud at NEMA and 

consequently advised 


Buhari to immediately sack 

the Director-General of the 

National Emergency 

Management Agency, 

NEMA, Engr. Mustapha 

Maihaji, for alleged 

mismanagement and 

embezzlement. 

While denying any 

involvement by office of the 

Speaker in the 

investigation, Ali said: “No 

single leader of the House 

directed the committee to 

carry out any action. I 

personally threatened to 

pull out if certain things 

were not done. 

“I will be surprised if the 

Speaker had any interest in 

what is happening in the 

north east. But Benjamin 

Wayo from Benue State 

who sponsored the motion, 

did so because of the series 

of complaints from various 

quarters,” he affirmed. 

Explaining details on the 

findings of his committee, 

Ali said it recommended 

that the Independent 

Corrupt Practices and other 

related offences 

Commission, ICPC, the 

Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission, 

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—9 

EFCC, and the police 

should be directed to 

recover about N800 million 

alleged demurrage from 

some officers of the Ministry 

of Agriculture, Ministry of 

Budget and National 

Planning and NEMA. 

The Gombe Rep noted 

that the committee also 

charged the ICPC and 

EFCC to recover N150m, 

being subsidised cost of 

5000 metric tons of rice from 

the present DG, Engr. 

Maihaji who claimed to 

have donated same to 

World Food programme, 

WFP, when they were ready 

to pay for it or import same. 

“In view of the fact that 

there is evidence that the 

balance of 5,000 metric tons 

claimed to have been 

supplied by Olam Nig. Ltd 

and 3 Brothers Nig. Ltd at 

the cost of about N1.5 

billion to NEMA was not 

received by the states of the 

North East, the money 

should, therefore, be 

recovered from the Director 

General, NEMA,’’ he said. 

VISIT: Special Adviser to the President of Social Investment 

Programme, SIP, Hajiya Maryam Uwaise (left), presenting a souvenir 

to the leader of an SIP fact finding delegation from Democratic Republic 

of Congo, DRC, Prof John Mugabushaka, after a news conference on 

their visit at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. Photo: NAN 

ASUU wants negotiation with FG to 

end strike 

ABUJA—The Academic 

Staff Union of 

Universities, ASUU, has 

said it was ready to 

negotiate with government 

to end its one-week old 

industrial action. 

ASUU President, Prof. 

Biodun Ogunyemi, who 

was guest on TVC News 

Breakfast show yesterday, 

also advised government to 

establish an education 

bank for proper funding of 

universities. 

He regretted the attitude 

of government to the 

university lecturers’ 

demands, saying that 

letters notifying 

government of the strike, 

which were submitted to the 

education and labour 

ministries on November 5, 

had not been replied. 

“We wrote to inform the 

ministries that we had 

resumed our strike. We told 

them that we had resumed 

the strike we suspended in 

Sept. 2017 because 

government failed to 

implement agreements we 

signed. 

“The ministries signed to 

acknowledge receipt of the 

copies we gave them, but 

none has written a reply to 

us,” he said. 

He accused the political 

class of strangling primary 

and secondary education in 

Nigeria, saying that 24 

states had failed to access 

the Universal Basic 

Education Commission 

funds for 2018. 

According to him, that 

has left UBEC with more 

than N60 billion that states 

have yet to access. 

Ogunyemi observed that 

the Federal Government, 

which had consistently 

allocated seven per cent to 

education in the last two 

years, was not sincere in 

the claim that it was 

declaring a state of 

emergency in the 

education sector. 

“The Federal 

Government suddenly 

woke up from slumber and 

announced a state of 

emergency in the 

education sector. It also 

promised to allocate 15 per 

cent of its budget to the 

sector. We find this 

unbelievable and deceitful. 

“We feel that the `sudden’ 

promise has more to do 

with the fact that we are in 

an election year,” he 

declared. 

He alleged that the ruling 

class in Nigeria had no 

concern for the education 

of the poor. 

Senate moves against FG over 

planned reduction of $8.1bn 

MTN fine to $800m 


A BUJA—STRONG 

indications emerged 

yesterday of a stiff 

opposition against alleged 

arrangements by the 

Federal Government to 

reduce the $8.1 billion fine 

imposed on the 

communication giant, 

MTN, to $800 million. 

The alleged planned 

reduction of the fine is a 

matter of interest to the 

Senate since it was the 

executive that imposed the 

fine on the company 

through a fresh 

investigation after one 

earlier conducted by the 

Senate in 2016. 

The Senate said that 

though it was not 

particularly against 

whatever the government 

would want to do with the 

MTN fine, it should be 

intimated why the 

reduction became 

necessary. 

Chairman, Senate 

Gen Alkali: M-Belt Forum 

faults Army's claim 

...asks Buhari to set up panel on 

Kaduna killings 

By Chris Ochayi 

THE recent killing of 

Major General Idris 

Alkali, retd, in Dura-Du 

District, Jos South local 

government area of Plateau 

State, yesterday, took a 

different dimension as the 

Middle Belt Forum, MBF, 

faulted the findings of the 

military authorities on the 

demise of the senior officer. 

The MBF, which was 

reacting for the first time to 

the death of Maj. Gen. 

Alkali, who was said to 

have been murdered by 

irate youths on the 

September 3, 2018, while 

travelling alone in his car 

from Abuja to Bauchi State, 

noted that the claim by the 

military authorities didn’t 

accord with the logic of the 

incident. 

The group, which 

questioned the Military’s 

claim that the late Maj. 

Gen. Alkali was on his way 

to Bauchi, but was found 

dead in Du, noted that Du 

was far from the road to 

Bauchi. 

The Middle Belt Forum, 

MBF, raised the fresh dust 

in a communiqué issued at 

the end of its extra-ordinary 

National Executive 

Committee at Akwanga, 

Nasarawa State. 

The communiqué, tagged 

“The Akwanga 

Declaration” and signed by 

the President, Dr. Pogu 

Bitrus and Chairman, 

Planning Committee, 

Mark Jacob, respectively, 

read: “This claim by the 

military authorities is not 

logical for the following 

reasons: 

“Du is far removed from 

the road to Bauchi. It is, 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Committee on Banking , 

Insurance and other 

Financial Institutions , 

Senator Rafiu Ibrahim, 

PDP Kwara South, told 

journalists that the 

committee would 

immediately demand CBN 

report on the matter to be 

better informed. 

According to him, "the 

only way Nigerians would 

know what transpired 

between the CBN and 

MTN on the $8.1 billion fine 

is through a detailed 

report." 


Federal Government, 

working through the 

Central Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, may have concluded 

arrangements to cut the 

$8.1 billion fine to $800 

million through the back 

door. 

The Senate said, it was 

interested in knowing the 

percentage of reduction 

from $8.1 billion to $800. 

indeed, located at the far 

western flank of the road to 

Bauchi and unless, for 

some inexplicable reason, 

the deceased general was 

in Du and not on his way 

to Bauchi as claimed. 

“As a general that retired 

recently, it is inconceivable 

that the deceased would be 

driving himself on a trip 

through a high conflict area 

without a driver or his 

orderly, unless for some 

inexplicable reasons he 

had an assignment that 

required secrecy in the 

area.” 

While describing as 

“unfortunate and 

condemnable the death of 

General Alkali and the 18 

civilians killed in the latest 

Jos conflict, the Middle Belt 

Forum noted that the steps 

taken so far in the 

purported investigation 

had been carried out by the 

military in a manner 

characterised by 

harassment, torture and 

other violations of the rights 

of innocent citizens. 

“The Forum calls on the 

military to withdraw and 

hand over the investigation 

to the Nigeria Police that 

has the constitutional 

responsibility and expertise 

to do so. 

“The Middle Belt Forum 

reiterates its demand on 


Buhari to immediately set 

up a commission of inquiry 

into the cause(s) of the 

unending killings in 

Kaduna State over time. 


Government should take 

full control of the situation 

in the state in order to avert 

further breakdown of law 

and order."

10 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

Falana advocates end to police 

parade of suspects 

By Abdulwahab 

Abdulah 

L AGOS—LAGOS 

Lawyer, Mr Femi 

Falana, SAN, and the 

Executive Secretary of the 

National Human Rights 

Commission, NHRC, Mr 

Tony Ojukwu, yesterday, 

called for the abolition of 

parade of suspects by the 

Police in Nigeria. 

Falana and Ojukwu, who 

spoke during the 

inauguration ceremony of 

the 2018 Presidential Panel 

on SARS Reform in the 

South West on alleged 

human rights violation by 

the SARS, said the parade 

negates the principle of fair 

L AGOS—MINISTER 

of State for Petroleum, 

Dr. Ibe Kachikwu; 

Executive Secretary of the 

Nigerian Content 

Developing and Managing 

Board, NCDMB, 

Engr Simbi Wabote; and 

Oando PLC Group Chief 

Executive, Wale Tinubu 

have expressed optimism 

that the African oil and gas 

industry is showing signs of 

an auspicious future. 

They also said there is 

renewed investor interest 

and burgeoning confidence 

in the continent and sector 

following continued upward 

movement in oil prices and 

recent oil and gas 

discoveries. 

They said this at the 

recently concluded 25th 

edition of the Africa Oil 

Week, AOW, at the Cape 

By Sam Eyoboka 

LAGOS—THE Asian- 

African Chambers of 

Commerce and Industry, 

AACCI, African region will 

be inaugurated in Lagos at 

NECA House, Central 

Business District, Ikeja early 

next month. 

Briefing reporters in 

Lagos, Vice Chairman of the 

African Region, AACCI, Dr. 

Leye Babalola, who 

returned from Colombos, 

Republic of Sri Lanka 

recently where the AACCI 

was launched said that the 

establishment of the 

Chambers will strengthen 

trade relations between 

African, Pacific and Asian 

Continents. 

He observed that the trade 

between Asian and African 

countries had increased 

rapidly in recent years 


hearing and it is prejudicial 

and a breach of the 

suspects’ fundamental 

human rights. 

The panel headed by the 

Executive Secretary of 

NHRC, Ojukwu is 

expected to look into level 

of rights infraction by SARS 

across the country, with the 

mandate among others to, 

“investigate the veracity of 

allegations of human rights 

abuses and abuse of power 

made against SARS within 

the last two years.” 

Falana, in his keynote 

address, said: “Giving right 

opportunities and 

equipments, the Nigeria 

police will perform 

wonderfully well beyond 

our imaginations. 

Kachikwu, Wabote, Tinubu, 

others lead discussions at 

25th Africa Oil Week 

Town International 

Convention Centre in Cape 

Town, South Africa. 

AOW, the continent’s 

leading annual oil and gas 

gathering, marked its 25th 

year with its largest 

delegation to date. 

Speaking on the oil 

sector’s impact on the 

Nigerian economy, Dr 

Kachikwu said: “The oil 

sector has been a catalyst 

for growth in the Nigerian 

economy. It has also driven 

technology. Privately 

owned companies in 

Nigeria have gotten to a 

point where they can go to 

other African countries as 

investors and service 

providers.” 

In his address, Tinubu 

said: “We have been 

substantially supported by 

the Government’s local 

content policies which have 

effectively enabled 

indigenous players step in 

and play a significant role 

in the sector. In Nigeria 

today, out of the 2 million 

barrels of oil being 

produced, 400,000 can be 

attributed to indigenous 

production.” 

Also, Wabote said “Any 

company coming into a 

country to undertake 

business must have a 

positive reputation. This 

reputation is built on your 

commitment to deliver on 

your promise and ensure 

you are there for the survival 

of the nation as a whole.'' 

Asian-African Chambers of Commerce, 

Africa Region for inauguration December 

reflecting a synergy 

between the two, world 

fastest growing economies. 

“Foreign Direct 

Investment (FDI) and trade 

between Asia, Pacific and 

Africa jumped from 

$2.8billion in 1990 to 

around $300 billion today 

and its expected to surpass 

$1.5trillion by year 2020. 

However, Dr. Leye 

Babalola announced that 

the University of 

Entrepreneurship and 

Technology, State of 

Delaware, USA, will confer 

on eminent Nigerians 

honorary doctoral awards 

during the inauguration of 

the Asian African 

Chambers of Commerce 

and Industry, Africa region 

in Lagos. 

The awardees are to be 

honored because of their 

outstanding contributions 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

LASG approves use of Hijab in public 

schools 

By Monsur 

Olowoopejo 

LAGOS—THE Lagos 

State government, 

yesterday, ordered the 

Tutor-General and 

Permanent Secretaries and 

Principals to immediately 

permit use of Hijab, 

(Muslims headscarf) in 

public schools. 

Vanguard gathered that 

the circular titled: ‘Re: The 

Use of Hijab in Lagos State 

Public Schools’, was the 

outcome of the panel 

constituted by the State 

Government on the use of 

Hijab in public schools in 

the state. 

In the circular sent to 

Oshodi Comprehensive 

Senior High School and 

obtained by Vanguard with 

reference number ED/ 

DISTVI/CCST/HI/14/I/63, 

dated November 13th, 2018 

and signed by O.A. 

Olukoya, the schools were 

directed by the State 

Government to comply 

immediately. 

According to the Circular, 

since the case of the use of 

Hijab in Lagos State is still 

pending in the Supreme 

Court of Nigeria, status quo 

be maintained, to avoid 

contempt of the court, that 

is students be allowed to 

wear Hijabs on school 

uniforms but same must be 

short, smart, neat and in the 

same colour of the uniform 

(skirt). 

The circular reads: 

“Furthermore, schools 

management are advised 

to downplay comments and 

disciplinary actions on the 

use of smart Hijabs until the 

final determination of the 

case by Supreme Court. 

“No student should be 

discriminated against in 

any form on the basis of 

religion. All principals and 

teachers must be sensitized 

to comply accordingly. You 

are enjoined to adhere 

strictly to these 

recommendations.” 

to the socio-economic and 

sustainable development of 

the country. 

Eminent Nigerians 

nominated for the awards 

include: His Royal Majesty 

Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye 

Ogunwusi, Ojaja II, 

Executive Governor of 

Niger State, Alhaji 

Abubakar Sanni Bello and 

Prince Adetokunbo 

Kayode, SAN, president of 

the Abuja Chambers of 

Commerce,. 

Others include Senator 

Patricia Naomi Akwashiki, 

Engr. Ife Oyedele, 

Executive Director, Niger 

Delta Power Holding Ltd, 

Barr. Ibrahim Kanje Bawa, 

SAN, former Director of 

INEC Legal Services and 

Mr Abdulahi Gana 

Muhammadu, the Director 

Nigerian Security and Civil 

Defense Corps, Abuja. 

•It's a welcome development — MSSN 

The approval to enforce 

the Appeal Court order 

came two years after a fiveman 

panel presided over by 

Justice, A.B. Gumel, set 

aside the earlier judgment 

by Justice Grace Onyeabo 

of the Ikeja High Court, 

Lagos, banning use of 

Hijab and declared that 

students especially 

Muslims have right to wear 

Hijab within and outside 

their school premises 

without being punished or 

victimized. 

MSSN reacts 

Reacting, Amir, Muslim 

Students’ Society of 

Nigeria, MSSN, in Lagos 

State, Saheed Ashafa, said: 

“By issuing the circular, the 

Lagos State Government 

has towed the path of 

honour and deserved to be 

praised for such. 

“We extol this gesture and 

the resoluteness of the state 

government in ensuring 

that an avoidable strife do 

not find ways into the 

peaceful atmosphere being 

enjoyed in Lagos State. 

“We are pleased with this 

development because the 

embarrassing way and 

manner that our members 

are being victimised, 

harassed, punished and 

denied entrance into their 

classrooms for wearing 

Hijab would stop. 

“We have constantly told 

the state government that 

while a case on the hijab is 

awaiting final verdict at the 

Supreme Court, no teacher 

has the right to punish 

female pupils for wearing 

Hijab. The Appeal Court in 

the case clearly states that 

wearing Hijab by students, 

whether within or outside 

the school premises was a 

fundamental Human Right 

entrenched in the 

constitution. 

“It is important to notify 

you that we will not allow 

further lawlessness and 

flagrant disregard for rule of 

law to stay after this circular. 

The circular would also help 

to stop the abuse of rights 

which could have 

degenerated into crisis or 

violence that may lead to the 

disruption of activities in 

schools in our dear state.'' 

TRADERMONI AT OBALENDE: FroVice President Yemi Osinbajo; Lagos State Governor, 

Akinwunmi Ambode; Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, during the inauguration of TraderMoni 

at Obalende Market, Lagos yesterday. Photo by Akeem Salau. 

Worry more about your N5.8bn 

indictment than my tenure, Jonathan 

tells Osinbajo 

APresident, BUJA—FORMER 

Goodluck 

Jonathan, has asked Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo to 

be more concerned over 

his indictment by the 

House of Representatives 

in the N5.8 billion he 

approved for the National 

Emergency Agency, 

NEMA, without due 

process, than his 

(Jonathan) sojourn in office. 

Jonathan, in a statement 

by one of his aides, Reno 

Omokri, was reacting to the 

Vice President’s claim that 

his government saddled 

the country with debt and 

alleged corruption of his 

administration. 

The statement read: “My 

attention has been drawn 

to regurgitated and 

discredited allegations by 

Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo blaming former 

President Jonathan of 

saddling Nigeria with debt 

and ruining the economy 

by the alleged corruption of 

his administration. 

“How can Vice President 

Osinbajo, a man who had 

just been indicted by the 

House of Representatives 

in one of the biggest 

corruption scams ever in 

Nigeria’s history, have the 

gall to point accusing 

fingers on Dr. Jonathan, a 

man that is celebrated 

internationally for his efforts 

at achieving Nigeria’s best 

rating in Transparency 

International’s annual 

Corruption Perception 

Rating when Nigeria 

improved 8 paces from 144 

to 136 in 2014? 

“Having read through 

the sordid details of 

Professor Osinbajo’s 

corruption as revealed in 

the indictment by Nigeria’s 

House of Representatives, 

it is easy to understand why 

Nigeria made her worst 

ever retrogression in 

Transparency 

International’s annual 

Corruption Perception 

under him this year, 

moving 11 paces 

backwards from 136 to 148. 

“On the issue of debt, the 

fact remains that in the 

entire 16 years that the 

Peoples Democratic Party 

governed Nigeria, the total 

amount of money borrowed 

was ¦ 8.06 trillion Naira. 

These are facts sourced 

directly from the budget 

office controlled by the 

Buhari administration. 

‘’However, in only three 

years, the All Progressives 

Congress 

led 

administration of President 

Muhammadu Buhari has 

borrowed a total of ¦ 10 

trillion Naira. With this fact 

in hand, where does Vice 

President Osinbajo have 

the moral authority to point 

leprous fingers at former 

President Jonathan? 

‘’The claim by Vice 

President Osinbajo that 

former President Jonathan 

left $$63 billion in debt is 

also a false claim. The 

Jonathan administration 

inherited $42.23 billion in 

debt in 2011 which were 

debts borrowed by the 

states and the Federal 

Government. 

‘’Throughout the five 

years that he was President, 

former President Jonathan 

incurred the wrath of 

several state governments 

because his administration 

refused to guarantee their 

foreign loans. 

‘’The reason that 

Nigeria’s debt has 

ballooned under this 

administration is because 

the Federal Government 

lacks the discipline that 

Jonathan had and are thus 

unable to curb borrowing 

by both the Federal 

Government and the states.''


ONDO IMPEACHMENT SAGA: Why we moved 

against Speaker, Deputy —18 LAWMAKERS 

By Dayo Johnson 

A 

K U R E — 

INDICATIONS 

emerged that the 18 

aggrieved members of the 

Ondo State House of 

Assembly, moved against 

the Speaker, Mr. 

Baddeley Oloyelogun 

and his Deputy Ogundeji 

Iroju due to the refusal of 

the leadership of the All 

Progressives Congress, 

APC, in the state to give 

them return tickets. 

Both Oloyelogun and 

Iroju were sacked and 

replaced with Olamide 

George and Bimbo 

Faloju. 

The 18 lawmakers have 

since relocated to Ibadan, 

in Oyo State over alleged 

threat to their lives after 

seven of them were 

injured when members of 

the state NURTW 

members invaded the 

Chambers after the 

impeachment. 

Vanguard was informed 

reliably that the party 

leadership acting on the 

instructions of Governor 

Rotimi Akeredolu did 

promise to give automatic 

tickets to the aggrieved 

members as condition for 

their defection from the 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP. 

Reliable sources told 

Vanguard that pressure 

was mounted on the APC 

leadership that those, 

who joined the party, 

should not be allowed to 

hijack the party. 

They reportedly kicked 

against the automatic 

ticket promised the 

defectors. 


the governor and the 

party leadership caved in 

due to persistent pressure 

from across the state. 

The party thereafter 

threw the field open 

asking all the defectors to 

go to the field and prove 

their popularity. 

Vanguard learned that 

the affected members of 

the assembly having less 

than seven months 

decided to shake the table 

by impeaching the two 

principal officers in the 

assembly. 

The seven lawmakers, 

who are against the 

impeachment, including 

the impeached Speaker 

and his Deputy, already 

have return tickets to the 

assembly. 

They were not promised 

return tickets—Ondo APC 

Contacted the state 

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: From left; Oloritun of Afuye, Epe, Chief Rafiu 

Atangiri; Oloritun of Ebode, Epe, Chief Tosin Payinegba; Executive Secretary, Lagos 

State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), Akin Oyebode; Oloritun of Iberikodo, Epe 

Chief Amusa Okanlawon and Secretary to Olu of Epe , Alhaji Ottun Ishola during 

the LSETF’s stakeholders community engagement in Epe yesterday. 

publicity secretary of the 

party, Alex Kalejaye denied 

that a return ticket was 

promised the lawmakers. 

Ekiti Assembly probes LG finances under 

Fayose 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

ADO-EKITI—THE 

Ekiti State House of 

Assembly, yesterday, 

commenced probe of the 

finances of the 16 local 

government chairmen 

under the administration 

of the immediate past 

governor, Mr. Ayodele 

Fayose. 

The council bosses are 

still in office under 

Governor Kayode Fayemi 

owing to the fact that their 

two years tenure has not 

lapsed having been 

elected on December 19, 

2017. 

Speaking with 

journalists at the premises 

of the House, the Leader 

of Business, Mr. Gboyega 

Aribisogan said: “This 

...As govt tells school heads 

to refund unauthorised levies 

By Rotimi Ojomoyela 

AEkiti 

DO-EKITI—THE 

State 

government, yesterday, 

directed all public primary 

and secondary schools 

heads in the State, who had 

collected unauthorized 

levies at the beginning of the 

2018/2019 academic year to 

return same to their pupils 

and students. 

The Deputy Governor, Bisi 

Egbeyemi, who gave the 

directive, in Ado-Ekiti, 

ordered a full compliance 

Kalejaye said: “That is 

not correct. What we did 

promise is to ensure a 

transparent primary for 

probe is a routine work 

being carried out by the 

Assembly to ensure that 

our people, those who 

elected us get values for 

their money. 

“You know the local 

governments are the 

closest to the grassroots 

and we must not shy away 

from taking those actions 

that will ensure that the 

government’s 

developmental 

programmes get to the 

downtrodden masses. 

“This cannot happen 

when the House is not 

alive to its responsibilities 

of playing oversight 

actions to serve as checks 

and balances on the 

council bosses. 

“This should not be 

misinterpreted to mean a 

witch hunting of the past 

stressed that the Education 

Development Levy and 

other unauthorized fees 

remain abolished in the 

state. 

Egbeyemi, in a statement 

by his Special Assistant on 

Media, Odunayo 

Ogunmola, further 

directed that evidence of 

such refunds must be 

brought to the Ministry of 

Education for verification. 

The statement reads: 

“Consequent upon the 

Executive Order 001 

signed by the Governor of 

Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode 

Fayemi, the Deputy 

Governor, Mr Bisi 

Egbeyemi, has ordered a 

full compliance by the 

heads of all public primary 

and secondary schools in 

Ekiti State as follows: “That 

no pupil of primary and 

secondary schools in Ekiti 

State should pay any 

unauthorized fees or levies, 

especially the Education 

Development Levy any 

longer." 

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 — 11 

all the aspirants. We did 

not deviate.” 

government but was done 

to make political office 

holders alive to their 

responsibilities to the 

people in terms of 

finances. 

“But we are going to 

make our findings public 

and whoever found to 

have mismanaged public 

funds will be handed over 

to the appropriate 

authorities for actions.” 

By Daud Olatunji 

A FORMER BEOKUTA— 

Speaker 

of House of 

Representatives and Ogun 

State governorship 

candidate of the Action 

Democratic Party, ADP, Mr. 

Dimeji Bankole, yesterday, 

pledged to create mass 

unemployment and fix bad 

roads and economic 

complexity in the state, if 

elected as governor in 

2019. 

The former Speaker said 

this during a tour of 

Imeko-Afon Local 

Government Area of the 

state. 

The governorship 

candidate, who also paid a 

visit to the traditional ruler 

of Imeko-Afon local 

government, Oba 

Benjamin Oyeditan, 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Ogun 2019: I’ll create mass 

employment, fix bad roads if elected 

— BANKOLE 

SALARIES/LEAVE ALLOWANCES: 

You’re selfish, ungrateful, 

Akeredolu tells civil servants 

By Dayo Johnson 

A 

K U R E — 

GOVERNOR 

Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo 

State, yesterday, described 

civil servants in the state as 

selfish and ungrateful in 

their agitation for payment 

of salary arrears and leave 

allowances. 

He was reacting to the 

ultimatum given to him by 

the workers that they would 

N21.4BN FRAUD: EFCC re-arraigns 

ex-Air chief 

Their 

By Onozure Dania 

LAGOS—A 

former 

Chief of Air Staff, Air 

Marshall Adesola Amosu 

(retd.), was yesterday, rearraigned 

by the Economic 

and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, over 

an alleged fraud of N21.4 

billion. 

Amosu, alongside Air- 

Vice Marshall Jacob 

Adigun and Air 

Commodore Olugbenga 

Gbadebo, was re-arraigned 

before a Federal High Court 

sitting in Lagos, on 13 count 

charge. 

The defendants were first 

arraigned in June 2016 

alongside eight firms before 

Justice Mohammed Idris 

assured the monarch of 

mass employment 

opportunities for the youth 

of the local government, 

if elected as governor of the 

state in 2019. 

Bankole said: “I will not 

stop saying it, mass 

employment is our 

watchword, we cannot 

open our eyes and watch 

the youth remain jobless, 

I can’t promise what I 

cannot do, I want to assure 

the people of Ogun State 

that, if elected as the next 

governor, I will make sure 

I provide jobs for the youth, 

because , our youths need 

job to live on. 

“Our youths need job 

opportunities; the 

wellbeing of the people 

should be taken with 

seriousness. We cannot 

continue to build bridges, 

award contracts without 

considering the populace. 

Industrialist tasks Ilaje nation to reinvent self 

L industrialist, AGOS—AN 

Prince 

Tony Godday Erewa, has 

charged the Ilaje nation to 

reinvent itself 

economically, politically 

and socially in order to 

take its rightful place 

amongst the committee of 

nations, in Nigeria. 

Prince Erewa said this, at 

the weekend, while 

addressing the Ilaje people 

as the Chairman of Egbe 

Omo Ilaje Day celebration, 

the umbrella body of 

re-arraignment 

before 

Justice 

Chukwujekwu Aneke 

followed the elevation of 

Justice Idris to the Court of 

Appeal. 

Amosu’s trial, which has 

lasted over two years in 

court, is starting (denovo), 

afresh before Justice Aneke. 

EFCC amended the 

charge by removing names 

of the eight firms, which 

were joined as defendants 

in the earlier charge sheet. 

Prior to the re-arraignment 

of the defendants yesterday, 

Justice Aneke, in a ruling, 

rejected the prayer by the 

defence counsel that that 

the eight firms, whose 

names were removed from 

the charge, should first be 

discharged and acquitted 

before any further action. 

Ilaje’s world wide, held at 

the National stadium, 

Surulere, Lagos state. 

He said: “The Ilaje were 

among the first three 

ethnic groups to settle in 

Lagos and the first to settle 

in the coastline and have 

contributed greatly to the 

social-economic 

development of Lagos 

State and the Ilaje people 

should be given their due.” 

The national leader of 

the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Asiwjau 

proceed on an industrial 

action if he failed to pay the 

backlog of salary arrears 

from the N20 billion Paris 

Club Refund. 

The ultimatum was 

contained in a letter signed 

by State Chairmen of 

Nigeria Labour Congress, 

NLC, Trade Union 

Congress, TUC, and Joint 

Negotiating Council, JNC, 

Tayo Ogunleye; Soladoye 

Ekundayo and Abel 

Oloniyo respectively. 

Akeredolu spoke at the 

presentation of cheques 

worth N402million for the 

payment of compensation to 

owners of properties affected 

by the dualisation of Akure, 

lkare, Owo Township roads 

and the construction of Ore 

flyover in Akure. 

The governor said: 

“Generally, people are 

selfish and ungrateful. 

Since I came into office I 

have paid your salary 

arrears, yet our people are 

ungrateful and selfish. Since 

we came into office we do 

not owe even a month 

salary. Not a single month. 

“Somebody was in office 

and did not pay your 

salaries and leave 

allowances but we came 

and have not only paid your 

salaries but had even 

promoted you and you 

people still think we have 

not done anything.'' 

Bola Tinubu, who was 

represented by Dr. Tayo 

Omawumi noted the 

important role the Ilaje’s 

played in the stabilization 

of Lagos state. 

In his remarks the 

National President of Egbe 

Omo Ilaje, Prince 

Iwamitigha Irowainu, 

said Ilajes are not 

visitors to Lagos, just as 

he appealed to the Lagos 

State government to give 

to the Ilaje people what 

is due to them.



NEWS 

HOTLINES 

018773962, 

Buhari’s govt has left Nigerians 

worse off, says Atiku’s Spokesman 

By Levinus 

Nwabughiogu 

A BUJA—SPOKE- 

SMAN of the 

presidential candidate 

of Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, Alhaji Atiku 

Abubakar; Mr. Paul Ibe 

has described the 

administration of 

President Muhammudu 

Buhari as a disaster, 

saying it has left 

Nigerians worse off. 

He said Nigerians 

have never been so 

divided under a 

government that 

promised change. 

This came as a support 

group known as Atiku 

Action Group, AAG 2019, 

said it has mobilised 

over three million 

Nigerians for Atiku. 

Speaking at the first 

inaugural seminar of the 

group in Abuja on 

Tuesday, Ibe, who was 

NWAOBOSHI: I wrote EFCC from 

document placed at my office 

—Witnesss 


L AGOS—AN 

Economic and 

Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, 

witness Mr Prince 

Kpokpogr, in the ongoing 

money laundering trial of 

a Peoples Democratic Party 

Chieftain, Senator Peter 

Nwaoboshi, yesterday, told 

a Federal High Court 

sitting in Lagos that 

sometime in 2016, he 

received an anonymous 

call, saying the caller 

informed him that he had 

some documents for him. 

Nwoboshi, representing 

Delta North Senatorial 

District, was arraigned by 

the EFCC, alongside two 

companies, Golden Touch 

Construction Projects Ltd 

and Suiming Electricals, 

over alleged N322million 

money laundering. 

The Anti-Graft agency 

had on October 5, rearraigned 

the defendant 

before a new judge, Justice 

Chukwujekwu Aneke, 

following the elevation of 

the previous trial judge, 

Justice Mohammed Idris, 

to the Court of Appeal. 

He had pleaded not 

guilty during his 

arraignment before Idris, 

and also, pleaded not guilty 

to the charges on his rearraignment. 

Following his rearraignment, 

the case 

started de novo (afresh). 

At the resumed hearing 

of the case yesterday, the 

prosecutor Mr. O.A.R 

Ogunde (SAN), informed 

the court that the first 

prosecution witness was in 

court. 

Kpokpogri, an anticorruption 

activist, and Real 

Estate Manager had earlier 

given evidence before 

Justice Idris. 

He said when he saw the 

document, he perused it 

carefully and wrote to the 

EFCC for further 

investigation. 

the Guest Speaker said 

Buhari’s government has 

failed Nigerians, 

assuring that Atiku has 

the answer to the 

country’s many woes. 

He said: “ The citizens 

are divided. This 

scenario should worry 

any patriotic Nigerian. A 

leader should unite his 

country, but he cannot 

do so if he is insensitive 

to our diversity. Genuine 

criticisms of lopsided 

appointments of security 

chiefs are frequently 

ignored and those 

canvassing respect for 

our diversity are openly 

insulted and maligned to 

divert attention from the 

issue. 

“Nothing can be more 

dangerous than a 

political leadership that 

is indifferent to genuine 

public criticisms. 

“Under 

no 

circumstance should 

Nigerian leaders take its 

unity for granted. Yes, 

Nigeria has remarkable 

resilience, but let us not 

push our luck too far by 

disrespecting the 

country’s sensibilities. 

We have only come thus 

far by the mercies and 

grace of God." 

Gov Emmanuel to present 

2019 appropriation bill today 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

GOVERNOR Udom 

Emmanuel of Akwa 

Ibom State will today 

present the 2019 

appropriation bill to the 

state House of Assembly. 

This was contained in a 

letter sent to the state 

Assembly by the governor 

and read on the floor of the 

House by the Clerk, Mrs. 

Mandu Umoren, at 

yesterday’s plenary 

presided over by the 

Speaker, Mr. Onofiok 

Luke. 

According to the 

governor’s letter, the bill is 

expected to define the 

policy directions, 

expenditure patterns, and 

expected sources of 

revenues to fund 

government projects and 

services in the coming year. 

EFCC hauls N211m gold at Lagos Airport 


A 

B U J A — 

OPERATIVES 

of the Economic and 


Commission, EFCC, 

yesterday hauled gold 

worth N211 million at 

Murtala Mohammed 

International Airport, 

Lagos. 

This came on a day an 

Abuja Federal High Court 

presided over by Justice 

Ijeoma Ojukwu, ordered 

the interim forfeiture to the 

Federal Government of the 

sum of N397.6 million 

suspected to be pension 

funds illegally hidden 

away in two commercial 

banks. 

According to the EFCC, 

the gold was being illegally 

transported through the 

Murtala Mohammed 

International Airport, Lagos 

en route Dubai, United 

Arab Emirate. 

A statement by the Acting 

Spokesman for the EFCC, 

Mr. Tony Orilade, said, 

“Following intelligence report, 

the operatives on November 

9, 2018 uncovered 

the gold weighing about 

35kg just at the point of 

departure of a suspect currently 

in the EFCC’s custody." 

2019: Ex-Delta Commissioner 

makes case for Buhari 

FORMER 

Delta 

State Commissioner 

for Education and chieftain 

of All Progressives 

Congress, APC, Mrs. 

Veronica Ogbuagu, has 

challenged women in APC 

to support the re-election 

bid of President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

Ogbuagu, who spoke at 

the inaugural meeting of 

South-South States Women 

Leaders of All Progressives 

Congress held in Warri, 

noted that inbuilt capacities 

in women include intuition, 

loyalty, responsibility, 

persistence, and power to 

deliver against all odds.



NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

RALLY: Governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Akwa Ibom State, Mr. 

Nsima Ekere (2nd right) flanked from left by the Political Leader of Etinan Local Government Area, 

Otuekong Sunny Udo; Political Leader of Ini Local Government Area, Obong Otu Akpan,APC deputy 

governorship candidate, Dr. Amadu Attai, and the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial 

District in the National Assembly, Senator Godswill Akpabio, during APC solidarity rally at Methodist 

School, Mbiabong Ikot Udofia in Ini Local Government Area. 

INEC partners Police to recover 2,045 

stolen PVCs in A-Ibom 

By Chioma 

Onuegbu 

U 

Y O — T H E 

Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, has 

said that it is partnering the 

Police to recover the 2,045 

Permanent Voters Card 

(PVCs) stolen from its office 

in Okobo Local 

Government Area of Akwa 

Ibom State. 

Vanguard recalls that the 

INEC office in Okobo was 

attacked last month by a 

mob. 

INEC National 

Commissioner supervising 

Akwa Ibom, Delta and 

Cross River states, Dr. 

Mohammed Lecky, 

disclosed this yesterday at 

the state headquarters of 

the commission while 

briefing newsmen on the 

successful completion of the 

display of voters register. 

Lecky assured that in the 

event that the stolen PVCs 

were not recovered on time, 

Operation Crocodile Smile III destroys illegal 

refineries in Rivers, Delta, A-Ibom 

Edo APC denies suspending Speaker, 

as Obaseki meets candidates 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN—AHEAD of 

the 2019 general 

election, Governor Godwin 

Obaseki of Edo State would 

later this week meet 

candidates for all elective 

positions to fashion out 

strategies to ensure victory 

for the All Progressives 

Congress, APC, in the 

state. 

There would not be 

governorship election in 

the state until 2020. 


most of the aspirants would 

be attending the meeting . 

they would be reproduced 

and made available to the 

rightful owners before the 

elections. 

He said: ”The PVCs were 

stolen in Okobo LGA. 

There were 2,045 PVCs. 

During the primaries, our 

office was attacked by 

hoodlums. We have visited 

the LGAs and have seen a 

lot of security lapses. 

“I think it was a mob 

action which was a 

By Egufe Yafugborhi 

PORT 

HAR- 

COURT—IN 

continuation of Operation 

Crocodile Smile III, the 

Nigerian Army has 

destroyed several illegal 

refineries during day and 

night strikes through the 

Division 6, Area of 

Responsibility, AOB. 

Col Aminu Iliyasu, 

Deputy Director, Army 

The meeting, it was 

gathered, is also to ensure 

that the party goes to the 

election as a united fold. 

“We are aware that the 

governor is calling a 

meeting of all the 

candidates, but some of us 

are not comfortable with the 

level of publicity he is 

giving to the numerous 

projects he is executing 

across the state.’’ 

In a related development, 

the APC has said the 

reported suspension of the 

Speaker of the House of 

Assembly, Hon Kabiru 

Adjoto was not true. 

consequence of the primary 

elections. I want to assure 

that the police are looking 

into the matter. The PVCs 

were stolen from where we 

kept them for safety. 

“What the hoodlums have 

done is a nullity because 

we have a list of everybody. 

We have their names. We 

have their pin numbers 

and we have their pictures 

on the voters’ register. It is 

a matter of reproducing the 

Public Relations, 6 

Division, told Vanguard 

yesterday in Port Harcourt 

that some suspects have 

also been arrested in the 

intensified offensives 

against oil theft involving 

Delta, Akwa Ibom, and 

Rivers waterways. 

He said: ”In one of such 

patrols, a crack patrol team 

of the Brigade on 

November 8, destroyed 

illegally refined products 

A statement issued 

yesterday by the State 

Publicity Secretary of the 

party, Chris Azebamwan, 

reads: “The correct position 

is that the State Working 

Committee threatened to 

suspend the Speaker for 

refusing to comply with a 

decision of the party. Adjoto 

subsequently went to court 

and served the party with 

the relevant court 

processes. As a party with 

tremendous respect for the 

rule of law, we decided to 

maintain the status quo 

pending the determination 

of the case” 

PVCs and making them 

available. 

“But still we have to go 

after those culprits and 

punish them according to 

the law. 

“We, therefore, implore 

the political parties to abide 

by INEC rules and 

regulations. It is not yet 

November 18 and we have 

a lot of billboards with 

campaign messages. This 

is not acceptable." 

in Eket and Ibeno Local 

Government Areas of Akwa 

Ibom State. Five hundred 

drums and two surface 

tanks were destroyed in the 

course of the operation. 

“In similar operations by 

troops of 16 Brigade on 9 

November, six illegal oil 

bunkering sites were 

destroyed at KM 45 Bille, 

Degema Local 

Government Area, Rivers 

State. Four large reservoirs 

containing stolen crude oil 

and seven Cotonou boats 

used in the illicit act were 

also destroyed. 

“Further patrols within 

Awonikiri in Bille Degema, 

on 10th November led to 

the discovery of a hideout 

for militants and pirates. 

“The troops discovered 

three illegal refining sites 

at Obodo Asisan, 

Ogbesedua, and 

Ogbokoko all in Warri 

South LGA which were 

hitherto destroyed in 

previous operations. 

“Two suspects, 

Oghenemaga Egubare and 

Maxwell Umar were 

arrested in the vicinity and 

handed over to a sister 

security agency." 

IYC President defends Okunbo, 

faults protest over pipeline contract 

PRESIDENT of Ijaw 

Youth Council, IYC, 

Mr. Pereotubo Oweilaemi, 

has faulted protest by some 

former militants in 

communities under OML 

30 in Delta State over what 

they described as 

infringement on the 

pipeline surveillance 

contract by Captain Hosa 

Okunbo. 

Oweilaemi, a lawyer, who 

stated that the surveillance 

contract has not been 

awarded to Ocean Marine 

Delta Assembly clears Utomi 

as Commissioner 

By Festus Ahon 

A SABA—DELTA 

State House of 

Assembly, yesterday 

screened and confirmed, 

Mr. Joseph Utomi as 

Commissioner and 

member of the Delta State 

Executive Council, 

following his nomination 

by Governor Ifeanyi 

Okowa. 

Okowa had in a letter 

addressed to the Speaker 

of the State House of 

We'll only vote for political liberators, 

not oppressors —Delta monarch 


B OMADI—HIS 

Royal Majesty, 

Godspower Oporomo, the 

Taraeza I, Pere of Kerebiri- 

Mein Kingdom, has said 

that the people of his 

kingdom have resolved to 

vote for only political 

liberators rather than 

oppressors in the 2019 

general election. 

The Monarch stated that 

out of the 11 communities 

that make up Bomadi 

Local Government Area of 

Delta State,nine 

communities are members 

of his kingdom which 

constitute 80 percent of 

votes from the council 

by anybody in the Presidency 

at an outrageous 

rate as claimed by the 

youths, added that the 

youths were sponsored to 

blackmail Okunbo. Rather 

than applaud Okunbo 

for his philanthropic gestures 

in the region, he 

questioned the reason behind 

‘’the ill-advised protest 

march against a man 

who had created thousands 

of jobs in the region.’’ 

Assembly, Chief Sheriff 

Oborevwori, last week, 

nominated Utomi. 

Utomi, who was asked 

to take a bow, was 

introduced to the House 

by Ms. Angela Nwaka 

during plenary presided 

over by the Speaker. 

Okowa had in the letter 

said the nomination was 

in the exercise of the 

power conferred on him 

by section 192 (2) of the 

constitution of Federal 

Republic of Nigeria. 

and that they had all 

agreed to pitch tent and 

only vote for the political 

party that will liberate the 

clan from oppression. 

Oporomo, speaking at 

his palace in Bomadi 

while playing host to the 

governorship candidate 

of African Action 

Congress, ACN, Mr 

Frank Esanobi, alongside 

Mr. Tam Oburumu Delta 

State House of Assembly 

candidate for Bomadi 

constituency who came 

for royal blessing, noted 

that what his kingdom 

was experiencing is 

reminiscent of the 

Gelegele Ijaws versus the 

Binis in Edo State. 

Rivers revenue service 

moves to end tax fraud 

By Davies 

Iheamnachor 

PORT 

HAR- 

COURT— RIVERS 

State Internally Generated 

Revenue Service, RIRS, 

says it has got a technology 

that would help stop the 

illegal collection of taxes in 

the state. 

The body also said the 

technology would help to 

lessen the stress which 

taxpayers go through in the 

payment of tax, adding that 

the technology would 

improve and sanitise the 

system. 

Chairman of RIRS, Mr. 

ThankGod Norteh, who 

spoke in Port Harcourt 

yesterday, urged the state 

government to grow its 

internally generated 

revenue,IGR, adding that 

the technology which 

would be put into use in 

January 2019, would serve 

the purpose. 

His words: “It is important 

that we disclose what will 

commence in January. 

“We will introduce a 

technology that will help 

taxpayers process their tax 

easily without coming to 

our office."


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

It’ll be devastating to truncate minimum 

wage implementation, Labour warns 

....Says corruption in Nigeria now horrendous 

By Johnbosco 

Agbakwuru 

A organised BUJA—THE 

labour 

yesterday, warned that any 

attempt by the Federal 

Government to delay or 

truncate the newly-agreed 

national minimum wage of 

N30,000 would have a 

devastating effect in the 

country. 

The organised labour has 

also lamented that the 

vexed issue of corruption 

still remained one of the 

major challenges facing the 

nation, saying corruption in 

the country had now 

assumed an alarming and 

horrendous proportion. 

President of the 

Association of Senior Civil 

Servants of Nigeria, 

ASCSN, Bobboi Kaigama 

who spoke while 

addressing the National 

Executive Council, NEC, 

meeting of the association, 

in Abuja, frowned at what 

he described as illegal 

recruitment and 

appointment of officers 

including Permanent 

Secretaries into the civil 

service. 

Kaigama, who is also 

the President of Trade 

Union Congress of 

Nigeria, TUC, while 

harping on the need for 

the government to fasttrack 

implementation of 

the newly agreed 

national minimum wage 

said it was the expectation 

of Nigerian workers that the 

Federal Government 

should be able to complete 

the process of new wage 

before the end of this year. 

He noted that the single 

most important issue 

agitating the mind of an 

average Nigerian worker 

presently was the issue of 

minimum wage in which 

the report of the Tripartite 

Committee had been 

submitted to President 

Muhammadu Buhari. 

According to him, “It is 

apt to state that against all 

odds, the Tripartite 

Committee that negotiated 

the new Minimum Wage 

was able to scale all hurdles 

and agreed on N30,000 as 

the new minimum wage for 

the country. 

“It is on this premise that 

I strongly want to appeal 

to the Federal Government 

to fast track the process of 

enacting the new National 

Minimum Wage into law. 

Our expectation is that the 

government should be able 

to complete the entire 

process before the end of 

this year so that workers 

who have waited for so long 

can begin to enjoy a new 

lease of life provided by the 

new minimum wage. 


Government is advised to 

avoid any action that can 

delay or truncate the 

process of enacting the new 

Minimum Wage as the 

consequences of allowing 

that to happen can be very 

devastating.” 

On the need for upward 

wage review in the civil 

service, Kaigama alleged 

that the core civil service 

which he described as the 

engine room of 

government had remained 

the least paid in the public 

service, noting that other 

segments had their 

emoluments beefed up 

over the years. 

He said, “This situation 

has been made worse by the 

fact that since 2010 when 

salary review was carried 

out in the core civil service, 

no salary increment has 

been granted to civil 

servants except for the N900 

monthly that was added to 

the emoluments of senior 

officers across board after 

N18,000 was approved as 

the National Minimum 

Wage in 2011.” 

On the alleged illegal 

appointment/extension of 

tenure of Permanent 

Secretaries, he said those 

who benefited from such 

anomaly should as a matter 

of urgency relinquish the 

positions. 

He said, “I must now 

dwell on the vexed issue of 

illegal recruitment and 

appointment of officers 

including Permanent Secretaries 

into the Civil Service 

which we have been battling 

over the years.'' 

Corruption 

Kaigama lamented that 

despite the effort of the 

federal government to 

tackle corruption in the 

polity, it had assumed an 

alarming proportion. 

He said: “The vexed issue 

of corruption still remains 

one of the major challenges 

facing us as a nation. This 

hydra-headed monster 

continues to loom large in 

our country in spite of the 

initial steps taken to 

address the menace by the 

present administration. 

“Corruption in Nigeria 

has now assumed a very 

alarming proportion that 

can be described as 

horrendous. The Nigerian 

political class should know 

that there is no way this 

country can be inspired to 

greatness if this beast is not 

decapitated and rooted out 

of our system before it leads 

to catastrophic 

consequences.'' 

LAUNCHING: From left; Mr Madike Seye, GM, Sub Sahara Africa, Ferring 

Pharmaceuticals Ltd; Mr Yemi Aladeniyi, National Sales Manager, Nigeria/Ghana , 

Ferring Pharmaceuticals; Prof Bukola Fawole, Guest Speaker/ Dept of Obstetrics 

&Gynecology, College of Medicine, UCH, Ibadan,; Prof Oluwarotimi Akinola, 

Chairman of the ocassion /Dept of Obstetrics &Gynecology, College of Medicine, 

Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, and Sir Prof Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, 

Special Guest of Honour/Professor Emeritus of Dept of Obstetrics &Gynecology, St 

Georges Univeristy of London, during the launching/lecture of Pabal Carbetocin by 

Ferring Pharmaceuticals at Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos. Photo: Kehinde Gbadamosi 

PDP faults Osinbajo over 

debts claim 

Urhobo Mandate tells Oboro, 

others to step down 

for Omo-Agege 

Prevention, detection of crime part of our work, 

no container enjoys diplomatic immunity — MPC 

NIGERIA’S Maritime 

Police Command 

(MPC) has stressed its 

commitment to the 

successful implementation 

of the President 

Muhammadu Buhari 

Administration’s Ease of 

Doing Business Policy 

(EODB), as championed 

by the Office of the Vice 

President, Professor Yemi 

Osinbajo. 

The Command stated this 

in a rejoinder, issued by its 

Acting Public Relations 

Officer (Acting PPRO) 

Olalekan Faniyi on behalf 

of the Assistant Inspector- 

General of Police in 

Charge, to an article 

published by a national 

newspaper on Sunday 

November 11, 2018, 

credited to a Lagos legal 

practitioner, Charles G. 

Osuegwu, titled, “VP, IGP, 

police hinder ease of doing 

business policy at Lagos 

ports.” 

MPC said towards 

ensuring compliance with 

the policy, it had “written 

letters to various Police 

Formations and 

Commands, warning them 

against incessant 

interference in maritime 

activities and cases, the 

letter further directed 

that they should channel 

their information and 

intels concerning any 

sharp practices by importers 

and clearing agents to 

MPC’s Investigation 

Department, this step had 

really improved the 

EODB,” the statement said. 

The MPC however noted 

that some criminals and 

their accomplice hide 

By Dirisu Yakubu 

A P BUJA—THE 

e o p l e s 

Democratic Party, PDP, 

has cautioned Vice 

President Professor Yemi 

Osinbajo to stop bandying 

debt figures in an attempt 

to cover the failures of the 

Buhari-led All 


APC-led administration. 

The party said instead of 

juggling figures about 

the nation’s debt profile 

“Osinbajo is challenged to 

present to Nigerians, the 

scorecard of APC 

administration, for which 


Buhari has now lost his 

carriage as a leader.” 

In a statement by its 

spokesman, Kola 

Ologbondiyan, the party 

noted that it was already 

a settled fact that the 

nation’s debt profile 

escalated under “the 

Buhari administration, 

which crippled our once 

robust economy, pushed 

it into recession, turned 

our nation from a growing 

economy to a debtor 

country and world’s 

A 

group, Urhobo 

Mandate for Omo- 

Agege has advised the 

PDP candidate for Delta 

Central senate election, 

Hon, Evelyn Oboro and 15 

candidates of other political 

parties contesting the 

election to step down and 

support the re-election of 

Senator Ovie Omo-Agege. 

Speaking during its 

maiden meeting held at the 

Covenant Suites, Ughelli; 

the national Coordinator of 

the group, Prince Etareri 

Peter Okorodudu, who is a 

member of PDP said it is in 

the interest of Urhobo for 

Omo-Agege to return back 

to the senate as a ranking 

under the EODB to sabotage 

the economy and also 

to undermine the security 

of the country to import contraband 

items, and also to 

shortchange the Federal 

Government by under-declaring 

goods. 

Assuring the public and 

stakeholders that the 

Maritime Police Command 

will not succumb to cheap 

blackmail in its quest for a 

crime free and safer port 

environment, the statement 

said that all cases reported 

to MPC will be treated on 

its merit, the DSP Faniyi 

said: “The MPC do not 

and will not stop 

containers after clearance 

at Ports except those that 

are suspected to be carrying 

contrabands or under 

declared goods, petitioned, 

and based on intelligence.'' 

poverty capital. 

''Despite being busted, 

Osinbajo is labouring to 

deceive Nigerians by 

converting domestic 

borrowings in Naira, 

under the APC, to US 

dollars, so that the very 

high exchange rate will 

make it look smaller in 

dollars. 

''This is despite verified 

figures even from 

agencies of government 

showing an accumulation 

of 29.6% debt under 

Buhari as against the 

20.14% under the 

Yar’Adua and Jonathan 

administration and the 

0.44 % under the 

Obasanjo administration. 

“Osinbajo is reminded 

that he is the head of 

Buhari’s economic team 

and should therefore, not 

in anyway, parade 

himself as if he has no 

blame at all in the failures 

of this administration. 

'' Nigerians are no 

longer swayed by 

Osinbajo’s homilies and 

lip service to fiscal 

federalism, which he is 

now mouthing, just 

because the 2019 

general election is 

around the corner.'' 

member rather than send 

a new senator, as we have 

done since 1999, adding 

that Omo-Agege is simply 

the best candidate amongst 

those running for the 

senate. 

He said membership of 

the group cuts across all 

Urhobo people irrespective 

of political affiliation 

because of the impotence of 

this position to the Urhobo 

people at this moment. 

“I am a PDP member but 

we are convinced that 

Omo-Agege is the best 

material to represent the 

Urhobo people at the 

senate at this time. He has 

been tested and found 

worthy and so most of us 

who belong to other 

political parties and those 

in the APC have come 

together in one mind with 

the mandate to deliver 

Ovie Omo-Agege so 

Urhobo can have a 

ranking senator in 2019. 

“We have structures in 

every unit across Urhobo 

land and we are going to 

canvass and mobilize the 

Urhobo people across the 

senatorial district to 

ensure the re-election of 

Ovie Omo-Agege. I 

therefore advise candidates 

in all other political parties 

to step down and support 

the re-election of Ovie Omo- 

Agege because they will not 

be able to withstand the 

overwhelming support of 

the entire Urhobo people 

that we will mobilize for 

Omo-Agege." 

The meeting was 

attended by over 1000 

members from the eight 

local government areas of 

Delta Central.

UNVEILING: From 

left—Allied Congress 

Party of Nigeria, ACPN, 

Presidential Candidate, 

Dr Oby Ezekwesili; 

National Chairman, 

Alhaji Gani Galadima; 

and National Secretary; 

Paul Isanade, at the 

unveiling of manifesto 

of the ACPN 

P r e s i d e n t i a l 

Candidate in Lagos, 

Monday. Photo: Akeem 

Salau. 

IMO GUBER: Okorocha, Uzodinma 

in war of words over immunity 

•Obla Committee threatens to arrest Uzodinma 

•Gladiators shift the battle to Owerri 

By Chidi 

Nkwopara, Joseph 

Erunke & 

Chinonso Alozie 

O 

W E R R I — 

GOVERNOR 

Rochas Okorocha of Imo 

State and his party’s 

governorship candidate in 

the 2019 election, Senator 

Hope Uzodinma were 

yesterday locked in a war 

of words over using the 

governorship election to 

fight for immunity from 

criminal deeds. 

The contention came as 

the Presidential Committee 

on the Recovery of Federal 

Government Assets gave 

Senator Uzodinma a 

deadline of 8.00 p.m. 

yesterday to appear before 

it or face another arrest. 

Meanwhile, the 

contenders for the 

governorship ticket were 

yesterday shifting from 

pressing buttons in Abuja 

to turf battles in the state. 

After fruitless efforts to 

assert himself on the 

governorship ticket of the 

APC, the erstwhile chief of 

staff to Governor Okorocha, 

Uche Nwosu arrived 

Owerri yesterday, with an 

assurance that hope was 

still on the way for him. 

His assurance came as the 

Allied Forces arrayed 

against him and his fatherin-law, 

Okorocha 

marshalled out what was 

yesterday, described as 

preparations for a hero’s 

welcome for Senator Hope 

Uzodinma, the official 

candidate of the party. 

Action Alliance 

disowns Okorocha, 

Nwosu 

Meanwhile, the Imo State 

chapter of Action Alliance, 

the party promoted by 

Governor Okorocha in 2005 

yesterday disowned the 

Imo State governor. The 

party said that it would not 

offer its platform for the 

governor to actualise the 

governorship aspiration of 

Nwosu. 

Nwosu was, however, 

insistent yesterday that he 


would not join any other 

political party to promote 

his governorship 

aspiration. 

Uzodinma wants 

governorship to 

acquire immunity 

against illegalities 

—Okorocha 

Governor Okorocha 

yesterday, alleged that 

Uzodinma’s governorship 

aspiration was conceived to 

acquire immunity to protect 

him, against past alleged 

crimes. 

The governor in a 

statement issued in Owerri 

yesterday said: “Chief 

Hope Uzodinma who is 

doing all he could to 

become governor of Imo 

State in 2019 and who the 

National Chairman of All 


APC, Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole has thrown up 

as the governorship 

candidate of the party in 

Imo does not want to 

become governor to actually 

govern the state but to enjoy 

immunity to enable him 

escape from the criminal 

trials he is facing at the 

moment. 

“Uzodinma is facing trial 

over the issuance of a dud 

cheque and the trial Judge; 

Justice Abdulwahab 

Muhammed was reported 

to have referred the case to 

EFCC for investigation and 

the necessary actions. He 

is also on trial over nondeclaration 

of assets, and 

the case is before Justice 

Babatunde Quadiri of 

Federal High Court Abuja. 

“He was also arrested last 

Sunday at the Nnamdi 

Azikwe International 

Airport in Abuja by the 

Special Presidential 

Investigation Panel for 

Recovery of Public Property 

over an alleged breach of 

contract to the tune of $12.5 

million. This is the man 

Oshiomhole wants to 

govern Imo people. If 

Oshiomhole had asked the 

questions and if he were to 

be keen in APC’s victory in 

Imo, he would not have 

gone into any deal with 

Chief Uzodinma." 

You want to use your 

son-in-law to cover 

your crimes, 

Uzodinma replies 

Okorocha 

The allegation was 

immediately pooh-poohed 

yesterday by the Uzodinma 

campaign which said that 

Okorocha was the one who 

was desperate to hide 

something and hence his 

desperation for his son-inlaw 

to be governor. 

Speaking through Mr. 

Emelumba, the campaign 

spokesman, he said: 

“Senator Hope Uzodimma 

has no criminal thing to 

hide and so does not need 

any immunity to protect him 

as governor. Those behind 

the trumped-up allegations 

against him think they will 

use it to obscure his 

ambition, but they are only 

exposing their desperation 

and ignorance because 

there is no case against him. 

“If there’s anybody who 

needs immunity badly it’s 

Governor Rochas Okorocha 

because the atrocities he 

committed against Imo 

State, are already hunting 

him. That’s why he said he 

is ready to spill his blood to 

make his son-in-law 

succeed him because that 

will amount to a third term 

for him so he can continue 

to enjoy immunity. 

More troubles for 

Uzodinma 

Meanwhile, the Okoi 

Obono-Obla led panel on 

the recovery of Federal 

Government assets 

yesterday said that it had 

given Uzodinma till 8.00 

p.m. to report after the bail 

granted him by the panel. 

Obono-Obla told 

Vanguard that Uzodinma 

had begged to be given 

time and the panel resolved 

to give him till 8.00 p.m. 

yesterday and that failure 

to appear would lead to 

another arrest. 

“Yesterday (Monday), he 

pleaded with us to adjourn 

the matter to today 

(Tuesday) by 10 am. So 

while we were waiting for 

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—15 

him by 10 am, he sent us a 

text message pleading that 

we should allow him to see 

us by 8 pm today and we 

graciously granted that. But 

we will not extend the time 

for him again. 

“So, if we don’t see him 

this evening by 8 pm as he 

requested, then we may be 

forced to arrest him again". 

As at press time 

yesterday, the 

governorship hopeful was 

yet to appear before the 

panel. 

Hopeful Nwosu 

Speaking to newsmen on 

his return to the state at the 

Sam Mbakwe Airport 

where he was welcomed by 

hundreds of supporters, 

Nwosu said that the 

national chairman of the 

party, Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole would hand 

over the governorship ticket 

of the party to him before 

December 1. 

His assertion came days 

after the Independent 

National Electoral 

Commission, INEC, had 

published the name of 

Senator Hope Uzodimma, 

as the authentic 

governorship candidate of 

the Imo APC. 

Imo APC guber 

candidate storms 

Owerri, today 

Even before Nwosu 

would settle, the Allied 

Forces in the party rolled 

out a plan to receive Senator 

Uzodimma in Owerri today. 

The Director of Media and 

Special Duties of the 

Uzodinma campaign, Mr. 

Declan Emelumba, gave 

the hint to newsmen 

yesterday in a statement 

issued in Owerri. 

He said that Uzodimma 

alongside the Deputy 

Governor of Imo State, Eze 

Madumere, all the 

governorship aspirants 

who contested under APC, 

serving and former 

Senators and House of 

Representatives members 

from Imo state as well as 

present and former 

lawmakers of the Imo state 

House of Assembly are part 

of the plan to give heroice 

welcome to Uzodinma.. 

Confusion trails impeachment 

of Anambra Speaker 

By Vincent 

Ujumadu 

AWKA—THERE was 

confusion in the 

Anambra State House of 

Assembly, yesterday, 

following alleged 

impeachment of the 

Speaker, Mrs. Rita 

Maduagwu by 20 out of 30 

members of the House as 

the new Speaker that 

emerged, Mr. Ikem 

Uzoezie, could not mount 

the saddle because the clerk 

of the House hurriedly took 

away the mace and refused 

to swear in Uzoezie. 

The 22 members out of 30 

who sat yesterday for the 

impeachment exercise 

claimed before the 

impeachment process 

began, that three of their 

members had been 

suspended. 

However, two members of 

the House who earlier 

signed the impeachment of 

the Speaker, later reneged 

and joined the Speaker 

when she was addressing 

reporters. 

At press time, a large 

consignment of security 

operatives had cordoned off 

the Assembly complex and 

visitors were not allowed 

into the premises. 

The motion to impeach 

her was moved by Ikem 

Uzozie, representing 

Aguata 11 constituency 

and was seconded by 

Onyebuchi Offor, a minority 

member from Ekwusigo 

constituency. 

Though the lawmakers 

behind the impeachment 

accused Maduagwu of 

financial impropriety, high 

handedness and gross 

misconduct, Vanguard 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

gathered that their reason 

was based on their 

frustration after failing to 

secure the tickets of their 

party, the All progressive 

Grand Alliance, APGA, 

during the recently 

conducted rancorous 

primaries of the party in the 

state. 

As soon as information 

on the impeachment 

filtered into the seat of 

government, the Chief of 

Staff to Governor Willie 

Obiano, Mr. Primus Odili, 

the secretary to the state 

government, Professor Solo 

Chukwulobelu and a 

large number of APGA 

chieftains stormed the State 

Assembly, ostensibly to 

thwart the impeachment. 

Maduagwu, who later 

summoned up courage to 

speak on the foiled 

exercise, said the purported 

impeachment was null and 

void and of no effect, as due 

process was not followed. 

She said the members 

had no grounds to impeach 

her as there was no issue 

or any form of crisis in the 

state assembly, adding that 

what transpired in the 

House was illegal and 

uncalled for 

The Clerk of the House, 

Pius Udo told reporters that 

due process was not 

followed by those who 

wanted to impeach the 

Speaker. 

Udo said he could not act 

otherwise since there was 

prior notice that the 

Speaker would not be 

around during the day’s 

proceedings, adding that 

the recognized plenary was 

the one conducted by 

Maduagwu with twelve 

members. 

FG describes Onitsha River 

Port as untapped gold mine 

By Chimaobi 

Nwaiwu 

N NEWI—THE 

F e d e r a l 

Government has described 

the Onitsha River Port as an 

untapped gold mine and a 

sub sector all efforts should 

be geared towards 

revitalizing to make it 

functional. 

It also said that the port is 

unique and exceptional 

from others in the country 

because of its three levels 

that goods can be brought 

in, namely: lower, middle 

and top levels which also 

makes it a great and 

wonderful port. 

This was disclosed by the 

Managing Director, 

National Inland Waterways 

Authority, NIWA, Sen 

Olorunimbe Mamora, 

during his maiden visit to 

Onitsha Area office of 

NIWA. 

Mamora who was 

accompanied to Onitsha by 

some senior officials of 

NIWA from Lokoja, Kogi 

State, during the visit also 

described the 

transportation aspect of the 

NIWA operations as 

humongous in terms of 

gains accrueable from its 

operation. 

Decades of comatose 

He regretted that 

Onitsha River Port has been 

in existence since the 

administration of former 

President Shehu Shagari, 

yet it is not operational. 

“Onitsha River Port was 

refurbished in 2012 but 

since that time till now, 

nothing has happened in 

terms of full utilisation and 

that is not good news for 

us as a country, but the 

good news there is that the 

present administration of 


Buhari is trying to rectify, 

amend and do things 

differently within the ambit 

of the change mantra of this 

administration. 

“I’m aware that many of 

the bulk of the cargoes that 

come into Lagos port leave 

Lagos for Onitsha," he said.


vanguardnews 

@vanguardnews 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

SUMMIT: From left— Executive Vice Chairman, AG Leventis,Michael Economakis; Executive Vice 

Chairman, Hellenic Federation of Enterprises, Kostantinos Bitsios; Executive Secretary, Nigeria 

Investment Promotion Council, NIPC, Yewande Sadiku; Chairman, Hellenic-Nigeria Chamber of 

Commerce, Ninos Yiamakis, and MD/CEO, Bank of Industry, Kayode Pitan at the Nigeria-Greece 

Investment Summit in Lagos. 

Osinbajo launches TraderMoni in more Lagos 

markets 

By Gabriel 

Olawale 

L AGOS—VICE 

President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo, has launched the 

Federal Government’s 

N10,000 interest free loans, 

otherwise known as 

TraderMoni in three more 

Lagos markets. 

Osinbajo who led other 

Federal and state 

government officials to 

Ikotun, Igando and Ile Epo 

markets urged the traders 

to make judicious use of 

the loans to secure more 

Edo: Monarch pledges support for APC, House 

of Reps candidate 

By Alemma Aliu 

BENIN CITY—THE 

Elawure of Usen in 

Ovia South West Local 

Government Area of Edo 

State, Oluogbe II, has 

pledged support for the All 

Progressives Congress 

(APC) and its candidate for 

the Ovia Federal 

Constituency, Mr Dennis 

Idahosa, in the 2019 

general elections. 

This is coming on the 

heels of a purported 

rejection of monetary offer 

to a youth leader of the, 

Peoples Democratic Party, 

PDP) in the ward, 

Emmanuel Ogunbor not to 

defect to the APC. 

The Usen traditional 

head pledged his support 

during a courtesy call on 

him by Idahosa who said 

the party needs the support 

of all to enable it carry on 

with several of its 

developmental programme 

and people oriented 

policies. 

According to the 

monarch, "Why they love 

you is not because you 

have the money to feed 

everybody, it is because of 

your loyalty, generosity and 

respect for the elderly. 

"I beg everybody with 

you to be as committed to 

the cause whole heartedly," 

he said. 

from Federal Government. 

Interacting with the 

traders, Osinbajo said the 

objective of the scheme 

would be defeated if traders 

do not repay the loan to 

secure more. 

“This is one initiative this 

administration has put in 

place to address the plights 

of those at the grassroots. To 

help you grow your 

businesses and make lives 

meaningful to you and your 

families. That’s why we 

ensure there is no collateral 

and when you repay the 

loans, you can secure more 

from government because it 

Meanwhile, Ogunbor, 

said his decision to reject the 

monetary offer was because 

they were tired of deceit and 

the need to ensure speedy 

development of the area. 

Ogunbor who defected to 

APC with hundreds of his 

supporters and several 

social groups and 

associations, said the PDP 

candidate for the Ovia 

shows you are serious with 

what you are doing,” he 

said. 

Some of the traders who 

spoke to Vanguard 

Newspaper applauded the 

gesture but pleaded for 

more loans saying they 

would be willing to boost 

their trades and 

businesses with as much 

funds as possible made 

available to them. 

Kemi Adebayo, a pure 

water dealer in Ikotun 

market expressed 

readiness to invest the 

money in her trade. She 

said although she would 

Federal seat and the 

incumbent has failed to 

impact meaningfully on 

the lives of the people of 

the area. 

He said since her election in 

2015 as member representing the 

constituency at the House of 

Representatives, Hon. 

Omosode Igbinedion has 

become elusive. 

"It was for that reason that I, 

along with others you see here 

today, took the decision to dump 

love the money to be 

increased, “I will make 

judicious use of the fund to 

qualify for more loans. 

Similarly, Kunle Olaifa, a 

rice seller at Igando said it 

took the arrival of 

TraderMoni officials in the 

market for him to be 

convinced that it was really. 

“When they say 

TraderMoni, I always 

thought it was one of these 

political gimmicks. But 

today, I am convinced it is 

real. If I can repay the loan 

given, I have been assured 

of prompt additional 

money,” Olaifa said. 

the PDP for APC. I even had to 

reject the money I was offered to 

have a change of heart. 

While addressing the defectors, 

Idahosa described the rejection 

of monetary offer as a new era in 

Nigerian politics where individual 

benefit is rejected for a collective 

gain."It is no longer about me, 

but the development we all seek 

in the area. We have come to join 

the party that is willing to impact 

meaningfully the lives of the 

people." 

Super Eagles'll perform poorly unless... 

—Cleric 

BENIN—FOUNDER of 

the Glory Church of 

Christ, Benin City, Edo 

State, Apostle Tommy Yisa 

Aika, has prophesied that 

henceforth the Super Eagles 

will flounder in their 

matches unless something 

is done urgently to appease 

him as football 

administrators and the 

team’s officials are indebted 

to him. 

Apostle Aika, who in the 

past has given accurate 

predictions of the outcome 

of the Super Eagles 

matches including their 

poor performance at the 

2018 world cup tournament, 

averred that until the 

officials of the Nigeria 

Football Federation, NFF, 

keep to the gentleman 

agreement he has with 

them in the last 17 years 

which resulted in the 

superlative performances 

of the team including 

qualifications for the World 

Cup tournaments and 

successfully lifting the 

African Cup of nations 

trophy on a couple of 

occasions their 

performance would be 

poor. 

The cleric wants 


Buhari to intervene 

promptly in the issue as he 

has written series of 

petitions to the Presidency, 

the NFF and even The 

Directorate of State 

Services(DSS) to look into 

the matter to no avail. 

“Infact, I forwarded a 

petition to the DSS in their 

headquarters in Abuja 

since April 2016 but my 

case was not given 

consideration.” 

“NFF officials and the 

Super Eagles handlers 

have always treated my 

case with levity. They shun 

me as if they do not know 

me or that I am a slave. 

“However, the history of 

the Super Eagles is not 

complete without a mention 

of my contributions to their 

string of successes in the 

last 17 years,” he stated. 

MTN to offer mobile banking in 

Nigeria next year 

MTN Group will apply for a mobile banking licence in 

Nigeria and plans to launch the service there next 

year, its CEO said on Tuesday, further embedding the 

South African telecoms company in its biggest market. 

Federal government announced last month that it would 

allow telecom companies to provide banking services, 

aiming to give millions of Nigerians without bank 

accounts access to so-called mobile money services, a 

policy that has been very successful in Kenya. 

MTN runs Nigeria’s biggest mobile phone network serving 

56 million people, but it is also involved in a dispute with 

the authorities after the Central Bank of Nigeria,CBN said 

it illegally transferred $8.1 billion overseas. 

Separately, it has been slapped with a $2 billion Nigerian 

tax bill and whether those issues could influence how 

quickly MTN secures a licence remains to be seen. 

“We will be applying for a payment service banking licence 

in Nigeria in the next month or so, and if all goes according 

to plan, we will also be launching Mobile Money in Nigeria 

probably around Q2 of 2019,” Rob Shuter told a telecoms 

conference in Cape Town. 

Electrifying the World is no panacea 

for global warming, IEA says 

Driving electric cars and scrapping your natural 

gas-fired boiler won’t make a dent in global 

carbon emissions, and may even increase pollution levels. 

Higher electrification may lead to oil demand peaking by 

2030, but any reduction in emissions from the likes of 

electric vehicles will be offset by the increased use of power 

plants to charge them, according to the International 

Energy Agency’s annual World Energy Outlook, which 

plots different scenarios of future energy use. 

In order to significantly reduce harmful pollution by 2040, 

electrification will have to form part of a comprehensive 

package of policies to reduce power sector carbon 

emissions and improve energy efficiency, the Paris-based 

body that advises nations on energy policy said. 

AfDB launches Africa energy portal 

The African Development Bank, AfDB has 

launched the Africa Energy Portal (AEP) at the 

Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg 

“Building a Knowledge Base to De-Risk the 

Energy Sector in Africa,” brought together investors, 

policy makers and government officials for a 

presentation of the new initiative on Friday 9 

November, the final day of the Forum. The AEP 

portal, hosted at http://Africa-Energy-Portal.org , will 

consolidate, validate, and disseminate energy data 

and insights across Africa’s energy value chain, 

covering generation, transmission, distribution, 

regulation and policy. 

The AEP is designed to address a lack of 

information in the sector, by providing a one-stopshop 

for accurate, reliable, relevant, and up-to-date 

information on energy in Africa. This will include 

statistics on investment flows and deals, as well as 

the socio-economic outcomes of power projects. 

Nigeria, Belgium to resuscitate trade 

relations – Envoy 

Nigeria is set to resuscitate relations with Belgium, particularly 

in the area of investment initiatives. 

Amb. Ahmed Inusa, Nigerian Ambassador to Belgium disclosed 

this on Tuesday in Brussels. 

Inusa who noted the sterling relations between the Nigerian 

Port Authority (NPA) and the Port of Antwerp in Belgium said it 

was necessary to boost the once thriving relations in order to 

further develop the NPA. 

“Belgium is a country through which many Imports like cars, 

spare spares and machinery come into Nigeria. 

“It is better to have a framework of action between both ports to 

strengthen these issues,” He said. 

The envoy, however, noted the security concerns regarding 

the importation of contraband goods shipped through the port 

of Antwerp to Nigeria. 

According to him, It is unacceptable for such imports to flood 

the country – therefore the Customs Service of both nations 

would synergies to prevent the occurrence. 

While speaking on the strength of bilateral engagement between 

Nigeria and Belgium, Inusa said that there was not moribund 

relations excerpt the Bilateral Air Service Agreement ( BASA).

IT is widely known and 

discussed in history books 

and colonial documents that the 

British handed over power to 

the most conservative elements 

in the North. In both the North 

and the South, colonisation 

reinforced elitism and autocracy 

by granting the Native 

Authorities unbalanced, 

undisputed and unquestioned 

power, which despite 

misconceptions about precolonial 

African society, was a 

novelty. All over Nigeria, 

various groups had institutions 

meant to check the sovereign’s 

power: one can trace the 

evolution of African political 

thought during the colonial 

episode by analysing changing 

traditional sayings which went 

from emphasizing equality to 

excluding certain groups and 

people from leadership. 

We’re yet to interrogate 

Nigeria’s place within global 

history or to fully understand 

what happened which is why 

one hears such trite statements 

as “there have always been and 

there will always be poor 

people in the world” therefore 

providing a defeatist excuse for 

patriarchal, unjust and unequal 

capitalist norms which are not, 

despite what many would have 

us believe the “natural” order 

of things. 

New class of 

profiteers 

In the 1950s-70s, Nigeria had 

an educated, non-conformist 

middle class which was capable 

of countering the ruling 

oligarchy empowered by 

colonial rule: Fela’s song 

“International Thief Thief” 

criticised local fronts for neocolonialism 

who aided foreign 

governments and corporations 

in subverting the rule of law in 

Africa and cheating Africans out 

of taxes and revenue. Military 

rule and the “adventurers” in 

uniform were once seen as 

messiahs who would right 

wrongs and fight injustice on 

behalf of the poor and the 

middle class. All they did was 

create a new class of profiteers 

who were ironically less 

educated and exposed than the 

first generation of traditional 

rulers and civilian 

administrators whom the British 

handed over to. Yet again, 

Nigeria appears on the verge 

of returning power to 

conservative, feudal forces 

Diezani 

THE EFCC confirmed it’s 

working on extraditing 

Diezani Alison-Madueke, the 

former Minister of Petroleum 

from the UK. Does Nigeria have 

the capacity to successfully try 

her? It should break all our 

hearts that we have more faith 

in the UK judiciary than our 

own but can we afford to keep 

rehabilitating and excusing 

those accused of destroying this 

country? 

A generation of young people 

keeps seeing crime and 

injustice triumph over good, we 

should be afraid of what the 

future holds. Prof. Osinbajo is 

Restructuring our society: Saving the 

progressive alliance 

masquerading as reformist 

elements. 

The progressive alliance 

which accommodated 

individuals who had no 

business being allowed to call 

The real 

restructuring 

Nigeria needs can 

only be achieved by 

men and women 

committed to 

modernising politics 

and correcting the 

fundamental 

injustices in our 

society 

themselves “change agents” 

have done what they always do, 

destroy everything from within, 

leading to calls to “change the 

change”. Consistently, 

Nigerians have allowed the 

most conservative forces and 

voices who have no interest in 

•Diezani Alison Madueke 

right to say we are fighting a 

battle for this country’s soul. 

the expansion of economic 

justice or universal rights and 

freedoms to dictate policy and 

politics. Interestingly, some of 

the followers of Awolowo and 

Aminu Kano found themselves 

in the Bagandida and Abacha 

regimes, always giving one 

excuse or another for why they 

supported anti-people policies 

and the many unresolved 

corruption scandals. In 1959, 

the Northern People’s 

Congress, NPC, allied itself 

with the Niger Delta Congress, 

NDC. Goodluck Jonathan’s 

emergence as the PDP 

presidential candidate despite 

the tussle after Yar’Adua’s 

death, is less unusual than it is 

Atiku 

THE Buhari Media 

Organisation, BMO, 

reacting to Atiku Abubakar, the 

PDP presidential candidate’s 

claim that he would pay 

“N33,000 as minimum wage” to 

over 100,000 staff, said “not 

even Dangote Group which is 

the largest conglomerate in 

West Africa has the number of 

staff claimed to be on Atiku’s 

payroll”. 

Beyond this, shouldn’t we be 

worried? If indeed Atiku earns 

N30 million a year as earlier 

claimed, how can he afford to 

pay a 100,000 people N33,000 

a month, fly hundreds of them 

to Dubai on private planes, etc., 

and still afford the upkeep of his 

wives, children, well-wishers, 

etc.? This economy of largesse 

where the mathematical 

equation doesn’t make sense, 

is part of the reason why our 

economy is in crisis when 

Nigeria isn’t awash with oil 

money, that is whenever the 

price of oil drops. 

We have too many men and 

women living lives that their 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 —17 

presented, if analysed in proper Aminu Kano and Zik’s followers 

historical context. 

left the Progressive Parties 

The Niger Delta and the South Alliance, PPA, the same way 

East have often blamed the Samuel Akintola allegedly 

North for refusing restructuring, betrayed Awolowo, and merged 

federalism or marginalising with the NPN. In many ways, 

their regions etc. Yet, the Niger- Nigeria today is simply a 

Delta and the South East have continuation of the reckless, 

consistently chosen to ally undisciplined politics of the 

themselves with the most second republic where money 

trumped ideas and party 

loyalty. All progressive alliances 

in Nigeria (all political parties 

for that matter) are troubled by 

elements who don’t wish to 

conform to modernisation or to 

party discipline. 

Like in the Second Republic, 

party politics is still 

characterised by suspicion and 

confrontation between party 

executives and party members 

occupying government posts. 

To quote Senator Kabir Marafa, 

the lawmaker representing 

Zamfara Central Senatorial 

District: “Right from the outset, 

I have reason to say there are 

fifth columnists in the APC. 

There are people who are 

desirous of pulling down the 

APC, and they are within the 

party, and they have been 

working with the opposition all 

through to this point to ensure 

the APC does not work”. They 

say to dine with the devil one 

must use a long spoon. The 

spoon is never long enough in 

conservative Northern elements Nigeria. 

whose ideology is to counter In the quest to gain power 

poor people’s interests and to build a mass movement, 

everywhere. PDP is the one ends up accommodating the 

inheritor of reactionary politics very interests responsible for 

of the Second Republic NPN destruction. The real 

(National Party of Nigeria), restructuring Nigeria needs can 

dating all the way back to the only be achieved by men and 

very conservative, elitist and women committed to 

colonialist NPC (Northern modernising politics and 

People’s Congress). The true correcting the fundamental 

story of the political choices injustices in our society where 

which led to mass poverty and poverty is seen as “God’s will” 

underdevelopment in Nigeria or simply “the way things are”. 

is yet to be told. 

Beyond state creation or 

Progressives in Nigeria have resource control (which would 

rarely been able to stay together. still be overseen by the same 

Despite the incredible corrupt, selfish individuals), 

allegations of corruption against progressives must continue to 

President Shagari’s highlight the real social, 

government and the NPN, both economic and historical issues 

killing Nigeria. 

•Atiku Abubakar 

official “story” can’t really 

justify or explain. We also can’t 

afford to keep employing more 

political jobbers when the real 

productive elements of our 

economy have neither jobs nor 

prospects in a country where 

critical industries are comatose. 

If elections are simply a contest 

to keep politicians well-fed and 

merry, Nigerians know who to 

call. 

It all begins with 

unsubstantiated promises such 

as reducing fuel price to N90 

per litre despite analysts 

pointing out the landing cost of 

a liter of refined petrol is N158. 

On the subject of Atiku’s 

alleged “intimidation” because 

security and customs agents 

“screened” him at the airport, 

isn’t that due process for all 

incoming passengers to 

Nigeria, VIP or not? 

Why would a “reformer” 

reportedly object to his bags 

being checked: isn’t that routine 

procedure anywhere in the 

world, including for ministers, 

business people etc.? In fact, 

proper screening is vital in 

Africa and Asia given how easy 

it still is for many VIPs to 

smuggle arms and currency. 

Tabia Princewill is a 

strategic communications 

consultant and public policy 

analyst. She is also the cohost 

and executive producer 

of a talk show, WALK THE 

TALK which airs on 

Channels TV.


FOR once in a long while some 

diplomatic efforts to alleviate the 

sufferings of Nigerians living in foreign 

lands appear to be recording a heartwarming 

breakthrough. Shops and small 

businesses belonging to Nigerians – about 

400 in all – shut by the Ghanaian 

authorities are gradually being reopened. 

This much was confirmed by the 

Nigerian High Commissioner in Accra, 

Ambassador Michael Olufemi Abikoye, 

after being briefed by the President of the 

Nigerian Union of Traders Associations 

Ghana, Mr Chukwuemeka Nnaji. 

Between June and August this year, a 

task force of the Ghana government 

closed some shops and arrested their 

owners for alleged failure to comply 

with the country’s laws, particularly the 

stipulation that foreign-owned 

businesses must have $300,000 capital 

base (it was increased to one million 

dollars this year) and employ at least 10 

Ghanaians or they must be shut down. 

Reopening of Nigerian shops in Ghana 

The law was made following pressures 

from indigenous petty traders who 

complained of being crowded out by 

foreign competitors of which Nigerians 

constitute a huge segment. 

Though the law was expressly targeted 

at protecting the interests of Ghanaian 

citizens, it runs contrary to the free trade 

policy of the Economic Community of 

West African States, ECOWAS, to which 

both countries are signatories. Following 

the shutdowns, Nigerian traders in Ghana 

petitioned the Federal Government and 

protested at the ECOWAS Secretariat in 

Abuja on September 24, 2018. They were 

later reassured by the Deputy President 

of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 

that their businesses would “soon” be 

reopened. The Federal Government also 

summoned the Ghanaian High 

Commissioner in Nigeria, Ambassador 

Rashid Bawa, to explain the continued 

closure of the Nigerian businesses despite 

assurances they would be reopened. 

We are delighted to see that progress 

has been made in solving this debacle to 

enable the Nigerian traders resume their 

means of livelihood. But the questions 

remain: How are the two sides addressing 

the underlying factor behind the closures: 

the pressures that Ghanaian indigenous 

small business owners have adamantly 

continued to pile? Is the law going to be 

relaxed to accommodate a special clause 

for Nigerians? 

Without addressing these questions, the 

reopening of the shops will amount to a 

mere temporary palliative. We call on the 

governments of Nigeria and Ghana to 

explore a special agreement beyond the 

ECOWAS protocol to allow a measure 

of participation by artisan-level business 

owners from both countries in their 

economies without unduly threatening 

the livelihoods of indigenous petty 

traders. This will bring lasting peace. 

Ghana and Nigeria share a lot in 

common historically and socially. This 

relationship should also be extended to 

the economic front. We should put the 

ugly aspects of our past history behind 

us and leverage on our positive bonds 

for the good of both countries and the 

realisation of the ECOWAS dream. 

By Sunny Ikhioya 

THE stir caused by the killing of Jamal 

Khashoggi in the Saudi embassy in 

Turkey is yet to settle down, over a month 

after the crime was committed. Turkey has 

used the opportunity to put severe pressure 

on Saudi Arabia, as they stand at opposite 

ends of the divide in the matter concerning 

Qatar. We have also heard or read comments 

from several quarters, but, what lessons 

have we deduced from the whole incident? 

It is indeed clear that the world has now 

become a global village and things assumed 

to be done in secret are no secret anymore. 

It is increasingly clear that, if proven, killing 

with impunity will be very difficult to 

condone, whether it is done by an 

individual or a State. It is equally clear that 

such an incident can threaten the existence 

of a State or government as it is presently 

happening to Saudi Arabia. 

But beyond this, what lessons for 

Nigerians? Would you have imagined that 

the world will react to the killing of an 

individual like this, not by an individual 

but a State sponsored killing? It shows the 

value the developed or civilised world has 

placed on human lives as opposed to the 

situation in Nigeria. 

We have collectively lost our conscience. 

Human lives mean nothing to anybody, from 

the brutal terrorists to kidnappers, producers 

of fake drugs and wines, government agents 

whose actions, whether by omission or 

commission cause needless deaths of 

human beings. That is how low we have 

sunk. If life means nothing to us as a people, 

then we are now in the animal category. 

In fact, we are no more superior to them, 

OPINION 

Still on the Jamal Khashoggi murder 

because animals will stand up for their own 

if anyone is attacked. We have seen this a 

lot in the wild life series and 

documentaries. If we want to move on like 

other responsible nations, we must begin to 

hold dear the sanctity of human lives. Any 

form of killing must be condemned and 

action quickly taken to bring the culprit to 

book. 

The way the General Alkali’s killers were 

fished out, investigated and promptly 

charged to court shows that we have the 

capabilities to bring criminals to justice, the 

only problem is the lack of will and 

determination of those in charge of our law 

enforcement. 

Another revelation that came out of Jamal 

Kashoggi's killing is the role of technology 

in crime detection and investigation. It has 

shown to us that, if we do not prioritise the 

upgrade of our equipment for crime 

detection, there is no way we can win the 

war against terrorism and insurgency. 

Nations now rely more on technology and 

we are here dealing with old models. The 

CCTV camera captured the movement of 

the journalist as he went into the embassy 

until he disappeared inside, they never 

recorded his coming out. If you will recall, 

but not for CCTV cameras installed in some 

of those banks, those responsible for the 

famous Offa robbery incident would have 

been difficult to fish out. 

All efforts must now be put in motion by 

the appropriate authorities to start working 

on our equipment upgrade. There should 

be a research and development section in 

our military, with first class brains recruited 

to find solutions to problems. We must be 

self reliant in this area so that bigger nations 

do not take us for granted. We cannot over 

emphasise the importance of security 

cameras in crime detection and control. If 

cameras are placed in strategic places, all 

over the country, it will be easy to record 

crime scenes. We can even extend it to the 

jungle, especially those routes used by 

terrorists and smugglers. We have cameras 

A great percentage of 

people living in Nigeria 

now live in fear and this 

is not good for a nation 

that wants to move 

forward progressively 

that can withstand the harshest of weather, 

even under water for many years. 

Our officials must go for it, it is not rocket 

science. When the Nigerian Breweries 

organised the Gulder Ultimate search such 

cameras are used in their jungle scenes. 

The Nigerian military can adopt the same 

technique. We do not have to concentrate 

them in one place but, to spread them far 

and wide, especially in known routes. Once 

a culprit is identified, the solution to the crime 

causation is half solved, the next is to 

apprehend the culprit and bring him to 

justice. 

We have to build up on our intelligence 

gathering ability. Without information, there 

is no way we can get criminals to justice, so, 

our various intelligence units must be beefed 

up, with up to date trainings and 

equipments. If we are not arresting the 

perpetrators of serious crimes, we are equally 

encouraging potential criminals to come on 

board and this only tends to escalate the 

situation as we have now in Nigeria. It is 

therefore very important that our intelligence 

gathering technique be upgraded. 

If Turkey is a country that has not taken its 

security seriously, no one would have heard 

about the killing of Kashoggi and this kind 

of incident inspires confidence in the 

people, in the ability of their law enforcement 

agencies to check criminal tendencies. There 

is no feeling as satisfying as a strong sense 

of security, knowing that as you go to bed or 

walk the streets, you are safe. 

A lot of people in this country sleep with 

one eye closed, some do not even close their 

eyes at all. When you live in fear such as 

this, your level of productivity drops, which 

inevitably leads to low level of creativity, as 

creativity thrives better in a tranquil 

environment. A great percentage of people 

living in Nigeria now live in fear and this is 

not good for a nation that wants to move 

forward progressively. Our enforcement 

agencies must have the ability to bring 

criminals or killers to justice, no matter their 

position in society, decisive justice that will 

serve as deterrence to others with intentions 

to commit further crimes. 

*Mr .Ikhioya www.southsouthecho.com 

Twitter: @SunnyIkhioya

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 — 19 

From left: Vice President, Operations, Hubmart Stores Limited, Ezeh Oseji; platinum raffle draw winner, Oluwatosin Tessy; 

CEO, Hubmart Stores Limited, Murat Bekhtasler, and Vice President, Human Resources, Hubmart Stores Limited, Uju Oduah 

during the prize presentation ceremony for the Hubmart Awoof Promotion raffle draw in Lagos. 

NDIC saved N949bn depositors’ funds in failed 

Skye Bank –-- MD 

***says establishment of bridge bank was done by NDIC, not CBN 

By Babajide Komolafe, Prince 

Okafor & agency report 

The Nigeria Deosit 

Insurance Corporation, 

NDIC,said yesterday it 

saved about N949.6 billion 

depositors’ funds in failed 

Skye Bank. 

Managing Director of the 

Corporation, Alhaji Umaru 

Ibrahim, disclosed this at the 

opening of a workshop for 

financial journalists organised 

by the NDIC in Benin, Edo 

State. 

He said that the saving was 

achieved through the adoption 

of “bridge bank option’’, adding 

that the corporation also saved 

over 6,000 jobs in 277 branches 

of the failed bank. 

The News Agency of Nigeria 

(NAN) recalls that NDIC sacked 

the board and management of 

Skye Bank on Sept. 22 and 

changed the management and 

renamed the bank as Polaris 

Bank, using bridge bank 

CURRENCY BUYING SELLING 

US DOLLAR 

POUNDS 

EURO 

FRANC 

YEN 

CFA 

WAUA 

RENMINBI 

RIYAL 

SDR 

DANISH 

RAND 

$109.40 -0.75 

2,203.00 -6.00 

$12.67 --0.27 

$69.02 -1.10 

$59.01 -0.92 

307.7 306.2 306.7 

393.4665 394.11 394.7536 

344.3711 344.9343 345.4976 

302.7932 303.2884 303.7837 

2.6842 2.6886 2.693 

0.5132 0.5232 0.5332 

423.5537 424.2464 424.9392 

43.8818 43.954 44.0262 

81.4939 81.6272 81.7605 

423.2722 423.9645 424.6568 

46.1608 46.2363 46.3118 

21.2301 21.2648 21.2995 

CBN Exchange rate as at 13/11/2018 

liquidation option. 

Managing Director/Chief 

Executive, NDIC, Alhaji Umaru 

Ibrahim, disclosed this at the 

2018 edition of the corporation’s 

workshop for business editors 

and finance correspondents in 

Benin, Edo State. 

Represented by the Director, 

Insurance and Surveillance Department, 

NDIC, Alhaji Yayaya 

Umar, Ibrahim also disclosed 

why the licences of the MfBs 

and PMA were revoked. 

He said: “The CBN recently 

revoked the licences of 154 

MFBs, and six Primary Mortgage 

Banks, PMBs, due to their 

insolvency. The affected institutions 

were closed because some 

were found to have insufficient 

assets to meet their liabilities, 

while others had their capital to 

risk-weighted assets ratio and 

regulatory capital below the 

minimum prescribed by the 

CBN. 

“Quite a number of the banks 

had ceased to carry on the type 

of banking business for which 

their licences were issued for a 

continuous period of more than 

six months while others had 

gone into voluntary liquidation. 

“The NDIC has commenced 

verification of insured depositors 

and will soon start paying 

the verified claims to appropriate 

depositors in fulfilment of our 

core mandate. 

“From the record obtained so 

far, majority of the depositors especially 

in the MFBs, have less 

than N200,000 in their accounts, 

which implies that the NDIC 

will hopefully cover 100 percent 

of the depositors. 

Umaru said: “Some of the 

emerging issues in the global financial 

services industry, Nigeria 

inclusive, included the proliferation 

of financial technology, 

FinTech, financial consumer protection, 

financial inclusion, digital 

and mobile banking and the 

evolution of digital currencies. 

“Customer protection and financial 

inclusion as impacted by 

Fintech is now a global issue. 

Another issue worthy of mention 

is cybercrime resulting from the 

rapidly evolving complexities in 

technology.” 

“The changing landscape of 

the Nigerian financial sector 

brought to fruition the broadening 

dimension of Mobile 

Money Operators, MMOs, in 

Nigeria.” 

Oil price hits new low at $69 as OPEC predicts 

demand growth to increase by 1.5mb/d 

By Udeme Akpan 

THE price of crude 

oil, which has been 

falling in the past three 

weeks, further dropped 

from $71 per barrel to $69 

per barrel, yesterday as 

the Organisation of 

Petroleum Exporting 

Countries, OPEC, 

predicted oil demand 

growth to increase by 1.50 

mb/d y-o-y, a downward 

revision from the 

previous month of 40 tb/ 

d, mainly due to weakerthan-expected 

oil 

demand data from the 

Middle East and, to a 

lesser extent, China 

during 3Q18. 

In its report released 

yesterday, OPEC stated: 

“In 2018, oil demand 

growth is anticipated to 

increase by 1.50 mb/d y- 

o-y, a downward revision 

from the previous month of 40 tb/d, 

mainly due to weaker-thanexpected 

oil demand data from the 

Middle East and, to a lesser extent, 

China during 3Q18. 

“Expected total oil demand for the 

year is anticipated to reach 98.79 

mb/d. In 2019, world oil demand 

growth is forecast to grow by 1.29 

mb/d y-o-y, about 70 tb/d lower than 

last month’s projection, with total 

world consumption to reach 100.08 

mb/d. 

“The OECD region will 

contribute positively to oil demand 

growth, increasing by 0.25 mb/d y- 

o-y, while the non-OECD region is 

assumed to see larger growth by 

1.04 mb/d in 2019.” 

It added: “Non-OPEC oil supply 

growth in 2018 is estimated at 2.31 

mb/d, an upward revision of 0.09 

mb/d from the previous month’s 

assessment.” 

NECA slams NLRC over shutting NB business premises 

By Princewill Ekwujuru 

THE Nigeria Employers’ 

Consultative Association 

(NECA) has expressed shock at 

the gruff actions and jungle 

behaviour of the Director 

General of National Lottery 

Regulatory Commission 

(NLRC), Mr. Lanre 

Gbajabiamila in shutting down 

business premises of Nigeria 

Brewery (NB) Plc across the 

nation over promotional 

activities. 

Speaking in Lagos, the Director 

General, NECA, Mr. Olusegun 

Oshinowo said: “I am shocked 

that the NLRC boss will go all 

out to act in breach of the rule of 

law and utter contempt of court 

by shutting down the offices and 

business premises of Nigeria 

Brewery Plc in a case that is still 

before the Court of Appeal.” 

Oshinowo noted that “since 

SON releases 

new standards 

for beans 

processing 

By Naomi Uzor 

THE 

Standards 

Organisation of Nigeria 

(SON) Monday, gave highlights 

in line with the Nigerian Industrial 

Standards (NIS) and Codes of 

Practices for beans processing 

across the country. 

The Director General, SON, 

Osita Aboloma in a statement to 

commend a consumer for 

reporting a beans vendor who 

preserves beans with pesticide, 

stating that the standards are 

relevant Nigeria Industrial 

Standards and Codes of Practice 

for beans along the value chain, to 

take care of issues concerning the 

proper preservation of the crop 

from planting to the table while also 

assuring the safety of consumers. 

He enumerated the Standard 

and Codes of Practice as follows; 

Standard for Dry Beans (NIS 1030: 

2018); Code of Good Agricultural 

Practice: Planting of Dry Beans 

(NCP 065: 2018), Code of Good 

Practice: Harvesting of Dry Beans 

(NCP 067: 2018); Code of Practice 

for Packaging of Dry Beans (NCP 

064: 2018), Code of Practice: 

Storage and Transportation of Dry 

Beans (NCP 066: 2018). 

The SON helmsman urged 

Nigerians in general to take greater 

interest in their welfare by reporting 

to relevant regulatory and security 

agencies any suspected 

unwholesome, sub-standard or life 

endangering products or practices. 

He however commended the 

consumer who reported to the 

police the beans vendor for using 

a pesticide for the preservation of 

the crop on sale. 

According to him, such 

individual and collective 

awareness by consumers in 

general are essential for effective 

standards implementation and 

enforcement in Nigeria. 

He pointed out that the standard 

and codes of practices, which have 

been approved for use by the 

Standards Council, were results of 

consensus decisions by 

stakeholders, including, farmers, 

processors, Federal Ministry of 

Agriculture (FMoA) officials, 

regulatory agencies, academicians, 

research institutes and consumer 

advocates, among others, while 

SON officials provided the 

Secretariat. 

2016 when the case was filed in 

court, the past leadership of the 

Commission had exercised 

restraint and due respect for the 

law of the land”. 

According to him, “It is 

unthinkable that a Public Servant 

will rashly shut down business 

premises of a multi-billion dollar 

investment without considering 

the dire implications on the 

economy.”

20 — VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

Mary Uduk, DG, SEC 

Atiku Abubakar, Presidential Candiate, 

People's Democratic Party 

Muhammadu Buhari, President, FRN, 

& flag bearer, All Progressives Party 

Oscar Onyema, CEO, NSE 

Q4’18: Rising inflation threatens 

equities outlook 

By Nkiruka Nnorom 

THE equities as well as the 

bonds market will likely come 

under intense sell pressure in the 

remaining part of the year giving 

room to sustained reign of the bears, 

investment experts in the capital 

market have said. 

According to them, the reign of the 

bears would be made possible by expected 

uptick in inflation and further 

depletion in external reserve, 

which would keep investors’ sentiment 

in the negative. 

As at today, the stock market has 

suffered a major setback occasioned 

partly by heightened political tension 

ahead of the 2019 polls and 

speculative activities of bargain 

hunters leading to over 15 percent 

decline in the major market indicator 

- the All Share Index (ASI). 

But analysts are unanimous in 

their opinion that the downturn presents 

an opportunity for discerning 

investors to take position on good 

stocks with low valuations to lock in 

profit. 

In their market outlook for quarter 

four, Q4’18, titled, “Politics and the 

Market”, United Capital, a Lagosbased 

investment banking firm, 

said: “While the sustained uptick in 

oil prices continue to brighten Nigeria’s 

macro-economic outlook, 

weaker macro indices reflect the 

feedback effect from increasing political 

tension on the rest of the 

economy.” 

After showing compelling signs of 

improvements in half year, 2018 

(H1’18), macro variables reversed in 

Q3’18. The equities market slumped 

-14.4 percent in Q3’18, compared to 

-7.8 percent in Q2’18; average yield 

on government securities took a U- 

turn, rising by 1.6 percent; foreign 

exchange, FX rate at the I&E segment 

depreciated 0.8 percent quarter-on-quarter 

(q/q), depressing external 

reserves from $47.6 billion at 

the end of Q2’18 to $44.4 billion; oil 

prices experienced a choppy theme 

but ended 6.8 percent higher from 

the last day of June 2018; and headline 

inflation rate settled at 11.2 percent 

as at August 2018, after bottoming 

at 11.1 percent in July. 

United Capital, therefore, noted 

that in Q4’18, inflation rates may 

sustain further upticks, while external 

reserves may likely take a further 

beating as pressure on FX 

strengthens, necessitating bearish 

sentiment across market segments. 

“Accordingly, sentiment across market 

segments would remain bearish, 

presenting an opportunity for discerning 

investors to lock in funds at 

cheap valuation prices over the 

election cycle in Q1’19. The Monetary 

Policy Committee (MPC) would 

likely keep the policy rate at 14 percent 

while increasing liquidity mopup 

at the OMO market. Accordingly, 

we expect the average yield to 

continue northwards while sentiment 

in the equities space would tilt 

in favour of our most pessimistic scenario.” 

Market undervalued at current 

price – Greenwich Trust 

Also emphasising the need for investors 

to take position following the 

Training deal: CISI, NSE partnership boost for finance 

professionals in Africa 

By Peter Egwuatu 

THE Chartered Institute for Se 

curities & Investment (CISI) 

London has announced a new partnership 

with the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange (NSE) to provide trainings 

for CISI’s qualifications in Nigeria, 

under the auspices of X- 

Academy, the knowledge platform 

of the Exchange. 

A statement from CISI stated that 

the partnership will result in CISI 

accrediting X-Academy as its training 

partner in Nigeria for qualifications 

including the International 

Introduction to Securities & Investment 

(IISI), International Certificate 

in Wealth & Investment Management 

and Certificate in Derivatives. 

X-Academy will be offering 

both face-to-face and online training 

for these qualifications. 

bearish outlook, analysts at Greenwich 

Trust, another investment 

banking firm, said that relative to 

recent quarters, the P/E ratios and 

P/B valuations indicate the market 

is currently undervalued at current 

prices and advised for a buy. 

“We believe the market is currently 

at a good price to get in, we advise 

investors to take-up positions 

around, Early- Mid November, before 

the influx of additional liquidity 

in the system, as the fundamentals 

of the stocks are still strong, and 

the earnings are still relatively decent 

considering the most current 

economic cycle. We observed increased 

gross margins and operating 

margins indicating stronger fundamentals 

and a more favorable operating 

environment for firms. 

“An overview of the valuation metrics, 

show the market is priced lower 

than it has been in previous 

quarters. Price/Book Value (P/B) 

and Price Earning (P/E) ratios are 

lower than historical averages. Dividend 

yields are higher than historical 

averages. Strong fundamentals 

also seem to back our analysis. Profit 

and operating margins are also 

The CISI is the 45,000 strong, global 

not-for-profit professional body 

with members in over 100 countries. 

It has been working in Africa 

since 2012 offering exams and 

membership across the continent, 

with regulatory approval for its examinations 

in eight countries. It 

opened its first African office in 

Kenya in June. Over the last 18 

months almost 3,500 CISI examinations 

have been sat in Africa, making 

it CISI’s fastest growing market. 

Helena Wilson ,Chartered MCSI, 

Assistant Director, CISI Global 

Business Development said: “We 

are delighted to partner with the Nigerian 

Stock Exchange to provide 

training for CISI’s internationally 

recognised qualifications in Nigeria, 

supporting the development of 

higher than historical averages. Our 

action for investors is the market is 

oversold at current price,” they said. 

Implementation of ERGP 

key to capital market 

growth – Cowry Asset 

In its report themed, “Outlook on 

the Nigeria Capital Market”, Cowry 

Asset Management reckoned that 

outlook for the capital market is dependent 

on implementation of the 

Economic Recovery Growth Plan 

(ERGP) being policy framework required 

to facilitate sustainable economic 

growth and development. 

They affirmed that the growth and 

development of the capital market 

will also depend on the pace at which 

major capital market stakeholders 

achieve mileage in the attainment of 

strategic goals already established in 

the Capital Market Master Plan. To 

speed up implementation of master 

plan, we expect the fiscal authorities 

to intervene in cases where 

stakeholders have encountered bottlenecks 

in the achievement of the 

established strategic goals. We also 

expect the major stakeholders to take 

advantage of the low-hanging-fruit 

objectives which are achievable with 

the right political will, the investment 

bank said. 

human capital within the fast-growing 

Nigerian capital markets. CISI 

qualifications are fast becoming a 

benchmark across Africa, and this 

partnership is symbolic of Nigeria’s 

growing influence both within Africa 

and on the global stage.” 

Pai Gamde, Chief Human Resource 

Officer of NSE, said: “This partnership 

is a testament to the years of 

investment we have made in pushing 

the boundaries of financial education 

and stimulating investors’ 

participation in the Nigerian capital 

market. In 2017, we launched X- 

Academy to offer our ecosystem a 

blended learning approach and the 

curriculum across CISI programs 

reflects the same intent. We are 

quite excited about this development 

and we look forward to a long 

lasting relationship with CISI”.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, November14, 2018 — 21 

Crisis brews over N8bn unpaid advertising debt 

Stories by Princewill 

Ekwujuru 

THE advertising indus 

try is enmeshed in controversy 

over N8billion debt 

owed by advertisers and 

media buying agencies, 

which stakeholders blame 

on weak regulatory environment. 

Advertising agencies (ad 

agencies) said the huge 

media debt profile of client 

companies have been creating 

some operational challenges, 

especially those in 

the out–of–home advertising, 

electronic and the print 

media. 

They said the non- payment 

of the debts comes 

against the backdrop of 

promises made last year by 

all relevant stakeholders to 

address the challenge of 

advertising debt in brand 

management and management 

of brand business in 

Nigeria. 

The ad agencies pointed 

out that they are facing acute 

liquidity crisis largely due to 

the large sum being owed 

by the client companies (advertisers). 

Vanguard Companies 

and 

Markets 

(C&M) investigation revealed 

that over N8billion 

unpaid fees by advertisers, 

many of whom are multinationals 

are currently plaguing 

smooth running of business 

operations of the media 

houses and some advertising 

agencies. 

While the agencies and 

the media houses are believed 

to have fulfilled their 

own part of the contractual 

agreement by executing the 

contracts, they are now faced 

with the challenge of getting 

the clients to honour their 

part of the contractual agreement 

by paying for the services 

that have over–stayed 

the agreed grace period of 

45 working days for payment. 

The delay in payment, it 

was gathered was attributed 

to the sudden non compliance 

to the existing payment 

due date of 45 days by 

multinational companies 

who are said to be demanding 

for 180 days to process 

media invoices before payment 

is made. 

Advertising practitioners 

and media owners however 

have decried this request 

stating that it does not conform 

to global best practices. 

Few years ago, APCON 

intervened in the advertising 

debt issue by setting up 

A Special Committee on 

Media Debts Issue 

(ACOMDI). Members of 

the committee were drawn 

from the major sectoral associations, 

namely ADVAN, 

AAAN, BON, MIPAN, 

OAAN and NPAN. Chaired 

by Alhaji Ayodele Sulaiman, 

the committee met to review 

and submitted reports 

on 

media 

advertising debts 

totalling N2billion as at 

2007. 

However, the debts have 

grown over the years in part 

due to weak regulatory environment, 

encouraged by 

absence of a governing 

council for APCON. 

The absence of a governing 

council for APCON 

in the last four years, according 

to practitioners, has 

created a huge gap in its 

ability 

to 

perform its regulatory 

responsibilities. It was gathered 

that the practice in Nigeria 

is in contrast to what 

obtains in South Africa 

where advertisers are made 

to pay heavy sanction and 

financial penalty for defaulting 

on payment. 

Practitioners speak 

Mr. Sola Bamgbose, a consultant 

to a telecom company 

described the request by 

the multi-nationals for 180 

days of grace to settle the 

media debt as “uncharitable”. 

He stated that such a 

request in this modern day 

and time negates the true 

spirit of fairness and justice 

as some of these companies 

does not ask consumers of 

their goods, products and 

services to come and pay 

them after 180 days of consumption. 

His words: “The request 

by multinationals to extend 

45 days of grace to 180 days 

before paying their media 

vendors is uncharitable, unfair 

and unjust. How will 

they justify this request 

when in actual fact they collect 

money instantly from the 

consumers of their goods 

and services? 

Do they ask consumers to 

come and pay for their 

goods after 180 days of purchase”; 

he queried. 

Speaking in a similar tone, 

Mr. Kola Ayanwale, a senior 

advertising professional and 

Group Managing Director 

of Centerspread 

Grey, said the media debt 

challenge which has been 

ageless is now taking a new 

twist if clients now demand 

for 180 days. 

He stated that such demand 

cannot be justified 

while the companies in their 

home countries don’t do 

such for the media in their 

respective countries. He 

however advised media 

owners, advertising agencies 

and other stakeholders 

to rally in resolving the 

ever – rising media debt. 

Similarly, Vice – President 

of Media Independents Association 

of Nigeria, MI- 

PAN, Mr. Femi Adeusi, said 

he is yet to know about the 

180 days request, but nonetheless 

decried the undue 

delay in paying the media, 

which he attributed to the 

challenges in the terms of 

agreements for some of the 

businesses. 

He stated that some business 

terms and agreements 

From Left: Patrick Olowokere, Corporate Communications/Brand Public Relations 

Manager; Grace Udensi, Public Affairs Manager, Lagos, both of Nigerian Breweries 

Plc; Efe Paul Azino, Founder/Director and Adesola Fakile, Director, Visual Design 

and Technology, both of Lagos International Poetry Festival; during the opening 

ceremony of the Lagos International Poetry Festival held in Lagos. 

jointly agreed with clients 

may cause delay in payments. 

He advised that 

agencies and media owners 

should always scrutinize 

terms before they enter into 

business terms. 

Aside this, Adeusi stated 

that any media owner, who 

is aggrieved with any MI- 

PAN members should not 

hesitate to approach the Association 

with proofs of their 

cases which include contract 

terms and agreement and 

also the proof of job performance 

as well as their written 

petition. 

He also attributed delay in 

payment to poor job execution 

or disagreement or failure 

in full and agreed implementation 

on media contracts. 

He then enjoined 

media owners to be very 

mindful in the ways they 

execute and handle clients’ 

jobs. 

Chairman of STB Mc- 

Cann, Sir Steve Omojafor 

enjoined media owners to 

jointly write petitions to AD- 

VAN with a view to getting 

its buy–in and support of 

the advertisers umbrella 

body in requesting members 

to pay. 

Specifically, he condemned 

the idea of 180 

days request by some multinationals, 

saying that media 

houses will collapse if 

care is not taken. 

He canvassed a joint industry 

effort to resolve some 

of these lingering issues as 

the industry today is beset 

with myriads of challenges 

Ȯn his part, President of 

the Outdoor Advertising 

Association of Nigeria, 

(OAAN) Mr.Babatunde 

Adedoyin said the debts 

owed its members by advertisers 

have almost 

grounded the operations of 

all out–of–home companies 

in Nigeria. 

He said: “There appears 

to be a deliberate attempt 

by the multinationals to 

cripple the operations of 

OOH with the new talk on 

180 days”. 

Following the huge debt, 

he stated that his association 

has written letters of appeals 

to some of the companies 

and their agencies 

all to no avail. He pleaded 

that ADVAN and relevant 

stakeholders should help 

to appeal to the advertisers 

and their media buying 

agencies. 

Similarly, Vice President of 

OAAN, Emmanuel Ajufo 

said: “No payment has been 

made this year to our members. 

It is affecting our cash 

flow. Things have not been 

easy for practitioners. What I 

cannot say now is the extent 

of the debt owed members of 

the Association. We are still 

collating the figures, but the 

truth is that, it has not been 

easy.” 

ADVAN President, Mrs. 

Folake Ani – Mumunney 

stated that the association will 

do everything possible to encourage 

debtor members to 

pay but clarified that the AD- 

VAN Charter does not include 

enforcement or debt 

monitoring. 

”The association is out to 

promote cordial relations and 

business growth amongst other 

stakeholders. Some of the 

allegations on indebtedness 

and the 180 days request by 

some advertisers are totally 

new to her as nobody has ever 

brought such a thing to her 

notice,” Ani–Mumunney 

stated. 

“33” Export has evolves beyond customer-brand 

exchanges, NB 

NIGERIA Breweries 

(NB) Plc, manufacturers 

of the 33’ Export lager 

says the beer has evolved 

beyond being a brand with 

the normal customer-brand 

exchanges into a brand that 

truly cares about deepening 

the bonds of friendship. 

The company said the beer 

has gone ahead to create opportunities 

for consumers, 

thereby changing their lives. 

Speaking on the importance 

of friendship, Brand 

Manager, 33 Export, Aminah 

Jagun said: “The“33”Export 

brand is dedicated to building 

friendship moments. We 

believe that friendship 

should be celebrated every 

day. Hence, all our brand activities 

are geared towards 

celebrating friendship. To this 

end, the brand is poised to 

continually participate in activities 

that will unite us 

along these lines.” 

“The importance of having 

friends and spending 

quality time with them cannot 

be over-emphasized as research 

has shown that people 

with a wide network of 

friends have less tension, suffer 

from less stress, and live 

longer. 

MTN Partners Sterling Bank on 

Smartphone device financing scheme 

IN a bid to provide 

more Nigerians with 

access to the benefits of a 

digital world, MTN Nigeria 

in partnership with Sterling 

Bank and PayJoy recently 

launched a Device 

Financing Scheme (DFS) 

to provide customers (who 

meet their requirements) 

with the opportunity to purchase 

smartphones of their 

choice and pay over a period 

of six months. 

Speaking at the launch, 

Sales & Distribution Executive, 

MTN Nigeria, Adekunle 

Adebiyi said, “MTN 

wants every customer to benefit 

from the modern, connected 

life and it is through 

partnerships like this that 

we will see the kind of 

change that we want to see.” 

Under the DFS, the smartphones 

ranging from N25, 

000–N400, 000 can be purchased 

by any customer at 

its current purchase price 

plus a 20 percent interest 

with the Device Financing 

Scheme. 

Daikin 

launches 

Africa’s first 

inverter air 

conditioning 

system 

D 

A I K I N , 

manufacturer of 

Daikin air conditioner (AC) 

has launched the first R- 

32 Inverter split wall 

mounted AC unit, 

specifically designed for the 

African market. 

Speaking at the launch of 

the R-32 Inverter split AC in 

Lagos, Chairman, Daikin 

Middle East and Africa 

(MEA) FZE, Yuri Miyata 

expressed the company’s 

commitment to developing 

environmentally friendly 

products by using an 

alternative refrigerant, R-32 

with zero ozone depletion 

and lower global warming 

potential. 

He said: “As the world 

body on A/C manufacturers 

ratifies the Montréal 

Protocol, African countries 

must phase out ozone 

depletion materials to nearly 

zero by 2030, including the 

R-22 refrigerant used for AC 

equipment.” 

Corroborating, Vice 

President, Regional Sales, 

Daikin MEA FZE, Tuna 

Gulenc, stated: “Although a 

limited amount (2.5percent) 

of ozone depleting 

refrigerants will remain 

available between 2030 and 

2040 in already installed AC 

and refrigeration 

equipments unless 

conversion to alternative 

refrigerants in new 

equipment is implemented 

soon.” 

Chi Ice Tea 

now Chivita 

Ice Tea 

CHI Ice Tea, manufac 

tured by Chi Limited, 

is now Chivita Ice Tea. The 

company said the rebranding 

is a strategic move to 

integrate the product with 

its flagship brand, Chivita 

Ṫhe company in a statement 

said Chivita Ice Tea 

now comes in a new product 

pack that is more aspirational, 

modern and 

trendy, with the promise of 

the same refreshing goodness. 

Speaking about the product 

rebranding, Marketing 

Director of Chi Limited, Mr. 

Probal Bhattacharya, said 

the overall objectives of developing 

a fresh visual 

identity for Chivita Ice Tea 

is essential not only to key 

the product into the Chivita 

Masterbrand, but also to 

reinforce its attribute of rejuvenation 

through more 

appealing visuals that 

evoke its refreshingly natural 

goodness. 

“Chivita Ice Tea’s new 

pack design aims to communicate 

the brand’s core 

value of rejuvenation and 

natural refreshment with 

essential imageries that are 

attractive and differentiating."

22—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEM BER 14, 2018 

Beware, next-of-kin may collect 

your benefits 

Stories by Victor 

Ahiuma-Young 

•Dozens of retired civil servants carried placards and shouted slogans in protest of 

the lack of pension payments since leaving service in the government. 

WONDER they say 

shall never end. 

How else can one describes 

the reports that 

some unscrupulous nextof-kins 

are now presenting 

fictitious death certificates 

to collect benefits 

of beneficiaries of 

contributors to the Contributory 

Pension 

Scheme, CPS, while 

alive? 


fraud has come to the 

notice of the National 

Pension Commission, 

PenCom, which is not 

taking the issue lightly. 

The commission which 

expressed shock over development 

directed the 

Pension Fund Administrators, 

PFAs, to investigate 

the death certificates 

presented by beneficiaries 

of the deceased 

before payment of death 

benefits. 

Labour fumes over unpaid benefit to 

ex-PHCN staff 

UNITED Labour Con 

gress of Nigeria, 

ULC, has decried the protracted 

issue of unpaid 

benefits to former staff of 

the defunct Power Holding 

Company of Nigeria, 

PHCN, by the federal government 

five years after 

the privatization of the assets 

of PHCN. 

At a meeting of its Central 

Working Committee, 

CWC, in Lagos, leaders of 

ULC called on government 

to pay the affected 

people their entitlements 

to save them from the untold 

hardship they had 

been going through since. 

In a communique signed 

by President of ULC, Joe 

Ajaero, at the end of the 

meeting said “Nigerian 

workers insist that all arrears 

of pensions and gratuities 

owed Nigerian 

workers be settled immediately. 

We believe that it 

is mindless and wicked to 

deny Nigerian men and 

The Acting Director- 

General of PenCom, Mrs 

Aisha Dahir-Umar, gave 

the directive in Abuja, 

the commission had received 

series of complaints 

from retirees that 

some Pension Fund Administrators, 

PFAs, paid 

death benefits to their 

next-of-kins even while 

still active in service. 

According to the commission, 

it became imperative 

to curb the menace 

and strengthened 

the process of payments 

of the death benefits. 

The pension industry 

regulator also mandated 

the PFAs to improve on 

internal risk control, investigate 

documentations 

submitted by beneficiaries 

before forwarding 

to the commission for 

approval. 

“Other measures include 

conducting search 

women who have given 

their lives in the service 

of this nation to be denied 

livelihood when they 

have retired. 

“While we thank the federal 

government for commencing 

the payment of 

arrears of gratuities owed 

former PHCN workers, 

we do not take kindly to 

the half-truth and outright 

misinformation by the 

government on the number 

of people covered by 

the payment. We know 

that what the government 

is paying for now after 

much pressure is just for 

about 400 workers out of 

the over 2,000 workers 

who are suffering under 

this insensitive action of 

the government. We urge 

Government to commence 

payment on the remaining 

workers.” 

Recall that Ajaero who 

is also the General Secretary 

of the National Union 

of Electricity Employee, 

at the probate registry to 

confirm the genuineness 

of the Letter of Administration 

and verification of 

information on named 

administrator and suretiesm, 

contacting employers 

of the deceased 

for confirmation of his or 

her death. 

“PFAs must ensure that 

the affixed current passport 

photograph of the 

next-of-kin is certified by 

the deceased employer. 

“Legal beneficiaries 

must be required to submit 

a valid means of identification 

or a letter from 

a Notary Public, where a 

means of identification is 

not readily ascertained. 

“PFAs must confirm that 

the death certificate was 

issued by the hospital or 

police report in case 

death was by an accident,” 

the commission 

said in a statement. 

NUEE, in a statement on 

behalf of NUEE earlier in 

May, contended that “cases 

of staff who have been 

duly verified but not yet 

paid their severance benefits 

include cases of under-payment 

of severance 

benefits, Unpaid severance 

entitlements and 

pension deductions of all 

PHCN staff covering 16 

months – July, 2012 – October, 

2013. Cases of staff 

who statutorily retired 

from service but yet to be 

paid their respective gratuities 

preceding the privatisation 

exercise. Cases 

of staff yet to receive the 

pension components of 

their entitlement, death 

cases still awaiting payment 

to the Next of Kin.” 

The union added that also 

pending was the “refusal 

to conduct pre-retirement 

training for PHCN workers 

as required by the negotiated 

agreement.” 

Nigeria’s agric sector challenged 

by animal diseases — FAO 

THE Food and 

Agriculture 

Organisation (FAO) has 

identified Transboundary 

Animal Diseases (TADs) 

and ZSoonosis as one of 

the major challenges 

constraining the country’s 

agricultural sector. 

Zoonosis is animal 

diseases transferable to 

man. 

Mr Suffyan Koroma, the 

FAO Country 

Representative made this 

known in Abuja during 

the week at a three-day 

training on Good 

Emergency Management 

Practices (GEMP). 

Kotoma, who was 

represented by Mr 

Columba Vakuru, an 

Officer in FAO said that in 

Nigeria, even though most 

of the population was 

rural dwellers, who 

engage in animal herding 

and subsistence farming, 

livestock contributed only 

about one-third to the 

agriculture sector. 

“Apart from the income 

the country derives from 

oil production, the full 

potential of its livestock 

resources remains under 

exploited. 

“This is because there 

are many challenges 

presently constraining the 

sector which include the 

occurrence of TADs and 

Zoonosis such as Foot and 

Mouth Diseases (FMD),” 

FOLLOWING the 

video of a beans 

vendor, who preserves 

beans with pesticide, 

going viral , the 

Standards Organisation 

of Nigeria , SON, has 

come up with Codes of 

Practices for planting 

beans seed across the 

country. 

The Director General, 

SON, , Osita Aboloma, 

stated that the 

standards are relevant 

Nigeria Industrial 

Standards and Codes of 

Practice for beans along 

the value chain, to take 

care of issues 

concerning the proper 

preservation of the crop 

from planting to the 

table while also 

assuring the safety of 

consumers. 

He enumerated the 

Standard and Codes of 

Practice as follows; 

Standard for Dry Beans 

(NIS 1030: 2018); Code 

of Good Agricultural 

Practice: Planting of Dry 

Beans (NCP 065: 2018), 

•Farmgoats 

he said. 

He identified other 

challenges to include an 

under resourced 

veterinary services, 

limited technical 

expertise, lack of 

appropriate policy and 

regulation frameworks. 

Others are poorly 

organised livestock value 

chains and low capacities 

for effective animal 

diseases surveillance, 

detection, preparedness 

and response to 

outbreaks. 

“Since 2015, several 

outbreaks of highly 

pathogenic avian 

influenza (HPAI) and 

H5N8 in many states 

have underlined the ever 

present threat of 

emergence and reemergence 

of TADs and 

Zoonosis. 

H5N8 is a sub type of 

Influenza A virus 

considered one of the less 

pathogenic sub types for 

humans. 

“Therefore, an animal 

disease emergency such 

as an outbreak of a 

transboundary animal 

disease has always 

serious socio-economic 

consequences if there are 

no proper emergency 

planning and response 

team. 

“ E m e r g e n c y 

management planning 

principles are essential to 

effectively manage TADs 

toward the common goal 

of protecting animal 

resource, sustaining 

livelihood and 

safeguarding the public 

and environment. 

“This training will 

prepare competent hands 

to promptly and swiftly 

respond to any 

emergency zoo sanitary 

situations in the country,” 

he added. 

SON releases new standards for 

Beans Planting 

Code of Good Practice: 

Harvesting of Dry Beans 

(NCP 067: 2018); Code 

of Practice for Packaging 

of Dry Beans (NCP 064: 

2018), Code of Practice: 

Storage 

and 

Transportation of Dry 

Beans (NCP 066: 2018) 

The SON helmsman 

urged Nigerians in 

general to take greater 

interest in their welfare 

by reporting to relevant 

regulatory and security 

agencies any suspected 

unwholesome, substandard 

or life 

endangering products 

or practices. 

He, however, 

commended the 

consumer, who reported 

to the police the beans 

vendor using a 

pesticide for the 

preservation of the crop 

on sale. 

According to him, 

such individual and 

collective awareness by 

consumers in general 

are essential for effective 

s t a n d a r d s 

implementation and 

enforcement in Nigeria. 

He pointed out that the 

standard and codes of 

practices, which have 

been approved for use 

by the Standards 

Council, were results of 

consensus decisions by 

stakeholders, including, 

farmers, processors, 

Federal Ministry of 

Agriculture (FMoA) 

officials, regulatory 

agencies, academicians, 

research institutes and 

consumer advocates, 

among others, while 

SON officials provided 

the Secretariat. 

The SON Chief 

Executive stated that 

plans are ongoing 

among the FMoA, other 

regulatory agencies and 

SON for a nationwide 

advocacy programme for 

farmers, processors and 

extension workers in 

states and local 

governments on the 

standard and codes of 

practice for beans and 

other grains.

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 —23 

08052201992 

•Sink Clogging 

Sink Clogging: How to avoid unnecessary 

spending 

Kitchen sinks should be 

one of the most 

recurrent kitchen 

malfunction in a home. It is 

usually an issue that 

Homemakers don't like to face 

or hear from their children that 

water is not going down the 

drain. They are usually 

repulsed and what runs down 

their brain immediately is the 

sight, the slime and the bad 

smell. Despite these, many 

women still don't take the 

necessary precautions to 

avoid it. 

The funny part of it is that 

those kitchen sinks don’t clog 

by themselves. They are 

often clogged by the little 

dirts and remnants of food 

that fall in during the course 

for watching plates. When 

these tiny dirts fall in, its goes 

on to form bigger dirts which 

in turn clogs the drainage. We 

all know that the holes in a 

sink is big enough to let a 

grain of rice through or even 

a seed of beans. Imagine 

when a lot of it gets in, it clogs 

the drain which results in 

calling in a plumber to fix and 

thereby spending 

unnecessary money. 

Tips to use to avoid having 

a clogged drainage system. 

•Endeavor to keep your sink 

clean all the time. 

•When ready to clean up the 

dishes, have a dustbin closeby 

where you can pour out the 

dirts and clean the plates 

before transferring them to the 

sink to be washed. The biggest 

reason why kitchen sinks clog 

is because people aren't 

mindful of what they're 

throwing down the drain. 

Anything and everything 

goes. 

•Always have your sink 

covered with the sink cover 

which has smaller holes than 

the normal sink holes. This 

will help reduce the amount 

of dirt that find their way into 

the drain. 

•As much as possible, try to 

pour hot boiling water straight 

into your drainage. It helps to 

dissolve the clogged dirt into 

smaller bits that can pass 

through the drain without 

blocking it. 

NOTE: Never dump grease 

down the kitchen sink. 

Grease, even when run with 

hot water, will at some point 

stop and congeal. Indeed, hot 

water simply delays the 

process, pushing the future, 

CONSUMER WATCH A place that makes you plan ahead 

greasy clog further down into 

the drainage system where 

it will be harder to access and 

can lead to clogs and 

possible pipe cleaning. 

Eventually, all drains must 

clog. You can’t stop your sink 

drains from clogging forever, 

no matter how badly you 

may want to. What you can 

do is learn about the ways 

drains clog and take steps to 

avoid them. Preventing clogs 

will not only save you the 

hassle of constant 

unclogging, it will help 

extend the lifespan and 

effectiveness of both your 

sink and pipes. 

Items Prices Items 

Prices 

Items Prices 

Basket of Tomatoes 

N11,000-N14000 A bag of Garri (Yellow) N5,000-N8,000 Tomato paste (2,200g) N1500-N1800 

Ghana / Cameroun Tomatoes 

A paint bucket 

N400 

Tomatoe paste (Medium) N600-N650 

(small basket) N4,000- N6,000 A bag of Ijebu Gari 

N5,000 - N8000 Tomato paste(small) 

N270 

Bag of Bawa N5,000- N8,000 A paint bucket 

N500 

Tomato sachet (a roll) 

N250 

Bag of Pepper (Rodo) N6,500 - N10,000 25 Litres of Vegetable Oil N10,500-N11,000 

Pack of toilet roll (48pieces) N1800-N2,000 

A Satchet of milk 

N30-N50 

A bag of Long pepper N14,000 – N15,000 10Litres N4,800 

A Sachet of beverage 

N45-N50 

A bag of Onions (white) N24,000 – N32,000 25 Litres of Palm Oil N12,000 

Toothpaste 

N270-N300 

A bag of Onions (Red) N22,000- N28,000 5Litres of Palm Oil N2,100 

5 Litres of Kerosine N1,200 

50kg of long grain Rice N14,500 -N15,000 Salt 

N50-N200 

12.5kg. Cooking gas N4,000 

A derica of long grain Rice N250 

Noodles- 70g 

N1500- N1970 Yam (1 tuber). 

N400- N1000 

50kg of short grain Rice. N14,500 

Spaghetti (1packet) N200 

Ugu Leaf (a bundle) N3, 000 – N4, 000 

A derica of short grain Rice N250 

Macaroni(1packet) N200 

A dozen of tied Ugu Leaf N750 

A crate of eggs N950 - N1,200 Semovita (10kg) N2,800 

Moin-Moin Leaf (a dozen) N1000, 

A bag of Olotu beans N51,000 

Diapers (cartons of 8) N1680- N4000 1 pack- N150 

A bag of Oloyin N34,000 

Seasonings N110 – Carton Titus ice Fish N19,500 

A bag of Yam Flour (Elubo) N80,000 

N500 

1 Carton of Kote ice fish N14,500 

1 Carton of Croacker ice Fish N20,000,

24—Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018

Vanguard, WEDESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—25

C 

M 

Y 

K 


Core Banking: Seven countries to experience digital transformation through Temenos app 

By Juliet Umeh 

No fewer than seven countries 

will benefit from digital transformation 

using Temenos T24 Core 

Banking application as well as a 

host of additional solutions including, 

Temenos’ Front Office Suite, Analytics 

& Reporting. Others include, 

Payments Solution, Risk & Compliance 

and Islamic banking capabil- 

ities. 

This was revealed recently when 

a system integrator in Sub-Saharan 

Africa, Inlaks, and banking software 

company, Temenos recently 

secured a Temenos deal in a Francophone 

country, Afriland First 

Bank Cameroon. 

The project, according to them, 

will be implemented in countries 

such as Cameroun, Côte d’Ivoire, 

São Tomé and Príncipe, the Democratic 

Republic of the Congo, 

Liberia, South Sudan and Guinea 

at its first phase. 

Inlaks will implement the Temenos 

software which will enable 

the bank introduce new products 

and services more quickly, support 

its growth ambitions and continue 

to pursue its vision to become the 

most innovative bank in Africa. The 

bank will also be able to offer market-leading 

services to its customers 

through enhanced digital channels. 

Managing Director, Africa Operations 

of Inlaks, Femi Adeoti said, 

“We are delighted to partner with 

Temenos in executing this landmark 

deal which will see Temenos 

T24 replacing an entrenched core 

banking application in Francophone 

countries across Africa”. 

Inlaks in the past had implemented 

a similar project in six countries 

of the West Africa Monetary Institute 

comprising Gambia, Ghana, 

Guinea, Nigeria, Liberia and Sierra 

Leone. The project was an African 

Development Bank (ADB) 

sponsored project in collaboration 

with West African Monetary Institute, 

WAMI). 

By Prince Osuagwu (Hi- 

Tech Editor) 

It was as if this time would not 

come. At some point a 

likelihood of the jinx that befell 

the country’s national carrier, 

NITEL, leading to the unbundling 

sale of its assets, was starring 

9Mobile in the face. 

But finally, 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 

Communications Commission 

(NCC) to own the 

telecommunications company. 

The company also immediately, 

constituted a new board of 

directors to manage the affairs of 

the company bidding the interim 

board which held forth while the 

bid process and payment 

negotiations lasted, farewell. 

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 


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 


Board of the Nigerian 


(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-inclass 

additional value for their 

relationship with the 9mobile 

brand” 

Rough journey to acquisition 

•Danbatta, 

NCC EVC 

Going! Going! Gone! 

Finally, 9Mobile 

goes to Teleology 

•The intrigues that followed sale of Nigeria’s 

4th telco 

The journey that led to the joy 

which Teleology expresses now 

as authentic owners of Nigeria’s 

4 th telecom operator, 9mobile, 

started on a very rough pathway. 

The company alongside other 

15 interested bidders, indicated 

interest to buy the telco, as far 

back as October 2017. 

However, after Backlays Africa 

and other stakeholders including 

the NCC and CBN, relegated 

14 bidders, leaving Teleology 

and Smile Communications as 

last two serious contenders, 

heavy confusion rocked the sale 

process. 

Although Backlays Africa 

pronounced Teleology as the 

winner (Preferred bidder) issues 

like its technical competence, 

operational capability and 

general strength of the 

organisation surfaced, causing 

unnecessary delay. At a point it 

was difficult to say who the 

preferred or reserved bidder 

was between Teleology and 

Smile Communications. 

Consequently, 9mobile, 

suffered a loss in market share 

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 

estimated at N5.5 billion in six 

months, occasioned by the 

confusion and delay in the sale of 

the company. 

Market share and revenue loss 

In fact, not only did it lose 

market share, it also lost ground 

in both voice subscriber base and 

internet users. 

Analysing NCC’s Monthly 

Internet Subscribers data for 

December 2017, showed that 

9mobile lost 68,341 internet users 

while competitors like MTN, 

Airtel and Globacom gained 

2,642.666; 911,040 and 87,538 

respectively. 

While their gains took them to 

36,069,597; 23,985.203 and 

26,997,817 internet subscriptions 

respectively, 9mobile’s loss 

reduced its internet users to 

11,338.839 as against 11,407,180 

in November same year. 

Worse is the rate at which the 

company lost market share and 

subscriber base. Data from NCC 

showed that, the once innovative 

*Stephane 

Beuvelet9mobile 

new MD 

company that boasted of over 

21million subscribers was as at 

the time of review, hovering 

between 16 and 17 million 

subscribers, indicating decline of 

about four million subscribers in 

just six months. 

N5.5billion lost 

Using the last Average Revenue 

Per User (ARPU), statistics from 

NCC, 9mobile, at the time, was 

losing approximately N5.5billion 

in those four million subscribers. 

ARPU, refers to the financial 

performance benchmark in the 

telecoms industry that measures 

the average monthly spending on 

each SIM card. The commission, 

in 2016, recorded that average 

monthly revenue generated by 

operators from each telecom 

subscriber, is estimated at around 

$4.5 (N1,372) with the official 

exchange rate currently at N305 

to the dollar, at the time. 

Going by that figure, the 

telecom company may have lost 

well over N5bn, in addition to the 

huge revenue it must have also 

lost in dropping 68,341 internet 

users in December. 

However, when the dust of 

those issues settled a bit, 

Teleology was affirmed the 

preferred bidder and on March 

21, 2018 it paid the initial $50 

million non-refundable deposit as 

a demonstration of its 

commitment to acquire the telco. 

It was therefore given a 90-day 

timeline to pay the balance. 

On expiration of the deadline, 

it was rumoured that the inability 

of the Central Bank of Nigeria 

Continues on Page 28


MOBILE MARKET 

Quality Bluetooth speakers 

across online shops in Nigeria 


Are you interested in making your home feel like Movie Theater? 

I 

n 

fact, a good Bluetooth home theater setup is capable of providing 

you more impressive experience than many of those small multiplex 

cinema screens. But, finding some of those good speakers can be 

complex because of numerous options available in the market. This is 

why Vanguard Mobile Market this week presents you with best 

Bluetooth speakers across Nigeria Online Shops with their prices. 

Djack Bluetooth Hifi System - Dj-l2 

With its two body guard 

surround speaker, one can 

enjoy interference free sound 

quality and sensational sound 

production with the Djack Bluetooth 

Hifi System device. Its key features 

Bluetooth Function with USB Port, 

SD Card and FM. 

It is compatible with various 

sound sources and it supports 

Mp3, Wma Format Music, X-Bass. 

Its frequency response is 38Hz- 

20KHz among other qualities. 

This device is ¦ 31,499 only at Djack Bluetooth Hifi System 

Konga online shop 

The LG Bluetooth DVD Home Theatre 

LG Bluetooth DVD 

Home Theatre 

With its Bright white LED 

display with good view 

angle, this device has FM storage 

of up to 100 stations. 

F5060X 5.1 Home Theatre Bluetooth 

Multimedia Speaker System 

also can give clear sound with 

powerful bass. You can play your 

desired song and FM stations 

directly with numeric keys on the 

remote. 

One can it with N80, 000 at Jiji 

Kara 

LG-Music Flow-P71 copy 

1024x576 

With this device, you can 

experience powerful 

bass through specially tuned 

sound matrix. 

The LG Bluetooth DVD 

Home Theatre - LHD655B 

features a Full HD with four 

5.1 channel tall speakers. It 

has a power output of 1000W 

and also features Bluetooth 

technology that enables you 

pair your system with other 

Bluetooth devices 

It goes for ¦ 76,500 at 

Jumia 

Home Theatre Bluetooth 

Multimedia Speaker System 

F5060X 5.1 Home Theatre 

Bluetooth Multimedia 

Speaker System 

The LG Portable Bluetooth 

Speaker-7550 NP 

The LG Portable Bluetooth Speake 

r - 

7550 NP enriches the listening 

experience with twice the sound performance. 

You can comfortably stream 

music wirelessly from your smart devices 

for more versatile listening experience. 

MusicFlow P7 can connect up 

to three Bluetooth devices at the same 

time, letting you switch between them 

without the hassle. 

Buy the Portable Bluetooth Speaker 

at Kara online at ¦ 45,600.00 only. 

Photo: LG Portable Bluetooth Speaker-7550 

NP, 28/10/18 

From left: Ope Adesina, Tech. Manager CBC GEDU'; Happiness Obioha, Human Resources 

and Communications Manager CBC GEDU and Wayne Forsman, Forcepoint Account 

Manager for Africa, at the Forcepoint partner event in Lagos, recently 

Canadian Governor General, Payette, explains why 

Nigeria must own communications satellite 

•As country mulls trip to the space 

By Emmanuel Elebeke 

The Governor Gener 

al of Canada and 

world renowned astronaut, 

Julie Payette says 

Nigeria must continue to 

operate her own communications 

and Remote 

Sensing satellites to be 

able to share relevant 

data that can help solve 

some intricate problems. 

Payette gave the advice 

at the National Space Research 

and Development 

Agency, NASRDA, in 

Abuja, recently, during 

her state visit to Nigeria. 

She proposed the operation 

of both Communication 

and remote sensing 

satellite in Nigeria to enable 

the country gather 

data and share information 

about any natural disaster 

that may occur in 

the country with a view to 

finding a lasting solution 

to the problem. 

According to the Canadian 

astronaut, the operation 

of such satellites allows 

for an opening for 

collaboration where the 

needs of Nigeria can be 

placed where all other 

communities working 

together would assist 

her in tackling her 

challenges. 

She said, “having a 

communication satellite 

and remote sensing 

capabilities in Nigeria 

opens doors to a lot of 

collaborations. If there 

is a remote sensing demand 

on ground because 

of the flood or 

natural disaster, every 

nation that has remote 

sensing satellite will 

provide data, whoever 

has satellite at the time 

will now provide the 

data so that the authorities 

will use that 

data to tackle the disaster? 

Nigeria is in 

that group. 

She said that although 

there are lots of 

works on ground, but 

having the proper data 

from space has the capability 

of providing 

solutions to problems. 

“One of the most important 

thing is that 

By Prince Osuagwu 

Leading data & 

marketing technology 

company, Terragon Group, 

has created a Fireside where 

it hosts relevant stakeholders 

in the nation’s financial sector 

and other top Information 

and Communications Technology 

practitioners 

The latest fireside chat 

which happened last week in 

Lagos, was with the Managing 

Director, Nigeria Inter- 

Bank Settlement System 

(NIBSS), Mr Adebisi Shonubi, 

and top executives of financial 

institutions in Nigeria. 

Theme of the chat was 

“Transforming customer experience 

on digital channels 

through data science and artificial 

intelligence”. 

The discussions centred on 

how banks and other financial 

institutions can use Data 

Analytics and Artificial Intelligence 

to close the Financial 

Inclusion gap. 

Before the chat, Terragon 

CEO, Mr. Elo Umeh, had 

hosted the media, highlighting 

visions of the company 

and some of the intricate 

problems plaguing 

the Nigerian tech ecosystem 

which he hoped would 

burn out at the Fireside. 

He unveiled an Artificial 

Intelligence enabled product 

cum solution tagged 

Adrenaline, which rides 

on the algorithms and behavioural 

patterns of mobile 

phone users to decipher 

the services they may 

when you have a 

project like that, it inspires 

the young generation 

to study science 

and technology 

and eventually become 

engineers and professionals.” 

In his remarks, the 

Minister of Science 

and Technology, Dr. 

Ogbonnaya Onu admitted 

that the visit 

may not only help science 

and technology 

grow in Nigeria but 

could also help the 

younger ones study 

science and technology 

in schools. 

Onu, who described 

Payette as a great woman 

of knowledge promised 

that Nigeria’s 

space programme will 

progressively advance 

to the expected end. 

“Our space programme 

is progressing 

satisfactorily. I am very 

proud of the work NAS- 

RDA has done over 

two decades of its existence. 

Financial inclusion: Terragon takes 

NIBSS MD to the fireside 

L-R: VP, Global Sales, EMEA, Terragon Group, Simon 

Curtis, MD, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System 

(NIBSS), Adebisi Shonubi, CEO, Terragon Group, Elo 

Umeh and Chief Technology Officer Terragon Group, 

Ayodeji Balogun, at the Terragon Fireside Chat for Financial 

Service Institutions held at the Terragon Group 

Office in Lagos, recently 

likely wish to be rendered. 

Umeh said that Terragon’s 

Adrenaline solution 

is right at the heart of 

banks digital transformation 

required to meet Nigeria’s 

financial inclusion 

target. 

He added that drawing 

on the advantages of mobile 

technology, messages 

can reach the last mile, as 

long as they have a mobile 

phone.



T elecommunications 

company, MTN Nigeria, 

has said that recent experiences 

have proven that for businesses to 

operate efficiently, promote 

productivity and improve agility, 

the drivers must activate changes 

in business modules, value 

delivery system and sometimes in 

the entire ecosystem. 

The telecom firm said such 

businesses must disrupt 

themselves by creating additional 

capabilities, new markets and 

sustained profitability. 

It however said that to get all 

these combo, strategic 

partnerships are highly needed 

else instead of getting disruptive 

they may end up getting 

disrupted. 

To help such businesses strike 

the right balance, the telco in 

partnership with hundreds of 

DATA Centre operator, 

Rack Centre, has been 

named the winner in the Best Data 

Centre Innovation category of this 

year’s Capacity Europe 2018 

Global Carrier Awards in London. 

The award, according to CEO 

of Capacity Media, Rosalind 

Irving, “underscores the high 

benchmark Rack Centre has 

achieved since its launch as it has 

truly set the pace, raised the bar 

in its region, and has operated 

with 100 percent efficiency” 

In the past 14 years, the 

Capacity Media Global Carrier 

Awards, celebrating innovation, 

and excellence, has become a 

highly regarded global award 

event in the wholesale telecoms 

and technology calendar. The 

award has over the years provided 

an avenue to reward genuine 

MTN’s ‘Fusion’ to create 

right technologies for 

businesses 

other Nigerian businesses in 

Lagos, recently launched a 

partner summit tagged: ‘MTN 

Fusion’. 

Speaking at the summit, Chief 

Enterprise Business Officer, MTN 

Nigeria, Mrs. Lynda Saint-Nwafor, 

said Fusion is what summed the 

new vision that they have for the 

new value delivery ecosystem that 

they want to create. 

Saint-Nwafor said: “For us at 

MTN, Fusion is the combination 

of the right capabilities, platforms 

and technologies to create 

superior possibilities. 

She said: “It is all about 

innovation and value creation, 

through collaboration, cocreation 

and efforts in deepening 

our market. We want to make sure 

that every business in Nigeria has 

the opportunity to maximize 

potentials in the market. 

“Our target is any business that is 

focused on creating solutions, ICT 

driven and any business that drives 

or develops technology solutions 

that are targeted to enterprise,” she 

said. 

She said the partnership 

framework in Nigeria has been 

designed with the partner in mind. 

“Across the value chain, we have 

streamlined our processes to ensure 

that our partners has a pleasurable 

EUROPEGLOBAL CARRIER AWARDS: Rack Centre, named 

Best innovative Data Centre 


(CBN), 

Nigeria 

Communications 

Commission (NCC) and other 

stakeholders to reach a 

meaningful conclusion on the 

matter, stalled the final 

takeover. 

Meanwhile, Teleology was 

granted an extension of 20 

days to tidy up the payment 

process and take over 

9mobile. 

Before the expiration of the 

20 days, the NCC has hinted 

that even with the final 

payment, the technical 

capability of Teleology to 

manage 9mobile successfully 

must be put into serious 

forensic test before operating 

license could be transferred to 

it. That also threw another 

round of confusion and 

needless panic. 

However, having finally 

issued the approval of no 

objection, it could be that the 

NCC has tested and approved 

Teleology’s technical 

capability. 

History of 9mobile 

9mobile began as Emerging 

Markets Telecommunications 

Services, EMTS, which first 

traded as Etisalat Nigeria. 

innovation and service excellence 

reflecting the continuing 

evolution of international carriers. 

Winners of the awards were 

chosen by a judging panel of 

industry experts and senior team 

members of Capacity Media, and 

Finally, 9Mobile goes to Teleology 

Continues from Page 26 

•Ayotunde Coker, MD, Rack Centre 

Duly incorporated under the laws 

of Nigeria in partnership with 

Mubadala Development 

Company and Etisalat of the 

United Arab Emirates, it 

acquired the Unified Access 

Licence from the Federal 

Government in January 2007. 

The licence includes a mobile 

licence and spectrum in the GSM 

1800 and 900 MHz bands. 

The telecom company made the 

first official call on its network on 

March 13, 2008 in the presence 

of officials from the Nigerian 


and the Senate. In September of 

same year, it kicked off 

commercial operations with the 

0809uchoose campaign which 

enabled Nigerians choose 

numbers special to them as their 

mobile numbers. 

Network rehabilitation 

In April 2013, the company 

announced it would invest over 

$500 million to expand its 

network, enabling further 

potential market growth of 17 per 

cent and went ahead to obtain a 

medium term loan of $1.2bn from 

a consortium of 13 banks, which 

it used to refinance an existing 

$650 million loan and fund a 

modernisation of its network. The 

loan, which involved a foreignbacked 

guaranty bond, was for it 

all submissions were assessed 

using an incisive points system 

to allow further depth of analysis 

and rigour. The 2018 award was 

presented by Mr Ed Stafford, the 

world record breaking polar 

explorer, a Guinness World record 

to finance a major network 

rehabilitation and expansion of its 

operational base in Nigeria. 

However, since 2016, the 

consortium of banks has been 

having a running battle with the 

mobile telephone operator over 

repayment of the loan facility. 

Although the company said it 

consistently serviced the debt 

until it began to experience cash 

flow problems following the steep 

depreciation of the naira and the 

impact on its foreign currency 

denominated exposure.. 

How Etisalat left 

Following breakdown in 

negotiations, the company’s two 

foreign investors, Emirates 

Telecommunications Service and 

Mubadala withdrew their 

interest in the concern, 

compounding the problems of 

EMTS. 

Chief Executive of Etisalat 

International, Hatem Dowidar, 

while announcing the withdrawal 

at Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange, 

gave Etisalat Nigeria just three 

weeks to use the brand name and 

phase it out completely. 

Its technical partners, 

Mubadala, also followed suit, 

leading to a massive resignation 

of top executives of Etisalat 

Nigeria and the chairman of the 

board. 

experience while they are with us 

starting with dedication, to 

agreement and contract that have 

been very simplified and 

partnership incentives. But most 

importantly, we have put in place a 

very effective governance structure. 

“Finally, we developed a portal for 

all our partners to manage their 

business from any part of the world 

with a simple click. 

According to Saint-Nwafor, MTN 

holder. 

Speaking of the 2018 the award, 

Jason McGee-Abe, the Capacity 

Media Editor in Chief and Head 

Judge, said” we have seen a 

number of key innovations and 

developments in the wholesale 

market and so it was great to take 

the time to celebrate the exciting 

companies, projects and 

partnership in today’s dynamic 

wholesale carrier industry” 

Responding, Managing 

director,Rack Centre Ayotunde 

Coker, said “we are truly 

honoured with this recognition of 

excellence and innovation on the 

world stage, a testament to the 

sustained world class quality and 

innovation delivered by Rack 

Centre, anchored in Nigeria. 

Rack Centre was recognised in 

company of some of the leading 

players in the world and we are 

proud to be representing Nigeria 

and West Africa at the global 

stage.” 

Regulatory interventions 

At that point, it appeared a 

takeover was most likely but 

the intervention of Nigerian 

telecom and banking 

regulators, the Nigerian 


and the Central Bank of 

Nigeria, saved Etisalat Nigeria 

from being taken over by a 

consortium of Nigerian and 

foreign banks. 

The two regulators persuaded 

the banks to rethink their threat 

and give Etisalat a chance to 

renegotiate the loan’s 

repayment schedule. Further 

negotiations brought about a 

new board comprising of 

appointees of the consortium, 

the telecommunications 

company and the regulators 

and subsequently a new name 

9Mobile. 

However, having seen that a 

new board and name change 

were not all it required to settle 

the loan which has been the 

heart of the matter, the 

regulators, the consortium, 

represented by its financial 

adviser, Backlays Africa and the 

board, agreed to put the 

telecom company for sale. 

Incidentally, different 

interests, litigations, more debt 

claims among other 

bottlenecks, kept the sale 

process in limbo, for a long 

time. 

•Lynda Saint-Nwafor 

believe strongly in partnering with 

other like-minded companies even 

as she promised that the Partner 

Summit will be an annual event that 

will see MTN Nigeria bringing 

together key stakeholders, thoughtleaders, 

Small and Medium 

Enterprise owners, Large 

Enterprises and the Public Sector to 

co-create solutions that would 

enhance the ICT ecosystem in the 

country. 

TechCrunch 

returns to 

Africa with 

Startup 

Battlefield 

By Prince Osuagwu 

Towards its effort to identify 

b e s t 

innovators, makers and 

technical entrepreneurs in Sub- 

Saharan Africa region, 

TechCrunch Startup Battlefield in 

partnership with Facebook, is set 

to take place in to Africa. 

The event will have senior 

partner at TLcom Capital, 

Omobola Johnson, as keynote 

speaker as well as other industry 

leaders such as senior partner at 

TLcom Capital, and Lexi Novitske 

of Singularity Investments. 

Following the success of last 

year’s Startup Battlefield Africa in 

Nairobi, Kenya, the 2018 

competition will unfold in Lagos, 

Nigeria. 

Startups from across the Sub- 

Saharan Africa will be 

competing to be crowned the 

continent’s best startup on 11 

December, following in the 

footsteps of 2017 overall 

winner, Kenya based Lori 

Systems, who built a logistics 

platform, revolutionising the 

cargo-transport value chain in 

Africa. 

TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 

is looking to identify Sub- 

Saharan Africa’s best innovators, 

makers and technical 

entrepreneurs. Last year the 

competition highlighted how 

technology is optimising supply 

chains, increasing access to 

education, strengthening 

farmers’ revenues and so much 

more. 

The judges will have to select a 

winner to be dubbed; “Sub- 

Saharan Africa’s Most Promising 

Startup.” The winning startup’s 

founders will be awarded $25,000 

in cash plus a trip for two to 

compete in Startup Battlefield at 

TechCrunch’s flagship event, 

Disrupt in 2019.


Need to halt drug misuse and abuse 

in Nigeria before it gets out of hand 

IN the year 2001 or thereabout, I 

was a member of a delegation 

of the Nigerian American Chamber 

of Commerce (NACC) that visited 

President Olusegun Obasanjo at Aso 

Rock. The delegation was led by the 

President of the chamber at that time, 

Chief (Mrs) Priscillia Kuye, SAN. 

When Mrs Kuye finished addressing 

the President, she graciously 

requested if I had something to add. 

I rose up to grab the opportunity. But 

before I would speak, she introduced 

me to the President as a Pharmacist 

and Chairman/ CEO of Neimeth 

International Pharmaceuticals Plc, 

a successor company of Pfizer 

Products Plc. 

As I tried to open my mouth, the 

President charged at me, “You 

pharmacists, you are the ones that 

import fake drugs into the country!” 

I was stunned, but quickly 

remonstrated that his statement was 

untrue. When he insisted, I told him 

emphatically that no trained and 

licensed pharmacist will deal in fake, 

adulterated or counterfeit drugs, 

except if he was insane (mentally 

deranged) or did so unknowingly. I 

told him that there were many 

interlopers and business miscreants 

who were pretending to be 

“pharmacists”, who actually were 

the ones making merchandise out 

of the suffering and death of innocent 

Nigerians. To further push his point 

as we all know that OBJ will never 

voluntarily lose an argument, he 

raised another accusation against 

pharmacists. 

He said "but some of you make 

copies of your certificates and 

licenses and place them in many 

shops without adequate 

supervision”. Here I conceded that 

such could have happened in the 

years of yore, when there were very 

few licensed pharmacists in the 

country. I assured him that with the 

Pharmacists Council Decree of 

1992, such practices had stopped and 

that as a matter of fact, there were 

many unemployed pharmacists 

looking for jobs, so it would be 

unacceptable to the profession and 

Council for one person to oversee 

more than one premises or outlet 

while others were without job. We 

concluded this altercation which 

was now beginning to make Mrs 

Kuye ‘uncomfortable’ by the 

question OBJ asked me. “Ok you 

have defended your people well, what 

should we do to stop or minimize 

the problem of fake drugs?” 

I answered swiftly: Put the round 

peg in a round hole. After the 

meeting, I was asked to stay back. I 

was given paper to write out my 

thoughts and proposal. Few months 

later, late Pharm (Dr) Dora Akunyili 

was appointed as the Director 

General of the National Agency for 

Foods and Drugs Administration 

and Control (NAFDAC). I do not in 

anyway take credit for her 

appointment but for once Nigerians 

saw how a professional pharmacist 

put her life on the line to battle the 

fake drug merchants and the great 

success she accomplished for 

Nigeria and Nigerian medicine 

consumers. We also noted what 

happened when a non professional 

pharmacist was appointed to succeed 

her. Some of the achievements were 

rolled back, because no other 

professional has the in-depth 

The real truth is that 

most drugs and 

medicines are 

potentially poisons; that 

is to say that they can 

really main or kill those 

who take them 

knowledge on drug matters 

including the drug trade as the 

pharmacist. 

After this encounter I began to 

reflect on why OBJ should place the 

problem of fake drugs importation 

and distribution on the lap of 

pharmacists. Pharmacists are the 

only professional group that are 

licensed by the government "to 

manufacture, mix, produce, 

warehouse, import, export, distribute 

and dispense, poisons and drugs” 

in Nigeria. In short they are the 

custodians of drugs and poisons in 

Nigeria. Poisons? Yes poisonschemicals 

and concoctions that can 

kill. Which is really the main reason 

government assigned this weighty 

responsibility to a group of people 

who are thoroughly trained and 

disciplined to manage these items 

called drugs or medicines. The real 

truth is that most drugs and 

medicines are potentially poisons. 

That is to say that they can really 

main or kill those who take them. 

That is the major reason the 

profession of Pharmacy was created 

to be custodians of drugs and 

medicines, first to limit access to 

these potential poisons, and secondly 

to ensure that those who need the 

drugs or medicines are sufficiently 

counseled and guided as to how to 

take the medicines, when to take the 

medicines, what quantity to take at 

a time and for how long, what to 

avoid when taking particular 

medicines and how to respond 

should unanticipated reactions 

occur or should an overdose 

be mistakingly taken. The 

pharmacist is expected to be the 

intermediary between the medicine 

(prescribed by a doctor or purchased 

over the counter) and the patient. The 

truth is that anytime this 

intermediation is breached, the 

patient or consumer of the medicine 

is actually putting his life in danger, 

because the same drug that can heal 

when taken appropriately as 

prescribed and dispensed, may kill 

when taken inappropriately. And the 

tragedy is that very many Nigerians 

have more or less committed suicide 

through taking medicines in 

appropriately, often without the 

intermediation of the professional 

Pharmacist. 

Therefore from OBJ’s point of 

view, if pharmacists are the only ones 

licensed to produce or import drugs, 

we should not search far for whom 

to blame when we encounter fake 

drugs in the system. Indeed this was 

the same thinking of our distributor 

in Lagos in the 80s. We had gone to 

Richson Pharmaceutical company 

to show him that a set of Pfizer 

pharmaceutical products which he 

sold to a retailer in Ikeja were fake 

drugs. Richson laughed at us and 

asserted "Sam, I do not 

manufacture, I do not import Pfizer 

products, all that I sell are gotten 

from you. So if you say these items 

are fake or substandard, then it must 

be that Pfizer now produces fake 

drugs.” Of course I assured him that 

there was no way, Pfizer could 

manufacture fake drugs. To cut a 

very long story short, we eventually 

found out how the fake drug 

importers infiltrated his system by 

coming to his boys in his absence to 

claim that they had bought products 

from us on credit and were finding it 

difficult to pay and that Pfizer was 

putting a lot of pressure on them to 

pay or face legal action. They 

claimed to have decided to discount 

the products by 50 per cent, so that 

they could quickly raise cash to stave 

off the legal action. Richson’s staff 

saw a good opportunity to make “ a 

kill”and inadvertently procured the 

fake drugs and mixed them with the 

genuine ones they had brought 

properly from Pfizer in Nigeria. 

Ordinarily, this thinking should be 

seen as reasonable and logical. But 

in our country many unreasonable 

and illogical things happen. The 

painful truth is that over many years, 

the pharmaceutical professional 

space has been invaded by all 

manner of people who see drugs just 

as items of commerce or mere 

medical disposables and in some 

way the government’s acts of 

omission or commission have 

intended to undermine the custodian 

status of pharmacists. It is not 

unusual these days to find decisions 

about drugs and medicines taken 

without the input of pharmacists. In 

many clinics, drugs are dispensed 

without the intermediation of a 

pharmacist. Even in some 

Government General Hospitals, 

drugs are dispensed without any 

pharmacist’s oversight. 

Adam’s Oshiomhole, the witch cried last night! 

WHEN Adam’s Oshiomhole, erstwhile 

Labour leader and governor of Edo 

State, took over as chairman of the All 

Progressives Congress, APC, party few months 

ago, he was in dead earnest. He made clear 

that he was a new broom that would not only 

clean the mess that the party he was heading 

had become but was determined to break with 

the past and make a change. He told anyone 

who cared to listen that he was different from 

everyone that had had the fortune or 

misfortune of holding any leadership position 

in the APC. He said it loud and proclaimed 

clearly that he was not even a Muhammadu 

Buhari, who as president, had become so lame 

duck and in equal terms unaware and 

impervious to activities in the party he 

purportedly led. In a word, Adams 

Oshiomhole would neither tolerate the 

nonsense that manifested itself as disregard 

of party rules and indifference to the position 

of the party on major issues. For him, the party 

was supreme and only those ready to abide by 

the new ground rules would remain in the 

party. 

He galvanized the party and moved from 

one part of the country to another in a bid to 

ensure party cohesion by trying to bring 

together contending members of the party. He 

even did his best to broker peace between 

estranged members of the APC-led national 

legislature and the executive, led by President 

Buhari. His effort in this regard had little effect. 

He placated those who could be placated and 

those who could no longer accept the situation 

in the party, the lack of internal democracy 

and mutual trust, were, in palpable sour grape 

fashion, told to seek their fortune in the 

political wilderness where degenerate outcasts 

belong. While those who chose to remain were 

labelled consensus candidates and sopped up 

with free tickets to re-contest their preferred 

office, the recalcitrant ones were called names 

and angrily dismissed as worthless. All told, 

the battle-scarred chairman appeared to have 

succeeded in putting his party on the path of 

rectitude and readiness for the 2019 elections. 

But there was one thing he, in hindsight, 

appeared not to have taken into reckoning. 

These were the party primaries or, more 

appropriately stated, the vaulting ambition of 

party bigwigs and powerhouses including 

outgoing and second term governors, bent on 

planting or replacing themselves with their 

clones. State governors across the two major 

parties in the country have over time acquired 

much political and social capital. Their control 

of the vast resources in their domains has given 

them such power and influence as tend to 

undermine the supremacy of their party, the 

very principle the Oshiomhole leadership had 

In a sense, therefore, the battle 

between Oshiomhole and the 

governors is a proxy war 

between Bola Tinubu and the 

governors opposed to his 

position in the APC 

vowed to restore, where it had been lost, or 

retain where it still existed. Where they come 

together, the governors could constitute a 

formidable opponent and obstacle to any 

leader, including the president that tries to stand 

in their way. But it is this group of powerful 

power brokers that has now ranged itself 

against Adams Oshiomhole. The bone of 

contention are the primaries that featured 

cloned candidates of the governors, people 

whose success at the polls was more or less a 

foregone deal courtesy of their governorgodfathers. 

It was at these highly contentious 

and fractious primaries where favourite 

candidates were doomed that Oshiomhole 

earned the odium of the governors. 

Be it with 

Ibikunle Amosun 

of Ogun State, 

R o c h a s 

Okorocha of Imo 

State or Rotimi 

Akeredolu of 

Ondo State, 

A d a m s 

Oshiomhole is 

right now in deep trouble and is set for the 

severest test of his survival as party chair. 

Whether he succeeds in retaining his seat 

depends very much on how much force he could 

muster and how well he could push back 

against the governors who have been joined 

by ministers and other party stalwarts in the 

Oshiomhole-must-go campaign. 

Things were always bound to end like this. 

There are too many contending interests in the 

APC and there was no way any party chair 

could satisfy one interest group without 

offending another. It was in a bid to satisfy one 

group at the expense of another that the former 

chair of the APC, John Odigie Oyegun, was 

made to bite the dust and pave way for 

Oshiomhole. If Oshiomhole would retain his 

position, it would not only be with the support 

of those who have him in their good book but 

how much stronger that support is than that of 

the governors’ group. In a sense, therefore, the 

battle between Oshiomhole and the governors 

is a proxy war between Bola Tinubu and the 

governors opposed to his position in the APC. 

Oyegun lost his position mainly because he 

lost Tinubu’s trust. Oshiomhole restored that 

trust but has in the process displeased others. 

In all of this, President Buhari has been 

further sidelined and his lame duck position is 

further contoured against the background of 

his ongoing re-election plans. No doubt, his 

success at the polls is greatly imperiled by the 

internal wrangling in the APC. It makes defeat 

by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

candidate, Atiku Abubakar, a very probable 

proposition. While the different forces ranged 

against one another in the APC would and 

could win in their different zones and areas of 

control, the party could lose the bigger prize 

that is the presidential election. The ultimate 

loser would be President Muhammadu Buhari 

who brought this all upon himself, many would 

say rightly, by his contrived aloofness from 

activities within his party, positioning himself 

as not a little above the fray he imagined 

suited the ‘politicians’ in the APC fold. Now 

he has a price to pay as he is being made a 

mere onlooker at what should be his own 

pre-victory party. After all, he is the proud 

recipient of some 12 million votes in the 

APC, one-man, presidential primaries. All 

that pretence to political saintliness is all 

coming to nothing and will indeed come to 

nothing by the time the different forces selfdestruct. 

Like a decomposing flesh, the APC seems 

poised to implode from the bowels, and nothing 

makes that clearer than the corruption 

investigation for alleged financial 

impropriety being levelled against Adams 

Oshiomhole. This is an insider job that 

proves just how sinister politicians could be. 

They know where the rot lies and how to 

point to where to look when needs be. Neither 

the Department of State Services, DSS, nor 

the Economic and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, would have much to do. 

The ground is very much cleared for them, 

should they choose to act. The APC primaries 

have come and gone. But after the governors 

cried wolf, after their witch howled across the 

spine-chilling silence of the night, nobody 

needs a dibia to tell them that it was the witch 

that cried the night before that killed the child. 

C 

M 

Y 

K


VOL. 2 NO. 43 

How flooding claimed five lives 

at UNN's main entrance 

BY EMEKA MAMAH AND 

IKECHUKWU ODU 

NSUKKA—About four 

months after a commercial 

motorcyclist and his passenger 

(student) lost their 

lives to flooding at the University 

of Nigeria, Nsukka, 

UNN, entrance , a 28 year 

old businessman, Kevin Eze 

also died on the same 

spot.Late Eze died on Tuesday, 

last week, after he was 

swept off with his motorcycle 

by flood water shortly 

after a heavy downpour in 

the university town.Eze, 

who hailed from nearby 

Ihakpu Awka in Igbo-Eze 

South Local Government 

Area of Enugu State had already 

returned to the village 

with his wife, Uzoamaka, 

who was discharged 

from a hospital, where she 

had a still birth, a day before 

the ugly incident. 

The deceased was said to 

have traveled back to his 

apartment along University 

Road, Nsukka, to collect 

some items needed in the village 

when he met his untimely 

death.Eze was reported 

to have collected the 

said items and decided to 

return to the village to be 

with his wife who was still 

grappling with the trauma 

of her misfortune when he 

ran into the rampaging 

flood which swept him and 

•One of the flood victims, 

late Kevin Eze. 

•The faulty drainage. 

his motorcycle into the 

drainage adjacent to the 

university gate at about 

7.30 pm.His lifeless body 

was discovered at Alor Uno, 

a neighbouring community 

the following morning, but 

his motorcycle is yet to be 

found. 

When Vanguard visited his 

family house at Uwani Neke, 

Iheakpu Awka, his 24 year 

old wife, Uzoamaka Eze, 

narrated how the incident 

happened.“I lost my first 

child immediately after delivery. 

My late husband, 

Kevin and I had already returned 

to our family house 

in the village. However, on 

the following day, around 6 

pm, he told me he wanted 

to go to our apartment at 

Nsukka to bring some of our 

belongings which we would 

need. He left the house before 

it started raining. The 

heavy rain stopped around 

7:30 pm, so, we expected 

that he would return immediately 

after. When we did 

not see him around 9 pm, we 

started calling his phone 

number only to discover 

that it was switched off. 

“We felt he was going to return, 

but when we did not 

see him, one of his brothers 

went in search of him that 

night but all his efforts were 

futile. The following day, we 

organized a search party 

which discovered his 

corpse at Alor Uno, near 

Nsukka.I knew he was rushing 

back to keep me company 

and console me over the 

loss of our first child before 

the flood overwhelmed 

him,” she said, with tears 

welling up in her eyes.The 

mother of the deceased who 

University Market Road said 

he was hardworking and 

peace-loving.When Vanguard 

visited his shop, one 

of his peers in the trade, 

Sunday Abonyi, said ''flooding 

has snuffed life out of a 

quiet but hardworking 

young man, who never 

looked for problems but 

carried on with his trade diligently.I'm 

shocked about 

this sad development. He 

was a hardworking young 

man who never looked for 

trouble. It's so sad we lost 

him. Government should do 

something urgently to address 

the faulty drainage 

which normally results in 

flooding at that spot. Every 

year, so many lives are lost 

at the same spot. Kevin’s case 

was not the first and may not 

be the last if something is not 

done urgently to address the 

UNN halls of residence defective 

•Abandoned Zik Flats 

lapidated without roofs and 

cracked walls. 

Similarly, the three-storey 

Eni Njoku Hall which was a 

beauty to behold in the early 

'80s when it was completed 

is now a shadow of itself as 

its roofing is partly blown off 

but students live in it and 

even on the top floor of the 

three wings. The Kwame 

Nkrumah Post Graduate Hostel 

built by the university in 

pleaded anonymity 

only 

managed to 

ask, “does it 

mean my son 

is not coming 

back home 

again?” and 

began to 

weep uncontrollably. 

Those who 

encountered 

late Eze who 

was a wine 

and cosmetic 

dealer along 

BY MBADIWE OKWOR 

Nsukka —The accommoda 

tion problem at the University 

of Nigeria, Nsukka, 

UNN, may not be new but it 

has taken an alarming dimension 

due to neglect of building 

assets. Stakeholders in the 

area believe that it's now easier 

to gain admission to the 

school than to get a room on 

campus. Particularly for the 

male students, it's indeed 

herculean.In spite of a plethora 

of buildings designated as 

hostels on the campus, probably 

less than half of the student 

population is accommodated 

in them. 

The situation has given 

rise to hundreds of lodges 

around the campus in places 

like Hill Top, Onuiyi and 

Obukpa. The student population 

at Hill Top makes a mockery 

of the campus accommodation. 

Investigations by 

South East Voice revealed 

that a huge percentage of the 

buildings meant to accommodate 

students are either completely 

abandoned or are undergoing 

very slow rehabilitation. 

The Zik Flats at Onuiyi, 

which used to accommodate 

first-year students, have been 

abandoned with cracked walls 

and overgrown with weeds. 

Students who reside in the 

flats are said to be doing so at 

their own risk. The whole of 

Franco Hostel complex is dithe 

'80s is not left out as two 

wings have been undergoing 

rehabilitation for years without 

progress. The scaffolding 

for the rehabilitation is still 

in place but no workers are 

in sight.Also, the rehabilitation 

of the gutted Okeke Hall 

is nearing completion but 

work is at a slow pace. 

Property developers and 

land owners are smiling to 

the banks as parents are 

•A dilapidated hostel at UNN 

situation. Five other victims 

died this year alone and the 

rains have not finally 

stopped” 

A car cleaner in the vicinity, 

Martin Eya, said ''Eze died 

at night when we had closed 

for the day.We came out the 

following morning only to be 

greeted with the sad news of 

his death. This road is now a 

death trap whenever it rains. 

We were at work one rainy afternoon 

about four months 

ago when flood overwhelmed 

one commercial 

motorcyclist carrying a student. 

I and other able-bodied 

men chased them across 

the other side of the school 

gate to see if we could rescue 

them but to no avail.So many 

people have been dying on 

this spot whenever it rained 

heavily. Eze’s case is the 

fourth only this year. Another 

victim died near Ikenga 

Hotel in the town. Something 

should be done urgently 

to address this menace.” 

However, a female trader 

also in the vicinity who spoke 

on condition of anonymity 

said ''some people die at the 

spot due to impatience.I was 

in my shop after one rainy 

day, two years ago, when a 

commercial motorcyclist ignored 

others who were sheltering 

from the downpour to 

try his luck. People warned 

him to stop until the flooding 

subsided but he did not 

listen. He entered the flood 

and was swept with his motorcycle 

into the drainage 

channel.Another commercial 

motorcyclist who also 

died there was carrying a 

woman. On seeing the volume 

of water, the woman 

pleaded that he should stop 

for her but before she could 

cross to the other side of the 

road, the flood swept the cyclist 

away and he 

died.Another victim from 

Ibagwa Ani, one of the neighbouring 

communities, was 

riding under the rain when 

the flood overpowered him 

and siezed his motorcycle. 

He was dragging the motorcycle 

with the flood inside the 

drainage channel when he 

drowned. Most of the victims 

died due to impatience. They 

didn't wait for the flooding 

to subside before continuing 

their journey''. 

made to cough out huge sums 

ranging from N45,000 to 

N150,000 per session for offcampus 

accommodation. The 

nearby Hill Top is the biggest 

beneficiary as big-time developers 

have invaded the area 

prising land out of reach. As 

students prepare to proceed 

on Christmas break, there is 

anxiety as to who will and 

who will not be accommodated 

on campus when they resume. 

Female students are 

favoured for gender reasons. 

Although the Deputy Public 

Relations Officer,UNN, 

Mr Inya, declined comments 

on the issue, we gathered 

that accommodation is allocated 

on first-come basis 

through an online platform.The 

university’s website 

indicates that 40 per 

cent of available accommodation 

spaces is given to 

first-year students while final-year 

students are allocated 

another 30 per cent. The 

balance of 30 per cent is 

shared between other returning 

students.

OCI takes cancer awareness 

to Anambra schools 

BY VINCENT UJUMADU 

Awka – WORRIED by the 

increasing rate of breast 

and cervical cancer among 

women, OCI Foundation, has 

concluded plans to introduce 

breast and cervical 

awareness campaign into the 

curriculum of senior secondary 

schools in Nigeria. President 

of OCI Foundation, Dr. 

Chris Ifediora, who spoke 

during the cancer awareness 

campaign at Stella Maris Girls 

Secondary School, Umuleri 

in Anambra East local government 

area of Anambra 

State, said the awareness prpogramme 

would be developed 

in collaboration with 

Harvard University Medical 

School,United States of 

America and some international 

bodies in Australia and 

Nigeria. 

The Umuleri campaign 

which attracted over 1,000 

secondary school girls in the 

Otuocha Education Zone of 

the Anambra State Post-primary 

Schools Management 

Board has become an annual 

event organized by OCI 

Foundation.According to Ifediora, 

OCI Foundation decided 

to champion ways of 

creating cancer awareness 

among young women so that 

they can avoid certain lifestyle 

that could predispose 

them to cancer. He said the 

report by the World Health 

Organization, WHO, that 

over 8,000 Nigerian women 

out of about 14,000 diagnosed 

with cervical cancer 

would die every year was 

worrisome, adding that 

something urgent must be 

done. 

He said: ''We intend to start 

with schools in Anambra 

•Officials of Anambra State government and OCI Foundation 

during the awareness campaign 

THE TEAM 

SUPERVISING EDITOR: 

Chioma Gabriel, Lagos 

(08052201257) 

EDITOR: 

Emeka Mamah, Enugu 

email: 

emekemamah@yahoo.com 

Anayo Okoli, Umuahia 

Vincent Ujumadu, Awka 

Chidi Nkwopara, Owerri 

Peter Okutu, Abakaliki 

Chimaobi Nwaiwu, 

Nnewi 

Nwabueze Okonkwo, 

Onitsha 

Ugochukwu Alaribe, Aba 

Denis Agbo, Enugu 

State and we will be approaching 

the appropriate 

authorities to work out the 

modalities. We also intend to 

engage religious institutions 

for sustainable, socially and 

culturally acceptable 

interventions.We agree this 

is potentially quite expensive 

and daunting , but we 

really have no option if we are 

to be effective in saving our 

women.Sadly, while their 

counterparts in most developed 

parts of the world receive 

free and universal 

screening to prevent and detect 

these cancers early, our 

own women in Nigeria and in 

many other developing countries 

have no such priviledge. 

''We therefore decided that 

we cannot continue to wait 

for our governments to take 

the initiative. We should also 

not just sit by and ignore the 

challenges we face. OCI Foundation 

will continue to fight 

for our people by giving them 

the tools they need. We admit 

that these tools may not 

be perfect and may not be the 

best. However, for now, they 

are the best we have.We can't 

continue to accept this unfortunate 

tendency or just 

pray over it or worse still, ignore 

it and hope that it goes 

away. Alternatively, we can 

stand, and fight''. Chairperson 

of Post-primary Schools 

Board, Mrs. Joy Ulasi commended 

Ifediora for initiating 

the campaign, regretting 

that many students had to 

drop out of school due to 

breast and cervical 

cancer.She also urged parents 

to discourage early marriages 

among secondary 

school students in the area in 

view of its health implications. 


Headmaster now traditional ruler 

in Enugu community 

•From left; Zonal Chairman, Enugu North senatorial district 

of the PDP, Chief Michael Onyeze; Igwe Patrick Okenyi of 

Okpo and the Igwe-elect of Odom-Okpo, Vincent Obodike Eze 

BY EMEKA MAMAH 

Enugu—There was jubila 

tion and excitement at 

Odoma-Okpo, Okpo, in Igboeze 

North Local Government 

Area of Enugu State, 

following the appointment of 

a retired headmaster, Chief 

Vincent Obodike Eze, as the 

first traditional ruler of the 

area. Okpo is the border town 

between Enugu and Benue 

State where the Nigeria Civil 

War started in 1967.Presenting 

the Igwe-elect to the 

Chairman of Igboeze North 

Local Government, Comrade 

Uwakwe Ezeja, in his office, 

the President- General of 

Odoma- Okpo Town Union, 

Hon Francis Arji, said the 

choice of Obodike Eze was 

unanimous as he was acceptable 

to all the six villages 

comprising the community. 

Arji said that the new traditional 

ruler was a former 

president-general of the town 

union adding that he acquitted 

himself creditably when 

he served in that 

capacity.“The Igwe-elect is 

acceptable to everybody in 

the community. All the aspirants 

to the position withdrew 

when he signified interest 

to contest. We have six 

villages and all of us accepted 

his candidature, because 

of his patriotism. With 

Obodike Eze as the Igwe, we 

will not have problems as he 

is a peaceful man,” he said. 

The Zonal Chairman, Peoples 


in Enugu North Senatorial 

District and former member 

of the state House of Assembly, 

representing Igboeze 

North 1, Hon. Michael Onyeze, 

described the Igweelect 

as a worthy son of 

Odoma-Okpo, saying that his 

recognition by the state government 

would accelerate 

the development of the community 

just as the traditional 

ruler of Okpo Community, 

Igwe Patrick Okenyi, said that 

he cut short his business trip 

to Taraba State to be part of 

the programme, due the respect 

accorded the Obodike 

Eze in the area. 

In the presentation letter 

signed by all the six king makers 

in Odoma- Okpo, including 

the eldest man in the area, Onyishi 

Eze Nweya (Umu Igwurube); 

Chiefs Okenyi Oodo 

(Umu Osede); Eze Nwa Agada 

(Umu Onukwuma); James Ugwuanyi 

(Umu Okwo Nwee); 

Hyacinth Onu (Umu Okenwa); 

Ugwu Arji Aba (Umu Odeje) as 

well as the Secretary General 

of the town union, Chief Em- 

manuel Oshemi, they urged 

the state government to give 

expeditious approval to their 

request to ensure rapid development 

of the rural community.Speaking 

on the occasion, 

the local government 

chairman, Comrade Ezeja, 

who was represented by the 

Secretary to the local government, 

Hillary Ogili, and the 

Community Development Officer 

for the area, Anthony 

Ojadi, promised to convey the 

message delivered by the community 

through their representatives 

to the state government. 

Ogili expressed joy that 

the new traditional ruler was 

chosen without rancor and 

asked other communities 

where there were problems 

associated with succession to 

emulate people of Odom- 

Okpo, just as the new monarch 

promised to rule his subjects 

with the fear of God. 

Octogenarian folklore musician, Mike 

Ejeagha, endorses Ugwuanyi, Ayogu Eze 

•Ejeagha (right), Senator Ayogu Eze, his running mate, 

Prince Chikwado Chukwunta and APC National Vice Chairman 

for South East, Emma Enukwu. 

BY DENNIS AGBO 

Enugu———There was dra 

ma in Enugu last week as 

octogenarian folklore musician, 

Chief Mike Ejeagha, endorsed 

both Governor Ifeanyi 

Ugwuanyi of the Peoples Democratic 

Party and the All Progressives 

Congress,APC, guber 

candidate, Senator Ayogu 

Eze for the governorship poll 

in the state next year.Both 

candidates visited Ejeagha, 

who was sick and in a bid to 

get an advantage over the other 

come February 2019 guber 

elections, as parties seek 

to outdo one another. Although, 

other parties including 

APGA, fielded candidates solve the long standing issue 

of payment of his royal- 

for the poll, Ugwuanyi and Eze 

are “the biggest masqurades” ties through the Musical Society 

of Nigeria, if elected gov- 

in the race. 

Eze contested the governorship 

election on the platform of He equally promised to enernor 

next year. 

the PDP and lost to Ugwuanyi sure that statesmen and people 

in 2015 but the matter was only like the legendary musician 

settled at the Supreme Court in who spent their youthful days 

September this year. Both political 

foes are from the same 

contributing to the social well 

being of people did not suffer 

Igboeze North/ Udenu Federal 

in old age noting further that 

Constituency and belonged to 

the APC-led administration 

same Ebeano political family 

was a welfarist government 

before things went awry. Governor 

Ugwuanyi and Senator 

that cared for the aged as well 

as those who had paid their 

Eze, visited Ejeagha same day 

dues by serving the country 

in his Abakpa- Enugu residence. 

Eze who was the first to 

and its people.Eze who visited 

Ejeagha in company of his running 

mate, Prince Chikwado 

visit Ejeagha pledged to re- 

Chukwunta, the APC 

National Vice Chairman 

Emma Enukwu, Chairman 

of Odengene Helicopter 

Services, Chief 

Everest Nnaji, among 

others said: “When we 

get to power in 2019, 

we’ll make sure that people 

like you are not forgotten 

in the society. 

You have served our fatherland 

by giving your 

best, you and your wife 

and family. When we 

take over by May 2019, 

we will make sure that 

people like you are given 

due respect. There's 

no week I don't play 

your philosophical music, 

but see where you 

are, neglected and forgotten 

by government 

•Governor Ugwuanyi with Ejeagha after giving your all.

32— Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

YOUR LUCK TODAY 

By Joshua Adeyemo Phone 08056180139 

ARIES: The more self assertive you are the better but then it is 

important you don’t take things and people for granted. Be wise. 

TAURUS: ALTHOUGH there seem to be an air of understanding 

within your working arena today, tomorrow may turn the 

whole thing the other way. 

GEMINI: HERE is an exciting day that will climax tomorrow. 

After a long time, others will see how passionate you can be even 

in love. Don’t gamble, please. 

CANCER: IF your desire is to make money today, you will need 

to be less emotional and prepare for domestic challenges tomorrow. 

Enjoy your love life. 

L E I S U R E 

TAKE HEART — ELLA RANDLE 

“What do we live for, if not to make life less 

difficult for others” -George Elliot - 

You don’t have to create grand gestures to make a 

positive impact on someone else’s day. A few simple 

courtesies can spell the difference between an awful 

day and an awesome one for someone. 

Be that person who will make life easier for the people 

around you. -- Ella Randle 

SAYINGS OF 

OUR PEOPLE 

A chicken 

with beautiful 

plumage 

does not sit 

in a corner. 

~African 

Proverb 

LEO: GOOD relationship between the Moon and other Planets 

will bring you good opportunities. Be less argumentative and 

take your love life more seriously. 

VIRGO: THIS is your day when things will go according to your 

plans. Financial success indicated but if you wait till tomorrow, 

opposition’ll bring disappointment. 

LIBRA: THE Moon encourages you to be as assertive as possible 

but you will need to expect certain level of opposition. Try to be 

more friendly. 

SCORPIO: HAPPENINGS within your working arena should 

be taken more seriously now or else, avoidable trouble would 

start tomorrow. Again, it’s important you are more practical about 

your health. Be more loving. 

SAGITTARIUS: EVEN, if friends and others are helpful and 

pledging loyalty today, they may be forced and get on your nerve 

tomorrow. Be graceful in your expression. 

CAPRICORN: WHATEVER can lead to avoidable trouble tomorrow, 

either at home or along your career/business lines, should 

be well taken care of today. Be very open. 

AQUARIUS: YOUR best bet today is to seek important co-operation 

of influential people and that of your spouse/partner. The 

more legal conscious you are, the better for you. 

TERROR MUDA in “Never say goodbye” 

DUDU in “ROLLING HOT” By A.O. OLAIDE 

By Kola Fayemi 

PISCES: IF others want you to conclude an important financial 

transactions that can possibly be done today, you’ll need to say no 

and go ahead as tomorrow may not be as conducive as today. 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

ASTROLOGICAL COUNSELLING 

Send your date and place of birth to the Astr 

trological 

Counselling, P.M.B 100 

007, Apapa, Lagos 

WHAT’S MY IMMEDIATE FUTURE? 

Dear Joshua, 

I am interested in what you are doing. Please tell me what I should expect 

concerning my immediate future. Would I succeed in business ? 

Ben, Lagos. 

Dear Ben, 

Few years back you have started a very longer (years) great cycle of success 

and happiness, and this year you will be moving closer to the peak of the said 

cycle. What are ahead of you between now and the month of March 2014. If 

you utilise those sub-periods and your lucky dates you would be successful. 

Similar to your immediate past (two week) period. Good opportunities to 

assert yourself will come your way but the Stars are saying tarry a while till 

your next period that will prove tremendously fortunate for you. 

That is not to say the business world have to be avoided but whatever will 

need higher degrees of positive luck should be delayed till next month when 

the heavens will smile broadly at you. During this period you will have more 

to gain if you take your younger subordinates seriously so also your personal 

new ideas on the best ways to successfully forge ahead in the business world, 

especially during the last two weeks of the period 

Ironically the same last two weeks called for carefulness while handling 

spiritual related issues, so also behind-the-scene-activities. Then a particular 

member of your opposite sex may be looking for a man she would like to lure 

into secret affairs; it is better for her to get such elsewhere so that one will not 

run into avoidable troubles. 

Major emphasis will be on MONEY, YOUR INITIATIVE, TRAVELLING, 

CONTROVERSY and very important LOVE AFFAIRS. This is your first 

most fortunate period of the year 2017 which must be fully utilised. 

MONEY will come in where you expect it and from unexpected sources too. 

If there are times when element of luck is needed to succeed, this is one of 

such periods; actually British Astrologer will say go for sweepstakes (like 

lotteries, lotto, pool betting and the like) and truly you can win. With 

romantic Venus in your Star Sign, important matters-of-the-heart should be 

taken very seriously. Whatever your posture, nature will have it’s way and 

you will give in to enjoy your love life; members of your opposite sex will be 

willing to assist you now, either for romantic interest or otherwise. 

Yes all your new ideas you have recently been keeping to yourself can be 

executed and rightly expect success. There are more likely to be some form 

of controversies, especially during the last two weeks of the period but you 

just have to do away with sentiment and remain focused on the best way 

you can better your business cause because if you carve-in to emotion, 

unworthy competitors would painfully take advantage of your labour. God 

forbid!!! 

VIRGINIA 

HOME & ABROAD 

dadadekola@yahoo.com 

By Lawrence Akapa



NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

MEETING: From left: Mr Adeshina Akinyosade, General Manager; Mr AbdulRahman Agbaje, 

Co-Chief Executive Officer; Mr Abraham Badiru, Co-Chief Executive Officer; Catherine Adeshina, 

Legal Adviser and Mr Eze Christian, Security Adviser, all of Numeric Global Exchange, at the CEOs 

and shareholders meeting of the organisation held at Sango, Ogun State. Photo: Lamidi. 

DELTA APC PRIMARY DISPUTE: Ochei, 

Ogboru know fate Dec 4 

By Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri 

A BUJA—ABUJA 

Division of the 

Federal High Court, 

yesterday, fixed December 

4 to deliver judgement on 

a suit seeking to nullify the 

governorship primary 

election the All 


APC, conducted in Delta 

State. 

The suit was lodged 

before the court by former 

Speaker of Delta State 

House of Assembly, Hon. 

Victor Ochei. 

Justice Nnamdi Dimgba 

okayed the matter for 

judgment after all the 

parties adopted their final 

briefs of argument. 

Aside the APC, other 

defendants in the suit 

marked FHC/ABJ/CS/ 

1085/ 2018, were the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, and the declared 

winner of the primary poll, 

Chief Great Ogboru. 

The Plaintiff had through 

his lawyer Mr. Ahmed 

Rahi, SAN, prayed the 

court to declare that the 

APC governorship primary 

election that held on 

September 30, was illegal 

and unlawful on the 

ground that delegates not 

known to the law were used 

for the exercise. 

He averred that the high 

court had in a judgment 

that was delivered by 

Justice Anwuri Chikere on 

June 19, authenticated a list 

of delegates of APC in 

Delta State. 

He alleged that the 

national leadership of the 

party sidelined the said list 

during the primary election. 

The former Speaker told 

the court that contrary to the 

judgment, the APC 

leadership used unknown 

delegates for the primary 

poll. 

Consequently, he urged 

the court to nullify the 

purported primary election 

for being unlawful, unjust 

and deliberately carried out 

in disregard of subsisting 

judicial directive. 

Meantime, both APC and 

Chief Ogboru, lodged 

preliminary objections to 

challenge the competence 

of the suit. 

In his objection, Chief 

Ogboru, through his 

lawyer, Chief Nelson Imoh, 

insisted that he was validly 

nominated by the APC to 

fly its gubernatorial flag in 

2019. 

Chief Ogboru told the 

court that the primary 

election that produced him, 

was duly monitored by 

INEC, adding that his 

party, APC, approved the 

list of delegates that 

participated in the primary. 

I'll refund people's deposits —Eke, 

Calabar ponzi scheme operator 

By Emma Amaize 

& Ike Uchechukwu 

C ALABAR— 

FOUNDER of 

Micheno Micro 

Cooperative Society, a 

Calabar-based alleged 

Ponzi scheme in Cross 

River State, arrested by the 

police about three weeks 

ago over N27 million 

trapped deposits by 

investors, Mr. Michael 

Eke, weekend, cried out 

from a police cell in Abuja, 

saying he is not a swindler. 

Eke, who is being 

detained at the Nigeria 

Police Force Headquarters 

told Vanguard on the 

phone that his continued 

detention and freezing of 

his bank accounts were 

Jonathan's former spokesman accuses 

INEC of bias 


F 

O R M E R 

Spokesman to 

President Goodluck 

Jonathan, Mr. Ima Niboro, 

has accused the 

Independent National 

Electoral Commission, 

INEC, of bias, claiming that 

the commission accepted 

the substitution of his name 

by the leadership of All 


APC. 

Niboro, who is vying for 

Udu, Ughelli South and 

Ughelli North Federal 

Constituency in the House 

of Representatives in Delta 

State is, however, optimistic 

that his chances are still 

bright following the 

issuance of a contempt 

notice on the National 

Chairman of APC, 

Comrade Adams 

Oshiomhole, and the INEC 

Chairman, Professor 

Mahmood Yakubu. 

Niboro, a former 

Managing Director of the 

News Agency of Nigeria, 

NAN, in a statement 

released in Abuja on 

Sunday by his campaign 

organisation, claimed that 

the national leadership of 

APC and INEC acted 

illegally on the matter. 

He wondered why 

Oshiomhole was in a hurry 

to submit the names of the 

candidates from the state 

despite the subsisting 

order of a court of competent 

jurisdiction that had 

restrained the party from 

going ahead. 

affecting the refund of 

money to his clients. 

His words:‘’My ordeal 

was not my making, and I 

am not a fraudster as I have 

been labelled or made to 

look by the people who took 

advantage of the matter. 

“They also claimed that 

they will make the National 

Assembly release money to 

them through the Central 

Bank of Nigeria, CBN. I 

want the public to know that 

I am not on the run, I want 

to pay people their money 

but my arrest and 

harassment have made this 

impossible. 

“I came here on my own 

when I got an invitation to 

come to the Force 

Headquarters in Abuja. I 

was not arrested. I have 

also submitted my 

international passport. 

“They told me initially that 

I was detained based on 

orders of the National 

Assembly for 133 days. I 

have been passing blood 

due to complicated pile 

issues." 

NPDC PROJECT: Firm denies 

claims of indebtedness to 

Delta communities 

By Arinola Kolade 

AN 

Engineering 

firm, Twecco 

Industrial Enterprises 

Limited, has denied claims 

of infringements allegedly 

made by five of its host 

communities, describing 

them as false. 

One Mr. James Mukoro, 

who claimed to be acting on 

behalf of five communities; 

Edjophe, Iwhrekan, 

Okpare, Otor-Edo, and 

Otor-Udu, had in a 

statement accused the 

company, which is a 

contractor to Nigerian 

Petroleum Development 

Company, NPDC, of 

refusing to pay workers 

from the community. 

It also accused the firm of 

using the military to 

evacuate its equipment 

Obotebe kingmakers affirm 

Gbemi as monarch 

KINGMAKERS 

of 

Obotebe kingdom in 

Burutu Local Government 

Area, Delta State, yesterday 

affirmed the candidacy of 

HRM Anthony Gbemi as 

the Ebenanaowei of the 

kingdom, stating that their 

position is in line with 

section 8 of the Traditional 

Rulers and Chiefs 

Edict,1979, of Bendel State 

as applicable to Delta State, 

which led to his installation 

with the title of Ogisi I. 

The statement signed by 

three out of the four 

kingmakers representing 

the ruling houses of the 

kingdom, warned against 

anyone impersonating as 

monarch of the kingdom. 

The kingmakers namely, 

Naibo Lekumo, Okoh 

Kparobou and Chief 

Why Delta created job, wealth 

scheme —Mekwuye 

By Nath Onojake 

A 

S A B A — 

EXECUTIVE 

Assistant to Delta State 

Governor on Youth 

Monitoring and 

Mentoring, Mr. Edward 

Mekwuye, has said that, 

the overall objective of the 

job and wealth creation 

scheme of Delta State 

government is to develop 

the non-oil sector by 

promoting small scale 

businesses for youths 

which will ensure 

sustainable development 

and shared prosperity for 

all Deltans. 

Mekwuye stated this at a 

business clinic organised by 

the Directorate of Youth 

from the area. 

However, speaking to 

journalists in Benin 

yesterday, the Project 

Director of Twecco, Mr. 

Kunle Adegbite, said the 

allegations were false and 

all woven together by a few 

leaders who are pursuing 

some personal goals. 

According to Kunle, 

Twecco paid all that was 

due to those who were 

given to it as workers from 

the communities, adding 

that it paid through the 

Community Relations 

Department, CRD, of the 

NPDC to avoid arguments. 

He also denied that the 

company used any military 

force to work in the 

communities, adding that 

there was no time his 

company had worked 

beyond the 5 pm permitted 

by NPDC. 

William Niata, in the 

statement, said: “We are 

advising the public to desist 

from recognising any other 

person as Ebenanaowei of 

Obotebe Kingdom, except 

HRM Anthony Gbemi, who 

was crowned as king in 

compliance with the Rulers 

and Chiefs Edict, 1979. 

“It is pertinent to state 

here clearly that section 8, 

subsections 1 and 2 of the 

Rulers and Chiefs Edict, 

1979, dated September 29, 

1979, at Benin City and 

signed by D.P. Lawani, 

Secretary to the Military 

Government of Bendel 

State of Nigeria, state that, 

‘there are four Ruling 

Quarters in Obotebe known 

as Ogbondizi, 

Ezuweibodo, Predobodo 

and Ogisibodo.’" 

Monitoring and Mentoring 

for beneficiaries of 

Skills Training Entrepreneurship 

Programme, 

STEP, and Youth Agricultural 

Entrepreneurship 

Programme, YAGEP, in 

Asaba. 

He said in pursuit of this 

objective the governor, Dr. 

Ifeanyi Okowa, set up a job 

and wealth creation 

architecture immediately 

after his inauguration 

consisting of the job 

creation office to select, train 

and empower unemployed 

youths from 18 – 35 years 

in various vocational skills, 

to become entrepreneurs, 

managers and business 

leaders.

34—VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

Okorocha's kinsmen attack him, 

say he destroyed their lands, roads 

By Chidi 

Nkwopara 

O WERRI—Governor 

Rochas Okorocha’s 

people of Ideato North and 

South local council areas of 

Imo state have raised alarm 

that less than seven months 

to vacate Douglas House, 

he “is about leaving Ideato 

federal constituency worse 

than he met it”. 

The people’s lamentation 

is contained in a press 

statement issued by the 

umbrella union of 

Mbanasa, Arondizogu, 

Nwabosi Association, 

MANA, and signed by the 

chairman, Interim Board of 

Trustees, BOT, Sir Phil 

Ezeogu and Interim 

Secretary General, Sir 

Emeka Ajih. 

“Ideato nation, more than 

ever, now faces grave 

infrastructural challenges. 

Under the watch of Owelle 

Rochas Okorocha, Ideato 

nation had been without 

electricity for the past seven 

years, a development he 

was instrumental to”, the 

people said. 

They cited that the 

construction of both trunks 

‘A’ and ‘B’ roads in the 

area, which they claimed 

“led to the dismantling of 

electric poles, are not just 

in terrible and impassable 

conditions, but boulevards 

leading to the land of the 

dead”. 

The people were also 

pained that the entire 

landscape of the federal 

constituency is under the 

threat of ecological disaster. 

“This situation is largely 

owing to the abandonment 

of gully erosion projects 

and road construction sites. 

The World Bank Assisted 

gully erosion projects at 

Urualla and Umueshi 

communities in Ideato 

North and Ideato South 

local government areas, 

respectively, are cases in 

point”, MANA leadership 

lamented. 

The group appealed to 

Governor Okorocha to 

commence urgent remedial 

action to forestall what they 

termed “the looming 

disaster”. 

While saying that they 

cannot fold their arms and 

allow Ideato nation to go 

extinct, the people also 

called on the state govt to 

engage reputable 

construction firms, for 

immediate reconstruction of 

their roads. 

“Henceforth, 

wheelbarrow and head pan 

construction companies 

and roadside engineers, 

will not be allowed into 

Ideato nation for any 

construction, be it road or 

erosion control”, the people 

warned. 

PRESS BRIEFING: From left—Paul Igbinoba, member, Trade Promotion Board, Lagos Chamber 

of Commerce and Industry LCCI; Leye Kupoluyi, Chairman, Specialised Exhibitions; Babatunde 

Ruwase, President; Remi Giwa; and Bunmi Banjoko, both, members of Trade Promotion Board, 

during a media parley to unveil the 2019 edition of LCCI ICTEL Expo in Lagos. 

Multiple levies killing our businesses —Aba traders 

By Ugochukwu 

Alaribe 

ABA—TRADERS at 

Ngwa Road, Aba have 

decried a new list of levies 

approved for them for 

payment by the 

Commissioner for Trade 

and Investment, Chief 

Charles Ogbonnaya, 

insisting that the levies are 

burdensome. 

They stated that the 

multiple levies introduced 

by the commissioner have 

adversely affected their 

businesses as they find it 

difficult to make profit and 

feed their families. 

A leader of one of the lines 

in the market who pleaded 

anonymity for fear of 

victimization, said the 

Ministry in a release 

signed by the 

Commissioner, approved a 

total of nine levies which 

each trader in the market 

should pay. 

He said apart from the 

fact that the Ministry kept 

bringing in new levies 

every year, some of the 

levies are being duplicated. 

“Each year, they kept 

bringing in new levies and 

these levies are duplicated 

and forced down on us. It 

is either you pay or your 

shop is locked up. 

Sometimes, they even 

threaten us.” 

The trader said that the 

levies are much and they 

will not be able to pay them 

and still remain in business. 

The levies according to a 

document signed by the 

Commissioner included: 

Income tax-N3,600, 

Storage fee-N2,000, 

Infrastructural levy-N2,000, 

Sanitation levy, ASEPA,- 

N3,600 and security levy- 

N2,000 

Others are renewal of 

Abia State Signage Agency, 

ABSA, levy -N3, 000, 

Scooping levy-N800, Fire 

Service levy-N2,500 and 

renewal of business 

premises-N2,000. 

C o n t a c t e d , 

Commissioner for Trade 

and Investment, Chief 

Charles Ogbonnaya, told 

Vanguard that the levies 

payable by traders at the 

market have been reviewed 

downward to N9,000, but 

gave no details. 

Igbo leaders call for hitch-free elections in Nasarawa 

By David Odama 

LAFIA—AHEAD of the 

2019 general elections, 

Igbo leaders, traditional title 

holders and other 

stakeholders from the five 

South-East states based in 

Nasarawa State have called 

for free, fair and credible 

elections in 2019. 

The elders who made the 

call when they converged 

in Karu, Nasarawa State to 

celebrate the 2018 new yam 

festival stressed the need to 

strengthen the security 

apparatus, ensure peace 

through cultural rebirth 


and collaborations among 

the ethnic groups in 

Nigeria. 

According to His Royal 

Majesty, Igwe Ochendo 

Ogidi- Igbo, Eze Igbo 1 of 

Ado Kingdom and the 

Wakili of Ado in Nasarawa 

State, the call for the 

peaceful conduct of next 

year's elections is to avoid 

the repeat of the tension 

that characterised the 2015 

general elections. 

He noted that 

encouraging cultural 

collaboration would not only 

bring together Nigerians of 

diversed cultures and 

traditions, but would 

enhance integration 

among the people. 

The traditional ruler 

urged the federal, state and 

local governments to 

encourage cultural activities 

amongst the people to 

serve as veritable tools for 

national unity and 

integration. 

He said the celeberation 

of the new yam festival is 

an event that has formed 

the fulcrum of Igbo sociocultural 

strides towards the 

promotion and dispensing 

the rich Igbo culture, 

customs and tradition in the 

country and beyond. 

He said: “As you can see 

here; Hausa, Yoruba, Tiv 

and other tribes are 

extensively represented. 

“I want to pray and ask 

Nigerians that the way we 

are dancing together , we 

should do so during the 

2019 elections so that we 

can unanimously elect a 

leader of our choice. If 

Nigerians come together 

and elect a leader of our 

choice, Nigeria will move 

to a greater height and the 

peace and unity our 

country is yearning for 

would be realized.” 

Illegal firearm: Court insists on 

speedy trial of Enugu chief 

By Chinedu 

Adonu 

ENUGU—A FEDERAL 

High Court sitting in 

Enugu, yesterday, said it 

would not entertain any 

delay in the ongoing trial 

of a high chief in the State, 

Christian Akpata. 

The accused person, a 

native of Akamaoye 

community in Ezeagu 

Local Government Area of 

the state, is standing trial 

before the court for 

allegedly being in 

possession of illegal 

firearm. 

The trial judge, Justice 

Rosemary Dugbo- 

Oghoghorie said that in 

line with the new practice 

of the courts, criminal trials 

must be done day to day so 

as to ensure speedy 

dispensation of justice. 

She thereafter adjourned 

the matter for today, 

(Wednesday) and ordered 

the police to make their 

witnesses available. 

Earlier, the a police officer, 

SP Benedict Ayalogu, who 

was led in evidence by the 

prosecutor told the court 

that a team from the 

Inspector-General of Police, 

IGP’s Monitoring Unit 

came on a search at the 

•Late Mrs Adigida 

MRS Jolomi Adigida 

(nee Awani) of 

Adigida Ishikaguma Amai 

Ukwuani LGA, Delta State, 

is dead, aged 46. 

Service of songs holds 

today at Our Lady of 

Fatima Event Center 1, 

Adetayo Shade Street 

Aguda, Surelere Lagos. 

Burial comes up Friday 

Nov 23, 2018 after a Mass 

at St Paul’s Catholic 

Church, Ekurede, Itsekiri. 

She is survived by husband, 

children and other 

relations. 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Enugu resident of the 

accused person and 

recovered a semi automatic 

8 rounds pump action gun 

and seven live ammunition. 

He said upon 

interrogation, the accused 

person said the gun was 

licensed. 

Ayalogu, however, told 

the court that though the 

Chief Akpata later brought 

a license, he suspected that 

the document was forged. 

“The description of the 

gun in the license read 

‘single barrel shot gun and 

not pump action recovered 

in his residence,” he told 

the court. 

Akpata was earlier 

arraigned before the court 

for illegal possession of a 

semi automatic eight 

rounds pump action gun 

with registration number 

P268884, an action said to 

be punishable under Sect. 

27 (1) (a) (i) of Fire Arms 

Act Cap F28 Laws of the 

Federation, 2004. 

Meanwhile, the police 

witness kept silent on one 

of the charges against 

Akpata, which bordered on 

alleged forgery of the 

signature of the traditional 

ruler of the community, 

Igwe Kieran Ugwuozor. 

Chris Ezike resumes as Abia CP 

By Anayo Okoli 

U MUAHIA—MR. 

Chris Ezike has 

assumed office as the new 

Commissioner of Police, 

Abia State Command. He 

took over from Mr. Anthony 

Ogbizi who now replaced 

him in Abuja headquarters 

as commissioner in charge 

of community policing. 

Taking over from Ogbizi 

Monday, Ezike, a former 

Commissioner of Imo State 

Death 

Command, said he would 

deploy effective community 

policing in Abia State to 

ensure security of lives and 

properties. 

Ezike said coming from 

the background of 

community policing, he 

would partner with 

members of the community 

to set the security agenda 

of the state for active 

participation of every 

member of the community 

in the security of the State. 

The CP urged officers 

and men of the command 

to cooperate with him to 

ensure that they succeed 

together in ensuring 

adequate security for Abia. 

Passage 

JUSTICE Thompson 

Dugbo, 89, of Owhrode, 

Udu Local Government 

Area of Delta State, is dead. 

He died on July 15, 2018. 

Information on his burial 

rites and internment, which 

has been slated for 

November 30, 2018, will be 

announced later. 

He is survived by his 

widow, children and grand 

children. 

•Late Justice Dugbo

N ORWEGIAN 

Refugee Council, 

NRC, says cholera has 

killed 175 people in Borno, 

Adamawa and Yobe states, 

leaving about 10,000 

people hospitalised. 

It attributed the cholera 

outbreak to crowded 

internally-displaced 

persons, IDP, camps and 

host communities. 

In a statement yesterday, 

Janet Chenero, NRC 

Programme Manager, said 

there was urgent need for 


175 dead, 10,000 hospitalised as Cholera hits North-East 

By Kingsley 

Omonobi & Peter 

M AKURDI— 

Duru 

GOVERNOR 

Samuel Ortom of Benue 

State, yesterday, claimed 

that a United Nations, UN, 

delegation scheduled to 

visit Benue State was 

denied landing permit at 

Makurdi Airport. 

However, in a swift 

reaction, Nigerian Air 

Force, NAF, dismissed the 

allegation, saying a 

NOTAM, (Notice to All 

Airmen) clearly stated that 

runway 0523 was closed to 

all civil aviation operators 

(private aircraft) due to 

ongoing repairs at the 

airport. 

Director of NAF Public 

Relations and Information, 

Air Commodore Ibikunle 

Daramola, gave the 

clarification. 

‘What they don’t 

want UN to know’ 

But Governor Ortom, who 

spoke yesterday in 

Makurdi while swearing in 

nine newly-appointed 

commissioners, said: “They 

did not want the delegation 

to come to Benue to get 

firsthand information of the 

dehumanising situation 

and injustice our people are 

facing. It is not fair. 

“I will not accept it and I 

improved hygiene facilities 

to combat the deadly 

cholera outbreaks, adding 

that congestion in camps 

had made it difficult to 

provide adequate water, 

sanitation and hygiene 

services. 

She added that the rainy 

season had also worsened 

the conditions in camps and 


Her words: “Number of 

displaced persons affected 

by cholera has shot up to 

10,000. The disease is 

will not keep quiet. If you 

want me to keep quiet, give 

me justice. 

“It is only a fool that will 

die 20 times before his 

actual death and you know 

that I am not a fool. I am 

ready to die once, as far as 

I get justice for my people.” 

EFCC a dept in 

APC—Ortom 

According to him, in the 

last eight months, officials 

of his administration had 

allegedly been subjected to 

several interrogations by 

the Economic and 


Commission, EFCC, over 

N120 million expended on 

the burial of the former Tor 

Tiv and Chairman of the 

state’s Traditional Council, 

the late Akawe Torkula, and 

resettlement of his family 

two years ago. 

He said: “EFCC has 

become a department in the 

spreading quickly in 

congested IDP camps with 

limited access to proper 

sanitation facilities.” 

She called on the 

authorities to provide more 

space in camps and host 

communities for the 

construction of new water 

and sanitation facilities. 

“If more land is not 

urgently provided for camp 

de-congestion and 

construction of health and 

sanitation facilities, Nigeria 

is steering towards yet 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, that is used to harass 

and intimidate perceived 

political enemies. 

“It is unfortunate that if 

you are a member of APC, 

you are a saint, but the 

moment you leave the 

party, they demonise you 

and you are hunted. 

“I am a strong advocate 

of the fight against 

corruption, but if we must 

fight corruption it has to be 

holistic and total and not 

selective.” 

Airport shut since 

August 22—Air Force 

On his part, Air 

Commodore Daramola, 

while noting that the 

NOTAM had been in effect 

since August 22, said the 

airport would remain 

closed until the repairs 

were completed. 

His words: “Military 

aircraft make use of the 

another cholera outbreak in 

2019,” she said. 

Meanwhile, the 

International Organisation 

for Migration, IOM, said 

Maiduguri has the highest 

concentration of IDPs, with 

243,000 camp-like 

settlements and crowded 


The organisation said as 

a result of the concentration, 

the displaced persons 

defecate in the open, which 

in turn causes water borne 

diseases. 

WECYCLERS: From left— Corporate Affairs and Sustainable Business Director, Unilever Ghana & 

Nigeria, Soromidayo George; Wecyclers Nigeria Controller, Salawot Fasasi; Assistant GM, Lagos State Waste 

Management Authority, LAWMA, Jide Onayiga, and Vice President, Unilever Supply Chain, West Africa, 

Ramaswamy Siddharth, at the launch of Wecyclers Recycling Exchange Programme at Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos. 

Visiting UN delegation denied 

landing at Makurdi Airport—Ortom 

By Demola Akinyemi 

I LORIN—GOVERNOR 

Abdulfatah Ahmed of 

Kwara State, yesterday, 

said the state was now 

under siege by security 

agents deployed by the 

Federal Government ahead 

of weekend’s by-election. 

Governor Ahmed, who 

spoke in Ilorin when youths 

from Kwara South 

Senatorial district came to 

express concern over 

perceived growing insecurity 

ahead of Saturday’s 

by-election, claimed the 

Inspector-General of Police, 

Ibrahim Idris, had ordered 

airport, but we cannot give 

a clearance to a private/civil 

aircraft to land there.” 

Emphasising that NAF 

was aware that the UN 

delegation was being led 

by the UN Special 

Representative for West 

Africa, Ibm Chambers, and 

that they were to visit 

Borno, Lagos and Rivers, 

Commodore Daramola 

said: “In those airports, 

they had no issues with 

landing, but that of Benue 

State is different. 

“For you to know that the 

Air Force has no ulterior 

motive, the request for the 

use of the airport, was 

written and communicated 

by the Federal Ministry of 

Foreign Affairs. There is 

nothing we can do. 

“The NOTAM is there for 

everybody to see at the 

appropriate agency; its 

reference number is Coo/ 

64/18.” 

the redeployment of all 

Divisional Police Officers in 

the state. 

According to him, 

“information reaching me 

is that divisional police 

officers have been changed. 

This is to disenfranchise 

and intimidate people. We 

should allow people to 


NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

Curfew lifted in Kaduna 

town, reviewed in Kachia, 

Kasuwan Magani, Kujama 

By Ben Agande 

KADUNA 

State 

government has 

lifted the curfew in 

Kaduna metropolis and 

environs, with immediate 

effect. 

Night time curfew had 

subsisted in the city since 

October 31, following days 

of crisis in the state that 

led to many deaths and 

destruction of property. 

A statement by Samuel 

Aruwan, Senior Special 

Assistant to the Governor 

on Media and Publicity 

announced that the curfew 

had been lifted. 

“Residents are now free 

to go about their legitimate 

By Marie Nanlong 

JOS—MINISTER of 

Youths and Sports 

Development, Solomon 

Dalung, has said lack of 

clearly-defined agenda is 

the bane of the Middle 

Belt region and a change 

is needed to make the 

region make meaningful 

impact in the nation’s 

political space. 

Dalung, who spoke in 

Jos yesterday after giving 

a goodwill message at the 

General Church Council, 

GCC, meeting of the 

Church of Christ in 

Nations, COCIN, called 

on church leaders in the 

region to sensitise their 

members on the need to 

set an agenda to ensure a 

better future for the youths 

of the region. 

His words: “There is a 

difference between having 

an organisation and 

having people’s agenda. 

The Middle Belt struggle 

dates back to preindependence 

days. 

However, we have no 

defined agenda. 

“We are the minorities 

living in the north. What 

do we have as an agenda 

of the minority in terms of 

development, our 

relationship with our 

neighbours, the type of 

education that we intend 

to provide for our people, 

Kwara by-election: Ahmed says state's under siege 

business at anytime of the 

day,” he said, adding 

however that “a security 

review has determined 

that curfew hours be 

retained in Kujama, 

Kasuwan Magani and 

Kachia towns in the state. 

“Nighttime curfew in 

Kachia is from 10p.m. to 

6a.m. For Kasuwan 

Magani and Kujama the 

curfew remains from 5p.m. 

to 6a.m. 

“The Kaduna State 

Security Council 

commends residents for 

upholding the peace and 

urges residents to continue 

to cooperate with the 

security agencies,” the 

statement noted. 

Bane of Middle-Bellt is 

lack of agenda—Dalung 

exercise their civic rights 

on Saturday and let the 

results count.” 

At press time, efforts to 

speak with Police 

authorities were 

unsuccessful as neither 

calls nor texts to the Force 

Public Relations Officer's 

phone were responded to. 

the preservation of our rich 

culture and our stake in 

the Nigerian nation? 

“That is what we call 

agenda. These, to the best 

of my knowledge, have 

never existed. Other zones 

in this country have 

defined agenda. The 

people of South-South are 

talking about resource 

control. 

“There are huge mineral 

resources in the Middle 

Belt, but as I am talking to 

you, illegal mining 

activities are going on in 

different local government 

areas even in Plateau 

State. 

“If we have an agenda, 

we would have learned 

from the experiences of 

what happened to the 

people of South-South 

and nip it in the bud. 

“Absence of stronglydefined 

agenda and 

political leadership has 

led to the formation of 

political organisations 

that are more pronounced 

when elec-tions are 

approaching.” 

UNIJOS 

alumni holds 

lecture 

LAGOS State Commissioner 

of Police, Mr. Imohinmi 

Edgal, and Ekiti State 

Commissioner for Justice 

& Attorney-General, Mr. 

Wale Fapohunda, will be 

Presenter and Chairman, 

respectively, at the 

University of Jos, UNIJOS, 

2018 distinguished alumni 

lecture organised by 

UNIJOS Alumni Association, 

Lagos Chapter, on 

November 22, at the 

Banquet Hall of Lagos 

Airport Hotel by 11a.m.


WITH CHARLES KUMOLU 

midweekpersonality@gmail.com 

08052140865 (sms only) 

PERSONALITY ETHICS 

*Our word must be our 

bond 

*Everyone is equal no 

matter where he comes 

from 

*A leader must have 

unquestionable 

character 

Unity schools: 

I'm an engineer and into Telecommunication 

System Integration. I did further 

training in Telecommunication and 

Computer Networking. I attended Federal 

Government College, Ugwolawo, 

Kogi State. As a young man of 11 years, I 

used to embark on a three-hour journey 

from Benin to the bank of River Niger, in 

Agenegbode, where I would take a ferry 

to Idah in Kogi State. The journey to Idah 

is 45 minutes. From Idah, I would take a 

car to my school Ugwolawo. That was the 

first time I saw a bare-chested woman 

going about her business without inhibitions. 

That was one of the things that 

struck me. The bank of the River Niger in 

Agenegbode was the point of convergence 

for all of us from different parts of 

the country. It was remarkable because 

it was fun taking the ferry to Idah. Interestingly, 

some of the students didn’t 

speak English at the point of convergence 

but when they got to the 

school, they quickly learned 

English. We were taught that 

we're equal not minding the 

part of Nigeria we come from. 

We were taught how to be leaders 

with character. Above all, 

we were taught that our word 

must be our bond. 

Promotion of excellence 

I will say that the Federal 

Government is doing fairly 

well in the funding of Unity 

Schools. However, the question 

to ask is: how is the money 

utilised? We need to address 

that. We have grand 

plans and we are looking at 

how our programmes are 

funded from different sources. 

The alumni associations 

that makeup USOSA have been 

funding projects worth millions 

of naira. USOSA consists 

of 104 federal government 

colleges, federal government 

girls colleges, Suleja Academy 

and a few federal science colleges. 

The mandate of USOSA 

as a registered body in the 

Corporate Affairs Commission, 

CAC, is to promote the 

unity of Nigeria through the 

promotion of excellence in 

public education. We are reenergizing 

the alumni associations 

nationwide to realise 

our mandate. USOSA came 

into being in 2007 as an interventionist 

body that was 

opposed to the sale of the unity 

schools by President Olusegun 

Obasanjo. The success 

that was achieved by coming 

together gave USOSA that 

push to exist as a body that 

created visibility for alumni 

associations of unity schools. 

My two-year tenure would be 

used to achieve greater things 

LAWRENCE WILBERT: For 

the love of Unity Schools 

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Agilent Wireless Limited, Mr. Lawrence 

Wilbert, who was recently elected President-General of Unity Schools Old Students 

Association,USOSA, discusses his plans for the body with emphasis that the objectives 

behind the establishment of the institutions are still germane today. Wilbert, who sits 

on the board of other companies including GenielNG Communications and Potters 

and Law also relishes his experience as a student of one of the unity schools in the 

1980s. 

for USOSA. 

Unity Schools are not really 

what they used to be 

and most of you who 

passed through the 

schools are not happy 

about it. What are your areas 

of concern? 

The 104 unity schools in the 

country were set up by the 

Federal Government to promote 

the unity of this country 

and create leaders. The aim 

was to bring young students 

from different parts of the 

country to live together in an 

institution where they will 

study. By the time a student 

must have spent five or six 

years in the school, the person 

must have learned much about 

Nigeria’s diversity having lived 

with people from the east, 

north, west, and south. What 

that meant was that the government 

invested much in good 

education that was subsidised 

for the students. We attended 

the schools and came out with 

excellent qualifications. Today, 

unity schools have become 

victims of the challenges 

in Nigeria which include lack 

of adequate security nationwide 

and institutionalised corruption. 

The quality of teachers 

is not what it used to be. 

Teachers’ welfare is also a 

challenge. These are impediments 

that limit unity schools 

today. 

What motivated you into 

vying for the position of 

President-General of Unity 

Schools Old Students 

Association, USOSA? 

Being a patriotic Nigerian 

qualified me for the position. I 

have studied in different parts 

of the world and there is no 

better place to be than Nigeria. 

The quality education I received 

in a unity school from 

the federal government, made 

it mandatory for me to give 

back to the system. From the 

age of 11 to our late teenage 

years, we were groomed to be 

leaders with the motto Pro 

Unitate but with the division 

among the various tribes that 

make up Nigeria, we feel very 

disturbed. That made us think 

about what the future of the 

country would look like if we 

don’t tackle the problem. One 

of the better ways to tackle our 

problems is quality education, 

especially the education that 

children can get in unity 

schools. That was why I felt 

that it would be wrong for me 

to sit back and watch things 

go wrong. I got involved to 

see how we can work primarily 

with the government 

through the Ministry of Education, 

our legislators, and 

fellow old boys to passionately 

give back to the system. The 

plan is to restore quality to 

public education in Nigeria 

and at the same time, promote 

the unity of Nigeria. 

Unlike in the past, unity 

schools are no longer 

fashionable. In fact, statistics 

indicate that the 

number of students who 

enroll has drastically reduced. 

As the President of 

USOSA, how do you intend 

to make the schools 

appealing again to Nigerians? 

I don't agree that enrollment 

has reduced but the diversity 

of students attending 

the schools has reduced. 

Unity schools have become 

localised instead of the national 

outlook they had in the 

past. It should not be so, because the 

situation implies that the reason for the 

formation of the schools has been defeated. 

It calls to question what is also going 

on in the National Youth Service 

Corps,NYSC, which has the same aims 

and objectives like the unity schools. What 

we intend to do is to engage the owner of 

the school which is the Ministry of Education. 

We want to work with the ministry 

in improving the standard of education in 

the schools, as well as fixing the 

infrastructure problems across the schools. 

My colleagues in the association are equal 

stakeholders just like the Ministry of Education. 

We invest our personal funds in 

the rehabilitation of dilapidated 

infrastructure. We do a lot already but we 

need to engage properly with the ministry 

this time. We want to work with them on 

teachers’welfare,their training and other 

things that would enhance quality of teachers. 

The sanitary condition of the schools, 

especially the girl-child schools would be 

looked into. The idea is to ensure that students 

receive quality education. It's not a 

short-term approach but a long-term process 

that would ensure a policy framework 

that could return the schools to their glorious 

days. 

Your plan of engaging the owner of 

the school, was a reminder of the 

plan by ex-Military President, Gen 

Ibrahim Babangida(retd) to change 

the ownership system of the schools 

by giving them to states where they 

are domiciled. It took efforts by certain 

people to make him rescind the 

decision. Babangida felt that ownership 

contributed to the challenges the institutions 

were experiencing then. Since 

those problems are still 

there, would you suggest a 

change of ownership to revitalise 

the schools? 

Graduates of many unity 

schools founded in the 1960s 

are in their 60s and 50s now. 

They are grandfathers and 

grandmothers now. They are 

leaders trained to make key 

decisions in the country. 

Most of them have occupied 

positions of authority in the 

country. Some are still in 

such positions where they 

make key decisions in the 

country. However, if the 

ownership is changed, the 

aims of establishing unity 

schools would be defeated. 

Even if they are handed over 

to states or any other localised 

institution to run, the 

aims would still be defeated. 

Doing that would imply that 

we are no longer interested 

in having patriotic citizens, 

who would be at home anywhere 

in the country. The 

Federal Government should 

still be the owner of the unity 

schools with the same aim of 

promoting the unity of Nigeria. 

Members of the alumni 

association are also core 

stakeholders in the ownership 

of the schools, who 

should be carried along in efforts 

at revitalising the 

schools. Therefore, I will be 

engaging the Ministry of Education 

to ensure that the 

alumni association is carried 

along as equal partners in efforts 

at reviving the schools. 

In doing that, we will be guided 

by the spirit of Pro Unitate, 

which is the motto of the 

schools. 

*Read conclusive part on 

www.vanguardngr.com

The enduring partnership between the 

United States and Nigeria 

By Ambassador Tibor Nagy 

THIS is the last day of my first 

trip to Africa as the Assistant 

Secretary of State for African Affairs. 

I spent most of my 32-year 

career as an American Diplomat on 

this continent, and I was fortunate to 

serve twice in Nigeria. 

As they say, old friends are the best 

friends. I am truly excited to be 

back in Nigeria and to speak to you 

today about the enduring relationship 

between the United States and 

the countries of Africa, particularly 

Nigeria. 

The world, most especially Africa, 

has changed dramatically from 

when I became a diplomat in 1978. 

When I first set foot on the continent 

in 1978, there were no 

cellphones, no internet, few television 

stations, and to call back to America 

required booking a call days ahead 

to reserve one of the few international 

lines. 

Today, young Africans are as wired 

and plugged in as any of their global 

counterparts, and they aspire to 

the same goals - a quality education, 

a well-paying job, a good house, and 

something left over to help their parents. 

Through modern technology, even 

people in the villages now know how 

much cassava or goats will sell for 

in the urban areas, so they can get 

better prices for their products. 

And if they have the cell phone 

number of their relative now living 

in Kano, Abuja, or Lagos they know 

how to reach them and remind them 

to send money home. In fact, all 

those advertisements by GLO mobile 

remind Nigerians that you truly 

have no excuse not to call your 

mother. 

United States values its 

long-standing partnerships 

The United States deeply values 

its long-standing partnerships 

with African countries. 

Across the continent, we face 

challenges together, from fighting 

corruption and combating terrorism 

to helping African nations 

create healthier, better educated 

populations with greater opportunities 

for their citizens. 

Through our programs like 

AGOA, PEPFAR, Power Africa, 

Feed the Future, and the Young 

African Leaders Initiative, we 

have walked side-by side with 

Africa for decades to open up the 

American market to African goods, 

to counter the scourge of HIV/ 

AIDS, to bring electricity to rural 

areas, to help African nations become 

self-sufficient, and to empower 

the next generation of African 

leaders. 

This trip has been a phenomenal 

opportunity to see the impressive 

impact of those partnerships. 

It has also been a chance for 

me to highlight four key U.S. 

policy priorities: 

First, the United States promotes 

stronger trade and business 

ties between Africa and America. 

To achieve this, African governments 

need to increase transparency 

and fairness in their respective 

commercial environments to 

attract more business. 

Investors need a level playing 

field, predictable policies, and a 

dispute resolution process that 

follows the rule of law — not who 

pays the highest bribe. 

America remains the world 

leader in international brands and 

American technology and expertise 

is second to none. 

And, American companies are 

Ambassador Tibor Nagy, 

We have seen time 

and again, that investing 

in education 

is the best way to invest 

in the future, it 

is a down payment 

for the community, 

the nation, and ultimately, 

the world 

eager to invest in Africa and they 

will bring technology, know-how 

and, above all, the desire to hire, 

train, and advance Africans into 

positions of responsibility. 

Sadly, as we all know, some other 

countries have not been willing to 

do this. 

Second, we must harness the potential 

of Africa’s tremendous youth 

population to drive Africa’s economic 

growth and create real prosperity. 

Both during my first career as a 

diplomat and my second career in 

academia as Vice Provost for International 

Affairs at Texas Tech University, 

I had numerous interactions 

with young Nigerians. They were 

some of the brightest and most talented 

students I have met anywhere. 

The question to you is, “How do 

we harness that talent and entrepreneurial 

spirit of young Africans as a 

force for prosperity and stability?” 

Third, it is critical that we 

strengthen our partnership to advance 

peace and security across the 

continent. We do this through our 

security and development partnerships 

with African governments as 

well as supporting regional mechanisms 

like ECOWAS. 

We want to see Nigeria play a 

larger role in the region — to use its 

decades of experience in regional 

peacekeeping and the recent trend 

of peaceful democratic transitions 

to influence the broader region toward 

a similar path. 

Fourth, I am here today to reinforce 

that America has an unwavering 

commitment to Africa. Our 

relationship has evolved over decades 

to one of cooperation, mutual 

respect, and transparency. 

Perhaps nowhere is the strength 

and breadth of the U.S.-African partnership 

more evident than here in 

Nigeria. Nigeria has Africa’s largest 

population and economy. It is a 

diverse and vibrant democracy on 

the world’s fastest growing continent. 

As Nigeria’s population becomes 

the third-largest in the world by 2050, 

our partnership will only deepen. 

I believe that a strong Nigeria is 

the foundation for a strong continent. 

As I focus my attention on increasing 

trade with and U.S. investment 

on the continent, Nigeria will be at 

the center of this effort. Nigeria is 

the United States’ second-largest 

trading partner in Africa, with over 

$9 billion in two-way goods trade in 

2017. Hundreds of American companies 

already operate in Nigeria, 

and in 2017, U.S. investment stood 

at $5.8 billion. 

Recently, Nigeria has taken steps 

to develop more predictable economic 

policies and a more transparent 

justice system. However, greater 

international investment will only 

come with continued reforms. 

Nigeria has a wealth of smart, talented, 

and successful people. Take 

the story of Amal Hassan from Kano 

State, who is a Nigerian technopreneur 

and Chief Executive Officer 

of Outsource Global. 

Last year, the U.S. State Department 

and Fortune Magazine 

honored her as one of 16 female global 

business leaders to join the Women’s 

Mentoring Partnership. And, 

here’s why. In just the past two years, 

she expanded her workforce from 50 

positions to more than 700, with 70 

percent of the jobs held by women. 

Ms. Hassan’s vision is to establish 

world-class call centers that make 

Nigeria an outsourcing destination, 

in turn creating steady employment 

opportunities for Nigerian youth and 

women. 

Her entrepreneurship and energy 

show why we believe that a more 

competitive Nigeria will lead to a 

growing middle class, increased educational 

opportunities, a better quality 

of life, and serve as an example 

for how to create a more peaceful 

and prosperous continent. 

We have seen time and again, that 

investing in education is the best way 

to invest in the future. 

It is a down payment for the community, 

the nation, and ultimately, 

the world. The United States invests 

a large portion of our roughly 

$500 million a year in bilateral foreign 

assistance to help Nigerians 

build human capital, fight poverty, 

and promote health. 

Also, the Young African Leaders 

Initiative or YALI is one U.S. effort 

to invest in the next generation of 

African leaders. 

The YALI program helps young 

Africans enhance their leadership 

skills, bolster entrepreneurship, and 

forge meaningful ties with U.S. counterparts. 

Went to America, and 

found Africa 

One element of YALI - the 

Mandela Washington Fellowship 

for Young African Leaders - brings 

Africa’s most promising young leaders 

to the United States for six weeks 

at top U.S. universities. 

Fellows take the skills learned in 

America and translate it into a direct 

investment in their home countries. 

As one Mandela Washington 

Fellow said, “I went to America, and 

found Africa.” 

But, an educated population is only 

possible if children can attend 

school. This brings me to my third 

policy priority: advancing peace 

and stability. 

The destruction by Boko Haram 

and ISIS-West Africa has meant disaster 

for more than two million displaced 

people across Nigeria’s northeast. 

Violence has disrupted the 

education – and the futures – of an 

entire generation there. 

I want to reiterate that the United 

States is your partner in the fight 

against terrorism. We are committed 

to helping the Nigerian people 

provide their own security, and you 

have made important progress. 

We are also the largest humanitarian 

donor to those impacted by 

violence. But, simply restoring the 

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018— 37 

Northeast to what it was before Boko 

Haram and ISIS-West Africa’s destruction 

will not address the challenges 

at hand. 

The Nigerian government, with 

civic leaders, communities and businesses 

must work together to create 

a durable environment to support 

lasting peace and development. 

That work also includes transparent 

and credible investigations of 

human rights violations and mechanisms 

to hold accountable those 

found guilty of such crimes. 

The greatest sign of success will be 

when the displaced are able to return 

home - safely, voluntarily, and 

with access to needed services. 

Through USAID, we are helping 

those affected by violence in the 

Northeast to rebuild their lives. 

And, we are encouraged by Nigeria’s 

efforts to establish a Northeast 

Development Commission. 

We also recognize the Nigerian 

Government’s commitment to prevent 

the stoking of religious conflict 

and applaud Nigeria’s religious 

communities for discussing their issues 

peacefully and openly. 

To help, the United States is working 

to improve law enforcement and 

judicial systems; support conflict 

prevention and mitigation programs; 

working with your universities 

to modernize farming and herding 

practices; and supporting Nigerian 

civil society leaders to find longterm 

solutions to conflict. 

Ultimately, no matter how much 

international support Nigeria receives, 

only the Nigerian people can 

determine lasting solutions and a 

path forward toward peace and stability. 

Nigerian people must 

plant, water , cultivate and 

harvest 

We and other partners might provide 

the seeds, but the Nigerian people 

must plant them, water them, 

cultivate them and harvest them. 

Finally, my fourth policy priority 

– our unwavering support of Africa. 

America’s partnership with Africa is 

based on transparency, mutual respect, 

and collaboration. We go 

beyond simply investing in Africa, 

to investing in Africans. That is why 

we strongly support free and fair elections. 

West Africa – an area historically 

known for coups and civil wars – is 

now trending toward increasingly 

democratic elections and peaceful 

transfers of power. 

Nigeria’s 2015 election was critical 

to that positive trend, and I hope 

that the 2019 elections build on this 

momentum. In February, you 

will have an opportunity to shape the 

future of your country. I want to be 

clear that the United States does not 

support any single candidate. We 

support a democratic process that is 

free, fair, transparent, peaceful, and 

reflects the will of the Nigerian people. 

But that demonstration of will 

requires your participation, so 

please go vote! 

The United States has provided 

technical assistance to Nigeria’s Independent 

National Electoral Commission 

(INEC), supported civil society 

to monitor the Governors’ elections, 

and worked to help prevent 

election violence. We will continue 

this support as Nigerians continue 

to strengthen their democracy. 

As one Nigerian proverb explains: 

“He who does not look ahead, always 

remains behind.” 

Let us take that proverb to heart. 

As Nigerians drive toward the future, 

“Let’s look at Nigeria through the 

front windscreen, not through the 

rear-view mirror.” 

Together we can create a Nigeria 

of opportunity and prosperity; of 

hope and commitment; and of peace 

and security. 

May God bless each of you. 

Thank you. 

(Full text of the remarks delivered 

by Ambassador Tibor Nagy, U.S. 

Assistant Secretary of State for African 

Affairs during a public lecture 

at Baze University, Abuja on November 

9, 2018) 

Why Udom 

Emmanuel will be 

governor of Akwa 

Ibom State after 

May 29, 2019 

By Ini Ubong 

Gov Udom 

WE hope the owner of the uni 

verse will tarry in His visit. 

If so, there’s every likelihood that, 

the incumbent Governor of Akwa 

Ibom State, will continue with a 

second term in office. 

Chief among the reasons this will 

happen, stems from the fact that, 

the peace that eluded the state between 

2007/2015, has become a 

norm, and so, the people that were 

affected most, the Church in Uyo 

are now conducting their business 

unhindered. 

This is why the church as a body, 

have cried that, “afflictions shall 

not arise a second time “. I was in 

the state for 11 days and spoke and 

listened to faith leaders. They want 

the peace experienced to continue. 

The Governor is unpopular 

amongst the civil servants? Yes. 

There’s a visible anger once you 

mention his name. He’s not owing 

them their salaries, but emoluments 

like several years of leave allowances, 

pensions etc. In my quest to 

understand what’s on the mind of 

the Governor, one of his senior aides 

agreed that the Governor had a 

meeting last week with Level 14 and 

above officers and explained to 

them the poor financial situation, 

offering them notarized promotions. 

At several instances, I have pleaded 

poor income for the state, and I 

was unkindly told that the “Udom 

boys are living large, buying properties 

and the good life”. 

Udom Emmanuel as Governor 

of AKS isn’t seen as a friendly and 

humble person and those around 

him complain he’s not flexible with 

counsel. Human flaws? Yes, but, 

there’s been a lot of development 

in the state, and decorum in managing 

the finances. 

This sitting Governor will return 

because, the defection of Godswill 

Akpabio to APC has unsettled the 

plans and successes achieved before 

his arrival. An aspirant of APC 

swore to me that, they’ll all vote 

Udom Emmanuel, to “teach APC a 

lesson “. Everywhere APC had structures, 

the uncommon transformer’s 

entry undid all, leaving the party 

with bitter tastes in their mouths. 

Streetwise consensus is that, if Nsima 

Ekere, the APC Gubernatorial 

candidate was staking his reputation, 

there would have been a real 

battle, the braggadocio of Godswill 

Akpabio. Most people of AKS are 

done with that era. 

Take for example the primaries 

of APC in the state. Lives were lost 

in the process, and even though the 

process was inconclusive, candidates 

forced on the people were announced. 

This again is a relic of 

our locust years. 

PDP in Akwa Ibom State seems 

to be strategic. When I screamed 

why Chris Ekpenyong, one time 

Deputy Governor of the state, who 

recently was lampooned, cursed 

and abused by constituents of Ikot 

Ekpene Senatorial district on a radio 

phone in programme, should 

be given a ticket to oppose Godswill 

Akpabio, a senior PDP person 

suggested that, the party might not 

be interested in winning that posi 

t i o n .

C 

M 

Y 


(LEFT): 

JOBS FOR 

A F R I C A N 

YOUTHS: Hajia 

Amal Hassan, 

Chief Executive 

O f f i c e r , 

Outsource 

Global, leading 

N i g e r i a n 

technopreneur, 

and Bill Gates, cochair 

of the Bill 

and Melinda 

G a t e s 

Foundation, 

during the forum 

by world leaders 

to create more 

employment for 

African youths. 

STANBIC IBTC INNOVATION CHALLENGE: From left: Acting Head, Marketing 

and Communications, Stanbic IBTC, Mrs. Bridget Oyefeso-Odusami; Chief Executive, 

Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC, Dr. Demola Sogunle; Architect, Yochaa App and First Prize 

Winner, Mr. Osagie Zogie-Odigie; and Experience and PR Lead, Yochaa App, Mr. 

Joseph Agha, during the winner selection session of 'Stanbic IBTC Chief Executive 

Innovation Challenge' at Stanbic IBTC Head Office in Lagos.Photo: Joe Akintola. 

VISIT: Representative of the Lagos Deputy Gov, Perm Sec, Office of the Dep 

Gov, Mrs Yetunde Odejayi (middle); Federal Commissioner, Public Complaints 

Commission, Lagos Office, Mr Abimbola Ayo-Yussuf (left) and Director, Human 

Resources and Admin, Office of Dep Gov, Mr Taoreed Dosunmu during a 

courtesy visit to the Deputy Gov by the Federal Commissioner at Alausa, Ikeja. 

Prince Tony Godday Erewa, Chairman, Ilaje Day Celebration addressing Egbe 

Omo Ilaje, Lagos State Council, flanked by Prince Iwamitigha Irowainu, National 

President, Egbe Omo Ilaje (left) and Olabode Ojabogun, Lagos State Chairman, 

Egbe Omo Ilaje during the Ilaje Day celebration at the National Stadium, Surulere.

Former first lady Michelle Obama smiles as she begins her book tour with a stop at the Whitney M. 

Young Magnet High School in Chicago. REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski 

Brexit: UK, EU strike draft withdrawal 

deal *May summons emergency cabinet meeting 

UK and EU officials 

have agreed the draft 

text of a Brexit agreement 

after months of negotiations 

in Brussels. 

A cabinet source told the 

BBC that the document has 

been agreed at a technical 

level by officials from both 

sides after intensive discussions 

this week. 

A special cabinet meeting 

will be held at 14:00 GMT 

on Wednesday as Theresa 

May seeks ministers’ backing. 

The PM is meeting ministers 

in Downing Street for 

one-to-one talks as they are 

given sight of the draft 

agreement. 

The pound surged against 

the dollar and the euro - but 

analysts warned it could be 

short-lived, with the cabinet 

and Parliament yet to agree 

to the plans. 

The EU said it would “take 

stock” on Wednesday, and 

the Irish government said 

negotiations were “ongoing 

and have not concluded”. 

Leading Brexiteers, such 

as Boris Johnson and Jacob 

Rees-Mogg, have urged 

cabinet ministers to reject 

the draft agreement, which 

they claim would keep the 

UK under EU control, based 

upon leaked versions of the 

text. 

Northern Ireland’s Democratic 

Unionist Party, which 

gives Theresa May vital 

support in key votes, said it 

would be a “very, very hard 

sell”. 

But Conservative Chief 

Whip Julian Smith said he 

was “confident” it would get 

through Parliament. 

The future of the border 

between Northern Ireland 

and the Republic of Ireland 

has been the last major outstanding 

issue to be settled 

amid disagreements over 

how to guarantee that there 

will not be physical checks 

reintroduced after Brexit. 

The draft agreement also 

includes commitments over 

citizens’ rights after Brexit, 

a proposed 21-month transition 

period after the UK’s 

departure on 29 March 

2019 and details of the socalled 

£39bn “divorce bill”. 

Cabinet ministers were 

briefed on the state of the 

negotiations earlier on Tuesday, 

when they were told a 

“small number of outstanding 

issues” remained to be 

sorted. 

No 10 said ministers were 

now being called to a special 

meeting to “consider the 

draft agreement the negotiating 

teams have reached in 

Brussels, and to decide on 


next steps”. 

Before they do so, they will 

be able to read relevant 

“documentation”. 

Leading Brexiteers, such 

as Boris Johnson and Jacob 

Rees-Mogg, have urged 

cabinet ministers to reject 

the draft agreement, which 

they claim would keep the 

UK under EU control, based 

upon leaked versions of the 

text. 

Audio recording of Khashoggi killing is 

a disaster—Erdogan 

AN audio recording of the 

killing of journalist Jamal 

Khashoggi is a “true disaster” 

that “shocked” the Saudi 

intelligence officer who 

heard it, Turkish President 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has 

said. 

Erdogan told reporters 

that after the intelligence officer 

had heard the recording, 

he said: “I guess they 

were on heroin; only someone 

who is on heroin would 

do such a thing.” 

The comments, reported 

by the pro-government 

Turkish newspaper The 

Daily Sabah on Tuesday, 

came after The New York 

Times reported that people 

familiar with the audio 

recording say it contains an 

instruction to “tell your 

boss.” American intelligence 

officials believe is a 

reference to Saudi Arabia’s 

Crown Prince. 

The report suggests that 

one of the 15-strong “kill 

team” allegedly sent to 

Istanbul to assassinate 

Khashoggi can be heard on 

the tape making a phone 

call in Arabic to say “the 

deed was done,” or words 

to that effect. 

The same person also told 

the person on the other end 

of the line to “tell your 

boss,” a reference intelligence 

officials believe is the 

strongest evidence yet linking 

de facto Saudi leader 

Crown Prince Mohammed 

bin Salman to Khashoggi’s 

murder, according to the 

Times. 

Citing three unnamed 

people familiar with the recording, 

the Times report 

says the call was made by 

Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, 

one of the Saudi team allegedly 

sent to kill the 

Washington Post columnist. 

The assertion is backed up 

by Turkish intelligence officials, 

who told their American 

counterparts that 

Mutreb was speaking to 

one of Prince Mohammed’s 

aides, the Times reports. 

CNN has not heard the 

recording and is unable to 

verify the voices on the tape 

or what they’re purported 

to say. 

Congo’s Ebola outbreak to 

last six more months — WHO 

THE Ebola outbreak in northeastern Democratic 

Republic of Congo, which has already killed 

more than 200 people, is expected to last until mid- 

2019, the World Health Organization’s emergency 

response chief Peter Salama told reporters on Tuesday. 

“It’s very hard to predict timeframes in an outbreak 

as complicated as this with so many variables that 

are outside our control, but certainly we’re planning 

on at least another six months before we can declare 

this outbreak over,” he said. 

CNN sues Trump over Jim Acosta’s credential suspension 

CNN has filed a lawsuit 

against the Trump administration 

after the White 

House suspended the credentials 

of one of its senior 

journalists. Its chief White 

House correspondent, Jim 

Acosta, had his press “hard 

pass” revoked last week 

hours after he got into a testy 

exchange with Mr Trump. 

The network alleges this 

violates its and Acosta’s constitutional 

rights. 

The lawsuit, filed in Washington 

DC on Tuesday, 

names the president and other 

senior aides as defendants. 

Among those named are 

Chief of Staff John Kelly and 

White House Press Secretary 

Sarah Sanders, who cited unacceptable 

conduct as 

grounds for the revocation of 

Acosta’s pass. 

On Tuesday Ms Sanders 

said in a statement that Acosta 

is one of nearly 50 hard 

pass holders at the CNN network, 

adding that it was “not 

the first time this reporter has 

42 die, 7,600 homes destroyed as 

deadly California wildfire grows 

CONVOYS of fire engines rumbled through the 

smouldering northern California town of Paradise 

on Tuesday on their way to combat still-active sections of 

the state’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire in history, 

which grew by 8,000 acres. 

Teams of workers wielding chainsaws cleared downed 

power lines and other obstacles from the streets, while 

forensics teams mobilized to resume their search for human 

remains in the charred wreckage of the Butte County 

town of 27,000, which was almost completely consumed 

by fire last Thursday, just hours after the blaze erupted. 

The “Camp Fire” continued to rage in Butte County, 

about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, and expanded 

to 125,000 acres (50,500 hectares), more than four 

times the area of the city, the California Department of 

Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said. 

The death toll stood at 42 people, the most on record 

from a California wildfire. More than 7,600 homes and 

other structures burned down, also an all-time high. 

Serena named GQ Woman of the 

Year, cover sparks controversy 

TENNIS great Serena 

Williams has been 

named GQ’s Woman of the 

Year — but the magazine’s 

cover has caused a stir on 

social media with many 

questioning why “Woman” 

was in quotes. 

The 37-year-old, called 

“The Champion” by the 

magazine, features in one 

of four covers of 

December’s ‘Men of the 

Year’ issue wearing a black 

long-sleeve turtleneck leotard. 

GQ, which first made 

women part of its Men of 

the Year honorees in 2003, 

included the American 

alongside actors Michael B 

Jordan, Henry Golding and 

Jonah Hill. 

GQ’s cover has sparked 

controversy on Twitter, however. 

Many users seemed 

unaware that the typography 

was handwritten by 

designer Virgil Abloh, who 

uses quotation marks in his 

work. Abloh collaborated 

with Williams and Nike for 

the player’s US Open outfit 

which featured “Serena” 

in quotations on her trainers 

and “Logo” on her tutu 

dress. 

inappropriately refused to 

yield to other reporters”. 

“The White House cannot 

run an orderly and fair press 

conference when a reporter 

acts this way, which is neither 

appropriate nor professional,” 

the statement read. 

“The First Amendment is 

not served when a single reporter, 

of more than 150 

present, attempts to monopolize 

the floor. If there is no 

check on this type of behavior 

it impedes the ability of 

the President, the White 

In February, Williams 

told CNN she almost 

died giving birth to her 

daughter last year, yet 

within months she was back 

training and returned to the 

sport earlier this year, reaching 

both the Wimbledon 

and US Open finals. 

Chasing a record-equaling 

24th major, Williams lost 

in both finals, falling to a 

straight-sets defeat to 

Anqelique Kerber at 

Wimbledon and a controversial 

loss to Naomi 

Osaka at Flushing Meadows, 

where she was docked 

a game after calling the 

umpire a “thief.” 

House staff, and members of 

the media to conduct business.” 

In a Twitter thread after the 

incident, Ms Sanders accused 

Acosta of “placing his 

hands on a young woman 

just trying to do her job” - 

referring to a White House 

intern who had tried to get 

the microphone away from 

him during a news conference. 

Acosta strongly denied 

any wrongdoing, labelling 

the White House’s accusation 

“a lie”.

Y 


Last week I examined 

the provisions of the 

Education Bank and 

stated how the failure of 

government led to the inability 

of the bank to fulfil 

its statutory road. I detailed 

how, owing to the 

refusal of the government 

to set up the Governing 

Board of the Bank, it was 

eventually run throughout 

its existence by the 

Minister of Education 

contrary to the express 

provisions of the Bank. 

However, as stated in 

the Government White 

Paper on the recommendation 

of the Ministerial 

Committee, other factors 

aide from government inactivity, 

contributed 

largely to the demise of 

the bank. Some of the 

findings in this respect 

are as follows: 

Some of the findings 

1. A total of 225 

number of staff were verified 

to be on payroll of the 

bank extant civil servant 

rules and procedures 

were observed not to have 

been followed in the appointment/transfer/secondment, 

promotion, 

confirmation and discipline 

of some of the staff 

of the bank. Some staff 

were abysmally stagnated 

for too long. A total of 49, 

current pensioners; 17 

referred pensioners and 6 

classified as pensioners 

outside unified Pension 

Scheme were verified. 

2. The Board of the 

former Students Loans 

Board (SLD) approved in 

1993, the transfer of N75m 

capital grant from the 

Time for FG to re-establish Education Bank; 

provide loans for students at low rate (3) 

loans fund to be invested 

in mortgage finance 

house (most of the distressed) 

to the detriment 

of the primary objectives 

of the Board/Bank of financing 

student’s education 

and providing 

loans to the public for 

educational purposes. 

3. It was confirmed 

that the Bank Area offices 

tampered with loans recovered 

(which were 

meant to be a receiving 

loan and to be paid to the 

Treasury) as imprest and 

merely sent in papers to 

inform the Loans Department. 

As at 10th October 

2001 the bank had no 

additional records of 

loans balances in the 

CBN and Commercial 

Banks. 

It is clear from the 

above that as has been 

the case with virtually 

anything Nigerian, the 

“Nigerian factor” was 

brought to bear on the 

Education Bank. How 

else can one explain the 

recruitment and promotion 

of staff without recourse 

to extant civil civil 

service rules and regulations? 

However despite the 

identified flaws in the 

operation of the bank, 

and the resultant decision 

of the government 

to wind it up, I remain of 

the conviction that as the 

reasons behind its establishment 

still exist, there 

is a need for government 

to revisit the issue of the 

Bank. Funding of education 

and particularly the 

cost of education is still a 

problem. At the moment, 

the Academic Staff Union 

of Universities (ASUU) 

has embarked on another 

strike to press for the 

same demands of increased 

funding to the 

Universities. It is for this 

reason that there must be 

renewed thinking about 

alternative means to fund 

education and one of the 

means identified globally 

to aid students in the acquisition 

of education is 

a loans scheme. 

A student’s loan is designed 

to help students 

pay for university tuition, 

books and living expenses. 

This may be different 

from other types of 

loans in that the rate is 

substantially lower than 

the conventional financial 

institutions and the repayment 

schedule is deferred 

while the students 

are still in school. Suffice 

to say that the laws guiding 

such loans differ from 

country to country particularly 

in the laws 

regulating re-negotiation 

and bankruptcy. 

Experiences in 

other climes 

In Australia for instance, 

tertiary education 

is usually funded 

through the HECS- 

HELP scheme which is in 

the form of loans that are 

not normal debts and are 

paid over time via a supplementary 

tax, using a 

sliding scale based on 

taxable income. 

The import of this 

scheme is that loan repayments 

are only made 

when the former students 

have graduated and have 

income to support the repayments. 

The debt does 

There is endemic 

and 

grinding poverty 

all over the 

country and 

this is largely 

because the 

government 

spends a lot on 

other areas and 

particularly as 

Nigeria depends 

on oil as 

its sole source 

of income 

not attract normal interest, 

but grows with CPI 

inflation. 

In the United Kingdom, 

students’ loans are primarily 

provided by the 

state-owned Students’ 

Loan Company. But unlike 

what obtains in Australia, 

interest begins to 

accumulate on each loan 

as soon as the student 

receives it, but repayment 

is not required until the 

start of the next tax year 

after the student either 

completes or abandons 

his education. 

Since 1998 for example, 

repayment has been collected 

by HMRC via the 

tax system and are calculated 

based on the borrower’s 

current level of 

income. If the borrower’s 

income is below a certain 

threshold 15,000 British 

Pound Sterling per tax 

year for 2011/2012, 21,000 

British Pound Sterling 

per tax year for 2012/ 

2013, no repayments are 

required, though interest 

continues to accumulate. 

In the United States of 

America, there are two 

types of students’ loans: 

federal loans sponsored 

by the federal government 

and private loans 

which broadly includes 

state-affiliated non-profit 

institutional loans provided 

by schools. Interest 

does not accrue on 

subsidized loans while 

the students are still in 

school. Students’ loans 

may be offered as part of 

a total financial aid package 

that may also include 

grants, scholarships and/ 

or work study opportunities. 

Korea has an ingrained 

philosophy 

The Korean experience 

is not substantially different 

from what has been 

discussed above. For instance, 

Korea’s students’ 

loans are managed by 

the Korea Students Aid 

Foundation (KOSAF), an 

institution committed to 

talent cultivation in 

charge of student aid and 

established in May 2009. 

It is instructive to note 

that Korea has an ingrained 

philosophy that 

the country’s future depends 

on talent development 

and so no student 

is permitted to quit 

studying due to financial 

reasons as a result of 

which Korea makes deliberate 

efforts to help students 

grow into talents 

that serve the nation and 

society as members of the 

Korean society. 

Through the management 

of Korea’s national 

scholarship programmes, 

students loan and talent 

development programmes, 

KOSAF offers 

customized students’ aid 

services and students’ 

loan programme. 

As the Education 

Bank has not been 

repealed, Govt 

must revisit it now 

It is a painful truism 

that our economy has not 

been as healthy as expected. 

It is therefore no 

small wonder that Nigeria 

has not been able 

to commit 37% of its resources 

to education as 

recommended by 

UNESCO. As a matter of 

fact, more of the country’s 

resources have been 

rightfully committed to 

defence because of the 

prevailing insecurity in 

the country as a result of 

which education is unduly 

suffering an 

underserved underfunding. 

Endemic and 

grinding poverty 

There is endemic and 

grinding poverty all over 

the country and this is 

largely because the government 

spends a lot on 

other areas and particularly 

as Nigeria depends 

on oil as its sole source 

of income. For example, 

there are no industries 

and so there are no opportunities 

for employment 

and it is industries 

that employ most students 

coming out of universities 

and not government. 

But then, it must be appreciated 

that quality 

education requires good 

schools, good and well 

equipped laboratories, 

good equipment, highly 

qualified and committed 

teachers to pave way for 

proper education that can 

only come to the fore 

where talents are expeditiously 

harnessed. 

It is apposite to say that 

government should be 

able to provide these facilities 

even if students 

have to pay school fees 

to ensure a proper maintenance 

of these facilities. 

Consequently, government 

needs to adopt 

a school fee-paying system 

backed up with loan 

system which would enable 

students to pay fees. 

It is suggested that government 

urgently revisits 

the Education Bank as a 

means to provide loans 

for students at low rate as 

it obtains in other countries. 

These will in turn 

provide the necessary 

funds which the universities 

needs to provide 

and maintain quality 

education.

N5.7BN SURE-P FUNDS: 

We diverted funds 

for politics, witness 

testifies against Shema 

By Bashir Bello 

KATSINA — More 

troubles for 

former Katsina 

State Governor, Ibrahim 

Shehu Shema, as his 

aide and former Special 

Adviser on SURE-P, 

Malam Nasiru Ingawa, 

testified against him in 

the ongoing trial before 

the Federal High court 

sitting in Katsina, over 

alleged misappropriation 

of N5.7bn SURE-P funds. 

Shema is being 

arraigned before the 

court by the Economic 

and Financial Crimes 

Commission, EFCC, and 

the state government and 

he is standing a 26- 

count charge bordering 

on unlawful act to wit 

fraud, contrary to section 

15 sub section (2d) of the 

Money Laundering 

Prohibition Act, 2011 as 

amended and 

punishable under section 

15 (3) of the same act. 

Ingawa, who was 

presented by the 

prosecution as a witness 

at the yesterday’s court 

proceedings, told the 

court that they diverted 

and used money meant 

for the SURE-P 

programme for politics. 

He said he acted based 

on directive and 

instructions from his 

boss, Shema on how to 

use the funds. 

According to him: “I 

was appointed Special 

Adviser to the governor 

on SURE-P between 

June, 2014 and May, 

2015. 

“I remembered him 

(Shema) telling me that, 

Nasiru, we are going to 

use the funds for politics. 

“And this is where we 

are going to extract our 

savings. 

“We write memos for 

certain programmes, use 

half of the money, while 

the remaining half would 

go to the savings. 

NAIRAWATCH 

Naira appreciates to N363.71/$ 

in I&E window 

By Elizabeth Adegbesan 

The Naira, yesterday, appreciated to N363.71 

per dollar in the Investors and Exporters 

(I&E) window even as the volume of dollars 

traded (turnover) rose by 65 percent. 

Data from FMDQ showed that the indicative 

exchange rate for the window dropped to N363.71 

per dollar yesterday from N363.89 per dollar on 

Monday, translating to 18 kobo appreciation of the 

naira. 

The volume of dollars (turnover) traded yesterday 

in the window rose by 65 percent to $147.41 million 

from $89.23 million on Monday. 

However, the naira yesterday was stable at N361 

per dollar in the parallel market. 


“The department 

makes direct purchase, 

in which, certain 

percentage would go to 

savings and sometimes 

we write memos for 

programmes that were 

not implemented at all. 

“The tradition is that, I 

have to sit down and 

discuss with him on any 

programme, and if he 

agrees, he will instruct 

me on exactly how much 

the savings should be on 

that programme. 

“Sometimes I give the 

funds to him, Shema, 

directly, while 

sometimes he instructs 

me who to give. 

ABUJA— The All 

Progressives 

Congress, APC, 

and Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP, were 

yesterday locked in 

verbal war on the 

financing of the 

presidential election of 

Vice President Abubakar 

Atiku. 

While the Deputy 

National Publicity 

Secretary of the APC, 

Yekini Nabena, said the 

PDP and its presidential 

candidate, Atiku 

Abubakar were at a 

crossroads on how to 

source funds for the 2019 

electioneering 

campaign, PDP warned 

the ruling All 


APC, to stop the 

Jonathan Era in 2015 

when the national 

treasury was opened to 

PDP leaders to prosecute 

the Presidential 

campaign. 

“The party leaders are, 

therefore, in serious 

difficulty and dilemma on 

how to source funds to 

run the Atiku 

Presidential Campaign. 

Some financiers of the 

party expect that the 

candidate, having 

bought the ticket with 

millions of dollars should 

have the financial 

capacity to run his 

campaign. 

‘’With the candidate’s 

expectation that it is the 

party that will fund his 

campaign, it is now clear 

that they are at a 

crossroads and the 

chickens have come 

home to roost. 

“The anti-corruption 

agencies should gird 

their loins and ensure 

that all sources of 

campaign funds by 

political parties are 

closely monitored and 

recover the funds looted 

during the Jonathan era. 

Such recovered funds 

should be applied for the 

benefit of the poor 

masses who were denied 

democracy dividends 

during the 16 years 

misrule of the PDP. 

“It is now clear to the 

members of the PDP who 

were deceived into 

believing that their 

presidential candidate is 

a man of stupendous 

wealth that it is all a 

mirage, a 419 packaging 

and that they entered a 


APC, PDP in war of words over 

Atiku’s campaign finances 

NEWS HOTLINES 

018773962, 

08052867058 

•Atiku, PDP broke, can’t finance presidential election — APC 

•What is APC’s business with state of our finances, PDP asks 

By Dirisu Yakubu, 

Omeiza Ajayi & 

Dirisu Kadiri 

A cross-section of contraband drugs, ammunition and camouflage vests seized by the Nigeria Customs 

Service, Federal Operations Unit Zone C, in Owerri, yesterday. Photo: NAN. 

“fixation” on its 

Presidential candidate, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. 

Nabena, who had 

earlier asked security 

agencies to investigate 

the circumstances 

surrounding the Dubai 

meeting of Atiku and the 

PDP, had also accused 

them of trying to use the 

said meeting to launder 

funds for the elections. 

However, in apparent 

reaction to the purported 

search of Atiku’s aircraft 

by security operatives on 

his arrival from Dubai, 

Nabena noted that due 

to the stringent 

measures put in place by 


Buhari’s administration, 

the opposition party was 

now in a dilemma on how 

to source funds to run the 

Atiku Presidential 

Campaign. 

Nabena in the 

statement alleged that 

available information 

from the PDP’s recent 

strategy meeting in 

Dubai, United Arab 

Emirates, indicated that 

there was a major 

setback as the hope of 

sourcing campaign funds 

from public coffers was 

dashed. 

APC on Atiku ‘s 

campaign finances 

He said: “The 

Presidential candidate 

expects the party to 

provide funds for his 

campaign. This is the 

Buhari Era, an era of 

strict accountability and 

transparency in the use 

and application of public 

funds and not the 

‘one chance’ bus. 

“As we approach 

February 2019 when 

General Elections will be 

held in Nigeria, the 

electorate are becoming 

more conscious and 

aware of the deceitful 

nature of their so-called 

leaders. Alhaji Atiku 

Abubakar, the 

Presidential Candidate 

of the PDP is nationally 

known as a man of 

immense wealth. 

‘’Apart from his being 

a retired officer of the 

Department of Customs 

and Excise not above the 

rank of Deputy Director, 

and not known to have 

been an exceptionally 

successful businessman, 

his claims to stupendous 

wealth and sources are 

questionable and lack 

credibility. 

“During the ‘dollar 

rain’ at the Port 

Harcourt Convention of 

the Party, he outspent all 

the other aspirants and 

easily clinched the party’s 

Presidential ticket. 

Having emerged without 

the support of the 

‘Governor-General’ of the 

party, who had earlier 

produced the party’s 

National Chairman and 

ordered the party to hold 

its convention in Port 

Harcourt, Alhaji Atiku is 

now on ‘his own’ in 

bankrolling his 

campaign. 

“The Nigerian 

Electorate has a better 

alternative- to stick to the 

clean, honest and 

transparent leadership of 

Muhammadu Buhari, 

who has done so much 

to ensure better future for 

them after the 16 years 

misrule of the PDP”, he 

added. 

Meanwhile, Peoples 


yesterday, warned the 

ruling All Progressives 

Congress, APC, to stop 

the “fixation” on its 

Presidential candidate, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. 

The party was reacting 

to a statement made by 

the party wherein it said 

the PDP and Atiku were 

broke, lacking the 

resources to fund its 

campaign. 

But reacting on behalf 

of the party, PDP 

spokesman, Kola 

Ologbondiyan, said 

Nigerians had resolved 

to vote out the APC in 

2019, adding that the 

ruling party was 

becoming jittery by the 

day over its fear of defeat 

at the polls. 

He said: “APC is jittery 

but what is even their 

business about the state 

of our finances. 2019 is 

not about who has more 

money but about the 

need to rescue Nigeria. 

“Having seen through 

their lies, Nigerians have 

resolved to vote out the 

incompetent and clueless 

Buhari. They can say 

whatever they like but 

our advice to them is that 

they should start packing 

their bags because their 

time is up. 

“They have nothing to 

offer but Nigerians want 

Atiku to come and heal 

our land and Insha Allah, 

Atiku will send Buhari 

home in 2019.”


Lagos: Hamzat’s nomination seals 

Tinubu, Fashola’s reconciliation 

By Emmanuel Aziken, 

Political Editor 

THE nomination of Dr. 

Babafemi Hamzat as the 

running mate to Mr. Sanwo-Olu, 

the All Progressives Congress, 

APC, governorship candidate in 

Lagos, has confirmed full political 

reconciliation of former Governor 

Babatunde Fashola and his predecessor, 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. 

The nomination has also opened 

the prospect of a working alliance 

between the two major political 

groups in the Lagos State chapter 

of the APC, Mandate Group and 

Justice Forum. 

Sanwo-Olu belonged to the 

Mandate Group while Hamzat is 

a scion of the Justice Forum, which 

until recently had his father, Alhaji 

Olatunji Hamzat, now a traditional 

ruler, as head of the group. 

Insinuations of bad blood 

between Fashola, the immediate 

past governor of Lagos State and 

Tinubu, the penultimate governor, 

flowed from the sharp differences 

of the two men ahead of the 2015 

governorship election when both 

men were believed to have supported 

different tendencies. 

Hamzat, one of the eggheads 

nurtured in politics by Asiwaju 

Tinubu, who also served in the 

Fashola cabinet eventually flowed 

with Fashola at the time of the 

Fashola succession. He was one 

of those alongside Olasupo Sasore 

allegedly pencilled down by 

Fashola to succeed him at the end 

of his tenure in 2015. Hamzat indeed 

contested for the ticket with 

Governor Akinwunmi Ambode but 

Tinubu and Fashola 

could not prevail given Tinubu’s 

heavy backing for the latter. 

Associates of Fashola including 

Hamzat, who were left in the cold 

eventually found relevance in 

Abuja where the latter served as a 

special adviser to Fashola in the 

ministry of Works, Power, and 

Housing. 

“The reconciliation was effected 

between July and August,” a 

source privy to the development 

said, yesterday. 

When Sanwo-Olu indicated 

interestd, and Hamzat also took 

forms to contest for governor, it was 

predicted to be a showdown 

between the Mandate Group and 

the Justice Forum in one perspective 

and also, as a confrontation 

between Tinubu and Fashola. 

However, Hamzat, late September 

dropped his ambition endorsed 

Sanwo-Olu 

Sanwo-Olu against the aspiration 

of the incumbent, Ambode. 

Multiple sources informed 

Vanguard that the endorsement 

was a spin-off of the reconciliation 

between Tinubu and Fashola, who 

it appeared were separately at 

odds with the incumbent, Ambode. 

A source in the Sanwo-Olu 

Hamzat 

campaign while confirming the import 

of the development told Vanguard 

. “It simply means the coming 

back of the old forces and that 

they are all on the same page. It 

also means that the future of Lagos 

is in the hands of very comfortable 

people.” 

2019: Abubakar's tough battle in Bauchi 

By Charles Agwam, 

Bauchi 

THE two major political 

parties in Bauchi State, 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC and Peoples Democratic 

Party, PDP have their work cut 

out for them ahead of the governorship 

election. 

Despite being the incumbent 

party in power, the APC 

which is fielding Governor 

Mohammed Abubakar as its 

candidate is challenged by 

internal discord with several 

party stakeholders still embittered 

over the process that 

threw up the governor as candidate. 

The PDP which had a relatively 

peaceful governorship 

primary that produced the 

erstwhile minister of Federal 

Capital Territory, FCT, Senator 

Bala Mohammed as candidate 

also has its own challenge; 

the bitterness some 

associate with 16 years of the 

party’s rule at the federal level. 

Dr. Ali Pate and Dr. Ibrahim 

Lamai, who contested with the 

governor passed a vote of no 

confidence on the Election 

Abubakar 

Committee from the party’s 

headquarters in Abuja. 

They alleged that the governor, 

in connivance with the 

state executive compromised 

the process and that security 

agencies were used to intimidate 

members of the party 

with opposing views. 

Even before Governor 

Abubakar emerged as the candidate, 

the two men, Lame 

and Pate in a joint resolution 

dismissed the process that 

enthroned him as the candidate 

of the party. 

Indeed, they at that time 

called on their supporters to 

boycott the exercise given 

what they claimed as the compromise 

of the process. So, 

though the governor emerged 

Bala 

as the candidate, his capacity 

to win the election turned into 

an issue for stakeholders given 

the many challenges he 

has had with many of them in 

the state. 

It was perhaps in recognition 

of this that the governor 

hosted a reconciliation meeting 

shortly after the primaries, 

but it ended in a deadlock. 

The PDP candidate, Senator 

Bala Mohammed on his part 

has a hard nut to crack considering 

the past perceptions 

about the PDP and the Buhari-factor 

in Bauchi and other 

northern states. However, 

there is a growing feeling that 

the Buhari factor has been 

seriously degraded over the 

last three years 

Mohammed clearly is not 

leaving anything to chance as 

he is cashing in on the weakness 

of APC as he recently inaugurated 

a committee to woo 

aggrieved members of the 

APC to his side. 

The former Minister while 

inaugurating the committee 

charged them to live up to the 

task. 

“I hereby charge you to reconcile 

all the aggrieved party 

members who contested 

against the governor during 

their party’s primaries. 

“Let them know that our party 

is open to all, and is willing 

to take anybody who has 

the best interest of the people 

of Bauchi at heart,” he said. 

“I pray to God in his infinite 

mercy to give you the strength 

and courage to do this wonderful 

task ahead,” the former 

Minister added. 

But how the former Minister 

will achieve his goal will 

depend on the capacity of the 

committee to deliver and the 

willingness of the aggrieved 

members of APC to leave their 

party which they help found. 

DELTA APC: 

Gathering cloud 

By Emmanuel Aziken, 

Political Editor 

Ogboru 

C 

HIEFTAINS of the All Pro 

gressives Congress, APC 

in Delta State are increasingly 

worried over what they describe 

as the unnecessary tension and 

litigations they fear may hinder 

the party’s chances in the 

election. 

While the clash between the 

Otega Emerhor and the 

Omo-Agege/Ogboru factions 

was well pronounced ahead 

of the recent party primaries, 

the recent mutterings over 

the alleged manipulation of 

the party’s primaries has continued 

to cast a shadow over 

the prospects of the party. 

Party activists are particularly 

miffed by the substitutions 

of candidates who won 

tickets for various elective 

offices in the party primaries. 

Where not, they have resorted 

to the courts to protest 

forceful disqualifications of 

aspirants ahead of the primaries. 

Remarkably, a number of the 

discontents are associates of 

the Omo-Agege/Ogbrou tendency 

which has Prophet 

Jones Erue as chairman. 

A loyalist told Vanguard 

how after rejoicing that he 

had won the party’s ticket for 

the House of Assembly, was 

shocked to discover that another 

name was forwarded to 

the party as the candidate. 

“Even the Appeals Committee 

certified that I won the 

election but still I was not given 

my ticket,” the party activist 

said. 

Many of the activists say 

that those who came in with a 

former top shot of the Peoples 

Democratic Party, PDP are 

beneficiaries of the tickets taken 

from the APC activists. 

Vanguard gathered that party 

activists have been trying 

to paper over the differences 

between Senator Omo-Agege 

and Ogboru over the issue. 

Some of the party operatives 

believe that Ogboru who they 

fondly call the people’s general 

has been too quiet on the 

issue. Omo-Agege on his part 

was said to have been more 

adventurous on protecting the 

interests of their boys.

How I will take 80 million Nigerians out of 

poverty — Ezekwesili 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

& Yinka Ajayi 

FORMER Education 

Minister and Presidential 

Candidate of the Allied 

Congress Party of Nigeria, 

ACPN, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili 

is pained by the level of 

pervasive poverty in the 

country and promised to address 

the problem decisively, 

if elected. 

Currently, Nigeria is rated 

as the world’s poverty capital 

with no fewer than 88 

million of the estimated 198 

million population living in 

extreme poverty. According 

to the World Bank, to live in 

extreme poverty is to subsist 

on an average of US $1.25 

or less a day. More tellingly, 

extreme poverty in Nigeria 

grows by six people every 

minute. 

Unveiling her presidential 

roadmap, in Lagos, on Monday, 

Ezekwesili said she 

would stop the steady slide 

of Nigerians into extreme 

poverty and lift 80 million of 

her country men and women 

out of poverty. 

She said she would hit the 

ground running from Day 

One and expect citizens to 

hold her accountable for ''every 

word we say and every 

promise we make, not just on 

our innovative solutions for 

tackling poverty... but on our 

entire manifesto.’’ 

Seven monstrous challenges 

holding Nigeria 

down 

Challenging Nigerians to 

fight for a new independence 

from ‘’our rapacious 

ruling class,’’ Ezekwesili 

identified what she described 

as seven monstrous challenges 

holding Nigeria down. 

The challenges are: too little 

productivity and competitiveness 

of the Nigerian 

economy; too much poverty 

and inequality; too much insecurity 

and conflicts; too 

much illiteracy with 13.5 million 

children being out-ofschool; 

too much infrastructural 

deficit; and too much 

structural faults as the current 

federal structure simply 

does not work. 

Ezekwesili said she would 

confront these challenges 

headlong with her plan that 

proposes a better future for 

Nigeria, if given the mandate. 

‘’We will be radical but responsible. 

We will think big 

while living within our 

means. The overriding vision 

of an ACPN presidency 

shall be to build a new Nigeria 

that is prosperous, stable 

and harmonious,’’ she 

said. 

Economic philosophy of 

her govt 

To achieve these lofty objectives, 

Ezekwesili said the 

fundamental principles and 

concepts that will guide Nigeria’s 

governance under 

her watch are: 

* A strong belief in the dominant 

economic role of the 

private sector and a commitment 

of our government to 

launch vigorous market 

economy reforms. Through 

policy, effective regulation 

and catalytic public investment 

in the provision of basic 

services for people and 

businesses, we will accelerate 

and expand the sources 

of growth in the economy. 

* A massive programme 

of deregulation of the Nigerian 

economy to unleash the 

depth of competition and efficiencies 

necessary for higher 

and deeper economic 

growth and expansion of the 

economy. 

* A commitment to pursuing 

growth that is inclusive 

which is a necessity for lifting 

the poor to an improved 

state of well-being. 

* A dedication to improving 

the Productivity and 

Competitiveness of Nigeria 

and Nigerians in every sec- 

My plan proposes a 

better future for Nigerians. 

It is a blueprint 

of possibilities and a 

pledge to Nigerians of 

what an ACPN government 

can achieve. 

Our programme will 

provide hope, progress 

and prosperity for 

everyone 

tor of economic activity by 

removing barriers and providing 

a menu of sound policy 

measures. 

* A deliberateness in easing 

the Doing Business environment 

not just for major 

businesses in Nigeria but for 

Micro, Small and Medium 

Enterprises, which are the 

lifeblood of our economy. 

The main way out of poverty 

is for people to earn incomes. 

The main way for 

people to earn incomes is by 

having profitable work to do. 

Social safety nets like cash 

transfers to the poor are 

good, but they must only be 

a side component to a private-sector 

driven jobs strategy. 

When people have profitable 

work to do, it leads to 

inclusive growth and productivity 

of our economy. 

‘’Right now, people simply 

do not have jobs. The entire 

population of Togo is about 

eight million people. That is 

the number of people who 

lost their jobs in just 20 

months, between January 

2016 and September 2017, 

under President Buhari, according 

to the Nigeria Bureau 

of Statistics, NBS. Those 

are not just numbers - they 

are humans. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 

Ezekwesili 

7, 8 million humans.’’ 

She said: ‘’But the thing is 

that the government does not 

have the resources or the capacity 

to provide these muchneeded 

jobs. That is a settled 

truth, no matter what any 

politician says to you. Therefore, 

in building our new Nigeria, 

the private sector will 

be the engine of economic 

growth and development. 

Our philosophy for tackling 

the challenges we face will 

be market-based, private sector 

driven and government 

supported.’’ 

The former minister continued: 

‘’I have a dream of a 

new Nigeria that works for 

all, not just for a small clique 

who see politics as their 

means to stupendous wealth 

while the majority of those 

they govern are afflicted with 

poverty and misery... 

‘’I have a dream of an inclusive 

and prosperous 

country where there is equality 

of opportunity for all. Our 

country will be a great meritocracy 

where success in life 

is not determined by your 

background or tribe or gender 

or religion or family name 

but by your talents and hard 

work. 

I have a dream of a strong, 

indivisible nation with a united 

purpose and shared national 

values. 

I have a dream of a new 

Nigeria that finally manages 

her diversity effectively 

and draws on the benefits of 

our greater creativity, innovation 

and shared progress. 

‘’The Nigeria we would 

start building from 2019 

would not trudge into the 

future with uncertainty like 

chickens when we have all 

it takes to soar with confidence 

like eagles. I want to 

reignite belief in Nigeria’s 

greatness by leading a government 

that would make 

clear promises to citizens and 

deliver on them, not like the 

current leadership which 

spent its first year in office 

denying all the promises it 

made to get into that office. 

My mission is not just to 

change this APC/PDP government, 

but more than that, 

we must disrupt the politics 

and governance of the status 

quo and quickly chart a 

new course for the future of 

our country. We have 

enough young people, 


many progressive men and 

women, who are signing up 

with our citizens’ party, 

ACPN, to unleash the principles 

of disruptive technologies 

to our politics for good. 

‘’ I believe that a blessed 

and great country like ours 

has all it takes to confront 

whatever challenges that 

stand on our way, to beat 

them and to win! Like former 

US President Bill Clinton 

noted for his country, I too 

believe that there is nothing 

wrong with Nigeria that cannot 

be fixed with what is 

right in Nigeria. We have all 

it takes.’’ 

The blueprint read in part: 

Government has a role to 

play in enhancing the market, 

not undermining it. 

When I am president, we will 

embrace that role. We will set 

the vision; we will lead on 

policy; we will ensure smarter, 

better and clearer regulations; 

we will help correct important 

market failures; and 

we will, of course, invest in 

critical areas like developing 

the human capital to power 

our 21st century economy 

and leading the way on big 

ticket infrastructure. 

Now, let us talk about some 

of our programs; some of the 

ways we intend to lift 80 million 

Nigerians out of poverty 

and propel this country 

and its great people to their 

rightful place in the world. 

Human devt shall be our 

new economy 

Education and skills development 

of healthy Nigerian 

people shall be our Number 

One priority. No matter what 

we do, we would never win 

the war on poverty without 

investing massively in human 

capital development. 

That is why in our ACPN 

government, education will 

be the new oil. Education will 

be the new economy. 

My vision for education is 

one that will nourish the mind 

and create a progressive society 

that competes globally. 

If our current and future human 

capital are not educated 

they will most likely end 

up in poverty and our economy 

will lose the productivity 

that they would have added. 

Read more on 

www.vanguardngr.com 

2019: Nigeria needs a 

smart govt — Kriz David 

·It’s time to do away with vocational 

politicians 

By Clifford Ndujihe 

David 

If elected as the 

president of Nigeria 

in 2019, I will 

not be engaging 

in guess work 

because I already 

have a blue print 

in my book: 

‘Smart Government 

- The preferred 

future 

PRESIDENTIAL Can 

didate of the Liberation 

Movement, Dr. Kriz 

David, wants urgent 

change in the state of affairs 

of Nigeria, to save the 

country. 

According to him, Nigeria 

cannot afford to continue 

on the path she is 

trudging currently and 

must get a smart government 

that will not rule by 

guesswork in 2019. 

Dr. David said he will 

run a smart government, 

if elected as president. He 

made the pledge while 

presenting his promissory 

note compiled in a book 

titled: ‘’Smart Government 

– The Preferred Future” to 

journalists, in Lagos. 

Dr. Kriz David, a tax, financial 

and forensic expert 

as well as development 

economist, holds a 

doctorate degree in Strategic 

Leadership with speciality 

in Strategic foresight 

from Regent University, 

Virginia Beach, USA. 

He is a fellow of the Chartered 

Institute of Taxation 

of Nigeria, the Institute of 

Chartered Accountants of 

Nigeria, an Associate of 

Certified Fraud Examiners 

and a member of the Association 

of Professional 

Futurists. 

He stated that he is offering 

Nigerians ‘’smart 

government to shape the 

Nigerian Dream – a nation 

that offers her citizens a 

promise, and to get Nigerians 

ride progressively in 

the path of prosperity.” 

He argued that insecurity, 

corruption, economic 

stagnation and other ills 

Nigeria is facing as a nation 

are merely ‘’symptomatic 

manifestations of the 

unaddressed faulty foundation” 

because ‘’nations 

are built on a set of values, 

which determine their 

prosperity or poverty.” 

According to him, Nigeria’s 

root problem is inequality. 

‘’Inequality is the 

fragile foundation upon 

which Nigeria is built; inequality 

in the entire design 

and framework of the 

nation’s reward system, 

administrative justice, access 

to opportunities, and 

all that defines nationhood. 

If the wrong value of inequality 

is not addressed, 

Nigeria will continue to be 

marooned in a cycle of failure 

and backwardness.” 

In a document signed by 

the PRO Lagos State 

Chapter of the party, Mrs 

Kechiturukanma Mabogunje, 

the presidential 

candidate explained that 

‘’Smart Government is a 

government that engages 

systems thinking to craft 

innovative policies and 

technologies that address 

our peculiar challenges in 

Nigeria. Smart Government 

is the preferred future 

that has eluded Nigerians 

in the past 58 years.” 

Five unimpeachable 

steps 

Dr David identified five 

five unimpeachable steps 

that Nigeria must take 

and genuinely follow 

through to become a truly 

great and prosperous nation. 

The five steps are article 

of faith, rule of law, economic 

freedom, fair tax systems, 

and learning economy, 

which he said are not 

‘’points agenda” but ‘’systems 

thinking processes 

that are interwoven.” 

He noted that Nigeria as 

a nation has not only 

struggled to realize her 

potentials but alsois in 

search of her identity and 

place as a nation among 

nations of the world. He 

said leadership has not 

only failed in Nigeria, but 

also that Nigeria has failed 

as a nation owing to her 

low moral value quotient 

bedevilled by ethnic and 

tribal sentiments, religious 

bigotry and the quest for 

wealth at the expense of 

morality. 

On this premise, he 

identified seven core virtues 

of equality, meritocracy, 

integrity, incorruptibility, 

diligence, excellence 

and abidance as the solid 

foundation for prosperity of 

a nation, and promised to 

engrave these virtues in 

the consciousness of the 

Nigerian system and Nigerians, 

if elected. 

His words: “If elected as 

the president of Nigeria in 

2019, I will not be engaging 

in guess work because 

I already have a blue print 

in my book: ‘Smart Government 

- The preferred 

future,’ which was borne 

out of my curiosity to understand 

why some nations 

are prosperous and 

others, are not. Nigeria is 

in a dire situation. Therefore 

it requires experts, not 

vocational politicians to 

save our dear nation.”

C 

M 

Y 

K 


I didn’t know my fiancee was this 

experienced! 

Dear Bunmi, 

I’ VE been with my girlfriend 

since our university days and 

we will be getting married 

soon. She recently introduced 

her choice of chief bridesmaid 

to me and I was aghast. She 

was a real jet-setter though she 

didn’t attend the same 

university as ours. In fact, a few 

of my friends used to ‘date’ her. 

I told my girl outright that she 

should look for a substitute, but 

she refused. She said they were 

childhood friends and had 

promised long ago to be each 

other’s bridesmaid. 

When I told her of the girl’s 

history, she said she knew. I 

pumped her further and she 

confessed she too used to go 

out with aristos, which is a 

sophisticated name for sugar 

daddies. 

Of course, she said it was all 

behind her now, that she 

regretted what she did and 

asked for my forgiveness. I 

know I should put it all behind 

me, but I can’t. I’m disgusted 

to say the least. What happens 

when we run into one of her 

aristos? And how many of them 

has she had? 

Ibrahim 

by e-mail. 

Dear Ibrahim, 

I think you’re better off 

calling off the wedding. Not 

because your girl has done 

anything wrong. Actually, she’s 

been very brave to tell you the 

truth and deserves your 

forgiveness. The reason you 

should call off the wedding is 

because you don’t really care 

about her. 

You’re more concerned about 

what other people might think 

than about how she got into 

such a situation when she was 

young. With your current 

attitude, if you get married 

you’d be condemning her to 

lifetime disapproval. 

So give the situation a really 

serious thought. If you cannot 

come to terms with her past, 

then walk away. 

This way, you can both find 

partners who’ll make you 

happy. 

I don’t think our marriage will 

last 

Dear Bunmi, 

I got married over a year ago 

after being with my partner for 

just six months. He is over 10 

years older and wanted to get 

married because he wanted a 

family as soon as possible. 

But I did not get pregnant 

even after fertility treatment. 

My husband’s sperm count 

is a bit low but not as low as 

not to make me pregnant. 

The problem now is that I 

have realised I am no longer 

in love with him and I think it 

is wrong to have a baby if there 

is no love left, though I am 

desperate to be a mum. 

Faith, 

by e-mail. 

Dear Faith, 

You don’t need to stay with 

your husband in a loveless 

marriage to be a mum. You can 

divorce and have a baby with 

someone else. 

And you do have every right 

to want a child, but if you 

really care for that child, 

you’ll make sure there’s love, 

security and peace in the 

family. 

I am assuming you have 

explored all avenues of 

making your marriage work 

before arriving at this sad 

conclusion. Apologise to your 

husband and leave since 

you’re this disillusioned. 

Take time to recover and try 

again to get pregnant - but 

only when the time is right 

and you are in a relationship 

you are proud of. 

Must we condone men’s fickleness? 

Dear Bunmi, 

I get so angry when people, 

yourself inclusive, say that all 

men fantasise about sleeping 

with other women. That 

women do not want to be this 

way is normal. 

Can you tell me what is 

normal about a woman going 

to bed with her husband and, 

while they are making love, 

he’s thinking about someone 

else? 

I like to believe that I’m 

good-looking enough and 

good enough in bed for my 

husband to think only about 

me when we make love. If I 

ever found out about my man 

and other women, our 

relationship would be 

threatened. It would be as bad 

as if he slept with another 

woman behind my back. If a 

man is sexually fulfilled, why 

does he need to go 

elsewhere? 

Moyin, 

by e-mail. 

Dear Moyin, 

Men, in the same way as 

women, fantasise 

increasingly about the 

opposite sex as they enter 

adolescence. They are 

aroused by the thoughts that 

flash through their minds. 

This leads to relationships 

and, eventually, intimacy. 

Most sexologists believe that 

the ability to look forward to 

the joy of love-making is part 

of what distinguishes us from 

other animals. It gives us 

enormous pleasure and it 

helps the human race to 

thrive. 

Like it or not, a man will 

continue to fantasise about 

intimacy, frequently or 

seldom, throughout his life. 

Although he will tend to focus 

on the woman he loves, he 

cannot and does not control 

the sexual thoughts that rush 

into his head. He will remain 

alert to the attributes of other 

women. 

In comparison, a woman 

who has found and loves her 

partner may have few 

thoughts about sex other than 

those involving her partner. 

It is a known fact that men 

and women are sexually 

different and it is 

inappropriate to expect them 

to be the same. According to 

various surveys, some men 

fantasise freely, others not at 

all or one partner more than 

the other. 

Accepting and respecting a 

partner’s sexual nature, 

allows some couple’s 

intimacy to grow and their sex 

life to become enriched. 

You cannot compete with 

whatever sexual fantasies 

your husband may have -and 

you don’t need to. It’s you that 

he loves. 

You cannot compete with whatever 

sexual fantasies your husband may 

have -and you don’t need to; it’s you 

that he loves 

Mum abandoned us, now she begs 

for forgiveness 

Dear Bunmi, 

I was starting primary school 

when my mother abandoned 

me and my sister to get married 

to a richer man. Our dad could 

not cope and we were raised 

by our auntie who tried her 

best. Once in a while, we were 

told of our mum’s new life and 

how her husband did not want 

us in the house. This made me 

really resentful. What kind of a 

mother abandons her own 

children? 

Now that her husband has 

died, she wants to meet up. I 

am happily married - so is my 

sister. None of us invited her 

to the wedding and I wonder 

what she now wants. Is it 

possible to let her back into my 

life again? 

Angela, 

by e-mail. 

Dear Angela, 

It is never a simple matter 

when meeting again with 

someone who hurt you badly 

in the past. Think through your 

agenda before you make up 

your mind. Do you want a 

happy ending? If so, tread 

softly. You need to have 

realistic aims. Talk to trusted 

friends who can help you plan 

what you want to say and do 

during the meeting. 

Exchange phone calls before 

you meet face to face. Get a 

sense of why she wants to meet 

you. If you have solid 

evidence, not just a feeling of 

anxiety, that your mum has not 

changed and is going to hurt 

you all over again, then don’t 

meet her. 

When you eventually meet, 

let it be at a neutral place and 

for a short time. Don’t drink any 

alcohol during the meeting so 

that emotions do not get out of 

hand. 

Finally, don’t expect 

everything to be cleared up 

immediately. Aim for a little 

progress, then arrange a 

further meeting with her, so 

you know you’ll get another 

chance to make things right. 

Does he care more for football? 

Dear Bunmi, 

I am in my 20s and live with 

my 30-year-old boyfriend. He 

has a good job and pays 

almost all the bills. I work in 

a bank and work on Saturdays 

as well. On Saturdays, my 

boyfriend’s close friends come 

around to the house to watch 

sports and leave the flat 

looking like a dump. 

When I arrived home last 

Saturday, they were all 

watching football and there 

were dirty plates, cigarette 

stubs and beer bottles all over 

the place. I lost my temper 

and switched the TV off and 

my guy got really pissed off. 

He tried to grab the remote 

control and I ended up falling 

down in an unflattering heap 

on the floor. Then I started 

crying and they all left to go 

to one of the guys’ flat to 

continue watching the match. 

We haven’t spoken to each 

other because of the incident 

and I don’t know where our 

relationship is going. I can’t 

put up with his unfeeling 

behaviour much longer. 

Inyene, 

by e-mail. 

Dear Inyene, 

Being parted by work for six 

days a week from the man 

you love makes you pine for 

a greater sense of 

togetherness and intimacy, 

and coming home from work 

to often discover him having 

laddish fun made you feel 

somehow redundant. 

You might be angry and 

want to spoil your boyfriend’s 

fun but have a heart! The 

man works all week and pays 

the bills. Does that make your 

role in this relationship 

somehow insignificant to 

you? This shouldn’t be. You 

both came together to create 

a home and hopefully, a 

family. 

Don’t throw tantrums and 

become a party pooper and a 

kill-joy. You need to feel 

reassured about where this 

relationship is going. 

Suggest to your boyfriend 

that it is time to talk about the 

future. At every stage of life, 

dare to confront your needs 

instead of running away from 

them. 

The next time you’re smack 

in the middle of a laddish gettogether, 

find a fun thing to 

do then make your point 

when the session is over. 

Exchange phone calls before you 

meet face to face; get a sense of 

why she wants to meet you; if you 

have solid evidence, not just a 

feeling of anxiety, that your mum 

has not changed and is going to 

hurt you all over again, then don’t 

meet her 

Share your problems and release your 

burden. Write now to Dear Bunmi, 

Vanguard Newspapers, P.M.B 1007, 

Apapa, Lagos, or bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk

VANGUARD, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018—45


Okowa 

promises 

$25,000 

per goal 

DELTA State gover 

nor, Ifeanyi Okowa 

has promised to give the 

Super Eagles $25,000 for 

each goal scored in the 

African Cup of Nations 

(AFCON) qualifying 

match between Nigeria’s 

Super Eagles and Bafana 

Bafana of South Africa 

Ḋr. Okowa gave the 

assurance yesterday 

while interacting with 

members of the Super 

Eagles after watching 

them train at the Stephen 

Keshi Stadium, Asaba. 

According to the governor 

who watched the 

training with some members 

of the state executive 

council, “we are truly 

excited as a state to 

have you train at the 

Stephen Keshi Stadium, 

we are glad that you are 

in Asaba and from what 

we can see, this is a team 

for today and the future.” 

“The fact that you are 

leaving Asaba for South 

Africa; we are sure you 

will get victory; you are 

doing very well and we 

welcome you to Asaba; 

as a state government, 

we will contribute to 

what you are going to do 

out there in South Africa, 

for every goal, we are 

going to give you 

$25,000,” the governor 

said. 

SUPER 

Falcons 

reliable defender, 

Onome Ebi revealed that the 

team is in high spirit and 

ready to fight their opponents 

to a standstill when they 

begin their quest for a ninth 

title at the Africa Women Cup 

of Nations starting on 

Saturday. 

Ebi, who was handed the 

captain band by coach 

Thomas Dennerby stated 

that though there are no easy 

teams anymore in Africa the 

Super Falcons aim is to reach 

the final and win. 

late, we will use the limited 

time we have to blend 

together. 

“First, I want to thank God 

AFCON 2019 Qualifiers: 

22 Eagles in Asaba camp 

Stand –in Captain 

Ahmed Musa and 

21 other players trained at 

the Stephen Keshi 

Stadium, Asaba on Tuesday 

evening as the Super 

Eagles stepped into gear for 

Saturday’s 2019 Africa Cup 

of Nations qualifying battle 

against the Bafana Bafana 

of South Africa in 

Johannesburg. 

At training as well were 

goalkeepers Daniel Akpeyi, 

Theophilus Afelokhai and 

Ikechukwu Ezenwa, and 

defenders Olaoluwa Aina, 

Adeleye Aniyikaye, Semi 

Ajayi, Bryan Idowu, 

William Ekong, Leon 

Balogun, Kenneth Omeruo 

and Jamilu Collins. 

AWCON 2018: Super Falcons 

ready to fight and win, says Ebi 

for keeping me in the team to 

witness this year’s edition. I 

will be leading the team and 

really can’t wait to get started, 

though we’ve started already. 

“The spirit and zeal to win 

again is very high, even 

though we are going to be 

playing against tougher 

teams,” said the 35-year-old 

will be making her sixth 

appearance at the 11th 

edition of the competition 

after previous outings in 

2008, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 

2016. Nigeria will open their 

account against South Africa 

on Sunday in the group B 

pairing also featuring 

Zambia and Equatorial 

Guinea. 

There were also 

midfielders Oghenekaro 

Etebo, John Ogu and 

Mikel Agu, and forwards 

Kelechi Iheanacho, Moses 

Simon, Victor Osimhen, 

Henry Onyekuru, Alex 

Iwobi, Isaac Success and 

Samuel Chukwueze. 

Only France –based 

forward Samuel Kalu is 

expected on Wednesday. 

Table –toppers Nigeria 

actually need just one 

point from Saturday’s 

encounter inside the 

Pinnick, Amokachi, others storm Kogi for Natasha’s 

Soccer Talent Hunt 

BY BOLUWAJI OBAHOPO 

THE 

Nigerian 

Football Federation 

(NFF), Soccer for Peace 

foundation and Webster 

group has partnered with 

Natasha Akpoti 

Foundation (NAF), to 

promote grassroot soccer 

talents in Kogi State. 

•Super Eagles players in training 

NFF President, Amaju 

Pinnick was accompanied 

by NFF board members, 

technical team and ex 

Soccer star, Daniel 

Amokachi (Technical 

Director of the JS Hercules 

team, Finland.) to the state 

on Sunday to witness the 

grand finale of the soccer 

hunt. The talent Hunt was 

the first project of the 

NFF boss, Amaju Pinnick 

since his re-election as 

NFF President aimed at 

youth emancipation. 

Speaking at the event, 

Pinnick expressed his 

long time desire to give 

Soccer opportunities to 

kids at the grassroots. 

FNB Stadium in Soweto, 

outside Johannesburg, to 

be sure of a slot at next 

year’s continental house 

party. 

The Nigeria delegation 

to Saturday’s big match 

will depart the country 

aboard a chartered flight 

from the Benin City 

Airport on Thursday 

evening. The Eagles are 

expected to have a feel of 

the picturesque FNB 

Stadium on Friday 

afternoon by 3.30pm. 

2018 Nigerian Sports Award records 

over 7.5M votes across all Categories 

…Award Gala to hold on Friday, November 16 

THE Nigerian Sports show an inspiring interest 

Award has in honoring our sporting 

announced a record entry 

of over 7.5 million votes 

from the general public for 

all the sports categories in 

this year’s edition which 

ceremony comes up 

Friday 16th November 

heroes and heroines by 

voting for the sport men/ 

women of their choice via 

the platforms provided by 

the Sports Award. 

The Panel met in Lagos 

for two days and the list of 

2018 at Eko Hotel Victoria award categories 

Island Lagos. 

evaluated includes: 

A statement from the 

organizers of Nigeria’s 

most prestigious and 

longest running sports 

Footballer of the Year, Team 

Sports Person of the Year, 

Track & Field Star of the 

Year, Sports Governor of 

award said that this was the Year, Sports 

the highest vote ever 

received by the Panel in the 

7 year history of the award. 

Administrator of the Year. 

Other award categories 

include Racket Sports 

According to the Person of the Year, Basketball 

Chairman of award Panel, 

Dr. Kweku Tandoh, there 

Player of the Year, Para 

Sports Person of the Year. 

was remarkable Team of the Year, 

improvement in all 

categories and this was a 

fitting confirmation that 

Nigerians are beginning to 

Discovery of the Year, 

Wrestler of the Year, Coach 

of the Year, Sportswoman of 

the Year 

Hazard: Cole brought me to 

Chelsea 

EDEN Hazard has credited Joe Cole with 

convincing him to join Chelsea from Lille six 

years ago. 

Cole, who announced his retirement on Tuesday, 

spent the 2011-12 season on loan with the Ligue 1 

club, alongside Hazard. 

That campaign was the last the Belgian spent in 

France before moving to Stamford Bridge, and he 

says Cole was the reason behind the transfer. 

Hazard told Chelsea’s Twitter account: “I spoke 

to him before I signed for Chelsea. Every day, 

seriously, he was telling me that Chelsea was the 

best club for me. 

“He said Chelsea was a big club where you can 

win trophies every season. For that reason I 

signed, so thank you, Joe Cole!” 

Cole ended his 20-year playing career having 

played over 700 games and scored over 100 goals. 

He spent seven years at Chelsea after joining 

from West Ham United, winning three Premier 

League titles and two FA Cups, before moving on 

to the likes of Liverpool, Lille and Tampa Bay 

Rowdies. 

Messi threatens Pele’s club 

goals record 

BARCELONA star Lionel Messi hit double in 

clash against Betis, scoring his 566 goal in 

Barcelona, Barcelona FC press service reported. 

A 31-year-old star ranked second on goals for 

Barcelona, after the legendary Brazilian player Pele, 

who scored 643 goals for the Brazilian Santos. 

The Argentine has overtaken Gerd Müller as the 

player with the second most goals for a single club. 

Ballon d’Or LEAK claims 

Meanwhile Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will both 

miss out on the Ballon d’Or award, it has been 

claimed. 

Ronaldo and Messi, of Juventus and Barcelona 

respectively, have both won the Ballon d’Or between 

them every year since 2007. 

However, journalist Eric Macruth - who works for 

French radio station RFI, claims both players have 

missed out on the award. 

And it is Luka Modric, of Real Madrid, who will 

win the prize and end both Ronaldo and Messi’s 

dominance of the accolade. 

Sanchez eyes Real Madrid 

move 

ALEXIS Sanchez has reportedly instructed his 

agent to make contact with Real Madrid 

as he chases a January transfer to the LaLiga 

giants. 

The Manchester United forward has fallen out 

of favour at Old Trafford and has managed just 

one goal this season, while he was relegated to 

the substitutes bench for the weekend’s defeat at 

Man City. 

Spanish television show El Chiringuito, claimed 

that Sanchez has instructed his agent Fernando 

Felicevich to find him a new club, and his 

representative has now begun talks with Real 

Madrid. 

The report claims that Felicevich is talking over 

the possibility of Sanchez making a move to the 

Bernabeu in January. 

Sanchez, who has been linked with Paris Saint- 

Germain, was last month reported to be furious 

after travelling down to London with the United 

squad, only not to make the 18 for the 3-1 defeat 

at West Ham. 

C 

M 

Y 

K

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 —47

Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2018 

TODAY’S PUZZLE 

Sudoku 

FRIDAY’S ANSWER 

TODAY’S CROSSWORD 

QUICK CROSSWORD 

THURSDAY’S SOLUTION 

How to Play Sudoku 

ACROSS 

7 Delighted (4,3,4) 

8 Leisurely walk (6) 

9 Shake with cold (6) 

10 Wooden hammer (6) 

12 Peak (6) 

13 Nervous twitch (3) 

14 Colour of the spectrum 

(6) 

16 Nonsensical (6) 

18 Belly laugh (6) 

20 Fair-haired (6) 

22 Plotter (11) 

DOWN 

1 Young horse (4) 

2 Draw back, as with fear 

(6) 

3 Long dagger (8) 

4 A smaller amount (4) 

5 Speaker’s platform (6) 

6 Inside (8) 

11 Proclaim (8) 

12 Sheath for a sword (8) 

15 Very young child (6) 

17 Unwrinkled (6) 

19 Cried (4) 

21 Highland dagger (4) 

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

of the same number). 

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

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

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

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

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

multiplication, just plain logic and your imagination. 

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

08027767834; 01-4544821. Abuja office: 7, Dambata Close, Area 7, Garki, 09-2921024. Ikeja office: 73, Awolowo Way. V.I. Office: Murplus Plaza, 27, Sanusi Fafunwa Street. Asaba: 21, Anwai 

Road. Benin City: 4E, Arusa Street. Port Harcourt: 50, Ikwerre Road; Warri: 102, Efurun-Sapele Road. Advert: advertproduction@yahoo.com; E-mail: editor@vanguardngr.com, 

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

14112018 - We're vetting Ganduje's bribe videos — BUHARI

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?