25052019 - FG probes 2 serving Ministers Ex CBN Gov

2 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 — 3


SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, , 2019 — 5 

2019 Poll: S-Court knocks APC, sacks Zamfara 

Gov-elect, declares PDP winner 

•Awards N10m cost against APC, voids victory of all its candidates 

•Mixed reactions greet ruling as security agents take over Gusau 

•Atiku, Dickson, Ozekhome, Marafa hail judgment 

By Clifford Ndujihe, Ikechukwu 

Nnochiri, Dirisu Yakubu & 

Nasir Muhammad 

IT was a sad day for the ruling 

All Progressives Congress, 

APC, as the Supreme Court, 

yesterday, sacked all its 

candidates that won various 

elective positions in Zamfara 

State. 

The apex court, in a unanimous 

judgment by a five-man panel of 

Justices led by the Acting Chief 

Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice 

Tanko Muhammad, held that 

evidence before it confirmed that 

APC did not field any valid 

candidate in any of the 2019 

elections that was held in Zamfara 

State. 

Meanwhile, mixed reactions 

greeted the Supreme Court 

ruling, yesterday as security 

agents took over the major streets 

in Gusau, the state capital, to avert 

break down of law and order. 

The verdict 

The court said it was satisfied 

that APC which was the appellant 

did not conduct valid primary 

elections to nominate candidates 

for any elective position in the 

state. 

It therefore validated earlier 

decision of the Independent 

National Electoral Commission, 

INEC, not to accept the list of 

candidates the APC submitted for 

the National Assembly, 

Governorship and State House 

of Assembly elections that took 

place on February 23 and March 

11, 2019 respectively 

Though it was the Acting CJN 

that headed the panel, the lead 

judgement of the apex court was 

prepared and delivered by 

Justice Paul Galinje. 

All the other members of the 

panel concurred and upheld an 

earlier verdict of the Sokoto 

Division of the Court of Appeal, 

which held that APC did not field 

any eligible candidate in the 2019 

general election in Zamfara 

State. 

Meantime, before it dismissed 

the appeal marked SC/377/2019, 

the apex court descended heavily 

on the APC, warning that it 

should learn to “play by the rules 

of the game,” warning that it 

should not engage in things that 

are capable of truncating the 

democratic dispensation in 

Nigeria. 

Justice Galinje noted that 

whereas the political party 

system in the country was 

adopted from the United States 

of America, he decried that while 

those it was borrowed from, “have 

forged ahead and developed into 

an economically viable nation, 

the political class in Nigeria, 

either out of ignorance of what 

party politics is or out of mischief, 

have refused to abide by the 

rules.” 

He said: “If care is not taken, 

the class of politicians we have 

today will drag us back to the 

stone age, which will consume 

all of us. 

“I urge them to play the game 

according to the rule,” Justice 

Galinje added. 

Consequently, he held that 

APC’s appeal lacked merit, 

declaring that votes that were 

credited to all its candidates in 

the state amounted to “wasted 

votes.” 

Besides, Justice Galinje, 

awarded a cost of N10million 

against the APC. 

“I find that the lower court was 

right in holding that there were 

no primary elections in Zamfara 

State. The appeal had no merit 

and it should be dismissed. It is 

accordingly dismissed. 

“The party that has no 

candidate cannot be declared 

winner of the election. Therefore, 

all votes that are credited to such 

party are deemed as wasted 

votes. 

“Candidates of parties with 

highest number of valid votes 

cast and with the required 

spread, stands elected in 

Zamfara,” the Supreme Court 

held. 

Aside the Acting CJN, other 

justices of the apex court that 

agreed that APC’s appeal 

deserved to be dismissed, were 

Justices Kayode Ariwoola, Iyang 

Okoro, and Musa Abba-Aji. 

Earlier, the court held that APC 

did not require leave to file the 

appeal since election and preelection 

matters are suis-generis 

and on a class of its own. 

By this unanimous judgement, 

all candidates of the APC that 

won elections in Zamfara State, 

including its governor-elect, 

Alhaji Mukhtar Idris, and the 

outgoing governor of the state, 

Abdulaziz Yari, who won 

senatorial election, have been 

sacked. 

Implications of ruling 

Likewise, the import of the 

judgment is that the 

governorship candidate of the 

Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, 

Dr. Bello Muhammad 

Mutawalle, who garnered the 

second highest number of votes 

in the election, will be sworn in 

as the duly elected governor of 

Zamfara State on May 29, 2019. 

APC had in its appeal, urged 

the Supreme Court to set-aside 

the judgment of the Court of 

Appeal in Sokoto and reinstate 

the high court verdict that 

permitted it to field candidates in 

Zamfara. 

However, INEC queried the 

competence of the appeal which 

it said grossly lacked in merit. 

It will be recalled that INEC 

had prior to the election, declared 

that it would not allow APC 

candidates to vie for any electoral 

President Muhammadu Buhari (3rd L); Gov. Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna State (L); Minister of 

FCT, Muhammed Bello (2nd L); Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Muhammed 

(R); Minister of Interior, retired Lt- Gen. Abdulrahman Dambazau (3rd R) and other dignitaries, 

during the 2019 Presidential Inauguration Juma’at Prayer at the National Mosque in Abuja 

yesterday. Jimah Suleman/NAN 

position in both Zamfara and 

Rivers States. 

The electoral body based its 

decision on APC’s failure to 

conduct valid primary elections 

in both states and to submit its 

list of candidates within the 

stipulated timeframe. 

However, shortly before the 

election held, a High Court in 

Zamfara State compelled INEC 

to allow APC candidates to 

participate. 

Decision of the high court 

followed a suit that was lodged 

by a faction of the APC led by the 

Zamfara governor-elect, Idris. 

Meanwhile, dissatisfied with 

the high court decision, both 

INEC and another faction of the 

party led by Senator Kabiru 

Marafa, who had insisted that 

they were the bonafide 

candidates of the APC in the state, 

went on appeal. 

In a judgment it delivered on 

March 25, the Court of Appeal in 

Sokoto State, voided the lower 

court’s verdict and nullified the 

list of APC candidates that 

participated in various levels of 

elections in Zamfara State. 

The appellate court held that 

contrary to the position of the trial 

court, Senator Marafa and 142 

other APC aspirants, had the 

locus standi to challenge the 

legality of the purported primary 

election that led to the list the party 

submitted to INEC. 

On the strength of the verdict, 

INEC, declined to issue 

Certificate of Return to the 

Zamfara State governor-elect and 

elected members of both the State 

and National Assembly, pending 

the final determination of the 

matter by the Supreme Court. 

The Marafa led faction had 

through their lawyer, Chief Mike 

Ozekhome, SAN, asked the apex 

court to dismiss all the appeals 

for being incompetent. 

Ozekhome further alleged that 

records of proceedings in the 

matter were tampered with by the 

Appellants, saying he had upon 

the discovery, produced certified 

copies of the records from the 

appellate court. 

“The fraud that was committed 

at the registry was weighty and 

it was well captured in the 

affidavit we filed in this matter,” 

Ozekhome added. 

He further contended that the 

appeals were incompetent, 

noting that the appellants had 

erroneously directed their reliefs 

to the Court of Appeal instead of 

the Supreme Court. 

On his part, counsel to the APC 

nominated candidates, in their 

own appeal marked SC/378/19, 

between Sanusi Liman Dan 

Alhaji & 37 others, Vs Senator 

Kabiru Marafa &144 others, 

urged the Supreme Court to 

restore the high court judgement 

that validated their candidacy. 

Their own appeal was also 

dismissed yesterday, though the 

apex court declined not to award 

any cost against them. 

Mixed reactions greet ruling 

in Zamfara 

In Zamfara State, mixed 

reactions trailed the apex court 

decision, yesterday. 

Members of the PDP were 

jubilant and hailed the verdict. 

The Campaign Director General 

of PDP gubernatorial flag bearer, 

Alhaji Jamilu Zannan Gusau, 

described the judgement as an 

act of God, and maintained that 

the victory is a victory for all the 

people of Zamfara as the party 

will do everything to restore 

peace and order in the state. 

Senatorial candidate of the 

Accord, Alhaji Mukhtar Ahmad 

Darman Gusau, described the 

judgement as a welcome 

development to democracy, 

adding that the bold judgement 

signified that the judicial system 

is still intact. 

“With a bold judgement like 

this, our fragile and delicate 

democracy will be mature. And it 

gave us a new courage and hope 

for our young democracy and 

trust in the country’s Judicial 

system.” 

APC’s Senator Kabir Marafa 

representing Zamfara Central 

has expressed his elation and 

happiness following his victory 

and triumph at the Supreme 

Court which annulled and voided 

Zamfara APC primaries. 

Marafa was reacting to the 

Supreme Court judgement in a 

phone stated that he was happy 

for winning the battle between 

him and Abdul’aziz Yari 

Abubakar which according to 

him, lasted for one and half years. 

“I dedicated this victory to Allah 

who made it possible for us to 

fight an incumbent governor and 

succeeded. We therefore thanked 

Him so much for giving us the 

courage to strive and fight.” 

He also thanked President 

Muhammadu Buhari for refusing 

to succumb to Governor Yari’s 

maneuvers and evasive actions, 

adding that the verdict has 

confirmed the integrity of Mr, 

President. 

The Senator further called on 

the incoming administration to 

fear Allah and work very hard to 

ensure the return of peace and 

order return in the state. 

APP seeks fresh elections 

However, the All People’s Party, 

APP, Deputy gubernatorial 

candidate, Alhaji Lawal Hamisu 

Continues on page 6

6 — SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 

$2b Bank Fraud: FG probes 2 

serving ministers, ex-CBN gov 

…65,000 lose shares to phoney offshore entities 

…Probe follows last month’s petition to AGF by aggrieved shareholders 

By Soni Daniel, Editor, 

Northern Region 

The Federal Government 

has launched a 

probe into how a 

former Central Bank Governor 

connived with two serving 

ministers in the present 

administration to rip off no fewer 

than 65,000 Nigerians through 

official manipulation and transfer 

of their shares to foreign entities 

for pecuniary reasons. 

The probe was triggered by a 

strong petition filed by 

shareholders, whose shares were 

inexplicably reduced by the key 

government agencies and 

officials and awarded to the 

foreign entities apparently 

fronting for them. 

Before now, allegations against 

serving ministers and top 

government officials were hardly 

investigated by the anti-graft 

agencies. This tended to give 

credence to allegations that 

President Buhari’s anti-graft war 

was targeted at only the 

opposition. The latest 

development, our sources said, 

could prove critics wrong. 

The government swung into 

action immediately after the 

petition was received and 

acknowledged by the Public 

Prosecution Department of the 

OHAGF on April 3, 2019, 

according to documents sighted 

by Saturday Vanguard. 

In the petition entitled: 

“Official Corruption, Misuse of 

FGN $2 Billion, Fraud And 

Unjust Enrichment Of Persons 

Who Dispossessed More Than 

65,000 Nigerians And Conferred 

Ownership Of A Nigerian Bank 

On Few Nigerians And Their 

Foreign Accomplices,” the 

victims detailed how the illicit 

bank deal was structured and 

executed by the culprits now 

working with the government as 

ministers of the Federal Republic 

of Nigeria. 

It was learnt that on getting the 

petition, the government 

immediately set in motion a 

strong team to study it and take 

urgent steps to investigate the 

claims in the documents and refer 

the matter to appropriate antigraft 

agency to deal with any 

economic and financial crimes 

that might have been 

orchestrated by the suspects. 

A source close to the 

investigation said that the 

government was concerned 

about the role played by the two 

ministers and the former CBN 

governor. 

Findings show that while one 

of the ministers, headed a federal 

regulatory agency at the time, his 

colleague was a key financial 

market player at the time and 

masterminded the deals leading 

to the loss of hundreds of millions 

of Naira by Nigerians to 

foreigners. 

In particular, the government 

wants the investigators to probe 

whether there were insider deals 

that led to the dispossession of 

Nigerian shareholders and 

investors and transferred their 

interest to foreign elements and 

why the CBN approved such a 

dubious deal in the first place 

despite clear evidence that it did 

not pass a CBN ‘fit and proper 

test’. The document sighted by 

Saturday Vanguard shows that 

one of the serving ministers 

masterminded the transaction by 

floating a Nigerian firms that 

brought a Mauritius shell 

company to house Nigerians 

pretending to be foreign investors 

in order to swindle them. 

The minister is also said to have 

organized the registration of the 

offshore shell company in 

Mauritius principally for the 

purpose of disguising the true 

majority ownership of the Bank's 

shares concealed in the offshore 

company. 

On the other hand, the other 

minister is reported to have 

approved the defective bank 

transactions when it was 

brought to his agency instead of 

rejecting it based on certain 

deficiencies. The document 

indicated that he was ‘rewarded’ 

with a strategic appointment by 

the bank shortly after that 

defective deal approval. 

As a result of that 

development, 49% of that bank’s 

shares is now owned and 

controlled by a London-based 

firm, whose chief executive had 

since been sacked for 

involvement in other 

manipulative bank deals.The 

illicit transaction, it was gathered 

Jonathan hails Dickson on education 

Former President of 

Nigeria, Dr Goodluck 

Jonathan has hailed the efforts 

of the Bayelsa State Governor, 

the Honourable Henry 

Seriake Dickson in 

educational development 

saying he has surpassed 

expectations. 

Dr. Jonathan who gave the 

commendation at the launch 

of the Bayelsa Education 

Development Trust Fund in 

Yenagoa, noted that the 

governor’s decision to deploy 

the tool of education to the 

development and 

emancipation of the society 

was the right way to go. 

A statement by the Special 

Adviser to the Governor on 

Media Relations, Mr. Fidelis 

Soriwei quoted the former 

president as saying that the 

initiative and the landmark 

From left:Mr. Victor Okonkwo, the Managing Director, AITEO Eastern Exploration 

& Production Company Ltd, who represented the company’s Vice 

Chairman, former President Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and the Governor òf 

Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson; at the launch of the 

Bayelsa State Education Development TRUST Fund in YENAGOA yesterday. 

achievements of the governor 

would outlive his eight years 

as it's been backed by law. 

Dr. Jonathan who said the 

efforts of the present 

administration was in line 

with his educational policy to 

wrest the Bayelsa child from 

the claws of illiteracy when 

he was governor in 2006, 

noted that Education 

Development Trust would 

drastically change the story 

of Bayelsa as stare that was 

once listed among 

disadvantaged states, 

His words:” I appreciate 

what Governor Dickson is 

doing regarding education. 

We all know that the only 

way you liberate and uplift a 

people is through education. 

From where I started as a 

child, if I didn’t go to school 

nobody would have known 

me outside my village, but 

today, l’m known all over the 

world because I was able to 

go to school. So supporting 

education is key. 

“Governor Dickson has 

done much higher than I 

projected in 2006, in terms of 

expansion of educational 

work. Today, let me also thank 

Governor Dickson for this 

initiative because most 

problems we have in 

governance is not scarcity of 

good ideas but how will that 

endure? 

Speaking, Governor 

Seriake Dickson said his 

administration viewed 

investment in the education 

sector not as a burden but as 

a responsibility because of its 

far reaching impact on society. 

effectively diluted more 65,000 

Nigeria former shareholders of 

the commercial bank by 85% to 

less than 15% of public float, 

making it impossible for the bank 

to be listed on the Nigerian Stock 

Exchange, NSE. 

But despite being owned by a 

few private equity firms and 

struggling to survive till date, the 

commercial bank has used 

powerful connections to remain 

on the NSE. 

Saturday Vanguard learnt that 

federal investigators are to 

unravel if the said bank has also 

concealed from regulators, 

investors and the public 

outstanding Swiss Court 

judgment debts of more than N1 

billion and imminent judgment 

debts of N5 billion respectively. 

One of the aggrieved 

shareholders, who pleaded 

anonymity, lamented that the 

bank had not paid cash 

dividends in nearly ten years 

while the financial statements 

show princely remunerations to 

executive management, 

directors and lawyers paid to 

defer more than $50 million of 

claims against the bank. 

The informed source said: “It 

is a thing of joy that the 

government has finally decided 

to look into this monumental 

fraud with a view to bringing the 

masterminds to book. It is also 

interesting that many 

discontented former 

shareholders of the bank who 

were dispossessed of 85% of the 

value of their shares are happy 

that equally aggrieved persons 

and companies have come 

forward to provide information 

that in their opinion should lead 

to reversal of the odious 

transactions and return of the 

bank to former Nigerians 

shareholders. 

The source, in commending 

the government’s determination 

to fight corruption also advised 

that the criminal investigations 

should be pursued arduously so 

that dispossessed shareholders, 

investors and those that are owed 

by the bank can get justice 

promptly. 

2019 Poll: S-Court knocks APC, 

sacks Zamfara Gov-elect, declares 

PDP winner Continues from page 5 

Anka, expressed concern over the verdict, which handed over 

the government to PDP, as according to him, the party has no 

popularity. 

He maintained that, PDP doesn’t deserve to govern the state. 

He said there is no away an unpopular party that could not even 

have the required spread of votes can govern the state. He therefore 

called for the conduct of fresh elections. 

Atiku, Dickson, Ozekhome hail judgment 

Presidential candidate of the PDP and former Vice President, 

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson 

and Chief Ozekhome, SAN, were among those who hailed the 

ruling. 

Describing the verdict of the apex court as a victory for the rule of 

law, Atiku Abubakar said, “nothing is as pleasing to the ears of 

believers, as justice being served in the holy month of Ramadan.” 

In a statement signed by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku 

lauded the Lord Justices for putting aside the “interests of the 

powerful and upholding the interests of Nigeria and Nigerians,” 

adding that for the nation to move forward, the right thing must 

and should always be done at all times. 

“God first, Nigeria second, must be our priority as trustees of the 

people. When justice prevails, the people rejoice, chains are broken, 

freedom is multiplied and society is enriched,” he noted. 

He called on the eggheads in the temple of justice to treat all 

election petitions that will come their way with good conscience 

and the fear of God, stressing that once this is guaranteed, the rule 

of law would prevail. 

The ex-Vice President congratulated the new governor-elect Hon. 

Bello Matawalle of the PDP and the people of Zamfara, even as he 

assured the people that peace would return to the state in no 

distant time. 

Similarly, Bayelsa state governor and newly-elected chairman of 

the PDP Governors’ Forum, Seriake Dickson also congratulated 

former federal lawmaker, Dr. Bello Mohammed Matawalle, on 

his return as the governor-elect of Zamfara and the victory of other 

PDP candidates in the state. 

He added that the ruling by the five-member panel of the 

Supreme Court read by Justice Paul Adamu Galinji, which annulled 

all the votes of the APC and returned Matawalle as winner of the 

governorship election was “victory for justice and democracy in 

action.” 

On his part, famous constitutional lawyer and human rights 

activist, Mike Ozekhome, SAN, said the ruling of the apex court 

would go a long way in deepening democracy in the country. 

Ozekhome, who was the lead counsel of the Kabiru Marafa-led 

faction of the APC seeking the nullification of the party’s primaries, 

said justice had been served and rightfully so. 

“What the apex court has done yesterday is to deepen, widen 

and strengthen democracy and our democratic precepts. It shows 

that parties must maintain internal democracy and cannot 

whimsically, capriciously and arbitrarily operate outside their 

constitution, guidelines, the Electoral Act and the Constitution. 

“The Supreme Court has redefined our jurisprudence by showing 

that when a party damages its primaries, it can never reap the 

proceeds of its illegalities. That is why and how the PDP that came 

second has today produced the governor, all Senators, all House of 

Representatives and House of Assembly members today in one 

fell swoop.” 

PDP rebounces, gets 16 states 

With ruling on Zamfara, the opposition PDP will have 15 states 

when new governors are inaugurated on May 29. 

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the PDP had 11 governors. 

The number will rise to at least 16 on May 29, 2019, when new 

governors and those re-elected are sworn-in. The number may 

rise to 17 depending on what the Supreme Court rules on Osun 

governorship poll. The tribunal ruled in favour of the PDP but court 

of appeal said APC won. So eyes are on what the apex court will 

do. 

Conversely, the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, which 

had 23 governors before the 2019 polls now has 21, which may 

further go down to 19 depending on what happens on the Osun 

and Zamfara suits. 

How PDP bounced back 

The PDP won more states by strengthening its hold in the South- 

East and making in-roads in the North-East and South-West. 

In the South-East, the three PDP governors—Dave Umahi 

(Ebonyi), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) 

retained their seats and its Candidate, Emeka Ihedioha, snatched 

Imo State from the APC, which was crisis-ridden. 

In the South-West, the PDP also won Oyo, the headquarters of 

the region, compensating for its loss of Ekiti State recently to the 

APC. In the North-East, the PDP also added Bauchi and Adamawa 

to Taraba that it has been controlling since 1999. 

And in the North-Central, PDP retained Benue but lost Kwara to 

the APC. The PDP, with the slimmest of margins, 342 votes, retained 

a foothold in the North-West via Governor Aminu Tambuwal’s 

victory in Sokoto State. It has now added Zamfara with the Supreme 

Court verdict, yesterday. 

16 PDP states 

By May 29, PDP states will be Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Bayelsa, 

Akwa Ibom, Sokoto, Cross River, Delta, Benue, Taraba, Imo, Bauchi, 

Adamawa, Oyo, Rivers and Zamfara 

19 APC states 

On the other hand, the APC states will be Lagos, Ekiti, Ogun, 

Ondo, Osun, Edo, Kwara, Kogi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Borno, Yobe, 

Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, and Niger. 

Anambra is the only state not controlled by the APC or PDP. It 

belongs to the All Progressives Grand Alliance, APGA.

From left Brig-Gen Sola Ayo-Vaughan (rtd), Chairman, Apapa residents Association; Mr Okafor Stephen, 

General Coordinator, Council of Maritime Trasport Union and Association; Mr Musa Olawale, General 

Manager, LASTMA; CP Hakeem Odumosu, member, Presidential Task Force Committee on Clearance of 

Apapa gridlock; Mr Kayode Opeifa, Vice Chairman, Presidential Task Force Committee; Hon Elijah A 

Owolabi, Chairman, Apapa Local Government, Lagos State and Corps Commander Hyginus Omeje, Sector 

Commander, Lagos State, Federal Road Safety Corps FRSC, at the stakeholders meeting on clearance 

of trucks and tankers from the Ports Access roads in Lagos held at Apapa, Lagos yesterday. Photo Lamidi 

Bamidele 

Apapa gridlock: Compliance with Buhari’s 

order shaky 

*As trucks still block roads 

By Godfrey Bivbere & 

Ebuka Oko 

FEW hours to the expi 

ration of the 72 hours 

deadline issued by the presidency 

directing trucks and 

tankers operators to vacate 

the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, 

there were no indications 

that the trucks which 

have constituted nuisance 

on the road were in a hurry 

to leave. 

The directive was contained 

in a statement signed 

by the Senior Special Assistant 

to the President on 

Media and Publicity, Office 

of the Vice President, Laolu 

Akande, in Abuja. The directive 

mandated the immediate 

removal of all trucks 

from the bridges and roads 

within Apapa and all adjoining 

streets leading to the 

Apapa axis. 

The presidential directive 

was as a result of an emergency 

meeting convened by 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari and chaired by Vice 

President Yemi Osinbajo on 

April 252019. The new presidential 

directive on 72 hours 

deadline was given on 

Thursday and should end 

today. 

An investigation by Vanguard 

yesterday however 

revealed that the situation 

was even worse with commuters 

spending several 

hours on the road as trucks 

were parked everywhere. 

The trucks completely 

blocked all the lanes of the 

expressway from 2nd Rainbow 

to Tin-can Island making 

the road impassable. 

This situation notwithstanding, 

the stakeholders 

have however expressed optimism 

that everything would 

be done to ensure the directive 

was complied with 

Meanwhile, the task force 

put in place to ensure compliance 

with the presidential 

directive met with truck operators 

yesterday in Lagos 

and said any truck driver 

whose truck was parked on 

the road after the deadline 

would be impounded. 

Speaking at the meeting, 

former Commissioner for 

Transport in Lagos State, Kayode 

Opeifa, who represented 

the chairman of the Task 

Force, Vice President Yemi 

Osinbajo explained that the 

first task was to ensure that 

all the trucks and tankers 

were cleared from the port 

roads within the deadline issued 

by the Federal 

Government. 

He acknowledged that 

there might be challenges but 

assured that the directive 

would be implemented to the 

letter. 

According to him, “We will 

ensure that from the port corridor 

to the toll gate is free, 

that the trucks do not disturb 

ordinary Lagosian on the 

road. Two, the next level is to 

ensure that from Ikorodu road 

down to Ijora is also free and 

that the operations in the 

ports are decently managed 

so that we do not have any 

disruption coming from port 

or its axis. 

“There is no doubt there 

will be capacity issue with 

the terminal operators, there 

will be issue of efficiency 

among all stakeholders, and 

there will also be infrastructural 

issues like roads, trains 

and all the rest. 

“But we (stakeholders and 

task force) have all agreed 

that we can still operate in 

the appropriate manner if we 

all play our part and that is 

the essence of the last two 

meetings. In addition to that, 

all the stakeholders have 

agreed that as long as there 

is transparency, and we follow 

the Standard Operating 

Procedure, SOP, and our officers 

work in line with the 

guidelines, we will achieve 

our goal. 

“If there is any issue, we 

will surmount it until we have 

our efficient system. Our responsibility 

is not to run the 

port, or stay here for too 

long. Our responsibility is 

to work within the shortest 

possible time and to 

create the right environment 

for the next phases 

which are the medium 

term and the long term 

solutions to kick in,” he 

stated. 

Speaking earlier, a member 

of the task force, Commissioner 

of Police, 

Hakeem Odumosu, in response 

to a plea by the 

Chairman of Association of 

Maritime Truck Owners, 

Remi Ogungbemi, that 

trucks parked under bridges 

be allowed to stay, said 

all trucks should be moved 

out of the roads including 

under bridges at the expiration 

of the deadline. The 

police Commissioner told 

the trucks owners to organise 

themselves and work 

with the terminal operators 

He said only trucks that 

can be accommodated in 

the port at every given time 

should be on the road as 

any truck parked on the 

road will be impounded. 

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 — 7 

NFIU guidelines on Joint Account, it is 

aberration — NGF 

•Rejects June 1 deadline, says it was in bad taste 

By Henry Umoru 

BARELY one week to the 

implementation of the 

guidelines issued by Nigerian 

Financial Intelligence 

Unit (NFIU) which prevents 

state governments from making 

withdrawals from local 

governments’ funds, the 

thirty-six state governors 

under the aegis of Nigeria 

Governors’ Forum, NGF, 

have again rejected it in 

totality, saying it is an aberration. 

According to the governors, 

the statement by 

NFIU cannot hold waters 

and that it was issued in 

bad taste, adding that 

move for cash withdrawals 

from Local Government 

funds throughout Nigeria 

which is to take effect from 

June 1 is not only an aberration, 

but it defies logic. 

In a statement yesterday 

by NGF Head, Media and 

Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque 

Barkindo, he said 

that the decision has therefore 

been rejected by all the 

36 governors of the Federation 

at their last meeting 

Constitutional crisis looms 

in Zamfara as INEC comes 

under pressure 

of May 22, in its entirety because 

it is not only revisionist, 

but issued in bad taste. 

It would be recalled that 

NFIU had issued a guideline 

which prevents state 

governments from making 

withdrawals from local governments’ 

funds. 

The new guideline mandates 

financial institutions to 

distribute funds accruable to 

local governments among 

the local government councils 

of that state and not for 

the other purposes, just as 

new financial guidelines limit 

cash transactions in the accounts 

of local governments 

to a daily maximum of N500, 

000. 

The statement reads, “with 

effect from June 1, any bank 

that allows any transaction 

from any local government 

By Emmanuel Aziken 

AMIDST apprehension about a constitutional crisis, 

the Independent National Electoral Commission, 

INEC is to hold a second meeting today, Saturday to 

further deliberate on the Supreme Court pronouncement 

on the elections in Zamfara State. 

The Supreme Court had in a landmark judgment declared 

that the All Progressives Congress, APC which 

won all the elections in the state was not a legal participant 

in the elections and declared that the party which 

came second in all the elections should take the place of 

the APC provided it made the requirements. 

However, as at press time yesterday, INEC was yet to 

recognize the runner up in all the elections, that is the 

People’s Democratic Party, PDP as the beneficiary winner 

of the elections. 

Saturday Vanguard last night understood of high-level 

moves by the APC to stop the recognition of the PDP 

upon submissions that the PDP governorship candidate 

in the election may not have satisfied provisions of section 

179(2) b of the constitution. A senior INEC official 

contacted on the development was taciturn on the issue 

vowing not to speak on the issue. 

That provision stipulates that a candidate shall be 

deemed winner of the election provided “he has not less 

than one-quarter of all the votes cast in each of at least 

two-thirds of all the local government areas in the State.” 

The commission as at press time last night had apparently 

not been able to satisfy that provision and is meeting 

today to further deliberate on the issue. 

However, a senior official of the APC contacted on the 

development expressed the possibility of a constitutional 

crisis. 

“How do you give power to someone who scored 

100,000 votes in an election of one million voters, it is 

wrong. It is unconstitutional. “But how do you also expect 

INEC to conduct a fresh election within five days of 

the handover. This is a prescription for a constitutional 

crisis,” the high-level APC official said as he rued Supreme 

Court judgment. 

Meanwhile, the prospects of INEC conducting a fresh 

election at another time without the APC were further 

stoking the prospects of a constitutional crisis as it would 

mean that the outgoing governor of the state, Alhaji Abdulazziz 

Yari would hand over to the Speaker of the 

State House of Assembly, Alhaji Sanusi Rikiji, a member 

of the APC. Rikiji’s term expires in early June. 

Oyetola’s govt has renewed 

citizens’ hope, says Primate 

T 

HE leadership of the African Church has commend 

ed the administration of Osun state Governor, Mr. 

Adegboyega Oyetola, for its commitment to the welfare 

of the people 

The leadership of the Church said the good work of 

Oyetola’s administration had renewed the people’s hope 

for economic prosperity. The Primate-elect of the African 

Church Most Reverend Julius Abbe gave the commendation 

during a visit by the church leaders to the Governor 

in his office in Osogbo. 

The clerics were received on behalf of the governor by 

the Deputy Governor, Mr Benedict Alabi. 

account without monies first 

reaching a particular local 

government account will be 

sanctioned 100 per cent, locally 

and internationally. 

“In addition, a provision 

is also made to the effect 

that there shall be no cash 

withdrawal from any local 

government account for a 

cumulative amount exceeding 

N500,000 per day.” 

Barkindo said, “The Nigeria 

Financial Intelligence 

Unit (NFIU) enforcement 

and guidelines to reduce 

crime vulnerabilities created 

by cash withdrawals 

from Local Government 

Funds throughout Nigeria 

which is to take effect from 

June 1 is an aberration. It 

defies logic. It has therefore 

been rejected by all the 36 

governors of the federation 

at their last meeting of May 

22, in its entirety, because it 

is not only revisionist but 

issued in bad taste.


Police uncover another arms manufacturing 

site in Benue 

*Nab 18 others for kidnapping, robbery 

*Flag off ‘Operation Puff Adder’ 

By Peter Duru, Makurdi 

OPERATIVES of Benue 

state Police Command 

have uncovered another firearms 

manufacturing site at 

Ikache village in Oju local government 

area of the state, recovering 

locally fabricated fire 

arms at different levels of completion 

while the alleged arms 

manufacturer, 37 year old father 

of five, Orohu Akodi was 

also appended. 

This is coming about two 

months after troops of the military 

spike operation in the state 

code named ‘Operation Whirl 

Stroke’ uncovered a similar 

plant in Logo local government 

area of the state. 

Parading the arms manufacturer 

yesterday in Makurdi 

alongside 18 other robbery and 

kidnap suspects arrested with 

over 30 different caliber of firearms 

and live ammunitions in 

various parts of the state, the 

Police Commissioner Mr. Garba 

Mukaddas said the suspect 

was arrested following a tip off. 

“We gathered information 

that he manufactures prohibited 

fire arms and supplies 

same to criminals. Our investigation 

led to his arrest and a 

search in his house led to the recovery 

of three assorted live ammunition, 

two empty shells of 

expended ammunition and 

parts of locally made guns,” 

Mukaddas said. 

The alleged arms manufacturer 

in his confessional statement 

to reporters said, “I have 

been in the business of manufacturing 

guns for over seven 

years though I hardly stay at 

home, I always travel to Lagos 

because my family reside there. 

“Most of the guns I made 

were for people from Cross River 

State. When they had their 

crisis sometime back, some of 

the people needed guns and 

they approached me to manufacture 

for them I did and I sold 

each to them for as low as 

N7,000.” 

The Police Commissioner 

assured that the Command 

would carry out thorough investigation 

into the respective 

cases of the suspects and 

arraign them accordingly. 

Meanwhile the command 

has flagged off “Operation 

Puff Adder” in the state to 

tackle incidences of kidnappings 

and criminality with a 

charge on the populace, religious 

and traditional leaders, 

youth groups and cooperative 

unions to join the fight 

against heinous crimes in the 

state. 

Tragedy: Okada rider, wife, stepson found dead in room 

By Ikechukwu Nnochiri 

A 

COMMERCIAL motorcyclist, 

his wife and 

stepson were yesterday, found 

dead in their one room apartment 

located at Obafemi Eruja 

Street, Aga/Gbasemo area 

of Ikorodu in Lagos State. 

Residents claimed they 

woke up only to be greeted by 

the sad news but the Nigeria 

Police from Ikorodu Division 

are currently investigating 

the death. 

The couple was last seen at 

about 8pm before they went 

to bed with their three children 

but only their first two 

children ages 13 and 11 are 

alive while the last born and 

their parents were found dead. 

Although nobody could explain 

the circumstances leading 

to the death but residents 

claimed that the couple had 

been engaged in internal crisis 

over the paternity of their 

last born aged seven. 

Eye witnesses’ account 

claimed the Okada rider popularly 

called ‘’Baba Efe” and 

his wife were last seen at 

about 9pm on Thursday before 

they all went to bed but a 

loud music coupled with argument 

were later heard from 

their room but nobody cared 

to intervene. 

Thirteen year-old Efe and 

his 11-year-old brother 

Michael were said to have 

woken from their sleep only 

to find the mother and child 

lying lifeless on the floor while 

their father’s body was dangling 

on the ceiling fan but 

both took courage and 

dashed outside to take their 

bath and dressed up for the 

day but due to lack of peaceful 

co-existence in the house, 

they chose to go to a neighbouring 

street to draw the attention 

of a family friend to 

the incident. 

It was gathered that immediately, 

the family friend left 

what she was doing and followed 

the children to their 

room only to notice two bodies 

on the floor and the third 

body dangling as the neck was 

tied to the ceiling fan. 

She was said to have raised 

the alarm which attracted cooccupants 

and neighbours 

though the children could not 

give the account of what transpired 

overnight which led to 

the death of other members of 

the family. 

Vanguard gathered that the 

couple had been involved in 

series of argument over the paternity 

of their third child as 

the man had threatened to kill 

both mother and child, a threat 

which was suspected to have 

been carried out yesterday. 

Residents claimed a family 

friend had been visiting the 

couple to claim the paternity 

of their last child and this had 

brought shame on the family 

until the unfortunate happened. 

Apart from this, all the children 

were said to be out of 

school as their parents could 

no longer sustain the family 

since the seizure of the motor 

bike by law enforcement 

agents. 

The wife was said to be running 

the affairs of the family 

with the proceeds from her 

NGF chair: Tinubu congratulates Fayemi 

•Seeks promotion of fiscal federalism 

ALL Progressives Con 

gress National Leader, 

Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has 

congratulated Governor 

Kayode Fayemi over his election 

as the new Chairman of 

the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. 

Asiwaju Tinubu expressed 

confidence in the Ekiti State 

governor to deliver on the 

assignment given his credentials, 

competence, integrity 

and fine leadership ability. 

In a letter to the governor 

Tinubu personally signed 

and released on Friday by 

his Media Office, the APC 

leader urged Governor 

Fayemi to properly reposition 

the NGF “to contribute 

positively to national development, 

advance the frontiers 

of important issues such 

as fiscal federalism and support 

President Muhammadu 

Buhari in the task of 

taking the country to the 

Next Level”. 

The letter reads: “Please 

accept my congratulations 

over your unanimous election 

as the Chairman of the 

Nigerian Governors’ Forum. 

“Your election is a mark of 

respect for you by your colleagues 

and confidence in 

your ability to lead them 

meritoriously for the next 

two years. 

“Having known and related 

with you over the years, 

I’m certain that you will perform 

creditably well given 

your impeccable creden- 

groundnut business. 

However, the elder sister 

to ‘’Baba Efe” simply called 

Madam Agnes told Vanguard 

the family could not 

explain the circumstances 

leading to the couple’s 

death. 

When Vanguard visited 

the scene, the two bodies on 

the floor had been removed 

by the Police while traditionalists 

in the area 

claimed the dangling body 

would not be removed until 

certain rituals were conducted 

but as at 1pm, the 

deceased’s family was yet to 

meet the traditionalists’ demand. 

tials, competence, integrity 

and fine leadership ability. 

“Your experience as 

Governor of Ekiti State in 

the first term, Minister of 

Mines in Abuja and your 

remarkable comeback as 

Governor for a second 

term have all enriched you 

for this assignment. 

“I hope and pray that 

you will build a team that 

will properly position the 

NGF to contribute positively 

to national development, 

advance the frontiers 

of important issues 

such as fiscal federalism 

and support President 

Muhammadu Buhari in 

the task of taking the country 

to the Next Level”. 

APC Govs announce Bagudu as Forum Chair 

By Omeiza Ajayi 

GOVERNORS of the ruling 

All Progressives Congress 

APC under the aegis of Progressive 

Governors’ Forum have 

elected their Kebbi state counterpart, 

Atiku Bagudu as Chairman, 

following the expiration of the 

tenure of Imo state Governor, 

Rochas Okorocha. 

Director General of the Forum, 

Salihu Moh. Lukman in a 

statement Friday said; “The Progressive 

Governors Forum PGF, 

comprising all state governors 

elected on the platform of the 

All Progressives Congress APC, 

at their 

meeting, which held 9.00 pm 

on Thursday, May 23, 2019 at 

Imo State 

CP 

Mukaddas 

parading 

suspected 

criminals in 

Benue. 

Inset: 37 

year old 

firearms 

manufacturer, 

Orohu 

Akodo 

Government Lodge, Asokoro, 

Abuja, unanimously elected 

Kebbi State 

Governor, Atiku Bagudu as 

Chairman of the Forum”. 

He said the election of Alhaji 

Bagudu is in furtherance 

of the commitment of the 

Progressive Governors to 

deepen democratic governance 

in the country. 

B-R-I-E-F-S 

I was accused of starting 

militancy in N’Delta — Attah 

By Davies Iheamnachor 

FORMER Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Obong Victor Attah has 

said that he was accused of starting militancy in the Niger Delta 

simply because he called for resource control. Attah who made the 

assertion while fielding questions from newsmen on Friday in his Uyo 

residence recalled how the Nigerian president then had shouted and 

pointed accusing finger at him during a political function in Port 

Harcourt that he was the cause of militancy in the region. 

He added that people tried to stop his agitation for resource control 

because then they had suspected he was planning a secession. 

His words, “People just thought that they should stop me because 

they suspected that I was planning a secession.That is a grievous thing 

to charge anybody with. And it is still hunting me. But the problem is 

that even the Niger Delta people don’t even appreciate what I did for 

them. 

“In Port-Harcourt, the Nigerian President then pointed fingers at 

me, you were the one that went and put resource control in their head 

and now they are fighting, they are breaking pipelines. So I was accused 

of starting the militancy in the Niger Delta simply because I 

preached resource control. 

“And I will tell you this because it is no longer a secret. There was a 

time people in the villa at the time I was governor were wondering 

whether I was thinking of seceding. They were asking why is Obong 

Attah building a deep seaport, an international Airport. He is building 

an Independent Power plant, is he going to secede? 

“That was the fear people had about the vision we had then, yet 

people came and disrupted that. So I can say I feel disappointed that 

that vision was disrupted. I used the word disrupted because I believe in 

this regime of Udom Emmanuel unfettered, we are going to see the 

state fly again” 

We're not part of plot to 

declare N’Delta Republic 

— 21st Century Youths 

By Chioma Onuegbu, Uyo 

A 

COALITION of Niger Delta agitators, yesterday, 

said the secretive conspiracy by the Niger Delta 

Republic Fighters to declare Niger Delta Republic on 

June 1, was not a collective plan of agitators in the region, 

but a sponsored political plan to clampdown on 

Niger Delta leaders. 

The group under the auspices of 21st Century Youths 

of Niger Delta and Agitators with Conscience, led by 

self-styled “General” Izon Ebi, in a statement, declared, 

“We disassociate ourselves from the call by the so- called 

Niger Delta Republic Fighters to declare Niger Delta 

Republic come 1st of June 2019.” 

It said, “We, therefore, urge our distinguish leaders 

and elders not to panic as it was not the collective agreement 

of all agitators, but a plan by some sponsored political 

buccaneers to clampdown on our distinguished, outspoken 

and fearless leaders in the Niger Delta.” 

“General” Ebi urged all fighters of the group “ to stand 

down and put on hold our planned ban on oil exploration 

in the Niger Delta come May 29 2019 because fifth 

columnists and some people in government are trying to 

blackmail some of our distinguish leaders and rubbish 

our genuine struggle for equity and justice.” 

He stated, “We are repudiating and condemning their 

reputed threat so as not to endanger the lives of our people 

and leaders, we claim to be agitating for, after all the 

Federal Government and the former Inspector General 

of Police apologized to Pa Edwin Clark and he accepted 

and other matters are being handled by leaders in the 

Niger Delta.” 

Posterity will judge me — Ambode 

By Monsuru Olowoopejo 

THE outgoing Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi 

Ambode, yesterday, reviewed his four-year tenure, saying I 

have served to my best and posterity will judge my tenure. 

Ambode, whose tenure ends on Wednesday, May 29, 

expressed gratitude to God for giving him the opportunity 

to govern Lagos. The governor, who spoke during the inauguration 

of a 400-seater theatre in his hometown, Epe, 

assured residents that his successor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 

would continue where he had stopped. 

“This is more a fulfilling day for me. If there is anything 

for me to say is that I’m fulfilled that a day like this can come 

in the history of this town (Epe). Four days to go in four 

years, we have turned things around”. 

“God has given us the grace that I can come back here 

and actually spend my last weekend of those four years 

with my people. We are very delighted that among the 

theatres that we have established, we have the opportunity 

to come and commission one in Epe. 

“I am very grateful to God. You never planned what you 

meet on the way. Having had that opportunity to be elected 

as governor and for four years, one is able to do it in good 

health and mind. To God be the glory”. 

“The main purpose of governance is giving back to humanity 

and serves selflessly. All that put together, I am 

happy I was able to do that and God gave me the grace. 

The fact that I am also leaving in good health, is a sort of 

fulfillment for me,” he added.

CBN will sustain unconventional policies 

to boost economic growth — Emefiele 

*Denies existence of multiple exchange rates 

By Babajide Komolafe 

& Adeola Badru 

THE Governor, Cen 

tral Bank of Nigeria, 

CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, 

yesterday said that 

the apex bank will sustain 

its use of unconventional 

monetary policy to 

boost economic growth 

and enhance price stability. 

Meanwhile, Emefiele 

dismissed claims that the 

country has multiple exchange 

rates, saying that 

what Nigeria has is multiple 

foreign exchange 

windows, as exchange 

rates have since converged 

around N360 per 

dollar. 

The CBN Governor 

spoke in Ibadan while 

delivering a lecture titled, 

“Up Against the 

Tide: Nigeria’s Heterodox 

Monetary Policy and 

the Bretton Woods Consensus”, 

at the Distinguished 

Leadership Lecture 

Series of the University 

of Ibadan, Oyo state. 

Emefiele noted that 

there has been global 

shift towards unconventional 

policy tools, since 

the global financial crisis 

of 2008, which exposed 

the weakness of conventional 

monetary tools in 

tacking macroeconomic 

challenges. 

Stressing that this 

prompted the CBN and 

federal government to 

also adopt combination of 

unconventional monetary 

and fiscal policy measures, 

which helped to 

lift the country out of recession 

in 2017, he said: 

“The favourable outcomes 

and strengthening 

outlook of the Nigerian 

economy is traceable to 

the timeous adoption on 

non-traditional policy 

methods. The CBN has 

Delta monarch leads subjects to shut down 

Agip station 

By Chancel Sunday 

TRADITIONAL ruler 

of Tuomo federated 

community in Burutu 

Local Government area, 

Delta state, Chief Gimba 

Tamani, yesterday, led his 

subjects to lay siege to the 

Nigeria Agip Oil Company, 

NAOC’s field station 

in the riverine settlement 

over the firm’s alleged 

refusal to implement 

a flow station project in the 

area. 

The placard-carrying villagers, 

who stormed the 

company’s station in early 

hours of yesterday locked 

up its well-head and gate 

and occupied the premises. 

Some of the placards 

read: “Agip, Tuomo people 

say no to cheating,” 

From left: Prof. Ibi Ajayi, Head Dept. of Economics University of Ibadan; 

Prof Wale Ogunkole, Vice Chancellor University of Ibadan; Prof. Idowu 

Olayinka and the guest lecturer and CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele at 

the Distinguished Leadership Lecture Series: organised by University of 

Ibadan in Conjunction with Central Bank of Nigeria held at the International 

Conference Centre, University of Ibadan, yesterday. Photo:Dare Fasube. 

been able to reduce inflation, 

build our foreign 

exchange (FX) reserves, 

maintained FX market 

stability, and foster real 

growth.” 

Noting that the adoption 

of unconventional 

monetary policy by the 

CBN was also necessitated 

by its developmental 

mandate, he dismissed 

criticism of the methods, 

saying: “Regardless of 

these scathing views and 

critiques, the fact remains 

these unorthodox policies 

were well conceived, and 

has been yielding significant 

gains for the Nigerian 

economy”. 

While acknowledging 

the challenges and complexities 

of adopting unconventional 

policy tools, 

he averred that, “the costbenefit 

analysis of undertaking 

unconventional 

monetary policies indicate 

that the societal gains of 

such policies outstrip 

“No flow station, no Agip 

in Tuomo,” “No light, no 

Agip” and “Enough is 

enough, leave our 

land,Agip.” 

Chief Tamani said: 

“This is a peaceful protest 

against Agip over neglect 

in the past years; we 

are here because we have 

been taken for granted by 

Agip.” 

“We have come to stay at 

Agip station here and we 

will not leave except 

Agip comes down personally 

to Tuomo for negotiation. 

We were told that 

this is gas field, but now 

we have discovered that it 

is oil field and no single 

benefit has accrued to this 

community. 

“We want Agip to commence 

the long-awaited 

flow station project, we 

whatever challenges that 

may subsist. The experience 

since the global financial 

crises show that 

growth consideration cannot 

be sacrificed over the 

long-term for an exclusive 

focus on price stability, 

because unabated real 

contractions (and the associated 

persistent negative 

output gaps) can only 

lead to declining potential 

output, an outcome 

which is entirely dangerous 

for any economy given 

the structural fall in its 

long-run growth trajectory”. 

Reiterating the commitment 

of the apex bank 

to the continue use unconventional 

policy measures 

in order to achieve 

its price stability and developmental 

mandates, 

Emefiele , who was recently 

appointed for a second 

term in office as CBN 

Governor said: “Much of 

the success we see today 

want jobs for our youths, 

we want internal roads, 

potable water and a Global 

Memorandum of Understanding 

(GMoU) 

which Agip has failed 

to fulfil,” he said. 

Tuomo community 

chairman, Hon. Timi Andaye 

and Youth President, 

Comrade Gabriel Bekesuoyeibo, 

who also participated 

in the protest, said, 

Agip had deceived the 

community enough for the 

past 40 years with nothing 

to show, and abandoned 

the flow station project supposedly 

for the community, 

while piping oil to Ogboinbiri 

flow station in 

Bayelsa state. The women 

among the protesters, 

led by chair-lady of the 

community, Mrs Maria 

Nisama, said that they 

had already moved pots, 

is due to the adoption of 

heterodox macroeconomic 

policies. Within the 

CBN, our unconventional 

methods, especially in 

the management of the 

FX market and our development 

financing, supported 

by the orthodox 

approaches, in the form of 

our timely adjustments of 

monetary policy rate, 

have been able to optimally 

balance the delicate 

objectives of price stability 

and real output growth. 

“We will continue to develop 

policy instruments 

and device ways of ensuring 

that an optimal mix of 

heterodox policies is continually 

deployed to engender 

the overall wellbeing 

and prosperity of 

the Nigerian economy. 

Our overall aim remains 

the concurrent attainment 

of price stability, real 

growth, full employment, 

and poverty reduction.” 

spoons, pans and other 

cooking utensils to the company’s 

site to cook for their 

husbands and children 

until Agip responded. 

The Ijaw Youth Council, 

IYC, Tuomo clan, 

headed by Osuwo Port- 

Harcourt, who also mobilized 

youth for the protest, 

described the action of 

Agip as an oppression in 

the highest order. 

Elders of the community, 

who also joined the protest, 

vowed that they would 

sleep at the site and would 

not go back to their houses 

until Agip was ready to 

address them. 

Speaking for the elders, 

Chief Akpola Ekperi 

stated they were not ready 

to go to either Port-Harcourt 

or any other place for negotiation, 

noting, “Agip 

must come to us here.” 


Police arrest four women 

for abducting, trafficking 14 

children 

By Onozure Dania 

DETECTIVES attached to the Force Criminal In 

vestigation Department (FCID), Alagbon, Lagos 

State, have arrested four women and rescued 14 children 

from Benin Republic who were abducted by the 

women. The women: Abike Shobowale, 72, Abiola 

Adeniyi, 57, Amusan Abike, 60, and Zainab 

Hamzat, 42, were suspected to be members of a syndicate 

who specialises in human trafficking, in Lagos. 

It was gathered that the suspects were arrested by the 

Anti-Human Trafficking Section of Force Criminal Intelligence 

Department (FCID), Annex Alagbon Lagos, 

at Oke Arin Market, in Lagos Island, last Tuesday, 

between 1:25 pm and 2:20 pm, following a tip-off. 

The children, who were rescued from their abductors, 

included 2 girls and 12 boys, who are between the ages 

of 6 and 15, respectively. 

Speaking during a press briefing, Police Public Relations 

Officer (PPRO), FCID, Alagbon, ASP Niyi 

Ogundeyi, said: “It is a common knowledge that abduction 

and trafficking of persons have become some of the 

regular crimes in present day Nigeria. The inspector 

general of police, IGP Mohammed Adamu, through 

his reform programmes have mandated officers in commanding 

positions to ensure that no Nigerian is trafficked 

by another under whatever guise. It is in the light 

of the above and acting on a tip-off, that AIG Murital 

Usman Mani, directed operatives of the anti-human 

trafficking section of force CID Annex, Alagbon, Lagos, 

to Oke Arin market, where the suspects were 

arrested. “ 

“Nigerian pastors should go back 

to God” 

By Cynthia Alo 

THE general overseer of God’s Ebiegberi Min 

istry, Apostle Green Embelede, has called on 

men of God in the country to return to the original 

word of God for the well-being of the nation. 

Apostle Embelede made this call at the 30th anniversary 

celebration of the ministry in Kpakiama, 

Bomadi Local Government area of Delta state. 

Embelede, who recounted his ordeals in ministering, 

noted that church leaders had derailed from the 

message of salvation to miracles and healing in their 

congregations. 

Quoting the Bible books of Hosea 4, Acts 8, Psalm 

23, Genesis 4:3, Luke 3:23, the cleric urged the body 

of Christ to go back to God, emphasizing that such a 

step would repair the state of the nation. 

He disclosed that he was 30 years old when God 

called him on July 16, 1988, in Lagos, to go back to 

his village, Kpakiama, to open a ministry with definite 

instructions saying: “I am not against prophecy 

and healing, but the message of salvation is rare and 

Christians nowadays go from one church to the other 

in search of miracles. 

Adron Homes unveils Ace 

Musician, Ayefele brand 

ambassador 

By Ola Ajayi, Ibadan 

THE management of Adron Homes and Prop 

erties Limited has unveiled the Ibadan-based 

gospel musician, Dr Yinka Ayefele as the company’s 

brand ambassador. The event which took place 

in Ibadan, Oyo State, attracted a large crowd. 

The Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, 

Dr Adetola Emmanuel King, who eulogized 

Ayefele expressed optimism that the synergy with 

the music icon, would not only help the company’s 

brand in terms of loyalty from Oyo indigenes, but 

would equally raise the bar for Adron Homes and 

Yinka Ayefele’s Fresh FM nationwide and internationally. 

“We are happy that we have Dr. Yinka Ayefele 

coming to sign with us as our brand ambassador. Our 

vision, our mission all centres around rural urbanization 

and this we have been doing in many states and 

all across the nations. 

“With Dr. Ayefele coming to be our ambassador, it 

is going to be a next level.” He described Ayefele as 

a phenomenal and illustrious personality who has 

proven to be worthy of praise in the broadcasting and 

entertainment industry. 

He also hinted that the company would soon expand 

its frontiers to other African countries like Ghana, 

Cote D’Voire, Togo and Republic of Benin.

10—SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 

AS MAY 29 BECKONS 

A Game Plan For 

By Dr 

Ugoji Egbujo 

Mr president, it’s the second leg. 

The gods are on your side. 

Your fans are no longer expecting 

a miracle. And they now know it’s not 1984. 

And they appreciate that the democratic 

setting feels like an away ground for you. They 

now understand your challenges. You are 

honest but not omnipotent. The euphoria has 

subsided. Time and reality have tempered 

their great expectations. 

But Mr president, the second leg could be 

damning. It’s your last chance. A nondescript 

performance could leave an eternal sour taste 

in the mouth of your fans. And leave you in a 

forgettable place in history. And that won’t 

pay tribute to your sterling personal qualities 

and effort. 

Mr president, you have to be decisive! 

Our population is a seething volcano. 

You have to leave a mark. But you have to 

tread cautiously. There are a few things you 

can do and leave an indelible mark of 

distinction . We have seen the railways. We 

President Buhari 

have seen your determination against Boko 

haram. I will not waste your time. Mr 

president, this anemic country can not recover 

and thrive if she doesn’t control her growing 

obesity. 

Mr president, our population is growing at 

a rate our economy cannot support. You have 

tried to improve agricultural yields. You have 

tried to establish food security . But a 

thoughtful man of limited means limits the 

size of his family. That is basic prudence. 

Our population can kill us quicker than 

corruption 

Mr president, our population was 45million 

in 1960. Then the United Kingdom’s 

population was 52 million. Today, we are 

estimated to be 190 million, and growing 

wildly. But United kingdom is only 67 million. 

In 60 years, we grew by 150 million while 

United Kingdom added only 17 million. And 

we are neither more virile, more fertile nor 

more intelligent and more foresighted than 

our former masters. 

Mr president, we grew at ten times the rate 

of our erstwhile masters. Mr president, 

we were not breeding like rats. But we didn’t 

just care about the consequences of our 

lifestyle and population. We were told children 

were wealth. But we know now that only 

healthy educated happy productive children 

are truly wealth. 

The GDP of the UK in 1960 when they let 

us to rule ourselves was about 73 billion 

dollars. The GDP of the UK in 2020 would be 

over 3000 billion dollars . Our GDP is about 

400 billion dollars. Ad you know our GDP 

is “paper GDP”. The UK has one of the best 

healthcare systems in the world. The UK has 

some of the best public schools in the world. 

Yet they have remained cautious of the size of 

their population. If we cant think , why cant 

we copy? 

Let us follow ‘those wey sabi road’ 

We didn’t breed like rats. But China saw 

the dangers of unrestrained population 

growth and took action. And today we want 

to be like China. We borrow from them. We 

buy from them. May we not become 

mortgaged to them. Amen! 

Mr President, China was 670 million in 

1960. She is 1.4 billion today. If China grew 

as recklessly as Nigeria, she would have been 

as fat as 2 billion today. And that would have 

meant an Asian Humpty Dumpty 

catastrophe. But she fastened her groins and 

accepted the sacrifice of one child per couple. 

We need not photocopy the severity of the 

Chinese protocol. We can tailor ours to fit our 

cultural sensibilities. 

Mr president, you have done well but you 

have to leave indelible footprints. History has 

room only for remarkable feats. You have 

shown that you want to lay foundations for 

growth and not play to the gallery of today’s 

cheerleaders. You have to institute a 

population control policy. Our population 

explosion is a dire emergency. 

A Census is long over due 

Our income streams are poor. We have too 

many mouths to feed. Our infrastructure lags 

behind second world war. We have a huge 

population of out-of-school children. We have 

an army of unemployed and frustrated youths. 

You cant do everything. We know you are 

widening the tax net. You have lunched the 

school feeding program and other wonderful 

social intervention programs. But you have 

to do some more fundamental things. Not 

even the economy of the UK will support a 

population growing at our suicidal rate. 

But your population policy has to be 

evidence based. So you will need to conduct 

Continues from pg 11

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019—11 

A Game Plan For or President Buhari 

Continues from pg 10 

a credible census sir. A Census will give us 

proper data for planning. Census will help 

us with efficient distribution of resources. 

Census will help us know how many we are, 

and what we are. 

I know the previous census exercises were 

contaminated by dirty politics and rendered 

useless. That is why you are better suited than 

anyone else to deliver a credible census before 

you leave. You don’t play dirty politics. You 

are the General. Take that bull by the horns. 

Mr president, I went straight to population 

. I know that we are a very religious people. 

And we all believe that every child was made 

by God and comes with his own wealth. The 

truth however is that every child comes 

with innate gifts and talents. But children have 

to be developed. We have seen poverty 

suffocate many God’s children in Nigeria. 

Millions of God’s children, with their wealth 

and talents, have died untimely from chronic 

malnutrition and preventable disease. And 

many that have survived, have languished 

with their talents, in the harsh environment 

of joblessness, homelessness and lack of 

health care. 

Devolution of Power is the ultimate 

inclusiveness. 

I went straight to population so that I would 

give a looming disaster the urgency it 

deserves. I would have ordinarily started with 

how Bishop Hassan Kukah would have 

started this game plan. I would have started 

by asking you to defuse tension around the 

country and create a sense of belonging on 

every side. I don’t insist that you should 

balance appointments in the security 

framework to reflect federal character. Even 

though that would help. Appointments are 

superficial. I didn’t want to bore you with 

worn out talks about ‘restructuring’ of the 

country. The country will benefit from 

devolution of powers sir. It’s not your job as 

you once said. You are not a parliamentarian. 

But anything that will bring peace, unity and 

prosperity is your job. It is good you have 

started with NFIU and making sure that local 

governments have some level of financial 

autonomy. You have to take it to the next level 

sir. Your party has an overwhelming majority 

in the National Assembly. The opposition 

seems willing. You have to decentralize power 

and promote fiscal federalism. The over 

concentration of power at the centre has not 

worked. I wont give you prescriptions sir. And 

you don’t have to call it restructuring. 

Petrol subsidy is now 

prodigality. 

Mr President, if you noticed, 

I am proposing a containment 

strategy. Many teams and their 

fans come into football 

matches with romantic 

expectations. But when the 

going gets tough then smart 

coaches go back to the 

fundamentals and do 

containment. I haven’t asked 

you to park the bus. But we cant 

win any match with a defense 

that has holes like our petroleum 

subsidy holes. 

Mr president, I know you 

want everybody to enjoy the 

benefit of our God given 

resource - petroleum. And you 

want those in Yobe to buy it at 

about the same price as those 

in Oloibiri. They are citizens of 

one country. But we are 

spending an ungodly sum of 

money subsidizing petrol sir. 

The devil must be happy! 

These citizens you love so 

much have no healthcare and 

lack education. I know if given 

time you will excommunicate 

corruption from our society. 

But the reality is that we are 

bleeding profusely. The world 

bank says we spent 731 billion 

subsidizing fuel in 2018. That is 

prodigal sir. Our daily 

consumption is now 54 million liters per day. 

We are obviously subsidizing smuggling. We 

sell at 0.39 dollars per liter. Saudi Arabia 

sells today at 0.56 dollars per barrel. We can’t 

be selling petrol on our streets cheaper than 

Saudi Arabia! We borrow from China to feed 

our wives and girls and fiancé the other room 

activities. China produces twice the volume 

of crude we produce. Yet rich socialist 

China cannot afford to subsidize petrol like 

us. Pump price in China is twice our pump 

price. 

Only God knows why they still lend us 

money. 

Petroleum industry Bill ‘is a goal’ for our 

fragile Economy. 

There is an opportunity for a fundamental 

repair here sir. The petroleum industry has to 

be deregulated. The Petroleum Industry Bill 

(PIB) has been languishing in the National 

Assembly. If you own it sir, it will pass, 

speedily. If it becomes law, you can spend that 

731 billion naira drained by petrol subsidy in 

meeting huge deficits in health care and 

education infrastructure. I know that a petrol 

subsidy withdrawal can spark inflation. We 

can remove the subsidy gradually before the 

bill becomes law. I know you have done well 

in rice. We can spend some of that 731 

billion on cotton and cassava. The PIB is the 

sort of goal you should score quickly. 

Our economy is 

fragile. We need 

money to diversify 

the economy! Our 

annual watery 

budgets cant do it. 

And we cant borrow 

much more. In 2019 

we could spend all 

But we cant 

win any 

match with a 

defense that 

has holes like 

our petroleum 

subsidy 

holes 

we would earn 

from oil, 2.14 trillion, 

in servicing debt! 

We cant afford any 

leakages. 

The Police and 

The Judiciary need ‘ 

special deliverance’ 

We have to catch 

and disgorge and 

punish all looters of 

public treasury . And 

you have been doing 

that sir. I know the 

system has not 

allowed you do it the 

way you would have 

wished. The 

opposition has 

lamented that 

investigations have 

targeted only them. 

But it is on record 

that you have 

recovered more 

stolen public funds 

and property than 

anyone else before you. So well done! 

But do the best you can to create confidence 

in the public about the evenness and 

impartiality of the anti-corruption crusade. 

Public confidence and equity are needed to 

build the institutions that will continue the 

fight against corruption after you have gone. 

I know the police and the judiciary have not 

changed as much as you would want. You are 

the grand warrior of War Against Indiscipline 

but you have left no mark on the police. You 

have to initiate a total reform of the criminal 

justice system. Rome was not built in a day. 

But it wasn’t built through adhoc measures 

and a series of makeshift operation puff 

adders. It was built through deliberate 

planning and meticulous execution. You cant 

leave the police force with its shortcomings 

as you met it. The staff welfare is still poor. 

The extortion of motorists still abound. 

Public distrust in the service is still rife. We 

have young men graduating from universities 

into joblessness everyday. We have security 

challenges . Our army is over stretched. The 

police force has to be reformed- roots, stem 

and branch. We have the human resources to 

do it. You only need to start. I don’t want to be 

prescriptive. But community policing with 

pride must be our goal. The police have to be 

answerable to the communities. 

Let’s train thousands of the ‘lazy’ youths and 

make them our friends. 

Remember sir, court orders are sacred. 

Security 

Boko haram has been battered but not 

technically defeated. The vampire is still 

bleeding the nation. 

We have entered the security sphere 

through the back door. But since we are in , 

we can as well get straight to the point. Mr 

president, you have done well against Boko 

Haram. You haven’t scored an A. Millions 

of Nigerians still live agonizing and 

dislocated lives in internally displaced 

persons camps (IDPs) in the North East. 

But you have taken back all our territories 

from the vampires. Professor Wole 

Soyinka has attested to that. My 

president, the Boko Haram war has 

continued to bleed the nation of precious 

lives and scarce material resources. You 

have a few years left. Something has to 

give. We cannot continue this war 

interminably. Our psyche and economy 

cannot support indefinite continuation of 

this war. I don’t have a recipe. But you 

have to find a way to get Boko Haram to 

negotiate a surrender. You must consider 

this the only real success on this front. 

We have to concentrate the army on 

Boko Haram. 

And we can help the Army. Besides 

the silver, gold , bullets and honor we can 

give them, we must enthrone social 

justice, fairness and conflict resolution 

mechanisms, everywhere. The herdsmen 

crisis has subsided. But you have to find 

a long-term fix before another flare 

erupts. 

Let the cattle stay in ranches 

The Army cant be distracted further. 

And we cant afford to balloon the army . 

We don’t have the resources to support a 

large army. We don’t need a large army. 

We must contain flares. Open cross 

country grazing belongs to the past. You 

have shown capacity to do things that are 

not politically rewarding. The 

constitution guarantees free movement of 

goods and persons. But the constitution 

grants you power to safe-guard lives , 

livelihoods and properties. Open cross 

country grazing engenders friction and 

strife and blood letting. Let the cattle live 

in ranches. And let the herdsmen live 

like humans. They are citizens too. 

Rampant banditry threatening 

Agricultural revolution 

The anchor borrowers scheme has done 

wonders. Abakiliki and its rice are 

buzzing. We have saved tons of foreign 

exchange from import substitution. 

Dangote refinery and petrochemicals are 

coming too. But Mr president The 

Economic Recovery and Growth Plan 

(ERGP) wont work if the violence 

mushrooming all over the country stop 

farmers from going to the farm as it has 

done in parts of Zamfara, Bauchi, 

Katsina, Kaduna, Benue , Taraba and 

Plateau states. We don’t expect magic 

from you. Many of these crises predated 

you. But we expect significant priority 

placed on human lives. Mr president, law 

and order measures should visit every act 

of lawlessness. Aggressive and 

comprehensive conflict resolution should 

follow to prevent further inclination to 

lawlessness and vengeance. The 

agricultural revolution you started has 

been arrested in many parts by bandits. 

Your fertilizer initiative has provided 

cheaper and all season round fertilizer. 

But widespread pockets of 

indiscriminate violence have forced 

farmers off swathes of farmlands. 

We etched your promises on our walls 

Mr president you promised to take us 

to the Next Level. You promised 

inclusiveness. You promised women 35% 

of appointments. We are waiting. Please 

push an affirmative bill through the 

NASS to guarantee that 35% female 

participation. These ideas should outlive 

you. You promised to re equip 10,000 

schools a year, working with states and 

local governments. You promised ‘People 

Moni Bank’ and ‘Entrepreneur bank’. You 

promised to put a turbo charger into the 

N power program. You promised mass 

housing. You promised to further improve 

the ease of doing business. But let that 

ease affect Apapa grid lock and ease out 

bandits from our highways. You said 

every child will count and every teacher 

will be digitally upgraded. You promised 

to deepen internet penetration and build 

ICT parks and promote creative 

technology. You promised to spur 

entrepreneurship . And to establish 

youth mentorship programs. You 

promised rails, roads, Second Niger 

bridge , Power. We believe you. 

But Mr president, inclusive growth 

means growth that lives on the street not 

on paper. And growth that reaches the 

rural areas and not just the urban areas. 

Good plans need good hands and good 

brains 

You have good plans Mr president. We 

know you keep your words. But wishes 

are not horses. So Mr president, hire 

competent hands with smart heads. And 

you don’t need six months to find them. 

We know you give your aides free hands. 

That is why when you hire bad eggs or 

round pegs for square holes, we , your 

people, bear the brunt. I won’t name 

names. That’s good sportsmanship. 

Mr president , you are in your last 

term. You can close our eyes to political 

considerations and entrenched interests 

and employ like you were picking 

players for the super eagles. 

Sitting on the fence can rupture 

precious 

One last thing sir. Your days shall be 

long. You know you will leave in 2023. 

So you must have a succession plan. You 

need not dictate. We don’t need your son 

in law. You need not force it down the throat 

of people. But you could identify two or three 

capable hands and nudge them forward to 

contest . Please do not leave it for shadowy 

figures in the corridors of power to decide. 

We have reposed our trust in you. Please don’t 

let us down. 

All we are saying: 

Give us a census and announce a 

population control measure. Push devolution 

of powers and fiscal federalism. Reform the 

police and criminal justice system. Push the 

Petroleum Industry bill. Push the 35% women 

affirmative bill. Make violence very 

expensive. Let inclusiveness be your watch 

word. Start some discussion with boko 

haram. 

And Leave the rest to us. 

Some other persons will take us to the 

promised land . But you will always be 

in our hearts and the hearts of 

generations yet unborn. 

It’s time Mr president . Keep your eyes 

on history. Go for it!…….. Ali boma ye! 

Ugoji Egbujo.


PMB’S SECOND TERM: 

Ain’t no stopping 

us now, we’re 

on the move 

By FEMI ADESINA 

Those who were young (men-abouttown) 

in the 80s will remember the 

1979 hit track by McFadden & 

Whitehead, titled Ain’t no stopping us now. 

The lyrics goes thus: 

Ain’t no stopping us now! 

We’re on the move! 

Ain’t no stopping us now! 

We’ve got the groove! 

And if you ponder and reflect on the 

political journey of President Muhammadu 

Buhari, right from 2003, when he threw his 

hat into the ring, till now, there have been 

spirited attempts to stop him. It got to a head 

in the build up to the 2019 elections, when 

a pernicious confederacy was put together, 

all to stop Nigeria’s inexorable march to 

greatness. It failed, resoundingly. 

On Wednesday, May 29, 2019, President 

Buhari will take oath for second term in 

office. Millions of good Nigerians will be 

delirious with joy, but some other significant 

minority would be in ‘sifia’ (severe) pains. 

Why? Ain’t no stopping Muhammadu 

Buhari, he’s on the move! The man will get 

his groove, and evildoers will be in trouble. 

The combat between light and darkness, 

evil and good, has been an eternal one. 

Some people love darkness more than light, 

because it is under the cover of darkness 

that they thrive, luxuriating in their evil 

acts: grand larceny, plunder, killings, and 

others. So, they will never love the Mai 

Gaskiya (the honest man), and would do 

everything to stop him, or pull him down. 

The efforts to stop Buhari have been 

robust, pulsating. After a reputation of 

honesty and probity as military governor, 

petroleum minister, member of the Supreme 

Military Council, his colleagues found no 

one better to wear the diadem as military 

head of state than the ramrod straight man 

from Daura. And he began to reset the 

foundations of Nigeria, knocking sense into 

the heads of the corrupt and 

those prone to indiscipline. 

It was no longer business 

as usual. 

But the dream run lasted 

only 20 months, before they 

truncated it. The landlords 

of Nigeria struck, and 

stopped Buhari. Up in 

smoke went probity and 

accountability. Discipline 

flew out through the 

window. And we went back 

to a place worse than 

square one. 

The man came back as a 

reformed democrat. He 

sought to be president in 

2003, 2007, and 2011. But 

those in mortal fear of 

righteousness in high 

places banded together, and 

stopped him. The Peoples 

Democratic Party (PDP) had 

perfected the art of 

elections manipulation, and 

they used it to the hilt. 

However, in 2015, there 

ain’t no more stopping 

Buhari. A massive coalition 

for change was built around 

him, and good Nigerians 

stood up for the champion. 

Did he live happily ever 

after? Not on your lives! The adversaries 

went after him. Ran, pursued, and attempted 

to overtake. All sorts of things, physical and 

spiritual, were thrown at him, just to get rid 

of the man who would not steal, and not 

allow people to steal. 

A debilitating illness came. And for most 

of 2017, the President was receiving 

medical attention, both at home and abroad. 

Instead of goodwill and prayers, they were 

rejoicing. We’ve finally stopped him, they 

gloated. But did they? Could they? Not if 

God was still alive. 

Ain’t no stopping Buhari, as in August 

2017, he got back his groove. His health 

rebounded, and he resumed work fully. 

But would Pharaoh desist from pursuing 

Israel? No. He was destined to perish in a 

watery grave, so he pursued Israel into the 

sea. They formed what they called a 

coalition, vowing that they would stop 

Buhari from winning the 2019 elections. 

This was after letters had flown around from 

the master letter writer, virtually 

commanding the President to dismount 

from the horse. That letter writer thinks he’s 

the landlord of Nigeria, as anybody he 

moved against never survived. He felt he 

could enthrone and dethrone leaders at will. 

But the Yoruba people say it’s the day that 

the witch kills twins that she stops eating 

meat. The letter writer bit more than he 

could chew, and it stuck in his throat. He 

formed a political coalition, it collapsed 

right in his face. He first adopted a political 

party to use in his bid to unseat the 

incumbent, then in act of utter confusion, 

he abandoned that new party, and went for 

candidate of the PDP. 

The same man he had spent the past 10 

years destroying, writing volumes and 

volumes of verbiage against, he now 

attempted to sell to Nigerians. Were we 

fools? 

See the grand conspiracy by those who 

called themselves ‘Atikulators.’ They 

included former 

The efforts to stop 

Buhari have been 

robust, pulsating. After a 

reputation of honesty 

and probity as military 

governor, petroleum 

minister, member of the 

Supreme Military 

Council, his colleagues 

found no one better to 

wear the diadem as 

military head of state 

than the ramrod straight 

man from Daura 

presidents, some 

retired military top 

brass, disgruntled 

senior civil servants, 

business people, 

preachers, and the 

elite, generally. The 

sluice gates of free 

funds had been 

slammed shut, and 

they were unhappy. 

As dolorous as King 

Lear at his worst. 

The letter writer 

mobilized the 

international 

community, feeding 

them with 

misinformation and 

disinformation. 

Fulanization. 

Islamization, and 

other creepy 

concoctions. He was 

already addressing 

the PDP candidate as 

“my incoming 

President.” Oh, how 

so very easy to build 

castles in the air! 

Marabouts, 

witches, wizards, and 

false prophets 

masquerading as pastors, bishops, and 

archbishops also joined the fray. They began 

to spew falsehood, which they attributed to 

God. He that sits in Heaven just laughed at 

them, and held them in utter derision. 

All those who were on the wrong side of 

the law joined the conspiracy. Ex-this, exthat, 

who had abused their offices, and were 

being made to answer questions, crept 

under the umbrella. They knew if their man 

won, their cases would die natural deaths. 

So, for them, it was a matter of life and 

death. 

They came with spurious political 

permutations and calculations. Votes in 

North-west and North-east would be 

shared. They would sweep North-central, 

where they had spent the last two years trying 

to demonize and de-market Buhari and his 

political party. South-west would also be 

shared, and then, they would win South-east 

and South-south wholesale. It seemed 

foolproof on paper, particularly when you also 

throw in massive vote buying, hacking of all 

the hackables, and a complicit judiciary as Plan 

B. They were already planning how to sell 

Nigeria, and tell the poor to go to hell. 

But they didn’t reckon with the staying 

power of the poor and the downtrodden. They 

are people who know where their bread would 

be buttered, and where their future happiness 

lay. In their millions, they trooped out to vote 

for the honest man. They chose light, instead 

of darkness. At the end of it all, about four 

million votes separated the men from the 

boys. 

The man left holding the short end of the 

•Buhari 

stick went to court, claiming some servers 

from George Orwell’s sugar candy 

mountain, gave him victory. It’s within his 

democratic rights. Ain’t no stopping Buhari 

now, he’s on the move! 

In recent weeks, banditry, killings, 

murder and mayhem have suffused the length 

and breadth of the country. Everything appears 

orchestrated, choreographed, to achieve 

certain ends. The law enforcement agencies 

are pointing fingers in certain directions. But 

Nigerians want them to do more. Pull in the 

evildoers, and let them face the law. That is 

what President Buhari tells them at each 

security council meeting, too. And we will get 

there. Soon and very soon, because we’ve got 

the groove. When the ram runs, its testicles 

dangle furiously from side to side. But no 

matter what, the testicles can never fall off. 

Nigeria will remain united, despite all 

machinations of the evil ones. 

In that song by McFadden & Whitehead, 

you have these lines: 

There’s been so many things that’s held us 

down, But now it looks like things are finally 

comin’ round. 

Yes. Things are coming round for Nigeria. 

We will get to where we are headed. Our 

fair havens, land flowing with milk and 

honey. The crooked and corrupt won’t ever 

stop us, nor would they rule us again, and 

the wealth of Nigeria will be used for the 

good of Nigerians. Ain’t no stopping us 

now, we’re on the move! 

•Adesina is Special Adviser to President 

Buhari on Media and Publicity.


Okorocha thought there would 

be no tomorrow and here we are 

•Uzodimma speaks on APC in S/East, Oshiomhole, 9th NASS 

Senator Hope Uzodinma was the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State in the March 9, 2019 governorship 

election. Uzodinma who also is the chairman Southern Senators Forum broke his silence in this interview with Saturday Vanguard on some 

national issues including the just concluded elections. He is contesting the result of the governorship election in Imo state. 

He spoke on President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election and the incoming 9th National Assembly. Excerps: 

By Peter Uzo, Abuja 

You have been silent since the elections. How did it go in Imo? 

It is a sad situation because our people came out to vote but results 

that did not reflect the will of the people were declared. We 

campaigned, our people embraced the party and we sold our 

messages and because the people needed a change, they supported 

my candidature, they came out in numbers and voted for us. But 

unfortunately, the electoral umpire, for whatever reasons gave 

the type of declaration they gave. As a law abiding citizen, I have 

remained calm and approached the governorship election tribunal 

and I am hopeful that at the end of the day justice will be done. 

People attributed the defeat APC suffered to the internal crisis 

within the APC in the state? 

Party is about human beings, when we came into the party 

from the PDP, we populated the party sufficiently and majority of 

our people came into APC. APC was the party to beat in 

Imo state. We have the men and women who can deliver 

in every election. I emerged party candidate after keenly 

contested party primaries. Both the political class in 

Imo, religious leaders, were unanimous in agreeing 

that Hope Uzodinma is the solution to the 

dictatorial regime of Governor Okorocha. So 

they all joined us to campaign and the people 

came out to support APC despite the 

sabotage by the incumbent governor. Yes, 

there were issues in the party but the 

enthusiasm of our people to ensure that 

another APC led administration is 

enthroned after the woeful outing of 

Governor Okorocha propelled them 

to come out and vote for the APC 

despite the crisis. And like I told 

you, we are hopeful that the wish 

of Imo people who voted 

massively for me will prevail at 

the end of the judicial process. 

Governor Okorocha has 

boasted on several 

occasions that without him 

there is no APC in Imo and 

the South East, how 

would you react to that? 

I will not like to join issues with Okorocha 

but as we all have seen, Okorocha became 

the problem of APC not only in Imo state but 

also the entire South East. He allowed greed 

to overwhelm his sense of reasoning. karma 

is catching up with him. Political party is not 

about one man and leadership is not 

something that one sits in his bedroom to 

claim. Leadership is defined by the 

followership that you have. The governor, of 

course you know is on suspension from 

the party and the APC did not just wake up 

overnight to suspend him. They suspended 

him due to various cases of anti-party 

activities. I have refused deliberately to join 

issues with the governor publicly. The 

reason is because I am a loyal party man. 

Once the leadership of the party takes 

decision I follow. No one man can arrogate 

himself the powers of God, that without him 

party will not function. The party is for all of 

us, that is why in Imo state we have 305 

electoral wards and in those electoral wards 

we have party Excos. In 27 Local Governments 

we have party excos and at all these levels 

we have Executive Committees and 

membership. So it will be unfair for anybody 

to say that without him there is no APC in the 

South East. South East has great men and 

women in the APC. If Okorocha has such 

powers as he is arrogating to himself, he 

should have also won the governorship 

election for his son in-law Uche Nwosu whom 

he sponsored. He is a man that loves 

attracting attention to himself and also enjoys 

misinforming the people with a view to 

scoring cheap political points. But his time is 

up. I warned Okorocha at the beginning of 

our struggle to liberate Imo State that he 

would surely leave government House on 

May 29, 2019 and if he liked let him appoint 

all members of his family into positions in the 

state. He thought I was joking, maybe he was 

thinking he was going to amend the 

constitution to remain in power. Okorocha 

never thought tomorrow would come and here 

we are. APC any time any day will win 

election in Imo and the South East without 

Okorocha. And I can tell you that in the next 

•Hope Uzodinma 

election, APC will win more states in the 

South East when people like Okorocha are 

out of the scene. Okorocha should actually 

learn from the leadership style of President 

Buhari and Comrade Oshiomhole so as to be 

a good leader. And I can also add that the 

elections in the South East were manipulated 

in favour of the PDP and I am optimistic that 

by the time the cases in various courts are over 

the popular wish of the people will emanate. 

The results declared in some of the states in 

the South East did not reflect the true wishes 

of the people but I am optimistic that justice 

will prevail at the end of the day. 

Governor Okorocha has accused the 

National Chairman of the APC, Comrade 

Oshiomhole and INEC of being behind his 

travails as regards his Certificate of Return, 

what do you have to say about that? 

Let me also tell you, he is not only accusing 

They suspended 

him due to various 

cases of anti-party 

activities. I have 

r e f u s e d 

deliberately to join 

issues with the 

governor publicly 

the National chairman, in his heart he is also 

accusing the Presidency but due to his 

sycophancy he has not said it. He is scared, 

that is why he has not said it openly, 

because he has been accusing everybody. 

I don’t know where and how the National 

chairman will possess that kind of 

powers to direct INEC to cease 

certificate of return, decides what 

happens in the DSS, the police, decides 

what happens in INEC. Meanwhile 

this is a national chairman that 

campaigned vigorously across the 

length and breathe of Nigeria to ensure 

that the APC emerged victorious not only 

at the state level but also at the national 

level. So if he has such powers 

as Okorocha is 

saying, 

i t 

means 

that APC would have won in the entire 774 

Local Governments in Nigeria, the 36 states 

and the entire National Assembly seats would 

have been won by APC because that is the 

wish of every national chairman of a party 

that is in power. But he confined himself to 

the dictates of democratic norms by 

campaigning for his party with our 

presidential candidate which led to the 

victory of President Muhammadu Buhari and 

other APC candidates. I don’t want to discuss 

Okorocha because he is one of those who are 

not comfortable with the discipline that the 

Oshiomhole led NWC has brought to the 

APC. Greedy politicians like Okorocha cannot 

like Oshiomhole. Was Oshiomhole in Imo the 

day Okorocha harassed INEC Returning 

officer to declare him winner under duress as 

alleged by the returning officer? The man just 

makes frivolous claims to draw attention to 

himself because he is looking for an escape 

route. 

No matter what he wants to say about 

Oshiomhole, Nigerians know the former Edo 

state governor as a true leader and what 

makes a true leader; a leader must be bold, 

courageous, flexible, influential, charismatic, 

enjoys followership and a leader must have 

passion for the party and the people. I can tell 

you every committed member of our party 

believes that Oshiomhole is a round peg in a 

round hole for our party today. 

What will Nigerians expect from President 

Buhari’s second term? 

His re-election shows the confidence 

Nigerians have on the President. And when 

a President is re-elected, it means he has done 

well to justify the confidence reposed on him 

by the electorate. All we need to do as 

Nigerians is to continue to support his good 

works. He needs the support of all Nigerians 

to ensure that his war against corruption is 

sustained. His agricultural policy is 

sustained. I can tell you that under the 

leadership of President Buhari, things will 

change for the better. Electricity will work, 

drinking water will be available, our transport 

system will function, we will have quality 

education. We need to support Mr President 

because he means well for Nigerians. He 

believes in one Nigeria and we need to ensure 

that under one united Nigeria, an elder 

statesman, like President Buhari will be 

supported to get Nigeria off the woods. His 

anti-corruption crusade has worked. His 

vision for Nigeria is working. So we do hope 

that in the next four years Nigerians will have 

cause to rejoice. 

The people of the South East are agitating 

for positions in the coming 9 th Assembly 

but some Nigerians are saying they don’t 

deserve them since they failed to vote for the 

APC, what is your take on that? 

Honestly this is politics. During the 

campaigns, I spoke to our people at different 

fora and informed them that APC is the ruling 

party and for us as Igbos to be relevant to the 

Nigerian project, APC is the best route. I 

warned them that tomorrow we cannot come 

and cry of marginalization if we failed to join 

the ruling party now. I told them that because 

of the impeccable records of President Buhari, 

that Nigerians will re-elect him for a second 

term, therefore the Igbos needed to be part of 

this moving train. We told our people to join 

but some thought otherwise. However, the 

voting pattern in the South East will come 

out better after the various litigations in court 

because of the poor handling of the electoral 

process particularly in the South East, 

because I knew majority voted for APC. 

His achievements in the seante 

If you go and check my records, I have many 

motions sponsored and passed by the senate. 

I sponsored many bills, some which have 

become laws just like the Electronic 

transaction bill which Mr President 

signed into law. It makes electronic 

contract a valid way of transaction now 

in Nigeria. All my bills that I sponsored 

are there. I attracted several road 

projects to my constituency. I was 

able to give jobs to unemployed graduates in 

my constituency through the assistance of 

various agencies and we have many of them 

working today. I brought rural electrification 

projects in my constituency. I built several 

town halls and rehabilitated some federal 

roads in my constituency through the 

assistance of the Federal Ministry of Works 

and the NDDC. So I did a lot and because of 

the so many things I achieved, I have received 

awards from Churches, communities. My 

passion for rural development gave me the 

urge to attract developmental projects to my 

constituency. I am putting my achievements 

into a document which will soon be unveiled. 

In fact in that book, I am called the Democratic 

Soldier. I am happy I was given the 

opportunity to serve my people. I was never 

declared under duress (laughter). And I am 

always ready to serve my people in any 

capacity. We will continue to serve our people 

to the glory of God. 

9 th National Assembly leadership 

I have been around for a very long time, 

playing partisan politics. I am a good party 

man, I will not be one of those that will 

question the decisions of the party hierarchy. 

The essence of party democracy is that the 

party is supreme. So if the party takes a 

decision it is incumbent on all of us to follow 

and toe the line of the party because no matter 

where you are, House of Reps, senate or 

governor, you got there through the 

instrumentality of the party. So it is even the 

party that wins the election and not the 

candidates. So if you are saying that you don’t 

want to be loyal to the party, it means you are 

telling the party to withdraw their 

sponsorship. And once the party does that it 

means you have lost your position. So I think 

that the 9 th National Assembly should 

adhere to the decision of the party and not to 

be disobedient to the party. Because 

constitutionally speaking, you cannot contest 

elections in Nigeria without the sponsorship 

of a political party. There is no provision for 

an independent candidate in our constitution. 

So they should all bear this in mind.

14—Vanguard, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2019 

Edited by 

OSA MBONU-AMADI 

08070524223 

osaamadi@yahoo.com 

Nigerian politicians: 

fraudulent, greedy 

and fetish 

YESTERDAY 

Pat Utomi unmasked the criminals who seize power through 

hijacking of political parties. He identified them as “three gangs 

of actors” advocating the need for patriots to boldly confront 

these criminals and save the people and the country which they 

have almost completely ruined 

Having listened to views 

from my teenage years 

that you can make 

change more readily from 

inside and that muckraking 

and iconoclastic methods keep 

away the go al of social justice 

sought, I have tried to become 

comfortable with those who 

dominate power without 

allowing myself to be sucked 

into their ways. If through that 

I could influence them to act 

right for the people or be in 

position to affect policy for 

advance of the common good 

then I would have played down 

on the anger of my youth. 

These teachings allowed me to 

play with and sometimes within 

the establishment. But I was 

quick to observe their 

discomfort for those that remain 

their own person. 

It is as a result of this that I 

have had the good fortune of 

being able to say I have 

managed a one-on-one 

relationship with everyone who 

has been head of state or 

government in Nigeria since I 

was 19 years old, except of 

course, General Sani Abacha. 

In all of that, I have never used 

access to them to profit myself 

materially and have even 

turned down an offer of 

appointment when I was 

convinced that position could 

be utilised effectively to 

advance the common good if 

there was not a team of enough 

committed people to bring 

change about. It is this strategy 

that has brought me into the 

proximity of many of the 

people who betrayed sacred 

trust in making party primaries 

across the board in Nigeria in 

2018 a show of shame that 

proves Nigeria’s current 

contrivance cannot be called a 

democracy. 

Thankfully, no one need rely 

on my word for this. On 

Thursday November 8, 2018, 

The Federal House of 

Representatives had a session 

in which all kinds of 

unprintable adjectives were 

used to describe the primaries. 

There is no question that it 

was grand treason against the 

Nigerian people. Should 

people guilty of high crime not 

be prosecuted? I am convinced 

that while my experience is not 

exceptionally important, it will 

take someone like me to 

catalyse a process of bringing 

such people to book so justice 

can be done to the people. 

One of my colleagues on the 

board of an insurance company 

who felt I should stay away from 

the crazy politics of Nigeria 

dominated by cultists, 419ers 

and soldiers of fortune, used 

local experience to illustrate. 

He cited the experience of the 

chairman of the Board of his 

company who was literally 

robbed of his victory in the Osun 

primaries of the PDP and the 

scandalous bribes of up to a 

billion naira demanded from 

him in order for him to be given 

back his unequivocal victory. 

But my reply was measured. 

There comes a time in the 

seasons of one’s life journey 

that the duty to save the 

voiceless is greater than the 

duty to save self. This, should 

come through service, and if 

need be, the giving of life, one 

must be assured, such life lost 

will be gained back in the 

multiplicity of abundance. We 

are in such a time and my heart 

is open to that mission, I told 

him to his chagrin. 

Greed and Fetish Ways versus 

Issues and Fixing Problems 

Nigeria is severely 

challenged and gasping for 

breath. It is not that I think so, 

but I know so! The evidences of 

this fact assault you any which 

way you look. We may live in a 

To survive and thrive at a time like 

this is to find thinking people who 

are sacrificial in the way they give of 

themselves and compassionate in the 

way they feel the pains of those 

people on the crowded streets of our 

urban areas and the dull backwoods 

of our rural terrain 

world in decline, but I believe 

that politics is supposed to be a 

path to finding escape from this 

decline. 

It came home to roost with my 

participant-observer 

engagement in 2018, which 

began with my reading of 

Jonathan Tepperman’s 

inspiring book, The Fix: How 

Nation’s Survive and Thrive in 

a World in Decline. To survive 

and thrive at a time like this is 

to find thinking people who are 

sacrificial in the way they give 

of themselves and 

compassionate in the way they 

feel the pains of those people 

on the 

crowded streets of our urban 

areas and the dull backwoods 

of our rural terrain. 

My observations in the field, 

in Delta State and elsewhere 

was that those that have come 

to be known as politicians are 

driven largely by greed and 

self-love, reneging on any 

agreement at will and bound 

by the bonds they forge with 

patrons through fetish beliefs. 

The anachronism that is the 

Nigerian condition is found in 

the primitive ways of its 

dominant politicians; their 

fetish anchors displayed in 

taking people to shrines in 

Okija, Ijebu and places by the 

sea in Rivers State and 

Marabouts prowling across 

northern Nigeria. While the 

world debates pathways for the 

Fourth Industrial Revolution, 

our political landscape tells the 

story of Nigeria’s failed effort at 

nation-building. If the young of 

the nation who are by far the 

majority in population do not 

find ways to overcome the 

feudal fascists and their voodoo 

priests or their modernised 

versions who claim to be prayer 

warriors, liberating Nigeria 

from backwardness into 

modernity would be a tough 

ride. 

I had the Nigerian academic, 

Olufemi Taiwo, who wrote the 

book Africa Must Be Modern, 

in mind when I decided that 

instead of pursuing personal 

comfort, 1 chose to risk running 

against formidable evil fronts 

and asking the question, why 

run? But I think that the only 

meaningful question is why 

not? 

The scandal of public life in 

Nigeria as syncretism in which 

those who profess Christianity 

and Islam turn to fetish ways 

first hit me about 1991. I had 

gone to Enugu for an Ohaneze 

meeting. After the meeting the 

creme de la creme of Igbo elite 

retired to the home of Governor 

Okwesilieze Nwodo for lunch. 

It was my luck to be seated 

between former Vice President 

of Nigeria, Dr Alex Ekwueme 

and the Enfante Terrible, 

Senator Arthur Nzeribe. The 

mercurial Arthur regaled me 

with one morbid joke after 

another. 

Just before food came, there 

was a moment of very sober 

silence, Nzeribe very 

conspiratorially leaned towards 

me and hailed me, The great 

Pat. I returned the compliment, 

Ogbu Agu. Then he whispered, 

“You see all these people here 

making out to be big men, the 

moment the whistle for politics 

is blown they will start coming 

to me for money for elections 

and I will bring out a coffin and 

you will not believe the 

amusement as they jump over 

the corpse to bond themselves.” 

I put it down to an evil sense 

of humour but I knew the fact 

of the report was plausible. I 

was more devastated by a 

similar report when I visited 

Chuba Okadigbo as Senate 

President. While we chatted, a 

northern gentleman in flowing 

robes was ushered in. He asked 

to give him a minute to meet 

with the man in a side room. As 

the man left a few minutes later, 

my dear friend, the senate 

President hailed me just like 

Nzeribe did years before; 

“Patito, northerners are so 

much more reliable and 

generous as friends. You will not 

believe how many live cows this 

man has caused to be buried on 

my account not to talk of how 

many marabouts he has 

interceding for me.” 

Less than two weeks after that 

night, President Obasanjo had 

outfoxed Okadigbo and my 

friend, Chuba was removed as 

Senate President. I was 

convinced Africa had an urgent 

need to become more modern 

before I saw 

Olufemi Taiwo’s book, Africa 

Must Be Modern. As I 

approached 2018, the duty of 

running as liberation and 

redemption mission was 

taking shape. Was it worth 

dying for? Well, maybe. At the 

least, neutrality was out of the 

question. I deeply began to 

believe that as stated in 

Dante’s Inferno, the hottest 

part of hell is reserved for 

those who, when confronted 

with such moral depravity, take 

refuge in neutrality. 

The great idolatry that is 

politics in Nigeria has made the 

locus of political life either the 

false loyalty-consciousness of 

those who have sworn to abide 

by some agreements (usually 

against the public interest and 

common good) or the advance 

of the cult of personality. 

The cult of personality which 

is often lacking in rationality 

sustained fascists like Benilo 

Mussolini in Italy and Adolph 

Hitler in Germany. History has 

shown it as an ever-present 

affront to the dignity of the 

human being. To say why not in 

response to why run w7as for me 

a moral imperative to mobilise 

against the gathering forces of 

fascism and backwardness that 

were showing their faces 

progressively in the post-1999 

democracy. It was the citizen’s 

duty to confront the forces of 

narcissism that use primitive 

means including fetishism to 

foster personal dominance over 

others. This, they do without 

regard for the consequential 

effect of pulling society 

backward and crushing the 

material benefits of modern life 

for most of the people. 

The most obnoxious part of 

contemporary Nigerian politics 

to me is the searing of the 

conscience of the political class 

If the young of the nation who are by 

far the majority in population do not find 

ways to overcome the feudal fascists and 

their voodoo priests or their modernised 

versions who claim to be prayer 

warriors, liberating Nigeria from 

backwardness into modernity would be 

a tough ride 

who are aware that they require 

the poverty and ignorance of 

the people to achieve their 

short-sighted, short-term gains. 

The power acquired is fungible 

and easily translates to big man 

accounts with the 

accompanying ego massages 

of the protocols of power, 

exemplified by motorcades. 

These, for me, are walls that had 

to be pulled down quickly. And 

so, I say why not! Why not run? 

Why not begin to organise the 

people to resist and rid 

themselves of the yoke and the 

burden of a fetish clan. A clan 

steeped in self-love and 

backward in its understanding 

of the issues of modernity, 

unable to make genuine efforts 

to fix the problems of society in 

the way Jonathan Tepperman 

draws our attention to. 

Why not, should not be a 

question for just me or a few 

bitten by the bug of the audacity 

of hope. Why not should be the 

motto of a generation that is 

looking for a demographic 

dividend and striving to snatch 

that dividend from the jaws of 

Continues on page 15

Vanguard, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2019—15 

Edited by 

OSA MBONU-AMADI 

08070524223 

osaamadi@yahoo.com 

Nigerian politicians: fraudulent, 

greedy and fetish 

Continues from page 14 

the lion of population time 

bomb with its coming anarchy. 

Why not should be the clarion 

call of a people determined to 

prevent their lives from being 

determined by a cluster of 

cultists, con men, fraudsters and 

treasury looters masquerading 

as politicians and political party 

leaders. 

Few have said it as well as the 

Emir of Kano at that Union 

Bank 100th anniversary 

lecture, but the gospel of how 

to save Nigeria must be 

universally owned and lived by 

the next generation. They must 

not allow themselves to be 

defined by the greed and fetish 

ways of those who hold them 

and their future hostage. They 

must not allow the freezing of 

their social mobility for the 

politicians, their children and 

those who swear oath of 

allegiance to their personality 

cult to flourish, at the expense 

of a people who just “siddon 

look.”Today’s world has no 

place for the docile. 

So, what are the issues that 

must come to the fore, and the 

problems that need fixing? 

These should dominate the 

airwaves to force a retreat of the 

cultists, praise singers and 

criminal elements who have 

captured the political space in 

Nigeria and are setting back 

the hands of the clock. 

They are the everyday living, 

quality of life impacting issues, 

like infrastructure, food, 

healthcare, education and 

security of life and property. 

They are important and must 

come to centre stage ahead of 

the cults of personality that now 

dominate our space. But they 

are not the only issues or 

problems that need fixing. They 

may indeed be just as important 

or less important than some 

grand issues like the rule of law, 

weak institutions, free and fair 

elections and the frame of 

values in public culture. 

I dive down more deeply on 

these issues in the companion 

volume to this book titled “In 

the Devil’s Den.” But it will take 

away from the value of the 

enterprise of this volume if we 

fail to look at the challenge of 

the rule of law and how our 

politics is becoming stripped of 

purpose because of the 

impunity the receding sense for 

the rule of law allows. Not to 

look at elections being free and 

fair and the place of serious 

conversation in the public 

sphere on issues of the common 

good is also diminishing the 

purpose of this volume, so we 

shall cursorily look at those 

issues. They will be compared 

to personality of the fetish and 

personality cults to show why 

the key question is not why run, 

but why not. Win not imagine 

not running? With such need 

for change, to opt out, play 

neutral or seek comfort of 

apparent personal safety while 

the roof is caving in on all, does 

not seem to make sense. 

Why is there such a disregard 

today for the rule of law? Why 

are even lawyers, as a body of 

civil society, not protesting this 

with the vehemence of knowing 

where such a mood propels 

society towards? 

Even as military head of state 

when the impression of the 

strongman with iron fists was 

rife, General Muhammadu 

Buhari’s government never 

failed to comply with a court 

order. But INEC accepted from 

the APC the names of 

ostensible candidates in the 

face of the order of an Asaba 

High Court that no list of 

candidates be accepted from 

APC in Delta. 

I have video recordings of 

conversations with the panel 

led by Lawrence Onoja to 

organise the APC primaries in 

Delta. These show evidence of 

the lack of guidelines to the 

aspirants to the requirements 

by law, no list of delegates and 

the Onoja field of gathering that 

was marked by prolonged 

Why is there such a disregard today for 

the rule of law? Why are even lawyers, 

as a body of civil society, not protesting 

this with the vehemence of knowing 

where such a mood propels society 

towards? 

periods of gunshots. The video 

clearly showed that these 

gunshots scared away those 

who came for the primaries. A 

recording of Onoja’s 

conversation with former Abia 

Military Governor, Frank 

Ajobena, indicated that a 

decision had been made in 

Abuja to give the candidacy to 

a particular person regardless 

of how the people voted. The 

question to ask is, how come the 

Chairman of the party, Adams 

Oshiomole, was comfortable 

with popping champagne at 

the outcome of the show of 

shame in Asaba, based on the 

account of his cousin Chris 

Dirisu on a WhatsApp platform? 

Somalia is a clear example of 

where a country that abandons 

the rule of law ends up. It is 

instructive also that the 

example I often use to 

challenge lawyers to take a 

stand on issues of the rule of law 

as duty from their privilege of 

learning is Pakistan, where 

lawyers marched on the streets 

in protest when the Chief 

Justice of the country was 

summarily removed by the 

executive branch. 

Citizenship and privilege 

compel confronting the fetish 

forces that plunge us into the 

dark and disrupt orientation 

towards the common good. I 

was reminded of this in 2015 

when the elections were 

announced for APC. A friend of 

mine, Ibrahim Usman, who 

lived in Kaduna and was 

Deputy President of 

Manufacturers 

Association of 

Nigeria, 

called to 

confirm if I 

was in 

Lagos so he 

could come 

and see 

me. When 

he arrived, 

he quickly 

announced 

that the 

trip was 

occasioned 

by the 

fact that 

h e 

knew 

m e 

well. 

H e 

knew 

h o w 

much I 

felt about the idea of a leader 

who had no title and so I would 

never make a request from 

power. It may be a good sign of 

humility and modesty, but it 

may amount to shirking of duty 

not to go forward and ask for a 

role. He told me that many 

constituencies, businesses, the 

youths and those who were 

patriots with no regard for 

ethnicity voted for the APC 

because they saw me in that 

corner. I was a factor in the 

election and had a duty, against 

my natural disposition to stay 

away from what I may consider 

the spoils of war – to request for 

a key role. 

He then turned to the Quran, 

quoting verses that implied a 

duty to make oneself available 

for service. I was particularly 

touched by the story of Yusuf, 

well known in the Judeo- 

Christian tradition as Joseph, 

the dreamer who was made 

Governor by Pharaoh. Had he 

failed to utilise his skills in 

managing the stores, as famine 

approached, Ibrahim said to 

me, he would have done an 

unjust did. He opined that since 

I had skills that could set 

Nigeria away from the 

unfortunate path it was 

travelling; I had an obligation 

to offer myself. 

As I look at the lines drawn 

between these greedy forces of 

fetish primitivity that currently 

dominate Nigerian political 

parties and a future that must 

be modern, I see many Josephs 

or Yusufs. To fail to challenge 

the extant order would be a 

huge moral issue on their part, 

in my view. The duty to stand 

up and be counted in an 

imperative of citizenship. 

On Free and Fair Elections 

If the rule of law is so 

important, and any group treat 

it so shabbily, it must suggest 

that they either care so little for 

the common good, are so 

ignorant that they shamelessly 

act amiss, or are so steeped in 

self-love that they cannot see 

that the wisest self-interest is in 

the advance of the common 

good. The advance of the 

common good opens the space 

for the bigger pursuit of 

opportunities for the individual. 

The same logic can be 

extended to the question of 

attitude towards free mid fair 

elections. My experience with 

running for Governor, above all, 

revealed a reluctance of 

Nigerian politicians to accept 

the honest free will vote of the 

citizens as the basis for choice 

of who goes forward in the 

agency-function of 

representing the people in 

positions of public government. 

I was surprised by how much 

time is invested by potential 

candidates in reaching out to 

those in authority in the political 

party hierarchy. “Oh, just reach 

the chairman and get him on 

your side and it’s over,” was a 

typical counsel in my 

consultation rounds. 

Many of the party leaders on 

the ground would frequently 

say your ideas are fantastic and 

your plans for the state are 

liberating, but it will help a lot 

if you can get Tinubu or 

Oshiomole to give us a call to 

indicate you are their man. 

The naked truth was that 

political contest was not about 

how to serve the people well but 

it was about how well the 

party’s owners felt about your 

advancing their personal 

interest. I resisted this even 

though the most frequently 

mentioned people from which 

a call would make a difference 

were ostensibly good friends of 

mine. I was reluctant to ask 

them to make a call to these 

people, and never did, because 

1 found it demeaning to the 

idea of democracy. 

I was sure that a long list of 

freedom fighters from the 13th 

century accord on the Magna 

Catha to the Oliver R Tambo’s 

and Nelson Mandela’s would 

have been ashamed of how 

Nigerian political parties treat 

the very idea of democracy. 

Yet these were not 

becoming campaign 

issues. The people were 

without voice and the 

campaign trail was not 

echoing Stephen R 

Covey’s “discovery” in the 

8th Habit that the most 

important habit of the 21st 

century would be helping 

people find their voice. 

The mindset in Nigerian 

politics is that people do not 

matter, their votes can be 

bought and their names used 

to legitimise the votes. This 

political culture undermines 

African culture, most readily 

captured by the philosophy of 

Ubuntu, ‘I am because we are.’ 

The culture in Nigerian politics 

of people as stepping stones 

who, like stone, have no 

feelings and so are there just to 

be used, also violates the 

motives of the founding fathers 

of Nigeria. This is captured in 

the Robert Melson and Howard 

Wolpe idea of competing ethnic 

nationality groups trying to 

bring the most progress to their 

people, the so-called 

competitive communalism. 

This political culture, it seems 

to me, is guaranteed to stall 

progress, and democratise 

poverty. In my view, equal 

opportunity for all to participate 

in and to canvas points of view 

is key. It should determine how 

society should be ordered and 

ultimately, to seek to present 

those to be voted for and to 

advance a certain body of views 

in governance. 

This breeds alienation of 

citizens from government and 

political leaders. Unfortunately, 

the politicians take the quiet 

resentment of the people as 

manifestation of their 

foolishness and ignorance. 

Ultimately, the realisation that 

it is not government of the 

people for the people by the 

people but that of politicians for 

politicians by politicians ; and 

we then begin to see 

manifestations of violence. 

Many of the party leaders on the 

ground would frequently say your 

ideas are fantastic and your plans for 

the state are liberating, but it will help a 

lot if you can get Tinubu or Oshiomole 

to give us a call to indicate you are their 

man 

Debates and a marketplace of 

ideas in the public sphere are 

for me the antidote to the 

present decline in Nigeria. 

Unfortunately, it seems to me 

that the predominantly antiintellectual 

nature of the public 

political culture makes such a 

migration to a culture of 

debates unlikely. 

This makes the idea of 

revolution to break the current 

trap so much more attractive. 

TOMORROW... 

Pat Utomi will discuss the 

failure of religious leaders 

and institutions, 

intellectuals, business 

communities, student bodies, 

and young people, to take 

actions against rogue 

governments. He says they 

are all complicit in the 

hijacking of power by 

criminals if they sit passive 

and do nothing.

Mobilising Nigeria's human and natural resources 

for national development and stability 

16—Vanguard, SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2019 

Continues from yesterday 

By Olusegun Obasanjo 

37. Of the country’s total land 

area, 37.3 % of it is arable, with 

permanent crops and permanent 

pastures occupying 7.4 and 33.3 

percentages respectively. Only 

about 2, 930 square kilometres 

of the land is irrigated. Nigeria’s 

varied land types support a great 

variety of agricultural products 

including cocoa, rubber, coffee, 

palm products, groundnuts, 

cotton, cow pea, ginger, cashew 

nuts, fruits of various types, 

animal products, aqua culture, 

just to mention a few. As all us 

well know, these agricultural 

•Obasanjo 

products constituted the base of 

the nation’s (anticipated) 

industrial growth in the years 

preceding independence and 

immediately thereafter. 

38. Just as Nigeria is blessed 

with abundant agricultural 

products, she is also blessed with 

numerous mineral resources. 

These include coal, tin, gold, iron 

ore, zinc, limestone, niobium 

(formerly known as 

columbium), salt, and, of course, 

natural gas and petroleum, just 

to mention a few. Studies have 

shown that there is no State in 

Nigeria that is not richly 

endowed with abundant mineral 

resources. The challenge now is 

to adequately mobilise these to 

ensure the stability of the polity 

and the peoples’ human 

development in terms of 

enhanced livelihood. 

Strategies to Mobilising 

Nigeria's Human and Natural 

Resources 

39. Any keen observer of the 

Nigerian situation will easily 

agree that the country’s inability 

to adequately harness her 

abundant human and natural 

resources for national 

development, and thus,ensure a 

happier, more qualitative and 

longer lifespan for her citizens 

has nothing to do with lack or 

absence of plans and strategies. 

On the contrary, Nigeria has 

always being blessedwith some 

of brightest and most endowed 

human beings in the world, who 

have churned out fine plans and 

strategies for the nation’s rapid 

socio-economic development. 

Let us briefly outline some of 

these plans. 

Brief History of National 

Development Planning in 

Nigeria 

40. Being a former British 

colony, the country’s first 

experience with a formalised 

development plan came on 

stream in 1944, when the then 

Secretary of State for the colonies 

sent out a circular requesting the Shagamu-Asaba, 

governments of all the then Onitsha, 

British colonies to formulate 

plans for the economic and social 

development of their territories. Portharcourt-Enugu 

This was in anticipation of the 

Second World War. For Nigeria, 

the response from the then 

colonial administration was a 

plan referred to as “Ten Year Plan 

of Development and Welfare for 

Nigeria”, for which a total 

expenditure of about N110 

million for the period of ten years 

was envisaged from April 1, 1946 concrete were carried out. 

to 31st March 1956. However, 

following the granting of semi 

autonomy to each of the three 

regional governments in 1955, 

each of them along with the 

federal government lunched its 

C 

M 

Y 

own 5-year development plan for 

the period 1955-1960. Then it was 

in preparation towards 

independence. This 5-year preindependence 

development 

plan was the beginning of Fixed 

Medium Term Planning for the 

country, and was to be the model 

up till 1985. 

41. After independence, 4 more 

Fixed Medium Term plans were 

executed as follows: (1) First 

National Development Plan from 

1962 to 1968, and extended to 

1970 because of the civil war. It 

was the first after independence. 

About the sum of 2.2 billion Naira 

was provided for capital 

expenditure under this 

plan.Some amongst you here 

might also recall that an integral 

part of this 1st Development Plan 

was the establishment of the 

National Manpower Board 

(NMB), a scheme that was 

launched in 1962 to develop the 

requisite manpower needs of the 

newly independent nation. (2) 

Then followed the1970 – 1974 

Second National Development 

Plan for which was earmarked the 

capital expenditure of 3 billion 

Naira. (3) For the Third National 

Development Plan, (1975 to 

1980) a capital expenditure of 30 

billion Naira (later raised to 43.3 

billion Naira was provided for. 

Recall that this was shortly after 

the Arabs imposed an oil 

embargo on the West following 

the 1973 October Middle East 

war. As a result of the embargo, 

Nigeria earned an 

unprecedented amount of foreign 

exchange. As I am sure some of 

you remember, following the 

unfortunate events of 13 February 

1976, it fell on me to implement 

this 3rd Plan up till 1st October 

1979, when I handed over to the 

now late Alhaji Shehu Shagari. 

We build almost all the airports 

and sea-ports that we are proud 

of today. The power stations, 

Shiroro and Jeba with Egbin 

commenced. The roads – 

Lagos-Ibadan was completed; 

Enugu- 

Calabar-Makurdi, 

Badagry-Sokoto, Yola-Numan, 

Kaduna- Kano, Warri-Benin, 

were 

commenced. Airports were built 

in Calabar, Port-Harcourt, 

Enugu, Makurdi, Sokoto, Yola, 

Kaduna, Maiduguri, Ilorin, 

Ibadan, Kainji, Kano and Jos. 

Lagos airport was completed and 

Lagos ringroad with Third 

Mainland Bridge and 

replacement of Carter bridge with 

We 

launched and established nine 

unity schools and seven 

universities.We also launched 

UPE and Primary Healthcare 

Scheme countrywide. The 4th 

Plan covering 1981 to 1985 

followed and for this, a capital 

expenditure of 82 billion naira 

was envisaged. 

42. After the 4th Plan, the fifth 

was to be lunched at the end of 

1985. However, due to the 

prevailing economic crisis and 

the subsequent administration’s 

self-induced socio-political 

scenario, it was abandoned. In 

all these, specific emphasis was 

placed on planning because of 

‘the urgent need to rationally ‘tap 

the available scarce resources for 

the socio-economic development 

of the nation’. But did this 

happen? 

43. Instead of having a 5th 

development plan to cover the 

period 1986- 90, Nigeria adopted 

a policy plan known as the 

Structural Adjustment 

Programme (SAP) which was 

initially designed to last from 

1986- 88 but which was later 

extended to last till 1990. SAP 

was adopted on the advice of the 

World Bank and IMF and it really 

sapped the Nigerian socioeconomic 

development through 

Corruption is incipient 

in all human societies 

and in most human 

activities. But it 

must not be condoned. 

This is why laws are 

made and enforced 

to check corruption, so 

that society would survive 

and develop in 

an orderly, reasonable 

and predictable 

way 

heavy devaluation, and non-promotion 

of agriculture. Then from 

SAP, Nigeria graduated to the 

three-yearly National Rolling 

Plans: Rolling Plan 1 (1990 – 

1992), Rolling Plan 2 (1993 – 

1995); and Rolling Plan 3 (1996 

– 1998). Of course, in 1996, 

Nigeria decided to take the bull 

posed by the challenge of under 

development by the horn by 

deciding to look far into the 

future. We, as a country, with 

much fanfare, launched the 

Vision 2010Committee in 1996 

with the Committee’s report 

submitted in 1997. However, by 

May 1999, I was back on the 

scene and we realised that strict 

hard plans of Cold War years was 

giving way to market economy 

led by the private sector with 

incentives and conducive 

conditions provided by the 

government. So, we launched 

the National Economic 

Empowerment Development 

Strategy (NEEDS) policy 

document which strategises 

down to State and local 

government level. By 2009, 

NEEDS was abandoned for 

Seven-PointAgenda and later 

went forNational Vision 20:2020. 

44. As with all the 

development plans starting from 

that of 1944 that was launched 

by the then colonial government, 

each of the above enumerated 

plans outlined strategies to uplift 

the living standards of Nigerians 

and improve the peoples’ 

human development. For example, 

the last ambitious of these, 

(the Nigeria Vision 20:2020) 

claimed as follows: ‘the Nigerian 

Vision 20:2020 document is 

underpinned by the ‘need to 

effectively and efficiently 

mobilise the nation’s resources to 

serve and improve the lives of its 

citizens’. 

45. However, the truth of the 

matter is that as at today, 18 May 

2019, (a few months to the 

targeted and long anticipated 

2020), instead of improvement, 

the quality of lives of Nigerians 

has degenerated even more in 

all aspects of human 

development. UPE launched in 

1977 nationwide has gone and 

UBE launched in 2000 has also 

gone. Primary healthcare 

system has suffered same fate. 

In education, health and food 

and nutrition security, we are 

worse today than we were in the 

first decade of this century. It is 

the same story, unfortunately in 

security and economic wellbeing. 

The Challenges 

46. As can be seen from the 

brief recall of Nigeria’s 

experiment with developmental 

plans, the problem cannot be said 

to lie with our inability to plan, 

strategize, dream or even 

conceive visions. 

47. I hope you will all agree with 

me that if what Nigeria needs to 

move forward are dreamers and 

visionaries, we have had some. 

Without being immodest, I can 

claim that I have dreamed and 

visioned for our dear country, 

almost all through my adult life. 

48. In this regard, please recall 

that in our quest in the late 1970s 

to strike the correct 

developmental cord, we changed 

our form of government from the 

Westminster model to the 

American presidential model. 

Some people have claimed that 

the presidential system is 

expensive to run. It is not the 

system but those who operate the 

system that make it expensive. 

Before this time, we moved from 

a nation of three regions to four; 

then to twelve states, then 19, 21 

and now 36 states plus a Federal 

Capital Territory. And of course, 

we have had our own fair share 

of military authoritarian rule. 

So…, what next? 

49. On the challenges facing 

us as a nation, may I call your 

attention to the Inaugural 

address I gave to the nation on 

29 May, 1999 on the occasion of 

my assumption of office as the 

first democratically elected 

president under the present 

democratic dispensation. Recall 

that I said, inter alia: 

“Nigeria is wonderfully 

endowed by the Almighty with 

human and other resources. It 

does no credit either to us or the 

entire black race if we fail in 

managing our resources for 

quick improvement in the 

quality of life of our people…. 

Instead of progress and 

development, which we are 

entitled to expect from those who 

governed us, we 

experienced…persistent 

deterioration in the quality of our 

governance, leading to 

instability and the weakening of 

all public institutions…. Relations 

between men and women who 

had been friends for many 

decades, and between 

communities that had lived 

together in peace for many 

generations became very bitter 

because of the actions or 

inaction of government”. 

50. If I was bemoaning the 

situation in 1999, what then am I 

expected to say today given the 

situation all over the country generally: 

in the Boko Haram infested 

states of Borno, Adamawa, 

Yobe? What should I say regarding 

the situation in Zamfara 

State, Kaduna State, Plateau, 

Benue and Taraba States?What 

should I say regarding the kidnapping 

menace that wasn’t 

there by 1999?What do I say about 

IPOB and MASSOB and continued 

insecurity in the Niger Delta 

in spite of amnesty? Are relations 

between friends, between 

neighbours, communities any 

better today than in 1999? How 

united are we today as a nation? 

Are our elections more free, fair, 

transparent and credible than 

1999, twenty years ago? 

51. On the specific challenges 

facing us, I identified corruption 

to be on top and accordingly said 

as follows: 

‘Corruption, the greatest single 

bane of our society today, will be 

tackled head-on at all levels. 

Corruption is incipient in all 

human societies and in most 

human activities. But it must not 

be condoned. This is why laws 

are made and enforced to check 

corruption, so that society would 

survive and develop in an 

orderly, reasonable and 

predictable way. No society can 

achieve anything near its full 

potential if it allows corruption to 

become the full-blown cancer it 

has become in Nigeria. One of 

the greatest tragedies of military 

rule in recent times, is that 

corruption was allowed to grow 

unchallenged, and unchecked, 

even when it was glaring for 

everybody to see. The rules and 

regulations for doing official 

business were deliberately 

ignored, set aside or by-passed 

to facilitate corrupt practices. 

The beneficiaries of corruption in 

all forms will fight back with all 

the foul means at their disposal. 

We shall be firm with them. 

There will be no sacred cows. 

Nobody, no matter who and 

where, will be allowed to get 

away with the breach of the law 

or the perpetration of corruption 

and evil. Under the 

administration, therefore, all the 

rules and regulations designed 

to help honesty and 

transparency in dealings with 

government will be restored and 

enforced. Specifically, I shall 

immediately reintroduce “Civil 

Service Rules”, and “Financial 

Instructions” and enforce 

compliance. Other regulations 

will be introduced to ensure 

transparency. The rampant 

corruption in the public service 

and the cynical contempt for 

integrity that pervades every 

level of the bureaucracy will be 

stamped out. The public officer 

must be encouraged to believe 

once again that integrity pays. 

His self-respect must be restored 

and his work must be fairly 

rewarded through better pay and 

benefits, both while in service 

and in retirement. 

Government and all its 

agencies became thoroughly 

corrupt and reckless. Members 

of the public had to bribe their 

way through in ministries and 

parastatals to get attention and 

one government agency had to 

bribe another government 

agency to obtain the release of 

their statutory allocation of 

funds. The impact of official 

corruption is so rampant and has 

earned Nigeria a very bad 

image at home and abroad. 

Besides, it has distorted and 

retrogressed development.’ 

A Keynote Address Delivered 

By Former President 

Obasanjo at the 2019 Synod 

of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican 

Communion), Oleh Diocese, 

Isoko, Delta State, May 

18, 2019 

Continues tomorrow


•MI Abaga 

•Continues on page 18


‘I will continue 

to make music 

forever ’ 

*Continues from page 17 

“Statistics actually show that rap 

is in the top 5 most lucrative or 

selling genres. So it’s not as bad as 

you would think. The hip-hop 

community is very loyal and 

committed”, he said. M.I is indeed 

a product of time. The selfacclaimed 

rap king in this country 

few years back transformed into a 

record label boss, after he was 

appointed the former CEO of 

Chocolate City. The new status in 

every way has affected his music 

career in many ways. His gift of 

manipulating words which is 

evident in his compositions has set 

him apart from other notable 

Nigerian rappers. But if the truth 

be told, the ‘Mr. Incredible’ 

appears to be more popular as a 

record label boss than the king of 

rap music. For many, M.I is 

seriously losing the grip to the 

emerging and much more talented 

young rappers. Meanwhile, against 

this backdrop, the rapper promises 

his fans a big comeback this year. 

According to him, “ In 2019, you 

will see more of the MI, the rapper. 

I have already told my fans I have 

seven new projects to push out this 

year. I will still be performing my 

executive role in the Chocolate 

City.” The rapper added: “I will 

make music forever in different 

ways at different stages of my life. I 

might not be a single-artiste in 20- 

years time, but I will be a part of 

the music scene in some way.” 

However, five months into the year, 

the popular rapper has not kept to 

his words. One wonders if M.I is 

going to replicate the magic that 

earned him his name, ‘Chairman” 

after releasing the album, 

“Chairman” in 2015. The album 

was a big hit and it’s still making 

waves across the continent. If you 

ask any lover of rap music to name 

the song made that M.I what he’s 

today, the person will not hesitate 

to mention “Chairman.” In spite of 

the singer’s debut single,’Safe” 

which was a commercial success 

and received incessant air plays in 

radio and Music Video stations, the 

“Chairman” is considered as M.I’s 

best studio album till date .This 

huge success recorded by his debut 

single later gave birth to his debut 

album “Let’s talk about it” and the 

sample mix-tape titled “Illegal 

Music 1” in 2009 the part 2 in 2012 

and the 3rd in 2016. As noted by 

some critics, M.I has remained 

highly influential in the Nigerian 

hip-hop scene, releasing more 

projects than anyone could have 

imagined in his nearly two decades 

of music career. But that does not 

take away the fact that the rapper 

is not living up to the expectations 

of his huge fans scattered all over 

the world. With eight studio 

albums, three mix-tapes and one 

playlist project to his credit, M.I 

needs to up the ante if he must 

remain the king of rap music in 

Nigeria. 

•MI Abaga 

Nnenna packages 

a spectacular 

children’s day 

show 

It’s another Children’s Day celebration and 

Nnenna, the leading brand for children 

entertainment in Nigeria, is putting together a 

magnificent show at the eagerly-anticipated 

Nnenna & Friends Children’s 

day show 2019. The 

colourful event, which 

promises to be an amazing 

experience for children and 

their families will hold on 

Monday, May 27, at the airconditioned 

main exhibition 

hall, National theatre, 

Iganmu, Lagos. 

The expected 3,000 attendees 

of the event would be treated to 

brilliant musical performances 

from the n-stars and PEFTI 

band. Also, Popular comedy 

group, Papa Ajasco & Company 

will be on hand to make 

everyone laugh like never 

before as well as ribcracking 

stand-up 

comedy by the hilarious 

MC Prince and short 

family. There will 

also be outstanding 

school performances. 

According to the 

organizers, every 

attendee is sure to 

go home with 

unforgettable 

memories as well as 

attractive prizes and 

gifts courtesy of the 

numerous corporate 

bodies such as 

Cadbury Bournvita, 

Tomy Riopop, Viju 

Milk, Rite Foods, 

Checkers garri, 

4cardinalpoint small 

chops, Nutzy Peanut 

Butter among others 

who have partnered 

with the organizers 

to make the show a 

delightful. 

Bright Chimezie, Idowu Nuel elected to 

COSON Board 

..as Okoroji returns as the society’s chairman 

There was heavy singing and dancing at the 

Banquet Hall of Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja 

last Monday, as music stars from across the 

country converged on Lagos for the 9th Annual 

General Meeting of Copyright Society of Nigeria 

(COSON) which is by far the nation’s biggest and 

most successful copyright collective management 

organization. 

At the elections which took place at the AGM, 

Highlife Star and “Zigima” music exponent, 

Bright Chimezie was elected for the first time to 

the COSON Board. Chairman of COSON, Chief 

Tony Okoroji, whose term in office expired at the 

AGM, stepped down both as Chairman and as a 

Director. He was subsequently unanimously reelected 

by the General Assembly in an election 

which had four top notch lawyers as returning 

officers. 

Also elected to the Board on his own merit 

was renowned music maker and comedy star, 

Mr. Kofi Idowu Nuel, popularly known as 

Koffi Da Guru who had until the AGM held 

the seat on the Board previously held by the 

late Reggae icon, Ras Kimono who passed 

on in 2018. 

Similarly re-elected to the Board is the 

musicologist, Hon. John Ewelukwa 

Udegbunam, a former National President of 

the powerful Music Label Owners and 

Recording Industries Association of Nigeria 

(MORAN). The 2018 audited accounts and 

financial report of the society was also 

reviewed by the members and adopted. 

The highlight of the AGM which coincided 

with the second anniversary of the 

*(m)Chairman of COSON, Chief Tony Okoroji, Bright Chimezie at the event 

commissioning of the magnificent 

COSON HOUSE in Ikeja was the 

Chairman’s address by Chief Tony 

Okoroji which received huge 

intermittent applause from the 

members with standing ovation at 

the end. 

Okoroji said: “At Lagos Sheraton 

Hotel today, I can see my brethren 

in music and music industry 

personalities from every nook and 

cranny of Nigeria. I wish to 

emphasize that it is our different 

characters, ages, experiences and 

unique locations that make 

COSON a truly national 

institution. The strength of 

COSON lies with all of you, in 

every state of the Nigerian nation 

where you come from as long as 

music is played there. It truly does 

not matter whether you play hip 

hop, highlife, fuji, juju, gospel, 

reggae, bongo, Kalango, 

ikwokirikwo or whatever. As long 

you compose music, perform music 

or invest in music, COSON 

belongs to you. Among the many 

stars present at the AGM were the 

revered music legend Prof (Sir) 

Victor Uwaifo, the Afro Juju creator, 

Sir Shina Peters, Reggae Star, 

Righteous Man, Gospel Crooner, 

Kenny Saint Best; Chris Mba of 

the “Baby Don’t Cry” fame; guitar 

wizard, Feladay, US based -music 

star, Alabama and Owerri based 

Highlife Star, Ugo Stevenson.


20—SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019

Falz to host over 10,000 

fans at his ‘The Falz 

Experience II’ concert 

Internationally-acclaimed Nigerian entertainer Falz 

has announced he’s hosting the second edition of his 

headline concert, The Falz Experience. 

The five-hour live concert will feature performances by 

Falz with support from friends of the artiste including 

Simi, Ycee among others to the delight of over 10,000 

fans at Eko Convention Center on June 8, 2019. 

The maiden edition of the show, which reportedly 

gulped a whooping sum of N300 million, elevated the 

concert experience in Nigeria and the follow-up edition 

promises to be even more groundbreaking. 

Speaking on why he’s putting the fans at the centre of 

this edition, Falz said,m“My fans are the core of my 

career. I am nothing without their love and support and 

that’s why I’m putting the Falz Experience together, just 

for them. I would love to get ideas and comments from 

them on how we can make The Falz Experience bigger 

and better, The idea behind The Falz Experience 2 is to 

bring all their thoughts together to build a fantastic show. 

It’s a music concert that will incorporate different 

elements of my art, with support from the many colleagues 

I have collaborated with and of course, my fans.” 

Falz (real name Folarin Falana) is a law graduate from 

the University of Reading whose career began in secondary 

school when he, along with friends, established a 

musical group called 'The School Boys'. 

Years down the line, Falz has more than proved himself 

as not only a talented artiste but one with versatility. 

Singles such as Something Light, Soft Work, Karishika, 

Wehdone Sir, Bad Gang, Soldier amongst others and a 

critically acclaimed album, Moral Instruction, have 

earned him not only organic airplay but have helped 

carve a niche in the Nigerian entertainment industry. 

Mercelo Gustavo Signs Red-hot 

Musician, Mobolaji 

•L-R: Mobolaji’s manager, Barrister Zachariah 

Akomolafe, President/CEO, Dijo Group, Innocent 

Oboh; musician, Mobolaji; Mobolaji’s manager, 

Barrister Zachariah Akomolafe, and CEO, 

Immense Group of Companies, Mr George Oboh 

Top Nigerian record label 

and audio-video produc 

tion company, Mercelo 

Gustavo, has penned down a 

recording deal with musician, 

Mobolaji. The contract signing of 

Mobolaji took place on Wednesday 

inside the Mercelo Gustavo’s 

studio office premises in Lagos. 

The stage-trained talent was 

ecstatic and grateful to the 

management of Mercelo 

Gustavo for believing in his 

potential as a musician. Mobolaji 

started music from childhood as 

he was born into a musical family 

and started performing on stage 

very early in life. 

Speaking minutes after coming 

on board Mercelo Gustavo 

management Mobolaji said: “I 

am so excited and I don’t know 

where to start. I have been 

working with Mercelo Gustavo 

underground on songs that 

inspire and encourage the mind 

because that is what Nigerians 

need now. I want to touch not just 

the feet of those who listen to my 

music but more importantly to 

touch their hearts and inspire 

them to believe they can make it 

in life no matter the odds. My 

kind of music is called Inspirational-Highlife 

because I inspire 

and heal with music.” 

Mobolaji, whose full name is 

Mobolaji Okotore, is one of few 

real musicians in Nigeria who 

can play virtually every instrument 

including vocals. He is also 

a music producer and has an indepth 

knowledge of a variety of 

music genres. 

President/CEO Dijo Group, 

parent company to Mercelo 

Gustavo, Innocent Oboh, expressed 

confidence in Mobolaji’s 

ability to put back-on-track a 

music industry that has been 

accused of lacking content over 

the years. 

According to Oboh “I have 

always known Mobolaji to be a 

great talent and all he needed 

was a credible platform that can 

make his dreams come true. 

There is no better platform than 

Mercelo Gustavo to take him 

from the point of talent, brand, 

exposure, management, marketing, 

positioning, and consumption 

by music lovers.” 

Also present at the contract 

signing was Barrister Zachariah 

Akomolafe Esq, who is 

Mobolaji’s manager, and CEO, 

Immense Group of Companies, 

Mr George Oboh. 

Mercelo Gustavo has promised 

to bring in the full weight of all its 

sister companies to ensure 

Mobolaji becomes a household 

name in the world of music. 

Mobolaji’s songs were produced 

by Mercelo Gustavo’s aceproducer, 

Abiola Bolarinwa, also 

known as Rhyme Baba. 

By AYO ONIKOYI 08052201215 

onikoyi68@gmail.com 

Falz 

•Nancy Isime 


Wande Coal, Phyno, other set for ' 

At the Club with Remy Martin All 

Star Extravaganza' 

The build-up will soon 

hit a crescendo as 

premium cognac, 

Remy Martin, is set to return 

with its widely anticipated 

‘At the Club with Remy 

Martin All Star 

Extravaganza.’ 

The event, scheduled for 

Thursday, June 6th, 2019 in 

Lagos, promises to be bigger 

and enthralling. 

The outdoor extravaganza 

set to hold at the Lekki 

Special Event 

Centre, will 

deliver a 

perfect fusion 

of exquisite 

cognac, epic 

dance 

routines, jawdropping 

stunts and 

exciting live 

performances 

by 

international 

acts, Wande 

Coal, Phyno, 

Illbliss and 

many more. 

Known for 

always being 

at the heart of 

celebrations 

and 

establishing 

direct 

connections 

with 

consumers, 

Remy Martin 

consistently 

seeks to thrill 

its guests with 

unparalleled 

entertainment. 

Through 

unique and unforgettable 

experiences year on year, ‘At 

the Club with Remy Martin 

All Star Extravaganza’ has 

always surpassed consumers’ 

expectations and this year 

will be no exception. 

According to the 

organisers, 'At the Club with 

Remy Martin All Star 

Extravaganza' honours its 

brand message by bringing 

together the most inspiring 

people from A-listers, to 

CEO’s, to style icons, for a 

memorable night of 

celebration. 

Wande Coal 

Nancy Isime, Jimmie, 

Spinall, Denrele Edun 

unveiled as 

headliners for 

Wannek 

anneka a Hair launch 

On Sunday, May 26, 

2019 young and 

prominent 

entrepreneur, Wanneka will 

host a talk-of-the-town event to 

unveil a new and classy super 

pack hair from her successful 

hair brand, Wanneka Hair. The 

hair which will be sold in stores 

across Nigeria is designed to 

make every woman beautiful and 

hair available at a price people 

can buy. 

Nancy Isime and Jimmie who 

are popular and respected OAPs 

will be hosting the event. 

Nancy is an OAP who presents 

Trending programme on HIP TV 

and has made considerable mark 

as an actress. Jimmie was a 

constant voice on Beat FM where 

he handles sports and hosts 

different event for brands across 

the country. He is regarded as 

number one hypeman in the 

country, a position he earns as 

hypeman for Dbanj. 

Denrele Edun, a veteran of red 

carpet and all round entertainer 

will be hosting the red carpet 

while DJ Spinall will be 

supplying the music for the day. 

The event billed to hold at 

Oriental Hotel in Lagos will 

witness the unveiling of the 

Wanneka Super Pack Hair, 

music performances and have all 

tramping of class and glamour 

as the dress code is so themed.


SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, , 2019—23 

bunmsof@yahoo.co.uk 

Could you ever ask your adult 

‘Kids’ to leave home?! 

They used to be called the 

derive name of kidults— 

but now there are loads of 

single and working adults still 

hanging to the family homes’ 

chandeliers! Take Rolake for 

instance. She has just clocked 

30 and, according to her, every 

time she’s in the family home, 

“My mum sends the cook to tell 

me whenever food is ready. 

When I get to the dinning room, 

as requested, there are fried 

rice (or whatever meal I 

ordered) and mouth-watering 

stews to go with it. Even better, 

there’s lovely desert to top it 

up and wine if I want it. You 

would think I was living in a 

posh hotel, but I’m not. 

“Instead, I’m at home with 

my doting parents and homemade 

meals come as part of the 

all-inclusive package. When I 

tell people I’m a 30-year-old 

woman who still lives at home, 

they pity me. They 

sympathised about rising rents 

and I nod in agreement, 

explaining that my meagre 

earnings as an executive 

assistant in a parastatal makes 

leaving home anytime soon a 

financial impossibility. After 

all, I’m part of a generation who 

can’t get well-paid jobs, can’t 

afford houses, and as a result 

can’t even leave home! 

“Only, things are a little more 

complicated than mat. The 

truth is that living in the 

comfortable luxury of my 

family home, a warm, 

cheerfully furnished sixbedroom 

house in an upmarket 

Lagos suburb —a property way 

beyond my means as a single 

woman—means that I have no 

impetus to leave. Why should 

I? Where could I live this well, 

with three meals a day, a 

laundry service, and full use of 

the well stocked bar—all 

completely free? Where is the 

incentive to strike out on my 

own? 

“A lot of my friends feel the 

same. We are known as the 

boomer-angers—the 

generation who have come 

back to live off the wealth 

created by our hardworking 

parents, now in their 60s. I 

admit I do feel a bit guilty when 

I think that my parents had left 

home by my age. Like most 

people of their generation, it 

was unthinkable that they 

would still be living with their 

parents in their 30s. 

Traditionally, you lived at 

home until you are married, at 

which point, you set up home 

with your spouse. When most 

people married in their early 

20s, that made perfect sense. 

But times have changed. 

“While sociologists warn of the creation of a stunted 

generation unprepared for the responsibilities of adult life, 

I don’t see it that way. Why should I leave a home I am 

happy in, just to conform to social norms, when my parents 

are still happy for me to live here? In fact, my younger 

sisters, who are in their 20s, still live at home too. Believe 

me, I know the dire nature of the alternative. In a foolish 

bid for independence, I moved out of home for a year in 

my mid 20s, renting a room in a shared four-bedroom 

house with three other young people. I hated it. The kitchen 

sink was permanently over-flowing with dirty dishes (yes, 

some of them were mine) and the house was always begging 

to be cleaned. After a year, I’d had quite enough of having 

to queue for my morning shower as if I was in a hostel. 

“Then there were my three housemates. While one of them 

is still my friend, if I never see the others again, it will be a 

blessing. When the next rest was due, I happily moved back 

home. Months later, I was 

still mad at myself for 

spending a fortune to live 

in a dirty house with people 

I couldn’t stand. Of course, 

there are times when my 

parents, siblings and I fall 

out, but because we love 

each other, things blow 

over quickly. Occasionally, 

people will make snide 

comments about my ‘poor 

parents” and muse on how 

desperate they must be for 

me to flee the nest, but this 

couldn’t be further from the 

truth. My parents have 

worked hard to build a 

comfortable family home 

and are only too happy 

that I still want to live in it. 

“When I moved out in my 

20s, my mum was 

indignant, she took it as a 

personal insult that I 

wanted to leave her lovely 

home and castigated me for 

frittering away my hard 

earned money on paying a 

greedy landlord. Now I’m 

back home, some other 

people assume my living 

situation will make me a 

social pariah among my 

peers. How wrong can you 

get? Like me, most of my 

friends are still living with 

their parents. Not only 

does it make financial 

sense, but we realise we 

The truth is 

nothing will 

ever be as 

comfortable as 

a homecooked 

meal, 

followed by 

watching a 

cable TV on 

your parents’ 

sofa, no matter 

would be stupid to suffer in 

discomfort and penury just 

to prove a point. Other 

friends say they would still 

love to be at home given the 

chance. Even the ones who 

wear their domestic 

independence like a badge of 

honour run home to 

mummy and daddy at the 

first sign of a fever or after a 

break-up. The truth is 

nothing will ever be as 

comfortable as a homecooked 

meal, followed by 

watching a cable TV on your 

parents’ sofa, no matter how 

old you are. 

“Unfortunately, not 

everyone agrees that my setup 

is a lifestyle haven. I’ve 

been accused of holding 

myself back and missing out 

on the freedom of being young 

and single. And while I admit 

that living at home means you 

can’t invite a long line of 

boyfriends back to stay or host 

wild parties, I can live with that 

If I want to sit up drinking all 

night, I can do it at the home 

of one of my friends who rents. 

Best of all, after a weekend of 

partying, I can always return 

to a warm, clean house. 

It’s really the best of both 

worlds. Meanwhile, I’m not 

expected to contribute to the 

running of the house, financial 

or otherwise. 

“Once in a while, I become 

conscious that I’m not 

pulling my weight. I live by 

my parents’ rules, work hard 

and try to make them proud, 

I’m also an enthusiastic cook 

and make a family meal at 

least once a week with the 

help of the cook. My parents 

have also rebelled on 

occasion, but that doesn’t 

change anything. After years 

of living together, we’re 

stuck in our ways, regardless 

of rights or wrongs. 

Am I spoilt? Quite possibly. 

Cossetted from the harsh 

realities of the world? 

Almost certainly. Living in a 

state of suspended 

adolescence? All of these 

things may be true but the 

thought of being pampered, 

thanks to Bank Mum and Dad 

is bliss! 

Teenagers, all they think about is sex 

WHAT is happening to our teenage-girls these days? 

According to an observer, “They dress in provocative gears 

that reveal as much flesh as any professional. When the average 

teen girl is old enough, she wants to go out and have sex where 

and when she wishes with any lad who takes her fancy. And, 

her biggest ambition is to sleep with various celebrities—the 

more atrocious—the better. They used to be interested in 

kissing and courting, but now, sexual behaviour seems to have 

turned a corner. And, for some, a night out is nothing if they 

don’t get straight down to copulation, raw sex and instant 

gratification. It is the sexual version of a take-away!” 

When some of our legislators first opened the cankerworm of 

promiscuity some years back and threatened to pass laws 

prohibiting revealing female clothes, the dust it raised took a 

long time to settle. But are we to blame for our children’s casual 

treatment of sex? Should we be worried about the message our 

society is sending out to young girls? Carol Platt Lieban, an 

American writer in her book: prude; How Sex-Obsessed Culture 

Damages Girls, says we should be more than worried. She 

believes it’s time to start telling our daughters to swim against 

the tide. According to her: “We tolerate culture that seems to 

teach girls the most noteworthy attribute they can have about 

sexiness. It’s more important than character, or intelligence 

or talent, or almost anything else. That’s a terrible message to 

send to young girls who are still shaping their identity. It leads 

them into behaviour that won’t make them happy in the long 

run.” The consequences, she believes, could go far beyond the 

obvious dangers faced by girls who are having sex at such an 

early age. There’s a lot of talk about the physical consequences 

such as unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted 

infections. However, a lot of girls do have sex and don’t get 

pregnant or get STL, especially if they heed advice to use 

contraception. But they may end up being physically and 

emotionally damaged. That aspect isn’t discussed enough. 

Studies have shown girls aged 14 to 17 who engage in sexual 

activity are three times more likely to suffer from depression 

than girls who don’t. And, there’s more emotional havoc too— 

such as anxiety, loss of self-esteem, inability to trust men, and 

difficulty forming lasting relationships later in life. Yet, all 

people ever seem to do is say to girls, ‘Don’t get pregnant.’ 

So, where has this modem obsession with sex come from? 

Plat Lieban accepts that there was never a time when people 

weren’t interested in sex. But she suggests the world has 

changed. She says:”The problem now is that the sexualising is 

aimed towards younger and younger girls. Then there’s this 

idea that young girls who act like the worst kind of men sexually 

are ‘liberated.’ The idea that it’s ‘empowering’ to just go out 

and have sex like a man, without emotion or a relationship. 

That sex is just another activity. That kind of attitude— 

popularised by shows like Sex and the City—has done a good 

deal to instil that idea in young girls. They don’t have the life 

experience to realise these shows are frothy fairy tales.




•Warrant Officers in 

group photographs 

with senior officers 

SECURING NIGERIA’S MARITIME DOMAIN: 

Navy harps on professionalism, 

discipline for professional efficiency 

•Holds second Warrant Officers Convention 

By Evelyn Usman 

Over the years, the Nigerian 

Navy has developed into a 

potent force capable of 

carrying out its constitutional 

and statutory role of tackling 

maritime crimes and associated challenges 

in the nation’s Exclusive Economic Zone 

up to the gulf of Guinea. 

To ensure that professionalism and 

operational efficiency are sustained for 

effective discharge of its responsibilities, 

it recently held its Second Warrant Officers 

Convention, at the NNS Quorra 

auditorium, Apapa, Lagos. 

By the way, Warrant Officers cadre, plays 

a pivotal role in the Navy, being the bridge 

between the higher echelon and lower 

cadre of the Navy. They and their 

subordinates (ratings), are the backbone of 

the Navy, as they are saddled with the 

responsibility of executing its roles. Infact, 

they make up the technical foundation of 

the Navy, just as other navies elsewhere. 

Going by the Divisional system in the 

Nigerian Navy, junior ratings are expected 

to refer their problems first, to Warrant 

officers, otherwise called Senior Rates, in 

their divisions. 

Also, the discipline, 

efficiency and morale of 

the Service, depend in 

great measure, on the 

manner in which senior 

rates carry out their 

duties and maintain their 

position. 

Since they live and 

work much closer to 

junior ratings than 

officers do, they are 

therefore, in a much 

better position to 

understand and 

appreciate their 

problems. 

From the fore going, 

Warrant Officers are 

expected to be 

experienced, visible and 

professionally sound, to 

effectively discharge 

their responsibilities at 

all times. 

It was against this 

backdrop that the Chief 

of the Naval Staff, Vice 

Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, 

at the two- Day 

Convention, explained 

that the feed back from 

the implementation of its 

maiden edition three 

From the fore 

going, Warrant 

Officers are 

expected to be 

experienced, 

visible and 

professionally 

sound, to 

effectively 

discharge their 

responsibilities at 

all times 

years ago, spurred him to sustain its 

hosting, as it gave rise to interesting and 

far reaching recommendations that were 

being implemented at various levels of the 

Nigerian Navy. 

He noted that successes achieved by the 

Navy in crude oil theft, illegal bunkering, 

smuggling, militancy, pipeline vandalism, 

as well as its support to other Services in 

the ongoing counter-insurgency operations, 

especially in the North-East, would not 

have been possible without the role of 

Warrant Officers. 

The Convention themed “Responsive 

Warrant Officers’ leadership and 

Operational Efficiency in the Nigerian 

Navy’, according to the Naval boss who was 

represented by the Chief of Policy and 

Plans, Rear Admiral Beegroy Ibe- Enwo, 

was aimed at exposing the concerned 

personnel to the need to willingly and 

effectively discharge their responsibilities 

at all times. 

He said, “The need to collectively strive 

to build a credible Navy capable of 

discharging its constitutional roles and 

assigned tasks in a sustainable, efficient 

and effective manner, calls for continuous 

enlightenment and deliberate reawakening 

of the tenets of professionalism 

and excellent work ethics among the naval 

personnel at all levels. This expectation is 

what the Convention hopes to achieve as 

Warrant officers are 

expected to be experienced, 

visible and professionally 

sound”. 

Also in his remark, the 

Chairman, Planning and 

Organizing Committee, 

Commodore K.O 

Egbuchulam, explained that 

the idea of organizing the 

Convention was conceived 

after a careful thought of the 

vital roles Warrant Officers 

play in ensuring a 

professional and effective 

military. 

He said, “The Convention 

was conceived to awaken 

the consciousness of this 

cadre of officers to the 

pivotal role they play in 

nurturing and building new 

entrants towards achieving 

their career dreams . It was 

also to re-invigorate and 

enlighten this category of 

managers on their roles and 

responsibilities in 

achieving the objectives and 

aspirations of the Nigerian 

Navy in line with the CNS 

strategic directives”. 

Motivation 

The presence of the Navy at sea spans 

beyond six decades and it has continued to 

live up to its expectations by performing 

its statutory roles , which sometimes comes 

with commendations from government and 

Nigerians alike. 

But this has not been devoid of 

operational ineffectiveness , precipitated 

by aging fleet, maintenance culture and 

inadequate platforms which limits its 

policing role which adversely affects its 

effort to effectively secure the maritime 

environment, among others. 

Since Warrant Officers execute the roles 

of the Navy, the question that readily comes 

to mind is; Are they motivated enough by 

the Nigerian Navy for operational 

effectiveness, in terms of a robust welfare 

scheme? Are they equipped with the right 

type of skill and training to enhance 

efficiency? 

The need for motivation of this workforce 

in the Navy formed part of the discourse at 

the Convention, in a paper delivered by 

Rear Admiral Akinsola Johnson (Rtd), titled 

Motivation: An Essential Tool for Enhanced 

Operational Effectiveness of Warrant 

officers. 

He noted that when the motivation was 

on the increase, it would enhance 

operational effectiveness and vice versa. To 

achieve this in the Warrant Officers cadre, 

he said it required a mechanism to measure 

the effectiveness and performance of all 

warrant officers in the discharge of their 

responsibilities and an assemblage of 

senior naval officers who were “achievers” 

to superintend over all warrant officers. 

As a retired senior naval personnel, the 

resource person said that the Navy had 

emplaced a motivational scheme of the 

Warrant Officers cadre in particular and 

other categories of officers in general. 

He said, “The Nigerian Navy Medical 

Services provide primary, secondary and 

tertiary health care schemes for NN 

personnel and their families around the 

country. In extreme cases and based on the 

recommendation of a medical board, the 

NN sometimes undertakes medical 

evacuation of her personnel abroad. 

“Also, the desire and the on-going effort 

to provide more accommodation to 

personnel around the country is a welcome 

development. 

“Since training is a very essential factor 

in building personnel confidence in the 

performance of their duties, I am aware 

that the Navy has been very concerned 

about re-positioning its personnel 

professionally. There are many more 

welfare packages that the NN has 

embarked upon in the recent past. 

“You may think the NN is not doing 

much to motivate you as a warrant officer 

but the truth is that the NN may not be 

able to do much considering the fragile 

state of the nation’s economy. The 

situation of funding in NN is 

predominantly tied to the Federal 

Government sources like the annual 

budget. All areas of motivation depend 

largely on adequate funding of the NN. But 

adequate funding is beyond the office of 

the Chief of Naval Staff” 

Health 

Aside motivation as key tool for an 

efficient Senior Rate and other personnel, 

health, was also considered a major 

enhancer to operational effectiveness. 

In another paper titled ‘Health is wealth: 

An Appraisal of Life in active Service and 

Retirement’ , life style, environment, 

genes or inherited traits were highlighted 

as factors that could affect quality 

performance of Warrant Officers cadre 

and other personnel at all levels. 

Surprisingly, the paper revealed that 

variety of research showed that military 

service was related to the use of tobacco 

and alcohol products. It also noted that 

energy drinks have strong appeal to 

military personnel. 

Unfortunately, the long term effects of 

over consumption includes mental health 

problems, aggressive behaviours and 

fatigue, which may hinder operational 

effectiveness. Also, the short term effects 

of over consumption of alcoholic drinks as 

pointed out in the paper, included increased 

blood pressure, panic attack, palpitation, 

anxiety, heart problem, dehydration and 

insomnia, according to the paper. 

As important as the the role of Warrant 

Officers cadre may seem , they were 

reminded to take the issue of their health 

serious, so as to age gracefully and enjoy 

their retirement life. 

Another papper on ‘Functional Divisional 

System and Professionalism in the NN: 

The Role of Warrant Officers, presented , 

defined the Divisional System as the 

basic system management employed by 

the Navy for the supervision, discipline , 

training and advancement of end , as well 

as an organisation for their well being. 

Warrant officers were reminded of the 

importance of their roles and the need to 

executive them diligently, considering 

that more ratings were being recruited 

into the Service and therefore, required 

more painstaking personnel 

management. 

The 2019 Warrant Officers Convention 

may have come and gone with 

expectations that lessons gathered would 

be implemented by the Navy. 

One of those lessons is the need for the 

Navy to recruit motivated Nigerians from 

the society, instead of focusing on talent 

and skills alone. This is because experience 

and studies by some scholars have shown 

that it is difficult to motivate people who 

are not self-motivated. 

By imbibing such culture, it will go a long 

way to having Warrant Officers and 

personnel of other cadre cadre with passion 

for the job, rather than doing it just for the 

sake of it.



Triple trag 

•Mother dead, corpse of baby, placenta disappear from 

•2 mortuary attendants in custody already talking——P 

•They must produce my son for decent burial—father i 

BY Dayo Johnson Akure 

It was indeed a triple tragedy for police corporal, 

Femi Owonidahun whose wife Nike and their 

newly born baby boy died during labour at the 

Police Clinic in Akure, the Ondo state capital only to 

discover few days after the corpses were deposited at 

the state owned Specialist hospital that the corpse of 

the new baby and the placenta had developed wings 

leaving behind that of the mother in the morgue. 

The mysterious disappearance of the newly born 

baby boy and the placenta have landed two mortuary 

attendants in serious trouble as they are now cooling 

their feet at the State Criminal Investigation 

Department where they are being quizzed. 

Immediately the news spread, the people across the 

state concluded that the mortuary 

attendants may have sold the corpse of 

the new born baby and the placenta to 

people who needed them for either 

fetish purposes or money rituals. 

Vanguard learnt that the joy of the 

Owonidahuns of having an addition to 

their family was aborted as both the 

mother who worked in an insurance 

firm and her baby died on the 15th of 

May at the Police Clinic during child 

labour. 

The mother died first during labour 

and in a desperate bid to save the 

unborn baby, a caesarian section was 

performed but unfortunately the baby 

was brought out dead from the deceased 

mother’s womb. 

As if that was not tragic enough, the 

corpses were moved from the police 

clinic where the operation was 

performed to the morgue of the state 

specialist hospital and proper 

documentations were done by both the 

husband of the deceased woman and 

the mortuary attendants only for the 

bereaved husband to return few days 

later to discover that the corpse of his 

son and the placenta were missing. 

It was discovered that the mortuary attendants in a 

bid to cover up their misdeeds dressed the corpse of 

the woman and handed over a cellophane bag 

believed to contain the dead baby and the placenta 

The bereaved 

husband and his 

family members raised 

alarm and there was 

commotion at the 

hospital for hours until 

top officials of the 

hospital intervened and 

assured them that the 

police have been 

invited to investigate 

their claim 

to the bereaved father 

Out of curiosity, the bereaved husband reportedly opened 

the cellophane bag and discovered that it was rags that were 

packaged in the cellophane bag in the form of the dead baby 

and the placenta by the mortuary attendants. 

The bereaved husband and his family members raised 

alarm and there was commotion at the hospital for hours 

until top officials of the hospital intervened and assured them 

that the police have been invited to investigate their claim. 

Vanguard learnt that the hospital management staff were 

held hostage by the disturbed family members who insisted 

that the corpse of the new born baby and the placenta be 

returned from where they sold them to. They equally alleged 

that the mortuary attendants have traded off the corpse of 

the new born baby and the placenta for a fee. 

The bereaved husband Owonidaun who lamented that his 

wife died at the Police Clinic in Akure after a 

Caesarian Section said it was done without his 

knowledge and “now the corpse of my baby 

and the placenta have disappeared. 

“The materials used to wrap the lifeless body 

of the baby were found in the casket but the 

baby’s corpse was nowhere to be found for the 

family to conduct the necessary burial rites. 

“After the death of my wife, I took the corpse, 

the baby and the placenta to the State Specialist 

Hospital. They took the record of the deceased at 

the mortuary. When we now came to the mortuary 

to pick the corpses for burial, the mortuary 

attendant could not produce the corpse of the 

baby and the placenta. 

“After washing the corpse of my wife, they put 

her in the casket without the baby and the 

placenta. When I then asked for the corpse of the 

baby and the placenta, they asked me if I wanted 

to see the corpses of my wife and the baby as 

well as the placenta. They also asked me if I 

wasn’t afraid of the ghost of the dead. We insisted 

that we wanted to see the remains of the baby 

because we cannot just leave him like that and 

that we wanted to wrap him with a white cloth 

and give him a decent burial like his mother. 

“When we insisted, we now opened the casket 

and found only my wife. It was at this point that 

we raised the alarm and staged a protest that they must 

produce both the baby’s corpse and the placenta. 

“The State Commissioner of Health came here, checked the 

record and confirmed that we brought the woman, her son and 

the placenta. 

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and 

Cultists cry out: 

•We want to leave but we can’t 

•Unions, associations now used as 

recruitment grouds 

By Victor Arjiromanus 

Every day, youths and teens are initiated 

into different evil confraternities, 

where they have personal 

acquaintances with the devil. They learn skills 

at brandishing cutlasses and wielding guns 

with expressionless gusto. Emerging from 

secret axis of evil, to streets and homes, they 

unleash mayhem on innocent persons and 

members of rival groups,exterminating with 

sheer-power. 

The lies they believed 

Without knowing the pedigree of those ill 

groups they joined, they were lured with fancy 

stories of goodies, with promises to help them 

win their admired choicest girls, while some 

were told the lies of getting employed through 

connected members who stand in the high 

rungs of life. 

So many of them, ill informed and less 

intelligent joined, ignorant of the hard life of 

fugitive that awaits them, until they find 

themselves in police enclaves. 

Some of those recently arrested by the Anti- 

Cultism Unit of the Lagos State Police 

Command, cried like Canari birds, expressing 

regrets over their indulgence. 

One of them, a 19-year-old Henry Chijioke, 

a Secondary School dropout, disclosed that 

he was forcefully initiated into Arobaga 

confraternity, last December. 

I’ve gained nothing from being a cultist— 

Arobaga confraternity member 

In this interview with Crime Guard, the 

indigene of Anambra state laments : “See my 

life now. What have I gained since I joined 

them? Nothing! Only suffering and slaving 

about. I am already tired of everything; I don’t 

have my own life to live. Today, you will be 

sent to go and fight against another rival cult. 

Tomorrow, they will ask you to escort the 

Capon or any other senior member to an event 

or assignment. They don’t pay any salary, not 

a single benefit. So, why are people even 

joining? You can’t even do any useful thing 

with your life, it is only by chance that I haven’t 

been killed.” 

Narrating how he was lured into the 

Arobaga confraternity, he said; “when I 

traveled to my village in December last year, 

some group of boys belonging to Arobaga 

accosted me, they said that they had been 

observing me for some time and that I looked 

like a tough guy. So, they started compelling 

me to join them. They told me that they had 

connections everywhere and that they had 

politicians whom they worked for and who 

could place me in a good position in future. 

When I refused, they threatened to kill me. I 

was forced to join them out of fear”. 

I regret being a cultist— Eiye confraternity 

member 

Another suspect, alleged to be a hardcore 

member of the Eiye confraternity, Taiwo, 23, 

said “I belong to Eiye confraternity. I have 

never benefitted anything from the group 

since I joined and I never knew this is how 

it’s going to be. I regret being a cultist. I 

wanted to run away, but, they kept threatening 

to kill me if I tried to leave. I am tired of the 

whole thing. I want to leave”. 

Unions as recruitment ground 

Investigation by Crime Guard revealed that 

unions/associations have become festering 

grounds for cultism activities, where 

intending members are unknowingly 

initiated. 

Some of the unions and associations, 

include: Barbing, tailoring, transport, among 

others. 

I was initiated through NURTW— 

Adekunle 

Attesting to this finding, one of the arrested 

suspects, Adekunle Salau, said he was 

deceived into joining the Eiye confraternity 

when he purchased a new tricycle and wanted 

•The suspected cultists ( the suspects and the recovere 

weapons 

to join the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NU 

Said he: “Aliyu, invited me to a meeting of the NURTW 

got there, they took me inside a room and started some in 

rites. I never understood what was going on, until when th 

told me, ‘welcome to the Eiye confraternity’. That was 

understood that I had been initiated. Since then, I have n 

able to leave’’ 

My in-law initiated me—Alaka

edy: 

hospital morgue 

olice 

nsists 

wever, maybe to douse tension or change the narrative 

er twist was introduced mid week as report had it that 

issing baby and placenta have mysteriously reappeared 

womb of the deceased woman. 

res of people invaded the state hospital to have a glimpse 

onfirm the authenticity of the claim only to discover it was 

. 

Health commissioner, Dr Wahab Adegbenro who spoke 

is said “medically, it is not possible for a fetus that has 

removed to return to the uterus without anybody bringing 

k. 

is not possible for the fetus to come back to the uterus on 

n. The police are investigating, they will tell us the outcome 

ir investigation. Maybe they will subject the woman to 

sy. These are issues that will come up along the line. 

Commissioner confirmed that two mortuary attendances 

were on duty when the corpses were brought have been 

ted and being quizzed by police detectives. 

Adegbenro noted the two mortuary attendants have been 

ferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for 

er and thorough investigation. 

ording to him “I have advised the family to write the 

stry of Health officially. But because of the seriousness of 

tuation, we have gone ahead by informing the police and 

olice had swung into action. 

e Police will invariably inform us of their findings. If any 

r staff is found guilty, we will now take appropriate action. 

hospital management, Vanguard gathered had ordered 

n autopsy be done on the dead woman to determine the 

nticity of the claim and that this would be made public to 

that it had nothing to hide on the issue and to deal 

the stafs behind the ugly incident if found culpable 

police investigation. 

eaking to Vanguard, the state police spokesperson 

i Joseph said the “command had started an 

stigation into the disappearance of the corpse of the 

and the placenta at the morgue of the State 

ialists Hospital. 

eph confirmed that two of the mortuary attendants 

been arrested and helping the police to unravel the 

le. 

said that “it is correct, we have arrested them and 

are currently here in our custody answering questions 

hat they know about the missing corpse of the baby. 

e are still investigating the matter. For now we will not 

to disclose the names of the two suspects. However, 

have started talking and very soon we will unravel the 

ery behind the disappearance of the corpse of the baby 

bring the culprits to book. 

d 

RTW. 

When I 

itiation 

leader 

when I 

ot been 

On his part, Alaka Yusuf, a 25-year-old tall, 

dark complexioned man, said he was initiated 

into the Klans men confraternity, popularly 

known as KK confraternity, by his brother Inlaw, 

on December 22, 2018 without his 

consent. 

Crying bitterly, he said; ‘’I was forced into 

cultism by my sister’s husband called Roger. 

One day, he called me to come to my sister’s 

house at Igbogbo, Ikorodu. When I got there; 

he and his friends sent my sister out. I saw a 

bowl of charms on the table and they asked 

me to place my head inside it. I refused, but 

before I knew it, they started beating me with 

sticks. I had no option than to accept. That 

was how I joined Klans group “. 

Hired by politicians during elections 

It is no longer news that many of these 

cultists, work for politicians to commit 

atrocious acts during elections and also act 

as guards. This was confirmed by another 

suspected cultist, Abu Shittu, who was 

arrested with 10 guns, alongside his 

colleague, Aliyu Muhammed, in Ajegunle 

area of the state. 

He said: “During the election re-run in 

Ajegunle, last month, some PDP and Accord 

party members contracted my friends and I 

to protect them and also act as their thugs 

during the election. I called a friend, Aliyu, 

from Kogi State, to help me get some guns. 

But, I didn’t hear from him again. 

“I had to contact another young man named 

Ayatu, who gave us two guns, which we used 

during the election period. But Aliyu later 

called me on phone to ask the number of guns 

I needed and I told him five. By then, the 

election was over. On my younger sister’s 

wedding day, he called to inform me that he 

Save us from land 

grabbers, Police assault, 

Satellite residents cry out 

By Esther Onyegbula 

s they walked into the Corporate 

Aheadquarters of Vanguard Thursday, it 

was obvious that all was not well with the 

visitors; a man and a woman. The assertion was 

later confirmed by their claim of threat by some 

land grabbers to forcefully evacuate over 50 

families from their Federal Housing Authority 

FHA abode, at Sewage, Satellite Town, on 

Monday, next week, over claims that they (land 

grabbers) owned it. 

Before the threat of forceful evacuation, the 

visitors later identified as Mr Chigozie and Mrs 

Divine Johnson Amah, said residents had been 

living in fear following alleged incessant 

onslaught of terror, injustice and attacks by 

thugs hired by the land grabbers popularly 

called ‘omonile’. 

Most times, security operatives according to 

them, accompanied these thugs to the area. 

They have therefore, called on the attention of 

relevant security agencies and Governor 

Akinwunmi Ambode to come to their aid and 

stem the brigandage being unleashed on them. 

Genesis of our predicament 

In an interview with Crime Guard, Chiagozie 

said, “In the last 15 years, we have successfully 

organised ourselves as peace-loving, 

responsible and hardworking Nigerians who 

use their hard earned resources not only to build 

their homes but put the necessary infrastructure 

in place. 

“But our ordeal began when a young man who 

claimed he bought part of the community, 

began to build structures. Barely had he started 

work on the site than these ‘omoniles’ invaded 

the community, accompanied by armed 

policemen who claimed to have orders from the 

office of the Inspector General of Police. They 

claimed residents in the community have been 

constituting nuisance and as a result, we should 

vacate the community within seven days. The 

seven days ultimatum began on Tuesday, May 

21, 2019 and will elapse on Monday, May 27". 

Our lives in danger 

He paused at this juncture , cast a blank stare 

and heaved before continuing, “ We are 

presently living in fear because the land 

grabbers came with hoodlums who were 

stationed in the community. Right now, they are 

putting up fences and structures, with work 

going on there. Till date we have not heard 

anything from FHA. It is obvious these land 

grabbers are illegally and forcefully out to eject 

us with the use of hoodlums and policemen. 

“We have over 50 structures there, comprising 

FHA buildings and other buildings owned by 

individuals who could not afford to acquire 

blocks. But they have been occupying that place 

for over 20-years. This is not the first time land 

grabbers are attempting to sell off the buildings 

and land here.” 

At this point, Mrs Johnson took over stating 

emphatically that the entire land belongs to the 

FHA. 

had reached Lagos. While waiting for him, 

policemen emerged from nowhere and 

arrested me’’. 

The suspects were paraded at the Lagos 

State Police Command, Ikeja, Thursday, by 

the Commissioner of Police, CP Zubairu 

Muazu. He said they would be charged to 

court. 

Police re-strategise 

In its bid to fight the worrisome dimension 

cultism has assumed in Lagos State, the 

Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, 

DSP Elkana Bala, during an interaction with 

journalists recently, said the command 

through its Anti-cultism unit, headed by 

CSP Udom Uduak, had taken new measures 

to tackle the problem of cultism in the state. 

He said: “We have re-jigged our Anti- 

Cultism unit and launched special 

operations on cultism. This means we are 

going beyond law enforcement. We 

discovered that just arresting cultists will not 

solve the problem of cultism. We considered 

that after arresting and prosecuting them 

and maybe send them to jail, they come out 

unchanged and sometimes become even 

worse, causing mayhem to the society.’’ 

‘’Our Anti-Cultism units are therefore 

working with various stake-holders like 

churches, schools, mosques and families to 

fish out cultists because, this has become a 

societal problem, as these cultists live among 

them and they know them. 

“We have also introduced collective 

sensitization, where we organize special 

talks in different institutions, including 

schools because even school children are 

now initiated into these deadly cult groups.’’ 


EFCC arraigns ex-Customs 

boss over alleged N3b fraud 


The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, 

EFCC, has arraigned one Bridget Okafor, a f o r m e r 

Assistant Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs on a 

13-count charge bordering on abuse of office to the tune of N3.3 

billion She was arraigned before Justice Venchak S. Gaba of a 

Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court, Kwali. 

One of the counts reads: “That you, Bridget Chienyezu 

Okafor, whilst being employed in the public service and serving as 

Assistant Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service in 

charge of finance and revenue, sometime in 2015 at Abuja within 

the jurisdiction of this honourable court, did 

knowingly 

acquire a private interest in a contract awarded b y 

Nigeria Customs Service to Erman Global 

Energy Engineering Nigeria limited, a 

company in which your children are 

directors and for which the Nigeria 

Customs Service paid 

t h e 

•Bridget 

sum of eighty-nine 

Okafor 

million, nine hundred 

and 

ninety-nine thousand, 

nine hundred and 

sixty-four naira 

(N89,999,964.00) only 

and you thereby 

committed an offence 

contrary and punishable 

under section 12 of the 

Corrupt Practices and other 

Related Offences act, 2000.” 

She however, pleaded “not 

guilty” to the charges. 

Counsel for the EFCC, 

Francis Jirbo, thereafter, 

asked the court for a date for 

commencement of trial, to 

enable the prosecution present its witnesses. 

Defence counsel, Efut Okoi, however, informed the Court of a pending 

application before the court seeking bail for the defendant. 

Arguing the application for bail, Okoi, said: “The defendant has never been 

arraigned before any court for any alleged offence throughout her 35 years 

of service and she was also granted bail by the prosecution. She is a mother 

and a wife, hence she cannot jump bail.” 

Okoi, thus, prayed the court to grant the defendant bail on liberal terms. 

Responding, Jirbo, said he had no cause to challenge the affidavit, as “she 

has been on bail by the commission and she always honours the Commission’s 

invitation.” 

The trial judge, thereafter, admitted her to bail in the sum of N5 million, 

with two sureties in like sum, who must be within the jurisdiction of the 

court, and who must be civil servants not below the Grade Level 14. She was 

also ordered to submit her international passport with the Court register. 

The matter has been adjourned to July 3, 2019 for hearing. 

Alleged •250m fraud: Malaysian 

docked, remanded in prison 

By Adetutu Ajetumobi 

he Lagos Zonal office of the Economic and 

TFinancial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arraigned a suspected 

fraudster, Tan Ah Chai Richard, alongside his company, Coastal Asia Investments 

Limited, before Justice Mojisola Dada of the Special Offences Court 

sitting in lkeja, Lagos on a five-count charge bordering on forgery, use of false document, 

conspiracy to forge and an attempt to obtain money by false pretence to the tune 

of •250,000,000.00. 

One of the counts reads: “That you, Tan Ah Chai Richard, Coastal Asia Investments 

Limited and Dr. Sawang Jana (still at large), on or about the 27th September, 2018 at 

Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, conspired 

to commit felony to wit: forgery of Swift Telex Advice dated 27th September, 

2018, indicating transfer of the sum of •250,000,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Million 

Euros) to Coastal Asia Investments Limited account with Polaris Bank Plc (formerly 

Skye Bank Plc) from HSBC Bank Plc, London, United Kingdom.” 

Another count reads: “That you, Tan Ah Chai Richard, Coastal Asia Investments 

Limited and Dr. Sawang Jana (still at 

large), on or about the 27th September, 2018 at 

Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable 

Court, with intent to defraud, fraudulently 

used a false document to wit: a Swift Telex 

Advice dated 27th September, 2018, indicating 

transfer of the sum of •250,000,000.00 (Two 

Hundred and Fifty Million Euros) to Coastal 

Asia Investments Limited account with Polaris 

Bank Plc (formerly Skye Bank Plc), which you 

purported to be from HSBC Bank, London, 

United Kingdom by submitting the Swift Telex 

Advice to Chioma Omamegbe of Polaris Bank 

Plc (formerly Skye Bank Plc).” 

The defendant, a Malaysian, however, 

pleaded “not guilty” to the charge preferred 

against him by the Commission. 

In view of his plea, the prosecuting counsel, 

Bashir M. Kamil, asked for a trial date and 

also urged the court to remand the defendant 

in prison. 

Counsel to the defendant, A. B. Onifade, told 

the court that he was served with the charge 

by the prosecution only on Tuesday, May 21, 

2019 and that he would apply for the defendant’s 

bail after the proceedings. 

He therefore, urged the court to remand 

the defendant in the EFCC custody pending 

the determination of the case. 

However, Kamil, objected to the prayer of 

Onifade, stressing that the Commission’s 

detention facilities were already overstretched. 

Consequently, Justice Dada adjourned 

the case till June 28, July 2 and 8, 

•Tan Ah 

Chai Richard 

2019 for commencement of trial, and ordered 

that the defendant be remanded in Ikoyi 

Prison.

30—SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019


Security issues in 

North due to lack 

of education 

— Durosimi Etti 

Recently Chief Mrs Adeorike Durosinmi -Etti 

was installed as the President of the 

Cosmopolitan Women Club at a glitzy 

ceremony on Lagos Island. The event doubled as the 

launch of a scholarship scheme for indigent but 

brilliant children and saw members (including four 

former deputy governors of Lagos state) and non 

members alike earmark tidy sums for the purpose. 

Chatting with WW, Chief Durosimi Etti exposes her 

motivation and aspirations, along with her Executive 

Council’s during her tenure. 

What was the motivation 

for the scholarship scheme? 

We are bothered about the 

lack of education amongst 

our youth so we think we 

should do something for 

them. This is just a start off 

and we are not alone. There 

are other organizations 

doing the same thing we 

just want to contribute to 

the society. We are not 

limited to physically 

challenged. Even those that 

are able bodied but are less 

privileged but are not able 

to further their education 

because of lack of funds so 

we are gathering money 

and it’s going to be an 

ongoing thing already from 

our own resources without 

any support we have 

contributed to sponsor some 

students from Pacelli School 

for the Blind. We want to do 

more for not only visually 

impaired but other 

physically challenged and 

even able bodied that we 

know are focused and that 

have the potential to 

acquire further education as 

useful members of the 

society. 

There are so many 

scholarship schemes. What 

will make yours different? 

Once we start with them, 

as long as they are able to 

go on we are not stopping 

at a particular level. We 

want to see that they 

achieve their peak. 

What have you put in 

place to ensure this? 

We are liaising with the 

heads of institutions. Like 

the Pacelli School for the 

Blind that we have started 

we have a liaison officer 

there that we relate to. We 

are monitoring their 

progress in school. One is 

attending Queens’ College, 

one is attending Ijanikin 

and one is at Pacelli School 

for the Blind. At the end of 

the term we are going to 

request for their 

performance. We must have 

a copy of their reports so 

that we also can evaluate. If 

they have any problems 

they will let us know. So far 

so good. 

What exactly is the 

amount that you budget for 

each child? 

It depends on the school 

that you are attending. 

There is no specific cost. 

One of them is attending 

Queens’ College. You know 

Queens’ College is cheaper 

rather than a private school. 

We paid for the whole year 

for them till December this 

year (2019). It is about a 

million naira that we have 

paid so far but we are ready 

to bring in more students 

Beyond the scholarships 

do you follow them up to 

their homes? 

No, we have not started to 

do that. They were 

recommended by the Pacelli 

School for the blind so we 

are liaising with the Pacelli 

School. 

How would you comment 

on government efforts in 

education especially 

education of the physically 

challenged? 

Government cannot do 

everything alone. That is 

why others like us should 

rise up to make the 

shortfall. government is 

trying but needs support of 

everyone to achieve the 

ultimate, that is a just and 

fair society, well educated 

society- because an 

educated society is a 

civilized society. The 

problems we are having in 

the North for example is 

Mrs Adeorike Durosinmi -Etti 

due to lack of education. We 

want to try as much as 

possible to put in some 

ameliorating measures to 

curb that kind of 

hooliganism or banditry. 

How has the journey 

been so far? 

It has been nice. I have 

received a lot of cooperation 

from members of the club; 

the executives have been 

wonderful. last year we had 

an event bringing 

awareness on the societal 

issues that we have 

especially with women, 

children and youth. We 

discussed insecurity and 

how we can do something 

about it. 

What is the average 

We want to 

do more for 

not only 

visually 

impaired 

but other 

physically 

challenged 

profile of your members? 

she must be 50 and above, 

professional and a well 

educated person who has 

achieved success in her 

chosen career. 

Against this backdrop is 

there any interface of the 

Club with government? 

We are trying to do that. 

We are processing our 

registration with the 

Ministry of Women Affairs 

and Poverty Alleviation in 

Lagos state.Once we do that 

we are on their list. But 

besides that if we have any 

issues... The fire incident 

that happened in Ita Faji, 

we wanted to intervene but 

there was no proper 

organization even within 

the government that we 

could relate to. We wanted 

to provide some measures 

that would ease up some of 

the problems the victims 

encountered. 

What is the implication of 

being registered with the 

Ministry of Women Affairs 

and Poverty Alleviation? 

Maybe when they are 

doing their own event, we 

will be invited as a group. If 

we have ideas, we can 

forward to them and they 

would collaborate with us. I 

am not sure whether we are 

going to be receiving any 

stipends from government 

but we are not dependent 

on that. We have our own 

resources to do whatever 

we want to do. 

What is your position in 

ensuring that in 

government, we have 

equity among all sectors? 

The last gubernatorial 

elections, the society 

organised a seminar, sort of, 

where we invited the 

gubernatorial candidates to 

tell us what they have for 

women in the society. They 

came; Ambode came and at 

the same time Agbaje also 

came, Remi Sonaiya too 

came. Unfortunately, we 

have not been able to follow 

up with them to ascertain 

what they have done for 

women. We intend to that 

with this new 

administration that is 

coming in. 

Do you think he 

(Ambode) did well in terms 

of women in government? 

We have some 

commissioners and I think 

we have some other 

members, women too. We 

do not have the tab on 

women participation but I 

know he has women 

commissioners. 

What is the spread of 

your membership across 

the geopolitical zones. Are 

you limited to Lagos only? 

Right now, we are limited 

to Lagos but as I stated in 

my speech, we want to 

make it a household name. 

Most of us are resident in 

Lagos so we want to start 

up in Lagos. We are not 

limited to Lagos, but right 

now we want to focus on 

Lagos and establish 

ourselves. We are not just 

going to give scholarships, 

we are trying to intervene 

in communities in their 

areas of need. In fact, the 

seminar we had on 

insecurity, we received an 

invitation to go to Ogun 

State but because of all 

these political happenings, 

we couldn’t firm it up. 

Some people have been 

complaining that women 

have always been 

particular about the girl 

child and ignore the boy 

child. What is your take on 

that? 

(Laughs) Girl children are 

more exposed to danger in 

the society than the boy 

child. I think that is why 

there is a concentration, but 

for our scholarship scheme 

we are not discriminating. 

We are going to entertain 

both girls and boys. 

What advice do you have 

for mothers not to neglect 

their boy children as they 

too are vulnerable? 

What is good for the goose 

is good for the gander. They 

should be treated similarly. 

The boy should learn to do 

some duties in the house, 

even learn how to cook and 

the girl too should learn 

how to do some things for 

herself. 

She should not rely on ‘my 

brother will do it for me’ , 

she should be able to do it 

herself. There are no 

exceptions.


By Ebunoluwa Sessou 

& Florence Amagiya 

Mary and Bode, are newly 

wedded couple. Both were 

virgins before they got 

married. There was no clue 

of what to do when it comes 

to having sexual intercourse 

with each other. Neither was 

there anyone to guide them 

on what to do. 

For them, it was a difficult 

task. They were agitated. 

The expression was almost 

a hopeless one. Who would 

bail them out of this mess, 

how would they get help? All 

these and more were 

agitations on their minds. 

The reality was that the 

couple knew not what to do 

sexually. And for two weeks 

they made several attempts, 

after which they were able 

to make headway. 

According to Mary, “It was 

a big thing. We were 

devastated and much more 

when we saw blood on our 

bedspread”, she lamented. 

Mary’s case is one out of 

the many Nigerian ladies 

that are passing through this 

hassle. 

Unfortunately, several 

homes have been shattered 

due to this singular 

challenge. Couples have 

been forced to go their 

separate ways because they 

cannot satisfy themselves 

sexually. 

In some cases, most 

marriages break up for the 

fact that either of the couple 

is not able to discharge his 

or her duties or perform his 

or her role sexually. 

Ebere and Ndoka were 

married for five years yet 

could not have children until 

their pastor in the local 

church found out that they 

were yet to be deflowered. 

It got to the notice of the 

pastor-in-charge of the 

church who was forced to 

organize a class on sex and 

intimacy for the couple. 

Fortunately, other members 

of the church who felt the 

class was useful also 

participated in the 

relationship class. 

The big question therefore 

is, is it ideal to tutor the girlchild 

on what to know or 

what to do when it comes to 

her sexual life especially 

when she finally gets 

married? Is it ideal to tell 

your daughters how to make 

love with her husband and 

what to do to lure the 

husband to have sex with 

her? 

If the popular saying of the 

Itsekiri people in Delta state; 

‘egbele kukumiyo’ meaning 

‘fowl does not reject corn’! is 

anything to write home 

about; then it is no wonder 

that mothers teach their 

daughters before sending 

them to matrimony. 

Another question is 

whether the training they 

acquire would serve as 

deterent to enaging in 

promiscious acts or it will 

expose them to extra marital 

affairs. 

Happy Couple 

Marriage and Tradition: How 

mothers prepare their daughters 

sexually before marriage? 

Weekend Woman went 

round the cosmopolis to feel 

the pulse of Nigerian women 

from different tribes, cultures 

and traditions. And the 

stories told by these women 

were not the same as some of 

them opined that there are 

no special lessons given to the 

girl-child on how to make 

love with ther husband while 

others were of the opinion 

that the girl-child is being 

tutored on steps to take to 

make love with her husband. 

According to them, 

preparing the girl-child to be 

sexually active for her 

husband begins from the 

cradle. From the North to 

the South, East and West, 

the stories were not the 

same. In Hausa and Calabar 

culture, the story is the same 

compared to other tribes 

including Yoruba, Igbo, 

Rivers among other have 

different stories to share. 

Hausa 

Land 

Musa, who hails from Kano 

state told Weekend Woman 

that, “Some Hausa ladies who 

are Muslims especially the 

ones that cover their heads 

(Eleha) are trained on how to 

have sex with their husbands 

with different styles. 

According to him, “These 

girls are kept in a place for 

some weeks with other 

If the popular 

saying of the 

Itsekiri people 

in Delta state; 

‘ e g b e l e 

kukumiyo’ 

meaning ‘fowl 

does not reject 

corn’! is 

anything to 

write home 

about; then it is 

no wonder that 

mothers teach 

their daughters 

before sending 

them to 

matrimony. 

women to train them on how 

to make love with their 

husbands. These women are 

trained by elderly married 

women who have also gone 

through the same training. 

“The ladies go through this 

training because it is a taboo 

for them to be engaged in 

immorality or not able to 

satisfy their husbands 

sexually. The period of 

training is important so that 

these ladies will be able to 

satisfy their husbands 

sexually after they are 

married”, he revealed. 

Calabar 

Speaking with Uduak, from 

Calabar, WW gathered that, 

ladies are trained by their 

mothers on how to be ready 

whenever their husbands 

want to make love with them. 

According to her, “I learnt 

from my mother to be ready 

at all times and not starve 

him his food. The good thing 

is that no woman can take 

your husband and the 

woman cannot engage in 

immorality”, she said. 

Igbo 

Land 

Unfortunately, the story is 

different in Igbo land . 

Speaking with an Igbo 

woman who spoke on the 

condition of anonymity with 

Weekend Woman, there is no 

specific lesson given to the 

girl-child especially from 

Igbo land on what to do 

when it comes to sex. “I 

must confess, I do not know 

of anything regarding 

teaching your girl-child on 

how to have sex with her 

husband but as a woman, 

that has two girls and also 

got married in Igbo land. 

Normally, as a growing girl 

child, you are warned against 

sex before marriage. Then, 

when you are getting 

married, you are advised not 

to starve your husband of 

sex. That is all I know. No 

special thing regarding it that 

I know”, she said. 

Yoruba 

land 

In Yoruba land, every lady 

is advised to keep her 

virginity until she gets 

married. This was revealed 

by one Mrs Adejumo. The 

mother of four girls told WW 

that, “There is no special 

lesson given to the girl-child 

on how to make love with her 

husband when she get 

married. I have four girls, 

one of them is in Level 3 in 

one of the Higher 

Institutions in Nigeria. 

“What I know is that my 

mother told me the 

importance of keeping our 

virginity until we get married 

and that the joy of every 

parent especially mothers in 

Yoruba tradition is to hear 

and see your daughter stays 

as virgin until she get 

married. 

Continues on page

How mothers prepare their daughters sexually before marriage? 

Continues from page 32 

“It will interest you to 

know that my mother 

promised every daughter of 

hers tangible gift if she 

remains a virgin until she is 

married and she fulfilled her 

promise. She gave us gifts 

except the only one who 

disregarded the instruction. 

I have learnt that from my 

mother and I have also given 

my daughters the same 

advice. 

Keeping your virginity 

does not say, you should not 

know how to make love with 

your husband. It does not 

say your daughter should not 

be taught how to be 

responsible and keep her 

home as a wife. 

“Ultimately, parents want 

their daughters to have 

loving, intimate sex that’s 

satisfying with their 

hubands.” And that can only 

be achieved once you and 

your partner reaches an 

understanding and know all 

the dos and don’ts of intimate 

relationship. 

“It’s important for mothers 

to discuss all the 

reproductive organs not 

only with their daughters but 

all their children and advise 

them strictly on the need to 

stay off sex before marriage. 

I will also advise mothers to 

always tell their daughters 

their roles and 

responsibilities when they 

are married. They should do 

everything possible 

positively to retain and 

manage their homes. No 

marriage should break up 

because of their inability to 

satisfy themselves”, she said. 

Mother and daughter 


Ascheme known as Female Security Pilot 

Scheme has been introduced by 

Corporate Guard, where female guards 

would be deployed to public and private outfits 

as pilot drivers. 

Akwa 

Ibom 

In Akwa Ibom, the story told by 

Madam Gift was that a woman is 

married only to sexually satisfy her 

husband. According to her, “Growing 

up, I learnt all what it takes to manage 

my marriage and not lose it to another 

woman. “Growing up, my mother told 

me to always obey and be prepared for 

my husband whenever he wants to 

have sex with me. That a woman is only 

married to take care of her husband 

sexually. We were taught not to lose 

our marriage because we cannot 

satifsy our husbands sexually”, she 

revealed. 

Kalabari, 

Rivers state 

Washing of private part was what the 

Kalabari ladies in Rivers State learnt 

from their mother. Favour a Kalabari 

explained to WW that, “While she was 

growing up as a child, she learnt that 

Speaking at the launch of the 

scheme , Head, Corporate Guard, 

Captain Cynthia Ojemudia, 

explained that the new scheme 

was in line with Corporate Guard’s 

matrix of adding value to the 

sector through constant innovation 

and changing the face of security 

in the country. 

She also attributed the new 

service to the prevailing security 

situation in the country, which she 

said required everyone, both male 

and female to be security 

conscious and alert in securing 

themselves and their environment. 

“It was informed by the 

prevailing security situation of the 

time and it is to change the face of 

private security in the country,” 

she said. 

The female security pilots 

according to her, were skilled 

drivers who were trained and 

equipped with defence and 

security skills and tools. With this, 

she noted that security of people 

who use the service would not only 

be enhanced but guaranteed as 

the female pilots were “trained in 

security and defence driving, with 

a security mind and very conscious 

and aware of her environment.” 

She added that “ they operate 

with the added advantage of being 

able to turn your car into a weapon 

when necessary in an emergency 

or threatening situation by 

ensuring that the passengers are 

safely piloted to a secured 

environment and out of danger 

the first thing a woman 

takes care of after 

waking up is to wash her 

private part. This is done 

as a ritual by the woman 

because the husband 

might demand for sex 

anytime and she must 

not deny him. 

“I also learnt that the 

virgina is second to the 

man’s best food. I was 

taught to dress nicely 

and know how to satisfy 

my husband; even when 

l was still a virgin. 

“I was taught on time 

never to use tissue to 

clean my private part 

but l should have a clean 

cloth specially kept to 

clean my private part. I was taught 

specially to cook for my husband and 

never starve him. Although l am not 

yet married but l have kept all l have 

been taught and l am happy l was 

taught”, she said. 

Delta 

State 

Jolomi, from Itsekiri land, said a man 

is treated with care and respect. “My 

mother taught me to give him special 

care both in the bedroom and in the 

dining room. I was taught to be clean 

both inside and out. I was taught that 

the best way to a man’s heart is through 

his stomach and also to give him all 

attention and the rest of him is history 

because l would have won his heart. 

“An Itsekiri woman doesn’t have to 

have money to look beautiful but she 

would use what she has and make 

something beautiful out of it. My 

mother told me to learn to cook 

different delicacies very well in order 

for me to stand out amongst women 

and to always remain humble and loyal 

to my would- be husband. She taught 

me to be clean always incase my 

husband needs the other kind of food”, 

she said. 

Firm introduces Female Security Pilot Scheme 

and reach of their target”. 

“People feel safer with women and 

women too are more dutiful and 

committed to their task.There is 

nothing for anyone to be afraid of 

seeing the faces of the pretty looking 

pilots behind the wheel”. 

The scheme according to her, “also 

offers opportunities for females 

wishing to pursue a career in the 

sector as it is opened to females with 

school certificates and university 

degrees including OND and HND. 

“Besides the educational 

qualification and other added 

proficiency skills, she disclosed that 

they are put through a two month 

rigorous training in security and 

defensive drills, including 

professional and security driving by 

the training arm of the outfit”. 

She added that the service, was 

open to both corporate bodies and 

individuals requiring professional 

security outfit to cater for their security 

and safety round the clock. 

As part of the safety measures, she 

said that the female pilots were 

insured while the clients were also 

expected to be insured as well as the 

vehicles, with the brand of vehicles 

deployed for the service ranging from 

either manual or automaticjeeps, 

SUVs, vans to buses. 

“The service is budget friendly and 

affordable for those who really need 

the service and appreciate it,” 

Ojemudia said of the new scheme 

even as she assured that necessary 

security checks are embarked on 

before any trip by the operatives. 


NAWOJ election: 

Vanguard Reporter, 

Adelaja, others win 

ByEbunoluwa Sessou, Yinka 

Latona & Juliet Umeh 

VANGUARD Reporter, Bose 

Adelaja alongside seven 

aspirants have been sworn-in as 

newly elected executive of 

Nigerian Association of Women 

Journalists, NAWOJ, Lagos state 

chapter. 

She won unopposed as assistant 

secretary of the association on 

Thursday, May 23, 2019 at the 

Radio Lagos/Eko FM, Ikeja, 

Lagos. 

The election which took place 

amidst drama, agitations, 

frustrations, and apprehension as 

members of the association 

defiled court injunction and 

insisted election be held. 

The rowdy session started when 

some chapels who allegedly did 

not pay the 2019 annual dues 

insisted they must exercise their 

voting rights but the 

representatives of NAWOJ 

national body led by it’s Secretary 

Ladi Bala, said the rules should 

be adhered to as payment of dues 

is compulsory. 

Few minutes before the 

elections started, Vanguard 

gathered that the National 

Industrial Court sitting in Ikoyi, 

Lagos State had granted an 

injunction stopping the elections 

but this was ignored as some of 

the voters were chanting 

solidarity songs in support of the 

elections which later took place 

amidst tight security. 

The election which held amidst 

court injunction took place at the 

Radio Lagos/Eko FM, Ikeja, 

Lagos. 

Vanguard gathered that, Ekine 

polled 296 votes to defeat her 

opponent Mrs Sekinat Lawal who 

polled 16 votes. 

In the same vein, Mrs. Bunmi 

Yekini also won the Vice 

Chairperson seat with 299 votes 

to defeat her opponent Igomu 

Tessy who polled 11 votes. 

Other contestants including 

Lilian Ario, Secretary, Rukayat 

Adeyemo, Auditor, Sherifat 

Shittu-Maku, Treasurer and Bose 

Adelaja as Assistant Secretary 

were unopposed. 

They were all sworn-in as newly 

elected execuitves of the 

association but Amaka Emeke 

who is supposed to be the 

Financial Secretary was not swornin 

due to non payment of her 

NAWOJ dues. 

•Bose Adelaja

C 

M 

Y 

K 


rofessor Wole Soyinka, a very 

Psuccessful individual by any 

definition of the word, once lamented 

that his generation was a failed one. 

It was a curious lamentation at the 

time especially when you know that 

the said generation boasted many 

successful individuals in business, 

commerce, military, the arts and of 

course, government. It was arguably 

more successful in the many 

definitions of success, than the 

generations after it. But unto whom 

much is given, much is expected. 

And that is the crux because that 

generation was given a lot by God 

and country. It was the generation 

that enjoyed the largess of 

government scholarship the most. It 

was the generation that walked into 

jobs immediately after school. It was 

the generation whose members 

became CEOs, Perm Secs and 

Generals in their 30s. It was the 

generation the founding fathers 

handed over the future of the country 

to because it was better educated and 

more enlightened. Alas! It was the 

generation that wasted the vistas of 

opportunities the nation had to enter 

the comity of civilized countries. It 

was a generation that caused the 

country to falter. It caused a war and 

prosecuted it. It’s been downhill 

since then. 

But if this generation wasted its 

opportunities, the succeeding 

generations wasted the country. My 

concern today, is the economy 

however. One by one, everything 

that could make the country re-enter 

the league of industrialised countries 

was denied oxygen. The Iron and 

Steel Industries, the Petrochemical 

Industries, Aluminium Industries, 

even the refineries were 

asphyxiated. We ignored the basic 

rules of industrialisation either 

because we felt we could get away 

with it, or we simply did not care. 

Industries were sited without 

thinking of access to raw materials, 

market or labour. They were manned 

without respecting quality, merit or 

competitiveness. They were 

supported by decrepit 

infrastructures. In other words, our 

national industries were 

programmed to fail. And they did fail. 

Spectacularly. But we were not 

stripped naked because the 

After nearly 20 years of 

existence, the Nigerian 

Governors Forum, NGF, has not shed 

its uncanny reputation as Nigeria’s 

most exclusive all-male club. The 

macho casing had been breached by 

a woman once, albeit accidentally, by 

Lady Virgy Etiaba, who became 

governor of Anambra State through 

the intrigues framed by the political 

enemies of Mr. Peter Obi. 

The setting for the NGF remaining 

an all-male club in the immediate 

future remarkably remains in place. 

It is set in myth, muscle, and money. 

When in 1998, Mrs. Joy Emodi 

made the first decisive move to break 

that ceiling, the myth was that 

Anambra men would not allow her 

as governor to break kola-nut. She 

had retorted that she would 

designate a male commissioner to be 

breaking kola-nuts. 

Since Mrs. Emodi’s resonating 

campaign of 1998, a handful of other 

women have made equally bold 

attempts at mobilising the money 

and mustering the muscle to break 

that ceiling. 

Among the most formidable were 

Mrs. Uche Ekwunife, (Anambra), 

Mrs. Paullen Tallen and Senator 

Aisha Alhassan (Taraba). 

But their efforts and those of 

several other wannabes have 

remained unfruitful. 

Hence, the 36 member NGF, has 

remained an exclusive preserve of 

the menfolk. 

So, after nearly 20 years of the men 

having exclusive preserve of the 

NGF, how far they have been able to 

advance the country and its 

democracy is visible to all. 

The indicators of development 

We know why the industries failed don’t we? 

multinational companies were there to 

save our blushes. After all, we had the 

population, the raw materials, the 

petrodollars, ‘otherwise known as the 

market.’ We were also reasonably 

stable. They siphoned; they 

exploited. But they gave us jobs. They 

gave us training. They made our 

leaders glorified Chairmen and our 

people glorified shareholders. 

Everybody was happy until the bubble 

busted. 

The price of crude oil fell drastically 

and we couldn’t meet our import bills. 

We entered into the era of essential 

commodities, import licensing and 

forex rationing. Even this we couldn’t 

handle transparently. The same fat 

cats who mismanaged the economy 

also became beneficiaries of a skewed 

system. They became richer by selling 

allocation papers on the secondary 

markets while those who needed ‘raw 

materials’ were clawing at straws and 

gasping for air. It was an 

unsustainable system. Industries were 

operating at about 40% capacity. IMF 

came in ostensibly to free our economy 

from the stranglehold of import 

licensing and to liberalise trading. 

The champions of IMF were President 

Babangida, Chief Falae and Dr Chu 

Okongwu.But the supporters of IMF 

were, to be fair, not limited to the trio. 

There were many proponents among 

our economists, bankers and even 

industrialists who were fed up with 

the import licensing system. But IMF 

conditionality turned out to be a wrong 

prescription. It was like offering 

surgery when a simple drug would 

suffice.The capsule we needed to cure 

our ailment should have contained 

discipline, prudence, transparency 

Fayemi:This is our chance! 

have deteriorated over the period with 

the basic settings of a failed state 

starring Nigeria in the face. 

There was indeed, a time in the 

recent past when during the Bukola 

Saraki and Rotimi Amaechi 

chairmanship of the NGF, when efforts 

were made to use the forum as a 

platform for development. 

In that period, the group was 

especially used for peer review, and 

it was pleasing that governors would 

visit one another to take development 

tips. 

The model school projects 

conceptualized by Amaechi in Rivers 

State was a special attraction for 

governors who went there to draw 

inspiration. 

But after the struggle for preeminence 

among the men split the 

NGF down to the roots in 2013, it 

seemed as if the club members lost 

focus. 

Last Wednesday, as a new leadership 

of the NGF, was elevated, there 

appeared a glimpse of hope that the 

club could again redirect itself 

towards the collective good. 

The emergence of Dr. Kayode 

Fayemi as chairman of the NGF and 

and patriotism. Our industries were 

simply too young, too small, too 

unsophisticated to compete with big 

global brands internationally or even 

locally. Devaluation of our currency 

was to discourage imports and 

encourage exports. But only if we 

offered cheaper alternatives and our 

industries were not geared to provide 

cheaper alternatives. Add access to 

funds and cost of funds to the reasons 

I had earlier mentioned and you begin 

to get a picture of the situation we were 

in. IMF knew it. The Western powers 

knew it. Many multinational 

companies knew it. They sold a dummy 

and we bought it. The aim was not to 

industrialise us. The aim was to make 

us a market for their finished 

products.Thirty five years down the 

line, their game plan has worked to a 

T. One by one, the local industries 

died. One by one, the multinationals 

abandoned us citing an unfavourable 

working environment. 

The scars of this failed economic 

policy and leadership attitude to 

industrialisation are everywhere. 

Industrial estates are now populated 

byeither churches orwarehouses for all 

manner of goods. Machines have been 

pushed out into the rain to make room 

for shining finished products. Trailers 

queue up empty to bring finished 

products from the ports. Ships berth 

our shores laden with goods and leave 

empty. We subsidise other countries’ 

economy at the expense of ours. We 

help other countries keep a high 

employment rate while our youths go 

about jobless. 

In the heady days of the seventies 

when Nigeria still held a lot of 

promise, a young man came into the 

One by one, everything that could 

make the country re-enter the league 

of industrialised countries was 

denied oxygen 

country from America with a ‘can do’ 

spirit. He soon decided on selfemployment 

and tried his hands on 

trading and importation to get some 

capital and the feel of the business 

environment. But he really wanted to be 

an industrialist.He soon built a sprawling 

factory in Ijebu to assemble parts for his 

air-conditioning business. His ultimate 

goal was to manufacture everything in 

Nigeria. I know about this because I was 

involved in trying to get the Minister for 

Commerce and Industry under the 

Shagari government to attend the 

opening ceremony. I also interviewed the 

Japanese Chairman of the parent 

company to help raise awareness for this 

laudable project. Everybody was 

impressed with what this young man had 

achieved already and was trying to 

achieve in the near future. His foreign 

partners facilitated credit facilities in cash 

and goods running into millions of 

dollars for him. This young man poured 

himself into the business, spending 12- 

18 hours a day at the factory. And he was 

rewarded. His units started appearing in 

homes and offices. Then came IMF. He 

was summoned to Japan and told point 

blank that the parent company was 

pulling out because they could not see 

how Nigeria’s fledging industries could 

survive IMF pill. He was devastated. He 

tried to get some concessions but it was 

really the beginning of the end. Today, 

the vast factory in Ijebu stands as a 

monument to what could have been and 

a symbol of many other failed projects in 

Nigeria. 

Last Sunday, I sat next to Remi Abdul 

at the reception hosted by his old friend, 

Gori Ogunyemi who was recently made 

a knight of the Methodist Church. For 

the first time, in three decades we were 

able to reminisce with only a tinge of 

emotion. Time has healed as usual but 

the scars are etched. 

The emergence of Dr. Kayode Fayemi as chairman 

of the NGF and Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as 

his deputy is expected to give the body a new 

motif beyond the present money, money, money 

mutterings and moans that have lately 

characterized its activities 

Alhaji Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as his 

deputy is expected to give the body, a 

new motif beyond the present money, 

money, money mutterings and moans 

that have lately characterized its 

activities. 

In recent times, NGF meetings have 

been held almost with the single 

agenda of the Paris Club refunds with 

financially distraught governors 

strategizing how best to get money 

from the Federal Government. 

In the face of the most severe 

challenges to the country’s territorial 

integrity, the response of the governors 

had until now been at most perfunctory. 

Indeed, even the immediate past 

chairman of the NGF, Abdulaziz Yari, 

in the face of the rapacious assaults 

on the people of Zamfara bemoaned 

his fate with his readiness to surrender 

his role as a chief security officer of 

his state. 

Fayemi and Tambuwal are about the 

best choices that the NGF could have 

produced at this time to lead the body. 

The expectation is that the body 

would take its proper position in the 

polity through equipping its 36 

members with the right quotient to 

properly steer the affairs of their states 

through peer review sessions and outings 

that would direct them towards the felt 

needs of their people. 

Indeed, it would be helpful if instead of 

the regular meetings in Abuja, that the 

governors take their meetings to their 

respective states and to wit, let the 

laggards among the club members be 

exposed to their colleagues and the 

media. 

Fayemi in particular with his 

background in security, democratic 

struggles, journalism, and development 

activities among others should be able to 

bring some advantages as chair of the 

NGF. 

Even more, Governor Fayemi was 

known to have inspired the first welfare 

scheme for the aged in Ekiti State during 

his first term. 

But more than any other thing, opening 

up the club to the other sex could be a 

legacy that Dr. Fayemi could inspire. But 

not directly. Through egalitarian policies 

that he throws to fellow club members, 

one way or the other, it could even become 

possible that in four years what was 

known as a male club would turn into a 

unisex club! Indeed, this is Fayemi’s 

chance to change the narrative.


C 

M 

Y 

K 


Some Nigerians approach life with 

herd mentality. You remember 

when many people became emergency 

investors in the stock market until the 

bubble burst. People without requisite 

skills were just buying shares based 

on which shares were “reigning.” The 

problem of herd mentality did not start 

today; it has been with us for a while. 

One of my professors at the University 

of Nigeria, Nsukka, Okwudili Nnoli, 

called it “me-too-ism” in his book, 

“Ethnic Politics in Nigeria.” Yes, the 

same herd mentality is what made 

ethnic politics to grow taproot in 

Nigeria even before independence. 

Today, kidnapping has become a big 

national problem due to herd mentality. 

That is why I find the recent upsurge 

in suicide cases worrisome. If it 

becomes a fashion fad, we are in 

trouble, because herd mentality or metoo-ism 

will drive it, not the economic 

hardship people are pointing fingers 

at. For very good reasons, government 

continues to be the weeping boy in 

Nigeria. In fact, for a long while now, 

I have been waiting for somebody to 

blame or sue the government for his 

inability to make love to or get his wife 

pregnant. Shockingly, I have not heard 

such a case, but when it happens, I 

will not be surprised because our blame 

game many a time borders on the 

absurd. 

That is not to exonerate the 

government. Beyond the poor state of 

the economy and insecurity, 

government needs to come to the aid 

of the ordinary people. Many 

Nigerians who go out every day to earn 

legitimate income face all kinds of 

obstacles. Importers are at the mercy 

of customs, transporters by road are at 

the mercy of touts, local vigilantes, 

government officials and policemen. I 

was shocked recently when a 

policeman at a checkpoint on Nsukka- 

Enugu road asked our driver to 

produce his road worthiness 

certificate. Policeman, road worthiness 

certificate, how? Electricity 

distribution companies are killing 

consumers with bills for electricity they 

did not consume. Every day, people 

in offices and positions complicate 

simple procedures to enable them 

Suicide is not a fashion fad 

exhort money from members of the 

public. People are increasingly getting 

more frustrated. Government needs to 

come to the aid of Nigerians. 

Nigerians cannot endure these cases 

of injustice forever. The weak might 

take the path of suicide or resign to 

fate, but some people will fight back 

and you never know the outcomes of 

such fights, especially when it involves 

the mass of the people. 

Meanwhile, some experts have 

expressed the need for the passage of 

the Mental Health Bill that has been 

dragging on for over 10 years. They 

also express the need for more trained 

psychologists to tackle increasing 

cases of mental problems. These are 

good moves, but individuals and 

families need to help themselves in a 

Hobbesian society like ours where 

even the fittest are gasping for breath. 

The traditional family structure, as we 

used to know it, has broken down, 

partly due to new technologies and 

new ways of doing things. But it is 

not all bad news. When I undertook 

my maiden journey to Nsukka in the 

80s to commence my degree 

programme, it took weeks before my 

letter arrived Warri, Bendel State (now 

Delta State), to let my family know that 

I arrived safely. These days, it takes 

seconds to convey a similar message. 

The same technology that is destroying 

the fabric of the family can be used to 

build the family. Use WhatsApp and 

other social media to mentor your 

children. If you cannot generate 

contents, go online and look for 

contents that can edify their lives. Also, 

use social media to bond with your 

My ordeal in the hands of 

Wamako, EFCC — Chief Umeh 

•Says, my experience has made me 

know the other side of life 

By Jacob Ajom 

FORMER Acting President of the 

Nigeria Football Federation, Chief 

Mike Umeh is a Lagos-based 

business man who is better known for his 

involvement in football administration in the 

country. Umeh was Team Manager of Rangers 

International Football Club of Enugu in the 

club’s early days. He progressed to become 

Team Manager of the Green Eagles, as the 

national team was then called. Umeh’s era as 

TM of the national team witnessed the best 

part of the history of Nigerian football - Tunisia 

’94, USA ’94, etc. He was also chairman of 

Anambra State FA on several occasions. He 

was also Vice President of NFF. 

Umeh’s exploits in both sports and business 

has endeared him to many including the high 

and mighty of the society. His friend and 

former Governor of Sokoto State, Alhaji 

Attahiru Dalhatu Bafarawa contacted him and 

asked him to clear goods for the Sokoto state 

government from the Apapa port to Sokoto. “I 

carried out the job diligently. But when his 

former Deputy, Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko 

assumed office as Governor, he arrested me 

and accused me of what I don’t know anything 

about,” Umeh recounted. On May 27, 2013 the 

former football chieftain was picked up from 

his Lagos residence by operatives of the 

Economic and Financial Crimes Commission 

and taken to Sokoto. He was arraigned a day 

latter at the Sokoto High Court. Umeh 

defeated both the EFCC and the State 

government in the case. 

They appealed against the judgement. The 

appellate court upheld the judgement of the 

lower court. Not satisfied, they then took the 

matter to the Supreme court. The Supreme 

court presided over by former Chief Justice of 

the Federation, Justice Walter Onoghen on 

February 15, 2019 discharged and acquitted 

Chief Umeh on the allegations levelled 

against him by the Economic and Financial 

Crimes Commission 

After the courts’ verdicts Umeh has lost so 

much, particularly, including his hard-earned 

reputation 

The trauma cannot be described. It is the 

biggest trauma in my life. I had never been to 

the police station in my life before. A 

detachment of the EFCC, about 10 of them in 

the early hours of the day, invaded my house 

in Victoria Island. When I peeped through my 

window, I saw them taking positions around 

my swimming pool side and surrounded my 

premises. It looked as if I was dreaming. I 

asked myself, what am I seeing? My mind 

skipped off. When they came, there was no 

resistance from my gate men. All of a sudden, 

I saw about four of them, four plain-cloth 

policemen, coming toward my bedroom. But 

I managed to lock my door before they got 

there and they kept banging on my door. I 

was wondering if they were thieves, robbers. 

I was evidently frightened. But when I peeped 

through window and saw some uniformed 

policemen and their police van parked I 

became calm and felt strong because I can’t 

be afraid as I had done nothing wrong. 

“I sent my wife to go and find out what was 

going on and to ascertain who those people 

were. She went down to see who they were 

and they seized her immediately, took her 

phone and detained her in my study. They 

made her pick my calls because I was 

expecting her to come and give me feedback. 

I couldn’t reach her anymore. I knew then that 

there was trouble. I took my time, took my 

bath, dressed up and when I opened my door, 

I saw them right in front of my bedroom. I 

went down with them to the study. When they 

saw me, they then allowed my wife to walk 

away. 

And I said gentlemen, yes this is Chief Mike 

children. Social media have really 

made the world a global village. No 

matter where your children are, you 

can virtually be with them on time, 

real time, 24/7. 

Parents have a responsibility to 

help their children find their 

purpose in life. We spoke about it 

last week. This has become even 

more urgent with the spate of 

suicide among young people. Let 

your children have something 

worthwhile that makes them jump 

out of bed every morning. Let them 

immerse themselves in their 

passion; they should be driven by 

their passion and purpose. It is rare 

for young people with dreams, goals 

or destinations in mind to commit 

suicide. Let them have something 

to live for, it helps. Nigeria is tough 

a place for young people; there are 

myriad of problems, but these 

problems also offer opportunities. 

Breakthrough is tough, but 

possible. 

I was reading about 10 recent 

cases of suicide in Nigeria. Two 

were adults of over 40 years, six 

were teenage and adolescent 

males, while two were young 

teenage girls jilted by lovers. The 

large percentage of the young males 

took my mind back to a discussion I 

had with a friend some days ago. 

Parents naturally rally round their 

daughters because they are the 

weaker sex. We protect our 

daughters because we do not want 

them to sexually abused, we do 

want them to be entangled with 

teenage pregnancies. What about 

•Chief Mike Umeh 

Umeh, what can I do for you. They now 

showed me a warrant of arrest from Sokoto 

State Government. When I saw that, I 

shook my head because I knew I didn’t 

do any business with the Sokoto State 

government, rather than the former 

Sokoto State governor, Alhaji 

Bafarawa. He is my friend and what I 

did for him was a logistic job; a 

logistics job without any contract or 

formal approval. What we did for them 

was to give them services of clearing 

their imported items from the port and 

that we did and delivered to them. The 

allegation was that I was the one who 

imported those items while I am not. I am 

only a clearing agent; a servicing company. 

“What happened was that Bafarawa was 

no longer in government and as soon as 

Wamako, his former deputy took over, he 

gathered all friends of the former governor 

and charged them to court without proper 

Electricity distribution companies 

are killing consumers with bills for 

electricity they did not consume 

our sons, who is helping them to sort out 

their emotional issues; who is providing 

them a shoulder to lean on. The emotional 

well-being of male children is overlooked 

in many homes. Parents just look at their 

grades, pay school fees and basically 

expect the male children to come good 

by some magic. “They can only 

impregnate other people’s daughters; 

they cannot get pregnant,” some parents 

feel, so their private and emotional lives 

are not priority. The male child, like the 

female child, is fighting many private and 

emotional battles. Parents should be close 

to them so that they can help out where 

necessary. 

As for the two girls who killed 

themselves because their boyfriends jilted 

them, I would say misplacement of 

priority caused their death. At 17 or 18 

years, the priority of a young girl should 

be to get good education, find her niche 

and pursue her dreams. A boyfriend is a 

distraction. Most boys of that age only 

want a relationship because of sex. Sexual 

relationships outside wedlock are doubleedged 

swords and many youngsters, boys 

and girls, at that age are not just mature 

enough to deal with the heartaches and 

heartbreaks that come with failed or 

troubled relationships. Their bodies and 

peer pressure always want them to 

experiment with sex and relationships at 

that age, but if parents help them to get 

their priorities right early in life, it could 

help them in navigating the turbulence 

of adolescence. 

Life, especially in difficult environments 

like Nigeria, does throw many challenges 

and situations at you. Some of these 

challenges and situations are quite 

unpleasant and seemingly hopeless, but 

suicide is not an option; we must 

collectively work to prevent suicide from 

becoming a fashion fad. 

investigation, with frivolous and malicious 

allegations. Until now, some are still going to 

court. We were about 35 of us going to court under 

different allegations. 

“In my own matter, when EFCC arrested me, 

they first detained me in Lagos, took me to Abuja 

and from Abuja they had to take me to Sokoto. 

All this while, I was the one buying flight tickets 

for me and EFCC operatives from Lagos to Abuja 

and from Abuja to Sokoto. Even when the court 

granted me bail, they took me back to Abuja and 

detained me there pending the perfection of the 

bail. So it is an experience I pray I never had in 

my life again. It was a terrible ordeal. 

“I lost my money, my reputation and physical 

exertion. The story was blowing like a wildfire 

across the world. I am an international 

businessman an administrator and popular 

figure in the sports circle, especially football. 

As a former team manager and at that time, I 

was the vice President of the Nigeria Football 

Federation. It even served as a tool for 

blackmail as some of my colleagues in the 

NFF were using the case to want to bring me 

down. But look at me today, God’s time is the 

best.” 

“When my trial came up, I won them in the 

High Court, they appealed and I still won 

them in the Court of Appeal dismissed the 

appeal because there was nothing found 

against me. I was just maliciously accused 

without just cause. And it is all because 

Wamako is not happy with Bafarawa. It is just 

politics as when they went to the Supreme 

Court the court reaffirmed the judgments of 

the lower courts and threw out thee case. So 

those who were celebrating that Chief Mike 

Umeh is in soup without knowing the facts of 

the matter should now hide their faces in 

shame. It has also helped me to know the other 

side of life” 

I lost so much money, travelling from here 

to Sokoto, every two weeks. I am talking to 

my lawyers. They have to be on top of the 

matter. It was well celebrated in the media 

both print and electronic. 

I believe in our legal system. The decisions 

of the courts have reaffirmed my faith in our 

legal system. They say it is the last hope of 

the common man. Who am I to have been able 

to overcome the federal government and the 

Sokoto State government without the 

incorrigibility and firmness of the law. I am 

just an individual.

The Organization of the Petroleum 

Exporting Countries, OPEC and 

non-OPEC members on Sunday, May 

19, in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi 

Arabia, held its 14 th ministerial 

monitoring committee meeting, known 

as the Joint Ministerial Monitoring 

Committee, JMMC. OPEC and its 

non-OPEC allies otherwise known as 

OPEC+ meeting explored production 

options that will be decided at the June 

25 th summit of OPEC in Vienna, 

Austria as well as the OPEC+June 26 

meeting also in Vienna. The JMMC 

meeting was attended by petroleum 

important persons including the 

Secretary General of OPEC, Nigeria’s 

Mohammed Barkindo, Saudi Arabian 

Energy Minister, Khalid al-Falih, 

Russian Energy Minister, Alexander 

Novak and Venezuela’s Oil Minister 

Manuel Quevedo. The JMMC which 

includes other major oil producers Iraq, 

the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, 

Nigeria and Kazakhstan, reaffirmed its 

commitment to achieving a balanced 

market and working towards oil market 

stability on a sustainable basis with 

solid fundamentals. The JMMC 

meeting which is consultative in 

nature, made recommendation to the 

OPEC Conference as well as OPEC 

and non-OPEC Ministerial meeting, 

which are scheduled to meet in June 

2019, regarding appropriate actions 

that would favour oil markets for the 

second half of 2019. 

OPEC and its allies attempt to review 

last December pact for a global supply 

cut on 17-18 April was called off. 

Traders and investors continually 

gauge the moods of the oil producer 

group that appear not uncloak on 

production cut extension amid global 

demand-supply uncertainty. Last 

December, the group agreed to a global 

supply cut by a collective 1.2 million 

barrels a day, a move that has driven 

gains for oil prices this year, an 

orty Three years ago, Lt.Col. Bukar 

FSuka Dimka, was arrested and 

punished for his role in the 

assassination of General Murtala 

Mohammed. The coup plotter almost 

meandered his way out of Nigeria while 

the police watched. 

And I have a feeling that some officers 

in the police force could have been soft 

on Dimka. To confirm my suspicion, one 

retired cop called me last Saturday 

detailing what the police knew about 

the Army officer’s movement after the 

abortive coup. 

According to my source, Dimka 

hurried to Apapa after escaping from 

Radio House, Ikoyi-Lagos where he 

changed to white mufti. Then he made 

for the park to hire a vehicle out of 

Lagos. 

He said :”Dimka joined a Mercedes 

Benz 911 lorry and left for Abakaliki at 

about 5pm, February 13, 1976. We were 

monitoring his movement. All but one 

of the drivers at the park refused to 

travel to the East because of the tense 

situation.” 

The man who volunteered to brave the 

journey across the Niger was, Eugene 

Anene, Chief Executive of Eugenco 

Motors. He made some good money off 

the runaway soldier because Dimka was 

compelled to pay double the fare. 

When I asked my informant why the 

police failed to grab Dimka, his reply 

shocked me. And that was after Anene 

had seen Dimka’s face on television as 

a wanted man and reported to the 

police. 

“We were on surveillance. It was not 

our job to arrest him,” the police officer 

told me. 

There was the police connection. Mr. 

S.K. Dimka was Kwara State 

Commissioner of Police and was 

married to one of the sisters of General 

Yakubu Gowon. The former Head of 

State was accused of backing the coup. 

I believe Dimka was also monitoring 

the police. While he told the truck 

driver to take him to Abakaliki, the 

journey ended somewhere in Abatete. 

Chief Chukwurah, proprietor of Africa 

College, Onitsha had a familiar guest. 

Dimka was indeed, his son-in-law, 

married to his daughter, Maria. 

Chukwurah was most uncomfortable. 

OPEC+ concerns on global oil supply 

agreement that expires at the end 

of June. The U.S. benchmark crude 

rose by 40 percent this year as OPEC 

members and other producers work 

in tandem to tighten global 

inventory levels. The unending 

trade war between the United States, 

the biggest oil producer and China, 

the biggest oil consumer; the two 

largest world economies, are 

Washington has decided 

not to extend the waivers 

given to China, India or 

others to keep on signing 

crude contracts with Iran 

determining factors of global oil 

equation that OPEC+ members 

severally tilt towards to reach 

supply cut agreements. 

The Chairman of the JMMC and 

Saudi Energy Minister, Al-Falih, 

told reporters that in the second 

half, preference is to maintain 

production management to keep 

inventories on their way declining 

gradually, softly but certainly 

declining toward normal levels. 

Al-Falih was cautious about the 

supply outage occasioned by the 

United States sanctions on Iran 

and the heightened tension it has 

generated since May 2, in the 

Middle East. U.S. President 

Donald Trump increased 

economic pressure on Iran, to cut 

off all its oil exports, to get Tehran 

to curb its nuclear and missile 

programmes as well as end 

support for proxies in Syria, Iraq, 

Lebanon and Yemen. Washington 

has decided not to extend the 

waivers given to China, India or 

others to keep on signing crude 

contracts with Iran. Analysts 

believe that proxy wars and 

sanctions could create the perfect 

storm for oil as OPEC’s spare 

production capacity is not 

sufficient to accommodate crude 

supply outages from Iran and 

Venezuela. At the June meeting, 

a clearer assessment could be 

made of the crisis in Venezuela 

and the impact of US sanctions on 

Iran. In the interim, the large 

drops in production from Iran and 

Venezuela have briefly been offset 

by greater output coming from 

Dimka’s dramedy with police 

He sent Rev. Vincent Madike to 

Chief Mbazulike Amechi. The 

message was that Dimka was hiding 

in his house while the nation 

searched, from Calabar to Kano. 

Amechi had an encounter with 

Dimka a few months after the war in 

1970.The former seized his car and 

when the latter went to the Fifth 

Brigade, Onitsha to retrieve the 

vehicle, he was almost shot by 

Dimka, the Brigade Major. 

When Amechi got to Chukwura’s 

house in 1976, he asked Dimka to 

be a bold soldier and leave his 

father-in-law’s house. That was 

when the plotter changed location 

to Afikpo. 

Chief Amechi also urged 

Chukwurah to report Dimka to 

Gabriel Ezekewem, a Deputy 

Inspector General of Police Lagos. 

This happened while the police 

declared Dimka wanted and 

advertised three phone numbers: 

23711, 56878 and 52797, through 

which information could be passed. 

With all this information, Dimka 

still moved to Afikpo, driving 

Chukwurah’s Renault car, with 

registration number ECC 6253. He 

chose Friendship Hotel, Amachi as 

comfort zone. 

Dimka was also well known in the 

area for soldiers of First Division had 

occupied Government Secondary 

School, Afikpo at the end of fighting. 

So when he appeared again in 1976, 

wearing turban, two teachers, Jasper 

Okoro and William Enweozor, 

recognized him. 

While Dimka checked into the hotel 

as Mr. C. Godwin of Federal 

Ministry of Agriculture, Enugu, 

those who supplied him with girls 

knew who he was. He eventually 

settled for Ugo Agboti after 

rejecting numerous fun seekers. 

His elder brother, the police 

commissioner, was in detention in 

Lagos. Kwara State was as bloody 

as Lagos. Governor Ibrahim Taiwo 

had been abducted and executed 

by some officers and men of the 

26 th Brigade Ilorin. 

Major Kephas Gagara led 

two subalterns, Lts. Obadiah Zagni 

and Sunday Wayah to Government 

House. Sergeants Bala Javan and 

Ahmadu Rege completed the 

bloody job. 

Another police commissioner, 

Joseph Gomwalk, a Zoology 

graduate of the University of 

Ibadan and first governor of Benue 

Plateau State, was also in 

detention. 

Gomwalk’s sister-in-law, Helen, 

was also held. Helen Gomwalk’s 

younger sister, Mildred, was 

married to Maj. Gen. Iliya Bisalla, 

Federal Minister of Defence and 

Murtala’s Sandhurst course mate. 

He was also in confinement. 

Two other junior officers, James 

Danbaba and Shayen, were 

undergoing trial in Kirikiri. 

Danbaba, from Demsa in the 

Adamawa area was Dimka’s 

friend and had joined the police 

as a Sub Inspector in 1963. Dimka 

was commissioned Second 

Lieutenant in the same year. 

The day soldiers stormed 

Friendship Hotel, they did not 

find Dimka. He had jumped out 


Nigeria and Libya, despite ongoing 

conflict. 

The International Energy Agency, IEA 

figures show that OPEC has 3.19 million 

barrels per day, mbpd in spare capacity, 

of which 2.21 million bpd comes from 

Saudi Arabia. The problem is that the 

spare capacity available is located where 

most of the geopolitical tensions currently 

lie, a shipbroker said. Analysts believe the 

situation is precarious unless a strong 

growth in crude supplies from the US to 

meet global demand requirements in the 

2nd half of the year. An increased and 

sustained inventory would ensure the 

market remains adequately supplied in 

the absence of any OPEC increases. 

Russia’s support for extending cuts was 

unclear after energy minister Alexander 

Novak said oil producers were looking at 

various options. Russia supplies over 10 

percent of global oil. All global oil majors 

rely on Russia to feed their refineries, 

especially in Europe and Asia. With 

continued uncertainty over Russian crude 

shipments via the Druzhba pipeline, 

potential supply disruptions could put 

further pressure on prices. Oil settled on 

a mixed note Monday, May 20, with U.S. 

crude, West Texas Intermediate, WTI for 

June delivery, which expired on Tuesday, 

rose to settle at US$63.10 a barrel on the 

New York Mercantile Exchange, NYMEX. 

Brent for July settlement slipped to settle 

at US$71.97 a barrel on the London-based 

ICE Futures Europe exchange. By 

Wednesday, Brent was trading at 

US$71.87 a barrel, with WTI at US$62.59 

a barrel, both down from opening. The 

knotty issues that the OPEC+ would tackle 

are the volatilities that continue to weigh 

on the market. As traders and investors 

are apprehensive that OPEC+ would 

remove the production caps at its June 

meeting, in light of tightening global 

supply, the Energy Information 

Administration, EIA reported a crude oil 

inventory build of 4.7 million barrels in 

the week to May 17. 

One smart driver, Mathew Nga, spotted 

him on his bus and walked up to Police 

Constable Jika Iyah to report. The Police 

sidelined the driver and took all the 

credit 

of the window. His babe, Ugo, was beaten 

black and blue. The poor lass did not even 

know that lover boy had escaped. 

At this time, East Central State 

Commissioner of Police was Kafaru 

Oluwole Tinubu. He was the first 

Nigerian to Commandant of Police 

College, Ikeja and a lawyer as well. 

It was a surprise that with all the 

knowledge and information available to 

the police, it took some time to get Dimka. 

And his arrest did not have so much 

police credit. 

Dimka was running to Cameroon. He 

was at home for it was where he murdered 

Biafra’s Col. Tim Onwuatuegwu, another 

of Murtala’s course mates, in January 

1970.As a young officer, Gowon had 

served in Cameroon. Today, Bakasi 

belongs to Cameroon while the Western 

part of that country is crying for freedom. 

One smart driver, Mathew Nga, spotted 

him on his bus and walked up to Police 

Constable Jika Iyah to report. The Police 

sidelined the driver and took all the credit. 

Tinubu took Dimka to One Brigade, 

Enugu where he was displayed to 

newsmen by Lt.Col. Danjuma Dyeris. Jika 

Iyah was promoted. Tinubu later became 

Federal Commissioner for Health. 

Dimka’s arrest nailed Bisalla whose last 

words were “I would have been set free 

yesterday but for this boy, Dimka who 

implicated me. God knows I knew nothing 

about it. Allah sarki.” 

Dimka’s arrest saved Danbaba who had 

been sentenced to death by the Gen. 

Emmanuel Abisoye tribunal. 

Police Commissioner Dimka bagged life 

jail. Helen Gomwalk was also sentenced 

for life. 

On May 15, 1976, Dimka was executed 

at Kirikiri alongside Gomwalk and 

Shayen, two police officers



FOREIGN 

I regret my 

inability to 

deliver 

Brexit; says 

Theresa May 

•As she resigns as 

British Prime Minister 

British Prime Minister, Ms 

Theresa May has announced 

her decision to resign as the 

leader of the ruling Conservative Party 

and Prime Minister on June 7. 

Her voice breaking, Prime Minister 

Theresa May announced her 

resignation on Friday after three years 

of Brexit turmoil, dramatically 

increasing the likelihood of Britain 

crashing out of the EU within months. 

She has been battling hard to get the 

British parliament to agree to her Brexit 

deal for the UK to quit the European 

Union. 

May, who took over in the aftermath 

of the 2016 Brexit referendum, was 

forced to make way following a 

Conservative mutiny over her ill-fated 

strategy to end Britain’s near fivedecade 

membership of the European 

Union. Ms May who is the second 

female prime minister of the UK, after 

Margaret Thatcher said she had “done 

my best” to honour the 2016 EU 

referendum result where Britons voted 

to leave the EU. 

“It is and will always remain a matter 

of deep regret to me that I have not 

been able to deliver Brexit,” May said 

outside her Downing Street office, 

holding back tears. “It will be for my 

successor to seek a way forward that 

honours the result of the referendum”, 

she added. 

May, 62, who will be among the 

country’s shortest-serving post-WWII 

prime ministers remembered for 

presiding over one of the most chaotic 

periods in its modern political history, 

said she would step down as head of the 

Conservative Party on June 7. 

She will remain in Downing Street in 

a caretaker role until a replacement is 

elected by the party before July 20. 

Any new leader of the party, which 

won the most votes in the last election, 

automatically becomes prime minister. 

Gaffe-prone Brexit cheerleader Boris 

Johnson, who resigned as foreign 

secretary last summer over May’s 

withdrawal strategy, is the immediate 

front-runner to succeed her. 

He said Friday that under his 

leadership Britain would leave the EU 

with or without a deal on October 31 — 

the latest deadline agreed with Brussels 

after Brexit was twice delayed. 

Boris Johnson who is considered the 

favourite to replace May said “the way 

to get a good deal is to prepare for a nodeal 

situation,” he told an economic 

conference in Switzerland, according to 

Bloomberg. “To get things done you need 

to be prepared to walk away.” 

However, EU leaders struck a defiantly 

contrasting tone. 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said 

the withdrawal plan agreed was “not up 

for renegotiation”. 

Spain said a no-deal departure now 

appeared “near impossible to stop” while 

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned 

the Brexit saga was entering “a phase that 

may be a very dangerous one for Ireland”. 

The pound wobbled after she spoke, as 

analysts said her imminent departure 

amplified uncertainty. 

“The prime minister’s resignation also 

increases the risk of a no-deal Brexit,” said 

Sarah Carlson, of Moody’s. 

May was pushed into the humiliating 

spectacle of a hastily arranged 

resignation announcement following a 

meeting with the Conservative Party’s 

committee chief in charge of leadership 

elections. 

She had been under rising pressure 

following months of Brexit-fuelled 

political paralysis, which intensified 

following disastrous results in the May 

2 English local elections. 

May will leave office without any 

significant achievements — other than 

her bungled handling of Brexit, say 

analysts. The Conservatives are 

expected to fare similarly badly in this 

week’s European Parliament elections 

when results are announced Sunday. 

“Politically she misjudged the mood 

of the country and her party,” said Nigel 

Farage, whose new Brexit Party is 

predicted to win the contest in Britain 

emphatically. 

The beleaguered leader had 

previously vowed to step aside once her 

unpopular EU divorce deal had passed 

parliament, and this week launched a 

short-lived bid for lawmakers to 

approve it in early June. 

MPs have overwhelmingly rejected 

the agreement three times, weakening 

May on each occasion 

Her latest effort to force it through the 

House of Commons, which included 

giving MPs the option of holding a 

referendum on it, proved her final 

undoing, prompted a furious reaction 

from Conservatives, including cabinet 

members. 

Her departure kickstarts a 

Conservative Party leadership contest 

— already unofficially under way — 

that is expected to encompass more than 

a dozen candidates and favour an 

ardent Brexiteer. 

Tory MPs will hold a series of votes to 

whittle the contenders down to a final 

two that will be put to the party’s more 

than 100,000 members. 

Johnson is the membership’s 

favourite, but numerous Conservative 

lawmakers are thought to hold serious 

reservations about his suitability for the 

top job. 

May was the surprise victor in the 

2016 leadership contest to replace then 

prime minister David Cameron after he 

quit following the EU referendum. 

Despite having campaigned to 

remain, she embraced the cause with 

the mantra “Brexit means Brexit”. 

However the decision to hold a 

disastrous snap election in June 2017, 

when she lost her parliamentary 

majority, left her stymied. 

Her dismally dysfunctional 

government saw 36 ministerial 

resignations — a modern record. “She 

doesn’t really have a legacy,” said 

Simon Usherwood, of the University 

of Surrey. “I think anybody in her 

position would have had great 

difficulty.” Others were more brutal 

in their assessment. 

“It was only an impossible job 

because she made it one,” said Tim 

Bale of Queen Mary University of 

London. 

Theresa May


Okowa on silent 

mode, keeps 

political 

lobbyists on 

tenterhooks 

By Emma Amaize, 

Regional Editor, South-South 

AHEAD his swearing-in for a 

second term in office as 

Governor of Delta State, May 29, the 

jinx breaker, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, who 

Deltans overwhelmingly voted into power 

March 9 to complete the eight-year tenure of 

Delta North Senatorial district (Anioma), 

according to an unwritten power sharing 

agreement in the state, has momentarily 

switched his political antenna on “silent 

mode.” 

Though All Progressives Congress, APC, 

faithful in the state have queried the 

controversial power treaty that has seen only 

the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, 

produce three consecutive governors from 

1999 until date. By the arrangement, Okowa 

will hand over in 2023 to an Urhobo son from 

the Delta Central Senatorial district. 

However, that is not the issue now. Silent 

mode is when you are quiet and not talking. 

Some people say it can also mean a “do not 

disturb mood.” It is also a setting available 

on mobile phones and pagers that, when 

activated, disables the ringtones and, in some 

cases the vibrating alerts or alarm. Unlike the 

air plane mode, the silent mode still allows 

the device to receive and send calls and 

messages. 

‘Sorry, His Excellency is not seeing anybody 

now’ 

Whichever way you interpret it, political 

godfathers, lobbyists, office seekers and 

politicians in Delta state have their own 

knowledge of silent mode. They know it to be 

when their governor wants political 

merchants to leave him alone to take some 

critical decisions. Such a period, his close 

aides will simply tell you, “His Excellency is 

not seeing anybody now”, “His Excellency is 

busy and he cannot see anybody today” and 

“Sorry, Oga did not tell us he wants to see 

you.” 

Moreover, the well-groomed politician 

that he is, Governor Okowa, aka Ekwueme 

(The person who does what he says) has built 

an awe-inspiring image the way he has 

handled affairs of the state since he came on 

board that nobody wants mess up and get 

spanked for trying to force his way in. 

In fact, the way Okowa has configured the 

security arrangement in Government House, 

Asaba, you cannot even get to see him except 

you are on initiation. 

Not hoodwinked by lobbyists 

Ask any politician worth his onion in the 

state, mostly PDP faithful, they would tell you 

that whenever Okowa wants to take critical 

decisions or make decisive appointments, he 

metamorphoses to silent mode. 

A politician told Saturday Vanguard in 

Asaba, “When the man wants to think and 

make a wise decision, he does want people 

coming to lobby for appointments because the 

failure or success of his administration 

depends on who handles what.” 

“In fact, when you tempt, send people to 

lobby for an appointment for you or when 

godfathers begin to lobby for you, the 

governor senses something and impulse 

increases on the reason for the lobby. 

Therefore, is better you do not lobby and let 

him fish you out by himself because the 

governor is not hoodwinked by such 

gambles,” he added. 

Cold war over political appointments 

Therefore, while his May 29 inauguration 

is a top priority, internal struggle within the 

party for appointments is the matter of the 

moment and how the governor is handling it 

is the greater challenge; 

Leaders of the party who delivered their 

polling units, wards, local government areas 

and senatorial districts are insisting on 

befitting appointments and that has squared 

them against those that failed to deliver in 

their areas in the last elections. 

A top PDP leader who confided in this 

reporter, said, “How can somebody 

(name withheld) say he wants to 

be appointed ahead of those 

who performed in their 

areas. He has to wait for 

those who delivered to 

pick first. We are 

watching to see what 

the governor is going 

•Okowa 

to do. Nobody is 

seeing him now 

because that is the 

unspoken rule, but 

we are watching,” 

“You know, anybody who approaches the 

governor now for appointment or send people 

to lobby for him is worsening his case. The 

governor is on a quiet now until he comes up 

with the list he thinks is good for the state. 

“Apart from the Deputy Governor, the 

Speaker, other lawmakers that are already 

elected and the local government officials, 

nobody is sure of appointment, be you 

anything until the governor announces your 

name and he does not want anybody to woo 

him,” he explained. 

Handover, Okowa tells commissioners 

At a valedictory executive council meeting 

with his commissioners on Tuesday, where he 

formally asked them to handover to their 

respective permanent secretaries latest 

yesterday (Friday), Okowa said, “In the last 

four years, I have had a working team, an 

executive that realized that we are together 

and that our success story will be told 

together.” 

“I am proud to say that it is the collective 

efforts of each and every one of us that has 

given us our success stories which also 

resulted in the resounding victory we 

recorded at the elections. God’s grace was 

obviously with us. 

“But I believe that if each and every one of 

us had our own different beliefs and worked 

in different ways, we would not have been 

able to achieve what we have achieved thus 

far. Therefore, I will first want to thank every 

one of you (members of the state executive 

council) for the wonderful comments that you 

have made this afternoon 

“I appreciate you more for the commitments 

in your previous offices in the last four years 

because there is no doubt that you have all 

been very loyal to the deputy governor and 

me. In addition, that loyalty has kept the 

team together. I want to thank each and every 

one of you; I can rightfully say that none of 

you betrayed the confidence that I have in 

you.” 

“In our executive meetings, we have had 

discussions and debates and I want to thank 

each one of you for being very frank, I have 

learnt a lot from individual comments, from 

ideas that people have, which I may not have 

thought of and I am proud that there was room 

for us to debate issues. We talk about an 

open-door policy and I have had at a point in 

time to learn that if you are a well-tutored 

politician, you will have no choice than to run 

an open-door government. 

At the session, Commissioner for Local 

Government Affairs, Hon Joyce Overah, who 

is the Chairman of College of Commissioners, 

thanked Governor Okowa for giving them the 

opportunity to serve the government and 

people of the state as commissioners, stating, 

“Working with you (Governor Okowa), 

working with your Deputy, we learnt a lot of 

lessons and we are very grateful.” 

“The crew you assembled as commissioners 

are very understanding and we pray that as 

you enter second term, God will guide you 

and your Deputy to continue to do it right for 

our people, the people of Delta State,” he said. 

Other commissioners, who spoke at the 

session, included Chief Fidelis Tilije, Mrs. 

Mary Iyasere, Barr. Newworld Safugha, Dr 

Mordi Ononye and Mrs Omatsola 

Williams, while the Secretary to the State 

Government, Hon. Festus Agas, Head of 

Service, Mr Reginald Bayoko and Prof. 

Sylvester Monye also joined the 

commissioners to list their experiences 

working with the governor and his deputy. 

Most complicated time to forecast Okowa 

A dependable source said, “This is the most 

difficult time to predict Okowa, when he goes 

on silent mode. He can ask for you when he 

wants to see you, but for you to see him is 

difficult because they will tell you he does not 

want to be disturbed.” 

According to the source, “You can speak to 

Okowa wanting to pull his leg and get 

something out of him; I can tell you are 

wasting your time because he already knows 

where you are going to.” 

Okowa will not succumb to political 

pressure – Ukah 

Erstwhile Commissioner for Information, 

Patrick Ukah, who spoke to reporters few days 

before the governor directed all 

commissioners to handover, said Okowa is not 

the type of governor, who gives in to people 

that lobby and jostle for political 

appointments. 

Beyond political pyrotechnics 

By Charles Udoh 

When in 2015, Akwa Ibom had a new 

helmsman, many were sceptical of 

what a political greenhorn had to 

offer. They argued that there was a gulf 

between being a high flyer in the corporate 

world and surviving in the turbulence of the 

political arena. But Mr. Udom Emmanuel 

went about his duties as the captain of “Team 

Akwa Ibom” with an ecclesiastical devotion. 

He outlined a 5-point agenda as his key 

performance indicators and also initiated the 

reawakening of the spirit of enterprise in the 

indigenes. 

His 5-point agenda encapsulated job 

creation, poverty alleviation, wealth creation, 

political and economic inclusion as well as 

infrastructural consolidation and expansion. 

To actualize this well thought-out agenda, he 

casted the foundation on a tripod of goals 

namely: Industrialization, Tourism and 

Agriculture.Fast-forward to four years later, 

Udom Emmanuel has an encyclopaedic 

volume of achievements to show on his 

scorecard. From basic and everyday home 

needs to commercially viable products, the 

governor has actualized his industrialization 

agenda with cold-blooded verve. 

From a zero position in industrialization in 

2015, the state has over 16 industries across 

various economic sectors. This feat is 

remarkable given the monumental failure of 

similar ventures in the past across Nigeria.As 

pedestrian as a tooth pick and pencil industry 

may sound or appear, the naked reality is that 

there is a toothpick and a pencil in every home 

of the almost 200m Nigerian same as every 

foreigner resident in the country. These items 

have mostly been imported since 

independence with attendant flight of scarce 

foreign exchange. 

Earlier this year, the Minister of Agriculture 

and Rural Development, Mr. Audu Ogbeh, 

while defending the ministry’s budget before 

the National Assembly Joint Committee on 

Agriculture lamented that the importation of 

“Toothpick every year costs the country 18 

million US Dollars, tomato paste costs the 

country 400 million US Dollars”. While the 

nation is wailing and engaging in the game 

of trading blames, the Akwa Ibom State 

Government had quietly commenced the 

process of addressing the obnoxious trend by 

setting up a toothpick factory. The factory, 

which is in its third year of operations, has 

taken advantage of the natural endowment 

of the state; that allows bamboo to thrive 

unaided, to use this readily available plant 

as its main raw material. 

The minister also mentioned the 

humongous foreign exchange that leaves the 

shores of the country in search of tomato paste. 

This admission leaves a sour taste in the 

mouth especially when we consider that by 

geographical location, Nigeria is blessed with 

year round arable vegetation and climatic 

conditions to allow for commercial cultivation 

of tomatoes and ultimately production of 

tomato paste. Sadly this had become a blind 

spot in our economic agenda but the 

agriculture and food sufficiency agenda of the 

Akwa Ibom State Government; since 2015, 

has opened new vistas in this area. From the 

greenhouses for cultivation of high quality 

vegetable to the numerous sprawling farms 

of the Akwa Ibom Employment and 

Enterprise Scheme (AKEES) littering every 

nook and cranny of the state, the agricultural 

revolution has lifted the state from being a 

consumer state to becoming potentially 

Nigeria’s emerging food basket. The state has 

become self sufficient in the production of 

tomato and other staple food stuff; with its 

sights set at commencing local production of 

tomato paste in commercial quantity. 

Our national population consumes a 

whooping six (6) billion syringes per annum 

with an approximate annual expenditure of 

over $30m on importation of this essential 

commodity. For some unexplainable reasons 

the African continent had gone to sleep 

becoming oblivious of this potential cash cow. 

Only one major syringe factory was reported 

to be in the African continent before the 

Jubilee syringe factory was commissioned in 

Akwa Ibom State in 2017. With an annual 

production capacity of 400m syringes per 

annum, the factory dwarfs the 95m syringes 

per annum production capacity of the only 

other known syringe factory in Africa. The 

Jubilee Syringe factory currently has a 

proactive expandable provision to increase its 

production capacity to one billion (1bn) 

•Gov Udom Emmanuel 

syringes per annum without putting up 

additional structures. 

It is a well-known fact that the Federal 

Government in a spirited bid to address the 

hiccups in electricity distribution in the 

country had initiated a process of replacing 

post electric metering system with a pre-paid 

metering system. However, this noble idea 

seemed to have been heading towards 

extinction because of the prohibitive costs of 

importation of pre-paid meters especially 

against the backdrop of an epileptic foreign 

exchange regime in the country. 

But through the efforts of the Akwa Ibom 

State government, there is a bright light at 

the end of the tunnel. The commencement of 

operations of the Electric Metering Solutions 

Factory in Akwa Ibom state in 2017, cleared 

the path for the acceleration of the pre-paid 

metering implementation exercise in Nigeria. 

In the words of the Vice President, Prof. Yemi 

Osinbajo during the commissioning of the 

Metering solution factory a little over two 

Septembers ago,”This is an excellent 

innovation, again it ties into some of what the 

Akwa Ibom state government is already 

doing; you already have a generating capacity 

in the order of 155/153 megawatts of power 

which means very soon, practically everyone 

in Akwa Ibom state should have power”. 

Indeed, the government of Akwa Ibom Sate 

is committed to ensuring sustained round the 

clock power supply in the state, even though 

the government efforts are not being helped 

by the ability of the Transmission Company 

of Nigeria to evacuate only 40% of power 

generated by Ibom power plant 

From Rice, fertilizer, pencils, paint and even 

plastics, our national economy has perpetually 

taken a bashing from foreign exchange flight 

in pursuit of these items in the international 

market. In the first quarter of 2016, Nigeria’s 

Minister of Science and Technology 

Ogbonnaya Onu projected that Nigeria will 

start producing pencils by the year 2018. The 

pencil production plant was to be the first of 

its kind in West Africa. But Akwa Ibom State 

had gone ahead to beat the national projection 

by 1 year.Every home, office, and school in 

Nigeria today has need for pencils, 

unfortunately, it remained another item of 

foreign exchange flight until the doors of the 

pencil factory in the state swung open using 

recycled newspapers as one of the main raw 

materials. 

In fulfilment of his commitment to 

aggressive industrialisation, Governor Udom 

Emmanuel made a clear statement of intent 

in his first 100 days in office by resuscitating 

the Ibom Paints Ltd (formerly Peacock Paints 

Ltd) that had gone into receivership within. 

Other notable strides in industrialisation 

include the Fertilizer Blending Factory in 

Abak, Rice Mill in Ini, Palm Kernel Crushing 

Plant in Ibesikpo Asutan and Ukanafun, the 

Plastic Manufacturing Factory in Itam, and 

numerous Palm Oil Processing Plants. The 

Flour Mill and Coconut Refinery have both 

reached advanced stages of completion. 

As the dawn of a second term in office 

approaches, the Governor; whose landslide 

victory at the just concluded polls upset the 

applecarts, is doubly determined to up the 

tempo of industrial revolution in the state. As 

we speak, Ibom Air; the state government 

owned airline is taxing; ready revolutionise 

the airline industry in Nigeria while the Ibom 

Deep Sea Port Project is firmly on course. 

Indeed in the space of four years, Akwa Ibom 

State has metamorphosed from being a 

geographical end point to being a preferred 

destination for investors and tourists in 

Nigeria. It is safe to say that Governor Udom 

Emmanuel has redefined governance and 

taken sustainable development beyond the 

realms of political pyrotechnics that seemed 

to be the norm since the advent of democracy 

•Charles Udoh, is the Commissioner for 

Information and Strategy, Akwa Ibom State

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25 , 2019—41 

Dining with Obasanjo where 

celebrities unwind in Warri 

By Emma Amaize, 

Regional Editor, South-South 

SOCIAL life steadily coming back to 

the oil city of Warri and neighboring 

Effurun in Delta State, where some oil 

companies and investors fled some years 

ago due to militancy, upsurge in kidnapping 

and other criminal activities. 

One of the places that have become a setting 

for Nigerian celebrities and where many 

people chill out because of its enthralling 

facilities is Signatious, arguably, the only fivestar 

hotel in Warri. It was formerly Godlen 

Tulip. 

Last Saturday, former President Olusegun 

Obasanjo was at the 200-room structure, 

strategically located at the Petroleum Training 

Institute, PTI Junction, along the East-West 

Road, Effurun, near Warri, to feel the charm 

of Signatious and taste its opulence. 

The ex-president, who was in Delta state to 

attend the second session of the Seventh 

Synod of the Anglican Communion, Oleh 

Diocese, and as many are wont, these days 

stopped over at the resort. 

Akin to any 5-star hotel in the world – OBJ 

Saturday Vanguard reporter, who 

rendezvoused in the tavern, was in Gheye, 

one of the captivating restaurants when 

Obasanjo sauntered with a former Chief of 

Army State, Lt General Alexander Ogomudia 

(retd), Deputy Governor of Delta, Deacon 

Kingsley Otuaro, ex-Minister of State for 

Education, Olorogun Kenneth Gbagi and a 

host of others. 

The former president, who also owns a hotel, 

Green Legacy Resort in Abeokuta, Ogun state 

and spoke mostly in his native Yoruba 

language, marveled at Signatious, which he 

said was equivalent to any other five-star 

hotel in the world. 

He ate beans served with fresh fish and 

drank Green tea thereafter. This reporter 

observed that he “demolished” the entire 

ingredients in his plate and overheard 

him telling Ogomudia that the food 

was delicious. The expression on the 

faces of Lt Gen Ogomudia and 

Deacon Otuaro after their culinary 

appointment told the story. 

“They have a very fine 

environment and what I see here 

is not different from my hotel in 

Abeokuta and any other fivestar 

hotel,” he added. 

Phone call while on dining table 

A number of persons hold the view that it is 

not good to make or receive phone calls while 

eating, but from what I observed, it does not 

look as if that is true with the elder statesman, 

who answered calls as he ate. He seemed to 

take pleasure in it as he adjusted not just his 

cap, but also more relaxed backward on his 

chair, as he spoke to the caller. 

Not many knew that he has a wife from 

Uvwie in Urhobo land. One of the guests told 

Saturday Vanguard, “He is showing off in his 

Urhobo apparel and long bead because he is 

married to our daughter. She is the woman 

living with him in the house now.” 

Home to celebrities 

•Obasanjo 

The former president is not the only one 

enchanted by the lure of Signatious, others 

are. Glitzy politician, philanthropist and 

lawyer, Prince Dr. Ned Nwoko, relocated to 

the airy inn with his spouse and stunning 

Nollywood actress, Regina Daniels when the 

Federal University of Petroleum Resources, 

FUPRE, Effurun, recently honored him with 

a Doctorate degree. 

One Nollywood screen goddess and 

producer, who appeared to have discovered 

the glamour of the motel and quietly finds 

her way there whenever she is in town to 

perform some shows or on a visit, is Ufuoma 

Macdermott. Saturday Vanguard met her on 

one occasion, last year. 

We gathered that youths frequently flock the 

hotel on both weekdays and weekends, 

especially to watch cinema, swim and 

generally relax in a secured and comfortable 

setting. 

Nothing like Signatious in 

Warri – Adwunmi, manager 

Manager of the hotel, Mr. Kayode 

Adewunmi told Saturday Vanguard, “Nobody 

should be surprised that former President 

Olusegun Obasanjo came here to have a feel 

of our luxury, he is an hotelier himself and is 

astounded by what we have here.” 

Adewunmi insisted, “We are the 

best and biggest in town with all 

the facilities you can find in any 

of the five-star hotels in any part 

of the world. We have 200- 

room accommodation to 

gratify our guests, 

excellent gym, spar 

and sauna, a 2,000- 

capacity hall, Fame 

Dela Fame for any 

event by our 

clients, cinema 

with four theatre 

hall and Olympic 

size swimming 

pool. 

Obasanjo’s happiness 

Mr Adewunmi told Saturday Vanguard, 

“The former president was surprised to find 

out that I am an Egba man from Abeokuta 

like him. He was excited that an Egba man is 

the chief executive of the five-star hotel. He 

asked me to take time off to visit him in 

Abeokuta.” 

“He is from Ibogun, while I am from Ofada 

and immediately he found out that I am from 

Ofada, he requested to know if my people 

still cultivated the famed Ofada rice, saying 

it is nutritious and he likes eating it a lot,” the 

manager added. 

FATHER MADUBUKO: A man 

of science and con-science 

By Fr. George Adimiki 

Hardly does a tribute begin with a 

‘mea culpa’ yet it is fitting that 

this begins with a confession of 

failure and repentance. I must confess our 

failure as the students of this sage for not 

getting out his thoughts for the next 

generation. Thought of this nature is 

hardly inconsistent with historical reality 

whereby the ideas of great sages and 

thinkers were made available to posterity 

by their students. Plato relative to 

Socrates is an obvious example. The only 

justifiable alibi about the Madubuko’s is 

that his former students do articulate his 

thought and theology across the length 

and breadth of the local Church, which 

has its foundation in Onitsha, stretching 

from Mamfe to Nsukka, Calabar through 

Port Harcourt to Abakaliki. His past 

students embody his thought and 

theology; nevertheless, this alibi neither 

excuses nor suffices. 

This effort is only a hymn of gratitude to 

God from whose grace we have a person so 

human, priestly and godly as Father 

Lawrence Madubuko. He is never afraid 

of living the embodied existence or being 

found in human form with all its gifts and 

responsibilities, gains and pains, strengths 

and weaknesses. He lives this embodied 

existence the sacramental life that 

manifests the goodness and glory of God, 

in an earthenware vessel with dignity and 

grace. His life is a sacramentality that 

signifies and embodies the hope of 

salvation, and actively lives it. 

Though he is not an orator, one cannot but 

be amazed and consumed in the wonder of 

the depth of his insight, and sagacious way 

of its delivery that outclasses oratory. 

Listening to him takes one up in wonder 

and contemplation – into a thought that 

only contemplates thought, and makes the 

superficiality of eloquence evident. The 

profundity of his thought is well balanced 

with the prodigious simplicity of his life. 

You can only give testimony in gratitude to 

God for an excellent gift of this priest, 

prophet and professor, Monsignor 

Madubuko. 

•Father Madubuko 

The Sage: The agelessness of his emotion 

and his intellectual pre-eminence combine 

to accentuate his sagacity. Fr Lawrence 

delivers the truth without diminishing its 

forthrightness and potency. He transforms 

silence into power, which eventually sorts 

out disputations and echoes the wisdom of 

his stand within the limits of human 

perfection. His silence proves a resounding 

echo of words that one ignores to his peril. 

What he restrains in words, he 

compensates in the depth of his ideas. 

Economy of words, deep thoughts! That’s 

Madubuko. 

Simple parsing of madubuko 

corresponds to maduka, and finds its 

meaning in Chukwuka! It is stunningly 

striking that Monsignor believes that 

madu-bu-uko precisely because his 

fundamental anthropology is maduka. 

His anthropology is not only theocentric 

but also rooted in Christ. Man is theological, 

and truly defined in Christ. No 

wonder he connects divine truths with 

the sacramental experience of man, 

because of the continuity of Christian 

mystery with the divine economy. As 

such, he teaches the mysteries from the 

anthropological continuities and 

Christological discontinuities. 

Consequently, the novelty of Christianity 

shines out as discontinuity in continuity. 

The profundity of what he professes and 

the depth of his thoughts compensate for 

his economy of words. 

The Sacerdos: Father Madubuko has 

lived his life nursing the wounded 

humanity, mediating the comfort of God 

to the harassed, desolated, dislocated, the 

wounded and the deprived people, as he 

traverses the paths of history and exists 

in a web of existence in the rhythm of 

time. He applies the healing balm of 

consolation and fatherly support, the 

sanctifying oil of the priestly benediction, 

and redeeming medicine of brotherly 

correction and encouragement. He 

understands when it seems difficult to do 

so, and chastises when it feels odd but, 

above all, supporting and encouraging, 

with an iconic capacity for equanimity. 

His ability to maintain emotional 

equilibrium even in the face of 

provocative circumstances gives him out 

as a legendary elder. His priestly 

disposition puts agelessness to his youth 

and his priesthood. 

The Scholar: Monsignor Madubuko’s 

teaching requires attention, but once 

understood, it is difficult to forget. His 

greatness runs on the profundity and 

durability of the knowledge he impacts. 

Madubuko’s pedagogy undoubtedly is 

centred on the human person. This 

anthropological angle contributed to his 

consciousness of the learning subject 

whom he places at the centre of all 

learning experience. This ability to treat 

one and each as a person, hence, a 

learning subject helps him to realize the 

plurality of human experience as a result 

of each person’s history of grace so that 

even if united ontologically in identity, 

humanity is distinctly expressed. 

This knowledge and wisdom guide his 

pedagogy and engagement with worship. 

Because of the ontological and 

anthropological constitution, there is a 

possibility of the unity of faith, cult and 

ethics but on account of the plurality of 

the existential, he appreciates legitimate 

and healthy diversities and also nurtures 

them. Man is at the centre of worship as 

a flock of Christ, a brother of Christ and 

as a subject of Christ, hence in all 

worship, Christ exercises three modes of 

the same act of which man is substantially 

implicated. 

The Man Madubuko: This piece is not 

beatificatory, rather it is a testimony of a 

life of beatitude. I make no pretence that 

he made perfect decisions in every 

circumstance; otherwise, he would be an 

angel. Saints either made mistakes in 

decisions or their implementation or both, 

yet saints are so called because grace 

always triumphs in them. In him, the 

profundity of a believer who is well rooted 

in faith and the soil trumps all 

superficialities. His deep sense of 

sobriety liquidates inanities of life of 

their allures. Faith and love norm his 

life. 

Disciplined, yet very compassionate, 

Madubuko not only appreciates the 

reality of humanity’s squandered 

sonship but is fully aware that the 

gratuitous mercy of the Father already 

compensates it. Hence, he lives the 

Christian fraternity. He lives the 

informed brotherhood, which in part, is 

an expression of the reconstructed family 

of God. No wonder, he lives for the 

Eucharist, the sacred meal of encounter 

that builds communion, which entails 

sacrifice and presence of mutually 

additive parity. He embodies the priestly 

mysticism of John, the sagacious 

prophetic mission of Paul and the 

personalized authority of an elder-leader 

of Peter. 

He is a mentor and mensch to the most 

exact meaning of the words. He is never 

a wannabe, but instead accepted his 

uniqueness and taught his students to 

appreciate, and to be enamoured with 

their specific gifts, and labour to develop 

them to the glory of God. As such, one 

would overcome the temptation of 

dissipating energies, time and resources 

in wannabeism. According to him, unity 

and distinction, variety and difference 

characterize God’s creative wisdom. As 

persons-in-communion, we live our union in 

difference. 

Praising a creature is ultimately praising 

his Creator. I am convinced that Madubuko 

deserves to be celebrated as an oracle of iconic 

proportion, which he is because he allowed 

grace to keep winning in his life. I am 

privileged to have passed through him. It’s 

Thursday, 23rd 

72 Hearty Cheers to the Holy Sage!* 

•Fr George Adimike writes from Rome 

•illuminatugozie@gmail.com


“We need to improve on youth, 

community empowerments in 

South-East” 

Stories by Moses Nosike 

n how to strengthen commerce 

Oand industry in Nigeria 

especially in the South East, improve 

youth and community 

empowerments, cultural values as 

well as sustaining Igbo language 

was the concern of the President, 

Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Lagos, Chief 

Solomon Ogbonna while 

addressing media men in his office. 

This he said after his trip from Ghana 

where he had a meeting with Malta 

Ambassador to Ghana, His 

Excellency, Jean Claude Gelean, 

and thereafter met Igbo community 

in Ghana where he advised them on 

the need to invest at home and also 

encouraged that Igbo language 

must not die. 

According to him, where 

commerce and industry, youth and 

community empowerment exist, 

insecurity is reduced to the bearest 

minimum. However, he said that 

sustenance of values, culture and 

Igbo language is paramount to 

Ndigbo in Nigeria and in diaspora 

as they go about seeking greener 

pasture the language must not die. 

“Those Igbo ignoring the 

language are those who want to be 

more English than the Queen and 

the British Monarchy. In Ohanaeze 

Ndigbo Lagos state, I have made it 

compulsory that anybody who wants 

to contest any post must be fluent 

R-L: President, Ohanaeze Ndigbo , Lagos, Chief Sololmon Ogbonna 

offering a hand shake to Malta Ambassador to Ghana, His 

Excellency, Jean Claude Gelean, Malta Ambassador to Ghana; 

during his visit to Ghana on sustenance of values and culture of 

Ndigbo. 

enough in speaking Igbo language. 

If other leaders especially our 

political leaders will follow the 

same step, no Igbo person will 

contest any election from 

Councillorship to Presidency if he 

or she is not 

fluent enough 

in Igbo 

language. 

Nobody should 

be elected 

village head, 

town leader 

and even 

traditional ruler 

if the person is 

not fluent in 

Real estate e firms partner to expand 

operation 

In order to meet up with 

its targets and compete 

favourably, Polymaths Real 

Estate, Vertasi Homes 

Limited had partnered to 

bring the best of services to 

its numerous clients among 

which is Claridge II, Ibeju 

Lekki, Lagos. 

Speaking on the 

partnership, Founder/CEO, 

Veritasi Homes and 

Properties, Adetola Nola 

said, “we are excited to work 

with Polymaths and 

honoured to be part of the 

upcoming brand. Having 

managed a reputation in the 

real estate market, we are 

sure that Polymaths will 

embrace our legacy. We have 

stayed relevant and dynamic 

Igbo language. This stipulation is 

the only thing that will bring Igbo 

language back to the centre-stage 

in all Igbo engagements. In my 

business as art collector, I traverse 

the best cities of the western world, 

attending art exhibitions and 

auctions. My contacts and friends 

in the sector are members of the 

high class in the western world who 

appreciate art and can afford buying 

them; yet I am proud of my Igbo 

language. If you want to ignore Igbo 

language, you can go to non-Igbo 

speaking areas to contest for 

positions. On same vein, non-Igbo 

citizens of Nigeria are welcome to 

contest for posts in Igbo states; and 

they are not bound by this 

stipulation. It is all about one 

Nigeria”. 

Some Igbo frown at your 

fraternisation with the Yoruba 

especially your visits to the Ooni 

vis-à-vis his statement that Igbo 

are from Ile-Ife; and your 

endorsement of Sanwo-Olu. They 

accuse you of selling out Ndigbo 

to Yoruba... 

Ogbonna said that the greatest 

enemy of Ndigbo is not the Hausa 

and their religion, Islam. The 

biggest threat to us is not the Yoruba 

man and his ideology. The most 

potent weapon that is beclouding 

us in our history is the same old child 

crying in the desert—disunity, being 

caused by some disgruntled 

Ndigbo. I am not selling out Ndigbo 

to any tribe, but building good 

relationship between Ndigbo and 

people of other tribes and 

nationalities. Again, I am a culture 

and tradition activist, and hold 

traditional institutions in high 

esteem. One of the key factors 

breeding disunity among Ndigbo is 

our disregard to culture and 

tradition. Most of the people kicking 

against my visits to the traditional 

rulers especially Ooni are those Igbo 

who scorn our culture and tradition. 

As per Ooni statement that Igbo 

are from Ile-Ife, few disgruntled 

Igbo are berating him. In their bid 

to fight imaginary enemies, they 

distort facts, mislead and misinform 

the public. My response when Ooni 

made the statement that Igbo are 

from Ile-Ife was: Whatever will bring 

peace between Igbo and other tribes 

including Yoruba, I am in support 

of that. It is one of Ooni’s moves in 

advocating unity and peace among 

Igbo and Yoruba. It is pertinent to 

note that His Royal Majesty, Oba 

Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, the 

Ooni of Ife is an ambassador and 

advocate of peace. He 

demonstrated this sterling quality 

shortly after his coronation by 

meeting with the Alaafin of Oyo. I 

am neither historian nor an 

archaeologist, but an art collector, 

so it is not my place to state the origin 

of Igbo. These few disgruntled Igbo 

Glo- sponsored 30-minute magazine 

programme on CNN, African Voices, 

will this weekend host foremost British actor 

of Nigerian descent, Hakeem Kae-Kazim, 

alongside the duo of Kenya based 

photographer Osborne Macharia and 

Likarion Wainaina, a film-maker. 

Born 57 years ago in Lagos, Nigeria, Kae- 

Kazim’s family later relocated to England 

where he grew up and later became an actor. 

His outstanding performance in a 2004 

Film, Hotel Rwanda, which aped the 

Rwandan crisis shot him to global limelight. 

This feat also propelled him to Hollywood 

where he acted in several films including 

Slipstream, Pirates of the Caribbean: At 

World’s end, and Black Sails. 

In 2012, he won the Africa Movie Academy 

Award for best actor and returned afterwards 

to his fatherland to train a rising group of 

because of our absolute focus 

on quality services we offer 

our customers. 

According to Nola, while 

this focus has not changed, 

this partnership will help to 

ensure more successful years. 

Despite a difficult market, our 

business continues to expand 

and perform well. Our 

expertise and reputation with 

our network, helped us sell a 

record number of properties 

in previous years. 

However, as part of the 

business strategic, Veritasi 

Homes Limited has assigned 

40-plots of Claridge II to 

Polymaths Limited. 

Polymaths will now work 

closely with Veritasi’s sales 

team to expand Claridge II 

are those who want Ndigbo to 

remain in perpetual political 

opposition in Lagos state, 

encouraging enmity between us and 

our host community at the expense 

of our vast investments. These few 

disgruntled Igbo don’t care a hoot 

about the consequences of their 

warring posture on Igbo 

investments in Lagos. I take solace 

on the fact that many eminent Igbo 

business men/women and 

industrialists in Lagos state 

appreciate the bold step I took in 

endorsing Sanwo-Olu and 

launching Igbo into the 

mainstream of Lagos politics, as 

they contact me and send goodwill 

messages. 

Advising Ndigbo on the way 

forward, he said, “to achieve the type 

of unity and strength we are 

struggling for, we have to honour 

Ndigbo who died during the civil 

war. We should institute Igbo 

remembrance day to honour and 

commemorate the labour of our 

heroes past —which shall never be 

in vain. The Igbo remembrance day 

should be an annual event that will 

enable us pay homage to the fallen 

Igbo heroes in defence of our tribe. 

It must be a festival of sober 

reflection for us and those who died 

during the civil war. Gatherings for 

Igbo remembrance day will not be 

for politicking, neither will it be for 

chronicling of people’s profiles and 

praise singing. It should be a red 

letter day event, completely devoted 

to our fallen heroes. It should be a 

day all businesses, shops, markets, 

etc. must close down— and all of us 

and those at work observe a minute 

silence in honour of these great 

people. Let us be pragmatic. 

Leadership is sacrifice, not an 

enterprise. 

Ndigbo should explore more of 

the conventional media (TV, Radio, 

Newspapers and Magazines) in 

projecting and protecting the 

interest of Igbo. I am not talking of 

the social media without rules of 

engagement. To some Ndigbo, it is 

a taboo for any Igbo person to speak 

through the conventional media. 

Some of these Igbo are comfortable 

when you speak through the social 

media where they trade insults, 

abuse and bully. In the social media, 

some of these people feel that 

abusing your leaders and elders 

make you great and unique. For 

instance, when Ooni statement 

came up, they jumped at it, to abuse 

and insult leaders and elders they 

perceive as supporters of my 

administration. Ask what is causing 

the jealousy and anger; and the 

answer is that they are blocked from 

hijacking Ohanaeze affairs for their 

selfish interests. They are very smart 

in recruiting people into their fold 

with lies and fabricated stories. Not 

to worry, lies have short life span. 

marketing reach and achieve 

best results.” 

Head of Sales, Polymaths, 

Kabiru Ajisafe noted that the 

company is proud to partner 

Veritasi Homes Limited, 

saying, not only do they have 

a rich and storied history, but 

also a focus on acquiring 

legitimate properties that 

have helped to shape the 

Lagos real estate market. 

“Veritasi Homes Limited has 

been a leader in the Nigerian 

real estate market and as a 

company providing 

affordable housing solutions 

to low and middle-income 

earners in Nigeria, this 

partnership will promote 

Polymath’s vision to make 

real estate transactions easy. 

Glo-sponsored CNN African Voices features Kae- 

Kazim, 2 others 

film-makers for the global scene. 

Earlier in 2004, he was also nominated for the 

Gemini Award for Best Performance. 

A commercial photographer, 33 years old 

Macharia found his passion in photography after 

a failure he recorded in 2010 while studying for 

a degree in Architecture. While re-writing his 

examinations, he developed interest in 

photography and also taught himself digital 

artistry. 

Macharia who won the Kenya Cannes Lion 

Award in 2015, also featured in Lurzers Archive 

200 Best Digital Artists Worldwide in 2016 and 

2018. 

The focus of his works are themes of Afrofuturism 

in culture as well as fictional narratives. 

31 years old Likarion was born in Moscow, 

Russia. Many years later, he returned to his native 

Kenya where he has gradually become a top filmmaker.


How one man’s 

taste threatens 

Parkview Estate 

•Buildings risk being submerged 

•Residents appeal to stat 

ate govt 

By Charles Kumolu, 

Deputy Features Editor 

If there was a list of littoral cities where 

warnings against weather-related 

problems like flooding hardly resonate, 

Lagos would have probably come top of it. 

With unregulated urban development, 

rising sea levels and changes in rainfall 

patterns among others, the city of about 20 

million people is vulnerable to the effects of 

climate change. 

Credible local and international reports 

exist to support these observations by 

Saturday Vanguard. 

One of them is Abdi Lati Dahir’s 

Africa’s Fastest Growing Cities Are 

the Most Vulnerable to Climate 

Change Globally which was 

published on Quartz Africa. 

Quoting a risk consultancy firm, 

Virsk Maplecroft, he posited that 

of the world’s 100 growing cities, 

Africa has 86, adding that 79 are 

threatened by climatic changes. 

Five out of the cities which 

include Lagos, Dar es Salam, 

Abuja, Addis Ababa, and Luanda 

were adjudged to be facing 

extreme risks of climate change. 

Preventive actions 

Ordinarily, such a reality is 

capable of spurring preventive 

actions but much has not been 

seen in that direction. 

Rather, climate change is treated 

and even viewed more like an 

academic issue in the face growing 

threats in Lagos. 

It is common to find activities 

that further expose the city to the impacts of 

global warming. 

These happen with total disregard to the 

fact that 22 percent of its 3,577 kilometre 

Ordinarily, 

such a reality 

is capable of 

spurring 

preventive 

actions but 

much has 

not been 

seen in that 

direction 

square are lagoons and creeks. 

The situation is made worse by what 

Saturday Vanguard regard as poor flood 

management regime that ought to have 

protected the city against unfavourable 

conditions, especially those caused by climate 

change. 

As a result of these problems which are 

mainly man-made, some areas in the 

metropolis, particularly those close to the 

shoreline face environmental dangers. 

One of such places is Park View Estate, an 

upscale area in Ikoyi with no fewer than 700 

families. 

On its website, the area is 

described as “a hybrid 

residential estate designed to 

suit the class of residents and 

property owners with 

infinitesimal business interest.” 

Bordered by Banana Island 

and Gerald Road, the estate’s 

rear is occupied by the lagoon. 

The high-end zone has been 

home to most of its residents for 

about three decades. 

Emerging environmental 

problem 

Beneath the splendour that 

contributes to making Parkview 

a hybrid abode, lies an emerging 

environmental problem capable 

of diminishing its status. 

A visit by Saturday Vanguard 

after last Monday’s rains in 

Lagos revealed an area being 

threatened by flooding as a 

result of the blockage of the only 

point through which water 

empties into the Lagoon, and 

channeling of water from Gerald 

Road into the estate. 

Of the two sources of concern, the latter was 

found to be more alarming given that water 

could no longer find its way through the 

exit point thereby resulting in the gradual 

submerging of the structures at the 

waterfront. 

Upon inquiry, SaturdayVanguard 

learned that the dredging and sand filling 

of a part of the lagoon behind the estate by 

one Mr. Olaitan Adesanya led to the 

environmental challenge. 

The action which was found to have 

blocked the estuary has paved the way for 

the waterfront to be entirely taken over by 

water. 

Alarmed by the situation, residents want 

the Lagos State government to correct the 

distortion in order to save the place from 

being submerged. 

Speaking to SaturdayVangaurd, Vice 

Chairman, Environment, Parkview 

Residents Association, Mr. Sesan Ogun, 

said distortion of the environment started 

about five years ago when Adesanya 

commenced the construction of a building 

behind the estate. 

He noted that the developer, also dredged 

and sand filled about 100 metres into the 

Lagoon making it impossible for water that 

comes in from Gerald to exit Parkview. 

Environmental Impact Assessment 

Another resident, Senator Bode 

Olajumoke, whose house is sited at the 

waterfront, said Adesanya, had flaunted an 

approval purportedly from the state 

government when confronted. 

Aware of the impacts of the dredging and 

sand filling, the residents, he said, 

informed the appropriate authorities but 

nothing was done until the state governor, 

Akinwumi Ambode was approached. 

Consequently, the governor was said to 

have visited the scene and fumed that the 

sand filling was being done without 

Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA. 

To this end, he ordered stoppage of work on 

the site but the damage had already been done 

to the environment. 

Today, residents are frightened particularly 

as a result of the unpredictable pattern of rains 

like the previous one which wreaked havoc 

on the city. 

Lamenting the ordeal, Sen Olajumoke, 

whose house is already affected at the rear, 

urged the state government to urgently find 

ways of solving the problem. 

Looming tragedy 

He said: “I moved in here 30 years ago. I 

chose this place because I wanted a 

waterfront. But the dredging and sand filling 

have distorted the place. The sand filling has 

made water hyacinth to remain static. There 

is a looming tragedy and we should not wait 

for it to happen. If we do not raise our voices 

it will happen. If we do not raise our voices 

now, the impact of the looming environmental 

disaster would be severe. The developer, 

Adesanya is not a member of the estate but 

he has a gate inside Parkview. He has access 

from Ikoyi Crescent which was where they 

used in bringing in all they used. It is not even 

the construction that has caused the damage 

but the sand filling. 

Something should be done 

“The silt from the sand filling baked under 

the water making water hyacinth coming from 

the lagoon to take over the exit point. The 

most appropriate time to tackle the problem 

is now to avert the looming environmental 

issue. All over the world, environmental 

issues are on the front burner. I am happy that 

when the governor came he said there was 

no way the dredging could pass 

Environmental Impact Assessment. Water 

was diverted from Gerald Road into this 

private estate making the infrastructure 

unable to withstand the volume of water 

coming into this place. We now have problems 

all over the place. Something should be done 

urgently.’’ 

Water from Gerald Road 

On his part, Ogun explained that: “The 

Lagos State government shouldn’t have 

channeled water into the estate. The first thing 

to do is to find a way of making the water to 

flow out of the estate but the channel has been 

blocked by the dredging and sand filling 

done by Adesanya. Lagos State channeled 

water from Gerald into the estate. They should 

solve the problem that they created either to 

reconstruct the canal or the exit point. The 

water is flowing out gently instead of going 

out in torrents. The governor came here and 

promised to do something about it. When the 

water comes in waves, the sand filling stops 

it from flowing. The government has to do 

something about it. He showed us a 

Certificate of Occupancy, C of O, claiming the 

government permitted him to do what he was 

doing. All we are saying is that the 

government should do something about the 

exit point. The government gave the C of O to 

the man who blocked the exit point. We are 

appealing to the government to do something 

drastic. We have written to them and even 

invited the governor. The signs of the 

imminent danger are here and nothing is 

being done.’’ 

Also speaking to Saturday Vanguard, the 

Estate Manager of Parkview Estate, Mrs, 

Olaitan Haris said letters had been written to 

the appropriate authorities over the matter, 

lamenting that nothing has been done. 

100 metres into the lagoon 

“When the man was dredging, the 

governor came, promising to do something 

about it but as we speak, the developer has 

gone further by sand filling about 100 metres 

into the lagoon. He did the piling and water 

is now coming into the estate. The entire 

place is silted. Mr. Adesanya is not part of the 

estate. After the governor came, he stopped 

for a while and later continued and stopped 

again. Before the governor came, we had 

written to his office about the flood and even 

bad roads. On this issue, the estate is going 

to clear the water hyacinth to know the level 

of damage that was done by the sand filling.’’ 

Further findings showed that given the 

blockage of the exit point, residents also risk 

being disturbed by reptiles. 

For instance, a big python was said to have 

been killed by estate guards at the rear of Sen 

Olajumoke’s residence. 

“The python that was shot by the guards 

was so large that no fewer than 50 people eat 

it when the meat was butchered and shared,’’ 

a domestic aide, who witnessed the incident, 

said.

44 —SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 

Onochie 

Anibeze, 

just back from Doha 

Nobody heard the 

whistle of the 

referee signaling 

the kick off of the Amir Cup 

final here Thursday, May 

16, 2019. But the game 

kicked off at 30.30 pm. 

If the referee blew the 

whistle, nobody heard any 

sound. The crowd and the 

players synchronized with the 

technology at the Al Wukrah 

Stadium, renamed Al Janoub on 

the night. The great piece of 

architecture that hosted the 2019 

Emir Cup final between the 

defending champions Al sadd 

and Al Duhail has a retractable 

roof and was designed to capture 

the traditional dhow boats and to 

highlight Al Wukrah’s traditional 

industries which include fishing 

and pearling. It is the first stadium 

built from the scratch for the 2022 

World Cup that is ready. Khalifa was 

renovated and not only ready for the 

World Cup but will host the World 

Championships this year. 

What Qatar showcased on Thursday 

last week with the Emir Cup final 

signaled just a fraction of the 

spectacle that awaits the world in 

2022. 

When the players took their 

positions on the pitch the two huge 

and captivating score boards 

showed a clock ticking from ten 

seconds to kick off. The sound the 

clock produced was so loud that 

nobody heard any other thing in 

the stadium. How would the 

players hear the sound of the 

referee’s whistle? They didn’t 

need the referee’s whistle to kick 

off the game. How? 

Qatar, rich in oil and gas, in 

culture and now in hospitality, 

especially after winning the 

World Cup hosting rights, 

could not be rated a football 

nation. But their football 

culture is growing and even if 

one may not rate them a 

football country now it would 

not be out of place to rank 

them highly in the 

organisation of the game. 

They are not only learning 

quickly but also displaying 

innovations that are adding colour 

to the game. The big football 

nations, for sure, would learn some 

things from them especially in 

organisation and hospitality. The 

2026 World Cup hosts were in 

Qatar to watch the Emir Cup. USA, 

Canada and Mexico were there. 

They are already monitoring 

Qatar to learn a few things and to 

know how to make theirs 

successful. And this is more than 

two years to the games. FIFA 

President, Gianni Infantino 

graced the occasion, so did 

Ahmad, CAF President. 

Presidents of USA Soccer 

Federation, CONCACAF and 

many top football big shots 

watched the spectacular 

opening and closing 

ceremonies of the Emir Cup 

and may have noted a few 

things they could adopt. 

From the Public Address System, the ticking 

of the clock sounded pim, pim, pim as the 

hand of the clock ticked from 10. The crowd 

went simultaneously with the ticking sound 

– 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and at 0 the ball was 

kicked off and the game began. Nobody 

needed the referee’s whistle. It was amazing, 

innovative and entertaining. After that, the 

referee with his whistle controlled the game. 

The cheers that followed came from the crowd 

and there were no echoes from the public 

address system anymore. Al Duhail conceded 

the first goal but went on to win the thrilling 

encounter 4-1 against defending champions 

and favourites on the night, Al Sadd. The 

standard of the game was impressive. Qatar 

is raising the stakes in all areas in spite of the 

distractions football governing body, FIFA, 

tried to cause by contemplating expanding 

the teams for the 2022 edition from 32 to 48 

and asking Kuwait or any other country to cohost. 

FIFA appeared to be considering money 

that could enrich their purses before certain 

standards and norms that have made the 

World Cup the biggest spectacle in the world 

after the Olympic Games. 

Qatar will host a compact World Cup, such 

that fans can watch two matches. Metro lines 

will link the venues. The longest 

distance will be from Al Bayt Stadium to Al 

Wukrah and that will be less than 40 minutes 

by rail. 

‘We learn everyday and we are getting better 

with every event that we hold,’ Hassan Al 

Thawadi, the Secretary General of the 

Supreme Committee For Delivery and Legacy 

said in a chat with the media after the Emir 

Cup, adding ‘that’s why we will continue to 

hold events. They are part of the preparation.’ 

STAR PARADE: Qatar 2022 will be best 

World Cup ever - Ruud Gullit 

Football legends were in Qatar to be part of 

the Amir Cup final last week. 

They are all ambassadors of the Qatar 2022 

World Cup. Many of them campaigned for 

Qatar to win the hosting rights. ‘And they have 

never disappointed since they won the 

hosting,’ Ruud Gullit, the former AC Milan 

and Chelsea star who won the European 

Championship with Holland said before the 

Emir Cup final. ‘Every month I come here 

•Openimg ceremony at.the Amir 

Cup final at Al Wukrah Stadium 

•Officials guiding media men in 

a tour of one of the metro stations 

•One of the metro stations already 

built for the World Cup and beyond 

ANOTHER 

•As 2026 World 

since they won the bid in 2010, there’s always a 

new thing. The world should be ready for an 

amazing World Cup, the best and I repeat, the 

best the world Cup ever will be staged here,’ he 

said. Below is the list of football legends that are 

behind Qatar 2022 World Cup. 

• Cafu 

• Jorge Campos 

• Youri Djorkaeff 

• Roberto Carlos 

• Samuel Eto’o 

• Bora Multinovic 

• Miguel Malcedo 

• Javier Ceppi 

• Pablo Zabaleta 

• Tim Cahill 

• Ronald de Boer 

• Rudi Gullit 

• Fernando Hierro 

• Sabri Lamouchi 

• Ali Karimi 

• Wilfried Bony 

•Brand new Al Wakrah FIFA 

World Cup 2022 Stadium 

• Mansour Muftah 

• Nasser Hamdan 

• Abdulaziz Al Anberi 

• Nasser Al Attiyah 

• Mutaz Barshim 

• Wael Gomaa 

• Haythem Farooq 

• Adnan Hamad 

• Tarek Thyab 

• Hosam AlHaj Ali 

• Hatem Trabelsi 

Key Facts about Qatar 2022 

Qatar 2022 – Key Fact 

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 

will kick off on 21 November 2022. 

Here are some key facts about the 

tournament. 

21 November 2022 – 18 

December 2022


•Openimg ceremony at.the Amir Cup final at Al Wukrah Stadium 

DAWN IN QATAR 

Cup hosts note innovations 

The tournament will take place over 28 days, with 

the final being held on 18 December 2022, which 

is Qatar National Day. 

Eight stadiums 

Khalifa International Stadium was inaugurated 

following an extensive redevelopment on 19 May 

2017. Al Wakrah Stadium was inaugurated on 16 

May 2019 when it hosted the Amir Cup final. Al 

Wakrah Stadium is the first Qatar 2022 venue to 

be built from scratch. 

Six other stadiums are currently under 

construction. Main works on all stadiums will be 

completed two years before the tournament kicks 

off 

Ċompact tournament 

The longest distance between stadiums will be 

just 55km (Al Bayt Stadium – Al Khor City to Al 

Wakrah Stadium). 

The shortest distance will be 5km (Al Rayyan 

Stadium to Education City Stadium). 

Fans will be able to attend more than one match 

a day during the group stage. 

Innovation 

Ras Abu Aboud Stadium will be the first 

fully demountable tournament venue in FIFA 

World Cup history. It will be built out of 

shipping containers and other modular 

building blocks that will be repurposed posttournament 

into smaller sports and non-sports 

venues. 

Lusail Stadium 

The 80,000 capacity Lusail Stadium will host 

the opening match and final in 2022. 

$6.5 billion 

The total budget for the stadiums and 

training sites Qatar is constructing. 

18oC to 24oC 

The average temperature expected during 

the tournament – meaning perfect conditions 

for players and fans. 

Accommodation 

Fans will have a variety of accommodation 

options that suit every budget, including 

hotels, apartments, desert camps and cruise 

ships. 

Thanks to the compact nature of the 

tournament, fans, players and officials will 

only need to stay in one place throughout the 

tournament. 

Getting around 

Fans will arrive at the newly-built Hamad 

International Airport, which will have an 

annual capacity of 50,000,000 by 2022. Getting 

around will be easy thanks to public transport, 

notably the new metro system. 

Fan ID 

Following the success of FIFA 

Fan ID during Russia 2018, 

Qatar is considering similar 

solution for fans during 2022. 

Visa-free entry 

Nationals from a total of 80 

countries can take advantage of 

visa-free entry into Qatar. 

Fans 

Expecting approximately 1.5 

million fans to visit Qatar during 

the tournament. 

Central location 

Hamad International Airport is 

a major transport hub and a vital 

link between the Americas, 

Europe and Asia. The 

extensive Qatar Airways 

network means 

passengers can fly 

directly to more than 

150 destinations. 

Football 

Qatar 

Football has 

been played 

in Qatar for 

over 70 

•Football legend, Ruud Gullit addressing the media at Mixed Zone of Al 

Wukrah Stadium 

in 

years and it remains the country’s most 

popular sport. It first came to the country in 

the 1940s, introduced by workers from the oil 

industry. In 1950, the first Qatari football team, 

Al Hajah, was founded. 

The club later changed its name to Al-Ahli, 

a team that continues to play to the day in the 

Qatar Stars League. 

Qatar established its first football league 

in 1963. That same year, Doha Stadium 

became the first arena in the Gulf region to 

have a grass pitch. 

For a relatively young football nation, Qatar 

has registered some significant achievements 

along the way to becoming a FIFA World Cup 

host nation in 2022. 

By 1981, Qatar surprised the world with a 

run to the final of the FIFA U-20 World Cup 

in Australia, defeating both Brazil (3-2) and 

England (2-1) along the way. 

But the rapid development of football in 

Qatar did not stop there. By 1984, they had 

qualified for their first Summer Olympic 

Games, drawing 2-2 with France in their 

opening game of the Los Angeless 

competition before bowing out at the end of 

the group stage. 

In 1988, Qatar hosted the Asian Football 

Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup for the first 

time. Four years later, Qatar again made 

headlines by reaching the quarter-finals of 

the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics with 

a team led by legendary Brazilian coach 

Evaristo de Macedo. 

Their successful run through the 

tournament culminated in a loss to eventual 

finalists Poland in a closely contested 2-0 

defeat at Barcelona’s legendary Camp Nou. 

Later the same year, Evaristo and formidable 

striker Mubarak Mustafa led Qatar to their 

first triumph in the Gulf Cup, hosted in Doha 

and celebrated with much passion by the 

country’s football fans. Three year later, Qatar 

once again hosted some of the best players 

in the world for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, 

where Argentina and Brazil battled it out in 

the final in front of 65,000 spectators. 

At the 15 th Asian Games in Doha in 2006, 

Qatar won the gold medal in football, 

defeating Iraq 1-0 in the final. In 2014, Qatar 

recorded another Gulf Cup win – following 

an earlier 2004 triumph – by taking the title 

in Saudi Arabia. 

But it was on 2 December 2010 that the path 

of the nation’s sporting history changed 

forever as Qatar was confirmed as the host of 

the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Since that 

momentous day, Qatar’s results on the pitch 

have gone from strength to strength. 

A promising generation of young Qatari 

football players from Doha’s Aspire Academy 

won Asians U-19 title in 2014 and secured a 

spot at the FIFA U-20 World 

Cup. But the country’s biggest 

sporting achievement by far 

was being crowned 

champions at the AFC Asian 

Cup in 2019. Qatar won 

every game along the way, 

conceding only one goal 

– to Japan in the final. 

This result literally 

brought Doha to a 

standstill, with its 

famous Corniche the 

scene of jubilation 

as Qatar’s 

communities 

came together to 

celebrate. This 

•Qatar 2022: Hassan Al Thawadi, 

Secretary General of the Supreme 

Committee for Delivery & Legacy 

means that 

Qatar will be 

competing at 

the FIFA World 

Cup Qatar 2022 

as the reigning 

champions of 

Asia. 

The women’s 

game in Qatar 

is also 

developing 

rapidly. In 

2005, the Qatar Football Association (QFA) 

founded the Qatar women’s football team, 

which in 2013 rose to the highest placing of 

111 th in the FIFA ranking under renowned 

German coach Monika Staab. In 2010, the 

QFA also founded the Qatar Women’s Football 

League, which expanded to seven teams 

across Qatar for the 2013/14 season. 

Last year, women’s teams from Qatar also 

played against the England women’s national 

team and Bayern Munich’s women’s team. 

Leveraging the opportunity presented by 

the FIFA World Cup, Qatar 2022, Generation 

Amazing, a legacy programme of the 

Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy 

(SC), has initiated a programme of girls’ 

football in schools in Qatar and recently 

signed an agreement with the Dutch Football 

Association to develop more women’s football 

coaches. In 2016, the SC also partnered with 

Hamad Bin Khalifa University to launch an 

annual women’s University Football Cup. 

*Culled from AMIR Cup final match 

Magazine.


Organizers of Okpekpe 10- 

kilometre Road Race in 

Edo, on Friday said 

athletes from 15 countries, 

including the US would 

participate in the 7th edition of the 

competition holding this morning 

in Okpekpe near Auchi, Etsako 

East Local Government Area of 

Edo State.. 

The Chief Organizer, Mike 

Itemoagbo, made this known 

while briefing journalists in 

Benin. 

Itemoagbo said that this year’s 

edition would witness clear track 

from the starting point to the 

finishing, adding that the 

organisers were aiming at 

upgrading the race to “a gold 

label”. 

He listed some of the countries 

where the athletes would come 

from as Nigeria, South Africa, 

China, Zimbabwe, Ghana, 

Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya. 

Three world champions of 

Kenyan origin, Alex Korio, Simon 

Cheprot and Polline Wanjiku are 

among the twenty gold level 

running road runners elite cast of 

athletes confirmed for today’s 7th 

Okpekpe International 10km 

Road Race in Okpekpe near 

Auchi, Etsako East Local 

Government Area of Edo State. 

Alex Korio won the 2015 edition 

(29.20) while Cheprot outran all 

his rivals the following year 

(29:47). Both are 27 minutes 

runners as they hold 27:48 (2017) 

and 27:41 (2014) respectively. 

“Just last June, Cheprot ran 27.44 

at Oelde in Germany and looks 

like he will be aiming to become 

the first man to win two Okpekpe 

titles,” said Mercy Etukudo, head 

of secretariat for the first IAAF 

Nigerian athletes have set their 

sights on competing keenly 

with their East African counterparts 

as the seventh Okpekpe 10km Road 

Race takes centre stage in Okpekpe, 

Etsako East Local Government of 

Edo State. 

The IAAF Silver Label Race has 

been won in the last six editions by 

athletes from East Africa, Kenya and 

Ethiopia to be precise, but some of 

the long distance runners in Nigeria 

have set their targets on achieving 

something from this year’s edition. 

The organisers are targeting a Gold 

Label after this year’s race and some 

top athletes from Nigeria believe 

this will even make them to perform 

better running side-by-side with 

some of the top distance runners 

across the world. 

Speaking on Thursday, Emmanuel 

Gyan, who just got married to his 

lover of many years, Deborah Pam, 

another top athlete the country can 

boast of, said they were ready for the 

race. 

“I have been available for the race 

road running event in West Africa 

to be granted an IAAF label status. 

“We also have Taye Grima, one of 

the Ethiopians on board the 

Okpekpe train that will challenge 

the Kenyans for the title. He has 

done 28:33 this year (January) and 

looks to be among the on-form 

athletes who will be coming to 

rewrite the course record on 

Saturday,” Etukudo added. 

For the women, another former 

winner, Polline Wanjiku will be 

leading the charge for the title and 

Okpekpe Race: We ‘re battle ready 

– Nigerian athletes 

All eyes on Okpkekpe as 

20 Gold level runners 

are set to race 

in the last six editions, this time 

around, I am ready to do better than 

I have been doing in the past,” he 

said. 

“Although we are going to be 

competing with some of the best in 

the world, but that will only ginger 

us better especially those of us from 

Nigeria. 

“It is not going to be easy, but we 

are all battle ready and nothing will 

stop us from getting our dues as an 

athlete in Nigeria. 

Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr 

has stoutly defended the choice 

of his 25-man provisional team list 

for the forthcoming Total CAF Africa 

Cup of Nations (AFCON) Egypt 

2019, insisting that addition of 

captain Mikel Obi was strategic 

towards a successful outing for the 

team. 

There have been pockets of 

Lagos athletes applauds Tandoh 

The generality of Team Lagos 

athletes have applauded the 

performances of the Chairman of the 

state’s Sports Commission, Dr. 

Kweku Tandoh, since he resumed 

office in charge of the state’s sports. 

The athletes, expressed satisfaction 

especially in the areas of welfare, 

prompt payment of salaries, 

facilities, competitions and the 

development of sports in the state 

since the executive chairman, Dr. 

Kweku Tandoh, resumed office. 

Captain of Team Lagos, Tunde 

Mohammed, told our reporter that: 

“So far, so good, sports have been 

doing very well under Dr Tandoh. 

In fact, he continued where the late 

Deji Tinubu stopped. 

“While preparing for last year’s 

National Sports Festival in Abuja, 

we were camped for a long time and 

The Nigeria Wrestling 

Federation (NWF) has 

approved a total of 39 different 

events for the 3rd Gov. Dickson 

National Classics in Yenagoa, 

Bayelsa State. 

possibly set a new course record. 

“Wanjiku was the winner in 2016 

and ran 33 minutes, 28 seconds 

to win. She is one of the gold 

level running athletes that we 

hope will crack the course record 

on Saturday.” 

Etukudo is confident this year’s 

Barcelona and Valencia come 

into today’s Copa del Rey 

final from completely different 

places. 

Valencia are still on a high from 

scraping into the Champions 

League spots in the last three 

weeks of the season and want to 

celebrate their centenary with a 

cup win. 

Barcelona are still in depression 

after Champions League 

elimination. The pressure is on 

them to win the final and at least 

finish the campaign with a 

domestic double. 

Valencia were not in the top four 

AFCON 2019: Rohr defends 

inclusion of Mikel, Iheanacho 

the athletes’ allowances and bonuses 

were paid, so we went to the festival 

in Abuja very happy. Even at the 

festival venue, there were on the spot 

cash rewards for athletes who won 

medals. This further morally boosted 

Team Lagos athletes to do well, 

where Lagos finished fourth with a 

total 146 medals from 36 gold 

medals, 37 silver and 73 bronze the 

biggest haul among all the 36 states 

that participated. 

“Team Lagos was given the best 

accommodation for athletes in 

Abuja, it was not different for the 

junior athletes at the National Youth 

Games in Ilorin. The motivation 

spurred the athletes on to win the 

overall second position behind Delta 

State with 23 gold, 15 silver and 22 

bronze medals totaling 60 medals. 

3rd Gov. Dickson National Classics: NWF approves 

39 events All the 10 senior weight classes 

criticisms with the latest being that 

of former Super Eagles coach, 

Dutchman Jo Bonfrere over the 

inclusion of the ‘absentee’ Mikel 

who last played for the Super 

Eagles since 26th June 2018 in the 

2-1 loss to Argentina at Russia 2018 

World Cup. 

“I really don’t understand the 

reason he (Mikel) was invited but 

as coach, I won’t invite a player who 

is not injured and chose not to be 

part of the qualifiers,” the 72-yearold 

Bonfrere who guided Nigeria 

to a historic Soccer Gold medal at 

the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Football 

Tournament was quoted as saying. 

But speaking with newsmen, Rohr, 

the former Bayern Munich 

defender was adamant over his 

choices. 

“Mikel is very fit and motivated 

and his experience and talent can 

help us,” noted Rohr. 

He equally defended the inclusion 

of striker Kelechi Iheanacho whose 

form has dipped in recent months 

with Leicester City in the English 

Premier League, adding being on 

the list only offers the players the 

opportunity to fight for a place in 

the final 23-man list for the 

AFCON. 

in each of the three wrestling 

styles will feature at the 

Championships to be staged 

between 15th and 30th June at the 

Indoor Sports Hall of the Samson 

Siasia Sports Stadium. 

In Women Wrestling, the 

race will be very explosive going 

by the quality of athletes 

confirmed and reveals why 

organizers of the event have gone 

to invite as many as 20 gold level 

running athletes, surpassing the 

12 stipulated by the IAAF. 

Barca, Valencia tango in Copa 

del Rey final 

until the last month of the season. 

Even on the last day they were 

fifth after 20 minutes of their 

match away at Valladolid and 

Getafe’s home game with 

Villarreal. But all’s well that 

ended well. 

Full-back Jose Gaya said this 

week: ‘There is no pressure for 

us because our objective this 

season was top four and we have 

achieved it.’ 

Barcelona in contrast are still 

hungover from the semi-final. 

Gerard Pique said on Thursday: 

‘Anfield was a nightmare that is 

going to be with us for a long 

time.’ 

Kwese to beam 

Joshua/Ruiz 

fight live 

The international boxing 

community will hold their 

breath on Sunday, 2 June as they 

witness Anthony “AJ” Joshua 

defend his world titles against Andy 

Ruiz Jr in a heavyweight boxing 

bout slated to be held at the 

Madison Square Garden in New 

York City. 

Joshua, the Unified World 

Heavyweight Champion with the 

IBO, WBA, IBF and WBO 

heavyweight titles, returns to the 

ring following his victory over 

Alexander Povetkin in September 

2018. 

AJ will be fighting on American 

soil for the first time as he defends 

his titles against Ruiz Jr aka “The 

Destroyer”. This will be another 

big night for British boxing, one that 

boxing enthusiasts will not want to 

miss. “The Destroyer” replaces 

Jarell Miller who failed several 

drug tests to lose his shot at 

heavyweight gold. 

Ruiz Jr is no walkover with 33 

bouts under his belt. Of his 32 wins, 

21 were by TKO. Since his only 

recorded defeat against Joseph 

Parker in a WBO world title fight in 

2016, Ruiz has been on a winning 

streak which he hopes to maintain. 

Joshua makes his US debut with a 

following events will be competed 

for: 50kg, 53kg, 55kg, 57kg, 59kg, 

62kg,65kg, 68kg, 72kg and76kg. 

While athletes will also via for 

honours in the Freestyle events in 

the these weight classes: 57kg, 

61kg, 65kg, 70kg, 74kg, 79kg, 

86kg,92kg, 97kg, 125kg 

Also, in the Greco Roman style, 

the senior wrestlers will compete 

in the 55kg, 60kg, 63kg, 67kg, 

72kg, 77kg,82kg 87kg,97kg and 

130kg categories. 

A statement by the Technical 

Director of NWF, Sir Damian 

Ohaike informed that three 

weight classes for cadet (Under 

15) athletes in each of the three 

styles will also feature at the 

tournament which will equally 

serve as qualifiers for the 12th All 

Africa Games in Rabat, Morocco 

and the 2019 World 

Championships later this year in 

Kazakhstan. 

Adekuoroye 

Prudent Energy 

Handball League: 

We’re in 

competition for 

serious 

business – 

Kano Pillars 

coach 

Coach Solomon Yola of Kano 

Pillars has said his team’s 

rise to the top of the Prudent 

Energy Handball League table 

shows that they were in the 

competition for serious business. 

Pillars zoomed to the top of the 

table after beating Safety 

Shooters 25-20 on Wednesday at 

the velodrome of the Abuja 

National Stadium. 

Yola, a former international, 

stated that their victory over 

Safety Shooters was hard-fought 

and a testimony to the fact they 

were in the league to take on any 

side and pick the 22 points at 

stake at the first phase of the 

league before consolidating in the 

second phase in Lagos later in the 

year. 

“The Safety Shooters are a strong 

team and any team playing 

against them must be ready to 

give its all. We are well prepared 

and we want to pick the 22 points 

at stake in the first phase of the 

league and consolidate in the 

second phase in Lagos,” he said. 

The Pillars coach stated that his 

team is a blend of youth and 

experienced players with all the 

players playing for one another. 

He also said that the return of 

some of his players who played for 

other teams last year has helped 

the team this term. 

“We have about 11 players in 

various national teams and when 

they come back to the team after 

national assignment, they bring 

great experience to our team. We 

are also happy that the team is 

well-funded by the Kano State 

Government. They are all under 

employment so they are prepared 

to take on any team,” Yola added.


Nestle Milo Sec Sch Basketball 

championship: 

Grooming ground 

for future stars 

By Jacob Ajom 

IS Nigeria really serious about 

sports development? It’s a big 

question that continues to beg 

for an appropriate answer as every 

successive regime pays lip 

service to an issue that is so 

fundamental to youth 

employment and empowerment. 

It is said that more than 60 per 

cent of Nigeria’s population is 

made up of the youth and sports 

is a pastime engaged in by the 

youthful. It is the age for setting 

and breaking records. It is the age 

for laying foundation for the 

future. Sports is business; sports 

Captain of St Jude's Girls Secondary School 

Amarata, Bayelsa State lifts high the Equatorial 

Conference first place trophy, while the Regional 

Sales Manager, Nestle Nigeria in Enugu, 

Oluwafemi Ayeni(1st left) looks on 

is entertainment sports is 

pleasure. It is a big deal for any 

nation that aspires to be great. 

It is in this wise that Nestle Milo 

has been applauded by many for 

investing in what many have 

turned their backs against – 

sports. The Nestle Milo 

Secondary Schools Basketball 

Championships is one project that 

has churned out a lot of stars for 

both clubs and country. The 

championship and Milo’s 

involvement is in it’s 21st edition 

and still counting. 

Mr Oluwafemi Ayeni, the 

Regional Sales Manager of 

Nestle Nigeria in 

Enugu who stood in for 

the Branch Manager, 

South East Mr 

Bamidele Aina during 

the final of the 

Equatorial Conference 

in Enugu, Wednesday, 

May 22 said the 

competition started 

with less than 500 

schools 21 years ago. 

Today, over 10,000 

schools are involved in 

the competition 

nationwide. After the 

state finals, champions 

emerge and they 

eventually represent 

their states at the 

conference level. This 

year’s competition is at 

the regional 

conference level right 

now and competition 

has been concluded in 

three conferences 

namely the Sahara, 

Champions! Team Rivers that defeated their Cross River State counterparts 

42-41 to win the Equatorial Conference of the Nestle Milo 

Secondary Schools championship in Enugu 

Coach Omini Arikpo of Cross River during the interval after the second 

quarter in the match against Rivers State team. Rivers won 42-41 

to win the conference. 

Adamawa, Borno, Jigawa, 

Gombe, Plateau, Kano, Katsina, 

Yobe, Taraba and hosts Bauchi. 

Government Secondary School 

Numan, Adamawa State won the 

girls category while the General 

Hassan Usman Katsina College 

Bauchi won in the boys’ category. 

The Central Conference held 

their competition between 10 and 

16 of May in Minna. States that 

attende include Benue, Kaduna, 

Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, 

Sokoto, Zamfara and FCT. 

Government Secondary School 

Gboko won in the girls category 

while Father Hope Colonel 

Science College Minna won the 

boys category. Both state have 

now qualified for the national 

finals in Lagos. 

In the Equatorial Conference 

which was hosted by Enugu, 

states that took part in the 

competition include Abia, 

Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, 

Cross River, Ebonyi, Imo, Rivers 

and host Enugu state participated. 

Rivers state represented by 

Brilliant Secondary School, Port 

Harcourt won the male category 

while St Jude’s Girls Secondary 

School, Amarata won the girls 

category. The Equatorial 

Conference competition was held 

between May 20 and 22 at the 

Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, 

Enugu. 

It was a spectacle as the 

standard exhibited by the 

participating schools was high, 

indeed very high considering the 

ages of the players and the future 

ahead of them. Coaches of the 

finalists attested to this. Coach 

Omini Arikpo of Cross River state 

whose male and female teams 

were in the conference finals said, 

“the standard here is very high. 

You saw what my players did 

against their opponents in the 

final, yet they could not win. For 

my girls,they were jittery in the 

first quarter. I still give them a lot 

of kudos for reaching the final. 

“The boys game was near 

perfect. They came back strongly 

and competed toe to toe against 

their Rivers state opponents. They 

lost by a single point and I dare 

say, I am satisfied. I am proud of 

them.” 

His Rivers state counterpart, 

Coach Tekena Ogungba was full 

of praise for the two finalists. “The 

standard is so high and I was 

really impressed. As for my team, 

I have a very compact team and 

they played so well. I am really 

proud of them.” 

He also spared some words of 

praise for the Cross River state 

team they defeated in the final 42- 

41. “They are really good and this 

points to the fact that the future of 

basketball in the Equatorial 

Conference is very bright.” 

On the future of the players, 

Arikpo said more corporate 

bodies should join hands with 

Nestle Milo in making the 

championship 

more 

encompassing in terms of spread. 

“Milo has done well. I think other 

companies should also follow suit 

by joining habds with them or 

better still, they can sponsor their 

own 

competitions. It mustn’t be only 

Milo. What Milo are doing now 

can be replicated,” the coach said. 

Alhaji Rabiu Abdu who 

represented the President of the 

Nigeria Schools Sports 

Federation said what Nestle are 

doing needed support from all 

and sundry. “Milo is doing very 

well. It is now clear that the future 

of Nigeria basketball is Milo” He 

called on state commissioners of 

Education to support Schools 

sports. “School sports are the real 

grassroots sports that is not 

included in the federal budget; 

hence it is not the responsibility 

of the Ministry of Sports. That is 

why every state must support 

schools sports.” 

Alhaji Abdu went further to 

challenge members of the 

committee on sports in both 

houses of the National Assembly 

to do more for sports development 

in the country. “I believe they can 

create a special fund for the 

Nigeria Schools Sports 

Federation for them to be 

organising National Schools 

Sports Festivals at regular 

intervals. Should they do this, the 

cause for sports development 

would have been won,” he said. 

N May 1st, 2019, the qualification window for Athletics ahead of the 

OTokyo 2020 Olympics opened, and I’m pleased to observe that at last 

count, five Nigerian athletes have already qualified for their respective 

events ahead of the Games. 

I was initially worried that not many Nigerian athletes would qualify for 

the Olympics, considering that the entry standards for Tokyo 2020 in 

particular have been described as the most difficult ever. However, I’m 

encouraged that these athletes have done their bit and secured their spots at 

the Games. 

The common denominator of all five athletes that have qualified is the 

fact that they are all based abroad - in the US, to be precise. And while it is 

cheering news that they have surmounted the first hurdle, it remains to be 

seen if their home based 

counterparts can successfully pull 

off same. 

The first Nigerian athlete to 

qualify for Tokyo 2020 was Tobi 

Amusan, the country’s most 

consistent athlete in recent years. 

While competing at the IAAF 

Diamond League in Doha on May 

3rd, Amusan raced to a Season’s Best 

(SB) of 12.73sec to finish 2nd in her 

100m Hurdles race. The qualifying 

standard in the event is 12.84sec. 

A day later, another hurdler, 

Madeleine Akobundu, who is yet to 

run for Nigeria but has already 

indicated her interest to do so, 

clocked a Personal Best (PB) of 

12.81sec to win the MEAC 

Championships in Greensboro. 

Akobundu was born and raised in 

the US to Nigerian parents and will 

be hoping to make her debut for the 

country anytime soon. 

On May 11th, Raymond Ekevwo 

who is in his second year at the 

University of Florida, became the 

first Nigerian male athlete to qualify 

for Tokyo 2020 after racing to a PB 

of 10.02ecs to finish 2nd at the SEC 

Champs. The men’s 100m 

qualification mark for the Olympics 

is 10.04sec! 

Two days later, Divine Oduduru 

qualified for the Games with a 

The race towards Tokyo 2020 begins 

sublime 9.99sec, which he clocked 

enroute his victory at the Big 12 

Championships, becoming the 

fourth Nigerian to hit the entry 

standard for the Olympics. 

And on May 18th, Blessing 

Okagbare demonstrated that she’s 

still got a lot left in her tank when 

she opened her season in the 100m 

with an SB of 11.07sec to finish 2nd 

at the Shanghai Diamond League. 

The entry standard in the event is 

11.15sec! Three days later, the 

Beijing 2008 Silver medallist went 

on to qualify for the 200m after 

setting an SB of 22.56sec while 

competing at the IAAF World 

Challenge in Nanjing. The entry 

standard for the women’s 200m at 

Tokyo 2020 is 22.80sec. 

Okagbare thus becomes the first 

Nigerian athlete to qualify for two 

events (100m/200m) ahead of next 

year’s Olympic Games! She is yet 

to compete in the event which first 

brought her into prominence – the 

Long Jump, this season, but she still 

has a lot of time to qualify since the 

qualification deadline isn’t until 

June 29th, 2020. 

It is expected that Oduduru would 

also qualify for his signature event, 

the 200m, anytime soon. Even 

though he currently retains his 

position as No.1 in the world in the 

200m with his National Record 

(NR) of 19.76sec, which surpasses 

the Olympic qualification standard 

of 20.24sec, it won’t count because 

the time was set on April 20th, 11 

days before the qualification 

window opened. 

Securing qualification for the 

Olympic Games is more or less 

killing two birds with a stone as 

athletes who have qualified for the 

Olympics, automatically seal their 

spots at the IAAF World 

Championships holding in 

September in Doha. This is because 

the standards for the Olympics are 

steeper than those of the World 

Championships. 

In all, seven athletes have qualified 

for the World Championships – the 

five mentioned above as well as 

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi (Shot 

Put) and Ese Brume (Long Jump). 

Enekwechi set a new PB and NR of 

21.77m on April 28th while 

competing at the IAAF World 

Challenge in Brazil. 

Though his mark surpasses the 

World Championships standard of 

20.70m and Olympic standard of 

21.10m, it was set before the 

qualification timeline. It is therefore 

safe to say that Enekwechi will soon 

join the list of qualifiers for the 

Olympics, all things being equal. 

Ese Brume started her 2019 

season at the Turkish University 

Championships last week and 

made a leap of 6.76m to win the 

championship. The entry standard 

for the World Championships is 

6.72m. However, to compete in 

Tokyo, Brume would at the least 

need to equal her PB of 6.83m, since 

the entry standard in the event is 

6.82m. I can with all confidence say 

that this is doable task for the 2014 

Commonwealth Games 

Champion. 

Amusan, Akobundu, Ekevwo, 

Oduduru and Okagbare have done 

their part by qualifying for the 

Olympics a year ahead. Will Nigeria 

do her part by ensuring that they get 

all the support needed to excel at 

the Games? The last time Nigeria 

won a medal in Track and Field at 

the Olympics was in Beijing 2008. 

Surely we should be aiming for a 

different narrative come Tokyo 

2020.

C 

M 

Y 

K 

SATURDAY Vanguard, MAY 25, 2019 

ACROSS 

1)President, Badminton Federation of 

Nigeria (NBF), Mr. Francis – (5) 

4)Former Speaker, Benue State House 

of Assembly, Mr. Terkibir – (7) 

8)Norwegian Second Division Club (3) 

9)Zodiac Sign (5) 

10)Assistant Inspector-General of 

Police, Mr. Ibrahim – (7) 

11)Prosecute (3) 

12)Brand of Vodka-based Liquor (5) 

13)Former United States President, Mr. 

Abraham – (7) 

17)Muslim Cleric (4) 

19)Motor (6) 

22)Dutch Municipality (6) 

26)Former Secretary-General, Nigerian 

Football Federation (NFF), Mr. Fanny – 

(4) 

28)Malawian Foreign Affairs Minister, 

Mr. Emmanuel – (7) 

31)L.G.A in Borno State (5) 

32)Friend (3) 

33)Country in Africa (7) 

34)Chairman, Nigerian Football 

Supporters Club, Reverend Samuel – 

(5) 

35)Former Minister of Education, Mr. 

Wada – (4) 

37)German City (5) 

DOWN 

1)Super Falcons Striker, Zainab – (7) 

2)Chinese Capital City (7) 

3)Former Egyptian President, Mr. Kamal El-Din – (7) 

4)L.G.A in Sokoto State (6) 

5)Country in Asia (5) 

6)American City (5) 

7)Former Niger State Governor, Mr. Cletus – (5) 

14)Former Ethiopian Prime Minister, Mr. Mikael – (4) 

15)Container (3) 

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

18)Average (4) 

20)Former Chairman, Independent Corrupt Practices 

& other related offences Commission (IPC), Mr. Ekpo 

– (3) 

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

23)Former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Sir William 

– (7) 

24)Former South-African Chief of Army Staff, Mr. 

Henrik – (7) 

25)Swaziland’s Capital City (7) 

27)South African Municipality (6) 

28)Former British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Sir 

Sam – (5) 

29)Christians Holy Book (5) 

30)Swiss “Super League” Club (5) 

CROSS WORD PUZZLE 

SOLUTION TO PUZZLE ON PAGE 47 

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

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